Talent Management Google Style
One company that seems to excel at talent management is Google.
Liane Hornsey, Director, EMEA Human Resources and Staffing told a CIPD conference in London “We are 100% reliant on talent therefore we only want the best people. Google is very hard to get into. We get 1,000 applications for every vacancy, every candidate goes through at least four interviews to get a job.”
She explained that once Google gets the right candidate they make sure they keep them. “We make our people feel important. As soon as the contract is signed we send them a present, then before they join we take them out to lunch and on their first day balloons and a cake welcome them.”
Hornsey says newcomers, also known as Nooglers, are assigned a buddy, have weekly meetings to discuss issues and training needs and attend support groups. Once working for Google, employees spend only 70% of their time on core jobs, with 20% on improvement activity and 10% doing anything they want.
“Many organisations make a mistake with training, they think training is the same thing as development – no, it isn’t. Development is about giving people the time to learn” said Hornsey. “At Google, talent is not just about the top people, it is everyone, it’s about broad succession planning.”
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