Woolworths HRM: Recruitment & Selection and Equal Opportunity Policy

This report examines Woolworths' recruitment and selection policies with a focus on implementing an equal opportunity policy. It highlights the importance of fair recruitment processes for organizational success and addresses issues like favoritism that can hinder performance. The report details the scope, relevant legislations (like the Canadian Bar Association and Equality Act), and key principles of the proposed equal opportunity policy, emphasizing selection based on skill and merit, while discouraging discrimination. A SWOT analysis identifies internal and external challenges, including employee resistance and legal considerations. The report also outlines activities, grievance procedures, and accountabilities related to the policy's implementation, as well as performance management and evaluation measures. The ultimate goal is to improve transparency, attract skilled employees, and uphold human rights within Woolworths' recruitment process. Desklib provides access to similar reports and solved assignments for students.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Recruitment and Selection
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the Company...........................................................................................................3
Purpose............................................................................................................................................3
Scope................................................................................................................................................4
Legislations......................................................................................................................................4
Policy statement...............................................................................................................................4
Details of the policy.........................................................................................................................5
Internal and external issue...........................................................................................................5
High priority issue analysis.........................................................................................................6
Policy problem.............................................................................................................................6
Activities......................................................................................................................................7
Grievance Procedures..................................................................................................................7
Process.........................................................................................................................................8
Accountabilities...........................................................................................................................9
Performance management and Evaluation measures..................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Recruitment and selection is the vital part of the human resource management. However,
the success of an organization depends on the recruitment process. If the HR recruits effective
candidate then the performance level of the organization will be high. On the other hand, if the
HRM department fails to select the effective candidate then the performance level can be
affected (Sarma 2017). In order to establish a fair recruitment process, it is important to
implement a recruitment policy. This study deals with the recruitment and selection policy in the
context of Woolworths. However, Woolworths wants to implement equal opportunity policy in
their employment process. This policy will be helpful to make the transparency in the
recruitment and selection process of the organization.
Background of the Company
Woolworths is one of the popular retail organizations of Australia. It has a large range of
grocery section. In the recent years, Woolworths has been facing issues in their employment
process due to lack of right people for the desired position (Woolworths.com.au 2018). However,
the favoritism takes place during the recruitment process, which often hampers the performance
level.
Purpose
Equal opportunity policy aims to ensure that no employee or job applicant gets less
favorable treatment during their selection process.

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Scope
This equal opportunity policy enables Woolworths to obtain skilled candidates based on
the merit. There is no chance for favoritism. However, by applying the equal opportunity policy
the HRM department is able to get talented employees based on their desired position (Rubery
2017).
Legislations
Canadian Bar Association or CBA is a regulatory process that includes a number of
amendments (Cba.org 2018). In the context of Woolworths, they want to implement equal
opportunity policy to improve their recruitment policy. CBA advocacy contains an emphasis on
dispute resolution and early intervention process to avoid litigation. Hence, by using equal
opportunity policy this organization will be able to maintain employee right during their
selection process. This policy also fulfills the CBA requirement. On the other hand, this policy
also supports the Equality Act by keeping equal opportunity in the employment process.
Policy statement
Woolworths is going to introduce a comprehensive policy of equal opportunities in the
employment process. In this process, the individuals are selected and treated based on their skill
and merit (Davey 2018). There is no discrimination or favoritism based on the religion, race,
gender, age, and disability. This policy leads the employees to afford equal opportunity within
the employment process. Another principle of this policy highlights that all employees should
co-operate with this policy to implement the equal right and to reduce the discrimination from
the recruitment and the selection process. According to the principle of this policy, the

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interviewer does not harass the interviewee on the ground of racism or belief. By applying this
policy Woolworths can take disciplinary action against the employees who breach the rules of
this policy.
This equal opportunity policy welcomes the diversity in the workplace and focuses that
all candidates are treated properly (Heitner 2018). Therefore, the selection should be based solely
on the ability and qualification of the individuals. Implementation of this policy leads the
organization to select a most suitable person for the desired position. Therefore, the employers
are committed to the principle of human right and equal opportunity. Such policy is effective to
improve the existing recruitment process in Woolworths.
Details of the policy
Internal and external issue
S-Strength
Keep the transparency in the recruitment process
Get effective employees
W-Weakness
Employee resistance
Lack of knowledge
O-Opportunity
To enhance the performance of the organization
T-Threat
Lack of support from the employees
From the above SWOT analysis, the internal issues are addressed during the
implementation of the equal opportunity policy. However, it has been received that the employee
resistance is a big internal issue of Woolworths during the implementation of such recruitment
policy. Often the employees do not accept the change as well as the implementation of the new

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policy in an organization (Gardner 2018). On the other hand, this policy will help to establish a
fair recruitment process in this organization, which ensures the strength of this policy. On the
other hand, this policy has the opportunity to improve the process of existing recruitment and
selection method in Woolworths. Moreover, lack of employee support and adequate knowledge
may affect the implementation process of this policy.
External issues refer to the political and legal issues of a country. On the other hand,
external stakeholders may create issues during the implementation of the policy. Therefore,
economic and social factors of a country affect the policy implementation (Richard 2017). In the
context of Woolworths, they are going to implement the equal opportunity policy. However,
without getting a green signal from the government this organization will not able to implement
this policy. Therefore, the legal norms need to be maintained otherwise legal obstacle can arise.
Lack of availability of the policy maker may hamper the implementation process of this policy.
Moreover, lack of support from the external stakeholders includes the clients and the external
audit agency is the big challenge that hampers the implementation process of this policy.
High priority issue analysis
Favoritism is the major issue that hampers the transparency of the recruitment process. It
has been found that in Woolworths, the employees refer to their close one during the recruitment.
Therefore, often racism takes place and sometimes a specific religion gets high priority.
However, the referred people get high priority during the recruitment. As a result, the
organization often fails to get skilled and talented employees (Barry 2017).

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Policy problem
The existing selection policy of Woolworths is not good as there is no strict rule in the
selection process as a result, favoritism and inequality takes place. It is important for an
organization to identify the strength and weakness of the policy to evaluate the effectiveness of
this policy (Prinz 2018). However, the equal opportunity policy is helpful to reduce the
inequality from the recruitment process but it may create issues between the management and the
employees as the employees are not able to refer their favorite one.
Activities
Recruitment and selection are the major two steps of the of the HRM department. In
order to maintain transparency in this process implementation of equal opportunity policy is
beneficial (Holm 2018). The selection process needs to carry out consistently for each and every
job at all levels. Therefore, the selection criteria should be mentioned properly for all positions.
Therefore, a mail needs to be sent to the candidates, which includes the company details and the
commitment of the company to give equal opportunity to the employees. However, this policy
helps Woolworths to give equal right as well as to provide similar questions during the
recruitment process. For all candidates similar skill test is applicable.
Grievance Procedures
The HRM department often faces changes during their recruitment process. Often the
hierarchies, as well as the existing employees, refer to their preferable person for the desired
position (Barry 2017). This creates a big challenge for the HRM department as they have to
select skilled candidates and to maintain the order of hierarchy. In order to deal with these
challenges, Woolworths has decided to implement equal opportunity policy. Such policy
includes some distinct principles, which resists the favoritism during the selection process. All

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employees of this organization are bounded by this policy and they have to maintain this
properly. There is strict punishment for the employees who do not comply with this policy as a
result; it becomes easier to keep transparency in the recruitment process.
Process
Figure 1: Process of the implementation of Equal opportunity policy
(Source: Author)
Implementation of the equality policy includes various steps. In the first step, the HRM of
Woolworths needs to set their objectives based on which they can implement the policy. Goal
setting is crucial to taking any action plan (Richard 2017). In the next step introduction of the
new policy is crucial as it enables the employees to gather knowledge about this policy.
Adoption of the race equality planning will be a great strategy for this organization to give shape
the equal opportunity policy. In the next step communication with the employees is vital to

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reveal the importance of this policy. After the implementation regular monitoring is required to
measure the effectiveness of the policy.
Accountabilities
Accountabilities refer to the role and responsibility of a person who is involved in the
implementation of the policy (Barry 2017). HR is the main person who introduces a policy in an
organization. However, it is crucial for the HRM department to introduce the policy and to
communicate the policy with the stakeholders. HR is responsible to make a plan to implement
the policy based on the organizational situation. On the other hand, it is important for the HR to
create urgency among the employees regarding the implementation of the policy in an
organization. However, the HR of Woolworths needs to share the information regarding the
policy and takes necessary steps to implement this policy. The HR needs to reveal the rules and
principles of this policy. Maintenance of the employee right is the moral responsibility of the
HR. In order to do this, the HR needs to implement equality practice in the workplace, which is
done by introducing equal opportunity policy. On the other hand, the HR needs to motivate the
employees to follow the policy to improve the selection and recruitment process of the
organization.
Performance management and Evaluation measures
Performance management is the process to measure the effectiveness of the employees’
ability in an organization (Davey 2018). However, equality should be maintained during the
performance management. In order to maintain the equality during the performance appraisal
equal opportunity policy will be helpful for Woolworths. Therefore, evaluation of the new policy
needs to be done to understand the effectiveness of the policy. In order to measure the

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effectiveness of the policy regular monitoring is crucial. By applying regular monitoring process
the HR of Woolworths will be able to the employee attitude towards the policy.
Conclusion
This current study deals with the HR policy in the context of Woolworths. However, in
order to maintain equality during the recruitment and selection process implementation of equal
opportunity policy is helpful. This policy is helpful to conduct a fair recruitment process and
select skilled employees. This policy is effective to reduce the bias from the selection process.
On the other hand, this policy resists the favoritism in the workplace. The HR of Woolworths
will be able to maintain the equal right of the employees within the organization and to select the
employees based on their ability.

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References
Barry, B., 2017. Equal opportunity and moral arbitrariness. In Distributive Justice, pp. 213-234.
Cba.org. 2018. CBA STATEMENT. [online] Available at:
https://www.cba.org/News-Media/Press-Releases/2018/CBA-Statement-on-Bill-C-78 [Accessed
23 May 2018].
Davey, J., 2018. Age discrimination in the workplace. Policy Quarterly, 10(3), pp.34-56.
Gardner, A.K., 2018. How can best practices in recruitment and selection improve diversity in
surgery?. Annals of surgery, 267(1), pp.e1-e2.
Heitner, K.L., 2018. Race, Ethnicity, and Religion in the Workplace. In Diversity and Inclusion
in the Global Workplace (pp. 49-67). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Holm, M., 2018. Ensuring the Equality and Non-discrimination of the Recruitment Process,
Case: Ponsse Group.
Prinz, C., 2018. Transforming disability welfare policies: towards work and equal opportunities.
Routledge.
Richard, J.A., 2017. Equality and equal opportunity for welfare. In Theories of Justice (pp. 75-
91). Routledge.
Rubery, J., 2017. The triumph of instrumental over equality policy in European employment
policy. Canadian Journal of Development Studies/Revue canadienne d'études du développement,
38(4), pp.576-581.