Paying a little more for talent is OK. But diminishing returns follow to anyone, including an organization like the Yankees, who pays 3x as much for the same number of "employees" as their competitors. Case in point – the Cleveland Indians, who crushed the Yankees with less than 1/3 of the New York payroll (61M to 195M). Flash to Game …
Cost of Talent – Lessons from George Steinbrenner and Moneyball…
By now, you’ve heard that George Steinbrenner (owner of the New York Yankees) fired a manager with 4 World Championships – Joe Torre. While firings happen and the big wheel keeps on turning, it made me think a little bit about the cost of talent and what your money actually buys you. First, a little history. The Yankees have always …
Should Direct Reports Help You Make Hiring Decisions?
Should you let your direct reports help you make hiring decisions? I know, sounds obvious for most of you progressive talent managers out there. I’ve always been a part of fairly progressive teams in this area, where consensus-building interviewing was the norm. My boss would be the one in charge, but all of his/her direct reports would have the ability …
Why “Cash Money” Won’t Save Your Best Talent…
Check out my article at workforce.com (Money Won’t Buy You Love) that went in 2007 if you have time… The theory? Your managers will tell you that cash is king when it comes to retaining top talent. The truth is, you’ll never deliver enough money to keep the stars from moving across the street if they want to. It takes …
All Stars, No Ditchdiggers – The Ocean’s Eleven/Netflix Staffing Model
Remember Danny Ocean from Ocean’s Eleven? Ocean had all stars because he had referrals (he knew exactly who to hire for each job), he was offering lots of cash and gave each specialist lots of flexibility to run their part of the show. I recently riffed in my Workforce.com column that the world needs ditchdiggers too, meaning all of us …
Recruiting Brand 101 – Candidates Think Your Hiring Managers are L.A.M.E.
How’s your recruiting brand? Got the website, collateral for candidates, maybe even some video? Cool!!!! Do your hiring managers reinforce the brand you are trying to create? Or are they lame, non-communicators destroying all the brand equity you’re building in your company as an “employer of choice?” Stop and think about this one. A while back, I riffed that the …
Does Your Company Need More Stars or Ditch Diggers?
Check out my article at workforce.com answering the age-old stars vs. steady performers question here… Here’s how it starts: Quiz time today with the HR Capitalist. Pick the book that is not available on Amazon: The War for Talent Secrets for Hiring Top Talent The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too Hiring the Best Confirm your knowledge and see the rest …
LinkedIn – Now Spamming Employees at a Company Near You (Yours!)
If you don’t use LinkedIn as a HR Pro, you probably want to check it out sometime soon. It’s a useful tool you need to know how to use. But today, it just got downgraded on my "juice" scale. LinkedIn started spamming for candidates. LinkedIn used to be different. A service to allow people to network professionally – and recruit. …
Is Google Smarter Than Your Company With Talent?
I may have to turn comments off on this one – such an obvious question for most people that I expect the caveman, ALL CAPS responses like "H#@! YEAH!!"… Thanks in advance, Nostradamus…. In news you might have missed in 2007, Google announced it was missing its quarterly earnings targets, in part because it overhired. From the wire report: “We …
The NFL Patriots – A Team-Based Culture That Survives Employee Turnover…
So the Patriots did just enough over the weekend to get past the Giants and become the first pro football team in history to go 16-0. You can hate them, as many pro football fans do. You can’t deny their success. Here’s another thing Patriots haters can’t deny – the Patriots have one the strongest "team-first" cultures in all of …