HRMT20024 Essay: Key Challenges in Attracting & Retaining Staff

This essay examines the critical role of attracting and retaining talented staff in enhancing company performance, particularly within the mining sector. It identifies key challenges faced by HR departments, including limited career development opportunities, negative working environments, remote job locations, lack of employee recognition, and workplace conflicts. Drawing upon literature and theories like Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Adams' Equity theory, the essay highlights how these factors contribute to employee dissatisfaction and high attrition rates. The essay concludes by recommending strategies such as creating a healthy workplace environment, improving safety policies, offering better work-life balance, and implementing effective reward systems to improve employee retention and attract new talent in the mining industry.

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Human Resource Management

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The competition between corporations in all industries has increased at a global
stage. Organisations focus on generating a competitive advantage in the market to
effectively tackle the issue of growing competition. There are various factors which provide
a competitive advantage to corporations such as effective leadership, cost management,
efficient supply chain management, and others. Attraction and retention of talented staff
members also enable companies in ensuring that they gain a competitive advantage over
their competitors (Sokro, 2012). In the case of the mining sector, a high attrition rate
resulted in adversely affecting the performance and profitability of companies. There is
direct connection between attraction and retention of staff members and productivity of
the company. However, there are various challenges faced by the human resource
management department of mining companies while attracting and retaining talented staff
members (Syed & Kramar, 2017). This essay will evaluate the role of attraction and retention
of staff members in promoting the performance of a company. A wide range of literatures
will be analysed in this essay in order to provide evidence on this topic. The purpose of this
essay will is to identify the key challenges faced by the HR department in mining companies
while attracting and retaining a workplace. Lastly, recommendations will be given for mining
corporations to address this issue which will help them in improving their productivity and
performance.
The performance of a company is directly linked with the performance of its
employees. In case an enterprise is not able to hire and retain talented staff members in the
company, then it becomes difficult for it to achieve its targets. A company cannot operate
efficiently without a workforce which is dedicated to achieve its common objectives. In the
case of mining sector, the reliance of organisations on the performance of employees is high
which makes it relevant for them to ensure that they hire right people at the right posts
(Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012). The number of workers in the mining companies is high and
the corporations rely on the skills and knowledge of their employees in order to achieve
their objectives. The top and middle-level management cannot handle the operations of the
company effectively if they did not have support from the lower level employees. Moreover,
only hiring and retention of employees is not necessary for the mining companies. They
have to ensure that they hire employees who possess appropriate skills and knowledge
which are required to perform the job. The tasks in mining sector required a certain level of

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skills in employees to ensure that they discharge their duties efficiently and effectively
(Becker & Soosay, 2013). Moreover, these skills and knowledge improve through time;
therefore, the demand for talented employees in this sector is considerably high.
Organisations pay high salary options to experience employees working in other
companies which make it difficult for them to retain them for a longer period. As the
technological advancements continue to disrupt the mining sector, the importance of
attraction and retention of staff members increase among companies (McDonald & Young,
2012). Organisations try to find those individuals who have knowledge and skills to
effectively use tools and technologies which are crucial to efficiently perform the tasks in
the company. The competition is fierce between mining corporations, especially in the case
of Australia, with major domestic and international players operating in the industry such as
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Exxon Mobil, and others. Therefore, generating a
competitive advantage is crucial for these companies to ensure that they stay relevant in
the ever-changing industry which creates new threats and challenges for them. In this
context, implementation of policies to attract and retain a workforce which is highly
talented and skills is significant for companies. However, while implementing these policies,
the companies face many challenges which make it difficult for them to attract and retain a
strong workforce which is sustained to achieve common organisations goals (Vojnovic,
Michelson, Jackson & Bahn, 2014). There are key drivers which will shape the future of work
in the mining sector which include technology shift, generation shift, and career shift. Based
on these elements, the challenges for corporations have increased, and they are expected
to address them in order to sustain their growth in the market.
One of the key challenges faced by the HR department in the mining sector is lack of
career development opportunities offered to the employees which makes it difficult for
them to attract employees. A survey conducted by Seek regarding the Law of Attraction in
2012 which was conducted on the Mining, Resources and Energy industries provided that
lack of career development opportunities is a major reason due to which people did not
prefer to work in these sectors (Employment Office, 2013). Many times, the employees
working in mines feel that they are ‘just another number’ in a larger scale employer. They
knew that they will have to continue to work in the mines for a long period of time at a
minimum wage. There is also a threat of safety of worker who works in these mines. They

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knew that they will not likely to become a part of the middle or top level management of
the company. The mining companies are also unable to offer better career growth
opportunities for their employees which make it difficult for the HR department to attract
new employees (Syed & Kramar, 2017). This is especially the case of smaller companies
which did not have resources to ensure that they are able to offer better career growth
opportunities to their employees (Mayes & Pini, 2014). These factors resulted in
demotivating the current employees in the company. The hierarchy of needs theory
provided by Abraham Maslow can be used in order to understand this issue.
This theory categorised the psychological needs of employees into five categorised
which include physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-
actualisation needs. As per this theory, an employee cannot become motivated by upper
needs if the basic needs are not fulfilled. For example, if the psychological needs of
employees are not fulfilled, then the employees cannot be motivated through social or
esteem needs (Cao et al., 2013). Similarly, after fulfilment of basic needs of an employee,
same needs cannot be used in order to motivate the employee again. For example, after
fulfilment of safety and psychological needs, the employees cannot be motived by them.
Similarly, in the case of the mining sector, the employees become demotivated after
fulfilment of their psychological and safety needs after which their productivity reduces, and
they are not able to motivate through similar needs. Therefore, the HR department finds it
difficult to ensure that they attract talented employees in the company. In case they are
able to hire qualified employees, then they find it difficult to retain them in the company
due to lack of availability of career development opportunities (Syed & Kramar, 2017).
Another issue with the mining industry is that it has a reputation for providing negative
working environment to employees. Most companies are not able to offer appropriate
health policies to their employees to ensure that they remain safe during the work (Franks,
2012). For example, in Australia 58 people died in mining sector in 2018 due to lack of safety
policies implemented by the corporations till August and this number is expected to grow
further (Dludla, 2018).
The job location is another major challenge faced by the HR department in mining
companies as well. The mines in which these workers have to work are situated in remote
areas and employees often have to stay there for long period of times. Rarely mines are

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located near a large city based on which employees have to leave their family and work for
months without seeing them (Kuranchie-Mensah & Amponsah-Tawiah, 2016). Therefore, a
combination of job location and lack of Workplace Health and Safety policies resulted in
increasing challenges for mine workers. These factors also create challenges for the HR
department of mining companies since they find it difficult to attract new employees in the
company. They also find it difficult to retain the current employees in the workplace since
they get frustrated with long working hours and working schedules. The middle and top-
level management in mining companies did not directly engage with the lower level
employees who working in mines (Amelia & Nasution, 2016). They rarely receive
information regarding workers who perform exceptionally better and exceed expectations.
Since the workers did not receive recognition and rewards as per their performance, other
than their basic pay, they become demotivated. As per Adams’ Equity theory, if the
employees did not receive outcomes or results as per their inputs, then they are
discouraged.
They did not feel like a key part of the company, and they did not feel any
connection with the top level management of the company. Therefore, the employees are
not loyal towards the company or its management based on which it is easier for them to
switch the company in which they work. As soon as they find a better job opportunity, they
quickly leave their current job and get the new job. The HR department also fails to give
rewards to the employee as per their performance based on which the employees are not
encouraged to improve their performance (Jauhari & Singh, 2013). Since better
performance of employees is not rewarded by the management, the employees are less
likely to work at their highest capacities. Conflict is another major problem which is faced by
mining companies which leads to increasing attrition rate of employees. Workers usually
work in harsh conditions without receiving appropriate facilities which lead to conflicts with
the management and between employees. This is a major factor which leads to strikes of
workers which resulted in stopping the work of mining companies and it costs them
millions. A hostile working environment also increases absenteeism of employees which
reduces the productivity of the company (Vidal-Salazar, Cordon-Pozo & Torre-Ruiz, 2016).
The organisational behaviour of the company suffers negatively due to the high conflicts
which create a negative working environment. All these factors contribute to decreasing the

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performance of employees in mining companies, and they are more likely to leave the
company. It makes it difficult for HR management to ensure that they attract and retain staff
members who contribute to the success of the organisation.
In order to address these challenges, there are various actions which can be taken by
the HR management of the mining companies which will result in increasing the retention
rate of employees. Mining companies should focus on creating a healthy workplace
environment in order to ensure that they attract talented employee and retain them for a
longer period of time. A healthy environment can be established by providing a supportive
environment where employees are encouraged to share their issues with the management,
and they actively take actions to resolve their queries (Sokro, 2012). The companies should
provide Workplace Health and Safety facilities for employees to ensure that their basic
health-related needs are fulfilled. They should receive a healthy workplace environment in
which they should not work in hazardous environment which will reduce the number of
deaths in mining sector of Australia. The employees should also receive facilities such as
mobile phones with long coverage options to ensure that they are able to speak with their
family and friends while working in remote areas (Syed & Kramar, 2017). They should
receive appropriate time to spend with their family and friends which include company paid
holidays as well. These facilities will build a strong relationship between employees and new
candidates will be encouraged to work in the company as well (Schlechter, Hung & Bussin,
2014). This will increase attraction of new and talented employees in the company and
current employees will remain for a longer period of time-based on the facilities provided by
the company. It will create a positive image of the company in the market which will help
the HR department to leverage while attracting talented candidates in the organisation.
The corporations should also focus on look for career growth opportunities for
employees in order to ensure that they stay in the company for a longer period of time.
Employees should be promoted in the company based on seniority and performance. The
company should not only create posts just for the sake of keeping employees in the
company. Instead, posts should be linked with the operations of the company and the
employees must have option to get promoted to middle level and even top-level
management of the company (Ashiedu & Scott-Ladd, 2012). The promoted employees
should have authority and responsibility in the company, and they should have direct

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connection with the middle and top-level management. This will show mine workers that
there are growths opportunities in the companies if they retain themselves and perform
effectively. This will result in reducing the attrition rate of employees in the corporation. The
management should establish rewards and recognition facilities in the company. Employees
who perform better and exceed expectations should receive incentives for the work which
they did after completing their set target (Syed & Kramar, 2017). The middle and top-level
management should monitor and engage with employees while monitoring their
performance. They should also recognise and appreciate those employees who perform
better than others to set an example. It will encourage top performance to sustain their
performance and it will also encourage other employees to improve their performance
(Brown, Susomrith, Sitlington & Scott, 2014). Both monetary and non-monetary rewards will
result in motivating employees which will assist the company in retaining them for a longer
period of time.
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that retention of talented
employees is a major requirement in the mining companies which resulted in influencing
the performance of the company. The HR department of the corporations faces many
challenges while attracting and retaining employees in the company. These challenges are
caused due to lack of career development opportunities in the industry. The job location is
another important factor due to which most employees are discouraged to work in a
particular organisation. There are high rate of deaths and employees are not able to create
a balance between their work and personal life. These factors make it difficult for mining
companies to attract and retain talented employees which adversely affect their
performance as well. In order to address these issues, various recommendations are given in
this essay. The companies should focus on providing a healthy workplace environment for
employees to ensure that they are able to create a balance between their work and
personal life and reduce the number of deaths. They should receive appropriate health
facilities and career development opportunities to ensure that they remain in the company
for a long period of time. The top-level management should provide rewards and
recognition facilities to employees which will reduce their attrition rate. All these factors will
result in sustaining the growth of mining companies by ensuring that they are able to attract
and retain talented employees in the company.

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