Little flashback….
Back in the 1950's in the post independence era,
the manufacturing sector predominated the business environment in India. Out of
the many problems faced by the factories at that time, one that caused numerous
disruptions was due to the labor laws and the frequent conflicts between the
management and the labor class. These incidences forced the management to think
about creating a different function in the industries which would look after
the interests of the labor force and help them to resolve conflicts with the
higher management. The function then was named as Industrial Relations.
Throughout the 1970's till 1990's, India's GDP grew and so
did the service sector. The bourgeois population increased too. From merely
earning money in order to pay bills and buy food, the newly formed middle
class, started aspiring for satisfaction from the work that they did. Working,
then served two functions. One was to obviously sustain a living. The second
was to earn a reputation from the job which one was doing. In other words
people wanted work satisfaction, as we commonly say today. This led the
management to also alter their so called industrial relations function. The
function was no longer about resolving labor conflicts. The function gradually
became more about whom to take and whom not to. Organizations started
formulating strategies which could help their employees feel satisfied at their
workplace. Slowly the term industrial relations was replaced with the term
human resource management.
Fast forward another 15 years. Since the last decade or so,
people have started viewing their organization as their identity. People today
believe that the organization where they work in, is a reflection of their
personality. India now is a leader in the service sector front in Asia.
Competitions in the sector has increased so much that people don’t think much
before deciding to quit their current lucrative jobs and switching to another.
Hence, India's attrition rate in the organized sector in the year 2012 was
around 26%, which meant that one out of every four Indians decided to change
their job in that year. Thus has begun the challenge for organizations to hire
and simultaneously retain the talent pool they develop.
The picture as it stands today…
A survey was conducted by IBM in 2012. The survey included
only CEO's of companies across different organizations throughout the world.
Around 1700 were interview across 63 countries and asked what are the 3 most
important parameters which are going to be the primary focus of most organizations
in the near future. The result: More than 71% CEO's rated utilization of their
human capital as the most important factor for achieving sustainable growth and
maintaining their competitiveness in the long run, ahead of product innovation
and customer relationship management.
The survey very much gives us a hint towards the growing
importance of leveraging human capital in organizations. And why not? Every
organization today formulates strategies keeping the future in mind. But in
order to understand and implement those strategies in the future every
organization would need the right set of people. The survey conducted by IBM,
has given us every reason to believe that in order to achieve sustainable
growth and maintain competitiveness, it is very important to choose first the
right set of people. In the face of growing attrition rate across companies it
is a challenge for the HR managers to develop ways of retention. Then comes
development of the workforce and engagement. Finally, opening up the scope for
innovation is as important as selection, retention and engagement.
From my short stint in the IT sector, I have observed that
most of us do not feel ourselves aligned with the visions of the organizations
where we work in. The organization believes in a set of values and sees for
itself a vision which is sometimes altogether different from the employees'
ambition and vision. Thus, there is this problem of inclusion which is
ubiquitous in many organizations. To avoid this, HR managers should try to
understand the ambition, expectations and attitude of a prospective employee
and not only look at their grades and/or their prior experience before hiring.
In the near future it might be all about getting the right set of people to do
the right set of things and not just allow anyone to come through the door. It
is therefore important for the HR managers to have constant talks with the
employees starting from the base level. HR managers should always try to
understand the goals and aspirations of the employees and align that with those
of the organization. Only then, would there be a happy and content workplace.
This would also be the first step towards retention.
It is imperative that the HR managers understand that they
are the bridge between the top management and the base level employees. As such
HR managers should have the capability to communicate up and down the line of
hierarchy and not only with their bosses. Employees who are powerless in the
system should feel free to go upto their HR managers and speak openly about any
issues , personal or career. For this to happen, HR managers should have the
credibility so that people are not afraid to approach them. If they don't, then
retention would always be a problem. If there is high attrition, naturally development
and engagement is difficult to create.
My second observation was that I saw employees around me
sticking to their directed roles and responsibilities only, even though there
was scope of learning by voluntarily helping peers and/or asking for different
roles within the project/organization. This according to me a serious
impediment towards innovation and development. The HR managers should reach out
to every employee and make sure that innovation within the organization is
always encouraged. Employees should be encouraged to move out of their comfort
zone and work in different roles so as to gain maximum out of the organization.
Lastly, in the era of IT revolution, HR managers and
strategists can make use of information technology to harness the right
potential. Question is, can information technology play any role in increasing
productivity of the human capital? The answer is, yes. Information in the form
of unstructured data is omnipresent among social media, journals, emails, etc.
Workforce Analytics will help in getting valuable information about people
which can help HR managers in finding the right set of people and train them.
Finally I wish to end saying, human capital is the most
invaluable resource which an organization has today. The HR managers and the
strategists have to develop ways for finding the right people first, and then
ensure ways of retention, development, engagement and innovation. All these
would then help to create a culture within the organization. That culture in
turn would promote the capabilities of the people working in the organization.
Only with an increase in capability would productivity increase.
Yours truly,
Koustav
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