Human Resource Management Practices And Employee Retention In Retail Industry

Retailers are viewed in two divisions

Discuss about the Human Resource Management Practices and Employee Retention.

Human resource management plays the significant role in planning the strategies, recruitment, performance analysis, training, administration, employee growth & development, rewards etc. HRM is a comprehensive approach to streamline the processes and staff of an organization. Innovative HRM practices help in altering the minds of employees and result in the long-term relationship with its employees. The retail sector is expanding and growing at a fast pace due to the expansion of Indian economy affecting the choice, needs, demands and buying capacity of consumers. According to FICCI report, there is more influence of organized retailers like pantaloons, shoppers stop. Retail means dealing directly with customers giving them sophisticated feel. This demands for selecting the right talent in the retail sector by its HR. Retail employees are clearly visible at the front desk to the customers which raise the brand and retailers name (Hurst & Good, 2009). It is also surveyed via students of 9 USA universities by the scholar of research publication that students who choose retail sector for their jobs after completing their graduation could not continue their jobs for longer terms in this sector due to their mismanaged relations with the employees of the retail sector.

The academic literature studied during my coursework and gathered in assessment 2 will be applied in the retail sector through this essay writing. HRM serves as root for the growth of any retail sector. Although many retail organizations are practicing several HR strategies but still they are facing diversified challenges in handling the employees. This report will majorly focus on the key challenges being faced by the HR in attracting and retaining the retail sector employees. Also the human resources practices will be identified and evaluated which could be applied to attract, reward, recruit, train, motivate and retain the employees in retail sector. The outcome of this essay would be deep and clear understanding of HRM strategies being applied to retail industry to achieve its objective and to analyze the contemporary challenges in managing human resources of this industry.

1. Organized retailers- Organized retailers are those which are less of their kind; submerged into HRM completely and are using HR strategies to grow their industry. Such retailers have already adopted the HR major attributes discussed in this writing ahead.
2. Unorganized retailers – Unorganized retailers are more in number and have not yet adapted HRM as part of their organization.

• Pharmacy
• Furnishing & Furniture
• Beauty & fitness products
• Apparel
• Electronics
• Food & grocery.

The objectives of this work are listed below:

• To access the role of HR practices in the retail sector
• To list down the major challenges faced by HR officials in attracting and retaining the retail staff.
• To identify and discuss the HRM strategies which may be adapted to the retail sector; in overcoming above mentioned challenges

1. Improper training schemes – Employees hired for the retail sector are not trained as per their skill set. If employees with previous experience of retails will be trained at the same platform with the fresher employees, then there would be wastage of resources and time. Moreover, it will result in inefficient training. Staff working in Indian retail stores would be equipped with different behavioral attributes than staff working in International stores.
2. Low wages and contractual jobs – Although the Retail sector is among the largest industries in consuming manpower and offers jobs to many people but still less number of people apply for the jobs and are reluctant to join; as and when required. This is due to the low salaries offered by the HR to the supporting and customer executive staff. Moreover, they hire on contractual basis which leads to negativity and inefficiency of the employee.
3. Stressful work environment – Retail jobs are sighted as most stressful and overloaded jobs. Retail work culture demands longer working hours (8 to 14 hrs/day) which puts the employees under depression and mental fatigue. Depressed and pressurized employees do not perform well and tend to remain absent or commit mistakes in their jobs in the day to day routine. This environment is resultant of all time shortage of manpower in this sector (Nalla & Varalaxmi, 2014).
4. Competition by online shopping mode – Customers these days are more attracted towards online shopping in comparison to visiting the retail stores in actual. This tends to employee demotivation and also they are not engaged properly in the workplace.
5. Lack of job security – At the time of crisis; the very first step HR takes to cut down their organizational cost is that they terminate the services of their employees. There is basically no job security provided by the retail sector right from the time of recruitment. Terminated employees are left with fewer job options and their career growth is put to the end with this action (Nidan, 2016).
6. Attention to Employees feedback and suggestions – HR who does not pay much attention towards the employee’s suggestions, problems and valuable feedbacks set back in development; whereas it is mandatory for the retailers to listen to the valuable inputs of their employees.
7. Money Game – Employees leave the organization for their betterment; as competitive retailers and other sectors offer mind-boggling salaries with the high designation. They pull the talented employees towards their organization with attractive packages. This tends to force the employees to leave their current retailers.
8. Monotonous jobs and no professional growth – Workforce of the retail sector are subject to the same kind of job right from their joining till the period they stay in the organization which results into no growth and development in their personality (Goswami & Jha, 2012).
9. Quality of life – Employees expect certain kind of facilities which could keep them motivated and they could attain the equity between their personal and office life. The environment offered by the retail sectors is stressful which disturb this work and life balance somehow.
10. Analytic view of top management – Retail sectors include the bulk of employees in the individual company and the top management act according to the data recorded or shown to them in their record books or on their screens. They do not bother to look at the retention rate and productivity of their solo group/store which again leads to employee dissatisfaction (Karuppasamy & Kumar, 2014).
11. Improper Engagement of workforce – The actual potential of the workforce hired in the retail sector go in vain as they are not engaged properly in their workplace. Or it could be said in the other way that HR strategies are not competent enough to get best out of their employees.

The internal HR of any retail sector can easily tackle all the major challenges faced by them related to the workforce by adapting and implementing the below-described HR practices of HRM in their organization. There exists a correlation between employee retention, satisfaction and HRM practices. The relation is depicted in the below figure.

Retailers have different tiers and the emerging retail sectors are

All the factors included in the correlational diagram are covered in the section ahead (Azeez, 2017).

It is revealed through the study conducted in the journal in the year (2005) that only those organizations grow and survive which apply their business strategies in integration to HRM practices. Laying out the HR strategies and entire HR planning of handling the human resource must be structured in a robust and efficient way (Michie & Sheehan, 2005). Internal Training of the employees should be on regular basis. There should be planning of formal induction programme for the new joining. Even the supporting staff should be provided off-job training at least once in 12 months. Job rotation practiced by the HR helps in improving the employee skill set and lasts strong and positive impact on employee retention. The designing and planning of HR tasks should be done keeping in mind the above-discussed challenges. This will result in a more perfect structuring of HR and growth of the particular retail industry.

HR should focus on implementing real job previews at the time of recruitment drives. The recruitment process should be interesting and worth as per the latest technology like the tests should be based on personality, aptitude, psychometric. The advertisement of the job opening should be displayed in acquaintance with the latest and trending styles like social media (Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, job portal websites etc.). As most of the young employees today; rely on these Media for their jobs (Munshi, 2016).

Retail sector is engulfed under legal clauses and are obligated to follow the ESA- Employment Standard Act (2000). There are many legal clauses related to this industry, but I am mentioning few of the important legal instances related to the workforce. Retail HR is under compulsion to decide the employee designation as per the job profile and are bound to pay overtime wages to the employees who work for more than 44 hours /week. They are not allowed to discriminate the wages as per racial discrimination and are required producing the equal opportunities for both men and women.HR is answerable if they terminate any permanent employee without any prior notice and even if they have not mentioned the termination clause clearly in the joining letter. ESA demands HR to give the same designation to women employees after they join back from a long break like maternity. On regular basis workplace audits and safety drills should be part of HR curriculum (Ojha, 2013).

Objectives

When the employee is hired in any retail sector; he or she should be given the clear view of his job profile and his job should be defined broadly by the HR. The designing of the contract should guarantee the job security including clear terms and conditions in each prospect. The policies designed should be very transparent up to a greater extent. The impact of several factors on work analysis and design could be tackled by potential discrimination and assuring health and safety prospects. More weight age should be given to teamwork and intrinsic motivation.

HR strategies of the retail sector must be designed in a way to motivate the workforce by introducing attracting reward schemes like an employee of the week, an employee of the month, bonus, star rating, extra perks to hard-working employees, intrinsic and extrinsic compensations and non-monetary awards. Also under this practice, HR plans to develop their internal employee’s personality and professional attire. HR should try to inculcate leadership qualities in its workforce and should implement job rotation scenario in their firm.  Employees could be put to training modules on latest and happening topics and could be trained on multiple tasks which will help them in their career building. The performance of each employee should be measured formally on annual basis. Especially the non-managerial staff should be handled with absolute care. If the suggestions of the workforce will be given importance they feel more confident and satisfied with their job and become more capable of performing well in their company. As mostly young generation enter the retail sector, HR should groom their personalities with important trainings like speaking skills, technical and personality development classes. This will automatically boost their confidence and will be more attracted towards this sector for jobs (Imna & Hassan, 2015).

It is always said that employees are stable in the organization only if they are satisfied with their jobs and such satisfaction could be achieved if the HR policies of the retail sectors would help the employees in maintaining the counterbalance between the family and work life. In actual, the work culture of the retail sector is such that it requires more working hours even on holidays which stress the employees and disturb their personal life. This decrease their work efficiency which could be overpowered by the HR by providing them motivation with compensation schemes, relaxing hours and open/ flexible environment. It must be the prime responsibility of the retail HR to generate and practice the quality of work-life balance (Khatun, 2010).

Major challenges faced by HR officials in attracting and retaining the retail staff

The workforce attraction and retention in retail industry could be enhanced by the HR if they adopt these strong pillars of HRM represented in the diagram below.HR strategies revolve around these attributes majorly. If HR of all companies (private and public owned retailers) start practicing or improve these attributes they can take their companies at a different platform and can reduce the attrition rate of employees (Kamarulzaman, Zulkeflee, & Hamid, 2015)

Conclusion and recommendations

Major challenges faced by HR officials in attracting and retaining the retail staff are clearly mentioned and explained briefly in this proceeding with the help of previously published proceedings and the knowledge gained from my professors. HRM practices which are applicable to retail sector are summarized and discussed in context to the challenges listed. To conclude, it can be framed in a manner that retail employees are considered as a face of the organization as they communicate one to one with customers. So HRM strategies should be planned and executed by the HR department with utmost care. There is a bridge between demand and supply of workplace in this sector as the new generation or it could be stated that youngsters passing out their graduation are not much interested in joining this sector. If the retail employees and the functions associated with them will be managed properly then a number of talented employees would be willing to join the retail sector and would be more stable. Retention rate will automatically increase and there will be a decrease in employee turnover. Few recommendations for this industry include the following points. 

1. HRM must be part of every retail industry and it should be practiced in continuous mode.
2. HR of retail companies needs to be more prominent, active and creative in sustaining their respective workforce.
3. They should be able to grab the best suitable talent in this competitive market and should flag their goodwill among the job seekers.
4. HR should try to portray their positive points in a way that more people should rely on them for their growth and career (Hareesh, 2015).
5. Retailers need to improve their salary packages offered to the employees and should work on improving the work culture, especially for the front desk employees.
6. Employee engagement in a proper sense is must along with the attractive incentive schemes.

References

Azeez, S. (2017). Human Resource Management Practices and Employee Retention: A Review of Literature. Journal of Economics, Management and Trade, 18(2), 1-10. Retrieved from https://www.journalrepository.org/media/journals/JESBS_68/2017/Jun/Azeez1822017JEMT32997.pdf

Goswami, B., & Jha, S. (2012, April). Attrition Issues and Retention Challenges of Employees. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 3(4), 1-6. Retrieved from https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper/Attrition-Issues-and-Retention-Challenges-of-Employees.pdf

Hareesh, R. (2015). Human Resource Management Practices in Retail Industry-A Study. International Journal of Management and Development Studies, 4(3), 339-347. Retrieved from https://www.ijmds.in/journalfile/10%20HR%20PRACTICES%20IN%20RETAIL%20INDUSTRY-A%20STUDY-1889654.pdf

Hurst, J., & Good, L. (2009). Generation Y and career choice- The impact of retail career perceptions, expectations and entitlement perceptions. pp. 1-25. Retrieved from https://homepages.se.edu/cvonbergen/files/2013/11/Generation-Y-and-Career-Choice_The-Impact-of-Retail-Career-Perceptions-Expectations-and-Entitlement-Perceptions.pdf

Imna, M., & Hassan, Z. (2015, April). Influence of Human Resource Management practices on Employee Retention in Maldives Retail Industry. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316013676_Influence_of_Human_Resource_Management_practices_on_Employee_Retention_in_Maldives_Retail_Industry

Kamarulzaman, N., Zulkeflee, N., & Hamid, H. (2015). Exploring the Factors of High Turnover in Retail Industry in Negeri Sembilan. 31, pp. 896-902. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212567115011879

Karuppasamy, R., & Kumar, N. (2014). Human resource practices in organized retailing – a study of selected retailers. International journal of engineering and management sciences, 5(1), 17-21. Retrieved from https://scienceandnature.org/IJEMS-Vol5(1)-Jan2014/IJEMS%20Vol5(1)4.pdf

Khatun, R. (2010, January). Employee Attrition – A Challenge for the Indian Retail Industry. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research . Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216752869_Employee_Attrition_-_A_Challenge_for_the_Indian_Retail_Industry

Michie, J., & Sheehan, M. (2005, March). Business Strategy, Human Resources, Labour Market Flexibility and. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1-33. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maura_Sheehan/publication/233272092_Business_Strategy_Human_Resources_Labour_Market_Flexibility_and_Competitive_Advantage/links/00b4951f63a86308a1000000/Business-Strategy-Human-Resources-Labour-Market-Flexibility-and-C

Munshi, S. (2016, September). Best HR practices in organised retail sector. Retrieved from https://www.indianretailer.com/article/operations/hr-operation/Best-HR-practices-in-organised-retail-sector.a5371/

Nalla, B., & Varalaxmi, P. (2014). Human resource management practices in organized retailing – a study of select retailers. International Journal of Business and Administration Research, 1(2), 63-74. Retrieved from https://www.ijbarr.com/downloads/2014/vol1-issue2/11.pdf

Nidan, P. (2016). To study the impact of employee engagement on employee productivity and motivational level of employee in retail sector. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 41-47. Retrieved from https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/IESMCRC/Volume%201/41.47.pdf

Ojha, A. (2013). HR management in retail . Retrieved from https://www.business-standard.com/article/management/hr-management-in-retail-113080400689_1.html

Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:

Turnitin Report

Formatting

Title Page

Citation

Outline

Place an Order