Individual human resources development enhances organization’s performance
HUGO BOSS helps its employees to continuously broaden their knowledge and skills with a systematic human resources training and development program based on a transparent competence model. This is a response to constantly changing market requirements which not only enhances the performance capabilities of the organization as a whole but also fosters the motivation and self-confidence of the individual employees
In order to assess and clearly document the performance, competencies and development potential of each individual, all supervisors conduct annual feedback interviews with their employees. At these interviews, tasks and personal goals for the year ahead are set and training and development needs to meet these goals are defined. In addition, individuals’ personal development is supported by transfers to other departments or functions either at the Group’s headquarters or at a foreign subsidiary, by expanding their own areas of responsibility or promoting them to specialist or management positions. At HUGO BOSS, good leadership is seen as crucial for business success. For this reason, executives are supported by individual advice and by a broad range of training offerings which helps develop their personal, methodological, specialist and leadership capabilities.
By the introduction of a specialist career path that complements the management career path, HUGO BOSS has enabled particularly capable and talented employees to build their knowledge along transparent development stages on a specialist track. Clearly defined job descriptions and the use of external salary benchmarks ensure transparent and targeted development of the financial rewards. Employees following the specialist track are offered a Senior Excellence Program tailored to the requirements of specialist careers which provides them with ideal professional and methodological support in their new role. The Senior Excellence Program was also rolled out at subsidiaries outside Germany for the first time in 2015.
Employees in all departments are able to take part in needs-based continuing professional development through which they can improve their day-to-day performance and build their personal and professional skills beyond the requirements of their present position. For example, the Company offers a wide range of classroom training courses covering such matters as project management, negotiation skills and communication. The training concept for customer service in the Group’s own retail business was fundamentally revised last year. In addition, a mystery shopping program is used to assess the practical application of the learnings, allowing the success of the training to be quantified. In addition to the classroom training courses, online training is increasingly being used in the Group’s own retail business for self-managed and flexible professional development. This enables knowledge to be imparted on a standardized, market-oriented and sustainable basis in areas such as sales and customer service as well as product and finishing details, making a decisive contribution to first-class customer advice in HUGO BOSS stores around the world.
Last year, employees across the Group successfully completed just under 56,000 web-based training courses (2014: 46,000). The online training portfolio is available in 15 languages.