Human Resource Policies and Practices in Australia and USA: A Case Study of ANZ Bank

HRMT20025 - INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - ASSESSMENT 3

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Executive Summary

This report has discussed about the different Human Resource (HR) policies in Australia and USA. The report has explained the different external factors that affect the organization and its progress. The report has chosen the ANZ bank for the study to define the impact of external factors on the banking operations in USA. There has been the discussion about the different HR polices of the ANZ bank (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited) in both Australia and USA. Apart from that, the report has explained different HR practice that are practiced in the ANZ bank for the smooth flow of operational functions. There has been a discussion about the organizational behaviour theory that has been related to the safety and security of the employees at the work station. Changes in the external environment has been described in the report to explain the changes that the ANZ bank has implemented due to these external changes. These changes have been helpful for the ANZ bank in order to maintain the flow of function. Apart from that, the recommendation that has been included in the report has suggested some of the key aspect that will help the ANZ bank to be effective at the customer service.

Introduction

The further report will discuss the different human resource (HR) policies in Australia and USA. Along with that, this report will define the different external factors that are impacting the ANZ banking group. The report will explain the recent changes that the organization has made to be effective. There are some of the recommendations that will be described in the report.

Background of ANZ

ANZ stands for Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited. It is an Australia based bank that has its operation all across the world and providing its banking and financial services. The headquarters is located in Melbourne, Australia. ANZ is one of the largest and leading banks in the world.

ANZ banking group was founded in 1951 and David Gonski is the chairman of the ANZ group. The ANZ group is also serving in the USA, it was established in the USA in 1968 in the USA (Anz.com.au., 2021).

Human Resource (HR) Policies and Procedures

Human Resource (HR) policies and procedures is the term that defines a set of formal rules, regulations and procedures that implicate how something will be addressed in the organizational workforce environment. This includes the rights and duties of the employees in the organization. Usually, HR policies and procedures include several aspects such as employment laws to serve the purpose of organization.

Human Resource (HR) Policies and Procedures in Australia

Followings are the policies and procedures of Australia:

Equivalent employment opportunities Act 1984: This is the key policy of Australian HR policy and procedure that states about the right of equal employment for every person who has the attribute and ability for the job (Blakey, 2018). There should not be any kind of discrimination regarding gender, sex, and race. Every organization which is running in Australia has to follow these rules in order to establish the business.

Anti-Bullying: According to the Fair work amendment act 2013, Anti-bullying refers to the coalition between an individual and an organization about working together in the direction of stopping bullying the employee or employer. In Australia, the organizations are bound to provide a safe and healthy environment to the employees (Pekarek et al., 2017).

Ant-Harassment: According to the sex discrimination act 1984, when a person is being sexually appealing without the consent of other person and act as an unwelcome sexual gesture or ask some kind of sexual favour (Easteal & Saunders, 2020). In this situation, the company takes actions against the accused person.

Safety and Health: The rule regarding the health and safety of the employees dictates that the employer and company should not put the employee in any kind of risks or similar situation. The organizations should provide a safe and healthy work environment to the employees. In this section the theory of organizational behaviour theory takes place where the behaviour of the employees are defined such as why they behave in a way they do (Bryant & Merritt, 2019).

Human Resource Policies and Procedure in USA

Followings are the policies and procedures of USA:

At-will employment: This term defines that in the USA, employees should have the right to terminate the relationship of employment. The reason behind it should come under the law and this is helpful in the employee retention also.

Employment classification: According to the U.S. labour department, a full-time employee who works for the organization for a normal work week for an indefinite period (England & Alcorn, 2018). According to the FLSA (Fair Labour Standards Act.), there are some of the certain duties and responsibilities of the employees that they need to follow at their level of job.

Anti-Harassment: According to the Civil rights act. 1964, there are many types of harassment and sexual harassment is one of them. Sexual harassment of the employees is strictly prohibited at the workplace in US and strict action are required if any case is found in the organization (Pekarek et al., 2017). There are many types of acts that are considered as a sexual harassment such as unwelcome request to sex, asking sexual favours, teasing, etc.

Safety and Health: According to the Safety and Health act. 1970, there should be a feeling of safety of employees in the organizations (Ahn et al., 2016). It requires the company to aware the employees about the information that is related to the health and safety of them.

Different Human Resource (HR) practices

Following are the different Human Resource that are given below:

Providing safety and security to employees: These are the policies that are common in both Australia and USA. This practice dictates that the organizations should provide the healthy and safe working environment to the employees for the improvement in their work efficiency.

Providing relevant training: Training is the crucial part of the developing the ability of work. Every organization including both Australia and USA should provide efficiency that will help the organization bring out more productive outcomes.

Performance based compensation: There should be unbiased appreciation of the employees as the organizations should provide the compensation to employees according to their performance and skills.

Impact of External Forces on ANZ Bank

Covid-19 Pandemic: The novel coronavirus has impacted on the ANZ bank adversely. Every banking sector has come under stress due to the shutdown of the economy in the time of coronavirus. On the other hand, ANZ bank has faced a lot of credit loss due to the pandemic and it has impacted the revenue and profitability of the bank. The GDP growth has been affected so badly due to the adverse impact of covid-19 pandemic (Thunström et al., 2020). Due to covid-19 pandemic, the ANZ bank has to lower interest rates to fuel the business and this will take some time for businesses to grow and establish again (Rizwan, Ahmad & Ashraf 2020). However, the banks will enjoy some relief that will be provided by the USA governments regarding the supervisory, and regulatory. Along with that, the digital trend will speed up in the time of covid-19.

US election: Elections in the US have played a crucial role in the variation in the economy that has also impacted the banking sector of the US. Since Joe Biden has become the president of the USA, he has promised that there will be certain actions will be taken to get the economy back on track (Goodell, McGee & McGroarty, 2020).

Social Environment: The social environment consists of different values, beliefs, attitudes, wants, desires, etc. of the public. After the pandemic, people have changed their perception about the banking system as people have dumped the idea of traditional banking and started to adopt the idea of digitalization in the transactions of money (Ramaci et al., 2020). People have started to increase the use of ANZ’s digital services to make any transactions.

Competitive environment: Competitiveness is the factor that motivates the banks to stay relevant and successful in the current market. The competition of ANZ bank has increased after the pandemic as the customers are more demanding in the market.

Impacts of Political Factor: Political influence has always been high on the banking sector in the USA including ANZ bank. It is found that unnecessary interference is not good for the banks and their performance. There are some of the acts that are concerned with the banking sector such as Dodd-Frank act this act places major rules and regulations on the financial sectors including banks as it is always geared towards protecting the rights of customers (Ziegler & Woolley 2016). In 2020, this rule has changed because of some serious concern such as globalization, technological, social concern, etc.

Economic environment: The economic environment of the banking sector of the USA has changed rapidly over the past few years. The economic environment has a significant impact on the banking sector as it impacts the liquidity of the banking sector that impacts the credit ability of a bank.

Recent Changes in External Environment

Economic Factor: The economy of the USA is likely to recover as in quarter 3 after quarter 2 in the hard time of covid-19. The employment rate has dropped by 0.5% in the month of September (Economic Forecasts from the World's Leading Economists, 2021). The economy is changing gradually as it is recovering and lifting up. The GDP has also seen a growth in 2019 in comparison to year 2018. Growth in the GDP shows good signs to the economy and it is also beneficial for the banking sector as their credibility will increase ultimately. The bank has decided to provide finance help to the different businesses on low interest rates.

Social Environment: Social environment includes the values and beliefs of the people that have jobs in the banking sector. Due to covid-19, the banking sector has seen a decrease in the trust of people on the ANZ bank. ANZ bank has seen that people are questioning the bank as they are asking the bank whether they are still stable or not. The clients are worried about the financial situation as they are still stable in the stressed situation of covid-19. Apart from that, the people are slightly shifting towards the digitalization and reducing the traditional style of visiting banks for any work (Aguayo & ?lusarczyk 2020). This is impacting the ANZ bank adversely as the trust of customers are gradually decreasing. In order to gain the trust of customers, the employees are becoming more available for the customers by being present for them digitally.

Competitive environment: There are several aspects that come under the competitive environment of ANZ bank such as cost, price, quality, service, etc. these are the factors that impact the banking sector in both positive and negative ways. Recently, due to covid-19 there has been some changes in the service quality of the ANZ bank as they have made some changes in the way of serving the customers by being available digitally for the customers.

Risk of Cyber security: The risk of cyber security has increased in recent times as due to covid-19; the traditional system of banking has become outdated and people are moving towards the digitalization mode (Parn & Edwards, 2019). The ANZ bank has some of the issues with that such as cyber security is one of the most concerning issues (Kshetri & Voas, 2017). The security of the data of the customers is at peak and there are some chances that the data can be stolen due to some loopholes in the system. They have made changes by making critical changes to secure the data of customers.

Recommendations

• Adoption of new and advance technologies: ANZ should implement new and advanced technologies in the banking system that can help the bank to avoid the risk of cyber-attack. It will also positively impact on the customers and help to build the trust.

• Promotion of healthy working environment: ANZ bank should promote the new working environment where the physical contact with the customers can be reduced. Such as providing them financial service along with maintaining the proper distance can help the bank and customers to have safe transactions.

• Hiring skilled staff: ANZ bank should focus on hiring the right and skilled candidate instead of experience as they should give equal importance to the skilled and experienced people that can help the employees to grow in the organization (Maamari & Alameh 2016).

• Advance training to employees: ANZ should provide the advanced training to the employees that will help the bank to employee retention. The development of the will be promoted by implementing the advance training.

• Establishing the communication infrastructure: ANZ should establish a communication infrastructure that is able to improve the internal network at all levels. This will help the bank to increase its productivity and serve the customer’s better service.

Conclusion

The above report has defined different human resource policies and practices that organizations have to follow in both Australia and USA. There has also been the discussion about the impacts of external factors on the organization. Apart from that, there has been discussion about the certain changes that company have made and recommendations that should be implemented in the organization.

References

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