Pepsicos expansion into mauritius and conditions for employees

Pepsi-Cola was founded in the late1890’s when a young North Carolina pharmacist, Caleb Bradham formulated the drinking and soon began selling it in his soda shop. It was then called the Brad’s drink, made of carbonated water, sugar, vanilla, rare oils, pepsin and cola nuts. It was in 1898 that Pepsi-Cola first became a branded soft drink and the company has grown to be the most recognized and successful brand in the world. It is a world leader in convenient snacks, foods and beverages with revenues of more than $60 billion and over 285,000 employees. The company consists of: Frito-Lay Company, the largest manufacturer and distributor of snack chips; Pepsi-Cola Company, the largest soft drink business and Tropicana Products, the largest marketer and producer of branded juice. PepsiCo brands are among the best known and most respected in the world and are available in about 190 countries and territories. The Coca-Cola Company has historically been considered PepsiCo’s primary competitor in the beverage market. PepsiCo’s overall mission is to increase the value of our shareholders’ investments through sales growth, investments and financial activities. PepsiCo believes their success depends upon the quality and value of their products by providing a safe, whole some, economically efficient and a healthy environment for their customers; and by providing a fair return to their investors while maintaining the highest standards of integrity.

3.2 Quality Beverages Limited (QBL) at Belle-Rose

It was in September 1955 that the Quality Beverages Limited (commonly known as the Pepsi Cola Industry), a member of the Currimjee Group, started business in Mauritius as a producer of soft-drinks. As a franchisee owned and operated company, it works under the license of PepsiCo Inc. New York and is located at Belle-Rose.

QBL is one of the two leading soft drink manufacturing industry in Mauritius. The company now bottles and delivers a large variety of beverages such as Pepsi Cola, Seven Up, Evervess soda, Mirinda and many others, through a network of more than 9,000 retail outlets and making use of its own fleet of 40 trucks. Since the year 1975, the company has won several awards for outstanding achievements in marketing and quality excellence from PEPSICO International, including the Donald M. Kendall award for annual percentage volume increase.

The mission statement of the Quality Beverages Ltd is as follows:

To excel in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of a wide range of quality beverages.

To provide an excellent service to our customers and to aim towards satisfying the needs and aspirations of our customers.

To earn commitment of our people by providing them with training and career path opportunities to develop with the company.

To continuously improve the well bring of our employees and at the same time ensure the best return for the shareholders.

The Quality Beverages Ltd provides a total of around 800 people with employment. Finance, Administration & Human Resource, IT & Operations, Sales & Marketing, Production, Quality Assurance and Purchasing & Export are the different departments found at Quality Beverages Ltd (Appendix B). The Administration & Human Resource department duties consist of recruitment of skillful employees, health & safety and security of the company. Mr. Harry Ramasawmy is the IT & operations manager and is responsible for the information systems and hardware and internal infrastructure of the company. The duty of the Purchasing & Export consists of the procurement management, local purchase and exports. Mr. Nasser Muhammad is the financial controller and is responsible for the overall financial management and control of business, including production of financial reports, periodic review packs and forecasts.

3.3 Conditions of employment at QBL

The manpower is the strength of any organization and every organization tries to utilize the manpower sources optimally for their fulfillment of the company objectives. The role of HR department is advisory since it advises the management for effective use of human resources. It also plans the manpower by recruiting and selecting them and providing them with sophisticated programmes. Mainly the Human Resource department deals with employee related issues given below.

Recruitment and Selection

The Human Resource is mainly responsible for recruitment of employees by conducting a formal hiring in which interviews are conducted and other tests based on educational qualifications. The policy of QBL is to recruit the best qualified candidates for the job. Careful consideration is given to ability, experience, training, interest and aptitudes. It should be noted that the company does not discriminate on religious or ethnic grounds. Sometimes internal employees working at QBL are given the opportunity to apply for other jobs within the company, given that they have the necessary qualifications.

Employee training and Development

QBL trains many of its employees including, new employees, managers and even senior managers. Training helps the employees to update and broaden their knowledge in their respective fields. In return they will be greatest asset for QBL. On-the-job training is performed at QBL and this provides full opportunity to its employees to develop themselves and they are trained according to the requirements of their jobs. The employees are trained about how to improve their communication skills when talking to clients over the phone.

Induction

A new employee never feels like an alien at QBL. On the very first day itself, a responsible person in the respective department is assigned to guide the employee so that the latter feel at home in the organization. The host gives necessary details and answers any queries the employee may have. In addition to that, the host takes the employee for a visit within the company premises and meets the required personnel.

Probation period

As a new recruit, the person will be on a probation period which normally ranges from 6 months to one year, depending on the recommendation of the unit head. During this period the company can put an end to the employee’s service at any time on grounds of poor performance with the appropriate legal notice.

Hours of work

Work starts at 8.30 a.m. and ends at 4.45 p.m. from Monday to Friday. There is a short break in the morning at 9.30 when tea or coffee is served in the kitchen. At 12.30 pm there is a long break of one hour. Finally, there is a last break at 3 in the afternoon lasting for 15 minutes. However, managers sometimes change the timings depending on the nature of work in their departments and availability of mess-room place.

Remuneration

Remuneration is based on qualifications, experience, responsibility level and performance. All emoluments are paid at monthly intervals. Payment is effected either by cash or cheque or through direct credit to the employees’ personal bank account. It is strongly recommended that the employees open a bank account when they join the company.

Employee retention

Employee retention is obviously important in organizations to keep the most talented people in the organization and avoid unwanted turnover. There exists a number of tactics which help QBL to retain employees. Employees are provided with financial incentives such as raises and bonuses and competitive benefit packages like healthcare and company vehicles are also offered. Furthermore, there is effective feedback and open communications between management and employees. All these encourage employees to remain within the organization for a maximum period of time.

Performance Appraisal

The progresses of employees are reviewed twice every year and the department head discuss that with them. The discussions cover the employees’ strong and weak points, possible progress and need fir training. Such factors as analysis, judgement, contribution and achievement, creativity and imagination, development and growth are taken into account. If there is any case of complaint about work during the year, this is also discussed with the employees.

3.4 Rewards at QBL

Outstanding employees who give their souls and minds for the prosperity of the organization must be adequately rewarded. Conscious about the invaluable role of the human asset in attaining production targets, management at QBL has devised an array of reward system which has the end objective of motivating its personnel.

The different types of rewards offered at QBL consist of salary; skills based pay, personal bonus, loan schemes, employee benefits, allowances, promotion and recognition.

Salary

QBL provides a salary structure which is well above the one recommended by the Remuneration Order Act. In fact, the existing structure is a par with the market salary.

The employees receive their salary on a monthly basis and this helps them to satisfy their basic needs and to meet their regular daily expenses.

In this way, employees are encouraged to be committed while the company succeeds in achieving the twin goals of reducing turnover and absenteeism.

Skills based pay

Skills based pay is adopted by QBL and this show that the organization values its human asset. With time employees acquire experience, skills and more qualifications. Thus, a highly experienced and qualified workforce implies a more dynamic organization. For any new skill or qualification acquired employees are rewarded by an additional increment. The skill based pay is a variable pay which adds to the basic salary of the employees. This greatly motivates the workforce to learn more and further develop and serve the organization.

Bonuses

The bonus consists of the attendance and regularity bonus. Attendance bonus refers to those employees who sign their attendance sheet in time and regularly are given a monthly bonus of 5% based on their basic pay. Regularity bonus are given to those employees who do not absent from work during the whole month, that is, refrain from taking any leave (sick, vacation, local, maternity etc.) on any day on which they are required to work, shall be entitled to a half month bonus.

Moreover, at the end of the year, employees are entitled to an end of year bonus which is equivalent to 1/12 of their earnings for that year. This bonus excludes basic salary and overtime but does not refunds such as travelling, annual leave, sick leave and medical expenses.

Subsistence allowance

Sometimes an employee has completed a normal day of work but he is required to do overtime to complete a piece of work. In this case, he would in addition to any remuneration due, be provided with a meal allowance of Rs. 50.00 per day. After that, there is a company transport which safely takes the employees home.

Loan schemes

Employees who have financial difficulties can ask for a loan at QBL. Under established procedures, they are given facilities to refund in a given period of time, which is proportional to the amount of money borrowed. Normally, the employees are entitled to a maximum loan which equals to 3 months of their salary and the total amount is refundable within a period not exceeding 15 months.. It must be pointed out that this loan is free of interest.

Medical schemes

There is also free medical check-up available daily at QBL. There is a special general doctor employed by the organization and those manual workers and employees who are in need of medical supervision receive free treatment. There are 20 medical forms offered daily at the personnel department and the employees just need to collect them and seek medical help. This is of great help to the workforce since they do not have to go elsewhere for treatment.

Refund of bus fare

The bus fares of employees are refunded if the distance between employees’ residence and QBL exceeds 2 miles.

Promotion

Promotion is another reward technique adopted by QBL to motivate employees. For any vacant post at QBL, an internal advertisement is made. Priority is given to qualified and experienced internal workers. They are then further trained to assume their new job. However, in the event that there is no eligible internal staff, external recruitment is then carried out.

Company vehicles

During weekends and public holidays company cars and vans are at the disposal of employees after having formulated a demand well in advance. Hence, the employees can save the cost of a taxi or contract car and entertain their week-ends better.

Split

The entire workforce is entitled to 2 bottles of soft drinks daily. Moreover, at the end of each month the employees receive two crates of soft drink.

Annual Employee Day

The Annual employee Day is also held at QBL. After a hard year’s work, employees are assembled for an end of year party at the expense of the company. This is a moment of great joy which is awaited by one and all. It is more of a family gathering where colleagues meet, discuss, crack jokes and share anecdotes. Another recognition is outing. The company also finances an outing which is organized every year. This helps in giving a break to the workforce which, as usual, is constantly being solicited.

Outing

The company also finances an outing which is organized every year. This helps in giving a break to the workforce which as usual is constantly being solicited.

Funeral grant

A sum of money is granted in case of a death of a member of the employee’s family (mother, father, wife or child). This enables the employee to perform the funeral rituals properly.