AJP will have to look at the Labour Supply in the Camden area. I have noticed that in Camden there are 100,300 people who are economically active, that’s 70.9% in Camden. In London there are 74.5% people economically active and in the UK altogether there are 78.2%. There are 92,900 people in Camden who are in employment, of which 74,300 are employees and 18,000 are self-employed. So that’s 65.7% of the population in Camden who are in employment and 7.4% who are unemployed. Nevertheless, there are the other people to consider who are economically inactive, where there are people who want a job and those that do not want any jobs. From looking at the Labour Market profile, I have noticed that there are 41,100 people in Camden, who are economically inactive, that’s 29.1%. There are 10,300 people in Camden who want a job, that’s 7.3% of people seeking employment. I have also noticed that there are 30,900 people not seeking employment, that’s 21.8% altogether. As you can see, there are more people not wanting jobs, and then there are people who do want jobs. This is useful to AJP, because they will be able to see that there are more people available for working, which is good for them, as they r looking to employ at large number of people.
However, there are more females wanting jobs than males, 7,200 females that’s 10.5% want jobs, whereas only 3,000 males want jobs, which is 4.2%. There is also the income sector to look at as well. If AJP are planning to start their business, they will need to know what kind of income people in the Camden usually get, so they don’t pay less, or too much. Data shows that gross weekly pay for full-time workers is £556.60, males do tend to gain more income than women though, as it shows that male full-time workers get a gross weekly pay of £594.70, whereas women only gain £518.80, men earn an extra £75.90 more. In London however, full-time workers get a gross weekly pay of £513.20, where men get a weekly pay of £554.70 and women get £469.70, which shows that Camden is a good place to work in for the workers, because they can receive a rather higher income, and receive greater prospects to. AJP would also be located in area where they will gain a good number of customers and clients, as it is a busy place, and the busier it is, the more profit you could gain, this could be largely due to Human Resources, strategic planning, putting motivation into workers, who are then able to perform their jobs a excellent level, which customers like and will come back more.
Also, the Camden Labour Market Profile isn’t just good for AJP, but also useful to other businesses looking to start up in the area. It gives them a general idea of the employment rate, the gross weekly pay rates and so forth. AJP wouldn’t want to be short of staff as soon as they start up, because then the business won’t run as planned. The less staff you have, the more stressful it will become too, as workers are under twice as much pressure to carry out jobs, because of a short supply of workers. Another thing also, is that Camden is one of the most socially diverse areas in London, there are many people who come from different ethnic backgrounds, and basically it’s a very multicultural area. Another reason to start up a business here, is also because of that, as there are more potential clients, and you are not in just one area where there isn’t much going on, you are located where many things happen, where many activities take place as well, which can attract customers.
Camden has a diverse industrial structure, where a third of jobs in the borough are in business or professional services, with a third being in the public sector. This borough has a high amount of small or micro businesses, recruiting around 10 people. Camden also has large employment potential and is accountable for much of the liveliness and success of the business-related areas in the borough, because it is seen as an eye-catching place to start a new business. The ‘Day Population’ is larger than the actual resident population in Camden; this is due to the high number of commuters and students coming into the area each day. The area’s resident population has partly less children, but more people aged 25-34 and lesser people aged 50 and over, particularly women aged 75 and over than in England.
There is a distinctive cultural mix of Camden, and this is reflected in the large number of men, 46% and women 49% from Black and minority groups. This also includes all other groups, except from White British. In Camden, the largest Ethnic Minority groups are usually the White other groups, so it could be Irish, German, French and so forth, who make up 16% of the population, people of Bangladeshi origin make up 6.3% and Black Africans 6%.
This kind of data would be very useful to AJP, because it explains to them about the business sector in Camden; this would give them a head start into finding out what the business sector is like in the area. AJP would be particularly interested in the ‘Day Population’, because that is where potential customers are. It explains that the ‘Day Population’ is larger than the resident population, this type of data would be good for any business in that area, because they know that there are more commuters, students and so forth that come in the day, so it gives them the chance to put themselves forward, try to gain customers and potential clients as well. The Ethnic Minority area, tells us that there is a unique mix of cultures, with the White other groups as the largest Ethnic Minority group.
This type of information is useful to AJP, the lively area and the large mix of cultures, the income area and the number of workers in the area, are all put to Human Resource planning. It gives the department, a good sense of knowledge, about the employment rate and how many workers there and how many people who don’t work as well. As AJP are looking to recruit 10 Managers and senior staff, 30 Associate professional and technical staff, 30 Administrative and Secretarial and 20 Sales staff, there will be particularly interested in the employment sector of Camden. It also allows AJP’s Human Resource department to plan how they will proceed with recruitment, what kind of motivation and training to give the potential workers, and also with the large cultural mix in Camden, they can put that into good use (e.g. employ workers from different Ethnic backgrounds, so that customers can see that and can have a good impression of the company, and also that the company is trying to fit in with the area as much as possible.
SECTION THREE – Recruitment and Selection
This section of my report is based on recruitment and selection. Here are some of the things I shall be investigating:
- The Recruitment process.
- Assessment techniques used by AJP and their effectiveness.
- Obeying the Legal requirements and constraints when recruiting the 100 staff it requires.
- How AJP recruits for managerial positions, internal promotion and identifying potential.
AJP enjoys an especially strong status and success documentation in recruiting, promoting and retaining minorities and women, in addition in keeping its commitment and successful methods to managing the variety of its labour force. When there are potential people applying for a job, they have to be well prepared, confident and have the required skills that are asked for. Recruiting is extremely tough on applicants, because nowadays there is a lot of competition with different applicants, and their backgrounds. The interviewer, not only looks at your background, but looks beyond that too, which I think is a good method of recruiting.
Providing the right information is a good start, however who you are is like another recruitment process altogether, because there is your academic and experience background, but there is the personality and individual step as well. A company like AJP, will not only assess your background and qualifications, that does count towards you getting the job, but a company like them, will need to look at the character of the person as well, because they are a large organisation that needs good Human Resource strategies, and so workers with good communication skills, lively personalities and so forth would allow the business to run smoothly and also gain a success record. AJP does have a large and improving level of employee morale among professional and managerial employees. This could be due to good HR planning, and effective recruitment techniques.
AJP’s Human Resource staff put managing diversity as one of its largest strategic priorities and through the Senior Vice President for Human Resources, has been doing well in making variety a top priority in the business. There are seven “Employee Business Groups” that serve as strengthening community systems for different gender, race or identity groups. Every year these groups hold meetings, and structure regional intervals. Such as educating, training the workforce, support efforts to recruit, creating their own business websites and cultivating a sense of community among their associates
When a company is going through the recruitment process, they should abide by the legal requirements. A company like AJP should establish a recruitment process that not only meets this primary goal, but also satisfies applicable legal requirements. For a company, the balance between achieving an efficient recruitment process and complying with the legal requirements and best practice is quite a complicated one to achieve. Workforce planning activities are important areas of making sure than a company like AJP, has the right people, in the right jobs, at the right time. It is known that companies that have effective planning processes and bring action plans from this, are much more likely to be successful.
The need to ensure that everyone is treated fairly has led to a reduction in succession planning activities. Internal promotion must always be carefully managed to make certain that applicants from both internal and external sources are treated in accordance. In most organisations, there are various people who become involved in the recruitment process. Starting from the first stage, when a vacancy has been becomes available, going through the administrative process of arranging advertisements, then the job packs and interviews, then it goes through the decision process about short listing and selecting the final candidate.
The Human Resources function could undertake the recruitment process, with a service that provides the following:
- A corporate HR team, provided as an overall HR service
- A specialist team, whose main responsibility is recruitment
- A directorate-based HR team provided as a general service.
A corporate HR team may help to ensure consistency, provide a central area for enquiries and accomplish a few economies of scale. A specialist team can give economies of scale, especially for larger authorities and ensure consistency, a main contact for potential applicants and centralised promotion of the employer brand. A directorate-based HR team might have a larger understanding of the requirements of the job, in particular if it’s a specialist feature, relating to that applicant. When deciding who should perform the recruitment, certain things have to be followed such as:
- Those sorting with recruitment have the area to handle with the volume and features of the job vacancies, such as resources and training.
- Networks are set up for maintaining documents, that follow corporate monitoring requirements, are sufficient to protect any potential discrimination claims and comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act.
- The speed and success of the recruitment is monitored.
These are all the things AJP needs to look at, and well help with their assessment techniques too. It can be a time consuming process and requires a lot of decision making, because you would want the applicant with the highest potential and so forth, but with good HR planning, n following the legal requirements, and possessing good assessment techniques, then it could be a success. AJP sees managerial positions very important to organisational performance. These kinds of roles are critical because they serve to make sure that organisations execute their strategic objectives. The importance of these kinds of positions to the organisation, places a premium on the use of effective recruiting processes. When a company recruits a potential employee like a manager, they would require skills higher than people who are employees only. Firstly, it is important to have good communication skills, because as you are the manager, most of your department will be looking towards you for certain help or queries.
Usually, a company can promote you up to higher levels, if they feel you are performing your job well. If a manager is carrying out his duties successfully, and can become a good leader for the workforce, he or she could get promoted to higher roles within the organisation. This proves to the company, that he or she can successfully do their job, and can have good leadership qualities, which could lead to the managers getting promoted to executive director or a similar role.
SECTION FOUR – Training and Development
AJP is committed to the continuous training and development of its employees, both in the area of job related skills training and lifelong learning for personal development. I would think that a company like AJP would say that its biggest assets are their employees, helping their employees to develop is vital to the success of the organisation’s objectives. Nearly all training practices and procedures will endeavour to support individuals to attempt to achieve these goals. To make certain that training activities support both the individual and organisation’s goals that it is lucrative that all training activity will be planned and monitored in combination with the Personnel Department who will hold the training and development funds.
The Training and Development strategy will be focused on creating a motivated workforce which is capable of meeting new challenges, and is also skilled and capable in all aspects, and would coincide with the company’s goals both short-term and long-term. Professional development, are training needs which are recognised as a means of an employee being allowed to develop their performance, their development as a professional within the organisation or as a means of their maintaining and improving key skills and competencies. Every now and then, training needs may be known as a result of a corporate change which will affect everyone within the organisation, and this would usually come under the same category.
The strengths and weaknesses of AJP training policy, has numerous points. There are the strengths to consider which are flexible and effective reviews and assessments by liaison officers, a valuable impact of training on workplace practice, a wide range of initiatives to promote participation by not so well identified groups and effective, honest and supportive management. These are some of AJP’s strengths in their training policy.
The weaknesses are little promotion of equal opportunities, no methodical preliminary assessment, bad planning and recording of training and unsuccessful internal verification. All of these strengths and weaknesses, are part of the company’s training policy, there is a sort of balance between the two, however if there were more weaknesses than strengths for AJP, then the company would need to think of solutions quickly.
AJP is working towards the Investors in People Award (IPA), because so far the company is enjoying an extreme high and developing degree of employee confidence. AJP has a high set of comprehensive human resources and labour relation policies and that were taken from AT&T. The giving of share choices to all employees, which increased in value as the company’s stock grew over 500% from the beginning of the benefit’s performance. AJP was secure enough, in its own policies and employee relations climate to apply for inclusion in the competition for the “100 Best Companies to Work for in the UK”. This shows that they are working towards achieving the IPA in the near future, as their policies show that employees are receiving good benefits, and the company is boosting their confidence.
AJP is committed to the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment of its employees. AJP assesses the strength of the workforce that reflects variety of the nation. The company policy on EO promotes treatment in relation to the following:
- Religion
- Sex
- Colour
- Sexual Orientation
- Disability
- Race and ethnic or national origin
- Spent convictions
Their EO policy, is effective as employees are treated in fairly and equally amongst each other. From the high morale among the professional and managerial employees, it proves that their EO policy is effective, and that the company does follow and abide by the policy strongly.
SECTION FIVE – Performance Management
AJP manages its employees’ performance by using a top-down approach that balances their philosophical and cultural attributes, the appropriate use to technology as well. A top-down approach is when a company like AJP can learn to do the basics things, like a baby – crawl, walk, run. By doing this, they can manage all aspects of performance from top to bottom. Successful performance management needs up-front assessment of an organisation’s business requirements and strategies, followed by a solid execution plan. Performance management is a result of continuous improvement. Performance management and training and development are linked together, in a way that both areas assess employees’ performances and skills. They boost morale in Training and Development, and this shows in the employees’ performance in their work.
Within an organisation, there is a hierarchy of workers. The higher it usually is, the greater the income as well. This type of information to an employee, would allow them to boost their performance levels. Not only is it about the pay, but also the greater opportunities as well, because lower employees know that the higher the income, the harder you will have to work, so they are driven by this to succeed in achieving higher status within the organisation.
When you employ someone, even if it is just for a day or so, they have certain rights under UK employment legislation. Here are some of those rights:
- They should be provided written details of the terms of their employment within eight weeks of starting the job.
- They should have continued employment if the business changes with someone else.
- They should be given time off in certain conditions, such as maternity leave.
- They should be able to take part in the Trade Union activities.
- They should be given a set period of notice.
- They should receive fair treatment based on the grounds of race and gender.
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They are allowed redundancy pay if they are made redundant after TWO years your employment.
- They should be given an individual, detailed pay statement, at the same time they are paid or before they are paid.
This is the kind of policy AJP should practice, has they should fully be aware that employees have just as many rights as other people too. Also, when they practice these rights of employment legislation, it reduces conflict, and creates a stable environment for both people.