Did you Know?

Time Warner acquired 11,000 employees in one day? Find out how they integrated them by reading our Strategy Showcase article.

CTHRA and CTAM collaborated to create a Fellowship to attend the CTAM Summit

 

Resource Center
Industry employers are leveraging social networking sites to post jobs, reach passive job seekers, screen applicants and more. Check out articles on this trend.

 

 

Did you miss a recent issue? Catch up now!

Did you miss a recent issue? Catch up now!

July-Aug 2009
Q&A with WOW!'s CEO and HR VP

May-June 2009

• Comcast's human capital management strategy
• CTHRA's 2009 award winners
• Swine flu pandemic flash survey results

Mar-April 2009
Case Study: Discovery's winning approach to a reorg

All past issues are available for online viewing. Click here.

 

 

Got a White Paper?
CTHRA's online Resource Center provides a great forum for peer-to-peer sharing.  Submit your white paper for consideration.

 

 

Contact HR Colleagues with a Click!
Click here for members' only  access CTHRA's online membership directory.

 

 

Need to update your member record?
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Strategy Showcase: Time Warner's Outboarding Program

Q&A with Beth Bennett, VP HR Communications, Time Warner Cable Corporate Human Resources and Mark Rhine, VP HRIS, Time Warner Cable Human Resources

Time Warner Cable explored the concept of automated Onboarding during preparation for the acquisition of 11,000 employees from Adelphia and Comcast.  TWC's Human Resource Information Group partnered with Towers Perrin to design a web-based system that could automate the transaction-intense process of integrating the acquired employees into Time Warner Cable in a single day. 

What were some of the unique challenges Time Warner faced as it prepared to acquire thousands of employees?
We had never integrated this many employees at one time, but the sheer volume was not even the most difficult or unique challenge.  Acquiring thousands of employees from two very different companies was infinitely more challenging from an HR perspective.  The HR information systems at each of the companies were different, as were the structure and scope of benefit programs and the range of expectations of the two different groups of employees. All of this made preparation very challenging and required different approaches to accomplishing the same basic type of "transaction."

Ensuring that all the employees involved were on TWC's payroll and benefits systems and programs on their first day of TWC employment also added to the complexity.  Often in a transaction, an acquiring company can run the predecessor company's systems in parallel with their systems after closing while all the integration parameters are sorted out.  We didn't have that option in this transaction. We had to be ready to fully integrate the Adelphia and Comcast employees on day one, across a wide array of geographies and operating units, some of which were close to established TWC markets and some that were brand new to us.

The other unique challenge was the length of time that elapsed from the announcement of the deal to its final closing.  On one hand, that preparation time was very much appreciated. However, it created its own set of problems, from increasing employee anxiety to requiring that we continually update and refresh employee data to ready it for integration.

How did Time Warner determine that Onboarding was the solution given the challenging task at hand?

From an HR standpoint, obviously the timely and productive integration of all the "to be acquired" employees was extremely important.  It was also important to provide prospective employees a view of TWC that highlighted many of the best parts of an employment relationship with us, like our great benefits and programs.   Onboarding as described to us by Towers Perrin presented a solution that could address both priorities since it established a robust data collection and integration mechanism and allowed prospective employees to actively participate in the transition process.  By going through the Onboarding system these employees could make informed and timely decisions about their benefits and validate important components of their data while still focusing on other critical assimilation activities and maintaining that all-important relationship with customers.   Onboarding also gave us the option to integrate the process with external background and drug screening vendors for part of this population.  The ability to provide prospective employees with one touch point to coordinate all these processes was very appealing.  Onboarding allowed us the flexibility to automatically load the vast majority of data for employee review and benefit selection. Finally, it also allowed us to manually enter data on other employees who were not "must take" by definition of the terms of the Agreement but to whom we wanted to make employment offers.

What objectives did you set?

Certainly, the overall objectives were very clear in employment provisions outlined in each of the Agreements but we had definite TWC HR objectives as well.  These included 

1. Creating a process where the employees being acquired were informed and actively involved in learning about the benefits and programs at TWC. 
2. Ensuring accurate integration of acquired employee data into all our systems reflecting each acquired employee's service with his/her predecessor Company and benefits and paid time off commensurate with that level of service.
3. Ensuring all other provisions were met and that acquired employees understood how and why these provisions were being applied (like pre-employment screening, service credit, etc.)

On a more general level, we wanted to treat the lengthy preparation process as an extended "welcome" period.   We opened up a mini service center to balance the human touch with supporting the technology, providing just-in-time response to questions and reminders to employees who delayed following through with the Onboarding process.  The communications content (welcome kits, Onboarding familiarization packages, etc.) and the timing of communication were designed to provide the same combination of high tech and high touch.

Your Onboarding project had two phases. Was this intentional from the beginning, or did you decide to expand the initiative after Phase 1 was underway?
Our "deal" project management team asked us to look for opportunities to "optimize" in all aspects of the transaction, so we used that filter when looking at all of the programs and enabling technologies introduced to facilitate the acquisition.  Consequently, the idea of having an Onboarding Phase II was introduced and embraced relatively early.  Implementation of Phase II, however, did not immediately follow.  The actual experience of Phase I was incredibly rich with data about what kinds of process and infrastructure changes would be critical to a successful introduction of Onboarding as a "business as usual" system, so we took the time not only to reconfigure the technology for use by candidates but to standardize many other aspects of the recruiting, offer and hire process to realize the full benefits of a BAU Onboarding system.  

The time to implement Phase II allowed us to integrate two new screening vendors and our existing BrassRing / Peoplesoft systems into the front end of the process integration that was not required for Phase I.  In Phase II we also wanted to be more focused on SLAs with vendors  to ensure our internal customers and candidates were getting the best service.

Who was involved in the planning and implementation?
TWC used a Project Management Office structure to manage the integration company-wide, so HR replicated that concept at the functional level.  This resulted in just about every HR function being involved at some level with planning and implementation.  Our HRIS team in partnership with Towers Perrin led the technology design and integration effort.  The process of reviewing and "readying" data for input in the system and ensuring it would feed seamlessly into our system of record took incredible efforts by HRIS, compensation and benefits teams.  The generalists (both field and corporate) and talent acquisition teams did a lot of work on organization structure and job leveling to understand what could be addressed through "data" readiness and what would be post-Onboarding activity.  We also relied heavily on payroll accounting to map the prospective employees into the right pay cycles and to build a bridge with a "pay advance" program in places where the actual transition created pay gaps,. The communications team created Onboarding packages with collateral to provide prospective employees benefits, pay, and paid time off information (as well as Onboarding system navigation reference) they needed to make informed decisions. This was also an opportunity to help these employees learn as much as possible about TWC while waiting for the transaction to be completed.  Finally, throughout Phase I and Phase II we relied on our compliance and legal teams extensively to ensure the design would meet all internal control and regulatory requirements.

What was the biggest challenge encountered during the project?
We may not have entirely anticipated the effect of the timing and all the stops and starts that would occur from when the transaction was announced until when we had a good enough "feel" for the probable transaction close date.  It was very important to line up a close "window" to ensure we did not invite people to go through the process more than about 60 to 75 days before close.  There had to be enough time to process the benefits selections and screening results, but not so much time that the data integrity would be undermined by the number of changes that occur in a population that size over a period of many months.

The other enormous challenge was data readiness.  It required a huge amount of benchmarking titles, pay rates, locations, etc. to existing TWC data.  It was very difficult to find the commonality across three sets of employee data maintained three different ways and in three different systems. Additionally, for some employee groups the quality of data was not reliable.  Our initial project plans assumed the data received, while in a different format, would be accurate and ready for conversion.  In many cases, there were gaps, especially with employees on leave and current employee status, pay rates, etc. 

Were there any unexpected pitfalls or setbacks?
It became obvious early in the process that we would have to create a "delta" data change process to capture the constant data changes.  It required removing records, adding records, changing data, etc. from the source data we were readying for conversion and download.  Because of the volume of change, this process had to run weekly, and the length of time that elapsed before close required us to run this delta process for months.

What operating efficiencies were realized?
In Phase I Onboarding transformed local HR representatives from all three companies (TWC, Adelphia and Comcast) from data gatherers and input specialists into true employee support resources for answering questions and facilitating individual and group employee transition.  The operational efficiencies were significant reduction in data input, cost and time savings with screening (pre-employment background type screening), cost and time savings with the creation of "new" employee familiarization materials, and collection and retention of non-paper-based reportable data for compliance reporting and audit purposes.  In Phase II we realized efficiencies from integrating systems (applicant tracking, pre-employment HR/Payroll), company- wide introduction of consistent pre-screening processes and service providers, automated delivery and tracking of all pre-employment candidate information, and enhanced record keeping and record retrieval functionality for reporting and tracking.

What was the bottom line impact?
The impact on just time and paperwork in the candidate processing for both Phases has been conservatively estimated just under $3M.  This really only captures the dollar savings at the former HR/candidate touch points in the process that are now addressed by the Onboarding system.  The time and cost savings associated with integration of the applicant tracking system with the Onboarding and PeopleSoft  systems has not been fully quantified but the savings associated with a reduction in first year turnover costs associated with inadequate or inconsistent screening were estimated to be an additional $3.5M during the first year and one half of Phase II implementation

How did employees respond to the Onboarding system?
Employees responded very positively in both Phases.  For all the uncertainty and anxiety that can accompany being an "acquired" employee, the Onboarding system was viewed as a real commitment from TWC to make their assimilation into the company as smooth as possible.  Employees going through the process noted the attention we paid to areas of great importance to them, including service recognition, first day benefits coverage and accurate pay classification and rates.  They understood that the Onboarding system had been designed and implemented to facilitate this process and appreciated that it provided them with a good line of sight to how things would work at TWC.

In the BAU model, candidates and new employees continue to give us positive feedback about the quality of the Onboarding experience from both the ease of use, the comprehensiveness of the information contained in the system and the timeliness of the process from start to finish.  As a company that markets itself as an innovator and a great place to work because of our advanced technology, the Onboarding system really supports that message to our prospective employees at the beginning of their relationship with us.

If you could provide one tip to companies preparing to integrate a large number of acquired employees, what is it? Even though due diligence is typically very comprehensive, spend a good deal of time and effort up front gaining an in-depth understanding of all the people programs and processes.  It's also well worth the time and effort to understand how the data infrastructure is created, updated and maintained.  In deciding to automate any part of the acquisition process you must consider both the efficiency as well as the assimilation benefits of a process like Onboarding.  Sometimes acquired employees are accustomed to programs and processes that appear on the surface to be small and easily replaced or replicated.  As the acquiring company, you can ultimately derail the assimilation process if you fail to acknowledge the importance of these programs or to understand enough about them to communicate how the same benefits or features will be provided post-close.  Onboarding had the unique dual benefit of automating much of the behind the scenes employee data transition efforts with providing a self service feature.  This gave prospective employees control over making informed benefit coverage elections and validating their own employment data.   We think this is why it was received positively and was as successful as it was.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add about your Onboarding strategy? As we have all probably experienced, terms like "optimization" get used pretty liberally in discussions about new or enhanced technology and changing business processes.  In the case of Onboarding at TWC, the successful implementation of Onboarding technology in the Adelphia /Comcast transaction truly did lay a foundation for optimizing our overall approach to delivering employee services.  By taking the technology and reconfiguring it for use in new hire Onboarding, we have been able to highlight the value in both time, cost and risk mitigation of designing and applying standard processes and enabling technologies to the more centralized delivery of a range of employee services.  Onboarding has been a true catalyst for creating a "branded" experience for new entrants into TWC, standardizing and improving process flow and controls and helping to redefine the role of local HR from administrative to business partner.  Some of the goals we established for the our Onboarding strategy included:

• Treating the project as a large change management process vs. a technology implementation and preparing to encounter all the stages of reaction to "change" through design of communication and support systems to address those reactions.
• Selecting  quality partners and vendors
• Integrating with all or as many as possible HR systems, staffing vendors and operation systems (security, etc.)
• Understanding and incorporating the myriad state specific laws related to "background" completion and disposition when designing supporting processes
• Understanding and incorporating the "developing" I9 requirements (like E-Verify) requirements when designing the systems and processes
• Considering all the possible ways an Onboarding system can be used including facilitating internal transfers.

 

Spotlight On: CTHRA's Webinar Series

Launched earlier this year, CTHRA's Webinar Series is gaining traction and participants. On May 7, we kicked off the series with a focus on ""The Rules Have Changed: Federal Employment Law 2009" and now we're gearing up for a webinar titled "2009 Industry Compensation Benchmarks and Trends."

If you've yet to tap into this affordable (only $59) and convenient (no travel time or expenses) method of gaining insight into important HR topics, register today for the next event on October 20 at 2:00 p.m. E.T. Specifically designed for cable and satellite human resources professionals, the 60-minute webinar will feature the results of CTHRA's 2009 MSO and Programmer Compensation Surveys including:

1. The major industry trends in compensation with a look at differences by industry segment (e.g., MSOs versus programmers),
2. The ways company HR groups are using this data to help drive performance for their companies, and
3. Q&A with the experts on compensation trends and issues.

The webinar faculty includes Hali Croner, President of The Croner Company which conducts CTHRA's compensation surveys, and Linda Chambers, Vice President Corporate Human Resources for Bright House Networks.
Click here to register for CTHRA's Oct. 20 Webinar

This Just In...

Recipient of CTHRA-CTAM Summit Fellowship Announced
Thanks to the introduction of a CTHRA-CTAM Summit Fellowship, Kimberly Hulsey, SVP of legal affairs and HR strategy for TV One LLC, will attend CTAM's annual marketing confab for free. The event will take place in Denver on October 25-27 during Cable Connection week, and the registration she received is valued at $900.

When asked why she wanted to attend the event, Hulsey replied, "I am convinced of the interconnection between good talent and the marketing necessary to make cable programming and cable delivered services relevant to the household consumer. Thanks to the CTHRA-CTAM Summit Fellowship, I'll gain insight into marketers' perceptions of the industry which I can then factor into workforce optimization strategies that will allow my company to overcome marketplace challenges such as waning margins and intensified competition."

For more information on the CTAM Summit, please visit
www.ctamsummit.com.   

CTHRA Pens Articles to Help Job Seekers
Conducting a job search during the recession is challenging. To help, each month CTHRA is penning an article for publication in Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable's newest publication, TV Careers. Our articles focus on helpful tips and creative strategies for job seekers. Check out our most recent piece titled How to Secure an Interview in a World of Online Recruiting, as well as archived articles Resources for the Recently Displaced and
Shower Yourself with Job Leads.

Discovery Makes Top 10 in 2009 Working Mother 100 Best Companies  
In recognition of its continuing dedication to progressive family-friendly benefits,  Discovery Communications was named to the Top 10 of Working Mother's 100 Best Companies for Women, marking the 10th consecutive year the CTHRA member has made the list. In addition, CTHRA members Cisco and Turner Broadcasting System were among the Top 100.
According to Working Mother, of the Top 100 employers:

• a full 100% offer telecommuting and flextime schedules
• 98 % offer job-sharing
• 94% offer compressed workweeks
• 86% provide backup care
• 62 % provide sick-child care.

"We are thrilled that Working Mother magazine has recognized Discovery Communications as one of the best places to work for the 10th straight year," said Adria Alpert Romm, Senior Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Discovery. "We are committed to providing the most supportive work environment possible for our valued employees, who are among the best in their fields. On-site, full service health care, a newly opened child care center serving more than 100 children, fitness and education reimbursements, counseling services, and flexible hours and telework are all elements of our comprehensive package aimed at serving the varied needs of our workforce."

For the complete list of Working Mother's 100 Best Companies, visit www.workingmother.com.

Television Careers ’Äì New Pub from B&C and Multichannel News
Each month, CTHRA shares its expertise on the tough issues facing today's job seekers in Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable new publication, Television Careers.  The weekly publication features the latest job listings for TV professionals and insider analysis of media industry moves. More than 30,000 industry professionals subscribe to Television Careers, which is delivered directly to their e-mail inbox. Would you like to receive it? Click the image below to sign up for a free subscription. Then, look for CTHRA's October article on whether or not candidates should negotiate salaries during the recession.

Special Career 360 Job Posting Discount for CTHRA Members

Through a collaboration with CableFAX, CTHRA will now provide insight into employer HR related topics which will be featured on its Cable 360  website. As a bonus, all CTHRA members can take advantage of a special 20% discount on job postings. Simply visit CableJobs and for the discount code, enter the word discount in all lowercase letters.

 

Member Connection

 

Congratulations to these members on the move:

Melissa Maldonado, PHR, was promoted to HR Manager of Comcast from HR Recruiter.

Ron Philips was elevated to Senior Vice President of Employee Engagement at Comcast. He had been VP of HR at Comcast's West Division.

Corey Prince joined Gospel Music Channel as Director of HR. He previously served as Regional HR Manager for Cox Media.

Please send promotions/new hire information to CTHRA's editor.

NEW MEMBERS
We welcome these individuals who joined CTHRA in August-September 2009

Ron Alleyne, Comcast Cable
David Blair, Wide Open West Networks, LLC
Katrena Davis, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Perri Grinberg, Time Warner Cable
Simeon Hardy, Comcast
Julie Hutchings, The Weather Channel
Pam Juncker, Wide Open West Networks, LLC
Michael Munoz, ESPN, Inc.
Todd Nakasone, Time Warner Cable - Corporate
Deborah Ruhmann, Wide Open West Networks, LLC
Tim Schwarzer, Western Management Group
Crissy Smith, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Barbara Solomon, Wide Open West Networks, LLC
Janice Turner, Wide Open West Networks, LLC
Marvin Walton, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Mike Winters, Wide Open West Networks, LLC

 

Click here to Update Your Member Record!

 

The Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA) is
committed to helping industry professionals leverage effective human resources strategies
to improve organizational and industry-wide success. Contact CTHRA at www.cthra.com.
CTHRA – 1755 Park Street, Suite 260 – Naperville, IL 60563 – 630/416-1166 – 630/416-9798 FAX