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2004
The 2004 Human Resource Forum discussed the theme “Employee
Segmentation and Strategic Relationship Management”.
It focused on the ways to “identify and evaluate status
of current and potential competences, develop a structured
process of identifying HR and customer value propositions,
design and re-design clientele based business/functional
work process system and enhance strategies for retaining
their top performers on the job”. The discussion was both
employee and customer oriented.
Mrs. Wonuola Adetayo and Ms. Modupe Fasusi, FIPM,
Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) Softskills Management Consultant
and Bumans Services Limited respectively were Guest
Speakers while Dr. Gamaliel Onosode was the
Chairman.
The following were the highlights of the forum:-
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strategic relationship was identified as a process by
which a firm can bolster its competitive position through
collaborating with other firms in order to inject new
capabilities and deploy specialized resources to meet
the unique requirement of the customers’ solutions.
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employee segmentation on the other hand was described
as an attempt to differentiate individual employees
and then re-group them along the line of similarities
such as age, salary, demography, behaviour, psycography,
job performance, job level etc.
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strategic relationship management and employee segmentation
assist organizations to correctly assess the business
environment and redefine markets as may be necessary
so as to confidently approach the market with flexibility
and innovation.
The forum came up with the following recommendations:-
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age-wave:
the workforce is generally ageing, in Nigeria, retirement
age has increased to 60 years in many organizations
where it used to be 50 years, longevity of employments
under contractual arrangement after retirement is
becoming popular and the order of the day;
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generational
differences: preferred training methods, proficiency
with technology and attitudes towards authority, teamwork
etc;
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emerging
new paradigm of work, learning and leisure.
Younger workers are demanding more recreational time,
middle aged workers are re-inventing themselves and
older workers are looking to new work-leisure balance;
and
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new
models of employment – the nature of employer
– employee relationship is changing. Shorter term,
more fluid and customized arrangement are here to
stay.
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employee segmentation could help deliver on human resource
strategic priorities such as recruitment or retention
of key employees, diagnosis of training and development
needs, appointment and promotion, career succession
planning, compensation and reward management, employee
motivation plans, etc.
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organizations willing to remain relevant and excel
in business must establish, sustain and manage secured
and strategic relationship with all stakeholders
including investors, employees, suppliers, regulators,
etc.
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the challenge for HR practitioners is to move employees
along the lines of differentiation in order to serve
customers well as the concept is tied wholly to
customer service and satisfaction through management
of intangible vs tangibles, cycle of good service,
pay for core skills, positive work environment,
job design-strategic pouching, location-modular
strategies, cultural flexibility, reciprocal loyalty,
valuing and tapping diversity etc.
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cash cows who are stable employees, doing very well
on their current positions, but lacking required
potential for higher responsibilities should rather
than being promoted, be made to appreciate their
limitations through communication, with job rotation
as their best option.
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there should be timely management interventions
against stars who are high performing employees
with high potentials and records of quick exit before
they finalize their plans to check out.
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organizations should define corporate core competences
on which business survival rests and pay for such
in a differentiated form.
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employees will perform optimally and talents will
stay on in an environment devoid of tension, avoidable
politics, anxiety, stress, unethical practices,
a culture of rumour mongering, where management
style is truly open and leadership inspires and
encourages members and value creative contributions.
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