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Editorial overwhelming response we received for our previous edition. HR mesh has always tried to bring in the latest trends in the HR field to its readers.
Greetings from HR Forum! HR Forum wishes all its readers a very happy and prosperous 2011! Welcome to the January issue. Thank you all for the
With the same spirit, we introduce you to the concept of gain sharing in this issue. This issue of the HR Mesh also gives an insight into various competencies needed for talent management. We are sure our readers
will benefit from these articles about the recent trends and developments in HR field. Know more as to why India’s women professionals favour flexible working conditions. And lastly, we love hearing from you. So feel free to write to us about your views, opinions and suggestions at: hrforum@scmhrd.edu. As we always say, until the next edition, Happy Reading!!
Talent Management - Are HR competencies enough? The role of HR is increasingly becoming dynamic and being redefined with every passing day. It is becoming more Strategic in nature and key to achieving organizational goals.
With the increasing complexity, diversity of business spread over multiple locations Strategic Talent Planning (STP) has become a focus area for HR.
mines the type of talent required for a particular job at a given location and the cost of such talent. Just like one compares existing vs required profiles in an organizational restructuring process, so also HR compares the existing and required talent portfolio. The gap in talent can either be sourced from within or outside the company. Thus, STP helps a company to understand, forecast the type and the cost of talent required. STP requires HR to collate and integrate details of existing and required talent across the organization.
So what exactly is STP? It is a process by which HR deter-
If HR is to add value to the talent planning process, its
Earlier HR was largely a headcount planning process that was an input into the company’s annual budget and was a datadriven effort to managing number of employees and their cost.
members need to know business goals, operating plans/ budgets, possess strategic and finance skills and have a macro view of business. It is necessary for the members of the strategic talent planning team to develop these skills. The members of the STP team should be put through an intense Finance for Non Finance course. This should cover financial planning, management reporting, budgeting, basics of taxation, working capital management. The focus should be on sound theoretical inputs and real life case studies. After completion of this course they should be a part of the finance team that is required to prepare
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the Annual Budget. This would give them both a macro & micro understanding of the entire organization, each location, job expectations and numbers. Short stints on the shop floor, sales and marketing would help. Over time, HR employees should specialize in their understanding of a part of the business. One should rotate HR employees across line functions and businesses units and not be content with development of limited skills. Enhanced training referred to above would give them a better understanding of business and facilitate interaction with line managers. The net result of this effort would result in a better match between talent available-required and would eventually enhance corporate
performance. A forecast of talent required gives HR enough time to search for the right candidate. Use multiple channels to find the right candidates. After getting the employees onboard, keep in regular touch to review whether job profile promised and actual are coherent. When HR reflects on the differences in profile, it would also help fine tune its talent management process. Strategic talent planning (STP) enables HR to customize the talent search process to specific business needs. While talent needs usually come from line managers HR can add Value by closely working with line. For strategic talent planning to succeed, you need not only HR competencies to help pull
it off but also the right governance model and ability to align and integrate talent management with other business processes, experts. Today the company sees strategic talent planning as a business process that helps determine the type and capability of talent needed and that enables leadership to understand, forecast and manage the number, location and cost of people required. The planning process helps to identify and prioritize gaps between the current and desired talent portfolio and to define specific “buy and build” actions and investments required to close workforce talent gaps. (Source: SHRM, The author is the Director HR of Deutsche Bank Group)
Flexible working for India’s women professionals Flexible working is a critical requirement for success in life, according to the very single respondent of the 341 women interviewed by AVTAR Career Creators, HR Consulting & Recruitment firm. This 100% decree in support of flexibility is a first from an Indian perspective. AVTAR Career Creators conducted the study, ‘VIEWPORT 2010 – Flexible Careers – Moment of Truth’ during Sep-Nov 2010. It could be a reflection of the times when a woman’s selfactualization is not onedimensional and she requires flexibility to don the many roles that she does.
The Indian woman, even more so than her sisters around the world, requires flexibility at crucial junctures in her life. But she is beset by two major problems which prevent her from pursuing a career flexibly - the lack of a single-point resource, which provides her with a range of opportunities and the mindset of corporates which equate flexi-working to inefficiency. The Line Manager is the person to be educated as regards flexible careers. Due to performance pressures, most business managers tend to think in the short-term and
ignore the larger and more long term issue. It is here that ‘Presenteeism’ begins to affect the perception of the Line Manager. In the study, 48.4% of the corporates responded that their line and business heads were the first to oppose flexibility. Many corporates have begun to value the need for flexibility in ensuring that the investments made in women don’t end up creating nonperforming assets. Flexible working for women professionals is very important as an enabler to balance women’s personal needs and professional aspirations. It is be-
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coming increasingly critical for organizations to retain its female talent pool and not lose them to personal obligations that may arise. More flexibility leads to enhanced productivity. The study which covered the responses of 341 senior women professionals across India as well as the policies and practices around flexi-working followed by 45 top organizations, reveals that 91% of the women surveyed had resorted to flexi-working at some point of
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time in their careers, but only 25% had availed this through a policy offered by their employers. The remaining had negotiated it informally through discussions with their supervisors and mentors. Corporates realize the need for gender diversity across every level, with over 61% believing that there is robust business case in support of flexible working. But they are apprehensive about instituting a flexi-work policy because it demands change not only in the
minds of the managers but also in the very culture of the organization. Every career woman – be it a doctor, musician, academician or scientist, requires flexibility to rise to the top. It is in the nature of every multitasking person to require time to ‘recuperate’ from her multiple responsibilities. Flexi-working is very essential for women to manage the stress generated out of handling their many responsibilities. (Source: SHRM)
Gainsharing: A lemon or lemonade? Gainsharing is best described as a system of management in which an organization seeks higher levels of performance through the involvement and participation of its people. As performance improves, employees share financially in the gain. It is not an incentive or bonus plan for individuals exceeding a standard or quota. . The entire factory work force--as a unit--is involved in an effort to exceed past performance. If successful, the gain is translated into cash and shared between the company and the employees. Normally, the work force receives 50 percent of the gain in bonuses, and the company receives an equal share in cost savings. During World War II, there developed a major interest in productivity, that is, output per man-hour worked. For example, if 100 employees produced 1,000 units in 1,000 hours in a given month, and the same 100 employees produced 1,000 units in 900 hours in the next month, it was a gain of 100 hours. Thus, if labor is $10 an hour, then the gain is worth $1,000. That
monthly gain, if divided between the workforce as a bonus and the company as a cost reduction, began to interest many companies. As a result, this whole new practice of Gainsharing began.
benefits of gainsharing have the potential to enhance corporate competitiveness. For this reason, several major organizations have adopted gainsharing systems (e.g., Motorola, General Electric, 3M).
Under Gainsharing, a group can see its efforts rewarded, output quality improved, accidents eliminated, and total incomes soar for employees and the company. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some variety of Gainsharing is being used by about 18 percent of manufacturing companies, the number increasing every year. The common result of most Gainsharing programs, says a General Accounting Office report, is often a 22 percent decrease in waste, spoilage, and customer returns; a consistent boost in productivity; and a 17 percent increase in net profit for the year. With gainsharing being properly implemented, a company can expect to reduce costs, have more effective management control, and provide better service to its customers and suppliers. It integrates teamwork, communication, goal orientation and performance improvements into one system. The motivational and productivity
Though gainsharing can be a great boon to a company and its work force, on occasion it turns out to be a lemon instead of lemonade. Cooper et al. (1992) found that low performing employees may engage in "free-riding." This occurs when an employee (the "free-rider") relies on the efforts of fellow employees without providing comparable efforts. A second potential downside of gainsharing is the necessary disclosure of financial and operating data to employees, which many managers are reluctant to provide. Thus, a high degree of trust is desirable between management and workers. Without trust workers will doubt the validity and legitimacy of the payperformance linkage and the system will fail to motivate. Thirdly, in an adversarial unionized environment, the union may attempt to negotiate for a bonus payout to rank and file members regardless of productivity gains. If agreed to by management,
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this arrangement would undermine the procedure that can be done with the left original purpose of the gainsharing sys- hand while the right hand concentrates tem. on other matters. It requires manageGainsharing is used by many companies ment's attention, encouragement, and to achieve top quality output and bolster support. The ultimate explanation for the bottom line. So why don't more of the number of failures may lie along the these programs produce lemonade lines suggested by the noted managerather than lemons? Gainsharing is not a ment authority, Peter Drucker: "Inertia
in management is responsible for more loss of market share, more loss of competitive position, and more loss of business growth than any other single factor." (Source: www.entrepreneur.com www.findarticles.com )
Upcoming HR Events 1) January 07- 2011 2nd International Conference on e-Education, e-Business, e -Management and E-Learning (IC4E 2011) Mumbai India All the registered papers will be published into conference proceedings by IEEE, and distributed at the conference. The proceedings will be included in the IEEE Xplore, and indexed by INSPEC, EiCompendex and Thomson ISI
Venue & Date: 21-01-2011 at Hotel Era Kuala Lumpur Malaysia West End , Marine Lines, Mumbai 5) Jan24 -HR Directors Business Summit 3) Event Name: Skills Development 2011 Birmingham United Kingdom Workshop on Kaizen Based Innovation Key themes covered January 24th - 25th Venue & Date: 21-01-2011 at Confer- 2011 include: ence Spa, Paharpur Business Centre & Planning for the work practices of the Software Technology Incubator Park, future. New Delhi Implementing change management. Program Details: KAIZEN BASED INNOVATION -How your organization can Managing recruitment and talent in a ignite the creative spark and foster inno- post recession environment vation for Faster Growth 6) Jan 27- Leadership for an Inclusive
2) Event Name: Talent Acquisition, Engagement & Retention Conclave 4) Jan 24 -HR Strategies in the Digital and Sustainable World Berlin Germany
On a Lighter Note... Team HR Forum SENIOR Divya Kohli Heena Bhagat Neha Pandit Rahul Kolhe Richa Malik Shweta Agrawal JUNIOR Aby Kottukappally Aditi Naik Bibin J Poovathany Divya Amarnath Isha Chandra Karanbir Singh Wunnava Madhulika
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