Abstract:

The present research paper introduces HR strategies that support retail firms to empower their employees with the necessary capabilities to jointly achieve the desired objectives set by the firms. It argues that retailers can achieve the organisational performance only through the improved employee performance. Today there is a rapid change in the way HR must deal with its employees. Organisations have many expectations from HR thus it has to pressurize itself for more innovations and turning to be business-savvy to stand toe-to-toe with overall organisational plans. Ditching the traditional role of administration, HR has to be into service delivery mode. Employees being their first customer to deliver, their role is very important. This study has been carried out in retail firms within Pune city of Maharashtra, India, on the adoption of Strategic HR practices. For the study purpose HR strategies under three verticals were chosen; diverse workforce, performance incentives, and technical training. Several items under each of these verticals were studied to know the impact of HR strategy on attainment of retail store objectives. Primary data for the study is collected through the questionnaire involving a sample of 290 HR managers working across retail firms, using the method of convenient sampling. Data were analysed using chi-square to arrive at the result, where it was concluded that adopting HR strategies have improved the retail store performance by achieving its objectives. It exhibited the need to pursue HR makeover and survive the intense pressure from the business world.

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