Declining Dollar & Topline growth - should HR be worried

Switch on the TV or log on to the net, the IT news flash is the concern over the falling dollar and the rising rupee. Yes, common logic simply means that revenues are going to be impacted by this phenomenon. But does it impact HR? Is it the start another 2001-03 era? Are we going into a recession? Is there something to panic? whats going to be HR's role in this cycle?

I was talking to a colleague of mine from the same function. She blissfully remarked, "what difference does it make as long as we get our salaries in Indian Rupees? we will end up working on saturdays which we do as it is."

Yes there definitely is nothing to panic but to worry about; yes. Such a phenomenon may not be a recession but is definitely an indicator of a fast maturing and saturating market. This is when mergers and aquisitions would rule the roost. Markets would consolidate with smaller players either being taken over by biggies or closing shop. This will impact the IT but more so the ITES.

HR definitely has a role to play, the role of a change agent. There would be a requirement from HR for strategic interventions in almost every area of people management. This is not something new, but only that you need to dust the old policy on the rack and put it back in place; bcos what you found outdated after 2001-03 may still help put you back on track.

HR Managers need to start looking closely at:
Billed utilisation
Per employee cost/revenues
Better resource management
Better fresher:lateral ratio
Better training and reskilling

Employee engagement probably can take a back seat. HR will also be required to play the role of a catalyst to facilitate change. Cost containment is going to be the focus and a good HR manager needs to do this without impacting the employee. More centralisation of processes and going back to basics is going to be the mantra.

Organisation Climate Surveys

This survey provides actionable feedback on an organization's mission, values and direction. As an employee of a company, your employees' feedback is invaluable to continue improving the organization. Responses will be anonymous and confidential and should not be individually identified.

SCOPE

The Scope of the survey would be to identify the following attributes within the organization.

Role-Clarity:
Employees clearly understand their job duties and their role within the organization.

Employee/Management Relations:
Employee relationships with management are based on trust, cooperation, open communication, and employees believe management is effective.

Respect:
Employees value and feel values by their co-workers and the organization.

Communication:
Important information is communicated effectively, and employees believe they have a voice in the organization.

Performance/Reward Systems:
Employees performance is fairly evaluated, and they are adequately rewarded for their contributions.

Career Development:
Employees are provided with adequate training/development opportunities to improve their professional skills.

Decision-Making/Coordination:
Decision-making, delegation, and coordination are effective. Innovation: Work methods are innovative and employees are encouraged to be creative and express new ideas.

Relationships:
Employee and customer needs are valued by the organization.

Teamwork/Support:
Employees are encouraged to be team players and are provided the support needed to perform effectively.

Quality of Service:
Employees are proud of the quality of service provided by their work team and the organization.
Conflict Management:
Conflicts are handled openly and fairly and innovative ways of preventing conflicts are used throughout the organization.

Morale:
Employees are motivated to perform well and morale is high.

Direction/Strategy:
Employees understand the direction the organization is headed and the organization's vision and goals

Methodology

Survey Research using Convenience Sampling

Survey Tool

Close ended questionnaire

Sample Size & Population

70 - 100% of employees of the organisation

Total Rewards Management - NASSCOM Mantra to manage attrition???

Attrition, Employee Engagement and Retention probably still seems to be haunting the IT/ITES HR community. Though most of the community has reclined to the fact that this cannot be eliminated in a booming industry which is the current scenario of the Indian IT market, there still seems to be some hope coming.

I was fortunate to have attended the Nasscom seminar on "Total Rewards Management" in Bangalore on 26 April 07. The Panelist included quite a number of prominent HR folks who debated whether Total rewards Management is the the same as C&B which mean old wine in new bottle or would it be the next buzz word or HR Mantra to employee engagement and talent aquisition.

Some felt that it would take employee engagement perspective on different planes, others felt it to be just another synonym for C&B. There were still others who felt this cannot happen without a TOP - Down approach and especially in today competetive market where even studies by major consulting companies may not be true given the fact that most of us hesitate to divulge the true facts.

Call it whatever, ultimately, it all trickles down to common sense and logic and ultimately how much an organisation can invest on a resource....so back to square one, wheres the money and are we ready to implement such a thing at this point of time???Food for thought...

Job portals adding on to attrition???

The most feared word among HR folk in the indian IT industry - "attrition". The industry seems to have accepted the fact that attrition cannot be arrested - so-live with it. "keeping the pipeline on" is the trend today. But hey, take a closer look at reasons for attrition, isnt there some reasons which are artificially created??

Compensation, job satisfaction, work culture...blah..blah...blah. But wait, didnt we miss something.....the rising number of third parties making money out of the organisations dismay and any employees unending wants-yes of course media and consultants do enter this forray but somewhere hidden but probably without much limelight are the human resource database companies....take for example one of such companies which has recently forrayed into this business. The punch line says it all "because you are worth more" and this more has no ceiling.

Recent trends also indicate how these forces can add on to the attrition levels, portals dont do anything by themselves, but those behind them do....things dont stop with just portals, joining the bandwagon are jobfairs, where its not compnies shopping for people, but people walking into employer of their liking...good or bad, its anyways time for HR folks and Nasscom to think how to tackle one more additional cause of attrition.

360 Degree Appraisals

Quite relevant in todays industry where companies have started creating a trend of giving employees the oppurtunity to choose their bosses if we are to go by a recent article in a leading daily.
If employees were to choose their boss, they should also be given the opportunity to appraise him as well. Read on for more info...
<http://www.360facilitated.com/> http://www.360facilitated.com/>This site on 360 feedback offers free tools to help assess your>requirements for success with 360 feedback. It also provides articles on>360 feedback, questionnaires, advice on giving feedback as well as best >practice information. Leaderskill group and potential development developed>360 Facilitated as a means to assist people and organisations to achieve>best practice. The leader/manager model they use are based on research and >experience spanning more than five decades.