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H R BULLETIN VOLUME 90
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
HR BULLETIN
Employment at Will: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly of Temporary Employment Employment at will pretty much means that employers can fire employees at any time for any reason, within the law. Does it have actual benefits for the employees? Employment at will pretty much means that employers can fire employees at any time for any reason, within the law. Does it have actual benefits for the employees? You might have heard of ‘employment at will’. But what does that mean, and what are the benefits and trade-offs for both companies and employees? Can it be offered as an 'employee value proposition' benefit to potential candidates? If you’re a job seeker looking at an at-will position, what might that suggest about the company? In this article, we’ll discuss what employment at will is and cover the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
What is employment at will? Employment at will pretty much means that employers can fire employees at any time for any reason, within the law. Employees also have the freedom to leave when they want. This employment is still governed by local antidiscrimination laws. Whilst employers don’t need a paper trail to fire an underperforming employee, they do need to be able to prove the firing wasn’t discriminatory. The good There are some benefits to employment at will for both workers and employees, such as… Flexibility What is a fulfilment centerre going to do when a seasonal rush ends and their new part-time employees are still hanging around? Employment at will enables even more flexibility for managers for covering seasonal rushes than even a fixed-term contract. The flexibility of employment at will can work for employees too. If they find better-paying work they can just walk out from a job that’s paying them less than they’re worth. In a toxic workplace, employees can just not show up one day. Availability Employment at will makes it easier for everyone to begin and end working relationships at a moment’s notice. This creates more vacancies at a company doing this. They tend to have a higher turnover of employees, creating more opportunities for job seekers. Meritocracy In a business where sales and communication skills are just as important as experience, it’s better for everyone if the most talented team members are promoted faster based on ability over years of service. Employment at will makes it easier for talented people to rise quickly as companies are less worried about who’s been around the longest. Employees are still protected Despite all the flexibility to end contracts with no notice, regulations still apply. Employees are still protected by local labour laws and employers are still bound by regulations like anti-discrimination laws. Employers can’t fire people based on factors like their race, gender, age, or disability. Further to that, employers should be careful to make sure their reasons for firing someone are legitimate to reduce the risk of litigation, even if they don’t have to leave a paper trail. The bad However, you should keep in mind that employment at will has some downsides… More vacancies = more work to cover For the jobseeker, an employment at will company will generally have more vacancies at any given time. But for the people at the company already, this means more people are doing the work of two people to paper over the gaps yet to be filled by new hires. Combined with higher employee turnover and burnout, this poses a risk to the long-term health of the company. It also prevents companies from building what strategist Hamilton Helmer calls “hysteresis”, a kind of invisible build-up of skills and experience passed from employee to employee. A contact centre might have the best tools, the best hardware, the best customer engagement platform, but if employees haven’t had time to learn them well enough to pass the knowledge to new hires, then your company isn’t going to build those “muscles” in the long term. You need a smoothly-run and experienced workforce for whom solving customer problems has become second nature. An experienced force of customer service and support staff is how you turn customers into brand evangelists and unlock certain advantages like a high Net Promoter Score or a SaaS referral program. This is hard to do when your staff is constantly changing. Fewer opportunities to improve the way you work One of the best practices for call centre management is constantly adapting your service and processes based on feedback from employees and customers…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employeeengagement/employment-at-will-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-temporaryemployment-33412
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
The rise of SMEs: Challenges HR can’t ignore The ecosystem of business and work is undergoing a major upheaval, creating challenges for small and midsize enterprises. But are SMEs prepared to rise above? Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, small and midsize enterprises in India stand strong. Now, in the post-pandemic milieu, many are preparing to bounce back and move closer to even bigger and more ambitious goals. Initial public offerings from SMEs in the financial year 2021-22 increased, from 28 companies raising Rs 244 crore, to 67 raising Rs 932 crore, data from Prime Database Group revealed. But the ecosystem of business and work is undergoing a major upheaval, creating challenges for SMEs. Regulatory environment The ease of doing business and other initiatives introduced by the government in the past few years have bolstered the growth of startups and SMEs in India. But the country’s regulatory environment remains complex. SMEs demand an ecosystem that allows them to be more competitive; enables technology innovation; ensures cluster and infrastructure development; and makes procurement of SME products easier. Access to funds “Even with rising unicorns, one of the biggest challenges that we see today is that the startup ecosystem as a whole lacks a compelling revenue base,” said Nirav Choksi, co-founder and CEO, CredAble. To tackle this challenge, Nirav believes there is an urgent need to infuse cash flow into the startup ecosystem. Tax exemptions for foreign direct investments would also be a welcome move that could further aid in the globalisation of startups and emerging companies…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/the-rise-ofsmes-challenges-hr-cant-ignore-33398
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
How to sustain a connected and productive company culture while managing geographically dispersed employees So how do we get over this barrier, to cultivate a comfortable working environment where there is clarity over all forms of communication? For an employee, feeling connected to an employer is everything — the ADP Research Institute found that U.S. workers who feel strongly connected to their employer are 75 times more likely to be engaged than those who do not feel connected. This connectedness also holds the key to employee engagement, and initiatives such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) can play an important role here. In fact, DEI is the no.1 priority for HR managers in 2022. Looking at manufacturing, even within a single facility, it has largely become a completely global industry. Members of a team interact in a variety of languages and time zones. For instance, IndustrialML's partners are located on the East and West coasts of the United States—and even further afield—Japan, Singapore, India, Vietnam, and Europe. Time zones and locales aren't the only hurdles. Every country has different local customs that must be respected, and understanding differences in workflow and holidays is critical to this. Most businesses, not just in manufacturing, use Google Hangouts or Microsoft Teams for meetings, with extra tools like Calendly to adjust for different time zones. But these tools are not suitable for all parts of a manufacturing organisation; rather, they can be inaccessible to individuals performing operations or technical work, and can limit key decision-making only to people who speak the most common language or have the most computer-heavy roles…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employee-relations/howto-sustain-a-connected-and-productive-company-culture-while-managinggeographically-dispersed-employees-33414
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
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HR leaders are paving the future of work and business In collaboration with Cornell, XED is taking in applications for its high-impact, high-value HR Business Leadership Program to cultivate the HR leaders of tomorrow. HR leaders are increasingly playing a pivotal role in empowering companies to respond to a dynamic and fast-evolving business landscape. The rise of the CHRO as a strategic partner to the CEO is a testament to the fundamental role of HR in steering the business transformation agenda. The roles and responsibilities traditionally assigned to HR leaders have significantly evolved and expanded over the past few years. In the age of rapid digital transformation and disruption, it's time that we empower them to stay ahead of the game. To drive this agenda forward and cultivate future-ready HR leaders, Cornell University in collaboration with XED is kickstarting Cornell’s HR Business Leadership Program this May for senior-level HR leaders. The program is geared towards senior-level HR professionals with over five years of experience, who are currently residing in the Middle East, South Asia, or Far East regions. From building a solid talent pipeline and bridging the skills gap, to creating an employee-centric workplace and achieving long-term business targets, the HR function has evolved manifold in the last decade. Each aspect offers strategic support to the growth and success of the organization. With this in mind, the program is broken down into three timely and impact-driven modules: •HR as a CXO: By prioritising the business front of organisational functions, this module is all set to equip HR leaders with the right skill sets that add value to the organisational growth plan; drive the larger business strategy in collaboration with other leaders and critical key stakeholders; and level up their role as a business leader…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/hr-leaders-arepaving-the-future-of-work-and-business-33357
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 90
Removing the bias of the ‘mindset gap’ to improve hiring experience in 2022 Hiring practices need to keep pace with digital transformation and bring in future-ready professionals who can take your business to the next level. Over the course of the last two years, a behavioural shift has been observed across the global workforce with individuals starting to focus on the ‘why’ they work and not only the ‘how’ and ‘where’ they work. This has led to a complete deconstruction of the employee employer relationship. Following this change, the hiring market has begun to shift away from looking only at degrees, diplomas, and past experiences of candidates, into emphasising their relevant skill sets and core competencies, in an effort to offer potential employees the value they seek in furthering their career aspirations, thereby answering the ‘why’. Since 2019, there has been a 20% increase in hiring managers, who don’t have a traditional four-year degree. Against the backdrop of a highly competitive talent market, stepping away from age-old methods of assessing skill sets and merits has led to an expansion of talent pools. There is also visible change not only when it comes to the demand for certain skills, but also in the nature of occupational functions themselves. Apart from a new emphasis on competencies over credentials, there has been a fundamental shift in the way job descriptions are written to attract a larger talent pool. Today,talent leaders have been prompted to rethink the way they frame skill requirements as well as job descriptions, to make jobs more fluid and meet their talent requirements for a future ready workforce…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/recruitment/removing-thebias-of-the-mindset-gap-to-improve-hiring-experience-in-2022-33408
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