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HR Benchmark

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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