A Comprehensive Overview of a Leading Multinational Financial Institution

Introduction to HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc, is a British multinational investment bank and financial service providing business. The bank is considered to be the largest bank in Europe with total assets of around US$2.715 trillion, recorded in the year 2020 (Bakator et al. 2019). The business was first established in the year 1865 and headquartered in London, UK. The present form of establishment of the organization was made on 1991 as a new group holding company in London which has served the growth and sustenance-based needs of the business while retaining the brand image. The mission of HSBC is to become world’s largest financial and banking organisation that will serve millions of customers across the globe to fulfil their ambition and hopes (www.hsbc.com, 2020). The vision of this organization to becomes leading international bank in the world that can offer wide ranges of financial services to its customers thereby maintaining healthy and trustworthy relation with customers. The corporate objectives of HSBC are to value the diversity and differences among skill, abilities and expertise of employees thereby providing them with a positive, synergistic and creative workplace in which they can work collaboratively to meet common organisational goals (www.hsbc.com, 2020).

Importance of workplace planning and role of strategic HRM in resourcing needs for global business

Workforce planning can be defined as the continuous optimisation of the organisational processes in terms of determining the priorities, needs and resources of the organisation (Zhou et al. 2021). In modern business world, an effective workforces planning is crucial for any company to fill the workforce gaps by conducting proper planning for recruitment of the right talents. A workforce planning is important in filling this gap of demand and supply by recruiting, training the right people and enhancing their productivity (Diaz‐Carrion et al. 2019). An effective workforce planning is highly effective in the recruitment and selection process, which assists HR manager to determine needs and demand of the organisation based on which they can develop the recruitment objectives. An effective workforce planning is important for the HRM of an organisation to avid risks of malalignment of resources thereby boosting the organisational productivity as well as efficiency by improving the overall resources management.

A strategic HRM plays crucial roles in maintaining an effective workforces planning (Glaister et al. 2018). The strategic HRM of HSBC will consider and evaluate the long term and short-term goals to develop an effective workforce plan. In this context the HRM of the HSBC Plc plays crucial roles in determining and analysing the long term and short terms goals in this organisation in terms of detecting that whether their gaols are enough relevant and realistic to meet the demand gaps of this company. Another important role the HRM of HSBC Plc perform in relation to conduct an effective workforce planning is maintaining a well-structured supply analysis. Though effective supply analysis strategic HRM of HSBC can boost the necessary skill and abilities in the workforce by recruiting the highly skilled staffs, thereby improving the supply as well as productive of organisation (Harney and Collings, 2021). Strategic HRM is strongly associated in determining the future skill gaps in the organisation. In this context, strategic HRM in the HSBC needs to conduct thorough research on the future demand and available man-power in the organisation thereby setting the right recruitment and selection approaches to hire sufficient numbers of best suited staffs to reduce the future skill gaps (Malik et al. 2020). Moreover, the strategic HRM plays crucial roles in analysing the current market demand based on which HRM can conduct the training and skill development program for entire workforce to boost their skill and abilities. In this context, the strategic HRM of HSBC needs to analyse what types of skill and talent the organisation needs to grab the strong competitive advantages in the international market.

Strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to recruitment and selection

Strength:

Recruiting people for any organization by using the social media advertisement is one of the most preferred processes in modern HRM practices (Njoku et al. 2019). The strength of this process is it reduces the times for the employers of an organization thereby fastening the overall process of recruitment. In case of HSBC Plc., the use of social media recruitment would be a good idea in which the HRM can not only reduce the overall time for recruitment but also can be connected to high number of candidates with diverse skill and professional knowledge who will are able to work on any work environment thereby assisting the organization to grab the high value competitive advantages in the international market.

Weakness:

However, Zhou et al. (2021) opined that the use of social and digital media channels for advertising on the jobs might actually increase the cost of operations for the business while recruiting a handful of talents. On the other hand, business HRs makes use of printed advertisements in order to conduct recruitment of local people in the organization. The printed advertisements are costly and have lower coverage which might affect the capability of the organization in attracting better benefits out of it. However, the use of the printed advertisements is efficient towards providing the businesses with efficiency in recruiting localized talents which would help in retaining continuity of operations.

Interview:

Strength:

Face to face interview is although considered by many hrms as the backdated and time-consuming process, it is still acknowledged by many organizational leaders as the best option to obtain the clear understanding on the skill, professional abilities and smartness of candidates (Pereira et al. 2017). As HSBC Plc is a famous international financial organization, the HR assistant can emphasize on the face-to-face interview process in which it would be easier for this company to select the best suited candidate who can work on the common organizational goals and deal with any impediments coming from the external market.

Limitations:

Selection of the candidates are made through simple interviews, two step assessments like psychometric testing and interviews or even reasoning or aptitude capability of the candidates. In this connection, it has been observed that simple interviews might affect the capability of the HR managers in developing a clear identification of the capability of the candidate or the fitness of the same towards the job profile. On the other hand, the utilization of the aptitude testing and psychometric testing aspects of the candidates cannot guarantee on the conduction of authentic assessment on the capability of the candidates while selecting the same for the job positions. Therefore, it might be stated that the use of subtle amount of rationale while selecting the candidates is integral towards improving the scope of operations of an HR department.

Benefits and limitations of two HRM practices for HSBC:

Learning development and training in HSBC

Benefits:

In modern banking industry, continuous training, development and learning are crucial for all the organisational staffs to improve their skill and professional standard to meet the ever-changing demand of customers. Following are the benefits that HSBC can experience through conducting effective learning, development and training in the workplace.

Improving organisational performance:

As a famous internal banking and financial organisation, HSBC has to deal with several external market challenges such as the changing customer demand, ever-changing buying behaviours of clients, increasing rivalries in the external market and the gaps in internal demand and supply framework in the company (Ren and Jackson, 2020). In this context, it is crucial for the HR assistant of this company to emphasize on enhancing the overall productivity of the entire workforce thereby boosting the overall organisational productivity. Continuous training, learning and development within the workplace would be one of the most effective techniques in reinforcing new skills, knowledges and professional behaviour in HSBC (Pereira et al. 2017). Through this process, HR assistant can improve the professional standard, accountability and work process of each staff of HSBC which will assist this company to deal with any impediment in the external market thereby grabbing strong competitive advantages.

Reduce wastage:

Through providing continuous training, development and learning to the workforce, HRM of HSBC plc can train each staff on how to work efficiently by using minimum resources thereby reduce the wastage of resources (Saha et al. 2017). Through providing proper training on maintaining proper resources management, HRM can assist the workforce to reduce the overall management and operation cost for HSBC which will help this company financially.

Develop innovative skill:

Through providing, training, development and learning opportunities to the workforce, the HRM of HSBC can help employees to shape their existing skills thereby developing innovative skill and knowledge that can enable them to provide the productive ideas and effective strategies to HRM that can be applied to grab a strong competitive position in international market.

Effect on concentration:

Due to huge job pressure, in most of times it is seen that staffs who work in the banking companies are unable manage the effective balance between training and the task due to their huge workload (Sivapragasa and Raya, 2018). As HSBC deals with millions of customers, employees have huge workload in each day. In this context, conducting training and learning program can interfere with the concentration of employees to their work which can pose adverse impact on their productivity.

Increases stress:

As HSBC is the famous financial organisation which deals with wide ranges of financial services, the employees of this organisation often have to deal with overburden of task (Zhou et al. 2021). In this context the training and development program can pose extra stress on them which can pose adverse impacts on that work process and ability of meeting organisational target.

Benefits and limitations of Job and workplace design in HSBC

Benefits:

The job and workplace design acts as an integral part of the organizational operations. The efficient design of the jobs stimulates and leads an organization towards achieving the strategic outcomes. According to Diaz‐Carrion, López‐Fernández and Romero‐Fernande (2019), business leaders design jobs in accordance with the changing needs and requirements of the business environments. Effective and well-structured workplace design of HSBC ensures the continuity of the business operations while dealing with the changing business contexts. Sivapragasam and Raya (2018) opined that efficient functioning of a business organization is critically determined through the critical success factors that are related to the design of the workplace and the contentment or commitment of the employees. In this connection, it has been observed that HSBC’s efficient job and workplace designs are mostly integrated towards attaining the cohesive and sustenance related strategic objectives of the business.

The organization employed a customer centric model towards operations while inducing a culture of supporting the customer needs among the people in the workplace. The target oriented and competitive workplace scenario of the organization has significantly contributed towards ensuring the success factors and growth.

Limitations:

However, it has been observed that the development of the customer-oriented culture with increased competition has created a situation of workload and stress in the workplace which has significantly affected the morale and psychological wellbeing of the employees. Stark and Poppler (2017) opined that the increased competition and stress within a workplace affects the capability of a business in ensuring the growth and development of the business activities. Therefore, it might be stated that the rigid job design and job requirements within the organization has been affecting the capability of the employees in improving their skills and knowledge and addressing the change requirements.

Relevance of HRM to organizational efficiency, effectiveness and profitability

HRM activities focus towards identifying talents and empowering the same towards achieving the strategic organizational goals. According to Malik, Froese and Sharma (2020), most businesses take the initiative of identifying skilled and experienced talents while sourcing and retaining the same from the international markets through extensive HR practices. Human resource managers and personnel in a business advertise, recruits, trains and manage the performance of the workforce. The recruitment, selection and placement related activities of a HR manager assists a business in sourcing efficiently skilled and experienced workforce in order to maintain the continuity of the business operations. On the other hand, it has been observed that the HRM activities include the provisions of extensive training and development activities which focuses towards improving the skills and knowledge of the stakeholders or the employees which again contributes towards the profitability and sustenance of the businesses in the long run.

Importance of employee relations and its impact on HRM decision making

A healthy and positive employee relation is fundamental to maintain a systematic and highly productive HRM decision making (Sivapragasa and Raya, 2018). Employee relation poses potential impacts on how HR mangers will manage any organisational situation by taking right decisions regarding maintaining sustainability of organisational productivity and brand image (Zhou et al. 2021). In this context the HR mangers of HSBC emphasize on maintaining trustworthy and healthy relationship with staffs to maintain shared decision-making process which allows HR mangers to work collaboratively with staffs thereby improving their productivity and professional skill. Positive and good work relation with employees enables HR mangers of HSBC to make the maximum participation of all staffs into any official task thereby developing a highly creative and productive work environment.

Key elements of employment legislation and the impact it has on HRM decision-making

Employment legislations hold a series of provisions and elements which guides the policies and decisions that are undertaken or formulated by an HR personnel in a business. It has been observed that elements like equality and non- discriminatory practices are mostly derived from the legislative requirements. The imposition of the element in the HR strategy has empowered the emergence of equal payments, equal treatment and the like which has significantly supported the businesses in addressing their operations through ethical means.

The application of HRM practices and rationale for its application

According to Stahl et al. (2020), the business growth of an organisation depends in which HRM practices are applied in this organisational framework and whether these HRM practices are relevant to meet organisational needs. The HR manager of HSBC believes in applying the appropriate HRM practice that can be highly effective not only in promoting the organisational productivity but so improving individual productivity of each staff.

HSBC conduct well-organised employee training and career development program for all its staffs. The rationale for applying this HRM practices is it will allow employees to understand their professional strengths and weakness and then work the weakens to improve their professional skills (Ren and Jackson, 2020). Career development program is highly effective for all the employees in which staffs are advise and guided by the highly skilled and experienced organisational managers regarding how to involve a into continuous professional development plan.

Another most important HRM practice that the HR team of HSBC applies into practices is transparent and performance-based facilities to staffs. The rationale behind applying this practice, is to avoid any risk of personal preference or unfair practice to employees. Under this HRM practice, HR mangers ensure that each staff will receive the financial rewards such as incentives and salary hike based on his or her annual performance (Sivapragasa and Raya, 2018). This HRM practice of performance-based facilities help HR mangers to develop a fair workplace in which equal job opportunities are provided to every staff and all employees are free from any kind of bias or discrimination

HSBC believes on developing a creative and modern workforce which will be able to take any work-related challenge and can cope up with any market related issues to maintain strong competitive positive of the company in international market (Kennedy, 2017). In this context, the HR team of HSBC emphasizes on motivating employees to think beyond the conventional marketing and develop some unique and innovative market ideas that will enable the company to achieve its long-term goals. The rationale behind this HRM practice is to develop a workforce which is highly resilient to any market environment and can overcome any work-related situation by applying modern and highly effective strategies.

References

Bakator, M., Petrović, N., Borić, S. and Đalić, N., 2019. Impact of human resource management on business performance: A review of literature. Journal of Engineering Management and Competitiveness (JEMC), 9(1), pp.3-13.

Chaudhry, N.I., Aftab, I., Arif, Z., Tariq, U. and Roomi, M.A., 2019. Impact of customer-oriented strategy on financial performance with mediating role of HRM and innovation capability. Personnel Review.

Diaz‐Carrion, R., López‐Fernández, M. and Romero‐Fernandez, P.M., 2019. Evidence of different models of socially responsible HRM in Europe. Business Ethics: A European Review, 28(1), pp.1-18.

Glaister, A.J., Karacay, G., Demirbag, M. and Tatoglu, E., 2018. HRM and performance—The role of talent management as a transmission mechanism in an emerging market context. Human Resource Management Journal, 28(1), pp.148-166.

Harney, B. and Collings, D.G., 2021. Navigating the shifting landscapes of HRM. Human Resource Management Review, p.100824.

Kennedy, H., 2017. The role of business sustainability in human resource management: A study on Indian manufacturing companies. The South East Asian Journal of Management.

Malik, A., Froese, F.J. and Sharma, P., 2020. Role of HRM in knowledge integration: Towards a conceptual framework. Journal of Business Research, 109, pp.524-535.

Njoku, E., Ruël, H., Rowlands, H., Evans, L. and Murdoch, M., 2019. An analysis of the contribution of e-HRM to sustaining business performance. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Pereira, V., Malik, A. and Froese, F.J., 2017. Mapping the impact of Asian business systems on HRM and organisational behaviour: Multi-level comparative perspectives. Journal of Asia Business Studies.

Ren, S. and Jackson, S.E., 2020. HRM institutional entrepreneurship for sustainable business organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 30(3), p.100691.

Saha, N., Gregar, A. and Sáha, P., 2017. Organizational agility and HRM strategy: Do they really enhance firms’ competitiveness?. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 6, pp.323-334.

Sivapragasam, P. and Raya, R.P., 2018. HRM and employee engagement link: Mediating role of employee well-being. Global Business Review, 19(1), pp.147-161.

Stahl, G.K., Brewster, C.J., Collings, D.G. and Hajro, A., 2020. Enhancing the role of human resource management in corporate sustainability and social responsibility: A multi-stakeholder, multidimensional approach to HRM. Human Resource Management Review, 30(3), p.100708.

Stark, E. and Poppler, P., 2017. Evolution of a strange pathology: HRM as a strategic business partner and employee advocate in the USA. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 29(1), pp.1-14

Zhou, Y., Liu, G., Chang, X. and Wang, L., 2021. The impact of HRM digitalization on firm performance: investigating three‐way interactions. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 59(1), pp.20-43.

Appendices

Job summary:

Providing the best possible administrative support to the Human Resource team by performing ranges of HR responsibilities including maintaining automated and manual personnel records of employees.

The post holder would be recruited to the Human resource department of HSBC as a human resource staff. However, the post holder can also be assigned to perform the other duties regarding administrative responsibilities while required.

Specific Responsibilities:

Assisting HR mangers as well as employers of this company to prepare suitable job description for necessary designations

Searching for suitable candidates for a designation from different job portals and then select the best-ever job profiles of candidate

Sending emails to selected candidates regarding job description and interview letter.

Conduct a systematic payroll management which includes preparing the payroll MIS reports for each employee, answer all the queries regarding payroll to employees, and collecting information regarding the payroll from each department.

Day attendance monitoring for each staff.

Administering the professional needs of each employee for improving employee’s performance standard and skill such as training and career development program.

Promote employee motivation and employee engagement by providing them the best possible support regarding meeting their economic, knowledge and training needs.

Helping staffs regarding income tax returns, incentives, salary hikes and annual salary related issues.

Administering that all the statutory guidelines are followed and implemented in the company regarding maintaining a fair and productive workplace.

Qualification:

Candidates must have:

Minimum 3 years of experiences in Hunam resources field.

A graduate degree at any stream

Basic computer knowledge with skill in operating automated data entry process, MS power point, Excel, worksheet formation and MS access.

Excellent verbal and written communication skill

Excellent Spoken English skill

Excellent time management, decision making and problem-solving skill.

Good teamwork ability and high resilience

Ability to work independently

To apply:

Kindly submit your resume with proper cover letter at the below maintained Email id. For any queries kindly call at the career-support number which is given below:

Mail id: jobcareer.hsbc@gmail.com

Ph: 22345670 (from 10 am- 6 pm)

Job advertisement:

Job designation: Human Resource assistant

Number of vacancies: 34

Location: HSBC UK, 69, Pall Mall

Salary: as per the last drawn salary and skills of candidate

Dear candidates,

HSBC is the leading multinational financial company which is going to hire best suited and highly experienced HR assistants for 2021-2022 session. A total of 34 HR assistants will be recruited during this session. Willing candidates must drop their resume with cover letter to the below mentioned official email id. Shortlisted candidates will be called for the first-round interview.

Kindly click on the below mentioned link for downloading the job description letter and personal specification for getting all the details of job designation of HR assistant.

Website for downloading job description and personal specification: www.careerhsbc.com Official mail id: jobshsbc@gmail.com

Interview question for HR assistant:

How do you describe yourself in one sentence?

How would you hear about this job opening?

What do you think regarding this job opening in our organisation?

Why do you want to work as an HR assistant in this company?

What do motivate you to work I HR field?

What is strength and weakness?

What are the perspectives regarding the importance of HR field in modern business world?

How do you organise and manage the priority task in your daily busy schedule?

What is your point of view regarding the importance of teamwork in human resources management?

What are the questions that you have regarding the designation?

Appointment for the post of HR assistant:

Dear XYZ,

We are glad to inform you that you have been hired for the post of HR assistant in HSBC, UK on the following terms and conditions. You are requested to send your job-acceptance letter into our official email address (below-mentioned) if you are agreed to the below terms of conditions.

After joining you will work as an HR assistant trainee for a training period of three months. After the training period you will be assigned as the HR assistant in human resources department of HSBC. Bring the following document at the date of joining.

Terms and condition:

Salary: £13,000 per month

Duty hours: 20 hours per week

Commencement of employments: your employment will be effectives from you joining date: 18/10/2021

Place of posting: HSBC, 8 Caste gate, Clithero

Date of joining: 18/10/2021

Document needs to be submitted at the date of joining:

The copy of this appointment letter, the resignation and non-objection letter from the previous company, last month salary slip of the pervious company and passport size photograph.

Mail id: jobcareerhsbc@gmail.com

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