Chandigarh: Haryana has revised the state minimum wages for workers with effect from January 2010. The latest minimum wages are 4214, 4344, 4474, 4604, 4864 for the categories Unskilled, Semi-Skilled, Skilled, Staff & Graduate respectively. This wages is higher by about 10% than Chandigarh minimum wages and by 20% vis a vis Punjab minimum Wages. Himachal Pradesh is far behind in terms of state minimum wages. The minimum wages are those wages below which any employer can not employ or engage a worker else he becomes liable for punishment under the Payment of Wages Act.
Latest Minimum Wages in Haryana highest in region
March 6th, 2010man without any bad habits
February 17th, 2010Once a man was waiting for a taxi. A beggar came along and asked him for some money.
The man ignored him.. But being a professional, the beggar kept on pestering him. The man became irritated when he realized that the beggar would not leave him alone unless he parts with some money.
Suddenly an idea struck him. He told the beggar, ‘I do not have money, but if you tell me what you want to do with the money, I will certainly help you.’
‘I would have bought a cup of tea’, replied the beggar.
The man said, ‘Sorry man. I can offer you a cigarette instead of tea’.
He then took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offered one to the beggar.
The beggar told, ‘I don’t smoke as it is injurious to health.
‘ The man smiled and took a bottle of whisky from his pocket and told the beggar, ‘Here, take this bottle and enjoy the stuff. Its really good’.
The beggar refused by saying, ‘Alcohol muddles the brain and damages the liver’.
The man smiled again. He told the beggar, ‘I am going to the race course.
Come with me and I will arrange for some tickets and we will place bets.
If we win, you take the whole amount and leave me alone’. As before, the beggar politely refused the latest offer by saying, ‘Sorry sir, I can’t come with you as betting on horses is a bad habit.’ Suddenly the man elt relieved!! And asked the beggar to come to his home with him.
Finally, the beggar’s face lit up in anticipation of receiving at least something from the man.. But he still had his doubts and asked the man,
‘Why do you want me to go to your house with you’.
The man replies ………………………..
‘ I always wanted to show my wife how a man with no Bad habits looks like’
Life as seen by accounts and finance professionals
February 17th, 2010Our Birth is our Opening Balance!
Our Death is our Closing Balance!
Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets
Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account
Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill
Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents
Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account
The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.
TDS at higher rate for those without pan number
February 1st, 2010Dear All,
CBDT has notified that the new provision relating to tax deduction at
source (TDS) under the Income Tax Act 1961 will become applicable with
effect from 1st April 2010.
No.402/92/2006-MC (04 of 2010)
Government of India / Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
***
New Delhi dated 20th January
PRESS RELEASE
A new provision relating to tax deduction at source (TDS) under the
Income Tax Act 1961 will become applicable with effect from 1st April
2010. Tax at higher of the prescribed rate or 20% will be deducted on
all transactions liable to TDS, where the Permanent Account Number
(PAN) of the deductee is not available. The law will also apply to all
non-residents in respect of payments / remittances liable to TDS. As
per the new provisions, certificate for deduction at lower rate or no
deduction shall not be given by the assessing officer under section
197, or declaration by deductee under section 197A for non-deduction
of TDS on payments shall not be valid, unless the application bears
PAN of the applicant / deductee.
2. All deductors are liable to deduct tax at the higher rate in all
transactions not having PAN of the deductees on or after 1st April
2010. In order that there is no dispute regarding quoting / non-
quoting of PAN or accuracy thereof, the law requires all deductees and
dedutors to quote PAN of deductees in all correspondences, bills,
vouchers and other documents sent to each other. All deductors are,
therefore, advised to intimate their deductees to obtain and furnish
their PAN so as to avoid TDS at a higher rate. All deductees,
including non-residents having transactions in India liable to TDS,
are advised to obtain PAN by 31st March 2010 and communicate the same
to their deductors before tax is actually deducted on transactions
after that date.
3. The procedure for obtaining PAN is simple, inexpensive and quick.
Application for PAN can be filed in Form 49A to National Securities
Depository Ltd. (NSDL) or Unit Trust of India Investor Services Ltd.
(UTIISL) or their intermediaries. Non-residents can apply through the
local embassy / consulate of India. Applications can also be filed,
paid for or tracked online through the Internet on the following web-
sites:¬
http://incometaxindia.gov.in/
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/index.jsp
http://www.tin-nsdl.com/
http://www.utitsl.co.in/
4. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued Notification No.
94/2009 relating to taxation of perquisites / profits in lieu of
salary and Circular No.1/2010 for the guidance of tax dedutors for
salaries. These documents are available on the department’s web site
at http://incometaxindia.gov.in/
Regards.
Divakar
Resources, Tools and Methodologies for Talent Acquisition, Hiring and Recruitment
January 28th, 2010Resources, Tools and Methodologies for Talent Acquisition, Hiring and Recruitment
Introduction
One needs to have dreams, plans, and strategies to be successful in any venture. This is a basic requirement. If you do not know what you want, where you want to reach and how you want to reach (your mode and plan for success), you certainly cannot reach there. In case you are starting a new venture or you are planning to diversify your existing business, you also need to identify the source for your capital (Financial Backing). You cannot do all these things on your own. You need “extra-ordinarily talented” and Highly Skilled people to help you to reach the goal that you have seen for your organization. For this, you need a jeweler (the talented, matured and exceptionally skilled HR Professional) to identify such DIAMONDS for you. It is one of the key roles of a HR Professional to identify, source, select, HIRE and RETAIN BEST of the talent from the market to work for the organization. If they cannot find talented people from the market then they need to groom the right type of people with the right type of attitude and aptitude. In 21st Century, we are in the era of “war for talent”. It is becoming difficult to get right type of people and retain them. Many companies are losing their businesses because they are not able to hire “right type of people”; because they compromised with the “quality of the talent”. In this article, we will try to explore and understand different sources to get “Best of the Talents”. Any reference of HR Department” in this article, means Team of Talent Acquisition, Hiring and Recruitment.
Different Sources to Get Talented People
As a HR Professional (Chief Talent Acquisition Officer; Hiring Manager or Recruitment Head), one should be aware of all the sources and resources to get best of the talents and they should also be aware of as how to use those resources to the optimum level. You can use either or all of the below mentioned tools to get BEST talents.
1) Existing and “Active” Candidates Data with Company
This is primary, but if properly used, most important source and tool in the hands of HR Department to get right type of people. The HR department gets N number of profiles every day from different sources (including candidates who just drop-in their profiles at the reception. The HR Department needs to maintain and update this data on regular (if possible on daily basis). The details and data should be maintained in such a manner that one should be able to generate a MIS, stating number of profiles in the database, skills of the candidates (including education and experience level) and status of each profile (if short listed or not; if interviewed or not; date of interview; result of the interview; if rejected or selected etc). All these profiles should be considered as “active profiles” for six months from the date they were received in the HR Department of the Company. Any other profile older than six months should be deleted and destroyed. Such profiles are of no use to the company. The HR department should be able to use this data to fill the existing vacant position with a MOST suitable profile.
2) Employee References
In last decade and a-half, all the companies across various industries are facing a BIG challenge to retain the talent in their companies. People are resigning for various reasons. There is another challenge of FAKE profiles (People are faking about their experiences, salaries etc. Many people are just COPYING someone’s profile and presenting it as their own, without even knowing what they have mentioned in it). To handle this, it has become apparent to do reference checks. Getting the reference check done in a proper way is very costly.
Considering the above two scenarios and just to counter it, it is important to hire a person through the reference of your existing employee. No one can present, market and brand your company, market the culture and policies of your company then a happy and highly motivated and engaged employee of your organization. Hence, hiring with the reference of your existing employees is an important source and tool to hire and retain Quality Talent.
3) Internal Advertisement (internal Job Posting)
Learning is a continuous process. Many people keep on learning new skills, updating their skills and acquiring higher degrees by way of distance mode of education. There by you might have “multi-skilled” and “multi-talented” people within your organization. Hence, it becomes crucial and important to post your job-requirement, internally for your existing employees. By doing so, you will be able to RETAIN good and talented people.
4) Jobsites and Job Portals
If the above three sources and methods are used appropriately, efficiently and to the optimum level, hypothetically you do not need to go outside the company to get good people, working for your company. However, that is actually not possible and hence, you also need to look for external sources to get MORE Suitable Talent for your company. There are many Job Sites and Job Portals, available in the market and you need to select the BEST one for your needs. Good Job Portals have huge database of millions and millions of profiles. You can source a “Suitable” Talent from that database. You can also post your job requirements on job-portals just to get more relevant profiles. You should learn how to use all the features of your job-portal for its optimum utilization.
You can also have the HR or Job Site of your company and post your requirements on that site. This will also give appropriate branding and advertisement to your company and will also help you in managing the “Candidate Database”.
5) Campus hiring
In case, you like to hire “knowledgeable, talented and properly groomed” freshers then you should opt for Campus Hiring. This will give you Raw Clay and Material that you can mould as per the need and culture of your organization. You need to plan your “Campus Hiring” in a suitable manner to target right type of people. You need to decide, if you like to hire a plain graduate or a graduate with some specific trainings or Management Graduates or Engineering Graduates etc. If you provide right type of atmosphere, culture and processes, chances are that you will be able to retain these freshers, trainees for a long period of time. There are many Business Magazines which publishes lists of BEST institutes in different categories, locally, nationally and internationally.
6) Recruitment Consultancies
Most of the time, even recruitment consultancies also uses various job-portals to source talent for their clients. Hence, it makes more sense, if you buy one login on any of the relevant job-portal (or more than one job portal) and if you learn how to use it properly. You need the help of Recruitment Consultants if you are planning to hire a talent through head-hunting for senior profiles and from different geographical locations; for example, if you are planning to hire someone from international market. Hence, taking the help of Recruitment Consultants to hire talent for you should not be your first choice or option.
7) External (Newspaper) Advertisement
This is one of the VERY costly source to hire talent. External Job-Advertisement on media (Newspaper, Television, Radio etc), helps you in Branding and Publicizing your company but if not targeted properly and managed properly, this is one of the POOR but COSTLY source to get suitable talent. You need to understand and plan properly, what type of people you are looking for, from where you can get those people, which newspaper do they read, how you want to get and manage these profiles and what you will be doing with that database or else, you will not be able to get suitable talent.
Social and Professional Networks & Local Communities
There are few professional and social networks, such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, Orkut etc, that you can use to get right type of talent (of the listed networks, LinkedIn is highly recommended). You can also target few NGO’s, Training Institutes and Local Communities to hire low-level, low-cost workers for factories and your companies.
9) Head Hunting (Also called as “Body Shopping”)
There is this bread or group of talent, which are highly experienced, competent with great leadership skills but very passive in job market. They are very experienced in their domain and industry. Sometimes, they are also the founder member of the organization. Generally these are the people working in the capacity of Senior Managers, General Managers, CFO’s, CTO’s, CEO’s, Vice-Presidents, Directors, and Managing Directors etc in their present roles. They do not post their profiles on jobsites. They do not even read job-sections of newspapers. They do not apply for any jobs opportunity. Only very few of their friends and close associates are in procession of their profiles. They need to be challenged by an opportunity. Such people need to be head-hunted. Generally, recruitment consultancies are EXPECTED to do this job. This is a way to get the talent when you are looking for rare and distinct talent that is when you are looking to fill positions like CFO, CEO etc. Here, numbers are not important but quality is. In a year, you might be able to head-hunt 15-20 people but they will be of high worth and value. Not everyone can be a “Head Hunter”, you need to have “special” type of skills to be a “Head Hunter”. Every type of sourcing is not called as head-hunting. For a sourcing to be called as “Head-hunting”, this should involve “rare profiles”; profiles and skill sets not readily available in the market.
10) Talent-Poaching
This, according to some section in the industry, is considered as unethical mode of sourcing and hiring. For this, you need to understand the business of your company and also should be aware of the competitor companies in your industry. Just target those companies and hire in masses from those companies right from the entry level to senior level. This tactic is usually used to kill the competition. This is like a big fish eating the small fish. People across the globe are discussing and debating to ascertain, if the “Talent Poaching” is ethical or unethical. No doubt, this is one of the easiest ways to source trained and talented people within the industry when you have infrastructure and money.
Distinction between Headhunting and Talent PoachingSome talent acquisition managers as well as hiring and recruitment professionals are confused and are not able to discriminate between the two. Here are few differences between the two:
1) Headhunting is associated with senior and rare profiles. Talent Poaching is just sweeping and running through talent-wealth of your competitor.
2) Headhunting is planned. Talent Poaching is targeted.
3) In headhunting, the intention is to get the BEST person for your organization but in Talent Poaching, the intention is to kill your competitor and the competition.
4) Headhunting is about getting a person with “Leadership” skills with “Global Exposure”. Talent Poaching is about “saving the training cost”.
Conclusion
This article is not about “Recruitment Process” or to describe about “Steps involved in Recruitment Process” but just to share the resources and channels to source and identify talent. I have taken care to list all the possible channels. I am sure all the readers will gain from this article.
Factors affecting Global Compensation & Benefits
January 28th, 2010Compensation, in its broadest sense - the perspective that managers must take in the global economy – is at the very heart of every organization’s performance potential. Compensation provides the point at which organizational and individual priorities and goals meet, encouraging the contentment of both parties. It provides the driving force for effectively attracting needed human talent, retaining that talent and encouraging the talent in enduring persistent, enviable and enhanced performance.
While developing the global compensation and benefit composition, HR must deal with many factors that are not present in a domestic environment. In this article, we will discuss about some of those factors that unswervingly impacts global compensation and benefits strategies and general insinuation of those factors on HR professionals.
Factors affecting Global Compensation and Benefits
Developing suitable compensation policies to meet organizational strategies, while efficiently accommodating different types of employment terms and conditions, poses many distinctive challenges for global HR practitioners, such as:
A. Dealing with diverse standards and costs of living and multiple currencies, exchange rates, inflation/deflation rates, tax systems and tax rates.
B. Maintaining the suitable balance between global consistency and local significance.
C. Addressing organizational business changes (expansions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, Greenfield operations and investitures).
D. Complying with local compensation practices, laws and regulations.
E. Accommodating varied employee values and expectations stemming from differences in cultures, languages and communication preferences.
In order to effectively strike a balance among all the above mentioned influences, the HR professional must be aware of the following:
1) Culture: Cultural differences necessitate understanding that the value of compensation and benefits programs is in “the eye of the beholder”. A benefit highly valued in one country may be comparatively worthless in another. Differences are often rooted in subconscious beliefs, attitudes and values.
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a. Engross local contacts to understand usual and traditional compensation and benefits practices.
b. Circumvent headquarter biases or imitation of HQ country policies and procedures (for example, paying sales commissions in risk-averse cultures or reward and recognition programs that reward individual contributions in cultures that places greater prominence on team or group contributions or prefer private gratitude).
2) Economic factors: Many differences subsist from country to country, in terms of the:
I. Influence of politics and power
II. Distribution of wealth across country’s citizenry
III. Unpredictability of events (i.e., sometimes rapid changes in rates of inflation, currency)
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a. Conduct a risk analysis of economic factors and their consequences.
b. Recognize that unofficial sources of authority in a community or region and official governmental personnel may have large impact on what is considered acceptable.
c. Make allowances for local inflation/deflation or currency fluctuations.
d. Create contingency plans to mitigate the risks associated with probable changes in economic factors.
e. Contribute to the local area to support educational facilities, internal training, and child care or other local services.
3) Taxation: Tax regulations vary extensively from country to country. Some countries have no income tax, while others have income tax in excess of 50%. Some benefits that are taxable in one country are not taxable in the geographically adjacent country or vice-versa.
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
I. Comprehend the taxation of cash and noncash compensation, benefits and perquisites – what is taxed, at what rates and at what levels.
II. Engage experts in local compensation and benefits laws and practices.
III. Distinguish that a benefit may be undesirable, depending on how it is taxed.
4) Competitive labor market: At a broader level, the compensation and benefits required to magnetize and sustain talent are determined by the aggressive demand for that talent. However, the nature of the competition for talent may differ across countries and regions, depending on factors such as:
I. Type of talent sought
II. Geographic scope of the talent market
III. Industries in which the talent may be found
IV. Mix of remuneration components
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a. Employ people with similar skills when industry-specific expertise is in short supply or competition is high; retrain or coach the hires on the job.
b. Lead, lag or match the rates of pay in the relative marketplace based on the skills needed, the demand for required talent and the best way to compensate those types of workers.
c. Recommend suitable blend of pay and benefits that will appeal to current or potential employees.
5) Laws and Regulations: Laws and regulations impact the remuneration of employees in many areas, such as:
I. Work hours and compulsory time-off (paid and unpaid)
II. Minimum wage
III. Overtime
IV. Compulsory bonuses
V. Employment at will
VI. Acquired rights
There are remarkable country-to-country variances as well as some regional differences.
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a. Identify benefits that are government-provided, mandated by the government or chosen by the employee.
b. Recognize the differences and similarities in each market.
c. Involve experts in local compensation and benefits laws and regulations.
6) Standardization versus localization: Characteristically, strategies are standardized in keeping with the organizations’ overall compensation and benefits philosophy. Definite practices tend to be localized to fit the context of country, regional or local conditions.
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a) Have a long-term program to sustain the organizational compensation philosophy but also mull over local restrictions, tax regimes and culture.
7) Collective bargaining, employee representation and government mandates: Employees in most parts of the world are protected from actions that impact their wages and employment conditions. Unions play a very strong role in many countries and sometimes include provisions for management as well as employees. Work councils also offer worker protection.
Compensation and benefits strategy recommendations:
a. Appreciate the inferences for minimum wages, severance packages and pensions.
b. Meet requirements of a third-party representation.
c. Distinguish related government regulations and mandates and industry-wide collective agreements.
In addition to above listed factors, the organizational approach to global staffing also influences the compensation and benefit strategies. Relation between global orientation of the organization and its impact on global compensation and strategies is discussed here.
1) Ethnocentric: Tight control of international operations; little autonomy; key positions held by headquarters (HQ) personnel.
Impact on compensation and benefit strategy:
I. This may lead to transfer of headquarters total compensation policies with insufficient contemplation of local legal cultural differences.
II. Dictates to local country management may result in superficial conformity but actual rejection of headquarters practices.
2) Regio-centric: Operations managed regionally; communication and coordination high within the region and less between regions.
Impact on compensation and benefit strategy:
I. There is greater potential for uniformity of remuneration approaches within regions.
II. The proximity of countries may lead to the perception that remuneration practices are more similar than they really are.
III. Regional headquarters may suffer blind spots with respect to country differences, leading to ethnocentrism at the regional level.
3) Polycentric: Subsidiary treated as own entity; local personnel manage operations; few promotions to headquarters.
Impact on compensation and benefit strategy:
I. Local cultural and legal compensation norms are more likely to be understood and implemented.
II. Remuneration policies are likely to be steady and incorporated within each subsidiary.
III. Incentives may tend to maximize achievement of local rather than global objectives.
4) Geocentric: Organization seen as single international enterprise; management talent comes from any location; strategic plan global in orientation.
Impact on compensation and benefit strategy:
I. Local compensation strategies are more likely to be consistent with global policies.
II. A desire for too much global consistency can lead to the imposition of inappropriate policies at the local country level.
III. The development of consistent and equitable remuneration policies among global managers may be challenging as top-level managers move from one country to another.
Conclusion
Compensation, including the overall system of rewards – formal and informal – provides the driving force for effectively attracting, retaining, and encouraging human talent at home and abroad. Important and fundamental practices for managing compensation on a global scale include managing global compensation strategically, considering performance-based pay where appropriate, anticipating the influence of local culture, using a total rewards system perspective, and addressing the duality challenge of global integration and localization.
We hope that the information given in this article will be of use to Compensation and Benefits Specialists in particular and HR Professionals in general.
5 traits that any HR Professionals should not have…traits that can hamper their Growth
January 28th, 20101) Ego or Attitude: Larger than role attitude – Well, where you are working with people, interacting with people and the number of people that you are interacting with is large, you cannot afford to have ego. You need to come down from your level and talk. It is not easy, just next to impossible to match with the expectations of everybody. In this profession, people will hate you, ignore your contribution, blame you but in spite of that you cannot afford to have ego. I have seen HR professionals who are over-flowing with ego. When they start talking, it appears as if they are doing any favor by interacting with you, communicating with you and updating you with new strategy or policy. This is another reason, as why HR professionals are not able to make that impact in this profession to make them counted.
2) Should not be emotional – “Touch everyone’s heart and don’t let them touch yours”. “Be empathetic but don’t cry with your employees”. Every human being is emotional and it’s only irony that to be effective and focused, HR Professionals should not be emotional. By emotional, there is a chance and high probability that they will not be able to do justice with their work. They are like that fish, which need to swim in water to survive but should not get wet.
3) I know everything (I don’t need to learn from you) – This is another negative trait of HR. They present themselves in a way, as if they know everything. That is not an end, the irony is that neither do they have “Subject matter expertise” nor they are good in “Human Relations” and nor do they want to learn anything. This reminds me one story of goat and lion. Goat, whenever she see or come across lion, she closes her eyes and assume that once I close my eyes, lion will not be able to see me. So, that is a situation of HR Professionals.
Read this axiom.
If he don’t know and don’t know that he don’t know, he is arrogant, AVOID him.
If he don’t know and know that he don’t know, he is a student, TEACH him.
If he knows and know that he knows, he is sleeping, WAKE him up.
If he know and know that he knows, he is a LEADER, Follow him.
I think, in this axiom, I have given the message that I want to convey to my fellow HR Professionals.
4) I am GOD; I am THE Kingmaker –
If you are hiring someone;
If you are paying salary to someone;
If you are giving promotion and growth to someone;
If you are nice to someone
You are not doing any favor to him. He deserves, that is why he is getting. If you are giving, even though he do not deserve, then you are CORRUPT.
Many of HR Professionals send across this message to the shop-floor that “Don’t mess with me, I can spoil your career” or “I have done favor for you. Respect me”.
5) Should not be biased (No Favoritism; No Grapevine; No Office Politics) – HR Professionals, most of the time keep themselves engaged in “Office Politics”. They initiate “Grapevine”, water this grapevine and believe in this grapevine. Whatever might be the reason but it is a gray area and they need to improve on that. This is another reason that no one take HR professionals seriously. I know, in one of my previous employment, when we started “Employee Relations” and “Employee Communication”, all employees use to consider this HR Representative as “Company ka jasoos” (Detective from management). In office politics, most of the time HR Department is considered as “Hub of All Politics”. HR Professionals need to come up, and increase their level of thinking. They need to be more matured.
Soft Skills for HR Professionals…
January 28th, 2010Introduction
To work in any profession, one should not only have “Subject Matter Expertise” but also personality, behavior, decorum, mannerism, attitude, professional approach, and thinking to work efficiently and to sustain in that given profession. Failing which, irrespective of your knowledge, education and background you will never be able to grow in that profession. This is also true for HR Profession. There are some minimum expectations from HR Professionals, in the way they carry themselves, behave and present themselves that can hamper or lift their image and professional graph. Some of those traits and attributes I have mentioned in this article. Though, to a large extent I have covered all the attributes but still I consider this list as INCLUSIVE and not EXCLUSIVE. The need is to benchmark your Personality and Behavior. Respect can only be earned and not “asked for”.
Nine Qualities all HR Professionals Should Have
1) Clarity of Thoughts – In most of the situations and circumstances, we come across two options; either we want to do or we don’t want to do; either we agree to it or we don’t agree to it; either it is acceptable or it is not acceptable; either you want or you don’t want. It has been seen that many HR Professionals are confused. They are not clear, where they want to take their company. They don’t know what role they like to play in the organization. They don’t have clarity of role. They don’t have clear expectations, neither from themselves, or from their team or from their internal customers (employees). With this confusion, they fail to take decisions. They fail to take stand.
2) Efficiency in Time Management - HR professionals is expected to be efficient in time management. They are expected to set time-frame and meet those expectations. Most of the time, I have seen that they don’t give any time limit. You approach them for any work and they respond by saying, “Ok, it will be done”. But when? I agree that “Good HR Professionals” have many things to do. Recruitments, Employee Relations, Talent Management, Career Development, Benchmarking, etc are the things, which takes lots of time. But, all goals, all dreams, all activities, all commitments looks good and are achievable, if there is a closing date for that. For Example, I want my company to be in top-10 companies in the world. It’s a Vision. It’s a good dream. But, if I don’t specify, by which year or in how many years, I want to achieve that goal, it will only remain as a dream and will never become a reality. Uncertainty, Ambiguity, Open-Ended commitment, Confusion, these are things, that are not expected from any HR Professional.
3) Compare Performances / Compare Situations & Circumstances but do not compare individuals / People – Knowingly or unknowingly but quite often, instead of Circumstances and Situations, we tend to compare two different people. Instead of analyzing the behavior of a person we tend to analyze them as an individual and take this as our right. The very basic principle of science and management says that no two individuals are same.
4) Knowledge about the Business and Industry – Everybody should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They should be aware as what they want in their life and career. It is a well known fact and has been proved in various surveys that HR professionals don’t care to understand the business of the company and the industry that they are working in. According to the survey done by Virgin Management Consultancy 67% HR Professionals in USA and 83% HR professionals in India do not know the nitty-gritty of their company’s business. They don’t know from where the revenue is coming. They don’t know the business model of their company. I think, as it is important to know about the city and country that you are traveling to; it is equally important to know and understand the business of the company that you are working with.
5) Vision and Goal for the Department, Team and Organization – What you want to do for the organization? Are you planning to implement a competitive compensation plan? Do you want to take your company in the bracket of 25 “Best Employers in the Country”? Are you planning to acquire best of the talent from market? Do you think that you need to control the growing Attrition Rate of your company? Have you thought about “Organization Development” and “Talent Management”? Usually, that is the confusion. HR professionals and HR heads don’t have that vision. They want to do something in HR but don’t know what they can do or should do. They should have vision for the organization for HR perspective and goals for their department and team. It’s a must have. Until and unless you are sure about your destination, you cannot take the path.
6) Love for Number / Data / Figures / Calculations / Analysis / Projections – You talk to any person in any other profession and tell them that you are in HR; two things will automatically flash in their mind – Theory and Politics. One reason why HR professionals in India have not been able to enter into the Board Room and make their presence felt in the organization is because though they have ideas, they have strategies and policies but they are not able to support those strategies with data. (It is because there is no mathematics and calculations involved in this subject that many people [mostly females] love to join this profession).
For example, if I have a “Retention Strategy” and I want to implement in the organization. I need to show, how much the implementation of that strategy will cost; by what percentage the company will be able to increase the employee retention and decrease the attrition; which are the companies that are using this particular strategy and how effective it has been in their cases. If, I am going with this data, calculation and analysis, I am sure that my strategy will be implemented.
Hence, HR professionals need to be more analytical, data oriented and good in calculations. They should not be subjective and theory oriented.
7) Enthusiasm to Share / Develop / Coach and Mentor – We have heard and read in our schools and colleges that “Knowledge is a wealth; the more you distribute/share the more you gain”. In this profession of HRM & D; we are privileged and are in a very unique position where we can develop people. We can develop their career. We can develop their life. We can help them in changing their perception and behavior. We can groom them, so that they can be successful in their life. Don’t you think that we have very important and crucial role to play?? How many of us have actually thought of those lines? Do, think about it, you have one life, give what you can. If 10 people will remember me once I bid adieu to this world for helping them in developing their life, I will consider my life as successful.
Self Discipline – This again is a common quality that everyone should have, irrespective of their respective professions, but it is more appreciable in HR Professionals and is like a must have. They need to set standards for others to follow; they need to benchmark their own behavior and if they start flowing with water, everything else will go for a toss and things will go out of control. I have heard, people saying that I am doing this or that because others are also doing it but that is not expected from HR Professionals. Discipline in life is a must to grow, prosper and being successful. So, set standards and don’t just flow.
9) Trust Worthy – This is very important quality and must have for all HR Professionals. Candidates, at the time of interview share important information with HR; Employees share lots information, personal, professional, ideas, suggestions, future related, dreams etc. Imagine, if the HR professional keep sharing that information with everyone in the team of HR; will that employee ever comeback to HR to share anything with him. NEVER. HR professionals need to win that trust and then maintain and keep that trust. This is very true for HR Professionals, who are working in “Employee Relations”. Relation of any kind, be it with employees, is based on trust and honesty. If ever, you break that trust, you will never be able to win it again.
What is Professionalism? Are you a Professional?
January 28th, 2010Let me start this write-up with a question, what is Professionalism? Are you a Professional? Different people must be having different views on this subject and the chances are that all of them are logically correct. Before that let start with Profession…what are you doing? Are you in a profession? Well, if you are drawing Monetary Benefits for what you are doing, then you are in a profession. So, that way, sports, acting, dancing, selling, politics…everything is a profession. But that doesn’t qualify you as a “Professional”. All those who are in any profession are “not professional”. So, then, who is a professional?
someone mentioned, “Life is not always divided in professional and personal halves in equal percentage. It is always good to break the monotony of the work. Indians that would include me, seem to copy the British since the time they attained freedom.” Do you think that being a professional is a “Punishment” or is a “Restriction”? Being professional is neither of them. Being professional doesn’t not stop you from “enjoying your work” or “enjoying your life”. Hence, being professional is a “Declaration” to the outsiders.
Being professional is a declaration, wherein you mention, how you like to get treated by others? Its about attitude, behavior, self-presentation; self-respect and dignity. It means not just knowing how to do your job, but demonstrating a willingness to learn, cooperating and getting along with others, showing respect, and living up to your commitments. It also means avoiding many kinds of behaviors that cause trouble in the workplace. It doesn’t matter, if you work as a clerk or a CEO of the company but if you behave the way people expect a professional to behave, you’ll be accepted and treated like one.
A person, be in any profession must demonstrate the following behaviors or habit to be called as a “professional”.
“Knowledge and skills of their profession; pride in a profession; accountability for his/her work; Commitment to self-improvement of skills and knowledge; Conscience and trustworthiness; enjoying your work; being committed to your work and they must be a good team-players.”
Let me give you a small test, if you think that you are a “professional” ask the following questions to yourself:
Do you live up to your commitments?
How do you behave with others; your sub-ordinates, peers; seniors; friends; internal or external customers?
Do your managers see you in the right light?
What’s your integrity level?
Do you truly have all the skills required to be successful at your job?
Does people, your co-workers make comments on the way you carry yourself?
Does you and your place, work place or house, is properly organized?
True answers to all above mentioned questions would let you know, if you are a “professional” or not.
As I said in my previous write-up, I am not here to tell people as how they should behave and what behaviors they should avoid. We are in 21st Century, competing with best of the best in global market. There are certain set standards and expected behaviors that we are expected to follow. There are certain expectations of each profession. Even if you are not in a profession or an unemployed or retired person, just as a Human Being you are expected to behave in a certain manner.
Professionalism is not a punishment, it is not an attempt to restrict your freedom but it is a discipline.
Global Economic Recession, Lay-off’s and its Impact on You – Survival of the Fittest
January 28th, 2010Introduction
Most of the countries all over the world are going through this phase of economic recession. Many old and big companies have already been brought down on their knees to bite the dust. Many companies as well as countries have become bankrupt or are on the verge of it. Millions and millions of people have lost their jobs. Many people have lost millions and billions of dollars. People in general are scared and fearsome. This is not the first time that the global economy is going through recession and this is also not the last time. There is a pattern involved in it. On an average it is happening after every 8-10 years. This article is an attempt to highlight some of the issues involved and some of the possible solutions.
Dynamics Involved
In our life, there is a special place for money (be it in any currency). Most of the problems that we are facing in our life and day-to-day living are linked with it. Food, shelter, clothes, life-style, education, comforts and etc and etc, each and everything involves money. Money should be revolving; it comes, it goes and it comes back again. It should always change hands or else it is useless. It is this nature of the money that drives the economy of a country, a company or our life. And when you are going through recession, it means no money is coming in. Money is not coming in but yet you need to live and hence there is a need for cost-cutting. But you never know how long the recession will continue and hence more cost cutting. People drive the economy and when there is recession then it is these very people who suffer.
…and then you are laid off. Now what? What will you do? How will you survive? How will you take care of yourself and your family? Earlier there was less money coming in and now there is no money coming in, what will you do?
In such times of global recession when everyone is trying hard to survive and pass through one of the toughest phase of their life, no one thinks about making the profit out of adversity. Everyone is trying to survive and it will be survival of the fittest. Anyone who will be able to pass through this will come out as a stronger entity or person or country. Companies are no exception to this rule. They are also trying hard to survive. With them they are also trying to float and swim through as many people as possible but certainly not all. As a part of cost cutting, some of the employees need to be laid off so that the company and others can survive. Similar things happens in a lift, when it is overloaded; ship, when it is sinking and even airplane, when it is overloaded and etc. Something or someone needs to go out for the rest of them to survive.
But, what is the pattern? Who needs to be laid-off? When? How? There are many such questions that need to be addressed. Let’s move further and discuss.
The Pattern
There is a set process that needs to be followed at the time of laying-off. I am not sure how many companies actually follow it. Let me elaborate.
1) Freezing the recruitment. No new hiring.
2) Fresh graduates or those who are new to the market will find it difficult to get a job. More so, if they are not from A-grade institutes.
3) Last in, First Out. Among the employees who are already inside the company and are employed, the person who has joined recently will be the first one to go out. To be more precise, all those who are on their probation will be shown the door.
4) Average performers or difficult employee will also be shown the door. Performance records of last three years will be re-examined and reanalyzed and those with average or below average performance will be shown the door.
5) Outsourcing to increase. Most of the routine functions will be outsourced and those departments will be closed.
What more to expect?
1) Training and Development programs to freeze. No more expenditures on company sponsored training and development programs.
2) Perks, benefits and retention allowances to be withdrawn. The company will freeze all perks and benefits that has been extended to its senior employees.
3) Bonuses and incentives to be stopped. For the time being the companies will stop all the bonuses and incentives that are due to its employees.
4) Specialists are out and generalists are in. At the time when economy was booming, companies might have hired different people for different role within a function / department or most likely they have hired more than one person for a role, all these arrangements will go away and only those people who are willing to do the work of more than one person or those who can do multiple roles will stay in.
This is the basic process that is followed in many companies at the time of such economic crisis. What does it means to the people in general and what they should be doing? There is something to be learned from every crisis and this one is no different. Let’s discuss further.
Learning’s
It is not important to know what is happening across the world but it is important to know what is happening in your company. It is also important to keep an eye on the market situation and keep yourself updated with the latest. If you are the one who has been laid-off, then you must be the one falling in any of the above mentioned scenarios. I think you also need to take the blame of your current situation. However, there is no need to get panic. Hold your emotions and look around.
If you are the one who has been laid-off then you must do the following:
1) Time with family. Remember when you were working and working for 12-15 hours a day, how difficult it was for you to find some time for your family. Now is your time to be with your family. Spend some time with them. Strengthen your bond with them.
2) Improve your skills and personality. No one is perfect and there is a scope for improvement in everyone of us. Use this time to work on your areas of improvement and weaknesses. Sharpen your skills.
3) Work on your professional and personal network. Networking is very important for the growth of an individual. Use this time to build and strengthen your professional and personal network, so that whenever the market situation improves, you get the benefit of it.
4) Heading back to schools, colleges and institutes. This is also a good time for you to share your knowledge and experiences with new generation and to pass on your intellectual legacy to them. Get associated with some colleges and institutes to do so. There is a possibility that you might get paid for it, which in turn might give you the required financial support.
These are some of the ways you can spend your time during this phase.
Good time and bad time will always be there but when we pass through the good phase of our life we forget to prepare for the bad time. We get carried away. We do not plan for our future and difficult times lying ahead and crisis and adversities are part and parcel of our life that we cannot run-away from. Recession of one such crisis and we need to prepare our selves for all such adversities. We can do it in a following way:
1) Save generously and invest wisely. In such crisis, nothing but only your savings in the bank can save you. More the savings that you might have lesser will be your pain.
It is also important for you to invest wisely. The higher the risk the higher will be the gain and more higher will be the loss. Hence, one needs to think about it.
2) Both husband and wife should be working. In some conservative families, even in this 21st century, only males are allowed to work. But I think if both husband and wife works that also lessens the pain. If one person looses the job, the other will have and hence the money will still come in.
3) Keep updating your existing skills all the time and acquiring new skills. Don’t take anything for guaranteed. Learn and relearn. Keep the sword of your skills sharpen, all the time. Learn new things and that can help in your professional growth.
4) Have a hobby that can also be transformed into a profession. We all should have some hobbies. To do things in our spare time that we are passionate about. Painting, dancing, music, writing, acting and etc are some hobbies that can also be transformed as a profession, if required.
Now, these are few things that might help you to overcome any type of economic recession or crisis in your life
