TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL STAFFING

Staffing

Staffing is the process of acquiring , deploying and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization's effectiveness.

Staffing deals specifically with :

Acquisition Training Allocation of the organisation's human resources.

Staffing Involves

Concerned with the selection, placement, growth and development of people in an organization.

Hiring the right kind of people to fill vacancies

Developing their skills through training

Retaining by creating favorable conditions of work

Elements of International Staffing

In both the domestic and the international context, the staffing process can be seen as a series of steps that are performed on a continuing basis to keep the organization supplied with the right people in the right positions at the right time. The steps in this process are :

Human resource planning (this is part of the organization's strategic plan)

Recruitment Selection Induction and orientation

Elements of International Staffing

Training (to improve job skills)

Development (to educate people beyond the requirements of their present position)

Performance appraisal

Elements of International Staffing

Remuneration and rewards

Transfers

Separations.

Approaches to International Staffing

Ethnocentric

Polycentric

Geocentric 

Regiocentric

Ethnocentric

Strategic decisions are made at headquarters;

Limited subsidiary autonomy; Key positions in domestic and foreign

operations are held by headquarters’ personnel;

PCNs manage subsidiaries.

Polycentric

Each subsidiary is a distinct national entity with some decision-making autonomy;

HCNs manage subsidiaries who are seldom promoted to HQ positions;

PCNs rarely transferred to subsidiary positions.

Geocentric

A global approach - worldwide integration; View that each part of the organization

makes a unique contribution; Nationality is ignored in favor of ability:

Best person for the job; Color of passport does not matter when it comes

to rewards, promotion and development.

Regio centric

Reflects a regional strategy and structure; Regional autonomy in decision making; Staff move within the designated region,

rather than globally; Staff transfers between regions are rare.

Factors Affecting Approaches to International Staffing

General international staffing policy on key positions at headquarters and subsidiaries.

Constraints placed by host government.

Staff availability in different countries.

Selection Criteria for International Staffing

Technical Competencies : ability to work independently with minimal dependence on parent company for day to day activities

Relational Skills : ability to interact effectively with peers, superiors, team members and clients/customers in a third country with its nationals as well as with the parent company nationals.

Selection Criteria for International Staffing

Ability to cope with Environmental variables: Awareness and ability to cope with the demands of the political-legal, cultural, technological and economic factors. Knowledgeable about the host country nationals attitudes, beliefs, rules and norms, customs and social as well as corporate etiquette

Family situation : ability of the family to cope with relocation and living in a new country with its social and cultural differences

Recent Trends in International Staffing

International Staffing

OffshoringDual Career

Couples

Recruiting

sources

Background Checks

Work Force

Diversity

Work Force Diversity

Diversity is a key metric on which organizations measure themselves

Diversity implies a workforce mix with fair representation of gender, ethnicities and races

Organizations have diversity policies that drive focused hiring to ensure the desired workforce blend

Diversity costs money, cash cost, opportunity cost and a heightened exposure to business risk, however organizations remain committed to it year after year

Off shoring

Outsourcing of non-core standardized services is the new facet of globalization

The spurt in hiring to staff these new-order companies in the emerging and the developing countries has hugely contributed to the revenue and growth of these countries

On the other hand the outsourcing country, usually in the developed economies, stands to loose jobs to low cost and high skills countries making it ‘outplacement and retrenchment a core activity

Background Checks

Background checks are carried out to verify personal, professional and other mandated information related to safe employment of candidates

Priced by quantum/scope of the personal and professional level of check that is being carried out, it is a core responsibility of the staffing team to ensure that the employee being on-boarded is cleared from all sides

Recruiting Sources

Increasing demand for resources has driven widespread innovation in sourcing

Job portals and employee referrals are among the newer and more common sources

Focus on hiring at entry level and then grooming employees for growth is a also gaining popularity as another high retention sourcing strategy

Dual Career Couples

Managing dual career couples : Find a job for the trailing spouse Commute/remote assignments Sabbaticals Intra-company employment On assignment career support

Examples For example : Monster and CareerBuilders.com

have seen a drastic change in international staffing , now – a- days diversity always topped the list while hiring .

Previously, we saw companies hiring people from same backgrounds mostly in one department, but the management and other positions still remained “close”. But now they hire employees from diverse backgrounds & in different departments.

Examples

The Ford Motor Company has half its employees outside U.S.

Philips Electronics has three- fourth of its employees working outside the Netherlands.

Just over half of Ericsson’s staff works outside Sweden.