Corporate Analytical Term Paper

HR practices of Marks&Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury’s

Prepared By: Group: BOOM-AL-HABIBI MBA Program BUS: 601 Sec.: 04 North South University

Prepared For: Professor Dr.M.Mahmodul Hasan Faculty of School of Business North South University

Date of Submission: December 02, 2015

Letter of Transmittal

December 2, 2015 Professor Dr.M.Mahmodul Hasan School of Business North South University Subject: Report on HR practices of Marks&Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury’s

Dear Sir, It is indeed a great pleasure for us as the student of MBA program to be able to hand over the result of our hardship of the Term Paper on

HR Practices of

Marks&Spencer,

Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury’s. This Term Paper is the result of the knowledge which has been acquired from the respective course BUS-601 and the kind hearted supervision of our honorable instructor Dr.M.Mahmodul Hasan. We tried our level best for preparing this Term Paper. Hope you will appreciate our hard work and excuse the minor errors. Thanking you for your sincere observation and humbly provide our respect to you to consider our hard work because all of us gave our hundred percent for making this report come together. We, fervently hope your cooperation.

Sincerely Yours, Nazmin Sultana Nima

152 1771 660

Nazifa Tasnim Siddiqu

143 0824 060

MD. Shartaz Shadlil Khan

152 1801 060

Saifa Musharrat

152 1886 660

Acknowledgement

With the completion of our project entitled “HR Practices: M&S, Selfridges, Primark, Sainsbury”, We would like to extend our sincere gratitude and a word of thanks to the Almighty Allah and our great inspiration Dr.M.Mahmodul Hasan who inspired us to think beyond and to always look for better stimulation. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and deep regard to our Honorable faculty Dr.M.Mahmodul Hasan, for his exemplary guidance, precious feedback and constant encouragement throughout the duration of the Term Paper on HR practices. His valuable suggestions were of immense help throughout our project work. His perceptive and continuous criticism kept us working to make this project in a much better way. Working under him was an extremely knowledgeable experience for us. We would also like to give our sincere gratitude to all the friends and group members who passed sleepless night and worked hard to make this thesis a success, without which this research would be incomplete. And last but not the least who acted the best way to support us to flourish this term paper in an wonderful manner is our family members. Supporting us in all means during preparing our valuable term paper. Thanking all for their devoted positive support toward us during this journey.

Executive Summary Human resource management (HRM) is the process of acquiring ,training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns. Human Resource Management is an organized learning experience of the corporate aimed at describing the organizational need for career growth and development of the candidates. It is a significant process involving series of learning activities in the workplace designed to acquire desired level of competence regarding performance among employees. Such competent performance creates a team of efficient, skilled and trained manpower which brings success and stability to an organization. HRM programs offer long term benefits to an organization.HRM function always tend to have balanced relationship with technology, external communication policy, strong empowerment of employees, Challenges and opportunities of the present business environment. In the challenges HRM deal with latest businesses of 21st century are unlikely to operate their business with proper well organized human resource department. This requires latest technologies as well as fruitful techniques to get it properly managed. But as our economy is constantly changing, the scenario of today’s business world, technology, preference of customer choice is also changing. Here in this report We are assessing the HR practices of four companies are: M&S, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury. There are an incredible number of pressures on today's organizations such as increasing globalization, rapid technological change, and tough rivalry competition; organizational changes such as new organizational alliances, new communication policies structures and hierarchies, new ways of assigning work, and a very radical nature of change. Within these pressured organizations, HRM is a growing its opportunity for the HR team to play an important role in helping organizations navigate through these transitions. In order to play this role, however, HR will have to increase its real and perceived value regarding company's reward and benefits system, employee performance, and financial performance. So we tried to provide our valuable recommendation toward the four companies: M&S, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury's in our term paper along with our significant research on those company.

Definition of HRM The policies and practices involved in carrying out the “people” or human resource aspects of a management position, including recruiting, training, appraising, and compensating employees, and of attending to their labor relations, health & safety, and fairness concern.

CONTENTS

HR Practices of Mark & Spencer's (1) Introduction (2) HR Management in the 21st Century (3) The Impact of Information Technology (4) Recruitment & Selection Process (5) Performance & Reward Systems (6) Career Development & Training (7) Financial Budget (8) Health & Safety Issues (9) Recommendation (10) HR Practices of Selfridges (11) Introduction (12) HR Management in the 21st Century (13)

The Impact of Information

Health & Safety Issues

Technology

(34)

(14)

Recommendation

Recruitment & Selection

(36)

Process

HR Practices of

(15)

Sainsbury's

Performance & Reward

(37)

Systems

Introduction

(15)

(38)

Career Development &

HR Management in the 21st

Training

Century

(16)

(39)

Financial Budget

The Impact of Information

(17)

Technology

Health & Safety Issues

(40)

(19)

Recruitment & Selection

Recommendation

Process

(20)

(42)

HR Practices of Primark

Performance & Reward

(21)

Systems

Introduction

(44)

(22)

Career Development &

HR Management in the 21st

Training

Century

(47)

(23)

Financial Budget

The Impact of Information

(49)

Technology

Health & Safety Issues

(25)

(51)

Recruitment & Selection

Recommendation

Process

(55)

(26)

Compare & Contrast

Performance & Reward

(57)

Systems

Conclusion

(28)

(60)

Career Development &

References

Training

(61)

(29) Financial Budget (30)

HR Practices of Marks & Spencer’s

1

INTRODUCTION Marks & Spencer (M & S) was founded in 1984 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Gradually this company turned to be one of the big fat top most retailer company operating more than 700 stores in UK and 350 + stores in 40 countries across the globe. They are the 1st British retailer to earn One billion pound tax free profit in 1998. As of last year data M & S has a huge number of more than 80,000 employees worldwide. M & S has a wide range of choice for their customers’ which not only includes food or clothing but also electronic products, financial services as well as energy products. M & S also facilitate their customers with a 24 * 7 online purchase facilities.

2

HR Management in the 21st Century: Challenges for the Future The latest businesses of 21st century are unlikely to operate their business without proper well organized human resource department. This requires latest technologies as well as fruitful techniques to get it properly managed. But as our economy is constantly changing, the scenario of today’s business world, technology, preference of customer choice is also changing. Marks & Spencer is one of the most renowned clothing brand which is also regarded as a international chain currently having 700 + stores in UK as well as they continue to grow outside their home country. The company is highly efficient in dealing with the difficulties faced because of economical ups and downs. They usually tend to follow the latest technological method in terms of managing their organization. Not only they have different technological method but also different tactics to train and develop their human forces. Employees are never forced to do work against their wish which indicates their freely chosen employment practice. They can choose their work plan according to their wish which indicates the liberty of flexible work environment. The company itself has a more sophisticated training system for their employees to cope up with the challenges of 21st century. Marks & Spencer sometimes introduce induction program to train their people as well as at the same time team work, passion for work are very highly encouraged.

M & S success is basically based on four principles: Inspiration

Innovation

Integrity

In Touch

Constantly

Focusing on

Working with high

Determining what is

inspiration helps

constant

passion and building

important to the valued

to generate great

improvement,

trust as well as

customers and also the

ideas.

stretching

reinforcing

communities in which it

boundaries.

reputation.

operates.

3

The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management Information technology is one of the integral parts

of

any

successful

organization.

The

technological advances are being driven primarily by strong demands professionals

for

from human resource

enhancement

of

speed,

effectiveness as well as cost containment. One of the major challenges of this sector are the budget constrain, lack of technical expertise and need of expertise to give training to the concerned employees.

4

Recruitment and Selection Process Getting the reach of a pool of classified applicant is one of the most crucial aspects of recruitment process. M & S has a very easy process of posting their vacancies or fresh recruitment in their own website

No. 1

challenging

in

technology

technological knowledge. Employees must be good

applicants are identified HRM department should

2

organizations culture. HRM selection tools help to

3

training. They are

fairly committed to

Equal

Employment Opportunity (EEO) from each and every step starting from recruitment and selection and then

4

nationality origin, sex, and disability is concern. They try to bring out the maximum potential out of each and every employee by giving them better comfort.

best

suited

When the suitable post / job is the designated online application form.

5

An online assessment test will be conducted

to

analyze

the

candidates. 6

A confirmation email will be sent to the validated email address.

7

The store recruitment process is easy to track as the applicants can revisit the site to track the progress

promotion and retirement. They ensure a work as the age, color, race, gender, ethnicity, religion,

the

clicked applicant will be guided to

training and development followed by appraisal, environment where there is no discrimination as far

sorting

process through applying online.

the same time helping them to develop their skills, attitude and behaviors by giving proper guidance and

After

candidate will start the initial

handle stress or who poor fit into the organization. right person for the right job in the right place and at

The search will initially show all the for each.

select out people who aren’t team players or unable to M&S has always given priorities for recruiting the

suitable

possible vacancies and requirement

screen for the final applicants very carefully to make sure that the candidates are best fitted in the

for

best suited for that individual.

enough as well as dynamic to survive in today’s challenging organizational work roles. Once the

search

website as per the job role which is

based

organization because it requires a very high level of

Candidates

position to apply via company

featuring job vacancies. Hiring the best people is particularly

DETAILS OF THE STEPS

of their application. 8

If the applicants qualify in their assessment test, M&S will contact them for the next phase of a short interview.

When it comes to the matter of selection and recruitment M&S follow the following steps which are given in the table: 5

Performance & Reward

Type of

Systems

Benefits Pay

they pay more than the market rate. It

and well accepted performance and

also offers extra performance rewards

reward systems. Their main tools of are the attitude of the employee towards work and customers. The main focus remains

on

satisfaction. through

customers Another

their

work

and

their

evaluation

is

outcomes

by

evaluating whether the main tasks given to the employee has been done properly and how employees are performing in the given time period. An appraisal system is held every year where the managers

discuss

with

designated

employees regarding the strength, and

to recognize individual achievements Employee

20 % discounts apply to all employees

Discount

regardless to the amount purchased. (Some exclusion does apply )

Holiday

M&S try to ensure that their employees

Bonus

package that helps them to bring out the

Pension

benefit package to make sure that they offer the best benefit scheme which is the ultimate wants of the employees.

Contribute twice than the employee contribution.

Life

Employees are entitled to get life

Insurance

insurance from day one.

Share Save

Employees are entitled to buy own company share at a 20 % discounted rate in every three year.

Salary

Covers childcare vouchers, holiday

Sacrifice

buying, car leasing, cycle to work and one could save money on national Tax and Insurance.

Discounts

After joining employees are entitled to get 1500 special discounts covering

best people in the market and it is proven. They constantly monitor their

M&S offers extra bonus if it has a profit growth.

are always well rewarded, always tries to give a highly competitive total reward

Employees are entitled to get a 28 days statutory leave.

possible improvement and solution if there is any drawback located.

They constantly check and compare with other companies to make sure

M&S has got one of the most effective

measuring the employee performance

Description

holidays or other services. Health &

It offers health care products and as

Wellbeing

well as designated website designed to keep employees fit.

Charity Volunteer Day

After

joining

employees

gets

the

opportunity to volunteer one day at charity by their choice.

6

Career Development & Training & Development Program M&S normally tend to give real responsibilities on real projects. Learning in M& S is just not one way rather they prefer to learn or take ideas of the fresher’s in order to grow business. It all starts from comprehensive introduction to M&S team. During this time one will get the overview of the whole business along with the information one need about the new given job role of one of the biggest brand.

On The JobTraining

• Learn while you earn for your company. Shouldering real life responsibilities to learn how to tackle everyday issues.

• This will give employees hands on experience. Store Depending on their graduate Attachment program it may last long from 1-12 weeks.

Corporate • Workshops which will Learning help them to grow skills Program and abilities.

Technical Training

Role Specific Training

• They invest plenty on employees to ensure they have the right technical training.

• It helps employee to reach own goals.

7

Benefit

Description They constantly check and compare with other companies to

Pay

make sure they pay more than the market rate. It also offers extra performance rewards to recognize individual achievements 20 % discounts apply to all

Employee

employees regardless to the

Discount

amount purchased. (Some exclusion does apply )

Financial Budget of HR Holiday

Bonus

Employees are entitled to get a 28 days statutory leave. M&S offers extra bonus if it has a profit growth.

M&S usually pays above the market rate and also they regularly keep an eye on the basic pay every year. The company provides solid salary package that are

Pension

Contribute twice than the employee contribution.

different based on job location such as: In store, Head office, Distribution Center etc.

Employees are entitled to buy own Share Save

company share at a 20 % discounted rate in every three year.

8

At M&S they have the fire health & safety committee who gives advises on fire, health & safety policy. It

Health and Safety Issues and HR Ethics

monitors effectiveness and reviews key performance measured on a quarterly basis. The committee receives updates through a designated network group. These issues are published through the Business Involvement Group Meetings in their website in the My Store Workspace and these are also displayed in the notice board. The store/ site manager is responsible for any issues related to this or any prevention, reporting and investigation of accidents.

9

Recommendation Marks & Spencer is a very lucrative place to do job. Their overall procedure of recruitment, selection, training and other parts are very systematic and well organized. Being one of the most valued multinational retailers it holds a very strong position in the market as well as it continuously keeps attracting the applicants. Their whole compensation package is very lucrative that one can dream of. They could include some aptitude knowledge based question to ensure getting the best applicants in the market.

10

HR Practices of Selfridges

11

INTRODUCTION Selfridges & Co. Limited operates a chain of department stores in the United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1909 and located in London, United Kingdom. Selfridges has four stores in four locations Birmingham,

they are in London,

Manchester

Trafford,

and

Manchester Exchange Square. The flagship store is

on London's Oxford

Street,

the

ultimate

shopping paradise, is the second largest shop in the UK .

It is a six storied building, offering

shopping space of ten acres, eleven places to eat, two exhibition halls and countless services. Selfridges supports its superb

reputation for

providing a vast range of high quality goods . The striking architectural structure

, excellent cloth

retailers , superb Food Hall, and a number of first class restaurants all under one make Selfridges,

justifiably,

the

roof

biggest

illustrate on Oxford Street.

12

HR Management in the 21st Century: Challenges for the Future

There are an incredible number of pressures on today's organizations such as increasing globalization, rapid technological

change,

and

tougher

competition;

organizational changes such as new organizational alliances, new structures and hierarchies, new ways of assigning work, and a very high rate of change. Within these pressured organizations, there is a need for (and opportunity for) the human resource function to play a critical role in helping organizations navigate through these transitions. In order to play this role, however, HR will have to increase its real and perceived value.

both employees and employers, and positions HR as a significant contributor to organizational success .In this execution,

atmosphere HR is responsible at strategy administrative

efficiency,

will raise unique issues for every HR group that attempts it, but there are some common steps and activities that will increase the likelihood of

Selfridges require HR services that meets the needs of

changing

Making the shift to a new HR role

employee

contribution, and capacity for change. In the course of

success. Some of these steps and activities are:  Strong HR leadership  Acute future orientation  Flexibility and creativity  Delivering value

delivering in these four areas, four corresponding roles for HR to play within a business: a) as a strategic partner working to align HR and business strategy, b) as an administrative expert working to improve organizational processes and deliver basic HR services, c) as an employee champion, listening and responding to employees' needs, and d) as a change agent managing change processes to increase the effectiveness of the organization.

13

The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management: Opportunities and Challenges Cost

decrease:

Effects

of

Information

Technology on HR costs appear in several ways. First, it reduces costs of processes and works.

HRM

generally

uses

Information

Technology as HRIS. HRIS is an integrated system acquiring and storing data used to make analysis, make decisions in the field of HR A contemporary HRIS is a dynamic data base about employees’ performance and

demographic

information.

HRIS

Second, using self service HR allows employees to perform their own work themselves directly. Thus, HR professionals spend less time on routine tasks. Saving Time: IT allows HR professionals to spent less time on routine tasks and make easier to acquire and analyze information Increase

in

Efficiency:

Intense

use

of

provides information about employees’

Information Technology standardizes routines.

data,

application

HR professionals may focus less on administrative

requirement, job characteristics, selection

activities and more on interpreting information.

and staffing, procedures of employment,

HR professionals may spend more time on other

corporate

and

aspects of their jobs. Thus, HR professional can

individual improvement, education costs,

access more information, respond the problems in

performance appraisal, personnel planning

a timely major from managers and employees and

and organizing as well. And these data are

evaluate the complex information more effectively

used for many purposes , these are:

Competency Management: IT tools enable HR

employment,

structure,

professional

professionals both to reach larger candidate pool and make decision making more objective and effective to employ more relevant and competent candidates

by

means

of

decision

making

techniques in the selection and recruiting process. Improving and shortening the recruiting process increases competencies of incumbents and as a result quality of works Structuring Strategic HR : Strategic role of HR focuses on aligning HR activities with HR strategies .So, HR should work with managers and line managers in collaborations. IT is accepted as an important impetus for strategic HR. IT builds stronger HR units and allows HR to engage in more significant strategic roles. 14

Recruitment & Selection Process

Performance & Reward Systems

Reward system refers to all the monetary, nonmonetary and psychological payments that an At Selfridges , it looks for a number of things, organization provides for its employees in depends on the role the applicant apply for. exchange for the work they perform. The Selfridges

always

consider

applications following are among the most important are :

carefully in line with the requirements of the role and applicant’s skills and experience. Their assessments focus on Selfridges' people values,



22-27 days' holiday, plus bank holidays



Incentive and commission schemes for Sales Associate roles

and they are naturally keen to find out why he is passionate about what he will do and about



Bonus potential of 5-40% of base salary (dependent on the role and area)

working for Selfridges. 

Healthcare facilities



Range of other discounts and special offers .

15

Career Development and Training & Development Program Selfridges provides three months' induction and continuous onthe-job training. Existing employees can also take part in broad range of programs and workshops, designed to help them develop their particular skills. All Sales Associates enjoy weekly training sessions, focused on delivering excellent customer service. So if people have the talent, Selfridges can guarantee they'll offer the opportunity to develop. Identifying

training

and

development

needs

within

an

organization through job analysis, appraisal schemes and communication

among

managers

and

human

resources

departments..

16

Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]

Selfridges is very much concern about its HR activities and its productivity is closely related to financial assignment of the total budget. To monitor key statistics as staff turnover ,to have the information that will allow managers to react immediately to unpredicted problems, or plan for cyclical events such as peaks and troughs in retail labor trends. Based on this Selfridges introduced a ‘back to basics’ two-phase, 18-month action plan, although the plan was ambitious, but very effective .the plan is

about laying down

solid principles and practices, while also getting

some

quick

wins.

to

ensure

Selfridges could deliver the best talent, and build the right mechanisms so that line managers could develop the skills of existing people, and help them feel valued. the plan was not about quick fixes, but about investing in the long-term future of the company.

17

2015(£m) 2014(£m) 2013(£m) Wages & Salaries for employees and manager £3450

£3050

£2540

Selfridges pension scheme

£210

£180

£143

Social security costs

£130

£109

£60

Gym / Health Club / Fitness Membership

£58

£45

£28

Paid Holidays/ Vaccation

£52

£43

£37

Total

£3900

£3426

£2807

Financial Budget of HR In Selfridges £4,000.00 £3,500.00 £3,000.00 £2,500.00 £2,000.00 £1,500.00 £1,000.00 £500.00 £Wages & salaries for employees and managers

Selfridges pension scheme

2015 (GBP in MIillions)

Social Gym / Health security costs Club / Fitness Membership

2014 (GBP in MIillions)

Paid Holidays/ Vaccation

Total

2013 (GBP in MIillions)

18

Selfridges

&Co

understand that using natural

resources wisely will help them to build a more resilient business for the future and that by working with their

Health and Safety

team members, partners, customers and communities

Issues and HR

They can continue to do more with less, take action to

Ethics

help protect environment and trade sustainably and ethically. They

have focused on a number of

sustainability initiatives which have helped them to achieve

this.

These

include

innovative

waste

management solutions, reduce our carbon footprint, removal of extra-large plastic carrier bags and plastic cups, installation of all new bins, improved signage and a new full-time refuse handler.

19

Recommendation The only store to be named the Best Department Store in the World three times, Selfridges today is more than just the sum of its products - it's a shopping experience that promises to surprise, amaze and amuse its customers by delivering extraordinary customer experiences. The Human Resources Department in Selfridges & CO. understands that with happy and motivated employee can offer better service, only then they can make their customers happy. Providing friendly work environment for employees and staffs, will be guaranteed as customer oriented organization . Thus HRM plays a very important role in shaping up a successful organization, by motivating and bringing out the full potential out of staffs in order to work for a common goal and achieve success. Challenges faced by HR mangers and organization can be overcome By developing well-built organizational structure with strong interpersonal skill of employees, and also to train employees from the globalization perspective of the business .

20

HR Practices of PRIMARK

21

INTRODUCTION

Primark is a brilliant and unique clothing retailer organization originated and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Its UK operations are registered in England and Wales. Primark is a subsidiary of international food; ingredients and retail group Associated British Foods. Primark was first opened by Arthur Ryan in June 1969 in Mary Street, Dublin under the name Penneys. Today operating in more than 200 stores all over the world along with Europe and England.

22

HR Management in the 21st century: Challenges for the Future

Talented Employee Involvement It has become very tough to find suitable talented employee as this is a process where every candidate will differ from others in one or the other sense. Primark as in 21st century poses the challenge of selecting and attracting the best candidates by keeping the competition in mind it is handling in the market. The managers of Primark need to know that high-quality, skilled talent can be worth its weight in gold and Primark should select the best group to make them join for the best performance in this era of business in Primark.

Promoting Organization Culture Primark needs to establish a safe culture full of diverse people to exaggerate innovation and new ideas by managing the culture with so many diverse minds and putting across the cultural values. Since organizational culture is an important factor to attract the new talent therefore HR manager has to put in a lot of hard work and efforts to develop a successful organization structure in Primark to be the market leader.

23

Career Modification of the Employees Coping up with the technological developments accelerated

and

changes

training should be

provided to the workforce

to

improve skills and knowledge of the

Establishing Human

existing workforce which is a major

Investment Perspective

challenge for Primark. The HR manager of Primark will have to adopt more active than the reactive

approach

in

the

organization to satisfy consumers Loyal Retention & Motivation

and employee's needs.

Strategies Primark should

have better

retention policies keeping in mind the work culture of the company operating worldwide, they'll

be

able

to

only then satisfy

the

employees of the company.

24

The impact of information technology on HR management: opportunities and challenges Given the best scope of human resource management functions in Primark , an effective HRMIS must

address

administrative, functional

a

range

of

statutory,

and

technological

requirements in order to enable the

HRMIS

to

support

the

partnership between Primark's suppliers, employees, customers and other retailers around the world.

Opportunities

Challenges

Work Efficiency  Particularly

in

the

HRM

Maintaining ethical standards globally

department of Primark, it can contribute by minimizing lot of redundant

works

and



Partnership termination

with

achieving efficiency through

other

extensive use of technology by

world retailers who

the proper use of specific

does not have the

technology.

intention to follow

over

the

online regulation Others factors could be

 Online recruitment Online Recruitment

system should be

Global Staffing

informative

Enhance Customer service

easy to access.

and

25

Recruitment & Selection process Primark

has a multi-dimensional

recruitment and selection process of

Internal Vacancies

their own and job vacancies are being advertised

through

multiple

ways

including in store postings, Job Centre



office notice board

advertisement and vacancies over the



monthly newsletter

internet. Primark has opened a new



company's

addition to provide the opportunity to the interested employee all over the world

focusing more on internet

related

recruitment

and

selection

process. With the current passage of success, Primark

internal

website 

Existing employee information sharing External Vacancies

has made the

recruitment process more transparent and easier to access. Also they have



company website



newspaper



direct store advertisements



vacancies

in

their

for

the

portal 

Vacancy

candidates around the world

26

Primark

has

unique

Online-

Recruitment System and vacancies are displayed onto the website immediately and they are offered with online recruitment

process.

The

current

recruitment

process

of

Primark

consists of the following key stages:

Fill up online application form to get register with the online recruitment system.

Answer a set of online questions regarding the customer services and other job related issues. Attend a personal interview wth the organizatnal head Said to perform a group task and presentation. If selected finally then candidates are finally offered for the job.

27

Performance & Reward Systems

Primark follow three significant steps to

Primark offer a variety of benefits and opportunities

assess their employee performance reward

to the employees, which includes:

them on the basis of their effective performance, steps included with: Establish

Review the best

Structured

Health insurance

benchmark of

performance

training and

(dependent on the

development

role/level/function)

employee performance

Salaries are also

programs for

competitive and

every employees.

Bonus scheme

Support proper

subject to annual

(dependent on the

performance

review according

Women health

according to

to Primark

issue related

work policy

policies.

benefits in the

Time balancing scheme

work place.

according to their job

role/level/function)

timing for certain head Promotional

office functions

opportunities and Contributory

Flexible shift policy for

pension Scheme.

the employees.

Childcare

Primark also offer part

Voucher scheme.

time and full job offer along with shift work.

28

Career development and Training & Development Program Primark tends to have a world class Management In this company they introduce their Development Program to help build the career development programs for each and facility at all levels of employee training and every

workers

development. They are concerned whether their maintain

and

leadership

employees are in their stores or head office they opportunities

in

the

employees

to

resemblance organization.

aim to build on employees talents and skills Primark also advertise promotional during the amazing career journey of employees opportunities within the business to with Primark. Primark encourage absolute ideas, their existing employees and they team spirit and passion across all their career provide strong commitment to their functions. Primark has inductive training and development issues. Primark also offer development programs along with that they offer task specific training support for their various training programs to assist the employees employees who want to enhance their to be part of the management. Workers are existing skills or develop new ideas by trained effectively so that they can ensure:

offering

NVQ

programs

in

the

following areas: 

better customer satisfaction.



genius employee performance according to 



Retail Service

the policy



Customer Service

proper work environment balance



Administration support



Team leading in a group work

They encourage their employees to be selfdeveloped and act world class way

environment

with the

assistance of the HR managers of Primark .Also they offer task specific training program for retail and customer service workers, and administrative employees.

29

Financial budget of HR of Primark Primark usually offers absolutely competitive salary

and

satisfactory

packages

to

their

employees and workers which motivate them to have higher productivity

and

better

involvement by the employees in the organization. The average Primark

salary

ranges

from

approximately £8,000 per year for Shop Assistant to £40,000 per year for Planner. Average Primark hourly pay ranges from approximately £4.42 per hour for Shop Assistant to £9.72 per hour for Supervisor.

30

Annual Salary Range (in £)

Position

Average Salary

Based on Number of

Per Year (in )

Employees

Minimum

Maximum

Sales Assistant

8,000

17,000

11,300

36

Retail Sales Associate

8,000

15,000

12,100

17

Customer Service Representative

8,300

20,000

12,000

10

Supervisor

12,000

18,000

15,000

16

Shop Assistant

8,000

14,000

12,000

6

Customer Assistant

12,000

18,000

15,000

3

Sales Representative

8,000

15,000

12,000

4

Department Manager

23,500

29,044

16,272

9

Retail Manager

8,000

16,500

10,000

5

Visual Merchandiser

11,000

16,000

12,000

3

Management

22,750

32,825

27,788

6

Floor Supervisor

12,500

17,500

15,000

3

Assistance Manager

32,825

35,545

34,185

6

Trainee Manager

19,900

27,126

23,363

3

31

TSR Performance and Chief Executives Pay

32

Summary to Director's Remuneration- Single t gure Table

33

Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

Primark

always intend to appoint renowned

consultants to select a bunch of health and safety plan of the employees and workers world

class

organization's

safety highly

culture

to ensure

within

pressured

the retail

environment, providing better support to the managers

to

assist

in

the

effective

implementation of increasing the volume of

Primark

productivity and efficiency in the work place.

employees by promoting and

Primark took the responsibility to provide the

enhancing the current Health

women worker about the awareness issue of

and Safety culture through

safety plan in the work place. And also providing

encouraging

a flexible and stepped approach to the training

and

process on safety issues.

responsibilities

are

serving

active

their

interest

acceptance

communicating

of and

all

of

the

positive benefits that can be gained through operating a robust

Health

and

Management throughout

Safety System

Primark’s

organization. Some of the genius plan to provide best health and safety issue for the employees are: 

Customized excellent guidance and support to educate women on safety health issue during work time.



Development of rules on safety management, safe work guidelines, proper work instruction.



Provided with an adequate objectives to make them use in case of emergency.



Production related safety action plans for the workers around the world. of relevant Emergency Action Plans and Business Contingency arrangements.



Back up plans to mitigate or inhibit any risk



In store training programs, including manual handing and risk assessment.

34

HR Ethics

Primark employees

always and

cared workers

for

their

through

providing their ethical mean in every sense and doing the best towards them. For Primark, acting ethically means: 

taking care of its employees and workers in every steps



being a good partner in the business around the world



respecting human rights and offering a proper remuneration



engaging with its stakeholders and providing them the right information



providing best and safe work environment



caring for their work buildings and workplace along with their showrooms



enhance green business policy

Recommendation Primark a new fashion era in the business world and providing modern HR solutions to manage its workforce and employees. It has set up its HR policies according to UK labor laws & focus on best HR practices in the industry to improve motivation level. But some of the factors may help them to be more transparent and friendly to the job market around the world: 1. They need to act friendly when they are selecting and screening for the candidate or recruiting. 2. They should launch more cross cultural training program to avoid cultural adoption problem and should

include

more

training

program

like

simulation or on the job training program. 3. Interview questions should have direct structure related to behavioral and stress as most of the employees has to deal directly with its customers. 4. For some less valuable tasks Primark can go for outsourcing. 5. Assure more standardized pay and benefit plan for their workers in other country.

36

HR Practices of Sainsbury's

37

INTRODUCTION Sainsbury's was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann Sainsbury in London and has grown to become one of the UK’s largest retailers. From our research we found that today Sainsbury’s

operates

over

1,200

supermarkets and convenience stores and an

online

grocery

and

general

merchandise operation. It also has two property

joint

ventures

with

Land

Securities Group Plc and The British Land Company Plc. Sainsbury’s Bank provides a range of quality banking and insurance products. In 1994 Sainsbury’s became Founding partner of FareShare community food donation program and in year 2000 they introduced Be Good To Yourself range – over 175 products adhering to strict nutritional standard. In 2010 Sainsbury’s was the first ever (and still only) food retailer to be awarded Gold accreditation by Investors in People. Their

most

recent

achievement

is

Sainsbury’s was named as one of The Times Top 50 Employers for Women in 2014.

38

HR Management in the 21st Century: Challenges for the Future The Human Resource Management practices and policies have undergone severe changes with the arrival of the IT revolution all over the world. Globalization has become the new mantra across the corporate sector. The challenges that the HRM are facing today are totally new to what has been few years ago. There are several factors that are contributing to HR management functions of the Sainsbury’s. Most of the challenges and issues being faced by the HR of Sainsbury’s in 21st century are; Globalization, Managing Diversity, Succession Planning, Changing Workforce Dynamics, Changing

Employee

Restructuring,

Work

Expectations, Life

Organizational

Balancing,

Leadership

Development, E- commerce, Technology, Health and Safety, Learning and Development, Recruitment and Skilled Labor, Compensation, Retention of the Employees, Retrenchment of the Employees, Change in the Demand of the Government and Ethical Consideration of the Organization. In every organization, people are important assets. Placing this value on employees, requires the organization to emphasize on human resource practice, including reward for

superior

performance,

measures

of

employee

satisfaction, careful selection of employees, promotion from within, and investment in employee development. Just taking care of employees would not be enough; new HR initiatives should also focus on the quality needs, customerorientation, productivity, stress, team work and leadership building. HR managers of every organization should realize the growing importance of human resource and understand the need to build up effective HR strategies to combat HR issues arising in the 21st century.

39

Opportunities and Challenges

The Impact of Technology:

One of the most significant factors impacting organizations

and

employees

today

is

technological change and advancement. The introduction of computers and the Internet has increased that impact significantly. Without the use of computer technology many businesses cannot even function. This effect is seen in nearly all areas of business, including human resources, where technology continues to have a significant impact on HR practices. Internet has also changed customer’s expectations and needs about convenience,

speed,

price

and

services.

Sainsbury’s use HR shared service centers where they bring many of the HR services together and use technology such as email, a company intranet or telephones to provide HR information in order to deal with HR queries and provide expert advice for

people

working

at

various

locations.

Sainsbury’s uses the RollStream tool to register new suppliers, relay new information to existing ones and measure performance.

Sainsbury’s selected Roll Stream to engage, enroll, educate and enable suppliers. Its core uses are supplier communication, data collection, managing critical initiatives with suppliers and to deliver

full

lifecycle

visibility

of

supplier

enablement programs. Sainsbury’s also does online recruitment and selection, and learning and talent development. Even the Internet appears to be viewed as having mostly positive effects

on

recruiting,

the

challenges

HR

professionals face in light of these changes cannot be overlooked. First, the potential for resume over-load and keeping up with the speed of erecruiting can be daunting. Second, the Internet is not as effective a recruiting tool for senior executive positions. Also nowadays a lot of people are using online systems to purchase goods online; this is also a challenge as the company has to track all the transactions being processed all the time. They have to keep track of the goods that are coming into the store and the ones that are being dispatched upon a purchase by the customer.

Additionally

the

companies

introducing some discount options which are based on online purchase, keeping track of these are also challenging as discounts attracts a lot of customers.

41

Recruitment

Sainsbury’s also use external recruitment

&

advertise

process

their

to

vacancies

most of which are done on

Selection

the internet and Sainsbury’s website for their managerial position while others are

Process

done using various other means such as advertising on local papers, job center and in their stores.

Recruitment generally is referred to as the process of attracting large pool of applicants to apply for a vacant position. However, Sainsbury’s uses two approaches for their recruitment process which are; 1. Internal Recruitment. The internal recruitment the recruitment team first looks at the Sainsbury’s Internal Talent Program (SITP). This Program allow all current employee of who

are

opportunities are offered by Sainsbury’s

which

are

available in different stores. They seek people with good customer skills and jobs are available

in

clerical,

stockroom

and

technical

aspects. Flexible contract,

2. External Recruitment.

Sainsbury’s

A large numbers of job

either

looking for move within the same department or seeking a higher level position in form of

term time contracts and dual

contracts

offer

employees to work on hours basic.

Sainsbury’s

offers

recruitment for graduates which is conducted through online at Sainsbury graduate recruitment

website.

Sainsbury’s also offer part time jobs for the students.

promotion. If there are no positive responses from any employee under the

These jobs are organized at a local level.

SITP, the vacancies are then officially intranet

advertised so

that

on

the

the entire

employee can see and apply.

42

Sainsbury’s employee selection process includes: 1. Collection of curriculum vitas (C.V) and letter of Applicant. 2. Next step is to shortlist candidate which is done by recruitment manager. This shortlist of candidate is done to meet the requirement of the company that they looking for. 3.

Next

is

the

Interview

stage.

Interview is the main stage of selecting applicants. A number of designed question are asked to figure out candidates knowledge. This will help to know who is good in paper and who has communications skills. 4. Most suitable person, who best fits the company requirements, is selected for the job.

43

Performance & Reward Systems Performance Management is very important at Sainsbury's. Various methods are used at Sainsbury's to know how well individual employees manage their responsibility and for the managers to be able to observe how well they are carrying out. Performance monitoring offers information which is valuable for identifying future training or promotion opportunities and areas where inadequate skills or knowledge could be judged as a threat to an employee's efficiency. Managers exercises control at organization and individual level through:

Development by planning objectives and targets

Creating performance values

Perceiving actual performance

Comparison against actual performance and targets

Adjusting mistakes and taking action

44

Related Pay

Performance

This

is

associated

middle

and

for

senior

management in all stores. Sainsbury’s use PRP for when an employee sells a certain product or item.

Provide employees with a Piece Rates

flexible income; payment is directly related to output. Sainsbury’s

motivates

employees to produce as much output as possible by this reward system.

Sainsbury’s considers employee reward as a

motivates

employees

pay

strategic issue. It plays a key role in

as

Sainsbury‘s business objectives in terms of

their salary is determined Pay

Commission Based

Commission-based

by their individual effort and

talent

to

sell

company’s products.

the

being able to attract the right employees to the organization, retain their services and further develop these talents into vital assets for the organization. Sainsbury’s rewards employees for their value that is created at work.

45

46

Career development and Training & Development Program

INITIAL TRAINING

COLLEAGUES DEVELOPMENT

At the beginning, all new trainees are

All colleagues have a Performance

given a general overview of the

Development analysis to discuss

organization and clear understanding

their career development with

of their rights and responsibilities.

their managers, measure their progress or training needs at least once a year.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT

INVESTORS IN PEOPLE (IIP)

TRAINING Senior

management

training

is

IIP

is

a

national

standard

focused to meet the business and

supported by the department for

individual

education and skills.

needs.

Through

promotion, external recruitment and training,

senior

management

capabilities can develop.

44

In 2014 Sainsbury’s opened a new facility in London. The new Convenience Training College is based in Brixton and will train team leaders and store managers in a range of technical and behavioral skills. Sainsbury’s is the only supermarket to open a facility of this kind, purely dedicated to leadership training. The College has six training rooms and will be run by ‘Convenience Capability Trainers’, to ensure that everyone has the right skills for the job. It complements Sainsbury’s existing and established training facilities – the six Food Colleges and one Bakery College. The six Colleges are located at Murrayfield, Bradford, Oldbury, London Colney, Calcot, Hempstead Valley and Wellingborough.

48

Financial budget of HR Single total figure of remuneration for Executive

Directors

(audited

information). The table below shows remuneration figure for all qualifying services for the 52 weeks to 14 March 2015,

together

with

comparative

figures for the 52 weeks to 15 March 2014.

Mike Coupe (In £000)

John Rogers

Justin King

(In £000)

(In £000)

2014/15

2013/14

801

587

600

520

306

960

Benefits

17

18

17

18

7

31

Pension

231

147

150

112

92

288

1049

752

767

650

405

1279

-

318

-

282

-

781

458

423

281

374

-

960

-

495

-

390

-

886

1507

1988

1048

1696

405

3906

Base Salary

Total Fixed Pay Annual Bonus Differed Share Award Long-term Incentive Plan Total

2014/15 2013/14 2014/15 2013/14

(Source: Sainsbury’s annual report of 2015)

49

Note: 1. Annual bonus relates to performance during the financial year, paid in May following the relevant year-end. 2. The Long-Term Incentive Plan value relates to the Future Builder award vesting in May following the end of the relevant financial year, which is the third year of the performance period. 50 per cent of the shares are released in May after the end of the relevant performance period and the balance one year later.

Employee cost of Sainsbury's (2011-2015) 2500

Amount (In £000)

2400

2435

2445

2014

2015

2322

2300 2200

2173 2119

2100

2000 1900 2011

2012

2013

Year

(Source: Sainsbury’s annual report of 2011-2015) Figure: Employee cost of Sainsbury's from 2011 to 2015

50

Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics Health and safety doesn’t just occur in HR. It has to be closely and carefully monitored at all times. Customers are also accounted into the health and safety acts for Sainsbury’s HR, these include:1. Disability needs - Wheelchair access, lifts, helpers etc. 2. Car parks- Checked regularly for trolleys causing hazards, etc. 3. Customer fire exits- Kept clear at all times. 4. Shelves- All stacked to the lowest they can be. 5. Warning signs- Always can be visible and heard. 6. Smoking, drinking, eating- Banned in all stores. 7. Substances and solvents- All kept in unreachable areas for children’s safety (3rd or 4th level shelves). 8. Toilets- Checked every half an hour for staff and customers.

51

52

Sainsbury’s feel that their employees’ colleagues’ health and wellbeing is important. They have introduced a free annual Health MOT which offers everyone the opportunity to assess their health with a quick test covering Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure, body fat and hydration levels. This will help the employees to know their individual health statistics and start to consider what changes they could make to improve their health and wellbeing. Also, to help their commute into work Sainsbury’s offer season ticket loans for public transport as well as a cycle scheme to help the employees benefit from tax-free bike purchases through the UK government’s Green Transport Initiative.

53

Sainsbury’s HR wants their employees to work in a safe environment. Laws require all store managers and employees who work there to comply with the health and safety legislation. They follow these HR Ethics/Code of conduct for their employees and customers:

54

55

For starters, Sainsbury’s can compare their prices of product with that of rivals. A way of finding out rival’s information is by going undercover. A member of the Sainsbury’s staff could visit rivals supermarket like Asda, Tesco and note what they charge for the same product that they sell at Sainsbury’s. The HR management department at Sainsbury’s control the workforce and see how they perform. The HR department gets the workforce and main problem after that is keeping them happy. Rivals may try to recruit Sainsbury’s existing employees by offering them better pay and promotion. The HRM department at Sainsbury’s should be more alert of this problem and can offer their employees more pay and promotion in order to keep them. Since technology has changed each and

everything

with

great

extent,

modern

technology should be introduced and purchased by the organization. HRM of the Sainsbury’s should implement proper training for the manager to cope with the issues of globalization. HR of Sainsbury’s must develop the ability to compete in the international market and should make broad strategies which help to adjust employees in global organization. The HRM of the Sainsbury’s should analyze labor turnover rate and absenteeism rate. High absenteeism can cause lack of commitment, poor motivation. The HR of Sainsbury’s should develop sound organizational structure with strong interpersonal skill to employees to address the issues and challenges like work force diversity, leadership development, change management, organizational

effectiveness,

Globalization,

E-

Commerce, succession planning and compensation etc., 56

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Marks and Spencer, Selfridges, Primark, Sainsbury's

57

58

59

CONCLUSION The basic role of HR for these four companies , Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury and Selfridges, should be to

strengthen the

organization's ability as they focus their attention on providing an amazing shopping experience for their

customers. To retain their

reputation, employee development strategy is essential. As we already know proper recruitment and selection plays a major role in selecting the right person for the right job. They should use the process of talent acquisition

to

organization’s

discover

the

sources

staffing program

and

of

manpower

to

meet

conduct training and

development to improve the employee skills and knowledge so that they perform their work efficiently. This employee focused, engaging and adaptive system means higher retention rate of the employees . Marks & Spencer, Primark, Sainsbury and Selfridges all of them follow an Equal Employment Opportunity(EEO) policy. They also offer effective career development programs for every employee. They formulate health and safety for their employees and ensure a dynamic culture for learning and implementing their knowledge and

have

proper communication with the HR management. Accordingly we think these four gigantic retail outlets are wonderful places to work.

60

References

1. https://static.wcn.co.uk/company/marksandspencer/stores/ca.html 2. http://corporate.marksandspencer.com 3. http://www.primark.com/en/homepage 4. www.selfridges.com 5. http://www.visitlondon.com 6. http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/selfridges 7. https://sainsburys.jobs/ 8. Book: Human Resource Management (Gary Dessler, 13th Edition). 9. Book: Fundamentals of Human Resources Management-(Author: David A. DeCenzo & Stephen P. Robbins)

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