It usually takes several decades to build a company with unique talent management practices that can fulfill unique business results. Of course, there are some exceptions such as Google or Apple. However, Facebook has managed to succeed in the field of talent management even faster. A case study focused on talent management at Facebook was published on ERE.net by John Sullivan, recognized HR consultant and current professor of management at San Francisco State University.
Sullivan has mapped talent management at Facebook since 2008 and compiled a comprehensive overview of the procedures used. Most of the procedures are truly unique and have not been just copied from the competition. He divided 45 specific procedures into 10 categories. We have prepared a summary of the most interesting ones. The entire case study can be found in the article on ERE.net.
Employees as specific assets
Facebook quantifies the value of its people in dollars. For example, an engineer is valued anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million dollars. That is a big incentive to invest in recruitment and in increasing the productivity of their engineers.
The possibility to choose projects
Every employee who has worked on a project for more than a year can choose a different project and project team. After a month of working in the new team, he or she can decide whether or not to stay.
Food and alcohol for free
Facebook employees have unrestricted access to a store with a wide selection of ice creams, dairy products and pastries. There is also a barbecue area as well as a choice of a global array of meals and snacks. There is also a "happy hour" on Fridays when employees can drink alcohol.
Support for risk-taking
One of the Facebook's mottoes is: "We are less afraid of making mistakes than we are of losing opportunities." Another one is: "The riskiest thing is to take no risks." Quick decision making and risk-taking are among the key components of the corporate culture.
Significant emphasis on recruitment
Facebook acquires talented specialists mainly by offering them "the best work of their life" and "the possibility to change the world." The company also has become successful thanks to the concept of "acqui-hiring" - acquisition of small companies in order to obtain their talent (not their products or customers). Facebook employees do not have to graduate from college. It is more important to be able to succeed in the Internet technical contests that the company holds when selecting employees. The company's Chief Recruiter is the CEO, who regularly speaks publicly about the company culture and reaches out to potential employees.
Exclusive benefits
Facebook offers its people an unlimited number of sick days. It also has a wide range of benefits for parents, including a $ 4,000 bonus after the birth of a child and four months of paid leave. Employee rewards are based primarily on performance. Employees are also offered the possibility to invest in stocks.
Environment supporting cooperation
Facebook employees work in open floor plan office space where standing desks are available. They can move between individual sites by bicycle or on company buses. The company wants its employees to come to be physically present at the workplace rather than working from home. Wednesdays are designated as the day when no meetings are held. The corporate campus in Silicon Valley offers all the services employees need, so they do not have to leave when they want to go to a hairdresser or doctor. The availability of modern communication technologies is a matter of course.
Support for employees with a real interest in management
Becoming a manager is not a promotion at Facebook. That is how the company seeks to avoid the situation when employees want to become managers only because of higher salaries and prestige. If an employee decides to become a manager due to a real interest in this role, he is assigned a mentor and a coach. The company has a very sophisticated system of providing and receiving feedback as well as managerial evaluation. On the other hand, the company's dress code is very relaxed. A manager wearing a tie would look out of place.
Openness
Facebook's managerial philosophy is based on being as open as possible. Even the CEO is available to employees to meet in person every Friday. Different views on different things are openly discussed during these meetings.
Collective problem solving
When a team needs to finish a project quickly, the members can set up a "war room" where they have enough space to finish the project. It also clearly shows others that this work is of the highest priority. A countdown clock often shows how much time is left.
Employees also solve problems through so-called hackathons. The aim of these eight-hour, late-night meetings for programmers as well as project managers, is to create something that is outside their normal job description, and to have fun. As a result of these meetings, many tools commonly used at the Facebook social network have been created - including the thumb up known as "Like".
-kk-