Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the selected area
INTRODUCTION:
For the given topic – “Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the selected area”, the sector that I have selected is Service sector. Further, I have referred to five articles including one on retention strategies in health service organization, another on talent management strategies in UK based organizations, another on retention practices relevant to small scale enterprises, one on attracting and retaining strategies in aged care sector and last one on sourcing techniques for skilled workers in global marketplace conducted in Australia. The articles describe the topic in general and several factors affecting the sourcing and retention of workforce in health sector of different countries.
ARTICLE-1
Curson, j., & Skidmore, T. (2010). Retaining a high quality workforce – keeping hold of the family silver. Strategic HR Review, 9(5), 17-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14754391011064383
Keywords: Recruitment, Retention, National Health Service, Manpower planning
This article “Retaining a high quality workforce – keeping hold of the family silver” investigates and explores the major challenges faced by the National Health Service organization in sourcing, managing and retaining the best quality employees in this cut throat competitive market. NHS organization would majorly source in highly skilled and specialized workforce which is the most difficult to retain. The main functions that have been included in this paper to retain skilled employees effectively are Recruitment, Management style, Employee development and Office culture. Staffing plays the prime role in retaining the talent by consciously planning the precise job descriptions and scientific selection procedure. Further, it also takes into account flexible working hours as a motivator for skilled employees and found a positive correlation between the two. The study reveals that the managers take their employee development function very seriously focusing on future relevant roles, career path of employees, challenging job roles etc. WRT considers that providing conducive physical office environment is very important to provide the employees a sense of satisfaction and motivation to work efficiently such as proper ventilation, space for seating, color combinations, plantation and location of the office. They have taken care of all these things properly. Further, the democratic management style of WRT focuses on creating an engaged workforce by providing them a chance to express their opinions, giving feedbacks and information sharing.
This article gives me an insight of the major strategies playing vital role in retention of highly skilled workforce which is the main objective of my assessment paper. It helps me to understand the factors such as recruitment, office culture, management style and training and development in depth to be utilized as tools for retention of employees. This paper shows that through these strategies, WRT has established a flexible, trustworthy and progressive environment which leads to a sense of affiliation and satisfaction amongst the employees leading to a stronger bond between the organization and workforce. It has also shown a positive correlation between these four factors and quality of work and profit margins of the organization. This study covers only National Health Service organization as the population of the survey, hence, its findings cannot be universally applied to other sectors of the marketplace. It considers only four factors to correlate with retention of employees while there are many other motivators such as compensation, work life balance and performance management which play vital role in job satisfaction and retention of employees.
ARTICLE-2
Harrisr, L., & Foster, C. (2010). Aligning talent management with approaches to equality and diversity. Equality, Diversity And Inclusion: An International Journal, 29(5), 422-435. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02610151011052753
Keywords: Human resource management, Equal opportunities, Employee development, Managers, Public sector, United Kingdom
This article “Aligning talent management with approaches to equality and diversity” investigates the strategies of Talent management in UK public sector enterprises. The sample was taken for this study from two of the public sector organizations in UK i.e. a large city council and the legal services commission. The purpose of this study was to identify the interventions for attracting, developing, rewarding and retaining the employees with the organization rather than comparing the results of talent management in different sectors. Equality and employee diversity were taken as an important agenda in talent management interventions by these public sector managers. The presence of strong trade unions and equality policies across the UK public sector, the organizations are compelled to adopt the policy of fairness in treatment of employees and managing diversity at workplace. The findings of the study presents that the implications of talent management posed some issues for the public sector organizations to align with equality and diversity policies at large. It can be analyzed that in implementation of talent management process, the managers have to distinguish talented pool of workers for future development and special treatment which leaves other employees with a feeling of unfair treatment and inequality. It is concluded that the perceptions of the managers and employees on the concept of equality and diversity need to be reestablished.
The above study defines the talent management interventions with approaches to equality and diversity at core. Talent management interventions consist of recruiting and selecting the right candidates at first, development and training, rewarding and retaining the employees which ultimately target the goal of keeping the best employees of the organization intact and a progressive work culture for all. This concept is very helpful for my topic of assessment as it covers the gamut of employee management as a whole. Further, this study covers two organizations of UK public sector and the findings can be generalized to the health public sector organizations at large. It takes into account two main challenges of equality and diversity management in implementing talent management interventions for public sector. It also highlights some issues for the same like aligning the human resource policies with talent management, selection process, lack of resources and performance management. The study concludes that the line managers of public sector approve of recognizing the talent of employees individually but on group basis, the constraint of equality and fair treatment poses a serious challenge. The study does not focus on factors for attracting and retaining the employees but on the approach to implement talent management.
ARTICLE-3
gialuisi, o. (2011). Employee retention practices in small businesses: A proposed study. Small Enterprise Research, 18(2), 152-154. http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/ser.2011.18.2.152
Keywords: small business, employee, retention, turnover, HRM
The study “Employee retention practices in small businesses: A proposed study” adopts small scale business sector as its population for study with a purpose to identify the influencing factors for employee turnover in small scale businesses and how the managers or owners strategize to retain them. It is assumed that small scale firms form an important part of the national economies worldwide as they provide proportionate part of employment to the economy. Human asset is at the core of small scale organizations; hence, they cannot take the risk of losing their most important asset in this crucial competitive market. The data was collected from small scale firms using a structured questionnaire and Critical incident technique of interviewing to collect appropriate data. It was found that employees want to work with large scale organizations rather than small scale firms as they perceive them to provide low packages, improper office environment, low career growth opportunities and much more. As a result, small firms are more likely to face employee turnover. Hence, the study suggests that small scale firms should adopt a more formal approach to human resource management with framing proper HR policies and structure. This will certainly provide them a sustainable growth and competitive advantage in the long run. Further, it was found out that small firms utilize several non-financial rewards to retain the employees such as facilitating social groups, creating good bond, providing a sense of affiliation.
The above study focuses on retention practices in small scale firms in Australia and other economies as well. I can utilize the findings of this study to summarize the retention strategies such as non- financial rewards, a sense of belonging, scientific method of selection etc. for my assessment. Further, it only targets the small scale sector which limits the scope of its findings which cannot be applies to all the sectors at large. It does not take into account the methods of attracting the potential candidates to the organization which would have been useful for this assessment and retaining the best employees. There is very less research done in this field for small scale sectors, this study contributes in a good way and opens avenues for future researches in the same area. As it is very important to hold on to the talented and skilled employees of the organization, this study is of utmost importance. According to the findings, small scale firms should try to utilize their resources better and also focus on monetary rewards as the motivator for retaining employees because money works best as motivation.
ARTICLE-4
Dhakal, S., Nankervis, A., Connell, J., Fitzgerald, S., & Burgess, J. (2017). Attracting and retaining personal care assistants into the Western Australia (WA) residential aged care sector. Labour & Industry: A Journal Of The Social And Economic Relations Of Work, 27(4), 333-349. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10301763.2017.1418236
Keywords: Aged care; human resource management; employee attraction; employee retention; personal care assistants
This article “Attracting and retaining personal care assistants into the Western Australia (WA) residential aged care sector” studies the satisfiers and demotivators for personal care assistants (PCA) and the way they can be effectively sourced, rewarded and retained in the residential aged care sector of West Australia. An estimate states that more than 25% of population of Australia is more than 60 years of age. This calls for the increasing demand of personal care assistants. The government has estimated that the ageing population in Australia would double up by 2050 which compels them to project the required number of PCA required. The study was conducted from the non-profit organization which provides PCA for aged care sector and 11 managers were interviewed for the same. The data collected investigated the shortage of PCA, their job skills required, job facilities provided, recruitment and selection procedures adopted, rewards, training and development and retention practices. The findings stated that they were provided with limited pay scales, not shown proper career path or career growth opportunities. There was a confusion regarding attracting the potential candidates for the position. Hence, it was concluded that the motivators need to be taken into consideration and proper strategies to be framed to retain the PCAs.
The above study helps in understanding the importance of health care sector in West Australian community and the working conditions under which PCAs work in. It further explores the motivators and dissatisfiers for personal care assistants and the ways to retain them effectively. The study concluded that the PCAs are not provided with proper working conditions, monetary rewards, training and development, career growth, long working hours etc. which compels them to leave their jobs voluntarily making the sector of aged care more volatile. They are satisfied with their permanency of jobs. It is further suggested that the sector should focus on making proper retention policies with better pay and quality of work life for PCAs. This study is very helpful in my assessment as it concentrates on health sector problems related to attracting and retaining of employees with the organization. It contributes in a prominent manner for designing and proposing a well-structured retention policy for the sector based on the satisfiers of the employees.
ARTICLE-5
bahn, s., & cameron, r. (2013). Sourcing specialised skilled labour in the global arena: a change in the way we view work in Australia?. Australian Bulletin Of Labour, 39(1), 19-41.
Keywords: skilled labour, sourcing, human resources, Australia, globalization
This article “Sourcing specialised skilled labour in the global arena: a change in the way we view work in Australia?” is concerned with the issue of gap in demand and supply of skilled and specialized labour in local markets of Australia due to growing economy and attracting the global talent to fulfill the requirements. Though, there are efforts in the direction of improving resources through vocational training programs, global talent is moving at a fast pace across the world. The factors contributing to the skill shortage as analysed are global mobility, training, workforce diversity and national mobility. This paper focuses on the major component of the framework i.e. global manpower mobility. The beliefs of Australian organizations do not accept offering jobs to employees from abroad in the first place. Hence, the study finds a challenge to make a paradigm shift in their perceptions and values to accept global mobility and attracting global talent for the jobs. Sourcing practices in resourceful regions of Australia have been reviewed in this article. This study is further followed by a review on progress of these policies in western Australia and regional Queensland.
This study focuses on the subject of sourcing skilled labour in this arena of globalization in Australian market. This topic challenges the long-held values and beliefs of Australian market of not accepting migrant workers in the jobs at first place. This study helps me to understand the policies and principles of the local marketplace and the challenges it is facing in sourcing the global talent available. Further, it may also be of help in the assessment to understand how to fill the positions due to lack of skilled labour in the market. This study may not be of much use to my assessment as it investigates and covers only shortage of resources in Australian market, studies its policies and culture and paradigm shift in their mindset. Hence, it does not contribute to attracting and retention of employees with its findings and analysis. The framework undertaken for this study opens ways for future research and is significant area nationally. Pilot studies have been undertaken for this area which would lead to extensive researches in future for advanced analysis.
