Our People

SUNSHINE GROUP HR

The beginning of the past financial year had all the hallmarks of yet another challenging period for the Group from an HR perspective, having spent the previous year navigating the stormy seas of a disastrous economic downturn. However, with the right strategies in place, we were able to manoeuvre the numerous hurdles that continued to come our way during the reporting period, ending the year with a more than satisfactory performance in managing our invaluable human capital.

As a conglomerate, Sunshine Holdings has to contain and resolve challenges that are unique to each of the several industries we do business in. While this was still the case during the reporting period, at the Group level, we were confronted with an obstacle shared by nearly all segments: retaining existing talent and retaining new talent in an exceedingly competitive environment during a period that saw an unprecedented uptick in migration.

The Group had to expend considerable resources at increased costs to keep our 1,600+ talent pool intact and at peak performance, and we are happy to report that our efforts in this regard were not in vain. A number of initiatives were carried out based on our 3R strategy; Reach Redesigning and Resilience on top of which were built programmes aimed at redeploying, rightsising and reskilling our employees in order to get the best out of our people and preparing them for a period of unprecedented growth ahead.

TOTAL EMPLOYEES BY AGE AND GENDER

Age	Male	Female	Total
>56	24	3	27
46-55	180	17	197
26-45	1,063	219	1,282
18-25	154	43	197
Total	1,421	282	1,703

EMPLOYEES BY CATEGORY, AGE, AND GENDER

Age	Corporate Management		Executive Management		Executive		Clerical/Supervisory
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
18-25	0	0	1	0	51	18	102	25
26-45	79	19	153	33	443	100	338	67
46-55	37	3	37	5	46	3	60	6
56	7	0	5	0	3	2	9	1
Total	123	22	196	38	543	123	559	99

EMPLOYEES BY CONTRACT TYPE AGE, AND GENDER

Years	Permanent		Contract		Casual		Probation		Trainee		Other
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
18-25	119	19	4	3	–	–	31	21	–	–	–	–
26-45	977	196	2	0	–	–	84	23	–	–	–	–
46-55	170	16	4	1	–	–	6	0	–	–	–	–
>56	22	3	2	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total	1,288	234	12	4	0	0	121	44	0	0	0	0

TOTAL EMPLOYEES – DEPARTMENT-WISE (SUPPORT SERVICES)

Department	Male	Female	Total
Human Resources	18	27	45
Information Technology	23	7	30
Finance	53	38	91
Total	94	72	166

TOTAL EMPLOYEES BY EMPLOYMENT CATEGORY AND YEARS OF SERVICE

Category/Years of service	<2	3-10	11-20	21-30	31-35	>35	Total
Band 5 and above	59	36	43	6	1	0	145
Band 6	79	83	61	10	1	0	234
Band 7	326	249	73	12	5	1	666
Band 8 and 9	279	268	89	22	0	0	658
Total

An equitable work environment

While a commitment to meritocracy remains a founding pillar of Sunshine’s HR policy, we also prioritise diversity and inclusion in our recruitment of fresh talent. Every employee is valued equally, ensuring fair compensation and entitlements irrespective of gender, sexual orientation, or any other socially constructed distinction. Below is an overview of how our human capital is currently organised across the Group:

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

	2023/24	2022/23
Training hours	40,028	52,437
Training cost (Rs. Mn.)	45	27
Number of hours on digital training	2,786	2,604
Average training hours per employee	24	34

Sunshine also believes strongly in the potential of well-trained staff, dedicating significant resources each year to ensure that our employees are on top of the latest advancements in their respective fields. Capacity building stands as a cornerstone in our HR strategy.

TRAINING PROGRAMMES BY CATEGORY

Type of training	Number of programmes	Number of participants	Training hours
Internal training programmes	897	10,848	20,114.81
External training programmes	309	3,421	19,913.76
Total	1,206	14,269	40,028.57

AVERAGE TRAINING HOURS BY CATEGORY

Category	Training hours
Band 1	219.50
Band 2	156.50
Band 3	313.50
Band 4	1,742.34
Band 5	3,792.61
Band 6 and below	33,804.13

AVERAGE TRAINING HOURS BY GENDER

Category	Training hours
Male	31,222.28
Female	8,806.29

RECRUITMENT BY CATEGORY, AGE, AND GENDER

Age	Corporate Management		Executive Management		Executive		Clerical/Supervisory		Other
	Band 5 and above		Band 6		Band 7		Band 8 and 9
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
18-25	0	0	0	0	23	14	58	19	NA	NA
26-45	21	9	25	4	115	36	70	15	NA	NA
46-55	6	1	6	0	0	0	0	0	NA	NA
>56	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	NA	NA

AVERAGE TRAINING HOURS BY SECTOR

Sector	Training hours
Healthcare	24,626.33
Consumer Goods	13,987.75
Agribusiness	1,414.5

A centralised approach

Sunshine Holdings PLC operates a centralised HR system, managing most universally applicable functions centrally, while employing HR Business Partners within our nine Strategic Business Units (SBUs). While we have implemented standardised procedures across all SBUs, we’ve also allowed for customisation where necessary.

The Group employs both embedded HR functions and centres of excellence. For instance, we operate an HR Service Centre responsible for carrying out operational HR tasks across various SBUs and overseeing compensation, benefits, and rewards at the Group level. Organisational development and design, from an HR standpoint, are also centrally managed. For example, in the event of a training requirement for a specific SBU, the planning and development of that initiative are handled by Group HR.

Each SBU inevitably faces its distinct HR challenges, prompting Group HR to collaborate with individual business management to craft a customised HR strategy tailored to each operation. However, anchoring each unique approach is a Group-level HR philosophy that sees a central Sunshine Culture ingrained to the DNA of the entire group.

A CHALLENGING YEAR

Attrition continued to be a hurdle for Sunshine during the year under review, and the Group arrived at a two-pronged solution to address this issue: building talent pipelines targeting young recruits, and continuing a mechanism devised the previous year to convert all tacit knowledge in the talent pool into explicit knowledge, in a bid to future-proof the organisation.

The departure of talent from the industries we play in was a significant challenge during the reporting period, coupled with a shift in the skill level of available talent. Sunshine being particularly susceptible to poaching, as our competitors continued to face attrition issues of their own, also proved a hurdle. Balancing this dynamic across various industries continues to be a challenge as we move into the new fiscal year.

TOTAL RECRUITMENTS BY GENDER AND REGION

TOTAL RECRUITMENTS BY SECTOR/DEPARTMENT

Sector/Department	Male	Female
Healthcare	262	74
Agribusiness	4	1
Consumer Goods	55	19
Other	0	0
Sunshine Holdings	3	4
Total	324	98

During the reporting period, attracting young talent was a primary ambition that guided our recruitment strategy. We concentrated on pipeline development, engaging with young individuals through university and school outreach programmes throughout the year. Our goal was to expand career perspectives beyond traditional roles. We launched the Sun Step-Up programme targeting schools and the Emerging Sun program targeting universities.

Change management was a notable highlight during the year under review. With the Group transitioning to a new leadership, HR played a vital role in ensuring employee adaptation. Ensuring that employees across the Group were kept abreast of the new systems put in place by our technology division was up to the HR team, helping our people adapt to a new digital environment. A key example of this was the launch of a new sales force automation (SFA) initiative, which required hours of training.

Our Agribusiness also underwent leadership changes following the departure of the business unit’s CEO during the reporting period, with the senior management of that company stepping into that role on a temporary basis.

The Consumer Goods arm, meanwhile, which had until recently had separate teams tasked with selling tea and confectioneries, which was an underutilisation of our resources. Efforts were made during the reporting period to transition them towards the sale of a variety of different Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). HR actively collaborated with Sunshine Consumer Ltd. in this regard.

We’ve also undertaken reskilling efforts. Throughout the pandemic and its aftermath, many of our learning and development initiatives were put on hold. Online training sessions, while valuable, was incomparable to the effectiveness of in-person sessions. Last year, we recommenced these training initiatives and, towards the end of the year, introduced various programmes aimed at nurturing young leadership. A partnership with the Postgraduate Institute of Marketing (PIM) was a notable highlight, and similar initiatives are on the cards, recognising the importance of building a strong talent pipeline across all sectors.

As mentioned previously, the younger generation is taking on more prominent roles and, at the Group level, we are contemplating the changes necessary to prepare for this transition. Gender balance also improved during the reporting period, with proactive steps taken in that regard. We are proud to note Group’s percentage of female employees saw a notable increase during the year as a result of deliberate efforts to enhance our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positioning, though we must emphasise that we resolutely maintain an ethically and religiously neutral stance. Sunshine WE project was launched to drive the DEI initiative at Susnhine.

Sunshine operates in industries that are largely male dominated. In the healthcare sector, for instance, encouraging women to take on roles like medical reps or sales reps has proven to be a significant challenge, with many potential candidates deterred due to societal stereotypes. During the year under review, we made a concerted effort to identify and support women who wished to join us. We have a large cohort of female employees who excel in their respective roles, and we provide extensive support to ensure their continued success and retention within our organisation. At the senior management level, however, there could be increased participation by women, which is an area that we’re looking to address going forward.

In terms of employee safety and well-being, we continued our initiatives launched the previous to educate employees on stress management, on the importance of spending quality time with family and loved ones and how to manage their lifestyles in a way that would not add to their stress. No major incidents were recorded during the reporting period, but recognise the importance of mitigating employee stress levels and continue to prioritise it.

Our employee engagement initiatives were also successful during the year under review, and we are proud to note that employee satisfaction levels at our SBUs remain high despite economic challenges faced by all. In a significant achievement, all our businesses save for Lina Manufacturing received the Great Place to Work (GPTW) accreditation during the reporting period, in profound testimony to our reputation as a truly great employer.