Staffing Evaluation at Hallmark

Staffing Evaluation at Hallmark

Hallmark, founded in 1910, is the largest U.S. manufacturer of greeting cards and the owner of Binney & Smith, the maker of Crayola Crayons.71 The company pursues a differentiation and innovation strategy and uses creativity and emotion to help people connect to its products, including its stationery, party goods, photo albums, home decor, collectibles, a cable television channel, and books.72 To hire quality people more consistently, Hallmark needed a tool to help it focus its staffing efforts on what is most relevant to the company—that is, on business-relevant cri-teria that would allow it to more consistently hire quality em-ployees to best execute its strategy.73 However, Hallmark didn’t want the tool to be too complex. To launch the effort, Hallmark created a staffing index to evaluate the quality of the firm’s past hires to source and screen candidates more effectively. Upon hiring a new employee, the person’s line manager

makes an immediate assessment of the employee’s intrinsic abilities and desirability. To avoid using complex formulas that require a specialized background to understand, the rat-ings are simple and focused on measuring the quality and timeliness of Hallmark’s hiring system.74 The possible new hire ratings are as follows:75 1 = Average 2 = Above Average 3 = Good

4 = Very Good 5 = Walk-On-Water Good After 6 months, the hiring manager uses the same five-point scale to evaluate whether its initial expectations have been realized. The data are used to compare new hires who consistently get top ratings with those who don’t to identify any distinguishing factors that can be used to make the hir-ing process more effective.76 According to one expert, Hallmark is on the right track by

keeping its system simple and not getting too wrapped up in the numbers and by focusing on the end result of making good hires. Hallmark views the staffing index only as a means to an end and knows that ultimate staffing success will be gauged not by these metrics but by the organization’s performance.

Pros and cons of the staffing index

The case “Staffing Evaluation at Hallmark” explores the staffing evaluation system implemented by Hallmark, a greeting card manufacturer. The staffing evaluation system at Hallmark is based on a staffing index calculated by dividing the number of employees by the total revenue generated by the company. The staffing index is then compared to industry benchmarks to determine if the company is overstaffed or understaffed.

Pros of Hallmark’s Staffing Index:

1. Simple and Easy to Calculate: The staffing index is a simple and easy-to-calculate metric that can be easily understood by managers and employees alike.
2. Provides Industry Comparison: The staffing index provides a basis for comparison with industry benchmarks, allowing managers to assess whether their staffing levels are appropriate.
3. Helps in Controlling Costs: The staffing index can help control labor costs and improve efficiency by determining whether the company is overstaffed or understaffed.

Cons of Hallmark’s Staffing Index:

1. Ignores Skill Level: The staffing index does not take into account the skill level of employees or the complexity of their jobs. This can result in an inaccurate assessment of staffing needs.
2. Does Not Consider Industry Trends: The staffing index does not take into account industry trends or changes in customer demand, which can affect staffing needs.
3. Can Lead to Employee Turnover: If staffing levels are reduced based on the staffing index without taking into account the impact on employees, it can lead to dissatisfaction and turnover.

Hallmark can use technology for tracking applicants and onboarding its new hires

Hallmark can leverage technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its staffing functions in several ways. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS): An ATS can help Hallmark streamline its recruitment process by automating the job posting, resume screening, and candidate communication. This will save time and reduce the administrative burden on recruiters, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks.
2. Implement a Mobile-Friendly Application Process: With more job seekers using their mobile devices to search and apply for jobs, Hallmark can ensure a seamless candidate experience by making its application process mobile-friendly. This will enable candidates to apply for jobs anytime and anywhere, improving the speed and convenience of the application process.
3. Implement a Paperless Onboarding Process: By digitizing its onboarding process, Hallmark can eliminate the need for paperwork, reducing the risk of errors and delays. This will also enable new hires to complete their onboarding tasks remotely, reducing the time and cost associated with in-person onboarding.
4. Use Analytics to Measure and Improve Recruitment Performance: By tracking and analyzing recruitment metrics such as time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and source-of-hire, Hallmark can gain insights into the effectiveness of its recruitment strategies and make data-driven decisions to improve its hiring process.
5. Leverage AI for Resume Screening: Hallmark can use AI-powered resume screening tools to quickly and accurately screen large volumes of resumes, reducing the time and effort required to review each application manually.

Overall, technology can help Hallmark improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its staffing functions, enabling the company to attract, hire, and onboard top talent more quickly and efficiently.

 Hallmark can use the system to track:

• Company turnover,
• Downsizing, and
• Retention?

Hallmark can use its staffing evaluation system to track company turnover, downsizing, and retention by incorporating additional metrics into the system. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Company Turnover: To track turnover, Hallmark can calculate its turnover rate by dividing the number of employees who left the company in a given period by the average number of employees during that period. This will provide a measure of how many employees are leaving the company, and whether the turnover rate is increasing or decreasing over time.
2. Downsizing: Hallmark can incorporate a downsizing index into its staffing evaluation system to track downsizing. The downsizing index would measure the percentage reduction in staff during a given period. This will help Hallmark understand whether it is downsizing its staff and the impact of downsizing on its operations.
3. Retention: To track retention, Hallmark can calculate its retention rate by dividing the number of employees who stayed with the company in a given period by the total number of employees during that period. This will provide a measure of how many employees are staying with the company and whether the retention rate is increasing or decreasing over time.

By tracking these metrics, Hallmark can gain insights into its staffing functions and make data-driven decisions to improve its retention rates, reduce turnover, and manage downsizing more effectively. Additionally, by comparing these metrics to industry benchmarks, Hallmark can gain a better understanding of its competitiveness in the labor market and identify areas for improvement.