Finding Jobs that fit employees

Right and wrong are perhaps the two most vigilant sentries in our lives. Yet, they are dubious in their existence and situational in their implications. They are two words that the wise use with dread, and the naïve with liberty. This combination of right and wrong becomes more interesting when played against the backdrop of today’s corporate world. These are the words that decide where someone stands as an employee, as a manager and ultimately, an organization. Tactful use of right and wrong signals can influence an employee’s motivation, performance graph attachment to the organization and most importantly, his/her self image as a worker.

It’s interesting to note how perceptions of right and wrong are influenced by personal considerations. Even more interesting is the fact that based on these personal perceptions, an employee is branded, and point fingers at his/her personality, instead of re-evaluating what he or she could have done differently and how the organization could have drawn the best out of the employee.

Corporate perceptions of what is acceptable and unacceptable are contextual, relative and in clash with the personal sensitivity of employees. This is known as hurried branding. There’s always a hurry to brand an employee be he good or bad. Tasks are given to subordinates based on whether he has done it or not. This quickly builds up an opinion about that person. If a particular task done is not liked, instead if saying it needs more improvement it brands the person a failure. The same example could be looked at from a wholly different perspective. When a particular work done is appreciated by the supervisor or the manager, the worker is immediately put on a pedestal. In other words, depending on individual perception, the worker is branded Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong.

It is important to gauge what someone is right or wrong in relation to personal values or a set of agreements. In the context of an organization, it is very important to stick to unwritten corporate agreements, plans or codes of conduct. If a task is done as per the agreement, it is right. So, wrong here basically involves the issue of violation of that corporate agreement or company core values.

Instead, most of the time, what happens is, it is said that something is wrong from the standpoint of a personal value premise, and expect others to follow.

Added to this external perception, experts feel, employees themselves tend to attach a negative perception to their competencies. During assessment they would want to know more about their weaknesses linking this to an employee’s cultural mindset. This happens because though it is not right for an employee to be wrong. Also the nature of work itself has changed it’s more team-oriented and less individualistic, making it tougher to evaluate individual performance.

This ambiguity in perception brings in mindset where we think that being wrong is harmful. Hence, organizations constantly drive elimination rather then enablement.

The urge to escape wrongdoing also makes managers constantly raise quality standards. In the process of raising the bar, they get into a mindset wherein they decide not minding losing out on 10 good people, but they always want to ensure that not even one wrong person gets in. What is interesting to note here, is the fear of a wrong people entering into the organization, as a consequence of which managers only look for faults in people. And that’s where elimination begins. As a result, they lose out on lot of good people.

Even more interesting is the way the equation changes once a candidate enters an organization. Because he has to fight a number of eliminations to get in, there’s always an element of vengeance. The moment he’s in, he starts looking for faults in his managers. Unfortunately ads are also portraying a negative aspect of the manager team member relation.

So instead of looking at a wrong proof system, managers must look at embracing best practice and enabling people excellence rather than banking upon fault elimination mechanisms.
The effort has to start with changing individual mindsets. Culturally, Indians steer clear of appreciating good work, and are quick at finding faults instead.

This has to change.

A management story

Story # 1 It`s a fine sunny day in the forest and a lion is sitting outside his cave, lying lazily in the sun. Along comes a fox, out on a walk.
Fox: "Do you know the time, because my watch is broken"
Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix the watch for you" Fox: "Hmm... But it`s a very complicated mechanism, and your big claws will only destroy it even more"
Lion: "Oh no, give it to me, and it will be fixed"
Fox: "That`s ridiculous! Any fool knows that lazy lions with great claws cannot fix complicated watches"
Lion: "Sure they do, give it to me and it will be fixed"

The lion disappears into his cave, and after a while he comes back with the watch which is running perfectly. The fox is impressed, and the lion continues to lie lazily in the sun, looking very pleased with himself. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the lazy lion in the sun.
Wolf: "Can I come and watch TV tonight with you, because mine is broken"
Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix your TV for you"
Wolf: "You don`t expect me to believe such rubbish, do you? There is no way that a lazy lion with big claws can fix a complicated TV"
Lion: "No problem. Do you want to try it?" The lion goes into his cave, and after a while comes back with a perfectly fixed TV. The wolf goes away happily and amazed.
Scene : Inside the lion`s cave. In one corner are half a dozen small and intelligent looking rabbits who are busily doing very complicated work with very detailed instruments. In the other corner lies a huge lion looking very pleased with himself.

Moral : IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY A MANAGER IS FAMOUS; LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES.
Management Lesson In the context of the working world : IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY SOMEONE UNDESERVED IS PROMOTED; LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES.

Story # 2 It`s a fine sunny day in the forest and a rabbit is sitting outside his burrow, tippy-tapping on his typewriter.. Along comes a fox, out for a walk.
Fox: "What are you working on?"
Rabbit: "My thesis."
Fox: "Hmm... What is it about?"
Rabbit: "Oh, I`m writing about how rabbits eat foxes."
Fox: "That`s ridiculous ! Any fool knows that rabbits don`t eat foxes!"
Rabbit: "Come with me and I`ll show you!" They both disappear into the rabbit`s burrow.
After few minutes, gnawing on a fox bone, the rabbit returns to his typewriter and resumes typing. Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the hardworking rabbit.
Wolf: "What`s that you are writing?"
Rabbit: "I`m doing a thesis on how rabbits eat wolves."
Wolf: "you don`t expect to get such rubbish published, do you?"
Rabbit: "No problem. Do you want to see why?" The rabbit and the wolf go into the burrow and again the rabbit returns by himself, after a few minutes, and goes back to typing.
Finally a bear comes along and asks, "What are you doing?
Rabbit: "I`m doing a thesis on how rabbits eat bears."
Bear: "Well that`s absurd ! "
Rabbit: "Come into my home and I`ll show you"

Scene : As they enter the burrow, the rabbit introduces the bear to the lion.

Moral: IT DOESN`T MATTER HOW SILLY YOUR THESIS TOPIC IS; WHAT MATTERS IS WHOM YOU HAVE AS A SUPERVISOR.

Management Lesson In the context of the working world: IT DOESN`T MATTER HOW BAD YOUR PERFORMANCE IS; WHAT MATTERS IS WHETHER YOUR BOSS LIKES YOU OR NOT

IIM grads back with job offers

A beautiful article on young entrepreneurs.......

Inspiringly great!
Ahmedabad: Four alumni of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) who had opted out of the placement process last year to start their own enterprise, are coming back to the campus in the next placement season in March, 2008 —- for a different reason this time. Though IIM-A had relaxed its rules this year to allow students opting out to come back for next two years for placements, this four-some will be in the campus to hire fresh management graduates for their own venture which has written a success story and needs more man power to take it to new heights.Vishal Prabhukhanolkar, Bhusan Davir, Vineeta Singh and Debashish Chakravarty had last year spurned high profile job offers to start their own venture ‘ten-a-day’, an online website providing coaching for the CAT examination which is the gateway to the IIMs and several other institutions.

The venture, known as www.tenaday.co.in, has logged nearly 22,000 registered users in its year of existence and needs more hands now, said Vishal about why they are coming to IIM-A next year.The ‘ten-a-day’ website, the largest online CAT preparation site, requires aspiring students to answer 10 questions every day and also provides daily percentile rankings. All this and the explanations of the questions are for free. But the detailed analyses of the answers have charges ranging from Rs 210 onwards. Other institutes charge nearly Rs 14,000 for similar analyses, Vishal said.Since nearly two lakh students appear for the CAT every year and another six lakh appear for other admission tests, the online website has a great potential for growth, the young entrepreneur, who rejected a fat pay packet to start this venture along with his three other batchmates, said.

Manual HR systems

The devil is in the details someone once said, and this is certainly true with respect to designing an HR system. The HR manager may talk in broad terms about the recruiting, selection, and other HR functions he or she wants to install. But eventually, creating the HR system requires translating the HR manager’s broad preferences (for “a selection program that produces more qualified candidates,” for instance) into specific, “how exactly will we do this” policies, guidelines, tools, and paperwork or computerized processes. This means actually creating the infrastructure of the HR system

Doing so is not easy. Consider the paperwork required to breathe life into a company’s HR system. Just to start with, recruiting and hiring an employee might require a Notice of Available Position, a Help Wanted Advertising Listing, an Employment Application, an Interviewing Checklists, various verifications of education, and immigration status, and a Telephone Reference Checklist. You’d then need an Employment Agreement, Confidentiality and Non-compete Agreement and an Employer Indemnity Agreement. To process that new employee you might need a hiring Authorization Form, an Employee Background Verification, a New Employee Checklist, and various forms for withholding tax and to obtain new employee data. And to keep track of the employee once on board, you’d need – just to start – an Employee Changes Form, Personnel Data Sheet, Daily and Weekly Time Records, an Hourly Employee’s Weekly Time Sheet, an Overtime Permit, an Expense Report a vacation Request, an Absence Request, an Affirmative Action Summary, and an EEO Policy Statement and Analysis of promotions . Then come the performance appraisal forms, a Critical Incidents Report, Notice of Probation, First (or second) Warning Notice Form, a Disciplinary Notice, a New Employee Evaluation, a Performance Evaluation and a Letter of Commendation , and (eventually) a Retirement Checklists , Notice of Dismissal Reduction in Workforce Notice, Employee Check – out Record, Separation Notice, and Employment Reference Response....

The preceding list barely scratches the surface of the policies, procedures and paperwork needed to run the HR system part of a business. This has several implications. First, you obviously can’t wing it. Perhaps with just one or two employees one could keep track of everything in memory, or just write a separate memo for each HR action, and place it in a folder for each worker. But with more than a few employees one needs to create a human resource comprised of standardized forms.

Very small firms can handle all or most of this sort of HR record keeping through manual paper and pencil forms and systems. But as the company grows, various parts of the HR system – payroll, or appraising, for instance – will have to be computerized if the firm is to remain competitive. After all a HR manager probably don’t want to spend twice as much money and time on HR as their competitors.

Mistakes Win Sucess...

One of my friend gave some tips on how you can create a work culture that encourages prudent risk taking:

Be accommodating:Encourage and build a climate where problems are accepted and mistakes acknowledged. Do not respond to a mistake by an immediate scolding. Try to solve the problem, aAccept MistakesSubordinates must be taught that errors are part of the cost of development. A mistake provides an excellent opportunity to learn and improve on whatever is being done. On the other hand, irrational and repeated mistakes should not be tolerated.

Tolerate failure:Many innovations and concepts are not successful initially. Persistence and the ability to deal with disappointment and failure are therefore essential. To learn from one’s mistakes, one must be able to accept failure, analyze the reasons for the failure and then take the appropriate action. As Akio Morita, the Chairman of Sony says, “when customers see our products they only see success, they do not see the 99% of failures that made that product possible”.

Do not be conditioned by past failures:There is a tendency for managers to be conditioned by past mistakes and failures. This encourages conservatism and caution. Past mistakes must be acknowledged and learned from. They must never be allowed to impede risk taking options in the future.

It is always easy for managers to take the path of least resistance and seek out only the risk free options. This not only reduces managers to being mere clerks who routinely and mechanically follow some laid down rules and never look beyond them, but it also affects a company’s overall success.

As Bill Gates, the CEO and Chairman of Microsoft says, “How a company deals with mistakes suggests how well it will bring out the best ideas and talents of its people, and how effectively it will respond to change. When employees know that mistakes won’t lead to retribution, it creates an atmosphere in which people are willing to come up with ideas and suggest changes. This is important to a company’s long term success.”

Moreover, in certain industries not making mistakes is a sure sign of a shirker. For example, in the media industry one can often hear old timers say “only those who work make mistakes”.

These are the people who have realized the wisdom in the words of the great Italian sculptor and artist Michaelangelo who once said: “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no triflend then, more importantly, discuss how the mistake could be avoided in the future.

Recruiting costs minimisation

Recruitment costs are becoming increasingly heavy on the pockets and there is a dire need for them to look for something cheap without compromising on the quality of recruits. And with the rise in costs, they are growing more cautions about recruitment expenditure.

Organizations are using a host of innovative and at the same time, run-of-the-mill methods to hire employees. But in order to be effective and innovative, the compromise has been settled on the high costs. The hiring costs have shot up manifolds and companies have started to get affected in their P&L accounts. The average recruitment cost per employee can range anywhere between Rs 50,000 to 60lakhs, depending on the position.

So how do companies hire fresh talent? They usually have a host of methods ranging from internal movements where the company advertisers the position within the organization. This method is considered to be very cost effective as the employee is already a cultural fit and the talent stays within the organization. They also advertise in the mainstream press though it is usually as it includes not only the advertising cost but also the cost of processing, screening and interviewing the candidates.

Many other companies have on-campus and off-campus initiatives for hiring fresh graduates. They also use an optimum channel mix strategy for hiring experienced people. The channels of hiring would include in-house technical recruiters using portals and own network, employee referral program, placement consultants etc.
Recruitment costs are taking up a major part of the annual budgets of the organizations and are engaging a lot of resources. Companies are working in the direction of reducing these costs so as to save on the costs and allocate funds towards strategic project. The best way to minimize recruitment cost is to make sure the role of consultancy agencies is reduced to the minimum. Recruitment agencies are the best forms of cost effective hiring as one can outsource the ‘headache’ to a specialist firm and only pay on successful completion of the assignment.

Companies are working on reducing the average cost per hire by relying on employee referrals, innovative recruiting mechanisms and reducing the reliance on head-hunters. The average cost per hire is approximately Rs 30,000-40,000. To recruit the best talent along with a faster turnaround time companies are creating a planning schedule for all critical positions and identify people (insiders) for such positions which impact business. In some cases organizations maintain a three great candidate ratio for each position and relevant database. Such initiatives can reduce Recruiting costs.


Internal referral is the most effective and cheapest mode of recruitment. Employees are encouraged to refer people for different positions. It ensures to attract the best talent and also gives an empowering signal to employees about their engagement within the company.

One of the most cost effective modes of recruitment is the daily walk-in interviews that conducted at company’s offices. This way, recruiters will be able to capture the profiles of a significant number of potential candidates that help the recruitment process. Walk-ins are undoubtedly the best and inexpensive mode of hiring, and it has proved effective in volume hiring opine many HR managers. —

Punctuality leads to success

Punctuality in a city like Mumbai is rare virtue. Creative excuses that people make when they are late and most of the people fail to stick to appointed time.

It is appalling to see people arrive late to work, meetings and even seminars. Lateness is now an accepted norm and fifteen to thirty minutes delay is routine. And if one is fifteen minutes late in starting from home, he can expect his day to end at least three hours late. It’s called the law of momentum in action.

Globalization today has brought many pressures and punctuality is one of them. Asians and Americans are much tolerant of lateness whereas European and people from the Middle East can’t stand it. The Urban Indian today is quite a globe trotter and lateness can causes more damage than one can ever imagine to one’s professional life.

Time is all the while belongs to the individual and can be called his own. Respect it and spend it diligently because it is running out. Everyday you have lesser time than yesterday it is a resource that will end on a day. Realize that and make good us of it. —

Globalisation is two-way traffic: Azim Premji

"The world's richest Muslim entrepreneur defies conventional wisdom about Islamic tycoons: He doesn't hail from the Persian Gulf, he didn't make his money in petroleum, and he definitely doesn't wear his faith on his sleeve."


That's how the Wall Street Journal describes Azim Premji, Chairman & CEO of Wipro Technologies, one of the largest software companies in India, in a story about "How a Muslim Billionaire Thrives in Hindu India."


He has tapped India's abundant engineering talent to transform a family vegetable oil firm, Wipro Ltd, into a technology and outsourcing giant, notes the influential US financial daily.


By serving Western manufacturers, airlines and utilities, the company has brought Premji a fortune of some $17 billion - believed to be greater than that of any other Muslim outside of Persian Gulf royalty, it notes.


Such success, Premji says in an interview with the Journal, shows that globalization - a force Islamist activists decry as Western neo-colonialism - is turning into "two-way traffic" that can bring tangible benefits to developing countries.


Premji's rise is already inspiring some Indian Muslims to embrace the modern, globalised world, the journal says yet, to many in India's Muslim community, Premji's enormous wealth, far from being inspiring, shows that success comes at a price the truly faithful cannot accept.


But unlike some Muslim community leaders, Premji bristles impatiently when the plight of the broader Muslim populace is cited. "This whole issue of Hindu-Muslim in India is completely overhyped," the 62-year-old executive says as cited by the Journal.


Premji's private philanthropy is dispensed through a foundation that's managed by a Hindu former Wipro executive and cuts across religious lines.


After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, US officials asked the Azim Premji Foundation to help start an education programme that would instil moderate values in Islamic schools. The foundation declined the religion-focused project, according to its chief executive, because "we are working for all."

Premji, the Journal said, scoffed at the idea he should display his Muslim identity or champion the cause of Muslim advancement in India. "We've always seen ourselves as Indian. We've never seen ourselves as Hindus, or Muslims, or Christians or Buddhists," he was quoted as saying.


As a prominent Muslim businessman in the 1940s, Premji's late father, M.H. Premji, faced repeated requests for support from Pakistan's fiery founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who offered the father a cabinet minister job in the new Muslim country.


But the Premji family didn't believe in a religious state, and refused to move. "We did not think in these terms," Premji says as cited by the Journal. "There were roots in India, there were roots in Bombay. Why should one in any way dislodge these roots?"


While India's Muslim groups complain about facing daily discrimination, Premji says the only time he has been singled out because of his Muslim heritage wasn't in India but at a US airport shortly after 9/11.


In doing business in India, he maintains, "I don't think being a Muslim or being a non-Muslim has been an advantage or disadvantage. It's just been based on the merits of the opportunities."


As Wipro becomes a global powerhouse, company officials say they seek to hire the best regardless of creed. "All our hiring staff are trained to interview in English," Premji is quoted as saying. "They're trained to look for Westernised segments because we deal with global customers."

Employee Retension......

Hi All!

Been long since I wrote or gave you some views of my own or from people who wrote and think extensively into the realms of HR...............This is one of my friend's thoughts that I have tried to put in words......that other day when we were discussing on retension.....

"When a milker leaves I lose one cow"

Recruiting the right employees is easy. But the challenge is to motivate and retain them. Retaining the right employees in the right place is the secret of any organisation's success. Usually the employees are loyal to their organisations. But they become unhappy job-hoppers when they feel that they are not valued and not given enough challenges and opportunities. It is true that everyone is looking for better prospects and the present organisation is often only a pole-vault to jump into better pastures.

The CEO to the frontline executive, all are waiting for the right opportunity to migrate. Employee turnover is costly and it makes the organisations less efficient and productive. If we want to retain the top performers we need to know why people leave. The reasons for leaving may be many:

1. Lack of opportunities and challengesFor many young and bright employees of today money is not a concern. They are looking for more than compensation packages and benefits. They want challenges and job satisfaction. If you want to retain them, offer them not money but challenges and risks. They thrive in challenges and love risks. They look for job satisfaction and contentment in their work. Job satisfaction comes out of their relationship with the management; it's the effect of good work environment and is the fruit of their commitment to a vision.

2. Lack of management supportOne of the main reasons why people quit is the lack of support from the top management. The top management itself is often not aware of what is going on and not sure of what decisions to be taken. The victims of their poor communication and management are always those at the bottom. The only thing they communicate well is to tell the employees that they are responsible for every failure. If you want your employees to be loyal to you, support them when they need you. Be visibly present by their side in their struggles and appreciate their victories.

3. Lack of monetary rewardsFor many people today telling, "I don't care about money but I need challenges" is a fashion. Most of the employees are there with you because of the rewards you give. When they feel that they are paid less than what they deserve, when they feel that you are not faithful to your promise to increase their package, when they feel that you don't reward hard work and commitment its time for them to bid you bye. Better compensation and benefits will always keep them by your side.

4. Lack of career development possibilitiesNo one likes to be in the same place for long. People long for new experiences, changes and growth. Once they know that their present organisation doesn't provide them opportunities for their career, personal and professional growth they feel suffocated in that rigid system. In such a dissatisfied atmosphere they long for liberation and when the right opportunity comes they pack up and leave you.

5. Lack of visionary mangersThe supervisors are one main reason why many employees leave. Supervisors and mangers are often shortsighted and fail to place the right employee in the right place. They make a highly talented person become a failure and the employee alone is made accountable for the losses. The management should consist of visionary people who are able to assess the potentials and strengths of the employees and give them the right opportunities and right challenges where they can excel. It must create a positive work environment where people are rewarded and recognized, where free and open communications exist and where people feel excited and thrilled to work.

6. Lack of friendly atmosphereOften our workplace is so boring with so many serious people around. The workplace should be a home where people smile, relax and enjoy working. Every morning the person should long to come to work. Friendly and homely place is a must if you want to retain your staff. The management is so much caught up in the web of profit and revenues that it looks at people only as a means to higher profits and forgets to look at them as persons. Listen to the employees, respect them and make work fun for them if you want them. Provide an employee-friendly environment where they can participate in decisions making, execution and evaluation.

7. Lack of freedom If the employee can't express his ideas and thoughts freely in the organisation he won't last there. We must create an atmosphere where people feel free to contribute their ideas, criticize the existing systems and try out alternatives to make their work more productive and satisfying. There should be freedom for him to use his talents and skills. There should be freedom to make mistakes. We need to invest in building up retention if we want our organisations to be successful.

Recently I read about a dairy manager who said: "Every time a milker leaves I lose about one cow." We have recruited the best talents; now it's our duty to motivate and retain them for the health and success of our organisations.

Basics of conflict management

Conflict is when two or more values, perspectives and opinions are contradictory in nature and haven't been aligned or agreed about yet, including:

1. Within yourself when you're not living according to your values;

2. When your values and perspectives are threatened; or

3. Discomfort from fear of the unknown or from lack of fulfillment.

Conflict is inevitable and often good, for example, good teams always go through a "form, storm, norm and perform" period. Getting the most out of diversity means often-contradictory values, perspectives and opinions.Conflict is often needed.

1. Helps to raise and address problems.

2. Energizes work to be on the most appropriate issues.

3. Helps people "be real", for example, it motivates them to participate.

4. Helps people learn how to recognize and benefit from their differences.

Conflict is not the same as discomfort. The conflict isn't the problem - it is when conflict is poorly managed that is the problem.
Conflict is a problem when it:

1. Hampers productivity.

2. Lowers morale.

3. Causes more and continued conflicts.

4. Causes inappropriate behaviors.

Ways People Deal With Conflict

There is no one best way to deal with conflict. It depends on the current situation. Here are the major ways that people use to deal with conflict.

1. Avoid it. Pretend it is not there or ignore it.a. Use it when it simply is not worth the effort to argue. Usually this approach tendsto worsen the conflict over time.

2. Accommodate it. Give in to others, sometimes to the extent that you compromise yourself.a. Use this approach very sparingly and infrequently, for example, in situations when you know that you will have another more useful approach in the verynear future. Usually this approach tends to worsen the conflict over time, andcauses conflicts within yourself.

3. Competing. Work to get your way, rather than clarifying and addressing the issue. Competitors love accommodators.a. Use when you have a very strong conviction about your position.

4. Compromising. Mutual give-and-take.a. Use when the goal is to get past the issue and move on.

5. Collaborating. Focus on working together.

a. Use when the goal is to meet as many current needs as possible by using mutual resources. This approach sometimes raises new mutual needs.

b. Use when the goal is to cultivate ownership and commitment.

CHANGE................a revolution

Change
Let's face it. Just about the only people who like a change are wet babies! For the rest of us, a change is rarely welcomed. Change of any kind, personal or professional, is one of the most common sources of stress.

Change evokes a series of emotional responses that, left unmanaged, can eventually take a toll on health and performance.

The question is not will you adjust to change. Yes, you eventually will. The real issue is how long will it take? Your performance and success may depend on your ability to quickly move through the change cycle.

A strategy for change management:

Acknowledge where you are on the change curve. Observing your reaction to change as normal adds objectivity and enables you to neutralize the damaging effects they can otherwise have.

Identify your core values. Remembering what matters most during stressful times is a quick way to shift your internal experience. It will reduce stress in the moment and create the physiology that supports a shift in perception.

If you manage a team, know where each person falls on the change curve and provide what is needed to help them move to the next stage: Information on the down slope; support during the trough; recognition on the up slope.

Take time each day to appreciate everyone, talents and contributions, including your own. Doing so is energizing and helps minimize emotional drains.

Revisit organizational values. Starting staff or team meetings with a discussion of the groups shared mission or vision helps create an emotional shift that positively impacts the meeting and facilitates adjustment.

Judgemental Salary Increases..........

What Pay Raise Can You Expect From Your Employer?

Do you believe your work is worth more money than you are making?

If so, you are not alone. According to a Salary.com survey of 13,500 random visitors, 65 percent of respondents said they are looking for a new job within the next three months. Of those, 57 percent say they are looking because they believe they are underpaid.

The really interesting finding is that, when compared with the firm’s market data on similar positions, only 19 percent of the group is underpaid; 17 percent appear to be overpaid, and 34 percent are fairly compensated.

Why Do Some Employees Receive Salary Increases?

Yet, some employees do make more than others for similar work

They regularly receive pay raises and salary increases.

Four different employment issues primarily drive this fact about salary increases. Pay raises are dependant upon:

the industry you are employed in,
the market and market pay for your job in your region,
the pay practices of your organization, and
your performance on your job.

Future of HRM

Hi all,

I'm presenting you this question: What is the future of HR management?

What are the prospects for HR executives and managers in the current crazy fast changing
environment where strategy is no more a five-year plan but a one-year plan.

What I know is payroll is currently being outsourced (either to a vendor or to other
departments) . What other routine functions are now being outsourced?

Some multinational companies used shared services.
Does your company do that?

Recruiting is now done by managers of the various departments and not by HR. If that is so, what aspect of recuiting and retention is done by HR?

What aspect of talent management does HR handle when talent management is now the job of the individual branches/department ?

Now that routine and commoditized functions have been outsourced (either to a vendor or to other departments) , what else is there for HR to do?
How do HR justify its continued existence?

Over to you.

10 tips to create an ethical culture in your workplace

This is an excerpt from article published on Forbes.com recently. Maybe its too basic for most of us professionals in HR, nevertheless, every point is worth a thought .....

1. Don't Fire On A Friday
Never fire someone on a Friday, or on a significant day, such as right before the holidays or before their pension plan vests. Always fire an employee in person, in private, preferably in his or her office or a neutral space. There's nothing worse than making that person "walk the gauntlet" past co-workers.

2. Meeting Etiquette
In meetings, don't multitask, interrupt or speak more than 60 seconds at a time. Keep an open notebook in front of you when an employee is talking to take notes on good ideas.

3. Keep Meetings Short
At Starbucks, the CEO and president, Jim Donald, limits one-hour meetings to 45 minutes--and tells employees to use the extra 15 minutes to call someone they usually don't contact every day.

4. Greet Employees By Name
That means you have to learn all of their names. But it's well worth it. Spend two minutes talking with a different employee about non-work topics every day.

5. Say Thank You
Make it a point to thank employees for work well done. Slip a handwritten note into their pay envelope, or write "thank you" on the back of your business card and leave it on their desk. Compliment three people every day.

6. Have Lunch With Employees
Cisco Systems' CEO John Chambers hosts a monthly hour-long birthday breakfast for any employee with a birthday that month. Employees are invited to ask him anything.

7. Surprise Employees With Small Gestures Of Recognition

At Cigna Group, executives push coffee carts around the office once a week, serving drinks and refreshments to their colleagues to get a chance to hear their concerns and answer their questions

8. Take An Employee's Job For A Day
At one Chicago bank around the busy holiday season, executives worked as bank tellers so the tellers could enjoy a day off for shopping

9. Acknowledge Good Work
Another low-cost way to recognize employees who have done a good job is to let them pick their next project or swap a task with someone else.

10. Celebrate Random Holiday
Relieve workplace stress by celebrating holidays not usually celebrated such as Groundhog Day, Arbor Day, Bastille Day, Polish Independence Day and summer solstice.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause

Today, corporations are expected to give something back to their communities in the form of charitable projects. In Corporate Social Responsibility, Philip Kotler, one of the world's foremost voices on business and marketing, and coauthor Nancy Lee explain why charity is both good P.R. and good for business. They show business leaders how to choose social causes, design charity initiatives, gain employee support, and evaluate their efforts. They also provide all the best practices and cutting-edge ideas that leaders need to maximize their contributions to social causes and do the most good.

With personal stories from twenty-five business leaders from socially responsible companies, this is the bible for today's good corporate citizen.

One night at call centre-by Chetan Bhagat

Here friends......... I am quoting a few lines from the excerpt of Chetan's second book that is yet to come to the market.Though I haven't had the priveledge,yes I now consisder it to be a priveledge... to have read his first book.."five point someone",his writing seemed very captivating to me .

...........................................................................................................................................................................

But this night was different.
Firstly, my compartment was empty. The railways had just started this new summer train and nobody knew about it.
Secondly, I was unable to sleep.I had come to IIT Kanpur for a talk.

Before leaving, I drank four cups of coffee in the canteen chatting with the students. Bad idea, given it was going to be boring to spend eight insomniac hours in an empty compartment. I had no magazines or books to read. I could hardly see anything out of the window in the darkness. I prepared myself for a silent and dull night. Of course, it was anything but that.

She walked in five minutes after the train had left the station.
She opened the curtains of my enclosure and looked puzzled."
Is coach A4, seat 63 here?” she said.
The yellow lightbulb in my compartment had a mood of its own. It flickered as I looked up to see her.
"Huh..,” I said as I saw her face. It was difficult to withdraw from the gaze of her eyes.
.....................................................................................................................................................


"Hi,” she said and looked at me for a few seconds, "Chetan as in...I don't know, your name sounds familiar.

"Now this was cool. It meant she had heard of my first book. I am recognized rarely. And of course, it had never happened with a girl on a night train.
"You might have heard of my book - Five Point Someone. I am the author,” I said.

"Oh yes,” she said and paused, "Oh yes, of course. I have read your book. The three underperformers and the prof's daughter one, right?” she said.
"Yes,” I said, "So how did you like it?"

"It was all right,” she said.

I was taken aback. Man, I could have done with a little more of a compliment here.
"Just all right?” I said, obviously fishing a bit too hard.
"Well,” she said and paused.
"Well what?” I said after ten seconds.
"Well. Yeah, just all right...ok ok types,” she said.
.....................................................................................................................................................................



"I might have a story idea for you,” she said, almost startling me.
"Huh?” I was wary of what she was going to say. For no matter what her idea was, I had to appear interested. "What is it?"

"It is a story about a call center.”

"Really?” I said," Call centers as in business process outsourcing centers or BPOs?"
"Yes, do you know anything about them?"

I thought about it. I did know about call centers, mostly from my cousins who worked there.
"Yes, I know a little bit,” I said, "Some 300,000 people work in the industry. They help US companies in sales, service and maintenance of their operations. Usually younger people work there in night shifts. Quite interesting, actually.”

"Just interesting? Have you ever thought of what all they have to face?” she said, her voice turning firm again.
"No,” I said.
"Why? They aren't the youth? You don't want to cover them?” she said, almost scolding me.

"Listen, let's not start arguing again..."
"I am not. I told you that I have a call center story for you.

”I looked at my watch. It was 12.30 a.m. A story would not be such a bad idea to kill time, I thought."Let's hear it then,” I said.

"I can tell you. But I have a condition,” she said....................................

A New Role for HR: Support Your Company's Brand

Here is a piece of an article to circumstantiate how the HR becomes a crucial part in building brands.

From Gary Billings, Ph.D.

A New Strategic Role for HR

I once read an article in which Mickey Mantle tells about a recurring dream. He’s racing to get to Yankee Stadium in a panic, because he’s late for the game. To his horror the gates to the field are locked. He finds a hole in the centerfield fence and sticks his head through. As he tries to wiggle through the small hole he wakes up drenched in sweat!

Like Mickey Mantle, one of the biggest challenges for Human Resource executives is breaking through the fence to get in the game. In this case the fence is real. But there is an opening if one knows what game to play.

Here’s How: Get Involved With the BrandExcept in a few instances, most companies offer largely undifferentiated products and services; airlines fly the same planes and serve the same food, financial service businesses offer similar advice and investment options, and retail stores offer the same merchandise. The list goes on.

Because of the undifferentiated nature of their businesses, such firms as, Disney, Fidelity, Southwest Airlines, to name a few, have made branding a core element in their business strategy. In many respects, their brand strategy is their business strategy, and vice versa.

A brand, simply put, is a promise to customers that a specific level of value, quality, and service will be received. Think of a brand as a covenant between a business and its customers. The promise is usually communicated through mass media advertising. Here are some current examples.

FedEx – Don’t worry, there’s FedEx
MasterCard – There are some things money can’t buy
Xerox – Break Out
Bose – Better Sound Through Research
GE – Imagination at Work

When a brand promise is not kept, customers flee and go elsewhere. A classic example is the fate that befell Eastern Airlines when it promised to “Earn its Wings Everyday” through superior customer service while at the same time losing bags, canceling flights and serving lousy food.
As a result, the bonds of trust between customers and the airline were irrevocably broken. The net effect was passengers boycotted Eastern in droves and it eventually went out of business killing the brand for eternity.

What went wrong? Eastern Airlines failed to align the behavior of their employees with the brand promise. They failed to understand that the lines of copy in an ad do not deliver a brand promise, nor by an airplane or piece of machinery - it’s delivered by people.

Herein lies the opportunity for Human Resources to get through the fence and into the game, by helping ensure that all of the large and small actions that people take every day, throughout the organization, fall in line with the brand strategy.

What stuff the VP-HR of Microsoft is built of!

I just happened to browse through this article on net................once started my curiosity raised to such an extent that I had to pen down some words in my blog about it......A sense of purpose endures in VP of human resources

Read here

Timesjobs Innovation........

Have been using timesjobs portal since the time I have started learning the nuisances of my profession.......

Recently enough the best feature among the other innovative measures timesjobs have inserted and restructured in its services......is definitely catching everyone's eye-"HR Dialogue"...

See here

Campus Recruitment Not Such A Hit After All

Was just going through this article ........wondered whether these people know that proper ground work is very essential when one goes for recruitments in campus placements .Recruiting and selecting a fresher is much more a challenge than looking at the experienced talent pool.

It is always difficult to measure someone's potential than one's performance........

Have corporates been able to connect right with campuses? The answer is, No. According to Mr Madan Padaki, Co-founder and Director, MeritTrac Services, a skills assessment firm, it has not been possible. "There has not been any attributable difference in terms of hit ratio in recruitment of engineers." When it comes to hiring fresh engineers, the conversion rate remains at 15-18 pct for services companies and 6-10 pct for product development companies, with some region-wise differences. In his opinion, the benefits of campus relationship programmes would be felt two years from now“, he said. Mr Rishi Das, CEO, Campus Connect, agrees that not much has changed in terms of employability index of engineers. "The good thing is that companies are investing a lot more on training their engineers." Campus Connect is a Bangalore-based consulting group whose programmes attempt to bridge the gap between industry and academia. Like always, companies that are seeing a growth of 60-70 pect on the people side are betting big on campus recruits this year too. MindTree Consulting, which used to pick talent only from Tier I institutes all these years, has now decided to hire top performers from Tier II institutes to supplement the demand, according to Mr Mohan Sitharam, Associate Director, People Function, MindTree Consulting. Mr Srinivas Velidanda, Director, Recruitment, Perot Systems, however, has seen some change in the talent pool this year. Some of the students have come better equipped with soft skills such as communication and management skills. "Though our recruitment criteria has become stringent, our hiring ratio also remains at last year's figure (100:20), which means students are also becoming more employable this year," he points out.

Source: 27 May' 07 The Hindu Business Line New Delhi

Meeting with the Director......

Last week I had the privelege of meeting with the director of our company........As this was for the first time I was seeing and going to converse with him..I was a bit scepticle about how it all would go.

Somewhere around 4pm we met at our office that was still under construction....and it was one of my most humble experiences of my life. He was a short, well groomed, poised and very prudent fellow. I could see no air of commanding authority in his attitude, and he responded to every hi and good evening greetings, even from the peon of the company......

We had a brief but fruitful discussion about my forthcoming role and responsibilities...and I was stunned to see how effectively he assigned his time for everyone and everywork.

While returning back home something kept hinting me again and again...."I had seen his like somewhere,someplace ...."And lo! I realized on going home,he appeared on the cover page of a business magazine,his profile impressive, having worked with Birlas and the likes.....

Mesmerizing but true how this man donns many hats with somuch ease.......

RPO the next big buzz.....

Never ever did people like me and millions here would have imagined how big an industry would this e-world would be.....And to think of a complete business running only on its credentials would be more awestruck...

These are a few stats that show how many of us are really into it and how many are yet to encash on this vast unexploited opportunity....

Read Here