Case study: How Landmark Group promotes employee development
Landmark Group is one of the largest retail and hospitality conglomerates in the Middle East, Africa and India, with more than 2,200 outlets, including stores, restaurants and hotels, across 24 countries. With a workforce of more than 50,000 representing 88 nationalities, Landmark Group is committed to providing a work environment that is respectful and fosters professional and personal growth. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2018-2019 Sustainability Report by Landmark Group published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Landmark Group’s learning programmes are designed to optimise employee performance and growth, disseminated across multiple geographies for it 50,000-strong multicultural workforce. In order to promote employee development Landmark Group took action to:
- promote frontline development
- foster functional development
- promote leadership development
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Landmark Group has identified;
- How Landmark Group proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Landmark Group to promote employee development
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2018-2019 Sustainability Report Landmark Group identified a range of material issues, such as packaging, circularity, carbon footprint, product quality, health and safety, chemical and waste management. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for Landmark Group.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Landmark Group engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Landmark Group engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Partners
| · Supplier selection and onboarding · Progress meetings · Emails, phone calls and meetings · Appreciation events |
| Environment
| · Monitoring Landmark Group’s environmental footprint · Addressing circularity of fashion · Environmentally-friendly sourcing of materials · Preserving natural resources · Sustainability team |
| Customers
| · Specialised customer service teams · Stores, outlets, malls and online · Social networks · Customers satisfaction surveys · Call centres, emails and phone calls · Advertisements, promotions and press releases · Loyalty programmes |
| Community
| · Community programmes and initiatives · Cooperation with NGOs · Social networks and events · Philanthropy and sponsorships |
| People | · Employee engagement surveys · Training and development programmes · Internal communications · Volunteer programmes · Face-to-face meetings · Emails, calls and instant messaging software · Performance management programmes |
What actions were taken by Landmark Group to promote employee development?
In its 2018-2019 Sustainability Report Landmark Group reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development:
- Promoting frontline development
- Landmark Group’s frontline programmes include:
- Learn and grow: Career training for sales associates, supervisors and store managers that includes 70% on-the-job training, 20% coaching with managers and 10% workshops and e-learning. In Saudi Arabia, succession role assessments were piloted for 1,000 store managers.
- Store leadership programme: Redefines capabilities of store managers as customer- and business-focused whilst improving their work environment. In financial year 2018-19, 986 Store Leaders participated with 101 High Potentials identified to progress to the next level in their career.
- Career passport: Tracks career progression of store employees offering a structured plan for skill development. It ensures managers have a comprehensive overview of employee performance over a long period of time, and not just on their recent achievements.
- Race: Retail Academy for Career Enhancement are certified courses to create a talent pool for critical roles, while upskilling and retaining existing talent coaches.
- Fostering functional development
- Landmark Group’s functional programmes include:
- Analytics teams: Capacity-building online and classroom courses for 95 data analytics employees and customer experience optimisation sessions for 25 senior leaders.
- Finance teams: Landmark Group worked with PwC to standardise finance processes across the Group and deliver workshops for 100 finance managers.
- Planning teams: Learn and Grow for planning and digitalising planning fundamentals for scalability, linked to career path. Knowledge assessment scores went from 39% to 85% and individual development plans were created for all 126 planners.
- Buying teams: Landmark Group worked with Trendstop and WGSN on workshops for 35 buyers from its fashion and shoe divisions on trends, product direction, commercial range building and setting strategic buying plans.
- Warehouse teams: Emerging Supervisor Development Programme trains supervisors, managers and senior managers on supervisory skills.
- Promoting leadership development
- In 2018-19, 199 Landmark Group mid-senior leaders were enrolled in a Group Leadership Development in Landmark Middle East. Landmark Group also partnered with SP Jain Institute of Management & Research and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad to support growth and career development of High Potential employees, co-delivered with an internal faculty of leaders. 86 High Potentials took part in a nine-month blended programme of workshops, mentoring, action learning projects and coursework. 24 of the 51 midlevel High Potentials and 12 of the 35 senior-level High Potentials were promoted or moved roles during or within six months of completing the programme. Other programmes included Emerging Leaders for mid-level managers and Leaders Coaching Leaders, to equip employees with the ability to play a proactive role in the development of Landmark talent. Landmark India’s Executive Coaching Creating Leaders programme identifies senior leaders through one-on-one coaching. A detailed skill assessment exercise is conducted to identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses, with bespoke development plans created with assigned coaches.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee
2) Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs
Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education
- Targets: 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.1
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.2, 8.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities
- Targets: 10.3
Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.2, 8.5
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Landmark Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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