Earlier this year, food and beverage operator Delifrance needed to hire a new area manager. For many companies, this would have involved a lengthy and costly recruitment operation. But Delifrance had already clearly identified the person with the right skills to fill the post. It had also built a close relationship with him while he worked with the company.
The company has a carefully planned succession policy - monitoring which employees have the talent to progress to higher roles while developing their skills in a focused way. When vacancies do open up, it has a ready supply to fill them.
'We save a lot of costs because recruiting externally is quite expensive,' said Samson Leung, manager of learning and staff development. 'It's also difficult to find suitable staff from the external market. Our staff have already become accustomed to the company's cultures, policies and work practices.'
The cornerstone of this succession policy is the careful monitoring of employees to identify those who have the ability to move into higher roles. Human resources officers and training staff visit the stores at least once a month to build a close relationship with staff. 'That is Teddy,' said Leung, pointing to one of the staff on duty and demonstrating this understanding. 'He is a good potential manager, with various management skills and high marks in the refresher training.'
Delifrance wants this attitude to cascade down through its workforce, encouraging managers to develop close connections with staff and to nominate those doing well for promotion. The company uses staff awards and a yearly performance review to help spot employees with potential.
'We want to take the pulse of staff movement,' Leung said.
Once they have picked out those staff with the skills to move into higher positions, Delifrance can then employ focused, effective training to develop their abilities. Staff are encouraged to attend workshops, both internal and external, which build their understanding of management or specific areas of the business. They are also exposed to positions for which they have been earmarked.
'We will try to give them more daily roles,' Leung said. 'And, in some cases, if we find people with management potential who are supervising one store, we will give them another store to supervise so that we can see their capabilities.'
One application of the succession policy was the promotion of an employee to the position of supply chain management executive. Human resources spotted her willingness to take on new things and go out of her way to help other staff, encouraging her to develop management skills.
'She had already built up a good relationship with the stores and was familiar with the whole company's operations,' Leung said.
He said hiring within the company offered the advantage of providing staff with skills specific to Delifrance's operations that outside hires would not usually have. Managers, for example, must be able to supervise both front-of-house and kitchen operations.
Supply chain managers need to have a good understanding of the company's wide range of products and the subtleties of its three brands.
'Even in terms of the equipment and the crockery, if you are an insider then you can pick things up much more easily,' Leung said.
Having a pool of staff with specialised skills and training means that, rather than an unstable power vacuum with the position vacant, it is much easier to respond when anyone leaves suddenly.
'We pursue this all the time to prepare for the sudden resignation of staff,' Leung said. 'We can mobilise human resources to make sure all stores are running smoothly and that there are no interruptions to services or sales.'
Another advantage of the succession policy is that it helps to make employees more motivated and provides an incentive for them to demonstrate their abilities. Without such a policy, Leung said the company might be at risk of a brain drain, where talented staff moved because they did not feel they had the opportunity to progress. This policy has helped to ensure that 78 per cent of Delifrance's store managers have been with the company for more than five years.
The company recognises that it is also necessary to recruit some staff from outside so that they can bring fresh ideas. Leung estimated that the balance of recruitment was about 80 per cent internal to 20 per cent external.
He said that Delifrance had always emphasised internal succession. It believes investing in its own staff is the best way to get high-fliers who are intimately attuned to the company.
Smooth transition
Delifrance seeks to identify staff with the potential to move to higher roles through regular store visits, close staff relationships, award schemes and evaluations
Once potential high-fliers are spotted, the company can provide focused training to equip them with the right skills and experience for their future roles
Identifying and training skilled staff give Delifrance a pool of talent to draw on quickly and efficiently when a vacancy emerges
Offering opportunities to progress helps motivate employees to show their talents and is a good way to encourage them to stay with the company