A company’s success is like constructing a house. It can be done with a strong foundation by hiring the right talent and constructing sturdy walls for continuous development and growth. Further, it should have a welcoming space and an inclusive craft for people to start. Lowe's has built a strong house for talent over the years; let’s decode how it has attracted, developed, and retained talent.

Lowe’s is a home improvement retailer in the US. It is a Fortune 40 company with over 1,700 stores across the country, generating $86 Bn revenue last year. Further, Lowe’s India started its operations almost a decade ago in 2014 with a set of 11 associates in Bengaluru. It is now a thriving GCC of over 4,500 professionals working on technology, supply chain, analytics, merchandising, marketing, and finance. 

These numbers indicate growth and development, which are directly dependent on making a great talent strategy. It means the company’s commitment towards three fundamental pillars- fulfilling and meaningful work; fostering a sense of belongingness, where every employee can thrive; and enabling a promising future that focuses on continuous growth.  

Fulfilling and meaningful work

Three things make a job meaningful and fulfilling -- competitive rewards, benefits and organisation design. Associates at Lowe's India work on initiatives that directly impact global priorities. They also work on transformation retail solutions, for instance, working on the self-checkout engine. Five years ago, engineers in Bengaluru set the entire self-checkout ground upright, now deployed in all its 1,700 stores. This is the first of its kind software in the industry. 

In terms of competitive rewards and benefits, it benchmarks against the industry best with a hybrid work model, flexible benefits, and value-based rewards, helping in recognising employees for their contributions and allowing them to customise their benefits plan. 

Most of the leaders here have goals aligned with the global arm, which are achieved through a seamless job role or organisation architecture, providing a structured way for associates to look at career progression and growth. 

Fostering a sense of belonging

Cultivating a sense of belonging does not happen by chance. It is done by design. Some of the things were done differently to create a deeper sense of belonging, that is, listening to feedback. A sense of belonging starts with being heard, and the company has multiple platforms for associates to voice their concerns and talk about issues.  

It can be achieved through organisation surveys, breaking room sessions, connecting with associates, and asking questions to the leadership team, be it on business, personal growth, or leadership styles. The company also has a platform called Synergy Showcase, where employees can showcase their work to fellow colleagues. 

Leadership engagement becomes a critical area for creating transparent communication with senior managers. It can be achieved through quarterly town halls, global CEO visits, and executive leadership team visits to create an alignment with the company, which is important for an associate to feel connected. 

Commitment to community initiatives is important. It had 1,500 volunteers last year, which means over 30% of its workforce, and impacted over 10,000 people. These initiatives help communities to create a deep sense of purpose beyond work.

Making employees future-ready

The lifespan of skills is critical in this dynamic world. According to research, the half-life of skills is shrinking, and it's about two and a half to five years now. Within this timeline, 50% of employees' known skills will become obsolete. This half-life is even shorter for technical skills, about three years. Agile learning strategies and skill-based future work planning help a lot here in terms of making employees ready for future. 

How programmes were designed to develop the talent pool

Finding talent gaps: The leadership enquired about future talent gaps and came up with multiple niches. One of the gaps was deep tech skills at the senior management level. It is a niche skill, even to hire. The company came up with two initiatives - engineering excellence programme and developing women engineers at different levels. Over three years, it created a strong technical pipeline for leadership. About 60% of principal engineer and principal architect roles were filled through this. 

Embracing the culture of innovation: It was done through a programme called Catalyze. One of the pillars of Catalyze is Idea Time, which fosters intrapreneurship within an organisation. In 2025, it will focus on strategic investments and partnerships with external startups to make sure the company accelerates innovation within the organisation.

Mature capabilities: It has the luxury of business and tech capabilities located in the same organisation. The company has unlocked the synergies through an omnichannel marketplace, first of its kind in home improvement industry, leveraging the digital commerce capabilities to build online marketplace to fulfil all the needs of customers through one stock shop solution. 

Developing AI community of practice: The framework developed at Lowe's focuses on three aspects – how AI is used to sell, how we sell, how customers shop, and how we work. These three frameworks form the basis for a significant amount of work done through the AI community of practice.

Key learnings and takeaways from the Lowe's approach

• Invest in workforce upskilling, as the half-life of skills is shrinking, this becomes very important to keep the company and workforce relevant. 
• Strengthen the leadership development and career pathways so that employees can see their bright future in the organisation and stay with it for long. 
• Foster a culture of employee well-being and inclusion, this increases the level of engagement and innovation in the company, building a strong employer brand.