At the heart of the underperformance dilemma lies a fundamental mismatch: the misalignment between an employee’s strengths and the demands of the job. Consider Sakshi, a software engineer lauded for her exceptional coding skills. Promoted to a team lead position, she now manages a group of developers. But Sakshi lacks the people-management skills needed to effectively delegate tasks, provide constructive feedback, or foster team communication. While she excelled in her individual contributor role, the leadership position leaves her overwhelmed and unable to meet expectations.

“Having the right talent isn’t just about having the right skills on paper. It’s also about having the right attitude, mindset, and personality that match the job and the company’s culture.”

Prabir Jha, founder, Prabir Jha People Advisory

The crux of the issue lies in the organisation’s failure to recognise the changing nature of Sakshi’s job and equip her with the necessary leadership skills. No attempt was made to assess her suitability for the role or provide her with the support she needed to transition effectively. Praveer Priyadarshi, a senior HR leader, emphasises the importance of proactive talent management. This begins with clearly defined job roles, outlining the specific skills, traits, and expertise required for each position.

“Essentially, it’s about making sure that each person’s unique skills and attributes are matched with the specific demands of their role,” asserts Priyadarshi. “This responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the organisation.”

But talent management goes beyond just paper qualifications. Prabir Jha, founder of Prabir Jha People Advisory, highlights the importance of cultural fit. “Having the right talent isn’t just about having the right skills on paper,” he says. “It’s also about having the right attitude, mindset, and personality that match the job and the company’s culture.”

Effective talent management requires a thorough skill-mapping exercise. By assessing the skills and competencies of their workforce, organisations can strategically align individuals with roles that leverage their strengths. Unfortunately, many companies fall short in this critical area.

“They end up with employees who have the right skills but don’t really fit well with the company’s goals,” says Jha. This mismatch can stem from several factors: an overemphasis on qualifications during hiring, overlooking cultural fit, a mistaken belief that intelligence alone guarantees success, or a lack of clear communication about job expectations.

The consequences of such misalignment are far-reaching. Without proper skill-role synergy, employees are set up for failure. This not only impacts individual morale and engagement but also hinders organisational performance. Anil Mohanty, an HR leader, underscores this point: “Organisations are responsible for ensuring that their employees are placed in roles where their skills are best utilised.”

“Essentially, it’s about making sure that each person’s unique skills and attributes are matched with the specific demands of their role.”

Praveer Priyadarshi, HR leader

Mohanty acknowledges the challenges, particularly in the early stages of growth when resource constraints may require employees to wear multiple hats. However, as the organisation scales, reassessing roles and aligning them with skillsets becomes essential.

The negative impact of misplacement extends beyond individual underperformance. It leads to frustration, disengagement, and a demotivated workforce, ultimately creating a negative work environment that further exacerbates performance issues.

Jha emphasises the critical role of support: “It’s crucial to support individuals in finding roles that suit them well. Without proper support, they may struggle to reach their potential and contribute effectively.”

The solution lies not in assigning blame but in implementing effective talent-mapping strategies. As Mohanty points out, this involves accurately assessing employee skills and competencies, then aligning them with suitable roles. By investing in skill development and ensuring proper role alignment, organisations can unlock employee potential and foster a culture of success.

“Organisations are responsible for ensuring that their employees are placed in roles where their skills are best utilised.”

Anil Mohanty, HR leader

Moving forward, organisations must prioritise a clear understanding of their workforce needs. This clarity allows for the implementation of targeted hiring practices that identify candidates who are well-suited for the specific roles they need to fill. Additionally, establishing regular feedback mechanisms fosters employee growth and identifies opportunities for advancement within the company. Finally, cultivating an environment that encourages exploration of diverse roles and provides support throughout this process can significantly contribute to employee development and maximise their long-term value to the organisation.

By taking these steps, organisations can move beyond the “square peg in a round hole” problem and create a talent ecosystem where individuals are empowered to leverage their strengths and contribute meaningfully to the company’s success.

The post A square peg in a round hole: Why talent doesn’t always translate to performance appeared first on HR Katha.

Manoj Bhat, currently Group CFO, will take over as the MD & CEO of Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India (MHRIL) on May 17th, 2024, succeeding Kavinder Singh who is leaving the group. Amarjyoti Barua, executive vice president – group strategy, will simultaneously step up as the Group CFO.

“Talent development is crucial for us,” says Anish Shah, Group CEO & managing director. “We offer tailored career paths and encourage rotations across businesses. This has enabled us to promote Manoj, who brings diverse experience and a customer-centric approach.”

Further emphasising their internal talent pool, the group announced Vimal Agarwal, CFO of Mahindra Lifespaces Developers (MLDL), will move to MHRIL as CFO, while Avinash Bapat will replace him at MLDL.

These appointments showcase the group’s focus on nurturing internal talent and ensuring a smooth transition of leadership.

Bhat’s proven track record and Barua’s strategic expertise are expected to propel the respective businesses forward. This reshuffle also opens doors for other leaders within the group to pursue broader roles and contribute to Mahindra’s continued growth.

Founded in 1945, the Mahindra Group, with 260,000 employees in over 100 countries, stands as one of the largest and most admired multinational federations of companies. Enjoying leadership positions in various sectors, the group focuses on driving positive change in the lives of communities and stakeholders to enable them to Rise.

The post Mahindra Group promotes internal talent in key leadership reshuffle appeared first on HR Katha.

Multiple sources confirmed that Infosys sent a written communication to Cognizant after several senior executives departed for the rival firm. While non-compete clauses are rarely enforced in India, this communication is seen as a strong warning.

Cognizant, led by former Infosys veteran Ravi Kumar, has aggressively recruited senior leadership in recent months. Over two dozen executive and senior vice presidents, many from Infosys and Wipro, have joined the company since January 2023.

Wipro has taken a more legal approach, filing suits against two former executives, Mohd Haque and Jatin Dalal, who recently joined Cognizant. Prominent Infosys figures lured by Cognizant include Anurag Vardhan Sinha, Nageswar Cherukupalli, Narsimha Rao Mannepalli, and Shweta Arora.

While Sinha and Cherukupalli have already joined Cognizant, Mannepalli and Arora’s potential appointments as head of delivery and consulting are reportedly on hold following Infosys’ intervention.

Both Infosys and Wipro are currently navigating a challenging business climate, with talent retention playing a critical role in their future success. The escalating war for talent among these IT giants is likely to shape the industry landscape in the coming months, raising questions about ethical recruitment practices and the effectiveness of non-compete agreements in a dynamic market.

Infosys has seen around eight leadership departures in the past year, while Wipro has lost nearly ten top executives in 2023, many of whom joined competitors.

This intense poaching war highlights the immense pressure faced by Indian IT firms to retain and attract top talent in a competitive market.

The post IT talent war intensifies: Infosys alleges Cognizant’s hiring practices cross line appeared first on HR Katha.

As expected, given the economic condition during the pandemic, many companies were forced to resort to drastic measures to control costs, such as imposing pay cuts and downsizing.

However, on the other hand, jobs were also being created, especially in the start-up ecosystem. This boom in job creation was short lived though. The year 2022 has been gloomy for Indian startups and employment opportunities have been dwindling in the space with uncertainty looming large.

The startups in India laid off more than 15,000 employees in 2022 alone, as per data available in the media.

“Cross-skilling employees in different areas or functions in tech makes the talent more fungible. This also allows talent to be shifted to other projects as per requirement”

Rajesh Balaji, CHRO, Matrimony.com

Two years ago, these companies were hiring in big numbers anticipating growth, but suddenly the ecosystem has witnessed a collapse in terms of employment.

Data from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) reveals that over six lakh jobs have been created by startups in India in the last four years. Interestingly, more than 3.50 lakh jobs were created in 2020 and 2021 alone.

That means, Indian startups were hiring in huge numbers during the pandemic but just about two years later, the sector is marked by huge layoffs rendering many jobless and without a means of livelihood.

This pall of gloom is not hanging over the Indian start-up environment alone. Globally, many companies began to slow down hiring with some even freezing hiring only to eventually resort to layoffs. For instance, Microsoft had initially announced a slowdown in hiring and then asked about 1000 employees to leave.

Similar restructuring and layoffs happened at Uber, Twitter, Meta and Netflix. The reason behind such drastic measures is the slowdown in global markets, recession fears and freeze in funding.

“Business plans and talent strategies are not for short-term gains. There is a need to maintain stability”

Rajesh Nair, CHRO, Polycab

What should be the talent acquisition (TA) strategy amidst an uncertain and volatile environment when organisations tend to hire many and then are forced to lay off within a short time period?

All HR leaders HRKatha spoke to agree that looking at high growth prospects, companies do tend to overhire. “Some companies did indulge in overhiring during the pandemic,” observes Paramjit Singh Nayyar, CHRO, Hero Housing Finance.

Adding to this, Rajesh Balaji, CHRO, Matrimony.com, says, “In India, startups overestimated themselves, which lead to layoffs.”

Short-term vs long-term strategy

Most experts believe that the talent-acquisition strategy and the business strategy need to go hand in hand. “Such scenarios emerge only when one focuses on a short-term strategy. Business plans and talent strategies are not for short-term gains. There is a need to maintain stability,” points out Rajesh Nair, CHRO, Polycab.

Maintaining balance

As per Nayyar, companies need to maintain a balance when they are hiring for peak demand. He suggests that even while hiring when the demand is at its peak, companies should ensure that the hiring numbers are balanced. Is this balance easy to maintain? Nayyar admits that it is easier said than done.

“Some companies did indulge in overhiring during the pandemic”

Paramjit Singh Nayyar, CHRO, Hero Housing Finance

Outsourcing

One measure that most HR leaders suggest is to rely on the gig economy. “We can take the help of flexible job arrangements where 80 per cent of the resources can be hired on a permanent basis, while the remaining 20 per cent can be outsourced through contractual employment,” advises Nayyar.

Nair, however, points out that there are some functions such as sales, which cannot be fully outsourced. “Since sales is a very strategic function, companies want to keep it in-house,” asserts Nair.

Cross-skilling

Sharing his own experience at Matrimony.com, Balaji speaks of cross-skilling of employees as a vital tool. “Cross-skilling employees in different areas or functions in tech makes the talent more fungible. This also allows talent to be shifted to other projects as per requirement,” enumerates Balaji.

Citing the example of TCS which is heavily dependent on freshers, Balaji says, “TCS puts its freshers through a training programme to equip them with all the future skills they require”.

Nayyar does agree that after a point it gets difficult to avoid layoffs when growth is way lesser than expected and companies are left with excess staff and rising costs. However, companies have the option of taking various measures, as discussed, to reduce the impact.

The post What should be the TA strategy in a volatile market? appeared first on HR Katha.

One of the leading General Insurance companies in India, Digit Insurance, came up with an interesting solution to address the tech talent deficit as well as the attrition rate. Unlike many other companies, the business for Digit only grew during the pandemic. The Company’s consolidated revenue from operations surged more than 56 per cent to Rs 1,943 crore, taking the total consolidated revenue to Rs 2,324 crore in 2022. The increase in business led the Company to adopt a different working model, hiring more young tech talent due to an increase in demand.

Trainee hiring

Amrit Jaidka Arora, head – HR, Digit Insurance, reveals to HRKatha, that hiring never stopped for Digit in the last year, as the business was expanding. However, she does admit, “the one department in which hiring was a bit challenging was tech”.

She goes on to explain that “every candidate holds multiple offers and it is impossible to know their status of onboarding until they actually get onboard”. Jaidka further reveals, “To counter that, the strategy that has helped us is trainee hiring”.

“Back in 2020, we were seeing a lot of attrition amongst our call centre employees, basically owing to uncertainty around their future as telecallers. We launched a programme called ‘Accelerate’, through which we assisted interested employees to clear qualification exams to work in the insurance sector. Now, they are free to move in any vertical within Digit”

Jaidka Arora, head – HR, Digit Insurance

With the Undergraduate training (UGT) programme introduced by the Company, Digit hopes to acquire talent at a very nascent stage, that is, after they pass their undergrad. The Company hires from government schools, through NGOs and also through churches that run foundation programmes

Arora feels that this shift in focus from lateral hiring to trainee hiring has helped Digit develop internal pipelines of talent that are less prone to attrition. Right after their Class 12, the Company offers an opportunity to work with them for three years as UGTs. While they complete their graduation through correspondence, they are trained on different technologies with Digit.

Last year, Digit Insurance hired 125 trainees across teams and over 400 employees overall. This year too, the young talent hired is over 250 with over 150 trainees in the technology vertical alone.

The hiring rate of the Company was 15 per cent during the financial year 2020-21. Post-Covid, Digit has hired 240 young tech talent and plans to double the figure this year.

When it comes to new hiring, Arora admits that referrals serve as the key in the lateral hiring strategy. Further, Digit is proactive in giving opportunities first to their existing workforce.

“Back in 2020, we were seeing a lot of attrition amongst our voice process employees, basically owing to uncertainty around their future as telecallers. We launched a programme called ‘Accelerate’, through which we encouraged interested employees to clear insurance qualification exams and offered opportunities to work and graduate to other functions within Digit. Over 25 employees in the last year have taken up roles in other teams,” Arora shares.

Retention strategies

While the Company is working on building a young workforce, which is less prone to attrition, offering benefits is another way for them to curb retention.

As per Arora, Digit emphasised heavily on its employees’ as well as their families’ mental health and well-being. She reveals that they have started many well-being programs through Digit Health Plus – their health & wellness initiative! “We have organised webinars, tele-health sessions, gave access to counselling & therapy for promoting a healthier lifestyle.”

The Company has also tried to ensure that the workforce remains physically fit.

“We launched ‘Digit Walkathon’ recently, where employees were asked to clock in the steps they take on a daily basis. Further, we also initiated ‘Digit Workout Warriors’, where people uploaded their 60-second workout videos,” she says.

Participation in these activities leads to recognition and rewards within the organisation. Most importantly, “these serve as a great employee-engagement tool,” points out Arora.

The post Digit captures talent early; hires undergrads appeared first on HR Katha.

In order to meet this change, companies have had to hire people for roles that simply didn’t exist in the past. In an earlier discussion with HRKatha, Bhavya Mishra, director & head of HR, Lenovo India, one of the leaders in electronic goods manufacturing, had said that the Company was hiring professionals for a new services and solutions business, an area the Company hadn’t set foot in before.

“One will obviously need outside resources and vendors. It is essential to establish one’s HR from the industry that one will be working in. The focus should be on attracting the best talent from the market — talent that knows how to build a talent ecosystem, competencies and so on.”

Srikanth Karra, CHRO, Mphasis

“The name ‘Lenovo’ does not bring to mind ‘services and solutions’. Therefore, for the more seasoned and experienced talent, it may not appear to be the grandest of opportunities,” she had said. Establishing a new function within an already established brand or company is a daunting task, for sure. Right from the talent- attraction strategy to the acquisition strategy, the HR has to ascertain exactly what business requirements the Company may have and how and where to source the best talent available for the positions they are looking to fill.

Employee value proposition

Srikanth Karra, CHRO, Mphasis, says that challenges that a more established company may see while setting up a new business are quite similar to that of a new company entering the same business.

The difference is in formulating an employer brand value, where a more established business may have an edge. Karra suggests that when trying to attract talent for the new business, the employee value proposition should be stated clearly and in an attractive manner.

“As an employer, one needs to make the employee value proposition very clear. In other words, one has to clearly demarcate what one is offering to current employees and people of one’s second business— the pay structure, the kind of career progression and so on that the people of the business in one’s organisaton are getting — in order to build a good brand image, which is clearly beneficial for the second business,” he said.

For the new business, talent can be attracted by elaborating on the type of clients one is going to service and the kind of work one is offering to the new people, Karra details further.
Expertise and competencies

“Top line of thinking has to be provided by people who are from the industry one is aspiring to enter and set up shop in. For the new venture, one’s leadership will require experts, value chain talent which isn’t easy to get.” 

Adil Malia, former group president-HR, Essar Group

Adil Malia, former group president-HR, Essar Group, says there’s no clear-cut mandate on the model one needs to follow in order to be successful in a new venture. One thing that there is a mandate on is that one definitely needs to have sectoral competencies within one’s leadership team before venturing into a new space.

“Top line of thinking has to be provided by people who are from the industry one is aspiring to enter and set up shop in. For the new venture, one’s leadership will require experts, value chain talent which isn’t easy to get,” he points out.

He further adds that the definition of a new, separate work culture for the new business has to be brought in.

In order to attract the right talent for the new business, Malia asserts that the employer has to present a stronger case.

Strong pitch

“People will be willing to work, provided one shows them a future and gives them an idea of a value chain that they believe could work. One needs a strong pitch and a good proposition for talent about the success plan for the new initiative. Selling them the opportunity to be part of the story in the making makes it a more attractive and lucrative deal,” he says.

Further, he believes that there is a more stable market reference for an already- established company going to another business than a startup, as they have the necessary backing.

Talent acquisition

Srikkanth Karra believes that while venturing into a new line, the hiring team, along with human resource management, should take a different approach. External involvement in the process of building a solid team will be really essential in the initial stages.

“One will obviously need outside resources and vendors. It is essential to establish one’s HR from the industry that one will be working in. The focus should be on attracting the best talent from the market — talent that knows how to build a talent ecosystem, competencies and so on,” explains Karra.

“The company doesn’t need to try doing everything on its own. One can build a solid team with the assistance of talent from outside, develop a good talent ecosystem and then work backwards,” he suggests.

According to Malia, the hiring team needs to be right. Getting the right people on the interview panel is essential to search for the right candidate.

“Specialists are required to hire top hiring talent from the industry, so that the top talent can hire further. One can also outsource a set of professionals for this,” says Malia. He further suggests a blend of old talent and outsourced people, who can identify the initial team of people.

Can retention of existing employees be a challenge?

“The value add of people hired for new businesses may be greater than the value add of one’s pre-existing employees. In that case, there may be a rift, because of the compensation.”

Emmanuel David, former director, TMTC

Emmanuel David, former director, TMTC, points out that the business model would change for the company when it adds another business. This new process may also see a shift of value add from the employees, that is, the value of the employees of the new business may be disproportionate to those from the old. “The value add of people hired for new businesses may be greater than the value add of one’s pre-existing employees. In that case, there may be a rift, because of the compensation,” explains David.

HR needs to be wary of such an issue and predetermine ways to manage such a situation. “One has to ensure clarity within the organisation and amongst the employees, about the shift in the talent pool and the delivery model. One must also give one’s pre-existing employees a chance to switch over to the new business as well,” he adds.

The post What should be the people strategy for new business   appeared first on HR Katha.

Sebastian Rodriguez, VP & global head – talent, Netcore Cloud points out that finding engineering or tech talent is not a very big challenge for the Company, but successfully onboarding that talent and making them accept the offer is definitely a challenge that every tech-based or IT services company is facing in today’s time. And the reason for that is, people have numerous options in hand since many companies are targeting the same set of people.

Rodriguez shares with HRKatha, that the Company has been able to onboard the required amount of talent quite comfortably without any hindrance. He further shares that this year, in the second quarter, the Company has been able to onboard close to 128 people. On an average, since last year, Netcore Cloud has been onboarding 170 odd people every quarter, filling in major roles in the tech side. The way Rodriguez describes it, the hiring trajectory for Netcore has been fairly positive and the Company has been able to attract and onboard people very comfortably.

“Though the world has been talking about the ‘war for tech talent, so far, Netcore Cloud has effectively managed to attract the best talent with its in-place talent-management strategies”

Sebastian Rodriguez, VP & global head – talent, Netcore Cloud

So, how does Netcore successfully attract and onboard the best talent from the market?

Netcore Cloud is a Saas-based tech-solutions company, which offers marketing technology solutions to companies across sectors. Till now, Netcore Cloud has an employee strength base of 700 people, globally, but the Company is planning to hire 800 more people this year across roles and functions.

As a Saas-based solutions and tech product company, Netcore is always on a hunt for great tech talent — backend engineers, people with big data skills, as well as technology, android & OS app developers.

The Company prefers to keep a 60:40 ratio in terms of hiring tech talent laterally, and hiring freshers from the campus respectively.

Identifying talent through a hackathon

Rodriguez shares with HRKatha that as part of their talent-acquisition strategy, the Company organises a hackathon where programmers, coders and developers participate to prove their mettle. The winners get an opportunity to work with the Company. This year as well, Netcore offered jobs to about 22 to 24 people at the end of the hackathon challenge. For a change, however, the Company also announced a joining bonus of Rs 1 lakh to every winner. “This strategy worked for us and we were able to successfully onboard the best of talent identified through the hackathon challenge,” informs Rodriguez.

Making irresistible offers

To attract candidates, Netcore likes to offer a comparatively ‘magnetic’ offer (in terms of CTC) — one which is irresistible or cannot be refused. However, as Rodriguez says, just throwing money at people and onboarding them is not a culture that Netcore appreciates. For Netcore, it is more about offering value in terms of successful career growth.

Ensuring smooth onboarding

Since many organisations often face the challenge of mid-way drop outs, it becomes important to design a smooth on-boarding strategy. As part of Netcore’s onboarding strategy, the candidates are given access to some of the learning tools and content that not only keeps them engaged but allows them to further upskill themselves. Before the lockdown, candidates were given a feel of the workplace with an assigned buddy, who helped the candidate understand how things are done at Netcore Cloud. Rodriguez also reveales that the Company is all set to introduce another initiative called ‘Face to Face with Kalpit’, where new joinees get a chance to interact face-to-face with Kalpit Jain, group CEO, Netcore Cloud.

Giving growth opportunities

Similarly, to give growth opportunities to internal talent, the Company has something called the ‘RISE’ programme, which is Netcore’s very own management-development programme. Under this six-month mentorship programme, high performers are given an opportunity to receive executive coaching in cross-functional skills. They are then promoted to higher roles in their own domain (vertically) or into other functions, provided they show the calibre to go into another function.

Additionally, the Company also has an initiative known as ‘Udaan’, a three-month learning journey meant for young and first-time managers. ‘Udaan’ was formulated with the aim of nurturing the first-time managers with the help of executive trainers and coaches.

As Rodriguez puts it, “Though the world has been talking about the ‘war for tech talent’, so far, Netcore Cloud has effectively managed to attract the best talent with its in-place talent-management strategies.

The post How Netcore Cloud manages to attract the best tech talent appeared first on HR Katha.

Generally, campus hiring forms the major part of the talent-acquisition strategy in the IT services sector, which demands the maximum tech talent in the country. Companies such as Wipro, Infosys and TCS identify the talent at a very early stage and hire in thousands from campuses.

However, this is not the case with Razorpay. Speaking exclusively with HRKatha, Chitbhanu Nagri, SVP-people operations, Razorpay, says that most of the Company’s tech hiring happens through employee referrals. “Almost 40 per cent of our tech talent comes from employee referrals and the larger part of our talent-acquisition strategy focuses on hiring laterally,” shares Nagri.

Employing about 1800 people in India, working from various locations, Razorpay has been very particular about having in place a robust talent pipeline.

When Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar founded Razorpay, they were well aware that all companies run on the sheer talent of their people. And therefore, from the very start, they have been particular about getting the right talent in the Company. While most founders and start-up entrepreneurs focus majorly on attracting investors, Mathur and Kumar, from the very beginning, considered people as the most crucial part of the business. “The 10th employee of Razorpay was an HR manager. Many firms follow the practice of hiring an HR person only when they reach a considerable number of employees, say a 100 or 500,” mentions Nagri.

With the source of talent at Razorpay being employee referrals from the very beginning, the Company has constituted a central referral body, where employees can refer candidates who can be further explored and evaluated for hiring.

“I have seen many candidates get frustrated when they come to know that they are being evaluated on skills which they do not really require at the job”

Chitbhanu Nagri, SVP-people operations, Razorpay

 

When employees refer someone, their own reputation is at stake. Therefore, if the experience with a referred candidate turns out to be bad, the employees themselves are de-motivated to refer any of their contacts in the future.

So the Company ensures that the candidates get a fast feedback and as Nagri shares with HRKatha, if they are found to be fit to work for the Company, they are given an offer letter within five to six days.

Additionally, to make the hiring process more transparent and fair, the Company hires people for tech roles basis the skills they bring to the table alone.

For this, Razorpay has designed a skill-based assessment process and every tech talent is assessed on the basis of their skills pertaining to their role and job profile.

Nagri shares with HRKatha that generally Razorpay looks for tech talent in the form of front-end developers, back-end developers and Devops individuals. At Razorpay, for each of these profiles, one is not required to know all kinds of programming language. The coding language that back-end developers would require to know as part of their job profile would be very different from what front-end developers or Devops individuals are expected to know. “I have seen many candidates get frustrated when they come to know that they are being evaluated on skills which they do not really require at the job,” observes Nagri.

The Company has also designed a full-stack hiring guideline handbook for all hiring managers, which lays down the manner of approaching candidates while evaluating them. As per the guidelines, all candidates and potential employees are made fully aware of the skills they will be evaluated on and what they should expect as part of their evaluation assignment. Nagri recalls an interesting incident, where one of the candidates had shared his experience on social media, saying that even though he could not make it to the merit list, he was very impressed with the evaluation process. This candidate was appreciative of how the Razorpay team had given him a feedback on why he was not selected for the job.

“Many a time, when candidates appear for an interview or an assessment, they are clueless about what is going to happen,” mentions Nagri.

Yet another unconventional way of sourcing talent for Razorpay revolves around building networks. Many of the tech engineers and developers make connections in the respective coders’ community, such as Github. If they like the coding samples of the others, they extend them an invitation to join Razorpay. If the prospective employees are found to be fit to work for the Company, they are hired.

Why would employees take the trouble to look for talent in the market? After all, it is not their job, and many people are very particular about not doing anything beyond their KRA. The referral awards, as shared by Nagri, are also not that lucrative. The amount is minimal. However, it is the culture at Razorpay that motivates employees.

One of the tenets of the culture at Razorpay has been ‘Razorpay grows with Razors’, which means that the Company admits that it can only grow and reach new heights with the help of its people (razors). “Going out of the way has always been part of our culture and employees take this onus and responsibility on their shoulders,” points out Nagri proudly.

“Moreover, such a quick and smooth process of hiring and inducting talent empowers our existing employees to give more referral,” adds Nagri.

With a smooth hiring process in place, Razorpay has managed to take on the best talent so far. Nagri, however, does not shy away from admitting that as a tech product based firm, they also face various challenges in attracting the best of talent in the market. The demand is always high and every company is targeting the same talent pool to fulfil its resource needs.

The post Why Razorpay’s evaluation process impresses even rejected candidates appeared first on HR Katha.

NeuralHack has been designed to equip and skill college students in technologies such as data science, Cloud, CRM and artificial intelligence.

This time, Virtusa has seen a huge participation from the student community with almost 100,000 registrations from top engineering and business schools. In the second phase of the competition, almost 250 finalists are selected.

“Every year, Virtusa gathers the best minds from top schools and universities across India to build solutions that solve common user experience, data, and performance issues that the industry and our clients face,” says Sundar Narayanan, chief people officer, Virtusa.

NeuralHack is a 30-day long competition, where finalists collaborate on end-to-end solutions in a real-world enterprise environment, harnessing talents across high-demand and dynamic industry verticals. The hackathon challenge, which commenced on 20 September, will conclude at the end of October, 2021.

Virtusa’s panel of judges will evaluate the final prototypes based on technology, collaboration, creativity, and competition, followed by the winner’s announcement in the last week of October. Apart from the cash prizes, the winners will also receive an offer letter from Virtusa. This year, the company has also announced additional prizes at NeuralHack. “Witnessing the growing importance of NeuralHack among the student community and for wider participation, this year, we are instituting several more awards. In addition to the main prizes, we have added a category for four zonal winners and 28 state winners,” shares Narayanan.

The winning team takes home a cash prize of Rs 50,000, while the first and second runners-up get Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively.

The post Virtusa announces second phase of talent hunt series appeared first on HR Katha.

What exactly is open source talent?

Open source talent form part of an open community which collaborates to build and develop open source software. The open source community became popular in the 1980s with Richard Stallman, a free software movement activist in the US, who introduced the concept of open source collaborations. The open source community develops open source software, which are available for use, modification, and distribution with their original rights. In the last three years, as per the report, there has been a significant rise in companies tapping these communities for opens source tech talent.

Why the rush?

Why is there a mad rush amongst hiring managers to acquire the best talent available in the open source talent pool? Well, the digitisation process has certainly taken a big leap. As per a report by Linux Foundation, which surveyed over 200 hiring managers and open source professionals, 61 per cent of professionals say that the use of cloud technologies in their organisation has increased in the last one year. The report reveals that Microsoft’s customers have seen two years of digital transformation in the last two months! That is not all. About 88 per cent of professionals report using DevOps practices at work today.

The report also reveals that 50 per cent of hiring managers are keen to increase the hiring of open source professionals in the next six months, as compared to the last six months.

It is not just the hiring managers who reveal their intentions to hire more open source talent, but the open resource professionals themselves feel their demand has grown this year, with head hunters approaching them more than ever before. About 55 per cent of open source professionals received more calls from recruiters, while the figure was only 41 per cent last year. Also, 55 per cent of open source professionals think that it is quite easy for them to get a job.

What is expected of open source professionals?

Wondering what are some of the top skills that hiring managers expect open source professionals to bring to the table? As per the report, cloud and container technologies top the charts this time of the year, with 48 per cent of the hiring managers rating these as the most important and in-demand skills at the workplace.

Linux development and administration is at the second spot with 35 per cent of hiring managers voting this as one of the most valuable skills expected in an open source professional. Network technologies takes the third spot with 26 per cent, followed by DevOps practices (24 per cent) and security practices (23 per cent).

Skills come at a price

When these open source professionals are so much in demand, it becomes even more difficult to retain such precious talent. A whopping 92 per cent of hiring managers feel it is challenging to retain this in-demand talent. Since the community of open source talent is limited and every company is targeting the same talent pool, competition to acquire this talent is high. Leveraging this surge of demand amidst the shortage of supply, open resource professionals have put a price tag to their skills and services in the market. In fact, 48 per cent of the respondents state that salary would be the strongest incentive and motivation for them to move to another employer. This is followed by opportunity for bonus, at 34 per cent. People’s desire to learn and grow has also emerged in this report, with 35 per cent of respondents seeing learning opportunities as a perk to stay on longer with a company.

Understanding the needs of open source talent, companies have also responded well to this retention challenge. Little wonder then that 39 per cent companies are hiking salaries to retain their open resource talent, with 38 per cent giving bonuses and more learning opportunities and 25 per cent using training as a perk to retain this talent.

While hiring is on a recovery mode as per this year’s Jobs Report, open source tech talent seems to have become more crucial than ever before.

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Talking with HRKatha, Indrani Chatterjee, group chief people officer, Allcargo Logistics, shares that the Company has been consciously exploring talent from other industries, such as pharma, telecom, FMCG, and consumer electricals. Chatterjee herself was hired from the consulting space!

Chatterjee reveals that although the Company was earlier open to hiring from other industries, it was not really making conscious efforts to do so as it is doing today. Now, while hiring a senior leader, Allcargo emphasises on hiring the best talent, possessing domain expertise, and people- leadership skills. It looks at those capable of building strategies and innovating.

“Bringing in leaders from outside the logistics industry facilitates cross-pollination of knowledge. This helps Allcargo look beyond the already established processes and norms, and challenge the status quo, which leads to greater innovation,” points out Chatterjee.

While hiring from another sector, Allcargo looks at people from multinational companies that have evolved businesses and presence across geographies. The Company also looks to hire leaders who come from big Indian business houses. “Talent from Indian business houses comes with entrepreneurial skills, which we emphasise on,” tells Chatterjee.

Chatterjee highlights the fact that Allcargo does not necessarily look for cross-industry leaders in all roles. While hiring for some departments, past experience in the logistics industry does matter. However, for other roles, the Company is very much open to hiring from other industries.

“Bringing in leaders from outside the logistics industry facilitates cross-pollination of knowledge. This helps Allcargo look beyond the already established processes and norms, and challenge the status quo, which leads to greater innovation”

Indrani Chatterjee, group chief people officer, Allcargo Logistics

The reason why the Company has been focussing on getting people from other sectors, Chatterjee explains, is because “the logistics industry in the country is going through tremendous digital and technological transformation, which is why people who can bring innovation to the processes are required, to bring about a change in the organisation,” tells Chatterjee.

It is not as if the Company is looking to hire senior leaders from other industries to fill only senior- leadership roles. Other middle-management and entry-level roles are also open for cross-industry hires.

It does take time for senior leaders and people at CXO level, who come from other industries, to understand the nuances of the logistics sector. Therefore, Allcargo has a buddy or mentor programme, where senior leaders from the Company mentor the new hires. Chatterjee shares that it generally takes three to six months for newly-hired leaders to understand the nuances of the logistics sector in India.

For other roles, the Company has an induction process where employees are made to understand the logistics sector.

Chatterjee shares that hiring talent from the industry segment which has gone through various changes will add value to the logistics segment.

Allcargo is also keen to hire digital talent from the IT and technology sectors. With this level of openness to cross-industry hiring, the Company aims to become leaner, faster and more innovative in its processes.

The post How Allcargo is benefitting from cross-industry hiring appeared first on HR Katha.

Set up in 2016, the global robotics company currently employees over 550 engineers with diverse specialisations. Since the skillset required is relatively expensive, the Company has to be extremely meticulous with its hiring and finding the right fit. Speaking to HRKatha, Satish Shukla, co-founder & head – HR & marketing, Addverb Technologies, details the process of finding the ideal fit.

The interview process, comprising almost five to six levels, as informed by Shukla, is a very long one. “We start off with a couple of technical rounds, with the first one conducted at a peer or an engineer level. The second would be with someone between 5-10 years of experience. The technical rounds are followed by three leadership rounds,” explains Shukla. This process, however, is not fixed. A candidate can expect any one of the above at any point in the process of hiring. During the entire process, the candidate is judged on the basis of three basic parameters — knowledge, attitude/energy and curiosity.

“There must be an inquisitive energy in the persons we hire, irrespective of what they are passionate about”

Satish Shukla, co-founder & head – HR & marketing, Addverb Technologies

“We look for the basic technical building blocks of knowledge. After that, we specifically hire for the right attitude. There must be an inquisitive energy in the persons we hire, irrespective of what they are passionate about. If they are able to really discuss in depth, about things that they are passionate about, then that passion would transfer into other things they may pursue as well. Third, we look for people who have the curiosity to ask questions and not take everything on face value,” he added.

Shukla also points out that the Company encourages hiring managers to take on people whom they find to be more intelligent than them.

Since not many colleges offer a robotics-specific curriculum in engineering, Addverb hires people from all domains and works with a multi-disciplinary team of engineers. After recruitment, the new recruits are subjected to another screening process, which gives them a hands-on- experience of the field.

“Many things that are required for working in the robotics domain are not taught in any curriculum. We ask new recruits to go through a particular list of courses before joining. After onboarding, we get some of our experienced team members to guide and mentor them in their initial phase,” Shukla shares. He adds that the new recruits are then deployed to project sites for the first couple of months.

Shukla believes that it is important for people to be passionate about their jobs. This is also imbibed in their company culture, which offers a ‘no questions asked’ leave policy and complete autonomy over working hours to each employee.

It is Shukla’s belief that a good HR department is invisible. “The moment the HR leader becomes omnipresent, the company will be in trouble,” says he pointing out that, Addverb’s “founding principle is freedom in responsibility. We don’t want people to spend time or give thought to administration. We give our employees complete autonomy over their work hours, the only condition being that they maintain proper communication with their team.”

“If we deem someone capable of misusing the system in place, that means they are not fit for our culture, and therefore, we ask them to leave,” he asserts.

The Company has fostered a culture, where all employees — from shop floor professionals to the CEO — share an open space office. This allows them to promote a feeling of equality and develop a harmonious work culture. With a 550-strong workforce at the moment, Shukla aims to preserve this work culture as the Company continues to expand.

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Realising that different people choose to take a break from corporate life for different reasons, ACT Fibernet is “sensitive to these choices and respects them”, states Shefali Mohapatra, chief people officer, Atria Convergence Technologies.

Through the ‘Welcome Back’ programme, “we aim to encourage individuals to continue their careers and make a comeback in the corporate world. We also strive to create a diverse working environment that encourages people from different backgrounds to contribute their perspectives and passion to our company,” adds Mohapatra.

Under this unique initiative, the candidates go through a six-week skilling programme, which covers fundamental skills of corporate behaviour, functional training and hands-on training working on real-time projects. This is followed by an assessment, post which appropriate candidates are hired. Those who complete the programme successfully also receive certificates. The candidates are paid a fixed stipend and are hired in areas such as telesales, contact centre support, retention teams and so on. This is the second time the company is organising such an initiative and is trying to upskill people and bring them back into the workforce.

The programme aims to give a second chance to mothers and even those who took a break for health and personal reasons, former defence personnel or people who lost their job due to the pandemic.

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“Reskilling is the most critical HR project rolled out by us in India, in 2021. We keep a live skill inventory of each talent and that’s the reference point for any upskilling initiative,” shares Nath. All learning interventions are designed to bridge skill gap, if any. The on-the-job learning plan and the upgradation of technical capability are the ways in which “we help our talent upskill themselves and be role ready”. In projects — services as well as manufacturing — the reskilling programme has been unveiled “to achieve our business transformation objectives,” Nath further elucidates.

Via upskilling, the Company has been able to fill almost 80 per cent of open roles internally. “Reskilling, coupled with clear actions from our rigorous talent-review process — such as bubble assignments, specific development plans, talent upgrades in key roles and so on — have enabled us to fill 80 per cent of all open roles, to date, with internal talent,” Nath elaborates on GE’s reskilling initiative. “With energy transition and our own business transformation at Steam Power, it is imperative to build a series of interventions to enable employees to update their skills, and remain agile and relevant at the workplace,” he opines. That is why, the Company has also developed programmes for people leaders at Steam Power, to support them in leading and coaching their teams in a hybrid work environment.

“With energy transition and our own business transformation at Steam Power, it is imperative to build a series of interventions to enable employees to update their skills, and remain agile and relevant at the workplace”

Pramath Nath, CHRO – Asia Pacific & India, Steam Power, GE Power

The power sector is known to be dominated by men, but Nath is working to make the GE workspace more diverse. “While it is true that women are traditionally under-represented in the power sector, I see their numbers growing in leadership roles across various levels, including instances of engineers and technical experts. We have been able to make progress by driving diverse candidate and interviewer slates as well as promoting talented women, internally,” reveals Nath. “Women hold the global CEO, CHRO and CFO positions at Steam Power,” informs Nath, proudly.

That said, there is always more that can be done in this area. In order to promote an inclusive culture, which fosters diversity of thoughts and ideas, GE tries to ensure everyone feels empowered to perform their best and feel acceptance, respect and a sense of belonging.

Nath also sheds light on GE’s apprentice programme at its Durgapur plant, under which 50 per cent tribal women have been taken on as apprentices in the past few years.

Touching upon how the hiring strategy at GE is different from other companies, Nath explains, “At GE Steam Power, we aim to hire the best-in-class talent and offer them a robust career framework to learn and grow with us. Learning agility, fungibility, attitude, technical competence and cultural fit are what we assess,” elucidates Nath.

In the power sector, the biggest challenge is to find talent with transformation experience. And as Nath illuminates, “We have always focussed on job competencies versus a person’s individual competencies, and been location-agnostic for the roles that can be performed remotely — these are our key differentiators.”

The HR at GE is working to ensure employee wellness, which has become more of a point of focus, given the pandemic. “To further strengthen GE’s long-standing focus on employee wellness, given the effect of the pandemic on communities around us, Steam Power in India is providing health insurance to employees and their immediate families, parents and in-laws, which is a way of providing both financial support as well as peace of mind,” says Nath.

A team of doctors facilitates medical aid to employees in need, while the global employee-assistance programme provides counselling and advice to employees seeking mental wellness.

The post Upskilling allows internal talent to fill 80% open roles at GE Power appeared first on HR Katha.

Syrma Technology is one of the key manufacturers of products such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) solutions — tags and readers — used in inventory and asset tracking, in India. Additionally, it manufactures lighting components for the home appliances and automotive industry, such as cars, as well as devices used in defence. All these electronic components and chips are very small in size, and therefore, strong eye-hand coordination, high level of finger dexterity and immense focus are required to assemble them. The work involves handling of minute components — as small as 0.5mm in size — and soldering of components in 10X magnification.

Sreeram Srinivasan, CEO, Syrma Technology informes that women are found to be better than men in such skills. That is why, at Syrma, almost 90 per cent of the shop floor assembly line is ruled by women. Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu is known for their weavers, and Syrma Technology’s talent-acquisition strategy — at its assembly lines and shop floors — targets such communities that come with innate skills of handling minute components and great hand–eye coordination skills. “Many researches and studies prove that women are better equipped with intense focus and finger dexterity to deal with minute components, as compared to men,” says Srinivasan. He mentions that the girls at the manufacturing facilities are so focussed that, if anyone walks across the corridors near the workstations, they do not even lift their heads to see who is walking by.

“Many researches and studies prove that women are better equipped with intense focus and finger dexterity to deal with minute components, as compared to men”

Sreeram Srinivasan, CEO, Syrma Technology

In addition to tapping the traditional weaving clusters in Kanchipuram, the Company also recruits young girls with ITI diplomas. In fact, it believes in hiring young girls in the 18 to 20 years age bracket, who can work with greater energy and focus at the plants.

Syrma hires almost 1000 people at the shop floor annually, on an average. The selected candidates then go through an initial 15-day training at its skill development centres. The training combines classroom sessions and e-learning modules. During this time, the new recruits also start working on some minor assembly-line functions under the supervision of mentors. Srinivasan says that in almost six months, these new recruits are almost ready for full-time shifts and are able to master expertise at work. In fact, as a talent-acquisition strategy, the Company gives preference to women for these roles at the shop floors. Syrma also ensures that working shifts are comfortable for all women and they do not burn out or feel fatigued from too much work. During the training, the focus is more on making workers more aware of the SOPs and how they can deliver the best quality. These girls also interact with the clients and customers to understand their needs and requirements, which ensures that the purpose of their job is aligned with the business.

High attrition rate, which ranges from 12 to 15 per cent, is a major issue for the Company. “Some players in the industry poach our talent. They buy our ready-made, skilled talent. With margins being so tight in our business, we can only offer compensation up to a certain level,” shares Srinivasan. The reason why the Company loses its internally-developed and groomed talent is because some players in the market get huge orders from large companies, and to meet the demand they require ready-made talent immediately. They lure these women with higher compensation to meet urgent demand. However, Srinivasan points out that such companies only require labour for a limited period of time. Many a time, these girls come back to Syrma after they are laid off by their previous employers.

Giving preference to women for such roles at the shop floor is not something new in their industry. However, the way Syrma has put in place a unique and structured programme for developing and upskilling the talent pipeline. In fact, because of attrition and growth happening together, Syrma has to plan and hire three to four batches in advance to meet talent demand and supply chain requirements.

“Many people wonder why we invest so much in hiring and developing talent, which actually ends up leaving us. Our philosophy has been to contribute to the country by developing and adding self-reliant and independent women to the workforce. These girls, who come from rural backgrounds, with no industrial experience at all, are now independent and skilled enough to earn for themselves,” asserts Srinivasan.

Though the attrition rate is high, the Company has tried to retain this talent by introducing a self-growth plan, wherein opportunities are given to shop-floor workers to climb up the ranks and also move into leadership roles. The Company tries to build a career path for its women employees and to retain them as far as possible.

At the management level and middle level, the Company has a dedicated elite-leadership programme designed to hire and promote women from reputed colleges in various management roles.

Currently, Syrma Technology has almost eight manufacturing facilities across India with almost 2500 people working in them. The main manufacturing plant is in Chennai, where the Company is headquartered.

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As mentioned, these days, the defence sector has a variety of talent that can be utilised in the corporate world. Apart from just the security-management function, this pool of talent brings a lot to the table.

The defence sector offers engineers who have thorough knowledge of building and creating telecom and communication networks. It has also developed technology and IT skills, for its cyber cell department. In addition, its army doctors have the option to work for hospitals and the healthcare industry. Microsoft and Amazon have been hiring people in technology roles as well. In fact, there is no area in today’s business world, where ex-serviceman cannot contribute.

“Anybody coming from the officer cadre fit into any type of management role in business, given the fact that the person also possesses domain knowledge”

Sriharsha Achar, group CHRO, Star Health Insurance

“Anybody coming from the officer cadre fit into any type of management role in business, given the fact that the person also possesses domain knowledge,” says Sriharsha Achar, group CHRO, Star Health Insurance.

The ability to handle ambiguity and align oneself to the vision and goals of the organisation, along with a deep sense of integrity and loyalty are qualities that one can expect in all defence personnel. Also most importantly, the sense of responsibility and accountability is quite high because in a battlefield, one mistake can cost many lives. And moreover, they also have the ability to work in remote and secluded areas with limited resources.

There are some roles in the corporate world, for which veterans make a natural fit.

Supply chain: Supply chain operations, procurement and logistic management is one such area where defence personnel can do wonders. In the army, for instance, it is the duty of the officers to procure supplies in terms of arms and ammunitions and also rations, for their respective regiments. Amazon hires defence people to handle transportation, as well as the customer fulfilment and facilities management departments.

Vigilance: In the insurance sector, the main purpose of the vigilance and claims team is to investigate the claim case and verify if there is any kind of fraud, and take necessary action. Wells Fargo and Religare Health Insurance have been hiring veterans for this work. In fact, Achar reveals that the vigilance team at Star Health Insurance is headed by a former IPS officer and comprises former defence staff and retired police officers. “In these roles, it is mainly their investigative skills that are in use,” tells Achar.

Human resources: Another area where veterans can add immense value is human resources, because they are trained in managing manpower in defence services. Also, people management and understanding the psyche of a person is one of the subjects taught in the army. Apart from this, they can be very strong at IR because they have the experience in dealing with people problems managing soldiers coming from lower strata.

Training and capability development : As per the traits that an ex servicemen has, they also have a great skill of observing where are some of the areas that an individual lacks in his/her profile or job and start the process of building capabilities in those areas for the future.

Sales and client relationships: Ex-servicemen can contribute best in the field of sales and client relationships, because of the high level of confidence they possess. “The skills to communicate effectively and carry oneself with confidence is something which comes naturally to any defence personnel. They have the experience to deal with senior professionals with confidence and maturity,” points out Yuvaraj Srivastava, group CHRO, MakeMyTrip, who himself has served in the army as a captain for almost five and a half years. In fact, this is the reason why Religare Health Insurance hires people from the defence in roles which involve dealing with senior banking professionals, who love interacting with mature people.

Leadership: Above all, veterans are highly recommended to fill leadership positions in a firm. Leadership skills come naturally to any officer working in the defence space. The various modules taught to defence personnel cover leadership as a subject. “The intensity of leadership qualities is very high in any ex- serviceman, and companies hire such people in anticipation of them taking on leadership positions,” shares Srivastava.

“In the Army, work and processes are structured with huge respect for authority however in Corporate it can be different, can be very competitive and navigating through this may become challenging for officers”

Yuvaraj Srivastava, group CHRO, MakeMyTrip

“Critical thinking and strategising abilities exist naturally in ex-servicemen,” adds Achar.

However, working in a defence setup and delivering in the corporate world are two different things. To facilitate the transition, the employers will require to play a supportive role. “A bit of handholding is required while one is hiring someone from a defence background,” opines Achar.

In fact now arm forces also offers bridging programmes tying up with renowned institutes like the IIMs where they are trained for a smooth transition to a corporate life.

Generally, it is easy for short commissioned officers with five to six years of experience in the defence, but for people who have spent 70 per cent of their lives in the armed forces, the transition may take a while.

“In the Army, work and processes are structured with huge respect for authority however in Corporate it can be different, can be very competitive and navigating through this may become challenging for officers,” shares Srivastava.

Many employers harbour a wrong notion that ex-servicemen are only suited to handle security- management roles. Such employers will have to broaden their horizon a bit and understand how they can utilise the wide range of skills that veterans bring to the table, and there sure are many of them.

“More often the attitude in corporates is that one should be ready for the job from day one. You need to have some patience as an employer and also on the part of the ex serviceman, they should also start thinking about what they have to offer to business and what skills they bring on the table”

Sandiep Batra, CHRO, Landmark Group

“More often the problem lies in the way all employers think. The general attitude is that one should be ready for the job from day one. One needs to have some patience as an employer and the same is expected on the part of the ex-servicemen. They should also start thinking about what they have to offer to business and what skills they bring to the table,” mentions Sandiep Batra, CHRO, Landmark Group, and an ex- commissioned officer in the Indian Army.

It is very much accepted that that there are several traits and skills which can surely complement certain areas in the corporate world, but we also will have to accept the fact that specialised domain knowledge is required. However, this is not that big an issue because such knowledge can be acquired very easily.

The post Some of the best suited job roles for ex-servicemen appeared first on HR Katha.

“Culture fit with top performance are of equal importance for me”

Rajesh Nair, CHRO, Polycab

For example, an in depth study was conducted by the researchers on over 1000 stock analysts from across 78 investment banks in the US. The research found that 46 per cent of analysts’ overall performance dipped when they changed loyalties and further degraded year after year when they joined new firms. It was also observed that the teams at the firm they moved to also started performing poorly and the overall market value of the company started to degrade.

What causes this phenomenon? As the study involved a small group of people, it would be unfair to overgeneralise the findings, but interestingly, most of the HR leaders HRKatha spoke with, admitted to the existence of such a phenomenon and having faced it themselves in their careers.

“I have experienced such instances many a time in my previous stints with organisations,” shares Ashwin Shirali, former VP – talent & culture, Accor. He believes that cultural setting and environment are often neglected while hiring people. “The culture of the organisation has to be explained to the candidate at the time of hiring,” advises Shirali.

“It would be wrong to generalise that all star performers will start underforming if hired from outside. At the end of the day, there is a reason why a person is a top performer”

Uma Rao, VP-HR, Ashok Leyland

Even the HBR study suggests that when high performers move to different organisations they fail to replicate their excellence and productivity because their performance was majorly supported by the teams and processes of their old organisation. It is impossible for them to carry with them their whole setting from the previous organisations into their new roles.

“Before hiring anyone, checking for culture fit is of greater significance,” states Rajesh Nair, CHRO, Polycab. Nair believes that top performance and culture fit are both equally important. “I would like to hire a candidate who is culturally suitable and at the same time, a top performer,” asserts Nair.

Human resource leaders believe that hiring cultural misfits — especially at senior leadership positions — can be disastrous for the organisation. “We come across situations, where hiring a star performer, who is culturally mismatched, has led to exits of many team members. Eventually, one day the star performer also will leave and cause the entire team to collapse,” Uma Rao, VP-HR, Ashok Leyland.

What is the solution? Rather than opting for top performers who cannot complement the organisational culture, there is a need to choose people with a decent performance track record coupled with a 100 per cent culture fit. That means, going for the second best — the ‘B’ player in the market instead of the ‘A’ player.

“If I am given a choice between two candidates, I will give more priority to culture fit and not mind compromising on performance”

Pradyumna Pandey, CHRO, Mother Dairy

“If I am given a choice between two candidates, I will give more priority to culture fit and not mind compromising on performance, as culture can make or break things for any company,” says Pradyumna Pandey, CHRO, Mother Dairy. In fact, most HR leaders HRKatha interacted with, agree that they will prefer to hire a culture fit over a top performer.

Though Rao agrees that culture-fit hiring is important, she also points out that it would be wrong to generalise this phenomenon of star employees coming from outside failing to perform. According to her, more often than not, top performers continue to be top performers wherever they choose to go. “At the end of the day, there is a reason why a person is a top performer,” says Rao. She further explains that in case someone is not a culture fit, we need to rely on assessment tools to further evaluate and investigate how that person’s performance can be driven within the existing culture. “Do we such drivers, or can we create them?” Rao rightly questions even while cautioning that if we chose to hire someone from outside, we should anyway be ready for some kind of disruption in the culture.

“The culture of the organisation has to be explained to the candidate at the time of hiring”

Ashwin Shirali, former VP – Talent & Culture, Accor

Thiru A Thirunavukkarasu, CHRO, Hatsun Agro Products, admits that there is always a fight between ‘role fit’ candidates and a ‘culture fit’ candidates. He believes in maintaining a balance of 80 per cent culture fit and 20 per cent top performers who are there to shape the culture. In one of his previous organisations, ‘people management’ was a trait / skill which was an integral part of the organisational culture. However, Thirunavukkarasu still chose to keep 20 per cent of the workforce that lacked the trait and opted for high performers with a growth mindset. “Yes, one needs culture fits, but one cannot not do without people who can shape the culture and run the business either,” opines Thirunavukkarasu.

“Yes, one needs culture fits, but one cannot not do without people who can shape the culture and run the business either”

Thiru A Thirunavukkarasu, CHRO, Hatsun Agro Products

Looks like choosing the second best candidate, who is more of a culture fit, is the way to go. At the same time, however, a culturally diverse workforce is also important to shape the culture of the company. The key lies in striking a balance.

The post Why it is wise to go for the second best instead of an ‘A’ player in the market appeared first on HR Katha.

Human resource leaders also agree that the alumni of elite universities do have an edge and a head start in their careers, with big brands more inclined to lure them with relatively high compensations. However, in the long run, it is only calibre and hard work that results in success.

“I have hired several IIM graduates in my career who did not turn out to be good for the company and eventually left”

Ravi Kumar, people & culture leader, IMEA, Roche Diabetes Care

Caroline Hoxby, a Harvard economist analysed the long-term compensation of graduates from highly selective colleges and moderately selective colleges in the US. She discovered that graduates from a highly selective college earn $2.9 million cumulatively, while the ones from the second highly-selective college earn $2.8 million and the ones from other colleges earn $2.5 million. These are, of course, long-term earnings and there is marginal difference between them.

Another study suggests that graduates from elite colleges, such as Yale or University of Pennsylvania compared to others such as Penn State or Tulane in the US, they found that graduates coming from elite universities were earning more than lesser-known university graduates. However, the study went a little ahead and analysed students who were selected to study in elite institutes, but opted for lesser-known universities instead, were not earning any less than elite university pass-outs. Hoxby’s research also found that three-fourth of the educational benefits students receive is determined by their own efforts, and the remaining by the status of the college they attend.

One may argue that these findings may not be applicable in the Indian environment. In India, it has been a long-held belief that companies prefer to hire similar kind of people. A look at the top entrepreneurs and CEOs will reveal that many are alumni of the IITs and the IIMs, and they like to hire from similar prestigious institutes.

“One does not need an IIM graduate or an IIT graduate to justify every role”

Rishi Tiwari, cluster director – HR, Hilton

However, things are changing now. Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder, Paytm, was never keen to hire from elite colleges or from the likes of the IITs and IIMs. He believes that those who start out ordinary go on to give extraordinary results. In 2015, out of the 800 techies Paytm had, only 100 were from IIT, and out of the 50 managers, only 15 were from the IIMs. Also, the core team at Paytm had only one IIM graduate!

Good vs right talent

All HR heads, that HRKatha spoke to, believe that the talent produced by lesser-known universities do not lack in any way. Their career trajectory, however, is very different from that of others. And their roles are very different in the corporate setup. “The job of HR is not to hire good talent, but to hire the right talent,” says Rishi Tiwari, cluster director – HR, Hilton. Giving an example of a goldsmith and a blacksmith, Tiwari explains that one hires a person depending on the kind of work one wants to get done. The job of a blacksmith is very similar to a goldsmith’s. However, the work of a goldsmith involves higher precision. So, if one’s work can be done by a blacksmith, why would one hire a goldsmith for it? Similarly, in the corporate world as well, one does not need an IIM graduate or an IIT graduate to justify the role. If a person from a tier-2 or tier- 3 university has the potential to deliver what one is hiring for, that is all that matters. Also, this talent is available at a lesser cost. According to Tiwari, it is about affordability, and more than that, the right guy for the right job. “Graduates from IIMs or other elite colleges have good analytical minds. It is better to put them into strategic roles,” believes Tiwari.

Good performance finds success

Tiwari feels that alumni of lesser-known institutes climb the corporate ladder, if they are hard working. Though it takes them longer to do so, the good performers find success. “In one of my companies, I hired a person with a diploma from an ITI. He has now gone on to become the chief of staff, with way more knowledge and experience than the BTech degree holders,” shares Tiwari.

“The quality of education is something that matter and there are many tier 2 or 3 institutes who are doing the same. Nowadays, education is getting democratised. One can learn various things online as well”

Kartik Rao, chief people officer, MyGlamm

According to Ravi Kumar, people & culture leader, IMEA, Roche Diabetes Care, affordability has no role in such hiring decisions. It is about the fitment in the environment of the company and the role itself. “I have hired several IIM graduates in my career who did not turn out to be good for the company and eventually left,” shares Kumar. According to Kumar, the expectations of those coming from elite universities in India are very high from the company — not just in terms of compensation, but in terms of the importance of the role and the kind of work they will be required to perform.

Democratisation of education

Kartik Rao, chief people officer, MyGlamm, shares that affordability is not the only reason why companies hire from lesser-known colleges. These universities actually produce some very good talent. He is aware of some firms, that visit such universities and hire engineers in their third year itself, as interns and trainees and by the time they pass out, they get them fully on board. In fact, he also cites examples of companies such as Infosys that hire thousands of programmers from such institutes.

Rao and Kumar both believe that degrees from elite colleges do not really matter these days. It is more about the quality of education imparted by an institute, and there are many tier 2 or 3 institutes which are doing well in that area. “Nowadays, education is getting democratised. One can learn various things online as well,” points out Rao.

There are also some firms that exhibit biased thinking, by not even considering candidates from colleges other than the top-notch institutes that are fit for C-suit roles. Tiwari shares one such example of a colleague who was not considered for a CXO role simply because he was not from IIM. “Firms who harbour such a bias miss out on some great talent,” asserts Tiwari. So, there appears to be a ceiling to the success one can achieve if one is from a lesser known institute.

Clearly, the affordability factor in hiring from a lesser-known college does play a role, as graduates from elite colleges come at a high cost. However, more than that, it is about the right role fitment. Not every role requires an IIM or IIT talent. Even alumni from unexplored or lesser-known institutes can turn out to be great performers and rise up the corporate ladder.

The post Hiring from non-elite colleges — is it about affordability or quality talent? appeared first on HR Katha.

As gratifying as this is for the referee, it is a goal accomplished for the organisation. But what after that? Despite an exhaustive interview process and thorough scrutiny, the referred hire may turn out to be a misfit. The reasons could be many — from underperformance to misconduct. In such a case, like the referral rewards, should there also be a referral penalty for recommending a wrong hire? That’s the question we asked HR leaders, who unanimously agreed that the referees should not be held at fault.

“It is important to remember here that the person who is deciding has faith in the person who is recommending. If irresponsible references are made, it may break this trust and at times even affect relationships”

Adil Malia, HR leader and chief executive, The Firm

SV Nathan, partner and chief talent officer, Deloitte India, believes that the blame, if at all, should fall on the hiring manager and the reporting manager. They are the ones at fault for hiring the wrong candidate and failing to develop him or her. “People are good, but circumstances change their performance and managers are responsible for that. The referees should never be blamed. When employees recommend someone, they put their reputation on the line. By taking the referees to task, one burns the bridge of talent referrals for good. A reference is a reference. It is for the HR and managers to check out their worth,” Nathan asserts.

Recommendation is a representation made in favour of a person, a party, a process, a resource or a programme, strongly suggesting its consideration to the decider for use or appointment. It is the prime responsibility of the decider to ensure that the right resources/ processes are used or the right person is employed for the task, irrespective of recommendations.

Adil Malia, HR leader and chief executive, The Firm, segregates the whole process between two people — the ‘recommender’ who recommends and the ‘decider’ who takes the decision to hire a referral. He says, “The deciders have the option to accept the recommendation or not. However, having accepted the recommendation, the decision is solely theirs, and therefore, they continue to be responsible for the outcome of the decision. They cannot pass the buck to the poor person who recommended a candidate during a crisis. Why the decider accepts a recommendation will remain the rhetoric.

“The referees should never be blamed. When employees recommend someone, they put their reputation on the line. By taking the referees to task, one burns the bridge of talent referrals for good. A reference is a reference. It is for the HR and managers to check out their worth”

SV Nathan, partner and chief talent officer, Deloitte India

However, Malia does outline some responsibilities for the people who recommend. First, they should recommend only if they have first-hand experience and knowledge. Second, due diligence to the referral’s relevance and suitability to the role should be considered before making a recommendation. Third, there should be full disclosure of facts to the decision maker to whom the recommendation is being made. “It is important to remember here that the person who is deciding has faith in the person who is recommending. If irresponsible references are made, it may break this trust and at times even affect relationships,” cautions Malia. He finds a penalty unnecessary as it can kill the culture and spirit of recommendation altogether.

In the opinion of HR leaders, there shouldn’t be a penalty because it is a learning. The organisation makes decisions based on interviews and background checks to gauge whether a candidate is suitable for the position or not. So how can a person who has recommended the candidate be penalised? The referees do not influence the hiring manager. They merely provide a talent source. It goes without saying that a person who has been an underperformer or has been found to indulge in some kind of misconduct, will not be referred anywhere else.

“People tend to go on recommending people irrespective of whether they know the candidates well or not. When such referrals turn out to be bad choices, future referrals from such reckless or incautious referees will be viewed cautiously”

Anil Mohanty, head of people and culture, Medikabazaar

Anil Mohanty, head of people and culture, Medikabazaar, shares that many people working in organisations that give out referral rewards, tend to go on recommending people irrespective of whether they know the candidates well or not. When such referrals turn out to be bad choices, future referrals from such reckless or incautious referees will be viewed cautiously. “Alternatively, the referee too will be cautious while referring in future.”

Clearly, HR leaders are against any kind of penalty on the person who recommends candidates. After all, at the end of the day, it’s the job of the hiring manager to find out whether a person is fit for the profile or not.

The post Should there be a penalty for wrong recommendations? appeared first on HR Katha.

The brainchild of the Indian talent acquisition and HR team, the initiative has kick started only in India as of now, but the firm has plans to release it globally. “Taking this initiative to the global level is on the cards,” confirms Rajesh Rai, VP – people & India head -HR, GlobalLogic, to HRKatha.

The Company is inviting applications by reaching out to its alumni database through e-mails and social media. It is open to hiring its alumni in all kinds of roles, but is especially keen to hire people in the area of digital transformation. The firm is also open to hiring people through this programme at all levels.

“Every company wants to have a stronger talent pool and we have identified our alumni group as a great source of high-quality talent. In fact, in the past also we have received several requests and mails from our former employees expressing their desire to join us back. This is also one of the reasons to launch such an initiative.”

Rajesh Rai, VP – people & India head -HR, GlobalLogic

“We are immensely honoured and admire our alumni’s contributions to this spectacular journey of GlobalLogic, and helping make us what we are today. Now, as we plan the next phase of our growth, we certainly would want our former employees to come back to the GL Family and inspire us through their commendable contributions. That’s why, our alumni comeback programme is called GLHomecoming and we are thrilled to truly welcome them back,” shares Rai.

Though the Company has not revealed how many people it plans to hire through this programme, it is willing to accommodate as many as it can. “We are in a massive growth phase, and would love to welcome back as many of our alumni to rejoin us,” says Rai.

The Company is sure that the existing employees will be inspired by the alumni of the Company. “The remarkable contributions made by our alumni have enabled GlobalLogic to reach greater heights. Our exceptional journey from a Silicon Valley startup to becoming a part of an 80-billion-dollar enterprise is all thanks to our employees and our alumni who have been a significant part of it. Through this programme, we want our alumni to re-join us and inspire our existing employees with their exceptional experiences and transform their own as well as the Company’s growth journey,” mentions Rai.

The advantage of calling back alumni is that they will not take time to settle down as they are aware of the culture and understand how things work. “Hiring our ex-employees is a great initiative both for the GL ecosystem and our Talent Acquisition Group (TAG) team. These former employees already know the GL atmosphere and will fit in seamlessly without losing much time in reaching their full productivity. It will be much easier for them to assimilate into our upcoming digital transformation and take advantage of unlimited growth opportunities in their new roles,” explains Rai.

According to him, every company looks for a talent pool from which they can hire some of the best talent. GlobalLogic has made this smart move to tap into their alumni group. “Every company wants to have a stronger talent pool and we have identified our alumni group as a great source of high-quality talent. In fact, in the past also we have received several requests and mails from our former employees expressing their desire to join us back. This is also one of the reasons to launch such an initiative,” asserts Rai.

Yes, it is a great gesture from the firm to welcome back its former employees. But will they get special treatment during the hiring process? Will this not lead to bias in the process?

Rai clarifies that no special or VIP treatment will be given to the alumni of the Company while hiring. They will go through the same selection process as any other candidate. “The fitment factor will be evaluated during the hiring process. As a company, we are very particular that there should be no bias in the hiring process. It will remain fair and equal for all,” affirms Rai.

The post GlobalLogic launches boomerang employee programme, ‘GLhomecoming’ appeared first on HR Katha.

So how does HR decide whether talent acquisition is more important or retention? For some businesses, acquiring big teams is not a priority. For instance, according to a white paper, companies such as Raytheon, a defence contractor firm in the US, are able to create value with a relatively small team of engineers. On the other hand, companies working in the retail or pharmaceutical sectors, need a huge sales force, and therefore, it is common for them to maintain large sales teams, depending upon the scale of work.

“Aligning the company culture with the purpose of the individual can take care of the retention factor”

Jayant Kumar, president – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ

We are aware that the attrition rate is relatively high in the IT sector in India, where people are the most valuable assets. In such sectors, employee retention becomes critical. Recently, it was reported that Infosys faced an increase in attrition rate from 10 per cent to 15.2 per cent in the January -March quarter. In the last quarter of FY 21, TCS and HCL were the only companies that managed to keep their attrition rate below 10 per cent. So, what should be the focus — talent acquisition or talent retention? Does it vary from company to company or industry to industry?

Either way – part of the same coin

According to Rajorshi Ganguli, president & global HR head, Alkem Laboratories, both talent acquisition and talent retention are part of the talent-management strategy in a company. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude which is more important or more relevant.

In fact, Ganguli believes that both are quite related at times. If the talent-acquisition strategy is good — which also includes getting people on board properly, giving them a good onboarding experience — it has a positive impact on the tenure of the talent in the company. Although there are other tools and techniques for better retention, this also makes a difference.

“One cannot really separate talent acquisition from talent retention, because both these functions form an integral part of the whole talent-management strategy”

Rajorshi Ganguli, president & global HR head, Alkem Laboratories

“One cannot really separate talent acquisition from talent retention, because both these functions form an integral part of the whole talent-management strategy,” says Ganguli.

Retention is always a challenge

On the other hand, Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Bhilosa Group, believes that talent retention is relatively more important than talent acquisition. He feels it is comparatively easier to acquire or recruit talent by giving attractive benefits and compensation, than retaining them, which is a much more difficult job.

Another factor is that the cost of replacing talent is very high as compared to acquiring new talent across levels. Also, if the attrition rate of the company is high, it tends to raise questions on the employer brand of the company. “For me, retention is more important because it directly impacts the employer brand of the company, and building a brand takes a fairly long time,” explains Mukherjee.

For acquiring talent, the HR team does not require too many skills, but the retention of talent depends on several factors. “Developing a good culture, transparency, equity, creating opportunities to grow within the organisation and ensuring engagement, requires a lot of skill and is a part of a number sub-functions within HR,” adds Mukherjee.

“For me, retention is more important because it directly impacts the employer brand of the company, and building a brand takes a fairly long time”

Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Bhilosa Group

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal also feels talent retention is more important for multiple reasons. First, people who stay on for long do not only add value to the company, but also the employer brand, which further helps attract good talent. Second, if a company focuses on retaining talent it reduces the pressure on the talent-acquisition team. Third, the internally- groomed talent, which stays for longer periods of time, also emerge as future leaders for the company. That means, the company will not have buy talent for leadership roles in the future.

Quick Heal works in a segment where it is difficult to find ready-made talent. Still, the company acquires people who are quite ready for the role they are taking on. “I get 80 per cent ready talent from the talent market. We focus on retaining our talent and investing in upskilling them,” shares Raina.

Does the focus on talent acquisition or retention depend on the nature of the companies, or the industry they operate in? Mukherjee is sure that retention will anyway be more important for any company, even if it requires to hire in huge numbers in certain functions. “Even in the pharma sector, where the sales force is quite big, no company would want people to leave as it can result in loosing intellectual business knowledge to other companies,” points out Mukherjee.

Ganguli thinks that acquisition and retention are both equally important, but at the same time, he does agree that retention becomes more important in companies or industries where the attrition level is very high. “I believe a low attrition rate is healthy as it can help weed out non-performers, but yes, if the attrition rate is high, such as in the IT sector, retention will gain importance in the affected companies,” says Ganguli.

“I get 80 per cent ready talent from the talent market. We focus on retaining our talent and investing in upskilling them”

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal

Talent acquisition is complex; needs focussed approach

For some HR leaders, talent retention is more important and for some both are vital to the talent- management strategy. However, Jayant Kumar, president – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ, is of the opinion that talent acquisition is more important than talent retention. Kumar believes that talent acquisition involves a lot of complex processes. First, one needs to see the fitment factor of the candidate.

Simply sourcing talent is not enough, but sourcing it from the right platform and making it available to the hiring managers is important. Also, at times, it is essential to train the hiring managers too.

Additionally, as recruiters, it is very important to understand the organisational culture and what type of people can thrive in that culture. Giving an example, Kumar shares that there are two kinds of people — ones who oppose innovation and ones who are all for it. The former like to work in a more structured and organised environment, where rules are strictly followed with less scope for changes and innovation, while the latter want to be empowered and bring innovation to the table. Understanding the internal culture is necessary to attract the right people who can survive and thrive in the company’s culture. This, in turn, ensures retention.

“Aligning the company culture with the purpose of the individual can take care of the retention factor,” opines Kumar.

The post Talent acquisition vs talent retention – What’s more important? appeared first on HR Katha.

Companies are always keen to know whether the candidate has other job offers in hand. This helps the recruiter to understand – how much time the organisation has to extend its offer, how much to negotiate, what to offer, and also whether to rely on the candidate or move to the next best. It also helps to gauge how valuable the person’s skills are in the market.

Some prefer it to be direct. As Manu Wadhwa, CHRO, Sony Pictures, believes, “This question helps an interviewer assess the urgency to take a decision on the candidate’s relevance for the role at hand. It definitely is an influencer question, as it puts a perspective on the demand for the candidates’ skills and capabilities in the market. I haven’t come across any candidate who has not answered this question.”

“This question helps an interviewer assess the urgency to take a decision on the candidate’s relevance for the role at hand. It definitely is an influencer question, as it puts a perspective on the demand for the candidates’ skills and capabilities in the market. I haven’t come across any candidate who has not answered this question.”

Manu Wadhwa, CHRO, Sony Pictures

She also adds as it is often presumed, it’s not a privacy-driven question. “Even the candidates themselves realise that this question helps the prospective employer gauge the time available to them to take a call,” reasons Wadhwa.

Rajesh Padmanabhan, HR Leader & CEO, Talavvy, says, “Such information emerge from other parts of the conversation through smart interviewing anyway. I don’t ask it directly, because I feel by asking such a question, I will only allow them to judge me as being fine with shopping, and lower my employer brand. So, it’s a leading question of sorts.”

Padmanabhan prefers to check the purpose behind the candidate seeking this role, the differentiation between this existing role and the role being offered, and the driving factors for decision making to switch.

Now these are implicit questions and the behaviour of the candidate will give it away if it’s the only role being pursued or if there is another consideration.

“I prefer to check the purpose behind the candidate seeking this role, the differentiation between this existing role and the role being offered, and the driving factors for decision making to switch. Now these are implicit questions and the behaviour of the candidate will give it away if it’s the only role being pursued or if there is another consideration.”

Rajesh Padmanabhan, HR Leader & CEO, Talavvy

He recollects an instance when he had closed a C-level role with a top-notch hire. “She was negotiating hard on the financials and was seeking an 80 per cent hike in salary with me. On questioning her about the same, she replied that she was not comparing the financials with her current role but with another market offer in hand, compared to which the hike I offered would work out to only about 20 per cent according to her. When I asked her to share the offer, she declined under the pretext of confidentiality. Following this, my decision-making was like shooting in the dark. I trusted my instincts, dragged my feet and delayed making the offer.”

He continued that desperation got the better of her, prompting her to call regularly and follow up. The cat was soon out of the bag and she quickly started lowering her expectations on the financials.

He put her through his conversational psychometric and NLP combine. Discomfort was clearly evident, and post the conversation, he conveyed to her that she should pursue the other role. “The candidate desperately tried to convince me that her heart was in this role and that she was willing to entirely let go of the other role unconditionally. She was also willing to take anything that I offered as compensation.”

“In my career I never had to ask this question. In fact people themselves tom-tom about their parallel offers and try to negotiate on the salary. I know that I have a budget range for the particular role matching it with the market offering, if the candidate agrees to it well and good, if not I move on.” 

Sunil Singh, former CHRO and CEO, Mindstream Consulting

Clearly, the point Padmanabhan is trying to make here is that, one needs to be capable of sound hiring and decision-making, based on trust in deep instincts, abilities and principles. Losing a good candidate is better than ending up with a wrong hire.

However, there are also a few HR professionals, who feel it’s not important to know whether the candidate has other job offers or not.

As Sunil Singh, former CHRO and CEO, Mindstream Consulting. “In my career I never had to ask this question. In fact people themselves tom-tom about their parallel offers and try to negotiate on the salary. I prefer giving more weightage to the fact that if the candidate is fit for the role or not. I do not prefer wasting time on negotiating because I know that I have a budget range for the particular role matching it with the market offering, if the candidate agrees to it well and good, if not I move on.”

“I would recommend building an organisation which has a reputation in the market of an equitable compensation structure. People generally try to negotiate because they think that the company does not pay at par,” he concludes.

The post How to find out if candidates have other job offers appeared first on HR Katha.

Startups are all about differentiation. Investors will look for startups that possess experience in the sector or are infused with entrepreneurial capabilities. The good part about having the right mix of generalists and specialists is that the former will push the envelope and ask ‘why not’, even when the experts are persistent in following a tried and tested path.

“If it’s an AI tech-based or SaaS-based company, it becomes essential to hire people with those specific capabilities. Certain staff functions, such as HR, generic marketing, and so on, can go for generalists at first and then bring in specialists at a later stage, depending upon the market and scale of the organisation. Today, there are cloud services for a few functions as well. Areas that are very critical to the business require specialists.”

Unmesh Pawar, advisor, KPMG India

From a startup’s perspective, who is a better hire?

It is difficult to say who would be a better choice, because each one brings along different qualities, skills and traits.

The debate begins!

Rishabh Gupta, SVP, and core team member, Khatabook, who in the past has also worked with few other startups such as Flipkart and Housing.com, is of the opinion that in the initial stage, for a startup, the most important thing is to understand the skill sets that the founding and core team brings to the table. In addition, there would be core capabilities that are absolutely essential for growth, and the team may not specialise in them. So, while functional expertise is very important, a winning candidate would have the expertise to handle more than one function. For instance, “A super-specialist in one area can be a generalist performer in other functions. Such people are of tremendous value in the early stages of a startup’s journey, when one has a very lean team to work with,” Gupta opines.

He also points out that in a start-up culture, most people are likely to pick up the skills of a generalist since the various departments in an organisation do not work in silos. Start-up culture provides freedom to individuals to figure out career paths, including if they would like to opt for super-specialised roles or acquire general skills and get into generalist roles. Also, as individuals grow in their careers, they are likely to pick up generalist capabilities to become good people managers.

“Irrespective of whether it is the initial stage or not, there is a product being made, marketed and sold. Once the life cycle of the product begins, there are many activities to be done. If I only have specialists, some of the activities will not get done because we haven’t scaled up. Such a situation will not emerge with generalists, because they can perform multiple tasks. The moment the product is developed, one will need various functions and that is when the need for specialists will arise.”

Sriram V, CHRO, BankBazaar.com

“At Khatabook, the engineering team members profoundly understand the product development function. Engineers have the flexibility to work with the product team and get involved in that function as thoroughly as they would like to. And that, we have noticed, has become a very motivating aspect of the work culture at Khatabook,” Gupta says.

It’s all about the team size

Interestingly, Sriram V, CHRO, BankBazaar.com, has a slightly different outlook on the topic. He believes that in the initial stages generalists are required to take up multiple responsibilities. For him, the growing size of an organisation’s team decides whether it needs more specialists or generalists. “Irrespective of whether it is the initial stage or not, there is a product being made, marketed and sold. Once the life cycle of the product begins, there are many activities to be done. If I only have specialists, some of the activities will not get done because we haven’t scaled up. Such a situation will not emerge with generalists, because they can perform multiple tasks. The moment the product is developed, one will need various functions and that is when the need for specialists will arise,” he points out.

“At Khatabook, the engineering team members profoundly understand the product development function. Engineers have the flexibility to work with the product team and get involved in that function as thoroughly as they would like to. And that, we have noticed, has become a very motivating aspect of the work culture at Khatabook.”

Rishabh Gupta, SVP, and core team member, Khatabook

Citing the example of the HR department, he explains that till the team size reaches 50, one doesn’t need an HR function really. It is the CEO who gets the first crew of people, who have full trust in him. However, the moment the team crosses the 50 mark, based on the company’s growth strategy, one needs to decide who else to get, and only recruiters can help at this juncture. When the size goes beyond 150 and inches towards 200, investment in a senior HR person or lead, who has seen it all, becomes essential.

As one starts moving forward, one needs to have people who can bring in depth. In the early stages, it is, therefore, advisable to make do with generalists. However, moving forward, when the need for certain specific capabilities emerges, one can hire specialists. Also, certain functions require specialisations. “If it’s an AI tech-based or SaaS-based company, it becomes essential to hire people with those specific capabilities. Certain staff functions, such as HR, generic marketing, and so on, can go for generalists at first and then bring in specialists at a later stage, depending upon the market and scale of the organisation. Today, there are cloud services for a few functions as well. Areas that are very critical to the business require specialists,” Unmesh Pawar, advisor, KPMG India opines.

“In my own experience, even large consulting firms, that have in the past approached top business schools and hired MBA graduates in dozens, are hiring specialists today — not only in the technical areas but also in diverse areas, such as arts, history and others. A traditional approach to finding solutions to business problems now needs a lot of creativity. I would any day prefer to go with specialists,”

Anand Talwar, former CHRO, ITC Infotech and HR consultant

Anand Talwar, former CHRO, ITC Infotech and HR consultant, however, reasons that specialists are in more demand, because there is so much competition in the world that, as an organisation, one needs to create those differentiators. Startups have to compete with large majors in the market. Therefore, they need to come up with unique differentiators and specialisations. “In my own experience, even large consulting firms, that have in the past approached top business schools and hired MBA graduates in dozens, are hiring specialists today — not only in the technical areas but also in diverse areas, such as arts, history and others. A traditional approach to finding solutions to business problems now needs a lot of creativity. I would any day prefer to go with specialists,” Talwar asserts.

The ideal mix

Now the question is, once the team is set, what should be the ratio of specialists to generalists? It is clearly established that there needs to be a balance in the workforce but what is an ideal percentage?

Gupta believes it isn’t easy to define specialists and generalists in percentage terms as this is difficult to quantify. “Often, people are hired in specialist roles, but we allow them to figure out what other responsibilities or skill sets they are up for and let them work with the respective functional teams. In a start-up culture, most people are likely to pick up the skills of a generalist since the departments or people do not work silos in an organisation,” he points out.

The post What do companies need more at a startup stage: specialists or generalists? appeared first on HR Katha.

Another report from Indeed reveals that more job seekers are hunting for ‘remote work’ or work-from-home options. In fact, the searches for such jobs spiked to 966 per cent in April 2021 compared to April 2020, as per data from the job site, Indeed.

The ISF report reveals that more organisations are willing to hire freshers now. The expectation to take on freshers has gone up from 6 per cent last year, to 15 per cent in 2021. The tech sector is the most willing to recruit freshers at 24 per cent, whereas 21 per cent of the telecom sector and 19 per cent of the e-commerce segment expect to hire freshers.

Due to the challenge of sourcing and retaining talent, the demand for temporary staffing has gone up. Most of the freshers are being sourced from campuses and imparted training before being assigned to various projects. The skills in demand are knowledge of artificial Intelligence, data science, cloud computing, information security and blockchain.

Organisations are working on upgrading their HR processes, with more focus on training and hiring contractual workers.

The post Talent sourcing, retention huge challenge for tech sector appeared first on HR Katha.

Another senior HR leader, Richard Lobo, executive VP and head of HR, Infosys, finds merit in this idea.

“In today’s environment, where there is always a shortage of skilled talent, it is important for companies to realise that returnees can be a rich source of fulfilling the skill gap,” he says.

“It’s like bringing women back to work. It’s really difficult. Nobody wants to say that I am hiring this person because he is a failed entrepreneur. It needs an open mind and a willing heart. One needs to look at each case on their own merits. One needs a body within an organisation who can help them feel successful.”

SV Nathan, Partner And Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte India

Lobo believes that by enabling a successful transition, others will be encouraged to take similar paths and the company will benefit. For this, we need to create an organisational culture that encourages a diverse talent pool and does not discriminate based on tenure or employment status or any other reason.

Although not a fail-safe strategy, these unsuccessful entrepreneurs have seen the lows and sometimes the highs too. That makes them quite insulated and gives them the strength to be daring in their approach. The question is, whether welcoming them back into the workforce is as easy as it sounds. Do they encounter challenges, despite being well-versed with the trade? Turns out, they do.

Jaidip Chatterjee, CHRO, SREI, feels that having professionals turning into entrepreneurs is a positive thing and many have even succeeded in it. However, when it comes to getting back to jobs post an entrepreneurial stint would depend on their expertise and professional strengths.

“In today’s environment, where there is always a shortage of skilled talent, it is important for companies to realise that returnees can be a rich source of fulfilling the skill gap.”

Richard Lobo, executive VP and head of HR, Infosys

Chatterjee says, “For entrepreneurs with niche skills — for instance, coders, IT professionals, chartered accountants, specialists in a manufacturing segment or unskilled labour — coming back to the workforce is not so difficult. However, if it is a generic profession, it can be a struggle. For instance, if a person is into sales and decides to have his own unit, but fails and then opts to return, this come-back could be difficult.”

Kamlesh Dangi, group head – human resources, InCred, also believes it is not easy for failed entrepreneurs to return to work. “Often, they have to give up their expectation of level /compensation. It is easier at entry-level or junior-level jobs, but tough at mid- to senior-levels,” he opines.

Gautam Srivastava, head – talent management, performance and engagement, HDFC Ergo General Insurance, has objections with the term ‘failed entrepreneurs’.

“Moving from a business setup, where one is the boss and decision maker, to joining under someone. It is a cultural shift where many people may struggle.”

Jaidip Chatterjee, CHRO, SREI

“They have the whole experience of how the industry works, how the business works, and what the situation of the market is, in every sense. They are more like jewels of the current business scenario. Also I have not seen any leader or hiring manager turning down a profile simply because the candidate has been unsuccessful in his/her own venture.”

“Companies evaluate entrepreneurs in the job market, the basis on their professional skills matching with the requirement.”

It’s obviously been established that there are a lot of advantages of recruiting a failed entrepreneur. But there needs to be a system in place for them to be absorbed in an organisation. Their experience warrants a position that can value the same. The reason being sometimes there’s a bit of bitterness in them for not being successful. So when they are included in a workplace they need to feel wanted.

“The reason for failure is very important and it should not be financial misappropriation or fraudulent activity or any other unethical behaviour. Companies wouldn’t want to hire a person with such a history.”

Gautam Srivastava, head – talent management, performance and engagement, HDFC Ergo General Insurance

Chatterjee, CHRO, SREI says, “Moving from a business setup, where one is the boss and decision maker, to joining under someone. It is a cultural shift where many people may struggle.”

Now the question is where and how to find ex-entrepreneurs. Are they easily available in the job market? Should there be a hiring strategy for them?SV Nathan, Partner And Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte India, dismisses that such people need any separate process of hiring, however, he also admits that getting a failed businessman to rejoin is quite tough.

“It’s like bringing women back to work. It’s really difficult. Nobody wants to say that I am hiring this person because he is a failed entrepreneur. It needs an open mind and a willing heart. One needs to look at each case on their own merits. One needs a body within an organisation who can help them feel successful,” Nathan explains.

“Often, they have to give up their expectation of level /compensation. It is easier at entry-level or junior-level jobs, but tough at mid- to senior-levels.”

Kamlesh Dangi, group head – human resources, InCred

Nathan also believes comparisons between two employees where one’s batchmate is now his/her superior only arises at the position of seniority. He does have an alternative to that. “I feel they are better off as gig workers. They should come in as contract workers for a certain period of time,” Nathan says. That way the instances of comparisons and bitterness can be worked on.

Concurs! Srivastava of HDFC Ergo General Insurance. In his opinion, they must be recruited as advisors by companies, as they possess the knowledge of failure and associated experience, which the companies can leverage.

Srivastava also puts in a word of caution. “The reason for failure is very important,” he says, and it should not be financial misappropriation or fraudulent activity or any other unethical behaviour. “Companies wouldn’t want to hire a person with such a history.”

The post How are ‘failed entrepreneurs’ valued in the job market? appeared first on HR Katha.

The US-state government may have had its reason to pass this judgement, but does rehiring laid off employees make sense strategically. In India, we do not have any such law, but rehiring employees who have been laid off earlier can have its own pros and cons.

First let’s look at the positives. “Rehired people develop a feeling of faith and trust with the realisation that the layoff is just a temporary procedure to cope with the losses. This happens only when the company undertakes the drive due to some economic reason. In such cases, the employees don’t feel unwanted. Instead, they feel secure under the company’s roof,” says Kamalesh Dangi, group head – HR, Incred.

“If it’s a case of performance-oriented layoffs, rebuilding the workforce with those employees may be a challenge. In every group, there are always some people who fail to develop themselves even after repeated and varying attempts.”

Kamalesh Dangi, group head – HR, Incred

In fact, Dangi’s organisation, Incred is also planning to rehire some of the laid-off employees from a section, which was dissolved for a reason.

“The rehired people will be brought back for the expansion of another section, shortly. This will be conducted on the basis of the closest and matching skills of the laid-off employees to those required for the section under expansion,” he shares with HRKatha.

Talking about the benefits of rehiring laid off employees, Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company (BCCL), says, “These resources can cater to both the ‘what and how’ of the performance for business deliverables, since they are already culturally aligned with the core values of the organisation, and also possess deep knowledge of the organisational dynamics, to effectively navigate the known stakeholder ecosystem.”

However, it doesn’t mean that companies should go full hog with rehiring laid off employees. It’s a path to be treaded with full caution.

“Organisations should desist from rehiring any laid-off resources who had performance or behavioural challenges, and must take the opportunity to hire the right talent from the market to consciously push up the productivity and talent quotient of the enterprise.”

Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company

Dangi says, “If it’s a case of performance-oriented layoffs, rebuilding the workforce with those employees may be a challenge. In every group, there are always some people who fail to develop themselves even after repeated and varying attempts.”

“In such cases of performance-based layoffs, the rehiring may add to the disadvantage affecting the productivity at the end,” he opines.

Das of BCCL is also of a similar opinion. “Organisations should desist from rehiring any laid-off resources who had performance or behavioural challenges, and must take the opportunity to hire the right talent from the market to consciously push up the productivity and talent quotient of the enterprise,” he says.

He is of the view that rehiring people who have been laid off in the past for low performance ranking or being low on the behavioural scale is a wastage of resource and time, with negative or neutral effect on productivity.

“Learning, development, upskilling and reskilling don’t just revolve around performance, but also interpersonal communication skills. Therefore, when a person is accused of any misconduct, the liability should be divided between the employees and the employer.”

Pankaj Lochan, executive director and group CHRO, Jindal Steel and Power

Pankaj Lochan, executive director and group CHRO, Jindal Steel and Power, is quite optimistic. He believes even if a person is being laid off on the grounds of misconduct or approach, the organisation has to be accountable and take responsibility to some extent.

“Learning, development, upskilling and reskilling don’t just revolve around performance, but also interpersonal communication skills. Therefore, when a person is accused of any misconduct, the liability should be divided between the employees and the employer,” he says.

Lochan is of the opinion that rehiring such employees can be turned advantageous with proper addressal of the reasons behind layoffs.

“Organisations enjoy the best of trust and dedication on rehiring the laid off employees. They come back with more passion and purpose, which makes the rehired employees’ potential assets for the rest of their tenure. They express the urge to learn more and further develop whatever skills they possess. I would prefer rehiring candidates because they give their best,” Lochan concludes.

The post Hire laid off employees, but with caution appeared first on HR Katha.

In one of his books, Dave Ulrich, senior professor, University of Michigan, and co-founder, RBL Group, suggests that HR now a days is not just about HR — it is about adding value to the organisation and becoming a function that helps the company win in the marketplace.

In the current scenario, we all expect HR to create value for customers, investors and employees. They are expected to add value in such a way that it helps employees to win the marketplace for the organisation, and draw hiring strategies, which align with the goals and mission of the company. But what if we just flip the coin for a moment and discuss the reverse scenario?

“Organisations where SOPs and hiring guidelines are firmed up, and where such a firming up of guidelines is sponsored, encouraged and demanded, all managers are aligned to the hiring strategy of the company. In other organisations, however, this is practised on tribal knowledge but not necessarily ‘carved in stone’ in the policy guidelines.”

Mangesh Bhide, head – HR, technology & FTTx business, Reliance Jio Infocomm

If we expect every hiring manager to understand the business, is it not important for every other manager to understand the hiring strategy of the organisation as well? After all, isn’t every manager an HR manager first.

Talking to HRKatha, Anand Talwar, former CHRO, ITC Infotech & HR Consultant, comments that there has to be a sync in the organisational strategies. Managers cannot work in silos to produce effective results. They need to understand the organisational hiring strategies, which are drawn out by the HR and aligned to that one purpose and ultimate goal of the organisation.

“In my career, I have witnessed multiple occasions where everyone is concerned about their own department and vertical, and that is when the whole problem starts. If other managers do not understand the hiring strategy of the organisation, we cannot be in sync. Instead, we will have a situation where all managers start selecting and hiring people according to their individual or departmental needs,” says Talwar.

“In today’s times, we cannot say that hiring is an HR job only. I believe that hiring is a business and no more just an HR business. It is an inclusive process for every manager in the organisation.”

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal, feels that the business leaders and managers need to be in sync, otherwise the usual problem of attrition and wrong hiring will arise in the organisation.

Raina shares, “In today’s times, we cannot say that hiring is an HR job only. I believe that hiring is a business and no more just an HR business. It is an inclusive process for every manager in the organisation.”

Every manager needs to understand the hiring strategy of the organisation, but do we really see this happening?

According to the experts, this problem of managers not understanding the hiring strategy is a very common one and Talwar even goes on to say that to some extent the organisation is also to blame for it. He feels that business leaders fail to give a clear message. They fail to make people understand the organisational goals and the hiring strategy aligned to them.

“In my career, I have witnessed multiple occasions where everyone is concerned about their own department and vertical, and that is when the whole problem starts. If other managers do not understand the hiring strategy of the organisation, we cannot be in sync. Instead, we will have a situation where all managers start selecting and hiring people according to their individual or departmental needs.”

Anand Talwar, former CHRO, ITC Infotech & HR Consultant

“Organisations where SOPs and hiring guidelines are firmed up, and where such a firming up of guidelines is sponsored, encouraged and demanded, all managers are aligned to the hiring strategy of the company. In other organisations, however, this is practised on tribal knowledge but not necessarily ‘carved in stone’ in the policy guidelines,” adds Mangesh Bhide, head – HR, technology & FTTx business, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

“There should be a single-minded focus on the goals, and the message should flow from the top brass and reach the managers in an effective way,” shares Talwar.

Talking from her own experience, Raina shares that wherever the hiring strategies of the organisation are clear to each and every manager, challenges such as retention, employee engagement, talent development and wrong hiring do not seem to exist.

Looking at the current scenario, we can say that organisations in which HR practices have evolved over time and where the HR is respected and regarded as a true business contributor, this problem of managers not being engaged and aligned with the hiring strategy may not prevail at all. However, other organisations will continue to struggle to get their steps right.

The post If hiring managers are business partners; line managers need to know hiring strategy appeared first on HR Katha.

Realising that women professionals are the ones who mostly end up taking a break, it has included women in its initial phase of the programme, helping them take on “engineering management roles in the digital engineering practice”.

Taking its diversity and inclusion (D&I) agenda forward, Cognizant hopes to reach out to women beyond the workplace and help those who have had to set aside their career goals, because of certain personal goals related to their family or children. This programme will help such women professionals on a break to pursue their career dreams and make life more meaningful.

Considering that about 38 per cent of Cognizant’s workforce in India comprises women, of which almost 45 per cent work in tier-2 cities, this is definitely the right step in improving gender diversity. The Company will also try to ensure that a thousand women, from amongst the high performers, are placed in leadership positions this year.

As part of the ‘returnship programme’, Cognizant offers returners support and training. It also provides upskilling, mentorship and other resources to help them in their journey. Participants get to work with the latest technology, along with an opportunity to take up a full-time job at Cognizant.

According to Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and MD, Cognizant, this innovative programme is also “a way to get diverse talent in the door, irrespective of when their last professional role was.”

The Company has set itself a goal of hiring more women and retaining its talented leaders as part of its annual performance rating process.

The post Cognizant launches ‘returnship’ programme for tech pros on career break appeared first on HR Katha.

Considering that the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company has more than 21,000 employees, including 12,000 blue-collar staff, across its 31 factories and 15 offices in India, it is a huge goal. These efforts will bear fruit when all these families start experiencing and living better lives and have a positive effect on all those who are associated with them. Not only will this initiative ensure a more equitable workplace, its ripple effect will spread far and wide, improving the lives of millions.

Known for thinking big and thinking good for the larger community, HUL created waves last year, by announcing the first-of-its-kind policy for survivors of abuse. What was unique was that the policy was not limited to the workplace, but also covered abuse at home or experienced online. The policy is aimed at protecting and providing relief to employees, who have suffered emotional or physical abuse beyond the workplace. As per the policy, the concerned employees would receive medical care, psychological counselling as well as reimbursement for lodging expenses for 15 days, till they are able to arrange suitable accommodation. The policy also allows the employees in question to work from an HUL office in a different location for a month if they so wish or follow a flexible work schedule.

The post Hindustan Unilever aims to reskill, upskill staff over next 5 years appeared first on HR Katha.

It may have been a no brainer that automating screening would speed things up. However, as it turns out, the intervention of technology in shortlisting candidates may have introduced a potential for increased false positives — for the recruiter as well as the candidate. As a result, the recruitment process gets further lengthened.

When HR Katha posed the phenomenon of ‘keyword stuffing in resumes’ to industry leaders, they turned the lens on organisations instead, citing inaccurate job descriptions as the cause. Experts believe this talent-side behaviour is nothing but a reflection of how India’s talent market has evolved.

Template screens

It’s no secret that recruiters now use technology at the first level of candidate screening. “Most people are aware that organisations use tools, which look at keywords, while shortlisting candidates,” says Praveer Priyadarshi, HR consultant and former chief people officer. “The system is fed with a screening template, which then picks out those words from a mass of resumes and creates profile matches,” he informs. When done right, these screening templates are usually the result of discussions between the recruiters and hiring managers.

“Candidates do not want a scenario where they have no idea why they’re being rejected. It distresses them.”

Keyword-ifying resumes

It did not take much time for candidates to modify their resumes to respond to these automated screening templates. There are enough professional resume writers, tools and websites recommending hacks to help candidates build their resumes. “So, people try to enhance their ability in the market by introducing certain keywords in their resumes,” notes Priyadarshi. “Placement consultants help them do that too,” adds Sunil Singh, former CHRO, Cadila, and now founder-CEO MindStream Consulting. “That’s how the hiring market has evolved over the years. From real competency to keyword competencies,” points out Singh.

Maximising chances

Experts, however, do not blame the candidates. “The real issue is that people don’t feel happy unless they’ve had the chance to present their credentials to a human being,” notes Abhijit Bhaduri, HR Leader and author, Dreamers & Unicorns. It is an attitude of wanting to get identified by any means. “They believe padding up their resume with keywords will maximise their chances to at least get identified by the recruiter and then they can explain their skills during the course of the interview,” adds Priyadarshi.

“Even if the human recruiter is rejecting them for exactly the same reason, candidates do not want a scenario where they have no idea why they’re being rejected,” explains Bhaduri. “It distresses people and these are methods to bypass that challenge.”

This behaviour is also the “talent market responding to the employer’s market,” notes Singh. “India is still an employer’s market because the opportunities are less compared to the talent available,” he explains. Therefore, “ It is not necessarily cheating or dishonesty,” highlights Singh, “but simply candidates looking at different ways to improve their chances. I would not recommend that anyone do it, but this is what it is.”

Lazy job profiles

Here’s where experts turn the lens on organisations. The job descriptions posted for vacancies are the source of these keywords for candidates to begin with. “Typically, they go through the job description and based on that they find some of the specific skills and talent required and include it as keywords,” says Priyadarshi. These job descriptions are no less on the keyword count, informs Singh. “Employers also use a lot of keywords in the job description and often when candidates land the job, they find out it’s not what they applied for.”

“The hiring market has evolved over the years —- from real competency to keyword competencies.”

Singh blames lazy recruiting and hiring managers for poor and vague job descriptions. Most of the time, he points out, “people doing the first stage of screening are not the actual hiring managers.” And since there’s often a tendency for tasks to be delegated down to the lowest rung, “they usually don’t know the vacancy that well, and so, the person relies on parsing tools,” says Singh.

It is also common to copy-paste job descriptions that have passed their relevancy. “This is a reality in many companies,” reveals Singh. “The recruiters just use a job description that’s probably 5 -10 years old, at times even without consulting the hiring manager, when the role has probably changed over the years.”

It’s not just candidates that exaggerate their skills in resumes. Organisations try to oversell opportunities too. “Companies harbour a desire to look good. Therefore, they sometimes inflate the job description. The role may be only ‘x’ but they make it look like ’10x’,” explains Singh.

Unfair to talent

Ultimately, experts believe it presents an unfair situation for talent. “I think job descriptions need to be well written and people need to be encouraged to go through job descriptions closely. This may encourage both parties to use the right keywords,” says Singh. Most importantly, he points out, “There’s a need for transparency between the talent market and employers. There has to be some kind of discussion going on so that the relevant and required skill sets are transparently available to the candidates. This way, the talent market becomes a fair playing ground.”

“Most people are aware that organisations use tools, which look at keywords while shortlisting candidates.”

Lemon talent

Finally, borrowing from Nobel Prize-winning economist, George Akerlof’s, ‘Lemon Market’ theory, Singh illustrates how it applies to the evolution of India’s talent market. Akerlof’s famous 1970 paper talks of an information asymmetry, which eventually leads to a degradation of the quality of goods available in the market. “I will say the hiring market is a very good example of information asymmetry,” says Singh.

Automated screening, lazy job descriptions and clueless candidates leave companies with talent that can only be described as Akerlof’s ‘lemons’.

The post Automated resume screening has turned talent into lemons appeared first on HR Katha.

Similarly, in July, there were reports of Cognizant laying off almost 18,000 employees — it had asked them to resign voluntarily, failing which they would risk termination. While the Company claims that it was laying off employees for their inability to secure projects, the employees’ union in Karnataka believes the terminations were initiated in the name of ‘effectively managing workforce utilisation’.

In both cases, employees were or will be laid off in the name of optimising the workforce.

There is a trend of layoffs under the guise of restructuring, which companies big and small continue to follow. When they do so, the fallout effect on the organisation itself is much however, the toll on the employee is something entirely different.

Painting the wrong picture

It is true that many companies have been hit by a financial instability. While layoffs may be necessary as a survival strategy, the manner in which they are carried out determines the fate of the workers.

With Covid-19, however, there is a big change in how layoffs are viewed which softens the blow a lot. Employers now look with empathy and objectivity and are open to absorb faster such cases

When an organisation lays off its people, claiming inability to pay them in light of extenuating circumstances, the employees still stand a fighting chance of securing another job. This is because they may honestly claim they were victims of external circumstances, as many have been doing in the present context.

On the other hand, claiming restructuring or optimisation and then removing jobs paints a different picture altogether. Despite any intentions that the company may have had, the workers still face a cruel fate. In such a context, they are likely to be labelled as non-performers, which ruins their future job prospects.

This is effectively the case here.

Social stigma

Abhay Srivastava, chief talent officer, SVP-HR, Cipla, says, “When restructuring is used as a euphemism for reducing manpower, then it is plain unethical.”

Biplob Banerjee, chief people officer, Allied Blenders and Distillers, agrees that it takes a toll on the employee. “A layoff affects one tremendously — there are no two ways about it. It takes a toll emotionally, psychologically and socially. While in the West, this is seen objectively, in India it is still seen socially and not holistically.”

There is of course a lot of empathy for employees who got laid off in this time. Recruiters are more willing to take a chance on them considering that they might have been victims of the situation. Srivastava agrees and says, “Recruiters are more willing to meet candidates today. The stigma has been replaced by caution.”

Adding to that, Banerjee says, “With Covid-19, however, there is a big change in how layoffs are viewed which softens the blow a lot. Employers now look with empathy and objectivity and are open to absorb faster such cases.”

However, any recruiter would tend to be doubly cautious when hiring such candidates and the depth of recheck would be much higher to ensure that they are not hiring an outcast. And such caution is right on the recruiter’s part.

When restructuring is used as a euphemism for reducing manpower, then it is plain unethical

While laid off employees will attract empathy from the recruiter, their empathy will not extend beyond the interview process because nobody would want to hire a non-performer, which is what employees laid off under restructuring are dubbed as and the background checks will reveal as such.

This is the toll that layoffs under the garb of restructuring take on the employee. Being labelled as a non-performer impedes a candidate’s prospects of securing their next job by a great deal, to the extent that they might not get one.

In the current context, that is a huge disadvantage.

Which is why a little caution on the part of the organisation is called for here. Terming it ‘restructuring’ or ‘optimisation’ is bad enough for the organisation itself, but increases the difficulties for the out-of-job individual tenfold.

Moreover, in these times the job market has bottomed out. Hiring has been slow or non-existent and whatever hiring is being carried out, is for niche roles and people with critical skills. What this implies is a greater time standing in the line for the worker with regular, routine skills in search of a job. The year is almost gone and probably for the next six months, one would have to wait it out. “This is the hard reality”, as Srivastava puts it.

Most employees do not have the odds in their favour and when organisations do not own up to the crisis, it only compounds the problem for the worker.

This trend being followed by organisations is leaving an incredibly damaging trail in its wake and the victims are again, the people. Layoffs are understandable and even employees themselves might be sympathetic to the plight of the company. However, the communication needs to be clear from the company’s side regarding the ground on which layoffs are being carried out.

The way things are done will shape the future for the ongoing worker. The onus lies on the organisation to face their staff and own up how the crisis is affecting the system.

The post Garbing layoffs as restructuring: it matters to those axed appeared first on HR Katha.

A Mumbai-based crowdfunding platform, Ketto, also hires undergraduates, but together, they constitute around seven per cent of its current workforce.

Varun Sheth, CEO and co-founder, Ketto, opines, “Going to a good college or scoring marks will not define anybody as a person. If the candidate we are hiring is passionate and believes in our mission and values, then we are open to giving even dropouts an opportunity to work with us.”

Sheth strongly believes that an academic certificate does not define a person’s ability. “We want to give equal opportunity to individuals who are hardworking, dedicated, and show the ability to grow with the organisation,” he adds.

As per the Company’s hiring process, all the candidates — graduates and undergraduates — have to undergo a three-month internship programme, which further qualifies them for full-time jobs. The training helps in understanding the candidates’ abilities and their level of commitment and focus.

“The candidates we hire should know how to experiment, ideate and understand that they should be able to take up any activity that comes up. We select an individual — either an undergraduate or a graduate — who shows the best skill quality and resonates with the Company’s core values”

During the internship, the Company follows a buddy system, wherein freshers are monitored and trained under a senior team member, who guides them with skills, in terms of coding or developing software, and so on.

Once the candidates qualify for a full-time role, from a skilling perspective, the Company assigns a budget to every team leader, to spend on skilling their team members through online platforms, such as Udemy. Here, employees learn how improve tally skill sets, excel sheets, enhance SEO content writing, and so on.

“The candidates we hire should know how to experiment, ideate and understand that they should be able to take up any activity that comes up. We select an individual — either an undergraduate or a graduate — who shows the best skill quality and resonates with the Company’s core values,” states Sheth.

The crowdfunding platform has hired dropouts in multiple roles in sales, marketing and technology divisions. Like other companies, it too follows a standard appraisal process for all its employees.

Even an undergraduate — who has completed a year, and demonstrates continuous growth in the assigned job role — is eligible for promotion to the next level. At Ketto, the remuneration for all employees is the same. There is no discrimination when it comes to disbursing salaries to undergraduates and graduates.

Interestingly, around 85 per cent of the workforce belongs to the age group of 20 to 30 years.

Sheth is of the opinion that young people can manage a team better. He does not see age as an inhibiting factor in terms of shouldering responsibilities.

Ketto followed a policy of work-from-home for at least three days a week. “We always believed that people working from home can bring in the same level of productivity as while working from offices,” the CEO adds.

The post Why Ketto hires college dropouts appeared first on HR Katha.

According to Adil Malia, CEO, The Firm, “Organisations terminating employees due to business instability is a business reality. Businesses cannot be expected to carry on with the load if they are unable to sustain after paying salaries—the company may simply collapse and everybody may lose their jobs.”

However, in such a situation, Malia proposes a more graceful way. “The management should be bold enough to stand up and explain the reasons for the termination rather than hiding the truth. It calls for a courageous leadership. Give them a termination package and allow them to gracefully exit from the organisation,” suggests Malia.

“In spite of several financial hardships, good organisations will care and do things in a proper manner. Leaders in such organisations will take the ownership of undertaking cost-cutting measures or laying off staff. They will extend adequate coverage to the employees and their families and show concern.”

“If businesses terminate people gracefully, employees will realise and acknowledge the business reality. But if they do it unfairly, they will get bad publicity,” points out Malia.

He further adds, “Through disgraceful behaviour, businesses will only invite problems for themselves. When adversity strikes, the leadership should stand up with courage, look the employees in the eye and pour out the truth. Grace and bravery are very critical parts of leadership.”

Ultimately, organisations are dealing with people, and therefore there will be no dearth of emotions and sentiments to handle. It is true that leaders, who are in a position of power, will treat their employees the way they like, but being unfair is certainly not the best way.

Good vs bad companies

Broadly speaking, good companies aim to fix the problem whereas bad companies want to ignore them. In such difficult times, several companies have terminated or sacked employees, but have been apologetic about it. There was transparency between the employees and the management as to why the decision was taken.

“Companies that stand on very strong value systems and are fundamentally strong on morals and principles will not hide a story. Organisations driven by values will transparently reveal what the actual reasons are,” says Rajesh Padmanabhan, CEO, Talavvy.

A company’s core value really holds a lot of ground here. If an organisation is driven by values, it will not shy away from revealing the facts or reasons behind the act.

Padmanabhan further explains, “Good companies will own up to the fact that there is a downturn and hence, a lack of visibility, and that there is a need to cut jobs. The decision has to be clear so that nobody challenges the business rights. It is all about truthfully running a business.”

In the hospitality industry, or the aviation space, businesses came to a halt completely. The pandemic has pushed these industries in different directions altogether. Somewhere they had to take drastic measures to manage the business. These situations differentiate between a good and bad organisation.

According to senior HR leader, Ramesh Mitragotri, “In spite of several financial hardships, good organisations will care and do things in a proper manner. Leaders in such organisations will take the ownership of undertaking cost-cutting measures or laying off staff. They will extend adequate coverage to the employees and their families and show concern.”

“Good companies will own up to the fact that there is a downturn and hence, a lack of visibility, and that there is a need to cut jobs. The decision has to be clear so that nobody challenges the business rights. It is all about truthfully running a business.”

Hide & seek — the ground reality

Malia of The Firm states, “Some businesses that wanted to downsize are now finding a good economic and social reason to reduce their workforces. The pandemic has given them an excuse to shed staff at the right time.”

By now, it is quite clear that organisations are facing a tough time and there is hardly any business that has been unaffected by the pandemic. Layoffs have become a normal phenomenon nowadays. Still, companies choose to hide the truth and use irrelevant strategies to shed staff.

It is a sign of poor management according to Malia, who rightly says, “It is wrong on the part of companies to terminate employee ussing unfair means. Termination is a reality and companies should justify the act by giving reasons and making it a graceful process, which the terminated employees will understand. Organisations shouldn’t insult their staff’s intelligence by covering up the facts,” he adds.

“If businesses terminate people gracefully, employees will realise and acknowledge the business reality. But if they do it unfairly, they will get bad publicity.” 

“However bad the situation is, organisations should be honest with their employees. After all, decisions are taken from the business point of view. They should simply come up with real solutions for the employees,” states Mitragotri.

It is high time organisations focussed on balancing their decisions, rather than hiding them.

“At the end of the day, decisions have to come out. Organisations should not worry about the quality of decisions. Optimisation is not bad from any company’s point of view. However, if done through unfair means, it will be a struggle,” Padmanabhan adds.

The post The trend of garbing layoffs as restructuring appeared first on HR Katha.

Yes, survival is the key and organisations across the globe have done the best to survive and also save their biggest asset – their people.

Many companies have tried and executed out-of-the-box ideas, which were totally unthinkable in normal times. The moment a company managed to repurpose itself from just profits, the difference was made.

The pandemic has necessitated partnerships and alliances between unrelated companies that were earlier talent rivals.

One can call it talent exchange, but the idea was completely born out of the pandemic.

In fact, four large global companies – Accenture, Lincoln Financial Group, ServiceNow and Verizon – came together to launch an analytics-driven platform that allows companies with at least 100 roles across levels and industries – those being eliminated as well as those that are open – to share information. This was built by Accenture in 14 working days flat, during the lockdown!

Here are some companies which joined hands to counter job losses by redeploying talent:

McDonald’s-Aldi agreement

In Germany, two companies, McDonald’s and Aldi, proved through innovative thinking and approach, that it was possible to coexist during turbulent times. It’s a known fact that the restaurant business is one of the most affected sectors during the pandemic. For the first few months, the shutters were down. Even when the outlets were allowed to reopen, the footfalls were unprecedentedly low.

As a consequence, there have been huge job losses and layoffs. The quick-service-restaurant was, however, able to save its people and the jobs through some innovative thinking and approach.

It so happened that during the lockdown and the pandemic, McDonald’s was almost on the verge of layoffs. At the same time, Aldi, a German grocery chain, was facing workforce shortage. It was not a simple case of the failure of one turning out to be an opportunity or a stepping stone for another. Rather, it was a win-win situation for all.

McDonald’s did not want to lose its valuable people, but at the same time, it was not in a position to sustain them either. This is when the two companies McDonald’s and Aldi entered into an agreement, wherein the former’s staff would work for the latter’s grocery chain on a voluntary basis. The deployment of McDonald’s employees at two of its stores – Aldi Sud and Aldi Nord – created temporary employment for them, and also saved their jobs. The McDonald’s employees are free to return to their parent company once the situation returns to normal. This way, McDonald’s was able to avoid laying off its employees and Aldi managed to fulfil its immediate requirement for talent.

Singapore Airlines

The other sector that was badly affected due to the pandemic was the airlines. No one ever thought that the sky would be free of airplanes even for a day. However, as the world closed down, flights were suspended and airplanes grounded.

The loss of business also put a stop on people’s careers, and layoffs and salary-cuts became rampant across airlines. However, one airline managed to bail itself out of this situation through innovative thinking and approach.

Singapore Airlines deployed its furloughed employees as care ambassadors at low-risk hospital wards. The crew helped provide basic care, nutritional care and patient- service management given that they were already trained in crisis management and first aid. This deployment not just provided temporary jobs to the cabin crew, it also allowed the local authorities and the hospitals to fight the disease with the extra resources.

What is more — the employees will no doubt be glad for the opportunity and experience. They are bound to value their employer even more and will come back with immense pride and satisfaction.

US Foods

American food-service distributor, US Foods, adopted a similar strategy to save the jobs of its people. The Company was experiencing the worst times due to a dramatic fall in demand during the pandemic. As a consequence, it was forced to think of layoffs. It then worked on a plan and entered into a partnership with grocery stores, which were facing shortage of warehouse talent, due to the spike in demand for groceries. US Foods’ warehouse workers now work in the distribution centres of the grocery stores.

The pandemic has reminded organisations that human capital assets are the biggest contributors to a company’s market value. As per the World Economic Forum (WEF), it is around 52 per cent on an average. Therefore, it is important for companies to save their people assets today, for a better tomorrow.

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This endeavour by Samsung has re-infused hope at a time when most other companies are either pulling back offers, delaying salaries, imposing pay cuts or stopping hiring altogether this year.

Samsung has ensured that the interns, mostly belonging to GenZ,  make the best use of the lockdown period. In the absence of the usual stuff —“…handshakes, audis buzzing with activities, gym or yoga sessions, foosball or table tennis, conference room meetings …”, this year’s “Band of 36” is lucky to undergo the Samsung experience of togetherness across different cities in the country, without actually physically meeting. The credit goes to the combined efforts of the HR and IT personnel at Samsung, who have left no stone unturned to allow these interns to enjoy a smooth and seamless internship experience.

While the experience is definitely new and different, it brings with it a lot of excitement too.

Each of the interns was inducted into Team Samsung online, in compliance with the directive to maintain social distancing. The leaders of the Company also interacted with the interns remotely, making them feel comfortable and welcome.

As the head of HR, Samsung, aptly commented, given the present scenario, this batch of interns has been lucky enough to realise how innovation and technology can actually make anything possible.

These interns are being assigned projects to work on with relevant guidance being provided by a guide, mentor or buddy from Samsung. This is already giving a good boost to the confidence level of the interns.

Not only are the young interns enjoying this extraordinary experience, their e-buddies at Samsung are also excited and highly motivated to make this virtual internship programme 100 per cent successful.

While some were a little anxious and doubtful about the whole arrangement in the initial stages, they soon got into the groove. As stated by Silpa PS, an intern from XLRI, Jamshedpur herself, “I ended up getting reassured and enjoying a nice overview of Samsung.”

The e-buddies assigned to the interns share the same excitement at this unique experience. “It’s a challenging time, and we all need to pitch in to make this wonderful programme, a success,” asserts Riddhi Ranjan, from the e-Com Team of Samsung India.

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With this mission, Epsilon India has come up with its second edition of the returnship programme, ‘SheRises’, which plans to offer a unique six-month paid internship programme to women who are planning to rejoin the workforce.

During this six-month paid internship, the women professionals, selected specifically for the programme, are offered training in technical and soft skills, mentoring, as well as opportunities to work on live projects.

At the end of the internship, based on their performance, the selected women professionals get a chance to explore full-time roles with Epsilon India. As per the requirements, women who are well versed in Scrum, Java, .Net and QA can apply for the internship programme. The deadline for the application is March 27, 2020.

According to an official communique, Seema Padman, vice president, human resources, Epsilon India, says, “SheRises was launched to celebrate diversity and foster inclusivity. We are looking to develop talented women professionals who are keen to resume their careers, and help them seamlessly integrate into the workplace after a break.”

Epsilon started this programme back in 2018, with the aim to increase the share of women employees in its workforce to around 50 per cent, by 2020. At that time, women comprised only 22 per cent of the workforce, and now the figure stands at 33 per cent.

Epsilon has also introduced a special referral programme to encourage more women applicants. Padman had earlier told HRKatha, “For every successful woman referred, in addition to paying out referral bonuses, we also commit to sponsoring the education of a girl child for five years.”

A digital marketing agency, Epsilon has been empowering brands to transform ordinary customer experiences into meaningful, human experiences. Through a connected suite of products and services, Epsilon combines leading-edge identity management, industrial strength data and technology expertise with big brand acumen, gained over five decades of working with the industry’s top brands.

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Google, Toyota, American Airlines, Apple Inc. and General Motors are some of the other big names that are amongst the over 400 organisations that have already signed the pledge to educate and train students and workers in the US.

While Honda has always been committed to training employees, this is probably the first time it is taking on so many trainees and going public with its plans and intentions.

Honda recently revealed that it has manufactured its 20 millionth car, since its launch in 1982.  The Company has a workforce of about about 15,000 employees in Ohio, where almost two-thirds of Honda cars sold in the US are manufactured.

The training facility of Honda will offer hands-on training along with exposure to robotic equipment and virtual reality, which will be employed for many tasks, such as painting of car doors.

Honda will now be amongst the various companies that have formally committed to ensuring that the workforce in the US grows successfully.  It will contribute in the form of 50,000 people equipped with the skills required to take on the jobs of the future.

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This is where stay interviews play a significant role. A stay interview is a structured conversation between an employee and the manager. It is designed to find out what will make the employees want to continue with the organisation, and what they would like in terms of a better experience. If done well, it can help uncover the factors that make an employee experience a sense of fulfilment and remain at their job.

While it may sound similar to an exit interview, the advantage is that companies get a chance to prevent unwanted turnover. They get an opportunity to motivate and retain a particular employee, not just a group. It is basically an employee-satisfaction survey, which is company specific and provides a good lead indicator of what needs to be changed within the organisation to keep employees satisfied.

“The entire process has to be transparent, open, and based on trust. The person taking the interview has to be credible enough. With regular practice, the process becomes more streamlined and the right feedback comes out”

Ashish Pinto, former group head, HR, Balaji Films, who has conducted stay interviews in his previous stints, spoke at length on conducting such an exercise. “It is only the people who have experienced success that implement such practices in organisations. People may think it is about engagement, but it is actually more related to engaging an employee with the job. It is hard work with a lot of back and forth, data crunching and feedback”, says Pinto.

Doing a stay interview

1. Set priorities: Before embarking on the methodology for conducting such interviews, whether as a group discussion or a one-on-one format, it is important to first define what the priorities are for the organisation. This helps to obtain an objective understanding of the exit interview sheets, although with company-review platforms, such as Glassdoor, it is easier to find out what people are saying about the organisation. It is important to keep these points in mind while addressing questions, but without making it explicitly known to the employees.

2. Sample size: A healthy sample size, which includes all types of employees is a must. Participants from both genders, across levels in the organisation with varying tenures should be taken into consideration. Targeting only key or loyal employees will give a skewed result, which will be of no use to anyone. For large organisations, with around 2000 employees, it is best to cover at least eight per cent of the total population. In small organisations, with 300 to 400 workers, around 50 per cent of the workforce will need to be included. This will provide a more realistic and defined output.

3. Topics: Since the discussion is not restricted to any single topic, the range of issues/items covered can be large. Many things can be talked over, from employee wellbeing and culture, to work-tools and systems. In the initial sessions, employees can be asked questions, such as where they expect to see the organisation in the next five to 10 years, and what their aspirations for the company are. This initial output can be used to extract information in later sessions, where workers can confirm which issues are most important and need to be addressed on priority.

4. Interviewer: The interviewer is the most crucial element in the entire process. Therefore, the person should be mature, smart and capable of extracting information. While some employees may give genuine feedback, others may be inclined to provide flavour-of-month feedbacks or beat around the bush. It is up too the interviewer to dig deep and uncover what is really on the mind of the interviewee.

“People may think it is about engagement, but it is actually more related to engaging an employee with the job. It is hard work with a lot of back and forth, data crunching and feedback”

It is usually best if the person conducting the interview is neutral, from a third party, or is somebody from the middle management who is considered neutral. Organisations may want to hand over the process to a third party to ensure neutrality. However, it is best to work with an internal team or at least a team where 80 per cent of the people are members of the organisation, since the company’s workers will be able to understand internal issues better.

During the process, a lot of topics will be uncovered and it will not be possible to address each and every one of them all at once. After the data has been collected, the feedback will have to be prioritised according to the level of impact the actions will have.

While it sounds good on paper, when it comes to practice, it can be rather tiring for HR to implement it. Having a competent interviewer and extracting useful feedback is a hurdle which organisations may find difficult to overcome. Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CPO, South Indian Bank, says, “While it is a good indicator of the pulse of the organisation, it is only in mature companies—which have good people practices and processes— that honest feedback can be obtained.”

“The entire process has to be transparent, open, and based on trust. The person taking the interview has to be credible enough. With regular practice, the process becomes more streamlined and the right feedback comes out”, concludes Mukherjee.

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Bajaj Auto follows this mantra very well, and that is precisely why the Company is globally known for its engineering excellence.

The Company has chalked out a plan for the young engineers it hires from the top engineering colleges of the country.

“Over the years, Bajaj Auto has inducted the best of talent from institutes of national importance, that is, IITs and NITs, IISc, BITS, NID and COEP, with the senior leadership team of its R&D and engineering departments involved in the selection process,” shares Ravi Kyran, CHRO, Bajaj Auto.

A specialised induction and training programme has been designed for the new hires. The Graduate Trainee Engineering (GTE) programme, is aptly called ‘Flying Start’. As per the Company, every year, 150 top-notch engineers are inducted into this programme. They are trained to hold critical roles in the Company and take on leadership positions in the future.

“The objective is to groom the best of them for leadership roles,” mentions Kyran.

The one-year GTE programme trains engineers and places them into real-time projects. The programme is designed to provide the engineers a sharp view of the pillars of the research and development (R&D) and engineering departments, and to ensure they hit the ground running through live projects assigned to them over the course of the year.

These handpicked engineers are mentored and guided by the top leadership.

According to Kyran, through these projects, GTEs acquire the ability to approach a solution from multiple perspectives and identify the most viable solution, which can be implemented.

“The projects involve solving real-time challenges where the solutions are incorporated in ongoing live business projects. The challenges revolve around product innovation at R&D and robotics and automation, that are critical for our manufacturing plants,” shares Kyran.

After the year is over, the GTEs are allocated key roles within the various subdepartments at the R&D and engineering departments.

The talent built under the GTE programme forms a major pool for the Company. These GTEs are prepared to take up senior roles in the organisation. The prime example of this is Abraham Joseph, chief technology officer, Bajaj Auto, who joined the organisation as a GTE from NIT Bhopal.

“The projects involve solving real-time challenges where the solutions are incorporated in ongoing live business projects. The challenges revolve around product innovation at R&D and robotics and automation, that are critical for our manufacturing plants”

To further grow the technical capabilities of employees and give them a global exposure, Bajaj Auto has tied up with Loughborough University (LU). Employees can enrol for courses, which are open to all employees at Bajaj Auto.
Employees can pursue a master’s in the fields of automotive systems engineering, mechanical engineering and materials sciences & technology.

As part of its coursework on testing, employees are taken to MIRA, which is a vehicle engineering, testing and development facility in Nuneaton, UK. They are also taken on a trip to the Jaquar Land Rover plant at Solihull.

Employees also enjoy the opportunity to visit companies, which work on intelligent energy systems and study about different fuel cells, their manufacturing, testing and application, both automotive as well as non-automotive.

This year, six employees completed their master’s from LU. The graduation ceremony was held at the corporate office of Bajaj Auto.

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The HR profession, just as the businesses it supports, faces a constant challenge to keep up with the latest trends and update itself. Evolving technology only poses more challenges. The different facets of HR are increasingly being handed over to specialists who have mastered one or two specific HR skills. An HR generalist, who has his hands in a lot of pies, may not deliver results or leverage big data in the same way as a specialist. Organisations are increasingly looking towards specialists to deliver data-driven results.

An HR generalist covers all aspects of HR from employee retention to rewards and benefits. Before big data, being a generalist would have been desirable as people with knowledge of a lot of different areas would have been considered a valuable asset for organisations. Donning the hat of a generalist would have been advantageous to individuals then, as it would have provided a range of opportunities to explore different areas of human resources, and also presented a wider pool of jobs to choose from.

Today, large organisations prefer to have a diverse team of specialists who can leverage business-wide people data effectively, and also deliver strong recommendations based on that data.

“The role of HR generalists in large organisations is shrinking. Today, they are more likely to be HR business partners who are seasoned people capable of bringing in value”

This is because, being competitive is the key in today’s work environment and companies are looking towards developing HR departments with a high impact. Leveraging people data is a good way to do that, which requires the help of a specialist. HR specialists have a good grasp of the evolving technology in the space and the know-how to use them for realising core objectives of the business. This is the reason why such individuals are becoming much sought after in the market.

Adil Malia, chief executive, The Firm, former group president HR, Essar group, says, “In terms of jobs for HR, we can expect roles like data analytics or standard process driving to go away. HR managers will need to be specialised in their domains and not data crunchers or process administrators.”

But does this mean that being a generalist is the flip side?

Joyeeta Chatterjee, CPO, Future Consumers, says, “The role of HR generalists in large organisations is shrinking. Today, they are more likely to be HR business partners who are seasoned people capable of bringing in value.”

Most large organisations today will appoint generalists at senior positions. With a lot of experience in different roles and functions, their perspective is critical when taking decisions on matters, such as budgeting, staffing, benefits planning and strategising.

Small and medium businesses, on the other hand, love generalists and will always have a demand for generalist roles. With budget and personnel constraints, having multi-disciplinary specialists is not possible for them. Such organisations will place more value on a person with a wide range of experiences, who can manage internal functions and external liaisons effectively.

“In terms of jobs for HR, we can expect roles like data analytics or standard process driving to go away. HR managers will need to be specialised in their domains and not data crunchers or process administrators”

Moreover, with India’s growing start-up culture, which is increasing phenomenally with each passing year, HR generalists may find themselves at an advantage.

Once startups become viable and begin growing, they need HR professionals to keep their businesses running smoothly. With a limited budget for an HR department, they prefer to bring in a few people possessing adequate experience and knowledge of the field. And an HR generalist is the best fit for such a profile.

Another scenario which may be advantageous is the rising gig economy.

Generalists will have working knowledge and understanding of multiple functions of the HR domain. This also means that they have the flexibility to move from one function to the next or even serve as a consultant to any company which may require one.

The gig space can provide generalists with multiple opportunities to freelance, making career flexibility one of the strong suits for such roles. In addition, such professionals have a host of transferable skills, which can be useful to any organisation.

Malia goes on to add, “The changing economy and the demands of the gig culture employees will require customised processes, engagement and connections. HR managers will need to learn that.”

While the role of generalists may be shrinking in some areas, there are many avenues opening up in others. Generalists are valued because of their ability to see the larger picture, work with multiple departments and to make sound decisions.

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Employees who have worked in different functions prove to be more helpful to the business, as they can apply that diverse experience to a function, and also fill in for others if required.

FMCG company, India Philip Morris (IPM), has followed a culture of cross-functioning training at the workplace for some time now. This joint venture between Philip Morris brands Sarl of Switzerland and two Indian partners, Godfrey Philips, India (GPI) and K.K. Modi Investment & Financial Services, has only over a 100 employees in India on its payroll. Therefore, a strong cross- functional training culture is bound to stand the Company in good stead, especially in times of need, when its employees are able to take on the role for each other ensuring smooth operation at all times.

Talking about how they make this happen, Loma Hosne-ara, director-people & culture, India Philip Morris, described the whole cross-functional training process followed by IPM.

According to Hosne-ara, first, the Company identifies the future leaders according to their potential and performance. Then, it studies their aspirations and appetite for moving into cross-functional roles. After that, the Company analyses the learning agility of these potential leaders of the future, keeping in mind the following five traits:

1. People agility – This shows their ability to work with different types of people, with varying attitudes and abilities. In short, it determines whether they are agile enough and possess the interpersonal skills required to work in a diverse team.

2. Change agility – Here, the Company examines an individual’s ability to deal with change and new scenarios, and bring in a different perspective.

3. Solutions agility – The person’s ability to drive solutions in different scenarios using the limited resources available, is analysed.

4. Mental agility – This kind of agility in a person helps deal with pressure, ambiguity and complex situations.

5. Application agility – This kind of agility is found in people who are self-aware and know exactly what their strengths and weaknesses are, and apply their best skills at work.

Once the ideal future leaders are identified on the basis of their abilities, performance, potentials and learning agility, the Company creates a development plan for them. This plan involves an analysis of the kind of exposure and experience they require so that they can be an asset to the business.

“Whenever an employee is moving into a new role, the existing people manager and the new people manager join together to chalk out a development plan for the said employee, with the sponsorship of the functional head”

The Company aids the whole process by providing different types of exposure, such as cross-functional growth at home, cross-border and international exposure, as well as opportunities to be part of cross-functional teams.

“Whenever an employee is moving into a new role, the existing people manager and the new people manager join together to chalk out a development plan for the said employee, with the sponsorship of the functional head,” shares Hosne-ara.

Once the employee makes the transition, the Company conducts a mid-year review as well as a year-end review to track the progress. If required, remedial action is taken accordingly to set things right.

Hosne-ara cites the example of a person from the marketing division moving to corporate affairs and doing extremely well in the new role.

As mentioned earlier, cross-functional moves are only undertaken for people who really possess the potential.

However, the Company also offers cross-functional exposure to other employees by allowing them to work together in cross-functional teams for specific projects. These are strategic projects, which are linked to the goals of the company. Employees from various functions— for instance, the finance, marketing, operation and HR teams— collaborate to work on these projects.

“Cross-functional teams work on projects, such as ‘How to enhance the customer experience’ or ‘How to enhance employee experience’. Better solutions emerge when cross- functional teams work together, as different perspectives are put forward,” explains Hosne-ara.

The Company very proudly claims that about 20 per cent of its employees have cross-functional experience even at senior leadership levels.

Apart from this, employees at IPM are also exposed to international projects.

While they are generally expected to learn on the job, employee buddies are also assigned to facilitate the process. Also, IPM has an e-learning platform where courses on cultural integration are available, which are accessible to each employee in the organisation.

For building leaders of the future and preparing the workforce for the uncertainty and ambiguity that are bound to be emerge in the times to come, organisations need to prepare well in advance. Imparting cross-functional experience is one way to do so.

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So what’s so different about this hiring process? At the onset, the candidates need not carry their CVs, nor are they required to dress in formals! Though, this happens in many other creative jobs.

According to the Company’s exceptional philosophy, when it hires teams for its business, it gives more importance to the candidate’s personality and passion for work than the qualification and skills. “For us, passion is most important. The skills required for the job will be provided by us,” says Anand Barot, director & CEO, Bounce India.

It will be a three-day event. On the first day, one-on-one interactions will take place with the hiring managers, to understand the personality and level of passion of the candidates. People will be examined in groups of 80.

“For us, passion is most important. The skills required for the job will be provided by us”

Some 200 candidates will be selected for the next round, which will take place on the second day of the event. The second round will consist of group workshops, where the ability of the candidates to work in teams will be assessed. From this bunch, 80 candidates will be shortlisted for the third and final round, which will take place on the third day.

The final round will again have a personal interview to further understand the personality of a candidate. Team leaders will also be selected in this round.

This system of hiring is unheard of in India. The Company follows the same hiring strategy in all 16 countries where it has its presence.

“Our hiring strategy remains the same in each country. But in India, we made a little modification. In other countries, we also offer part-time jobs through such events, but India being a country where people prefer full-time jobs, we had to make some changes in that area,” shares Barot.

Before the opening of the venue, the employees will go through a 15-day training for their respective roles.

This is part of the global freestyle movement, where Bounce strives to inspire movement, self-expression, and human connection.

Furthermore, Bounce prides itself on recruiting exceptional people who are engaging, passionate and self-aware. Its philosophy is that by finding the right people and allowing them to play to their strengths with equal support and autonomy, much can be achieved.

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While agility and performance are hot topics for organisations these days, companies dealing in life insurance have mostly stuck to the traditional way of doing things. One company, however, has decided to shake things up a bit.

Mumbai-based Aegon Life Insurance has implemented a new model of project management and delivery from May, 2019, and it has already begun showing positive results! It has formed cross-functional squads that handle different projects, and are evaluated according to an agile performance-management system. The traditional model of project management ran on a project to project basis, with each department working within its own vertical without collaborating with other departments. This resulted in lack of accountability and crucial progress falling through the cracks.

Saba Adil, chief people officer, Aegon Life Insurance, shared how the company started on this new journey. Being a digital life-insurance provider, the Company felt the need to scale up using digital partnerships in the area of a new age e-commerce ecosystem. However, scaling up required continuous innovation, faster delivery of products and a structure equipped to handle the demands of an agile system.

To prepare for this new path, Aegon settled on a squad structure for project delivery. The trick was to find the people with the right capabilities. Once they were recruited into squads, either through sourcing from outside or through internal hiring, they were given differential and digital training to fine-tune them for the road ahead.

Each squad consists of a cross-functional team, including a business product owner, a technical product owner, a business analyst, a scrum master and a tester among other team members. Each team reports to a business-product owner responsible and accountable for the entire team. “What we found was that arranging our teams in this manner allowed us to move on from the traditional system of project management and create teams that are more autonomous in their work, thus making us more agile in the process. For us, being agile means having shorter cycles for product delivery”, says Adil. Currently, there are five product owners for six squads, but efforts continue to include more talent in the system.

To design an agile performance-management system, it was important to effectively determine the performance level of the new squad system. As Adil pointed out, the concept is pretty new and a concrete system of management is yet to be implemented. However, even so, positive results have begun flowing in already, within four months. As per their expectations, they already have a new product being readied for delivery in the coming few weeks!

“We are forming a separate agile TEAM, which will monitor the performance of these cross-functional squads and work on designing new agile practices”

Developing an agile system for a life insurance company has been a tough challenge for the team at Aegon. According to Adil, there were primarily two challenges that they faced before rolling out this new strategy.

The first challenge was bringing clarity around the entire system. This was important because without clear visions of what the goals were for each individual, and accordingly, for each squad, there could arise a lack of purpose among the employees, which then would derail any progress. Adil, therefore, emphasised on continuous communication among all employees. Each function, like the scrum master or the product owner, required separate briefing as to what its goals would be. Moreover, the goals had to be continuously communicated to all members.

The second challenge was to bring in the right people for the job. Crucial skills, such as that of a business analyst or technical product owner, were not easily available and a lot of upskilling had to be done within the company. For other roles, talent had to be sourced from outside. Talent mapping and capability analysis was done to find out the talent needs. “We also had to employ a differential compensation strategy for people brought in from outside. This is because, in life insurance, such talent is not easy to come by,” explained Adil.

Care was taken while shifting employees from their traditional functional roles to new roles as part of the squad. Restructuring the business model required careful re-allocation of employees from their verticals so that the sudden uprooting does not affect business as usual. Right now, Aegon has around 30 to 40 per cent of existing employees in the squad system, with the rest sourced from outside.

Overcoming the challenges was just part of the work. It was also crucial for employees once trained in the agile manner of work to be regularly coached to prevent them from veering off track. For this reason, separate training programmes were conducted for every function. A special project manager has been hired who doubles as a coach for these newly-placed squad members. “We are forming a separate agile team, which will monitor the performance of these squads and work on designing new agile practices”, she added.

With this complete turnaround of business practice, improvement has happened swiftly. The silo mentality of working within one’s own departmental function without collaborating with other verticals has been put behind. For Aegon, the new model is showing a lot of promise. This change has been positive not only for the business, by putting products out in the market much faster, but for the employees as well. With more transparency in business and clarity of goals, employees feel enabled to perform their best. This augurs well for the company’s overall health.

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Through this programme, the employees of Tata Motors will get a chance to achieve their full potential. Not only will it ensure employee engagement, but also make the employees more competent and equipped to compete at the global level.

The B-Tech degree programme will provide the knowledge and skills relevant to the automotive manufacturing industry. Those enrolled will be given technical training via classroom sessions and virtual labs. They will also be given on-the-job training in engineering, manufacturing and customer support facilities in Tata Motors. The three-year long course will comprise seven semesters and will also include periodic assessments. The course will conclude with a six-month long industrial project, following which Nirma University will award a certificate.

“Developing employees is at the core of the company values. We always want our employees to be ahead of the curve. Automotive industry is an ever changing sector. We want our employees to stay ahead of the technological disruption,” says Mukheerjee.

He also adds, “ It also works as an employee engagement and retention tool. Employees tend to stay with the company for a longer period of time when they see that the organisation is investing in their development.”

The tie-up will result in mutually beneficial activities for both the involved entities, ensuring exchange of knowledge and the latest techniques in the industry. Industry leaders will be serving as mentors and guides for various practice sessions.

According to Mr. Ravindra Kumar G.P., CHRO, Tata Motors, “At Tata Motors we believe by enabling our employees achieve their full potential in their functional areas we will be able to build an engaged and competent employee base which is key to our continued success. Our partnership with Nirma University is another step  in this direction and will enable our employees in Sanand  to push the boundaries of their technical capabilities and emerge as future-ready and world-class technical talent.”

Nirma University, a private university, was set up in 2003 as a statutory university under a special act passed by the Gujarat State Legislative Assembly.

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This year, 22 participants enrolled for the programme with nine of them bagging a two-month internship with ThoughtWorks. Post the internship, these women will be eligible for full-time positions at the Company.

“We recognise that an inclusive work environment built around driven professionals is the answer to sustainable organisational growth. We are happy that the Vapasi programme is empowering women technologists to re-enter the workforce and continue their careers,” says Savita Hortikar, head-recruitment, ThoughtWorks India

According to Savita Hortikar, head of recruitment, ThoughtWorks India, “ThoughtWorks has always been passionate about diversity. We recognise that an inclusive work environment built around driven professionals is the answer to sustainable organisational growth. We are happy that the Vapasi programme is empowering women technologists to re-enter the workforce and continue their careers.” She further added, “Vapasi is also a platform for women technologists to network, connect with role models and become active members of the tech community.”

This year, the Company successfully completed two editions of the programme for a total of 44 women, 22 each in Bengaluru and Pune respectively. In the Pune edition, five participants were offered internship with ThoughtWorks, with three already being absorbed as full- technologists.

“I rediscovered the ‘coder in me’ and was given both the opportunity and guidance to get back on track with my career,” says Elizabeth Nisha James, a ‘Vapasi’ participant. 

Elizabeth Nisha James, a technologist for over six years, who returned from a four-year career break spoke about her Vapasi experience— “The programme has been a life-changing experience. I rediscovered the ‘coder in me’ and was given both the opportunity and guidance to get back on track with my career.”

“We recognised that every candidate had excellent problem-solving skills and confidence was the issue only because they had been away from work for a few years. Vapasi has been designed to bolster candidates’ confidence within the first week, and the following two weeks are dedicated to hands-on experience of working with new technologies,” Sethuraman Ramasubramanian, lead consultant, ThoughtWorks.

Sethuraman Ramasubramanian, lead consultant,ThoughtWorks and Vapasi trainer, shared his thoughts on the programme, “We recognised that every candidate had excellent problem-solving skills and confidence was the issue only because they had been away from work for a few years. Vapasi has been designed to bolster candidates’ confidence within the first week, and the following two weeks are dedicated to hands-on experience of working with new technologies.”

Vapasi is part of #TalkTechToHer, a ThoughtWorks campaign directed at women in technology with over six years of work experience. The campaign aims to elevate conversations around inclusivity and drive an important message that women can achieve as much as men, or more, when they are presented with the opportunities, without biases.

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PepsiCo saw over a dozen of its employees, including senior and mid-level staff, resigning in India, in the last six months, out of which five were from the HR department.

Realising the need to retain its talent, the Company is planning to allow its employees the option to work from any location in India. If the plan works out, employees will probably be allowed to take on even global roles without actually leaving Indian shores. While such employees will work from India, they will report to leaders in foreign locations.

As per a report in the Economic Times, around 10 per cent of the positions at its head office in Gurugram, are likely to be declared ‘location-free’.

For instance, the head of marketing for APAC may be based out of Gurugram and report to the global marketing head. Similarly, the global head of learning or head compensation and benefits and head of digital report to their functional heads or bosses based out of Dubai or New York.

The location-free posts will only be applicable for backend roles such as human resources, research & development, information technology, and finance. Customer facing functions such as sales or those who are in production cannot be made part of this practice.

The company believes that this ‘location-free’ approach will help it retain talent that is unwilling to shift their base. It will also ensure that the professional aspirations of its employees are taken care of, without uprooting them from their base.

Taking on local roles based out of India or any other market has been made possible with technology which has actually bridged the distance gap.

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This is probably why the trend of flexi staffing seems to be catching up fast. Companies are slowly realising the advantages and even conventional sectors, such as manufacturing, are fast migrating to this new model.

According to a recent survey by Kelly Services and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), 42 per cent of the organisations said that they were likely to hire temporary staff for a period of six months to one year on short-term projects in the next three to six months. Also the share of flexi staffing in the overall workforce is expected to rise to 10 per cent by 2025.

The number of organisations that were likely to hire contractual workers was even higher, with 68 per cent of them agreeing to it.

In the flexi staffing model, employees are recruited on a temporary or contract basis from staffing companies that facilitate hiring, on-boarding, documentation, payrolling, employee benefits and exit management.

The study discovered that healthcare, manufacturing, and FMCG sectors have the highest percentage of flexi workers. Therefore, their budget allocation is also higher than other industries.

Be it government rules or rigidness in policies, the private sector is more open to flexible staffing than the public-sector companies. While the private corporates dedicate 20 per cent of their budget on flexi staffing, the PSUs devote only 10 per cent.

“Flexi staffing bridges the divide between organised and unorganised sectors and plugs the resource gaps efficiently. The reason for its ascent is simple—it provides agility, which is what large organisations need the most in this age. From an employee’s perspective, flexible staffing provides easy access to their first job,” said Thammaiah BN, managing director, Kelly Services India.

However, there are a few concerns around flexi staffing as well. Around 31 per cent of the organisations surveyed felt the absence of proper background verification documents of candidates was the topmost concern. Besides, the companies were wary of the other challenges, such as quality of flexi staff, and their engagement and reliability levels as compared to permanent staff.

From the employees’ point of view, in the private sector, the main expectation is good working conditions, followed by other parameters, such as decent pay benefits and convertible skills.

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