Sports Direct is a United Kingdom based company, which produces, manufactures and distributes sports goods. Established in the year 1982, Mike Ashley owns the company which operates roughly in 670 stores all across the world. The company owns a variety of sports brands as well as trades under the brand SportsDirect.com. However, the organization is currently facing some issues in relation to the human resource management. An investigative journalism story revealed the fact that unethical workplace practices are being carried out inside the organization, like the employees are getting meager wages, ill treatment and others (Ashleigh, Higgs and Dulewicz 2012). The report throws light on the management issues which the employees are facing and how the human resource consultant can proactively manage the situation. In addition to this, it comprises a viable human resource planning process in order to implement adequate compensation policies into the organization. Furthermore, recommendations are also given regarding health, payment and safety of the employees.
A human resource manager is responsible for recruiting, selecting and training the employees. His/her job responsibilities also involve in designing compensation and benefits within the organizational policies (Austin and Pinkleton 2015). However, the Sports Direct Company has appointed a new human resource consultant in order to address and solve the current human resource issues faced by the employees of the company.
Currently, the employees of Sports Direct Company are facing some people management issues inside the workplace. There are allegations regarding ill treatment by the management. Moreover, some employees are getting poor wages from their employers and there are cases of ill treatment and harassments inside the workplace as well. This sort of ill treatment from the employers is maligning the reputation of the company. However, the company has managed to recruit a new human resource manager, who is responsible in handling the situation from getting worse. The human resource manager has taken the responsibility of proactively managing the situation and introduced some necessary steps in this aspect (Bond 2015).
Firstly, the human resource consultant has managed to design a fair compensation plan which ensures equity on the top priority list. Providing fair and non discriminatory employee compensation is a concern for all the employers across the world. The human resource manager of the company specializes in the areas of compensation and benefits packages, recruitment and selection of the candidates. She had made some initial salary offers, compensation plans, pay audits, guidelines and others, by discussing with the higher authorities (Cascio 2018). Moreover, she has also mentioned regarding the pay rise for all the employees, so that it motivates and encourages them to work better for the organization.
Secondly, the compensation and benefits plan has been designed in a fair manner, based on the employees’ skills and job positions. She has also analyzed and evaluated a justified payment structures for all the employees, irrespective of their gender, sex, caste, class and other factors. Moreover, the company will now emphasize on the behaviors and accomplishment of the managers and award them accordingly. Furthermore, few initiatives are taken for conducting social gatherings and events for the employees. The employees will be motivated and encouraged to raise their issues in such events, so that it proactively manages the situation (Downs and Swailes 2013).
Thirdly, the human resource consultant has also introduced some new policies within the organizational guidelines, in order to take into account the issues related to the employees’ health and safety. She plays a major role in ensuring the employees’ health and safety. She is highly responsible for understanding the health and safety responsibilities of the managers, employers, employees and supervisors within the company. Moreover, she must implement some personnel management policies within the workplace in order to ensure that every individual is aware of their responsibilities (Gauri 2013). In addition to this, she has established some effective ways of meeting the safety and health responsibilities of the employees.
Fourthly, the human resource consultant of the Sports Direct Company has ensured that the employers fulfill the health and safety responsibilities as per the organizational policies as well as programs. She has also implemented some guidelines within the organizational workbook, which prevents any kind of ill treatment or harassment of the employees. Moreover, the policies also prevents any work related issues or illnesses. In addition to this, it fosters workplace safety culture, within which the employees as well as their supervisors will work together by ensuring workplace safety (Guest 2017).
The Sports Direct Company needs to implement successfully a viable human resource planning procedure in order to manage its growing international staffing needs. Firstly, for improving the strategic alignment of the resources and staff members, the human resource consultant should identify the company’s international goals and matching the right employee with those at the right time. For example, the consultant should get an idea of the current position of the organization for remaining flexible. Each and every plan of the company should look slightly different from others, in order to ensure that the company is on the right track (James Sunday Kehinde 2012). The plans should depend on the current as well as future needs of the company.
Secondly, the strategic planning for human resource begins with the overall assessment of the current staffs, including the organizational demands and needs. It then moves to the forecasting of the future needs of the staff members on the basis of the business goals and objectives (Lamba and Choudhary 2013). For example, the human resource consultant needs to align the strategies of the organization along with the employment planning. This should be implemented later by not only hiring new employees but also by retaining them and training them properly, for the international businesses. Moreover, training and development plans must also be conducted for the employees, in order to enhance their communication skills for networking purposes (Lussier and Hendon 2018).
Thirdly, developing a skills inventory is immensely important for each and every employee. For example, this can be done in various ways like asking the employees to self evaluate with the questionnaire, performance reviews or combing the both. Moreover, it is highly important for the human resource consultant of the organization to assess the company’s demand for the qualified employees as well as the supply within or outside the enterprise (Mogorosi 2014). For example, the demand forecasting is considered to be a detailed procedure of determining the future needs of the human resources in terms of quantity. The supply forecasting is regarded as something which determines the resources that are currently available for meeting the demands (Martin and Class 2012).
Fourthly, the human resource consultant should also match the demand and supply of the company, where the hiring procedure gets a bit tricky. For example, she should develop a proper plan for linking the organizational demand of quality staff along with the supply that is available in the market. However, this can be achieved further by training the current employees or staff members, hiring or recruiting new employees or even combining both the approaches (Purcell 2014). This will help in developing new and innovative strategies as talent development is considered to be a crucial part for strategic human resource management procedure.
Fifthly, the human resource consultant after determining the needs of the company’s staff members should asses the current human resources capacity as well as forecasting demand and supply. For example, she can do this my beginning the procedure of adding and developing new talent as this method is very crucial for the strategic management procedure of human resources. In the overall procedure of recruitment, the human resource consultant should begin with searching for the applicants which match the skills of the company needs. Moreover, this phase should highly involve posting messages on the job websites, encouraging the current employees to refer or recommend people and also searching for the social networking sites like LinkedIn and others (Roche and Teague 2012). Lastly, while hiring the new employees for the international platform, the human resource consultant should conduct a training and development program for bringing them on board. For example, trainings on communication skills and others will enable the employees to perform more effectively and efficiently. In addition to this, encouraging them to develop their networking skills will also prove to be beneficial for the overall development of the company (Saundry 2012).
Taking into consideration the current wellbeing issues of the employees, the Sports Direct Company can implement few strategies in order to improve the performance of the employees effectively. One of them is by establishing a purposeful organizational aim or objective. The employee performance is being a long term battle which the human resource consultant has been struggling over the years. However, the human resource manager of Sports Direct Company should make employee performance the priority (Saundry, McArdle and Thomas 2013). The employees should be well aware of their job, position and what is the goal of the company. In the initial stage, the human resource consultant should be able to build a purpose and train the employees regarding the organizational goals, what they are supposed to do and how can the serve the company efficiently.
Moreover, the employees also want to feel that they are valued within the organization. The human resource consultant of the Sports Direct Company should communicate with the employees on the regular basis, in order to understand their issues and viewpoints, if any. In addition to this, it will also help in motivating and encouraging the employees temporarily, which in turn, will prove to be beneficial for the company itself. By communicating openly and being transparent within the employees, it can help the company by yielding some great results (Schuler 2015).
Furthermore, the employee will feel special and valued, which will give them a feeling that the organization cares about their well being. The communication meetings as well as interactive sessions must be held at least quarterly. Even if the organization has not achieved anything new, the meetings will help the employees to open up and share their feelings without any hesitations. In addition to this, the human resource manager of the company should discuss the company’s issues with the employees and seek their opinions or viewpoints (Stone 2013). This will make them feel that they are an essential part of the organization.
The employees should be motivated on a daily basis to work efficiently to meet their daily targets. Small sessions with the human resource manager or team huddles can increase their level of productivity to a huge extent. In addition to this, there should be small interactive sessions where the employees should discuss about their issues within the workplace (Van den Brink, Fruytier and Thunnissen 2013). The must have the interest of working within the organization; otherwise an ineffective employee will pose a great threat to the Sports Direct Company itself.
Moreover, while work is important and the employees should take it seriously, the human resource manager of the company should make it a little fun for them. The main aim for this is to make the employees enjoy their work. It should not be a burden for them. Offering fun activities or changing things up periodically also fall under the responsibility of the human resource manager. In this manner, the employee will love their work and engross themselves fully into their activities, which in turn, will increase their production (Wood, Saundry and Latreille 2014). Therefore, these are great ways of improving employee performance, in an effective, yet efficient manner.
The company needs to implement some organizational and employment policies within the organization. The preferred areas are payment, wages, health and safety. The Sports Direct Company has some issues regarding the payment structure of the employees. However, the employees are not getting their wages on time and moreover, they have to live under meager earnings. In accordance with Minimum Wage Act, the employer of the company is highly obliged to pay adequate wages to the employees on a regular or timely basis, that is once a month. Moreover, the employees should be paid on the basis of their job positions and working hours (Lussier and Hendon 2018).
The human resource manager of the company should outline proper employment guidelines which should include the working hours, conditions, employment structure, payment policies and termination policies. If any employee gets terminated on behalf of the employer, he/she must be paid the outstanding wages within two or three days of the termination. According to the Minimum Wage Act 1948, the employees must be provided with fixed wages as per the company’s guidelines and policies. The Minimum Wage Act is intended in order to achieve the objective of doing justice to the employers, by prescribing minimum wage rates to them (Saundry, McArdle and Thomas 2013).
These Acts are laid by the judicial system of the country, which emphasizes on the regulatory working hours, payments, wages, holidays, leaves, terms of the services and also related conditions of the workplace. If the employees do not get adequate wages from the company even after serving their working hours, they have the right to lodge a complaint against Sports Direct. For example, in the United States, the employer has no right to withhold the employees’ wages, until and unless there is a written letter from the higher authorities, along with some valid reasons (Lamba and Choudhary 2013). This is also the same in case of termination.
In addition to this, under the legal system of the country the employers and human resource managers of the company are highly responsible for the health and safety management. It is the duty of the human resource consultant to introduce the health and development guidelines within the organizational policies and procedures. However, the employers are also responsible for providing protection to the health, welfare and safety to their employees. The employers should do whatever is required to achieve this (Purcell 2014). This also means ensuring that the workers are protected from any injury or illness within the workplace.
The health and safety laws must be implemented within the organizational policies as well as procedures. Most of the contracts on employment comprise both the implied and expressed terms related to the health and safety. The employee has the basic right of not getting subjected to any ill treatments within the organization. Moreover, the employees or staff members who get dismissed for health and safety issues, is regarded as unfair dismissal. The Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998 clearly mentions about protection provided to the individuals regarding health and welfare and their right to bring such issues of workplace into public interest (Mogorosi 2014).
The occupational health and safety legislation aims in regulating the workplace health standards. This aims to prevent any kind of workplace accidents, diseases or injuries. Moreover, it also includes the responsibilities of the human resource managers, supervisors as well as employers to protect their employees from any kind of ill treatment within the organization. In addition to this, the organization’s human resource manager should check if the employees are ill treated within the organization. Proper steps must be taken, in accordance with that. A health and safety committee will help in improving the conditions of the workplace in relation with the employees’ welfare (Martin and Class 2012).
Conclusion
To conclude, an effective human resource manager of any company has the power to increase the production level of the employees. However, the consultant should introduce some innovative steps, in order to solve the issues, the Sports Direct Company is currently facing. Moreover, the employees should address their issues to the human resource manager effectively. This will help in reducing the problems of the company. In addition to this, the company should reshuffle its strategies and implement new ones in relation with the compensation and benefits. Apart than these factors, more and more policies must be introduced for ensuring a safe working environment. Furthermore, the employees must be motivated and encouraged on a daily basis for addressing their situations and working conditions. The human resource manager should always keep in mind that the employees’ happiness leads to the overall success of the company. These solutions can benefit the company to a large extent and in turn, improve their image or reputation in front of the media.
References
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