Category Archives: Great Employees

February 26, 2010

Hewitt Associates Top Companies for Leaders 2009 Study Results Reveal Leadership Is More Important Than Ever

By Recruiterpoet - Professionalism With Flare

Go to direct URL to choose individual country lists:

http://www.hewittassociates.com/Intl/NA/en-US/KnowledgeCenter/ArticlesReports/ArticleDetail.aspx?cid=4336&WT.ac=popart_L02_022210

Choose a location/language:

Argentina (Spanish) Latin America (Spanish)
Austria (German) Mexico (Spanish)
Canada (French) Puerto Rico (Spanish)
China (Chinese) Switzerland (French)
Germany (German) Switzerland (German)
Hungary (Hungarian)

On behalf of Hewitt Associates, FORTUNE Magazine, and The RBL Group, we would like to thank each of the companies who participated in the 2009 Top Companies for Leaders study. Thanks to their support, our efforts to identify companies who successfully attract, develop, and retain leaders resulted in the most comprehensive longitudinal study of talent and leadership around the globe. The 2009 findings not only shed light on the specific programs and practices that drive the success of Top Companies in developing leaders, they also uncover how these companies are wrestling with leadership challenges amid the current economic environment.

Out of 537 global participants, we identified 217 finalists who were ultimately considered for the Top Companies for Leaders regional and global lists. Our most competitive field to date, an independent panel of judges in each region had the difficult task of making the final selections. This year’s winners were announced in the December 7, 2009 issue of FORTUNE Magazine.

View the FORTUNE articles.

View our 2009 Research Highlights. (PDF format)

Hewitt’s Top Companies for Leaders Benchmark Report: Find out where you are. Learn where you need to go. Plot a course to get there.

Our research has found that the Top Companies for Leaders are never satisfied and use a number of tools in their leadership and talent planning efforts. In short, they bring a “measurement mind-set” to the often inexact process of developing the next generation of leaders. The 2009 Top Companies for Leader Benchmark Report can help your organization bring a “measurement mind-set” to the evaluation of its leadership and talent programs and practices; identifying strengths, diagnosing gaps, and providing valuable insight to inform strategy, planning, and budgeting efforts.

Learn more about how you can benchmark your organization against the 2009 Top Companies for Leaders.

About the Research

Initiated by Hewitt Associates, the Top Companies for Leaders Study is the most comprehensive longitudinal study of talent management and leadership practices around the globe. Our first results, published in 2002, uncovered a link between financial success and great leadership practices, and identified differentiating elements found only in Top Companies. We conducted the study again in 2003, 2005, and 2007, and this research provided the foundation for our more comprehensive 2009 global study. Over 500 companies participated, each completing a detailed questionnaire. From those submissions, finalists were identified and hundreds of interviews were conducted with senior executives. From these inputs, we are able to compare the talent management practices of the best companies around the globe on literally hundreds of data points. In our analysis, we found the gaps between the Top Companies and all others are often quite dramatic. Hewitt conducted the 2007 and 2009 Top Companies for Leaders Study in partnership with Fortune and The RBL Group.

Our Study Partners

Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) provides leading organizations around the world with expert human resources consulting and outsourcing solutions to help them anticipate and solve their most complex benefits, talent, and related financial challenges. Hewitt works with companies to design, implement, communicate, and administer a wide range of human resources, retirement, investment management, health care, compensation, and talent management strategies. With a history of exceptional client service since 1940, Hewitt has offices in more than 30 countries and employs approximately 23,000 associates who are helping make the world a better place to work. For more information, please visit http://www.hewitt.com.

FORTUNE is a global leader in business journalism known for its unrivaled access to industry leaders and decision makers. Founded in 1930, FORTUNE magazine has a worldwide circulation of more than 1 million and a readership of nearly 5 million and is home to some of the strongest business franchises including FORTUNE 500©, FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For, the World’s Most Admired Companies, Fastest Growing Companies, and Most Powerful Women. FORTUNE Live Media extends the brand’s mission into live settings, hosting a wide range of annual conferences for top-level executives, including the FORTUNE Global Forum and the Most Powerful Women Summit. FORTUNE magazine’s online home is http://www.CNNMoney.com, the most visited and utilized business destination Web site, attracting nearly 10 million unique visitors per month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. FORTUNE, along with MONEY and CNNMoney.com, is part of The Fortune|Money Group, a division of Time Inc., a subsidiary of Time Warner, a leading media and entertainment company.

The RBL Group is a strategic HR and leadership systems advisory firm. For over 25 years, its principals have collaborated with leading global organizations to strategically align corporate and business strategy to ensure sustainable high performance through the integration of theory, applied research, and practice. The RBL Group has trained and redesigned some of the best-managed companies in the world, helping them achieve significant improvements in bottom-line results. It is recognized internationally for innovative research and publications on leadership, intangible assets, and strategic HR, including hundreds of articles, more than 400,000 books sold, numerous industry awards, and recognition as outstanding educators and advisors by leading business publications. For additional information about The RBL Group, its principals and expertise, please visit http://www.rbl.net.

Leave a comment | posted in 2009, Great Employees, Hewitt Associates, Top Companies

October 30, 2009

My Future in Recruiting

By Recruiterpoet - Professionalism With Flare

“In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.” – President Herbert Hoover

Is recruiting about the research, relationship building and acquisition and training of talent or the potential for greatness?

My future in recruiting will be a manifestation of innovation and change. Planting the seed, nurturing and watching the tree of global unification grow is a horticulturalist dream. As the branches expand and leaves grace the stems with intellectual brilliance we find ourselves in the Talent community holding hands around this tree and embracing the future ahead of us.

Throughout my academic ride, professors stressed the importance of cultural awareness, business models, relationship building, training and adaptation. Taken that knowledge base and diversifying my career over industry sectors and geographic change, I have witnessed a collective understanding of the key factors that contribute to the greatness all companies have the potential to achieve.

Business Model 101 dictates the elements of a successful organization are built on the foundation of a mission, core values, policies and procedures, sustained culture, rewards and recognition and ethics. Putting that all aside, I have always viewed the one key element that will set brilliance ahead of mediocrity is human capital.

Those that have the key skills and competencies will help a company maintain a competitive edge but leadership is driven by risk, challenge, change management, collaboration, fiscal understanding, and cultural tolerance.

My future in recruitment is not only to play a roll in acquiring the talent that will drive my organization to become a benchmark in our industry and provide a return on investment to all our shareholders but to groom the next generation that will catapult us to standards of excellence.

I will build relationships through social networking, personal connections, collaborative efforts and integration into their professional and personal well being. Who I connect with now may have an immediate impact on the future of my company or a long term affect.

I believe in the mission of my company and its goal of promoting my personal growth and development and I feel strongly that with patience, technical resources, industry knowledge and presence, I will build a network that will continue to grow over time both domestically and globally.

My future in recruiting is about embracing the tools of social media, not being afraid to connect, and understanding the knowledge base that is launching the evolution of my industry.

I am excited about the prospects of the future. I believe talent acquisition are the pioneers of a new movement in business and we will set the standards and dictate policy moving ahead.

This is an exciting time of change.

1 comment | posted in Great Employees, Human Resources, Innovation, Recruiting, Social Networking

October 21, 2009

Hewitt Associates Erin Peterson – Global Talent Acquisition Leader wins Staffing Professional of the Year

By Recruiterpoet - Professionalism With Flare

The title speaks for itself. Not one of the most witty titles but this is a rare time where a dedication blog is due.

I believe this blog is an opportunity to celebrate life and all the successes that give us pride and satisfaction.
In a world driven by chaos, greed, gluttony, selfishness, apathy and a few others that you can find under Donald Trump in Wikipedia, it is refreshing to see the collective work of a visionary appreciated by peers and industry leaders.

Chicago is a challenging market driven by diversified industry representation, a tremendous academic presence, highly competitive job markets, a visible and sometimes volatile financial markets, surging unemployment and a sensitive political arena. To stand out in this environment is an added testimony to the strength Erin Peterson has as a professional and a person.

The Staffing Management Association of Greater Chicago, bestowed their annual award for Staffing Professional of the Year to Erin on October 15th. For those of you that do not know Erin, she is a dedicated mother and wife, a networking guru, a leader that values dedication and rewards performance and and one that believes in constantly evolving and implementing change.

When she stepped into her role with Hewitt Associates in 2008, she took a platform that to the naked eye would take three to five years to implement. Set a global strategy, develop a new model of Talent Acquisition, re-invent a campus program from the ground up, develop and implement a social branding strategy, gain strides in diversity, and overall build a world class Talent Acquisition Organization.

Less than a year and a half later, the realization of her dream is being seen at a global level. Surrounded by a team that is dedicated to her vision, Erin has led this vision into a reality.

As this organization evolved so to did the supporting players by evaluating skills, developing training initiatives, adding new tools and becoming more ingrained in a solution that is cost effective with a high rate of return.

The metrics speak for themselves but the dedication of her team cannot be addressed in words.

This, in the humble opinion of Recruiterpoet will be the first of many recognitions to come.

Congratulations Erin and the entire Talent Acquisition Team at Hewitt Associates

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Awards, Great Employees, Human Resources, Social Branding, Talent Acquisition

October 16, 2009

Why am I applying for this career opportunity?

By Recruiterpoet - Professionalism With Flare

Many at some point will and some already are in search mode. The radar is on and we are setting a course for Careerville. Unfortunately, not a Facebook application yet but give it a week or two.

Before I consider a formal application, I prepare a preliminary Q&A to help determine if I want to formally put my hat in the pile.

Here are a few things I focus on when considering a career opportunity:

1) What is the financial stability of the organization and are they under a Merger & Acquisition radar. This gives me an understanding of the long term growth and stability of the organization and fronts the question of consolidation in the event of a merger.

2) Why is this opportunity open – New business, attrition, short-term fill, expertise missing from team setting

3) What type of support is around this role – Who are the other team members and what expertise do they bring? Is there administrative support? What type of training (shadowing, on the job, classroom) will help transition into this role?

4) Does this opportunity have a set advancement ladder? (Is there a job family? What is the progression chain? What is the projected time line for advancement?)

5) What is the communication, innovation and idea implementation culture? Does this organization welcome open ideas? Is there a chain of command? Is it conservative or open to taking risk?

6) What is the leadership vision and overall company mission and how does it role into this particular role?

7) What is the work life balance culture – How many hours a week are expected? Are there late nights or early mornings? What is the travel element?

8 ) Does this role provide me with new challenges that will evolve my professional experience or will it keep me at my status quo?

9) Why am I choosing this opportunity? Responsibilities, company reputation, stability, location, I need a job…

Of course some of these can only be addressed during an interview setting but these are questions I consider when considering a new opportunity.

Now the question, Why are you applying to this opportunity?
Once you develop your own list, you will be ready to take on that career search.

Leave a comment | posted in Career Searching, Great Employees, Human Resources, Talent Acquisition

September 26, 2009

Employee of the Month

By Recruiterpoet - Professionalism With Flare

If you are looking for professional inspiration, look no further than Astrid Thoening of Parsippany, New Jersey.
On Thursday, September 24th, Astrid went to work as she has been doing for the Thornton Insurance Company for 37 years handling financial records, payroll and typing documents and contracts. This day was a little different. Astrid was showered with roses, chocolates and cards to celebrate her birthday.

It is not uncommon for us to work on our birthday. It is another way to get cake. Who can say no to cake. Mmmmmm cake. Sorry I was sidetracked. Unfortunately, there was a lack in creativity on the birthday cards. Not through any fault of Astrid’s friends and family but the card makers themselves.

You see, Hallmark, American Greetings and many others do not see a revenue driven value in handling a diverse assortment of Happy 100th Birthday cards. Yes, Astrid Thoening, born September 24, 1909 turned 100 and is still and active contributing member of the workforce.

“It’s another day — it’s hard to explain,” Thoenig said of turning 100. “I don’t feel old, and I don’t think old.”
When asked about how technology has evolved and what she has done to move from pen and ink to the computer age, Astrid said “Thinking young” was her key to understanding new technology and going with the flow.

This type of work ethic does lead to its fair share of problems. Her son wants to retire.
“I’m 67, and one of our jokes is: ‘How can I retire before my mother does?’” John Thornton said. He says his mother is a meticulous worker, reviewing contracts, preparing the payroll, making sure bills are paid, and is always pleasant company (AP).

She works with her son and grandson and could not be happier about coming into work each and every day, interacting with her family, the clients and the staff. Physically, Astrid feels wonderful and is looking forward to continue to work.

As you struggle to get out of bed in the morning or fear the recession will not end, remember Astrid.

She witnessed the Great Depression, The Gas Shortage, World War I, World War II, Korean War, the turmoil of the 60′s, The Rise of Communism, Vietnam, The Gulf War, The words of Truman, FDR and IKE, Talking Films, and the pandemic of 1918 and 1919 that killed 30 to 50 million worldwide including her sister and father in a matter of hours.

Astrid knows we will persevere as should you.

Let us raise a glass and say “Cheers” to Astrid Thoening, our Employee of the Century.

2 comments | posted in Great Employees, Human Resources

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