Global Strategies for Managing a Diverse Workforce - Essay Example

0 Executive summary All the activities within an organisation are mainly driven by the efforts of the human resources working for that particular firm. The human resources management (HRM) practices within a particular organisation therefore, play a pivotal role in ensuring the growth and development of the organisation through the efforts of the other people. As such, this report seeks to evaluate different human resources related issues in the operations of Tesco, a UK based supermarket chain. The report begins by outlining the background and description of the human resources practices at Tesco followed by an analysis of different HR practices in this organisation which include the following: recruitment, retention, training and development as well as performance management. The report seeks to present a critical review of these issues whereby recommendations for resolving or improving upon the issues discussed will be given at the end. 2.0 Introduction According to Datamonitor (2004) “Tesco PLC is the largest food retailer in UK, operating around 2,318 stores worldwide. It operates around operates around 1,878 stores throughout the UK, and also operates stores in the rest of Europe and Asia.” Paton (2005) also states that “Tesco has 367,000 staff worldwide (250,000 of them in the UK), 2,365 stores (1,770 in the UK), sales of more than ?37bn, and last year reported pre-tax profits of just over ?2bn.” Tesco has an estimated 30 % of the market share in the grocery industry in UK. Currently, Tesco is rated as the number one chain supermarket in the UK grocery sector as a result of different strategies it has implemented over the years. Of notable concern is that Tesco’s workforce is comprised of diverse people from different backgrounds which entail that managing diversity is a virtue. The success of Tesco can be attributed to various factors but particular emphasis in this case is put on the human resources practices in this organisation. The report seeks to critically evaluate how different HR practices such as recruitment, retention, training and development as well as performance management are implemented in the organisation to ensure its viability. In this particular case, focus is on HRM which is about managing people who work in an organisation (Kleynhans, 2007). HRM deals with the group of people employed by a business or company which produces goods and services. The aim of managing human resources is to make the organisation successful as well as to help the employees to enjoy their work in a bid to steer the operations of the organisation towards the attainment of set organisational goals. The other aim of HRM is to help the employees to do their best while at the same time making sure that they receive suitable rewards for their work. Against this background, this report seeks to critically evaluate how different HR issues such as recruitment, retention, training and development as well as performance management are implemented at Tesco. These human resources practises play a complementary role to each other in that they are meant to positively influence the actions of the employees towards the attainment of the set organisational goals. In order to achieve the objectives of the organisation, the needs for the employees cannot be separated from this process. Thus, the HR approach is a system of HRM that recognises that the success of the organisation depends on its human resources (Kleynhans, 2007). Thus, HRM has become more important in organisations today than ever before. Whilst different companies have access to the same technology, during the contemporary period, it is the human resources that make a difference in companies being successful and achieving their organisational goals. HRM includes policies, functions, and systems that affect employee’s behaviour, attitudes and performance (Carell et al 1995). It is these HR practices that help the company gain the advantage over its competitors. Thus, the report will specifically focus on how Tesco is implementing these human resources related practices in its operations to gain a competitive advantage. 3.0 Literature review- Recruitment Recruitment can be described as “those activities in human resources management which are undertaken in order to attract sufficient job candidates who have the necessary potential, competencies and traits to fill job needs in order to assist the organisation in achieving its objectives.” (Swanepoel, 1998, p. 291) Thus, recruitment efforts seek to fulfil the needs of both the applicant as well as those of the organisation whereby the company seeks to retain the interest of suitable candidates. From this assertion, Pfeffer (1989) also concurs that companies which are serious about making profit through people ought to “expend the effort needed to ensure that they recruit the right people in the first place.” Basically, recruitment is the basic foundation of all HR processes in an organisation where the HRM seeks to attract people who are suitably qualified for different positions that could have arisen within a particular organisation. In this case, recruitment is one of the major HR practices employed by Tesco in its endeavours to fill the vacant job posts in. For instance, in 2005 alone the company sought to recruit 11,000 new employees having hired a similar number the previous year (Paton, 2005). The recruitment criteria used by this company is mainly directed at fulfilling the labour requirements of the company on the basis of knowledge, skill and experience. For instance, Tesco takes between 80 to 150 graduates each year to two training schemes, one store and one office based (Paton, 2005). The main aim of this strategy is that it seeks to select the right candidates that can be groomed to take up different strategic positions within the organisation. The recruitment process at Tesco is mainly influenced by the need to attract the best candidates who have the relevant knowledge as well as skills to meaningfully contribute to the overall performance of the organisation as a whole. Tesco uses the following methods in its recruitment efforts: in-store advertising, events in local areas, and recommendations from existing employees through an employee referral scheme (Paton, 2005). In most cases, interviews are conducted by the line managers so as to be able to build loyalty among the employees. There are different methods of recruitment and an organisation can choose to recruit staff from within the organisation or externally. Thus, the recruitment process can be described as the steps the company need to take to make sure that the right individuals end up with the right company in the right job so that the company’s overall goals can be achieved (Kleynhans, 2007). At Tesco, the organisation has underscored to use the internal method of recruiting the employees since there are some benefits to this method such as cost effectiveness. Individuals are given the opportunity to rate themselves and establish if they are suitable for the job hence it can be noted that the recruitment strategy used by Tesco is flexible in that all the employees will be aware of their weaknesses hence know the measures that can be put in place to improve their performance. 3.1 Retention Having recruited the right people to the organisation, it remains the task of the HRM to ensure that they put measures in place that are meant to retain the selected employees to the organisation. The long term survival of the organisation is mainly determined by its ability to treat the employees as valuable assets such that they will have a sense of belonging to the organisation and will be loyal in the long run. Swanepoel (1998) suggests that to encourage valuable staff members to remain, the compensation system must provide sufficient rewards for these employees to feel satisfied when they compare these rewards with their counterparts doing the same jobs in other organisations. As can be noted, the most basic dimension of any employment relationship revolves around the economic dimension. An important part of HRM is therefore concerned with this economic dimension related to pay and remuneration as a way of retaining the employees to continue working for the organisation. Compensation has always stood at the heart of any employment relationship where economic benefits are considered to be desirable in satisfying individual needs or goals (Grobler et al 2006). Satisfaction of the individual needs can range from basic needs such as food and shelter to higher needs such as power, achievement and esteem. In order to retain the skilled workers to the organisation, the management should put measures that are meant to ensure that the employees get compensation that is commensurate with their job positions as well as performance given that the aspect of compensation mainly depends on the nature of the job. Compensation management has become a complex and specialised HR function and it must be emphasised from the outset that there is no one best reward system that will work for every organisation (Swanepoel, 1998). The most important thing is that the organisation should choose its best way to put in place so as to be better positioned to retain its key staff as this is beneficial with regards to cost reduction particularly in hiring and training the employees. In view of the aspect of retention, it can be noted that Tesco had a staff turnover of about 29.9% around 2002 (Paton, 2005). However, Glickman, a senior member of the chain store said that though there are no recent statistics about turnover in the organisation, Tesco’s rate is below the average industry which is around 33 %. It can be noted that Tesco offers a variety of flexible working conditions such as maternity and paternity leave, career breaks, job shares and shift-swaps (Paton, 2005). The organisation also has pension schemes as well as a share ownership scheme which is meant to ensure that the workers benefit financially from such initiatives. Once the employees are assured that they will benefit from certain programs offered by the organisation, there are likely chances that they will stay longer within it which is the essence of employee retention. Retention of employees is important in that skilled and experienced workers will stay longer in the organisation which gives the company a competitive advantage over the other players in the same industry. 3.2 Training and development In order to constantly upgrade the skills of the employees in a dynamic environment, training and development is very important. According to (Swanepoel et al 1998, p. 191), “Employee training is job related learning that is provided by the employers for their employees and the aim is improvement of the employees’ skills, knowledge and attitude so that they can perform their duties according to the set standards.” On the other hand, Kleynhans (2007) posits to the effect that development is related to training, education and other intentional or unintentional learning which often results in growth through learning. Through training and development, employees can improve their skills which can result in better performance which can lead to the growth of the organisation as a whole. The other notable advantage of training and development is that the employees will gain hands on experience on their job which positively contributes to their performance. On the job training and development can be in the form of coaching and mentoring. Mentoring is a very important support tool that an organisation can use to help young inexperienced employees to develop a better understanding of the work through the guidance of an older, more experienced employee or mentor (Jackson and Schuler, 2000). Coaching on the other hand is a planned one on one instruction method employed where the coach sets a good example of the standard expectations within the operations of the organisation (Kleynhans, 2007). Both coaching and mentoring are very important elements of training and development of the employees since there are likely chances that mutual understanding can be created between the parties involved which can enhance their skills development. Through staff development and training, all the employees will share the same vision of the organisation and will put optimum performance in their operations. According to Holmes (2010), Angela Baron, employee engagement adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said that while the “HR function is not represented at board level at Tesco the retailer has "some very good practices" especially in training and development. “Most of the training at Tesco is delivered in-house or in-store by the training or personal manage and for instance, at a group level, training is co-ordinated by the central personnel team and the 'Tesco Academy', which oversees the design of programmes.” (Paton, 2005) Training is divided into three categories within stores and these are bronze: which is basic training based on developing core skills, such as health and safety or hygiene, alongside specific departmental skills, Silver which is about developing product knowledge or stock processes and gold which is aimed at encouraging people to become experts in their field (Paton, 2005). The management has its own scheme called options and it can be noted that Tesco has an estimated average of 4.5 million hours per year that are devoted to training. From this information about Tesco, it can be authoritatively said that Tesco fully implements this HR function of offering training and development to improve the performance of the employees. 3.3 Performance management In order to establish the extent to which the organisation is meeting its set organisational goals, there is need to manage performance. Performance management is mainly concerned with improving the results at the level of the individual, team and the organisation; the process is owned and driven by the line managers (Schultz et al, 2005). Thus, the active involvement of the leader of the organisation in performance management is a prerequisite for any successful performance management system. Performance is mainly concerned with what people say or do in an organisation and this action should be directed towards the attainment of the set organisational goal. In this regard, good managers often indicate the performance expectations and will consistently follow up to the tasks that have been assigned to see if there is conformity with the set goals. In as far as performance management is concerned, the line manager should ensure that the operations of the other employees are in compliance with the set organisational goals on a daily basis. In order to achieve this feat, there is need for the management to come up with a performance management system that documents the goals of the individual and these are linked to the organisation’s strategy (Schultz et al, 2005). The managers must be able to set realistic goals for different employees which can be attainable and there will be need to put a mechanism in place that will ensure that there is compliance with the goals on behalf of the employee. The manager ought to clarify the expectations to the employee to ensure that he understands everything and he should be in a position as well to facilitate performance. It is the role of the manager to facilitate the activities of the employees so that they will conform to the set organisational goals. Performance management also involves monitoring of individual performance in the organisation (Schultz, 2005). The manager ought to directly observe the operations of all the employees and provide feedback in order to allow the people to improve their performance by having their weaknesses being pointed out which is followed by support. In view of this HR practice, it can be noted that Tesco fully implements this strategy in its operations. According to Paton (2005), all the employees have an annual performance review which is set at the beginning of every year in the personal development plan which is discussed with the line manager. This information obtained from the annual performance review is then incorporated into Tesco's talent-spotting process whereby individual employees with outstanding talents will be selected to undergo some training and promotion in a bid to constantly improve the performance of the employees for the betterment of the organisation as a whole. In view of the same model of performance management discussed above, employees at Tesco often demand to get feedback from their managers. The organisation also has a programme popularly known as TWIST (Tesco Week In Store Together) where the senior management seeks to obtain first hand information related to the impact of their policies on the performance of the employees and Tesco also uses a balanced scorecard approach to management (Paton, 2005). All these strategies implemented by Tesco are ideals that characterise typical performance management as discussed above. 4.0 Findings and analysis The findings of this section of the report are mainly based on secondary research by Paton (2005) and Holmes (2010) detailing the application of HR elements in the operations of Tesco. Full details of their studies can be viewed in appendix 1 and 2. Broadly speaking, Tesco has sound HR policies in its operations and these play a pivotal role in ensuring that the organisation fulfils the needs of the employees while remaining viable to meet the set organisational goals. There are different HR strategies that are employed by the organisation and these are commendable in as far as growth and development through the efforts of the other people are concerned. From the secondary research conducted, it can be noted that organisations that are particularly concerned about their growth should effectively utilise the different HR strategies to appeal to the needs and interests of the people so that they can put optimum performance in their operations. However, there are some shortcomings in the in some of the strategies employed by Tesco as going to be explained below. The recruitment criteria used by Tesco shows that it mainly relies on filling its job posts from within the organisation. For instance, Tesco can ask checkout staff to help identify and recruit extra manpower during festive seasons when shops are expected to be very busy. On the other hand, all the interviews are conducted by line managers to help build loyalty (Paton, 2005). This strategy has got its own advantages and flaws in as much as recruitment is concerned. The main advantage of internal staffing is that the organisation will be better positioned to retain experienced workers already working. By virtue of recruiting from workers already employed by the company, Tesco does not worst a lot of resources and money through the external recruitment process which may be costly. Indeed, it is a noble idea to minimise costs in as much as recruitment is concerned but there is need to widen the net. In other words, this strategy is cost effective given that the organisation will not spend a fortune on training the new recruits since they will have hands on experience on different tasks within the supermarket chain. In most cases, the recruitment process is very costly given that the company will need to flight advertisements then select the right candidates which will ultimately lead to hiring as well as training on the job. The process is usually long and it is costly to the organisation hence the strategy implemented by Tesco in this particular case to recruit from within the organisation is commendable since it helps the organisation to focus on its core business while retaining key staff to important positions within the organisation. However, the main weakness of this strategy is that Tesco can miss out on getting better qualified and experienced people from the external environment by mainly focusing on the internal pool of human resources within the organisation. There ought to be diversity in the workplace so as to maximise the chances of attracting great talent from different angles. There are some people who possess high qualification as well as experience who may be willing to join the organisation but they may miss out on this opportunity. There is no probation or trial period in the operations of Tesco. “If we think you are the right person to be hired, then we are committed to you,” said Catherine Glickman, personnel services director. One main shortcoming of this strategy is that the selected person may not possess the required skills given that some information obtained from the resume may be distorted. One weakness in not implementing probation programmes is that some of the workers may assume to know everything while they do not. In actual fact, this is likely to have a negative bearing on the performance of the employees as they may not be able to meet the expected standard operations. It is always important for every organisation to have short probation courses so as to ensure that the new recruits are able to acclimatise to the new environment within the organisation. Indeed, there are full training courses offered but short induction courses are also very important as they allow the employees to get a clear picture of the organisation as well as the expected standards of performance. According to Holmes (2010), Angela Baron, employee engagement adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said that while the “HR function is not represented at board level at Tesco the retailer has "some very good practices" covering customer service, staff recruitment and retention. However, of concern is the issue that HR activities should be spread evenly across the whole board of the organisation. Understanding issues related to human resources management is very important in the day to day operations of an organisation since the employees are the major assets who drive the operations of that particular company. It has also been observed that employee involvement in the operations of the organisation is very important in as far as performance is concerned. If the employees are involved in the goal setting process, they will become part of it and they will also put optimum performance in their operations. According to the findings from secondary research, workers are likely to be productive if they are given feedback from their supervisors as well as managers as they will be better positioned to make changes according especially in areas they may be lagging behind. 5.0 Conclusion Over and above, it can be note that all the activities within an organisation are mainly driven by the efforts of the human resources working for that particular firm. HR functions in this particular case play a pivotal role in the growth and development of the organisation especially through the efforts of the other people. Thus, this report sought to critically evaluate the extent to which different human resources related issues are applied to Tesco in its day to day operations. Four aspects of HR issues namely; recruitment, retention, training and development as well as performance management were evaluated in the literature review section of the study. It has been observed that recruitment is one of the major HR practices employed by Tesco in its endeavours to fill the vacant job posts in. For instance, in 2005 alone the company sought to recruit 11,000 new employees and it mainly relies on internal methods of recruitment. It has also been observed that Tesco has retention schemes that are meant to motivate the employees to improve their performance while at the same time motivating them to stay longer in the organisations. In as far as training and development are concerned, it can be noted that most of the training at Tesco is delivered in-house or in-store by the training or personal manage and for instance, at a group level, training is co-ordinated by the central personnel team and the 'Tesco Academy', which oversees the design of programmes.” (Paton, 2005) This is testimony that Tesco effectively implements different aspects of HR related issues in its day to day operations. Performance management is also another important aspect of HR that is utilised by Tesco to ensure that the activities of the employees are in compliance with the set organisational goals. Besides implementing some of these HR related issues to its operations, it has been noted that more needs to be done in order to continue improving the operations of the organisations. As such, recommendations given below have been suggested for Tesco. 6.0 Recommendations From the findings through secondary research, it has been noted that Tesco’s recruitment method is internally based. Whilst there are advantages for this method, it can be seen that to a certain extent, there are also some flaws with this method of selection. For instance, experienced as well as skilled people from outside the organisation can be excluded from this recruitment process since they are not covered. There are chances that the organisation may be losing out on the opportunity to attract talented employees from the external environment. As such it is recommended that the company should embark on a drive to outsource some of the HR functions especially recruitment of skilled and experienced workers. According to Heneman & Judge (2006, p. 633), “outsourcing refers to contracting work to a vendor or third party administrator to perform the tasks that could be done by the organisation itself. This means that the functions of the whole human resources department in particular can be done by an outside company.” In as much as outsourcing is concerned, staffing activities such as seeking temporary employees, executive search, skills testing as well as assessing employee backgrounds can be given to third parties which may have experience in soliciting services of this nature on behalf of the companies (Kleynhans, 2007). This can allow the organisation to concentrate on its core business such as motivating the employees in order for them to improve their performance which contributes to the productivity of the organisations. The other advantage of outsourcing is that costs in the recruitment efforts are reduced given that the organisation will only pay a fixed amount to the third party. The other advantage of this strategy is that the third parties have experience in head hunting for experienced people from the external environment and these can bring in a wealth of experience to the organisation. When the organisation resorts to outsourcing, it will be able to gather as much information as possible about different candidates and it will be able to select the best from a pool of available candidates. It is therefore recommended that Tesco should recruit both from within the organisation and outside so as to maximise the chances of attracting highly skilled as well as experienced employees. According to the findings from Holmes research, Angela Baron, employee engagement adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said that while the “HR function is not represented at board level at Tesco the retailer has "some very good practices" covering customer service, staff recruitment and retention. Indeed, the HR practice at Tesco is commendable but it should expand to cover the board level as well. For instance, the story reads: “Tesco's HR team will face significant change management challenges following chief executive Terry Leahy's retirement, according to experts.” This can be attributed to the fact that the organisation has no measures in place deal with such incidences involving senior members of the organisation leaving the company. There may be a void created which may be difficult to fill within a short period of time hence it is recommended that Tesco should put measures in place that will ensure that the company does not face viability problems as a result of the departure of one key figure. Angela Baron therefore suggested that "Effective succession planning is critical, especially if the person is strongly associated with the brand.” In as far as HR issues are concerned, the company should take note that they are not only limited to lower level positions within the organisation. (4575 Words) Bibliography Carrell, Richard et al .1995, Human Resources Management: Global Strategies for managing a diverse workforce, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, NJ. Grobler, P et al 2006, Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition, Thompson Learning, London. Heneman, H, 2006, Staffing Organisation, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill International Edition, Boston. Holmes, B 09 June 2010 10:13, Tesco HR team to face change management challenges after Leahy retirement, viewed 16 April, 2011, Kay, D & Hinds, R 2005, A practical guide to mentoring, 2nd Edition, How to books, London. Kleynhans, R et al 2007, Human Resource Management: fresh perspectives, Prentice Hall, CT. Pfeffer, J 1998, The Human equation: Building profits by putting people first, Harvard Business School Press, Boston: MA. Paton, N 5July 2005, Supermarket sweep: Tesco, viewed 16 April, 2011, Rossouw, D,et al 2003, Strategic management, NAE, CT. Schultz, et al 2003, Organisational behaviour, Van Schaik Publishers, CT. Susan, EJ & Randal, S 2000, Managing Human Resources: A Partnership Perspective, South Western College Publishing, NY. Swanepoel, BJ 1998, Human resources management: Theory and practice, Juta, CT. TESCO PLC, 2004, Company Overview, viewed 16 April, 2011, Wener, et al 2003, Organisational behaviour, Van Shaik Publishers, Pretoria. Zeus, P & Skiffington, S 2002, The coaching at work toolkit: A complete guide to techniques and practices, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Appendix 1 Source < http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2010/06/09/55876/tesco-hr-team-to-face-change-management-challenges-after-leahy-retirement.html > Tesco HR team to face change management challenges after Leahy retirement Beth Holmes 09 June 2010 10:13 Tesco's HR team will face significant change management challenges following chief executive Terry Leahy's retirement, according to experts. Leahy has been at the helm of the UK's largest supermarket chain for more than 13 years and was the mastermind behind its rise to own a 30% of the UK market. He will step down in March 2011 at the age of 55 and be succeeded by current head of international operations and IT, Philip Clarke. Clarke will bring his own brand of leadership to the 500,000 staff worldwide, with 250,000 in the UK across almost 2,500 stores. Tesco, which made a pre-tax profit of ?3.2bn in its last financial year, saw its shares drop 2.4% following the announcement, but it is not just investors who are liable to wobble at the end of such a long and successful tenure, experts warned. Angela Baron, employee engagement adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said: "Effective succession planning is critical, especially if the person is strongly associated with the brand. There needs to be an effective handover. Obviously, the new chief executive will want to assert himself but there should be a reflective period. It's a tricky role for a successor." Managing board members who missed out on the top job will be one of the major challenges, Baron predicted. "Team coaching for the board can help," she said. "Research has shown that cohesiveness of the top team is important. Even if there had been a power struggle, you would hope they could regroup and re-gel, because infighting within the top team is really damaging." This point was echoed by Michael Rendell, partner and head of HR services at professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Even with big changes at the top, there's always a little bit of the changing of the guard, and HR must be a good, strong coach to all those individuals who, alongside the winners, don't get the position they deserve," he said. "HR must manage expectations, support line managers and act appropriately at all times." The key for any HR department dealing with the departure of a charismatic chief executive is communication, according to Rendell. "A chief executive leaving any organisation creates huge expectation about change. It can be positive but also unsettling," he said. "It's important the HR teams communicate clearly what they might do. A period of silence, however benign, is the worst thing to do. At every level, HR must be upfront." While the HR function is not represented at board level at Tesco, Baron said the retailer has "some very good practices" covering customer service, staff recruitment and retention. "There are people at the top who are aware of the personnel issues and give full support to the HR function," she added. Appendix 2 Source Supermarket sweep: Tesco Paton, N 05 July 2005 07:00 Nic Paton profiles top supermarkets Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's, and looks at their HR strategies and what they have planned for the future Tesco If Tesco was big three years ago when Personnel Today last looked at the sector (240,000 staff worldwide and the UK's largest private sector employer), now its statistics are mind-boggling. It has 367,000 staff worldwide (250,000 of them in the UK), 2,365 stores (1,770 in the UK), sales of more than ?37bn, and last year reported pre-tax profits of just over ?2bn. It also has an estimated 30% of the UK grocery market. Tesco now ranges far beyond food, offering services including banking, flower delivery, online diets, legal advice, DVD rental and telecoms. There have even been suggestions that it might branch out into estate agency. It operates in 13 countries and is the market leader in six. By the end of the year, Tesco intends to test two purely non-food stores in Manchester and Aberdeen. First under Sir Iain (now Lord) Mac-Laurin, and since 1997 with Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco's march has seemed inexorable and, to its critics, unstoppable. When it first overtook Sainsbury's in 1995, analysts predicted the lead was Tesco's to lose rather than Sainsbury's to recapture. The chain has rarely put a foot wrong since. Recruitment Tesco aims to recruit 11,000 new employees this year, having hired a similar number last year. It takes on between 80 to 150 graduates each year to two training schemes, one store and one office based. Common recruitment methods include in-store advertising, events in local areas, and recommendations from existing employees through an employee referral scheme. Last year, for instance, Tesco asked checkout staff to help identify and recruit 12,000 temporary Christmas staff. Interviews are conducted by the line manager to help build loyalty and buy-in to the decision. There is no probation or trial period. “If we think you are the right person to be hired, then we are committed to you,” according to personnel services director, Catherine Glickman. People can also 'job sample' - trying out jobs for a short time to see whether working for Tesco is for them. Retention Three years ago, staff turnover was said to be 29.9%. Now, no specific figure was available but, says Glickman, turnover is below the industry average of around 35%. Looking at the age spectrum, one in five staff are over 50 and Tesco employs more than 30,000 students. Last year, it also became the first business to set targets for the recruitment of disabled people. The chain prides itself on people staying with the company - Leahy himself joined straight from university in 1979. Tesco offers a wide range of flexible working options, including maternity and paternity leave, career breaks, job shares and shift-swaps. It has a company pension, plus a share ownership scheme, which, in March, shared out ?220m. Tesco also hit the headlines earlier this year when it said it was testing a scheme where workers are not paid for the first three days they are off sick. But the chain insisted this was as much a retention issue as a crackdown on absence, arguing staff were also being offered extra holiday and a voucher scheme to reward those who did not take time off. Training and development Most training is delivered in-house or in-store by training or personnel managers. At a group level, training is co-ordinated by the central personnel team and the 'Tesco Academy', which oversees the design of programmes. Within stores, training is split into three levels. Bronze is basic training based on developing core skills, such as health and safety or hygiene, alongside specific departmental skills. Silver is about developing product knowledge or stock processes, and gold is aimed at encouraging people to become experts in their field. For management, there is a scheme called Options, which is designed to give shop staff the skills and experience to develop into managers. On average, its retail staff receive more than 4.5 million hours of training each year, Tesco estimates. Performance management All staff have an annual performance review and work towards a personal development plan, with objectives set at the beginning of the year. They also have a career discussion with their line manager. This is then fed into Tesco's talent-spotting process, where all senior managers within the team will sit down to plan any moves within teams or departments. At a conference last year, Leahy said one in 10 staff were being targeted for training and promotion. “People want feedback, and they want it from their boss,” says Glickman. There is also the TWIST (Tesco Week In Store Together) programme, where senior management regularly go out on to the shop or departmental floor to find out what impact their policies are having. Tesco uses a balanced scorecard approach to management through its 'Steering Wheel' programme. Managers monitor customers, operations, staff and finances using a traffic light system to denote meeting targets and finding problems. HR factfile The HR team has 50 employees, split between its Cheshunt headquarters and stores and depots around the country. Outside head office, there is a personnel manager within each big store, a manager to cover a cluster of smaller stores, and then group managers to co-ordinate HR issues at a wider level. There is also a group team that deals with HR issues within the international operations and a senior group HR team sets policies and processes. Group personnel director, Clare Chapman, is not on the board, but reports directly into Leahy. She also sits on Tesco's People Matters Group - a board-level group that meets fortnightly. The main HR challenges over the past few years, and looking forward, says personnel services director Catherine Glickman, continues to be finding and getting the most out of leaders, both current and future. “When I joined in the 1990s, Tesco tended still to be operationally and finance driven. Now it has been transformed into a customer-driven business. The people plan is as serious and heavyweight as the customer, finance or operational plans,” she says. Read More