Workforce Planning And HR Strategies For British Gas Essay.

Identifying People Management Issues at British Gas

1. Explain how organisational and HR strategies and practices are shaped and developed and explain the purpose and key objectives of human resources management and the HR function within a contemporary business environment.
2. Identify the purpose and key objectives of the HR function in contemporary organisations and be able to demonstrate the process of evaluating current and future human resource needs within the business environment; both in terms of numbers of people and skills and competencies.
3. Appraise the relationship between organisational performance and effective HR management and development. Know how to identify and respond to short-term changes in the business and external contexts and provide solutions to address them.
4. Explain the significance of employment legislation to an organisation’s HR practices and evaluate how to harness effective HR practices in a global marketplace in terms of adding value and positive contribution to sustained organisation performance.

British Gas is part of the Centrica Group. It is the country’s best recognised energy brand. Centrica is a multinational company, with businesses in many countries. Centrica was formed in 1997 and consists of eight separate energy- related businesses, ranging from the supply of gas and electricity to consumers and organisations in the UK and Europe, to storage of gas for other providers, and drain and pipe work maintenance.

The UK energy market is highly dynamic. Customers look for the best deals and are increasingly prepared to switch suppliers. In 2007, 900,000 customers switched energy providers. An energy company needs to show it is not just competitive on price, but that it can also provide the right levels of customer service to attract and retain customers.

British Gas does not only supply gas but also deals with the installation and maintenance of domestic central heating and appliances. It provides a maintenance and breakdown service for electrical white goods and home wiring. Through the Dyno brand, British Gas also offers drain clearing services, plumbing and home security services.

To deliver these services, British Gas needs high calibre staff. It employs more than 9,000 trained gas engineers to install and maintain central heating and gas appliances.

Managing a successful large business involves acquiring, developing and maintaining a wide range of resources. These resources include materials, buildings, land, equipment, technology and, crucially, people. Any organisation needs good employees who have the right skills to achieve the company’s aims and objectives. Human resource management (HRM) is the business function that focuses on the people aspects of an organisation. It ensures the efficient management of people in the business. It is responsible for ensuring that an organisation has the right people to deliver its overall business plan.

Implementing an Effective HR Planning Process to Manage Global Staff Issues

Centrica, the parent corporation of British Gas, has to deliver long-term profitability. Its shareholders expect the business to show a return on their investment by making profits, now and in the future. British Gas needs to contribute to these profits. This means consistently meeting the needs of its customers with competitively priced products and services that give good returns to the company. Residential consumers across the country are the core customer base of British Gas. These customers expect top-class service at keen prices. If British Gas does not meet this standard, the company may lose business to competitors.

To ensure customer satisfaction, British Gas engineers must have the technical skills to undertake work to the required standard and the people skills to deliver good customer service. Through its engineer recruitment team, the British Gas

Academy must therefore ensure that the company attracts and retains the best engineers. This involves several complementary tasks. It requires planning to assess the future needs for skilled employees at British Gas. It requires a recruitment and selection programme to bring new people into the business. It requires a training operation to equip new recruits and existing employees with the right skills.

Importantly, British Gas must also ensure that it retains its best people. It is much more cost effective to retain trained and highly skilled staff than recruit and train up new people. British Gas seeks to retain people by offering a mix of financial and non-financial benefits. As well as good pay and a pension scheme, the company provides employees with the opportunity to buy shares in Centrica and it offers a great place to work and high-class training.

According to an article by Trudy Brunot (2017), Functional Human Resource Management is the glue that holds an organisation together and the functional management areas are the ingredients in the glue. Hence, a functional HR department should cover six functional areas: business management and strategy, workforce planning and employment, human resource development, compensation and benefits, employee relations and risk management 

You have just been appointed as an interim HR consultant by British Gas. With reference to the above statement and your knowledge of HR management and functions as well as information from the given case scenario, prepare a report to the Executive Board of British Gas to suggest how a functional HR department can address the current HR issues faced by the organisation. Your report should cover the following tasks: 

Task 1 (LO1: HR functions in a contemporary business environment).

Identify any two people management issues being encountered by British Gas in the case study and discuss how a functional HR department can proactively manage them effectively.

Task 2 (LO2: HR planning in a business environment).

Briefly outline with examples how a functional HR department within British Gas can successfully implement a viable HR planning process to manage its growing international staff problems as it is gradually becoming global. You may refer to other current international issues faced by British Gas.

Task 3 (LO3: Effective HR practices and performance management in organisations).

Considering the employee wellbeing issue in the case study, discuss one developmental activity a functional HR department within British Gas can implement to effectively improve employees’ performance so that it can retain its employees.

Task 4 (LO4: Influence of Employment legislation on HR practices in organisations). Discuss the implication of employment legislation on you or your workmates from the current practices of the organisation you work within any two of the following areas:

1. Equalityand diversity
2. Rewardsand compensation
3. Healthand Safety standard across the subsidiaries
4. Disciplinaryprocedures

Identifying People Management Issues at British Gas

Human resource is a term that used for the people who work for the company, in combined. While human resource management is the process that includes, recruiting, selection, providing inclination, conveying training and development, maintaining relations with employees and their trade unions, certifying employee safety, and welfare and health measures in a compliance with labor laws of the land (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Workforce planning is a procedure of anticipating the existing and the future demands for employees in a business. This requires the business to be ready for supply modifications in the labor market. The aim of workforce planning at a business is to have the right people at a right place at right time and at the right price. Workforce planning helps in providing the clear vision in terms of organizational needs, demands and it also helps in creating the target programs, approaches, and the development strategies. According to British gas case study, the UK energy market is highly vibrant, and to be able to compete in such market the business needs to reinforce its workforce with correct staff. The British gas is the best-known energy brand in the UK and a part of Centrica group. Which was formed in 1997 and it involves of eight related energy businesses in several countries (Centrica PLC, 2018). British Gas needs a high-quality staff as it just not deals in supplying gas but also provide installation and the maintenance of appliances and the domestic central heating. For keep a competitive advantage in the market the main focus of workforce planning includes the recruitment and the selection process of new employees.

The role of a human resource department in an organization affects all the facets of a business because it supports the most important resources of the company that includes employees (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Hard HR: They treat their employees just as a resource of the business like a machine or a building (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Soft HR: They treat their employees as the most important part of the business and they see them as a part of competitive advantage to the company (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Human resource management is an essential and an important function for company’s success. There are two parts of HRM, ‘Soft and Hard’. The hard HRM includes performance evaluation, manpower planning, and many other activities, while the soft HRM includes the conflict management, relationship building, organizational culture etc. (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

Implementing an Effective HR Planning Process to Manage Global Staff Issues

For managing a successful and a large business that includes acquiring, development, and managing a wide range of resources such as materials, technology, building, land, and the people. An organization needs employees with the right skills who can help in achieving the goals and the objectives of the company, Human resources management is a function in the business that focuses on people aspects to ensure the proficient management and it is also responsible for the efficient workforce for delivering the overall business plans and achieving targeted goals (British Gas, 2018).

In a dynamic competitive market, British Gas needs to meet its customer and stakeholders’ expectations by making profits on their investments in the current and in the future situations. For contributing to these profits and meeting customer needs British gas provides effective services with the competitively priced products that also help in gaining a good return to the company. As the residential across the country are the core customers of company who expects the top level services at keen price, and not meeting to these expectations may result in loss in business as well as competitive advantages (British Gas, 2018). For running the business smoothly British Gas believes in their commitments they do with their customers such as:

• Providing all the information to help in making a right choice for the energy necessities.
• Communicating with customers without applying complex terms and in a very clear to make them understand about their needs.
• They go to extra miles for supporting vulnerable customers such as, disabled or having continuing illness, blind, mentally unwell, and children under 5 with their difficulties.
• Providing quality and innovative products as per customers need.

This plan refers to retain the best existing employees in the company. For providing a good number of profits to the company in a minimum time and more cost effective to retain skilled and trained people rather than recruiting new people and train them. British Gas is planning to retain its employees by providing a mixture of financial and non-financial benefits including pension scheme, good hike in pay and also gives opportunity to buy Centrica shares also offers an amazing environment and a good place to work. The effective strategies to retain people that British gas can apply on its customers (British Gas, 2018).

1. Providing rewards and recognition at workplace.
2. Conducting training and development program for employees to enhance their basic skills and knowledge about products.
3. Taking feedback from employees for providing satisfactory services to customers.
4. Giving commitments for their future in terms of pension schemes and benefits after retirement.
5. Contributing to the company’s profit for increasing employee’s interest to their work in the organization.

The human resource departments manage a range of different functions within a company. And they are responsible for the hiring and firing of employees, training people, maintaining relations in between employees and understanding employment laws and works diligently behind the scenes to ensure a company runs proficiently.

                          

                                                   (Source: whatishumanresource, 2018)

Human resource planning has been increased from past two decades. These planning are also responsible for changing in the social, economic, and the legal environment of several businesses. It helps in developing the more comprehensive plans and the thought process in an organization. These developments includes the change in business environment, increase in competitive advantages, increasing in regulations and legislation for the business, independencies between commercial actions, customer interest, and the public well-being (Briscoe, Schuler, and Tarique, 2012).

Improving Employee Performance to Address Employee Wellbeing Issue

The issues of employees at British Gas are increasing locally and globally, for completing the customer’s demands British Gas needs to focus on its employees’ problems because then only company will be able to deliver the right services on time (Vaughan, 2018). For this human resource have implemented a planning process which will help in developing employees’ interest in work and will resolve their problems and will lead to overall satisfaction of the customer needs.

1. Planning objective:The objectives of human resource planning must be matched with the overall process and employee performance (Purce, 2015).
2. Existing manpower stock:This includes the employee analyzing for their experience, skills, proficiency and other abilities or qualities to do a particular job. It is also related to the future vacancies or hiring as per company’s need of skilled employees (Purce, 2015).
3. Forecasting Demand and Supply: This involves the manpower demands according to the supply of resources available with the organization. In addition, skills that matches with a particular job description (British Gas, 2018).
4. Manpower Gaps analyzing: This includes the evaluation process of manpower demands for the available resources, if the need of employees is more than the supply of HR, then they need to go through the hiring process or if it less, then that it could result in termination, transfer etc. of employees (Purce, 2015).
5. Employment plan: This involves the organizational goals to achieve by planning for a recruiting, selection, and promotion for the employees. For example, if company needs highly skilled employees then retaining the old and trained is more cost effective then recruiting new staff (Dowling, 2008).
6. Training and development:For delivering a quality work and right product and services it is necessary to be knowledgeable about the particular product or services provided in an organization. As engineers needs to do equipment installation, people work under pressurized desk and serve customer with the product information so proper training and development programs need to be organized in a timely manner (British Gas, 2018).
7. Evaluation or manpower planning: This involves the effectiveness of the entire implemented process and helps in measuring the successful plan actions and control management (British Gas, 2018).

Human resources have also planned for the employees benefits and rewards such as, offering company’s share, pension scheme for their secure future, good or extra pay as bonus for their best performances, recognition among all the employees along with they have also focused on employee’s wellbeing and their health-related issues, they have conducted training and other development programs which will help them to get motivate and will make them feel confident about their work (Joseph, 2017).

There are some core principles outlines that will help British gas to deliver a healthy and well-being services from all over the business and also will help in promoting the healthy lifestyle and these outlines are:

Innovate: This will help British Gas to develop a leading well-being program that will personalize their different businesses and will help people to get engaged for making healthy routine choices (Energy Global, 2014).

Integrate: This will help in delivering a holistic and a joined-up approach to the well-being that can exploit the effective actions throughout the business (Energy Global, 2014).

Increase:  This includes the continuous development in productivity by increasing the well-being, people engagement into the business by reducing the work-related complaints (Energy Global, 2014).

British gas have done many development activities such as awareness sessions, evolving toolkits and associating with professionals bodies like Nuffield health just to ensure about strong and an effective work-life balance which also helps in reducing the level of stress and improves the physical health condition. They do all these activities in a flexible way to meet the different needs of their diverse employees effectively (British Gas, 2014). For example, engineers at British gas play different role for the different kind for work activity such as, for fitting the insulation and the boilers they use the physical strength of their body and those who work in forced environment from their counter. Both these kind of workforce would need a different support for their work styles.

For developing such plans and development activities British Gad have launched workshops and a virtual musculoskeletal toolkit for reducing the injury risks. It is kind of an occupational management guidance helpdesk that contributes 60% reduction in occupational health recommendations (Centrica, 2014).

The Implications of Employment Legislation on HR Practices at British Gas

For retaining its employees and improving in their work performance and productivity the functional department HRM at British gas uses a five key statement for creating an encouraging and positive workplace that includes:

A clear vision statement: This helps in increasing the work ethics and the attitude of their employees with a clear vision of what they are doing not just within the company but in a global world as well (British Gas, 2018).

Choosing staff carefully: This includes the people with positive, happy, and a upbeat nature who agrees on taking opportunity to show their determination on handling tricky situations at the time of hiring (British Gas, 2018).

Encouraging and motivational communication: This gives people a willingness of working in an environment where they are free to talk and share their opinions and problem to one another and to their leaders (Dowling, 2008).

Not keeping secrets: Usually in every organization leaders or managers keep some certain phases of the business secret that only discussed behind a closed door, which create a suspense or suspicion for all the employees. Telling employees about what is going on gives them a certain goal or a way to accomplish things in a healthy environment (British Gas, 2018).

Showing gratitude: This includes reward or recognition or incentive plans to their employees for their better work performance, or a better way to appreciate them by saying thank you.

Employment Legislation in the United Kingdom regulates the relationship in between employers and their employees. It directs toward the expectations of employers from their employees, and what employees can expect from their employers, and employees rights of privileges at their work (ICLG, 2018).

Rewards and compensation are important elements in the process of attracting, retaining and engaging employees. Compensation includes the rewards when it comes on recognizing their staff contribution to the company with their own risks and the opportunities. Mostly reward packages are aligned with their businesses and their staff needs and it directly reflects the purpose and performance of an organization. These are two important parts of an employee that they get in return from their employer for their provided services to the organization (The Mover, 2018).

Compensation includes the salary, wages, incentives, and commission and other allowances. Compensation includes the cash rewards what an employee gets throughout the time in an organization (Mars, 2018). These compensation benefits are:

1. Salary and wages
2. Rent allowance
3. Travel allowance
4. Transportation
5. Medical compensation
6. Special compensation (Mobile, overtime, food, travel expenses, reduction in interest of loan etc.)
7. Indirect compensation (Non-cash benefits such as, leave policy, insurance, hospitalization etc.)
8. Retirement benefits
9. Bonus etc.

Rewards system helps in motivating employees to perform at their best level. It also provides opportunity and their job security at the workplace which encourages employees to work proudly. It is a way to gratitude employees for their work and the best way to increase their confidence. These rewards are:

1. Gift vouchers
2. Team outing
3. Personalized or company mugs, stickers or magnets.
4. Work from home
5. Training for some special classes or language at workplace.
6. Lunch with the leaders/CEO

The health and safety work act 1974 is about occupational health and safety. This includes training for all the staff for ensuring their safety and health in a work environment. It provides the adequate welfare provision to the employees and a maintained and safe working environment. In an organization, employer needs to keep a written safety record for their employees’ health and safety policy (British Safety Council, 2018).

The health and safety regulations include all the aspects for employers who is responsible to provide not just a safe workplace as well as it should suitable for the work or duties within an organization. These provisions includes the sanitation of employees such as, drinking water, washing facilities etc., suitable working environment such as proper ventilation, lights etc., and then a safety workplace such as timely maintained equipment’, proper walking routes, spaces on the floor and the protection from the objectives that may fall (HSE, 2018).

Conclusion and Recommendations

In the conclusion of this above text, British Gas has driven several developing progress to maintain its competitive advantages in dynamic energy market. Human resource management has planned to retain its highly skilled employees through an effective retention planning program and other attractive schemes or benefits for the employees. As the customers of British Gas have high expectations in terms of services on an acute price. British Gas is also involved in some health and safety cultural programs for their employees’ health and well-being. British Gas helps their customers with their difficulties in choosing the right product and the more focus is on the disabled customers.

Through its workforce planning, British Gas have given opportunities to their employees to show their capabilities and share their experiences and idea’s that will help them with their career path in the company also it will increase in the productivity. Also, for maintaining a position in competitive advantages from its top competitors such as SSE, Utility wise, Business Gas etc. British Gas should keep providing best services with the best-skilled employee’s performances, and keep encouraging them for a bright future with British Gas.

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