MENA Food Retail Chain Talent Mobility

The food retail chain operated over 200 stores across multiple MENA markets with a workforce exceeding 10,000 employees. Despite this large talent pool, nearly all management positions were filled through expensive external recruitment. Store-level employees had no visibility into career pathways beyond their immediate role, and HR lacked the tools to identify internal candidates with transferable skills. Annual recruitment spend had grown to unsustainable levels, and employee turnover — particularly in the first year — was significantly above industry benchmarks.

WeSoar mapped the complete role hierarchy across store operations, regional management, and corporate functions, identifying skill adjacencies that traditional job-title-based systems could not detect. The platform built personalised career pathways for every employee, showing the skills they had, the skills they needed, and the learning required to bridge the gap. Internal job postings were matched to employees based on skill profiles rather than just experience or tenure. Managers received dashboards showing mobility-ready talent within their teams and across the network.

Within twelve months, 35% of management vacancies were being filled internally — up from under 10% before WeSoar. External hiring costs dropped by 50%, with the savings redirected toward development programmes. Internal promotions doubled, and first-year turnover fell by 30% as employees could see tangible career progression. The chain now runs quarterly talent reviews using WeSoar's mobility analytics, identifying high-potential employees across the network and proactively preparing them for upcoming opportunities.