Exploring the Relationship of Competency, Management Best Practices, and Employee Performance in a Palm Oil Mill Company

In managing human resources, management is required to find appropriate competency development. The employees need to know what competency indicators they have and should have. It needs to be done to encourage the best practices provided by management to improve employee performance. The research aimed to identify the competency of human resources and management best practices related to advancing employee performance in a palm oil mill company. The research used a quantitative approach. The studied company was Talopino palm oil mill unit in Seluma Regency, Bengkulu owned by PT Perkebunan Nusantara VII Lampung (PTPN VII Lampung). The research was conducted from July to November 2019. The used data were primary and secondary data. Primary data were obtained by interviews and questionnaires with 76 employees in the company. The indicators were adapted from several previous researchers. The research analyzed the data using the Likert scale and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The result shows several implications. First, competency affects employee performance in the palm oil mill company. Second, competency has an insignificant result on management best practices. Third, management best practices affect employee performance. The research can provide information to companies in enhancing the employees’ competency with strategic steps in the era of globalization.