Fabindia

• Fifty year old Fabindia, a leading ethnic wear

retail chain of 147 stores, is well known for its
craft-based jewellery, clothing, home
furnishings, furniture, organic food and spices,
amongst a host of other products sourced
from artisans across the country.
The company has seen exponential growth
since 2005. Fifty stores were added in just the
past two years.
 HR Department Challenges
• the availability of manpower at short notice,

• inability to allocate enough time for training

and development as people are expected to
move into their roles quickly.

• most importantly, having to move people to

higher responsibilities before they are ready
 Business Strategy
• The company is here to do business, to make money and is
answerable to its shareholders and employees.
• The creation of skilled, craft-based, sustainable jobs in the rural
sector
• The company's socially conscious business model is therefore,
designed to ensure a deep reach to artisans in remote corners of
the country with a commitment to keeping the traditional crafts
alive in India.
• To keep interest alive in the artisans
• To ensure that what they manufacture has a direct link to the
market
• To create a market for their products
• To ensure that the customers are satisfied with what they are
paying for and getting an authentic product
 Fabindia Working model
• Fabindia has three key stakeholders, whom it
empowers by encouraging participative
ownership of the brand.
 Customers
• Fabindia is a highly labour intensive and
service driven business. It puts customers at
number one because they consume the goods
created by the artisans and thereby create a
market for these products. The organisation
fiercely protects brand loyalty by meeting and
serving customer expectations.
 Artisans
• To help artisans make their goods more accessible,
Fabindia has facilitated the setting up of 17 Community
Owned Companies (COCs) three years ago. These
public limited companies function like aggregators,
where geographicallyclose clusters of artisans hold
shares and have individual votes in decision-making.
Fourteen of the COCs have already started turning a
profit, of which 12 declared dividends for their
shareholders in 2010. This has not only resulted in a
strong sense of ownership in the artisans but also
ensures and maintains Fabindia's supply chain.
 Owners and Employees
Seventy per cent of staff across all levels own
shares in Fabindia because of which
employees have a voice in the company's
business decisions. The sense of responsibility
in the company has increased because every
employee is made aware of his or her rights
and obligations as a shareholder.
 Using values and Ideology to Drive
Business and People
• Fabindia has articulated a set of seven core
values, which include honesty, transparency
and fairness in intent, based on the feedback
and experience of the employees. Besides
reinforcing these core values during induction,
the HR team along with the functional
supervisor revisit these values on the shop
floor every six months. The values are also
included as a key result area in every
employee's appraisal.
 HR Strategies
• Recruitment and selection strategies- Behaviourial based interviews
– to assess individual’s priorties align with opportunities provided
by the organization.

• Induction and orientation - These are designed to groom employees

as per internal requirements and with the intent to create a
constant pipeline of trained resources. The employee needs to
understand and respect the product in the stores as being a
creation of an artisan and a direct way to keep traditional crafts
alive in the country.
• Including core values as KRA in performance assessment of senior
roles.

• Probation and mid term review to catch the errors before they
create problem.
• Gender Bender – Women emplowerment
• 1.78:1 – men to women ratio.
• At executive level , 76% are women. Most of
stores have women at leadership roles.
• Employee as owners – Given shares to every
employee who served min one year.
• This commitment to the creation of wealth for
employees makes them feel invested in the
success of the organisation, both literally and
figuratively.
Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Work Culture
Every marketing head is working as
entrepreneur.
HR offers hiring managers to build their own
incentive system.
Existing employees were offered to become a
part of COCs as senior management and
MDs.
 Creating drive for Excellence
• Identify 4 Center of execellence to foster
healthy competition.
• Provide them with traing programmes –
technical and behavioural , Knowledge and
recognition
• COEs have become brand ambassdor of the
company
• Demand for training has increased.
• Push factor has become pull factor.
• Internal job posting programmes – provide
growth opportunity to all staffs
• Help employees prepare for the next role
 Coffee Shop Case Study
• You are appointed as a HR consultant for
coffee shop . How will you plan your HR
strategy.
• The number of employees needed for
different jobs: Initially, the Coffee Shop need
around 3-4 employees for managerial level
that include store manager, kitchen
supervisor, accountant etc. In addition to this,
the coffee shop also needs 5-6 employees at
lower level that includes attendants’ and
waiters.
• Time when employees will be needed: All
these employees will be needed in next 3-4
months as season starts for travellers coming
to visit city. In next three years, the number of
employees required will double once coffee
chain becomes recognized throughout the
city.
• Succession Planning: employees working at
lower levels like attendants and waiters etc
may leave their jobs within next 6 month with
an aim to join somewhere else with high
salary or join some further learning courses.
Employees working at higher or managerial
level may not leave the coffee shop in next 3-4
years if offered with healthy and adequate
career development opportunities.
• Identifying skills and abilities of current
employees: identify the skills and abilities of
its current employees along with an
evaluation of their education, skills, and
experiences on different types of job with
periodical skill assessment.skills inventory
need to be developed that in turn will help the
coffee shop recruiters to identify the actual
need of staffing in present and the possibility
of promoting current employees on vacant
• Present and Future Supply of Potential
Employees in the labor market: Keep an eye or
get information on the industry growth and
labor market.
 Recruitment Strategies
• Identify Internal and external sources
• Define selection process – reviewing
applications and screening through telephonic
interview
• Define Interview structure and format
• Define parameters for selection – confidence,
approach to work, qualification, experience,
behavior
• Assessment methods – Background check and
Psychometric tests.
 Starbucks Case Study
HRM SHRM
Recruiting, Take all the responsibilities of HRM and
Hiring, align them with goals of other
Benefits, department and overall organizational
Training and Development goals.

Objectives are aligned

Vision
Mission
Values
Goals
• Starbucks started health benefits to even its
part time associates
• Believes that human capital is key to Starbucks
experience.

• Product expertise
• Excellent customer service
• Treat employee with respect and dignity.
• Employees are called as partners.
• Health , dental, vision, tuition reimbursement,
paid vacations, stock options
places high importance on its partners.

Even in times of recession, they did not cut

employee benefits in order to save cost.

Put partners ahead of shareholders

 SWOT- Starbucks
Strengths Weaknesses

Strong brand recognition Product is not customized to local tastes

Excellent customer service and customer Premium price policy
experience
Global presence
Strong Supply chain management

Opportunities Threats

Easy access to new countries Saturation of US market

Agreement with movie producers Healthier lifestyle trends
• Why Starbucks is so successful in spite of
charging so much for a coffee?

• Starbuck employees are much more happier in

performing their jobs and understood the core
values of the company.