Thesis Statement- The purpose of the report is to analyze the process of HR planning and recruitment in the retail industry.
The aim of the report is to develop a case study for the retail industry so that prime challenges for the planning and recruitment of the workforce of this industry can be identified. The HR planning process of the retail sector faces several challenges like supply and demand of the labor market, demographic issues like diversity and the challenges of the recruitment process of the retail sector are also analyzed in the report (Chan & Burgess, 2012).
The report is structured with a brief discussion about the retail sector and the human resource strategies applicable for the sector. The main body of the report is divided in two prime sections related to human resource planning of retail sector and human resource recruitment of the sector. The sections identify the key challenges faced by planning and recruitment process with subheadings. The findings of the report are analyzed in conclusion section.
The research methodology for developing the case study is based on secondary research. The information for this case-study is derived from journal articles, news, books and magazines. The secondary research from these sources has provided meaningful insights to develop this case study.
The strategic planning of human resource is of paramount importance for the retail sector because it helps in identification of human capital which is necessary to meet goals of this sector and also the process of strategic planning facilitates the development of strategies to meet requirements of retail industry. The retail sector must comply with the legal requirements of Australia. The strategy of human resource for the retail sector can be implemented by a proper analysis of workflow. Job analysis and job design also play significant role for implementing the HR strategies (Crawshaw, Budhwar & Davis, 2017).
The retail industry is dominated by globalization, value-based management and process management and this labor intensive industry needs to serve an emerging sophisticated and well-informed customer base in Australia. The HR strategies developed for the retail industry must be proactive and formative because the organizations of retail industry are re-organizing and adapting their structures to be more efficient, sustainable and to meet future challenges (Crawshaw, Budhwar & Davis, 2017).
The HR planning is essential because it helps to eliminate both hard and soft costs related to replacement of an employee. The different forecasting techniques that can be used in the retail industry are trend analysis, Delphi technique, Impact Analysis and Scenario Planning. The human resource planning process has four main steps called the supply analysis, demand analysis, gap analysis and strategy development (Crawshaw, Budhwar & Davis, 2017).
The staffing levels, employment trends, demographics and skills of the workforce are considered in supply analysis of the retail industry.
The Australian population is aging and this is a serious concern for the retail industry. The employment for female is predicted to increase to 70 percentage by 2054-55, the Australian workforce has diversity with population from more than 200 countries and 500, 000 Population from the indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders. In Australia, the employment trends of the retail sector have witnessed recruitment of workforce for Omni-channel retailers, for instance, retailers like Tigermist has opened brick-and mortar stores while trend of online-retail store is still popular in Australia. The employers in the retail sector is looking for workforce overseas because the retail-industry is in need of high or semi-skilled labor who will be efficient in technological development like data analysis and automation (Kramar, 2012).
The staffing patterns, skills of the workforce and anticipated changes in the workload are considered in demand analysis.
The front-line employees of the retail industry in Australia need to develop technological skills because automation and robots will replace repetitive tasks of these employees. The staffing patterns in the retail industry need to be flexible because the opening hours in the retail stores are long and there is a requirement of part-time workers. The retail industry is also dominated by Just-In-Time scheduling where demands of consumers are matched with supply of labor and it is ensured that there is an optimum flow of front-line-executives to serve the customers (Kramar, 2012).
In the process of gap analysis, the supply analysis is compared with demand analysis, the gaps and surpluses of the future is determined, future changes in demographics of workforce is indentified and the areas where the action of management is required is analyzed.
In the process of gap analysis it can be identified that the retail sector will be affected by automation and robotics and there will be requirement of skilled and semi-skilled workers in the retail sector. Thus a gap exists in the retail sector of Australia due to the shortage of skilled workforce. Also the Australian population is aging and thus there is a requirement for youth workforce in the retail industry. The management action is required in areas like development and training of workforce so that they adapt to changes like Omni-channel employment and automation (Kramar, 2012).
The recruitment, succession, development and retraining of employees and changes of the organization are instrumental for strategy development in the retail industry.
The retail industry in Australia is labor-intensive and the retail stores are kept open for long hours to serve the customers. Thus there is a requirement of an optimum level of workforce to serve customers. The retail industry requires part-time laborers and also just-in-time scheduling process is a challenge faced by the industry to meet the demand to serve customers (Johnson, Wilding & Robson, 2014).
The retail industry in Australia faces challenges like diverse workforce and an aging population. The retail industry in Australia has to manage both surface level and deep level diversity of the workforce of the retail industry. The aging population of Australia is also a challenge for the retail industry. There is a requirement of a workforce comprising of youth population because of which the retail industry often needs to outsource labor from other countries (Johnson, Wilding & Robson, 2014).
The process of recruitment is essential for the creation of a pool of potential applicants for an organization(Crawshaw, Budhwar & Davis, 2017). The sources of recruitments can be internal as well as external. The method of selection should be in compliance with 5 critical standards like reliability, legality, utility, validity and generalisability.
The employers in the retail industry in Australia aims to achieve competitive advantage which includes efficiency and cost advantage and product differentiation and thus the internal capabilities and branding of employer is important to recruit the right pool of workforce in the retail sector. The retail industry in Australia has relied on the process of online recruitment, recruitment through social media sites like LinkedIn and employment through recruitment agencies in recent years. The employers of the retail industry can advertise for vacancies in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The job seekers of the retail industry can make use of crowd-sourced forums like Glassdoor and Whirlpool to research about employment practices and potential employers. Thus the web resources provide a transparent platform for the recruitment process in the retail sector (Gagua, 2015). The corporate and vacancies websites are also used by employers in the retail sector for direct advertisement. The specialized and generalized job boards are also used by employers in the retail sector to advertise about job vacancies. The retail industry is also dominated by metaserach sites which crawl the web for job vacancies (Kashi, Zheng & Molineux, 2016). The strategies for recruitment in the retail sector in Australia have focused on safety and health laws, adaption to online recruitment process, and implementation of ethical and non-discriminatory practices. The retail industry has also adopted strategies like Just-In-Time recruitment of workforce to balance the demand and supply process in the retail sector (Cascio & Boudreau, 2016).
The employers of the retail industry in Australia have faced constraints due to volatility, tight labor market and economic pressure.
The retail industry faces challenges because the aging population and indigenous workers often lack the digital literacy and thus inclusion of this set of workforce in the recruitment process for the retail sector of Australia becomes difficult. The information management, security and privacy of users are major concerns for the online recruitment process in the retail sector of Australia (Becker, Hyland & Soosay, 2013).
The employers of the retail industry of Australia face challenges of sourcing from the external labor market to meet the shortage of skilled workforce and to deal with challenges like aging population.
The employer branding is also a challenge for the retail sector and it plays a vital role to recruit the desired pool of candidate for the retail industry.
Conclusion
It has been found from that the strategic human resource management plays an important role for the retail sector. The strategic planning process of the retail sector is an important process and the major findings of the planning process highlight the fact that the retail industry has a gap of skilled workforce and faces challenges of diversity management, aging population and the imbalance of demand and supply. The findings of the report highlights that the strategies for recruitment of retail sector are dominated by online recruitment and just-in-time recruitment. However, the challenges faced in the recruitment process are inclusion of workforce who lacks digital literacy and issues related to privacy concerns of the users. The employer branding is also a challenge for employers of the retail industry and it is crucial to gain competitive advantage. The retail sector also faces challenges like recruitment from external labor market to meet with challenges like aging population and the shortage of skilled laborers.
Reference List
Becker, K., Hyland, P., & Soosay, C. (2013). Labour attraction and retention in rural and remote Queensland communities. Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, 19(3), 342.
Cascio, W. F., & Boudreau, J. W. (2016). The search for global competence: From international HR to talent management. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 103-114.
Chan, J., & Burgess, J. (2012). Human resource reporting in Australian and Hong Kong initial placement offers. International Employment Relations Review, 18(2), 4.
Crawshaw, J., Budhwar, P., & Davis, A. (Eds.). (2017). Human resource management: strategic and international perspectives. Sage.
Gagua, L. (2015). E-recruitment and Applicant Tracking System: New age of technology based applicant screening. Threat or opportunity?.
Johnson, G., Wilding, P., & Robson, A. (2014). Can outsourcing recruitment deliver satisfaction? A hiring manager perspective. Personnel review, 43(2), 303-326.
Kashi, K., Zheng, C., & Molineux, J. (2016). Exploring factors driving social recruiting: The case of Australian organizations. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 26(3), 203-223.
Kramar, R. (2012). Trends in Australian human resource management: what next?. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 50(2), 133-150.
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