Luisa Delgado,Procter & Gamble
| Pages | 6-6 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390580001016 |
| Published date | 01 January 2005 |
| Date | 01 January 2005 |
| Author | Luisa Delgado |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Luisa Delgado
is general manager,human
resources,Western Europe, at
Procter & Gamble and a member of the global
business leadership team. She has been with the
company for 13 years and previously held roles in
tourism, legal and financial organizations.
6Volume 4 Issue 2 January/February 2005
PRACTITIONER PROFILE
,
HR executives share their experience in human resources
Luisa Delgado,
Procter & Gamble
P
rocter & Gamble (P&G) has come a
long way since it began as a small,
family-operated soap and candle
company in 1837. It now employs
almost 98,000 people who provide
products and services to consumers in
140 countries. The past three years of
its history, however, have seen some of
the most radical changes.
Luisa Delgado, P&G’s general
manager, human resources, Western
Europe, played a key part in the
company’s recent transformation. In
2001 it completely changed its business
model in an effort to leverage scale as a
global business while remaining in
touch locally. The company is now
driven by global business units rather
than its previous country-driven model.
“Such a switch is very challenging
and doesn’t happen overnight,” says
Delgado. “Instead of involving external
consultants, HR facilitated in-house
business strategy development, working
through the organizational design and
ultimately the whole change program
in terms of the organization and its
people.
“It’s been an intense and extremely
challenging process,” she adds. “But I’m
a strong believer in accelerated learning
on a really ‘meaty’ assignment where
you learn something unique.”
HR’s transformation
As well as changing its overall business
model, P&G has made some profound
decisions about its HR function.
Delgado was a member of the global
project team charged with re-
examining what HR work would be
done in-house, and the type of HR skills
needed as a result. “This means
considering the expectations of a P&G
HR professional versus what we call
‘employee service,’” she says. The latter
was put into a shared service and, more
recently, P&G has developed a strategic
alliance with IBM and transferred this
administrative work over. The idea is
that, in time, IBM will use this service to
build critical mass and service other
clients who make a similar decision.
“If I had to say what has driven the
transformation of HR in P&G, it’s our
decision to distinguish between HR
business partnership and employee
service,” Delgado explains. “In one, the
outputs are increased productivity,
employee engagement and innovation.
In the other, outputs are 100 percent
accuracy, timely delivery, cost control and
volume of services delivered, but these
elements still contribute to employee
engagement and the individual
employee’s experience at work in
particular. It’s a different metric and an
important distinction to make.”
The HR function at P&G made the
decision to concentrate on business
partnership, but to have excellent
delivery on the transactional elements
such as travel, relocation services and
data management. The alliance with IBM
began in January 2004 and the transition
phase came to an end in June 2004.
“I think it’s very important for HR to
be clear on what it wants to focus on. Is
it about delivering X number of salary
plans and payroll slips in X days or is it,
for example, about partnering with the
business and identifying, within the
business strategy, what helps people
drive the organization forward?”
P&G’s HR account managers
Having made this transition, the next
key step was to ensure that HR
professionals at P&G have the necessary
strategic capabilities. At the foundation
of this is the role of the business account
HR manager. “Across the whole of
Europe we’ve organized our HR business
accounts to mirror the way the business
is organized. The HR account manager is
the person responsible for ensuring the
team delivers the business results in a
way that creates growth in people.”
Delgado likens their role to the way
the overall business operates. “HR
account managers must understand
how HR consumers (i.e. employees) and
HR customers (i.e. managers) receive
the product, or HR initiative, and how
to communicate with them.” HR at P&G
also follows the company’s strong
promote-from-within ethos. It’s now a
prerequisite that all HR people have
line management experience.
HR, and the company as a whole,
have experienced huge change in the
past five years, which Delgado describes
as “extraordinary.” “We made a huge
investment, but the new model is now
a huge source of competitive advantage
because of the exceptional commitment
of our people.”
Procter & Gamble employs 98,000 people
in almost 80 countries worldwide. Its
products fall into three categories: beauty
care; health, baby and family care; and
household care. Its 2003 turnover was
US$43.4 billion.
PROCTER & GAMBLE
© Melcrum Publishing Ltd. 2005. For more information, go to www.melcrum.com or e-mail info@melcrum.com
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