In today's scenario, Organizations’ worldwide are making all attempts to minimize attritions. There are a lot of retention strategies that can be used to curb attrition.
Some of them are listed out here. -
Compensation should be attractive
Fair compensation does to a large extent guarantee employee satisfaction and loyalty.For e.g., a process at FedEx, called the Pay Exception allows managers to recommend and give exceptional pay hikes to the performing employees.
Quality benefits should be provided
Benefits are not a key reason why employees stick with a company, but they do help in uplifting their morale to some extent.
- Performance based quarterly incentives
- Insurance Scheme & Personal Health Care
- Corporate Credit Cards
- Cellular Phone / Laptop & latest technology on-board
- Interest free loans for higher educations
- Flexi-timings / Telecommuting
- Flexible Salary Benefits
- Wedding Day & Birthday Gift
Train the frontline managers
To make sure that the managers aren't driving away the technologists, the organizations should invest in human capital irrespective of ROI.For e.g., In Whirlpool Appliances, there are highly selective leadership development mentor programs.
Detail employees on their roles.
Make sure that the employees know what is expected of them. They should be given enough time to settle down in the system before they start performing.
Opportunities to grow and progress.
A clear professional development plan gives employees the professional boost to go on. The career path of every employee in the organization should be well laid out.
Offering retention bonus
Employee longevity is well rewarded in most of the organizations. They could be offered other seniority-based rewards such as a paid membership in the employee's professional association after one year, a paid membership to a local gymnasium and clubs after two years, and full reimbursement for the cost of the employee's formal dress.
Employee engagement practices.
To check the pulse of your organization, conduct employee satisfaction surveys on a regular basis. Go in for its analysis and implementation.
- Capture Voice of Employees
- Value addition (Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, Practices & Trust)
- Stay Interviews & its implementation
Cross functional teams
It takes efforts to build an effective team, but the result is greater productivity, better use of resources, improved customer service and increased morale.
For e.g., Sapient Corporation has a practice known as “Team Storming”. When a project team or an internal team has worked very hard, teams from across the office get together and storm the team with a 'goodies' basket to recognize the team.
Fun@work initiatives.
Organizations should celebrate successes and recognize their employees when milestones are reached. Buffet lunches, birthday parties, and employee picnics will help remind people why an organization is a great place to work.
Job enrichment.
Identify your employees' talents and then encourage them to stretch their capabilities into new areas. Every employee should have a Mentor assigned.
Transparency.
Management should always keep their employees well informed of every happening.
- Communication creates the right kind of environment
- The employees should know how business is carried out
- They should be aware of all the issues
Encouraging higher learning.
Create opportunities for your key performers and technologists to grow and learn. Encourage every employee to learn at least one new thing every week, and you'll create a Work force that is excited, motivated and committed.
Flexibility.
Employees will be loyal to organizations that make their lives more convenient by offering on-site childcare centers, on-site hair styling and dry cleaning, flexible work hours, part-time positions, job-sharing or involving spouses in CSR activities and promoting ownership culture.
Effective induction program.
Every Organization should have a formal orientation program and include a thorough overview of all the departments.
Value your employees.
Recognize outstanding achievers publicly. Make sure that none of the chances to reward or recognize employees is missed out.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Training Freshers at Infosys
Infosys - The Organization
In 1981, a small team led by NR Narayana Murthy and his wife, started ‘Data Basics Corp’ a small time on-site software developer company. The company was later renamed as Infosys.
During its initial years, Infosys struggled to get projects due to lack of reputation, inadequate infrastructure, and government regulations. But the determination of the promoters and their full involvement got them their first order which they completed successfully in time.
Exports increased over time and Infosys set up a Software development center in Bangalore, India. In 1987, it established its first international office in California, US. In 1988, Infosys bagged its first major order from the Reebok and in 1989 bagged another major order from Digital Equipments based in the US. The year 1991 was a significant year in the history of Indian business. In the Union Budget that import tariffs were reduced, taxes were rationalized, and exports were encouraged. Other reforms introduced were free-market pricing of Initial Public Offering (IPO) and relaxation in restrictions on foreign exchange, etc.
In 1993, Infosys successfully completed its IPO. By 1995, Infosys had become the fifth largest software exporter in India. In 1996, it set up its office in UK and then in Canada in 1997.In 1999, Infosys achieved annual revenues of US$100 mn. In the same year it earned the highest level of certification, CMM Level 5, conferred to only a few companies in the world.
It was the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ in 1999. In 2001 and 2002 it was rated as the ‘Best Employer in India’ and ‘India’s most respected company’ by leading Indian business magazines. In 2006, Infosys Technologies Limited was one of India’s biggest IT companies and provided IT services, solutions, and consultation globally. By the year 2006 it had over 49,000 employees worldwide.
Entering Infosys
By 2006, there were close to 50,000 Infoscions (employees of Infosys). Getting a job at Infosys was tough as it admitted only 1% of applicants. Out of the total number of applicants, Infosys short-listed only top 20% of students from premier colleges, universities, and institutes.
Infosys in its history had hired many people from different engineering fields who exhibited a high aptitude for ‘learn-ability’ and preferred them over those computer engineers who could not solve problems beyond their technical training.
The short listed candidates underwent a rigorous selection procedure, which involved a series of aptitude tests and interviews. The aptitude tests were significantly tougher and very few candidates cleared them.
The successful candidates were invited for a personal interview. Candidates were judged mainly on their analytical abilities, learn-ability, and communication skills. The selected few candidates were then given job offers.
Need for Training
The dynamic nature of the software and IT industry requires its workforce to upgrade frequently in technology and skills. Companies were focusing on continuous training and development of their employees, which also helped in the reduction of attrition rate.
At Infosys, every new recruit underwent approximately three months of training before they were made billable to clients.
The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) rated Infosys as the world’s best in employee training and development and conferred ‘Excellence in Practice Award continuously for three consecutive years 2002, 2003 and 2004. The award was conferred for its ‘Global Business Foundation School.’ It was a program for all fresh engineering entrants to Infosys to equip them for the challenging software career ahead of them. The program ran around the year and was implemented over several global centers across the organization.
The Global Business Foundation School comprised of generic conceptual courses, platform specific courses, mini projects for application, and an end term project tailored from real life projects. In addition to technical courses, fresh entrants were also exposed to courses on communication skills, interpersonal skills, customer interaction etiquettes, management development, and quality systems.
In 2005 Infosys established ‘Infosys U’, one of the largest corporate training centers in the world.
Infosys U
The ‘Global Education Center’ was set up in 2005. It was one of the biggest corporate training centers in the world. The Global Education Center would run a 14.5 week residential program, which would impart generic and work specific training in technology areas, along with soft skills and leadership programs to freshers.
The center had 2,350 rooms spread across the campus, 58 training rooms, 183 faculty rooms, state-of-the-art library and a cyber cafe. The center had the capacity to train around 15,000 freshers in one year.
The Training Program
After the new recruits joined Infosys, they were taken to Infosys U for a 14.5 week training program. At Infosys U, the freshers were welcomed in Infosys by NR Narayana Murthy through an audio visual presentation. The initial days of the training program, freshers filled forms and learned the values that drove Infosys. During the entire training program, new recruits were trained to work or program different tech applications.
The library had an online database of Infosys case studies to help the recruits. The trainers generally imparted training in hard skills through lectures on the concepts and theory for a few hours and then allowed the recruits to work independently and build their own applications for the rest of the day.
While the training program focused mainly on technical skills, the freshers were also trained in soft skills. There were separate rooms and faculties for soft skill training. Training was imparted on global etiquette, comportment, importance of body language, public speaking, improving interpersonal communication and team-building. The various methods used included, asking the freshers to perform skits, going through several ‘what-if’ scenarios and to practice smiling in front of the mirror.
The campus provided best of food to at an affordable price. Among other options, the campus had the retail outlet of the pizza chain ‘Domino’s Pizza’ where both Western and Indian varieties of pizzas were available. The pizza could also be ordered while the employee was working, but the Infosys culture discouraged working during lunch. The Infoscions believed in taking break during lunch and socializing.
The center had an ‘Employee Care Center’ to facilitate all round development. The employee care center offered recreational facilities such as a gymnasium, a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, bowling alley and a meditation hall. It also had an international-class cricket ground and a multipurpose ground with a six-lane synthetic track, which housed basketball, volleyball, squash, and tennis courts. The campus also housed an auditorium, which had a seating capacity of 1,300 people and three multiplex theatres with a capacity of 150 seats each. The freshers had to work for eight hours every day and at the end of the training program, the freshers had to pass two comprehensive exams before proceeding further. About 1% to 2% failed in the exams.
Infosys U also served as the opportunity to interact with Infoscions working in countries other than India. In 2006, Infosys U had the capacity to train over 4,000 freshers at a time and had expansion plans of increasing the capacity to 10,000 by 2007.
Conclusion
Infosys is amongst the few companies, which actually practiced what it preached.
In 1981, a small team led by NR Narayana Murthy and his wife, started ‘Data Basics Corp’ a small time on-site software developer company. The company was later renamed as Infosys.
During its initial years, Infosys struggled to get projects due to lack of reputation, inadequate infrastructure, and government regulations. But the determination of the promoters and their full involvement got them their first order which they completed successfully in time.
Exports increased over time and Infosys set up a Software development center in Bangalore, India. In 1987, it established its first international office in California, US. In 1988, Infosys bagged its first major order from the Reebok and in 1989 bagged another major order from Digital Equipments based in the US. The year 1991 was a significant year in the history of Indian business. In the Union Budget that import tariffs were reduced, taxes were rationalized, and exports were encouraged. Other reforms introduced were free-market pricing of Initial Public Offering (IPO) and relaxation in restrictions on foreign exchange, etc.
In 1993, Infosys successfully completed its IPO. By 1995, Infosys had become the fifth largest software exporter in India. In 1996, it set up its office in UK and then in Canada in 1997.In 1999, Infosys achieved annual revenues of US$100 mn. In the same year it earned the highest level of certification, CMM Level 5, conferred to only a few companies in the world.
It was the first Indian company to be listed on NASDAQ in 1999. In 2001 and 2002 it was rated as the ‘Best Employer in India’ and ‘India’s most respected company’ by leading Indian business magazines. In 2006, Infosys Technologies Limited was one of India’s biggest IT companies and provided IT services, solutions, and consultation globally. By the year 2006 it had over 49,000 employees worldwide.
Entering Infosys
By 2006, there were close to 50,000 Infoscions (employees of Infosys). Getting a job at Infosys was tough as it admitted only 1% of applicants. Out of the total number of applicants, Infosys short-listed only top 20% of students from premier colleges, universities, and institutes.
Infosys in its history had hired many people from different engineering fields who exhibited a high aptitude for ‘learn-ability’ and preferred them over those computer engineers who could not solve problems beyond their technical training.
The short listed candidates underwent a rigorous selection procedure, which involved a series of aptitude tests and interviews. The aptitude tests were significantly tougher and very few candidates cleared them.
The successful candidates were invited for a personal interview. Candidates were judged mainly on their analytical abilities, learn-ability, and communication skills. The selected few candidates were then given job offers.
Need for Training
The dynamic nature of the software and IT industry requires its workforce to upgrade frequently in technology and skills. Companies were focusing on continuous training and development of their employees, which also helped in the reduction of attrition rate.
At Infosys, every new recruit underwent approximately three months of training before they were made billable to clients.
The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) rated Infosys as the world’s best in employee training and development and conferred ‘Excellence in Practice Award continuously for three consecutive years 2002, 2003 and 2004. The award was conferred for its ‘Global Business Foundation School.’ It was a program for all fresh engineering entrants to Infosys to equip them for the challenging software career ahead of them. The program ran around the year and was implemented over several global centers across the organization.
The Global Business Foundation School comprised of generic conceptual courses, platform specific courses, mini projects for application, and an end term project tailored from real life projects. In addition to technical courses, fresh entrants were also exposed to courses on communication skills, interpersonal skills, customer interaction etiquettes, management development, and quality systems.
In 2005 Infosys established ‘Infosys U’, one of the largest corporate training centers in the world.
Infosys U
The ‘Global Education Center’ was set up in 2005. It was one of the biggest corporate training centers in the world. The Global Education Center would run a 14.5 week residential program, which would impart generic and work specific training in technology areas, along with soft skills and leadership programs to freshers.
The center had 2,350 rooms spread across the campus, 58 training rooms, 183 faculty rooms, state-of-the-art library and a cyber cafe. The center had the capacity to train around 15,000 freshers in one year.
The Training Program
After the new recruits joined Infosys, they were taken to Infosys U for a 14.5 week training program. At Infosys U, the freshers were welcomed in Infosys by NR Narayana Murthy through an audio visual presentation. The initial days of the training program, freshers filled forms and learned the values that drove Infosys. During the entire training program, new recruits were trained to work or program different tech applications.
The library had an online database of Infosys case studies to help the recruits. The trainers generally imparted training in hard skills through lectures on the concepts and theory for a few hours and then allowed the recruits to work independently and build their own applications for the rest of the day.
While the training program focused mainly on technical skills, the freshers were also trained in soft skills. There were separate rooms and faculties for soft skill training. Training was imparted on global etiquette, comportment, importance of body language, public speaking, improving interpersonal communication and team-building. The various methods used included, asking the freshers to perform skits, going through several ‘what-if’ scenarios and to practice smiling in front of the mirror.
The campus provided best of food to at an affordable price. Among other options, the campus had the retail outlet of the pizza chain ‘Domino’s Pizza’ where both Western and Indian varieties of pizzas were available. The pizza could also be ordered while the employee was working, but the Infosys culture discouraged working during lunch. The Infoscions believed in taking break during lunch and socializing.
The center had an ‘Employee Care Center’ to facilitate all round development. The employee care center offered recreational facilities such as a gymnasium, a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, bowling alley and a meditation hall. It also had an international-class cricket ground and a multipurpose ground with a six-lane synthetic track, which housed basketball, volleyball, squash, and tennis courts. The campus also housed an auditorium, which had a seating capacity of 1,300 people and three multiplex theatres with a capacity of 150 seats each. The freshers had to work for eight hours every day and at the end of the training program, the freshers had to pass two comprehensive exams before proceeding further. About 1% to 2% failed in the exams.
Infosys U also served as the opportunity to interact with Infoscions working in countries other than India. In 2006, Infosys U had the capacity to train over 4,000 freshers at a time and had expansion plans of increasing the capacity to 10,000 by 2007.
Conclusion
Infosys is amongst the few companies, which actually practiced what it preached.
Monday, August 11, 2008
IT Companies – Recruitment methods
Today, the biggest challenge faced by any organization is change. Globalization has made it even more imminent. Organizations are trying their level best to cope with the transition by hiring the right person for the right job. Human Resource teams are working hard to recruit the most talented from the pool available to them. Organizations are developing strategies to recruit, develop and retain their talented employees.
With the advent of the IT, ITES and BPO industries, employment opportunities have widened. So companies are facing challenges in recruiting candidates who are fit for the job as well the organization. Recruitment practices and mechanisms have undergone major changes. Soaring attrition rates have forced the software companies to adopt variety of recruitment practices. To attract the candidates, they have started exploring innovative methods of recruitment. Their ultimate aim is to bring in quality new employees.
Most of the IT companies are on a look-out for Engineering Graduates. Companies visit a lot of Colleges for Campus Hiring’s every year. Companies aim at hiring committed, intelligent and aspiring students full of enthusiasm and zeal to prove their talents.
Earlier Campus recruitment was mostly used as a process only for Management Courses, but over time this trend has changed. Few companies, for e.g., TCS follow a process of accrediting the colleges. They conduct interactive session with the faculties and the students separately to assess their capabilities. Based on these assessments they give accreditation to the colleges - A, B or C grade. Few other companies assess the college by collecting a detailed report. They select only those students, who possess the necessary skill set. As fresher’s, with no prior work experience, they are trained extensively. A full length Induction program grooms them with respect to Organizational fitment.
The recruitment practices of IT companies changes from time to time. The various methodologies used are On Campus, Press Advertisement, Headhunters, Job Fairs, Electronic Recruitment and Recruiting Abroad, Executive search firms and Application tracking software. The latest methodology in the series is organizing job fairs in various IT destinations and online recruitments.
Companies list the job openings on their own websites inviting prospective candidates to apply. In addition to the company’s website, the employers also look for the candidate’s profile posted on various Job portals viz., Naukri, Times jobs, Monster etc.
Hence, change is omnipresent in the IT scenario.
With the advent of the IT, ITES and BPO industries, employment opportunities have widened. So companies are facing challenges in recruiting candidates who are fit for the job as well the organization. Recruitment practices and mechanisms have undergone major changes. Soaring attrition rates have forced the software companies to adopt variety of recruitment practices. To attract the candidates, they have started exploring innovative methods of recruitment. Their ultimate aim is to bring in quality new employees.
Most of the IT companies are on a look-out for Engineering Graduates. Companies visit a lot of Colleges for Campus Hiring’s every year. Companies aim at hiring committed, intelligent and aspiring students full of enthusiasm and zeal to prove their talents.
Earlier Campus recruitment was mostly used as a process only for Management Courses, but over time this trend has changed. Few companies, for e.g., TCS follow a process of accrediting the colleges. They conduct interactive session with the faculties and the students separately to assess their capabilities. Based on these assessments they give accreditation to the colleges - A, B or C grade. Few other companies assess the college by collecting a detailed report. They select only those students, who possess the necessary skill set. As fresher’s, with no prior work experience, they are trained extensively. A full length Induction program grooms them with respect to Organizational fitment.
The recruitment practices of IT companies changes from time to time. The various methodologies used are On Campus, Press Advertisement, Headhunters, Job Fairs, Electronic Recruitment and Recruiting Abroad, Executive search firms and Application tracking software. The latest methodology in the series is organizing job fairs in various IT destinations and online recruitments.
Companies list the job openings on their own websites inviting prospective candidates to apply. In addition to the company’s website, the employers also look for the candidate’s profile posted on various Job portals viz., Naukri, Times jobs, Monster etc.
Hence, change is omnipresent in the IT scenario.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cisco - Innovative Recruitment methods
In 1995, Cisco, found that despite hiring an average of 1,000 people every three months during the year, the company still had hundreds of openings. The recruitment pressure further increased the following year, when Cisco hired more than 1,000 employees every quarter. When Cisco’s sales soared, the company planned to double its workforce.
The management realized that it had to adopt innovative recruitment practices to bring in the best people. They adopted the first of its kind online recruitment called the ‘Friends program’. Cisco recruiters also began to target passive job seekers. These were the people who were content and successful in their existing jobs.
Background
Cisco was founded in 1984 by a group of computer scientists at Stanford, who designed operating software called IOS (Internet Operating System).
In 1985, the company started a customer support site from where customers could download software. In 1990, Cisco installed a bug report database in its site. The database contained information about potential software problems to help customers and developers.
By 1991, Cisco’s support center was receiving around 3,000 calls a month which increased to 12,000 by 1992. In 1993, Cisco installed an Internet-based system for large multinational corporate customers. In 1994, Cisco launched Cisco Information Online, a public website which offered company and product information. By 1995, it introduced applications for selling products or services on its website. This was done mainly to transfer paper, fax, e-mails and CD-ROM distribution of technical documentations and training materials to the web to save time for employees, customers and trading partners, besides broadening Cisco’s market reach.
In 1996, the company introduced a new Internet initiative, ‘Networked Strategy’ to leverage its enterprise network to foster interactive relationships with prospective customers, partners, suppliers and employees. In early 2000, Cisco introduced the Integrated Commerce Solution (ICS), which provided a dedicated server fully integrated into the customers’ or resellers’ intranet and back-end ERP systems.
In mid-2000, Cisco entered into a distribution agreement with FedEx to manage orders and maintain inventory levels in a cost-effective way. ‘The Cisco City’ in San Jose, emerged as one of the biggest Internet economy industrial parks with around 13,000 employees.
Cisco believed it required the best people in the industry to remain the Leader.
Recruitment
The company followed a policy of hiring ‘top 10-15%’ people in the networking industry. This was a mechanism to remain the industry leader.
Its vision statement was, “Attracting, growing and retaining great talent is critical to sustaining Cisco’s competitive advantage.”
The company began to use newer techniques like the ‘build-the-buzz’ strategy, which was centered on the primary market for its products, i.e., the Internet.
Cisco’s recruiting team identified the candidates whom they felt the company ‘should hire,’ and then figured out the way those potential candidates did their job hunting and designed hiring processes to attract them to the company. The recruiters targeted even passive job seekers–people who were happy and successful in their current jobs.
Cisco changed the way it wanted advertisements in newspapers. It listed specific job openings and featured its Internet address in its ads and invited prospective candidates to apply. This helped in directing all job seekers to its website where it could inexpensively post hundreds of openings and provides information regarding them.
Since most people visited Cisco’s website from their jobs, the company could identify their place of work. The company attracted happily employed people through focus groups. These focus groups targeted senior engineers and marketing professionals in other companies and found out how they spent their free time. These insights helped the recruiters.
The website also offered features through which applicants could fill their resumes online or create one with the help of Cisco’s resume builder.
The focus group’s exercise ensured that a candidate would approach the company if he had been informed by a friend about better opportunities at Cisco. This led to the launch of the friends program in April 1996. Cisco also organized art fairs, beer festivals and certain annual events in which people from Silicon Valley participated. These places proved to be very ‘fruitful hunting venues’ as they attracted young achievers from various successful infotech companies. Cisco recruiters mingled with the crowd, collected business cards from prospective candidates and spoke to them informally about their careers.
More than 1,000 Cisco employees volunteered for the Friends program, attracted by the referral fee, which started at $500 and a lottery ticket for a free trip to Hawaii for each prospect they befriended and who was ultimately hired.
In this program, Cisco employees were matched up with people who approached the company as prospects and who shared similar backgrounds and skills. The Cisco employees then called the prospects to inform them in their own words about life at the company.
Cisco also found that applicants and recruiters were not totally comfortable with, the time-consuming recruiting process. To speed up the process, Cisco hired in house headhunters to identify qualified candidates for managers.
It encouraged internal referrals for recruitment through a program called ‘Amazing People.’ This facilitated the employees to refer their friends’ and acquaintances for positions within Cisco. Employees earned a referral bonus if the company hired the person they referred. After streamlining its recruitment policies in 1996, Cisco conducted an Employee survey to find out how the new recruits felt on their first day at work.
This exercise stemmed from the company’s belief that new employees typically treated the first day as ‘the most important eight hours in the world.’ Cisco launched Fast Start, an employee orientation initiative. It installed software, which tracked the hiring process and alerted the team about the new recruit’s arrival. As a result, every new recruit started with a fully functional workspace and a whole day of training in desktop tools.
Fast Start not only eliminated all problems but it also enabled new recruits to know about ‘life inside the company.’ Every new recruit was assigned a ‘buddy’ who clarified all doubts and answered questions about Cisco. New recruits also had a two-day course called the ‘Cisco Business Essentials,’ which covered company’s history and business units. The managers of the new recruits received an automatically generated e-mail two weeks after their new recruit arrival. It reminded them to review their departmental initiatives and personal goals.
Reaping the Benefits
Cisco believed that its new recruitment philosophy should also be made a part of the overall corporate culture. Cisco’s job site was recording around 500,000 hits per month. The company generated a stream of reports about who visited the site. Cisco’s hiring cycle also came down to 45 days. The recruitment costs were also below the industry average. Referral rates at Cisco were twice the industry norm. The retention rate of the Company had also increased.
Analysts claimed that Cisco’s innovative and aggressive recruiting initiatives were to a large extent responsible for the company’s expansion at 40% per year and recruiting 250 employees every week.
Industry observers feel that other players should also modify their recruitment policies to take advantage, like Cisco did.
The management realized that it had to adopt innovative recruitment practices to bring in the best people. They adopted the first of its kind online recruitment called the ‘Friends program’. Cisco recruiters also began to target passive job seekers. These were the people who were content and successful in their existing jobs.
Background
Cisco was founded in 1984 by a group of computer scientists at Stanford, who designed operating software called IOS (Internet Operating System).
In 1985, the company started a customer support site from where customers could download software. In 1990, Cisco installed a bug report database in its site. The database contained information about potential software problems to help customers and developers.
By 1991, Cisco’s support center was receiving around 3,000 calls a month which increased to 12,000 by 1992. In 1993, Cisco installed an Internet-based system for large multinational corporate customers. In 1994, Cisco launched Cisco Information Online, a public website which offered company and product information. By 1995, it introduced applications for selling products or services on its website. This was done mainly to transfer paper, fax, e-mails and CD-ROM distribution of technical documentations and training materials to the web to save time for employees, customers and trading partners, besides broadening Cisco’s market reach.
In 1996, the company introduced a new Internet initiative, ‘Networked Strategy’ to leverage its enterprise network to foster interactive relationships with prospective customers, partners, suppliers and employees. In early 2000, Cisco introduced the Integrated Commerce Solution (ICS), which provided a dedicated server fully integrated into the customers’ or resellers’ intranet and back-end ERP systems.
In mid-2000, Cisco entered into a distribution agreement with FedEx to manage orders and maintain inventory levels in a cost-effective way. ‘The Cisco City’ in San Jose, emerged as one of the biggest Internet economy industrial parks with around 13,000 employees.
Cisco believed it required the best people in the industry to remain the Leader.
Recruitment
The company followed a policy of hiring ‘top 10-15%’ people in the networking industry. This was a mechanism to remain the industry leader.
Its vision statement was, “Attracting, growing and retaining great talent is critical to sustaining Cisco’s competitive advantage.”
The company began to use newer techniques like the ‘build-the-buzz’ strategy, which was centered on the primary market for its products, i.e., the Internet.
Cisco’s recruiting team identified the candidates whom they felt the company ‘should hire,’ and then figured out the way those potential candidates did their job hunting and designed hiring processes to attract them to the company. The recruiters targeted even passive job seekers–people who were happy and successful in their current jobs.
Cisco changed the way it wanted advertisements in newspapers. It listed specific job openings and featured its Internet address in its ads and invited prospective candidates to apply. This helped in directing all job seekers to its website where it could inexpensively post hundreds of openings and provides information regarding them.
Since most people visited Cisco’s website from their jobs, the company could identify their place of work. The company attracted happily employed people through focus groups. These focus groups targeted senior engineers and marketing professionals in other companies and found out how they spent their free time. These insights helped the recruiters.
The website also offered features through which applicants could fill their resumes online or create one with the help of Cisco’s resume builder.
The focus group’s exercise ensured that a candidate would approach the company if he had been informed by a friend about better opportunities at Cisco. This led to the launch of the friends program in April 1996. Cisco also organized art fairs, beer festivals and certain annual events in which people from Silicon Valley participated. These places proved to be very ‘fruitful hunting venues’ as they attracted young achievers from various successful infotech companies. Cisco recruiters mingled with the crowd, collected business cards from prospective candidates and spoke to them informally about their careers.
More than 1,000 Cisco employees volunteered for the Friends program, attracted by the referral fee, which started at $500 and a lottery ticket for a free trip to Hawaii for each prospect they befriended and who was ultimately hired.
In this program, Cisco employees were matched up with people who approached the company as prospects and who shared similar backgrounds and skills. The Cisco employees then called the prospects to inform them in their own words about life at the company.
Cisco also found that applicants and recruiters were not totally comfortable with, the time-consuming recruiting process. To speed up the process, Cisco hired in house headhunters to identify qualified candidates for managers.
It encouraged internal referrals for recruitment through a program called ‘Amazing People.’ This facilitated the employees to refer their friends’ and acquaintances for positions within Cisco. Employees earned a referral bonus if the company hired the person they referred. After streamlining its recruitment policies in 1996, Cisco conducted an Employee survey to find out how the new recruits felt on their first day at work.
This exercise stemmed from the company’s belief that new employees typically treated the first day as ‘the most important eight hours in the world.’ Cisco launched Fast Start, an employee orientation initiative. It installed software, which tracked the hiring process and alerted the team about the new recruit’s arrival. As a result, every new recruit started with a fully functional workspace and a whole day of training in desktop tools.
Fast Start not only eliminated all problems but it also enabled new recruits to know about ‘life inside the company.’ Every new recruit was assigned a ‘buddy’ who clarified all doubts and answered questions about Cisco. New recruits also had a two-day course called the ‘Cisco Business Essentials,’ which covered company’s history and business units. The managers of the new recruits received an automatically generated e-mail two weeks after their new recruit arrival. It reminded them to review their departmental initiatives and personal goals.
Reaping the Benefits
Cisco believed that its new recruitment philosophy should also be made a part of the overall corporate culture. Cisco’s job site was recording around 500,000 hits per month. The company generated a stream of reports about who visited the site. Cisco’s hiring cycle also came down to 45 days. The recruitment costs were also below the industry average. Referral rates at Cisco were twice the industry norm. The retention rate of the Company had also increased.
Analysts claimed that Cisco’s innovative and aggressive recruiting initiatives were to a large extent responsible for the company’s expansion at 40% per year and recruiting 250 employees every week.
Industry observers feel that other players should also modify their recruitment policies to take advantage, like Cisco did.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Socially Responsible Recruitment
A society is likely to be prosperous when business firms are innovative, competitive, productive, profit and socially responsible. Therefore, the business community is continuously challenged to inculcate all these characteristics.
Today, issues like environmental damage, unsafe working environment, and faulty products leading to customers’ inconvenience are getting attention. Customers are becoming conscious about the social image of the companies from which they buy their goods and services. This requires organizations to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally friendly manner.
With the introduction of the concept that there is something called “common good” or the general welfare of the society, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged. The basic premise of the concept of CSR is the claim that business is also a social institution.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility can be defined as a concept that requires companies to integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Companies have a number of stakeholders like employees, suppliers, customers, creditors, shareholders, key government agencies, etc.
It also highlights that company’s need to answer two aspects of their operations:
• The quality of their management
• The nature and quantity of their impact on society in various areas.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.”
CSR and Human Resources
Organizations are currently highlighting their focus on safety, health and training and development of their employees.
Telewest, a company of the UK declares, “We invest in the development and training of our people encouraging them to focus their learning around business needs and to pursue appropriate development opportunities. Telewest is committed to ensure that the safety of our customers and staff remains a top priority. It is paramount that safe working practices linked with a safe working environment are maintained at all times to protect the health, safety and welfare of all those affected by our activities.”
Recruitment – Social Implications
According to Edward Flippo recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organizations. He views recruitment as a positive activity of hiring because it increases the number of applicants per job opening. This is valid for corporate jobs in India too.
According to the literature on human resources, the aim of an effective recruitment program is to attract the best people for the job and aid the recruiter by making a wide choice available. Thus, at the time of recruitment, companies have to make attempts to attract as many applicants as possible so that it can hire the best people. If the recruitment effort is not effective, there is a possibility that the company may employ persons with less caliber even when persons with more caliber are willing to work in the company at the salary or wage levels that the company is paying. Hence, human resources professionals are suggested to utilize all possible channels to inform potential candidates regarding their requirement for employment.
At the recruitment stage, HR professionals should try to inform the public at large through all possible channels regarding their requirement of employees with specific competence potential. Such an open policy will encourage many candidates to develop their competence to higher levels so that they can get better jobs. When persons in a society develop their competencies to a higher level, the society will benefit due to the increased productivity, even though the concerned persons do not get a job with higher responsibility and higher pay immediately. This is because improvement in competence gets reflected in the present job also.
Today, companies are narrowing the choice to a group of persons based on religion, caste, region or educational institutes.
Hence, it is proposed that HR departments articulate a recruitment policy that aims at informing as large a number of persons as possible about the manpower requirements of the company and a selection process that is fair to all persons with competencies required for a vacancy in a corporate concern in the interest of the society.
Today, issues like environmental damage, unsafe working environment, and faulty products leading to customers’ inconvenience are getting attention. Customers are becoming conscious about the social image of the companies from which they buy their goods and services. This requires organizations to operate in an economically, socially and environmentally friendly manner.
With the introduction of the concept that there is something called “common good” or the general welfare of the society, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged. The basic premise of the concept of CSR is the claim that business is also a social institution.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Corporate social responsibility can be defined as a concept that requires companies to integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Companies have a number of stakeholders like employees, suppliers, customers, creditors, shareholders, key government agencies, etc.
It also highlights that company’s need to answer two aspects of their operations:
• The quality of their management
• The nature and quantity of their impact on society in various areas.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.”
CSR and Human Resources
Organizations are currently highlighting their focus on safety, health and training and development of their employees.
Telewest, a company of the UK declares, “We invest in the development and training of our people encouraging them to focus their learning around business needs and to pursue appropriate development opportunities. Telewest is committed to ensure that the safety of our customers and staff remains a top priority. It is paramount that safe working practices linked with a safe working environment are maintained at all times to protect the health, safety and welfare of all those affected by our activities.”
Recruitment – Social Implications
According to Edward Flippo recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organizations. He views recruitment as a positive activity of hiring because it increases the number of applicants per job opening. This is valid for corporate jobs in India too.
According to the literature on human resources, the aim of an effective recruitment program is to attract the best people for the job and aid the recruiter by making a wide choice available. Thus, at the time of recruitment, companies have to make attempts to attract as many applicants as possible so that it can hire the best people. If the recruitment effort is not effective, there is a possibility that the company may employ persons with less caliber even when persons with more caliber are willing to work in the company at the salary or wage levels that the company is paying. Hence, human resources professionals are suggested to utilize all possible channels to inform potential candidates regarding their requirement for employment.
At the recruitment stage, HR professionals should try to inform the public at large through all possible channels regarding their requirement of employees with specific competence potential. Such an open policy will encourage many candidates to develop their competence to higher levels so that they can get better jobs. When persons in a society develop their competencies to a higher level, the society will benefit due to the increased productivity, even though the concerned persons do not get a job with higher responsibility and higher pay immediately. This is because improvement in competence gets reflected in the present job also.
Today, companies are narrowing the choice to a group of persons based on religion, caste, region or educational institutes.
Hence, it is proposed that HR departments articulate a recruitment policy that aims at informing as large a number of persons as possible about the manpower requirements of the company and a selection process that is fair to all persons with competencies required for a vacancy in a corporate concern in the interest of the society.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Recruitment – Trends
Historically, in our country trade was either inherited or learnt from the master craftsman directly. Before the Industrial Revolution, the villages were self-sufficient. Business was carried out through the barter system. This division gave rise to the CASTE SYSTEM. The caste system gradually became deep-rooted due to the fact that the skills imparted were transferred from father to son. The Industrial Revolution in Britain created a need for both, the raw materials required to run the factories and a market for the finished products. For this, the raw materials were bought from the British colonies at cheaper rates, while the finished goods were sold back to the colonies at lower prices. The Industrialization era created greater employment opportunities.
Meaning of Recruitment
In Industrial terminology, to recruit has come to mean “to fill up a vacancy” and recruitment is the process involved in it.
With the rise of Industrial Revolution, the demand for skilled labor grew, giving rise to greater opportunities in terms of the number of skilled personnel required for the job.
People from all sections of society now learnt and pursued different trades of their choice. This was the beginning of a social transformation, which eventually rid the society of the evils of a deep-rooted caste bias.
Pre-Recruitment Stages
Recruitment is the function of the Personnel Department, which identifies the vacancies based on the need expressed by the concerned department.
The Personnel Department takes sanction for filling up he post from the management.
There is a fundamental shift from “the approved manpower planning” to the requirements of manpower and finance originating from the business plan.
This shift is due to the change in the operation of business. Today, the market is driven by consumer preference, and consumers no longer merely take what is produced. The need for a variety in the skilled manpower originates from the growing customer expectations.
Modes of Recruitment
The traditional system of recruitment depended upon the recent applications sourced from the company employees’ children. The application contained a column which required the prospective candidate to state whether she/he has any relative working in the organization.
The modern organizations scout for bright candidates across the globe.
Sourcing through Newspapers
The common method of sourcing prospective candidates is by advertising for positions in the newspapers.. The newspaper advertisement carries a short profile of the company and the position with a job description.
Tele-Recruitment
Tele-recruitment is a method wherein candidates are interviewed over the telephone, selected and recruited. The employers check the skills sets and experience of the prospective candidates before interviewing them.
Internet
The spread of Internet has enabled employers to search for candidates globally and has made the recruitment process easier. The employer can browse the profile of candidates from the Internet and the candidates can be accessed through e-mail.
Recruitment through Placement Consultants
The placement agencies invite resumes of prospective candidates. They also interview candidates and shortlist those according to the criteria laid down by the respective companies. This helps the employers to interview a limited number of potential candidates.
Meaning of Recruitment
In Industrial terminology, to recruit has come to mean “to fill up a vacancy” and recruitment is the process involved in it.
With the rise of Industrial Revolution, the demand for skilled labor grew, giving rise to greater opportunities in terms of the number of skilled personnel required for the job.
People from all sections of society now learnt and pursued different trades of their choice. This was the beginning of a social transformation, which eventually rid the society of the evils of a deep-rooted caste bias.
Pre-Recruitment Stages
Recruitment is the function of the Personnel Department, which identifies the vacancies based on the need expressed by the concerned department.
The Personnel Department takes sanction for filling up he post from the management.
There is a fundamental shift from “the approved manpower planning” to the requirements of manpower and finance originating from the business plan.
This shift is due to the change in the operation of business. Today, the market is driven by consumer preference, and consumers no longer merely take what is produced. The need for a variety in the skilled manpower originates from the growing customer expectations.
Modes of Recruitment
The traditional system of recruitment depended upon the recent applications sourced from the company employees’ children. The application contained a column which required the prospective candidate to state whether she/he has any relative working in the organization.
The modern organizations scout for bright candidates across the globe.
Sourcing through Newspapers
The common method of sourcing prospective candidates is by advertising for positions in the newspapers.. The newspaper advertisement carries a short profile of the company and the position with a job description.
Tele-Recruitment
Tele-recruitment is a method wherein candidates are interviewed over the telephone, selected and recruited. The employers check the skills sets and experience of the prospective candidates before interviewing them.
Internet
The spread of Internet has enabled employers to search for candidates globally and has made the recruitment process easier. The employer can browse the profile of candidates from the Internet and the candidates can be accessed through e-mail.
Recruitment through Placement Consultants
The placement agencies invite resumes of prospective candidates. They also interview candidates and shortlist those according to the criteria laid down by the respective companies. This helps the employers to interview a limited number of potential candidates.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Cultural Fit
Most HR professionals today recognize the importance of Cultural Fit. What is Cultural Fit? It becomes useful to first explore the broader concept of fit and the reasons why culture fit is particularly important.
Fit is typically defined in two ways:
• Job fit
• Organization fit.
Job fit refers to the degree to which the candidate’s skills and experience arerelevant to the job and the degree to which the candidate finds the role’s activities and responsibilities satisfying.
Organizational fit refers to the candidate’s compatibility with the organization’s values and mode of operation.
While organization fit covers a range of organizational attributes the most common and frequently cited element centers on the congruence between individual and organizational values. This is referred to as culture fit.
Research over the years has shown that individuals selected on the basis of culture fit will contribute faster, perform better and stay longer. In today’s business scenario knowledge, intellectual capital, individual and organizational qualities represent the competitive value proposition for most companies.
Culture fit cannot be developed in any individual. Provided someone fits into the organization, and demonstrates the ability to grow and develop, their knowledge and skills will change and grow over time. Values and motivations on the other hand are almost impossible to change.
Though most of the HR Managers understand the significance of Culture Fit, but the tight labor market often leads them to make decisions quickly and choose individuals who may not be right. Internally, they cite time pressures; lack of available tools, skills and resources as the reasons for not assessing cultural fit.
Assessing cultural fit is not as difficult as many would think. It requires establishing strong processes and tools that are understood and effectively practiced by all managers.
The first step is to secure the Top Management buying. This starts with demonstrating a sound return on investment.
The next step is to put in place sound and efficient processes that support the assessment of culture fit. This is where the HR function plays a critical role.
Finally, the individual’s rankings are compared with the organization profiles to identify areas of alignment and potential mismatch. This information is often carried forward to first or second interviews.
Recruiting for cultural fit is very important. Organizational culture today is being threatened by hiring processes. What is encouraging though is the recognition that the issue of culture fit is an important one. The HR function needs to take a strategic stance on the same.
Fit is typically defined in two ways:
• Job fit
• Organization fit.
Job fit refers to the degree to which the candidate’s skills and experience arerelevant to the job and the degree to which the candidate finds the role’s activities and responsibilities satisfying.
Organizational fit refers to the candidate’s compatibility with the organization’s values and mode of operation.
While organization fit covers a range of organizational attributes the most common and frequently cited element centers on the congruence between individual and organizational values. This is referred to as culture fit.
Research over the years has shown that individuals selected on the basis of culture fit will contribute faster, perform better and stay longer. In today’s business scenario knowledge, intellectual capital, individual and organizational qualities represent the competitive value proposition for most companies.
Culture fit cannot be developed in any individual. Provided someone fits into the organization, and demonstrates the ability to grow and develop, their knowledge and skills will change and grow over time. Values and motivations on the other hand are almost impossible to change.
Though most of the HR Managers understand the significance of Culture Fit, but the tight labor market often leads them to make decisions quickly and choose individuals who may not be right. Internally, they cite time pressures; lack of available tools, skills and resources as the reasons for not assessing cultural fit.
Assessing cultural fit is not as difficult as many would think. It requires establishing strong processes and tools that are understood and effectively practiced by all managers.
The first step is to secure the Top Management buying. This starts with demonstrating a sound return on investment.
The next step is to put in place sound and efficient processes that support the assessment of culture fit. This is where the HR function plays a critical role.
Finally, the individual’s rankings are compared with the organization profiles to identify areas of alignment and potential mismatch. This information is often carried forward to first or second interviews.
Recruiting for cultural fit is very important. Organizational culture today is being threatened by hiring processes. What is encouraging though is the recognition that the issue of culture fit is an important one. The HR function needs to take a strategic stance on the same.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Recruitment and Selection – An Overview
The role of talent in any economy raises various issues. In the early years, it was the employers who had dominated the market, and employees were in abundant supply with no shareholder’s activism. As we moved on, the financial power assumed more significance. However, the Human Capital is now becoming the most dominant force in the business.
Recruitment and Selection of the right candidate considering the vision, mission and strategy of the organization, is increasingly gaining significance.
Recruitment
Rynes defines recruitment as, “Recruitment encompasses all organizational practices and decisions that affect either the number or type of individuals who are willing to apply for, or to accept a given vacancy.”
The focus of recruitment and selection is on matching the capabilities and inclinations of prospective candidates against the demands and rewards inherent in a given job.
Effective Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment Strategy focuses on the following -
• When to recruit
• How many to recruit
• Where to recruit from
• Which channels to tap
When to recruit
The recruitment practice of any organization varies, depending on the life cycle and size of the organization. It also depends heavily on the Manpower planning.
How many to recruit
The quantum of recruitment varies according to the organizational structure. An organization with a long hierarchical structure might recruit large number of people at the time of its expansion. On the other hand, an Organization which has a relatively flat structure, might recruit lesser number of people, considering its resource constraints.
Where to recruit from
The larger organizations usually recruit internally across all the managerial grades. This is in contrast to their smaller counterparts. The larger organizations tend to have a larger pool of potentially suitable candidates. The newer entrants with little or no knowledge mostly involve in External recruitments.
Which channels to tap
The possible sources of attracting potential candidates for recruitment –
Newspaper
Organizations having less knowledge in the existing market tend to opt for newspaper to explain who they are and help people make a choice. As there is already a known domain competency for established organizations, they would not make much use of Newspaper as a possible source.
Magazine
Assuming the same logic as explained above, newer organizations in an existing market would make more use of this source.
Online Recruitment
The scope of online recruitment is wide open. It provides information on job vacancies, conduct online interviews, psychometric assessments, interactive tools for communication, interactive application forms, electronic mailing lists, etc. It is slowly becoming the most reliable source.
Word-of-mouth
Well established organizations use word-of-mouth promotion of the organization through its employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of the staffing process to an external service provider. Many organizations lack the internal expertise and resources to acquire the talent needed to remain competitive.
RPO solutions achieve improvements in four areas:
• Quality
• Cost
• Service
• Speed
Selection
Selection involves screening applicants’ abilities and traits in order to assess the degree of success and compatibility of the individual in the organization. This is the phase of the recruitment strategy where the communication between the employers and job seekers is crucial.
Recruitment and Selection of the right candidate considering the vision, mission and strategy of the organization, is increasingly gaining significance.
Recruitment
Rynes defines recruitment as, “Recruitment encompasses all organizational practices and decisions that affect either the number or type of individuals who are willing to apply for, or to accept a given vacancy.”
The focus of recruitment and selection is on matching the capabilities and inclinations of prospective candidates against the demands and rewards inherent in a given job.
Effective Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment Strategy focuses on the following -
• When to recruit
• How many to recruit
• Where to recruit from
• Which channels to tap
When to recruit
The recruitment practice of any organization varies, depending on the life cycle and size of the organization. It also depends heavily on the Manpower planning.
How many to recruit
The quantum of recruitment varies according to the organizational structure. An organization with a long hierarchical structure might recruit large number of people at the time of its expansion. On the other hand, an Organization which has a relatively flat structure, might recruit lesser number of people, considering its resource constraints.
Where to recruit from
The larger organizations usually recruit internally across all the managerial grades. This is in contrast to their smaller counterparts. The larger organizations tend to have a larger pool of potentially suitable candidates. The newer entrants with little or no knowledge mostly involve in External recruitments.
Which channels to tap
The possible sources of attracting potential candidates for recruitment –
Newspaper
Organizations having less knowledge in the existing market tend to opt for newspaper to explain who they are and help people make a choice. As there is already a known domain competency for established organizations, they would not make much use of Newspaper as a possible source.
Magazine
Assuming the same logic as explained above, newer organizations in an existing market would make more use of this source.
Online Recruitment
The scope of online recruitment is wide open. It provides information on job vacancies, conduct online interviews, psychometric assessments, interactive tools for communication, interactive application forms, electronic mailing lists, etc. It is slowly becoming the most reliable source.
Word-of-mouth
Well established organizations use word-of-mouth promotion of the organization through its employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) where an employer outsources or transfers all or part of the staffing process to an external service provider. Many organizations lack the internal expertise and resources to acquire the talent needed to remain competitive.
RPO solutions achieve improvements in four areas:
• Quality
• Cost
• Service
• Speed
Selection
Selection involves screening applicants’ abilities and traits in order to assess the degree of success and compatibility of the individual in the organization. This is the phase of the recruitment strategy where the communication between the employers and job seekers is crucial.
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