CASE STUDY
Quest for the Best
CASE STUDY ON FACEBOOK
Facebook is an American online social media and networking service based in California. Facebook has been listed among the top rated companies for having the most efficient employee motivation. However, from 2005 until early 2008, MySpace was the most visited social networking site in the world, and in June 2006 surpassed Google as the most visited website in the U.S. But MySpace failed to manage the quality of user experiences on their network, and began losing customers to Facebook. Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had a vision and offered a social network with a clean design and a better user experience. Facebook’s unique focus on relationship management also enticed users to visit more often, and stay longer when they did visit, which drew advertisers willing to invest aggressively. Facebook quickly caught MySpace and dominated it by providing quality online services that resulted in positive user experiences. Facebook validates that people have a keen interest in a developing and maintaining human relationships and, when given the choice, would rather spend their time building networks of relationships, rather than networks of information. As a result, Facebook fundamentally changed how people use the web and find and access information. As a result of its focus on providing advertisers a quality value proposition, Facebook has become the world’s
most robust marketing database.
When it comes to Facebook dealing with its employees:
- A new employee of Facebook- Mr. X took 20 days off work for which he
was paid.
- Mrs. A, an employee at Facebook was expecting a child and was offered
4 months of paid leaves
Not only did Facebook improve the concept of social media networking but also improved the policies it adopted for its employees. The company’s supervisors work with teams to set targets, hire people and negotiate deals. Facebook allows employees to set their own targets and “They set targets for themselves that are higher than what you would set for them. And because they set them, they hit them.”- Employees set their own targets and aim for the sky.
Employees at Facebook get to choose their own teams allows employees who have worked on a project for a year to select their own next project team and after working with them for a month, if they like it, they can stay. Employees are also given free ice cream and cookies. A global array of food- Facebook has a 3000+ employees population which includes a large number of young people from all over the world and so, it provides healthy fast food to its employees day and night.
QUESTION: After a detailed analysis of the above study, what are some points you all think Facebook has kept in mind while deciding its Human resource policies that makes it outshine the rest?
REAL LIFE STUDY ON LONDON ENERGY
LIMITED
LondonEnergy Ltd is wholly owned by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) and is contracted to provide waste management services to its seven North London boroughs. As an operational business, LondonEnergy ltd. have almost 80% of their workforce who are highly operative and 20% who are office based. Seeing to the fact that they are an operational business that works 24/7 with key worker status ,the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic has severely affected their business .
Jacques Samama, head of people at LondonEnergy,is concerned about the working of the company and finds its challenging to adapt to the new normal of REMOTE WORKING as it has always been a challenge for the whole company ,given the majority of their staff must beat work to do their job. But being a remarkable leader ,he is willing to face the crisis with a spirit of reinvention—accelerating digital transformation, establishing variable cost structures, and implementing agile operations. So Mr. Jacques Samama adapted the remote working trend and found out a tremendous increase in the productivity as well as efficiency of workers. Heads of department have also been able to manage this through rotations as some parts of the team work from home while others work from the office to ensure a presence in the office to support the operational colleagues. Mr. Samama feels that this organisation has now been extended and will be maintained even after the current pandemic situation.
It is also important to note that this change of culture has positively impacted the perception of remote working. It is no longer seen as a privilege or an alleged way of being on weekend from Thursday afternoon, but a real ‘tool’ to increase efficiency at work. Some of their staff choose to work from home to focus on a particular topic where they need quietness, whereas some use it to ensure a good work/life balance and ensure they are able to pick up the kids after school.
For operational staff, the main change has been about their ability to be more digital and connected on their social and communication platform Teams through different tools such as tablets and phones.
The best example has been the implementation of a weekly call with their MD who has been able to update the company with COVID-19 news. Mr. Samama says that they now have extended the agenda of this call and their MD gives everyone a weekly update on all relevant topics.It has shown results also as now, 75% of the employees recognised they have the the information they need, compared to 45% six months ago.
Now he believe that remote working throughout this period has changed the nature of their organisation by creating a more agile environment and allowed everyone from different parts of the business to remain connected which did not happen before.
QUESTION: As all of you have read the case above ,according to you, what are the few important things a HR manager needs to do to create a good remote culture?
A Practical Approach to Human Resource Management
