Strategic HR Policies at Amway
Amway is an American multi- level marketing company that sells health, beauty, and home
care products. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos and
is based in Ada, Michigan. Amway and its sister companies under Alticor reported sales of
$8.8 billion in 2018.
It is the world’s largest direct selling company both in terms of revenue and distributor
network.
At Amway, there are six enduring values that govern its policies; Partnership, Integrity,
Achievement, Personal Worth, Personal Enterprise and Free Enterprise.
The HR policies at the organization thus also imbibe these core values.
At Amway, the culture of “Employee first” is promoted by focusing on empowering
the employees and providing them complete support to meet their professional goals
and personal fulfilment.
Under the current structure and policies, Amway has 52% of associates having tenure
of more than 5 years and over 23% of associates have tenure of more than 10 years.
Digitization at Amway has been extended to the HR function with the digitization of
rewards & recognition program, recruitment process and e-learning applications with
the virtual university that enables knowledge enhancement and sharing.
Demand for short-term contracts, freelance work or temporary jobs focused on skill is
on the rise. On-demand hiring promises lower costs and addresses the preferred
choice of many Gen Ys who would like to opt for a “portfolio career” where they may
possibly have a business of their own, or freelance alongside a more regular corporate
role.
Hence recruitment practices are building speed and agility to quickly identify specific
work/projects that need attention and swiftly sourcing employees with the required
skills so that the teams can quickly deliver and achieve required results. The HR at
Amway are designing jobs for the next half decade based on the short-term contracts
trend.
This is driven by the growing influence of millennials and the increasing transparency
catalysed by the digital era. The focus is on developing the “Employee Experience”,
an ecosystem that integrates three core dimensions: engagement, culture and
performance management so the organization is positioned well to attract the best
talent.To further keep employees motivated, initiatives to support employees during
different life stages and flexi-working options like work from home, telecommuting,
parental support programs have been undertaken.
o The employee engagement Strategy aptly named AmwayNEXT has built the
Employee Engagement Model on the concept of “Total Experience”. It’s a
Timeline
o Model of Engagement Interventions with enhanced results being seen in each
area, leading to overall productivity enrichment and performance.
o For employee engagement, the organization has "Sampark", a forum for
organizing employee engagement activities for not just associates but also
their families. It is a dedicated cross-functional team that focuses at adding the
fun element to work.
o The organization has also recently started a forum to directly connect with the
CEO.
o CONNEXT is an initiative that binds everyone across the country and gives a
“One Amway” experience where every quarter all employees across the
affiliate connect for a Town Hall.
As part of Talent development initiatives, in addition to an elaborate Learning Charter
and Top talent programs, Shadow Board is another unique, real-time talent
development initiative through which High Potential employees, bench to critical
roles and participate in the top level meetings.
Learning Academy, a structured peer to peer knowledge sharing program gives
employees an opportunity to groom themselves for future leaders.
3rd Perspective is another initiative where eminent external speakers share their
outlook and experiences on topics related to personal effectiveness to enhance
employee’s ability to impact business.
Amway has a strong value-based Performance management process wherein it
recognizes significant contributions made by associates in an objective and
transparent manner basis demonstrated competency levels.
The Reward and recognition Program called SPARK helps in creating a culture of
belongingness and a sense of accomplishment by recognizing & celebrating each
other's endeavours and success.
Amway India believes in keeping its workforce abreast with the dynamic business
environment and offers a plethora of opportunities to help them grow and enhance
their performance through ‘learning platforms’ like Digital Learning, Virtual
University, Micro Learning, Gamification, Top Talent development, Mentorship
Program, Learning academy, shadow board etc. Not only does Diversity and Inclusion
create business value through efforts in talent acquisition, development, engagement
and employer value proposition but also in the work environment by equipping
employees with networks, development support & tools that enable them to be more
inclusive.
Employee Opinion Survey results, Industry Benchmark and retention quotient are some
quantitative parameters linked to Employee Engagement Strategy.
The practices and initiatives make Amway stand out for having 90% Top Talent pool
retention, lowest annualized attrition in the industry and favourability quotient at 88% in
Employee Opinion Survey (conducted by Towers Watson).
