Human Resource Management in BEXIMCO

Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL), Bangladesh

Human Resource Planning in BPL :

Planning is the core area of all the functions of management. It is the foundation upon which the other three areas

should be built. Planning requires management to evaluate where human resource of the company is currently, and

where it would like to be in the future. From there an appropriate course of action to attain the company's goals and

objectives is determined and implemented.

Every organization has employment planning. BPL has also its employment planning. They usually forecast their

personnel needs based on their mission, strategic goals & objectives & technological and other changes resulting in

increased productivity. Although there are several methods to predict personnel needs, but they use managerial

judgment because it gives the more real world scenario for personnel needs. They think that the other methods can

not give the accurate situation of the personnel needs. These are basically graphical methods, which can not measure

the actual personnel needs. But managerial judgment method depends upon the change in productivity, market

conditions etc.

Recruitment and Selection process in BPL:

We are looking for top-caliber people who want the flexibility and resources to grow in their career. If you're the
kind of person who has always stood out, we offer a place where you can continue to excel. No matter what your
field or range of interests, there are vacancies where your talents can likely be applied and developed. We have
thousands of diverse people from different cultures and backgrounds working in a variety of different jobs in
different fields

• Merit is the sole criteria for selection.

• Attitude is given as much weight age as functional competencies.

• Panel interviews comprising of Functional Head & HR Head.

• Sources for recruitment are through campus, consultants, employee referrals,

internal job postings and the internet.

• Antecedent verification is an integral part of our recruitment process.

• Medical fitness is pre-requisite for all positions.

• We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of

race, community, religion or sex

Recruitment process:

A responsibility for recruitment usually belongs to the HR department. This department works to find and attract

capable applicants. Job description and speciation provide the needed information upon which the recruitment

process starts. The functions of the recruitment office of BPL are given below:

1. Need Assessment

2. Defining the position description

3. Checking the recruiting options

4. Advertisement

5. Screening and Short – listing Applications

6. Written test

7. Selection interview (3 – tier)

8. Employment decision (Application Bank)

9. Pre- employment medical check-up

10. Offer letter

11. Orientation / Induction

12. Placement

13. Follow –up

Bangladesh is done in four ways depending on the job category of the vacant position. Therefore, the recruitment

process of this organization is classified into four types, which are done based on the job grade/ group. These are as

follows:

Ω Entry-level management
Ω MT (Manager Trainee)
Ω Mid or / and senior level management
Ω Graded staff / Non- management staff

Internal Source:

There could be a person competent for the required job working within the organization. If there is, the existing

manpower is then shuffled to place the selected person in the new post. If there is no such person inside the

company, then the management goes for the second step.

Job-posting programs:

HR departments become involved when internal job openings are publicized to

employees through job positioning programs, which informs employees about opening

and required qualifications and invite qualify employees to apply. The notices usually are

posted on company bulletin boards or are placed in the company newspaper.

Qualification and other facts typically are drawn from the job analysis information.

The purpose of job posting is to encourage employees to seek promotion and transfers the

help the HR department fill internal opening and meet employee’s personal objectives.

Not all jobs openings are posted .Besides entry level positions, senior management and

top stuff positions may be filled by merit or with external recruiting. Job posting is most

common for lower level clerical, technical and supervisory positions.

An often overlooked source of recruiters consists of departing employees. Many

employees leave because they can no longer work the traditional 40 hours work week

.School, child care needs and other commitments are the common reason. Some might

gladly stay if they could rearrange their hours of work or their responsibilities .Instead,

they quit when a transfer to a part-time job may retain their valuable skill and training.

Even if part-time work is not a solution, a temporary leave of absence may satisfy the

employee and some future recruiting need of the employer.

External Source:

All the above options being considered, the company goes for external recruiting if

needed. Those who best meet the skills, qualifications, experience and competencies

required for the position should fill vacancies. Therefore, if there is no candidate within

BPL, Bangladesh who is suitable for the role, external advertisement should be placed to

attract the potential candidates followed by the selection procedures.

Advertisement:

The Company gives advertisement in national dailies (both Bangla and English) to attract

the talents from the market. BPL, Bangladesh puts two types of advertisements in the

newspapers. It sometimes keeps the identity concealed in the ads, mentioning a GPO

BOX number only. The purpose of the concealed identity is to avoid the unwanted

pressure from the stakeholders for the employment of their desired candidates. But this

way the company may lose the talents out there in the market who would have applied for

the same post had they known the name of the organization. This is why the company

kept the identity open in their recent job advertisement when the quality of the candidate
was a very important factor to consider. By revealing the BPL identify, the company

attempts to attract the best potentials among all the others.

Employee referrals:

Employee referral means using personal contracts to locate job opportunities. It is a recommendation from a current

employee regarding a job applicant. The logic behind employee referral is that “it takes one to know one”.

Employees working in the, in this case, are encouraged to recommend the names of their friends working in other

organization for a possible vacancy in the near future.

Employment Agency:

An agency finds and prescreens applicants, referring those who seem qualified to the

organization for further assessment and final selection. An agency can screen effectively

only it has a clear understanding of the position it is trying to fill. Thus it is very

important that an employer be as specific and accurate as possible when describing a

position and its recruitment to an employment agency.

Walk-ins and Write-ins:

Walk-ins are some seekers who arrived at the HR department of BPL in search of a job;

Write-ins are those who send a written enquire .both groups normally are ask to complete

and application blank to determine their interest and abilities. Usable application is kept

in an active file until a suitable opening occurs or until an application is too old to be

considered valid, usually six months.

Consulting the CV Bank:

The unsolicited applications stored in the data bank are consulted. If the quality of a

person matches with the requirements mentioned in the position description, then he / she

is called for interview. If not, then the third step is followed.

Selection is the process of gathering information for the purpose of evaluating and deciding who should be
employed in particular jobs

Screening and Short-listing Applications

The responses to the advertisements are sorted and screened. The CVs as well as the Covering letters are judged. In

the covering letter, the style and language of writing, the emphasis put on the areas asked for tin the advertisements

and the quality of the letter (whether it is specifically tailored to the advertisement or just a standard response) are

the aspects that are judged. Different weights are assigned to the selection criteria mentioned in the man

specification depending on their relative importance. Based on the presence of these factors to the desired extent

(experience, educational degree, computer literacy, etc) the cumulative weights for all the applicants are counted and

the short list of a sizable number of the top most candidates is generated. However, the HR officials also study the

CVs with the respective line manager to check whether any valuable deciding parameter is missed that are

mentioned in the CVs. Then the candidates selected in the short list are called for the written test.

Written Test

Written test is not a regular part of the normal recruitment process. It is conducted as and when required. Previously

no written test was taken for the management employee, the applicants had to go directly through the interview

process. After the introduction of the manager trainee program, the written test before the interview process has

proved to be effective and a useful tool to select the desirable candidates. The written test includes psychometric

test, test on behavioral competency, and written test on communication skills. The candidates are called for the

preliminary (first) interview based on their performance in the written test.

Selection Interview

The interview process is a three-tier one. A preliminary interview is conducted which follows the “elimination
method”. After that, the second interview takes place with a very ew number of candidates. Then the finally
selected person is called for the final interview. The interview time is kept convenient for the candidate especially
if s/he is working elsewhere at the time of interview. In that case the chosen time is after the business hour.
Reference Check

Reference checks allow obtaining information and opinions regarding the person’s character, quality of the work

and suitability for the position. It is an opportunity to validate the information received from the candidate via their

resume and the interview. Speaking to the candidate’s manager or other people whom they have worked with should

also check internal candidates. The opinion of a referee who has worked can for an extended period is likely to be

more accurate than the assessment from one to two hours of interviewing.

The candidate’s immediate supervisors are needed to be contacted. Permission should be obtained to contact the

candidate’s referee especially if their current employer is contacted. It is not unusual for a candidate to be

uncomfortable with the organization’s speaking to a current employer. If they are uncomfortable, an alternative

person other than the current employer has to be chosen by the candidate (work colleague, for example). Unless the

candidate is a graduate or school leaver with no prior work experience, only contact work related referees should be

contacted. At least two reference cheeks should be done, however the more the better.

There is a sample reference-checking guide that is more or less followed. It is important to prepare a reference check

guide that asks the referee about the key skills, competencies and experience required for the position. Reference

checks need to be done by line manager or personnel of the HR department.

Employment Decision

If the candidate has no problem with the stated terms and conditions of the job and the organization mentioned and

discussed in the final interview, s/he is offered an application blank. The application blank is a standard format of

employee-information that includes all the information the organization needs regarding the personnel. The

candidate has to fill this blank and submit this to the company along with a CV.
Pre-employment Medical Check-up:

After submission of the application and the CV, the selected person has to go through full medical check-up that
guarantees her/his physical fitness to perform the job successfully. A medical practitioner who uses a physical
capability analysis that assesses the candidate against the physical capabilities documented for each role conducts
the medical. A medical is also appropriate for internal candidates if they are applying for positions that require
different physical capabilities.

Offering the Role

Once the health check-up is done, the candidate is given an offer letter specifying the salary package, job
responsibilities, utilities that will be provided by the organization. Even at this stage the selected candidate has the
chance to withdraw her/himself from the job offer. s/he is always free to discuss whatever difficulty may arise
regarding pay- structure/facilities, etc. the door of HR is kept open for any sort of relevant discussion.