Managing HR Issues In Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) – A Case Study

Task 1: HR functions in a contemporary business environment

Govia Thameslink Railway is the biggest railway company in the Southern Part of United Kingdom. It is a joint venture between the Keolis who owns 35% of the shares and Go-Ahead Group who owns 65% of the shares (Wilton 2016). In recent years there have been many conflicts and issues between the management of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and its employees over number of issues such as pay, duration of work mentioned in the contract and the number of employees needed to run the railway service.  These current and persisting issues have made the role of Human Resource manager instrumental in managing the situation with expertise and proper experience. As a HR manager, the issues of employees have to be dealt keeping the interest of the company intact. The following discussion is about the roles and functions of a HR manager in mitigating the respective issues with human resource management theories and practices (Stredwick 2013).

There are several people management issues faced by the management of GTR while managing the employees at work. Some of the people management issues are listed below with proper justification:

• Shortage of staff members- It was admitted by GTR that they had underestimated the shortfall in drivers that are needed for operating the trains. It happens that sometimes train crew were not happy to do for a premium as it rely mainly on overtime activities. On the other side, it is known that overtime requires goodwill that has vanished rapidly and there are just few train crews for filling the rosters. After the strikes, sickness levels have almost doubled since the first strikes were called this year. In addition, an incidence that GTR and ministers viewed as unofficial industrial action as it is claimed strongly by unions (Sparrow, Brewster and Chung 2016).
• Payment conflicts- The Government is paying Govia Thameslink Railway about 8.9 billion Euros over 7 years for running 3 franchises network that is the largest till date in terms of passenger numbers. In addition, Southern rail passengers have experienced several months of strikes, delays as well as cancellations due to long-running industrial dispute for understanding the role of train guards (Sanders, Shipton and Gomes 2014).

The HR Department of GTR need to manage the above people related issues with ease so that there is no further problem faced in the near future.

The first issue is shortage of staff members at Govia Thameslink Railway and this can be solved by the HR Department by recruiting new employees as well as re-analyzing the job process as and when needed. The HR Department should involve in recruiting new employees, be it temporary or permanent for Govia Thameslink Railway. Temporary staff members can work best when they are assigned with flexible job description as well as staffing flexibility and lower service commitment. On the other hand, permanent employees are committed to their job as well as employer need to perform to ensure their benefits that are guided by the services throughout longer frame of time (Taylor 2017).

The second issue is payment conflicts that need to be managed by the HR Department of Govia Thameslink Railway. The HR manager should listen to the story first on what is going wrong and identifying the true motivating factor for the specific situation. The HR managers need to call for a meeting where all the employees of Govia Thameslink Railway are invited and discussed about the payment conflict as and when faced. HR team need to convince the operational workers to render services as it is essential for the growth of Govia Thameslink Railway as well as convenience for the passengers as a whole. Even, the management of Govia Thameslink Railway has to apply the Command as well as Control methods so that workers here are given assigned jobs to complete within a stipulated time frame (Reiche, Mendenhall and Stahl 2016).

Dismissal of some employees can be treated as one of the growing staffing concern at Govia Thameslink Railway and as a result of automation. There is several steps involved in the HR planning proves that is relative to Govia Thameslink Railway and shows a unique situation at the same time (Rees and Smith 2017). The sequence steps are as follows with proper justification:

• Analyzing organizational objectives- The first step requires to analyze the organizational objectives of Govia Thameslink Railwayand identify the environmental analysis that has the capability to meet the needs as well as objectives of relative HR needs.  The main objective of Govia Thameslink Railway should be to reduce absenteeism and treat them with equal opportunity to prove something while working for the organization (Morgeson et al. 2013).
• Inventory of present human resources- The next step require identifying inventory of present human resource at Govia Thameslink Railway. Govia Thameslink Railway is expanding their infrastructure in the Southern part of United Kingdom for mitigating the increase in load of daily passengers. In order to properly implement the expansion of management team at Govia Thameslink Railway, it is important for the HR team to harness the manpower and staff availability.
• Forecasting demand and supply of human resources- The next step need to forecast demand as well as supply of human resources at Govia Thameslink Railway. In order to implement a sustainable staffing plan for HR management, it is important to forecast the background that provides insights of information in the planning process of staff members. Based on forecasting techniques, planning need to be done as it help in identifying shortages of staff members at Govia Thameslink Railway (Marler and Fisher 2013).
• Estimating manpower gaps- The next step need to estimate the manpower gaps at Govia Thameslink Railway and in this case, it is likely to be a surplus. There are 26000 staff members working at Govia Thameslink Railway that is quite a number for any other type of company. For managing these staff members, it is important to conduct proper placement that depends upon qualification of workers and problem lies in underutilization of manpower. It is due to this reason why Govia Thameslink Railway cannot make optimum use of staff members that creates dual problem. The management of Govia Thameslink Railway are of the opinion that the employees are not working properly and not paid much (Marchington et al. 2016).
• Formulating the human resource action plan- The HR manager need to formulate the human resource action plan so that there is proper planning of all the actions in better ways.
• Monitoring, control and feedback- The last step in HR planning process is monitoring, control and feedback that need to be managed by HR manager of Govia Thameslink Railway. Finally, sustainable planning is needed to be conducted by the HR manager of Govia Thameslink Railway as sustainability of staff members can be treated as way to hire the workers by using ethical means. Sustainable hiring will help in reducing the cost of labour and after that proper training should be given to the staff members at Govia Thameslink Railway. In order to solve the staffing issues, Govia Thameslink Railway need to follow the principles of human resource planning for analyzing the current manpower inventory after keeping into account several factors such as organization type, number of departments that work together for accomplishment of common goals and objectives (Jones and George 2015). After the planning, designing of training programs are done based on diversification as well as nature of development programs in the most appropriate way.

Task 2: HR planning in a business environment

It is important to consider the developmental activity that HR department of Govia Thameslink Railway need to employ for effectively improve their employees’ performance. Based on the analysis, it is noted that there are several activities that need to taken into account are listed below with proper justification:

• Various specified training activities- Personality and skill development program need to be conducted by making the workers realize that Govia Thameslink Railway is performing activities that will benefit the workers to become better professionals in the respective fields. The HR team need to schedule Performance Development program meetings for setting the pre-work goals with the staff members (Alfes et al. 2013). The concerned staff will review the personal performance of each staff and will write personal development and business goals the reports of each staff. The supervisor will write the PDP ideas and goals which are required by the workers to fulfill and the supervisor will compile the development data of each worker. Managers of HR team will prepare new criteria of development by identifying the potential areas in which new horizons can be touched. The HR team should realize the importance of PDP meetings and it should be held at least quarterly (Jackson, Schuler and Jiang 2014).
• Motivational activities- There are several motivational activities like agreeing to the proposed pay structure from the workers union. There should be an agreement of the standard of performance among the entire staff members. Goals should be set for the respective quarters and their achievements must be rewarded to boost the morale of the workers. If any worker is not able to perform up to the mark then a feedback report with a Performance Improvement Plan should be provided so that the staff does not feel ignored. In the end, the supervisors and the managers should keep track of the feedback given to the staff and monitor their further development so that a comprehensive Personality Development Program can be successfully implemented (Anderson 2013).
• Other recognition and rewards framework- It is important to work according to recognition and rewards framework so that it can be implemented by Govia Thameslink Railway for boosting the morale of employees on the job satisfaction as well as performance. During the PDP meetings in GTR there should be a comfortable environment for the staff and an interactive session should be there to increase the confidence and familiarity of staff with each other. Discussion on the objectives of the meetings and the achievements plan which the staff thinks is appropriate should be done so that the staff also feels to be a vital part of GTR. There should be freedom for the staff to choose the way he thinks fit for his personal development and there should not be any hard and fast rule (Brewster et al. 2016). Feedback should be provided to the staff by the HR team of GTR to show his improvement level and also identify the potential areas of development.

With regard to current strike action, discuss the significance of industry relevant employment on GTR stance within the following areas:

It is important to analyze the effect of current national as well as EU employment legislation as related to employment issues that falls under specific sections of the Equality Act 2010. Further areas are mentioned below with proper justification:

Pay and wages-  One of the area that need to be taken into consideration is the pay related aspects and wages where the laws stipulate actions after comparing it with current pay structure of employees at Govia Thameslink Railway (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). Acas regulations as well as fair pay measures help at different industries like rail that are applied and implemented in successful ways. According to the Labor Law of United Kingdom every worker is entitled to pay for the work they do. If a worker is ready to work and the employer has not provided work to the employee then also he is entitled to payment. Every worker should get paid at the National Minimum Wage to the very least. If GTR in this case has agreed to pay more than the National Minimum Wage then it should be mentioned in the work contract of the employee. The mode of payment which a worker will receive in GTR completely depends on the management of GTR and there is no interference of law in this scenario. The work contract should also mention the duration at which the wage will be paid to the worker. If GTR intends to pay more than the National Minimum Wage then it cannot differentiate in different categories of workers and it has to pay them evenly. Deductions from the wage which are not approved by law such as taxes and insurance deductions cannot be made without the consent of the worker. GTR should mention these deductions beforehand in the contract if there is a criterion for such things (Aswathappa 2013).

Contracted working times- One of the area that need to be taken into consideration is the contracted working times where the laws stipulate actions and comparing it with the current working time regulations of employees at Govia Thameslink Railway (Aust, Brandl and Keegan 2015). There are various forms adapted in different industries based upon specified needs such as working for 48 hours per week working period for the workers and this legislation is under working time regulations 1998 that had been amended in the year 2007. The other form is opting out for policies that had been adapted by most of the other industries. It is important to highlight the statutory terms as stated in the employee’s contract of employment in the most appropriate way. Working Time Regulations is another issue of strike which workers have taken very seriously. This law came into force in 1998 and was implemented in UK by the Directive of the European Union. This law applied to some modes of employment which are full-time jobs, part-time jobs, staffs working in agencies and other workers who employ themselves casually. As per the working regulations of UK a worker is required to be on duty for at least 48 hours in a week but they can increase the hours if they are willing to do so (Beardwell and Thompson 2014). There is a limit of 8 hours of work in every 24 hours for the night shift workers and additionally they get free health assessment for working in the nights. There is also a provision of 11 hour of rest in every 24 hours. They can take minimum of one day leave in one week. The workers get break for resting if the working hour in a day exceeds the time of 6 hours. The workers are entitled to 28 days leave in a year which includes the bank and public holidays.GTR has to revise these working time regulations and over time regulations in their work contracts of the workers to break the strike and the HR management of GTR has to monitor that these rules are followed in the organization so that workers become comfortable and willing to work for GTR (Boxall, Guthrie and Paauwe 2016).

Task 3: Effective HR practices and performance management in organisations

Conclusion and Recommendations 

It can be concluded from the above report that, Human Resource Management holds a very vital and strategic place in the smooth functioning of an organization like GTR. The workers strikes and issues which got magnified and started effecting the operations of GTR could have been crushed in its crib if the HR management would have paid proper and timely attention to it. Due to their ignorance the matter has grown to a level where, the operations of GTR got hampered which resulted in the inconvenience for the daily passengers who rely on the railway services for their commutation. It can be derived from the above discussion that proper staffing and HR management is required by GTR to continue their infrastructure expansion. GTR needs to understand the needs of the workers and strategically plan for a sustainable working environment it their organization. This report comprehensively describes the human resource functions in a business organization.

References

Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource management, 24(2), pp.330-351.

Anderson, V., 2013. Research methods in human resource management: investigating a business issue. Kogan Page Publishers.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Aswathappa, K., 2013. Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Aust, I., Brandl, J. and Keegan, A., 2015. State-of-the-art and future directions for HRM from a paradox perspective: Introduction to the Special Issue. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(3-4), pp.194-213.

Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education.

Boxall, P., Guthrie, J.P. and Paauwe, J., 2016. Editorial introduction: progressing our understanding of the mediating variables linking HRM, employee well?being and organisational performance. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(2), pp.103-111.

Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P. and Vernon, G., 2016. International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers.

Jackson, S.E., Schuler, R.S. and Jiang, K., 2014. An aspirational framework for strategic human resource management. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp.1-56.

Jones, G. and George, J., 2015. Contemporary management. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.

Marler, J.H. and Fisher, S.L., 2013. An evidence-based review of e-HRM and strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Review, 23(1), pp.18-36.

Morgeson, F.P., Aguinis, H., Waldman, D.A. and Siegel, D.S., 2013. Extending corporate social responsibility research to the human resource management and organizational behavior domains: A look to the future. Personnel Psychology, 66(4), pp.805-824.

Rees, G. and Smith, P. eds., 2017. Strategic human resource management: An international perspective. Sage.

Reiche, B.S., Mendenhall, M.E. and Stahl, G.K. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.

Sanders, K., Shipton, H. and Gomes, J.F., 2014. Guest editors’ introduction: Is the HRM process important? Past, current, and future challenges. Human Resource Management, 53(4), pp.489-503.

Sparrow, P., Brewster, C. and Chung, C., 2016. Globalizing human resource management. Routledge.

Stredwick, J., 2013. An introduction to human resource management. Routledge.

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

Wilton, N., 2016. An introduction to human resource management. Sage.