Challenges in Attracting and Retaining Workforce in Telecommunication Sector

Human Resource Management
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HRM 1
Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in
Telecommunication sector
The purpose of the paper is to identify the challenges in attracting and retaining the
workforce in Telecommunication sector. Human resource management team of the
telecommunication company takes the responsibility to manage the personnel present in the
market. It has been found that while performing the human resources practices the
telecommunication company deals with the several types of issues related to the attracting and
retaining the customers. The telecommunication industry is witnessing the exponential growth
and showing that there is no sign of the slowing down. This strategic growth in the
telecommunication companies can only take place because of the effective workforce due to
which the companies attract and retain the employees in the industry.
In the present era, most of the telecom companies are taking the support of the
recruitment as well as the talent management specialist because this allows them to determine the
needs of labour in the competitive market. This has been done by the human resources
management team of the companies because they deal with the different challenges related to the
attracting and recruiting the employees (Cook, 2015). In the research, this has been found that
telecommunication sectors generally known as the call centers due to which the average turnover
rate of the employees remain higher. The sort of work that is offered to the employees is one of
the reason due to which the companies are not able to attract the employees.
In the research article, this has been found that the change in the business environment
plays a vital role in the practice of the human resources as it leads to the effect on the
development of company. It is found that dynamic environment leads to the influence on the

HRM 2
various HR practice, system, processes and strategies and their impact on changes in technology
and environmental change in the telecom sector. Thus, this presents the fact that says
development of technology in company affects the working of human resource (Razzaq, Aslam,
Bagh & Saddique, 2017). The issue that has been witnessed on the strategies, processes, and
system of the HR are discussed below in the form of the issues faced by them while performing
the operations.
Human resource management in telecommunication sector face the issue in attracting and
retaining the employees because of the job design (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The job design
is one of the essential function of any of the company as it get relate to the method, content and
the relationship of jobs. In other words, job design major reflects the roles and responsibilities
that they need to perform at the workplace. In the telecommunication sector, the job design says
that the employees need to take the calls, they have the long hour shifts in which they need to
perform, there are not long leaves, and with this, they need to listen to the client for performing
the back office work. In most of the telecommunication they communicate for 24/7, customer
service that leads to the success of the company but it remains difficult for the human resource
management team to hire the employees for the night shift. This job design of the
telecommunication sector is one of the major factors due to which the employees are not able to
manage the work-life balance. Job design is one of major issue due to which HR team in
telecommunication sector will not be able to attract and retain the people (Khashman & Al-
Ryalat, 2015).
HR of the company finds it difficult to offers the work-life balance without affecting the
productivity as well as the efficiency. For example, the telecommunication company Vodaphone
who are offering 24/7 services to their customers recruit the employees who work for more than

HRM 3
10 hours. This affects them, as they are not able to manage the work life in the effective manner.
In addition to this, the impact on the personal life will affect their working life due to which they
leave their job from the telecommunication sector. However, the company in the
telecommunication company tries to offer the overtime amount to the employees who are
working additionally for the customers (Safiullah, 2015). This additional amount is offered by
them so that they can retain the employees for the longer period but the job design affects the
employees due to which they are not willing to remain within the industry. It is suggested to the
human resource management team within the telecommunication industry to add duty in order to
care obligations as well as the flexitime requests and the job that is majorly of balancing the
needs and expectations related to the work life balance.
In the telecommunication section, the recruitment and selection of the employees is one
of the major challenges for the human resource team. It has been found that recruitment in the
telecommunication needs effective skills and knowledge related to the networks. The lack of
knowledge among the employees affects the recruitment as well as selection of the employees
(Boxall & Purcell, 2011). In addition to this, Telecommunication Company is looking for
experienced candidates but in the market, there are majorly youth who do not have skills. Thus,
this is the reason due to which the human resource team need to put extra efforts in searching for
the right candidate for them in the market with experience. The high turnover in the
telecommunication with the lack of work life balance affects the human resource team to attract
employees (Yadav, 2016). This is the reason due to which they always remain in the demand of
skilled and experienced employees. In addition to this, when the telecommunication companies
needs the employees they hire people with less skilled which leads to the high turnover because
they do not fit according to the culture of the company.