Pros of Bonus and Compensation

Bonuses are compensation for employees for work performed; they are paid in addition to salary or wages. Bonuses are considered compensation if (per the IRS) they "arise out of an employment relationship or are associated with the performance of services." Bonuses are considered taxable to employees, but are considered an expense of doing business and are, in most cases, a tax benefit to the employer.

A bonus payment is usually made to employees in addition to their base salary as part of their wages or Salary. While the base salary usually is a fixed amount per month, bonus payments more often than not vary depending on known criteria, such as the annual turnover, or the net number of additional customers acquired, or the current value of the stock of a public company. Thus bonus payments can act as incentives for managers attracting their attention and their personal interest towards what is seen as gainful for their companies' economic success.

An Incentive is something that motivates an individual to perform an action. Four kinds of incentives are available for employers to use at work. Those are as follows:

1) Compensation incentives may include items such as raises, bonuses, profit sharing, signing bonus, and stock options.

2) Recognition incentives include actions such as thanking employees, praising employees, presenting employees with a certificate of achievement, or announcing an accomplishment at a company meeting.

3) Rewards incentives include items such as gifts, monetary rewards, service award presents, and items such as gift certificates. An additional example is employee referral awards that some companies use to encourage employees to refer job candidates.

4)Appreciation incentives include such happenings as company parties and celebrations, company paid family activity events, ice cream socials, birthday celebrations, sporting events, paid group lunches, and sponsored sports teams.

Advantages of supplying bonuses:

1) Incentive and motivation

2) Appreciation

Disadvantages of supplying bonuses:

1) Costly for the company.

2) Jealousy among employees.

Advantages of providing incentives:

1) Increase productivity.

2) Retention of employees.

3) Encourage teamwork.

Disadvantages of providing incentives:

1) Employee Resentment.

2) Union Opposition.

3) More supervision required.

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Gamification a buzzing word

“Gamification” the word coined in the year 2002 is gaining buzz in the recent past with popular companies like PWC, Walmart and Qualcomm using gamification to create magic in facets such as recruitment, employee training and employee engagement respectively.

According to a survey conducted by Gartner, 70% of 2000 organizations will have at least one gamification application by the year 2015. 40% of Global 1000 organizations will use gamification as the primary mechanism to transform business operations by 2015.

Gamification Helps in 47% user engagement, 22% increase in brad loyalty,15% brand awareness,9% motivation and &% employee training according to the sources from Gartner.

The above figures show the positive impact of gamification could create in an organization.

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems and increase users' contributions. Gamification has been studied and applied in several domains, with some of the main purposes being to engage (improve user engagement, physical exercise, return on investment, flow, data quality, timelines, teach (in classrooms, the public or at work), entertain (enjoyment, fan loyalty), measure (for recruiting and employee evaluation).

Human resources can imbibe gamification to improve Talent acquisition and Management, cultivate and retain valued employees to learn and participate in training, incentivizing paperwork and other administrative requirements. Some prominent examples gamification in HR are Walmart usage of gaming for safety training for the employees, Qualcomm  using gamification to increase collaboration amongst its employees.HR gamification is the hot topic of 2015.The game is ON for HR.

Article by M.Aishwarya

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Transformation from Personnel to Human Capital

 Over the years, the terms used to describe staff and employees in businesses have changed. We have moved from "personnel" to "human resources" (HR) and now "human capital”. Other phrases, such as "talent management" have also emerged. These terms can appear to be dehumanizing. That is why some HR manager titles include the word "people" in preference to "human resources".

The important point is the mindset behind the organization’s operation. If people are valued, and all management and leadership actions demonstrate that, then the terminology is not so important. People are still the most important asset. The importance of people in organizations and discusses some issues relating to the achievement of high levels of performance for human resources.

Are managers mean?

Many employees seem to think that they are. In training sessions over the last twenty years, in both the public and private sectors alike and received some comments criticizing managers for being uncaring, inconsiderate and bombastic or the like.

Comments on participant training evaluation forms have included comments like "this training should be compulsory for all managers". Such comments show that employees believe that managers need to develop their interpersonal and leadership skills. They also indicate concerns about the way employees feel they are managed. When such concerns are discussed with participants, a better picture emerges. Often some clarification is required. Sometimes misunderstandings have occurred.

Unfortunately, this does not negate the impact of negative feelings in the first place. Perception is different to reality, but it is perception that guides feelings. If employees have a perception which is negative, then morale and performance will suffer.

So what can managers do?

The first thing is to be very conscious of how statements and actions may be perceived. Managerial actions must match the rhetoric. Employees look for the behaviour that supports the words. Many people can quote examples of managers talking about the importance of customer service whilst simultaneously slashing operating budgets. This mismatch between the rhetoric and actions constantly undermines the attempts made by organisations to bring about cultural change.

Secondly, any consultant will tell you that the most frequently mentioned problem in most organizations is communication. Communication flow throughout the organisation is essential. Communication channels need to be adjusted for the more fluid organizational structures and the new technologies.

Thirdly, managers need to pay constant attention to the people issues, particularly in environments of change. Most people do not like change being forced on them. Some are used to change. Some welcome it, particularly if they play a role in determining and implementing it. The emphasis nowadays on increased participation in the workplace is partly a reflection of the environment of constant change. We need participation to reduce the stress change causes.

Many organizations are experiencing relatively high employee turnover, but managers are saying they do not have the time to investigate the reasons. These warning signs may require investigation, particularly remembering the old adage that symptoms may mask the real problem. One of my favourite stories as a trainer concerns the maintenance manager who was constantly asked to check the air conditioning in certain sections of a large office building. Sometimes he was asked back regularly because employees were constantly complaining about being too hot or too cold. His equipment consistently found the temperature to be correct. Later he realized that the temperature complaints were symptoms of a problem, the real problem being with the workgroup itself. There were real problems with their morale and the organisation culture was not right. The problem manifested itself indirectly.

One of the key issues now is increased workload across all organizational levels. Increased workload has arisen because of restructuring, downsizing, increased responsibilities etc.

A real difficulty is determining whether a person has too much work, or alternatively, is inefficient or ineffective. People can innocently confuse "busyness" with efficiency or effectiveness. It is important to review activities and processes to assess their importance and contribution. Morale and organisation culture may also be a factor.

One important factor is workload associated with the planning and implementation of change. Often change activities have to be run in parallel with existing systems. For example, the old payroll system still needs to be run whilst the planning, development, testing and implementation of a new computer payroll system over a six month period is carried out. The need to develop a new payroll system is not a good enough reason to stop paying people for six months! This change will place a heavy responsibility and workload on the payroll officer. Additional staff support may be required or maybe it is possible to carry the additional workload for six months. However, if the new system took two years, would the additional load be reasonable?

The additional work generated by change is often the key factor in workload discussions. Workload increases caused by change activities can be justified in the short term, particularly if the change brings better processes and increased efficiency. Incremental change is particularly stress free i.e. make a change, reap the benefits and increased productivity, which then frees time for more change activity, which when implemented, then frees more time for change, etc. This approach keeps the workload at a very manageable level.

If however, the changes come frequently and constantly, with little respite from normal day to day requirements, then workload can become unmanageable. If this continues, both the employee and the organisation suffer. These matters require constant attention, as the damage may be hidden. For example, if customer service levels deteriorate, it may be some time before impacts start to manifest themselves in performance indicators.

In summary, people should be treated as an asset rather than an expense item. Every effort should be taken, whether formally or informally, to develop skills and abilities and to provide opportunities for people to maximize their contribution.

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Tweets, Likes- Employee relations.

The “social media “– love of Gen Y. Rapidly social networking sites such as  Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are getting pervasive with the Gen X too.

The advent of the technology has changed the face of employee relations in today’s work place with the new social media policies coming into the picture. Along the way are the fresh questions arising “Does social media kill productivity in the employees?” or “Does it boost the amicability among the employees?”, “Is it a threat to the companies repute?” or “Is it a new way to stay connected with the customers?”

These questions are just the starters. The challenge lies ahead with companies having to decide about the level up to which they can moderate their employee’s social media activity without barging into their private lives.

One classic example is the recent social media policy of Times of India stating the employees to disclosethe log in credentials of their personal social media accounts to the companyraised concerns regarding breach of privacy of the employees.

From the business standpoint companies can reap benefits from such platforms as the presence on social media improves the reach to potential customers and employers. Itprovides faster contact with their subordinates while eliminating unnecessary emails. Through social media employees could find relevant information for solving work related issues as well as enrich their knowledge through various blogs, video portals, groups on fb,linkedIn etc. On the other hand major issues like decrease in employee productivity, distraction at work place, corporate espionage, Cyber smearing, Cyber-attacks and bad publicity pose a threat to the companies.

According to a survey in 2012 by Assocham 35% of Indian companies engage in corporate espionage via social media to gain competitive advantage.Despite the roadblocks social media has become an eminent part of our lives.Hence, there is a need for the employers to closely monitor the social media activity while keeping the best interests of employees as well as the organization in mind.

Article by M.Aishwarya

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Employee Compensation the real meaning

Employee compensation is what employees receive in return for what they contribute to the organization. The first thing that comes to mind is, of course, wages or salary. But there are many other ways to compensate employees for their work. Some individuals may be willing to take slightly lower pay in return for better benefits or hours. 

Compensation is determined first by laws put forth by the government that make sure that all employees are treated equitably. For example, compensation should not vary based upon race, creed, or gender. Next, it is determined by state laws and then it is determined by the policies of the organization. Lastly, the human resources department and managers determine the final compensation that an employee will receive.

The total compensation for an employee includes more than monetary compensation, including benefits, retirement contributions, stock options, deferred compensation, paid vacation, and the cost of special employee perks. Average total compensation as a metric is distinct from the cost per employee or employee overhead, which can include figures such as the cost of location and technology for each employee.

The most obvious reason for compensating employees is that an organization should not expect something for nothing. But by giving generous compensation, an organization attracts better employees and retains them for longer. Compensation is what organizations use to compete for top talent. 

Both monetary and non-monetary compensation options are available for organizations to consider. Organizations and managers can be as creative as they need to be in order to generously compensate employees.

Employees today do not work for cash alone but they expect something “extra”. This “extra” is known as employee benefits or fringe benefits, they are non-financial form of compensation offered in addition to cash salary to enrich their work life.

Therefore apart from the fact that employee compensation is a social and legal requirement it also brings benefits such as job satisfaction, employee motivation, low absenteeism and controlled turnover.

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Moneyball Moment in HR

HR has traditionally never been associated as a data driven department. We primarily associate it with softer side aspects of managing an organization, be it training, interviewing, employee engagement and talent management. However, this is changing with a more networked society, and transparency of information with employees. The market dynamics is demanding that organizations become agile, nimble and leaner to take on unexpected competitors. This is resulting in decision making moving to the business managers. Traditional tasks normally associated with HR are now business unit leader’s responsibility. This had a ripple effect and freeing up bandwidth in HR departments, and to allow them to shift focus from mundane to strategic interventions.

At the same time with a fast changing economic environment, the demand for data driven decisions has never been higher, especially in areas of nurturing talent, recruitment and training interventions. This has become easier given HR systems integration with rest of the organization. In a highly competitive market environment, it is becoming imperative for organizations to reduce costs and improve the return on investments. This is resulting in a fight for talent which can enable organization to meet and exceed these demanding business goals. There is immense pressure to acquire talent and retain high performing employees.

This is where data analytics in HR can become the differentiator and help organization gain a competitive edge. Using HR data analytics it became aha! moment for an organization, when it realized the best sales personnel were those who resumes were grammatically correct, and not those who went to the best schools, as one of the factors among others.

Talent requirement and availability is disbursed across geographies/countries with corporations going global and truly global operations. Therefore traditional route of sourcing talent might not work in this environment. Plus with a constant need to proactively source right candidates, there is movement away from request to hire and recruit to identify talent and create opportunities within the organization.

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The Need For Employer– Employee Relationship

Employee relations or industrial relations as it is commonly referred to as is a discipline that covers the relationship of employees with the organisation and with each other. Industrial relations is concerned with anticipating, addressing and diffusing workplace issues that may interfere with an organisation’s business objectives, as also with resolving disputes between  an among management and employees. It includes the processes of analysing the employer –employee relationship; ensuring that relations with employees comply with applicable central and local laws and regulations; and resolving workplace disputes. Industrial relations touch all aspects of labour such as union policies, personnel policies and practices including wages, welfare, social security, service conditions, supervision and communications, collective bargaining; attitude of management, trade unions and Government action on labor matters. The practice of counselling, disciplining and terminating employees falls within the domain of this discipline. India is being rapidly transformed from a state-driven economy into a market-driven economy committed to privatization, liberalization, and globalization. At the regional level, the states are forced to enter the rat race of liberalization among them to attract funds for investment and development. Owing to this fact India has seen a rise in misunderstandings and conflict of interest, particularly between the employer and the employee over industrial issues which can’t be easily resolved. It is of vital concern to all in the society, viz., management, workers, shareholders, Government, creditors, consumers, suppliers and the general public as well. With the rise of trade unions as powerful organizations, the conflict between labour and management often gets intensified, and this results in strikes, lockouts and other industrial disturbances.

                                                                                         by Sarthak Daing

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Can we combat attrition

When we wander in the humongous land of Google, we come across numerous definitions and meanings of the word attrition. Amusingly it is extensively used in the fields of warfare, medicine, geology, language etc. The one apt to our context is that the attrition is the measure of number of employees moving out of an organization during a specific period of time. A classic example would be the case of Wipro, one of the top IT companies in India. In 2014 Wipro witnessed an attrition level of 17% and employees with 5-6 years of work experience recorded the highest in this category. So, how did Wipro combat this situation?

Well, like the famous quotation “solution lies within the problem”. The crux of this solution was with the employees itself. Thus, came the “NOTCH UP” one of the biggest employee retention initiatives.

Most of the employees are opting for higher studies after acquiring 5-6 years of work experience. To minimize this trend Wipro is now offering employees with more than 2 years of experience in the company a chance to pursue higher studies at Pune based Symbiosis, Pilani's Birla Institute of Technology and Science or VIT University in Vellore. It has also partnered with ICFA to offer two year professional accounting programme. The organization is anticipating positive results in retaining the talent. The fee structure has been worked out between the colleges and Wipro. The fee would be reimbursed to students depending on their scores.

Some popular reasons for high attrition levels are better opportunities in the industry, poor job prospectus, lack of acknowledgement, poor working conditions, autocratic management, less challenging work etc.

Another example is the case of Infosys. Infosys has seen an attrition level of 19.5% in 2014. Henceforth, they have given 6-7% hike in the salaries and promotions to around 5000 employees to improve retention levels.

Hence, critical aspects for reducing attrition levels are employee satisfaction, better career growth opportunities, manager’s support and consideration, qualitative company culture, trust in leadership, job autonomy last but not the least good team dynamics.

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HR SCORE CARD

                         

HR score card is a visual representation of key measures of human resource department. It includes achievement, productivity and other factors that are important to organisation like cost, training, hiring, turnover, performance management etc. HR score card was developed by academicians Bryan E. Becker, Mark A. huselid, and Dave Ulrich and presented in their book “THE HR SCORECARD: linking people, strategy, and performance “, issued by Harvard business school press, 2001. Actually it was a supplementary tool to Kaplan and Norton’s balanced scorecard, which does not focus on HR practice. Basically HR Score card provides a very useful framework for measuring HR. It sees human resource management practices as a strategic asset and provides road map to help organisations. It mainly focuses on accountability and prioritization to all Human Resources.

      

HR scorecard is used by the entire organization it is not limited to just HR department.

       IMPORTANCE OF HR SCORECARD

1.    It enables cost control and value creation: HR scorecard helps HR professionals to drive out cost wherever appropriate and defend investment intangibles.

2.    It measures leading indicators: there are leading and lagging indicators in the overall balanced performance measurement system so HR scorecard helps in measuring the leading indicators of performance.

3.    It lets HR professionals effectively manage their strategic responsibilities: HR scorecard encourages HR managers to focus on exactly how their decisions affect the successful implementation of the firm’s strategy.

Lastly, we can say that HR scorecard has made it possible for HR managers to understand how to manage HR strategy with the overall business objective. It is a tool that moves HR managers to new goals and makes them more flexible and creative in supporting the changes.

-         Priyanka Gulati

      

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Learning and Development issues in Indian Context

Learning and development is the bedrock of talent management. It touches and is the key-driver behind, nearly all parts of the talent cycle and is actually a core enabler for delivering many of the talent processes. In the last two decades the Indian economy has witnessed tremendous change in terms of global competition and technological advancement. As a result of these changes a lot of organisations have had to undergo restructuring which has led to a significant transformation in the work practices. This has led to demand for new job skills, greater levels of workforce which has a big impact on learning and development provided to the employees.

 Organisation Transformation often results in anxiety, confusion, anger and withdrawal amongst employees. According to a recent survey conducted by Deloitte, less than 8% of hr leaders have confidence that their teams have the required skills to meet the challenge of global environment and consistently deliver innovative programs that drive business impact. 

In order for HR teams to become better business partners, they need to develop deeper business acumen, analytical skills, learn to operate in the capacity of performance advisors and most importantly understand the needs of the 21^st century workforce. This, one could say is the responsibility of the learning and development team to make sure the employees acquire these right tools over a period of time which could positively impact an organisation’s business results. Sadly though, despite of the challenges and need to overcome them, merely a few organisations are emphasizing on the need for training and development. The organisations which do don’t have effective modules. 

An issue with regards to the training and development modules are that most of them are one size fits all kind of training. The training imparted is based without judging the caliber of the individual in question or the job profile. Often trainers conduct programmes without considering the background of people involved and whether they understand the process in consideration. Also most trainers still continue with the old format of PowerPoint presentations without any add-ons in the form of videos, games or any other entertaining ways of getting the message across. 

Shifting focus to those being trained, it has been seen that the participants of a training programme consider the training to be a time to relax from their busy schedule and have fun. Often it has been seen that these participants don’t take the trainings seriously. It would be safe to say that that in order for the process of learning and development to be complete and show results in the financials, trainers must understand the end customers and the main reason behind why the training is being conducted while the participants need to buckle up and show some seriousness and genuine interest towards these programs .

                                                                                                                               - Sarthak Daing

                                                         (Batch 2014-16)

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HR Analytics in Corporate World

With the advent of information technology, data has become available at ease and readily accessible. Especially in the last few years, technology has been responsible to make or break companies. An upcoming expertise that uses this technology to a company’s advantage is Analytics and many companies are smart in realising the edge that analytics can provide.  Amongst the advantages that Analytics has brought are: it has helped reduce crime, detect fraud, reduce customer churn rates. In respect to human resources, keeping in mind the automation of many HR Transactions, HR Analytics could play a very important role in the recruitment and retention of employees as well as strategy analysis.  HR analytics is about the total quality of talent, knowledge and expertise to move an organisation forward and stay ahead of competition. It deals with measurement of return on human capital investment as well as measuring the impact of the HR managers in driving employee performance, productivity and in turn the profitability of the company. HR Analytics is an emerging discipline which has the capability of fulfilling a promise of becoming a great strategic partner. The most important aspect of HR Analytics is that HR professionals need to differentiate which measures matter for analysis. Another challenge for HR would be to understand when and how to apply each type of analysis. Today’s HR analytics tools not only enable managers to gain insights on current workforce performance, costs and services, but to also model “what if” scenarios to anticipate changes in business. But, firms need to follow some basic steps and emerging best practices to take full advantage of this next generation of HR tools. As per Boudreau and Ramstad, 2004 ; “HR Analytics include statistics and research design, but it goes beyond them, to include identifying and articulating  meaningful questions, gathering and using appropriate data from within and outside the HR function, setting the appropriate standards for rigor and relevance, and enhancing the analytic competencies of HR throughout the organisation”. The good news for HR Analytics is that the behavioural modelling tools needed to do the casual analysis are very well established. The people who know how to use these tools are not usually in HR is the bad news.  First, before looking at any BI or analytic tools, HR management and IT need to have a conversation on “What information do we need to run our business and make better decisions that we don’t have today?”  In addition, they must discuss, “What are the business processes, workflows and data definitions we need to put in place to generate that information?” This step is much more of a business discussion than a technology discussion.

In their “Trends 2009: Human Resource Management” report, Forrester analysts Paul Hamerman and Zach Thomas identified several trends relating to HR becoming more business focused, e.g. that core HR systems strategies will focus on master data, and that analytics will help HR become more strategic. A November 2009 paper on “HR Analytics: Driving Return on Human Capital Investment,”by CedarCrestone’s Lexy Martin identified similar trends, and laid out six steps to maximize success in deploying HR analytics:

1. Invest in Data Cleansing
2. Focus data and analytics on business results
3. Start with the end in mind
4. Plan for incremental deployment
5. Use data-driven business case
6. Manage Change

The future of HR Analytics looks bright but it depends on companies how they can take advantage. They will need to invest in the right people and tools to create a long term association with HR Analytics. 

Article by-

Sarthak Daing

2014-16 Batch

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HR Cloud - A Whole New Concept

HR Cloud - A Whole New Concept

We are no more in the Stone Age or the medieval age as we have set our feet in modern era of technological advances. Here we are about to begin the era that will be fun and lucrative to be a part of it. As this is the change which companies were looking forward for. These days many companies are seeking to replace redundant manual processes, spreadsheets, reams of paperwork and manage its global workforce more efficiently. So the solution to that kind of problem is Cloud based HR technology.

HR Cloud is a cloud based HRMS (Human Resource Management System). The HR technology market is taking over the world as companies are rapidly moving away from the legacy systems to implement a very developed and highly integrated cloud based talent and HR system :-

ENGAGES

It engages the team with on boarding, performance, assessment, training and documentation tools. This helps to provide an easy, self service HR experience for the employees.

EMPOWER

It empowers the team with a tool that promotes connectivity, ideas, support and recognition. It also boosts employee participation, morale and productivity within the company.

Human capital management solutions are taking over the in the cloud and are supporting a wide spectrum of services that are changing the prospectus of employers and the employees at the workplace. Below listed are few advantages which is quite notable for this revolution in the HR technologies:-

·         Less and less of on-site networks and devices.

·         Increase in employee engagement and satisfaction.

·         Automatic upgrades.                                

·         Evolution to strategic workforce analytics.                     

·         High end measures for securing sensitive HR data.

·         Built-in integration with other solutions.

·         Global support.

·         Tools to make HR function easy and efficient.

Companies which have adopted this cloud based HR solution ahead of the competitors may gain an advantage in gaining more employee satisfaction, engagement, capability development and performance and generating data for analytics of talent. Corporate financial statements are considering the results of decreased pressures on IT, increased efficiencies, better employee selection, and laborsaving self service opportunities, among other benefits. The system combines complete database for end-to-end solution, covering core HR, workforce management and rewards as well as workforce optimization and workforce analytics, with the ease and speed of cloud delivery.

HR processes to eliminate waste and increase staff productivity

·                          Ensuring your global workforce is properly rewarded and succeeds

·                         Investing in the proper technology to ensure global agility

Few of the current experiences shared by companies which follow this trend of HR Cloud:-

Triumph Foods lowers the cost of doing business, increases productivity

As the largest premium pork producer in the United States, Triumph Foods needed to modernize its back-office systems in synch with the company’s overall commitment to state-of-the-art food processing from farm to table. “We didn’t have a lot of experience with technology, and when I joined the company two years ago our systems, including HR, were pretty much on paper in file rooms. Yet all of our employees carried smart phones,” recalled Nancy Fox, Vice President of Human Resources at Triumph Foods.

Triumph Foods began with Success Factors Employee Central, followed by Recruiting, and Performance & Goals for its highly diverse employee population. Although fairly early into its total implementation, Fox says that Triumph Foods has already decreased the amount of paper it uses for HR reporting. “We translate that to lowering the cost of doing business. The ability of people to get answers much faster is really mind-boggling. We look at software as a way to expand the size of your staff and hours of operation because an employee and their manager can be doing all of their HR business anytime from anywhere.”

Interestingly, Fox says that the company is using Employee Central as the ‘company intranet portal’ that it never had. “When I pull Success Factors up on my mobile device, it looks the same as if I’m sitting in my office. When we’re fully implemented and everyone is using the tools to their maximum potential we envision everyone will be using their smart phone, other mobile device or home computer 24/7 rather than waiting for the HR office to open. That’s a huge benefit.”

Owens Corning builds the next generation of leaders

Building leadership from within is foundational to Owens Corning’s HR strategy. “We realized that we didn’t have the system capability from a talent standpoint to deliver what we needed. Some processes were on paper, our recruitment management system was old and unsupported, and we didn’t have performance management processes in place,” said Sue Hatfield, Director of HR Systems, Compliance and Payroll at Owens Corning.

Owens Corning first deployed Success Factors Recruiting, followed by Performance & Goals, Succession & Development, and Compensation. Plans for next year include Employee Central Payroll. The company benchmarked certain metrics prior to implementing the software in order to accurately measure results.

“We’ve had a 30 percent increase in internal promotions for our leaders and executives. The visibility in their profiles that allows employees to talk about what’s important to them, what their career goals are, and what jobs they want, has helped us to match them with the job that they’re really excited about,” said Hatfield.

In addition, 94 percent of employees have reported having more meaningful performance conversations, while executives experienced a 60 percent decrease in the amount of time spent completing succession planning. The company also saw a 35 percent reduction in both the cost to hire and time to fill positions.

Kawasaki changes company culture

Culture change was the overarching transformation at Kawasaki after implementing Success Factors Performance & Goals.

“We make some of the coolest toys in the world, and we’re all about winning and high tech performance. When I joined the company six years ago, we had performance metrics for our motorcycle engines but no metrics for our people. Success Factors has changed the company culture–the way you think about business and managing people. You have to think about what kind of a high-performance company you want to be,” said Tom Porter, Director of Human Resources at Kawasaki.

 - Swadhin Mishra

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