ASSIGNMENT 31-03-2020

TARUN KUMAR
M4C MBA
41819103918
RM
MARKETING MAJOR

HRM in Retailing

The HRM objectives in a retail organization serve as standards against which performance is

evaluated. If objectives are well defined and accepted by employees, these promote harmony

among human efforts and invite voluntary co-operation.

The pace with which new and new corporate are entering into the retail industry, a retail

organization may have to structure and assign tasks, policies and resources in order to meet this

fast changing requirements of the target market, management administration and employees. Due

to high attrition rate and increased demand for skilled employees, retail organizations have

prioritized retention policies and growth of its employees within the organization.

The scope of HRM in retailing is indeed vast and multifaceted. All the activities a retail store

employee has to perform from his entry to exit broadly come under the purview of HRM. HRM

in retailing is composed of survival-integrated activities such as employees’ recruitment,

selection, induction, training and development, supervision and compensation.

The role of human resource management in an organization

Human resources departments have a wide remit. The core HR functions are

 Recruitment
One of the main functions of the HR team is to maintain staffing levels: to ensure the

organization has the right people, in the right job, at the right time. This is a continuous task that

shifts as an organization expands. This means that HR staff need to have a firm understanding of

the various roles within an organization, the qualifications necessary to fill specific roles, and a

general idea of the type of person best suited to these roles.

 Employee relations

The lifeblood of any organization is its people. As we’ve written multiple times, engaged

employees are more productive and can make a positive impact on a business’ bottom line. To

that end, the HR department is there as a liaison between the organization and employees, to

make sure that employees are kept abreast of relevant information and that they, in turn, are

represented by the HR team in any decisions that may impact them. A simple way of keeping

staff up to date is a regular HR newsletter which details pertinent news and developments, as

well as providing a forum for employees to engage.   

 Employment law compliance

For every organization, complying with employment legislation is a requirement. From

providing positive working conditions to ensuring fair work practices, the HR team is tasked

with keeping an organization in line with workplace laws. This can often be a complex and every

changing facet of the HR role as legislation can be tweaked sporadically if new cases or

scenarios come to light.

 Health and safety

Promoting a safe workplace also comes under the realm of the HR department. In this role, the

HR team is responsible for ensuring an organization complies with all health and safety

legislation, that employee safety training is kept up to date and that workplace safety records are
maintained. Promoting workplace safety is a necessary task in any organization, but it can often

fall to the bottom of the priority list when employees are busy. HR departments can keep details

fresh through regular communication; using video can be a good idea to capture attention and

highlight particular guidelines.    

 Staff training and development

Most organizations will have dedicated training for employees, from new hire induction training

to providing leadership training to promoted staff members, and everything in between. A key

aspect of a HR department is to facilitate workplace training, to make sure adequate training is

being provided but also to encourage the ongoing development of employees through relevant

training courses or workshops. Promoting employee development can play a significant role in

staff retention and engagement and is a vital part of how a successful organization operates. 

Human Resource Management in organized retail

 Recruitment: Depending on the size of the number of vacancies or if it’s a new store then

campus recruitment is done or recruitment is done through recruiters and consultants. For shop

floor sales requirement advertisement is put up in the local news papers.

 Selection: Selections are based on group discussions & interviews. Some retailers take an

entrance test followed by group discussion and personal interview.  Performance Appraisal: It is

one of the most controversial systems within human resource. No one in any organization is ever

happy with the system because it explores the bitter truth of an employee. It is inherently conflict

based because it is subjective and differs from person to person.

 Training and development: Retail industry has finally taken shape in India, and is experiencing

a rapid growth. Since organized retail is growing tremendously procuring trained human

resource for retail is a big challenge. The talent base is limited and with the entry of big retailers
in the market there is a huge demand of trained and skilled professionals in this sector. This has

ledmany retailers to introduce Learning and Development department within the organization.

 Compensation: Compensation is payment for services rendered to an organization by an

employee. Compensation may me direct or indirect compensation & is a motivator for

employees at all levels.

 Rewards, Incentives and Recognition: Every retailer is looking at various ways to motivate

their employees and reduce attrition rate. Introduction of rewards, incentives and recognition of
employee is increasingly becoming popular within the industry. Retailers like PRIL have

launched PERKPerformance Enhancement Reward Kit and star performer of the month in their

stores. They are used to reward performance at the individual, team and organizational level.

 Employee Discipline: It is a management tool to correct employee behaviour

. HR Challenges in Organized Retail

 Lack of skilled manpower: The organized retailing is a massive man power oriented industry

that recruits a large pool of employees. However, there is a huge scarcity of skilled retail

professionals. This can be attributed to the fact that retail has never been considered as a

prominent profession in India as there were very few retail professional courses still few years

back.

 Stress in Working Culture: The working pattern of retail industry requires

employee to put in long hours of work which generally cause fatigue and result in lower

motivation among employees. Besides this, in part-time and casual jobs there is less job security,

flexible shifts, unlimited working hours, lower salary and benefits & poor working conditions

resulting into stress and working problems

.  Lack of Formal Education in Retail Management: There is requirement of qualified and

talented manpower to look after day to day operations and cater to the wide spectrum of

customer desires. As there is lack of formal vocational institutes where students can be trained,

most of retailers in India depend on inhouse training or fulfilling their training needs with small

institutes.

The Human Resource Management practices are vital for the growth and development of and

business or sector. These practices have significantly evolved in the retailing sector also. The

retailers especially organized retailers are nowadays placing a greater emphasis on the HRM

practices which includes recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, training and

development, compensation, career planning, etc. Apart from this the sector is facing some

problems relating to its human resource like lack of skill, lack of formal education in retailing,

workforce attrition, threat of poaching and complicated human resource environment. It means

that the HRM practices in the organized retail industry needs greater attention in the near future

to make it more competitive.