Staffing and Selection
If recruiting is getting people into the top of the funnel, then staffing and selection are choosing the right candidates out of the pool and getting them through the funnel and into the leadership pipeline. In the following diagram, the Recruiting Funnel, by Sloane and Associates, Inc., of Brookfield, Wisconsin, we see a good illustration of where we are in the process. The part of the process called staffing and selection is when you have your final three to five qualified candidates. As the organization grows, you can see how beneficial it is to have people or firms dedicated to helping narrow down the pool to the final few qualified candidates.1
Once you have completed your outreach (supply), established the right mix of demographically diverse candidates, and narrowed the pool down to three to five qualified leaders for a position, it is time to make your quality selection (purchasing) and put the new hire into his or her position (production). Every part of the process will ideally align with the Human Capital Strategy and, ultimately, the vision and strategy of the overall organization.
When it comes to selecting leaders, there are tools that each organization can tap to greatly assist in the process. The most obvious tool and one that most organizations use is the interview. We are strong believers in the behavioral-based interview and believe that a face-to-face meeting is imperative at this stage of the process. Meeting with the candidate face-to-face provides significant and valuable information about the candidate’s nonverbal behavior, presence, interpersonal skills, and how he or she is perceived by others in general. The interview consists of questions related to professional skills as well as personal preferences, choices, and attitude. There is so much more to a good hire than just evaluating technical qualifications. When it comes to demographics, if you’re hiring an over 55 leader, you’ll want to know that they seem healthy enough to carry out the responsibilities of the position. Just as candidates for the president of the United States have their health evaluated by voters before the election, leaders must also be deemed healthy enough to carry out the duties with excellence. Whether we like it or not, image does matter, and evaluating whether the person carries the personal presence needed for the role is necessary.
Recruiting Funnel
It is a great time to start evaluating “fit” on both sides. Just remember, if the talent pool includes Gen Y, they may show up at the interview with their parents, so try to keep your jaw off the floor and don’t throw them out. Just because it’s not the way of the Boomers and the Gen Xers doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. They are bringing their trusted “counselors” to the process, and, after all, isn’t there a biblical text that says, “In multitude of counselors there is safety“?2 So, why not? Talk to the parents, too. There is probably a lot to learn there as well.
If the potential candidates interview well, and they should once they make it to this point, it is time to look under the hood. You are making a potentially expensive “purchase,” and you’ll want to know as much as possible about each candidate regardless of his or her generation. Selection assessment or, at high levels called executive assessment, is a great way to look under the hood. Assessment involves a comprehensive process that is designed to align with the organization’s strategy, culture, and development initiatives. The person doing the assessment typically begins with a telephone meeting with key stakeholders to gain an understanding of the position requirements, strategy of the organization, and culture in order to appropriately analyze for fit.
The next step is to meet each potential candidate face-toface for an in-depth behavioral-based interview, which focuses on education, work history, background, self-perceptions, goals, etc. Standardized tests and personality inventories are also used to provide normative data (see Chapter 14 for more information on assessment).
Once the process is complete, telephone feedback is provided to the hiring executive. This feedback focuses on each candidate’s strengths, developmental needs, and potential limitations relative to the position in question. The end result is a written report that focuses on conceptual skills, emotional makeup, motivational factors, interpersonal skills, and leadership style. Here is a diagram from Executive Development Associates’ assessment processes:
On top of selection, the standard processes of background checks, while always important, become crucial if the organization is using some of the out-of-the-box recruiting methods covered in Chapter 12. Legalities and safety measures must be part of the process, especially when reaching out across the globe to find leadership talent or when recruiting immigrants. Doing these steps is just part of looking under the hood. Remember, it’s an investment, and you want to know what you are buying. As we mentioned in the last chapter, reference checks are easier than ever, especially for the Gen Yers because their “stuff” is posted all over the Internet. The Boomers and many Gen Xers are a lot less likely to post their “stuff,” so you’ll need more traditional routes for their reference checks. Just don’t miss the “casual” references. “Casual” references are when you call a friend-of-a-friend who knows the candidate or worked with them or knows someone who did. These are often very telling as the references people post on their résumés are obviously going to be good references.
Okay, it’s time to make your (purchase) decision and hire your new leader, and regardless of the chosen demographic, the organization needs to be well-prepared to onboard the new leader. What is onboarding?
Onboarding or on-boarding is a business management term used for the process of handling new employees to obtain the best results from them.3
This process can be both formal and informal and will ideally start even before the person’s first day.
When we talk about the supply-and-demand process when it comes to people, we don’t mean to dehumanize the process. It is simply a macro view of talent. In reality, people are people and not products or services, so it takes a lot more to onboard a new person than it does to onboard a new product. Here are a few tips from Hagemann’s Tweets about the process (http://twitter.com/ExecDevAssoc):
• Set clear expectations for the new leader upon arrival about how he or she will be onboarded and expected outcomes.
• Have a formal process so that the new leader feels highly valued and so that the organization is ready for him or her. The formal process will include the typical employee orientation plus three to six months with an assigned mentor. For an executive, the mentor is sometimes a long-term executive administrative assistant. This is a great way to give the new executive culture and history; he or she already has the skill, and the big hurtle will be fitting in.
• Have a set process for gaining standard employee information in a concierge-type way.
• Enroll the new leader in learning and development programs, including helping him or her map out a plan to develop or hone the leadership competencies expected in the organization.
• Have a process in place for the new leader to gain regular feedback and make adjustments.
• Assess the organization’s onboarding processes consistently to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to do by creating more engaged and successful leaders. Informal onboarding can include attending department meetings, reviewing attorney briefs on legal cases and the history of the company, attending lunches or dinners with board members, and scheduling time to visit with employees in various departments.
Doing a good job of bringing on a new leader or employee is very important. If this doesn’t go well, it can have long-term implications. Up-to-date processes in organizations are now very employee-centric. While the Boomers and Gen Xers will be delighted with an employee-centric onboarding process, Gen Yers will be under impressed if it isn’t in place, which they are likely to post on Facebook along with the rest of their stuff. So what does employee-centric onboarding look like? Well, it’s all about the employee. Companies often spend a lot of time telling employees about who they are and how things “go around here.” But employee-centric processes are more integrated, making sure that the new leader learns about the company and that the company learns about the new leader.
Organizations can begin building a profile that will paint a picture of who the new leader is, just like Google, Amazon, and other retailers do for their customers. That way, when a new benefit becomes available, the HR Department can target market to likely “buyers” based on employee profiles—no more shot-gun approach. This is, of course, assuming that your organization has benefits packaged that can be tailored to the individual. If not, start moving that direction right away. If you don’t catch up soon, Gen Y will come in and bump you out of your seat in the parade and show the older generations how it’s done. The employee orientation, onboarding, and benefits packages of the past are stale and out of touch with the rest of the world: you know, the cafeteria meeting to go over employee benefits, fill out paperwork, etc. Forgetaboutit!
iGoogle is a great example of how employers can satisfy Gen Y and come into the 21st century at the same time. iGoogle (www.google.com/ig) is a personalized Google page that is very customizable. You can add news, photos, and weather and have boxes for your Facebook, sticky notes, quotes, and maps. It’s very cool. Even though it is controlled in that you can only choose from what Google makes available, it makes you feel free to do it your way. This is exactly what organizations can do with benefits packages. They can be accessible online, allowing an employee to log in, choose the benefits that appeal to him or her, and create a personalized page to engage and track the employee benefits programs and offerings. Companies could advertise there, make important announcements, etc. In this type of framework, it will be user-friendly impressive for all who come. If all of this can be handled in a very concierge-type way with sufficient hand-holding for those who need it, even better.
Remember, Gen Y especially and the other generations included want flexibility and they want choices. Even with benefits, employees should be able to click on “Add Benefits” and choose from a laundry list of benefits. The organization can put a cap on their benefits so that expenses are fixed or give them a benefit budget and let them choose, but either way, they need choices. Make it easy and user friendly. Make it web-based and flexible. Oh, and make it fun!
Let’s talk more about the benefits that organizations may want to make available for this new workplace order. Here is our recommended “gadget” option list for the new employee’s personalized benefits page:
• Workplace news and announcements
• Cafeteria menus (updated daily)
• Directions to workplace locations, including an area map and campus map if the organization is a large, multiple-building campus
• Facebook-type social networking but for all company employees (and only company employees) that includes the organization chart and where the person falls on the chart. Remember, transparency is now expected, so for those organizations that squirm at this, it’s time to come out of the closet. Include places for posts and chats so that employees can easily exchange information such as who has what resources, who wants to share resources, etc. Include online work tools for virtual teams such as online meetings, desktop sharing, web conferencing, video conference, net meeting, and web conference. Let’s face it: we’re going to have more and more virtual teams as we move forward in the technology age, so we may as well prepare.
• You Tube–type employee videos both fun and informative, monitored for inappropriate content for those employees who lack a filter—and we all know a few of those
• Interactive Employee Handbook with a “Chat Live” assistant available to answer questions via chat or telephone. This section may include policies and procedures, legal matters, travel, dress codes with videos, etc.
• Performance management portal for individuals and another one for leaders
• Interactive benefits program:
– Benefits communication and calculator—shows the employee the true value of his or her benefits salary and benefits package
– Health insurance—This is the number one most-desired benefit for employees followed by paid time off. However, insurance needs to be adjustable based on the generation. For example, Boomers may need more coverage and be able to stomach a higher deductible while Gen Y may need a lower deductible and more wellness options instead of standard health insurance. Get the benefits companies onboard. Organizations need to unbundle and tailor their offerings to the employees’ needs.
– Short-and long-term disability
– Life insurance
– Dental insurance
– Vision insurance
– Flex spending plan
– Retirement and savings
– Time away policies
– Holidays
– Employee assistance program
• Interactive perks menu:
– Onsite childcare
– Onsite or pickup cleaners
– Free food or M&Ms
– Tuition reimbursement
– Employee referral program
– Doctor onsite or house call
– On-site oil change
– Car wash
– Gym information
• Learning and development portal:
– E-learning
– Management system if available
– Onsite classes and workshops
– Internal and external coach options
– Career development
• Individual development plan—integrated with learning
• Place to house résumé
• Links to niche areas specific to the individual’s line of work
– External education supported by the organization
• Suggestion box for the HR Department and for the company in general
Okay, that was fun. First company to create the technology in cloud computing format in an easy-to-implement way that is reasonably priced wins!
Before we leave benefits, we think it may be necessary to spend a little more time on a few that particularly matter when thinking about the generational parade. When it comes to reward and recognition, we recommend that companies use focus groups from the various constituencies to determine focused reward offerings that have meaning for each group. For example, monetary rewards may do the trick for the Boomers, time off may do it for the Gen Xers, and getting to work in a collaborative team on a real problem that creates new learning and adds value to the company may be a great reward for Gen Y. Whatever it turns out to be, it is important to listen to the employees, learn what matters, and perhaps even have reward and recognition options:
Your reward for meeting the team goal is
a. a day off with pay.
b. a $300 gift certificate.
c. an opportunity to join one of the company’s real-problem learning projects with a team from across the company.
In addition to personalizing reward and recognition, organizations should do the same with work structure. In general, Gen Y is going to need more structure, Gen X is going to want little or no structure, and the Boomers just want to create structure. Career development has always been considered a perk, but Gen Y will expect it. Yes, they expect a lot, but it will push organizations to be better. They will show up in the interview asking about their career development: don’t be offended, just be prepared. We know that most of the changes we are talking about impact everyone but are targeted to Gen Y. It’s not because they are more important. It’s just that they are a massive generation, they are joining the parade at a rapid pace, and processes and technology inside most companies are way behind the current capabilities.
Employee Assistance Programs can also be tailored to meet generational needs. EAPs have changed to meet the needs of the modern workforce. The shift in employee demographics—such as gender, age, and average length of service—has created the need for increased diversity in EA program delivery and types of services:
As the large baby boomer population ages, the average employee age is expected to increase as well. Consequently, issues such as child care, retirement planning and balancing the demands of work and personal life have become an increased priority in the workplace.4
Finally, we would like to talk about the work environment. This too can be tailored. The Boomers may want to put their butts in the office chair, Gen X may want to work from home, and Gen Y may want to come in for project work. Either way, with the technology age, organizations can rethink the work environment. As more and more organizations move to a results-only workplace, they may find that having employees is no longer necessary. If the employer isn’t telling them when to do the work, they do not technically have to be an employee. Then the organization can move everyone to a 1099 basis and completely control this part of the overhead based on volume. Combine that with a virtual work environment and voilà: a business that can withstand just about any economy. Of course the 1099s can also work for other companies, but the hiring company can request that they not work for competitors. As long as you are getting the results you are paying for, what difference does it make? We need to ask why we have created a time-based system. We’ve found that work expands to fit the amount of time we give it. If we say we only work half days, we tend to get the necessary things done in a half day. If we give ourselves seven days a week to do the work, miraculously there is seven days of work available to do. In fact, the work is rarely complete and we often make it expand by giving it more time. If you don’t believe me, try to abstain from e-mail except for one hour each day and see if it doesn’t reduce the amount of work you have. No Crackberries either. We think there may be many instances where a time-based system is no longer necessary or even best. Of course, we understand that some organizations have shift work and other mandated time frames, so the day of the employee is not over. It’s just changing.
Here’s what Tammy Erickson had to say about it in her bNet blog:
The idea of decoupling time [from results] is the rule of the future, whether it will be in that form or not. We need to stop measuring work in hours and start measuring it in terms of task or production. If you look at the history of using time to measure work, it’s a relatively recent concept starting around the 1930s, when assembly-line production became too complex to determine what you did or what I did. Prior to that, people were paid according to how many buttons they sewed: by task. In the overall scheme of history, the whole hourly thing has just about served its purpose; I think it will be associated with the industrial economy. It just doesn’t make sense to pay by the hour to write a piece of software.5
Other environment options that can be tailored to fit an individual include telecommuting, job-sharing, alternative work schedules, and sabbaticals. Any way we slice it, the work environment is going to change along with the parade, and in order to get the best talent in our talent pipelines, we need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Notes
1. “Recruiting Funnel.” Sloane & Associates. Web. 01 Aug. 2010. http://sloaneassociates.com/clients.htm.
2. Proverbs. Holy Bible King James Version. Proverbs 24:6. Casscom Media, 2006. Print.
3. “Onboarding.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 24 July 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onboarding.
4. “Changing Workplace Demographics.” NASA EAP. COPEonline. Web. 24 July 2010. http://ohp.nasa.gov/cope2/work_demog.html.
5. Blakely, Lindsay. “The End of Time-Based Management?” BNET Today. Web. 24 July 2010. http://www.bnet.com/2403-13059_23-237238.html?tag=content;col1.