Tag Archives: Workforce Performance Management

Solid ROI from talent management

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I came across this report from fidelity (PDF) while searching around. It provides the results of a survey on change in HR groups at large companies. Some interesting stats:

  • 66% of large HR departments reported “providing only basic or low-level operations, administration and transaction support, but nothing more.”
  • 33% reported “that they have now moved beyond basic administrative functionality and up the corporate value chain”
  • 72% of companies “not currently playing a strategic business role indicated that they are moving in that direction.”
  • 97% of respondents said they are “currently undertaking, or have recently completed, HR transformation initiatives designed to allow HR to shift its focus from routine maintenance to more valued added initiatives.”
  • 82% of companies said they were planning to implement a talent planning initiative such as succession, retention or career development planning.
  • 68% reported that talent planning initiatives provided a “solid return on investment.”

The article also has some change management best practices that make it worth a look.

 

Preparing for Brain Drain

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Are you prepared for the boomer brain drain? The oldest baby boomers are now only a few years away from retirement. What happens to the knowledge they’ve accumulated over the years when they leave? CIO magazine has a new article on the topic with participation from Liviu Dedes from Pepboys (a customer) on the topic of succession planning.

This is the kind of cross-industry issue that’s going to make bigger and bigger headlines the closer we get to retirement day. I’ve even heard it described as the Y2K of the HR world, but this time, there’s real probability of impact.

From the article:

Some companies turn to software to help predict future departures and determine crucial knowledge. Succession planning or talent management software can give organizations a good picture of who is working for them, how they are performing and how long they’ll be around. With retirement on the horizon and new management positions to fill last year, automotive chain Pep Boys started using succession planning software from SuccessFactors to give it a clear picture of all employees at the company’s 584 retail and service centres. “The risk of knowledge loss will always be there because there will always be unexpected departures,” says Liviu Dedes, Pep Boys’ director of training and organizational development. “But if you have a solid process to map out who is in your leadership pipeline, you’ll be better prepared to fill job openings, retain top-performing employees and prepare for retirement.”

Hear from Kimberly-Clark on talent management

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I’m told there are nearly 750 attendees already signed up to this webinar we’re doing with WPS magazine next week on talent management. May be worth a look – our customer Kimberly-Clark , in the human form of Gary Short, Senior Consultant of Talent Management, will be speaking. I’ve heard him speak before and he’s got some great insight and perspective on what’s going on in this space. Just FYI.

Doling out raises no longer a single number proposition

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An article from the WSJ (at AZcentral.com) on paying for performance. The article cites a few examples of companies struggling with the challenges of implementing pay for performance. It’s hard to be surprised by the fact that employees aren’t all thrilled with the idea of not getting the same increase as others in the company.

That said, companies have a choice.  In the words of Martyn Fisher, Director of Talent Management at National Starch and Chemical: "As much as we would regret our average performers leaving, we’d regret more an above-target performer leaving, and that is the tough choice we have to make."

 

HR as hospital strategic partner?

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Via a google search I came across an interesting interview at a site called the Business of Healthcare. Specifically, I found a podcast with a gentleman named Steven Barney on the topic of Human Resources in healtchare. Mr. Barney is the SVP of HR for the SSM Healthcare system in the Midwest.

Though the interview starts with the interviewer stating that he always felt that “HR is just a barrier, a bureaucratic engine that is just a support function” the topic soon shifts to more valuable thinking from Mr. Barney. I’d recommend a listen if you have the time (it’s about 50 mins – a little long for my taste).

Healthcare is a very unique industry with a number of difficult people-related challenges. As Mr. Barney notes, 40 – 50% of all expenses in the hospital world are people – they are the main instrument for providing care. But, with a very diverse workforce with workers from across the educational spectrum and a “tradition of hierarchy” aligning the workforce behind common goals is no simple task. Nevertheless, he says, there are just simply too many moving pieces to allow credentials to get in the way. It’s necessary to bring everyone to the table in order to move forward.

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Tactics in the war on talent

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SuccessFactors happens to be located directly across the street from Siebel headquarters in San Mateo, CA. As most of you know, Siebel was bought last year by Oracle and, as with any acqusition of that size, the future is unknown for many of Siebel’s employees.

So today, circling the Siebel buildings are these shark-like trucks – picture below – with a message from CRM competitor SalesForce.com: "Is there a U in your future?" and sporting the now familiar "No Software" moniker with a slight adjustment  to read "No Future."

In case you were wondering, this is what the war for talent looks like:

 

By way of disclaimer – SalesForce.com is a customer of ours and SuccessFactors is a customer of theirs. Yesterday we announced our participation in their AppExchange – more on this later. 

The opposite of strategic HR

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I’ve been following an interesting line of thinking going on at Talentism about the idea of "Strategic HR," but I haven’t yet pointed it out. Though I do agree that the topic is timely and in some ways worthwhile, I haven’t waded in because I have some reservations about holding forth on HR strategy when, as Jeff himself says "Strategy is almost always worthless. Not because the strategy is bad, but because there is usually a huge gap between the strategy and the execution."

As a relevant aside, on my first day at SuccessFactors my boss sat me down to talk about the spectrum between strategy and execution. He argues that one of the biggest challenges for any business – and indeed for any employee – is to choose where on the spectrum to land. Too strategic and nothing gets done. Too tactical and your actions have no rhyme or reason. The word ‘balance’ is wrong, because it implies that you’re seeking the midpoint of the spectrum. In fact, you are seeking the point on the spectrum that’s appropriate for your role, your company, your department and your industry. It’s always a little different.

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Pay for Performance a global phenomenon

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A Towers Perrin report via Management Issues reports on the global spread of pay for performance. The success of the approach in North America and Europe has led to adoption in Asian and Latin American countries alongside regionally-based reward packages.

James Matthews a Towers Perrin principal noted:

“We are seeing annual bonuses, which used to be reserved for the
professional-level employee, being used more broadly in lower levels in
the organizations, represented in our study by the manufacturing
employee, said. For the
first time, in countries like Canada, France, Korea, Mexico and the
United Kingdom, year-end bonuses for this group are the norm and not
the exception.”

ERP shouldn’t do talent

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Ventana Research released this note saying, basically, that ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems (Oracle, SAP and others) don’t do workforce management well. In fact, they assert that a choice to use an ERP system to manage the workforce is a statement that workforce performance is not a top priority for the organization. They even go so far as to say "Ventana Research advises organizations not to rely solely on ERP for processes and systems to manage the workforce." Pretty interesting stuff.

HR groups are often under significant pressure (or even directed) by IT and Finance to go with an HR module from the ERP vendor they already deal with. It’s thought that this will simplify data integration as well as the operations and management of the new software. The reality is tha workforce performance is just not something that’s core to the big ERP guys. They throw it on there, or in some cases give it away for free to make sure they hold their position of influence at your company.

Ventana urges against this line of thinking:

"The existence of efficient ERP systems that manage enterprise resources for operational needs does not ensure that the right talent is hired, compensated, trained and motivated by appropriate rewards and goals. The current consolidation of the ERP market offers organizations the opportunity to focus on acquiring or building a set of processes and systems that will improve the management of the workforce and its performance. Finance executives should re-evaluate their investment priorities and allocate time and capital to upgrading workforce management processes and deciding who should be providing these mission critical systems."

Frank Lynn guest posts: When you have an army of direct reports

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During the holidays, one of my good friends from Germany visited me with her boyfriend, Elger.  At 33, Elger is one of the youngest Chief of Detectives in Germany.  He’s an amazing guy—black-belt in Judo, fluent in Russian and German, and pretty good at English for someone new to the language.  He served on the German narcotics beat for two years, and while here in the states he could easily spot drug dealers hanging out by public transit stations.   
 
In Germany, the police force is a civil service job.  Elger has 106 direct reports.  I asked him how he did performance reviews for that many people, and he told me that it was a labor intensive process that required the assistance of his secretary.  Of course, I had to tell him about SuccessFactors’ software—that it has a writing assistant with “starter” text so that he and his secretary wouldn’t have to re-invent the wheel 106 times.  And it even has a proxy feature, so that he can delegate the writing of performance reviews in case he’s too busy fighting crime.  And our application is available in German.

If you feel like a general commanding an army of direct reports, SuccessFactors has the right on-demand artillery to help you align, develop, motivate, and maintain your high-performance workforce.