Talent development and communication are important
SanoRice is the world's leading producer of puffed rice, corn and multigrain crackers. Its products are sold to A-brands, retailers and distributors in more than 40 countries. The company has sites in Veenendaal (Netherlands), Zottegem (Belgium), and Borgo Vercelli (Italy). Sarah Sonnen, Head of HR: "One of the biggest challenges at SanoRice is showing that HR has great strategic value. SanoRice is primarily a production-oriented environment, we make a wonderful product and are incredibly proud of that. As we are growing, we also want to bring about a transition to putting people first. This also means focusing more on themes like talent development and communication and, basically, as shift from being a job-oriented to a trust-oriented organisation."
'Always getting people involved'
Sarah Sonnen manages the various HR teams at the production sites. "The transition to more talent development and attention to soft skills was driven partly by the company's growth objectives. We started by listening to the issues and questions raised by the different countries and then brought the teams up to strength. It is an interplay between the various management teams and HR that makes this transition in the HR policy possible. To safeguard the desired outcome, we improved the internal communication and expanded training opportunities. It's incredibly important that you continually get people engaged throughout the entire progress as the organisation moves forward. Covid-19 has been a decelerating factor, but looking at what we have already achieved as a team, I can only be hugely proud."
