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TESCO Hindustan service Centre’s Head of HR, Sudheesh Venkatesh, outlines the hiring strategies of his company. Excerpts from an interview: What kind of work attitudes/values do you look for in prospective employees? Being in the retail domain, we need people who understand how customers think and also to have an understanding of the retail industry. We also look for employees who are looking for a long-term career at Tesco. We look for knowledge, energy and drive, team spirit, leadership and a strong customer focus in our employees. Our core values of ‘no one tries harder for customers’ and ‘treat people how we like to be treated’ is fundamental and we expect all our employees to live these values. What counts more:`A0a candidate’s academic record or personality? Both are equally important. While candidate’s academic record helps us to gauge his/her technical abilities and fundamentals, his attitude is an indicator of how well he fits into the organisation. Candidates who have positive personality are more likely to continuously improve the work environment. They are willing to take intelligent risks because they are confident about their ideas and competence. They work well within teams. As a result, they bring more value to the organisation. In what ways does your organisation reward loyalty in times of growing attrition? Our research shows that employees stay with organisations Which are successful, clean and legal Where they feel trusted and respected Where they have a manager who helps them Where they have an opportunities to grow We essentially go by the above and fair compensation. Our performance review is designed to recognize talent and the development needs of our employees. Some of our HR initiatives are unique, such as paternity leave, adoption leave, gratuity, and Group Life Insurance, among others. How do you strike a balance between nurturing individual creativity and team spirit? It’s all about making employees feel involved and engaged in every step of the way. They must feel that their contribution has a direct impact on the growth of the company. When new policies are introduced, we organize a focused group discussion involving employees, who in turn suggest changes, which we try and incorporate if it is in the best interest of the company. Last but not the least, we have something called ‘fun on Fridays’, a time set aside for our employees — where we use simple games to nurture creativity and play a lot of team-driven games. The exercise is part of a new team-building programme. How are employees groomed to become global managers? For freshers, we have a ‘Campus to Corporate induction and then an intensive training to let them choose which stream they fit into. We also have ‘Pre Process and Process’ training to hone their soft skills and mould them to face customers globally. We also have something called TWIST (Tesco week in a store) where the senior managers actually spend time at a Tesco retail outlet to understand the business and challenges of the retail environment. We follow the Ken Blanchard model of leadership where one is trained to make ‘facts + feelings’ decisions. (As told to Chetna Keer Banerjee)
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