Friday 18 January 2008

Punching In: Further Thoughts (short)

Getting further into the book, Punching In, which I mentioned in my previous post, I've come across an interesting comparison between two companies: The Container Store and Enterprise Car Rental. Both seek to amplify engagement through a careful hiring process, but in different ways.

From the experiences of the author, Alex Frankel, The Container Store makes very strong efforts to recruit employees who fit the culture of the company, whilst Enterprise focus much more on selecting recruits with the personality that allows them to be moulded into the culture of the organisation.

So which is better? Find people who fit your culture, or train them to become part of your culture? There is no simple answer and one obvious difference is that it is much easier for the relatively small Container Store to winnow through the applicant pool and pick out "our kind of people." Enterprise, perhaps has to work more at finding good people and then "teaching them the culture" because it needs to find so many more employees.

This aspect is perhaps amplified by the different features of the entry-level jobs in question. From Frankel's descriptions, working at The Container Store provides more positive customer feedback and a more obvious sense of job satisfaction than working behind the desk at Enterprise. As such, Enterprise's culture focuses on the company, rather than the work. Whilst the personality traits of "interested in organising things, likes talking to people, bit of a natural salesperson" (for Container Store) can be thought of as naturally occuring, the trait "attached to the goals and style of Enterprise Rent-A-Car" naturally need to be built up in the post-hire training process.

This is of course, more about engagement than communication, but it's important for Internal Communications types to consider. These mechanical details of HR practice set the frame for the IC function. Communications aimed at improving engagement will look very different in the two companies mentioned. Knowing what the HR strategy for engagement is makes for a much more effective IC program.

 

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