Article 1: Understanding stress in retail work: Considering different types of job demands and diverse applications of job resources
Full reference to the article: Tuckey, M. R., Boyd, C. M., Winefield, H. R., Bohm, A., Winefield, A. H., Lindsay, A., et al. (2017). Understanding stress in retail work: Considering different types of job demands and diverse applications of job resources. International Journal of Stress Management, 24 (4), 368.DOI: 10.1037/str0000032
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-34305-001
Objective and research question
The main objective of the study is to find out the stress factors in retail work. The other objective of the study is to identify which sections of employees are highly influenced by the stress factor and leave the organization due to that. The research questions of this paper answer the reasons behind the stress in the retail sector, how the threats, obstructions or challenges affect the job performance of the employees in the retail sector and the available resources that influence job performance in the retail sector.
Method
The primary data collection method is used in this research. Primary data provides specific data to a research problem under the study. The researcher conducted group interviews with retail workers including Work Health and Safety Representatives of some reputed retail industries to get information about the work culture in the retail sector. Thematic qualitative data analysis is used for analysis.
Findings and discussion
The research showcases that occupational stress results in fewer job demands in the retail sector. This situation is very common in the Australian retail sector also. Occupational stress effects on employees' health, job performance, and well-being. This situation results in obstruction in both personal and career goal achievement along with employee turnover in the retail sector. This article gave importance to three factors that create occupational stress in the retail sector. Firstly, employees cannot access useful resources to meet organizational challenges and manage demands. It hampers their emotional state of mind and they face multiple threats and hindrance demands. Secondly, they are not given structural job resources to promote their career growth within the retail sector. Thirdly, challenges in the organization are also the stressors. Employees in the retail sector do not get opportunities for increasing knowledge.Due to this occupational stress, employees feel exhausted and leave their organization. Job satisfaction is important to reduce occupational stress. It helps in employee retention mostly in the retail sector. The stressors like multiple threats and hindrance demands in an organization create pressure in the minds of employees and so that they cannot focus on their job. The article also finds out that there is a difference between the types of occupational stressors. In the retail sector, employees are placed in a position with little opportunity for growth with different types of threats, challenges, and hindrance that impact on their well-being and performance. The retail managers need to provide access to various resources to the employees so that they would not feel occupational stress. It will increase the employee retention rate in the retail sector.
Conclusion
Occupational stress is a common issue in the retail sector all over the world. It decreases the rate of employee attraction and retention rates in this sector. The three stressors create occupational stress among the employees in the retail sector. Therefore, it can be said that threats, hindrance, and challenges minimizes retention rates and increases occupational stress in the retail sector.
How this article will contribute to my Essay 3
This article has provided important insights regarding occupational stress in the retail sector. It also provides information about the factors behind occupational stress and how these stressors decrease the rate of employee retention in the retail sector. In my essay, these findings will be useful for understanding the occupational stress and influences of the occupational stressors.
Article 2: Attracting Future Health Workforces in Geographically Remote Regions: perspectives from current remote health professionals
Full reference to the article: Onnis, L. (2017). Attracting Future Health Workforces in Geographically Remote Regions: perspectives from current remote health professionals. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health Management, 12(2), 25-33DOI: https://doi.org/10.24083/apjhm.v12i2.77
https://journal.achsm.org.au/index.php/achsm/article/view/77
Objective and research question
The main objective of the study is to assess the factors influencing employee attraction and retention in remote locations. The other objective of the article is to identify the incentives offered by the managers can attract the employees or not. The article answers the research question of why health professionals were attracted to work in remote locations and how recruitment advertisings are helping in employee attraction in remote locations.
This paper
examines population and labor mobility trends in remote Australia and the issues that have been influential on rates of staff
attraction and retention, most particularly adequate housing, services, and infrastructure
Method
The article uses mix data collection methods to gather information about the issue regarding employee attraction and retention. The primary data collection method offers in-depth knowledge and analysis of the issues. The researcher interviewed with a questionnaire from January 2014 and July 2015 to 1317 professionals. Online questionnaires are used to gather responses from individuals. The secondary data were collected from five recruitment websites between August 2013 and July 2015. The thematic qualitative data analysis method is used in this case. It has used two different themes based on the two research questions.
Findings and discussion
It is founded in the article state that recruitment advertisements with the themes which attract employees to work in remote locations in Australia. It has provided some recommendations to better align recruitment practices and the view of unrealistic expectations which lead to psychological contract breaches. The article examines the influence of psychological contracts such as financial bonuses, job security and recruitment advertisements in employee retention and attraction in remote locations. The article is based on health professionals but this condition is very common in every sector like the retail sector as well. The finding of the article states that every sector faces this issue including the retail sector. Various recommendations are provided in the article to retain employees in remote locations. These given recommendations are analyzed. After the analysis, it is found that financial rewards do not lead to long-term retention to make people impractical to consider this as an option for the job location. The two studies for the two research questions contribute to the reasons for what the employees like to work in the remote locations and the key factor behind employee attraction. The study shows that employers strategically plan to advertise recruitment advertisements with offered incentives for working in remote regions. This attracts employees more. The findings of the article show that recruitment advertisements contain attractive information that attracts individuals to work in remote locations.
hat international
experience has shown that monetary incentives are important, but
more meaningful, intrinsic rewards such as recognition in
promotion and selection processes are more likely to encourage
greater willingness and commitment to remote location service
Conclusion
Employee attraction and retention is a problem in remote locations in Australia for all sectors like retail, health, education and so on. This situation creates a major problem as people do not like to work in these locations. It can be said that recruitment advertisements are successful in employee attraction so it needs to be improved so that employee attraction turns into employee retention.
How this article will contribute to my Essay 3
This article has providedimportant information regarding employee attraction and retention in remote locations of Australia. In my essay, I will use these findings to make the essay complete with proper information.
Article 3: Are peripheral regions benefiting from national policies aimed at attracting skilled migrants? Case study of the Northern Territory of Australia
Full reference to the article: Golebiowska, K. (2016). Are peripheral regions benefiting from national policies aimed at attracting skilled migrants? Case study of the Northern Territory of Australia. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 17 (3), 947-971. DOI: 10.1007/s12134-015-0431-3
Objective and research question
The main objective of the paper is to assess the advantages of National Policies to attract skilled migrants in Australia. The research questions answer how the Northern Territory of Australia is attracting skilled migrants in various business sectors including the retail sector and what is the cause of skilled employee shortage in Australia.
Method
The secondary data collection method is used in this article. Previous unpublished and published data from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) were collected. It analyzes immigration statistics covered 1996-1997 to 2007-2008. Statistics from 2008-2009 to 2012-2013 were collected from the publicly available source. Quantitative data analysis is used in this case to gather numeric information.
Findings and discussion
The article finds out that the Northern Territory (NT) is getting benefits from national policies. NT experiences shortage in skilled employees in various sectors including the retail sector. The regional migration policy in Australia increases skilled individual migration. The increase in skilled migration increases the rate of attracting and retaining skilled employees in the retail sector. Australian retail sector hires migrant employees who are benefited from immigration policies. These immigration policies offer a long-term visa to skilled migrants like engineers, experienced retail managers, individuals with IT skills, doctors, nurses, teachers, and retail frontline managers. Australia offers regional migration policy to attract skilled migrants and hire them to regional areas to help regions with less-skilled employees. Australia offers some key skilled visas like Regional Skilled Migration Scheme (RSMS), Skilled Designated Area Sponsored (SDAS), State/Territory Nominated Independent (STNI), Labour Agreement (LA) visa, and State/Territory Sponsored Business visas. It is also found out that peripheral regions get advantages from national policies in skilled migrant attraction in Australian retail and other sectors. Employee turnover is a common issue in Australia including NT in every sector so these policies are helpful in employee attraction and retention. There are variations between immigration trends nationally and in the Northern Territory. It includes four propositions about the nature of international migration to peripheral regions of Australia. The first proposition is about long-term efforts to increase the proportion of skilled immigrants at the national level. The second proposition is that peripheral regions of Australia get benefit from national policies and increases skilled migration. The third proposition states that skilled migrant visas in national and peripheral regions are driven by different kinds of migrant visas. The fourth proposition states that peripheral regions become popular for employment destinations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be stated that peripheral regions get advantage from national policies. Australia experiences employee shortage and a lack of skilled employees. The offered visas help in employee attraction and retention in Australia. The four propositions showcase the benefits of national policies.
How this article will contribute to my Essay 3
This article has provided important insights into the areas impacting employee attraction and retention in peripheral regions in Australia with the help of national policies for skilled migrants. In my essay, these findings will be useful for writing the essay by incorporating important information.
Article 4: Controlling routine front line service workers: An Australian retail supermarket case
Full reference to the article: Robin, P. (2016). Controlling routine front line service workers: An Australian retail supermarket case. Work, employment and society, 30 (6), 915-931. DOI: 10.1177/0950017015601778
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/89052/1/89052.pdf
Objective and research question
The objective of the study is to explore how retail managers negotiate the control of their predominantly part-time workforce. The article uses an Australian supermarket chain to complete the research. This paper includes answers to research questions like the new configuration of controls for frontline workers, if the frontline employees are satisfied with their job or not, the employment status and what are the benefits given to them.
Method
In this article, the mixed method is used in data collection. Primary data were collected through 33 interviews with 22 specialized HR staff at head office and store management at the three stores. Besides that 10 interviews were conducted with supervisors. Secondary data were collected from organizational documents including rosters and job descriptions. Data was collected through non-participant observation during visits to the three supermarkets in Queensland. Quantitative data analysis was used to interpret and analyze the collected data.
Findings and discussion
The study finds out that the Australian retail sector employs employees in three primary categories like permanent full-time, permanent part-time and either full or part-time temporary/casual employees. The permanent full-time (PFT) employees work 38 hours per week in average with fixed-hour rotating rosters, permanent part-time (PPT) employees work between 12 and 36 hours per week in average with fixed rotating rosters; and casual or temporary employees (CAS work on an hourly basis, at any time, and on any day of the week, with no fixed number of hours and they do not get guarantee of on-going employment in retail sector in Australia. These categories impact employee attraction and retention in the Australian retail sector. Many individuals are looking for permanent part-time jobs with lucrative remunerations. This article finds out that the new configurations of controls are bureaucratic, info-normative and simplecontrols. It is also found out that different configurations of controls are applied to different groups of employees at different levels within the organizational hierarchy. Managers use bureaucratic control, supervisors use info-normative controls and checkout operators use simple or direct control for employee management and work distribution. These three kinds of controls have different impacts on the front-line workers depending on their employment status. The employment status of the employees is considered as the key mechanism for control. Mostly young causal employees provide cheap flexible labor in the retail sector and unplanned absence is very common in this sector. High employee turnover in retail sectors is the reason for this.
Conclusion
This article analyzed different types of controls operated by frontline employees in the Australian retail sector. It identified that frontline workers use different types of configuration of controls at different point of time. These controls are interconnected with the recruitment of employees in the retail sector.
How this article will contribute to my Essay 3
This article provides knowledge about control in the labor process and discusses the theory of the labor process more broadly with multi-level analysis. The findings will be very useful for my essay as I need to write about employee attraction and retention in the retail sector.
Article 5: How can gender signal employee qualities in retailing?
Full reference to the article: Chang, J., Travaglione, A., & O’Neill, G. (2015). How can gender signal employee qualities in retailing? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 27, 24-30. DOI:10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.07.004
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joshua_ Chang/publication/282633784_How_can_gender_signal _employee_qualities_in_retailing/links/5be51c2192851c6b27b13229/ How-can-gender-signal-employee-qualities-in-retailing.pdf
Objective and research question
The objective of the study is to find out the factors that influence job roles for both men and women in the retail sector. The research question of this article answers how KSAOs (knowledge, skill, abilities and other personality characteristics) and retail sector roles are distributed between men and women.
Method
The primary data collection method is used in this article. The researcher uses a survey of 702 respondents (300 men and 402 women) employed across 40 ANZSIC (Australian New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification) retail categories. Quantitative data analysis is used with cross-tabulation to analyze the distribution of men and women employees across the 40 ANZSIC retail sectors. Chi-square (χ 2) testing is used to determine statistical significance between variables within the table used in the analysis.
Findings and discussion
The article finds out occupational segregation is observed when workers are excluded from certain jobs based on their gender. It is very common in the Australian retail sector. It decreases the rate of employee attraction and retention rates in the retail sector. The study shows that different retail sectors have different gender characteristics. The retail sector is considered as the largest employer in Australia. Female employees tend to be placed or hired in clothing, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and toiletries departments whereas male employees are hired for electric and electronics departments. It suggests that retail sectors that require higher technical knowledge and physical effort tend to employ male employees. Female employees in the retail sector are considered as less skilled positions with part-time employment. The findings show that female employees dominate retail sectors that involve ‘softer’ social-oriented skills with less required knowledge, and physical ability but male employees dominate retail sectors that involve ‘harder’ social-oriented skills, technical knowledge and physical ability. It is found out that customers sometimes rely on the behaviors and knowledge of the employees to judge a quality service. So the retail sector needs to employ the right employees to specific retail roles. The article showcases that female employee are process-oriented and male employees are outcome-oriented in customer service. It is seen that many skilled employees leave their job due to gender discrimination. So it is important to attract and retain efficient employees in the retail sector to maximize qualitative customer service.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that an employee’s gender is an unintentional signal for unobservable qualities in retail sector employment. Proper orientation and training can improve the quality levels of both male and female employees so that gender discrimination would not take place in the retail sector.
How this article will contribute to my Essay 3
This article has provided important information about employment nature in the retail sector. In my essay, these findings will help me to write important information about employee retention in the retail industry. This article includes valuable information and data about employee turnover in the retail sector and this will be very helpful to complete my next assignment. It has also provided an in-depth view of the gender-oriented concepts in the retail sector.
