Ceylon Tobacco Company amongst Sri Lanka’s HR Super 10
Ceylon Tobacco Company ( CTC) asserted its position as a top proponent of Human Resource best practice in Sri Lanka winning a Gold award at the 2012 HRM Awards held in Colombo last week. The annual awards programme recognizes the 10 best corporates in effective Human Resource Manag ement, and Ceylon Tobacco also won the special category award for excellence in ‘Talent Supply’.
The HRM Awards are hosted by the Association of Human Resource Professionals, benchmarking Human Resource Management in Sri Lanka against internationally accepted best practices. This year’s competition attracted submissions from over 80 companies.
Ceylon Tobacco Company, a member of the British American Tobacco Group – the world’s most international tobacco compa- ny, draws from the best practices set out in the Group, and has an inherent philosophy to attract and retain the best talent in its every sphere of business.
James Yamanaka, CTC’s Managing Director and CEO, attributed the success of his company to the strength and talent of its people. “Our every success as a business would not be possible without the untiring efforts of our people, pushing every boundary driving constant improvement. The quality of our people stems from our internal focus to attract and empower the best, and our people are in demand all across the BAT Group,” he added.
“This recognition is testament to the focus and commitment of the CTC team to achieving excellence in our people process. We are relentless in our efforts to build a culture and environment that attracts the best talent in Sri Lanka, and thereon we offer them opportunity and support to grow and develop further. We are proud of the CTC team members who have progressed to take up key positions in the Group in different parts of the globe. Our every process in HR is designed to empower individuals and help them achieve their true potential, and we are confident our inventive people vision will keep CTC as the employer of choice amongst Sri Lankans,” averred Surani Amerasinghe, CTC’s Human Resource Director.
CTC adopts a unique HR approach that is best defined by theopportunities that it offers its employees. The main thrust of CTC’sHR strategy is focused on developing people to be world-class professionals. With a strategic objective to be a key talent provider for BAT, CTC adopts a people spe- cific strategy that revolves around not only CTC’s human resource needs but also the requirement ofthe global network. Thus, recruitment and retention strategies areinvariably dependent on attaining a global fit.
As a multinational company, CTC provides a platform for localtalent to learn and grow into professionals with the capacity tooperate across the global BAT network. The flat organizational structure, progressive work culture and a focused human resources development strategy have enabled CTC to produce a cross-sectionof corporate successes internationally.
CTC’s successes as a commercial enterprise is dependent on its exceptional and winning team. At every level and across the length and breadth of the organisation, individuals work together with afixed focus on a common set of goals. To sustain the value chain from seed to smoke, the CTC team works with commitment and drive, accepting change and innovation as a way of life.
In 2011, CTC pursued a number of strategies aimed at identifying and developing key people for local team succession. Planning ahead in making sure that CTC effectively retains the right people, CTC adopts a rolling strategy, annually planning and aligning the scope for the medi- um term whilst evaluating the HR requirement and the talent in place to meet future corporate objectives. By 2013,CTC plans to objectively have in readiness a team of successors for key management positions. The Company’s structured Management Trainee Programme (MTP) hasfor many years continued to attract some of the best, young talent in Sri Lanka.
CTC is a cradle of excellence both from a corporate as well as froman individual advancement perspective. The Company’s internal working culture and modern management styles place it at theforefront of management excellence in Sri Lanka. By giving young people the lead to drive the business forward, CTC inspires andempowers future leaders to contribute in key and strategic areas ofbusiness. This fosters independence and confidence, and preparesyoung team members for key positions within the organisation astheir corporate maturity becomes more evident to the Company.
Celebrating over a century of excellence, Ceylon Tobacco Company is Sri Lanka’s sole legal manufacturer and marketer of tobacco products. The Company is also renowned for being the first tobacco company in the world to switch to alternate fuels for tobacco curing, and the first Sri Lankan corporate to publish a social report in 2002.