The same applies to sales and marketing strategies. HQ executives outside the U.S. may not understand how marketing and branding work in each country.
Excessive hand-holding causes them to deny many innovative initiatives that can promote their brands in the U.S., therefore preventing growth. These issues affect candidate experience and employee retention.
Reaction time — Multinational corporations traditionally suffer from slow reaction times due to processes that require involvement from too many parties and layers of management to approve decisions or implement change.
Hiring process times often are drawn out, and there is minimal communication or feedback for long periods.
The marketplace is listening. Candidates tell their co-workers about their experiences good and bad.
When their experience with a company is negative, it can reduce the number of qualified applicants that are interested in being considered for employment with a company.
Possible solutions
Cultural differences — The leadership of multinational companies must understand the markets in which they are doing business. When promoting their brands to the U.S., multinationals should encourage cross-cultural awareness and equal opportunities for all employees.
A simple fix for cultural differences can be to understand and adjust to the country where the company is operating.
In the example above, the leadership simply not yelling or speaking in other languages in front of the American work force will improve morale.
Showing appreciation for the American work force by sponsoring team-building events will create inclusion and let leadership engage with the work force. Deploying a positive work culture will provide long-term return on investment.
Multinational experience — Selling in the U.S. is extremely price competitive compared with other markets. Tires, to most consumers, are black, round and roll.
In a high-value, decision-making economy, brands need to have aggressive campaigns to compete. This relies heavily on companies' human capital in the U.S. to devise innovative ideas to promote products and push sales.
An open-door policy where employees can speak with high level leadership on improving processes will create a sense of inclusion and contribution.
This will help retain top talent as they will feel as if they are a part of the brand's key decision-making processes.
Reaction time — U.S. leadership must be allowed more control over day-to-day decision-making within their market.
For example, standard operating procedures for processes such as hiring should be implemented. In a candidate short economy, companies need to make the candidate's experience smooth and brisk.
Global HQ approval shouldn't be needed for standard or entry-level hiring decisions, and candidates shouldn't have to wait for weeks to hear back on decisions from their prospective employers.
The simple solution is to implement a standard operating procedure for all candidates to have a touch-point after a reasonable duration of time. If the position is closed or no decision has been made, it is the responsibility of the corporation to keep open lines of communications and illustrate full transparency.
These three issues are prevalent among many of today's corporations. A few tweaks internally can help improve internal retention and external candidate perception drastically. Perception is crucial in a world with a scarcity of top talent.
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Mike Cioffi is founder of TireRecruiter.com, whose mission is to align top talent with top companies.
