Equity & Flexibility: Secret Sauce of Promoting Long-Term Careers
As a sales organization, our people are the lifeblood of our company, the ones who bring in revenue day in and day out. We don’t just sell products & services; we sell solutions. Ours is a wholly solution-selling approach, where we exist to “Making Construction Better” by providing solutions to improve the lives of our customers.
And to accomplish this, our people need to understand our business and products inside out. This understanding doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time. This is why we place such significance on long-term careers.
Our people philosophy closely aligns with our business needs, and hence if I had to choose one differentiator that sets Hilti apart, it would undoubtedly be our approach towards careers. It’s not just about filling job roles; it’s about nurturing talent and building relationships that last for years.
It’s about enabling our people to find fulfilling careers that span functions, cross borders, and truly flourish on a global scale. And how have we managed to do this? What is so special about our approach? For us, it is all about Inclusion – especially Equity and Flexibility which we have embedded in the very core of our people process and career frameworks.
We Focus on Strengths
At Hilti, we never talk about competency gaps, we only talk about strengths, which is a fundamentally different way of looking at talent. We believe everyone brings their unique strengths and that there are multiple paths to success.
There’s no one-size-fits-all template or a predetermined set of experiences or qualifications. Everyone is different, and everyone has an equal chance to shine.
We Level the Playing Field and Set Our People for Success
Aligned with our approach to talent, we invest heavily in ensuring that we set our people for success. It doesn’t matter where you come from; we ensure that you enter your role well-prepared. Our flagship onboarding program WIN spans 12 months, where the first six months are dedicated to just learning and on-the-job training.
As our people progress in their careers, we continue to provide specialized programs such as LeadNow, so that they can step into their new roles with confidence.
We Provide Real-Time Coaching & Support
Field coaching is another cornerstone of our approach, where every Team Leader provides real-time support to employees. This ensures employees understand exactly how they can best leverage their strengths to succeed.
Development is not a one-time conversation for us, but something that follows through the year, coaching employees on how they translate development goals into real actions and move the needle on capabilities.
We invest significantly in team leader training to foster meaningful conversations and enhance their coaching capabilities, enabling high-quality, frequent conversations.
We Prioritize Internal Employees for Opportunities
We believe in taking a bet on our internal talent, and the career stories of our employees are a testament to the same. Last year when we transformed the India structure creating a large number of leadership roles, 80% of the positions were closed internally.
We take our talent reviews seriously and follow through on commitments in terms of the next moves.
We Ensure Parity in Pay
At Hilti, everyone has an equal opportunity to earn. Our harmonized pay structure guarantees that everyone receives fair and equitable compensation. We conduct annual pay parity audits to ensure fairness.
We Support Through Life Stages Via Flexibility
Unparalleled in the Industry, we have a long-term commitment to flexibility, which is our way of supporting our employees through various life stages.
We believe in holistic wellbeing, offering a strict policy against calls or emails beyond work hours and encouraging employees to take breaks and vacations.
We provide a market-leading maternity break of 9 months. Our Hilti 360 program complements our holistic approach to wellbeing, with offerings across physical, mental, financial, and social wellness.
In conclusion, for us at Hilti, equity and flexibility aren’t just buzzwords. They’re the foundation upon which long-term careers are built, and inclusion for us is a place where everyone can belong, and find a equal opportunity to succeed.
