It appears the right people are reading Corporate Cancer.
Corporate Cancer: How to Work Miracles and Save Millions by Curing Your Company
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#1 New Release in Business Management
A selection from chapter three of the newly released business bestseller:
We are reliably informed by a human resources expert that “the data shows a huge disparity between well run and poorly run HR teams” and that HR teams can be divided into four kinds: Level 1 (compliance driven), Level 2 (fundamental), Level 3 (Strategic), and Level 4 (Business-Integrated). Level 4 is deemed to be the most effective, as per the Human Resources Maturity Model:
- Level 1: Compliance-Driven HR Services. No HR strategy. “Personnel” function mostly separate from the business and talent needs. Line managers perform HR activities as they see best.
- Level 2: Fundamental HR Services. HR strategy partially or fully defined. Siloed HR functions. Some standardized processes and policies and core services managed well. Some automated talent systems but little integration of data.
- Level 3: Strategic HR Department. HR strategy aligned with business strategy. HR business supports business needs. Initiatives split between HR process improvements and talent needs. Some system integration.
- Level 4: Business-Integrated HR. HR strategy part of the business strategy. HR helps to drive business decisions through people, data and insights. Business and HR systems integrated and advanced.
Level 4 companies spend almost twice per employee on HR than Level 1 companies ($4,434 vs. $2,112 per employee) and they are getting much better business outcomes. Their voluntary turnover rates, for example, are 30{14dfe15c2a021e508b535731deef7d62295838972ddd6685cdb730a7cdfcca9c} lower than those at Level 1 (8{14dfe15c2a021e508b535731deef7d62295838972ddd6685cdb730a7cdfcca9c} vs. 11{14dfe15c2a021e508b535731deef7d62295838972ddd6685cdb730a7cdfcca9c}). This is a striking difference: these Level 4 companies are investing much more heavily in management training, employee development, coaching, productivity programs, and programs to promote wellness and work-life balance. The result is happier employees, lower turnover, and a much stronger employment brand.
—Josh Bersin, founder and principal at Bersin by Deloitte, leading provider of research-based membership programs in human resources (HR), talent and learning
Keeping in mind that $4,434 per employee represents 14 percent of the net profit for the most successful corporations in the world, and may exceed the total profit per employee of a typical small or medium-sized business, is that really worth a three-point reduction in annual employee turnover? In fact, wouldn’t simply paying an additional $4,434 to each employee as an annual bonus likely reduce your company’s voluntary turnover rate even more? It wouldn’t surprise me if even a $3k bonus would reduce turnover by an astonishing 50 percent!
Of course, there are other benefits provided by these expensive Business-Integrated HR departments. Such as, we are told, integrating the HR strategy with the business strategy and helping to drive business decisions through people, data, and insights.
But what does that actually mean?
Translating from the corporate consultant-speak, Business-Integrated Human Resources means letting HR run the business according to its objectives and values rather than those of the rest of the corporation, including the executives and shareholders. As you can see, this is a model that can be effectively used to sell structured convergence to any executive foolish enough to buy into the concept and pay for it.