The Food Retail Sales Industry

Business Assessment

Dr. Bob Barrett

Human Resource Information Systems

April 24, 2016

Business Assessment

The food retail sales industry is one of the largest industries in the United States.  With the emergence of big box, retail stores such as Walmart, Target, and Costco smaller food retail stores are being driven out of business.  The stores that do remain in business have had to find ways to adapt to the changing retail environment.  Without making the necessary changes to stay competitive, small to medium size food retail stores could have to close their doors.

Gladwell Grocery Stores is no different than other small to medium size food retail stores.  Located in upstate New York, Glenwell Grocery employs over 400 personnel in ten different locations.  About 55 percent of the employees at Glenwell Grocery are part-time staff.  Dealing with the transit time to each site, recruiting, scheduling, payroll, and answering employees’ questions can be streamlined with the addition of a well-designed human resource information system (HRIS).

Small to mid-size organizations can reap enormous benefits through automating and streamlining more of their HR functions.  Implementing an HRIS can improve the effectiveness and cost structure of an organization while effectively positioning them to grasp a larger share of their respective market (Anitha & Aruna, 2013).  Over the years, programs have become more accessible and affordable for organizations of all sizes.

The business assessment of Glenwell Grocery Store can be divided into four steps: 1) focus on the assessment, 2) planning, 3) implementation, and 4) report assessment findings.  First, we must focus on the needs of the company and the users.  Scheduling, recruiting, payroll, and time management is four areas of improvement the company needs to focus their attention.  HRM must be able to post openings, view, and screen potential candidates’ resumes with ease.  Mr. Bell has to be able to create schedules, remotely, and forward them to his management team so they can post them for employees to see their work schedule.  Most importantly, the payroll process must be streamlined to prevent unnecessary travel and delays in employees’ receiving they pay.  

Six HR functions Glenwell Grocery should focus on are recruiting, safety, employee relations, training and development, compensation and benefits, and compliance.  Of the six areas, Glenwell Grocery should focus on compensation and benefits.  The compensation and benefits functions of HR can be a key component in finding and retaining highly educated and skilled talent.  Setting compensation structures and evaluating competitive pay practices will allow the company to maintain a competitive advantage in recruitment (McLeese, 2016).  Negotiations for group health coverage rates with insurers and retirement funds should be ongoing activities of the HRM to enable the company to offer the best benefits packages possible.