Resources

Recruiting TV shows. Keeping job listings a secret. Drinking on the job.

Sound like bizarre ways to find and manage the top performers your company needs? They are--but that's why they work! In fact, the examples listed above are just a few of the outrageous (yet effective) ways HR professionals are pushing boundaries to get better results.

Could a bleeding-edge recruiting tactic work for you? Consider these ideas assembled by Dr. John Sullivan, renowned HR expert, advisor, trainer and thought leader:

1. Outrageous benefits. Google recently revealed that, should any of its U.S. employees die, his or her surviving spouse or domestic partner will receive 50% of the employee's paycheck each year for the next 10 years! This sends a powerful message that benefits at Google are different.
   
2. Limited-term employee contracts. To force managers to weed out weak performers, the Revel casino and hotel required many of its new hires who interact with customers to sign employee contracts with a limit of four to five years. Once their contract expires, employees must formally reapply for their jobs. Hotel management argues that eliminating the guarantee of a permanent job will pressure employees to remain productive and customer-friendly throughout their employment term. They also believe that top performers won't be discouraged with the lack of job security because their performance levels will continue to make them desirable.
   
3. A recruiting TV show. The Chinese are learning how to be bold in recruiting by offering a TV show entitled "Only You" where candidates are interviewed and hired by executives in front of a live TV audience.
   
4. Bold employer branding. Amazon recently placed a letter containing information about its employee educational reimbursement benefits directly on its customer homepage. Everyone who interacts with Amazon received the message that employee welfare and development is important to the employer.
   
5. Unlimited vacation policies. A major role of the HR department is to track absenteeism and vacation days. However, foursquare, Netflix and several startups have begun to offer unlimited amounts of vacation and sick leave. This bold approach treats employees like mature adults who know how to manage how much time to spend away from work. By offering compelling work, tight-knit teams and performance-based pay, the firm offers enough positive incentives to drive employees to work more hours.
   
6. Keeping the job a secret. Smart firms periodically peruse the job postings of their competitors in order to use the required skill sets to aid in predicting their upcoming products and initiatives. The "inside Apple" blog reports that some candidates at Apple are being kept in the dark throughout the hiring process about the specific role and job that they are being recruited into. In a company well known for secrecy, the premise for this approach is that the information about what new hires will be working on is valuable and must be kept from competitors. Obviously, this approach could frustrate some candidates and it could even turn them off if they didn't fully understand the reasons behind it.
   
7. Recruiting on social media with the "10 days of shoes" contest. Marriott is a long-time innovator in employee branding, but it has found a novel way to use social media for recruiting. The premise of their shoe giveaway campaign is that applicants should always try to "put their best foot forward." Marriott further reinforced the message by giving away a $100 gift certificate at shoe powerhouse Zappos each day for 10 days. To qualify for the drawing, individuals merely had to sign up to become members of Marriott's Facebook recruiting page. Using highly desirable prizes to drive individuals to your social media page is a bold approach that ensures it will receive notice throughout the social media and blogging world.
   
8. Games become part of the workplace. With so many, both young and old, hooked on gaming, it only makes sense to integrate games into the workplace. Games have long been used by the military to train, but the giant retailer Target has begun using games to motivate individuals working in mundane jobs. For example, cashiers can be scored on each transaction, and individual employee scores can be competitively compared to other cashiers. The end result is both higher quality work and improved morale.
   
9. "Why do you stay" retention interviews. As the economy turns around and individuals have been "stuck" in their respective jobs for years, retention issues are bound to increase. It's important to find out why people leave, but traditional exit interviews occur too late to give you the chance to prevent turnover. Villet International offers an alternative approach called "stay interviews." By asking current employees "Why do you stay?" and "What might cause you to leave?" managers can identify potential retention issues before they get out of hand. By being proactive, managers have opportunities to fix issues before employees quit.
   
10. Drinking on the job. Most firms punish drinking on the job, but numerous Silicon Valley and San Francisco firms now offer beer and wine to their employees. Rather than having to go out after work to drink and collaborate, they can do it in the workplace. Dropbox has "Whiskey Fridays," and Hipster, a San Francisco-based startup, has offered new hires a lifetime supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. The key to this practice is to hire individuals who know how to act like mature adults without the need for rules and regulations.
    

Content excerpted from:
The Top 10 Bold and Outrageous HR and Talent Management Practices