“It’s the visionaries that are searching and hiring right now, those companies who are able to take advantage of the top talent that is available right now like never before.”
“I am seeing this in both big and small companies, public and even more so private companies who still have access to capital, willing to reduce today’s profits to have an explosive payout when the economy turns around, AND even take advantage of market share opportunities in this economy.”
Stan Taylor, CSAM
Management Recruiters of Vancouver.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
What Recruiting Will Look Like After the Recession
by Kevin WheelerNov 6, 2008, 6:00 am ET
This is a strange recession.
It is not affecting employment across the board as many of the past ones have, but rather seems to be targeting specific sectors and types of work. Obviously banking and financial services, but also manufacturing and anyone in a semi-skilled job such as auto workers are especially affected. Needs are pocketed and specific. Talent shortages remain.
Yet, I have had calls from search firms looking for key sales and marketing people, and for R&D talent. Senior HR executives are in demand, especially if they have global experience. Sectors still largely unscathed by the recession – healthcare, gaming, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, and biotech – are still facing talent shortages and global competition.
The growth of global supply chains, increasing automation, and greater process efficiency means we can do more with fewer. New jobs are being created daily, but they all require education and skill beyond that of many current candidates.
This, combined with the different attitudes candidates and employees have about work and about how they live their lives, changes how we recruit and employ people.
The highly skilled, experienced, and educated will have an increasing edge in employment. And this recession should be a clarion call for an increased focus on education, training, and employment development. Everyone involved with talent will need to look at both development and acquisition as channels to meet their needs, rather than focus entirely on recruiting.
There are a number of permanent changes we will see.
Candidates Become Smarter, Warier
The first change is that many candidates will be reluctant to work under the same conditions as usual. Candidates have access to unparalleled information about a prospective employer through the Internet and its many sources. Reliance on a single firm for security has already eroded, and this recession will strengthen employees’ wariness about promises and deferred compensation. More top employees will seek employment contracts that include clauses that spell out layoff pay and benefits.
Candidates will probe positions more deeply and they will want more influence over the type of work they do. Prepare for candidates to negotiate what they will and won’t do.
Free Agency
Recessions have, in the past, increased the pool of people who decide to become free agents – contractors, consultants, and part-time workers. More people than ever are trying out life as independent workers. Many will not make it and return to the corporate fold, but they will be wiser and better prepared to abandon ship than they were before.
Many others will find they would rather work on their own than go back under the very insecure and fragile corporate umbrella. Companies will have to identify and take care of their key producers better than ever. While many firms do work hard to keep key talent, they will have to increase this effort and explore more creative ways to engage those people.
Charles Handy, a management writer and educator who has written numerous books on the organizations of the future, predicted that up to half of some company’s talent may eventually work as free agent, contracting to those firms as temporary staff, contractors, or part-timers. This will be a lasting change that is accelerated because of the recession.
Recruiters and HR staff will have to accommodate these free agents. Our internal regulations will have to be modified to make the use of contractors legal and compliant with IRS regulations and it may be necessary to lease employees, employ more employment contracts, and learn to share talent between organizations.
These changes will be fought by the legal department and more HR leaders, yet I believe companies will eventually have to embrace these ideas to be competitive.
Values Rule
Gen Y candidates, in particular, but all employees to a growing degree, are seeking companies that hold values high and make and keep commitments to their employees and their families. They seek environmentally sensitive, charitable, and ethical firms.
Gen Y is the tip of a spear followed by the even more morally and environmentally committed Gen M. They will have even higher expectations than the Baby Boomers ever did. While shareholder value will always be a core concern of the management team, they will also have to understand how important employees feel that values are and how close a scrutiny they will give every corporate action and statement.
Recruiters have to understand the values of the firms they work for and find better ways to match people to those values. They will have to also convince the management of firms that what they DO is just as important as what they say and that this emerging candidate pool focuses on actions almost entirely.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Employees now want to work where they want. The Internet has made it possible for most services and knowledge workers to be located far away from the physical center of their company.
Designers, call-center staff, sales people, some HR folks, and most anyone who works with information, writing, or data can effectively work wherever they wish. Only a handful of people – those whose work requires their hands or eyes on the work being produced – will need to physically be present. Even jobs we cannot yet imagine being remote, such as that of a diagnostic physician, may soon be possible using instruments and video from anywhere.
Recruiters will need to encourage flexible work arrangements and lobby with hiring managers to make these arrangements normal.
Recruiting will be more challenging and those recruiters who like to “fill positions” will find themselves looking for other kinds of work. Recruiters will need to be proactive, great influences, technically savvy, and adaptable to emerging work trends.
Article printed from ERE.net: http://www.ere.net
This is a strange recession.
It is not affecting employment across the board as many of the past ones have, but rather seems to be targeting specific sectors and types of work. Obviously banking and financial services, but also manufacturing and anyone in a semi-skilled job such as auto workers are especially affected. Needs are pocketed and specific. Talent shortages remain.
Yet, I have had calls from search firms looking for key sales and marketing people, and for R&D talent. Senior HR executives are in demand, especially if they have global experience. Sectors still largely unscathed by the recession – healthcare, gaming, entertainment, pharmaceuticals, and biotech – are still facing talent shortages and global competition.
The growth of global supply chains, increasing automation, and greater process efficiency means we can do more with fewer. New jobs are being created daily, but they all require education and skill beyond that of many current candidates.
This, combined with the different attitudes candidates and employees have about work and about how they live their lives, changes how we recruit and employ people.
The highly skilled, experienced, and educated will have an increasing edge in employment. And this recession should be a clarion call for an increased focus on education, training, and employment development. Everyone involved with talent will need to look at both development and acquisition as channels to meet their needs, rather than focus entirely on recruiting.
There are a number of permanent changes we will see.
Candidates Become Smarter, Warier
The first change is that many candidates will be reluctant to work under the same conditions as usual. Candidates have access to unparalleled information about a prospective employer through the Internet and its many sources. Reliance on a single firm for security has already eroded, and this recession will strengthen employees’ wariness about promises and deferred compensation. More top employees will seek employment contracts that include clauses that spell out layoff pay and benefits.
Candidates will probe positions more deeply and they will want more influence over the type of work they do. Prepare for candidates to negotiate what they will and won’t do.
Free Agency
Recessions have, in the past, increased the pool of people who decide to become free agents – contractors, consultants, and part-time workers. More people than ever are trying out life as independent workers. Many will not make it and return to the corporate fold, but they will be wiser and better prepared to abandon ship than they were before.
Many others will find they would rather work on their own than go back under the very insecure and fragile corporate umbrella. Companies will have to identify and take care of their key producers better than ever. While many firms do work hard to keep key talent, they will have to increase this effort and explore more creative ways to engage those people.
Charles Handy, a management writer and educator who has written numerous books on the organizations of the future, predicted that up to half of some company’s talent may eventually work as free agent, contracting to those firms as temporary staff, contractors, or part-timers. This will be a lasting change that is accelerated because of the recession.
Recruiters and HR staff will have to accommodate these free agents. Our internal regulations will have to be modified to make the use of contractors legal and compliant with IRS regulations and it may be necessary to lease employees, employ more employment contracts, and learn to share talent between organizations.
These changes will be fought by the legal department and more HR leaders, yet I believe companies will eventually have to embrace these ideas to be competitive.
Values Rule
Gen Y candidates, in particular, but all employees to a growing degree, are seeking companies that hold values high and make and keep commitments to their employees and their families. They seek environmentally sensitive, charitable, and ethical firms.
Gen Y is the tip of a spear followed by the even more morally and environmentally committed Gen M. They will have even higher expectations than the Baby Boomers ever did. While shareholder value will always be a core concern of the management team, they will also have to understand how important employees feel that values are and how close a scrutiny they will give every corporate action and statement.
Recruiters have to understand the values of the firms they work for and find better ways to match people to those values. They will have to also convince the management of firms that what they DO is just as important as what they say and that this emerging candidate pool focuses on actions almost entirely.
Flexible Work Arrangements
Employees now want to work where they want. The Internet has made it possible for most services and knowledge workers to be located far away from the physical center of their company.
Designers, call-center staff, sales people, some HR folks, and most anyone who works with information, writing, or data can effectively work wherever they wish. Only a handful of people – those whose work requires their hands or eyes on the work being produced – will need to physically be present. Even jobs we cannot yet imagine being remote, such as that of a diagnostic physician, may soon be possible using instruments and video from anywhere.
Recruiters will need to encourage flexible work arrangements and lobby with hiring managers to make these arrangements normal.
Recruiting will be more challenging and those recruiters who like to “fill positions” will find themselves looking for other kinds of work. Recruiters will need to be proactive, great influences, technically savvy, and adaptable to emerging work trends.
Article printed from ERE.net: http://www.ere.net
Thursday, October 30, 2008
PayScale’s 2008 Market Pricing Practice Survey
Summary of results:
· Organization’s employment growth between 2007 and 2008 was not as bad as economic news might indicate. Only 23% of organizations reported downsizing their workforce between the period, while 45% of organizations reported increasing their size and 32% remained unchanged.
The average decline rate was 15% of the total workforce. Organizations employing less than 100 full time employees declining by 22% while organizations employing more than 100 full time employees reported declining by just 11%.
Industries that experienced employment growth were Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals, Banking, Staffing/Recruiting and Human Resource Consulting, Healthcare and Technology/Computers/Software. Industries that declined were Real Estate, Hospitality, Mortgage Financing, Wholesale, Insurance and Construction.
· Only 11.6% of organizations reported that their compensation data budgets declined from 2007 to 2008, while 48.5% reported that their budget had increased. Additionally, 48.7% of organizations reported that they expected their 2009 budgets to increase, while only 9.7% believed that their budgets would decrease in 2009.
· While 2007 industry forecasts indicated that employee retention would be the top HR priority of 2008, only 28.2% of organizations reported retention as their top concern. 26.3% of organizations reported that retention was only one of many concerns and almost half of all respondents, 47.5%, indicated that retention was only a minor concern or not at all.
Interestingly, organizations were split between whether employee retention would be an issue in 2009, with 52.5% of respondents indicating that they thought it would be, and only 47.5% thinking that it would not.
The top three reasons that HR professionals reported employees leaving a job were personal reasons, 41.4%, poor performance, 41.1%, and seeking advancement opportunities elsewhere,34.6%.
· Employee retirement does not appear to be affecting many employer’s recruiting or retention efforts. Only 15.5% of organizations reported that retirement affected their 2008 staffing efforts and only 21% believe that it will be a factor in 2009.
· When it comes to structuring compensation, it appears that organizations broadly fall into two buckets: ad hoc programs to meet objectives and formal structures. 65.8% of organizations use Salary Ranges to structure their pay while 26.5% set pay on a case-by-case basis. Only 7.7% of organizations reported setting pay using broad bands.
Half of all organizations, 49.5%, adjust their pay structures as needed, while 44% of organizations set their pay every year. Only 7.7% of organizations reported adjusting their pay structures every other year. Of the organizations that structured their pay as needed, only 40% reported doing a benchmarking project in 2007. 62.6% of organizations conduct focal point reviews at a specific time each year, while the remaining 37.4% adjusted compensation on the employee’s anniversary.
· Types of bonuses used vary significantly across organizations. 72.1% of organizations offer incentive bonuses, but only 29% of those organizations offer bonuses across the board. 59.8% of organizations reported using spot bonuses, 27.3% hiring bonuses, 17.5% retention and 67.1 target incentives.
Survey Results:
How has your workforce changed in size in 2008?
Increased – 45%
Decreased – 23%
Remained the same – 32%
By Organization Size: Increased Decreased Remained the Same
<100>1,500 Employees: 49% 21% 29%
By Industry: Increased Decreased Remained the Same
Telecommunications: 65% 25% 10%
Pharmaceuticals: 63% 25% 13%
Staffing/Recruiting: 62% 23% 15%
Human Resource Consulting: 57% 14% 29%
Banking: 54% 21% 25%
Healthcare: 54% 10% 36%
Retail: 48% 15% 38%
Finance: 47% 26% 26%
Technology: 44% 33% 22%
Manufacturing: 42% 24% 33%
Government: 41% 14% 45%
Construction: 36% 43% 21%
Insurance: 34% 34% 31%
Wholesale: 33% 24% 43%
Hospitality: 13% 19% 69%
Real Estate: 7% 57% 36%
Total 45% 23% 32%
How big a concern has retention been to your organization in 2008?
Not at all/somewhat – 47.5%
One of many concerns – 26.3%
Top concern – 28.2%
Do you believe that retention will be a major issue in 2009?
Yes – 52.5%
No – 47.5%
What are the top three reasons people leave your organization in 2008?
Personal reasons (family, relocation, work/life balance) 41.4%
Poor performance (organization initiated) – 41.1%
Seeking advancement opportunities elsewhere – 34.6%
PayScale, Inc. - (886) 699-0709 www.payscale.com
· Organization’s employment growth between 2007 and 2008 was not as bad as economic news might indicate. Only 23% of organizations reported downsizing their workforce between the period, while 45% of organizations reported increasing their size and 32% remained unchanged.
The average decline rate was 15% of the total workforce. Organizations employing less than 100 full time employees declining by 22% while organizations employing more than 100 full time employees reported declining by just 11%.
Industries that experienced employment growth were Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals, Banking, Staffing/Recruiting and Human Resource Consulting, Healthcare and Technology/Computers/Software. Industries that declined were Real Estate, Hospitality, Mortgage Financing, Wholesale, Insurance and Construction.
· Only 11.6% of organizations reported that their compensation data budgets declined from 2007 to 2008, while 48.5% reported that their budget had increased. Additionally, 48.7% of organizations reported that they expected their 2009 budgets to increase, while only 9.7% believed that their budgets would decrease in 2009.
· While 2007 industry forecasts indicated that employee retention would be the top HR priority of 2008, only 28.2% of organizations reported retention as their top concern. 26.3% of organizations reported that retention was only one of many concerns and almost half of all respondents, 47.5%, indicated that retention was only a minor concern or not at all.
Interestingly, organizations were split between whether employee retention would be an issue in 2009, with 52.5% of respondents indicating that they thought it would be, and only 47.5% thinking that it would not.
The top three reasons that HR professionals reported employees leaving a job were personal reasons, 41.4%, poor performance, 41.1%, and seeking advancement opportunities elsewhere,34.6%.
· Employee retirement does not appear to be affecting many employer’s recruiting or retention efforts. Only 15.5% of organizations reported that retirement affected their 2008 staffing efforts and only 21% believe that it will be a factor in 2009.
· When it comes to structuring compensation, it appears that organizations broadly fall into two buckets: ad hoc programs to meet objectives and formal structures. 65.8% of organizations use Salary Ranges to structure their pay while 26.5% set pay on a case-by-case basis. Only 7.7% of organizations reported setting pay using broad bands.
Half of all organizations, 49.5%, adjust their pay structures as needed, while 44% of organizations set their pay every year. Only 7.7% of organizations reported adjusting their pay structures every other year. Of the organizations that structured their pay as needed, only 40% reported doing a benchmarking project in 2007. 62.6% of organizations conduct focal point reviews at a specific time each year, while the remaining 37.4% adjusted compensation on the employee’s anniversary.
· Types of bonuses used vary significantly across organizations. 72.1% of organizations offer incentive bonuses, but only 29% of those organizations offer bonuses across the board. 59.8% of organizations reported using spot bonuses, 27.3% hiring bonuses, 17.5% retention and 67.1 target incentives.
Survey Results:
How has your workforce changed in size in 2008?
Increased – 45%
Decreased – 23%
Remained the same – 32%
By Organization Size: Increased Decreased Remained the Same
<100>1,500 Employees: 49% 21% 29%
By Industry: Increased Decreased Remained the Same
Telecommunications: 65% 25% 10%
Pharmaceuticals: 63% 25% 13%
Staffing/Recruiting: 62% 23% 15%
Human Resource Consulting: 57% 14% 29%
Banking: 54% 21% 25%
Healthcare: 54% 10% 36%
Retail: 48% 15% 38%
Finance: 47% 26% 26%
Technology: 44% 33% 22%
Manufacturing: 42% 24% 33%
Government: 41% 14% 45%
Construction: 36% 43% 21%
Insurance: 34% 34% 31%
Wholesale: 33% 24% 43%
Hospitality: 13% 19% 69%
Real Estate: 7% 57% 36%
Total 45% 23% 32%
How big a concern has retention been to your organization in 2008?
Not at all/somewhat – 47.5%
One of many concerns – 26.3%
Top concern – 28.2%
Do you believe that retention will be a major issue in 2009?
Yes – 52.5%
No – 47.5%
What are the top three reasons people leave your organization in 2008?
Personal reasons (family, relocation, work/life balance) 41.4%
Poor performance (organization initiated) – 41.1%
Seeking advancement opportunities elsewhere – 34.6%
PayScale, Inc. - (886) 699-0709 www.payscale.com
Friday, April 11, 2008
Note from Boss Saved 50 Years: Little Things Do Matter
It's amazing how the little things mean so much, stan.
By Elaine Quayle, BLR Editor
Just MY E-pinion
We may think that small tokens of appreciation don't matter to workers, but here's the story of a boss's congratulatory letter that was treasured for 50 years.
My mother put only her most valuable things in her white leather jewelry box. And since her jewelry collection was meager, she used the drawer in the box to hold pictures, newspaper clippings, and other important memorabilia.
After she died, as I was going through the drawer, I came across an ecru vellum envelope with my father's name handwritten in script across the front. When I took the letter out, the first thing I noticed was the indentations made in the translucent paper by the punctuation marks, hit hard by the keys of a typewriter. Then I noticed the dark blue embossing on the top: William S. Simpson, General Manager, Raybestos Division, Raybestos-Manhattan. It was a letter from my father's employer that my mother had kept for more than 50 years!
This letter came to mind when I was editing BLR's update of the Encyclopedia of Prewritten Personnel Letters (see below for info), which includes sample letters of congratulations. And that is exactly what this letter was.
Dear George:
Congratulations on winning the Men's Industrial Horseshoe Championship. Raybestos is proud of the record set by our team and hopes that you enjoyed being a part of this activity. In recognition of your victory, we have arranged to give you an award, which we trust will serve as a reminder of your accomplishment.
Sincerely,
Bill Simpson (signed in ink)
It may have been the "Bill" that prompted my parents to save this letter; he was always referred to as "Mr. Simpson" out of respect for his position and the esteem the workers held him in. Or it may have been because the company was "proud" of my father's "accomplishment."
Raybestos-Manhattan in Stratford, Connecticut, was a "family-friendly" company long before the term was coined. My father, uncle, and several other relatives worked there making brake linings. I had seen Mr. Simpson several times at the annual children's Christmas Party, where there were goodies, clowns, and presents in a giant pile for a child to select from. And his face was on the monthly factory newsletter, along with the bowling scores, births, birthdays, and results of the safety incentive program. I had even spoken to Mr. Simpson when he attended the wake of my father, who was a 30-year employee.
I recently thought of this letter again when I read in our newsletter Best Practices in HR an interview with Judith M. Barwick, Ph.D., about what she has named the "Psychological Recession" in American's workplace, which is causing low productivity, employee apathy, and high turnover. "When people are perceived as a cost and not a resource, when they are treated as a liability and not an asset, when no one seems to know or care that they are there, [employees] don't work well, and they don't stay," says Barwick.
This statement made me wonder if, in our current workplace culture, a worker would have anything meaningful from an employer (and I don't think a printout of a generic email would count) to save in a jewelry box for 50 years. Would your employees? Are your employees a part of the psychological recession, or are they made to feel, like my father was, that they are important to the company no matter what their job?
By Elaine Quayle, BLR Editor
Just MY E-pinion
We may think that small tokens of appreciation don't matter to workers, but here's the story of a boss's congratulatory letter that was treasured for 50 years.
My mother put only her most valuable things in her white leather jewelry box. And since her jewelry collection was meager, she used the drawer in the box to hold pictures, newspaper clippings, and other important memorabilia.
After she died, as I was going through the drawer, I came across an ecru vellum envelope with my father's name handwritten in script across the front. When I took the letter out, the first thing I noticed was the indentations made in the translucent paper by the punctuation marks, hit hard by the keys of a typewriter. Then I noticed the dark blue embossing on the top: William S. Simpson, General Manager, Raybestos Division, Raybestos-Manhattan. It was a letter from my father's employer that my mother had kept for more than 50 years!
This letter came to mind when I was editing BLR's update of the Encyclopedia of Prewritten Personnel Letters (see below for info), which includes sample letters of congratulations. And that is exactly what this letter was.
Dear George:
Congratulations on winning the Men's Industrial Horseshoe Championship. Raybestos is proud of the record set by our team and hopes that you enjoyed being a part of this activity. In recognition of your victory, we have arranged to give you an award, which we trust will serve as a reminder of your accomplishment.
Sincerely,
Bill Simpson (signed in ink)
It may have been the "Bill" that prompted my parents to save this letter; he was always referred to as "Mr. Simpson" out of respect for his position and the esteem the workers held him in. Or it may have been because the company was "proud" of my father's "accomplishment."
Raybestos-Manhattan in Stratford, Connecticut, was a "family-friendly" company long before the term was coined. My father, uncle, and several other relatives worked there making brake linings. I had seen Mr. Simpson several times at the annual children's Christmas Party, where there were goodies, clowns, and presents in a giant pile for a child to select from. And his face was on the monthly factory newsletter, along with the bowling scores, births, birthdays, and results of the safety incentive program. I had even spoken to Mr. Simpson when he attended the wake of my father, who was a 30-year employee.
I recently thought of this letter again when I read in our newsletter Best Practices in HR an interview with Judith M. Barwick, Ph.D., about what she has named the "Psychological Recession" in American's workplace, which is causing low productivity, employee apathy, and high turnover. "When people are perceived as a cost and not a resource, when they are treated as a liability and not an asset, when no one seems to know or care that they are there, [employees] don't work well, and they don't stay," says Barwick.
This statement made me wonder if, in our current workplace culture, a worker would have anything meaningful from an employer (and I don't think a printout of a generic email would count) to save in a jewelry box for 50 years. Would your employees? Are your employees a part of the psychological recession, or are they made to feel, like my father was, that they are important to the company no matter what their job?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Positioning the Strategic Role of Recruiters in Volatile Economic Times
Is your organization marching down the wrong path?
Monday, February 11, 2008 by Dr. John Sullivan
by Dr. John Sullivan and Master Burnett
The U.S. economy is like a sprinter trying his best to run a long-distance race. It takes off at full speed until it burns up its resources and has to slow down while it recovers, only to take off again shortly thereafter. Time and time again, companies in the U.S. have weathered periods of economic expansion and contraction, but for the first time in recent history (since the Romans ruled civilization), the circumstances are a little different. The conditions are so different, in fact, that the recruiting profession may avoid being decimated this time around.
While many economists agree that the U.S. will likely avoid a recession despite the collapse of the housing market (which is leading to widespread layoffs in construction, mortgage financing, and supporting industries), macroeconomic growth rates are going to be much lower than we have become accustomed to, but they will still be positive.
In January, layoffs by U.S. employers surged 69% to 74,986 according to Challenger, Gray, & Christmas. Despite that gloomy news, more than 58,000 of those cut from their organizations found other employment by the month's end, resulting in a net increase among the jobless of just 17,000. These numbers are pretty good when you consider that natural attrition associated with the aging workforce should already be leading to a significant reduction in the available labor pool. But, the housing crisis isn't over. Some say we have only experienced the tip of the iceberg, so the volume and size of layoff announcements are likely to grow in coming months.
So what's the good news? From a recruiting perspective, this period of economic contraction is different than ones we previously endured for a number of reasons, including:
· The Weak Dollar. While many Americans bemoan the dollar's current value, its relative weakness is doing something very important for the U.S. economy: It is making goods and services produced in the U.S. more affordable to consumers in other nations, which is bringing money back to the United States. This trend is contributing to a growing number of U.S. companies achieving record revenue growth based primary on sales in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Whirlpool, for instance, reported record results despite a dramatic decline in demand among U.S. consumers. Sales in Europe were up 12%, Latin America 30%, and Asia 26%. Growth abroad creates new jobs here as corporate functions grow to support operations.
· The Aging Workforce. We know this topic has been beaten to death, but 2008 is only the first year of the projected contraction in the U.S. labor force. It's possible that we talked about it too much before it actually got here, leading people to believe it was a non-issue because they were not feeling the pain. While it is likely that older workers will remain in the workforce longer due to a decline in the value of their retirement funds, not every older worker will have that as an option as medical conditions, skill obsolescence, and declines in physical capability play out.
· Reduced Product Development Life Cycles. Product life cycles are not often talked about in recruiting, but they should be. Over the course of the last decade, advancements in technology and growing competition from abroad have forced product development life cycles (the time required to take a product from conception through delivery) to become significantly shorter. Cell phones, which once took 18-36 months to develop, today start flying off store shelves in as little as 90 days. It's all about innovation. In the last decade, brands kept customers loyal and, before that, it was proximity to customer and customer service. But today, keeping customers loyal requires innovation and price control. Rapid innovation requires talent capable of producing it, and with life cycles as compressed as they are, it requires a constant stream of such talent.
· Global Competition. Would you travel to India for surgery, or would you carry a credit card issued by a financial institution in Indonesia? More and more U.S. consumers are. Nearly every industry in the U.S. is facing competition from a foreign competitor, if not for customers then for material resources. It used to be that the U.S. could win every battle simply because the dollar was so strong, but that isn't true anymore. Foreign upstarts that U.S. companies once outsourced to are now leveraging their store of U.S. dollars and starting to compete head to head with these companies they once serviced. It is a phenomenon happening around the world.
· Global Labor Demographics. When HR practitioners in the U.S. think about the aging workforce, they think about the U.S., but they should be thinking much larger. With the exception of South America and a handful of small countries elsewhere, the aging of the Baby Boom generation is a global phenomenon. Japan, China, India, Germany, and Italy are all in much worse shape than the U.S. This fact will drive the value of available labor up in these nations, further reducing the economic viability of outsourcing provided by wage labor arbitrage.
The long and short of the story is that your organization will continue to need a significant influx of talent despite a contraction in the U.S. economy.
It's All about Capability and Capacity
To survive, grow, and best the competition, organizations need to have both the capability to produce innovative products at a price point consumers will accept and the capacity to produce enough units at the right time in the right place. While capacity is a function involving talent, equipment, and material resources, capability is almost entirely derived from talent. When it comes down to manipulating the capability of an organization, corporate leaders have but two options: either build capability by training and developing talent or acquire talent through recruiting, be it for employees, consultants, contractors, strategic partnerships, or outsourcing agreements.
For most corporate leaders, the desired option is clear: Both CEOs and CFOs have ranked their organizations' ability to recruit top talent among their top concerns for a number of years. Despite the growing visibility of their unhappiness with their organizations' capability in this area, a number of HR leaders continue to adopt development over recruitment as a method to mitigate the potential impact of the aging workforce.
This critical "make" versus "buy" decision is one that organizations make without nearly enough insight. Skill sets and employees, for that matter, face obsolescence just like any other resource that organizations consume to produce goods and services. It's kind of harsh to think of it that way, but organizations often keep obsolete talent around for way too long.
When making the critical decision about how to manage the capability and capacity of the organization to achieve its objectives, organizations really need to answer the following questions:
Monday, February 11, 2008 by Dr. John Sullivan
by Dr. John Sullivan and Master Burnett
The U.S. economy is like a sprinter trying his best to run a long-distance race. It takes off at full speed until it burns up its resources and has to slow down while it recovers, only to take off again shortly thereafter. Time and time again, companies in the U.S. have weathered periods of economic expansion and contraction, but for the first time in recent history (since the Romans ruled civilization), the circumstances are a little different. The conditions are so different, in fact, that the recruiting profession may avoid being decimated this time around.
While many economists agree that the U.S. will likely avoid a recession despite the collapse of the housing market (which is leading to widespread layoffs in construction, mortgage financing, and supporting industries), macroeconomic growth rates are going to be much lower than we have become accustomed to, but they will still be positive.
In January, layoffs by U.S. employers surged 69% to 74,986 according to Challenger, Gray, & Christmas. Despite that gloomy news, more than 58,000 of those cut from their organizations found other employment by the month's end, resulting in a net increase among the jobless of just 17,000. These numbers are pretty good when you consider that natural attrition associated with the aging workforce should already be leading to a significant reduction in the available labor pool. But, the housing crisis isn't over. Some say we have only experienced the tip of the iceberg, so the volume and size of layoff announcements are likely to grow in coming months.
So what's the good news? From a recruiting perspective, this period of economic contraction is different than ones we previously endured for a number of reasons, including:
· The Weak Dollar. While many Americans bemoan the dollar's current value, its relative weakness is doing something very important for the U.S. economy: It is making goods and services produced in the U.S. more affordable to consumers in other nations, which is bringing money back to the United States. This trend is contributing to a growing number of U.S. companies achieving record revenue growth based primary on sales in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Whirlpool, for instance, reported record results despite a dramatic decline in demand among U.S. consumers. Sales in Europe were up 12%, Latin America 30%, and Asia 26%. Growth abroad creates new jobs here as corporate functions grow to support operations.
· The Aging Workforce. We know this topic has been beaten to death, but 2008 is only the first year of the projected contraction in the U.S. labor force. It's possible that we talked about it too much before it actually got here, leading people to believe it was a non-issue because they were not feeling the pain. While it is likely that older workers will remain in the workforce longer due to a decline in the value of their retirement funds, not every older worker will have that as an option as medical conditions, skill obsolescence, and declines in physical capability play out.
· Reduced Product Development Life Cycles. Product life cycles are not often talked about in recruiting, but they should be. Over the course of the last decade, advancements in technology and growing competition from abroad have forced product development life cycles (the time required to take a product from conception through delivery) to become significantly shorter. Cell phones, which once took 18-36 months to develop, today start flying off store shelves in as little as 90 days. It's all about innovation. In the last decade, brands kept customers loyal and, before that, it was proximity to customer and customer service. But today, keeping customers loyal requires innovation and price control. Rapid innovation requires talent capable of producing it, and with life cycles as compressed as they are, it requires a constant stream of such talent.
· Global Competition. Would you travel to India for surgery, or would you carry a credit card issued by a financial institution in Indonesia? More and more U.S. consumers are. Nearly every industry in the U.S. is facing competition from a foreign competitor, if not for customers then for material resources. It used to be that the U.S. could win every battle simply because the dollar was so strong, but that isn't true anymore. Foreign upstarts that U.S. companies once outsourced to are now leveraging their store of U.S. dollars and starting to compete head to head with these companies they once serviced. It is a phenomenon happening around the world.
· Global Labor Demographics. When HR practitioners in the U.S. think about the aging workforce, they think about the U.S., but they should be thinking much larger. With the exception of South America and a handful of small countries elsewhere, the aging of the Baby Boom generation is a global phenomenon. Japan, China, India, Germany, and Italy are all in much worse shape than the U.S. This fact will drive the value of available labor up in these nations, further reducing the economic viability of outsourcing provided by wage labor arbitrage.
The long and short of the story is that your organization will continue to need a significant influx of talent despite a contraction in the U.S. economy.
It's All about Capability and Capacity
To survive, grow, and best the competition, organizations need to have both the capability to produce innovative products at a price point consumers will accept and the capacity to produce enough units at the right time in the right place. While capacity is a function involving talent, equipment, and material resources, capability is almost entirely derived from talent. When it comes down to manipulating the capability of an organization, corporate leaders have but two options: either build capability by training and developing talent or acquire talent through recruiting, be it for employees, consultants, contractors, strategic partnerships, or outsourcing agreements.
For most corporate leaders, the desired option is clear: Both CEOs and CFOs have ranked their organizations' ability to recruit top talent among their top concerns for a number of years. Despite the growing visibility of their unhappiness with their organizations' capability in this area, a number of HR leaders continue to adopt development over recruitment as a method to mitigate the potential impact of the aging workforce.
This critical "make" versus "buy" decision is one that organizations make without nearly enough insight. Skill sets and employees, for that matter, face obsolescence just like any other resource that organizations consume to produce goods and services. It's kind of harsh to think of it that way, but organizations often keep obsolete talent around for way too long.
When making the critical decision about how to manage the capability and capacity of the organization to achieve its objectives, organizations really need to answer the following questions:
- Realistically, what percentage of the workforce will need to be replaced in the coming years either due to attrition, natural obsolescence, or business change?
- What percentage of headcount growth will be needed to fuel growth initiatives?
- Historically, what has been the cycle time associated with developing talent into the roles that will most likely be vacant?
- What percentage of talent developed fails post-attainment of the role?
- What percentage of talent developed separates from the organization prior to attainment of the role?
- Does a significant supply of talent exist inside the organization that can be developed into the role by the projected time needed, accounting for failure rate and turnover?
- What would be the cost associated with the development initiative compared to that of an acquisition initiative?
- What would be the cost of an extended vacancy in a key role should either initiative fail?
In some cases, development makes sense, but in the vast majority of cases related to professional talent, the economics involved point to talent acquisition as the more viable option.
It's All About Who You Are As a Company
Step Up and Reposition Recruiting as the Strategic Activity It Is
The economic points are clear: The skies are going to be partly cloudy with areas of sunshine. Organizations need to become more adept at routinely releasing obsolete talent and replacing it either through recruiting or development, whichever makes the most economic sense. But, the decision must be made based on data and not on personal interests or beliefs. Recruiters need to step up; understand the business strategy; figure out the impact of top talent, average talent, poor talent, and no talent; and advise corporate leaders where talent opportunities exist. No one understands the labor market better than recruiters; unfortunately, way too many accept the transactional part of their job as the job. To "build" versus "buy" is a decision that could make all the difference in an organization, but it is one that too few organizations ever research. Since no one else is doing it, step up and preserve your job. No one else will!
Dr. John Sullivan (JohnS@sfsu.edu) is a well-known thought leader in HR. He is a frequent speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 and Silicon Valley firms. Formerly the chief talent officer for Agilent Technologies (the 43,000-employee HP spin-off), he is now a professor of management at San Francisco State University. He was called the "Michael Jordan of Hiring" by Fast Company magazine. More recruiting articles by Dr. Sullivan can be found in the ER Daily archives. Information about his numerous other articles, books and manuals about recruiting and HR can be found at www.drjohnsullivan.com. Dr. Sullivan is also the editor of VP of HR, an e-newsletter providing "out of the box" solutions for senior HR managers. Free subscriptions can be obtained on his website.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Power of Stories for Employment Branding and Referrals
It's time to build a corporate story inventory
Monday, January 14, 2008 by Dr. John Sullivan
Few people would disagree with the premise that stories are powerful mechanisms for selling ideas and concepts. In fact, there have been books written about how stories can help build and maintain corporate cultures. But, what most recruiters don't know is that stories can and should play a prominent role in building a firm's employment brand and in improving the effectiveness of the employee-referral program. No recruiting ad, brochure, website, or recruiter pitch can have the same power and effectiveness as current employees telling powerful stories about what it's like to work at their firms.
Google: the Master Story Creator
Certainly, no firm has mastered the use of stories for building its culture, for recruiting, and for building its employment-brand image better than Google has. In fact, as a result of its efforts to continually create new stories about its people-management practices, Google has become the most talked about firm in the history of the world, which is an amazing feat in a handful of years. Its "story-a-day" strategy of providing every employee with an exciting story to share is a model for everyone to emulate. It has made it the number one employment brand in the world. Unfortunately, most recruiting and branding managers under-appreciate the value of this and certainly under-utilize stories as recruiting tools.
If you want to take advantage of the power of stories, read on.
Why Stories are Powerful Sales Tools
Employee stories are powerful because they come from individuals who "live" the job. Because they come from people who have first-hand experience, the stories that they tell are just more credible and believable than anything a recruiter or PR specialist could possibly put together. Similar to someone telling you about his or her experience at a great restaurant, the resulting impact (whether positive or negative) is many times more powerful than any recruiting ad could be.
Other factors that make employee stories a powerful tool include:
· Since friends and colleagues can get close to potential applicants, there is little resistance to a story because the individual telling it is trusted and not a stranger.
· Because employees have various personal and electronic interactions 24/7, they have numerous opportunities to spread stories to many individuals like themselves, who are thus good recruiting targets.
· Since individual conversations can last longer, it's possible to deliver detailed stories and much more in-depth information than is possible in a recruitment ad.
· Face-to-face interactions and some electronic communications allow the target of the story to interact with the storyteller and to ask questions. Make the story personalized and add whatever details the receiver has an interest in.
· Because stories don't sound like sales pitches, there is less initial resistance to hearing them.
· Stories are almost always interesting or entertaining, so they are more easily remembered and passed on to others.
· In certain situations like at restaurants, in bars, at sporting events, and at social and family functions, everyone tells stories. This provides an opportunity to share something that might, in other situations or in other forms, be resisted.
· Employees hearing and passing on compelling stories serves to reinforce their decisions to join and stay at their current firms. Family and friends positively reacting to their stories can also reinforce their desire to stay.
· Hearing a good number of stories can increase their pride in the firm and the motivation to be productive.
Make Stories Available to Employees and Managers Through a Story Inventory
Stories only add value if they are spread to others. Most companies have no book or central depository that contains a list of all the firm's stories about their people and management practices. Instead, they have to be sought out and put into an inventory that can be used to support the recruiting and branding efforts. Employees need access to powerful stories about the firm in order to use them in attracting potential referral candidates. Managers need to be aware of powerful stories for use in speeches, to respond to reporters' inquiries, and as sales tools for closing finalists for their open positions. The best way to make the stories available is through a corporate or business unit "story inventory."
A people program and story inventory provides the basic ammunition the company can use for building its brand and image both internally and externally. It's not enough to have a large number of programs and stories. The stories themselves must be in areas (benefits, rewards, learning, or community related, etc.) to be considered important by your target audiences. In addition, these stories and programs must have some glamour factor, which makes them exciting enough to be talked about by your employees, the media, and others in your industry. When you finish building your program and story inventory, it becomes the basis for your internal and external branding and referral efforts. A story inventory is no more than an internal website (or, in some cases, an Excel spreadsheet) that collects and then categorizes stories, best practices, exciting people-management programs, awards for use in employment branding, "best place to work" applications, employer referrals, and recruiting.
Stories and exciting people-management programs can be identified through a variety of methods. PR, the head of employment branding, and HR generalists are usually the ones charged with seeking out powerful stories. The stories are then categorized by type, location, and function or business unit involved. Stories are assessed and weighted based on their relative power. In addition to direct access, stories can be proactively spread by including them in newsletters, executive speeches, management meetings, and as part of employee-referral program materials.
After formally compiling its story inventory, one well-known coffee retailer found that instead of having 65 compelling stories, it had over 360 for use in branding activities. The fact is that by not having a formalized effort to gather and distribute stories, you are limiting your ability to recruit and brand by letting 75% of your stories remain in limited distribution.
How to Identify Stories Within the Organization?
The search for best management practices, programs, and stories can take a variety of paths. I find that the best way to begin the search process is with a complete list of the possible information gathering approaches and then narrow them down, based on your time and budget constraints. Next, do a quick sample of each approach and assess whether that approach is producing useful results. Continue the information gathering for awhile and then, after comparing results, narrow down the list even further and focus on the approaches that have the most success in identifying stories.
Before You Start Gathering Stories, Anticipate Some Reluctance to Cooperate
It's important to recognize that the culture of the organization helps determine what approach to gathering stories is most effective. In a centrally-organized firm, it is very likely that the corporate offices are already aware of the best stories, programs, and practices. However, in a good number of organizations, headquarters is kept in the dark because individuals outside headquarters are extremely reluctant to share best practices. Why? Because most managers have a well deserved fear that if corporate found out about a local practice, it would make them stop. In these all-too-frequent cases, you probably need a one-on-one visit with the local managers in order to get them to share. It is important to identify these informal programs and the related stories because, oftentimes, they are the most creative and innovative.
Another problem is that in some organizations, there is a great reluctance to brag. And, you certainly can't find or spread great stories without the willingness to brag. In these cases, an announcement by the CEO that he or she supports and sponsors a story-gathering initiative is an absolute requirement. Finally, some cultures hate surveys and meetings of any kind, so they require individual interviews and phone calls to gather stories.
17 Steps to Make Your Branding Stories As Powerful as Possible
When you're speaking to reporters, you want to make your examples and stories as powerful as possible. The same is true when you're writing an article, preparing a "best place" list application, or giving a speech. I have researched this issue for many years and, as a result, I have identified 17 factors that you can add to any story to make it more powerful. Or in some cases, it turns an average story into what I call a "wow" story.
Once you have identified a simple story, conduct more research, then add to the story any of the following factors to make it stronger and more compelling. Remember, stories with numbers and comparison figures are the best and individual testimonials about one-time incidents that use just words have the least impact.
1.Comparison with Industry Average/Best in the Industry. Compare and show how "yours" is superior to "theirs" using a side-by-side basis. The use of direct comparison percentages or numbers makes for an even better story. Being first in your industry or region to offer a program is also an excellent story builder.
2.Comparison with Last Year's Goals. Show how you have dramatically improved your numbers from last year (or any period).
3.Quantifying Program Results. Using statistics to demonstrate the business impacts of a program is helpful. Using dollars as well as numbers to describe program outputs makes any story stronger.
4.Defining What Is a Good and Bad Number. By including inside the story a description of a good/high number and a bad/low number, you can make a good story better and make any number more meaningful.
5.Awards Received. Programs or events that were recognized with an outside award or commendation are superior. Internal awards are less powerful, but still helpful.
6.Degree of Participation. Just having a program isn't compelling if no one participates in it. Showing the estimated percentage of workers that participate in or actually use a program helps make the message stronger.
7.Stories Involving Ordinary People. Stories that focus on the success of the "little guy" (low-level employee) impress most people. Showing how the little guy matters and that he received some attention or benefit from a program is always good.
8.Stories Involving Diverse People. Stories that focus on the success of diverse employees are very powerful. Showing high-participation levels by diverse individuals or the inclusion of diverse individuals at higher-organizational levels is a great addition to any story.
9.Demonstrating the Amount Spent or the Program Costs. Showing either the large amount spent per employee or a large percentage of all total expenditures for the program tells the reader right away you think this is important.
10. A Great Program Name. Often, just having a program with a great name can make an informal event into something credible. A cool or catchy name for any program makes it even better.
11. Concern for the Environment. Demonstrating that we show a deep concern for environmental issues in a story or program helps us gain points. Programs that protect or support green issues are very important. Individual environmental and community work can also add value.
12. Compelling Quotes. A good story becomes a better one with a short quote that one might remember and repeat. Quotes from average people about their jobs and experiences are great. Notable quotes from CEOs aimed at commitment also add value to any story. Quotes from major publications add significant value. Customer quotes can also be compelling.
13. Testimonials from Individuals. Short testimonials from individuals outlining their passion for the firm or program are powerful. Testimonials about their treatment or experiences provide added value. Video testimonials on the website can also, on occasion, be powerful.
14. Add a Video Clip (If it's a Website Story). Sometimes, words aren't enough. Short video clips (3-5 minutes) can be included on the corporate website (or, in the case of "best place to work" applications, in supplemental materials).
15. Add a Picture. A picture that raises emotions can be a valuable addition to a story, application, or website. Test it first to see if the picture actually does add real value.
16. Add a "Wow." A "wow" is a short story element (1-2 paragraphs in length) that, when told, is so powerful that the person literally responds with a verbal sound (i.e., "Wow"). Most "wow" stories are passed on to others verbally or in e-mails.
17. Add a Web Link. Add a web link to a written story or award application so the reader can easily find more detailed follow-up information.
What Kinds of Stories Have the Most Impact on Recruiting and Brand Building?
They are many categories of stories that can have positive recruiting and branding impacts. And, there are other categories of stories that can help build the firm's image and its referral success rate. They include stories that illustrate:
· How employees are free to innovate and experiment.
· How employees are involved in decision-making.
· How managers listen to their employees.
· How performance is recognized and rewarded.
· Opportunities when the little guy can jump job levels or be offered extraordinary opportunities.
· Job security.
· Strong ethics or corporate values.
· Flexibility and work-life balance.
· That employees have a chance to make a difference or change the world.
· Learning and development opportunities.
· That employees share in the company's success.
· The firm's concern for the environment.
· Teamwork is encouraged.
Examples from Google
In the case of Google, the company has utilized almost every story category to build a culture, attract recruits, and develop its employment brand image. Some of its programs and activities might on the surface seem outrageous, but you have to admit that they have resulted in compelling stories that have been widely spread and repeated in the media by employees and over the Internet.
Here are a few examples of Google's practices that have helped build its employment brand:
· Demonstrating It's Different. Doing things that would never be allowed at most organizations sends a clear message that working at that firm would certainly be different than at almost any other firm. You can search the Internet and easily find stories about Google's Pajama Day, valet parking, on-site massage and laundromat, Movie Day, and on-site concerts. Of course it doesn't hold Pajama Day every day, but the fact that it could never happen at your firm in a million years says it all.
· Demonstrating Its Trust in Employees. Once again, it's easy to find stories about Google's trust in its employees. In addition to the 20% free time, there are stories about executives celebrating million-dollar failures, not tracking sick time, and allowing employees to work remotely. Google has provided real examples that it lives its values.
· Showing It's a Fun Place. Almost all firms use the term "work-life balance," but stories about how no employee should be more than 200 feet away from free snacks, a martini blow-out, free meals all day, and allowing dogs on-campus illustrate that it's a fun place better than any website bullet-point could.
Final Thoughts
The business world generally focuses on "hard" things. But, in direct contrast, stories work because they are "soft" and interesting. Stories are powerful because they highlight real events and incidents that the average worker can relate to. Unlike most of the corporate information that is provided to employees (which is often considered to be propaganda), employees are more than willing to listen to and spread compelling stories that illustrate some of the positive things that their corporations do for them. Although gathering and spreading stories isn't always on the radar of the heads of recruiting and employment branding, it should be.
Monday, January 14, 2008 by Dr. John Sullivan
Few people would disagree with the premise that stories are powerful mechanisms for selling ideas and concepts. In fact, there have been books written about how stories can help build and maintain corporate cultures. But, what most recruiters don't know is that stories can and should play a prominent role in building a firm's employment brand and in improving the effectiveness of the employee-referral program. No recruiting ad, brochure, website, or recruiter pitch can have the same power and effectiveness as current employees telling powerful stories about what it's like to work at their firms.
Google: the Master Story Creator
Certainly, no firm has mastered the use of stories for building its culture, for recruiting, and for building its employment-brand image better than Google has. In fact, as a result of its efforts to continually create new stories about its people-management practices, Google has become the most talked about firm in the history of the world, which is an amazing feat in a handful of years. Its "story-a-day" strategy of providing every employee with an exciting story to share is a model for everyone to emulate. It has made it the number one employment brand in the world. Unfortunately, most recruiting and branding managers under-appreciate the value of this and certainly under-utilize stories as recruiting tools.
If you want to take advantage of the power of stories, read on.
Why Stories are Powerful Sales Tools
Employee stories are powerful because they come from individuals who "live" the job. Because they come from people who have first-hand experience, the stories that they tell are just more credible and believable than anything a recruiter or PR specialist could possibly put together. Similar to someone telling you about his or her experience at a great restaurant, the resulting impact (whether positive or negative) is many times more powerful than any recruiting ad could be.
Other factors that make employee stories a powerful tool include:
· Since friends and colleagues can get close to potential applicants, there is little resistance to a story because the individual telling it is trusted and not a stranger.
· Because employees have various personal and electronic interactions 24/7, they have numerous opportunities to spread stories to many individuals like themselves, who are thus good recruiting targets.
· Since individual conversations can last longer, it's possible to deliver detailed stories and much more in-depth information than is possible in a recruitment ad.
· Face-to-face interactions and some electronic communications allow the target of the story to interact with the storyteller and to ask questions. Make the story personalized and add whatever details the receiver has an interest in.
· Because stories don't sound like sales pitches, there is less initial resistance to hearing them.
· Stories are almost always interesting or entertaining, so they are more easily remembered and passed on to others.
· In certain situations like at restaurants, in bars, at sporting events, and at social and family functions, everyone tells stories. This provides an opportunity to share something that might, in other situations or in other forms, be resisted.
· Employees hearing and passing on compelling stories serves to reinforce their decisions to join and stay at their current firms. Family and friends positively reacting to their stories can also reinforce their desire to stay.
· Hearing a good number of stories can increase their pride in the firm and the motivation to be productive.
Make Stories Available to Employees and Managers Through a Story Inventory
Stories only add value if they are spread to others. Most companies have no book or central depository that contains a list of all the firm's stories about their people and management practices. Instead, they have to be sought out and put into an inventory that can be used to support the recruiting and branding efforts. Employees need access to powerful stories about the firm in order to use them in attracting potential referral candidates. Managers need to be aware of powerful stories for use in speeches, to respond to reporters' inquiries, and as sales tools for closing finalists for their open positions. The best way to make the stories available is through a corporate or business unit "story inventory."
A people program and story inventory provides the basic ammunition the company can use for building its brand and image both internally and externally. It's not enough to have a large number of programs and stories. The stories themselves must be in areas (benefits, rewards, learning, or community related, etc.) to be considered important by your target audiences. In addition, these stories and programs must have some glamour factor, which makes them exciting enough to be talked about by your employees, the media, and others in your industry. When you finish building your program and story inventory, it becomes the basis for your internal and external branding and referral efforts. A story inventory is no more than an internal website (or, in some cases, an Excel spreadsheet) that collects and then categorizes stories, best practices, exciting people-management programs, awards for use in employment branding, "best place to work" applications, employer referrals, and recruiting.
Stories and exciting people-management programs can be identified through a variety of methods. PR, the head of employment branding, and HR generalists are usually the ones charged with seeking out powerful stories. The stories are then categorized by type, location, and function or business unit involved. Stories are assessed and weighted based on their relative power. In addition to direct access, stories can be proactively spread by including them in newsletters, executive speeches, management meetings, and as part of employee-referral program materials.
After formally compiling its story inventory, one well-known coffee retailer found that instead of having 65 compelling stories, it had over 360 for use in branding activities. The fact is that by not having a formalized effort to gather and distribute stories, you are limiting your ability to recruit and brand by letting 75% of your stories remain in limited distribution.
How to Identify Stories Within the Organization?
The search for best management practices, programs, and stories can take a variety of paths. I find that the best way to begin the search process is with a complete list of the possible information gathering approaches and then narrow them down, based on your time and budget constraints. Next, do a quick sample of each approach and assess whether that approach is producing useful results. Continue the information gathering for awhile and then, after comparing results, narrow down the list even further and focus on the approaches that have the most success in identifying stories.
Before You Start Gathering Stories, Anticipate Some Reluctance to Cooperate
It's important to recognize that the culture of the organization helps determine what approach to gathering stories is most effective. In a centrally-organized firm, it is very likely that the corporate offices are already aware of the best stories, programs, and practices. However, in a good number of organizations, headquarters is kept in the dark because individuals outside headquarters are extremely reluctant to share best practices. Why? Because most managers have a well deserved fear that if corporate found out about a local practice, it would make them stop. In these all-too-frequent cases, you probably need a one-on-one visit with the local managers in order to get them to share. It is important to identify these informal programs and the related stories because, oftentimes, they are the most creative and innovative.
Another problem is that in some organizations, there is a great reluctance to brag. And, you certainly can't find or spread great stories without the willingness to brag. In these cases, an announcement by the CEO that he or she supports and sponsors a story-gathering initiative is an absolute requirement. Finally, some cultures hate surveys and meetings of any kind, so they require individual interviews and phone calls to gather stories.
17 Steps to Make Your Branding Stories As Powerful as Possible
When you're speaking to reporters, you want to make your examples and stories as powerful as possible. The same is true when you're writing an article, preparing a "best place" list application, or giving a speech. I have researched this issue for many years and, as a result, I have identified 17 factors that you can add to any story to make it more powerful. Or in some cases, it turns an average story into what I call a "wow" story.
Once you have identified a simple story, conduct more research, then add to the story any of the following factors to make it stronger and more compelling. Remember, stories with numbers and comparison figures are the best and individual testimonials about one-time incidents that use just words have the least impact.
1.Comparison with Industry Average/Best in the Industry. Compare and show how "yours" is superior to "theirs" using a side-by-side basis. The use of direct comparison percentages or numbers makes for an even better story. Being first in your industry or region to offer a program is also an excellent story builder.
2.Comparison with Last Year's Goals. Show how you have dramatically improved your numbers from last year (or any period).
3.Quantifying Program Results. Using statistics to demonstrate the business impacts of a program is helpful. Using dollars as well as numbers to describe program outputs makes any story stronger.
4.Defining What Is a Good and Bad Number. By including inside the story a description of a good/high number and a bad/low number, you can make a good story better and make any number more meaningful.
5.Awards Received. Programs or events that were recognized with an outside award or commendation are superior. Internal awards are less powerful, but still helpful.
6.Degree of Participation. Just having a program isn't compelling if no one participates in it. Showing the estimated percentage of workers that participate in or actually use a program helps make the message stronger.
7.Stories Involving Ordinary People. Stories that focus on the success of the "little guy" (low-level employee) impress most people. Showing how the little guy matters and that he received some attention or benefit from a program is always good.
8.Stories Involving Diverse People. Stories that focus on the success of diverse employees are very powerful. Showing high-participation levels by diverse individuals or the inclusion of diverse individuals at higher-organizational levels is a great addition to any story.
9.Demonstrating the Amount Spent or the Program Costs. Showing either the large amount spent per employee or a large percentage of all total expenditures for the program tells the reader right away you think this is important.
10. A Great Program Name. Often, just having a program with a great name can make an informal event into something credible. A cool or catchy name for any program makes it even better.
11. Concern for the Environment. Demonstrating that we show a deep concern for environmental issues in a story or program helps us gain points. Programs that protect or support green issues are very important. Individual environmental and community work can also add value.
12. Compelling Quotes. A good story becomes a better one with a short quote that one might remember and repeat. Quotes from average people about their jobs and experiences are great. Notable quotes from CEOs aimed at commitment also add value to any story. Quotes from major publications add significant value. Customer quotes can also be compelling.
13. Testimonials from Individuals. Short testimonials from individuals outlining their passion for the firm or program are powerful. Testimonials about their treatment or experiences provide added value. Video testimonials on the website can also, on occasion, be powerful.
14. Add a Video Clip (If it's a Website Story). Sometimes, words aren't enough. Short video clips (3-5 minutes) can be included on the corporate website (or, in the case of "best place to work" applications, in supplemental materials).
15. Add a Picture. A picture that raises emotions can be a valuable addition to a story, application, or website. Test it first to see if the picture actually does add real value.
16. Add a "Wow." A "wow" is a short story element (1-2 paragraphs in length) that, when told, is so powerful that the person literally responds with a verbal sound (i.e., "Wow"). Most "wow" stories are passed on to others verbally or in e-mails.
17. Add a Web Link. Add a web link to a written story or award application so the reader can easily find more detailed follow-up information.
What Kinds of Stories Have the Most Impact on Recruiting and Brand Building?
They are many categories of stories that can have positive recruiting and branding impacts. And, there are other categories of stories that can help build the firm's image and its referral success rate. They include stories that illustrate:
· How employees are free to innovate and experiment.
· How employees are involved in decision-making.
· How managers listen to their employees.
· How performance is recognized and rewarded.
· Opportunities when the little guy can jump job levels or be offered extraordinary opportunities.
· Job security.
· Strong ethics or corporate values.
· Flexibility and work-life balance.
· That employees have a chance to make a difference or change the world.
· Learning and development opportunities.
· That employees share in the company's success.
· The firm's concern for the environment.
· Teamwork is encouraged.
Examples from Google
In the case of Google, the company has utilized almost every story category to build a culture, attract recruits, and develop its employment brand image. Some of its programs and activities might on the surface seem outrageous, but you have to admit that they have resulted in compelling stories that have been widely spread and repeated in the media by employees and over the Internet.
Here are a few examples of Google's practices that have helped build its employment brand:
· Demonstrating It's Different. Doing things that would never be allowed at most organizations sends a clear message that working at that firm would certainly be different than at almost any other firm. You can search the Internet and easily find stories about Google's Pajama Day, valet parking, on-site massage and laundromat, Movie Day, and on-site concerts. Of course it doesn't hold Pajama Day every day, but the fact that it could never happen at your firm in a million years says it all.
· Demonstrating Its Trust in Employees. Once again, it's easy to find stories about Google's trust in its employees. In addition to the 20% free time, there are stories about executives celebrating million-dollar failures, not tracking sick time, and allowing employees to work remotely. Google has provided real examples that it lives its values.
· Showing It's a Fun Place. Almost all firms use the term "work-life balance," but stories about how no employee should be more than 200 feet away from free snacks, a martini blow-out, free meals all day, and allowing dogs on-campus illustrate that it's a fun place better than any website bullet-point could.
Final Thoughts
The business world generally focuses on "hard" things. But, in direct contrast, stories work because they are "soft" and interesting. Stories are powerful because they highlight real events and incidents that the average worker can relate to. Unlike most of the corporate information that is provided to employees (which is often considered to be propaganda), employees are more than willing to listen to and spread compelling stories that illustrate some of the positive things that their corporations do for them. Although gathering and spreading stories isn't always on the radar of the heads of recruiting and employment branding, it should be.
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