Talent Management - November 2008 - (Page 40)

insight by Kellye Whitney Employee Empowerment Is Priceless at Dollar Tree At a time when large, well-known global organizations are logging record losses, Dollar Tree Stores Inc. reported an earnings increase in August of more than 27 percent over the same period in 2007 . Second-quarter operating margin also increased. Using a talent strategy that emphasizes associate on-boarding and performance management Dollar Tree , has found its success unaffected by the current turbulent economic conditions. The ﬁrst Dollar Tree store opened in Dalton, Ga., in 1986, and by the end of its ﬁrst year there were ﬁve stores open. Growth, whether organic or by acquisition has long been a part of the retailer’s business model. And more than 20 years later, the chain has grown to more than 3,500 stores in 48 states. The company’s work environment is very customeroriented. The variety chain operates at a low price point and must empower its associates in order to operate proﬁtably. Associate empowerment doesn’t require a complicated talent strategy, only an efﬁcient one that emphasizes the store’s values for some 40,000 associates. Suzan Kaufman, vice president of organizational development at Dollar Tree Stores Inc., said a streamlined talent management strategy with values and rewards at the core has helped promote success. Over the last four years we embarked on a formalization, or a re-engineered approach to talent management. The ﬁrst thing we did was get everyone in the organization on a performance management cycle. I actually have three different audiences: I have my audience here at our corporate headquarters, the store support center, the SSC, and about 700 people here at the store-support center. Then I have nine distribution centers across the United States, so I have a DC audience. Then I have my ﬁeld organization, which includes all 3,500-plus stores, the associates that run them and the leadership that runs our ﬁeld operation. Each audience has slightly different needs and processes around talent management, but all of those audiences are on their own performance appraisal cycle, and that’s been a big help for us getting everybody on the same page. Second, we’ve automated our talent management approach. We work with Softscape. We’ve automated our performance appraisal system, our goals, our succession planning. The third piece just coming into fruition is we’ve established an assessment process to screen talent before we hire them and an assessment process for internal high-potential candidates. Kaufman: We break it down functionally. We look at recruiting and then selection, followed by training and on-boarding. Then we address development and ﬁnally performance and rewards. We ﬁnd that having a structured approach to talent management gives us a path to follow, but it also demystiﬁes what talent management is for our 40,000 associates. TM: Kaufman: What is Dollar Tree’s approach to talent management? TM: What processes or programs have you established to improve workforce performance? TM: Kaufman: How is that re-engineering working out? Five years ago everybody got performance reviews on their anniversary date, and we didn’t have any way to look at our rewards, performance, compen- 40 November 2008 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

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

Talent Management - November 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Recruitment & Retention Assessment & Evaluation Compensation & Benefits Performance Management Learning & Development Succession Planning Insight Dashboard Application Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - November 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.