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.