Seagate, a leading innovator and manufacturer of digital storage technology, has a vision, but it is not only to build the smallest, fastest or most reliable hard drive in the world. It is to become a “100 per cent performance-driven company”.
The measures of good performance are set annually. At the start of each fiscal year, the CEO and his executive team reveal five corporate objectives. They pinpoint how the company will follow its overall strategy in the areas of people, growth and profitability, technology and time to market, customer quality and delivery to customers.
But how do you get a scientist in Pittsburgh, a sales representative in Paris and an assembly line worker in Penang all to contribute to these headline goals? “Performance management,” says Marquam Piros, the company’s director of performance management. About seven years ago, “Seagate began to move its focus away from a products-to-evolve into a customer-centric company with more emphasis on offering services and solutions to customers’ needs. We started our performance management initiatives around this time, although back then we had a lot of manual processes, and no global alignment. Since 2002 we have focused on maximising alignment and performance. Basically, we cascade the corporate objectives right through the company, down to the most junior employee. From the lowest level to the CEO, every employee has line of sight to the corporate objectives. They can see how they link in to the company’s strategy.”
In 2005, the MAP (Maximising Alignment and Performance) initiative became iMAP – the integrated MAP using Softscape’s Apex HCM platform. iMAP turns performance management into people management, integrating three key people management processes on a single platform: performance management (for annual goals and personnel competencies and development plans), learning management and succession management.
“At the end of the year we conduct our annual performance evaluation, with annual reviews for every employee,” says Debbie Hancock, vice-president of human resources. “At present ,70 per cent of each employee’s performance score is measured against their delivery of goals, and 30 per cent is tied to their competencies such as teamwork, ability to delegate or analytics. Their overall rating feeds directly into the compensation process, affecting bonuses and salary increases. We pay for good performance.”
But the performance data affects far more than the pay packet. The dashboard-style interface makes it easy for managers and HR administrators to monitor the professional development of team members and use all the critical HR data to “cultivate a diverse, high-performing team environment that successfully grows the business through attracting, developing and retaining people”.
The Softscape learning management module helps Seagate to plan and track employee training. Seagate has used the platform to ensure that its employees complete relevant health and safety courses and mandatory training requirements (for example anti-harassment training or courses on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in the US). The number of courses completed has increased from just 5,000 to more than 110,000 during the last four financial quarters.
The succession management module of the Softscape platform perhaps best demonstrates how integrated HR data can be powerfully exploited. Data from performance evaluations, talent assessments and development programmes are all combined to provide managers with a talent profile for each employee, and a searchable talent pool for the company. It is possible for managers to identify top performers and high-fliers; those with aspirations for senior management and those who are at risk of leaving the company.
“At the moment we focus on key positions in the succession arena, that is vice-president and above,” says Ms Hancock. “The platform allows us to track and assess the talent pool and promote people within the company. Our latest metrics show that 75 per cent of key openings are fulfilled by internal candidates. The succession module helps us to identify who the next senior managers could be and build development plans to help them achieve their potential. It also gives us the data that proves we ‘walk the talk’ – people can expect to be rewarded and promoted for their performance.”
By the end of 2008, Seagate expects all its executives and directors to have talent profiles and succession plans in place.
Dave Watkins, CEO of Softscape, says that Seagate is a leader in its use of HCM software. “Our HCM applications are based on what we believe is best HCM practice at present. But it is highly configurable, so clients can switch functionality on and off. Seagate is using three key aspects of our platform to the full and across its entire global workforce, which is still surprisingly uncommon, even in global enterprises.
“Seagate’s platform is a powerful and very public system that puts people at the very centre of Seagate’s strategies. Technology is the enabler – success depends on the processes. Seagate had a vision to drive its success through employee performance. I think Seagate really drives its enterprise by thinking about talent. It is transforming itself into a talent-driven company.”
