David's Employee Performance and Talent Management Blog

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September 2007

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September 28, 2007 8:43 AM

User Conference Wrap Up

HR's Strategic Voice Gets Stronger

This year's user conference was a resounding success, with nearly 200 customers in attendance from around the world. A big thank you to each of you who made the trip to Ottawa.

Having that many customers in one place was a true testament to the company's growing popularity.

Coming out of the conference are a few things I wanted to share that we heard time and time again from customers:

• That more executives are "getting it" and see the value of giving HR a seat at the table.
• There's an undeniable link between retaining top performers and talent management.
• How Halogen's offering provides incredible value and enables companies to meet their growing needs.

The conference does so much more than provide customers with practical intelligence and strategies to take HR to the next level. It gives all of us at Halogen the opportunity to listen to our customers. The feedback we received at this year's conference will only help make our offering stronger, the value of which is something that can't be measured.

In going through evaluations, one quote has quickly become my favorite, because it sums up why we do the event in the first place:

"This has been a remarkable experience - unequaled by anything else I've attended in my 10-year career. I appreciate Halogen's attention to detail and their efforts putting together such a well-rounded, practical and motivational conference."

Here's to a bigger and better user conference in 2008!

PermaLink | Trackbacks(0) | Add/View Comments(0) Posted by David

September 26, 2007 10:27 AM

Making a Success of Pay-for-Performance

The missing link between organizational and personal goals

The knowHR blog has a great post on why pay-for-performance programs fail. Some of the reasons include a lack of true performance differentiation, and weak manager feedback. The blog correctly states, "If everyone's performance is the same, then just pay them all the same and don't waste your time with all that planning and agonizing."

But we know that in most organizations top performers should be incented by pay merits - it benefits the bottom line in many ways. However, something that we see often is a missing link between organizational goals and personal goals - which is really what should drive a PFP program. If companies are really going to do PFP they need to get executives to communicate it across all employees, and give rewards that actually match personal contributions. The program must detail exactly what is expected of the employees and how these expectations can be reached.

We've said it before but it bears repeating: A good employee performance and talent management system should be able to set this up. You should be able to manage your system so that organizational goals are clearly communicated to employees and are aligned with individual goals. This increases employee investment in the PFP program because employees see how their individual achievements benefit the organization.

Behavioral and job related competency management should also be tied to organizational strategies so that each employee is not only rated on their performance but sees how they contribute to the organization. It also gives employees a clear understanding of what is expected of them. If the employees are improving the skills and competencies they need to help their organization succeed - and assessments are validating they not only "took the course and passed" but they've applied it to meet corporate objectives - this should be recognized This understanding builds a sense of purpose in the workforce and strengthens employee support for the PFP system.

http://www.knowhr.com/blog/2007/08/20/five-reasons-pay-for-performance-fails/

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September 24, 2007 10:08 AM

Best Practices for High Impact Talent Management

Bersin & Associate Report

Industry friend Bersin & Associates recently published a report on best practices for high impact talent management. The report covers 22 talent management processes that drive the highest levels of business impact.

This research program studied more than 760 organizations business, talent, and HR processes and includes in-depth analysis of 62 best-practice processes, in eight functional areas:

• Workforce planning
• Performance management
• Competency management 
• Leadership development 
• Succession planning 
• Learning and development 
• Compensation management  
• Talent Management software systems.

We weren't surprised at all to see that some of the top indicators were related to succession planning (accurately identifying current and future talent gaps), goal alignment (cascading personal goals to manager or corporate goals), and developmental planning (creating developmental plans that cross the organization.)

Stay tuned for more thoughts on best practices in succession planning, goal alignment and developmental planning. Until then, give some thought to what your organization is doing well - and needs to work on - in these three areas.

http://www.bersin.com/research/hitm_top22.asp

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September 18, 2007 9:50 AM

SaaS: An Industry in Flux

Companies are changing approaches, options

The Human Capitalist is weighing in on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Jason Corsello highlights the opinions of fellow blogger Phil Wainewright, who asserts that although SaaS has largely become a preferred delivery model, it's not the only one that works, and often is predicated in unfounded fear from vendors. As Corsello points out, there are still many companies who prefer to run their applications themselves. The short story is that this is a market in flux and companies are changing their approaches and their opinions quickly.

This brings us back to the idea of choice. What's to say that an employee performance and talent management vendor can't provide a software solution that is not on-demand or on-premise, but truly on-choice? Meaning, they can host it for you if you want, and when you're ready or wanting to bring it in-house you can change to that format quickly and easily? Or vice versa?

The important thing to remember, regardless of the model that you choose, is that your vendor should be flexible, open, and willing to work with the needs you have today and grow with you as your company does - not make you apologize for being on the move.

http://humancapitalist.com/?p=458

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September 14, 2007 9:55 AM

Taking HR Software Usability and Flexibility to the Next Level

Introducing Version 8.1

Everyday we hear from prospects and customers about how important it is to their organizations that the software they use is flexible, intuitive and profoundly easy to use. Last week, we launched Halogen Employee Performance and Talent Management Suite 8.1 in response to this ever growing need in the market.

If HR can't effectively implement, roll-out and then control their new systems, they are settling for second best. And second best doesn't enable anyone to meet strategic objectives or drive business results.

The key to the Halogen vision is to deliver enterprise-level functionality that is easy to use and affordable for all organizations. We have learnt that you can't equate the size of a company with the features they may need. Companies should not be forced to buy a 'starter edition' with limited features just because of their size and then pay hefty upgrade or implementation costs down the road. Everyone should get the same top of the line product - and be given the flexibility to implement what is best for the company when the time is right. Simply, Instantly, And at no additional cost. As our customer, PKF Texas pointed out, "what we liked most was there is no need to move up to another product edition... everything we need is there and it can be configured without any vendor or IT assistance."

HR shouldn't settle for anything less than a solution that will meet today's and tomorrow's needs without extra complexity or upgrades. Anything else is second best.

For more on this new suite, visit:
http://www.halogensoftware.com/news-events/news09050701.php

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September 12, 2007 6:28 AM

User Conference - Sneak Preview

What’s in store for next week’s conference

Less than one week to go until our second annual user conference is held in Ottawa! This year's conference has a lot in store, with a focus on enabling customers to drive more strategic initiatives.

The first day of the conference, Monday September 17, kicks off with a keynote from internationally recognized authority on attracting, selecting, and retaining employees, Mel Kleiman. He has an exciting session in store You are the Future! - But You Have to Create It, which will talk about how HR has to take the lead recruiting and managing the talent pipeline.

From there, a number of customers will lead sessions on best practices for taking HR to the next level and getting more from your employee performance and talent management solution including:

• How to increase your strategic voice and gain greater credibility with executives;
• How to support core values with dashboards;
• Pushing the e360 envelope; and
• Aligning generational values with organizational and individual goals.

We have a busy two days planned, with lots of opportunities for fun and networking, including an evening outing for cocktails, dinner and dancing at the Museum of Civilization. Last year's social outing was extremely popular with lots of laughs and disco moves on the dance floor (you know who you are).

We are looking forward to a great conference and seeing you there. If you aren't registered yet, you still have time!

Check out the conference details at:
http://www.halogensoftware.com/news-events/user-conference/

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June 30, 2008 8:15 AM

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June 26, 2008 9:15 AM

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June 23, 2008 5:15 AM

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