Strategic Workforce Planning in Retail Sector

The essay helps in analyzing the different kind of crucial elements of the strategic workforce planning in the entire retail industry. The different kind of challenges has to be addressed in an effectual manner with the usage of the different literatures as this will help in addressing the same in an effectual manner.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
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Author Note

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Introduction
The essay helps in analyzing the different kind of crucial elements of the strategic
workforce planning in the entire retail industry. The different kind of challenges has to be
addressed in an effectual manner with the usage of the different literatures as this will help in
addressing the same in an effectual manner.
The main aim and purpose of the essay is to understand the fundamental elements of the
workforce planning in the retail industry specifically in Wal-Mart that is headquartered in United
Kingdom. The challenges have to be described effectually as this will help in resolving the issues
in an effectual manner.
The structure of the essay includes the different kind of challenges that is faced by the
retail industry wherein the different kind of solutions will be provided to resolve the issues in an
efficient manner.
Strategic Workforce Planning in Retail Sector
Strategic Workforce Planning is essential in the different kind of organizations as this
will help them in creating a working environment that is effective and efficient in nature.
Goodman, French & Battaglio Jr, (2015) has commented that proper workforce planning is
required in order to bring and provide clarity in the plans of the organization along with
description of the different kind of analytical functions as well. However, on the other hand Rees
et al., (2018) commented that workforce planning requires continual procedure to align the
different kind of needs along with priorities of the organization.

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For instance- Workforce Planning at Wal-Mart is continual in nature wherein the
respective company recruits different kind of employees by conducting proper recruitment and
selection process along with job descriptions along with person specifications. Proper job
description has been provided to the company wherein the person specification has been
provided in an effectual manner wherein the different skills are met in an effectual manner.
Fagerström, Lønning & Andersen, (2014) has commented that the different kind of
components of the workforce planning is essential in nature as this will reduce the turnover rates
along with forecasts of the potential retirements along with analysis of the performance
management activities. However, on the other hand, Cohen, Blake & Goodman (2016)
commented that workforce planning is essential in nature wherein this will help in supporting the
different kind of planning along with talent forecasts. Workforce planning helps in supporting
the forecasting and budgeting process wherein it helps in identification of skill gaps in the
organization along with analysis of the areas of the concern.
For instance- Wal-Mart has introduced workforce planning in their organization wherein
proper adoption of the new ideas has helped in analysis of the internal environment and action
plan has helped the company in making the workforce planning effectual in nature. In order to
make their organization high performing, Wal-Mart has developed proper budget and goal
setting for them that has helped them in gaining competitive advantage in recruiting and
selecting the employees efficiently as well.
Crucial Components of strategic workforce planning
There is different kind of crucial components of the strategic workforce planning wherein
it is seen that main components are as follows:

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Firstly, De Bruecker et al., (2015) has commented that proper clarity of the different
goals of the organizations is essential in nature wherein this will provide the company with
different kind of techniques to solve the workforce planning issues and implement the strategies
such as implement the process of planning with the help of the recruitment and selection process
as this will help in providing clarity to the activities performed by the organization efficiently.
On the other hand, Cohen, Blake & Goodman (2016) has commented that the clarity of the
different policies and procedures is essential in nature that is required to be adopted by the
organization as this will help them in understanding the actual organizational structure of the
organization effectually.
For instance, Wal-Mart has helped in planning the different processes in a manner such
that has helped them in managing the technological advancements. Wal-Mart has tried to analyze
the gap in their recruitment and selection process along with specification of the jobs provided to
the employees as well. Wal-Mart has tried to make different kind of adjustments along with other
updates that has helped the company in improving their image relating to the planning of
workforce in the entire market.
Buchan et al., (2015) commented that workforce planning has helped the companies in
identifying the different kind of skill gaps with proper planning and provides consistent reporting
of the different results to quantify the different outcomes effectively. However, Cohen, Blake &
Goodman (2016) has stated that the turnover rates are increasing at a huge rate in retail sector as
the planning process is at fault and the organizations are not in a position to take proper care to
reduce such issues effectually as well.

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Challenges faced by organizations during Workforce planning implementation
Workforce planning is an essential aspect of any organization. According to Cascio
(2018), workforce planning can be described as a process whereby the organization aims to align
the priorities of any organization with the suitability of the workforce to see to it that the service,
production, legislative and regulatory requirements of the organization is met with. In this
section the challenges related to the workforce planning will be discussed along with relevant
examples related to the retail industry.
The first challenge that is faced during the implementation of workforce planning in the
retail industry in a company like Wal-Mart is that the leaders do not want to be taken
accountable for the talent management activities (Walmart.com., 2018). Koochaki et al. (2013),
states that although business leaders agree that the talent management is essential for the core
functioning of the organization , the leaders do not essentially take full accountability for the
results which are dries. The primary reason for the given gap is that they tend to have a fear
regarding the HR administrative burden, complex procedures and talent management risks. The
performance of the teams in a company like Wal-Mart needs to be managed carefully and
continuously. Successful management of the performance may lead to better results of the
organization. However as stated by Goetsch and Davis (2014), the business leaders do not want
to take the burden of managing this and they often go back on their responsibilities.
The second challenge relates to the challenge of identifying critical organization roles.
According to Cascio (2018) , understanding of various job roles, descriptions, hiring profiles,
competencies and other job attributes play a crucial role in hiring the right kind of people for the
organization. The retail supermarket Wal-mart, is a customer centric organization whereby the

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employees of the organization need to remain in direct contact with the customers and thus they
require a specific set of skills and this is the task of workforce planning to identify the right kind
of skills that need to be present in the employee. The identification of these skills is a crucial task
which many members of the organization are unable to undertake.
The third challenge that is faced by organizations during workforce planning relates to
the problem of accessing relevant workforce data. According to Williams (2013), the data with
respect to the candidates and the employees need to be analyzed carefully, which will then
enable them to make smart choices regarding their organization requirements. Very often due to
the high availability of data, the company is unable to have the success of the right kind of data
and this leads to problems. The managers at Wal-Mart face a similar problem whereby there
exists a lack of relevant data which then causes problems.
The fourth challenge is related to the leadership management in an organization. Very
often industries look out for top 10 leaders or top 100 leaders, however, according to Armstrong
and Taylor (2014) , in retail companies like Wal-Mart, the focus needs to be on the
establishment of leadership pipelines deeper within an organization. As the retail industry is a
customer centric industry, the companies face problems related to uncovering the talent of
professionals in an organization which often get missed out during the workforce planning. As
per Koochaki et al. (2013), a lack of this process may lead to the de-motivation of the employees
which may then hinder their career development. Career development forms an essential part of
the organization especially in a fast moving industry like that of Wal-Mart and a lack of it may
cause higher turnover.

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The last challenge which may be faced by Wal-Mart in relation to workforce planning
may be alignment of Human Capital Management with the Business Strategy. According to
Goetsch and Davis (2014), it is very important for any organization to align the HCM strategy
with the Business Strategy in order to create a successful workforce. Various talent management
strategies need to be implemented under the business strategies. However, in reality Wal-Mart
has been facing problems in relation to the alignment of the human resource strategy with the
business strategy and for this reason, the workforce has a high turnover, which then leads to poor
performance of the supermarket.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the given study on the critical components of workforce planning and the
related challenges, it could be gathered that Workforce planning forms an essential part of an
organization. Without a proper department which looks after the human resource of the
organization, the firm will not be able to retain long term employees and become successful. The
concerned organization taken for the assignment belonging to the retail industry is Wal-Mart.
However, the essential elements of workforce planning like clarity in a firm and proper
identification of gap is lacking in Wal-Mart and they need to take corrective measures for it. The
various challenges being faced by them have been discussed.

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References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
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