Feelings probably range from utter relief to wild celebration (but not on company expenses) and certainly 2010 looks like being less troublesome for HR, if not yet entirely predictable. The “bloodbath” that was predicted a year ago was realised in many businesses, with redundancies and down-sizing rife across the board. Many businesses have changed shape and direction, had to develop new product and service offerings fast and have had to compete much harder with leaner work forces and often with different skill sets. HR has had to respond like at no other time in its history, suddenly back-to-back fire fighting and with less time for strategic planning. Employee engagement and recruitment dropped down the priority list as attrition rates plummeted and organisational development work rose to the fore as businesses tried to fit their new leaner, meaner work force to their new world that was emerging.
In Ochre House’s HR Network events this year we generally saw two types of HR functions emerge: those businesses at the harsh end of the down turn that had stripped HR of resource, and those businesses that were less harshly affected and managed to start to plan for the “new norm” of 2010, often through strategic partnerships to avoid most – or any – capital or fixed cost investment.
This second group mentioned are in the minority but are well placed for the coming year. They typically have leading products and services that need little immediate modification, let alone complete re-engineering, so the workforce impact has been lessened. They have invested in redeployment of staff, have developed their Employee Value Proposition and have built robust talent programmes from acquisition to development and retention. They have been able to legislate for what we all know is coming; the easing of the employment market and rapid re-mobilisation of the skilled worker. And this isn’t HR’s fault, or indeed the business’s, this is unavoidable as a false norm had been created for a limited 18 month period, that quite simply will expire in the next six months.
About our guest blogger:
Damien Stork – After starting life as a professional rugby player Damien has developed a highly successful career as a talent management professional and was the co-founder of one of Ochre House’s key divisions.
The inspiration for this blog was provided by one of my dearest and oldest friends, Gary Gershaw. Gary is a writer and director in California. His work is hilariously funny and never ceases to make me laugh out loud. His most recent project is “Makeover Mission: Homeless Edition”.
Every year, in my role at Pinstripe, I visit dozens and dozens of organizations to spread the Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) word. I once aggregated the hiring volume of all my annual visits and it was well over 100,000 hires per year. While most of the companies I visit are middle of the road, I do get to see some of the best and worst hiring processes in North America. The opportunity to peak behind the talent acquisition curtain and see what’s really going on is truly one of the intellectual benefits of my job.
I always feel badly when I am confronted by a totally abhorrent talent acquisition process. In these situations, the concept of re-engineering is much too inconsequential to impart change. Every year I cross paths with a few select companies that need something really extreme. These companies need a complete makeover from top to bottom; wipe the slate clean and start all over; something so radical that at the end of the day the new hiring process will be unrecognizable to those familar with the former ways. This is always a very difficult recommendation and sometimes I am reluctant to be the one to share the news; however, it is always the honest and needed course of action. Suggesting anything less drastic would be disingenuous.
Pinstripe’s Anne Bucher, back from a Global Resourcing Workshop in London, discusses an RPO technique of implementing talent acquisition and management into recruiting departments.
5 reasons why RPO might have failed the first time and why you might want to give RPO another try:
If you outsourced more than 3 years ago, and things did go well please do not despair. Suppliers have really grown and matured in the past few years. There are now industry organizations and standards which has lead to greater supplier transparency and accountability. The RPO Wild Wild West days are long gone. Read the rest of this entry »
“A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are 5 people who have been tied to the track. Fortunately, you can flip a switch, which will lead the trolley down a different track to safety. Unfortunately, there is a single person tied to that track. Should you flip the switch?”
“When faced with two equally appealing bales of hay, the donkey could not make up its mind which to eat and so died of starvation”. – Jean Buridan, circa 1295-1358. French philosopher and theologian.
How can this possible have anything to do with RPO?
Well, if you have read any of our other blog entries then you know we can make everything relevant to RPO.
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