Tiger Brands: Integrated annual report 2019

We undertook numerous initiatives this year to further strengthen our diverse talent base and develop our core capabilities to deliver on our growth strategy. We reviewed management structures to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and we developed and implemented a standardised talent management framework, supported by targeted talent strategies for core functions and growth categories. We reviewed our learning and development framework, established a long-term workforce plan, and developed an employer brand and employee value proposition aimed at attracting and retaining talent. To provide a compelling work environment that recognises and rewards talent, we have embedded action-based talent reviews and accelerated talent mobility. Recognising the critical importance of driving diversity across all management levels, we have developed and approved a five-year employment equity plan, as well as a gender equity strategy.

To attract talent for our Africa operations, we have developed a talent sourcing strategy that includes partnerships with LinkedIn, in-country distributors and tertiary institutions. We have developed a customised Africa management trainee programme, and this year we sourced management trainees from Mozambique, Zambia and Nigeria. A priority talent focus area for the year ahead is to continue to build commercial and supply chain capability. We will also continue to work on embedding a fit-for-future organisational structure, drive digital learning, and execute clear career development and appropriate learning and skills development.

The current FMCG environment is experiencing a shift in leadership focus away from functional specialised teams, towards purpose-driven cross-functional teams that leverage the broader ecosystem. This shift has informed the work that we are doing to develop the right leadership capability to lead the company into the future.

Guided by this understanding, we focused our leadership development efforts this year on developing a focused executive leadership succession plan, undertaking leadership capability assessments for key successors, and reviewing the leadership development framework. Informed by the benchmark assessment of our senior leadership team, we have prioritised various focus areas for leadership development in FY20, including driving winning business performance, and a culture of consumer obsession. To improve our talent pipeline and strengthen business performance, we continue to ramp up leadership development and rotation. We are embedding coaching and mentoring practices as part of the Tiger development approach, implementing a company-wide multi-rater tool to enable feedback on leadership behaviour, and we are embedding the outcomes of our women in leadership programme.

Providing a “great place to work” is critical both to attracting and retaining talent, and to ensuring that we have an agile culture that inspires innovation and drives winning performance. This year, we established a strong foundation to enable the “one Tiger” winning culture transformation journey. Key activities included embedding our refreshed values and winning behaviours, developing and commencing execution of a diversity and inclusion framework, an employee relations strategy, and an employee well-being strategy. Although progress has been made in making our reward strategy more competitive, we recognise the need to improve business performance to address the retention risk presented by the resulting state of the short- and long-term incentives for key talent. We will be further executing our reward mechanisms to ensure that we are able to attract and retain talent, and to appropriately recognise and reward winning performance. We will be undertaking a Tiger-wide employee engagement survey, executing an employer brand campaign, and further embedding the reward and recognition strategy as well as the well-being programme, “THRIVE”.