Thursday, January 18, 2007
Reliance’s retail hiring goes wholesale
Economic Times - 18th Jan 2007
Picture this. Fourteen months into the business and the headcount stands at over 6,000. It’s hiring over 100 people a day, touching 3,000 people a month and this is just the initial warm-up phase. That’s what happens when a group that thinks big and executes fast decides to put its muscle and might into a red-hot sector of the new economy. This is the revving up of the Rs 25,000-crore Reliance Retail venture. And if the rollout goes according to plan, it sees employee count touching a million people by the year 2010.
Reliance Retail has roped in the who’s who of Indian retailing to put the plan on ground. One of the imperatives for a business that would need many shop-floor staff is putting in place a robust internal process of recruiting, training and retaining talent across all functions.
Sources said that it’s systems-oriented HR team numbers more than 500. Backing it up is a research team which tracks the best practices of Fortune 500 companies to assimilate learnings and incorporate them into its own processes. The venture may be just 22-stores old now but Reliance retail has readied the framework necessary to scale up aggressively towards the 1,500 stores across verticals from food and groceries to consumer electronics.
“Within HR, there is a team solely responsible for researching and collating the best practices from MNCs like Wal-Mart, Tesco and Citi-group. The processes have been created by analysing the HR practices of existing players within Indian retailing and also global companies,” sources said.
The system ensures that every minute detail is documented. “Details like hiring a car, uniform colour of store personnel to even requisition for office stationery have been incorporated and put on board the technology platform. Employee retention tools like stock options and referral programmes like each one bring 10 have been instituted as part of talent engagement and sustaining employees,” sources said.
Reliance Retail sources told ET that in the last 14 months, the firm has been readying its HR strategy with emphasis on recruitment, training, retaining and sustainability of employees. “The roadmap was created, processes have been developed and have been mapped on board the technology platform,” sources said.
They added the system put in place can handle recruitment of one million employees all over India in the next four-five years, from the current base of 6,000. Though Mukesh Ambani announced plans for the retail business as late as June 2006, it is understood that plans to create the necessary internal process was put in motion much before that.
While professionals like Bijou Kurien from Titan, Gunender Kapur from Unilever, Raghu Pillai from the Future group were roped in for various verticals to be rolled out under the initiative, the group brought in Bijay Sahoo, former global HR head of Wipro Technologies as president and chief people officer of Reliance Retail to create the framework for recruitments.
Reliance Retail has roped in Susan Bloch, chief cultural and diversity officer, HR. The move to hire Bloch, former partner at Whitehead Mann and director executive (coaching) with the Hay group consultancy, comes as the group is emphasising on creating leadership skills within, enabling them to create opportunities for employees to move up the ladder.
Picture this. Fourteen months into the business and the headcount stands at over 6,000. It’s hiring over 100 people a day, touching 3,000 people a month and this is just the initial warm-up phase. That’s what happens when a group that thinks big and executes fast decides to put its muscle and might into a red-hot sector of the new economy. This is the revving up of the Rs 25,000-crore Reliance Retail venture. And if the rollout goes according to plan, it sees employee count touching a million people by the year 2010.
Reliance Retail has roped in the who’s who of Indian retailing to put the plan on ground. One of the imperatives for a business that would need many shop-floor staff is putting in place a robust internal process of recruiting, training and retaining talent across all functions.
Sources said that it’s systems-oriented HR team numbers more than 500. Backing it up is a research team which tracks the best practices of Fortune 500 companies to assimilate learnings and incorporate them into its own processes. The venture may be just 22-stores old now but Reliance retail has readied the framework necessary to scale up aggressively towards the 1,500 stores across verticals from food and groceries to consumer electronics.
“Within HR, there is a team solely responsible for researching and collating the best practices from MNCs like Wal-Mart, Tesco and Citi-group. The processes have been created by analysing the HR practices of existing players within Indian retailing and also global companies,” sources said.
The system ensures that every minute detail is documented. “Details like hiring a car, uniform colour of store personnel to even requisition for office stationery have been incorporated and put on board the technology platform. Employee retention tools like stock options and referral programmes like each one bring 10 have been instituted as part of talent engagement and sustaining employees,” sources said.
Reliance Retail sources told ET that in the last 14 months, the firm has been readying its HR strategy with emphasis on recruitment, training, retaining and sustainability of employees. “The roadmap was created, processes have been developed and have been mapped on board the technology platform,” sources said.
They added the system put in place can handle recruitment of one million employees all over India in the next four-five years, from the current base of 6,000. Though Mukesh Ambani announced plans for the retail business as late as June 2006, it is understood that plans to create the necessary internal process was put in motion much before that.
While professionals like Bijou Kurien from Titan, Gunender Kapur from Unilever, Raghu Pillai from the Future group were roped in for various verticals to be rolled out under the initiative, the group brought in Bijay Sahoo, former global HR head of Wipro Technologies as president and chief people officer of Reliance Retail to create the framework for recruitments.
Reliance Retail has roped in Susan Bloch, chief cultural and diversity officer, HR. The move to hire Bloch, former partner at Whitehead Mann and director executive (coaching) with the Hay group consultancy, comes as the group is emphasising on creating leadership skills within, enabling them to create opportunities for employees to move up the ladder.
How about a date with your employer?
Economic Times - 18th Jan 2007
Champagne, flowers and a sumptuous dinner — your idea of a perfect date? Well, it is a date alright, but this time with your future company. Wooing the best talent has now become increasingly competitive. Reason enough for companies to use all their charms as they woo the most competent students.
While attractive salaries, joining bonuses and profiles are important, companies are now cashing in on making the first ‘lasting’ impression. They are increasingly getting innovative when it comes to doling out freebies at the B-schools while on recruitment drives. Gifts are handed out to all who can attend, getting grander as a students climbs up the recruitment ladder. Freebies include wireless mouses and table clocks (Deutsche Bank), mini rugby balls (UBS), coffee mugs (Barclays) and bags (RIL).
And, if you want to sample what your company makes, you can pick and choose from an array of products that Cadbury, Nestle, HLL, Pepsi and Coke get on campus. From knowing the products to understanding the companies, students are also treated to high teas and pizza sessions, where the environment is informal and less stressful. “We allow the students to understand the company better at these sessions without the added stress of making it through,” said a recruiter.
“I feel companies do this so that they can give out the right message. We feel that the company that makes a special effort will have good HR policies and a hospitable work environment. Although, it is difficult to know if it tilts the balance in their favour, I do think these efforts make the students feel good,” Pravin Devanathan, a first-year student of IIM-Lucknow. “The idea is to attract a greater number of students by showing them how well they can take care of them,” said Prashanth Swaminathan, ex recruitment co-ordinator at IIM-Calcutta.
A student, who makes it to a company’s shortlist or receives employment offer, is party to a grander celebration. And it is not just B-school students who are getting a piece of the pie. “A student who got recruited with McKinsey was sent a birthday cake and taken out for a dinner that cost the company nearly Rs 14,000. It really was a grand feast,” said a student from IIT Kharagpur. Not just birthday cakes, sometimes champagne and flowers are sent to the campuses for students on their birthdays!
In fact, for the first time this year, one of the recruiters at IIM Ahmedabad flew down a few of the shortlisted students to the company’s new year celebration party. A company that is recruiting from IIM-Bangalore is flying down shortlisted candidates to Delhi for an interaction.
Truly, these are changing times on all these campuses. “Now, with increased manpower demand and need to have higher visibility on campus, the companies are doling out freebies. But during late 1980s we hardly had many companies distributing freebies on campus,” says Manek Daruwala, director of TIME who passed out of IIM-A in 1987. However, there is a flip side to companies going overboard with their recruitment drive. “Faculty members are concerned when it comes to companies going overboard with their products on campus. The idea is not to turn the campus into a trade fair during recruitments. But it is difficult for us to decide where to draw a line,” said Saurav Mukherjee, chairman, placement committee, IIM-Bangalore.
Champagne, flowers and a sumptuous dinner — your idea of a perfect date? Well, it is a date alright, but this time with your future company. Wooing the best talent has now become increasingly competitive. Reason enough for companies to use all their charms as they woo the most competent students.
While attractive salaries, joining bonuses and profiles are important, companies are now cashing in on making the first ‘lasting’ impression. They are increasingly getting innovative when it comes to doling out freebies at the B-schools while on recruitment drives. Gifts are handed out to all who can attend, getting grander as a students climbs up the recruitment ladder. Freebies include wireless mouses and table clocks (Deutsche Bank), mini rugby balls (UBS), coffee mugs (Barclays) and bags (RIL).
And, if you want to sample what your company makes, you can pick and choose from an array of products that Cadbury, Nestle, HLL, Pepsi and Coke get on campus. From knowing the products to understanding the companies, students are also treated to high teas and pizza sessions, where the environment is informal and less stressful. “We allow the students to understand the company better at these sessions without the added stress of making it through,” said a recruiter.
“I feel companies do this so that they can give out the right message. We feel that the company that makes a special effort will have good HR policies and a hospitable work environment. Although, it is difficult to know if it tilts the balance in their favour, I do think these efforts make the students feel good,” Pravin Devanathan, a first-year student of IIM-Lucknow. “The idea is to attract a greater number of students by showing them how well they can take care of them,” said Prashanth Swaminathan, ex recruitment co-ordinator at IIM-Calcutta.
A student, who makes it to a company’s shortlist or receives employment offer, is party to a grander celebration. And it is not just B-school students who are getting a piece of the pie. “A student who got recruited with McKinsey was sent a birthday cake and taken out for a dinner that cost the company nearly Rs 14,000. It really was a grand feast,” said a student from IIT Kharagpur. Not just birthday cakes, sometimes champagne and flowers are sent to the campuses for students on their birthdays!
In fact, for the first time this year, one of the recruiters at IIM Ahmedabad flew down a few of the shortlisted students to the company’s new year celebration party. A company that is recruiting from IIM-Bangalore is flying down shortlisted candidates to Delhi for an interaction.
Truly, these are changing times on all these campuses. “Now, with increased manpower demand and need to have higher visibility on campus, the companies are doling out freebies. But during late 1980s we hardly had many companies distributing freebies on campus,” says Manek Daruwala, director of TIME who passed out of IIM-A in 1987. However, there is a flip side to companies going overboard with their recruitment drive. “Faculty members are concerned when it comes to companies going overboard with their products on campus. The idea is not to turn the campus into a trade fair during recruitments. But it is difficult for us to decide where to draw a line,” said Saurav Mukherjee, chairman, placement committee, IIM-Bangalore.
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