Does HR Need More Miss Matched Socks?
James Hayton wrote a very interesting blog post on the type of things that may make an employee say “I have a great employer”. He uses the example of Little Miss Matched a company that has turned sock buying into something remarkable.
He then goes on to ask the question:Do we want HR functions to be remarkable or predictable and reliable?
Or do we want some combination of reliability with remarkable?
Here are examples of four companies that are adding a “little remarkable” to HR.
- Google is world renowned for its benefits.
- Deloitte & Touche ran a contest with its employees to create videos answering the question, "What's your Deloitte?" They received over 400 submissions from employees and have posted 14 videos on a Deloitte Film Fest YouTube page.
- eBay provides perks like golf lessons, bike repair, and a dentist, plus prayer and meditation rooms. Four-week paid sabbaticals every five years are also offered.
- Microsoft looks for innovative ways to use the web to build tighter recruiting connections between the company, current employees, and their target candidates. Some of the projects include Microsoft’s JobsBlog, View<myWorld>, and the Workin’ it at MSFT Facebook page, and SpreadtheLove, which is an internal-only site. The goal is to give prospective candidates a realistic view of what it’s really like to work at Microsoft. And the best way to do that is often through their employees’ own voices.
I agree with James, we need to see more mismatched socks!
Any thoughts?
Comments
This is great, thanks for those links. Especially the Delloite Film Fest - great idea! I think engaging employees in determining the nature of the employment brand is a powerful way to negotiate, build and reinforce it and establish clearly the EVP in peoples minds.
Posted by: James Hayton | June 24, 2008 03:33 AM