Dear John, (Dr. John Sullivan that is)

Jennifer and Steven I'll get your answers right away! Thanks for asking! :)

How do you see the role and function of recruiters and staffing agencies changing to adapt to social networking?” Case in point: Microsoft engages large number of ‘gamers’ to test and design our Xbox 360 games…. Young, independent, mobile workforce, frequently not attached to any agency or employer by choice, and mostly identified and engaged via networking among their community. I am a huge supporter of using mobile web and social media for recruiting. While job boards will continue to dominate the market for posting jobs, mobile web sites and social media tools will emerge as powerful sourcing channels in the coming years because they can service the 80% of the workforce that isn’t actively looking for a job. The best firms (including Microsoft) are realizing that social media can dramatically improve an organizations ability to find and influence top talent, regardless of how that talent may someday engage with the organization (employee, contractor, service provider, critic, etc.) Because top performers in every field have options, influencing them and building a relationship of trust can be labor intensive. Recruiters that try to be the social media front man for the organization often fail to deliver any significant result, simply because they alone cannot deliver an authentic experience in every possible situation with every possible candidate. The early adopters of social recruiting are instead harnessing the networks of their employees, corporate alumni, and strategic partners to help make sure that those interested in engaging with the organization can do so in a way that is meaningful to them. Some refer to this model as building a talent community, but no matter what you call it, it requires more coordination and management than one might believe to be successful. The act of building the infrastructure that enables employees and those outside the organization to engage with one another and making sure that there is enough content employees are self motivated to share through their networks that positions the organization as a desirable place to be is the emerging role for staffing professionals. The conversation shouldn’t be about a job, but rather about an environment of opportunity, one that over time candidates realize they want to play in. As the sourcing of top talent becomes a more distributed activity, organizations need a process that can help unite the flow of potential applicants, deliver a personalized experience, and eventually feed candidates into a formal recruiting process. The ideal candidate for that process is the employee referral program, which I think we can all agree most recruiters and staffing professionals could improve significantly with a little effort!

We have answers! In your experience, what are the three most important human capital metrics an organization should be keeping their eye on? Most human capital leaders make the mistake of overwhelming executives with metrics, the vast majority of which are tactical rather than strategic. In fact, most metrics communicated by HR leaders have little value outside of the function. Selecting metrics “on your own” can be a major mistake. I generally advise letting the target executive(s) select the metrics they feel will be the most relevant and inform management decisions. The best practice involves providing your audience with five to seven metrics you find most informative along with a brief explanation of the positive and the negative attributes of each. In some cases, it's also wise to also provide them with a list of the metrics commonly used by benchmark firms in your industry. Let your audience choose three to five and indicate on what cycle they would be most valued. If you think they chose wrong, ask management questions that could not be addressed by the metrics chosen, but could by a more powerful metric. I am big on evaluating the effectiveness of the workforce, so my three would be: 1. Workforce productivity – the single measure that provides the most convincing evidence on whether the HR function is producing impactful results is workforce productivity. The simplest productivity measure is the percentage improvement each year in revenue per employee (corporate revenue divided by the number of employees). A more complex but superior measure calculates the improvement in the ratio of dollars spent on labor (input costs) to dollars of revenue or profit (output value). 2. Manager rating of HR contribution – the second measure I recommend is more subjective. I ask business unit managers and executives to rate the impact of the human capital function with regards to its ability to help them achieve their business results (effectiveness, innovation, etc.) A 100 point rating scale used in a random sample survey that evaluates all overhead functions is the best way to go. Great HC functions improve their rating each year and are rated higher than other high-impact functions like supply chain, marketing and IT. 3. Varied “Hot Topic” – the last metric would be firm specific and focus on the most visible human capital issue facing the organization. If the firm were in growth mode, I would select a quality-of-hire (QoH) metric that measures improvement in the average on-the-job performance rating of new hires. If retention were the top issue, I would measure the improvement in turnover of top performers and individuals in mission critical positions. If limited growth was forecasted, I would focus on developing employees and measure manager satisfaction with development solutions. If cost-containment was an issue, I would measure the reduction in labor costs as a percentage of all corporate variable costs achieved through alternate labor solutions.

Do the whole co-employement issue is a fine line to walk. Any tips or advice about how to keep contingent and permanent employees simultaneously engaged without driving a rift?

Hi there from Cape Town, South Africa. Our business model requires many of our permanent employees to set-up office at our client's industrial sites, sometimes alone, sometimes with one or two other colleagues. The challenge is really to make them feel part of our business even though they are not in contact with "head office" culture on a day to day basis. We make use of an intranet to share news with them but not all of them have access to this due to client IT restrictions. Any suggestions on how to address this challenge?

Julia Braun, Group Procurement Manager, Microsoft, Global Procurement Group asks: How do you see the role and function of staffing agencies and recruiters changing to adapt to social networking?”. Case in point: Microsoft engages large number of ‘gamers’ to test and design our Xbox 360 games…. Young, independent, mobile workforce, frequently not attached to any agency or employer by choice, and mostly identified and engaged via networking among their community. Thoughts, Dr. Sullivan?

Our first question for Dr. Sullivan! Rob Condreay, SPHR, Manager Workforce Strategies asks: In your experience, what are the 3 most important human capital metrics an organization should be keeping their eye on?