HR Vigilance

A Leader's Vision

2011-08-04T23:52:00.026+05:30

The vision of a leader and his team members is more like a cricket game. For that matter any sport that revolves around team games.

Coming back to cricket since it is the most viewed and followed in India, in one of the ODI series just prior to world cup, I remember instances that made breaking headline on every major newspaper. They alleged that the captain, vice-captain and top batsmen/bowlers were busy improving their individual scores and keeping their strike rate high. To mere onlookers like me who don't understand the nuances of the game, it was just a piece of news not affecting my routine. For cricket enthusiasts it was disaster and horror at its best - The Indian cricket team falling apart right before the world cup. Thousands of speculations catapulted from the performances each individual made. As for me, it later percolated to being dismayed of the fact that the team won't do that well in the world cup.

When I think of teams within organizations where each individual has an altogether different manifesto that would shine there profiles, it is the job of the leader to keep the team intact and all work on a shared purpose. However, not to forget, each one out there is just pampering one’s ego and inflating their pride with each task they accomplish. It’s like a check list being prepared to hit on the next opportunity.

I recently came across perception as a theory that involved leaders and followers. Every individual truly believes in being highly effective and efficient leaders, and that one is leading others. Whereas the reality says – very few are followers. A leader is not somebody denoted as one because of their place in the hierarchy of the organization. They are entrusted as one, when they lay out their vision for every initiative they are party to.

Yes, the team is constituted of different shades of people with varying personal and professional goals. Yes, today everybody is looking to anchor themselves in a Company to gain on the experience and exposure. Yes, one shouldn’t forget one’s interests to protect the future. But no, the leader without a sound vision and a fair enough idea of the path can dilute the peripheries of the team structure. Coming across people who advice to push on a work as long as one is adding weightage to their profile for a future employer if not the current one, would be less surprising. In an open forum, people don’t shy anymore to joke around the kind of grooming they require for professional growth. However, if the team is not held together, it’s not going to be long before team platforms are the nurturing training ground for a benefit to be reaped elsewhere.

I wonder at times, what difference can the leader make? They say, “People who decide they want to leave, will, at any cost. No amount of retaining tactics, compensation, benefits can do the wonder; as it’s all in the mind.” There are some people who have plans laid out for the next 10 years, some for the next 5 (a usual question asked during interviews), some for the coming year and still others who believe in the spontaneity of the situation. No doubt, each has a distinct style of working as long as they are being able to convert their goals. However, when it’s a team work, it’s not exactly about achieving the goal. It is about how able the leader was in transferring his ambitions down the team, how capable was he in showing the big picture that has been imagined, how good he has been in inspiring his team. A leader’s vision needs to touch every mind to the point of a possible belief and unimaginable passion. A game of cricket is not just won and forgotten; instead we have commentators scrutinizing every over and every catch, a misfield, sixer and umpires decision!

They say, “if the boss is good, his methodologies are workable and attitude positive, it percolates down his team; whereas if he is lazy, driven by cheap tactics and doesn’t appreciate work others perform, it too percolates down his team.” Some leaders have a vision to create an impact stronger than basic hygiene factors, which bring about remarkable creativity and innovation within span of influence. While there are some, who force upon themselves a vision that makes their work a talk of the town and helps them build a market/brand value.

Now who among them sounds more convincing to a team member – somebody who plans to steadily improve the performance, places the batsmen in appropriate order keeping the middle order strong, works on a stable run rate, takes advantage of the power play overs and doesn’t allow strike rate impacted, since he wanted to be under every ball. Or somebody who is newly appointed and is playing to just look better than the predecessor or desires his batsmen to play and make two centuries without reading the context of the game just because the other team did so or is short sighted on the capabilities of his bowlers?

HR Is Not A Policeman

2011-05-10T22:32:00.005+05:30

Long back in a history class I had read concepts of international policeman. For a long time it enthralled and captivated every pupil’s mind, how and which policies of the United States of America resulted to it being referred as the international policeman. True to its name, even today with what happens in Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan; US of A has a major hand to play while portraying itself as a peacemaking force.

No I’m not discussing the world politics, but drawing a parallel to the very concept of policing around! One of the functions in an organization vis-à-vis Human Resource is several times taken to be the department used for policing around the organization’s views. The definition of being one can bring about goodness to the organization as well as be misconstrued.

When I talk of the goodness, we have a body that tries its best to lay out protocols and ensure compliance on universal grounds without deviation or exception. Some may argue why at all is the department needed when neither can it take decisions of its own nor can it think out of the box nor does it yield productivity of any kind. A function which by itself is bounded by policies those that end being meaningless, when others in the market are adopting the open house schemes. However how much ever one may decide to deny the need for discipline, end of the day as personal experiences everybody starts believing in the sanctity of the methodologies. For example dress code is a thought for contempt for many, whilst others believe it’s a must to harbour company’s culture.

The goodness is not that worrying as much as the misinterpretation is. How many times have we come across individuals from HR who believe, they have the supremacy to decide the future of an employee – either making or breaking it? How many HR’s think they can get away with whatever they do, because they are a part of the elite managerial group that handles employees? Ever heard of an HR suggesting that they have the liberty to break the rules/clauses/protocols since their policies are for the delivery functions and not support? Seen an HR who thinks they have rights to all the privileges and nobody can question them on the same? I have for myself seen people from the HR brigade exhibiting such behaviour.

Why if you ask me, or for that matter they themselves; all you can gather from their expression is that they are the one’s making the policies and they have certain anonymous powers to bypass them!

Before I got into the profession a friend of mine had then said, how one needs to be careful with not annoying an HR during campus placements. Narration of a story followed, the moral of which was, the lady HR didn’t find the candidate smart to talk and exhibited a personal disliking, hence closing his chances for employment without consultation with technical experts. Interviewees line of thought (including his friends) says unfair deal, HR are dangerous to mess around with. Interviewer’s line of thought says the person seems weak in the capability to be trainable due to severe communication barriers. For serious HR’s they know it well, how not to mix personal and professional experiences/instincts. If they aren’t one, they themselves would be poor judges of the right candidature skill and degrade the objectivity involved in the situation.

Another instance when an HR believes he is not liable to pay fine when he loses a material that is the property of the organization. While the delivery guys should be instantaneously fined, because they committed a serious offense. Why should HR or any support function be an exception here and believe they have superficial privileges that allow them to act the way they do?

Or why do they believe certain rights should be exclusively provided to them, when at the same time the policy says check the employees on it and rectify issues if any?

The other day I heard someone quip (in serious tone); let’s make a sick room within the HR room. An inquisitive person asked, and why is that the thought. The answer was something like ‘So that we can all rest whenever we feel like to. But the delivery guys should think twice before entering the room, since it’s the HR they are coming up to.’

With imaginations running so vivid about the seamless powers a designation is entitled to, HR is certainly not a policeman trying to enforce things, moreover boss around for wrong reasons. Perhaps one of the activities entrusted by the organization upon HR shoulders is be within the policy limits, however if somebody thinks it gives them the edge to act beyond their skin; they certainly require to assess their skills and career track. For that matter, any career track, if one’s acting beyond the desired attitude, time for solitude and introspection!

Being Open To Change

2011-03-14T01:24:00.004+05:30

When we gain experiences at various levels in different organizations, apart from being employed at the place; what majority of us remember is the good boss who not only handled you well – but also helped you grow professionally. One would very fondly remember this person as a mentor who helped you groom your ways and attitude for things, presenting innumerable situations to learn things with a 360 degree directional view. He is the individual who doesn’t spoon-feed you, leaves critical things on your head with minimal supervision, has an eagle’s eye to every step that you take to fulfil your responsibilities, and doesn’t mince with words when you aren’t prepared or have been ignorant for long.

Quite many times it’s the first boss of your professional life who makes all the difference on how you take things and those who are fortunate enough find the right combination in the beginning. However, the give and take is so perfectly tuned that when due to unfortunate/fortunate multiple reasons either the boss puts up his papers or is asked to leave; the subordinate is the very first person who feels the pinch of it. There have been situations when the subordinate contemplates of putting up his papers too, despite counselling from family/friends asking to stay put. When the conditions are unknown, speculations rise and the subordinate is confused and unable to comprehend a change in the power play of the position. Several times for the initial period they find themselves in defiant position withholding information that can aid the new boss smoothly continue the operations or are unwilling to co-operate and respond appropriately. unknowingly making things difficult for themselves as people are still watching.

Being open to change is the best deal among all pulls and pushes, rebellious attitude and withdrawal symptoms. Strange it seems but people do face withdrawal. A new boss may suddenly feel incompetent to the role given to him. There may be times when the new person may ridicule the strategies of the predecessor spelling out a chance for loyalty test. Whatsoever be the reason, a successor to a post always finds the predecessor has been less effective on the role and somebody not exhibiting high levels of capability. As for the reasons unknown which paved the way for the ex-boss’s exit, the management is definitely not coming upto you and specifying the points (a), (b) and (c). In case you enjoyed privileges from the old equation and may now no longer enjoy them, time to pull up your socks and prove why you’ve been hired for the position. The working styles shall never be the same and every new person brings in lot many good things with him, from his previous employer(s), best practices from his experience and a new line of thought for the same old problem. Apart from your growth which now seems to be halted temporarily and your desire for the same conducive environment to prevail; remember the old boss too moved out for better opportunities. Most importantly nobody joins companies to befriend people and be buddies forever. Each one is a competitor to the other, trying to edge better and perform better than the other; though in the process they end up continuing a long term professional and personal association. Rewards, better compensation, more challenges in the profile are what motivate people to move forward!

So if your boss just left and a new one stepped in, instead of holding tight on your skill and still swaying under the effect of the predecessor – time to be open to change, time to be the hungry child ready to learn everything the new boss can offer and much more than that. One never knows what may be in stock for you, but if you limit yourself to the earlier learnings; you’re being instrumental in limiting your own growth. It’s in the perception and the thought, change it and you would look forward to being in office; else you would be serving a notice period – hoping to perform better and start afresh in a new organization.

Bad Practices - Retention Techniques

2011-01-31T23:00:00.000+05:30

With ever surging attrition comes a huge responsibility on the HR and Talent Management team – ways to retain talent, those resources that were hard to find and engage in business.

For some organizations the creativity comes in booms salvaging the business needs, yet there are some of them who have bad practices being followed with utmost ritual.

Laterals are always the hard nuts to be cracked and convince from altering their decision, however freshers can always be easier to convince, except the bright fellow who is a star performer. An industry secret always says never go for a lifelong high performer. They hop sooner than the rest and are the most dissatisfied of the lot.

Coming to the bad practice, as an industry standard hardly any organization would prefer a new resource that has scored lower than 60%. There are also places where the scores can be flexible if higher up the course line a definitive learning pattern has been discovered.

There are still some who believe in absorbing as many as they can to meet their resource requirements, putting an important clause in the appointment letter, stating that unless and until the employee doesn’t provide all the certificates and testimonials he/she shall not be confirmed from his/her probation status. To many it may sound as a fair deal, as collection of documents is a tedious task and 90% of employees do not have the entire gamut of things asked by organizations. Eventually documents keep coming which in turn yields to filing issues and loss of data.

However there’s a catch in the clause, despite sounding convincing. The employees in this case are unable to submit the requisite documents as they’ve not cleared the backlogs, hence do not possess the marksheets! As long as they keep writing papers, for which they no longer are regular students; they keep being in the fluid situation where they cannot put down the papers. The question of career progression keeps falling in their laps where proving to prospective employers about the extended period of probation can be a daunting task! After all we as recruiters do raise our eyebrows when we find discrepancies regarding difference of years between important qualifications which override the stipulated time. Or even if the appointment letter says the probation period is of 6 months and the experience letters includes the detail that the individuals’ probation lasted for 1.5 years.

Those organizations may suggest that they have no alternate option of retaining talent other than this technique coz of the geographical and industry challenges they face. Quite many cities/towns are rich in resources of a certain kind (manufacturing) or are placed at strategic locations (enveloped by benchmark IT industries). Creating a niche for themselves in a hoard of others is a challenge by itself for remaining in business and making profits. Under such conditions the workforce keeps rotating among 3-4 Co.’s that hold the fort in that area, serving competitors and bouncing back at previous employers. Like a shuttle they keep frequenting among the odd 3-4 power players, hence diluting the quality of domain knowledge and innovativeness in their skills and application. Times like these invite new breed to enter the veins of the organization bringing along new energy and enthusiasm and they do not mind many a times as long as they are working and being paid for it.

But such justifications still do not balance the bad practice adopted at those places. Giving a chance to those that do not meet basic requirements, due to xyz reasons can still be said to meaningful. Eventually those organizations that allow some flexibility also link up initial appraisal to performance and aptitude of the employee. However tapping potential and not giving them due credit or motivating to go beyond their limits just coz they do not have marksheets and testimonials speaks volumes of unprofessionalism from a Co.’s viewpoint! Either they need to eradicate such practices or come out with better ways of retaining talent and getting work done from them!

Professionalism And Friendship

2010-12-22T23:49:00.008+05:30

I know Bill Gates and so does he! We are the best of pals and spend each Christmas vacation together. So whenever I walk upto his cabin, he’d open his books of accounts, he’s been working upon and show me how much he’s pumping in to Microsoft. Where do the finances go and how he builds his empire!

I bet 90% of you are already scoffing at the lines written above. They sound so ridiculous and irrational by all means. Half of you at this moment are telling yourself – what a sham! Or perhaps what a jerk! Some of you may question, so what if you know him – the world knows somebody or the other; but sharing statements of profit and loss is like ‘making a mountain of a mole hill’.

Nevertheless, despite knowing the boundaries between professionalism and personal ties; how many of us do actually cross the lines? How many of us actually look out for a favour from somebody, coz we have excellent personal terms? How many of us take it for granted that coz so-and-so is a cab buddy of ours we can pry into his/her work space and hang around much to his/her discomfort? Yet behave as if it’s a Constitutional right to be cheesy!

At what cost – being labelled unprofessional by all means. Some people do not understand the seriousness of a document being marked ‘Confidential’ and take easy offense when a colleague/friend/superior/subordinate tries to elude. Imagine being briefed by your VP that this is just for your eyes and ears, and a week later the VP finds out; it has now become a muse for the entire organization. He definitely isn’t going to sound pleased about the situation. What may emerge next is fire fighting, all thanks to a friendship that led one thing to the other. A perfect grapevine doing the rounds.

Now it sounds pretty much something of common sense and one may suggest, of course one’s aware of such limitations. But again the human factor and psychology comes into play. We as humans love dodging the set norms and rules. Unless and until there’s no bent of protocols one may find it tough to survive the quick bites, facts and figures. After all, close proximity can always be flaunted among informed individuals.

If you talk of ethics, and standing at the line of fire with the CEO looking over; or the Project Manager as a matter of fact too, would you oblige or shrug away and politely ask the colleague/friend to mind their business. If you choose the former you make way to being the super star of the Organization passing vital information nobody else knows. If you chose the latter, you end up being declared a smug!

So with the ball in your court, next when someone decides to shrug away; wait for a moment and tell yourself – cricket matches and shopping spree together would sound such a brilliant idea off the office hours!

Remembering Employees - Small Gestures

2010-10-30T16:32:00.006+05:30

A call to one of the employees over joys him beyond the callers’ imagination. The intention was to wish the employee on his birthday, after a new policy got introduced in the Organization which required the HR to make personal calls every morning. At times it would get awkward as the receiver found it hard to believe his Organization wishing him on his day or perhaps was never wished before this day by anybody. This particular receiver perhaps was so happy that as an extension to his happiness he wished the HR back on prosperity in life and growth in career. On another such occasion, the employee felt so thankful to be remembered by the Organization; to express gratitude he got a box of sweets for the HR & Admin Dept.

It is a very normal procedure in IT Companies, wherein somebody from the Admin team sends across birthday/anniversary wishes to the intended employee and the Organization provides some benefit or gift along with wishes. Plus the team/project the employee belongs to organize small parties. However in a manufacturing there are 2 kinds of employees: the workers and the managerial staff. The needs for both the kinds are entirely different. When one of the managers like cited above could get all so over board by a personal call, the worker may expect something more than just a call. An email will make no difference to him either! Budgets can vary among Organizations for extended benefits like gifting a pair of clothes/utensils/tiffin box as well. Monetary benefits is something workers are always looking for, but that isn’t a feasible answer. Also at times the budgets planned for the entire year may fall insufficient or be scrapped off altogether due to newer policies.

So among all this circumstances when newly introduced policies talking about the wellness and benefit of employees bring in lot of hope and enthusiasm one end and receive flak the other, reaching out to an employee is what he primarily appreciates. Of course that doesn’t mean accepting all that they say. However simplest of gestures like personally being wished from the HR team (that is the extended arm of the Management and BOD) feels comforting and reassures employees about being recognized and be noted.

Just Joined! Itchy Hands Looking To Change?

2010-10-17T22:51:00.008+05:30

When Mr. X joined the mid size Company, within 2 weeks he felt everything needed a change and makeover. The first thing that required major modification was the Company Policies and immediately he got to work of designing new ones. At the end of 4 weeks from his joining date he had a new set of policies ready and looked forward to furnishing them before the Management, get an approval and be the proud creator of them.

A proud creator yes, but the policies never got approved! Several reasons could be possibly attributed to it like: how could it be that not one policy was perceived as a fit to the Organization Culture; what was the urgent need of modifying them, that too in such a short time of being on board; copied from internet resources. Plus rapport building became a huge task which couldn't be overcome with time!

A conversation with a friend led to the question: How long can an employee recruited for a crucial decision making position take, before he/she can start rolling out the decisions and the Organization would listen to him/her? The friend said ideally not more than 3 weeks and by then he/she should be well acquainted with the operations/systems flow and all that his responsibilities demand. However when it comes to introducing changes the 3 weeks is too short a time. That’s the easiest way that can lead to his being crucified before public eye. Neither would he be able to please the Management nor gain the confidence of his subordinates/colleagues or the employees.

Company policies are something that is based on the common vision and goals of the builders of the Organizations which are duly passed on down the level of hierarchy. Playing with them is a sure shot way of receiving heavy criticism and resistance. But this holds good only for Organizations that fall in the bucket of being Tier-1 and/or Tier-2. There are still quite many of those who form the bulk of mid size Organizations – for some of them their respective policies are nothing but copied material from Internet (CiteHR in fact is an excellent resource for anything that has to deal with HR) and they have always been mavericks in the way they operate and implement activities. Introducing a change out here would mean disturbing the fine balance between Management, employees and the new person hired from a corporate HR background. The others are those who are bound tight by their policies and find changes nothing less than unnecessary fingering just to prove the newly hired individual is a capable addition to the team. Both ways it’s too premature to believe that nothing is going right in the first place. No doubt the new addition may have been hired to well implement the necessary visions of the Management, however for being effective the right time would begin only after months of careful scrutiny of the culture and the way employees respond to it.

Can HR Act Beyond Company Policies?

2010-09-02T00:28:00.005+05:30

An employee approaching the HR Dept. for clarifications on a query always leads to certain phenomenal answers that have become much of a part of rote every employee remembers – “It’s written in the Co. Policies that’s the reason why it needs to be done this way!”

Infact quite many times the employees seem to know the answer well in advance before they decide to give another shot in the HR Dept. But can the HR folks really go beyond what the HR policies say? Can there be exceptions? Can there be genuine reasons when the HR needs to leap beyond the Co. boundaries and oblige employees? What’s the guarantee the employee may not get deceitful next time to avail those privileges?

The strongest of policy implementations always take place w.r.t. leaves and mediclaim issues. I remember coming across this one instance, when while the employees’ were on way to the office, one of the employee met with an accident on a deserted road. He was found injured by another employee belonging to the same organization nearly 20 minutes later. As an impulse the injured employee was rushed to the nearest medical aid centre for treatment. This resulted to non-reporting to the office of those 2 men. Now the blue collar workers are not among those privileged lot who can avail CL (Casual Leave) at their disposal nor can their work be taken care by some replacement, coz in a manufacturing more or less everybody has fixed roles. Late coming to office would in turn mean loss of pay for loss of hours in productivity.

So out here basically while the employee is heading for work and chances upon somebody who’s met with an accident, should he pass the person and reach office at stated time as given in the policy? Or should he bring the injured employee first to the office, mark their attendance and first avail medical aid present in company premises, before going elsewhere? Or alike the above stated example, straightaway take the injured for treatment, resulting to late coming and loss of pay?

What can HR ensure in such situations for the benefit of the employees’ as well as not making ways for future deceits? For this case stated above, HR for once did grant leniency on attendance and late coming and provided relief to the injured employee too, but how long is the question? People take no time in analyzing how best they can get more out of the situation, how can things be manipulated to get more of the benefits, how to get everything fixed coz of some friend/colleague happening to be at critical positions of the hierarchy?

HR Touching Lives - Tale of Concern

2010-08-17T23:33:00.009+05:30

Talking of anything that has to deal with Management, jargons for sure make way for all modes of communication and description. So be the case for Human Resources too, in fact I too have a quote at the top pf my page that reads: “Our progress as a Nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

If we were to minus these fancy ways of using the language to talk about a profession perhaps there are other tell tale signs that speak in volumes about the effect and impression it creates over other people – primarily the customers/clients of the Company. For HR the best tell tale sign of its progress is how an individual’s life is touched or how the HR Dept. as a whole, all the while representing the Organization touch many lives and motivate people to put in their very best, irrespective of their designation.

This post onwards I would be sharing and talking about those innumerable HR people I’ve come across who at some point of their career have created values for their employees and help instill trust and faith in the system of the Organization. I would also be citing memorable occasions wherein the HR’s action and thoughts lead to a feeling of bonhomie among employees.

During my interns’ period in one of the CMM level 5 companies, I came across this HR who was effervescent in her ways. The day I happened to join in there was incidentally the very next day post New Year. All employees seemed to be preoccupied in their work and headed to their workstations the moment they stepped into the office premises. However, the HR who came smiling and greeting people went right upto the front desk executive (or receptionist as recognized by people) and greeted her with genuine concern and smile. Besides the HR, I never saw anybody else walk right upto that lady nor even glance towards that corner of the office building. The front desk lady was of course overjoyed when a Senior Executive HR cared enough to reach out to her. More of the days that I was there, I found her unique in many ways and the extraordinariness in her being a Human Resources person kept reflecting by her concern and spontaneous efficiency at work.

For many it may sound like ‘so what’ and ‘big deal’ however, small acts of appreciation of this kind only help the employee in believing that his/her future and career lie in the right hands that would help them grow individually and professionally. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day in such organizations, whether one’s a clerk, a class IV employee or a top management official. The culture is so strong that it reflects in the people who manage the systems and processes and without much deliberation the employee feels like giving back as much as they can.

Click Of An Idea And Get-Go Or Get-Set-Go?

2010-07-22T23:16:00.012+05:30

For some people the mere task of coming out with ideas and getting the chance to implement them is a Eureka moment. The ideas are largely either pulled in from previous Organizations’ successful ventures addressing the same issue or something really out of the box that promises ease and convenience to anyone who happens to use it. Some of them plan it out really well, and follow all the protocols one ought to and design a step by step stage to go about the process. Whilst others may not follow the usual routes and create their own methods of doing things. However there is one step/protocol both kind of task doers should indulge in – Pilot Testing.

Pilot testing is a terminology primarily used by training specialists in Organizations where an entire cycle is followed before the Training & Development team decides to implement a newly designed programme upon employees. Besides developing theoretical documentation of the system, real time users / testers are allowed to use and abuse the programme stretching it to all limits of durability. If one tries searching over the Internet, in fact one may find a lot of articles and blogs addressing the available types of pilot testing and the ways of administering it all the while keeping in mind its pros and cons.

Before any of the models can be brought out into the market for the end users/customers use, a small section of testers should always see, work upon and critically analyse the intention of the model, its intended utility, the correctness in the functionality and most importantly – how is it helping the end users. However many innovators or idea generators take a leap over this step and decide to face the end users on their own. For the IT industry this terminology is equivalent to beta testing that we keep seeing on newly launched software’s and websites every other day.

The same holds good for the HR industry as well. We are in a constant race of coming up with new ideas on employee engagement as we keep observing no idea lasts for a cycle of more than 4 – 6 months. An employee outgrows himself/herself on every one of the employee welfare schemes, recreational events and activities and employee engagement. Especially when the three form the foundation for employee retention to stay! Suddenly the HR guys need to reinvent themselves as the brightest of the artists coming out with whims and fancies that seem to go well with the Management and of course doesn’t land the Organization in soup or bring them at loggerheads with their policies and employee reaction.

With the growing advent of the Internet resource available at a mouse click, today anybody from anywhere can keep a tab with what is happening at some Organization miles away and at times Continents away too. However what may work best with Organization X may go sour or in worst case, bitter too with Organization Y. Special care should be taken when people shift sectors as in different kind of industries and try to add a feather to heir cap – coming out with innovations! There’s no guarantee that if you were a star performer and the CEO of the Organization shook hands with you in great appreciation, you may end up receiving the same reception in the new Organization.

For people who have just job hopped from the IT sector to the Manufacturing sector, there’s always a challenge up the sleeve - the concept of replacing manual labour by machines often taking a back seat and receiving flak as it threatens the job security of individuals. Here one would always be sceptical to find fine exhibition of latest technologies and software’s in the market on the roll. If one man earns a living by manual entry of attendance and daily tabulation of it across the Organization’s extended units, software by the country’s most promising technology builder of HR systems may lead to snatching of his job. The helpless Manager would always try to bring about up-gradation in the department, and at times may borrow ideas by introducing a swift transition phase by first working on internally developed programmes or systems and then graduating to ERP’s. Or introducing new employee engagement schemes that worked out super duper well at an IT industry however fails to stir the curiosity and results to dropping morale and enthusiasm in employees.

Man is plagued by the need to do something challenging, however to capture the right attention at the right moment has always been a tumultuous task. It’ll be always wise for the HR conglomerate on the whole if before they decide to handle the end users face up, a small section of the employees known to be neutral and good feedback givers test the feasibility of the new system or scheme. It could save many an embarrassing moments and help better structure the implementation phases of the new idea.

Ownership Ensures A Good Night's Sleep

2010-07-04T02:04:00.006+05:30

Ownership today has become the fad among young generation of employees. Before joining an Organization the first thing they would want to know is how much space is available for ownership to blossom. Gone are the days when employees would keep requiring running to their bosses and seniors for approval of every step they need to take, or every procedure they need to begin with. Gone are the days when there would be one man calling all the shots. For if somebody did that today, the employee would consume hardly any reaction time and next thing that would land up is a resignation and a brighter future elsewhere.

So why has ownership replaced all measures of motivating an employee to give in their best. Why it is today that money and incentives do not derive equal pleasure and ensure a good night’s sleep as much as ownership does?

Today every person is eyeing to be an entrepreneur by their own means in some way or the other. Every induction in an Organization when somebody from the top management ask, “How many of you see yourself as future CEO’s of an Organization” instantly 70% of the crowds have their hands shot out! Even if 20% of them do not really know what it may take to be there, 25% may halt their dreams out of securing job and realizing it’s not their cup of tea, 15% may begin with something but never finish it due to early setbacks and out of the rest 10%, hardly 3% end up as CEO’s! So why is there this horde of people wanting to be the man who has the power and influence to turn tables for an Organization?

It’s all about the ability to be given enough freedom to do what they love doing. It’s about getting that space of their own where they can invent, innovate, experience, jump in joy and lie low in setbacks. It’s about feeling these moments of life on a personal account basis. Why should they let somebody else rule their chances of growth and learning?

In times like this Organizations have evolved to be smarter species and many people have edged themselves one level up compared to the EQ status of their employees. Ownership yes is provided but a controlled one. Employees get their share of responsibilities and much beyond than the actual deal of Job Description for the profile. Of course enrichment of profile is something that makes an employee gloat in content, however a controlled ownership would mean: one being free to gather all resources on their own, work out measures and strategies of approaching the issue, study the repercussion of the procedure that would soon be implemented; but just before the employee can go ahead with the grand plans – he ought to tell his superior about it. Here is where all the clipping happens, strategies are realigned to the business goals and the grand plans are modified to the superiors’ line of thought. Plus a good enough reason/feedback is rarely or never given to the employee. Resultant – the very happy an employee some time back, is not so amused now. However convincing the clippings may sound, however at the end of the day one needs to keep getting back to the management / superior for approval on matters. We have an unhappy employee now, who feels his freedom of action is curbed and encroached upon. It won’t be long when he would be at loggerheads with his superior and the Organization as a whole. It won’t be long before he would begin detaching himself with the excitement about working on something. A slow deterioration in his efficiency and performance would be strong indicators of a likely hop.

So for all managers and superiors who have at certain times practiced controlled ownership, time to think whether they can trust the instincts of enthusiastic employees and believe in their capabilities? Of course clearly mentioning the goals of the Organization before hand and how they plan to achieve it, before all work is done and then people sit and decide whether the new model suits them. Or continue with the age old hierarchy system of reporting, process flow model and operations.

Of Pride, Belongingness & Experience

2010-06-17T02:30:00.003+05:30

Fresh out of college and yet not a placement in hand surely creates beads of perspiration on any freshers’ forehead. To add on to the pain if the market seems to be down and months go by awaiting even one single call, out of sheer desperation many freshers resort to a practice. Getting fake experience certificates made, talking of previous illustrious experiences. The best part is it works for quite many in getting them their very first break and then they take their flights towards their dream companies. Yet there are some who get caught in random background verifications and are shown doors, bringing them back to square one.

So what is the point in getting fake certificates and starting a career like that? Students, job seekers have variety of answer ready for the occasion. Do the organizations who issue such certificates too? Can it be clubbed under a similar genre where social work belongs to? For many job seekers who avail this facility have a relative / family / friend working in an elite company by good standards and see it as a ticket to easy accessibility to the HR. So we have letter heads of Companies floating around the industry for people they’ve never known and remote chances they would ever.

So why is it that Organization’s think it’s not that great an issue to be worried about?

1. To get rid of a pestering employee, who visits the HR department every alternate day inquiring about the status

2. To oblige friends and colleagues at work, perhaps someday they too can help the HR in a situation

3. It doesn’t matter as dozens come every quarter for the same

4. To help a guy needy of kick starting a career

5. It’s hardly a matter of time and the first companies are always forgotten as one moves up the ladder

AND why is it that Organizations should begin to worry of the prevailing practice?

1. We believe in what we see, so the job seeker carrying a fake certificate ends up being a brand ambassador for the Organization

2. Motifs, ID Cards, Logos, Letter heads, Mugs, T-shirts bearing Company punchlines have always been associated with a factor that generates pride and attachment to an Organization. So selling or dispatching the letter heads in the market is almost like diluting the value of it. Or atleast that is what I learnt in my Organization Structure, Process and Design paper at B-school.

3. Lucky are those times when the job seeker may turn out to be gold, however if the person cannot rise to the occasion, imagine getting a ‘Continuous Excellency Certificate’ at previous employer and a barely scraping through at the next one. Will it really benefit the person in the long run?

4. Question of ethics & responsibility to the society and coming years of innovative technology + resources

5. Recruitment costs (to find a new replacement to the new hire for non-performance) and Training & Development costs (to polish the person) increase manifold

6. A recognition certificate is something that motivates an employee to put in better and efficient efforts at the workplace. In fact I have seen employees cherishing the feel good factor that certificates bring, by placing it on their workstations religiously. The following year, there comes another to add on to the smile swelling of pride. Will these job seekers ever cherish the fake experience certificate with kind words written on it? Will it help to motivate them strive for their passion?

7. Are we as Organizations really enabling the future workforce to bring out its best?

Similar is the case for Project / Summer Trainees where Organizations are reluctant to allow them do something useful and creative for 6 – 8 weeks, invest in them and tap their potential and believe the best way to get rid of them is by issuing a certificate.

Can Organizations vouch for their knowledge and expertise too?

Motivation Beyond Compensation

2010-06-04T21:12:00.002+05:30

Compensation as always is a very touchy subject and people would prefer not to enter into a discussion on the same. Recent times of recession have brought out the worst fears among employees alive – packages dropping, being offered less on a hop, getting pink slipped. Though the last one is the extreme of the triggers that lead to depression, however money matters is something people are advised not to talk about, as one is said to be never satisfied.

Caught between the crossfire of a bad market, ever increasing costs and prices of everyday needs, the environment where to Company is located and the kind of culture that exists is a hapless employee who’s been serving for decades together putting in hard-work and sweat. At this time it would sound like a very unfair deal for the employee to be paid peanuts and he would always find lot many empathisers rooting for his cause. At manufacturing things get more vocal with a heavy presence of unions and local leaders.

But to understand from the organizations point of view the foundations that lay the structure of the compensation being offered is really important. Not all organizations can always tend towards operating to meet the demands of the market. Nor can they introduce a competitive compensation matrix that ends up becoming every one else’s envy. Climatic factors play a very important role in determining how many bands/levels can exist in the organization, can they go about partnering with consultancies to tap outside potential (resource), how best can they keep their employees happy yet never cross the line of being declared bankrupt, build the confidence among their employees despite a very poor pay.

And mind it building the confidence among employees is a really difficult task. Imagine extending your services for 3 decades at a stretch and today in the 21st century still drawing the same amount you did when you began. Back then the amount was a part of luxury, today it is pittance.

So then what is it that still keeps the employee motivated to be a part of the organization. Several factors can be seen to be held responsible for such behaviour – primarily being the tendency to stay close to family and home. Infact this is applicable not just to people who lead 3 decades of their lives associated with one company. Ask anybody and they would be trying to work out alternatives of getting the closest they can to home and taking care of aging parents/family. This may involve lots of tumultuous initial years of picking the right Organization, meanwhile justifying with qualifications, getting satisfied with salary benefits and also staying ahead or atleast in par with ever competing batchmates.

What I can comprehend as being another reason to such a behavioural aspect is – staying put at one place for ages may eventually kill the desire to learn new roles, experience new environment and yearning for more. So people, who have set into the system of monotonous defined task mode, continue going about it without further thought of improvement.

These employees now have a matured family, with kids grown up and most of them already begin to earn their own livelihood. This is the third factor I can see ingratiated in employees. Now that the nest (home) is more or less empty it hardly matters to them what is filling in their pockets.

Besides the inability of the Organization to better its pay structure over the years, despite highs and lows in their operations, workforce; makes employees believe that nothing better can happen in the times to come. So after coming to terms and accepting the organization as it is, there is still an interesting fact that works behind the scenes. Each individual knows the other all too well. Most of them live as neighbours in common societies and for any pain they have as a burden or for any joy to share there are 800 other individuals waiting to be a part of it. And in most cases after a certain stage of life, all that man wants from work, colleagues and employers is recognition, understanding and togetherness.

Can't Quit Dropping Names?

2010-05-09T22:33:00.001+05:30

Last time I spoke of over quoting one’s previous employer and the amount of irritation it would generate among colleagues and superiors. However there can still be more ways of saturating one’s peers, one among them being inability to quit dropping names of references that pushed your case all the way through your orientation in the Company.

These days Companies look forward to recruiting a large chunk of prospective employees through employee referral scheme. What better way can they get to attract friends, relatives and acquaintances of existing loyal employees; to become a family of strong values. This means every second person joining the organization has been referred by somebody and times like this there are people who love to flaunt their references.

What people forget is that references can help as much as pushing one’s CV across the recruiting team, getting an interview fixed and to some extent bypass the background verification process (if the reference is strong and higher up the hierarchy). The rest of the story of a happy ending or screw up depends largely upon the individuals’ capabilities.

People who tend to drop names also forget the fact that those very individuals who are being quoted would very much be placed in the highest discomfort level finding their names being tossed around conversations and across board meetings. The discomfort level exists equally among other employees who find it disbelieving to be subjected to such influence levels.

It isn’t just the colleagues and people associated in one’s project that start keeping a distance; but the HR dept. also keeps a note of such boasting chaps. At the end of the day it’s the person who’s performing and no matter through which channel he/she lands in the organization; he/she can be shown the gates!

So if one thinks it’s fancy to show your connections and get privileges out of situations, think again – Are you performing or are you making enough background to be despised and cornered!

Can't Let Go Talking Of The Previous Employer?

2010-04-18T23:29:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered why does the new fellow who joined 2 weeks back keeps quoting his previous employer for every decision he has to make, or every policy he has to discuss to the point of everybody else’s irritation?

Quite natural we look around for benchmarks every time we are assigned tasks, and just in case nothing should go wrong, we like to consult with previously accomplished procedures on the same topic. Be it a friend who’s done it before, a process done by a different team, a website that portrays all the angles of technicalities involved, in-numerous blogs or plain simple – the previous employer!

However such affinities to the previous employer start irking the current ones. If all was so sunny with them, what prompted an individual to change gears; is the general reaction they invite. It’s okay to consult and do things, but getting overboard with frequent quotes and trying to implement anything and everything can be quite risky. For cultures of the two organizations may not really be similar. Problems deepen when two entirely different industrial sectors are compared, for example some methodology that brought excellent results in an IT sector may not yield desired results in a Manufacturing for the same set of problems. It may not even land close due to various demographical reasons, or may draw flak from the team and the management. Plus if one so frequently feels the need to depend on previous employers, a big question arises – that for his credibility and competency for the post and profile he holds.

So next time beware when a task is assigned, refer and research from every place one can, but stop swearing by the Bible of previous employers, for now you would be known for the path breaking work you do and ideas you come out with; instead of following the rules made by somebody else. Were it to be followed anyway, it would have borne clones of processes and operations, spelling disaster under respective cultures.

Recruit to Stagnate?

2010-04-07T19:23:00.002+05:30

One of the major reasons why our companies face high level of attrition is because of the fact that their job profiles are not commensurate to their individual capabilities / qualifications they possess (This expression was made vocal by 994 respondents in a survey called ‘A Study On Engineering Students Expectations From Their Prospective Employers’, under the section ‘Top 5 Parameters Respondents Consider While Selecting Their Prospective Employers’). Either they join organizations at some point of time because they need a job in hand, to begin with something. Just like ‘A bird in hand is worth none’! Or they are qualified to do something else; however they are placed at completely unrelated departments with the bright promise that, one day they would surely be shifted there, under the mask of job rotation. Though one cannot fully discredit the job rotation process, since it’s a tried, tested and proved methodology of understanding each other’s business and deliverable schemes. However anything short of 2 weeks at a station spells disaster. Here comes the question in every new employee or existing employee’s mind – ‘Are we making a difference and doing meaningful roles for the organization?’ This dilemma was well defined in Gautam Ghosh’s ‘Recruit For a Cause Not a Role’.

Are recruiters just busy filling in the headcounts for a department and finishing their job, or do they bother to stop and think – does this guy belong in here? Problems are similar for both manufacturing and IT companies, each having a share of woes to such issues of an unsatisfied employer putting down the papers. People go for their 9 – 5 jobs, complete their responsibilities and by evening their CV’s are floating all over the Internet, from day 1.

There was this guy at a manufacturing organization, a fresher straight out of college whose flair for mechanics and machines made him an enthusiastic candidate. However 5 months down the line he put down his papers. The reason he cited was that he was very confident of opening a Xerox shop and handling prints, but for mechanical he would have to start all over again.

A similar example from an IT company, where one guy was particularly fond of .NET technology; however he was placed under the SAP wing. Three years down the line, he was an adept at SAP, and respected for his skills; and just then he was shifted under the .NET wing. He had to start all over and it seemed 3 years went a waste!

There are individuals waiting to master skills and contribute in the growth of an organization. They want to unleash their enthusiasm in belonging to a company and doing their bit. But are we recruiting to stagnate or do we have better career plans in our minds for our employees?

Best Employer Survey - A Prospective Employees' Take

2010-03-25T23:39:00.007+05:30

When the business today February 7, 2010 issue came out with the ninth ‘The Best Companies To Work For’ survey, amongst celebrated Déjà-vu’s, hushed tones and several internet jokes what followed was an overwhelming cheer for Infosys, denial and acceptance of the fact that from year 2006, it’s taken 3 years to get back on the top slot. It’s taken good amount of hard work for an Indian multinational to be at that coveted rank and Mr. Narayan Murthy is a very proud person today! This years BT survey underwent a vast shift in the methodology by bypassing the companies and going straight to the employees and ask them to rate their choice by certain factors. The resultant was a unanimous phenomenal outcome. [Rank 1 – Infosys Technologies, 2 - Google India, 3 – Tata Consultancy Services, 4 – IBM (incl. Daksh), 5 – Microsoft India]

One such survey was conducted in the year 2007, where the methodology adopted was beyond all existing techniques and which bypassed the companies, heading straight to the prospective employees – the engineering students awaiting placements. Here too Infosys Technologies emerged as one of the top 5 dream companies, anybody in India wanted to be in.

WHAT is the background:

The information technology industry has emerged as most promising business proposition in India among the new generation business ventures. The speed with which globalization of business and advancement of technology are moving is significant. India in general and Bangalore city in particular are emerging as the most sought after destination for information technology business not only in Asia but also in rest of the world. These projections create lot of positive expectations from business organizations in terms of availability of trained manpower to meet the needs. Therefore organizations are redefining their talent management strategies by hiring more and more of freshers to curtail the cost. But unfortunately most of these organizations do not have validated HR strategies to attract the freshers into the corporate world. Therefore any effort to build a consensus on strategies for hiring freshers from the campus should be based on the research conducted by collecting data from engineering college students rather than existing employees of the organization.

STARTLING facts:

As per studies - in India every third person is a Software Engineer no matter which branch he/she chooses in engineering
YET, only 30% of them are employable
The rest 70% have the following drawbacks which contributes in HIGH ATTRITION: -
            - Lack of clarity about their future.
            - Attraction towards salary
            - Peer pressure
            - Lack of soft skills
            - Lack of domain knowledge
But students have more than 1 offer in hand - Where do they fail in choosing the right job?

WHY talk of it now:

Amidst the economic slow down that has had global effects of downturns and large scale layoff’s, now when the market seems to be growing again and altogether grappling to attain its previous positions and brand value; times ahead look challenging for the HR Department and the Company as a whole. They have vacant positions to be filled, pink slipped employees tugging at the elbow and an ocean of talent knocking their gates every hour. If at these times, caution is not exercised in getting the right person for the right job; losses seem imminent and just when the world around may be enjoying the bounce back, there may still be someone who missed the bus! Talent management is a process everybody has had turns of glorious days and burnt fingers. The swinging between states keeps happening, but these 1-2 years is just not the time, when companies may have to go through the bad days! A large chunk of new entrants have always been the graduating engineers from India’s brightest technical schools, but are we able to retain them for longer periods than a year or two? If not have we ever wondered, what makes them job hop so soon? Or how is it that from the top technical school we fail to attract the top most talented students?

WHO conducted the survey:

In this direction this was the first study of its kind perhaps in the entire country surveyed in the year March – May 2007 by a team of students pursuing their 1^st year of MBA at PES Institute of Technology – MBA Dept., Bangalore. The survey was presented in the NHRD Event ‘Triads’ 2007, Bangalore too. The objectives of which were:

1. Finding the Dream Companies as perceived by engineering students

2. Identify the criteria that enables to exercise the decision of joining a Co. or not

3. Help IT Co.’s device appropriate strategies for attracting freshers

The members of the team constituted of Ms. Deepa S and Ms. Akanksha Yadav (Me). Also Ms. Sonam Chirania and Ms. Poornima Rajapur contributed to the survey in data collection and entry. Throughout the survey the team was guided by Dr. G. Pandu Naik, Head of Learning & Development, Karle Group of Companies, Bangalore (then a professor of Human Resource Management in PESIT, Bangalore).

The Approach:

Not having a benchmark to base the study upon, the questionnaire was such designed that it followed the descriptive research technique and contributed to being a census survey. This was done so that one could understand the entire demographics behind the choices an engineering student makes while selecting upon placements. To ensure data authenticity, the survey was conducted on 6^th semester engineering students in the specializations: Computer Science, Information Science and Electronics & Communication; in all accounting to a total of 994 respondents. Participation was optional but most of the students who were present on the day of data collection participated in the survey, in the presence of the researchers. Five Engineering Colleges in Bangalore city (India) were selected for this study, out of which three were rated among the 100 best Engineering Colleges in the Dataquest survey 2006. (PES Institute of Technology, BMS College of Engineering, RV College of Engineering, Dayanand Sagar Institute of Technology & BNM Institute of Technology) The criteria for selecting the said colleges were geographical proximity to researchers and the willingness of the colleges to provide access for data collection.

Data Analysis:

The survey questionnaire had two parts, the main survey and the demographic part. Basic statistical tools like percentages and averages were used for analysis. The key analysis (that of importance of 10 parameters) involved converting importance rating to relative scales (using Likert 5 pointer).

WHAT We Asked:

Respondents were asked the following distinct set of questions:

Rate the parameters you would like to consider for selecting your prospective employer using a one to five point scale:

The 5 pointer Likert scale was classified as:

[1 – Not at all, 2 – To some extent, 3 – To a large extent, 4 – To a great extent, 5 – To a very great extent]

Company – Brand Value
Salary and allowances
Locational Preference
Nature of Work
Career Growth Opportunities
Learning & Development Opportunities
Opportunity to Work Abroad
Welfare Measures (canteen, compliments, etc)
Job Security
Transportation

Dream company:

Respondents were asked an open ended question to fill as per their choice.

Nature of company:

Respondents were provided with 3 categories of different sets of nature to select from, where they would prefer to work:

1. Indian/MNC/Joint Venture

2. Established/Newly Started

3. Product/Service

Initial Salary Expected:

Respondents were asked to mention their expected initial salary on a per month basis

Suggestions to prospective employer for attracting talented candidates:

Respondents were asked to list 3 suggestions they would want prospective employers to introduce in their policies.

WHAT We Got:

A total of 994 respondents participated from 5 top engineering colleges of Bangalore.

DEMOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION

32% from Computer Science & Information Science

71% Male

54% plan to Work, 38% want to pursue Higher Studies

60% hail from Urban areas, 19% from Rural

47% belong to Service class, 28% from Business class

26% 2 L < 4 L, 23% 1 L < 2 L,

22% parental income (p.a.) upto 1 L, 10% 4 L < 6 L, 8% parental income (p.a.) > 6 L

55.4% prefer to work with MNC’s, 21.33% Indian

55.23% prefer Established Organizations, 26% Newly Started

43.16% prefer a Product base Company, 22.54% Service

59% expected initial salary between 3 L – 6 L (p.a.), 18% upto 3 L (p.a.), 11% between 6 L – 12 L (p.a.)

INTERPRETATION:

TOP 5 DREAM COMPANIES RESPONDENTS PREFER TO WORK IN

Top Five Dream Companies	No. of Respondents
Microsoft	151
Google	117
IBM	91
Infosys	48
Intel	44
Not Responded	167
Others	376
Total	994

TOP 5 PARAMETERS RESPONDENTS CONSIDER WHILE SELECTING THEIR PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS

Top Five Parameters	% Of Respondents
Career Growth	52
Learning and Development	44
Nature of Work (Job Profile)	34
Job Security	32
Opportunities to go Abroad	28

TOP 5 SUGGESTIONS GIVEN TO EMPLOYER BY RESPONDENTS FOR ATTRACTING TALENTED CANDIDATES

Top Five Suggestions	Number Of Respondents
Good Salary	106
No Consideration of Marks	90
Good Working Environment	79
Planned Career Growth	65
Job Based on Talent	36

RECOMMENDATIONS & IMPLEMENTATION:

If we glance the Top 5 Dream Companies students aspired to work with, surprisingly Infosys was the only Indian multinational that figured there. From our database that Companies that made it among the Top 15, including Infosys, there were just Wipro and TCS to make it a count of 3. So how do we explain that aura foreign MNC’s have that keep attracting employees their end? How should a company survive the economic slowdown and even when not staggered by global environment, yet minimize their soaring attrition levels? As emphasized earlier large scale recruitments always deal with new entrants fresh from engineering colleges and retaining and engaging them is no child’s play. So some of the recommendations from our end that surely everybody is aware of, however a constant reminder is required every passing season to be mulled over and be implemented:

Existence of a structured induction policy is absolute essential. Further fool proofing the process by introducing psychometric tests
The recruitment panel / team that represents the company should be highly competent
Insist on an interactive pre placement talk and present a detailed power point on the company’s products, services, facilities, et al.
Introduce schemes for educational assistance and opportunities for enhancing qualification and skills
A structured induction programme for not less than 6 months
Introducing and following up the ‘Mentorship Programme’ with diligence
Evolving a high potential development programme
To possess a communication strategy nothing short of brilliance
Provide a job profile commensurate to individual capability, than trying and testing him/her on varied grounds before final allotment to an unrelated field of low interest
Plan the career map of a newly hired employee before going for selection rounds
Relax a bit on grades and scores, which doesn’t mean hire somebody not eligible by what the policy says. However give them a chance to sit for the placements by lowering the cut off bar. Who knows, there may be somebody really good in subject, but a bad writer. Or maybe somebody topped semesters, but last year fell ill or something quirky happened with him.

Succession Planning at low rung levels of the pyramid

2010-03-13T01:01:00.000+05:30

A discussion with a friend ended up with a question, “When Bill Gates moved up the ladder, do you think he had a successor all ready and groomed for the position and responsibility?” Or when a chairman of group of organizations retires, does he have a successor waiting in line?

Strangely theory suggests that succession planning is the most important function in the organization and our Organization Behaviour, Organization Development and Organization Structure books back at college all talk about its significance. A relatively large chunk of strategic HR deals with useful succession planning tactics every HR Manager aspires to carry out as a part of his KRA. Yet are we really able to create a line of distinction of those people who would occupy critical spaces?

The FIFO principle (First In First Out) definitely gives way to positions going vacant and the scurrying HR Department on a lookout of a suitable tenant. Many times, change of orders take place from within the organization and still at times new entrants from a competitor industry are sought after. If both fail, some organizations prefer keeping the position vacant. Higher up the management some consideration on succession planning is still planned out, however at the lowest level or mid level are we planned on our needs? Do we have any such model being worked upon?

There are many organizations where the fear of attrition prevents fresh blood from being trained for processes and activities. They constantly face the dilemma - whether they should train and make new employees fit enough for new roles and they quit within 2 months. Or whether they should continue extracting work however not tune them for future needs and even if they quit the problem can be dealt with then and there. Or they believe very frequent job rotations can solve the problem and provide an exposure to all activities in a short span. However this leads to a frustrated employee who doesn’t understand where he fits and what process is calling his skill. Plus frequent readjustments make a sure shot make up of mind that the first best opportunity and he is out of his current workplace. But aren’t majority of employees similar, waiting for the next best opportunity and salary hike from previous? Would this mean that they never get proper training and grooming for the roles that may come up across the desk?

With the continuing tiff between high paying and extremely rewarding IT industry and not really matching levels manufacturing sector, recruitment is an easy step. But retaining fresh blood as in employees from fresher levels to below 5 years of experience is always a tough call. People keep looking across green valleys and in the process neglect assigned responsibilities. Or even if they so wish to fulfil them dutifully they are bound by a sea of non related work they get to do. Though grunt work is necessary and is a part of the learning process, however longer stances of dry runs disappoint them and assure quicker resignations.

One option is harnessing the training cell in all its strength along with delegation of authority. The other can be promoting and entertaining the freshers as well as people coming in for internships. At several organizations a proper internship is denied let alone being allowed to work on things. The Tier-I T-Schools and B-Schools do not have to worry, however Tier-II and below have some grave issues in their kitty. Instead of providing a certificate just to waive off the responsibility or lack of projects, one can instead think upon building competence and manpower through this resource found in abundance. They seem to be the most excited lot who would want to be a part of the organization force and seem very eager to learn. Besides training and development has always been seen as a mode to develop competitive advantage by the organization, so when operation flow is in stake why not give serious thought to the same. Why not be prepared for hard times that may come and situations that may require fresh ideas and brains! Why not have someone lined up and ready to take on the initiative without wasting much of organization’s capital and time!

Transparency and Compensation

2010-02-22T21:22:00.002+05:30

Transparency of something that is important for an individual or an organization’s growth up to a desired level indicates the credibility of the team and openness to consideration and negotiation if any. It is understandable that many organizations may defer to being transparent for all work processes, however there are certain areas one cannot be totally discreet, especially things related to capital and money matters. Yet we may still find some where compensation & benefits always seem to be that part of the asset which cannot bare transparency at any levels. So much so, even when new recruits join for a particular position all they are aware of is the job responsibility, designation and the CTC involved. It may make sense if during process of selection; one may not want to disclose the salary components; however once when somebody is sent an offer letter for acceptance, then the prospective employee has all rights to understand the break up of the salary assigned to him. It cannot be something that can be passed as ambiguity and the employee realises the components only when he receives the first pay slip.

This kind of an issue is dealt by and large by small size and mid size industries, where it is hard to tap upon good resource and retain them for a long time. Chanced upon prospective employee who may prove to be assets need to be pulled in and engaged so that he doesn’t get swayed by competitor industries. It may sound foolish not knowing one’s salary components before joining, yet there are people who do not inquire and yet there are some who wish to gain an understanding however organizations refuse to quote. For fresh graduates it may not be of much concern as then they are just beginning the process of finding a footboard to stand upon, however for somebody making a career change it can prove to be disastrous and could well be a plunge in the career graph if he decides to blindly hop into one. There was this one person I came across sometime back, who had good experience and understanding of the industry he belonged to. Naturally his talent got recognised in the Organization he thought could lift his career. In the interview rounds a CTC was discussed, negotiated and finalised upon. However due to internal constraints the finalised amount was not given and a lesser CTC was zeroed upon. An effective communication could have taken place, yet the prospective employee was kept in the dark. Nor did the employee consider inquiring about the components and discuss on the plans. When he went for accepting the offer and casually got to know of a lowered CTC, he was in a dilemma whether to accept or reject. He did reject, but at a personal loss. Before joining he resigned from his present workplace and that left him unemployed till he would be in a position to convert one. He wouldn’t be in a dearth of one for long for sure, however a mere communication and transparency could have saved a lot many hassles.

Compensation is always a sensitive issue and those who handle it know of its ups and downs. Those who plan to get into an organization too need to understand the importance of asking for one, before making a decision. Yet it still lies as a major responsibility for an organization and non disclosure or reluctance of sharing one shouldn’t deter anybody from asking what he is destined to be paid.

Referrals - At Whose Costs?

2010-02-11T00:27:00.001+05:30

Recruitments round the year always end up being a pain for those that belong to that specialization. Screening and selecting among hordes of unwanted resumes is indeed a tumultuous task. To ease out the process somebody introduced the Referrals policy and it started bringing out good results. Suddenly employees all so satisfied with the Organization started recommending near and dear family and friends. Then there were some Companies who started acknowledging the brilliance at ease and rewarding employees, some didn’t believe in rewarding but found the referral policy the biggest source or databank available, and there were still some who didn’t believe in the policy.

The 2 extreme positions are the best that could be carved out of this policy; however the middle position is the one that creates major issues, especially in Companies that believe in having local candidates on their payrolls. Hardly a speck in the crowd would belong to far flung places settled at workplace location. Here the referral policy is so much into the system that it has actually entangled the recruitment process.

Suddenly everybody is on a referring spree, and if one tries finding out the history behind their acquaintances, one would be surprised to know that among all things the only common factor was a common surname. Thus it made enough ground to approach the right person in the Company and be rest assured that one would certainly be on the rolls within a couple of days. If this kind of a business can sprout annoyance from just a two or three, then to imagining every single referral belonging to the same genre, it can prove to be quite troublesome for the HR as well as the Organization. As merit of an individual cannot be stated by common surnames, or can one perform any psychometric tests to separate out the desired from the undesired. Whether one looks to the left or to the right, numbers keep percolating with individuals of common surnames. What in turn goes waste is the Company’s resources in paying them salaries for the work they do not do (though this isn’t a generalized sweeping statement, nor do all referrals end up being on the same side of the sinking boat). The resources utilized to train them for the job, paying of the salaries, and once when they quit (that too prematurely) no suitable replacement comes around, hence training the new guy all over again. Besides the references being not so credible, yet following suit since the person whose referring is a top shot in the Company. Little realizing that in this great movement of doing something worthwhile and good for their communities, people are actually gathering dust around! The whole game of reserving seats in political stunts across States being so similar to the Corporate story of referrals. Has anybody benefited by these mindless games at the State levels? So be the case at Corporate level. The policy may seem all so rosy from the distance, but is proving to be a brain chewer from close by.

Maybe we need an alteration in the Referral Policy and we need to limit how many people a year can current employees refer (at those companies that have an open agenda throughout the year). Maybe we can even put some constraints upon who can be referred and put more emphasis on the idea that the referrer’s PLI would somehow contain some value of the referrer’s performance. Otherwise were these trends to continue, one fine day we would have the Company plagued by similar community or surnamed people taking over charges

Birds of The Same Feather Flock Together

2010-01-21T18:57:00.002+05:30

They say, “Birds of the same feather flock together” and that is just precisely the tool we use to judge a friends circle or an association of people coming together as entrepreneurs. And since the validity of this concept is so strong, it’s more or less implemented in analyzing teams in organizations too.

However there is always a flip side to each conjecture that can be drawn out of a situation. This specifically applies to all those employees who report to multiple bosses. Either the bosses may be at vertical designation to each other or at horizontal. Vertical ones do not pose a grave situation if a hierarchy is part of the organization structure. A flat organization has no fuss at all. But where the structure is hierarchical and the multiple reporting bosses are placed on the horizontal lane, there’s more to it than mere sharing a subordinate. Needless to say competition stays put at each level and each one is trying to either out do the other or proving his concept and strategies feasible and profitable than the other. It wouldn’t affect the managers much as they always have their ways with their work. But then there is that shared subordinate who has no clue as to whom should he follow, in those moments when he is looking for a mentor. Perplex moments are shared in each of the cabins trying to maintain confidentiality and at the same time being transparent and obedient. Hours spent in one cabin can always send a negative message across the rooms about affinity and affiliations. And either end it’s always the same, with the other wanting to know the MoM.

Caught between the thundering of bosses, what should the shared subordinate do? Resist compromise or be succumbed to becoming the eye candy by divulging serious information and high priority details? Managers are there on those seats because they have that capability to persuade and manage human resources in the right way. So they are very capable of extracting information that may not be meant to be floated at that moment. Apart from being a subject to cross fire from both ends, the subordinate always has the dilemma of whom to follow. Both make sense at many a times and both have experiences of their own, quotable and non-quotable. The subordinate like every other employee wants to learn lot many things, do substantial work and wants to derive a meaning out of whatever he has been allotted as job responsibility. However his progress or promotion in the organization is largely affected by the ‘Halo Effect’ that is generated by the number of hours spent in a certain cabin. Though there is every chance that the subordinate may not necessarily endorse the views of his boss, but has no option to beg himself pardon from his presence. Between the wars of the lords there is always a chance that he is just a spectator trying to move the papers and empty his incoming mail box. And when the war gets worse and the bosses cannot look eye to eye, there’s always a question posed before the subordinate – so which one of them would you like to align with? ‘Which party do you belong’ is the only sentence that is volleyed back at him!

But if it were to choosing a party, one might as well be running for the Parliament. Since one isn’t there, it’s obviously other way round – an organization needs people to work in teams! And all that the subordinate can do is being honest to the organization’s interests at every moment. When faced with trouble of deciding which work is priority, regardless to the worry of being reprimanded; the best say would be in the interest of the organization and the urgency of the task. And the one important thing that sandwiched subordinates should always bear in mind is that be ethical and do not loose your reputation as a sincere employee just for small gains and favours, as bosses keep changing and so do their notions and fancies. What remains is the reputation you build!

The Meets And The Misses Of The Eye

2010-01-07T19:05:00.001+05:30

Almost every HR blog that I have read talks about the qualities an HR person should have in order to be the one in true senses. Be professionally qualified or not, there are some aspects anybody can guess, which an HR person ought to have. One of them is a prominent eye contact with whomsoever one is talking with. Infact it's something so quintessential and absolutely important not just to prove you’re an HR person; but also to show respect to the fact that we are handling humans who deal with emotions and feelings every moment of their lives. An eye contact simply means we are listening to you and we care enough.

Yet there are some of us who don't bother letting eyes meet nor do they glance at people's faces. That is out rightly called to be so rude and undignified. Many reason it out to be shyness or being busy to hearing the grievance and leave it at that. Some have very low self-esteem and dipping confidence levels that interaction is a part of their job; however the body language cries out loud about their personalities. Some also believe that making an eye contact may actually increase the intensity of the issue being talked about, as once the humane connects, apart from present woes, past one's also start pouring into the mind which requires just a series of being vocal and some hearing the other end.

However there are some people who have the cheekiness and audacity to come out with funny and weird reasons for many situations that lead to an unexpected behaviour, which no doubt can be labelled under the ridiculous clause. And they are so unabashed at their acts that they confidently smirk when they cite it to others. I recently came across one of the weirdest excuses of not making an eye contact. The person claimed that he had hypnotising powers within himself, so majority of his conversation went such that he would look deep down into the ground and the eye movement would oscillate towards the left and then the right. But he never looked once in the eye, as he knew that if he did, within next 5 minutes the other would get hypnotised. And he confirms his theory with an unashamed laughter which is followed by a very confident smirk.

Indeed this is called Confidence!

The High Performing Employee & The Halo Effect

2009-12-21T23:32:00.004+05:30

It would have been so wonderful if man had learnt how to keep his personal and professional life poles apart. And what if there ever was a switch to turn oneself off out of workplace into a different mode? Living a split personality life, would feel all so fresh and rejuvenated for a new day. Sadly the complexities of leading multiple lives is straightened out by a simple fact that however hard we try we end up intertwining our personal and professional lives, be it even by 2%. We tend up being so professional and efficient at one place that we end up messing the other largely coz of the halo effect of the supremely larger part of us. I once read a statement that goes something like ‘People who are professionally very rich, are on a personal front very poor!’

To better understand how this halo effect affects the lives of people, I borrow this piece from Gautam Ghosh’s recent post on ‘Tiger Woods and the Halo Effect’. True to Gautam’s observations many of us are enveloped by the greatness of a person’s effectiveness at something he’s meant to do, such that this high performing one may personally not be even close to being effective. Something which Gautam has defined as - a psychological shortcut that causes human beings to infer good things about a person based on a single area of achievement. How does this matter to us as organization? Nope it doesn’t to a large extent as long as we stop thinking an organization as a family setup. But the moment the mere thought of a one big happy family emerges, we tend to go beyond project deadlines, deliverables, client handling and inch closer every minute to exploring the human interactions with one another.

There may be this very generous manager who can at the drop of the hat shell out resources and capital wherever he sees a need felt. But the very next moment this unhappy and disillusioned manager may leave the organization in pretty much a mess and creating troubles for the others. Would we say we never saw this coming our way? Or maybe we never thought he could stoop so low? Or was it a simple fact that he always protected the other side with a screen of generosity and empathy for others?

These screens are so thin and transparent however we are trained to not look beyond perfection! For what may seem like a mirage may have an ugly face behind the illusion.

Coming to the point how the halo effect can create problems for us and how to deal with it. Many a times when professionally rich employees decide to job hop due to unhappy decisions, chances are certain one may expect a rebuke in hand. Whereas dealing with the issue is not an easy task, as we never know what the mind behind the smiling face is thinking. But we can walk on the lines which says ‘When everything is going all so very right, stop yourself, think, and think over again. Everything may not be that right to pursue!’

So the next time if we see a highly efficient executive working with perfection and tending to be reliable on all accounts, and one has no reason to be alarmed by her. Maybe one should check her drawers and desk to see if there lies an underneath behaviour that she is hiding. Or one can explore her speediness on the job, or the way she interacts with people who aren’t her peers.

Being a Techno Geek

2009-12-11T23:35:00.001+05:30

The routine of a mid twenty / thirty year old at workplace is sit for those blissful 8 hours of work in front of a desktop. Not even for a minute flinch away from that insane stare and the lunch hour seems like we are missing a lot of things. 7 pm back home and after another hour we have our home desktops switched on, either for work from home purposes or merely for the fact that some of us are computoddicted!

We can imagine no task complete without a few clicks here and there and rap tap goes the keyboard. We form the brigades of employees who are completely paralysed when power failures occur.

But to imagine a whole large chunk of those employees, who have taken onto manual working all their lives. So much so even today with the advent of this revolutionary technology they still find themselves among piles of papers, innumerable files and cupboards full of 3 decades old stock of data maintenance that nobody ever would give a glance to! Layers of dust gathering on those historical data that form the base of the Organization’s inception and the well laid out building plans.

A manufacturing sector somehow tends to a clear demarcation of two genres of employees. One being the old horses that grow along with the aging organization and the other being the newbies. It’s said that it’s hard to get in-depth technical competence from the newbies when compared to the golden period of engineers of the 1970’s, 80’s and early 90’s era. Similarly it’s like taking the horse to the river but unable to force it to drink water, when the old horses suddenly find a rectangular inanimate object on their tables with a mouse. From right away dismissing the idea to initial hiccups and slow motion clicks around in vain; many ultimately end up resorting to following their old ways. Along with an explanation that 5 years more and retirement knocking their doors, these rectangular objects best lay assured at newbie desks. The hindrance seems to be pushing limits when critical data needs to be retrieved and the concerned person wishes how lucky would he be if they were a click away, rather than flipping pages amidst a land full of dust. Compiling information also feels like a Herculean task, as years need to be matched and the corresponding data needs to be fed and worked upon. Lot many things have no information, as back then nobody thought it could lead to a link in the new strategy background work or maybe the CEO wanted to see the attrition levels of the last 10 years.

What’s a predominant feature of not being techno geek for some is that their great ideas face premature death, because of the inability to present them in the sweetest and shortest way. How would a VP of the organization devote some 30 minutes to listen to a new thought if the same idea can be caught within a span of 2 minutes via a presentation? Afterall things seen visually are recalled stronger than pages of thesis work on the matter which ultimately land up in some corner of the office. Similarly being techno geek can save a lot of time in hand to do more work that could help clear out backlogs if any and give in more space to think of the innovative and untried. By and large the whole of 8 hours is consumed in doing the routine task and when does one have the time to think something new and fresh? What may form to be 6 points of a job description when examined closely may turn out to be just 2 points when computerization of the same collective is implemented! What management may think is eating up their financial resources and adding onto the weight of employees may be eventually sorted out such that the manpower count is reduced, kind courtesy disinterest in learning the technology!

So if the fear of getting redundant by introduction of technology is of prime concern, then how about the fear of getting redundant by not knowing the ways of the techno world? Why when one doesn’t shy from acquiring new machines for increase in production, is there a hesitating human in front of a rectangular inanimate object?

How Not To Be A Strategic HR

2009-11-30T23:58:00.001+05:30

An HR’s job has always been under a magnifying glass of a microscope. People have always wondered why there is a need of such a department in any organization. The work that is done in routine can always be done by somebody as a part time apart from handling other meaningful tasks. And what has remained in position ever since is the HR sample on the slide and the microscope. All that have come and left are the looking through set of eyes of scrutinizers. Nothing conducive has said to evolve in the species of HR until now that is over the past decade. A new stream of science has intertwined and has been showing a prosperous seat by the business class window of the management aircraft. Suddenly there’s a buzz called Strategic HR and everybody wants to be in the hot seat. Or they don’t?

Aspirations are many yet inputs and the processing levels are varied. For how many HR’s would go beyond the routine administrative work? Understanding business is not an easy task and certainly not a day’s job. There are always people with super smart rationale on all matters and though HR folks are said to be the ones who start the ball rolling for a change, yet the 8 hours job of rolling appointment letters, transfer orders seem to be the most lucrative task in hand. There still exist 70% of individuals for whom an HR’s job is said to be something that has nothing to do with what others do! Some of the best reasons why these certain 70% classify under the category ‘How Not to Be a Strategic HR’ is:

They say it’s not my job to keep a tab on other departments proceedings. For all that they may do throughout is be given a vacancy count from respective departments and an incessant search for the most suitable profile. This recruitment life cycle never ceases and as demands raise so do the supply without the blink of an eye.
For these certain people recruitments are the only domain that they associate with their inclination towards HR, so it’s all about playing this game of collecting the data bank, screening, short listing, and handing them over for final interviews. And it stops there to begin with the data bank stage all over again. It’s immaterial whether there was a final fit between the employers and the employee. Which many times lead to immediate exiting due to unstructured policies.
Unconcern to understand the nature of the industry they work with. Many a time’s saturation in one industry makes an individual drift towards the opposite. Say from an IT industry to a Manufacturing, where the cultures are juxtaposed. So policies that worked out previously in an excellent way in the IT industry may not move pillars in the Manufacturing. Or the inability to fit oneself in the climate of the organization posing severe threats to the future of the organization, if one occupies a decision making position.
The same genre of people who know the in and out of Human Resource yet fail to interlink the Marketing decision to theirs and their resourcefulness to the Finance folks.
They land up in sticky situations by not knowing the main product or service of their organization but relentlessly ramble underneath the PMS cloud and 360 degree appraisals. So much so they start viewing training and development needs and the budget for the organization as different articles. As long as HR is able to carry out it’s functions it’s immaterial to them whether recruiting costs are tipping the iceberg or unnecessary expenditure on whitewashing department are overbearing to the projects in hand.
When these folks are unable to comprehend the operation flow and cycle of product so much so they cannot make out the differences between two stages of completely different processes and do not leave a moment to smirk and flaunt their ignorance. With the added attitude that says “I’m an HR, why should I bother whether department X comes in process before department Y or not. It is for them to see the quality management. My work ends in satisfying their manpower needs.”
When policies aren’t structured to the organizations needs and are air lifted from elsewhere. Or best when the organization is said to be under the Zoo culture, where everybody is monkeying around and there is too much interference from everywhere such that the HR department loses its essence and authority over things.
When aptitude is marked by the ignorance of the obvious and one believes on running on the single track to achievement, where targets mean monthly realization of supply and demand and fear of the unknown makes them explore less on the shady sides of the organizations fumbles.
When routine work seems to be the best task that involves growing people within the organization by implying on the fact that HR folks are contributing in making work easier and serving the employees at their best in their smallest of the needs.

The list can get endless but the crux of the theme is, do we consider HR as a never changing sample, or a slowly evolving one which may take another decade to grow out of its skin or a new species very much modified and innovated in a new package of intellectuals who not just own the reins of the industry but know how to dig the underground lines at the right depths.

Defining Right Consciousness

2009-11-13T22:41:00.000+05:30

To be right conscious is an easy task, for no boundaries or lines are defined that would differentiate what could be a right conscious decision, action, thought or what could form the basis of being unethical at the workplace. To pick up one and place him under the white cloud of appreciation is difficult as much as it is to place one under the black cloud of reprimand. These issues arise because an individual seems to show streaks of all personalities and behaviour, so much so that they can be physically viewed simultaneously in minutes of separation.

One such conflicting behaviour is exhibited by many individuals who realise the problems of the organization from an eagle’s point of view. Not only are they sharp eyed, they can also critically examine all the dimensions leading to the growth and failure of the organization’s strategies and policies. If given a chance they have scores of opinions and suggestions to sound to a willing ear. They even have self made strategies in place which if given a direction may result to better outcomes. They are those individuals who are high performers in the jobs bestowed upon them and have earned quite a reputation for being blatant. And the top management likes them too.

However they sport a bad body language when it comes to interacting with new people, specially the one’s appointed in powerful positions. The new head honchos bring new policies that are framed within a matter of time, where a feedback is necessary to begin with. Here is the place where these high performers start behaving unexpectedly in a split second. They may give go ahead nods to the directives or plans, and tow in to the idea but frequently disregarding the hierarchy of the opponent and challenging the effects of the implementation do not go unnoticed. They even indulge in ganging up for soft mockery of ideas and brushing off new methodologies from the ones long established by numerous trial and error techniques. For once that can be counted as defensive mechanism to the already existing policies; however in the long run they show high levels of instability and insecurity. They may be once ruling the roost but a change brings about a reshuffle in the structure and the processes. So despite being a high performer the constant fear of being redundant aligns them towards a behaviour that is counted negative. Upon being questioned as to why they have ideas that do not reach day light, they believe in blaming the system for the inefficiency all over. And the dullness and lackadaisical environment that doesn’t provide opportunities for initiatives. Any new thought is welcomed by a ‘not possible’ or ‘cannot be done’ or ‘you’ll have to do it all by yourself’ attitude. These people on the other hand do not stop being ethical at their work, however end up being the cribbing geese of the coop, who believe in preaching every moment; yet shift no bones to develop a dying idea or improve a situation that has no direct dealing with them.

Are organizations to be blamed for such people being bred within themselves? Is the top management brass to be blamed for not being able to reach out to those at the lowest or middle level branches of the tree? Is change the root cause of all insecurity developing of getting redundant? Or is it human nature not to welcome great ideas from relatively new people who’ve just taken baby steps and not grown along with the organization? Or is it just about being vocally right conscious?

I Delegated Authorities, But Oh I'm Ignorant

2009-11-01T00:00:00.003+05:30

Delegation of authority is said to be a growth path for all those subordinates whose shoulders bear the files and notes of work. For the person delegating his authority and responsibility on others, the process is a clear sign of not holding all important work to himself, and believing in his team and entrusting upon them important work and the power to make decisions.

However after so much of delegation of responsibilities there are certain times and moments of oh-ah when the person himself ends being ignorant of many of the processes that were passed down the line of hierarchy. He may have been the source at one point of time, but now that he has made his subordinate the SPOC of the entire process, little comes his way but a mere feedback once a fortnight or maybe never as long as the flow is there. Along come sticky situations at times, when the super-boss decides to query on matters or clients (employees for the HR) want some information, and the beholder of the post has no answers to the queries. He requires some moments to himself and some minutes from the subordinate to receive a briefing. All this while he was comfortable being ignorant, or had other pressing issues under his consideration.

However the responsibilities if delegated to such minutest of the levels, many a times cause more of a problem than just being helpful where follow-up is not considered as necessary as getting things just done. So it’s not just about getting efficient, reducing one’s work load and channelizing it to proper direction; it's about following it up and digging deeper in times of movement of information; than just wait for the river to take its course and when rains come lashing down, a desperate look to find the basin.

HR For The Elite

2009-10-24T06:43:00.001+05:30

The great divide that exists in a manufacturing sector is of the two categories: the worker level and the staff/managerial level. When it comes to the functionality of Human Resources in this sector, there is a modified version that has been into existence since long, better known as the Personnel Department. They look into each micro level of the organization ranging from dealing with Trade Unions, to handling contractors, to being the caretakers of housekeeping and safety propositions. They even have employee grievances both from the worker and managerial level in their kitty, et al. They go around getting water source tanks cleaned too with disinfectants and sometimes have worked in those roles that were very technical, yet the organization needed the shift. It surely amounts to enormous tasks under their paper weights.

But on an hypothetical comparison with the IT industry, where Personnel is non-existent the functionality talks about words like Employee Engagement, Succession Planning, Competency based Development, and the likes in this genre. When we try importing these concepts into the manufacturing sector, and in particular the mid sized organizations, what happens is initial resistance and severe criticism that follows. One of the contributing reasons that I can think of is that these terminologies sound like fancy words picked up from an American dictionary. And it’s like an uphill task to convince people that HR is here for good and means good intention.

Analysing on the criticality of one of these aspects namely Succession Planning, for one it’s the workers who are into the jobbing process in the industry. Be it the welding, or soldering, or working on auto parts or with the arc furnace there are skilled and un-skilled workers for each category of work. Whereas the staff/managerial employees are into supervisory work and their main competency involves around understanding the drawings and technology behind a process. The technicalities are what staff/managerial employees possess; however working on site with tools, cranes, lathe machines etc is the workers job. And if these workers go on strikes, the organization suffers in productivity. When we talk of Succession Planning, we may have our slots filled in for staff/managerial level folks by the next competent fellow fished from the market. Yes without him any breakdown in a machine cannot get proper directions to be fixed, or the strategies and shortest path solutions cannot be brought about. But it’s equally necessary to fill in the slot of a worker, who after 3 decades of service in the organization leaves a post vacant minus the skill too. Though it’s well known that doing a certain task for n number of years makes the person able and capable in it; however when we talk about using shorter path means to achieve quicker cycle times of the products life cycle and achieving delivery time; won’t it be quintessential to have a similar competency chart available for workers too. What if worker x is on leave for 2 days, there should be a worker z to quickly fill the spot! We as HR involve ourselves into designing On-the-Job-Training (OJT) schedules of numerous training sessions for the staff/managerial; however how many OJT schedules for workers are made? What if an organization has a worker’s average age of 40-45? The next decade would see the organization exhaust it’s value in the market as the core skill workers would be due retirement. Succession Planning isn’t just about queuing up the next man hour resource, it is about a competent workforce that needs less of coercing into doing the job and an equal opportunity of availing training and upgrading themselves in courses that are relevant. It’s a part of an HR’s responsibility to aide everybody in the organization. But if the HR and the Top Management feels that the organization would be wasting resources on unnecessary development of a task that requires no prior knowledge, but just common sense and the knowledge of the right way of doing a certain thing, which is more or less monotonous in nature; we are indicating that after all HR policies are for the betterment of the Elite a.k.a. staff/managerial.

Along with grooming the next level of employees, we also indulge in activities that would make our employees happier in the long run. We come out with this message that says “Look we are not just aiding you in your career growth; but we are taking care of you as well in the best of the ways. It’s because you mean as much to us, as we do to you!” We’ve come up with various policies indicating the benefits that they would be entitled to receive because they lay in the band level. Surely it does make them happy, and yes it has been a practice being followed all over the globe. Benefits like purse allowance, magazine allowances, etc, all tagged under the Fringe Benefits kitty, of which am so thankful to the Government for abolishing it from the Budget 2009. We do try our every bit of taking care of our employees; however why just restrict such benefits to staff/managerial levels? Human Resource is about taking care of the entire employee base of the organization and inching towards development of every individual. Would HR always cater to the needs of the Elite or are there chances of broadening the span to the less blessed? Would introduction of HR in an atmosphere that existed as a conglomerate of functions – Personnel Department survive the tests of meaning good intention? Would Succession Planning stand good for workers? Would mid sized manufacturing organizations grow with the process or end up being tangled in a mess of understood and not much understood methodologies? All of it depending upon the culture of the organization and the openness to accept HR with arms wide open, minus the nitpicking of associating it with American mumbo-jumbo as well as broadening the expanse and the reach of the HR Department in the lines of hereditary Personnel bloodline.

The Sweetest Sound

2009-10-14T23:43:00.003+05:30

I remember coming across one statement which I felt is so true. It said “Remember that a man’s Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language”.

Yet there are many of us who within minutes of introduction to a person forget their names, worse despite being embarrassed in all such situations, try little to possessing an elephant’s memory. And when it comes to HR folks, this is one tool that is supposed to be congenital.

I have known this very efficient a HR Manager, but he was bad at names, which was his biggest flaw. At the organization where he worked, his department had just one lady owing to the fact of being a manufacturing industry. There were days when she would be called by altogether different names, and everyday a new name would crop. But since she was the only lady, she would figure out it was her who was being summoned. Other colleagues faced the same fate; however they got used to it, since he would signal which subordinate he wanted in his cabin.

However this is one habit that refused to leave his premises even when he interacted with people from the other departments. He would end up coming confused, thinking hard recollecting names and attaching them to faces. It was always like an uphill task against earth’s gravity. There would be moments when large number of workers would turn up to his cabin in the count of 10-15 and every few minutes he would ask their names. And after giving up, one of the subordinates would help prompting the names, or go ahead with the session without mention of names. This adversely affected his reputation, who otherwise meant good work and intention, yet his forgetfulness indicated less attention in the interests of the employee.

Though his forgetfulness dodged areas that required strategic thinking and prompt recollection of information that meant crucial to the Co.’s working. His observations were always very thorough and scientific in approach. Nobody could question his calculations, since they were just very accurately made. However the name recollection wasn’t his cup of tea. He was in fact suggested of trying ways to learn and remember names; however despite accepting the lacuna he worked less in that direction.

The consequence being, his subordinates started resisting from being addressed as somebody they weren’t. As a crude joke the workers would pop their names between conversations and the whole organization knew that this HR Manager could recognize nobody from their names. The general perception grew by manifold that he wasn’t interested in the welfare of the employees, as he paid less attention towards their minutest details. And if he couldn’t remember a name, how could he remember the grievances they faced. How could he stand against the Management for those rights, each person had a different one and each had a name to it?

Dignity of Labour

2009-10-05T00:18:00.003+05:30

Working in an organization for 3 decades would make one more than a mere employee. The person would view themselves as one of the army of men who build the organization pillar by pillar and brick by brick. There would be no corner of the unit that the person wouldn’t be aware off. And there would be no policy that cannot be measured by the employees’ eyes. Devoting all his youth to the vision of making the unit into something big and known worldwide would be a dream not just the owners would sleep and rise with every new day. And when the day to his retirement seems to be approaching, what would be the ultimate reward he would be looking forward to expectantly?

No it’s not the compensation, nor the farewell gifts. It’s not about sitting in a cabin all to himself, nor having a chauffeur driven car. It’s neither about being a critical member of the team nor smiling with pride seeing the enormous numbers of turn key projects he’s handled, yielding huge profits. These are all secondary points which add on by the by in the experience of life.

One fine morning among these days prior to retirement, one of the top management guys who has been with the organization for equal periods of decades decides to take a walk around and visits this department as well. For some reasons the top guy cannot remember this persons name, and doesn’t give even a minute to his memory for a recollect. Instead tries drawing attention of that employee by making certain sounds and clapping his hand and knocking at the door with a ‘hhuussshhh’, ‘oye’ and a ‘psstttt’, where everybody is an audience.

How would that do the 3 decades of blood and sweat in the name of this organization? How about a lesson on ‘Dignity of Labour’?

Surfing the Internet, I came across several definitions/meanings and essays to these 3 words. The best of which I could choose was:

“Dignity of labour chiefly means respectability of all labour such that one is not viewed as superior to the other”. And we even have a Labour Day marked on the calendar!

However I come up with a very different definition of mine, which says:

Dignity of Labour chiefly means not just bringing equality in work, appreciation of a job well done, time and again; but when one retires after serving the organization the top management knows his name and each one’s who is currently associated with the organization and they are addressed by it, doesn’t matter a blue collar employee or white collared.

This is one feeling of being recognized, which can surpass all materialistic gifts and rewards ever received in the whole career life - cycle of an employee. It’s the sweetest sound to any person’s ear that he/she lives his /her entire life to hear!

So if we really appreciate work done by somebody, and are in all praise for the effort and knowledge, apart from a memento at the rewards & recognition event, the first thing we could do, is call him/her by their name and make them realise they are not a forgotten lot and they will be remembered each passing day for their contribution towards building the organization.

A Recruiters Enhanced Skill Set

2009-09-30T00:13:00.004+05:30

Dear Mr. Kapil Sibal, I extend my greetings and welcome your 3 language scheme to some extent. I have a suggestion, since schools all over India are resisting to the concept. How about making it a 5 language scheme, and imposing it on a certain section of the Professional Society in B-Schools or Company’s/Firms. The HR Recruiters! We are in dire need of enhancing our skills and need to imbibe the linguistic edge, because there arise too many a circumstances when the only language of communication between 2 people is the sign language.

It is now that I can appreciate my non-selection in a MNC manufacturing concern at Bangalore. I knew just a few words of direction to the auto guys. And the employees’ and workers in that industry were certainly not auto guys.

Sometime last week handling a recruitment case involved communicating to a certain person. The call was in process when the realization hit hard, that the only language he spoke fluently and was comfortable in was Tamil. This lead to a severe problem as a colleague had to be summoned for rescue work. However it was my job to communicate with the candidate and when we did meet face to face, that was the toughest time not just for the candidate, but for us the recruiters too. Narrating a particular excerpt where in we asked the candidate ‘Where he sees himself in the next 5 years?’ after a deep thought he answered ‘Provident Fund’! That made us realize we our terribly failing to put forward our point and lots of communication barriers developed. Sign language also couldn’t come to rescue when it came to technical domain expertise being tested. Though the candidate turned out to be good on the machine he handled, yet communication signals were completely distorted and meant much of noise in Engineering language.

Each passing day we as individuals keep trying to better ourselves and learning new things that could highlight our CV’s and such that it stands out among scores of others. Yet majority of us as recruiters who interact most with people, are restrained to basic 2-3 languages, relying heavily on English and Hindi. A day is yet to come when the Government of India could state Hindi is not just the National Language for the saying but impose it on all parts of the country as well without rubbing the wrong ends. So till then we need to get polishing our linguistic skills and maybe if we desire to attract talent from far and wide, we get ready to switch languages at the drop of the hat. A minimum of 5 to extend till down South, and if covering East and West is on our agenda, 5 more could add on to the list!

Predicament of a Recruiter

2009-09-20T22:38:00.002+05:30

At one of the peak seasons of the recruitment drive, one fine morning the HR dept. gets a call from the Security guys’ stationed at the main gate. They pass on the information that a lady has come and is asking to meet the HR Manager. So they have let her in since she said she’s from a far off place, and she’s on the way to the HR Dept. Much to the departments’ surprise, there she is standing at the door; when half the folks are annoyed with the Security guys’ decision without being consulted. Yes a recruitment drive is in the process, but a walk-in wasn’t something that was welcome; after being overwhelmed with CV’s that kept pouring in every hour.

With the kind of atmosphere a manufacturing organization has, even one lady would raise enough eyebrows to be noticed. So while this lady walks into the room and is seated right across me, the next I expect is a CV laid out in front of me. But like it’s said, ‘Always expect the unexpected!’ she looks around painfully and giving uncomfortable glances, she places her purse on my table and walks out. And here I am looking at other colleagues who are equally quizzed with her behaviour. Twenty minutes and still no sign of her return, which triggers a sense of panic into us. I am contemplating of opening her purse and searching through her belongings and finding some identity of this mysterious prospective employee who wanted to so badly meet the Manager. A few hurried calls were made to the security guys and the reception, enquiring whether anybody has seen her roaming about the factory unit. And there the colleague at the reception confirmed, she saw her on the way back to the HR Dept., just 2 minutes back.

When finally she does enter the room, I start off my inquisitive notes directed at her. What we learn are astonishing facts of a person desperate to get employed in this downturn of economy! We get to know she’s originally from Kolkata, and has travelled all these distances to be in Bhilai just to chance upon getting herself employed someplace. She didn’t have any acquaintance or relative in and around Bhilai, and was put up in a Dharamshala. At a certain point of time a colleague asked her, whether her parents are aware of her ways of looking out for a job? Were they aware she was in Bhilai? She recently completed her MSW from Lucknow University and placements that didn’t happen, made her look over Internet for Companies across India, and she planned to visit every city of the country she could!

With the way she was dressed she looked from a good family, but the desperation that we saw in her eyes, were enough to shake each one of us. Maybe for quite few it was just another day, but for us as recruiters, turning her away became the most difficult task. At one point we got her talking to the HR Manager, coz he was good at mentoring and we felt she needed somebody old enough to tell her she get back home and quit roaming around like nomads. When she finally produced her CV, it became the most dismaying moment. It was just a plain sheet of paper, like the formats found in cyber café, which hardly bore some details of her. Being an HR and done a regular full time course in MSW, one would always expect a good CV if not a benchmark. And then we realised through her communication she was not just desperately waiting for employment to happen, she was mentally unsound as well. It started looking like a Herculean task to persuade her leaving the boundaries of the factory unit. And when she started begging to be allowed to do any kind of job, even as an attendant; it started feeling like loss of human dignity.

From Recruiters we were transformed at one instant into this other human being, who needed to show empathy. But that wasn’t enough, the Organizations interests were always primary to us, and no matter how much we tried being concerned of her well-being, it was always a deadlock situation for us. With more than 40 minutes spent in persuading her to leave, accepting her so called CV and agreeing to get back to get, when openings would come; finally the security guards were called to let her out. And with her being at the other side of the closed gates; within no time her CV was shred into pieces, yet the predicament of the recruiter remained!

Do Intrinsic Motivators Ensure Retention?

2009-09-10T22:39:00.000+05:30

It is said that to keep an employee happy, and to achieve long-term employee loyalty and retention; it is not the money or the perks that counts. Rather it’s about giving them “Meaningful Roles”, which acts as an intrinsic motivator.

The question that on a continuous pace keeps bogging a new employee is ‘whether he is contributing in the business of the organization?’ There are a number of times, when an organization is committed to recruiting a targeted number of people; however they do not have pre-defined profiles for the new employees. So imagining the extended honeymoon period, whereby a senior comes by and asks the new employee (specifically a fresher) to explore into doing some research work pertaining to XYZ topic; keeping the industrial sector as base; such that the ultimate tests of applicability do not involve employees of present employer. And in no way should the sample or population of the study involve interaction with the employees. And the outcome of the research will bear no change or implementation on the present employer.

Will the newly recruited individual be as enthusiastic to carry forward the research, compared to the time he thought some real work is coming his way – ending the long honeymoon period or the subject of study interested him always? And to add to the demeanour, if the reasoning supporting the initiation of the research comes as: An aid and reflection to his contribution in the previous organization; when fresh interviews are faced!

How long can we expect such an individual to stick on to the organization? Unless he has some compulsions in life or more or less is dead wood; he would wait for the right opportunity and a perfect employer who has pre-defined roles set for him; and who believe this individual can do wonders in helping the organization grow! Do we still require fulfilling targets or for a moment think about how we create first impressions about a work; that may mean passion to somebody; yet make them refuse to work on it?

Flexi - Timing: Bane or Boon

2009-08-31T23:17:00.001+05:30

After a late rising, good breakfast, and last minute touches to last night’s presentation; am on the way to office, swiping my card at sharp 9:00 A.M. For the whole department strength to grow full in size it would take another 1 hour. So it’s 10:00 A.M. and the department begins to start its operations, gradually picking on speed. But then an interruption comes in the form of a lunch hour at 12:30 P.M. For some the lunch hour begins at 1:00 P.M. Eventually after the break, work begins around 1:30 P.M. and now it starts growing in pace and by the time it’s 5:00 P.M. when work is at its peak of functionality; its time to head home. Some people stay back till 6:30 P.M. when the cabins are empty and the process to complete would require waiting for Mr. X, whose availability at the earliest would be the next morning at 8:30 A.M.

‘Flexi Timing is said to be the Future’, but does it fit well on all kinds of sectors and industries. For example a start-up IT Company cannot afford to get the concept of flexi-timing into its routine. It would be wasting a lot of its resources with the eventuality of staying up late and utilizing electricity, systems and supervisory issues.

Implementing Flexi Timing at manufacturing companies is another example of a misfit. By in large all manufacturing companies work in 3 shifts: Morning [6:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M.], Evening [2:00 P.M. – 10:00 P.M.] and Night [10:00 P.M. – 6:00 A.M.]. There’s a General Shift normally between 8:30 / 9:00 A.M. – 5:00/5:30 P.M. depending upon individual Company timings, where all the support functions and the Managerial level employees fit in.

Now majority of manufacturing companies are held by strong hierarchical ties, and not even a single paper can pass to a third level without bypassing the second level; whereby it’s scrutinized and only when satisfactory is approved for further flow of command/operations. Under such circumstances when Flexi Timing is implemented, there are some people who still prefer being at their seats sharp when the siren goes, and would look forward to getting home when the siren goes off again in the evening. Yet there is a large chunk that would prefer to avail such benefits, or to say the Managerial level would definitely pool in a ‘Yes’ for the concept. Such is the time variation that the Manager may end up swiping his card around 10:00 A.M., but that whole time between 8:30 – 10:00 A.M. would go waste, as it’s impossible to move any papers ahead or commit over any task. Just because the issuing authority isn’t present! And when the work does begin for the day; its time for lunch. Again the variation of flexi-timing and normal routine affects the lunch hour. There may be people who are done with their meals by 1:00 P.M. as per Company timings; however the Managers are entitled to have their timings extended by another half an hour. So in no case work begins before 1:45 P.M. after more than an hours break. Now the flow is catching grounds and moving at a fast pace; but it’s 5:00 P.M. and most of the clerical office bearers leave for the day, and other Executive band level employees and still other Managers who were among the ones that didn’t avail the concept. Left behind are hardly 30-40 of the employees all by themselves, who have the issuing authority in their hands; yet cannot, pass the paper to the next level as it needs some modification by some Executive or no peon is around to take the document across the building.

Now quite a few questions arise here:

Does Flexi – Timing prove to be helpful in managing the tasks well?
Does Flexi-Timing ensure output/production to full capacity?
Is it cost-effective to let employees continue deciding their in and out timings?
What about the man hours lost? How will it be recovered?
How to minimize the authorizing gap between band levels if not altogether negate it; if such benefits do keep continuing?
How to motivate employees who are demoralized with the pace of work and not getting rewarded for following discipline?
How to engage employees who turn up early at their offices?

Yes indeed employee engagement has become crucial in these hours when bosses aren’t around, and employees are left to do anything but work. Many end up wasting time on unnecessary usage of internet, or in forming groups around the water cooler and chatting away. Spending time in canteens or roaming around shop areas becomes a routine.

The final question is “Does Flexi-Timing ensure work getting completed by the end of the day, or is it simply convenience at its best?” Work which cannot be completed within 8 hours of designated timing would not finish in another 1 hour without the proper team of employees. What fun in sitting alone in the cubicle and segregating tasks that cannot be completed before the next day and complying by the 8 hours shift of the flexi-timing accepted??

Sick Human Unit

2009-08-23T13:47:00.003+05:30

A ‘Sick Industrial Unit’ as defined in the ‘Sick Industrial Companies Act, 1985’ is said to be a unit or a Company (having been in existence for not less than five years) which is found at the end of any financial year to have incurred accumulated losses equal to or exceeding its entire net worth. There are 2 basic factors which may result in the sickness of an industrial unit, which are:

a). Internal Factors,

b). External Factors.

And there is a 3rd factor that attributes differently to a unit being ‘Sick’ which is the “Human Factor”.

It is then maybe even Government bailing out aids cannot help. And what becomes more irreversible a process is when the whole of the unit’s resources is plagued by the sickness effect. Then what ceases to matter is whether the unit is churning huge profits or taking a huge shelf space in the markets. All that happens thereafter is it being fed to a slow death, of the operations within the unit / Company.

Taking a closer look of how such sickness spreads, at times we cannot consider ourselves to be distanced from its roots. Looking around we can observe much exhibited a behavioural change in our colleagues, subordinates, superiors who begin to breed the notion that for all Gains they belong to the Company; but for all Losses it’s the CEO’s shoulder that takes the blow. And with this thought in mind, they start caring a less where matters require immediate attention and correction. The most unfortunate part shows up when they berate at those who think they are very much part of the Company’s shareholder policy without physically being one. And one thing leading to another, when the employees of the unit/Company start taking things at a pace slower than the need of the hour, delaying the process, the delivery of the services, and a number of back-logs within the system of outflow of materials/services.

The ‘Human’ approach to releasing past grudges and grievances at the wrong cause, making the working environment lose the balance is every Company’s’ Management’s nightmare. Coz they realise once started, this cycle is unstoppable without a few blows here and there. A good work culture is something every individual joining a Company yearns for, something they can relate to, the whole of their lives. But at times the unit/Company gets indefinitely ‘Sick’, because of the culture that is being built within a group of people; who start acting tangentially to the requirements of the unit/Company.

The top 10 ways to identify the behaviour/attitude of a colleague/subordinate/superior around you contributing to the ‘Sick Human Unit’:

It’s not my job.
The 5 minute paperwork shoved beneath piles of other files.
What’s there in for me? Do I get my margin?
It’s the owners’ headache; he needs to deal with the growing protests.
Why would I job rotate, I’m happy here since past 2 decades!
What’s the point in learning new things; I have just 5 years to retirement!
It’s not my responsibility either; I know nothing of it; despite the previous documentation bearing my signature.
Marking the paperwork to somebody else and the marking continues endlessly.
Changing decisions/stands when caught off-guard.
Will do it tomorrow or maybe next week.

Would I like to work in such a unit/Company? Definitely not! Neither would you! Least one could do, is take medication with the slightest of the symptoms.

But Precaution has been stated to be always better than Cure!

Breaking The Hierarchy - Serving Water To Guests

2009-08-01T00:04:00.004+05:30

An office set-up is considered, whereby some guests have come for liaison purpose. The cabin of the Head of the Department is where the guests are seated. Outside the cabin are seated 6 subordinates [ranking executives], 1 computer operator and 1 project trainee. There are 2 peons allotted to the dept. however both of them aren't available in the vicinity, as have been sent around for Xerox and dispatching mail.

Water bottles aren't kept in the cabins, but rather in a closet at the corner of the far end of the room; where the peon keeps all the material for serving purpose, and prepares tea etc. So the cutlery too is placed there, as well as jug of water and glasses. Anybody wants water, calls out to the peon who carries glasses in trays.

Now when no peon is around to serve anything, one of the guests gets thirsty. And the Head asks one of the subordinates to get water inside.

The structure and hierarchy of boss-subordinate and peons levels are so strong, that certain type of work is said to be allotted; and somebody else cannot do the job or is considered below dignity!

In this case what can be done? Let the subordinate executive bring water / or ask the computer operator [since he's in the lowest bracket of designations] / or wait for the peon to return and let the guest go thirsty till then?

Well say the computer operator is asked by a new executive who recently joined the organization, to take water for the guests. Surprisingly it creates quiet a furor, and invites wrath from the other executives stating that the Computer Operator shouldn't have gone. Rather we should have waited for the peon to arrive [that's another matter the peon came after 30 mins]!

The case-let is brought forth to analyze how should we deal with the set hierarchy in the organization. How do we instill a sense of ownership, which makes every employee contribute in the smallest of the ways to the organizations health and growth. About just not talking of Equity among employees, but about taking measures for employees to feel it in the air. About making the organization more flat; so that such trivial issues do not contribute in becoming a water cooler moment!

On querying several people about the case-let; they came up with various suggestions; some of which have been described below:

Ms. Shikha Singh: Just start keeping a tray with 3-4 glasses of water in the cabin. Much ado about nothing.

Mr. Simhan: This is the problem of hierarchical demarcation. I for one (having worked abroad for over 40 years) would not have bothered if my boss had requested me to serve the 'guests', that's what the visitors are. Soon people change their attitude the better. What would we do, if the house-help was not there and the guests had to be served a drink? Would we not serve it ourselves? If I were the boss and felt that there was a hierarchy, would have got up and gone and fetched the water myself and set an example for others.

Mr. Parthasarthi: Self service and vending machine will be the best option in this case. Serving guest is not matter of dignity is matter of courtesy. People must take this as humanitarian angle instead of formal approach. Not serving guest is bad etiquettes and people who are stubborn with hierarchy are not fit to become employee if they do not exhibit good etiquettes whatever position he may enjoy in the company.

Ms. Asha Mathew: I tried being in the scene and as a person who is asked to serve water. What I would do is, pull the tray, place a few drinking glasses on it. Keep the jug separate, and arrange all this on a tray and ask the guests to feel free to help themselves. On the whole - I would just pull a table in front of them, with all the things on top of it. If you are asking on how to make the Organization more flat with certain tasks - it must flow from the top! I may feel bad to serve water to the guests, but if I one day happen to see my boss doing it with no hesitation - then I might as well learn that from him.

Ms. Preeti: I suggest keeping water bottles for each and every one. This will help in avoiding future disputes. Secondly if the Head is really a gentleman he should have not minded to get up, to take glass of water for himself and as well as for guest. There is nothing bad in serving glass of water or cup of coffee to your colleague or visitors. Only thing is people working there should be mature enough to understand the things. Instead of saying it low level work you should be confident enough saying that you have done something nice. In most of the MNC companies nowadays there is no office boys they do there work by themselves. It depends how one takes the things, if you think in negative manner you will feel that you have done something that wasn’t your job.

Mr. K.M.P. Singh: The Head has to be rational and the executive has to think the way the boss is ordering. In my opinion, giving a glass of water to the guest is not an issue but most important the way he orders. It is just matter of delegating the duties to the peons and it must be kept in mind that at least one peon has to be available at all the time.

To summarize the whole of the case-let, indeed many of us would agree that it has nothing to do with making the organization flat, but more with how we decide to breed culture within the organization and setting an example by being one. Yes the Head of the Department could have himself gone and fetched water, infact he did have an extra glass in his cabin. But on benefit of doubt even if he forgets the same, and some third person brings it who's not the peon shouldn't really kick up much dust from other on-looking executives.

The best reason of looking at it is the employees/executives to a certain level do not feel the essence of ownership of the organization. For them it means the organization belongs to somebody else but themselves. Maybe if we could develop on this idea along with structuring a healthy culture; a flat organization won’t really be much of a dream.

To read the comprehensive details/responses of/to the case-let, visit here.

Stiffening the Loosened Handshake

2009-07-20T22:50:00.003+05:30

Early morning when I cross you, I acknowledge your presence with a smile, and an extended hand indicating a ‘Good Morning’ handshake. Pleased you offer your hand, and we retract our hands at the end of the 3^rd shake. We move ahead to our respective ways, with a warm feeling conveying trust, balance and equality among us. Probably this being the most apt defined purpose of a handshake at the end of the day.

Handshakes are an important introductory ritual in all manner of social contacts, and the research shows that the quality of the handshake makes a real difference, as quoted in “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” by William F. Chaplin et al., 2000. In fact the ‘Handshake Psychology’ has been an interesting phenomenon that has been several times under the scanner of research and easy ways of deciphering about people.

Our corporate houses are the places closest to observing the Handshake Psychology, as and when we come across several people/employees. And we cannot help but form an opinion about an individual and make judgments with the kind of grip, vigour, texture, strength and eye contact that follow.

Maybe one fine day we would find an altogether strong and enthusiastic handshake, and we would smile back at the new intern, or the employee who just received an incentive, or the employee who began his day wonderfully. Other days we came across a grip very much dead and wet conveying a nervous person, or an employee who just received some reprimand. All said and done, everyday we come across several hands that indicate the kind of mood and atmosphere the employee is going through.

Nevertheless a parallel interpretation exists as well, which talks about the spirit of togetherness – an enhanced version of equality, specially at places or offices whereby each morning the very first thing an employee entering his department does is, shake hands with all those already present in the department. More or less it becomes a ritual every morning, and more than a hand extended in pleasure, it becomes something out of mechanical habits. The employee entering the door, goes around each table/cubicle calling names of the concerned people, shaking hands; and before somebody decides to respond vocally the employee is already at the next cubicle. In the days that come, the employee merely goes and stands at the table/cubicle, pushing his hand across the others ' personal space; and quietly moving to the next. The routine gets so much in the system, that with a few more days that progress, the handshakes now resemble a three-finger grip, no eye contact, and worse a mere touch of the fingers. Plummeting goes their self-esteem and confidence, each passing day. Lack of trust heightens in the months and years that follow. Employees of the same department have very less to share and talk about, and they are busy suspecting the intentions of their colleagues. They despise each other and office politics is raking high in demand. But what doesn’t change is the mechanical handshake every morning, to mark the camaraderie and the culture that began with the vision of the top management. But what really makes the difference is now all the human touch is diminished, and the employees see each other as competition. Or maybe not, instead just robots working endlessly trying to achieve the set outputs and production levels. Missing the human feel and missing out calling on assistance to act on synergy at departmental and organizational levels.

Charging Up People

2009-07-09T23:05:00.003+05:30

Remembering the lives and times of the 2006 Cricket World Cup, and when the Indian team cracking their first wicket all huddled together, to mark the sense of joy. They stood together for a minute or two and dispersed. And then when another wicket fell, the great Indian huddle was back! It was happening all so frequently, every match that it became a symbol for the men in blue. Whatever talks and emotions flew behind those armed walls, one thing that emerged certain was that the men were doing well.

Perhaps a new meaning it gave to fellowship, team building, morale and a lot more synonyms that could be associated with Camaraderie and Esprit de Corps. Thinking about the team huddle, and transporting it as a direct application into the corporate world; a hip-hip hurray situation together would need a lot of crushing of ego and spectacular moments to celebrate. But for industries at large, the “Eureka” moments come as strategic plans ranging from 6 months to 1 year to 5 years by the product or service launch. Waiting for so long for those moments of togetherness would seem like eternity. Rather having little moments to appreciate each other would definitely do wonders in organizations. Celebrating birthday’s, quarterly results, achievement awards and festivals is something that bridges the gap. But are our employees content enough with the kind of motivation this brings in them? Is the materialistic enhancement the only way to get them moving to new grounds? Are our Managers and Executives happy at the end of the day, or they are thinking of ways that can bring on more enthusiasm in work and some energy build up?

Enthusiasm is something I will take up in a later post, but for the moment covering the lifting of energy is what I have on my mind. I know of a certain organization which has found out unique ways to improve the feeling of belongingness and nurturing fellowship. Every morning before work begins, an odd 50 of them gather together for conducting morning prayers. The best part of the gathering is that the composition of the group ranges from the lowest person in the hierarchy to the top most person. They all stand together, much alike the great huddle formation; and follow the prayer session. What lies behind this act is the feeling of easy access with the management; and dealing with the fact that the employers are there to hear out their employees. It’s the feeling of standing at almost the same platform and being treated as equals. What does this do to the psychology of a worker/employee? It definitely makes him proud of his organization! It brings a zing of energy, ironically at the beginning of every new day. Imagining how his happiness would affect his productivity, he would certainly work an extra 30 minutes to his normal 4-5 hours of work capacity. Enriching the lives of employees by small steps and measures, that adds on to the productive work hours; is something all employers keep looking for! Material benefits feel like teasers to many who eventually get bored getting receiving tips for every new positive outcome at work. Addressing the ego of the person, and molding it inwards away from Reinforcement Theory of Motivation¹, sometimes works wonders with people.

What I suggest is not necessarily a group huddle as a pray, but any other form; say every week gathering in departments or shop areas and appreciating the little acts by people. Pertaining to work improvement isn’t just the basis, but even acts that constitute basic humanitarian grounds towards each other. Something like family time we have at our homes; even if for 5 minutes. Every day / week as per convenience looking out and welcoming those hands that work hard for us. Maybe one could even start the day with the National Anthem of the respective country. I fondly recollect how at school everybody felt so charged up after “National Anthems”. Or maybe come up with the company song, and I believe, something like this would definitely add feathers of pride to one’s cap.

[Reinforcement Theory of Motivation¹: [Proposed by B.F. Skinner’s] Reinforcement occurs when an event following a response causes an increase in the probability of that response occurring in the future. For more please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement ]

Lessons on Morality Knock Corporate Doors

2009-06-28T01:00:00.010+05:30

Moral Science classes were what we had back in school in primary wing. Interesting stories were told so that we could make an appropriate analogy of the deeper meaning. Morality in simplest of terms has no definition as there is no benchmark to measure the levels exhibited by an individual. But the closest we could get is by saying: “understanding one’s conscience and doing the right thing for the right cause”.

However like I said it has no benchmarks and industry specific behaviour, so each individual deciphers it as per his/her needs and desires. And there are many times when the line has been crossed. And what remains behind is for the HR folks to conduct an enquiry and question the acts. It would be appropriate to name it as ‘Acts of Morality’. If we look at Morality by Wikipedia definition we are presented by 4 kinds, further classified into different categories. Picking up the one that we could remotely relate to organizational needs for our sake of convenient understanding i.e. based on anthropological perspectives, the ‘Cultural Impact’ which constitutes the parameters vis-à-vis wisdom/knowledge/courage. Like in the cultures all across the globe each organization is distinct with the kind of culture it has inhabited within, since years of existence. But can the organizational culture be always blamed and accredited for the lapses that keep happening from employees’ ends. Is it that the flag bearers of the organizational culture feel the need to police around? Imagine if this seems the need of the hour, the organization would feel “Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” [From the poem ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel Taylor Coleridge] meaning carrying a heavy burden across the lengths of the shoulder!

Presenting a small case-let which explores the ‘Acts of Morality’ which needed to be policed around and questioned about the intentions.

In a manufacturing organization, where deliverables are what the organization keep striving to achieve – meeting client requirements on projects on time. However it’s a well known and accepted fact that delays do occur – a month, here and there. Which eventually leads to extensive liaison with clients and this means special officers from the HR Dept. under Legal systems are designated such posts. This also means they would by in large take care of various tours and would be country trotting. Such officers when on tours carry an advance for the conveyance, as well as the period of stay that they need to be at the client side; all the bills that come out of local Travel Allowance (TA) and Daily Allowance (DA) as well as hotel (accommodation) / food bills are reimbursed by the organization when they get back. This also includes footing the phone bills.

The Issue: Begins when the officer cannot resist being human and getting submissive before personal needs and desires. Phone availability and cheap TRAI rates combined with convenient service providers in India has revolutionized the concept of being mobile and available always. The officer is on tour to a client site within same state boundaries, which means no roaming charges apply. Now who wouldn’t like to catch up with old friends and socialize at the cost of the organization, right? Wrong!! If the officer gets a Rs. 600 /- recharge done, for liaison and company requirements. This means on applying local charges Re. 1 /- per minute, he used the phone for 10 hours. The officer invited further anguish and wrath when not one day of his 10 days ‘on tour’ status, he reported to his boss or the HR Dept. head. Whenever the organization tried reaching him, his phone was switched off or out of coverage area! When he got back, he produced his bills and coupons for reimbursement. He claimed higher expenses than what it originally was on accommodation and food charges. All of which was monitored and cross-verified with the numbers of hotels/restaurants numbers on the bills.

Though the officer faced reprimand on his behaviour and received punishments the manufacturing organization typical ways – a transfer order; however would that curb the urge to utilize the resources at organizations’ expenses? Is our moral system so strong, that we wouldn’t get docile for availing just a mere benefit? What can we do about the situation and prevent it from happening in future? Can we give a fixed quantity of amount depending on the city that is being visited and based on the city’s standard of living! But how could it be guaranteed that the officer not fall short of money, and use personal means to pay up; when he is representing the organization!

Restricting the outflow of money is definitely not the answer, nor is a transfer order; coz what has not changed is the perspective of the employee and his intentions. Such intentions which are not healthy for any organization. Since quoting amount higher than the actual involves a case of ‘amassing wealth from the Co.’ which is equivalent to committing a fraud, be of whatever frequency! High time Moral Science classes are organized within organizations. Much integrated with the Learning & Development programmes, some small talk about human behaviour, importance of morals in life, awareness of how amassing is affecting the growth of the organization and how un-healthy practices would lead to distrust among fellow employees’ and the management. And strengthening the fact, that if employees default on morals, he/she be ready to be enquired upon and face severe reprimands! Based on continuous behavioural issues, one could lead to termination from services as well. The message be loud and clear, and the Learning & Development team needs to start surfing the internet; meanwhile the disgraced officer would now on have to look after Stores, something that he isn’t ready for; after loosing trust from management!

Primary school days revisiting indeed!

As goes the age-old adage - There are two faces of coin

2009-06-21T23:20:00.003+05:30

Contributed by my co-author "Mind My Thoughts"

Working in a Government / PSU organization is totally apt to the above proverb.

The kind of job security and peace of mind than an individual gets while working in such an organization is unbeatable but at the same time the feeling of being crippled by the entire system functionality poses a great challenge to one's individuality

There is near complete centralization of power and the HR policies exist more in paper than in practice. For instance - getting even the petty stationary issued from Material department, one needs to obtain written approval from the Reporting Authority. While dealing with relatively important matters like sending replies to Government Auditors, approval needs to be taken from not only one but the entire hierarchy. The note put up for the same travels the complete hierarchy of the department (i.e. Personnel Officer - Manager - Senior Mgr - Chief Manager - DGM - ED). And then when the said approval is obtained from the Top man of the hierarchy (in this case - ED), then the file returns in the similar manner i.e. by seeping through the whole hierarchy again with the comments and suggested changes in the respective documents. The kind of time and resources that get wasted in the whole procedure can certainly be utilized towards something more productive. De-centralization of power can give more opportunity to the junior staff and prepare them better for future. But the old system as it is, is unmoved despite the numerous hues and cries.

The old set of principles are religiously followed, even the official language that had been used since the beginning, is used in all the correspondence and any change in the same is not a welcome. The recalcitrant attitude of the senior employees is a subject of pity who despite having shouldered the responsibility of bringing the new recruits up to the mark, they begin having illusions of potential threat from the competencies that the newer recruits can pose. Conclusively the new recruits are often left to fend for themselves with the nitty gritty of their new job responsibilities. Referencing the old Policy matter files and the Case files often is left as the last option.

Departments like HR are considered as secondary departments and the Management is of the opinion that anyone, even with no formal education in Human Resource Management, can be posted in HR department. Though things have started changing for better but again the pace of coming of that change is very marginal and the acceptability for the same is zero (the minimum qualification for new recruits in HR needs to be MBA in Human Resources from the past few years). But the top man in HR is a Mechanical Engineer diversified to HR years back (so the fate of current HR policies can well be imagined).

The challenge here is not to complete the assigned work targets but to build relationship and liaison with seniors. Though it is difficult but certainly not unattainable. With time one's acceptability increases and things ease up. But the initial days are most difficult for a new recruit. Here, one has to make a place for oneself by showing dedication towards work and by avoiding mudding oneself with any sort of controversy (which I tell you is very tough), as even talking over mobile phone in lunch time while taking a stroll in the office premises makes one popular as 'busy on phone all the time' tag.

Posting in important sections is given on the basis of good relations with the Higher Management and not on the basis of individual's skill sets and ability to perform. As a result, when the said individual fails to perform in key sections then again Inter Departmental reshuffling is done, resulting into huge wastage of time and resources.

The new recruits remain the target of politics in office and hence have to bear the brunt due to their ignorance. The jobs in Govt. sectors are considered to be very precious by outsiders whereas the actual picture is not that rosy. But again, everything in life is achieved with struggle and keeping the spirit high. Patience and perseverance here are the keys to success. And learning to live with the facts makes one open to various opportunities that might come in the way.

Personal Accident Insurance - Insurers Sunny Days

2009-06-17T00:25:00.005+05:30

The Personal Accident Insurance under the Insurance Act, 1972, India, says that the risk insured is the bodily injury resulting solely and directly from accident caused by violent external and visible means.

When one of the employees understood the whole concept behind this Insurance Act in such depth, that he decided to avail the Insurance. He walked in the HR department, which handles Insurance as part of its Legal procedures, with what seemed a fractured right hand, only to know he’s suffered from shoulder dislocation. He not only was entitled to receive ‘Medical Allowance’, he also hoped to get back the hospital bill expenses in getting the bandaged arm resting on a sling.

Now when we make claims for the Insurance, we are supposed to state the reason behind the injury and what exactly is the injury. Seemed like the employee was all so keen for the Insurance that he didn’t realize he would have to back up with a reason. It took him nearly 10 minutes to tell it’s a shoulder dislocation, which happened when he lifted his arm upwards. That stirred the curiosity of the Insurer, who made a loud thought, stating how anyone could dislocate by mere lifting the arm. The employee had to be coaxed and cajoled really hard, so that he coughed up the real reason. With frequent gulps he confessed 20 minutes later, that, he lifted his arm in a swift and sharp movement to hit his daughter who had just disobeyed him. And it’s then he felt a sting in the arm.

That left the insurer to contemplate whether he could state such a reason, and whether the Insurance people would pass the bills of medical expenses? The employee looked really keen and hopeful, but the HR Department had to politely tell him, that he be settled with the ‘Medical Allowance’.

This makes a need felt to explain the kind of injuries and causes acceptable be listed under the Personal Accident Insurance Act, alike those in the Partial/Permanent Disablement clauses under Workmen’s Compensation Act. But owing to the multiplicity of how accidents can happen, and what ways an injury may show up; this surely looks like a tedious task. Maybe what the HR Departments can do is come up with select categories of the nature and seriousness of the injury, and how much claim can the employer make on behalf of the employee, slot/category wise; instead of specifying the many a times embarrassing moments of truth.

To facilitate such needs, we have 3 kinds of Forms that a doctor fills, which specifies what kind of injury the person has, how long will it take to cure and what genre/category does it belong to signifying the percentage of gravity. Based on these forms that are submitted to the Insurance companies, the claims are calculated using percentage, period of healing which may in general cases amount to anything between Rs. 3 lakhs – Rs. 5 lakhs. What should be kept in mind is that the amount isn’t constitutional, but largely depends on Company policies.

Imagine another case of Personal Accident whereby due to the menace of stray cattle on the roads, a fight between two buffalo’s resulted one buffalo being pushed and horned to the center of the road. The force was so strong that the cattle lost balance and collapsed on a passerby employee who was trying to evade collision with the cattle. The employee received severe injuries, and developed respiratory problems. Now stating such a reason to the Insurance guys is definitely embarrassing! How about clubbing it under the genre – road accident.

Overlooking Can Prove Misuse Going Unnoticed

2009-06-12T01:37:00.004+05:30

Blood donation is a noble concept, and people who go as volunteers act out of selfless love, to help somebody in need. It becomes a life saviour moment! And when Organizations encourage this concept and give certain benefits to the volunteer, it contributes to the society and his boosting his deeds.

One of the ways Organizations encourage this deed is by awarding a ‘Leave’ to the volunteer, a day after he/she donated blood. This helps in taking rest if a person feels some weakness, or dizziness [which I believe happens for some while to all]. But what if people start taking advantage out of this special Leave granted, for personal reasons, and it’s then that HR needs to scrutinize the case with Eagle eyes.

Citing an example of availing such Leave grants for personal use; whereby an employee brought a letter from a doctor stating blood donation on 29th April. The employee also brought along a letter asking for grant of Leave. The contents of the letter were however as following:
• The employee needs to donate blood to his father on 29th April. [The medical transcript also cites the same date]
• On 30th April he lets his incharge know that he needs to donate blood, so he won’t come on 30th.
• On 1st May he takes leave, availing the Leave award, to overcome weakness, however there’s a breakdown of some machine in his department; and he is recalled post lunch hours for Maintenance purposes.
• On 2nd May he comes to the HR Dept., to get a Leave granted for 2nd May as he was called for duty on 1st.
• The letter written by the employee bears the signature of his dept. incharge’s approval, who merely signed and didn’t get into the details. All he needs is HR Manager’s approval.

This is a clear case of discrepancy and misusing the benefit for personal reasons. The logic the HR Dept, came up with was:
• If you need to donate blood on 29th April, which the Doctors’ letter conveys, why do you take leave on 30th April for the same?? [Science fiction made its way into the discussion to add humour to the situation – what, do you possess a time machine? To get back in times?]
• If say on 30th April you donate blood, 1st May you get time to rest till 3:00 p.m. when you were recalled. It’s ample time to get the dizziness out. But then donation happened on 29th April, so why take 1st as a Leave day??
• If all cases are bypassed, why do you still require time to recuperate on 2nd May now?

The HR Dept. refused to endorse his Leave, plus we got him marked absent on 30th April as well as 1st May half-day. On further probing we realized, he quoted he was donating blood to his father; but his father never underwent any surgery! If not for the Eagle eyes of the HR Manager, he would have gotten away with it, and indulged in personal activities!

HR Vigilance - An Introduction

2009-06-12T00:49:00.006+05:30

Albert Einstein once said “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires a creative imagination and marks the real advances in science”. This is the best way I could start with aptly portraying how Human Resources grows an Organization and itself with each passing day.

“Welcome This Way”
Welcome everybody to this blogpage, a journey by itself exploring the science behind the corporate world of all Human Resource Professionals. The art with which they have dealt with the stickiest of the situations, to meeting Mr. glum, to taking a firm stand and representing their Organizations, to drafting new policies that were scorned at and yet eventually brought profits, to being the underdogs of the system.

“Who’s an HR?”
This reminds me of a story I have been told, which portrays what an HR means in an Organization. It says so that we imagine a waiter of a restaurant as an HR. When the grub comes good, the restaurant finds all doors swinging every minute and accolades pouring in its guest books. However when the grub has an outside entity, like a fly perched on top of the dish; the immediate repercussion is the waiter getting blasted at. And it may never really reach the owner of the restaurant. All this while the waiter needs to put up a smile, apologise and do a better job the next time. The smile he dons onto is all what makes the difference in handling the chaos, which could get beyond control.

“Who am I?”
I am a young HR Professional, just begun my career into this life and times of being an HR person that fascinates me so much. The way HR people carry themselves, the way we build a bond and bridge the gap in trying to reach our clients - the employees of the Organization, understanding the psychology of the human mind that decides how people behave and act, what grievances can cause distress at workplace and seeing to it that they are de-clogged, act as building blocks to the Organizations needs – becoming a business partner, adding quality into the lives of people, and above all it’s about empathizing with people. When I look at the long term goals an HR fulfils, beyond business it’s associating with the human kind and nurturing the growth of the individuals in all spheres. It’s about adding value to everybody HR has ever touched and come across. It’s about sharing our nature – the human kind and rising together as the knowledge quotient of nations, tuning our intelligence to positive purposes/meaning in life.

“And the Content..”
This is going to be a page where I share my observations and thought process that I see happening around. It would be w.r.t the Organization I am working with and other Organizations I come across, and spreading it from a micro to macro perspective. The prime reason being humans wherever they be, somehow exhibit similar behaviour. The concept behind “HR Vigilance” is creating awareness about the various things people indulge in and how an HR person can remain vigilant in these activities they face. What methods they could come out with in similar situations, and discussing cases.