National foods final report

Final Report

HOW TO RETAIN HIGH POTENTIALHOW TO RETAIN HIGH POTENTIAL

EMPLOYEES IN NATIONAL FOODSEMPLOYEES IN NATIONAL FOODS

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By

Aziza Faryal Naseem

Areeb Ahmed Malick

S.M Asad Hussain

Jaweiriya Ahsan

Fahad Akhlaq

Course Facilitator

Sir Mumtaz KhanSir Mumtaz Khan

Retention Of High Potential Employees Page 1 of 24

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Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgment…………………………………………………..3

2. Introduction ………………………………………………………….4

a. Background of the Study…………………………………..4

b. Problem Statement………………………………………….5

c. Objectives of the study……………………………………..5

d. Scope of Study………………………………………………6

e. Research Methodology……………………………………..6

3. Literature Review…………………………………………………….7

4. Analysis………………………………………………………………10

5. Results………………………………………………………………10

6. Conclusion………………………………………………………….17.

7. Recommendations……………...…………………………………16

8. References…………………………………………………………,19

9. Bibliography ………………………………………………………..20

10.Appendix ……………………………………………………………21


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all we would like to thanks Almighty Allah who helped us for successful

completion of our research work. The researchers would like to thank Mr. Furqan Safavi,

who patiently answered all the queries and whose continuous support and guidance

throughout the semester helped in the successful completion of this research study.

The researchers would also like to thank all HIPO’s of National Foods Ltd. who took

time out of their busy schedules and without their help the completion of this study would

have been impossible. K,j


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1- INTRODUCTION

With the changing times, the world of employment has changed too. Just a few decades ago, a person would hold just one job their entire lives and that would be it, but with the changing times, people are looking for change and progress a every point of their lives. Employee retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to remain with the organization for the maximum period of time or until the completion of the project. Employee retention is beneficial for the organization as well as the employees.

Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have good opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. It is the responsibility of the employer to retain their best employees. In such a scenario, it has become important for companies to think about how to retain employees. Retention of employees is quite important today, because good employees are getting poached almost every day today.

High Potentials are among the most positive employees. High-potential employees are catalysts in the workplace. They have a collection of qualities that influence the employees around them in positive ways. HIPO’s often view their company’s policies, procedures and actions as fair. They rate job autonomy, pay, career and rewards more favorably than other employees; and report feeling more involved with and respected by the company and its leaders.

Top employees typically produce up to 12 times what the average employee produces.

1.1 Importance of study with company background & current scenario

National Foods was founded in 1970 and started out as a Spice company. As we all know 3 decades later it has diversified into a versatile Food Company with over 110 products and 165 and above SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit) for the domestic market and over 100 different products for the international markets. The vision to see National Foods as a professionally managed Human Resource company, set more then 7 years ago, was realized by transforming a local company into a very dynamic and progressive management structure in line with industry practices.

National Foods – Facts & Figures

37 years of innovation

Rs. 3 billion in sales


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300 product SKUs

6 manufacturing units (Karachi, Bin Qasim, Lahore)

Central Warehousing (Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Islamabad)

Rs. 1 million to the economy everyday in shape of taxes

350 towns covered across Pakistan

1500 employees

Annualized Growth Rate of 23% for the last 35 years

Mentioned above facts and figures about the continuous innovation and growth of National Foods clearly and the number of employees currently employed describes the importance of retention of High Potential employees in the company.

National Foods Vision of becoming 50 Billion organization in food industry in 2020 can be achieved with the retention of there High Potential skilled employees in company but it can also cause a deadly loss if the turn over ratio increases per year not in terms of money but also in terms of time and development cause to find the right people for the job.

1.2 Problem Statement:

The Researchers are to find “How to Retain High Potential Employees in

National Foods”

2- Objective of Study:

Our objectives of study are as follows:

Identify why people stay and why others leave.

Is there any particular reasons or good offers that employees are

switching?

Perception of employees on the issue.

To find out the ways to retain high potential employees in national foods.


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Our basic objective of the study is to discover the solution of this problem which will help National Foods to achieving their Vision of 2020 by retaining their high potential employees.

2.1 Scope of Study:

The scope of our study is limited to the employees where we are looking for the employers’ perspective to research on the issue and generate a solution of the problem. Due to time constraint, interviews will be conducted from Karachi only.

3- Research Methodology:

The research is Qualitative in nature and is based on the data gathered through both secondary and primary sources.

3.1 Primary Resources:

We will be conducting interviews with the help of questionnaire from employees and company officials on there views regarding their job. A questionnaire will be use and will comprise of 15 open-ended and closed-ended questions to be formulated. The questionnaire will cover employee retention information within the impact of such matter on company growth respectively. Some questions for this instrument will be based on investigative and others will be drawn from the interviews. A five point rating scale compatible with existing employees’ survey is being designed. For Instance the questions which will include in the questionnaire are as follows:

1- My input is valued by the company and acted upon.

RATING SCALE

1- Strongly Disagree 2- Disagree 3- Agree 4- Strongly Agree 5- Inappropriate

2- The promotions process within the company is easily understood.


3- Have (or have had) good opportunities for career development.



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3.2 Secondary Resources:

With the help of results of employee satisfaction survey in National Foods data, the ratio of employee turn over and views shared by company officials and others will be analyzed.

3.3 Sample Frame:

High potential employees of BIN Qasim unit and Site are taken as sample.

3.4 Sample Size & Procedure:

In-depth interviews of employees from different departments

Equal sample would be taken under assessment. Because it is a qualitative research we will consider small sample size of high potential employees.

Sample size: Approximately 1-3 from each department

Total sample size: Approximately 20-25 employees

3.5 Sampling method:

Convenience sampling method would be used. Sample unit would be high potential employees. The research will be restricted to Karachi only.


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5-Literature Review Employee retention is commonly considered to mean the ability to maintain a

stable workforce. It is often linked to morale and to organizational productivity.

According to the HR Priorities survey from ORC Worldwide (www.orcworld.com),

an HR consulting and data firm, nearly 62 percent of respondents to their survey

opined that talent management will be the most pressing strategic issue they

face in year.

Retention has emerged as the focus of much time and attention in recent years,

particularly as part of talent management programs, and so much is known about

it that the HR practitioner who tries to integrate it into a talent program may grow

bewildered by the huge volume of research about it (see Buenger, 2006; Deloitte,

2005; Gallagher, Nadarajah, & Pinnuck, 2006; Jenkins, 2006; Law, 2003; Maria-

Luisa, 2004; Michaels, Handfield-Jones, & Axelrod, 2001; Snow, 1976; Oakes,

2006; Rappaport, Bancroft, & Okum, 2003; Rothberg, 2007; Rubin & Brown,

1975; Walsh, 1988; Walsh, 1989).

Turnover is important because it costs the organization money in direct expenses

to recruit and train new hires and in indirect expenses to pay overtime for

remaining workers, when necessary, and in opportunity costs of lost production.

Some research links company profitability to turnover measures (IBM Business

Consulting Services' Human Capital Management, 2005). Turnover rates are

commonly regarded as a simple measure of employee morale and workplace

climate. Hence, reducing voluntary turnover—and particularly critical turnover—

Is one important foundation of talent management.


http://www.orcworld.com/

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It is important when conducting studies of why people stay to distinguish between

the reasons why high potentials stay and why other groups of workers stay. The

reason is that high potential workers may stay with an organization for reasons

different from their lower-potential counterparts. If so, then pinpointing their

reasons for staying will be helpful in intensifying a climate for retention of high

potentials and attracting other, similar people

Some of the clients of HR Assets Solutions Inc. a Toronto based human

resources consulting asked this question as well. How to retain top performers

after the recession ends. To address their fears and to provide creditable solution

based on their industry specific experience the consulting company asked the

question at the forum of "Focus" in April 2010. This generated several comments

and solutions from around the world. These concerns were partly supported by

evidence from The Conference Board report published in January 2010 that U.S.

job satisfaction was at its lowest in two decades. This revelation from the U.S. job

satisfaction survey was the first in a series of signs that led to significant

downward trend in employee engagement and morale.

The May 2010 edition of the Harvard Business Review feature article "How To

Keep Your Top Talent" by Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt, identified six

mistakes companies are doing in the management of their high potential

employees.

According to another research:

Over 50% of the people recruited in to an organization will leave within two years.

One in four people recruited will leave within six months. Nearly 70% of organizations report that staff turnover has a negative

impact. Nearly 70% of organizations report having difficulties in replacing staff. Approximately 50% of organizations experience regular problems with

employee retention.


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A solid retention strategy begins long before individual members of staff join an

organization. The image an organization portrays and how attractive it is to

potential employees is crucial. Understanding why employees leave and asking

why some people do not want to work for your business or reject your job offers

is a useful starting point in trying to determine whether your organization has a

staff retention problem.

4- Data Analysis and Evaluation:

We review the questionnaire returned and prepare a report listing the reasons we

identify for high potential employ turnover. This will improve the timeliness in

resolving this issue, it will also consist the frequency and category percentage for

each question. Visual display of data is in bar chart/ histogram form.

The open ended questions is summarized and reported by textual analysis. Each

response is coded using themes that were drawn from the answers.

Following graphs are made by reviewing the questionnaire we filled from HIPO’s.


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Analysis of Questionnaire:

We asked twelve questions both open and close ended from the Hipo’s. The

above graphs are made from the analysis of close ended questions. Most of the

high potential employees expressed same for the questions asked.

Many of them expressed different views regarding remain employed with NFL. In

a nutshell the emphasize was on career development and individual growth in

the organization. Also the vision and goals given are smart enough to give

learning opportunities.

The working part HIPO’s enjoy most in the NFL are team work,

environment/culture, professional and innovative big projects.

The challenges they faced in NFL while working are the new standards and

quality implementation of new system software’s and also to deal with changes In

policies.

While answering to the question what to change in order to make NFL a better

place, the emphasized on compensation plans, and involvement of middle


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management employees while making changes in policies and give benefits

equal as compared with other companies in the same industry.

Analysis of Interview:

We took in-depth interviews of HIPO’s in order to know the thinking of them

regarding their employment with NFL to know the reason why people leave, and

why should they stay with NFL. The interview shows that the HIPO’s listed by

NFL are either newly employed or working for two to three years in NFL except

few of them.

These Hipo’s are very much motivated and experienced enough, that they can

easily moved to the other organization in the same or other industry as we think

from the analysis, and if they left NFL it would be a loss not in monetary terms

but also in other terms to NFL.

We also identify that in the HIPO’s list one or two of them should not include in

HIPO’s although they are experienced but still they can not be included in the list.

The most important reason to stay in NFL as we identify is that NFL’s vision and

the mission to entered in global competitive market and brand oriented give them

the learning opportunity and career development opportunities. Also in few of the

department they can take decision. Which they can’t take in MNC’s because the

decision making is restricted to the top management only, there involvement in

the work and the flexibility of working hour and work load are also the reason to

be remain employed.

Another reason is that the communication in NFL is easily approachable; they

can discuss matter with their immediate heads of the departments. This thing in

other organization is not the same. Mainly in the MNC’s there is too much

restriction to communicate with the top management, due to certain policies.

The training and development opportunities in NFL are an attractive part for

them. The new implementation of ERP system also increases there knowledge

and adds value to there experience.


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Recommendations:

After the analysis from the interviews and review of the questionnaire tool we

used to solve the research problem, we give following recommendation:

Focus on Career Development:

High potential employees always have other opportunities. NFL must consider

developing a retention strategy for HIPO’S that includes astron career

development focus. Give them special projects, tasks and make sure that they

are taking advantage of training and development opportunities.

Involvement in Solutions:

HIPO’s want to make a difference and they can.NFL should Involve them in

situations as a partner where they can contribute for the solutions.

Compensation concerns:

NFL must need to consider what HIPO think if they are staying in the company

ensures the rewards (loyalty bonus etc.) accordingly and dialog with them on

these issues.

Leave some room for Error:

NFL must give assignments, tasks to their HIPO’s where success is not only

assured. Give them tasks where they pushed to work out of their comfort zones

and allow them to develop new skills will play a key role in HIPO’s retention.

HIPO’s Reward Program:

NFL can make a provision of quarterly or bi-annually awards for the best

employee. This award can be in terms of gift, souvenir, or money.

If it is money divide it into two parts first part will be given to the next months

salary and second after six months which can assure the retention of him/her.

HIPO’s Recreation:

NFL should also let their HIPO’s enjoy in a light mood. The HR department can

make a plan to take them on trip bi-annually and use this trip for the management

upcoming plans and strategies and their views. At the same time involvement of

the top management in the activities will make assure that they are close to their

top management.


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Risk Analysis:

NFL must establish by looking at the likelihood and consequences of resignation,

to what extent they have HIPO’s in the danger zone. NFL should target on those

who are most likely to leave and those whose departure would have most serious

business consequences. Prevention is better than cure.

Corporate Entrepreneurship:

It is important for NFL to keep, or instill the entrepreneurial spirit in order to

innovate and grow and become brand oriented. By ensuring HIPO’s as corporate

entrepreneurs, will strongly play a vital role in future for the retention of them till a

long time.

Conclusion:

In the end we conclude that traditional views of HIOPO’s retention are no longer

appropriate. It is not possible to offer long-term employment for all, and long

service does not equal commitment and loyalty. Rather than spending on

recruiting and retain, instead attract, retain, induct, develop, reward, and retain

them. There are no fix solutions for HIPO’s retention, but the problem can be

resolved by effort, planning, awareness, and the analysis. Still keeping HIPO’s is

a great challenge.


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Code of Research Ethics:

The purpose of this code of ethics is to establish a set of principles and

procedures to guide the researchers to achieve the goals and objectives of this

research project. The code outlines the obligations of each of the researcher

through all of the phases of the project, from the design of the research through

to the publication and communication of the experiences of the project report.

(a) The researchers will work cooperatively and collaboratively in the design,

implementation, analysis, interpretation, conclusion, reporting and publication of

the experiences of the research project.

(b) Written permission must be obtained from the company before beginning the

research projects.

(c) The confidentiality of all individuals must be respected. If necessary, the

employees involved may choose to remain anonymous when reporting the

results.

(d) The activities organized by the project should ensure that the data collection

process is in accord with the host company values and norms, and competent

scientific practice.

(e) Company Officials can communicate with researchers during all phases of the

research.

(f) Company official can participate in all phases of the research project; review

all research results, analyses and interpretations for accuracy and present

information to the solution of problem.

(g) All aspects of the project can be considered as worthy of communication. All

communication pertaining to the research project will follow generally accepted

ethical standards which includes Anonymity, Confidentiality, and Respect.


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References

http://www.nfoods.com/nfl/about_the_company.asp Abrar Hasan (Chief Executive March 2, 2007 ) National Foods – A

Success Story ‘A Pakistan’s Case Study’. Human Resources Magazine, “End ‘Equal Treatment’ Today! Focus On

Top Performers,” http://www.citehr.com/39064-role-employee-retention.html#axzz18GgULH5P http://ezinearticles.com/?Employee-Retention---How-to-Keep-Your-Top-Talent-

With-the-Right-Mix-of-Programs&id=5157049 http://www.callcentrehelper.com/how-do-i-ensure-a-successful-retention-strategy-

183.htm

Bibliography

Avery, D. (2002). Recruiting for retention. Unpublished SHRM white

paper. Retrieved January 22, 2006, from http://www.shrm.org/

Buenger, V. (2006). Talent management systems: best practices in

technology solutions for recruitment, retention and workforce planning.

Human Resource Management, 45 (2), 279.

Deloitte (2005). Becoming a magnet for talent. Global talent pulse survey

results 2005. 1-12. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/...0edition%2C%20 Magnet%20for

%20talent-7.FINAL.pdf

Eisenberg, B., Kilduff, C., Burleigh, S., & Wilson, K. (2002). The role of

the value proposition and employment branding in retaining top talent.

Unpublished SHRM white paper. Retrieved January 22, 2006,

from http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whit...0380.asp#P-4_0 Gallagher,

D. R., Nadarajah, P., & Pinnuck, M. (2006). Top management turnover:


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APPENDIX

EMPLOYEE RETENTION SURVEY

This Employee retention questionnaire will be used to extract specific information regarding your employment experience with the National Foods Ltd and for the Research work. We are interested in your thoughts and value your opinions. The information will be used to help in our research to identify areas needed for improvement, analyze factors attributing to turnover & to improve future employment experiences.

The information you will share with us will remain confidential regarding any feedback you provide. Your time in completing this short questionnaire is greatly appreciated.

Employee Name (Optional)

Position Title

Division/Section

Years of Service

Years of Service in Current Position

1-WHY have you chosen to remain employed with the National Foods Ltd.?

Check All that Apply Career advancement opportunities

Challenging work

Salary

Employee benefits

Less travel

Supervision/management

Other __________________________________


http://www.shrm.org/hrresources/whitepapers_published/CMS_000380.asp#P-4_0

http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/Canadian%20edition%2C%20

http://www.shrm.org/

http://www.callcentrehelper.com/how-do-i-ensure-a-successful-retention-strategy-183.htm

http://www.callcentrehelper.com/how-do-i-ensure-a-successful-retention-strategy-183.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Employee-Retention---How-to-Keep-Your-Top-Talent-With-the-Right-Mix-of-Programs&id=5157049

http://ezinearticles.com/?Employee-Retention---How-to-Keep-Your-Top-Talent-With-the-Right-Mix-of-Programs&id=5157049

http://www.citehr.com/39064-role-employee-retention.html#axzz18GgULH5P

http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/0f/0c020e0f.asp

http://www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/0f/0c020e0f.asp

http://www.nfoods.com/nfl/about_the_company.asp

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2-PLEASE provide additional information regarding your reasons for continuing to stay with the organization:

3-PLEASE rate the following items regarding your employment with the National Foods Ltd.:

Excellent Good Fair Poor Positive work environment (relationships, values and

culture) Equitable compensation

Appropriate balance of work/life issues

Flexibility in work schedule/telecommuting

Training & Development/educational opportunities

On-the-job training and developmental experiences

Opportunities for advancement

Appropriate resources and equipment to perform the job

Promoted diversity

4-PLEASE rate the following statements regarding supervision received:

Always Usually Sometimes Never Sets clear goals/performance expectations

Distributes workload equitably

Provides information needed to perform job

Recognizes employees for their achievements

Welcomes suggestions and encourages feedback

Is accessible/approachable

Addresses problems promptly

Is trustworthy


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5-PLEASE rate the following statements regarding the leadership of the National Foods Ltd:

Always Usually Sometimes Never Sets clear goals/objectives for the organization

Encourages cooperation and teamwork among staff

Values employee contributions

Makes an effort to hear employee concerns

Is responsive to known employee concerns

Encourages open communication

Treats employees with respect

6-WHAT do you enjoy most about working with the National Foods Ltd.?

7- WHAT has been your greatest challenge working here?


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8-WHAT would you do to make the National Foods a better place to work?

9-HOW would your work help to achieve the vision in year 2020 of National Foods Ltd.?

10- WHAT do you think about employee benefits and policies of National Foods Ltd.?

11-WOULD you recommend the NFL to a friend?

YesNo

12-IF you left would you return to the National Foods Ltd?

YesNo


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National foods final report