Nestle - Largest Food Producer In The World, Essay.

1.Explain the importance and key objectives of employee relationship within contemporary organisations and evaluate the relationship between the organisation and its employees in the current environment

2.Analyse the importance of employee engagement within contemporary organisations and evaluate the effectiveness of employee engagement strategies in improving performance, productivity across all sectors of the economy.
3. Appraisal of impact of employee motivation, communication, mentoring and leadership had on the organisation.
4. Evaluate the significance of employee engagement on levels of absenteeism retention, levels of innovation, customer services and the performance in organisations. 

Employee Engagement and Relations Analysis

Nestle is a Swiss transnational drink and food based brand which has its headquarters in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. The company has acquired the position of the largest food producer in the world. The rank that is held by Nestle in the Fortune Global 500 list is 64 and No. 33 on the Fortune Global 2000 list in the year 2016. The different products that are offered by Nestle in the market include, medical food, baby food, breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, dairy products and confectionery. The annual sales that has been gained by the brands of the organization in the market is around, 1.1 billion US Dollars. The company has more than 400 factories in over 194 countries in the world.

Nestle is also one of the major shareholders of the organization named Loreal. The organization was established in the year 1905 with the help pf the merger that has taken place between the Swiss Milk Company and Farine Lactee Henri Nestle (Nestle.com. 2018). Vision statement of Nestle is based on the ways by which the consumers are offered with food products that are safe and of good quality which aim to provide nutrition for the purpose of meeting the physiological needs. The mission statement of Nestle is aimed at becoming the leading health, nutrition and wellness based company in the world. Nestle has also laid some major sustainability goals which are also related to the development of the organization in the future.

The report will be mainly based on the analysis of the different employee engagement and employee relations based activities that are undertaken by the management. The ways by which the organization aims at managing the relationships with the employees will also analysed in the report in detail.

The drive for employee engagement in Nestle can be considered to be a best practice in the food industry. This is divided into mainly three parts or categories which include, training activities, engagement based campaigns and communication. The management of the organization believes that the increase in employee engagement and awareness cab further lead to the development of the sustainable operations of the organization. The employee engagement based steps that are taken by the organization are related to its sustainability in the industry (Ranjan 2017). The engagement of employees in the work process further helps in increasing their levels of motivation in work. The employees are motivated if they are aware that they can make significant changes in the operating procedure of the organization. The motivation levels of the employees and the employee engagement are measured on a regular basis by the management of Nestle (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).

The various engagement programs that are cited by the organization mainly include, monthly lunchtime conferences that are lucrative in nature. The major reason behind the application of employee engagement related programs in the organization is the creation of shared values. The employee engagement based activities helps in ensure that the attendance of the employees in the organization. The training based on sustainability that has been conducted by the company in the past years has shown that more than 4000 employees have undertaken the environmental sustainability (Brewster, Chung and Sparrow 2016). The e-learning course that has been introduced by Nestle is mainly aimed at increasing the motivation levels and the attendance of employees as well. The company delivered more than 16 sessions which were based on the environmental sustainability leadership.

Commitment to Sustainability Goals

The employees in Nestle are considered to be the assets of the company who are able to provide the maximum levels of profitability and revenues. The employee relations based policy of Nestle is mainly related to the ways by which the employees need to comply with the strict rules and regulations. The company is thereby committed towards the promotion of greater levels of understanding and knowledge which is an important part of the Corporate Business Principles of Nestle. The organization also complies with the laws which are applicable in different countries and the employees are also trained accordingly (Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley 2016).

Nestle mainly strives towards the continuous and proactive improvement of the relationships that have been established with the employees. The organized structures that are developed within the Human resource department of Nestle helps in the management of the employees in an effective manner. The implementation of various policies is mainly related to a joint effort that is made by the two levels which are, corporate level and local level. The relations that are established with the employees mainly depends on the responsibility that is fulfilled by the local management of Nestle. The long-term relationships that are developed by the organization are thereby based on the guidance that is provided by the implementation of proper business principles (Albrecht et al. 2015).

The working conditions of the employees are improved by Nestle on a regular basis so that special attention can be provided to the Corporate labour practices. The management of Nestle is also able to promote the proper levels of communication among the employees and the managers. The long-term employment related policies are provided importance by Nestle which helps in the development of proper relationships as well (Brewster et al. 2016). The innovative technology that has been used by Nestle for employee engagement is based on the usage of social networks for the purpose of communicating with the employees. This has helped the company to create successful relationships with employees in an effective manner.

The employee engagement activities have been provided high importance by the management of Nestle. The company has always tried to engage the employees in different processes so that they are able to provide their best performance. Nestle has always provided utmost importance to the employees who are a part of the different organizational processes. The employee engagement policies of Nestle has been helpful for increasing the motivation levels. The attendance of the employees in the organization has been a major driver for the implementation of proper policies related to employee engagement (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014). The management has always tried to create fruitful relationships with the employees so that the objectives can be fulfilled effectively. The long-term employee relations have been established by Nestle for the purpose of creating an efficient employee base. The employees are thereby able to communicate with the management in an open manner. The positive relationships with the employees helps Nestle to analyse their needs and demands and provide them with a positive working environment (Purce 2014).  

Nestle Products and Annual Sales Figures

Nestle had faced major challenges based on the engagement of employees in the organizational processes in the year 2013. The products of the competitors of the organization were found to be more popular among the customers as compared to those which are offered by Nestle. The director of the organization had taken significant steps towards increasing the levels of profitability of the company with the help of proper employee engagement strategies. The local competitors of the organization in the countries like, China and Malaysia had started providing tough competition to Nestle. The company thereby faced a huge slowdown due to the issues that have occurred in the external environment. The debts on Nestle had started increasing due to the low levels of profitability and employee engagement as well (Kramar 2014).

The engagement strategy that has been considered by the company was based on the training that was provided to the employees based on the products that are offered by Nestle. The employees thereby need to know the trends that are being followed in the market which can help them to compete easily with the local competitors. The volumes of goods of Nestle that need to be sold by the company is also an important factor that can help the employees to understand the operations better. The employees need to be made more engaged in the operations of the organization so that they are able to solve the issues that are faced by the employees. The buying patterns of the customers need to be analysed by the employees in the stores so that they are able to provide better explanation based on the products that are offered by Nestle (Shields et al. 2015).

The employee engagement based steps which are taken by organizations are directly linked to the ways by which the profitability can be increased. The management thereby needs to implement appropriate strategies which can be helpful in increasing the engagement of employees in the work process and further improve the sustainability of the organization as well. Engagement is mainly based on the connection that the employees with the organization on an emotional basis. Nestle thereby needs to increase the employee engagement related activities in order to create a sustainable position of the organization in the food industry (Newell and Scarbrough 2017).

The leadership of the company needs to be effective so that the employees are made to follow the engagement related initiatives that are taken by the management. Analysis of the talent that is possessed by the organization is an important part of the employee engagement activities. Nestle also needs to improve the levels of communication that has been established with the employees. The improvement of communication levels can be helpful for the company to create long-term relationships with the employees. Nestle also needs to invest in the employees for the purpose of gaining their best performance in all the operations (Laursen and Foss 2014). The use of new technologies is an important aspect of the employee engagement activities that can be performed by Nestle in the industry. The learning and development programs that are organized by Nestle play an important part in the ways by which the employees of the organization are provided the best levels of training. Employees need to be made an important part of the vision and mission that has been created by the company. The goals of the employees and the organization need to be aligned in an effective manner so that Nestle is able to operate in the environment in a sustainable manner (Werner 2014).

Nestle's Vision and Mission Statements

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that Nestle has been implementing proper engagement strategies for the employees. The company has always aimed at creating effective relationships which can stay for a long term. The employees or human resources have been provided utmost importance by Nestle. The organization is thereby able to create a profitable position in the industry with the help of the performance that has been depicted by the employees. However, the organization has also faced some major issues based on the ways by which it operates in the market and the profitability as well. The director of Nestle and other members of the management have taken appropriate steps for increasing the levels of employee engagement and profitability of the organization as well.

Nestle needs to improve the employee engagement programs that have been previously implemented in its operations. The relationships with external stakeholders of the company need to be improved so that Nestle is able to create a competitive edge in the market. The levels of collaboration between the local management and corporate management needs to be improved so that Nestle is able to create a stable position in the market in a long term basis. The long term sustainability of an organization is thereby dependent on the ways by which employees are involved in the operations.

References 

Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1), pp.7-35.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Brewster, C., Chung, C. and Sparrow, P., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page PubKramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.lishers.

Brewster, C., Mayrhofer, W. and Morley, M. eds., 2016. New challenges for European resource management. Springer.

Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.

Kramar, R., 2014. Beyond strategic human resource management: is sustainable human resource management the next approach?. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(8), pp.1069-1089.

Laursen, K. and Foss, N.J., 2014. Human resource management practices and innovation. Handbook of innovation management, pp.505-530.

Nestle.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.nestle.com/aboutus [Accessed 24 Jul. 2018].

Newell, H. and Scarbrough, H., 2017. Human resource management in context: a case study approach. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Purce, J., 2014. The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals), 67.

Ranjan, P., 2017. Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour. Journal of HR, Organizational Behaviour & Entrepreneurship Development, 1(1), pp.8-12.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O'Leary, P., Robinson, J. and Plimmer, G., 2015. Managing employee performance & reward: Concepts, practices, strategies. Cambridge University Press.

Werner, J.M., 2014. Human resource development≠ human resource management: So what is it?. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(2), pp.127-139.