Company Culture

HRChat Interview with Alison Crooks, CEO of Paramount Industrial Holdings

In this HRChat company profile, we focus on the recent Top Employers Institute’s 2021 Top Employers award-winner, the Paramount Group.

Alison Crooks
Alison Crooks, CEO of Paramount Industrial Holdings

Paramount is an African-based global aerospace and technology company, a leader in defense and security innovation, and a trusted partner to governments around the world. Paramount provides products, services, and consultancy, including support for peacekeeping missions.

Our guest this time is Alison Crooks, CEO at Paramount Industrial Holdings.

Paramount has more than 3000 employees, working with sovereign governments across five continents and manufacturing in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. How does the company maintain a sense of collective purpose with such disparate and diverse employees?

Paramount is a  diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) oriented employer that leverages breakthroughs in technology to stay interconnected and results-focused. We believe that our strength truly lies in our diversity, regardless of our employee’s country of origin, race, gender or age. We hire for skill and are committed to training and upskilling of our staff.

In the arena of Aerospace and Science, Technologies, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) oriented innovation, we have sought out the best skills across all of our group organizations. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the effect of constrained operations and accelerated remote employment has encouraged the impetus for cutting-edge manufacturing and aerospace and technology solutions; if anything, the world has now truly become a global village and we have tapped into this unintended, positive consequence.

Paramount was recently recognized – for a second time – as one of the Top Employers Institute’s 2021 Top Employers Award-winners. What does that say about the company’s commitment to maintaining best practices in offering a host of exceptional employee conditions, including providing opportunities in high-skills training and leadership development?

We are exceptionally proud of this achievement and have worked hard to ensure that our ‘people practices’ are not only aligned to global best practices in our industry, but across all industries. Our Human Resources division is a source of great pride for our organization; one that is fit-for-purpose in addressing the varying needs of our employees, assessing transferable skills and routinely closing skills gaps.

David Plink, CEO of the Top Employers Institute, stated, “Despite the challenging year we have experienced, Paramount Group has continued to demonstrate the power of putting their people first in the workplace. We are proud to share this year’s announcement and congratulate the organizations who have been certified in their respective countries through the Top Employers Institute program”. The Top Employers Institute Certification Program assesses the people practices of participating companies through an independently audited and fact-based HR Best Practices Survey, which covers six domains and twenty subtopics, across the entire HR spectrum. Tell us about some of the domains and subtopics assessed and highlight any areas you’re particularly proud to say you’ve excelled in. How do accolades like these help Paramount Group continue to attract top talent?

The Top Employer Institute certification process is extremely comprehensive and robust, evaluating around 600 global people practices. However, it is also a ‘moving target’, with the inclusion of new global practices each year.

Some of the subtopics that they evaluate are, for example, a company’s overall ‘people strategy’ and how it aligns to business development, leadership development, onboarding, organizational change, engagement, and wellbeing, to name a few.

Paramount has excelled in the areas of onboarding, engagement, and wellbeing, as is evident in our scores that were well above the benchmark. These are also areas of priority in terms of our overall people strategy, as we believe that business imperatives lie in how we onboard, continuously engage, and look after the holistic wellbeing of our people.

We not only take pride in these accolades as an organization internally – We see ourselves as a proponent of South Africa’s embrace of STEM education and fourth industrial revolution-inspired technological prowess that ensures our country is ‘future-ready’, 21st century competitive the world over.

You’re quoted as saying “the global health crisis brought about by COVID-19 has tested the collective resolve of organizations large and small. However, I’ve never ceased to be amazed by the determination of this company and our employees who comprise its ‘People Power’, making a lasting mark on our industry while creating a positive work environment in the process”. What does Paramount Group look for in new hires and how do you ensure that new employees are aligned and willing to go that extra mile?

We believe in hiring for attitude and training for skill. The Paramount ethos has always been that we have a “can do” attitude and that we practice the art of the impossible!

Our people are very passionate about what they do; they are agile and results-driven, and we continually look for these qualities in the talent we hire.  We would compromise to some extent on qualifications and experience if we believe the candidate has potential and the right attitude to excel.

Our “Great by Choice” induction and orientation program has been designed to instill passion and pride in Paramount, familiarize our new hires with our legacy, which we are very proud of, our vision and strategy, our products and services, our ethos and culture.  It also provides a great opportunity for the new hires to meet our Leadership Teams, as each CEO presents an overview of their company and its unique value proposition.

You also said, “our corporate governance and the ‘people practices’ that we have been commended for were set out to instill what has been a lasting culture and ethos of success in the face of adversity”. What three words would you use to describe the unique company culture at Paramount?

Agile, can-do, and resilient!

More About Paramount Group and the Top Employer’s Institute

Established in 1994, Paramount Group was formed in South Africa with the goal of helping African governments better protect their countries. The company has since transformed into a truly global organization, pioneering aerospace and technologies innovation and working with sovereign governments across five continents.

The company continues to champion innovative solutions to the challenges faced by the governments and the agencies they work with, across the sectors of advanced manufacturing, engineering, armored vehicle technology, avionics and mission systems integration, naval vessel and aircraft design.

In order to receive Top Employer Institute Award-certification, companies must go through the Top Employers Institute’s strict, standardized global processes, including a 100-question survey, highlighting approximately 600 ‘progressive people practices’. This is followed by a period of validation aligned with international standards so that all participants are measured against what are considered to be employment hallmarks.

Visit www.paramountgroup.com for more information and follow them on Twitter.