If I wanted to hire the brightest people, I would work out a thorough strategy, including both various ways of recruiting, and the ways of subsequent selecting the best ones among the candidates.
I would use every opportunity and, first of all, I would make a list of possible sources of candidates, in which I would include, of course: employment bureaus, newspaper advertisements, and the Internet advertisements. I think it is also a good idea to search for candidates with the help of networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others, whose visitors are innumerable.
Another good way to recruit, using the Internet, is to create your company’s own web site. Dryly-written and typical job descriptions can be boring, so I would try to visualize my site and to furnish it with some pictures of the stuff, the stories of their success and achievements, with listing of the opportunities and the benefits for the workers of my company, so that a person would say: ‘I want to be a part of that company!’
They would also like to assure, that they will be able to have a balance between work and life, that is why I would also include the information about the employees’ opportunities to have a rest and entertain in the company, as people can do in Google company, for example. People also like to have an easy way to send their resumes, so it would be good to make a separate page ‘Contact US’. Especially people like it, when a company gives a suggestion ‘Contact the President’.
Exact job description and detailed description of desired employee’s traits will help me to eliminate the number of potential candidates, by releasing me from unnecessary conversations with people who do not meet the requirement a priory.
In selecting, of course, no one can do without such classical methods, as resumes, telephone screens, and candidates’ interviews. What concerns the interview, I would broaden the list of interviewers and include some staff members who will work most closely with the candidate. I would also like to add such screening methods, as ability and personality tests.
5 specific HR policies or practices that Google implemented or should implement to support its strategy:
- Free shuttles, equipped with Wi-Fi to drive employees, give them an opportunity not to waste a minute, but to be flexible and to work more, and even round-the-clock.
- Free gourmet meals, five on-site free doctors, free flu-shots, unlimited sick days, – all of these benefits help the employees to save their health and sustain a high level of working efficiency. No salary can substitute unlimited sick days, for example, because if you are made to work, when you are ill, and this makes your state even worse, what is the aim of a high salary then, if you will have to spend most of it on medicines?
- Annual all-expense-paid ski trips, lap pools, volleyball courts, Ping-Pong, and foosball tables help to change the activity and give an opportunity for people’s brain to have a rest, and then they can work hard again.
- The Google company also reimburses its employees for classes or degree programs that help them to develop their professional skills and grow in knowledge, and, thus, the company provides itself with workers with growth potential that will be very useful, as the company aims at the expanding of its business abroad.
- The company could also add the laughter therapy to their opportunities for relaxation. It has become a popular means of reducing stress at work and, consequently, a way to help the employees avoid stress-related-illnesses.
There is no doubt, that all worked out by Google company benefits for its employees are very important, because they make life easier for Googlers and help them to sustain a life-work balance, thus, they should be preserved as much as it is possible in all overseas branches. But there are certain factors that should be taken into consideration in order to transfer this Google’s culture of life-work balance. I would mark out the two major ones: the economic condition of the country of the foreign branch and the cultural differences between the country of the headquarters and local cultures of the countries where the branches are situated.
As the Google company strives to provide the same financial benefits every place it does business around the world, it should take into consideration such a phenomenon as the inflation rate of the country, where it founds a new branch; because even if the financial bonuses are the same in the currency equivalent, inflation can devaluate the money. A striking instance is the inflation rate in Mexico that sometimes ‘approaches 52 percent per year’ (“Managing Human Resources in an International Business” par. 15).
Another factor is the extensively discussed cultural diversity. Things that are acceptable do not always coincide in various cultures. Therefore, a good manager should know about the need to adjust some of the practices and policies to the cultural patterns of the subsidiary’s country. For example, I would recommend to replace the practice of lap pools as a benefit for the employees in the Muslim countries with some other activities, or at least there should be separate pools for the both sexes, in order not to embarrass the native citizens, who got accustomed to seeing women, covered up with clothes from their feet to head, and can consider the female-colleagues sent from the western branches and taking part in such common hydrotherapeutics to be immodest.
The other thing that should be taken into consideration is the kind of entertainments at TGIF parties. Again, returning to Muslim countries, it is considered to be a sin to drink alcohol, in contrast to Western countries. So, in order not to offend anyone by violation of some religious or cultural norms, Google managers should thoroughly think over all the policies of benefits and other practices in order to create a pleasant atmosphere for everyone at the workplace.
The new employees orientation for the Google company could include the following activities:
- discussing of the plan for their first working day;
- providing them with the information on the organization structure, payroll, benefits, and so on;
- a company tour;
- introducing them to the future colleagues.
The discussion of the plan of the first working day can demonstrate the manager’s interest in the success and the difficulties of the new employee, if the manager does not only list all that the new-comer should do, but also gives him or her valuable pieces of advice for accomplishing of all goals. Through such an attitude the new employee can feel, that in this company he or she is among friendly and team oriented people, who are always ready to come to assistance.
Though the newcomer learns some information about the company during interviews, it would not be odd to give the information about the structure and functioning of the organization again. This will help the newcomer to feel more confident. Review their job description card. It is important, though, not to overwhelm them with too many instructions and much information about the company’s functioning, as it is not possible to remember everything at once. Besides, it would be good not only to tell the new employees about their benefits, but also to give them handouts with all information on that issue. This will show him that the Google company really cares about its workers’ life-work balance and other aspects of their well-being.
Showing the new employees around the offices, cafeteria, on-site washers and driers, and other facilities can be another expression of care about them, and it can slip into the introduction of the new employees to other staff members.
Such an introduction can become a beginning of healthy team relationships. It would be good to organize a lunch with the new employee in his or her honor and to encourage all stuff in advance to welcome the new comer and show interest in him.
All these activities, constituting a warm welcome, can help the new employee to feel himself or herself a part of the team and develop positive working relationships with the rest of the stuff, and also to reduce anxiety, and, thus, make him or her more efficient.
Works Cited
Managing Human Resources in an International Business. n.d. Web.