Being a part of BATB

What does it take to be a part of BAT?   You need the right attitude. By attitude, I mean the ability to make a difference. That, to me, is typically what is needed to be a part of BAT. We recruit talents very selectively. We look for certain leadership capabilities and also for certain behaviours that tell us whether the person has a can-do attitude; can  think differently; is a team player. All these elements are a part of our selection criteria.   Could you tell us about the organisational culture that BAT follows? Do you try to recruit talents who match with the organisational culture?   It is all connected; when we say leadership capabilities, we mean leadership qualities connected to the culture of the organisation. It’s the individual behaviour on one side and value and principles of the organisation on the other side that build the culture of the organisation. Obviously, when we see these behaviours, we see a fit for BAT. However we don’t stereotype talents. Diversity is one of our core strengths. We harness diversity and celebrate the differences and uniqueness of each talent.    What can you tell us about BAT’s recruitment process?   We have used our own recruitment tool ‘Battle of Minds’ since 2004. Through this programme, we do the basic screening among the graduating students, who then take part in the competition. Then the finalists of the competitions are welcome for further assessment. We usually take support from HR experts who help us in mid-career recruitment.    And how about BATB’s screening process?   We have a very robust screening process which is used not just in BAT Bangladesh but in 180 other countries we operate in. We train and develop our own talents who run the initial screening process and assessment centre for the new talents.  Assessment centre is basically an HR tool which helps us recruit new talents. It is sort of a simulated scenario of a day in an organisation and we assess new talents in various ways to find out how they perform throughout the day.   Battle of Minds has so far been a successful and popular competition in the business schools of Bangladesh. When did you start this?    BAT Bangladesh initiated Battle of Minds (BoM) as a recruitment tool in the BAT World. We started it in 2004 with four universities and now it is going to step into the 10th year. We always believed that students, aptitude-wise, are very advanced in this country. They just lack a certain degree of grooming and a platform where they can present themselves which is very critical for professional success. We wanted to reach out to students, and also to screen out the best of them within a certain period of time. We have recruited many talents through this competition but I believe that even those who we did not recruit from this programme have benefitted from the competition. We look at this from a responsibility perspective as well since we are interested in developing the next generation of managers of this country.   How many talents have you recruited from this programme and how have they fared in terms of performance compared to other employees?   We have recruited 51 employees from this programme in 9 years. Even if they come from Battle of Mind competitions they still have to pass through the assessment centre evaluation, so the recruitment process is not altogether different for the BoM participants. However, those who take part in the competition understand the organisation far better.    How do internal employees relate to Battle of Minds: Employee Branding?   Internal employees really relate to this programme and have always been excited about being a part of Battle of Minds. BoM alumni working here are directly involved in the competition process. They go back to their universities and proactively engage students. They share their own BoM experiences and how it has helped their careers, to create a hype and interest among the students.    What is the Rate of Turnover in BAT?   It is 6%. We recruit a good number of talents every year to support our robust talent pipeline. We also export a lot of talents internationally. A lot of talents went to our offices in UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Pakistan and Indonesia in recent times. This helps to increase their marketability and overall career development and progression. Talents who choose to leave the organisation join other places at higher positions.    Could you tell us about the celebratory culture practiced in BAT?   BAT is more like a family than an organisation. Employees spend quite a significant amount of their time within office and as a winning organisation we always try to make talents feel fulfilled in their work place. We celebrate success, victory, milestones and most importantly, we celebrate the people’s efforts. That makes BAT a place where talents can perform better and enjoy being at work. It makes this place a great place to work and it increases productivity and reenergises everyone to face day to day challenges.   What’s the situation with senior female managers in Bangladesh?   Well, two of our top team members are female: that includes me as Head of HR and our Head of Legal. And we have quite a few others in senior roles. BAT encourages female leadership and we always try to establish examples of gender space within the organisation.   Tell us about the training and development regime.   The recipe for success comes from training and development here. We define it as a ratio of 70:20:10. Meaning, 70% of the learning comes from the job. We do not keep talents in the same roles for very long. We put our high potentials in very challenging roles. For example I have covered 9 roles in the last 12 years. The development recipe comes from moving talents out of their comfort zones to help them realise their full potentials. 20% of the learning comes from coaching and mentoring. And 10% comes from classroom training which are covered in local and international leadership training programmes.   What will be your role as a leader in this organisation?   Role of leaders is enabling the high performing and highly engaged organisation. The leadership role is to increase value and quality of the organisation through talent management. We in BAT aim to invest as much time and energy in our talents as in our brands, focusing on creating a legacy of leaders. Leaders create and enable high performing organisation. Leaders focus on talent development and embed the guiding principles to strengthen the BAT culture.