July 2015
The Official Journal of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management
IHRIM.ORG
THINK OUTSIDE HR:
Insights to New Trends and Technologies to Benefit Your Company
2015 Mid-Year Buyer’s Guide on Page 19
Contents
Volume 6, Number 4 • July 2015
features 2015 Mid-Year Buyer’s Guide
Page 19
columns From the Editors
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Bruno Querenet, Lead Editor David Gabriel, Editor Karen V. Beaman, Editor
Global Perspective
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Managing Complexity in Cross-Country Operations By Karen V. Beaman, Teilasa Global LLC
Collaborative Technologies
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Manage Outcomes, Not People, to Ensure Your Company’s Success By Ken Pellegrino, Shibumi.com
Recruiting Digital Natives
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Will You Attract the Leaders of the Future with Moth-eaten Practices? That’s Risky Business! By Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, TalentCircles
Networks and Wirearchy
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By Valdis Krebs and Jon Husband In today’s fluid and complex economy, HR must also focus on the ties (flows, relationships) in the network, the stories that demonstrate how effectively the people in the networks are operating, and the ever-changing patterns of how these networks are responding to growing complexity.
What’s Your Team’s Brain?
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Making “People Decisions:” How HR Leader Adecco is moving to Data-centric Recruiting By Paige Beaton, Talentoday
From Our Advisors
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Talent Management – It’s Time to Get Personal By Jason Averbook, The Marcus Buckingham Company
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Brain-Based Assessment for Individuals and Organizations
Psychometrics and Predictive Analytics
By Dario Nardi, University of California (Los Angeles) Knowing about the brain makes a positive difference. And, with new wireless, consumer-friendly technologies, the brain can, and likely will, play an important role in helping people find their best fit at work, in school, and maybe everywhere.
Book Reviews
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Managing as Designing Edited by Richard J. Boland, Jr. and Fred Collopy, 2004, Stanford University Press. Reviewed by David Gabriel
By Tony Morgado and Virginia Vega, Genentech
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner , August 2009, Harper Perennial. Reviewed by Karen V. Beaman
In the last few years, we have seen the concept of wellbeing go from, “what is that?” to entire business units designing off-site meetings around the five elements of wellbeing, to teams developing wellbeing challenges to a grassroots sponsorship of campus wide mindfulness mediation sessions.
Work Rules! By Laszlo Bock , April 2015. Reviewed by Bruno Querenet
A Glimpse into a Wellbeing Journey
Talent Arbitrage
From the Outside in: Shaping HR and Workforce Strategy
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The Back Story 15
By Grant Cooperstein, Human Capital Management Institute Linking workforce and business strategy is critical, and will better prepare organizations to adapt in an uncertain future. With more workforce data available than ever before, investing in predictive talent analytics will yield perhaps one of the largest returns on investment that organizations will see in the coming years.
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The Big “Whoops!” The Delta between Top Talent Challenges and Companies’ Readiness to Address Them By Dr. Katherine Jones, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Workforce Solutions Review (ISSN 2154-6975) is published bi-monthly for the International Association for Human Resource Information Management by Futura Publishing LLC, 20505 Live Oak St., Leander, TX 78641-9273. Subscription rates can be found at www.ihrimpublications.com. Please send address corrections to Workforce Solutions Review at the address above. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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Volume 6, Number 4 • July 2015
Workforce Solutions Review is a publication of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management, whose mission is to be the leading professional association for knowledge, education and solutions supporting human capital management. Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editors, the IHRIM board of directors or the membership.
MARK BENNETT, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, CA USA mark.bennett@oracle.com
LEXY MARTIN, Independent Consultant/Researcher, Meadow Vista, CA Lexy.martin1@gmail.com
ERIK BERGGREN, VP, Customer Results & Global Research, Success Factors, San Mateo, CA USA eberggren@successfactors.com
BRIAN RETZLAFF, Head of IT for HR, Legal & Communications, ING US Insurance Americas, Atlanta, GA USA brian.retzlaff@us.ing.com
JOSH BERSIN, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Oakland, CA USA jbersin@bersin.com
© 2015 All rights reserved
NAOMI LEE BLOOM, Managing Partner, Bloom & Wallace, Fort Myers, FL USA naomibloom@mindspring.com
LISA ROWAN, Program Director, HR, Learning & Talent Strategies, IDC, Framingham, MA USA lrowan@idc.com
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Managing Editor SCOTT BOLMAN, HR Service Delivery Market Leader, Towers Watson, Chicago, IL USA, Scott.Bolman@towerswatson.com
Co-Managing Editor SHAWN FITZGERALD, PMP, SPHR, Director, Talent Aquisition, DeVry Education Group, Downers Grove, IL USA sfitzgerald@devrygroup.com
Past Managing Editor ED COLBY, Managing Principal and Technology Evangelist, PRO HCM Solutions, Chapel Hill, NC USA edcolby@gmail.com
Academic Editor KAREN BEAMAN, Managing Director, Teilasa Global, former CEO/Founder, Jeitosa Group International, San Francisco, CA USA karen.beaman@teilasa.com
Associate Editors ERIK ALVARADO, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting LLP eralvarado@deloitte.com
YVETTE CAMERON, Research Director, HCM Technologies, Gartner, Littleton, CO Yvette.Cameron@garter.com LEW CONNER, Executive Director, Higher Education User Group, Gilbert, AZ USA lconner@heug.org ELENA M. ORDÓÑEZ DEL CAMPO, Senior VP Globalization Services, SAP AG, Frankfurt, Germany elena.ordonez@sap.com LARRY DUNIVAN, SVP Products and Technology, Ceridian larry.dunivan@ceridian.com GARY DURBIN, Chief Technology Officer, SynchSource, Oakland, CA USA hacker@synchsource.com Dr. CHARLES H. FAY, Professor, School of Management & Labor Relations, Rutgers University, Highland Park, NJ USA cfay@smlr.rutgers.edu
CARL C. HOFFMANN, Director, Human Capital Management & Performance LLC, Chapel Hill, NC USA cc_hoffmann@yahoo.com
DR. KATHERINE JONES, HCM Research, Bersin by Deloitte, San Mateo, CA USA kathjones@deloitte.com
ERIC LESSER, Research Director, IBM Institute for Business Value, Boston, MA USA elesser@us.ibm.com
SYNCO JONKEREN, VP, HCM Applications Product Development & Management, EMEA, The Netherlands synco.jonkeren@oracle.com
BRUNO QUERENET, HR Technology Executive, High-Tech and Medical Industries, Sunnyvale, CA USA bruno.querenet@gmail.com
MICHAEL J. KAVANAGH, Professor Emeritus of Management, State University of Albany (SUNY), Albany, NY USA mickey.kavanagh@gmail.com
MICHAEL RUDNICK, Vice President, Principal Consultant, Logical Design Solutions, New York, NY USA michael.rudnick@gmail.com
BOB KAUNERT, Principal, Towers Watson, Philadelphia, PA USA robert.kaunert@towerswatson.com
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IHRIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers Chair SHERRY TIMMERMAN, Partner/Senior Consultant, Apex Performance Consultants Ltd
Chief Financial Officer GARY MORLOCK, HRIP, Senior TRM Project Manager, Qualcomm Inc.
CATHERINE ANN HONEY, VP, Customer Services, Radius Worldwide catherine.honey@comcast.net
CECILE ALPER-LEROUX, VP Product Strategy and Development, Ultimate Software, Weston, FL cecile_leroux@ultimatesoftware.com
DR. MARY YOUNG, Principal Researcher, Human Capital, The Conference Board, New York, NY USA mary.young@conference-board.org
ALSEN HSEIN, President,Take5 People Limited, Shanghai, PRC Alsen@take5people.com
ROBERT C. GREENE, Channels Account Executive and Sales Training Manager, Ascentis, San Mateo, CA USA rcgreene@mindspring.com
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
DAVE ULRICH, Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA dou@umich.edu
Vice Chair JAMES PETTIT, HRIP, HRIS Manager, Project Byrd Kimberly-Clark Corporation
JIM HOLINCHECK, Vice President, Services Strategy & Marketing, Workday, Inc. james.holincheck@workday.com
FREDDYE SILVERMAN, CEO, Silver Bullet Solutions, Baltimore, MD USA, freddye.silverman@mysilverbulletsolutions.com
MARK SMITH, CEO, Chief Research Officer, and Founder of Ventana Research, San Ramon, CA USA mark.smith@ventanaresearch.com
DR. URSULA CHRISTINA FELLBERG, Owner & Managing Director, UCF-StrategieBeraterin, Munich, Germany ucfell@mac.com
DAVID GABRIEL, Ed.D., Global Reach Leadership, Berkleley, CA davidcgabriel@gmail.com
JEFF HIGGINS, CEO, Human Capital Management Institute, Marina Del Rey, CA USA jeff.higgins@hcminst.com
Dr. DANIEL SULLIVAN, Professor of International Business, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware USA sullivad@lerner.udel.edu
Secretary DAVE BINDA, HRIP, CHRP, CCP, President , HR Results, Ltd. Past Chair KEVIN CARLSON, Ph.D., Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech
Directors JOYCE BROWN, HRIP, Brink’s Inc. MIKE HARMER, Intermountain Healthcare JAMES LEHMAN, Results Driven Consulting, LLC KEVIN MURPHY, HRIP, Murphy Management Consultants STUART RUDNER, Rudner MacDonald LLP
IHRIM Executive Director TODD S. MANN
BILL KUTIK, Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive, Westport, CT USA bkutik@earthlink.net
PUBLISHING INFORMATION
DAVID LUDLOW, Global VP, HCM Solutions, SAP, Palo Alto, CA David.ludlow@sap.com
TOM FAULKNER, Publisher, Futura Publishing LLC, Austin, TX USA, tomf@futurapublishing.com
RHONDA P. MARCUCCI, CPA, Consultant for GruppoMarcucci, Chicago, IL USA rhonda@gruppomarcucci-usa.com
PATTY HUBER, Advertising Manager, Austin, TX USA phuber2@austin.rr.com
Bruno Querenet, Lead Editor Bruno Querenet is a principal consultant, providing services to help HR organizations improve their efficiency and effectiveness through the adoption of relevant processes and systems. In addition, he is building a practice to support the deployment of “Teal” organizations. Previously, he was the head of HR Systems and Operations for several companies in the medical and high tech sectors. He also held senior positions in manufacturing, marketing, R&D and IT. He can be reached at Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com. David Gabriel, Editor For the past 20 years, David Gabriel has dedicated his career to helping leaders, teams and organizations maximize their potential, create value and drive sustainable results. He’s delivered innovative programs and consulting in talent management, leadership and organization development for an array of clients — from startup to Fortune 100. A partner with Global Reach Leadership, David specializes in executive coaching, talent management and organizational collaboration. He can be reached at david@globalreachleadership.com. Karen Beaman, Editor Karen V. Beaman is the managing director for Teilasa Global and the founder and lead researcher for Mercer’s Payroll Benchmarking Survey (MPBS), a unique groundbreaking research effort focused on uncovering leading practices in payroll. She has 30 years of diversified HCM experience, covering global strategic planning, application development, data modeling, business process optimization, shared services delivery strategies, business case development, and global systems deployment. Karen was previously the founder and CEO of Jeitosa Group International, a worldwide strategic business consultancy and also led the team that developed the global strategy and built the requirements for the foundational core of Workday’s new HCM system. She is fluent in English, German, and French and conversational in Spanish and Portuguese. She can be reached at karen. beaman@teilasa.com.
from the editors In her recent book, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, Herminia Ibarra makes the argument that one becomes a leader through “outsight” rather than insight. In this issue of WSR, we have taken this approach and looked for outsights which could benefit HR organizations. We scanned interesting trends or technologies and are sharing them with you through a series of great articles. Our goal is to spark new insights in you and, hopefully, inspire you to suggest new, impactful approaches within your company. Valdis Krebs is chief scientist and founder of OrgNet. He and Jon Husband show how “business X-rays” of how things actually get done in organizations can not only reveal network interactions between people, they can significantly enhance an HR professional’s understanding of what’s really going on. Hierarchical organizational charts are still the most common models in use, but they are becoming dissonant with the dynamics of work today. The authors suggest that we adopt instead a “wirearchical” model, a more fluid and appropriate way to make sense of business complexity and the knowledge economy. Dario Nardi, from UCLA, introduces us to the world of neuroscience by showing how advances in this field and the affordability of EEG (electroencephalography) tools can lead to interesting personal discoveries and enable real-time analysis of team dynamics. What is really engaging employees? What could bring individuals into “flow”? How can we better analyze leadership styles within an organization? These are some of the questions addressed in Dario’s article. Is Work Killing You? asks Dr. David Posen in his latest book of the same name. He advocates well-being through stress mastery, which leads to more productive, happier employees. Tony Morgado and Virginia Vega, HR practitioners at Genentech, walk us through their journey of creating a wellbeing program and how what started as a grassroots effort there is now becoming mainstream. The war for talent continues, and is at the heart of the “raison d’etre” of HR, but it is often shortsightedly addressed. Grant Cooperstein, from HCMI, advocates for the use of talent arbitrage—shifting company resources, relocating, or expanding into new locations, to take advantage of better, more plentiful talent. Whether you are just beginning to do meaningful workforce analytics or are a veteran of addressing talent shortages or surpluses in developed or developing countries, this article details practical examples — both local and global. Since Thomas L. Friedman wrote his famous book, The World is Flat, people have often used this expression to justify the deployment of global policies or approaches, but the world is much more complex. While it may be flat, it is not uniform. In her groundbreaking research, Karen Beaman, from Teilasa Global, introduces to us to a powerful model to understand the complexity across countries in an actionable way. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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from the editors (cont’d) Shibumi’s chief strategy officer, Ken Pellegrino shares a client example and clearly articulates the link between effective collaboration technology and practice, and the delivery of real business value. Shibumi is able to visually represent the “health” of company sales, operations, projects and ongoing initiatives through simple, customizable dashboards enabling stronger alignment of goals, business intent and accountabilities across the organizational spectrum. In her column, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, co-founder and CEO of TalentCircles, answers the question: “What do you need to do to effectively attract leaders of the future, specifically those digital natives who now represent 35 percent of the workforce?” An expert in helping organizations create live talent pipelines and candidate-centric engagement strategies, Marylene shares practical, no-nonsense advice for leveraging modern platforms designed to reach out to millennial audiences. The article from Paige Beaton of Talentoday introduces a new approach to new-hire assessment and shows how it has been used by Adecco to optimize job placements, win new customers and improve feedback to candidates. Understanding not only the technical skills of candidates, but also their personality and professional motivations has enabled Adecco to make faster, better matches for open positions. Pre-hire assessments will become more prevalent as companies leverage big data into hiring processes and integrate it with their ATS. See if this approach could be of value to you. Jason Averbook says “It’s Time to Get Personal” with talent management and he outlines why this is crucial and urges us to take action. In testimonial fashion, Jason summarizes 20 years of research and discussion with leading customers. Are you curious about new concepts, new techniques or technologies which may disrupt the organization of work? Our “Trends” column highlights some of these, inviting you to take a look at new organizational models, examining the impact of the new artificial intelligence revolution, and distilling key learnings from chaos and complexity theories. And if you are wondering what to read this summer, our three editors each picked a book they read or re-read recently and wrote a review of it. Check out their reviews of Freakonomics by Steven D. Lewitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Managing as Designing by Dick Boland and Fred Collopy, and Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock. Once again, “The Back Story” from Katherine Jones (Bersin by Deloitte) concludes the issue. We are certain you will appreciate her incisive and insightful, or should we say outsightful commentary. Enjoy your readings and let us know how we can improve the next issues of WSR.
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feature Networks and Wirearchy By Valdis Krebs and Jon Husband
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o one doubts that better management of data, information, and knowledge within the firm will lead to improved innovation and competitive advantage. Everyone agrees on the goal – better utilization of internal and external knowledge. It is the approach to this goal that is hotly debated. Many vendors and consultants push a technology-driven approach. “Buy our state-of-art knowledge storage system and you will never again lose knowledge that is vital to the company!” they exclaim. Others emphasize the soft side of the new way to work. “Create a network culture that rewards sharing, learning and adaptability,” they postulate. Culture comes first, and only then the technology to support it! In an era where hyperlinked exchanges on collaborative computer platforms are beginning to characterize the knowledge-work environment, the need to create the right corporate culture – supported by the right technology – has never been more necessary. And in this context, the role of HR in today’s organizations is coming under increasing attack because of its reliance on outdated and rapidly obsolescing models and methods of employee management. Knowledge work today requires the effective utilization of knowledge, discovery and learning. And that requires both culture and technology! Explicit information and data can be easily codified, written down, and stored in a database. We have the necessary skills and more than adequate tools for understanding this type of business information. Yet, simple data is frequently not where competitive advantage is found. An organization’s real edge in the marketplace is often found in complex, contextsensitive knowledge and wisdom found in the minds of employees, contractors and customers. Finding and using such knowledge in pertinent ways is difficult. It is often impossible to codify contextual knowledge and wisdom and store it as ones and zeroes in a computer. This core knowledge of the corporation is found in individuals, formal and informal work groups, and their inter-connections. The
knowledge is in the network. An organization’s data is found in its computer systems, but a company’s intelligence is found in its biological and social systems – the networks of people creating value. Computer networks must support the people networks in today’s fluid and adaptive organizations – not the other way around.
Reinventing HR in an Era of Knowledge Networks Visualizing Knowledge Networks Today’s HR professionals need an in-depth understanding of the growing presence of networks of people and knowledge. However (and unfortunately), the HR profession, as it stands today, works with a core set of tools for understanding, influencing, and guiding knowledge work derived directly from the core assumptions of the industrial era (division of labor, specialization, silos of expertise, individual performance, top-down direction and control). These tools deliver work design outcomes that are dissonant with the structure and dynamics of networks of knowledge, and present major obstacles to the influence and effectiveness of the work of HR. The organization chart makes these core assumptions visual. It has been a staple in the Human Resources department for 70-plus years. It displays who works where and who reports to whom. This was sufficient knowledge in a time when organizations faced little or no change. These charts were tools for control and planning for environments that were assumed to be stable and predictable. Today’s fluid business environment makes the assumption of static structures increasingly questionable. Things change all the time based on new information and responses to that information. The fast economy requires flexible, adaptive structures that self-organize internally in response to external changes. In this knowledge-critical economy we need charts to show us both: 1) who knows what, and 2) who www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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Figure 1. Organization Hierarchy.
Figure 2. Value Add Network.
knows who. In addition to pictures of hierarchy, we need visualizations of the massive interconnectivity that occurs in the workflows, knowledge exchanges, and learning relationships that are today’s organization. Organizational network analysis (ONA) is a software supported methodology that reveals the real workings of an organization: who knows who and who knows what. It uses the rigor of systems analysis to reveal the behavior inside and between organizations. Organizational network maps display, and make measurable, the interactions across the white space on the organization chart. These visualizations are in effect business Xrays of how things actually get done. Human Resources managers and consultants can use these revealing diagrams in the same way that doctors use X-rays and CAT scans: to see what is normally invisible. Organizational network analysis exhibits both how knowledge is shared in emergent workflows, and how it is utilized in key business processes. In short, it uncovers the hidden dynamics that support learning, adaptation, and adding value in the modern organization. Learning about and using ONA, HR managers and consultants can visualize and explore the connections that matter, and they can also measure and benchmark the patterns of connections. This technology provides the ability to drill down into a complex organizational system and find key employees, disconnected workers, and communication problems.
Organizational Structures
Organizations are composed of two types of networks: prescribed and emergent. Prescribed networks include the formal hierarchy, assigned project teams, and defined business processes. The company’s emergent networks can also be visualized. These links reveal what happens in the white space (between the boxes) on the organization chart. They show the work, advice, influence, and support connections that have emerged between employees as they get their jobs done and learn from each other. A real client organization is shown in Figure 1. The nodes identify employees in the organization. Employee names are hidden, replaced by numbers as a reference. The employee nodes are colored according to their department of membership. The links between the nodes show who reports to whom – the formal hierarchy. The
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arrows are drawn from the employee, with the arrowhead pointing to their supervisor. Node 5 is the top manager in the organization shown in Figure 1. This is a network view of the organization chart. This data was obtained from the HR department and put into InFlow ONA software for mapping and measuring networks. This hierarchy is represented as a tree network, with hubs-and-spokes representing the prescribed organization structure. The second type of organizational structure is not designed or engineered ahead of time like the hierarchy. These structures emerge during the course of everyday work and interactions amongst employees. We call this form of emergent organization a wirearchy. A wirearchy is a naturally emergent form of organization generated by flows of information emanating from and flowing towards a purpose, objective, or goal. Wirearchies are what you see when you complete an ONA aimed at uncovering who connects with who for what reasons and reflects how things get done (or not), based on the connections between people and the information and knowledge flowing between them. The links of the emergent workflow – how employees add value – are obtained via a brief survey of each employee. The survey contains a handful of questions each revealing a different emergent network in the organization. Typical emergent networks include: work flow/valueadd, social ties, advice/support, innovation, expertise, leadership, and voice of the customer. Figure 2 is a map of the work exchanges supporting the company’s key product/service. It shows the same employees as Figure 1. Here, two employees are connected by a grey link if they both stated, on an employee survey, that they worked with each other to produce the company product/service. The InFlow software arranged the network based on who was connected to whom, putting nodes that share many connections close together. This results in the visibility of clusters of collaboration. It appears that the formal organization structure strongly influences how things get done, with most of the strong work relationships existing within the walls of each department (departments are indicated by the same color). Yet, there are also links reaching across and through the white space on the organization chart to connect employees of different departments. Employees who establish work ties to connect their department to other departments or people outside of the organization, such as customers and suppliers, are called boundary spanners. In network terms, they are connectors. In complex network diagrams like Figure
2, it is often hard to spot the connectors and whom they connect. We use our ONA software to extract just the boundary spanners from the complex network and show how they bridge various departments in value-adding processes. The circle of boundary spanners is shown in Figure 3. We see how the various departments work together to accomplish the goals of the organization. In Figure 3, we see that the employee represented by Node 29 connects to many other employees, mostly to those in the Pink and Green departments. Information flows, knowledge is exchanged, and learning happens via the bridges that Node 29 forms with other employees. Node 29 and the other boundary spanners in Figure 3 are key employees in the modern 21st century organization. It is not just what they know, but who they know, and who knows them, that leads to a productive organization. Collaboration, innovation, and learning happen through these intersections and bridges, enabling adaptability in the organization. It is these boundaryspanning employees that change Hierarchy into Wirearchy. Visualizations, like those in Figures 1, 2 and 3, give insight into complex human systems not readily available by other HR tools or analytics. Even deeper insights can be gained from measuring these complex human structures. Networks can be measured on the individual, group and system-wide levels. We can find emergent clusters, bottlenecks, key disconnects, and well-connected employees. A regular X-ray of how work gets done in the company allows us to monitor and improve the health of the organization.
Network Metrics and Competency Models
Once we have a map of the organization, we can measure it. A common belief is that high network activity brings increased network benefits – the more connections, the better. While this is occasionally true, it is not always the case. We do not want an over-connected employee network with many redundant ties, as this can unnecessarily extract time and energy. Being well-located in the network – having centrality – does bring network benefits. Research has shown that employees who are central in key networks learn faster, perform better, and are more committed to the organization. These employees are also less likely to turnover. On the other hand, employees with low centrality are much more likely to leave the organization. Network metrics can also help HR professionals begin to understand how to use existing competency models differently and more
effectively. Parsing the metrics and augmenting our understanding of them through a process known as sense-making helps us see how people are using their competencies. The idea of sense-making is derived from an emergent concept that can help HR professionals deepen their understanding of competencies in action. In essence, organizations today are increasingly struggling to come to terms with rapidly growing conditions of complexity, because the main HR methods for seeking effectiveness have been designed for complicated (knowable) conditions rather than complex (unknowable) conditions. One of our era’s pioneers in the navigation and management of complexity is Dave Snowden, the past founder of IBM’s Centre for Organisational Complexity and the originator of the Cynefin framework.
Figure 3. Boundary spanning between departments.
To better understand how to respond to complex conditions, over the past decade, Snowden has developed an approach to assessing and navigating complexity that he calls sense-making. Sense-making involves gathering micronarratives (anecdotes, stories, descriptions, etc.) and then assessing them through a process called “signifying,” whereby people signify their understanding of how someone will have performed in relation to the context provided by the micro-narratives. The diagram on page 8 shows the signification process for effectiveness in carrying out key activities of successful consulting in large consulting firms. A generic competency model for consulting will typically have as key components: 1) “brings home the bacon” (sales), 2) makes things happen (effective delivery), and 3) finds/creates solutions (application of intellectual capital).
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The signification process generates data into a database, which is then turned into a series of visual analytics that portray the competencies in action and allow for diagnosis and exploration of how to increase performance. This process of sense-making can be applied to any competency model in order to better understand and use the concept of competency modeling applied to talent development. Such types of understanding are fundamental to the new role of the HR professional, especially when acting as a strategic change agent and operational management partner. This foundation of understanding can lead to sounder and more effective strategic decisions, value creation, and significantly enhanced HR credibility.
Future of Work Connected employees, through emergent networks, help knowledge-based organizations continuously adapt to their changing enviAbout the Authors ronments. Exerting too much control over Valdis Krebs is founder and chief scientist this process hinders effective outcomes. at Orgnet LLC. Orgnet LLC – which Building emergent communities and inforcelebrates 20 years in business in 2015 mal networks is a lot like gardening. The – provides Social/Organizational Network manager (gardener) must provide resources Analysis (SNA/ONA) software and services for organizations, communities and their and remove obstacles (weeds) so that the consultants. As an HR manager in the employees (plants) can follow goals (sunearly 1990s, Valdis led over a dozen ONA light) to self-organize and grow. Trying to projects at TRW Space and Electronexert too much control over this emergent ics – mapping and measuring networks process will usually result in a poor harvest. of engineers and scientists. He has Tomato plants know how to produce fruit; participated in or lead over 500 SNA/ONA so do employees. Support them in attaining projects with clients all over the world in all types of organizations. He presents his their goals. research and findings at top conferences Networks of people and knowledge around the world. He can be reached at grouped around purpose and objectives are valdis@orgnet.com. the landscape of the future of work. Human Resources should be among the first to be Jon Husband created the concept and effective landscapers and gardeners. As we term “wirearchy,” which offers a unique transition from traditional industrial hierperspective on social media and social networks – and their impacts on society, archies to connected, fluid wirearchies in established institutions, learning and the 21st Century, this includes shifting from change, and the workplace of the future. individual-focused employee performance He conducts research into business stratto group performance of connected employegy, organizational structures, and work ees. Better understanding of organizational design in the interconnected knowledge wiring will lead to increased organizational age, and consults to select organizations effectiveness performance. in Canada, the U.S. and Western Europe. He can be reached at All organizations are faced with a signifijon.husband@gmail.com. cant, if not massive, transition in order to
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adapt to the new networked digital environment. Hierarchical organization designs are becoming less and less effective with each passing month. As noted earlier, we posit that a new emergent organizing principle has been emerging for the past decade or more. Wirearchy is in effect an evolution of hierarchy that also takes into consideration networked structures, dynamics and the fluidity and responsiveness enabled by adapting to, and using, ongoing feedback loops between connected people and information. Wirearchy is defined as “dynamic flows of power and authority based on knowledge, trust, credibility, and the generation of economic and social value.” It takes into account increased autonomy of knowledge workers, core knowledge management (KM) and social learning, the emergent notion of “working out loud” and the necessary adaptations to leadership and management practices. These are increasingly necessary for agility and effectiveness in a networked environment of accelerating information flows. A fast and fluid business environment requires HR leaders and change agents/consultants to understand the constantly shifting economic webs within and between organizations. Static, hierarchical structures, alone, are no longer sufficient to function in the connected economy. Taken together, Figures 1 through 3 reveal how networks work together to get things done. Organizational network analysis for network mapping and Cynefin’s sense-making taken together can significantly enhance an HR professional’s understanding of what’s going on in an organization, and how the organization’s intellectual capacity and capabilities can be situated, developed, and deployed more effectively to respond to the challenges of rapidly growing complexity. A network view of todays’ complexity-driven business world is necessary to adapt to the chaos and complexity of continuous change. In the past, HR departments focused on the nodes (employees) in the network, which were modeled as boxes on an organization chart. In times of reorganization, the boxes and their formal connections were moved around by management prescription. In today’s fluid and complex economy, HR must also focus on the ties (flows, relationships) in the network, the stories that demonstrate how effectively the people in the networks are operating, and the ever-changing patterns of how these networks are responding to growing complexity. Network models of how organizations get things done are as necessary in the new economy as organizational charts were in the industrial era. Instead of just focusing on “hire and fire,” HR must now focus on “hire and wire.”
feature What’s Your Team’s Brain? Brain-Based Assessment for Individuals and Organizations By Dario Nardi, University of California (Los Angeles)
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n a scale of 0 to 100 percent, how accurately do you know yourself, or the leaders or teams that you work with?
Today, a new technology is on stage: neuro-assessment. Schools, companies, coaches, counselors, and others are exploring the use of machines to assess how their brains truly work. This is the century of the brain after all! There is still a lot to learn and refine to make results easily digestible to the public and organizations, with ethics and usefulness in mind, but some people are already forging ahead as pioneers. This article highlights some brain basics, the emerging consumer options, and what you might keep an eye out for – or even try – over the next couple of years.
Leveraging Cognitive Diversity Is someone well prepared for a new position? What training format would be most beneficial? When moving onto a team, how well will a person mesh, both interpersonally and in terms of skillset? How can we best help those folks who are highly valued, yet unhappy? How will a leader perform in the face of surprises? Does a team have sufficient cognitive diversity to do its job well? For decades, we’ve tended to rely on pencil-paper assessments. Some of these like DiSC, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator™ instrument, and EQ (emotional intelligence), do a decent job of providing a language for people to talk about similarities and differences. They help us recognize people’s different gifts – one size does not fit all – and we can use them to apply leverage for better results, but these traditional tools rely on self-reflection or opinion and miss key facets of who we are. What should you do with folks
who don’t fit a type? Are we getting all the relevant data? How do we sort what’s situational from what’s lasting? How to assess potential? What do you do when assessment results are wrong? Brain-based assessment offers some objective and empowering answers. For several years, the Human Connectome Project – an open-source exploration of the brain by multiple institutions – has documented brain functions. I, too, have spent seven years exploring the brain in a similar way. I use brain imaging across a range of individuals around diverse tasks and in social situations. Recently, a group of fellow pioneers with Evolvat, a neuro-technology company, and I led five dozen Florida high school students through a brain-based assessment process. Elsewhere, four dozen coaches and counselors and a few organizations in San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, London, Brisbane, and Prague have also applied those techniques with enthusiasm and positive feedback. It was really rewarding to help people confirm the 50 percent they already felt sure about and then discover new sides of themselves and gain insight into long-standing questions. It’s even better when people can use the results to better work together. Before we get carried away with possibilities, let’s get familiar with some of the science, hear what it’s like, and consider some potential challenges, such as privacy.
Brain Basics How does your brain work? Everyone is a little bit different. But, overall, we share the same toolbox. At a basic level, the brain is home to numerous modules that work together in networks. Each module is like a computer circuit, a big cluster of neurons
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that aids us with a particular task such as hearing words, recalling faces, or noticing bodily sensations. Modules help us with many abstract tasks too, such as evaluating ethics, interpreting someone’s intent, or mentally rehearsing a future action. There are easily five dozen modules just in the neocortex, which is the brain’s outermost, thick layer and a uniquely human element. If you can think it, feel it, or do it, it’s there in the brain somewhere, though not always in a way we might expect. Figure 1 offers a bird’s eye view of the layout of the neocortex. It highlights key modules. In the figure, the nose is the triangle on the top of the map and the ears are on the sides. This brain map is the result of book research and seven years of hands-on laboratory corroboration with 170 individuals, from college students to octogenarians of various ethnicities, careers, personality profiles and backgrounds. With each person, I spend one or two hours documenting their brain activity as they try a wide range of both solitary and social activities. It probably comes as no surprise that each of us prefer some modules over others. We differ by the tasks we enjoy and how well we do them. Your Turn: Please take a moment to explore the brain map and circle ten tasks that likely describe you well. If you have a chance, you might want to compare with someone else or consider the demands of your work vis-à-vis your strengths.
Figure 1. Skills that link to brain activity.
We can explore the neocortex using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology. An EEG
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device measures the electrical activity on the surface of the brain. This technology shows the brain’s activity in real-time, as it happens. We can also later analyze the data to uncover networks of cooperation. These networks result from years of repetition. Every millisecond, just by thinking as you normally do, you are reinforcing your favorite neural pathways. Thus, the EEG reveals both contextual behavior and ingrained habits – ways we perceive, think, feel, and act. While EEG is hardly the final say in technology, it lets us try many different tasks and interactions to easily learn how we operate individually and also with other people.
Figure 2. Brain wiring of four persons.
As I’ve found in my research, we enjoy different strengths. For each of us, modules and networks activate with different degrees of stimulus, competence and motivation. Figure 2 compares the long-term brain wiring of four people. As you can likely spot, the figures are quite different! The people’s behaviors and self-experience differ greatly too.
Put on Your Headset! So how does it all work? Let’s follow Maria, a fictional employee. Maria arrives to a private room with a friendly technician, a beautiful view (That’s actually quite relevant!), some arts and crafts materials on a table, a laptop, and a sleek looking headset. The headset might be a medical quality device, complete with gel and a Santa-like nylon cap, but, probably not. Rather, Maria will surely don one of the elegant consumer-oriented devices (Figure 3) that I’ve used. Note: I am not affiliated with these products or companies. The technician helps Maria with the wireless headset, ensures the computer is recording data, and offers her a variety of tasks. In theory, the whole process might be automated, with a computer avatar offering tasks, but I’ve found there is no substitute for real people to stimulate our brain’s social and
emotional centers. In under an hour, Maria is done and resumes her day. The technician uploads the data to a cloud website, where proprietary software generates Maria’s personal report. Later, Maria can read through the report at her leisure, maybe with an audio-guide. Preferably, she also attends a facilitated debrief session, either face-to-face or as a webinar. Her report will suggest tips, personalized for her, for greater productivity and engagement. Privacy is key – The American Psychological Association offers guidelines for the ethical and legal use of assessments. An EEG is no different. In fact, while EEG is not a regulated practice, it is wise to treat EEG data with extra care due to its biological nature. Privacy concerns may seem to limit what we do with teams. Fortunately, HR professionals know smart ways to involve people without sharing assessment results. And, at the end of this article, I promise we will take up the promise of “team brains.”
“Muse” EEG by InteraXon “Epoc+”
“EEG by Emotiv “NeuroSky”
“EEG by NeuroSky”
Figure 3. Consumer-friendly EEG headsets.
impacts everything we do, especially when we act as leaders. On top of this, if we consider extraversion/introversion, the result is four executive styles that look a lot like the four social styles offered by tools like DiSC. What’s different about the brain results is that they are based on machine measurement. In fact, when I compare people’s self-assessments versus actual brain scans, the faculty that people are most likely to misjudge about themselves is their executive style.
Brain-Savvy Solutions There are many ways to analyze and make meaning of EEG data. If you’re interested, Figure 4 exemplifies typical EEG patterns and what they indicate. But, there’s no need to delve into details. Let’s explore a few highlights that are meaningful in the workplace. Employee engagement is a hot topic, and rightly so. It relates to many facets of work including learning and attention. Conveniently, we can document brain activity as a person tries various tasks. The more activity during a task, the more “engaged” he or she is. It’s almost that simple. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what really interests someone and maximize his or her engagement? Behind your forehead are the brain’s executive centers. Basically, your “brain company” has two very different CEOs. On the left, that CEO is goal-focused. It gets active when we make decisions, give explanations, set goals and filter out distractions. It helps us stay confident and on track. On the right, that CEO is open-ended. It lacks filters and gets active when we brainstorm, self-reflect, and navigate our way through an open-ended process. As you might imagine, these two CEOs need to coordinate well as they manage the whole rest of your brain. And, most of us have a preference for one over the other. This bias
Figure 4. The EEG monitor shows how people’s brain respond.
How about skills assessment? Yes, we can do it also through an EEG! We can look at brain networks. Specific networks point to capacity for outside-the-box thinking, social rapport-building, goal-focused planning, and many other areas, down to very specific variations such as likely preference for talk or email. The results can be broad or detailed depending on client needs and how many biosensors an EEG headset offers. Another topic we can delve into is “flow.” When do you get into “flow” or “the zone?” What is this near-mystical mode anyway? Flow shows in the brain when we utilize our entire neocortex all at once, at maximum capacity, and with a very relaxed feeling. Sounds nice, right? Two criteria seem necessary; expertise in the task and the need to www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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improvise. For example, a professional musician likely shows flow when composing a new song on the fly for an audience, drawing upon all of the brain and mastery of music. Five years ago a student came to my EEG lab for career advice. His parents wanted him to go to dental school. But, he Resources loved music, and the EEG monitor BOOKS showed that rare mode of flow when Dario Nardi, Neuroscience of Personality: Brainhe delivered an impromptu rap. Savvy Insights for All Types of People, Radiance This profound knowledge allowed House, 2011. him to make a smarter decision Dario Nardi, 8 Keys to Self-Leadership: From Awareness to Action, Radiance House, 2005. after graduation, to at least consider a different path. WEB LINKS What does an EEG not say? Is DarioNardi.com it a lie detector? No. Can it tell us Evolvat.com about a person’s values or characRadianceHouse.com Facebook.com/NeuroTypes ter? Yes and no. Often, people hold humanconnectome.org expectations about others and the world that mirror their own cogniEEG HEADSETS tive preferences. For example, if “Epoc+” by Emotiv (emotiv.com), “NeuroSky” by NeuroSky (neurosky.com) you are adept at the abstract use of “Muse” by InteraXon (choosemuse.com) language, you may assume or hope that others are similarly adept; you may get frustrated or feel a little lonely if others don’t share your brain wiring there. But, that’s as far as it goes. Looking at the brain tells us how people process their experiences. It can’t tell us (yet) the private thoughts or content of a person’s mind.
Brain-Savvy Teams What about teams? Can we help people better understand and actualize a team’s potential? It’s actually pretty easy About the Author with an EEG. I call the solution your Dario Nardi, Ph.D., is a “team brain.” It’s a composite of evworld-renowned author, eryone’s results. When my colleagues speaker and expert in the fields of neuroscience and I at Evolvat held our first execuresearch and personality. He tive retreat, most of our members holds a current position as did brain imaging to better inform senior lecturer at University of California (Los ourselves. What did we find? Angeles), where he won UCLA’s Copenhaver Team Strengths and WeakAward for Innovative Use of Technology in 2005 and UCLA’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year nesses – Here’s where we work well award in 2011. His books include Neuroscience together or have redundancies. Do of Personality and 8 Keys to Self-Leadership, we always need these strengths for among other titles, and he is the creator of the our task? Do we need to overcome Personality Types and Love Therapy app for the iPhone. Since 2007, Nardi has focused his time the weaknesses? For example, our on conducting hands-on brain research, team had a bias toward the “openutilizing insights of real-time EEG. He regularly ended” CEO, with lots of potential keynotes international conferences and for out-of-the-box thinking and facilitates workshops teaching health professionals in multiple countries the art and science of the brain. For more information, please visit DarioNardi.com.
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perhaps not enough focus on fulfilling goals. Fortunately, two absent team members have helped filled that void. Blind-spots – The team tends to neglect these areas. We needed to ask, what important role was left under-addressed? Should we bring on someone else to the team? Often, like the Myers-Briggs types, the blind spots are the mirror image of the strengths. Polarities – Here’s the fun! Here’s where the team is split down the middle. This showed up very clearly during our days together. Two members needed to break every 90 minutes for vigorous and verbally challenging games of ping-pong, preferably using the windows and ceiling along with the official table. Those of us who didn’t need these wild breaks might have rolled our eyes. But, with brain scans in hand, I wasn’t surprised, and honoring cognitive diversity is what it’s all about. In fact, those breaks repeatedly led to vigorous work afterward. A “team brain” approach should keep people’s data private and keeps members focused on the team – its shared goals, needs, and values – rather than on personalities of individual members. An over-focus on individuals may lead to rivalries, blaming, alliances, and other dynamics that are the realm of future brain research.
You Can Start Today To sum it all up, to meet our needs, the brain’s elements work in concert. As an analogy, if a brain module is a musical instrument, then the brain is a symphony orchestra that affords complex performances. Sometimes, a few musicians are asleep, off-key, or don’t show up. We have favorite instruments and favorite songs. And, like that neat app, Shazam, which rapidly identifies just about any song, brain imaging is coming on stage to deliver similar magic for identifying our skills and personality profile. Knowing about the brain makes a positive difference. And, with new wireless, consumer-friendly technologies, the brain can, and likely will, play an important role in helping people find their best fit at work, in school, and maybe everywhere.
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A Glimpse into a Wellbeing Journey By Tony Morgado and Virginia Vega, Genentech
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or how many decades have we heard in business that we need to do more with less? As Dr. David Posen points out in his book, Is Work Killing You?, following many years of right-sizing and efficiency efforts, businesses can create a paradoxical situation that feels like an organization can do “everything with nothing” (p. 60). Though an extreme analogy, how much does this doing more with less mindset in all aspects of our lives add to the ever increasing sense of feeling overwhelmed? The underlying philosophy behind our wellbeing journey was to recognize that people do not have a separate work life and non-work life. People have a whole life and demands in all components need to be considered as part of developing one’s wellbeing. With such a large portion of people’s lives spent at work, employees are looking for employers to aid in the process of supporting their overall wellbeing. In late 2011, Genentech’s Career and Learning team began analyzing the need for providing learning solutions to help employees develop personal coping skills to deal with a changing workplace landscape and to help employees manage the demands of a new global work environment. This was the beginning of our wellbeing journey. We launched a cross-functional, cross-site team to develop an approach for implementing our “Wellbeing @ Work” initiative. Though the title of the initiative appears to imply a sole focus of wellbeing in the workplace, the goal was to develop resources and tools that could be accessed by employees to support their overall life harmony. The guiding principle for the project was to focus on being able to provide wellbeing resources and tools to as many employees as possible in a simple and accessible way. In essence, the objective was to provide tools for employees to take charge of their own wellbeing. The project was designed to build the organizational momentum for a focus on wellbeing, starting with a grassroots effort targeted toward employees seeking to improve their overall wellbeing. Why pursue wellbeing? Dr. David Posen (2013) posits that it is “short sighted and frankly foolish… to take competent, conscientious, committed and caring employees and push them past their tipping point” (p. 45). From a humanistic perspective, if employees are your most important asset, and you care about their health, happiness, engagement and productivity, you should care about their overall wellbeing. In addition, there are tangible business benefits to be derived from a culture that has thriving wellbeing. People that enjoy what they do each day are more productive and can better handle
longer work hours with lower frequency of burning out (Rath & Harter, 2010). Further, Wright, Copranzano and Bonett (2007) report that employees who exhibit positive psychological wellbeing think outside the box, are more proactive, and are better prepared to deal with workplace ambiguity. In another study, Wright and Bonett (2007) found “turnover intent tends to be high for those employees exhibiting low psychological wellbeing, irrespective of their level of job satisfaction” (p. 152). So what is wellbeing? The foundation of our initiative was based on research from the book Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, by Tom Rath and Jim Harter. This multidimensional view of wellbeing identified one’s state of wellbeing as the result of a combination of References five interdependent essential elements: career, community, financial, social, and C. Maslach, W.B. Schaufeli & M.P. Leiter, physical wellbeing. Rath and Harter’s “Job burnout,” Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), p. 397-422, 2001. (2010) five elements model is both intuitive and easy to understand: •
Career wellbeing – Do you find purpose in what you do each day? Are you able to use your strengths?
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Social wellbeing – Do you have supportive relationships at work, home, and in your community?
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Financial wellbeing – Are you managing your finances effectively, taking care of today’s needs and planning for the future?
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Community wellbeing – Are you engaged in the area where you live?
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Physical wellbeing – Do you have good health and the energy to get things?
D. Posen, Is Work Killing You?, Toronto: House of Anansi Press, Inc., 2013.
T. Rath, J. Harter, Wellbeing: The five essential elements, New York, New York: Gallup Press, 2010. R. Tator, A. Latson, More Time for You: A powerful system to organize your work and get things done, New York, New York: AMACOM, 2011. T.A. Wright, & D.G. Bonett, “Job satisfaction and psychological well-being as nonadditive predictors of workplace turnover,” Journal of Management, 33(2), p. 141-160, 2007. T.A. Wright, D.G. Bonett, & R. Cropanzano, “The moderating role of employee well being on the relation between job satisfaction and job performance,” Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(2), p. 93-104, 2007.
The language of “wellbeing” was preferred to “wellness” as the later often strongly implies only physical health. Wellbeing encompasses all of the elements of an individual’s life experience and includes the physical wellbeing element. This holistic view of wellbeing also recognizes the impact of the work setting, using one’s strengths, deriving meaning/purpose from daily activities, and manager/employee relationships as critical to enhancing wellbeing. There is also a connection between personal and work opportunities
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About the Authors Tony Morgado is a senior manager on the Genentech Career & Learning Team. In addition to being the co-creator of the Wellbeing @ Work initiative, he is an internal consultant providing support for the learning and development strategy for the Information Technology, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, and Site Services departments. His Human Resources career includes work in labor relations, HRIS management and learning & development. Morgado holds a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles, a certificate in Human Resource Management from California State University, East Bay and a master’s degree in Organizational Performance and Change from Colorado State University. He can be reached at morgado.tony@gene.com. Virginia Vega is currently a senior manager in HR Career & Learning at Genentech, Inc., a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco. She has been with Genentech for the past 11 years and has held a variety of senior-level HR roles, including organizational development consultant, HR director, and senior manager of leadership development. Prior to joining Genentech, Vega worked for Silicon Graphics, Inc. and Kaiser Permanente. In addition to her 25-plus years of experience in Human Resources, she holds a senior professional in human resources (SPHR) certification from HR Certification Institute and is a certified integral coach through New Ventures West. She can be reached at vega.virginia@gene.com.
to enhance one’s wellbeing; for example, social and community wellbeing can be achieved in harmony with activities at work as opposed to exclusively reserved in one’s private life. The “five element” model aligned with the information gathered during the needs analysis as the career and learning team was identifying new resources to support the employee’s desire to be better prepared to handle organizational change. The analysis process led to a series of resources being rolled out to help employees focus on and develop their wellbeing. These include: • Wellbeing @ Work Tool Kit – A website with resources and tools, including a wellbeing assessment. In addition to a broad array of resources, there is a social community where employees can share ideas and experiences with developing their overall wellbeing. • A Better Way of Working is a course offered in collaboration with The Energy Project. The Energy Project offers a scientifically grounded curriculum that energizes people and transforms companies by helping them to more skillfully manage energy rather than time. When we have more energy available to us – more capacity – we can get more done, in less time, at a higher level of quality, in a more sustainable way. • Resilience: Finding Your Inner Strength – Developed to allow participants to learn practical coping strategies to manage challenging situations to develop a healthy stress cycle where one manages periods of stress with periods of rest and recovery. • More Time for You© – A course offered in collaboration with Linkage, Inc. based on the work of Rosemary Tator and Alesia Latson provides time management practices to better handle the volume of email, workflow, and job responsibilities from a holistic view of work/life harmony. Our initial efforts focused on developing coping skills for employees. However, focusing on just the individual is not enough. We recognize that the employee exists within a system, and attempting to only provide the employee with coping skills without changing the system will be a partial solution. Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001) indicate that developing coping skills for individuals is a partial solution; leadership behaviors and organizational policies need to be changed in order to support an overall strategy of wellbeing. In order to address the need to support leaders interested in changing the environmental conditions impacting employee wellbeing, a group learning/change process was designed called The Wellbeing Journey. The process involves assessing the current state of wellbeing through interviews
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with the leadership team, and collecting wellbeing assessment data from all employees on the team. This analysis becomes the basis of the action research/learning model on which The Wellbeing Journey is founded. During the experience, the team is introduced to the five-element wellbeing model, they create their team definitions of each element that fits within their team context and, through joint analysis, identify areas of focus to enhance their wellbeing. These areas of focus are the key to action planning where the team decides on courses of action to change the environment to support wellbeing. Examples of simple win-oriented actions include: the leader no longer routinely sending weekend emails, having walking one-onone meetings, including healthy foods at meetings, implementing flexible work arrangements, and connecting the team to the local community through volunteer activities. Participants engage in meaningful dialogue, build relationships, and have a team wellbeing strategy as a result of the experience. These intact team sessions inevitably end with the creation of a wellbeing team of champions to keep the momentum going. For example, one team that focused on wellbeing between 2013 and 2014 experienced a 30 percent improvement in their employee opinion survey scores related to balance between work and personal commitments. The implementation of the wellbeing initiative was designed as a grassroots movement. Our common mantra was build it and they will come. And, so they did. In the past 36 months, 20 percent of the workforce has participated in a wellbeing learning solution. Similarly, some 3,500 users have accessed the resources on the Wellbeing @ Work Tool Kit. In the last few years, we have seen the concept of wellbeing go from “what is that?” to entire business units designing off-site meetings around the five elements of wellbeing, to teams developing wellbeing challenges to a grassroots sponsorship of campus wide mindfulness mediation sessions. During our journey, wellbeing has grown from being an interesting concept to becoming embedded into the organization’s lexicon and recognition that improved employee wellbeing is good for the individual, the organization, and ultimately improves our ability to develop innovative therapies for patients with unmet medical needs. And, yes, our wellbeing journey continues!
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Talent Arbitrage From the Outside in: Shaping HR and Workforce Strategy By Grant Cooperstein, Human Capital Management Institute
Introduction For most organizations, human capital is both the single largest expense and most valuable asset. However, the composition of today’s workforce is shifting rapidly, seemingly overnight, due to changing technology, increasing competition and growing availability of global and virtual resources. The labor market we once knew has flattened, and getting top talent at the best price is critical. Given this seemingly constant state of change, rather than undermining the validity of planning for the workforce, the unpredictable nature of business means planning for and executing on talent strategy is more important than ever. But, how do HR and business leaders position themselves to win this war for talent? Understanding how talent management fits as part of the overall business strategy is a good start. Once a talent management, or workforce strategy has been defined, HR and business leaders have the difficult task of finding top talent at a reasonable cost. This is where talent arbitrage comes into play, an integral component of a successful organization’s overall workforce planning methodology and toolkit. Talent arbitrage describes the process of an organization shifting resources, relocating, or expanding into new locations to take advantage of better, more plentiful talent and sometimes lower cost talent. If done right, organizations can get better talent at a lower price, and ultimately improve workforce productivity in the process. What if there was a specific location, city, or region in which an organization could focus their recruiting efforts to get superior talent, education, skills, capabilities, and experience at a lower cost? The answer for many organizations is that there’s not only one, but often several such superior talent
rich locations. While it might sound similar, talent arbitrage should not be confused with outsourcing or offshoring, which have been historically driven primarily by direct labor cost savings, as well as real estate and tax savings. For example, offshoring generally means acquiring talent in another lower cost country at a substantial wage cost savings, yet the quality, capability, and experience of such lower cost talent is typically well below that of the incumbent workforce. However, talent arbitrage hinges on labor supply analytics to optimize not just cost, but also availability and depth of talent. For example, an organization might relocate a portion of their business to a specific metro area, shift their recruiting efforts to focus on specific jobs in selected regions, or use talent supply analysis to determine the best place to open a new office or location. Probably the best example in the world of talent supply analytics is that of Google, which has a large dedicated staff devoted to finding the best talent anywhere in the world. Upon finding a location or city with a significant amount of the key talent and skills Google is looking for, they generally proceed to open a new office location in that area, and siphon off top talent from various local or multinational employers. Talent arbitrage enables organizations to leverage innovative and predictive workforce analytics, improving workforce productivity while controlling their total cost of workforce. Another excellent example of talent arbitrage in practice is the application of analytics in Major League Baseball, pioneered by Billy Beane, former general manager of the Oakland Athletics. The bestselling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis, outlines how Beane and a young analytics guru, Paul DePodesta, www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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1 h ttp://www.bls.gov/news.release/ jolts.nr0.htm, BLS.gov, May 2015
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were able to recruit overlooked talent with the potential to be future stars on a very limited budget. Ultimately, their approach revolutionized professional baseball player selection through the use of superior talent metrics, a practice that has become widespread in professional sports today. By implementing talent arbitrage for the workforce, organizations can achieve similar results to Google, hiring dramatically better talent at equal, or even lower, costs. Using analysis of global, regional, and local talent supply data – increasingly available online through sites such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics – organizations can integrate talent analytics into their workforce recruiting and planning efforts, filling the jobs they need most, with top talent at the best price. Today, most organizations are still at the beginning of their workforce planning journeys. While a few have had great success, far more are still searching for a place to start. Originally referred to as manpower planning, the practice of workforce planning is not a new concept. During the 1950s, and up to the early 1970s, when unemployment ranged from a low of 3.5 percent to a high of 6.7 percent, and the economy was relatively stable, workforce planning was a necessity due to labor supply shortages. It remained a significant practice in many large organizations until the economic downturns in the 1980s, when, as a part of restructuring, most planning departments were scaled back and ultimately eliminated. Furthermore, the increasingly unpredictable economic environment caused many organizations to question if workforce planning was a sustainable practice. In the late 1990s, the focus on workforce planning and talent arbitrage began to re-emerge. While a few companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) have had success in recent years, using scorecards to measure what HP coined Total Cost of Workforce (TCOW), most other organizations had no such advanced metrics. As the financial crisis of 2008 showed, organizations fell into a fear-based binge and purge approach to talent management, and layoffs were plentiful. However, the workforce cuts were too deep, resulting in significant talent gaps and the need to quickly rehire talent,
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only to repeat the process again in the next round of restructuring changes. Even now, in 2015, with an improving economy, many organizations have amnesia with regards to sustaining their talent planning efforts. Going forward, with competition for top talent rapidly accelerating and five million open unfilled jobs1 in the U.S. alone, talent arbitrage and strategic workforce planning must become a priority in order to succeed. The ability to recruit top talent from an increasingly competitive and shrinking labor market is imperative for organizations to execute on their business strategy.
The Shrinking Global Talent Supply: Why Should We Care? A key component of successful planning and talent analytics is understanding labor supply and implementing strategies to address gaps, both locally and globally. Talent arbitrage is not just about getting the best price, but also about maximizing the quality and availability of talent. Whether organizations know it or not, the global supply of talent is not growing fast enough, and industries and even entire countries are experiencing acute talent shortages. In its article, The Hard Facts: Acute Shortages, Unrelenting Surpluses (2015) the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) listed some of the crippling labor shortages and slowly evaporating labor surpluses the world faces: •
Germany will see a shortage of up to 2.4 million workers by 2020, and a shortage of 10 million by 2030.
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Brazil will have a shortage of up to 8.5 million workers in 2020; by 2030, that figure could increase nearly fivefold to 40.9 million people.
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Italy will see a surplus of 2 million workers in 2020, but by 2030, it will face a labor deficit of up to 0.9 million.
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Canada’s labor surplus of between 700,000 and 1.1 million people in 2020 will become a deficit of up to 2.3 million by 2030.
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China’s surplus of 55.2 million to 75.3
million workers in 2020 could reverse sharply, turning into a shortage of up to 24.5 million people by 2030. •
The U.S., with a surplus of between 17.1 million and 22 million people in 2020, will still face a surplus—at minimum 7.4 million—by 2030.
By 2030, the only major advanced economy with a skills surplus will be the U.S., and yet some industries are already experiencing increasing skill shortages for selected jobs, particularly in certain U.S. cities and geometro areas. What does this mean? Historically, companies have been able to get away with a shortsighted approach to talent management; however, that is changing. When times are tough, cost-cutting is the common practice and layoffs are plentiful. Conversely, when times are good, companies hire from the outside and pay whatever the market demands without much thought to long-term impacts. So, what happens in good times when organizations cannot fill their demand for workers at any reasonable price? The oil and gas industry is a prime example. With over 70 percent of the workforce approaching retirement, and approximately 50 percent of all geophysicists and engineers estimated to retire by 2018, the industry is facing a critical shortage of key jobs. In addition, increasing job complexity and a declining number of new petroleum engineering graduates are only making matters worse. While oil and gas industry leaders openly identify the looming talent shortage as their greatest corporate challenge, a reactionary approach to talent management still appears to prevail. According to Fortune magazine, job cuts soared to a near two-year high in the first quarter of 2015 as the energy sector in the U.S., particularly in Texas, trimmed its payrolls due to a sharp drop in oil prices. In order to learn from past mistakes, organizations in the oil and gas industry could be buying talent, while others are discarding it, using local labor market analysis and talent arbitrage to focus on specific regions or competitors. In addition, increasing investment in education, training, and internship pro-
grams would allow them to grow better talent, faster and cheaper, ultimately outperforming competitors through superior talent management. Successful workforce Regardless of industry, it is critiplanning combines cal to understand how the shrinking supply of talent will drive changes insightful analysis in workforce strategy going forward. and modeling with Finding the top talent and skills of tomorrow needs to become a priorimplementation and ity today. For example, organizations execution. should be able to answer questions such as the following: •
What jobs and skills are becoming obsolete?
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What roles will have more pronounced shortages in the future?
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Where is the largest supply of talent for those roles?
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How do labor prices vary from our current locations?
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Should we focus on buying or building talent?
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What jobs have a defined career path?
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What is the impact of turnover and retirements?
What Does Success Look Like? Successful workforce planning combines insightful analysis and modeling with implementation and execution. Organizations must be able to leverage internal workforce and financial data, business and strategic forecasts, and external market factors to build robust scenarios for the future workforce. But, what examples can organizations use to model their workforce planning efforts? The following is a best-in-class case study of talent arbitrage in action, as part of a holistic workforce planning strategy.
Case Study: Talent Arbitrage in the Financial Services Industry A regional bank with approximately 12,000 employees was looking to relocate IT opera-
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tions outside of their primary markets in Northern and Southern California. Management had identified a target market, primarily based on estimated real estate savings and tax credits. In addition, top executives Figure A: Market Differential Analysis: at the bank were positively predisposed to this market selection, as some had previously worked and lived in this area. Although some on the team were already convinced, such a big shift required a more rigorous talent arbitrage analysis, as initial projections did not include any real talent availability or detailed labor cost comparisons on jobs targeted for relocation. Management decided to invest the time and money for a highly detailed analysis, creating a talent arbitrage dynamic model that could evaluate talent variables across 12 separate metro areas chosen Figure B: Optimal Market Savings Forecast: for comparison. In addition to real estate and tax considerations, a comprehensive research on wage differentials and talent availability was conducted for over 2,000 unique positions, including labor statistics for major job families, talent supply, concentration, skills availability, and projected growth of jobs in the future. Leveraging the assistance of the About the Author Human Capital Management InstiGrant Cooperstein has more tute (HCMI), a custom workforce than 10 years of experience conducting advanced planning model for talent arbitrage workforce analytics and was developed to evaluate and planning projects. In his compare labor markets. With the current role, he provides guidance to ability to dynamically update dozens organizations across the globe, enabling rapid advancement in human capital management of scenario variables, hundreds practices. Responsible for leading consulting of scenarios were run to optimize engagements, deep content training and the selection process. This enabled product development, he helps clients drive management to rapidly calculate the value and quantify the impact of workforce decisions. Previously, Cooperstein worked as projected cost impact and savings a human capital consultant for the Infohrm differential for each market. Group, a global analytics and planning Figure A shows the cost savings company. There he led clients from Fortune™ comparison for two unique mar500 companies and government agencies on their human capital journeys, delivering kets over time, the original target millions of dollars in cost savings and value market identified by management, creation. He can be reached at and an alternative optimal market grant.cooperstein@hcminst.com. identified using the labor arbitrage
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model. Unfortunately, any real estate and tax savings that management was expecting for the original target market were projected to be completely wiped away by an increase in labor costs. Furthermore, due to competition for talent in the original target market, it would be very difficult to replace talent and hire for growth, putting additional upward pressure on labor costs going forward. Figure B outlines the costs and savings components included in the model, based on a three-year phased relocation approach. Under this scenario, the bank would recoup their costs by 2017. Furthermore, they were able to gain a detailed understanding of the relative size and distribution of each of the cost elements, and where they could expect savings in the future. Leveraging this analysis, management was able to change course, and decided to move away from the initial market. Based on talent supply and labor arbitrage potential, management made a successful business case to the CFO and CEO for selecting the new market identified by the model, and ultimately delivered an opportunity for future workforce cost savings in excess of US$150 million.
Conclusion Successful execution of talent arbitrage requires leveraging the right workforce data, interpreting the story, and utilizing those findings to make better workforce decisions. Organizations can start small by focusing on a specific region or critical segment of their workforce before expanding their efforts to a more comprehensive analysis of their overall workforce. The key is to look beyond just head count. The biggest value lies in forecasting costs, skills, roles, and talent availability. As the market for talent continues to evolve, and labor shortages become more pronounced, organizations that are slow to embrace workforce planning and talent arbitrage won’t be able to compete in the war for talent. Linking workforce and business strategy is critical, and will better prepare organizations to adapt in an uncertain future. With more workforce data available than ever before, investing in predictive talent analytics will yield perhaps one of the largest returns on investment that organizations will see in the coming years.
2015 Mid-Year Buyers Guide The 2015 Mid-Year Source Buyers Guide will serve as a valuable reference tool. For your convenience, the guide has two sections: a Categorical Listing and an Alphabetical listing. In the Categorical Listing, companies are listed under the product and service categories of their choice. For information on a specific company and its products and/or service, please refer to the Alphabetical Company Listing. While a listing in this guide does not constitute an endorsement by IHRIM, it does indicate that these companies are interested in serving the needs of HRIS professionals. We hope this Buyer’s Guide will assist you in your 2015 purchasing decisions.
Product Categories
Core HRMS
Paid Advertising
HR Service Delivery
Call Center Technologies Cloud Computing On-Premise Epicor Software Corporation Optimum Solutions, Inc. PDS Business Intelligence Outsourcing Analytics SaaS PDS Optimum Solutions, Inc. Workforce Software PDS Workforce Software Career/professional Development/e-Learning Self Service COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT Workforce Software Deferred Compensation Epicor Software Corporation Optimum Solutions, Inc. PDS StarGarden Corporation
DECUSOFT Executive Compensation DECUSOFT Incentive Compensation DECUSOFT
Employment Systems & Services
e-Recruiting/Application Tracking Epicor Software Corporation
Onboarding
Rewards/Recognition
Crystal Plus.com
Self Service
Employee Self-Service (ESS)/Manager Self-Service(MSS) Epicor Software Corporation PDS Telliris Workforce Software
Time & Attendance Systems
Optimum Solutions, Inc. PDS Telliris
Epicor Software Corporation
Contingent Workforce Management Workforce Software Forecasting & Scheduling Workforce Software
Payroll Software
Optimum Solutions, Inc. PDS
Workforce Management
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2015 Mid-Year Buyers Guide
Alphabetical Company Listing* *Systems and applications referred to in this section are trademarked, registered, or in progress. These names should not be used generically.
Epicor Software Corporation Decusoft Crystal Plus.com 18475 E. Valley Blvd. City of Industry, CA 91744 Michelle Smith 888-779-8803 888-669-0838 service@crystalplus.com www.crystalplus.com CrystalPlus.com is a leading supplier / manufacturer of crystal awards and corporate gifts. We offer free engraving and no setup charges on all of our crystal awards and gift products. We have in house professional graphic designers, engravers and customer service specialists to serve our customers making ordering crystal awards and gifts easier than ever. At Factory direct prices and with huge inventory selection at our California warehouse, you can’t find any better prices and faster turnaround for the same premium quality of custom engraved corporate awards, sports trophy and personalized gifts. See ad on page 41.
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70 Hilltop Rd. Ste. 1003 Ramsey, NJ 07446 Karie Johnson 201-258-1414 201-785-0774 Karie.Johnson@Decusoft.com www.Decusoft.com You have an HCM software suite but you are managing compensation outside the system. Now what? You need COMPOSE, a specialized compensation management software solution that handles any level of variable compensation complexity, reduces your total cost of compensation administration and integrates with existing HR solutions. Not so suite but oh so right. See ad on Inside Front Cover.
804 Las Cimas Parkway Austin, TX 78746 Lee Hagen LHagen@epicor.com www.epicor.com/HCM Epicor Software is a global leader delivering inspired business software solutions, including its award-winning Human Capital Management (HCM) software. Epicor HCM provides comprehensive HR solutions to help manage a globally disperse workforce, improve human resource processes and enhance employee satisfaction for greater efficiency and cost savings across the enterprise. Visit www.epicor. com/hcm.
Optimum Solutions, Inc. 210 25th Ave. N. Ste. 700 Nashville, TN 37203 Scott Henderson 615-329-2313 615-329-4448 info@optimum-solutions.com www.optimum-solutions.com Optimum Solutions provides Payroll, HR, and Time and Attendance software delivered on-premise or in the cloud. All applications are developed and supported internally giving your company the individual attention it deserves while providing you with a complete, one database HRIS system. Optimum Payroll currently processes over 12 million paychecks annually.
2015 Mid-Year Buyers Guide
PDS 470 Norristown Road, Suite 202 Blue Bell, PA 19422 George Brady 610-238-4617 610-238-4574 gbrady@pdssoftware.com www.pdssoftware.com Vista HRMS is a core suite of HR, Payroll, Benefits, Self- Service, Mobile, Workflow, Analytics, Time Management and Recruiting components. Vista combines Position and Employee management. Vista’s intelligent crossborder capabilities manage U.S. and Canadian employees in a single database. It is available On-Premise, Hosted or SaaS, utilizing the .NET framework.
StarGarden Corporation
Telliris 4 Armstrong Rd. Shelton, CT 06484 Sales Department 203-924-7000 203-944-1618 sales@telliris.com www.telliris.com Mobile Enable your Time & Attendance with Telliris. It’s integrated and ready to use with many packages (Ceridian, Focus, HBS, Identatronics, Infinisource, InfoTronics, Insperity, Kaba Workforce Solutions, Kronos, Renova, ScheduleSoft, Sense Software, SumTotal Systems, Time Link, UniFocus, and Workforce Software). Apps include Absence, Accruals, Crew Clock, Employee Messaging, ESS, Scheduling, Time Clock, Time Sheet, and Time-off Request. It’s ideal for organizations with dispersed, remote or mobile employees. Please contact Telliris or your Time & Attendance vendor for details.
WorkForce Software
38705 Seven Mile Road Livonia, MI 48152 Sales Department 877-493-6723 734-542-0635 info@workforcesoftware.com www.workforcesoftware.com WorkForce Software is the leader of complete, easy-to-use workforce management solutions. Its EmpCenter suite enables strategic HR by automating and streamlining interactions between the employer and its workforce, enabling organizations to better manage payroll and processing costs, help ensure compliance with labor regulations, and increase productivity and satisfaction of employees.
300-3665 Kingsway Vancouver, Canada V5R5W2 Marnie Larson 800-809-2880 604-451-0578 info@stargarden.com www.stargarden.com StarGarden is a fully integrated webbased Human Resources, Payroll and Work Planning solution designed to meet the needs of structured, position-based organizations with complex pay and benefit issues. StarGarden maintains substantial detailed information about your organization, its structure, compensation and benefits plans, accruals/balances, employees, and payroll. www.stargarden.com or call 800809-2880.
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Global Perspective
Managing Complexity in Cross-Country Operations By Karen V. Beaman, Teilasa Global LLC
Managing a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) on a global scale – as opposed to a domestic, single-country scope – brings a unique set of challenges that are both magnified and broadened when considered across countries. The multitude of environmental factors that vary across countries – from compensation schemes and time recording, to social benefits and taxation frameworks, to legislative and regulatory compliance – create an unusually complex environment that is not for the faint of heart. With such complexity, the critical question becomes, how does an HRIS organization effectively deal with cross-country issues? This article discusses the importance of not only understanding the content but also the context in which the HRIS functions. A global HRIS (content) does not operate in isolation; it functions in a particular environment (context), such as differing legislative and regulatory requirements, varying tax regimes, multiple languages, and diverse cultural practices, to name just a few of the contextual factors that vary across countries and impact the HRIS. This article provides a framework for understanding and managing the complexity of the differing country contexts in which a global HRIS operates.
Figure 1. Country Contextual Factors.
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The Importance of Context To evaluate the impact of contextual factors on the HRIS, the first step is to categorize the various factors into four domains – organizational, material, socio-political, and economic – as seen in Figure 1. • Organizational Factors – Varying enterprise aspects, such as organizational model (centralized or decentralized), governance model (local, regional, global), industry sector, organization size; •
Material Factors – Different physical environments, such as geography, infrastructure (analog and digital access, transportation systems), climate, time zone;
•
Socio-Political Factors – Fluctuating business dynamics, such as culture, language, business practice and customs, legislation, regulation; and,
•
Economic Factors – Divergent economic conditions, such as levels and types of social benefits, taxation frameworks, financial sophistication, economic stability.
A few examples can help to illustrate the impact of these contextual factors on the HRIS. Consider the number of official languages spoken across the organization and the importance of having a global language strategy to effectively support the global business. Identifying one (maybe two) standard language(s) for the corporation, such as English or French, improves communications across borders and reduces the number of translations required for official corporate communications. Tsedal Neeley and Robert Steven Kaplan, in their September 2014 Harvard Business Review article, “What’s Your Language Strategy?” hold that “unrestricted multilingualism creates inef-
ficiency in even the most dedicated and talented workforces.” This implies that the higher the levels of English spoken in a country (assuming English is the standard language for global business), the less complexity that country will have in their HRIS processes. Another common contextual factor often cited with regard to global HRIS is the complex country-based legislative environment. There is general agreement that the greater the level of legislative and regulatory compliance requirements in a country, the more complex the HR and payroll processes. Finally, other factors may be critically important in one country, but not at all significant in another, such as climate. In highly developed countries, weather conditions, such as the occasional snowstorm, rarely impact HR/Payroll processing. But, in countries where the payroll is dropped via helicopter into a rice field, the impact of typhoons on pay distribution can be quite severe. As these examples show, it is critically important to evaluate and understand multi-country metrics within a variety of contexts. The use of a Country Contextual Complexity Index (CCCI)1 provides an effective and objective filter for interpreting results, setting targets, and benchmarking standard operational metrics across countries.
Country Contextual Complexity Index Fundamental to understanding cross-country complexity for HRIS is the incorporation of a factor to normalize the complexity of different business contexts across countries. The CCCI2 shown in Figure 2 evaluates 16 contextual factors and assigns each one a score, from lowest (score of 1) to highest complexity (score of 5). Data are from a variety of independent, publicly available research datasets, such as The World Bank’s Financial Inclusion Data, World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook Database, Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, EF Education First’s English Proficiency Index, and many others.3 The scores are weighted and averaged to produce the relevant CCCI for each country. The purpose of the CCCI is to objectively evaluate the relative differences in complexity across countries based on specific contextual factors that are outside the control of the HRIS
Figure 2. Country Contextual Complexity Index (CCCI).
Figure 3. Sample Contextual Balance Scorecard
organization. The CCCI is used to normalize the operational metrics in each country so that a realistic, like-for-like comparison can be made and so that reasonable, attainable, context-sensitive targets can be set for each metric in each country. Across the seven countries shown in Endnotes Figure 2, Brazil and India have the most com1 The author wishes to credit and plex environment for HR/Payroll due to factors thank James Garrett for the such as their broad cultural and linguistic envicollaboration on tying together the business and numerical approaches ronment (India has 18 official languages), less to country complexity and for the well-developed infrastructure and educational independent statistical validation of systems, and multifaceted taxation and legislathe CCCI model. tive frameworks. Conversely, the U.S., UK, and Germany show the least complex environments, 2 The CCCI is defined in connection with a simple analysis of variance. followed by France and then China.
Global Benchmark Metrics Figure 3 illustrates the application of the CCCI to two metrics from the 2014 Mercer Payroll Benchmarking Survey (MPBS), Payroll Accuracy Rate and Manual/Off-cycle Payment Rate. It is generally expected that as complexity goes down, accuracy rates should go up and exception payment rates should go down. Hence, less complex countries should have higher
The index represents the effect on metrics as they vary from country to country. The CCCI components are selected and weighted to minimize the interactions in a two-way fixedeffects model.
3 This is a preliminary list of external sources used to develop CCCI. Further analysis is continuing to determine the best-fit sources to support the CCCI model for the HRIS environment.
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Mercer Payroll Benchmarking Survey Demographics
accuracy rates and lower manual payment rates than more complex countries; indeed, the data from MPBS confirm this fact. Taking the U.S. and India as examples, the MPBS data from 2014 show that the U.S. has a Payroll Accuracy Rate of 99.13%, while India has an Accuracy Rate of 93.94%. Adjusting these rates based on their CCCIs, the Actual Adjusted Payroll Accuracy Rate for the U.S. is 98.92%; for India, it is 95.95%. On average, U.S. organizations are performing 0.21% above what is expected given the complexity of References EF Education First, English Proficiency their environment, and Indian organizaIndex, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ tions are 2.01% below. EF_English_Proficiency_Index#2014_ However, using the raw CCCI creates Rankings an inappropriately low target for the U.S. Hofstede Centre, Cultural Dimensions of given their relatively low level of complexUncertainty Avoidance and Indulgence, ity, and a potentially high target for India http://geert-hofstede.com/countries. html given their relatively high level of complexity. Therefore, to normalize this difference International Labour Organization, NATLEX, Number of Entries by Country, http:// and set realistic, attainable targets for each www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse. country based on their complexities, a best byCountry possible CCCI is created by reducing the International Monetary Fund, World raw CCCI to 40% of the lowest possible Economic Outlook Database, http:// complexity for each country (40% being a www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/ reasonable, albeit arbitrary, number to set weo/2014/02/weodata/index.aspx an attainable goal). Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, The Specifically, the CCCI Target Rate for Balanced Scorecard: Turning Strategy into Action, Harvard Business Review each metric is the difference between the Press, 1996. current value of the metric based on the Tsedal Neeley and Robert Steven Kaplan, country’s complexity index and the ideally “What’s Your Language Strategy?,” best possible value for that metric based Harvard Business Review, September on the lowest possible complexity for the 2014. country. This calculation takes the U.S. World Bank Group, Financial Inclusion from an Actual Adjusted Payroll Accuracy Data, http://datatopics.worldbank.org/ Rate of 98.92% to Target Adjusted Accufinancialinclusion/ racy Rate of 99.62%, in effect putting the World Bank Group, Doing Business, Ease of Paying Taxes Ranking, http://www. U.S. 0.49% below target. Likewise, India’s doingbusiness.org/rankings Actual Adjusted Accuracy Rate of 93.94% World Economic Forum, Global becomes a Target Adjusted Accuracy Rate Competitiveness Index, http://reports. of 97.37%, putting India 3.44% below tarweforum.org/global-competitivenessget. Looking at the CCCI target rates for all report-2014-2015/rankings/ seven countries, only China is performing
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above target on payroll accuracy, while Brazil is performing close to target. The U.S., UK, France, Germany, and India are performing below average. The second example, Exception Payments, shows a similar trend with some minor differences: the U.S., Brazil, and the UK are performing close to target, while the other countries are below target. Only Brazil is performing at target on both metrics, while India is performing below target on both. Extending this concept to create a full contextually-based balanced scorecard gives a fuller and more accurate picture on the performance of each country.
Optimizing Performance To effectively manage the performance of a global HRIS via metrics, it is important to set reasonable, attainable targets based on each country’s relative complexity. Contextuallybased metrics provide a method to compare apples-to-apples across countries, eliminating the all-too-common objection, “It’s different in our country.” Setting individual country-based targets for each metric avoids the perception that metrics are being established based on “corporate headquarters’ view of the world.” Setting realistically achievable metrics is fundamental in building a performance management system that motivates individuals to strive for continuous improvement.
About the Author Karen V. Beaman is the managing director for Teilasa Global and the founder and lead researcher for Mercer’s Payroll Benchmarking Survey (MPBS), a unique groundbreaking research effort focused on uncovering leading practices in payroll. She has 30 years of diversified human capital management (HCM) experience, covering global strategic planning, application development, data modeling, business process optimization, shared services delivery strategies, business case development, and global systems deployment. She was previously the founder and chief executive of Jeitosa Group International, a worldwide strategic business consultancy providing solutions for global effectiveness, which was acquired by Mercer in 2014. She led the team that developed the global strategy and built the requirements for the foundational core of Workday’s new HCM system. Previously, she was responsible for ADP’s global professional services across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. Beaman was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the IHRIM Journal, is currently the academic editor of Workforce Solutions Review, and is the editor of four IHRIM Press books. She is a certified Human Resource Information Professional (HRIP) and, in 2002, she received the Summit Award, IHRIM’s highest award honoring her lifetime achievements in the field of HR. She is fluent in English, German, and French and conversational in Spanish and Portuguese. She can be reached at karen.beaman@teilasa.com.
Collaborative Technologies
Manage Outcomes, Not People, to Ensure Your Company’s Success By Ken Pellegrino, Shibumi.com In an increasingly global world, communication and collaboration within an enterprise is critical to its success. Collaborative technologies, now commonplace within organizations, have dramatically changed how people communicate and how work gets done. Yet, a critical gap still exists between management and the employee workforce. Ideally, collaboration up, down, and across the organization should incorporate everyone from executives defining corporate strategy, to those members of the organization tasked with its implementation. Delivering on the customer promise by delivering business outcomes – which is everyone’s responsibility at some level – is arguably the single most critical job of company management and employees. Yet, clear communication of business strategy, objectives, results, and expectations is still largely an elusive goal. Sustainably Engage the Workforce. A 2012 Harvard Business Review article identified communication as “The Silent Killer of Big Companies.” The authors cited engaging employees in two-way dialogue as key to improving performance of the individual and, as a result, the enterprise overall. Effective communication and employee engagement are deeply interwoven. Towers Watson research has identified three measurable components essential to what they call “sustainable engagement.” They are (traditional) engagement, enablement, and energy. In their 2014 Global Workforce Study,1 they reported that just 4 in 10 employees are highly engaged. Close to 25 percent are disengaged, and another 36 percent are either unsupported or detached. In another study, Deloitte recently reported that less than 12.3 percent of America’s workforce is passionate about their work.2 A disconnected, disengaged workforce can lead to a heavy workload of management and HR challenges. Communicating management expectations and providing a mechanism for collaboration among key stakeholders is key to employee engagement, enablement, and performance.
An All Too Familiar Scene. Here is a typical scenario Shibumi has repeatedly observed in numerous organizations. An executive leadership team identifies a set of strategic goals or business objectives critical to the organization. The executive team then communicates its vision and plans via a town hall meeting, a PowerPoint slide deck, and/or via email communication. Management then identifies a series of initiatives to be executed internally to achieve the organizational goals. These initiatives eventually translate into a series of projects that are assigned to employees who are then expected to execute on the initiatives. As project teams begin work on these projects, more often than not the true business objectives and desired outcomes are three to four steps removed, and are unclear to the individuals directly responsible for delivering the outcomes. Instead of constantly assessing and refining whether the initiatives and the project team are achieving the desired outcomes, we focus our attention and discussions on what we can clearly see and manage: time and cost. What Are We Trying to Accomplish? According to a 2013 report by the Project Management Institute, on average 2 in 5 projects do not meet their original goals and business intent, with half of those project failures related to ineffective communication. Focusing organizational communications on the desired outcomes allows for management, project managers, and the workforce to have a much more impactful and healthy dialogue focused on reaching project goals, and ultimately successful desired outcomes. Without a clear understanding of the desired outcomes, most project teams are left to make critical decisions based on project budget and time. In an attempt to keep things on track, management asks for weekly, monthly, and quarterly status reviews to ensure efficient progress. Unfortunately, these are generally focused on percent of tasks completed and budget-to-burn, and less on the achievement of the business objectives. Are we working on the project to finish on time www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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and under budget; or are we working to achieve a result critical to the organization? Manage the Outcomes. What if your daughter was in college and when you asked how she was doing, she told you that “the semester was half over and it cost one half of the annual tuition,” rather than reporting what she was learning and her mid-term grades? Might you be upset? Yet, many managers at large corporations given the same data “fields” take this information as dispositive that a project is doing well. Endnotes At Shibumi, we assist our cus1 The Towers Watson Global Talent Management tomers in defining initiatives and and Rewards Study: http://www.towerswatson. tasks tied to a series of “health” com/en/Insights/IC-Types/Survey-ResearchResults/2014/07/balancing-employer-andmeasures. This allows the project employee-priorities teams to continually assess and report back on more than just percentage complete and budget 2 Deloitte University Press, Culture and engagement: http://dupress.com/articles/ remaining, but also the status of employee-engagement-culture-human-capitalcritical desired outcomes and quantrends-2015/?id=gx:2el:3dc:dup1132:eng:co tifiable KPIs. We enable an environns:hct15 ment and processes where individuals and project teams can collaborate directly with project sponsors in a dynamic way, one that focuses everyone on delivering the desired results.
The previously mentioned Project Management Institute study reported that organizations that more frequently report the business benefits of their projects realize significantly more success than their peers – and improvement of about 20 percent, or 1 in 5 projects. We are seeing even stronger results with our clients. A Real World Example. About the Author Here’s one example of how a Ken Pellegrino is the chief Shibumi client partner is using our strategy officer and co-founder of technology to assess and score the Shibumi.com, a Web-based business execution application. health of the organization and its He strongly believes in the ability project initiatives. This client is goof technology to empower organizations to ing through a significant business improve their overall operations and bottom line. transformation and has no time or His 21 years of experience in the business money available to recover from process improvement industry has allowed him to work and help global organizations of all sizes. a failed effort. So, they created a He can be reached at kenp@shibumi.com. series of project “health” questions
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to determine the likelihood of success for each change initiative, with success determined by delivering the required business outcomes, along with the standard project time and budget constraints. The embedded questionnaires assess the likelihood of success from the perspective of key business stakeholders, management and project teams, and are organized under categories such as stakeholder alignment, business benefits, etc. Change leads were assigned for each project to regularly assess and answer these questions that feed a series of of online scorecards, dashboards, and “heat maps” to visually identify problem areas. Trends can be identified early and corrective actions taken on projects that begin to deviate from expected outcomes. Program managers have an integrated status view of risk management and action plans, enabling them to monitor or mitigate risk and project issues in real-time. As a result, health reporting of programs is now more timely and accurate, and the Project Management Office is showing higher project success rates. Quarterly program reviews were replaced with monthly action-planning meetings to identify risks early in each initiative’s life cycle, saving time and money in the long run. Joint action plans are developed in meetings and updates are efficiently delivered throughout the next month to relevant stakeholders on a real-time basis. Effective Collaboration + Results Oriented Projects = Successful Organizations. All companies strive for success, as do most managers and employees. Managing for success by defining desired project outcomes – and managing work to achieve those outcomes – keeps management and employees jointly focused on the right things. Initiatives that are run proactively with relevant health measures have been shown to deliver the desired impact to the business while minimizing end-of-project surprises. Leveraging collaboration software to deliver hard benefits while ensuring employee and organizational performance remains at the highest level becomes a virtuous cycle. Enterprise collaboration solutions are leading the way in helping organizations understand, communicate, and manage the outcomes, not just the behavior and procedural performance of employees. Positive outcomes contribute to engaged and empowered management and employees, which results in a more successful company – and more satisfied customers.
Recruiting Digital Natives
Will You Attract the Leaders of the Future with Moth-eaten Practices? That’s Risky Business! By Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, TalentCircles
How much do you really know about the consumer habits and expectations of the digital natives’ generation? Chances are that your organization doesn’t really understand this segment of the workforce and continues to assume based on countless magazine think pieces that we’re talking about an entitled generation whose personal drive is often intimidating. The truth is that no matter what you think, digital natives will soon dominate the workplace. So, either you target them now and adapt to their ways, or you will become an old-style company and lose this market segment. People aged between 19 and 35 represent 35 percent of the work force today according to numbers provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, the labor force aged 35 to 55 represents 42 percent of the employed population and people older than 55 represent 22 percent. The stakes are high. So, what do you need to do to effectively attract the demographics of the future? The answer is simple: 1) take stock of the reasons why the current fundamental intergenerational “disjoint” isn’t going away, and 2) realize that you need to adapt your antiquated candidate attraction processes to what digital natives expect.
Battle of the Generations The generational gap is not a matter of philosophy or view of the world. Digital natives grew up with broadband, smartphones, and social media as the norm, and, as a result, they expect to be able to express themselves, be recognized, access information instantly, focus on topics that matter to them, and get feedback immediately. This is their behavioral pattern as consumers and as citizens of the digital world. When they can’t find what they’re looking for, they simply move to something else. An irreversible technology divide has arisen
that has deeply changed behaviors across all social strata. Given that your kids have always lived in a world with iPods and iPhones, do you think they’d be amazed at the merits of a Sony Walkman if you presented one to them? The majority of recruiters and hiring managers belong to the Walkman generation. When the first Walkman came out in 1979, it seemed like magic: all of a sudden, people could carry their favorite recordings with them, and it significantly changed the music experience, making it more personal and adaptive. But, would you use one today? Probably not! For digital natives, the Walkman is at best an intriguing relic of the past. A 25-year-old today was 11 when the iPod first came out in 2001. By the time it was redesigned (in 2004), the iPod was connected to the Apple online media store run by Apple and accessible through iTunes. The entire music experience changed again. You didn’t have to manually compose your playlist and record it; you could simply build up your selections in a few clicks and navigate through them instantly. We live in an era of instant likes – which brings with it the tendency to instantly forget what doesn’t catch us. Music listeners are now able to define the content of their experience, and there is no going back. Digital natives are empowered consumers, and they will become the majority of the workforce by 2020. The generation after them is accustomed to even more self-curated, instant access. (Look at the number of young kids playing games with mom and dad’s smartphones or tablets!) So, as a company, you have to ask: How closely does your candidate attraction procedure map to contemporary online behavioral patterns? Chances are, it’s not nearly close enough. You may want to think that the recruitwww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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ing industry is different from other areas that have had to adapt to our new world, but that’s a dangerous assumption. It would mean that the people who will run our world tomorrow have to comply with obsolete methodologies. It’s like assuming the interface Amazon offered us 20 years ago would be good enough today, when it would, in fact, be grossly ineffective at attracting new customers.
It’s not up to digital natives to adapt to you. It’s up to you to enhance your game and embrace today’s behaviors. The findings of a 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report1 highlighted that “technology is often a catalyst for intergenerational conflict in the workplace, and many millennials feel held back by rigid or outdated working styles.” It’s time for talent acquisition departments to close the digital gap. The race for talent is no different from the race for consumers; either you connect with them and stay connected, or you don’t. In 2015, being connected means belonging to the same network. In the case of talent acquisition, that translates to a talent network that is accessible without friction, welcomes people as individuals, and offers interesting and empowering interactions
not hope to keep them, though. As described in Mike Murphy’s book Hiring for Attitude, employees who leave after 18 months or less are not necessarily people who lacked the skills; 89 percent of them had an attitude and culture-fit problem. Is it entirely their fault? Probably not. It could very well be due to a flawed perception of digital natives, as described in a comprehensive report2 co-produced by Elance-oDesk and Millennial Branding in October 2014. They report that: “Gen X hiring managers underestimated how much millennials prized being part of a good team and working on exciting projects.” Beware your old habits, your old technologies, and your misunderstanding of modern audiences, or you will end up being left behind by the Darwinian “fittest.” Your young hires will certainly tell their friends what they think about you. As early as 2012, the Talent Board3 reminded us that in the social era, every single individual is able to speak up: “More than half of candidates surveyed indicated they are likely or very likely to tell their inner circle of friends about their experiences, whether it is positive (73.5 percent) or negative (60.7 percent).” Welcome people and provide easy access to your talent network. Once they are there, you have plenty of ways to qualify them (video screening, chats, job matching, questionnaires, etc.).
Frictionless Access
Make it Personal
Close the Digital Gap and Up Your Game Plan
When potential candidates are interested in your company, the way you listen to their interest will make or break the relationship. Allow them to join your talent Endnotes network right away from any device 1 h ttp://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing(desktop, smartphones or tablet), tomorrows-people/future-of-work/assets/ whether or not you have a job for reshaping-the-workplace.pdf them. The traditional recruiting 2 h ttp://www.slideshare.net/oDesk/2015process requires candidates to show millennial-majority-workforce credentials right away, but that’s 3 h ttp://www.thetalentboard.org/talent-boardsa sure way to spook an inordinate 2012-candidate-experience-research-aamount of digital natives; they are summary/ looking for a career rather than 4 h ttp://www2.deloitte.com/content/ merely a job, and they believe in dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/AboutDeloitte/gx-wef-2015-millennial-surveyemployee growth and development. executivesummary.pdf Some digital natives may abide 5 h ttps://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ by your rules, especially if they docs/millennials_report.pdf have significant student debt. Do
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No matter how good looking your career site may be, asking candidates to leave their info inside a passive “talent community,” promising them that you’ll push jobs their way when they’re available, or using cryptic jargon asking them to “adjust their job agents” betrays your self-centered, inward-looking approach. This is not a positive candidate experience for digital natives. You are simply telling them that they will become an item in an impersonal email database, not that they are real people with whom you want to engage, which requires a bi-directional relationship. Make it personal; digital natives want a live profile that they can update as they see fit, to create a portfolio of their accomplishments and to add a video presentation of themselves. The way you treat candidates is more often
than not an indication of how you treat your employees. Are they just the number on their badge, or people proud to bear your flag? As a Deloitte study4 reminds us, “Millennials believe that an organization’s treatment of its employees is the most important consideration when deciding if it is a leader.” No matter how loudly you may claim that your employees are your assets, millennials will be quick to find out if it’s true; the Internet is their continuous live playground, and information is just a click away. In her 2006 book Generation Me, Jean Twenge emphasized “a generational increase in self-esteem, assertiveness, self-importance, narcissism, and high expectations.” While some recruiters may have issues with this “cultural shift toward individualism and focusing on the self,” the truth of the matter is that things are what they are and won’t be any different because you choose to ignore cultural changes. Ultimately, this “narcissism” may only be relative. If your company’s recruiting philosophy is more about looking for interchangeable cogs for your machinery, it’s clear that the desire for candidates to be treated as a real person may come across as egocentrism. Making it personal will pay off, because, contrary to popular perceptions, statistics reported by The Council of Economic Advisers show that “working millennials actually stay with their employers longer than Generation X workers did at the same ages.”
Empower Job Seekers and Offer Personalized Information It’s nice to push job notifications to candidates. However, what happens next? People apply, but, more often than not, you don’t give them any useful feedback, and they don’t understand why they didn’t get a job. Your organization looks incoherent at best. If you want to up your game, allow candidates to see for themselves how their profiles fare against the jobs. Having their own job-matching experience is empowering; it’s easy for them to understand that if they have a 70 percent match; others might have a better score. They won’t be disgruntled. They may even recommend the position to a friend. Empowered candidates can turn into fervent evangelists regardless of whether or not you have a job for them! When you invite potential candidates to join
your network, you are not simply addressing an “audience.” You are addressing individuals who voluntarily started a connection with you. So, it’s not enough to tell them what your company is about in general. It’s critical to show them what it’s like to work in your company. Allow them to join groups of interest to them within your network and showcase topics that will strengthen their positive impression About the Author of your company, such as videos Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, a underscoring not only the fact that serial technology entrepreneur, is your business can be good for the the co-founder and CEO of TalentCircles. The company individuals you employ, but also has markets a comprehensive talent a positive impact on society at large. acquisition platform that enables organizations to Inviting employees from multiple create live talent pipelines and targeted departments to recount a day of employment branding strategies to engage with candidates (via video screening, questionnaires, their life in your company is a huge plus, as is the clear demonstration of blog posts) and offer an outstanding candidate and recruiter experience that sync with the your pursuit of a proactive diversity expectations of our digital era. Clients include strategy for a generation that is the prominent organizations such as Nationwide, Puma, Dartmouth, ResCare and the State of largest and most diverse in the U.S. Minnesota. She can be reached at population. mdd@talentcircles.com. Design career webinars and documents for download that show you care, want to stay connected, and have a lot to offer. Being candidate-centric is all about creating content to which candidates can relate as individuals. Engaging is not about throwing global marketing slogans and talking at people. It’s about talking to people and offering a message that resonates with them. Attracting the leaders of the future requires, at minimum, that you speak the language of the people you want to reach and that you take a hard look at your talent acquisition process. It’s not rocket science, and is actually only a matter of leveraging modern platforms designed to reach out to modern audiences. It’s the key to your credibility. Ultimately, it is imperative to your employment branding initiatives to realize that no matter what your intent is, what people think of you will, in part, create your brand, for better and for worse. In the race for talent, you can only win if digital natives become your sounding board. There are a lot of them out there, and they are great, attentive candidates ready to listen to you. The Deloitte report states that “regardless of gender or geography, only 28 percent of millennials feel that their current organizations are making ‘full use’ of the skills they currently have to offer.” Do the math – 72 percent of them will reach your ranks, if you reach out to them! www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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Psychometrics and Predictive Analytics
Making “People Decisions:”
How HR Leader Adecco is moving to Data-centric Recruiting By Paige Beaton, Talentoday Personality can trump technical qualifications when it comes to choosing someone who will fit the role and grow within the position. According to 2012 research from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), only about 20 percent of employers use personality assessments during the hiring process,1 although 71 percent indicated these tests can be useful in predicting organizational fit and job-related behavior. Today, an increasing number of data-driven psychometric tools and solutions are popping up to bring science-based decisions to human resources and recruiting. Algorithm-based decision tools are allowing recruiters and HR to move from “gut feeling” to objective, data-driven decisions for hiring and talent assessment. A recent study by the Harvard Business Review reported that “a simple equation outperforms human decisions by at least 25 percent.”2 Using psychometrics and predictive behavioral analytics, talent professionals are now able to improve and strategically enhance their practices.
The Perfect Combination: Soft skills + Data science + Hiring experience = Placement Success Given the ever-widening skills gap, there’s logic in finding candidates who will fit in a company, even if they don’t have every qualification for the job. In fact, 38 percent of employers have open positions they cannot find the talent to fill.3 To jump the skills gap, many employers are looking to candidates who have the right personality and motivations for the organization, along with the enthusiasm and ability to learn the skills they lack. A candidate’s personality and passion influences what they enjoy doing, and are ultimately good at doing. What project will a particular candidate enjoy? What team members they will gel best with? To answer these questions, a combination of psychometrics and hiring expertise is ideal. Smart organizations are taking personality assessments to the next level, using modern tools to complement soft skills assessment and the recruiter’s hiring experience. Data-driven
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recruiting allows HR professionals to save time by prequalifying and interviewing the right candidates, provide evidence for their decisions, and select and place the right candidate in the right position.
Using Psychometrics in the Workplace Using psychometrics as a means to screen candidates is not a new form of recruiting, but usage has dramatically increased in the past few years. There are several factors that explain the success and widespread use of psychometrics and data into the recruiting process. First, replacing employees is costly; employers are using psychometrics as a means of reducing turnover. Recruiting costs, including costs associated with sourcing and interviewing, are extremely high, as is the cost of training and onboarding new hires. According to one estimate in a recent CareerBuilder study, the price tag of a “bad hire” costs American companies an average of $50,000.4 For some jobs, it may cost much more. Second, psychometrics allow HR professionals to get to know their candidates beyond their technical qualifications and past experiences. As an early step in the recruiting process, psychometrics can be used to help prepare behavioral interview questions that focus on the essential personality traits for the desired position. By analyzing personality test results, trained HR professionals can determine where a candidate may or may not fit within the organization. A third effective use of psychometrics is to discover if candidates match company culture. By first using psychometric testing within the organization on current employees, HR can strategically determine the culture of their organization and the personality that makes for a top-performing employee within that culture. Avoiding a costly mismatch is essential, and by identifying if the candidates’ traits and motivations align with a company’s culture is not easy to detect during an interview. With data-driven psychometric testing, HR professionals are able to gain insight into who the candidate is and how they will fit in the
company. Lastly, effective deployment of assessment tools provides candidates with opportunities for self-discovery and empowerment. Taking an employee/candidate-centric attitude and delivering value-added services to candidates will reflect positively on the company.
Psychometric-based People Analytics Solution Talentoday provides HR professionals with in-depth behavioral analytics based on validated psychometrics. The company was created to provide individuals and enterprises with intelligent recommendations for career success. The People Analytics solution was created by a team of accredited psychologists, engineers, data scientists, and HR experts. The team has collected massive datasets and transformed this data into personalized career analytics. The solution allows recruitment professionals to ensure the reliability of their candidate selections by evaluating the personality and professional motivations of each individual. Professionals are able to identify best-fit opportunities and matches between the candidate, position, and company culture, optimizing job placements, and proposing highvalue services to candidates. Since launching in January 2014, more than 3 million people have taken the Talentoday assessment. “Nowadays, companies that are looking to recruit are often faced with a homogenous pool of candidates—same age, same degree, same studies, and thus, same hard skills—and find it difficult to obtain specific insights about how one candidate or another will be a better fit with the company,” explains Pierre-François Verley, psychologist, co-founder and CEO of Talentoday. Combining soft skills assessment and previously identified people analytics allows the recruiter to identify how well a candidate will adapt to the company culture, work with a team, and excel in a given position. Talentoday is introducing analytics and psychometrics to organizations and HR professionals, empowering them to use objective data to make better hiring and career-long decisions. At the same time, psychometrics-based questionnaires can provide individuals with insights that support self awareness, and potentially lead to greater career fulfillment.
Using Psychometrics to predict Future Success: Predictive Behavioral Analytics Beyond selection and hiring, behavioral analytics can be used to predict whether a candidate will be a successful manager or describe how they tend to communicate with their co-workers. Personality information combined with big data analytics is providing more information than ever before. Pierre-François Verley explains, “The mix of data-based insights and the wisdom of experienced recruiters allows for the best decision making ever.” By integrating big data technology solutions such as Talentoday into traditional HR practices, not only will professionals enhance their services, but candidates and employees will also benefit from learning how they can perform at their peak and find fulfillment in their careers.
Match Candidates to Job Positions and Company Culture With Talentoday’s Target Profile, HR professionals are able to precisely define who they want to fill an open position and match candidate lists to job profiles. The tool highlights key personality traits and motivations necessary to be successful in a given position and fit with the company culture. Target Profile automates the definition of key success factors by analyzing required soft skills and current employee performance data. After assessing and compiling the results of a selection of employees, a personality profile is created to illustrate the keys to success in a job position and organization. Using an algorithm developed with data scientists from MIT and Stanford University, Target Profile provides intelFigure 1.Talentoday Profile ligent recommendations for career direction to individuals and enterprises. The algorithm uses Talentoday datasets to determine behavioral constants of a successful and fulfilled population, defining a Target Profile for a dedicated position, team, business unit, etc. Once determined, it is possible to quickly screen a pool of candidates and reveal the individuals who best Figure 2. Target Profile | Talentoday.com. match those behavioral criteria. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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Case Study: Adecco Group
Endnotes 1 SHRM Poll: Most Employers Don’t Use Personality Tests. SHRM, 1 Apr. 2012. http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/ staffingmanagement/articles/pages/ mostemployersdontusepersonalitytests.aspx. 2 Nathan R. Kuncel, Deniz S. Ones, and David M. Klieger. “In Hiring, Algorithms Beat Instinct.” Harvard Business Review. 1 May 2014. https://hbr.org/2014/05/in-hiringalgorithms-beat-instinct. 3 “Talent Crunch Study.” CareerBuilder. 2012. http://careerbuildercommunications.com/ talentcrunch/. 4 ”More Than Half of Companies in the Top Ten World Economies Have Been Affected By a Bad Hire” CareerBuilder, 8 May 2013. http:// www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/ pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=5%2F8%2F2013 &siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr757_&id=pr757 &ed=12%2F31%2F2013.
Adecco Group, a global leader in HR services, has seen the workforce evolve over nearly two decades. The company understands the advantages of using psychometrics and data in people operations and recruiting. Using Talentoday, Adecco has brought innovation to the recruiting by using a new method based on data, with the ability to determine the perfect fit between a candidate’s personality, the job position, and the organization culture.
Challenges and Needs
Adecco Group faced two main challenges when approaching their recruiting practices, and looked to 5 Lauren Weber “Today’s Personality Tests a modern solution to answer these Raise the Bar for Job Seekers.” WSJ. N.p., needs. First, they were looking to 14 Apr. 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/asave time by enhancing the efficiency personality-test-could-stand-in-the-way-ofyour-next-job-1429065001?tesla=y. of their consultants, especially with respect to data-driven prescreening of their candidates — and reducing the time spent in interviews. Additionally, Adecco looked to offer a more positive experience for every candidate, attracting and satisfying the best candidates for clients with a modern and innovative tool.
Solution: How they set up Talentoday and How the Solution is Answering their Needs Adecco implemented Talentoday into their recruiting and placement practices to allow their consultants to better serve every candidate and client. By training their team of consultants to be data-centric recruiters, they are About the Authors able to offer intelligent recommenPaige Beaton is the product dations and placement support for marketing manager at Talentoday, candidates. Consultants equipped a People Analytics solution. with expert knowledge of analytTalentoday improves career success by delivering personal ics and psychometrics are able to insights based on psychometrics and predictive implement more user-centric soluanalytics. The company provides a free tions and serve clients with a more assessment for individuals and a cloud-based personalized approach—despite framework for Career and HR experts to scale and working on a massive scale. optimize effective job placement. Responsible for the product marketing, lead generation activities, Loren Resal, training and develand community management for Talentoday, opment manager for Spring France Beaton works to provide and introduce an Adecco, weighed in on Talentoday’s innovative solution to individuals and enterprises impact: around the world. She is passionate about “A successful recruitment is education and sharing the vision of Talentoday globally, and can be reached at p.beaton@ talentoday.com.
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strongly linked to our ability to assess not only the technical skills of candidates, but also their personality and professional motivations. Our partnership with Talentoday offers each of our consultants a tool that is both powerful and easy to use, allowing them to prepare for each of their interviews. Based on a comprehensive report, each consultant can design the interviews and questions based on the positions they are recruiting for. Our candidates benefit from feedback sessions focused on their career paths, best-fit job positions, and their personality preferences and professional motivations. As “creators of professional affinities,” our ambition is to provide our clients with candidates who bring the necessary skills to succeed in their organizations…a compatible personality to work with the team, and an aligned motivation to the proposed position. The easy assessment process, positive user experience, reliability, and transparency of the Talentoday results are real assets to Spring and Adecco. They contribute to the image and message we are sending to our clients and candidates.”
Results In just 6 weeks, 200 Adecco consultants were trained on the psychometrics and effective usage of Talentoday for their clients and candidates. These 200 consultants are assessing 15 candidates per week on average. Overall, Talentoday is helping Adecco consultants reduce the time for placements by 32 percent, and with the addition of this high-value solution to their portfolio, some consultants have upsold their existing clients full personality reports. Adecco is looking to see a 2x return-on-investment (ROI) by the end of 2015. CEO of the Adecco Executive Branch, Christophe Catoir, says, “Our partnership with Talentoday responds to the objective to transform conventional recruitment methods. Given the volume at which we recruit technical, middle and top management talent, Talentoday allows us to leverage big data to optimize job placements.” “In 2001, 26 percent of large U.S. employers used pre-hire assessments. By 2013, the number had climbed to 57 percent.”5 This number will inevitably increase as more and more professionals and enterprises integrate personality assessment and data-driven approaches to selection practices. Ultimately, we expect to see an increase in the use candidate and employee-centric solutions across the range of HR activities.
From Our Advisors
Talent Management – It’s Time to Get Personal By Jason Averbook, The Marcus Buckingham Company
While developing a topic for this article in the context of the theme, “Outside of HR,” as well as thinking about what I wanted to share with our IHRIM readers, two key messages emerged. The primary thought that came to mind was “it’s time to get personal.” When using the word “personal” in this context, I am using it in two different ways. One, the responsibility of the HR function to “personally” take on the challenge to change, reimagine, and reinvent how we manage, measure, and interact with our talent in our workplaces worldwide. And two is the need to truly personalize our approaches when it comes to understanding our talent and design tools, processes, approaches, and technologies to match the true individualized needs of team leaders and team members. We have been at the art of talent management for decades, and have failed the team leaders and team members miserably. If anything, we have made their lives worse while giving us in HR information that “might” have made our lives better. Well team, “It’s Time to Get Personal,” and get this right once and for all. As a profession, we (HR) have been working for years on trying to get some of the simplest measures of talent within our sights. These measures include things like time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, regrettable turnover, and the all-important (with sarcasm) performance calibration exercise. While these measures can be interesting to some, the only people these measures could be interesting to are the individuals in the HR function. They are reflections of how HR is performing and they are at best, some kind of tangible, numerical representation that we can grasp when trying to put a value on our “most important asset,” our people. Now don’t get me wrong, until recently, and in many organizations still, we struggle to accurately count
how many employees and contractors we have worldwide. While we would love to say that talent management has been our focus, and we have people in the organization dedicated to the function of talent management, in many, if not most, organizations the results of this activity have not come close to meeting the hopes or expectations of organizational leadership. What we have done is put in place processes for ourselves in the HR function to try to measure and manage our performance for ourselves, instead of truly understanding the needs of the business and giving them tools and processes to help them lead and manage their talent to optimum performance. Let’s get to the “personal” point number one. The only way this can change is if we in the HR function take action; meaning embed ourselves into the business and take the art of improving, assessing, and developing talent and teams personally, keeping the team leader at the heart. The minute we find ourselves developing or deploying processes for the HR function instead of tools designed for team leaders, we must personally step up and make the point that this effort will get us nowhere, and we personally must take a different approach. Nothing will change in our space without heroes (especially HR) taking on an initiative to personally create a transformation with the end in mind, a true focus on the individuals and the teams (work unit leaders: i.e., directors, managers, supervisors, team leads, etc.) that make our businesses run. The second aspect of getting “personal” ties to a mistake we have continued to make in the art of talent management: executing a “peanut butter spread” approach to talent instead of truly thinking about the personal needs of our talent. There has been a belief in our community for a long time that if we can standardize our processes globally, we will
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have a better chance of understanding and making meaning of our data while making things more efficient and effective. This thinking may have proven itself out somewhat, but we have seen over and over again, processes and systems that might be standardized, but end up failing miserably when it comes to adoption and intended business value actually derived. Once again, the fallacy that a single, global process will value someone is often just that – a fallacy. It (single, standardized, global approach) values the HR function because it makes policies, programs, and processes easier to administer and educate than a more sophisticated, personalized approach. What we left out of that equation is the answer to the very simple question of: Can one, single prescription to talent work globally? As a HR or organizational leader, can I measure my people the same way around the world? Should I prescribe the same talent philosophies and education, or coaching decisions to everyone around the world? There is a huge difference between the measure and process, and the prescription and the action. In order to effectively manage talent on a global basis, we do have to remember first the concept of personalization, which includes understanding each person in the organization by their strengths and by what drives them at work. We should continually check in with each of our team members to determine how we can support them to do their best work. This is a frequent (i.e., daily or weekly) personalized approach to talent management, which through research is proven to About the Authors provide better business results Jason Averbook, CEO of The compared to our old manner of Marcus Buckingham Company, is standardization of formal systems, recognized as one of the top processes, and forms; relying on thought leaders in the space of one or a handful of “objective” HR, workforce and enterprise technology. He brings with him more than 20 performance assessment and years of invaluable experience helping coaching sessions annually to organizations resolve common business problems facilitate higher levels of individual through the use of innovative solutions. As one and group performance. While the CEO has said about him, “He just gets it and can put it into language that we get.” He has been a process and the approach should contributor to Inc., Businessweek, Fortune, The be standard, the prescriptions and Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CIO Magazine, HR the actions must be frequent and Executive Online, Talent Management Magazine, personalized. When HR realizes NPR, SHRM, IHRIM Workforce Solutions Review and other well-known publications. He was that their role isn’t only to deliver named as one of the World’s 10 Most Powerful HR the process and tools, but to help Technology Experts by HR Executive Magazine. Follow Jason @jasonaverbook.
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people understand the approach and coach leaders through the prescription, it will be a win-win for the entire organization. It is time to get personal with talent management. It is time to look in the mirror and ask yourself these questions: 1. Does the business, not the HR department, find value in our current performance management and engagement processes and outputs? 2. Do I think that providing tools to business leaders to “play” with their teams to build the best teams is more important than providing me in HR a tool to try to calibrate people? 3. Do I in the HR function realize that my job isn’t to police and collect ratings, but to truly help team leaders understand how a more effective personalized approach, tools, and technology can help them build better teams? 4. Do I realize that the first responder to intelligence around talent opportunities and challenges must be the team leader on the ground and not the HR function? 5. Do I realize that the data that is needed to truly manage and develop talent resides at the team leader level first, and HR is only a recipient of this data to be used to help the business? 6. Do I understand that HR processes built for the manufacturing economy must be killed in an era that we live in today, which is clearly a knowledge economy? There are many, many more questions to ask to understand where you are on this journey. For the last 20 years, I have been working with organizations to help them gain clarity into where they have been, where they are going and how to get there. There is one answer and recommendation that comes to the top of the list in each and every conversation, and that is: It is time to get personal about talent management. Good luck on your journey!
Book Reviews
Managing as Designing Edited by Richard J. Boland, Jr. and Fred Collopy, 2004, Stanford University Press.
“A working knowledge of organization design has become an essential personal competency for successful senior leaders.” –Greg Kessler and Amy Kates
Indeed, organization design and development is one of the most important competency areas for HR. Organization design has been described as both a top-down and bottom-up process. Jay Galbraith’s Star Model has been the standard for diagnosing strategic requirements and choosing a basic organizational structure to support that strategy since the 1970s. Since the industrial age, traditional design approaches (organization charts, spans and layers, a company’s current operating model) have been sufficient building blocks for HRsupported reorganizations and restructurings. But the global, post-digital world calls for a new way of thinking about designing organizations. Managing as Designing challenges readers to reconsider their views of both management and organization design by developing a “design attitude.” Design attitude refers to a problem-solving process that integrates multiple perspectives and looks beyond default solutions. Boland and Collopy have assembled a host of contributors from varied backgrounds, including architecture, sociology, design, history, choreography, strategy, economics, music, and accounting. This series of conference papers given at the opening of the Peter B. Lewis Building, designed by Frank Gehry for the Weatherhead School of Management
at Case Western Reserve University, shines a new light on the process of organization design and managerial work. Frank Gehry approaches each project as an opportunity to ask oneself a new, “What is the real problem being faced and what is a best solution?” He and the design team work from both the inside-out (interior massing models based on client interviews to capture how functional areas must work together in the building) and from the outside-in (creating freehand sketches of the building-to-be). This ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously informs an approach to design as distinctive as the buildings Gehry Partners create. It creates a dynamic tension between function and form. Karl Weick, in Chapter 3, argues that organization design can no longer be structuring for stability and predictability. He quotes Dee Hock, ex-CEO and designer of VISA, as saying in 1999 that management expertise had become “the creation and control of constants, uniformity, and efficiency.” The problem, however, was that management needed to become the understanding and coordination of variability, complexity, and effectiveness. Weick goes on to point out that design must, therefore, “mix together perceptual and conceptual modes of action,” i.e., move back and forth between these modes. Both Gehry and Weick insist on remaining open to uncertainty and increased possibility, rather than pouring concrete over early ideas. Though we “give up clarity and take on confusion, give up intention and take on thrownness, and we give up anticipation and take on resilience,” these activities focus us on zones and forms and relationships. They focus the work of design on sense-making rather than decision-making, on path creation versus path dependency – and this holds lessons for the work of management as well. As I read the book, I thought about the design of the new Apple “Spaceship Campus” headquarters in Cupertino, CA. It represents a radical departure from the “blacktop-laden industrial parks” that dominated the last 50 years of corporate architecture. Apple’s campus will be an airy ring in the middle of a nature refuge that pushes the limits of tech-
You will find below three reviews on books which offer an outside-in perspective on HR and management practices. They shed a fascinating light on practices that should be considered. If you have been influenced by other books, please let any of the editors know. We look forward to your feedback.
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nology and social interaction. And, it was not conceived as a circular building, but rather emerged as one from an intensive collaborative process that continues through construction. Organization design is due for a similar shift into new directions. This insightful book reminds managers and HR to balance the analytical and the intuitive when designing work and organizations. Just as architecture has benefited from experimentation and invention in recent years, HR’s transformation will benefit from incorporating design vocabulary. Words like balance and fit, form and function, gesture and thrownness take on new meaning and use in the organizational context. A new vocabulary, together with a new attitude toward organization design, can provide a force for change – in creating more sustainable organizations and more sought-after HR practitioners. Reviewed by David Gabriel, www.globalreachleadership.com
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner , August 2009, Harper Perennial.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a collection of articles co-authored by an economist, Steven Levitt, from the University of Chicago, and Stephen Dubner, a journalist at The New York Times. The authors argue that economic incentives lie at the root of all human behavior and present a series of topics to demonstrate how various incentives drive behavior in different walks of life. The book is organized as a series of essays with
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the following titles: 1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? 2. How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? 3. Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms? 4. Where Have All the Criminals Gone? 5. What Makes a Perfect Parent? 6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet? The authors argue that most data analysis and interpretation are driven by economics, specifically, the economic (or political) incentives at stake that drive people to manipulate the data and interpret it to their own advantage. They cite numerous examples supporting this claim, such as the infamous story about Chicago Public School teachers changing the answers on standardized tests because their pay, promotions, and even job security depended on how well their students performed. Similarly, they argue that Sumo wrestlers who have already secured their position in a tournament collude with those on the bubble and “let them win” in exchange for a “return favor” the next time the tables are reversed. They also present a convincing analysis of how real-estate agents and the Klu Klux Klan manipulate their “clients” by presenting only the data that puts their position in the most favorable light. To uncover these trends, Levitt and Dubner demonstrate the power of data mining – bringing together large datasets from a variety of sources and analyzing trends over multiple years. They also bring a strong cross-functional approach to their analysis by combining insights across several disciplines from economics and politics to sociology and criminology. The book has received considerable popular attention, selling seven million copies since its publication in 2005. Much of its success has been attributed to the blogosphere and the “marketing buzz” created with the publisher promoting the book by sending free copies to bloggers and buzz marketing agencies. Indeed the authors have founded
the Freakonomics Consulting Group, demonstrating the economic advantage that book publishing can bring in promoting a profitable consulting business. However, the book has also been marred by considerable controversy. The research has been called “dubious statistics” by “amateur sociologists.” Since the book’s publication, many have refuted a number of the book’s claims, such as the effects of adding police and legalizing abortion on crime rates. In their American Scientist article in May 2012, “What Went Wrong with Freakonomics,” Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung state that the main issue with the book is the authors’ tendency “to present speculative or even erroneous claims with an air of certainty.” While recognizing the difficulties of presenting complex statistical findings in a readable and accessible way for the general public, Gelman and Fung present four recommendations: •
Leave friendship at the door. Avoid too heavy reliance on social networks and trust in specific brands, which have many failure points.
•
Don’t sell yourself short. Take value in the outsider’s perspective and don’t let assertions stand without critical challenge.
•
•
Maintain checks and balances. Hire a meticulous editor to evaluate the technical arguments and ensure a strong division of labor between analysis and synthesis. Take your time. Resist the temptation to streamline arguments or narrow the pool of sources, even in the face of deadlines.
In reading this book, I was reminded of one of my all-time favorite books that I read in college, How to Lie with Statistics, originally published in 1954 by Darrell Huff. This little book exemplifies, in an amusing and easily understandable way, how statistics can be manipulated and dramatized to demonstrate a particular point that the person is trying to make. Huff describes some of the typical traps associated with statistical
analysis, such as the built-in bias, the law of averages, much ado about nothing, onedimensional analysis, and cool graphics that wow the viewer. Anyone who doesn’t want to fall victim to dubious statistical methods would do well to read this little tome. Readers should approach Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything with interest, inquiry and skepticism, and be wary of the strong influence of pop statistics and marketing hype. Reviewed by Karen Beaman, karen.beaman@teilasa.com
Work Rules!
By Laszlo Bock , April 2015.
Employees today are increasingly mobile, connected, and discoverable. They want to join companies offering them the freedom to contribute, to express themselves, and provide high value. In the new book, Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock, the CHRO of Google, those companies are called “high freedom” companies and Google exemplifies this model. People are fundamentally good and, if they are good, they should be free to act without the scrutiny of a controlling bureaucracy. The nature of people should not change, the nature of work needs to change. One of the characteristics of “low freedom” companies is the strong dependency between employees and managers. Google has removed a lot of the traditional attributes of managers in order to break this dependen-
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cy and build a “high freedom” environment. Managers do not have the power to hire, nor to fire, to promote, to rate someone’s performance or to reward an employee. How does it work? What is left to managers? This is what Laszlo Bock is describing. Whether he talks about hiring, managing performance, learning, rewarding, or providing benefits to employees, the decisions made are all data-driven. A scientific approach is used with what is being discussed; solutions to issues are identified, each is being tested on a sample of employees or managers, with, when required, a control group. The outcome is measured, compared, and the best solution is deployed. It does not stop there, though. It is a continuous improvement process informed by the data collected and the feedback provided by employees and managers. The hiring process at Google has gone through a lot of those transformations. Per Laszlo Bock, companies underinvest in hiring. Where on average, companies are investing 14 percent of their HR budget on hiring, less than the amount for training, Google is investing twice as much in hiring, at the expense of training. They initially looked at SAT scores and grades at school, but found no correlation with performance after two or three years of professional life. They were requiring candidates to have more than 20 interviews, but are now down to four as the optimum number. They had unstructured interviews, which are now structured. The referral process has been redesigned. Where they were screening candidates, they are now cultivating relationships. They looked at the best predictors of success and observed that a combination of assessment techniques were producing the best results. They are now set on a test of cognitive ability, a conscientiousness assessment, a leadership assessment and structured interviews (behavioral and situational). Google revisits regularly the rejected applicants to see if, based on new analysis of the hiring process, some should be recontacted. At Google, like in many new industries, the performance distribution does not follow a normal (Gaussian) distribution, but a power law distribution. The top 5 percent of
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employees account for 25 percent of output. They are so productive that they bring the average productivity up and, just looking at the math of it, the majority of employees become below average. It is not bad, it is just how a power law distribution operates for companies where manual labor is no longer the driver of productivity, but rather the creativity and innovation of its employees. From this follows a controversial consequence applied at Google: You need to pay unfairly, and reward the high achievers much more than normal compensation rules would dictate. The other unorthodox emphasis made by Laszlo on compensation is “reward through failure.” Innovations are not always successful, but there is much to learn from failure and employees who spent time on unsuccessful innovations should be acknowledged and rewarded for it. Laszlo goes on to speak about learning (he is a big proponent of the Kirkpatrick’s scale to measure training success), about nudging (or how to alter people’s behavior without forbidding any option), about benefits, and about some of the prices to pay under such a model. Laszlo’s book is a captivating introduction to the new world of trust-driven and datadriven companies, those reinventing work and organizations to achieve exceptional economic results, as this new approach is not philanthropic, but anchored into the reality of today’s talent war. This book captures key insights on this new world by demystifying the principles under which Google, one of the iconic companies of the world, is operating. In 2003, Libby Sartain published a book called HR from the Heart, which quickly became a best seller, one of those flag books about HR. The same will happen with Work Rules! from Laszlo Bock; a must read even if its content may seem light years from your current practices. Reviewed by Bruno Querenet, Bruno.Querenet@gmail.com
The Back Story
The Big “Whoops!” The Delta between Top Talent Challenges and Companies’ Readiness to Address Them By Dr. Katherine Jones, Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Global leaders may not agree on a lot of things — but they do tend to agree on the top talent challenges they are facing today. Deloitte surveyed 3,300 business and HR leaders in 106 countries on the importance of various talent challenges and how they perceived their preparedness in addressing them. Globally, the issues were remarkably similar. Alas, so was the lack of readiness to address those challenges.
Here we have the big “Whoops.”
The Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report1 (http://marketing.bersin.com/ hc-trends.html) discusses the delta between perceived importance of human capital areas and the organizations’ view of their ability to address them — and that delta is often large. Here are the top ten of those talent areas, shown by perceived importance to respondents, along with their assessment of their company’s readiness to address that issue (see Figure 1). We are going to talk about just a couple of these “whoopsies” in this Back Story.
Culture Matters
A company’s culture appears to be closely tied to its ability to engage its employees: in this report, culture and engagement emerged as the #1 global talent issue – with 50 percent of respondents saying it is “very important” to them and their organizations — twice the number responding so in 2014. The challenge here is not just job fit but the ability to create meaningful work with adequate recognition of the employee’s contributions to the company’s successes. And how is this different from the past? Rarely was the HR practitioner asked to consider the nature of the work that an employee was asked to perform nor the attention he or she received for performing it. When we
evaluate culture and engagement, it is that task — the activity that is work — that tends to sit solidly in the middle of culture and engagement. Culture matters in multiple ways. HR members often become brand ambasFigure 1. Talent Trends: Global Importance vs. Readiness. sadors for the whole company – responsible for first ascertaining, and then marketing the authentic culture of the company to potential job candidates. Evaluating a company’s employment brand, as this is called, is a relatively new concept, different that the idea of the corporate brand, and may well be an activity that is new to the HR practitioner. Why is it important? Because the misrepresentation of the employment brand to a prospective new employee can mean the difference between a job fit and a misfit – a potentially costly mistake to make. Canadian companies participating in the survey were more comfortable with the culture and engagement challenge (leadership gaps were their first ranked issue; culture and engagement was second). Among the Canadian respondents, 89 percent felt they are ready to take on culture and engagement, 75 percent believe they understand their current workplace culture, and fully 71 percent report that they frequently monitor employee engagement.
The Leadership Whoops
Leadership was deemed second in importance globally (it was rated first in importance by Canadian companies that participated in the survey), and here is the single largest gap between perceived readiness to address the www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • July 2015
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issue. Why the head-in-the-sand stance on leadership? Let’s take a minute to consider some possibilities: during the past recession, monies spent on development often dried up – the attention to promising potential leaders for the future likely waned. While acquisition of succession planning software is ticking upwards, most is fairly recent — perhaps HR practitioners didn’t previously have the tools at their fingertips to better identify their future leadership. Or perhaps we just don’t like to acknowledge that current executives or those employees in pivotal positions on which the company relies might leave our companies. This is a “whoops” HR should address and address today.
Can You Build What You Cannot Buy? (But do you know what you can buy?)
Both learning and development and workforce capability are “whoops” issues, as shown in Figure 1, but in the U.S., for example, new programs created in response to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) are rolling out to help skill and Last year, Congress passed WIOA, the first legislative reskill job seekreform of the public workforce system in more than ers. And speak15 years, by a wide bipartisan majority. It is intended ing of readiness, to help job seekers and workers access employment, WIOA went into education, training, and support services so that they effect as of July 1, 2015. Are you can better succeed in the labor market, and also to preparing to take match employers with the skilled workers they need advantage of to compete in the global economy.2 these workers? What changes might this bring to your candidate pool, particularly those of you with large hourly workforces? WIOA authorizes programs for: specific vulnerable populations, Indian and Native Americans, and migrant and seasonal farmworker programs, and; training and employment services for adult, dislocated and disabled workers through literacy and vocational rehabilitation and supports Job Corps and YouthBuild.3 Are you targeting these trainees in your diversity and inclusion efforts? Are you working with your local agencies to provide onramps to jobs for these populations?
Underperforming in Performance
Performance management didn’t make
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the top five globally, but surveyed companies across the globe felt only “somewhat ready” to address this challenge. This is an area of talent that is in flux, as many HR environments are just beginning to adopt programs (and software) that replaces one-time annual reviews and ratings with reiterative performance conversations and feedback. It will be interesting to see if companies perceive that they have shrunk that gap in next year’s survey. Likewise, interest in the integration of HR decision support via analytics into the talent arena has been growing in the recent past, but most practitioners have a long way to go. Data science has impacted HR such that analytics about talent abound; increasingly, science has become ingrained in practices that look at a candidate’s “fit” within an organization, his or her degrees of engagement, likelihood of leaving the company, and even the likelihood of becoming a high performer in the future. Predictive analytics can become an effective aid in helping managers better help their team members achieve the career aspirations they seek. But while this study showed that three in four companies surveyed (75 percent) believe that using analytics in HR is “important,” just eight percent believe their organization is “strong” in this area. One of the top challenges to building an effective analytics capability is a lack of skills in HR for gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data. HR teams need dedicated staff for these activities, and these roles tend to involve new and different skillsets. So, despite a great deal of media attention and high-profile uses of analytics, we see another area of “whoops.”
Big Picture HR
Some conceptual areas that attracted attention to the 33,000 respondents were big picture endeavors: reinventing HR, the increasingly disparate workforce, simplification of work, and the integration of machines at work. None of these are challenges that have a singular formula for addressing. Perhaps the good news is that these participating companies recognize that their human capital practices need addressing and that the workforce of yesterday is definitely not the workforce of tomorrow. Technology that was supposed to make life easier may have inadvertently made aspects of the 24/7 work world overly complex or at least
overwhelming for some workers. And be they drones or self-driving vehicles, increasingly sophisticated technologies are entering the workplace and very likely to change aspects of the nature of work. These will all likely require HR scrutiny: wearable computing “garments” and devices can alleviate repetitive mundane actions; robotics – no longer looking like renegades from science fiction movies – can augment human workers in what might be tedious recurring or potentially dangerous tasks. While robotics have been almost universally used in discrete manufacturing, untethered robots have seen little consumer or office place adoption other than for floor-cleaning.
made nascent strides in redesigning performance management and in upskilling staff on analytic skills. Some of our “whoops” areas involve careful investigation and planning — like changing a toxic culture — but some need HR’s immediate attention, such as addressing the pending leadership crisis. The delta between the top ten global areas of concern and a company’s ability to address them is likely the delta between a struggling or status quo company of tomorrow and those that rise to the top of the “best places to work” food chain. For far more details, please check out the Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2015 report.
Marching Orders
The status of global human capital management today is rather like that old commercial: “You’ve come a long way, baby – but you still have a long ways to go.” Many HR teams have
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Endnotes
1 Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in the New World of Work. Deloitte University Press. 2015. 2 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Overview. U.S. Department of Labor. July 22, 2014. 3 Ibid.
About the Author
Dr. Katherine Jones is a vice president, focusing on human capital management (HCM) technology research, at Bersin by Deloitte, Deloitte Consulting LLP. She analyzes the underlying technologies and services that support the management of a global workforce, including HR, hiring and performance management and workforce planning. Jones is a veteran in enterprise workforce and talent management applications and a recognized expert in cloud computing. Prior to joining Bersin by Deloitte, she was a research director at the Aberdeen Group for eight years where she established Aberdeen’s HCM practice, focusing on research and consulting services in HR, talent acquisition, workforce management, ERP and mid-market companies. Later, she was the director of Marketing for NetSuite Inc., a cloud-based ERP company. She has written on many areas of talent management, technology and business practices. With over 300 works published to date, she is also a frequent speaker in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to a high-technology career, Jones was a university dean, involved in academic administration, research and teaching. She has a master’s degree and a doctorate from Cornell University. She can be reached at kathjones@deloitte.com.
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