The HR Digest Magazine Q1 2015

HR THE

DIGEST

Inspiring Human Resources Leadership Worldwide January 2015 Issue

workplace

diversity

w w w. t h e h r d i g e s t . c o m

HR Connections

Leadership

What’s New in HR

Interesting Perks to Make Work More Enjoyable!

Why Employee Happiness Should Be On Top of Your Agenda

Aetna to Acquire Bswift for $400 Million

January 2015

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It gives me immense pleasure to introduce you The HR Digest, a quarterly handbook for the Global Human Resources Industry which has emerged out of the lack of a trusted source in this sector.

On a recent journey into Hawaii’s stunning Oahu, a certain thought kept hitting me: Happiness is only real when shared. The Hanuma Bay Beach Park offered amazing things to do, snorkel underwater dives, swim with a pod of dolphins – in all, an incredible way and a great experience to interact with nature for tree huggers. That’s when I learnt about how happiness comes from doing things we like!

With those things in mind, the articles in this issue take on new colors.

Leadership prioritizes on employee happiness, the prime driver of prosperity.

Employee Happiness is a serious business!

HR Connections explores how perks have become an integral part of healthier company culture. The feature is accompanies by delicious and cool perks from employers around the world that can make Glassdoor lurkers to drool over.

Also, be sure to read an interesting feature on Workplace Culture about Diversity in America. The feature examines the organizational, external and internal dimensions of multicultural diversity. Inside Success Story you’ll find how Netflix adapted to radical changes in the ever-changing HR landscape adding some specific elements to its cultural aspects.

And, finally, What’s New in HR gives a glimpse on Aetna’s recent acquisition of private healthcare insurance company that could leave huge implications for health insurance industry, Like always, we welcome your comments. You may reach us at

editor@thehrdigest.com or Editor The HR Digest, The Fastest Media, 3651 Lindell Road, Suite 320D, Las Vegas, NV 89103.

The Team Editorial Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief

Christy Gren, Sub-Editor

Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor

Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor

Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor

Design Kevin Paul Sr. Grahpic Designer

Project Management Tony Raval Project Director

Marketing Jason Miller Sr. Project Director

Jay Raol Project Director

Advertising Richard Dean, Advertising Manager

Technology John Hancock Head-Web Department

Le Manh Coung, Sr Sofrware Coordinator

Finance Control R R Baratiya

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Industry Leaders Magazine [DECEMBER 2014]

Julia Hunt, Magazine Production

Content Features 70 13

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What’s New in HR Aetna to Acquire Bswift for $400 Million

Leadership Why Employee Happiness Should Be On Top of Your Agenda

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Cover Story Workforce Diversity in America place Diversity

HR Connections Interesting Perks to Make Work More Enjoyable!

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Success Story Going Against the Wind: Netflix’s HR Revolution

Events & Tradeshows

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Aetna to Acquire Insurance Exchange Technology Provider Bswift for $400 Million Healthcare benefits firm Aetna Inc, announced on Nov. 4, that it is planning to acquire Bswift, a software and technology services company that oversees private and public health insurance exchanges for consumers and employers worldwide.

The Hartford, Connecticut-based insurance giant will pay $400 million, which it expects to finance with available resources, according to an Aetna press release. The transaction is currently subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close by the end of this year. Aetna, which is the third largest U.S. health insurer, has set expansion of public and private exchanges as its top priority.

The acquisition is seen as the first of its kind by large insurance companies who are seeing immense potential in human resources and benefits technology and software firms such as bswift, Castlight Health and Zenefits in the health care domain. Bswift’s software and services portfolio will help simplify benefits, HR as well as payroll administration for employers and health insurance exchanges across the U.S.

Mark Bertolini, Aetna chairman, CEO and president, in a statement said that bswift’s consumer-friendly technology fits well with its health care exchange strategy. “With more employers giving employees their choice of benefits via private exchanges, bswift’s technology platform will provide Aetna with the capability to deliver a new privateexchange offering for employers of all sizes where the focus is on helping people easily choose a plan that’s right for them and their families,” Bertolini said.

Furthermore, Dijuana Lewis, Aetna’s executive vp for consumer products and enterprise marketing stated that the acquisition will help advance their vision to transform health benefits industry into a consumer-centric retail model that will be much more affordable and easily accessible.

Companies nowadays recognize the potential of employee engagement in today’s ever evolving digital workforce, where bringing consumeroriented technologies are highly relevant.

“We at bswift are thrilled to become a part of Aetna at such a pivotal time in the transformation of the health care system. Together, bswift and Aetna can contribute to more affordable health care by engaging, educating and empowering consumers to make value-based decisions,” said bswift CEO Rich Gallun. “Aetna will help expand the reach of our technology and benefits services with a goal of creating a true consumer marketplace for health care. We look forward to continuing the growth of our core business with employers, brokers, carriers and other organizations, in addition to adding more business by working with Aetna.”

Chicago-based Bswift was established in 2000 and has around 380 employees. It specialized in managing public, private and broker exchanges in addition to serving employer groups of diverse nature. Post-acquisition, Bswift will operate under Aetna’s leadership but as a separate business unit.

The firm is owned by its employees and several investors including private equity firm Great Hill Partners.

Why Employee Happiness Should Be On Top Of Your Agenda

I have a friend of mine (let’s call him Pretend) who is worth mentioning here.

Pretend plays an active role in today’s corporate culture. Pretend punches in to work every morning to masquerade happiness all day long. Although pretend savors strongly of disappointment, it deceives you by trying to fit in with all other employees.

Pretend is there only for the monthly paycheck and has definitely mastered pride and aspiration swallowing. Hence, you will not detect a drop of plastic in Pretend during the Employee Satisfaction Survey for everything is normal, thank you very much! Do you know someone who sounds a lot similar to Pretend?

Pretending it is a genuine anti-dote to happiness. While happiness is a catalyst that helps you find what you love and believe in, it also boosts productivity and improves business outcomes positively.

By creating a culture of thoughtfulness you can always infuse happiness back into the environment, right? And what could you do to keep your employees happy? Will it breed loyalty? Most importantly, why is it necessary to keep them happy?

A 2013 study by Gallup revealed that 70% of employees are ‘not engaged’ or ‘actively disengaged - emotionally disconnected from work, costing the U.S. economy $450 to $550 billion annually due to lost productivity. That’s seven out of 10 American

workers! Gallup researcher, James Harter found that the sales and profits of any organization can be predicted by measuring employees’ feelings about the organization.

An enthusiastic, happier workforce empowers the organization by personally investing in doing what they love. They tend to approach work more passionately and creatively.

Isn’t it a little bizarre! I mean how can you measure employee happiness?

Happiness at work unfortunately, cannot be measured by the hours spent by each employee daily but with the level of contagious creativity, innovation and productivity they bring to their work. This again is backed by several leading positive psychology experts.

Shawn Achor, world’s leading positive psychology expert and bestselling author of ‘The Happy Secret to Better Work’, happiness is the secret ingredient to success. Human brain is more engaged, creative, productive and flexible when in a positive state.

Employee happiness exhibits better customer satisfaction and affects business performance.

That has been shown in several studies over the past few years.

So that’s not news at all, right?

Happy employees are the

ambassadors of the culture your company cultivates.

Unfortunately, employee happiness is often confused with job satisfaction even with some of the biggest brands in the world.

In 2014, world’s biggest e-tailer Amazon.com Inc., was in news for offering $5000 to its warehouse employee under the Pay to Quit program.

The progressive human resource strategy intends on annihilating employees who are unhappy with their job and are looking for a golden parachute. The idea was invented by Tony Hsieh and his colleagues at Zappos (it has a fanatical cult following due to its customer-centric culture) for new recruits to experience the company’s unique deep-dive training program.

At Zappos, every newly hired employee has to go through the exact same training, be it an accountant or a software developer. To take phone calls from customers, during the four-week training program. At the end of the first week, the entire class is given an offer to get paid for the time they’ve spent at training as well as a bonus of $2,000 to quit. The logic behind it is to weed out

people who are there just for the paycheck. A little harsh isn’t it?

Not really! Zappos cares about the culture is cultivates and exhibits within and outside. It is in the DNA of the retailer to care about the happiness of each and every living soul associated with the company. It has hired people whose personal value matches their corporate values. Today, Zappos workforce is often cited as the living brand!

Keeping employees happy can depend on what the motivating factors are. What motivates one employee cannot be an identical motivating factor for someone else. It could be through freebies and unique benefits and bonuses. It can be done by implementing flexible work options, by facilitating social network usage, access to healthy office interiors and food. It can also be done by recognizing their efforts and success in an open environment or by attaining their needs by keeping favorable office environment through music, games and other recreational activities for motivate them.

It allows employees to evolve within the freedom and respect that resonates around them. It empowers them to go the extra mile, beyond what is expected of their job role. It empowers them to change the world for good, and as they evolve, companies evolve too!

According to the Montana Autism Society of America, more than 80% of adults with autism between the age of 18 and 30 still live at home. In the coming decade, at least 500,000 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) will enter adulthood, needing a secure future including jobs, family and friends.

Creating an Autism

Friendly Workplace

The deficit unemployment rate of 80% among autistic individuals serves as a keyhole to the nasty mindsets of some employers who see them more of a liability than an asset. However, times are changing. Instead of stereotyping, companies are incorporating autism-friendly environment which act as a mutual benefit for both the employer and employees.

Below are some enlightening facets that may help you integrate a flexible workplace and lessen the everyday challenges that autistic individuals encounter to gain employment or fit in a corporate environment.

Written Interview Individuals with ASD respond in a much better way when asked to write down their thoughts on a piece of paper rather than verbally.

Its best to take written interviews, which can give them a fair chance to showcase their talents, thoughts, qualifications letting them express their individual selves in the best possible manner.

Autism Friendly Workstations Autistic individuals have heightened senses. It can be extremely distracting for them when their work desk is placed next to a break room or near a busy hallway. Conversations which normal employees may not find loud or distracting can seem really loud to someone with autism making them lose focus on their work.

It’s best to provide them quite workstations with options for dimmer lighting, since florescent light can be distracting. They can also be provided with some sort of escape room to get away for short breaks when they require some alone time. Although, this doesn’t mean that people with autism are anti-social, they still enjoy company of others and socializing is equally important for them, since they sometimes feel the urge to fit in when they’re rather shying away from the crowd.

Clear & Precise Guidelines Instead of using metaphors, or any sort of insinuation in a language, managers should always provide clear and concise instructions in written which they can refer back to whenever needed. Instead of using a phrase such as ‘Don’t be late’ for example, it’s much better to use ‘Be at your desk ready to start working at 9’ in order to deliver instructions.

Thrive on Routine One of the best attributes of such individuals is their ability to thrive on routine and structure. “They really like to know what to expect so they can plan out their day,” says Pacelli. Minor or major interruptions in their routine such as impromptu meetings or celebrating a coworkers birthday, or being told to stay late or having a meeting postponed at the last minute can upset them. It’s best to provide them a heads up in advance to help them adjust in case any chances occur.

Unable to Express Their Problems In case if you believe someone with autism is going through some sort of problem, it is best to help them give a little time alone to reflect over what is bothering them before they unleash it verbally.

Highly Focused Professor Fitzgerald speaking at a Royal College of Psychiatrists Academic Psychiatry Conference in London pointed out that ASD/Asperger’s and creativity share common genes.

Such genes lead to highly focused individuals, who can persist with a topic for 20-30 years without being distracted by opinions of other people. They possess the ability to produce three to four other people’s work in a lifetime. Their ingenious ability to spot errors and bring attention to detail in their work can bring great advantages to any organization, especially those in technology sector which are now open to autistic individuals due to their rare attributes.

Software giant, SAP has put together a plan to integrate at least 1% autistic individuals in its workforce by 2020. Freddie Mac, a leading mortgage finance company provides paid internships to them and has partnered with Autistic Self Advocacy Network already.

Such companies recognize the benefits that autistic employees bring to their business.

Loyal & Extremely Passionate According to Washington D.C. based author of “Six Word Lessons for Autism Friendly Workplaces�, Patti Pacelli, autistic individuals can be unbelievably loyal employees and tremendously passionate about their jobs. People with autism are highly moral and ethical.

They have a rare ability to stick to precise guidelines provided by the management. Autistic individuals can be the most reliable and productive employees you will ever find, especially when it comes to those jobs which require monotonous and detail-oriented tasks.

Historically renowned figures who displayed such behavioral patterns that are associated with ASD include Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Sir Isaac Newton, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Darwin, Michelangelo, Nicola Tesla, Mozart and Andy Warhol.

The United States of America is a magnificent synthesis of different races, religions, and cultures of the colonists that settled here centuries ago. Certainly, the nation has grown into a versatile land built on diversity of immigrants in the recent decades. America is third most distinct nation when it comes to diversity right after India and China. Here’s one little example of it - the American cookpot which as diverse as its population (hello chicken tikka masala!) and there’s another one - your workplace.

Workforce Diversity in America

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau on racial and ethnic breakdown of the most recent decennial census data demonstrates that those self-identified as White represented 75.1 percent of the population, down from 85.9 percent in 1980. Black represented 12.3 percent, Hispanics at 12.5 and Asian Americans 3.6 percent of the population. In July 2011, it was found out that 50.4% of babies born in the US accounts for Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and mixed race rather than White. This basic information alone can paint the picture clear and make it obvious of how much ‘diversity’ contributes to an already complex scenario that exists in today’s workplace. Diversity no longer attributes to race, religion, and cultures. There are some more attributes of diversity of the modern 21st century based on: cultural exposure of individuals, ideological views, gender identification, disabilities, and economic disparity and many more.

Business leaders today need to not only focus on leveraging the benefits that result from a multicultural workforce but also curtail the negatives posed by them. It is important in any organization to create an environment where multicultural diversity thrives to its fullest, where leaders go beyond simple acknowledgement of cultural diversity to adopting active diversity management. There’s more to managing diversity than Federal and State legislatures and policies.

Gardenswarz & Rowe model includes 25 dimensions of diversity including: Organizational dimensions: business unit, tenure, level, work location External dimensions: geographical location, education, marital status, religion Internal dimensions: race, sexual orientation, disability, age Diversity management is a comprehensive process and ought to be seen and presented as a profitable asset that needs to be fostered and utilized. From multiple points of view, what comes before embracing diversity are the many issues that exist in today’s international business.

Below are a few approaches that are more likely to be adapted into any business size to encourage the presence of a harmonious and diverse workplace:

Management of Multicultural Workforce

Conducting Training Programs These are intended to incite gratefulness and knowledge of the attributes and advantages of multicultural workforce. It can be done via employee orientation programs, for acquainting employees to the organization’s standards of how the employee from a different cultural-ethnic background should be treated.

Through skill-building to provide information on cultural norms of ethnic groups and know-how on how it may affect communication and social conduct.

Creating awareness on the importance of a diverse workforce, shedding light on important demographics and how it benefits the organization.

Respecting Individual Differences Speaking of workforce diversity, the way millennials perceive is not how the baby boomers or an older generation does.

Diversity doesn’t do justice if is used only to describe race, ethnicity and cultures. It also applies to personality, aptitude as well as competence in some cases. Leaders today fail to recognize the importance of one minuscule aspect prevalent in today’s workforce and in some cases, simply relate work performance or behavior to ‘because he’s Jewish’ or ‘but, she’s a woman’ and pull the curtains to a full show on ignorance that can rot an entire system.

In fact, inclusion of diversity no longer applies to only employees. It means incorporating it in every aspect of the organization.

Acknowledging Social Events What other great opportunity to get to know diverse individuals than corporate-sponsored social events – picnics, pride parades, Christmas parties, pink ribbon events, bowling leagues etc.!

Diverse Team that Stays Together Achieve Better According to a new study, by NPR (National Public Radio), a diverse workplace may eventually create better results.

The study looked at the work of scientific researchers and found that papers composed by multicultural groups were referred to in other research more frequently than those composed by homogenous groups. In the world of research where citations are the ultimate metric of quality, the results of the study gave business leaders something to think about.

The same study additionally found that groups with members from parts of different geographic areas – perhaps three or more cities, created better papers than those with members from the same region. Diversity here acts as one of the main harbingers of success for bringing valuable insights from a variety of racial, ethnic, sexual and personality types.

“It’s a matter of looking at individual teams and making sure they’re different perspectives, different points of view, different backgrounds,” NPR’s David Greene says.

In a recent research conducted from Harvard, headed by Organizational Behavior professor Roy Chua, multicultural teams bring numerous benefits to an organization, given the working environment is harmonious.

Chua recommends that today’s leaders of diverse teams ought to urge practices to keep potential friction within the team low. Harvard’s Working Knowledge website points out what that process may look like: Chua theorizes that managers could diminish the impacts of ambient cultural disharmony by encouraging employees to recognize their own particular presumptions of different societies -for instance, by keeping a social diary in which they record their thoughts and perceptions. In the working environment, leaders can make cultural “awareness moment,” as HBS Associate Professor Tsedal Neely proposes, by setting up site visits between workers working in different environment, or by swaying them to work side by side to watch how social contrasts can impact work propensities.

A team with a diverse workforce equals individuals with a variety of religions, causes, needs and holidays close to their heart.

Arrangement of a flexible work schedule works the best in such scenarios, permitting individuals to schedule holidays or leaves as per their needs.

How Diverse is Silicon Valley?

Google, Facebook, Apple and a few other tech giants in Silicon Valley fought an 18-month battle with San Jose Mercury News over diversity disclosures in 2010. At the end of it, some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley recently released diversity data for the first time. The results however, are nothing to be euphoric about.

Apple is the most recent to put out racial and gender diversity data. Tim Cook wrote in a letter going hand in hand with the report: “As CEO, I’m not fulfilled by the numbers on this page,” it read.

S. Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior VP of individuals operations, wrote in a blog entry that opened a wide-discussion on the issue, “Google is not where we want to be when it comes to diversity.”

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in an interview recently said, the social media giant still has a long way to go.

Twitter’s announcement stressed that the whole business is marked by dramatic imbalances in diversity and we are no exception.”

Yahoo, EBay were amongst those companies which showed some really impressive numbers in terms of workforce diversity. Technology industry, as a matter of fact, has found new lows when it comes to employee disparity at its worst right from giants to start-ups and venture capital firms. Gender is part around 70-30, comprehensively for men, at Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter. Racial data were released for the U.S., where Hispanics and blacks together make up 9 percent as a rule at these four organizations. Women have 16 percent, Hispanics and blacks are largely absent at 6 percent of those employments at Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter worldwide.

A note of dissatisfaction practically screams from these reports. Could this be a wakeup call? May be. The attributes of diversity go hand in hand with business goals.

When lack of cohesion originating from workplace diversity is not paid attention to, it leads to an inability to work together on goals, support each other’s ideas, gain agreement on decisions and ultimately the inability to take a united action.

As most firms by now have started acknowledging that diversity indeed is a core business necessity. Diversity means acknowledging, understanding, respecting and celebrating the differences that stand between individuals.

The dynamics of a workforce can change to an astounding degree if it promotes inclusiveness.

HRconnections

Interesting Perks to Make Work More Enjoyable

Want top of the line extravagances like pork belly burgers from Big Chef Tom of Food Network Star? It’s no big deal - your company will pay for you! Want to take two weeks off and head to India to discover spirituality in you? No problem, your company will pay for you.

We’re totally serious; employee perks like this may appear as a joke, however today’s workplace managers have realized a better way to take advantage of it.

Companies nowadays are the embodiment of easy, adaptable and fun to work at. Why is that so? You would ask the same question if you want to hire top talent from the industry, break down barriers between yourself and your employees, and make the most out of innovation and creativity that your talent pool offers.

Googleplex

Razor Scooters

Gone are the days when employees would drool on the web over Googleplex’s gourmet food, concierge services and Razr scooters available for Googlers. Nowadays, you don’t need to look for an employer that goes an extra mile to keep his employees happy. That dream workplace could right next to your favorite coffee shop. While we’re not naming large corporations with praiseworthy perks that will live a hole on your pocket, we’re simply covering tidbits that you could learn from these startups about keeping your employees efficient and happy.

Gaming den Here’s an interesting twist to a game room decked with pool, darts and foosball – add some Minecraft and Halo to the list and take it to the next level. We dare you. To work at an organization with a game room is every nerd’s dream come true.

Game Room

Go ahead, crack that hard candy shell and let your employee’s ooze creativity and commitment from all the fun that they have playing Mass Effect. Jay Graves, CTO of Double Encore, a mobile design and development company explains, such perks bring people together who might normally shy away from interacting with each other. Video games as well as foosball, darts can be played by people in pairs or groups. This enables spending quality time together and getting to know each other betters. Such perks help a lot during collaborative projects. Last time we heard, Double Encore added Marvel v. Capcom to their game room!

Nap Room

ZenRoom Admit it we’ve all wanted to spend some time off the work, while being at work from all the stress that takes a toll on our mental, physical and emotional health.

Then there’s the emotional roller coaster that leaves you feeling feeble, making you want to bawl your eyes out.

How about a little Zen Room with a soothing ambience graced with interesting titles from Deepak Chopra and a little hot chocolate bar in the corner. Why not let your employees move out of their desk for an hour for some yoga therapy, on-site massage sessions for some deep relaxation that gives the perfect mini-getaway from work?

Ryan Holmes, CEO of popular Canadian social media management company HootSuite recently gave a facelift to its premises by including a private yoga studio and a gym and of course the obligatory startup office nap room.

“For everybody in their busy lives, you need to invest in sharpening your tools and you need to invest in longevity,” he says. “If I’m building a legacy company here, I need to help people be healthy throughout their lives.” Creating an ecosystem that welcomes wellness and balance creates happy, healthy and productive employees. After all, a work culture that recognizes health and wellness of the body and mind as a top priority stays healthy.

Zen Room

Dustin Moskovitz

Foodies Galaxy

The one perk at rises above all is indulgent food. With perks like free food and drinks, receiving a thousand resumes a week would sure sound like a normal thing. We’ve all heard about StumbleUpon and its 5 days of breakfast and lunch perk. Did you know that Stumblers gorge on a kitchen loaded with organic fruit, snacks and beverages? Say bye-bye to PB&J sandwich. Stumblers don’t need to stress over putting on a couple of pounds, for StumbleUpon offers a gym/wellness reimbursement.

Let’s talk real now. While you may not offer an extensible range of food items to offer on a daily basis, there’s always an option. Asana, a software startup founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, explains one of its perks – organic home-cooked meals prepared twice a day. The project management software maker has a full-time chef on staffs, who prepares delicious organic lunch and dinner every single day, which is customized to meet every employee’s dietary preferences.

At Overit, on Friday employees gorge on various kinds of pizza.

Although a very simple idea compared to heavy sounding perks and retreats of other startup, this one is quite effective. Good food cab brings us all together. People can socialize, celebrate the week’s end and go back home emptying the stress tank.

Foodies Galaxy

TimeOff

Want a paid vacation day on your birthday? Thrillist does it for its employees!

Time off has become something of a legend. A growing number of companies are offering unlimited vacation days (Netflix, Burton, Hubspot and many more!), while some choose to offer additional incentives to the days when they are qualified for unlimited vacation days. Seattle-based Moz, for example, has a paid vacation policy. To motivate its staff, the company offers a standard 21 days vacation time, along with a $3000 bonus in vacation reimbursements for transportation, lodging, food and beverage, entertainment, and gifts. The team has been to places, from Santorini to Toulouse!

Another gimmick that employers are finding appealing these days is paid sabbaticals. Capterra, a company, offers a fiveweek, fully-paid sabbatical every five years to each of its employees. According to its CEO, it costs the company five weeks of productivity “10% of their work in the year that they take their sabbatical but only 2% over the course of their five-year employment.” He strongly believes that the policy benefits largely to the company and its employee’s health and personal growth, which is well worth the cost.

Freebies A huge number of companies today offer their employees free or at-expense versions of whatever is a part of their product portfolio (e.g., memberships, furniture, courses, cars, etc.). Such companies offer other one off perks or freebies as well, including:

Netflix subscriptions Tickets to games and movies Customized Nikes or Converse Free Spa, and Technology (who doesn’t love Free Macs or iPhones!)

WhyMatter?

Perks To foster a compassionate and cheerful company culture, you can apply similar loaded benefits such as,

a dog-friendly place, employee stock ownership plan, 401K, Life coaching & leadership initiative, and awards aka desktop bragging rights.

Small perks and measures are the pillars for having a team that really works. You cannot provide any meaningful recognition without gift certificates, cash or similar items. The passionate association for your company simply won’t exist. You need to fabricate emotional connections with such little measures in everyday life.

Perks work as valuable retention tools and can help bosses maintain a positive working environment, which is much vital for any organization to thrive.

A growing number of employees esteem intangible benefits that dovetail an organization’s culture. Perks offers both expediency and esprit de corps (team spirit) at a moderate cost includes online orders set at nearby restaurants for group lunched. The social segment unites employees and helps build morale.

Going against the Wind: Netflix’s HR Revolution There’s no point in denying that Netflix has a secret stash of fertilizers that makes its company grow. Its unique modus operandi to manage talent and culture is meritorious for a couple of reasons. The most evident one is that Netflix has inhaled every bit of success since day one its inception. In 2003 alone, its stock encountered a threefold increase, it won three prestigious Emmy’s and if that weren’t enough, its subscriber

base stood at a glorifying 29 million. All that aside, the stratagem is convincing on the grounds that it stems from a very practical standpoint.

In 1997, a time much before it was streaming a billion hours of Internet TV every month, NetFlix was just a startup.

They had a genuinely standard vacation policy, which said ‘10 vacation days, 10 holidays, and a hand sized scoop of wiped out days for every individual’. As opposed to formally tracking nowadays, they picked an honor regimen, with workers following their own off days and advising their supervisors when suitable.

Former Netflix chief talent officer Patty McCord recalls how she always insisted that employees take the call of recruiters, ask how much they were offering and send the number over. Surprised? She believes that this is the most valuable information that an employer can get hold of.

Netflix considered putting an official framework into practice, until author Reed contrived a fascinating question – are those organizations obliged to give time off? Under other circumstances, wouldn’t the department just handle it casually and avoid the accounting nonsense?

This is when McCord realized that under Californian law, no such mandatory vacation time policy existed. Hence instead of moving to the official system, they instead took the road less travelled. Salaried employees were advised to take a quantum of holidays, while their bosses and coworkers were asked to work it out with each other. A much favored practice that is gaining prominence in major MNCs nowadays.

When McCord, drafted a straightforward PowerPoint presentation clarifying a percentage of the flighty progressions the organization had made in its HR policy, she had no clue it would go viral around the web.

Since the presentation began circling, it has been viewed more than 5 million times and has been chronicled by Sheryl Sandberg as a standout amongst the most vital reports to rise up out of Silicon Valley.

McCord shelled out five standards that revamped Netflix’s HR strategy.

1

A Place for Fully Formed Adults Only

Most workers would prefer not to be a part of an organization which is keeping an eye on them. In case an organization inspires its employees to depend on sound judgment standards rather than institutional approaches, workers will be better spurred to help and will put resources into the triumphs of the organization. Numerous organizations squander time and money implementing HR policies that just influence the 3 percent of employee-base who need improvement.

Netflix, on the contrary, rallied that its recruits were the kind of workers who would dependably put the organization’s interest first. In case, Netflix felt as though it had made a hiring mistake, the employee would be let go on immediate effect with a bountiful severance package.

Netflix encourages its employees to personify adult behaviors like boldly communicating with their managers and associates.

For example, Netflix’s paid time off strategy permits employees to take time off for as many days as they want, but with the comprehension that they must clearly communicate their plans to their supervisors. McCord found that employees were more likely to behave responsibly when their executives expected them to behave in such a manner.

2

Be Honest when it comes to Performance

As opposed to waiting for scheduled employee reviews to come around, Netflix encourages its employees to meet and openly discuss about their performance such that the employees receive organic feedback.

McCord found that it was significantly more effective have a hearty conversation with an employee who is performing poorly than to make him undergo a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), which keeps a track of performance over time.

There was an employee at Netflix who has been with the organization for past five years, and had been doing great work until she was compelled to adjust to new technological changes. In spite of her earnest attempts, the employee was not able to successfully do her work. This is where McCord decided to talk sincerely about letting her go.

On a basic level, Netflix makes sure that all its employees get generous severance package when they are let go from the organization in light of the fact that it create a more positive culture.

3

Building a Great Team Should be Managers Top Priority McCord pushed her managers into envisioning how their team would look like in coming six months.

Envision the kind of goals their team would accomplish in the near future, skills accumulated during this period to work on those goals.

At Netflix accomplishing great work and building the right kind of team is a top priority.

Since there is a much greater chance of mismatches in any team, and it is imperative to have open conversations on a regular basis on what needs to be accomplished.

Netflix makes it a point that managers understand that team building equals crafting a culture of excellence.

4 Leaders should be entitled to Creating the Company Culture McCord notices three common issues that take place within the corporate culture: 1) 1. Leaders expect employees to be high performers and the workplace culture to remain casual at the same time. However, mismatches in values where leaders who ignore to infuse commitment to their jobs can expect the same careless attitude from their employees.

2) Employees should be well aware of how the business functions.

For this the HR must explain to the newly hired employees on how the business functions and how the organization profits. In other words, employees must understand “the levers that drive the business” and should be provided with a transparent platform.

3) The next issue most common is “split personality startup”. This happens usually at firms where there is typically a crack in the information received between two diverse teams which lead to a split personality within the company due to mismatches in practices. Leaders should be aware of such subcultures within the company that require diverse management approaches.

5

HR Managers Think like Businesspeople and Innovators First

McCord believes that HR professionals need to think of themselves as businesspeople. Ways on how to improve the company’s performance plan; policies for the good of the company and the employees etc. should be a part of their jobs.

In 1998 when McCord first started working at Netflix, she threw away all existing HR norms and started thinking decisively on policies that required improvement for the good of the company and its employees.

Netflix’s HR policies makes it mandatory to tell salaried employees to take time off whenever they feel is suitable. There are no vacation policies, and employees and managers are asked to work out with each other according to their vacation needs.

Disproving existing HR rules and regulations doesn’t owe to Netflix’s success.

However, it did change the way managers and their teams saw the company culture. McCord’s powerpoint presentation that went viral years ago, makes it clear that a company’s supreme culture owes to recruiting in the right manner. “We continually told managers that building a great team was their most important task. We didn’t measure them on whether they were excellent coaches or mentors or got their paperwork done on time. Great teams accomplish great work, and recruiting the right team was the top priority,” McCord says.

Over the years since the slide was first made public, Netflix has greatly improved some of the specific components to keep up with evolving times; however it hasn’t wavered from the original seven culture aspects specified in the slides: 1) Values are what we value 2) High performance 3) Freedom & responsibility 4) Context, not control 5) Highly aligned, loosely coupled 6) Pay top of market 7) Promotions & development

McCord believes that there is no reason why HR cannot be innovative enough. The results of her efforts today stand in the form of an innovative, nevertheless radical, open-minded approach to HR at Netflix.

Engagement Innovation Summit Date: 25 – 26 February 2015 ENGAGEMENT INNOVATION SUMMIT 2015 will be an astounding Summit which will cover the topics of Innovation Strategies, Human Resources and Innovation Research and far more.

The EIS 2015 is the resulting product of a demand driven HR Engagement Research and Development program which took into account research with 100+ senior HR professionals. Their approach ensures all the content for the conference is relevant, innovative, and desirable.

This event is aimed at expanding awareness of modern strategies employed by the world’s biggest industry leaders like Google, Mars, HP, and Barclays.

Featured Events MAR18 (Webinar) Navigate the Quickly Evolving Digital Marketing Ecosystem MAR23 Customer Success Summit 2015 San Francisco MAR26 (Webinar) Enterprise Cloud Solutions: 7 Tips to Move Faster and Beat the Competition MAR26 CMSWire Tweet Jam: Defining 2015’s CMO #CXMChat APR9 intra.NET Reloaded Boston 2015 APR23 CMSWire Tweet Jam: Making Sense of the Collaboration Tool Landscape #SocBizChat MAY28 CMSWire Tweet Jam: What’s Next for SharePoint and Office 365 #SocBizChat Venue: London Heathrow Marriott Hotel | London United Kingdom

HR in Hospitality Conference Date: 25 – 26 February 2015 The only HR event specifically for the hospitality industry Now in its 9th year, HR in Hospitality attracts hundreds of HR, employment and labor relations professionals from hotels, resorts, restaurants, casinos, cruise lines and all sectors of the industry.

Routinely approved for HRCI, CHT and HRIP Recertification credits, HR in Hospitality provides 100% hospitality-focused HR and legal guidance in sessions presented by senior HR executives in the industry or seasoned hospitality law attorneys.

Venue: Las Vegas, NV | USA

13th HR Metrics & Analytics Summit Date: 23 – 25 March 2015 Despite the potential HR metrics & analytics holds, many companies still lack the knowledge, technology and resources to deliver relevant insights to the business. Which is why, this February 23-25, we’re inviting you to join us in Orlando at the 13th HR Metrics & Analytics Summit for 3 days of comprehensive peer-to-peer learning designed to jumpstart your move from traditional HR metrics to HR intelligence.

If you’re looking to transform your HR department into a numbers driven and strategic-minded organization, you won’t want to miss out on this rare opportunity to learn from the best and the brightest the industry has to offer!

Venue: Orlando, FL | USA

HR Tech Europe Europe’s Most Exciting Two Day Conference & Expo on the Future of Work!

Date: 24-25 March 2015 HR Tech Europe is Europe’s most important event on how software, technology systems and collaborative tools are bringing about surmountable change in the way people and organizations work. Learn from the world’s most exciting leaders and disrupters on topics covering HR, technology, talent & recruitment, social enterprise, learning, mobile, trends, strategy and big data opportunities.

Venue: ExCeL London | London, United Kingdom

BC HRMA Conference & Tradeshow Date: 15-16 April 2015 Participate in the largest HR event in Western Canada with insightful keynote presentations, concurrent tracks of sessions, peer-to-peer dialogues and the opportunity to earn continuing education credits.

The 52nd Annual BC HRMA Conference & Tradeshow is an excellent opportunity to receive exposure for your products and services in an environment that is uniquely suited to making contacts and closing deals. Purchase a booth at the largest human resources tradeshow in Western Canada and/or set your brand apart by sponsoring the conference.

Venue: Vancouver Convention Center | Vancouver, Canada