Principles of Management Business Level 3
Report on Human Resource
Nugent and Barton Construction
Company Ltd (NBCC)
Introduction
This report is addressed to the HR Director to present to the Board of Directors at NBCC and
will contain key information about human resource planning and why it is important for
NBCC, as well as recommendations for the main issues in order to NBCC maintains its
competitiveness and to be successful.
Sector and company background information
NBCC is a business which operates in the construction sector, one of the most important
industry sectors in the UK economy, having approx. 2.9 million employees (in 280 000
businesses) in 2013. Although, the construction industry is vulnerable to the external factors
(e.g. The 2008 recession has led to decreasing UK’s value of goods and services with 2.2%
from 2007 to 2011).
The UK construction industry is growing and has a positive reputation globally, especially for
construction services (e.g. architecture and using new technologies). The UK construction
sector is adaptable to customers’ demand for green and sustainable construction, having a
leading role in these changes and being very competitive. Because of this changes, the
business needs to know how to be adaptable in order to maintain its competitiveness on the
market.
Skills and flexibility of the employees in the construction sector have a great impact over the
competitiveness of the businesses working in this sector. In the UK, the number of people
with qualifications in this industry increases, but there are issues with apprentices which are
not finished or not available. Additionally, some employers do not manage to find suitable
persons (with require skills, qualifications, experience) for certain vacancies. Also, the self-
employed workers has less training and development (they should make sure themselves
that they have the necessary training for different jobs, the company do not pay for them)
Table 1: UK construction industry productivity change and profitability 2008-2016
The productivity and profitability are influenced by external factors (the recession, then the
beginning of recovery). UK construction industry productivity change decreased by 3.5 %
from 2008 to 2016. In this amount of time, there were many increases and decreases, the
least value was in 2009, being -2.0% and the biggest value was in 2011 (23.0%). On the other
hand, the profitability decreased by 6.8% from 2008 to 2016. In 2009 when the productivity
change was -2.2%, the profitability reached the biggest value of 9.9%. All these changes can
1
, Principles of Management Business Level 3
be influenced by the recession, as well as the education and experience of the workforce,
the growth being in the years when the businesses found skilled and qualified employees
and the decrease was registered when there was a lack of qualified people on the labour
market.
According to the case study, this industry consists of three sub-sectors: contracting (building
and civil engineering), services (such as: architecture, quantity surveying, heating equipment
etc.), and products (manufacture of materials for construction).
Nugent and Barton Construction Company Ltd (NBCC) is a company in the contractive sub-
sector that builds houses and general construction, based in West Midlands. The company
was founded in 1975 and their success is demonstrated by winning the best-medium sized
Housebuilder of the Year Award three times.
Human Resource Planning and its importance to NBCC
HR Planning for NBCC has the role of ensuring that the company has the correct skill sets in
order to maximise their opportunities. For this reason, the human resource planning system
is very important and has to be efficient in order to be able to fulfil the customers’ needs
and wants and to anticipate its labour needs. The HR Department has to make sure that
NBCC has sufficient amounts of employees with the suitable skills for the business to offer
products and services to satisfy its customers. Developing the skills and potential in the
existing staff is an essential part of HR planning, that is why the company have a training and
developing programme. According to the case study, NBCC is looking for young people with
skills and qualifications required by the job roles available.
The HR planning has to consider nature of the work, skill level, experience, educational
level, flexibility when recruiting staff. In contracting sub-sector, there are different job roles,
the requirements varies based on the nature of work. The skill level is also an essential part
of HR planning, because a skilled staff is that the business has a high productivity and
manages to satisfy its customers. The experience of the employees will also increase the
success of NBCC. The experience is especially important for senior roles such as: directors,
managers, construction engineers etc. In addition, the education level varies from a job role
to other job role. If NBCC has a skilled, qualified, experienced staff, there are high chances to
be more productive and effective, to make sales and profit. If the company do not have
suitable people for different job roles, it will be difficult for the business to fulfil the needs
and wants of the clients, they will be disappointed and NBCC will have a bad reputation,
losing its competitiveness.
Furthermore, a flexible workforce will bring numerous benefits to NBCC: they will be able to
do a wider range of tasks, will be trained in different areas and will cover shifts when
someone is missing. A recommendation might be that NBCC will have a wide range of
workers. The core-workers are the ‘heart’ of the company, are involved in the day-to-day
tasks and are likely have permanent contracts. They know very well the business culture and
work in order to achieve the business’ goals and objectives. The peripheral workers tend to
have temporary contracts when the business needs extra staff. Also, NBCC has full-time and
part-time workers. The full-time employees are more involved in the achieving the business
2
Report on Human Resource
Nugent and Barton Construction
Company Ltd (NBCC)
Introduction
This report is addressed to the HR Director to present to the Board of Directors at NBCC and
will contain key information about human resource planning and why it is important for
NBCC, as well as recommendations for the main issues in order to NBCC maintains its
competitiveness and to be successful.
Sector and company background information
NBCC is a business which operates in the construction sector, one of the most important
industry sectors in the UK economy, having approx. 2.9 million employees (in 280 000
businesses) in 2013. Although, the construction industry is vulnerable to the external factors
(e.g. The 2008 recession has led to decreasing UK’s value of goods and services with 2.2%
from 2007 to 2011).
The UK construction industry is growing and has a positive reputation globally, especially for
construction services (e.g. architecture and using new technologies). The UK construction
sector is adaptable to customers’ demand for green and sustainable construction, having a
leading role in these changes and being very competitive. Because of this changes, the
business needs to know how to be adaptable in order to maintain its competitiveness on the
market.
Skills and flexibility of the employees in the construction sector have a great impact over the
competitiveness of the businesses working in this sector. In the UK, the number of people
with qualifications in this industry increases, but there are issues with apprentices which are
not finished or not available. Additionally, some employers do not manage to find suitable
persons (with require skills, qualifications, experience) for certain vacancies. Also, the self-
employed workers has less training and development (they should make sure themselves
that they have the necessary training for different jobs, the company do not pay for them)
Table 1: UK construction industry productivity change and profitability 2008-2016
The productivity and profitability are influenced by external factors (the recession, then the
beginning of recovery). UK construction industry productivity change decreased by 3.5 %
from 2008 to 2016. In this amount of time, there were many increases and decreases, the
least value was in 2009, being -2.0% and the biggest value was in 2011 (23.0%). On the other
hand, the profitability decreased by 6.8% from 2008 to 2016. In 2009 when the productivity
change was -2.2%, the profitability reached the biggest value of 9.9%. All these changes can
1
, Principles of Management Business Level 3
be influenced by the recession, as well as the education and experience of the workforce,
the growth being in the years when the businesses found skilled and qualified employees
and the decrease was registered when there was a lack of qualified people on the labour
market.
According to the case study, this industry consists of three sub-sectors: contracting (building
and civil engineering), services (such as: architecture, quantity surveying, heating equipment
etc.), and products (manufacture of materials for construction).
Nugent and Barton Construction Company Ltd (NBCC) is a company in the contractive sub-
sector that builds houses and general construction, based in West Midlands. The company
was founded in 1975 and their success is demonstrated by winning the best-medium sized
Housebuilder of the Year Award three times.
Human Resource Planning and its importance to NBCC
HR Planning for NBCC has the role of ensuring that the company has the correct skill sets in
order to maximise their opportunities. For this reason, the human resource planning system
is very important and has to be efficient in order to be able to fulfil the customers’ needs
and wants and to anticipate its labour needs. The HR Department has to make sure that
NBCC has sufficient amounts of employees with the suitable skills for the business to offer
products and services to satisfy its customers. Developing the skills and potential in the
existing staff is an essential part of HR planning, that is why the company have a training and
developing programme. According to the case study, NBCC is looking for young people with
skills and qualifications required by the job roles available.
The HR planning has to consider nature of the work, skill level, experience, educational
level, flexibility when recruiting staff. In contracting sub-sector, there are different job roles,
the requirements varies based on the nature of work. The skill level is also an essential part
of HR planning, because a skilled staff is that the business has a high productivity and
manages to satisfy its customers. The experience of the employees will also increase the
success of NBCC. The experience is especially important for senior roles such as: directors,
managers, construction engineers etc. In addition, the education level varies from a job role
to other job role. If NBCC has a skilled, qualified, experienced staff, there are high chances to
be more productive and effective, to make sales and profit. If the company do not have
suitable people for different job roles, it will be difficult for the business to fulfil the needs
and wants of the clients, they will be disappointed and NBCC will have a bad reputation,
losing its competitiveness.
Furthermore, a flexible workforce will bring numerous benefits to NBCC: they will be able to
do a wider range of tasks, will be trained in different areas and will cover shifts when
someone is missing. A recommendation might be that NBCC will have a wide range of
workers. The core-workers are the ‘heart’ of the company, are involved in the day-to-day
tasks and are likely have permanent contracts. They know very well the business culture and
work in order to achieve the business’ goals and objectives. The peripheral workers tend to
have temporary contracts when the business needs extra staff. Also, NBCC has full-time and
part-time workers. The full-time employees are more involved in the achieving the business
2
