‘People Over Profit’ Is Our Core-Strategy: Nimisha Das

A strong employee value proposition strategy includes various factors which determine how the employees would evaluate a company’s stature as an employer. To ensure an effective and highly relevant EVP program, HR leaders need to observe and understand the specific needs of their workforce. As the dynamics of recognition of the workforce in the new work model is changing, companies are required to relook at their people policies in the transformed landscape of talent management.

In an exclusive interaction, Nimisha Das, Director HR, Kellogg South Asia shares her insights as to what can be the deciding factors in terms of retaining the workforce, how to promote an employee-first culture and also explained about their newly-launched EVP program.

1. According to you, what can be the idea behind offering EVP even in these testing times for business growth?

The true measure of an organization’s character is when it manages to stay committed towards its vision and purpose, irrespective of external variables. While some sectors were adversely affected, we continued with our recruitment and people growth plans as usual and on-boarded over 50 people in the past six months. For our current employees, it meant 85+ growth opportunities through promotions, including international movements and 5000+ training man-hours in the past 1 year.

The pandemic has taught us that our people make us stronger as a unit and also helps us appreciate what is our strength and makes us unique. Our EVP articulation captures this and enables us to purposefully share our identity. This EVP will be the guiding light for creating inspired experiences for our people through their journey here.

2. What can be the deciding factors to retain the workforce in this uncertain time?

Adversity always reveals character and the Covid-19 pandemic has been the true measure of the character of Kellogg - which is ‘people over profit’. We approach our business strategy with our people at the core of it as this propels us forward purposefully.

The primary step in this for us was to take care of lives and livelihoods, ensuring safety and care of not just our people but also our partners. We did this through the launch of our Kare program and kept a finger on the pulse of the workforce by taking their feedback constantly.

This translated into our people taking care of the business in return. We were able to recover operations within 40 days of lockdown. The people of Kellogg displayed all-round excellence in execution in the field and factories.

People naturally seek organizations that care for their people and invest in them during times of crisis. Hence, for us, retention was not an issue. This is also reflected in our single-digit attrition rate.

3. At Kellogg India, what is your Employee Value Proposition overview? Explain its pillars and policies?

Our EVP is built on our purpose of nourishment and we define it as ‘Nourish Your Great’. It is an invitation to our employees and potential talent to realize their true potential at Kellogg. Our EVP is coming to life through three strategic pillars, namely, ‘Be the Real You’, ‘Make a Mark’, and ‘Do a World of Good’.

Be the Real You encourages people to bring their true selves to work. We’re an open, accessible, and approachable organization that provides a platform for individuals to discover who they are.

We are an organization of promise and possibilities. We provide the skills, talent, and opportunities to enable people to Make Their Mark and create their own legacy.

Rooted in our values, we are an organization that strives to Do A World of Good and care for our people, community, and environment.

Our EVP will form the guiding principle of the way we craft experiences for our people internally, look at talent outside, how we communicate and celebrate our uniqueness as an employer, and our differentiation in the industry.

4. What is your strategy to curtail attrition and increase retention?

Within the Kellogg world, India has a unique role to play in building talent not just for the country but for the AMEA region as well as global roles. Specific to the growth and development front, we invested 5,000+ man-hours in training and dialed up the focus on leadership development programs since last year. These efforts led to 88% of employees expressing satisfaction with the level of growth and development opportunities at Kellogg .

All these initiatives helped us to arrest attrition, and left us with a highly engaged and committed group of individuals. In fact, we observed that our attrition rates in the past few years have fallen to as low as single-digit percentages. Moving forward, our focus is to continue building the capabilities of our people and give them opportunities for growth that provide them with a fair and engaging workplace.

5. The pandemic has opened our eyes to keep people at the core. What would you advise; to build an employee-first work culture?

To build an employee-first culture, organizations must place employees at the top of their business strategy. Over the years, we have carefully nurtured this approach at Kellogg and it was evident to all during the pandemic. We believe that through selfless actions not motivated by profits alone, any organization can build an employee-first work culture.

What is your prediction of the 'new normal’ for the workforce'?

The new normal in the post-pandemic era will be closely linked to a change in culture, from command and control to the one around empowerment and trust.

Organizations that grew empathetic last year, took care of their people and saw an engaged and motivated workforce. The new normal of the workforce will hence experience the personalization of people policies, work culture, and workflow that speak to their unique needs in the organizational ecosystem. This is because this pandemic has taught us all that brands will come and go but our people are here to stay. Without resilient people, there will be no output.

Secondly, flexibility will intertwine with our ways of working. The success of such working models, let’s call them hybrid working, will form a unique culture of trust shown by management in the workforce. Finally, the workplace will become people-centric to adjust to the new normal.