Human Resource Management Challenges In The Retail Industry

Challenges in Attracting Prospective Employees

Discuss about the Human Resource Management for Retail Industry.

The aim of this report is to provide a brief information about the human resource management challenges faced by the organizations present in the retail industry in attracting and retaining people. The retail sector is one of the most diversified sectors which are in regular need of people to employ. Many organizations like Tesco, Woolworths, David Jones etc. are in a regular need to employ people to manage their action in the external environment. The companies present in retail industry generally hold a major market share due to which the company requires employees to manage such diversified activities of the organizations. The below presented paper explains the issues faced by organizations in attracting the prospective people and retaining them as well in order to attain competence in the target market.  Further, the latter part of the paper also explains the recommendations given to the organization present in the retail industry so as to make their activities effectively. More details about the paper are discussed below:

It has been found in the studies of Hurst, & Good, (2009) that attracting and retaining the customers in the target market has been regarded as one of the most significant functions for the human resource management of the organization. As people are the most important resource for the organization without whom the organization cannot run effectively, so it has become the need of the management to attract the employees and make them stay in the activities of the organization. Retention of the workforce in the retail industry has become a major deal for organizations because no person wants to stay in the organization due to workload, pressure, and tension. The retail industry is one such industry that is always in demand by the customers because they provide products and services that are regularly required by the customers present in the target market. Thus, in order to meet the demand of the customers, the companies require human resource as well (Aguinis, Joo, & Gottfredson, 2013).

Further, it should be noted that there are ample challenges faced by the companies in attracting and retaining the quality people present in the target market. Lack of career advancement and development opportunities makes is one of the most important reason due to which the people do not prefer employing under this industry. The organization present under this industry is unable to attract and retain talented employees in the activities of the organization due to which they become uncompetitive in the target market. Repetition of work is one of the major issues that are faced by companies present in this industry. In this industry, the management provides the same type of work again and again to the employees due to which they get bored and subsequently leave their jobs. Also, the employees feel that their talent is not being properly addressed in this industry as they do not get challenging work to do or use innovations in their regular activities. Thus, boredom from the job can be regarded as one of the biggest reason due to which employees leave the job and the organization faces difficulty in attracting people (Albrech, 2011).

Challenges in Retaining Employees

Further, the presence of high degree of competition in the target market also makes it difficult for the organization to attract and retain the employees on a regular basis. The international retail sector earns very well in the market but it needs to maintain its competitiveness by recruiting qualifies human resources and retaining them as well. The companies present in this industry lacks attracting the quality human resource with them due to which most of the work becomes standardized and employees get bored with the activities. It should be noted that according to Broadbridge, Maxwell, & Ogden, (2007) the human resource management is incompetent in managing the professional in their process when it comes to retention. Although all employees are an asset for the organization the employees who have qualified experience are the biggest asset for the companies as they help in resolving the problems, managing the environment, training people and attracting other employees as well (Phillips, & Phillips, 2015). So, if the organization is unable to develop their career efficiently then they will not stay in the same organization. Here it can be noticed that lack of effective human resource practices can also affect the attraction and retention of employees in the organization.

Further, it is important for the management to understand the importance of job description and person description in the organization (Briscoe, Tarique, & Schuler, 2012). As if the human resource management of the organization does not understand the requirements of the job and the person for the organization and employ underprepared candidate then there is higher level of chance that the employee will not stay in the organization. Thus, understanding the type of employee required by the organization is another major factor that affects the activities of the organization in attracting and retaining employees at the workplace. It should also be noted that in the current environment, many other organizations present in different industries are providing work to people at optimum salary, due to which the employees shift to other famous and attractive industries. As discussed above that the companies present in the retail industry makes the employees perform the same task again and again that makes them bored due to which they shift to other industries. Apart from that, another challenge faced by the management of retail industry is high recruitment cost (Festing, & Schäfer, 2014). As the organizations are unable to retain the employees in their organization due to which they regularly develop the need to attract the employees in the environment, resulting to which the HR manager initiate recruitments for the organization. Regular recruitment and training process makes it difficult for the organization to invest in other important activities due to which the efficiency of the organization reduces subsequently. Resulting to which, the overall image of the company is affected in global level (Oladapo, 2014).

Recommendations for Effective Management

Contract staffing is another challenge that is being faced by the organization in the business environment. Many times the HR manager of the organization faces difficulty in employing the human resource that is according to the requirements of the organization due to which they attain contracts with the recruiting organizations that provide them an effective human resource to work in the organization. The entrance of third party in the organization affects its activities in the internal organization due to which the employees do not get attached to the management of the organization and certainly leave the job. Thus, the ineffectiveness of HR manager to analyze the type of employees the company should attract affects its activities in the global market (Thite, 2011).

Another challenge in this case due to which the companies become inefficient in attracting and retaining customer is due to the problem of compensation. It should be noted that compensation is the king both retention and recruiting as well. If the employees in the organization would not get paid properly then they will leave the job, no perks or promises will make them stay in the organization. The best way to keep the employees motivated is by the way of providing them compensation benefits. Talking about shifting of employees from one job to other, the main reason due to which the employees get attracted to another industry and shift there is optimum pay and good working environment. These are the most important aspects that work in helping the organization attract and retain the employees. Ineffective pay and lack of positive workplace environment poorly hamper the activities of HR manager in the organization (Broadbridge, Maxwell, & Ogden, 2007).

Additionally, it should be noted that lack of training is another demotivating factor that makes the employees change their job soon after they get employed in the organization. Training helps the new employees to involve in the activities of the organization, understand it and build motivation as well. Thus, it should be noted that lack of effective training initiates major challenges for the organization that makes the company face many challenges in the competitive environment. Attraction and retention activities go hand in hand for the organization, it is not possible that the company to focus on only one. Thus, the organization should core focus on satisfying the employees and increase their level of interest in the organization. Managerial changes in the retail industry also affect the interest of employees due to which they leave the job (Haider, et. al., 2015).

Conclusion

As discussed above that there is absence of training and development process in the organization, due to which changes in the managerial process negatively affect the growth of the company in the external market. It is important for the organizations to implement effective change management program so as to help the employees to understand the activities of the company. Also, it should be noted that recognition is the key factor that plays a major role in attracting and retaining the employees in the organization. In the retail sector, organizations usually make use of team based organizational structure due to which collective team is appreciated or rebuked by the organization (Michie & Sheehan, 2005). But the contribution of the employee solely is never recognized in the organization resulting to which underperformance and over performance of the team affects them but the work done by them is never counted in the organization. This is also one of the major reason due to which employees leave their jobs in the retail industry. These employees enter in other sectors where they receive rewards from the organization on the basis of their personal performance and not the achievements of the group.

It should be noted that competition in the industry apart from affecting the revenues of companies in the environment affects the human resource management of the organizations as well. The company providing better benefits attracts the employees to the maximum level. Also, the organizations face difficulty in attracting the employees with the effect of globalization (Schenk, 2017). As now, the companies do not compete with each other in the domestic environment but they compete with other organizations or same as well as different industry. The employees have started shifting to other parts of the world due to which very few employees are left with the domestic industry. Thus, it should be noted that with the effect of globalization, the quality employees are skimmed on the global level only.

Further, it should be noted that millennial people present in the society do not prefer entering the sector and this sector also fails to attract the fresh and young talent present in the market. The employees present in this society are constantly asked to perform the same task again and again due to which they lose their effectiveness and efficiency and the millennial employees want to work on new tasks and innovative projects on regular basis. The retail industry is unable to provide such services in the environment due to which they fail in attracting the right type of people in the organization (Rathi, & Lee, 2015).

In the current environment, no employee wants to perform regular work, due to which the company is able to attract the comparatively less efficient people for the organization. The expectation is another aspect that attracts and retains the staff in the organization. Suppose, if an employee is hired at the position of supervisor in the organization and he is asked to increase the efficiency of the organization (Roman & Mason, 2015). The initial work that the supervision performs is to implement innovation in the regular activities of the employees, but the top level management halt supervisor from introducing innovation in the organization, instead they ask him to supervision the regular actions and make sure no mistake is implemented by the employees. This aspect will demotivate the supervisor as the company did not show up to his expectation. Thus, it is important for the organization to not give any false commitments to the people to attract them and possess different activities in the environment (Imna, & Hassan, 2015).

Thus, it should be noted that the above mentioned statements explained the challenges faced by organizations in attracting and retaining the employees in the retail industry. According to Sparks (1992), favorable workplace environment is the key to attract the employees in the organization and retain them as well. No employee would ever want to work in an organization where there is the presence of negative workplace environment. So, if the organization initiates effective communication and friendliness with the employees then they will automatically stay for a longer time in the organization (Yadav & Saxena, 2015). Further, incentives also play a major role in retaining and attracting the employees in the target market. The company present in retail sector should initiate incentive schemes over and above the basic pay of the employees so as to motivate them to work better and earn better as well. Incentives and compensation are the biggest motivating factor; any employee that switches the job is mainly due to fewer compensation benefits (Evans, 2015). Further, innovation is another way through which the organization can attract and retain the employees in the activities of the organization.

As discussed above that boredom is also one factor due to which employees switch their jobs. So, if the organization make use of innovative practices in their daily routine activities then they can easily make the quality millennial employees stay with them and attract other as well. Lastly, the organization should also implement training and development practices to help the employees adjust to the organization. This aspect will also contribute to helping the employees to use innovative practices as well (Sissons & Green, 2017). With the help of effective training, the employees will get to know about the organization and the work that they have to do. Resulting in which, they will not face difficulty in implementing it effectively.

Conclusion

Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, it should be noted that the employees are the most important asset and the organizations should never face difficulty in managing them. The retail industry is in regular demand of the employee, so the organizations present in this industry should implement effective measures to attract them and retain them as well. The above mentioned essay adequately explains the challenges faced by the companies present in retail industry in attracting and retaining the qualitative employees in the organization. Lack of innovation, training and incentive schemes makes the employees switch their jobs. So, the essay also explains so of the suggestions through which the companies can improve their activities and overcome challenges. Hiring and retaining of employees is an important aspect in the growth of the organization which should never be overlooked by companies present in retail industry.

References

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