Case
Studies
In the corporate
sector where human resource is becoming like oxygen to companies
it is important to take care of them in every way you can. This
section will treat you with articles about time tested companies
and what they do to keep their employees happy. May be you can
benchmark with them...?
Culture
Fit
Retaining
employees is a challenge for CEOs especially in the IT industry.
But not for Pat Nettles, CEO of Ciena Corp., which manufactures
intelligent optical switching equipment for telecommunications
equipment for telecommunications companies. He has succeeded
well beyond the norms. How he has done that is an object lesson
in strategically managing human resources.
All
of Nettle’s employees, right down to the manufacturing
line, are, in a large sense, knowledge workers. According to
Nettles "for that reason, training plays a crucial role
in our strategic plan, and employee retention is one of the
key metrics by which we measure our success or failure."
Launched
in 1992 with four employees, Ciena has grown into an $858 million
corporation with 2,775 employees. This kind of growth does not
give the employer the luxury of showing everybody how to do
a job for the first time. Instead, Nettle relies on a strategy
of franchise players. These players are a frame work of people
with the right skill sets who understand how to tackle the tasks
they face, how to train the people they supervise to do the
same and how to motivate them at a very high level.
Nettle
believes it’s about hiring people “with a common cultural
view - not just about technology, but about result”
To
promote this philosophy in a rapid-growth environment, Nettles
uses certain catchphrases, which is a key component for effective
communication throughout the organisation. For instance, "Time
is the enemy," in other words employees need to focus on
quick execution. Another is "ONTG" - an acronym for
"one neck to grab" – meaning there is an individual
in charge of every aspect of the business, a person with whom
the buck really never stops. Nettle observes, "things that
don't have ONTG generally don't get finished."
Retaining
employees Nettle’s way has been a gigantic success. Even
when Ciena witnessed a downturn two years ago with bonuses drying
up after the failure of a merger, employees remained staunch
loyalists. One reason being the company's location, outside
Baltimore. Ciena brought job opportunity to an area that needed
it. Moreover the company's culture does not encourage the job-switching
mentality that characterises so many other high-tech firms.
Today
Nettle is proud to say they have “built a skilled work
force with a great deal of loyalty," he took “people
who didn't have skills, trained them and gave them skills they
never would have had."
The
other factors can be seen as smart hiring practices. "It
goes back to the cultural fit," says Nettles. Ciena looks
closely at job applicants' personality traits. "We end
up with people who are really motivated to do the things we
need them to do for the commercial success of our company."
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