Sainsbury's: HRM Challenges, Policies, and People Management Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of people management challenges faced by Sainsbury's, a major UK supermarket chain. It begins with an introduction to the role of the HR department in managing people and evaluating business results, emphasizing the importance of strategic HRM for market share growth and customer base expansion. The report then delves into the background of Sainsbury's, outlining its history and market position. The main body of the report explores key HRM challenges, including attracting top talent, embracing change, fostering continuous learning, managing diversity, ensuring health and safety, and creating a positive employee experience. It also discusses the need for robust and progressive HRM policies in contemporary organizations. The report offers recommendations and concludes by summarizing the key findings and insights related to effective people management strategies within the context of Sainsbury's. The report focuses on employee turnover, absenteeism, and the importance of motivation and engagement to enhance employee performance and business success.

Managing People

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Background of company..............................................................................................................3
Challenges face by company regarding human relations............................................................4
Why contemporary organization need robust and progressive HRM policies............................7
Recommendations......................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
HR department please an important role in order to manage people and evaluate the business
results. In this context the strategic HR department and administration is accountable for the
enhancement of market share within the market and also leads to increase the customer base that
drive the product with the help of innovation in order to increase the sales. Moreover it is also
helpful for company to achieve their desired outcomes. Despite from this management can
become easy if within an organisation everyone is hard working collaborative and talented. In
this context managing the people is the unique craft that will leads to continue the development
and redefine the entire working life (Shaw, 2017). Managing people is only for those that are
goal oriented and passionate towards their success. Besides from this a leader is the one who is
passionate about three major things including people customers and its businesses products and
services. Furthermore why managing people within the organisation the leaders and managers
need to keep their emotions in control as managing people is an activity that is reserved for those
who are emotionally stable. Along with this the best leaders need to remain calm in all situations
whereas the managers allowed their emotions to control their behaviour.
To carry forward this report Sainsbury is considered which is the second largest
Supermarket chain in UK and founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury. Despite from this
company became the largest retailer of groceries in 1922. The report is going to cover the
various challenges that are faced by the company in terms of their human resources and the
challenges include employee’s turnover and absenteeism. As somehow the employer’s of
Sainsbury’s does not lead to motivate their employees to perform best within the organisation
that leads to demoralize them and impact their overall performance. Therefore the low
performance of employees becomes biggest barrier within the success and growth of company.
Along with this it is also describe that why contemporary organisation need robust and
progressive HRM policies.
MAIN BODY
Background of company
J Sainsbury PLC is the second largest chain of supermarket within UK and headquarters in
London. Moreover the Sainsbury’s is classified into three major divisions considering
Sainsbury’s Supermarket Limited, Sainsbury’s bank and Sainsbury’s Argos. In 1995 Tesco

overtook Sainsbury’s in terms of becoming the market leader and after that it became the second
largest in 2003. By January 2014 Sainsbury’s regained its second place in terms of Supermarket
chain and also awaiting to merge with Asda. In April 2018 Asda and Sainsbury’s tries to merge
but in April 2019 the competition and market authority announced that they would not allowed
the Merger because of increase in the price for customers.
Challenges face by company regarding human relations
The Rapid changes in the business environment mean that there are various human
resource management challenges that will continue to evolve for many years. In this context the
challenges can be reduced by focusing on training and development and engagement programs
and also investing in the areas that will optimize development of employees including interior
Technology system and improvement in the candidate’s attraction (Seah and et. al., 2017). It
defines that HR department prepare to increase their resources and employees for the
organization regarding their growth and development. In this context the digital age become
more Complex and human resource management by bringing transparency in the social media.
All of the sudden changes make human resource work quite difficult which means identification
and overcoming the human resource challenges on time by putting effort and money to boost
their employees. In this context various HRM challenges that is faced by the company are
mentioned as under:
Attracting top talent: attracting and retaining the suitable talent within an organisation is
becomes a biggest challenge for the HR manager. As talent acquire more flexibility and healthy
working environment which some companies does not easy provide to their employees that leads
to develop employee turnover within the company. In relation with Sainsbury’s to attract the
suitable individuals company need to know the basic requirements of the position. Moreover
they also need to consider the job roles and Expectations that are dynamic and involve the
culture of organisation by adapting suitable changes as it is the difficult task for the HR manager
(Gallo and Mihalcová, 2016). In that case Sainsbury’s need to start finding the market vacancies
with the help of using various online platforms that can be frequently target the talent depending
on the grounds of skills knowledge experience industry and job level. In this context attracting
the suitable candidate leads to get out less work within the screening stage. In this context
organisation need to create a suitable team of their employees which is useful in achieving the

probable goals and objectives of the company with the help of training and development program
as it can transform the knowledge and skills of employees.
Embracing change with grace and ease: changes considered as the most influencing
factor within the environment that leads to impact the customers, organization, employees and
competitors. It leads to impact the structural technological and managers section of the company
as well. It is considered as the unknown fear and uncertainty that leads to develop stress and
anxiety among the employees because there are some employees who do not want change within
their working style. It becomes largest Responsibility in order to adapt employees regarding the
change and also considered as the most recurring challenge that is faced by HR professionals
(Saleem, 2017). Therefore for the human resource team of Sainsbury’s it becomes the biggest
ask for them to not only manage employees but also boost their moral and motivate them to
adopt the changes by cooperating them and continuously up skilling employees to meet the
prominent changes of the business environment. Despite from this Sainsbury’s can also adopt
Lewin’s change model in order to implement changes within their organization which does not
impact the nature and behavior of employees and also co-ordinate with them to adopt prominent
changes within an organization. Moreover with the help of the support of employers of
Sainsbury’s the employees try to adopt changes within the company which is the loan that the
changes are for their growth and development.
Fostering the culture of continuous learning: It is becomes the biggest challenge in
front of HR manager as employees leave their job because of the lack of development and
opportunities within the organization. It describe that employees leave their job when they
realize that at the place where they are working does not worthy for them and does not provide
hike in their career (Morris, 2017). In that case enhancement expansion and training is the key
factor by which company can retain their employees. In terms of Sainsbury’s training is the
golden card for the company in order to keep their employees engaged and loyal with them.
Despite from this, organization needs to fulfill the basic requirement of the employees that leads
to motivate and encourage employees to retain them within the organization. For instance, if
employees feel that they have safe and secure job and it is beneficial for their career than deletes
to retain within the organization for the longer period of time.
Managing diversity: in that case company need to manage its diversification and
globalization because it leads to impact the behavior and functioning of business. In that case

customer reaches regarding the expansion beyond their offices in order to find the talent across
the borders. Therefore it describes that increment in sales and diversity of the experience of
employees leads to generate innovative and creative ideas among them that are beneficial for the
company (Prasad, Singh and Ryan, 2016). In that case if employees provide innovative ideas
suggestions and obedience by their own that it becomes the duty of the employers of Sainsbury’s
to provide reward and recognize them in front of public as it leads to increase the moral of
employees that is beneficial for the growth and development of employees. In terms of this
human resource managers need to manage the diversify culture within the local team by
promoting the local policies and procedure as it leads to create the suitable environment for the
workplace and make employees more comfortable to work within the company. Therefore the
managers of Sainsbury’s need to develop cultural awareness program that are helpful for the
employees to analyze their benefits regarding a diversity considering the better ideas and
innovation which is helpful in the wider customer reach.
Looking after health and safety: health and safety of employees is the biggest challenge
that are faced by HR managers and in that case they need to develop various policies and adopt
legal laws and legislations that are helpful for the company to retain Their employees. Not only
label log oven this concern but also good regarding the importance of employees well being.
Moreover the health of employees within the workplace is the biggest factor that is useful in
order to retain employees within the organization (Lidskog, 2016). In terms of this Sainsbury’s
need to implement health and safety measures and act within the organization and also provide
safe working environment to the Employees that is helpful for the workforce. In this context it
leads to generate security with the mind of employees regarding their job as they start thinking
that their job is safe and secure for them as there managers take care of their health. Despite from
this Sainsbury’s also provide Health Insurance to their customers that protect them for any
critical illness and leads to secure them.
Creating quality employee experience: within the highest of turnover in the fast paced
environment it is tough for HR manager to manage and hire the best employees that leads to
create suitable experience for their employees and provide satisfaction to them. Despite from this
it can become the biggest barrier for the growth and development of company as there are many
employees who get fail to provide satisfaction to their employees and reason behind this is that
even they are not satisfied with their job (Hartley, 2019). In terms of this, Sainsbury’s lead to

provide suitable job satisfaction to the Employees by fulfilling their needs and requirements that
is beneficial for the company as well and the growth of employees.
Why contemporary organization need robust and progressive HRM policies
In today's business environment, it has been analysed that managing people is not
considered as an easy task because it requires a company to develop different range of policies so
that employees stays motivated and get the equal opportunities. These policies, which has been
developed by organisations specifically helps subordinates to show their talents towards a
particular task and also it effectively lead them to gain ample number of opportunities like
getting promotion and so on. The dynamic human asset strategies prompts rouse the
representatives as under this subordinates get equivalent chances to speak to their ability as they
feel self propel at the working environment and furthermore demonstrate themselves to be
profoundly profitable for the organization. In the interim hearty human asset approaches tend to
working and execution of representatives in negative manner as it persuades them that sway their
presentation (Wehrmeyer, 2017). In the same way, Sainsbury’s which is one of the famous
supermarket in United Kingdom is also looking forward to improve the motivation level of the
staff members and to recruit the number of skilled employees so that innovation can easily be
brought within the company in much effective and efficient manner. In regards to this, company
has specifically taken into consideration of an effective HRM strategy which will be linked with
recruitment and selection process in order to gain the profitable outcomes.
HR Planning:
Over the years, every single business organisation is looking forward to develop an
effective human resource management strategy so that it can effectively recruit skilled
employees considering their vision, mission, and desired objective that are required for the
company to attain in order to gain competitive advantages. Specifically, HR planning helps the
HR manager to consider all the aspects and the requirements of the employees and develop the
effective strategy so that they can stay motivated while working on a particular task. Since,
company that is injuries, was facing different range of issues like high employee turnover ratio
and many more other problems, HR planning is required to be e connected with the HRM
strategy because then only all these issues faced by the company can easily be resolved in much
effective and efficient manner (Bader, Schuster and Dickmann, 2019). In order to develop an
effective HRM strategy, it has been analysed that HR planning helps in focusing upon different

aspects like requirements like need of Sainsbury’s and of employees along with the desired
goals. This could be understood with good example where, Sainsbury’s is looking forward to
improve the employee engagement by 15 percent with the next 3 months and in order to do so,
HR planning will help them in looking at the different aspects like cost, training programs, and
many more others elements that may lead company to motivate staff so that they can work with
each other without any sort of conflicts. In order to do so, it will be required by buy silver is to
follow different steps of HR planning and these are given underneath:
Assessing the current HR capacity: This is considered to be the primal stage, where HR
manager of sceneries will look among current HR capacity through analyzing different elements
like existing skills that employees of the company are having along with the different conflicts
which are faced by them while working at the workstation. Just because, company was
specifically facing problems like high turnover ratio of the employees therefore it will be
required by company to improve its compensation policy, training policy and many more other
policies as well in order to benefit the staff so that they can sustain for a longer period of time
(Swenson, 2016). This will not only help the company to make modifications among different
policies but it will also lead staff to get motivated because company is thinking about them so
that they can get the maximum benefits out of their work that they are doing for Sainsbury’s.
Forecasting HR requirements: Another step, which will be required by Sainsbury’s to
take that will not only help company to look among current situation of the employees but it will
also help HR manager to take right decisions so that Sainsbury’s do not face the same problem in
near future. Forecasting the human asset thought about estimation of both interest and
gracefulness (Renz, 2016). Along with this, it has been analyzed that this factor incorporates the
determining about the prerequisite of staff aptitudes and investigation of outer condition with
sway the HR necessities.
Gap analysis: This type of analysis specifically focuses upon the current position and the
desired position which is required by a company to get in order to attain the desired goal. In
present context, it will be required by HR Manager of Sainsbury’s focus among different aspects
like filling the vacant seats and recruiting the employees that consists of same skills which are
acquired by the company in order to achieve the desired objectives (Ferrari and et. al., 2018).
Since, the company is dealing with high turnover ratio of the employees therefore it will be
required by HR manager to not only focus among the recruitment policy but it will also be

necessary for him or her to make alterations among compensation and leave policy so that staff
can stay motivated.
Developing HR strategies to support organizational goals: This is another crucial
element which depicts the improvement of HR methodologies so as to help the strategies that has
been developed by HR Manager of Sainsbury’s which meets the necessities of organization for
the future reason. From the thought of HR division and HRM procedures it incorporate all those
techniques that are helpful for organization and improvement of representatives also that are
rebuilding systems, preparing and advancement, enlistment, Outsourcing and coordinated effort
methodologies.
Recruitment and selection:
Recruitment and selection process helps a company to recruit an employee who is filling
all the requirements of the company in relation to qualifications, experience, skills and many
other aspects (Gagnon and et. al., 2017). HR manager stays responsible to recruit right candidate
for the correct job. Therefore, it will be required by HR manager of Sainsbury’s to take right
decisions in order to select the correct person for a particular job. This is where, it will be
required by HR manager to follow different steps of recruitment and selection process
considering the HRM strategy which has been developed by Sainsbury’s to improve the
engagement of staff by 15% within 3 months. In relation to this, there are some specific links
that can be seen within the recruitment selection and HRM strategy are given are presented
underneath:
Identifying requirements: This is the crucial element within recruitment and selection
process as it stays directly linked with the HRM strategy. For the company, Sainsbury’s it will be
required by HR manager to look among different aspects like need of the company like different
skills and then select a candidate who is specifically fitting the job.
Recruitment activities: In connection with this the HR administrator of organization put
accentuation on selecting exercises as their point is to pull in right contender for the activity as it
incorporates their interior endeavours considering grounds enrolment paper promotion and
different sites (Bollig and et. al., 2017). For instance, on the off chance that Sainsbury’s use
grounds enlistment, at that point their likely opportunities to get new and new ability inside the
association.

Selection process: This area portray that the HR Manager of Sainsbury’s decide the
plausible abilities, information and characteristics of contender to play out the particular
employment position (Chakraborty and Upadhyay, 2018). In connection with this it is the
another procedure incorporate bent test and meeting to dissect the character and information on
contender to proceed with their experience and ensure that representative meets the essential
capabilities for the position and for Sainsbury’s also.
Recommendations
By considering the above information it is recommended to the HR managers of Sainsbury’s
that the need to refocus and provide attention to the Employees regarding the requirements and
also worked on the common challenges which they face for the smooth running of the
organization. In that case if company faces various challenges within their organization then it’s
the suitable time for them to develop suitable policies and strategies in order to retain Their
employees and also reduce employee turnover from the company. In that case the managers of
Sainsbury’s need to conduct time to time training and development program that leads to develop
confidence among them to perform their job role and also leads to develop motivation among
them. Company need to provide probable rewards and fulfill the requirements of employees that
is beneficial for them to retain best talent with the company. Despite from this company need to
provide suitable health and safety measures to their employees that is beneficial for them to
retain them. Along with this if company face continues turnover employees that we need to use
emotional intelligence and feelings to retain their employees as emotion is considered as the best
technique to persuade others.
CONCLUSION
Therefore from the preceding information it is analyzed that managing people within an
organization is the biggest issue that is faced by many organization. In this context organization
face various challenges in order to retain their employees and adopt various progressive
strategies that are useful for the company including HR planning recruitment and selection that is
beneficial for the company to retain their employees. Despite from this the concerning strategies
has prominent procedure that must be followed by the company in order to retain their
employees and leads to develop the reputation within the dynamic environment. Considering the

probable challenges that are faced by the company in their current situation suitable
recommendations and opinions are provided to them in order to overcome the challenges.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bader, B., Schuster, T. and Dickmann, M., 2019. Managing people in hostile environments:
lessons learned and new grounds in HR research.
Bollig, C and et. al., 2017. Deferasirox for managing iron overload in people with
thalassaemia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. (8).
Chakraborty, T. and Upadhyay, P., 2018. Managing self towards managing people: role of
perceived emotional competencies in healthcare organisations. International Journal of
Work Organisation and Emotion. 9(1). pp.4-20.
Ferrari, P and et. al., 2018. Managing people with diabetes during the cancer palliation in the era
of simultaneous care. Diabetes research and clinical practice. 143. pp.443-453.
Gagnon, A and et. al., 2017. Pharmacists Managing People with Diabetes in Primary Care: 10
Years of Experience at the Hamilton Family Health Team. Canadian journal of
diabetes. 41(6). p.576.
Gallo, P. and Mihalcová, B., 2016. Models of Evaluation of Managing People in
Companies. Calitatea. 17(155). p.116.
Hartley, S.E., 2019. Re-imagining the role of the physiotherapist when managing people with
long-term conditions. Physiotherapy theory and practice. 35(11). pp.1005-1014.
Lidskog, R., 2016. Public at risk—public as risk: regulating nature by managing people. Society
& natural resources. 29(3). pp.284-298.
Morris, M., 2017. Managing people and projects in museums: Strategies that work. Rowman &
Littlefield.
Prasad, K., Singh, M.B. and Ryan, H., 2016. Corticosteroids for managing tuberculous
meningitis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. (4).
Renz, D.O., 2016. The Jossey-Bass handbook of nonprofit leadership and management. John
Wiley & Sons.
Saleem, K., 2017. Method and system for managing people by detection and tracking. U.S.
Patent 9,801,024.
Seah, X.Y and et. al., 2017. Knowledge, attitudes and challenges of healthcare professionals
managing people with eating disorders: a literature review. Archives of psychiatric
nursing. 31(1). pp.125-136.
Shaw, D., 2017. Managing people and learning in organisational change projects. Journal of
Organizational Change Management.
Swenson, E., 2016. The Five A's of Great Employees: Breakthrough Strategies for Hiring and
Managing People. Wheatmark, Inc..
Wehrmeyer, W. ed., 2017. Greening people: Human resources and environmental management.
Routledge.