Identification and description of challenges:

1. Unavailability of manpower at short notice: Fabindia’s business saw an

exponential growth in the business. Fifty new stores were established in the
period of 2 years. Due to which the requirement of manpower increased and
it was getting difficult for the employees to acquire so many employees in
such a short span of time.
2. Lack of enough time to provide proper training and development:
Another difficulty that the business was facing was not having the enough
time to provide proper training and development to the employees. As the
business was growing rapidly, the selected employees were to be put to their
respective roles quickly so due to which the company could not provide the
employees with proper training.
3. Problem of promoting the employees: The Company was also facing the
challenge of moving the employees to the higher positions. As the business
was expanding, the requirement of the employees at the upper level was
increasing and due to which the employees were being promoted to the
higher levels even when they were not ready and proper fit for it.
4. Lack of HR Personnel: Since the HR was a new concept in the
organization, the number of personnel available in the HR department was
very less as compared to the employees in the organization. There was
availability of only 13 HR Personnel for the 1500 employees. And a single
HR was responsible for handling all the regions. So there were not enough
personnel to perform the HR functions like recruitment, selection, training
and development etc. effectively.
5. Lack of trained professionals in the HR department: There was also not
availability of trained, skilled and experienced personnel in the HR
Department. There was only one training manager who was specialist in his
job and was responsible for providing training and development to the
employees. All the other employees belonging to different fields were
performing all the functions of HR.
6. Problem of attracting, retaining and developing the employees: The
continuous rise and expansion of the business was causing the organization
to employ the less qualified and less skilled employees. 71% of the
employees employed in the organization were below the age of 35 and their
 capabilities were not at par with the requirements of the job. So it was a
matter of great difficulty for the HR Personnel to create the appropriate
programs to work on the development, motivation, growth and retention of
employees.
7. Problem of managing the women employees: Fabindia is a business
organization which believes in providing equal employment opportunities to
women. This is the reason of having 76% of the women at the executive
level. But it is also a challenge for the business as the women have to juggle
many functions at a time. It is a known fact that a woman has to perform
number of responsibilities in terms of personal and professional life. And so
the organization have to come up with the programs to ensure that the
women employees can easily balance between those two.
8. Difficulty in attracting the employees to attend the training programs:.
As the general human nature is, the employees consider training a waste of
time and do not participate enthusiastically in these programs. So Fabindia
was also facing the challenge of attracting the employees towards the
training programs and ensuring that whatever they learn in the training
programs, it is used in the shop floor.