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Suzanne CouszinsCIPD Foundation course in Human ResourcesL3 November 18 CohortAtif Butt1.1 Purpose and goals of an organisation I work at a Recruitment Organisation that is privately owned as well as operating with with privates entities. There are two shareholders within the business and they work in a partnership.Day to day our mission is to provide an efficient and tailored recruitment service to both our clients and candidates. We understand the enormity of a decision to appoint a new employee and also the life changing effect that it can have on the candidate.
With this in mind our team of technical, innovative and forward thinking consultants will aim to deliver a simplistic service to make the recruitment experience as streamline and efficient as possible for both clients and candidates. Our vision is to be the leading recruitment agency within the M&E market and to be able to work off the preferred supplier lists, making us a Tier 1 agency within our field whereby clients and candidates would come to our agency first before looking at others.
1.2 Describe the organisations operating environmentOur main customersOur typical customer would be predominantly private companies that are either Tier 1, 2 or 3 clients within the Construction, M&E, Infrastructure and Offshore industry looking to appoint a new employee/employees. They can be based anywhere across the UK and for the Offshore sector clients are based around the world. The b2b customers of the business will all have an engineering sector within their business, if not be solely an engineering company. The candidates will be from an engineering background, either mechanical or electrical. It would also be these specific candidates looking for employment or change in employment. Therefore we have a B2B and B2C set up within the business as we are providing to both parties, a sourcing, selection and recruitment service. 1.2 Describe the organisations operating environmentOur ServiceWe would offer both clients and candidates alike a permanent and/or contract recruitment solution. Therefore when it comes to the candidates we would be sourcing relevant roles or companies that meet their priorities and arrange interviews to lead to a job with said company and when it comes to servicing clients we will be finding suitable candidates for the outstanding job roles they have given us. Alongside that, part of the service will be checking the compliance of candidates to be able to work in this chosen industry/role. As well as being able to payroll contractors as they will effectively work for our agency opposed to directly for the company. Again this will be in in the for to the Construction, M&E, Infrastructure and Offshore industries.The flowchart below outlines the exact process our organisation will perform on a day to day basis1.3 Analyse how external Factors impact on the business activities of an organisationPolitical – Regulatory BodiesExternal – Many of our skilled workforce must have their 17th Edition Wiring Regulation qualification. However as we come into 2019 it will be enforced that these skilled workers must hold their 18th Edition Wiring Regulation qualification. If these particular candidates have decided not to uptake their 18th edition it leaves our agency in a difficult position to help these candidates and/or clients to find suitable candidates or for us to find work for candidates holding only their 17th Edition. Especially when there is already a huge skills shortage. At this current moment it’s industry standard to at least have your 17th although you’ll still find many with just a 16th edition. In 2019 this will make a greater impact on the business as a majority of our clients will be requesting the 18th Edition and if our candidates decide not to partake in that, it will create an increasingly smaller talent pool. Economical ” International and Local Economy and WagesExternal – In my particular sector of work, our candidates will work on a ‘Contracting’ or ‘Freelance’ basis. This will be at typically an hourly rate. However, with the increase of labour that companies/agencies are able to get from the EU, these candidates will have a like for like skillset and are happy to accept a lower hourly rate than those candidates already in the UK. Dependent on how we proceed with Brexit I feel this will make an impact in the future and already is making an impact in this present day. Moving forward as the cost of living increases in the UK, clients will need to anticipate their budget to keep up the rise is wages to be inline with the increased cost in living day to day. With an increasingly small pool of skilled workers to fish from, our clients will ultimately have to pay the price and in turn, moving forward, as an agency we may have to cut our margins. Sociological ” Skill ShortageExternal – I work in the Building Services sector of recruitment and from first glance you would be able to notice a large skills shortage when it comes to the recruitment of any skilled engineers. There are probably 8 outstanding roles to 1 candidate. With houses, office buildings, as well as metro lines being built and a vast amount of commercial and domestic projects taking place the competition is extremely steep with clients/agencies to gain the best talent and the only factor that wins the substantial portion of these candidates over will be what they are paid. When sourcing candidates it’ll be the case that the majority of them are already in work and content. Therefore these isn’t enough talent to service all the growth in the UK. At this present day and in the future, this shortage is only going to increase, with an ageing workforce and potentially non competitive salaries/rates as well as other agencies being able to pay more (Lower margins) and clients that you may not work with paying more, we are destined to lose out on candidates especially when they are far and few between as it stands. Technological ” CRM Customer relationship management software Internal – A CRM is what we will use on a day to day basis at work and could easily be referred to as the lifeline within any agency. Within my sector you’ll find it’s an extremely fast paced industry and with that the software you use needs to be simple to use as well as streamlined to enable the consultants to process the information quickly and accurately. The CRM is what will assist you in finding the right candidates, the right clients, being able to list compliance, market mail outs, leave notes and run payroll. Therefore with our particular CRM, it is not currently used to the best of it’s ability and when needing to run an extremely efficient and organised desk you need the CRM to be almost 10 steps ahead of where you are. As we creep into the new year it’ll be essential that we are able to access and understand all the capabilities of our CRM to keep up with the influx of work as well as being able to keep our current and future client and candidate pool satisfied. 2.1 The structure of an organisation and the functions within itOrganisational Structure:The structure we have is a mix of functional and flat structure. Due to this being a private partnership business, we still have only very few employees and therefore lack the staff to be able to build up the management within until the business grows in the coming years. Therefore we are divided by function and purpose whereby there is a lot of crossover. The needs of each client and candidate are different, therefore we have laid a flexible foundation to allow the Rubix team to provide a tailored and personal service. We create an environment for our staff to be imaginative and creative, allowing us to provide a service that cannot be matched by our competitors.2.2 How the different functions work together to optimise performanceOur HR and Marketing department will report to the Directors daily. The HR co-ordinator is able to make decisions on hiring employees into our business efficiently due to the minimal, yet almost non existent lines of communication this has to travel through. She is able to discuss this with the director instantaneously therefore streamlining the process and has the authority to bring whom they choose into the business meaning we have the ability to grow as quick as the Director sees fit. However it does leave the Team Leader without much of an opinion from HR as this will come from the Director to the team leader as to where he would see said person within the business. They will deal with any payroll issues, sickness and holiday. Our marketing department works alongside team leaders who are able to go to the marketing department direct and have them work on a variety of advertising through social media or using our database and job boards therefore the ability to sit side by site increases the productivity of the business as this is effectively candidate generation as we’re able to gain traction from candidates applying for various jobs through these job boards, or linked or social media. By having a marketing department that can enable this it means a significant amount of work is taken away from team leaders and sales/recruitment consultants therefore they are able to focus more so on their day to day activities. That being said it is up to the Recruitment Consultants to report back to the team leaders as to what roles are live and what needs to be advertised. Provided that is done correctly, the process is efficient. The sales’ team will consist of Team Leaders as well as Recruitment Consultants. Although the role of a recruitment consultant can be fairly autonomous they will still report into team leaders for activity, or day plans regularly. The Team leaders will report to the Directors on a weekly basis do discuss activity and performance and are therefore able to feedback any concerns straight to the Directors. The Recruitment Consultants will have their team leaders sitting amongst them. Therefore any issue that is to arise is easy to be taken care of there and then. Overall due to the structure of the business it means all across the board we are fairly autonomous in decision making. Which is a good and bad thing just due to how others will interpret it. At the same time, due to this we are able to communication changes to the business in an open and streamline forum. However with this being said the hierarchy in which we have in the business means there is the a slight lack of progression, just due to the structure and the minimalist format. 2.3 How the culture of an organisations affects it’s operations Rubix understand that in our ever-changing world, the need to adapt to new technology, processes and procedures swiftly is continuous. ( ,2015)The culture within my organisation would fall into a Power Culture. Although we have titles our day to day work can be determined by the Director on any said day and there is a lot of crossover of responsibilities. Our Director will authorise what jobs fill, the roles with the least time against them, the clients we want to prioritise. The culture is innovative – as a recruitment agency we must stay at the top of innovation and have those working around us to be of the same mindset. In an ever changing field, we must be at the top of our game to work against competitors in the same market. Recruitment is fast paced. Therefore when it comes to the ways we attract talent, the emails we send, the marketing we do, our LinkedIn and Website advertising we are the agency that can attract top talent as soon as they come to the market as well as being the chosen agency that clients come to when they have vacancies, confident that we can assist. In his book Organizational Culture and Leadership, Edgar Schein (1992, p.12) defines culture as: a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned…that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel’.We embrace a fairly aggressive culture. Recruitment is ultimately sales. There is constant competition amongst recruitment consultants as well as other recruitment agencies operating in the same field. Those that are brought into the business must have a sense of urgency and be motivated by making money. If not, this will be a bad culture fit. We work to KPI’s and overall, gross profit. Without an aggressive mindset you may feel awkward in this type of environment and therefore not be able to perform under the pressure. With the aggressive and innovative culture this means we’re using our initiative, efficiency, speed, urgency, motivation and determination to get where we know we need to be therefore working together to all hit a team and company target, we celebrate together knowing we’ve all come together to achieve. In addition, our team have an immense desire to succeed, measured by their ability to consistently deliver excellent outcomes for their clients. Taking such personal pride as they do in ensuring clients’ requirements and candidates’ expectations are met, you can expect tons of enthusiasm and passion. Coupled with the right skills, knowledge and creativity, this ensures every piece of work is approached with a confidence that we can reach the very best end result. ( 2015)Keeping culture, purpose and values at the heart of your SME – CIPD – May 2014 Neville Pritchard, Chairman of People in Flow, ( 2014, pg.7 ) explains that the culture on the inside of the business will affect how you are viewed from the outside: Your internal levels of engagement, and the internal levels of energy, are going to be reflected in what the customer experience is… therefore you’ve to work on the internal brand as well as the external brand. In small and medium companies, you are very often relying on the fact that the people you have working for you really believe in what you are doing, in order to actually create an edge or to get that little bit extra work, or to deliver that extra bit of service.3.1 How HR or L&D activities support an organisation’s strategyOur organisation has a fundamental goal of creating profit for the business which we all work towards. The 3 professional areas I have chosen are: Moving forward regular contact is made with client to ensure all needs are being met and requirements fulfilledResource & Talent PlanningAssess the various sectors/desks within the business, such as technical, logistics, building services etc. Gain an understanding of what team has the shortfall, lack of manpower.Assess the skills of those whom perform well within the team to understand the essentials that are needed in the next employee.Supporting Strategy: – Bringing on the right employee will help with the end goal as a business, which in this case is profitability. Therefore gaining another member of the team will improve efficiency and productivity to help reach that annual gross profit goal. Should the reason for recruiting be due to expansion solely, it gives our organisation the ability to reassess where skillsets lie and whether particular employees could change teams to excel and help another team perform, or potentially being able to promote from within. Employee Engagement Creating an anonymous survey to see where morale is amongst all employeesHaving 121 sessions with staff Open forum discussion to gain an understand of how employees are feeingSupporting Strategy: -Having an engaged group of employees is what will help drive the business to success. Should anyone not feel a part of this business or disengaged you’re unlikely to get the best out of them. Therefore by doing the above activities HR and therefore the Directors will have a greater understanding of how the business feels about various practices, culture, activity and success. Therefore ensuring that you’re all pushing towards the same goals as a business. Which will hopefully mean increased productivity overall. In turn you may be able to relate this back to any retention issues to solve an underlying problem that is within the business. Performance and reward Review how this is collated, is this down to key performance indications such as telephone time, CV’s being sent, gross profit, interviews arranged etc.Analyse and evaluate with management what the idea of good performance isAnonymous survey as to what is the best way to reward employees and would keep them motivated Supporting Strategy: -Strategic reward is potentially very powerful in helping employers align their reward approach with HR and business strategies, as well as employee needs, to improve organisational performance. Total reward has wide-reaching implications for cultural change in organisations as it can focus in part on employee empowerment. CIPD. 2018. Strategic & Total Reward | Factsheets | CIPD. [ONLINE] Available at: be able to give recognition and reward to employees that are doing well for the business will give them the motivation to continue to do so and feel a valued employee of the company. In this case you could implement a quarterly bonus scheme for high achievers, which would suit the culture of the business. Therefore within the organisation it sets a good pretence to lead by example and in turn with other employee’s being able to witness this, profitability should rise. 3.2 – Understand how HR/L&D activities support an organisationRecruitment: Recruitment plays an essential role within HR activities and the relationship between line managers and in turn the staff. In HR it is their responsibility to be able to source, select and attract talent within timeframes and budgets. This can involve the creation of the job description, conducting interviews, assess the skillset of any particular candidate as to whether they will be a good cultural fit with the business and if their values align. It is HRs responsibility to onboard that individual and understand the needs from the Line Managers as to exactly what profile they are looking for. The end goal is to recruit top talent into the business which will ensure that the business will help maximise growth for the company. Training and Development:Employee Engagement:References: SCHEIN, E. (1992) Organizational culture and leadership. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-BassKeeping culture, purpose and values at the heart of your SME – CIPD – May 2014 Neville Pritchard, Chairman of People in Flow, ( 2014, pg.7 )About Us | Rubix Personnel. 2018. About Us | Rubix Personnel. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 16 December 2018].About Us | Rubix Personnel. 2018. About Us | Rubix Personnel. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 16 December 2018].CIPD. 2018. Strategic & Total Reward | Factsheets | CIPD. [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 16 December 2018].
