Making working in retailing interesting: A study of human resource management practices in Danish grocery retail chains

Esbjerg, Lars; Buck, Nuka; Grunert, Klaus G.

doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2009.10.004

Cited by 19 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Supermarkets appear to have matched, if not taken the mantle from, fast-food retailers in workplace rationalization (Leidner, 1993; Ritzer, 1993). While they last, supermarket jobs are famously boring, rendering them interesting is a challenge for HR departments (Esbjerg et al, 2010).…”

Section: Supermarket Jobs and The Extreme Work Of Christmasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter

Bozkurt

2015

Organization

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This article argues that the characterization of ‘extreme jobs’ as being defined by the constancy of ‘extreme work’ obscures the significance of temporary episodes of ‘extreme work’ for a wider range of jobs and notes that even ‘mundane jobs’ are punctuated by extreme work in a variety of cases. Drawing on a study at a supermarket deli counter during the Christmas trading season, it is proposed that work in this context becomes extreme, in relative terms, in three ways. First, the expansion of the scope of work entails an increase in working hours, an increase in demands for multi-tasking and product knowledge, and an expansion of discretion. Second, an increased mobilization of soft skills is necessitated by intensified work both front stage and backstage. Finally, the Christmas period also entails an extension of ‘inclusive’ management practices over a group of workers who are not typically the focus of such efforts. Four key insights are offered in conclusion: First, ‘extreme jobs’ and ‘extreme work’ are conceptually distinct, and the latter is a relative and relational term that varies with the normalized nature of different jobs; second, the temporality of ‘extreme work’ is variable, as it occurs in different rhythms on different jobs; third, the subjective experience of punctuations of mundane jobs with extreme work can be highly positive; and finally, Christmas deserves further attention in discussions of recurrent and temporary intensification of work, particularly in understanding retail employment.

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Section: Supermarket Jobs and The Extreme Work Of Christmasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter

Bozkurt

2015

Organization

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“…Work in the retail sector is to a large extent characterized by relatively low paid and insecure jobs, unsocial working hours, permanent or casual part-time work, and other forms of non-standard types of employment conditions (Esbjerg, Buck, and Grunert 2010;Grulgulis and Bozkurt 2011;Whitehouse, Lafferty, and Boreham 1997;Whysall, Foster, and Harris 2009). This is, at least partly, explained by the fact that retail industry faces high levels of seasonality and volatility, something that generates a need for a high degree of numerical workforce flexibility (Whitehouse, Lafferty, and Boreham 1997, 37-38).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-urban location of stores and labour turnover in retail

Han

Håkansson

Lundmark

2019

The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer R

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The aim of this paper is to analyse labour turnover in retail firms with stores in different city locations. This case study of a Swedish mid-sized city uses comprehensive longitudinal register data on individuals. In a first step, an unconditional descriptive analysis shows that labour turnover in retail is higher in out-of-town locations, compared to more central locations in the city. In a second step, a generalized linear model (GLM) analysis is conducted where labour turnover in downtown and out-of-town locations are compared. Firm internal and industry factors, as well as employee characteristics, and location-specific factors are controlled for. The results indicate that commuting costs and intra-urban location have no statistically significant effect on labour turnover in retail firms. Instead, firm internal factors, such as human resource management, has a major influence on labour turnover rates. The findings indicate that in particular firms with multiple locations may need to pay extra attention to work conditions across stores in different places in a city, in order to avoid diverging levels of labour mobility. This paper complements previous survey-based studies on labour turnover by using a comprehensive micro-level dataset to analyse revealed rather than stated preferences concerning job-to-job mobility. An elaborated measure of labour turnover is used to analyse differences between shopping areas in different locations within the city. The particular research design used in this paper makes it possible to isolate the effect of intra-organizational conditions by analysing mobility within firms with workplaces in both downtown and out-of-town locations. This is the first comprehensive study of labour turnover and mobility with an intra-urban perspective in the retail sector.

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“…As underlined before, retaining customers is less expensive than recruiting new ones. Many retailers face the exact challenge with high employee turnover, as it is associated with costs of recruiting and training (Esbjerg et al, 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-Positioning Customer Loyalty in a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Market

Sundström

Hjelm-Lidholm

2020

Australasian Marketing Journal

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In the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market much of the customer loyalty operations are carried out with a short-term perspective, which often result in weak customer loyalty. Besides this, the one-sided view of customer loyalty and how to work with customer relationships, further adds to the challenges and there is a need to promote new insights and practices into customer loyalty in FMCG markets. In an attempt to broaden the view of customer loyalty, the authors take an organizational human resource perspective and present a conceptual framework and model built on human resource literature. Many companies face the exact challenge with high employee turnover, as it is associated with costs of recruiting and training, suggesting that customer loyalty becomes a question of organizing the customer as an external human resource. A practical contribution with the conceptual model is the suggestion to learn from the experiences of successful employee recruitment, and employee motivation, when viewing and working with customer loyalty.

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Making working in retailing interesting: A study of human resource management practices in Danish grocery retail chains

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter

The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter

Intra-urban location of stores and labour turnover in retail

Re-Positioning Customer Loyalty in a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Market

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