Celebrating 180 years of success, global household brand Proctor & Gamble emphasized its commitment to raising leaders within the company.

P&G’s talent management system is recognized by human resource experts in the headhunting market, as former P&G employees and executives excel in various work areas across industries.

Former GE CEO Jack Welch worked for P&G before joining GE. In Korea, several heads of global firms, such as Homeplus, Danone and Hermes, started their careers at P&G.

The key to personnel management is early empowerment, the company explained.

“The P&G system empowers employees in their early stages, because the company trusts them 100 percent about their capabilities,” said a company spokesperson based in Seoul.

All levels of employees, even interns and fresh entrants, are granted full authority and responsibility for their tasks, working as project leaders.

Unlike many other multinational businesses that prefer hiring experienced talent, P&G recruits entry-level employees in order to nurture them into leaders of P&G through various training programs that educate staff on the company’s corporate culture and opportunities to grow as its future leaders.

P&G also provides its staff with opportunities to work globally regardless of their age or position. About 30 percent of P&G Korea staff members have work experience at overseas P&G offices in countries including Singapore and Japan.

As part of investment in future talent, the company runs P&G CEO Challenge, a business training program for university graduates in Korea. The program enables students to set and simulate business strategies, giving them an idea of what it would be like to execute a company project. Outstanding participants from the event in Korea are given the chance to compete with their counterparts in other Asian countries every year.

P&G was founded in 1837 in Cincinnati, US, upon a merger between a British candle manufacturer run by William Procter and an Irish soap maker run by James Gamble.

It currently produces a total of 65 household product brands in about 180 countries. Famous P&G brands include Gillette, Downy, Febreze, Oral B, Pampers, Whisper, Pantene and Head & Shoulders.

“The company makes ceaseless efforts to raise outstanding talent based on the belief that employees are our No. 1 asset,” the spokesperson said. “To make consumers satisfied, we should first satisfy our employees.”

As a family-friendly business certified by the Ministry of Gender, Equality and Family in 2012, P&G Korea also helps its employees seek a balance between work and life by allowing flexible work hours and letting staff work from home once a week.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)