Konnnecting HR

Leadership & Business Health

2018-09-25T01:23:00.002-07:00

Leadership as it goes- it’s not a designation or title. It’s the way of leading and showing the path to your teams. It’s not something which is cascaded or built upon, it’s natural and leaders are born to lead. The leadership style that you exhibit as a leader has a direct correlation to your results and the health of your business.

An autocratic or authoritative style of leadership might deliver and give you good results in short term. However, it hampers long term and sustained growth as it affects the team’s performing and ideation capabilities.

Some examples of such type of leadership, which should be avoided as it, will have a negative impact on the overall health of your business:

· If the leader is poking nose in everything what teams are doing. It has to be participative form with leader leading

· Not sharing business information or the way ahead builds non performing teams as employees do not trust the leader and things are not transparent

· Cornering someone in a team meeting or outside is another aspect to be avoided

· Raising pitch/tone or sharing feedback in front of others does not build trust and invites disrespect- A big No!

· Micro managing work and teams

· Not sharing constructive feedback

· Not providing solution to problems is not what leadership is about

Leadership does not come with seniority or large teams that you manage. It comes with maturity, perseverance and brews from the team that you lead.

In a longer run, the health of the business goes down as the performing teams become disengaged from the vision of the person who manages those teams. The leader looses the value of the position she/he is supposed to lead.

Few signs which might give you an indication of such a problem in your business:

· Employees not willing to share issues with you/management

· Increase in back office/corridor talks

· Increase in attrition

· Challenge to retain your trained pool as they look for new opportunities

· Use of social media platforms by employees to vent anger as status messages

· Ideation stops in the team

· Anonymous concerns being raised through emails

It’s important to keep a check on leadership and the people practices to ensure the health of heart (people), soul (values) and mind (processes) of the business.

Are you a catalyst?

2018-09-25T01:21:00.004-07:00

The morning when you start your day, the evening when you reach back home, the hero of this story is always you and you alone. It depends on how you shape the events of the day and carve your own story. The story is never about who is the catalyst in your life, who is that villain who will drag you down the success ladder. Your mind and heart is in charge of the decisions you take and how you shape the future.

As an employee, you are the catalyst of the equation where organization, your mentor, competitors, external market and organization culture are the chemicals which react but the outcome- which is your future and the success is derived by the catalyst in that equation. The outcome can help achieve your dreams or otherwise can form a chain reaction, which becomes a vicious cycle and you are unable to close the chemical reaction.

Properties of the catalyst in discussion need to be:

· Out of box thinker like the unknown members of the periodic table

· Be like elements Na, Ca which are key members to form the backbone of the universe and human being

· Result oriented like inert gases which do not react with other chemical substances

· Structured approach and logical thinking like the structured members ordered in periodic table on basis of atomic number

· Remain unfazed by the challenges on the way like the actual catalyst whose mass remains unchanged after the chemical reaction

It depends on which path you chose on everyday basis and drive the positive energies around you towards your larger objective and goal in life.

2018: What next?

2018-01-07T06:14:00.001-08:00

Happy 2018 to all the readers and this month, let’s figure out what this year unfolds for HR. With millennials in the workplace - empowered, information on finger tips and highly socially connected- here are few aspects which will be crucial for organisations to survive as attract the right talent:

Moving from employee engagement to employee experience- Employees now are looking for the experience organisations have to offer and do not get swayed by the engagement index/numbers. Experience is brought through the culture team builds, the practices built and implemented by the organisation and through unique incentives/benefits offered (Not the cash part)
AI & HR- As discussed in my earlier blog, AI and HR will have a long term relationship to offer unique experience to the workforce. Chatbots will be the ‘IN’ thing to check the pulse on floor and engage employees
Digitizing HR- With all information on the ‘thumb’ of the employees and moving towards a total digitized HR. Back end processes to run automatically through highly complex systems and attracting talent basis competency and not on skill sets and past experiences
#MeToo- This trend will also get absorbed in the workplace and organisations would have to ensure that grievances are resolved and build an environment and systems where harassment in any form is not tolerated
Branding- Employers will have to focus on employer branding as Millenials/Gen Y are not attracted towards the CTC component only. They need to be convinced on ‘What’s in it for me’ and where I would be in next 1 year.

Reward Strategy for Millennials!

2017-02-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

How do we consumerize the rewards strategy for millennials who have entered our workforce? We have been debating and working on rewards strategy for Gen Y all these years, however, with millennials joining us we need to decide how we consumerize the rewards strategy for them. Across the globe, there has been a massive change happening due to shift in ideology, demographic change (workforce dynamics) and technological factors.

Let’s discuss on how we can re-define our rewards strategy for the millennials:

Medical Insurance- Gone are the days when medical insurance as a benefit was a differentiating factor for talent in the market. What needs to be re-defined is the insurance for the dependents as well for the new age workforce

Medical Benefits- As the new recruits are busy in office, it takes a load off from the mind if they know there is someone (Tie-up with medical facilities) who can take of their parents/dependents and they can provide medical care, OPD (Corporate tie-up) and lab diagnostics from the comfort of homes

Health Checkup- How about telling your employees that you need not worry about minor health problems and check ups as we have doctor in our office to take care of that. We will also have dental, eye and health check done regularly in the office. Healthier workforce means productive workforce

Accommodation- Millennials relocating for jobs will always take it as a point of consideration on selecting job offer if they know that my office has a tie-up with company who will assist me for accommodation (E.g. Motif) or they already have accommodations available for me to walk in (E.g. CoHo)

Home Furniture & Appliances Rental- What more could you have asked, if you know that after helping you settling in the new city, your new workplace has another tie-up with a company where you can rent all the stuff you need in the house ranging from bed to refrigerator to a recliner (E.g. Rentickle)

The strategy needs to be constantly revisited and re-worked as millennials do not belong to a null set but rather its always intersection of various subsets!

Future of AI & HR:

2017-01-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered how would you feel if you didn’t have to check your schedule on a day when you are sick? Or do not want to fill up a feedback coming from HR end? AI and Chatbot is the new age HR which will help you to avoid the age old processes in your daily work life.

With the new chatbots coming up employee will be able to send a communication to his/her manager regarding a sick leave and the chatbot will automatically alert all the users w.r.t your schedule. Chatbot will help your manager to align the meetings in your absence. Gone would be the days when you are writing a mail to HR and waiting for revert. With chatbot you would be able to ask queries or clarifications on any company policy or process and you would be able to get an instant answer.

HR would not be required to send lengthy feedback forms but with the help of chatbot they would be able to gauge the pulse of the people through set of defined questions. HR including the business leaders would be able to view the responses, which would help them to take necessary intervention. AI will alert the business leaders and HR on how the people are feeling and who are the people who have moved from happy to unhappy zone or even probably have become a fence sitter. Annual Employee Satisfaction Survey will become archaic and real time feedback through AI will become the fashionable thing to be implemented.

The future of performance management will be when employees will share their feedback with chatbot on a regular basis and not fill the long annual performance forms. Chatbot will be the new friend of all the managers to give them real updated information. HR will also see a transition from people to business and interventions. AI will be the new tool to help HR in decision making.

Chatbots on mobile phones will revolutionise the way we work and will become a key ask from Gen Z/Millenials.

HR Trends:2017

2017-01-03T03:48:00.000-08:00

As we usher into another year, let’s welcome 2017 with open minds, free thoughts and network clouds to understand the complexities that we deal with everyday. 2017 will witness more technology, financial and human disruptions. With Amazon Go, PayPass, Digital Wallet & with latest UPI/BHIM transactional modes coming into mainstream, it will require people capabilities and competencies to be constantly upgraded to remain ahead of the mind game.

Let’s look at some of the competencies, capabilities and trends which would be necessary to add in 2017:

Learning Agility- People need to be constantly upgraded on the latest happenings around the world and should always in hunger mode to learn new things. It will require our people to quickly unlearn and learn new things
Communication - It is of utmost importance for the leadership to be constantly in touch with the employees in a volatile and dynamic business environment. It also means that leadership should also be seen taking feedback and inputs from the people as any idea or suggestion could be a game changing strategy
Transparency - Companies should ensure that they are having transparent policies and processes as with holding of information or knowledge may be instigator for competition. Having ambiguity or not leading the vision of the organization will not lead to path breaking innovative products
Data – This year will require HR professional to build more data predictive models and partner with the business to take accurate decisions
Career Development- Carving clear defined road maps for employees and providing them avenues to learn new things will be very important for quarterly feedback, performance management and as retention strategy
Reward Practices & Tools- It will be required to innovate more in terms of benefits rather than relying only on money. With more of Gen Z/Millenials in the workplace and the business models it will be required to build HR tools on smartphone, empower them with information through mobile and engage with the employees through apps

Let’s look forward for this New Year as a new opportunity to learn and consequently keep ourselves innovating!

Workplace Bullying!

2016-08-08T06:13:00.002-07:00

Workplace bullying or exhibiting unreasonable behavior towards any one is something which is found at every workplace and could be subtle as well. It not only discriminates against the employees but also impacts physical and emotional well being.

Here are some of signs that will help you understand if you are also one of the victims:

·   Your boss keeps a record of your negatives/mistakes rather than focusing on the positives
·         You don’t want to talk to certain people and avoid confrontation with them
·         You tend to show your frustration at some other place or person
·         Your boss/colleague takes all the credit of your work
·         There is a lot of yelling at workplace and you feel threatened, humiliated or insulted
·         You are not invited to meetings or lunch discussions
·         You feel you want to take a break for mental health

Every employee should be treated respectfully at work and with dignity. In case you have felt any of these signs you need to immediately contact your senior management/harassment committee for quick resolution to your problems. Corporates need to immediately address this issue and come up with anti-bullying policy which addresses the concerns and list the consequences.

HRnomics!

2016-03-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

HRnomics or the economic principles of strategic human resources management are those basic rules of our business strategy, which align the people strategy with the business profitability. It is commonly seen that business houses and startups are focusing intensely on generating cash and reducing operational cost, however, what is seen missing in this roller-coaster ride are the people who are the fuel to drive these cash engines.

Though we have a huge supply of workforce in the market but still the demand across the industries is not being fulfilled and there is a supply gap of skilled resources. We should focus on the internal development and grooming of the current workforce to meet these demands. It is required that the business houses need to frame career plans for the employees and put the employees in charge of their careers. Investments are much needed in the career development plan and learning/certifications rather than investing on a new hire. The new investment here is a sunk cost as the resource would take time to groom, be productive and adjust to the culture. Vice versa if this cost was spent on existing resource it would have taken efficiency and productivity to a next level, which would have resulted in far better engagement levels and appreciated revenue.

Recognition in any form is that incentive, which is a differentiating factor in the employer brand. Rolling out bonuses is a one time key affair, however, regular social recognition of work, profit sharing and employee stock option would have a larger impact on the intrinsic motivational factors.

With the Gen Y/Z/Millennial workforce, there is a huge tradeoff between money and role. Today’s workforce demands more of quality work and enhanced job value rather than being stuck with same job routine. Data has shown that a substantial chunk of employees leave the organization for better defined entrepreneurial roles. Innovation is another factor, which is impacting the workforce market conditions as people nowadays have more exposure to new technologies and platforms to ideate. Companies need to invest on R&D and create ideation labs and also protect the intellectual rights.

The overall company value depends on the worth of its employees which is directly related to the investments made by company in terms of money (Learning), material (Resources/Tools) and time (Innovation/R&D).

Creating an Inclusive Workplace

2015-03-15T04:37:00.000-07:00

Little time ago organizations had started making huge investments to create a diversity department that looks after creating a diverse workforce. This being enabled through exclusive diversity recruitment drives or hiring more women in the workforce at all levels. However, this has started begun to fall flat on the face. Though, it all started to integrate women into the workforce at multiple career levels however with no or weak implementable policies this is still lacking in the vision of the organizations and respective HR strategies.

Few thoughts which can certainly help to boost the cause:

Realigning Job Description: We should start re drafting the job roles that exist in the organizations to support employees from different races, ethnicities and gender. There are definitely multiple roles (viz back end roles which require minimalistic intervention) that can surely onboard the differently abled employees into the workforce.

Reward Strategy: Inclusiveness comes from creating right rewarding opportunities for women and ethnic minorities to move up the ladder in key decision making roles without any discrimination.

Job Mentorship: Identifying mentors at job to identify these gender role bias issues and getting it resolved. These mentors should be able to guide the mentees for key decisions and help remove biases at workplace.

Life/Work Balance & Part Time Working: Creating inclusive is through the work practices that exist at the workplace which includes part time working (And getting full salary) for the mothers who re join organization. This helps them to balance their personal life while taking care of the newly born along with the business. It does not necessary mean flexi policies exist only for women but for the male workforce also who take turns to help their family, be it children’s school or other family related issues that need to be catered to.

We need to be inclusive in our thoughts, decisions and policies to create such an environment rather than only talking about them in papers or business talks with no implementable practices. Once we are free from all these biases in our thoughts we would no longer need exclusive diversity departments to make it happen.

2014-10-06T04:21:00.002-07:00

EEW!: Empowering Entrepreneurship at Work

Exhibiting entrepreneurship at work is an attitude. No matter where and which place you are in, the attitude will never die. It challenges your inner thoughts and never asks you to adapt rather it embraces critical thoughts, reasoning, innovation and continuous improvement.

How do you empower your employees to be innovative and act as entrepreneurs in your organization? An engaged and empowered entrepreneur will not only increase the company’s profitability but also be more productive and satisfied. As always, The Culture of the organization defines these values and nurtures innovation. If innovation , freedom and democracy is in the core DNA of the organization it would never fail.

Now, how do you define or propagate this unique culture-

Promote wacky ideas- In the team meeting, do not put your foot down on some bizarre idea, rather as a mentor see the dollar value and nurture it. This helps in identifying the entrepreneurs and also brings those ideas to see the light of the day.

Act like an owner- Employees should be empowered to take decisions as in a democratic setup and they should be regularly mentored to tackle the issues at the core. Hence, the decision making should be simple and de-centralized.

Socialize the ideas- The idea that you believe is crazy may be apt for another situation and in future you could use it too. It would be worthy to archive and socialize those ideas for others to dissect and tweak as per their requirements. You never know, it may be a golden boot for others.

Regular Recognition- It is always a wise idea to recognize the ideators of your organization. Go for a social recognition platform and give them their due even though it may be a small idea for you. It helps in employee satisfaction and acts as instigator to think on something new.

Show the mirror- Communicating the right business updates in a timely manner is the key to innovation. Employees would not be able to give you cost effective methods if you don’t show them the real picture or how the future looks like.

Above all this is the leader’s capability to lead by example. If the leader is not open to ‘Open Communication’ channel or receptive to new ideas, you cannot expect your employees to be innovative and exhibit entrepreneurship at work.

“A loss of entrepreneurial spirit often results in a less fun, creative and passionate work environment”- Michael Kerr (Humor at Work)

2014-01-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

The 3Ps at Workplace

“And miles to go before I sleep…. And miles to go before I sleep”

We often wonder and struggle to catch up with miles we have defined for ourselves. Have we ever introspected or tried to find out what actually shapes these miles?

I firmly believe that Power, Positivity and Perseverance are the 3Ps which shape our life and career. Let’s figure out what and how these 3Ps affect our professional and to some extend personal life as well.

‘Power’ is a really strong word which impacts our life to a larger extent. Power as exhibited at workplace can be redefined and clubbed into the below types:

1. Social Power should be the typical characteristic feature of an established leader which I believe is all about leading from the front and giving individualistic authority to the team members. Working in a collaborated fashion will definitely achieve better results and in turn giving intrinsic motivation and recognition to the employee.

2. Cloud Power is wherein the power and the authority rest at a particular level/person. It’s like clouds at different potentials if come together will end in thunder and lightning. In such type of work groups the decision is always in a top down approach and the team is not empowered which leads to lower motivation in the team.

‘Positivity’ in the ambience, culture and processes of an organization shape its goal and help achieve the targets. A positive workforce is more productive, efficient and innovative. Positivity cannot be inserted in an organization via an external force/method but it is largely governed by its internal practices. Below are some examples which help reinforce positivity at the workplace:

Recognition which can be external or internal by creating the relative worthiness of the job person is doing
Effective Communication is another area which I have seen lacking in many leadership styles due to which there are corridor talks and ultimately leads to negativity around
Leadership is very important because if as a leader you don’t see a problem at a nascent stage you won’t be able to provide a solution to it. Moving away from the problem is also not the correct leadership style to be exhibited which may send negative vibes in the team
Listening to the personal and professional needs of the employee helps instill confidence in the leader and the organization
Supporting your team when needed and helping them to achieve the targets/results create a sense of belonging in the team
Mentoring is essential if you want to work along with the team to achieve the business outcomes and create an empowered positive workplace

‘Perseverance’ is an essential part which shapes your career. One has to be determined and not buckle down under pressure as it would not help in achieving long term career goals. The biggest obstacle in realizing your dreams is the person himself/herself. If you are confident about your decisions you would sail through even though people will debate, disagree and distract you from the path. Create a career path for yourself and even if you deter from the laid path learn from it and move on.

I am sure the 3Ps will help us both as an organization and as a person to be introspective and create a balanced positive workplace.

Feedback 2.0

2012-09-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome aboard. We have on this flight to the new cultural shift Gen Y and Gen Z and we would be reaching our destination ‘Feedback 2.0’ in the short span of time than we may ever realise. In today’s context, organisations are frequently innovating in their performance management system so as to include the aspirations of the new and upcoming Millennial generation.

Gen Y (Loosely defined as generation born in early 1980’s) along with the Gen Z (Born in early or mid 1990’s) believe in a faster career progression and regular feedback. They don’t wanna waste their time sticking to one organisation just to wait for the next career ladder. They believe in fast recognition of their work and emphasise more on results rather on sticking to time like the Baby Boomers/Gen X. Organisations like Adobe have revamped their performance management and have made feedback an ongoing process throwing away the old annual system. Companies like Google have encapsulated the 360 degree feedback system while Microsoft believes more in employee behaviour as compared to the targets defined.

To keep our PMS updated with the ongoing cultural shifts due to the generation gap we have to evolve and introduce a new performance evaluation system, Feedback 2.0:

1. Bake the cake and eat it too: If we have an ongoing regular feedback mechanism, we would be able to meet the aspirations of the Gen Y and Gen Z which will make them more comfortable in view of sense of recognition. If make feedback system to be robust that can accommodate changes after a quarter we would be able to recognise the talent and do away with the recency effect that but naturally comes in the annual appraisal system. Through this process, we would be able to incentivise Gen Y and Z to work more productively as after every three months we would be able to compensate or give a due promotion to the right talent which otherwise would have to wait for the annual cycle. Gen Y and Z being impatient in this context would never stay back for the entire year if something more valuable comes up in their kitty.

2. Don’t talk, better connect: Through the revamped Feedback 2.0 we would be able to meet and talk to the Gen Y and Z on a regular basis which will make them more comfortable and engaged at the workplace. We should remember that an engaged employee is a more productive employee. In short, don’t discuss after a year, better give the right direction at the right time. Moreover, an engaged Gen Y/Z‘er would also resolve the retention problem.

3. ‘FB’ the recognition: The word ‘FB’ has become synonymous to this generation who want to put up everything on the social media and are not hesitant to write to the executive level. Gen Y and Z don’t believe in waiting for the trophy or certificates. They want the rewards instantaneously which they can show it off to their friends over the social network within the organisation. We should build a power packed R&R system where client or manager appreciation could be shared over the network which gives them their moment of pride over the social media.

If we are able to connect with this Millennial generation, we would be able to build the employer brand and hence the right talent will automatically flow with the current and come to the right bucket. This new generation might be too demanding but I am sure if we ride with them will have a safe touch down!

High Performing Abundant Organisations

2012-06-23T01:48:00.004-07:00

I woke up in the morning, dragging my feet, trying to settle things and making my way to office. My friend, however, is fresh and full of energy. He thinks of what change is he going to bring today and how many lives will he be impacting by his work. Which one are you? How do you relate yourself to the larger organisational goals?

Organisations these days have set up high performance work culture wherein, they have linked their performance management, compensation and people strategy to enhance the employee effectiveness. They are working for the development of their employees to survive the competition. However, if we look at the abundant organisations (Dave Ulrich – The why of work) they are adding value and meaning to the life of its employees and working for the customers and the society at large. With the diversity and community services paving its way in the corporate policy and organisational budget, organisations are trying to do their bit to benefit the society, however, somewhere they are missing the employee’s why of work.

They have made their corporate policies more employee friendly, investing more in learning and development of the employees but still the turnover remains the biggest concern, which is always remarkably high. Why is that citizens of the organisation (Henceforth referred to as Empizen) are still not empowered and they keep on looking out?

Our empizen keep on exploring better opportunities as is the case with GenMe and Gen Y looking for better roles and career development. The GenMe and Gen Y always look out for empowerment in the role and better and bigger decision making ability. They just don’t fall flat for a bigger pay package. Our empizens want the meaning of work in their lives. They want to know and understand the value they are giving to the organisation through their work, which is missing in our HR strategy. Many a times, it has been seen that as part of our HR strategy, flow of people and flow of information is missing.

There should be a proper and continuous flow of information from the top management till all the empizen at the grass root level are empowered. They should know what their small action will be converted into at the larger level. Simply investing in L&D will not suffice, it should be properly synced with the career aspiration of the empizen and the organisational strategy. This can be achieved only when our leadership is aware of this and know how to tackle these challenges. The empizen look onto the leaders and want to be one of them. Our leaders should be able to coach and mentor our empizens so that they consider themselves as part of the family and come to work every day with full passion. When the employee feels he/she is the empizen of the organisation, he will be more engaged, productive and would serve our customers better. Hence, empizen would understand the value he/she brings to the organisation through the work and would result in better financial numbers.

So, are you going to add value and meaning to your/someone’s work tomorrow?

Motivating Gen Y

2012-05-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Are we following the right steps in motivating our Gen Y work force? This Gen Y workforce who is very high of himself/herself might be circling around you while listening to their ipods. They are always online, texting, tweeting and don’t ever block their path even while in office. This is the kind of workforce we are talking about. Though much has been written and said about these employees but still we have to catch up a lot in terms of our practices.

Gen Y has no issues in voicing out their concerns so don’t ever think about trying to suppress their ideas. Hearing out their concerns and working on their issues give them a lot of ego boost which is the base of their career development. They are constantly thinking of new and innovative ideas and have entrepreneurial mindset.

In order to keep this flock of employees motivated, we must check on following few things:

Always make sure that they are working in teams as these are the people who have grown up hanging around with friends
Give them regular feedbacks. Don’t ever wait only for annual appraisal/review
Don’t intimidate them by poking your nose in their work style
Give them enough flexibility in their work culture. Don’t try to bind them with forced time lines
Have proper communication channel. Don’t leave them working in silos
Reward them intelligently. Don’t just rely on appreciation mails
Recognize their work based on their performance and not on their tenure

These are the people who as per Dave Ulrich believe in Life/Work Balance and not Work/Life Balance as for them their work revolves around their lives. If we start working towards their recognition, development and growth, these Gen Y people will have no issues working for the same organisation.

Social Media and Employee Empowerment

2011-12-11T09:44:00.001-08:00

After reading the amazing article “People are not your greatest assets”, I was wondering if we can ever think on this tagline because we have always widely accepted that the employees are the greatest assets of any business or organisation. For any organisation to grow its employees are at the core of any business strategy, however, now I am beginning to have inclination on the other side of the story. Do we really care about these employees who we always say that this is my strength?

I will go by the views of the authors of “People are not your greatest assets” that what really is important is how you ‘EMPOWER’ your employees rather than just saying these are my assets. It really matters how you treat them and give them the real freedom to innovate and express themselves inside the organisation. ‘Social Media’ is the best way of empowering our greatest assets.

What really is happening in the case of Facebook, Twitter and Youtube? It is bringing people on the same platform, making relationships and sharing knowledge. Same is the case with Social Network inside the organisation. It brings collaboration into the organisation and empowers the employee.

Some of the advantages that a social media gives to the organisation are:

Building Relationships: With the social media, employees from different geographies and different locations can network together for the same goal.

Collective Knowledge: Talent pool can work together for a common vision and accumulate a vast knowledge.

Real Time Solution: With different minds working for a common solution will help in faster resolution to a problem and help in finding the specific expertise.

Common Interest: People with the same passion and interest can work together and ultimately can leverage the network built through social media.

We should work towards the empowerment of our employees through this mass collaboration which will help us to achieve our strategic objectives.

Employee Engagement - A Driver for Business Strategy

2011-10-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Employee Engagement is defined as “the extent to which an employee commits to work or something in the organisation, how hard he/she works and stays in the organisation out of that commitment” [SHRM] However, we often use the word Employee Engagement interchangeably with Job Satisfaction and measure the employee’s engagement level. Job Satisfaction is basically how the employee feels about the nature of work he/she is doing, work environment, pay or benefits.

Source: http://www.peopleinsight.co.uk/

There exists a relationship between organisational strategy and employee engagement. It has been researched and proved that employees who are engaged in an organisation perform better and as a result contribute more towards the business strategy. Engaged employees work harder, are more loyal and likely to go extra mile towards the organisational objectives. They believe in the vision and mission of the organisation. The engagement of an employee is ‘Emotional’ i.e. how they believe about the company or the leadership and ‘Behavioural’. This behavioural factor is shown as how much effort the employee is putting towards the organisation which can be in terms of energy or time.

Here, while talking about the Employee Engagement, we should start differentiating between Engaged Employee and Actively Disengaged Employee. Engaged employees work towards the goals of the company while actively disengaged employees just come to the company and are more busy on acting out their unhappiness.

As what SHRM describes, the levers of Engagement can be characterised by Vigour, Dedication and Absorption. Vigour means filled with high energy and passion, Dedication refers to a sense of pride and inspiration towards work and Absorption defines the feeling of happiness and engrossed in the work without being detached. Employee Engagement is greatly influenced by the reputation of the organisation, its culture and also its internal communication. Internal communication is essential as the employees especially Gen Y believe in the values of trust and transparency as discussed in my earlier blog. It is often believed that ‘Culture’ is a soft lever. However, employees are far more engaged where there is a culture of innovation, job enrichment and safety. Culture is established through the organisation’s reward and recognition programs, its policies on work-life balance and the opportunities it provides for the career development and growth. Engagement is heavily dependent on the Manager-Employee relationship as it is widely said “Employees don’t leave organisation, they leave managers.” The managers create the bridge between the employee and the organisation.

Now the question arises that how do we measure the employee engagement?

Organisations are widely using employee satisfaction surveys, focus group discussions and surveys. Out of these Gallup’s Q12 is the favourite and widely used employee engagement indicator tool. The common themes that are used for employee engagement measurement are: Job Satisfaction, Pride of working with the current employer, Learning and Development, Reward Programs, Relationship with the Manager, Understanding of the organisation’s Vision & Mission and Intention to Stay in the organisation.

As discussed in earlier blog Employer Branding plays a pivotal role in attracting the right talent. With the Gen Y workforce, organisations have to create more employee friendly and innovative workplace culture along with emphasising more on the so called softer elements of HR viz work life balance, job quality, flexibility, diversity, career pathing and freedom at workplace. These are the new factors which have to be accounted for getting the right talent and the engaged employees.

Like the Doctors, HR Managers should keep on checking the pulse of their employees so that they get to know the probable gaps which need to be filled before these gaps collapse and lead to attrition.

Employer Branding: A Strategic HR Tool

2011-09-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Employer branding is a tool which is used by every organisation be it small, midsized or a transnational organisation. The organisations need to market themselves as the best place to work for if they want to get the right talent in this competitive market. Employer Branding is like Sales where you have to sell your practices, culture and your USP to the prospective candidates. You have to differentiate yourself form what the competitors are already offering.

The process of creating your brand in the talent market starts right from how you do the onboarding, what are your practices and procedures in the organisation till the employee exits from the organisation. The employer brand is not created in a single day or through a single advertisement. It’s a long process that is built step by step. Organisations often believe that by simply having the best entrance and stringent recruitment processes they will create their brand in the market. However, the employer brand is built on the basis of what you are going to offer him/her on a daily work day and through his/her career path.

Trust and Transparency in the organisation plays a vital role in creating a strong employer brand as the rewards and recognition does. The Gen Y specifically believes in this theory where they want that the organisation should have a total trust in them and in their work, a place where there is transparency in the system and processes. If the organisations can place themselves a transparent organisation Gen Y employees will flock that place.

Many organisations design catchy slogans and advertisements to attract the right talent. But they forget that every organisation is doing the same in some other way. They have to search within themselves and analyse their own respective strengths and weaknesses. They have to identify their own distinguishing feature that separates them from the rest of the crowd. Based on that USP they can sell their brand to the prospective candidates.

Organisations have to constantly sell their brand to the candidates as it takes time to build brand as an employer. When the time comes for recruitment an organisation cannot build its brand in a week or two, they have to constantly keep on building it even though there have been instances where they have to give pink slips.

The best way to build the employer brand in today’s scenario is the social media where the organisations can post the testimonials from the employees on how their every day of work is which will help the candidates to understand better about the organisational culture and would make them a better fit.

By making a flashy recruitment process and showing candidates descriptive JD’s where there is every possible task to be performed for that role will not build the company’s brand. They can get the candidates for that opening but very soon such candidates after coming inside the organisation will start sending the resumes again !!!

Fun @ Work

2011-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Fun and Work are two characters that are inherent part of an organisation. However, we are not serious about these characters and consider these two as the North and South Pole of the organisation. If we talk about the organisational culture where in fun can be seen in all the spheres of the growth, then we won’t be able to find many organisations. There are few organisations which have integrated fun with their business growth. Some of these organisations are Google and Semco to name a few.

In a recent survey done by Adecco, UK nearly three fourths of the employees in UK prefer to work for an organisation where fun is fostered in its culture rather than a fat paying organisation. If the employees are working in a good organisational culture then their performance and productivity also increases. People are more engaged in their jobs and feel more committed.

Google Inc. Is the pioneer in this philosophy. We can take any Google office around the globe for that matter. Google’s office in California is a jewel which integrates the fun @ work spirit. The employees have the option of all the gourmet food they can think about in the world and that too at no extra cost. They can take a nap in their own potheads whenever they feel like. This increases the productivity of the employees as there is no stress in such conditions. They can work out at the Gym and keep their body toned. The employees have the option to come to the office with a laundry bag which they can get it washed in the office. What more an employee can ask for.

If you are at Google you don’t need to take the stairs as you have the fire poles and slides to take you to your destination. One can see such culture at any of the Google’s office be it Zurich or Beijing. If the employee has to go out of office for an errand the employees can take the specially kept electric charged cars to get their work done. This is what which creates the employer brand and helps to get the best talent of the world.

Semco is another such company which promotes an entrepreneurial mindset where the employees have all the power and freedom to make their lives happier and contended while at work. They can have all the paid vacations they want as far as their work is all done. They can take their pets to workplace and have their meetings not in closed doors.

These days other organisations too have started realising the benefits of making the office culture as a ‘Great place to work for’. They have started organising sport clubs and other such meets to promote these ideals of fun at work. The question that now arises is that what are we doing to make our organisations a great place, wherein the employees look forward to coming everyday to office.

This is a thought on which we should start pondering upon!!!!

Resume : A Passè

2011-08-07T04:14:00.000-07:00

Soon it would be the day when the employers would be asking the prospective candidates to share their LinkedIn profiles and not their Resume’s. Today, many organisations have already started asking the candidates to send their LinkedIn profiles.

There are many advantages if the employers ask for LinkedIn profile. It helps the organisations to search for the candidates’ profile instantaneously. They can track the activity of the candidate on the LinkedIn network. This helps the employer to gauge candidates’ pro activeness and willingness to be active outside the work boundaries.

Moreover, the recommendations feature of the LinkedIn also helps the employer to get the readymade reference check. It helps the organisation to get the true picture of the prospective candidate long before the candidate has been hired. Through the recommendations the employer also gets to understand the type and quality of work the candidate is doing in the present organisation.

Let’s gear up for this change in the world of Talent Acquisition and also the candidates should make themselves available and be ready.

Social Media: A new training tool at the workplace

2011-06-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Social media, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, is gaining popularity among the employees especially the generation Y and generation Z who are now entering the workforce. This is impacting the learning and development tools being adopted by the organisations, forcing the organisations to have a proper social media policy in the workplace and also educating the workforce about the do’s and don’ts of the proper usage of the social media at the workplace.

It is an enhancement to the traditional learning processes at the organisations. What it used to maybe a full day dedicated for training, wherein, a trainer would be called for giving specialised lectures on a particular topic evolved into e-learning. The advent of IT impacted a lot the way learning was done in the organisations. E-learning revolutionized the skills addition for the employees and it also cut down the costs involved in the training with the availability of training software at a comparatively reduced price rather than arranging the training programs again and again.

Chat? Text? Status Update? Blog? Tweet? The new in-thing for the employees. The organisations are exploring ways to create new social media strategy for their businesses. There is a large Corporation with its new Social Media Guidelines. As per Digital Strategist at this MNC, the social media policies does not necessary means that the employees will just understand the policies and incorporate them in their daily work life. However, it is to train the employees to use them effectively and efficiently to reach towards the organisation’s business goals and also to participate in the social media.

As per the latest report from Awareness, Inc. more than 75% of the employees are now using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for businesses purposes, which is up from 15 percent in 2007. Informal learning is becoming a key part of learning and development in the organisations.

Now the employees can share the problem within the company on an internal sharing website and multiple minds can be put to work and a more optimum solution can be found to the problem. The employees can look into as what was the diagnosis to a similar problem and take help from that. This is learning without borders in a global environment. One such example of this learning environment is a database at one of the largest corporations which consists of over 15000 articles from employees defining, collaborating and documenting their part of the organisation workspace.

Some upcoming social media programs are like ‘Tweet like you mean it’, ‘Importance of Brand equity in social media’ and ‘Mobile marketing’. With increased competitiveness and dynamic business environment, the organisations are compelled towards creating a dynamic learning mindset. Within no time there would soon be ‘Chief Learning Officer’ who would put emphasis on rapid, collaborative and self directed learning. The new social learning can help people to become more informed, gain a wider perspective and to be able to make better decisions by engaging with others.

Reference: : http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/intels_social_media_employee_t.html

Apps and Us

2011-06-05T07:02:00.000-07:00

Are we ready to take the ride on the various apps that are being used by the new generation?

There are number of apps available for free download for the Android, iPhone or Blackberry users. Android with over 130,000 apps is becoming very popular with the new recruits entering the organisation. The question that arises today is that are We, the organisations, leveraging on these mobile applications which are becoming the new fad among the Gen Y people.

Recently one of the largest Food and Nutrition Company of the world launched an android app that targets the new recruits. The app is freely available for download and explains the values and culture of the organisation. The app also has links to the Youtube videos which help in creating and establishing the organisation brand.

Through these apps we can propagate the best practices of our organisation that will help us in attracting the best talent. In order to make ourselves as an employer of choice we need to enter the mobile software market. The reason is that the new generation frequently uses these apps to find the right career opportunity. It will also help us in finding the right candidate if we post our job requirements via such apps.

Organisations should make a strategy to use these increasingly popular apps to be included in their recruitment and branding strategies. In the near future the mobile market would be the place where all the job posting and search will be done. To become the leader in this market, organisations should start focussing and also developing applications that will help in employer branding.

The 7E’s at the workplace

2011-05-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

We always put more stress on the Intelligence quotient part throughout our school and college days that we neglect the emotional intelligence part. We forget that finally we have to work in an organisation where we would have to deal and interact with people. Today, many organisations are stressing on the emotional intelligence as a part of their recruitment policy. The interaction of the employees in a company affect the company’s ability to remain competitive in its given market or industry. The managers and the leaders must realise that these interactions will have a positive or negative effect on the company as a whole.

Important skills that managers and leaders will need to thrive in the current environment includes communication, discussion, negotiation and being able to manage the conflicts and also inspiring others to operate at a higher level. Equally important is the organisation’s ability to deal and handle the changes. It is also important for the organisations to work towards the stated business goals. This is where the Emotional Intelligence becomes very important and is directly related to do all these things.

There are seven emotional competencies, first of which is Emotional Self Awareness. This is all about understanding the impact of one’s feelings in the organisation and creation of self awareness. Self introspection is an important tool and employees in this category are aware of self understanding and ask for more feedback.

Second is Emotional Expression. The outcome of this competence in an organisation is creating trust, genuineness and also creating understanding among other employees. People in this area of competence generally discuss various issues at work.

Third is Emotional awareness of others. The outcomes of this are engagement of the employees, employee motivation and connecting with the employees. In this area, employees think differently about things that are causing and affecting them adversely. People create or identify more effective ways of responding to events and create environment that makes people feel more positive and optimistic. Employees understand their and company’s values and listen to the feelings.

Fourth is Emotional Reasoning. The outcome of identification of this competency is enhanced decision making and greater buy in. People in this area are beware of how they feel and react. Fifth is Emotional Self Management which is all about effectively managing your own emotions. The outcomes are better job satisfaction and people in this area remain more optimistic and are happy in the face. They feel the power of positive psychology. Sixth is the Emotional Management of Others. Outcome of this competency is positive satisfaction with the environment. People generally empathise with the other employees and engage with other as well.

Lastly is the Emotional Control. The effect of identification of this competency is better dealing with the conflicts and improved relationships. Employees in this category overcome anger, identify issues and events and take some time out.

As per Daniel Goleman, about 70% of the communication is non-verbal and the impact of which is very important for an organisation. Hence, the organisations should include emotional intelligence as a part of their assessment of candidates in the recruitment and selection processes. The awareness of the level of EI will define how ‘fit’ is the employee in the organisation.

Social Media and the Gen Y

2011-05-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Are we tweeting, creating Facebook pages or connecting with the world through the social networking websites?

Organisations throughout the world have acknowledged the fact that the generation Y has entered the workforce and these are the employees who as we all say always ask ‘Y’. These are the employees who want to grow very fast in the organisation and earn a lot of money. These are unlike the Gen X people who were contented with what they were getting and grew steadily in the organisation. However, these out of box thinkers and entrepreneurial mindset employees want to become the CXO’s of the organisations in a short span of time. Are the organisations gearing themselves up to match the aspirations of such employees or are they allowing them to increase their turnover (attrition).

Today the Gen Y will spend at least 2-3 hours daily on either Facebook or Twitter. One comment about anything in the world will spread like fire over these networking sites. If Facebook is a country, it is now the third largest country in the world. Today, not many organisations are leveraging on this fact. They should know that any good comment or a status update about a particular company policy or organisational culture will help them to boost their image without incurring any cost. Organisations should create and update respective pages on such social networking sites because a simple ‘Like’ by a Gen Y will attract another Gen Y. This will help a lot in creating the brand of the employer. Moreover, organisations can also connect with their customers and provide them with a near real time update. Organisations should create such unique culture in the organisation wherein the existing employees can help the organisation to connect to these Gen Y people.

In organisations we often talk about what is the ROI , however, we forget about the return we would be reaping if we are able to meet the expectations of these Gen Y employees.