Nurturing Talent: Retention Strategy Insights from BAT

By Sandra Botha, Global HR Auditor, Top Employers Institute

As a certified Top Employer, BAT recognises that talent retention is critical in a rapidly changing and volatile labour market. Limited growth opportunities and a lack of skill development often motivate employees to seek new opportunities elsewhere. To help ensure top talent joins and remains at the company, BAT implemented a Career Conversation series.

Lucy Evara, Head of Human Resources (HR) for BAT East African Markets and I had the opportunity to discuss this new Career Conversation series and other talent retention strategies during the 2022 Top Employers Institute Best Practices Week. Any organisation seeking to improve its talent retention strategies continuously will find value in our engaging conversation.

Here are some of the highlights:

Building an Empowered Organization

During our discussion Lucy shared insightful perspectives on BAT’s mission to cultivate an empowered organisation. This mission, which serves as the foundation of HR programmes, is to create, “an engaged, agile and high performing organisation with winning capabilities & culture delivering an enterprise of the future.” BAT has identified four key levers to realise this mission:

Build talent with winning capabilities,
Culture and leadership behaviour,
Diversity and inclusion, and
Fit for purpose organisation design.

The company regularly seeks input from employees to shape its initiatives. BAT conducts the “Your Voice” employee survey every two years, which gathers valuable feedback on company culture and initiatives. In 2021, employee feedback played a pivotal role in shaping the Career Conversations series, which directly responded to the wants and needs expressed by participants.

Watch Here: 2023 Global Top Employer BAT Certification Celebration Announcement

Career Conversations

Engaging in meaningful career conversations is essential for fostering professional development and growth within organisations. At BAT these discussions, between leaders and their employees, revolve around identifying strengths, areas for improvement, and interests, all within the framework of present and future career performance and aspirations. By empowering employees to take ownership of their career paths and explore the vast array of opportunities, leaders play a pivotal role in inspiring and maximising the potential of their team members.

There are two critical aspects of career conversations: that they are separate from a performance evaluation and that employees think of themselves as the driver of their careers. While a performance evaluation and career conversation may complement one another, the evaluation provides feedback on past performance and the career conversation aims to explore future potential. Although leaders assist employees with thinking about their futures, the employee is accountable for following through on identified action items.

BAT’s approach to their Career Conversations series is to give examples relevant to their workplace to make learning practical, transparent, and meaningful. “It’s key to note that these were conversations and not death by PowerPoint. The intent was to make them as engaging and impactful as possible,” Lucy explained. The conversations generally focus on the “four Ws and one H,” – what, why, when, where, and how – to give specificity and clarity during discussions.

Within BAT’s career conversations, there is a focus on helping people understand the company’s career principles:

Sustained high performance,
Strength of your functional and leadership capabilities,
Critical experiences that you have gained in the course of your working life, an
Ownership of your career development plan.

Most importantly, the conversations end with a call to action, which Lucy described as employees “knowing that their manager will speak to them about their readiness for specific roles and considering the questions: Do I understand my development actions? How ready am I for some of these roles? Really just creating a greater awareness so that people can take ownership of their development plan.”

Demystifying Talent Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

At BAT, biannual “talent checking” sessions are conducted to assess progress on the company’s people development and align on the next steps. “The key elements or outputs that come from these sessions,” Lucy explained, “are talent pooling, which we traditionally call succession planning in HR, and talent supply and demand.” A team’s functional leadership cluster is responsible for these sessions.

BAT utilises talent pools to identify individuals who are “ready now” for specific roles, aiming to facilitate their move within the next 12 months. Additionally, they identify individuals as “ready soon” if they are prepared to transition in 12-24 months and “emerging talent readiness” if they show potential to move in the next 3-5 years. Categorising employees based on their readiness guides career conversations and helps tailor development plans.

Talent demand refers to roles that need new people and talent supply refers to those who need new roles. By staying aware of these needs, leadership expedites the process of matching talent with internal opportunities. Lucy highlighted that BAT, with offices in multiple countries, takes a broad view and considers relocating individuals if a suitable match is found. This approach enables the company to leverage talent and maximise employee career opportunities.

Our discussion concluded with the important observation that, ultimately, for career conversations and other talent retention strategies to be successful, they must be supported at three different levels: the individual employee, the manager, and the organisation.

Prioritising Skilling and Upskilling Young People on World Youth Skills Day

By: Sinakho Dhlamini, HR Content Specialist, Top Employers Institute

Our current work landscape is changing more than ever with technological advancements, labour market shifts and more – the world of work has never been a more complex place to enter. A recent study by McKinsey showed that 90% of employers will require significantly different skill sets in 2030 than before. And while young people are more able to access information from across the internet and the world, the skills gap has never been wider.

World Youth Skills Day was initiated by the United Nations in 2014 when they saw a growing need to support young people to be prepared for a world of work as they grow into a changing employment landscape. By doing this work, enlightened organisations will be able to positively impact the youth of today and the youth that are still to come.

In this article, we will explore what organisations can do to support young people as they prepare to enter the world of work? And how can they show their commitment to skilling the youth of the future, and what are Top Employers doing?

World Youth Skills Day and Positive Impact

One of the trends we identified in the World of Work Trends Report 2023 was that organisations were finally making a clear commitment to ‘positive impact’ as it became the -new North Star for everything that enlightened businesses to do in 2023. In the report, which is available for download now, we broke down this trend into three parts:

A “a ‘lived” purpose works best when it comes straight from the heart of all those who work there – and remains a constant in their everyday decisions.
Secondly, the purpose of any organisation can only ever be as good as the views it allows itself to hear. So enlightened attitudes to diversity and inclusion are not only imperative for the positive impact and momentum they create in all organisations.
Finally, sustainability is critical in how an organisation ensures its continuity through a positive broader impact and in how it behaves as a good employer.

On World Youth Skills Day, we can see how this trend aligns with the importance of businesses in skilling today’s youth, especially as the barrier to entry for work only gets more difficult for young people.

The UN encourages us to unite in recognising the potential of young people as catalysts for change by committing to providing them with the skills needed to build a sustainable and prosperous future for all as we celebrate this World Youth Skills Day and for organisations, it is vital to understand the role that they can play in creating this future.

How Organisations Can Work to Skill Young People

While many organisations have begun committing themselves to creating a better world, many still need to learn precisely what they can do to have the positive impact they would like. Still, large and small businesses have the unique opportunity to contribute to improving the workspace for young people. Some of the ways that they can do that include:

Establishing training programmes, like boot camps or in-school programmes.
Partnering with charities and other organisations that are committed to educating young people.
Forming Coaching, training and mentor programmes aimed at young people who have yet to enter the workforce.
Establishing apprenticeship programmes.
Funding scholarships at universities and schools.
Create project-based learning opportunities and programmes for young people.

UST’s Partnership with Tech She Can

During Top Employers Inspire 2023, UST recently shared details of their partnership with Tech She Can. Tech She Can is a charity committed to changing the ratio of women in technology; they do this by providing free resources to help inspire young women to study technology subjects and inevitably choose a career in a technology field. While they focus on young women, they also work with all kinds of young people to feel inspired to choose a tech career. They do this by connecting them to relatable role models working in the jobs they may consider for themselves.

Certified Top Employer, UST, has partnered with Tech She Can as they want to play a role in having more representation for young women in tech. During UST’s session in Top Employers Inspire, Seena Mohan noted that ‘It is important to inspire women and girls to get into tech careers so they can become equals in creating and developing new technology businesses to shape our future.’

Final Thoughts

On this year’s World Youth Skills Day, we encourage businesses to commit proactively to skilling the youth of today and the young who will follow them. They need to do this by addressing their challenges and supporting or creating programmes and initiatives that seek to upskill young people for the changing world of work. Whether through their own initiative or if organisations need to leave a positive impact on the world beyond their offices’ walls.

Businesses prioritising improving the world will see wins for themselves and their community. We can shape a better future together and create a future that doesn’t leave anyone behind. Find out to day what it means to be an employer of choice!

Making an Impact: GroupM’s DEI Sponsorship Programme

By Androna Benadé, Senior Account Manager, Top Employers Institute

How GroupM’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) sponsorship programme creates a career support network for people from traditionally marginalised groups

During the 2022 Top Employers Institute’s Best Practices Week, I had the opportunity to speak with Amy Walker, Inclusion and Diversity Manager for GroupM, a UK-based media investment company and certified Top Employer, about the company’s new DEI sponsorship initiative.

GroupM’s desire to radically change the industry and facilitate a new generation of leadership was the catalyst for the programme. They chose to focus on sponsorship because it’s an effective way to disrupt systemic barriers that prevent underrepresented groups from accessing top leadership positions. The pilot programme lasted for 18 months, involved 35 sponsees, and saw half of the participants promoted, with all of them moving forward in their development.

Here are some of the highlights from our discussion. You can also find a link to our full discussion here.

How Sponsorship Is Different from Mentorship

To begin our discussion, Amy explained how sponsorship programmes impacted her personally. “I’m on the autistic spectrum and I also have other conditions – physical, mental health conditions. I can attest that the sponsorship I’ve received from leaders in our business and the inclusion and adjustments that I’ve had as a disabled person have allowed me to have a really accessible environment that works for my needs.” Amy recognises the opportunities she received as a result of the sponsorship programme have helped her get to where she is today and make her passionate about creating similar opportunities for others.

Understanding the differences between sponsorship and mentorship is essential when considering a programme like this for your organisation. A mentor can be anyone within or outside the organisation, who possesses a particular set of skills and experience. They generally offer guidance and support and take a broad view of their mentee’s career growth. The relationship can be formal or informal, and it is usually not measured with any kind of performance or impact metrics.

In a sponsorship programme, having a formal structure with support and guidance is key to achieving measurable results. Sponsors are senior members of a company invested in supporting talented junior staff. They promote the sponsee directly, actively open doors to new experiences, leverage their network, and build industry connections to help the sponsee gain access to opportunities. Really, it’s about taking a very active role in supporting the sponsee’s career advancement. Success is measured not only by promotions but also by lateral moves within the company or network, which provide valuable experience for future leadership positions.

Roles & Responsibilities

In GroupM’s programme, the sponsee manages the administration of the relationship – making sure that they follow up on action items, reaching out to new contacts, and keeping their sponsor in the loop about their progress. Both parties must prioritise the relationship and meetings to achieve results.

Open and honest communication is a key element of a successful sponsorship relationship. To foster this dynamic, a sponsor needs to create a safe space so that their sponsee doesn’t feel defensive or criticised when discussing their experiences. They can work through the sponsee’s self-limiting beliefs from that foundation and develop a clear picture of the desired career path.

During the programme, GroupM identified several key responsibilities for sponsees:

Manage the relationship with their sponsor.
Be open and honest.
Identify barriers, including self-limiting beliefs.
Develop a career vision and goals.

Work hard on identified action items.

Key responsibilities for sponsors were also identified:

Create a space safe for conversations.
Leverage their network.
Provide guidance on navigating company politics.

Actively open doors to experiences and opportunities for advancement.
Champion their sponsee repeatedly and visibly.

Results & Insights

By the end of the pilot programme, half of the participants were promoted, and all of them made significant progress in their career development so that they are ready to advance when an opportunity arises.

One of the most exciting insights we discussed was that many sponsors noticed that their sponsees work incredibly hard – twice as hard as their peers. Helping them unlearn that behaviour and devote more energy to developing their personal brand and networking became part of the sponsor’s role. “I can think of specific people and see the journey they’ve been on and how they’ve changed and the kind of gravitas and confidence they have in themselves,” Amy shared, “And the way they can kind of promote themselves and make that influence felt through the company is really inspiring. It’s been brilliant to watch that happening.” Seeing individuals experience these kinds of changes after participating in the programme and subsequent positive ripple effects in the company is one of Amy’s favourite parts of her work.

GroupM will continue developing the sponsorship programme. Their next steps are to:

Make the programme permanent,
Include senior leaders in the pool of sponsors by default,
Have more targeted sponsor/sponsee pairings,

Build a training framework,
Partner with a wider agency group, and
Bring sponsors/sponsees together across the whole group regularly.

Advice for Companies Interested in Starting a DEI Sponsorship Program

To wrap up our conversation, I asked Amy what advice she would give to other companies interested in starting a sponsorship program. First, she said, it’s important to establish clear roles and responsibilities before the programme begins. Doing so will prevent confusion and ensure that everyone involved is on the same page. The programme needs to be actively managed, with ongoing feedback and regular check-ins to make sure that everything is progressing smoothly.

Next, it’s essential to consider how people are selected for the programme. Choosing participants solely for the sake of diversity will do more harm than good. Instead, Amy says, “It’s crucial to focus on high-potential talent. There’s no point running a programme like this with people who aren’t ready or don’t want to move up.” Search beyond traditional sources of talent and consider individuals who may have been overlooked in the past.

Training and support are vital to help participants confront their biases and step out of their comfort zones. Cultivating a safe and supportive environment is key. Managing expectations is also important. Make it clear that there are no guarantees of promotion or advancement.

Finally, there are numerous resources available to help companies get started. Amy described one that particularly stands out to her, “There’s this organisation called BRiM that’s made up of industry partners and they’ve just created the most brilliant guide. It’s got everything you need in there – so much rich, thought-provoking information about what might go wrong, how to make it a safe space, and how to be aware of cultural differences.” Part of the reason it caught Amy’s attention is that it was created by Black individuals who have participated in sponsorship programmes themselves. Guides like this one can help organisations ensure that their programmes are inclusive, effective, and impactful.

Update to Group M’s DEI Sponsorship Programme

Since my conversation with Amy during Best Practices Week 2023, several exciting updates have been made to Group M’s Sponsorship Programme. After seeing positive results from their first Sponsorship Programme with improvements in the representation of high-performing talent from minority ethnic groups, Group M began to see significant moves from these employees through promotions.

Amy noted, “Overcoming years of bias that have kept minorities from equal representation in top leadership positions requires intentional intervention. One tool that has proven to be highly effective when implemented well is sponsorship.

“A sponsor is a person who has power and influence, who can talk about you in the rooms you’re not in, put you forward for opportunities, introduce you to key decision-makers, and help you navigate your company.”

The first cohort of sponsees completed their 18-month programme in 2022. Of the 37 sponsees, half of whom were women, 57% of sponsees were promoted during the 18-month programme, with a further 10% moving into a new role or gaining greater responsibility – all the while building contacts, skills, confidence, and a career path towards promotion

GroupM’s second Sponsorship programme will launch later this year, targeting a wider group of underrepresented talent and explicitly targeting the areas of improvement identified from our Gender Pay Gap analysis.

Our HR priorities are all about accelerating the impact of our talent

What are your key HR priorities for 2023 and why?

Our HR priorities revolve around maximizing the potential of our talent and fostering a culture of high performance by focusing on:

Driving our cultural transformation through a leader development & culture program “Engage – Shape – Perform”
Empowering and supporting all our people to take ownership of their careers, enabling them to reach their full potential
Shaping a caring environment, in which wellbeing & employee experience at scale is key
Implementing future ways of working (digital – data analytics – virtual assistant & automation)
Embedding Diversity, Equity and inclusion further into everything we do

Which trends do you think will be central in the world of HR in 2023 and beyond?

Important trends in HR that we are taking into account in our strategies are the:

Move from intuition & bias to evidence based working through data analytics
Switch from job based to skill based working
Hybrid working and new office concepts
Focus on selfcare – more focus on preventive action over curative

How has being a Top Employer helped your employer brand?

The Top Employer certification helps to benchmark our company against other top employers and provides useful insights into areas we can still develop or innovate further. It is of course also an important employer branding tool, which can differentiate us from competitors. Many candidates are very well aware of it, and as the labour market is candidate driven, it is really supportive for our brand and for attracting the right candidates.

Winning the Battles for Talent

I think it’s time that we stop saying we’re in a war for talent. Not because the fight is cooling off, but rather, because it is intensifying. It is worth changing our perspective on the concept itself; its real form is not that of a war, but of continuous battles for talent. Organisation’s ability to attract, engage and stay committed to and excited about the talent they need is not something we win or lose at once. It is a process of continuous improvement – a thrilling one at that – in which the areas of people management play a decisive role.

Maximising the Employer Brand Strategy

88% of companies worldwide certified as Top Employers have an employer brand strategy that incorporates their employee value proposition as a core element. Naturally, all organisations offer some kind of value proposition to their employees.if they didn’t, it would be difficult to attract anyone, or keep them in the company for that matter – but here we are talking about effectively addressing the challenge of identifying, developing and communicating what you can offer to the talent you require, both during the hiring process and once they are in the company. A value propositon is something that makes the organisation unique, makes it a company that professionals want to belong to, where they want to work and thrive. That, undoubtedly, is a competitive advantage that sweeps away any competition.

Optimising the Candidate’s Journey

The best companies want to make sure they deliver on what they promise, and they achieve it by embarking on a process of listening and continuous improvement. That is why 89% of Top Employers design and review the key stages of their talent acquisition process so that they are aligned with the pillars or key characteristics of their employer brand. What’s more, 70% of Top Employers systematically measure their employer reputation among their potential candidates – their target market for talent – while 70% also map their candidate’s journey, allowing them to optimise it. They outline what the experience will be like, both from their perspective and that of the candidate, and work with the information they collect from surveys to implement a process of continuous improvement at each focal point. The aim of this is to improve the candidate’s experience so that the hiring process is agile and reflects the pillars of the employer’s brand, making the company more attractive.

Measuring the Experience of Newcomers

These steps are not limited to candidates; they are also aimed at employees, both existing and new. 79% of certified Top Employers measure the experience of new employees, but it is interesting to note that 40% also focus on discovering whether the perception of the employer brand the employee had before joining the organisation has matched their actual experience in their first few weeks of company life. This is very insightful information. It reflects the fact that they are companies with a daring attitude, that are very committed to people, and that thrive in the spirit of continuous improvement. The results they capture inevitably lead to action, and either they change the experience or they will have to change the employer brand.

The best companies will need to work to build trust in their employer brand with the aim of maintaining their commitment to their promise of value throughout the talent life cycle of the organisation. 85% of companies certified as Top Employers ensure that there is a clear alignment between the employer brand and the perception and experience that employees have. They are consistent and coherent brands that work to ensure that no disparity arises between how they consider themselves to be and how they really are in the day-to-day life of the company.

The EVP at the Core of the Employer Brand

An employer brand strategy should have the employee value proposition (EVP) at its core. This is, after all, what gives it consistency, because it brings together the tangible and intangible benefits offered to employees and is aligned with the pillars of the employer brand, related especially with the current and aspirational values of the company.

80% of Top Employers are clear on the fact that, for an employee, a good value proposition must include an effective listening process. For this reason, they actively involve representatives from different groups of employees in defining their value proposition, evaluating their needs, aspirations, and current work experiences. Best practices in this respect shows us the relevance of segmenting employee samples and analysing whether there is a gap between the company’s vision and that of the employee – something which is usually the joint work of management and human resources.

Mapping the Employee Experience

Of course, the EVP, the heart of the employer brand strategy, is certainly not the result of a one-off exercise; the best companies – 72% of Top Employers – increase their value by regularly assessing it, and they continue the systematic exercise of listening to employees. 46% of them use effective tools like employee experience mapping, which details the employee’s perception at every touch point of their journey in their relationship with the company.

Final Thoughts

Talent battles are continually being fought. Socrates, with very good judgment, left us with this reflection: “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear”. Consistency between what we say we are and what we really are is what builds trust in the employer brand. The best companies invest time, resources, and enthusiasm, as they embark on a process of continuous improvement to achieve what they promise.

Reskilling & Upskilling Your Workforce for the Future World of Work in 2022

The last few years, with the help of the covid-19 pandemic The changing world of work seems to be moving faster than ever before, with skills that were once in demand may not be applicable to the demands of the current working landscape. Organisations that are looking to not only improve their current efficiency but their overall future as a business are aware of the necessity to reskill and upskill their workforce.

Almost all (92%) of certified Top Employers have a learning and development strategy in place in 2022, with 96% of them also continuing to have a learning and development framework. This commitment to creating an environment that is encouraging to employees reskilling and upskilling is supported by 94% of Top Employers having a defined learning and development culture.

In 2020 the World Economic Forum found that, by 2025, 85 million jobs globally will undergo a transition between human labour and machine automation across fifteen industries and 26 economies. While this change in the distribution of labour has been faster than previously expected there is still, according to the World Economic Forum, new era of work will create millions of new jobs that will require a new set of skills that will highlight the value of reskilling and, in the case of other employees, upskilling them. We will look more deeply at this trend in this article by defining and then examining what these terms mean in 2022 and beyond.

What is Reskilling and What is Upskilling?

Reskilling is simply the process of an employee learning a new set of skills and responsibilities to help them undertake a new role in their current organisation. The process of undergoing reskilling is usually lateral learning experience that allows people to make a smoother transition in their career journey.

In contrast, upskilling is the learning and development process for an employee to improve their skillset to improve their effectiveness at work. This involves giving an employee the opportunity to develop and advance a particular skill, or set of skills

Reskilling and Upskilling as Top Priorities in 2022 with an Eye for the Future

As the need for new capabilities and skills increases with the changes in the workplace continuing at a faster pace than ever, reskilling an upskilling can offer an organisation a way to develop the skills needed to ensure that they remain competitive without needing to hire for each new role. The ability for companies to retain their current workforce is not only good for their financial outlook but is also good to deal with employee’s new needs that have come as we enter the ‘new normal’ way of working.

Reskilling and upskilling are useful for employees to help employees transition within the organisation. Acknowledging that this is necessary for the future and starting to do the work to put it in place are two different actions.

The first thing an organisation should begin with is analysing where upskilling or reskilling an employee or a set of employees could help meet changing business needs. This analysis work is particular to each organisation, and as such is not something we will dive into in this article, it is work that will guide how to approach the next steps. It must be reiterated that upskilling or reskilling should be tethered to an organisation’s needs and goals.

The second step that an organisation should do is get to the organisation to structure and standardise their upskilling and reskilling efforts. This can be done by building a skills framework but if an organisation already has a learning framework it can be integrated into that structure. It can take many shapes but if an organisation wants to take reskilling and upskilling its employees seriously it needs to be understandable for the whole organisation in whatever form it takes.

Creating a culture around learning is the final step to making reskilling and upskilling a reality. It will need engagement and excitement around learning to fully benefit. Additionally, there will need to be leadership buy-in to create waves around reskilling and upskilling.

Reskilling and Upskilling Benefits

For the Organisation

Retain your best employees
Develop your employees’ skills
Reduced training and hiring costs
Increase workplace moral
Improve the reputation of the company

For the Employee:

Keep stable employment
Personal growth
Professional growth through lifelong learning
Upward mobility through role diversity

Final Thoughts

Reskilling and upskilling are not only business prioities for now but also for the future. Organisations will need to adapt with their workforce for the changing landscape of work.

The tips are often small but have a big impact

How do you make use of the Top Employers Community?

Since being certified by Top Employers we have been building relationships, not only with the Top Employers Institute, but also with other certified Top Employers. There is a network of organisations willing to share, help one another to progress and learn from each other. I have been brought into contact, via Top Employers, with organisations with more extensive expertise on employee well-being, which has led to virtual workshops on mental health.

How do you share successful practices and processes (with other Top Employers)?

I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker twice, to share my expertise on Talent Acquisition and D&I. Whether I’m on stage or in the audience, after a Connect & Share session I am always inspired and eager to implement what I learn at PageGroup.

How has the Top Employers community contributed to your development?

Being amongst other Top Employers gives me a sense of pride in my work at PageGroup. Reflecting on the practices of other Top Employers helps me to reflect on PageGroup and act upon what we could improve. The tips are often small but have a big impact.

Case Study: Talent, Borders and Benchmarks – The Dana Way

Certified Top Employer, Dana Hungary Kft., is a global leader in the design and manufacture of highly efficient propulsion and energy-management solutions. It supports nearly all vehicle manufacturers with drive and motion systems; electrodynamic technologies, including software and controls; and thermal, sealing, and digital solutions. In 2018 they, thanks to the benchmarking benefits of the Top Employers Institute’s programme, were able to get continuous insights and visibility on their employees’ needs.

As they did, they realised that they needed to provide their employees with an international mindset/approach to the job. In response to this challenge, they launched a programme that allowed employees to take on three to six-month assignments in a different location that allowed them to develop a wider cultural and professional knowledge.

Download the Case Study to learn how:

Dana Hungary implemented their ambitious plan and how their employees responded to the programme.
The organisation effectively resumed the programme after it had been temporarily suspended during the covid-19 pandemic.
The model has become a benchmark for the wider organisation as other offices look to replicate the success of the programme in their offices.

Download the Case Study to learn more.

Supporting your talent strategy with Big Data

How can HR analytics and specifically big data be used for talent management?

That is what exactly Certified Top Employer Saint-Gobain discussed in a recent Top Employers Connect webinar. In the latest of our ‘For a Better World of Work’ series, we were joined by Jan Billekens, Manager Group HR Efficiency at Saint-Gobain and Alissa Hankache, Ph.D., Global HR Auditor at Top Employers Institute.

Read ahead to get a snapshot at some of the highlights from the webinar and fill in the form (on the right-hand side of the page) to get the recording to watch whenever you have a moment.

Companies use AI in people-related decisions for many reasons, including consistency, reduced bias, casting a broader net, and efficiency.

Data scientist Cathy O’Neil explains in her book “Weapons of Math Destruction” that algorithms and AI are easy to create using historical data and can improve the efficiency of decision making.

Data from TEI shows that among certified companies:

In 87% of cases, HR supports business with people analytics.
And in 88% of cases, business leaders are committed to using HR data analytics for fact-based decision-making about the workforce.

Approaching HR with analytics

With more than 166,000 employees, located in 75 countries, and a shared purpose of “MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER HOME”, Saint-Gobain is certified as a Global Top Employer since 2016. After internal reflection and deliberation, Saint-Gobain was left with one big question:

“How can we use big data for talent management in a global and highly decentralized industrial matrix organization like Saint-Gobain?

Based on this, the following objectives were established:

Identify Talents
Targeted development and career support
Developing leadership capabilities

Ensure retention and commitment

An approach with three steps was then developed for the HR analytics project at Saint-Gobain:

Assess Bronze Talent management
Identify Talents at risk of leaving
Identify undiscovered Saint-Gobain talents

Assess Bronze Talent Management

The first phase was to look at emerging trends from the algorithm, which came through as follows:

Career progression – The algorithm has identified that talents within the five years at Saint-Gobain climb two-thirds bands more than non-talents.
Career follow-ups – In annual succession planning and [erformance reviews, talents were mentioned more often in people reviews than non-talents.
Development and training opportunities, – Talents have more training opportunities than non-talents.
Base salary management – Salary increases are higher for talents than-non talents.
Increasing gender balance – The % of female hired talents is 6% higher than male talents hired – based on strategic objectives.

The conclusion of this first part is that it confirmed that “what we want to do with our talent management is being achieved”.

Identify talents at risk of leaving

The second algorithm – looked into the past and analysed what were the elements of talents who left Saint-Gobain voluntarily in the past. The most impactful parameters were salary increase percentage and the date of last increase. The lower the salary increase, the higher the risk of leaving – no surprise, but it is also confirmed by the algorithm.

An interesting trend emerged when looking at tenure – when the last increase for a salary was between 6 months and 1.5 years, there is a lower risk of leaving. But after 1.5 years of a lower salary increase, there is a higher risk of leaving. The algorithm provided a percentage of the risk of leaving talent – about 150 names. These were then sent to country HRDs with all the parameters of risks included. They were asked to provide feedback on whether there was a risk of leaving or not (and at various levels of risk). Based on a combination of input from the algorithm, and feedback from HRDs – 100 of the 150 employees were able to be retained. Managers were able to take proactive actions to prevent employees from leaving.

Identifying undiscovered Saint-Gobain Talents

One of the interesting components of the webinar was to note how Saint-Gobain uses an algorithm to identify undiscovered talents. Part of the diagram, was important to understand:

Precision – % of true SG Talents among the Talents identified by the algorithm
Recall – % of Talents identified by the algorithm among the SG Talents

After consultation with and feedback from country HRDs on the 250 names proposed by the machine, 115 Bronzes talents were detected!

The webinar also discussed various other aspects of HR analytics including:

Data visualization
Semantic Analysis
Data integrity
Data confidentiality

The key message echoed throughout the session is that HR Analytics is a means besides all other HR tools. HR should take advantage of these digital tools in order to spend more time meeting people face to face

Transforming talent acquisition through the Top Employers Certification Programme

85% of Top Employer organisations agree that the Top Employers Institute Certification creates value for their business, whether it be for their branding, alignment, and benchmarking of HR practices, or connecting with other leaders in HR. When it comes to branding, Top Employers know that the experience of going through a candidate selection process tells a lot more about the organisation than the brand messaging.

At Top Employers Institute, we are always keen to demonstrate the best ways to leverage value from our Certification Programme. Independent and externally verified workforce research, conducted globally among our Top Employers, shows that 85% agree that certification creates value for their business.

It is the branding potential that certification brings with it that is one of the most appreciated benefits. 92% of our Top Employers say they make use of the Certification Seal to attract and/or engage talent.

So how can Top Employers make the most of the opportunity that certification creates in this area?

Recruitment: certification makes a big difference

A great employer brand lies at the heart of any Top Employer’s HR strategy. When it comes to getting the best on board, 70% of those surveyed say they have used the Certification Seal to drive their recruitment process.

Strategic Employer branding can only ever be as good as the impression it makes on potential employees. On this, the results are encouraging. 74% of Top Employers agree that the certification process has improved their positioning as an employer of choice.

It is easy to see the positive impression that certification makes on external candidates. The noticeable benefits, according to our Top Employers, include:

Enhanced awareness among candidates, with references to the Certification Seal made in interviews.
Recognition of the value of certification among partners, such as universities or employment agencies.
More interest in posted roles, with more clicks and applications made through company careers pages.
A decrease in both the time taken to fill roles and an increase in quality of applicants.

One Top Employer sums it up well by telling us that the Certification Seal showed potential candidates clearly that “this company is among the best employers in the world”.

High levels of trust between candidate and potential employer lie at the heart of the value that the Certification Seal brings. As one of our Top Employers told us: “For me … most important is that an external candidate [feels that they] can rely on the certificate.”

Onboarding and Induction: Reinforcing the bond of trust

A top talent acquisition strategy, crucially, requires this trust to continue well beyond the initial recruitment process. After hiring comes the equally important task of onboarding and induction. A recent survey of 1000 full-time employees for People Management magazine revealed that:

43% admitted to having changed their minds on at least one occasion after accepting a job offer.
37% put this down to poor or no follow-up, or other bad experiences after the job offer had been made.

Engagement and Retention: Creating a virtuous circle

The greater branding opportunities for Top Employers from certification through recruitment, onboarding and induction also go on to produce a virtuous circle among existing employees. The independent research conducted for us showed that the use of the Certification Seal helped organisations to:

Actively involve current employees as talent brand ambassadors for external candidates
Increase the engagement of existing employees made aware of the achievement of certification.
Decrease turnover, with employees feeling safe and reassured to work for a certified Top Employer.

Talent acquisition: make it easier with Top Employers institute Certification

Top Employers Institute has guidelines and support for certified best in class employers who want to leverage their talent acquisition strategy further. This includes everything from how to promote the Certification Seal as effectively as possible on the web site, email signatures or social media, through to how best to display them in job ads. Get in touch today for free and become an employer of choice.

People Strategy: from talent management to strategic workforce planning

What do HR leaders need to consider when creating, or recreating, their people strategy?

Leading organisations across the globe are forced to transform rapidly – and continuously – in order to remain purposeful, relevant and stay ahead of competition. This in turn means that the very definition of people strategy is itself evolving at pace. The role of HR leaders is changing too, and the number of challenges they are asked to solve is increasing. Most likely, when answers are found, the questions themselves will change.

Despite these complexities, it’s worth unpacking the concept of people strategy in terms of definitions, roles and challenges a little better.

People strategy: three definition that you need to look at

People strategy has a myriad of different definitions – it depends what you read and where you look. Top Employers Institute’s HR experts and auditors propose three broad lense.

1. Invest in talent

Let’s first look at people strategy through an investment lens. In this sense, it is seen as a battles for talents. If an organisation matches its investment in talent to business objectives, it is more likely to get the right people with the right skills focused on the right initiatives. The return on investment that this then creates will drive the business forward and accelerate results.

2. Align hr strategy with business strategy

The second lens defines people strategy in relation to its alignment with business strategy. To think in terms of alignment allows us to ask important questions, such as “What capabilities do we need?” and “Where do we need them?” This simple approach sharpens our understanding of the gaps (or overlaps) in aligning our strategic workforce planning and other HR strategies to the business needs.

Our research shows that 97% Top Employers demonstrate the importance of aligning their people strategy with their business strategy. Yet it is worth noting that only 77% of Top Employers translate their people strategy into key HR metrics and related targets.

3. People strategy is the business strategy

The final lens moves beyond alignment to the complete integration of a people strategy within the business. By this definition, your people strategy IS the business strategy. Here, forward-looking leadership teams explicitly reject thinking about their people as assets.

Rather, it is the employees who are the “investors”: they call the shots and choose to invest their precious time, energy and talent. It is the organisation that needs to work hard to keep them engaged and motivated.

Leadership cannot take their talented employees’ hard work and commitment for granted.

A strategic role for the HR leader

The definition of people strategy vary greatly across organisations of different shapes and sizes, but research from the Top Employers Institute global survey shows that HR leaders are taking on a more strategic role. In the past, business strategy has been driven largely by the CEO and the CFO. This has been because the twin drivers of organisational success were firmly rooted in strategy and finance.

Now, however, organisations are increasingly moving from this “Dynamic Duo” to a “Transformative Trio”. According to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), the CEO and CFO are being joined more and more regularly by a CHRO who together need “to fuse the strategic, financial and people issues into business strategy”.

Challenges and priorities in people strategy

To play their full role in the triangular alliance with CEO and CFO, there are four challenges that the CHRO needs to meet:

Being able to look ahead and identify strategic workforce challenges that will come about as a result of the changing business world.
Creating talent supply chains that can support innovation and growth.
Developing the talent management skills of business leaders.
Provide employee insights through greater use of metrics and analytics to show the effectiveness of their people strategy.

Significant data obtained from 1.679 certified Top Employers organisations globally, closely resembles the challenges set out in the HBR. When asked to rank their Top HR priorities the majority of Top Employers indicated:

Supporting cultural and organisational change;
The development of talent strategy;
Leadership development;

And the role of technology in providing metrics and analytics within all HR disciplines is, according to Top Employers Institute research, moving up the priority list for HR leaders as way of underpinning significant changes in people strategy that we are seeing within so many of our Top Employer organisations. Amid the changing HR landscape, the need and the consequent move towards a broader and more holistic scope of people strategy is obvious.

It is no longer something that only focuses on talent management but encompasses strategic workforce planning to future-proof the skills and capabilities gaps and is supported by concrete metrics and the likes of predictive analytics.

As a result, HR leaders are also expected to devise and execute people strategies that align with the current and future business needs.

Employer of Choice Award: Start your journey to our certification today

Invest in your people strategy, click on the link and get in touch with Top Employers Institute today and become an employer of choice!