I have no bone to pick with Taleo other than that I plan for Tempworks to eat their lunch. And so it is that earlier this year I did the video post below on Taleo's acquisition of Vurv about which I received nastygrams from apparent Taleo fans. Fast forward a few months and Taleo's market cap has fallen so fast and furious - granted in a bear market - that its entire value is scarcely above what it paid for Vurv.
Here's how failure played out for Abe.
Although the original HR people at Tempworks set up a general Bonus Program and advised against discretionary bonuses, I've never felt comfortable with the former and intuitively favored the latter. Some people do work harder than others relative to their salary, and I've heard other business owners talk up about how well discretionary bonuses work for them.
The HR blog KnowHr has a good discussion on the topic:
This is by an internet buddy, social media maven Jim Durbin, that I've written about before:
Anthony Iannarino’s post on the importance of ‘presence’ jolted me into action this last week as I met with more than a dozen staffing companies across the USA in a mad scamper that defied any logic other than making the best of the airline industry’s convoluted fare structure.
From Abilene to Ypsilanti today's staffing business reflects the same angst you get on CNN: an employment industry rocked by the credit crisis and rendered paranoid by the mob of union-backed, anti-employer lawyers about to take over our executive branch who CAN actually create change by making the job market worse than the massively wasteful crew they are replacing.
However in every dark cloud there are silver linings.
If you’ve ever been frustrated by long lines at airport security checkpoints, then you can empathize however slightly with the plight of defense contractors whose ability to execute has been castrated by the axe of the security Gods now firmly in control of our government.
There is no line too long for workers to get properly cleared to enter a defense workplace, no senator to complain to. Such inefficiencies do create opportunities, and so we helped our staffing company client make the best of them by automating time-keeping and new contractor intake. Such relationships require first that you have the right contact in the right place and it also helps to have an appropriate solution.
Feeling as threatened as as a republican interviewed by Stephen Colbert, I walk in wearing a suit and tie amongst laborers so numerous they can’t help but bump into one another or me as I make my way to the reception desk. It doesn’t matter how often I do it, I’m still always afraid one is going to punch me or get down on me like the media is currently doing with those bailed-out AIG directors at their posh parties. Next time – I always say – it’s jeans and a sweat shirt.
I meet with the owner who has successfully won large contracts formerly serviced by Adecco whose quality has eroded perhaps because of their low margins (or is it the other way around). He’s happy with our software. I try to pitch moving to our paperless applicant intake. He wants to go paperless, but they have too much going on now he says. We go out to lunch and he tells me about his growth plans.
Has the tortuous, circular path that big companies have put staffing companies through during the last 20 years finally come back to its starting point? Let me take you down memory lane:
In the beginning there were big staffing clients who valued their great relationship with their main staffing supplier.
Next came the ‘consultant’, the nut-cracker, who helped renegotiate rates, and took the negotiation to a global level, simultaneously killing local service. The concept of global staffing captivated the giant staffing providers that went on a spending binge for a global operating system, spending hundreds of millions in vain. Note to Adecco, Kelly, Manpower and others who have gone the global route and now have stock prices low enough to prove it: if you want to conquer the world, do it one country at a time.
I'm back home now and rereading Anthony's post. He's right of course but if you run a company with customers spread around the world, how do you not miss your wife, your bed, your kids, your gym?
http://www.ouestfrance-emploi.com/actu_interim-premier-secteur-d-activites-touche_1937.htm
« Surtout dans l'industrie. Par exemple, un client qui avait une trentaine d'intérimaires a tout stoppé », constate Mélanie Gramatyka, responsable de l'agence.
Industrial staffing has taken the biggest hit, she says. Wannabe-linguist-note: Her use of the Anglicism stoppé shows that French culture and language is falling faster than its temp staffing market.
Several of our competitors claim to be the "Only" solution of one sort or another. "Only On-Demand Solution", "Only Integrated Solution", "Only Total Solution". These all seem to be common catch-phrases in a software industry where virtually every player makes the same claims. It makes you wonder if someone showed up from a foreign country to learn English if they took "only" to mean "Just Like Everyone Else".
Reward: $25 Starbucks card if you catch Tempworks claiming to be the "only" something that we're not. Eligible where permitted. Competitors and employees welcome to participate.
Chris (center front) has helped Tempworks deliver phenomenal web service solutions to clients for several years and is moving on to a great opportunity. We threw him a going-away party at Joe Sensor's, the local sports bar. Best of luck, Chris.
Most of my peers with IT companies say the same thing: business may be down but it's not like the crash of 2002. This Gartner consultant says that the crash is around the corner, it's just taking longer because its origins are in banking and credit and not in IT like in 2002. He says that once budgets get reset to reflect the lack of cash, IT spending will fall along with the other dominoes.
Hat tip: Thomas Otter of Gartner: http://blogs.gartner.com/thomas_otter/2008/10/30/pondering-integration/
