HR vs. Innovation

Most corporate Human Resources Management/Information Systems (HRMS/HRIS) and processes haven’t kept up with the rapidly, ever-changing tech business environment.

I am always gob-smacked that corporations will lose talented people without even inquiring why they left.  And annual performance reviews as we knew it, are utterly useless! They serve no purpose, other than to allow managers to create little groups of people that fit into some bureaucratically determined salary or bonus tier.

Have you ever noticed how your best employees always know their market value, often seek other opportunities, and leave… as in, leaving their process-driven, under-performing peers behind?

Talking of market value; the new world requires you to pay your employees at “Top of the Market” rates for their skills.  Otherwise, they will leave. 

This should not be a challenging concept for business leaders.  Just ask yourself these three questions:

- What could my superstar earn elsewhere, should they decide to leave?

- What is my cost of replacement?

- What would I pay to keep that person? … and then, pay them, while you still can!

The keeper test is even simpler.  If someone said they were leaving, how hard would you fight to retain them?  The new 360° feedback is also simple:  Employees should ask their managers: “If I said I was leaving, how hard would you fight to retain me?” If uncertainty exists, sever ties professionally, amicably, with dignity, and move on!

In this new world, adequate performance should always be rewarded with a generous severance package!

You see, in this new world, people - and not the corporations they work for - will manage their own career growth.  And, employee economic security is entirely based on their skills and reputation!

Their reputations are based on their great work.  Notice, I didn’t say hard work… but great work.  No-one will be counting hours in the future, with employees connected virtually 24/7; checking emails, calling peers and taking calls from clients at all hours, working whenever there is work that has to get done.

The industrial revolution and it’s 9-5, everyone-in-one-place for the working day is beyond its best before date.  We're not building widgets anymore, but creating and innovating.  As a direct result, hard work - as measured in hours - is increasingly irrelevant.  Great work is preferred.  No… required!

While on the subject of the new world, deferred compensation is also dead, finished!  In the near future all employee benefits should be part of his or her salary, always fully vested.  And that includes stock options, a subject I actually do have a little knowledge of based on my own recent, past experience.

Managers no longer ‘own’ people.  Your employees will stay because they are passionate about their work, well paid… and not because of some deferred compensation plan.  If you believe that deferred comp is a retention strategy, you're toast!

For more on this subject, or to arrange a hands-on workshop with your HR team, contact me.  I will help drag your corporation - sometimes while kicking and screaming - into the new HR world of high-tech innovation and creativity!