When Marc Chini became executive vice president and chief human resources officer for the new firm, Synchrony Financial, he faced the immediate challenge of having to hire and bring on more than 700 workers to the startup in just 12 months.
“An important aspect of the transition was keeping our leadership intact and retaining talent at all levels,” writes Chini as a guest columnist for Recruiting Trends. “Every person retained was one less needed from a staffing standpoint.”
Some changes Synchrony ushered in during those 12 months include a better defined-contribution plan and adding new bonus, equity and long-term incentive plans to its executive compensation structure that were more market-based than older plans.
“Throughout all of these changes, we were as transparent as possible—so much so that some of our people expressed surprise, having been accustomed to a more ‘back room’ approach,” writes Chini. While Synchrony lacked brand recognition that could draw in new talent, it found that “there was strong interest in being with a ‘startup’ that had the foundation of an 80-year history."