1. C. Product and Services provided by Scottish Power
Scottish Power is an integrated multi-utility business, which serves electricity and gas customers in the US and the UK. The company’s main activities include electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply services in both the US and UK (Data monitor, 2006). Scottish Power is headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland.
It focuses on three key areas: 1) , 2) safety and .
There are three main business units at Scottish Power:
Source: Scottish Power, 2009.
Scottish Power's sister company, Scottish Power Renewable, is also part of the Iberdrola Group. It provides renewable energy and is the leading provider of green energy products in the UK. These have low carbon emissions and use renewable sources of energy, such as wind power (Scottish Power Ltd, 2009).
1. D. Aim of the research report
Scottish Power is providing gas and electricity to over 5.2 million domestic customers in the UK. The company has a strong market position in UK because of its strong operational performance (Data Monitor, 2006). In order keep face with the high demand and business growth, Scottish Power is regularly recuriting and managing people. The aim and objective of this research report is to find out and evaluate the recruitment, selectin, assessment, performance and reward system at Scottish Power.
2. Current HR practices at Scottish PowerHuman resources management is the management of organization’s employees; consists of all the activities required to enhance the effectiveness of an organization’s workforce in achieving organizational goals and objectives (Alan, 2008). According to HRM Guide (2009) there are mainly five processes of Human Resources planning. Those are: job analysis, workforce planning, Staffing, Training, performance appraisal and compensation.
2. A. Job Analysis
As mentioned by Sparrow & Vernon (2007), job analysis is the combination for job description and person specification.
Source: The Times 100 (2009).
Scottish power has job description and job specification for all job position. While they advert for any job they always provide job description and person specification which gives idea to the candidate whether he or she is eligible for that position.
Example of Job description and person specification at Scottish Power:
According to the Scottish Power Career web site (2009), the job descriptions of the “Black Belt” position at Scottish Power are as follows:
- Ensure alignment of project improvement activity to business strategy
- Co-ordinate risk & issue management, data analysis, stakeholder management, solution evaluation, benefits models and implementation actions
- Understand and integrate internal/external customer needs with business requirements
- Ensure project alignment with other improvement initiatives
- Provide regular project updates to key project stakeholders
- Challenge and change behaviours in others
- Develop process-orientated thinking within teams
- Promote a continuous improvement mindset
- Implement new products, services or processes
- Coach project team and key stakeholders in Lean Sigma, Operational Excellence and Change Management tools/techniques
- Deliver technical training & coaching as required across the business
According to the Scottish Power Career web site (2009), the person specifications for the “Black Belt” position at Scottish Power are as follows:
Minimum criteria for “Black Belt” position
- Educated to degree level and/or relevant business experience
- Evidence of managing business change & business improvement initiatives to successful delivery (project mgt, leadership, communication skills)
- Evidence of effective influencing at director level & across the value chain
- Experience of managing a cross-functional team
Skills, Knowledge and Experience required for “ Black Belt” position
- A strong track record of delivering results
- The ability to manage and resolve conflict
- Experience of implementing changes in a complex business environment
- The ability to think creatively and develop solutions to complex business problems
- The capability to lead, coach and motivate a project team
- Experience of influencing at the highest organisational levels
- The ability to energise ones self and others
- The ability to make progress in an uncertain or ambiguous environment
- The ability to cut through organisational barriers in order to make a vision reality
- Broad strategic understanding at divisional, group and industry level
2.B. Workforce planning at Scottish Power
An important part of HRM is . This involves getting the right people in the right place at the right time (Personnel today, 2009). It also involves identifying the numbers of people required to enable the business to operate at full (Alan, 2009). These people need to have the right to do the job. Scottish Power needs people for the following reasons:
Source: The Times 100 (2009).
At ScottishPower offer a wide range of careers for people with different skills, expertise and ambitions (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). They need people for Engineering, Project Management, Trading, Commercial Development, Customer Service, Operations, Sales, Renewables, Human Resources, ScottishPower Development, Information Technology, Finance, Marketing, Industrial, Risk management, Purchasing & Business Transformation (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
The times 100 (2009) classified the employee need at Scottish Power into four categories:
Career opportunity at Scottish Power.
Source: The Times 100 (2009).
2. C. Recruitment at Scottish Power
Since the 1990s recruitment activity for large companies often takes place online (HRM Guide, 2009). The Scottish Power website provides a wealth of detail about the company and careers (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
into Scottish Power takes at a number of . Two of the most important of these are at the apprentice level and at that of graduate trainee.
2. C. i. Apprenticeships
Objectives of Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships allow new to earn a good wage while working and learning new (The Times 100, 2009). They lead to nationally recognised qualifications. The qualification is specifically related to job relevant skills (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Various Levels of Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are at two levels: Apprenticeships – Level 2 are equivalent to five good GCSE passes or grades; Advanced Apprenticeships – Level 3 are equivalent to two A-level passes or higher grades (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Duration of Apprenticeships
The Apprenticeship programme at Scottish Power lasts three to four years and blends with work based learning and assessment (SP Energy Networks, 2009).
Recruitment methods for Apprenticeships
To apply for an Apprenticeship programme an applicant must complete an online application form. Scottish Power then invites applicants to attend an (The Times 100, 2009). Here candidates undertake practical and written tests. They are then interviewed to check that they have the required to fill the job which is followed by a medical to check their fitness levels (SP Energy Networks, 2009).
2. C. ii. Graduate program
Requirement for Graduate program
Scottish Power's Graduate programmes are for candidates with a university degree (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). Howerver, this skim is mainly for engineering or business qualifications students (The Times 100, 2009). Candidates need to be talented, ambitious, hard working and flexible. Apart form that, candidates must have speical personal qualities, they must be innovative and self-motivated and an influential communicator (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Duration of graduate program
The graduate programme lasts two years and is tailored to each graduate's individual aspirations and business requirements (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Recruitment methods for Graduate program
To apply for a Graduate programme an applicant must complete an online application form (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). According to The Times 100 (2009), candidates who apply for Graduate program at Scottish power need to be able to demonstrate in their application form their (why they want the job) and (their ability to carry out the job). Those candidates who meet Scottish Power's requirements are invited to a one-day session at an assessment centre (Scottish Power, 2009).
2. C. iii. Recruitment process at Scottish power
After a candidate submits online application, Scottish Power confirm the application status to the candidates via email (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).. There are mainly four types of application status. Those are:
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Active Application – It means that application has been successfully submitted and is being considered in line with the criteria for the vacancy (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). .
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Interview – It means that the candidate has been successful at the short listing stage and should have received an email to confirm details of the next step (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
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Vacancy on Hold – confirms that the vacancy has been placed on hold. The candidate will also receive an email to notify of that (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
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Vacancy Withdrawn – confirms that the vacancy has been withdrawn and is no longer available. The candiate will also receive an email to notify you of this (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2. D. Employee Selection Steps at Scottish Power
The process involves identifying talented individuals. The particularly requires individuals with a business or engineering background.
The typical steps in the are of Scottish Power are:
Selection steps at Scottish Power
Source: The Times 100 (2009).
2. D. i. Submission of Application form
The process of selection gives candidates different ways of presenting themselves to best advantage (The Times 100, 2009). A clear and compelling application form showing what a candidate has achieved is the first element (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2. D. ii. Screening of candidates
To screen candidates, Scottish Power managers compare the online application forms to the skills and competencies the role needs (The Times 100, 2009). The candidates who are selected then invited for a face to face interview (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.D.iii. Interview
At interview, the employee has the opportunity of expanding and explaining their suitability for the role (The Times 100, 2009). The successful candidates at interview then invited for an assessment day at Scottish power (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2. D. iv. Assessment day
At Scottish Power, Selecting suitable candidates currently involves the following test at assessment day:
- a group exercise
- an individual presentation
- psychometric testing
- a competency-based interview
In assessment and role play exercises, applicants can demonstrate key such as working, capabilities and potential (The Times 100, 2009). This is important as Scottish Power looks for those people who will have the capacity to develop both themselves and the business (The Times 100, 2009). Selection for Scottish Power also involves identifying people with particular personal qualities including a passion for achieving the highest (The Times, 100, 2009. These include, for example, having the ability to communicate and influence others (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2. D. v. Final selection of employees
After following all the above stages, the confirmation letter has been sent to selected candidates by Scottish Power. According to) Resourcing consultant of Scottish power, Mairi (2009) if any candidates failed at any stage, Scottish power sends him a job refusal stage on that stage. For example, if a candidate doesn’t match the job specification after online application, Scottish power sent him a written application to him by informing that. Again, if someone failed after interview, Scottish power send him refusal letter before starting next step, i.e. assessment day. It helps the candidate to understand that his application is unsuccessful (The Times, 100, 2009).
2. E. Training and Development at Scottish Power
Scottish Power is committed to providing planned learning and meaningful development for all of our people. Scottish Power believe that quality training not only improves the performance and career prospects of their people, but also it drives forward our business and organisational performance (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Scottish Power tries to provide first class training and development to its employees. They also deliver training to their partners and contractors to ensure that everyone and all work meets by them are very high quality and safety standards (Scottish Power Learning, 2009).
Scottish power run their own dedicated Development Centres at Dealain House, Cumbernauld, near Glasgow and at Hoylake House in Merseyside. There they provide a positive learning environment for all learners and continue to build on their excellent reputation for providing first-class development experiences (Scottish Power Learning, 2009).
Scottish Power Learning provides employability training for young, disadvantaged people in the local communities. It operates mainly four programs:
2.E.i School Based Programmes:
This is where Scottish Power help pupils prepare for the world of work (Scottish Power Learning, 2009).
2.E.ii. Community Based Programmes:
These are designed help unemployed young people build their skills in preparation for work (Scottish Power Learning, 2009).
2.E.iii. Work Based Programmes
These are designed to provide young people with vocational training, high quality work placements and nationally recognised qualifications (Scottish Power Learning, 2009).
2.E.iv. Staff Development Community
Community Based Development provides opportunities for employees to engage with a cross section of the communities we serve. Raising staff awareness helps the company understand the diverse needs of its customer(Scottish Power Learning, 2009)s.
Apart from those schedule training and development program, Scottish power train their employees throgh different seminal and workship. For example:
2.D.v. Financial education seminar
Scottish Power has run a series of drop-in financial education seminars to help employees handle their money better and understand the finance-related benefits on offer from the company The employer arranged for 22 on-site education sessions, each lasting 45 minutes, to take place during June and July at its main UK sites. The sessions are provided by the Financial Services Authority, and covered topics such as mortgages, pensions and insurance (Golding, 2008)
2.D.vi. Employee Assistance program
The new-look Employee Assistance program at Scottish Power allows staff and resident members of their family to speak to counsellors over the telephone about health, legal and consumer issues, or to arrange a face-to-face meeting. (Employee benefits, 2008).
2. F. Employee benefits at Scottish Power
The employees at Scottish Power are eligible for the following benefits:
2.F.i. Basic Salary
Basic salary at Scottish Power depends on the job position. Different position has different amount of basic salary (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.ii. Stakeholder Pension
Employees are eligible to join the ScottishPower Stakeholder Pension Plan. Provided that they contribute 5% of their salary, Scottish power pay initially 6% of employee’s salary, rising to 8%, 11% and 14% after 5, 10 and 25 years’ service respectively. Employee receive tax relief on the contributions their pay into the Plan and will also be provided with Life Assurance cover of 4x salary at no additional cost (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.iii. 31 days’ holiday inclusive of statutory holidays
At ScottishPower statutory holidays are added to an annual holiday entitlement (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F. iv. Sick Pay
Employees are application for sick pay after six months’ continuous service (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.v. Occupational Health
At Scottish power, professional medical staff are available at various sites across the UK to employees (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.vi. Childcare Vouchers
This government backed scheme allows employees to exchange some of their pre-tax salary to purchase childcare vouchers - thereby reducing their tax and national insurance contributions and saving their money on the cost of childcare (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.vii. Gym Membership
Subsidised gym facilities are available at several of Scottish Power’s main sites. In addition via their 'Your Choices' voluntary benefits scheme, employees can access discounted gym membership at a range of health & fitness clubs nationwide (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.F.viii. Give As You Earn
This enables employees to make a charitable donation in a tax efficient manne (Scottish Power Limited, 2009)r.
2.F.ix. General Motors Partners Programme
This provides Scottish Power’s employees with discounts off the list price of new General Motors cars, as well as discounts on factory fitted options, delivery charges and car insurance (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
2.f.x. Voluntary benefits
Apart from the prvious benefits, Scottish Power also provide the following voluntary benefits to the employees (Scottish Power Limited, 2009):
- Retail vouchers
- Holiday discounts
- Personal financial advice
- Gym membership
3. Evaluation of HR procedures and process of Scottish Power
Nathalie (2005) noted that Scottish Power announced 450 jobs loose in the year 2005, out of which 70 positions were in sales and marketing. The situation of Scottish power was not so good till 2000. In the year 2001 the Scottish Power had a operating profit of only $90million, but by using its people more effectively the operating profit jumped to $524 million in the year 2001 (Power economics, 2003). This result represents the efficiency of Scottish Power’s HR team.
3.A. Scottish Power’s HR team add values to the firm
The HR team of Scottish Power helping the whole organization by attracting, recruiting, developing, supporting and looking after the welfare 10,000 people at Scottish Power (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). The human resources management of Scottish power is adding value to the orgnization by providing the following services to the organization:
Organisational Transformation
This is where HR team help the business to deliver change through organisational development, re-design initiatives and a range of projects covering such areas as change management, business structures and Iberdrola/ScottishPower Integration (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Organisational Transaction
HR team provide fast and efficient processes and add value by looking at improvements, consolidation and key reporting/metrics (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Employee Capability
The future success of Scottish power’s business relies on ability its HR team to provide the right resourcing, talent and learning interventions (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). Working closely with the ScottishPower Development colleagues HR department of Scottish power is responsible for such areas as Resourcing/Planning, Relations, Talent, Performance and Learning (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
Employee Commitment
Too retain people and inspire loyalty, HR team of Scottish power is committed to providing the right policies and benefits (Scottish Power Limited, 2009). Together with ScottishPower Development, their specialist teams are responsible for pensions, reward, development, engagement and policies (Scottish Power Limited, 2009).
3.B. Effieeint recritment and selection process
ScottishPower aims to create a positive recruitment and selection experience for every employee and prospective employee, across every part of their business and for every level of post (The Times 100, 2009). The Company is committed to handling applications to a consistently high standard and all candidates, irrespective of the outcome of their application, will be treated with dignity and respect. Those involved in the recruitment and selection process will act with integrity, objectivity and professionalism. Online application and face to face interview helps Scottish power to gather information about the employee’s skills (The Times 100, 2009). . On the other hand, face to face interview, group exercises, aptitude test helps Scottish Power to check the skills practically (The Times 100, 2009).
3.C. Satisfactory Training and Devleopment
Since 1996, Scottish power helped nearly 15,000 young people and been recognised with a Silver Jubilee Award from Business in the Community (Scottish Power Limited, 2006). The school based progrm of Scottish power help pupils prepare for the world of work by gaining a better understanding of the skills required. The community base progrm help unemployed young people build their skills in preparation for work (The Times 100, 2009. The Work Based Programmes helps young people with vocational training, high quality work placements and nationally recognised qualifications. By Staff Development Community progrm hundreds of Scottish power’s employees have developed their team leading, leadership, enterprising, presentation and interpersonal skills on a variety of programmes (The Times 100, 2009).
3.D. Benefits from IEX TotalView Workforce Management system
A key part of the improved performance at Scottish Power was the introduction of the IEX TotalView Workforce Management system, a NICE SmartCenter solution which provided the organization with an expanded capability to plan, forecast, and schedule agents to right-sized staffing levels (Viscusi, 2008). Viscuusi (2008) also conclude that, with workforce optimization, and the right tools and procedures in place, Scottish Power now runs a much more effective high performance contact center, with a planning staff of just eight instead of sixteen.
3.E. Evalution of job environemnt
ScottishPower is committed to equal opportunities for all, irrespective of age, colour, disability, ethnic or national origin, marital status, nationality, race, religion, belief, sex, sexual orientation, or other considerations not justified in law, which are irrelevant to the performance of the job (Scottish power limited, 2009).
3.F. Evaluation of employee reward
Scottis power provides wide range of benefits to the employees. Those benefits give several advantages to employee. For exampl, Childcare Vouchers allows employees to exchange some of their pre-tax salary to purchase childcare vouchers - thereby reducing their tax and national insurance contributions and saving their money on the cost of childcare (Scottish power limited, 2009). In the year 2006, the Scottish Power raises its pension age from 63 to 65 (Thomas, 2006).
3.G. Employer of choice
Scottish Power understands that is at the heart of an economically prosperous and vibrant society. The company actively engages with its communities by delivering a number of educational and vocational programmes. These programmes are aimed at improving the employability of young people and providing potential talent. This approach means that Scottish Power is viewed as an 'employer of choice' (The Times 100, 2009).
4. Recommendations
4. A. Should give more emphasize on Health and Safety trainings to employees
Health, safety and environmental laws all regulate the operations of Scottish Power (Datamonitor, 2006). With rising awareness of the effect that the environment has on human health, regulatory standards have been continuously improved in recent years. In 2005, one of the most important developments in this area has been the introduction of the Kyoto Protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gases (Company report, 2006). The protocol calls on industrialized countries to reduce their annual greenhouse gas emission levels by an average of 5.2% (relative to 1990 levels) during 2008-2012 (Company report, 2006). These regulations may affect the company’s existing operations, as the group will likely have to devote a portion of its capital spending to complying with new or more stringent codes (Data monitor, 2006). Scottish power should provide effecting training the people who are involved especially in production area.
4.B. Should hire better employees to improve services
The contribution from the electricity generation segment is still very low in proportional terms (Datamonitor, 2006). Most of the company’s competitors have a strong presence across the entire electricity value chain, comprising electricity generation, transmission, and distribution and are in a better competitive position than Scottish Power (Datamonitor, 2006). A weak generation portfolio is a competitive disadvantage for the company (Datamonitor, 2006). In order to get rid from this problem, Scottish power should hire more expert employees who would be able to help them to improve their service.
4.C. Should recruit wide range of people
Scottish power should give more emphasize on recruiting diverse engineering workforce. It plans to ensure it has a socially workforce. This is important as it will enable Scottish power to reflect the diversity of its base (Kenny, 2008). For example, it is useful to have from different nationalities and backgrounds to communicate with that do not speak English as a first language. Recruiting more women engineers may help to attract female customers (Kenny, 2008).
5. References
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Armstrong, A. & Baron, A., 2004. Managing Performance. 2nd edition, London: CIPD
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Brewster, C., Sparrow, P. & Vernon, C., 2007. International Human Resource Management, 2nd edition, London: CIPD.
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Datamonitor, 2006. Scottish Power, PLC SWOT Analysis. [Online] Datamonitor. Available at: [Accessed 05 September 2009]
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HRM Guide. 2009. Maps and models of HRM. [Online] HRM Guide. Available at: [Accessed 29 August 2009]
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Kenny, H., 2008. Scottish Power: Employee Assistance program. [Online] Employee Benefits. Available at: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=6&sid=7b63d03e-d9da-44c0-9360-684db78e6c52%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=28536786 [Accessed 03 September 2009]
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Nick, G., 2008. Scottish power educates. [Online] Employee Benefits. Available at: [Accessed 03 September 2009]
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Price, A., 2008. Human Resource Management in a Business Context. 3rd Ed. Singapore: Seng Lee Press.
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Scottish Power Limited. 2009. About us: Company Profile. [Online] Scottish Power Limited. Available at: [Accessed 29 September, 2009].
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Scottish Power Limited. 2009. Scottish Power: Career. [Online] Scottish Power Limited. Available at: http://www.scottishpower.jobs/ [Accessed 29 September, 2009] .
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The Times 100. 2009. Scottish Power: Recruitment and Selection in the energy industry. [Online] The Times 100. Available at: [Accessed 07 September 2009]
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Thomas. D., 2006. Scottish Power joins list of firms ditching final salary pension. [Online] Personnel Today. Available at: [Accessed 07 September 2009]
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uSwith. 2009. Supplier overview: Scottish Power. [Online] uSwitch. Available at: [ Accessed 05 September 2009]
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Viscusi, S., 2008. Scottish Power's High Performance Plan Achieved with Workforce Optimization. [Online] TMC net. Available at: [Accessed 05 September 2009]