All companies probably believe that they must ensure "cultural fit" when hiring new people. However, too many players do not have strong cultures to speak off and are confused about the “best” talents that they require to successfully and meaningfully go through this exercise. Specifically, more often than not, companies:
1. Describe their cultures in similar ways; collaborative, entrepreneurial, and family-like. They also like to refer to themselves as complex, ambiguous, and challenging environments. Ad agencies in particular tend to identify their cultures with “chaos” which they embrace rather than try to tame by enforcing specific rules and structures.
2. Articulate the same values. A recent study by Ki and Kim (2009) showed that “respect to clients”, “service”, “strategic”, and “results” were the most frequently emphasized values among ethical statements provided by 605 public relations agencies in the United States. On the other hand, “balance”, “fairness”, “honor”, “social responsibility”, and “independence” were the least frequently mentioned values in their ethical codes. Surprisingly as well, none of the sampled agencies included any sanctions regarding enforcement of their particular code of ethics.
3. Remain misaligned when it comes to talent practices. It is not uncommon to find that employee policies and operational practices do not actually support their cultural statement (e.g. we are open-minded). At the extreme, employees that are in fact closest to the desired culture may not experience and receive sufficient recognition, advancement opportunities, and high job satisfaction levels.
4. Demonstrate "me-too" thinking when preparing talent policies, rewards, and benefits just like they go on the same mission relevant to their industry. Almost uniformly, ad agencies aspire to “generate big ideas” (award-winning ideas or outstanding advertising campaigns) and provide a full range of communications services for their clients.
5. Look for similar skill sets, knowledge, experience, and just about everything else when looking for talent; self-starter with a `can-do` attitude, ability to contribute to and lead diverse teams, ability to present logical and persuasive arguments, passionate, and driven, etc.
6. Settle down for generic and inclusive corporate cultures. Many employees cannot explicitly discuss and distinguish between the cultures of the companies that they have worked for. Worst, many successful careers can span a number of companies over several years which suggests that either employees are simply good chameleons and flexible and adaptive enough to blend in or that there is nothing unique and extraordinary about their different workplaces.
Hence, checking for cultural fit is of substance and should only take place if the company understands what their actual and desired organizational culture is, has low staff turnover, and is growing at a steady pace so as to ensure successful acculturation processes by new hires.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Performance Conversations
One of the most important and original books of late regarding performance management is written by Christopher D. Lee, PhD, Performance Conversations: An Alternative to Appraisals (2006; published by Fenestra Books, Tucson, Arizona). The author thoroughly critiqued the performance appraisal tool and provided an alternative approach; Performance Conversations Model.
Having observed the book's core ideas implemented into a corporate setting in Mainland China, I would like to share some of the challenges that arose.
First, performance conversations created impractical employee expectations for receiving a raise or bonus after every performance conversation. But, since these conversations occurred on a quarterly basis, managers' obviously could not increase pay every 3 months for an employee even if they received positive feedback. So, employees invariably felt disappointed.
Second, performance conversations were too structured mainly because a form needed to be completed every time conversations occurred. In addition, many participants were not dedicated to maintaining a performance portfolio and performance log - a journal of duties, challenges, and solutions (the so called "evidence") on a daily/weekly basis. Indeed, this prerequisite was perceived as a burden by most and just additional paper work.
Third, performance conversation meetings did not seem to be the best platform for addressing inadequate performance. Inevitably, this model linked the quality of an employee’s output with the manager’s performance in accordance with the fundamental belief that an "Employee can only be as good as their supervision, support, and guidance". Therefore, the manager who assessed an employee's performance as poor would also need to acknowledge their own weaknesses and mistakes.
Fourth, performance conversations did not alleviate the need for an “evaluation” and consequently demand for 360 degree feedback in the organization intensified. Employees also wanted to be assessed against a set of performance criteria for their current position.
For the abovementioned difficulties, China as a whole is not ready for a performance management approach based on Theory Y of human motivation.
Having observed the book's core ideas implemented into a corporate setting in Mainland China, I would like to share some of the challenges that arose.
First, performance conversations created impractical employee expectations for receiving a raise or bonus after every performance conversation. But, since these conversations occurred on a quarterly basis, managers' obviously could not increase pay every 3 months for an employee even if they received positive feedback. So, employees invariably felt disappointed.
Second, performance conversations were too structured mainly because a form needed to be completed every time conversations occurred. In addition, many participants were not dedicated to maintaining a performance portfolio and performance log - a journal of duties, challenges, and solutions (the so called "evidence") on a daily/weekly basis. Indeed, this prerequisite was perceived as a burden by most and just additional paper work.
Third, performance conversation meetings did not seem to be the best platform for addressing inadequate performance. Inevitably, this model linked the quality of an employee’s output with the manager’s performance in accordance with the fundamental belief that an "Employee can only be as good as their supervision, support, and guidance". Therefore, the manager who assessed an employee's performance as poor would also need to acknowledge their own weaknesses and mistakes.
Fourth, performance conversations did not alleviate the need for an “evaluation” and consequently demand for 360 degree feedback in the organization intensified. Employees also wanted to be assessed against a set of performance criteria for their current position.
For the abovementioned difficulties, China as a whole is not ready for a performance management approach based on Theory Y of human motivation.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Can HR Recruit Creatives?
HR departments in China are too often helpless when it comes to their capabilities to recruit Creatives. This failure results from the following issues:
1. Traditional HR departments take a passive approach and believe that Creative Directors prefer to screen creative staff themselves.
2. HR professionals do not invest the time to learn about and understand the market, advertising campaigns, and the people behind the scenes to really grasp how and what the artists' true contributions were and thereby make a proper skill assessment.
3. HR does not have an "eye for creativity" and is therefore unable to assess who has superior creative and design skills.
4. HR people are not trained in the Creative world and can not even differentiate between ATL, BTL, and digital works. If these are not clearly labeled, then they end up spamming Creative Directors' mailboxes with many inadequate candidates.
To change this defunct status quo, HR should:
1. Instigate the belief that HR’s assistance in the recruitment of creative staff is needed and necessary for Agencies to achieve their business objectives. Why else would Creative Directors brief HR on their staffing needs? HR must realize that Creatives have expectations and HR needs to deliver on them.
2. Achieve Partner status with the business, demonstrate an ongoing interest in the Creative process, learn more about specific campaigns (also the ones of from competitors), hold formal and informal meetings with all kinds of artists, talk with candidates about the different strategies and execution of successful campaigns, and recreate organigrams for project teams in target companies.
3. Develop into a learning unit. The department must comprehend inside and out Creatives' requirements, know what constitutes quality creative and design skills, and fully understand services offered by the Agency.
4. Have the drive to excel at this challenge thereby making everything aforesaid possible.
This being said, organizational support is also crucial to HR success in the recruitment of Creatives. An essential step to take is to invest more resources in the position of Recruiter by instituting greater financial incentives and designing an appealing career path to keep the "good ones" onboard. After all, they are the key to this entire process and Recruiters will need to be the ones to change their behaviors and learn more about Creative's and the "Arts".
1. Traditional HR departments take a passive approach and believe that Creative Directors prefer to screen creative staff themselves.
2. HR professionals do not invest the time to learn about and understand the market, advertising campaigns, and the people behind the scenes to really grasp how and what the artists' true contributions were and thereby make a proper skill assessment.
3. HR does not have an "eye for creativity" and is therefore unable to assess who has superior creative and design skills.
4. HR people are not trained in the Creative world and can not even differentiate between ATL, BTL, and digital works. If these are not clearly labeled, then they end up spamming Creative Directors' mailboxes with many inadequate candidates.
To change this defunct status quo, HR should:
1. Instigate the belief that HR’s assistance in the recruitment of creative staff is needed and necessary for Agencies to achieve their business objectives. Why else would Creative Directors brief HR on their staffing needs? HR must realize that Creatives have expectations and HR needs to deliver on them.
2. Achieve Partner status with the business, demonstrate an ongoing interest in the Creative process, learn more about specific campaigns (also the ones of from competitors), hold formal and informal meetings with all kinds of artists, talk with candidates about the different strategies and execution of successful campaigns, and recreate organigrams for project teams in target companies.
3. Develop into a learning unit. The department must comprehend inside and out Creatives' requirements, know what constitutes quality creative and design skills, and fully understand services offered by the Agency.
4. Have the drive to excel at this challenge thereby making everything aforesaid possible.
This being said, organizational support is also crucial to HR success in the recruitment of Creatives. An essential step to take is to invest more resources in the position of Recruiter by instituting greater financial incentives and designing an appealing career path to keep the "good ones" onboard. After all, they are the key to this entire process and Recruiters will need to be the ones to change their behaviors and learn more about Creative's and the "Arts".
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
General Manager – HR
Last year, I wrote about the semantics in development of HR as a profession. 2009 emerged as the year of a new HR designation; namely, General Manager – HR (GM of HR Department, GM Admin & HR Department).
This new title sounds promising at the onset but after closer review of several GM - HR Job Descriptions, one can quickly realize that the responsibilities of the GM - HR are basically the same ones as that of any other HR Head focused on administration, statutory compliance, and the entire gamut of HR activities without explicitly calling for business, strategic, and team leadership.
Added analysis into the Job Requirements by any HR Business Partner advocate will further cool down their excitement toward this new title. After all, the new designation continues to demand excessive HR experience; particularly one of HR Generalist and only introduces one modern and advantageous requirement; an MBA.
In my view, introducing any new HR title is pointless and confusing unless the "core" of the position is new. The GM – HR role would be of greater substance if the primary responsibilities were:
• To run multiple HR departments as value creating centers for the different companies under one holding company,
• To optimize HR services, and
• To lead the alignment of HR strategy with the business strategy across the different companies.
Accordingly, the ideal candidate would then be required to have more of an entrepreneurial and business track record with either an operational background or extensive knowledge and an understanding of the business model of each company and the value drivers of each business.
This new title sounds promising at the onset but after closer review of several GM - HR Job Descriptions, one can quickly realize that the responsibilities of the GM - HR are basically the same ones as that of any other HR Head focused on administration, statutory compliance, and the entire gamut of HR activities without explicitly calling for business, strategic, and team leadership.
Added analysis into the Job Requirements by any HR Business Partner advocate will further cool down their excitement toward this new title. After all, the new designation continues to demand excessive HR experience; particularly one of HR Generalist and only introduces one modern and advantageous requirement; an MBA.
In my view, introducing any new HR title is pointless and confusing unless the "core" of the position is new. The GM – HR role would be of greater substance if the primary responsibilities were:
• To run multiple HR departments as value creating centers for the different companies under one holding company,
• To optimize HR services, and
• To lead the alignment of HR strategy with the business strategy across the different companies.
Accordingly, the ideal candidate would then be required to have more of an entrepreneurial and business track record with either an operational background or extensive knowledge and an understanding of the business model of each company and the value drivers of each business.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Beginning a Career in the Creative Department of an Ad Agency
Concerning career opportunities for creative talent in Advertising Agencies in Mainland China, I am upbeat about their prospects. People with excellent creative thinking abilities, graphic skills, a strong work ethic, and client centric outlook will always jump ahead of the curve.
In the early stage of one's career, young designers should concentrate on enhancing their design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, and demonstrating superb standards of quality on a consistent basis.
Given the fact that the vast majority of local designers have relatively weak conceptual and English skills, I would also suggest that young designers undertake a frank self-assessment and if needed, commit to devising and implementing a workable plan for personal improvement in these areas. A few tips include studying and practicing different kinds of art forms and actively engaging in brainstorming sessions.
Now, once a designer begins to climb the career ladder, they will need to demonstrate confidence and comfort with doing new things all the time and exemplify an attitude that embraces a variety of media; not only the traditional ones but also any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
In the early stage of one's career, young designers should concentrate on enhancing their design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, and demonstrating superb standards of quality on a consistent basis.
Given the fact that the vast majority of local designers have relatively weak conceptual and English skills, I would also suggest that young designers undertake a frank self-assessment and if needed, commit to devising and implementing a workable plan for personal improvement in these areas. A few tips include studying and practicing different kinds of art forms and actively engaging in brainstorming sessions.
Now, once a designer begins to climb the career ladder, they will need to demonstrate confidence and comfort with doing new things all the time and exemplify an attitude that embraces a variety of media; not only the traditional ones but also any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
When to Embark on a Career in the Account Service Department of an Ad Agency?
This post addresses a recent enquiry from a young Chinese professional.
"After my graduation, I started working at a Company in their Marketing department. Now, after three years, I think that I would prefer to work in an Advertising Agency in the long-term. I heard that the most common career path is to first start out at an Ad Agency and then to switch to the client side. Do I still have the chance in an Advertising Agency?”
First, Advertising Agencies are constantly on the lookout for talent with the ability to establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients, quickly grasp an understanding of the Agency's processes and internal project management principles, and adapt to their matrix reporting structure and multidisciplinary nature of projects while working well in large teams. So, if you are this kind of person, then chances are good that you will get noticed.
Second, Advertising Agencies are oftentimes more demanding, ambiguous, and faster paced than in-house Marketing Departments. Many professionals also experience difficulty thriving in such an environment after spending too much time on the client side. Consequently, it is best for you to get your hands dirty at an Ad Agency as soon as possible.
At any career level, it is easier to exit an Advertising Agency and move to an in-house Marketing Department than vice-a-versa. But, the time spent in an Agency is always fruitful for one’s career in the Marketing field. It allows you to familiarize yourself with the Agency's processes inside and out and apply this experience in any future dealings with them. Agencies like to joke around that Ex-Agency staff makes for the worst most demanding clients.
"After my graduation, I started working at a Company in their Marketing department. Now, after three years, I think that I would prefer to work in an Advertising Agency in the long-term. I heard that the most common career path is to first start out at an Ad Agency and then to switch to the client side. Do I still have the chance in an Advertising Agency?”
First, Advertising Agencies are constantly on the lookout for talent with the ability to establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients, quickly grasp an understanding of the Agency's processes and internal project management principles, and adapt to their matrix reporting structure and multidisciplinary nature of projects while working well in large teams. So, if you are this kind of person, then chances are good that you will get noticed.
Second, Advertising Agencies are oftentimes more demanding, ambiguous, and faster paced than in-house Marketing Departments. Many professionals also experience difficulty thriving in such an environment after spending too much time on the client side. Consequently, it is best for you to get your hands dirty at an Ad Agency as soon as possible.
At any career level, it is easier to exit an Advertising Agency and move to an in-house Marketing Department than vice-a-versa. But, the time spent in an Agency is always fruitful for one’s career in the Marketing field. It allows you to familiarize yourself with the Agency's processes inside and out and apply this experience in any future dealings with them. Agencies like to joke around that Ex-Agency staff makes for the worst most demanding clients.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
How to Get an Advertising Career Going in Mainland China
Over the last year, I received regular career inquires from (non-Asian) foreigners about job prospects in Advertising Agencies in Mainland China.
Clearly, many Agencies have switched to localization as their primary recruitment strategy because of high employment costs associated with foreign staff. However, these Agencies will still continue to hire foreigners because the local talent pool is too small and Agencies have demonstrated a strong reluctance to invest in and develop the local talent. Consequently, a gap and opportunity exists.
As a result, the odds of being hired are positive. But, there are several issues to be aware of:
1. Foreigners are seldom employed in positions lower than "Director" level. Thus, candidates should have enough experience and expertise to join at least at the level of an Account Director or Creative Director.
2. Multi-Media, Digital Marketing, and Integrated Campaigns are the current key words of the Modern Advertising World. So, if you are passionate about digital and have completed excellent digital work in the past, then highlight these points in your CV.
3. Foreigners are hired primarily because of their unique professional skill set and not their Mandarin fluency. Hence, starting to study Chinese should not be your "unique selling point" in your application. It will make your everyday life a lot easier in China though.
4. Almost always, hiring managers worry about an applicant’s lack of knowledge and experience in the Chinese marketplace. So, if you have already worked and/or lived in another country for some time and have shown flexibility and adaptability and proved intercultural awareness and interpersonal skills in the past, then emphasize these points. At the same time, you must allocate time to research, read, and learn about Chinese culture and the Chinese market; advertising campaigns, the players, etc.
Other things to consider include:
1. "Make a mark at home first" until you are in a higher level position and then look into being transferred within your Company to Mainland China as an Expat; it will be less frustrating and more financially rewarding.
2. Target smaller and faster growing international newcomers in Mainland China who do not have the budget or time to grow local talent and instead prefer to tap into a pool of highly qualified international talent.
3. Connect with Recruiters; introduce yourself, hear first hand current hiring trends, and get a few leads.
4. Arrive in Mainland China for a "trial period" and take on a few freelance projects. This approach will provide an opportunity for you to show your skills in practice and get a taste of what life is truly like here.
5. If you are a Creative, try to meet with a few Creative Directors for an informational interview and use this opportunity to show them your portfolio.
Lastly, if you have the desire to show up in Mainland China early in your career, then go for it but expect to receive dismal replies or minimal interest because of lackluster concern for green foreigners. Be also aware that compared with your home country, companies in Mainland China will likely offer you less mentorship and training opportunities and compensation. This is why you must consider the impact of coming here on your long-term career and personal goals. Finally, be willing to sacrifice on more than a few points to fulfill your dream of working here and have the endurance to stick around long enough until an opportunity opens up.
Clearly, many Agencies have switched to localization as their primary recruitment strategy because of high employment costs associated with foreign staff. However, these Agencies will still continue to hire foreigners because the local talent pool is too small and Agencies have demonstrated a strong reluctance to invest in and develop the local talent. Consequently, a gap and opportunity exists.
As a result, the odds of being hired are positive. But, there are several issues to be aware of:
1. Foreigners are seldom employed in positions lower than "Director" level. Thus, candidates should have enough experience and expertise to join at least at the level of an Account Director or Creative Director.
2. Multi-Media, Digital Marketing, and Integrated Campaigns are the current key words of the Modern Advertising World. So, if you are passionate about digital and have completed excellent digital work in the past, then highlight these points in your CV.
3. Foreigners are hired primarily because of their unique professional skill set and not their Mandarin fluency. Hence, starting to study Chinese should not be your "unique selling point" in your application. It will make your everyday life a lot easier in China though.
4. Almost always, hiring managers worry about an applicant’s lack of knowledge and experience in the Chinese marketplace. So, if you have already worked and/or lived in another country for some time and have shown flexibility and adaptability and proved intercultural awareness and interpersonal skills in the past, then emphasize these points. At the same time, you must allocate time to research, read, and learn about Chinese culture and the Chinese market; advertising campaigns, the players, etc.
Other things to consider include:
1. "Make a mark at home first" until you are in a higher level position and then look into being transferred within your Company to Mainland China as an Expat; it will be less frustrating and more financially rewarding.
2. Target smaller and faster growing international newcomers in Mainland China who do not have the budget or time to grow local talent and instead prefer to tap into a pool of highly qualified international talent.
3. Connect with Recruiters; introduce yourself, hear first hand current hiring trends, and get a few leads.
4. Arrive in Mainland China for a "trial period" and take on a few freelance projects. This approach will provide an opportunity for you to show your skills in practice and get a taste of what life is truly like here.
5. If you are a Creative, try to meet with a few Creative Directors for an informational interview and use this opportunity to show them your portfolio.
Lastly, if you have the desire to show up in Mainland China early in your career, then go for it but expect to receive dismal replies or minimal interest because of lackluster concern for green foreigners. Be also aware that compared with your home country, companies in Mainland China will likely offer you less mentorship and training opportunities and compensation. This is why you must consider the impact of coming here on your long-term career and personal goals. Finally, be willing to sacrifice on more than a few points to fulfill your dream of working here and have the endurance to stick around long enough until an opportunity opens up.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Critical Talent in Advertising Agencies
Critical or strategic positions are positions that are essential for delivering the firm’s strategic capabilities. Critical talent therefore refers to the people who create the value that an organization needs to succeed. For example,
• In large pharmaceutical organizations, it is the researchers and clinicians who drive the development of “blockbuster drugs”.
• In the oil industry, it is the geologists and petroleum engineers who find and extract oil.
• In manufacturing, it is the machinists who perform precision manufacturing to Six Sigma standards.
• In retail, it is the inventory managers who get the right goods into the right stores at the right time.
• In a courier organization, it is the couriers who pick up and deliver packages.
• In a Disney amusement park, it can be the street sweepers who are in touch with millions of customers every year.
According to Becker, Huselid, and Beatty (The Differentiated Workforce), the process of identifying critical positions begins with two questions:
1. How will we compete (the firm’s strategic choice)?
2. What must we do exceptionally well to win (the firm’s strategic capabilities)?
For Advertising Agencies, the strategic choice (operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy) tends to be unclear whereas creativity is the most frequently referred to strategic capability.
Hence, for an Advertising Agency, Creatives (Copywriters, Art Directors, and Creative Directors) that are particularly exceptional in originating new concepts and ideas are the critical talent.
As a result and in line with Becker, Huselid, and Beatty recommendations, Creatives enjoy differentiated access to resources, development opportunities, and rewards. A few examples include:
1. When resources are short, there is usually an extra budget for a Freelancer to join a Creative team.
2. Account professionals are often told to keep Creatives' happy, inspire them, and make their jobs easier.
3. Creatives get to go to international Award Shows.
4. A Creative Director may receive as much as twice the money that an Account Director or Planning Director.
Do you know any Agencies that would perceive Strategic Planning or Account Servicing as their strategic capability? Are there any Agencies that would view their Planners (who devise the strategies for clients' brands) or Account Service staff (who have direct contact with the customer and must make continual decisions that impact not only the client's satisfaction but also the efficiency and effectiveness of the project's delivery) as critical talent?
• In large pharmaceutical organizations, it is the researchers and clinicians who drive the development of “blockbuster drugs”.
• In the oil industry, it is the geologists and petroleum engineers who find and extract oil.
• In manufacturing, it is the machinists who perform precision manufacturing to Six Sigma standards.
• In retail, it is the inventory managers who get the right goods into the right stores at the right time.
• In a courier organization, it is the couriers who pick up and deliver packages.
• In a Disney amusement park, it can be the street sweepers who are in touch with millions of customers every year.
According to Becker, Huselid, and Beatty (The Differentiated Workforce), the process of identifying critical positions begins with two questions:
1. How will we compete (the firm’s strategic choice)?
2. What must we do exceptionally well to win (the firm’s strategic capabilities)?
For Advertising Agencies, the strategic choice (operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy) tends to be unclear whereas creativity is the most frequently referred to strategic capability.
Hence, for an Advertising Agency, Creatives (Copywriters, Art Directors, and Creative Directors) that are particularly exceptional in originating new concepts and ideas are the critical talent.
As a result and in line with Becker, Huselid, and Beatty recommendations, Creatives enjoy differentiated access to resources, development opportunities, and rewards. A few examples include:
1. When resources are short, there is usually an extra budget for a Freelancer to join a Creative team.
2. Account professionals are often told to keep Creatives' happy, inspire them, and make their jobs easier.
3. Creatives get to go to international Award Shows.
4. A Creative Director may receive as much as twice the money that an Account Director or Planning Director.
Do you know any Agencies that would perceive Strategic Planning or Account Servicing as their strategic capability? Are there any Agencies that would view their Planners (who devise the strategies for clients' brands) or Account Service staff (who have direct contact with the customer and must make continual decisions that impact not only the client's satisfaction but also the efficiency and effectiveness of the project's delivery) as critical talent?
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
A, B, and C Players (The Differentiated Workforce)
Adding on to my previous post on A, B, and C positions, here are some thoughts on the concept of A, B, and C players.
1. People believe that they give their best effort and deliver good performance. While self-confidence is abundant in China, self-awareness is scarce. As a result, staff has difficulty to realize that their performance is simply not good enough and hence often revert to blaming their Managers for partiality.
2. People prefer to be treated better than others or at least equally. Usually, high performers are proponents of high performance management systems, while low performers are against them. Nonetheless, when ambitions are incommensurate with skills, employees still expect healthy rewards. So the story goes, if you give one person a one month bonus, another person would expect a one month bonus as well. If you decide to recognize the two good performers out of three employees working in the same role, then you have a problem on your hands in China.
3. People will resign if they feel disappointed about the lack of appreciation/recognition or dissatisfied with staffing decisions. Resignations are an opportunity for the Company to upgrade the skills of their workforce. Though, in industries where most companies pursue stealing talent over training and developing it, one can find themselves without many Candidates to choose from. As talent is hard to find, it may be still better to have a poor/mediocre performer onboard instead of a vacant position. Then, a job done slower, less efficient, or with less quality is still better than no output at all.
4. People tend to be very protective of one another. Employees tend to be immune toward the weak performance of colleagues, particularly if they maintain a close social relationship. Thus, for some staff, execution alone and showing up to work already constitutes good performance. Consequently, performance-based terminations are viewed as a display of lack of sympathy toward the fired individual and not a result of their poor performance.
Finally, several questions arise regarding the implementation of A, B, and C positions:
• As real people, individuals have a high self-concept. How do you go around labeling someone a C player?
• Top talent wants to team up with top talent. Do A players really want to collaborate with B or C players (since A players in B and C positions are not affordable)? How do you keep A players motivated when you ask them to work together with B or C players as in this example, Creative Director (A player) works with relatively junior Account Service team challenged by high turnover rates and low professional capabilities?
• Can your company outsource all of the C positions?
1. People believe that they give their best effort and deliver good performance. While self-confidence is abundant in China, self-awareness is scarce. As a result, staff has difficulty to realize that their performance is simply not good enough and hence often revert to blaming their Managers for partiality.
2. People prefer to be treated better than others or at least equally. Usually, high performers are proponents of high performance management systems, while low performers are against them. Nonetheless, when ambitions are incommensurate with skills, employees still expect healthy rewards. So the story goes, if you give one person a one month bonus, another person would expect a one month bonus as well. If you decide to recognize the two good performers out of three employees working in the same role, then you have a problem on your hands in China.
3. People will resign if they feel disappointed about the lack of appreciation/recognition or dissatisfied with staffing decisions. Resignations are an opportunity for the Company to upgrade the skills of their workforce. Though, in industries where most companies pursue stealing talent over training and developing it, one can find themselves without many Candidates to choose from. As talent is hard to find, it may be still better to have a poor/mediocre performer onboard instead of a vacant position. Then, a job done slower, less efficient, or with less quality is still better than no output at all.
4. People tend to be very protective of one another. Employees tend to be immune toward the weak performance of colleagues, particularly if they maintain a close social relationship. Thus, for some staff, execution alone and showing up to work already constitutes good performance. Consequently, performance-based terminations are viewed as a display of lack of sympathy toward the fired individual and not a result of their poor performance.
Finally, several questions arise regarding the implementation of A, B, and C positions:
• As real people, individuals have a high self-concept. How do you go around labeling someone a C player?
• Top talent wants to team up with top talent. Do A players really want to collaborate with B or C players (since A players in B and C positions are not affordable)? How do you keep A players motivated when you ask them to work together with B or C players as in this example, Creative Director (A player) works with relatively junior Account Service team challenged by high turnover rates and low professional capabilities?
• Can your company outsource all of the C positions?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A, B, and C positions (The Differentiated Workforce)
In their latest book, “The Differentiated Workforce: Transforming Talent into Strategic Impact”, Huselid, Becker, and Beatty continue to promote differentiation as the key to successfully managing the workforce. In particular, they suggest that managers and HR pros identify truly strategic roles in their businesses and then focus on managing the variability in employee performance (A, B, and C players).
Identifying strategic roles might be a challenge for many companies that have traditionally tended to label senior jobs as such and instituted differentiated pay, development opportunities, and working conditions. Standard perks to underline the importance of those strategic roles have included assigned parking spaces, training retreats, and enclosed office spaces (or at least “wooden” floors as opposed to linoleum).
It goes to show that companies have also been successful in differentiating between front line and back office employees. After all, the lack of a direct link to business strategy and focus on servicing “internal customers” has created many opportunities for underinvestment in Traditional HR, Admin, IT, and Finance. For example:
• Physical isolation from the revenue departments. Did you ever need to walk through a dark corridor or turn your hips to make your way between cabinets to reach the HR or IT department?
• Second-hand equipment and furnishings. Did you ever see back office staff sitting at their old desks and on their old chairs even after the Company’s move to a new office whereby everyone else received new stuff?
• Unsophisticated and uninspiring interior design. The grand lobbies and waiting areas abound and at the same time 2m by 2m cubicles for sales professionals have defined “what’s normal” in corporations worldwide. But, did you ever leave behind the brightly painted walls in the front office area and step into the grey painted world of the back office?
While no changes are to expect for back office (sorry if I am too pessimistic here), front line should be reshaped by the new kind of differentiation. Companies should differentiate between positions based on their strategic significance while recognizing that an entry-level, customer-facing position may be more strategic than the obvious C-suite jobs. I am looking forward to more progressive HR departments' that not only intend to create a workforce that competitors cannot easily copy but also guide this process forward.
Identifying strategic roles might be a challenge for many companies that have traditionally tended to label senior jobs as such and instituted differentiated pay, development opportunities, and working conditions. Standard perks to underline the importance of those strategic roles have included assigned parking spaces, training retreats, and enclosed office spaces (or at least “wooden” floors as opposed to linoleum).
It goes to show that companies have also been successful in differentiating between front line and back office employees. After all, the lack of a direct link to business strategy and focus on servicing “internal customers” has created many opportunities for underinvestment in Traditional HR, Admin, IT, and Finance. For example:
• Physical isolation from the revenue departments. Did you ever need to walk through a dark corridor or turn your hips to make your way between cabinets to reach the HR or IT department?
• Second-hand equipment and furnishings. Did you ever see back office staff sitting at their old desks and on their old chairs even after the Company’s move to a new office whereby everyone else received new stuff?
• Unsophisticated and uninspiring interior design. The grand lobbies and waiting areas abound and at the same time 2m by 2m cubicles for sales professionals have defined “what’s normal” in corporations worldwide. But, did you ever leave behind the brightly painted walls in the front office area and step into the grey painted world of the back office?
While no changes are to expect for back office (sorry if I am too pessimistic here), front line should be reshaped by the new kind of differentiation. Companies should differentiate between positions based on their strategic significance while recognizing that an entry-level, customer-facing position may be more strategic than the obvious C-suite jobs. I am looking forward to more progressive HR departments' that not only intend to create a workforce that competitors cannot easily copy but also guide this process forward.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Improving Recruitment Work
For recruiting the "best" talent, good is never good enough. Continuous improvement is mandatory to outsmart the competition. There are several key points to evaluate and redesign for greater in-house recruitment results. These include:
Industry Knowledge – If the recruiter fails to name the company’s competitors, is unable to describe the service offerings inside and out, or misunderstands competency models, then their performance will suffer. To close this sort of gap, the recruiter must, for example, research the industry, browse the company’s website, review all marketing collaterals, and talk to colleagues just about everything concerning the Company.
Recruitment Channel Management - Recruitment channel management entails tracking, analyzing, and forecasting application and candidate flows from all internal & external recruitment channels. It helps the HR department to evaluate channels, allocate their recruitment budget, and make more informed decisions. Therefore, recruiters should collect data on how candidates find out about open positions and look for correlations between the channels used and performance of new hires.
Candidate Sourcing – In-house recruiters tend to prefer and rely on screening over sourcing. After all, being reactive is much easier than being proactive. Nonetheless, recruiters need to overcome their barrier to cold calling and ask every candidate for a candidate referral.
Interview Skills – Hiring managers and even recruiters are often untrained to perform meaningful job interviews and as a result are frequently anxious about making a poor and expensive hiring mistake. During the interview, interviewers should try to get to know the person instead of just verifying information on the CV. Importantly, an interview is the recruiter’s chance to voice their major concerns and have them addressed by the candidate. In a talent short market, recruiters must unequivocally identify candidates that will deliver stellar performance and not ones that look good on paper. Thus, instead of looking for reasons to reject the candidate, try to find reasons why the candidate could be a good hire.
Candidate Assessment/Evaluation – More often than not, hiring managers and recruiters settle down for intuitive hiring decisions based on "gut" feeling and employment history. Surprisingly as well, references are not checked regularly in China and therefore may lead to hiring candidates for positions (or even higher) that s/he has already been fired at. Furthermore, a recruiter's reliance on the candidate's experience and having done it before can be ill-advised since it does not necessarily mean that the candidate knows how to do it right.
Report Design and Analysis – Since statutory reporting does not apply to soft HR, report design and analysis has been quite a sluggish and underdeveloped art. To start, HR pros need to determine:
• Which metrics help them the most to guide execution of the business strategy,
• Which parameters can be constituted as key performance indicators,
• Which items can ensure high quality of the recruitment process, and
• Which points will demonstrate the strengths of the company as an employer in the talent market.
Examples worth considering include:
• Percentage of candidates considered high performers after 3 months.
• Number of cold calls made, how many CVs were secured, and how many interviews were held per week.
• Diversity as a measure of candidate quality.
• Percentage of candidates that come from key competitors.
Company Culture Promotion – Company culture promotion starts by posting a recruitment advertisement and for hired candidates it never stops. In China, trying to learn about the company culture in an interview setting is sometimes just impossible. The recruiter may not be able to deliver a meaningful introduction about the company's services, clients, mission, and values either. It is vital then to take the time to prepare the recruiter fully and check their work and progress regularly to “keep them on their toes".
Team Work – The greatest inefficiency of the recruitment function is the lack of team work and closed down communication. What happens is that a recruiter keeps searching for a candidate even though the position has been either put on hold, cancelled, or a suitable candidate was already identified by the hiring manager but the recruiter was never informed (even though the HR Manager was). This sort of process is embarrassing, confusing, and highly inefficient. Making sure that everyone is abreast of the latest is the prerequisite for HR to look competent.
Industry Knowledge – If the recruiter fails to name the company’s competitors, is unable to describe the service offerings inside and out, or misunderstands competency models, then their performance will suffer. To close this sort of gap, the recruiter must, for example, research the industry, browse the company’s website, review all marketing collaterals, and talk to colleagues just about everything concerning the Company.
Recruitment Channel Management - Recruitment channel management entails tracking, analyzing, and forecasting application and candidate flows from all internal & external recruitment channels. It helps the HR department to evaluate channels, allocate their recruitment budget, and make more informed decisions. Therefore, recruiters should collect data on how candidates find out about open positions and look for correlations between the channels used and performance of new hires.
Candidate Sourcing – In-house recruiters tend to prefer and rely on screening over sourcing. After all, being reactive is much easier than being proactive. Nonetheless, recruiters need to overcome their barrier to cold calling and ask every candidate for a candidate referral.
Interview Skills – Hiring managers and even recruiters are often untrained to perform meaningful job interviews and as a result are frequently anxious about making a poor and expensive hiring mistake. During the interview, interviewers should try to get to know the person instead of just verifying information on the CV. Importantly, an interview is the recruiter’s chance to voice their major concerns and have them addressed by the candidate. In a talent short market, recruiters must unequivocally identify candidates that will deliver stellar performance and not ones that look good on paper. Thus, instead of looking for reasons to reject the candidate, try to find reasons why the candidate could be a good hire.
Candidate Assessment/Evaluation – More often than not, hiring managers and recruiters settle down for intuitive hiring decisions based on "gut" feeling and employment history. Surprisingly as well, references are not checked regularly in China and therefore may lead to hiring candidates for positions (or even higher) that s/he has already been fired at. Furthermore, a recruiter's reliance on the candidate's experience and having done it before can be ill-advised since it does not necessarily mean that the candidate knows how to do it right.
Report Design and Analysis – Since statutory reporting does not apply to soft HR, report design and analysis has been quite a sluggish and underdeveloped art. To start, HR pros need to determine:
• Which metrics help them the most to guide execution of the business strategy,
• Which parameters can be constituted as key performance indicators,
• Which items can ensure high quality of the recruitment process, and
• Which points will demonstrate the strengths of the company as an employer in the talent market.
Examples worth considering include:
• Percentage of candidates considered high performers after 3 months.
• Number of cold calls made, how many CVs were secured, and how many interviews were held per week.
• Diversity as a measure of candidate quality.
• Percentage of candidates that come from key competitors.
Company Culture Promotion – Company culture promotion starts by posting a recruitment advertisement and for hired candidates it never stops. In China, trying to learn about the company culture in an interview setting is sometimes just impossible. The recruiter may not be able to deliver a meaningful introduction about the company's services, clients, mission, and values either. It is vital then to take the time to prepare the recruiter fully and check their work and progress regularly to “keep them on their toes".
Team Work – The greatest inefficiency of the recruitment function is the lack of team work and closed down communication. What happens is that a recruiter keeps searching for a candidate even though the position has been either put on hold, cancelled, or a suitable candidate was already identified by the hiring manager but the recruiter was never informed (even though the HR Manager was). This sort of process is embarrassing, confusing, and highly inefficient. Making sure that everyone is abreast of the latest is the prerequisite for HR to look competent.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Creative Tactical HR
In his book, “Disruption Brought Order”, Jean-Marie Dru (2007, pp. 44-45) suggests that talent is not enough when thirty second commercials are made. Advertising people need to perfect their techniques by immersing themselves into cinema culture and constantly watching advertising commercials and movies. Also, Patricia Smith (1998, "Instructional Design", p. 4) argues that instructional designers become more creative in their work by voraciously consuming examples of instructional materials.
So, creators must acquire deep knowledge in order to be "creative". The more they study, read, and build up their knowledge, the more they can create something new. The argument is that you can not think outside the box unless you have seen a lot of boxes! Thus, creativity is a function of knowledge. And the best ideas are often the simplest.
For HR pros, all of this means that they need to study best practices and be on the lookout for original HR practices, HR function approaches, and benefits.
A few simple HR examples in practice in China include:
• The Innovation Company: New staff is introduced with an A4 profile page (pictures and 10 things about the newbie) placed in places where people take a short break such as pantries and washrooms.
• Saatchi & Saatchi: Pictures of staff are displayed in the lobby area.
• JWT: A fruit platter is given to staff after lunch everyday to refresh them.
• DDB: A theatrical "What's on Today" sign with the names of new employees welcomes newbies on their onboarding day at the Company's entrance.
Lastly, a few ideas that are not in practice include:
• Offer education leave.
• Convert untaken sick leave into planned annual leave.
• Provide medical insurance for parents, spouses, and children.
• Give employees a choice of perks and benefits, i.e. for every item you offer have at least two choices.
• Design a gratuity scheme (extra cash upon completion of the contract so as to ensure a stability of the team).
• Sponsor a “Guest Book” in the waiting area for Job Candidates to share their impressions, expectations, and thoughts.
• In Shanghai or Beijing, provide free accommodations for staff living far away from the Company to reduce long daily commutes in these enormous cities.
Do you have any more examples and ideas? Please feel free to share.
So, creators must acquire deep knowledge in order to be "creative". The more they study, read, and build up their knowledge, the more they can create something new. The argument is that you can not think outside the box unless you have seen a lot of boxes! Thus, creativity is a function of knowledge. And the best ideas are often the simplest.
For HR pros, all of this means that they need to study best practices and be on the lookout for original HR practices, HR function approaches, and benefits.
A few simple HR examples in practice in China include:
• The Innovation Company: New staff is introduced with an A4 profile page (pictures and 10 things about the newbie) placed in places where people take a short break such as pantries and washrooms.
• Saatchi & Saatchi: Pictures of staff are displayed in the lobby area.
• JWT: A fruit platter is given to staff after lunch everyday to refresh them.
• DDB: A theatrical "What's on Today" sign with the names of new employees welcomes newbies on their onboarding day at the Company's entrance.
Lastly, a few ideas that are not in practice include:
• Offer education leave.
• Convert untaken sick leave into planned annual leave.
• Provide medical insurance for parents, spouses, and children.
• Give employees a choice of perks and benefits, i.e. for every item you offer have at least two choices.
• Design a gratuity scheme (extra cash upon completion of the contract so as to ensure a stability of the team).
• Sponsor a “Guest Book” in the waiting area for Job Candidates to share their impressions, expectations, and thoughts.
• In Shanghai or Beijing, provide free accommodations for staff living far away from the Company to reduce long daily commutes in these enormous cities.
Do you have any more examples and ideas? Please feel free to share.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Newbies in an Advertising Agency
Interview in Guang Gao Ren, June 2009
1. What selection processes do you have in place?
Each week, we receive around 100 CVs from 8 recruitment channels. About 20% of all applicants successfully pass the first screening. We screen out "job hoppers" with 4 or more jobs within the last three years.
A well-written, engaging, and creatively formatted CV in English always attracts our attention. It proves a candidate’s attention to detail, standards of excellence, self-promotion skills, organizational and preparation proficiency, and writing ability.
Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in our rigorous selection process that involves 3 interviews, a practical assignment, and a psychometric assessment that allows us to determine in what way the candidate can complement the existing team.
The interview portion is an opportunity for the candidates to talk about their background, previous successes, and ambitions. We ask relevant behavioral questions to explore each person’s personality, motivations, and natural talents. We are highly interested in candidates that are able to hold a conversation and maintain the interviewers’ attention, demonstrate creativity and curiosity with a questioning mind, and have a passionate and team oriented approach to work and life. We also pay close attention to whether the candidate has prepared diligently for this interview; what and how much they know about us, what sort of questions they have asked and prepared, etc.
For the practical assignment, we typically give each candidate a mock client brief and ask them to come back a week later to present their ideas to a team.
For positions in the Creative Department, we always review carefully the portfolios of the candidate's creative works collected over time.
2. What are your selection criteria for Newbies with no advertising experience?
We define "creativity" very broadly and believe that true creative talent comes from an inquisitive and critical mind, a passion for life, broad life and work experience, and a natural ability for connecting different ideas together. We welcome "out-of-the-box" thinkers and doers from various fields of expertise and career paths such as architects, designers, engineers, project managers, and more.
We are on the lookout for open-minded and ambitious talent with high integrity. We strongly prefer people with high English proficiency and transferable skills and aptitudes (e.g. time management skills, communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork spirit, initiative, etc.). Successful candidates also demonstrate a “can-do” spirit, an internal confidence rooted in a track record of past achievements, a positive attitude, commitment towards continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a client orientation.
In addition to ensuring cultural fit, we base our hiring decisions on specific job and Agency-related criteria. As an example, for TBWA\, our Advertising and Strategy division that deals with large-scale project and retainer clients, we prefer talent who likes to cultivate a long-term relationship with one single client. However, in Agency.com, our Digital Marketing division that works on short-term projects, we need people who enjoy variety, are at ease with maintaining multiple client relationships, and thrive on exposure to various brands and individuals.
For these reasons, self-awareness is another important element for candidate’s to have in order to help both of us make better decisions.
3. What must Newbies learn at the beginning of their work in an Advertising Agency?
People interested in this industry should strongly consider joining an Advertisement Agency relatively early in their career life. It usually takes many years of on-the-job training and client exposure for one to get acquainted with the advertising craft and to later become an expert.
Newcomers to the industry need to quickly grasp an understanding of our Agency's processes, internal project management principles, and establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients. They also should become comfortable with our matrix structure, multidisciplinary nature of our projects, and working in large teams. The capability to adapt to and thrive in our fast paced, demanding, and sometimes ambiguous environment is also essential.
During the first few months at work, Newbies should concentrate on enhancing their professional skills (e.g. account management, design, research, etc.), learn to manage time, resource, and projects challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrate high quality standards over and over again, and strive to understand the "essence" of the brands that they are working on.
All Newbies at TBWA\Group\China are required to learn and understand our language, our cultural glue, and our planning methodology - Disruption; and then be able to apply it to their work and way of working.
4. What kind of training do you provide to Newbies?
Training and development are strong pillars of our culture. All new hires at our Agency join our Orientation Program which aims to equip them with knowledge of all Agencies, Departments, and policies and procedures. During this program, new hires can also obtain a good grasp of our organizational history, mission, and values while meeting others. In addition, Line Managers are responsible for introducing newcomers to their team, reviewing our Agency manuals, going over performance expectation, and giving a briefing for the initial job assignment.
During the first three months, Newbies are trained on-the-job in all facets of daily project work; they may also attend all in-house training sessions and have access to our local and global training decks and self-study tools. After they successfully pass their probationary period, they become eligible for training programs organized together with TBWA\Asia Pacific and the Omnicom Group. For example, the Tiger Academy is our two-year training program geared to nurture leadership skills of our stars in the Account Service Department.
Last but not least, our multi-cultural and multi-national DNA provides employees a continuous flow of opportunities to enrich themselves creatively and intellectually and work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational, and geographic backgrounds.
1. What selection processes do you have in place?
Each week, we receive around 100 CVs from 8 recruitment channels. About 20% of all applicants successfully pass the first screening. We screen out "job hoppers" with 4 or more jobs within the last three years.
A well-written, engaging, and creatively formatted CV in English always attracts our attention. It proves a candidate’s attention to detail, standards of excellence, self-promotion skills, organizational and preparation proficiency, and writing ability.
Shortlisted candidates are then invited to participate in our rigorous selection process that involves 3 interviews, a practical assignment, and a psychometric assessment that allows us to determine in what way the candidate can complement the existing team.
The interview portion is an opportunity for the candidates to talk about their background, previous successes, and ambitions. We ask relevant behavioral questions to explore each person’s personality, motivations, and natural talents. We are highly interested in candidates that are able to hold a conversation and maintain the interviewers’ attention, demonstrate creativity and curiosity with a questioning mind, and have a passionate and team oriented approach to work and life. We also pay close attention to whether the candidate has prepared diligently for this interview; what and how much they know about us, what sort of questions they have asked and prepared, etc.
For the practical assignment, we typically give each candidate a mock client brief and ask them to come back a week later to present their ideas to a team.
For positions in the Creative Department, we always review carefully the portfolios of the candidate's creative works collected over time.
2. What are your selection criteria for Newbies with no advertising experience?
We define "creativity" very broadly and believe that true creative talent comes from an inquisitive and critical mind, a passion for life, broad life and work experience, and a natural ability for connecting different ideas together. We welcome "out-of-the-box" thinkers and doers from various fields of expertise and career paths such as architects, designers, engineers, project managers, and more.
We are on the lookout for open-minded and ambitious talent with high integrity. We strongly prefer people with high English proficiency and transferable skills and aptitudes (e.g. time management skills, communication skills, organizational skills, teamwork spirit, initiative, etc.). Successful candidates also demonstrate a “can-do” spirit, an internal confidence rooted in a track record of past achievements, a positive attitude, commitment towards continuous learning, a strong work ethic, and a client orientation.
In addition to ensuring cultural fit, we base our hiring decisions on specific job and Agency-related criteria. As an example, for TBWA\, our Advertising and Strategy division that deals with large-scale project and retainer clients, we prefer talent who likes to cultivate a long-term relationship with one single client. However, in Agency.com, our Digital Marketing division that works on short-term projects, we need people who enjoy variety, are at ease with maintaining multiple client relationships, and thrive on exposure to various brands and individuals.
For these reasons, self-awareness is another important element for candidate’s to have in order to help both of us make better decisions.
3. What must Newbies learn at the beginning of their work in an Advertising Agency?
People interested in this industry should strongly consider joining an Advertisement Agency relatively early in their career life. It usually takes many years of on-the-job training and client exposure for one to get acquainted with the advertising craft and to later become an expert.
Newcomers to the industry need to quickly grasp an understanding of our Agency's processes, internal project management principles, and establish strong relationships with colleagues and clients. They also should become comfortable with our matrix structure, multidisciplinary nature of our projects, and working in large teams. The capability to adapt to and thrive in our fast paced, demanding, and sometimes ambiguous environment is also essential.
During the first few months at work, Newbies should concentrate on enhancing their professional skills (e.g. account management, design, research, etc.), learn to manage time, resource, and projects challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrate high quality standards over and over again, and strive to understand the "essence" of the brands that they are working on.
All Newbies at TBWA\Group\China are required to learn and understand our language, our cultural glue, and our planning methodology - Disruption; and then be able to apply it to their work and way of working.
4. What kind of training do you provide to Newbies?
Training and development are strong pillars of our culture. All new hires at our Agency join our Orientation Program which aims to equip them with knowledge of all Agencies, Departments, and policies and procedures. During this program, new hires can also obtain a good grasp of our organizational history, mission, and values while meeting others. In addition, Line Managers are responsible for introducing newcomers to their team, reviewing our Agency manuals, going over performance expectation, and giving a briefing for the initial job assignment.
During the first three months, Newbies are trained on-the-job in all facets of daily project work; they may also attend all in-house training sessions and have access to our local and global training decks and self-study tools. After they successfully pass their probationary period, they become eligible for training programs organized together with TBWA\Asia Pacific and the Omnicom Group. For example, the Tiger Academy is our two-year training program geared to nurture leadership skills of our stars in the Account Service Department.
Last but not least, our multi-cultural and multi-national DNA provides employees a continuous flow of opportunities to enrich themselves creatively and intellectually and work with people from a wide range of cultural, educational, and geographic backgrounds.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
HR Dilemmas
A high performance culture is sought after but promotions for key positions regularly arise because of politics instead of contributions.
Teamwork is encouraged and expected but the company operates in an individual-centric manner.
The company prioritizes promoting from within but there has been no succession planning with corresponding leadership and develop programs.
The company strives to minimize recruitment fees to search firms but does not develop adequate in-house recruitment capabilities.
The CEO pledges to provide 30-40 training hours annually per employee but the CFO institutes stringent guidelines to greatly minimize training expenditures.
HR staff is expected to shift from an operational expert to human capital partner but has not received additional training to learn new skills necessary to succeed in these new roles, i.e. translating customer expectations into employees’ behavior, executive coaching, data analysis, etc.
The company states "who we are" in all marketing collaterals but is unable to cascade this knowledge to all management levels; hence employees provide a lot of different answers as to what the corporate culture is.
The organization encourages staff to provide constant feedback but does not support application of tools (e.g. organizational climate surveys) to capture feedback systematically.
People are expected to think and act on-the-spot but there is a strong autocratic decision making process that does not empower people to take charge.
The company complains about the lack of talent but perceives any initiatives to enlarge the talent pool as too costly.
The organization recognizes Human Capital Management as highly essential and at the center of it all but places the HR team in some odd corner of the office with minimal visibility.
The HR Director is under every increasing pressure to demonstrate quick manpower results but does not have the authority to reward/penalize managers who exhibit exceptional/pathetic people management skills.
The HR Director must champion change and push forward the "people's" agenda but is too often one of the last to know about major changes and problems and is not kept "in the loop" until when all hell breaks loose.
Teamwork is encouraged and expected but the company operates in an individual-centric manner.
The company prioritizes promoting from within but there has been no succession planning with corresponding leadership and develop programs.
The company strives to minimize recruitment fees to search firms but does not develop adequate in-house recruitment capabilities.
The CEO pledges to provide 30-40 training hours annually per employee but the CFO institutes stringent guidelines to greatly minimize training expenditures.
HR staff is expected to shift from an operational expert to human capital partner but has not received additional training to learn new skills necessary to succeed in these new roles, i.e. translating customer expectations into employees’ behavior, executive coaching, data analysis, etc.
The company states "who we are" in all marketing collaterals but is unable to cascade this knowledge to all management levels; hence employees provide a lot of different answers as to what the corporate culture is.
The organization encourages staff to provide constant feedback but does not support application of tools (e.g. organizational climate surveys) to capture feedback systematically.
People are expected to think and act on-the-spot but there is a strong autocratic decision making process that does not empower people to take charge.
The company complains about the lack of talent but perceives any initiatives to enlarge the talent pool as too costly.
The organization recognizes Human Capital Management as highly essential and at the center of it all but places the HR team in some odd corner of the office with minimal visibility.
The HR Director is under every increasing pressure to demonstrate quick manpower results but does not have the authority to reward/penalize managers who exhibit exceptional/pathetic people management skills.
The HR Director must champion change and push forward the "people's" agenda but is too often one of the last to know about major changes and problems and is not kept "in the loop" until when all hell breaks loose.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
How do you know that your HR Head knows your business?
During one of the recent HR forums, it became apparent that “knowing the business” has become a chief mantra of HR Heads in China. It is one of the prerequisites for getting a "seat on the board" and being recognized as a Business Partner by business managers.
So, what does it mean for the HR Head to “know the business”? Well, it means that he/she can answer the following questions:
• Who are three of our competitors and what are their competitive advantages?
• Who are the five major buyers in the markets that we serve?
• Which customers represent 80 percent of our revenues and profits?
• Whom do the customers perceive as "best" in our industry?
• Why do our target customers buy from us? What are their buying criteria?
• What are our future customers' needs and expectations?
• How do we ensure that our target customers have a positive customer experience?
• What do we do to build connectivity or intimacy with our target customers?
• Can you describe the culture of our organization?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our organization?
• What are the economic, social, political, and technological influences that affect our industry?
• What future risks is our organization facing?
• What are the opportunities for the organization?
• What is the financial performance of our company and how has this changed over the past three years?
• Can you read a profit and loss statement?
Even if the HR Head can answer all of these key questions, it is still very important for them to apply this knowledge to their HR strategy and programs and to ensure proper execution with their HR team.
So, what does it mean for the HR Head to “know the business”? Well, it means that he/she can answer the following questions:
• Who are three of our competitors and what are their competitive advantages?
• Who are the five major buyers in the markets that we serve?
• Which customers represent 80 percent of our revenues and profits?
• Whom do the customers perceive as "best" in our industry?
• Why do our target customers buy from us? What are their buying criteria?
• What are our future customers' needs and expectations?
• How do we ensure that our target customers have a positive customer experience?
• What do we do to build connectivity or intimacy with our target customers?
• Can you describe the culture of our organization?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our organization?
• What are the economic, social, political, and technological influences that affect our industry?
• What future risks is our organization facing?
• What are the opportunities for the organization?
• What is the financial performance of our company and how has this changed over the past three years?
• Can you read a profit and loss statement?
Even if the HR Head can answer all of these key questions, it is still very important for them to apply this knowledge to their HR strategy and programs and to ensure proper execution with their HR team.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Recruitment Strategy and Execution
In-house recruiters in China aspire to do more and more strategic work while their individual execution is far from desirable. However, only a properly executed recruitment strategy will ensure a pipeline of high-quality Candidates and availability of helpful data for the HR team to increase operational efficiency and effectiveness of the department’s resource allocation.
Thus, recruiters must realize that in order for them to contribute to strategic decision making and an assessment of the recruitment strategy, they must start excelling at the execution role. To guide in-house recruiters on a path to success, ask them to incorporate the following activities in their daily work:
• Using established protocols in conducting recruitment.
• Observing all recruitment procedures rigorously.
• Assuring consistent collection of information.
• Maintaining cold call logs.
• Gathering and documenting all referral forms regardless of outcome.
After all, without sufficient and up-to-date information, strategic questions such as the ones listed below cannot be answered satisfactorily:
• Are we reaching the right talent?
• Are we in the right place?
• Is the right message being delivered?
• Are we delivering the message in the right manner?
Any strategy without proper execution is meaningless. In the same light, execution without a strategy is a mess.
Thus, recruiters must realize that in order for them to contribute to strategic decision making and an assessment of the recruitment strategy, they must start excelling at the execution role. To guide in-house recruiters on a path to success, ask them to incorporate the following activities in their daily work:
• Using established protocols in conducting recruitment.
• Observing all recruitment procedures rigorously.
• Assuring consistent collection of information.
• Maintaining cold call logs.
• Gathering and documenting all referral forms regardless of outcome.
After all, without sufficient and up-to-date information, strategic questions such as the ones listed below cannot be answered satisfactorily:
• Are we reaching the right talent?
• Are we in the right place?
• Is the right message being delivered?
• Are we delivering the message in the right manner?
Any strategy without proper execution is meaningless. In the same light, execution without a strategy is a mess.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Recruitment Strategy
A well-tuned recruitment strategy plays an essential role in improving and pushing overall performance. Hence, companies must invest sufficient time and resources to plan, implement, and assess their recruitment endeavors.
To formulate an effective recruitment strategy, take into account the following issues:
Target Group: Who is being targeted through the recruitment? What kind of Candidate is required?
A few suggestions:
• Hire from outside the industry on a routine basis for all levels.
• Hire Entrepreneurs to reinforce an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Hire Professors during slow periods of the academic year to bring in forward thinking approaches and systems.
• Hire people from the military or police for positions that require consistency, efficiency, and follow-through.
• Go after talented people that are considered non-traditional talent such as retirees, part-timers, and stay-at-home mothers.
• Introduce the usage of interim management to bring in fresh perspectives, unbiased advice, and top talent for tackling specific project challenges.
Advertising: Where should recruitment information be posted and distributed? Which channels should be used in regards to the different positions?
A few suggestions:
• Diversify recruitment channels.
• Assess the costs of each recruitment channel against the number of applicants, number of applicants hired, and number of high performers onboard.
• Standardize design formats for online and offline recruitment advertising.
Recruiters: Does the company have top-notch recruiters? What skills do in-house recruiters need to be more effective?
A few suggestions:
• Hire staff that are passionate about the recruitment profession and not people that view it as a stepping stone to the HR Manager position.
• Hire researchers/junior consultants from recruitment agencies.
• Reward recruiters in proportion to the value they create. Every time an in-house recruiter is used instead of an executive search firm, the company achieves significant savings.
• Keep recruiters busy with recruitment work only.
Selection process: What is the recruitment process in detail from start to finish? How many interviews should Candidates attend?
A few suggestions:
• Introduce role-plays in the selection process to see how Candidates react and think on the spot.
• Bring back the top 5 Candidates and have them work on a difficult team project for half-a-day; look to see what roles people flourish in and what the company's needs are.
• Ask Candidates to prepare a presentation or write a speech according to a brief to assess individual thinking style, communication skills, and persuasiveness.
• Test Candidates' creativity; this is all too often forgotten but is what every company is searching for in the battle to innovate. Also look for creative solutions that Candidates have contemplated and executed in their previous jobs.
To formulate an effective recruitment strategy, take into account the following issues:
Target Group: Who is being targeted through the recruitment? What kind of Candidate is required?
A few suggestions:
• Hire from outside the industry on a routine basis for all levels.
• Hire Entrepreneurs to reinforce an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Hire Professors during slow periods of the academic year to bring in forward thinking approaches and systems.
• Hire people from the military or police for positions that require consistency, efficiency, and follow-through.
• Go after talented people that are considered non-traditional talent such as retirees, part-timers, and stay-at-home mothers.
• Introduce the usage of interim management to bring in fresh perspectives, unbiased advice, and top talent for tackling specific project challenges.
Advertising: Where should recruitment information be posted and distributed? Which channels should be used in regards to the different positions?
A few suggestions:
• Diversify recruitment channels.
• Assess the costs of each recruitment channel against the number of applicants, number of applicants hired, and number of high performers onboard.
• Standardize design formats for online and offline recruitment advertising.
Recruiters: Does the company have top-notch recruiters? What skills do in-house recruiters need to be more effective?
A few suggestions:
• Hire staff that are passionate about the recruitment profession and not people that view it as a stepping stone to the HR Manager position.
• Hire researchers/junior consultants from recruitment agencies.
• Reward recruiters in proportion to the value they create. Every time an in-house recruiter is used instead of an executive search firm, the company achieves significant savings.
• Keep recruiters busy with recruitment work only.
Selection process: What is the recruitment process in detail from start to finish? How many interviews should Candidates attend?
A few suggestions:
• Introduce role-plays in the selection process to see how Candidates react and think on the spot.
• Bring back the top 5 Candidates and have them work on a difficult team project for half-a-day; look to see what roles people flourish in and what the company's needs are.
• Ask Candidates to prepare a presentation or write a speech according to a brief to assess individual thinking style, communication skills, and persuasiveness.
• Test Candidates' creativity; this is all too often forgotten but is what every company is searching for in the battle to innovate. Also look for creative solutions that Candidates have contemplated and executed in their previous jobs.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
CFO and HR Head Don't Mix
There are many industries in China where the CFO prides him/herself with overseeing not only Finance and Accounting departments, but also the HR department, the Admin department, and the IT department. At the same time though, the CFO does not seem to be entirely responsible and accountable for the quality and results of the HR function and the HR team they assemble. This is the status quo and even the most creative companies will not disrupt this bizarre and ill-advised reality.
For a deep-seated change to arise, shareholders and the CEO must understand the significant price of entrusting a numbers cruncher with power and authority over an HR department that is expected to drive leadership development, talent management, and a high-performance culture. Major issues include:
1. Mediocre Leadership
The CFO rarely has the time to guide human capital management. As their title suggests, the CFO is consumed with finance and accounting matters of an organization.
It is difficult for the CFO to successfully balance finance/accounting and HR/talent as these are diverging activities and require different knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the HR team's effort to develop human capital of the organization (investment) clashes with the Finance team's focus on lowering expenses (savings).
2. Mediocre Framework
The CFO rarely has the know-how of human resources management in areas such as hiring and selection, staffing, training, organizational structure, and employee engagement to drive an organization's people agenda. So, the CFO tends to ask one-dimensional questions and therefore lacks a talent-oriented perspective in many HR matters. Consider the different perspectives of the CFO and HR Head on the following HR responsibilities:
Hiring and selection
• CFO: How much does it cost to get the Candidate onboard?
• HR Head: Does the Candidate have the skills and talents required to execute our strategy?
Staffing
• CFO: How large is the total workforce budget?
• HR Head: Which segments of the workforce create the value for which we are most rewarded in the marketplace?
Training
• CFO: How big is the training budget?
• HR Head: What training does the organization need to garner skills and talents to deliver our strategy and what skills will we need over the next five years that we do not currently possess?
Organizational structure
• CFO: Do we really need additional headcount, can 50 percent of our workforce work 15 minutes harder each day?
• HR Head: How can I help my people be more productive?
Employee engagement
• CFO: Who will pay for it?
• HR Head: What programs shall we institute to increase employee engagement and involvement?
Consequently, HR departments in China are left with no guidance in the War for Talent and instead continue to do what the CFO does best, ensure legal compliance, save money when hiring, rewarding, and terminating people, and above all, administer, administer, and administer.
3. Meager Commitment and Accountability
In their own choice of words, the CFO tends to separate him/herself from the HR department by referring to the HR team as "they" and not as "we". Furthermore, the CFO does not fully accept responsibility for the HR department's focus on lower-end HR tasks and does not see him/herself accountable for HR function's lack of skills and capabilities to manage and optimize human capital.
4. Inferior ROI
The CFO's salary and perks is partly justified with his/her supervision of the HR function. However, the HR department is rarely managed to add value to the bottom-line. Thus, the HR function’s Return on Investment does not materialize. Thus, organizations would be better off by committing a share of their total budget to a skilled professional with 100% concentration toward the talent agenda.
No doubt, the CFO can oversee a HR department that focuses on rewards and benefits and HR operating efficiency. But, when it comes to people related strategic issues such as leadership development, talent management, and workforce productivity, the CFO needs to either go back to school or open the door for a talent minded HR Head that first and foremost represents “talent” in management meetings.
For a deep-seated change to arise, shareholders and the CEO must understand the significant price of entrusting a numbers cruncher with power and authority over an HR department that is expected to drive leadership development, talent management, and a high-performance culture. Major issues include:
1. Mediocre Leadership
The CFO rarely has the time to guide human capital management. As their title suggests, the CFO is consumed with finance and accounting matters of an organization.
It is difficult for the CFO to successfully balance finance/accounting and HR/talent as these are diverging activities and require different knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the HR team's effort to develop human capital of the organization (investment) clashes with the Finance team's focus on lowering expenses (savings).
2. Mediocre Framework
The CFO rarely has the know-how of human resources management in areas such as hiring and selection, staffing, training, organizational structure, and employee engagement to drive an organization's people agenda. So, the CFO tends to ask one-dimensional questions and therefore lacks a talent-oriented perspective in many HR matters. Consider the different perspectives of the CFO and HR Head on the following HR responsibilities:
Hiring and selection
• CFO: How much does it cost to get the Candidate onboard?
• HR Head: Does the Candidate have the skills and talents required to execute our strategy?
Staffing
• CFO: How large is the total workforce budget?
• HR Head: Which segments of the workforce create the value for which we are most rewarded in the marketplace?
Training
• CFO: How big is the training budget?
• HR Head: What training does the organization need to garner skills and talents to deliver our strategy and what skills will we need over the next five years that we do not currently possess?
Organizational structure
• CFO: Do we really need additional headcount, can 50 percent of our workforce work 15 minutes harder each day?
• HR Head: How can I help my people be more productive?
Employee engagement
• CFO: Who will pay for it?
• HR Head: What programs shall we institute to increase employee engagement and involvement?
Consequently, HR departments in China are left with no guidance in the War for Talent and instead continue to do what the CFO does best, ensure legal compliance, save money when hiring, rewarding, and terminating people, and above all, administer, administer, and administer.
3. Meager Commitment and Accountability
In their own choice of words, the CFO tends to separate him/herself from the HR department by referring to the HR team as "they" and not as "we". Furthermore, the CFO does not fully accept responsibility for the HR department's focus on lower-end HR tasks and does not see him/herself accountable for HR function's lack of skills and capabilities to manage and optimize human capital.
4. Inferior ROI
The CFO's salary and perks is partly justified with his/her supervision of the HR function. However, the HR department is rarely managed to add value to the bottom-line. Thus, the HR function’s Return on Investment does not materialize. Thus, organizations would be better off by committing a share of their total budget to a skilled professional with 100% concentration toward the talent agenda.
No doubt, the CFO can oversee a HR department that focuses on rewards and benefits and HR operating efficiency. But, when it comes to people related strategic issues such as leadership development, talent management, and workforce productivity, the CFO needs to either go back to school or open the door for a talent minded HR Head that first and foremost represents “talent” in management meetings.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
The Inconvenience of People Metrics
Even in a stagnant economy, top management rarely questions their responsibility to deliver revenue and profit. However, when it comes to people metrics, management remains reluctant to push for and overtake them and be held personally accountable for realizing improvements. For example, being responsible for voluntary staff turnover of over 40 percent seems bizarre to executives in China and instead they resort to common excuses as these: “This is normal for our industry” or “It is part of doing business”. Other questionable excuses include:
• (Regarding reasons for leaving) There is always a company that will pay more. We did not intend to keep them anyway; we do not think that they deserve any promotion or salary increase. Their expectations do not match their skills.
• (Regarding unsatisfactory employee satisfaction scores) We did not have 100 percent participation in the employee survey; so, we did not really get a full picture here and people probably did not understand the questions.
• (Regarding the low amount of training hours per employee) We train on-the job primarily. We have no time for in-class training. Our client meetings always overlap with training times.
Under such circumstances, a hands-on and strong HR function that tracks and calls for Managers’ co-responsibility for people metrics would create enormous headaches for one-dimensional senior management. Therefore, a weak and supportive HR function is preferred by many in power positions. In addition, a mediocre HR department is easier to staff and unable to measure people metrics in the first place. So, the problem is solved and solving problems is a Manager’s primary duty after all. Until of course, a bigger problem arises; the talent in the company has dwindled greatly, workforce apathy is all around, recruitment costs have gone out of control, and the company's reputation has suffered. Now, there are no more quick, easy, and cheap fixes; the competition has soared past your organization.
• (Regarding reasons for leaving) There is always a company that will pay more. We did not intend to keep them anyway; we do not think that they deserve any promotion or salary increase. Their expectations do not match their skills.
• (Regarding unsatisfactory employee satisfaction scores) We did not have 100 percent participation in the employee survey; so, we did not really get a full picture here and people probably did not understand the questions.
• (Regarding the low amount of training hours per employee) We train on-the job primarily. We have no time for in-class training. Our client meetings always overlap with training times.
Under such circumstances, a hands-on and strong HR function that tracks and calls for Managers’ co-responsibility for people metrics would create enormous headaches for one-dimensional senior management. Therefore, a weak and supportive HR function is preferred by many in power positions. In addition, a mediocre HR department is easier to staff and unable to measure people metrics in the first place. So, the problem is solved and solving problems is a Manager’s primary duty after all. Until of course, a bigger problem arises; the talent in the company has dwindled greatly, workforce apathy is all around, recruitment costs have gone out of control, and the company's reputation has suffered. Now, there are no more quick, easy, and cheap fixes; the competition has soared past your organization.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Design Talents in China
Article in Xin Wen Chen Bao, on February 19th, 2009
1. What are the effects of the global economic crisis on the future of design talents in China?
An economic slowdown calls for fewer people with better skills. People with excellent creative thinking abilities, graphic skills, and striving talent will have the upper hand. On an ever increasing level, design talents will need to ask "how" instead of answering yes or no, be comfortable with doing things that they have not done before, and embrace a variety of media with particular focus on any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
2. What is the career outlook for creative talents in China?
China's GDP is still expected to grow for many years to come. Secondly, marketing, branding, and connecting to the customers are essential to drive business. Therefore, I am positive about the industry's future and opportunities for creative talents with a strong work ethic and client orientation.
3. What are the major weaknesses of local designers in China?
The main weaknesses of local designers are relatively weak conceptual and English skills. These weaknesses can be overcome by studying and practicing different kinds of art forms, actively engaging in brainstorming sessions, and being committed to continuous learning. In the early career stage, local designers should concentrate on enhancing design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrating high quality standards consistently, and striving to understand brand essence.
4. What does TBWA\Group\China do to retain creative professionals?
We provide our Employees with opportunities to work on fun, challenging, and exciting projects for world class brands and offer competitive salary and compensation packages with an environment conducive for initiative, creativity, and collaboration. Training and development are also strong pillars of our culture. Last year we launched many new initiatives including Performance Conversation Model, an Organizational Climate Survey as part of the Workforce Scorecard, and RedSlash Awards (employee recognition program). What's more, we create opportunities to build stronger bonds in the workplace. People that easily integrate into our culture are ambitious, open-minded, and honest; while disruption (our philosophy, methodology, and cultural glue) continuously helps us to attract them.
5. What role does Raffles Design Institute play in training creative professionals for the industry?
I appreciate all relationships that TBWA\Group\China has with the educational community in Shanghai. Raffles has been successful at identifying, educating, and inspiring new talent and is one of our key recruitment destinations. In the past, we have been very lucky to work with some of the best students from Raffles. Currently, nearly 10% of our Employees come from our UN-intern program which Raffles and other tertiary institutions partake in.
1. What are the effects of the global economic crisis on the future of design talents in China?
An economic slowdown calls for fewer people with better skills. People with excellent creative thinking abilities, graphic skills, and striving talent will have the upper hand. On an ever increasing level, design talents will need to ask "how" instead of answering yes or no, be comfortable with doing things that they have not done before, and embrace a variety of media with particular focus on any imaginable space between the brand and its consumers.
2. What is the career outlook for creative talents in China?
China's GDP is still expected to grow for many years to come. Secondly, marketing, branding, and connecting to the customers are essential to drive business. Therefore, I am positive about the industry's future and opportunities for creative talents with a strong work ethic and client orientation.
3. What are the major weaknesses of local designers in China?
The main weaknesses of local designers are relatively weak conceptual and English skills. These weaknesses can be overcome by studying and practicing different kinds of art forms, actively engaging in brainstorming sessions, and being committed to continuous learning. In the early career stage, local designers should concentrate on enhancing design skills, learning to manage time and project challenges effectively and efficiently, demonstrating high quality standards consistently, and striving to understand brand essence.
4. What does TBWA\Group\China do to retain creative professionals?
We provide our Employees with opportunities to work on fun, challenging, and exciting projects for world class brands and offer competitive salary and compensation packages with an environment conducive for initiative, creativity, and collaboration. Training and development are also strong pillars of our culture. Last year we launched many new initiatives including Performance Conversation Model, an Organizational Climate Survey as part of the Workforce Scorecard, and RedSlash Awards (employee recognition program). What's more, we create opportunities to build stronger bonds in the workplace. People that easily integrate into our culture are ambitious, open-minded, and honest; while disruption (our philosophy, methodology, and cultural glue) continuously helps us to attract them.
5. What role does Raffles Design Institute play in training creative professionals for the industry?
I appreciate all relationships that TBWA\Group\China has with the educational community in Shanghai. Raffles has been successful at identifying, educating, and inspiring new talent and is one of our key recruitment destinations. In the past, we have been very lucky to work with some of the best students from Raffles. Currently, nearly 10% of our Employees come from our UN-intern program which Raffles and other tertiary institutions partake in.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Internship Programs
Few organizations in China have Internship programs that are thoroughly conceptualized and implemented by the company. Instead, internships are approached on an ad-hoc basis and Interns are hired mostly to off-set headcount shortages. As a result, companies may face low Intern satisfaction scores and consequently high Intern turnover rates that invariably create disturbances to team effectiveness while training efforts do not pay off.
Therefore, it would be beneficial for organizations to design an Internship program that would help the company position itself as a good Employer and not as an exploiter of cheap labor, achieve consistent and quality experiences for Interns, and give Managers a roadmap for Internship arrangements. In order to do so, proper consideration must be given to the following questions:
• What are the expected benefits of the program to the company?
• What are the expected benefits of the program to the Interns?
• What are the objectives of the Intern program?
• How long should the Internship take to be recognized as a valuable experience?
• Who are eligible candidates? What are the minimum requirements?
• What could be the benefits of offering Internship positions to overseas Chinese or foreigners?
• What is the selection process for an Internship position?
• What sort of induction program would be helpful for the Intern to gain a comprehensive understanding of the department, team, and business?
• Should an Intern work on a specific project or help out with any added workload that emerges? What should be the Interns’ tasks?
• Should Interns work OT? How much OT is normal or permitted?
• Should Interns be allowed to use their personal computers at work?
• What level of remuneration appears to be fair for the value Interns create during their Internship?
• What are the expectations of Managers? To what degree will Managers be held responsible for creating a positive and rewarding experience for the Intern?
• What is the most appropriate approval process?
• What quality control tools will be instituted (e.g. Intern Satisfaction Survey, Intern Exit Interview)?
Therefore, it would be beneficial for organizations to design an Internship program that would help the company position itself as a good Employer and not as an exploiter of cheap labor, achieve consistent and quality experiences for Interns, and give Managers a roadmap for Internship arrangements. In order to do so, proper consideration must be given to the following questions:
• What are the expected benefits of the program to the company?
• What are the expected benefits of the program to the Interns?
• What are the objectives of the Intern program?
• How long should the Internship take to be recognized as a valuable experience?
• Who are eligible candidates? What are the minimum requirements?
• What could be the benefits of offering Internship positions to overseas Chinese or foreigners?
• What is the selection process for an Internship position?
• What sort of induction program would be helpful for the Intern to gain a comprehensive understanding of the department, team, and business?
• Should an Intern work on a specific project or help out with any added workload that emerges? What should be the Interns’ tasks?
• Should Interns work OT? How much OT is normal or permitted?
• Should Interns be allowed to use their personal computers at work?
• What level of remuneration appears to be fair for the value Interns create during their Internship?
• What are the expectations of Managers? To what degree will Managers be held responsible for creating a positive and rewarding experience for the Intern?
• What is the most appropriate approval process?
• What quality control tools will be instituted (e.g. Intern Satisfaction Survey, Intern Exit Interview)?
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Are People Truly Your Greatest Asset?
“People are our Greatest Asset” is a motto that is as heavily overused in the corporate world in China as around the world. After all, the "people's agenda” is still not the number one priority on many CEO’s list of strategic priorities. Metrics can be used to help the HR department shift the CEO's priorities to PEOPLE. For example, “Amount of time the CEO spends face-to-face with employees from different management levels”, “Hours per week the CEO spends with the HR Head”, “Number of people initiatives that are owned by the CEO”, and “Employees’ engagement score”.
Additionally, to test and demonstrate that substance exists behind this slogan, organizations should consider adopting the following steps:
• Implementing metrics and targets for the organization's people agenda (Workforce Scorecard).
• Making it really hard for excellent talent to leave (Career Planning and Benefits Planning that surpasses the competition).
• Outlining clearly which behaviors are desirable and which are unacceptable (Employee Handbook).
• Creating policies and practices that reflect workforce trends and show genuine care (Periodic HR and People audits and revisions of policies and practices).
• Promoting common sense and a positive “Yes, I can” approach among policy Administrators so that they do not just follow policies blindly but also think about and understand when policies simply do not apply. In this respect, policy Administrators must be empowered to grant an exception on the spot if the situation requires.
• Showing people a "human touch" and respect at all times.
Lastly, companies preaching “People are our Greatest Asset” should also reevaluate their approach to temporary staff such as Freelancers and Interns.
Additionally, to test and demonstrate that substance exists behind this slogan, organizations should consider adopting the following steps:
• Implementing metrics and targets for the organization's people agenda (Workforce Scorecard).
• Making it really hard for excellent talent to leave (Career Planning and Benefits Planning that surpasses the competition).
• Outlining clearly which behaviors are desirable and which are unacceptable (Employee Handbook).
• Creating policies and practices that reflect workforce trends and show genuine care (Periodic HR and People audits and revisions of policies and practices).
• Promoting common sense and a positive “Yes, I can” approach among policy Administrators so that they do not just follow policies blindly but also think about and understand when policies simply do not apply. In this respect, policy Administrators must be empowered to grant an exception on the spot if the situation requires.
• Showing people a "human touch" and respect at all times.
Lastly, companies preaching “People are our Greatest Asset” should also reevaluate their approach to temporary staff such as Freelancers and Interns.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
How to Avoid Sloppy Online Recruitment Advertising
Since the boom of the Internet, online advertising has become an integral component of all recruitment efforts. It is not only an extremely cost effective form of advertising, but less demanding than print advertising particularly in regards to ad size, the amount of words used, and quality of the entire copy.
As a result, some companies slack off here and delegate the drafting and posting of online recruitment advertising to junior HR staff without further supervision. Over time however, this approach leads to various design formats with inconsistent copy and numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. More troubling is the fact that these ads seldom portray the job in an attractive and engaging manner and regularly continue to live on and on somewhere in digital space long after the position has been closed; very careless indeed.
So, to reverse this negative cycle and harness positive public relations, prepare a thorough online recruitment advertising policy. Begin by answering the following questions:
• Who is authorizing the advertising of positions?
• Who approves the final draft of the online recruitment advertisement?
• Who determines placement of online recruitment advertisements (which Internet sites are used will likely depend on the nature of the position and an expected ease or difficulty of securing an adequate field of Candidates).
• Who is responsible for assuring the quality of the company’s agreed to branding, style, and standard design format?
• What are the specific guidelines for the content of the online recruitment advertisement (e.g. to be consistent with the position description/person specification with non discriminatory criteria as sex and age, whether to indicate the salary range of the position, etc.)?
• Does the online recruitment advertising need to be in English or in Chinese or bilingual?
• How do we track the effectiveness of the online recruitment advertising by recruitment portal (e.g. effectiveness of the response rates to the advertisement [Applicant Tracking], the percentage of appointments made after the first round of advertising, or the number of applications processed within standard timeframes)?
As a result, some companies slack off here and delegate the drafting and posting of online recruitment advertising to junior HR staff without further supervision. Over time however, this approach leads to various design formats with inconsistent copy and numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. More troubling is the fact that these ads seldom portray the job in an attractive and engaging manner and regularly continue to live on and on somewhere in digital space long after the position has been closed; very careless indeed.
So, to reverse this negative cycle and harness positive public relations, prepare a thorough online recruitment advertising policy. Begin by answering the following questions:
• Who is authorizing the advertising of positions?
• Who approves the final draft of the online recruitment advertisement?
• Who determines placement of online recruitment advertisements (which Internet sites are used will likely depend on the nature of the position and an expected ease or difficulty of securing an adequate field of Candidates).
• Who is responsible for assuring the quality of the company’s agreed to branding, style, and standard design format?
• What are the specific guidelines for the content of the online recruitment advertisement (e.g. to be consistent with the position description/person specification with non discriminatory criteria as sex and age, whether to indicate the salary range of the position, etc.)?
• Does the online recruitment advertising need to be in English or in Chinese or bilingual?
• How do we track the effectiveness of the online recruitment advertising by recruitment portal (e.g. effectiveness of the response rates to the advertisement [Applicant Tracking], the percentage of appointments made after the first round of advertising, or the number of applications processed within standard timeframes)?
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Five Human Capital/HR Truths to Reinforce in 2009
1. You cannot rely on the HR function to take care of your people. Every Manager in the company must understand the value of people. Executives and managers must do their part to address strategic people challenges. It is not all up to the HR Department; it is a shared responsibility.
2. HR cannot effectively drive change without a non-HR sponsor. Executive buy-in and in particular the CEO's ongoing and firm commitment are essential to change management. There tend to be just a few change agents in the organization as a whole and this is way many programs and changes fail miserably. See point 1 as well.
3. The entire HR function must learn to help leaders improve their talent decisions, not just implement them. HR practitioners must develop analytical insight to support executive “decision making”. HR is sitting on tons of data but few of which is properly monitored and adjusted to be ready and served up as management information.
4. Simply rebranding HR as “strategic” is not enough. Executives must either hire people capable of assessing people challenges and devising executable solutions or help HR staff develop the required skills and capabilities. If you do not know it, then find it elsewhere and bring it on board or invest in acquiring the skills first. HR strategy is much easier said than done.
5. Bonuses are not tokens to buy future performance. Executives must realize that a "bonus" is a sum of money given to an employee in addition to their regular pay because of excellent work, length of service, accumulated favors, etc. It is not a form of bribery to convince an employee to stay and perform well in the coming year. Concentrate on and fix the true reasons as to why an employee is seriously interested in leaving in the first place.
2. HR cannot effectively drive change without a non-HR sponsor. Executive buy-in and in particular the CEO's ongoing and firm commitment are essential to change management. There tend to be just a few change agents in the organization as a whole and this is way many programs and changes fail miserably. See point 1 as well.
3. The entire HR function must learn to help leaders improve their talent decisions, not just implement them. HR practitioners must develop analytical insight to support executive “decision making”. HR is sitting on tons of data but few of which is properly monitored and adjusted to be ready and served up as management information.
4. Simply rebranding HR as “strategic” is not enough. Executives must either hire people capable of assessing people challenges and devising executable solutions or help HR staff develop the required skills and capabilities. If you do not know it, then find it elsewhere and bring it on board or invest in acquiring the skills first. HR strategy is much easier said than done.
5. Bonuses are not tokens to buy future performance. Executives must realize that a "bonus" is a sum of money given to an employee in addition to their regular pay because of excellent work, length of service, accumulated favors, etc. It is not a form of bribery to convince an employee to stay and perform well in the coming year. Concentrate on and fix the true reasons as to why an employee is seriously interested in leaving in the first place.
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