HR Strategic Plan for Jet.com: SWOT Analysis, Legal and Ethical Issues, and Technological Requirements

This report provides an analysis of the HR strategic position of Jet.com. It discusses the HR strategic plan of the company, provides a SWOT analysis, deals with the legal and ethical issues in relation with the HR plan and it considers the technological requirements for the implementation of the strategy.

Jet.com HR strategic plan
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Executive summary
This report provides an analysis of the HR strategic position of Jet.com. It is a start-up e-
commerce business that operates in the USA. The report discusses the HR strategic plan of the
company, provides a SWOT analysis, deals with the legal and ethical issues in relation with the
HR plan and it considers the technological requirements for the implementation of the strategy.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
First: Jet.com overview and description..........................................................................................3
Second: Jet.com mission statement.................................................................................................3
Third: The definitive aim of the HR strategic plan..........................................................................4
Fourth: Stakeholders involved in the planning process...................................................................4
Fifth: Overview of the internal and external business environment (SWOT analysis)...................5
Sixths: Brief overview of the current HR functions and policies....................................................6
Seventh: Legal issues applicable to the HR strategic plan..............................................................6
Eights: Strategic operational details including new systems, processes, procedures and policies
for HR..............................................................................................................................................6
Ninths: HR requirements and how to source people for the business.............................................7
Tenths: Performance development plans.........................................................................................8
Elevenths: KPIs for HR...................................................................................................................8
Twelves: Financial requirements for implementing the HR strategic plan.....................................9
Thirteen: Technological requirements for implementation of the strategy.....................................9
Fourteenth: Monitoring and evaluation of the HR plan...................................................................9
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The human resources department (HR) has to be perceived as a strategic business partner by the
organization. The organizational strategy could be pursued when its employees possess their
adequate roles. The HR strategy should fill the performance gap and align with the
organizational strategy (Mitsakis 2014).
Marc Lore founded Jet.com to create a club-type model of membership in the e-commerce space.
The startup company targets the Millennial customers. It uses heavy marketing campaigns to
attract customers and enable them to select the lowered price products of their choice (Chuvpilo
et al. 2017).
The following sections shed the light on the HR plan of Jet.com, the e-commerce startup
company.
First: Jet.com overview and description
Jet.com was founded in July 2013 by Wharton alumnus, then it was acquired by Walmart Stores,
Inc. in August 2016 (Chuvpilo et al. 2017). Walmart wanted to make its online business more
attractive to the Millennials and compete with Amazon by acquiring Jet.com.
Second: Jet.com mission statement
Jet.com was built on three core values: transparency, trust and fairness. Its mission statement is
to empower customers and associates (Walmart 2017). It is aligned with Walmart mission
statement to be the best retailer in the consumers and employees' hearts and minds. The company
benefits the customers by saving money and the employees by earning wages. Walmart’s
mission statement is to save consumers money in order to have a better living (Ferguson 2017).

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Third: The definitive aim of the HR strategic plan
At Jet.com, the HRM creates the climate that helps employees achieve the highest level of
performance. It matches the employees' talents to the business needs. The HRM focuses on
innovation and cares about the employees at the same time (Walmart 2018). The company has
invested to increase the associate wages, pay and training. Also, it devotes its efforts to add new
technologies that simplify the processes (Walmart 2017).
Fourth: Stakeholders involved in the planning process
Walmart has many stakeholders, however, a number of them have a significant impact on the
company decisions. The company stakeholders are highly involved in the strategic orientation of
Jet.com. They influence the company to fulfil their interests. They are grouped according to their
priority to the company wages according to Meyer (2017), as follows:
 Investors: They seek more profits to increase the earnings per share. They also seek to
minimize the operational costs that leads to wages minimization.
 Customers: They are interested in consuming lower price products of good quality. The
company adopts a cost leadership strategy that provides the lowest prices.
 Employees: They come in the third priority to the company. They are significantly considered
in the company's strategy. It maintains their job security and increasing wages.
 Suppliers: They are at the least priority of the stakeholders. Supplier seeks to maximize their
profits by getting their products sold.

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Fifth: Overview of the internal and external business environment (SWOT analysis)
 Internal analysis
 Strengths
 Staffing: Jet.com has been hiring temporary employees or 'flexible associates' since 2016
as part of the Walmart HR strategy. It used to hire both full-time and part-time workers.
This new hiring policy ensures cost-cutting and the availability of sufficient workers in
the busiest days (Reuters 2016).
 A wide range of products: The company sells a wide range of products compared to its
competitors (Marcilla 2014).
 Weaknesses
 The cost cut policy: It has a negative impact on the wages of the employees. It has
resulted in poor work conditions (Marcilla 2014).
 Not following a differentiation strategy: Unlike its competitors, the company only
considers the prices, not the customer preferences (Marcilla 2014).
 High employees' turnover rate: Employees leave their jobs as they find a better
opportunity (Marcilla 2014).
 External analysis
 Opportunities
 The labor market: The labor market conditions led Jet.com to depend on temp workers.
The U.S. unemployment rate recorded 7.6% in May 2016 and the number of people
leaving their jobs also increased (Reuters 2016).

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 Investment in international operations: Jet.com has the ability to expand its operations
at a faster rate (Marcilla 2014).
 Threats
 Keeping the market share: Jet.com has a problem in improving its operations because
of the conflict of interests (Marcilla 2014).
 Increasing competitor’s power: Jet.com has to keep an eye on its competitors, for
example, Amazon, Tesco and Kroger (Marcilla 2014).
Sixths: Brief overview of the current HR functions and policies
As an Affiliate and partner with Walmart, Jet.com applies the HRM Job analysis and design of
Walmart. The organizational structure is a hierarchical functional structure. The HR can specify
the job requirements easily. There are clear lines of authority, communications and command
(Thompson 2017).
Seventh: Legal issues applicable to the HR strategic plan
The company decided to make all of its products in the retail stores available online through
Jet.com and its website. The company is accused of its stiff tactics to prevent labor unions.
Moreover, it asks young employees to work in the late night and not providing them with meal
breaks (Marcilla 2014).
Eights: Strategic operational details including new systems, processes, procedures and
policies for HR
The HRM forecasts the needs of its employees to ensure that enough capacity is available to
meet the changing demands of consumers. There are three systems used in forecasting, according
to Thompson (2017), as follows:

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 Bottom-up approach: It starts at the lowest level of the organizational structure. The HRM
function is to ensure an adequate number of employees at all of the organizational levels. The
process starts with forecasting the frontline employees, then an analysis is conducted at the
highest level in the organizational structure.
 Trend analysis: It is used by the HRM to predict the HR needs of employees based on the
current needs. It also considers the organization of future expansion plans.
 Delphi method: It uses the expert opinions to decide the HR needs.
The HRM is responsible for balancing the supply and demand by managing the recruitment
efforts. According to Thompson (2017), the HRM uses different procedures as follows:
 Changes in recruitment: Is the main procedure used by the HRM. It changes recruitment
according to the workforce requirements. This could be done without affecting the financial
performance.
 Changes in compensation: It is used by the HRM to minimize the changes in the
compensation strategy.
Ninths: HR requirements and how to source people for the business
The HRM does not pay much concern to the shortage of employees. It adopts different processes
to ensure no shortage or surplus in employees, according to Thompson (2017), as follows:
 Sales performance analysis: The HRM depends on monitoring the change in the sales
performance as an indicator of its needs.
 Turnover rate analysis: The HRM monitors the turnover rate and the recruitment rate to
manage the size of the workforce.

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 Gap analysis: It is an efficient tool that enables the HRM to manage the gap between the
needs and the actual capacity of the HR.
Tenths: Performance development plans
The HRM implements three strategies to manage people, according to Marcilla (2014), as
follows:
 Motivation: Through making people happy and feel part of the organization. Cash intensive
plans and health care insurance are among the motivations.
 Promotion: Many learning programs were developed to enable the employees to escalate to
higher positions. It also promotes women to managerial positions.
 Hiring business owners: Small business owners are hired to maintain creativity within the
company.
Elevenths: KPIs for HR
According to Iveta (2012), the effective KPIs should be 'SMART' or specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant and time-bound. In Jet.com, the following are the KPIs for HR according to
Thompson (2017):
 The turnover rate
 The placement time
 The average time of training per employee
 The average salary
 Staffing efficiency

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Twelves: Financial requirements for implementing the HR strategic plan
Jet.com focuses on investing in its employees. Most of the employees are hourly associates.
Walmart set a budget of $2.7 billion to invest in the employees training and development
(Hardiman 2017).
Thirteen: Technological requirements for implementation of the strategy
The company invests in technology to facilitate online shopping. The company offers the online
grocery services and pickup. The associates are equipped with tablets and handhelds to serve the
customers effectively. They represent the frontline that deals directly with the customers
(Walmart 2017; Solís, Masanell & Tatjé 2012).
Fourteenth: Monitoring and evaluation of the HR plan
Monitoring and evaluation of the HR plan take place at each planning stage. The process has to
balance the supply and demand through recruitment. Also, the employee performance is closely
monitored to leave no space for low performance (Marcilla 2014; Thompson 2017).
Conclusions
At Jet.com, the HRM creates the climate that helps employees achieve the highest level of
performance. The company stakeholders are highly involved in the strategic orientation of
Jet.com. They influence the company to fulfil their interests. Jet.com applies the HRM Job
analysis and design of Walmart. The organizational structure is a hierarchical functional
structure.

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Jet.com focuses on investing in its employees. Most of the employees are hourly associates. The
company invests in technology to facilitate online shopping. The company offers the online
grocery services and pickup.
References
Chuvpilo, G, DiClemente, R, Mulani, S & Reisz, P 2017, 'Corporate development, mergers and
acquisitions', Warton University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Ferguson, E 2017, Walmart’s vision, mission, generic & intensive strategies, viewed 27 July
2018, <http://panmore.com/walmart-vision-mission-statement-intensive-generic-strategies>.
Hardiman, S 2017, Walmart annual meeting emphasizes investment in employees, viewed 27
July 2018, <https://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/news/latest/walmart-annual-meeting-
emphasizes-investment-in-employees>.
Iveta, G 2012, 'Human resources key performance indicators', Journal of Competitiveness, vol 4,
no. 1, pp. 117-128.
Marcilla, B 2014, 'Business analysis for Walmart, a grocery retail chain, and improvement
proposals', Southeast Missouri State University, USA.
Meyer, P 2017, Walmart’s stakeholders: Analysis & recommendations, viewed 27 July 2018,
<http://panmore.com/walmart-stakeholders-analysis-recommendations>.
Mitsakis, F 2014, 'Human resources (HR) as a strategic business partner: Value creation and risk
reduction capacity', International Journal of Human Resource Studies, vol 4, no. 1, pp. 154-170.
Reuters 2016, Wal-Mart’s everyday hiring strategy: Add more temps, viewed 27 July 2018,
<https://www.denverpost.com/2013/06/13/wal-marts-everyday-hiring-strategy-add-more-
temps/>.

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Solís, H, Masanell, R & Tatjé, G 2012, 'Business model evaluation: Quantifying Walmart’s
sources of advantage', Harvard Business School, USA.
Thompson, A 2017, Walmart’s HRM: HR planning, job analysis & design, viewed 27 July 2018,
<http://panmore.com/walmart-human-resource-management-planning-job-analysis-design>.
Walmart 2017, 'Annual report', Walmart, USA.
Walmart 2018, Corporate human resources, viewed 27 July 2018,
<https://careers.walmart.com/corporate/human-resources>.