BUS7B35 RESOURCING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT
Introduction
In the present business environment, recruitment and retention strategies, succession planning and talent management have been playing a vital role, as they have the capacity to improve an organisational performance. The current essay would highlight the contribution of recruitment strategies, retention strategies, succession planning, and talent management in improving organisational performance in order to foster long-term growth. In order to complete the essay with real business evidence, Amazon, which is one of the renowned companies worldwide, has been considered.
Discussion
Recruitment and retention processes
Amazon is one of the leading companies worldwide and the second largest US employer (Business Insider, 2022). Amazon has taken initiative to identify the best talents from all backgrounds, which is reflecting that the organisation is focusing on maintaining diversity in the workplace. In order to uncover the best talent or capable employees for technical as well as non-technical job roles, the organisation has made partnerships with other organisations and some academic institutions, which has been helping it to reach underrepresented communities (About Amazon, 2022). With the help of its leadership principles, Amazon has been able to hire capable employees through its unique interview process. On the other hand, its leadership principles have also been taking part in the employee retention process, as they have been helping the company to understand the diverse perspectives of candidates who are from different backgrounds. For evidence, the recruiting process from different colleges or universities embraces Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal colleges, and Women’s colleges (About Amazon, 2022).
However, the recruitment and retention process of Amazon has faced some criticism because of its gaps. For evidence, some of the managers at Amazon have stated that they felt extensive pressure in order to convene the target that they recruit candidates who they intend to fire within a year. This is because Amazon has a goal to cut off employment of a specific number of employees every year in its ‘unregretted attrition’ (Business Insider, 2022).
Impact of recruitment and retention processes on talent management and succession planning
The employee recruitment and hiring process of Amazon has been contributing to organisational performance, as they are helping the organisation in managing talents and taking part in its succession planning. For evidence, the net revenue of Amazon was approximately 470 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, which is reflecting effective organisational performance (Statista, 2021) (Refer to appendix 1). In accordance with the opinion of Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, the organisation has set a bar high in its approach to hiring employees and this would be continued in the future, as it is the single most vital element for its organisational success (Ranosa, 2018).
The hiring and retention process of employees has been impacting its succession planning in a positive manner. For evidence, the hiring process of employees has been playing a key role, while Amazon has decided to recruit approximately 75,000 workers in order to meet the demand, which is raised by the Coronavirus pandemic (Palmer, 2020). Moreover, because of its effective employee retention strategies, the organisation has been able to provide its delivery and warehouse employees the opportunity to earn an extra $2 per hour in the United States (Palmer, 2020).
The organisation has taken the strategy to look after the increased demands of its team support to their communities, which has also been influencing employee motivation positively (Palmer, 2020). This is evidence that the organisation has been able to manage talents through its effective initiatives. The effectiveness of Amazon’s recruitment and retention process can be reflected in its number of employees throughout the years. In this regard, it has been found that in Seattle and Washington the organisation had approximately 1,608,000 full-time and part-time workers (Coppola, 2022). Moreover, the organisation has been able to retain employees properly and this is the reason that from 2017 to 2021 the organisation has faced a continuous growth in its number of employees (Coppola, 2022) (Refer to appendix 2).
Advantages and disadvantages of the processes
The ideas of the HR value chain model can help to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the recruitment and retention process of Amazon, as those are strongly related to HR activity. The HR value chain model is based on the works of Richardson and Paauwe (Nayak and Ganesh, 2018). In accordance with the model, it can be stated that HRM activities include recruitment, training, compensation, and succession planning. Hence, it is evident that the HRM department of Amazon has been playing a key role in the recruitment and retention process. The hiring process of Amazon is effective for its organisational performance, as it is helping the organisation to interview candidates from different cultural backgrounds and lead a bias-free selection process (Skillgigs¸2022).
After the interview, the HRM department of Amazon also evaluates candidates in the next step of the recruitment process, which has been helping the organisation to find out best candidates. This is helping the organisation to improve its long time organisational performance, as it has taken the initiative to motivate employees to be “passionate about the mission” of searching for superior talents for the organisational interest (Schwartz, 2022). However, HRM activities of Amazon regarding employee retention and hiring have been criticized, as it includes “unregretted attrition” and a “Hire-to-Fire” policy (Gadgets360, 2021). This can be seen as evidence that the employee retention and hiring process of Amazon has been providing some disadvantages to the organisational performance as it is impacting organisational reputation negatively.
Lawful and ethical people management requirements
Amazon is committed to ensure workers, community, and people that support its entire value chain are treated with fundamental respect as well as dignity. The organisation has recognised its responsibility and has taken initiative to provide ethical treatment to its workforce and others who are within its value chain (About Amazon, 2022). Moreover, Amazon’s policies to work ethically have been following the guidelines of the “United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights” (About Amazon, 2022). This can be seen as evidence that the organisation has been able to manage its workforce with lawfulness.
On the other hand, findings reflect that the organisation has faced allegations of discrimination as well as racial bias on the job. Most importantly, many of its employees have reflected their opinion as the HR department of Amazon can be considered as a part of the problem regarding discrimination and racial bias in the workplace (Rey, 2021). Hence, it can be stated that although the organisation has taken different initiatives to maintain ethics and able to recruit employees by avoiding any biases and maintaining workplace diversity by reducing issues such as discrimination and racial bias, it is not entirely successful to achieve this goal.
Conclusion
From the overall discussion regarding the recruitment and retention process of Amazon, it can be concluded that the process has been contributing to enhance its organisational performance. Moreover, it is clear that despite having an effective recruitment and retention process the organisation has been facing different issues because of the lack of efficiency of its HRM department. Furthermore, the organisation has also been losing its reputation in the market because of the gaps in its training and retention process, which is impacting the overall organisational performance in a negative manner, as it has been negatively influencing organisational reputation.
References
About Amazon, (2022). Amazon Global Human Rights Principles. [Online]. Available at: <https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/people/human-rights/principles> [Accessed on 17 July]
About Amazon, (2022). How we hire and develop the best talent at Amazon. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/hire-and-develop-the-best-amazon> [Accessed on 17 July]
Business Insider, (2022). Insiders reveal what it’s really like working at Amazon when it comes to hiring, firing, performance reviews, and more. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/insiders-reveal-what-its-really-like-working-at-amazon-when-it-comes-to-hiring-firing-performance-reviews-and-more/articleshow/83957312.cms> [Accessed on 17 July]
Coppola, D., (2022). Number of Amazon.com employees from 2007 to 2021. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/234488/number-of-amazon-employees/> [Accessed on 17 July]
Gadgets360, (2021). Amazon Accused of Employing a ‘Hire-to-Fire’ Policy to Meet Annual ‘Unregretted Attrition’ Goals: Report. [Online]. Available at: <https://gadgets360.com/internet/news/amazon-hire-to-fire-policy-employees-managers-unregretted-attrition-goal-ceo-andy-jassy-report-2441708> [Accessed on 17 July]
Nayak, S. and Ganesh, A., (2018). THEORETICAL MODELS EXPLORING THE LINK BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW. Advance and Innovative Research, p.94.
Palmer, A., (2020). Amazon to hire 75,000 more workers as demand rises due to coronavirus. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/13/amazon-hiring-75000-more-workers-as-demand-rises-due-to-coronavirus.html> [Accessed on 17 July]
Ranosa, R., (2018). Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reveals talent success strategy. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.hcamag.com/au/news/general/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-reveals-talent-success-strategy/153769> [Accessed on 17 July]
Rey, J., D., (2021). Amazon’s Black employees say the company’s HR department is failing them. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/recode/22524538/amazon-diversity-black-employees-human-resources-department> [Accessed on 17 July]
Schwartz, M., (2022). Four Steps Toward Digital Government. [Online]. Available at: <https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/enterprise-strategy/four-steps-toward-digital-government/> [Accessed on 17 July]
Skillgigs¸(2022). To Be or Not To Be(zos): Are You Recruiting Like Amazon? [Online]. Available at: <https://skillgigs.com/to-be-or-not-to-bezos-are-you-recruiting-like-amazon/> [Accessed on 17 July]
Statista, (2021). Annual net sales revenue of Amazon from 2004 to 2021. [Online]. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/statistics/266282/annual-net-revenue-of-amazoncom/> [Accessed on 17 July]
Appendices
Appendix 1: Amazon’s annual net sales revenue from 2004 to 2021
(Source: Statista, 2021)
Appendix 2: Number of Amazon’s employees between 2007 to 2021
(Source: Coppola, 2022)
