The Tiki office
Hiring and retaining talent is one of the biggest challenges for the Human Resource department of any organisation, big or small. The process is even tougher for early-stage ventures and startups, which often lack the financial resources to attract the right talent and retain them.
More often than not, many people leave the employ when they find a better opportunity, just weeks or months after they joined a company, which could even affect its growth. This always puts companies in a crisis mode.
It is a universal problem and there has not been a ‘quick fix’ to address this, other than make the workplaces employee-friendly, encourage great culture, and provide perks and incentives. Liberal leave policies and access to top management could also make a difference.
Southeast Asia, which is rich in talent, is no different. Irrespective of the size, organisations find it cumbersome to hire people, a process which consumes a lot of time, energy and money.
E-commerce honcho Tiki, which employs nearly 3,000 people across Vietnam, also faces these HR challenges.
Here, in the first episode of e27‘s deep-dive content project, Chief People Officer Sakshi Jawa shares insights into the company’s hiring process and how it addresses the challenges of discovering and retaining talent — in her own words.
Skilled talents are not easy to get
E-commerce has been one of the fastest-growing fields among all industries. In the region, Tiki is one of the fast-growing and leading e-commerce companies. Due to this growth, we need to take quick actions and quickly switch gears.
Also Read: Tiki reportedly raises US$130M in funding led by Northstar Group
Hence, along with the fact that all companies are looking for candidates with good technical skills, we also have the challenge to recruit people who can adapt quickly with our changes and are always willing to learn and try new things to lead the change.
Secondly, with many new tech firms, there is a lot of competition in the market in attracting engineering talent. As a result, skilled software engineers are not easy to get. We have had many changes in the recruitment process and candidate evaluation methods, career pathing, job rotations, and competitive pay scales with total reward philosophy. This holistic approach helps us to be competitive and get top engineering talent.
On discovering talents
We believe in leveraging internal resources to hire talent. Our internal team can gauge the best cultural fit, versus external agencies. Our acquisition team is built as an internal headhunting service and a lot of the team members have experience in working in different recruitment consultant agencies.
Based on the type of vacancy, we use different media or platforms. It can be a combination of activities on various platforms. As for some critical positions, we also run marketing campaigns to promote those jobs.
Besides using traditional recruiting channels, we have built a candidate database proactively to store all candidate profiles who applied to Tiki or are interested in Tiki. From this source, we can be more active in discovering potential candidates.
Moreover, we also pay attention to employer branding activities to maximise our exposure to mass candidates, such as updating our internal activities and Tiki initiatives on career sites, and accompanying universities and colleges to support students.
This contributes to building the image of a young, dynamic and eager-to-learn workplace, as well as helping candidates understand more about the business culture.
On referral programmes
At Tiki, we have made the candidate referral programme an interesting activity. Besides providing an incentive to employees who successfully refer to talent, we have gamified the programme to make it more fun.
After an employee refers to a successful case, he or she will be offered reward points. He or she can accumulate these reward points to compete for a big monthly or annual prize.
More than that, we look at the referral programme as an employee recognition programme and their dedication to Tiki.
On verifying social media accounts of candidates
In needed cases, we will refer to reliable documents and data such as background checks or reference checks to verify the information needed.
Social media accounts that are profession-driven such as LinkedIn may be a referral source, but not the platforms to base the final hiring decision. We have strong interview tools which we believe help us in making the right hiring decisions.
The interview process
We always want to meet the talented candidates and appreciate the chance to collaborate with them. Moreover, we believe in culture fit which might bring more impact and retention, not just the technical fit.
Also Read: How AI is helping Tiki address price hike, fraud, product quality issues during the outbreak
Depending on the level and type of job opening, we would invite the candidate to join the phone screen first as a preliminary round. A home test or on-site test might be required for some special technical skills after the phone screening round.
Then the face-to-face loop interview (three to four rounds) will be set up to gauge the technical skills and culture fit of the candidate. A final calibration or a debrief session for all of the interviewers is then held to make the final hiring decision.
We strongly believe that a rigorous loop interview is not only a chance for Tiki to have the right hiring decisions but also a chance for candidates to understand more about our culture, the scope of work and how he or she might fit the team.
Having multiple interviewers also helps us ensure that the hiring manager’s decision is not biased due to the urgency of the position.
On-boarding
We strongly believe that a good start and relationship is not only built from the on-boarding day but also gained from the very first step of approaching the candidates. Employees need to be well prepared and be equipped with enough information about company processes and policies, as well as the role.
It’s never enough to state that we are doing great. At Tiki, we always do our best to improve day by day to make sure that we could bring a pleasant experience for candidates and employees.
We always have an office tour, orientation sessions and especially the buddy programme to make sure that a newbie could receive the support timely. We also run surveys for the new joiners to help us improve every day.
We are currently running some projects to further enhance the new joining experience.
Employee churning
We regularly conduct market research to collect data related to the churn rate; not only focus on the local market but also the regional market. Based on that, we can benchmark ourselves and adopt best practices.
Currently, our churn rate is healthy as compared to the market. We take the total reward approach, which we can ensure for both short-term and long-term benefits and varies with levels of performance.
We also have a robust internal transfer policy that helps employees take up new challenges and learn new things. It is both compensation and benefits (C&B) policy and opportunities to learn and make differences that retain talent at Tiki.
On eliminating frauds
Tiki’s DNA is ‘living and breathing customers’, obviously shown by the strong commitment to providing authentic and quality products to customers.
Likewise, we look for candidates with the same philosophy, no toleration for giving fake documents or degrees. We will take action when there is a case.
On leave policy
We have a young population who have a great passion for their career, so maternity or paternity leave needs to be competitive and favourable for our employees.
Tiki was the best workplace in Vietnam’s e-commerce and internet industry in 2018 and among best places to work in Asia in 2019. These show our great desire to apply the competitive benefits to our members, not only in the Vietnam market but also in the region.
Also Read: How AI is helping Tiki address price hike, fraud, product quality issues during the outbreak
While we are pretty competitive in the local market, we want to compete on benefits at the region level. We are in the process of building a new benefit programme which will be launched next year to bring more happiness to our Tiki’s members.
Foreign employees
Tiki is a local technology champion, not only offering the best products and services to customers but also nurturing Vietnamese talent pool.
Tiki, moreover, is in the process of transforming, in which we aspire to value the diversity and build a global culture. We are also a learning organisation, so we welcome the participation of people across the globe.
This not only helps us learn the international knowledge and mindset in all activities but consolidates our ambition and long-term development vision as well. As of now, we have employees from 8 different nationalities working with us.
Founded in 2010, Tiki is a fast-growing B2C e-commerce platform. The platform initially sold e-books, but it has since diversified to become an all-encompassing marketplace, selling goods such as toys, digital devices, lifestyle and beauty products.
In June this year, Tiki reportedly raised US$130 million, led by Singapore-headquartered PE firm Northstar Group. Prior to this, it received US$44 million from Chinese internet giant JD.com in November 2017. This figure was twice the amount Tiki secured from Vietnamese internet group VNG in 2016 — a US$17 million funding that gave VNG a 38 per cent stake in Tiki.
In August last year, Tiki.vn acquired local online ticketing platform Ticketbox.
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Image Credit: Tiki
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