Workstream Inc

How to Generate a Positive Return on Talent

We’ve all heard of return on investment.  Well, how about return on talent?

Far more than the HR marketing term du jour, return on talent is a very real and important concept that impacts businesses of all shapes and sizes, particularly those in the mid-market.

Return on talent speaks to the critical need companies have to retain and develop their best people.  Unlike anything else, top-notch talent is an asset whose value increases over time, as employees contribute to new and different parts of the organization.  Therefore, the longer that top employees remain with a company, the better it is for that business, and the greater is that company’s return on talent.     

Generating a positive return on talent requires a focus on the issues that influence employee satisfaction, and a review of the business processes that enhance satisfaction.  For example, employees who understand clearly what is expected of them, how they fit within the company, and how they are intended to develop and thrive over time, are more likely to be content in their jobs.  A common concern is that the best employees are the first to leave when they realize a growth path has not been thoughtfully outlined for them.   

Avoiding this problem requires a change in the processes companies are using to ensure employee satisfaction.  Too often, businesses are reactive rather than proactive when it comes to addressing employee career needs.  Only when an employee gives notice does the company make an effort to address issues like compensation, performance and growth.  By then, the employee already has one foot out of the door.

Frequently, though not always, the same companies still are using spreadsheets and other manual tools to track and manage employee development and performance, as availability and awareness of alternative methods was limited.  Until recently, technology solutions that automate key talent management processes have been available only to the largest companies, due to their high price points and complexity, leaving mid-market firms mostly out in the cold. 

That all is changing with the availability of Workstream Professional solutions, the first fully integrated on-demand talent management suite for mid-sized businesses.  Companies targeting an immediate return on talent will be delighted to find that Workstream solutions are easy to use, fast to deploy, and spreadsheet-free.  Included in the suite are solutions that automate recruiting, performance, compensation and development, in a manner that is consistent and auditable.

Much like return on investment, measuring return on talent is easier when business processes have been automated and integrated.  Implementing a talent management suite from a single vendor rather than multiple niche providers will enable companies to improve employee retention rates, drive higher levels of productivity, and generally execute better.  These are the metrics mid-market companies, with limited room for error when choosing technology solutions, should be asking vendors about. 

The net-net is that talent is scarce and the ability to keep it is mission-critical to a company’s success.  But knowing that is only half the battle; establishing the optimum return on talent demands that a company align employee objectives with those of the company, using the most advanced talent management solutions available.  When, and only when, this happens, will companies realize the return on talent benefits they need to grow.

~ Michael Gioja, CIO, Executive Vice President, Products and Services

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Get Professional!

What a week! In case you missed it, Workstream on Monday launched Workstream Professional - the first fully integrated talent management suite designed specifically for midsized businesses.

As expected, the news was incredibly well received. One company that contacted us within hours of the launch commented, "It's about time someone stepped up to help the mid-market!"

That companies are passionate about this issue is not a surprise. The emotional response underscores the critical need mid-market companies have to hire and develop the best people, and the challenge of doing so when premium technology is too expensive and too complicated.

Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm focused on enterprise talent management and learning, put it best when he said:

"In order to compete, mid-sized businesses must focus on and refine critical talent processes. When implementing software systems to automate these processes, solutions must be easy to use, quick to deploy, and competitively priced."

Bersin goes on to say:

"Workstream offers a series of on-demand products that meet these needs - and also match the power and flexibility once available only through high-end applications. With the on-demand model, the benefits of automating compliance and HR-related processes is within the reach of companies of all sizes."

Indeed. The fundamental problem Workstream is solving is putting enterprise-class solutions in the hands of mid-market businesses, finally leveling the playing field for these companies. And the key mechanism for doing so is the on-demand business model, which enables mid-market firms to access these solutions at a fraction of the price they cost before.

Popular HR industry blog SystematicHR picks up on this point in his review of Workstream Professional:

"What makes this all work is the multi-tenant architecture that lets Workstream turn on a client in a few hours, and with minimal customization that you'd expect for smaller organizations, implementations can be had on the cheap. And because it's still a per employee per month (PEPM) pricing model, the fees are easily scalable for small companies. What's even better is that if an employer grows, they are on basically the exact platform they would be on later in their business cycle and they don't need to change to a more sophisticated platform."

And that is precisely the point. Mid-market businesses can finally rest easy, knowing they'll never have to throw away their talent management applications and learn something new. HR guru and talent management blogger, Frank Roche, gets it exactly right in his own Workstream product review this week:

"You're in HR Technology No Man's Land if you work in a small company. You can buy a performance management product from one company, a career planning module from another, and compensation planning from a third. But who has the time, or the money, to do that? Now, you don't have to."

Now that's a professional opinion!

~ Kevin Dobbs, SVP Marketing and Business Development, Workstream

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Mitigating Mid-Market Madness

The last few months at Workstream have been a whirlwind of activity, as the whole company has been gearing up for the launch of the new Workstream Professional series of on-demand Talent Management (TM) solutions designed specifically for mid-sized businesses with between 100 and 2,500 employees.

The best part about this process has been the opportunity it’s provided me and many other Workstream employees from engineering, sales and marketing to get out and speak directly with customers and prospects. Of course, this is something we do anyways as a natural course of business. But the conversations lately have been more valuable than usual, because we’ve had the chance to hear firsthand from mid-market companies about the critical need they have to automate and integrate key HR processes, and the dearth of one stop solutions available to them today.

There is a definite sense of frustration among mid-market companies, a massive group that has for far too long been underserved by the technology community. Like larger companies, these businesses have a dire need to eliminate manual processes; hire, develop and compensate their best employees properly; and remain compliant with federal employment regulations, among other things. But unlike large enterprises, mid-market companies have limited financial resources for technology systems, and far less room for error if a system doesn’t pan out as expected.

In the process of preparing for our launch, we heard from mid-market companies whose employee data was mainly on spreadsheets or in disparate applications, making it near impossible to run accurate reports and access information quickly. I spoke to one company that was using email and paper documents to manage hiring. The HR team was simply overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork and email trails they were tracking. Rather than focusing on finding and hiring the best job candidates, potential employees were slipping through the cracks.

On top of everything, the company felt horribly exposed as regards compliance with federal employment and financial regulations. Managing these issues is disproportionately difficult for mid-market companies. As their businesses grow, a lack of auditable, traceable processes presents a very real and serious danger to the entire organization.

We also heard that a large number of mid size companies have gone with niche vendors for recruiting and performance solutions and are looking for a one stop shop to meet their TM needs; a vendor who offers end-to-end integrated suite. They realize that they don’t have the time, money, and resources to manage multiple solutions hosted by different vendors; not to mention the quality of service issues dealing with different vendors. They are looking for a one stop shop and this is exactly what we provide.

It was also interesting to find out that most vendors have taken the approach to offer lower end functionality products to mid-size businesses. These businesses are not only complex but are also growing organically or through merger/acquisition therefore their needs are always changing. They are finding that their current solutions are so low end of functionality that they are unable to meet their evolving needs without upgrading to an enterprise version of the products with their existing vendors. This generally entails a major technology upgrade requiring substantial investment and risks and a lengthy implementation. Prospects told us that they are looking for a solution that can grow with them without the need for an upgrade. This convinced us to pre-package our current enterprise product and offer it to a mid-size customer providing quick and fixed price implementations, functionally rich products, and above all a solution which can grow with them as mid size customers’ needs change.

Listening to these customer stories convinced us that we are truly unique in our offering of an end-to-end integrated suite of talent management solutions and pre-packaging our existing enterprise solutions to deliver quick value to our mid size customers. This allows mid size companies to start from something which is out of the box and easily configure it to meet their evolving needs.

There were plenty of other interesting stories. From companies that failed to drive management initiatives through the organization because they lacked a system for measuring employees performance against key initiatives, to others that were losing their best people because no system was in place for clearly and concisely articulating employee development plans.

These stories and many more like them crystallized for me the need to deliver a suite of on-demand HR solutions for mid-market businesses. Which is why today, we are announcing Workstream Professional Talent Management suite that includes Recruitment, Performance and Development. These systems are unlike any in the market today. They are smart, easy to use, painless to deploy, seamless to integrate, intuitive for compliance, and spreadsheet-free. Mid-market companies can finally realize the same HR process automation benefits that larger companies have been experiencing for years. And the best part: we are offering these with a 30-day free trial, so you can test drive the solutions before making any commitments.

What salesforce.com has done for on-demand CRM, Workstream is doing for on-demand HR. And few would argue that the need to automate and integrate HR processes is critical to every organization, which is why the market for HR applications is among the fastest-growing of any software category. So, if you haven’t already, please take a minute to check out our new web site – www.workstreaminc.com/midmarket – and kick the tires on the new solutions. We think you’ll find that Workstream is uniquely capable of meeting your HR process automation needs.

~ Deepak Gupta, Workstream CEO