Recruitment and other HR operations at Aditya Birla

Fashion and Retail Limited

A Summer Internship Report

International Management Institute

Bhubaneswar

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

POST GRADUTE DIPLOMA

In
MANAGEMENT

By
PRIYANKA LAHOTI

2017
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I take this opportunity to convey my feeling of gratitude who supported me throughout the course
of this internship project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance during the project work. I am
highly thankful and immensely obliged for their constant support and words of inspiration without
which the project would never be completed.

I express my gratitude to Ms. Kasturi Sarkar for her support and direction at Aditya Birla Fashion
and Retail Limited.

I would also like to thank my project guide Prof. Bindu Chabbra for sharing her expertise and
valuable guidance extended to me.

While I am thankful to the people mentioned above for their contribution, I as an author take sole
responsibility for the views mentioned herein and errors, if any.
 Students undertaking

I, Priyanka Lahoti bearing Institute Roll No. 16PGDM-BHU037, declare that the summer project
titled Recruitment and other HR operations at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited is my original
work and completed under the supervisions of Ms. Kasturi Sarkar of Aditya Birla Fashion and
Retail Limited and Prof. Bindu Chabbra of IMI Bhubaneswar. Further, I also declare that the
report being submitted herewith is free of any textual plagiarism.

Signature:

Date:

Place: IMI Bhubaneswar

 APPROVAL OF THE FACULTY GUIDE

Recommended that the Summer Internship Report titled..

. prepared by Mr/Ms

. under my/ our supervision and guidance be

accepted as fulfilling this part of the requirements for the award of Post Graduate Diploma in
Management. To the best of my/ our knowledge, the contents of this report did not form a basis for the
award of any previous degree/ diploma to anybody else.

Date:

Signature: Signature:

Name of the Guide: Name of the Guide:

 INDEX

SUBJECT PAGE

NUMBER
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 1. INTRODUCTION

According to Steve Wynn, Human Resource isnt a thing we do, its the thing that
runs our business thus we can say that Human Resource is the basic need to get any
work completed.

This project is about the various practices an organization adopt to create an adept
workforce as well as to gain a competitive advantage and to create a sustainable
environment. There are few HR concepts that are used, which acts as a probable
contributor to find a suitable person and to improve their commitment, devotion and
efficiency towards the organization.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail limited focuses on strong HRM practices. Thus, as an
intern in the Human Resource Department I tried to be the part of all HR activities that
took place within an organization for the new store coming up in Kolkata named, PT-
Kolkata-Ideal Residency along with other activities that take place in every store. I tried
linking the theory and real practices of Human Resource Planning, Recruitment and
onboarding, Training and Development, Performance management system.

2. Objectives

The main objective of the report is to analyse the various HR practices of Aditya Birla
Fashion and Retail Limited.

To understand the process of manpower planning before the opening of a new

store.
To study the selection, recruitment and onboarding process for the position of
Fashion Assistant.
To observe the training, Tejas which is given to the new employees.
To study the performance management system used in the company.
3. CONCEPTS AND MODELS INTRODUCED
 4. About Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited

Fashion is a celebration and a joy. It is an expression that can manifest itself in different
ways for different people and these ways are forever evolving

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited transpired after the consolidation of apparel
businesses of Aditya Birla Group. After the premium consolidation of the subsidiaries of Aditya
Birla Nuvo Limited, that is, Pantaloons Fashion and retail Limited and Madura Fashion and
Lifestyle in May 2015, Pantaloons Fashion and retail Limited was rechristened as Aditya Birla
Fashion and Retail Limited.

This move brings Indias #1 branded menswear and women wear players together
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group.

Through the alliance, they conspired to create Indias largest Fashion and Lifestyle Company
with a strong bunch of fashion brands and retail formats. ABFRL tried bringing together the
learnings and businesses of two well-known Indian fashion icons to create a harmonious body
which will be the centre of fashion businesses of Aditya Birla Group. To show the growth, the
combined revenue of ABFRL is INR 6,060 crore for the financial year 16 which implies that it
is growing at a rate more than 25% and EBIDTA of INR 409 crore for financial year 16. It is
growing at a profound rate of approximately 30% over the past five years. Further, ABFRL
holds the largest fashion network with more than 7000 points of sale over 375 places. This
includes 16 million loyal customers as of Dec 16 with more than 2000 exclusive outlets with
16 million loyal customers as of Dec 16.

4.1 The Vision of Pantaloons is:

To be a premium conglomerate, with a clear focus on each of the businesses.

To passionately satisfy Indian consumer needs in fashion, style and value, across wearing
occasions in Apparel and Accessories through strong brands and high- quality consumer
experience with the ultimate purpose of delivering superior value to all our stakeholders.
Vision of Pantaloons

4.2 The mission of ABFRL is:

To deliver superior value to our customers, shareholders, employees and society at large.
4.3 The Values that are given most importance at ABFRL are:

Integrity: ABFRL believes in the growth of both the organization and its people which includes
its investors, vendors, employees, stakeholders and customers.

Commitment: ABFRL is known for its commitment and quality towards its people.

Passion: The passion among every member of ABFRL is seen through the distinction
achieved in every

Seamlessness: ABFRL tries to stay ahead of its competitors to serve as well as benefit from
the business. They do this by working beyond its boundaries.

Speed: ABFRL tries to act early and timely so that they can achieve timely growth which is
important and is significant for success.

4.4 Store Organization Structure:

Store Manager
4-5 DMs
per store Assistant
Store
Manager

Customer VM Store People Maintenance Admin

Department Operations Warehouse Marketing
Service Head Cashier Executive Executive
Managers Executive Executive Officer Executive Executive
Executive

Fashion Customer Warehouse

Assistant Service Cashier Assistant
(35 to 40 per Assistant
store)

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Industry, Pantaloons operates on a flat structure which helps
the organization form self-managing teams. This helps every member of Pantaloons family to
be accountable for their own tasks which allows them to set their goals and objectives this
helps in enhancing the employees moral. It also reduced the management layers in the
organization to operate at four levels (the Managers, Executives and Coordinator).

4.5 Code of Conduct

Code of conduct for Board Members and senior management:
The code of conduct outlined by the company complies with the provisions of SEBI
Regulations, 2015. Few ethical conducts that the board members and senior
managements were expected to observe included:
They should help the organization maintain the corporate governance
practices.
They are expected to conduct their roles and responsibilities with care and
honesty.
They should also make sure that they do not misuse the companys assets and vital
information.
Moreover, they should not communicate with any member of press media on any
matters concerning the company.

These are few of the many responsibilities and conduct that they are expected to
comply with.
Code of conduct for employees:
The code of conduct with respect to Private Trade and employment, the employee is
expected to dedicate their whole time to companys work. Where the employees
should not disclose the vital information of the organization. Further, accepting gifts,
either in cash or kind is not acceptable.
Employees should not try to get associated with any suppliers of the organization or
have any business arrangements outside the environment of the organization.
Further, the company listed few acts which would be treated as misconduct. This
includes taking bribes, giving incomplete or incorrect information to the organization.

4.6 Policies
Policy of Vigil Mechanism
ABFRL has set up a committee including Directors and Senior Managers for Vigil
Mechanism which tries to listen to the grievances from the employees and report the
concerns about any immoral conduct, suspected or authentic fraud or violation of the
Code of Conduct. This helps to make sure that the Policy of the organization is well
aligned with the Code of Conduct, Vision, Mission and Values of the organization.

Policy For determination of Materiality of Information or Event

The company, to confirm quick revelation of material price sensitive information to
stock exchange so that all the investors take informed decisions relating to their
investment. This policy helps as a guidance for determining materiality of any price
sensitive information which in turn prevents the formation of a false market of the
company.

Policy on POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment)

ABFRL is committed to provide a professional and mature work environment to its
employees. It also emphasizes on the value of integrity and respect for all individuals
with the organization. This policy is applicable on all the employees regardless of their
level hierarchical level, store and offices. It also includes third party harassment,
which includes vendors, clients and any other person who is not an employee of the
organization. There are defined steps mentioned in the policy in handling a complaint
on Sexual Harassment.

Whistle Blower Policy

To ensure that a minimum standard of professional behavior and that all their actions
are based on the five values laid down by the Aditya Birla Group, the whistle blower
policy had been articulated. It provides a dais for all its employees where they can
voice their grievances without any fear. Further, it reminds them about their
responsibility to report any violation of laws.
Any employee who discloses any unscrupulous activity (the whistleblower), the policy
offers them protection if the complaint is in good faith and it constitutes of serious
breach of the policies laid down.
5. Methodology Followed:

Secondary Data: Secondary data was collected from references and

journals.

Primary Data: The research is a descriptive study where I observed the

whole process and have reported it.
The research methodology tools used in the project are:

Qualitative and quantitative data

Statistics
To understand the entire HR processes before opening of a new store
 6. Manpower Planning

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail limited was planning an expansion by opening a new
store Ideal Residency at Kolkata. This was when the HR department of Pantaloons
east zone started working towards planning the number of employees which would be
sufficient for the success of the store.

Process of manpower planning at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited

Step 1: Analysing the organizational Plan: This was a crucial step because here we
had to check for the carpet area of the store and the number of floors. The carpet area
would help to determine the number of employees required at different hierarchical
level of the store. The carpet area was 28000 square feet with 3 floors.

Step 2: Forecasting the sale and SSPD: The sale forecasting of that store for was
done based on the revenue generated by nearby stores like Kankugachi. Along with
this a considerable amount of research and thinking goes into the forecasting process.
For the upcoming store, the sales of forecasted to be Rs. 18 Crores which was later
approved by the CEO. This further helped in calculating the SSPD (Sales per square
feet per Day):
Total Sales which was estimated to be 18
Total square feet
365

Step 3: Deciding the number of employees at various levels: Once the SSPD is
calculated, deciding the number of employees is an important and a critical task.

Positions in the Payroll: For the highest level, Job Band 9&10 a store manager was
decided upon. Below this in the Job Band 11, the head count calculated for Assistant
department manager, department manager was 3, for Head Cashier 1 and
Maintenance and Administration was 1. The lowest level is the Staff position which
consists of the7 cashier, 2 in CSD, and 2 for Warehouse.

Positions off payroll: Temporary staff during festive seasons, two electricians and a
tailor.
Step 4: Calculating the cost at each hierarchical level: While deciding on the salary
and welfare cost, we also considered costs like incentives, uniform cost, the
recruitment cost and training cost of each employee. The cost of store manager for
calculated to be 7 lacs whereas for the Department managers it was 3 lacs. For the
Job Band staff, minimum wages of West Bengal were considered since they were
semi-skilled workers.

Step 5: Manpower cost as a percentage of sale: This was the final step of manpower
planning where we calculated the total manpower cost as a percentage of forecasted
sale.
0.7*100 = 3.92%
18

Fig: 1
Figure 1 shows the entire manpower planning process that was conducted for the
upcoming store in Kolkata.
Once the manpower planning was completed and approved, we started the process
of recruitment and selection of employees for the store.
 7. Recruitment and Selection

The HR team of any organizations spends a lot of time in selecting the new employees.
The main goal is to provide the best candidate for the company but at the same time
it is also important to Get the right people on the bus in the right seat Jim Collin.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited believes in providing equal opportunity for all
applicants irrespective of their race, caste, origin, gender, age. Recruitment and
selection is only based on the merit of the candidate and the requirements of the job.
The merit based recruitment at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited is done through
the following steps:

Identify Vacancy
Prepare Job Description and Job Specification
Advertising the vacancy
Shortlisting
Arrange for interviews.
The recruitment process for the upcoming store at Hathi bagan, Pantaloons Ideal
Residency for the FA (Fashion Assistant) post started with the collection of resume
from job fairs, resumes dropped at the security point and from the resume that were
in the project pipeline at different stores.

This was followed by the screening of the resume based on the job description for FA
position set by the organization. The job description for the FA position was that
employees had to attend the customers, replenish the stock, stand for eight hours
along with this, they had to achieve the sales target, green card target achievement.
On the other hand Job specifications for this post is the candidate must be a graduate
or must be pursuing the same.

While screening the resumes we checked for their educational qualification where a
candidate should be graduate or must be pursuing his graduation course. This was
because the candidate if selected, will not be eligible for promotions without his
graduation degree. The next criteria that we see is the work experience.

The resumes which are selected after the screening round, are called for the selection
process.
The selection process was done by following the steps:

Filling the application form

Interview by the HR
Interview by the DM
Interview by the SM
Final Employment Decision
The selection process starts with the filling up of the application form. This was
followed by the three stages of interview. In the first round, the HR took the interview
where he tried to understand the family background of the candidate. This is an
important criterion to understand as it helps to understand his culture and the need to
work. For example, if both the parents are working, then he may not work that well.
The HR also tries to find out the motivational needs of the candidate, i.e., his need of
the job.

If the HR finds him suitable, the candidate was sent for the next round where the
Department Manager (DM) under whom he would be aligned took the interview. The
DM tried to understand his knowledge and if the candidate will be able to manage his
department. If the DM agreed he finally sent to the Store Manager (SM) round where
the store manager tests the logical, analytical and communication skills. Along with
this he tried to understand the body language and the positivity of the employee.
Once the candidate cleared the SM round he was selected which was followed by the
onboarding process.

The organization realised few drawbacks, including biasness and no standard way of
selection a candidate in this method, thus they came up with the new BINGO method
of selection. This method also consists of three stages of quality hiring.

Filling up the application form

Quality hiring stage 1
Quality hiring stage 2
Quality hiring stage 3
Final employment decision

As soon as the candidate completed filling up his application form, he was sent for the
quality hiring stage 1.

Quality hiring Stage 1 was an online test where the candidates basic analytical skills
were tested. It consisted of basic mathematical and English questions. Once the
candidate clears this round would be eligible for the next stage.

Quality hiring Stage 2 was the stage where the candidate was taken by the spoc DM
to the floor for a round. There were few questions laid down as a guide line for the DM
where they try to assess the candidate by asking them situational based questions to
judge their logical thinking based on customer service, body language, action and their
willingness to learn. Once the candidate cleared this round and the DM was confident
regarding the candidate he moved to the final round.

Quality Hiring Stage 3 was the final stage of quality hiring where the store manager
tried to understand the skills of the candidate to connect with people, solve queries.
Along with this SM also tested his approach to the problems, his willingness to take
responsibility and other related skills which were important during customer interface.
This process ensures Bingo, Har angle se sahi method ensuring quality hiring at staff
level.
Once the candidate was selected the onboarding process started.

Data Analysis of Recruitment at Ideal Residency

Planned Manning: -

Job Band Number

Staff 27
Job Band 11 5
Job Band 9 and 10 1

Planned Manning

3%
15%

Staff
Job Band 11
82% Job Band 9 and 10

Interpretation:

The staff or the Fashion Assistants are the bases of any store as they are in constant
interface with the customers. Through Manpower planning, 82% of the total employees
at Ideal Residency would consist of Fashion Assistant. This is followed by 15%
consists of employees in Job Band 11. This band consists of the Department
Managers, Assistant Department Managers, maintenance and Admin. They form the
next hierarchical level of the store. The remaining 3% of the store manning consists of
Job Band 9 and 10. This is the highest level of the store, consisting of the Store
Manager.
Internal Movement and external hiring of Employees: -

Job Band Internal External

Staff 10 16
Job Band 11 4 1
Job Band 9 and 10 0 1

Internal and External Hiring

Job Band 9 and 10

Job Band 11

Staff

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Internal External

Interpretation:

Through this graph we can see the internal movement and the external hiring
of the employees for the upcoming store, Ideal Residency.

Through this graph we can see that for the Staff position, about 38.45% of the
employees have been transferred internally from various stores. This transfer takes
place on request basis followed by the approval of the HR. 61.55% of the staff is
externally hired from various sources.

On the other hand, for the Job Band 11, 80% of the employees are internally
transferred whereas only 20% of them are externally hired. This is because the fashion
assistants are promoted as DM in these new stores.

Lastly, at Job Band 9 and 10, 100% recruitment is from an external source. This
differs from store to store. According to the company directive, from October, 2017
Job Band 9 and 10 has to be 100% internally sourced.
Planned Against actual manning as on 30th May,2017: -

Job Band Planned Actual

Staff 27 26
Job Band 11 5 5
Job Band 9 and 10 1 1

Planned Vs Actual as on 30th May, 2017

Job Band 9 and 10

Job Band 11

Staff

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Actual Planned

Interpretation:
When we analysed the planned and the actual manning, we saw that we had
achieved 100% manning in both Job Band 11 and Job Band 9 and 10 but for the
staff position 96% was achieved. We required 1 more employee for the staff position,
this gap was created because an employee resigned during the onboarding process.
Planned Against actual manning as on 5thJune, 2017: -

Job Band Planned Actual

Staff 27 27
Job Band 11 5 5
Job Band 9 and 10 1 1

Planned Vs Actual as on 5th June, 2017

Job Band 9 and 10

Job Band 11

Staff

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Actual Planned

Interpretation:

5Th June 2017 being a Monday, and after following all the steps of Bingo method of
quality hiring a new employee for the staff position was hired to fill the gap. This graph
shows that the hiring process of quality employees was successfully completed on the
5th June 2017.
 8. Onboarding at Aditya Birla Fashion and
Retail limited

Onboarding is a mechanism which helps the new employee socialise and obtain necessary
knowledge, skills and culture to become an efficacious organizational member.
The onboarding of any employee at Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited is done on every
Monday of the week. Once the candidate is decided to be recruited he is given a Reference
form to be filled and signed and stamped by any government official who knows the candidate
for a reasonable period. Then the government official is called to know about the moral
character and personality of the candidate. There educational documents, work experience
documents, Identity proofs are verified.
Once this is done, the candidate is familiarised and made to sign a value and whistleblower
policy of the company. The value and whistleblower policy of the company states that all the
activities in the organization will be based on the five foundational values namely: Integrity,
Commitment, Passion, Seamlessness and Speed.
They are also informed about the whistleblower policy. A whistleblower is an employee who
discloses any unethical activity within the organization with evidence. This policy also
provides protection to the whistleblower to prevent them from being victimized for making
any complaint.
Further, Policy on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at workplace also need to be signed by
the candidate which is a part of the onboarding formality. Here the candidate agrees to all
the pointers laid down in the policy. This policy helps to provide a safe, mature and
professional atmosphere to all the employees of the organization.
Once the candidate gets familiarized with the various policies and conducts of the
organization, they are enrolled for Employee Provident Fund scheme, The ESIC scheme and
the Gratuity Act, 1972.
The Employee Provident Fund scheme provides a platform of savings for all the people
working in public, private or government sector. If the employee has any work experience
and is already enrolled under the provident fund scheme he will declare it in Form 11. On the
other hand, to register the employee under this scheme he needs to declare his family and
nominee details in Form 2. In Employee provident fund scheme, the employers contribution
being 3.67% and employees contribution being 12% of the basic salary.
Moving towards Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), it provides social security and
health insurance scheme for Indian workers. Under this scheme, the employer contributes
4.75% and the employee contributes 1.75% which provides cash and medical services to the
employees and their family.
This completes the onboarding process of the employee. Once the employee is onboarded he
is provided with a four day training program Tejas

9. Tejas, The training program

10. Performance Management System
 11. Conclusion
11.1 Conclusion for Recruitment, Selection and Onboarding

Retaining the employees for 18 months: Retaining the employees for the first 18
months is a challenge because the new employees are usually pursuing graduation or
have just graduated. They find it difficult to stand for 8 to 9 hours on the floor and
meet the customer needs.

Balancing quality hiring along with speed: It is a challenge for an HR to hire quality
employees in the correct pace and time. We need to hire a candidate as fast as
possible and ensure that we get the best quality candidate.

The best candidates have multiple offers: The best candidates that we choose usually
have multiple offers to choose from. This reduces the chances of the selected
candidate to turn up on the day of onboarding. Usually from every 20 candidates we
line up for the interview, on an average 12 candidates turn up for the interview. From
the selected candidates, there are high chances that a few would not appear on the
day of onboarding.

11.2 Conclusion for Training

Language problem in training: Language comprises of both verbal and
written form of communication. It is the most important ingredient of
culture. For example at ABFRL, the employees were more comfortable in
Bengali over English.
Inconsistent Training: With several stores spread across locations and with
multiple trainers, there is no assurance that the training given will be
consistent. This may due to difference in teaching style and knowledge level.
Meeting specified timelines: Training regarding product, compliances, should
be completed as soon as possible. In case of Fashion Assistant, company
cannot wait for him to get trained for weeks.

11.2 Conclusion for Performance Management System

12 Recommendations
13 Limitation
14 References