Yearly Archives: 2023

I was honored to attend the Economic Club of New York’s lunch with Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida. His comments had important implications for the business community. They included:

A description of the Japanese economic revival with an annual growth rate of 11.4%

Japan is open for business and governmental support and reforms will facilitate investment

Domestic investment at record levels, high stock prices, and reforming the asset management sector

Eliminating barriers to entry, labor market reforms, priority help for child care and women in the workforce

A focus on the development of cutting-edge technology in AI

A focus on the defense of national borders and climate change

For more information see the link to his speech below:

https://lnkd.in/dKsf4HMQ

The nice thing about teaching at Columbia University is getting to listen to dynamic speakers like CHRO Aashna Sinha. Aashna spoke to my class on leading a multicultural workforce with her observations on working with companies like Richemont, Mercer, Deloitte and Coty. Her experiences and observations on linking HR activities to the financial performance of the corporation resulted in 60 minutes of non-stop questions from the class. If you are looking for top and bottom-line focused business and HR professionals let me know and I’ll put you in touch with some of the best students at Columbia University, and some of the best HR leaders like Aashna!

#birchtreeglobal #birchtreeperformancehr #globalhr #humancapitalmanagement #hrci #shrm

Thank you, Valérie Morel for an amazing presentation to my Columbia University Human Capital Management students. The course is Leading Cross-Cultural Global Organizations and focuses on global human resources management around the world. Valerie is a subject matter expert and leader in global human resources with senior leadership experiences in Bayer, Pfizer, Charles River Lab, Prudential Financial and Capgemini.

She gave a compelling presentation on the link between training and performance management and corporate financial and operational performance. She did a fantastic job of integrating the class’s broad and diverse HR experience internationally.  The class discussed how financial performance in the organization is increased by linking HR strategy directly to corporate strategy and customer satisfaction.

Thank you Valerie!

#birchtreeglobal #globalhumanresources #valeriemorel #janetlwalsh #harvardbusinessreview #columbiauniversity #bucknell #SHRM #HRCI

Columbia Class Welcomes Blair Bennett

Blair Bennett, Senior Vice President Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo was the featured guest speaker at Dr. Janet Walsh’s Leading Cross Cultural Global Organizations class at Columbia University.  Blair spoke about the differences in talent acquisition around the world and how individuals are sourced, hired, integrated, and promoted in Pepsi.  What was fascinating was the discussions around how an organization like Pepsi with different divisions like beverages and snack foods, adapts to different countries.  That business strategy is integrated into the staffing strategy and decisions made in human resources infrastructure.  The students, all professional business people, were excited and impressed with the chance to learn first-hand from a remarkable executive.  Thank you, Blair!

Thank you, Giovanni, for speaking to my masters class in HR at Columbia University. To kick off the class in managing the multicultural workforce, Giovanni used his global experience leading complex HR strategy and operations at British American Tobacco, Ferrero, Proctor and Gamble to highlight the challenges designing the integration of HR and corporate strategy. The students are early career HR leaders who welcomed the insight and advice. I know Giovanni has helped accelerate their careers!

Giovanni is currently the CEO of Blue Pragma, a Human Capital advisory business (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bluepragma/). Its mission is to help public and private companies develop the leadership and organization effectiveness they need to transform and accelerate growth.

#giovannigiordano #bluepragma #birchtreeglobal #columbiauniversity #globalhr #SHRM #HRCI

On Saturday April 22, Dr. Walsh was to presented with a medal for Courage and Integrity by Explorers Club colleague Benjamin Hulsey.

Over the last several years we have been conducting research into the reasons people stay or leave organizations.  We focused on the ability of organizations to attract and maintain employee engagement as this substantially affects both top and bottom line financial and operational performance.  The results are skewed towards younger workers in their 20s and 30s. The results are as follows:

1. Organizations with a positive reputation, particularly in terms of their culture, values, and treatment of employees, are more likely to be recognized and attractive to job seekers. Applicants tend to research a company’s reputation and reviews before deciding to apply. Particularly when looking to hire people from specific schools, organizations, and professional skill sets, a positive word-of-mouth recommendation from current or former employees can be significant. This helps top line financial results by the ability to engage top talent with innovative skills and expertise.   It reduces bottom line costs in turnover costs.  It helps maintain consistency of operations, customer interface, and internal functioning thus increasing top line and reducing bottom line costs.
2. The pandemic has brought an enhanced level of comfort for flexible work arrangements for employees and companies. As you have heard from multiple research results, many employees today value flexible work arrangements such as remote work or flexible hours. It offers the option of hiring employees from different physical locations, overseas, different states, and communities thus expanding the organizations diversity of skills and insight.  Offering these options improves employee morale by reducing their commuting costs, child/pet care costs and employee time.  These benefits increase top line financial performance by maintaining a skilled and experienced workforce. This strategy reduces turnover and reduces turnover costs. It can also help the organization save money on the need for office space, heat, light, electricity, parking and other overhead costs.
3. Finally, in both surveys from 2010 and 2023 corporations offering training and development are very attractive to younger employees (20s and 30s). It makes sense as these employees are looking to grow in their professional experience and value. Investing in employees’ skills and knowledge improves their performance and increases their value to the organization. This can lead to increased productivity and higher quality output, which can lead to increased revenue and profits.

By considering these areas and others that may be specific to your organization, you can identify opportunities to make savings in your HR department while also improving overall employee engagement and performance.  If you would like help and support creating an HR strategic plan identifying top and bottom-line opportunities, let us know.

New directive threatens the use of self-employed contractor models in Europe

If you are using an outsourced AOR/EOR model or similar platform to employ people through a third-party provider-be advised the European Parliament published new directives which, if implemented (and it seems likely) will significantly change your company’s ability to hire employees through this model.

Many staffing companies, AOR/EORs and platforms may need to also start planning changes to their commercial models soon.

Our colleagues at Osborne Clarke have prepared an analysis of the changes which we encourage you to read and consider.

https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/new-directive-threatens-use-self-employed-contractor-models-europe

If you are looking to establish an entity outside of the US, contact us for advice and assistance. Birchtree Global, LLC (www.birchtreeglobal.com) provides the legal, financial, tax, and HR strategy and tactics for globalizing businesses.

#globalhr #hr #Europe #finance #Columbia #Bucknell #Phoenix  #strategy #staffing #tax #legal #planning

Birchtree Performance HR helps companies and private equity (PE) firms increase financial performance through employee training. The objective of training varies based on the organization’s strategic objectives. For example, PE firms tend to have a narrower focus than corporations, a shorter return on investment horizon, and a more hands-on approach as they are investing in the development of specific employees for the benefit of their portfolio companies. Corporations tend to have a longer time frame for the investment, broader metric measures and view training as an HR cost center.

For example, training in PE helps employees analyze investment opportunities, identify risks and opportunities, and make sound investment decisions. They can train employees on operational improvement techniques, helping employees identify inefficiencies in the operations of portfolio companies, implement best practices, and reduce costs. Due diligence is a critical aspect of PE investments. where training helps employees identify potential risks, evaluate market trends, and make informed investment decisions. PE firms can also invest in training employees on communication and negotiation skills helping employees build relationships with portfolio companies, negotiate better deals, and resolve conflicts effectively. Developing strong leaders is crucial for the long-term success of PE firms. Training employees on leadership skills can also help them manage teams effectively, motivate employees, and drive results.

Corporations on the other hand, can use training to help employees to become more efficient and effective in their roles, completing tasks more quickly and accurately, leading to cost savings and improved performance. Risk reduction in operations, financial decision-making, and business development is also improved through training. Employee training can also stimulate innovation by encouraging employees to think creatively and develop new ideas. This can lead to the development of new products, services, or processes generating more revenue and improving competitiveness.

Research shows a major benefit to both PE and corporations is in the way in which training contributes to employee satisfaction and retention. When employees feel valued and invested in, particularly younger, ambitious employees, they are more likely to stay, reducing turnover, recruitment and onboarding costs, keeping intellectual capital, and positive client relationships.

Finally, for both organizations improving customer or client satisfaction is the ultimate end goal of a training activity. Contact us for more information and ideas on training and financial performance. We’ll share our research, programs, and customer case studies to help you increase the financial performance in your organization through training.