Managing Human Resources of Atlassian

Question: Discuss about the Explains the Recruitment Challenges that Atlassian is Facing. Answer: Introduction Recruitment is the process of attracting prospective suitable candidates for a specific job(Brown, 2011). The aim of this assignment is to analyse the challenges of recruitment faced by Atlassian. This is a computer software company dealing with enterprise software development (Atlassian, 2017). The firm was founded in 2003 in Sydney and is slowly growing in stature. As the firm is growing and gaining more clients, its need for hiring more employees is also growing. With growth the firm is facing various recruitment challenges. The assignment follows the structure of discussing the challenges in recruitment that Atlassian faces and recommends certain recruitment strategies to the firm. Methodology of secondary research and deductive technique has been used in this analysis. Key Challenges faced by Atlassian for recruiting the workforce Recruitment is a very important aspect of organisational activity. Recruitment is a key function of human resource management of a firm as it helps in finding and attracting new candidates for a job(Brown, 2011). A company needs to find the right person for the right job in order to complete all tasks so that it can achieve its organisational objectives. Firms face many challenges while carrying out a recruitment drive(Rue, 2010). Following are the challenges faced by Atlassian for the purpose of recruitment. Demand and Supply of labour- Atlassian functions in the computer software industry which is a highly technical industry(Buxmann, 2012). This industry requires employees with high technical skills. Moreover, the industry is very competitive. There are many small and large companies that are in the labour market to recruit the technically skilled labour(Henderson, 2012) Therefore, demand for skilled labour outnumbers the supply(Gummadi, 2015). Hence, it is a major challenge for the firm to find adequate skilled staff which matches the requirements of the company. Image of the organisation- Though Atlassian is a rapidly growing firm and has created a good reputation for itself in the market; it is still relatively unknown as compared to some bigger and international computer software companies(Atlassian, 2017). The firm is not a very attractive employer as it is not big and cannot boast of very large sales. Therefore, it is a challenge for the firm to find suitable people. Demographic issues- Atlassian is based in Sydney and unlike large companies it does not have offices in various regions of the country or globally(Atlassian, 2017). Additionally, the firm needs highly technical staff which includes programmers, software engineers, computer hardware experts etc. which need not be in large number in one city. Additionally, the firm does not have resources like large firms to import talent from other parts of the country or internationally as that would put more burden on the salary budget(Gary, 2010). Therefore, demographic restrains inhibit the recruitment drive of Atlassian. Additionally, people of diverse background and ethnicity exist in Australia. This poses the problem of diversity management(Mor Barak, 2013). Atlassian believes in non-discrimination however, it becomes difficult to manage the recruitment drive with a focus on being absolutely neutral in recruitment and selection(Knights Omanovi?). Gender diversity also poses a challenge. Women today are as capable at handling the job as men; however, for this purpose the firm needs to design policies for flexible working hours, maternity leave etc.(Byrd Scott, 2014). This requires adequate planning and may pose a challenge for a medium sized firm like Atlassian. Aging Population-Aging population is increasing in Australia. In 2001 13% of the population was above 65. And in 2016 this percentage has grown to 15 % approximately (Government of Austrailia, 2017).However, major population is in the working age group; though more people are middle aged and nearing retirement(Government of Austrailia, 2017). Aging population puts a strain on the supply of labour and poses a challenge for the firm to find suitable candidates. Managing the recruitment at low cost- Atlassian is relatively new and smaller company if we compare with some very large corporations in computer software industry(Atlassian, 2017). Therefore, it does not have the financial resources to run a massive recruitment campaign or to recruit frequently. Most big firms have financial resources to drive recruitment campaigns multiple times but Atlassian does not have such resources (Phillips, 2013) Hence, the firm has to find right candidates in a short recruitment campaign. This is challenging because there are many competitors for labour recruitment in the software industry and technical staff may not be easy to find(Hayton, 2012). This may result in a longer recruitment drive leading to cost increase for the company. Skilled candidates with multiple offers- A major challenge which a labour intensive and technical oriented firm like Atlassian faces is that as skilled workforce is less, the candidates tend to have multiple offers at the last stage of the interview(Karim, 2013). This is very disheartening for the firm as it leads to wastage of time and financial resources. Atlassian can manage this by explaining the entire career growth path to candidates and also having a proper and structured human resource department with good performance appraisal system and talent management focus. Rising Labour prise- The price of technically skilled labour is on the rise(Buxmann, 2012). As there is a lack of high tech professionals like project specialists and computer hardware and software specialists, the price is being pushed upwards(Kramar, 2012). Additionally, workers tend to leave for bigger companies after gaining a little experience(Gummadi, 2015). This poses a big challenge to recruiters as it puts an upward burden on the financial resources of a new and medium sized company like Atlassian. It may affect companys profits as a large share will go in salaries and wages of technical staff Therefore, due to the nature of the industry Atlassian faces challenges in recruitment because of shortfall of labour supply, demographic constraints and higher labour price of technical and skilled workforce. Recommendation of recruitment Strategies by Atlassian to counter the Challenges Atlassian faces most of its recruitment challenges because it exists in an industry which is extremely technology driven and the supply of skilled labour is less(Atlassian, 2017). Additionally, skilled workforce prefers bigger companies in the field, leading to recruitment deficit. Atlassian can use the following strategies to counter the challenges it faces in recruitment. Employer Branding - Employer branding is the concept of promotion of the firm to prospective employees as a good choice for future employment(Wilden, Gudergan, Lings, 2010). Employer branding helps in creating an image of a good employer and may attract well qualified and skilled workforce to the company(Sivertzen, Nilsen, Olafsen, 2011). As Atlassian exists in an industry where highly skilled workforce is required, employer branding is a very good Idea as it will solve the problem of skilled employees going to larger companies. For the purpose of employer branding, the firm has to enhance a good employer image. It has to formulate and implement policies which are attractive to employees like annual increments, performance linked bonuses, retention bonus, health schemes etc.(Mosley Barrow, 2014). Additionally, the firm need to propagate and showcase a good work culture within the organisation. This can be done by using public relation, social media and word of mouth publicity (Mosley Barrow, 2014). Moreover, the firm should implement training and talent development policies(Cooper, 2011). This will help attract employees who are interested in life long talent development and skill endowment. This will also create an image of a learning organisation for the firm which is a very attractive feature for any organisation to have. Using advertising and promotions Advertising of positions and jobs in the organisation can also help in creating a positive image of the company(Kramar, 2012). Advertising for the purpose of recruitment is known as recruitment advertising or recruitment communication(Gary, 2010). Recruitment advertising is an effective employment and recruitment strategy which helps in attracting suitable candidates for the recruitment drive(Kramar, 2012). A recruitment advertisement can create the first good impression of the company and can attract the skilled workforce. There are various types of recruitment advertising that can be used to attract the right candidate for the job. One such method is using print advertising(Phillips, 2013). This method is one of the most common advertising methods used by firms like Atlassian. Under this method an Ad is placed in a newspaper, employment journal or any other publication where the people with the desired skills are most likely to see the advertising(Hayton, 2012). For example, Atlassian needs technically skilled employees so it should put its Ad in business and technology centric newspapers and publications. The print Ad should also contain job description, person specification, the salary range and other incentives. This will help in attracting technically skilled candidates to join the firm Another type of recruitment advertising which Atlassian can use is the use of online banner ads and classified ads placed on certain websites(Dhamija, 2012). This is a more cost effective method as compared to print Ads. Additionally, the firm can place repeat Ads very frequently. However, the firm needs to identify the websites which are most likely to be viewed by the technical workers that the firm wants to recruit(Kramar, 2012). Placing these Ads on websites which cater to software professionals or talk about information of technical people are good targets for placing such Ads. Another way of advertising is through online employment portals like Monster.com which match employee requirements with employer requirements and provide a list of prospective candidates to the recruiter(Karim, 2013). This is a very good method because the firm gets a readymade list of potential skilled employees. Atlassian can also use social advertising(Cooper, 2011). That is, it can use its existing contacts and current employees to find prospective employee. Atlassian can also spread word around the business world regarding the type of employees it wants. This methods works better for finding prospective employees for higher level positions and highly technical work. Using different types of recruitment advertising can lead to better results as chances of prospective candidates seeing the advertisement increase. Thus using a variety of advertising methods will help Atlassian in garnering skilled employees. Nurturing Top Performers- another strategy which Atlassian can use is to nurture its top performing employees by talent development, career growth and granting them more responsibility(Cooper, 2011). This will help reduce employee turnover and in house promotions will help in attracting people with skills as they will feel that the firm nurtures talent. Using different recruitment sources- chances of recruitment of right candidates increase if the firm uses various channels and sources of recruitment(Cooper, 2011). Atlassian should undertake internal transfers, use referrals to source high technical professions, use online and print advertising. Additionally, use of social media and professional networks will also halo in generating more chances of recruitment of skilled workforce. Building a well structures recruitment process with proper job description and person specification will help in identifying and recruiting skilled candidates(Gary, 2010). Additionally, having proper shortlisting of CVs along with structured interview and test centres will help in finding the right person for the right job(Gummadi, 2015). The recruitment team should be trained to be efficient in the search for the right candidate. It can be inferred from the above that, through a sound recruitment strategy the firm can create a positive image for itself in the prospective employees mind. Moreover, it can structure its recruitment campaign to meet the challenges of recruitment. Conclusion Recruitment process is a vital process of the organisation. This process is important for the organisations success as recruitment of skilled employees can help in attainment of organisational goals. Recruitment drive of firms are challenging because right candidate need to be found for the jobs. Atlassian is a technology company; hence, it finds recruitment of technical staff challenging. Challenge emerges because technical staff is high in demand and low in supply. However, the firm can meet this challenge by using recruitment strategies like employer branding, promotion and image building so that prospective candidates are attracted to the organisation. References Atlassian. (2017, May 16). About Us. Retrieved from Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com Brown, J. N. (2011). The Complete Guide to Recruitment: A Step-by-step Approach to Selecting, Assessing and Hiring the Right People. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Buxmann, P. (2012). The Software Industry: Economic Principles, Strategies, Perspectives. 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