Western Australian Economy Impact on Retail Industry: Report

This report examines the influence of the Western Australian economy on the retail industry, focusing on XYZ retail. It analyzes labor supply, employment trends, and the role of HR practitioners in managing industrial relations under the Federal IR system. The report explores the impact of economic factors, such as changes in the mining industry and government structure, on retail. It covers employment legislation, statutory bodies, and dispute resolution. Additionally, the report investigates strategies for employee retention, communication, and change management within the retail sector, including a case study of downsizing and its implications. Finally, it analyses the demographic structure of Citi stores.

Undertaken Research
on
WA Economy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................5
QUESTION 3...................................................................................................................................8
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................20
Illustration Index
Illustration 1: Employed person trend..............................................................................................3
Illustration 2: Top five share of employment by sex and industry- 2015........................................3
Illustration 3: Retail Trade, Australia, May 2017............................................................................5
Illustration 4: Fluctuation rate of XYZ Retail industry.................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Human resources are an essential part for every organisation. Businesses manages their
workers in the manner so that it can achieve its future goals effectively Townsend & Wilkinson
(2014). This report describes the role of Western Australian economy which make great impact
in the growth of retail industry. By taking XYZ as a retail company, it analyses the several
factors which make great impact on hiring of employees in their organisation. It also describes
the industrial relation which are performed by HR practitioner who is appointed in the retail
industry in which employers’ rate falls under Federal IR system. Furthermore, it also explains the
role of communication for employee retention in an organisation. There are many steps which
are followed by the HR to evaluate the changes in a business will also presented in the report. At
last, it also analysis the demographic structure of Citi stores in the report.
QUESTION 1
Western Australian Economy offers great support for the development and growth of
nation by reducing the number of unemployment. As per research, in 2016 activity which is
followed in WA economy shows the disaster for the nation's growth. There are various factors
which make great impact on labour supply for XYZ retail company. Company have objectives
such as customer satisfaction, acquiring right products, products display, selecting the
appropriate layout and location etc. For securing the planned growth XYZ retail company
increases the workforce by hiring the skilled person which have specific knowledge to handle all
the disputes in a workplace Wilkinson, Donaghey, Dundon & Freeman (2014).
Retail industry also face the problems of shortage of skills which make negative impact
for its planned growth. XYZ retail industry analysis its current position that 2300 employees
working in their organisation but only 1750 employees have sufficient skills which is suitable for
their occupation. In respect to this, industry need to hire skilled person so that they will perform
better. In Australia, the current trend of retail industry is based on age, gender, qualification,
employment type etc. It makes great impact in the planned growth of retail industry Solnet, Kralj
& Baum (2015). As per International Labour Organisation, people which 15 years over age
performed any work in specific period on the place of paid, temporary employees. Labour force
survey finds that people are those aged 15 years and over worked one hour and get more pay,
1

profit in a business. Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial classification, 2006
classified the structure of labour in four groups:
 Division (the Broadest level or contain 1 digit)
 Subdivision which contain 2 digits
 Group which contain 3 digits
 Class with the finest level or 4 digits
In 2015 and same quarter of 2016 shows the trend of employed people which are as follows:
2

Illustration 2: Top five share of employment by sex and industry- 2015
(Source: ABS, Labour force, detailed, quarterly, February 2016)
3

Above graph and table shows the original data which describes the industry employment
as a proportion of total male or female employment. Hence, qualification of person and their
employment types make great impact in supply of labour in retail industry Varma (2013).
On the other hand, due to changes in mining industry and structure of government will
also make great impact on retail industry development. As per the research, it analysed that
increases in mining process help the economy for increases its growth. It makes a dramatic
impact on local retailers because Australian dollar is above parity on mining boom. It can be said
that overseas order and highly demand the Australian resources which make positive impact on
their currency that value of dollar will go up like a helium balloon.
Changes in government structure will also affect retail industry. There are many federal
entities in which retailers deal such as US department of labour or DOL, Federal trade
commission etc. Changes in legislation fluctuation in tax, service duty will affect the value of
retail products. As per the current the retail trade in Australia are as follows:
4

Illustration 3: Retail Trade, Australia, May 2017
(Source: Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel,
C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... & Plimmer, G.
As per the above table, trend estimate rose 0.3% in May 2017. In May 2017, seasonally
adjusted increased with 0.6% There are many industries which increased in good level as per the
changes in government structure. For example: Food Retailing with 0.3%, Household Retailing
with 0.5% etc.
QUESTION 2
Working as an HR practitioner in retail industry, to make a good industrial relation with
employee who falls under the Federal IR system include various information. There are some
employment act or legislation which highly affect the work of employees, these are:
5

 Fair Work Act 2009: This act provides national workplace relations system. It provides
facility to the people to work fairly and in a flexible manner. It is essential because it
creates productivity and economic growth in a business.
 Sex Discrimination Act: This act provides security and equality in a workplace in
relation with the gender. It can be said that no one can be treated unequally as per their
gender in an organisation.
 Equal Opportunities for Women in the Workplace Act 1999: This act provide facility
to female employees and establish equal opportunity for women in a workplace or office.
 Work Health and Safety Act 2011: It provides health and safety facility to the workers
in a workplace. It is a duty for every employer to protect their employees from uncertain
event and also provide medical benefits so that they can perform freely without having
any fear in their mind.
 Discrimination Act 1991: This act from Australian Capital Territory with aim to reduce
the difference between workers as per their age, gender, nationality, education etc. This
act promotes friendly environment in a workplace for their employees.
There are various statutory bodies which provide information and support on Industrial Relation
or handling workplace issues. These are as follows:
 Central Arbitration Committee: It is a permanent and independent body which have a
power to adjudicate on applications which is related to the statutory recognition and de-
recognition of trade union for collective bargaining purpose.
 Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: It helps to ensuring the
business's success by increasing its competitive power.
 Employment Tribunal: It ensure the process by which an employee apply in tribunal
and determine the kind of process which are completed by the employees.
 Health and Safety Executive: It is responsible for offering health and safety to the
employees in an organisation.
6

 Information Commissioner's Office: This salutatory body provides information which
is related to the Data Protection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000 in a
workplace Klarsfeld, Booysen, Ng, Roper & Tatli (2014).
 Disputes: It means all the difference which are arise between employers and
employees in a workplace. There are many disputes arrived in a retail industry which are
divided in following groups:
 Industrial Factors: In this category disputes are related with employment, work, wages,
working hours, rights or obligations of employees and employers etc. Dismissal of
employees and industrial matter which are highly affected by the both the parties directly
or indirectly are considered in this kinds differences Belizón, Gunnigle, Morley &
Lavelle (2014). All these kinds of problems are arising by unemployment, inflation and
changes in attitude of workers in an organisation.
 Management attitude towards labour: It include those problems which are comes from
management side. It consist of unwillingness of management to talk about any disputes,
negotiation and settlement of differences etc.
 Strikes: It is a part of industrial disputes which comes from injustice and economic
disturbance. It refers to the temporary cessation of work by the staff members due to
changes in working environment, benefits etc.
 Lockouts: It means closing of business placed by the workers or resentment of
employers to work in an organisation. It may arrived when the demand of employees
were not fulfilled by the management Gollan, Kaufman, Taras & Wilkinson (2014).
To overcome all the industrial disputers which are arise in an organisation, it is necessary
for the team members to working with the union. It is beneficial for the staff members but in
some cases it hurts the expectation of customers and employers who denied job opportunities.
Unions also decreases the number of jobs available in the economy. On the other hand,
Employee bargaining is process of negotiation between employers and employees which is
related to the working environment, benefits, salary and many more aspects of employees.
Working with union and employees bargaining both the two activities are done by the
7

organisation in order to negotiate the difference between employers and employees. It is helpful
to deal with union and fairly working in an industry.
QUESTION 3
 a) As per the given scenario that XYZ retail industry downsides its strategies in Sydney
Stores and stop their two department after analysing its competitors position. In respect
to this, if XYZ retail store downsize its expansion and growth for a certain time period
which highly impact on employees reinsertion. It means that there will be chance of
employee's turnover because activity is stopped for a certain time period. If industry stops
its production activity, it will; automatically impact on its morale which go down and
level of production will be decreased. On the other hand, industry get the chance to
prepare itself and relaunch their two stores in WA with innovative strategy. In order to
this, XYZ retail industry adopt various change strategies which is beneficial for its future
success. There are some recommendations, which are as follows:
 XYZ retail industry need to adopt advanced techniques so that it can perform in an
effective manner.
 Company need to change their store layout so that it will be eye-catching for the
customers.
 Retail industry try to change the employees structure and hire skilled people Bartram,
Boyle, Stanton, Burgess & McDonnell (2015).
 Company need to ensure the availability of resources like money, equipment, human
resource etc.
 It need to change the approaches of strategies which are adopt by the firm so that firm
can minimize its cost.
 Firm try to analysis the market condition and pricing strategies of their competitors so
that it can set their product's price.
b) In order to achieve the competitive advantage and growth in future, XYZ retail industry's HR
need to make effective strategies to overcome its weaknesses. They try to develop all those
communication strategies which is helpful to communicate the information with stakeholders. By
using internet, personal interview, preparing own websites etc. are the best way to communicate
8

the information with the shareholder. Investor is a person who invest their money in a company.
It is essential for a industry to provide all the sufficient information to the investors so that they
will make investment in the company. XYZ industry to manage those activity which are
repetitive in nature. In order to this, firm adopt various pricing strategies by which wastage can
be controlled and profit will be maximized in an appropriate manner. Firm also need to hire
skilled person. HR try to adopt effective recruitment and selection process which are suitable as
per the prescribed job. XYZ retail industry try to organize training and development programs
by which they will trained their employees. It is helpful for increasing the performance level of
employees. It is useful for the staff members to understand the business actual position.
c) To make effective changes in XYZ retail industry HR need to develop proper planning and
implementing the strategies which is beneficial for the organisation. These are:
 Hr need to create sense of urgency in a business and identify the section which need to be
improved.
 It is a duty for human resource manager to present a solid business case to stakeholders.
 They will try to ensure the availability of resources and analysis the data as per the
requirement.
 HR need to make effective communication style by which all the necessary information
can be delivered to the employees easily.
 They should monitor and manage the conflicts between employers and employees and try
to resolving their problems.
 They continuously review, revise all the activity and take corrective action to improve
them.
TASK 1
a) Company structure: To analysis and develop the demographic report of XYZ retail industry,
CEO need to determine the company structure. As making the research and comparing the retail
industry with their competitors, it has been analysed that in 2012 the structure of company was
96.14 which was decreased with 71.62 in 2013. It continuously go down but in 2014 it was
increased with 53.33 and goes up with 152.50 in 2016. It shows that company adopt various
changes for acquiring its planned growth.
9

Year Fluctuation in Rate of XYZ Company's
structure
2012 96.14
2013 71.62
2014 52.30
2015 53.33
2016 152.70
1 2 3 4 5
1900
1950
2000
2050
2100
2150
2200
Fluctuation in Rate of XYZ
Company's structure
Year
Illustration 4: Fluctuation rate of XYZ Retail industry
b) Employee headcount: It include the current number of employees working in XYZ retail
industry Bamber (2013). As per research, it has been analysed that in 2012 company have 30073
employees which was increased with 31388. Due appropriate motivation and benefit the number
of employees will be increased. On the other hand, in 2015 there was chge in the employees with
31582 in an organisation. It shows that XYZ retail industry make various changes in their
employment structure as per the requirement.
Year Number of employees
2012 30073
10

2013 31388
2014 31784
2015 31582
2016 33506
1 2 3 4 5
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
Year
Number of employees
c) Number of new stores: To analysis the number of new store, it has been analysed that in
2012 the number of stores was 116 which was increased with 209 in 2013. In 2016 it was 320. It
shows that company adopt various expansion strategy.
Year Number of stores
2012 116
2013 209
2014 213
2015 256
2016 320
11

1 2 3 4 5
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Year
Number of stores
d)
Position title: XYZ retail company holds in position in a 8 rank in Australian market. It means
that company need to develop effective planning strategies so that it can overcome its situation.
e) Departments: To analysis the number of new store, it has been analysed that in 2012 the
number of stores was 17 which was increased with 20 in 2013. In 2016 it was 32. It shows that
company adopt various expansion strategy to make global approach.
Year Number of Departments
2012 17
2013 20
2014 22
2015 29
2016 32
12

1 2 3 4 5
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Year
Number of Departments
f)
Employment type: XYZ Retail industry need to those type employment which are both store
based and non-store based. It can be 360 in new stores, provide 500 vacancies and offers 750
new types of job to the people.
Particular Total number
New stores 360
Vacancies 500
New job 750
13

New stores Vacancies New job
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Total number
g)
Diversity: In XYZ retail industry there are great diversification faced by manager. It may be
diversification of gender, age, culture, dependency. As per the below graph, it has been analysed
that cited industry highly deal in diversification of culture which is 48% and lowest
diversification with dependency with 12%
Particular Percentage
Gender 10%
Age 30%
Culture 48%
Dependency 12%
14

Gender
Age
Culture
Dependency
h)
Qualification level: XYZ retail industry analysis that their highly diversified employees which
have diversified education level. As per the below graph, it shows that there are 55% who have
specific skills and rest of 45% employees have knowledge but does not have specified
knowledge to deal in changed environment. Hence, company need to hire skilled person for
securing its future growth.
Particular Percentage
Highly skilled 55%
Less skilled 45%
15

Highly skilled
Less skilled
i)
Remuneration level: Company also provide remuneration to motivate their employees.
Company increase its level of remuneration. As per the below graph, it has been analysed that
XYZ retail industry make various efforts which shows the level of remuneration increased with
52%.
Particular Remuneration level
2015 48%
2016 52%
16

1
2
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Particular
Remuneration level
j)
Staff turnover: Due to changes in technology and structure, their will be highest changes in
number of staff. As compare to 2012 with 2016, company face the highest rate of staff turnover.
In 2012, the rate of staff turnover is 153 which was increased with 1008 in 2016.
Year Staff Turnover
2012 153
2013 219
2014 457
2015 789
2016 1008
17

1 2 3 4 5
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Year
Staff Turnover
k)
Sick leave: Staff member will take the leave for their some reason. Company face the issues of
sick leave taken by the employees. As compare to 2012 the rate of sick leave will be increases
with 5% in 2016. Hence, company need to make proper employees retention strategy.
Year Rate of sick leave
2012 1.5%
2013 1.9%
2014 2.8%
2015 2.2%
2016 5%
18

1
2
3
4
5
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Year
Rate of sick leave
REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Bamber, G. J. (2013). New Technology (Routledge Revivals): International Perspectives on
Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Routledge.
19

Bartram, T., Boyle, B., Stanton, P., Burgess, J., & McDonnell, A. (2015). Multinational
enterprises and industrial relations: A research agenda for the 21st century. Journal of
Industrial Relations. 57(2). 127-145.
Belizón, M. J., Gunnigle, P., Morley, M. J., & Lavelle, J. (2014). Subsidiary autonomy over
industrial relations in Ireland and Spain. European Journal of Industrial Relations.
20(3). 237-254.
Gollan, P. J., Kaufman, B. E., Taras, D., & Wilkinson, A. (Eds.). (2014). Voice and involvement
at work: Experience with non-union representation (Vol. 33). Routledge.
Klarsfeld, A., Booysen, L. A., Ng, E., Roper, I., & Tatli, A. (Eds.). (2014). 9.78 E+ 12: Country
Perspectives on Diversity and Equal Treatment. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., ... &
Plimmer, G. (2015). Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts,
Practices, Strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Solnet, D., Kralj, A., & Baum, T. (2015). 360 degrees of pressure: The changing role of the HR
professional in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research.
39(2). 271-292.
Townsend, K., & Wilkinson, A. (2014). Guest Editors' Note: Time to Reconnect the Silos?
Similarities and Differences in Employment Relations and Human Resources. Human
Resource Management. 53(2). 203-210.
Varma, A. (2013). Managing human resources in Asia-Pacific (Vol. 20). Routledge.
Wilkinson, A., Donaghey, J., Dundon, T., & Freeman, R. B. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of
Research on Employee Voice: Elgar original reference. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Online
Model of HRM. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/ImportedDocuments/ci_julaug_02_p20-21.pdf>.
[Accessed on 3 August 2016].
20