Introduction
Capital One wants to become the employer of choice for talented young knowledge workers. This report will outline some of the elements that go into attracting and retaining that sort of worker. The young knowledge worker is characterized as under the age of 35, either highly educated (master’s degree or above) or highly skilled (i.e. programming), depending on their field of expertise. As a financial institution Capital One needs talent in both finance (MBA, M.Sc), programming and development, as well as in fields like marketing (i.e. creative talent). These workers have their choice of companies with which to work. They demand great spaces, living in the best cities, and the opportunity to do challenging work with other highly talented, motivated people.
Physical Space
The best workers call their own shots with respect to where the live and work. While quality of life means different things to different people, the target market is a specific demographic that is multicultural, liberal, and well-educated. At younger ages, they prefer to live and work in large, dynamic cities alongside people who share their values. Thus, Capital One needs to establish its main offices in those types of cities with a very high quality of life. This is universal across the world – talented young people prefer this environment (SCMP, 2015). Capital One, located in suburban DC, offers a good quality of life, but the wrong one to attract the people it is now trying to attract. This might lead to an HQ2 sort of concept, where it sets up in...
Virtual environments are important in the sense that talented people like to have the freedom to do their work when it suits them best. There are risks associated with working remotely, such as loafing, but talented workers are driven by intrinsic motivation, and thus are more likely to be among the remote workers reporting longer hours and higher productivity (Beauchamp, 2015). The remote work environment will need to be built around the best tech stack – tools like Asana, MS Teams, Office 365 or Google Docs, Slack, and videoconferencing software can reduce the friction associated with remote work. These tools also provide visibility for management to ensure that people are working as hard as they say they are.
Business Processes and Procedures
The best workers, in general, manage their own affairs well. Give them tasks and a set of SOPs that they can follow, and they will thrive. Remember, though, that this only applies to the top talent Capital One is trying to recruit; lesser talent needs a lot more supervision. Regardless of where the work takes place, the best workers should be given guidance, not instructions, in order that they can apply their creativity to solving problems. Without these opportunities to flex their intellectual muscle, top talent will not come to work for Capital One, and as a bank…
