onfronted with 45 percent turnover and an aggressive expansion plan to open 100
new staffing offices in 2001, Randstad North America was compelled to find
effective ways of getting new employees up to speed 
faster.
Retention wasn’t the only issue. Even though its turnover was lower than the
industry average of 60 percent, its revolving doors still were of major concern.
The bigger issue was that with such consistently high turnover, the company
wasn’t able to improve productivity.
"With so many new hires coming in all the time, it was hard to maintain a high
level of performance," says Alison McIsaac, national manager of learning
strategies and management.
Over the past six years, Randstad has developed a training program for new
employees that has directly resulted in $4.1 million in sales revenue, or a 338
percent rate of return. By eliminating four days of classroom training and
replacing it with a blend of online and face-to-face training, the company added
the equivalent of 8,400 days of productivity to the company in 2005. Randstad
was able to do this by designing a new training program that allows new
employees to learn while they are on the job.
Creating a centralized training program was crucial because Randstad’s 2,300
employees are spread around the globe. This often affected the way projects were
accomplished, says Genia Spencer, director of human resources and operations.
For example, managers would instruct employees to gather different kinds of
information about clients, resulting in a database of inconsistencies.
Randstad also wanted the training program to serve as a primer to new hires
about the company’s culture. Having acquired 17 companies over the years, the
organization lacked a single vision and voice. To address the issue, chief
learning officer Vince Eugenio and his team developed an extensive training
program. What started out in 2001 as a one-week on-site course for new hires has
evolved into a 16-week program that combines e-learning, in-class training,
on-the-job learning and mentoring.
New hires start the training during their first week at Randstad with a virtual
call in which executives welcome them to the company. Participants then take an
e-learning module about the culture and the history of the organization. In the
following few weeks, participants receive training from their managers on how to
conduct sales calls or use the databases as well as more issue-based classroom
training led by their district managers on the culture and values of the
company.
Within their first two months on the job, employees are expected to attend a
one-week face-to-face training at Randstad’s Atlanta headquarters, where they
meet the CEO and other corporate partners and participate in team-building
activities. The rest of the training is done online.
To help managers buy into the program, Randstad created a "subject expert group"
composed of 12 business line managers who offer training ideas. Executives
receive monthly reports detailing the status of their area’s training and which
employees still need to complete which courses.
Spencer says the new training initiative helps make the business run more
smoothly and gives employees a sense of having a career, not just a job. "A few
years ago when I would meet a talented new hire, I would worry that they would
get lost in the shuffle," she says. "Today I am excited because I know they will
succeed."
For its accomplishment in creating a successful training program for new
employees, Randstad North America is the winner of the 2006 Optimas Award for
Competitive Advantage.
 HEADQUARTERED IN ATLANTA, Randstad North America is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Randstad Holding NV, a publicly traded company on the Amsterdam, Netherlands,
stock exchange. The company has 455 offices and 2,300 employees throughout the
U.S. and Canada. The company posted North American revenue of $1.4 billion for
2005. |
|
RANDSTAD PROVIDES employment and staffing services to job
candidates and businesses. The company concentrates on placing candidates in
five core practice areas: office talent, industrial talent, creative talent,
technical services and professional resources. Employment opportunities include
long-term and short-term assignments, contract engagements and direct hires.
|
Workforce Management, March 13, 2006, p. 18
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