HR IN FAST moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms is progressively being pushed down the line, providing an opportunity to build partnerships and ensure business units exhibit a level of self-management when it comes to HR responsibilities
HR IN FAST moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms is progressively being pushed down the line, providing an opportunity to build partnerships and ensure business units exhibit a level of self-management when it comes to HR responsibilities.
A recent survey of FMCG companies found that even in companies with several sites, HR still commonly remains a centralised function. As company size increases to more than 1,000 employees, HR tends to take on a more decentralised structure, often with site HR managers reporting into a central HR head office.
The survey examined the HR practices of 58 FMCG companies such as Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola Amatil, Colgate-Palmolive, GlaxoSmithKline, Lion Nathan and Unilever.
It also found that training and development was most common HR KPI for coming 12 months (45 per cent), followed by staff retention (29 per cent), culture change (21 per cent) and performance management (21 per cent).
The survey also revealed that paid parental leave is becoming commonplace, with 54 per cent of FMCG companies providing paid parental leave for females with 35 per cent also providing a similar policy for males. Another 21 per cent indicated an intention to introduce paid parental leave in the next 12 months.
Financial incentives, training and development and career development opportunities rated as the most effective retention strategies, while the median staff turnover rate for FMCG firms was 11 per cent (comprising 8 per cent voluntary departures and 3 per cent involuntary departures).
The survey found the majority of FMCG firms within Australia have a formal redundancy policy. Interestingly these policies are generally not written into employee contracts and two-thirds of firms do not publicise the fact that they have redundancy policies.
Published by FMCG Careers, the FMCG HR Benchmarking Survey – Australia & New Zealand 2004 examined 18 areas of HR practice from resourcing and employee retention to performance management, remuneration policy, succession planning and work-life balance policies.
