Re-Thinking HR
It’s time to say good-bye to the Department of Human Resources. Well, not the useful tasks it performs. But the department per se must go. It’s not that I don’t like HR; it’s just that I believe it can be improved.
You might think, you are engineer what can you know about HR? Well, you are right but I consider myself as Experience Architect and an Expert-Generalist (aka T-Shaped). The rival argument to the 10,000 hour rule is the expert-generalist approach. Orit Gadiesh, chairman of Bain & Co, who coined the term, describes the expert-generalist as:
“Someone who has the ability and curiosity to master and collect expertise in many different disciplines, industries, skills, capabilities, countries, and topics., etc. He or she can then, without necessarily even realizing it, but often by design:
Draw on that palette of diverse knowledge to recognize patterns and connect the dots across multiple areas.
Drill deep to focus and perfect the thinking.”
The concept is commonly represented by this model of the “T-shaped individual”:
Alright back to my proposal for HR. My proposal is radical but grounded in practicality: HR must follow Design Thinking and Employee Journey (copying from Customer Journey) in order to evolve and stay meaningful to employees life.
My proposal is pretty simple and consist of few steps which are:
Develop a Candidate Persona
Develop an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
Build an Employee Journey Mapping
Step 1. Develop a Candidate Persona
A candidate persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal candidate. This persona is formed by defining the characteristics, skills, and traits that make up your perfect hire. Creating personas help guide and make your hiring process easier. Candidate Persona can help you to:
Create more relevant job descriptions and increase applications
Understand the best recruiting channels for your target candidates
Align your sourcing strategies and focus on better talent
Below is a cheat sheet for defining your candidate persona. You may not be able to answer all of these questions, but the more you answer the better you can adjust your recruiting campaigns and efforts.
There are couple of very good resources available online but I would recommend these two:
Step 2. Develop an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
EVPs are the complete experience of working at a company. This experience is a combination of 5 key elements:
EVPs are an important tool for attracting top talent when the competition is rife. Because today, companies don’t just choose who works for them. Today, people have as much power to choose where they want to work, too. This choice grows larger as online recruitment tools around the world accessible to almost anyone, anywhere, and anytime.
1. Compensation
This component of Employee Value Proposition (EVP) encompasses employee’s satisfaction with salary and additional rewards such as bonuses and promotions. In a broad sense, it is an employee’s satisfaction with a whole evaluation and compensation system, including its timeliness and fairness.
2. Benefits
This component encompasses a wide range of benefits such as paid time off (holidays, vacation and sick days), life and accident insurance and health, dental, retirement, tuition and disability benefits. In a broad sense, it’s an employee’s satisfaction with a whole benefits system.
3. Career
This component encompasses different factors that affect employee’s career stability and a chance for its development and progress, such as opportunities for training and education, professional consultations, evaluation and feedback etc.
4. Work environment
This component encompasses different factors that constitute a positive work environment, from a clear understanding of employee’s role and responsibilities to a healthy work-life balance. Important factors are also a sense of autonomy and personal achievement and following recognition.
5. Company culture
This component encompasses different factors that constitute a great company culture, which is made up of positive relationships with colleagues, managers and company’s leaders, and characterized by trust, collaboration, team spirit and support. In a broad sense, this component includes an alignment with company's goals and plans with special emphasis on social responsibility.
Examples of EVP
Example 1: The following video is EVP of a company called DSM in few minutes of video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnsLyFqacB4
Example 2: HubSpot don’t just talk the talk. When they say they care about family planning and building an inclusive culture, this includes paying for female employees to freeze their eggs, empowering them to choose when to grow their careers and when to grow their families.
"We're dedicated to building an inclusive culture where employees can do their best work. Feedback, research, and our own employees show that the number one way to do that is by being flexible. Giving HubSpotters the freedom and flexibility to create their own work-life balance builds trust in our company, but it’s also just the right thing to do. That’s why flexibility is at the core of our benefits and culture, from family planning to financial planning."
Example 3: What’s interesting with Stripe is that they encourage you to apply even if you don’t match the job description. This tells us that they care more about finding the right people rather than the right CVs. They are willing to invest in training and education if the candidate has the right personal attributes.
"At Stripe, we're looking for people with passion, grit, and integrity. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't precisely match the job description. Your skills and passion will stand out—and set you apart—especially if your career has taken some extraordinary twists and turns. At Stripe, we welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously and aren't afraid to challenge assumptions."
Example 4: Google are leading when it comes to an employee value proposition.
"There’s no one kind of Googler, so we’re always looking for people who can bring new perspectives and life experiences to our teams. If you’re looking for a place that values your curiosity, passion, and desire to learn, if you’re seeking colleagues who are big thinkers eager to take on fresh challenges as a team, then you’re a future Googler."
Example 5: Netflix.
"We’re a team, not a family. We’re like a pro sports team, not a kid’s recreational team. Netflix leaders hire, develop and cut smartly so we have stars in every position"
Step 3. Build an Employee Journey Mapping
A journey map visually describes an employee’s journey as she attempts to achieve a goal. It depicts a timeline of the employee experience; key touchpoints; what the employee is feeling, thinking and doing; pain points, and opportunities.
No single journey map can represent an entire journey. Each journey map illustrates a typical journey of an employee attempting to achieve a goal or satisfy a need.
Example journeys include:
Candidate Experience or Candidate Journey
An employee’s first day on the job
Submitting an expense claim
Keeping up to date with company news
Planning a meeting
The following image is a simple template of Employee Journey Mapping that you can start to build your own Employee Journey.
Today’s companies know everything there is to know about their customers and will stop at nothing to ensure that their experience is pleasant and meaningful. But what if they directed some of the same energy toward understanding and engaging their employees? What are the potential payoffs for a better motivated, more loyal, and imaginatively innovating workforce?
Diana Dosik shares her experiences turning the tables of customer research and experience onto employees to create smarter and better companies to build a better Employee Experience by removing pain points using Employee Journey Mapping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvcOzkK2rcg