KINGSTON LABOUR MARKET (2001-02)
WORKING AGE (16-59/64) 2001-2002 IN KINGSTON
AGE BREAKDOWN (full and part-time employment) 2001-02
Source: www.statistics.gov.uk
KEY
* Sample size too small for reliable estimate
Pay and hours worked
The chefs in the new Kingston branch get a maximum of £8.50 an hour if they are of grade four and those on lower grades 1-4 get a maximum of £6. The waiters get £4.20 an hour with tips as well and cleaners get £5-6 an hour. They all get double pay on bank holidays and they work a maximum of 48 hrs apart from part time workers who usually have 3-4 shifts a week with no set minimum hours of working.
Productivity
The businesses productivity depends on how many customers they get i.e. if they produce more if there are many customers to be served and they produce little if there are hardly any customers to be served. Generally, they measure productivity by the average times for making items. The more items they make, the more profits they get and the fewer items they make, the less profits they get.
Fulltime/part time working
For the particular branch in Rotunda, there are three fulltime workers and twenty part time workers.
Changes in working practices
The company also tries to please its workers by changing their working practices. This is carried out by exchanging staff with other restaurants since it’s a big company. This helps them get experience in working in different areas and conditions, encouraging more advanced training so that they get promoted which again makes workers feel that their effort is being appreciated by the management and lastly giving them flexible working hours so that they don’t feel that they are being over worked or exploited.
Company use of the information
The company might have used this information when planning its human resources in a way that when you look at the labour market, there are more people economically active and in this particular area there is relatively low unemployment. This means that they will find it difficult to recruit new staff and it can be very costly in a sense that to attract possible workers, they will have to advertise themselves more, they may have to pay more wages or invest more in training. They may also have to design development programmes so that potential employees see there are promotion prospects in the organisation therefore making them feel wanting to join the company.
By also looking at their labour turnover which is very high, they might want to try and find out why many people are leaving. This can help them find the reasons why the workers are leaving and find solutions to them which means they will keep their staff longer. Still looking at their own labour turnover, they can also find out the skill that people who are leaving had and recruit people with the same ones which decreases the budget of training.
Since their work force is in the mid 20’s and mostly part time, they can decide to recruit more people between the age of 25-49 because those between 20-24 working part time are very small size of the population.
When planning its productivity, the company can decide to recruit more people and give them intensive training to become professionals which also increases efficiency.
C1
Analysis of external labour market
To interpret my labour market further, I compared it with that of Richmond, London, & UK with also last year’s trends and these were the results.
The working-age employment rate in London, Kingston, Richmond & UK
(March 2000-2001 and Feb 2001-2002)
From the results above, we see that Richmond had the highest working age employment rate which was 80.8% followed by Kingston which was 78% then UK with 74.4% and lastly London which was 70.4%. Looking at the trends, we see that Richmond’s working age employment has gone down by 3.7%, London’s has only gone up by 0.2%, Kingston’s has gone up by 1.6% and lastly UK as a whole has just gone up by 0.3%. With this information, Pizza Express can decide to recruit workers from London since it has the least working age employment so they will find it easier to recruit people but then it will have to increase spending on transport if the workers are not willing to spend their own money and if they are willing to, Pizza Express will have to pay them high wages so that they can afford the costs. Advertising costs will also go up because they will have to advertise in the media other than on their windows because they are trying to recruit people in a totally different area.
Graph showing working age employment rate in London, Kingston, Richmond and UK (2001-02)
Economic activity rate by sex (working age 16-59/64) in Kingston & Richmond
(March 2000-2001 & February2001- 2002)
From the information above we see that there were a higher number of males in economical activity in Richmond than Kingston with a difference of 1.6%. With the females, the number was still higher in Richmond than Kingston with a difference of 1.5%. Comparing the percentages with last years, Kingston had a very little difference in 2000-2001 than in 2001-2002 of males in economical activity which was only 0.2%. For the females in Kingston, the percentage number went up from 70.1% in 2000-2001 to 75.0% in 2001-2002, a difference of 4.9%.
The higher the economic activity rate, the better so when you look at the figures, Richmond’s economic activity rate is high but it keeps going down within the two years so it can be risky wasting their money to advertise in the area while in Kingston, though the figures are low, they keep going up within the two years so it can be safer to carry out their advertising campaigns in the area if they are sure they will keep going up.
Economic activity rate of males in Richmond and Kingston (2001-02)
Internal staffing information
For the Kingston branch, the company had 20 staff and three of them working part time. Most of them are mainly in their mid 20’s though they have no age restrictions at upper end of age band. Most of them are students or local people of the area they are situated in.
Since the company has just opened, it has recruited all its work force but in the future as the business expands, they may need more staff.
Interpretation of labour market information
When we look at the labour market information, we see that Richmond is doing better than Kingston economically. There are more people working in Richmond which means that there are more jobs than in Kingston. This might affect the company in a way that they will find it more favourable to recruit people from Kingston than in Richmond because the labour force will be relatively cheaper. They will also find it hard to recruit people from Richmond because most of them have got jobs and if any, they might want high wages because there is less competition. With the fact that they are also located in Kingston, they may want to recruit the workers from there because costs such as transport and advertising will be low.
E3
Recruitment and selection
The main documents used when recruiting staff are the staff application form which is used to get details of applicants like their address, date of birth e.t.c. Gathering this information is very crucial because the company can always keep in touch with the applicants, know of any disabilities they have if any and also get information about their qualifications. The second document is the job advert. This is a promotional document of the company attracting the applicants to apply. It talks about the skills needed so the applicants can only apply if they got them therefore saving the company time in sorting out the people with the right skills. It’s made up very carefully with pictures making it very appealing. Basically it’s a form of advertising job vacancies in the company in an easy and attractive way.
Lastly, the job description is also handed out to the applicants. This describes what they are expected to do if successful in getting the job. It shows what the job is about in more detail. First, it talks about the aim of the job then the workers responsibilities, what authority is to be held and lastly the standards of performance expected.
Effectiveness of documents
- Job description
The job description is effective in a way that it’s lay out is simple and easy to understand. On top is the pizza express logo and pictures to attract the reader. It clearly shows that the descriptions are for waiters/waitresses so they there is no chance of a worker in a different field mistaking it to be meant for them. It clearly outlines the aim of the job in relation to maintaining the company’s standards. Second, it talks about the responsibilities that the worker has when doing the job. Too much text is used here but there seems to be only one strange word, “Adherence”. This means that language used is quite easy to understand for the reader. Next, it also talks about the responsibilities the applicant will have to carry out if successful and less text is used here so there is less difficulty in understanding the point they are trying to bring across. Lastly, it shows the standards of performance. All the major headings are written out in bold letters and also underlined to make them stand out.
- Application form
The application form is also a very detailed document. It has got a heading on top in bold letters to show what it is, with a pizza express logo which is also a way of promoting the company and showing its loyalty. It’s designed in a simple way asking for relevant information from the applicants. It has got boxes in which they can fill in the information they are being asked. The company tries to avoid collecting irrelevant information by giving them choices in some of the questions where they can only answer yes or no e.g. have you worked for Pizza Express before: Yes □ No □. It also helps the applicants understand the questions easily. Some questions require a lot of detail and the form provides enough space for the answers like in one question which asks if the applicant is disabled and if their answer is yes, it provides more space to give the details of their disability fully. Lastly, it is typed out on white paper with blue colourings around it to make it more attractive. Generally, no complex language has been used. Everything is simple and straight forward.
- Job advert
Like all the other documents, the job advert is also laid out in a simple way and easy to understand. It is explaining how it is like to work in pizza express by posing questions then giving all the possible answers which are of course attracting the reader to apply. It also talks about the roles and explaining some of the complex words like “remuneration”. The salaries of the assistant manager and restaurant manager are also shown. This is also done to attract people so that they apply. It has got pictures about a man who has been successful. This shows the chances of success that the applicants are likely to have if they apply. Lastly, it has got detailed information about how you can get in touch with them like telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.
Stages in filling a vacancy
FLOW CHART
There are various stages involved in filling a vacancy. First, the job vacancy is identified and then a job description is written up. This is the document describing what the job is about and what it requires the person to do. A person specification is also written out describing what the qualities and qualifications the applicant should have then an appropriate advertising medium is chosen e.g. newspaper e.t.c. The type of medium chosen depends on the size of the company, what type of job is being advertised or even the current financial status of the company. Next, you send out application forms to the people who have replied to the adverts so that they can fill them in after which they send them back and you short list them to get the right ones.
There are crucial things that should be considered when carrying out the short listing process like not discriminating people on grounds of their sex, race or ethnicity. After short listing them out, you arrange interviews for the selected ones where you set the date and time to meet. This can give the interviewer time to make up the questions to be asked and the common ones are normally about the candidates work experience history, why they have applied for the job, what makes them think they will be good at, how they will travel everyday if successful e.t.c. This is a good process because you get to see and speak to the candidates and evaluate how they express themselves, test their communication skills, check how they get on with other people and also check their behaviour i.e. if they are polite e.t.c. you might want to carry out other assessments like work sampling or testing then job offer references are made up. Copies of acceptance and turn downs are sent out to the applicants and the successful ones are given a contract and after their induction they start their job with some training. This is the form of help given to them to get used to the work place and equipment they have to use, know better how the job is carried out in the company and also get used to the old staff. This helps them develop more understanding of the company’s cultures working practices which leads them to becoming professional staff and if very hard working, they can end up getting promotions.
Conclusion
Based on my findings, I conclude that pizza express is doing well with the fact its expanding in other countries which means that it has a big market, a very crucial part in business developments.
