Dr. Steve Safier, PhD, Laura O'Neill Guerrieri, MA and Dave Fineman’s Integrated Talent Management Strategies class was privileged to host Stephen Childs, the Chief Human Resource Officer of Panasonic Automotive. Stephen offered perspectives on organizational culture and the importance of thoughtful onboarding to an existing or changing culture.
Panasonic Automotive employs over 6,800 globally designing and manufacturing complex car technology from displays to cameras and autonomous driving products or, as described by Stephen, “the cool stuff in your car.” Stephen discussed the “people over product” culture transformation that Panasonic Automotive has undergone over the last 5 years, beginning with extensive internal employee feedback sessions and an external benchmarking exercise. The culture change led to new standards for treating employees. From these new standards emerged 7 principles and, from those principles, the Leadership Team clearly defined behaviors and values that shape those standards. Key to adoption of these newly defined behaviors and values was holding people accountable from the top down and reaching all levels of the organization. Internal meetings, for example, often began with a discussion of culture and, to reinforce the culture change, Panasonic Automotive changed the performance system to remove ratings and prioritize “real conversations” with employees.
Culture belies the entire Talent Management cycle, particularly onboarding and inclusion of new employees. By re-structuring the interview/hiring/onboarding process to be grounded in the new culture model, candidates got a better understanding of the culture while Panasonic got a better understanding of candidates’ values and principles. Stephen’s team also spent time researching neuroscience as it relates to how best to engage new employees for long-term retention. New hires now join into a 90 day culture plan that prioritizes relationships and a holistic company understanding, through reward-based exercises like a scavenger hunt for all things culture.
Not without its challenges (Stephen noted “change is hard!”) but well-worth the rewards, the business of Panasonic Automotive is growing, the organization has reduced high-potential turnover and increased their external Glassdoor ratings, and it has been named a Great Place to Work year-over-year since 2016.
Stephen advised the students to embrace change as not doing so may lead to career struggles. He also emphasized the power of the conversation between managers and employees as an additional vehicle for demonstrating an employer’s commitment to the employee. Thank you, Stephen, for an inspiring and informative discussion!
