With the New Year upon us it’s time to update your HR playbook. Give some thought to these unique methods for recruiting, retention and compensation. Quite frankly, these are the sort of processes that can set your organization apart. Far too often all of us use the same systems, drop one HR policy book into another company and would it give up a competitive advantage? Not likely. A perfect example is the oil industry – constantly matching each others salary plans (near identical bonus structures etc.). If you’ve read a few of my articles you would know how much value I put into the EVP, and practices like these would tie in nicely to an overall EVP strategy.
Innovative Recruitment Methods
- Use social media….properly. Social media is a two-way street, and it is likely that those who interact with you are going to be a better fit and have a clearer idea of your culture and business than those who apply because they came across a posting. There was a digital marketing firm in Toronto who found that over 70% of their hires came from their twitter despite having more traditional applicants.
- Train and identify ideal candidates at the same time. IGN (a video game company) used a series of unique questions to help find people who “thought” like programmers to qualify for a 6 week programming training course. At the end of the course (after evaluation of their skills) IGN offered jobs to a number of these participants. Many with non-traditional backgrounds (no prior programming experience, no college courses etc.)
- Partner with educational institutions…creatively. The Wharton School of Business has a unique system. Every year startups with venture capital backing submit requests for interns to Wharton’s career services office using an auction. Students bid on positions in an auction reducing number of people competing for any given internship. This means only those most interested candidates apply and then begin a rigorous recruitment process (cast studies, video interviews, and other non-traditional methods help).
A Better Bonus System
- Does your organization believe in collaboration? Does your compensation system support this? IGN uses “viral pay” which uses tokens twice a year to distribute profit sharing. Employees send tokens to each other, as recognition for a job well done. The tokens can be worth as much or as little as the employee wishes, however they distribute all their tokens within the specified period.
- At least look into modifying your current system to a more effective one. Profit sharing is one of the only researched methods with the least downside risks of any. In addition it helps tie employee compensation levels to organizational performance, providing flexibility to management.
Retaining your Talent
- For Canadian firms the labour market is beginning to tighten – particularly here in the West. So lets look at some of the keys to retaining your employees that might be a bit different than before:
- Ernst & Young in the US has recently put together a bonus system to help with retention that effectively will pay out $36,000 to all new hires who remain with the firm for 6 years. Husky Oil implemented a retention bonus to keep up with the other oil companies, and even my own firm adjusted their “flexible” Fridays scheme in an office to better match what other companies in the city were doing. These are a start, but they seem to overlook what people really want: providing development, flexibility on thier own terms, and clear performance expectations (both formal and informal).
- Provide unique benefits that address the needs of your employees. I personally love the subsidized mortgage idea from Wright-group. It provides a rare benefit but really addresses a key employee need.
Resources:
- Innovative Recruitment Methods
- A Better Bonus System
- Retaining your Talent
- No More Resumes, Say Some Firms
Anything else you would like to see added to the HR playbook for this year? Let me know below.
“The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent PwC’s positions, strategies or opinions.”