Talent Management - September 2008 - (Page 48)

Through our performance management efforts. We have key objectives that we identify up-front, communicate to employees, reach agreement on how those things are going to be measured at the end of performance cycle, and we track that all along the year. At the end of the year, and along the way, we can see how employees are doing against those performance metrics. We also track the attainment of the competencies I mentioned, as well as do some gap analysis so we can see where employees need development. We have an employee skills database, so we’re tracking speciﬁc skills so we can not only do gap analysis, but when we have certain needs we can do searches to see who has those particular skill sets and align those resources for speciﬁc projects or to a customer visit. Mann: ees feel about those programs. That’s an area, as is the compensation piece, where we continue to get a very positive response. People feel they are rewarded fairly here at SAS. We use a total rewards philosophy. Compensation is one piece, but we look at the full package. I mentioned some of the work-life programs and convenience beneﬁts, but our core beneﬁts — medical beneﬁts, proﬁt sharing — those are very competitive for our industry. We look on a regular basis to make sure we are offering programs that really put us ahead. What about succession planning at SAS? You talked a little about the aging workforce. Is that a concern? TM: It is. It’s probably one of the biggest focus areas for human resources over the next couple of years. We are just starting to roll out more formalized programs where we talk about not just our high-performing employees but our high potentials because there is a difference. Often people think how people perform in their current role is indicative of what they can do in another role. It’s true, but you have to look at it different. How do you identify high potentials? What do we do once we identify them? What kind of exposure can we give them in projects, – Jenn Mann, Human Resources Manager, SAS helping them to solve business problems, and what kind of development programs should we consider for those individuals? monitor who we’re in threat of losing. As far as recruit- We don’t have a formal program now, but we’re hopment, we track a lot of the same things other organi- ing to pilot one in 2008 and stress the importance of zations are tracking: time to ﬁll, cost to ﬁll, quality of general learning and development in succession planhire. We track key pieces of information like where are ning and growing our talent. We hired — via internal we getting our employees, how long it’s taking, how promotion — a person to help us do that. long they’re staying, to really measure the effectiveness of our recruitment efforts. What’s next for SAS in terms of talent SAS has predictive modeling capabilities. We can leverage that by looking at turnover from the past to see what is likely to happen in the future, so we can always Mann: “All of our programs are linked. It isn’t just to improve workforce performance. It’s also how we hire, train, develop and reward people.” TM: What compensation and incentive practices do you employ at SAS to help manage talent? management and workforce performance development? Succession planning, without a doubt. Also, all of our initiatives have a more global focus. We are continuing to grow the SAS employment brand, so we’re starting to look at programs where we can extend our employment brand in other parts of the world where we are continuing to grow. Globalization of our programs is going to be a strong focus for us, as well. And we’re paying close attention to our aging workforce and those we’re in danger of losing, and we’re formalizing mentoring and real knowledge management type programs where we can start transferring the knowledge of these individuals to others in the organization. TM: Looking at turnover is a big piece in determining whether employees are really satisﬁed. If you look at why people are fully engaged and performing above what is required there are several factors. Rewards and recognition are certainly a piece of it, as is how they feel about their manager and leadership, the company’s reputation, work-life programs and whether they’re getting performance feedback and development opportunities. September 2008 Mann: Mann: We do an employee engagement survey every 24 months, so we keep a close monitor on how employ- 48 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - September 2008

Talent Management - September 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance: Stop Wasting Money on Training Leading Edge: No Whining, No Excuses Learning Connections: Do You Get It? The Untapped Resource Reinventing HR Doing Compensation Right: The Winning Spread Managing Performance in the Knowledge and Innovation Worker Age Stop-The-Clock Time Management Preparing for the Future in the Public Sector SAS: Connecting People, Process and Products Talent Transformation at Textron The Price of Finding the Right Gen Y Candidate Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Do What You Love, Love What You Do

Talent Management - September 2008

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