I started working with Reckitt Benckiser (RB) when I was selected for the summer internship while I was studying at IIM (K). After my graduation I had no doubts that, if given a chance, I’d definitely join RB as a full-time employee. And as fate would have it, I did get my Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) from RB and I readily agreed to go back there and continue with the awesome work that I had done during my internship.

My first project with RB was ‘Clearasil’. I had never been a sales guy and I was quite new to it all. During one of my field visits when I was in sales, it was just amazing to see the salesmen feeling so passionate about their products. They actually believe in RB which results in a better performance. Their loyalty towards the brand was a lesson in itself for me.

It has been around 30 months now that I have been working with RB and I have not experienced a single boring day here. ‘Challenging’ is the word that describes this place perfectly. The whole environment is so charged that it always keeps you on your toes and you feel alive. This place is not for the kinds who are satisfied with just mediocrity; anyone working with RB knows that one can never take things for granted and  needs to keep up with its fast pace. This keeps the whole environment interesting and it never gets monotonous here.

At RB you feel like working NOT because someone asked you to do so but you actually feel like doing it. And that’s a great thing and keeps the level of job satisfaction at its peak. And well, from personal experience I would say that this place is just brilliant for anyone who is new in the industry. If they get this sort of an experience in their initial years, they’ll surely go places in the future.

Another thing I really love about RB is the work culture here, which is pretty chilled out. Regular parties keep happening; it is a kind of a reward for employees for all their efforts. And another big event which everyone just loves is the Annual Conference. This year it will be my third time there and I am really looking forward to meeting everyone.

Working with RB does not make you feel like you’re just doing a ‘job’. You actually feel like a part of the RB family. There are no strict dress-codes, everyone from different levels are treated equally. At the end of the day all these factors really do matter as it makes it easy for everyone to communicate with each other without any inhibitions. And communication is a really important part of the success of any organisation, and many, in fact, struggle to keep that streamlined.

In the end I’d say that working with RB has been great and I look forward to many more amazing years.

“Get comfortable being uncomfortable”.  A quote I was given while interning during my junior year of college.  Although I did not fully understand the true meaning of this quote, I quickly learned what it meant shortly after becoming a sales analyst at RB. 

Just when you think you’ve got a hold on a given system, report, database, etc. POOF! it changes!  A perfect example is our current integration to a new system from the traditional database we have used for consumer consumption and market share data.  During the six months I have held my analyst position, I have finally mastered the ins/outs of the current system, and aqcuired tips and tricks to help automate my multiple reports and tracking tools.  Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about my skill set and competencies, until the announcement came that we are switching to a new system (an alternative to the recent Scanning Data). 

Obvious feelings of uncomfortablility quickly arose, but were shortly put to rest once I learned that I will be receiving in depth training on the system.  By the end of January I will aqcuire the skills that are necessary to utilize the new systems and run the same reports I was accustomed to. 

In short, at RB, and most major CPG companies, once you are comfortable in the day to day responsibilities of your position, it is very likely that you’ll be challenged to go outside of your comfort zone to learn a new skill that will help you in optimizing your daily tasks, value to the company, and ultimately your career progression.  This is true with my experiences at RB thus far.  Once I grasped the core responsibilities and skills needed to succeed as a pharamaceutical sales representative, I transitioned to a retail sales representative.  As I became comfortable performing the tasks in that position and built solid relationships with my customers, I became a sales analyst, working in our NA headquarters. 

At RB you are constantly challenged to go outside of your comfort zone which ultimately improves your skill set, knowledge of the industry and overall competencies.  If you think you’ve got what it takes to be challenged on a daily basis, make decisions that impact millions of dollars in sales, and have a voice that is heard, then I invite you to join the RB team so you too can “get comfortable being uncomfortable”

Before…
As many of you will know, the assessment for RBs graduate scheme spans several interviews and assessment days. At each, you get to understand a little more about RB culture from third parties and our employees themselves.

The more I got to know about the RB culture the more I was excited by it… except for one niggling word which kept creeping up, AGRESSION. At first it wasn’t a word I dwelled on, but the further into the recruitment process I got, the more and more I heard of it. This was the only aspect of RB culture which worried me slightly – I had visions of a working environment with little respect for colleagues, where people didn’t listen to each other and where the common method of communication was shouting. OK so that might be a little melodramatic – but it definitely made me wonder!

After…
Phew, well after I started I truly got to understand what our ‘Aggressive’ culture means and I would now also agree; YES we do have an aggressive culture, but definitely in a good way. Constructive aggression!

What it means for Individuals
I believe what ‘Aggression’ means for employees is that we are not accepting; we will question decisions and strive for better processes. We will push projects, driving them forward ourselves and challenge delays. We are risk takers and happy to make and follow our own decisions for which we are accountable.

What is means for the Company
RB has an aggressive market strategy; we aim to deliver products from concept to shelf in less than 3 years. From my experience this can be as little as 6 months, as for our Airwick colour change candle. A fast to market strategy means we launch before competitors and reap maximum profit.

The company expects results from you regardless, there are no passengers!

Are you ready to be accountable?

Working at RB, you will always come across several occasions where the work demands much more than the regular 9-5 day. We work hard and RB is no cakewalk. The RB structure is lean and non-hierachial, encouraging managers and team members alike to be innovative, entrepreneurial and take ownership in everything they do, whether that may be in marketing campaigns to seeking the right talent for the team – and they expect them done well and fast. At any one time, you may be juggling with 3 different projects at the same time.

We do everything that it takes to do the job right. But how do you balance the stress without getting stressed out? Often, I find myself in work situations that you are always trying to get ahead. I believe that it is difficult to be productive for 24 hours a day, which means that long hours might not be the answer to finish the job. The trick here is to work smart. You will be challenged to constantly prioritise and multi- task. You might plan your day early in the morning but often you will find that you will be side tracked and will be fire fighting the unexpected issues. It is difficult to ignore the several hundred emails everyday. How to continue to focus on what is required and also go above and beyond what’s needed?
Also, I think it is important to take a break from all the rush-hush and have a couple of minutes off work. It helps re-energize and emphasis on the priority tasks. It could be as simple as a lunch break away from the desk.

I make it a point to step outside every Friday for a lunch with other colleagues.
On one such casual Friday, we decided to grab a quick take-out and eat together. It was like a small picnic by the lake. It was a beautiful sunny day as we ate outside. It is actually hard not to talk about work related issues with your colleagues and I guess we tried our best. It was a productive break and the best spent 30 minutes. Before we knew it, we were back at our desk to finish the week with a bang! How would you handle work life balance?

“Congratulations! You have been selected as Management Trainee for the year ……..”

Finally!! After 18 years of education and some corporate experience, I was all set to become a ‘Management’ Trainee. I chalked a simple yet beautiful plan on how I am going to spend my days: Go to the office, get day’s work aligned with the line manager, socialize at the tea corner, do my work, give updates to line manager and in the evening come back home (In between, the line manager would have training sessions with me so to prepare me for the future!).

What actually happened was …. even more beautiful.

The day me and my fellow MTs joined RB Pakistan, we were handed over our tickets for a ‘Tour De Pakistan’: a program designed to make us work with our sales staff in the market and learn first hand the tricks of trade. We were shocked. Most of us had never left urban centres. The idea of us going to towns, both small and large, across Pakistan and working as Order Bookers (OBs) and Deliverymen (DMs) made us think of the whole plan as an effort to alienate us from the organization. But as we moved from city to city, from role to role, it became evident that this tour would be the most important part of our training.

Our first rotation was in Karachi, the largest Metro town in Pakistan. The idea was to understand the trade dynamics and how the biggest seaport affected the business nationally. The routine was difficult: reaching the distribution early and attending the thunderous morning meeting which ranged from being motivating to being threatening depending upon achievement of monthly targets. After the meeting, we used to accompany OBs and DMs to the market and spend the whole day in blazing heat in an effort to move towards achievement of our targets.

The stint at Karachi was followed by a trip to Multan: a tier 2 metro town. Multan is called the City of Saints due to number of shrines. It is also the hottest city in Pakistan with temperatures reaching 50C in summers. The time in Multan was probably the best time of our training period. Since none of the trainees had been to Multan before, all wanted to explore the city and know more about its culture, cuisines and architecture. The time in the Market was tough, but life after office was exciting. Everyday we went to a new shrine, heard interesting stories about miracles performed by saints (for example: a saint came to Multan from Afghanistan, riding on his lion and holding a snack as his whip ).

Next up was experience in small towns with major sales in surrounding rural areas. As part of the exercise, we went to Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Sukkur. Even interesting was the ride to these towns as we were asked to arrange for the travel ourselves. We travelled by buses, trains and at time on rickshaws. The time that we spent helped us in two ways: understand how these small towns are different from the urban centres in terms of consumer and trader dynamics and see landmarks that we might not have seen otherwise.

Our last stop was Lahore, another urban town. Here, for the first time in three months, we had our first class room session with a Senior Regional Sales Manager who helped consolidate whatever we learned in our visits before.

Our three months visit across Pakistan, in scorching summer heat, and right down at the market place was a tough but extremely knowledgeable and interesting experience. Other companies may try to do the same but no one can do it the ROCKY style .

Three months in the field and we are ready for bigger and better challenges!!