Asda is the United Kingdom's second-largest supermarket. A recent subsidiary (1999) of the Wal-Mart family of retail stores, Asda takes great pride in its customer service, employee training, and overall organizational culture. The retailer both recruits employees externally, as well as training and promoting employees from within. According to the Asda case study, the colleague "pledges" account for a large part of its success. While Asda is committed to customer service and valued employees, the company is still growing, and its commitment to overall excellence is growing as well.
A job description comprises a detailed list, as well as examples, of duties and tasks required by a job. A personal specification is an outline of the essential and personal qualities required by a job's role. Both the job description and the personal specification help hiring personnel find an ideally-suited colleague to match an open position. For external candidates, "Asda Magic" or "Asda Reality" assist Asda in finding colleagues with a work ethic commensurate with Asda values. For internal candidates, appraisals are used to evaluate potential candidates, and the appraisals are discussed with managerial personnel.
There are two benefits to Asda of employees using online applications. Both speed and efficiency of using online hiring enable Asda to hire the best-fit employees for job positions. The other benefit is that managerial staff can quickly select employees from the applicant pool. For example, 27,000 jobs were advertised by Asda last year, and 1.5 million application were handled by its dedicated careers site. Moreover, Asda found many of its valued recruits from other professional hiring and networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Remploy.
There are two pros and two cons of Asda's practice of promoting 70% of its employees internally. First, internal promotion is great because those employees who have seniority are being rewarded. Secondly, employees who are familiar with the Asda culture, and its business practices are retained within the company. However, by focusing so much energy on promoting employees internally can lead to stagnation, as external employees are looked over. If no "new blood" is hired, so to speak, Asda could suffer from a poverty of new and innovative ideas. Moreover, by looking over external candidates in favor of internal candidates, Asda might be sacrificing the opportunity to hire more-experienced and higher-educated personnel, adding value to the company's human resources.
Asda is a strong company that is devoted to customer service and employee excellence. The second-largest supermarket in the UK, Asda is still growing, as its corporate culture and organizational values deliver its customers and employees both a product and a service. Asda's training program ensures long-tenured employees, while its high rate of internal promotions mean that employee excellence is rewarded. Moreover, Asda is a business of the 21st-century, as its hiring process is done solely online. Both managerial personnel and recruits benefit from a speedier, more-efficient hiring process. In short, Asda is not only a great place to shop, but it is a great place to work as well.
