Innovative Approach to Talent Acquisition Drives National Expansion

Opportunity  |  Expanding from a regional to a national operation was the top priority of a successful public service nonprofit agency. Leadership recognized that old ways of attracting and rewarding employees resulted in a misalignment between talent and effective execution that was putting the achievement of their growth strategy at risk.

Approach  |  We took quick but comprehensive action to help the agency align its talent and organization with its growth strategy by: analyzing current talent acquisition and retention practices to uncover the friction that was hampering growth; establishing nine guiding principles as a blueprint for change; applying a whole-job evaluation process to understand where value that could drive expansion plans was (or could be) created; redesigning the overall salary structure to balance internal perceptions of value with external marketplace data; and tailoring talent acquisition and retention plans for a unique client-facing function so that the agency could compete effectively for the talent they needed.

Results

• Armed with practical tools for precisely evaluating positions and needs in their departments, front-line managers made better hiring decisions and accepted financial accountability for managing compensation resources.
• Streamlined performance evaluation and compensation processes so that discussions between HR and front-line managers were reduced from weeks to days and even hours.
• Ensured that compensation budget was allocated in line the market so that new talent and organization structure could deliver on national expansion plans.