Woolworths HR Practices: Improving Employee Engagement Initiatives

This report assesses the HR practices of Woolworths, focusing on employee engagement levels and recommending initiatives for improvement. It highlights Woolworths' recruitment, training, and performance management systems, while also addressing concerns like employee turnover and safety. The report suggests strategies such as competitive salaries, improved job descriptions, and incentives to enhance employee engagement and retention. It emphasizes the importance of identifying individual employee needs and fostering a culture of transparency and knowledge sharing to boost performance and organizational commitment. Ultimately, the assessment aims to guide Woolworths in continuously improving its HR policies and practices to achieve its goals and objectives.

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Introduction
Human resource assessment helps in identifying if the HR department’s specific practice areas
and performs adequate processes, effective and legal binding. The result of the assessment helps
identify the unclear gaps in HR practices and functions. The organization can prioritize these
gaps to minimize unwanted lawsuits or regulatory violations and liabilities that may occur. It
also helps achieve and maintain world-class and competitive practices in the field of human
resource management. Therefore, HR assessment involves identifying resource gaps,
determining and recommending solutions to situations before they become unmanageable. The
assessment is an opportunity for the organization to determine what they are doing right or
wrong and what can be done differently, effectively and at a reduced cost. According to Fan,
Zhang, and Zhu, (2013 p 532), organization growth is fully or partially dependent on the existing
set structure of the HR model. Most companies assess the HR practices to develop performances
of the team and the organization.
Woolworths is the diversified retailer shops that operate about 3,200 stores in Australia
and New Zealand. That includes supermarkets, liquor stores, hotels and consumer electronics
shops. Woolworths also sells gasoline and leverages its distribution network to provide the third-
party supermarkets with wholesale merchandising services. Woolworth has a group of directors
and chain of managers managing the large numbers of employees. For HR plays a paramount
role to manage the workforce of an organization (Zhang et al., 2015 p. 518).
HR has practices that are perceived to be effective from the organization perspective. If
the practices are followed, it will reduce the gap of Human resource team in any organization.
Woolworth relies on selecting best-skilled employees to manage its operations. To recruit the
best skill in the market, Woolworth advertises the vacant job positions online to reach a wide

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range of applicants. The applicants send their applications online. A proper person recruited for
the job from applicants based on merit (Blackwood & Bentley, 2013 p 27). It also ensures
transparency in the process of recruitment. Woolworth ensures to follow the legislated
regulations of Anti-Discrimination act and provision of Equal Employment Opportunity as
required throughout the recruitment process and also by the privacy act required when handling
personal information. When the selection is made, training and orientation of the candidates take
place for easy integration of company’s practices.
Woolworth has a system for managing performance based on employees’ current skills,
required skills, and career aspirations. It enables the employees and management to fill the gaps
in skills and decision making. Woolworths uses this technique to enhance the participation of
employees and increase job satisfaction among employees. The retailing business is one of the
constantly changing sectors and Woolworths has prepared for any changes that might occur
(Gratton 2003, p 76). The contingency theory allows the retail shop to ensure that the right
manpower are available for the particular project and jobs available. Through the application of
the contingency theory, Woolworths can exercise complete control and manag its employees
throughout all the locations of the stores. Contingency theory is best suitable for the Woolworths
companies’ operations. The management also identifies and rewards high performers’ by
providing awards intended to encourage other employees to work hard. High performances are
rewarded through career development opportunities.
Training and development is another HR practice at Woolworth. The trainings are offered in
different terms depending on the level of outcomes, and market shares. This HR function is used
to build core competencies to create competitive knowledge and sustainable advantages for the

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organization (Mitchell, Obeidat, & Bray, 2013, p 910). Woolworth organization has one of the
best HR practices and functions, though the number of employee disengagements is increasing.
There are Safety concerns for specific areas such as drivers, electrical appliances
operators and all the Woolworths employees working in stores. Woolworth has rules and
regulations that monitors and guides operations in the departments that every member must
follow. For example, the employees working in departments such as electrical are required to put
on protector gear. And the arrangement and general organization of stores are done is in such a
way that it does not put in jeopardy the lives of customers or employees as they move around the
store. The HR ensures that all the employees of Woolworth observe all the safety rules
(Woolworths Report 2018 p, 8).
Woolworth reports high turnover of employees every year as employees move to greener
pastures in other organizations. The management is looking for ways to retain the best talents.
Woolworth provides a career development opportunity as a way of persuading employees to
remain in the organization. They also provide numerous benefits like discounts, death and
funeral cover. There is also parental leave and provision of fitness centers aims at employee
retention. It also improves the job satisfaction (Hrebini2005, p 21).
From the practices, it is satisfactorily to state that Woolworths consider its employees as
assets and not liabilities. This evident in the extent the HR practices go to retain and ensure the
employees are happy and enjoy their benefits. It is notable that it guided performance.
Woolworth should consider identifying each of their employee's needs and factors that motivate
them in their role and ensure that they treat their employees as individuals.
Employee engagement is ‘a set of combined positive attitudes and behaviors of
employees that enable high job performance of any kind which is in tune with the organization’s

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mission and goals. Employees who are more committed to their work tend to be more likely to
behave in positive and cooperative ways and attitudes, to the benefit of both the company and
themselves. Recognizing the individual’s needs within the workforce helps management develop
their skills and enables them to maximize the potentials of each employee. Most employees view
their duties in a more meaningful, fulfilling and always appear to register increased job
satisfaction which leads to improved performance. Though most employees seem not to be
engaged at work leaving the question that benefit from the engagement?
Managers should keep an employee engaged and committed which is perhaps one of the
biggest challenges one faces. The effort will ultimately lead to increased performances and
reduced mistakes. For Employee engagement to be successful, the organizational commitment
and involvement in implementing efficiency initiatives is critical.
Woolworths increases the employee engagement in the business by involving the employees in
certain levels of decision making. It promotes transparency and as well acts as a way of
developing improved strategies. Also, encourage team members to share knowledge with one
another. Helps in promoting practice opportunity and fulfilling the needs of every team member
and provide learning opportunity too.
Woolworths’ management can improve its HRM practices by ensuring the management
can deal with the turnover rate of employees in the stores. IT can offer its workers competitive
salaries for their workers compared to other companies to increase retention. The HR should
analyze the salary structure and provide a competitive amount for the retail shop's workers to
attract and retain the best talent. Money is one of the big motivators of employees. (Hrebini
2005, p 24). Also, a job description should state the job and role of each employee for only

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qualified candidates to apply. Woolworth can also increase the channels for advertising jobs to
attract a high number of applicants.
The HR department also should share responsibilities among employees. Leaders learn to
embrace transformational leadership style at all times and ensure to develop people’s skills under
their management and harness talent at the same time.
The management of Woolworth limited may provide employees with incentives such as lunch
packages, better parking space or discounts on products. It will encourage the employees to work
hard and also commit to their job duties and responsibilities to the company. It also allows the
company to identify gaps between skills required to achieve top performance and the skills of the
employees.
The talent management and appraisal system of Woolworth should provide better
planning for the training and development programs in the organization. Training and
development is arranged based on the prevailing gaps identified by the HRM department
assessment results and the departments’ heads in the organization (Mitchell, Obeidat, & Bray
2013, p 910).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Employee engagement is the effort of the organizational requiring long-
term vision in a business strategy context, to enhancing the productivity and retention rates of the
employees. The employee engagement also enhances commitment to work from employees. You
have to identify the company needs, develop and determine the right strategy used to measure the
employee engagement and activities to implement. The HR assessment helps identify the gaps
within the organization that needs to be improved to increase the productivity of the employees.
It also helps HR engage in constant and continuous improvement of the organization's policies,

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procedures, and practice to keep improving and ensure the company continues to achieve its
goals and objectives. The assessment also identifies gaps and provides direction for practices,
policies, and compliances which are the most important assets an HR department contributes to
the organization.

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