HRM in Wesfarmers: An Analysis of HR Strategies, Employee Development, and Employment Relations

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MGMT: HRM in Wesfarmers

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the Company: Wesfarmers........................................................................................4
1.2 Company Objectives (Mission/Vision)..............................................................................................4
1.3 Current Business Performance...........................................................................................................5
2.0 Body of Discussion................................................................................................................................6
2.1 HR Strategies in Wesfarmers.............................................................................................................6
2.2 Employee Development.....................................................................................................................7
2.3 Employment Relations & Grievance Handling..................................................................................9
2.4 Training...........................................................................................................................................11
3.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................13
3.1 Conclusive thoughts on case study..................................................................................................13
3.2 Critical Analysis in comparison to another case: Woolworth..........................................................14
3.3 Recommendations for future applications/strategies........................................................................16
References.................................................................................................................................................18

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1.0 Introduction
The following report is designed with an aim to gain a useful insight into the Human Resource
Strategies of a well-renowned company of Australia. The chosen organization is Wesfarmers
Limited which is a giant retail multinational company located in Western Australia. The report
carries out a critical analysis of the HR policies and practices, along with employee development
activities undertaken within the organization. In addition to this, the report contains the
discussions regarding the impact of HR practices on the employee performance as well as firm’s
overall productivity. Based on the discussions, finally the report provides some valuable
recommendations that Wesfarmers can incorporate to improve or enhance the HR scenario in
order to accomplish organization’s goals and objectives.

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1.1 Background of the Company: Wesfarmers
Wesfarmers Limited was initially introduced as farmers’ co-operative in 1914 in Western
Australia, with an aim to support farmers (Wesfarmers, 2018b). Today, the company has
developed into one of the biggest listed companies in Australia, with its branches in other
countries as well. Rob Scott is the Managing Director of the company. Wesfarmers Limited was
then restructured to a public corporation from a co-operative, and became listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange in 1984. Wesfarmers mainly deals in business operations like
liquor, supermarket, home appliances, convenience stores, hotels, office equipments, and
businesses in energy, fertilizers, chemicals, coal and safety goods (Coole et al., 2018). The
segment of the company includes Coles, Target, WesCEF, and Kmart, and so on. In addition to
this, Wesfarmers has a stake of fifty percent in investment house Gresham Partners and Gresham
Private Equity Funds. It has fifty percent interest in Wespine as well.
1.2 Company Objectives (Mission/Vision)
The mission of Wesfarmers Limited is to satisfy the needs of customers by offering goods and
services on competitive prices. The vision is to become the world’s largest multinational all over
the world (Bloomberg, 2018). In order to achieve this vision, the company works to fulfill
following objectives:
 Giving a safe and rewarding working culture to employees,
 Contributing to the growth of other nations in which it operates by creating opportunities,
 Valuing the diverse expectations of the communities,
 Strongly focusing on the environment conservation, and

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 Dealing effectively and ethically with other traders.
1.3 Current Business Performance
The current performance of Wesfarmers’ business is quite satisfactory. In 2018, the company has
reported a net income of AUS$1197 million after tax for the entire year ending on June, 2018.
This income includes a loss from discounted activities of $1406 million, signifying the business
results divested during the year. This net profit of the company has risen to $29043 million (5%)
from the last year (Reuters, 2018). Many significant changes were made by the company in this
year with respect to repositioning the portfolio in delivering the consistent growth in the earnings
of shareholders.
In 2018, the management focused mainly on underperforming units of the organization in order
to create better opportunities for development for all stakeholders including employees (Rowe et
al., 2014). The Wesfarmers Way is the structure for the organization’s business which
encompasses growth enablers, core values, and value-creating approaches aimed at attaining the
organization’s key objective of maximizing the shareholders’ value at large (Keith, 2012).

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2.0 Body of Discussion
2.1 HR Strategies in Wesfarmers
The Human Resource team in Wesfarmers is strongly dedicated towards provision of people
related outcomes by managing them effectively. The HR strategies adopted by the HR
department aim at attaining the sound and sustainable performance, and high growth of the
organization (Mobley, Wang and Li, 2012). The goal of successful human resource management
within the company is achieved by recruiting and developing innovative personnel aligned to
business strategy at every step of the employee lifecycle in the areas of training, rewarding,
performance, and Development and Succession (Campbell, 2017).
Employee Benefits by Wesfarmers:
Wesfarmers Limited offers following benefits to its employees as a part of its HR policies:
 Distribution of shares to employees and their participation in their yearly incentive plan
 A number of employee discounts such as private medical insurance
 Offering support and resources to employees to attain a right balance between their job
and family responsibilities
 Education allowance
 Employee wellness programs such as infection vaccinations
 Subsidized professional association membership
 Social clubs, and Employee referral program (Moore, McDonald, and Bartlett, 2018)
 Paid leaves, sick leaves, and maternal leaves