This will then give them some idea as to how many staff will need to be employed in the future. Sainsburys turnover is roughly 40% so just under half of them will have left by next year so they will need to look at why this is
By finding out what type of people are leaving e.g. students, over 65s etc and the reason for them leaving the company e.g. education, retirement etc, Sainsburys can then evaluate what staff is needed for next year. They can also find out what department has the highest staff turnover and try and better that department by training, developing and motivating the employees.
The company will then need to aim not to employ the type of employee that may leave within a year, such as students. This will then hopefully lead to employment of a range of people, which they have discovered through research, do often stay in the company for over a year. This should then increase their labour turnover.
Sainsburys will then have to find out what skills and the unemployment rate, which is roughly 0.5%, are in the area that their supermarket is based. They can then see how capable they are of employing certain people, in that area.
The recruitment process is arguably one of the most important features of the human resources department –due to the ever-decreasing employment rate in Britain, to be successful in employment they must plan wisely.
A lot of businesses find that there is a large difference between the attitudes of the age of the worker.
For example:
- Younger staff learn to use technology in an educational environment
- Often have computers at home so training of new technology may be easier for them to understand.
- Are willing to try new activities.
Whereas Mature workers:
- Have loyalty to the organisation but limit access to technology.
- Can perform certain tasks once shown.
- May be reluctant or afraid to increase skill levels.
These facts show that the employer has to make several more important decisions:
If a business wants to be effective and efficient they need to make sure that they choose the right employees for the job through the recruitment and selection process.
The application form is the form in which a hopeful employee communicates with the employer, to receive an offer for an interview.
A business can do this using the following documents:
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The Application form is the form in which a hopeful employee communicates with the employer, to ask for an interview for a job. An effective application form with relevant details will help the selection process be a bit easier and will increase the efficiency of the recruitment and selection process.
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Job description is essential as it shows:
- The Job title that will be given to a successful employee
- The Location of the store
- Who the applicant will report to as their manager
- What division and department they will be in
- The summary of what the role is and the main purpose of the position
- And the principle accountabilities, which show what the applicant will be accountable for within the business.
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Personal specification This document contains the qualities and the qualifications required of the applicant to do a certain job.
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Reality recruitment. This is a questionnaire in which the employer asks the applicant typical scenario questions and what they would do in that situation. For example,
‘What would you do if you saw water leaking from a pipe? Do you…
- Put a slippery surface sign up and call the nearest janitor or manager.
- Try and fix the pipe fitting yourself
- Take a long run-up and try and skid through it with your new, slippery soled, work shoes.
A business can also give an applicant a chance of an interview.
There are three types of interview commonly used in today’s recruitment process, these are:
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One to one- where a client gets interviewed alone with an employer. This is a bit less formal and may lead to a biased opinion.
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Panel- on a panel there are 2-6 people and each person will ask the applicant a different question related to what they specialize in (e.g. The training and development manager may ask if they have had any experience with computers or handling money etc.) There may be one person out of the six who is an observer to make sure a fair process has been carried out.
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Group- This is where a large number of applicants have applied, which are reduced using selective processes to make that the best applicants for the business at the meeting are employed and not the type of staff they don’t need.
Sainsburys place their application forms at the front of the store and at customer services this allows anyone interested in applying to work for Sainsburys to easily access the forms when they are shopping.
The Sainsburys application form consists of relevant questions and nothing more than the company needs to know to employ a person.
The different sections are:
About us: this section gives the hopeful employee an idea to what the company that they are applying for does.
About you: This is the section in which the applicant tells the company about themselves, so this will include whether your under 18 or not, address, telephone number, title etc.
About the hours you are available to work: Well the name really says it all. It gives you the option of working part time or full time and also whether you want to work nights or evenings etc.
About your application: this section contains the option of a opting for a permanent contract or a temporary contract.
About your work experiences: This is where the applicant fills in past working experience including past employers contact details and job titles and description. This section also needs to have the reason for leaving filled in by the applicant.
Which job is for you?: This is where the applicant puts what he/she would like to do in the company and what certain roles you are qualified for.
Rehabilitation of offenders act 1974: This section is where the hopeful employee states whether they have had a criminal offence or not.
Declaration: The applicant signs the designated areas to confirm that the information inputted into the application form is correct.
The ‘Working at Sainsburys questionnaire’: This is the section, which allows the applicant to say what kind of person they are, by filling in what they would do in certain situations that they may encounter in their period of employment with Sainsburys, is a vital part of the recruitment process as it is used for the selection process.
Our commitment to equal opportunities: Sainsburys claims that it is committed to providing a working environment in which everyone is valued, respected, and able to contribute to the success of the business and to employ a workforce that recognizes the diversity of their customers and potential customers.
National insurance number: The name says it all.
Gender: male or female (other).
Do you consider yourself disabled?
Ethnic origins: This is information as well as gender, disability and national insurance, is not used in the selection process.
Sainsburys also use reality recruitment, interview questions, Job description and person specification.
I think that Sainsburys could improve on the amount of people applying for a job, by introducing different places in which they put their application forms this would make them more accessible to someone who is interested in being recruited by Sainsburys.
Their should be a section in which applicants can put down a Curriculum Vitae style of fill in section where the person applying can tell the store about their achievements in and out of work, which helps them shine above the other applicants. I feel that this is a vital part of the application form that they are missing out, as they would then be able to select future employees from their interests and out of work activities as well as their in work achievements. It also shows what kind of person they are employing; you get to know the applicant before you even employ them.
This will have a positive effect as it will show how willing, confidant and motivated the hopeful applicant is in real life.
Training and Development are currently big issues for many businesses in most parts of the country, especially where there are low rates of unemployment.
Moreover, more and more businesses are realizing that if they fail to invest in training and development they will become uncompetitive.
Training staff that have recently been employed must be done efficiently using various different approaches and styles of training that obviously have to suit the needs of the company.
An efficient training program would have the following positive affects:
- A reduction in the number of employees needed
- Staff are able to use more modern technologically advanced systems such as computers.
There is a definite need for training in a business that wants to succeed in today’s competitive working environment. The three main things a business has to train there staff for are:
- Technological advancements
- Changes in consumer needs
- Competitive pressure
This means a business must constantly be evaluating and organizing what the company’s different needs are for different skills (e.g. IT.) Therefore, making training of staff an ongoing process throughout an employee’s career.
It is the role of the human resources department to monitor the training needs of the organization and the individual employee, but to also provide this training as and when it is required.
The following training needs may arise through an employee’s career:
- Organization of induction courses to introduce new employees to the goals and workings of the organization, and their particular job.
- Improvement of the skills of existing workers to achieve higher levels of productivity and to reduce production costs.
- Facilitations of the successful introduction of new equipment, product and processes.
- Reorganization of job roles and tasks within the organization.
- Preparation of individual employees for promotion.
- Raising employees’ awareness of health and to reduce accidents.
- Promotion of new skills among existing workers
- Creation of a flexible workforce with a wide variety of skills to adapt to change.
An effective use of the right methods of training will indefinitely lead to an improvement in motivation in the workforce simply because it allows the employees to do their jobs better and because of this it raises confidence and increases promotion prospects.
Also, an effective use of training will lead to higher productivity and bring new ideas and working methods to a business. Training is also used to improve health and safety, therefore reducing the number of accidents.
The other benefit this brings is that it will lead to a more positive attitude among the staff therefore reducing staff turnover.
Training and development is usually divided into two types.
These are:
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On the job training: This is basically when training is on the job. Employees are trained while they are carrying out their normal duties of work. This type of training can take several forms.
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Shadowing This is when an experienced worker shows a new worker what to do.
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Coaching a trainee employee is coached as an athlete would by some one who experienced at what they do.
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Job rotation This involves training employees to do different jobs over short periods of time, either in order to get them multi skilled or to simply give them knowledge about how the functions of the company work.
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Apprenticeship this should be all the employee needs to know how to do the job they are training for, this is beneficial as very little extra training is needed. But there will most probably be occasional updating of worker skills and knowledge.
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Off the job training This involves people enrolling in a course or a training program away from a normal job, such as:
- In house courses
- External courses
- Vocational and professional courses.
Both of these styles of training have their advantages and disadvantages.
Such as on the job training is a lot cheaper and productive for the company because the trainee is essentially working for them as well as gaining knowledge and training.
The downside to on the job training is that it may not be as good as or as effective as off the job training as this requires not much actual commitment where as off the job training does, which shows the trainee is interested in the subject because they have chosen it.
If the company were to pay for the off the job training then this could be a disadvantage as courses are quite expensive and may require a lot of time off of work, decreasing productivity and increasing costs.
Off the job training can be a bonus to the company as it means that less training is required when they become an employee. That is only if they have already previously completed a course such as an NVQ which provide training, before they enrolled in the company.
Motivation is the key to a successful workforce as this is the way in which a company keeps their staff stimulated and interested in working.
“Motivation: Stimulating people’s interests in what they do, so that they are more willing to work hard to achieve their goals”
Since motivation influences productivity, the human resources department needs to understand what motivates employees to reach peak performance.
It is not an easy task to increase employee motivation because employees respond in different ways to their jobs and their organization's objectives.
Motivation is the set of processes that moves a person toward a goal, therefore, motivated behaviors are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee. The manager wants to influence the factors that motivate employees to higher levels of productivity.
Factors that affect work motivation include:
Individual differences - the personal needs, values, and attitudes, interests and abilities that people bring to their jobs.
Job characteristics - Job characteristics are the aspects of the position that determine its limitations and challenges.
Organizational practices - Organizational practices are the rules, human resources policies, managerial practices, and rewards systems of an organization.
Supervisors must consider how these factors interact to affect employee job performance.
There have been many theories, some more popular than others, about motivating their workforce. This is what most businesses apply their human resources to as it allows the manager to know how to treat employees working at different levels and to encourage high standards of staff who will be rewarded for their efforts.
A few of these methods are:
Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of Needs model in 1940-50's USA. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs remains valid today for understanding human motivation and for management training. Maslow was born in New York in 1908 and died in 1970.
Each of us is motivated by needs. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs motivate us all.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.
Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
Sainsburys incorporate this theory into their human resources department
Frederick Hertzberg’s book 'The Motivation to Work was written in 1959, which first established his theories about motivation in a work place.
Hertzberg was the first to show that satisfaction and dissatisfaction at work nearly always arose from different factors, and was not simply opposing reactions to the same factors, as had always previously been believed.
He showed that certain factors motivate and these were called 'motivators', whereas other factors tended to lead to dissatisfaction, which is called 'hygiene factors'.
According to Hertzberg, Man has two sets of needs; one as an animal to avoid pain, and two as a human being to grow psychologically. He often referred this to the bible with Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden having the need for food, warmth, shelter, safety, etc - the 'hygiene' needs; and Abraham, capable and achieving great things through self-development - the 'motivational' needs.
’s aim was to go further than Taylor did into the theory of management and expand motivation to more than just money but how the business treats its employees as well.
He developed the idea of theory X and Y. These were two dimensions in which McGregor found that people fall into and are motivated within these theories.
McGregor maintained that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people. Many managers tend towards theory x, and generally get poor results. Enlightened managers use theory y, which produces better performance and results, and allows people to grow and develop.
Theory X
The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can.
Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organizational objectives.
The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively unambitious, and wants security above all else.
Theory Y
Effort in work is as natural as work and play.
People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organisational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment.
Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement.
People usually accept and often seek responsibility.
The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.
In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly utilized.
Taylor had a theory that if he set targets for his employees, then this would motivate them to work harder to exceed these targets, for a small financial bonus. This was one of the first theories of motivation recognized, and used in business.
The whole theory is based around an autocratic style of management and mass production techniques were developed from his ideas.
What today’s managers have learnt from tailor’s theory is that:
There should be careful selection of staff depending on their different abilities.
Tasks can be broken into small components.
Training will develop skill levels and improve efficiency.
Rewarding employees with financial incentives, which aids motivation.
There are many different ways all relating to the different theories described above that Sainsburys use to motivate their workforce to improve efficiency and maintain quality service. These are:
• Performance reviews and appraisals: All colleagues discuss their career development with their manager at least once a year. Colleagues in store have a 'how well am I doing?' meeting to assess their progress and training needs
• Comfortable resources: Sainsburys provide sufficient heating/lighting, Food and drinks, and up to date equipment to motivate employees.
This relates to Maslow’s theory as the physiological needs of a work force.
• Target setting for individuals and groups. All colleagues have a Performance Development Review to assess performance against targets and leadership behaviours.
Investors in people is a national standard supported by the Department of Education and Employment.
To achieve an award from investors in people you must follow the following principles.
- Commitment to developing all employees to achieve business goals and targets;
- Regularly reviewing training and development needs in the context of the business;
- Taking relevant action to meet training and development needs throughout people's employment;
- Evaluating outcomes of training and development for individuals and the organisation as a basis for continuous improvement.
Sainsburys was one of the first companies to achieve the award, which shows that they do invest in people well and motivate their workforce to a good standard.
Conflict has arisen between certain functions in businesses in the past, which has caused problems for the running of the company.
Sainsburys have had an incident where the new chip and pin card training was being introduced to all of the checkout staff, as well as the shelves of the shop floor being fully restocked making sure all of the products that they have are available to the customer.
This bad timing of dates could lead to loss of thought in the other functions of the business. Such as health and safety, if someone is stacking shelves, when they should be cleaning or keeping up certain standards in another department then the health and safety standards of the company may suffer.
1000s of hours were spent stacking shelves as well as training for the chip and pin. This situation could have been avoided by using an effective way of communication. But this is one way in which the human resource department can collide with other function within the business.
Through out my HR coursework I haven’t gone into much detail about the health and safety factor, which the human resources department has to provide legally.
The human resources have a duty to their employees to keep them a safe and healthy as they possibly can.
This can be done using training programs/courses, or providing safety equipment such as gloves or helmets etc.
Their also can be posters put up around the work place to remind the employees of how to use equipment safely, or charts to remind them of how to use certain chemicals and hazardous substances.
Having a well managed health and safety function in human resources department, the company’s employees are going to feel a bit more motivated as they will feel that they are cared for instead of being just a number that can be replace.
In 1993, new regulations of the health and safety act came in to place due to Britain joining the E.U. These regulations below were introduced purely to tidy up and clarify existing regulations.
The regulations include:
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Management - The assessment of risks, the planning, organisation, control and monitoring of health and safety at work, and setting up of emergency procedures.
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Provision and use of work equipment – Suitability of equipment, employee training and regular maintenance.
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Manual handling operations – assessment of hazardous operations, correct procedures especially for heavy loads, training if necessary.
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Workplace conditions – Ventilation, temperature, lighting, toilets, washing facilities, canteens, rest areas, clear passageways, ability to open and close windows.
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Personal protective equipment – must be provided, maintained and stored correctly, employees to be instructed and trained in use.
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Display screen equipment – Workstations must be assessed for possible risks, comply with minimum standards; employees to receive free eye tests, rest periods and training.
The act is reinforced by the health and safety executive (HSE), set up by the government. Inspectors appointed to by the HSE have the power to enter and inspect workplaces.
Legally binding improvement orders can be issued, and in some cases prohibition orders which require the immediate cessation of an unsafe practice or process.
The HSE also issues the codes of good practice to employers.
