Attracting and Retaining Staff in Retail Industry

RUNNING HEAD: Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management
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Human Resource Management 1
Essay on Attracting and Retaining Staff
The purpose of this essay is to enlighten the reader about the aspects of human resource
management along with the challenges faced by the organization in retail industry. The retail
industry is one such industry that requires large number of people in their business. The industry
also faces a regular need to employ people in business and retain them as well. Many companies
like David Jones, Aldi, and Tesco etc. faces a continuous need to employ people in the business
in increase the business functions as well. The dynamics of retail industry explains that all the
actions are prepared and completed at a vast level due to which the companies present in this
industry constantly require people with low expertise to successfully manage the actions of the
companies. Further, the below-mentioned report evaluate details about the challenges faced by
companies in attracting and retaining the employees in the retail industry (Terera, & Ngirande,
2014). More details about the paper are discussed below:
According to Hurst & Good (2009), attracting and retaining the employees is looked as the most
important work of the human resources management of the company. The employees are the
biggest asset of the organization with the help of which an organization effectively works. The
human resource management is the department of the organization that specifically deals in
attracting and retaining the employees in an organization. As there is lack of expertise in the
industry due to which retention has become one of the major concern of companies present in
this industry. However, no employee wants to stay in this industry due to pressure, workload and
tension. However, this industry regularly attains the concentration of the customers in the market
because of the type of products that they provide. And in order to meet the needs of customers,
the company regularly requires human resource as well (Stone, & Deadrick, 2015).
There are ample number of challenges present in the retail industry that affect the attraction and
retention of employees in the market. Lack of development and career opportunities can be seen
as one of the most important reason due to which companies fail to initiate human resource
management activities.
Lack of career advancement and development opportunities
The companies present in this industry face difficulty in attracting and retaining staff because
they are uncompetitive in the target market. Repetition of work makes the people bored that

Human Resource Management 2
results in dissatisfaction from their jobs. The management of a retail company provides same
type of work to the employees on daily basis that makes the employee feel that their talent is not
used properly. Resulting in which they leave the job to find a job that adequately acknowledges
their talent. So, it can be said that boredom in the jobs can be seen as one of the most important
factor that challenges the process of retention and attraction of employees in this industry
(Festing, & Schäfer, 2014).
High degree of Competition in Industry
There is presence of high degree of competition in the industry that makes it difficult to attract
and retain the employees. Industry competition is one thing but competition between the
employees of different industries also affect the growth of companies. For instance, if an
employee is working Woolworths and he is thinking to switch his job, then he will receive
various from companies present in same industry like Aldi, Coles etc. and from the companies
present in other industry as well. And if the employees feel like changing the industry then he
will switch in search of a better job. Thus, it can be said that a company fails in attracting the
employees in the industry. Further, according to the two factor theory of Herzberg, there are four
possible combinations that judge the satisfaction level of an employee in the organization (Imna,
& Hassan, 2015). These fours combinations are discussed below:
High Hygiene + High Motivation: employees are highly motivated and have fewer complaints.
High Hygiene + Low Motivation: few complaints but are not highly motivated
Low Hygiene + High Motivation: employees are motivated but have lots of complaints
Low Hygiene + Low Motivation: worst situation in which there is a lack of motivation as well
as more of complaints.
The process of standardized work in a retail industry leads to the aspect of high hygiene and low
motivation as the employees look at their jobs only as a paycheck. Sooner or later, due to this
type of dissatisfaction, the employees leave their jobs (Hannington, 2016).
Lack of Proper Job Evaluation

Human Resource Management 3
The organizations present in the retail industry should also look after the proper job description
and person description as well. It is very important for the company to recruit the right type of
person for the right type of job. If the human resource management of the company does not
make this match then ultimately the employee will leave the organization. If the organization
hires an underprepared employee for performing high-level job then he will leave the company
due to out of expertise work and the company hires a quality person for the lower level job then
also he will leave the company out frustration. Understanding the type of employees along with
job specification will successfully help the company to attract as well as retain the employees in
the organization (Howard, Turban, & Hurley, 2016).
Lack of Effective recruitment practices
Contract staffing can also be assumed as one of the challenges in the process of attracting and
retaining the employees in the organization. Many times due to emergent need or various other
reasons, the company hires the employees on contract basis. In contract basis staffing, the
company employees people on contract by the way of the third party. The entrance of the third
party makes it difficult to create a bond with the human resource management of the company.
Resulting in which, the employees leave the job after their period expires. Under this case, it can
also be seen that the ineffectiveness of the human resource management of the company to create
bond affects the overall employee turnover rate of the company (Falola, Osibanjo, & Ojo, 2014).
Job Dissatisfaction and Less Compensation (Employment Relations)
Reward and compensation can be seen as the biggest driver for change in an organization.
Employees of a company are directly motivated if they receive rewards and good pay from the
organization. On the other hand, deductions in salaries negatively affect the employees in a
company. Considering in a retail industry, the company pays very less to the salesman and the
storekeepers due to which they leave the job. Initially, it can be clearly seen that this type of
work not fascinating to the people at all, in fact people only work in supermarkets just because
they want to earn money. Secondly, it should also be noted that the companies present in the
retail industry does not pay well to the employees as well. This results in dissatisfaction among
employees (Oladapo, 2014).