Case study on Strategies in HR Management of Labor Market Analysis Cas

Question: Describes the results of your assessment of the labor market from which your selected organization draws candidates for open positions. Explains the population, demographics of the population, levels of education, and how much training may be required to prepare new workers drawn from this pool for positions in the firm. Uses regional economic corporations, US Department of Labor and other sources to provide data. Answer: Introduction In the recent years the labor market of USA has been experiencing a growth in the employment opportunity by 58% majorly in the private sectors. However the rate of unemployment is USA remains unchanged due to the fact that the government sectors are shedding a large number of employees every year (Dreher Dougherty, 2002). The assignment here deals with the analysis of the US labor market in context of the open recruitment of the US based online shopping company Zappos Inc. Labor market analysis Zappos.com is an online retail outlet dealing in the sale of clothes and shoes. The company has recruits a diverse range of fresh talents from the US market for the various departments namely the technological department, finance, creative, legal and education, merchandising, HR and marketing, customer call centers and also fresh graduates for internship purposes (Dreher Dougherty, 2002). The company draws 60%of its labor force from the young labor market of Las Vegas and US. According to Dreher Dougherty (2002) the minimum educational qualification for this labor market is less than high school. Especially for recruitment of merchandising department low educational qualification is not a bar. On June 2013 around 195,000 jobs were added in US economy however due to the increasing size of the population the unemployment rate remain unchanged at 7.6% (www.bls.gov, 2015). Workforce statistics of US retail sector Due the rapid employee turnover in the retail sector the following table shows the high rate of employment in the different departments of retail companies in 2013. To manage the volatile labor market and meet the high customer demand Zappos among other online retail companies focus on aggressive recruitment strategies. Data name Sep 2014 Oct 2014 Nov 2014 Dec 2014 Employment (Excluding seasonal adjustments) 15415.3 15447.9 15502.3 15511.3 Unemployment rate 6.5% 5.1% 5.8% 5.1% Job openings 586 540 459 456 Hires 701 978 1020 1121 Separations 674 711 632 526 Table1: Workforce statistics of US retail sector (Source: www.bls.gov, 2015) Employment by occupation in retail sector Data names Employment approx positions as per 2013 Cashiers 2755130 Merchandise clerks and order fillers 1104491 Retail sales representatives 4196800 Floor managers and supervisors 1104490 Customer care representatives 294270 Table 2: Employment by occupation in retail sector (Source: www.bls.gov, 2015) Figure 1 : US labor force by occupation (Source: Data.worldbank.org, 2015) Analysis of Population, demographics, education and training for Zappos Inc Population of US labor market: As per the data of World Bank, the total population of the USA labor market consists of around 158,959,242 comprising of people ranging from age group of 14 year to 65 years. The total population includes both employed and unemployed workforce and also the seasonal workers, first time job seekers and part time workers. Zappos selects the workers from the vast labor force on the basis of educational qualification, age and experience. Demographic factors: Age: Younger age group is a major component of the retail industry. Zappos employs around 50% of the total employees from the age group between 14 to 34 years. The primary segments of employees ranging from 14 to 18 years are generally the school students employed as interns or part time sales representatives. The higher segment of the age group ranging from 35 to 64 years are generally employed in the higher positions of creative mangers, technological departments, marketing and PR departs and legal departments. The middle age employees between 25 to 35 years are employed for the general positions of floor managers and HR managers. Figure 2: Age wise division of employees (Source: Zappos.com, 2015) Sex: The employee base in the retail sector generally constitute of majority of male workers. Dreher Dougherty (2002) opined because of inflexible working hours, monthly targets and uncomfortable working atmosphere the number of female applicants for retail jobs are considerably low. Zappos records around 64% of male employees in all departments and majority in the merchandising and sales departments The reaming 36% is accounted for female employees with majority employees working in creative, HR, legal and PR departments. Figure 3: Gender of employees (Source: Data.worldbank.org,2015) Education Job designations Education level Sales and merchandising representatives Entry level school education Technological assistants Masters in Technology, software engineers, Hardware engineers Shop cashiers Entry level education in accounting Finance department Masters in Business administration (specialization in Finance), Degree in corporate finance, Certified Public accountant (CPA), Certified Financial analyst (CFA) Marketing and advertising Bachelors in marketing degree, Masters of Business administration (marketing specialization) Legal department Chartered Institute of legal executives, graduate diploma in law Training: According to Dreher Dougherty (2002) the first time job seekers and the work force within the age range of 14 to 22 years are given extensive training by the retail companies. Zappos in this respect provides on the job training for sales employees. The management arranges for culture camps, mentorship programs, four week new hiring trainings, call centre trainings and leadership programs for the new recruits. Conclusion The analysis of the overall US market shows that the retail sector generally recruits at a high rate. However the employee turnover rate is high due to the lack of incentives, good salary structure and the lack of appropriate education. The assignment gives an overview of the labor market of Zappos and helps in understanding the overall market situation. Reference list Book Dreher, G., Dougherty, T. (2002). Human resource strategy: A behavioral perspective for the general manager Boston, MA : McGraw-Hill/Irwin Websites Data.worldbank.org,. (2015).Labor force, total | Data | Table. Retrieved 20 January 2015, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN www.bls.gov (2015). Retrieved 20 January 2015, from Websites https://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm Zappos.com,. (2015).Online Shoes, Clothing, Free Shipping and Returns| Zappos.com. Retrieved 20 January 2015, from https://www.zappos.com/