Modern Products Company, a joint venture with Procter & Gamble, has been ranked in the top three of the “Best Saudi Company to Work” for 2011 listing for the Private-Production and Manufacturing Sector category, according to Fahad Abdullah Al-Abdulkarim, human resources director for the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan at Procter & Gamble.
“Our employees are the company›s most important asset, as well as a source of competitive advantage”, says Al-Abdulkarim.
He added: “We are aiming to attract and hire top talent and maintain a reputation as a great company for leaders, with every employee being assigned meaningful responsibilities that will challenge their capabilities and help them to grow in multiple disciplines to achieve their full potential based on talents and future career paths as identified by Procter & Gamble.”
In an exclusive interview, Al-Abdulkarim spoke to Diana Al-Jassem of Arab News about his company’s role in developing Saudi talents through training and development, roles and responsibilities, corporate culture, work-life balance and internal communications, teamwork, compensation and benefits, and performance and rewards.
Today, Saudi nationals represent over 64 percent of the employees for Procter and Gamble›s joint ventures in Saudi Arabia — Modern Industries Company and Modern Product Company. They have among the highest Saudization percentages in Saudi Arabia›s private sector. These Saudi talents have taken up leadership positions in Procter and Gamble, both inside and outside the Kingdom, ranging from factory managers, heads of functions, managing directors of large regions and CEOs of local companies,» he said.
What is the significance of being ranked among the top three in terms of "employer of choice" in the FMCG sector in this poll?
This achievement is a testimonial to our organization's ability to turn our vision of being an "employer of choice" into reality. Procter & Gamble provides its employees with an inspiring and supportive work environment, which enables them to excel, and provides space for their innovative abilities. This is made possible through outstanding capability building, learning and development and best in class reward and recognition systems. These systems enable employees to unleash their full creativity and empower them to grow into leading managerial positions within the company. This is a very big moment for Procter & Gamble and it makes us feel proud and inspired.
How will you utilize this to increase Saudization? What is your percentage of Saudization?
Since its inception in Saudi Arabia in 1956, Procter & Gamble adopted a clear strategy to attract the best local talent at all levels of leadership, including administrative and technical. These talents undergo extensive training programs to build their skills and capabilities within the Kingdom and abroad. Today, we take pride in our work force of more than 1,200 talented employees, of whom approximately 64 percent are locally grown talents. It is thanks to our training and capability building programs and our unrelenting commitment to better our communities that we were able to reach this rate of Saudization in our companies and factories.
What are the incentives and benefits that you offer Saudi employees?
We have a comprehensive set of systems and programs across all career stages. These include training and early responsibility, tying employee career objectives with the company's mission, working within teams that share a common objective and operate based on fully aligned objectives, flexible working hours and comfortable workplaces. The employee value proposition is also bolstered by competitive social and financial incentives and benefits such as our home-ownership program and international stock-ownership program — most employees own shares in Procter & Gamble.
How has the Nitaqat program launched by the Ministry of Labor impacted you and where do you fall in the classification?
The localization vision and strategy we've always adopted and implemented is in line with what the Ministry of Labor has been recently working toward with regards to motivating the private sector to attract more local talent, especially that local talent penetration in the private sector seems to be restricted in the GCC countries. Every entity has to contribute in addressing this issue. I would like to stress that our experience goes to show that local talents can be on par with any work force in terms of output and dedication when given the opportunity through proper direction, training and commensurate benefits.
How many graduates your company and factory employ and what are the most important universities you hire them from?
Our company might be unique in adopting a "promotion from within" policy and we are keen on attracting fresh graduates, so one of our mandates is to build solid relationships with various local colleges and universities and contribute in their activities and train students to jointly reach our objective of becoming a preferred employment destination for fresh graduates. Therefore, we opt to go to them. Most of our employees at all levels and in all functions are graduates of local Saudi universities.
Do you send Saudi employees to headquarters in Switzerland and the United States to gain global experience?
We conduct both short- and long-term development programs to build our employees' capabilities inside and outside the Kingdom. Those employees sent on international assignments are evaluated on the same performance parameters as their peers in the host countries. Upon their return, they assume greater responsibilities.
What is your next step in further enhancing the working environment?
We believe in the principle of continuous improvement in all work aspects and we conduct annual employee satisfaction surveys covering various elements of the working environment. The results of these surveys help us to focus on opportunities for improvement. A good example would be our
efforts on work-life balance, whereby we made Saturday a day to work from home and, as a result, productivity levels have increased. We also believe in creating room and time for our employees to do voluntary work and community service. Moreover we have an annual calendar for social, recreation and sports activities built around employee preferences to enable them to band together and become healthy corporate athletes.
Would you say you have been successful in fostering an environment of innovation in your Saudi manufacturing facilities?
Innovation is one of our main principles and is implemented in all aspects of work. As for our manufacturing facilities that serve the region, innovation is embraced and the highest global standards are in place to manufacture superior quality products that improves the lives of our
consumers from all walks of life. Our plants have adopted the latest in modern technology, which is managed by Saudi employees who have undergone internal and external training and development programs, and we are always keen on operating these plants in a manner that continuously enriches
customers' life. However, Procter & Gamble's innovation does not end with technology utilized in manufacturing facilities; it also extends to cover systems development to meet consumer needs and demands. Procter & Gamble has a global database of manufacturing facilities, enabling collaboration
among factories worldwide. Innovation and consumer understanding are among the most important success factors for us since our inception, 175 years ago, in 1837. Another critical success factor is our access to data and polls that are conducted on an annual basis, thus empowering employees to contribute based on their unique experience.
