Author: Workforce Editors

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2009 Optimas Award Winners

If you were to just list the names of the nine winners of the 2009 Optimas Awards, it would be hard to see what they have in common. The U.S. Navy is charged with winning wars, warding off aggression and preserving freedom of the seas. Bright Horizons Family Solutions cares for kids while parents work. DaVita delivers dialysis services. Gensler designs buildings.


But these diverse organizations—and all the winners—do have a strong and admirable connection: Each has developed exceptional workforce initiatives in response to the organization’s business needs, issues or challenges. Each one shows that the organization with the best workforce wins.

It’s one of the great platitudes of the business world: “People are our most important resource.”


As the recession has shown, it’s not so easy to put those words into practice. That’s why it’s a particular pleasure to present the 19th annual Optimas Awards to nine organizations that are investing in their people while serving the needs of the business. That’s a strategy that will pay off—no matter what the economy brings.


One note: There is no 2009 winner in the Ethical Practice category. The judges determined that none of this year’s entries was Optimas caliber. The category, which was instituted in the post-Enron era, has had a hard time attracting entrants. We know there are exemplary companies out there, and we encourage them to apply in 2010, as we do all organizations that want to be celebrated for their workforce management achievements. See 2010 competition details here.


GENERAL EXCELLENCE
U.S. Navy, Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Navy has instituted a number of workforce policies responsive to sailors who want more control over their careers. Just as employers in the private sector are discovering, the Navy understands that the new generation of workers is demanding greater flexibility and more opportunities for education and career development. Task Force Life/Work is a program designed to help sailors attain more balance between their professional and personal responsibilities. As a result, the Navy has made improvements to maternity benefits, parental leave and flexible work options. The Navy also offers tuition assistance, significantly boosting the number of sailors who obtain associate and bachelor’s degrees and other educational credentials while serving. “The leadership to the very top of the Navy realizes that we’re in a war for talent,” says Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson III, chief of naval personnel and deputy chief of naval operations. “We recruit a sailor, but we retain a family.” For the totality of its workforce initiatives, the U.S. Navy is the winner of the 2009 Optimas Award for General Excellence.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
DaVita, Denver
The Denver-based dialysis provider had a major problem: its recruiting function, which DaVita managers ranked in 2006 as one of the bottom-five departments out of 70 corporate functions. Later that year, it launched an “extreme recruiting makeover,” with new software, a relaunched career site and a reorganized recruiting function with separate teams targeting corporate positions, managers at clinics and clinical staff including nurses. And it began collecting more data on time to hire, cost of hire and quality of hire. The changes were tough, but took hold. For curing an ailing recruiting function and making it a healthy foundation for business success, DaVita earns the 2009 Optimas Award for Competitive Advantage.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Discovery Communications, Silver Spring, Maryland
While many employers provide on-site health and wellness clinics, Discovery Communications has gone a step further than most. In addition to a primary care clinic open to employees and dependents and staffed with a full-time doctor, a nurse practitioner and two medical assistants, the company offers free ergonomics counseling and behavioral health counseling. A dietitian helps people eat better. Free massages and yoga classes are also popular amenities. All of these services are free to employees.For astutely managing its health care costs and promoting the long-term cost benefits of healthier employees, Discovery Communications is the winner of the 2009 Optimas Award for Financial Impact.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Raytheon Professional Services, Garland, Texas
Raytheon Professional Services recognized that it had to address the training needs of a new and rapidly expanding international client base. It already had a broad and deep array of training tools, processes and technologies that had served it well. And so rather than abandoning those resources and starting over again, the company chose to globalize and localize its training resources, adapting them to the expanding international market. For leveraging its extensive learning content to meet its clients’ global cultural and linguistic training needs, Raytheon Professional Services wins the 2009 Optimas Award for Global Outlook.

INNOVATION
Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Watertown, Massachusetts
To keep up with the company’s own projected growth and to meet new accreditation standards, executives at the national day care provider realized they would need to make some changes. Rather than look outside for more qualified teachers or for schools to train them, the company decided to train the workforce it had by establishing an online child development associate program to give workers the skills to pass the industry’s certification test. For creating an initiative that addresses its need for an accredited workforce while enriching its employees’ professional development, Bright Horizons Family Solutions wins the 2009 Optimas Award for Innovation.


MANAGING CHANGE
Gensler, San Francisco
The global architecture, design, planning and strategic consulting firm competes in a fiercely competitive, knowledge-based marketplace in which new opportunities arise and game-changing trends and technologies emerge at mind-boggling speed. And it’s no easy task to rapidly develop new competencies and disseminate knowledge evenly throughout a 44-year-old company that handles 3,600 projects a year and has 2,100 professional employees scattered among 32 offices around the world. Gensler rolled out its firmwide Talent Development Studio three years ago to improve on the decentralized, mentoring-oriented methods of developing design talent the company had long relied on. For a unique talent development initiative that positions the company for success in an evolving industry, Gensler is the winner of the 2009 Optimas Award for Managing Change.
PARTNERSHIP
Public Service Enterprise Group, Newark, New Jersey
Six years ago, the $28 billion energy and energy services company in New Jersey confronted a staffing cliff: More than 25 percent of its employees were within five to seven years of retirement, and the pipeline of new replacement workers was echoingly empty. PSEG’s solution was to partner with local community colleges and high schools to establish a program of in-class instruction, internships and on-the-job training in utility work. PSEG’s once-empty pipeline is now full. For innovative collaboration to address a potentially critical workforce shortage, PSEG earns the 2009 Optimas Award for Partnership.
SERVICE
Missouri Department of Transportation, Jefferson City, Missouri
When a three-year roads project had to be done in two, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s HR leadership decided that the best way to meet that goal was to increase productivity by reducing sick-leave absences. The agency’s HR staff set about measuring leave usage, educating employees and supervisors and tracking results. The results speak for themselves. In fiscal 2009, sick-leave usage in the department decreased by 25,621 hours from the previous year. For developing a pragmatic initiative that helped the state stay on the road to its transportation goals, the Missouri Department of Transportation is the winner of the 2009 Optimas Award for Service.
VISION
Sodexo, Paris
Several years ago, Sodexo’s 120,000-employee North American division looked at growth goals through 2015 and saw potential talent trouble ahead—it had ambitious plans to expand in areas where it faced a weak pool of talent. To best attract, develop and retain employees, it decided to target various age groups differently. Its recruiters tweet on Twitter, interact with candidates on Facebook and maintain a careers blog. In addition, Sodexo has sought out military veterans, in part through a project to translate military experience and skills into civilian competencies. And it has reached out to older workers partly through its Alumni Reconnexions program. For creating a comprehensive program to connect to workers of multiple generations, Sodexo wins the 2009 Optimas Award for vision.

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2008

F or 18 years, the Optimas Awards have recognized workforce management initiatives that directly improve business results. And every year, the judges see themes emerge from the entries they read and the companies that Workforce Management reporters write about and offer as companies worthy of consideration.


    One thing that this year’s winners have in common is resilience, a unique ability to roll with the punches—a characteristic that will likely be put to the test now that all organizations are facing a worsening worldwide economy. 


    Every organization is different, but among the 2008 winners are stories of a hospital fighting its way back from bankruptcy, a technology company battered by turnover, a health care organization challenged to better respond to patient demographics, and a food and facilities management services company that suffered a massive failure in recruitment process outsourcing. In each case, the organization looked to its own most precious resource—its people—for a solution. The hospital involved its staff, from the lowest-level worker to the top executive, in its recovery. The tech company decided that trust was the key to retention and created a pay scheme that gave more income security to workers. The health care organization ramped up its cultural competency to better serve its community—and improved its market share in the process. The food and facilities management services company created its own internal talent team and put the process back on the right footing.

    It’s our pleasure to honor the achievements of the 2008 Optimas Award winners, and to share them with you.


GENERAL EXCELLENCE
Crouse Hospital, Syracuse, New York
The hospital pulled itself out of bankruptcy and has established itself as a leader in medical services in a highly competitive regional market by using its reorganization not only to fix its finances but also to reinvent its corporate culture.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
American Express, New York, New York
Two years ago, American Express began a journey in its U.S. customer care organization to define and deliver a new employee value proposition to drive world-class retention, enhance its talent pipeline and engage each of its customer care professionals so they could deliver extraordinary customer care. The results achieved include highly qualified candidates with enhanced early performance, a significant reduction in attrition and improved customer satisfaction.

ETHICAL PRACTICE
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California
Kaiser Permanente has a 30-year record of exceptional compliance with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and has been recognized for its diversity management. But the not-for-profit health care organization went further by developing a strategic plan to ensure that diversity was expressed as a fundamental value of its corporate philosophy and behavior and was integrated into every aspect of its business.


FINANCIAL IMPACT
IBM, Armonk, New York
Applying the principles of supply-chain purchasing, IBM saved more than $1 billion with a workforce management initiative that cataloged the skills and experience of every employee worldwide into a searchable database. The end product has helped managers more easily find the IBM employees they need while also allowing the company to more efficiently hire contract workers.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg
ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel company, yet less than 15 percent of its 310,000 employees spoke the official corporate language—English. ArcelorMittal worked with GlobalEnglish, a company that specializes in online English-language learning programs, to implement a companywide English-learning initiative. So far, more than 5,000 employees have participated, with 500 new users added each month, opening avenues for employee global mobility and increasing productivity, thus saving the company more than $8.6 million annually.

INNOVATION
HCL Technologies, Noida, India
HCL is one of the pioneers of the information-systems revolution in India, but it lagged behind competition in the IT services business, where it was a late entrant. HCL was confronted with the challenge of retaining people in the face of attrition that was much higher than its competition’s. HCL then embarked on its “Employee First” program, introducing several policies with a focus on inclusivity, teleworking, extended leave policies, flextime and a compressed workweek for female employees. All of these make HCL unique in its community and have helped it drop its attrition rate to below 15 percent as of July 2008.


MANAGING CHANGE
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Washington
The agency’s expanding role forced it to compete with other federal employers as well as those in the private sector for top talent in such fields as microbiology and risk assessment. But delays and inefficiencies in its HR systems affected the agency’s ability to perform. The department’s overhaul of its approach includes recruitment bonuses in hard-to-fill locations, efforts to address shortages in the veterinary field, a reduction in hiring delays, an increase in teleworking and other alternative work schedules, and efforts to link employee performance with the agency’s mission.
PARTNERSHIP
Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, Syracuse, New York
The association was formed by executives from more than 100 local companies in Central New York who realized they needed to stop the outflow of young talent from the area, which is home to 35 colleges and universities and has a workforce 20 percent more educated than the national average. It created the Essential New York Initiative, partnering employers and universities to retain students after graduation. The partnership is producing significant results, with regional employment reaching near-record levels in 2007.
SERVICE
Sodexo, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Sodexo outsourced its recruitment process, but when that model failed, talent acquisition became the company’s No. 1 executive issue. The organization then created an in-house, best-in-class Talent Acquisition Group, with the goal of transforming Sodexo into a forward-looking recruiting powerhouse and magnet for top talent. As a result, the company’s retention rates for management and hourly workers are above industry norm, while customer satisfaction, client retention, employee referrals, quality of hire and college recruitment have seen significant increases.
VISION
Linn State Technical College, Linn, Missouri
A few years before the start of the energy crisis, Linn State began offering a nuclear technology program to train students for careers in nuclear energy. The two-year degree program attracts high school graduates and prepares them for careers with starting salaries around $55,000 a year in a field that is experiencing a resurgence but does not have enough trained workers to accommodate increasing capacity.

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Top Workforce Management Stories of 2008

Know what gets readers worked up? Answer: anything that might mess with their 401(k). “House Democrats Contemplate Abolishing 401(k) Tax Breaks,” from October 16, was the No. 1 most-read story in 2008 on Workforce.com. Check out this list of the Top 10 most-viewed stories on our site, based on what readers clicked on during the past year.

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2008 Optimas Awards Winners

F or 18 years, the Optimas Awards have recognized workforce management initiatives that directly improve business results. And every year, the judges see themes emerge from the entries they read and the companies that Workforce Management reporters write about and offer as companies worthy of consideration.


    One thing that this year’s winners have in common is resilience, a unique ability to roll with the punches—a characteristic that will likely be put to the test now that all organizations are facing a worsening worldwide economy. 


    Every organization is different, but among the 2008 winners are stories of a hospital fighting its way back from bankruptcy, a technology company battered by turnover, a health care organization challenged to better respond to patient demographics, and a food and facilities management services company that suffered a massive failure in recruitment process outsourcing. In each case, the organization looked to its own most precious resource—its people—for a solution. The hospital involved its staff, from the lowest-level worker to the top executive, in its recovery. The tech company decided that trust was the key to retention and created a pay scheme that gave more income security to workers. The health care organization ramped up its cultural competency to better serve its community—and improved its market share in the process. The food and facilities management services company created its own internal talent team and put the process back on the right footing.

    It’s our pleasure to honor the achievements of the 2008 Optimas Award winners, and to share them with you.


GENERAL EXCELLENCE
Crouse Hospital, Syracuse, New York
The hospital pulled itself out of bankruptcy and has established itself as a leader in medical services in a highly competitive regional market by using its reorganization not only to fix its finances but also to reinvent its corporate culture.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
American Express, New York, New York
Two years ago, American Express began a journey in its U.S. customer care organization to define and deliver a new employee value proposition to drive world-class retention, enhance its talent pipeline and engage each of its customer care professionals so they could deliver extraordinary customer care. The results achieved include highly qualified candidates with enhanced early performance, a significant reduction in attrition and improved customer satisfaction.

ETHICAL PRACTICE
Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, California
Kaiser Permanente has a 30-year record of exceptional compliance with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and has been recognized for its diversity management. But the not-for-profit health care organization went further by developing a strategic plan to ensure that diversity was expressed as a fundamental value of its corporate philosophy and behavior and was integrated into every aspect of its business.


FINANCIAL IMPACT
IBM, Armonk, New York
Applying the principles of supply-chain purchasing, IBM saved more than $1 billion with a workforce management initiative that cataloged the skills and experience of every employee worldwide into a searchable database. The end product has helped managers more easily find the IBM employees they need while also allowing the company to more efficiently hire contract workers.
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg
ArcelorMittal is the world’s largest steel company, yet less than 15 percent of its 310,000 employees spoke the official corporate language—English. ArcelorMittal worked with GlobalEnglish, a company that specializes in online English-language learning programs, to implement a companywide English-learning initiative. So far, more than 5,000 employees have participated, with 500 new users added each month, opening avenues for employee global mobility and increasing productivity, thus saving the company more than $8.6 million annually.

INNOVATION
HCL Technologies, Noida, India
HCL is one of the pioneers of the information-systems revolution in India, but it lagged behind competition in the IT services business, where it was a late entrant. HCL was confronted with the challenge of retaining people in the face of attrition that was much higher than its competition’s. HCL then embarked on its “Employee First” program, introducing several policies with a focus on inclusivity, teleworking, extended leave policies, flextime and a compressed workweek for female employees. All of these make HCL unique in its community and have helped it drop its attrition rate to below 15 percent as of July 2008.


MANAGING CHANGE
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Washington
The agency’s expanding role forced it to compete with other federal employers as well as those in the private sector for top talent in such fields as microbiology and risk assessment. But delays and inefficiencies in its HR systems affected the agency’s ability to perform. The department’s overhaul of its approach includes recruitment bonuses in hard-to-fill locations, efforts to address shortages in the veterinary field, a reduction in hiring delays, an increase in teleworking and other alternative work schedules, and efforts to link employee performance with the agency’s mission.
PARTNERSHIP
Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York, Syracuse, New York
The association was formed by executives from more than 100 local companies in Central New York who realized they needed to stop the outflow of young talent from the area, which is home to 35 colleges and universities and has a workforce 20 percent more educated than the national average. It created the Essential New York Initiative, partnering employers and universities to retain students after graduation. The partnership is producing significant results, with regional employment reaching near-record levels in 2007.
SERVICE
Sodexo, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Sodexo outsourced its recruitment process, but when that model failed, talent acquisition became the company’s No. 1 executive issue. The organization then created an in-house, best-in-class Talent Acquisition Group, with the goal of transforming Sodexo into a forward-looking recruiting powerhouse and magnet for top talent. As a result, the company’s retention rates for management and hourly workers are above industry norm, while customer satisfaction, client retention, employee referrals, quality of hire and college recruitment have seen significant increases.
VISION
Linn State Technical College, Linn, Missouri
A few years before the start of the energy crisis, Linn State began offering a nuclear technology program to train students for careers in nuclear energy. The two-year degree program attracts high school graduates and prepares them for careers with starting salaries around $55,000 a year in a field that is experiencing a resurgence but does not have enough trained workers to accommodate increasing capacity.

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SHRM 2008, McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago


At The Show

Economic Downturn Doesn’t Slow SHRM Conference
Attendance doesn’t hit a record level, but SHRM officials and vendors are happy with the turnout of more than 13,000.


Gas Price Crisis Could Revolutionize U.S. Workplace
The talk of the show is spiking gas prices, and the short- and long-term effects they could have on how the nation works.


Heard in the Halls, Day 3: No Booth Too Far
Good business at the edge of the world, a winner for research and a visit with the ‘onboarding fairy.’


SHRM Chicago Last Word—Day 3

The SHRM chief’s successor will be named later this summer—after Meisinger departs the organization on June 30.


Pre-Show Guide and Feature Stories



Whether you’re staying for a whole week or just trying to visit a few places in between conference activities, you will want to get a taste of the best of Chicago. The third-largest city in America is also one of the country’s most popular convention spots.

The Last Word: SHRM 101
San Diego. Washington. Las Vegas. Chicago. The cities may change and the venues may differ, but there is a comfy familiarity I always feel at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference.


Keynote and Master Series


SHRM, Day 1, Sunday, June 22
2:30 p.m.
KEYNOTE:
 
1:45 p.m
MASTERS SERIES:

 
1:45 p.m.
MASTERS SERIES:

 
10 a.m.
MASTERS SERIES: Denise Rousseau, “Growing Number of Employees Seek Special Deal With Bosses”

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2007 Optimas Awards Winners

F or 17 years, the Optimas Awards have recognized workforce management initiatives that directly improve business results. While many of the qualities involved in creating excellent and profitable organizations don’t vary, each year’s winners do reflect the changing business environment.


    In the early ’90s, human resources shed its administrative straitjacket. In the dot-com era, innovation reigned, and companies showered employees with unprecedented perks. In the crash that followed, the winning organizations showed a resolve and a determination to do more with less.


    Now, as the global economy changes dramatically, a different theme is emerging. In nearly every category this year, the winning organizations’ entries centered on talent. How to find it—sometimes in dizzying numbers. How to bring people into an organization quickly. How to maximize their abilities. How to steep them in a company’s culture. How to retain the best people in the face of ever-increasing competition.


    It’s our pleasure to honor the achievements of the 2007 Optimas Award winners, and to share them with you.


GENERAL EXCELLENCE
Goldman Sachs & Co., New York
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California

ETHICAL PRACTICE
Putnam Investments,Boston


FINANCIAL IMPACT
GM Service Technical College, Troy, Michigan
GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Infosys Technologies, Bangalore

INNOVATION
Best Buy, Minnesota
CultureRx, Minneapolis


MANAGING CHANGE
Luxottica Retail,Mason, Ohio
PARTNERSHIP
CVS Pharmacy, Woonsocket, Rhode Island
SERVICE
U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Washington
VISION
Sun Healthcare Group, Irvine, California