Mondelez grooms talent early

Mondelez is grooming talent early so that employees are equipped to handle their jobs and move up the career ladder.

Atul Khosla, vice-president, HR, Asia-Pacific, Mondelez International, said, "Development is 70 per cent through experience, 20 per cent through mentoring and the most critical 10 per cent through high-quality programmes."

Some of these include an emerging leader programme in association with the Singapore Management Institute and a leadership for performance programme.

Khosla said multi-country teams were formed for a six-month engagement programme to work on projects under diverse circumstances. This provided room for mentoring and helped employees adapt to broader opportunities, he added.

Mondelez has regular engagements in top Indian campuses through guest lectures by its senior managers. It also hires 20-30 students on an average from the top business schools every year.

At the entry level, the focus is on fast-tracking careers. Mondelez's iTaste programme for graduates is one such. The iTasters' pool feeds multiple functions, like HR, finance, supply chain, manufacturing, and sales and marketing.

Rather than hiring senior executives from outside, Khosla said the key was to build talent within the organisation. The company also has a remote working initiative to enhance cultural awareness, use of technology, and building connections with peers.

Mondelez International University, an online global learning programme, has leadership training and functional training modules. Khosla said the company had self-nominating training weeks with modules for online training anyone could be a part of.