Warner\'s Human Resources Commitment Although

¶ … Warner's Human Resources Commitment

Although all multinational corporations are, almost by definition, large, Time Warner is a particularly sprawling, all-encompassing behemoth, comprising entities as diverse as the Time Warner corporate division, Time, Inc., AOL, Warner Brothers, HBO, D.C. Comics, and many other media-based operations. By virtue of being a media-based company it would seem that the company would have to focus on the human, creative elements of the company to do credible business and to stay afloat in today's cutthroat media environment. Time Warner's human resource staff includes everyone from the persons who report news far and wide for CNN, to the people who offer technical support over the phone to customers having problems with their AOL service, to the employees at Warner Brothers, Inc. stores. In short, the first experience a person has with Time Warner is likely to be with a Time Warner employee, if only though reading an article written by a Time magazine correspondent, accessed through an AOL username, perhaps.

The careers and human resource section of its website affirms this corporate commitment to its employees. On the website, the Time Warner company presents itself as a company that believes human beings are a vital asset in the corporation's effective functioning on a day-to-day level. To draw the top talent of tomorrow to this entertainment conglomerate, however, Time Warner stresses not merely that people are important, but that it offers a fun place to work, to prospective employees, provided they fit into the Time Warner mold of enthusiasm and excellence.

Rather than merely state such core principles the website lets real-life employees provide the testimony. For example, it records the words of Jessica, a Sports Illustrated employee with a fresh-faced appearance, according to her website photograph. Jessica, who is not one of the top managers, but merely a fairly ordinary middle-level manager states that she looks forward to going to work in the morning because she loves her job. Through Jessica's image and words, and those of other employees, website attempts to put a human face on working for the corporation, and stresses not merely the professional growth opportunities offered by the magazine but the quality of life the company provides for its employees.

For example, Jessica likes the fact that "the Time & Life Building is located in the heart of Midtown, with the subway station in the concourse below the building...it reminds me how cool it is to be part of the print world." ("Jessica," Working at Time Warner, 2006) Time Warner employees are fun and educated, the website suggests, and on the cutting edge of media trends. Jessica becomes an article on the website, an asset for the company, a persona, as well as an employee. She becomes a personification of the spirit of the company, a skillfully deployed entertainment and recruiting asset.

The personally fulfilling aspect of working at Time Warner is explicitly stated in the mission statement of the HR department that Time Warner is: "committed to offering tools and resources to help employees succeed at work and in life. Human Resources teams offer a number of leadership and professional development programs at both the enterprise and division level. In addition, workshops designed around general needs, including diversity awareness, managerial skills, communication, teambuilding, career development and presentation skills are offered throughout the year. Time Warner's larger businesses have online sites that employees can use to sign up for training classes and workshops." (Leadership and Professional Development Opportunities, Leadership Growth and development, 2006)

On every level of the company, employees are seen as invaluable assets, in need and more importantly deserving of training, mentoring, and fostering. The online component of being able to continually look for employee enhancement opportunities underlines the technically forward nature of the company, as befits the company that houses AOL under its roof, even though Time Warner is not an IT company. Through the use of an online format, employees are also regularly surveyed for their opinions. This enables employees to feel as if their opinions matter to the company, and also function as a way to allow employees to be used as assets to divine the best way to reach different audiences. The entertainment world must constantly be on the lookout to deploy and develop new audiences. As part of the company's more general development, consulting its workforce is an important source of idea-generation as to how to reach people.

The company's human resource management activities and how they relate to the general goal of the company thus pertain to Time Warner's desire to satisfy all human emotional and communicative needs and desires, for human beings are the company's stock and trade. The company's general strategies of fulfilling the human desire for innovation, entertainment and knowledge extend to learning how better to fulfill these appetites, as well as using its employees as assets in pursuit of its goals. Thus human resource management is important to the company almost by virtue of necessity, for to neglect the human element of the company's entertainment empire would be to neglect the company's reason for being and source of revenue.

Because of the importance of human resources, diversity is a particular challenge facing Time Warner. Being part of a media conglomerate means the company must represent a diverse array of views. According to Time Warner's Richard Parsons: "We are a stronger company with employees who understand and reflect the unique cultural, social and economic realities of the communities in which they live and work. But we believe that in order to be successful in the global marketplace, diversity must go beyond the workforce to span every aspect of our business. This includes our supplier relationships, our corporate philanthropy, our investments and our creative content. We want to make sure diversity is part of the DNA of our company." (Parsons, 2006)

In short, as the company is diverse in its outreach and venues and international outlook, hosting a diversity of views, ethnicities, and general employee composition is critical. (Note that a female was interviewed on the website to give insight as to what it is like to work for Sports Illustrated) No media conglomerate can survive by merely reaching one audience, especially a media giant with the aim of satisfying consumers through print, the Internet, film, television, and music. Inclusiveness is the greatest challenge for the company, even while it strives to be inclusive already. Increasing recruitment efforts and creating new recruitment programs to draw in top talent from underrepresented groups would thus be an obvious suggestion to improve its current HR profile.

Other recent, important aspects of human resource management brought to light at Time Warner pertain to health and safety issues and the integrity of journalists and correspondents because of the war in Iraq. It notes: "Our journalists frequently travel to war zones to gather information and report stories. We as a company go above and beyond any requirements to protect those traveling to these areas. Specialized training is offered to broadcast and print journalists who are deployed to conflict zones. For example, CNN employees working in dangerous and war-zone areas volunteer to do so and are allowed to leave at any time at their request. CNN has a sophisticated program in place to ensure that staff and their families are supported during and after difficult assignments." (Health and Safety, Time Warner, 2006)