HR Planning, Retaining and Managing Talent at Virgin Blue - Assignment Example

Human Resource Planning, Recruitment and Selection: Virgin Blue Executive summary: The report focuses on the human resource planning, recruitment and selection strategies of Virgin Blue. It analyses pertinent factors of the internal and external environment impacting the organizations HR planning and job design processes. The report found that it is imperative for an organisation to focus on the job design aspect of recruitment as it provides the basic through which the right candidate could be hired. Further, a job description is an excellent means to showcase the organisational values and goals. With regards to Virgin Blue, the company has been able to leverage on this aspect as its job descriptions provides a clear view about the organisational values. Further, the company has also adopted successful retention policies such as providing a simulating work environment to its employees, which the airlines to keep the employees motivated. However, just like other companies in the industry, Virgin Blue is also plagued with issues such as attrition and finding the right talent. Therefore, the company might look at conducting more campus hires, opening training schools and tying up with institutes to overcome talent shortage. Table of Content Page no. Executive summary 2 1: Introduction 4 2: HR planning effectiveness 4 2.1: Environmental influence on HRP 4 2.1.1: Internal scanning 5 2.1.2: External scanning 5 2.2: Importance of effective HR planning 5-6 3: Effective job design 6-7 4: Legal and ethical consideration 7 5: Retaining and managing talent 7 6: Integrating HR planning with other functions 7 7: Recommendations 7-8 8: References 8 1. Introduction The report focuses on the human resource planning, recruitment and selection strategies of Virgin Blue. It analyses pertinent factors of the internal and external environment impacting the organizations HR planning and job design processes. The report also highlights the effectiveness of HR planning, and especially in relation to Virgin Blue. The environmental influence on HR planning is also studied, which focuses on internal and external scanning. The paper also discusses the issues related to retaining and managing talent and how HR planning can be integrated with other HR functions. It concludes with providing recommendations for Virgin Blue airline. About Virgin Blue: Virgin Blue is an Australia-based aviation company and operates in long haul and short haul segments. The company has around 68 Boeing 737-700 and 800 series and operates around 2100 flights in a week to around 24 cities in Australia and eight destinations abroad. Sir Richard Branson, owner of UK-based Virgin Group is the founder of the company. There are a total of five boards of directors in the company. David Baxby is the Non-executive Director, Member of Remuneration, Nomination & Governance Committee and Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Management Asia-Pacific. Other board members include Neil Chatfield, Robert Thomas, Patrick McCall and Mark James Vaile. Virgin Blue is a public-listed company and was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in December 2003. Currently it has around 5,952 employees. The Chief Executive Officer and the Managing Director of the company is John Borghetti, while the Chief Financial Officer is Keith Neate and the Chief Operating Officer is Andrew David (Source: Businessweek). Virgin Blue follows a very stringent recruitment process and it has been able to tailor its job requirements and selection process as per individual job needs. The process involves multiple selection stages including interviews (face-to-face/phone/teleconference), group sessions, reference checks, health assessments and drug screens, ability/psychometric testing, validation of certificates and police checks (About Recruitment 2010). 2. HR planning effectiveness In order to create a competitive edge in strategic HR planning (HRP), the human resource planning has been evolved as per the contemporary requirements of the companies. HRP is not seen as a regulatory method instead it helps in developing the organisational structure of the company as per its vision and goal (Härtel et al. 2006). 2.1: Environmental influence on HRP It is imperative that HRP should be based on information that is correct and therefore, it is necessary to study the internal and external environment of a company to understand the risk factors associated with the availability and shortage of talents in the industry as well as the company (Härtel et al. 2006). 2.1.1: Internal scanning It is important for the managers to conduct internal scanning to find out whether the current skill sets within the organisation is in tune with the organisation and strategic plan. In case of any gap areas, the manager would be required to recruit employees with the desired skills. Such an internal scanning should be taken place at both micro and macro levels (Idris & Eldridge 1998). The micro level information usually includes details about the skills, performance level, workplace behaviour etc about the employees, while macro level information consists of organisational goals, culture, structure etc (Härtel et al. 2006). With regards to Virgin Blue, the airlines believe in hiring candidates who would be the right fit with the culture of the organisation. The airlines allocates considerable amount of money in training its recruitment process and provide excellent training process to the selected candidates in order to attune them the quality customer service expected from them. Further, the airlines follow high level of employee engagement programs in order keep the staff committed and motivated. Behavioural scanning is also a part of the interview process in the company and the airlines only hire people who are in sync with the demanding customer-oriented culture of the company. Further, the airlines conduct regular internal scanning to understand whether the selected candidates are able to perform their responsibilities properly. The airlines also take customer complaints seriously and investigate the matter. However, the company believes in backing its people in case of issues as it puts in a lot of effort in training them (Breaking in a new culture, 2003). SWOT analysis Strengths: Strong organisational culture, motivated & committed employees, comprehensive recruitment process Weakness: Too much belief in the training process Opportunity: Gaining more talents through word-of-mouth publicity by employees Threat: Employees leaving for better pay and benefits 2.1.2: External scanning Together with internal scanning, the companies are also required to undertake regular external scanning which includes identifying key trends and their impact on the HR strategies of the company. External scanning is mostly conducted by studying the political, social and technological climate, along with understanding the customer behaviour and market conditions. Such a scanning helps in identifying the skill sets required to cater to the current conditions and therefore, hire accordingly (Härtel et al. 2006). In the recent years, the aviation industry has been hard hit by terrorism and communicable diseases such as SARS and Swine Flu. Virgin Blue was also not an exception to these external environments However, due to its policy to keep a tab on the external implications, the airlines was able to formulate strategies and support the government in checking terrorism and diseases, such as training staffs to handle such situations. Further, external scanning has also revealed that the company enjoys a reputed brand name in the market and therefore, receives considerable amount of job applications (Virgin Blue Response 2009). Thus, in order to choose the right candidate, the company has integrated an applicant tracking system. SWOT analysis Strengths: Monitoring team keeping tab on key trends, established brand name Weakness: Implementation of strategies after the occurrence of an issue, need to take proactive actions Opportunity: Recruitment of staff based on goodwill & brand name in the market Threats: Unforeseen circumstances such as terrorist act & pandemic situations 2.2: Importance of effective HR planning Most companies conduct their HR planning at least a few months in advance of starting of a new year, which helps the company in determining the resources required to fulfill the current requirements and the HR may be able to set a target for itself for the entire year to hire the right talent. Further, this also helps in identifying the skill sets of the current employees and formulates strategies to retain them. Some of the most important functions in HR planning and strategy are selecting and recruiting the right candidate in such a manner that it not only provides competitive edge to the company but also alignment with the organisational values and goals (Cook 2003). The strategy and plan also include short-term as well as long-term plans. The strategy should always factor unseen variables and business conditions that might hamper the company. For instance, an act of terrorism such as hijacking or bombing of an aircraft might affect the aviation industry. This may lead to losses for the company and hence job cuts. Therefore, the strategy should be made in such a way that worst case scenarios should also be thought about in advance and prepared for (Hanson et al. 2008). HRP is generally conducted with the involvement of HR managers and line managers. The line managers are especially involved in case of short-term planning about staff shortage or retention of key talents. The entire process takes place in three major steps, which includes demand forecasting, supply forecasting and bridging the gap between demand and supply of talents (Billsberry 1996). In order to find out about the quantity and quality of employees needed to fulfill the organisational goals, the company conducts HR demand forecasting. For this process, computer simulation models are used to understand the current staffing requirements as well as predict the future needs as well. Due to the ever growing aviation sector in Australia, especially in the low-cost category, it can be said that the industry is facing lack of skilled resources (Searle 2003). After indentifying the demand for employees, the manager would be required to understand the external and internal HR supply in order to meet the demand. This means that after identifying the number of employees and skill sets required to fill in the future, the manager must create a plan on how to hire employees to fill the positions (Searle 2003). For instance, in the case of Vigin Blue, the company is witnessing growth in the number of its aircrafts and requires additional pilots, airhostesses and even ground staff. As there is already stiff competition in the industry to find the right talent, the company may look at conducting campus hiring from pilot training and other aviation training schools. Further, the older employees may be promoted to senior positions, through the assessment of their skill sets for a required position. The current employees may also be asked to refer their friends and families for the job postings and given adequate bonus on every hire. These tactics would also help in bridging the gap between demand and supply of talents (Searle 2003). 3: Effective job design Even before hiring or promoting an employee, it is important to conduct a job analysis to understand the requirements of the position and whether the employee selected has the right skill sets matching with the position and the organisational goals (Campion et al. 2005). Such an analysis should be conducted before hiring a person, as once hired it would become difficult to change the position. Often companies that change the job description after hiring an employee may face legal ramifications, which may also result in damaging the reputation of the company. Job analysis consists of three major components: job description, person specification and job context (Chang & Kleiner 2002). A job description highlights the educational qualifications and other criteria needed to fulfill a job requirement and responsibilities. Person specification indicates the skills, knowledge and the abilities required in a person to perform a job satisfactorily, while job context is described as the supporting information like the work culture required from the job (Fornaciari & Dean 2005). In order to help an organisation implement the HR plan in an effective manner, it is essential to create job descriptions that fit with the structure and goals of the organisation (Levesque 2005). For instance, the core values and organisational goals of Virgin Blue is given in detail in the career section of the company’s website itself and therefore, provides an opportunity for the interested candidates to understand the goals of the company upfront and analyse whether they have the required skill sets to match with the company values and culture (Macaleer & Shannon 2003). For instance, Virgin Blue is an innovative company that believes in entertaining their customers by providing various fun elements such as in-flight horoscope reading and singing about the weather. Such an organisational goal is an integral part of the company and therefore, candidates who are dynamic and vibrant would have better opportunities at selection (Leung 2003). The recruitment process followed in Virgin Blue is tailored as per individual requirements. The HR believes in writing job descriptions and advertisements matching with the job requirement so that the indented candidates are able to understand the minimum selection criteria very well (Werbel & Johnson 2001). A very well sketched job description provides the basis for the entire recruitment process, and Virgin Blue has been able to work on this area very well. Further, the company also communicates with the selected candidates on a regular basis to provide with updates about their candidature. 4: Legal and ethical consideration Virgin Blue also follows the various laws and regulations such as Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) anti-discrimination as laid by the Australian legislation. Further these legal and ethical considerations are integrated in the benefit section of career link in the company’s website, providing the intended candidates a view about the company. The term equal employment opportunity means providing similar opportunities to everybody and conducting the employment process in a fair and impartial manner. The EEO regulation in Australia prevents a company from discriminating against employees due to their sex, colour, race, religion, creed or national origin. In order to create an atmosphere of diversity in the organisation, it is important to follow EEO regulation. Further, every individual should be given equal right of employment and employees should not be discriminated based on societal prejudices. Instead, the selection should be purely based on merit (Bennington & Wein 2000). Although, Virgin Blue has mostly maintained EEO regulations, a few years ago they were accused of conducting discriminatory actions during their recruitment process. Some former flight attendants stated that Virgin Blue had refused to hire them due to their age, which was over 35 years. However, Virgin Blue stated that the attendants were too qualified for their entry level jobs and the company could not accommodate their flat hierarchy (White, 2005). 5: Retaining and managing talent Buchanan (1979) describes the job design process as, “...specification of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder.” The process contains four major parts: job specification, job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation. Job specification is defined as those characteristics that are needed to complete a job in a successful manner. It defines the basic requirements such as education qualifications, experience, knowledge and skill sets needed for performing a particular job. Job enrichment on the other hand focuses on providing additional opportunities and responsibilities so that an employee is able to achieve growth within the organisation. Job enlargement focuses on expanding the given tasks that needs to be finished by a team or an individual. In job rotation, the employee is provided with varied opportunities to work with different divisions and groups, so that every employee is familiar with the working of the company on a whole. With regards to Virgin Blue, it has been seen that the company receives huge amount of application for a given position and therefore, the HR has drawn the strategy to make job specifications more targeted. The job advertisements given by the company spells out the exact requirements and the specific work profile, so that only targeted employees who are able to fulfill the required criteria may apply. Job analysis on the other hand is a much more complex process, as compared to formulating job descriptions. In order to perform job analysis, complex statistical analysis might also have to be conducted. Some of the popular job analysis method includes O*NET and Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ). O*NET provides 42 occupational requirements that are generic in nature. Some of these requirements include helping others with training needs, installation of equipments and machineries etc. It also lists out several social skills such as persuasion, motivation and other managerial abilities (Cook 2003). Behavioural analysis is a major part of Virgin Blue’s selection process. This helps the company in identifying the right candidate who are humble, ambitious and gracious, some of the key qualities to connect with the customers. PAQ is considered to be a job analysis method that has been used widely. It is not formulated in a questionnaire format, but is actually a structured interview. In this process, a job analyst compiles information from the division head and employees about a particular job and forms his opinion about the responsibilities. The information collected by the analyst is as per the elements covered in the PAQ (Cook 2003). Together with hiring the right talent, it is also imperative to retain the top performing employees by motivating them constantly and providing them with bonuses and other benefits. The aviation industry in Australia is also plagued with the problem of retaining the top talents as most of the airlines are indulging in poaching and luring talents with higher salaries and benefits (Cook 2003). Virgin is also facing this issue, but has introduced various innovative techniques to retain top talents. First and foremost, the company has a very dynamic job profile, which does not just include serving passengers, but also creating a fun environment within the aircraft, which requires confidence and a vibrant personality. Thus, the company keeps providing training to its staff and upgrading its skills to develop their personality. Such an environment does not set any monotony in the job and keeps the employees motivated to remain with the company. 6: Integrating HR planning with other functions The HR planning and strategy is also being integrated with other HR functions. For instance, in order to identify the right talent internally, the HR should coordinate with the training department to understand the potential and top performing employees during the training sessions. Further, the division looking after the employee appraisals should also contribute during the HR planning stages and suggest parameters that should be made requisites in a candidate to meet certain quality standard (Barney & Griffin 1992). Virgin Blue also follows these stringent quality parameters in its appraisal system and always rewards top performers with bonuses and other benefits. 7: Recommendations In order to retain top talents, Virgin Blue may sign anti-poaching agreements with its competitors. It can also look at forging ties with various aviation institutes gaining singular rights to hire employees from those institutes. Further, it can open its own training institute which would help it in hiring the best talents. The corporate culture and values of the organisation should also be flashed in the job advertisements so that indented candidates are able to gauge their skills with the organisational value. Reference: About recruitment 2010, Virgin Blue Corporate Site, retrieved August13, 2010, . Barney, JB & Griffin, RW 1992, ‘The management of organizations: strategy, structure and behaviour’, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Bennington, L. and Wein, R. 2000, ‘Anti-discrimination Legislation in Australia: fair, effective, efficient or irrelevant?’ International Journal of Manpower Planning, 21: 21–33. Billsberry, J 1996, ‘Finding and keeping the right people’, Pitman, Melbourne. Breaking in a new culture: the Virgin Blue story 2003, Human Resources Leader. 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White, L. 2005, Personal Interview, Assistant Secretary, Australian Service Workers Union, Melbourne. 11 March 2005. Read More