Maersk Group: Evaluating Talent Management Initiatives

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Case Analysis – A P Moller – Maersk Group: Evaluating Talent Management Initiatives

What do you think are the critical challenges facing Maersk?

Maersk group has transformed from a family owned business to global business. It is arduous for a firm to manage the cultural differences due to expansion of business. Due to inappropriate strategic talent management initiatives taken by Maersk Group, they were facing many challenges. Their situation got worse due to the global recession in 2008.

The Maersk group was facing many talent management challenges. Those challenges are:

• Increase in employee turnover: They relied on employees who started as a trainee and remained with Maersk for their entire career span. It was estimated that of all the trainees that they recruited only 20% remained with them after five years.

• Internal training and development programs: The training that Maersk had traditionally provided to its trainees was extensive, and included both formal courses and on-the-job training, including rotational programs that allowed employees to move across geographies and business units. This training was costly but had been considered a solid investment because many employees stayed with Maersk throughout their careers. With rising attrition rates and industry competitors targeting Maersk employees because of their strong training, is was required to rethink about this strategy.

• Hiring experienced talent from outside the firm: Should Maersk hire experienced individuals from outside the firm? In recent years, the percentage of senior positions filled by external hires had increased from virtually none to 30%. What were the pros and cons associated with hiring from outside? How should Maersk think about integrating these external hires?

• Rehiring former employees ("boomerangs"): While Maersk had no formal policy on rehiring, it had historically been considered taboo. However, given Maersk’s significant talent needs, Maersk had reversed its position on this policy a few years back. Pejter and Allen planned to look at how this policy was working and determine whether or not the change had been a good one for the Group. Should it rehire former employees? If so, under what conditions? And, at what level should they be brought in?

• Increasing employee diversity: Maersk was becoming a more diverse company with a more diverse customer base and was operating in an increasingly diverse business environment. In light of this, how to create an inclusive culture?

What are the challenges of hiring experienced talent from outside? Should the company hire its former employees? Why or Why not?

The hiring of individuals was another issue that was looked by management at Mearsk. It was the difficult circumstance for the organization whether it should keep on hiring the accomplished individuals from outside of the association or choose the new and unpractised individuals and give profession movement to more focused tasks on worldwide development.