HR Consultant Proposal (Walmart)
Due to an increase in sales all across the branches of the franchise, there is an urgent need to expand the workforce to avoid compromising the quality of service delivery to our esteemed clients. I would recommend the abovementioned action across all levels, from managerial and all the way down as it will ensure coordination and distribution of labor. With a well-distributed workforce, the company will offer its clientele quality service delivery during peak and low seasons of the year. Having the appropriate number of staff prevents employees from being overworked – a scenario that should not be allowed to occur. Burnout among personnel impacts negatively on service delivery and the company at large. We are a service industry, and to ensure positive growth, we need to have a workforce that is customer-friendly.
The staff needs to be diversified in terms of expertise and competence to serve in the various departments and capacities within the company. The current environment, both local and international, requires young vibrant employees with talents in information technology as well as good communication and interpersonal skills (Gilmore & Williams, 2013). A young workforce is necessary to serve in the middle levels, which is a key for production and growth. Senior staff requires senior experts whose experience is a necessity in decision-making for the company and formulation of strategies to counter competition and other challenges, both external and internal. Understaffed departments need to be allocated the correct number of staff. The increase in customer demands requires that new departments should be created or expanded on the existing units, which will translate to improved service and raised revenue. Departments with a high number of employees leaving due to retirements or transfers also need to be allocated the correct number of staff. Reshuffles within the company divisions are necessary to ensure the staff is well equipped with skills to serve the organization in different capacities.
Managers, as leaders, have been in the industry long enough to understand the trends in the market as well as shockwaves and challenges that affect the industry (United States Department of Energy, 2011). They have the expertise to face rivals in a professional way to bring healthy competition. With their wealth of knowledge, these senior employees are ideal to foster innovation in collaboration with the middle-level personnel who bring in their skills. They craft plans on how to tackle challenges in the market as well as innovative ideas that help to improve production, increase sales and expand the market share.
Employees’ welfare is a factor that has to be well-addressed since employees under stress are less productive. I would recommend the company to initiate a program or establish a department that should ensure staff’s welfare is adequately addressed, and this should also look into workforce inner relationships to minimize cases where conflicts arise among employees as a result of personal issues. Maternal and paternal leave need to become a right to employees who happen to have had children while in the line of duty. Employees whose welfare is well-addressed are productive and feel part of the organization. The latter situation results in their increased performance, which translates to growth.
The employees can be allowed to join labor unions through which they can air their grievances and create a structure that helps to guarantee their social security. However, these organizations can be manipulated to undermine the company. That specifically happens when they state unrealistic demands that a business is required to meet.
| Pros | Cons |
| Labor unions empower employees to air their grievances | Labor unions can be manipulated by rival groups to undermine companies, whereby they incite staff |
| Staff’s welfare responsibility is equally shared between an organization and union | Labor unions put more pressure on a company to give in to demands raised by its members |
| Staff feel secured when their companies allow them to register with labor unions | Staff can hold a company at ransom till their demands are met with no regard to an economic situation |
| Labor unions help a company and its staff to adhere to the Collective Bargain Agreement | At times, the CBA can be altered in favor of staff, which will negatively affect the productivity of a company |
| Labor unions create an equal playground for a company to explain its situation when an issue is raised by its staff | Labor unions may require that companies increase the amount of contribution from the staff, which may increase the operational costs of a company |
Staff members need to be refreshed as part of their career development. They can be put under a program where they attend short courses to polish their skills. Exchange programs with partner companies are another good method of peer-to-peer development and networking.
Changes in internal, external and global environment ensure that the company has to adjust and cope with these alterations (Gaspar, Arreola-Risa, Bierman, Hise, & Colari, 2014). Staff members need to be equipped with skills to counter challenges that arise in the market. The organization needs to come up with strategies to cope with the related threats for that reason. Global recessions and inflation mean that businesses need to notify their staff of an impending situation, and any changes made should slightly affect the staff’s welfare.
References
Gilmore, S., & Williams, S. (2013). Human resource management (1st ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Gaspar, J., Arreola-Risa, A., Bierman L., Hise, R., & Colari, J. (Eds.). (2014). Introduction to global business: Understanding the international environment & global business functions (1st ed.). New York, NY: Cengage Learning.
United States Department of Energy. (2011). Guidelines for home energy upgrade professionals (Factsheet) (1st ed.). Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.