HR system yields dramatic ROI

Computerworld - Surveys show that "talent management" -- the process of attracting, developing and retaining highly skilled workers -- will be one of the top priorities for human resources managers in 2010, yet only 20% of HR managers say they do a very good job of it.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, based in Great Neck, N.Y., must be in that 20%. Over the past five years, the 15-hospital system has overhauled and centralized its talent management processes to the point where "talent management is our competitive advantage and will be in the future," said Joseph Cabral, chief human resources officer.

The HR initiative has yielded dramatic results, such as the following:

• A reduction in the turnover rate for new critical care nurses from 63% to 13%, as a result of better hiring, development and performance practices.
• Savings of $7.7 million due to a decision to focus recruitment advertising on the media outlets that have produced the most applicants.
• A decrease in paperwork, an improvement in employee engagement, a reduction in the time it takes to fill positions, and the ability to tie employee performance reviews to the business goals of quality care and patient satisfaction.

Cabral said a key part of the revamp was moving from paper-driven HR processes to procedures that use real-time data and take advantage of an automated workflow made possible by Taleo Corp.'s talent management system, a software-as-a-service offering. "Taleo helped us to hard-code the organizational goals into the system," Cabral said. "We can quickly determine who's being reviewed, see performance ratings and metrics, and make educated decisions based on hard data."

Cabral added: "You could do that without Taleo, but it might take years to determine the big gaps. Taleo helped us get there a lot quicker."

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