Financial Engines Grows Up - 100 Million IPO Planned.

Another HR vendor is about to be public which means we have a wealth of great information being made available via the company's S-1 filing with the SEC. Any HR software or services vendor, particularly those that compete in the "retirement" sector of employee benefits, will find great information in this S-1 filing.

Financial Engines was founded in 1996 to address the need for independent investment advice. The company was a pioneer of online investment advice with the launch of the first independent Online Advice platform in 1998 - basically, very sophisticated online calculators. But that was then. There very interesting history is here.

Today, the company is a leading provider of independent, technology-enabled portfolio management services, investment advice and retirement help to participants in employer-sponsored defined contribution retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans.

Their business model is based on workplace delivery of these services. They target three key constituencies in the retirement plan market:

(1) Plan participants (employees)
(2) Plan sponsors (employers)
(3) plan providers (companies providing administrative services to plan sponsors).

The business model is a typical software/services model. Revenue is generated from management fees based on the value of the assets under management (services) and from recurring, subscription-based platform fees for access to the company's web-based financial portal (software).

As of September 30, 2009, Financial Engines had signed contracts to make their services available through 107 Fortune 500 companies and seven Fortune 20 companies.

The company's total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2009 was $58.8 million.

The market opportunity? Here are some sound-bytes from the company's S-1 IPO filing with the SEC:

- We believe the United States retirement savings industry is large and growing and that shifting trends within the retirement industry present us with an opportunity to help plan sponsors provide independent portfolio management services, investment advice and retirement help to their employees.

- We believe the following key market trends will continue to drive the growth of our business and increase the value of our service offerings:

(a) Shifting Demographics Drive a Growing Need for Retirement Assistance.
(b) Growing Reliance on Defined Contribution Plans.
( c) Changing Legal and Regulatory Framework
(d) Automatic 401(k) (as a result of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 plan sponsors are actively seeking automatic retirement savings solutions for their employees).

This is a very good case study in building a business - adapting to changing market needs, patience and perseverance.

Good luck Financial Engines. The company hopes to raise $100 million.

Softballs, marketing and me on the HRchitect WebMingle. Merry Christmas.

Pssst...this is a shameless plug for HRchitect's HR Technology Happy Hour WebMingle.

And me and HRmarketer.

Hard to believe it's been a year since they launched the WebMingle when Mark was on.

Amazing. Matt and Tiffany do a fantastic job with this show. My HR Market Share podcast series pales in comparison. (Well, maybe not pales, but still...)

I just wanted to let you know that I'm fortunate enough to be the featured guest on HRchitect’s HR Technology Happy Hour WebMingle, the HR Technology Industry’s only live web radio show.

The show will air live this Thursday, December 10, from 1 PM – 2 PM CST (11 AM - 12 PM PST). I’ll be taking live questions, so if you’d like to dial-in to ask a question the number is 646.595.2360.

Give me softballs, would ya'? It's Christmas.

If you’d like to email a question for the show, just send it to tappleby@HRchitect.com with my name and “Happy Hour WebMingle” in the subject line. To listen to the show live, just go to BlogTalkRadio.com/MattLafata and click on the Listen Live red box in the upper right corner.

While the show is live, you can also ask questions via Twitter by adding #WebMingle to the end of your question. To listen to a broadcast after it has aired, scroll down the WebMingle show page to access previously aired episodes.

I’m excited about being a guest on the show and hope you’ll be able to tune in or call-in with a question!

Softballs, marketing and me. Merry Christmas.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

My Grown-Up Christmas Wish: Reinvent and Reinvest

Jobs, jobs and more jobs. The lack thereof. The projected growth therein.

Last week I saw a picture in the Wall Street Journal. A man holding a sign that read:

NO REAL AMERICAN WOULD HELP DESTROY THIS STEEL MILL

The choice of words alone told me volumes and hurt my heart. The U.S. steel industry has been contracting for decades; many industries of late have contracted. Politico-speak aside, markets that aren't running at capacity can't be sustained. The globally competitive market has changed the face of what it means to do business in America.

But the beast of business can no longer pretend entitlement, this isn't the 1930's, people need to own their development, and there is no magical tree where jobs fall ripe and ready.

It takes investment in small to mid-sized business, to foster market growth where there is little to none, to help unstrap the ultra-bootstrapped business owners.

So they can hire at least one more employee and create job growth. (Ours didn't happen in November, but it will happen for Christmas.)

I completely agree with with John Hollon from Workforce Management and his assessment of last week's Obama Administration Job Summit.

It was a PR-schlock bust. The stimulus money to date that has been earmarked for public works projects seems to have made no dent at all. Plus that money only helps create jobs in the short-term and will only take off if private industry takes over.

There is no permanence, only transition. We must learn how to bounce back, not smack flat like a cartoon pancake.

For me, no real American would give up on themselves, their communities, their country.

Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.

Kennedy had it going on when he said this. Obama's call to service is on the money as well.

But it takes reinvention and reinvestment to get the job machine humming again. HR can be a big people part of that.

When HR plays nice with business and vice-versa, amazing things happen. In Mark's post yesterday he wrote:

At its core, I've always believed human resources is all about (a) hiring the right people, (b) keeping them motivated, engaged, and productive and (c) developing them. Everything else is details. (which, incidentally, is why HR vendors who can clearly communicate how their offerings support one or more of these core functions tend to have greater success).

There are dozens and dozens of new firms in the HR marketplace. They are the lifeblood of the body economic, that which fuels job growth.

Ask what you can do for your country.

One of my favorites holiday songs is "Grown-up Christmas List" as sung my Amy Grant (songwriters Linda Thompson and David Foster). I'm a cryer, so give me some tissue now.

I've added another sentimental line as my grown-up Christmas wish:

No more lives torn apart,
And wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end

[And everyone would reinvent and reinvest
And aspire to be their very best]

This is my grown-up Christmas list...

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

CEO or CHRO? Procter and Gamble's Top Brass Gets Human Resources.

"If you leave us our buildings and our brands but take away our people, the company will fail" - Richard "Red" Deupree, CEO, Proctor & Gamble, 1947

"Are we hiring the right people?" - A.G. Lafley, CEO Procter & Gamble, 2002

At its core, I've always believed human resources is all about (a) hiring the right people, (b) keeping them motivated, engaged, and productive and (c) developing them. Everything else is details. (which, incidentally, is why HR vendors who can clearly communicate how their offerings support one or more of these core functions tend to have greater success).

This was driven home to me in a recent story in Fortune Magazine on P&G.

Did you know that the office of P&G's global human resources officer is directly next to that of the CEO?

I didn't. This and other interesting HR facts are in the recent Fortune Magazine article titled CEO Swap: The $79 billion plan which gives a behind the scenes look at Procter & Gamble, where "A.G. Lafley and protégé Bob McDonald are navigating the sweet science of succession".

The article is part of a feature cover story on The Top Companies for leaders: 2009.

An excellent read.

Some other facts about P&G taken from the article:

- All executives who become general managers are evaluated every six months with what is called a GM Performance Scorecard. It is a two-page document, with one page of relevant financial measures and a second, equally important, assessing leadership and team-building abilities.

- All managers are reviewed not only by their bosses but also by lateral managers who have worked with them, as well as their own direct reports.

- Every February one entire board meeting is devoted to reviewing the high-level executives, with the goal of coming up with at least three potential candidates for each of the top 35 to 40 jobs.

- The company has a "Talent Portfolio" that contains the names of P&G's up-and-coming leaders, compared against one another over the past six years in both financial performance and the ability to lead and help others do the same. There are also lists of who is ready to be promoted next, who will be ready after the current assignment, and who will need more time. There are at least three possible candidates for each major job.

Wow.

Moheet Nagrath, P&G's global human resources officer, says this about the binder (that's right, it's a binder - perhaps a sales opportunity for you talent management software vendors):

"Today I could show you the next generation of successors to current leaders, the generation after that, and the generation after that," says Nagrath. Those at the upper-left-hand side of one particular page are the people who have consistently outperformed. The people at the lower right are considered "at risk."

Read the article. It's fantastic. In just a few pages (and two excellent videos) former CEO A.G. Lafley and current CEO Bob McDonald teach us a lot about human resources, succession planning and even marketing.

After reading the article you get the sense these guys are not just Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) but also Chief Human Resource Officers (CHROs).

The Latest HR Market Share Podcast: Interview with Kim Wells, Executive Director of the CAEPV

The latest HR Market Share is ready for your listening pleasure below.

Subscribe to the series in iTunes and look for regular posts to our blog and on the HRmarketer.com site. You can also subscribe to all our past and future interviews and episodes via Hipcast.

Our latest podcast features an interview with Kim Wells, Executive Director of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, the leading force in the fight against domestic violence. It is the only national organization of its kind founded by business leaders and focused on the workplace.

More than 70 percent of U.S. businesses have no policy or formal program in place to address workplace violence. However, violence costs businesses $70 billion a year, with $64.4 billion attributed to lost workplace productivity.

Kim suggests formalizing a program to keep the workplace safe, whether the violence is related to domestic or workplace issues. Components of a program include, formalizing a policy, creating a response team, building awareness and educating staff on the realities and affects of workplace violence.

There's more where than came from. Very important topic to me personally as well.

Thank you and enjoy!

• Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence (CAEPV)
• Domestic Violence in the Workplace blog
• The coolest and most comprehensive collection of human resource content found online is in our HR Directory (HR suppliers load up your content if you're not already there)
• News for HR Newsletter
• Check out our new HR Vendor News blog
• HR Industry News

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!

Making sense of your PR distribution options (no registration or batteries required)

Traditional wire releases. Search-optimized releases. Social media releases. The simple task of sending out a press release is not so simple anymore.

If it ever really was so simple. Marketing and PR is hard work. We've said it many times before.

You can't just put dog poop in a box, strap fireworks to it and light the whole friggin' thing on fire and expect to generate long-term publicity, traffic and leads.

And now that there are many different press release distribution choices available online, making sense of your options is becoming increasingly difficult - new ones are emerging monthly and existing ones are adding features regularly.

Our latest article titled Making Sense of Your Press Release Distribution Options is now available for direct download. No registration or batteries required.

The article -- authored by Mark Willaman, our fearless founder of Fisher Vista LLC (creators of HRmarketer.com and SeniorCareMarketer.com) -- walks you through best practices in news distribution and goes into details on the following tips:

1. Email your release directly to your short-list of targeted journalists, including local media (media relations).
2. Email your release to your short-list of targeted bloggers (and, if applicable, industry analysts).
3. Send your release via an Internet wire service - like PRWeb or Business Wire.
4. Post the release to your own website's news page.
5. Spread the word about your news to your social media networks.
6. If you are publicly traded subject to fair disclosure regulations or believe your release has widespread and national news relevance (and you have the budget), send your release through a major traditional wire service.

Remember, you want to distribute your news releases to relevant bloggers, publishers, journalists and your buyers in order to build awareness of your news. You also want to get your release online so it can be indexed, found and shared.

To accomplish all this stuff, you need a well-organized and executed news marketing campaign consisting of a number of different tactics.

So get crackin' - roll up those sleeves and download the article.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

Naughty or Nice? The right HR Tech helps make HR more relevant

So I'm reading Steve Boese's An HR Technology Wish List on this fine Black Friday morn (queue the cool Steely Dan song), nodding after each point including the ones about robots, going mobile and puppies, and I keep coming back to something Shafiq Lokhandwala, CEO of NuView Systems, Inc., said to me in one of my latest HR Market Share podcast interviews (will be live in a couple of weeks).

The right HR technology helps make HR more relevant.

It was something like that. At first I thought, well, there's going to be some grievances filed on that one, but the more I thought about it and its context, the more I agreed.

It's not that HR is no longer relevant - the HR Happy Hour and Fistful of Talent gang and Chief Global Member Engagement Office at SHRM China Gorman all agree this conversation is dead.

It's the fact that many small to mid-size organizations have yet to automate most if any HR processes and systems.

And with the right HR tech comes:

• The ability to more efficiently and effectively track people metrics (recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, retaining, etc.) and provide sound data on talent strategies and company growth
• The ability to save invaluable time and administrative staffing to focus on talent strategies and company growth
• The ability to integrate with other business units/departments to better share employee information and develop talent that contributes to company growth
• And so much more!

Hence helping make HR more relevant.

Naughty or nice? I'm going with very nice.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

How is [insert marketing tactic] going to help generate sales?

We recently had an exchange with one of our clients that I found interesting and worthy of a blog post.

First, a little background. This client is a young yet well established business, they have very good management and excellent products. Their future is bright. We've been working with them for about a year with very good success. They hired the HRmarketer Services Group to help expand awareness of their brand and generate sales leads. Prior to this they had never really invested in marketing or PR.

The HRmarketer account executive recently reached out to the client (in this case, the CEO) wanting to schedule a particular marketing tactic. It is important to note that for this particular account we are paid a fixed retainer and it is up to the HRmarketer team to determine how the retainer is to be allocated - e.g., what tactics are to be delivered month-to-month. We are ultimately measured on how effective we are in generating sales leads so it is in our best interest to spend the money wisely.

The email reply from the CEO was brief and consisted of two questions:

How is this [insert marketing tactic] going to be used?

How is [insert marketing tactic] going to help generate sales?

My first thought was frustration -- we've been through this many times when proposing new tactics. But as I thought about his reply I quickly respected and understood his response. And I found it very interesting.

We responded outlining all the benefits and we will likely move forward with the tactic. But I continued to ponder the question "How is this proposed tactic going to help generate sales"?

Would this tactic likely have a direct and immediate impact on his company's sales?

No.

But what CEO would find this answer acceptable?

And herein lies the challenge that anyone in marketing and PR is intimately familiar with.

Like many disciplines that involve an element of creativity, marketing is both an art and a science. Good marketer's have a thorough understanding of numbers - from financial statements to campaign metrics - and know how to apply and interpret the information derived from this data. But good marketer's do not let the numbers alone drive decisions. This is the art.

Ever play the game Jenga? What's the value of one block? Not much but take away too many blocks and the structure collapses. Take two football teams with equal talent and a similar playbook and you often see one team that scores a lot of points and one that doesn't. Why? Many times it is because one team makes better use of their plays - their "marketing" mix.

Most HR vendors have access to the same marketing tactics - how they use these tactics is often what separates good marketer's from the pack.

So back to our client's question……

Would this tactic likely have a direct and immediate impact on sales?

Marketing does not work like this - it's more of a cumulative effect. That's why we recommend companies engage in a variety of marketing and PR tactics. This is what best-in-class companies do - from investing in SEO to producing regular "content", direct marketing, advertising, exhibiting, webcasts, media relations and 'social" marketing such as podcasts and blogging (and ideally, Twitter but we'll take it one step at a time).

It works.

It builds the brand, increases a company's visibility, web site traffic and sales leads - assuming they have a quality product and a competent sales organization.

But it takes time and it is not easy.

There are no "get leads quick" schemes that stand the test of time.

You must commit to a disciplined and well diversified "mix" of marketing and PR and be relentless in delivery - yes, even in slow economic times. As Gordon Moore once said, you can't save your way out of a downturn. Or, another favorite of mine: Who has the money to invest in a downturn? Those who invested in the last one.

These concepts can be difficult to accept for companies that do not have a "marketing" culture. It's outside their comfort level and they fall into a trap of questioning and trying to measure and assign an ROI to each individual tactic and cutting or not doing those tactics that don't have an immediate and/or easily recognizable benefit.

That is what a client told me years ago. He is a very bright CEO from a highly successful HR benefits firm. Prior to founding his HR business, he was a highly respected psychologist in Manhattan and admittedly did not know (or appreciate) marketing from Adam but was getting his lunch handed to him by a competitor who did. He changed his ways and his business flourishes today. Not a single decision is made without involvement of marketing - from operations to product development. And they are relentless in their marketing. He told me we helped bring a "marketing culture" to his business.

But after several decades in marketing and having worked with some of the best minds in marketing I still have difficulty responding to a CEO's question "will this tactic have a direct and immediate impact on sales"?

After all, I am a marketer, not a sales person :-)


Related blog post: Get a little messy AND measure stuff. Contradictions are the new marketing chic.

Human Capital Analyst Reports - how to get them read by more HR decision makers

I got really excited last week when one of our marketing/PR services team members (Adriana Saldaña) forwarded me the executive summary for the new Bersin & Associates talent acquisition study titled Talent Acquisition Systems 2010: Facts, Practical Analysis, Trends, and Provider Profiles.

I highly recommend you check it out just like I highly recommend you check out the HR tech reports from the human capital analysts at Gartner, IDC, Forrester, Bersin & Associates and Aberdeen.

When you can afford it, that is, other than being a paying member of the analyst firm.

The Bersin TA report is $995 for non-members. Not a shocker and pretty much in line with most analysts charge for their industry reports.

But I'm not buying it. Granted we're not an analyst firm by the traditional definition, although we've got a pretty good finger on the HR marketplace pulse and our marketing/PR services team has done a great job in analyst relations this past year on behalf of our HR supplier clients, we also do our own supplier/buyer research every year that's pretty solid.

So we've got that covered. Would I like to read the human capital analyst reports? Absolutely.

I'm sure the HR decision makers and influencers out there would like to as well, but most never do. Bill Kutik confirmed that earlier this year (and I agreed with everything he said in the article).

Smaller to mid-size firms don't have IT directors or CIO's (chief information officers) who historically have been the folks to buy these reports or be members of these analyst firms and get the reports as part of their service.

Member costs are huge annually depending on the level of service - $20K, $30K, $50K, etc. Keep in mind that I'm not saying the value of analyst membership isn't worth it for buying firms or the suppliers themselves. It's just a lot of frickin' money in an already flattening world of accessible information online.

The reports themselves can be invaluable to large organizations shopping for talent management, performance management or learning management software systems.

But why not expand on the Aberdeen model and allow supplier sponsors to subsidize the cost of the report and give it away to their prospects?

Really, why not? I don't have any stats on what kind of revenue these reports generate, but based on what I do know, membership is where the bank is. As it should be. There are a lot of very smart people who work for the analyst firms, especially the analysts, and their services have been invaluable for many enterprise-level customers in the HR marketplace.

That's why so many investment-funded HR software suppliers clamor to get in the reports and/or buy services from analysts.

We already get there's some conflict of interest in analyst firms when it comes to reviewing who the paying suppliers are and who the paying buyer firms are. It's inherent in the model. As Bill Kutik wrote in his analyst article, "I feel comfortable about their objectivity, and you should, too."

I do, because they're really smart people who know HR tech and software systems, but the value of the reports could reach so many more buyers and influencers in the HR marketplace if the reports were used in content marketing to generate publicity, traffic and leads:

• And either subsidized by sponsoring suppliers and given away - for an indefinite amount of time or until the next report.
• Or just given away by the analysts to reach a broader HR buying/influencing audience.

Wouldn't that in turn increase their annual services revenue and market share on both sides of the buyer and supplier food chain?

Nearly 6 million companies say so.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter!)

Human Resources weaves the safety net for victims of intimate partner violence in the workplace

There really weren't any resources for my mother in 1972. She volunteered and then worked as a secretary for the local school district where I grew up, and every time my birth father beat her, there was full clothing to cover the bruises, avoiding others stares and conversation, absenteeism when it was really bad, and more.

There were no domestic violence or workplace violence programs, no employee assistance programs offering counseling or shelter referrals, no assessment and action plans from human resources.

Don't ask, don't tell. The fear and shame that comes with abuse and intimate partner violence is overwhelming enough (intimate partner violence another name for domestic violence) - you don't want your employer to know for fear of losing your job. Employers don't want to know for fear of potential violence in the workplace.

For my mother and countless others it was faith and prayer and finally the personal strength to get out of the violence.

It still is, although today there are thankfully so many more resources available and more and more companies have workplace violence and/or intimate partner violence programs and/or EAPs.

HR can and should take the lead in providing these programs.

But consider these:

• A recent survey of CEOs found that most believe domestic violence to be a serious issue, yet 71% did not believe it is a problem in their company. (The reality is that approximately 21% of fulltime working adults report being a victim of domestic violence.)
• Over 70% of United States workplaces have no formal program or policy that addresses workplace violence.
• Of the approximately 30% that have formal workplace violence policies in place (usually binders on shelves gathering dust), only 13% have domestic violence in the workplace policies and only 4% provide training on domestic violence in the workplace (Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2006).

Only 4%. Seems like one helluva short trip from 1972.

And consider these EAP obstacles:

• The most common reason women didn't contact their EAP for intimate partner violence is that they didn't think about it or didn't think appropriate.
• Employee utilization of intimate partner violence EAP services is very low.
• The number one concern of battered women before contacting an EAP is confidentiality -- they’re afraid employee will find out.
• Most EAPs don't have standardized evaluations or codes for intimate partner violence.

But even considering there's much work to be done, human resources, security professionals, EAPs and workplace violence non-profits have all made huge strides in working together to address intimate partner violence and workplace violence.

One organization in particular - the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence - is the only national organization of its kind founded by business leaders and focused on the workplace. Check out some the companies that are members. I came in contact with this organization earlier this year and was fortunate enough to participate in a few of their S2 - Safer, Smarter Workplace webinars. I was also fortunate enough to interview its Executive Director, Kim Wells (that'll be the next HR Market Share podcast after Thanksgiving).

Amazing employer resources come from the CAEPV. Download Six Steps to Creating a Successful Workplace Program here. Also, great list of dos and don'ts here.

EAPs play a critical role as well. One of our clients - Corporate Counseling Associates - recently released a white paper titled Healthy Organizations Mitigate the Risk of Violence that includes several ways to reduce the threat of violence in the workplace:

• Communicate a zero tolerance policy & develop ongoing employee communications to reinforce the message.
• Set up company procedures for reporting incidents of violence.
• Create a Threat of Violence (TOV) Team, involving members of the following departments: Health Services, Human Resources, Security, EAP, Legal, Facilities Management, Corporate Affairs, and Public Relations.
• Establish organizational mechanisms to prevent violence.
• Constantly monitor and identify “weak spots” in management practices and/or development programs.
• Educate senior management on the warning signs and symptoms of violence-prone individuals, and the environmental pressures that can trigger incidents.
• Train the TOV team to ensure a disciplined execution of strategy.
• Learn how to de-escalate aggression and improve conflict management skills. Run crisis scenario simulations.

In fact, the latest S2 webinar was all about Addressing Domestic Violence in the Workplace: An EAP/Employer Partnership. (CCA wasn't a part of this webinar, however.)

We have come a long way from 1972. With all the organizations like CAEPV, CCA and many other EAPs, HR weaves the safety net for victims of intimate partner violence in the workplace.

More on this to come. We're organizing a roundtable virtual discussion on workplace violence for early in the new year.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now joinHRmarketer on Twitter!)