2. Contents
• History of Fabindia
• Fabindia – a unique business entity
• Some factoids about us
• What makes us a great place to work
− Alignment of ideology
− Shared ownership and Entrepreneurial work
culture
− Growth from within
− Transparent
− Empowering women
3. Historical Perspective
1960 Fabindia Inc established
1976 Flagship store at Greater
Kailash, FOPL established
1976 – 1994 Single store
1999 – 2011 Grew from 5 stores to
141 stores
Fabindia moved from shy to
aggressive growth, all the while
ensuring profitability in spite of the
near vertical growth
4. Fabindia – a unique business entity
Twin Mandate :
• A viable, profitable retail platform for products
created using hand-based processes
• The creation of skilled, craft-based sustainable jobs
in the rural sector
5. The Fabindia Business Model
- Traditional brand loyalty
- Product accessibility
- Visibility
Customers - Range
- Crisil rating of - Contemporary
AA - - Belief in product
- Inclusive
ownership :
approx. 70% of
the staff across
levels own
company stock - Sustaining Craft
Fabindia - Artisan
empowerment
Owners / Artisan
Employees Community
6. Some factoids to understand us
• Employee strength - 1500 +
– Fabindia Employees – 1100
– Contracted staff – 400
• An “Equal Opportunity” employer
1.78 -1 mix (Men- Women)
76% of the management are women
• Over 30% staff have been in the company over 5 years
• Ratio of HR to staff 1: 125
• GPW results were very surprising for us
8. The Fabindia Core Values
• Ownership of Company goals
• Mutual Respect and Humane Approach
• Fairness in our Intent
• Honesty in all our actions
• Result Orientation
• Continuous Improvement
• Leadership by Example
9. Alignment of Ideology
Driving business success while ensuring sustenance of
craft
– Hiring to translate passion for our ethnic crafts and
business ideology into satisfying careers
– Our hiring specifications for management levels tests
candidates on their commitment to the above
– All induction and orientation processes reinforce the
dual objectives of our business model
– Demonstrated belief in organizational values is one of
the key parameters in performance assessment for
senior roles
10. Shared Ownership
Approx. 70% of our employees across levels own the
company stock
– Opportunity for Wealth creation
– Opportunity to partner in success
11. Entrepreneurial work culture
• Independent SBUs run the regions
– Decentralized
– Each store a profit center and each store manager
an entrepreneur with a P&L responsibility
• Profit sharing plans for over achievement
• COC’s ensures Artisan empowerment
– Sustainable community development
12. Performance and Development Focus
Centres of Excellence
as drivers for service improvement and focus on
continuous development
13. Obligations of a COE
To the To the Store
To customer
Organization Team
• Consistent • Conformity to all • Highly motivated
standards of processes team
service • High productivity • High investment
• Excellent level • Excellent in team member
of customer customer development
interaction feedback • Stress reduction
• High levels of • Training ground in the working
personalization for new environment as
• Very high employees / process
initiative to get stores conformation
feedback and increases
give follow up
14. Support provided to a COE
• Classroom
• On the job
Training inputs • Technical
• Behavioral
• Motivation through visibility
and recognition
Other inputs • Process changes / inputs
15. Growth from Within
• IJP process
– Opportunities for growth from within
– Setting people up for the next role
– Considerate of individual needs – relocations
– Humane approach in application of policy decisions
• Generalist skills being made specialized
– Functional and Behavioral competencies for every position
– Biannual assessment of development needs through multi
source feedback
– IDPs and PIPs for every individual up to a certain level
– Strong alignment of the L&D curriculum with the competencies
– Training budget available even during the recession
16. High level of transparency-
All employees are treated as shareholders in decision
making
• Simple HR processes and policies
• Role of HR is to create disproportionate impact (1:125)
– work with each employee as an individual
17. Empowering Women
• 76% of management positions are staffed by women
• Feeling secure, safe and empowered
• Growth and leadership
• Women Intrapreneurs
18. In Summary
• We value our unique business model
• We strive to align our business and employee ideologies
• We empower our stakeholders and encourage
participative ownership of brand Fabindia
• We have a strong focus on development and growth
from within
• Our core culture has not seen a dilution despite changes
in our environment
• Every employee feels connected, recognizes his/her role
in the success story that is Fabindia – in spite of rapid
growth.
