Human Resource Management at Sainsbury's

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of human resource management at Sainsbury's, covering topics such as employee engagement, performance management, and training investment. It also includes references to relevant books and journals, online resources, and a report into human resource management at Sainsbury's. The assignment aims to provide an in-depth understanding of human resource management practices and their impact on organizational outcomes.

Managing Human Resource
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In the modern age of globalisation it is important for the organisation to manage its
people. It can be done in the ways that employees remain satisfied as their needs are fulfilled and
there productivity also gets enhanced (Albrech, 2011). There are various approach that is
followed by the companies in order to manage its employees and ensure that they have continues
growth. For enhancing the productivity of the firm it is important for them to develop the skill,
abilities, knowledge and experience of the firm. Company apply different strategies so as to
manage equality and diversity at the workplace. HR managers generally make strategies for
managing workers. This strategy lasts too long. Sainsbury is second largest chain of
supermarkets in UK. It is having 16.9% share in the market. It was founded in the year.
Currently it is an employer of 162,700 employees. This report highlights the ways in which
Sainsbury is managing it’s such a large workforce. It also showcases the strategy made by the
company to understand the need of the employees and fulfilling them so as to achieve their high
level motivation towards their job.
Sainsbury is one such organisation that is operational in UK from many years and has
seen various phases of business ups and downs. It is capable of handling their employees and it
has been seen over the years. It is one such company that is known for its high payment to their
workers. In the report for Sainsbury this company stated that they want to provide people with
the job opportunities that they love. For managing the company employee they have used perfect
standards of human resource management. This company has employed one of the best HR team
which has a very wide range of activities that they perform. Their basic idea behind management
of human resource is that they want to keep the best set of talents working under their roof so as
to provide best services to their employees so that they can achieve maximum customer
satisfaction (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This can be done by enhancing creativity and
diversity in their employees so that they can serve customers at their stores in a most friendly
environment. They term their colleagues as their foundations. It understands that there is a
continuous need of their development in their personal and professional skills. For this purpose
they have invested a lot in the training and development programs in past and are planning to
invest a lot in the future. It is most crucial task for their long term success. They want to become
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inclusive retailer in the market through the help of their diversified colleagues to meet the
diverse need of the customers.
One of the most important aspect that is related with the human resource management of
the company is that it believes in indulging their employees in the process of decision making
process. Sainsbury’s wants to become a place where everyone gets motivated, energised and
enabled to offer the best value and service to their consumers. These kinds of motivation come
when they involve their employees in process of making decisions (Bamberger, Biron and
Meshoulam, 2014). For this they have used a strategy that will ensure that employees become an
integral part of the process. In order to do so they used a program known as Talk back where
they involved more than 116,000 employees in this process. They have made the future plans
were more participation will be ensured. It is their strategic planning that resulted in the way that
more than 77% of their colleagues feels that Sainsbury is a great place for working.
Not only this, they pay salaries that are above the minimum living wages. They provide a
range of benefits to their employees where they are also paid for breaks and other forms such as
discount and pensions. They understand the importance of remaining strong and competitive
business for both present and future colleagues. They are giving pensions to around 120000
current employees as well as 80000 former colleagues. This not only helps in maintaining the life
standards of the employees but also assist in managing the social well being of the society
(Boxall and Purcell, 2011). Due to all these reasons they have been awarded as the Gold
accreditation for the third time and hence they are the largest employers to receive such
distinction. Apart from this the company has made many training centres where the demand of
the skills that has to embed in the employees is provided. They have opened many apprenticeship
programs where they give opportunities to new candidates where they can get many kinds of job
trainings and earning professional qualifications.
They are also supporting the campaigns of Government of UK for addressing the gender
pay gap. This can be seen in the year 2016 where they increased the pay scale of the employees
by around four percent. In this they have increased the pay rate of 7.66 pounds per hour which is
highly above the national minimum wages standards i.e. 7.50.
In order to manage consent of their employees they have set up voice channels where
they can share their views with operating Board as well as senior leaders of the company. They
are continuously improving the standard of their stores so that workers can be comfortable in
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working at these places (Bratton and Gold, 2012). They have installed almost all kinds of needs
related to the employees so that they can serve in a better way and hence they have become first
retailers to get Gold standards. They have made their name in the ways they act on the feedback
that is given by the employers this helped them in retaining their valuable customers and they
also gets connected with the firm and supports firm in their hard times. Using all these
approaches they have been able to maintain the quality of work life of their employees.
Sainsbury's takes training and development very seriously as the understands its effect on
business operations. Their attitude to HRD has been positive as they have applied approaches to
make it effective. They understand developing skills in the workforce will enhance growth
speed. Company takes use of Performance as well humanist perspective while dealing in the
Human resource management (Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd. 2017). This is illustrated by the
fact that they are trying hard to enhance the quality of their firm so that their own performance
gets enhanced. On the other hand they are doing HRD to increases the chances of individual for
surviving in the present day competition.
There are two kinds of training methods that is adopted at Sainsbury's:
On the job training: This company is spending a whole lot of money on the apprenticeship
program where they are providing training to their employees that can be beneficial for both
employee and employers. They focus mainly on developing and creating skills of the workers.
They provide vocational trainings as well as train their employees on nationally recognised
qualification.
Off the job training: They have opened there training college at Brixton that runs around 2000
training coarse. They also train about basic maths in collaboration with EDI to train there
employees and others. This also includes training in the virtual environment so as to educate
employees with what kind of skills they actually face at the setting. In this audiovisual
techniques are also used for training the employees.
The management at Sainsbury's believes that training is a solution towards building self
confidence in the workforce which is essential for performing different task as an when required.
Training assures that employee gets confident with their capabilities (Sainsbury’s announces
multi-million pound investment in training. 2017). It shields the firm from employee turnover
which occurs when employee is dissatisfied with their job. Highly efficient employees can
reduce the wastage of time which could be costly affair for the firm. Training is a symbiotic
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relationship both employee and employer gets benefited from it. They believe in the learning
style that is employee centric. Evaluation on the training program involves locking at training
activities, trainer's ability and relation of training program to the job the worker's do. Regular
improvement and modification is done to ensure that training matches with the worker's career
direction.
It is important for the firm to main equality between all the staffs so that any employee do
not feel that there is any discrimination with them. It is not just important for the employee
morality but also assist in enhancing the quality and diversity of the workplace. This helps in
maintaining the positivity at the workplace which is important for the performance of the
company. Managing equality relates to every field that is in terms of gender, age or colour. Any
kind of discrimination will result in improper development of talent at the firm (Daley, 2012). In
the modern times it is highly important for the firms to ensure that everybody gets an equal
chance for getting a job as well as developing inside the firm. In a large firm such as Sainsbury’s
there are large number of staffs who comes from distinct backgrounds. It is important for the
firm to mage this diversity.
The give value to diversity not because it is just the right thing to do but also due to the
fact that diverse team is able to perform in a much better way compared to the teams that have
almost similar kinds of people (A REPORT INTO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AT
SAINSBURY'S, 2017). This company want that their workforce must reflect and are able to meet
the requirements of the diverse consumer base. It can be reflect in the team of their higher
officials also. There diversity steering group comprises of Angie Risley, Director of Human
Resource; Tim Fallowfield company secretary and corporate service director; Peter Griffiths
chief executive of Sainsbury’s bank; Lain Macmilian director of corporate HR etc. They have
around 100 diversity champions who support diversity in every part of the business. They have
to continue to put strong emphasis on inclusion and have identifies it as a priority for their
stakeholders and their business. They have embraced the champions of diversity in their annual
inclusion meet. To encourage the staff members managers promoted that they carry the badges
for inclusion. They have made many stories on the topics which is related to inclusion and
diversity such as on the days like women’s day. This company has employed 25700 people
through You Can. It is a scheme developed by them to provide employment for individuals who
might otherwise face difficulty in finding job. They are working for increasing the diversity of
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their managers especially related to retail. You Can has provided a progress aiming for gender
balance and to reflect regional ethnicity. Other than this to maintain gender equality Sainsbury’s
has started female mentoring program launched in the year 2015 and has reached to 2000
colleagues (Sainsbury's job and skills, 2017). Apart from this there subscription to every woman
network has raised to over 750. Due to all this they were successful in adding 41 female store
managers in the year 2016-17. There operating board member consists of a series of woman’s
dinners which helped them in simplifying maternity policy. They have the largest diversity in
terms of race which was found in many of the survey done in UK.
Diverse role model were leveraged to bigger effect at events and the feedbacks was highly
positive. They have received an award at Business Disability Forum. They have created a policy
for the carrier of their employees. For employees they have created a training program which
helps them to learn sign languages so that they can easily communicate with deaf consumers
(Gordon, 2014). For this they have received gold at EVCOM Clarion award. They have enabled
employers to developed opportunities for the disabled people and hence supporting the
government to reduce disability employment gap.
This company has made many kinds of policies and procedure so as to ensure that equality
and diversity issues at the firm. Which can be understood through these points like they have
employed large number of women in their workforce. Some of them are managers of outlets.
They have taken use of programs like You Can. They have employed workers from difference
sections of the society as well of different age groups. Collogues can immediately report to
higher authority if they face any kind of discriminations at the workplace through their treatment
and complaint procedures. For older workers they have introduced pension protection
mechanism.
They made a group of people who have the role of checking that diversity is maintained
appropriately.This company has been effectively complying with all the rules and regulations as
they have various kinds of policies for their employees. It can be seen through they ways that
they have given opportunity to each of their staff members to grow as a professional being. They
made all the laws, policies and system for ensuring that diversity is effectively managed by the
firm. They allows every staff member to participate in decision making process.
They have worked for years to establish their name in the market that they have promoted
every sections of the society irrespective of the background as they generally focus on the skill of
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the candidate while recruiting them. They have added new scheme of employment so that
company can help government of UK to eradicate unemployment of the society. In the present
time it not only affects the good will of the company but helps in managing the brand name.
There are several kinds of employment laws that are given by the government of UK. It is
important for the companies to follows all these legislation so as to work properly. The Equality
law has sated all the guidelines that company has to follow. Apart from this government of UK
have increased the number of days of maternity leave.
Sainsbury's has the holistic view related to the invitation and value of training since they
consider it as method of developing overall personal and professional development. They
perform it on regular basis so as to ensure that there workforce do not lag by any means.
Training provides chances for both individual and organisation. It gives the chance to firm to
increase the quality of its product and services as well as it gives firm to have competitive edge
over other competitors. They have empowered the weaker sections of the society in finding job
at their local market in the stores. They are operating with the motive that they want to provide
job for the people as per their requirement. There is an knock on effect on the company beyond
teaching people as it enhances the performance level of the staffs while operating their jobs. This
increases the productivity of the firm.
Other that this they comply with the Equality Act 2010 which suggests that equal
opportunity must be given to every candidate irrespective of the caste, culture, region, sex etc.
they belong to. It suggest that there must be discrimination between two employees in any
regards. One of the major point in this regard is Glass ceiling using which company provides
promotion to the employees but only up to certain level. This practise is not present in this
company as they have been made store managers at many outlets. They have made women part
of their management team which illustrates this fact.
This company has used many strategies so as to maintain the cultural diversity at the
workplace. It has been in the above part of the report that company has worked hard upon
strengthening of the company. Two basic aspects of human resource management of the firm has
helped the company in achieving the diverse cultural base which further assist in performance of
the employees (Gruman and Saks, 2011). It has also helped company in implementing its
business strategy in a better way which is important for the success of the firm. Strategies are
successful only in the case when employees gives hundred percent to its implementation. In
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delivering the quality services to the consumers HRM has played a major role. The diversity in
the workforce has helped company in dealing with the consumers that also belong to different
kind of cultural backgrounds. Diversification has helped firm in attracting large customer base as
staffs from different cultures are able to handle customers from diverse backgrounds. This
increases the sales in the market which helps in capturing the larger section of the society which
is essential for gaining competitive advantage over others. On the other hand involving staffs in
the process of decision making allows them to attract new ideas which helps them in solving
their issues related to business. Innovative ideas to business will provide Sainsbury's with a
chance to excel as compared to their competitors. While providing them training will help them
in increasing the productivity of the firm as well as adding value to the products and services
which will give them competitive edge over others.
Training and development programs as well as bringing diversity to the workforce will
have a strategic effect as the company will be able to have a workforce that is best in the industry
and can give many kinds of operational benefits. It will help in formulating higher goals and
hence achieving them effectively. It helps in achieving higher consumer satisfaction which is
essential for the firm. Various theories are their like, Leadership theory: HRM always depends
on the approach that is followed by leadership. It is defined by various theories related to it like
Trait, contingency, situational, behaviour, participative, management and relationship theory.
Competency theory: This theory suggests about the competency of individuals which indicates
that more the competent an employee better is their personal chances of getting higher positions
as well as grabbing opportunities. Motivational theory: There are various kinds of motivational
theory that is used inside the firm. Some of the most important motivational theory in this regard
are McGregor’s and Maslow's motivational theory. They are related with making employees
highly motivated towards their task. All these theories are utilised by the sainsbury's so as to
ensure that they are properly take care of the needs an employee has and hence fulfil them.
Their are some internal factors that effects human resource management of the company
like, Finance: This Company has large amount of financial resources that it can utilise for
maintaining funds for various operations of the firm which also include maintaining the financial
resources related to the human resource (Guest, 2011). Their human resource have various kinds
of development needs and company has invested a lot in their training programs. It is conduction
such kind of sessions at regular intervals As they understand that adding skills and knowledge to
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the employees also helps in adding value to customer’s product or services. Working
environment: This company has developed a working culture that supports innovation in
operational processes as well as continuous development. Even after such a large cultural
diversity company has able to develop and manage the healthy environment at the workplace.
Any kinds of conflicts arisen at the firm has been addressed in a serious ways. The role of HR
managers have been most significant in this regard. Leadership: This company leadership have
been very effective in managing their staff. They have been able to motivate them from time to
time. The strategies made by the leadership have helped company in enhancing the performance
of the employees. They have rewarded their employees in various ways like giving the badges
and promotions as per their work performance.
Appraisals and feedbacks have helped the subordinates in developing qualities that are
missing in them. Opportunities: Company must be providing opportunities for their workers so
that they can feel motivated towards working in a much better way (Huselid and Becker, 2011).
Lack of opportunities degrades the motivational level of the staffs towards participating in the
training and knowledge development process.
Their are some external factors effect on human resource management of the firm.
Political: The employment laws made by the government of UK has empowered staffs in
maintaining the standards of their life and has made them secured about their job retrenchment
plans. The laws related to the minimum wages is followed by the company in a better way as it is
giving salaries much above the base set by government. The rules related with maternity is
strictly followed. They have worked a lot on empowering women employees and hence they
have developed around 41 women store managers.Economical: Since the economies all around
the world is facing many kinds of instabilities which have made many businesses to fail and
hence the job security has been a matter of concern in the masses. This company has worked
hard for ensuring that there business remains stable and hence ensure that company employee
must not feel any kind of insecurity (Jiang and et. al., 2012).
Maintaining high salaries for the employees has been a matter of challenge in the present
scenario. Social: Since the unemployment in the society has increased over the years and this
company has conducted many schemes so as to employee people who otherwise would not have
got proper jobs. They have worked in the field of removing social economic gap. There diversity
removal scheme helped company in removing any differences in the workforce. There are many
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kinds of schemes that are launched by the company to maintain the cultural diversity inside the
firm so that they can serve their larger customer base. They also enabled employees of the
company for serving the customers that are deaf.
These services for the disabled employees have helped them in wining many awards.
This has helped company in targeting peoples from various sections of the society (Human
Resources Development. 2017). Technological: In the era of technology it is important or the
company to make employees skills technology oriented. They train them for taking more use of
technology in their working methodology. From marketing to business planning use of
technology has made all the processes easier. Since the advancements in the technology is at
much faster speed and hence company has to make sure training programs is compatible with it
(Kehoe and Wright, 2013). Skilled workforce and technological equipment can help firm in
maintaining the standards of business to higher levels.
In the retail sector most important thing that every employee needs to learn is how to
manage the data that has been obtained while conducting various activities. Legal: Legalities
related to business have changed considerably and it has become important for the firms to
comply with that. To safeguard the interest of stakeholders legal regulations and policies have
been very effective. Employees are feeling safe because of these legal laws. It also safeguards
people from getting discriminated and helps everyone in getting employments irrespective of the
colour, race or ethnicity they belong to. Industry: Retail industry is on rise and it has employed a
large number of people in their firms. Especially the grocery market has been on the rise and
hence it is important for the companies to manage the standards of their employees.
It is not only beneficial for the firm but is also advantageous for the employees to get new
positions in the firm as well as finding new opportunities of growth in the market (McMichael,
2011). Competition: Since the competition in the market has increased so it has become
important for the firms to manage the standards to employees so that they can easily add values
to their products and hence performance of the company gets increased which is essential for the
survival. It is essential for employee of the firm to enhance their personal skill which is
important for their professional growth. There are various rewards and benefits that it gives to
firm, It helps firm to achieve higher sales. It assists in making of more satisfied consumers which
will help firm in capturing larger part of the market. By providing training such as sign
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language helps company in attracting those consumers who are differently abled. It helps them
in adding value to products and services which enhances their quality.
From the above based report it can be concluded that company needs manage the human
resource it a better manner. Since the utilisation of other resources depends on the quality of
human resource present with firm. It is important for the bigger companies like Sainsbury’s to
make strategies for managing their human resource. This company has helped people in finding
employment which otherwise they would have unable to find. They have worked hard upon
increasing the diversity of their workforce as well as maintain the gender equality. Results were
illustrated in various sections of the report. Leaders have worked harder to promote a working
culture that may satisfy the needs of the people as well as raising their standards of life. Many
kinds of career and job internships have been provide by this company to many candidates and
the basis of selection is only based on the qualities they have. There are several internal and
external factors that are effecting the human resource management at the company.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Albrech, S. L., 2011. Handbook of employee engagement: Perspectives, issues, research and
practice. Human Resource Management International Digest. 19(7).
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bamberger, P. A., Biron, M. and Meshoulam, I., 2014. Human resource strategy: Formulation,
implementation, and impact. Routledge.
Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011. Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2012. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave
Macmillan.
Daley, D. M., 2012. Strategic human resource management. Public Personnel Management,
pp.120-125.
Gordon, H. R., 2014. The history and growth of career and technical education in America.
Waveland press.
Gruman, J. A. and Saks, A. M., 2011. Performance management and employee engagement.
Human Resource Management Review, 21(2), pp.123-136.
Guest, D. E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human resource management journal, 21(1), pp.3-13.
Huselid, M. A. and Becker, B. E., 2011. Bridging micro and macro domains: Workforce
differentiation and strategic human resource management.
Jiang, K. and et. al., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational
outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of
management Journal, 55(6), pp.1264-1294.
Kehoe, R. R. and Wright, P. M., 2013. The impact of high-performance human resource
practices on employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Journal of management, 39(2),
pp.366-391.
McMichael, P., 2011. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective: A Global
Perspective. Sage Publications.
Online
Human Resources Development. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijhrdm>.
Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<file:///home/user/Downloads/WBLI_54246_2000_03_01__1.pdf>.
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A REPORT INTO HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AT SAINSBURY'S. 2017. [Online].
Available Through: <http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/business-studies/a-report-into-
human-resource-management-at-sainsbury-s.html>.
Sainsbury's job and skills. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/making-a-difference/jobs-and-skills>.
Sainsbury’s announces multi-million pound investment in training. 2017. [Online]. Available
Through:
<http://www2.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2013/01/29/
sainsburys-announces-multi-million-pound-investment-in-training-2010-11.aspx>.
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