A.P.

Møller - Maersk Group:

Evaluating Strategic Talent
Management Initiatives
 ● A.P. Møller group was founded in 1904 by
arnold peter Møller and his father captain
maersk Møller
● Headquarter established in Copenhagen,
Denmark. Also the largest company in denmark
with 110000 employees and operates business
in 130 countries
● As of december 2011 companies total market

About
capitalization was $28 billion
● Maersk held a 68% stake in dansk supermarket
group and a 20% interest in dansk bank

Core business:

● Container services business which contributed

over 40% revenues
● Oil and gas exploration and production which
contributed 20% revenues
 Challenges ● Increased employee turnover
○ Traditionally, relied heavily on employees
who started with the Group as trainees

faced by the
○ As competition increased, a greater number
of employees were leaving the Group for
external opportunities
○ Of the 400 trainees it brought on board each

company year, only 20% of them were still with the

Group after five years
● Confusion on what to do with
Maersk’s training and development
program
○ High-quality training was offered to
trainees, even though it was costly
○ Competitors made use of this and thus the
strategy required rethinking
 Challenges ● Decision on hiring experienced
individuals from outside
faced by the ○ The percentage of senior positions filled by
external hires had increased from almost
none to 30%

company ● Resolving the “boomerang” issue

○ Considered rehiring past Maersk employees
(which used to be considered a taboo)
○ Due to the issues, they reversed the position
on this policy
● Finding ways to be more inclusive
○ The company was becoming more diverse
with diverse customer base
Talent Management 2003-2008

As the company expanded, its growth impacted both, the talent mgt, practices and processes & its culture

● Hired more experienced professionals and managers, accelerated career progression of trainers
● Hiring and training became business-line rather than Group functions
● Rotational training programs focused on rotations within rather than across the company’s business lines
● More performance measurement standards , assessment and letting go of underperforming employees
● Maersk was becoming increasingly global- business and employee base
● Senior Mgt. changes - things were not happening in accordance with the company’s values
Talent Management 2008-2012

Transition of HR function from administrative to strategic and position the company for the 21st century.

● Delegated operational responsibilities to the business unit levels

● Headcount in Group HR was reduced from 87 people to 24 (and all but one were new hires)
● Revamped group had three key priorities:
- Getting the right people in the right jobs at the right time for our top 1,000 employees
- Leadership development drives business results
- Differentiation in terms of rewards and pay for performance. “Performance Management.”
 ● Retention & Development

Recommendation ● Facilitate talent intimacy with more

employee engagement programmes

s
● Make the online repository available to
every employee
● Integrate actions out of the key talent
management areas as part of the strategy to
improve retention
● Leadership and development coaching to
everyone who shows potential
 ● Rehiring

Recommendation ● Exit Interview – Gain candid feedback that

provide employers with information as to
how the organisation compares with other

s
employers who recruit from the same talent
pool
● Develop a tracking system to keep in touch
with key employees that have left so as to
evaluate how they can positively contribute
if they return to the firm
 ● External Hiring and Integration
● Establish external and boomerang hiring

Recommendation quotas with a criteria (background,

experience, leadership qualities) to smooth
intake and transition into the organization

s ● Establish Bidirectional mentorship

programmes to facilitate knowledge transfer
and ease of integration
● Initiate Orientation programme for new,
external hires highlighting work processes,
tacit knowledge inherent to the organization,
deeper insights into organizational culture -
norms, language, heros in the organization
 ● Culture
● Develop informal mix of heavy/light task
related programmes that will facilitate

Recommendation ●
employee mixing to build relationships
Conduct Culture Assessment to
understand the explicit and tacit facets

s of the organization's culture to inform

the Talent management Strategy
● Conduct cross functional and
departmental training exercises to drive
integration and greater sharing
organizational values