Workforce of One

Companies have excelled by treating customers as "markets of one"-offering them personalized buying experiences. But in managing talent, most firms still use one-size-fits-all HR practices. With today's diverse workforces, this approach is preventing organizations from attracting, retaining, and leveraging top talent. In Workforce of One, Susan Cantrell and David Smith show how exceptional companies are tailoring work experiences to employees' talents and interests-customizing job duties, training, recognition, and even compensation, work schedules, and performance appraisals. Their reward? Lower turnover, greater productivity, improved profit margins. The authors present four customization strategies: -Segmenting your workforce; for example, by life stage and learning style -Offering modular choices; e.g., choices regarding rewards, learning needs, or job duties -Defining broad and simple rules, such as evaluating work by outcomes, not time invested, or hiring for potential in addition to specific skills -Fostering employee-defined personalization, whereby employees define their own people practices (e.g., using peer-to-peer technologies to learn from one another) Drawing on extensive proprietary research, the authors explain how to combine aspects of all four strategies to address your organization's unique needs. Improving workforce performance through customized work experiences is the holy grail of the HR function. This book shows you how the workforce-of-one approach positions your company to win-while transforming your HR team into a strategic powerhouse.

Susan Cantrell is a Fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance and President/CEO of The Cantrell Group, a research and consulting organization. David Smith is a Managing Director of the Accenture Talent & Organization Performance practice.