Report: HRM Practices at Woolworths - Employee Management and Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices implemented at Woolworths. The report delves into various aspects of Woolworths' HRM, including recruitment strategies, which emphasize online applications, adherence to anti-discrimination laws, and merit-based selection. It also examines performance management and talent management systems, highlighting how the company engages employees in decision-making and fosters employee participation. The report further explores how Woolworths identifies and rewards high-performing staff through various awards and promotion opportunities. Employee safety measures and the company's commitment to diversity are also discussed. Furthermore, the report addresses strategies for employee retention, such as career development opportunities, benefits, and engagement initiatives. The role of the HR department in conflict resolution is also examined. The report concludes with suggestions for improving HRM practices, including competitive salaries, expanded advertising avenues, clear job descriptions, transformational leadership, employee motivation, and a robust performance appraisal system. Overall, the report offers valuable insights into Woolworths' HRM approach and areas for potential enhancement.

Running head: HRM PRACTICES 1
HR practices at Woolworths
Name
Institution

HRM PRACTICES 2
HR practices at Woolworths
Recruiting and inducting new staff
The company relies on having the best employees working in its operations. To recruit
the best, Woolworths usually advertises its jobs online with the applicants required to send
their applications online. This makes it easier for the company to ensure transparency in the
recruitment process. The aim of the company is to treat all the candidates with courtesy,
consideration as well as fairness. The company follows or abides to the Anti-Discrimination
and Equal Employment Opportunity legislation that are required throughout the process. On
the same note, the company recruits based on merit to make sure that only the right person is
selected for the job. The other important concept that is followed or appreciated by
Woolworths is acting in accordance with the Privacy act when it is dealing with personal
information. After the selection process has taken place, the selected applicants are taken
through a training program where orientation to the company takes place. This ensures that
the new employees do not spend a lot of time integrating into the company’s practices (Arli,
Dylke, Burgess, Campus, & Soldo, 2013).
Manages staff performance and engagement
The company has a performance management system as well as a talent management
system where the employees are analyzed based on the current skills they possess, the ones
they require and the future career aspirations. This allows the company and the employees to
interact as they attempt to fill that gap in skills. The company also engages the employees in
making decisions especially those decisions that directly affect the employees. The aim of the
company it to enhance employee participation and increase the job satisfaction of the

HRM PRACTICES 3
employees. The talent management system is used by the company to enhance better
performance through training and development of the employees. The retail sector is one of
the changing ventures, which means that the company has to ensure that it is prepared for any
changes that might occur in the process (Gibert, 2015).
Identifies and advances high performing staff
High performance is encouraged in the company with Woolworths rewarding those
with extraordinary performance in the company. High performance in the company is
considered to go beyond the scope of practice or provision of an extra contribution to the
business. Managers in the company are mandated with the role of identifying the best
performing employees. There are on the spot awards for going above and beyond that call of
duty. These awards are given by the managers on frequent occasions when they go round the
company. The managers also give the difference awards for making an extraordinary
contribution to the company. This is an award that engages all the employees in selecting the
winner, which means that the winners feel appreciated by their fellow employees. It is an
award that encourages the rest of the employees to work hard and achieve the same fate in the
near future. The other award for high performance is the annual CEO award that is given to
both individuals and groups in the company (Woolworths, 2017). This is an award that has
been found to provide the employees with the desire to work hard both as individuals but also
as a group. Although these awards are given after a period of time, the manner in which they
are given is enough to enhance high performance of the employees. High performance is also
awarded with a promotion in the company with Woolworths providing career development
opportunities for the employees working in the company (Gibert, 2015).

HRM PRACTICES 4
Safety of the employees
Woolworths as a company has little concerns when it comes to safety of the
employees. However, there are some specific areas where the safety is a concern such as
drivers, handlers of electrical appliances as well as employees working in stores. The
company has a set of rules and regulations that govern the process of working in these
departments (Woolworths, 2017). For example, drivers are not supposed to work under the
influence of drugs and are not supposed to drive beyond a certain speed limit. This makes it
easier for them to prevent accidents from happening. Protective gear is required for
employees working in the electrical department. This does not only apply to the internal
employees but also to contractors as well. The arrangement of the stores is always done in a
way that it does not endanger the lives of other people as they work or move around the store.
These safety measures are to be observed by all the employees at all times (Woolworths,
2017).
Advancement of a diversity agenda
Woolworths is a company that follows and respects diversity of the Australian society.
The recruitment process adopted by the company provides for equal opportunities for all the
employees regardless of race or gender. The same is the case when it comes to the career
development opportunities that the company provides. The code of ethics prohibits against
jokes, prejudices and insults that are not in line with the concept of diversity as outlined by
the company (Woolworths, 2017).
Encouragement of staff to stay in the organization

HRM PRACTICES 5
Woolworths has had to deal with a high turnover of employees in the organization as
they move for greener pastures in other companies. This has prompted the company to seek
ways through which it can reduce the high rate of turnover of employees and in the process
ensure that the best and most talented are retained. One of the ways of encouraging the
employees to remain in the organization is through the provision of career development
opportunities by promoting people from within the company. The employees are also
provided with numerous benefits such as discounts, retirement funding, healthcare plans,
educational assistance through training and scholarships, disability benefits as well as death
and funeral cover (Woolworths, 2017). Parental leave and the provision of fitness centers are
some of the benefits that are outlined by the company that help in retaining the employees in
the company. The employee engagement also improves job satisfaction and in the process
ensures that employee retention (Sawang & Kivits, 2014).
Conflict resolution
The HR department is mandated with the role of solving disputes that arise in various
departments. The conflicts can either be reported or observed by the HR department. The
conflicting parties are listened to before a decision is reached on what the two parties should
do. Woolworths also allows for collective bargaining of salaries by the union (Mortimer &
O’Connor, 2014).
Part 2
There are many things that the company in improving its HRM practices. The aim of
the improvement is to ensure that the company is able to deal with the excess turnover that

HRM PRACTICES 6
occurs in its stores. One of the things that the company should do is to offer competitive
salaries for the employees working in the organization that are in comparison with those
offered in other companies as well. This means that the HR department should analyze the
payment regimes of other retail companies in Australia and improve its salaries to make the
company competitive (Mortimer, & O’Connor, 2014).
The HR department should also expand the number of avenues that are used by the
company in advertising for jobs. Increasing the advertising avenues means that the company
will be able to attract a large pool of employees, which increases the chances of getting the
right or the best employees (Sablok, Stanton, Bartram, Burgess, & Boyle, 2017).
Consequently, job descriptions should clearly state the role of each employee. Research
shows that employees are better organized and produce a high performance if their skills are
well utilized at work. Sharing the responsibility has been pointed as an important thing to the
HR department. Leaders should be encouraged to adopt transformational leadership at all
times to ensure that they can develop the people they manage and at the same time harness the
talent of the entire staff (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2006).
The HR department should understand motivation to improve the performance of the
employees. The department should not focus on monetary based motivation but should focus
on better ways of motivating employees. One of the things that the HR department should do
is train the managers and leaders on how to coach and motivate the employees through
transformational leadership (Theriou & Chatzoglou, 2014). The company may also provide
incentives such as lunches, better parking or discounts for the employees. These will

HRM PRACTICES 7
encourage the employees to not only work hard but also commit to the company (Foster,
2013).
Performance management system in the company is underdeveloped. The company
should develop a performance appraisal system that should be implemented annually or
semiannually to allow the company determines the various gaps that exist in terms of skills
that the employees have (Sablok, Stanton, Bartram, Burgess, & Boyle, 2017). Combined with
the talent management program of the company, the appraisal system enables the company to
make better planning of the training and development program. Specific scorecards should be
developed for every department and should be used in analyzing the performance of the
employees in the organization by comparing their outcomes in different intervals. Training
and development should be based on the gaps that are identified by the HR department in the
appraisal system. It is also important to make sure that the HR department does not only
represent the company but also the employees as well (Foster, 2013).

HRM PRACTICES 8
References
Arli, V., Dylke, S., Burgess, R., Campus, R., & Soldo, E. (2013). Woolworths Australia and
Wal-Mart US: Best practices in supply chain collaboration. Journal of Economics,
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Foster, S. (2013). HR Ready: Creating Competitive Advantage through Human Resource
Management. Lulu. com.
Gibert, D. (2015). Risk management and recruitment Avoiding Frank Abagnale. Governance
Directions, 67(3), 154.
Mortimer, D., & O’Connor, C. (2014). Designing jobs: Universal principles or strategic
choice?. International Employment Relations Review, 20(2), 48.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2006). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage.
Sablok, G., Stanton, P., Bartram, T., Burgess, J., & Boyle, B. (2017). Human Resource
Development practices, Managers and Multinational Enterprises in Australia: thinking
globally, acting locally. Education+ Training, 59(5).
Sawang, S., & Kivits, R. A. (2014). Greener workplace: understanding senior management's
adoption decisions through the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Australasian Journal of
Environmental Management, 21(1), 22-36.

HRM PRACTICES 9
Theriou, G., & Chatzoglou, P. (2014). The impact of best HRM practices on performance–
identifying enabling factors. Employee Relations, 36(5), 535-561.
Woolworths. (2017). Employee benefits - WOW Careers. Retrieved from
http://www.wowcareers.com.au/page/Careers/Come_and_work_for_us/Employee_Be
nefits/