Talent Strategy

Company Industry – High Technology Company

The Situation:

  • Worldwide component selling prices dropped 34% in the preceding two years
  • The competition was faster to market and had better focus on customer needs and solutions
  • The organization was experiencing high turnover with key Sales and Marketing positions particularly during the first and fifth years of employment
  • Internal research indicated that high performers stayed with the company not only because of good pay, but also interesting work and growth opportunities
  • The company's short-term strategy was to focus on building a great Sales and Marketing organization while working on bringing cutting-edge solutions to the marketplace

What We Did:

Analyzed the organizational capabilities needed to deliver on the short- and long-term strategies

  • Defined the psychological contract required to attract and retain high performers (i.e., If you give me X, I'll do Y)
  • Identified key improvements to HR programs required to deliver on this new implicit contract many of which involved learning & development and career opportunities
  • Designed new HR programs and created tools for managers to deliver on the new promise, including:
    • Critical competencies for each role
    • Career paths
    • Success (role) profiles
    • Promotional criteria
    • High-performer acceleration process and programs
    • New selection tools to select the best (and the best fit)
    • New performance management process
  • Trained managers so that they could understand and explain the new implicit employment contract and new tools to aid in recruitment, selection, recruitment, & promotion
  • Trained hiring managers how to conduct a behavior-based interview

The Outcome:

  • Decreased turnover overall (from 18% to 13%)
    • Significantly less undesired turnover
    • Higher proportion of desired turnover
  • Increased rate of acceptance on job offers extended (from 30% to 75% in the first year)
  • Increased interest in organization at campus recruiting events
  • More effective reviews by managers
  • More focused training and development initiatives (including a new corporate university)