Human Resource Challenges and Strategies for Woolworths Recruitment

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the human resource management challenges encountered by Woolworths, a leading supermarket chain in Australia. The study identifies key issues in recruitment and selection, such as a lack of skilled employees and an aging population, which hinder the company's growth and sustainability. The report critiques Woolworths' current recruitment strategies, including advertisement and employer branding, deeming them insufficient. It recommends strategies like employee referrals to address these challenges. Furthermore, the report references Human Capital Theory, emphasizing the importance of skilled employees for long-term success. The conclusion suggests that Woolworths should enhance its complaint management system, increase employee pay and incentives, and invest in employee development through training to maintain its market leader position. The report offers valuable insights into the complexities of HRM within the retail sector.

MANAGING HUMAN
RESOURCES
1

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Body of report..................................................................................................................................4
Overview of the selected organization........................................................................................4
Key challenges for recruiting the workforce...............................................................................4
Recruitment strategies.................................................................................................................5
HRM Theory................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion and recommendation....................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
2

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Human resources management can be termed as the process in which different strategies
and techniques are used by businesses to manage their workforce and accomplish their
objectives. The present study reflects that lack of skilled employees and aging population in
Australia are the key challenges faced during the process of recruitment and selection by
Woolworths. Furthermore, these challenges have resulted in creating several obstacles in long-
term growth and sustainability of the organization. The practices adopted by Woolworths for
carrying out recruitment and selection cannot be considered as useful because they have been
failed to provide expected outcomes. It is recommended that strategies such as employee
referrals should be adopted by Woolworths to deal with the challenges linked to recruitment and
selection.
INTRODUCTION
In the modern era, employees are considered as the most important and crucial asset for
any organization. Furthermore, efficient management of human resources helps companies to
gain a competitive advantage over other market players operating in the industry. However, it
can be critically argued that management of human resources or staff members is not an easy
task for organizations as different types of issues and challenges during the same (Welch &
Björkman, 2015). For example, high demand of skilled and experienced personnel’s and low
supply can be considered as the common challenge which HR manager faces during the process
of recruitment and selection. Lack of skilled and talented employees directly results in creating
several obstacles in long-term growth and success of companies.
The primary purpose of present study is to identify the key recruitment challenges faced
by Woolworths supermarket. The selected business enterprise is considered as the leading
supermarket retail chain in Australia, and it is offering a diversified range of products and
services to people in the marketplace. The key factors which resulted in the development of
different recruitment challenges for the company have been outlined in this report. Apart from
this, theory linked with the process of recruitment and selection is also mentioned in the present
study.
3

BODY OF REPORT
Overview of the selected organization
Woolworths supermarket was founded in the year 1924 and at present, the supermarket
chain has captured significant market share in the retail supermarket industry of Australia. The
business is operating through online and offline platforms, and this has resulted in making more
convenient for customers to buy the product of Woolworths. It can be stated that instead of
operating with limited products and services, the brand has adopted the strategy of carrying out
business operations with a diversified range of goods (Woolworths, 2017). The product range of
Woolworths includes products such as meat, seafood, bakery, fruits, vegetables, health and
beauty, liquors, etc. At present, the selected business enterprise is facing intense competition
from brands such as Coles and Aldi.
Key challenges for recruiting the workforce
For a brand like Woolworths grocery, maintaining the position of market leader in the
supermarket industry of Australia is not an easy. The brand needs to ensure that competent and
talented staff members are available in the stores to understand the customer needs and deliver
products/services according to the same (Varma, 2013). The company is required to maintain a
low rate of employee turnover, and at the same time, it needs to carry out recruitment of highly
skilled and effective individuals.
One of the major issues which have been faced by Woolworths during the process of
recruitment is linked with lack of skilled and talented personnel’s within the country. At present,
the demand for talented, professional and skilled store workers and managers has increased to a
great extent (Cristiani & Peiró, 2015). On the contrary of this, it can be argued that the supply of
human resources within supermarket industry is not so high to meet the demand (Stone, 2013).
The youngster and professionals in the country are more inclined towards industries such
as manufacturing, operations, outsourcing, banking, and tourism. Thus, the HR manager working
in Woolworths finds it very challenging to recruit the young and skilled professionals to deliver
satisfactory services to customers.
Another key challenge which has been faced by Woolworth's HR manager during
recruitment is associated with the changing demographics in Australia. It can be expressed that
the entire country is facing issues linked with the ageing population. It is also expected that by
the end of the year 2022, people aged between 65–84 years will be approximately 4 million
4

(Parliament of Australia , 2010). This can be termed as a grave threat to the entire nation as well
as for the business which is operating in Australia. Limited availability of young and dynamic
workforce is now creating different types of issues and challenges for Woolworths regarding
carrying out the process of recruitment and selection. Younger professional with knowledge
about modern tools and techniques can deliver more accurate and satisfactory services to all
customers.
Factor such as workplace diversity has also resulted in developing challenges within the
process of recruitment and selection in Woolworths. In the modern era, managing and operating
with a diversified workforce is not an easy task for companies (Ketchen Jr, Crook, Todd, Combs,
& Woehr, 2017). Furthermore, issues linked with discrimination, conflicts, and disputes are
prevalent in the diversified workforce.
Now, it has become very challenging for the selected business enterprise to its workforce
in an appropriate manner. It can be expressed that limited availability of skilled and talented
workers in the country has forced the supermarket retailer to operate with a diversified workforce
(Meyer & Xin, 2017). However, it can be critically argued that along with the increase in
diversity issues such as conflicts and bullying at the workplace have also increased to a great
extent.
Human resource is considered as one of the most vital areas of business and issues in this
area directly affect other departments to a great extent. The selected company is required to come
up with some effective and result oriented strategies to deal with the issues linked with
recruitment and selection.
Recruitment strategies
The recruitment strategy of Woolworths emphasizes on two major areas which are an
advertisement and employee branding. Further, the company places advertisement linked with its
human resource requirement in different types of magazines and newspapers. The use of
advertisement technique is carried out by the supermarket retailer with an objective to create
more and more awareness among people in the market with regards to the employment
opportunities it is offering (Sparrow, Brewster, & Chung, 2016).
On the other side of this, strategies such as employer branding are also used by
Woolworths. Here, young, skilled individual and students are mainly targeted by the company
for the process of recruitment and selection. Instead of focusing on the overall population, the
5

company is focusing more on a particular group of an individual through its employee branding
strategy (Liu, Gong, Zhou, & Huang, 2017). The result of this is that limited pool of candidate is
available for the business at the time of carrying out process of recruitment and selection.
It can be expressed that the mentioned above two strategies are not able to provide
adequate or desired results to Woolworths. For example, the business is facing issues regarding
the shortage of staff members in many of its stores. It can be expressed that the company sales
have been limited and at the same time, it is not able to generate the high degree of satisfaction
among all its customers (Marchington, Wilkinson, Donnelly, & Kynighou, 2016). To sustain in
the long run and attract more customers, it is required by the company to emphasize on its
existing process of recruitment and selection. Furthermore, corrective measures should be taken
to overcome loopholes and make the existing process more efficient
HRM Theory
The Human Capital theory can be taken into consideration to gain insight into the
management of employees within the organization. The mentioned above theory emphasize on
the fact that capable and competent employees directly contribute to the long-term growth and
success of a business enterprise. The theory also reflects that effective management of human
resources provides a competitive advantage to a company to other firms operating in the
marketplace (Mahajan, 2015). The Human Capital theory also explains that businesses should
emphasize on recruiting, developing and retaining skilled and competent employees.
Apart from this, the selected theory also outlines that to acquire large market share and
sustainability; the organization should invest more and more in their human resources
(Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). The rationale behind this is that investment in employee
development will provide the company with an opportunity to enhance the degree of customers
and employee satisfaction. Skilled workers will be able to understand the need of customers and
will be able to deliver services and products according to the same (Klikauer, 2014). On the other
side of this, the employee will remain satisfied as they will start perceiving that the organization
cares about their professional growth and development. Investment in human resources will help
in developing strong coordination between management and all staff members.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
From the above carried out report, it can be concluded that Woolworths is facing
different types of issues linked with recruitment and selection of employees. For example
6

increase, demand and low supply of skilled workers within supermarket retail industry are one of
the biggest challenges which Woolworths is facing. On the other hand, increasing old age
population within the country is another issue which has affected Woolworths recruitment and
selection process to a great extent.
Recommendations
It is suggested that instead of relying heavily on advertisement and employer branding,
Woolworths should also focus on strategies such as employee referrals for carrying out
recruitment of employee. The rationale behind this suggestion is that employee referrals are
considered as one of the most convenient and potential ways of sourcing talent within the
company.
It has been observed that Woolworths is also facing issues linked with management
workforce diversity, the company should emphasize more on its complaint and grievance
management system. It is suggested that the retailer should take complaints linked with bullying
and discrimination very seriously. In addition to this, the supermarket chain should take
corrective measures to eliminate all sort of bullying practices and discrimination in the
workplace. This will result in developing a strong sense of satisfaction among workers and will
also support the brand to retain its employees in the long run.
It is also recommended that the present employee pay and incentives should be increased
by Woolworths. The rationale behind this is that high pay and attractive incentives will help in
attracting desired and skilled candidates for the vacant position of the organization. The company
will be available with a pool of candidate to carry out the process of recruitment and selection.
Furthermore, it is also suggested that the company should invest more resources in the
development of its employees. This can be done with the help of conducting training sessions
and seminars for workers. The benefit of such sessions is that it will help Woolworths to enhance
the overall skill set and knowledge base of its staff members. Apart from this, it will also help the
company to maintain its operations of market leader in long run.
7

REFERENCES
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Cristiani, A., & Peiró, J. M. (2015). Human resource function strategic role and trade unions:
exploring their impact on human resource management practices in Uruguayan firms. .
The International Journal of Human Resource Management , 381-400.
Ketchen Jr, D. J., Crook, T. R., Todd, S. Y., Combs, J. G., & Woehr, D. J. (2017). Managing
Human Capital. . The Oxford Handbook of Strategy Implementation, , 283.
Klikauer, T. (2014). Human resource management and Kohlberg’s scale of moral development. .
Philosophy of Management , 73-95.
Liu, D., Gong, Y., Zhou, J., & Huang, J. C. (2017). Human resource systems, employee
creativity, and firm innovation: The moderating role of firm ownership. . Academy of
Management Journal , 1164-1188.
Mahajan, J. P. (2015). Managing Human Resources. . Noida: Vikas Publishing House.
Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., & Kynighou, A. (2016). Human resource
management at work. . London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Meyer, K. E., & Xin, K. R. (2017). Managing talent in emerging economy multinationals:
Integrating strategic management and human resource management. . The International
Journal of Human Resource Management , 11-15.
Parliament of Australia . (2010, January). Challenges of an ageing population. Retrieved
September 2017, 2017, from Parliament of Australia :
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Li
brary/pubs/BriefingBook43p/ageingpopulation
Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., & Chung, C. (2016). Globalizing human resource management. .
Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Stone, R. J. (2013). Managing human resources. . Milton QLD: John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Varma, A. (2013). Managing human resources in Asia-Pacific . Abingdon-on-Thames:
Routledge.
Welch, D., & Björkman, I. (2015). The place of international human resource management in
international business. . Management International Review , 303-322.
8

Woolworths. (2017, September 20). About Us. Retrieved Septmeber 23, 2017, from Woolworths:
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/about-us
9