Wesfarmers For Human Resource Planning

Factors Affecting the Supply of Labor in the Organization

Discuss about the Wesfarmers for Human Resource Planning.

All types of functionalities and operational activities within a business organization are based on a number of factors such as capital, raw material, labor etc. And from this human resource has to be considered as the backbone of the business corporation. So the management and proper planning of workforce is of very much significance (Blakely and Leigh, 2013). The below presented report has been analyzed Wesfarmers which is a multinational brand name in the sector of retail, chemicals, fertilizers, coal mining and industrial and safety products. The following report has been focused on the planning and managing the workforce of the mentioned business organization.

Supply is the backbone of any of the operational activity in a corporation and labor is the one of the most significant factor which have many impacts on the functionalities in a firm. So the supply of same should be in an appropriate manner and flow. The below mentioned are some of the factors which can affect the supply of labor in Wesfarmers:

Globalization: Due to globalization most of the companies have invested in diverse regions and countries and which impacts the demand and supply of labor (Barton and Court, 2012). The company invests in the developed nations as there is large availability of labor in these nations.

Economy: There are chances of loss of jobs during hard economic times which mean less disposable income to the workforce. Most of the firms experience less production and which results in reduction in the supply of the labor.

As per the current analysis Wesfarmers is a well established company and so the firm is experiencing a situation of oversupply of labor (Vandenbroek. 2016) As Wesfarmers is a retail industry there is diversity in the categories of labor force in the organization. For instance, the retail stores will have sales executives, store in charges, customer representatives etc. The mining sections will have a team of technical staff and expert executives who are skilled and have knowledge of the products.

		EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY STASTICS
						Change in employed
	15-Feb	15-May	15-Aug	15-Nov	16-Feb	Feb-15
						to Feb-16
Mining	227.1	225	226	227.8	230.1	1.3
Retail Trade	1,223.40	1,227.40	1,246.20	1,270.20	1,291.70	5.6
Public Administration and Safety	735.6	735.7	736.4	738.8	741.9	0.9

(Source: Parliament of Australia, 2016, Employment by industry statistics: a quick guide.)

The below mentioned are the current factors which are having an impact on the demand of labor in Wesfarmers:

The price of the products: An increase in the price of the products will tend the organizations to hire more labor The price of the output directly have an effect on the labor as it has an influence on the value of the marginal product of the labor. An increase in the price of the product will give a hike to the demand of the labor and which will make the labor curve shift upward.

Factors Effecting Demand of Labor in the Organization

Technology: Technologies make a decrease in the demand of the labor as the machines are capable of performing working functions of a couple of workforce at a time (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). So for Wesfarmers installation of an automated machine will bring a reduction in the count of the workforce in the organization.

There are a number of initiatives taken by the governing bodies which causes many impacts on the demand and supply of labor in Wesfarmers and the industry and these initiatives have proven beneficial for the companies as these will allow the industry to hire potential workforce.

Direct taxation reforms: The Australian governing bodies have focused in the reduction of the income tax and tax allowances for the group of lower paid employees (De Anca and Vega, 2016). And which will bring an increase in the post tax rewards and will acts as a plus point for the lower paid category.  

Investments in training and education for labor: To cope-up with the changing market trends the governing bodies has made investments of significant amounts for boosting up the workforce and increase the switching of occupations of the labor force For instance the private investors from USA and New Zealand will be investing an approx. amount of $252 million in the business sensitive sectors (100positivepolicies.org. 2017).

The policy of staff diversity is applicable and possible in large organizations such as Wesfarmers. The business corporation encourages this policy so as to make recruitment of diverse employees from different culture and regions so that they can work together, share their views, thoughts and aid the business corporation in the attainment of the organizational goals. As per the recent studies it has been observed that the people from different backgrounds have diverse dreams, thoughts and beliefs which will aid the organization in developing a strong organizational culture (Barton and Court, 2012). Sometimes diversity in workforce can also lead to some issues and problems for the management, as there will be poor communication between the employees from different regions. And this will impact the organizational culture adversely. However, businesses that embrace staff diversity have a positive and ethical culture motivating staff to do well and take right decisions often. As the above stated organization operates business activities in varied sectors, so there is diversity on a large scale in the variables such as ethnicity, skills age an abilities which is a plus point for the entity. These diverse variables has benefited the company on various grounds such as due to ethnic diversity in the workforce the issues of the consumers who are from different regions and speak different languages has solved and the firm has also developed more cultural awareness.

Government Initiatives which Affect Demand and Labor Supply

Wesfarmers is a well established brand name and also one of the best business corporation which is in recruiting the workforce across the globe. The company not only is into providing the jobs to the employees but also help in building an employee’s career. Workforce planning is a crucial and significant task for every business entity and the same is with Wesfarmers as well. For instance, as the warriors get ready before the wars the workforce planning prepares the employees for the competitive wars, the business organizations also have a need to prepare their employees to meet the set market standards and fulfill and satisfy the requirements of the ultimate customers. At Wesfarmers, current organizational strategy is effectively aligned with workforce plans (Bowen and Sosa, 2014). The management team of the business organization motivates the employees by making use of different activities such as rewards and incentive schemes, setting targets and giving them feedback so that they can effectively help the company to meet their targets

Wesfarmers is one of the multinational brand names of the industry which not only provides exceptional customer service but also provides huge employment benefits. The company provides employment to approximately one in 60 working Australians and one of 17 working Australians under 20 years of age (Sustainability.Wesfarmers. 2016). Also the company provides $8.4 billion dollars i.e. they provide salary to about 61 percent of Australian population. Some of the strategies employed by Wesfarmers to ensure low staff turnover include employees at the business organization go under extensive training about the procedures and the different processes before they begin working (Heizer and Barry, 2013). With this the employees will be well aware about the products and the processes and they will not face any of the issues regarding the same, and also they will be able to answer any of the queries of the customers. According to a recently carried out research by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) found Australia ranked last in a list of 11 developed countries in case of staff leaving within 1 year at 23%. An estimate has been made that 1 in 4 new employee’s leaves their job before their first 12 months is up (theretailsolution. 2016). The expenses for this turnover in Australia have been estimated at $3.8 billion in lost productivity and $385 million in avoidable recruitment costs.

The below mentioned are the strategies which can be implemented by Wesfarmers in the organizational structure so as to find skilled and potential labor:

• Even after being a multinational brand Wesfarmers also faces the issue of finding potential and skillful labor. Wesfarmers conducts frequent recruitment drives where the company screens its candidates through different stages. So in such cases the company organize extensive training sessions to make the existing employees more capable and well-versed with all the concept of production and retailing (Clampitt, 2012).
• Wesfarmers encourages staff diversity and ensures to hire employees from different culture to get the best talent into the company.
• Moreover the company can also carry out some types of exams so as to sort and choose the best potential employees for the organization.

Staff Diversity meets Current Organizational Requirements

The concept is concerned with an un-expected event or situation which will have many impacts on the financial health, professional image and market share and consumer base of the business corporation (Wisegeek. 2017). Here the contingency plan will work as the back-up plan or plan b which will help the organization in facing the extreme situations such as the loss of a large number of retiring personnel in a short period of time, health epidemic, remote location where replacement workers are hard to attract, etc. The organization needs to develop some contingency options to tackle with the above mentioned situations (Bamberger, Biron and Meshoulam, 2014). The following are some of the contingency options which can be used by the Wesfarmers:

In case loss to the company by retiring of large number of personnel the corporation can provide the training sessions to the employees on the managerial skills so that they will be able to get shifted on the retired employees.

For the situation of health epidemic the company should always be ready with the sense of medical awareness and maintenance of proper hygiene in the workplace. The company need to organize medical campaigns at regular period of time an also provide medical incentives and medical facilities within the office premises. Also the firm can implement health and safety policies and laws within the organization so as to maintain the health and safety standards.

Retaining the employees has become a very crucial task for each and every organization and same if for Wesfarmers. In order to retain workforce, it is very much significant for the business entity to offer them enhanced career development opportunities. By organizing and providing them with the frequent training and education programs the company will be making the employees aware about the products and the processes, the changing market trends, weaknesses and strengths effectively of the corporation  (Campbell and Reyes-Picknell, 2015). It will eventually help them get enhanced skills and competencies. The company has a need to divert their focus on the staff diversity. The company also needs to develop some sought of staffing changes such as the firm needs to modify the recruitment and selection process, they should make use of contemporary methods while selecting an recruiting the individuals.

As the modern era has speeding up towards modernization and technological up-gradations, in one or two years, the employees of  Wesfarmers will have a need to be updated and upgraded with the with latest marketing trends, modern mechanisms, tools and contemporary methods of working of the sector. Secondly, there will be a need of better reward systems so as to encourage and motivate and also to retain the employees for a longer period and this will also encourage workforce to openly share their ideas and innovation. The company also has a need to build strong and better ethics and working culture for their future development of the business organization. As these above needs of the workforce will be fulfilled they will be motivated which will enable them to work with a greater level of enthusiasm and dedication will also be more. Which in turn will ten them to provide a better quality and also there will be an enhancement in the productivity level. As a result the corporation will be able to meet the organizational goals.

The Current Organizational Strategies and Workforce Plans

Wesfarmers as being a global brand has business in a number of nations and regions and it is growing with a great speed. And as the expansions are increasing the company has a need of huge workforce to handle the business in different locations. The business organization claims to provide its employees not just a job but a rising chance bring a boost to his/her career. The company provides a high range of job satisfaction for employees since it also provides various health benefits and other incentives. Since the company is in an expansion stage it requires a huge workforce to meet predicted demands for goods and services. The organization is in a need of skilled and potential staff individuals, for instance store in charge, sales executives and customer representatives for the outlets, technical experts and demonstrators etc.

Although Wesfarmers is a multination retail and manufacturing brand and has a demand of huge workforce, but oversupply of labor can create some issues and problems for the business organization in the future.. It is the duty of the HR department to hire a well skilled and potential workforce on the demand of the company. The HR department of the organization will have to monitor and encourage staff diversity; need to carry out extensive screening tests, training assessments and work assessments frequently so as to sort out the labor that is not up-to the mark. Due to modernization the company has made changes and also brought development in the operating activities. Some updated systems and machines have been installed in the organization and which has made the company to make reduction in the count of the staff.

At any business organization the communication strategies are considered as to be the primary function offering a structure and effective communication plan so as to develop and maintain strong bonds and positive relationships with clients, stakeholders and employees. The marketing and the public relations department are involved and are responsible for building the communication strategies and the approach followed is highly systematic. The business organization have a belief that communication is not just a management function but a way to engage those who need to change their ways of interacting with each other either internally or externally. Wesfarmers can make use of the visual strategies which consists of the webpages and pictorial demonstrations; this will aid the organization in developing awareness and making understand the employees about the organizational structure of the company. And also the written strategies can be made in use such as e-mails; fax and chats which are less time consuming and less expensive.

The below mentioned are the recommendations to the management of Wesfarmers:

• From the above mentioned points it has been observed that there is a huge need of staff, the company should focus on hiring staff from diverse cultures. The company should organize recruitment campaigns in different localities and regions so as to hire diverse staff.
• Wesfarmers should involve the employees in extensive training sessions and helping them develop their personalities as per market demand. So that they will be well-versed with different procedures and processes.
• Wesfarmers must formulate effective communication strategies in order to communicate important information about the company in a diverse network of employees well.

Conclusion

From the above carried out analysis it has been concluded that the planning and managing the workforce is a very crucial and significant task. Wesfarmers is a multinational and retail brand and need to carry out number of activities for hiring an appropriate supply of workforce within the business organization.

References

Blakely, E.J. and Leigh, N.G., 2013. Planning local economic development. Sage.

Barton, D. and Court, D., 2012. Making advanced analytics work for you. Harvard business review, 90(10), pp.78-83.

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

De Anca, C. and Vega, A.V., 2016. Managing diversity in the global organization: Creating new Business values. Springer.

Barton, D. and Court, D., 2012. Making advanced analytics work for you. Harvard business review, 90(10), pp.78-83.

Bowen, W.G. and Sosa, J.A., 2014. Prospects for faculty in the arts and sciences: A study of factors affecting demand and supply, 1987 to 2012. Princeton University Press.

Heizer, R. and Barry, R., 2013. Operation Management, Sustainability and Supply Chain management (Vol. 11). Pearson, UK.

Clampitt, P.G., 2012. Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness: Problems| Strategies| Solutions. Sage Publications. Dodge, A. ed., 2015. Public relations: Strategies and tactics. New York, NY: Pearson.

Bamberger, P.A., Biron, M. and Meshoulam, I., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation, implementation, and impact. Routledge.

Campbell, J.D. and Reyes-Picknell, J.V., 2015. Uptime: Strategies for excellence in maintenance management. CRC Press.

Sustainability.Wesfarmers, 2016, Sustainability at Wesfarmers,  Assessed on 12^th March 2017, https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/.

Vandenbroek, P, 2016, Employment by industry statistics: a guide, Assessed on 4^th April 2017, https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/Quick_Guides/EmployIndustry.

100positivepolicies.org, 2017, Positive Policy, Generating through Trade and Investment, Assessed on 4^th April 2017, https://www.100positivepolicies.org.au/generating_jobs_through_trade_and_investment.

Theretailsolution, 2016, Staff turnover in the first 12 months in Australia is costing $3.8, Assessed on 4^th April 2017, https://theretailsolution.com.au/staff-turnover-in-the-first-12-months-in-australia-is-costing-3-8-billion/.

Wisegeek, 2017, What is a contingency plan? Assessed on 4^th April 2017, https://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-contingency-plan.htm.