Google Downsizes Its HR Department
Not even Google is exempt from the effects of the recession. The search engine giant is downsizing its staff by a hundred, but none of the technical positions are affected. The powers that be have decided that since they won't be hiring as much people as before, they might as well trim down those who are doing the hiring. Ouch. Excerpts:
Our first step to address this was to wind down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google. However, after much consideration, we have with great regret decided that we need to go further and reduce the overall size of our recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions.
The message was posted on Google's blog by Laszlo Bock, Vice President of People Operations. Guess everyone's feeling the crunch, including Google. The company is open to transfers though, so if those who were laid off happen to fit in another posts within the company, they can go for it. The wording is vague on whether they'll have to go through a re-application process though.
http://www.gadget.ca/Google-Downsizes-Its-HR-Department-028425.php
-Posted by Laszlo Bock, Vice President, People Operations
Changes to recruiting
As we made clear during our last quarterly earnings call in October, Google is still hiring but at a reduced rate. Given the state of the economy, we recognized that we needed fewer people focused on hiring.
Our first step to address this was to wind down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google. However, after much consideration, we have with great regret decided that we need to go further and reduce the overall size of our recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions.
We know this change will be very difficult for the people concerned, and we hope that many of them will be able to find new roles at Google. They helped build this company, new hire by new hire, and we are enormously grateful for everything they have done.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-to-recruiting.html
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Business Services Industry
HR Goes Flat at Coca-Cola
News of The Coca-Cola Co.'s impending downsizing in January upset the stomachs of a number of HR professionals, who noted that HR would be among the first departments to fizzle among the over 3,000 U.S. employees to be cut from the payroll.
Coca-Cola employees don't like to discuss the downsizing, which company president and CEO Douglas Daft says is a way of making sure Coca-Cola is "optimally positioned for a changing world."
But the downsizing occasioned plenty of high-octane discussion at a recent WORKFORCE.COM poll of 1,160 HR professionals during the first week of February. The poll asked why HR often seems so dispensable to downsizing companies. Nearly a third of respondents--29 percent--said that the main reason is because it's hard to quantify HR's worth to organizations. In fact, 75 percent of respondents gave answers related to quantifying HR, namely that HR tends not to align itself with business priorities, nor does the profession market its services well.
Francene Taylor, a staffing manager at the Atlanta-based Integrated Facility Division of Johnson Controls Inc. and a participant in the poll, believes "Senior management focuses almost exclusively on shoring up short-term profit while downsizing, and frequently the quickest way to do this is by cutting HR." However, she adds, "You can argue that if HR can prove it provides value-added services, then the department is less likely to be reduced."
Another participant, Ronald M. Katz, president of Penguin Human Resource Consulting in New Rochelle, New York, says, "An HR function that is not aligned with the business or can't quantify its contribution should suffer the same fate that we'd apply to any other department. However, one would hope that we have learned how to avoid those pitfalls as we set an example for other departments in our organizations. I think our main problem is we don't ensure that other parts of our companies, especially senior management, understand HR and our contribution."
Roger Selbert, principal of Los Angeles-based Growth Strategies Group and editor and publisher of Growth Strategies, an HR trend newsletter based in Santa Monica, agrees. "I'm a proponent of HR becoming an integral part of strategic planning in top-level management," he says. "HR needs to be involved from the get-go, not only in you corporate planning, but in making those plans happen." To build long-range viability, says Selbert, HR must assume the role of facilitator, educating the organization about the importance of people in a way that fits with the organization's objectives.
Poll participant Steven R. Burns, assistant director, HR for Cincinnati-based The Health Alliance, points out that, "Unfortunately, HR knows the long-term impact on morale and recruiting that results from deep cuts in the organization." As such, HR should make its role apparent as a leader in fulfilling the organization's long- and short-term goals.
Says Growth Strategies' Selbert, "HR's importance in fulfilling the strategic role of the organization is imperative for long-range viability. HR must actively facilitate the process, making their contribution a win-win for everyone."
Impact: To quantify its worth to organizations. HR's contributions must be visible to upper management and compatible with business priorities.
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