Human Resource

Sizing the emerging global labor market

2005-07-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

The topic of offshoring generates extreme differences of opinion among policy makers, business executives, and thought leaders. Some have argued that nearly all service jobs will eventually move from developed economies to low-wage ones. Others say that rising wages in cities such as Bangalore and Prague indicate that the supply of offshore talent is already running thin.

To a large extent, these disagreements reflect the confusion surrounding the newly integrating and still inefficient global labor market. Much as technology change is making it possible to integrate global capital markets into a single market for savings and investment, so digital communications are giving rise to what is, in effect, a single global market for those jobs that can now, thanks to IT, be performed remotely from customers and colleagues.

Complete article at : McKinseyQuarterly

Creating a Positive Professional Image

2005-07-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

n today’s diverse workplace, your actions and motives are constantly under scrutiny. Time to manage your own professional image before others do it for you. An interview with professor Laura Morgan Roberts.

by Mallory Stark

As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are.

"People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace," she says. "It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish."

There are plenty of books telling you how to "dress for success" and control your body language. But keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You can put on a suit and cut your hair to improve your appearance, but how do you manage something like skin color?

Roberts will present her research, called "Changing Faces: Professional Image Construction in Diverse Organizational Settings," in the October issue of the Academy of Management Review.

Read the interview at : HBS

Designing Better Employee Benefits

2005-07-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

Health care costs are rising so quickly that they threaten to eclipse profits in many Fortune 500 companies.
Given the impact of benefits costs, you might think that senior executives would be doing everything possible to control them and make the most of this investment in the workforce.
But in fact, most companies have failed to approach benefits with the same rigor they bring to other major investments, such as research and development.
Benefits plan managers should view employees as internal consumers and conduct research to learn how to deliver the most value at an affordable price.

Complete article at McKinsey Quarterly

A dearth of HR talent

2005-06-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

All is not well with human resources. Many European companies don't have enough HR professionals who understand business issues—a necessity for recruiting and retaining talent. At the same time, companies complain that HR fails to provide basic services efficiently. The gulf between the goals of this critical corporate function and the organization's needs has implications for recruitment, training, and development.
The take-away

The HR function is at a crossroads. Companies may need to adopt a two-tiered approach that distinguishes between generalists with broad business experience and specialists with a deep knowledge of HR issues.

Complete article at :McKinsey Quarterly

Why do organizations want "previous work experience"?

2005-06-14T01:18:00.000-07:00

This post is triggered by Heather's post here.
I also think there's a comfort level taking risks on new grads because they are less opinionated about what *works* in the business world (oh come on, I know I have an opinion on "how things work"...otherwise this blog would be b-o-r-i-n-g). But on the flip side, career changers bring so much maturity and different perspective to the table. Are hiring authorities worried that their next desired role is just an experiment? That they are trying something new because they failed at what they did before? Or do we embrace the risk taker?My response (not that I necessarily that I agree with it) tries to reason out why an organization might not look at somebody with "non-relevant" work experience for an experienced level opening.It is easier to get a transition with your current employer than to ask for a change with a new employer.Look at it this way, every hiring decision is a risk that the organization takes, and asking for previous experience is a way to mitigate that risk...that is because there are lots of factors that can be behind a successful talented person...like great organizational processes, a great team, top management support...you don't know if in your organization he/she will be as successful...but you still take a chance as the person has done this thing before...On the other hand hiring someone new without any previous experience in that kind of role actually means taking the most risk...sure it might pay off handsomely , but typically management is about reducing risks in most organizations.
This post is triggered by Heather's post here.
I also think there's a comfort level taking risks on new grads because they are less opinionated about what *works* in the business world (oh come on, I know I have an opinion on "how things work"...otherwise this blog would be b-o-r-i-n-g). But on the flip side, career changers bring so much maturity and different perspective to the table. Are hiring authorities worried that their next desired role is just an experiment? That they are trying something new because they failed at what they did before? Or do we embrace the risk taker?My response (not that I necessarily that I agree with it) tries to reason out why an organization might not look at somebody with "non-relevant" work experience for an experienced level opening.It is easier to get a transition with your current employer than to ask for a change with a new employer.Look at it this way, every hiring decision is a risk that the organization takes, and asking for previous experience is a way to mitigate that risk...that is because there are lots of factors that can be behind a successful talented person...like great organizational processes, a great team, top management support...you don't know if in your organization he/she will be as successful...but you still take a chance as the person has done this thing before...On the other hand hiring someone new without any previous experience in that kind of role actually means taking the most risk...sure it might pay off handsomely , but typically management is about reducing risks in most organizations. This post is triggered by Heather's post here.
I also think there's a comfort level taking risks on new grads because they are less opinionated about what *works* in the business world (oh come on, I know I have an opinion on "how things work"...otherwise this blog would be b-o-r-i-n-g). But on the flip side, career changers bring so much maturity and different perspective to the table. Are hiring authorities worried that their next desired role is just an experiment? That they are trying something new because they failed at what they did before? Or do we embrace the risk taker?My response (not that I necessarily that I agree with it) tries to reason out why an organization might not look at somebody with "non-relevant" work experience for an experienced level opening.It is easier to get a transition with your current employer than to ask for a change with a new employer.Look at it this way, every hiring decision is a risk that the organization takes, and asking for previous experience is a way to mitigate that risk...that is because there are lots of factors that can be behind a successful talented person...like great organizational processes, a great team, top management support...you don't know if in your organization he/she will be as successful...but you still take a chance as the person has done this thing before...On the other hand hiring someone new without any previous experience in that kind of role actually means taking the most risk...sure it might pay off handsomely , but typically management is about reducing risks in most organizations.
This post is triggered by Heather's post here.
I also think there's a comfort level taking risks on new grads because they are less opinionated about what *works* in the business world (oh come on, I know I have an opinion on "how things work"...otherwise this blog would be b-o-r-i-n-g). But on the flip side, career changers bring so much maturity and different perspective to the table. Are hiring authorities worried that their next desired role is just an experiment? That they are trying something new because they failed at what they did before? Or do we embrace the risk taker?My response (not that I necessarily that I agree with it) tries to reason out why an organization might not look at somebody with "non-relevant" work experience for an experienced level opening.It is easier to get a transition with your current employer than to ask for a change with a new employer.Look at it this way, every hiring decision is a risk that the organization takes, and asking for previous experience is a way to mitigate that risk...that is because there are lots of factors that can be behind a successful talented person...like great organizational processes, a great team, top management support...you don't know if in your organization he/she will be as successful...but you still take a chance as the person has done this thing before...On the other hand hiring someone new without any previous experience in that kind of role actually means taking the most risk...sure it might pay off handsomely , but typically management is about reducing risks in most organizations.

Written by Gautam Ghosh on his blog

KM reads click here

Executive Comp: Pay Without Performance

2005-05-31T00:16:00.000-07:00

Out-of-control executive compensation schemes are “widespread, persistent, and systemic,” and new reforms won’t clean up the mess, argue law professors Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried. Q&A and book excerpt.

by Mallory Stark

In the new book Pay Without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation, Lucian Bebchuk and Jesse Fried make the case that the executive compensation system in the U.S. is fundamentally broken. We like to think that executive pay is the product of arm's-length negotiation, that the executive bargains in his or her own best interest, while the board of directors bargains for the best interests of the shareholders. Bebchuk and Fried argue that, in fact, soaring executive pay is the result of management power.

Complete article at HBR

For latest on KM click here

The Overlooked Highest Performers: Workforce

2005-05-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

Ironically, the most important workers sometimes don’t receive adequate training. Herman Miller is looking to change that.
By Joe Mullich

The people who are most important to running a company today--and would most immediately be missed--often receive the least amount of leadership training, says Linda Milanowski, director of learning and development for Herman Miller, the 82-year-old-furniture maker.

Complete article at :Workforce

Women Want Flexibility Is The Human Resources Department Listening

2005-05-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Flexibility Key to Retaining Women

In the workplace, employers need to take into account women who take a temporary "off-ramp" from their careers. Here is how to keep them connected to your company. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review.

by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce

Employers can no longer pretend that treating women as "men in skirts" will fix their retention problems. Like it or not, large numbers of highly qualified, committed women need to take time out. The trick is to help them maintain connections that will allow them to come back from that time without being marginalized for the rest of their careers. [...]

Provide flexibility in the day. Some women don't require reduced work hours; they merely need flexibility in when, where, and how they do their work. Even parents who employ nannies or have children in day care, for example, must make time for teacher conferences, medical appointments, volunteering, child-related errands—not to mention the days the nanny calls in sick or the day care center is closed. Someone caring for an invalid or a fragile elderly person may likewise have many hours of potentially productive time in a day yet not be able to stray far from home.

Complete Article at HBR

Regarding this issue several companies like Airbus, GE, etc, offer special treatment to their female employees. Even in India companies like Reliance, Wipro many new BPOs have flexible working plans for their female staff.

More on KM

Negotiating What You're Worth- The Human Resource Management Way

2005-05-26T02:05:00.000-07:00

Should you be the first to mention money? What is your main goal in negotiating a salary raise? How do you prepare for negotiation obstacles? A negotiation expert gives tips in this article from the Harvard Management Communication Letter.

Mark Gordon has helped businesspeople, governments, and educators understand the intricacies of successful negotiating. A founder of the negotiation consultancy Vantage Partners, he has negotiated in difficult situations around the world, including Nicaragua, the Middle East, and South Africa. Gordon spoke with HMCL about strategies for negotiating a starting salary or a raise.

Is it true that you should never be the first to mention money? What do you do if they ask you first for a figure?

There is no hard-and-fast rule as to when to bring up salary during a job interview. In most cases, the prospective employer initiates the conversation. You would ordinarily expect the employer to go first both with a specific set of terms and in raising the salary issue. For most regular, full-time employment positions, there are clearly established job descriptions and salary ranges, so it would make sense for the employer, who has access to all those data, to go first.

On the other hand, when a lawyer or accountant seeks an engagement, they would normally go first in indicating the fee basis for their engagement. Similarly, a senior executive or manager seeking employment in a temporary position or for some special purpose like a corporate turnaround might go first because they are not filling a regular employment slot for which there are well-established criteria and a clear job description.

What should your main goal be when negotiating salary or a salary increase?

Broadly speaking, your main goal is always to meet your interests as well as possible. Most of us have an interest in money, but our interests are very diverse. One employee may be concerned primarily with regular, guaranteed current income. Another may be concerned mostly about potential upside and be willing to take a much lower base compensation with an upside potential for bonuses, commissions, or profit sharing. Another may be mostly concerned about building value for retirement, and be willing to defer short-term compensation in return for building a big nest egg with equity for the future. Another may be concerned about deferring income as much as possible and minimizing current tax consequences, and would find options or warrants more attractive than current cash compensations. Another may trade off current compensation for other nonsalary benefits and perks that he or she finds more valuable.

Complete article at : HBR

Intresting articles on KM click here

When Employees Have Equity Attitude- Return on Human Capital Surges

2005-05-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

by Corey Rosen, John Case, and Martin Staubus

Editor's note: The attitude of companies with programs for employee equity runs something like this: This is our company, and we will do whatever is necessary to help it succeed. It's that can-do attitude that makes equity stakes not only good for morale, but good for business, says the authors of Equity. In this excerpt, the three necessary elements to a successful equity model are explored.

The three elements of equity
So how does a company reach the point where most employees share this attitude? That's where the specifics of ownership and management come in—how the business is structured and how it is run. None of the companies we studied followed exactly the same path. But the research and interviewing suggest that there are three key elements and that without all of them, it won't work. One element is equity itself—stock ownership significant enough that it matters to employees' financial future. The second is a culture that helps people think and feel like the owners they are. The third, and often overlooked, element is a shared understanding of key business disciplines, and a common commitment to pursuing them.

Complete article at HBR

Articles on KM here

HR Management: American v/s European

2005-05-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

MOST people greet the weekend with gratitude. But some economists view it with puzzlement. Why, they wonder, does the bulk of the population rest on the same two days each week? Why does everyone's week end at “the” weekend? From an economic point of view, it would surely be more efficient to stagger days of rest throughout the week. That way, expensive pieces of equipment would not lie idle for two days in seven, and infrastructure would be less congested the other five.

One person impressed by this logic was Josef Stalin, who rationalised the Soviet calendar in 1929. Workers were given every fifth day off, but their shifts were staggered, so that factories could run without interruption. The staggered week appealed rather less to the people who worked it, however. According to Witold Rybcynski's 1991 book about leisure, “Waiting for the Weekend”, Stalin's four days on, one day off, was unpopular, even though it was less onerous than the six-day week that preceded it. Families and friends rarely had the same day off; administrative staff rarely worked at the same time. After less than three years, the staggered working week was abandoned.

Complete Article here

More KM articles here

Giving Employees What They Want

2005-05-23T02:18:00.000-07:00

David Sirota, co-author of The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit by Giving Workers What They Want (Wharton School Publishing), believes far too many managers stifle employee enthusiasm across the board by using bureaucratic or punitive techniques that should be reserved for a troublesome few.

Yet his book, written with Louis A. Mischkind and Michael Irwin Meltzer, finds that firms where employee morale is high -- such as Intuit and Barron's -- tend to outperform competitors. The authors' research is based on the results of 2.5 million employee surveys taken since 1994.

For example, out of 28 companies employing 920,000 studied by Sirota Consulting, the share price of 14 companies -- those considered to have high morale -- increased an average 16% in 2004. Those prices were then compared to the companies' industry averages, where the increase was just 6%. Six "low morale" companies saw their prices increase, on average, by 3%, as against an overall industry average of 16%. Industry comparisons were based on data from 9,240 companies.

In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Sirota says managers should rely on common sense principles that allow workers to take pride in their work. He urges them to reject trendy, get-tough tactics that were promoted in the late 1990s, such as trimming staff even at healthy companies in order to improve shareholder value.

Read complete article here

Read about latest in KM here

The CEO's Path to the Top:

2005-05-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

An intresting article on Knowledge Wharton

When Edward D. Breen was named chairman and CEO of scandal-plagued Tyco International in July 2002, one national magazine reasoned that he had taken on a job that would make "lesser CEOs quake in their wingtips." But Breen's footsteps to the top were not just steady; they also tracked a new pathway to the executive suite, one no longer dictated by the older, company-trained, academic-elite candidates. Breen was 46, a graduate of a non-Ivy League school and, to everyone's relief, had moved up the corporate ranks of another company entirely, never holding a job at Tyco until he was named CEO.

As one of the top human resource executives at EDS, Tracey M. Friend found that her entrepreneurial background was a plus when she interviewed for the job of portfolio manager for recruitment services. A graduate of the University of Florida, the 35-year-old Friend had already built and sold her own Internet recruitment and training company and worked for two competing technology companies before joining EDS last August. "Skills and capabilities open the doors, not degrees," she said.

And when Ed W. Flowers, 48, was named senior vice president for human resources at Russell Corp. -- the Atlanta-based apparel company -- in July 2003, he had no reservations about joining the executive ranks of a company where he had never worked. "People advance in their careers today based on performance," said Flowers, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who had previously been global head of HR for the Merisant, a Chicago-based maker of table sweetener products. Advancement is "not based on an entitlement mentality."

Read Complete article:Knowledge Wharton

Some KM Reads

Employer branding is key in fight for talent

2005-05-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

An intresting survey that reveals the secrets of Employer Branding:

In the war for talent, HR professionals are not being equipped with one of the most important weapons in the recruitment armoury – employer branding.

An exclusive survey of 1,889 Personnel Today readers with responsibility for recruitment reveals that 95% of respondents believe employer branding is ‘important’

For more KM related articles log on to : http://siddharthnagpal.blogspot.com

Bosses can be fussy that way.

2005-05-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

Ross Hopkins says he was fired from a Budweiser beer distributor for drinking Coors after hours.
Bosses can be fussy that way.But while some employers push for greater control over their employees after their work day ends, lawyers and activists say there are limits on how far they can go.

Read this intresting news in DenverPost.

Tell us what do you think about this issue.Post your comments here.

Also, log onto Siddharth's blog for some intresting reads on KM

What your Human Capital is worth?

2005-05-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

Writes: Gautam Ghosh

Infosys says that it does. Using the Lev and Schwartz model it has come to the conclusion that its total Human Capital is worth $ 6.4 billion. The report expands that:

The 36,750 employees of India’s second largest software exporter have been
valued at Rs 28,334 crore (US $6.4 billion), while its software professionals
numbering 34,747 are valued at Rs 26,550 crore. The remaining 2,003 supporting
staff have been valued at Rs 1,784 crore, Infosys said in its 2004-05 annual
report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission

Hewitt's-Human Capital Foresight

2005-05-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hewitt’s new “Human Capital Foresight” initiative seems pretty cool:

Today, a corporation's investment in human capital is one of the largest—if not the largest—asset a company manages. So it's critical that a company's senior management can analyze and defend its human resource investments the same as any other—in terms of return on investment (ROI).

Some organizations are now working with Hewitt to pilot Human Capital Foresight™, a new service from Hewitt based on sophisticated predictive analytics. The pilot group will evaluate groundbreaking measurement techniques that show how key characteristics of human capital, such as talent attraction, motivation, and retention, can impact the bottom line. The foundation of Human Capital Foresight is the rich and broad data, on nearly 18 million employees, contained in Hewitt's unparalleled data warehouse.

Poaching is IN

2005-05-13T23:23:00.000-07:00

Poacher Poacher everywhere , not a time to think........

Poaching have been one of the oldest and the most extensive HR function (excuse me! For saying so).
This is a function on which nothing have been documented, but one can often overhear long stories almost everywhere.
Earlier this was a trend popular only among the top honchos of the corporate world, however as time progressed the so called Placement/Poaching agencies have taken this practice to the middle and lower management levels as well.

This poaching practice plagues several industries in phases earlier its used to be popular in manufacturing and sales companies, then later with the upcoming of IT companies , IT professionals used to be the prime poaching targets, then came the BPO phase, now is the turn of the our civil aviation industry. The pilots are being poached across several new airlines.

Besides, causing a significant economic loss to the losing firm, poaching also causes a loss of motivation in the company staff.

However, time and again certain steps have been jointly taken up to curb such practices, but I believe none of such steps can be effective in curbing poaching.

What do you say? Post your comments

Benchmarking inflates CEO's salaries

2005-05-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

Do you know how much your CEO is worth? The air may be rare and the position precarious, but most CEOs are still riding high:

It sure would be sweet to have your pay based on what the highest earners make in your industry, or better yet in any industry.

That isn't how it works for most employees, but it is certainly a reality for many of the nation's CEOs. Their already out-of-the-ballpark pay has soared over the last decade thanks largely to how benchmarks are used in determining their compensation.

However, with increasing shareholder pressure and other forces at work, there is a countervaling trend, with more and more firms now adjusting compensation at the top:

Those kind of pressures are certainly pushing some companies to change their benchmarks. Mercer Human Resources Consulting, which works with many big U.S. companies, said that it has started seeing what it describes as a "move toward the median" among its clients.

Matching people and jobs

2005-05-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

Achieving the most productive combination of workers and work is about to become a great deal easier says Mckinsey quarterly

Sooner or later, every executive faces a similar people problem: as part of a large corporation, you may oversee, say, ten regional vice presidents, store managers, or unit heads and must assign them effectively. You know that the adroit management of small variations in their preferences and skills can make a marked difference in their productivity—and in your company’s earnings

Working Hours. How Long is Long?

2005-05-10T03:32:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days when 8 hrs of work was considered long enough..but now the scenario has changed across the world.

Now, It's time to rethink should there be any limit to working hours or is it at the liberty of the employer

Here's an intresting article

FBT flouts ITA

2005-05-09T01:44:00.000-07:00

Having successfully waltzed the political tightrope with the Budget, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram delivered a sucker punch to the common man.

Following a huge public outcry, the finance minister was constrained to partially roll back two seemingly senseless tax proposals -- withdrawal tax and fringe benefit tax.

Perhaps, he feared that the practical option of a complete roll-back would bestow him with the title of a 'Roll-Back Finance Minister'.

Perhaps, with the passage of time, he will realise that ministers come and go; people forget them, but not their legacy.

Leadership mantras from Russian President

2005-05-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former Judo champion, says the sport is not just 'a sport but a philosophy', which taught him that strategy, not strength, matters.

HR Outsourcing Awards

2005-05-07T01:39:00.000-07:00

HRO Today Magazine and the Human Resources Outsourcing Association(R) announced recipients of the annual HRO Industry Awards, which were presented on April 12, 2005 in New York City.

And the winners are:

-HRO Person of the Year: Glenn Davidson, Accenture HR Services
-HRO Provider of the Year: Hewitt Associates
-HRO Customer Relationship of the Year: Accenture -HR Services/British Telecom
-HRO Customer Relationship - Middle Market: Accenture HR Services/Levi's
-HRO Sourcing Advisor of the Year: Mark Hodges, Equaterra
-HRO Lawyer of the Year: Bill Bierce, Bierce and Kenerson
-HRO Provider Executive of the Year: David Clinton, Accenture HR Services
-HRO Buyer Executive of the Year: Margaret Savage, British Telecom
-HRO Thought Leader of the Year: Joe Vales, Vales Consulting
-HRO Payroll Provider of the Year: Ultimate Software
-HRO Relocation Provider of the Year: Cendant Mobility
-HRO Recruitment Process Outsourcing Provider of the Year: Accolo

source:http://gauteg.blogspot.com/