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How do you select and
retain talented people? How can you create an environment, which
helps people thrive at work? Many such questions form an integral
part of a company’s HR policy and their importance has increased
post the economic slowdown. Increased global competitiveness has
given way to uncertainty, which is impacting the environment within
an organisation. This is where the role of an HR manager is becoming
even more crucial.
Industry observers point out that interesting
changes are happening in HR circles. The increased focus on RoI,
HR outsourcing and the need to have a productive and lean workforce,
has made the job of an HR manager more difficult. The focus on people
development, empowerment and organisation binding is figuring high
on the priority list of HR managers as it ultimately leads to high
retention.
 Lately,
there has been increased emphasis on aligning HR strategies to business
goals. According to Vinod Malhotra, head of human resources at Escosoft,
“In this scenario the primary demand on the HR manager is to
improve the cost-benefit ratio pertaining to human resources while
simultaneously ensuring that adequate skills exist to meet business
pressures. All this needs to be done real fast.”
People development
Traditionally the HR department has played
dual roles—an operational function (such as recruitment, personnel
and performance management, employee relations and statutory compliances)
and a human developmental role (comprising people development, culture
and organisation-building). Both these functions have always been
considered “soft” roles.
Today the equation has changed. The HR
department plays a key role in the company’s overall business
strategy. HR managers have a clear understanding of the business,
the organisation, its vision, mission, values and are given ample
freedom to bring processes in place to get people aligned to these
values and goals. The focus of HR today is to create an agile organisation,
which can innovate rapidly and exceed client expectations constantly,
rather than just managing people. According to Ajit Issac of People
One Consulting, an HR manager is now seen as an employee advocate,
a change mentor and a strategic partner in business. “Successful
organisations have understood that it is only the people who can
make an impact on its business, and not the number of bodies but
the competency of each employee that adds value,” he says.
Sabu Thomas, director of human resources
for Netkraft, states that the HR is expected to give individual
attention to each employee’s performance and continuous upgradation
as per the business needs. Thomas adds that the situation has changed
from running on pre-planned training calendars to helping the line
HR managers draw the training plan. “This helps in continuous
monitoring of each employee’s performance, as the concept of
RoI is applicable even in people development activities,” he
says.
Another change being witnessed is in the
performance appraisal system based on qualitative assessment to
target-based and metrics-driven performance measurement process.
This helps in highlighting the individual contribution of an employee
to the business during a particular period. Compensation system
is also being directly linked to individual contribution to the
business. On the other hand, career growth is now competency bound
rather than time bound. “The end result is that more and more
young bosses are found in performing organisations. These organisations
are keen to recognise and reward employees who are ‘fast trackers’
and retain them within the company,” says Thomas.
Organisation driven efforts
People development is one of the critical
responsibilities of the HR department in any progressive organisation.
P K Gupta, director of strategic development of ICON Operations
at Legato Systems says, “If people are not learning new skills
and developing themselves, they will be out of job soon. This has
made people development a high priority area in every HR department
today and also an important factor for organisational growth and
overall team development.” K M Bopanna, head of human resource
at Tyco Electronics, adds that the ability of an employee to retain,
modify and enhance his knowledge and skill levels depends on his
on-job experience/ training imparted to him. However, Sanjay Aggarwal,
managing director of HR Minds Consulting feels this has not been
very successful, “The company expects a lot of self learning
to happen while the employee expects all training to be imparted
by the company.”
The need is to make a conscious effort
to plan for employee development initiatives as part of the project
plan. Greg D’Souza, vice president of human resources at vMoksha
Technologies says, “Employees often complain that they do not
see much focus on training and development or career planning. A
structured approach to employee development helps in enhancing their
morale and ensuring availability of trained resources to meet the
business needs.”
Effective people management
The basic trait required in an efficient
HR manager is his ability to gauge the strengths of his employees
and put them to best use. Be a supportive manager and create an
environment where employees feel assured that they can fall back
for support in difficult situations. He should be able to delegate
responsibility, while always retaining the accountability. Lastly,
personal touch plays an important factor for creating a sense of
belonging with the company. The person should be very effective
at understanding people, their skill sets and emotional intelligence
which will help in goal setting and finally achieving the desired
results. Take the case of Vertex, which has a programme called “Management
By Walking” (MBW) system. It makes it mandatory for managers
to spend an adequate part of their work time on the operations floor
interacting with employees and be easily accessible.
Empowering the employees
Empowerment forms a critical factor in
case of people development. Industry studies point out that empowering
employees does give them a good feeling of ownership and accountability.
Take the case of HCL Comnet, which has
automated most of its processes to create a self-sufficient environment.
Greg D’Souza points out that taking smaller decisions within
one’s work area develops the decision-making ability and gives
them the confidence to take difficult or high impact decisions in
the future. “Provide them the broad operating framework and
allow them some freedom to operate and you will see it showing much
better results,” he says. According to him, an organisation
that promotes a culture of empowerment can expect to identify potential
leaders of the future from within.
Agrees Issac, who says that an empowered
employee has dreams for the company and a great sense of ownership.
He would be a person with the right skill sets to do the job and
would naturally have the freedom to take decisions pertaining to
his area of functioning. “In today’s highly competitive
world of business, speed, efficiency, service and perfection differentiates
you from competition. An empowered employee while facing a customer
will be a very confident and effective representative of the company
who can take quick decisions and implement things faster,”
he says.
Choosing the best performers
Selecting top performers and working on
them has been a recent trend, informs Atul Srivastava, head of people
relationship management at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Talented
people, who continue to develop skills and increase their value
to the organisation and customers, are the most important assets
in any organisation. The companies are creating different training
programmes to help them graduate to future leaders within the organisation.
“The idea is to prepare them for any job, anywhere and they
will be successful,” he says.
Some key points to remember
The organisation has to ensure that communication
is timely and open to retain employee trust. This also means that
there is continuous feedback from employees, which helps in better
productivity.
There has to be a common theme built relating
to vision, participation, control, measurement of work processes,
communication and commitment. Experts point out that if you create
an environment where people truly participate, you don’t need
control. The employees do what needs to be done.
Send feedback to punita@expresscomputeronline.com
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