M&S has its own recruitment policy and procedure though not different from other organization but unique in its approach. Cole (2004) states that recruitment policies show the code of conduct that guides an organization in its search for recruits in the market place. Policies like how vacancies are advertised, the criteria needed and how candidates can monitor their progress. M&S uses its shared service limited to first of all identify skills and competency required before putting an advertisement for vacancies
M&S recruits via telephone, online, post and even encourage people to work up to any of the stores to seek employment provided he has the required skill and experience. Bratton (2007) defines recruitment as the act of generating a pool of capable people to apply to an organization for employment. M&S on its website has a provision for people seeking employment on its career section where job vacancies are listed. Online, an application is filled, then to check the candidate's employability a psychological test is done. Here an assessment is done by asking questions relating to the job the individual applied and options are provided for him to choose the best possible answer.
Two types of customers the external and the internal are identified. The internal being the employee is one who is able to provide adequate satisfaction to company's need. M&S tries to attract potential employees who will think of customers at all times, is passionate about the business, one with a willingness for team work and is ready to think ahead in a positive manner.
Creating work-life balance
Objective: To get the best out of employees in terms of productivity and creativity.
Clutterbuck (2003) defines work life balance as a state where the real or potential conflict between different demands on an individual's time or energy is managed for satisfaction of his well being and self fulfilment. M&S is aware of the need for employees to strike a balance between work life and home life in order for them to carry out jobs productively and without stress. This awareness has made it provide various work/life balance initiatives.
Among the good initiatives provided by M&S is flexible working which include part-time work, job sharing or term time working. Supports are offered to employees who are working and also those who are pregnant are given maternity leave with pay included. Career breaks are also offered to those wanting to study through the career break scheme. M&S is known for its supportive people policy.
Rewarding employees:
Objective: to motivate employees
There are incentives for employees in M&S which motivate them as they are aware that nothing motivates one more than compensation and gifts for a job well done. Rewarding employees who developed their capability in relation to company's business needs is aimed at strengthening performance culture (Armstrong, 2004). There is a very attractive reward scheme for employers and this is aside their regular wages. For trainees there are series of pay rise depending on the stage the individual finds himself. This pay ranges from £18000-£24000. This is just for trainees how much more full employees who have gone beyond training.
For employees the incentives include bonus scheme, holidays and employee discount to mention a few. The discount card is provided for the employee and his spouse or partner as the case may be. There is a pension scheme provided for those who have worked till retirement age and other extra services. All these are to motivate employees to meet the company's goal as the employees input matters a lot.
HRM Models
Contingency model, best practice model, Harvard framework model, David guest model, John storey model are all different kind of HRM models but the two to be referred in this discussion are contingency and David guest model.
Contingency model
This model is of the opinion that an organization can only be effective depending on the managers knowledge of the positive or negative impact of various factors such as environment, technology, size, product, diversity, people employed to mention a few (Heery et al, 2001). The provision of equal opportunity policy by M&S goes a long way to say that it is aware of diverse issue relating to humans and tries its best to address issues that may cause problem. Issues relating to discrimination, harassment and marginalisation are tackled in the policy.
In taking into cognizance the environment, M&S though retaining its product quality does not have a rigid sales type as it sells according to the locale it finds itself. David Hughes the director of M&S direct says "the M&S brand is anonymous with quality...underpants are sold to cover the modesty of every citizen in Liechtenstein or Monaco, bedding is selling strongly in France,.." (www.marksandspencer.com). This simply states that products in M&S vary according to the environment or locale.
David Guest theory
M&S is evaluated on basis of the four policies as listed by David guest and they include strategic integration, high commitment, high quality and flexibility. Although M&S does not conform fully to this model, a few aspects of this model are reflected in its operation.
Bratton (2007) defines high quality which is a part of Guest theory as "employee behaviour that bears directly on quality of goods and services". Providing quality goods is one of the core value on which M&S stands and they can achieve this through their high quality employee. Bratton says those high quality employees are products of good work place learning which provides capable, qualified, and skilful workers to produce high quality service.
M&S learning and development scheme accounts for the training of staffs to cater for customer needs. Inductions are carried out for new members in order for them to settle in properly for their job. As the saying goes "he who fails to plan plans to fail", hence M&S zeal to develop its employees to achieve their potential. "It's a short term plan for a long term gain".
HR Planning and Development Methods
Three HR planning and development methods
Boddy (2007; 342) describes human resource planning "as a detailed analysis of size and nature of the work force needed to fulfil organization's strategy". Human resource development is defined as "the capacity to incorporate learning into behaviour" (Joy-matthews et al, 2004; 7). Three HR planning and development method as identified in M&S are:
Labour turnover analysis (HR planning)
On the job training (HR development)
Off the job training (HR development)
Evaluation of the Effectiveness of HR Planning and Development in M&S
Labour turnover analysis
Objective of organization (M&S): To retain knowledge and talent in the business
Labour turnover analysis is measured by the number of workers who left the firm during a particular period as against the number of workers employed during that period. Labour turnover analysis has helped M&S to determine the recruitment needed to keep all existing post occupied. It assists M&S in locating the problem areas in the company and providing solutions to it.
M&S loses a part of its employees to retirement as so this analysis enables it to know how much training will be done for employees for easy replacement of the staffs that have left. M&S uses labour turnover analysis as a source of benchmarking with competitors to know how it fares. This is because a high turnover rate may be as a result of low pay, poor communication system, inefficient grievance procedure to mention a few. All these are checked and when there is a flaw, it is immediately dealt with.
On the job training
Objective of organization (M&S): Delivering quality service to customers.
On the job training is referred to as training undertaken at the work place. It is defined as the planned process of developing competence on units of work by having an experienced employee train a novice employee at work" (Jacobs, 2003; 28-29). This is obtainable in M&S as quality training are offered to employees to make them fully equipped to offer solutions to real life situation which the customer will be satisfied with. It offers practical learning where employees' skills are improved.
M&S learning and development which encompasses on the job training is a part of its life. Employees through this training are offered a chance to become skilled leaders of quality offering quality service. M&S sees the need for in-depth training of staff because of their valuable contribution to the growth of the company. Organizational goals of M&S are achieved through its on the job training as a lot of employees are grounded in the practical work which they engage in. It increases the experience of the employees and creates new interest in M&S.
Off the job training
Objective of the organization (M&S): To improve efficiency in the business.
This is described as a "training that provides group based learning opportunities on a variety of topics at a site other than where the work is actually done" (Jacob, 2003; 13). M&S uses a few methods of off the job training to educate its employees on how best to achieve the company's objective. Off the job training in M&S provides it with experienced staffs that are the source of the company's ability a chance to compete in the industry it belongs. M&S ability to improve efficiency, compete in the industry and have an edge over its competitors are dependent on the value the employees give to the organization. This is a function of training which the employees receive.
It makes use of the intranet which provides relevant materials in line with the company's objective. Workshops, role playing, long and short college courses help in the grooming of M&S employees to stand out among others. M&S believes in investing in the training of its employees as against the practice of most organization who believes in recruiting mainly skilled staffs in order to avoid the cost of training.
Delivering quality service to customers is one of the organization's slogans and this can only achieved by quality training which the employees are given. The training an employee undertakes depends on the position he is going for. Training enables employees to enjoy working with confidence that they possess the necessary skill needed to get the job done the best way they can.
How HR Performance is indicated and monitored
HR performance monitored at M&S
"Performance management refers to the set of interconnected practices which are designed to ensure that a person's overall capabilities and potential are appraised, so that relevant goals can be set for work and development and, through assessment data on work behaviour and performance can be collected and reviewed" (Gold, 2007; 275). The culture of performance management in M&S is one that generates the best result.
HR performance indicators in M&S are determined by the activities of the HR department. The things they do and the ones they outsource. The balance scorecard is used in M&S to know if the activities of the HRM are in line with its overall objective, goal and strategy. Other HR performance indicators are
Level of HR activity which is outsourced:
M&S compares the activity which its HR team engages in as against the activity which they outsource to other organization. A very good example is that of advertising of vacancies which they by themselves through their website and also through other recruitment agencies.
Recruitment and selection: the measures used are to ascertain the investment made in both recruitment and selection and they include
Average variable cost per recruit: This is determined by the advertisement media. M&S makes use of the newspaper and has to consider the cost of printing and distribution for vacancies advertised.
Average number of days taken to fill a form: M&S measures the time it takes between actually printing the vacancies and the time it takes a potential employee to fill the form.
Percentage of applicants from minority ethnic background: M&S uses this percentage to upgrade its equal opportunity policy so no one is left out. The number of applicants from different ethnicity is taken into consideration.
Role played by the HR team: the performance of the HR team in M&S is highlighted by the function they play. Their activities are evaluated by how it helps in elevating the company and makes it a benchmark to its competitors.
Time allocated to different HR activities and their effectiveness: HR in most companies are not monitored but this is not the case in M&S as the amount of time it takes them to recruit, select, train and perform other functions are calculated. This is for the company to be able to know if the time spent was worth it and if it actually achieved the purpose because there is the saying, time is money.
The number and cost of payment of the HR team in regards to the size of the organization: HR performance here is measured by how many people constitute the name in relation to the size of M&S. Too many people in the team with no actual job specification spelt out is not helpful to the HR team and the M&S itself. If the amount spent on different HR activities is too much when compared with the size of the company, there something is definitely not right.
Recommendation
No one is perfect and the same thing applies to organizations. Marks and Spencer is an outstanding organization as it is one of the most talked about organization in the UK but notwithstanding, I believe it can make room for improvement for it to thrive. My recommendations for M&S HR performance include
a. It should engage in benchmarking as it will enable it measure its performance against industry standards and be able to perform better.
b. It should engage in annual performance reviews as this will help them know where they are coming from, where they are and where they are heading.
c. Feedback should be entertained. No man is an island of knowledge so employees should be encouraged to make suggestion to increase the HR performance.
d. For better performance, they should ensure that their activities are in line with the corporate objective so they not work against each other. This will tell bad on the organization.
e. They should look for their flaws and try to overcome it. It is one thing to identify a problem and deal with but it is a different story entirely when you have no idea you have a problem.
Conclusion
The place of HRM cannot be overemphasised as it is the back bone of any organization. Marks and Spencer is an example of an organization with a functioning HR department. Their HR activities are the kind to be emulated by other companies if they want to succeed. They engage in intensive training of workers because of their knowledge of the contribution of people skill in any organization. M&S slogan of "short term pain for long term gain" is one to be adopted by anyone who intends to succeed. They are aware of their employees being a source of competitive advantage. The HR team found in M&S is one that will pave way for greater success if they continue diligently and improve on their mistakes. In all HRM helps organizations achieve its goal and this, the HRM team of Marks and Spencer have effectively done.
