Bayer enhances the skills of its staffers with leadership programmes and management education
It’s not leadership alone that makes a company. An organisation’s ability to educate and groom future leaders makes it a coveted workplace for employees. Bayer is one such company. The Thane-headquartered (globally, Germany) firm has made it to the Best Employers list for the third successive year.
Bayer works on preventing, alleviating and treating diseases while supplying high-quality food, feed and plant-based raw material. Its India operations include the crop science division—Bayer’s largest operation in the country with production facilities in Vapi and Himmatnagar in Gujarat, and a pharmaceuticals division, which is a joint venture with Zydus Cadila called Bayer Zydus.
Bayer has two leadership development programmes: ‘My Growth My Life’ (MGML) and NIEV.
MGML is a 12-month programme that facilitates interaction with the organisation’s internal coaches. It helps Bayer recognise employees with leadership potential and provide them learning and growth opportunities. MGML saw 140 participants in the last decade with 40 percent (56) employees getting promoted after completing the programme.
The NIEV programme is conducted in association with the Welingkar Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai, for those who wish to pursue management education. Employees attend classes for a week, every quarter, as part of the 24-month programme. At the end of the year, participants present a project depending on their subject of interest to a panel comprising senior management lecturers and colleagues. This helps Bayer not only identify promising talent but also retain them for the duration of the programme. Thirty-three percent of the 117 employees who participated in NIEV got promoted.
Besides these courses, Bayer’s ‘Global Internal Job Board’ helps employees with development opportunities across the world. A conversation between manager and employee through ‘Development Dialogue’ helps staffers discuss their professional goals with an experienced individual. They also get opportunities for international short-term assignments and elearning. Bayer rewards its prolific employees with its ‘Top Performer Awards’. The company has also established a Digital Transformation Board to become a digitally equipped company.
Employees thrive in an atmosphere that helps them evolve as professionals. Explains Anjali Raghuvanshi, chief people officer at Randstad India, a placement agency and recruitment consultancy, “While one of the critical reasons why people come to work is compensation, the other is learning. Employees stick to an organisation because they’re learning. Like sending employees to a classroom… in their busy life, it won’t be easy for them to take time out or take a break and do it themselves. If they can do this while they’re working and get paid at the same time with someone taking care of their development, it goes a long way in making them a useful resource. It also enhances their potential value in the market.”
Bayer does not hesitate in giving a voice to its employees—it takes feedback through pulse surveys. Managers, too, receive feedback from their team, which helps them recognise their shortcomings. Besides, Bayer’s ‘Breakfast with Leaders’ gives its employees a chance to let their hair down and engage with senior leaders in a casual setting.
(This story appears in the 16 August, 2019 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)