MBA401 Report: Woolworths - Improving Employee Engagement via HR

This report provides an analysis of Woolworths' human resource strategies, focusing on employee engagement. It examines the company's HR practices, including training and development, and identifies both positive and negative aspects. The report evaluates the current state of employee engagement at Woolworths, considering factors like flexible timing and employee engagement activities. Furthermore, it proposes a structured plan of initiatives to enhance employee engagement, such as placing employees in suitable roles, creating mentorship programs, applying Maslow's hierarchy of needs, conducting regular employee surveys, implementing 360-degree performance appraisals, and offering work-from-home options. The report concludes that prioritizing employee engagement is crucial for Woolworths to improve employee morale, reduce overhead costs, increase flexibility, and enhance overall productivity, ultimately strengthening its competitive advantage.

Running head: PEOPLE CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
People Culture and Contemporary Leadership
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1PEOPLE CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Executive Summary
The report has assisted and aided in understanding the employee engagement importance in
the workplace named Woolworths. The different kind of employee engagement practices has
been discussed that has helped in providing importance in the motivational and performance
appraisal methods. The different kind of assistance has been done that has helped in
understanding the strategies that can be applied by the company in improving the practices of
employee engagement in the respective organization.
The main aim and purpose of the report was to analyse the different kinds of practices of
employee engagement that can be applied by Woolworths. Woolworths Company needs to
analyse the current employee engagement practices and strategies that can help them in
solving the issues effectively.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Overview of Woolworths Organization.....................................................................................3
Identification of HR strategy of Woolworths.............................................................................4
Evaluation of HR practices in Woolworths...............................................................................4
Analysis of the current state of employee engagement..............................................................5
Structured plan of initiatives in increasing employee engagement............................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

3PEOPLE CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
Introduction
The report helps in analysing the human resource strategies of Woolworths that is
based in Australia. The growth, structure along with mission and vision has to be analysed in
an effectual manner that will help in evaluating the different kind of HR strategies. The
different kind of HR functions has to be analysed effectually that will help in understanding
policies along with different other relevant information.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to identify the different kind of overview of
the current state of the employee engagement has to be analysed effectively. The structured
plan will be included as this will help in increasing the engagement of the employees over
time.
The structure of the report includes the overview of the organization along with
analysis of the strategies of HR that exists within organization. The evaluation of the different
HR practices along with analysis of the employee engagement will be discussed as well.
Proper plan of the strategic initiatives has to be analysed in an effectual manner.
Overview of Woolworths Organization
Woolworths Supermarket is one the largest supermarket chains in the entire Australia
and it was founded in the year 1924 in the month of December (Woolworths.com.au. 2018).
The headquarters of Woolworths Supermarket is based in New South Wales wherein there
are more than 111,000 employees who are working under different stores of Woolworths in
Australia along with in New Zealand. The Woolworths Supermarket specializes in selling
different kind of groceries along with different kind of beauty and health products in an
effectual manner.
The main mission of the company is to satisfy the different customers and partners
with the shopping experience that is unique in nature by offering the different kind of quality

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along with prices and services that is based on commitment along with attention of the
employees. The vision of the respective organization is to be independent, innovative along
with sustainable cooperative wherein the different customers that will help them in able to
choose products at the reasonable prices. The core values of the Woolworths Supermarket are
to listen to the different customers along with employees and suppliers wherein they will
provide welfare along with sustainability through honesty along with commitment.
Identification of HR strategy of Woolworths
The HR strategy of Woolworths is to provide training along with development to the
employees and support the different kind of HR needs of the company that will help the
company in increasing morale of the employees of the organization. The human resource
department helps the company in insuring the operational success as this will help the
company in continuous improvement along with empowerment of the different employees as
well. The HR department of Woolworths mainly focuses on employees as this will help the
company in reducing the different kind of expenses of the company in an effectual manner
(Albdour and Altarawneh 2014).
Proper training and development of the employees has been done in Woolworths
wherein the recruitment of the employees is done as this will help the company in benefitting
the organization in recruiting suitable candidates for different departments effectually. The
job analysis and job description are done by the HR department of Woolworths wherein it
involves planning along with forecasting for hiring the new employees (Albrecht et al. 2015).
Evaluation of HR practices in Woolworths
There are different kind of HR practices that are present in Woolworths are as follows:
Sundown Rule
10-Foot Rule

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Teamwork
Open Door
Grass Roots Process
Servant Leadership
Conflict Resolution
These are the different kind of HR practices that has been adopted by Woolworths as
this will help the company in resolving the different conflicts among the individuals in the
company. However, there are different kind of issues as there are different kind of negative
HR practices that include the following:
Black Friday Protests
Discrimination against the women
Non-Unionization
Illogical kind of dress code for the employees
These are the different negative HR practices that has been included in the
Woolworths that has to be analysed in an effectual manner. The respective company needs to
implement different training and development programs wherein this will reduce such issues
and this will increase the diversity among the workforce as well. Proper ascertainment is
required to be done in an effectual manner in a global manner (Shuck and Reio Jr 2014).
Analysis of the current state of employee engagement
Employee engagement is the property of relationship between employees and the
organization. The engaged kind of employees in the organization is the one who focuses on
their work with an enthusiastic manner that will take positive action towards the entire
success of the organization as well. In Woolworths, the company has provided the employees

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with flex timing along with introducing employee engagement activities as well (Karanges et
al. 2015).
Woolworths tries to focus more on the good practices between the teams and this will
help the company in understanding the learning styles and preferences in an effective manner.
Proper effective learning strategies has been implemented by Woolworths wherein this has
helped the company in making the employees engaged with different activities of the
company effectually. Proper ascertainment has been done by Woolworths wherein it has been
seen that proper communication channels has been provided to the employees as this has
helped them in motivating the employees (Downey et al. 2015). The Maslow’s Hierarchy
theory has been applied by Woolworths wherein they have given importance to the
requirements of the individuals who are working in the company and tried to include the
different other schemes as well that will improve the employment engagement practices as
well (Mone and London 2018).
Structured plan of initiatives in increasing employee engagement
Firstly, put the employees in the right kind of role at work as this will help the
employees in achieving the company goals with implementation of their knowledge and

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strategies. Proper creation of in-house mentorship is required to be done by employees
wherein the employee engagement strategy will be effective in nature with the help of well-
defined internal kind of growth paths. The Maslow’s hierarchy theory can be applied by the
company as this will focus on the needs of the employees and this can improve and boost the
morale of the employees as well (Carasco-Saul, Kim and Kim 2015).
This kind of theory of motivation will create huge impact on the employees as this
will create positive differences in the tasks performed by the individuals in the organization.
The motivational theories can be applied in Woolworths that will provide huge amount of
enthusiasm and positivity in the tasks performed by them.
The employees have to be surveyed on a regular basis as this will create good
working relationships with the manager and this will create growth opportunities for the
professional growth of the employees as well. Proper 360-degree performance appraisal can
be applied by the company as this will include analysis of performance of individuals and
guide them in order to increase the productivity as well (Slack, Corlett and Morris 2015).
Proper criticisms will help the employees in understanding their weaknesses and this
will help them in understanding their weaknesses and turn them into their strengths in the
future as well. The respective method of performance appraisal will help the employees in
performing well as the appraisal methods will provide them different motivations such as
salary hike or providing them flexible timings to work in the office (Anitha 2014).
Lastly, the employees can be allowed to work from their home as this will help the
employees along with the organization in performing the tasks effectively and in a flexible
manner. The work from home concept can help the company in reducing the costs related to
overhead and this will provide the employee a perk that can help them in feeling motivated.
Herzberg’s theory of motivation can be applied by the company that will make them

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understand the different facilities provided to them and this will increase the overall
productivity of the entire organization as well.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that proper employee engagement is essential in nature
as this has helped the company in understanding the requirements of the employees. The
motivational approaches have been applied by the company in order to motivate the
employees and this has increased their morale as this created huge opportunities for them to
work in the organization with motivation. The feedback of the employees has been valued
and this created opportunities for the employees along with the organization to reduce the
overhead costs and increase the flexibility of the employees as well. Proper and accurate
motivational and performance appraisal methods have been applied by the company that has
been applied by company to increase their competitive advantage in the entire market.
Lastly, it has been seen that the employees have been able to work in the flexible kind
of environment that has helped the company and the employees in solving the different issues
and increase productivity effectively. The employee engagement has been provided with
accurate importance as this has helped in increasing morale of the employees in an effectual
manner.

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References
Albdour, A.A. and Altarawneh, I.I., 2014. Employee engagement and organizational
commitment: Evidence from Jordan. International Journal of Business, 19(2), p.192.
Albrecht, S.L., Bakker, A.B., Gruman, J.A., Macey, W.H. and Saks, A.M., 2015. Employee
engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An
integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, 2(1),
pp.7-35.
Anitha, J., 2014. Determinants of employee engagement and their impact on employee
performance. International journal of productivity and performance management, 63(3),
p.308.
Carasco-Saul, M., Kim, W. and Kim, T., 2015. Leadership and employee engagement:
Proposing research agendas through a review of literature. Human Resource Development
Review, 14(1), pp.38-63.
Downey, S.N., Werff, L., Thomas, K.M. and Plaut, V.C., 2015. The role of diversity
practices and inclusion in promoting trust and employee engagement. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, 45(1), pp.35-44.
Karanges, E., Johnston, K., Beatson, A. and Lings, I., 2015. The influence of internal
communication on employee engagement: A pilot study. Public Relations Review, 41(1),
pp.129-131.
Mone, E.M. and London, M., 2018. Employee engagement through effective performance
management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.

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Shuck, B. and Reio Jr, T.G., 2014. Employee engagement and well-being: A moderation
model and implications for practice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1),
pp.43-58.
Slack, R.E., Corlett, S. and Morris, R., 2015. Exploring employee engagement with
(corporate) social responsibility: A social exchange perspective on organisational
participation. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(3), pp.537-548.
Woolworths.com.au. (2018). Retrieved 6 April 2018, from https://www.woolworths.com.au/