Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Talent at Workplace - A Case Study on Sainsbury's

This report focuses on the strategies used by Sainsbury's to attract and retain talent at the workplace. It explores the concept and importance of talent management and discusses the challenges faced by higher authorities in managing talent. The report also includes a case study on Sainsbury's, providing insights into their talent management practices.

Managing a successful
business project

Table of Contents
TITLE: To identify different strategies that will help an organisation in attracting and retaining
of talent at workplace. A case study on Sainsbury's........................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................4
P1 Aims and objectives of research............................................................................................4
Literature Review........................................................................................................................4
P2 Project management plan.......................................................................................................6
P3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart...........................................................................8
P4 Research Methodology........................................................................................................10
P5 Interpretation and findings...................................................................................................12
P6 Recommendations................................................................................................................14
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................15
P7 Reflection.............................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

TITLE: To identify different strategies that will help an organisation in attracting and retaining
of talent at workplace. A case study on Sainsbury's
INTRODUCTION
Talent management is defined as the procedure of getting right talent onboard and
assisting company grow to their maximum capabilities considering objectives of the
organisation. In addition to this, it is a constant procedure which consist of attracting & retaining
high quality staff members, continuously motivating to enhance performance, develop skills so
on. One of the main objective of talent management is to develop a motivated employees that
will stay with organisation for long run (Taylor, 2018). Effective compensation, selection
process, performance assessment are undertaken as main approaches that help in raising
performance and retaining employees for longer time period. In the present report, Sainsbury's is
taken into consideration. It is the second largest supermarket chain in UK which was established
in the year 1869 by John James Sainsbury's. The organisation has high market presence as it has
around 1450 shops globally that is operate and function by more than 1,16,400 staff members.
The report will cover aims and objectives of research in context to talent-management
approaches. Along with this, project management plan and research methodology were
discussed. Gantt chart and WBS is elaborated in context to schedule activities of present research
along with the time. In the last, reflection is developed for the overall learning and experience
gained by conducting investigation.
PART 1
P1 Aims and objectives of research
Research Aim:
“To determine various strategies that will help an organisation in attracting and retaining
of talent at workplace”. A case study on Sainsbury's.
Research objectives
 To know about the concept and importance of talent management.
 To analyse the strategies used by Sainsbury's to attract and retain talent at workplace.

 To determine the challenges faced by higher authorities of Sainsbury's while managing
talent at workplace.
Research question
 What is the concept and importance of talent management?
 What are the strategies used by Sainsbury's to attract and retain talent at workplace?
 What are the challenges faced by higher authorities of Sainsbury's while managing talent
at workplace?
Literature Review
To know about the concept and importance of talent management.
According to Mona Momtazian , 2018, talent management is the systematise procedure
used by an organisation to find and attract employees with high calibre optimise their skills in
such ways that they have maxim engagement with the company and see themselves working and
growing along with the company in the far future. This business strategy involves all the policies
reviewed, activities performed, and methods used to hunt and sustain for the best talent available
for the growth of the organisation. This goal of retaining best talent for the longest time period is
accomplished by providing such employees with maximum satisfaction in every aspect of their
job. The presence of effective talent management plays a significant role in the organisations
age-long success (Collings, Mellahi and Cascio, 2017). If the organisation conducts competent
talent management practices the employees involvement in the firm's activities increases, they
start working more productively as they connect with their organisation ideologically and feel
the need to commit all of their potential to the welfare of the company and by extension their
own well being. When functional talent management strategy is implemented in an organisation
the rate at which employees leave the organisation is reduced by a significance amount. Talent
management looks at filling important position in an organisation with highly competent people
this ensures presence of hard working employee at such positions all the time (Murillo and King,
2019). The existence of a effective talent management strategy enhances customer satisfaction as
all the employees of the organisation work to their full potential and give the best service to the
client. Therefore every organisation should implement talent management strategies and thus
build the most fruitful workforce.
To analyse the strategies used by Sainsbury's to attract and retain talent at workplace.

As discussed before effective talent management gives an organisation lucrative benefits
such as low turnover rates maximum employee and consumer satisfaction high productivity and
a positive workplace atmosphere. The key to adopting the best talent management strategy for an
organisation is to review the firm's goals and cognitive content and match the strategy with them
HRM use different talent management strategies to enhance their employees satisfaction and
increase their success. These strategies are revised and improved at regular intervals of time so as
to fit the ever-changing market conditions (Elegbe, 2016). Talent management strategy used by
the British retailer Sainsbury's through measuring an employees involvement at work. This is
measured by scheduled employee evaluation on the basis of an index developed by the company
which looks at several factors such as employee absence and customer feedback. The company
has implemented a scheme which allows employees to take part in decision making by
giving them an outlet to write suggestions which are then read by highest authorities
including the CEO. This has resulted in employees who feel valued and respected at the
company who are committed to give excellent service . The company has constructed a culture
which helps employees in evolving their skills and help them grow with the company. This has
reduced employee absence as they believe that working with the company will result in their
career and personal growth. The company ha taken part in employee engagement task force
and proving that they intend to improve their talent management strategies and provide
maximum customer satisfaction.
To determine the challenges faced by higher authorities of Sainsbury's while managing talent at
workplace
The retail giant Sainsbury's currently staffs 111,900 employees across it's outlets and
focuses on giving quality work culture to it's employees, for achieving this goal the company has
implemented various talent management practices in their company so they can increase
employee output, find and contain the best talent available in the industry and work towards
utilising that talent to it's highest potential (Ewerlin and Süß, 2016). The retail industry is looked
as an industry where career growth is slow or negligible, the company failed to effectively
address such issues among it's staff as the development programs offered by the company were
not providing the employees an apparatus where they can learn skills that would help in their
personnel growth . The lack of adequate leadership proved fatal to effective talent management
as the authorities responsible towards listening to their workers opinion were unable to

implement those suggestions into actual policies. The company was not able to manage talent
properly as they did not give talented employees the chance to grow beyond their scope
P2 Project management plan
Project management plan is basically a document that is needed by the managers in order
to find out techniques as well as strategies that can be used specifically to attain objectives of the
investigation. As the higher authorities of Sainsbury's aims to attract and retain talent and for this
they are needed to develop effective strategies and make use of approaches as well. The project
management plan involves various elements that is given below:
Scope: The scope of the present research is to gain knowledge about the strategies adopt
by an Sainsbury's in order to attract as well as retain talent at workplace (Böhmer and
Schinnenburg, 2016). Along with this, there are some challenges faced by company at the time
of managing talent within the organisation.
Project cost: It is defined as the amount arise in executing the research for gaining
knowledge about talent management strategies (Gardas, 2019). The estimated cost of the project
is £700 that is needed in order to implement all the activities in a proper manner and complete
research on time.
Items Amount
Computer 400
Internet 200
Stationery 100
TOTAL 700
Communication: In order to ensure the complete the project on time, it is required for
the project manager to communicate with people properly who is involved in this project.
Stakeholder Information Approach Duration Communicator
Top level
management
Project progress Written Report Daily Team leader of
Project
Staff Members Outcomes of Notice Board weekly Team leader of

research project
Project resource: In order to complete the project on time and in proper manner, the
resources that is utilized are human resource, technical resources and operational resource as
well. Along with this, there are also other sources needed such as human capital, laptop, land,
mobile phone, stationery etc. With the help of this, investigator will be able to execute research
activities timely and effectively.
Project risk: One of the major risk which is undertaken in the present investigation is
operational risk and technical risk which affect on the progress as well as success of project
negatively. For this, TQM approach can be used by investigator which assist them to decline
level of risk which will arise in future. Moreover, there are also other type of risk associated with
research such as confidentiality, maintaining quality protect data and so on.
Time- In relation to the project, it is significant that time taken to achieve research
objective and completion of project is determined (Thunnissen and Gallardo-Gallardo, 2017).
For Sainsbury's, it become highly important that it is able to analyse time which will be taken to
complete project of identifying approaches that will assist in attracting and retaining talent.
Quality- It is important to maintain quality in results that the project is likely to attain.
For this, the higher authorities of Sainsbury's is needed to make use of various forms of
techniques such as balance scorecard, key performance indicators, benchmarking and so on.
P3 Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart
Work Breakdown Structure- It is defined as a project management tool in which the
whole activities of research is categorised into sun-parts and small parts. In addition to this, the
various forms of activities are identified & the approach of giving particular task to the person
who can excel in their completion of investigation (Kontoghiorghes, 2016). It will assist
researcher to fulfil the objectives of research on time and achieve objectives in an appropriate
manner.

1.
Gantt Chart- It is defined as a graphical tool that is adopt by researcher in order to
schedule all the activities considering time (Muratbekova‐Touron, Kabalina and Festing, 2018).
It is important for the researcher to decide the initial and ending time of activities so that it can
execute properly and completion of investigation take place on time period.

P4 Research Methodology
It is one of the major factor within a research which help in collecting data and
information properly that impact positively on the objectives of research attained on time period.
It consist of various aspects of research that is discuss below:
Types of study: This part of research methodology is divided into two sections that is
qualitative as well as quantitative. In the present research, quantitative method will be used as it
provide numerical information & did not need more resources for investigation (Sheehan, Grant
and Garavan, 2018). Qualitative study is not appropriate for the present research as it give
qualitative data & also take more time of investigator.
Data sources: It is consider as one of the significant aspect of research that is important
to collect information and to attain valid as well as reliable information. There are mainly two

types of research methods that is primary and secondary. Primary data is consider as information
which is collected for the first time and is original in nature. There are various methods to collect
primary information that is questionnaire, interview, survey, observation etc. On the other side,
secondary data is collected through articles, newspaper, magazines that is already collected by
researchers. In the present research, both the primary and secondary methods of data collection
were used in order to gain information about talent management. A questionnaire is developed in
order to collect primary information and the review as well as analysis of journal papers is
considered to collect appropriate information of research topic.
Sampling: It is defined as the way of selecting the right sample size for the researcher in
order to get information. There are mainly two forms of sampling methods that is probability as
well as non-probability sampling method. For the present research, probability sampling method
is adopt by the investigator. Random sampling method is consider as a probability sampling
method. The main reason of choosing this method is it provide equal chance to all the
participants. 40 staff members of Sainsbury's is chosen on random basis.
Ethics: These are basically the moral principles which researcher must adopt, irrespective
of place and time as well (Gupta, 2019). Some of the principles of ethics which must be follow
by investigator is avoiding deceptive practices, decline risk of harm, informed consent, providing
right to withdraw, anonymity and confidentiality.
Reliability & validity: It is other method in research methodology which is based in
questionnaire. In addition to this, it is a useful method to collect data which help researcher to
test validity and reliability of outcomes.
Data collection tools: There are may tools that is used in order to gather information and
these are interview, observation, questionnaire and many more. The main objective to make use
of this tool is it assist as well as support investigator to gather reliable and valid information. In
the present investigation, Questionnaire is taken into consideration as it involve less time and
cost as well. The questionnaire to collect primary information is given below:
Questionnaire:
Questionnaire
Q1.) Are you aware about the concept of talent-management in an
organisation?
Frequency

a) Yes 25
b) No 15
Q2.) What are the different approaches used by respective organisation for
attracting at retaining talent?
Frequency
a) Performance assessment 10
b) Providing effective compensation 10
c) using of appropriate recruitment and selection method 10
d) Developing job description 10
Q3.) What is the importance of talent-management in raising productivity
and profitability of company?
Frequency
a) Higher customer satisfaction 13
b) Retain & attract top talent 17
c) Proper execution of activities 10
Q4 According to you, what are the benefits of talent-management for staff
members?
Frequency
a) Attain job satisfaction 13
b) Develop morale and confidence 13
c) Professional growth and development 14
Q 5.) As per your view point, how Sainsbury's identify the talent in an
organisation? s
Frequency
a) By results 20
b) By competencies 10
c) BY potential 10
Q6.) According to you, what are the major problems and issues faced by
Sainsbury's at the time of managing talent at workplace?
Frequency
a) Raise in employee turnover 10

b) High compensation demand 15
c) Lack of leadership 15
Q 8) Provide suggestions to Sainsbury's in attraction and retention of talent in
the organisation.
P5 Interpretation and findings
Q1.) Are you aware about the concept of talent-management in an
organisation?
Frequency
a) Yes 25
b) No 15
Interpretation: From the above discussion, it is that out of total 40 participants, 25
respondents have the idea about talent management, whereas 15 participants have no knowledge
about talent-management.
25
15
a) Yes
b) No

Q2.) What are the different approaches used by respective organisation for
attracting at retaining talent?
Frequency
a) Performance assessment 10
b) Providing effective compensation 10
c) using of appropriate recruitment and selection method 10
d) Developing job description 10
Interpretation: There are various approaches adopt by business for attracting as well as
retaining talent. From the total 40 participants, 10 respondents said that performance assessment
is the approach whereas the other 10 perceive that providing effective compensation will help an
organisation to retain as well as attract talent. In addition to this, 10 stated that using of right
recruitment & selection method is effective and the remaining 10 said that developing job
description is appropriate.
Q3.) What is the importance of talent-management in raising productivity Frequency
10
10 10
10
a) Performance assessment
b) Providing effective
compensation
c) using of appropriate
recruitment and selection
method
d) Developing job
description

and profitability of company?
a) Higher customer satisfaction 13
b) Retain & attract top talent 17
c) Proper execution of activities 10
Interpretation: The above graph states that talent management will assist company to
provide higher customer satisfaction that is said by 13 participants out of the total 40
respondents. In addition to this, 17 respondents said that it assist in retaining and attracting top
talent. The remaining 10 state that talent-management plays an important role in proper
implementation of activities.
Q4 According to you, what are the benefits of talent-management for staff
members?
Frequency
a) Attain job satisfaction 13
b) Develop morale and confidence 13
c) Professional growth and development 14
13
17
10
a) Higher customer
satisfaction
b) Retain & attract top
talent
c) Proper execution of
activities

Interpretation: The above graph shows that, from the total 40 employees 13 participants said
that talent-management provide benefit to employees by achieving job satisfaction. On the other
hand, 13 participants said that it assist in developing morale and confidence in employees. The
remaining 14 respondents said that it help them to gain professional growth and development as
well.
Q5.) As per your view point, how Sainsbury's identify the talent in an
organisation?
Frequency
a) By results 20
b) By competencies 10
c) BY potential 10
20
10
10
a) By results
b) By competencies
c) BY potential

Interpretation: It is determined from the 20 employees that respective organisation
identify talent by results. The other 10 said by competencies and the remaining 10 stated that by
potential company identify the talent at workplace.
Q6.) According to you, what are the major problems and issues faced by
Sainsbury's at the time of managing talent at workplace?
Frequency
a) Raise in employee turnover 10
b) High compensation demand 15
c) Lack of leadership 15
Interpretation: From the above graph, it is analyse that out of total 40 participants,10
participants said that one of the challenge faced by respective organisation is increase in
employee turnover. In addition to this, 15 respondents perceive that high compensation demand
10
15
15
a) Raise in employee
turnover
b) High compensation
demand
c) Lack of leadership

is a challenge. The remaining 15 respondents said that lack of leadership is one of the issue faced
by organisation while managing talent at workplace.
As per the research conducted by questionnaire in which several questions have been
asked from staff members & several participants within the organisation. The data gathered as
well as evaluated clearly specifies that the majority vote is in favour of talent management
strategies & various approaches taken up by high authorities and top level workforce of the
organisation. As per the literature review mentioned above the organisation require to make
improvements within their practices and for which they can make best of actions. In comparing
with Google, it provides positive and flexible working environment to its employees which
motivate them to work with full potential in order to attain objectives. In addition to this, the
company opt for honest and open communication that develop trust in employees towards
company. Every employee of Google get equal chance in order to showcase their talent which
improve their quality of working. It is analysed that Google also conduct co-circular activities
and provide bonus to its employees which leads to employee satisfaction and employee retention
as well. An employee requires a positive thinking in order to perform in company and proper
work-life balance that google help to achieve them by proper management of activity.
P6 Recommendations
By analysing the above information, it is suggested that talent-management is beneficial
in order to enhance productivity and gain success as well. Some of the recommendation to higher
authorities of Sainsbury's in order to manage talent is given below:
 It is suggested to the company to encourage flexibility at workplace so that employees
work according to them which generate interest towards execution of activities and retain
them for longer time period.
 In addition to this, the higher authorities can allow employees to participate in the
decision-making process as it make them feel valued and important at workplace due to
which stay longer with the organisation.
 Moreover, providing of training and development session to employees in order to make
them update about the policies and other aspects help in attracting talent at workplace
which has influence on the productivity as well as profitability of the organisation.
 Sainsbury's is recommended to be more focused about engagement of employees within
the organisation that can be achieved by measuring and managing talent of employees

and rewarding them as per their capabilities and performance equally. This is an outcome
from the investigation therefore, higher authorities of Sainsbury's is suggested to so for
raising involvement as well as engagement of employees. Moreover, the company can
take up procedure according to Google that is given by providing effective and positive
working platform. Thus, employee engagement will lead the company to bring
innovation and new ideas as highly motivated staff members put their full potential and
skills. This will also help in raising performance and profitabili9ty of respective
organisation in an effective manner.
PART 2
P7 Reflection
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT
 Advantages of Project Management:-
Project management assist in setting smarter goal for group & attain it within set time
period. In addition to this, it also aid in making appropriate communication with staff members
to project manager. Moreover, the level of expertise for the work also get improved when a
project is manager properly that leads to greater customer satisfaction.
 Disadvantages for Project Management:-
It is stated that a project manager is hired that raise the cost of project and impact on the
level of profitability. In addition to this, sometimes project management raise the complexity of
activities that raise confusion among the employee as well as employer.
At the time of conducting research, it is determined by me that there are many factors
which put prominent influence on the overall results in a negative manner. In addition to this, it
is also analysed by me that it is important to consider the right method for data collection as it
assist in gaining reliable and valid outcomes. Apart from this, it is analysed by me that I have
lack of communication and team management skills that arise issues while conducting the
research and achieve objectives as well. I was quite shy and nervous while collecting information
from the participants due to which the time set for collecting data is increased and affect on the
overall data. It is examine by m that my skills required to be improve so that I can gain better
opportunity in the coming future. Due to my good decision-making and problem-solving skills, I
am able to execute activities on time period due to which the overall research is completed on

time period. It is identified by me that I need to overcome with my weaknesses as it assist me to
deal with the issues properly and achieve objectives on time period.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been concluded that talent management is crucial as it assist
in attracting as well as retaining staff members for longer time period. In addition to this, there
are various strategies that is adopt by business entities which help in retaining and attracting
talent within the organisation. Moreover, it is important for the researcher to make use of
appropriate data collection method so that a valid as well as reliable conclusion is developed. It
is determined that there are various challenges faced by company while managing talent such as
disagreements in employees, lack of leadership and so on.

REFERENCES
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