SPL | Saudi Post

When an employee engagement survey showed that 40 per cent of staff lacked clarity on their career development – particularly people in roles significantly different to those of their colleagues in the same unit – postage and logistics company SPL knew it had to clarify its talent pipeline. 

The subsequent initiative, Your Path to Success, was hailed by the judges as “truly excellent work”.

A lack of consistency in the organisation made it difficult to evaluate and compare roles effectively, hindering effective workforce planning and talent management strategies. The team undertook an in-depth analysis of current employee performance results and gathered employee and stakeholder perspectives, identifying key challenges such as unaligned competencies, inconsistent career paths and market value discrepancies. 

SPL subsequently reviewed and categorised all roles into broader job families, and further divided families into subfamilies based on the technical skills and competencies required. It developed a robust methodology for job mapping and evaluation; conducted mapping workshops involving subject matter experts and job holders; collaborated with business partners from each function/division and defined career ladders with progressive levels for each job family. 

The competencies, qualifications and experience required at each level were outlined, and existing learning programmes were aligned to the new competency framework. Internally, processes for career progression and movements were redesigned and an awareness campaign was designed and implemented. This included a multi-channel communication strategy, videos, presentations, FAQs and one-to-one sessions. 

“From a crystal-clear rationale, the programme identified a strong and cohesive set of aims: attracting and developing new talent, giving clearer roles and improving the employee experience,” the judges said. 

“The planning and delivery of the programme was excellent, with a carefully detailed step-by-step approach that considered ‘job shapes’ and categories, and career pathways and tracking,” the judges added. “The team then presented an impressive project evaluation that included control groups for comparison and convincing before-and-after measures of relevant outcomes. This is hugely important for effective OD and something other employers could emulate.”