pon joining LPL Financial as head of human capital, Denise Abood found that
people were confused about the link between performance and pay. Employees felt
that the existing system was arbitrary, subjective and inconsistent. In her drive
toward increased employee engagement, Abood listens carefully to what LPL’s employees
have to say.
"We have made significant progress in the past eight or nine
months in creating venues to get employee input," she says, citing focus groups,
town hall meetings and a company intranet that allows for interactive Q&A. The company’s
first employee engagement survey, conducted in 2007, uncovered the confusion around
pay and performance.
"LPL Financial has always been a very entrepreneurial organization,"
says Sheila Hunter, director of human resources. "We had been investing our time
in creating systems and leveraging results, but the survey made us realize that
we needed a structure for compensation and bonuses."
Furthermore, the new human resources organization wanted to
be relevant to its business partners, says Jodi Gold, senior vice president of organizational
development and training. "Working with the survey results, we had to create a system
that showed a link between tenure and engagement, and allowed users to apply consistent
measurement."
LPL worked with Hewitt Associates to create a new performance
management system. This meant going back to square one, laying the groundwork by
defining goals and competencies for each position, then creating a system that is
customized and tailored to LPL. Goals are fluid, and roll up to the enterprise level.
The weighting of the ratings—75 percent goals to 25 percent competencies—is a manifestation
of LPL’s keen focus on results.
"The breakdown keeps the emphasis on achievement, but also
shows that we do care how you get there, and that you’re not leaving a trail of
bodies in your wake," Hunter says. New people management goals were incorporated
for all managers, including staffing, retention, development and appraisals. All
of the elements were then combined into one easy-to-use tool.
More than 700 managers were trained on using the tool in August
and September. Fifteen HR business partners received train-the-trainer instruction,
then went out nationwide, conducting classroom-based training sessions to groups
of 30 to 35 managers. The training consisted of three main parts: a PowerPoint presentation
explaining the new system and its reason for being; a workshop on goal setting and
goal writing; and hands-on exercises with the new tool. Participants are intended
to practice and get comfortable with it through December, then begin using it to
implement 2009 goals in January.
"We have gotten great feedback from managers, saying, ‘We
needed this,’ " Gold says.
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