In August, 2005, Fast Company magazine published a scathing article entitled “Why We Hate HR”. The author, Keith Hammonds, presented four arguments:

1. HR people are not the sharpest tacks in the box. The best and the brightest don’t go into HR;
2. HR pursues efficiency in place of value;
3. HR doesn’t work for you. It supports the status quo.
4. HR doesn’t get the office next to the CEO.

The author was slammed by many of the readers in the HR community for his comments. But the unfortunate truth is – he is 100% correct.

Observations such as this, and others like them, cause me to re-think the whole concept of Human Resources. Why, for example, do not more CEOs hold HR to higher value producing business standards? On the other hand, why do HR people view themselves as administrative overhead rather than contributors to the company’s profitability and productivity factors? And, what is the incentive for either side to change their view?

I seem to have come to several conclusions. Let’s try to make sense of them.

1. CEO’s don’t know how to use HR as a contributor to the company’s P&L processes. They prefer to keep HR in their traditional roles as back office support staff. This is their comfort zone. This is how they were taught to think of HR. Conversely, HR has not convinced the CEO that they understand the business as well as he/she does. Nor has HR proven to the CEOs that the quality and substance of their work directly and positively affects the ability of the CEO to sleep well at night.

This is a double-edged sword. On one side, the CEO has been historically trained to consider HR as a support function and nothing else. It exists to keep the company in compliance with a vast number of labour laws and to administer programs conceived, designed, and approved by non-HR people. Theoretically, it is supposed to hire bright people who will stay with the company and produce good work.

On the other hand, HR practitioners have done little to change that perception. Their failure to learn and understand the corporate performance pressure points and to focus their work on relieving those pressure points has been widely ignored. As a result, CFOs can enter the CEOs office at any time armed with a stream of quantitative data that CEOs use to make their decisions. The HR executive is left to talk about the qualitative or softer aspects of business such as diversity training, wage and hour law compliance issues, employee relations, and so on.

For better or worse, most CEOs tend to live and die by the quantitative aspects of their company’s performance. If they are the CEO of a publicly traded company, the pressure on financial performance is much more intense. The poor HR executive is left to blather about issues that are secondary to the CEOs attention span.

2. Far too many HR professionals are uncomfortable with financial metrics by which CEO’s make most of their critical decisions. Then they complain about not being taken seriously. Part of the problem is based upon the concepts of specialization that our society has embraced over the past century. In HR for example, the function has become so specialized that it has lost sight of why the company is in business in the first place and, secondly, how it is supposed to stay in business. We have experts in recruiting who are told who they can hire because of diversity or EEO mandates, but do not know how to hire people who can advance the business plan of the company. Can you imagine your local mechanic who is a world class engine mechanic not being able to realize that the axle is broken? What’s wrong with this picture?

3. HR is a reactive and defensive function within most organizations. This has to stop immediately. Complying with various labour laws is a critical, but a defensive business approach. Theoretically, the work is designed to keep the government off of the company backs. Think of the various HR produced training sessions that you have gone to in the past couple of years. Has it changed your behaviour? Has it generated a better selection of talent to work in your company? Has it had an impact on sales and revenue? Has it impacted inventory turns? Suppose that you have produced a world class training program on harassment and the company records a deficit on its balance sheet? What is a good HR person to do in this case? Rare is the sports team who wins by only playing on defence.

4. HR does not hire for talent. How can one hire for talent without knowing what the talent is expected to produce? In today’s hyper competitive environment, the search for quality talent can be unforgiving. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining talent involves understanding where the company is today, where it envisions itself in the future, and getting the right people with the right KSAs to achieve that vision. HR must take the lead in being pro-active with the business. It must conduct frequent status checks on the direction and movement of the company. This includes financial as well as non-financial challenges that the company will face. If another department is not performing up to expectation, how will HR directly help that department achieve its business goals and contribute to the success of the company?

5. HR must kick the “Silo Mentality” habit once and for all. No department in any company can continue to exist as a stand-alone discipline. Organizations are made up of several interconnected and interdependent entities. Each must wholly integrate itself into all other functions, and its practitioners must be able to speak the language of every department. If you expect to work as an equal partner with the company’s other strategic experts, you must be fluent in their language as well. Negotiating a new labour relations contract or a new health care contract may be a part of HR’s traditional silo. But the results of these negotiations will have a direct impact on the ability of the company to compete, to earn a profit, and to maintain its market share with competitive pricing. Diversity for the sake of diversity is valueless. Diversity for the sake of improving corporate performance and social responsibility metrics has enormous value.

One final thought about HR. What would happen if your CEO directs that the HR department be operated as an internal profit center that must bill their colleagues for services rendered and value delivered? Could they do it? Farfetched? Not really. With the help of technology advancements, companies are doing it with increasing frequency as they outsource many of the traditional HR subjects: payroll processing, benefits selection and administration, government reporting, etc. An outside vendor can argue that they can perform these functions better, faster, cheaper than the internal functions. And, they are winning the contracts. As trade and national barriers fall, companies are finding out that they can outsource many functions, HR included, to outside vendors who provide improved value for the rupees/dollars/euros/yen expended.

Human resources is a critical and value driven asset to all companies. Whether it is provided as an internal asset or an external asset is up to the leaders of that asset.

- DeTimes

You know the old adage, “You only have one opportunity to make a good first impression?” Well, never have truer words been spoken as it relates to retaining new talent! Even though the competitive scramble for talent may have eased off in the last 12-18 months, according to a survey by Management Recruiters, there is still a demand for mid-to-upper level management, high-level executives and professionals in most organizations today.

Companies spend weeks, perhaps even months, courting key talent to their organizations, all the while espousing the many cultural assets that make their workplaces great places to be. But living up to that hype or risk losing a new employee (with all the associated costs that go along with that loss) can be very challenging. And many organizations fail miserably.
Research shows that positively engaging new employees early in the new hire process can make a marked difference in keeping retention to a minimum. That first 90 days of a new employee’s engagement is key to his or her success.

But, many companies miss the mark with new employees simply because of a lack of preparation and planning. Even fairly sophisticated companies lack a consistent, systematic and strategically focused approach to “on-boarding” new employees and assimilating them successfully into the organization. And by the time most company leaders realize something has gone amiss, they are already six or nine months down the road. In order to “fix” the problem, they now must go back and do what they should have done in the beginning!

Many organizations today are missing the opportunity to successfully engage that new hire from day one. This is usually because there is no clear process for assisting the individual in becoming successful.

Giving an employee a leg up in prioritising key actions and activities that can contribute to his or her success can make a huge difference in increasing productivity and job satisfaction. And it’s not just a matter of having clear performance goals and objectives that align with company needs and expectations. Nor is it a matter of knowing to whom the new employee can go with questions and requests for help to avoid derailment.

Critical to the individual’s success, is knowing which key relationships in the organization need to be forged. Certain relationships will help accelerate the newcomer’s time to full productivity and engagement.

Organizations that successfully orient and assimilate new hires effectively share some common practices:

- They hire an external “on-boarding” coach or assign an internal mentor to help guide the new employee through the critical early stages of his or her new assignment.

- They have in-depth orientation training designed to help new employees learn techniques that enable them to “connect” with their new team members and build an environment of trust and open communication.

- They commit to and demonstrate the right actions and behaviours to ensure mutual success.

- They make controlling turnover everybody’s responsibility by encouraging team members working with the new hire to recognize signs that he or she, or any other team member, might be “at risk.” They then arm them with techniques they can use to offer support and help turn the situation around.

- And, they survey at 30-, 60- and 90-day intervals to see how things are going and address issues they uncover before they become bigger problems.

These companies have found that by being focused and intentional in assimilating new hires can significantly reduce absenteeism, job abandonment and turnover.

So, ask yourself, what mechanisms does your company have in place to ensure that the first 90 days of a new employee’s career gets off on the right footing? Do a little research among recent new hires to your organization to gauge their experiences. By doing so, I am willing to bet you’ll end up with more than enough new opportunities to enhance the new-hire experience. In return, you can create the right first impression that can lead to many great career experiences going forward.

- DeTimes

Global salaries are expected to rise by an average of 6% in 2008 – 1.9% above inflation – according to a study by Mercer. The study of 62 countries worldwide shows a strong correlation between 2008 forecasted inflation and forecasted average pay increases but also reveals wide global variation in both projections.

India can expect one of the highest pay increases in the world at 14.1%, nearly 10% above local inflation. North America and most Western European countries will experience the lowest salary increases worldwide.

"Some multinational companies are experiencing labour cost savings of 75% by sourcing labour from emerging markets. On the flip side, they generally need to invest more in employing supervisory staff and in training. We are starting to see that short-term cost savings from sourcing labour in emerging markets can evaporate over time. It is therefore essential for multinational companies to consider both current pay levels and future salary increases when deciding where to source their labour."

"Some companies that might otherwise be looking at emerging economies to establish their customer services are now reconsidering their options. Immediate cost savings are no longer the only consideration, as short-term affordability might be offset by long-term volatility in labour costs and inconsistent service quality in many emerging markets. A US company might decide to locate its call centre in rural America where there is a good work ethic, strong language skills and less competition for labour – and where projected pay increases are lower and long-term cost variations less volatile."

In Western Europe, Ireland is predicted to experience the highest actual salary increase (4.7%) as well as the highest increase above inflation (2.6%). UK pay is projected to increase by 3.1%, 1.1% above inflation. Projected salary increases remain fairly consistent across Western Europe, with actual increases averaging 3.4% and increases above inflation averaging 1.3%.

In Eastern Europe a different picture is offered as actual pay increase levels are forecast to stay amongst the highest in the world, at an average of 6.9%. Because inflation rates are also expected to remain high in this region (4.6% on average), increases above inflation will average only 2.3%.

Bulgaria is expected to see one of the highest pay increases in the region (9.3%) and with expected inflation rates at 4.4%, pay above inflation is projected at a high 4.9%. At the other end of the scale is the Czech Republic where the average pay increase (4%) is expected to be mostly offset by inflation (3.1%).

"We are seeing increased activity amongst European and global companies in relocating labour intensive units, such as shared service centres, to the Eastern European region. This region is becoming more popular due to strong multi-lingual skills, proximity to Western European markets and the rapid escalation of salary levels in popular off-shoring centres such as India."

North America
Modest pay increases and inflation rates are forecast for next year in both the US and Canada, with average salary increases above inflation expected at 1.9% in the US and at 1.8% in Canada.

Asia Pacific
Pay increases in the Asia Pacific region will pick up next year, with actual increases expected to reach 6.6% and increases above inflation reaching 3.3%. India is expecting the highest pay increase in the region at 14.1%, reflecting its buoyant economic growth; its pay above inflation is also projected to be the highest, at 9.8%. Vietnam is also expecting a double-digit actual pay increase at 11.9%, 5.6%above inflation.

In Australia and New Zealand, pay rises are more modest, projected at 4.0% and 3.9% while inflation is likely to be 2.5% and 2.6%.

- DeTimes (Source : Mercer)

Human Resource Outsourcing (HRO) organizations are focused on staying on top of current and emerging HR practices, laws, and regulations. Their core business capability is finding the ways to make client organizations more efficient by fulfilling some or all of their HR functions. Outsourcing what is typically known as non-strategic activities allows client companies to focus on what’s core to their business and to allocate their limited resources for growth.

A “Typical HRO Portfolio”?

Outsourced activities may include many of the non-revenue producing Human Resources (HR) activities such as recruiting, payroll, workers’ compensation, periodic audits, benefits planning and shopping, wage compliance, and more. Client companies are generally open to working with 3rd parties to manage these non-business critical activities.

Outsourced HR services can range from single or multiple competencies. Thus companies that provide HRO services may have many functional or industry specializations. HROs can better focus on the singular discipline or domain and achieve high efficiency levels in it.

There are cost and efficiency tradeoffs with different approaches and the client company should first decide what functionality should be outsourced and then go about finding what HRO vendors and/or software technology packages do the job.

Are HRO Organizations The Beacons Of Change?

Innovation is the name of the game. Because the central business activity of an HRO is in the human resource services, client organizations expect third parties to be on top of the latest developments in the industry. What’s more, he tended to see innovation as one of the key differentiators of the human resources outsourcing industry overall.

Many companies are aware that their internal HR organization needs to evolve with the rest of the company, however they often do not have the resources or capacity to do it. It is observed that client companies tend to be more conscious of maintaining the burden of the legal responsibility over non-mission critical areas of an organization.

“As the government tries to regulate the labour markets, the greater the need to gather the info, to track the changes, to identify the laws that matter. Finally, client organizations expect HRO organizations to be abreast of new ideas and trends."

What Are The Expectations Of Interactions with HRO Organizations?

Experts attribute successful interactions with client organizations to high degrees of trust and reliance of the client organizations. It is critical that expectations are defined up front and commitments are achieved on the client’s executive team to do their part to share the information and resources where applicable.

One of the reasons why trust is critical has to do with the fact that often HROs need to work with internal personnel data and clients may be sensitive about any privacy issues that may arise. In actuality, in our experts’ opinions, HROs should be able to obtain and work with relevant data for analysis without touching anything sensitive or private. Most companies are open to sharing their data if it helps in the analysis. Once the trust is established, client companies generally are allowing their relevant data to be externally hosted.

An HRO should be able to access only the necessary HR information. Thus, it is important to communicate specifically what data needs to be accessed, how it will be utilized, backed up, stored, and even disposed of if appropriate. “I think there is always hesitation about sharing information. The client has to be clear about what they are getting into. HRO’s should strive to develop a trusting relationship with the client.”

The other reason why it is necessary to build a strong trust with the client company has to do with established company culture. The HROs must be aware that they are entering a client organization with established culture, morals, and standards. Sometimes these non-tangible elements are detrimental to the organization, which may be why they are there. But, on the other hand, company culture may be the glue that holds the organization together and an HRO should be conscious of protecting that culture and the existing balance in the organization where appropriate.

“Strategic insight is crucial for outsourcing of processes related to executive positions.” We can summarize the key expectations as Trust. Reliability, and Flexibility.

Developing Working Relationships with an HRO

A client HR organization should be on the same side with the HRO team. It is important to include the client’s HR team, if there is one, in all of the planning meetings. Internal teams should feel like they are players, have a role assigned to them, and should contribute to the ongoing data exchange and/or activities. In reality, according to our experts, a “perfect accord” between the client HR and third party experts is not that common and does require continued mutual effort to develop. It is important to realize that in the long term, cooperation is more beneficial to all the parties involved.

On the positive side, according to our experts, a relationship with an HRO is expected to be simpler than internal. External experts are perceived experts operating on an executive level. Often they are there only for a short time though, often in a “Superman” capacity – they come, they identify the need to be addressed, do their work, and leave. If third parties operate out of their own offices or provide web-based services, interoffice politics are even less issue prone.

- DeTimes

The search for an ideal or perfect structure is about as futile as trying to find the ideal canned improvement process to drop on the organization (or ourselves). It depends on the organization's context and focus (vision, values, and purpose), goals and priorities, skill and experience levels, culture, teams' effectiveness and so on. Each is unique to any organization.

Research and experience shows that the shape and characteristics of high performing organization structures have a number of common features:

Intense Customer and Market Focus — systems, structures, processes, and innovations are all aimed at and flow from the voices of the market and customers. Field people and hands-on senior managers drive the organization in daily contact with customers and partners.

Team-based — operational and improvement teams are used up, down, and across the organization. A multitude of operational teams manage whole systems or self-contained sub-systems such as regions, branches, processes, and complete business units.

Highly Autonomous and Decentralized — dozens, hundreds, or thousands of mini-business units or businesses are created throughout a single company. Local teams adjust their company's product and service mix to suit their market and conditions. They also reconfigure the existing products and services or develop new experimental prototypes to meet customer/partner needs.

Servant-Leadership — senior managers provide strong Context and Focus (vision, values, and purpose) and strategic direction to guide and shape the organization. Very lean and keen head office management and staff serve the needs of those people doing the work that the customers actually care about and are willing to pay for. Support systems are designed to serve the servers and producers, not management and the bureaucracy.

Networks, Partnerships, and Alliances — organizational and departmental boundaries blur as teams reach out, in, or across to get the expertise, materials, capital, or other support they need to meet customer needs and develop new markets. Learning how to partner with other teams or organizations is fast becoming a critical performance skill.

Fewer and More Focused Staff Professionals — accountants, human resource professionals, improvement specialists, purchasing managers, engineers and designers, and the like, are either in the midst of operational action as a member of an operational team, or they sell their services to a number of teams. Many teams are also purchasing some of this expertise from outside as needed.

Few Management Levels — spans of control stretch into dozens and even hundreds of people (organized in self-managing teams) to one manager. Effective managers are highly skilled in leading (Context and Focus), directing (establishing goals and priorities), and developing (training and coaching).

One Customer Contact Point — although teams and team members will come and go as needed, continuity with the customer is maintained by an unchanging small group or individual. Internal service and support systems serve the needs of the person or team coordinating and managing the customer relationship.

We are in the midst of a major transition from organization and management practices that began around the turn of the 20th century. Our cloudy crystal ball won't allow us to see which organization structure or model will dominate the 21st century. Since we're no longer in an age of mass production and standardization, there won't likely be just one type. Rather, we'll see our top organizations grow and shed a variety of structures and models to suit the their changing circumstances.

- DeTimes

1. When you take a long time, you're slow.
When your boss takes a long time, he's thorough.

2. When you don't do it, you're lazy.
When your boss doesn't do it, he's too busy.

3. When you make a mistake, you're an idiot.
When your boss makes a mistake, he's only human.

4. When doing something without being told, you're overstepping your authority.
When your boss does the same thing, that's initiative.

5. When you take a stand, you're being pig-headed.
When your boss does it, he's being firm.

6. When you overlooked a rule of etiquette, you're being rude.
When your boss skips a few rules, he's being original.

7. When you please your boss, you're arse-creeping.
When your boss pleases his boss, he's being co-operative.

8. When you're out of the office, you're wandering around.
When your boss is out of the office, he's on business.

9. When you're on a day off sick, you're always sick.
When your boss has a day off sick, he must be very ill.

10. When you apply for leave, you must be going for an interview.
When your boss applies for leave, it's because he's overworked.

- DeTimes

Thoughts and stories from on the job

My boss came in one morning and caught me hugging my secretary. He said in a rage, "Is this what you get paid for?" I told him, "Nope! I do this for free."

This same boss was into all this dumb inspirational and motivation stuff too. I remember once he posted a sign, which read, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." I couldn't resist and added a note: "And now you know why too".

Once I came upon this pretty new temp standing in front of the paper shredder with a confused look on her face. I asked if she needed any help and she said, "Yeah, how does this thing work?" I took the papers from her hand and demonstrated how to work the shredder. She stood there a moment with yet another confused expression, so I said, "Any questions?" She said, "Yeah, exactly where do the copies come out from?"

People always say that hard work never killed anybody. Oh yeah??? When's the last time you ever heard of anyone who "rested to death".

Being punctual in our Office was of no benefit what so ever. There was never anybody around to appreciate it.

Our Office was always on the cutting edge of technology. Not only did we have computers, which spoke as well as listened; Hell, some of them even got ulcers.

Did you ever notice the people who complain the most about not having enough time to do all their work are the same ones who always stop & tell?

- DeTimes

Top Ten Signs You Work in the 00's

10.You lecture the neighbourhood kids selling lemonade on ways to improve their process.

9. You get all excited when it's Saturday because you can wear sweats to work.

8. You refer to the tomatoes growing in your garden as "deliverables."

7. You find you really need PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living.

6. You normally eat out of vending machines and at the best restaurant in town in the same week.

5. You think that "progressing an action plan" and "calendarizing a project" are acceptable English phrases.

4. You know the people at the airport hotels better than your next-door neighbours.

3. You ask your friends to "think out of the box" when making plans for Friday night.

2. You think Einstein would have been more effective if he had put his ideas into a matrix.

And the number one sign you work in the '00s':

1. You think a "half day" means leaving at 5 o'clock (even if you work at home).

- DeTimes

Casual Fridays:

Week 1 - Memo No. 1
Effective this week, the company is adopting Fridays as Casual Day. Employees are free to dress in the casual attire of their choice.

Week 3 - Memo No. 2
Spandex and leather micro-miniskirts are not appropriate attire for Casual Day. Neither are string ties, rodeo belt buckles or moccasins.

Week 6 - Memo No. 3
Casual Day refers to dress only, not attitude. When planning Friday's wardrobe, remember image is a key to our success.

Week 8 - Memo No. 4
A seminar on how to dress for Casual Day will be held at 4 PM Friday in the cafeteria. A fashion show will follow. Attendance is mandatory.

Week 9 - Memo No. 5
As an outgrowth of Friday's seminar, a 14-member Casual Day Task Force has been appointed to prepare guidelines for proper casual-day dress.

Week 14 - Memo No. 6
The Casual Day Task Force has now completed a 30-page manual entitled "Relaxing Dress Without Relaxing Company Standards." A copy has been distributed to every employee. Please review the chapter "You Are What You Wear" and consult the "home casual" versus "business casual" checklist before leaving for work each Friday. If you have doubts about the appropriateness of an item of clothing, contact your CDTF representative before 7 AM on Friday.

Week 18 - Memo No. 7
Our Employee Assistant Plan (EAP) has now been expanded to provide support for psychological counselling for employees who may be having difficulty adjusting to Casual Day.

Week 20 - Memo No. 8
Due to budget cuts in the HR Department we are no longer able to effectively support or manage Casual Day. Casual Day will be discontinued, effective immediately.

- DeTimes

A Shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Broni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the shepherd, "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing flock and calmly answers, "Sure. Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his AT&T cell phone, surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo. The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photo shop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an e-mail on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of complex formulas. He uploads all of this data via an e-mail on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response. Finally, he prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP Laser Jet printer and finally turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my sheep," says the shepherd. He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car. Then the shepherd says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my sheep?”

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a consultant," says the shepherd.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required," answered the shepherd. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew; to a question I never asked; and you don't know anything about my business ......."

"... Now give me back my dog."

- DeTimes

I urgently needed a few days off work, but I knew the Boss would not allow me to take a leave. I thought that maybe if I acted "CRAZY" then he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside down on the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker asked me what I was doing.

I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss would think I was "CRAZY" and give me a few days off.

A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, "What are you doing?"

I told him I was a light bulb.
He said, "You are clearly stressed out. Go home and recuperate for a couple of days."

I jumped down and walked out of the office.
When my co-worker followed me, the Boss asked her, "And where do you think you're going?"

(You're gonna love this.....)
She said, "I'm going home too, I can't work in the dark."

- DeTimes

Yahoo’s decision to purge 1000 staff members primarily from its United States operations (some in Europe) has been hot news this year. What we didn’t know when the announcement was made was that Yahoo was planning to expand its base in India.

Yahoo is establishing a new lab in Bangalore with a focus on long-term research. The lab will be “a center of excellence for next generation search and advertising technologies, focused on making the Web more relevant and simple for users and advertisers.”

According to the Washington Post, the new lab will be headed by Rajeev Rastogi (previously the head of Bell Labs India) and will hire “sociologists, micro-economists, and computational scientists among other categories of staff for the lab.” The exact number of employees the new lab will hire was not disclosed, however the figure is believed to be in excess of 500 people.

The move towards lower cost Indian operations is far from new, and Yahoo already has 1500 employees in India. The decision may raise eyebrows in the United States where offshoring jobs is still fairly unpopular in the broader community, despite its popularity in the corporate and startup sectors.

Really interesting comments on the articles:

1. Yahoo can fire expensive USA workers and hire for less in India. Other U.S. companies can lay off their expensive U.S. workers and outsource jobs to third world countries for less money. Then, these expensive US workers with massive student loans won’t’ find jobs because they are in India. They will be denied opportunities for the remaining jobs here because their student loans are in default (listed on their credit report) as a result of being out of work. ( U.S. companies will not hire you because of your credit report. You might steal something.) The remaining jobs will be $8-9/hour retail jobs. They will not hire these out of work workers because they are overqualified and might quit. So they hire illegals instead. These out of work professionals will have lot’s of time to surf Techcrunch and complain about outsourcing. (This is from US)

2. It will be interesting to see what tangible benefits comes out of this for Y!. The value proposition for offshoring to India has been in free fall of late. China looks attractive on paper but most will confide that in practice China is VERY difficult to do software development in due to language/Time zone/Govt./IP protection problems. Eastern Europe seems to be the best offshoring alternative right now and Y! might do better to try this lab there. I have to agree on the assessment of the quality of IP that comes out of India. Over a billion people have had an opportunity to create the next big thing for the last 10+ years with no determinable results. (Another one from US)

3. “Over a billion people have had an opportunity to create the next big thing for the last 10+ years with no determinable results.” Big result needs not only talent but Funding! There is immense talent in India (silicon valley guys might agree with this) but they lack in funding. Yahoo has recognized just that! Microsoft, Google already have R&D centers in India. This picture might change in another 10 years! (From India)

4. Remember, your corporate leaders and politicians have told you that the only jobs that are being outsourced are the LOW end jobs. Advance jobs such as research and innovation will remained in the U.S. Guess again. Anyway, I think it’s about time that the U.S start sharing it’s wealth and technology with the rest of the world. It’s about time that the other countries can take advantage of the intellectual capital that the U.S has held on for itself for a long time (half of which is anyway Indian). Sharing is good, it’ll only make this world a better place. (One more from US)

- DeTimes

Companies everywhere are experiencing labour and skills shortages due in part to the mass retirement of baby boomers and the global competition for talent. Time to fill cycles are getting longer and vacancy rates are increasing.

So one has to ask: Is this a good time for employers to take a more rigorous talent acquisition approach?

Some forward thinking companies believe now is the time to refine their selection process. As boomers retire at a rate of one every 8 seconds over the next decade backfilling them won't be easy. Armed with this knowledge and experiencing current talent shortages these companies have taken a novel approach which they call quality of hire. Their approach is to hire only the very best applicants who have a lot of headroom and then grow their skills from within. This is a strategy that will help ensure they are hiring their leaders of tomorrow when the tsunami comes ashore.

"We are moving aggressively toward measuring "Quality of Hire" as part of our talent acquisition strategy. Employee attrition is a big issue facing us. We need to address it in a way that ensures that we are not just filling vacancies but we are hiring the very best. So we are implementing programs that will allow us to better identify job candidates that will fit well with our culture." said the Vice President of Human Resources, $500 M + web services company.

Aberdeen Report 2007 Report - "The Global War for Talent: Getting What You Want Won't Be Easy

The strategic shift to quality hiring programs is in part fuelled by wake up calls from management gurus like Jim Collins author of Good to Great- "Get the right people on the bus and in the right seat" and Peter Drucker - "66% of hiring decisions will prove to be a mistake."

As the war for talent intensifies companies can no longer afford to hire or keep marginal performing employees.

A global competition for talent, boomer retirement, and an abundance of skill shortages is a perfect storm. So what can you do now to ensure your organization survives unscathed?

A 300 bed hospital has implemented an innovative nurse grad placement strategy in their effort to reduce turnover and optimise talent.They take a unique approach at matching the grad to their new department.

When new grads arrive they know very little about them. They don't know anything about their working style. Do they like to work quickly and assertively, or do they prefer to work methodically and at a slower pace? Do they prefer to make independent decisions or prefer to be closely directed? These working behaviours and many others are evaluated and matched with the department's culture to ensure a good fit.

For example the working culture in emergency is different from intensive care which is different from paediatrics etc. Placing nurse grads in the right seat on the bus goes a long way toward reducing turnover and improving performance especially at this most critical step of the young nurse's career.

Studies and research confirm that technical skills are important but they are only part of the success equation. Equally important is the way in which the technical skills get applied which is referred to as contextual skills. Selecting a person based on their contextual skills is taking on more importance in the selection process and is best illustrated in the example below.

A fortune 100 company, a global manufacturing leader has a program for identifying and measuring the skills of prospective team leaders on their assembly lines. As part of their six sigma continuous improvement process they set out to hire and promote only team leaders with the right technical skills and the right contextual skills such as perseverance, self confidence, problem solving, and more.

"In order to optimise our process improvement initiatives we must have the right people on board and that means people who have a combination of skills" said the Director of Human Resources, $36 Billion Global Manufacturing Company.

What can you start doing now?

* Review your company's time to fill cycles and vacancy rates. Do you see alarming trends?
* Forecast boomer retirement. How many, when, what departments will be hardest hit.
* Inventory the skill sets of the impending retirees. What special talents and skills do these people have.

Catalogue them, or measure them now. These are the people you are looking to replace. Capture their high performance DNA so to speak before they leave.

Now is the time to act with deliberate purpose and a clear strategic plan.

- DeTimes

The qualified labour "gene pool" is clearly getting pretty shallow. All indications are that it will continue to get worse. Right now It's as good as it will ever be, and that’s a scary thing to say the least.

With the labour market tightening up, the harsh reality is that there are a finite number of qualified people available for any given job. And everyone wants to hire them.

As the labour pool tightens, it presents a dilemma: how does an organization ensure they will have a good shot at attracting qualified talent?

The answer for many has been to use recruitment or employment agencies. While these types of organizations perform a valuable service, many aren't disclosing the fact that they are recruiting for your competition as well.

Recently the subject of recruitment agencies came up at a conference break. There were several banking organizations represented there and one representative mentioned, "Even though we are working with XYZ Staffing (a well-known national organization), it is still difficult to get the people we need." I noticed a surprised look on the faces of other attendees. It turns out they were also using the same employment agency for their recruiting needs.

Over the next several days and meetings, I came to realize that many banks in the area were depending on the very same employment agency and not one knew their competitors were doing so as well.

Perhaps I am old fashioned but this is just plain wrong. If I were one of the banking clients, there would be one big question that would strike my mind: how do I know that I am getting the best and most qualified applicants? If there are ten banking clients and five "best" applicants, who gets the best five?

Furthermore...

- Why wasn't I made aware of this practice in the first place?
- Is there a lottery system to who gets the "best" applicants?
- Would it be a function of how much I am paying?
- How well I am liked by the employment agency?
- Can I trust my employment agency?

Please don't get me wrong, I am also a headhunter... I am not trying to say, "Don't use employment agencies."

What I am saying there must be full disclosure. If I am retaining the services of a professional service firm and they are providing that very same service to my competitor across the street, I have a right to know that.

I am also saying that if you want complete control of your hiring process, then use the tools the employment agencies use and find your own high performance candidates.

Key thoughts to protect yourself...

• Ask your employment agency if they are hiring similar positions to yours in the same geographic market and in particular are they assisting any direct competitors.

• Ask how they determine where the best candidates go. In other words, who gets the "first look" at the candidate?

• Ask what you can do to be moved up to get a "first look" at prime candidates.

• Ask if they have a "Gold" or "Platinum" plan that enables you a first look at prime candidates.

• Ask if you are getting another competitors' "rejects" - people that didn't "work out" for them but are now being referred to your organization to see if they "work out"

Other employment strategies that can help you work around employment agencies...

• Become an employer of choice. Find out what your employees want out of their working relationship and provide it.

• Check out any free job posting information resources that are available online. Many states have postings of resumes online via a "Job Service". Believe it or not.... Many staffing agencies tap these free resources in their quest for good talent. Why "play the lottery" with already slim pickings via a staffing agency when you can tap these listings for free already?

• Use Job Benchmarking to understand what exactly is needed in the position to ensure you are hiring the right person in the first place. A poor hire decision will cost you in terms of employee retention, morale and productivity.

• Use a Personality Profile to identify the proper behaviours, values, and personal attributes of the candidate match this information to the job benchmark. Again.... The single biggest challenge we see to employee retention, morale, and productivity is a poor hiring decision.

• Birds of a feather flock together. This strategy can work wonders but can also backfire dramatically. Your best team members probably have friends or acquaintances that are similar to them in behaviours and values. Encourage them to share the names of those they feel would make a good contribution. Where this can backfire is if they refer people who don't work out. This puts you in an extremely awkward position. What to do? Use a powerful personality profile like ours to compare the candidate's behaviours, values, and personal attributes to the job benchmark. By doing so, you dramatically reduce the risk of making a poor hiring decision you will regret later.

The labour market is getting thinner and it won't get better any time soon. The ultimate employee selection and retention strategy is you need to take control of your hiring strategy. By job benchmarking and using our powerful personality profile instrument, you will be able to not only improve your employee selection, but also reduce your turnover by minimizing your poor hiring decisions. This strategy will be much more effective than using an employment recruiting agency that doesn't have your hiring needs as their sole focus.

Your bottom line requires this focus anyways.... The more effective your employee selection strategy, the more of the following benefits you will experience....

- Improved Productivity
- Increased Employee Morale
- Increased Employee Retention
- Improved Customer Satisfaction

- DeTimes

As the demands placed upon leaders increase, so does the level of stress. Researchers agree that a certain amount of stress is necessary to maintain vitality and a zest for life. However, too much stress can cause health problems, impair performance and curtail your creativity. It is important to step back and take stock of the stressors in your life and reevaluate how you might tackle them. It is the intent of this article to broaden your awareness of commonly shared work place stressors and ways to better diagnose your particular needs. Some interesting surveys recently were conducted. They sought out to find if particular issues or people were causing the most stress for leaders at work. Here is what they found:

Causes- the “What”

The number 1 cause of stress, according to the leaders surveyed, is trying to do more with fewer resources and do it faster.

Other stress-contributing factors included;
• Developing people
• Managing limited resources
• Physical demands from travel, working hours and the work environment
• Motivating employees and providing feedback
• Making decisions
• Increased job responsibilities

Interestingly, interpersonal demands of leadership such as establishing and maintaining relationships were also cited as somewhat stressful. Managing difficult interpersonal issues such as difficult personalities, political maneuvering or conflict… not surprisingly, contributed highly as well.

Causes-the “Who”

The research also sought to uncover if there was a particular person(s) within all working relationships that was the primary stressor? I.e. is the boss usually the cause of stress?

Their results showed that there was no one group to “blame”. That is, leaders reported experiencing stress equally from their bosses, peers, direct reports, and customers. However, while no one group caused more stress than any other group, the reasons for the stress differed.

Stress from the boss usually tended to emerge when people felt a lack of support or respect. Management style differences were also cited as a key factor for provoking stress. From peers, being overly competitive and demonstrating no inclination toward teamwork were the primary sources of stress. From direct reports, poor performance was the primary stress factor, and from customers, experiencing unreasonable demands or unreasonable expectations.

How Can I Become Better at Managing my Stress?

Probably, a good place to start would be to assess your current level of stress, more methodically and objectively. Responses to stress are very unique to the individual, and complex. We “feel” stress, but often do not have a good handle on our current stress managing “strengths” and stress-managing weaknesses or “vulnerabilities”. I.e. “my needs, my temperament, my way of looking at the world”. There are several good assessment tools available that can really help people really figure out all the factors involved, and target specific steps to remedy them.

"Stress is not what happens to us. It's our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose."

What Would Such an Assessment Uncover?

• A closer examination of your current environment, discerning the unique changes, pressures and satisfactions that are a part of your everyday world. An opportunity to see the whole of professional and personal issues and how they manifest as stress.

• Your current coping responses and their effectiveness.

• Insights into your current proficiency with basic skills that really help you manage under stressful situations. Skills such as; how to seek support, becoming more adaptable or learning how to manage your time more effectively.

• More discoveries into your inner world of thoughts and feelings. Behaviours such as having a positive outlook, connecting to others, expression and compassion are huge components in successful stress management.

What then?

When you uncover the full range of factors, more intelligent choices can be made for improving. Some examples;

• Basic time management techniques can be easily learned, but an unattended behaviour of procrastination or avoidance will thwart any time management technique.

• Or, consider the person who has long forgotten how to give feedback, or receive feedback in a positive way. Rediscovering the importance of expressing yourself can be most effective when coupled with proper feedback techniques.

• Knowing how and when to seek support and confide in others is hugely important in managing stress, but happens only when people trust. Exploring your current trust “radius” may provide you with more information.

An honest assessment of cause and effect will put you in a place to choose more authentically, where and who you want to be.

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

- DeTimes

Lose your credibility and you lose your career. Credibility is the most important predictor of an HR professional’s effectiveness, says HR Competency Study 2007.

The study looked at the most important roles served by HR people, including change steward, talent manager, strategy architect, operational executor, business ally and credible activist. What’s No. 1? Credible activist.

"HR professionals who are credible but not activists are admired, but do not have much impact. Those who are activists, but not credible, may have ideas but will not be listened to,” the study concludes.

Here are eight key ways to diminish or destroy your credibility:

1. Align yourself too closely with one person or group. For example, having lunch with the same manager every day can generate distrust.

2. Answer questions without the facts. It plays into preconceived notions about HR’s lack of business acumen. It’s better to say “Let me get back to you on that” than to fake it.

3. Make decisions based on others’ emotions. Say a manager and his boss are angry over an employee’s behaviour and demand immediate discipline. “It can be a mistake to let their emotions influence your action.” Instead, investigate thoroughly and be fair, or you lose credibility with staff.

4. Remain silent at critical times. “HR should be active participants, speak out when you have opinions and don’t be a silent note taker at meetings with managers and executives.”

5. Fail to initiate any big-picture HR projects. Don’t be afraid to take calculated risks that can impress management, such as projects that directly benefit the bottom line.

6. Show a lack of business knowledge. If the financial side isn’t your strong suit, take a course so you can discuss balance sheets and budgets.

7. Show a lack of legal knowledge. Your boss—not to mention a jury—will expect you to know employment laws inside and out.

8. Share confidential and personal information. “It’s one of the fastest ways you can lose credibility."

To avoid tripping over your tongue ...

1. Never overreact. When something upsets you, don’t rush to exclaim, “That’s crazy!” You insult others or lead them to doubt your maturity.

2. Be discreet. Stop yourself before you reveal someone’s personal info or discuss delicate information. Before talking about people behind their backs, imagine they are present. Say only what you would to their faces.

3. Don’t speculate. If asked for your opinion, prepare to back it up with evidence. Don’t say more than you know.

- DeTimes

One of the most pressing challenges facing today’s executives is keeping their best people. In today’s knowledge and service based economy, companies differentiate themselves by their talent—the people with specialized skills and knowledge who walk through their doors every morning, and walk out every night. Given that new products and innovative strategies can be quickly copied by competitors, an organization’s only source of sustainable competitive advantage is its human capital.

Many factors are making employee retention more important than ever. For instance, much is being written about the “graying of the workforce”, with many Baby Boomers now entering their sixties and thinking about possible career transitions. The generation following on the Boomers’ heels is widely acknowledged to be both smaller in size and often less skilled. Given the increasing technological complexity of most jobs, and the importance of specialized skills and deep industry knowledge, this “skills gap” is expected to widen in the future.

A New Psychological Contract

These demographic and industry-based issues are exacerbated by a significant, overarching factor: a fundamental change in the relationship between employers and employees, what organizational psychologists often refer to as the “psychological contract.” Professionals across generations understand that in today’s ultra-competitive and global business environment, employees have many choices. Though companies still value loyalty, individual performance is where the “rubber meets the road”—and even top performers are subject to unexpected layoffs. The resultant shift in the “psychological contract” affects a change in workers’ emotions, expectations and attitudes surrounding the world of work, especially among younger generations, that makes it all the harder for companies to hold onto their best talent. So what can companies do to retain their key people?

1. Hire the Right People in the First Place

It sounds obvious, but in reality, many companies neglect this crucial first step. One way to cut turnover is to hire the right people the first time around. Start with a thorough and realistic analysis of what the different roles in your organization truly require with regard to knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s). After completing the job analysis, rigorously assess your prospective employees to find out whether the job, team and corporate culture you are offering are likely to meet their needs and tap into their strengths.

2. Focus on the Individual
Recent research in the area of transformational leadership indicates that effective leaders provide their employees with “individualized consideration”, eschewing a “one-size-fits-all” approach to employee motivation and instead providing each employee with unique guidance. Schedule frequent check-ins with each employee, keep the lines of communication open, give plenty of personal feedback, and make sure that their original positions are still energizing them. Behavioural assessments that yield insights into an employee’s natural strengths, needs and drives can be very valuable tools. For example, if your top sales rep highly values autonomy and independence, can you reduce the number of times per month that she needs to meet with her sales manager? Top performers are less likely to flee if they feel that they are truly valued as individuals.

3. Work the Data
Get into the habit of reviewing turnover rates on a quarterly basis. If the numbers are high or creeping up, dig deeper, putting to use all of the data that modern organizations typically track. Examine both “internal” and “external” drivers of turnover. Internal drivers refer to characteristics of employees themselves, such as their personality, intelligence, educational background, experience, job performance and promotion history. External drivers refer to conditions that reside outside of the person, such as the job market in a given city or the quality of one’s immediate manager. Mining your company’s data may reveal that what you thought was driving turnover actually isn’t—and that you can quickly intervene in “high-leverage” areas, often without significant financial expenditures.
A new relationship between employers and employees requires a different approach to employee retention. Bring in individuals who will thrive in the environment you offer, check in with them often, work with them individually, and use targeted metrics regularly to evaluate your success.

- DeTimes

Say a long-time VP leaves your organization without warning. Suddenly, everyone is abuzz. Why him? Why now? What does this mean for me?

Unexpected and unexplained events can spark rumours among employees. If ignored by HR and the management team, rumours can take on a life of their own, hurting productivity and morale. It's natural for employees to assume the worst. But there's an art to dealing with rumours and it involves timing: You must know when to act and when not to.

The solution: Don't worry about a single rumour that occurs in isolation and dies in a few hours or days. But do pay attention to rumour patterns that begin to emerge. They may signal a deeper problem than the subject of the rumour, and they may be worth discussing with the top dogs.

Pay attention to signals

No cookie-cutter solutions exist for dispelling rumours. The only rule: Do it fast. The longer rumours are allowed to circulate, the more damaging they become. Here are the four tips:

1. Take note of subtle changes in the atmosphere. When your usually bustling workplace becomes quiet and conversations halt when you walk into a room, beware. Dispel the mystery by asking employees directly "What's going on?" Listen and respond.

2. Announce upcoming changes, whenever possible. Unexplained surprises breed rumours. Whenever possible, keep employees informed of changes that could affect them. If you can't tell employees ahead of time, expect rumours to spread and ready yourself to manage them. Stay particularly alert in situations that breed uncertainty, but be equally candid about the type of information you can (and will) share. Refuse to indulge in the rumour.

3. Head off rumours at the pass. Establish a reputation for having an open and above-board style. If employees believe you'll be straight with them, they'll be more likely to come to you for answers and less likely to indulge in speculation. Couple that with an open door that is truly open, and you'll avoid 99 percent of the problems. If a big rumour brings work to a standstill, consider a meeting or a memo to bring everyone up to speed or to quash the rumour.

Example: If you know the organization isn't about to be sold but that's all anyone is talking about, bring employees together (maybe during an already-planned training event), so they all hear the same thing at the same time.

4. Tap into the grapevine. Make sure you're never the last to know. Fine-tune your "radar" and question employees if you suspect that rumours might be developing. Rumours grow when information is scarce. If employees know they can trust you to keep them informed, they'll have no need to invent answers themselves.

- DeTimes

Career contentment is a state of mind that enables employees to enjoy their work without complaining. True contentment comes from within; it does not come from perks, programs, and pay the employer provides.

An employee who is in the wrong job or lacks meaningful work will leave, no matter how hard HR tries to keep him or her satisfied. But an employee who is content in the right job is more likely to stay, even if he or she is not entirely satisfied with pay, working conditions, benefits, and other "things" that are out of his or her control. This means career contentment is potentially less expensive yet far more valuable to employers than job satisfaction.

If employers would like to improve employee retention and performance, and reduce job dissatisfaction complaints, they would be wise to train employees how to recognize their own career contentment. Here are six ways to do it:

1. Support them from the start. Have a well-developed orientation program for new hires, and give them the resources they need or information on how to get them so they can thrive in their new environment.

2. Make sure the employee and job are a good fit. Are the competencies and expectations associated with this employee's job realistic or sufficiently challenging in relation to his abilities and interests? If not, this employee will complain, under-perform, or leave.

3. Know your employee's career vision. Does the employee have a clear vision of what her future at your company holds for her? Do you have a plan in place regarding where you'd like this employee to go? Do her plans and yours mesh? Discussing her future will help you and the employee identify her role, expectations, assets, limitations, and possible obstacles.

4. Support them in their development. Let employees know that development is ultimately their responsibility, but you will enable the process. Ask the employee if he feels he receives the right training to suit his needs when he needs it. Make training and resources from professional and trade associations abundantly available to employees who seek them.

5. Give them the resources they need. Do you invest in an employees' jobs when they're involved in special projects? Make sure employees have enough funding and resources, up-to-date equipment, and adequate staff to encourage good performance. The rest is up to them.

6. Remind them that career contentment is their job, not yours. It's not HR's job to make employees happy. Employees have the choice to be happy, roll with the punches, view challenges as opportunities, and take initiative to find fulfillment. It's their responsibility--not HR's--for how much they're learning, thriving, and progressing in the job. Let them know that you support and will help them accomplish these goals. Employees who really understand that career contentment comes from within will thank you for freeing them from the relentless pursuit of job satisfactions over which they have no control.

- DeTimes

Explanation: That is, how a CTC can be bifurcated so as to keep a particular amount linked to performance and credited variably in accordance with the same.

The process of performance based pay involves:

- Deciding and clearly defining the performance goals and the performance measures
- Setting the target bonus for different levels of performances
- Measuring the performance of the employee
- Giving rewards and bonus according to performance
- Most important is to communicate the policy clearly & accurately

Organizations are also designing variable compensation plans for various roles and positions in the organization.

Types of Performance Pay

Merit pay – The first step to performance pay, merit pay means setting some basic salary according to the position and the rank of the employee and the variable part of the salary is based on the periodic performance reviews.

Profit Sharing – Sharing the profits of the enterprise with the employees as bonus.
Incentives and Performance Bonus – Rewards for special accomplishments or fulfillment of the targets set such as sales commission.

Gain sharing - Sharing of gains as a result of the increased performance of the employees with them.

Although performance related pay has always been a topic of discussions and controversies with many arguments against it, but it has also been proved that performance based pay motivates employees to perform better and earn, and encourages learning, innovation, creativity, problem solving and empowerment which can be facilitated through proper performance measurement and reviews.

The general parameters for the measurement of employees’ performance in a BPO setup are:
Speed i.e. process performance,

-Accuracy and
- Productivity of each process,

Although the measuring parameters are different for employees at different level, but the general classification of the above mentioned parameters is as follows:

- Average Call Value (the sales made or the revenue collected etc.)
- Time and cost per call
- Average Handling Time (talk time and after call wrap up)
- Adherence to Schedule (availability to take calls etc.)
- Percentage of abandoned calls
- Discipline
- Attendance

Rank and Yank Strategy:
Also known as the “Up or out policy”, the rank and yank strategy refers to the performance appraisal model in which best-to-worst ranking methods are used to identify and separate the poor performers from the good performers. Then the action plans and the improvement opportunities of the poor performers are discussed and they are given to improve their performance in a given time period, after which the appropriate HR decisions can be made.

Well these are certain points that can be used for designing a performance pay strategy.
However, it is critical to effectively communicate the same right to the bottom. If that is done well, there will be less amount of obstacles in the journey of rolling out the same. Success is based on how it is implemented.

Inaccurate review ---> Salary Increase ----> Demotivation
Accurate review -----> No Salary Increase -----> Demotivation
Accurate Review -----> Salary Increase -----> MOTIVATION

I think it is important to have a component added to the current fixed package structure because any move to break the current fixed package structure will demotivate people. There should be gradual move towards fixed & variable components.

Increase the %age of variable/performance linked pay over the next couple of cycles and until you reach your fixed vs variable target %ages because salary payout budget needs to controlled for each cycle.

The components that you can put into the Variable pay - %age share of profit/Revenues at 1) Company level 2) Account level revenues and then 3) Individual level .The individual level depends on the individuals’ performance on the job and his /her achievement of the overall targets set for the individual ( obviously the targets vary depending on the individuals),ensure that all the targets get collectively rolled into a index number and this index number helps deciding %age payout for the individuals performance.

This must be kept in mind. So apart from a well designed strategy, effectively communicating and honestly implementing the same are extremely critical for success.

- DeTimes