HP Practices of Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury's

Term Paper

HP Practices of Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury's

Prepared For

Professor Dr. Md. Mahmodul Hasan

Faculty EMBA/ MBA Program

North South University

Plot: 15, Block: B, Bashundhara, Dhaka-1229

Prepare By

BUS 601: Human Resource Management

Section: 4

Date of submission: March 30, 2016

Letter of Transmittal

March 30, 2016

Professor Dr. M. Mahmodul Hasan

Faculty EMBA/ MBA Program, North South University

Plot: 15, Block: B, Bashundhara, Dhaka 1229

Subject: Submission of Term paper on HR Practices of Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury's

Dear Sir,

It is a great pleasure to present the term paper on HR Practices of M & S, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury for the course Human Resource Management (HRM- 601), which had been a great experience for us to work with such a real life issue. Throughout the study we have tried with the best of our capacity to accommodate as much information and relevant issues as possible and tried to follow the instructions as you have suggested. We tried to make and let it look like a professional and informative one. We sincerely believe that it will satisfy your requirements.

We are very grateful to you for your guidance and kind cooperation at every step of our endeavor on this term paper. We will remain deeply grateful if you kindly take some pen to go through the report and evaluate our performance.

Thank You.

Sincerely,

No	Name	ID No.	Signature
1	Shaima Islam Shatu	153 1014 660
2	Md. Yasin	153 1393 660
3	Md. Taufique Chowdhury	153 1041 660
5	Md. Sumit Raihan	133 0374 660

Acknowledgment

At first we would like to thank Almighty Allah and then we want to give special thanks to our honorable course instructor, Professor Dr. M. Mahmodul Hasan, Faculty EMBA/ MBA Program, North South University to give us such an excellent opportunity to prepare this term paper on HR Practices of Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Primark and Sainsbury. He gives us the inspiration and guidance to learn Human Resource Management. We strongly believe works like this will surely help us to have a clear concept about this area and to make us better adapted as well as capable to cope with the issues & practical exposures in this field.

We want to thank our every group member. Each and every member tries their best to complete the term paper as per the guideline.

Therefore, there might have some technical mistakes or error due to our limited aptitude, related knowledge and time constraint. In this regard, we do believe to get a kind consideration from you and those who will be exposed to this report.

Executive Summary

Human Resource Management is the heart of every organization. Without effective HR practices, it is hardly possible to become successful in this competitive business world. In this term paper we have analyzed that how the world class four retailers organization- Marks & Spencer’s, Selfridges & Co., Primark and Sainsbury’s do their HR practices, how they face challenges and how they can overcome from the situation. All these four organization have high standard of HR recruitment and selection policy. They have done their initial recruitment and selection through online.

M&S faces challenges due to workforce diversity, automated e-commerce distribution, online shopping system etc. It provides various career development programs and training such as on-the-job learning, development reviews etc. The performance rewards and benefit packages are very attractive which include Employee discounts, holidays, life assurance, bonus, pension, share saves, salary sacrifice, health and wellbeing etc. It has a strong health and safety policy.

Another one company Selfridges faces challenges for high turnover and lack of recovery plan. It arranges different workshops, on-the-job training, weekly training, and financial support for their employees. Their compensation packages include generous holiday entitlement, Contributory pension scheme, Healthcare for senior managements, Life cover, Long service awards etc. Expert speaks person ensure health and safety issues by increasing awareness.

Furthermore, the basic threat of Primark is its business model and cost. They provide structured induction program, leadership programs to their employees. Contributory pension schemes, Childcare Voucher scheme, Competitive annual leave entitlement, Health insurance, Bonus scheme attract their employees. Primark ensure health and safety by Structural Survey Program, Fire Safety Programs.

Finally, in case of Sainsbury’s, employee retention is a great challenge. Its career development process includes initial training, staff development, senior management training, and on-the-job training. It provides different benefits like Store discounts and gifts for achievers, accommodation, and bonus to its employees. It is very much concerned about the health and safety issues and provides training and instructions regarding emergency situation, safety committee meeting, and Supplier Compliance management to ensure it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Topic	Page No.
Definition of Human Resource Management	7
Chapter 1: HR Practice of Marks & Spencer’s (a)	8-13
1.1 HR Management in the 21^st Century: Challenges for the Future	8
1.2 The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management: Opportunities and Challenges	8
1.3 Recruitment & Selection Process	9
1.4 Performance & Reward Systems	9-10
1.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program	11
1.6 Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]	12
1.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics	13
1.8 Recommendation	13
Chapter 2: HR Practices of Selfridges (b)	14-20
2.1 HR Management in the 21^st Century: Challenges for the Future	14
2.2 The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management: Opportunities and Challenges	15
2.3 Recruitment & Selection Process	16
2.4 Performance & Reward Systems	17
2.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program	18
2.6 Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]	19
2.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics	20
2.8 Recommendation	20
Chapter 3: HR Practices of Primark (c)	21-24
3.1 HR Management in the 21^st Century: Challenges for the Future	21
3.2 The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management: Opportunities and Challenges	22
3.3 Recruitment & Selection Process	22
3.4 Performance & Reward Systems	23
3.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program	23
3.6 Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]	24
3.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics	24-25
3.8 Recommendation	25
Chapter 4: HR Practice of Sainsbury’s (d) 26-35
4.1 HR Management in the 21^st Century: Challenges for the Future	26
4.2 The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management: Opportunities and Challenges	27
4.3 Recruitment & Selection Process	27-28
4.4 Performance & Reward Systems	29
4.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program	29-30
4.6 Financial Budget of HR [Salary + Bonus + Increments + others]	30-31
4.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics	31-32
4.8 Recommendation	32
5. Compare & Contrast HR Practices among (a) + (b) + (c) + (d)	33-34
6. Conclusion	35

TABLE OF GRAPHS

Content	Page No.
Graph 1.1: Performance Rewards and benefits of M&S	10
Graph 1.2: Development and Training Programs of M&S	11
Graph 1.3: Financial Budget of HR of M&S	12
Graph 2.1: Training and Development Programs of Selfridges	18
Graph 2.2: Financial Budget of HR of Selfridges	19
Graph 3.1: Financial Budget of HR of Primark	24
Graph 4.1: Selection process of Sainsbury’s	28
Graph 4.2: Development and Training Programs of Sainsbury’s	30
Graph 4.3: Financial Budget of HR of Sainsbury’s	31

Definition of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management is the process of acquiring, training, appraising and compensating employees, and attending to their labor relations, health and safety, and fairness concerns.

Human Resource Management is the heart of every organization. Without proper recruitment, selection, training, appraising, compensating as well as other HR related activities, it is not possible to be a successful organization in this competitive business world.

Chapter 1: HR Practice of Marks & Spencer’s (a)

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Marks and Spencer (also known as M&S; colloquially known as Marks and Sparks, Marks's or, simply, Marks) is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London. It specializes in the selling of clothing, home products and luxury food products. M&S was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds.

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

Ø Globalization: As Marks & Spencer continue the work to transform the infrastructure, the now focuses on consolidating their position as a leading international, multi-channel retailer.

Ø Better Talent pool: Marks Spencer strives to develop a world class talent pool, further growing our skills in key strategic areas.

Ø Top of the line technology: Marks and spencer’s uses the best and advanced technology for all their Human Resource Management

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

Ø M&S already had a very good interactive web page but from early 2014 they relaunched a very informative and fortified webpage which is almost like a encyclopedia of their company and products. All general information can be found there.

Ø A better multi-language web page is much anticipated for M&S. They are trying to improve the multi-language experience a little bit better.

Ø To provide better customer service, it undergoes a transformation program that will provide a first and flexible supply chain.

Ø Maintaining sales through e-commerce is a challenge for M&S.

1.3 Recruitment & Selection Process

http://chemexfranchises.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ChemexMen_7101.jpg

The recruitment and selection process usually consists of six steps.

Ø Search through their website under the careers section for the job role you are interested.

Ø The search will show all the job roles within the store across the various branches in the UK and its recruitment is conducted through the Marks and Spencer website.

Ø Click on the job role with the most suitable location to you

Ø The Marks and Spencer recruitment process consists of an online application form.

Ø This will require you to create a login as a registered user. A confirmation email will be sent to you to validate the account for the Marks and Spencer recruitment process.

Ø Once you submit the application form, an email receipt will be sent to your given email address.

Once a person applies for a job through the Marks and Spencer recruitment process, he or she cannot re-apply for a position within the next 6 months.

1.4 Performance and reward systems of M&S

Both the supervisor and the employee sit together to evaluate performance, they identify common goals, which are linked to the goals of the organization. This process results with the establishment of written performance exceptions later used as measures for feedback and performance evaluation.

Pay – M & S reviews their basic pay every year, plus they offer extra performance rewards to recognize individual achievements.

Employee discount - 20% discount on all in-store and online purchases for their employees.
Holidays – Employees are entitled to a minimum of 28 days’ statutory holiday per year.

Bonus – M & S offers a number of discretionary bonus schemes on offer that reward their employees for helping us to reach our goals.

Pension – M & S offers an excellent Defined Contribution pension plan, where if employees contribute 3% of pay M&S will contribute 6%.

Life Assurance – From day one, employee will receive life assurance cover to the value of two times his/her annual pensionable salary.

Shares save – By joining one can save any amount between £5 and £250 each month for 3 years. At the end of 3 years he/she can get money back or buy shares at an exclusive 20% discounted price, which is set at the start of the scheme.

Salary Sacrifice: Salary Sacrifice schemes covering- childcare vouchers, holiday buying, car leasing and cycle to work, save money on tax and National Insurance.

Discounts – Employees can enjoy 1,500 special discounts covering holidays, leisure attractions and many more products and services.

Heath & Wellbeing – M & S offer discounted healthcare products and a wellbeing website with top tips and health guides, to keep fighting fit.

Charity Volunteer Day –Any employee have the opportunity to volunteer for one day at a charity of own choice.

Graph 1.1: Performance Rewards and benefits of M&S

1.5 Career Development & Training & Development Program of M&S

Ø On the Job Learning: There is a huge opportunity of on the job learning in M & S.

Ø Role Specific Training: M&S provides role specific training to its employees.

Ø Development Reviews: M&S ensures employee achievements are recognized, feedback is heard and, of course, that one’s career is progressing.

Ø Corporate learning Program: M&N invests plenty of time with employees to ensure they receive all the right technical training.

Ø Store attachments: Through their store attachment program one will get hands-on experience in one of stores.

Graph1.2: Development and Training Programs of M&S

1.6 Financial Budget of HR (Salary +Bonus+ Increment+ Others) of M&S

Employee Costs	2014(£m)	2013(£m)
Wages & salaries including bonus and benefits	2980	2540
Social security costs	185	158
Pension costs –contribution schemes	121	105
Pension costs –benefit schemes	78	52
Health insurance	28	25
Bonus scheme	12	9
Total	3404	2889

Graph 1.3: Financial Budget of HR of M&S

1.7 Health and safety issues and HR Ethics of M&S

http://www.custom-powder.co.uk/images/health-and-safety.jpg

The Fire Health & Safety Committee – This committee gives advises on fire, health & safety policy. It also monitors its effectiveness.

Ø The Store/Site Manager - Ensuring the conjunction with their Fire, Health & Safety Officer, is the accountability and responsibility of site manager.

Ø Occupational Health Services – It provides advice and support to line managers on managing the impact of work on health, and health on work.

Ø Business Involvement Groups (BIGs)

Ø Retail Finance and Operations

Ø Property Development and Facilities Management

Ø The Fire, Health & Safety Officer (FHSO)

1.8 Recommendation

Marks & Spencer has all the good HR practice an ideal organization should have. They are very good in their overall procedure of recruitment, selection, training & allover HR practices. It seems to be a perfect organization to work at. However, it can follow the some steps for its improvement.

1. M&S should be more careful in case of balancing the work life and personal life.

2. It can follow different motivational theory to improve the effectiveness of the employees,

3. Although it provides attractive benefits to its employees, it can add some other benefits like paid sick leave, gym membership, personal day etc.

4. It should focus more to improve its e-commerce system.

5. It can provide special training to its sales person to ensure better customer service.

Chapter 2: HR Practices of Selfridges & co. (b)

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Selfridges is one of the most iconic retail brands in the world which was founded in 1909 by Harry Gordon Selfridge. Selfridges provides exceptional customer service, cutting-edge design, and great products. Selfridge recognized as the best Department Store in the World’ and get Global Department Store Summit in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

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

In the 21^st century organization has been facing many challenges. HR department faces huge pressure due to globalization, rapid technological change, huge competition etc. Some challenges that may face by Selfridges in 21^st century can be:

Ø Attracting and Selecting Best Candidate: In 21^st century, attracting and selecting best candidate may become a great challenge as the competition is too much high. Today, every company is aware to attract the best qualified candidate.

Ø Managing Diversified work groups: Managing diversified workforce like people from different culture, religion, race, moral, background is a challenging task for HR managers in this 21^st century.

Ø Making New Retention and Motivation Strategies: As Selfridges hires employees globally. So, it is important to make new retention and motivation strategies for different employees which are a very challenging task indeed.

Ø High Turnover Challenge: As Selfridges always faces high turnover, it is a constant challenge for the company to recruit and retain sales staffs.

Ø Work life Balance: Balancing work life and personal life is a great challenges for Selfridges

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

Information technology has changed the business world over times. Technology continuous to have a significant impact on HR practices.

Opportunities:

Technological advances can provide following opportunities to the Selfridges:

Ø Efficient Recruitment process: Technology has made recruiting process simpler for HR professionals of Selfridges. Online recruitment reduces the cost of recruitment and also save the time of management.

Ø Improved training: Information technology makes it easier for the HR manager to train a large number of employees quickly and cost effectively through virtual classroom, online conference and so on.

Ø Proper performance Management: Computer technology can be used to assess performance of the employees and can take steps for the betterment of organization.

Ø Data Storage and Retrieval: Technology makes it possible to store and retrieve data which make their work easier.

Ø Creates Mobility: The use of technology has been eliminated the space and time boundaries. Employees can work from anywhere at any time.

Challenges:

Information technologies bring some challenges for the HR Management. Some of them are:

Ø Maintenance Cost: Sometimes it is very costly to maintain and update information technology. Different functions may be interrupted by malfunctions or some bug.

Ø Risk of damaging Data: Risk of losing data is associated with IT. Natural or other disasters can destroy the valuable data. So, HR management have to maintain damage recovery system.

2.3 Recruitment and selection process

http://bookboon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Recruitment.png

Selfridges & Co. follows online recruitment process. They follow following steps for online recruitment:

Ø Selfridges provides details about the available positions in their career website. Candidates have to search career website for the job position they are interested.

Ø Candidates have to click the job position with the suitable position. There is an FAQ page available for any potential queries.

Ø After that candidate will required to create a log in as a registered user. A confirmation email will be sent to candidates to validate the account for this recruitment process.

Ø After completing all the screening, application & branching questions they take an online test of the candidate. This test may include MCQ or sometimes written questions to access the skills, ability of the candidates. Situational question can be the part of this assessment.

Ø Any disability or learning difficulty takes into consideration in this selection process. They measure the qualification of the candidates and select most qualified candidates.

2.4 Performance & Reward Systems OF Selfridges

Employees at Selfridge’s stores and Head offices enjoy careers that provide inspiring experiences, exciting challenges and amazing benefits. Selfridges & Co provides various sorts of rewards and benefits. Such as:

Reward and benefits by Selfridges

Generous holiday entitlement

Extremely generous discount throughout the whole store

Contributory pension scheme

Healthcare for senior managements

Gym membership offers

Life cover

Long service awards

Performance related incentives

Training & Development

Great bonus potential based on performance

2.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program

The Development team of Selfridges identifies areas in which either individuals or whole teams might benefit from developing higher skill levels, and then puts together training and developing programs to meet this need. Their training and development programs include:

Ø On-the-Job Training: Selfridges provides three months induction and continuous on the job training to improve the employees skills.

Ø Workshop: To improve sales, management and technical skills employees can get advantages from different training programs and workshops.

Ø Financial Support: If the job roles require professional qualification, then the company provides financial support to the employees.

Ø Weekly Training: A weekly training is provided by Selfridges & Co to the sales associates to improve the customer service excellence.

Graph 2.1: Training and Development Programs of Selfridges

2.6 Financial Budget of HR (Salary +Bonus+ Increment+ Others)

Employee Costs	2015(£m)	2014(£m)
Wages and salaries, including bonus and benefits	3450	3050
Social security costs	210	180
Pension costs –contribution schemes	130	109
Pension costs –benefit schemes	58	43
Share-based payments expense	52	45
Total	3900	3427

Graph 2.2: Financial Budget of HR of Selfridges

2.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

Selfridges treat their employees as the heart of the business. It is an equal opportunity employer. So whatever the age, gender, disability status, sexual orientation, religion, race or family circumstances they ensure that candidates are treated with fairness and respect. It is an incredibly friendly and sociable place to work.

Ø Selfridges always concerns about the health and safety of the employees. Expert speak person gives the brief about the method of using equipment and risky material.

Ø They arrange Health Safety and Environment Champions meeting to reduce accidents.

Ø They also provide insurance for the employees.

2.8 Recommendation

1. Selfridge can include some other benefits like flextime, child care, insurance, share save, salary sacrifice etc. to its compensation package.

2. Its health and safety policy is not enough. It can train the employees regarding the necessary actions in time of emergency, consult with the employees about their work place related problem.

3. Selfridges have to focus more on work life and personal life balance.

4. It can arrange more training and development programs like job rotation, online training, team training, assistant to position etc.

5. In order to retain customer, Selfridges should follow more customer oriented strategies.

Chapter 3: HR Practices of Primark (c)

Primark is a unique clothing retailer organization founded in 1969 in Ireland trading as penny’s and headquarters situated in Dublin, Ireland. Primark is subsidiary company of Associate British Food. By 2016 Primark operates its business over 270 stores in nine different countries in the world. Primark relies on low costs, economies of scale and efficient distribution to maintain its competitive market position.

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

Ø Workforce Diversity: Workforce diversity at Primark has a great impact on HR practices. Primark is recruiting its employee from different parts of the world wherever they have their retail stores. Primark have to maintain a single pay scale for different countries .

Ø Organization Culture: Primark is recruiting its employee from different county so they have different mind and different culture. So Primark HR needs to put hard work to establish a safe and successful organizational culture which is acceptable by all employees.

Ø Rapid Changing Technology: Organization have to be highly flexible to adapt with the latest technology because any improvement in the technology make the employee work easy, give better output compare to input, give better quality.

Ø Career modification of the employees: To adapt with technological development and the change is going on around the world training should be provide to the employees to improve their ability, skills and knowledge of the existing employees which is a major challenge for Primark.

Ø Employment law: A company has to follow the employment laws and regulations. These laws and employment practices differ from country to country and organization to organization respectively. This is also a major challenge for Primark because they operate their business in different countries.

3.2 The Impact of Information Technology on HR Management:

Information Technology has brought about huge changes in the business and the organization. Information technology also has a great impact on HR management.

Opportunities:

Ø Online Recruitment: For recruiting Primark follow online recruitment system which is possible for proper use of information technology. Through the information technology Primark is now doing online recruitment, assessing, and selecting new employees which save their time and Cost.

Ø Connected With their Suppliers: With the help of information technology Primark is now connected with all its suppliers and maintain their huge supply chain.

Ø Training: Information technology improves the training systems.

Challenges:

Ø Cost: Introducing new technology in the organization requires huge amount of money. This is also a challenge for Primark.

Ø Security Concern: Now a days we stored our information HR system which is risky, any time it may hack by the hacker and information may misplaced.

Ø Online sales became a challenge for Primark.

3.3 Recruitment & Selection Process of Primark Stores

http://s3.amazonaws.com/libapps/accounts/47442/images/selection.jpg

Candidates can apply through online. After submitting the online resume, candidate will get confirmation mail. Candidates need to select the time and date and click next. Then they sent confirmation mail with details and sent reminder before interview.

Most of the time they asked:

Ø Competency based questions: They asked four types of questions to candidates. Such as: Situation, Tasks, action and result.

Ø Motivational Questions: For example: Why you are interested to that position?

3.4 Performance & Rewards System

Primark provide salaries that are competitive and subjected to annual review. Other benefits are:

Rewards and Benefits by Primark

Structured training and development programmers

Promotional opportunities for everyone

Contributory pension scheme

Childcare Voucher scheme

Competitive annual leave entitlement

Health insurance (dependant on the role/level/function)

Bonus scheme (dependant on the role/level/function)

Flexi-time scheme for certain head office functions

Variety of shift patterns available to suit your lifestyle.

3.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program

Primark have a world class Management Development Program to help build employees career at all levels. Primark encourage ideas, team spirit and passion across all their functions.

Ø As a new employee in any role with Primark, employee will be given a structured induction program to welcome employee into their new role and team.

Ø Primark then offer various programs to either assist employee to become a member of management, or to develop their role.

Ø Primark development programs start at all levels from entry level through to senior leadership programmers. Primark advertise promotional opportunities within the business to their existing employees, it’s something Primark really proud of and shows they are committed to employee development.

Ø Where Primark also offer task specific training support for their employees who want to enhance their existing skills or develop new ones by offering NVQ program in the following areas:

v Retail/Customer Service

v Administration

v Team leading.

3.6 Financial Budget of HR (Salary +Bonus+ Increment+ Others)

The table below provides specific data regarding Primark remuneration:

Employee Cost	2014 (GBP million)	2013 (GBP million)
Employee salary	1,672	1,640
Employee benefits	334	308
Total Remuneration	2,006	1,948

Graph 3.1: Financial Budget of HR of Primark

3.7 Health and Safety Issues and HR Ethics

The issue of worker safety has always been a priority for Primark and forms an important part of our Ethical Audit Program. In some countries where awareness of workplace safety (particularly fire safety) is limited, Primark local teams provide training and awareness program for factory managers and workers.

For Health & Safety Primark follow two programs.

1. Structural Survey Program

2. Fire Safety Programs

HR Ethics: Mandatory training is given to all employees on legal aspect of doing business and safety measures to protect employee from accident and injuries during work

3.8 Recommendations

From our analysis we recommend following thing to make their operation more effectively

1. Online recruitment should be made more users friendly and they should give all their recruitment steps one by one which will be easier for the candidates to apply for job.

2. Primark should establish a safe cultural training program for their employee to quickly adapt with their culture.

3. Primark should make their pay scale and benefits plan more attractive for the employee regarding their country.

4. More situational, behavioral, stress questions need to be include in recruitment process

5. Information systems in Primark need to be better integrated to each other to create organization-wide integrated solutions to boost productivity and efficiency.

Chapter 4: HR Practice of Sainsbury’s (d)

Sainsbury’s was founded in 1869 and today operates over 1,200 supermarkets and convenience stores and employs around 161,000 colleagues. They put their customers at the heart of everything they do and have invested in their stores, colleagues and channels to deliver the best possible shopping experience. Strong culture and values are part of their identity and integral to success. Key strategy knows their customers better than anyone else.

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

There are many factors of HR management decision that affecting Sainsbury’s in 21^st centuries. That are-

Globalization: Globalization means the present flow of goods, services, capital, ideas, information and people. Growing internationalization of business has its impact on HRM in terms of problems of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, competitions, attitudes, management styles, work ethics etc. As Sainsbury working in a profit zone so there are may be chances of facing high competitors as well as diverse work group or culture.

Technological advances: Technological advances have a significant impact on sainsbury’s HR business practices. Due to the advancements in the technology there has been a drastic change in the approach to the various projects and the scenarios that guide to the organizational regulations. The pressure of cost-effective technology use may affect the decision making process.

Changes in the Economic Environment: Changes in the Economic Environment may affect the consumer buying power which will directly affect the organization profitability. If the situation in future likes this than Sainsbury HR management may have to think of reducing the staff to minimize cost.

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

Technology has changed the business world many times over. In the Information Age, the advent of computers and the Internet has increased that impact significantly. Information technology has created both opportunities and challenges for the HR management. That are-

Opportunities:

Ø Due to advancement in the internet and social media communication it becomes very easy for the Sainsbury HR division to collect poll of employee from different location within shorter time period.

Ø Internet helps HR manager to create interlink among different Convenience stores and Supermarkets. As a result it becomes easy to keep the record.

Ø Some other opportunities of Sainsbury may due to use of information technology are help to performances management, training employees etc.

Ø Finally Information technology creates an opportunities of standardization and with standardized procedures this can ensure that an organization remains complaint with Human Resource requirements, thus also ensuring more precise decision-making.

Challenges:

Ø As there are others competitors in the market so it becomes difficult for HR division to collect talent employee because other applicant may apply using internet.

Ø Implementing different HR software may be costly for the Sainsbury. So at end the benefits may be overlap by cost.

Ø Employee Retention is a great threat for the organization.

4.3 Recruitment and Selection Process of Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury offers large numbers of job opportunities available in different stores. They looking for people with good customer skills and job are available in clerical, stockroom and technical. Job opportunities are advertised on in-store job board, in local newspaper and at job center plus. Sainsbury opening new supermarkets and local and central stores in many towns creating job vacancies in advance. Sainsbury recruit around 100 graduates' colleagues every year and more than 70 works within stores. Graduates recruitment is conducted online at Sainsbury graduate recruitment website. Selection Process of Sainsbury’s are following:

Graph 4.1: Selection process of Sainsbury’s

4.4 Performances and Reward system

Sainsbury’s already has been able to create a positive feeling among a good majority of the employees but still it needs to improve the employer-employee relationship to find out the factors that could be improved the reward system is performance based. To ensure the optimum level of customer satisfaction & to gain competitive advantage this is one of the most important issues for Sainsbury’s to consider. Here the equity theory plays a major role and the management has been successful to strike a balance between the efforts and rewards for the employee. The organization’s reward system is fair enough. It is obvious that to gain a long term commitment from the staffs, Sainsbury’s should design more effective policy for the accommodation of employees’.

4.5 Career Development and Training & Development Program

Ø Initial Training: At the beginning of their training period all new trainees are given a general overview of the organization and clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities. During trainee introduction period, series of modular workbooks is provided to them that they have complete.

Ø On-the-Job Training: Sainsbury’s provide on-the-job training to its employees to make them more productive.

Ø Staff Development: All colleagues have a Performance Development analysis to discuss their career development with their managers, measure their progress or training needs at least once a year. Various types of training approaches are used like course, workshops, mentoring, qualification, self-development books and videos.

Ø Senior Management Training: Senior management training is focused to meet the business and individual needs. Through promotion, external recruitment and training, senior management capabilities can develop. Through running training courses Sainsbury aims to achieve specific benefits and training needs restructuring if these benefits are not achieved.

Graph 4.2: Development and Training Programs of Sainsbury’s

4.6 Financial Budget of HR [Salary+ Bonus +Increment+ Others]

Financial budget of Sainsbury shows that it has a huge portion of budget for the Wages and salaries, including bonus and termination benefits. In 2015 the amount is higher than the last year. The total information about the HR budget collected from the financial statement of Sainsbury.

Employee costs for the Group during the year amounted		2015 £m	2014 £m
Financial Budget of HR	Wages and salaries, including bonus and termination benefits	2,180	2,150
	Social security costs	144	141
	Pension costs – defined contribution schemes	100	77
	Pension costs – defined benefit schemes	-	34
	Share-based payments expense	21	33
	Total	2445	2435

Graph 4.3: Financial Budget of HR of Sainsbury’s

4.7 Health & Safety Issues and HR Ethics

The human resources department is responsible for the employees of the company and so need to make sure that they are in a safe working environment. Sainsbury’s HR like all other businesses has a safety policy. The policy will include arrangements covering training and instruction, company rules and emergency arrangements. Sainsbury’s HR has a health and safety office in all their stores. Human resources train new staff for health and safety jobs which include roles being health and safety officers, safety committee meeting holders etc. Customers are also accounted into the health and safety acts for Sainsbury’s HR, these include- wheelchair access, Customer fire exits, Smoking, drinking, eating- banned in all store and so on. Sainsbury’s HR wants their employees to work in a safe environment. It also provide safety priority to their suppliers. Laws require all store managers and employees who work there to comply with the health and safety legislation.

4.8 Recommendation

1. Sainsbury’s HR people should be given relevant training in reward systems. This is to help the organization ensure that they are implementing a system of reward and other benefits in the organization fairly and efficiently.

2. Performance related reward reinforces employee competencies and motivates them to participate in the decision making process. It also encourages them to exercise responsibility and initiative by rewarding them for displaying appropriate behavior. So Sainsbury should practices more in performances based reward systems.

3. HR Department always works with the changes and Sainsbury should create the challenges as opportunities.

5. Compare & Contrast HR Practices among (a) + (b) + (c) + (d)

	Challenges	Information Technology	Recruitment and Selection	Performance and Reward System	Training and Career Development	Health and Safety
Marks and Spencer	Maintain Sales through e-commerce	Multi language and good interactive Webpage, transformation program	Online Process	Employee discounts ,holidays, life assurance, bonus, pension, share saves, salary sacrifice, health and wellbeing, charity volunteer day etc	On-the-job learning, role specific training, development reviews, corporate learning program, store attachment	Fire Health & Safety Committee, Occupational Health Services, Business Involvement Groups (BIGs), and Awareness program.
Selfridges	High Turnover, diversified work group, Work Life Balance	Lack of recovery data, online performance management	Online Process	Generous holiday entitlement, Contributory pension scheme, Healthcare for senior managements , Life cover, Long service awards etc	Workshops, on-the-job training, weekly training, financial support	Expert speaks person, Health Safety and Environment Champions meeting.
Primark	Cost, Security concern, online sales	Not follow online sales	Online Process	Contributory pension scheme, Childcare Voucher scheme, Competitive annual leave entitlement, Health insurance , Bonus scheme	structured induction program, task specific training, leadership program	Structural Survey Program, Fire Safety Programs
Sainsbury’s	Employee Retention and development, costly software	Standardize procedures, employee performance evaluation , training through technology	Online Process	Store discounts and gifts for achievers, accommodation, bonus etc	Initial training. On-the-job training, staff development, senior management training	Training and instructions regarding emergency situation, safety committee meeting, Supplier Compliance management.

Conclusion

Human Resource Management plays a very important role in every organization. Human resource manager’s role is changing and it’s getting more challenging day by day as organizations are going through rapid changes due to globalization, change in customer taste and habits, technological advancements, internationalization of business. Proper recruitment & selection process, training and development programs, benefits packages, motivating the employees, excellent customer services all these things depend on the effective HRM. To retain employees attractive and appropriate benefit packages are very crucial. Training and development programs increase the productivity of employees. Employees are the assets of the organizations. So, organizations must focus more on the health and safety issues.