Tapping Top Talent in a Downturn

HR leaders often are faced with the task of downsizing in one business unit and recruiting highly skilled professionals in another. They have to cope with an exponential increase in applicants for a much smaller number of open jobs, maintain morale in constantly shifting external and internal environments and help their organizations retain key employees. This must be done with reduced recruiting and HR staffs and slashed budgets, at a time when brand image is a critical success factor.

Today, more than ever, organizations must recruit and select the best talent where they have openings and upgrade talent in areas where it will advantage the business. Change in the business environment has happened so fast, many organizations have been slow to adjust and take action. In the current economic climate, it is necessary to take a step back and evaluate workforce plans, as well as talent acquisition processes and enabling technology and determine a strategy that works for the organization in the new recruiting reality.

A Fresh Approach

The biggest mistake an organization can make in this challenging environment is to let down markets drive its vision and shut down recruiting completely. Don't ignore reality. Take a well-planned, creative approach to workforce planning and talent acquisition.

When recruiting departments are faced with more work and fewer resources, build in efficiencies, maximize existing tools, eliminate waste from existing processes, innovate, manage vendor relationships and establish strategic partnerships.

Consider the following steps:

1. Re-evaluate recruitment marketing strategies.
Don't stop running ads and posting jobs, but do be strategic and take a planned approach. The market has shifted from a scarcity to an abundance of candidates in a very short time - adjust accordingly. Don't overspend or spend in the wrong areas. Now is a great time to be out in the market as the competition for talent is much lower. Take advantage of it.

Also, renegotiate existing vendor relationships; don't pay last year's rates this year. There will still be skill shortages and geographic recruiting gaps, so rewrite copy and spruce up the company's look. Speak in a genuine voice for the organization by working with the marketing department.

2. Leverage the hidden gold mine.
Arguably the most commonly overlooked tool in any organization is its existing database. A real gold mine of information, the resumes collected by recruiters and HR staff during the past few years should provide great leads on passive and active candidates. For instance, run a Boolean search on the company's internal ATS database.

3. Improve competitive insight.
Leverage candidate interviews to collect market data on competitors. Actively call leads and network to gain insight into their knowledge about competitors. As talent managers interview candidates from competitors, gather critical information to help position the company to win in the market.

4. Tap the current employee pool.
Take a fresh look at the existing employee pool. Which individuals shine in the downturn? Identify individuals who have been interested in gaining experience in other functional areas and who would be willing to wear two hats during difficult times.

For the right employees, the current climate might provide real opportunities to gain much needed and desired experience in another area. Strong employees will appreciate the opportunity for long-term career growth, and it will show them how much they are valued.

5. Maximize social networking in recruiting.
When used properly, social media networks are an effective tool. The time demand is surprisingly low. If an organization has limited time, choose one or two networks to try. One recommendation is LinkedIn, which is targeted to professionals and requires little maintenance.

6. Automate candidate contact, and employ well-designed self-service.
Tracking down candidates can be time-consuming and frustrating, not to mention costly. Be efficient. One of the easiest solutions is to work with a provider to automate the process. There are myriad tools and software options on the market. The most attractive are those that include auto-scheduling, online minimum qualification screening and telephony/video interviewing platforms. Talent leaders also will want to improve and perhaps automate selection tools to ensure they find those few best needles in the now huge haystack.

Many talent managers can relate to the challenge of responding to the growth in candidate calls to "check status" and a single candidate applying for multiple positions. Turn on auto e-mails. A recent Pinstripe survey showed that less than 20 percent of organizations use that functionality in their ATSs.

Books Are Fun Ltd., a Chicago-based subsidiary of Reader's Digest, and the world's leading display marketer of books and gifts, experienced the benefits of automation firsthand. To meet expansion goals and cover attrition rates, Books Are Fun recruits 250-300 independent sales representatives every year. Before automation, the company's six internal recruiters spent 70 percent of their time screening applicants.

"We knew that the most important part of the recruiting process is the late-stage conversation that we have with a candidate about the job as a lifestyle change rather than just another position," said David Hammond, vice president of sales recruitment. "We needed our internal folks to focus on these late-stage conversations. It was a waste of time for my staff to handle the screening process."

Books Are Fun outsourced the sourcing and screening process to an organization that was able to reduce costs and time to fill by streamlining candidate tracking; managing all recruitment marketing efforts including postings and active and passive candidate sourcing; and accessing additional resources, including community-based recruiting from libraries and organizations, franchise and sales-niche recruiting, various national and regional job boards and TRM contact searches.

7. Find the right candidates from the onset.
Many organizations put too many people through too far in their processes. Design talent acquisition, screening and selection processes carefully and stick with them. Screen people in - and out - early.

"In the past, Books Are Fun offered a contract to the first qualified candidate that appeared. Now we want to offer a contract to the most qualified candidates only," Hammond said. "Our new system generates enough volume of qualified candidates to provide us with real choices."

8. Review the funnel and revise processes.
An organization may have fewer openings, but now there will be more people applying, which will significantly increase the amount of time spent screening and responding to applicants. This can exhaust an HR team, particularly one that recently reduced staff, and could increase effective cost per hire.

Adopt a high-volume recruiting model to process a high volume of candidates in a time of low job requisitions. Technology enables the process in a candidate friendly way. Move online prequalifiers to the top of the funnel, and save the paid online screens and assessments for the spot where the funnel is slimmer.

Books Are Fun revised its process and brought about significant improvements, including a 45 percent decrease in costs, a decrease in time to fill from 52 to 42 days and clear recruiting metrics including weekly summaries, pipeline reports, hiring funnels and detailed process maps.

9. Protect the brand.
When an organization is one of a few that is hiring, and getting 500 resumes for every job posted, process change is necessary. Work with experts to ensure the company doesn't miss good people or alienate future prospects and customers. This is particularly important if an organization is a major consumer brand, and every applicant also is a consumer.

Be polite and respectful every time. Companies are not usually good at this, and HR will find it especially important to partner with marketing and hiring managers when everyone is being asked to do more with less.

Times are tough and the human resources function is on the frontlines of the battle. But remember, every downturn yields winners and losers. Some organizations will not merely weather this storm; they will seize the opportunity to emerge as a more efficient and successful.


[About the Author: Sue Marks is founder and CEO of Pinstripe Inc., an HR and recruitment process outsourcing firm serving large- and middle-market domestic clients, as well as the Global 5000.]

What Lies Beneath Low Performance

We know them well - employees whose work never seems to be up to par. They don't take direction well and may need constant hand-holding. Tasks are completed late and the quality of their work often is poor. Sometimes, a bad attitude and disruptive work habits are also present: They come in late, leave early and generally are difficult to deal with. At first glance, the best course of action for these individuals' performance management plans would be to weed them out. But perhaps not. Showing low-performing employees the door may be the right decision in certain circumstances, but an alternative may be better for the individual and the organization.

Before making a final judgment about a low performer, talent managers need to take a close look at the specific root causes of the subpar performance.

Is it due to lack of engagement with tasks, skill gaps in critical areas or perhaps a focus on the wrong priorities? In the vast majority of cases, some kind of talent management failure by the organization contributes to an employee's poor performance. Consider, for example, an employee who has been hard at work on a key project, operating on guidance from his manager that he should "drop everything" and focus on project delivery. However, several months later, realizing that critical deliverables were left unfinished, the manager identifies this employee as a low performer. But are they? Or were they just placed in a difficult position that limited their opportunity for success?

By identifying the root causes of low performance, talent managers have the opportunity to call upon solutions and best practices to remedy the situation. In the aforementioned example, perhaps the problem was a breakdown in communication between employee and manager. Or perhaps this manager expects all of her employees to proactively handle multiple tasks at once, and this employee lacks that particular skill.Once these root causes are identified, the right solutions can be employed to transform a low performer into a strong contributor to organizational goals.

Leading Causes of Low Performance

A closer examination of low performance reveals a number of common causes. They include:

a) Lack of engagement: Employees may become disengaged for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they're confused by their roles in the company or by specific tasks they're expected to handle. They may not have a clear idea of what's expected of them or feel that they are part of a team. Consequently, they may either work on the wrong activities or simply not work hard because they don't see the point in making the extra effort.

b) Skill gaps: Another type of low performance is caused by skill gaps. An employee may try to do the right thing, but can't because he or she is missing core or task-specific skills. This often is the case when a new manager who was a top performer in a previous position is promoted but not properly coached on the leadership skills needed to successfully manage a team.

c) Wrong focus or wrong tasks: This is slightly different from the disengaged employee example. In some cases, talent managers may find employees are working really hard and putting in the extra time and effort to achieve excellence. But due to lack of guidance or the wrong direction, they work on projects or activities that do not relate directly or indirectly to the goals and objectives of the business.Inevitably, there are going to be instances in which poor performance results from a lack of fit with the organization or culture. In these cases, management out of the organization may be the right decision, but it is important to do more than just show low performers the door. Instead, talent managers need to provide comprehensive feedback to recruiters so similar mistakes can be avoided in the future. This approach enables the organization to turn a hiring mistake into a process that will improve success rates for new hires.

Build a Culture of Performance Improvement

With a firm understanding of these root causes for low performance, organizations also need to build a true performance culture that sets up all employees for success. This approach has two important components: the proactive changes talent managers can make to organizational culture to avoid poor performance before it starts, and reactive steps to rehabilitate poor performance once it happens. Organizations can do a lot to avoid poor performance if they understand how to align individual and group productivity with overall goals and objectives; foster a sense of teamwork, even when teams are geographically dispersed; and ensure measuring progress and performance are a seamless part of employees' daily work activities. For example, if low performers suffer from a lack of engagement, perhaps they need to be integrated more effectively into connected corporate communities that provide support and assistance when needed.

Many employees underperform when they feel they are working in isolation. Innovative technology solutions can enable employees to tap into community-based knowledge and experiences that are relevant to their job functions and activities. People can connect, exchange ideas and insights, and learn in formal or informal environments using wikis, blogs, discussion forums and team spaces, as well as real-time e-learning and online collaboration tools. If employees are confused about what they should be working on or are working diligently but on the wrong tasks, perhaps talent managers need better alignment between strategic goals and objectives and day-to-day job functions and activities. Leaders need a process that can be easily and efficiently refined, adjusted and used to align employee activities across traditional and cross-functional hierarchies.The communication process is incredibly important. Consider the example of an employee identified as a high potential in the organization. This individual was asked to take on a new role in the organization, and a year later he was transferred again. These moves were only vaguely explained as, "We'd like you to get some experience with different roles," and the employee began to feel like he wasn't seen as successful because his responsibilities kept changing. His performance declined as he became less engaged, and only in the exit interview did the employee discover the various changes in role were not due to his failure to perform. In fact, he was in a formal development program for high potentials focused on creating well-rounded leaders by assigning them job rotations.Proactive approaches to close individual skill gaps also are key. Employees need a better understanding of the specific competencies required for particular job roles and a way to proactively close those gaps. Whether the plan involves formal training or more informal experiences such as coaching or mentoring, this process is essential to grow the talent needed to manage a company and respond to market opportunities and customer requirements now and in the future.

Talent managers might be surprised how often a low performer's attitude or motivation is not the problem, but lack of preparation and efficient access to knowledge and expertise is.Reactive ApproachesIn many organizations, a formal performance improvement plan (PIP) is the favored response to low performance. Unfortunately, too many organizations have used the PIP as a way to formally document an employee's failures and justify dismissal. To be effective, rather than just punitive, PIPs need to focus on performance improvement.PIPs can be incredibly effective to clearly communicate what needs improvement. But while today's PIPs work just fine when there is a behavior that needs to be corrected - such as tardiness - they don't work as well in cases such as the overextended employee discussed earlier. This employee - the one who dropped everything to complete the important project - will just repeat history if placed on a standard PIP that lists tasks that should be accomplished. Instead, the PIP should place emphasis on improved and regular communication between the employee and manager. Instead of just stating, "Complete projects X, Y and Z by this date," the PIP also should include a commitment to regular check-ins with the manager to discuss prioritization and re-prioritization when new demands emerge, definition of a new notification process when projects fall behind or other changes that will help mitigate employee pitfalls.

A Unified Approach to Performance Improvement In the past, talent managers might have been inclined to say the big issue with low performers is not so much individual accountability; rather, it is about establishing the right processes at the organizational level to guide and support employees across the life cycle. People management processes should be presented to the employee in a unified way to effectively manage employees from the moment they are hired, through promotions or job changes, until they leave the company.In addition to managing formal performance reviews and PIPs, the most effective solutions also will include ways to support the proactive culture change discussed above. This includes the ability to seamlessly incorporate learning and skill development, facilitate teamwork and encourage alignment and communication between employees and managers. That way, performance problems are avoided before they surface. If talent managers try to correct low performers after they become low performers, it may be too late.

Ref: Susan Tonkin [About the Author: Susan Tonkin is a senior product marketing manager at Saba, a talent management solutions provider.]

HR Strategy: From Execution to Influence

To be effective leaders in their organizations, HR executives are going to need to successfully move the function from executing strategy to influencing it before decisions are made. The HR function has evolved over the past few decades, with each decade having a guiding paradigm that was interrupted by periods of economic recession.

The '70s were the decade of compliance, a time when HR's role seemed to focus on being the cop that kept managers from making discriminatory employment decisions. The '80s saw the emergence of strategic HRM, but from a siloed perspective as each aspect of the function (staffing, compensation, training, etc.) attempted to tie its activities to the firm's strategy. The '90s were characterized by the "strategic partner" paradigm, a time when HR's role was focused on aligning all of the function (processes, policies, etc.) in order to execute the strategy.

The present decade has been the decade of talent, with HR focused on creating the processes to attract, develop and retain the talent critical to organizational success. In each decade, the value of human resources increases, but each of these paradigms shares one thing in common: They all view HR's role as the executor of strategy. While HR's role in strategy execution is critical to both its internal credibility and the business' success, the emerging responsibility -- something we hopefully will see a lot more of in the next two or three years -- is to move from executing strategy to influencing it.

How HR leaders do this depends on whether their firm's strategic decision-making is characterized as a rational process or a process plagued by human frailty.

A Rational Process

The "rational" model suggests that strategy is a linear, goal-oriented, decision-making approach that entails gathering all of the relevant information and then making the decision what maximizes the relevant outcomes for the firm. This is usually the subject of the offsite "strategic planning" meetings and are reflected in the "strategic plan."

This approach assumes that all those involved in the decision share the same goals, but maybe not the same perspective or the same information. Thus, by getting them together to discuss their different perspectives and share their different information, consensus around what constitutes the "right" decision can be gained.

It is largely this model that has guided some of the work suggesting that HR can influence strategy by being "at the table" when these decisions are being made. Many decision-makers have functional blinders that limit how they define a problem. In addition, due to the pressures exerted by the financial community, decision-makers are prone to focus on the financial outcomes of a decision while ignoring other potential outcomes (corporate reputation, legal risk, customer reactions, employee engagement, etc.). These limitations to the decision-making process may result in decisions that provide maximum short-term financial payoffs, but simultaneously begin a set of processes that may threaten long-term viability.

In this model, the role of the HR executive is to ensure that these "unintended consequences" are all discussed and addressed before the decision is finalized. HR executives achieve this best not by telling, but rather by asking. Because HR executives may lack a reputation for deep knowledge of all areas of the business, they may not be viewed as a credible source of suggested strategies. However, because HR leaders are at the table, they can ask important questions. For instance, in the case of a downsizing or layoff, they might ask:

a) "If we decide to downsize by 10,000 will we be able to maintain our ability to provide customers with what they want from us?"
b) "What are some of the legal risks that we might incur if we engage in this layoff?"
c) "How will this impact our reputation as a socially responsible company?"
d) "Will this layoff be a negative signal to our talent that encourages them to start looking elsewhere?"

The economics of the business may dictate that laying off 10,000 employees is necessary. However, forcing the discussion may lead to either a different decision (Can we cut back hours and pay across the board instead of a layoff?) or to a better way to implement the same decision (How can we communicate to our talent that we value them so they do not begin looking outside?).

My work in studying HR leaders over the past three years reveals that forms of this process often take place outside of the normal "off-site" meeting. Members of the top management team may disagree with the direction a powerful CEO is pushing, but may be unwilling to express their disagreement openly.In this case, the HR leader's role is to try to surface those areas of disagreement confidentially, and then be the conduit to confront the CEO with these conflicting perspectives. This confrontation may take place in the CEO's office or at the executive leadership team meeting itself. Either way, HR executives are influencing the decision-making process when they take the responsibility for ensuring that all perspectives are recognized before a decision is reached.

Certainly, HR leaders can state a point of view, and, if grounded in a deep knowledge of the business, their opinion is often valued by other decision-makers. So the influence can be gained by persuasion as much as by questioning. In either case, the HR leader does not have the authority to make the better decision, but an effective HR executive will always make the decision better.

Plagued by Human Frailty

One hopes that the rational decision-making process characterizes all, or at least most, of the strategic decisions. However, has anyone ever seen a top management team? Too many "teams" are really made up of a group of individuals with their own ambitions, egos, desires and agendas.

A successful CEO may have become so blinded by his or her own success that dangerous levels of hubris begin to emerge. Or, either overtly or covertly, members of the team who hope to ascend to the CEO position may opportunistically seek to undermine the CEO and/or his or her potential competitors for that role. In essence, members of the top management team, like every other human being, can be subject to human frailties, and those frailties can severely impact the strategic decision-making process.

First, what are human frailties? These are universal characteristics of the human condition that, under the right circumstances, result in individuals making decisions that put self over others. While they are not limited to these, I like to focus on two that encompass most of the dysfunctional activities.

Hubris refers to excessive pride, or a belief that one's self is so good, intelligent, etc., that one can do no wrong. Every decision is the right one, and when others disagree, it is only because they do not possess the same level of capability. For instance, when retail industry novice Bob Nardelli, chairman and CEO of Home Depot, argued with longtime retail industry analysts that same-store sales was not a good metric for judging performance, he was displaying hubris.

Opportunism refers to self-interest seeking with guile, or having such a focus on achieving one's own ambitions or desires that one is willing to do whatever it takes, regardless of the consequences to others. The road of failed strategies is littered with leaders overcome by human frailties such as Ron Allen of Delta Air Lines, Jean-Marie Messier of Vivendi Universal or Phil Condit of Boeing. These are not evil men who sought to do harm to their organizations, but rather leaders blinded by their own weaknesses, which led them to pursue strategies that failed their firms.

In a process plagued by human frailties, HR executives may not find themselves in a position to influence at the table, but rather in the hallways; outside of the normal decision-making process.

Looking ahead, what do HR executives who find themselves in positions to influence decisions need to do? Here are several suggestions:

a) Be vigilant in identifying the first signs of human frailties. Business leaders who become isolated, unwilling to harbor disagreement, abusive or exhibit behavior that suggests they are above the rules are those suffering from frailties. If they are to succeed, the HR leader must step in.

b) Erect the guardrails that prevent human frailties. Executive coaches, 360-degree appraisals, employee-survey feedback and other feedback mechanisms can provide information business leaders will find difficult to ignore. My work with CHROs suggests that one of their major roles is to be the person who provides the hard feedback of how a leader is being perceived by others. Whatever the source, such feedback can keep egos in check and make leaders aware of their unrecognized opportunistic tendencies.

c) Create the controls that minimize the impact of human frailties. Some leaders may be overcome with frailties, yet still be effective decision-makers. For instance, much has been written about Steve Jobs, chairman and CEO of Apple, and his ego, tantrums and abuse of employees.

However, his intuitive grasp of the industry provides him with unique insights that have enabled Apple to emerge from the proverbial dustbin of the information- technology industry to become one of the most admired companies in the world. To the extent that his board and those around him ensure that he cannot make all decisions unilaterally, his frailties can live on while their impact is controlled.

Be ready to put your badge on the table. Most HR leaders can tell at least one story about the time they had to put their job on the line.

Randy MacDonald, senior vice president of HR at IBM, suggests that all good HR people will risk being fired at some point in their careers when they have to stand up for what they believe in. Sometimes it was having that hard conversation with the business leader about his or her weaknesses. Sometimes it was going before the board to report to them the business leader's weaknesses.

Regardless of the situation, the effective HR leader has a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders to ensure that the most effective leader is in place, and sometimes that means replacing the present one.

Our emerging research on HR leaders suggests that the most effective ones successfully oversee the implementation of business strategies through human capital decisions and HR processes. But it also suggests that those who stand out are the ones who can expertly influence strategic decisions before they are made, be that at the table or in the hallway.


Ref: Patrick M. Wright
[About the Author: Patrick M. Wright is the William J. Conaty GE Professor of Strategic Human Resources and director of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University. He has published more than 40 articles in journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review and Strategic Management Journal, and has co-authored two textbooks: Human Resource Management: Gaining Competitive Advantage and Management of Organization. Wright previously held positions in the College of Business at Texas A&M University and the College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.]

Opportunity in adversity

Staying afloat
In a time when most are feeling the tremors of the global financial meltdown, there are a handful of Indian sectors that are still staying afloat. “If you look at sectors like insurance, healthcare, engineering, you will notice that they are still growing in volumes and value,” notes Ajay Soni, business leader - talent and organisation consulting, Hewitt.

What perhaps is keeping sectors like insurance afloat is the consumer mindset and attitudes. “Unlike developed economies like the USA, savings is in our DNA. In tough times we save even more for the future,” explains N.S. Kannan, executive director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
Industry experts are optimistic and are expecting the private life insurance industry to grow at a 30 per cent rate by FY ’09. “Since core of life insurance is long term savings and protection, these times with sensex crashing will not affect investors’ decisions,” Kannan reasons. “Customer focuses on long term objective and invests over a time period,” he adds. ICICI Prudential has reportedly witnessed 31 per cent growth in its new businesses and 90 per cent growth through renewal premium business in the last six months. “We’ve expanded phenomenally in the last 18-24 months and our bulk expansion has been in the last 6-8 months,” says Kannan.

In fact, from a branch network of 580 offices in FY’07, I-Pru now has 2,055 branches across the country. “We continue to recruit managers and advisory manpower for these new branches that we’ve set up,” Kannan adds.

Sectors galore
Insurance sector is playing an interesting role in the current downmarket scenario. The life insurance industry has pumped in a huge amount in the equity markets. “Firms like ours and other life insurers have been net buyers even in such volatile times," informs Kannan.

Then, there’s healthcare which is also reportedly doing better than most other sectors. “The global financial turmoil has not brought about any major upheavals in the biotech arena,” says Chirag Mehta, head, strategic planning and development, Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Intas Biopharmaceuticals has seen a 100 per cent growth in the FY '07-'08 and is expecting the same for the current fiscal year. “We are on track to achieve this. Our performance this year and in the remaining quarters would be in line with our expectations,” Mehta points out. “We do not see any major business plan change for the near future,” he adds.

This perhaps also implies no major change in the hiring strategy. “We have added over 15 per cent to our manpower base during the last quarter and the trend for the subsequent quarter would remain unchanged,” confirms Dr. Kashmira Pagdiwalla, director, HR operations, Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Elaborating on the areas of healthcare where major hiring is happening, Dr. Pagdiwalla says, “The talent need is growing in the areas of research, manufacturing, marketing and corporate roles.” Of course, these are sectors that aren’t connected to the meltdown. However, even the services sector which has been adversely hit by the recession has pockets of growth. “In the services sector, Telecom is adding to the customer base and reporting continual growth,” Soni points out. One such example is Airtel which has grown at a 30 per cent rate from the last quarter.The way ahead

Soni, like other industry watchers, believes that the way forward is to set the house in order and use this time to create a strong DNA of managing organisation. “This time offers an option of looking at long-term and not just quarterly performances,” asserts Soni. “Forward looking organisations would build themselves for the long term,” he adds.

To put it simply, it’s an opportunity for managers to reflect on their business strategies and plan for contingencies.

Ref: Times Ascent

Aligning Human Resources and Business

Attracting the best and brightest employees, developing them and retaining them is a challenge for any organization. The role of the Human Resources function has changed dramatically over the past few decades and will become increasingly more strategic in nature in the future. With the changing landscape of Human Resources management in the years to come, strategic planning will be the key for HR to meet those needs and to succeed.

It seems that finally CEO’s are willing to give HR Managers a significant role in strategic decisions. To gain a stake as “Strategic Partners”, HR professionals should focus on two major issues- Return & Growth. Hr professionals can create economic value from these sources:

Employee turnover and retention
Revenue Vs Employee Costs
Expenditure on the HR function and related activities

These three factors relate to three important HR goals:

Attracting, developing and retaining staff
Aligning, engaging, measuring and rewarding performance
Controlling or reducing HR costs

HR related measures for growth needs to be handled with care and should be tailored to the organizations' goals. HR measures should be devised keeping in mind increase in performance & profitability. Following can be attributed as growth related HR measures:

Leadership Development
Increased employee engagement
Diversity in work force
Work-Life balance