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The International Playing Field   

Japan is a just a couple of mouse clicks away.  International sales are just a website away.  Even if your offices are located in a small town, you can’t hide.  You are on an international playing field and it’s going to change the way you work and how you keep your good people. 

Your human resources department has probably already had to face the fire with increased job-hopping added to downsizing and the resultant challenge of running a thin staff.  Now, they must know how to recruit offshore.  They need to have knowledge of the employment laws, the business practices, and the multicultural sensitivities of a diverse setting.  More than ever, human resources people need to understand how to help people of vastly different cultures work together. They need to keep a finger on the pulse of what competitors are doing all over the world. 

Just as the nature of work is changing, so, too, are the hours within which it is conducted.  Human resources can help the organization adapt to the new staggered hours of those employees with families, those who telecommute … and perhaps more important, the 24-hour business day. 

Organizations need to work like a guerilla unit, preventing recruiters from targeting key people and making sure that the organizational climate encourages growth and innovation.  They need to be aware of the trend away from “a job” and toward the notion of “work that needs to be done.”  This means more people on contract, which also means more flexibility for the organization. People on contract can be retrained or replaced when the work is done. 

At the same time, organizations must look for signs of stress on the job.  Older workers, who have seen their colleagues outplaced and their numbers devastated, may be in a surly mood. 

Don’t forget, these people know all the passwords and codes of the organization. 

 
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