Retaining Top Talent Through Family-Friendly Policies CASE STUDY National Foods Limited Food Manufacturing, Pakistan ABOUT IFC advice or services to, or otherwise have a financial interest in, certain of the companies and parties (including named herein). IFC—a sister organization of the World Bank and member of the World Bank Group—is the largest global development All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. rights, should be addressed to IFC Communications, 2121 We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433. our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and International Finance Corporation is an international opportunities in the toughest areas of the world. In fiscal year organization established by Articles of Agreement among its 2018, we delivered more than $23 billion in long-term financing member countries, and a member of the World Bank Group. for developing countries, leveraging the power of the private All names, logos and trademarks are the property of IFC and sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. For you may not use any of such materials for any purpose without more information, visit www.ifc.org. the express written consent of IFC. Additionally, “International Finance Corporation” and “IFC” are registered trademarks of IFC and are protected under international law. COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER NOTICE © International Finance Corporation 2018. All rights reserved. 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Washington, D.C. 20433 These five case studies were produced by the International Internet: www.ifc.org Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Gender Secretariat in partnership The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or with The Pakistan Business Council (PBC). They were developed transmitting portions or all of this work without permission under the overall guidance of Henriette Kolb, Global Manager, may be a violation of applicable law. IFC encourages IFC Gender Secretariat, and Fuad Hashimi, Executive Director, dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission PBC’s Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB). to reproduce portions of the work promptly, and when the The core working group of this initiative comprised Rudaba reproduction is for educational and non-commercial purposes, Zehra Nasir, Sammar Essmat, and Yasmin Galal from IFC and without a fee, subject to such attributions and notices as we Nazish Shekha and Sara Laiq from CERB. Moreover, the case may reasonably require. studies are part of IFC's MAS Women's Employment Program and would not have been possible without the guidance and IFC does not guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or support of many IFC colleagues, including Zunee Muhtashim, completeness of the content included in this work, or for the Farzin Mirmotahari, and Sanola Daley. conclusions or judgments described herein, and accepts no responsibility or liability for any omissions or errors (including, The data collection for these case studies was completed in without limitation, typographical errors and technical errors) in collaboration with an external consultant team led by Farhad the content whatsoever or for reliance thereon. The boundaries, Karamally with Naureen Ansari, Waqas Hussain, and Yumna colors, denominations, and other information shown on any Usmani at Funverks. map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the The case studies were completed with the active collaboration World Bank Group concerning the legal status of any territory of 5 PBC member companies and our principal counterparts or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The there: Artistic Milliners Limited (Murtaza Ahmed and Faiza findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this Jamil), HBL (Jamal Nasir, Katherina Zubin Irani, Saira Halai volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Chundrigar, and Sanam Hasnani), Interloop Limited (Faryal Directors of the World Bank Group or the governments they Sadiq and Aqeel Ahmad), Packages Limited (Jawad Gilani, Zoya represent. Zaidi, and Fatima Qadir), and National Foods Limited (Abrar The contents of this work are intended for general Hasan, Saira A. Khan, and Sana Abbas). informational purposes only and are not intended to constitute Appreciations are also extended to the design and printing team legal, securities, or investment advice, an opinion regarding the at Groff Creative, including Jay and Lauren Groff, who, along appropriateness of any investment, or a solicitation of any type. with Fatima Fasih from PBC and Bhattiprolu B. Murti from IFC, IFC or its affiliates may have an investment in, provide other were critical in producing this report. IN COLLABORATION WITH 2 FOREWORD BY IFC Pakistan’s economy is presently growing at just under 6 percent annually. The country’s GDP could grow by 30 percent if women and men participated equally in the workforce. Women’s education levels in Pakistan have increased over time. Yet, only a quarter of women are working compared to over 80 percent of men. The gap is staggering and closing it represents a huge economic opportunity for Pakistan. In addition to Pakistan’s economy, closing gender gaps is also good for Pakistan’s businesses. The competitiveness and growth of Pakistan’s firms could be significantly enhanced if firms could bring into their company diverse skills and talents, which are urgently needed to be more productive and innovative. Despite competition over attracting and retaining skilled employees, few companies have widened their search for talent and skills by tapping into Pakistan’s vastly underutilized female talent pool. A 2017 study by The Pakistan Business Council’s (PBC) Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) found that women represent less than 20 percent of the workforce of 90 percent of the surveyed PBC member firms. Although this is higher than the national average of less than 10 percent women in the formal, private sector workforce, in most cases, women continue to be underrepresented in formal employment and earn less than men for equivalent work. Pakistan’s private sector has a critical role to play in ensuring that women have access to more and better jobs. A growing number of forward-looking Pakistani companies are now starting to see the business case for gender diversity, even in sectors considered non-traditional for women. To expand this awareness and turn it into action, IFC partnered with PBC to bring to Pakistan IFC‘s global research and advisory expertise on the business case and good practices for advancing women’s employment. These case studies are part of a series of initiatives that IFC and PBC have jointly led over the past year to mobilize more companies in Pakistan to increase gender diversity in their workforce. The aim of the case studies is to provide guidance to Pakistani firms on successful approaches for recruiting, retaining, and promoting more women and achieving better business outcomes. The case studies feature five PBC member companies that are promoting greater inclusion of women in their workforce in five thematic areas: Artistic Milliners Limited for the Women in Business Leadership theme, HBL for the Anti-Sexual Harassment theme, Interloop Limited for the Women in Non-Traditional Roles theme, National Foods Limited for the Family-Friendly Policies theme, and Packages Limited for the Equal Opportunity Recruitment Practices theme. HBL and Packages are IFC investment clients and Artistic Milliners and Interloop are IFC advisory clients. Our aim is that these case studies will reach many businesses in Pakistan and help them better understand the business case for women’s employment, get insights into the approaches that work, and learn from each other’s experiences while replicating solutions. On behalf of IFC, I would like to thank the companies that participated in this project and generously shared their data and good practices, and PBC for their commitment to this important agenda. IFC is committed to working with the private sector in Pakistan to create equal employment opportunities, decent working conditions, and lucrative career paths for women, and we will continue to do more. Nadeem A. Siddiqui Senior Country Manager for Pakistan International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group 3 FOREWORD BY THE PAKISTAN BUSINESS COUNCIL The Pakistan Business Council (PBC) is a business advocacy forum composed of the largest businesses including multinationals that have significant investment in and a long-term commitment to Pakistan. Members’ turnover represents 11% of Pakistan’s GDP and they contribute 25% of the taxes and exports. Our key advocacy thrust is on easing barriers for Pakistani businesses in the wake of progressive regional and global free trade, as well as improving national investment flows to match target GDP growth rates. PBC works closely with the relevant government departments, ministries, regulators and institutions, as well as other stakeholders including professional bodies, to develop consensus on major issues which impact the conduct of business in and from Pakistan. It has submitted key position papers and recommendations to the government on legislation and other government policies affecting businesses. PBC also serves on various taskforces and committees of the Government of Pakistan as well as those of the State Bank of Pakistan, the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, and other regulators with the objective to provide policy assistance on new initiatives and reforms. The Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) is the first of PBC’s outreach initiatives to build capacity and capability of businesses in Pakistan. CERB’s vision is to assist Pakistani businesses to pursue long term sustainability and value creation, and its mission is to contribute towards inclusive social development. As part of its strategic objectives, CERB engages with businesses and industry leaders to provide a clear direction towards conducting responsible business in Pakistan. It leverages private sector growth as a means for development and poverty reduction taking guidance from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals framework. CERB’s aim is to identify and impart good practices from within the PBC member companies and work towards changing the mind-set of the many businesses that are not members of PBC but contribute equally to Pakistan’s economy. In the context of gender equality, PBC is privileged to have partnered with the International Finance Corporation over the past year and, as part of our collaborative efforts to enhance women’s employment in Pakistan, we have together worked on five case studies where opportunities among domestically-owned companies to do so have been highlighted. On behalf of PBC, I would like to thank our member companies for allowing our respective teams to carry out in-depth analyses of their good practices in this area and sharing with us their data that may be published. Ehsan Malik CEO The Pakistan Business Council 4 National Foods Limited Food Manufacturing, Pakistan Case Study: Retaining Top Talent Through Family- Friendly Policies1 WOMEN, WORK, AND CHILDCARE IN NFL’s Employee Profile (April 2018): PAKISTAN • 5.08% of 748 employees are women Pakistan’s GDP—presently growing at 5.8 percent annually—could increase (38 women; 710 men) by 30 percent if gender gaps in economic participation are closed.2 Currently, • Women on board: 2 out of 7 • Women in MANCOM: 1 out of 7 Pakistan’s female labor force participation (FLFP) rate stands at 25 percent • 2.32% of women (15) and 97.68% of compared to a rate of 82 percent for men.3 This is still a considerable increase men (629) have children from around 14 percent in 19904 yet significantly lower in comparison to NFL supports working parents neighboring countries and international standards, even though the percentage through: of female higher-education graduates in Pakistan is steadily increasing. Low • On-site daycare center FLFP represents a significant missed opportunity for Pakistani companies as • Flexible work arrangements workforce gender diversity has been linked to a variety of business benefits, • Telecommuting including increased productivity, competitiveness, and growth.5 • Pick and drop for women Research shows that several interlinked demand and supply-side factors Main business impacts of NFL’s family-friendly policies: compound Pakistan’s low FLFP rate and keep women out of the workforce. • Between 2016 and 2018, NFL saw Demand-side factors include employers’ bias against hiring women and lack a 65% increase in the number of of workplace benefits and opportunities for women, whereas supply-side women in the workforce (from 23 to 38 women) and 117% increase in the 1 Methodology: Information presented in this case study is based on HR data gathered number of women in management and analyzed between September to November 2018 with NFL’s HR team as well as on two focus group discussions with 15 employees and 10 one-on-one interviews (from 6 to 13) with NFL’s CEO, HR Director, HR team, CSR & Corporate Communications Lead, • In 2017, 4 women went on mater- daycare manager, caregivers, working mothers and fathers, and employees who are nity leave, returned, and were still not yet married or do not have children. This research was conducted by IFC Gender Secretariat in collaboration with PBC. employed in 2018, contributing to a maternity return rate of 100% 2 IMF. 2018. Pursuing Women’s Economic Empowerment. Available at https://www. google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=2ahUKEwiXgI7Izq7e • Policies contribute to NFL’s healthy AhVvZN8KHSdhDhoQFjABegQIBxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2F~%2Fme attrition rate (10%), which is critical to dia%2FFiles%2FPublications%2FPP%2F2018%2Fpp053118pursuing-womens-economic- NFL’s growth empowerment.ashx&usg=AOvVaw37P2IC3y1aMZdZWgHLBVTt. 3 Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Labor Force Survey 2014-2015. Available at http://www. pbs.gov.pk/content/labour-force-survey-2014-15-annual-report. 4 World Bank Group Data: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT. FE.ZS?locations=PK 5 IFC. 2017. Investing in Women: New evidence for the business case. Available at https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_ site/gender+at+ifc/priorities/entrepreneurship/investing+in+women_new+eviden ce+for+the+business+case. Also see: IFC. 2013. Investing in Women’s Employment: Good for Business, Good for Development. Available at https://www.ifc.org/wps/ wcm/connect/5f6e5580416bb016bfb1bf9e78015671/InvestinginWomensEmployment. pdf?MOD=AJPERES. 5 factors include traditional gender roles, women’s household enable working mothers and fathers to fulfill work and family responsibilities, including time spent on unpaid care, as well as responsibilities, which is the key to unlocking the untapped mobility constraints and safety issues.6 While globally, women potential of the Pakistani female talent pool, thereby bridging are three times more likely than men to do unpaid care work, skills gaps and maximizing business gains. in South Asia, including in India and Pakistan, women perform To create a family-friendly workplace, companies typically 10 times more unpaid care work than men, which prevents introduce HR policies and practices centered around paid women from participating fully in paid work.7 maternity, paternity, and parental leave, childcare options, including on-site or near-site daycare centers, subsidies, or FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE summer camps, on-site health clinics, safe transport, and POLICIES flexible work arrangements (with flexible hours and location). In recent years, a growing number of Pakistani companies are Studies show that family-friendly workplaces offering recognizing the business case for gender diversity. Given the solutions such as childcare experience various business existing demand and supply-side barriers, companies often benefits, including lower absenteeism, turnover, and stress focus on making investments in family-friendly policies that and higher employee productivity, satisfaction, and wellbeing, which often outweigh the costs of providing such benefits.8 6 World Bank Group. 2018. Pakistan Jobs Diagnostic. 7 McKinsey Global Institute. 2015. The Power of Parity. Available at https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/ Employment%20and%20Growth/How%20advancing%20womens%20equality%20can%20add%2012%20trillion%20to%20global%20growth/ MGI%20Power%20of%20parity_Full%20report_September%202015.ashx. 8 IFC. 2017. Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare. www.ifc.org/tacklingchildcare 6 NATIONAL FOODS LIMITED: COMPANY OVERVIEW “Economic conditions in Pakistan For National Foods Limited (NFL), one of Pakistan’s largest have changed. Secondary sources food manufacturers specializing in spices, sauces, pickles, and snacks, a focus on family-friendly policies is a critical of income are now necessary to component of the company’s gender diversity, recruitment, run households. Women are now and retention strategy. Established in 1970, NFL caters to eager to work. In response, many a large base of domestic and international consumers and domestic firms, including NFL, are has maintained a year-on-year growth of 20 percent for the last five decades. While part of a larger locally-owned stepping up to become employers conglomerate with diversified business activities, NFL of choice for women, offering represents the core business of the group, with a net turnover various benefits to tap into this of Rs. 22 Billion (around USD 165 million) and 748 employees across 8 offices and 4 factories. NFL’s products are consumed new talent pool.” by people in 40 countries across 5 continents. By investing in Abrar Hasan, CEO, NFL its people, including families, NFL aims to maintain and exceed its high growth rates over decades to come. NFL’S BUSINESS CONTEXT FOR In 1996, NFL professionalized its HR department and started FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES AND making concerted efforts to attract and retain women in its GENDER DIVERSITY workforce. This has contributed to a steady increase in the NFL’s consumer base consists largely of women and young number of women employed at NFL. Various departments, adults. For the brand to resonate with its target consumers, such as packaging, have higher proportions of women than NFL recognizes that the gender composition of its consumer men. While NFL has been able to steadily increase the share market must be reflected in NFL’s workforce, management, of women in its workforce, women in the company remain and operations. For NFL, the message is clear: A company that concentrated in non-managerial jobs. NFL aims to enable is an “employer of choice” for women is more likely to be the women, particularly working mothers, to advance into “brand of choice” for women as well, tapping into the insights supervisory and managerial roles. of its female employees to connect with its female customers. Driven by leadership commitment and a strong tone at the In the 1990s, NFL set off on a journey to recruit more women top, NFL has in the last few years focused on introducing and brand itself as a company that cares about women, to family-friendly policies to hire the best talent, keep attrition better reflect the needs of the market and take into account healthy, and create a strong female talent pipeline, ultimately women’s influence on household purchasing decisions. In enabling more women to join NFL as employees and leaders. addition, NFL also realized that to keep its attrition rates healthy (currently 10 percent) and keep growing, NFL must not only hire more women but also retain them and promote them to key positions. 7 HOW NFL CREATED A FAMILY- FRIENDLY WORKPLACE Starting with a commitment to becoming an equal opportunity employer, NFL focuses on hiring the right skills, rather than the right gender, for a job. Primary concerns for NFL when hiring for a new position are the technical skills needed to do the job, the associated organizational health and safety requirements, and the availability of the right tools for all employees, women and men, to perform their jobs. NFL’s family-friendly policies stem from the company’s goals of becoming an equal opportunity, women- and family-friendly company. . 1. NFL’s comprehensive childcare solution for working “Diversity comes with a lot of parents: In 2017, NFL established an on-site daycare facility responsibility; we need to create to cater to the needs of working parents, both mothers the right work environment and and fathers, with young children. The facility is staffed with two trained caregivers experienced in caring for infants and build harassment-free, family- toddlers as well as young children. Parts of the facility, except friendly workplaces in which the breastfeeding area, are monitored through security women, especially young mothers, cameras. When the daycare was first established, employees were invited to tour the facility with their families, which NFL feel welcome and can thrive.” believes created a sense of ownership and built trust. Potential Saira A. Khan, Director HR, NFL recruits are also made aware of the daycare facility through NFL’s social media websites and recruitment drives and a tour of the daycare facility is included in onboarding sessions for new recruits. NFL also provides pick and drop for female employees, including mothers and their children. While the 3. Medical allowance extended to families: NFL provides daycare facility can accommodate up to 10 children, currently an additional 10 percent of the basic salary as a medical only four female employees use the daycare on a daily basis benefit on top of the overall salary every month, which can be while two male employees occasionally bring their children to used by employees as well as their immediate family members. the daycare. This benefit is in addition to life and health insurance provided to employees. 2. Flexible work arrangements: NFL introduced flexible working hours that allow employees to begin their nine-hour THE BUSINESS IMPACTS OF NFL’S workday at 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 am, depending on their family needs. Employees are also allowed to work from home under FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES certain conditions and based on needs. Managerial approvals NFL’s costs of running the daycare facility through its are required to utilize work-from-home options, provided operations department is approximately Rs. 100,000 these do not negatively impact productivity. (around USD 750) per month. This amount includes salaries of daycare staff, maintenance, and utilities. Given that six parents currently utilize the facility, this translates into a per- 8 employee cost of Rs. 16,667 (around USD 125) per month. NFL . perceives that the business benefits related to childcare, such as greater gender diversity and higher maternity return rate “I applied for the job knowing that and employee satisfaction, help offset the costs of running the NFL is providing daycare services. facility. I read about it on NFL’s website Recruitment and Retention as well. Without the daycare Between 2016 and 2018, the share of women in the NFL’s facility, I would not have been able workforce and management has increased significantly: NFL to re-enter the workforce after has recorded a 65 percent increase in the number of women becoming a mother.” in the workforce (from 23 to 38 women) and 117 percent increase in the number of women in management (from 6 Mother and new recruit using NFL’s daycare facility to 13 women) during this period. NFL attributes some of this increase to its familiy-friendly initatives, which provide the necessary support mothers need to take on managerial roles as well as roles with profit and loss responsibility, allowing NFL to reap the benefits of a gender diverse leadership. resulting in a maternity return rate of 100 percent. NFL deems its family-friendly policies as necessary to keep attrition rates NFL has also experienced a high maternity return rate. In 2017, healthy—presently at 10 percent—a critical factor in realizing when the daycare center was established, 4 women went on NFL’s growth and gender diversity goals. maternity leave, returned, and were still employed in 2018, 9 Employee Satisfaction . For NFL, happy and engaged employees build a better “Diversity brings along higher ROI, business. In focus group discussions and one-on-one better creativity and contribution interviews, various NFL employees shared that NFL’s family- in terms of value—women are, in friendly policies in general and the daycare center in particular that sense, much better multi- help significantly reduce stress levels among working mothers, enhancing their well-being and peace of mind, and boosting taskers—their planning and their morale and productivity. execution skills bring a lot of value to the company.” WHAT’S NEXT FOR NFL? Abrar Hasan, CEO, NFL Building on its vision and goals, NFL is committed to becoming a family-friendly employer of choice for women. To that end, the company is planning to boost enrollment in its on-site daycare facility by promoting the daycare center, creating awareness about the benefits of daycare versus informal care, Market Access and encouraging both male and female employees to utilize the facility. Based on employee demand, NFL aims to enhance NFL is the market leader in multiple market categories, the quality of care being offered in the daycare center by including recipe mixes, ketchup, pickles, salt, and branded including an early learning component, a playground area, and spices. NFL attributes some of this success to the steady CCTV cameras linked to work desks to enable parents to keep increase in the number of women in its workforce, particularly an eye on their children in the daycare. in profit-driving roles in product development, business strategy, and marketing departments. Gender diversity in NFL also plans to supplement its on-site daycare with these roles allows NFL to better align its products, business complementary policies, including a standardized flexible- strategies, and market campaigns with the needs of its hours policy, mentorship programs, and parent support groups primary target market: women. to nurture new mothers and fathers, as well as returnship programs to encourage employees to return to work after Reputation In an industry where local companies face stiff competition . from multinationals in terms of talent management, NFL believes that its investments in its people and family-friendly “All policies were once non- policies set it apart and contribute to strengthening NFL’s existent. We have been growing brand and growing reputation as a family-friendly employer as a business, so we kept on of choice for women. As a result of its efforts, National Foods recently won the Gender Diversity Award by the CFA Society developing policies keeping in Pakistan. mind the needs of our employees Word of NFL’s family-friendly policies continues to spread and the business.” to potential job candidates through social media and other Sana Abbas, CSR & Corporate Communications means. Hiring managers at NFL confirmed that female Lead, NFL candidates for job positions routinely ask about the daycare facility during interviews and recruitment drives. 10 taking a career break. Introduction of paternity leave for the . first time in the company’s almost 50-year history is next on NFL’s agenda as well as encouraging more fathers to enroll “My husband and I do not have their children in NFL’s daycare. NFL also aims to establish a a support system in Karachi women’s network and forum led by its two female board because we moved here from members to solicit ideas and feedback from female employees to make NFL an employer of choice for women. another city. Without NFL’s daycare facility, we would run NFL aims to more actively advertise family-friendly polices as part of its employer value proposition to potential employees. out of options and I would have For its existing employees, NFL plans to deliver internal to stay at home to care for our awareness campaigns, as not all employees are aware of the toddler.” benefits being offered by NFL. For example, not all employees know that working from home is a family-friendly benefit that Mother using NFL’s daycare facility can be availed by keeping respective line managers in the loop. NFL is aware that it would need to create more opportunities to make it easier for employees to work from home. As NFL expands its family-friendly offerings, the company aims to continue collecting quantitative and qualitative data and gathering employee feedback to improve its family- friendly policies and build a more robust business case for such policies. 11 Contact Information IFC 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA +1 (202) 458-2262 BMurti@ifc.org www.IFC.org/gender @WBG_Gender ifc.org December 2018