Job analysis is the process that collects information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and other overall work environments (Fine, and Getkate, 2014). It is an important process in determining the person who fits the specific role in a company. The more data that is collected, the more clearly the role it is to the person who will take it over.

This has been a challenge at Good Food, with supervisors hiring employees without a proper job analysis. Doing so ends upbringing employees to take over tasks; they have limited knowledge and skills, and sometimes they may not like the environment. The principal aim of job analysis is to improve management efficiency and productivity, something highlighted in Taylorism theory. This theory was first formulated to improve engineering processes, but the applicability remains real in the workplace. Every company, including services, is seeking to conduct a job analysis that will have a positive effect on the productivity of employees and the efficiency of the whole firm.

For any firm that seeks to improve productivity and efficiency, job analysis may seem like the most appropriate approach. However, the approach has some drawbacks. First, job analysis is theoretical, yet the work is practical. It is a possibility to do job analysis and come up with information that will filter out employees based on their perceptions (Goffin, et al, 2011). If given opportunities, some can defy the specifications listed in job analysis to offer exceptional services to the company. That means the firm risks missing out on competent individuals who the data filters out, and can bring in more who are not as competent as the theoretical data imply. The store is expanding to rural areas, and one con for job analysis is the recognition of that as part of the environment where employees will work. This can keep potential staff out. It thus suffices to say job analysis can complicate the whole process of acquiring top talent.

There are several job analysis methods, including observations, interviews, technical conferences, and functional job analysis. However, the most appropriate for Good Food would be the interview method. This method involves a direct discussion between the job occupant and human resource (Semmer, and Zapf, 2017). In some cases, the discussion can proceed to experts. The main objective of the interview method is understanding what specific skills a job needs, what employees do, what is the most appropriate environment, and others. These are issues that can be provided by job occupants and noted down. This method can benefit the company in several ways. First, it will understand employees better and what they do. Firms can adjust their strategy, including compensation based on the outcomes of job analysis. It also makes employees feel they are valued at the company. It is one way of providing feedback and expecting, or asking the firm to act based on the results of job analysis.

Job Description and Person Specification

A job description is a document that illustrates the general duties and responsibilities as a job has, and what is required to execute them (Plint, and Patterson, 2010). This is the document that provides information to job applicants, who can then decide to apply or not based on whether they can execute the duties. It is an important document since it provides potential employees with what they are expected to do at the workplace. Closely related to the job description is the person specification, which is the description of the person who can perform the tasks. This means while job description offers details about the job, person specification specifies the kind of person the company is looking for. For instance, stating that a job requires someone who will lead others in the successful delivery of company goals falls under job description, while stating that the person who should apply must have a degree in human resources and a five years’ experience qualifies as a person specification.

There are frameworks that are utilized in developing either of the above documents. In a job description, the job title must be there (Plint, and Patterson, 2010). In the case of Good Food, it can be a supervisor, sales agent, or website developer. It is important to have a specific title for every job. The next thing will be the job summary. It is important for the designer to create something which grabs the attention of the reader before proceeding to highlight the duties and responsibilities. That ends the job description, and the next two parts illustrate the person specification, which including listing the qualifications and skills (Plint, and Patterson, 2010). Qualifications include things like having certain academic credentials, specified experience while skills can range from good leadership skills, communication, management, and technical skills like the use of Microsoft Office packages. This framework is used to create advertisements. Done well, it provides most of the necessary details for anyone to know the job and the person required for the same. The major drawback is that this method eliminates some individuals who would otherwise execute the specific duties and responsibilities, yet having no person specification description.

Staff Turnover and Performance

Selection Method

There are so many methods the team can use to select employees including sales agents, web site developers, or anyone they need. The selection process has three important stages. The first one is advertising the job and allowing potential employees to apply (Salgado, Anderson, and Hülsheger, 2010). This can be done through the provision of the job specification and person specification to the public and using channels that can attract applicants. This includes puts the documents in media as an advertisement, putting it on social media like LinkedIn, or just sharing with others who can refer a qualified person. The role of a job description and person specification is to enable shortlisting, the second important stage. This can be done through several methods, but the use of application forms and screening the curriculum vitae is one of the best methods. Application forms are followed out conclusively and make it extremely easy to eliminate individuals who do not meet specific criteria. Also, going through the resume allows the recruiters to make a judgment on whether to shortlist the person or not. Only individuals who are qualified for the tasks should be shortlisted (Salgado, Anderson, and Hülsheger, 2010). The last in the classic trio is the interview, which now involves the selection of the person to take over the job.

There is a host of selection methods ranging from structured interviews, tests, biodata tests, aptitude tests, and assessment tests (Bolander, and Sandberg, 2013). Structured interviews can work effectively in this case, but unlike before, the company should be thorough this time around. Structured interviews come with multiple benefits when applied properly, including predicting performance, ability to test applicants on cultural or organizational specific dimensions, can be used for all types of jobs – in this case, it would be appropriate for sales agents and web developer – and the structured interview can be used again and again. Importantly, structured interviews can test specific competencies like communication abilities, product knowledge, management, and leadership skills, and others, important aspects the company has been disregarding. The selection of sales agents should be thorough. The company should make sure it has attracted individuals with skills identified as critical during the job analysis.

Performance Management

Performance management is the process of ensuring employee activities are aligned with the objective of the company (Gruman, and Saks, 2011). It essentially means managing staff to fulfill employee goals in the most efficient manner. Performance management can focus on the performance of a whole company, a department, or an individual. Customer complaints, low sales, demotivated employees are all signs of poor performance management. An effective system focuses on having a workforce that is highly efficient in meeting specific goals like customer satisfaction, high sales, and highly motivated staff. Currently, employees are demotivated for a series of issues, including poor job description, lack of clear career path for employees, and other challenges.

These problems can be addressed through a proper performance system that incorporates correct appraisal systems. Performance appraisal a regular review of employee performance and overall contribution to the company (DeNisi, and Smith, 2014). It is one way of determining whether employees are meeting expectations or not. An appraisal evaluates the skills and capabilities and lack of thereof. It can be used to address key challenges. First, young employees are demotivated for a lack of a clear career path. This is something the company should do. An appraisal can examine their contribution and estimate their future value to the company. Based on that, the firm can decide to be part of their school journey and guarantee a clear career path, including offering promotions and other benefits. Appraisals can determine the skills gap that is leading to customer complaints. If the staff is not receiving proper compensation, an appraisal can design a plan to compensate them based on what they provide to the company. Sometimes it is important to conduct regular reviews and provide incentives that promote employee satisfaction that can be transferred to customer services, hence leading to customer satisfaction. The aim will be to make the employee’s stay at the company satisfying. It will reflect on customers.

Expansion and Talent Acquisition and Management

External Factors

Firms usually find employees from two environments, internal and external. When the company prefers to look within itself for employees to fill certain positions, then that is utilizing the internal labor market (Barkhuizen, Mogwere, and Schutte, 2014). While this option comes with several pros, an alternative that covers its flows is the external labor market. The external labor market is when the firm looks outside its staff to find an employee to fill a certain job position. For example, seeking employees from the general population to take up certain positions in the workplace. Unlike the internal labor market that has few choices, external markets have endless talent, and the company can find almost everyone it needs. Good Food needs employees who understand it, particularly at the supervisory level.  With this in mind, it can turn to the internal market to choose a supervisor. A transfer is an option, but in most cases, promoting someone is appropriate. However, the vacancies left vacant must be replaced. In that case, the company has to invite individuals from the external market to apply and fill them.

One of the major issues with the company is that it is using migrant workers and some employees who are highly mobile due to their current state. Young people and particularly students are not individuals who have figured out their future. This creates a high chance that they will leave the company in the future. These are individuals who lead to high turnover, the same as migrants. However, the labor market is also flooded with these types of employees. The only challenge for the company is covering the recruitment and exiting costs, which can be expensive. Over the years, migrants have been moving from countries with struggling economies to the UK. Brexit, a move that seeks to get the UK out of EU mat limit that. This will affect the labor market. Shifts in the market, including shortage for labor, can push wages up, putting more tension on firms like Good Food, which runs on a tight budget to manage the diverse workforce. However, the company should look beyond students and migrants, and employs individuals who it can retain for long. Those will not only reduce recruitment and exit costs, but they will also build a brand reputation and lead to customer value. Those are important success factors.

Talent Management

Talent management is the firm’s ability to attract, hire, train and retain highly competent employees (Tarique, and Schuler, 2010). Talent is the possession of unique skills and knowledge that makes a person competent for a specific task. While this is the most important thing for most companies, it is also the most elusive. When employees are hired to the company, the whole process tends to consumer money, ranging from advertising for the position, allocation of resources for selection, training and other things. An employee exit means the firm must repeat the same process. It makes the process costly, and some vases expose the business to risks like customer dissatisfaction when no employee is there to attend to them, or when the new employee will have to create new relationships. For those reasons, talent management is critical for any firm like Good Food.

There are so many talent activities and specifically for firms in retail like Good Food. Individuals are talented in customer service, public speaking, report writing, networking, decision making, management and a host of other activities. Employees who are talented with management activities can play roles where they manage other employees, enabling the firm to achieve its goals. Customer service is an important talent for most sales agents. This includes the employee’s ability to welcome and interact with customers in a friendly manner and proceed to meet their needs. These skills may look simple, but they are not possessed by everyone. Equally, the firm can have writers and other technical talents. For example, a highly talented financial planner can provide insights that can assist the firm move forward financially. Marketing experts must be good at networking. That is how they reach out to the company’s suppliers, the source for information, and even collect market intelligence. Every role is critical in the company, and every individual holding it is talented in some way. It is essential that the company focuses on retaining these talents.

Retaining talent is an important strategy for creating a competitive strategy (Tarique, and Schuler, 2010). Some companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have held market leadership in their specific markets due to the highly talented team they have. Good Food can produce a similar base of talent, enabling it to create a brand that is beyond reproach in the market. That is possible most when the company is able to meet the compensation needs of these highly sought after team.

Conclusion

Good Food has to change its current strategy of using migrants and students as key employees and build a strategy that brings talent with the aim of keeping them in the long run. This will create a team of competent professionals who can assist in steering the firm ahead. Apart from that, the firm should be explicit about the job positions, and create flexibility for an employee to outsource duties and responsibilities initially, not in the job description. The focus is on creating a satisfied workforce that will steer the company ahead.

References

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