Business 1 Coursework 1 on Enterprise

Identify three reasons why Enterprise uses workforce planning. Workforce planning is the process of analysing an organization's likely future needs for people in terms of numbers, skills and locations. It is an essential process in Human Resource Management as it ensures that a firm has the right number of people in the right place, with the right skills at the right time. Workforce planning often has 5 steps. The first step is the ‘Environment Scan’ which involves managers look at why workforce planning is important, the strategic objectives, the internal and external environment.

The second step is ‘Current Workforce Profile’ where managers look at their current profile, current skills and competencies of the workforce, and current strengths and development needs. The third step is the ‘Future Workforce View’ which is when managers look at what future products and services will be provided by the organization, what the future environment will require, what the future workforce supply and demand is, what future skills and competencies are required etc.

The fourth step is ‘Closing the Gaps’ is when the business has to see what the key areas of need/action are to move from where the organization is now to where it wants to be. It involves basically filling all the gaps that are needed to be filled in order to have a successful workforce plan. The final step is the ‘Conclusion/Evaluation’ where managers can check what the key outcomes of the workforce plan were, how they can evaluate the strategies in the workforce plan and what the next implementations are of the workforce plan. Enterprise is the largest car rental business in North America.

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In 2007, it had 728,000 rental cars in use, employing over 65,000 people with an annual turnover of over 4. 5 billion pounds. The car rental market is increasingly competitive and Enterprise continues to expand its range of services to meet customer needs and wants. Enterprise ensures it has the right people and skills to achieve its business aims and objectives. Therefore it is majorly important for Enterprise to hire, train, develop, and promote its staff. The organization uses workforce planning so it can see what its future staffing needs are.

Three reasons why Enterprise may use workforce planning are: the business may grow into new markets such as moving into truck rental, it may use new technology which requires new skills e. g. global positioning equipment, or staff may retire or be promoted, leaving gaps which need to be filled. Enterprise is constantly aiming to grow larger and along with looking at its present situation, it needs to plan what the future workforce needs will be. The impact of good workforce planning would be eliminating surprises, no delays, identifying problems early, preventing problems, lower turnover rates and taking advantages of opportunities.

If Enterprise didn’t use workforce planning, it would face the opposite of what it actually faces when it plans its workforce efficiently. Workforce planning is very essential and should be implemented by every HR department in an organization. “Being prepared is better than being surprised. ” 2. In a competitive market, what does Enterprise do differently to attract high quality candidates? A competitive market is a market with a large number of buyers and sellers, such that no single buyer or seller is able to influence the price or control any other aspect of the market.

Most individuals search for a company that they feel they can be happy to work for. Businesses recruit applicants for various reasons, for example, if it’s a new business, if the business is expanding or if an employee has been dismissed or has resigned thus leaving a vacant post which needs to be filled. Applicants vary. This means that individuals applying for a job will have different personal goals, different types of skills ;amp; qualifications, different personalities, different family backgrounds, different education, different strengths ;amp; weaknesses and so on.

There also will be differences between applicants applying for the same job as every human is different, of course. Businesses have to advertise a job and potential applicants will apply for the job with a hope to get selected and fill the vacant post. Since every individual is different, this will mean that some applicants applying for a job will be much better at that particular job than other applicants. Now, every business will want to select the most suitable applicant for a job. The business will select the applicant that they feel will prove to be most profitable.

This suggests the obvious reason as to why there is intensive competition between businesses in the same market when it comes to attracting high quality applicants. An applicant who possesses a high level of competencies, experience and other various qualities will prove to be beneficial to one company whilst a threat to a rival. So, businesses try and carry out unique methods of attracting the most suitable candidate for an available job. In order to attract high quality candidates, Enterprise is raising the company profile within UK universities using Campus Brand Managers.

These are students or interns who work for Enterprise and act as liaisons for potential applicants. Other activities to attract university applicants include: presentations on the company, relationships with clubs and organizations, attending Careers Fairs, ‘drop-in’ sessions, skills sessions, and mentoring programmes. Students can also visit Enterprise and spend time learning about how it does business and what opportunities it offers. Enterprise offers a good salary and training as part of its benefits. However, the real attraction is the chance of a career rather than just a job.

Most employees start out as Management Trainees with the potential to progress to Vice President. Applicants would be high attracted upon hearing that ‘most’ employees in Enterprise progress to Vice President. Employees also have opportunities to specialize in specific areas such as finance, human resource management, vehicle acquisition, risk management and many others. This allows individuals to develop their career path as they progress within the company. Also, Enterprise makes every effort to ensure that its workforce is representative to the cultural and ethnic diversity in the wider population.

It believes in cultural awareness. This is a positive sign for applicants as nobody wants to face racism and discrimination, and instead look forward to working in a friendly environment where individuals are noticed according to their performance at work, rather than their appearance, age, sex and race. Enterprise has an online recruitment process. This strategy improves the speed and efficiency of the application for both the company and the applicant, the website provides lists of jobs available and also provides information about the company culture and values.

This allows applicants to get a good idea of whether Enterprise would suit them. An ‘internship’ scheme is available for university students. It gives students an opportunity to work with Enterprise. Students gain valuable experience. They even begin on-the-job training at a branch office and take on the same responsibilities as management trainees and learn about sales, marketing, customer service, business management and administration support. The Enterprise Graduate Management Trainee programme offers graduates a fast-track career path with opportunities for self development and quick progression.

In a short time, the graduates can move up to a Management Assistant and then on to Assistant Manager. This form of quick progression is a motivator for many people as everybody wants to work in a place where they can feel valued and where they can really exploit their potential to reach the highest rank possible in their career. The opportunity for a successful career also gives employees the incentive to stay in Enterprise in the longer term. Enterprise advertises its vacancies and opportunities across a wide range of media such as newspapers, magazines and online.

Advertising a job is very essential for any business as it informs the public and methods such as advertising in newspapers and online can help give this information to a much larger number of people which then means that there will be an opportunity for more and higher quality candidates! To target graduate recruits, Enterprise has developed a website – ‘Come Alive’ which shows potential employees the benefits of career opportunities with Enterprise and provides a medium through which students can also submit their applications.

Applicants also like to see current employees’ comments about a company, so the website presents profiles of Enterprise employees with their career stories. Upon seeing rapid successful career stories, individuals with potential will feel that Enterprise is the right place for them to develop their career. However, with intense competition for attracting candidates, it should be taken into consideration that there are other large businesses that have adopted a range of innovate ideas.

For example, Tesco supermarket advertises on the television and also has a talent plan for internal recruits. Therefore, Enterprise should be aware of the fact that there are other rivals with different methods of attracting individuals. However, Enterprise engages in multiple various methods of attracting suitable candidates which makes it hold a strong position in the competitive market of attracting applicants. What competencies does Enterprise look for when recruiting in order to maintain its high levels of customer service? Competencies are the level of knowledge and skill required to enable a person to achieve a standard in a job or task.

Every job requires a certain level of competencies depending on the position of that post. It is significant that an employee meets with the competencies required by a business as this will allow him/her to benefit the company with his/her knowledge, skills, creativity, ideas and hard work. A business often needs to recruit candidates internally and externally. Internal recruitment is when there is a job vacancy from within the company its internal, while external recruitment is when there is a job vacancy which requires external candidates applying for a post. Enterprise is a business that is seeking rapid growth and expansion; therefore it needs to recruit more external high quality candidates that have the right competencies to work for the business as well as new ideas which can prove positive for the company. Enterprise seeks competencies in its recruits both for an immediate job role and also for development over the longer term to support the business growth.

Human Resource managers in the company use job description and job specification to match job roles with competencies. A job description summarises a job role within an organization and lists the main tasks. A personal specification highlights the characteristics a candidate needs for a post, as well as the desirable qualities the company is looking for. Enterprise combines these two standard documents together by using a skills and competencies framework. Enterprise aims at recruiting employees with the above competencies as these make up an efficient worker who can majorly contribute to the business. As the company’s concentration is on expanding its workforce capacity, it will obviously have to set particular competencies which employees will be equired to meet as this will enable Enterprise to grow larger as a whole. The benefits of competencies being met for Enterprise would be: providing customers with the exact service that they need, deals with all types of customers including complaints, coping with changing circumstances, delivering to high standards, growing the leaders and managers of the future, and supporting ;amp; maintaining the professional Enterprise reputation. What would happen if Enterprise didn’t focus on setting essential competencies when recruiting candidates?

Several problems could arise such as lack of communication, demotivation ;amp; alienation, lack of control, poor customer service, bad leadership and management, higher staff turnover, lower revenue etc. This would cause serious repercussions and damage to the business’s brand name. Since Enterprise is a service-orientated business and operates in a highly competitive marketplace, it must deliver high levels of customer service to keep customers satisfied.

When the company’s focus is to grow, it needs to make sure that it has customer loyalty; it needs to make sure it has a high market share when entering new markets, and it also needs to try and ‘steal’ customers of other rivals. Therefore, Enterprise’s employees need to have the competencies which it requires as this also helps the business to achieve its aims and objectives. 4. How does Enterprise's strategy of providing a career path benefit the company? Most people apply for jobs with a hope that the firm will be most suitable for them and that they can progress in the longer term.

Enterprise's specialty is that it aims at providing employees with a career rather than just a job. Therefore, it's strategy is to provide a career path for employees. A career path is a flexible line of progression through which an employee moves during their employment with an organization. Such strategy gives employees a sense of direction as well the opportunity to obtain their personal aims and objectives. It gives them an incentive to strive for promotion and success so that they can exploit their full potential and reach self actualization.

In Enterprise, most employees start out as Management Trainees with the potential to progress to Vice President/General Manager. Employees also have opportunities to specialize in specific areas such as finance, human resource management, vehicle acquisition, risk management and many others. Enterprise's strategy of providing a career path is highly beneficial to the company, as employees that are highly motivated and strongly determined to develop their career path, will deliver high levels of customer service. This will lead to high levels of customer satisfaction which is a key driver of growth for Enterprise.

If the company didn’t pay much heed to the needs and wants of its employees, it would start facing problems as staff would feel demotivated and alienated. Enterprise’s well established name as well as its constant aim to grow larger relies heavily on employees delivering highest possible levels of customer service. Employees who feel they are not valued by the business and don’t have the desire to work hard in order to progress along their career, are obviously not going to deliver the high quality service that customers expect from a well reputed business. Unhappy customers would not be very likely to return to the business.

Therefore, such an action would only harm the business’s reputation. However, it is not just a career path that determines the motivation of employees but this factor does hold a strong position it terms of motivating them. So, why does providing a career path benefit the company? Because it gives individuals confidence, determination, and an incentive from within, to work hard and progress in their career. Thus resulting in high levels of customer service which will simultaneously satisfy customer needs and wants, which will in turn give the business a good reputation and opportunity for more growth.

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