Thinking About High Performance: GPTW, Netflix and Amazon
Amazon has been on everyone’s minds this week following the New York Times’ eye-opening investigation of their difficult work culture–80-hour work weeks, a lack of empathy for sick employees, employees sabotaging each other to save their own behinds. It’s easy to contrast Amazon with Netflix, which made headlines a few weeks ago with the announcement of their one-year paid parental leave policy. But they’ve got their own cut-throat work culture: If you’re not a star, you’re out. Many companies, however, grow and thrive while hiring and retaining B-level employees. Amazon and Netflix have stellar brand awareness, to be sure. But are they great places to work? Probably not.
Kris Dunn ( @kris_dunn )/The HR Capitalist
The Obligatory Amazon Take
This week’s NYT article about Amazon only addresses the demanding workplace culture experienced by the online retailer’s white collar workers. However, the unhealthy and dangerous conditions their blue collar employees were working in was exposed years ago. The story about employees working a 115-degree warehouse was horrifying, but it didn’t generate near the interest of this week’s piece and has largely been forgotten. Why do we care more about the white collar working conditions than the blue collar ones? Probably because we identify more with them–but that doesn’t make it right.
Steve Boese ( @SteveBoese )/Steve Boese’s HR Technology
The 4 Metrics You Need to Track to Improve Your Talent Brand
Talent brand (or employer brand) is a subject of constant conversation in the world of HR. But how do you know if you’re efforts to build it are paying off? It’s great to have a huge following on social media, but who’s following is more important than how many are following. If your industry is healthcare, it’s probably not helpful to have a large following of real estate professionals, for example. Other metrics to measure include response rate, time-to-fill and applicant quality (by tagging and counting “quality” candidates in your ATS)l.
Alyssa Sittig ( @lysskathryn )/LinkedIn Talent Blog
Why Small Businesses Need to Deliver a Great Interview Experience and How to Do it
Small businesses are less likely to have the time and money to invest in a sophisticated recruiting strategy and probably don’t have endless candidates in their pipeline. So it’s especially important for them to deliver a positive interview experience to candidates. In addition to making sure your interview questions are legal (obviously), ask questions that will effectively address a candidate’s ability to perform the job. Remeber that you’re selling yourself to candidates as much as they’re selling to you, so use the interview as an opportunity to showcase your employer brand–what makes your workplace unique, what are your cultural values, what the team dynamic is like. After the interview is over, give them an idea about your hiring timeframe and then follow up once you have more information to report.
Ashley Perez ( @AshLaurenPerez )/Constant Contact Fresh Insights blog
How to Apply the Rules of the Pub to Recruiting and Hiring
When you’re knocking back a few beers at your local bar, chances are you’re not talking about work with your fellow regulars. Sure, you know what they do, but you’re talking about sports, TV, etc. Occasionally, though, you may find it appropriate to tap into their area of professional expertise. Similarly, as a recruiter, networking is most effective when you first engage people in casual conversation about hobbies and interests. Business will come up eventually and that’s your opportunity to talk about your work. By engaging people on a personal level first, you’ll build trust and meaningful connections.
Bill Boorman ( @BillBoorman )/Recruiting Daily