Pandemic Provoked Changes For Employees Across Levels And Functions
The recent addition of 8.5 million jobs to the economy in September 2021 has taken the total number of employed people in India to 406.2 mn, as per a CMIE report. On the back of consistent upward trends, the employment rate in India is poised to cross the numbers in 2019-20. With the economy estimated to grow at 10.5% in FY22, it is imperative for employees to be future-proofed in terms of capabilities as the pandemic and new ways of working have different demands altogether. Hence, Nimisha Das, Director HR, Kellogg South Asia came onboard with BW People Journalist to enlighten on how the workforce's competency to manage bigger roles has increased, both horizontally and vertically. Apart from enhancements, promotions and role changes internally, this has also led to Kellogg India becoming a source of talent for the broader Asia-Middle East and global teams.
1. How has the pandemic changed the process or criteria based on which employers scout for talent?
The pandemic changed the professional, social, and economic fabric of the world we live in. It naturally informed the way both, employers and employees worked. While organizations had to experiment with and embrace flexibility and empathy, employees took to working with agility in a remote setup. During this phase, geography agnosticism became a key influencing factor based on which employers began scouting for talent. The remote working setup allowed for organizations to consider people for roles that may not be necessarily based in the same location as them. At Kellogg, we began working remotely 100% immediately and then recalibrated first with business-critical roles and then offered the entire organisation to return to work in September, 2021, on a completely voluntary basis. Such working models helped us access a wider talent pool. Another prime consideration for employers was consciously looking for the right talent that fits the organization in terms of vision and ethos and hence having a strong EVP that acts as a talent magnet was necessitated.
2. What changes in job roles have come about in the past 12 months in the FMCG sector? How has Kellogg India managed to handle the sudden change in their working modules?
As the situation kept evolving during the pandemic, so did consumer consumption habits. The core proposition of our products of providing safe and nutritious food to ‘nutrition seeking, time precious consumers’ is in line with the rise in health trends and increasingly busy lifestyles that we see amidst the pandemic. We saw a pivot towards digital for both, content and product consumption. Therefore, we had to come up with new job roles or expand current job roles to fill this need gap.
The situation thrusted us to focus on certain functions and skillsets that became of prime importance during the pandemic and was going to be necessary going into the future. So, our attention shifted to equipping people with e-commerce expertise. We brought in individuals who had exhaustive experience with analytics and who could complement our insights team. We looked at hiring talent that came with certain lateral skill sets and enhanced horizontal functions in the bargain. We also upped the ante on digital as well. One of the most satisfying results of this was the creation of our flagship consumer digital property- Amazing Kreations with Masterchef Ranveer Brar. Needless to say, at the backend, we upskilled our IT teams so that they could develop necessary infrastructure for remote working and eventually also plan for hybrid working. The biggest change we took to during this season was to break the shackles of traditional job roles and collaborate cross-functionally.
3. Could you share how Kellogg has adapted its recruitment and hiring practices in the pandemic era?
We launched our employee value proposition during this period so that became the single funnel through which we looked at hiring since the pandemic. While our recruitment process did not change per se, the format underwent a sea change as it went completely digital from end to end. We trained our first touchpoint to potential candidates, i.e. our HR representatives and recruitment partners to develop their capabilities of communicating, on-boarding, and aligning new talent with our EVP. They were supplemented with a tool kit at the time of inducting new/potential talent. Managers were trained to be more empathetic towards candidates’ personal circumstances, geographically inclusive, etc. Our leadership team was deep-trained on the softer nuances of how to make the candidate feel more at ease and to gauge body language effectively since the interaction is happening through a virtual medium.
4. Tell us about Kellogg India’s capability-building program(s) and what it has been doing to future-proof talent?
The governing principle at Kellogg is that leaders must be groomed from the ground up and constantly future proofed in the process. This is where capability building interventions are important. At Kellogg, the capability building program is structured across three pillars - Leadership, People Manager, and Functional.
Our leadership program gives the organization opportunities to be mentored by senior leaders, work on cross functional business projects, and get exposed to world class learning institutes. We invest in grassroots level talent through the K Udaan and Technician Development Program for sales officers and technicians. Mid to senior level talent have been undergoing the Kellogg Power to Lead and Kellogg Accelerated Leadership Program (KALP) for years now. We have K Rising Stars- a leadership development offering for junior level managers while our Kellogg Harvard Executive Development Program and INSEAD Leadership Program keeps the leadership team abreast with their constantly evolving roles. We also have organization wide programs such as LinkedIn Learnings and Masterclass where participants have access to rich insights from the India & AMEA leadership team.
Our people manager program has initiatives such as People Manager’s College and Koach, with a focus to build superior line manager capability. On the functional capability building front we have programs such as K Sales Capability, K Technician Training, and Kellogg’s Masterstroke where participants are trained in upcoming areas of skill building such as emerging trends in insights, media, Artificial Intelligence, etc.
5. What results have you seen in the short term from your capability program from an input (training) and output (growth) perspective?
As an organization we have walked this capability building journey together with our employees so the benefits are reaped by both. An example of how our capability building output contributed to the organization is the launch of our EVP itself. This EVP was brought to life by members of a training programme known as ‘Kellogg Accelerated Leadership Program’ (KALP), who underwent three months of training with external partners, and made 800+ touch points across organisation (and even outside) to launch EVP. The same training also led to a more business focussed intervention which is now amongst the 6 strategic organisation big bets – to drive penetration in key under-penetrated geographies across India.
On the converse, employees who’ve been part of our capability building programs have experienced a change in their leadership style and growth. We’ve had 60+ role enhancements, promotions, and changes in tandem with 10 international moves. Kellogg India is proudly a talent incubator and exporter within the Kellogg world. Employees across the organization also underwent 5000+ training man-hours where they were made fit for future’ through general trade, e-commerce, sales capability, and analytics training.
6. Do you consider such programs as a means for cutting attrition and retaining talent in the organization? How and Why?
There are several reasons that arrest attrition and enhance retention. Capability building programs are a contributing factor, albeit not the only factor. At Kellogg we look at the whole gamut of experiences that the talent undergoes- from hiring to retiring. This comprises recognition, crafting their growth journey, and culture journey which is driven by values and competencies such as courage and nimble learning. Our capability building programs, among several other initiatives at Kellogg, also give our people a sense of ownership and responsibility towards the work they do within the organization that fuels engagement. All taken into account, we have seen single digit attrition year to date and this percentage holds true for across functions which is relieving.
7. Considering the volatile market environment, what are the factors for employers to keep in mind when designing or redesigning their capability-building programs?
Organizations must be cognizant about building their capability programs across the pyramid so that the focus is not limited to only a select few from the workforce. There must also be a healthy mix of functional as well as core leadership development that unearths one’s leadership style. Employers must invest in people manager capability where it can influence retention and engagement and focus on cross functional or future skill building. One such source for this is on-job training where employees are given opportunities to tackle real and relevant business challenges. For example, participants of our ‘Rising Stars’ training program are working on a module that visualises and plans for what hybrid working will look like once deployed. Similarly, Masterstroke and Kellogg Accelerated Leadership Programmes also allow participants to handle live cross-function projects. Another active focus area for us is to invest in skills and capabilities that make our employees ‘future ready’, and we have invested ahead of the curve in emerging areas that we define as the business reality in coming times. While all these are taken care of, the secret sauce which makes retention of the information imparted in training more palatable is equally important- more byte-sized content which can be consumed on-the-go and that’s something we are conscious of at Kellogg.
8. We have been talking a lot about the future of work and the workplace since the pandemic, but how do you see the future of talent shaping up to be? Any policies or techniques you would like to throw light upon?
Present trends will greatly dictate the way talent shapes up in the near future. We foresee a future where access to talent will go multi-fold if the right investments are made in hybrid working, not just in letter and infrastructure but also in spirit. It’s a future where leaders will need to demonstrate empathy, inclusiveness, and responsiveness on a daily basis. It’s a talent pool that will value well-being and a sense of belonging, and organisations which recognise the ‘whole’ person at work. It will have an impact on organizational structures and ways of working in a fundamental way. Another aspect of the future of talent is how niche roles will go mainstream. For instance, having AI and ML application competencies would be a basic requirement across functions. We will see people shouldering a greater degree of responsibility because already having worked in cross function roles during this pandemic. All in all, the future of talent looks exciting now more than ever before.
