No system is a match for a stupid employee

It is about this time of year that people start putting thoughts to future plans. The indicators are usually threefold – the number of glowing faces around the office as people return from Summer sojourns in far off places; the submission of budget requests for the forthcoming year (and the inevitable requests for proposals from clients for such activity) and; the number of crystal ball gazing predictions that start to appear about the ‘next big thing’.

Those of you that know me, are well aware of my view on the necessity for good quality data and I think this is going to be one of the big things for next year. Developing access to multiple sources of information and having analysts capable of scouring through reams of seemingly indecipherable numbers to identify traits and patterns is something that agencies and organisations alike are now recognising as a business imperative. It may not be as sexy as buying developing augmented reality applications for mobile devices, but in a post recessionary environment where many of the economic indicators are still unstable, being able to prove the merit of your work is becoming an operational mandate. For everyone.

Add to this an increasing complexity within the agency world, where agencies are diversifying both horizontally and vertically in an attempt to find new sources of income (Skive’s success at the CIPDs should be a stark warning to us all) and the changing dynamics of the HR world, where we are already starting to see a consolidation of traditionally decentralised units into single departments like ‘communication’ and ‘branding’ and the message is clear: if you are unable to prove your worth, you’ll be left behind, scrabbling for scraps of work to survive.

The positive news is that Hodes has a good reputation for delivering work that is effective. The challenge we face is how to help ourselves and our clients set up systems that allow us to monitor and respond to an increasing number of touchpoints, especially when those touchpoints may be raising questions that people are (understandably) reticent to answer.

One of those questions is often raised in Direct Sourcing workshops – in a world where it is incredibly easy to find out vast amounts of information about individuals, where should a business draw the line? Ian Ruddy, HR Director of O2, has actively stated that Facebook will not be used in any part of the recruitment process, recognising (as many do) that individuals see Social Media sites like Facebook and Bebo as tools for personal conversations, as opposed to sites like LinkedIn which are purely professional. But other HR Directors (and their agencies) have not been as forthcoming.

It is heavily apparent that candidates believe the distinction is clear. But the recruitment world has yet to make up its mind. And while this quandary is digested, discussed and debated, more data is being added to the mix. The problem is that data is fails to discriminate between information used for personal purposes and that used for professional purposes. Interpretation is a task for the analysts. Or lawyers.

There is a nice presentation I came across on Slideshow that outlines the challenges posed by the melding of all our social groups, which is definitely worth looking at. This is something I expect all our clients to be asking us about. And we need to be prepared to help them find answers.

For those of you who prefer the less verbose, then here are a couple of nice sites to look at, courtesy of Messrs Dix, Gunnell and Henchman:
•    www.thewildernessdowntown.com (ideally viewed in Google Chrome)
•    http://coolmaterial.com/roundup/if-historical-events-had-facebook-statuses/
•    http://www.bartleboglehegarty.com/#/europe/our-work/mentos-diamond-white-banner

Enjoy