3.6.1 - Human resource objectives and approaches

Objectives for people and capabilities

Human resource objectives specify what a business intends to achieve through the number, skills, location and experience of its employees.

Illustrative case: a repair chain plans three new branches and needs technicians in each location, so increasing its total headcount alone will not meet its needs. Its objectives might include recruiting twelve technicians before opening, training them in a new repair process and developing branch managers internally. These objectives support the operations plan and require finance for recruitment, pay and training.

Employee engagement concerns employees' involvement in, commitment to and connection with their work and organisation. Engaged technicians may raise service problems early and help improve the process. An engagement objective therefore needs a relevant measure, such as a carefully designed survey or participation in improvement work, rather than assuming attendance proves commitment.

Talent development prepares employees with potential for more demanding roles. Training develops knowledge and skills for work, while broader development can prepare people for future responsibilities. Investing in both can reduce dependence on scarce external recruits, but employees may leave after receiving the training, and benefits take time to emerge.

Diversity concerns the range of backgrounds, characteristics and perspectives in the workforce. An objective to widen access to recruitment or progression can improve the pool of skills and perspectives. It requires fair selection, inclusive working conditions and attention to barriers; merely counting different backgrounds does not establish that employees are included or can progress.

Alignment of employee and employer values means a degree of agreement about priorities and ways of working. A business with an environmental mission needs employees to understand how resource use and supplier choices relate to that purpose. Employees need not hold identical views on everything. A gap between stated values and actual management behaviour can undermine trust.

These objectives can reinforce one another: fair development opportunities may support engagement and retention. They can also compete for resources. Recruiting quickly to meet a deadline may leave less time for training or thoughtful selection. Clear objectives help coordinate decisions, but their value depends on realistic measures and the behaviour they encourage.

Unilever's 2024 annual report recorded a 79% engagement score in its annual UniVoice employee survey. A named survey provides evidence about attitudes alongside staffing numbers and financial measures. The percentage does not establish that every employee is engaged or prove that a particular HR policy caused the result; survey design and comparisons over time still matter. Unilever's 2024 annual report.

Hard and soft human resource management

Hard and soft HRM are contrasting emphases in how managers approach employees and meet organisational objectives.

Hard HRM treats labour principally as a resource to be planned, controlled and used efficiently. Managers focus on staffing numbers, costs, measurable performance and matching labour to demand. A delivery business demonstrates this emphasis when it sets strict productivity targets and adjusts temporary staffing to match order volume.