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Published February 2009

Whirlpool’s Tech Focus Attracts Top Talent

 

  Kristen Weirick

Whirlpool Corp. is one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of appliances. Principal products include laundry and cooking appliances, refrigerators, dishwashers and small household appliances. Some of its most well-known brands include Maytag, KitchenAid, and Jenn-Air.

Founded in 1911 and headquartered in Benton Harbor, Mich., Whirlpool employs approximately 73,000 globally and markets its products in more than 170 countries.

Filling the Innovation Pipeline

Whirlpool drives innovation from all around the world and across all segments of its business. Employees worldwide contribute to innovation-related activities that result in new ideas, products and services that deliver consumer value, often in ways never before seen in the home appliance industry.

Currently, the company has more than $4 billion of new ideas in its innovation pipeline. Without the right talent to generate these innovative ideas, the pipeline would get smaller on the back end, and the company would not be able to support its brands on the front end. Thus, talent plays a critical role at Whirlpool.

Whirlpool's greatest talent challenge is staying ahead of the demand curve. The company is in an enviable market position having doubled revenues during the past six years, and to maintain that position it has to manage both increased business execution expectations and an increasingly broad cache of global competitors. With skill shortages and an aging workforce complicating its activities, Whirlpool leverages technology to help attract the best talent from Indiana to India.

To meet these challenges, the company has determined technology and innovation must play a dramatic role in human capital management initiatives. Whirlpool aligns talent to business objectives using Taleo recruiting software as a technological foundation.

"It would be impossible for us to embed our talent management strategy across the company without the use of enabling technology," said David Binkley, senior vice president, global human resources at Whirlpool Corp.

Using Technology to Power Innovation

Enabling technology is a critical strategy for Whirlpool to keep up with the increased complexity of the talent marketplace. Where manual processes might have worked in the past, the company now needs innovative tech products that allow it to operate at a speed that delivers results ahead of its competitors.

The use of technology has helped enhance the employee experience throughout the employee life cycle. Exposure to innovation starts with the candidate experience on the corporate career Web site. Whirlpool designed a structured and detailed on-boarding process to engage new hires and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to be productive in their roles.

The process begins before an employee's first day on the job. The hiring manager keeps new hires excited about their employment decision by maintaining contact and sharing business initiatives and results. In addition to the more standard corporate orientation, on-boarding includes a Whirlpool Welcome to the company and the community, job and functional orientations and a host of activities designed to promote new-hire engagement.