The word ‘Glocal’, a portmanteau of global and local, has long fascinated me. Emerging from the Japanese word ‘Dochakuka’, it simply refers to global localization. Another origin of the term comes from the saying, “Think Global, Act Local.”

No local strategy is purposely old-fashioned, as some modern thinkers might believe. When local teams are encouraged to adopt any new shift, you will immediately sense uncertainty around it. Evidently, any change driven by a global strategy can lead to differing views in the workplace.

However, Glocal HR retains its geographical, local roots that cannot be ignored. An organisation and its HR functions must be global in scale but local in implementation.

Global vs. Local: The Global Side of the Story

Global HR often leverages software solutions to grow business value. This includes enabling remote teams to work together in a global virtual working setup. Some workforce management challenges with global HR include recruiting, relocation, and day-to-day people management.

Recruitment & Talent Management

As globalization accelerates, organizations benefit from effective choices to find the best candidates for the right job openings. Consider a business unit in Washington in need of technical expertise. The organization might have a technical team in Japan that has just finished a similar project with precisely relevant skills. Unless the organization’s hiring practices are globally integrated, this alignment between talent requirements and existing skills may never take place.

Payroll Management

As organizations strive to simplify their employee benefits plans, many are trying to globalize their payroll schemes. What often emerges from this effort is a global philosophy of how employees are paid locally, with flexibility.

To Go Glocal is to Benefit from the Mélange of Both

It may not be considered a smart move if organizations assume that a global strategy will automatically translate across the workplace. Glocal HR combines globally integrated HR strategies with local flexibility to properly attract, retain, and manage the workforce. To make the most of your existing assets, workers need to gain local visibility, i.e., realization of the current, local state.

While a global strategy drives efficiency and scale, local flexibility strengthens growth and employee engagement. An ideal glocal approach in HRM means implementing a globally integrated HR strategy within a local context to meet the global HR requirements of your organization using local techniques.

What Works Well in One Locality Might Not Work Well in Another

Glocal HR strategies must be flexible enough to overcome the differences between local and global, comfortably and smoothly to satisfy everyone. Even though founders want to adopt globalized people practices, a company’s recruitment, training, and people management will certainly be done locally.

For instance, when hiring in Asia, HR must focus on attracting job applicants while keeping in mind diversity, work-life balance, and job responsibility. On the other hand, recruiting people in Europe can focus on empowerment, job fitness, challenges, and movement opportunities.

Some Globally Integrated HR Strategies to Consider

To balance strong global HR strategies, organizations should build flexibility and agility into HR so it can be customized for local markets. When implementing a global HR strategy, it is crucial to involve groups of stakeholders of the workforce initially before rolling out to others, especially in larger organizations.

Key Notes to Integrate Glocal HR

• Integrate a global technology platform that offers new-age HR tools.
• Encourage local teams to adapt according to the global HR strategies.
• Define HR success by HR’s ability to drive business performance and growth, not just in terms of cutting costs.

Brief Ideas to Implement Global HR Strategy

1. Plan a Strategy on What to Globalize and What to Localize
   • The choice to be made is between applying a global or local strategy to a particular HR function. This means being open to variation in a way that will boost employee performance.
2. Encourage Local HR Initiatives Aligned with Global Processes
   • An organization can design several aspects of its people management based on local values and the needs of employees across different geographies.
3. Leverage Technology with a Common HR Solution
   • The challenges of local HR functions may be better met by employing an effective HR system coupled with the redesign of HR processes to achieve local relevance.
4. Narrow Down HR Generalists to HR Specialists
   • An HR role must focus on specific areas like recruitment, engagement, and employee relations, instead of generalizing the HR role with administrative functions. This adds to the strategic HR function, reinforcing a pathway for business and organizational growth.

For an organization to survive, it must bring together two apparently opposite poles: global and local. Understanding our society needs to be our main strength when communicating the global knowledge of science. Take the global HR challenges and make them meaningful for society at the local level.

A survey by Deloitte shows that 81 percent of large organizations report that implementing a global HR operating model is “urgent” or “important” today. The lack of global, multicultural managerial talent is now affecting companies’ bottom lines with high staff turnover, high training costs, stagnant market shares, failed joint ventures and mergers, and the high opportunity costs that inevitably follow bad management around the globe.

Source: peoplehum