How Talent Leaders Are Shaping the World’s Best Workplaces: Insights for Future HR Leaders

HR is a strategic partner in business growth, in the face of severe talent shortage and dynamic skill demands. We share how HR leaders at the world’s top three workplaces, according to Fortune (2018), are shaping their organizations, and what HR leaders of the future can learn from them: 

• Ana Recio from Salesforce on the pivotal role of internal training for consistent talent acquisition 
• Kellie Romack from Hilton on using technology to engage employees across the entire employee lifecycle 
• Summer Davies from Mars, Inc., on the need for and benefits of focusing on the manager experience

In a dynamic business landscape, HR leaders have emerged as key stakeholders who chart the organization’s growth path. They oversee talent acquisitionOpens a new window , optimize productivity, and enable employee engagement, among a host of other micro-responsibilities. And this is in the face of several ongoing disruptions, says GartnerOpens a new window  (work email required): 

• Unemployment rates have steadily declined in 2013–18, reaching an all-time low of 3.8% last year. 
• 67% of business leaders agree that digitalization is essential to gain a competitive edge, implying large-scale change managementOpens a new window  needs across the workforce. 
• Nearly one-fifth of existing skillsets will become irrelevant in the next three years, making upskilling and reskillingOpens a new window  imperative. 

Organizations that succeed despite these challenges are likely to witness momentous growth over the next decade. These organizations will boast happy employees, engaged and eager to put in the extra mile needed for sustained growth. 

In 2018, Fortune curated a roundup of the world’s best workplacesOpens a new window . These workplaces, guided by outstanding HR leaders, translate into an engaged, productive, and future-focused workforce. 

Here’s how HR leaders from the top three organizations in the list are shaping HR practices in their workplaces, and what future HR leaders can learn from them. 

Learn More: 

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3 Ways HR Leaders at the World’s Best Workplaces Are Shaping a Digital HR Experience

As per Fortune, Salesforce, Hilton Hotels, and Mars, Inc. are the top three organizations that paved the way for workplace innovation and excellence in 2018. Not only do they have a large, globally distributed workforce, but they also ensure a strong employee focus in day-to-day operations. Here are three recommendations HR leaders from these companies had to share: 

1. Training to hire for the organization is integral to talent acquisition, says Ana Recio of Salesforce
 

Ana Recio, EVP of global recruiting at Salesforce, shares how at Salesforce, recruiters are explicitly trained on how to hire for the organization. 

“Trailhead, our free online learning platform, enables us to train and align employees around the globe on how to Hire the Salesforce Way. After taking the trail, our employees understand and implement our 5 Inclusive Hiring Principles and best practices for building diverse and innovative teams. We also developed the Salesforce Interview Feedback Tool (SIFT), built on Peopleforce, to standardize interview questions based on the key competencies that have proven successful in each role. By evaluating talent based on skills rather than pedigree, we’ve expanded and diversified our pool of qualified talent,” says Recio in an exclusive with HR TechnologistOpens a new window .

Internal hiring is an excellent way to demonstrate career progression opportunities at an organization. Not only does this show employees that HR leaders care about them, but they are also more motivated. Recio tells us, “We’ve even created tools that allow us to evaluate internal candidates and proactively reach out to them with opportunities that they may not have considered.” 

For HR leaders of the future, building detailed training programs that help hire for talent as well as culture fit will be imperative. These programs must be both specific but agile to adapt to changing workforce trends.

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2. Employee engagement begins on day one, shares Kellie Romack of Hilton
 

Kellie Romack, VP of digital HR and strategic planning at Hilton, in an exclusive interviewOpens a new window  with HR Technologist, discusses at length employee-centricity at Hilton and why employee engagement must begin from day one. Interestingly, this is more complex, as a significant portion of their recruits join the workforce from outside the industry. This implies a steep learning curve and initial challenges in assimilating into the company’s culture. 

“80% of our corporate hires do not transition from a hotel – yet their job is to support hotel team members. To help solve this, we’ve created a ‘Virtual Reality Business Immersion’ that gives our corporate team members a better sense of what it’s like to work in a hotel,” says Romack. 

Advanced tech solutions have played a big part in helping Hilton meet dynamic workforce requirements, across new employee onboarding, training, and seasonal hires. Romack used artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the time to hire for high-volume roles from one-and-a-half months to just one week. 

HR leaders of the future should similarly be able to strategically apply technology to improve an employee’s experience across their organizational journey, making room for candidates who cut across industries and skill areas. 

3. HR must turn the spotlight on manager development, suggests Summer Davies of Mars, Inc.

Summer Davies, global manager for leadership development at Mars, Inc., speaking to HR TechnologistOpens a new window , suggests an outside-in approach to employee engagement and development, with managers taking center stage. 

Too often, organizations overlook the critical question of whether they are taking care of manager engagementOpens a new window . Future HR leaders must dedicate specific initiatives and investments to help managers become better leaders and effectively guide their workforces to new heights of productivity. 

“Great managers influence everything from turnover to production numbers, getting new leaders ready faster just make good business,” says Davies, explaining the ripple effect of focusing on manager engagement. 

Mars runs the Great Line Managers’ Experience (GLMe) Program, which aims to nurture the company’s large pool of managers with an eye on the impact they have on their teams. 

“Managers must be prepared from the first hours of their job to take on the responsibility and privilege of leadership. I share with learners at the start of GLMe that whether or not they realize it, they are now officially ‘dinner table’ conversation. When their employees end their day today, they will sit down at the dinner table with their family and the first question all families ask is ‘how was your day,’” says Davies. 

The ability to balance grassroots level employee engagementOpens a new window  initiatives with a holistic focus on development and upskilling at every rung of the organizational ladder will also define HR leaders of the future. 

Learn More: 

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Future HR Leaders Will Be People Managers + Tech Evangelists 

In conversation with HR experts from the world’s top three workplaces, it is clear that employee centricity and innovation aren’t independent of each other. As HR leaders look at spearheading their organization towards new areas of success, keeping every employee satisfied while staying aligned to enterprise goals will be imperative. Adoption of next-gen technology will prove to be an incredible enabler on this journey, bringing benefits at micro, tangible levels as well as in qualitative, long-term areas. 

What useful tips and advice would you share with HR leaders of tomorrow? Tell us on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We are eager to learn from you!