Show good faith, and your employees will, too: Rich Lakis on L-3 Services Group HR approach

Everyone’s fishing from the same pool of talent.

For defense contractors, it’s the top issue of the day. For Rich Lakis, it’s one that’s being met head-on.

As Senior Vice President of Human Resources for L-3 Services Group (a division of L-3 Communications, the sixth largest US defense contractor), Lakis holds to one overarching philosophy: Show good faith, and your employees will do the same.

“What employers can, and should, provide employees is the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge,” says Lakis, speaking from the group’s Alexandria, Va.-based headquarters.

“Employees stay engaged when they understand we’re trying to provide them the tools they need to grow … and to give them a leg up in the event something changes,” says Lakis.

It’s a commitment that goes beyond the usual corporate approaches: severance models or reliance on outplacement firms. At L-3 Services Group, employees routinely find opportunities to maintain credentials, stay educated, and get certified — all while working.

“So, it’s not an ‘after-the-fact’ matter,” says Lakis.

“Providing the tools for people to take control of their career, that’s what works in attracting people — that’s certainly what works in retaining them,” says Rich Lakis.

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L-3 Services Group offers a variety of employee development choices, from technical training to professional development options.

The organization also encourages an environment of continual learning through internal technical working groups. One example is an initiative known as ‘BOCK’ — Body of Collective Knowledge.

“We reward employees for achieving technical certifications and offer a competitive tuition reimbursement program,” says Lakis. In addition, specialized compensation programs recognize the unique credentials of high-tech employees.

Ethics training also runs across the company. Every employee is required to go through an online curriculum that includes a focus on ethical behavior.

“It’s the cornerstone of how we operate — it’s fully embraced and endorsed by our CEO [Michael Strianese],” says Lakis. “Driving that cultural imperative has become a very visible part of our employment experience.”

Sourcing and recruiting

If development is critical, so is accessibility.

That’s where an extensive “outreach methodology,” as Lakis puts it, comes into play.

“Our sourcing and recruiting strategy enables us to reach our target audience through their preferred methods of conducting a job search,” he says.

Coming up next in that strategy is a corporate-wide tracking system.

“That will give us a more accessible face to the outside world,” says Lakis, referring to the entire organization — over 65,000 employees, spanning 84-plus divisions within seven distinct groups.

The applicant tracking system, he adds, will facilitate internal mobility.

“It’s a much more integrated, user-friendly system to provide applicants better access to us, with different businesses better able to see applicants approach our company from a variety of avenues, not an unique individual division,” he says.

Focus on accessibility doesn’t just speak to tech prowess, but to a company’s overall culture — and odds of attracting top talent — as well.

“The easier you make the access to third parties, specifically applicants, to search through, and apply for, jobs without having to go through a multitude of stops, the better positioned you are to draw those individuals,” says Lakis. “Applicants do not want to spend an inordinate amount of time going through what they perceive to be a cumbersome, bureaucratic process … because they believe that may be reflective of the culture as a whole,” he adds.

Lakis’s team is sidestepping that possibility, courtesy of the new system.

“For us, it makes sense to enhance that access, particularly given the size of our corporation,” says Lakis. “That flexibility will enhance our overall opportunity to attract, retain, and hire individuals whom we might not otherwise have seen.”

Gains through small steps

Looking ahead, Lakis is focused on big gains through small steps. Process, especially.

“As the company evolves, and continues to grow, we plan to keep our eye on the process,” he says. “I believe, to a certain extent, process breeds consistency — and consistency breeds efficiency.”

“You’ve got to think outside the proverbial box to find unique compensation and retention practices,” he adds, “you’ve got to stay abreast of the changing offerings from your competitors.”

That’s no small task for HR leaders. Especially, the higher up they get. To stay intimately connected to the process, Lakis relies upon a team of senior HR executives, who lead in any one of five divisions. He also sits on a corporate HR council — what Lakis calls an “idea repository” — that cuts across all businesses.

Meanwhile, efforts to ensure a seamless transition for current and future employees continue. “These [efforts] involve the employee-related technology and a great degree of user-friendliness and accuracy … all of these things go into positioning the HR team to focus more on strategic initiatives rather than just tactical issues,” says Lakis.

“The bottom line,” he adds, “is people are our most valued resource … It’s often said, and we believe it here.”

Posted by Lisa Singh on Monday, July 26th, 2010. Filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry