ORC Sightlines

November 2006

Function Fighting Fire with Fire: Using the New Media to Counteract Corporate Campaigns

In 2005, 68 percent of Americans used the Internet. Every six months, the number of blogs doubles. The significance of these statistics has not escaped union organizers and negotiators. They have embraced the power of the Internet to build alliances and influence public perception of themselves and the companies they target. Many employers are now recognizing the need to do the same.

Members of ORC's Labor and Industrial Relations Advisory Group (LIRAG) discussed these developments at their recent meeting, and Tim Beecher, senior vice president and senior partner with the global communications firm Fleishman-Hillard, advised participants on effective use of the Web. His most important piece of advice, perhaps, is to start getting your message out now, not waiting for the union to start a corporate campaign against the company or for negotiations to begin. In addition, an effective online strategy should:

  1. Monitor labor's use of the Web: How far has labor penetrated, what are they saying and to whom?
  2. Identify supporters who can help the company reach the public with its message.
  3. Find opportunities to publicize the company's message and counter labor's attacks (e.g., by identifying high-traffic Web sites that might be used to direct audiences to the company's own site).

Some unions have been very successful at using their Web sites to present an attractive image and align themselves with other interest groups. A notable example is UNITE HERE, whose Web site stresses support for immigrants and rights for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people. UNITE's outreach to gays and lesbians has been reciprocated with a new Web site, www.sleepwiththerightpeople.org, launched by LGBT activists to encourage a boycott of certain hotels deemed unfair to workers.

Beecher described how companies are beginning to fight back by building their own campaign Web sites. These are separate from the companies' corporate Web sites. They provide positive information about the company, its treatment of workers, and its social responsibility track record and, especially, factual information debunking false or unfairly colored claims of the union. Paid ads on other sites and search engines, links in other sites, and outreach to supportive bloggers can all be used to help drive traffic to the campaign site.

Tom Connors, ORC vice president and head of its labor relations practices, notes that companies using the Web to communicate with the public should be careful to observe legal restrictions, such as not posting offers of terms and conditions of employment that have not already been discussed with the union. Assuming proper care and safeguards, however, employers would be well-advised to develop strategies for using the new media to communicate their messages to the public and employees.

LIRAG brings together labor relations executives from major U.S. industries to discuss-in a completely confidential setting-recent negotiations and settlements, organizing and representation matters, and labor strategies and developments. Two other groups, Pacific LIRAG and Canadian LIRAG, serve employers headquartered or operating in those regions. For more information about the LIRAG Networks or this topic, contact Tom Connors, 212 852 0352.

Talent Management Strategies in Eastern Europe

Managing key talent from developing countries was the focus of discussion at last month's meeting of ORC's Global Talent Management Network. Senior leaders responsible for worldwide talent management efforts in large multinationals gathered in a conference room in Budapest-with a stunning view across the Danube to the Royal Palace-and shared their strategies for identifying and developing high potential talent in Eastern Europe, where competition for professional talent with managerial potential is fierce.

As in the emerging economies of Asia, salaries in the region are rising rapidly as multinationals battle for scarce resources. To be successful at recruiting and then retaining knowledge workers, GTM members noted, they must establish themselves as employers of choice. Many work at building relationships with local universities by providing services above and beyond the usual internships and recruiting activity-for example, training teachers in new technologies. One company noted that it has also found it important to demonstrate commitment to the local community and described how it is undertaking community service projects in plants, publicizing volunteer work by employees, and funding non-profit projects.

Because few local employees in emerging economies have the same level of experience as high potentials elsewhere, and because those with relevant credentials may be hidden in positions for which they are overqualified, companies bent on developing homegrown leaders must be somewhat less formal in their assessments and bolder in their selection of potential future leaders. To track the careers and development of those identified, succession planning exercises are often pushed down further in these country organizations than might be the case in other units of the company.

However, the strategy of identifying and developing local leadership sometimes comes into conflict with what is perhaps the best educational tool and also the strongest inducement for local talent to stay with the company: the opportunity for assignments in other countries. Network members shared some of the ways their companies are attempting to reconcile this conflict, such as one company's program to provide international exposure through six-month assignments and another's international management development program that provides new graduates with two-year assignments before bringing them back to their home country to fill local management positions.

ORC's Global Talent Management (GTM) Network is a community of corporate-level executives who lead the talent management process on a global scale in large multinational companies. For more information, contact Jodi Starkman, 310 374 6270 in North America; Siobhan Cummins, 44 (0)207 591 5600 or Britta Laws, 49 89 47 08 46 85 in Europe; and Phil Stanley, 65 6438 0004 in Asia.

Talent Management in the R&D Function

Talent management is an issue occupying not only those charged with its facilitation throughout the corporation but HR leaders in functional organizations as well. Much of the roundtable discussion at last month's meeting of the HR in Research & Development (HRRD) Network centered on assessing and developing high potential individual contributors and future leaders, and several companies shared tools, processes, and programs that had been created specifically for R&D organizations.

Some described how their R&D units use the talent review process to translate business plans and strategy into people strategy by working through the steps of:

Finding high quality technical managers has always been a challenge in most companies, and a number are responding by engaging those with management potential early in their careers. One HRRD member company provides high potential individual contributors and first- and second-level managers with development facilitators who help the employees put together their development plans and get access to resources and developmental opportunities. Another company has designed a special program to accelerate the learning of high potential first-level R&D managers. Participants get together in a series of sessions to address typical management issues. In the process, they have the opportunity to experience and respond to situations they might not have encountered in their jobs so far, extend their network, and interact with senior managers who participate in the sessions.

Development opportunities can also go a long way to retaining critical talent, as one HRRD company found when it analyzed its turnover data and discovered that nearly half the losses in R&D were due to a perceived lack of career opportunities. The company now offers career workshops to help their scientists and engineers manage their career development. Managers are taught how to support their employees' development efforts and how to evaluate the turnover risk for individuals in their organizations.

Twenty-five companies with extensive investments in research and product development comprise the Human Resources in R&D Network. It is a highly interactive group, and members support one another throughout the year by sharing information and best practices via presentations and roundtable discussions in meetings, mini-surveys, an electronic bulletin board, and one-on-one contacts. For more information, contact Michal Fineman at 212-719-3400.

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