Last year, a video from HDFC Bank went viral, showcasing a senior manager publicly berating his team for not meeting targets. This abusive behaviour is not an isolated case. Recently, similar incidents involving private banks such Bandhan Bank and even a public sector bank, Canara Bank, have come to light again, painting a grim picture of a workplace driven by numbers, devoid of empathy, and where personal time is seen as a luxury. The absence of accountability for such behaviour allows it to cascade down, perpetuating a cycle of stress and hostility.

“The relentless pursuit of numbers can lead to a culture of fear and anxiety, ultimately diminishing productivity.”

Ramesh Shankar, seasoned HR leader

Why are private banks, in particular, breeding grounds for such intense pressure? The answer is a complex web of factors, with unrealistic targets, communication breakdowns, and leadership shortcomings at its core.

Crushing targets, stifling communication

Every interaction becomes a transaction, the pressure to perform overshadowing the human element. This, unfortunately, is a reality for many in private banking. Ramesh Shankar, a seasoned HR leader, aptly points out, “The relentless pursuit of numbers can lead to a culture of fear and anxiety, ultimately diminishing productivity.”

Stringent sales targets are a cornerstone of performance in any organisation. However, in private banks, these targets often morph into unattainable benchmarks, leading to a culture of fear and anxiety.

Further intensifying the pressure is the fierce competition within the banking sector. New players and fintech startups are challenging the established order, forcing traditional banks to constantly prove their mettle. This relentless pursuit of performance translates to a culture of urgency, where results are expected not just annually, but quarterly or even monthly.

“The influx of new players in the market has intensified competition, forcing banks to adopt a more aggressive approach, which often translates into pressure on the workforce,” says Satyajit Mohanty, VP-HR, Dabur India.

“When there’s a lack of accountability or repercussions for toxic behaviour, it can cascade down the organisational hierarchy, perpetuating a cycle of stress and hostility.”

Nihar Ghosh, senior HR leader

Leadership by intimidation: A recipe for toxicity

Leadership styles play a pivotal role in shaping organisational culture. “Respectful environments foster dignity, while others inadvertently cultivate toxicity,” highlights Nihar Ghosh, a senior HR leader. Recent incidents serve as stark reminders.

Recent incidences serve as stark reminders. The issue escalates when such behaviour emanates from the upper echelons of management. Senior leaders, tasked with setting targets and driving performance, inadvertently set the precedent for acceptable conduct within the organisation. “When there’s a lack of accountability or repercussions for toxic behaviour, it can cascade down the organisational hierarchy, perpetuating a cycle of stress and hostility,” cautions Ghosh.

Furthermore, the relentless focus on short-term gains, driven by investor demands, creates a myopic approach.

“The focus on short-term gains has become ingrained in the banking sector, driven by the need to satisfy shareholders and investors. Listed entities are particularly vulnerable to this pressure, as they are beholden to quarterly performance reports and shareholder demands,” Mohanty emphasises.

Long-term employee well-being and sustainability take a backseat as employees prioritise immediate profitability.  Compounding this issue is the communication gap between management and employees.  Many managers lack the skills to provide constructive feedback, resorting instead to intimidation tactics. This not only erodes employee morale but also stifles innovation and critical thinking, crucial ingredients for long-term success in a dynamic financial landscape.

“The influx of new players in the market has intensified competition, forcing banks to adopt a more aggressive approach, which often translates into pressure on the workforce.”

Satyajit Mohanty, VP-HR, Dabur India

The perfect storm: Young leaders, shifting values

The changing demographics of leadership also contribute to the problem. Younger managers, lacking experience in handling complex situations and managing pressure, often clash with older generations who value stability and respect. Additionally, the evolving values of some company promoters prioritise aggression and results over traditional values of loyalty and respect for employees. This shift can lead to a culture that prioritises immediate results over employee development, hindering long-term talent retention.

“This generational shift in leadership has resulted in a clash of values and management styles, with older generations valuing stability and respect, while younger leaders prioritise innovation and results,” asserts Mohanty.

The path forward: Beyond the pressure cooker

The onus falls on private banks, and the banking sector as a whole, to implement effective strategies to create a healthier work environment. This involves holding individuals accountable for their actions while incentivising respectful behaviour. Regular performance reviews can be used for course correction and support, focusing on development alongside goal achievement. Training managers in emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and effective communication can equip them to navigate human behaviour and build a supportive environment.

“Addressing these issues requires a collective effort,” emphasises Ghosh. “From senior management to frontline employees, everyone must be committed to cultural transformation and behavioural change.” By prioritising people alongside profits, private banks can move beyond the pressure cooker and create a sustainable work environment that fosters employee well-being and long-term success. After all, a thriving bank isn’t just about numbers; it’s about empowered and motivated people working towards a shared vision. This can be achieved by fostering a culture of open communication, where employees feel comfortable raising concerns and offering suggestions. Additionally, investing in employee well-being programs, such as stress management workshops and flexible work arrangements, can significantly improve employee morale and productivity.

In conclusion, the pressure cooker culture in private banking is a complex issue with deep roots. However, by acknowledging the problem and implementing targeted solutions, banks can create a work environment that is not only profitable but also fosters a sense of purpose and well-being for its employees. This shift towards a more sustainable and human-centric approach is not just ethical but also essential for long-term success in today’s competitive financial landscape.

The post Boiling point: Inside the ‘pressure cooker culture’ of banks appeared first on HR Katha.

However, ever since the business world changed, after surviving the pandemic, people have realised that they do not need heroes but ‘human leaders’ or ‘people’s leaders’.

Servant leadership

Leaders are support systems. They are there to build the required capacity in their teams and achieve their objectives while working together to accomplish organisational goals. “The concept of servant leadership is focused on serving and supporting the team, enabling their growth and success, rather than always being in a supportive role,” says Uma Rao, CHRO, Granules India. This approach is considered powerful in uniting teams around a strong purpose and allowing them to function autonomously, with the leader staying behind to provide support as needed.

The whole idea of having an empathetic leader or ‘peoples’ leader’ is to work together towards a common goal, with each person interacting with the others to build capacity. It not only fosters increased interaction among team members — without relying solely on the boss — but essentially, helps the team gain the ability to drive its own goals, rather than being reliant on a single leader.

“Competent leaders have the awareness to recognise situations and adapt their style accordingly.”

Nihar Ghosh, senior HR leader

Adaptability

Nihar Ghosh, senior HR leader also points out, “Leaders tend to have a preferred leadership style based on their personality type, but competent leaders also have the awareness to recognise the situation and adapt their style accordingly.”

In other words, while capable leaders may have a default style, they are also able to adapt their approach based on the demands of the situation. In other words, leaders will not always behave the same way regardless of the situation.

Agreeing to the same, Prasadh M S, workforce research and communication specialist, Xpheno, opines, “Leadership, though the oldest facet of an enterprise, is an ever evolving one. Enterprises’ leadership models and expectations vary based on age, industry, size, stage, geography and so on, of the enterprise. While job descriptions / ads of leadership roles invariably seek approachable and people-oriented individuals, there’s no common yardstick for the agreeable level of these aspects.”

Ability to connect

Being able to connect with people is the first thing that stands out. This quality shows that instead of trying to be in the limelight always, the leader’s focus/ attention is on the team. “True leaders focus on their teams, as they are the ones driving the process,” opines Rao. However, this does not diminish the leader’s role and responsibility. Rather, ideal leaders empower their teams to make decisions collectively. The leaders themselves simply help facilitate the process, not direct it. “A leader in this model (servant-master leadership), must become a normal team member who can facilitate when needed, while still retaining authority,” says Rao. While responsibility is shared among the team members, the leaders themselves cannot shy away from their role as servant leaders by claiming to have no leadership responsibility.

Facilitating & empowering

The teams perform much better when the leaders act as comrades rather than dictating orders. This is because they are working towards a symbiotic relationship and their goal is to empower and improve the well-being of the people. The business-development team probably knows the customers better than the leaders who are away from the action. Therefore, it’s important to facilitate decisions rather than create obstacles. This shift from controlling to empowering helps to develop more leaders and increase accountability.

However, at a time when people’s leaders are much sought after, why is the concept more an expectation rather than the norm?

“People-oriented leaders are expected to selectively set themselves apart, by exuding brilliance and superior cognitive capability. They execute a fine balancing act that not many leaders are naturally good at or trained in. It is, therefore, common to see first-time managers and leaders struggling with their conscious competence of exhibiting analytical and strategic skills at work,” says Prasadh. The need to consistently exhibit superior skills and the highest levels of competence is a load and pressure that new leaders can easily buckle under.

“True leaders focus on their teams, as they are the ones driving the process.”

Uma Rao, CHRO, Granules India.

Etymologically, to be a leader means to be the first or the most prominent presence to guide or conduct a group. Our leadership models and definitions have traditionally embodied this definition of perfection and excellence.

However, analytical leaders, who are used to relying on their rational side, may find the idea of introspection daunting or even risky. They may fear what they might uncover about themselves and worry that it could disrupt the status quo. “The high ‘say’: ‘do’ ratio expected of leaders is to set them apart and create a reference to look up to. With all these superlative metrics in play, leaders who are vulnerable are often considered misfits and rated low on resilience. Further, leaders who blend in too deep and wide are criticised as low on efficacy,” says Prasadh.

Empathy/emotion vs logic/analysis

People often believe that there should be no place for emotions at the workplace. Leading with empathy and emotion requires a different skill set that some leaders may not possess, especially those who rely heavily on logic and analysis. These leaders may fear failure and doubt their ability to succeed in this new leadership style.

Vulnerability

People are socially conditioned to consider ‘vulnerability’ a weakness. Hence, it is taboo in an enterprise setup. The vulnerability quotient, if there’s one, is expected to dip as one rises up the organisational ladder. Leadership often entails being alone at the top, where many moments of vulnerability may arise. However, acknowledging or exhibiting vulnerability is looked upon as a threat to one’s authority in a role. “Expression of vulnerability is akin to letting one’s guard down, and therefore, a high-risk act that leaders try to avoid at any cost,” states Prasadh. After all, leaders are a fragment of their enterprise, and hence, tell themselves to express and behave just as their enterprise would if it were a person. “The alignment to the visual and emotional model of one’s enterprise, comes with the threat of estrangement if seen as vulnerable,” points out Prasadh.

However, Ghosh believes, “Organisations today recognise the importance of having leaders who are sensitive to their team’s needs and the changing environmental situations.” Such leaders not only exhibit flexibility, but also calibrate their actions and behaviour accordingly. Therefore, good organisations often look for leaders who exhibit sensitivity and flexibility, rather than being authoritarian and driving their teams too hard.

Citing the example of the recent layoffs, Prasadh also points out, “Big tech enterprises that were considered strong and perfect personalities, came across as vulnerable and unattached during the recent layoffs. The message, tone and body language these enterprises presented through the voices of their superhero CXOs showed the world that leaders can be vulnerable too. In fact, they established that being vulnerable does not dethrone them from their position of supremacy. Leaders can take a leaf from these recent examples and learn the new VUCA of being Vulnerable, Unattached, Communicative and Agile.”

Sensitivity & responsibility

“Leaders can take a leaf from these recent examples and learn the new VUCA of being Vulnerable, Unattached, Communicative and Agile.”

Prasadh M S, workforce research and communication specialist, Xpheno

Ghosh also points out, “It’s important for the organisation to understand the demand of sensitivity and act up on it. If people need sensitive leaders, the organisation should not shy away from giving them such leaders.”

However, being comrades doesn’t absolve leaders of their responsibilities. It is important to assess the situation and determine when servant leadership is most appropriate.” Servant leadership means empowering others, but not passing on one’s own duties. It’s important to empower people while also being aware of one’s own role as a leader,” asserts Rao. For instance, in a new team or during an emergency, the leader needs to step forward and take charge. However, in a steady state or in situations where collaborative effort is required, being a servant leader and stepping back can be effective.

“People’s leaders possess a leadership style built on the foundations of technical excellence clubbed with compassion and simplicity, with a pinch of reasonable vulnerability in situations that demand them to be. Leaders should remember that intelligence quotient (IQ) and relationship quotient (RQ) can comfortably and productively coexist, and make them the kind of leaders that people look forward to being led by,” states Prasadh.

“To say that all hero leaders are authoritative is not accurate. Hero leaders are usually people who aspire to live life to the fullest. However, there are different types of leaders with varying styles. The most successful are those who can adapt their style to the situation, even if they have a default style. This is the essence of being a sensitive leader,” concludes Ghosh.

The post Why leaders don’t always have to be heroes appeared first on HR Katha.

However, hopefully, the status quo will change and things will turn around in some time, allowing the Company to get into hiring mode.

The big question is, ‘Who will join the Company now?’.

Given the manner in which Twitter’s employee-value proposition has nose-dived, the platform will need talent super soon to manage its critical segments. However, with the uncertain turn of events, will there be talent willing to join it?

“Since the gentleman (read Elon Musk) is among one of the top innovators, some people would still like to associate with the platform despite the recent controversies,” believes Shailesh Singh, CHRO, Max Life Insurance.

It’s true that Twitter is a well-known and established company in the tech industry, which makes it an attractive place to work. However, even those interested will be cautious and take into consideration many factors before taking the final call.

“The platform has shown quite a level of uncertainty in recent times, and the new hiring may look like a tangled web. People are generally drawn more towards a stable environment, which Twitter has definitely failed to maintain of late.”

Shailesh Singh, CHRO, Max Life Insurance

Singh adds, “The platform has shown quite a level of uncertainty in recent times, and the new hiring may look like a tangled web. People are generally drawn more towards a stable environment, which Twitter has definitely failed to maintain of late.”

The fact remains that people want to work with a stable company, with a more credible leadership, a finite plan for the future, and almost negligible turbulence, unlike what Twitter has been going through. “People who have a secure job and enjoy stability in their current organisation, will be sceptical of joining such a company as long as the uncertainty persists,” says Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, Senior HR leader and independent Director.

“Effective leadership is a significant factor in drawing new and specialised talent into the organisation. People would generally be wary of joining a place where management’s decisions can’t be explained or presented with a logic,” he adds.

For instance, many tech companies, including the likes of Meta, Amazon and Google, are laying off people. However, their decisions have been portrayed as very responsible management decisions. Although the move (made by the leadership/management) may be erroneous, they have been gracious enough to be upfront.

Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, for instance, shared a mail with the laid-off employees, stating the reasons for the move and acknowledging that the decisions have been made in the interest of the company. On the contrary, Twitter did not state any reason for the layoffs nor was any subsequent communication or explanation sent to the affected employees.

“Any employee will look at the leader and the stable future of the company that the leader is projecting, which is somehow missing in the case of Twitter,” observes Ghosh.

With the Twitter leadership having made so many unstable and wrong moves, it will be a very complex task to draw new employees. Irrespective of the career-growth carrot being dangled as a desperate measure to draw talent, people would be wary of joining the social-media company.

“People who are cautious will not be attracted to a workplace providing a lucrative offer, but to a workplace that also supports and shares their intrinsic values. Hence, changes on a fundamental level are required.”

Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, Senior HR leader and independent Director

Another vital factor is the manner in which the management handled the situation. Singh says, “People don’t hold a grudge against the platform for taking critical calls (layoff due to any economic challenge or cost-cutting method), but they do grudge the way in which matters were handled.”

He shares his own experience in his last assignment, where many companies were acquired and many were let go of as well. However, he recalls the maturity in which things were handled every time.

Twitter will apparently need people in various segments and countries as many critical tasks need to be performed. The brand has suffered as a whole, but there surely will be roles that can’t be compromised or left vacant, like how Twitter called back some of its specialised engineers for security and other activities.

However, “the mass hirings will suffer in the future,” says Singh. “It will be historic to see what fundamental changes Twitter comes up with in order to attract new talent,” he adds.

To deal with such a situation, the platform will need to adapt to smart compensation hooks in order to attract prospects. Strategies will be required to retain some of the top talent, which will also include over-compensatory benefits even if it’s for the short-term.

However, Ghosh explains that when employers are on the back foot, they will always take such measures to assure people when it comes to the employer brand. And wherever required, even individual may take such measures if they so wish. For instance, if they are in a difficult situation in their current jobs or seek growth. However, it’s more of a short-term thing.

“Lucrative offers may help draw people in, but how long they can be sustained is a big question mark,” explains Ghosh. Since the individuals being called already have a market worth they’d need all the things as per their way — in terms of work process, company culture, every day work environment, and so on. If they fail to find things as per their choice, these specialised individuals wil not think twice before walking away, as they have the entire market waiting to draw them in.

Hence, “changes on a fundamental level are required. After all, at the end of the day, people will judge you by your actions and not your words,” opines Ghosh.

Another important factor is to rebuild the trust among the existing employees, which ultimately reflects on the new prospects as well.

For instance, Twitter recently said that its corporate office will run the platform with only 1500 employees. The impression that new prospects get is that the people coming in will be doing the jobs of five other employees. It will be necessary to explain to people, why the popular platform suddenly underwent such drastic changes, in terms of technology or in terms of processes. Why is it that it can make do with just a portion of employees for handling everything? Hence, some logic or reasoning is required to explain these abrupt decisions, to make people think about where they’re headed now.

“Employees don’t look at their careers as a gamble,” says Ghosh. While proclaimed benefits may help draw people, it is the intrinsic values that actually hold them within the organisation. They will steer clear of any intimidating environment, threats, or a negative work atmosphere. After all, it’s not the money that matters to them but the overall employment experience. Opportunities to grow and express their creativity is what they seek. Hence, they’d always like to pursue their careers in predictable companies, where they can visualise their career in the long run.

At the end of the day, the way the leader behaves also gives a glimpse of the future that lies ahead. “People who are cautious will not be attracted to a workplace providing a lucrative offer, but to a workplace that also supports and shares their intrinsic values,” concludes Ghosh.

The post Who would like to join Twitter now? appeared first on HR Katha.

There is no doubt that the cultural fabric of the people of the West is very different from those in India. Not only are our roots very different, but the way we work, think and execute also differs. So, can the HR practices that work in the West, work in India too? Of course not!

Since human resource management (HRM) as a term originated in the West, many modern HR practices also originated and developed in the Western nations. However, these practices will not necessarily work successfully in India too! Here’s why.

Diversity and inclusion

Let us take the case of diversity and inclusion in India and other parts of the world. In India, talk of ‘diversity’ mostly revolves around gender diversity and representation of women in the corporate culture or at the manufacturing sites. However, in the West, diversity is more about the representation of different ethnicities or skin colours.

Therefore, in the Western world, diversity programmes tend to mostly revolve around cross-cultural trainings and understanding of different cultures. In India, on the other hand, these programmes are more about sensitising people on gender bias, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) or PwD (people with disability).

“It is the manner of execution of the HR practices in India that differs”

Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE India

Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE India, states that, globally there are employee resource groups based on race and ethnicity, but when it comes to choosing resource groups in India, “We only choose what holds meaning for us, such as gender or LGBTQ or generational diversity”.

Things have started to change though. As a society, we have recognised the fact that men and women are no different when it comes to accomplishing success at work. Earlier, however, this also seemed to be an impractical challenge.

One of the HR leaders, who worked with a multinational FMCG brand, shares that his global HR leadership wanted 40 per cent representation of women in the field sales team, which was very difficult to achieve since the talent pool was very limited.

Also, field work involved working in remote locations, which made ensuring the safety of women colleagues a challenge. Such work conditions do not really appeal to the women in the workforce.

Performance dialogue

Talking to HRKatha, Nihar Ghosh, senior HR leader, shares that dialogue and conversations around ‘performance’ are very different here than in the West.

He says that the Western society is very direct when it comes to giving feedback. In India, on the other hand, one cannot be that straightforward. “I may follow the globally-prescribed flow of charts such as breaking the ice, building trust and so on. But the way it is done in India is not the same as in the West, since the cultures are very different,” points out Ghosh.

HR technology

Most of the HRMS products come from the US and Europe. Ghosh states that in one of his past stints, the organisation decided to implement the HRMS product of SAP Success Factors. “Within four months we had to scrap it,” reveals Ghosh. Why? Because the manner in which the technology worked, the dashboard behaved and the data was managed and observed was very different from how it was done in India. “We could not even customise the product to our use,” admits Ghosh.

“Being part of Indian society, we cannot blindly follow the ways of the West, but many Indian employers do not realise this fact”

Nihar Ghosh, senior HR leader

Employee engagement

The manner in which we engage with employees in India is very different from the existing global practices. One such example is the practice of celebrating success or any achievement with a ‘Happy Hour.’

As Menezes states, in many geographies, celebrations are conducted by serving wine or beer at the workplace. However, in our country this cannot be considered. “Having ‘happy hours’ will not be socially accepted in India at all,” asserts Menezes.

Performance-improvement programme

To those who are unaware of what a performance-improvement programme (PIP) is, it is a programme designed to manage poor performance in the company. As per Menezes, the framework of all the processes may be the same, but the execution of the same in India will be different.

In other parts of the world, the PIP can be stringent and the timelines are usually strictly adhered to. Employees may not be given more than two weeks to show improvement. In India, however, ample time is given.

Being part of Indian society, we cannot blindly follow the ways of the West, but “many Indian employers do not realise this fact,” admits Ghosh disappointingly. He feels that many Indian employers fail to understand the cultural nuances of the country, and that is why, very often foreign HR models fail to show results in India.

Menezes opines that by and large, for many HR practices pertaining to hiring, compensation or performance management, the global framework remains the same. “It is the manner of execution of the practice in India that differs,” concludes Menezes.

The post Why global HR practices do not work in India appeared first on HR Katha.

Jobs, the founder of Apple, and Zuckerberg, the brain behind Facebook, are not the only leaders known to wear the same outfits to work daily. Barack Obama did so too. And yes, they were / are successful individuals. But if you think it is their capsule wardrobe that brought them success, you are mistaken.

Those who have tried the practice have realised in no time that wearing the same outfit to work daily does not really impact their productivity in any way. In fact, if the expectations from this routine are too high, the disappointment in terms of productivity remaining the same may actually lead to stress. People obsessed with copying successful personalities and their ways often end up seeking help from counsellors or psychologists to understand why the practice does not work for them.

“Just because Steve jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were successful with this practice, copying them will not make one a successful person”

Nihar Ghosh, HR leader & consultant

Decision fatigue

There is no dearth of those advocating the capsule wardrobe and its benefits on social media. In reality, however, does this practice really help people succeed in life?

Well, to understand that, we should first understand why successful people adopt a capsule wardrobe in the first place. It is because they were overcome by ‘decision fatigue’, which studies claim is a mental stress issue.

Science states that whenever the brain makes a decision, it consumes some amount of energy. As per studies, the human brain makes about 186 decisions in a minute while driving, and over 2000 decisions on any normal day. Cognitively healthy individuals may not be stressed out with this level of brain work, but the cognitively weak people will definitely be. Their brain may drain out early, which may result in less productivity by the end of the day.

Generally, as the day progresses, our brain tends to get tired. Then how are people able to work late into the night and deliver great results? On sheer will power, of course. If one desires, one can stay active throughout the day.

Are sartorial decisions stressful?

Is there a relation between maintaining a capsule wardrobe and decision fatigue? Well, many psychologists admit that choosing an outfit for the day is not really one of the most stressful decisions in life. In fact, making a choice takes just a few seconds as long as the person is not too conscious of appearances!

“Some people simply dress to impress”

Amit Chincholikar, CHRO, Tata Consumer Products

Therefore, not having to choose an outfit for the day does not really save much time, nor does it eliminate stress. Stress can be triggered by different activities and depends to a great extent on the duration of these activities.

For instance, psychologists cite the example of driving. On Indian roads, where a drive to work takes at least half an hour, the process of driving is definitely longer than the time taken to choose an outfit to wear to work. Therefore, to ensure less stress, Indian professionals who drive to work can opt to skip driving and travel by public transport instead. Wearing the same outfit to work daily will have no impact on their stress or productivity levels, but choosing public transport over driving to work can definitely improve their stress level.

All the HR leaders that HRKatha spoke to agree on this. Wearing the same pair of trousers to work has no correlation with performance or leadership style. Almost all HR leaders have encountered such people at the workplace, but their sartorial choices have never had any impact on their productivity at all. “Taking up this practice does not guarantees success. It has no correlation with work,” asserts Ravi V., former VP-L&D, Reliance Industries.

Maybe for people like Jobs or Zuckerberg, choosing an attire for the day was more stressful than driving a car. And by eliminating the very need for this decision on a daily basis, they addressed the factor that caused them stress. However, for a person who does not get stressed by decisions related to outfits / appearances at work, elimination of that decision will not really improve productivity.

“People are different. What works for one may not work for another. If maintaining a capsule wardrobe does not really work for somebody, it is pointless to continue the practice,” states Reetu Raina, VP & global head of talent management, Amdocs.

“Wearing same clothes everyday does not guarantees success. It has no correlation with work”

Ravi V., former VP-L&D, Reliance Industries

Blindly aping successful people may not give any concrete results. “Some people simply dress to impress,” points out Amit Chincholikar, CHRO, Tata Consumer Products.

Human resource leaders advise that following a practice blindly, just for the sake of it and changing oneself are not the right choices. Trying to ape another person can actually end up stressing one and making one feel less energetic.

Success is like achieving happiness. People are truly happy when they being themselves and are doing things that give them pleasure and satisfaction. Similarly, meaningful actions are more likely to result in success rather than adopting a frivolous practice such as a capsule wardrobe.

“Just because Steve jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were successful with this practice, copying them will not make one a successful person,” quips Nihar Ghosh, HR leader & HR consultant.

“If maintaining a capsule wardrobe does not really work for somebody, it is pointless to continue the practice”

Reetu Raina, VP & global head of talent management, Amdocs

A good night’s sleep, a healthy diet and an active lifestyle can do wonders for a person’s mental and physical well-being. It is a lot more important and significant to the achievement of success than what one wears or does not wear to work.

The post Following ‘capsule wardrobe’ like Jobs or Zuckerberg doesn’t prove anything appeared first on HR Katha.

As per the ‘Non-Compete Clause’, post termination, the employee is not allowed to work for the direct competitors of the company for a reasonable period of time.

In the past, companies have used this policy to protect and preserve confidential information from rivals. However, with the recent case of Infosys grabbing headlines, questions are now being raised as to whether the clause should exist at all.

It is being alleged that companies have been using the ‘non-compete clause’ to deprive people of their livelihood. After all, if talent with specialised and niche skills are barred from working with other companies in the same domain, how will they earn their living?

“I am not a believer of ‘no competes’; I would rather get my house in order and ensure no poacher can strike my key people. But many companies still believe they are doing talent a favour. And such clauses will only keep the best away”

Prabir Jha, founder, Prabir Jha Advisory

“As a senior hire had once told me, ‘my entire life and experience is in the industry. I cannot sign myself out if it. It is like asking a doctor never to practise medicine,’” recalls Prabir Jha, founder, Prabir Jha Advisory.

So can we state that a policy which was formulated to safeguard the interests of the company is being used as a tool against the employees to scare them off so that they cannot resign or move on?

What is the real purpose of the non-compete clause?

As per the HR leaders, the non-compete clause’ in India is quite weak. In most cases, it does not stand any ground in a court of law in India. In fact, as per section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, “Every agreement by which anyone is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade or business of any kind, is to that extent void,” says the law. As per the law, any such agreement is against the public policy of the nation which deprives people of their fundamental right to earn a living.

Talking to HRKatha, Anil Bhat, employment law specialist & principal partner, LEX n CRAFT — who has been practising law for close to three decades and specialises in employment law — confirms that in most of the cases he has seen, the non-compete clause is never imposed on an employee. “In India, the law is employee friendly. The non-compete clause clearly breaches the fundamental rights of the employees to work freely in any profession or trade and goes against the public interest of working professionals,” shares Bhat.

If companies cannot legally enforce the non-compete clause on employees, then why do they have this policy at all in the first place? What purpose does this clause serve in an organisation?

“Originally, the non-compete clause was created to safeguard vital information of the company from reaching competitors. After all, it was possible for employees in roles which allowed them access to vital company information and trade secrets, to compromise that information and pass it on to the rival company on crossing over,” says Adil Malia, CEO, The Firm.

“Companies have been misusing the ‘Non-Compete Clause.’ They do not want to take care of their employees or engage with them, but when the employees decide to leave, they try to enforce the non-compete clause”

Adil Malia, CEO, The Firm

Now, however, Jha points out that this clause has been reduced to being a tool to restrict talent movement from crossing over to a rival firm. “Companies used these to stave off competition, from accessing their talent. One can still have IP protection for one’s products and processes but one worries about tacit knowledge leaking to competition through employees crossing over,” states Jha.

The non-compete clause can be enforced!

There have been multiple rulings by the Supreme Court and state High Courts of India, which have gone against the employers, and where the courts have said that such agreements are null and void when they clash with the fundamental rights of the people.

There is, however, a catch. Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 also comes with an exception, which states, “One who sells the goodwill of a business may agree with the buyer to refrain from carrying on a similar business, within specified local limits, so long as the buyer, or any person deriving title to the goodwill from him, carries on a like business therein, provided that such limits appear to the Court reasonable, regard being had to the nature of the business.” In simple words, this means that such agreements can be enforced if the restrictions are reasonable and consistent with public interest.

“There are some special cases where the non-compete clause’ can be enforced,” says Bhat. For instance, let’s take the case of a company working on a very critical project amidst which an employee decides to leave the company and cross over to a rival firm. In such a case, if the rival firm is also working on some similar project, and if there is a possibility that the employee who has crossed over can leak vital information and trade secrets, the clause can definitely be enforced, provided that such a condition is mentioned in the employment contract.

Bhat points out yet another challenge here. “The company will have to first prove this scenario in the court, which will require it to reveal a lot of information about the project, which will get documented,” warns Bhat.

“Companies need to compensate people for the time period they remain unemployed due to the agreement, to make the non-compete clause’ enforceable”

P Dwarakanath, former chairman, GSK Consumer Healthcare

The ethical way

As per HR leaders, there is an ethical way to enforce the non-compete clause on people.

P Dwarakanath, former chairman, GSK Consumer Healthcare, believes that one can enforce the non-compete clause if one does it the right way.

1. Be specific and clear: The contract should be very clear. When the company mentions competitors, it is essential to clarify who these competitors are. “The word ‘competitor’ cannot encompass the entire universe,” says Malia.

Therefore, the HR leader suggests, that the organisation will need to specify exactly who all the competitors are. The best practice is to list the names of those specific companies in the contract.

2. Mention reasonable time period: The time period of the restriction post termination should be reasonable. That means, the contract will have to mention for how long the employee cannot join a competitor in the similar domain post resignation from or termination of employment. This time period can range from six months to two years.

3. Compensate: The company should compensate the employees for the time period they remain unemployed, at the rate of their last drawn monthly salary. “Companies need to compensate people for the time period they remain unemployed due to the agreement, to make the non-compete clause’ enforceable,” insists Dwarakanath.

“The employees are losing out on another opportunity due to the non-compete clause enforced on them. Therefore, it is the company’s responsibility to make sure that the employees are compensated for the same,” mentions Malia.

However, as per Bhat, even if the employees are compensated for the time period for which they are forced to remain unemployed, there may be instances where an employee may still choose to break the contract and join a competitor.

“One cannot stop or restrict a person from joining a competitor. However, in such a case, the employee will simply be asked to pay back the compensation amount with interest as mentioned in the employment contract or agreement,” clarifies Bhat.

“HR leaders are definitely aware that the non-compete clause is not a one-way street for the employers. It has a cost attached to it. Some companies just try to be smart and get away without compensating employees. However, people are now aware of their rights and are protesting”

Nihar Ghosh, former president – HR, Emami

Is the non-compete clause being misused by organisations?

Generally, the non-compete clause is meant for certain key roles or positions where the employees have access to confidential / vital information which also constitutes some of the critical talent for the company.

For instance, for a pharma company, people working as part of the R&D team and developing drugs and formulas, can come under the purview of the non-compete clause.

“I see that nowadays, companies have started covering even people from the middle management under the non-compete clause. One has to specify in advance which roles will be covered under the clause. One cannot just suddenly state one day that a person is bound by the clause,” asserts Malia.

Very often, “companies use the ‘non-compete clause’ to actually scare their employees, so that they do not resign and leave them,” says Nihar Ghosh, former president – HR, Emami.

“Companies have been misusing this clause. They do not want to take care of their employees or engage with them, but when the employees decide to leave, they try to enforce the non-compete clause,” alleges Malia.

Dwarakanath believes that organisations and HR professionals have simply tried to copy and paste the policies of some MNCs without clearly understanding the clause.

Ghosh, however, says that all organisations in India have competent and experienced HR leaders as part of their leadership team. Therefore, it is hard to believe that they may be unaware of the nuances and complexities pertaining to this clause.

“In India, the law is employee friendly. The non-compete clause clearly breaches the fundamental rights of the employees to work freely in any profession or trade and goes against the public interest of working professionals”

Anil Bhat, employment law specialist & principal partner, LEX n CRAFT

He points out that “HR leaders are definitely aware that the non-compete clause is not a one-way street for the employers. It has a cost attached to it. Some companies just try to be smart and get away without compensating employees. However, people are now aware of their rights and are protesting,” says Ghosh.

Should companies do away with the non-compete clause?

Clearly, the non-compete clause is not very strong in India, and companies cannot really restrict anybody from moving to another company, even if they happen to be their competitors. Does that mean this clause can be scrapped altogether?

Jha shares that during his stints as a CHRO, he actually decided to scrap the non-compete clause in many companies. “I believe it is a free world and there are many surrogate ways of beating a system. Strengthen the character and loyalty for your organisation rather than worry about what unending assassins could do!” advises Jha.

Personally, Jha is not in favour of a non-compete clause. “I believe tacit knowledge will outlive any time clause. I am not a believer of ‘no competes’; I would rather get my house in order and ensure no poacher can strike my key people. But many companies still believe they are doing talent a favour. And such clauses will only keep the best away,” adds Jha.

As a legal advisor, Bhat suggests that companies should not scrap the clause altogether as “this clause has the potential to safeguard the interests of the company in some special cases”.

The above discussion raises questions on the very existence of the non-compete clause in India. It is high time organisations brainstormed and gave a thought to whether this clause is ‘actually’ serving any purpose in terms of providing a strategic edge in business. If this clause is carried on with, will companies be using it in the right spirit? These are some of the questions that HR leaders will need to seek answers to.

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‘Involvement’ means that the employees are not only focused on the work, but also want to add value to the organisation.

Very often, people use the terms ‘employee engagement’ and ‘employee involvement’ interchangeably. They define these two terms according to what they feel is best suited for their organisation.

“Engaged employees are those who take up every challenge thrown at them, and passionately pursue everything they do at work”

Nihar Ghosh, former president – human resources, Emami

Employees who wish to be involved in the businesses of their organisations have a desire to learn more and rise quickly up the hierarchy. They spend more time getting to know about the inner workings of the organistion and help create new goals that can be achieved in the future.

The ones who are engaged in their work in a professional manner, are likely to perform only according to the standards set by the organisation. They tend to not go far outside the outlines of their respective assignments.

As such, their ‘involvement’ at work is restricted to completing the tasks assigned to them, and they try not to surpass the minimal responsibilities.

However, it would be wrong to rigidly differentiate the two terms this way, because as mentioned earlier, they can mean different things to different people and organisations.

Nihar Ghosh, former president – human resources, Emami, says, “Engaged employees are those who take up every challenge thrown at them, and passionately pursue everything they do at work.”

Involved employees, however, are mostly interested in getting the work done without focusing on excelling on the personal front, Ghosh explains.

As per Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India, “Involved employees are the ones who have a sense of ownership. They’re practically running the business. Their duties go beyond the job description and the tend to always look at the bigger picture.”

Engaged employees strive to improve themselves, and focus on their responsibilities, says Sharma.

Deepti Mehta, assistant vice president – HR, Schneider Electric-Luminous India, feels that engaged employees make that extra effort to do more at work.

“Involved employees are the ones who have a sense of ownership. They’re practically running the business. Their duties go beyond the job description and the tend to always look at the bigger picture”

Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India

“Engaged employees often go beyond their key result areas (KRAs) to deliver the best service they can to the organisation. They have an innate enthusiasm that shows in their ability to take up more than one task and complete all without hesitation.”

On the other hand, “involved employees stay within the limits of their jobs. Even though they’re high performers, they work according to the guidelines of their operations only, enunciates Mehta

Clearly, the definitions of engagement and involvement overlap in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between them in a concrete manner. As much as they differ from each other, the two have some similarities as well. Neither of these employees are a liability to the organisation, and they do not have any adverse effects on the workforce.

The reason many organisations alienate their workforce is because they impose more work on them and cling to unrealistic expectations for the results.

“Involved employees stay within the limits of their jobs. Even though they’re high performers, they work according to the guidelines of their operations only”

Deepti Mehta, assistant vice president – HR, Schneider Electric-Luminous India

Both the engaged and involved employees are beneficial for the organisation. Both ‘engagement’ and ‘involvement’ have positive outcomes. They are both usually applied to high performers and are a way of gauging success at work.

At the end of the day, employee engagement and involvement stem from within employees who want to not only improve at their job, but also take part in the different kinds of activities in the organisation. They reflect in their diligence and self-confidence.

The post How are ‘engaged’ employees different from ‘involved’ employees? appeared first on HR Katha.

Why is that? Well, most of the HR leaders HRKatha spoke to, feel HR professionals lack such skills because they love being in the comfort zone of their corporate offices. They are not really curious about the business side of things in the organisation.

In fact, many of the new breed of HR leaders do not even come from a plant HR experience. They have no understanding of how things operate at the plants.

Curiosity & willingness to learn

As per Nihar Ghosh, former president – HR, Emami, the individuals needs to have an inherent attitude to obtain knowhow of their business. Giving his own example, he explains that when he started his career, he worked in organisational development and learning & development roles. When he became an HR head, he did not have any plant HR experience and knew nothing about negotiating with the unions. He took it upon himself to spend time at the plants. During one such instance, he had to deal with the union leaders, and other business leaders also showed confidence in him. Eventually, he managed to handle the situation.

“As a CHRO, one truly gets a seat at the table when one knows what is happening in the business. Otherwise, one tends to be ignored”

Nihar Ghosh, former president HR, Emami

Need for field exposure

Ghosh also shares that at Emami, he made it mandatory for all HR people in his team to go to the field and the market along with sales professionals twice every month. Since he believes that they work in a hard core sales and marketing business, it is necessary for the HR professionals to go with the front-end sales team and see how they negotiate with retailers.

“In the market, one will also have sales professionals from one’s competitor’s side; one will get to see how they are dealing with the retailers or wholesalers,” says Ghosh. He explains that while in the field, the HR can get to see where their sales professionals lack, and while hiring/ during the interview, they can cite some situations or scenarios and question the candidates on how they would react to them. This will also make them realise what sort of soft or hard skills are required to perform that job well.

Participation in training

As per Ghosh, firstly, it depends on one’s curiosity or agility to learn more about one’s business, and secondly, the HR head should also take the responsibility to make sure that their HR teams spend time on the field or at the plants or with the sales teams, to learn more and not just stick to their function.

Rajeev Singh, CHRO, Solara Active Pharma, reveals that as a CHRO he also mandated that all HR professionals be part of some training they organise for the plant supervisors or the R&D teams. “Most often, the HR facilitates such trainings but fails to actively participate in these themselves. Unfortunately, there seem to be no formal training curricula developed for the HR. Therefore, I have made it mandatory for all HR personnel to be a part of such trainings,” says Singh.

“One is not required to be part of the sales team or sell products in the market to acquire business acumen”

Naresh Kumar Puritipati, CHRO, Lactalis

Ideally, spending time in a commercial role or a business role would be more helpful for the HR professional to build business acumen. Ghosh does agree with this. He shares that as an executive vice president of one of the known retail brands, he voluntarily opted to handle the retail business and eventually saw success. His leaders believed in him.

“As a CHRO, one truly gets a seat at the table when one knows what is happening in the business. Otherwise, one tends to be ignored,” says Ghosh.

Ghosh says that his commercial stint helped him earn the confidence and respect of his business leaders. “Eventually, people started fearing me during the executive leadership review meetings because I asked the toughest questions,” says Ghosh.

Naresh Kumar Puritipati, CHRO, Lactalis, says that as an HR professional, one is not required to be part of the sales team or sell products in the market. “It is more about having an understanding of the business. One does not have to sell products, yet one should have the ability to understand the people’s problems in selling that product,” says Puritipati.

Also, as Puritipati points out, the business environment keeps changing. The commercial experience gained in a particular role a decade or two back would be obsolete today.

For Puritipati, being closer to the business was more important. That is why, he emphasised on having an organisational structure which makes HR professionals understand the business better.

Top to bottom structure

Puritipati talks about having a structure, wherein for every function and vertical at all levels, one has HR business partners. “We will need to follow a top to bottom approach to create that kind of a structure. This is how one can develop business acumen in HR professionals,” says Puritipati.

“I mandated all HR members in my team to be part of all trainings organised by them for commercial staff as there is no formal training programme to build business acumen”

Rajeev Singh, CHRO, Solara Active Pharma

However, is it just the HRBP who should have business acumen? Should people working in certain other critical roles such as talent acquisition or compensation & benefits also have business understanding?

“The logical side of the HR function, such as recruitment or compensation & benefits, requires more business understanding than others,” says Singh.

However, for any HR professional who aspires to be a CHRO one day, Ghosh recommends having business skills.

“Business leaders always welcome HR people to learning programmes. Whether, as an HR professional, one takes that leap and makes it happen is entirely in one’s own hands,” states Ghosh rightly.

The post How HR can build business skills appeared first on HR Katha.

However, the pandemic shook everything and everyone to the core. Organisations had to adapt to the new circumstances or else risk being crushed under the weight of the deluge of work and resultant incompetency. Managers struggled to keep the team members alert and the work flowing as smoothly as possible. As the situation worsened, and the world went under lockdown, the team managers found themselves having to stretch further to fulfill several duties, remain connected with all their team members, and also find ways to complete their immediate goals and plans for the future.

“Earlier, the team managers used to take the members for granted, paying little attention to their wellbeing”

Nihar Ghosh, former President Human Resources, Emami

Managing workplace engagement

Jayant Kumar, head – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ, says, “One of the most profound changes have been in the team managers’ ability to manage workplace engagement.”

During the pandemic, managers had to look after their own families, as well as the holistic wellbeing of their teams. They had to fix their ways of working; essentially looking at any disruption that may cause delays in work, drive the day-to day agendas during meetings and keep the members equally engaged with the work. With time, the managers acquired competency and comfort with the kind of changes they were dealing with.

Embracing technology

Technological advancements — not limited to Zoom and other such tools meant for online interactions alone, but tech enablers — that had been available to the organisations even before the pandemic, but weren’t put to use are now being utilised.

Rajesh Nair, executive president and CHRO, Polycab India, states, “In the manufacturing industry, there is always a need for people on the ground to look after the work. Therefore, even during the pandemic, we had to continue working to deliver the products.”

“A lot of functional processes such as dealership, as well as factoring and making decisions about dispatching materials had to be done remotely. This caused a lot of logistical issues in the beginning, which have been smoothened out since then,” says Nair.

“Learning how to review the work remotely, and generating ideas during Zoom calls has been challenging, because earlier, a lot of it used to happen in the presence of the team members without any hitch,” Nair points out. In the past, team managers found it easier to make plans and give execution advice with every member physically present in the same room.

“In the manufacturing industry, there is always a need for people on the ground to look after the work. Therefore, even during the pandemic, we had to continue working to deliver the products”

Rajesh Nair, executive president and CHRO, Polycab India

Informal activities such as bonding with the teammates, and checking on each other’s wellbeing has also undergone change. That is because, even with a hybrid model in place in many organisations, the interactions aren’t the same any more, as Nair points out.

Regaining trust

However, even though the pandemic has introduced several challenges at the workplace, Nair asserts that the team managers have acquired a lot of trust in their employees after going through a difficult period of time together, and the overall productivity has been better too.

Paying attention to employee wellbeing

Nihar Ghosh, former President Human Resources, Emami, believes there hasn’t been a change in the role of the team managers, but the way in which they treat their fellow members. “Earlier, the team managers used to take the members for granted, paying little attention to their wellbeing,” he states. All this, however, has changed and the managers have shown a greater understanding of their team members’ concerns and learnt to be more compassionate toward them.

“One of the most profound changes have been in the team managers’ ability to manage workplace engagement”

Jayant Kumar, head – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ

Learning and unlearning

As the world opens up, slowly but steadily, there is little certainty that we’re ever going to go back to working the way we used to. Not all changes caused by the pandemic have been welcomed by the organisations. Some have experienced drastic outcomes, but it has resulted in widespread learning as well as unlearning of a few old habits.

Team managers have had to perform some of the toughest tasks in handling not only the work, as it is being done now, but also looking after their workforce.

Of course, even the hardest efforts don’t guarantee 100 per cent success, but in the wake of this sudden transformation, managers have adapted to their newly-altered responsibilities with as much dedication as is possible. Hopefully, they will continue to make new breakthroughs in the future as well.

The post How managers have evolved through the pandemic appeared first on HR Katha.

Aegon Life allowed its employees to work from anywhere in the country, irrespective of the location at which they joined the Company.

“I have personally come across cases, where remote employees were simultaneously working on third-party projects or taking up freelance work. This has raised the eyebrows of companies, causing them to take required action to manage such situations”

Jagjit Singh, former chief people officer, PwC India

Following this, Edelweiss General Insurance, another insurance startup, came up with a work-from- anywhere policy for its employees in India, whose nature of job did not require them to be physically present in the office. Such employees were allowed to work from a location of their preference.

In the UK, employees of Delloitte were given permission to work from anywhere, forever. Spotify gave flexibility to its employees to choose to work remotely or from co-working spaces of their convenience or from the office.

These are just a handful of examples. Many other IT giants, where a significant part of the workforce already enjoyed the luxury of working from home have not yet made any formal announcements on whether their employees can work from any location. In fact, HRKatha is aware of certain companies that do not allow their employees to work from other locations, except their home or office. Why is that?

A chat with some of the HR leaders in the industry reveals that work-from-anywhere — which really seems to be a very appealing proposition to give flexibility to employees and even attract new talent — comes with its own set of challenges for corporates and employers.

Increasing labour cost

During an interaction with HRKatha, Debjani Roy, CHRO, Mind Your Fleet, recalls going on a vacation — when COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed — and spending some time relaxing at a lavish and luxurious resort. There, she observed that a bunch of seven to eight people would start their breakfast quite early and then work on their laptops. By interacting with these people, Roy found out that they were working professionals, who were enjoying a vacation, while working.Most of them were mid-level managers and team leaders who had been staying at the resort for last three months!

“In a work-from-anywhere scenario, there is no way to trace or keep track of the different locations the employees are working from. This can make the model challenging and difficult to digest for certain organisations”

Debjani Roy, CHRO, Mind Your Fleet

Being aware that the property was a luxurious one, Roy couldn’t help wondering how these professionals could sustain such an expensive lifestyle. Surely, they would realise what a hole they had burnt in their pockets once they returned home, she had thought. The expenses would probably urge them to seek move incentives or demand a hike. After witnessing the lifestyle of these professionals, Roy suspects that in some companies work-from-anywhere is bound to cause a spike in labour costs.

Trust factor

Trust between employees and their employers is an unsaid and undocumented contract that exists between them. For companies with big workforces distributed across the world, managing and keeping track of their employees will become a daunting task in a work-from-anywhere model.

Presently, the demand for tech talent is surging as organisations, worldwide, are accelerating their digitalisation process. There is a shortage of talent, because everyone is relying on the same talent pool. Jagjit Singh, former chief people officer, PwC India, shares that since many of the employees in the IT sector were working from distributed locations, there were instances of dual employment. That is, many employees worked full time with their employers and also took on freelance projects on the side. This naturally hampers the productivity of such employees. Most importantly, the managers of such employees end up losing their trust in them.

“As long as people are delivering as per expectations, we do not mind where they are working from”

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami

Such instances have led companies to come up with ways to track the IP addresses of their employees. “In a work-from-anywhere scenario, there is no way to trace or keep track of the different locations the employees are working from. This can make the model challenging and difficult to digest for certain organisations,” points out Roy.

Singh admits having personally come across cases, where remote employees were simultaneously working on third-party projects or taking up freelance work. “This has raised the eyebrows of companies, causing them to take required action to manage such situations,” states Singh.

Performance & delivery

On the other hand, there are also companies that appreciate this model of work. “As long as people are delivering as per expectations, we do not mind where they are working from,” says Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami. Ghosh shares that, at Emami, only 30 to 40 per cent of the roles can be worked remotely. As an organisation, however, Emami does not worry about where the employees are delivering from — home, office or anywhere else.

Singh and Roy both foresee all the companies curtailing flexibility and putting a check on these benefits with the return of normalcy. “All the employers who were talking of providing flexibility to employees during the pandemic, will limit such benefits when things become normal. They will only extend these benefits as and when the employees or situations require,” asserts Singh.

Clearly, organisations that have rolled out a work-from-anywhere policy may seriously need to think the decision through and make necessary modifications for the model to really work.

The post How ‘work from anywhere’ can become a problem for employers appeared first on HR Katha.

Ghosh joined Emami as president – HR in 2016 and has spent over five years with the Company leading its HR function for the FMCG business. Having started his corporate journey, in the HR space, in 1990 as executive HR with National Dairy Development Board, Ghosh spent almost two years there. In 1993, Ghosh joined Reliance Industries for almost two years before moving on to Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as a corporate training and development manager, in the year 1995. He ended up spending almost seven years with J&J and served his last position in the Company as a general manager – HR. In his seven-year long stint with J & J, Ghosh also got the opportunity to work abroad in various locations, including Sydney, Australia.

After moving on from J&J, Ghosh spent close to two years with Alghanim Industries, a real-estate firm, as director – HR, working out of Kuwait. The Company now employs over 10,000 employees across 30 countries in the Middle East, Europe and emerging Asia.

Amongst his short stints, Ghosh worked as a chief consultant with Profiles International for a year, and with a company called Human Soft Holding, as VP-HR for less than a year. The Company was into the education sector, with universities and colleges offering executive and other full-time courses.

It was in 2006 that Ghosh joined Spencer’s Retail, as VP-HR and ended up spending his longest stint of 10 years at this RPSG Group company. The last position he served at Spencer’s was that of executive director – HR leading the talent strategy and culture transformation agendas in the retail firm. Post that, he got promoted as executive director – HR, corporate, for the RPSG Group.

Talking to HRKatha about his post-retirement plans, Ghosh says that he would prefer to indulge in some HR advisory work, coaching and teaching.

Biswas, who will be taking over the reins of the HR function at Emami, is a senior HR professional with more than two decades of experience in the domain. Prior to this role, Biswas was leading the HR function at Orkla Group, which is a 12-billion dollar FMCG firm, which owns the MTR Food brand in India, and has a 3000+ strong workforce.

Sharing his thoughts on the new assignment, Biswas says that his job will be to take the people strategy agenda of Emami to a new level. He shares that the FMCG sector is quite competitive and people will need upskilling to stay relevant and competitive in the market and be part of a future-ready workforce.

“Our focus will also be to build a strong EVP and a brand of choice to work for,” says Biswas. He explains that in the FMCG sector, getting the right talent, especially in niche marketing roles, is very important. “Now, we also have digital roles in the marketing functions which require digital skills,” says Biswas.

Biswas comes with work experience in different sectors, such as FMCG, airports, logistics, engineering and manufacturing. Before his association with the Orkla Group, Biswas was the chief people officer at Brinks India, a security and logistics services company.

Other organisations where Biswas has served in key HR leadership positions include TNT, Bangalore International Airport and Tyco.

The post Nihar Ghosh to retire as CHRO, Emami; Tuhin Biswas steps in appeared first on HR Katha.

Many HR leaders that HRKatha spoke with, are of the opinion that in all big organisations, irrespective of the field or domain they operate in, there can never be any single culture followed by all departments. “Having a uniform culture across the organisation is a state that every company desires to achieve, and requires undertaking a tough journey. However, it is something that no company may have accomplished till date. Having worked with so many big conglomerates, I have always seen different subcultures co-existing in companies,” shares Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami.

As we are aware, people come with diverse backgrounds in terms of education, regions, states, language and ethnicity. Therefore, it is next to impossible for any organisation to have a uniform culture within.

“Having a uniform culture across the organisation is a state that every company desires to achieve, and requires undertaking a tough journey”

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami

It is not just the diversity of the workforce which creates subcultures in the company, but the so many different leaders within the company who have their own way of leading businesses and teams. So, as many leaders, as many cultures. “It is the leaders who demonstrate certain behaviours in the company, certain ways of working and functioning, which cascade down to all other employees,” shares Milind Apte, SVP-HR, CEAT.

What is culture? Culture is not something that is seen, but something that is experienced. It is visible in the way one conducts oneself at work and does business. While everyone is aligned to that one goal, each one will achieve it in their own way. Apte cites an example of how at one manufacturing unit, which has three different operations teams working, there can exist three different subcultures.

But what if these different subcultures start conflicting with each other? Well, if subcultures exist, there is bound to be some conflict. “In every company, there is one primary or dominant culture, which will comprise behaviours common to all, and which will drive the success of the business. The leaders in the company will have to constantly demonstrate and encourage such uniform behaviour so that the subcultures do not start dominating the primary culture of the firm,” tells Apte.

As Manu Wadhwa, CHRO, Sony Pictures explains, in a large organisation there you will bound to have different subculture and they coexist with harmony till the time it does not contradict with the larger or primary culture of the company. Let’s say the company has a culture of meritocracy and in one corner of the organisations there is a leader who is leading the team on a patriarchy culture which will definitely start conflicting. In that case strong mentoring and coaching is required to rectify the issue.

“In every company, there is one primary or dominant culture, which will comprise behaviours common to all, and which will drive the success of the business. The leaders in the company will have to constantly demonstrate and encourage such uniform behaviour so that the subcultures do not start dominating the primary culture of the firm” 

Milind Apte, SVP – HR, CEAT

“I think if everyone is aligned with a larger purpose of the company goals these small cultural differences will not hinder or create any problems,” explains Wadhwa.
The perfect example of this can be seen in armed forces, every battalion will have a different motto, but when required they work together for the same purpose.

Apart from this, it is also vital to understand the existence of subcultures in the company. For instance, in 2018, United Airlines rolled out a new system to reward and recognise its people. It replaced small, quarterly bonuses with a lottery system, which handsomely paid a handful of employees. However, this was not really appreciated by the employees and the Company had to withdraw this programme within a day of its announcement. Here the leadership failed to understand the subculture which existing within their employees which believed that everyone or a large part of the population who has demonstrated exceptional work should get something as a reward rather than a handful of people getting rewarded overwhelmingly. That means, it would be correct to say that identifying the subcultures in an organisation is a must, and so is engaging with them.

After 9/11, the Department of Justice in the US wanted to roll out a new computer system. It gathered representatives from more than 50 local sites to plan the logistics, communication and training procedure for it. 300 people from different offices worked on flipcharts answering questions on how they will carry out the process and what responsibilities they will handle at their offices. Others modified their initial plans, as per these responses. The resulting design was appropriate for each office and the organisation claims this to be the best of its deployment efforts, because subcultures were recognised and considered.

“If everyone is aligned with a larger purpose of the company goals these small cultural differences will not hinder or create any problems”

Manu Wadhwa, CHRO, Sony Pictures Network

According to HR leaders, subcultures will not clash with the overall culture of the company, provided they are not changed. Conflict only occurs when a new leader emerges and starts working against the dominating culture of the company, which actually creates a mess. People are often misunderstood amidst their attempt to align themselves to the primary culture of the company.

According to Ghosh, hiring is the key to maintaining balance. “Every company needs to give time to culture-fit hiring. One will not get a 100 per cent culture-fit person, but even if it is a 60 or 70 per cent match, it is good enough,” says Ghosh. According to him, there are interventions, such as coaching, mentoring and the buddy system, which help the new joinees to become aware of how things are carried out at the workplace.

While it is almost close to impossible to achieve a single uniform company culture, it is a long journey and companies can strive to undertake it and get there!

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The driver received an automated e-mail informing him that his services had been terminated. A bot had fired a human! For Amazon, this may be quite acceptable given that Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer, Amazon, believes that machines make more accurate decisions than humans because they are devoid of bias. However, what could be a reason for alarm is the dependency on tech to carry out key functions, such as termination of a contract which is expected to be done personally.

“We run a human organisation, and if we don’t provide a human interface for a decision which involves an individual’s career and livelihood, then we’d better not be in this business. Let’s not employ human beings at all then. Tomorrow I may not even need a leadership team. I could just bring in AI-enabled machines and make them managers. Getting a system to come back and execute a termination is completely inhuman. An organisation choosing to do so shouldn’t be in the people business.”

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami

Is it feasible?

Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning approach in the first stages of hiring isn’t uncommon. Many organisations indulge in early sieving of CVs with the use of a set algorithms to narrow down their searches. However, giving machines the power to take critical, high-risk decisions, such as analysing set parameters to conclude whether or not to keep someone at a job can be detrimental. In the Indian context, how feasible is this approach now that the dependency on technology in HR has increased manifold?

Rajesh Balaji, CHRO, Matrimony.com, is rather confident that such a system will take at least a couple of decades to be widely accepted in India. He, however, doesn’t rule out the possibility completely, because the bot is just executing the decision of the organisation. He also suggests how it can be made a lot more compassionate despite being a mechanical process.

“An adequate ecosystem needs to be created for people to be made aware beforehand that they will be fired, and the bot will just execute it. The message should not come as a surprise. The concerned employees should be provided a warning about them being in the red. One more mistake and the person is fired. So, if adequate filters are put in place, then it will not matter whether it is a bot or a human at the other end,” Balaji explains.

“An adequate ecosystem needs to be created for people to be made aware beforehand that they will be fired, and the bot will just execute it. The message should not come as a surprise. The concerned employees should be provided a warning about them being in the red. One more mistake and the person is fired. So, if adequate filters are put in place, then it will not matter whether it is a bot or a human at the other end.”

Rajesh Balaji, CHRO, Matrimony.com

He also points out that such things mostly occur at the entry level because as the pyramid goes up, the sensitivities are much stronger.

The reason why he thinks such a process will take some decades to enter India is that currently there’s no integrated system for the same, but perhaps, one day, there will be. He also speaks of the nudge technology — apps on phones that nudge people to meet deadlines without annoying or angering them. In fact, people try to overachieve to compensate for their shortcomings.

“There is no question of being offended because there’s no individual emotion there. Therefore, it is all about creating a technological ecosystem, which will prepare people to expect a termination from a bot,” suggests Balaji.

Who will look into the intangible data?

What has been mapped in the algorithm is yet another matter to be factored in. The algorithm maps tangible data, such as achievements, performances and personal track records, but what about the intangible data?

“In performance-management processes, we rely on machines to give us performance data. We use that data to make performance decisions. In selection of resources as well, we leverage machines. The key difference is the next step — what do we do once we have the output from machines? Do we rely solely on the scores or also try and understand other factors that may have impacted performance, say, a personal exigency? How do we communicate the outcome to the concerned people? Can we communicate even bad news with deep empathy? That decision is for humans to make.”

Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami, does not condemn technology if it involves an AI programme which has been designed and mapped well with defined parameters. However, it should come back with a recommendation. The precipitation of the action should involve a human interface, where somebody talks to the individual with understanding. It should have human involvement rather than being interpersonal.

“We run a human organisation, and if we don’t provide a human interface for a decision which involves an individual’s career and livelihood, then we’d better not be in this business. Let’s not employ human beings at all then. Tomorrow I may not even need a leadership team. I could just bring in AI-enabled machines and make them managers. Getting a system to come back and execute a termination is completely inhuman. An organisation choosing to do so shouldn’t be in the people business,” Ghosh asserts strongly.

Although he agrees machines cut down on biases, he is against them making the final call. “The world will not be governed by programmed learning. It is not an Avenger series. We created machines to serve us and not become subservient to them,” Ghosh points out.

Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company, however, would not hastily label the Amazon case as one of machines taking over human jobs, without understanding what really happened. A contractor signed a contract to perform a job to a pre-defined standard. When the contractor failed to perform as per the standard, the contract was terminated through a pre-configured communication template. However, the decision to use this system of machine-monitored, machine-executed performance system was taken by humans. Machines can be designed to perform many routine and advanced tasks. However, the earmarking of tasks between man and machine is still a decision for humans to make.

“In performance-management processes, we rely on machines to give us performance data. We use that data to make performance decisions. In selection of resources as well, we leverage machines. The key difference is the next step — what do we do once we have the output from machines? Do we rely solely on the scores or also try and understand other factors that may have impacted performance, say, a personal exigency? How do we communicate the outcome to the concerned people? Can we communicate even bad news with deep empathy? That decision is for humans to make,” Das explains.

Does the answer lie in digital empathy?

Technology should be an enabler for us to take the right steps in the interest of the organisation, while preserving human dignity. It would be able to perform monotonous tasks and take away cognitive load from decision making, so that humans can perform higher-order functions. “To harness the power of technology, leaders will need to develop their digital empathy, and use it to design technical solutions. Only those organisations that focus on developing this critical competency in their leaders will be able to leverage the gift of technology. Others will relinquish their responsibility to machines in pursuit of hollow rational goals,” asserts Das.

Firing of a person by a bot can come as a shock to many, and understandably so. When dealing with people, one has to keep in mind human emotions and empathy. So, while AI and machine learning should be leveraged to get data, they shouldn’t be the ones making decisions such as terminating someone without any human interface.

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“This generation has been used to sitting in their cabins and people coming and meeting them. They felt the power and control in their hands, but now with work from home, there is a feeling of loss of control.”

Sriharsha Achar, Jt. executive director & CHRO, Star Health & Allied Insurance Company

GenX

Born between 1965 – 1979, GenX, is currently the oldest generation at the workplace, and they have found it difficult to adapt to the new world of work. Many of them are in senior roles, and have a sense of achievement in their career.

Many from the younger generation may not be able to comprehend this, but not being able to work out of their cabins, has made them feel a loss of control.

As Sriharsha Achar, Jt. executive director & CHRO, Star Health & Allied Insurance Company rightly points out, “This generation has been used to sitting in their cabins and people coming and meeting them. They felt the power and control in their hands, but now with work from home, there is a feeling of loss of control.”

Many may say that work from home has been a great leveller. The fact is that this generation has been suddenly exposed to the new way of working, and it’s not easy to adapt to the new world overnight. There is a sudden sense of isolation in this generation of workers.

“Imagine a person, who has been working for over 20 years or 30 years, being made to suddenly work from his home. Throughout his entire career, he was used to getting ready in the morning, leaving for the office and meeting people. Now, abruptly, everything has changed.”

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami

“Imagine a person, who has been working for over 20 years or 30 years, being made to suddenly work from his home. Throughout his entire career, he was used to getting ready in the morning, leaving for the office and meeting people. Now, abruptly, everything has changed,” says Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami.

Adapting to technology has been yet another problem for GenX. The collaborative tools being used to connect with each other today, are not things that GenX has been used to. This doesn’t necessarily mean that GenX is not tech savvy. While many of this generation are familiar with technology, they are not used to making technology a part of their everyday tasks. “If I take my example, I am not used to staying hooked to my mobile screen all the time or even my laptop. However, now that everything is virtual, I realise that GenX really finds it difficult to remain online or hooked to screens all the time,” shares Achar.

“Milllennials at this stage are approaching the peak of their career. And a lot is expected from them at work. So I believe they are also overloaded with responsibilities and immense workload at this time.”

Siddharth Vishwanath, head of human resources, Zivame

Achar also recalls an instance where an older colleague wished to work on hard copies rather than online sheets to carry out a performance-appraisal task. Working on online sheets may take only a few hours but GenX is used to signing hard copies for approvals rather than signing documents digitally.

GenY

GenY or the millennials, in the age group of 26 – 40, also have their own set of problems to deal with amidst the world’s transition to a hybrid work model. Experts estimate that it is the millennials who are dealing with the problem of work stress and immense workload. In most workplaces, they are the executioners, or in mid-level roles. Ask them about the challenges in the hybrid world of work, and they will instantly talk about a sudden increase in workload.

“Millennials at this stage are approaching the peak of their career. And a lot is expected from them at work. So, I believe they are also overburdened with responsibilities and immense workload at this time,” says Siddharth Vishwanath, head of human resources, Zivame.

“Yes, the younger generation is missing out on the ‘office life’ at the start of their career, but on the other hand, the hybrid work model has also given them the flexibility to create a work – life balance.”

Seema Bangia, chief people officer, Mahindra Agriculture & Defence Systems

In addition, they have family responsibilities as well. In this generation of workers, many people will have kids and toddlers in the two to 10-year bracket. So, they are dealing with the responsibility of their kids, office work and domestic commitments all at the same time.

Also, many of them will be living with their aged parents who are most probably retired. With the second wave hitting us so hard, many from this generation have had to tend to their elderly parents who have been affected by COVID as primary caregivers. Also, in many cases, it is the millennials who have become the primary bread earners in their family.

Siddharth shares one such case where a millennial candidate who applied for a tech role at the company had asked for a 50 per cent increase in his salary. On enquiring, the candidate said that he needed a huge hike as his father was suffering from COVID and he required Rs 60 lakh for treatment.

“The younger generation had their own set of challenges, shared accommodation, inadequate infra at home, being alone in the PG etc due to this many actually went back to their hometowns and worked from their hometowns largely during the pandemic.”

Biswaroop Mukherjee, head HR, commercial vehicle unit, Tata Motors

GenZ

GenZ is the youngest of all the generations comprising those born after 1995. Interestingly, research shows that it is this generation that is struggling the most with the hybrid work model! GenZ has recently entered the workforce in the year 2020. Most of them have been recruited for their first job virtually, and undergone the entire onboarding process online.

As a result, they have not seen their offices, workplaces, subordinates and managers/team leaders, which has greatly impacted them. They are missing out on the experience of networking at the workplace, hallway conversations, chance encounters and small talks over coffee.

As per the report, GenZ is struggling the most in these three areas – being able to bring new ideas to the table; getting in a word during conference calls/meetings; and eventually feeling engaged or excited about work.

Speaking to HRKatha, Seema Bangia, chief people officer, Mahindra Agriculture & Defence Systems, agrees with this observation and says, “Yes, the younger generation is missing out on the ‘office life’ at the start of their career, but on the other hand, the hybrid work model has also given them the flexibility to create work – life balance.”

Siddharth shares another recent incident where a young management trainee had joined with utmost enthusiasm, all geared up to prove herself. However, given the current situation, the leadership team finds it very difficult to give apt attention to her growth and learning, which makes her feel a little low. And she is not the only one experiencing such feelings. Other trainees feel the same way.

In addition, there are other logistical problems. As Biswaroop Mukherjee, head HR, commercial vehicle units, Tata Motors, says, “The younger generation had their own set of challenges — shared accommodation, inadequate infra at home, being alone in the PG during lockdown, and so on. Many actually went back to their hometowns and worked from there during the pandemic.”

Despite all challenges, the fact is that people across generations have learnt to adapt to the new world of work. “The real impact will be seen 12-18 months down the line when things open up and a set of employees continue to work from home despite no restrictions or fear.”

The post Who’s finding it difficult in the new hybrid world of work: GenX, GenY or GenZ? appeared first on HR Katha.

Satyajit Mohanty, CHRO, Crompton Greaves

“Has the pandemic pushed the need for cross-functional learning, or was this need always there?” asked Mahipal Nair, CHRO, NIELSEN (IQ), while addressing a session at the recent Great HR Debate sponsored by Harappa Education and organised by HRKatha. The speakers at the session were Nihar Ghosh, Rajorshi Ganguly, Kamalesh Dangi and Satyajit Mohanty.

According to Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami Group, “Cross-functional learning needs have always been there. For people to move from specialist roles to generalist roles, cross-functional training has to be there. The need may, however, have been highlighted during the pandemic because people were concerned about several things at the same time. Organisations had to mobilise every function, leaders were not ready with the technologies required for remote work and such other things.”

Kamalesh Dangi, group CHRO, INCRED Financial Services

Rajorshi Ganguly, president and global head – HR, Alkem Laboratories, drew attention to the fact that there are various aspects to cross-functional training. “As we go up the ladder in any role, be it HR or technical, it is very important to understand the organisation and its motive in its entirety. Any decision that we take has an effect on the organisation, as a whole. So, one should have knowledge about the organisation in its totality,” he explained.

Taking the discussion further on how to train people cross-functionally, Ganguly said, “There are various methods out of which some are determined by the kind of work an organisation does and the legacy that it has set over a period of time. It is highly important for all the employees to have cross- functional knowledge, which in turn is effective in the long run. However, this is for the leading positions whose decisions matter to every sphere of the work. If we go a level below to the individual contributors, I think people need to be specialists because not everyone can be a generalist.”

President and global head – HR, Alkem Laboratories

Ganguly further stated that job rotation is not so common. It depends on the culture of an organisation. In certain organisations, specialists with cross-functional orientation are required. Answering Mahipal Nair’s question, he said, “The need for the process suddenly became urgent during the pandemic because the definition of certain functions completely changed. People who were performing tasks manually had no idea what to do while working remotely.”

Talking about the pandemic, Nair raised a question on career transition and restructuring of the functions. In response, Kamalesh Dangi, group CHRO, INCRED Financial Services, shared his experience of the cross-functional training at his organisation. “The desired outcome of the cross-functional training comes with a lot of effort because one has to enter an area other than one’s own, especially when one was hired for a specific role. A set of high-potential people end up being exposed to different functions. To a great extent, however, it also depends on how one perceives oneself. What matters most is whether one perceives oneself as a generalist or a specialist. Even our bosses who are a part of the board expect us to deal with the organisation’s problems and we cannot refuse saying that we can only solve people’s issues. They want to see us as generalists,” explained Dangi.

Mahipal Nair, CHRO, NIELSEN (IQ)

Agreeing to the benefits of cross-functional training, Satyajit Mohanty, CHRO, Crompton Greaves, said, “The benefits of cross-functional activities are beyond doubt, but, it is important for us to use our understanding of people’s psychology to drive certain business agenda. While an analyst will understand the profit and the market, we as HR understand the nerves. Therefore, we also need to use our knowledge of neuroscience in the business making decisions. We need to attend many business meetings, after which we are expected to figure out the implications of the business ideas discussed on the people.”

Nihar Ghosh, president – HR, Emami Group

Sharing his view on the matter, Rajorshi Ganguly said, “The benefit of cross-functional learning is high within HR. One needs to understand the different aspects of HR minutely — if not all, then at least to the extent to which business and HR policies are interconnected. This is because, the HR is expected to review and drive the people agenda of the organisation. I think it will also be good for rotation of functions within the organisation, which in turn will broaden the perspective of the functions.”

Mahipal Nair concluded the session stating, “It is clear that the importance of cross-functioning was realised even before the pandemic. It was important pre-crisis, during the crisis and also post crisis. What also came as an outcome is that it is a long-term investment.”

The Great HR Debate was sponsored by Harappa Education and organised by HRKatha.

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It is a usual trend to see a recruitment uptick in January, which falls in the later months. This year, however, March saw lockdowns, which led to a drastic fall in external hirings, while internal movements stayed stable. One of the biggest benefits of this move is that it ensures employee retention. It has been seen that companies with higher internal mobility rate manage to retain more employees and for longer period of time.

Rajeev Singh, CHRO, ATG Tires, Yokohoma

In the COVID-19 world, it definitely sits well with many organisations as it is an effective medium to reduce costs. The whole idea is to achieve more from less resources. Many companies even managed to save the jobs of surplus resources, by deploying them to various streams within their groups amidst all the uncertainty. Ravi Mishra, senior vice president, HR, global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group, reveals that as a rule the Group first posts the job requirements on its internal website and only if a suitable hire is not found within the company, does it look elsewhere. During the pandemic, 90 per cent of its hires were internal, compared to 70 per cent every year. “During the pandemic, we almost had a ban on hiring talent from outside without the permission of the CHROs. Therefore, we pushed for internal hirings, even if there was a 60 per cent match and the role is not so critical. The person will learn and develop the other 30 per cent on the job. The reason being, in some places, there may be surplus employees, who can be utilised without them having to lose their jobs for any reason.”

Mishra points out another advantage of an internal hire. The person is well versed with the company’s culture. Even if an external person matches the job criteria to the hilt, alignment and grooming takes time. That is not an issue with someone moving from one stream to another within the company. “Out of 10 positions, eight were filled internally. The remaining two are from manufacturing and R&D, a sector we do not cater to. So, we hired from outside. For an organisation it is beneficial, because there is no recruitment cost and every other employee benefit will continue. Delay in onboarding can be minimised. For an outside talent, onboarding takes two to three months. Also, it ensures career growth of subordinates. When a person’s reporting manager moves to another position, she/he gets the opportunity to get promoted and take on more responsibilities.”

Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, president – HR, Emami

The pandemic led to a hiring freeze in several organisations. Many filled up critical positions through internal hirings because the cost and manpower remained undisturbed. It was also the time to rationalise the workforce. Rajeev Singh, CHRO, ATG Tires, Yokohama, says that it serves two purposes. One, if the role is perhaps more critical than what the person is occupying currently, the shift is useful and two, there’s no increase in the number or cost of manpower, thus rationalising the workforce utilisation and effectiveness. “This was one of the key learnings during the pandemic. It optimised workforce utilisation and also cost. We tried to focus on engaging and retaining so that they don’t panic and leave the company. We continued hiring from outside for positions which were open and meant to be filled by external hiring, such as graduate hiring on campus, optimally staffed bench strength that is not enough for internal movement, etc. It will be a company’s call to maintain the same bench strength as pre-COVID or increase or reduce it.”

Singh also believes that since the workplace is becoming more flexible now, it doesn’t matter whether a talent is internal or external. “All processes have been experimented in these nine months of COVID and all have worked. When there is an uptick on flexibility, I don’t think it matters whether the hiring is internal or external. I believe the concept of job sharing will pick up from hereon,” Singh asserts.

The advantage an internal recruit has over an external hire is that the person knows the Company’s ethics, laws, visions, principles and code of conduct. Therefore, even if a person from outside is 100 per cent right for a job profile, the existing employee gets an edge. However, that can only happen if organisations have a robust succession plan. Nihar Ghosh, president, human resources, Emami, strongly dismisses that it has anything to do with COVID-19. “If one does not have such a talent pool, how will one perform internal recruitment? This can’t be a COVID response. A talent programme can identify individuals for succeeding into emerging roles in the future. I don’t think one can do that without necessary groundwork and a talent pool which is ready to move to the next job. For this, one needs a robust and stable talent-management programme”.

Ravi Mishra, senior vice president, HR, global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group 

Many people will self-qualify and apply for these roles because they want to grow, but they may not necessarily be ready to move to the next job. The prerequisite for this movement is that one needs to create a structured talent programme where one has incubated and kept ready a few people who can be deployed to these emerging roles. That can sometimes be done through normal channels, such as succession planning or by identifying a person in the ecosystem who would have the skillsets to take up the role, Ghosh adds.

He firmly believes that if an organisation has a strong talent-management programme, which creates a succession plan, one doesn’t need an internal job posting. “That’s because one has already identified positions which are vulnerable or likely to lose people. One has also identified a successor who has been groomed and kept ready in case of vacancy, either through a planned or unplanned transition. So, if one posts a job internally, it means there is somebody who exists in the organisation possessing the capability to fill that position but one hasn’t been able to identify that person, as she or he is not part of one’s succession programme. Therefore, excessive internal job postings are indicative of the fact that one doesn’t know the level of readiness of the talent inside the organisation.”

One other fact such frequent internal job postings bare is that the organisation isn’t clued-in to the employees’ ambitions and aspirations from a future job. “If this awareness was there, I would have already identified the talent and pegged the person for the relevant roles. A talent programme needs to have a constant dialogue with the internal talent to know about their aspirations, guide them with multiple career streams and make them aware of competencies required for the next role. When one doesn’t have all that, there’s a blind spot,” Ghosh explains. A talent from outside may have the domain knowledge required for a particular position. An organisation is willing to make a concession for its internal talent but it cannot be zero. To ensure that, proper domain knowledge through L&D needs to be imparted, Ghosh asserts.

While an internal mobility plan is a good move, organisations need to have a robust talent programme to ensure that the internal hire is good enough for the role. The need for that escalates manifold during a crisis, such as COVID-19, when organisations are on a hiring freeze but have crucial positions lying vacant.

The post Why companies are relying on internal hiring now appeared first on HR Katha.

Each one had something different to say on the matter. From a logical point of view, hiring falls under the jurisdiction of the HR function and requires the involvement of the HR heads of the company. But a look at the situation from this side brought to mind a very hard-hitting question. How can someone hire his own boss? After all, within any corporate hierarchy, don’t all the CHROs report to their respective CEOs?

Suddenly, the subtle tea conversation began to grow hotter than the tea, when everyone was asked to hold their horses. Instead of indulging in endless arguments, it was decided that expert opinion should be sought.

“It totally depends on how that person is positioned in the organisation or what his/her stature is. It depends on the years of experience and the kind of portfolios the person has held and the organisations he has worked with”

HRKatha started contacting experienced HR folk for the answers to their questions.

Nihar Ghosh, president-human resources, Emami shared his views With HR Katha.

“It totally depends on how that person is positioned in the organisation or what his/her stature is. It depends on the years of experience and the kind of portfolios the person has held and the organisations he has worked with. If the board finds that the person is fit to play a leading role in the CEO’s hiring process, then the CHRO has the decision-making power and is part of the selection process as well. But if the board thinks that the HR head cannot lead the hiring process, then he has to play a supportive role, which includes coordinating with the search agencies and planning out the on-boarding process. However, in the hiring of other C-suit members of the organisation, the HR head does play a leading role and has the decision-making power.”

Looking at the above response, it is quite clear that in some or the other way CHROs do have a role in the hiring of CEOs. But one question still remains unanswered. How can a CHRO hire his own boss?

“The situation may differ in case of a group CHRO. In this case we can have CEOs in different verticals of the business, which will make them the CHRO’s colleagues. But in the case of hiring a group CEO, the group CHRO will have no decision-making powers”

Emmanuel David, director, TMTC, Tata Group Human Resources, shared with HR Katha that the situation will differ with the kind of designation the HR head holds.

David shares, “In my own career I have never come across a case of a CHRO hiring a CEO to whom he/she is to report. The situation may differ in case of a group CHRO. In this case we can have CEOs in different verticals of the business, which will make them the CHRO’s colleagues. But in the case of hiring a group CEO, the group CHRO will have no decision-making powers. In such a situation, the final decision lies with the board, chairman or the MD. The CHRO only plays a supportive role in the whole process by giving suggestions to the board, interacting with agencies and filling the blind spots in the hiring process. The CHRO can use psychometric tools to aid the hiring process. But as a group CHRO, you do have the decision-making power in hiring the various vertical heads of the business.”

Krish Shankar, group head, human resources at Infosys mentions to HRKatha that the involvement of the CHRO varies from company to company and the kind of reputation the HR head shares with the board.

“Generally, the group CHRO plays the role of giving different perspectives, creating better information and evaluating everything”

Shankar says, ” When it comes to hiring the CEO of the group, the decision-making powers mostly lie with the board and the chairman and the involvement of the group CHRO differs from company to company. Generally, the group CHRO plays the role of giving different perspectives, creating better information and evaluating everything. But for hiring a lateral business head, the group CHRO plays a decision-making role where he carries out the interview process and presents the shortlisted candidates to the board.”

For all the aspiring HR leaders who want to make a name for themselves in the HR function, this will prove beyond doubt that the position of HR head may promise a lot of challenges and adventure, but you may still not enjoy the authority or liberty to hire your own boss!

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