Brand Image for Healthcare Locums - Research Proposal Example

HCL plc recruits highly competitive health and social care professionals around the world (HCL, 2009a). As part of strengthening HCL's position as the UK’s leading specialist in health and social care recruitment services, this project will examine whether HCL should design and implement its professional staff development or hire the service of a third party to improve its HR personnel’s ability to screen and recruit competitive individuals from within and outside the country. As part of the conclusion, whether or not hiring a third party to conduct a special HR training program on employment screening and selection is feasible will be tackled in detail.
Aims and Objectives
The project aims to establish a strong brand image for HCL as one of the leading recruiters of health and social care specialists in the UK and overseas.
Background of the Project
The HR function is a very complex role and responsibility which is not limited to the screening, selection, and hiring of applicants but also to employees’ training and development program. HCL’s customers include local and international hospitals, clinics, social services, local government authorities, and private institutions that need employees with good medical backgrounds (HCL, 2009a). In line with this, training HCL’s HR employees is necessary to improve their knowledge and skills in terms of attracting and matching highly competitive health and social care professionals with HCL’s customers.
Definition of Terms
 Recruitment – “involves the utilization of organizational practices to influence the number and types of individuals who are willing to apply for job vacancies” (Casper, 2004).
 Training and Development Program – a program that is designed to impart specific knowledge and skills to employees.
Environmental Analysis
PEST Analysis
Political
There are as many as 17,000 employment agencies that are currently operating in the UK (UK, 2009). To control employment agencies from taking advantage of people who are looking for work, the UK government has implemented several legislations to protect the welfare of most people against abusive employment agencies.
In the past, the UK government implemented the Employment Agencies Act of 1973 to set standards among local and international employment agencies (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009a). Eventually, Employment Agencies Act 1973 was amended with the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 which legally removed the agency licensing system (Office of Public Sector Information, 2009b). For this reason, employment agencies in the UK could operate freely provided that these companies do not violate the law.
Recently, the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulation 2003 was implemented to prohibit employment agencies from selling other services not related to supplying qualified employees to the government or private institutions among others (OPSI, 2003).
Economic
As of 11th of November 2009, the employment and unemployment rate in the UK was 72.5% and 7.8% respectively (Office for National Statistics, 2009). Since the unemployment rate in the UK has significantly increased since March 2008, HCL should focus on searching for qualified health and social care professionals within the UK before hiring someone who has no experience working within the local healthcare institutions. (See Appendix I – UK Labour Market on the page )
Socio-cultural
Since HCL is focused on recruiting health and social care employees for local and international hospitals, clinics, social services, local government authorities, and private institutions that need employees with good medical backgrounds (HCL, 2009a), the company should ensure that its applicants can speak English and/or other languages fluently depending on the specific needs of its customers.
Technological
HCL can make use of Internet technology to reach out to individuals with medical backgrounds who are currently searching for new employment opportunities. In line with this, HCL has established its business website to communicate its services to healthcare institutions that will be needing qualified health and social care
workers (HCL, 2009a). Read More