Analyzing HRM: Attracting and Retaining Staff in the Retail Sector

This essay explores the human resource management (HRM) challenges faced by organizations in the retail industry concerning attracting and retaining employees. It identifies key issues such as lack of career advancement, repetitive work, high competition, ineffective HRM practices, and compensation problems. The paper further discusses the impact of contract staffing, globalization, and generational preferences on recruitment and retention. It also highlights the importance of training, effective change management, and employee recognition. The essay emphasizes that companies need to address these challenges to maintain competitiveness and attract quality employees. Desklib offers this essay and many other resources to aid students in their academic pursuits.

RUNNING HEAD: Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management 1
“Essay on attracting and retaining staff”
Introduction
The aim of this report is to provide a brief information about the human resource management
challenges faced by the organizations present in the retail industry in attracting and retaining
people. The retail sector is one of the most diversified sectors which are in regular need of people
to employ. Many organizations like Tesco, Woolworths, David Jones etc. are in a regular need to
employ people to manage their action in the external environment. The companies present in
retail industry generally hold a major market share due to which the company requires
employees to manage such diversified activities of the organizations. The below presented paper
explains the issues faced by organizations in attracting the prospective people and retaining them
as well in order to attain competence in the target market. Further, the latter part of the paper
also explains the recommendations given to the organization present in the retail industry so as to
make their activities effectively. More details about the paper are discussed below:
Key challenges in attracting and retaining employees in retail industry and
recommendations
It has been found in the studies of Hurst, & Good, (2009) that attracting and retaining the
customers in the target market has been regarded as one of the most significant functions for the
human resource management of the organization. As people are the most important resource for
the organization without whom the organization cannot run effectively, so it has become the
need of the management to attract the employees and make them stay in the activities of the
organization. Retention of the workforce in the retail industry has become a major deal for
organizations because no person wants to stay in the organization due to workload, pressure, and
tension. The retail industry is one such industry that is always in demand by the customers
because they provide products and services that are regularly required by the customers present
in the target market. Thus, in order to meet the demand of the customers, the companies require
human resource as well (Aguinis, Joo, & Gottfredson, 2013).
Further, it should be noted that there are ample challenges faced by the companies in attracting
and retaining the quality people present in the target market. Lack of career advancement and
development opportunities makes is one of the most important reason due to which the people do

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not prefer employing under this industry. The organization present under this industry is unable
to attract and retain talented employees in the activities of the organization due to which they
become uncompetitive in the target market. Repetition of work is one of the major issues that are
faced by companies present in this industry. In this industry, the management provides the same
type of work again and again to the employees due to which they get bored and subsequently
leave their jobs. Also, the employees feel that their talent is not being properly addressed in this
industry as they do not get challenging work to do or use innovations in their regular activities.
Thus, boredom from the job can be regarded as one of the biggest reason due to which
employees leave the job and the organization faces difficulty in attracting people (Albrech,
2011).
Further, the presence of high degree of competition in the target market also makes it difficult for
the organization to attract and retain the employees on a regular basis. The international retail
sector earns very well in the market but it needs to maintain its competitiveness by recruiting
qualifies human resources and retaining them as well. The companies present in this industry
lacks attracting the quality human resource with them due to which most of the work becomes
standardized and employees get bored with the activities. It should be noted that according to
Broadbridge, Maxwell, & Ogden, (2007) the human resource management is incompetent in
managing the professional in their process when it comes to retention. Although all employees
are an asset for the organization the employees who have qualified experience are the biggest
asset for the companies as they help in resolving the problems, managing the environment,
training people and attracting other employees as well (Phillips, & Phillips, 2015). So, if the
organization is unable to develop their career efficiently then they will not stay in the same
organization. Here it can be noticed that lack of effective human resource practices can also
affect the attraction and retention of employees in the organization.
Further, it is important for the management to understand the importance of job description and
person description in the organization (Briscoe, Tarique, & Schuler, 2012). As if the human
resource management of the organization does not understand the requirements of the job and the
person for the organization and employ underprepared candidate then there is higher level of
chance that the employee will not stay in the organization. Thus, understanding the type of
employee required by the organization is another major factor that affects the activities of the

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organization in attracting and retaining employees at the workplace. It should also be noted that
in the current environment, many other organizations present in different industries are providing
work to people at optimum salary, due to which the employees shift to other famous and
attractive industries. As discussed above that the companies present in the retail industry makes
the employees perform the same task again and again that makes them bored due to which they
shift to other industries. Apart from that, another challenge faced by the management of retail
industry is high recruitment cost (Festing, & Schäfer, 2014). As the organizations are unable to
retain the employees in their organization due to which they regularly develop the need to attract
the employees in the environment, resulting to which the HR manager initiate recruitments for
the organization. Regular recruitment and training process makes it difficult for the organization
to invest in other important activities due to which the efficiency of the organization reduces
subsequently. Resulting to which, the overall image of the company is affected in global level
(Oladapo, 2014).
Contract staffing is another challenge that is being faced by the organization in the business
environment. Many times the HR manager of the organization faces difficulty in employing the
human resource that is according to the requirements of the organization due to which they attain
contracts with the recruiting organizations that provide them an effective human resource to
work in the organization. The entrance of third party in the organization affects its activities in
the internal organization due to which the employees do not get attached to the management of
the organization and certainly leave the job. Thus, the ineffectiveness of HR manager to analyze
the type of employees the company should attract affects its activities in the global market
(Thite, 2011).
Another challenge in this case due to which the companies become inefficient in attracting and
retaining customer is due to the problem of compensation. It should be noted that compensation
is the king both retention and recruiting as well. If the employees in the organization would not
get paid properly then they will leave the job, no perks or promises will make them stay in the
organization. The best way to keep the employees motivated is by the way of providing them
compensation benefits. Talking about shifting of employees from one job to other, the main
reason due to which the employees get attracted to another industry and shift there is optimum
pay and good working environment. These are the most important aspects that work in helping

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the organization attract and retain the employees. Ineffective pay and lack of positive workplace
environment poorly hamper the activities of HR manager in the organization (Broadbridge,
Maxwell, & Ogden, 2007).
Additionally, it should be noted that lack of training is another demotivating factor that makes
the employees change their job soon after they get employed in the organization. Training helps
the new employees to involve in the activities of the organization, understand it and build
motivation as well. Thus, it should be noted that lack of effective training initiates major
challenges for the organization that makes the company face many challenges in the competitive
environment. Attraction and retention activities go hand in hand for the organization, it is not
possible that the company to focus on only one. Thus, the organization should core focus on
satisfying the employees and increase their level of interest in the organization. Managerial
changes in the retail industry also affect the interest of employees due to which they leave the job
(Haider, et. al., 2015).
As discussed above that there is absence of training and development process in the organization,
due to which changes in the managerial process negatively affect the growth of the company in
the external market. It is important for the organizations to implement effective change
management program so as to help the employees to understand the activities of the company.
Also, it should be noted that recognition is the key factor that plays a major role in attracting and
retaining the employees in the organization. In the retail sector, organizations usually make use
of team based organizational structure due to which collective team is appreciated or rebuked by
the organization (Michie & Sheehan, 2005). But the contribution of the employee solely is never
recognized in the organization resulting to which underperformance and over performance of the
team affects them but the work done by them is never counted in the organization. This is also
one of the major reason due to which employees leave their jobs in the retail industry. These
employees enter in other sectors where they receive rewards from the organization on the basis
of their personal performance and not the achievements of the group.
It should be noted that competition in the industry apart from affecting the revenues of
companies in the environment affects the human resource management of the organizations as
well. The company providing better benefits attracts the employees to the maximum level. Also,
the organizations face difficulty in attracting the employees with the effect of globalization

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(Schenk, 2017). As now, the companies do not compete with each other in the domestic
environment but they compete with other organizations or same as well as different industry. The
employees have started shifting to other parts of the world due to which very few employees are
left with the domestic industry. Thus, it should be noted that with the effect of globalization, the
quality employees are skimmed on the global level only.
Further, it should be noted that millennial people present in the society do not prefer entering the
sector and this sector also fails to attract the fresh and young talent present in the market. The
employees present in this society are constantly asked to perform the same task again and again
due to which they lose their effectiveness and efficiency and the millennial employees want to
work on new tasks and innovative projects on regular basis. The retail industry is unable to
provide such services in the environment due to which they fail in attracting the right type of
people in the organization (Rathi, & Lee, 2015).
In the current environment, no employee wants to perform regular work, due to which the
company is able to attract the comparatively less efficient people for the organization. The
expectation is another aspect that attracts and retains the staff in the organization. Suppose, if an
employee is hired at the position of supervisor in the organization and he is asked to increase the
efficiency of the organization (Roman & Mason, 2015). The initial work that the supervision
performs is to implement innovation in the regular activities of the employees, but the top level
management halt supervisor from introducing innovation in the organization, instead they ask
him to supervision the regular actions and make sure no mistake is implemented by the
employees. This aspect will demotivate the supervisor as the company did not show up to his
expectation. Thus, it is important for the organization to not give any false commitments to the
people to attract them and possess different activities in the environment (Imna, & Hassan,
2015).
Thus, it should be noted that the above mentioned statements explained the challenges faced by
organizations in attracting and retaining the employees in the retail industry. According to Sparks
(1992), favorable workplace environment is the key to attract the employees in the organization
and retain them as well. No employee would ever want to work in an organization where there is
the presence of negative workplace environment. So, if the organization initiates effective
communication and friendliness with the employees then they will automatically stay for a

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longer time in the organization (Yadav & Saxena, 2015). Further, incentives also play a major
role in retaining and attracting the employees in the target market. The company present in retail
sector should initiate incentive schemes over and above the basic pay of the employees so as to
motivate them to work better and earn better as well. Incentives and compensation are the
biggest motivating factor; any employee that switches the job is mainly due to fewer
compensation benefits (Evans, 2015). Further, innovation is another way through which the
organization can attract and retain the employees in the activities of the organization.
As discussed above that boredom is also one factor due to which employees switch their jobs.
So, if the organization make use of innovative practices in their daily routine activities then they
can easily make the quality millennial employees stay with them and attract other as well. Lastly,
the organization should also implement training and development practices to help the
employees adjust to the organization. This aspect will also contribute to helping the employees to
use innovative practices as well (Sissons & Green, 2017). With the help of effective training, the
employees will get to know about the organization and the work that they have to do. Resulting
in which, they will not face difficulty in implementing it effectively.
Conclusion
Thus, in the limelight of above mentioned events, it should be noted that the employees are the
most important asset and the organizations should never face difficulty in managing them. The
retail industry is in regular demand of the employee, so the organizations present in this industry
should implement effective measures to attract them and retain them as well. The above
mentioned essay adequately explains the challenges faced by the companies present in retail
industry in attracting and retaining the qualitative employees in the organization. Lack of
innovation, training and incentive schemes makes the employees switch their jobs. So, the essay
also explains so of the suggestions through which the companies can improve their activities and
overcome challenges. Hiring and retaining of employees is an important aspect in the growth of
the organization which should never be overlooked by companies present in retail industry.

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