October Issue
Content
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
Xpress HR
October Edition SAPPHIRE’s Newsletter on Human Resources 16/10/2012
The fourth edition of Xpress HR brings some excellent writing on Talent Acquisition and Social Media in the office. As a bonus, we have an interview with Mr. Allen Sequeira, the Senior VP, HR of Mahindra corp. Also, the winners of last month’s HR CROSSWORD as well as a new one for this month!
Inside this issue:
Talent Acquisition – The new norms in the modern workplace HR Crossword An Interview with Mahindra’s HR Professionals News and Blurbs HumouR Corner Xpress hr—winning article : Is blocking social media a violation of basic freedom or is it a logical
1 4
6 8 8 9
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
Talent Acquisition – The new norms in the modern workplace
Retaining the greatest resource of a company| Radhika Gupta | HRM 2011-2013
The manpower requirements in organizations are steadily increasing as a result of the dynamic business conditions. Thus, in order to stay ahead, companies today have started adopting the strategic approach to attracting, selecting and on boarding top talent to efficiently and effectively meet these dynamic business needs. Each new employee has a powerful impact on the existing employees and the process, and hence it requires thoughtful planning and the development of clear philosophies, strategies and processes. The mission is to understand and anticipate the organization’s talent needs in order to secure the right mix of talent with respect to knowledge, skills, abilities, potential and cultural fit at the right time to ensure business continuity. In the growing war for talent, the talent acquisition has changed from an adhoc, reactionary approach to a more strategic endeavour with respect to finding, engaging, assessing, presenting, and securing talent in the context of the organization’s culture and operating environment. Talent acquisition needs to stay aligned with the overall talent strategy of the organization and, ultimately, with the business strategy. The article encompasses the key recruitment practices in most of the organizations, the challenges faced in talent acquisition, the best practices shared by different organizations for high impact talent acquisition and the metrics employed to identify its success as a strategic business function
include resume/application reviews for select qualifications and skills, supplemental questionnaires, and formal testing. Interviewing – This is done to select the final candidate. Common strategies include one-on-one or panel interviews and focus on situational or competency based interview
“Talent acquisition needs to stay aligned with the overall talent strategy of the organization and, ultimately, with the business strategy.”
techniques. Hiring – This includes making the final decision to hire the candidate for the position. Common activities include making the job offer, negotiating terms and conditions of employment, reference checks, medical tests and all pre- and post-start on-boarding.
Onboading and Reporting – Onboarding includes all the Core recruitment process formalities once the candidates joins the organization. ReThe process being followed in most of the companies be- porting includes all post-hire data collection, monitoring, longing to different sectors like IT, FMCG etc includes: and reporting. Common activities include surveying applicants and hiring managers, collecting and analyzing appliPlanning – This includes both workforce planning and indi- cant flow data, and reporting performance measures and vidual recruitment planning. Workforce planning typically processing metrics. focuses on forecasting staff and skill gaps in the most business-critical positions, while individual recruitment planning focuses on sourcing and screening strategies for specific Challenges vacancies. There are several challenges that a company needs to overcome in order to instill quality and consistency into its reSourcing – This focuses on activities to attract both passive cruitment process. It must consider the following questions and active candidates. It is mainly done through job portals, like - How to structure itself to deliver quality services to its employee referrals, internal job positings, hiring agencies, different business units and geographic locations, What role campus recruitment, social media etc. does corporate HR play in assisting a local business unit to staff positions, How much freedom has to be given to manScreening – It focuses on creating a qualified pool of candi- agers and recruiters to hire new talent or promote from dates to share with the hiring manager. Common activities within the organization, What tools and technology should be in place to source, track and hire great talent, How can
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
the quality of hire be measured etc. Best practices While there are some recruitment strategies that are unique to individual organizations and their business environment, the following strategies and best practices are shared and recommended by the majority for achieving hiring excellence. The Best-practice organizations are focusing on strategic areas such as – Planning and Strategy which includes understanding the workforce, the labour market, the existing talent capabilities in the organisation, critical skill gaps and the talent needs aligned with the strategic business plan and future growth of the company. Building a Talent Pipeline through internal mobility, succession planning and by identifying critical positions so that the recruitment is transformed into a continuous process. Building a strong partnership between the talent acquisition manager and the hiring manager to develop a recruitment plan, clarify roles, discuss potential snags and set timelines. Employer Branding - Employees and candidates are astute observers of a brand’s presence in the market and corporate culture as they decide the most desirable places to work, and they are clearminded about the factors that keep them at work. By leveraging their employer brand and truly creating a “best place” to work, employers actively manage and market the engagement of current employees to attract candidates. Screening for knowledge and skills and interviewing for behaviours - Top employers rigorously screen for knowledge and skills, and then interview for cultural fit. Actively managing the candidate experience by maintaining regular, personal communication with each applicant at every stage. High-potential nonselected candidates are provided direct feedback, and redirected to other job opportunities. Focusing on high return-on-investment (ROI) sourcing channels to generate the best candidates at the lowest cost. This involves profiling high value employees, evaluating how well applicant sources generate candidates who meet the target profile, and deploying recruitment resources to the most productive channels. Software tools/technology such as application tracking softwares, market intelligence tracker etc to optimize the hiring process by managing talent sources, tracking applications, candidate status etc.
clear picture of how efficient and effective the talent acquisition function is, as well as how aligned it is to the business and its progression toward business impact. It is also critical to have key metrics to drive continuous improvement, make better recruitment decisions and to ultimately improve the quality of hire. The most common metrics used by most of the organizations to measure the success of the recruitment process are - cost per hire, time per hire and quality of hire. Quality of hire further depends on the quality talent pool which is determined by talent sources, talent pipeline; rigorous selection procedure and on the job perfor-
“The cost per hire is reduced by tracking the cost of filling a position by various talent sources”
mance of the new hire which is determined by annual review or appraisal process and the hiring manager’s satisfaction with the new hire. The cost per hire is reduced by tracking the cost of filling a position by various talent sources, building a talent pipeline, reducing overhead costs by having local recruitment SPOCs/teams, mode of interview etc. This again is dependent on the kind of skills – generic or specific, for which a company is trying to source candidates. Lastly, time per hire can also be minimized through various factors like standardized recruitment process, choosing the right talent sources.
Hence, the way the organizations view talent in today, has greatly evolved talent acquisition and, specifically, recruitment. . High impact organizations treat their employees as their greatest assets. They recognize that attracting top talent is a high priority and an opportunity to help organizations gain competitive advantage. Companies are looking to become more strategic in talent acquisition and are paying special attention for identifying, attracting, mobilizing Metrics - A measurement strategy should exist to ensure a (internal) and onboarding the best talent possible.
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
HR Crossword
Send in your entries to [email protected] for a chance to collaborate with SAPPHIRE!
Across
1. A manager who assists and advises line mangers
offered by employers to employees who lose their jobs 12. A one-time payment that does not become part of the employee’s base pay
16. Effort directed toward producing or accomplishing results 17. An indirect reward given to an employee or group of employees as a part of organizational membership 21. Extent to which a test actually measures what it says it measures 22. A process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the
4. Specific guidelines that regulate and restrict the behavior of 14. Fitting a person to the right individuals job 7. Condition in which the physi15. The process through which a cal well-being of people is projob applicant receives an accutected rate picture of a job [acronym] 9. A security benefit voluntarily
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
achievement of organizational goals 24. Indication of employee dissatisfaction 25. Customary methods of handling activities 26. Performance appraisal tool that uses a list of statements or words that are checked by raters
7. Something that causes stress in an individual 8. A development activity in which a manager takes an active role in guiding another manager 10. Process that uses a neutral third party to make a decision 11. An unauthorized and illegal strike that occurs during the terms of an existing contract
Down
2. Process in which employees leave the organization and have to be replaced
13. Time spent in the organization or on a particular job
18. Payments directly calculated on the amount of 3. Compensation computed as a percentage of sales time worked in units or rupees 19. The total depletion of physical and mental re5. A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important 6. Behaviors that job incumbents are expected to display sources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal 20. The series of work-related positions a person occupies throughout life 23. Significant dysfunction tension resulting in no effort being made
Last Month’s Solved Crossword!
Please put your answers in the XLS file that came with this email and send it to us at [email protected]!
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
An Interview with Mahindra’s Top HR Professionals
Manisha Dalan, Biplav Kumar | HRM 2012-2014
Interview with Allen Sequeira - Vice President - Corporate Human Resources, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
1 What are the key competencies that an HR professional should posses? The most basic competency that each HR professional must possess is the love and passion to engage with people. As per the 2012 Human resource competency study by the researchers at the University Of Michigan Ross School Of Business and the RBL Group, HR professionals should no longer aspire to be “Talent Managers”; instead they need to be Change Champions: engaging key stake holders in the process of change and initiate the same. Also, an HR professional should now seek to be a strategic partner using his/her business acumen to articulate the key business decisions from the grassroots 3 level upwards. It is the duty of an HR professional to foster a culture of innovation for the achievement of excellence. At the same time, HR now has to be a technology proponent. The tech savvy younger generation now has a responsibility to leverage technology in the interests of the organization. 2 In the context of the recent incidence of violence in IR, what do you think management across organizations should be doing so as to prevent such unfortunate incidences? A good business starts at the shop floor. HR nowa-
days is taking care of the concerns of its managers but is losing sight of the shop floor. Also, line management is not listening to HR. IR is actually the eye of the ball. Some of the greatest leanings are in IRthe most important being establishment of good relationships. I would urge all future HR managers to start their careers with 4-5 years of IR experience. It will also help them in establishing a good family life. It is the responsibility of industry and academia to promote IR and develop career tracks for future IR managers. After liberalization, the labor relations in our country have improved significantly, thereby resulting in complacency on the part of the management. The current incidents were an aberration but at the same time it acts as a wakeup
“The most basic competency that each HR professional must possess is the love and passion to engage with people.”
call. What emerging trends do you foresee with respect to executive education? There is a huge disconnect between the demands of the industry and the kind of Graduates top tier Bschools are churning out each year. The question to ask is whether we are catering to the needs of the industry. Today the fresh graduates have high cognitive ability but there exists a knowing doing gap. There is a need for hands on learning backed by a solid conceptual base. Also, there is something called a “being “ gap which is the inability to understand one’s own emotions and that of others thus
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
resulting in an ineffective team player. These issues have been brought up in the book 3. “Rethinking the MBA” by Srikant M.Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick Cullen. If we divide the learning by an individual in any profession, almost 70% of the learning happens on job, 20% in coaching and just 10% in classrooms. Lastly, tapping technology, I believe e –education would help in revolutionizing education around the globe.
What are the emerging challenges in the HR profession? Firstly, the most pertinent problem that organizations are facing today is the change in focus of Generation Y from organizational commitment to career commitment. This has resulted in job hopping, making attrition the major issue. Secondly, with the advent of globalization, the workforce is becoming more diverse - culturally, linguistically and geographically. As a result, integration of the entire workforce has become a major challenge. Also, the difference in time zones is not making the integration any easier. Thirdly, we are today working in a world full of ambiguity and uncertainty where change is the only constant. Thus professionals need to be more prepared than ever to overcome such unprecedented challenges. Fourthly, coping with new technology each day is a growing challenge. Finally, employee’s today demand flexibility through work at home schemes, virtual teams etc. Incorporating this culture will also be a challenge.
Interview with :
Naushad Noorani
Senior General Manager (Group HR) - Organization Development at Mahindra & Mahindra
1 What do you value most about the HR profession? In my childhood I did hear that medicine is a noble profession. In my opinion, HR as a profession is equally noble. People spend the majority of their lives at their workplace. HR facilitates to energize, enthuse and help people find meaning, by matching work to passion. Let us take the example of Sachin Tendulkar: he was passionate about cricket since his childhood, so when he chose it as his career, his love for his work helped him excel in it. Likewise excellence can be achieved by helping each person find the work that he loves. HR inculcates values and ethos at the workplace and also respects work life balance. 2. What measurable results could HR achieve? HR practices must be in line with the business of the organization. Measurable results include evaluation of training module, employee productivity, employee engagement scores, no of IBP (implementation of best practices) brought into effect, retention of employees and other business metrics. One of the key issues HR professionals can seek to achieve is the no of in-house promotions, positions filled internally and succession management. Also, technology can be leveraged to reduce costs by using social media for recruitment.
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
News and Blurbs
Happenings and other things in the Human Resources World. Links follow! “Employability of management graduates on a decline: Expert”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-1
“The allure of Indian B-schools, barring the top 25, is fading and the employability of management graduates is on a decline, says Rajat K Baisya, the retired head of DoMS, IIT Delhi“
————
“Retain talent by granting stock incentives”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-2
“In this period of recession, when the profit graph is falling down and cash flow is one of the challenges for the companies, the biggest test for an employer is to retain star performers without shredding cash from the pocket.”
————
“Forced hiring by India Inc ensures women at the top; companies compromising competence?”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-3
And what precisely is this new policy? “Managers authorised to recruit 'trustworthy workers”:“The HR chief may have made the 'sex-change' jibe in jest, but it brings to light India Inc's dilemma when dealing with the diversity agenda. Should companies be bringing women onto their boards even if, in the bargain, merit gets a short shrift?”
Manisha Dalan
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
Is blocking social media a violation of basic freedom or is it a logical consequence of optimizing transaction costs?
Winning Entry for the SAPPHIRE Article Writing Competition | Rahul Gupta | HRM 2012-2014
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Organizations are not prison camps where men come to do hard labour. Nor are they made up of kindergarten kids who have to be controlled and monitored every minute of the day. Organisations consist of adult humans who can be reasoned with. Explain to your employees the common goal they are working towards. Generate in them the ownership and the motivation to achieve that goal. These should be the challenges a manager should be concentrating upon. To say that this new trend of social media is the root of all evils and is to be blamed for work distraction and ever bumbling employees is convenient but not clever.
manager not believe that the employee might post flattering remarks on these sites? A manager, confident in the organisation’s values and his employees’ dedication to the same will be able to harness the power of this extremely valuable resource. Most companies ban these websites in the name of increasing productivity. But where does this stop? Timing the restroom breaks? Coffee mugs sipped in a day? Minutes spent in offline office chatter? Time spent on personal phone calls? How about restricting the no. of SMSs/ Whatsapp messages in a day? Why stop at that, ban that distracting ringtone style tomorrow too. This is an irrational thought process which needs to be nipped in the bud.
Rather than adopting such Nazi regimes of banning or stopping the use and exercise of social media by workers to exCan you stop them from accessing these same 'social' sites via tract that last minute out of an employee, one can try giving their smartphones? Via their tablets? Block the websites, reroute all the possible proxies, but how “If the mantra should be while at can you stop their basic and primal instinct to interact and exchange thoughts? How can one selectively enjoy the benework just work, then can we have fits of increase in terabytes of knowledge and tech marvels, the reverse analogy applied and but negate the ever expanding universe of online interaction followed also that while at home, which has been made possible because of the same tech innovations? So to say that we have now graduated from a with family, forget work? standalone hi5, Orkut, (which was manage-able, control-able half a decade back) to the constantly increasing and evolving world of twitter, delicious, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+ which is now going out of hands and running office work and targets them a recreational break very similar to a lunch or half time amuck would not be just preposterous but farcical. which is accounted for in which to go online. Or simply treating them as intelligent adults, who have to meet deadAll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Multiple studies lines and targets, and hence know when to work and when to have shown that an employee can’t be expected to work with play? his top efficiency the whole working day. Breaks are needed in between work to maintain optimum efficiency. In the old If the mantra should be while at work just work, then can we days, this was done at the water cooler. Now, with the advent have the reverse analogy applied and followed also that while of easy accessibility to the World Wide Web, socialising during at home, with family, forget work? Don’t entertain work ework can be done right from your chair itself. mail; dump your blackberries and laptops when you leave the Almost all major organisations have an official presence on these sites. An argument for restricting them might be that a disgruntled employee may post a derogatory comment on these sites. But since he might as well do so after working hours, this renders the point moot. Instead, why should a office? Technology today has made the requirement of physical presence at the workplace much more flexible than ever before. More and more organisations today are moving today towards empowering their employees to use smartphones, tablets and laptops to work from home. If technology enables
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
people to work while socialising, it should logically follow that it will enable employees to socialise while working too. How can we close our eyes to the ever evolving technology and simply absorb what we choose to and sieve the rest? Budding HR managers should give some serious thought to these policies, because they can rest assured that the talent they are trying to retain and attract surely will. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
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Editors
Manisha Dalan TCA Lakshminarasimhan
Xpress HR
October Edition SAPPHIRE’s Newsletter on Human Resources 16/10/2012
The fourth edition of Xpress HR brings some excellent writing on Talent Acquisition and Social Media in the office. As a bonus, we have an interview with Mr. Allen Sequeira, the Senior VP, HR of Mahindra corp. Also, the winners of last month’s HR CROSSWORD as well as a new one for this month!
Inside this issue:
Talent Acquisition – The new norms in the modern workplace HR Crossword An Interview with Mahindra’s HR Professionals News and Blurbs HumouR Corner Xpress hr—winning article : Is blocking social media a violation of basic freedom or is it a logical
1 4
6 8 8 9
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
Talent Acquisition – The new norms in the modern workplace
Retaining the greatest resource of a company| Radhika Gupta | HRM 2011-2013
The manpower requirements in organizations are steadily increasing as a result of the dynamic business conditions. Thus, in order to stay ahead, companies today have started adopting the strategic approach to attracting, selecting and on boarding top talent to efficiently and effectively meet these dynamic business needs. Each new employee has a powerful impact on the existing employees and the process, and hence it requires thoughtful planning and the development of clear philosophies, strategies and processes. The mission is to understand and anticipate the organization’s talent needs in order to secure the right mix of talent with respect to knowledge, skills, abilities, potential and cultural fit at the right time to ensure business continuity. In the growing war for talent, the talent acquisition has changed from an adhoc, reactionary approach to a more strategic endeavour with respect to finding, engaging, assessing, presenting, and securing talent in the context of the organization’s culture and operating environment. Talent acquisition needs to stay aligned with the overall talent strategy of the organization and, ultimately, with the business strategy. The article encompasses the key recruitment practices in most of the organizations, the challenges faced in talent acquisition, the best practices shared by different organizations for high impact talent acquisition and the metrics employed to identify its success as a strategic business function
include resume/application reviews for select qualifications and skills, supplemental questionnaires, and formal testing. Interviewing – This is done to select the final candidate. Common strategies include one-on-one or panel interviews and focus on situational or competency based interview
“Talent acquisition needs to stay aligned with the overall talent strategy of the organization and, ultimately, with the business strategy.”
techniques. Hiring – This includes making the final decision to hire the candidate for the position. Common activities include making the job offer, negotiating terms and conditions of employment, reference checks, medical tests and all pre- and post-start on-boarding.
Onboading and Reporting – Onboarding includes all the Core recruitment process formalities once the candidates joins the organization. ReThe process being followed in most of the companies be- porting includes all post-hire data collection, monitoring, longing to different sectors like IT, FMCG etc includes: and reporting. Common activities include surveying applicants and hiring managers, collecting and analyzing appliPlanning – This includes both workforce planning and indi- cant flow data, and reporting performance measures and vidual recruitment planning. Workforce planning typically processing metrics. focuses on forecasting staff and skill gaps in the most business-critical positions, while individual recruitment planning focuses on sourcing and screening strategies for specific Challenges vacancies. There are several challenges that a company needs to overcome in order to instill quality and consistency into its reSourcing – This focuses on activities to attract both passive cruitment process. It must consider the following questions and active candidates. It is mainly done through job portals, like - How to structure itself to deliver quality services to its employee referrals, internal job positings, hiring agencies, different business units and geographic locations, What role campus recruitment, social media etc. does corporate HR play in assisting a local business unit to staff positions, How much freedom has to be given to manScreening – It focuses on creating a qualified pool of candi- agers and recruiters to hire new talent or promote from dates to share with the hiring manager. Common activities within the organization, What tools and technology should be in place to source, track and hire great talent, How can
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
the quality of hire be measured etc. Best practices While there are some recruitment strategies that are unique to individual organizations and their business environment, the following strategies and best practices are shared and recommended by the majority for achieving hiring excellence. The Best-practice organizations are focusing on strategic areas such as – Planning and Strategy which includes understanding the workforce, the labour market, the existing talent capabilities in the organisation, critical skill gaps and the talent needs aligned with the strategic business plan and future growth of the company. Building a Talent Pipeline through internal mobility, succession planning and by identifying critical positions so that the recruitment is transformed into a continuous process. Building a strong partnership between the talent acquisition manager and the hiring manager to develop a recruitment plan, clarify roles, discuss potential snags and set timelines. Employer Branding - Employees and candidates are astute observers of a brand’s presence in the market and corporate culture as they decide the most desirable places to work, and they are clearminded about the factors that keep them at work. By leveraging their employer brand and truly creating a “best place” to work, employers actively manage and market the engagement of current employees to attract candidates. Screening for knowledge and skills and interviewing for behaviours - Top employers rigorously screen for knowledge and skills, and then interview for cultural fit. Actively managing the candidate experience by maintaining regular, personal communication with each applicant at every stage. High-potential nonselected candidates are provided direct feedback, and redirected to other job opportunities. Focusing on high return-on-investment (ROI) sourcing channels to generate the best candidates at the lowest cost. This involves profiling high value employees, evaluating how well applicant sources generate candidates who meet the target profile, and deploying recruitment resources to the most productive channels. Software tools/technology such as application tracking softwares, market intelligence tracker etc to optimize the hiring process by managing talent sources, tracking applications, candidate status etc.
clear picture of how efficient and effective the talent acquisition function is, as well as how aligned it is to the business and its progression toward business impact. It is also critical to have key metrics to drive continuous improvement, make better recruitment decisions and to ultimately improve the quality of hire. The most common metrics used by most of the organizations to measure the success of the recruitment process are - cost per hire, time per hire and quality of hire. Quality of hire further depends on the quality talent pool which is determined by talent sources, talent pipeline; rigorous selection procedure and on the job perfor-
“The cost per hire is reduced by tracking the cost of filling a position by various talent sources”
mance of the new hire which is determined by annual review or appraisal process and the hiring manager’s satisfaction with the new hire. The cost per hire is reduced by tracking the cost of filling a position by various talent sources, building a talent pipeline, reducing overhead costs by having local recruitment SPOCs/teams, mode of interview etc. This again is dependent on the kind of skills – generic or specific, for which a company is trying to source candidates. Lastly, time per hire can also be minimized through various factors like standardized recruitment process, choosing the right talent sources.
Hence, the way the organizations view talent in today, has greatly evolved talent acquisition and, specifically, recruitment. . High impact organizations treat their employees as their greatest assets. They recognize that attracting top talent is a high priority and an opportunity to help organizations gain competitive advantage. Companies are looking to become more strategic in talent acquisition and are paying special attention for identifying, attracting, mobilizing Metrics - A measurement strategy should exist to ensure a (internal) and onboarding the best talent possible.
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
HR Crossword
Send in your entries to [email protected] for a chance to collaborate with SAPPHIRE!
Across
1. A manager who assists and advises line mangers
offered by employers to employees who lose their jobs 12. A one-time payment that does not become part of the employee’s base pay
16. Effort directed toward producing or accomplishing results 17. An indirect reward given to an employee or group of employees as a part of organizational membership 21. Extent to which a test actually measures what it says it measures 22. A process whereby people acquire capabilities to aid in the
4. Specific guidelines that regulate and restrict the behavior of 14. Fitting a person to the right individuals job 7. Condition in which the physi15. The process through which a cal well-being of people is projob applicant receives an accutected rate picture of a job [acronym] 9. A security benefit voluntarily
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
achievement of organizational goals 24. Indication of employee dissatisfaction 25. Customary methods of handling activities 26. Performance appraisal tool that uses a list of statements or words that are checked by raters
7. Something that causes stress in an individual 8. A development activity in which a manager takes an active role in guiding another manager 10. Process that uses a neutral third party to make a decision 11. An unauthorized and illegal strike that occurs during the terms of an existing contract
Down
2. Process in which employees leave the organization and have to be replaced
13. Time spent in the organization or on a particular job
18. Payments directly calculated on the amount of 3. Compensation computed as a percentage of sales time worked in units or rupees 19. The total depletion of physical and mental re5. A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important 6. Behaviors that job incumbents are expected to display sources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal 20. The series of work-related positions a person occupies throughout life 23. Significant dysfunction tension resulting in no effort being made
Last Month’s Solved Crossword!
Please put your answers in the XLS file that came with this email and send it to us at [email protected]!
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
An Interview with Mahindra’s Top HR Professionals
Manisha Dalan, Biplav Kumar | HRM 2012-2014
Interview with Allen Sequeira - Vice President - Corporate Human Resources, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
1 What are the key competencies that an HR professional should posses? The most basic competency that each HR professional must possess is the love and passion to engage with people. As per the 2012 Human resource competency study by the researchers at the University Of Michigan Ross School Of Business and the RBL Group, HR professionals should no longer aspire to be “Talent Managers”; instead they need to be Change Champions: engaging key stake holders in the process of change and initiate the same. Also, an HR professional should now seek to be a strategic partner using his/her business acumen to articulate the key business decisions from the grassroots 3 level upwards. It is the duty of an HR professional to foster a culture of innovation for the achievement of excellence. At the same time, HR now has to be a technology proponent. The tech savvy younger generation now has a responsibility to leverage technology in the interests of the organization. 2 In the context of the recent incidence of violence in IR, what do you think management across organizations should be doing so as to prevent such unfortunate incidences? A good business starts at the shop floor. HR nowa-
days is taking care of the concerns of its managers but is losing sight of the shop floor. Also, line management is not listening to HR. IR is actually the eye of the ball. Some of the greatest leanings are in IRthe most important being establishment of good relationships. I would urge all future HR managers to start their careers with 4-5 years of IR experience. It will also help them in establishing a good family life. It is the responsibility of industry and academia to promote IR and develop career tracks for future IR managers. After liberalization, the labor relations in our country have improved significantly, thereby resulting in complacency on the part of the management. The current incidents were an aberration but at the same time it acts as a wakeup
“The most basic competency that each HR professional must possess is the love and passion to engage with people.”
call. What emerging trends do you foresee with respect to executive education? There is a huge disconnect between the demands of the industry and the kind of Graduates top tier Bschools are churning out each year. The question to ask is whether we are catering to the needs of the industry. Today the fresh graduates have high cognitive ability but there exists a knowing doing gap. There is a need for hands on learning backed by a solid conceptual base. Also, there is something called a “being “ gap which is the inability to understand one’s own emotions and that of others thus
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
resulting in an ineffective team player. These issues have been brought up in the book 3. “Rethinking the MBA” by Srikant M.Datar, David A. Garvin and Patrick Cullen. If we divide the learning by an individual in any profession, almost 70% of the learning happens on job, 20% in coaching and just 10% in classrooms. Lastly, tapping technology, I believe e –education would help in revolutionizing education around the globe.
What are the emerging challenges in the HR profession? Firstly, the most pertinent problem that organizations are facing today is the change in focus of Generation Y from organizational commitment to career commitment. This has resulted in job hopping, making attrition the major issue. Secondly, with the advent of globalization, the workforce is becoming more diverse - culturally, linguistically and geographically. As a result, integration of the entire workforce has become a major challenge. Also, the difference in time zones is not making the integration any easier. Thirdly, we are today working in a world full of ambiguity and uncertainty where change is the only constant. Thus professionals need to be more prepared than ever to overcome such unprecedented challenges. Fourthly, coping with new technology each day is a growing challenge. Finally, employee’s today demand flexibility through work at home schemes, virtual teams etc. Incorporating this culture will also be a challenge.
Interview with :
Naushad Noorani
Senior General Manager (Group HR) - Organization Development at Mahindra & Mahindra
1 What do you value most about the HR profession? In my childhood I did hear that medicine is a noble profession. In my opinion, HR as a profession is equally noble. People spend the majority of their lives at their workplace. HR facilitates to energize, enthuse and help people find meaning, by matching work to passion. Let us take the example of Sachin Tendulkar: he was passionate about cricket since his childhood, so when he chose it as his career, his love for his work helped him excel in it. Likewise excellence can be achieved by helping each person find the work that he loves. HR inculcates values and ethos at the workplace and also respects work life balance. 2. What measurable results could HR achieve? HR practices must be in line with the business of the organization. Measurable results include evaluation of training module, employee productivity, employee engagement scores, no of IBP (implementation of best practices) brought into effect, retention of employees and other business metrics. One of the key issues HR professionals can seek to achieve is the no of in-house promotions, positions filled internally and succession management. Also, technology can be leveraged to reduce costs by using social media for recruitment.
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
News and Blurbs
Happenings and other things in the Human Resources World. Links follow! “Employability of management graduates on a decline: Expert”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-1
“The allure of Indian B-schools, barring the top 25, is fading and the employability of management graduates is on a decline, says Rajat K Baisya, the retired head of DoMS, IIT Delhi“
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“Retain talent by granting stock incentives”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-2
“In this period of recession, when the profit graph is falling down and cash flow is one of the challenges for the companies, the biggest test for an employer is to retain star performers without shredding cash from the pocket.”
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“Forced hiring by India Inc ensures women at the top; companies compromising competence?”
http://tinyurl.com/XpressHR-Oct-3
And what precisely is this new policy? “Managers authorised to recruit 'trustworthy workers”:“The HR chief may have made the 'sex-change' jibe in jest, but it brings to light India Inc's dilemma when dealing with the diversity agenda. Should companies be bringing women onto their boards even if, in the bargain, merit gets a short shrift?”
Manisha Dalan
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
Is blocking social media a violation of basic freedom or is it a logical consequence of optimizing transaction costs?
Winning Entry for the SAPPHIRE Article Writing Competition | Rahul Gupta | HRM 2012-2014
Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Organizations are not prison camps where men come to do hard labour. Nor are they made up of kindergarten kids who have to be controlled and monitored every minute of the day. Organisations consist of adult humans who can be reasoned with. Explain to your employees the common goal they are working towards. Generate in them the ownership and the motivation to achieve that goal. These should be the challenges a manager should be concentrating upon. To say that this new trend of social media is the root of all evils and is to be blamed for work distraction and ever bumbling employees is convenient but not clever.
manager not believe that the employee might post flattering remarks on these sites? A manager, confident in the organisation’s values and his employees’ dedication to the same will be able to harness the power of this extremely valuable resource. Most companies ban these websites in the name of increasing productivity. But where does this stop? Timing the restroom breaks? Coffee mugs sipped in a day? Minutes spent in offline office chatter? Time spent on personal phone calls? How about restricting the no. of SMSs/ Whatsapp messages in a day? Why stop at that, ban that distracting ringtone style tomorrow too. This is an irrational thought process which needs to be nipped in the bud.
Rather than adopting such Nazi regimes of banning or stopping the use and exercise of social media by workers to exCan you stop them from accessing these same 'social' sites via tract that last minute out of an employee, one can try giving their smartphones? Via their tablets? Block the websites, reroute all the possible proxies, but how “If the mantra should be while at can you stop their basic and primal instinct to interact and exchange thoughts? How can one selectively enjoy the benework just work, then can we have fits of increase in terabytes of knowledge and tech marvels, the reverse analogy applied and but negate the ever expanding universe of online interaction followed also that while at home, which has been made possible because of the same tech innovations? So to say that we have now graduated from a with family, forget work? standalone hi5, Orkut, (which was manage-able, control-able half a decade back) to the constantly increasing and evolving world of twitter, delicious, Facebook, Tumblr, Google+ which is now going out of hands and running office work and targets them a recreational break very similar to a lunch or half time amuck would not be just preposterous but farcical. which is accounted for in which to go online. Or simply treating them as intelligent adults, who have to meet deadAll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Multiple studies lines and targets, and hence know when to work and when to have shown that an employee can’t be expected to work with play? his top efficiency the whole working day. Breaks are needed in between work to maintain optimum efficiency. In the old If the mantra should be while at work just work, then can we days, this was done at the water cooler. Now, with the advent have the reverse analogy applied and followed also that while of easy accessibility to the World Wide Web, socialising during at home, with family, forget work? Don’t entertain work ework can be done right from your chair itself. mail; dump your blackberries and laptops when you leave the Almost all major organisations have an official presence on these sites. An argument for restricting them might be that a disgruntled employee may post a derogatory comment on these sites. But since he might as well do so after working hours, this renders the point moot. Instead, why should a office? Technology today has made the requirement of physical presence at the workplace much more flexible than ever before. More and more organisations today are moving today towards empowering their employees to use smartphones, tablets and laptops to work from home. If technology enables
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
people to work while socialising, it should logically follow that it will enable employees to socialise while working too. How can we close our eyes to the ever evolving technology and simply absorb what we choose to and sieve the rest? Budding HR managers should give some serious thought to these policies, because they can rest assured that the talent they are trying to retain and attract surely will. ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT, HUMAN RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT XLRI
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Editors
Manisha Dalan TCA Lakshminarasimhan
