Challenges In Attracting And Retaining Workforce In The Retail Sector Of Australia

Analysis of the human resource based factors

You will write an essay on the key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in your selected sector. 

The attraction and retention of the employees has become a challenge for the various organizations in the different sectors. There has always been a level of alignment between the views of the employers and the employees. The members belonging to both these groups are concerned about the factors like, opportunities of career development and importance of the basic pay. The learning based opportunities that are provided to the employees and the reputation of the organization also holds huge importance in this case. The process of talent or workforce management in an organization is mainly based on the effectiveness of the leadership (Albrecht et al., 2015).

The leaders or the managers of the organization are able to ensure that they are providing the best services and opportunities to the employees. The process of talent management plays an important role in the retention of workforce in the organization. This process further ensures that the right talent has been acquired and retained by the organization for the purpose of its future growth in the industry (Brewster, 2017). The talent management based approach of the organization is mainly driven by strategic workforce plans and the strategic goals. The strategic workforce based plan is mainly related to the ways by which the organization is able to create an alignment of the right people with the appropriate jobs and at the appropriate time as well. The process of talent management thereby ensures the continuity of the key roles that are a part of the various organizational processes (Brewster, Chung & Sparrow, 2016).

The essay will be mainly based on the analysis of the challenges that are faced by the modern organizations regarding the process of the workforce attraction and retention. The sector that has been chosen for the analysis is the retail sector of Australia. The discussion will be based on the ways by which the various organizations and the retail sector of the country as a whole has to face the different challenges that are based on the process of workforce attraction and retention in the organizations. 

The analysis of the various challenges that are faced by the modern organizations based on the attraction and the retention of the workforce will be based five major themes of workforce planning. The five themes which will be considered for the purpose of analysing the process of workforce planning are, human resource management and strategic human resource management, employee turnover and retention, the management of diversity and the creation of work-life balance, performance management systems and evaluation and motivation, rewards and compensation (Brewster et al., 2016).

The major challenge that is being faced by the human resource management department of the retail organizations is related to the retention of the employees. The management thereby needs to control the process of the attraction and the retention of workforce in an effective manner. The human resource department of the retail organizations play an important role in the process of employee retention. The major challenges that are being faced by the modern organizations related to the retention of employees are as discussed further (Crawshaw, Budhwar & Davis, 2017).

The first issue is based on the dissatisfaction that is caused among the employees due to the monetary issues. The salary budget that is decided for each of the employees can be a major reason behind their dissatisfaction in the organization. The human resource management department of the company thereby needs to take care of the needs and the demands of the employees. The salary and compensation range needs to be decided based on the skills and capabilities that are possessed by the employees. The company thereby needs to provide the salary to employees based on their capabilities and skills. The opportunities that are available for the skilled employees in the industry are many (Gorman et al., 2017).

The organizations therefore need to pay attention to their needs so that they can be retained in the company easily. The human resource department can play a major role in the process of retaining these employees with the help of various policies and procedures. The recruitment process that is designed by the organizations need to be efficient enough to help the organizations to judge the employees during the interview process. The skills and the competencies that have been informed to the organization need to be analysed carefully by the interview panel. This can be helpful for the company to deal with the issues of employee turnover due to the offers provided by other organizations (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang, 2014).

The lack of growth opportunities and excitement in the job can be a major reason behind the high rates of employee turnover in the organizations. The HRM department of the company thereby has to formulate rules that are based on the training opportunities provided to the employees. The expectations that the employees from their job is also an important issue which related to the proper operations. The human resource management department of the company has to take care of the ways by which the expectations of the employees from their jobs can be fulfilled easily. The issues that are faced by the employees needs to addressed by the managers so that the skilled and valuable workforce can be retained (Konrad, Yang & Maurer, 2016).

The retail sector is diverse in nature and the employees who are a part of the retail organizations also belong to a diverse group. The customer base of the retail organizations is highly diverse and the employee base of this sector has to include a variety of people so that they are able to serve the customers in an efficient manner. The employees of these organizations feel valued because of the high rates of contribution that they are able to make in the different organizational processes. The diversity based policy is also related to the careful planning that is made by the managers of the retail organizations (Kramar, 2014).

The management of the retail organizations thereby need to show high levels of commitment to the diversity and equality based issues. This shows that the management cares for the well-being of the employees. The strategic diversity of the organization is an important facilitator of the process by which the employees can gain satisfaction in the work process. The organizations are thereby able to make the employees feel valued with the help of the opportunities that are provided to them based on the ways by which the diverse groups are managed (Lester, Virick & Clapp-Smith, 2016). 

The diverse employees in the retail organizations are able to provide their inputs regarding the various organizational processes and products that are offered to the customers. The recruitment process is the main starting point of the employee retention based process. The retail companies thereby need to incorporate effective policies based on diversity in the recruitment policies. The hiring needs to include a diverse pool of candidates so that the workforce can be created accordingly. The major issue that is faced by the retail organizations is based on the training that is to be provided to the employees who belong to different backgrounds (Lin et al., 2016).

The management has to understand the needs of the employees belonging to different groups and then decide about their training needs. This poses a major challenge to the managers of the retail organizations and the training related costs also tend to be high. The proper management of diversity in the organizations can however increase the rates of employee retention. The viewpoints that are held by the employees are different from each other. The diversity which is evident in their age, gender and ethnic groups have created barriers in the levels of understanding. However, diversity in the workplace helps the employees to know each other and increase their viewpoints as well (Marchington et al., 2016).

The perceptions of the diverse employees are also affected in a positive manner with the help of proper diversity management. Diversity in the retail organizations helps the employees in gaining respect among the various areas and classes in the society. The retention rates of the employees in the retail organizations can also increase in the process. This can help in decreasing the employee turnover rates in the retail organizations. The challenges that are faced by the employees in the process of work-life balance can also be solved with the help of proper diversity management (Meijerink, Bondarouk & Lepak, 2016).

The performance management based functions of the organizations involve various process which are, planning process, monitoring the activities, developing and further rewarding the employees. The major critical factors that affect the retention of the employees are based on quality of the system of performance management. The important factors in this case are, type of the work, the feedback that is provided by the boss, the opportunity that is provided for learning the new skills, training and recognition that is received for the proper completion of a job (Newman et al., 2016).

The process of performance management in an organization needs to be continuous in nature and the regular feedback needs to be provided to the employees based on the ways by which they are performing in the organizations. The major challenge that is faced by the organizations is based on the ways by which the regular feedback process can be maintained for the employees. This is the major function that needs to be performed by the employees to continue their successful work process. The continuous feedback that is provided to the employees can help in the retention of employees in the company. The skilled and talented employees will thereby be easily retained within the organization (Purce, 2014). 

The corrective feedback is important for the improvement of the employees in their work process. The managers of the retail organizations can play a significant role in providing the employees with both positive and negative type of feedback which can be helpful in their career development based activities. The forced distribution of the employee ratings can however cause major issues for different areas like, employee engagement, employee retention and the ongoing performance of the employees as well. This rating can pose challenges to the retail organizations regarding the retention if employees in the organizations for a long term (Rees & Smith, 2017).

The retention of employees who are productive in nature have always been a major concern for the retail organizations in the modern business environment. The relationship that is shared by the employees with their supervisors affect the levels of their satisfaction with the jobs that are being performed by them. The employees always need to feel the respect and mutual trust that is present among the various levels of their functioning in the organization. The benefits and compensation that is provided to the employees is also a major part of the motivation that is provided to them by the managers (Sheehan, 2014).

The managers of retail organizations thereby need to address these issues which can further be helpful for the successful retention if the employees. The time and the financial resources that are invested by retail organizations in the management of the performance of employees pays off in many ways which can be helpful for the increased performance of the company, the increase in productivity, improvement in the quality of work and enhancement of the employee morale. The organization will thereby be able to retain the skilled and talented employees in within the workforce so that the revenues and profitability of the company can be increased in the process (Stone et al., 2015). 

The employers and managers also need to understand the wants and needs of the employees and fulfil them with the purpose of improving the performance of the employees and retaining for a longer term. The major challenge that is faced by retail organizations in the process of retaining the employees within the organization is based on the ways by which the management takes care of the employees and their needs in the good and the bad times of the organization. The management thereby needs to develop different strategies for managing different processes in the organization (Tarique, Briscoe & Schuler, 2015).

The retention of the productive employees has been the most important part of the entire management related activities of the employees. The retail organizations need to focus on reducing the turnover of employees due to various reasons which include the costs that are incurred in the recruitment activities of the organization and training that is required for the new employees. The performance of the company is also affected by the increase in the turnover of the employees. The lack of availability of the skilled employees is also another reason behind the negative effect that occurs on the performance of the company (Tian, Cordery & Gamble, 2016).

The costs that are related to frequent turnover of the employees is another major factor that can influence the organizational operations. The retail organizations thereby need to find the major reason that is related to the huge turnover of the employees. This analysis can be helpful for the successful operations of the company in the market in which it has the operations (Tarique, Briscoe & Schuler, 2015).

The major factor that can lead to high rates of employee retention is based on the rewards and compensation that is provided to them based on their performance levels. The positive work environment is a huge motivational factor for the retail organizations. The business organizations need to think of ways which can help them to create a satisfied workforce who are capable of providing their best services to the organization (Tian, Cordery & Gamble, 2016). The motivation that is provided to employees based on rewards and other monetary benefits can further help in increasing the productivity of the company in the market. The increased productivity can thereby play an important role in the increase of the revenues and profitability of the company in the retail industry. The ways of formulating the policies related to the type of motivation that is to be provided to the employees is important for the appropriate rewards that can be provided to them based on the performance that is shown by them in the different organizational processes (Meijerink, Bondarouk & Lepak, 2016).

Conclusion

The essay can be concluded by stating that the attraction and retention of the employees for an organization is a challenging method. The factors that are analysed in the essay based related to the retention process are human resource management and strategic human resource management, employee turnover and retention, the management of diversity and the creation of work-life balance, performance management systems and evaluation and motivation, rewards and compensation. The analysis has thereby depicted that the entire process is affected in a positive manner by these factors and the organization needs to make policies and procedures based on the various human resource activities. This further helps the organizations to operate in a successful manner in the respective sectors. 

References

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