Businesses with the best HR practices attract the best talent. It’s not all about remuneration: it’s about how firms make their employees feel. Right now there are some rather extraordinary trailblazers leading the way in human resources. What are they getting right?
Frederick W. Smith – FedEx
Smith is the founder and current CEO of the global delivery company, FedEx. From the very start, his mantra has been to treat employees with dignity and respect. It’s his belief that this gets the most out of his employees and helps his company to be ethical. The delivery industry is an industry not known for its level of employee service or engagement. And Smith knows that if he is going to buck this trend, his company has to do something different.
That’s why FedEx takes feedback so seriously. Every year, the company initiates its feedback action plan. This plan is based on the feedback that the company has gotten from employees. The idea here is to make sure that all voices in the business are heard. And that the firm can institute a strategy to address each person’s concerns.
Mark Goldring – Oxfam
Goldring became the CEO of Oxfam in the UK back in 2013. And since then he’s been doing a lot to help promote good, both within and without his organisation. Goldring knows that if his organisation is going to compete in the marketplace for workers, it can’t do so on pay. Charities are frugal enterprises that need to save as much money as possible. So how does Oxfam attract great people?
The first thing the organisation does is to offer training to all staff to help retain them. But it is also generous when it comes to holidays. Workers can expect to get up to 33 days a year if they’ve been with the company long enough.
Jack Dorsey – Twitter
Twitter is renowned for being one of the most forward-looking companies in the world. And that forward thinking is deployed in the HR arena too. The company uses sophisticated HR tools, like holiday management software, to meet the needs of employees. And it’s always engaging with them on issues related to pay and benefits. Dorsey himself values things like authenticity and transparency. And, as in so many other organisations, this is reflected throughout the corporate structure. Only 1,000 people work at Twitter. So for a global multinational, it has a tightly knit workforce.
Steve Rowe – Marks And Spencer
The UK retail chain has managed to survive on the high street for over seventy years. But they didn’t do that with product innovation alone. They did it through their HR strategy. Marks and Spencer stands apart from other companies in the same space as a place to work. Staff surveys of the company reveal that staff love the fact that they get consulted on everything. This sets the business apart from other retailers in the UK. Rowe knows that if his company is to succeed, it has to attract a different calibre of people than other department stores. And that’s why daily conference calls to managers about staff are part of the company strategy.
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