Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Dave Duffield's next move
Dave got his Chairman's award at the IHRIM conference on Monday. Here's the link for his next start-up. Not much content there yet.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Talent, Outsourcing, and MSS
Since my last post was on talent, I thought I’d see if I could tie it back into systems somehow. As we continuously look at talent in both retention and acquisition modes, we must realize that we’re not only trying to attract and retain employees with compensation, benefits and corporate culture (and such), we’re really trying to engage the employee in the business. When the employee is engaged, they are not only more likely to stay with the company, they are also satisfied with their position and will be more productive.
Much has been talked about regarding the role of Employee Self Service (ESS) and employee communications, but little has been written on Manager SS (MSS) and the effect it has on employee engagement. The role of managers in the employee process is critical. In the current age of more and more outsourcing (including that of local HR practitioners to call centers “somewhere out there”) managers are having to pick up the slack for routine employee inquiries and situations which may require someone to be face to face with them. Take for example an employee who wants to “vent.” Instead of going to HR (who isn’t there anymore), the employee now goes to the closest manager.
Managers are also (should be) playing a critical role in change management. As organizations react to global and domestic price pressures for benefits or compensation, the manager must ensure equity within performance and compensation review standards. Effective MSS rollout and procedures are a critical link in the communication strategy to employees. Since managers are now the critical link in direct verbal employee communications, the tools they have at their disposal had better be adequate and simple in the representation of policies and changes to policies. These tools include both information and automation tools. Not only should “dashboard” data and employee review templates be readily accessible, MSS needs to back up management training with appropriate info in MSS.
Much has been talked about regarding the role of Employee Self Service (ESS) and employee communications, but little has been written on Manager SS (MSS) and the effect it has on employee engagement. The role of managers in the employee process is critical. In the current age of more and more outsourcing (including that of local HR practitioners to call centers “somewhere out there”) managers are having to pick up the slack for routine employee inquiries and situations which may require someone to be face to face with them. Take for example an employee who wants to “vent.” Instead of going to HR (who isn’t there anymore), the employee now goes to the closest manager.
Managers are also (should be) playing a critical role in change management. As organizations react to global and domestic price pressures for benefits or compensation, the manager must ensure equity within performance and compensation review standards. Effective MSS rollout and procedures are a critical link in the communication strategy to employees. Since managers are now the critical link in direct verbal employee communications, the tools they have at their disposal had better be adequate and simple in the representation of policies and changes to policies. These tools include both information and automation tools. Not only should “dashboard” data and employee review templates be readily accessible, MSS needs to back up management training with appropriate info in MSS.
Talent, skills and the labor market
Talent: So where is the talent? Deloitte's talent study basically says that with baby boomers (U.S.) retiring, fewer college graduates with the skills needed in the workforce, talent is simply unavailable.
Skills: Check out this innovative general education curriculum at Pomona College. Instead of telling students, "you have to take one science course, one english course, one math course..." their curriculum is based on preparing a student with the skills they will need in life and work. Quite interesting.
Fist of all, very few of us went to college, studied a specific subject (like accounting) and actually went into that profession (like accounting). Even if you did go into that profession, the likelyhood you were still there 10 years later is remote. Second of all, when you have a person sitting in front of you for an interview, their background/experience matters very little. The resume stated the important experiential matters and they passed that test. When they sit in front of you, you are measuring them as a person. Do they have the right skills and qualities that matter to your organization?
Our problem is that more ond more, talent is coming from other countries. So we outsource call centers, and then want to import talent. Bill Gates is even in the fray with the U.S. Congress this week. For example, India is creating a culture where innovation and the skill of continuous improvement is essential. Even low level employees are adopted into this thinking.
As time moves forward and fewer and fewer candidates meet the talent requirements of our organizations, we also need to look forward to the coming generation and the educational institutions to step up to the plate and help us fill this gap.
Skills: Check out this innovative general education curriculum at Pomona College. Instead of telling students, "you have to take one science course, one english course, one math course..." their curriculum is based on preparing a student with the skills they will need in life and work. Quite interesting.
Fist of all, very few of us went to college, studied a specific subject (like accounting) and actually went into that profession (like accounting). Even if you did go into that profession, the likelyhood you were still there 10 years later is remote. Second of all, when you have a person sitting in front of you for an interview, their background/experience matters very little. The resume stated the important experiential matters and they passed that test. When they sit in front of you, you are measuring them as a person. Do they have the right skills and qualities that matter to your organization?
Our problem is that more ond more, talent is coming from other countries. So we outsource call centers, and then want to import talent. Bill Gates is even in the fray with the U.S. Congress this week. For example, India is creating a culture where innovation and the skill of continuous improvement is essential. Even low level employees are adopted into this thinking.
As time moves forward and fewer and fewer candidates meet the talent requirements of our organizations, we also need to look forward to the coming generation and the educational institutions to step up to the plate and help us fill this gap.
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