Karaz Linen: From traditional operations to innovation in Human Capital Management

The Challenges

When Karaz Linen decided to revolutionize its human capital management, the goal wasn’t simply digitization—it was to build a sustainable, employee-centered workplace. This came with a major challenge: transforming HR from a cost center into a profit center, improving retention, and achieving the highest levels of productivity and well-being. These efforts were crowned by winning the Jisr Innovation in HR Award, recognizing their creative initiatives and advanced practices.

Before achieving this success, the company faced multiple challenges threatening its ability to maintain a healthy work environment, including:

• High employee turnover: Losing talent was costly—when employees left before completing 12 months, it cost the company up to three times their monthly salary.
• Low engagement: Rewards were limited to only the top 10% performers, lowering motivation across the rest of the team.
• Lack of clear career paths: This limited sustainable professional growth.
• Retention difficulties for top talent: Competition for skilled professionals was increasing.
• Outdated performance measurement methods: No clear KPIs for tracking goal achievement.
• Time-consuming manual processes: Payroll, attendance, and performance tracking were taking up significant HR time, hindering innovation.

The Solutions

HR leaders must act as strategic partners who see challenges as opportunities for innovation—championing valuable ideas and implementing initiatives that prove business impact, while leveraging strengths and addressing weaknesses to gain senior management buy-in.

1. Building a Recognition-Driven Workplace:

One of Karaz Linen’s biggest achievements was developing a comprehensive recognition program based on instant rewards and continuous appreciation. This included:

• Incentive points redeemable for benefits such as extra leave, flexible hours, or cash bonuses.
• Monthly celebrations to honor high-performing teams.
• Digital rewards and certificates to strengthen the sense of achievement.

This program boosted job satisfaction and increased productivity by 30% in just one year.

2. Innovative Retention Strategies:

Karaz Linen adopted new approaches to retaining talent, such as:

• Personal Career Development Plans: Each employee received a tailored growth roadmap.
• “Our Door Is Always Open” Re-Hiring Policy: Welcoming back proven former employees through a targeted initiative.
• Advanced training programs in partnership with educational institutions.
• Post-exit interviews & data analysis: Reviewing feedback three months after departure to develop better retention policies.
• Extended onboarding journey: Transforming the usual one-week orientation into a one-year experience with guidance, development, and motivation programs.

As a result, turnover dropped by 25% and Karaz Linen became an attractive destination for talent.

3. Empowering Internal Leadership & Driving Innovation:

Through the “Lead from Within” program, Karaz Linen:

• Trained managers on modern management strategies to enable faster, better decision-making.
• Encouraged employees to propose improvement ideas, rewarding the most innovative.
• Created an employee advisory council to participate in strategic decision-making.

These measures strengthened employee commitment and ownership.

4. Strengthening Internal Communication:

To address weak internal communication, the company launched an internal platform to:

• Share weekly and monthly updates on company news and initiatives.

• Provide open discussion spaces for employees and management.

• Host regular Q&A sessions with leaders.

This increased transparency and teamwork.

5. Transforming HR into a Strategic Success Driver:

• HR evolved from an administrative department to a strategic partner by:
• Leveraging advanced HR analytics for data-driven decision-making.
• Launching initiatives to improve employee experience from hire to retirement.
• Tracking new initiative success through clear performance metrics.

HR as an Employee Ally

The real challenge is making smart use of available opportunities—analyzing the current situation, evaluating resources, and innovating within existing processes to achieve sustainable improvement. Initiatives must be long-term and inclusive, not temporary or exclusive.

A prime example is the “Salary Advance” initiative, designed to improve employees’ financial balance without burdening the company. Instead of manual cash advance requests, employees could request part of their salary instantly via a mobile app. While leadership initially questioned the potential volume of requests, HR saw it as a strategic tool to enhance loyalty and financial stability.

Leveraging the Jisr HR System

Karaz Linen went beyond traditional initiatives, embracing technology as a cornerstone of human capital development. With Jisr HR, the company:

• Automated HR processes, reducing errors and improving efficiency.
• Used employee data analytics to forecast hiring needs and guide decision-making.
• Enhanced employee experience with digital tools for easy HR service access.
• Created integration between teams by simplifying recruitment and performance management.

These improvements boosted performance and reduced HR operational costs—making Karaz Linen a leader in digital HR solutions.

The Impact

Key results after adopting Jisr HRMS:

• 25% lower turnover → stronger retention and culture
• 40% higher employee satisfaction → happier, engaged teams
• 30% boost in productivity → more output, less wasted effort
• 90% recognition program participation → vibrant culture of appreciation
• 50% faster decisions → agility across management and operations