Remembering Employees - Small Gestures

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.

Can HR Act Beyond Company Policies?

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?

Motivation Beyond Compensation

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 Let Go Talking Of The Previous Employer?

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.

Succession Planning at low rung levels of the pyramid

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!

Flexi - Timing: Bane or Boon

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??