Page 180 - DMGT548_GLOBAL_HRM

Unit 9: Global HR Issues in the Host Context

business reflects a more global than a European focus. Two key initiatives have been Notes
developed to help and support the senior leadership team lead and embed a global culture.
The first is awareness building amongst the Senior Leadership community. A series of
workshop modules have been created to help facilitate the understanding of cultures
Barclaycard International work in or potentially could expand into in the near future. The
workshops have been based on creating an extensive range of country profiles through
external research, knowledge from Barclaycard’s employees and the support from the IAS
team. The workshops will help raise each individual’s understanding of their own personal
behaviours and will help each employee understand in greater detail the cultural challenges
faced in each country.
Secondly, building cross cultural training interventions. These may include, taster sessions
run by nationals or returning employees who have been working in the county. The key
is to link the activities successfully into the global induction programme. In addition,
personal development can be guided towards areas that will add real global value e.g.
language courses.
Talent Acquisition and Development

The international resourcing challenge is supported by talent management tools and
techniques. Many of these processes operate at Barclays group level and there is significant
potential for movement between international banking operations in Barclays and
Barclaycard International. Talent is categorised as a priority for Barclaycard International.
To concentrate on developing talent in top leadership roles, moving then from those with
the potential for a handful of senior cross-Barclays roles, through to those with the potential
to reach the top 450 leadership roles, and then to a broader population with business
talent. Over last four years Barclaycard has evolved the identification of talent. In addition
to looking for both potential and performance, the “wow” factors have been included
Integrity and performance are minimum requirements for those rated as Organisations
often see succession planning and talent identification as separate processes but in Barclays
they are increasingly integrated and long term incentives are tied to the capabilities
identified.
Internally, HR Business Partners facilitate twice yearly reviews of talent, agree who is on
the talent plan and agree with the business the development opportunities open to them.
This could vary from courses to development roles in other cultures. They have fairly
robust information about who has done what, where, and with what desires for international
mobility. Where they do not have the skills in place they aim to move people into arenas
that will develop these skills.

Externally, Barclaycard uses the top grading approach to hiring senior leaders. The role of
the HRBP and the business is to find the top 10% of candidates in their field of expertise on
a global basis, known as “A” players. In addition candidates are required to have an
international mindset. Alignment with Barclaycard values is important, and candidates
need to have a history of international working and given the nature of the sector, need to
have been involved in stretching roles, such as international mergers and acquisitions.
However, when resourcing rapid international expansion, do you start to recruit people
now for the markets that you want to move into, or do you wait until you are in-market
or near-market? The challenge is to “resource ahead of the curve”. One of the approaches
taken at Barclaycard International is to invest in market mapping. This has been done in
domestic markets for a while but they now use research agencies and head-hunters to map
a wider range of geographical labour markets by researching the people working in
similar roles to the ones that will be needed.
Contd...

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