Getting a low-paid job in French and UK supermarkets: from walk-in to online application?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the recruitment practices of the French and UK retail industry. It analyses the influence of specific business constraints, labour market institutions and employment patterns on recruitment practices. It devotes attention to incidences of the shift from classic to web-based hiring methods. Design/methodology/approach – The cases of two leading food retail chains are explored. This research draws on a mixed approach using semi-structured interviews, the analysis of online job-advertisement content and web sites. Findings – According to the literature, local and informal hiring channels (walk-in application, word-of-mouth, in-store adverts) are mainly used to fill low-paid vacancies in food retail chains. They are congruent with the key screening criteria as they allow face-to-face selection and provide candidates from the surrounding area. However, the food retail chains in this research have implemented a centralised and at-a-distance process which contrasts with the classic methods. Based on an “Internet-only scheme” and online testing, it is especially selective in the UK. Research limitations/implications – The number of semi-structured interviews is limited. Additional investigations are needed to evaluate whether the at-a-distance processes are isolated or whether they reflect growing practices. Practical implications – Retail food employers have to maintain a diversity of local hiring channels and not to indiscriminately embrace the at-a-distance scheme, which is not adapted to evaluate the key requirements. Social implications – A centralised and at-a-distance recruitment process decreases unfair face-to-face discrimination in selection but at the same time introduces indirect discrimination. This process may be interpreted as a way to target students; there is a risk that it exacerbates inequalities in low-wage labour markets. Originality/value – The topic is poorly explored. There is a need to understand web-based recruitment.

Does the formalization of practices enhance equal hiring opportunities? An analysis of a French nation-wide employer survey

“…That is why, even if new criteria are not explicitly adopted, changing recruitment practices is likely to have an impact on the profiles of those hired. In food retail in France and in the UK, Rieucau (2015) studies the implementation of formal recruitment procedures that remove traditional face-to-face interactions (applications are hand-delivered by job seekers directly at superstores) by at-a-distance interactions (online applications are centralised by HR professionals at headquarters). She shows that by prioritising computer literacy and signals written in online applications, the at-a-distance recruitment procedure favours students and younger workforce at the expense of long-term unemployed and older individuals.…”

The automated literacies of e-recruitment and online services

“…Nor do they consider the ways in which automated processes outside the control of job seekers can influence the outcomes of a job search (O'Neil 2016). Rieucau (2015) demonstrates in her investigation of online job recruitment experiences among French and British entry level workers that e-recruitment (which she calls 'at-adistance' hiring channels) places a premium on literacy skills, technology know-how and digital access, creating a situation in which often the digital literacy skills required to apply for jobs exceeds the literacy demands of the job itself. In her study of how migrant workers and their volunteer tutors in the UK navigate online job applications, De Pauw (2020) similarly demonstrates the complex and sophisticated nature of online job platforms and observes the tension between these complexities and the relative dearth of adult education programs to support job seekers in this process, even though the United Kingdom has adopted a 'digital by default' policy through which adults must access services and resources online, and must demonstrate that they are actively seeking jobs on online platforms.…”

“…Some employers also deploy algorithmic sorting of top placements according to personality tests/questions and screening (Pfieffelmann et al 2010). Rieucau (2015) found that recruitment strategies that involve at-a-distance recruitment are also becoming more common in low-wage sector employment such as construction, retail and service sectors, particularly when these sectors are overtaken by large companies (such as McDonalds, Amazon, Walmart and so on) that have the capacity to design and manage their own recruitment portals. However, smaller and professional sector employers are also turning to automation, with actual resource managers reviewing r esum es selected among the results of automated screenings and personality tests (see for example Elizabeth 2019).…”

“…Mamgain (2018) further argues that technologies and e-recruitment systems are well developed in India, yet access to information for jobseekers has paradoxically become more limited, thereby reducing job opportunities for those who do not have access to electronic information and networks. Similarly, Rieucau (2015) found that r esum es of less-credentialed or older people often don't give the right 'signals' to automated systems. 'This confers an advantage to a certain calibre of applicants and excludes at a very early stage those who have not the desirable profile to apply, such as the less qualified, computer illiterate and older job seekers ' (2015, p. 150).…”

“…This question might appear quite hypothetical for some adults because they have not been looking for employment in recent years or do not expect the necessity do so in the nearer future. Moreover, as noted above, online job search platforms play an increasingly important role for job seekers in Germany, where the survey was carried out, but is still less common than in North America and the United Kingdom (Rieucau 2015). The relatively high proportion of adults who did not answer this question ('don't know/no information given') might result from this characteristic.…”