Organisational Analysis Essay on Albertsons Companies LLC

Albertsons Companies LLC is an American-based grocery corporation which was established and headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Albertsons is privately owned and managed by investors, comprising of Cerberus Capital Management. The company has 2200, with over 250000 making it to be the second largest retailing store in North America (Albertsons.com, 2017). As the U.S. retail industry increasingly become competitive, organizations are now shifting their focus towards their employee engagement and recruitment policies. It is imperative for the recruitment process to emphasize on the ability of the candidates to be motivated and engaged by organizational cultures and values. Attaining a high level of employee engagement enables the firm to have lower attrition rates. This task will focus on exploring engagement and recruitment strategies regarding the operations of Albertsons Companies.

Factors Impacting Recruiting, Employee Engagement and Retention in the U.S. Retail Industry

Retail companies in the United States operate in a macro-environment, implying that influences outside the organization have a significant impact on the companys strategic operations. Analysis of the U.S. retail industry reveals that different factors can affect the recruitment, employee engagement and retention approaches within a given corporation.

Employee Recruitment

Berman et al. (2012) assert that the recruitment function of a company is affected and controlled by a composition of various internal and external forces. Organizational recruitment policy is one of the internal factors that are impacting recruitment practices in U.S. retail industry. Retailing companies have unique approaches when it comes to their recruitment approaches. George (2017) demonstrates that a companys recruitment policy outlines its recruitment goals as well as providing a clear framework for the implementation of the staffing programs. Organizational needs, objectives and financial implications are some of the factors that shape the recruitment policy of a particular corporation.

Competition is another factor that has a significant influence towards the recruitment strategies adopted by U.S. retailing companies. Organizations within U.S. retail industry are competing for top talents to ensure they gain a comparative advantage which guarantees them future growth (Berman, Bowman, West, & Wart, 2012). It is essential for an organization to analyze the recruitment model utilized by the competitors. This will enable a corporation to design a competitive and attractive package, ultimately luring the talent needed. It is common for firms in this sector to alter their staffing policies in respect to those approaches adopted by the competitors (George, 2017). This helps organizations to cope with the dynamism of U.S. retail industry.

Employee Engagement and Retention

Employee engagement depicts the efforts and commitments applied by the workforce, thus acting as a primary indicator of their dedication or involvement in the organization. According to Gilsdorf, Hanleybrown & Laryea (2017), highly engaged personnel is relatively more productive, motivated and loyal to the company. An organizations HR strategy is the key factor which influences the employee engagement and retention. It is imperative to implement effective human resource practices to enable an organization to nurture a satisfied and motivated workforce which performs to their full potential.

Training of the frontline managers is perceived as a significant approach when it comes to improving the companys ability to engage and retain its workforce (Berman, Bowman, West, & Wart, 2012). For example, George (2017) points out that job satisfaction among young people is highly dependent on how they are treated by the frontline managers. Albertsons Company, which is one of the key players in the supply of grocery in the United States needs to train its frontline managers as a way of improving its effectiveness as far as employee engagement and retention is concerned.

Expected Levels of Engagement for Albertsons Hourly and Salaried Employees

Cook (2008) points out that there are different levels of employee engagement that can be adopted by an organization. Albertsons Company group is expected to focus on applying an appropriate level of employee engagement to improve the degree of involvement and motivation amongst its workforce. As one of the key player in the U.S. retail industry, Albertsons is supposed to adopt an active level of employee engagement. This will enable its hourly and salaried personnel to be relatively more productive as opposed to the disengaged peer, ultimately improving its operating and profit margin and rates of revenue growth (Cook, 2008). Farrington & Malanowski (2010) reveal that levels of employee engagement decline as the workforce get older. This implies that Albertsons should restructure its recruitment policy to ensure that it has a relatively higher proportion of youthful employees, who are motivated and ambitious to gain significant expertise and experience in their profession. This will be the critical approach of maintaining active levels of engagement within the companys workforce.

Historically, the tasks of the employee engagement have been entirely assigned to HR and frontline managers. However, Albertsons is expected to invest significantly in helping its management in nurturing a culture of workforce engagement. When it comes to the hourly and salaried employees, the engagement should focus on building expertise, employee empowerment and improving individual accountability at the workplace (Farrington & Malanowski, 2010). Albertsons is supposed to intensify its efforts in developing strong, trusting relationships with its workforce through a compelling employee value proposition (EVP). Albertsons HR team can achieve this through clarification of the employee contract. Thus making it clear of what is expected of the organization and its employees.

Albertsons should strive at improving its engagement levels by cultivating its talents through practices such as paying and rewarding for the top performance. According to Farrington & Malanowski (2010), the organization and its workforce should embrace the prospect of developing learning agility, which is vital in creating the needed solutions for the future. This implies that Albertsons should have a significant investment in its training programs which will aim at developing its workforce through improving their skills and experiences, ultimately enhancing the companys level of engagement for hourly and salaried employees (Farrington & Malanowski, 2010). Achieving an active level of employee engagement requires Albertsons Group to embrace strategies which nurture a passionate and dedicated workforce (for both hourly and salaried employees)

Impact of Turnover and lack of Employee Engagement to Albertsons Business Strategy

Macey et al. (2010) contended that employee engagement and turnover has a significant impact on the success of the business. Disengagement and lack of engagement will have adverse effects on the implementation of the Albertsons operational strategies. According to Berman et al. (2012), a disengaged workforce cares less about their tasks and responsibilities than the engaged employees. Unlike engaged workers, who have vested interests in the growth of their profession and skills in a given organization, disengaged employees are always waiting for a loophole that can enable them to exit the company, ultimately increasing the employee turnover rates (Macey et al., 2010). Lack of employee engagement at Albertsons will result in a decline in performance levels. Berman et al. (2012) demonstrate that disengaged employees are primarily associated with high rates of absenteeism as well as being involved in safety incidents. Under such occurrences, Albertsons will be forced to incur unnecessary costs to cater for illness and recruiting and training new workers due to higher rates of turnover.

Lack of engagement will be detrimental to the implementation of Albertsons business strategy through delays and inefficiency caused by the disengaged and unmotivated workforce. Actively disengaged workers purposely waste employer time and other resources. This indicates that such employees will be costly to Albertsons through wasting vital managerial time and limited resources (Farrington & Malanowski, 2010). This will result in increased quality and production issues which will negatively impact on the companys performance and profitability levels.

Lack of employee engagement diminishes the morale. Macey et al. (2010) reported that actively disengaged workers are the primary cause of disruption and dissatisfaction within a given organization. This implies that the onset of employee disengagement in Albertsons will lead to a decline in the motivation levels among the actively engaged workers. It is therefore imperative for the Albertsonss strategic managers to address the underlying factors causing active disengagement as part of risk management approach when it comes reducing waste (Cook, 2008). It follows that lack of employee engagement and high rates of turnover will be detrimental to the Albertsonss business strategy due to poor management of resources which is associated with a disengaged workforce.

High rates of turnover and disengaged employees adversely affect the customers. Albertsons operates in grocery industry which is a highly competitive market segment, thus highlighting the need of investing significantly in the delivery of quality and satisfactory services to the customers. Farrington & Malanowski (2010) contends that discontents depicted by the disengaged employees not only affects the front lines of business but also impacts negatively to the companys efforts to improve its customer experiences. Disengaged workers are often unmotivated which can result in a poor customer sense, thus eliciting negative responses. This will derail Albertsons efforts in building strong brand loyalty. Actively engaged employees enhance the organizations pursuit of high levels of customer satisfaction since they are suitable for establishing strong customer bonds.

Factors Contributing to lack of Engagement and Turnover

Gubman (2004) identified workplace conditions, leadership and communication, work schedule and workplace stress as the underlying factors contributing to the lack of engagement and turnover in various organizations operating within U.S. retail industry.

Workplace environment plays a primary role when it comes to employee engagement and turnover. Contemporary working conditions provide workers with a wide array of alternatives, ultimately influencing their decisions on whether to stay or shift from one organization to another (Leblebici, 2012). Due to the dynamism of the current workplace environments, it is essential for the Albertsons HR executives to pursue new employee recruitment and retention strategies, which enables the organization to resolve the recurring engagement and turnover issues.

Leblebici (2012) asserts that the quality of the workplace environment determines employees productivity, satisfaction, comfort and their overall morale levels. Convenient workplace environment such as appropriate buildings with acceptable safety standards (proper ventilation and lightning and less noisy environments) act as morale-booster to the workforce. Individuals working under inconvenient workplace conditions such as poor ventilation, noisy environments, and excess emergency will be exposed to occupational hazards such as diseases and accidents...