Technical Talent Succession Planning for a High-Tech Firm

Challenge:

Our client’s value proposition to its Fortune 1000 customers was to provide customized applications and support. This was a significant challenge given: fierce competition, the limited supply of highly skilled application engineers and demanding delivery expectations.

Action:

ª      Created a talent strategy to attract, develop and retain top talent; redesigned career paths among five engineering job families.

ª      Defined skills, knowledge and expertise expected of stellar application engineers. Integrated into selection & development programs.

ª      Initiated application engineer retention program based on optimal employment experience.

Results:

ª      Successfully recruited and retained seasoned application engineers.

ª      Doubled the number of application engineers promoted from within.

ª      Increased knowledge sharing & retention among a worldwide network of engineers.

ª      The framework was used elsewhere in the firm for difficult to fill jobs.

Connected Performance Review Process with Scorecard Implementation for Service Firm

Challenge:

Medium sized service firm sought to redesign the performance review process as part of its inevitable automation and scorecard implementation given new business strategy.

Action:

ª      Assessed expectations of new performance review process and integration with scorecards.

ª      Explored human capital management software to streamline and improve the quality, timeliness and accuracy of future performance reviews.

ª      Designed new performance review process to support performance expectations, scorecard implementation and eventual transition to human capital software.

Results:

ª      New performance review process has been adopted.

ª      Roll out includes: educating managers and employees on the new process, performance expectations and linkage with company scorecards.

ª      Future plans: redesign of compensation and recognition & reward programs.

Grew Revenue through New Site Selections for Worldwide Customer Support Organization

Challenge:

Open five in-bound technical support centers within a three year period. Each center was to be staffed by 400 - 800 employees. Quality and quantity of the local workforce, labor costs and turnover experienced at previous sites were areas of concern for future sites.

Action:

ª      Clarified talent requirements for prospective sites.

ª      Developed and used a site selection tool to identify the most promising of 25+ locations resulting in a “short list”.

ª      Customized and integrated a second site selection tool for in-depth analysis of “short list” locations for improved decision making.

Results:

ª      Five new sites were opened over a three year period; each site employed 500 to 1000 employees.

ª      The introduction of site selection or Talent Zone Analysis™, tools for analyzing workforce and site requirements, expedited the process.

ª      Additional business opportunities resulted from the speed with which our client selected and staffed the new sites.