Tarmac was established in 1903 and is the UK’s leading supplier of building materials and aggregates to the building industry. Tarmac is most often associated with constructing roads or major building projects such as the new Heathrow terminal and Wembley Stadium. However, materials derived from quarrying are used within many different sectors, including manufacturing light bulbs, chewing gum and toothpaste. Tarmac’s operational structure is divided into two key areas: Tarmac UK and Tarmac International. Tarmac UK is sub-divided into two separate businesses: Tarmac Ltd extracts key building aggregates and materials; and Tarmac Building Products Ltd focuses on turning raw materials into products useable by the building sector. Tarmac International develops building products for supply around the world, especially in the United Arab Emirates. Nearly 11,000 employees work for Tarmac in a variety of work settings that include: 135 quarries 13 wharves 73 asphalt plants 172 concrete plants 36 recycling sites. The core business of Tarmac is producing aggregate such as rock, gravel and sand. The aggregate is extracted from quarries across the UK and distributed to both wholesale and private customers. In addition to the production of aggregate, Tarmac uses its own materials to provide the building trade with many other products. For example, sand, gravel, water and cement mixed together will make concrete that is helping to build the infrastructure for London 2012 Olympics. A mixture of various sizes of aggregate added to sand and bitumen will be used by the Nottinghamshire Highways Partnership to repair all roads across the county until 2016. Harden Quarry in Northumberland produces a decorative stone called Harden Red. This is used for cycle tracks and for the grounds of Buckingham Palace, due to its unique properties and red colouring. Tarmac needs to have a more diverse workforce to support its operations. Due to increases in new technology and improved ways of working, Tarmac requires specialist skills across the business, both on sites and in Head Offices. In the past, most people’s view of a Tarmac employee would have been a man in a hard hat. That is not the case anymore. Tarmac depends on having people with high levels of skill in externally facing roles such as sales, customer service and marketing, as well as internal roles in IT, finance or procurement (often called purchasing). The recruitment of specialist employees in these roles is now central to Tarmac’s growth and the achievement of its mission: ‘To deliver the highest value from our resources for our customers, communities, employees and investors.’ Employees are not a static resource. They need to be engaged, interested, developed and motivated. It is through such processes that organisations meet their business objectives and increase their employees’ capabilities to create competitive advantage and outperform many of its rivals. Like most other businesses, Tarmac’s 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. At Tarmac engages in workforce planning by ensuring that each individual has a personal development plan. This enables employees to identify the skills or knowledge they want to develop to improve their capability and efficiency. As a key part of the process of workforce planning, this helps Tarmac and individual employees to set targets for the future. Employing people with science, business, engineering, finance, language, and information technology backgrounds helps to ensure Tarmac stays at the forefront of its industry. For example, there are key roles within the Head Office. Other individuals are required for a range of commercial roles, for example, an Account Manager looking after a group of customers. This requires strong communication and organisational skills to ensure all account customers get the materials they need on time. Chris moved into this role when joining Tarmac’s Graduate scheme: ‘It’s my responsibility to analyse the market for the types of materials we supply and monitor prices. I also provide quotations for customers, support on-site teams at jobs we are supplying and work with colleagues to ensure the customer gets what they need.’ Questions: 1. Identify and evaluate two (2) key strategic benefits of workforce planning for Tarmac. Identify how such planning might contribute to its performance and help it to develop competitive advantage