Role of Employee Training and Development in Dealing with COVID-19 Pandemic - A Case Study on TESCO

DISSERTATION
1

Table of Contents
Title: “To analyse the role of employee training and development in dealing with situation of
present COVID-19 pandemic.” A case study on TESCO................................................................3
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background to research topic.....................................................................................................3
1.2 Background to research organization.........................................................................................3
1.3 Research rationale......................................................................................................................3
1.5 Research aims and objectives....................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................5
2.1 Introduction of literature review................................................................................................5
2.2 Main body with heading and sub-headings...............................................................................5
2.3 Conclusion of literature review................................................................................................11
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................12
Recommendations:.........................................................................................................................27
Implications for further research:...................................................................................................28
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................29
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................30
2

Title: “To analyse the role of employee training and development in dealing with
situation of present COVID-19 pandemic.” A case study on TESCO.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The aim of present report is to make a detailed analysis of the way training and
development of employees can assist in dealing with the situation of covid pandemic. The
external environment is completely dynamic and is changing very fast. There arises a need t o
have a trained and competent workforce that can assist the organisation in dealing with such
uncertainties (Efrida Mardianaand Erlina, 2020). For this objective the present research report is
based on evaluating the way effective employee training and development can lead towards
minimizing the overall negative impact of this pandemic situation.
1.1 Background to research topic
The present COVID 19 impact across different parts of the world has completely
transformed the way different industries are functioning this situation has affected TESCO as
one of the retail organisations in UK (Sung. and Choi, 2018). For the purpose of analysing and
implementing various changes across the organisation there is a need to formulate suitable
strategies for training & development of employees. The present report is based on analysing the
way effective training & development will help in minimise the overall negative impact of
COVID 19 situation on TESCO.
1.2 Background to research organization
TESCO is one of the biggest food retail brand that is serving various foods and non food
product segments that include entertainment, insurance, electrical goods and such related
products (Noe and Kodwani, 2018). They are employing approx 440,000 people across world
with 280,000 in UK. They are having 2000 stores across UK and presence across china,
Hungary, Thailand and United States. It is one of biggest private sector employer’s in UK that is
offering it a competitive advantage (Tesco, 2019).
1.3 Research rationale
The retail industry has to adopt themselves according to the challenges that are arsing
because of changing dynamic environment. For this purpose there is requirement to use the
existing workforce as a strategy to deal with such changing environment conditions. This report
3

is going to assist in identification of challenges associated with training and development in this
situation because the existing workforce may not accept the change easily (Aleemand Bowra,
2020). So there is requirement to focus on strategic development in order to manage such high
level of change resistance on part of employees. This research work will be very helpful in
developing detail overview of the way different strategies that can be used by large scale
organisations for the purpose of having a competent and qualified workforce in highly dynamic
market situations.
1.4 Research question
 How has the present situation of COVID 19 virus affected the employee training and
development in TESCO as a retail organisation?
 What is the basic role of employee training and development in dealing with the situation
of COVID 19?
 What are some of the respective challenges of employee training and development arsing
because of covid 19 situation in TESCO?
 What can be effective strategies to deal with challenges related to employee training &
development in situation of COVID 19 virus TESCO?
1.5 Research aims and objectives
Aim: “To evaluate the role of employee & training development strategies to deal with situation
of COVID 19 virus”. A case study on TESCO
Objectives:
 To analyse the present situation of employee training and development in TESCO in this
COVID 19 pandemic
 To evaluate role of employee training and development in dealing with the situation
 To identify respective challenges related to training and development strategies in
TESCO
 To formulate suitable strategies to deal with challenges associated with employee training
& development
4

Chapter 2: Literature review
2.1 Introduction of literature review
Literature review is a basic evaluation of information from the existing sources. It is
basically a narrative review that is part of a review article which is based on a scholarly paper. It
is representing the present knowledge including substances, findings and theoretical
contributions of a particular topic. In present research report literature review will be used as a
secondary medium of collecting the relevant information with respect to the laid aims and
objectives of the research. It is used to analyse the view points of different authors with respect
to the various areas of the laid aims and objectives. All the analysis made based on the available
secondary sources of information is further applied to reach to relevant conclusion and
recommendations for the organisation.
2.2 Main body with heading and sub-headings
To analyse the present situation of employee training and development in TESCO in this
COVID 19 pandemic
As per view of Am, (2020), in September 2020 UK has been experiencing the covid-19
pandemic second wave. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced for measures of social
dispensing in September to prevent the spread of this virus. There were approximately 4322 new
positive tests that were registered in September, 2020. The country was not willing to go down in
a second lockdown situation so they believe that they must deal with this scenario by having
better measures of social distancing and prevention at the same time (UK experiencing start of
COVID-19 pandemic's second wave: Boris Johnson, 2020).
According to view points of Wilson (2021), there has been increase in corona virus cases in
Europe since the third wave of infections have been raising across 20 countries in European
Union that is reporting increasing the test positivity (Franchi, 2020). There is requirement to deal
with the negative impact on sales of non essential commodities because of covid-19 as per data
of March 2021. According to the European centre for disease prevention and control there have
been three consecutive weeks of growing cases of covid-19 where there have been 1.2 million
5

new cases reported in the last week across Europe. As per the view points of Hans kluge the
fastest spreading of b117 corona virus variant was first detected in UK and now this is becoming
more problem in predominant across all the regions where the cases reported in 48 out of 53
European territories (Giritli Nygren and Olofsson, 2020). This has led to a number of people
dying from covid-19 in Europe is very high as compared to last year that has reflected the
widespread hold the virus has. The rising cases of coronavirus lead to conclusion that there have
been 35000 new cases on 18th March. There are some of European countries that include France,
Germany, Italy and Spain who are resuming the rollouts of Oxford covid-19 vaccine after the
investigation by European Union’s medicines regulator. This concluded the benefits outweigh
the overall risk. Approximately 20 countries have suspended use of the vaccine following reports
of blood clots in some of the patients who have been receiving it. The corona virus case in fact
has been rising slightly and the most recent official is putting it between 0.6 and 0.9 as compared
to previous weeks. Infections are also shrinking overall at the rate of 3%-6 % per day but the rate
at which it was following a layer has load between 4% and 7% per day as in the previous weeks.
The overall findings from the latest reports clearly show that from a random swap testing survey
by National statistics officer found that cases are no longer falling in some parts of UK and are
even rising and some of the regions. As per Gilliland, (2021), the retail industry of UK has also
been affected as sales in Great Britain have followed by 1.9 % in 2020 as compared to 2019. A
major impact has been because of the decreasing sales of non essential products as there is
reduction of purchasing power of people. However, they have shifted their preferences from non
essential products to only essential goods. With respect to Tesco this retail brand has also been
affected because of changes in the consumer behaviour and measuring of the attitudes across
6000 customers across 6 European countries (Hermans, Weill and Pierce, 2020). Tesco has been
observing enhancement in e-commerce sales but there is falling in retail sales. Approx 5.7
million UK households now are shopping for the Christmas groceries online as compared to year
2019 (Covid-19 news: Fears of third wave grow as infections rise in Europe, 2020).
Supermarkets have to analyse the shopping patterns because of consumer shopping less
frequently and in bigger quantities. Tesco announced record-breaking Christmas 1 billion pounds
of online grocery sales in the 19 weeks period. However, research conducted by McKinsey found
that most of the customers have been satisfied with the experience is online and some are willing
to focus on online grocery shopping as a temporary measure. Tesco can assume continuation of
6

online supermarket growth in coming time period (Zipprich and et. al 2020). Customers are now
shifting towards online shopping measures because of increasing safety concerns. Customers
have to go with regulations because of the shift towards artificial growth.
To evaluate role of employee training and development in dealing with the situation
As per siepmann (2020), learning is very necessary for the purpose of corporate training
during this pandemic scenario. The old workforce is relying on various online based courses and
insights. Learning and development strategies are required to maximize the use of present online
learning platforms and considering the use of technology to use accessible learning and
communication. Digital learning is one of the most important tools that can help in shaping the
workforce with more creative methods. Tesco has to focus on development of innovative
strategy that can be used to deal with the changing requirements of dynamic environment.
Especially in digital marketing and virtual reality these tools can help in development of a
competitive advantage as compared to other competitors like Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s or ASDA.
Different attractive offers on online purchasing, loyalty card facilities, digital marketing
campaigns on social media applications are some of the effective tools that can be used for the
purpose of approaching the target segment of customers (Kremer, Villamor and Aguinis, 2019).
This can further be implemented as a part of virtual approach in the organisation for the purpose
of maintaining a productive approach towards the customers.
The present scenario of covid-19 has affected different industries in different manner.
Organisations have to change their way of internal functioning because of this situation that has
led to a complete different scenario. For the retail sector there is a shift towards more E-
Commerce purchases as compared to the offline retail stores. It is mainly because of the
increasing safety concern of paper and the growing social distance in long that has created a need
to shift towards online channels as compared to offline purchases. However, in respect to Tesco
the organisation is working hard to ensure that customers can get access to products according to
their requirements. For this organisation is encouraging the customers to shop as normally as
they can and they posse’s sufficient stock levels (Bolisani and Bratianu, 2017). However, for the
purpose of ensuring safety and protecting customers colleagues Tesco is working to ensure that
there is proper face covering, limiting the flow of people, introduction of a traffic light system,
when the store is safe for customers than the lights are turning green and helping their employees
7

to manage the stores in a more better way. Apart from the internal storage management floor
markings is also used to maintain safe distancing cross queues, hand sanitizers are being placed
in the stores for customers colleagues extra cleaning products for wiping down the basket,
protective screens at the exit gates. All these measures are used for extensively protecting the
customers and following up of the government regulations (Employee engagement practices
during COVID
‐19 lockdown, 2020).
With implementation of all such strategies requires properly trained staff so that they are
able to work according to the requirement of changes in their existing job roles and
responsibilities.
The implementation and use of proper training and development measure in this present
covid-19 situation can be used as a motivation tool for the employees. It can be adopted for the
purpose of enhancing the present level of employee engagement as one of the prominent
measures for human resource managers and practitioners in retail organisations (Tench and et. al
2017). The present situation requires engagement activities like virtual learning and
development, online team building activities, online conducting off weekly training sessions,
dealing with changes of virtual competition, having webinars with experts etc. These are some of
the specific training measures that are required to help the present workforce of Tesco to
effectively deal with the digital transformation process in the organisation. This function is also
going to assess towards training employees at the workplace (Noe and Kodwani, 2018). It is
required to ensure that they are properly committed to achieve the organisation values and goals.
When the human resource department will be working towards developing the existing skills of
employees it is going to provide them with proper career development prospects, communication
and encouragement. Such training programs are required for the purpose of encouraging
employees to perform their job roles with the required level of commitment. It becomes very
crucial for the organisation to use employee development and training measures.
As per view points of chetia (2020), covid-19 has led to business organisations being
impacted because of the changing customer behaviour and spending habits because of
restrictions. Organisations are willing to deal with changing preferences of customers by
launching of new product services. However, tesco is working towards re-configuration of their
existing modes of operations. Managers and leaders have to analyse the situation and building
effective strategies for corporate training of the workforce. Shifting of digital channels is
8