HRMT20024 Managing Human Resources- HR Planning and Recruitment

HR planning and recruiting 

The employees of the company are known as the assets of the company. The HR of the company performs the activity of the planning and recruiting the employees in the country. HR planning is the process in which the HR of the company identifies the current and the future needs of the company related to the Human Resources (Reilly, & Williams, 2016). Recruitment is the core function of the human resource through which the HR of the company fulfills the requirement of the organization (Armstrong, & Taylor, 2014). There is a discussion about the challenges faced by the McDonald's HR department in the labor market. The selection of the company is done on the basis of the turnover rate of the company. The fast-food sector is having the highest turnover rate and this is the reason the HR of the fast food sector faced more problems as compared to the other sectors.

Challenges 

The company follows some of the HR strategies to retain the employees or to recruit the employees in the company but the company faces some of the problems. The HR of the company asked the existing employees to share the reference of their family and friends. So that HR of the company can recruit the employees easily at the low cost but this strategy of the HR was not so effective and many of the employees of the company didn't share the details of their friends and relatives.

Selecting the right employee for the company is one of the challenging tasks for the company apart from this there are many other challenges faced by the company while HR planning and recruiting, some of the challenges are discussed below: -

Labour supply

Labour supply is the total hours that workers willing to work at a given real wage rate. The supply curve of labor is a graphical device that represents a situation considering the skills and the wages of the workers (Kawada, & Levine, 2014).  

High wages offered to the labor will attract the supply of labor as it salary attracts the labor. In the fast food business, there is much business who requires specific skills and training, for instance, Maccas; the company needs some of the employees with the specific skills and to hire them the HR of the company have to offer them a good package (Kavanagh, & Johnson, 2017). Though, the company doesn't hire employees with a good package because in the package the cost of the employee to the company is high. The company believes in hiring the employees on the hourly basis and this may lead to the issue.

Most of the employees are now educated enough and this is the reason they don't like to work with the companies who offer wages on the number of working hours and this reduces the supply of labor in the market (Gans, King, Byford, & Mankiw, 2015). These employees demand the yearly income packages system in which a set of an amount is decided and that amount is distributed to the employees on monthly basis. In this package, they get the advantage of the bonus, leave facilities, fixed holidays and other compensation facilities. Maccas HR faces the issue in hiring the skilled employees with hourly wages and this challenge is effective the working of HR. This affects the decision of the HR in regards to the planning strategy of the company.

Suggestions

• It is recommended to the company to target those employees who are looking for the part-time job because those candidates can work with the company on the hourly wages system.
• The company should start providing the monthly packages to the employees who they find the promising and these employees will stay with the company for long.

Labour demand

The demand for the labor is a concept that shows the amount of demand for labor that an economy or firm is willing to employ at a given point in time.

                                                                              (Source: Economics Online, 2017)

The higher the wage rates than lower the demand for the employees in the market. This means lower wages rate than higher the demand for the employees (Lucas, & Verry, 2016). The labor demand in McDonald's is continuously increasing because most of the employees are leaving the company due to the wages. The wages of the employees are becoming a major challenge for the HR of the company and even it is exploiting the image of the company in the market (Gans, King, Byford, & Mankiw, 2015). For instance; McDonald’s restaurants in the UK faced the workers on strike due to the low wages of the workers. The workers of the company demanded the at least 10 Euro for an hour (Wilkinson, 2017). This not only forced the company to increase the wages but also exploited the image of the company in the market.

Image of the company at one place can affect the employees across the world. The image of the company get to exploit that company is not able to pay the fair amount to the employees and this will leads to the challenge for the HR of the company. The HR will not be able to grab the attention of the employees and that leads to the demand for the labor.

Suggestions

• The company should follow the Labour laws so that they can pay the minimum ages to the employees and they feel satisfied.
• It is recommended to the McDonald’s to keep the shift of the 8-9 hours and should pay the extra amount hourly for overtime to the employees.
• The Maccas Company should maintain the image in the labor market by providing the benefits to the employees such as incentives, bonus, rewards, and recognition.
• The company should make use of the marketing and promotion strategies to attract the potential employees as the employees of the company wants attractive packages and other facilities, if employees get to know about the updated packages and facilities they will walk-in for the interview in the company.

Demographic factors

The demographic factors consist of the socioeconomic characteristics of the population such as income level, age, generations, occupations, and other aspects. Most of the employees working at the McDonald's are aged as the work needs the skills. The company thinks before appointing the young people because they have lack of experience, maturity, confidence and decision making and this might affect the productivity and efficiency of the company. These employees might have no longer interest in the company and they can switch the company anytime (Oladapo, 2014). This leads to the challenge for the HR while recruiting the employees but HR should have the skills to identify that the employees will stay in the company or not.

The income level of the employees working in the Maccas vary because some of the employees have skills to perform the work of the Maccas and some of the workers don’t have skills to perform the activity so the company has to expand the huge amount on the training of the employees. This factor can affect the motivation of the employees who are working together.

Suggestions

• It is recommended to the company to provide the training facilities to the young people so that they can meet the required skills, by doing so the employee can contribute to the success of the company.
• The HR of the company should provide the attractive offers to the young people so that they can make the plans to stay in the organization for long-term.
• The company should open a way with the help of which the employees of the company can communicate easily and also the employees should feel motivated.

Other challenges 

The career opportunity for the youth is another challenge which leads to the problem for the HR while recruiting the young employees for the company. The HR of the company offers low prices to the young employees and this is the only reason because of which the HR wants to recruit the young people (Taylor, 2017). Though, while hiring the employees the HR of the company face the problem when it comes to the future of the young employees in the organization. The young employees of the company don’t get the opportunity for the promotion because McDonald’s can offer the promotion or higher position only to those employees who have experience, practical and theoretical knowledge in the field and in the fast food industry.

Suggestions

• It is recommended to the company to provide the opportunity to the young employees as well because the young employees come with the unique ideas, innovative practice and the creative thoughts which leads to the efficiency and productivity in the company and along with this it helps in attracting the young employees in the company.

Conclusion 

The report reflects the challenges faced by the HR of the company while recruiting and planning the human resources for the company. Employees lead to the growth and success of the company, this is the reason the HR of the company have to take proper steps while selecting the employees. The need of the employees is not only for the new outlets but also for the existing outlets of McDonald's because many of the employees of the company are leaving due to some of the other issues. The HR of the company is performing the duties assigned to them and this is the reason they face some problems or challenges while recruiting the employees in the company (Rees, & Smith, 2017). Some of the challenges are discussed above with the suggestion so that company can take corrective steps.

References 

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Economics Online. (2017). The Labour market. viewed on 16^th December 2017, https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Competitive_markets/The_labour_market.html

Gans, J., King, S., Byford, M. & Mankiw, G.N. (2015). Principles Of Microeconomics. 6^th edition. Cengage Learning.

Kavanagh, M. J., & Johnson, R. D. (Eds.). (2017). Human resource information systems: Basics, applications, and future directions. Sage Publications.

Kawada, H., & Levine, S. B. (2014). Human resources in Japanese industrial development. Princeton University Press.

Lucas, R. E., & Verry, D. (2016). Restructuring the Malaysian economy: Development and human resources. Springer.

Oladapo, V. (2014). The impact of talent management on retention. Journal of business studies quarterly, 5(3), 19.

Rees, G., & Smith, P. (Eds.). (2017). Strategic human resource management: An international perspective. Sage.

Reilly, P., & Williams, T. (2016). Strategic HR: Building the capability to deliver. CRC Press.

Taylor, S. (2017). Contemporary issues in human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.

The Telegraph. (2013 January 8^th). McDonald's to become 'Macca's' in Australia. The Telegraph. Viewed on 16^th December 2017, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9787581/McDonalds-rebrands-to-Maccas-in-Australia.html

Wilkinson, A. (2017 August 21^st). McDonald's workers to coordinate strike with allies around world. The Guardian. Viewed on 16^th December 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/21/mcdonalds-workers-to-coordinate-strike-with-allies-around-world