1.Would you consider Adobe a high-performance organization? Why or why not?

2.How do the practices described in this case relate to the principles of empowerment, knowledge sharing, and employee engagement?

MANAGING TALENT How Adobe's People and Rewards Contribute to High Performance Adobe Systems is probably best known as the company succeeding, as measured by one-year revenue growth of 25% behind the software for creating and reading PDF docu- and profit growth of 45%. ments. What users don't see when filling in a PDF form One ingredient of that success is that Adobe designs and are the ingredients a company needs to succeed in the rewards work in ways that promote innovation. Adobe's vice competitive, fast-changing software industry. And Adobe is president of innovation, Mark Randall, wanted to create a whole culture of experimenting," so he equipped employ As with recruiting and developing, Adobe crosses tra- ees with a set of software tools called Kickbox, as well as ditional boundaries to couple employee experience and the opportunity to participate in workshops on how to use customer experience. The executive team includes an it. Kickbox leads the user step by step through the process executive vice president of customer and employee experi- of creating and developing an idea. Any employee may use ence, Donna Morris. She not only measures both groups' Kickbox on company time, so the company is in effect sup- engagement with the company, she identifies how highly porting projects without the bureaucracy of an approval engaged employees create highly engaged customers. This process. Randall acknowledges that this means it is paying makes HR professionals focus on the business payoff of for some failed ideas, but he insists that failure teaches peo their work. Thus, they have identified performance mea- ple how to respond to what customers need or want." And sures for each employee that tie the employee's success to as they learn, successes follow. An example of an innova- measures of customer satisfaction. And the company has tion that emerged through this process is DeepFont, pattern set up the technology for employees to be able to listen recognition software that helps designers select the perfect directly to customers using the products the employees are type font for a project by analyzing photos of ideas. involved with Another ingredient is a set of practices for bringing loyal employees onboard, despite the demands of business growth Questions (adding 4,000 employees per year) and the talent poaching 1. Would you consider Adobe a high-performance organi- that is rampant in the industry. Jeff Vijungco, Adobe's vice zation? Why or why not? president of global talent, has a background in recruiting cou 2. How do the practices described in this case relate to the pled with a passion for employee development. He combines principles of empowerment, knowledge sharing, and the two perspectives to ensure that new employees quickly employee engagement? embark on a path to job success and career growth. Vijungco Sources: Denise Lee Yohn, "Fuse Customer Experience and Employee Experi- directed recruiters to check in with new employees periodience to Drive Your Growth," Forbes, March 6, 2018, https://www.forbes.com; cally during their first few months and to work with the talent Sarah Fister Gale, "Creating a Recruitment Process That Sticks, Chief Learn development team to ensure that talent needs are being filled ing Officer, May 2016, pp. 48-49; Anne Fisher, "How Adobe Sparks Innovation and employees have the resources they need to meet their by Paying People to Fail," Fortune, April 5, 2016, http://fortune.com; Ashish Valentine, "Wang Develops Font Recognition System for Adobe," University responsibilities. This coupling of recruitment and develop- of Illinois Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, December 3, ment supports Adobe's goal of creating a culture of learning. 2015, http://www.ece.illinois.edu