Helping Employees Get Ahead
by K.C. Neel -- Multichannel News, 11/16/2008 7:00:00 PM
Operators seized the lead this year with breakthroughs in several areas critical to advancement, according to Working Mother Media analyst Joanne Cleaver.
For the first time, all PAR participant operators began offering leadership training for high-ranking women, with more than three-quarters of those companies offering leadership training for mid-level employees.
| Cox Communications, Inc. |
| Time Warner Cable |
| Comcast Cable |
| The Weather Channel Companies |
| Scripps Networks |
Women’s networks also played a significant role in MSOs’ advancement programs. And mid-level women at programmers were also offered more leadership training in 2007 than in years past and more women’s networks were created as well.
Progress was uneven for other advancement programs, however. Leadership training for entry-level women slipped to about 69%, down from 82% a year ago. In addition, career planning for women in the IT sector slipped to 62% from 64% a year ago.
Moreover, only 39% of operators currently offer financial training for non-financial managers, down significantly from 58% in 2003. It’s somewhat surprising and disappointing, Cleaver said; because companies that offer such training report it’s a turning point for many women, enabling them to move from staff to operating positions.
Similarly, operators and programmers have both been slow to provide job rotations for employees as well, Cleaver noted. Companies like Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable have had success with such programs, creating more internal depth for promotions as opportunities arise.
“Women need to signal their interest to make sure their managers know they want to participate in such programs,” Cleaver said.
Cox continues to build career bridges for its call-center employees. The Atlanta-based MSO has expanded its opportunities to rotate workers into groups that focus on particular types of customers, including technical support and sales. Around-the-clock online training has also helped employees advance at their own pace.
Time Warner Cable has put a lot of emphasis on recruiting and retaining women in technology and the effort is bearing fruit: About half of the company’s IT project managers and 43% of its business-to-business client support staff are women. Several regional technical and mentoring networks have proven so successful, the company is planning to roll them out nationally next year.
Comcast launched its Emerging Leaders Mentoring Program in 2008 with women comprising 53% of the first class. Comcast also introduced two mid-level “boot camps,” one for assistant vice presidents and the other for technical leaders. The ELMP was designed to match high potential leaders with executives they don’t necessarily have face time with, according to Grace Killelea, vice president of human resources.
Cable employers often struggle with ways to measure return on investment from advancement and work/life programs beyond counting the number of participants. The Weather Channel Cos. began quantifying the immediate profit and loss impact of its Emerging Sales Leader Program last year, when participants tracked the hows and whys of new tactics they learned and applied. At the end of the year, each participant chose one new tactic to analyze in terms of revenues generated or operating savings captured.
Weather then analyzed each case study and calculated the total on investment for the class was $11.7 million in incremental revenue for 2007. This approach may represent a new model for measuring the success of advancement programs, Cleaver said.
Scripps Networks opened up its mentoring program to all employees last year and found it particularly appealing to younger workers, which seemed to appreciate the self-diagnostics that are part of the matching process as much as the actual mentoring.
The company’s internal business incubator — Innovation Hub — created two new lines of business last year. Anyone can suggest a business opportunity. Those whose ideas are chosen get a three-month sabbatical to prototype and present their ideas.
If it survives the vetting process by top management to become a full-fledged business, the individual has a chance to be on the launch team.
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