HR Policy Changes and Their Impact on Woolworths Assignment Samples

Introduction

The human resource management is defined as oh business function which focuses on managing and retaining the employees within the company for a longer period of time. For the success of the business it is very necessary that the human resource and capital is managed effectively and efficiently. In case the human capital will not be managed efficiently than it will be affecting the overall working capability of the employees. With regards to the HR, there are many different policy changes which are taking place within Australia. Hence, it is the responsibility of the company that they must effectively comply with all these changes so that overall performance can be improved. When the latest news and changes in the policies are implemented within the company then it will be improving the working efficiency of the business to a great extent. The current study will outline the recent policy changes being presented in the news relating to the HR. Moreover it will also outline the influence and the implications which these changes create over the different elements of Human Resource Management. These different elements included implications on training and development, job analysis and many other different aspects. At last the recommendations for improvement will be provided for improving the working efficiency with regards to human resource capital management.

NEW LAWS/ POLICIES/ SCHEME CONTEXT

Summarising the recent policy changes

With the evaluation of the latest changes it was analysed that the major change which took place includes the amendment within the Commonwealth Work Health and Safety Act 2011. These changes include broadening the category 1 offence and it including negligence as a fault element. In addition to this, it also prohibits the insurance coverage for any monetary penalties. Along with this, these amendment also allow the employees or the health and safety representative to select their own comcare approved training courses (Azizi et al, 2021). Furthermore, there was also an extension within the deadline for a person for requesting a prosecution and improving the requirements for comcare to provide progress updates. With regards to the work health and safety regulations it also include the changes within the way how duty holders have to identify and manage the hazard and risk which can occur at the workplace. In addition to this it was also listed that organisations have to consider and review the different approaches for managing all the psychosocial risk so that the mental health at the workplace can be improve. Moreover another change within this act also included development of a dedicated unit within the WHS Inspectorate which continuously will focus on the regulation of the psychosocial hazards and risk taking place at the workplace.

In addition to this another news included the fact that Federal government secured job better people was introduced to the Parliament and it focused on the providing more flexible work rights to the Employees. According to this news it was a stated that the bill proposed amendments in the fair work as they wanted to expand the circumstances on the basis of which employee can get a flexible working arrangements and ensuring that employers obligation towards the employee is more (Vrontis et al, 2022). It also focuses on putting gender equity and tries to focus more on fixed term contracts. Moreover another set of news included relating to the positive duty under the sex determination act. With regards to this act, the people at the workplace are allowed to eliminate the person who follows the unlawful behaviour. This unlawful behaviour includes discrimination on the basis of gender or any sexual harassment relating to work, conducting any workplace environmental hostile on the basis of gender, victimisation or any other lawful conduct. In case any kind of lawful conduct is witnessed at the workplace then the person can directly be eliminated from the work place.

Reason for their introduction

As the HR student and team it is very necessary to evaluate all this news so that the overall knowledge can be enhanced relating to the changes taking place within the external environment. Moreover, it is also very necessary for the organisations to continuously monitor these changes and try to implement all the related changes. In case the relevant changes are not implemented then the working and operational efficiency of the company will be affected and will not be providing better opportunities to work. Moreover another reason for introducing these changes includes the fact that there are many different changes taking place within the policies and practices of government. Thus, it is mandatory for the companies as well that they continuously implement these changes within the working so that all the working is updated.

Introduction of the organization

In the present case the Woolworths organisation is being undertaken for the evaluation of the HRM changes within the company and its implication over different elements of HRM. The reason for selecting the company is that all these changes have to be implemented by the business and in case it is not being implemented effectively then it will be affecting the efficiency of the business (Chowdhury et al, 2023). The retail sector is a very wide and all these policy changes have to be implemented within it. Thus, for this reason all the implications of these changes will be evaluated over the company and their performance and employee engagement.

IMPICATION OF POLICIES

Implication on training and development

The most common implication been created over the training and development of the business. With regards to woolworth it is necessary that they effectively implement all these changes within the HR policies so that performance of the company can be improved. It is particularly because of the reason that when any new change is implemented then automatically it will enhance the working efficiency of the employees and ultimately performance of the company will enhanced. Thus with regards to the above changes within the news it was evaluated that it needs to be implemented in Woolworths as well. Hence these changes create the major implication over the training and development of the company. The reason underlying the fact is that all these changes need to be implemented within practice and proper training has to be given to the employees. In case training will not be provided to the employees then they will not be in a position to understand these changes and will resist accepting these changes. Hence, it is mandatory for the company to effectively work on training and development department so that the overall working efficiency of the company can be improved. When the training and development of the company will be sound then automatically all the changes will be smoothly implemented and knowledge of it will be provided to the Employees.

With regards to current training in development practices woolworth is focusing on on-the-job and of-the-job training methods which help the company in fostering the employee-well being. With help of the training methods the company can easily provide knowledge of every aspect to the Employees and as a result of this the overall efficiency of employees is enhanced (Strohmeier, 2020). With regards to the present changes in work health and safety policy and the flexible working conditions it is necessary for the company to implement within the working. Thus, for this the HR team has to review the entire necessary requirement so that the working of the company can be improved. With regards to this the company has to take the reviews of the employees that whether they are happy with the work health and safety policy and the flexible working conditions or not. Hence, for this proper feedback needs to be taken from the employees and as a result of this strategy will be implemented.

Implication on job analysis

With regards to the current changes in the HR policies relating to work health and safety it also create an implication over the jobs analysis. This is particularly because of the reason that the job analysis is referred to as the process through which all the information relating to the job is provided to the people interested in the job. It includes all the role and responsibilities which the person has to perform over the job (Anwar and Abdullah, 2021). With regards to the job analysis as well major implication is created due to changes taking place within the HR policies. The reason underlying the fact is that due to the changes in the work health and safety policy and other changes the work profile of the person is also affected. Hence, it is necessary for Woolworths to implement all these changes within the job analysis is well. For instance, within the work health and safety policy it was mentioned that no insurance coverage will be provided over the financial penalties. Thus, this need to be implemented within the job description and acknowledged to the prospective person coming to the company for job. In case this information will not be communicated to the candidate then it can create issues and goodwill of the company will be impacted. Hence, it is the responsibility of the company that they must add all the new changes within their existing job description so that it is complying with all the new policies. The major gap identified within it is that there needs to be a comparison between the existing policy and the updated policies so that the deviations can be identified and accordingly decisions can be taken.

Implication on motivation and performance evaluation

In addition to the job analysis the major implications are created over the motivation and performance evaluation of the employees as well. The reason underlying the fact is that when the changes in the policies are conducted then it creates major changes over the motivation level of the employees as well. The reason underlying the fact is that in case changes are in benefit of the employee then they will be highly motivated to work (Collings et al, 2021). On the other hand, in case these changes will not be useful for the employees then it will be creating negative impact over the motivation level and the performance will degrade. With regards to the current news relating to providing the flexible working conditions will be creating positive implications over the performance and motivation level of the employees. The reason behind the fact is that when employees will be provided flexible working conditions then they will be highly motivated to work. This is a particularly due to the fact that when employee can work according to their convenience then they will work with more efficiency and productivity.

Ultimately this enhanced productivity will be improving the condition of the company and the profitability will increase. Moreover it will also help in enhancing the performance evaluation and management of the employees (Collins, 2021). The reason behind the fact is that when the employees will be motivated then they will work with more efficiency and the overall performance will be improved. Thus, it will provide a basis to the companies for evaluating the performance of the employees and accordingly provide them incentives and benefits. When good benefits and incentives will be provided to the employees than automatically they will be highly motivated and will be performing the task effectively resulting in improvement in working condition of the company.

Hence, it can be stated that the changes in the HR policies and the current news helps the company in improving their working efficiency. Even though there are some issues which the company faces while implementing these changes within the business. The most common challenge with the company faces while implementing these changes includes the increase in cost of the company (Ngoc Su et al, 2021). Whether be it any kind of change the cost of the company will be increasing and it can create issues for the company. In addition to this another issue which the companies will be continuously facing includes the resistance from the employees. Many a times the changes are not in benefit of the employees and ultimately the resist the change and it can create negative impact over the performance of the employees and the other employees as well.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion

In the end it is concluded that human resource management is very necessary to be implemented within the company effectively. The reason behind the fact is that human resource function focuses on enhancing the working environment and as a result of this overall development of the company takes place. The above study concluded that any change within the HRM policies of the company need to be implemented by the company. In case the company will not be implementing these changes then it will be affecting the overall efficiency of the business. The above study highlighted that major news included changes in the work health and safety policy and the flexible working conditions. Furthermore, it evaluated that these changes creates major impact over the different elements of Human Resource Development which includes training and development, performance evaluation, job analysis and many other different aspects. Hence the study evaluated that implementing these changes is very necessary for the success of the company. Moreover when these changes are implemented then it enhances the overall efficiency of the business and the employees are highly motivated to work.

Recommendations

With the above study it is evident that there are many different changes which need to be implemented by the company effectively. Thus, different recommendations for Woolworths for enhancing the implementation of the HRM policy changes effectively includes the following-

• The first and foremost Recommendation to Woolworths is that they must have a sound and active Research and Development Department. It is particularly because of the reason that there are many different changes taking place within the HRM sector. Hence, the active Research and Development Department will be continuously working in direction of analysing these changes and its importance within the company (Munir and Djaelani 2022). In case these changes will be effective for the company then it will be implemented within the business. On the other hand in case these changes will not be appropriate then it will not be implemented into the business.
• Another suggestion to Woolworths is to comply with a good change management model for implementing any kind of change within the business. For this it is suggested to the company that they must effectively focus on Kurt Lewin Change management model (Alzoubi et al, 2022). It is particularly necessary because this change management model includes 3 easy steps which include unfreezing, change and refreezing. Thus, this simple change management model will help Woolworths in implementing any kind of change effectively and efficiently within the business.