STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Case study: Whirlpool’s diverse talent retention strategy QUESTION TASK Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the world’s leading equipment manufacturer with $ 21 billion annual sales in 2016, 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centres., Amana, Bouch Next, Gen-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in almost all countries of the world. Whirlpool recently revamped their HR strategy into a People Excellence Strategy, establishing an operating system based on the specific analysis they had collected. When reviewing their diversity scorer, it was clear Whirlpool had a “leaky bucket” problem. Although they made strides in attracting and recruiting diverse talent, they were losing the same talent, if not faster, rate. Something needs to be done to engage and retain that talent. To address this issue, Whirlpool’s talent management and diverse organizations have developed a Retention Risk Assessment Toolkit. The toolkit consists of three steps: • Determine the impact Whirlpool will face if an employee leaves • Understanding the possibility of employee leaving • Creating action plans to prevent this regrettable loss To test this retention risk assessment toolkit, Whirlpool is targeting a pilot group of 65 employees at the level of senior manager, directors and senior directors. Managers are trained in the toolkit and they have a “retention risk manager’s guide” and an “interview manager’s reference guide”.