Translating employee demands into business strategies

In order to be an attractive employer for Millennials, companies need to present themselves as innovative and progressive. While they don’t have to turn their offices into a playground for employees, they should consider some easy fixes that will make the workplace more attractive: a good way to motivate Gen-Y is to offer free perks that will allow for better work/life integration, such as gym memberships, food and drinks, and break-out areas around the office. However, the Millennial generation is looking for more than just fun at work

Download this dictionary of Millennials' demands to decode what they say, and what they really mean. 

Millenniopedia from Nakisa Inc.

Evolving your organization by aligning your talent’s strengths with your core strategic values

The 2008 market crash cast doubt in many leaders’ minds in regards to the future of their organizations and the possibility of sustained growth. It led to a retrenching of companies and their capital, both human and financial. Fortunately the economy is now undergoing a consistent recovery and businesses must shift from survival to evolution mode in order to ensure that they profit from current opportunities.

A host of factors make today’s business environment unique and, as has been the case in every era, those who understand the spirit of the age and capitalize on its possibilities possess an undeniable edge over competitors and are ensured maximal success. The distinctive trait of business today is the rapidly changing nature of the workforce: baby boomers are reaching retirement age and are steadily exiting the market, while Millennials are entering the market and bringing about new notions of what human capital is and what one expects from a career. Just like capitalizing on the “nuclear family” model fueled the post-World War II economic boom, the ability to effectively employ this new type of human capital while maintaining a balance with the existing talent will enable visionary leaders to super-charge the current economic upturn.

Millennials have particular expectations and skills which must be harnessed to serve an organization’s strategic goals, while their talent must be thoroughly managed to ensure that individual attributes don’t translate into organizational flaws. Moreover, this new type of talent is as mobile as it is global, creating an ever-evolving paradigm of competency and specialization patterns. For example, The Intelligence Group Study[1] found that 74% of Millennials prefer flexible work schedules and it is common knowledge that they possess outstanding skills and sensibilities regarding social media. These characteristics could either be strengths or weaknesses, depending on how they are aligned to strategic values.

For any organization, the key to successfully balancing human capital needs and business objectives is to have internal alignment between the people that make the organization work, and the stated objectives the organization has given to the internal and external stakeholders. Powerful tools can be utilized to match your talent with the strategies they best serve, and monitor performance in order to ensure alignment and enrichment of both the workforce and the organization’s bottom line.

Nakisa can help you streamline goal alignment and the performance appraisal process so that you can focus on developing your top talent and calibrating their efforts to support your company’s most important objectives. With Nakisa® Goals & Performance™ you can:

•       Cascade strategic goals across the organization using Nakisa ‘s configurable structures

•       Respond quickly and accordingly to changing market conditions by leveraging the on-going performance management model

•       Provide visualization and reporting tools for easy identification of where your organization is going and how it will get there using  the flexible charts and robust analytics

•       Make performance appraisals a joint and transparent activity with the employee by using Nakisa’s  collaboration tools such as discussions, feedback and ratings

To learn more about Nakisa® Goals & Performance™, don’t miss the upcoming Nakisa webinar on September 3, 2014 at 10:00am ET.

[1] Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robasghar/2014/01/13/what-millennials-want-in-the-workplace-and-why-you-should-start-giving-it-to-them/

HR: It’s time to redesign your performance management strategy! 8 strategies to make your workforce soar!

According to Bersin, “organizations that have employees revise or review their goals quarterly or more frequently are 45% more likely to have above-average financial performance and 64% more likely to be effective at holding costs at or below the level of competitors.”[1] If that statistic alone is not enough to persuade your management team that it’s time for a performance management strategy redesign, than here’s more.

Performance management comprises all activities that ensure business goals are met. Building a high-performance culture has become more challenging because of geographically dispersed teams, matrix structures, and changing workforce demographics. Nowadays, businesses need to be more strategic and forward-thinking if they want to build a top-performing workforce, engage employees, and compete with the biggest players in their industry.

The business world is changing, so performance management needs to change, too. Businesses need to move towards effective performance management including goal setting, managing, coaching, development planning, and recognizing, not only be successful, but also to survive.

Here are eight performance management initiatives you need to consider to make your workforce soar!

1. Abandon annual performance reviews

Agreed upon goals and progress should be easily accessible and visible throughout the entire work year. Sure, this process can be time-consuming, but with the help of the right technology solution, ongoing performance assessments can become a second nature.

2. Align cross-functional departments on strategic business goals

Managers need to develop departmental goals that align with the strategic goals and show employees how their individual goals link to both the departmental and company goals.

3. Provide consistent and meaningful feedback to improve employee engagement

With the help of a performance management system, managers can more easily and readily communicate business and departmental goals with their employees, directly contributing to employee engagement.

4. Improve goal communications between managers and employees

Having a structured process that includes setting and tracking goals, enabling coaching and measuring results helps managers and employees are more effective when done on a daily basis rather than annually.

5. Monitor goal progress, completion and alignment with access to KPIs and analytics

Reporting tools can help organizations achieve effective performance management by assisting the workforce in tracking the number of employees who have goals in place, the percentage of goals that are aligned to the corporate strategy, goal priority, and goal progress.

6. Use an integrated talent management platform

Although many organizations know that integrating talent management processes is necessary, it has always been difficult to achieve. Technology solutions today have made it much easier.

7. Use a flexible performance management system that is built to adapt to the entire workforce

Different leadership methods should be used depending on both an employee’s personality and the level of direction and support he or she needs on a given project. Having a history of this information could help managers be more effective when giving feedback.

8. Build a sustainable workforce: the balance between employee performance, potential and risk 

While effective performance management identifies how employees are performing in their active role, it does not consider if they are in their right role or if they are a flight risk. To make the right strategic decisions about your talent and build a sustainable workforce, performance, potential, and risk of loss should all play equal roles in the evaluation process.

Forward-thinking HR departments are putting their people first by building a workplace that uses the right combination of formal and informal performance management techniques to close the gaps between strategy and execution. Through the implementation of these key strategies, a clear performance management process can be adopted across the organization. The workforce will receive the support they need to improve skills and complete milestones in order to achieve their personal and professional goals. The end result will be more productive, engaged employees, and a more effective, high-performing organization that meets and exceeds business objectives.

Learn more about performance management and the solutions available at Nakisa to help support your goals & performance strategies. Download the whitepaper today or watch the webinar!

---

[1] Source: Bersin by Deloitte

A database is only as good as the data it contains. Have you finished spring cleaning your HCM data? Don’t fall behind!

A database is only as good as its data and if you haven’t started your spring cleaning, yet, there is no better time than now. Having clean data is extremely important to all HR activities and is often overlooked by business owners. Nevertheless, database management can be tedious, time-consuming and some might even call it boring.

HR data can be considered one of the most valuable business assets and should be kept up to date. With the surge of big data and today’s growing globalization, data changes occur more frequently than ever before and unless you keep on top of these changes, it will cost you. The Data Warehousing Institute, which provides research and business intelligence for the data warehousing industry, estimated that data quality problems cost U.S. businesses over US$600 billion a year. Evidently, the costs associated with bad data can seriously diminish the value of your database and make all your HR efforts futile.

Here are some tips for your data cleansing:

·         Start of by entering only clean data. If the data is right from the start, you will have a lot less work to do clearing it later.

·         If possible, hire someone dedicated solely to data management or have one person on the team be accountable for the data.

·         Ensure that employee data is updated as soon as you are aware of any changes.

·         Take the time needed to really clean your data.

·         Periodically audit your data for errors.

·         Get software to help manage data quality.

By comparing the costs (in terms of HR and business effort) or outsourcing data quality audits, organizations can see that an integrated, easy-to-deploy and easy-to-manage data quality system has a clear return on investment. A good data quality system will not only find errors, it will help you pinpoint where the problems are coming from. By maintaining audit histories and using analytics with slicing/dicing capability, a good data quality system can define where errors are coming from (region, business unit, and department) and can track issue metrics that provide details on where the root problems areas are. These could be errant data-entry forms or systems that allow for incorrect data, insufficient training in certain regions, or perhaps a new form, process, or report that is corrupting data.  An automated system can find these problems before they become crippling to your organization.

To increase their efficiency today and improve their planning for tomorrow, many organizations must rely on their HR data to make informed and accurate business decisions. Nakisa® OrgAudit™ provides a simple and smart way for your organization to take control of critical business data. The solution provides Managers, HR & Executives with a clear process and the tools they need to analyze, cleanse and monitor HR data for better business decision-making. Get more information by visiting our website.

Good luck with your spring cleaning! We look forward to hearing from you to book a demo!

Looking for more info on data quality, download the cheat sheet today! 

6 steps you can take to help streamline succession planning in your company

Businesses and HR processes need to be streamlined to improve talent management and to ensure consistency in succession planning across your company. It is also critical to understand that succession planning strategies must evolve as corporate strategy and development needs adjust to keep up with market changes. In order to identify key positions and talent that are critical to business continuity, a flexible succession planning strategy is fundamental.

Here are six steps you can take to help streamline succession planning in your company.

1.       Define what succession planning means to your company

Before an organization can strategically plan for succession, it must identify the long-term vision and direction of the company. Succession planning must be connected to the strategic business objectives and values of the organization.

2.       Identify key positions and analyze potential skill gaps

One of the best ways to begin talent planning is to pinpoint key positions across the organization and to determine the current supply and anticipated demand.

3.       Identify high potentials and talent pools

After identifying high potentials, key positions and roles that require specific skills, you need to identify high potential talent to secure as successors into these key positions in order to build a talent inventory.

4.       Analyze talent data and determine

With a clear understanding of high potential talent and key positions and responsibilities, management and HR can identify existing talent gaps that could impede delivery on corporate objectives. This analysis guides management in its efforts to fill the gaps between the existing talent pool and the employee base required to compete and drive revenue growth.

5.       Execute succession strategies

Equipped with relevant information about the state of the organization’s talent pool management and HR can implement succession planning initiatives to maximize individual workers’ value to the enterprise. After identifying a talented employee that could be named the successor for a key position, organizations can strategically build a career development plan for the individual in a way that moves their career forward.

6.       Measure and monitor succession plans and evaluate their effectiveness

Succession planning technologies make it possible to monitor global talent management strategies and determine talent needs. By implementing succession planning technologies, proactive HR departments are taking the necessary steps to ensure the continuity and flow of talent through-out the organization and achieve the long-term vision of their business.

Organizations that execute succession planning strategies benefit from:

·         Alignment of the availability of appropriate resources within the company with business strategy;

·         A single source of truth that provides visibility and synchronizes into the succession planning process across the organization;

·         Improved business results such as revenue growth, hiring/training cost reduction, productivity improvement and reduced downtime;

·         Competitive advantage of having a high-performing, well-qualified workforce and talent pipeline.

·         Continuity of company culture through talent retention.

Looking for succession planning software? Visit our website for more information on Nakisa SuccessionPlanning.

HR Industry Spotlight: Oil & Gas. Proactively prepare for change and build a sustainable talent pipeline

In an industry where competition for talent is high and attracting and retaining skilled workers is fundamental to business success, using an integrated organization and talent management solution is key. With the right processes and technology, you can reduce the risk and uncertainty of making critical enterprise and talent decisions by having accurate, real-time information at your finger-tips. Leveraging the simple user-interface and robust analytics, turn data into intelligence and gain confidence in the org and talent decisions you make for your enterprise.

Download this brochure to get all the information you need on Human Capital Management in the Oil & Gas Industry and the solutions available to help you proactively prepare for change and build a sustainable talent pipeline.

HR Industry Spotlight: Oil & Gas. Proactively prepare for change and build a sustainable talent pipeline. from Nakisa Inc.

A guide to unlocking the full potential of human capital management

Have you considered that shifting HR’s center of gravity from compensation management to organizational management could benefit all areas of HR? Without a sound organizational management strategy, the full potential of all other HR activities cannot be achieved.

Check out the webinar slides where we uncover examples of how SAP® Organizational Visualization by Nakisa® (SOVN) is used by leading organizations as a key stepping-stone to form their HR strategy.

Discover how SOVN:

• Helps manage complex HR data so that you can make informed decisions about talent, manage change, and communicate operational information quickly and easily.
• Enables you to efficiently collaborate and communicate with stakeholders on change and restructuring processes.
• Saves you time by avoiding errors and speeding up key processes with real-time write-back to SAP HCM.
• Uses preset data management rules to help you identify and cleanse data anomalies.

A guide to unlocking the full potential of human capital management from Nakisa Inc.

Nakisa OrgHub for Mobile: Put a clear view of your org in the hands of your employees

On November 25, 2012, Nakisa released version 4.0 of its suite of organization and talent visualization applications. The suite comprises of two SAP® Solution Extensions, SAP® Organizational Visualization by Nakisa® (SOVN) and SAP® Talent Visualization by Nakisa® (STVN). The 4.0 suite includes a number of major feature developments and performance enhancements.

Following the release of 4.0, Nakisa announced (in January, 2013) the release of a new mobile application Nakisa® OrgHub™ for Mobile. This new application brings the functionality of Nakisa® OrgChart™ to your mobile workforce through an optimized and intuitive touch-based interface.

This technical whitepaper provides an overview of the requirements for deploying Nakisa® OrgHub™ for Mobile into an enterprise environment. It also reviews the considerations that should be taken into account to ensure organizations can achieve a smooth roll-out of the Nakisa OrgHub™ for Mobile application and how Nakisa is well-prepared to help IT departments mitigate risk and overcome challenges. This paper will be of particular interest to IT Managers and Executives, Technical Consultants, SAP Basis Administrators, Mobile Device Specialists, Business Analysts and Technical Support Staff.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE or view it on SlideShare (below).

Nakisa OrgHub for Mobile: Put a clear view of your org in the hands of your employees from Nakisa Inc.

Key strategies to optimizing organizational performance

Most organizations have a system in place to evaluate workforce performance. Typically, performance evaluations are conducted annually and used to determine pay raises and drive career development. Despite numerous reservations about the effectiveness of the annual performance evaluation process, managers, human resources professionals and executives need to keep employee productivity levels up and make the most of the resources at their disposal. Effectively managing the performance of an organization’s workforce is the core to optimizing productivity and, ultimately, organizational success.

There are numerous strategies to help organizations improve performance and implement an effective performance management system. This whitepaper reviews the current state of performance management in organizations and reveals real and actionable strategies on how organizations can move to an effective performance management system. It covers:

The key strategies to optimizing organizational performance;

• Why traditional performance management processes are failing to meet the needs of organizations today;
• How continuous, ongoing performance discussions, goal-setting and feedback help employees to meet and exceed expectations; and
• How technology can help organizations not only meet their performance management objectives but also their company goals & objectives.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE or view it on SlideShare (below). 

Goals & Performance Whitepaper from Nakisa Inc.

Nakisa Private Cloud: All the agility of and power of the cloud, all the control and peace of mind of on-premise

Nakisa Private Cloud is a cloud computing platform that keeps your data safe within your corporate firewall. This deployment option enables you to benefit from the same features and advantages of the cloud, without compromising control over your company data, data security, and regulatory compliance. By using Nakisa Private Cloud, you can continue to focus on your strategic business objectives without needing to shift the focus onto IT infrastructure.

A scalable private cloud platform with high availability and dependability, Nakisa Private Cloud offers the flexibility to implement Nakisa’s solutions without the burden of operational and configuration concerns.

Since Nakisa provides and maintains its solutions through its private cloud as a service, your company can easily and quickly solve some of its toughest technology challenges.

Nakisa Private Cloud Module Overview from Nakisa Inc.

Does your employee rock or not? Why annual performance review just don’t work.

It’s that time of the year again: Annual performance evaluations. You’ve got a team of 10 employees you need to evaluate. So, you start thinking back… Bob has been lagging this winter but he did close that huge account last summer… Barbara is a star at the moment but didn’t accomplish much in the first half of the year… Jill has been sick a lot lately…

How can any manager possibly remember all these details? Can a manager really effectively and objectively evaluate an employee once a year?

What if the employee is a typically star player but made a big mistake right before evaluations? What if a low performer closes one good deal right before the evaluation? How can a manager comfortably address that employee’s poor performance the rest of the year without seeming unappreciative of the great deal?

Organizations need to shift performance evaluations from a once-a-year review to one that encourages ongoing communications and feedback. The frequency in which organizations address employee performance has undoubtedly a profound impact on an organization’s efficacy. Ensuring that all employees understand what's expected of them and how their goals align with their organization’s strategic goals is equally important. If performance management relies too much on infrequent goal-setting and inconsistent feedback, it does not drive better performance.

Traditional performance appraisals are one of the most frequently criticized talent management practices. And with good reason. Criticism ranges from the workforces’ perception of it being “a complete waste of time” and having a destructive effect that leaves employees disengaged and demotivated. People only become engaged when they are growing and learning when they believe that their own goals are attainable and when they see how their goals impact their organization.

In order to develop top talent and be successful, organizations need to give managers the tools and systems they need to efficiently evaluate and support their teams. Technology plays an important role in performance management. Effective performance management systems have enabled organizations to shift from paper-based evaluation systems to electronic formats that simplify the tracking and exchange of information. A good performance management solution demonstrates how employees are currently performing and identifies which ones contribute the most, or the least. It provides employees with transparency into their personal performance in the workplace and insight into their future career development.

Learn more about effective performance management and the solutions available to help you achieve it by downloading our whitepaper: “The future of effective performance management: Maximize potential, exceed goals, get results.” 

Strategic HR departments’ best kept secret… revealed!

While you’ve got numerous head count working countless hours restructuring and redesigning departments, modelling new hires into the org structure, and adapting the org chart to fit in the latest developments and changes in your organization, strategic HR departments are using these valuable resources to focus on talent management initiatives and employee communications. What is their secret?

They have obtained a robust modelling solution that enables them to better manage any type of organizational change such as growth, rightsizing and reorganization. These strategic HR departments can achieve organizational agility, easily visualize and understand how they are organized, plan for the future, and transition the workforce to its optimal state, all without having to save countless versions of spreadsheets and spend hours correcting mistakes and updating changes.

These clever HR departments are using Nakisa® OrgModeler™ as a modeling tool to manage their workforce planning needs. From quick, drag-and-drop org chart changes to scenario modeling for a major workforce reorganization such as a merger & acquisition, Nakisa® OrgModeler™ provides your HR team with the proper tools to effectively manage change processes supporting collaboration and strengthening your organization.

But you haven’t heard the best part yet! Nakisa® OrgModeler™ can write back directly into your SAP HCM ERP for consistent, reliable data and information. Write back can save you and your resources valuable time and energy, not to mention spare you the headache of sifting through changes and correcting errors.

Now that you are in on the secret, save on time and resources by using a solution that will give you insight into your most current org chart, design potential change processes, and analyze the impact changes will have on your organization.

Contact nakisa@nakisa.com today for more info. 

Clean, accurate HR data: Essential to all HR activities, essential to your business

Most organizations know that when preparing to implement a new HCM solution, the data needs to be as clean as possible. What they might not know is that clean data is vital for a variety of reasons, notably to have the ability to make quick business decisions based on accurate information.

If you are currently managing your org chart manually through spreadsheets and saving multiple versions, you already know that this process is flawed, labor-intensive, and prone to errors. No matter what objectives your organization has in store — a merger, restructuring, talent management, succession or career planning — the success of any HR activities lies in its clean data.

With the speed in which the business world evolves, how can your organization add value, reduce costs and save time in strategic HR activities?

Software.

The only concrete solution to ensuring reliable, clean data is to have in place robust data quality software that:

ü  Provides a centralized data repository, which is web-based for easy access

ü  Creates clear processes and rules for managing HR data that key stakeholders can easily follow

ü  Provides enough automation functionalities needed to minimize manual data entry

ü  Displays your data and identified missing information and data discrepancies based on pre-defined and customizable rules

ü  Allows for quick access to accurate data for easy reporting, improved efficiency and time saved

ü  Enables data audit and correction using easy-to-follow instructions and smart links

Nakisa® OrgAudit™ provides a simple and smart way for your organization to take control of critical business data. The solution provides Managers, HR & Executives with a clear process and the tools they need to analyze, cleanse and monitor HR data for better business decision-making.

Learn more about this solution by watching an on-demand webinar, downloading the brochure or contacting Nakisa at nakisa@nakisa.com. 

The mobile future is now: Three challenges IT departments are facing in 2014

The demand for anytime, anywhere network access is growing at lightning speed. Businesses now need a well-defined mobile strategy to ensure IT departments have the tools, solutions, security and resources ready to drive the implementation. With the explosion of mobile, IT departments are facing the following challenges:

1.       A growing demand for quick access to information.

It’s true that mobile devices help employees be more efficient no matter where they are, travelling for business or even on public transit. Also, to remain competitive, organizations need to be able to react more quickly to market conditions and customer needs. Mobile technologies are helping businesses become more agile, however, in many cases, it can also disrupt corporate networks. IT departments need to start now to plan for and prepare mobile usage policies.

2.       A secure and efficient management of corporate networks.

IT departments need to know what devices are trying to connect to their networks so they can provide convenient, secure access to those that are authorized. They must establish a standard for connected devices by making an initial inventory of all the devices on the network, categorize them and then set network access policies based on the risk profile of the device. This allows for a secure, convenient access for authorized devices, while providing appropriate limited access for unauthorized devices, notably personal devices employees bring to work.

3.       Numerous requests for “bring your own device” (BYOD) policies.

Businesses are counting on strategic IT departments to come up with robust, simple, scalable and secure BYOD strategies for their enterprise to allow users to access information from their personal devices. A BYOD policy needs to deliver the essentials for secure network access and take into consideration securing mobile devices, simplifying device and network management, and scalability.

IT departments that try to keep up by using traditional network access control methods risk putting their companies at a disadvantage. By choosing the right technology to use on mobile devices for their organization, IT will improve network security and manageability, save time, increase employee productivity and gain strategic business advantage.

Learn about Nakisa® OrgHub™ for Mobile

Nakisa® OrgHub™ for Mobile provides Managers, HR & Executives with the ability to access accurate and up-to-date organizational information anytime, anywhere, enabling both IT and business to make better decisions and communicate more efficiently. With this fully integrated application, people can keep up with the daily pace of business by breaking down the barriers of traditional working and automatically mirroring the existing Nakisa® OrgChart™ application on a mobile device, creating a seamless user experience. Learn how Nakisa® OrgHub™ for Mobile can help you keep up with the speed of business. Download the whitepaper.