Sep 10, 2007 issue of BusinessWeek has an article on Lisa Brummel, the HR Chief of Microsoft. In some of my articles earlier (May 2006 or thereabout), I was critical and disappointed with the HR policies and HR attitudes. I will quote sections on Lisa that make her successful.
Internal surveys - which at most companies help inform HR policy - presented a picture of a happy, contented workforce. Brummel didn't buy the rosy findings. "People weren't connected to the company or our mission anymore," she says. Brummel didn't want to follow the usual HR script: benchmarking best practices and imposing them on the company. "Before you go running off campus," she told herself, "you should know what's going on on campus."...Lisa went on a listening tour to all the Microsoft offices around the world.
Time and again, Brummel heard the same refrain: HR was a black box; it had to open up and get employee input. People loathed the forced curve in performance reviews. They wanted clarity on compensation, more direction on how to get promoted, and better managers.
They were fed up with the nickel-and-diming on creature comforts. How could a company headquartered near Seattle, home of all things barista, serve industrial-grade sludge in do-it-yourself makers that belonged in a mess hall? "The coffee was just really, really bad," says corporate Vice-President Chris Capossela.
I bet most companies in Singapore are like what I described in mid last year where HR practices archaic, HR managers has atrocious attitude and very self-righteous. They are "helping" you, the employee. Life would have been better without their "help".
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