Microsoft UK
Barkers Resourcing provides Microsoft UK with an outsourced HR function for all permanent recruitment to Microsoft UK and Online Services Group (MSN) UK.
Business Challenge
In the summer of 1998 Microsoft UK was experiencing difficulties in meeting its hiring objectives, due to the challenges that the HR team faced in keeping pace with the needs of the business. At the time there were a number of issues that the company faced which were causing them concern:
- The market conditions made it difficult to attract the right calibre talent, even with a high-profile market position such as Microsoft’s
- Due to the profile of the Company, they were receiving a huge volume of unsolicited applications via phone, mail, e-mail and the web
- The dramatic growth of Microsoft UK had put tremendous pressure on the HR systems and processes within the organisation and the HR team had to work at full speed just to meet the staffing needs of the business
- The constant evolution of the IT market and the competitive nature of their market place meant that the skills and competencies required were evolving almost as quickly as they were able to keep pace and update their recruitment plans
- Finally, the financial efficiency of the HR staffing model was poor with limited strategy being applied to the recruitment plan. Managers were using the fastest, or most convenient, means of hiring staff, even if that meant sacrificing value and quality
Business Process
Barkers Resourcing put in place a team of Recruiters and Operational staff to ensure that all Microsoft’s needs were met. By taking over the entire recruitment process from end to end, we enabled the internal HR team to focus on more strategic HR issues.
Barkers Resourcing are now in their 9th year as a strategic resourcing management partner with Microsoft and are a truly embedded solution.
From initially establishing resourcing processes and hiring as the business had a need, the team in 2007 have moved on significantly. They work closely with each business unit to establish headcount plans for each year, ensuring talent pipelining is well underway before the business have a need. The knock on effect is a continually reducing time to hire, thus minimising the effect attrition has on the business.
An Account Director manages the overall strategic business relationship with Microsoft — linking to the Vendor Manager and UK HR Director. Account Managers are dedicated to business areas, supporting each Business Head and their direct reports. Working in close partnership, we are attracting the best quality talent possible for the business, with a team of experienced recruiters to support each individual hiring manager with their resourcing targets. Recruiters use multiple recruitment channels to source talent, but with a focus on low cost / high quality sources, this has led to year-on-year cost per hire reduction.
Hiring Managers and Recruiters work in partnership throughout the process, jointly agreeing a recruitment plan including selection tools, timelines, and attraction methods. The recruiter provides expertise and advice about best practice, the marketplace and challenges Hiring Managers thinking when necessary. Once the process is agreed, the recruiter is accountable for hiring within all the agreed KPI’s. They will provide weekly recruitment updates to ensure that the hiring manager is continually aware of the progress being made and is consulted on any changes that are needed to the hiring strategy.
This entire process is underpinned by an operations team who support interview scheduling, data analysis, system support and event management.
Enablers
In order to deliver the services that Microsoft require, Barkers Resourcing are supported with some important tools and resources.
Firstly we have partnered with Microsoft to heavily support the implementation of their candidate tracking system.
In addition, we have established an on-site presence alongside Microsoft’s own HR team, leading to close partnering and free exchange of information and ideas. The team of circa 25 Barkers Resourcing work onsite at Microsoft UK’s HQ in Reading and the Online Services Group UK HQ in London and are dedicated solely to the Microsoft Account.
This focus has enabled us to gain a deep understanding of all of the elements of Microsoft’s hiring environment, as well as establish close working relationships with all of the key personnel. The team is considered an integral part of Microsoft’s hiring strategy.
Supporting the team are all of the resources within Barkers Resourcing and the wider Barkers Group, which are available on a ‘Call-Off’ basis. Whether it be Research and Planning to help understand local Diversity in the Workplace issues and to develop Diversity strategies for Microsoft, our in-house team of Occupational Psychologists to help validate a selection process or our state-of-the-art Recruitment Audit team - the resources are available to meet Microsoft’s needs.
Results
Hiring Targets
Year-on-year we meet, or exceed, our hiring targets and KPi’s. In 2007 we recruited all planned FTE, in excess of 600 permanent personnel for Microsoft.
Cost per hire
The cost per hire has been reduced to below 50% of the original bench-mark, in real term this has decreased from in excess of £6000 per external hire in 2003/4 to £2800 per external hire in 2006/7.
Hire Source
We have year on year reduced the dependency on high cost hiring (agencies and head hunters ) with fiscal year 2006/7 resulting in Agencies being used in just 9% of hires and Head Hunters not being used at all.
Time to Offer
Our SLA is 70 days, this has been a particular focus recently which has seen us reduce this to 40 – 50 days in some areas of the business, particularly revenue generating roles (Sales) where the Time to Offer is critical to the businesses success.
All of the above are key performance indicators along with Diversity targets and Budget targets. Each year we agree with Microsoft different focuses dependant on the targets of the business. This leads to the team to managing between 4 — 6 individual projects throughout each fiscal year, which we are also managed against.
Measurements
We have a sophisticated Balanced Scorecard which is completed quarterly. It measures both Quantative and Qualitative. The scorecard has changed over the years as we have began working more strategically with Microsoft. The KPI’s are critical but the relationship and our support for the development of the resourcing strategy and continuous improvement of resourcing at Microsoft are also critical elements which are weighted on the scorecard to demonstrate the importance.
We have a thorough Quarterly Review against the Balanced Scorecard and any areas of improvement have clear action plans. Quarterly performance bonuses reflect success.
Conclusion
The relationship between Barkers Resourcing and Microsoft is a true partnership, success has come from two companies working closely and with constant open communication channels at all stakeholder levels. The continuous year on year success, realignment of the resourcing model to flex as the Microsoft organisation changes and the strong integration into the organisation has seen Microsoft retain the services of Barkers Resourcing year-on-year. Barkers Resourcing push the resourcing strategy agenda with Microsoft and are true consultants / experts. It is this that has enabled Microsoft to continually develop an industry best practice recruitment model.