Career Spotlight: HR focuses on the profit margin
Forget about 401(k) forms and payroll spreadsheets. In human resources departments across corporate America, staffers are increasingly encouraged to focus on the same priority as top execs do: the company's bottom line.
Part of the change comes straight from the information technology revolution. Traditional HR activities have been supplanted over the past few years by new technology and by that other corporate phenomenon, outsourcing. Rote tasks once handled by the HR division, like billing and payments, can now be done faster using software from companies like SAP and Oracle. Call centers outside the company can handle employee complaints and questions at a much lower cost.
"Market dynamics are forcing HR to think about new and creative ways to add value to the business," says Garrett Sheridan, vice president of Hudson Human Capital, a consulting firm.
New priorities, meant to directly enhance the corporate coffers, are recruiting, training, and keeping talented workers. At Home Depot, for instance, "the HR team is locked at the hip with business leaders," says Dennis Donovan, executive vice president of human relations. Since joining the megaretailer four years ago, Donovan and his team have worked to understand how employees contribute to the bottom line and to devise new tools to help them perform better.
One recent initiative is a beefed-up recruiting process. When an internal study revealed that sales were linked to customer experience on the sales floor, the HR team looked at ways to find more-talented employees.
To attract older workers, who score higher on the company's employment placement test and have lower attrition rates, the company partnered with AARP. And to bring more bilingual employees into areas with rapidly growing Hispanic populations, Home Depot teamed up with several professional and networking groups for Hispanics. That has tangible long-run benefits, says Donovan: "We get talented associates coming in and the opportunity to provide better customer experience."