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Human Resource Mba

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Human Resource Mba
QUESTION 1
It is only companies that put extra effort and resources into developing, training and properly incentivising their workforce that will be able to retain their good staff.
Critically discuss how Pfizer, with their biggest challenge being “the skills shortage and the retention of talented and skilled staff”, attempts to overcome this challenge.

1.1 Introduction

The twenty-first century is characterized by businesses that are evolving in a rapidly changing and competitive environment. Globalisation, increased competition and changes in consumer behaviour are resulting in important business restructuring all around the world. With fierce competition, companies are facing challenges such as labour productivity, global economy and skills shortages among others. However, all organisations have one thing in common; they must employ competent and motivated workers.

Pfizer is a major pharmaceutical company, which ranks number one in the world of sales. The biggest challenge that Pfizer is facing is skills shortage and retention of talented and skilled staff. . The term skills shortage is defined by (Anonymous 1, 2007) as the supply of workers not being sufficient to meet demand at current rates of pay. According to Phillips and Connell (2003:2), employee retention is defined as the percentage of employees remaining in an organisation.

To overcome this difficulty, Pfizer is putting extra effort and resources into developing, training and incentivising its workforce to retain their good staff.

1.2 Strategies adapted by Pfizer to overcome this challenge

1.2.1 E-recruit System

As the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pfizer has implemented an e-recruit system. It is the online recruiting, via the intranet (internally) and the internet (externally) (Nel, Werner, Haasbroek, Poisat, Sono, and Schultz, 2008:227). E-recruitment is growing exceptionally fast as more people gain access to technology. Even those who do not possess their own



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