Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Page 1: Introduction
135 quarries
13 wharves
73 asphalt plants
36 recycling sites.
A key element of
Human Resource Management is to identify what level of human resources the business
needs. This includes the skills and knowledge that will be required by the organisation both
now and in the future. This is an integrated process as it involves looking at every area within
an organisation. Tarmac constantly reviews all of its human resource needs.
For Tarmac, Human Resource Management is a strategic process. This is because it involves
the whole business in planning for the future. Having the right skills and knowledge enables
the business to meet its objectives and compete more effectively than its rivals.
present time. It also estimates what Tarmac needs to have in place to respond to future
challenges in its market place.
At Tarmac, like most other businesses, human resource needs are constantly changing:
Sometimes individuals leave the organisation to take up other posts.
Some individuals retire (this is a growing issue with the UK's ageing population).
Employees are promoted within the business.
New technology removes some roles but also creates new types of jobs.
The changing economic climate may result in more or less demand for its products.
The changing and evolving nature of Tarmac's business means it needs to anticipate where
new skills, such as those involved with different technologies, are required. This helps it to
identify what training existing employees need to support future growth for the business.
Product portfolio
Selection is the process undertaken by human resource managers to choose the best individual
that has applied for a job vacancy. For graduate applicants, Tarmac uses a range of different
selection tools including competence questions, a group exercise, delivering a presentation,
psychometric testing and an interview. This thorough process ensures that Tarmac appoints
the most suitable individuals.
The process of personal development helps employees to achieve their full potential. This
never stops and demonstrates the underlying practice of 'learning for life'. Individual
employees are assessed on how they perform in their plan. This therefore takes both them and
the business forward.
The roles that they might move towards include:
Commercial Analyst - this involves supporting Finance and Commercial Managers by
analysing the way in which the business performs, managing major projects and setting
targets for the different parts of the organisation. In particular, this helps assess how close
projects are to 'getting things right first time', minimising waste and improving profitability.
Business Administration Team Leader - this role ensures that systems are in place to
support business processes. This role also includes mentoring and identifying opportunities to
improve systems.
Human Resources Advisor - this involves providing a range of human resource
services across the organisation. These include recruitment and selection, being involved in
developing good relationships across the business, health and safety issues and grievance
procedures.
Developing employees' skills motivates staff and provides great opportunities for them to
progress, whilst helping Tarmac to improve its efficiency and profitability.
Human Resource Management focuses on matching the needs of the business with the needs
and development of employees. Tarmac depends on its people because their skills contribute
to achieving its business objectives.
Within Tarmac, every employee has a valuable role to play. The emphasis is on helping
individuals to work together. Workforce planning is part of this strategic process, which looks
at the long-term needs across the organisation.
Personal development plans enable every individual to grow both professionally and
personally within the business. They also help Tarmac to create a distinct and important
competitive advantage through selecting and developing highly motivated and skilled staff
who are able to perform at high levels.
Page 1: Introduction
With sales approaching 2 billion in 2010 Tarmac has just over 5,000 UK employees. As a
firm in the heavy building materials industry, the company traditionally had a strong male bias
in its workforce, but this is changing. Many posts are now open to men and women across a
huge range of job roles.
For Tarmac to succeed in a competitive marketplace, people are a critical resource. This is
because the diverse talents of staff make Tarmac distinctive in the marketplace. Technical
knowledge, corporate experience and the understanding of customer needs all make a critical
difference. Drawing staff from the widest possible pool of talent is key to building and
sustaining competitive advantage. This case study demonstrates how Tarmac is benefiting
from developing a diverse workforce.
Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tarmac/competitive-advantage-throughdiversity/introduction.html#ixzz3OR1iXxVx
Inclusion strategy
To embrace all these differences, Tarmac is pursuing a strategy of inclusion. This
means creating a working culture that values the differences between people. It does
not try to stifle or devalue the individuality of staff. Such a culture is tolerant but also
practical in recognising these differences and enabling every member of a team to
exploit their personal strengths.
The heavy building materials industry has developed a stereotype of older, male
employees. This is not inclusive. To achieve change, effective training and the active
example of leadership right up to CEO level are essential. Senior managers aim to
provide Diversity and Inclusion support, guidance and resources for employees.
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FacebookPage 4: Benefits of a diversity strategy
Diversity and Inclusion is a key dimension to HR management. It is also embedded in
Tarmac's overall business strategy. This is driven by a compelling goal: Achieve the
Exceptional. This is achieved through diverse talent and leadership within Tarmac.
Engage employees
Tarmac recruits in a highly diverse labour market to achieve corresponding diversity
in its workforce. By motivating this diverse talent through appropriate training and
development, then the exceptional becomes possible.
Develop markets
Tarmac needs the confidence and trust of its customers. A diverse workforce can
build the necessary relationships with increasingly diverse customers in both existing
and new markets. This can be a source of advantage that is difficult for competitors
to copy.
Reduce Costs
Valuing all employees for who they are and what they offer increases motivation and
improves retention. These are two powerful ways to reduce costs and raise quality.
Differences in experience, attitude and values open new perspectives and breed a
creative culture. This is vital since Tarmac is often in the business of finding solutions
to client problems.
Manage assets
Diversity builds new networks of communications. Tarmac's quarries, processing
plants and highway contracts typically have a high profile within local communities. A
diverse workforce is best able to represent the company in gaining contracts and
local approval for investment decisions.
Act Responsibly
Tarmac is committed to accepting social responsibility in all its business activities.
This means a high level of concern for all of its stakeholders, including the local
environment. The diversity and inclusion strategy helps support the development of a
workforce that is able to engage with stakeholders more effectively. This often leads
to winning an informal 'licence to operate' through local acceptance or even approval
of the company.
Page 6: Conclusion
Tarmac is deeply committed to a vision of diversity and inclusion among its staff.
However, there are challenges to be addressed. Diversity is dynamic. Tarmac's
workforce changes regularly. A diverse staff at one location may become much less
diverse through promotions, resignations and retirement. In addition, economic
conditions also change. Recruitment unavoidably slowed quite sharply following the
recession and the public spending cuts of 2010/2011.
There are no simple answers to these problems. Tarmac, however, is a pioneer in
making diversity and inclusion central to its HR policy and wider business strategy.
The quarrying and heavy building materials industries have been historically
dominated by able-bodied men. This makes it a challenging area to develop a
diversity policy, yet that only makes the need greater. A very significant part of
Tarmac's overall competitive advantage depends on the collective interaction, talent
and insight of its workforce. Diversity and Inclusion are not just a set of boxes to be
ticked. They are a part of culture that enables Tarmac to stand out from competitors.
Read more: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tarmac/competitive-advantage-throughdiversity/conclusion.html#ixzz3OR2qHNmk
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