Workforce Recruitment, Retention, and Development at Tesco - Example

Workforce Recruitment, Retention and Development at Tesco Name Course Tutor’s Name Date Workforce Recruitment, Retention and Development at Tesco Introduction As the largest supermarket chain in the UK, Tesco acts as one of the largest employers in the country’s private sector, and has more than 280,000 employees at any one time. Worldwide, the employee base at Tesco is estimated to be more than 460,000. The purpose of this essay of to discuss how the company conducts its workforce recruitment, retention and development processes. The essay is based on Tesco’s documents including online reports and other supporting literature. The essay notes that Tesco relies on workforce planning to determine its workforce needs. Workforce recruitment, retention and development are then done based on prevailing organisational needs. Recruitment According to The Times 100 (2009a), recruitment takes place “from the point when a business decides that it needs to employ somebody up to the point where a pile of completed application forms have arrived” (para. 1). Accordingly, when Tesco creates new jobs by opening new stores, changing technologies or processes, or when vacancies arise due to some employees leaving, Tesco embarks on recruitment in order to find the right people with the right skills and competencies to fill up the vacancies (The Times 100 2013). To start with, Tesco establishes whether there are current employees who may be interested in existing positions. The foregoing is done by advertising internally on the company’s intranet and reviewing all applications sent by existing employees. In cases where no internal candidate is found suitable for existing vacancies, external recruitment is done through online and offline advertisement (The Times 100 2013). During recruitment, details such as duties and responsibilities, qualifications, salary, location of work, how to apply, required experience, and closing date for the applications are indicated. When viewed from the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, the inclusion of the aforementioned factors is meant to appeal to those applicants who feel that the job description and its provisions can fulfil some of their unmet needs. An internal candidate will most likely be applying for an existing job in the hope of satisfying an unmet need higher on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. An external candidate may on the other hand be looking to fulfil psychological needs, which are located at the bottommost part of the hierarchy. Still, external candidates may be seeking to fulfil needs that are high on the hierarchy. Upon receiving applications from either internal or external candidates, Tesco embarks on selection, which involves sorting and identifying the right candidate for the job. Retention Employee retention refers to the proportion of employees who remain with a company within a specific period (Evans 2003). The average staff retention is around 80% in most companies according to Evans (2003); Tesco however reports an employee retention rate of 90% (Tesco 2013). If the foregoing percentages are to be believed, it therefore means that Tesco has an above average employee retention rate. It is thus important to investigate how Tesco achieves this. It has been argued that companies which have better organisational culture register high staff retention rates (Mone 1994). Notably however, retention is a construct made up of several variables, which include motivation and job satisfaction. A satisfied and motivated employee is more likely to stay with their current employer compared to an employee who is neither motivated nor satisfied (Muhammad 1990). One of the ways through which Tesco has tried to enhance the motivation and satisfaction of its employees is by offering training for anyone “who desires to move up the ladder” (Garry 2010, n.pag.). Tesco’s approach can be explained using various motivational theories. Motivation theories are used to explain why some employees choose to stay in a company while others choose to leave. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory is the most used theory, but there are others like McGregor’s theory X and theory Y and Herzberg’s dual factor theory among others (Viorel et al. 2009). The fore-indicated theories share the perception that when employees’ needs are fulfilled, they are more likely to be satisfied. Employees’ motivators can be divided into external and internal motivators (Mak & Sockel 2001). Internal motivators appeal to a person’s intrinsic needs for security, growth and other special needs. External motivators on the other hand relate to the organisational environment affecting the employees’ willingness to stay or leave an organisation. Such include money, benefits, communication, and praise among others. The training offered at Tesco arguably appeals to employees’ need for growth, as well as their need to earn more as they scale the career ladder. In his hierarchy of needs, Maslow theorises that any organisation intent on motivating its employees should determine the lowest level of unmet needs in the hierarchy and address the same. At the very bottom are psychological needs, which are followed by safety, social, esteem and self-actualisation needs in that order (Mak & Sockel 2001). With the UK economy still suffering from high unemployment rates subsequent to the 2008/2009 economic crisis, Craven (2011, para. 1) observes that Tesco had put in place a recruitment requirement for new employees to work “anti-social hours”. While most people desperate to find jobs applied for the same and got them, the staff retention suffered because, once they got the jobs, a significant number of employees realised they were dissatisfied with the “anti-social hours” and the flexibility with which Tesco could alternate workers from one shift to another (Craven 2011). The events of 2011 can be explained using the Maslow hierarchy of needs whereby, once the basic needs of an employee are met, the next level of needs must also be met. For example, once their need for an income was met through being hired by Tesco, employees needed a sense of stability in their jobs – which the alternating shifts, some in the so-called “anti-social hours” – could not offer them. This acted as a source of dissatisfaction, hence the high turnover. A different explanation approach to employee motivation is offered by Herzberg, indicating that there motivators and hygiene factors that are responsible for motivation or lack of the same among employees. Herzberg indicates that while hygiene factors are necessary in motivating people, they are not sufficient to ensure the same people are motivated (Garske 1996). As such, he argues that a decrease in hygiene factors would lead to dissatisfaction, but that does not mean that an increase in the same will enhance motivation. In Tesco for example, the provision of health insurance does not provide any motivation to employees, but its withdrawal (especially to those who already have the service) would cause dissatisfaction. Notably, Herzberg differentiates between hygiene factors and motivators by stating that the former are related to how people are treated (by their employer/manager), while the latter is related to what people do or did (Garske 1996). Overall, it is important to note that Tesco’s employee retention efforts are inspired by a need to cut down on the time and money used to recruit, select and develop new talent – factors that all feed into the larger goal of being a supermarket chain that focuses on providing quality services to its customers (Tesco 2013). Wilton (2010, p. 41) further indicates that Tesco’s central value in employment is “treat people as we like to be treated”. In other words, Tesco acknowledges the need to listen, support, respect, trust, share knowledge and share experiences with its employees in order to make the work experience enjoyable. Notably, Tesco is a supermarket which has shown great potential for expansion in domestic and international markets (The Times 100 2009b). For the expansion to be successful, the supermarket chain needs enough human capital to run its operations and such could happen only if the company not only recruits, but retains and develops its talent. Development Employee development or human resource development has no exact definition in literature; however, it is agreed that such development relates to training and development of the employees, the organisational development of the firm, and the career development of individual employees (McGuire 2010, p. 6). In other words, much as development benefits the organisation, there is mutuality of purpose since it also helps employees develop their careers. At Tesco, employee development is defined as the process of helping “the person grow and extend their abilities” (The Times 100 2009c, p. 155). The supermarket enhances staff development by co-sharing the training and development with the employees. The company however indicates that the employee is primarily responsible for their own development, with the company (represented by line managers) playing a supportive role. According to Healthfield (2013), employee development is closely related to motivation and satisfaction at work and hence can affect retention in the workplace. Such opinions are also expressed by other authors among them Delamare and Winterton (2005), Dubois and Rothwell (2004) and Fuller and Munro (2003). Notably, employees appreciate an employer’s effort, especially if such efforts are meant to enhance their knowledge and skills set. Before engaging employees in development initiatives however, Heathfield (2013) notes that the employer must make them understand why development is necessary. Upon understanding the importance of development, employees would be more willing to attend training sessions as opposed to perceiving training as a mandatory initiative by the employer which they must attend. Arguably, Tesco’s approach of encouraging employees to choose their own development paths and initiate the same is praiseworthy specifically because the initiative to attend development sessions is employee-driven. In other words, existing staff are made to understand that they can climb the career ladder by bettering themselves through training and development; but even if they choose not to, they are aware that the company can easily recruit from external sources. Managers on the other hand have a role to identify competencies, skills and competencies needed in the human resource, and helping employees develop the same. Arguably, the kind of arrangement that exist between employees and managers is satisfactory and motivating to employees because they feel that managers are kind enough to develop training plans and targets that enable them scale the career ladder. Notably, the managers do not force employees to be trained; rather, it is the employees’ prerogative to decide whether to go for training or not. A case in point where it has taken personal employee initiative and managers’ support is the retail foundation degree (FD), which Tesco employees undertake to study and is awarded by Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Arts London (Case study 2008). The FD standards were set by Tesco employees, while the support to study was provided by their employer (Case study 2008). Winterton (2007, p. 331) explains that modern organisation’s emphasis on development is based on the understanding that it (development) is “focused more on the individual than the occupation and is concerned with longer-term personal growth and career movement”. Arguably, development is related to motivation and satisfaction since employees who develop their careers in a specific organisation are more likely to be satisfied in their jobs, and as such, are less likely to leave the company sooner, hence curbing turnover rates. Conclusion In conclusion, workforce recruitment, retention and development seem to be well within the bigger organisational strategy of having a supermarket chain that has its focus on people (i.e. the customers and the employees). Tesco seems to understand that a happy employee will be more motivated to work and exhibit better customer care skills, and as such, it would ultimately mean that customers would be happy. Yet, this essay has also indicated that Tesco does not always get it right when it comes to retention. The 2011 scenario where some employees signed contracts requiring them to work “anti-social hours” is a case in point. Arguably, the economic situation at the time (reduced consumer spending, high unemployment rates, and reduced profits for the company) all contributed to how Tesco chose to engage the employees who signed the contracts then. Overall however, it would appear that Tesco has to a great extent managed to recruit, retain and develop its human resource capacity considerably well, especially if the 90% employee retention rate provided by the company is anything to go by. The high employee retention rate is an indicator that the supermarket chain has performed well in motivating and enhancing the satisfaction levels of its employees. References Case Study 2008, ‘Every little helps: Tesco sets standards for retail foundation degree,’ pp. 1-2, viewed 5 November 2013, . Craven, N 2011, ‘Tesco recruits have to agree working anti-social hours,’ This is Money, viewed 5 November 2013, . Delamare, D & Winterton, J 2005, ‘What is competence?’ Human Resource Development International, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 27-46. Dubois, D & Rothwell, W 2004, Competency based human resource management, Davies Black, Palo Alto, CA. Evans, J 2003, ‘Staff retention “need not be a problem”,’ Career Development International, vol. 8, no. 2. Fuller, A & Munro, A (eds.) (2003), Workplace learning in context, Routledge, London. Garry, M 2010, ‘Tesco values employee loyalty, too’, Supermarket News, viewed 5 November, 2013, . Garske, G 1996, ‘The relationship of self-esteem to levels of job satisfaction of vocational rehabilitation professionals’, Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Professionals, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 19-22. Healthfield, S M 2013, ‘Training employees for motivation and retention,’ About.com, viewed 5 November 2013, Mak, B L & Sockel, H 2001, ‘A confirmatory factor analysis of IS employee motivation and retention’, Information & Management, vol. 38, no. 265-275. 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Viorel, L, Aurel, M, Cristian, M & Stefania, P R 2009. ‘Employees motivation theories developed an international level,’ JEL article, M54, pp. 324-328. Wilton, N 2010, An Introduction to human resource management, SAGE, London. Winterton, J 2007, ‘Training, development and competence’, In P Boxall, J Purcell & P Wright (eds.), The Oxford handbook of human resource management, Oxford University Press, Clarendon Street, Oxford, pp. 324-344. Read More