H.R. Six Sigma Projects

The best area to be improved is the front end in HR, I’m working as Six Sigma Agent for payroll.
i.e. the process of Time & attendance : BIG SAVINGS
Talk with the empooyees in each department (HR, payroll, benefits, T&A).

I’m interested to share experiences also.

Hi Darron,

First of all, I think you should explain what is Six Sigma to your company. To summarize explain that the savings are not only in $$$ but in improvement of customer satisfaction (that will become savings).
I’m working in the project T&A, I’m in the define phase and we don’t really assess the savings yet, but we have an idea of it, it will be around 500,00 $CDN per year. I’m working also in the project “Employee termination process”, the savings will be only 150,000$CDN per year, but we going to improve the process and the customer satisfaction the payroll’s image will be improved. You know, I’d like to say “one saving is a saving” the savings are like the drip in the ocean, you need little drips to have big ocean….

Try to communicate what Six Sigma is.

Sorry for my poor english….have nice day

Dear Bernard,

Let us have your experience so far with HR6Sigma.Can you share some case studies on same.
Do have any case studies on accounts , Sales & marketing 6 sigma also?

Looking forward to your reply.

Sounds like you are the man, Bernard. I also work in HR and we are just implementing 6 sigma… and nobody knows how to address it in hr proyects. If you could share the way you started the two proyects that will be great. Does you have a 6 sigma book that is concentrated in hr proyects or maybe in service proyects that allowed us to adjust it to the hr ones?

thanx

The hiring/staffing process is an opportunity at my organization also. Where or how can I learn more about the related six sigma work at the aerospace co. in the west coast?
Thank you in advance for the help.
 

Mr. Juneja,
Can you throw some more light on the applicability of Six Sigma to HR processes especially recruitment….
Have you already started this in your organization?
You can e-mail to me at -kompal_oberoi@yahoo.com
Regards

Do you know of any applications of Six Sigma in Human Resources departments? Now, I’m looking for case studies and how money was saved.
 Thanks.

Dear Mr. Khanna,
Fprgot to leave my id. ajay@connexionsindia.com.
Thanks and regards
Ajay

Hi Bernard,
I would like to gain some of information from the project you were running back ealier this year relating to employee termination – improve the process & reduce the cycle time.
Could you please e-mail me and we can compare projects – peter.richards@suncorpmetway.com.au

Bernard,
Please share any information as it relates to recruitment.  Where can I find Six Sigma training that is fully devoted to HR?

Hi,
I’m interested in 6-sigma applications in the HR area.
 
Regards,
sherry

hello, i am presently working on six sigma implementation in pay roll preparation.

Hi Barnard…
Request your help.  I am looking for HR poject in 6 sigmaCodyouet e know in some detail about how you went about your project on Time & attenden
I will be grateful for whatever help you could give
Thanks..Sonu Soni
 
 

Sanjay:
Here at my company, we have applied Six Sigma to many HR areas.  Some of the many areas of application include: employee retention, employee recruitment & the recruting budget, Travel & Expenses and Assignments & Relocation.  We have had incredible results with Six Sigma in HR and will continue to be advocates of Six Sigma.

Dear RMH:
I am a certified MBB, and was a certified BB before that.  At my present company, we began applying Six Sigma in HR to first control recruiting costs.  We we had exorbitant placement fees being paid out to various recruiters, plus the interview costs.  We were able to reduce our total costs, by conducting more phone interviews, we reduced placement agency cost by posting our positions online directly.  Using DMAIC, we were able reevaluate our entire hiring process and reduce our HR processing time by 37%(we eliminated several non-value added processes and reduced the volume of internal paperwork required for a new hire).
I hope this helps … Good Luck!

No, I am not from Allied Signal.

I am coaching over 8 projects in the HR field. One alone has over 16M in impact (terminating employees) another is 4-7M. campel@rocketmail.com

How are you effectively managing some many projects that are focus on defect prevention?  Are you a Master Black Belt?
Nella

Dear Janelle,
I am a six sigma blackbelt & have experience in cycle time reduction thru DMAIC methodology of six sigma.In fact recently I have completed a project on order execution cycle time reduction.
I am sure that same methodology applies to hiring cycle time reduction in HR.
My email ID is : gsdandekar@vsnl.net
Best Regards
Girish
 

Someone may have already mentioned this – the discussion thread is long -however my company looked at recruiting costs and the improvement targeted & being readied for pilot is an employee referral program with $ incentives – it won’t eliminate professional recruiting costs but when it can run as much as 35% per professional recruit (35% of salary) – the $$ add up quickly for those referrals that are hired i/o seeking a professional recruiter.   Also a soft benefit is employee engagement & moral. 
good luck

Hi T Minor,
I am sorry i’ve joined this forum very recently. I was very happy to hear that you are a MBB. I would love to hear from you about where did you complete your MBB certification and also i would like to know how is the DMAIC applied on different departments. I am working in the quality department. Can you please educate me on how this Six-Sigma (DMAIC) works.
Please mail it across to me. I would be more than thankful. My email Id is: sameermazhar@rediffmail.com
Thanks,
Sameer Mazhar.

Make sure you do an end to end process analysis before launching any six sigma improvement or redesign efforts, ie: Use some LEAN concepts to find out where the value added processes lay and try to eliminate the other processes before DMAIC or other six sigma activities (ie Kaizen)….It is critical to do a high level business process framework for you key business or service processes before any improvement efforts are launched…Work smart…not hard…

Sameer – The project I worked on was/is a human process.  DMAIC helped me become disciplined in getting to the lowest common denominator.  Our issue was attendance.  Initially management spent an enormous amount of time blaming the hourly people for their behavior.  However the hourly people did not create the system management did.  Therefor I began taking a detailed look at where I perceived the gaps are/were then in a more detailed way I began listening closely with the voice of the customer.  Sameer it is extremely important to know what your customer considers a defect.  My next step was to get data, lots of data.  With the data I was able to make measurements such as how many people, how much money, what time frame, and how often. 
We worked on defects within our system to understand where the failures were beginning and found the system was not giving us the information we thought we were receiving.  Again the process required me gathering lots of data to support the inability of the system to accurately measure absenteeism in a meaningful way.
Long story short Sameer it took an enormous amount of time, and dedication.  My project was/is the “pep rally before the big game” and is the beginning of us understanding ALL of the details of this dynamic process.  Sameer it is absolutely critical that you be able to measure your process and do it in a way that identifies dollars and cents, then you will have the attention to begin the improve the process.
Nella

Do you have sample Six Sigma projects related to the manufacturing,production,assembly,engineering,R&D and planning departments? I’m looking for case studies the review so I can help others to find their projects. I would also like to show others how much money was saved and the opertunities created.
Thank you.
Steven

sir,
pl make to to know how to relate absenteeism with six sigma. i’m doing my M.B.A project. my topic is  “a study on absenteeism through six sigma tools”.
pl clarify my doubts.
with regards

Bernard,
I am also needing some HR case studies as we are trying to implement (transactional) six sigma projects in our company, especially HR.  If you could also forward me some case studies I would be very grateful. My e-mail address is jccouto@aol.com.
Thanks!
Jean-Clay

Can you share the experience with me ?
Thanks & regards
Simon

Hello Bernard,
It appears as your T & A project started back in February 2001, I am curious as to the results of this project and if you have implemented any other projects since
 

Some time back I had send a six sigma strategy to a company in Australia seeking assistance in HR project.  The problem was ’employee retention’ .  I do not know if the matter will be helpful to you in any way, however, instead of seeking HR projects, why don’t you highlight some opportunities for improvement in HR area of your company, we shall try to implement the strategy there.  Mail me back on srikadmbi@yahoo.com if interested.
rgds
 

Six Sigma can be easily applied to ALL areas within HR once one understands the methodology. For e.g in recruitment, one could look at metrics like – total time taken to recruit a person – look at the wing to wing process and determine where delays/break downs in the process are happening and how it can be fixed. Other examples include cost of hire (vendor/internet referrals/employee referrals), Time taken to resolve employee issues, time taken to bring “on board” a new employee, accuracy of employee databases etc. The best way to understand Six Sigma is to undergo the training to grasp concepts as well as understanding the Quality tools. Companies like General Electric and Motorola have saved billions of dollars by utilising Six Sigma to make improvements – not only in the Manufacturing set up but in all functions including HR, Training, Finance and even the Mailroom!

Dear MS,
I do fully understand the application of 6 Sigma methodology but finds it difficult to quantify savings in HR related projects.Our company is trying to identify HR projects which are worth the dedicated black belt resources i.e. projects that can quantify substantial savings in addition of course to improving efficiency. Can you share some of your completed projects on HR?
Thank you.

Hi,
Some of the Projects I have worked on or know have been done include:
1) Reducing Cost of Hire – for e.g drilling down what your sources of hiring are and the costs associated with it and then determining best options (from a cost stand point)
2) From an internal efficiency standpoint, we looked at some of our core processes like time taken to complete performance appraisals, time spent on non value add work etc. and developed online systems that would enable us to reduce the TAT(turn around time) on some of these processes.
Very often we utilise Employee surveys, Manager surveys to gather data on where the pain areas exist and how Six Sigma can be used to improve efficiency.
Hope this helps.. let me know if you have any other questions!

Hi, BernardI know its quite a while ago that this discussion happen., But I would like to know how things can be handled if soebody is working out a project in the HR dept. Currently I am involved in the Payroll Process. Can you pls share your example with meThanks in advanceSudha

Mr T. Minor
Hi,

Greetings
I read your message in the isix sigma Forum. Presently I am working on the projects in the HR dept. I would be grateful if you can provide me with some of the information.
 
Sorry for inconvenience. Thanks in advance.

I would be interested to talk to you directly about your project.
 
michael.s.cook@sherwin.com

hi!
post your contact id and i shall provide you with some info as in this discussion thread related to HR projects have seen so many queries getting generated but not concluding in concrete suggestions or objective sharing of info….
for anybody who is interested in this
it just take the start point as customer requirement in all areas of HR to get down to project definitions which i can see most of those HR biggies have not done
rgds,
indresh

Hi,
Could u also drop me a line about Six Sigma HR Projects.
Thanks
Kironika
 
 

Here is my expereince of working for one of the major comapnies at chennai which has implemented 6 sigma.
The project I worked on was/is a human process.  DMAIC helped me become disciplined in getting to the lowest common denominator.  Our issue was attendance.  Initially management spent an enormous amount of time blaming the hourly people for their behavior.  However the hourly people did not create the system management did.  Therefor I began taking a detailed look at where I perceived the gaps are/were then in a more detailed way I began listening closely with the voice of the customer.  Sameer it is extremely important to know what your customer considers a defect.  My next step was to get data, lots of data.  With the data I was able to make measurements such as how many people, how much money, what time frame, and how often. 
We worked on defects within our system to understand where the failures were beginning and found the system was not giving us the information we thought we were receiving.  Again the process required me gathering lots of data to support the inability of the system to accurately measure absenteeism in a meaningful way.
Long story short Sameer it took an enormous amount of time, and dedication.  My project was/is the “pep rally before the big game” and is the beginning of us understanding ALL of the details of this dynamic process.  Sameer it is absolutely critical that you be able to measure your process and do it in a way that identifies dollars and cents, then you will have the attention to begin the improve the process.
specfic questions are most welcome

Hi Minor,
Can you forward a six sigma project on HR to me.
MMT

Has it ocurred to anyone that strict adherance to the Six Sigma philosophy has had some really miserable side effects?  I’m not talking about the bottom line here, but rather the effect the Six Sigma “culture” tends to have on the body of employees – the people.
Two good examples are Intuit Inc. and AOL.  Both used to be considered “people” oriented business and operated with a sense of “family,” with the belief in supporting their employees.  Six Sigma, with it’s focus on re-refined statistical analysis absolutely destroyed these companies’ capability to be sensitive to their own employees, causing massive discontent and turnover.
Obviously, Six Sigma can do wonders for quality and the bottom line, but does no one here recognize these after-effects?

I want to know how to apply Six Sigma to improve Effectiveness of Training in my company.
I think firstly I should be able to gauge effectivness of various trainings then apply Six Sigma concepts to improve effcetiveness.

Hai Grish iam pushpa.
Can you share your project with me, Iam willing to try a project in HR dept. itself in recruitment and secletion. I have never implemented so far. your response is appreciated.
Thankyou,
Pushpa.
 
  

Some other projects that I can think of :
(1) Improving the quality of inhouse training programs
(2) Impact of training, mentoring and  self study for competency improvement
(3) Linking compenation strategy to competency improvement
 
 

Dear Indresh,
Can u please send also some of the HR six sigma projects as i m also trying to find some project in our HR department.
 
 
Regards,
 
Narendra Rana

indresh,
If you have a POS 360 review program, do a MSA and publish the results. I will either shut me up or make a case for me.
Good luck

Can i get some material/ case study on HR attrition project as i am currently working on this. Would be vry helpful.
 
 

Indresh,
Most companies have some type of review system for employee performance. Effectively when you are doing a performance review you are measuring their performance over a specified period of time. That review process is a Measurement System and there should be no reason that it should not adhere to the same criteria as any other measurement system (accuracy – bias, stability, linearity & Precision – repeatability, reproducibility).
Your comment “measurement system can be anything which gives the same result on the same sample if measured again and again” ideally is correct unfortunately it frequently does not provide the same result. That is the problem. Nobody seems to want to run the study on performance reviews.
When we are all feeling all soft anf fuzzy we like to talk about the employees being our “most valuable asset.” We will then turn right around and subject our “most valuable asset” to an absolutely horrific measurement system. That doesn’t convey much value on your “most valuable asset.” If you want to break a little new ground in the HR arena run a MSA on the review process. I have a personal distaste for 360 reviews because it increases the variation (more untrained people participating) in an already poor measurement system but it is probably only some order of magnitude worse than any other system.
Since we are on a forum that tends to draw against the experienced Quality population it is interesting to see the mix of people who will hang on every written word of Dr. Deming then turn right around and jump into the middle of the revirew feeding frenzy. There is absolutely no question of the value he placed on reviews ( no particular use for them). Now I am mixing issues.
HR project suggestion: MSA on the review process – just my opinion.
Good luck.

mike,
thanks, shall for sure burn my hands on it.
though we don’t have a 360 degree kinda review mechanism but can say that its 270 degrees (new thing i HR :-)), where the employee puts across his rating, thgen discuss the same with his boss (appraiser) and then they both sit with the boss’s boss (reviewer). As you correctly said untrained people getting involved will skew the data, and the irony is that most of the organisations decide the future of their employees on this.
needed a suggestion from you side, i am carrying out a research to find the linkage between the
– managerial style (blake and muton) of boss
– need for achievement scores of employee (TAT scores)
– migratory nature of workforce (yes or no)
– ease of competition faced by the organtisation (high medium low)
 
on  employee performance rating and his tenure with newly set up business units (service sctor) in india.
Measurement systems chosen are few psychological tests, do you think they are good enough as they too are reliable but lack validity.??
your view points
if need be mail me at indreshs@airtelindia.com as i feel that there i have lots to learn
thanks
rgds,

My Project in training is: Increase efficiency of new hired direct employees from 70% to 85% in the first 30 days of hiring