The Analysis of Food Lion from a Human Resources Perspective - Research Paper Example

Section/# The Case of Food Lion from a Human Resources Perspective Food Lion Organizational Overview: History, Growth, Employees, Revenue, and Store Representation: Founded in 1953, Food Lion is a joint of Belgian – American grocer that has specifically integrated and grown within the southeastern market over the past several decades. Currently, Food Lion exhibits over 1117 different stores and has a combined yearly revenue in excess of $17.3 billion. Additionally, as a result of this size, the brand employees 73,000 employees and is represented in 15 states in the “mid Atlantic region (Food Lion, 2014). As with all branches, Food Lion has been specifically interested in expanding within the United States and overseas; currently being represented in over 70 countries and seeking to integrate with the Midwestern and Western markets of grocery retail; rather than forever being attributed to the southeast/mid Atlantic region. Mission Statement and Analysis: The mission statement of Food Lion reads as follows: “Food Lions mission is to ensure that we remain the low price leader in the supermarket industry without compromising quality or customer satisfaction” (Delhaize, n.d.). Naturally, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary for the human resources Department/organization to ensure that the needs of employees are met, a culture is defined, and effective policies which relate to this mission statement can be trained on and affected. Rather than understanding Food Lion’s mission statement as something of a separate issue to human resources, it must be understood and appreciated that human resources are integral in seeking to accomplish the goals that the mission statement sets forward. Assess the common HR challenges facing this organization (e.g., high turn-over, low wages, lack of skilled workers, etc.). Recommend an HR strategy you would implement to overcome the challenges assessed.  The core problem that Food Lion faces is the fact that it primarily hires low wage earners that have very few marketable skills. As a direct result of this, Food Lion experiences an extraordinarily high turnover rate; as individuals soon a look for other jobs that are more lucrative based upon the skills and valuable work experience that have gained while working at Food Lion. This extends not only to individuals responsible for inventory control, customer relations, and warehouse work, it encompasses the full gamut of logistics and supply that the Food Lion brand leverages each and every day as a function of encouraging further profitability. However, rather than coming to accept the fact that Food Lion is due to continually experienced high turnover rates from these low-wage earners, there are human resources tactics that can be utilized as a function of decreasing this overall problem. Whereas the mission statement indicates that Food Lion is serving as a low-cost leader, it is also clear and apparent that the brand is not the position to raise salaries as a function of encouraging further stakeholder support and decreasing the rates of turnover (Gronsby, 2011). With this understood, several key strategies will be promoted within the following section which will ultimately assist Food Lion in reducing rates of turnover, increasing employee loyalty, and providing a career path that these individuals can continue to follow rather than looking outside of the Food Lion brand for future career opportunity. The first approach that the human resources department could effectively engage is with respect to providing a training program that leads to definitive ends and metrics. For instance, when and employee first begins work at Food Lion, it should not be under the consideration or understanding that this particular position is terminal. Instead, the employee should be briefed with regard to the career advancement opportunities and training that Food Lion offers as a function of improving upon the overall productivity and efficiency that Food Lion’s human resources can provide. As such, the development of a training curriculum is essential in seeking to accomplish these goals. However, rather than merely creating meaningless metrics that create and efficiency loss, the Food Lion chain should seek to engage its employees based upon their ultimate career desires and whether or not they wish to train in a particular area of grocery store development. In such a way, the brand is able to engage the new employee with the understanding that they are a valuable contribution to the organization and can be provided with effective tools that they can promote their own career development and seek to improve their career in the future. In tandem with this training program, it is also essential for Food Lion to recognize the fact that the majority of its management positions are filled by individuals from outside the Food Lion brand. An overview of market best practices indicate that the firms which experience the greatest degree of success are invariably those that seek to hire from within and develop existing talent top there are a number of benefits to creating such a dynamic; not the least of which is the fact that individuals that are hired from within ultimately understand the culture of the organization to a more full and complete degree and can “the ground running” with whatever directives or missions their management might seek to engage them with in the future. Moreover, such an approach is also beneficial with respect to the first issue that has been denoted and provides employees with an existing framework by which they can attempt to further their careers and see the Food Lion brand as potentially beneficial to their long-term career needs. Whereas it is true that the changes which have been specified within this analysis of thus far will not come free of charge, it is the understanding of this particular analyst that the cost of implementing these strategies is significantly lower than the cost of lost efficiency and productivity that the Food Lion brand recognizes each and every quarter as a direct result of the high rate of employee turnover and the need to continually train new individuals on processes that require nearly continual focus by management. By freeing up the training resources that the human resources Department of Food Lion provides for ongoing entry-level training, the creation of ongoing career development training is made possible. In a sense, it is expected that this level of training will be somewhat more expensive as compared to the continual new entry training that has thus far been illustrated; however, the long-term costs of providing this level of training will more than be made up in the sense of increased efficiency, engagement, and more owl within the company. The issue of morality necessarily leads to the third and final recommendation that this particular analysis will put forward. Ultimately, Food Lion is competing within a saturated market that is dominated by the likes of Philo, Kroger, Publix, and a litany of other supermarket chains. Because of this, Food Lion is seeking a way to differentiate itself from these players while at the same time remaining relevant within the market that they compete. In order to achieve this dual function, the human resources department could also engage in a cultural shift that would cost a relatively small amount of money. For instance, a cursory review of the grocery store market indicates that the more owl within employees and the understanding of culture between different grocers is extremely low. As such, Food Lion could capitalize upon this weakness by seeking to implement a new culture that would more effectively engage its employees and helped to differentiate the firm from the many other entrants that have thus far been elaborated upon within this analysis. More specifically, the culture of Food Lion could be promoted by encouraging a level of recommendations from stakeholders, being mindful of human resources best practices, and seeking to promote the overall welfare of the stakeholders without directly raising salaries (Williams, 2011). Within such a manner, employees could be made aware of the fact that Food Lion is dedicated to promoting the welfare and seeking to provide them a safe work environment that is cognizant of many of the threats they face. Holding seminars, providing targeted direction with respect to the creation of potential within the workforce, and being mindful of the changes within the external marketplace are all essential components of how a change in culture to reshape the way in which Food Lion is perceived by its internal stakeholders. Determine how effective your recommendation above will be to making the organization more competitive.  The recommendations that have thus far been indicated are of course all concentric upon improving the human resources dynamic that is illustrated within the Food Lion brand. However, it must not be lost upon the reader that each of these changes have a definitive impact with respect to the way in which food lion Brand is understood by the consumer and engages within the marketplace. Ultimately, the recommendations that have been provided do not affect measurable negative impacts with respect to any of these considered groups. Instead, it is likely that a change in culture, a change in management approach, and a change in career advancement within Food Lion will promote a renewed level of loyalty within the employee; thereby being referenced within the external environment by an increased level of customer satisfaction based upon the fact that more satisfied and fulfilled employees will be the most likely to promote best practices of customer service (Carreyrou, 2000). Delving into an even further degree of specificity, it can clearly be noted that Food Lion’s main competitors do not illustrate any of the three programs that have been encouraged as recommended strategies for the human resources department within this analysis. As such, the high rate of employee turnover that Food Lion experiences is not only unique reliance; instead, it is exhibited industry-wide within grocers that focus upon seeking to provide quality products at a rock-bottom price to the end consumer (Keslo, 2012). As such, rather than continuing to compete within this old dynamics, Food Lion can consider its mission statement as a function of changing the way in which it engages with its employees. Whereas it is not possible for Food Lion to further reduce prices to a measurable degree, it is possible for it to develop its own workforce and provide a culture of achievement and possible career advancement that will allow Food Lion to become a more organizationally effective entity. Conclusion: As can be noted, the changes that are being encouraged will take time and will necessarily demand a clear strategic approach from upper management in order to affect on a store by store basis. However, even though the expense of this will be relatively higher within the short term, it is the firm belief and understanding of this analyst that the long-term benefits of such a level of employee engagement will be felt positively with respect to the way in which Food Lion will engage a new level of differentiation from the litany of other brands of that compete within the grocery store market. Rather than exhibiting a situation in which a continual stream of employees, who invariably made at or close to minimum wage, coming in and out of the Food Lion employment structure, the situation can be engaged in which a robust and definitive culture provides for career advancement and training which encourage more and more talented young professionals to maintain their affiliation and cooperation with the Food Lion brand throughout the course of their career. These approaches have a degree of synergy; due to the fact that individuals within the job market will soon come to realize that the employment opportunities that Food Lion offers, at least compared to its immediate competition, are far superior as compared to the employment options that are offered by other firms. Within such an understanding, more and more talented employees will choose to leverage the opportunities that Food Lion is seeking to offer them; rather than shifting from job to job and merely utilizing Food Lion as a means of creating an effective skill set of basic proficiency. References Carreyrou, J. (2000, November 17). Belgiums Delhaize in the American Market. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition. p. B6. Delhaize America. (n.d.). Delhaize America | Supermarket News. Retrieved from http://supermarketnews.com/retailers/delhaize-america Food Lion. (2014, July 1). Food Lion Corporate. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from http://www.foodlion.com/Corporate/CoreValues Gronsby, M. (2011, June). Delhaize America Inc. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition. p. C14. Keslo, A. (2012, September 7). How one QSR maintains a low employee turnover rate | QSRWeb. Retrieved from http://www.qsrweb.com/articles/how-one-qsr-maintains-a-low-employee-turnover-rate/ Williams, G. (2010, September 8). COMPANY NEWS. New York Times. p. C3. Read More