March 2016
The Official Journal of the International Association for Human Resource Information Management
IHRIM.ORG
People Management: A Greater Emphasis on Engaging and Empowering People is Key to Organizational Success.
See the HR Service Delivery Buyer’s Guide on Page 27
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Contents
Volume 7, Number 2 • March 2016
features HR Service Delivery Buyer’s Guide
Page 27
columns From the Editors
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Freddye Silverman, Lead Editor Shawn Fitzgerald, Contributing Editor Michael Rudnick, Contributing Editor
Global Challenges
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Four Factors for Global Success Learnings from Successful International Assignments By Karen V. Beaman, Teilasa Global
Product Focus
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Visualizing, Mapping, and Analyzing to Optimize Workforce Planning By Joe Kolinger, OfficeWork Software
Executive Interview
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Karen Isaacson, SAP SuccessFactors “…HR absolutely has the responsibility to make sure that companies are thinking about how they’re attracting, developing, retaining, rewarding, motivating, engaging, etc., the right talent so that their organizations can be competitive in the future, and HRIS must provide technology solutions that can help turn those thoughts into action.”
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By Nov Omana, Collective HR Solutions, Inc.
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Resourcing the Modern HR Systems Environment By Stacey Harris, Sierra-Cedar
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By Dr. John Sullivan, San Francisco State University This is an opportune time for HR to begin the evolution from an overhead function into a high-business impact function. Unfortunately, the first major roadblock to making that transition is that most HR professionals are simply too comfortable with the existing low-risk “staying in the background” approach.
SaaS HCM Staffing Models: Getting out of it what you put into it.
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Improving Enterprise Collaboration and Engagement: The Intersection of the Technical and Physical Worlds By Janet Grapengeter, AIA, director, Columbia University
Research and Benchmarking
The change in workforce dynamics, coupled with the need to deliver information through multiple channels, provides HR with an opportunity to truly change culture and gain leverage in making the workforce competitive and agile.
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Laments and Rants by a Senior and What HR and We Can Do By Lexy Martin, retired but not completely
The Collaborative Workplace
Generational Delivery Strategies – What, When, Where, and for Whom
Can HR Evolve to Become the #1 Business Impact Function? – Part II
From Our Advisors
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Strategic Workforce Planning
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Future-proof Your Workforce By Susan M. DeFazio, Kelly Services
The Back Story
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Hard, Harder, Hardest: What Did We Do to Make Work so Complex? By Katherine Jones, Ph.D., Mercer
By Patrick Crane The decision of how much value an organization wants to derive from its SaaS HCM solutions is theirs. The investment can be truly transformational for an organization and position it well for the future, or it can just be a transactional experience – a meaningless way to spend four years.
Using Gaming Principles for Career Advancement
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By Scott Bolman, KPMG You might be wondering about the effectiveness of using gaming as a method of achieving results. Suffice it to say, the research of Dr. Jane McGonigal and others clearly indicates the effectiveness of gamification. The purpose of this article is not to review the scientific evidence but rather to explain the concepts and how you might apply them to your “Epic Win” of career advancement.
Driving Results through Performance Management
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By Laurie Kalman, Performance First Inc. Simply put, technology cannot precede how we think, feel, and act. A good performance management implementation follows a foundational change in culture, not the other way around. And, technology is the underpinning to that change.
From the Publisher Many thanks to Freddye Silverman for her five years of service on the IHRIM WSR Editorial Team. This will be her last issue as editor but we hope that she will provide our readers with her vast knowledge and experience in HR and HR technology by contributing future articles. Workforce Solutions Review (ISSN 2154-6975) is published bi-monthly for the International Association for Human Re- source Information Management by Futura Publishing LLC, 12809 Shady Mountain Road, Leander, TX 78641. 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 • March 2016
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Volume 7, Number 2 • March 2016
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.
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
LISA ROWAN, Program Director, HR, Learning & Talent Strategies, IDC, Framingham, MA USA lrowan@idc.com
© 2016 All rights reserved
NAOMI LEE BLOOM, Managing Partner, Bloom & Wallace, Fort Myers, FL USA naomibloom@mindspring.com
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
YVETTE CAMERON, Global Vice President Strategy, SuccessFactors, Littleton, CO Yvette.cameron@successfactors.com
Managing Editor SCOTT BOLMAN, Director, Advisory Services, KPMG, Chicago, IL USA sbolman@kpmg.com.
Co-Managing Editor SHAWN FITZGERALD, Managing Director, Total Rewards and HR Technology, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Chicago, IL, USA shawn.fitzgerald@bcbsa.com
Associate Editors Roy Altman, HRIS Manager - HR Analytics & Application Architecture at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY roy@peopleserv.com Julie Egbert, SPHR, HRIP, Executive HR Director, SQLC Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX USA Julesegg53@aol.com DAVID GABRIEL, Ed.D., Global Reach Leadership, Berkleley, CA davidcgabriel@gmail.com ROBERT C. GREENE, Channels Account Executive and Sales Training Manager, Ascentis, San Mateo, CA USA rcgreene@mindspring.com JEFF HIGGINS, CEO, Human Capital Management Institute, Marina Del Rey, CA USA jeff.higgins@hcminst.com ERIC LESSER, Research Director, IBM Institute for Business Value, Boston, MA USA elesser@us.ibm.com MICHAEL H. MARTIN, Partner, Aon Hewitt Consulting, Organization & HR Effectiveness, New York, NY michael.martin.6@aonhewitt.com BRUNO QUERENET, HR Technology Executive, High-Tech and Medical Industries, Sunnyvale, CA USA bruno.querenet@gmail.com MICHAEL RUDNICK, Vice President, Principal Consultant, Logical Design Solutions, New York, NY USA michael.rudnick@gmail.com FREDDYE SILVERMAN, CEO, Silver Bullet Solutions, Baltimore, MD USA, freddye.silverman@mysilverbulletsolutions.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 DR. URSULA CHRISTINA FELLBERG, Owner & Managing Director, UCF-StrategieBeraterin, Munich, Germany ucfell@mac.com ALSEN HSEIN, President,Take5 People Limited, Shanghai, PRC Alsen@take5people.com CARL C. HOFFMANN, Director, Human Capital Management & Performance LLC, Chapel Hill, NC USA cc_hoffmann@yahoo.com JIM HOLINCHECK, Vice President, Services Strategy & Marketing, Workday, Inc. james.holincheck@workday.com CATHERINE ANN HONEY, VP, Customer Services, Radius Worldwide catherine.honey@comcast.net DR. KATHERINE JONES, HCM Research, Bersin by Deloitte, San Mateo, CA USA kathjones@deloitte.com SYNCO JONKEREN, VP, HCM Applications Product Development & Management, EMEA, The Netherlands synco.jonkeren@oracle.com MICHAEL J. KAVANAGH, Professor Emeritus of Management, State University of Albany (SUNY), Albany, NY USA mickey.kavanagh@gmail.com BOB KAUNERT, Principal, Towers Watson, Philadelphia, PA USA robert.kaunert@towerswatson.com BILL KUTIK, Technology Columnist, Human Resource Executive, Westport, CT USA bkutik@earthlink.net
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
DAVID LUDLOW, Global VP, HCM Solutions, SAP, Palo Alto, CA David.ludlow@sap.com
CECILE ALPER-LEROUX, VP Product Strategy and Development, Ultimate Software, Weston, FL cecile_leroux@ultimatesoftware.com
RHONDA P. MARCUCCI, CPA, Consultant for GruppoMarcucci, Chicago, IL USA rhonda@gruppomarcucci-usa.com
MARK BENNETT, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, CA USA mark.bennett@oracle.com
LEXY MARTIN, Independent Consultant/Researcher, Meadow Vista, CA Lexy.martin1@gmail.com
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March 2016 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org
Dr. DANIEL SULLIVAN, Professor of International Business, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware USA sullivad@lerner.udel.edu MARK SMITH, CEO, Chief Research Officer, and Founder of Ventana Research, San Ramon, CA USA mark.smith@ventanaresearch.com DAVE ULRICH, Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA dou@umich.edu DR. MARY YOUNG, Principal Researcher, Human Capital, The Conference Board, New York, NY USA mary.young@conference-board.org
IHRIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS Officers and Executive Committee JAMES PETTIT, HRIP, Chair SHAFIQ LOKHANDWALA, Vice Chair, Program Committee Chair, Strategic Alliances Lead GARY MORLOCK, CFO, Finance Committee Chair, Operations Committee JOYCE BROWN, Board Secretary, Finance Committee, Program Committee, Education Committee Board Sponsor KEVIN CARLSON, Past Chair, IHRIM Foundation Board, Membership Committee Board Sponsor, Executive Leadership Council Chair
Board Members DAVE BINDA, Operations Committee, Toronto 2017 Conference Co-Chair STUART RUDNER, Toronto 2017 Co-Chair MICK COLLINS, Finance Committee, Program Committee, Vendor/Alliances Committee Board Sponsor, Marketing Board Sponsor MARY ANN MCILRAITH, Program Committee, Marketing Advisor
PUBLISHING INFORMATION TOM FAULKNER, Publisher, Futura Publishing LLC, Austin, TX USA, tomf@futurapublishing.com PATTY HUBER, Advertising Manager, Austin, TX USA phuber2@austin.rr.com
from the editors As you would expect based on IHRIM’s membership, most of the articles in Workforce Solutions Review focus on HR technology and many also concentrate on process. The other element of the proverbial “three-legged stool” is people. For many of us that one is the lynchpin, since no technology or process can be successful without the engagement of its intended audience, and no project or ongoing operational group will accomplish its objectives without the right people involved. Several years ago we published an issue of WSR with a “people theme” and the feedback was so positive we decided to do it again. The decision was a timely one indeed. Josh Bersin of Bersin by Deloitte recently released the first of a new video series in which he talks about the next evolution in HR, the shift from talent management to people management, and how a greater emphasis on engaging and empowering people is key to organizational success. As technologists we can serve our clients best by understanding the context in which the systems will be used. We are business analysts first, the liaison between HR and the myriad technical options that exist to support that function. How can we help our clients if we don’t understand what they deal with every day? While most of us will never be a compensation analyst, benefit plan designer, recruiter, trainer, payroll manager or employee relations specialist, it’s incumbent upon us to be informed about all of those areas and more in order to be the best HR technology strategist for our companies. We need to understand the business in general, and specifically the business of HR. I liken it to getting a liberal arts degree as opposed to one in computer science – learning more about a broad range of subjects and being aware of the linkage between them is an excellent basis for a future in the business of technology, and not just the science of technology. Shawn Fitzgerald, In her Executive Interview, Shawn Fitzgerald spoke with Karen Isaacson, a global executive Contributing Editor advisor on HR Strategy and Transformation with SAP, who offers her perspective on how HR Shawn Fitzgerald is a global maintains the balance between hard and soft – on the people side, creating and encouraging a HR leader with expertise in culture of collaboration, and on the data side, assisting the organization to make data-driven workforce technologies, talent people decisions. In Service Delivery Methods for Different Generations, Nov Omana discusses management, and HR transforthe different ways information has to be provided to be effective with a multigenerational mation. She has experience transforming the HR workforce, which all of us must consider as we build our technology roadmaps. Dr. John Sulfunction to align HR strategy with organizational strategy. She is currently the managing director, To- livan, a recognized HR thought leader, contributes Part ll of his thought piece on whether HR tal Rewards and HR Technology for Blue Cross Blue can evolve to become the number one business impact function, which began in our January Shield Association. She has worked in the financial issue. Pat Crane addresses an issue that likely affects our entire readership as he looks at how services, technology, professional services, utilities, to staff in a SaaS world – not projects but rather ongoing operations – the human side of system higher education, and health care industries. She success. Dr Jane McGonigal’s research into video games as drivers of better performance is the has an undergraduate and MBA from Dominican University and holds the PMP, SPHR, and HRIP certi- basis for Scott Bolman’s article on one of the newer approaches to employee engagement and fications. Shawn is co-managing editor of WSR and its ties to performance. And from a different perspective we have a feature article authored by a frequent speaker at industry conferences. She Laurie Kalman of Performance First who focuses on driving results through performance mancan be reached at shawn.fitzgerald@bcbsa.com. agement, not the systems that keep the data or may influence performance. Augmenting our features are various columns centered on the people theme. Karen BeaMichael Rudnick, man reports on the multiple factors which contribute to successful international assignments, Contributing Editor based on research she had completed with Dr. Gregory Guy. We also include a product look Michael is a vice president and at OfficeWork Software by Joe Kolinger, which shows us how workforce visualization adds to principal consultant at Logical enterprise value, as well as a thoughtful commentary on the senior (chronologically speaking) Design Solutions, Inc. He is a results-oriented, global execuworker perspective by one of our esteemed advisors Lexy Martin. Architect Janet Grapengeter tive with more than 25 years of experience and a from Columbia University offers a unique perspective on utilizing office space design to improve proven track record creating, growing and leading collaboration and engagement, something that many of us don’t think about and yet are affected large global professional service practices, enterby on a daily basis. Using the data from Sierra-Cedar’s survey on HR Systems, Stacey Harris prise software and product strategy, and startups. takes an in-depth look at resourcing – the staffing of HR and specifically HR technology and Prior to joining the executive team at LDS, he was the global practice leader for Portals and Collabora- the factors that impact those resourcing decisions. Susan deFazio of Kelly Services authors an tion Solutions at Towers Watson, managing director article on strategic workforce planning with an emphasis on managing contingent workers, who at Groundswell; senior vice president of Global B2E/ are likely to become the majority percentage of our global workforce in the future. Finally we B2B Solutions at Xceed, and the founder/managing have our monthly Back Story from Dr. Katherine Jones who always provides us with great food director of Cognitive Communications, an intranet for thought. firm that provided consulting and implementation We hope this people-focused issue gets you thinking about the first key element of the services since the birth of the browser. Rudnick is “people-process-technology” trilogy that we consistently give lip service to, but don’t always an internationally recognized author and speaker, include in our planning or actions. It’s time to expand our thought horizons and cure ourselves often quoted in industry trade publications. He can of “technology tunnel vision!” be reached at michael.rudnick@gmail.com. Freddye Silverman, Lead Editor Freddye L. Silverman is an independent consultant and principal of Silver Bullet Solutions who has been in the HRIS field since 1986. Prior to this she was the vice president, Eastern Region of Jeitosa Group, a global HR technology consulting firm. As a practitioner with several international corporations, she was responsible for strategic planning and oversight of all global HR systems and the U.S. payroll system. Silverman has been actively involved in IHRIM since 1986, serving as chapter president, association board member, and president. She is a frequent presenter at industry events and since 2008 has been the executive director of the HR Technology Solutions Network for Executive Networks. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Adelphi University, a master’s degree in Education from Towson University, and taught Spanish at the secondary and university level before making a career change into IT. She can be reached at freddye.silverman@mysilverbulletsolutions.com.
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feature Executive Interview In this issue of Workforce Solutions Review we welcome Karen Isaacson, a global executive advisor for SAP SuccessFactors. Karen, please tell us a little about your background and experience. Karen Isaacson: I’m an HR practitioner, have been in HR for more than 30 years, and I’d like to think that I’ve done every job in HR that you can imagine. After getting my MBA, I was going to dedicate my life to marketing potato chips at some consumer package food company. I fell into a summer internship in HR and haven’t looked back since. I started out in compensation plan design, where I worked in consulting and then worked at Kraft Foods (which is now Mondelez). I migrated into other roles that included diversity and staffing, succession and development, HR technology, and generalist roles. I found my sweet spot when I was at Kraft in the HRIS function. This was in the mid-1990s when HRIS didn’t really exist as a function, and the CHRO at that time was a very insightful man who saw the future of technology and how it was going to help HR. Since I had been someone who was fairly involved in HR processes and analysis and leveraging data, he asked me to lead that area. I ultimately implemented SAP HR globally for approximately 140,000 employees in about 60 countries, and then added SuccessFactors for succession, development, and performance in early 2000. We then created a function that supported the tools while dealing with mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures and every kind of organization restructure imaginable. Then a couple of roles later, I was asked to be the VP of HR transformation, which was the pinnacle of that technology initiative, looking at optimizing HR structure and HR services that we were providing to the employees. It was some of the most rewarding, but hardest work I’ve ever done. I left the company at the time of the split of Kraft and Mondelez. My role with SAP SuccessFactors is now a Global Executive Advisor. SAP and SuccessFactors came together about four years ago, and they created my role to help customers understand how technology can support their HR strategy. I work with our customers and prospects to help them think about HR transformation, leveraging my experience and the SAP SuccessFactors tools.
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WSR: Thanks, Karen. Based on your experience, what do you see as HR’s role today and how has that role changed throughout the years? Isaacson: I think that HR professionals need to be business people first. They need to understand what the business is trying to do and be a key part of delivering against business strategies, whether it’s M&A, global expansion, or dealing with competition, but all of this through the lens of people to accomplish those business objectives. HR people have to understand the people levers that can be pulled; that means attracting and retaining the best talent, creating a culture where the best results can be obtained, thinking about how diversity and inclusion make sense, and having a philosophy of pay-for-performance. It’s important to mention that good HR people also need to handle the basics with excellence. If you don’t have the basics in place to make sure that you have the right employee relations, the right pay structures, the right benefits, compliance handled, etc., then you don’t have any opportunity to play at the strategy level. One of the biggest trends I see is that more business leaders without formal HR credentials are being put in positions of senior HR. Some of the reasoning behind this is they bring business credibility and the ability to understand what drives the business and how to impact it. The other side of that coin though is that in some cases, traditional HR people may not be seen as strategic thinkers. WSR: Karen, what is your perspective on the assertion in many articles that technology has taken the human side out of human resources? Isaacson: I’ve read many of the same articles. My perspective is quite the opposite; technology has streamlined many administrative HR processes and can make sure the basics are handled well. That has allowed HR professionals to focus on the most value-added work. Employee and manager self-service allows HR
people to think at a higher level about what they want to accomplish. HR people used to spend about 75 percent of their time on paperwork, transactions, and aggregating data in Excel to get a head-count report or just being reactive to managers or employee requests. Technology has now automated with best practices in the cloud, and it lets HR people be more impactful. A good example of this is the succession process. It wasn’t so long ago that we spent all our time pulling together the profiles of senior people, verifying that the data was correct, creating a PowerPoint sort of a nine-box with performance and potential of our people, and putting it all in a big binder. We spent an unbelievable amount of time putting together that information for a formal succession meeting. Now, because technology can handle most of those tasks, the talent management team can be focused on what it tells us. Do we have too many people in some piece of the nine box? Do we have the right kind of diversity represented in our succession pools? That is exciting! So I think technology has taken that whole administrative layer and automated it in a way that allows HR people to have the right kind of conversation and not be buried in the beauracracy. WSR: How do you think HR best finds the balance between the soft and hard parts of its job? The people side where we need to focus on creating and encouraging collaboration and being the stewards for that in the organization, and the data side, the analytic side, the part you talked about being a really good practitioner and understanding the details of whatever program or initiative is being assessed or rolled out. How do you strike the balance between those two sides as a good HR professional? Isaacson: That’s a great question, and I think a lot of people use terms like “touchy-feely,” which I find to be not a particularly helpful description of HR people. The hard and the soft are two sides of the same coin. A progressive HR team can’t just focus on the soft side of building culture or collaboration, nor can they just focus on analytics or data, or the harder side of HR. The magic is when the two come together. For example, being able to measure the business benefits of collaboration or knowledge transfer or being able to drive better talent decisions because of the analytics you have. To have the analytics to understand the profile of a successful person in a key position and use the data to find the best people for those roles. That’s going to help you drive success in your organization,
more than just instinct or feeling. In most organizations, leaders will prefer to make decisions that are rooted in facts and data. To me, that means HR needs to be just as analytic and just as focused on measurement as a finance function, but with the complementary skill to interpret what that means for the organization. WSR: Throughout your time in the HR industry, what do you see as the biggest or most impactful technology change that’s influenced the people side of the organization? Isaacson: Having been in the space for the past three decades, I do have that historical perspective. I just wish that the HR technology that exists today had been around years ago. Around 1995, I remember vividly the cover story in Business Week about the “intranet.” At that time people didn’t even understand what the word meant. We could only imagine at that point the possibilities of what an intranet could be in terms of personalization or self-service. We had a vision then that was not even a fraction of what the reality is today. I find it exciting to see that the level of personalization, the level of selfservice, the level of access is absolutely standard. The ability to use social tools that help people connect to others in their work communities, to become more active learners, to get information they need when they need it, to get feedback from not just your managers but from colleagues and peers internally and externally through the organization, not just once a year, but all the time, have really been game-changing. It provides employees with a better experience and completely streamlines the way that things like recruiting or development happen. I think that the ability to integrate different sources of information has been the most significant change. They’re all kind of merged together. It used to be that HR processes were fairly siloed. The administrative workforce transactions were separate, and every one of them was different. A simple example is an employee who receives a performance review that identifies she needs to be more business savvy. That employee can now link to a learning platform where she can identify and meet with people who have that strength, take a course online, or get other advice dynamically about how to develop that competency. I think technology is absolutely game-changing in terms of it being anywhere, anytime, certainly on any device, and in a way that we couldn’t even imagine that allows people to get information so
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much faster and so much more accurately. WSR: When you see organizations implementing HR technology (any of the possible components), what do you see as some of the biggest mistakes they make regarding those implementations? Isaacson: I have scars all over with some of those learnings, and I try to save our customers from making those same mistakes that I made years ago. One of the biggest mistakes I see is that people think of technology as the panacea. Let’s just go put in a new piece of technology, and it will solve all our problems. I think it’s really important to remember that technology is an enabler to what an organization is trying to do. Because technology selection and implementation is a big investment, and it takes a lot of resources, many organizations don’t think through the impact. Some people think that they are putting in this new technology, therefore our HR people can be more strategic; when we go-live the following Monday morning, our HR people are going to be strategic. Well, that’s ridiculous. These same HR people who have been selected, promoted, and rewarded over their careers to be, perhaps, administrative, are not going to, for the most part, magically become great business partners. Thinking through how you need to provide them with the skills and capabilities is something that is really important. I think another thing that organizations need to think about is their capacity for change. I see many organizations going through transformations in a variety of areas, not just HR. A manager of people is going to be affected by a new financial system, or perhaps a new CRM, or perhaps a new ERP, and they would certainly be impacted by a new HR delivery model. So, thinking through things that aren’t in HR that are also affecting the organization’s capacity to change and adapt and absorb what they’re trying to do is critical; it’s about the pacing. WSR: Agreed, that’s really important because people can only absorb so much, and the success of your project is going to be based on how it is adopted. Interview conducted by WSR co-managing editor, Shawn Fitzgerald
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Isaacson: At the highest level where decisions are made, they get excited about making the decision and getting approval from the senior board or executives to fund a significant transformation and implement new technology.
March 2016 • Workforce Solutions Review • www.ihrim.org
When there’s a lot of momentum and resources focused on it, it’s easy to get swept away with that and not slow down just enough to ask the important questions such as, how’s this going to impact our managers? How is this going to impact our employees? What are some other areas where this could be “penny wise and pound foolish” and short-sighted? Slowing down just a bit to go faster in other areas can be very helpful. WSR: Do you have any closing comments on this topic of the human side of human resources? Isaacson: The only additional remark is that I’ve seen a lot of cover stories about “blowing up” HR, or something like that, to describe dissolving the function. I don’t agree with that at all, but I think that HR continues to be reinvented. It certainly looks different than when I was an HR professional early in my career. It’s even different than it was five or ten years ago, and I’m sure it’ll be different five years from now and ten years from now. I think it’s evolving. The HR function and practice is much more professionalized. It’s making more of a difference, and I think rather than talking about “blowing up” HR, it’s more about how we must continue to consider what HR’s role can be in the company, how technology can take us to a whole different place, how as a profession HR is becoming much more business savvy, and I think it’s an area to continue to be very proud of and work towards making a significant impact on organizations. It seems that every research paper I look at shows that more manufacturing is automated and more businesses don’t actually make anything, but they provide a service (like Uber model or Amazon). This means that the talent is so much more important to organizations. It’s much harder to differentiate an organization based on the product they manufacture and are selling. In fact, it is the competitive talent that an organization has and the company’s ability to be innovative in their key industry that are the true differentiators. I think HR absolutely has the responsibility to make sure that companies are thinking about how they’re attracting, developing, retaining, rewarding, motivating, engaging, etc., the right talent so that their organizations can be competitive in the future, and HRIS must provide technology solutions that can help turn those thoughts into action.
feature Generational Delivery Strategies – What, When, Where, and for Whom By Nov Omana, Collective HR Solutions, Inc.
Rushing through the airport to catch a red eye, the chief operating officer of a major software company, looking at his portfolio of prospect material, realized he did not have the prospect contact name and address with him. The next steps are – call the office, find the information from the salesman (or whoever is left in the office), have it sent by email or fax to the hotel or through the company email, and then hope it is waiting for him. It sounds old hat in approach, and yet, for many companies, that is not only exactly what would need to be done, but would even be considered an “innovative” approach to providing the information needed. Creating an environment of mobile information of critical company information (like a CRM) would be the modern day answer to this scenario. For HR, this is not a high priority, and yet the ability to perform at optimum efficiencies will depend on this architecture for HR information, allowing the workforce to conduct their efforts in mediums they are accustomed to. Getting information to someone or a group when, where, and how it is needed is now even more important as we realize key factors: our workforce is mobile, there are differences in how information is consumed by the various generations in our workplace, raw information is being aggregated for new purposes, and we have new skills developing in our workforce – the information distributors and the information consumers. We understand that information is a key competitive differentiator for companies, and how it is being used is opening new avenues of opportunity. The role of HR is to ensure that the information is delivered using the right tools, to truly optimize today’s workforce. This provides a catalyst for HR to examine what they provide in information, who is targeted to consume it, for what purposes, and how best to deliver the information – format and platform. And, HR may need to partner with other areas of the company to examine and deliver a more holistic set of information to give the individual or group extended data for analysis and decision. I believe there are two dimensions to consider when determining what is needed for our workforce:
the generation of the workforce and the consumer platform (technology delivery channel). I’ll define these for purposes of our investigation as an appropriate framework. Generation signifies the generation of the individual, although I will make some generalizations on the framework regarding how that generation seeks information and delivery.
Generations1 •
Traditional/Mature workers: Born before 1946, this is the generation that has experienced the most economic uncertainty in their lives, coupled with limited opportunities for educational attainment. Often with military backgrounds, persons in this category tend to be more self-disciplined, respectful of authority, and appreciative of the security offered by long-term employment. It’s not unusual for mature workers to only have one or two employers throughout their work lives. Their information sources are usually a person or some written, consumable information – like a newsletter or white paper. This is a declining generation in terms of numbers, and their exposure to technology has come late in their career. In order to appeal to this generation, keep a limited resource in place – a person or phone-based interaction.
•
Baby Boomers (73 million): This is the generation born between 1946-1960 that grew up with more abundance and increased educational options. Many were the first in their family to attend college. Inspired by greater expectations of personal success, the boomers often broke away from traditional models of workplace conformity and charted their own pathway to success. Currently in mid- to upper-management positions, the boomers championed the “yuppie” lifestyle, which typically included a propensity to be so driven in their work habits and career attainment that they took on the label of “workaholic.” Their information sources are still somewhat trawww.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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ditional, however, they have worked with technology over the last 20-plus years, so they are used to it, probably own/use the platforms that are used by the subsequent generations, and are very prepared to make the transition as they find “mobility” in the workplace appealing. •
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Generation X (51 million): Born 1961-1979, Gen-Xers have had the best academic training and international travel experience in our country’s history. Typically self-assured and entrepreneurially minded, they’re much more laid back in terms of how they relate to employers. Shunning corporate formality and rigidity, they tend to settle into positions offering more flexibility and avenues for creative self-expression, as well as immediate rewards for personal initiative. Metaphorically, they definitely “listened to the beat of their own drummer” and comfortably carved a niche for themselves in a corporate environment that they didn’t feel as much loyalty to, in comparison with their older co-workers. Having grown up with the rapid adoption of technology, this generation, sitting in some cases in middle management or higher, should be considered as the “sponsors” of technology and change adoption. They are great influencers, have direct contact with the workforce, and can lead by example.
•
Generation Y (80 million): Unique to this group, born 1980-1995, is the omnipresence of information technology. Both their work setting and social involvements are intrinsically associated with the latest electronic gadgetry and instantaneous communications. Overall, Gen-Y workers (or “Nexters”) tend to be highly individualistic in outlook, project oriented, and focused on what accords them a sense of personal challenge matched by suitable intrinsic and extensive rewards. Knowing their market worth, they consider their careers as highly mobile and are prepared to move on to greener pastures at any given moment. If the technology delivery system is developed with ease of use/access and great functionality in delivering information, this generation will be your strongest adopters/users. They are embedded into the work streams of your company, are knowledgeable in creating company value, and want to build their reputation and their career.
•
Generation Z (23 million): Genera-
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tion Z is typically classified as those born after 1995 and is even more reliant on new technology and, in particular, communication technologies. There is little knowledge yet of this generation in terms of attitude and characteristics in the workplace, given that the eldest of this generation are now coming into their career years, graduating from college and entering the job market. But, we can assume they will be more technologically oriented than any previous generation, will expect technology as just a part of the workplace, and will push the boundaries of information needs to be 24/7, mobile, and without boundaries. They will demand instantaneous access to information for purposes we can only guess, but will show the extreme value that the access can bring to an organization that provides those capabilities.
Consumer Platform – Technology Delivery Channels 1. M obile device – phone, tablet, iPad, watch – anything that is portable, small, and has power to render the information into a readable format: a. Email (aggregation tool like Outlook); b. Text; c. Documents/spreadsheets (mobile office tools); d. Video/audio/graphical/visual (jpegs, MP4, etc.); e. eBook/manuals (indexed, searchable); and, f. Virtual meeting formats (Citrix, WebEx, Skype, Join.me, etc.). 2. Desktop/Laptop a. Supports all the mobile functions except text; b. P C/MAC-based, usually more powerful, but not as portable; c. Printable material; d. Documents/spreadsheets; e. Video/audio/graphical/visual; f. eBook/manuals; and, g. Virtual meeting formats (Citrix, WebEx, Skype). 3. Person a. Telephone; b. Fax; and, c. Call center. 4. Mail a. Printed; and, b. Forms, returnable to source. What does the new technology environment provide us, who wants it or needs it, what does it
look like, and what can HR do to prepare for it? Examining the audiences, we understand that the need for information is similar, be it for company, workforce, customer, product, or financial information. The differences stem from how is it sought, what it’s being used for, and how we deliver it. Categorizing the information will allow us to align the parameters of delivery and maximize the benefit to the recipient.
HR Functions: • Recruiting/Sourcing ◦ Job posting, applications, status, interview scheduling, feedback, negotiations, references, offer letter; • Onboarding ◦ Compliance items (I-9, passports, etc.), benefits information, policy acknowledgements, enrollments, meetings, orientations, welcomes; • Policy/processes/support ◦ Company policy and processes, approvals, forms, documentation, help/support channels; • Workforce Management ◦ Unit, employee approvals by management, actions, feedback, requests, inquiries for information; • Training or Learning ◦ Training internal, development, “how-to,” just-in-time, video-based, self-directed;
• Wellness ◦ Monitoring, information, collaboration, communities; • Communication ◦ Organizational, unit-based, personal, external; • Mentoring/support/peer outreach ◦ Support, questions, knowledge sharing, collaboration, improvements; • Performance/Recognition ◦ Instantaneous, organizational, reviewed, feedback, continuous; and, • Work/project/collaboration ◦ Documented, available to others, archived, standardized, open, agenda-based, action items listed. Represented here is a visual backdrop of the generations against the HR functions of information consuming. Simply put, the delivery channels (shown in surveyed priority) point out that the mobile platform is the best near- and long-term investment that HR and the company can make.
Generations, HR Functions, and Preferred Consumer Platform (in order of preference) In conjunction with looking at the information, there are traits of both the consumer and provider that need to be managed for change. The challenge for HR is to ensure that the delivery is accessible, that it is adopted, and is relevant.
HR Functions/Across Generations
Traditional/Mature workers
Baby Boomers
Generation X
Generation Y
Generation Z
Common Denominator
Observation/Comment
Recruiting/Sourcing
3, 1, 2
1, 2
1, 2
1
1
1
Personal, mobile, whenever, wherever
OnBoarding
3, 1, 2, 4
1, 2
1, 2
1
1
1
Personal, mobile, whenever, wherever
Policy/processes/support 3, 2
1, 2
1, 2
1
1
1, 2
Internet capable delivery
Workforce Management
3, 4
1, 2
1, 2
1
1
1, 2, 3, 4
This area, primarily driven by management, needs is the area of greatest change management to adopt a mobile platform
Training or Learning
2, 3
1, 2
1
1
1
1, 2
Internet capable delivery
Wellness
2
1, 2
1
1
1
1, 2
Internet capable delivery
Communication
3, 2
1
1
1
1
1, 2
Internet capable delivery
Mentoring/support/peer outreach
3
1, 2, 3
1
1
1
1, 3
People still count, but sometimes just hearing and seeing them is sufficient
Performance/Recognition 2, 1
1
1
1
1
1
Personal, mobile, whenever, wherever
Work/project/ collaboration
1
1
1
1
1, 3
People still count, but sometimes just hearing and seeing them is sufficient
3, 2
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Endnotes alvin Bruce, Managing Age C Groups in the Workplace, CPC, Diversity MBA Magazine, 2016. 2 Fortune 500 companies from Mercer’s Executive and Broadbased Employee Retirement Tool (EBeRT). 3 Compiled by Collective HR Solutions, Inc. through client HR functional evaluations, 2016. 1
The information distributors: • Custodians and guides for information, information brokers; • Change agents, facilitators, collaborator, business partners; • Public relations, policy-makers, build trust; • Evolving, testing consumers for needs, improvement; • Value-add, marketers, communicators; • Measure and research usage, relevance, and usefulness; and, • Sharing knowledge, searching for new opportunities, experimenters. The information consumers: Self-directed, knowledgeable, responsive, contributing to a collective community; • Mobile, geared for learning, collaboration; • 24/7 thinking, independent; and, • Members of community of like-minded consumers, exchangers. Today, more than 34 million U.S. adults telecommute at least occasionally. Fueled by broadband adoption, better collaboration tools, •
and growing management experience, the U.S. telecommuting ranks will swell to 63 million by 2016.2 Those 29 million new telecommuters lined up five abreast would stretch from New York to Los Angeles! Leading the surge are occasional telecommuters and regular telecommuters who work from home between one and four days a week. The impact of this expanding remote workforce is far-reaching; it will force firms to expand their digital footprints, harness new social software, crisply define their culture, and examine their real estate and energy policies.3 This change in workforce dynamics, coupled with the need to deliver information through multiple channels, provides HR with an opportunity to truly change culture and gain leverage in making the workforce competitive and agile. If you are considering 2016 and beyond in technology architecture, workforce expansion, and even your physical footprint (office space), consider factoring these apparent trends into your plans. Savings and quick growth will most likely be generated in changing what, where, when, how, and for whom information is delivered.
About the Author Nov Omana is CEO/founder at Collective HR Solutions, Inc. With more than 35 years of experience, he has assisted numerous companies in structuring their HR technology strategy and systems using his thought leadership and understanding of combining and leveraging technology by “connecting the dots” between technologies to create new solutions and solve business problems. A frequent keynote presenter, moderator, and contributor for HR associations’ presentations, Omana is often sought by media for opinions on the industry in general and for insight on technology trends. He is also in partnership with two other business startups – MapHR, a website of vendors of HR Solution and Services, organized to ease consumers’ ability to identify and connect with innovative vendors, and InnovationOne.US, a research-based assessment tool that measures the innovation culture of an organization. Collective HR Solutions, Inc. provides HR technology and business process consulting, innovative uses of technology to solve business needs, and partnering with other small businesses with specialty skills in human resources and technology. He serves on several boards, including Northern California Human Resources Association, IHRIM Educational Foundation, Advisor to the Oracle HR User Group (OHUG), VoomWell Advisory, and CollabWorks Talent Leadership Team. He also is a certified Human Resources Information Professional, HRIP, and winner of the prestigious IHRIM Summit award. He can be reached at nov@collectivehrsolutions.com. .
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feature Can HR Evolve to Become the #1 Business Impact Function? – Part II By Dr. John Sullivan, San Francisco State University Executive summary
In Part I of this “think piece” published in the last issue of Workforce Solutions Review, I provided evidence that HR’s imperative should be to become the #1 business impact function. In it, I highlighted the many benefits resulting from shifting to a high business impact strategy and argued that some industries already recognize the business impact of talent as #1. An industry that has perhaps best illustrated the importance of talent is sports – none more than baseball. This was well documented in the book Moneyball. In it, the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane leverage an analytical, evidence-based, “sabermetric” approach to building a highly competitive baseball club, despite Oakland’s revenues being significantly less than many other teams. Human Resources’ best hope – to avoid future budget cuts or be outsourced altogether – is to embrace a future based on the critical success factors my research has found in strategic business units and high-impact functions like supply chain, finance, and marketing. Part one of this article outlined the first 10 key elements in a strategic HR plan to become the number one business impact function: 1. Focus on the strategic goals that executives care about. 2. Utilize “the language of business” by converting HR results into dollars. 3. Build a compelling business case. 4. Contribute to building a performance culture. 5. Shift focus from “HR problems” to “Business Problems.” 6. Enable data-based decision-making. 7. Become forward-looking and predictive. 8. Prioritize business units, jobs, employees, and HR programs. 9. Focus on increasing revenues rather than cutting HR costs. 10. Create competitive advantage.
Key
elements in HR becoming the #1 business impact function (continued)
Transforming HR will require moving beyond being an overhead function. Following are the remaining key elements to complete HR’s transformation into a high-business impact function and a key driver of revenue and profit growth: 11. Focus on increasing workforce productivity – The five most important corporate capabilities HR must find a way to impact are: productivity, innovation, speed, learning ability, and adaptability. The most obvious role for HR is to increase workforce productivity, i.e., labor output versus costs. Though most in HR currently don’t even measure it, much less improve it, productivity should be the first goal of the function. Identify the factors that increase productivity and develop a tool kit for managers so that they can aid in productivity improvement. Google found that managers and how they act have the single highest impact on team productivity. By developing a performance culture and support programs to measure (e.g., revenue per employee), then improve the productivity of the workforce, HR can maximize overall firm productivity. Human Resources must also develop effective programs that have proven to increase productivity by increasing employee learning speed, identifying key employee motivators and rapidly sharing best practices internally. 12. Leverage innovation as a key driver in increasing business impact – The next important corporate capability for HR to impact is innovation. The most successful companies in the world with the highest market cap, i.e., Apple and Google, are known as serial innovation companies. Rather than focusing on traditional corporate goals like lowering costs or even great customer www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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service, they instead have a laser focus on innovation. They had this focus because innovation can produce five times the economic returns over merely “being productive.” Their success isn’t caused by limiting innovation to product development. Instead, risk-taking, collaboration, and innovation permeate the entire company. Obviously, for innovation to permeate a firm, HR must work with managers to hire, retain, develop, and get the maximum collaboration and innovation out of each and every worker. In addition, the HR function itself must have innovative processes and approaches, so that HR professionals are seen by other innovators as equals. You can determine if a company “effectively innovates” if at least 25 percent of corporate revenues are generated by new products/services that were developed in the last 18 months.
Obviously, for innovation to permeate a firm, HR must work with managers to hire, retain, develop, and get the maximum collaboration and innovation out of each and every worker.
13. Cultivate speed in both employees and processes – Speed is the next critical corporate capability. To even the casual observer, the speed of change in business is fast and it is getting faster each year. As a result of this increasing speed, products become obsolete faster, new ideas are copied rapidly and solutions to business problems that work one year will simply fail the next. Just like productivity and innovation, speed must permeate the organization because a firm can only be as fast as the slowest element in any business process. Human Resources’ role in developing organizational speed starts with a focus on hiring and retaining employees who work fast but still produce quality. Human Resources must also develop processes for transforming slow workers into fast workers. And finally, critical HR processes like hiring, leadership development, retention, and performance management must be modified so that they contribute to increasing speed throughout the organization. 14. Foster rapid learning – It’s critical that HR impacts employee and organizational learning speed. Organizations like Google have found that the single most important competency across all jobs is learning ability, not the classroom variety, but self-directed informal learning. In a world where new ideas are introduced rapidly making old approaches obsolete, employees need to become “self-directed, fast continuous learners.” Once again, HR needs to take the lead in making sure that all new hires are rapid learners but also in
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helping managers identify and develop the learning capacities of all of their critical employees. Human Resources must also develop processes that enhance employee learning speed, including rapid internal best practice sharing and identifying, then sharing with all how the very best employees learn so rapidly. 15. Engineer adaptiveness and agility – The last of the five corporate capabilities is the ability to adapt. Being adaptive in a rapidly changing and volatile environment is already becoming critical for both processes and employees. This is because businesses already operate in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world,” where everything is rapidly changing and even the direction of change is hard to predict. Human Resources’ role is to focus on including agility in all hiring criteria, and to make sure that all HR processes can scale rapidly and adapt almost instantly to the changing business and talent environment. 16. Institute failure analysis and risk-taking – Bold new approaches to talent management will have to be developed and implemented. With increased speed and risk levels, HR will suffer increased rates of program failure. So, HR will have to develop a failure analysis process to ensure immediate learning from each and every failure. 17. Increase integration – Human Resources often has a well-deserved reputation for perpetuating internal politics, erecting roadblocks, and creating silos. When HR processes and functions operate independently and not in unison, they inhibit workflow and increase delays, and error rates. Practically, that means that HR must measure and continually improve process speed and the smoothness of “the handoffs” between the different interdependent internal HR functions. Human Resources professionals will also have to be recognized and rewarded for cooperation and integration so that HR’s customers will experience only seamless processes. 18. Invest in Technology – Even highly trained, motivated, and engaged HR employees can’t be very productive when they are not provided with the appropriate tools and equipment to do their job. In an era where
technology dominates almost every business function, HR cannot lag behind in automation that not only reduces costs, but also improves global capability, speed, and quality of their output. That means that all adopted new recruiting technologies must result in a measurably improved quality of hire and that development technologies must actually increase on-the-job performance after they are completed by an employee. 19. Adopt a scientific approach to proving that HR programs work – Human Resources has a bad habit of simply “assuming” that its programs work. In order to prove its business impact, HR will need to go beyond showing that users of its programs are fully satisfied or that a program is cost-effective. Instead, HR must realize that executives will begin demanding a more scientific level of proof, the same level of proof that is already required in product research and advertising. At the very least, HR will need to be able to provide a statistical correlation between the increased usage of a program and an improvement in business results. For most new programs, a higher-level proof known as “a split sample or a control group approach” will be expected. A split sample approach is routinely used to prove that drugs or advertising work as intended. Implementing this approach means that instead of applying a new HR program to the entire team or division, it will be applied only to half (with the other half remaining unchanged). This approach will allow HR to convincingly demonstrate the contrast in the results between the half where the program was applied and the control group.
20. Welcome the new breed of HR – Because a high-business impact HR function will be faster, more businesslike, and include more technology and metrics, a new type of employee will have to be embraced by HR. This new breed of HR professionals will need an MBA (or equivalent) degree, significant business acumen and some experience working in a strategic business unit. Because everything will change at a rapid pace, these new HR professionals will have to be risk takers, rapid continuous learners, will be comfortable with technology, have global capabilities and be highly capable in the area of communications, metrics, and analytics. Future chief human resources officers (CHROs) and senior HR leadership will likely come from outside of HR – a trend that has already begun.
Final thoughts
Since many organizations are planning for rapid growth, this is an opportune time to begin the evolution from an overhead function into a high-business impact function. Unfortunately, the first major roadblock to making that transition is that most HR professionals are simply too comfortable with the existing low-risk “staying in the background” approach. The next roadblock is still more difficult to change: the “lack of courage” and risk-averse mentality among many existing HR senior leadership. But, HR may have no choice but to change because business executives have already found that they can make HR more businesslike by simply replacing HR professionals with experienced business people in the CHRO role. Because I find this high-business impact strategy so exciting and compelling, I don’t see any reason to delay making the transition.
About the Author An internationally known HR thought-leader from the Silicon Valley who specializes in providing bold and high business impact strategic solutions, Dr. John Sullivan is a prolific author with over 900 articles and 8 books covering all of Talent Management. His ideas have appeared in every major business source including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, CFO, Inc., NY Times, USA Today, HBR and the Financial Times. Fast Company called him the “Michael Jordan of Hiring.” He served as chief talent officer for Agilent Technologies and is currently a professor of Management at San Francisco State. His articles can be found on his popular website www.drjohnsullivan.com and on www.ERE.Net.
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feature SaaS HCM Staffing Models: Getting out of it what you put into it. By Patrick Crane, Appirio, Inc. My son is a 15-year old high school sophomore. I am sure that my wife and I are like many parents who put far too much focus and energy into worrying about their first-born’s success than we probably should. We began talking to him about colleges and taking him to see some campuses, far sooner than we thought about which family car he’s going to drive. Now that he has reached an appropriate age when he should be thinking about colleges and is taking Drivers Ed, his high school guidance counselor keeps repeating the same refrain: “stop focusing on the best schools; focus on the best schools for him.” This wise advice certainly came as the result of years of experience showing that college students tend to get out of it what they put into it. A solid student attending an average college can take full advantage of the many resources available and obtain a top-notch education. Meanwhile, the same student attending a world-renowned university can coast through, taking easy courses and doing a lot of “extra-curricular activities,” not gaining much of an education at all. To a great extent, the advice provided by my son’s guidance counselor applies perfectly to the question of how companies should staff their HR technology organization to support their new cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) human capital management (HCM) solution: “You get out of it what you put into it.” The migration from on-premise HCM solutions to SaaS solutions has reached a fever pitch, and with this change, many HR technology organizations are uncertain about what their new HR technology departments should look like. How many people will they need? What should the skill profiles be? How different are the SaaS staffing requirements compared to those needed to support their legacy on-premise system? One reason these questions are so difficult to answer is because throughout the sales process, many SaaS HCM vendors tell their prospects that they will not need nearly as many internal resources to support their new HCM solutions as they needed to support their legacy on-premise
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solutions. While this message is almost universally true, the extent of the staff reductions can be and – depending on whom you talk to – often is overstated. Many customers I have spoken with feel that the projected reductions in legacy HR technology staff that they were quoted by their SaaS HCM sales people were exaggerated to help support the business case to invest in the new system. These customers, once live on the new system, have found they needed more staff than they had originally expected, especially if they intended to extract a lot of value from the system by taking advantage of current and future features and functionality. To be clear, the majority of SaaS HCM customers who were previously using on-premise solutions experience a reduction in the need for HR technology staff. The reduction is primarily in resources that provided technology infrastructure support for the legacy system. With a SaaS HCM system, the entire solution is delivered through the Internet. Typically, no system processing takes place on the customers’ hardware and no data is stored on their servers. With this model, there is no need for customers to install and maintain any software, maintain any databases, apply patches or fixes, run backups, implement disaster/recovery processes, etc. The only exceptions occur when data is fed to or from the SaaS HCM solution and a customer’s internal systems and saved locally, and when customers have to implement complex, custom integrations that require programming skills. In these cases, the customer’s internal technology resources will be needed to design, develop, implement, and maintain the integrations and will need to manage the database servers used to house the data extracted from their SaaS HCM system. Given this cloud-based technology delivery approach for legacy on-premise HCM customers, once they have moved to a SaaS HCM solution with little or no technical infrastructure requirements, why would they need an HR technology department at all? If the entire solution is delivered through the Internet and there are no
customizations to be made or supported, can they survive without an HR technology department? Not entirely. In addition to the need to support complex custom integrations, and integrations between the SaaS HCM solution and internal systems mentioned above, someone still needs to enter and maintain HR data and system configuration, run reports, etc. Can employee and manager self-service be deployed to eliminate these needs as well? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Even if the solution is intuitive enough to support the full adoption of employee and manager self-service, the need for HR technology data administrators can be reduced, but it will never be fully eliminated. I have never seen a SaaS HCM customer who has been able to completely roll out every HR data transaction to employees, managers, or even HR business partners. Some transactions are still too complex, or require information or security access that only a member of the HR technology team has. In addition, some HR transactions are completed so infrequently that end users – employees and managers – would have to be retrained each time they needed to execute the transactions. Finally, not all employees and managers are created equal and some are more successful at initiating and completing self-service transactions than others. Regardless of whether it’s due to a lack of technical aptitude, or just willingness and receptivity, a population of employees and managers will need some level of support, and the HR technology department will need to provide that support. Even after retaining some technical resources to support complex and local integrations and a small HR data administration staff to enter transactions or to support employees, managers, and HR business partners who will be entering transactions themselves, is it still possible to achieve the cost savings in HR technology support staff that the SaaS vendors had promised? Yes. But, you may not want to! A large part of the value proposition in purchasing a SaaS solution is the periodic updates to the system, which are typically delivered a few times per year. With these updates, customers are being provided with the most current, leading edge, state-of-the-art HR technology solution, not just when they bought the system, but throughout the life of their contract. These updates also ensure that the solution is compliant with new legislative requirements that went into effect since the contract was signed. The reporting requirements to support the Affordable Care Act that were mandated at the beginning of this year are recent and excellent examples. Some SaaS HCM vendors also do a very good job of providing free, easy-to-access and easy-to-
comprehend customer training on current system functionality and the enhancements that are being delivered with each new release. Taking it a step further, some of these vendors have recognized the value of their user base and created powerful and intuitive community forums and information repositories. These Internet communities facilitate networking and sharing of ideas, lessons learned, best practices, implementation project tools and templates, and even integration and report development code between fellow product users. Unfortunately, even though these updates are delivered to all customers at essentially the same time and some vendors provide very good tools to help their customers understand them, enabling the updates still takes time and resources. With each new update, the changes should be analyzed to determine what impact they will have on the application and integration functionality that the customer is currently using. In addition, customers should identify and “turn on” any new functionality being made available in the update that would benefit them. Some new functionality may also require configuration or reprogramming of integrations. Once the analysis and any required configuration and reprogramming are completed, then the appropriate changes delivered with the update need to be enabled or “turned on.” Once enabled, all HCM business transactions should be tested using real-life scenarios to ensure that the updated system performs as expected. Customers who staff their HRIS organizations with the minimal resources required to support integrations and data administration almost never have enough time and resources to perform the required analysis and complete the configuration and testing needed to take advantage of these updates. As a result, many HRIS organizations with a minimal support staffing model ignore the updates and continue to use the system the same way, using the same functionality as they did when they originally purchased the SaaS solution. Over the multi-year life of the contract, they will fall significantly behind other organizations that are getting much more value out of their SaaS HCM system by investing in the resources required to take advantage of important system updates. Once again, they are getting out of it what they put into it. Some SaaS HCM customers have also found that their own organizations drive them to invest more into their solution than they had originally planned. An unexpected outcome of many of these implementations has been that once employees, managers, and HR departments start using it, they want more. With commercial-grade Internet usability, once end users experience how easy it is to execute transactions and access data,
A large part of the value proposition in purchasing a SaaS solution is the periodic updates to the system, which are typically delivered a few times per year.
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they often push HR technology departments to Offshore support organizations are often put use the same system to deliver more functionalin place to take advantage of lower labor costs ity. available in several countries and regions across This behavior is in stark contrast to the old, the globe. Usually, offshore support organizaon-premise, client/server, enterprise resource tions serve both the hub and spokes by providing planning (ERP) days when change management, system administration and technical services training, and communications programs were that are global in nature and do not require an the cornerstones of a successful implementain-depth understanding of local HR technology tion. The initial implementation and subsequent requirements. Providing ongoing integration deployments using those systems required a lot monitoring and support is a good example. of selling and cajoling to get managers and emThe chart provides an example of a company ployees to start, or continue, to use the systems. that deployed a hub and spoke approach with With the latest SaaS HCM solutions, HR technoloffshore support. This organization had a U.S. ogy strategies and deployment roadmaps have headquarters where the hub was co-located. transformed from being pushed to end users by Their major populations of employees in South HR technology departments, to being pushed to America, EMEA and AsiaPac were supported by HR technology departments by end users. spokes, and their offshore support department In addition to the desire to take advantage of was housed in Southeast Asia. periodic updates and to respond to the wants and needs of the system end users, what other factors determine the best Hub / Spoke / Off-Shore Support Model for Large, Complex, Global staffing model for an organization Organizations moving to a SaaS HCM solution? The most significant factors are the size, complexity, and global footRegional print of the organization. SingleSpoke country, smaller, and less complex HQ Regional (HUB) Spoke organizations are able to successfully support their HR solution with OffShore a lean centralized HR department. Support As organizations grow and expand Regional Spoke their global footprint, HR departments need to strike a balance between providing global support in an effective and efficient way, while also having a solid understanding of, and being responsive to, the needs of remote employees, managers, and HR leaders who work throughout the world. Other important staffing needs for the ongoing Many organizations who have reached the tipsupport of a SaaS HCM solution are for change ping point where their size and global footprint management and communication. In fact, with have made their single, centralized HR departthe frequent updates delivered with SaaS soluments inadequate, have implemented an HR tions, the need for change management and comtechnology organizational structure that includes munication is perhaps more important than for a “hub and spoke” approach with an offshore on-premise solutions, which can remain steadysupport component. The hub contains the HR state, unchanged, for several years. Organizatechnology leadership team, which provides strations that take advantage of the additional feategic direction for the function and the more sotures and improvements that are delivered with phisticated system support staff who are responeach update find that their need to communicate sible for addressing the most complex system these changes to end users and ensure that end support issues. The hub is typically co-located users are prepared for them is almost continual. with the organization’s corporate headquarters. To be clear, the effort required to prepare users Spokes are mini-HR technology departments for this is not significant and formal training that address the local needs of a country or reprograms are almost never required, however, gion. They typically are the first point of contact the need for change management and communifor the population they serve and escalate issues cation should not be ignored. to the hub that are too complex to handle locally Because each organization is different, there or have an organizational-wide impact. is no single magic formula for determining how
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Employee Populations Support Model
Minimal Investment
Minimal Investment, with SelfService
2,000
Organizational Characteristics
FTE
- No Self-Service - No adoptions of new updates - Single Country
5,000
Role
10,000
20,000
FTE Role
FTE Role
FTE Role
0.50 Manager 1.50 Data Admin
1.00 Manager 2.00 Data Admin
1.00 Manager 1.00 HRIS Leads
1.00 Manager / Director 2.00 Leads / Managers
0.25 Integration Support
0.50 Integration Support
2.50 Data Admin
4.00 Data Admin
0.75 Integration Support
1.00 Integration Support
Total FTE
2.25
3.50
5.25
8.00
FTE per Population
889
1,429
1,905
2,500
- No adoptions of new updates - Single Country - Support can be provided by Shared Services
0.50 Manager 1.00 Data Admin / Shared Services
1.00 Manager 1.50 Data Admin / Shared Services
1.00 Manager 3.00 Data Admin / Shared Services
1.00 Manager / Director 1.00 Leads / Managers
0.25 Integration Support
0.50 Integration Support
0.75 Integration Support
4.00 Data Admin / Shared Services 1.00 Integration Support
Total FTE
1.75
3.00
4.75
7.00
FTE per Population
1,143
1,667
2,105
2,857
- Self-Service Deployed - Adoption of new Updates Full Investment, - Single Country Support can be provided by Shared Simple Organization Services
1.00 Manager 1.00 HRIS Analyst
1.00 Manager 2.00 HRIS Analyst
1.00 Manager 1.00 HRIS Leads
1.00 Data Admin / SVCS
1.50 Data Admin / SVCS
2.50 HRIS Analyst
4.00 HRIS Analyst
0.25 Testing / Communications
0.50 Testing / Communications
2.50 Data Admin / SVCS
4.00 Data Admin / SVCS
0.25 Integration Support
0.50 Integration Support
0.75 Testing / Communications
1.00 Testing / Communications
0.75 Integration Support
1.00 Integration Support
Total FTE
3.50
5.50
8.50
FTE per Population
571
909
1,176
- Self-Service Deployed - Adoption of new Updates - Multiple Countries Full Investment, - Support can be provided by Shared Complex Services Organization - Off Shore Support Model
1.00 Manager / Director 2.00 Leads / Managers
13.00 1,538
1.00 Manager 2.00 HRIS Analyst / Regional
1.00 Manager / Director 2.00 Regional Leads
1.00 Manager / Director 3.00 Regional Leads
1.00 Director / VP 4.00 Regional Managers
2.00 Data Admin / SVCS
2.00 HRIS Analyst
3.00 HRIS Analyst
4.00 HRIS Analyst
0.50 Testing / Communications
3.00 Data Admin / SVCS
4.00 Data Admin / SVCS
5.00 Data Admin / SVCS
0.50 Integration Support
1.00 Testing / Communications
1.00 Global / Off Shore Support
2.00 Global / Off Shore Support
1.00 Integration Support
1.50 Testing / Communications
2.00 Testing / Communications
1.50 Integration Support
2.00 Integration Support
Total FTE
6.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
FTE per Population
333
500
667
1,000
many people and what type of people your HR technology organization will need to support your SaaS HCM solution. However, insight can be gained by looking at what other organizations have put in placed based on their specific characteristics. Those examples were used to create the table above. The support models listed in the table are a reflection of the primary characteristics of organizations which have implemented a SaaS HCM solution. Given that staffing requirements increase as employee population increases, organizations of several different sizes are included in the table. It is worth noting that larger organizations enjoy economies of scale. Fewer HR technology resources per employee population are needed as organizations grow in size. However, it is also expected that, as the employee population grows, the complexity of the organization and the need for additional integrations increase as well. The number and types of resources listed in the table are based on the assumption that the organizations have fully completed their initial deployment of their SaaS HCM solution and the system stabilization phase is complete. The organizations are not deploying major new system modules, which would require additional HR technology resources. The number and type
of resources required to implement major new system modules would depend on functionality being implemented and the scope of the implementations. Support models listed in the table that are fully investing in their SaaS HCM solution are “turning on” the appropriate enhancements that are delivered with each new system update. Finally, the staffing estimates are based on the assumption that the organizations are operating with full autonomy, and are not relying on a third party, or outsourced provider, for external system support. Like students going off to college, the decision of how much value an organization wants to derive from its SaaS HCM solutions is theirs. The investment can be truly transformational for an organization and position it well for the future, or it can just be a transactional experience – a meaningless way to spend four years. With that, it’s time to get back to helping my son prepare for college, and have him drive the Camry around an empty parking lot again.
About the Author Patrick Crane brings over 25 years of experience in the HR technology trategic consulting and systems Implementation profession to his role of managing consultant for Appirio, Inc. Prior to joining Appirio, he was a regional vice president for Jeitosa Group International, where he ran the organization’s Workday implementation practice for the northeast US. Prior to joining Jeitosa, he was the director of HR Operations for Dollar Financial Group (DFG) and the director of HR Services for VWR International. For these organizations, he lead the effort to create global HR share services organizations, enabled by the implementation of cloud-based, global HR technology solutions. His career has been devoted HR technology either as a consultant for professional services organization or as a leader within corporate HR and IT organizations. Most of these roles involved defining strategic direction, implementing, optimizing, and supporting HR technology solutions. He has an MBA in Human Resources Management from the University of Connecticut and a BA in Social Psychology from the University of Rochester. He is also Workday Certified in HCM implementations and Project/ Engagement Management and holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). He can be reached at pcrane@appirio.com.
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feature Using Gaming Principles for Career Advancement By Scott Bolman, KPMG
We all want to advance in our careers, whether that means expanded responsibilities, more direct reports, more compensation, bigger impact, more influence, more recognition or all of the above! Also, we read more and more frequently about applying the concept of “gamification” in the technologies we use every day. For context, Wikipedia defines gamification as “the application of gamedesign elements and game principles in non-game contexts,” and what better non-game context than career advancement? This article will focus on the application of gaming to advancing your career, using the research and experiences of Dr. Jane McGonigal. Jane McGonigal is the director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, as well as a popular TED contributor, public speaker, and author of the book SuperBetter (janemcgonigal.com). In this fascinating read, Dr. McGonigal describes the principles, research and application of gaming techniques to the accomplishment of just about any goal we might want to set for ourselves. As this article is in the March issue of WSR, I’m guessing that some of us might need a little help with some of the New Year’s resolutions we made a few months ago. The ideas from Dr. McGonigal just might help! Some of you might be wondering about the effectiveness of using gaming as a method of achieving results. Suffice it to say, the research of Dr. McGonigal and others clearly indicates the effectiveness of gamification. In fact she makes the case quite thoroughly in the book, and I invite you to take a look if you are skeptical. The purpose of this article is not to review the scientific evidence but rather to explain the concepts and how you might apply them to your “Epic Win” of career advancement. There are eight key concepts to becoming “SuperBetter” in McGonigal’s terminology. Let’s get started.
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Accept the challenge The first, and perhaps most obvious, concept is to accept the challenge. There are a number of ways you can be challenged, e.g., others can challenge you, illness can challenge you, and you can challenge yourself, but only You Can Accept the challenge. By accepting, you have to then figure out how to rise to the challenge. In many ways this is similar to goal setting, in that you are defining a future state that is different than your current state, and there will be some effort involved in getting there, i.e., the challenge. The second piece of this concept is “purposefully engaging with life-transforming obstacles.” A challenge would not be a challenge without some obstacles to overcome. And we must engage with these obstacles in order to achieve our desired outcome. How we engage is part of the “Epic Win” (more on this later), but we need to be sure that we approach these obstacles with a “challenge mind-set”, e.g., a sense that we have the resilience to persevere when the times get tough (and they always will at some point).
Power-Ups Power-ups are “good things that reliably make you feel happier, healthier, or stronger.” In the world of Pac-Man, the “dancing fruit” and “power pellets” are examples of Power-ups as they allow you to gobble up the ghosts. Other examples include the mushroom in Mario Kart (providing extra speed), and Eagle Vision in Assassin’s Creed (which amplifies your sight so you can see allies and bad guys more clearly). But what about real life? McGonigal argues that power-ups do not need to be fancy or complex. Simply taking a few minutes and looking out the window can work. Listening to your favorite song can work. Taking a walk can work. Breathing deeply can work. It’s really up to you to determine what will work for you. Some people meditate, others do a quick workout (think 20 jumping
jacks). But once you’ve defined your power-ups, you must “activate” them in your life to help you with your challenge. We know people who do this more naturally than others, however you can and should use these to maintain and increase your resilience when necessary. McGonigal identifies four major categories for power-ups: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Social. Take a minute and think about what might work for you in each of these areas.
Bad Guys No, this is not the CFO that just shot down your proposal for a new HR technology system. Importantly, these are not necessarily people at all. Bad Guys are anything that is blocking your progress or causing you some type of pain, anxiety, or distress. From a physical perspective, are there things that reduce your desire to move forward? How about that snooze button, or your favorite recliner? Mentally, we succumb to what McGonigal describes as the ‘too-headed monster.” This is a statement we make to ourselves like “I’m too tired to finish this report” or “I’m too scared to talk to that VP.” To battle these types of bad guys, we should rephrase the statement and use the word “and.” For example, “I’m too tired and I’m going to finish this report.” From a social perspective, we may succumb to a desire to be more solitary than we know we need to be. Have you ever avoided making that phone call that you knew you should make? Identifying the bad guys and developing strategies for dealing with them is the key to achieving your goal. McGonigal offers these tips for battling bad guys: 1. Do battle at least once a day. 2. Always power-up after a battle. 3. Track your encounters (more on this later). 4. Make friends with bad guys that won’t go away – acknowledge that some bad guys will never be defeated (e.g., procrastination), then go back to Number 1.
Quests You can think of quests as very short-term and immediate goals. These are the things we can do in the next 24 hours (or less) to move incrementally toward “winning the game.” As I was reading this, it reminded me of the Continuous Action Technique (CAT) from goal-setting methodology in which you make sure that you do at least one thing every day to move you toward an important
goal. McGonigal makes it clear that this is not just one more “to-do” on the endless list we all seem to have. Interestingly, she describes some things that might seem to be tangential to achieving your goal, but that move you forward. For example, she recommends doing something physical when you are trying to resist an impulse to do something that is counter-productive. Doing an isometric exercise or a quick set of push-ups will trigger an effect in the brain that will make it easier to resist whatever it is you crave. In the video game world, there are “side quests” that allow you to gain skills, knowledge, tools that will become important later in the game. In the Legend of Zelda, you must cut grass for an older woman that actually teaches you better swordplay. Are there side projects or activities that can give you the skills you need for that next job? Quests are critical to the whole journey. Without these seemingly small gains, we will not feel the hope, the optimism, the success of moving forward; and we need to feel these emotions on a regular basis to keep moving forward. McGonigal describes the upward spiral effect that achieving quests can bring – it’s like getting momentum going and increasing the speed over time. One interesting thing about quests is that they can also be power-ups. If it moves you forward toward a goal, but is something that also gives you a big boost, consider it a power-up!
Allies Who goes out of their way to ask for help? The American culture has been built on the “selfmade man” or the person that “pulls themselves up by their own bootstraps.” And while that is an interesting notion, what we see in history is that those who seek out “allies” in their pursuit of their goals tend to get there much faster than those who don’t. However, asking for help is not easy, especially in a corporate environment. But what if this was the pitch? “I’m thinking of using some gaming techniques to see what we can do to really improve things around here. I’m trying to line up a few people to play with me. Who knows if it will go anywhere, but it will be kind of fun to see what we come up with!” By phrasing it in this way, there may be more interest and openness to identifying things that may improve the way in which work gets done. Improving the way work gets done always improves your chances for career advancement.
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Secret Identify McGonigal recommends picking a name – something that is heroic and describes your own personal strengths. When I first read this, my inner skeptic thought, “Really, I have to refer to myself as some kind of super-hero?” As you might imagine, the research is sound, and the understood truth is there: Don’t we all want to view ourselves as some kind of hero on a journey that is ultimately important and valuable? Don’t some of us already feel that way? Interestingly, that is exactly what the research says: Identifying a secret identity helps you to focus on your “signature character strengths,” which will help in a variety of ways. But of course, picking the right name is a challenge that all Super Heroes have to face. So how do you go about doing that? There are a number of exercises in the book to help, but in the short run, think about this: Most Super Hero names are based on a strength or power. For example, in the X-men, Storm can control the weather. In the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, Black Widow is skilled at the art of eliminating bad guys. What should your secret identity be? Are you “Never let them see you sweat Chiller?” “Underpromise and Over-Deliver Man?” Or even “Corporate Marathoner?” Before your inner skeptic moves you right past this recommendation, consider some of the research. People who make it a daily habit of thinking about their character strengths experience three important benefits: 1. They are more successful in moving toward and achieving their goals. 2. They are happier. 3. They can cope more effectively with illness, injury, or disability. We can easily see how people who focus on their character strengths are happier and more successful, but what about more effective at coping? How does that work? Apparently, when we are facing obstacles we tend to start thinking Reference about our weaknesses instead of our J. McGonigal, (2015), SuperBetter, New York, strengths. However, if we cultivate New York: Penguin Press. a daily habit of thinking about our strengths, we become more resilient. This is why if we have a heroic nickname, and refer to ourselves using it, we are actively reminding ourselves of our strengths. One more item to consider – to whom shall you reveal your secret identity? As we know, some Super Heroes never reveal who they are, but some tell a small number of allies. Each Super Hero must decide for him or herself.
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Epic Wins Epic Wins are achieved goals, but not necessarily your typical self-improvement goals. Epic Wins are more similar to game goals; for example getting your personal high score in Jetpack Joyride. Epic Wins have five characteristics: 1. They are realistic. 2. They are measurable. 3. They are challenging. 4. They are energizing. 5. They are forgiving. The first three characteristics are common to typical goals. Most have heard of the acronym SMART as applied to goal setting (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound). Compare those criteria to the last two characteristics of Epic Wins – energizing and forgiving. Admittedly some SMART goals can be energizing, but in most cases (especially in the work world!) they can be just the opposite. Epic Wins are energizing because they are very personal and important to you. The concept of forgiveness is not what typically comes to mind when setting goals. Typically there is a penalty associated with failing to achieve the goal. The idea behind a forgiving Epic Win is that there really is no penalty to failing and there is probably some benefit, as in you may have learned something that will help the next time you try. Quests can help you in your pursuit of an Epic Win. What’s the difference between a Quest and an Epic Win? Quests are goals that you are 100% sure that you can accomplish, however an Epic Win is a goal that you are Not sure you can accomplish. Here’s an example: if you are looking to expand your network and skillset in order to increase your chances of finding that dream job, one Epic Win might be to introduce yourself to 10 people at the next IHRIM event. If you actually introduce yourself to 10 people, that’s awesome – but if you don’t, it is not the end of the world. You can try again at the next event. Another epic win along these lines might be to volunteer for a special project at work within the next 60 days. If you do volunteer, you have succeeded. If you don’t, you can try again. Ultimately, working through enough Epic Wins will enable to you achieve your ultimate goal of expanding your network and skills. Be sure to enlist the support of your Allies in creating and working toward your Epic Wins. They can be a source of strength for you when you don’t feel like trying again.
Keeping Score Most games these days do the scoring for you. Can you imagine a video game or pin-ball machine where the score isn’t automatically being calculated in real-time? And who would want to take the time to keep updating the score manually? In terms of game theory, however, the recommendation from the research here is just the opposite. Keeping your own score forces you to pay attention to the game and your efforts, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. How many power-ups did you activate today? How many Epic Wins did you achieve in the last 30 days? A simple excel spreadsheet is all it takes, and the discipline to enter the data of course. Note: If you struggle with entering the data, make one of your Epic Wins to complete the spreadsheet every day for six days. Start with tracking your efforts on a daily basis for a few weeks of a month, then look back and begin to track your Personal Records.
Bringing it all together Let’s use a very simple example to bring this all together. Suppose you are a manager of the HR Systems group at your organization, and you are looking to move up in your field over the next couple of years. How do you go about using the principles identified here to help you achieve your goal? 1. Accept the challenge: Consider the effort that will be required to move up and balance that against the rewards – is it worth it? Let’s assume you agree to accept the challenge and that you define that as “getting promoted to director-level position within the next 24 months.” 2. Identify your allies: Whose help will you need to achieve the challenge? Most likely, you will need the help of your boss, perhaps a colleague, and a coach/mentor. You decide to engage your boss, the manager of Benefits, and the director of IT as your allies.
3. Identify the bad guys: Is procrastination going to do you in? Are you going to struggle with proactive networking? Is lack of time/energy going to be a problem? You identify procrastination as an arch enemy and begin thinking about quests that will help crush him.
About the Authors Scott Bolman is director, Advisory Services at KPMG. He has been helping Human Resources (HR) organizations become more efficient and effective for more than 20 years with various organizations including Towers Watson and Mercer. He can be reached at sbolman@kpmg.com.
4. What can you use as potential power-ups? You decide that deep breathing for 60 seconds will allow you to refocus and build up your resolve to continue forward. You commit to doing this at least once per day as part of your Super Hero training regimen. 5. What type of quests should you engage in? You decide that you are going to post at least one item per week related to HR technology and/or HR shared services on social media to begin expanding your network. 6. What might be an Epic Win? Perhaps you choose to join a professional networking group within the next three months.
7. Measure your progress: Given that you are very comfortable with Excel, you decide to set up a daily tracking worksheet and use conditional formatting to give you quick color indications of your progress and personal records over time. 8. Identify your secret identity: Since you have always been a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” fan, you decide to become the “Raider of the Next Promotion.” Admittedly, this is a rather simple example. However, as we enter into the second quarter of 2016 and you reconsider your New Year’s resolutions, I hope keeping these gaming concepts in mind will further your progress in ways that you could not have imagined on January 1.
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feature Driving Results through Performance Management By Laurie Kalman, Performance First Inc.
At some level, we all crave adventure. Some people crave it through the physical – diving from planes, climbing mountains, running marathons. Some people do it by unraveling mysteries; they love a good puzzle or a particularly difficult scavenger hunt. Some people seek a different sort of adventure. They get a kick out of tackling messy issues, changing the status quo; they thrive when bringing order to chaos. That’s me. So, it was with great enthusiasm that I joined the ranks of the HR profession years ago – to make a difference. One of the more challenging areas in HR is performance management – while it’s viewed as little more than an onerous chore in many businesses, when deployed correctly, it can truly make a bottom-line difference. Let’s face it, performance management is not on most people’s top-ten list. And, in most companies, it has been a flawed process at best. Most HR leaders dread performance management – it can be an administrative nightmare with HR execs chasing down unfinished reviews and recalibrating and counseling on questionable ratings, preparing leaders and their managers for what they fear will be emotionally charged conversations with their people – worse yet, inauthentic conversations that may gloss over important developmental issues, “stepping over” poor behavior to avoid conflict. Sometime during the middle of my career, that all changed for me. A restructuring was about to take place and I had to lead a reduction in force. I was new to my job and privately horrified that my first contribution to the organization would be loss of jobs. After all, like most of us who become
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HR leaders, I had come to make a positive difference! This particular group of leaders had a tribal approach to layoffs. They would gather in a room, put the names of their people on a white board and conduct a draft of sorts, identifying the “A” players, “B” players and C players. The C players would eventually become the people who would not make the cut. And, when they were escorted to HR, trembling and sometimes in shock, they didn’t know they were the C players; only their leaders knew that. It always amazed me that leaders agonized over assessing performance, yet could quickly identify those who would stay and who would go. That year, 80 people lost their jobs and the event left everyone who remained, employees and leaders alike, sad and uncertain about their future. Searching for answers, I stumbled across a book called Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations, by David M. Noer. Mr. Noer describes “survivor syndrome” as a guilt phenomenon experienced by returning Vietnam vets who saw their buddies lose their lives and realize their own lives were spared. My colleagues and I read the book as part of our own healing. We held employee group discussions and heard a common theme: why them and not me? And if them, then I could be next. That’s when we understood the urgency and importance of transparent communication about performance. The experience gave me a new context for performance management. I told myself I’d never let this happen again. Later, as I progressed in my career and began to manage large-scale change, I would often ask people if they would rather know than not
know. Did they have the courage to hold up the mirror and make the changes needed to grow and develop? The answer was always the same – people wanted to know what the future held in store for them; they wanted to know what was required of them technically – and most importantly, behaviorally. And, their leaders needed the skills to tell them. Since that time, I have worked with numerous HR leaders to design and implement numerous culture changing initiatives including performance management programs. While the strategies, business objectives and culture may differ, the principles, practices, and leadership behaviors that have brought about the best results remain the same.
Six Rules of Engagement 1. Managing performance is less a process than an outgrowth of an organization’s values, leadership commitment and behavior. It’s a special kind of leadership behavior that comes from a deep commitment to lead and communicate in the best way possible. 2. A well-designed program needs to be completely integrated with the organization’s overall business strategy and talent agenda so that everyone understands how they personally connect to the achievement of that strategy. 3. Like any other important undertaking, there are fundamental practices that need to be in place. You need the right people in the right jobs doing the right work – the best HR leaders need to lead the effort; the most respected and trusted HR managers need to work hand-in-hand, coaching and building skills in managers and leaders. You need a disciplined plan for development and execution and everyone needs to stick to the plan. 4. The program has to have integrity. Standards have to be communicated up front. They need to be mutually understood and interpreted the same way for everyone. And while not everyone has to agree, everyone needs to participate in the dialogue.
5. Size does not matter; performance management can be done well in any size organization as long as the resources needed to do it well are available and in place. 6. Most importantly, you need unwavering support from the top leader. I once worked with the leader of a multi-billion dollar retailer who prided himself on spending one-third of his time on performance reviews. His executives made performance a priority and it was no surprise that his direct reports copied his behavior. It was a tough environment, but it was also a culture of fairness in which straight talk presided. People knew where they stood. Feedback was timely and evaluations were thorough. People who deserved to be promoted were promoted and everyone understood why. On the other hand, even good, welldesigned programs can fall apart without a leader who publically and privately supports the process with time, effort, and resources. So, what does it look like when performance management is used as a strategic tool to achieve strategy and build culture?
The most effective performance management programs work with the culture and its values, incorporating the language and behaviors most needed to bring strategies to life.
Stories of Transformation The most effective performance management programs work with the culture and its values, incorporating the language and behaviors most needed to bring strategies to life. As shared earlier, any organization, large or emerging, can do this well if the rules of engagement are respected and the fundamentals are in place. I’ll share a success story that illustrates these points.
The Holmes Group In the 1990s, The Holmes Group (THG) was an unbranded, privately held consumer products company, run like a family operation. Leadership decided to expand. They got investors, they bought former competitors and, ultimately, the company doubled in size – and the challenges quadrupled. They were competing for shelf space with other branded products, and shelf space was at a premium. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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With the acquisitions, there were now employees and leaders from more than six different organizations. The old culture was gone; there was no process to assimilate new players, no recruiting profiles, and no common value system. Leaders knew they would not survive unless they came together. The VP of HR decided to use performance management as the strategic tool to create a common culture. He gathered the most successful leaders and together they defined the key success factors and how people would be recruited, developed, measured and promoted. Competencies related to speed, operational excellence, and high quality service were recognized as the most highly valued. Within six months, THG introduced a competency-based performance system with defined standards for each job, along with competencies to define behavior. As the head coach, the VP drove continuous performance coaching as a technique for encouraging dialogue. In the years that followed, THG exceeded revenue and profit goals and was ultimately purchased by a larger company. In addition to a trustworthy performance system, they now had hiring profiles to engage in targeted recruiting, by function. And, when someone joined the company, they understood what they needed to do immediately, increasing speed to productivity. THG had created a common culture with a single language.
Current Trends Over the last couple of years, we’ve heard a lot about performance management being “reinvented.” What are some of the trends?
Elimination of Standardized Ratings, More Focus on Leadership Development and Culture Change Programs Traditionally, companies have relied on rating scales that use phrases like “excellent,” “meeting expectations” or “below standards” to describe performance or rating scales – 1 to 5 or 1 to 3. In the last couple of years, there has been a
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rallying cry against the use of rating scales and a movement toward continuous performance dialogue. This is not a new conversation; it’s just a conversation that needed to happen. We’ve all seen what happens when the focus is on the rating instead of a healthy dialogue; people feel labeled and real communication stops. Leaders avoid difficult conversations or tend to approach conversations defensively. It worsens when there is limited or no periodic dialogue through the year. Using standard “descriptors” has led to standardized ratings that have historically fed into compensation systems; systems driven by the magic bell curve that many corporations strive for. Here’s the reality; the workforce has changed – the market for talent no longer supports formulaic compensation. People are now knowledge workers doing highly individual work versus vast groups of people doing the same kind of work. Today’s workforce is highly productive. Because of developments in technology and other tools, people are contributing in more individual and creative ways. As recently as a decade ago, a leader used to measure performance against scorecard metrics and objectives; while that is still the case in many companies, it is simply not enough. Today, a leader has to understand performance and communicate about it. And, this can only be accomplished through dialogue. Millennials, and indeed high performers of any generation, have grown up confident and in achievement-centered environments. To treat millennials as if they need to be patient and wait their turn is unacceptable; they will simply make themselves available to the market. They want to work for a company invested in their future. They are prepared for and expect continuous feedback and challenges from their leaders and their peers. For some, this trend toward no ratings has erroneously signaled the end of the difficult conversation; in fact, skilled leaders know that the opposite is true. In companies where performance is a treated as a priority, ratings have been replaced with deep coaching conversations borne out of leadership devel-
opment programs designed to engage people and build trust.
On-the-Spot Peer Coaching I’m a raving fan of Apple products. I’m also a fan of its stores. Since switching to Apple three years ago, I’ve visited at least six Apple stores in locations in the Midwest, NYC and Florida. In every store, I find intelligent, nice, well-trained people and, not surprisingly, I experience the same great service. As a former retailer (I started my career at Macy’s), I understand how challenging this can be. Clearly, Apple has figured out how to replicate consistently high levels of service! One day, shortly after getting my new MacBook Air, I watched something that drew me in. Someone working with me asked if he could excuse himself to provide instant feedback to a nearby coworker who had to deal with a difficult customer issue. It was well done and well received! When he returned, I asked him where he learned to do that. He told me about Apple’s program “Fearless Feedback.” Fearless Feedback is, according to one employee, a two-hour module that is introduced during onboarding. Basically, it gives permission and encourages each person to make a difference for their co-workers and even their leaders by providing feedback and coaching. An employee explained it to me as “an honor to contribute to someone else’s development.” Now, every time I work with an Apple employee, I ask them about Fearless Feedback. To a person, I always get a smile and a similar reaction. They love it! Interestingly, Apple still uses an annual performance management program. Employees have told me it is form-based and uses a rating scale (which no one seems to mind). They trust their leaders and each other. Some of you may remember a story about an Apple store in California. People would punch out and return to the selling floor to help coworkers service customers. Apple had to issue a request that people punch out and actually stop working. How many retailers can make the same claim?
Competency Models
Competency models continue to be popular as a tool to describe work, the way it’s meant to be done. They can be used as a tool to embed new strategies or language around job-related skills or value-based behavior. They are really helpful when you are trying to distinguish what success looks like in any situation – between leaders and their people, between leaders and other leaders to ensure consistency across the organization. The only downfall can occur when a leader chooses to use them selectively.
Self-Assessment Self-assessments continue to be a growing trend. They shift the burden from the leader alone to a kind of “shared ownership” for the employee’s performance. The best way to ensure that a self-assessment is objective is to guide it. Share standards early and often. Encourage dialogue throughout the year. This is where tools like competency models are extremely helpful. In my experience, unguided self-assessments get you just that – an unguided diatribe.
Minimizing Forms The current trend seems to be to minimized forms, the shorter the better. Keep it simple. Every culture is different. Do what works for your organization. The form is just a tool. The value of a good performance program is not the form; it’s the integrity of the conversation and sound execution of the program. In the case above, the organization started with more extensive forms and, as the culture grew and developed, as people began to embrace the process, forms were shortened over time.
The current trend seems to be to minimized forms, the shorter the better. Keep it simple. Every culture is different. Do what works for your organization.
The Technology Perspective What role does technology play in fortifying performance management? While I have deep experience in HR, technology is not my forte – yet, I am about to tell an audience of HR technologists that there is not, and will never be, a technology “solution” for performance management, at least in the way
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most HR people want one. I would liken the situation to workforce analytics, which has been a buzzword and specialty area for more than a decade. Workforce analytics has gone through several iterations of products, along with promises of “bringing analytics to the C-suite.” Yet, most companies are still struggling to provide analytics results that are meaningful and actionable. In both analytics and performance management, the missing link cannot be provided by a system, only by people – people capable of connecting the dots and leaders who have a genuine interest in using the data to make the best possible decisions. Likewise, in performance management, people at all levels must be willing to use the data and engage in “the conversation” – an honest evaluation of someone’s progress, abilities, future path, potential contributions to the company, warts and all. This is the hallmark of true performance management. Systems do not drive culture change – how we think and what we believe must precede systems development and, in too many cases, the technology becomes the driver. Ultimately, this results in a failed process, and everyone winds up distrusting the performance management process. Don’t get me wrong, good technology that facilitates the easy and
reliable flow of information ensures that information is easy to access. This is the highest and best use of technology. There is no lack of “performance management systems” in the marketplace that can streamline collecting, distributing and storing of data. When there is too much emphasis on the system, people focus on that, instead of the quality of the assessment. Simply put, technology cannot precede how we think, feel, and act. A good performance management implementation follows a foundational change in culture, not the other way around. And, technology is the underpinning to that change. Thank you for allowing me to share my story and perspective on performance management. If there’s one takeaway, I hope it’s this: When we treat performance management with the same level of importance that we treat other business strategies, and when we take the time to embrace performance conversations and truly engage with people, it not only becomes a powerful tool for achieving strategy, it becomes a way to make a meaningful difference for the people we work with, for our businesses, and for ourselves as HR leaders.
About the Author Laurie Kalman, president and founder of Performance First Inc., is a performance and change management expert with significant experience as both a consultant and human capital leader. Her firm collaborates with clients and consulting partners who are passionate about achieving their global aspirations through the lens of “people and culture.” To achieve this, she focuses on leadership development, performance management, employer branding, and building capability in the HR function. Her prior assignments include global head of People and Culture for Grant Thornton and VP of Organizational Effectiveness for PHH Relocation Services, now named Cartus Inc. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a bachelor’s degree in English Education. She is an international keynote speaker and executive business coach. Most recently, she spoke with Daniel Pink at the Human Capital Summit at Disney World – “Gaining Executive Buy-In.” She can be reached at laurie@performancefirstinc.com.
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2016 HR Service Delivery Buyers Guide The 2016 HR Service Delivery 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 2016 purchasing decisions.
Product Categories
Cloud Computing
Paid Advertising
SaaS
Enterprise Information Resources Inc. (EIR)
Enterprise Information Resources Inc. (EIR)
Rewards/Recognition
CrystalPlus.com
Self Service
Enterprise Information Resources Inc. (EIR)
Alphabetical Company Listing* *Systems and applications referred to in this section are trademarked, registered, or in progress. These names should not be used generically.
CrystalPlus.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 our ad on page 43.
Enterprise Information Resources Inc. 271 Waverley Oaks Rd. Suite 207 Waltham, MA 02452 Gin O’Leary 855-589-9451 617-924-4802 info@erpinforesources.com www.erpinforesources.com
Enterprise Information Resources Inc. (EIR) Get the most from your talent management strategy with EIR expertise, proven technology and service offerings. EIR’s advanced automation tools turn your system into a major company asset providing the accurate, actionable data necessary for reaching a true competitive advantage. EIR is a member of the SAP PartnerEdge program. We are authorized to resell and are a certified implementation partner for SAP SuccessFactors solutions. See our ad on page 45.
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Global Challenge
Four Factors for Global Success
Learnings from Successful International Assignments By Karen V. Beaman, Teilasa Global
Projects don’t fail because of software; projects fail because of people. And this statement is even truer in a global environment. Working on a global project brings people into contact with differences in culture, language, and social practices, and people react to these differences in different ways. While some people are highly successful working internationally, others moderately so, still others, unfortunately, are dismal failures. Based on the findings of research drawn from 100 individuals working on international assignments, this article summarizes four people factors that contribute to success on an international project.1 Our prior research (Beaman & Guy 2006) identified four clusters of factors that influence the performance and personal experience of individuals working internationally (see Figure 1). First, people bring their own mindset and their individual attitudes, experiences, and personalities to the project. Second, there are cultural factors arising from the practices and attitudes prevalent in the home culture and in the host culture that affect the engagement. Third are identity factors relating to the social role or the identity that individuals construct in interacting with the community around them. Figure 1. Factors in Global Success. Finally, there are factors specific to the context or situation of a given individual or project, such as the kind of job held or the person’s family circumstances. We will review each of these groups of factors in turn.
Individual Factors Global Mindset. One approach to understanding the international experience is the cognitive construct called Global Mindset (Perlmutter 1964, Sullivan 2002, Guy & Beaman 2003 & 2004) (see Figure 2). Global Mindset is the men-
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Figure 2. Global Mindset Model. tal framework individuals use when interacting with a different culture. An individual’s mindset varies along a wide spectrum of acceptance and engagement with the new culture. One stance is called the “Ethnocentric” mindset, which can be characterized as “self-affirming,” coupled with minimal acceptance of differences between individuals and cultures. The opposite stance is called the “Polycentric” mindset which involves full assimilation, acceptance and engagement with the new culture. Finally, a third stance, called the “Geocentric” mindset, entails relativizing and generalizing across many cultures, integrating each newly encountered culture into a system of beliefs and values that are conceived as universal. It turns out that Ethnocentricity and Polycentricity are not particularly strong predictors of success when working internationally. Our research has shown that highly Geocentric individuals have the highest rate of success. To develop a Geocentric mindset, however, takes time and involves multiple experiences across diverse cultures. Because mindsets develop from the interaction of individual personality with international experience, they are malleable and change over time. Previous research has shown that Ethnocentricity declines with the time elapsed after the end of an international assignment and that Geocentricy increases with time and additional experiences across cultures. Personality Traits. While mindset changes over time, personality traits have a more permanent quality. One personality trait studied in
this research, “Amiability,” showed a very strong correlation with global success: the more amiable an individual is, the more likely he or she is to experience success on an international project. Another trait, “Extraversion,” showed an interesting nonlinear result: people with a balance between introversion and extraversion were more likely to be successful than those strong at either extreme. Highly extraverted people might well be frustrated working abroad, especially if they don’t know the local language, whereas someone who is more self-contained is likely to be more resilient and able to endure the isolation of being a “foreigner” in a “strange” land.
Contextual Factors Family Situation. Among the contextual factors evaluated, family situation was a very strong predictor of success internationally. Those with minimal family ties back home were significantly more likely to be successful than those with strong ties. Presumably this is because single individuals don’t need to worry about taking care of other family members and hence are freer to focus exclusively on their work assignment. Among the participants in the study with close family ties, better outcomes were achieved when the family accompanied the worker on the assignment than when the family stayed behind. It is quite clear that those individuals with families who stayed behind lacked intimate family support and so placed a stronger focus on returning home – a factor working against global success. Job Type. Another strong predictor of global success was the type of job the individual held. The least successful jobs were sales and marketing positions, the ones that require the most intimate contact with the local language and culture. The greatest levels of success were found among people with technical jobs: technical people typically travel to conduct a specific task, using a specific skill that does not involve much contact with locals outside the workplace. The remaining job types, finance, human resources professionals, and executives, fell in the middle on the success measure. These were the jobs for which interaction with the local culture was likely to be varied and assignment-specific. These results suggest that success is harder to achieve when the job requires a higher level of cultural contact and accommodation.
Cultural Factors Nationality. This study contrasted Americans, who made up half of the respondents, with all other nationalities. The results showed that other nationalities were significantly more likely to achieve success working abroad than the Americans were. This is indicative of the relative ethnocentrism and cultural hegemony of the United States. In a large and dominant country like the United States, familiarity with other nations and cultures is a relatively rare part of an individual’s personal experience. The “Ugly American,” insensitive to cultural differences, is a common stereotype. These findings corroborate other research, which has also shown high failure rates on international assignments for Americans but lower rates for other nationalities. Prior Experience. A second cultural factor investigated in this study was the individual’s prior international experience. The results showed that the more total intercultural experience a person had, the more likely he or she was to be successful in the next assignment. Intercultural adaptability appears to be something that individuals get better at with practice. However, this may also mean that people who are good with intercultural relationships seek more international work experiences – the so-called self-fulfilling prophecy. Multilingualism. Finally among the cultural factors evaluated in this study, contrary to common belief, being able to speak the local language is not a predictor of success. Merely knowing the language is not as important as knowing how to interact effectively with others.
Identity Factors The last set of factors evaluated with respect to global success dealt with individual identity and social interaction with the community. Gender and age are two strong identity factors. Gender. Females were more likely to be successful on their international assignments than men. This reflects the different ways that men and women deal with the social practice of accommodation. Most research has shown that women are more accommodating and accepting of social differences than are men. Age. Older individuals (above the age of 50) showed greater success than younger ones. It may be that having broader life experiences www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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Endnotes This article is drawn from research conducted with Dr. Gregory Guy of New York University between 2002 and 2006 on data from 100 individuals who had worked on international assignments. The objective of this research was to uncover the factors that make for individual global success.
1
References Beaman, Karen V. and Gregory R. Guy, “Malleable Mindset and Cultural Contact: A Multi-Factorial Approach to the International Experience,” IHRIM Journal, Volume X, Number 5, September/October, 2006.
About the Author Karen V. Beaman, HRIP, is the managing director for Teilasa Global and the founder and lead researcher for Mercer’s Payroll Benchmarking Survey (MPBS), a unique ground-breaking 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. Beaman 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 past managing 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.
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facilitates accommodation in an international environment. It is also possible that this result is related to family situation: older individuals generally have fewer family complications, such as children in school, which can bring challenges when working abroad.
Conclusion To summarize the findings from this study, the best candidate for success on an international assignment is an older person from a country other than the U.S., who is amiable and geocentric in mindset, who has minimal family ties, and who already has considerable international experience. Women are better candidates than men, and if the candidate has a family, the chances for success are improved if the family accompanies them on the international assignment. Individual, cultural, identity, and situational factors affect a person’s performance on the job and their satisfaction with working internationally. Individual personalities, attitudes, and prior experience with other cultures are the key elements that make a global mindset. Prior research has shown that mindsets are malleable and that individuals do change and adapt to the intercultural experience over time, improving their chances for success with each subsequent assignment. It is encouraging to know that individuals do learn from their experiences and, therefore, their chances for success improve accordingly.
Product Focus
The Product Focus column does not represent an endorsement of any product(s) by IHRIM, its board of directors, editors or publisher.
Visualizing, Mapping, and Analyzing to Optimize Workforce Planning For one company, advance warning of talent gaps gave management leverage to increase profits, improve customer satisfaction and reduce flight risks by using a unique visualization. We’re in trouble. “I can’t tell you how many status reports I get telling me everything is just fine,” confided the VP of a large defense contractor. “We have a big problem. We are constantly getting blindsided with talent gaps on our most critical programs. I’m told everything is perfectly on schedule, but then we’re getting ugly surprises every day. We aren’t hiring fast enough, we have employees leaving, we discover we’ve hired redundant talent – all leading to significant cost overruns and missed delivery dates. It creates a horrible domino effect as we have to pull resources from other projects or pay steep premiums for contractors. To make matters even worse, customer satisfaction has been so low that we’ve lost three big clients – resulting in hundreds of millions in lost business to our competition. If only we could have seen these issues earlier. I need a solution that gives me a way to visualize the talent issues on a project by project basis across my organization – with enough of an early warning that I can do something about it.” This was the issue a VP of HR had to solve: how to foresee talent threats across all the company’s critical programs.
Talent Map: Mapping Talent to see the Future The client had plenty of data, but what they didn’t have was a way to get useful information. Everyone was doing something different, nothing was standardized. “If we can develop a common dataset for these presentations, then we can make continuous improvements that all of our critical projects will benefit from,” is what the VP of Finance told us. After sitting down with the VPs and gaining insight and understanding their pain
points, our initial challenge was to devise a way to normalize the right data into a standardized view that would empower management with insight and control over program risks, particularly related to talent. We created the Talent Map concept so management could quickly analyze as many programs and workgroups as possible. We collaborated with the client to determine the kinds of information needed, developing a visual layout so that management would have a clear picture. The information sources used for the map were the company’s HRIS, manager interviews, and client interviews for both employees and contractors. Thus both objective and subjective data were compiled into the map. Each person was represented as a card with standard data fields, symbols, and coloring. Figure 1. Each person is represented in a talent card. The result is an informative snapshot of an individual revealing their talent profile in a compact, easy-to-read format. The example in Figure 1 shows a Systems Engineer, Figure 2. Talent Map Legend – color coding notation. who is a full-time employee with critical skills, recognized as top talent, costing above industry benchmark, highly experienced, and with a solid performance rating. As you can see, Talent Map created a snapshot of the person in a standardized view so all the employees can be compared easily and quickly. “We have 150 strategic programs that need to be talent mapped. I can’t picture us doing this manually in PowerPoint,” said the VP www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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of HR. The client feared this would be too complex and labor intensive. We effectively addressed their concerns by automating the Talent Map process.
The Talent Map Layout The next challenge was determining the best way to present each program talent pool to management. So rather than using an organization chart hierarchy they opted for a “soft hierarchy” where individuals would be grouped by job function and management level. The matrix assembled would support the executive’s process for evaluating the strength and cost-effectiveness of the team in place. With each of the resources profiled and organized Figure 3. Putting it all together – into a matrix of level and Talent according to functional area and function our client now had a stanmanagement level. dardized view of the organization’s talent.
Automation Historically the client had much of the necessary information to give early warning of program risks, but it was piecemeal and inconsistent. We automated the aggregation of information into presentations that gave a holistic perspective. A new standardized view and repeatable process has positioned the client for repeatable success.
About the Author Joe Kolinger is the founder of OfficeWork Software and author of several widely used workforce planning and organizational charting software packages. His background includes solutions design and management consulting with companies such as Google, AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, and the U.S. government. He brings a unique perspective on workforce planning and how technologies are leveraged to align the workforce for success. OfficeWork Software creates innovative solutions for workforce planning, organizational charting, and talent visualization. Our clients are empowered to clearly see, manage, and align the workforce for enduring success. He can be reached at joe.kolinger@officeworksoftware.com..
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Managing Teams Since Talent Map is interactive, management is able to identify gaps and then move individuals to test out changes to the teams. But even beyond identifying gaps, the common scenarios that management encounters – programs ramping up, programs behind schedule or exceeding budget,
loss of key resources – they all benefit from this solution. And where a team is ramping down they can allocate talent to new programs without negative impacts. “The amount of talent information we have at our fingertips makes it much easier to effectively respond to change. Whether moving employees within a program or to a new program, we are able to make transitions more gracefully,” reports a portfolio manager. As programs and organizations encounter new talent requirements, the maps facilitate the efficient identification of best fit employees. Scarce, in demand, and highly-skilled resources become easier to identify and share across the company. This reduces the need for expensive contractors to fill expert positions on an emergency basis.
The Results A pilot project was designated for a “test run” of the Talent Map, and program leadership met with the executives and HR. As a result the Program VP commented, “It became immediately clear we were at risk of losing 20 percent of our resources before project completion – which would be a disaster. That information is now being fed into our plans for employee retention.” Another executive noted that some of the most senior client interfacing positions were actually third-party resources. “We are trusting non-employees to represent us to our clients. This poses a serious risk to client intimacy when we use contractors at this level.” This was a valid concern because shortly thereafter the client was lost to the competition. In both of these cases – loss of clients and unmanaged flight risk – the Talent Map quickly exposed significant threats to the business. The Talent Map effort gave impressive results within a year. Unmanaged flight was reduced by over 40 percent. No clients were ever lost on programs using the Talent Map process. Management now had an advanced warning of these threats.
From Our Advisors
Laments and Rants by a Senior and What HR and We Can Do By Lexy Martin…retired but not completely
At age 70, I “retired” in 2014 after a long career, with the past 20 years spent as a thought leader in the Human Resources technology arena, managing the well-regarded Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey. While I left my employer, I have continued to quietly do strategy work. And, I have led a more balanced life. Balanced in that I spend lots of time with family and friends. I golf, garden, hike, read, and pursue those activities I never had time enough for before in addition to doing work that I find satisfying. Advice #1 for workers and employers: foster, no insist upon, your workforce to lead a healthy, balanced life for their entire careers. You can do better than you do! Returning to the workforce as an independent consultant I had a rather uncomfortable experience that got me thinking about how employers might better treat their job candidates and employees, especially those that are older. I chose not to set myself up as a corporation and instead worked as a contingent worker, through a staffing agency. While it had a superlative online onboarding process that I could do from my home, one of the requirements mandated by the large multinational I was actually doing the project for was a drug test. I had to travel to the closest big city to visit a lab that did the required testing. Okay, I need to admit upfront that I am a snob when I tell you of my experience with the other people being tested. The facility primarily tested retail and clerical job candidates. I shared the lobby waiting area with guys with pants half way down their butts, with ladies that looked like prostitutes, with people who were sick and hacking, and all obviously did not want to be there. I was the only person who showed up in business attire. And, I had to stay there a long time as it turned out, since I needed to do the
test again (no, not a false positive!). I had to wait and wait, despite several quiet requests to be retested. I trust you get the picture of how uncomfortable this experience was. Leaving aside all the controversy over whether workplace drug testing is effective as done in these testing centers, the experience was uncomfortable. I personally think that if testing is necessary that the person should be tested as “fit for duty” rather than whether they have drugs or alcohol in their system. Computer-assisted performance tests which measure response time or situational awareness and other task-performance tests are used already by NASA,1 for example, for astronauts and pilots, so why can’t big employers test more appropriately for the tasks for which they are hiring? But that’s another article. The issue for me was there was a lack of sensitivity, much as I hate to admit, for an older worker at the facility and by extension from the employer. As I’d been employed for a very long time, I never had undergone this invasive testing as a job applicant before. Advice #2 for employers: Be age sensitive with your drug testing and at least provide your job candidate with “what can you expect” when you show up for your drug testing. Is the facility right for the job candidate under consideration? Older workers offer much to employers: experience, ability to see the big picture, adeptness with face-to-face communication, focus to accomplish exactly what is needed, extensive professional networks, and loyalty to name a few. Research from the Society for Human Resource Management reports older workers, 55 years and older, offer significant advantages to other workers.2 More knowledge and skills (77%), more mature/professional (71%), stronger work ethic (70%), able to serve as mentors (63%), and more reliable (59%) are the top five
Older workers offer much to employers: experience, ability to see the big picture, adeptness with face-to-face communication, focus to accomplish exactly what is needed, extensive professional networks, and loyalty to name a few.
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advantages of older workers compared to other workers. And SHRM has many best practices, strategies, and templates for employing an aging workforce as part of its three-year research initiative recognizing the value of older workers.3 Another lament I have after taking some time away from the workplace is what I perceive as a younger workforce talking so darn fast that I can’t hear and parse meaning. I think this is a lament I’ve always had but it became especially apparent as I was listening to the rapid fire delivery of Ray Wang at a recent Workday Predict16 webinar. There were stellar ideas from all the participants and Ray’s contributions are among the most thoughtful, so apologies for singling him out. I get that he is smarter than all of us, after all he has clones! But, I can’t easily collect meaning from his speedy delivery. He’s definitely not the only one among his age cohort and younger that talk fast, but their delivery is not emulated by older workers. Advice #3 for workers and employers: Coach your presenters to speak more slowly at least during key message points. My final lament is about how fast technology is changing. I’ve always been an early adopter of technologies, and while doing the Sierra-Cedar Figure 1. From Wreck this Journal. The instruction is to drip something and close the book to annual survey always kept make a print. up on emerging workforce
technologies so that I could knowledgeably ask questions to calibrate their sticking power. This past year, I let some of that constant monitoring and experimenting go as I created more balance for me and my family. On one of my outings with my incredibly, artistically-talented granddaughter, she exposed me to Instagram which she uses to share her Wreck this Journal entries – see Figure 1. (By the way, I think the series of journals put out by Keri Smith are phenomenal, “think outside the box” learning experiences and I may just do one myself!) While I had dabbled with Instagram, I had decided it was not going to be one of the meaningful workforce-oriented technologies that would have business value ubiquitously. So, coming back up to speed on using Instagram was a bit challenging for me. I had to resurrect my account and set up permissions and more. Not a great workforce-oriented example, but the point is that we seniors have to keep up with technologies that are important to the current workforce. Advice #4 for senior workers: Keep up with pop culture and technologies and be conversant with them when interacting with workers of other ages. So with baby boomers retiring more rapidly and taking their knowledge with them, coupled with employers continuing to not be able to staff all their skills requirements, despite the threat of robots taking over the workforce, there are some things that HR, employers, employees, and we aging seniors can do to optimize the workforce with senior workers. I hope these four suggestions might resonate with you.
Endnotes 1 Privacy in America – Workplace Drug Testing, 2015, https://www.aclu.org/workplace-drug-testing 2 Preparing for an Aging Workforce, SHRM, 1/12/2015, http://www.shrm.org/Research/SurveyFindings/Documents/14-0765%20Executive%20Briefing%20Aging%20Workforce%20 v4.pdf 3 The Aging Workforce Research Initiative, http://www.shrm.org/research/surveyfindings/pages/aging-workforce-research-initiative.aspx 4 Workday Predict and Prepare 2016, https://forms.workday.com/us/landing_page/webinar_predict_and_prepare_2016_lp.php
About the Author Lexy Martin was vice president, Research and Analytics at Sierra-Cedar (previously CedarCrestone) where she co-authored and managed the highly-regarded Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey prior to her “retirement” in November 2014. Her career spans some 20-plus years where she focused on research of HR technology adoption, specifically on those with enterprise impact including, HRIS, HRMS, TM, WFM, ROI, value, business case, service delivery and metrics and analytics strategy, cloud, and software-as-a-service. She continues her career as an independent strategy consultant and you can follow @lexymartin on Twitter to see what she’s up to these days!
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Improving Enterprise Collaboration and Engagement: The Intersection of the Technical and Physical Worlds By Janet Grapengeter, AIA
When Steve Jobs famously redesigned the offices at Pixar, which originally had developers in one building, animators in another, and executives in yet another, he recognized that having these groups work in separate buildings was a significant barrier to innovation, idea sharing, creativity, and speed of creating shared ideas and new solutions. According to Jobs, the Pixar HQ, which was designed in the early 2000s, was a place that “promoted encounters and unplanned collaborations.” Given that collaboration is one of the major topics in HR technology, office design, and mobile technology, that the late 1990s were filled with cube farms, and collaboration technology equated to CompuServe email and Yahoo IM, his ideas were clearly ahead of the curve. In Jobs’ biography he added that he believed, “If a building doesn’t encourage [collaboration], you’ll lose a lot of innovation and the magic that’s sparked by serendipity.” To understand where we are today, it’s helpful to think about how work has changed in the past 25 years, as companies have been trying to find the balance between public and private workspace, along with personal privacy, that best supports collaboration. Research by Steelcase, a major office furniture manufacturer, showed that in 1980, 85% of U.S. employees said they needed places to concentrate without distractions, and 52% said they lacked such spaces. In response, thousands of high-walled cubicles took over the corporate landscape. Yet after 15 years, and the introduction of personal technology, only 23% of employees wanted more privacy; 50% said they needed more access to other people, and 40% wanted more interaction. Organizations responded by creating more open spaces that support col-
laboration, while at the same time shrinking areas for individual work. But the pendulum may have swung too far: Steelcase’s research suggests that people now feel a pressing need for more privacy, not only to do heads-down work but to cope with the intensity of how work happens today. The open plan is just one of the challenges assaulting worker privacy. The increased focus on team and collaborative work means people are often constantly together. Couple this with the ubiquity of mobile devices, a propensity for multi-tasking, and “always-on” connectivity, and it’s not surprising that many workers say they can’t concentrate when at their desk. Steelcase research shows this issue has increased by 16% since 2008, yet the number of employees who don’t have access to a quiet place to do focused work is up by 13%. Meanwhile, people are finding it harder to control who has access to their personal information in the workplace (or otherwise, for that matter). Fast forward to the world as we know it today, where it is fairly common to have an office layout with open plan workstations. And all the collaboration technology you could ever want – in the palm of your smartphone. But in today’s workplace, employees are always connected, always reachable, and to some extent always findable, in both the physical and the virtual sense. That accessibility can enhance our interactions but can also leave us feeling overexposed. So we need to rethink our basic assumptions about privacy. But that’s not all of it. The paradigm is shifting from thinking of an office as being “me space” to being “we space,” says Tom Polucci, director of Interior
In Jobs’ biography he added that he believed, “If a building doesn’t encourage [collaboration], you’ll lose a lot of innovation and the magic that’s sparked by serendipity.”
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Design for HOK, a global design and architecture firm. More than the style of office furniture itself, we must consider the placement of it, and the building layout in which it exists. Think of this along the lines of a mobile About the Author app user experience – where visual Janet Grapengeter, AIA, a design, content, layout, and the director at Columbia University, is an architect with 30-years of device itself must come together corporate experience advising for true success. large organizations and The old idea of traditional universities in creating “streets and avenues layout” of sustainable, collaborative environments that support an ever changing style of work. She can cubes or rows of open tables is not be reached at Janet.Grapengeter@gmail.com. conducive to today’s collaborative work style nor does it support the pace at which decisions are made in today’s workplace. We have succeeded in changing the top down decision-making work styles of past decades, but how we work has changed so drastically that the workplace environment of even a decade ago may not be supporting the work in the best way possible. Whether working in teams or as individuals relying on readily accessible resources (specialists) the new work style means more visual contact with team members. As an architect that has worked in a facilities and operations function in environments – in Fortune 200 companies across many industries – that underwent the transition from old-style Dilbert cubes to low-partitioned workspace groupings with teaming areas and lounge spaces, I have seen the dynamic culture shift. In my current role at Columbia University, in the heart of Manhattan, I serve as a resource to the project management group where my success relies on project managers being comfortable dropping in for informal chats or to work though a sticky compliance issue. The drop-in rate is vastly improved by the simple ability to make eye contact from across the room. Like finding the right balance between content and visuals in a mobile app, there are a few prerequisites for making an open plan workspace succeed:
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Abandon the age old perception that status equals workspace size.
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Provide informal chat spaces (a small grouping of lounge chairs) for small informal meetings.
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Provide guidance on the new etiquette (speakerphone conversations are best left to private meeting rooms).
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Provide a few small private meeting rooms for conversations that cannot be held in the open plan environment.
“Where we would put file cabinets in years past becomes a bench, a place to plug in, charge your smartphone, talk to a friend,” Polucci says. “Those kinds of little nooks and crannies, using them and thinking about them has become very critical. It’s about trying to get everything out of the space as possible.” At WeWork – the fastest growing office landlord in Manhattan that operates large shared-use co-working office spaces around the U.S., Miquel McKelvey, co-founder and chief creative officer says, “I think of [productivity] as effectively creating ideas and solving problems, and a lot of that has to do with being collaborative. It’s more crucial to make sure people are connecting and brainstorming with each other.” For Fortune 500 companies, this issue is not exclusive to work in the USA. In fact, attitudes toward personal space differ greatly by country and culture. German companies give employees an average of 320 square feet per person; where as it is only 190 square feet per employee in America. In India and China, employees have much less, at 70 and 50 square feet, respectively. And when it comes to privacy and collaboration, again, different cultures view things differently. In China people don’t think about individual privacy in the same way that Westerners do. Chinese employees are most concerned about information control: maintaining high levels of personal privacy and finding ways to prevent the feeling of being watched by authorities. Hence, in China, where office spaces are organized to enable managers to easily keep watch on employees, people tend to duck into hallways or bathrooms for a moment alone. Whether the appropriate environment is a completely mobile, reconfigurable team workspace, or a more structured but collaborative environment, a suitable open plan workspace will provide the ability for workers to enjoy a more dynamic work environment to the best of their ability.
Research and Benchmarking
Resourcing the Modern HR Systems Environment By Stacey Harris, Sierra-Cedar
Research can be a challenging business. Data captured in any research effort is a snapshot in time, great for providing context to current business practices. One of the most cringeworthy moments for any researcher, however, is when their data is held up as a final metric to be achieved rather than a tool for starting the discussion. No other area of HR research falls into this disturbing pattern more than resourcing and budgeting efforts. The resourcing, budgets, and tools required to achieve an organization’s unique outcomes are specific to their situation and environment. Research and benchmarking data that we gather with the annual Sierra-Cedar HR Systems survey is a valuable tool to help frame conversations, highlight trends, and provide an often-needed reality check. As we move towards a more modern, mobile, and data-driven HR systems environment, it is imperative that organizations reimagine their HR function’s roles and skillsets. With this goal in mind, SierraCedar has conducted a deep-dive analysis of the HR resourcing data from this year’s HR Systems survey findings for the IHRIM audience. One way to be certain that any research data provides greater context is to give a wide range of perspectives on the data. In Figure 1, we’ve broken out multiple-size ranges to show the average number of employees served, divided by the total number of FTE (Full Time Equivalent) HR roles within an organization. This equation is often called the HR-to-Employee ratio. This chart attests to the fact that, as organizations grow in size, they generally optimize their HR roles to serve more employees. This increase in HR-to-employee ratio is due, in part, to centralizing work efforts as well as implementations of various new HR technologies. Additional factors to keep in mind when assessing HR-to-employee ratios include the various types of HR roles required to maintain
an effective HR function—one that can align to organizational outcomes. The Sierra-Cedar 2015–2016 HR Systems Survey investigated four different types of HR Roles generally seen in organizations of all sizes: • HR Leadership Roles, including managers, business partners, and generalists, • Talent Roles, including recruiting, learning, and other talent process areas, • HR Administrative and Support Roles, and • HR Technical Roles, including functional, application support, and infrastructure roles. As seen in Figure 2, Figure 1. Employees Served Per Total HR Resources. we identified specific sizes of organization cohorts to highlight the average number of employees served by these various roles. We provided further context for this group by confirming that all were using a Core HRMS and Payroll solution and had 8–10 additional HR modules implemented. Figure 2. Employees Served per Specific HR Roles. HR Technology roles were more likely to support larger groups of employees than any other HR role tracked in our research, particularly for our Large cohort of organizations. The average number of the FTEs for these HR Technical Roles also tells an interesting story by size: Small organizations are Figure 3. Average Number of HR Technical Roles. www.ihrim.org • Workforce Solutions Review • March 2016
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much more likely to split these responsibilities across a single or part-time role, while Large organizations leverage a greater range of FTEs across all three roles (as seen in Figure 3). The total number of resources required in maintaining HR’s compliance standards, process maturity, and technology environments can vary greatly by size, industry, and region. The two factors with the greatest impact on the 1,204 organizations that Figure 4. Cloud vs. On-Premise participated in our Survey were Resourcing. Global Complexity and Core HRMS delivery mechanisms. Over 50% of this year’s Survey respondents had implemented a Cloud/SaaS-based Core HRMS solution, primarily within the Small- and Medium-sized organizations. For those organizations that have made the move to SaaS and modernized their Core HRMS environments, we found that, on average across all sizes, they were serving 25% more of their employees with their Core HRMS administrative roles. Figure 5. Global Differences. We also found that organizations with on-premise Core HRMS solutions required two-times the number of HR Technology Infrastructure Roles, while those organizations with Cloud solutions were more likely to have higher percentages of HR Management and BI/Analytics roles. Across all of our analysis efforts, the one factor that had the greatest impact on the HR resources was Global Complexity. Within the Large organizations cohort group, we identified a low complexity group of organizations with employees working in 10 different countries or less, and a high complexity group of organizations with employees working in over 25 different countries. We found a dramatic increase in the number of FTEs required to support the highly complex Figure 6. Data-Driven and Talen-Driven Organizations global environment, two-to-four times the Allocate More HR Resources to Talent Management and Business Intelligence. overall number of
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resources required for lower complexed organizations. Additionally, highly complex global organizations serve 30% fewer employees per HR resource. Another area of our research included looking at organizations that use data to make organizational decisions (Data-Driven Organizations), and those who focused on talent in for their workforce planning decisions (TalentDriven Organizations). On average, 20% of an organization’s HR Role resources are made up of Talent Management and BI/Analytics roles. For Talent-Driven and Data-Driven Organizations, that jumps to 30% of their HR resources. Organizations that focus on data when making decisions, and/or talent needs have resources in roles which show their commitment to their business outcomes and cultures.
Service Delivery Efficiencies and Outcomes When we look at resourcing, it’s also important to look at the different technologies available to serve an organization. We view Service Delivery technologies through the lens of enabling a more efficient and personalized HR organization. One way to view the impact of Service Delivery is in the cost efficiency of the HR department through the ratio of employees served by each HR administrative staff. As seen in Figure 7, those organizations that roll out higher levels of Employee Self Service (ESS) support on average 18% more employees per HR Administrative Headcount. Organizations that put in place self-service technology within a shared services function with HR Help Desk technology and Mobile-enabled ESS features, serve 51% more workforce per HR Administrative staff. This combination of technologies delivers the highest level of efficiency for the enterprise.
HR Technology Resourcing Strategies Although it’s important to understand where employees reside within an organization, and how efficiencies can be achieved with technology, we wanted to understand organizations’ resourcing plans for the future. To that end, organizations were asked whether they were planning to increase or decrease certain roles across their HR function over the next year. As seen in Figure 8, we asked organizations about a wide range of roles across the HR organization—ranging from administrative to
management roles, as well as roles specific to supporting or working with certain applications such as Payroll, Workforce Management, and Talent Management applications. The area with the highest expectations for additional hiring was HR Data Analytics roles; 31% of organizations plan to increase employees in this position and very few plan to decrease this role. We also see that 29% of organizations plan to increase Talent Management roles this year. Plans to increase these roles align with plans to increase the strategic role of the HR function. Increases are also planned for HR system support and HRIT infrastructure roles—which harkens back to plans to increase shared service functions and needs for further integration efforts. These increases represent a wide mixture of strategic roles and service and support roles, and we are excited to see additions in these areas. Roles in organizations with the highest expectation for decrease are HR generalist at 15% and Payroll at 10%. Payroll roles were also the least likely to see an increase in their ranks. Overall, we see organizations working to implement technology that can reduce the administrative and generalist tasks, but this isn’t a rapid transformation for most organizations. It is also important to note that, even if you personally fall into one of those areas targeted for reduction over time, we believe the skillset in these roles can be easily transferred to other areas of growth. A HR Generalist could choose to specialize in an area of high growth, such as Talent Management or Workforce Management, and likewise as a Payroll Specialist could move into a role focusing on data security, data cleanliness, and the total HR Technology landscape using their extensive knowledge and experi-
ence with these issues in the payroll area. HR resourcing needs, roles, and strategies differ based on many variables such as size, industry, technology adoption, and overall strategy. When taking stock of an HR function’s available resources, there isn’t one “best way” to Figure 7. The Value of Service Delivery organize and allocate HR roles. Technologies. It’s important to start with the desired outcomes and work backwards towards your resourcing requirements. Work closely with your internal team, as well as vendors and partners, on how various technologies can help you reduce administrative workloads and increase valuable strategic opportunities. Leverage benchmarking data as a tool to help start the discussion and highlight workforce and technology possibilities. The optimal service delivery model is always one that creates more room for deeper conversations and human interactions.
Figure 8. Tomorrow’s HR Function is More Focused and Analytical.
About the Author Stacey Harris, former research executive with Bersin & Associates and Brandon Hall, is vice president of Research and Analytics for Sierra-Cedar, in charge of Sierra-Cedar’s Annual HR Systems Survey and Research function. A leading member of the HR practices and technology research community since 2007, she launched Bersin & Associates HR research practice and conducted groundbreaking research on High-Impact HR organizations, enterprise HR technologies, and key practices across the talent management spectrum. Her research and consulting work afforded her the opportunity to work with large global companies around the world such as McDonald’s, Lockheed Martin, Cisco, Credit Suisse, Scotia Bank, and Pfizer on a variety of mission-critical talent initiatives. Prior to joining the research community, Harris led multiple HR, Talent Management and Learning initiatives as both a leader and practitioner. Harris has M.A. Ed and B.A. degrees from Kent State and Ashland University, and can be reached at Stacey.harris@Sierra-Cedar.com.
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Strategic Workforce Planning
Future-proof Your Workforce By Susan M. DeFazio, Kelly Services The best-laid plans are nothing without the right people to implement them. This is why the mitigation of human capital risk is a high priority for all business leaders, especially those of us working in HR, HRIS, organizational design, or senior leadership roles. However, few examples of organizations successfully future-proofing their talent supply exist. Too often, even when the concept of “Strategic Workforce Planning” (SWP) is raised inside organizations, the efforts to implement it are hampered by at least these three factors: 1. Lack of skills and experience; 2. L ack of insightful, available workforce data; and, 3. L ack of an available, proven model to follow. Few organizations do the work to determine what kind of talent is required to deliver on their strategic plan, nor how they will attract, retain, and optimize that talent. SWP helps to manage risks, understand what kind of talent is needed, and makes clear the ways in which strategy will be “operationalized” through human capital. Numerous factors affect human capital continuity, which directly correlate to business performance risks. These include: • Demographics and the aging population; • Generational trends and psychographics; • Skills availability;
business. This allows workforce planning efforts to be strategic, and not just tactical and static. If workforce planning is to be relevant, it must not only adapt and evolve with the business it serves, but also be an active influencer of long-term decision-making. Of course, a great deal of that responsibility falls at the feet of HR leaders. Dr. Mary Young, senior researcher at The Conference Board, Inc., predicted an upsurge in SWP interest and use back in 2009. Her contention then was that economic challenges, among others, would see businesses connecting the dots between talent data and other strategic outcomes. Dr. Young predicted that, “HRIS data will be integrated with financial, operations, supply chain, marketing, sales, and other kinds of data to produce business intelligence and enhance company performance.” Although many organizations are some distance from this ideal, research shows that strategic workforce planning ranks within the top three priorities for businesses today. Successful SWP enables organizations to achieve these outcomes: •
Competitive advantage in hiring or developing the right skills as needed;
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Better preparedness for business contingencies;
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Improved ability to adapt to a volatile economy and shorter product cycles;
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The ability to define future workforce gaps and present solutions for those gaps;
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Measurable action plans that can be incorporated into a human capital operating plan; and,
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Understanding of how labor trends and issues will impact organizational performance more broadly.
• Technology; • Education; • Legislation and regulation; • Globalization; and, • Mergers and acquisitions. Managing risks and mitigating talent gaps means strategic workforce planning must be agile, and connected to the outcomes of the
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Translating business strategy into organizational capabilities requires more than data;
it requires insight. Positioning your team to deliver this is a key challenge for leadership now and into the future. Simple supply and demand analysis is no longer enough. HR teams are increasingly challenged to deliver the following capabilities within their organizations: •
Use practical methodological tools to gather and interpret both quantitative and qualitative information.
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Understand the competitive landscape, particularly as it relates to access to talent and skills.
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Segment and classify roles in terms of their importance to business strategy.
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Gather workforce data that takes in all the factors affecting internal and external supply of talent, including succession planning, mobility, etc.
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Develop succinct and meaningful scenario plans and matrices.
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Complete gap analysis that prioritizes those gaps in their ability to affect strategic outcomes.
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Create a clear plan for retention, ongoing reporting and progress tracking.
In addition to these capabilities, HR professionals need to understand how talent is attracted, optimized, and retained in their organizations. This is a concept we refer to as Talent Supply Chain Management (TSCM). TSCM is a framework for designing a supply chain strategy, which maximizes collaboration between Operations, Procurement, and Human Resources. Also known as holistic or integrated talent management, TSCM allows businesses to effectively source, engage, and manage talent to achieve goals. A TSCM strategy enables companies to encompass talent across all labor categories – from full-time and temporary employees, to external independent contractors and service providers, to alternative workers like retirees or interns. Proactive talent supply chain management is key to an organization’s success. To be fully prepared to fulfill future talent needs, it is essential to evaluate and execute three key imperatives.
When decisions are based on actual data — not just gut feeling — businesses are able to proactively manage talent supply, and make better hiring Using Analytics to Drive Hiring Decisions decisions. Analytics empower organizations with the information they need to more effectively address their talent needs. When decisions are based on actual data — not just gut feeling — businesses are able to proactively manage talent supply, and make better hiring decisions. An advanced data-driven approach will consider the continuous flow of talent through a business, taking into account internal and external information for various labor types, input models, and geographic locations to create a fact-driven strategy. While the data is critical, the real value lies with insight. Where are the talent inefficiencies, why are they occurring, and how can the issue be solved? By gathering the data and analyzing the story, organizations can optimize their talent supply chain strategy based on critical decision factors including risk, cost, speed, and access.
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Capture the Value of a Broadened Talent Pool
Fifty-four percent of companies expect to increase their use of flexible talent over the next two years, indicating a shift towards a more contingent workforce. Why? Today’s employees like to determine how they want to work. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by KellyOCG®, one in three workers considers themselves free agents. And, in a separate survey, when participants were asked, “To what degree are you interested in nontraditional or flexible employment?” 38-49 percent indicated moderate to strong interest, which varied by geographic region. So, by following the talent supply chain methodology and expanding their reach to alternative labor categories, organizations are able to access a broader talent pool. All possible talent sources can be considered, including temporary staff, independent contractors, freelancers, service providers, alumni, retirees, and full-time employees, to establish a more robust and agile talent pipeline. Additionally, it may be ideal for an organization to expand its network of suppliers, or input channels, to a wider geographic range. Businesses must capture these geographically diverse external or contingent workers from varying labor categories to proactively manage talent. This broadened talent pool allows companies to bring in more qualified employees, especially when faced with shortages for key skillsets.
Understand Talent
There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution for getting the right mix of employees to meet an organization’s needs. Understanding that talent comes in many forms and from many geographic locations is critical to designing your talent supply chain. It’s also important for companies to understand how people want to work as the traditional employer/employee model continues to transform over time. This changing workforce landscape calls for
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new strategies, while the ability to effectively address human capital issues remains a top business imperative. We can never forget that “human capital” is — first and foremost —human. The workers who make up the modern labor market continuously reshape it as they shift their professional preferences and priorities, and as generations with different viewpoints enter and exit the workforce. With four different generations functioning in the workplace today (and a fifth just around the corner), many organizations are faced with understanding how to adapt. These generations are wired differently, and organizations need to adjust their talent strategies – or they’ll be left behind. Ultimately, even the best laid workforce strategy will fail if it ignores the voice of the workers. If your organization is interested in improving its strategic outcomes and is ready to measure the impact talent has on this, the following questions should be answered to create a workable SWP roadmap: 1. How will our organization develop the required knowledge of SWP practices? Additionally, how will we embed that knowledge across multiple functional areas? 2. Which tools and practices are right for our organization? There are various methodologies such as Six Sigma, McKinsey’s 7s model and Balanced Scorecards to assist with some SWP processes and thinking. In addition, HCI has developed the concept of a 6B Talent plan to assist with the development of organizational effectiveness. Determining the right blend of practices for your organization is a major piece of solution design. 3. How will our organization manage this change process and are there case studies, practitioner networks, or best practice materials to guide us? SWP tools and processes need to be applied both within and outside of the HR team. 4. Who will be the executive sponsor in our organization? Ensuring that you obtain specific investment for the SWP project, as well as sponsorship from an appropriately skilled and senior leader is key.
5. Who will help our organization with strategic workforce planning? To translate business strategy into organizational capabilities, organizations need accredited professionals to implement a truly strategic approach to workforce planning. These professionals must be empowered to go beyond data analysis to develop genuine insight about the current and future states of their organization’s capabilities. The good news is that all of these issues can now successfully be addressed. By connecting strategic planning cycle’s talent supply chain management, a genuine model for successful talent management can be developed for any business. Human capital is, and will be for the foreseeable future, the deciding factor in the success of business strategy.
About the Author
Susan M. DeFazio is a principal and supervising consultant within the Global Centres of Excellence. Based in London, her specialist topics include strategic workforce planning, human capital strategies, and advising on stakeholder engagement practices. She has extensive experience in the human capital sector, which includes leadership positions in staffing operations, strategic account management, thought leadership, and has developed a CRM model with practices designed to support understanding, mutuality, trust, and longevity. The institutions where DeFazio has studied include Henley University of Reading, INSEAD Business School, Cranfield University, Human Capital Institute and London Business School. She is HCI certified as a human capital strategist and in strategic workforce planning. She is also a certified to deliver SWP Accreditation Courses developed by The Human Capital Institute. She can be reached at susan.defazio@kellyocg.com.
References
http://hcexchange.conference-board.org/attachment/IHlink_ OctNov09_p05-08---MaryYoungFinal.pdf http://www.hci.org/hr-training-courses/strategic-workforceplanning/course-outline
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The Back Story
Hard, Harder, Hardest: What Did We Do to Make Work so Complex? By Katherine Jones, Ph.D., Mercer When did we make work so hard? Now, to be clear, there is a reason we call it “work,” not getting up in the morning and going to “play” or “fun.” But over time the complexity of the workplace has increased, with sometime ill-effects on the workforce itself. In fact, more than 70 percent of all companies rate their business “highly complex” or “complex” for employees.1 And we ── yes, all of us ── are a bit to blame. This realization led to a new, albeit nascent movement, often referred to as the “simplification of work.” It is appearing in recognition of the issues the complexity-onslaught caused and the toll it was taking on our employees. But first: how did we get in this bind to begin with? Let’s investigate: • Mobile connectivity created a 24x7 accessibility between work and the employee (for example, at the time of this writing, 9:00 p.m. on a Wednesday night, my husband’s boss decided to ring him. Urgent? Not at all….). More common, however, is all of our need to check email and text messages on our one or two mobile phones. This has eliminated the concept of down-time, home-time, off-the-grid time in the daily lives of our employees. And what employee wouldn’t respond to a request from his or her boss ── night or day? This has prompted, to their credit, a move on the part of many companies to issue policies regarding off-hours contact with employees (especially if they are on a vacation), unless it is really, really necessary. Recognizing that management is likely to pop off ideas and notes at odd hours, and that their subordinates feel obligated to respond no matter what, this growing number of organizations is attempting to stem the tide of off-hour contact overload.2 • Off-hours aside, today’s employees suffer from bombardment: data bombardment. Our reliance on mobile “always on” is part of it, but our obsession with gadgetry from watches to Fitbits adds to the distraction at
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work. (Spoiler: this is not an issue isolated to millennials.) Consider the following: • The average mobile phone user checks his or her device 150 times a day.3 • The average employee spends 40 percent of his or her working week dealing with internal emails, which add no value to the business.4 • Analysis by the U.K.’s Halton Housing Trust reported that analysis of email traffic: of 95,000 emails sent, 75,000 were internal, while 68 percent of the 127,000 received also came from internal sources.5 • The managerial imperative (or so many managers think) is often to “leave a mark.” Initiating a new process or procedure, or developing a new form may have seemed like a grand idea, but as Ron Ashkenas notes in his book Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done, over time, all those processes accumulate to the point where they may be meaningless – and certainly adding to complexity. We keep the procedures of the past, building upon or around them, but rarely weeding out things that no longer make sense, have become redundant, or even have been replaced by technology. Organizations rarely think their managers do things that do not make sense, but the failure to recognize the strength of “this is how we do this” and “this is how we have always done it” is strong in an organization. This has perpetrated the fix-upon-fix mentality that has left modern organizations with a plethora of legacy procedures that well may add little value. There is indeed a toll to our complexity – a toll that is not limited by industry, role, or geography. For example, work-related stress already costs Britain 10.4 million working days per year, and workers in Asia spend 80.5 hours per week working, monitoring work, and remaining accessible.
But today, the simplification game is indeed afoot: companies are consciously eliminating unnecessary layers of management, layerupon-layer of approvals that add little value, and eliminating redundancy in management through consolidation, pruning layers, and consolidating spans of control. Often employees are given broader roles, and at the risk of a clichéd term, “empowered” to make decisions within their realm. Even high-tech vendors are simplifying their businesses by making the buying process easier for their consumer: this lessens complexity at two ends; for the technology company by simplifying pricing strategies, support contracts, and likely shortening sales cycles in the progress, and for the buyer who was formerly inundated with arcane layers of licensing, implementation, professional services, and other contractual and cost issues that muddied the choice of a new technology for the business. A review of corporate policies and procedures for their logic, usefulness, and necessity is a good resolution in all divisions of an organization – and one that should be revisited yearly. Think of it as an annual closet cleaning – if you don’t use it, eliminate it, and make your workat 200% Artwork is prepared environment less complex. And think twice about phoning your employees after hours!
Endnotes
1 Josh Bersin, Dimple Agarwal, Bill Pelster, and Jeff Schwartz. Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends 2015. Rep. Deloitte University Press. 2 “Should Your Company use’ ZMail’? The Case for Inbox Curfews”. Laura Vanderkam. Fast Company. October 9, 2013. http://www.fastcompany.com/3019655/how-to-be-a-success-ateverything/should-your-company-practice-zmail-the-case-for-inbox-curf. 3 V ictoria Woollaston, “How Often Do YOU Look at Your Phone? The Average User Now Picks up Their Device More than 1,500 times a Week.” Daily Mail, Associated Newspapers, 8 Oct. 2014, Web. 31 July 2015. 4 Independent research by Atos Origin as reported in “40% of staff time is wasted on reading internal emails” by Nick Atkin in The Guardian, 17 December, 2012. http://www.theguardian.com/ housing-network/2012/dec/17/ban-staff-email-halton-housing-trust 5 “40% of staff time is wasted on reading internal emails” by Nick Atkin in The Guardian, 17 December, 2012. http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2012/dec/17/ban-staff-emailhalton-housing-trust 6 S imply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done. Ron Ashkenas. Harvard Business Review Press. 2009. 7 Mental Health Organisation. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/w/work-life-balance#sthash. fliFpoh9.dpu 8 Derek Thompson, “Are We Truly Overworked? An Investigation—in 6 Charts.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 22 May 2013, Web. 06 August 2015.
About the Author Dr. Katherine Jones is a partner and director of Research at Mercer in Talent Information
Final Ad Size at 71/2 X 5 inches) Solutions. WithPrints both academic and technology industry experience, she has been a
high-tech market analyst for 18 years. Her doctoral degree is from Cornell University. She can be reached at Katherine.Jones@mercer.com or @katherine_jones.
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