HRM Issues and Challenges in WSA

This report has been prepared in consideration with the current HR challenges and issues for WSA to recruit people for the organisation. WSA is facing problems related to attracting new people in the organisation. This report helps to understand these problems and provide relevant solutions to WSA to resolve these issues to hire fresh and talented people for the organisation.

Running Head: WSA
HRM Issues and Challenges in WSA
Essay
System04104
7/10/2019

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Introduction
Western Sydney Airport (WSA) is the second Sydney airport in Australia. It is also
known as Nancy-Bird Walton Airport (Western Sydney Airport, 2018). WSA is newly
incorporated government business enterprise and looking for hiring large number of people in
the organisation by 2031. This report has been prepared in consideration with the current HR
challenges and issues for WSA to recruit people for the organisation. WSA is facing
problems related to attracting new people in the organisation. This report helps to understand
these problems and provide relevant solutions to WSA to resolve these issues to hire fresh
and talented people for the organisation.
What is the problem?
WSA is looking for recruiting people for the organisation but high competition in the
labour market poses many challenges for WSA for recruiting people. High competition in the
market forces the company to recruit people at high cost. The demand of talent in aviation
industry is rapidly increasing in Australia and it is also the requirement of WSA. Any airline
company requires large number of people for both customers service and ground operations
as well. WSA is planning to recruit 28000 people by 2031 and it is really a challenge for the
company to hire large number of people in the competitive labour market (Department of
Infrastructure, Transport, Cities, and Regional Development, 2019). As a research conducted
by international Air Transport Association (IATA), it has been found that recruiting people in
the aviation industry is a greatest challenge for any country. Availability of people with right
skills and qualification on appropriate salary demand is the biggest challenge for the WSA
and company needs to short out these problems.
What are the major HR issues in WSA?
Recruitment and selection of people in Australian aviation industry is a challenge for
many companies. There are many reasons behind this but some of the key challenges are as
follow:
Attracting new talent and retaining people in the organisation

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Attracting and retaining talent in the organisation is major challenge in the industry
that is face by many HR professionals. Training and development programs also play an
important role in job satisfaction, which should be considered by a HR professional while
recruiting and hiring people in the aviation industry. Another major challenge for a HR
professional in WSA is to find people with digital and IT skills (Australian Aviation, 2019).
While recruiting new people in the organisation is a major challenge for the WSA, retaining
the existing employee is also a great challenge for the company. According to a report
published by Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Economics, in 2018, 10,808
domestic flights were cancelled in Australia because of several reasons and most of them
cancelled due to shortage of pilots and engineers (Department of Infrastructure, Transport,
Cities, and Regional Development, 2019).
Shortage of workforce in the market and high competition
WSA has long-term needs of graduate and qualified employees with great knowledge
and sophisticated skills. The problem for the company is to find out fresh graduate people
who fulfil the company needs and requirements. Even the high competition in the labour
market force the WSA to think about its recruitment plan and use appropriate strategy to hire
people. Shortage of talent in the market is a challenge for the WSA and it should be
overcome with appropriate HR recruitment and selection planning of the company (Freyens,
2010). HR professionals should also try to make the recruitment process easier for job
applicants. For example, there are large number of people are applying for cabin crew job
openings, but they find that screening process in the company is more time consuming.
Therefore, HR professional of the company should look to introduce online test and interview
through video conferencing that save time and helps the organisation to hire more and more
people on low cost (Breaugh, 2008).
Advance technology and change in required set of skills and knowledge
Advancement in technology and productivity changes in the aviation industry also
forces the company think about making right strategy and policies to recruit people. The
advancement in technology requires new set of skills and practical knowledge, which were
previously non-existent in the aviation industry. Change in technology forces almost every
company of every industry to search new talent for the organisational goals and provide them
proper training and development program thus they can help the organisation to achieve its

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goals (Hunter, Cushenbery & Friedrich, 2012). The effectiveness of in-house training is also
crucial in such scenario. However, requirement of technological skills in airline industry is
the primary requirement during recruitment and selection process, but it is also considerable
that developing these skills in people within the organisation in very short time of period is
also a challenge for the WSA (Australian Aviation, 2019). These skills are required for both
safety and security purpose of employee. Therefore, in other words we can say that
candidates are not the problem rather skills are the major challenge for the WSA while
recruiting appropriate people for the job (Jepsen, Knox-Haly & Townsend, 2015).
Therefore, these are the various reasons that are creating string challenges for the
WSA to recruit and hire new people in the organisation. WSA is trying to recruit a large
number of people by 2031, but it is really a tough task for the company (Western Sydney
Airport, 2018). Although a proper planning and strategy to recruit people in the organisation
helps the company to be successful in its human resource planning and strategies.
What are the solutions available for WSA to resolve these issues?
WSA should look for following key strategies to face the recruitment and selection
challenges:
Recruitment Advertising and Promotional Campaigns
WSA should look for advertising its recruitment and selection planning and try to
attract more young generation people towards the aviation industry jobs. WSA should
advertise its recruitment planning to attract talented individuals towards the jobs in WSA
(Western Sydney Airport, 2018). The company can also launch many campaigns related to
requirement of people in the organisation. Apart from this, WSA can hire young talented
graduates from schools and colleges through campus placements. This will help the company
to attract more young individuals towards the WSA jobs and it will also help the company to
increase the interest of people who belong to different backgrounds. WSA can also launch
different campaigns in various regions of the country to attract people. However, the
company can design its campaign and promotional programs according to the need of people
(Michael Page Team, 2017).
The company should also offer a good salary package that should be competitive in
the market. A good compensation plan of the WSA helps the company to attract new

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employees and retain the existing employees for the long-time of period (Mooring, 2016).
Apart from this, safety and security of employee in the aviation industry are the basic
requirements of the employees and it is the responsibility of HR department to provide all the
security and safety equipment and environment to the employees during working period.
Apart from this, WSA should also focus on providing extra compensation benefits to the
employees such as medical facilities for family and employees both, insurance, and other
incentives and bonus benefits. The monetary benefits positively motivate existing employees
and help to reduce the high employee turnover and it also helps to attract the new people
toward doing job in WSA (Loomes, Owens & McCarthy, 2019).
Training of Existing Employees and Partnership with Nearby Educational
Facilities
In order to make-up skill shortage and talent shortage, WSA should focus on provide
better training to its existing employees. It will help the company to fill the current skill gaps
in the organisation. WSA should plan in-house training programs where experts can share
their views and ideas with other people in the organisation and their valuable experience help
the other people to enhance their knowledge and skills. It is the great way of increasing the
value of existing employees without consuming too much resources or time (Michael Page
Team, 2017). Another option for the company is to provide opportunities to the existing
employees to go back to their schools and colleges and get the education they need. However,
this is a part of external training but it is one of the costly and expensive methods of training
but it can pay off in long run. Partnership with educational facilities not only helps in this
type of training rather the tie-up with school and colleges also provide adequate number of
future employees and talent to the WSF. The school and colleges can help the company to
supply fresh and talented people with great skills and potentials. Apart from this, WSA can
open the gate for apprentice and internship for new graduates, which can further help the
company to get the skilled workers on time (Raj & Jyothi, 2011).
Focus on hire fresh graduates who are talented and having all the required
technical skills and knowledge
WSA should focus on hire fresh graduates from the engineering colleges who have
great knowledge of technical skills. WSA should clearly define in its job description profiles
that what are the criteria and eligibility for selection in the company. Hiring people with great

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talent and skills is not an easy task for HR professionals, if everything is not clearly specified
on the job description document. Apart from this, WSA can provide in-house training to the
new employees and workers to adopt the new technological changes and adjust in the modern
working conditions. WSA should also provide all the required safety and security measures to
its employees to handle the technical issues in the organisation (Watson, 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, WSA is facing strong issues related to shortage of talent and retaining
employees in the organisation for long time of period. Apart from this, attracting new bunch
of talent towards the aviation industry is also a great challenge for the company. However,
the rapid change in technology and requirement of advanced technological skills force WSA
to think about its recruitment and selection plan. However, if WSA focus on its recruitment
advertising and promote recruitment campaigns for the section and recruitment of people in
the company, it can achieve its target to hire 28000 people by 2031. Apart from this, tie-up
with educational facilities can also help the company to get the fresh talent at low cost and at
the right time. It will also help the company to recruit new skilled and potential employees in
the organisation who are expert in new technical skills and knowledge.

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References
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Breaugh, J. A. (2008). Employee recruitment: Current knowledge and important areas for
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Watson, I. (2016). Employment at WSA. Retrieved from:
http://www.nobca.org.au/documents/WatsonEmploymentWSA20170724.pdf
Western Sydney Airport (WSA) (2018). Western Sydney Airport’s Annual Report 2018.
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