By Fahad Abdulkarim* AS someone who has worked in human resources for almost three decades, I am often asked for advice regarding organizational development and capacity building — and my response always emphasizes the importance of cultivating young, local talent. When asked about the greatest achievement of my career, my unequivocal response is the talent I’ve helped nurture during my time with Procter & Gamble. I have always been passionate about promoting young, local talent, and it fills me with pride to look at the organization I’ve helped to shape: a company of 900 brilliant and capable people, 70 percent of whom are Saudis, and most of whom are in their 20s and 30s. Not only is the team young and skilled, but they are the driving force that propels our organization forward. In thirty years with P&G, I can’t recall a time when we’ve performed better. We have even become an exporter of talent: our Saudi country manager has worked in Germany and we’ve developed Saudi talent who have taken up executive positions globally, including in our headquarters in Cincinnati, US. Many of our P&G alumni have taken on leadership roles for global brands, they have been offered senior positions in government, and they have become entrepreneurs, establishing businesses which have flourished to become leaders in their respective industries. Looking back on my career, what strikes me about our journey as a company in Saudi Arabia and my experience as a Saudi human resources professional is both the quality and the diversity of the Kingdom’s home grown talent, which has helped us achieve a high-performing, collaborative and engaged workforce. When asked about how we’ve built an organization that has become an employer of choice for Saudi talent, and how we’ve empowered our employees to achieve their full potential, these are the attributes I proudly share: • Challenging them. The best employees are those who want to be stimulated, challenged, and inspired in their work. Every person in our organization plays a crucial role in its prosperity, from interns to high-level management. Every employee makes valuable contributions to the projects which are central to our success, and we make it a priority to support new employees by integrating them into the business from day one, while also working to ensure that everyone is consistently challenged and engaged in their work to perform to the best of their abilities. • Career vs job. At P&G, we don’t offer jobs — we offer careers. Our employees are given a clear path to the destination roles they could fill in 10-15 years’ time. P&G is as invested in our employees’ careers as they are; which means defining a clear path to promotion, ensuring regular and fair evaluations, and providing comprehensive training for new skills. We support our new hires and junior staff members with mentoring programs and support groups as a means of giving them the guidance they need to build their skills and grow as professionals in the long-term. • Working for a Cause. Many people, especially millennials, want to know that their work supports a greater cause. We encourage this passion via our environmentally responsible and sustainable brands, as well as through the social causes we support. P&G and our two Saudi joint ventures Modern Industries Company and Modern Products Company are striving to achieve a goal of zero manufacturing waste to landfill by 2020, supporting good health & hygiene education, vaccination campaigns with Pampers and UNICEF, and most importantly, we play an active role in the Kingdom’s socioeconomic development by increasing employment of Saudi citizens and making meaningful contributions to skills development for Saudi youth. • Job Recognition. Whilst financial rewards are important to us all, we need to think about how to create an engaging environment where everyone feels valued. Our employees have told me time and time again that recognition for work well done and for the time they’ve spent with the company is equally important as competitive financial compensation. We seek to reward our workforce at every turn through both formal and informal programs. When employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction, productivity, and engagement reflects it. At Procter & Gamble, our sixty years of experience in the Kingdom have taught us that the talent here is valuable and plentiful. We have dedicated ourselves to building a workforce that is as varied and engaging as the region we are in. We will continue to work to facilitate employees’ moments of truth – the everyday interactions that make people feel valued, included, and motivated to bring their best selves to work. *The writer is HR Director for the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan, Procter & Gamble