Employee Wellbeing: Comparative Analysis of Tesco and Google

This essay delves into the critical role of employee wellbeing in fostering business success and effective human resource management. It defines employee wellbeing as encompassing happiness, health, and prosperity, highlighting its influence on productivity and competitive advantage. The essay examines the initiatives of two prominent companies, Tesco and Google, in promoting employee wellbeing. It explores the characteristics of employee wellbeing, including safety, equality, rewards, and communication, and discusses the challenges associated with its implementation, such as financial investment. Tesco's initiatives, such as colleague briefing sessions, event celebrations, and reward programs, are analyzed. Similarly, the essay examines Google's approach to employee wellbeing. The comparative analysis highlights the strategies employed by each company to create a positive and productive work environment, ultimately demonstrating the importance of employee wellbeing as a key component of business strategy and a source of competitive advantage. The essay concludes by emphasizing the value of a satisfied workforce, which is rare, organized, and inimitable, leading to reduced employee turnover and increased customer satisfaction.

Managing Human
Resources

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Employee Wellbeing...................................................................................................................1
TESCO’s attempt at Employee Wellbeing initiatives.................................................................3
Google’s attempt at Employee Wellbeing initiatives..................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The present essay will clearly define that how employee wellbeing supports company in
executing their business activities effectively and growing their business in right directions. In
this essay, initiative taken by two renowned companies towards employee’s wellbeing will be
explained in detailed manner. Human resource department in every company plays essential role
in its growth of the organisation as it is responsible for managing workforce at workplace. It is
highly essential for HR manager to ensure that their workforce is satisfied within the company as
they are determined as the essential asset of company which helps them out in attaining their
respective goal in the predetermined time frame. Employees’ wellbeing is seen as the influential
approach through which is helpful in managing human resources effectively (Panari and Artioli,
et. al., 2016). It also supports companies in gaining competitive edge. In this project two well
known companies like TESCO and GOOGLE are taken into consideration. TESCO is well
known UK based supermarket which offers its products and services in many countries.
Whereas, Google is technological based American largescale company which offers internet
associated products and services to its customers worldwide. Both the companies are operating
their business at international scale which is being managed by huge workforce. Well-being is
referred to an experience of happiness, health and prosperity. Having a good mental health, a
sense of purpose, high satisfaction from life and ability to manage stress is included in it.
Commonly well-being means just feeling well.
Employee well being is considered as the effective initiative taken by the companies
towards their employees in order to provide them healthy working environment. This initiative
not only provides suitable working environment to employees but it also focuses on ensuring that
each and every employee working at workplace remains satisfied and happy. The main focus of
business organisations is on providing comfortable environment to employees where they can
effectively perform their business activities and live their life at workplace without any sort of
trouble (García-Carbonell, Martín-Alcázar and Sanchez-Gardey, 2018). Here, the main focus of
managers in providing mental as well as physical peaceful environment which in returns work as
the positive factor for the company as well as employees. Apart from this, it can also be said that
employee well being is associated with employees working environment which is effectively
aligned with safety of employees along with their satisfied working life within the company.
1

In addition to this, it has been analysed that business organisation now a days are facing
major issues related to managing effective balance between employees working as well as
personal life. This is so because; businesses are expecting additional efforts from employees’
side with the motive of attaining their organisational goals and objectives in quicker manner.
This ultimately develops pressure on employees which hampers their personal life too. The
excessive level of the pressure is directly impacting motivation level of employees as they not
getting any kind of encouragement at workplace which affecting their capability of performing
the same task. As a result, these non satisfied employees are not able to accomplish their goals.
Due to excessive pressure of work on employees increase in company’s employee turnover rate
can be seen as employees want to quit their job and retention rate of employees decreases. They
also take this step because there is no balance between their personal and professional lives. This
directly affects a business negatively because due to this the objectives and aims predetermined
in strategies of company could not be achieved in time.
Nature of employee well being is explored as the combination of characteristics that
provides support to the company that whether they are taking required initiatives towards
employees well being or not in the form of investment. Some of the common characteristics of
employee wellbeing include safety and security, equality, rewards and recognition, adequate
communication among employees etc.
The first and foremost characteristic of employees’ wellbeing is safety and security at
workplace (Masri, 2016). This can be said that if any organisation is concerned towards
providing safe and secure working environment to employees then they are directly taking self
initiative towards employee well being at workplace. This safety and security includes
providence of insurance, job security, health associated to employees at workplace. At next,
equality is considered as another influential characteristic of employee well being. This simply
means that business managers of the company are providing equivalent job opportunities to all
employees, none of the discrimination associated practices are performed in the company in
terms of gender, racial, religion, nationality and others (Holeček, Stoklasa and Talašová, 2016).
Along with this, rewards and recognitions are termed as another effective characteristic
which depicts that business organisation is concerned with the employees well being and focuses
on influencing their interest towards company by providing them additional benefits according to
their performance. Here, it can be said that if an organisation focuses on providing monetary
2

benefits to employees’ on the basis of their performance in terms of rewards then they are highly
concerned with the employee well being. On the other hand, recognition can be effectively
practiced by business managers by providing promotions to the employees’ as per their skills and
capabilities. Compliance with this helps company in retaining its workforce within the company
for longer period of time. Adequate communication channel within the company is also
acknowledged as another form of employees well being within the organisation. This simply
means that if employees are getting comfortable environment and they are able to communicate
with their superiors or employees then it is easier for them to execute their job responsibility in
rightful manner (Gabriel and et. al., 2016). This also allows employees to share their views,
perception and ideas to the superiors that contribute in bringing innovations as well as well being
within the firm in appropriate manner. As a result, they are able to accomplish businesses in right
manner.
From this it can be said that employees well being is determined as the continuous process
which means that every company must continue this activity for maintaining interest of
employees towards their organisational goals and objectives. This also depicts that employee
well-being has wider scope as it works as the supportive factor for the company that enhances
their productivity and contributes in quicker attainment of organisational goals and objectives
quickly. Employee well-being is an important part of business strategy as employees are key
resources who work towards goals of the organisation. It also results in higher skilled employee
retention within firm. Along with the range of benefits employee well being also contains
limitations too which directly creates barrier for the company and also hampers their
performance in negative manner. It has been analysed that employee well being is quite
expensive process which means that businesses are required to invest huge amount in these
initiatives at regular basis which directly keeps company away from investing amount in right
zone (Mayo, 2016). In order to overcome this issue, it is highly important for businesses
managers to develop effective budget associated with the employee well being which will
provide them guidance about the parameter till which they must take initiative for satisfying
employees effectively.
TESCO Plc was incorporated in the year 1919 and is headquartered at Hackney, London,
England, and UK. Products and services of this company are offered to its customers worldwide
3

which simply means that it has huge workforce who places higher efforts to complete
organisational goals in provided time frame (Harolds and et.al. 2016). Irrespective with the fact
that company is wishing to attain its own objectives its top management team is also focusing on
taking several initiatives towards employee well being for maintaining interest of employees
towards the work and enhance their productivity as well as profitability effectively. It has been
analysed that this company is not following single initiative towards the employee well being it
believes in making use of several perks in order to provide best possible environment to
employees which helps them out in attaining success quickly without facing any error towards it.
The first and foremost attempt taken by this company that is colleagues briefing session. In
this session’s leader communicates with the employees regarding to the organisational goals,
proposed plan or any other initiative towards the company (Oke, 2016). The main reason behind
this session is that company believes employees must be very first person who must get
information associated to the organisation and they must also provide chance to express their
views towards the same through questions and answers round. Apart from this, the management
of celebrates events like World Environment day, International Women day, foundation day,
children’s day etc. at work place in the form of small initiative towards employee well being. In
addition to this, Reward and Recognition tool is also adopted by management team of TESCO at
workplace in order to identify best performer within the company which is further rewarded or
recognised at workplace for their outstanding performance.
Apart from this, another initiative taken by management of TESCO is Christmas benefits.
In this, additional discounts are provided to employees through company over the period of
Christmas. This directly develops positive image of the company towards their employees as
they believes that company is providing value to them as well as their money. Thus, they feel
valued at workplace (Morley, Heraty and Michailova, 2016). While looking towards the same
facility from organisational benefit perspective it can be said that if employees uses actual
products which are being sold to its customers then it enhances their understanding towards the
same products. This in return helps employees in serving their customers in more effective
manner. As a result, it improves satisfaction level of employees and influences them to make
purchase from the same in the future too. This enhances sales performance of the company as
well as its profitability in effective manner.
4

On the basis of overall specified initiatives’ taken from TESCO Plc towards employee
well being, it can be said that this organization is one among the top UK’s company which is
providing value to its employees. For this doing so, business managers of this company takes
several initiatives for making their employees satisfied and happy while working within the firm.
Along with this, it can be further said that these initiatives help TESCO Plc in improvising
its productivity as well as profitability within the industry as they are loyal workforce which is
working for them effectively from many years (Petrick, 2017). In addition to this, it also
influences employees to serve its customers in lucrative form that increases number of loyal
customers for the company which improves their business performance at marketplace and
generates higher revenue for them.
When company have satisfied workforce, who are dedicated towards there work, this will
also prove to be a competitive advantage for the firm. When taking relevance from VRIO
analysis which is an internal analysis in business in order to understand its resources it can be
seen that satisfied employees will be rare, organised as well as inimitable resource for company.
With proper training and experience it becomes difficult for competitors to influence workforce
of company. Also satisfied employees do not think of switching their jobs and it will help in
bringing competitive advantage to the company.
Work stress is one of the reasons behind the dampening health of employees. It places an
adverse impact over the organisation as well as workforce as a whole. To deal with the
consequences of this instance, large numbers of companies in the modern era are taking efforts to
reduce the work stress. In this regard, organisations are emphasizing over stipulation of benefits
as well as perks to individuals pertaining to the entity so that they can be easily motivated and
kept happy at the workplace. One of the renowned examples of multinational organisations
which have taken initiative in this relation is identified to be Google. The respective corporation
over the course of time has been working upon ensuring the development of a corporate culture
whereby employee motivation is given due importance (Kamoche, 2019). It is seen that working
atmosphere of Google reflects that the entity has been providing benefits such as pool table
setup, arcade machine, bowling setup, gymnasium, access to free books and many more. Further,
the workforce is provided with additional perks and other benefits. Apart from this, the entity is
also seen engaging employees in the process of strategic management. The sole motive to do is
to make them feel their importance within the premises of the company. This enhances the
5

existent level of motivation in staff and make them exceed their limits for the accomplishment of
organisational goals and objectives within due course of time.
To ensure the well being of individuals working within the premises, Google has
undertaken and executed initiatives such as area for painting and drawing, instrumental music
learning and so on (Wehrmeyer, 2017). These are done so that the employees can consider
themselves to be proactive part of the company and thus influence them to take steps through
which the current positioning of entity at market place can be elevated. The intent behind
providing employees with a cheerful and positive working atmosphere is to instil loyalty and
dedication within them towards the company. Google even takes feedbacks from employees at
regular intervals as it considers human resource to be the biggest asset for itself.
Taking into account the health and well being of individuals, Google offers healthy snack
items like Almonds as well as dried banana chips within the premises. Further, the concerned
tech organisation also labels its glass jar via nutrition label (Jacobs and et. al., 2016). The
conference rooms within the premise of the company are Broadway-themed with velvet drapes
along with a labyrinth of play areas. The workplace is always kept clean and well maintained so
as to allow the ideas to come up instantly in the minds of employees. Through this, the
corporation ensures participation of employees in important areas of the entity.
The organisation has over the course of time paid due emphasis over the health and well
being of its employees through stipulation of a number of plans, policies and initiatives. With
respect to this, it has been acknowledged that the entity extensively invests in a project in order
to improve the well-being of their employees. This provides aid in removal of all the aspects
which hinder the employees from carrying out a healthy living. To further motivate the
employees, regular training and development sessions are conducted. This helps in acquainting
the employees with knowledge regarding the company as well as the market. Training is aimed
at making the vision and mission of Google clear to its workforce.
According to the overall information expressed in the above report, it has been
acknowledged that employees plays crucial role in the growth every company as they are most
important asset of the organisation. Human resource manager is required to focus on satisfying
needs and requirement of employees so that they can sustain longer in the company and attain
success in rightful manner. It has been later analysed that business managers takes range of
6

initiatives for developing positive relationship with the employees that includes providing
flexible working hours to employees, developing positive and healthy working environment for
employees, conducting employee engagement program at workplace, organising vacation plan
for employees and many others. Furthermore, it can be said that these initiatives are taken by
companies according to their operating environments and business types. Effective employee
well being initiative helps company in enhancing employees’ productivity which ultimately
results in increase in profitability of company in rightful manner.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wehrmeyer, W., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.
Petrick, J., 2017. Total quality in managing human resources. Routledge.
Kamoche, K.N., 2019. Sociological paradigms and human resources: An African context.
Routledge.
Morley, M.J., Heraty, N. and Michailova, S., 2016. Managing human resources in Central and
Eastern Europe. Routledge.
Oke, L., 2016. Human resources management. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural
Studies (IJHCS) ISSN 2356-5926, 1(4), pp.376-387.
Mayo, A., 2016. Human resources or human capital?: Managing people as assets. Routledge.
Harolds, J.A., Parikh, J.R., Bluth, E.I., Dutton, S.C. and Recht, M.P., 2016. Burnout of
radiologists: frequency, risk factors, and remedies: a report of the ACR Commission on
Human Resources. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 13(4), pp.411-416.
Gabriel, A.S., Cheshin, A., Moran, C.M. and van Kleef, G.A., 2016. Enhancing emotional
performance and customer service through human resources practices: A systems
perspective. Human Resource Management Review, 26(1), pp.14-24.
Bluth, E.I., Bansal, S. and Bender, C.E., 2017. The 2017 ACR commission on human resources
workforce survey. Journal of the American College of Radiology, 14(12), pp.1613-
1619.
Holeček, P., Stoklasa, J. and Talašová, J., 2016. Human resources management at universities-a
fuzzy classification approach. International Journal of Mathematics in Operational
Research, 9(4), pp.502-519.
Masri, H.A., 2016. Assessing Green Human Resources Management Practices in West Bank: An
Exploratory Study(Doctoral dissertation).
García-Carbonell, N., Martín-Alcázar, F. and Sanchez-Gardey, G., 2018. Determinants of
building consistent human resources management systems. International Journal of
Manpower.
Panari, C., Levati, W., Bonini, A., Tonelli, M., Alfieri, E. and Artioli, G., 2016. The ambiguous
role of healthcare providers: a new perspective in Human Resources Management. Acta
bio-medica: Atenei Parmensis, 87, pp.49-60.
Jacobs, K., Lebel, L., Buizer, J., Addams, L., Matson, P., McCullough, E., Garden, P., Saliba, G.
and Finan, T., 2016. Linking knowledge with action in the pursuit of sustainable water-
resources management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17),
pp.4591-4596.
8