Woolworths Recruitment Strategies

This assignment analyzes the recruitment strategies employed by Woolworths, a major Australian retailer. It identifies key challenges faced by the company, such as building a strong employer brand, offering competitive wages to attract and retain talent, and managing the generational gap in its workforce. The analysis explores potential solutions for these challenges, including implementing effective employer branding campaigns, adjusting compensation packages, and fostering open communication channels within the workplace. Recommendations are provided to enhance Woolworths' recruitment process and secure a competent pool of candidates.

Managing Human Resources

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Executive Summary
Understanding the human resource management issues in respect with several recruitment
challenges are the key objective behind the preparation of this report. The paper will throw lights
upon the problems faced by the recruitment process of the companies in respect with
Woolworths Supermarket. Because of these issues the organisation is found to be faced by the
company and in order to overcome these challenges, the paper will also present strategic
recommendations which can be used by the company to develop better recruitment process and
possessing a strong workforce in the company.

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Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Challenges faced by Woolworths in the recruitment of the workforce...........................................2
Challenge due to Organisational Image.......................................................................................3
Challenges due to: Cultural Diversity..........................................................................................3
Challenge due to Shortage of labour Supply...............................................................................4
Challenge due to operating in an intense market competition.....................................................4
Challenges due to ageing workforce and generation gaps...........................................................5
Conclusion and recommendations...................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
To achieve and possess the employees that are talented, competent and effective, the companies
are in a need to improve their recruitment strategies and processes. Recruitment is the major
element of the human resource management function of the organisations as the selection and
recruitment of the individuals is completely dependent upon the recruitment process. The better
the process and strategies will be, the more potential candidates would be able to employ in the
organisations. In modern and globalised business environment, it is necessary to retain the
potential candidates for gaining increased number of competitive benefits. But due to several
issues in the recruitment of the employees, the organisations lack behind in attaining these
benefits and had to suffer with dropped down sales, profits and decreased brand recognition. To
understand the challenges faced by the HRM department of Woolworths in the recruitment of the
employees, the report will present some of the most dominating challenges including the adverse
organisational image, high level of competition in the business environment, rapidly up surging
cultural diversity, low supply of the workforce and the rising number of ageing workforce (Price,
2016). These are the aspects that are hindering the successful recruitment of the employees and
posing challenges for the organisation. The paper will help in understanding the issues of
Woolworths which is one the top most supermarkets of Australia. The organisation had its
grounding in the year 1924 and presently it is giving employment to approximately 111,000.
There are few issues which have been identified in the recruitment of the workforce at
Woolworths and being a renowned employer, it is still required to have better recruitment
practices to attract competent talent (Woolworths, 2017).
Challenges faced by Woolworths in the recruitment of the workforce
Woolworths is one if the top most supermarket chains of Australia which has extended global
reach with almost 111,000 employees in several countries. Due to increasing business
competition, industrialisation and setting up of several other companies the recruitment
challenges for Woolworths are increasing rapidly which threatens the fast development of the
company.

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Challenge due to Organisational Image
Organisational image is among one of the key issues in the recruitment of the workforce at
Woolworths. There are both positive as well as negative aspects of the organisational image for
Woolworths as the company poses a strong brand image from the perspective of sales, revenues
and operations. But on the other hand, there is also an adverse image associated with the
organisation because of the industry it operates. The individuals consider the retail sector as one
of the highest pressurized sector which is not good for the people who are less communicative
and cannot meet the monthly targets (Mokhlis, 2014). Thus, the individuals escape from getting
employed in this industry rather they work in other industries in lower wages. And this occurred
as one of the biggest recruitment challenges for the company to cope up with as because of such
established image of the organisation as well as the sector, there has been experienced a sudden
decline in the number of job applicants in Woolworths. Because of the growing pressures upon
the employees in respect with solving the issues and queries of the customers, meeting targets
and increasing sales have resulted in decreased recruitments I the last few years as well as the
employees recruited are also of les competence and skills with limited qualifications.
For managing such kind of challenges taking place in the recruitment of the workforce can be
coped up by taking steps that can support the restricting of the image of the organisation as well
as the retail sector. It is advisable that the organisation must take use of various kinds of
advertisements so that there can be a changed image in the minds of the individuals who are in a
need of job. The various advertisements can help in enhancing the visibility of the reorganisation
it is also essential that the advertisements must explain the enormous career growth opportunities
present in the company as well as chance for attaining personal development sessions as well as
better employment opportunities (Atkinson and Storey, 2016).
Challenges due to: Cultural Diversity
Another major issue in the recruitment of the workforce at Woolworths is high level of cultural
diversity. Because of the presence of several diverse cultures in the nation, there are both job
applicants who possess high level of cultural diversity. And thus, it is difficult for Woolworths to
perform workforce management of diverse cultural groups (Peltoniemi, 2015). Many a times the
recruitment challenge is related to diversity in cultures and thus the recruitment managers are not
able to understand the competence of the potential candidates as well as the candidates also

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unable to found themselves comfortable in getting adjusted in a group where there are more of
culturally diverse individuals.
For effectively managing the challenge of cultural diversity, it is recommended that Woolworths
must start offering it employees with effective cross-cultural trainings. In the culturally-diverse
society, it is essential to have a good understanding of the culture of other people. Thus, these
trainings, discussions among each other as well as giving adequate feedbacks on a daily basis is
must fir overcoming the issues of cultural diversity in the recruitment of the workforce (Saxena,
2014).
Challenge due to Shortage of labour Supply
Another challenge faced by Woolworths in its recruitment of workforce is the extreme shortage
of the supply of workforce in the Australian markets. Because of presence of enormous n umber
of companies and organisations, the demand for the talented workers are rising and there had
been analysed issues of shortage of lab our in the retail sector and primarily in big organisations
like Woolworths. There are vast business operations that hold because of the absence of supply
of adequate amount of labour (Atkinson and Storey, 2016).
For managing such issue in the recruitment of the workforce, it is recommended that
Woolworths must have potential policies and practices to fetch the attention of the workforce.
The better the employment opportunities, incentive programs and recognition and rewards are
offered to the employees, the greater are the chances that the labour would have an association
with the company. Thu, by reviewing the policies and taking initiatives to attract the labours,
there can be managed the demand of the workers with adequate supply of labour (Ruhs and
Anderson, 2010).
Challenge due to operating in an intense market competition
Another major challenge in the recruitment of the workforce at Woolworths is the intense market
competition. Because of the continuously increasing number of business organisations and
development of industries, the individuals i.e. the potential recruitment candidates are attracting
towards the job opportunities offered by these organisations. Thus, it becomes an extreme
challenge for recruiting talented and component employees for the organisation. The retail sector
has a tendency to recruit the people who have just completed their graduation as well as recruit

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people who are even under-graduated for the part time shifts. This has resulted in decreased
interest of the competent employees to associate themselves with the retail sector organisations.
Thus, the recruitment face challenge of not getting recruited the qualified and talent candidates.
The lack of qualified pool of employees also results in less productivity and declined business
efficiency (Choudaha, Chang and Kono, 2014).
For managing the recruitment issue, it is recommended that to attract and acquire the best talent,
Woolworths must have an efficient use of the various strategies such as the employer branding
tactic. It is one of the most recognized ways of fascinating the competent workforce to be a part
of the organisation without much direct efforts for recruiting them. It is a way there are
initiatives taken by the organisation for developing itself as the employer of choice so that the
competent individual themselves want to have a long term association with the organisation
(Lievens and Slaughter, 2016). Through employer branding, the organisations or the companies
tend to have an improved brand visibility and recognition from the perspectives of offerings
employment opportunities with utmost comfort to the employees. When Woolworths will
develop employer branding then the recruitment of the competent and talent applicants can be
increased. Therefore, there will be improvement in the recruitment of the employees.
Challenges due to ageing workforce and generation gaps
Woolworths is also facings some of the key challenges in respect with the issues such as higher
generation gaps as well as ageing workforce. The presence of elderly age people is high on
number in the Australian organisations and industries which is hampering the rapid success and
growth of the companies. In present time, the organisations need employees that can actively
participate in the operations that are based on innovative technologies and know-how. The
ageing workforces are resistant to change as well as cannot work in a much efficient manner on
such pioneering technologies (Beck, 2014). Thus, the productivity and the overall efficient
declines and this weakens the recruitment process too as most of the applicants are of elderly age
group only. When there are recruited young employees in the company, there are vast chances of
conflicts due to higher generation gaps (Connell, Nankervis and Burgess, 2015). And thus, this
also impacts the accomplishment of tasks and workplace environment. Thus due to dominance of
the old employees who are higher in age, the youth do not want themselves to get employment in
such organisations (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014).

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To save the organisation from such challenges and issues, it is recommended to Woolworths that
it must take efficient use of the advertisements for attracting the new and fresh talent. The
advertisements can be of various types such as on the social platforms to have a social visibility
and connection with the potential candidates. Another advertisement strategy could by the
posters and emails (Schröder, Muller‐Camen and Flyn, 2014). The posters must be there are
various institutes to attract the individual who have completed their education qualification. The
company can also send emails to the individual explaining the job role, its significance and the
various other things highlighting the career opportunity in Woolworths. To manage the challenge
of generation gap, there just be initiate discussions, feedback sessions and informal channels of
communication at the workplace (Boussebaa and Morgan, 2008).
Conclusion and recommendations
Having a good and effective recruitment of the workforce is must for the organisations.
Woolworths is also required to work on few of the challenges identified so that it can have a
better work for e to carry on the operations and give improved results. Thus, it is concluded and
recommended that the company is required to improve its organisational mage through employer
branding and must also offer good wages to them for retaining them as well as for having
recruitment of potential candidates. By following the recommendations mentioned above,
Woolworths can manage its challenges and can possess good recruitment process with effective
recruitment of competent candidates.

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References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Atkinson, J., & Storey, D. J. (Eds.). (2016). Employment, the small firm and the labour market.
Routledge.
Beck, V. (2014). Employers’ views of learning and training for an ageing
workforce. Management Learning, 45(2), 200-215.
Choudaha, R., Chang, L., & Kono, Y. (2014). International student mobility trends 2013:
Towards responsive recruitment strategies.
Connell, J., Nankervis, A., & Burgess, J. (2015). The challenges of an ageing workforce: an
introduction to the workforce management issues. Labour & Industry: a journal of the
social and economic relations of work, 25(4), 257-264.
Lievens, F., & Slaughter, J. E. (2016). Employer image and employer branding: What we know
and what we need to know. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and
Organizational Behavior, 3, 407-440.
Mokhlis, S. (2014). The image of retailing as a graduate career: Evidence from
Malaysia. International Business Management, 8(2), 146-152.
Peltoniemi, M. (2015). Cultural industries: Product–market characteristics, management
challenges and industry dynamics. International journal of management reviews, 17(1),
41-68.
Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: an Australian retail supermarket
case. Work, employment and society, 30(6), 915-931.
Ruhs, M., & Anderson, B. (Eds.). (2010). Who needs migrant workers?: labour shortages,
immigration, and public policy. Oxford University Press.

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Saxena, A. (2014). Workforce diversity: A key to improve productivity. Procedia Economics
and Finance, 11, 76-85.
Schröder, H., Muller‐Camen, M., & Flynn, M. (2014). The management of an ageing workforce:
organisational policies in Germany and Britain. Human Resource Management
Journal, 24(4), 394-409.
Woolworths, (2017). About Woolworths, Retrieved on: 30th September, 2017, Retrieved from:
https://www.woolworths.com.au/