Human resource management

HRM exists to help the business meet its objectives through its people. A business planning to open three new stores needs staff recruited and trained before the doors open; a business cutting costs needs to reduce its workforce without destroying the morale of the people who stay. In every answer, tie the HRM activity back to the objective it serves — that link is where application marks come from.

A workforce plan compares the workforce a business has with the workforce it will need — numbers, skills and locations — and sets out how to close the gap: recruitment, training, redeployment or redundancy. It is driven by the business plan, sales forecasts, expected retirements and labour turnover.

High labour turnover means repeated recruitment, induction and training costs, lost skills and experience, disruption to production or service, and pressure on the employees who stay. It is usually a symptom — of low pay, poor management, weak recruitment that hires the wrong people, or a buoyant local labour market — and a good answer says which.

Low labour turnover keeps experience and lowers costs, but is not automatically good: a business that never loses anyone may lack new ideas, and in a business cutting its workforce, some turnover saves redundancy payments.

Recruitment attracts applicants; selection chooses between them. The recruitment process starts from two documents that are easily confused:

• Job description — describes the job: title, tasks, duties, responsibilities, who the post-holder reports to.
• Person specification — describes the person wanted: qualifications, skills, experience and qualities.

Methods: job advertisements (local press, trade journals), employment agencies, and online recruitment through job sites and social media — cheaper and wider in reach, but bringing far more unsuitable applications to sift.

• CV or résumé, and application forms — a CV is the candidate’s own summary of education and experience; an application form asks every candidate the same questions, which makes comparison fair and quick.
• Interviews — test communication and attitude, but rely on the interviewer’s judgement and reward candidates who interview well.
• References — a previous employer’s view; useful as a check, rarely critical.
• Testing — aptitude, skills or personality tests measure what an interview cannot.
• Assessment centres — a day or two of group tasks, presentations and interviews. The most reliable predictor of performance, and the most expensive: worth it for a senior or customer-facing post where a wrong appointment is costly, not for filling forty seasonal vacancies.

A successful candidate receives an employment contract setting out pay, hours, duties, holidays and notice — the legal basis of the relationship.

Redundancy is ending employment because the job is no longer needed — a branch closes, a machine replaces a process. It can be voluntary (employees volunteer, often for a payment) or involuntary (the business selects who goes). Dismissal is ending employment because of the employee — misconduct or persistent poor performance. A dismissal is fair when there is a valid reason and a proper procedure was followed; unfair when there is not, which can lead to compensation.

The distinction is a reliable mark: redundancy is about the post, dismissal about the person.

• Induction — introduces a new employee to the business, its rules and their role. Cuts the time before a new starter is productive, and early leaving.
• On-the-job — learning while doing the job, from an experienced colleague. Cheap and relevant, and output continues; but it passes on bad habits and distracts the trainer.
• Off-the-job — courses away from the workstation. Expert, broader, can lead to qualifications; costly, removes the employee from work, and may not transfer back to the job.

Training improves productivity, quality and flexibility, and is itself a motivator. Its standard counter-argument: a trained employee is more attractive to competitors, so training without retention can mean paying to train a rival’s workforce. Development goes further — building the skills for multi-skilling, so employees can cover several roles, and for intrapreneurship, so they generate and lead new ideas within the business.

Morale is how employees feel about their work; welfare is the business looking after their wellbeing — safe conditions, support, reasonable hours, a work-life balance between work and life outside it. Low morale shows up as absence, lateness, poor quality and labour turnover.

Diversity means a workforce drawn from different backgrounds; equality means everyone has the same opportunity regardless of who they are. The business case: a bigger pool of applicants, a workforce that understands a wider range of customers, more ideas, reputation, and staying within the law. The costs: time and money for new policies and training, and the management of change.

Cooperation between management and workforce benefits both: fewer disputes, faster change, better ideas from the people doing the work, and job security in return.

A trade union represents its members — negotiating pay and conditions through collective bargaining, protecting members in disciplinary cases, and pressing for safety. For employees: a stronger voice, better pay and conditions, job security. For employers: one negotiation instead of hundreds, and a channel for communicating change; but higher wage costs, slower change, and the risk of industrial action — strikes, work-to-rule, overtime bans.

On the 36 AS papers Quanta holds, 52 question parts test human resource management, on 27 of the papers (29 on Paper 1, 23 on Paper 2). The command words they open with:

• Analyse × 14
• Explain × 13
• Define × 9
• Evaluate × 9
• Calculate × 4
• Identify × 3

By tariff — each size has its own technique:

• 3 × 1-mark, 9 × 2-mark, 17 × 3-mark, 4 × 5-markShort-answer questions (2, 3 and 5 marks) →
• 10 × 8-mark8-mark 'analyse' questions →
• 9 × 12-mark12-mark 'evaluate' questions →

Terms candidates have been asked to define or explain on this topic:

dismissal · job description · employment agency · involuntary redundancy · work-life balance · unfair dismissal · redundancy · résumé · labour turnover · on-the-job training · employee morale

1. 1.Job description and person specification swapped

   The job description is the job; the person specification is the person.

2. 2.Redundancy treated as a kind of dismissal for poor work

   Redundancy is the job disappearing; dismissal is about the employee’s conduct or performance. Mixing them loses the definition mark.

3. 3.Labour turnover divided by the opening or closing workforce

   Divide by the average number employed over the period, then × 100.

4. 4.“Training motivates workers” left as the whole point

   That is a claim, not analysis. Chain it: training → new skills → fewer errors and faster work → lower unit costs or better service → profit or reputation — in the context of the business in the case.

5. 5.Recommending an assessment centre for every vacancy

   Weigh the cost of the method against the cost of a wrong appointment. Context decides: a senior manager, yes; seasonal staff, no.