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This includes integrating its people strategies across talent attraction, talent management and design, learning and development, rewards and performance; and adopting an open and transparent employee engagement communication strategy.
This article is brought to you by DFI Retail Group
As a leading pan-Asian retailer, DFI Retail Group, a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, has interests in 13 markets and territories. The Group (including associates and joint ventures) employed some 200,000 people and some 11,000 outlets, operates a number of well-known brands across food, convenience, health and beauty, home furnishings, restaurants and other retailing, such as Wellcome, Mannings, 7-Eleven, and IKEA in Hong Kong.
Founded in 1886, DFI has been striving to provide quality and value to Asian consumers by offering leading brands, a compelling retail experience, and great service through a strong store network supported by efficient supply chains.
Amidst the rapidly evolving landscape of talent acquisition and retention, DFI understands that it is especially important to create a world-class employee experience and rethink the approach to building employee engagement and workplace design.
In that sense, the Group has adopted a holistic approach when developing their people strategies to ensure they are well integrated across key areas such as talent attraction, talent management, learning and development, rewards and performance, enabling its team members a meaningful and long-term career development journey.
Recruitment is the first touch point in the employee journey. To provide a high-touch and consistent candidate experience and be an ‘Employer of Choice’ in the talent market, DFI has focused on:
- Elevating its recruitment marketing campaigns,
- Streamlining the recruitment process,
- Broadening sourcing channels,
- Enhancing workplace experience through providing a modern and engaging physical work environment
- Promoting a top-up referral bonus programme, and
- Implementing multi-tier external and internal communication plans.
With these initiatives, DFI managed to raise awareness of the employer brand in the market and drove a 5% increase in the total number of hires in Hong Kong in 2023. In addition, the Group has successfully hired 37 new team members from different diversity groups through partnerships with NGOs, as well as 202 students hired through its pilot ‘DFI Retail Internship Programme’.
To continue supporting the learning and development of its team members, several talent programmes are in place at DFI. These include 'Store Management Trainee Programme' across their banners to equip team members with critical store management skills through on-the-job and classroom training, and the 21-month 'Future Retail Leaders Programme' to develop future leaders for the Group through job rotations and hands-on project experience.
Rewards and recognition are another way to build a positive, inclusive, engaging, and sustainable workplace culture.
This saw the launch of the ‘DFI Living Our Values Awards’ recognition programme in 2023. With six award categories covering customer-centric innovation, collaboration, sustainability, caring passionately, and individual contributions, the programme recognises teams or individual team members who live up to the DFI values in alignment with its strategic framework – ‘Customer First, People Led, and Shareholder Driven’. The Awards is open to all team members across all markets, eventually receiving over 6,600 nominations, after which more than 1,600 team members have received the monthly ‘Caring Passionately Award’ from team leaders.
Recognising the prevalent challenges in attracting and retaining talent worldwide in 2024 and beyond, DFI believes an innovative, agile and forward-thinking mindset from HR leaders is crucial to navigating the complexities of today’s workplace and constantly changing work trends. Among this, HR plays a pivotal and proactive role in connecting the organisation and its employees through driving specific and intentional people initiatives to build team engagement and a sense of belonging.
To achieve this, communication is key. The DFI People & Culture team, therefore, has adopted an open and transparent approach to promote its people initiatives, which aim to reinforce DFI core values in building trust and connection within the organisation across all business units.
This has been made possible by setting the right tone from the top down, choosing the right communication channels and consistent messaging, and leveraging different internal and external platforms.
Regarding the recent success at Human Resources Online’s Employee Experience Awards, Joy Xu, Group Chief People & Culture Officer, DFI Retail Group, shares: “We are thrilled to know that the DFI People & Culture team has been recognised for our achievements in driving excellence in workplace experience, particularly in the area of talent acquisition and employee engagement.
“This is a testament to the passion, creativity, and unwavering commitment of our team to cultivate a positive, inclusive and sustainable workplace culture for all DFI team members.”
She continues to express her gratitude to the team members: “We are immensely proud of this recognition and want to extend our heartfelt thank you to all our team members for being part of this journey to co-create a supportive and dynamic environment that not only promotes our workplace culture, but also makes DFI a great place to learn and grow for our current and future team members.”
Photos / DFI Retail Group
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