Sunday, October 3, 2010

HR PRACTICES BY NESTLE

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING

Nestlé’s success in growing local companies

in each country has been highly influenced

by the functioning of its International Training

Centre, located near our company’s corporate

headquarters in Switzerland. For over 30 years,

the Rive-Reine International Training Centre

has brought together managers from around

the world to learn from senior Nestlé managers

and from each other.

This has also created a functioning network

of managers around the world based on shared

experiences and a common corporate culture that

is strong among people from over 100 countries.

Country managers decide who attends which

course, although there is central screening for

qualifications, and classes are carefully composed

to include people with a range of geographic and

functional backgrounds. Typically a class contains

15–20 nationalities, 95% from outside of Switzerland.

The Centre delivers some 70 courses, attended

by about 1700 managers each year from over

80 countries. All course leaders are Nestlé managers

with many years of experience in a range of countries.

Only 25% of the teaching is done by outside

professionals, as the primary faculty is the Nestlé

senior management.

The programmes can be broadly divided into

two groups:

— Management courses: these account for about

66% of all courses at Rive-Reine. The participants

have typically been with the company for four

to five years. The intention is to develop a real

appreciation of Nestlé values and business

approaches. These courses focus on internal

activities.

— Executive courses: these classes often contain

people who have attended a management course

five to ten years earlier. The focus is on developing

the ability to represent Nestlé externally and to work

with outsiders. It emphasises industry analysis,

often asking: “What would you do if you were

a competitor?”

Each year the Centre organises and delivers a number

of management courses in local markets. This not only

reduces costs but also contributes to network building

at the regional level.

Theory and practice

In broad terms, the teaching at Rive-Reine comprises

one third theory, one third Nestlé best practices,

and one third external best practices. To support

this mix, it draws on a number of internationally

recognised business schools, including IMD, the

International Institute for Management Development

in nearby Lausanne. But Rive-Reine is essentially

about absorbing corporate values and understanding

corporate priorities. And that’s why one of the striking

characteristics of its programme is the amount

of time the company’s top managers, including

the CEO, spend there addressing classes and talking

to participants.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT WITH NESTLE


Their approach is unique in many ways:

  • It reflects the company's decentralized nature. Whichever country you are working in, you will be given the knowledge and tools you need to respond to local needs
  • It encourages you to broaden your horizons, by working with people from many different countries and cultures in the course of your career
  • It gives you the chance to develop skills that will enable you to move to different areas of the business
  • It promotes a common set of values that engender a Nestle culture and spirit you will experience wherever you work for us
  • It is based on 'on the job' training given by Nestle people, not solely professional trainers. That means our managers must be both mentors and teachers, communicating knowledge as part of their daily routine

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