Recruitment - Selection and Training at the Container Store

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Recruitment, Selection and Training at The Container Store

In order to realize the best output from employees, there is need for an elaborate system that will ensure that employees are well recruited and trained. The benefits enjoyed in these endeavours by far outweigh the costs, if effectively done. A look at the case of The Container Store, a company that has emerged as one of the most outstanding in terms of performance in business and employee management reveals the importance of good strategies in recruitment, selection and training. This paper looks at the how these are done at the company in light of a number of motivational theories.

To begin with, the company adopts a unique recruitment and selection strategy. Unlike the traditional way where a vacancy falls and advertisements are made in order to attract and screen applicants for the position, the company uses a referral system in order to source for the necessary talent that they need. In this system employees are sent to scout for talents that they feel are best for the positions available within the company. Friends and relatives that the employees know can work well are thus recommended to the company. The adoption of this system has a number of advantages. Firstly, employees enjoy a sense of belonging which is highly motivating. (Arthur 246). According to Arthur, with such a system in place, employees work together as a team in a free manner and share their problems and successes without any restrictions. This alludes to a number of motivational theories that are in support of team work. By participating in this procedure, employees are also annexed to both the problems and successes of the company thus making them fully responsible of the welfare of the company. (Arthur). Secondly, the employment environment is friendly and homely since the people around are those that the employees themselves choose to work with. This creates some sense of autonomy where the destiny of the employee's success is left in their own hands as individuals. Thirdly, employees are highly motivated when they receive a token for any successful recruitment and selection that they assist the company with as it is happening here. This is also motivational since incentives are gratifying. The use of tokens for any employee who brings in a referral is not only motivating but also makes the employees careful when they are referring their friends and relatives to work for the company. Chances of say referring someone who is of questionable character are very minimal since this will have a poor reflection on the referee as far as their responsibility to the company is concerned.

In addition to the above strategy, the company also gets a number of its employees from the customers that they are in constant touch with. From this case study, when employees get in touch with their customers, they keep on asking whether the customers would be interested in joining their company as employees. This strategy is not only unique but also has numerous advantages. Firstly, chances of attracting more customers for their products are very high since customers are made to have a sense of belonging to the company in an all round manner. (Mathis and Jackson). Secondly, recruiting customers or using their referrals in recruitment meets their labour demand in a more satisfactory way. This is because customers and their referrals come with different backgrounds and talents which the company can tap a lot from in order to meet their labour demands. Thirdly, the kind of message that such customers send around concerning this company is definitely good. This can create a high value of the company's goodwill and marketability. Bringing customers in as employees also reduces the need for product training during sales since the customers are already knowledgeable about the product that they are selling. (Mathis and Jackson 195).

The company's screening strategy of potential employees is also appreciable. From the case presented, there is thorough screening of employees in order to determine whether their skills and talents have the best match for the position that is vacant. Knowingly that they would be screened for such positions, employees are thus motivated to work hard and bring out what is in them in terms of talent and capabilities. (Mathis and Jackson). As far as this case is concerned, it is said that the company would rather stay long with a position that is vacant than hustle to fill it with someone who will not be able to deliver to the full satisfaction and expectation of the company. This is an appreciation of the fact that in order to get the best in terms of employees, enough time is needed to enable the employer to evaluate the skills before making a decision on whether to entrust them to a particular role or not. The interviews used in establishing whether a candidate is capable are thorough as it is posited in this case. It is notable that there is strict screening, where employees are interviewed for as long as three hours through telephone and video conferences. This avails enough data about the employee's capabilities upon which the employer can make an informed decision. In addition to this, the incumbent gets motivated to bring out what is the best in them in as far as the particular job is concerned.

Generally, recruitment and placement, as it is done here, is unique and quite motivating to the incumbents. Although many critics criticise some of the systems used here, the results that the company registers in terms of employee retention and profitability makes these strategies to appear as the most effective. After a successful recruitment, employees will not be expected to perform at their best until some other measures are put in place. One such a measure is training and development. Given the diversity of the products that this company is handling, there is need for product specific training which is well done, according to the case. In the next section, the training procedures will be analysed.

As mentioned, training is one of the areas that this company has achieved most in with an attempt to have a competent pool of staff to handle the high diversities exhibited among its customers and products. There are a number of features in their training that enable them to achieve that much. Firstly, the investment