Innovating HR

Strategies
ISFORM LECTURE
JANUARY 16, 2023
7 Innovative Ideas for HR
1. Want to Keep Your Best Employees? Offer Them Cash to Quit

When it comes to hiring and firing, there is a sort of unwritten rule that most companies
must hire quickly and fire slowly.
But the shoe and accessories e-tailer Zappos swears by the opposite – they claim
that the most harm actually comes from hiring mistakes. Their own past hiring
mistakes have cost them well over $100 million dollars.
So they came up with a unique solution. During the initial training of a new
employee, Zappos offers to pay them for any time spent training plus one month’s
salary – and all they have to do is to quit. Only a small percentage of the newbies
take the offer, but the committed employees stay and continue to provide the
exceptional customer service that the company is famous for.
This approach isn’t limited to just Zappos. Amazon also started their own Pay to Quit
program. Amazon’s employees get this offer once a year, the first an offer for $2000
with annual increases of $1000 each year after that, with a maximum of $5000.
2. Develop Mentorship Programs to Engage Employees

Approximately 30% workers in America are now millennials, according to Howe and
Strauss.
By 2020 this generation will become 50% of the global workforce, so that means that
the war for the best and brightest is happening now.
The Deloitte Millennial Survey 2016 showed that millennials who plan to stay 5+ years
at a company are twice as likely to have a mentor. This study only confirms what we
already know in our hearts: When a manager is involved in their team member’s
training and development, they’re much more likely to stay longer.
But how do you train someone on top of doing your own work? One way you can do
this is by training in snippets and showing (not only telling) your employee what good
work looks like.
3. Welcome New Hires With High-Fives

A study in the Academy of Management Journal showed that when people starting a
new job have a higher level of support, they’re more positive and more productive.
One way to show your support is by organizing a high-five lane for the new employee
on their first day at work so that everyone greets and welcomes the newbie by creating
a euphoric atmosphere.

If we go by the results of a UC Berkeley psychology professor who examined NBA

games for 8 months and concluded that high fives actually played a part in helping
teams win, then this practice seems like a great return on the (almost non-existing)
investment.
4. Increase Retention With Company-Sponsored Personal Development
Salary, bonuses, free transportation, and insurance benefits are just a few of the items in a classic
remuneration package – but things are changing in this regard, too, as modern companies are
developing new, creative ways of attracting and keeping top talent. Part of this change focuses
on promoting health and well-being by offering great work-life balance and stress-reducing
activities such as a free company gym sessions.
One example of this is company-sponsored fitness classes. Alexa Von Tobel, Founder and CEO
of LearnVest, offers a gym class to her employees at the start of the work day.
Other perks include endless vacation time and flexible time off – employers are finally realizing
that employees do not choose to be sick, injured, or stuck in traffic. Life happens.
5. Create New Feedback & Evaluation Standards to Develop Your
Employees
Forget 360-degree feedback systems. Hoping to improve performance simply by
supplying anonymous feedback on a leader’s shortcomings without context or details is
unrealistic.
The same could also be said for managers providing feedback for their team members
— the rigid evaluation sheet is a thing of the past.
Instead, try this: T.H.I.N.K and be S.M.A.R.T. Stay focused and compassionate during
the feedback discussion (with an emphasis on discussion) by asking yourself the
following questions: “Is it True?”, “Helpful?”, “Inspiring?”, “Necessary?” and “Is what
I’m about to say Kind?”.
When providing feedback, make sure it’s: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant
and Timely.
Keeping these two acronyms in mind during your next evaluation discussion with your
teammate will help you separate constructive feedback from opinions that are better
kept to yourself.
6. Reimagine the Standard Workspace to Keep Things Interesting
It can be easy to forget that millennial were in school only a few short years ago,
where they spent quite a bit of time trying to be engaged (even though they weren’t
always), so they can be pretty skilled at pretending to be engaged.
Placing them at a standard desk for an entire workday, giving them classroom-style
training and asking them to participate in long, drawn-out meetings in a standard
meeting room can result in lost interest – and the worst part is that you may not
know it until they hand in their resignation letter.
A few alternate ideas include unassigned workstations, getting rid of private offices,
and increased connectivity – as the real estate giant CBRE recently discovered after
relocating to a more creative working space.
In their internal survey, 83% of employees reported feeling more productive from
working collaboratively in a smaller space.
7. Help Your Employees Give Back by Matching Charitable Contributions

Speaking of millennials, 75% of them believe that businesses are too focused on
their own agendas and not focused enough on improving society. Additionally,
Cone Research found that 79% of people favor working in a company that is
socially responsible; while 79% of people believe it’s important that their
employer matches their charitable giving.
Since most employees wish to work for companies that are on a mission to
change the world, ideas like matching employees’ charity donations and
encouraging employees to spend a few paid days every year volunteering in their
community are welcomed.
An easy activity that the HR department can organize is workplace giving –
meaning the employer makes it possible for the employees to make monetary
donations directly from their salary. This, the America’s Charities 2015 Snapshot
claims, is a common component of employee engagement. It’s a win-win for
everyone.
6 ways to boost HR innovation
1. Recognize and reward innovation
Implementing and executing the right recognition and reward program can boost
employee innovation. Behaviors that are recognized get repeated, so recognizing
innovation is a great way to see more of it, resulting in a strong, sustainable culture
of creativity. Employees also aren’t likely to innovate unless they’re engaged and
motivated each and every day. All leaders should know that employee engagement
is critical, but they might not realize that employee recognition is the number one
driver of engagement. According to the Achievers 2021 Engagement and Retention
Report, the more recently someone is recognized, the higher their engagement is
likely to be.
2. Listen and act on innovative ideas
Even if employees are motivated to come up with and present innovative ideas, it
won’t matter if they don’t have the means to share them — or if those they present
them to don’t listen to and act on their ideas. Leaders should always take quick
action when presented with innovative feedback, including involving team
members in creating action plans and setting up the next steps in ways that team
members can contribute to. Team members will then feel like they are a part of the
solution, and will know that speaking up has a positive impact on the entire
organization. This creates the confidence and trust needed to continue speaking up
as a truly engaged and valued employee.
To truly enable employee voice, your organization should provide avenues for
anonymous feedback, so employees can always be honest. Adopt an employee
engagement platform that includes easy-to-answer pulse surveys and always-on,
AI-powered HR chatbots to keep the innovative ideas flowing.
3. Recruit a diverse workforce
Diversity concerns differences in political beliefs, race, culture, sexual orientation, religion,
class, and gender identity among your team members. A diverse team consists of individuals
who come from different perspectives and backgrounds.
Inclusion means that everyone on that diverse team feels involved, valued, respected, treated
fairly, and integrated in your company culture.
Equity at work occurs when you provide fair opportunities for all of your employees based
on their individual needs, offering each team member the specific resources they need to be
successful.
A diverse, inclusive, and equity-focused environment creates a strong sense of belonging
among your team members, so they feel comfortable when sharing new and exciting ideas
that shake up the status quo. It also brings in the wide range of perspectives needed to see
where opportunities for productive change lie.
HR team members are in a strong position to support diversity, inclusion, and equity. Here
are two of the best ways they can put these beliefs into action.
4. Build a culture of psychological safety
Psychological safety at work is when your team knows that they can share their ideas,
questions, worries, and even mistakes without being embarrassed, rejected, or
punished. Psychologically safety results in a great culture where employees can
innovate without fear that their ideas will be dismissed. This is a proven tactic, with
Google having found that teams who enjoyed high rates of psychological safety
implemented more diverse ideas and drove higher performance while enjoying less
turnover.
Together, HR and leaders have the power to establish an environment where
employees are comfortable sharing their feelings. HR should encourage leaders to ask
for their team’s input, thoughts, and feedback to help build feelings of safety, increase
communication, and deliver better results across the organization, even in critical areas
like workplace safety. HR should also help train leaders to use techniques like owning
their own mistakes, publicly crediting employees for their ideas, and recognizing
contributions to difficult conversations.
5. Help employees grow
If you have invested in creating an engaged team where everyone feels recognized,
heard, included, and psychologically safe, then you have likely created a company that
your team will want to contribute to. Offer comprehensive opportunities to do so by
making sure that your employees are able to learn and grow within your organization.
Both HR and individual leaders should participate in developing their employees’ skill
sets and offering educational opportunities. They should also give them the autonomy
to make important decisions that can lead to new forks on their career path at your
organization. Provide meaningful ways to contribute, pursue their work-related
interests, and find opportunities for advancement to increase retention while building a
skilled, flexible, and achievement-oriented workforce.
Not sure what your team members’ needs, wants, and goals are? Start by asking them.
Employee involvement in the creation of training and development programs ensures
that you’re increasing both their knowledge and your organization’s level of employee
engagement.
6. Choose the right tech
Thankfully, HR doesn’t have to build the foundation for innovation
alone. Technology, in the form of modern HR software solutions,
can help you meet all of your organization’s innovation goals.
Adopting the right recognition and engagement platforms makes it
possible to notice and appreciate each team member’s effort and
give every employee a voice, regardless of your organization’s size.
Looking for a new platform for your organization? Here are a few
features that you should consider when making your choice.