STRATEGIES FOR EMPLOYEE RETENTION

The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the employee retention strategies are:
1. Hire the right people in the first place.
2. Empower the employees: Give the employees the authority to get things done.
3. Make employees realize that they are the most valuable asset of the organization.
4. Have faith in them, trust them and respect them.
5. Provide them information and knowledge.
6. Keep providing them feedback on their performance.
7. Recognize and appreciate their achievements.
8. Keep their morale high.
9. Create an environment where the employees want to work and have fun.

NIKITA SINGH
PGDM-II

WHAT MAKES EMPLOYEES LEAVE?

1. Job is not what the employee expected to be: Sometimes the job responsibilities don’t come out to be same as expected by the candidates. Unexpected job responsibilities lead to job dissatisfaction.

2. Job and person mismatch: A candidate may be fit to do a certain type of job which matches his personality. If he is given a job which mismatches his personality, then he won’t be able to perform it well and will try to find out reasons to leave the job.

3. No growth opportunities: No or less learning and growth opportunities in the current job will make candidate’s job and career stagnant.

4. Lack of appreciation: If the work is not appreciated by the supervisor, the employee feels de-motivated and loses interest in job.

5. Lack of trust and support in co-workers, seniors and management: Trust is the most important factor that is required for an individual to stay in the job. Non-supportive co-workers, seniors and management can make office environment unfriendly and difficult to work in.

6. Stress from overwork and work life imbalance: Job stress can lead to work life imbalance which ultimately many times lead to employee leaving the organization.

7. Compensation: Better compensation packages being offered by other companies may attract employees towards themselves.

8. New job offer: An attractive job offer which an employee thinks is good for him with respect to job responsibility, compensation, growth and learning etc. can lead an employee to leave the organization.

NIKITA SINGH

PGDM-II

HR misses the mark when communicating benefits

employers fail to communicate with their staff about the benefits that employees believe are valued the most, according to research published today by Personnel Today and Unum.
The survey, conducted among 275 HR professionals, shows that staff rank their defined-contribution pension, life assurance and private medical insurance as the most valuable benefits. Yet the data also shows that, aside from pensions, "soft" perks, such as gym membership (perceived to be the least valued benefit  by 26% of respondents), generate more communication, in terms of emails and intranet notifications, than core health and financial benefits.
Linda Smith, HR director at Unum, says: "We have seen a clear disconnect between the benefits that are being communicated and those which are valued by employees - most of the communication is around 'soft' perks, which don't benefit employees in the long term and aren't seen as being valued by staff."

Key findings

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of employers offer defined-contribution pensions to all employees. 37% have conducted a significant benefits review within the last two years. Defined-benefit pensions are perceived to be the benefit most valued above others by employees. The most common method of communicating benefits to employees is via new-joiner packs.

Charles Cotton, performance and reward adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, believes that some HR staff lack the confidence to communicate effectively about complex financial products.
"HR departments used to be criticised for doing a poor job of communicating pension schemes because they didn't have a technical understanding of the products. Due to changes in pension provision, particularly auto-enrolment, practitioners have up-skilled themselves to educate staff about pensions.
"But there's a case for educating staff about all financial and health benefits, not just so that they appreciate the benefits provided, but to equip them for situations of financial distress."
The research showed that most (72%) organisations offer a defined-contribution pension to all staff, followed by life assurance (63%) and employee assistance programmes (49%), while private medical insurance (17%) and health screening (12%) are the two benefits most commonly offered to senior management only. Personal accident insurance and dental plans are the least commonly offered.
While 30% of respondents admitted that they had never conducted a benefits review, 37% had done so in the last two years and 55% planned to undertake at least a basic review this year.
"Pensions auto-enrolment is being introduced this autumn, providing an opportunity to review benefits," explained Smith. "According to our research, 55% of employers are looking to review their benefits this year, so it's important to get the right mix of benefits that are of value to both the business and its employees."

POOJA NEGI
PGDM 2ND SEM
30/4/12

People Management is key

Christina Lattimer 21 Feb 2012

As a Manager for over 20 years before moving into an HR role, and subsequently an HR Strategist. I found that the clarity around the function of HR and the line manager was frequently blurred. As a line manager, I valued the HR function in 3 distinct areas: 1. To provide protection via expertise and up-to-date knowledge on employment law. 2. To provide a strategic organisational development function aligning people skills, recruitment, performance management with overall business objectives and strategy 3. To develop corporate policy enabling managers to undertake local restructure, redundancy, performance management, hiring nad firing etc. so that as a manager I could flex locally, whilst maintaining consistency corporately. In my experience within the HR function, I sometimes found that managers valued HR for intervention within transactional functions which were really their responsibility. The classic situation where managers are attracted to the role because a) they are good at the task, b) it is a means of career progression, dilute the skill required to actually manage people, which infact should be their main function, not an add on. HR need to make sure that Managers don't depend on them for the transactional parts of their job and during the recruitment process, attract managers who actually are expert at managing people and their performance primarily. I often wonder if HR in their desire to prove their worth have been unwitting conspirators in sapping the confidence of managers to manage people. Only when the roles are clear and recruitment to managerial roles are carried out with a clear professional requirement for good people management will the problem resolve itself.
 CHANDRAMALA
 PGDM 2ND SEM.

My team, my responsibility

George 16 Feb 2012

As someone who used to be a specialist HR professional, but currently lead a sales and marketing team of some 50 staff, I am not surprised, but a little disappointed, by these findings. Employee management can give rise to difficult issues, but for me it ultimately comes down to this - as the senior member of staff I must take responsibility. I seek input from the HR staff in the organisation but in the end I want to lead my team. People will often give me credit for the great work of the team, which hopefully i manage to make clear lies elsewhere,so i would never pass off responsibility to someone else when things get tough.

chandramala
pgdm 2nd sem

Motivational tool to be effective, managers can turn to the following process:

1. Look for the Opportunity!

As a leader, you should observe and recognize desired behaviors by your employees.  These behaviors could be as simple as completing a task earlier than scheduled.   This means that you should be visible to your employees-- engaging them, mentoring them, and ultimately, leading them towards these desired behaviors.  Moreover, you should look for and recognize a change in behavior, from the bad to the good.  For instance, an employee who starts coming in on time after being habitually late is a prime opportunity to reinforce this desired behavior.

2. Explain the positive effect of the behavior on the working environment.

If you want a certain behavior to continue, your employees must understand the value of this particular behavior on the job.  One might say, something like: “By drawing our attention to the risks of this project and identifying the measures we should take to minimize this risk, you helped the company avoid a serious setback that would have affected the whole project!”

3. Provide Positive Feedback

Positive feedback should be simple, direct, and from the heart.  After having explained the effect of the observed behavior, show your appreciation with a simple and honest “Thank you.” This should be done in a public setting, if possible.  If not, make the effort to publicize this feedback, either through some correspondence that involves the coworkers in the department, or an article in a company publication.  The importance is that this employee feels appreciated and publicly acknowledged for what he/she has done.


NIKITA SINGH
PGDM-II

The Debate: In-house vs. Outsourcing for Globalized Companies

Tof somewhere in the region of £71 million. However, this has also caused issues with staff members in the department, with the potential for 36,000 jobs to be lost as a result over the course of the outsourcing contract.

 he debate over whether it is better to outsource your human resources function or use an in-house department is one which has a number of factors to consider; not least with regards job losses and the money which can be saved by making the correct choice for your business.

 

In 2009, it was reported by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) that 69 percent of companies in the UK were providing their own HR services wholly in-house with no outsourcing at all. However, it also said that it expected this figure to fall considerably— to 42 percent.
 

The main driving factor that can be critical for the growing trend in outsourcing HR jobs is the fact that firms which choose to do so can make substantial savings in the long run on their outgoings. However, this is not without its shortfalls, as any outsourcing of HR operations can and will lead to wide-scale job losses within the company, which can result in a drop of morale for those who are left behind.
 

In recent weeks, both of these factors have been illustrated in the United Kingdom, with the Ministry of Defense announcing that it is to use HR firm Serco on a four-year contract. Due to the fact that it will be able to get rid of a substantial amount of staff over the course of this four-year contract, it is estimated that the ministry will make a savings 

When it comes to globalized companies though, there are issues which can be solved by keeping the HR services in a single place through an outsourced company.

pooja negi

PGDM 2nd sem 

16/4/12

Future Head of Global HR: Think BeyondTraditional Role

Human Resources executives must think beyond their traditional role in order to remain competitive in the marketplace, according to Manuel de Miranda, head of the Human Resources Practice group, Egon Zehnder International, a global search firm.


Increasingly CEOs expect HR leaders to have experience in non-traditional HR roles including line operations, customer service, finance as well as international assignments.


"The road to the C-suite is coming from a broader base of talent," said de Miranda. "The future will require that HR leaders have exposure to fast growing markets as well as experience working in companies where they've played multiple roles," he added. "This exposure will provide them with an invaluable context to think strategically about the bottom line of the company," he added. An in-depth interview with Manuel de Miranda can be found at http://www.egonzehnder.com/video-future-hr.


For several years Egon Zehnder has been compiling results from its Management Appraisal processes. These have shown that senior HR executives who have worked outside the HR function have higher scores on three critical leadership competencies:

(1) results orientation

(2) strategic orientation and

(3) change leadership.


Of the 366 HR executives studied, 275 had worked exclusively in HR, while 91 had at some point in their careers served in a line role. Their scores were analyzed against a database of more than 25,000 Management Appraisals in the past five years. "Our insights led us to conclude that the behaviors, experience, and business line credibility naturally learned in line facing roles could best account for the separation between 'Good HR Leaders' and 'Great HR Leaders'," said de Miranda.


"The HR leader who has had experience in other areas within the corporation and can bring those skills with them to HR will differentiate themselves from their peers and be more likely to achieve success," said de Miranda.


About Egon Zehnder International
Egon Zehnder International is the largest privately-held executive search firm in the world with over 400 consultants operating from 64 wholly owned offices in 38 countries. The firm specializes in senior-level executive search, board consulting and director search, management appraisals, and talent management.


Egon Zehnder International's clients range in size from the world's largest corporations to emerging growth companies to government and regulatory bodies and major educational and cultural organizations. Egon Zehnder International has sector specialists organized into global practices. These include Industrial, Financial Services, Consumer, Life Sciences, Technology & Communications, Services, Private Capital and Sovereign Wealth Funds. For more information visit www.egonzehnder.com. 





submitted by:-
NIDHI KATARIYA
16/APRIL/2012

YEAR OF HR TECHNOLOGY

It’s hard to imagine life without technology these days. No matter what we do, or where our interests lie, computer applications play a significant in part in both our working and personal lives.

That’s particularly the case with HR professionals, who are evolving from the administration-driven processing of yesteryear to tomorrow’s strategy-building business partner. It’s the technology that often separates these two extremes, as it allows HR to create real analytical value from the data and information it collects. In this way, it can pinpoint problems and potential challenges like never before, giving the department the chance to step up and create working solutions.

Still, technology is not static, and HR technology in particular can evolve quickly. As new functions and requirements are expanded, technology providers have been quick to fill the voids with new data collation and analysis tools. One of the major trends for 2010 will be the continued rise of “integrated” solutions, bringing all of these functions and tools into a single application.

CHANDRAMALA 

PGDM 2nd SEM

26 Things to Keep Out of Your 2012 Résumé

ge
Birth Date
Complaints, Contradictions, Convictions
Discriminatory Data
Educational Embellishments / Exaggerations
Flawed Facts, Failures
Goals Unspecified, Poor Grammar
History from Childhood
Irrelevant Interests
Joblessness Reasons
Know-it-all attitude
Lies – Little or Big
Misspelled Words
Negativity
Obstacles in your personal / professional life
Political Affiliation; photograph, problems
Questionable qualities
References, religious affiliation
Salary requirements, Social Security number
Typos
Unattractive Design
Verbose Verbiage
Weaknesses; Wordiness
eXtraneous text
Yesterday’s Yarns
Zero results

NIKITA SINGH
PGDM-II

Smart hiring
Passing on hard copies of a potential candidate’s resume might soon become a thing of the past with the increasing adoption of recruitment software. Such tools help to automate the hiring process so that companies can process resumes more quickly and efficiently. “Keyword scanning, job history validation, competency checks, among other techniques, can ensure a high quality pool where there is a high volume of candidates,” Wilkins says.
At Qantas for example, an increased availability of candidate and process information to managers reduced recruitment approval time by 5%. It also decreased the time between a hiring decision and a hiring offer by 3%, shares Wilkins. At Vodafone, staff turnover fell by 7–8%, largely due to increased visibility of internal job openings and an increased ability to recruit internally through greater process and talent awareness.
Often the hiring managers provide recruiters with what they think is an ideal candidate profile, but in reality this doesn’t reflect the needs of the organisation, Wilkins says. HR technology prevents this by looking at existing high performers in a given role and models the criteria for a desired candidate profile with relevant competencies, experiences, job history and areas of expertise.
“A lot of companies forget that they actually pay for candidates so why not store, measure, rate and communicate with high potentials?” asks Allanson. Good software will also allow you to build a picture of the competencies a manager needs. “Eventually you will know who, and who not, to send through for an interview,” he adds.
Lastly, HR technology enables organisations to improve the accuracy of hiring by including not just external jobseekers but internal candidates as well. Many companies overlook highly qualified talent that they already have internally, says Wilkins. “Smart companies don’t hire for critical roles, they hire for non-critical roles and then develop their talent for critical roles within the company through clear career paths, ensuring a steady supply of talent for essential functions.”
CHANDRAMALA
PGDM 2nd  SEM.

Managers have difficulty giving feedback, weak on leadership and innovation, says study

TORONTO - (April 9th, 2009) Leadership, innovation and giving ongoing feedback are some of the biggest weaknesses displayed by leaders in North American workplaces, says a study.

The Beacon Group, a leading advising firm in the field of organizational development, asked mid and senior management leaders in the US and Canada to rate their managers, peers and their own performance. Leaders rated their co-workers using 12 basic competencies that included ethics & integrity, customer focus, accountability, teamwork, decision making, communication, leadership, functional excellence, results focus, personal development, innovation and coaching. The study analyzed over 10,000 individual surveys submitted over the past 5 years.

The average performance score across all categories was 63%.

The weakest categories of performance for leaders were leadership (62%), innovation (61%) and ongoing performance feedback (60%).

"Ongoing performance feedback and coaching on the job is something leaders at many companies struggle with," said Michael Sitayeb, Director Product Development & Marketing for The Beacon Group.
Many large corporations provide specific training on giving timely and constructive feedback. It's a serious issue of concern" said Sitayeb.

Innovation and leadership were two other elements that leaders had difficulty with. Troubling signs, given that employees frequently cite these two categories to be more important during difficult economic times.

Leaders frequently overstated their leadership and innovation abilities when conducting self-assessments. Leaders demonstrated the biggest self perception to peer evaluation gap in these categories as well.

Leaders performed best in the categories of ethics & integrity (68%), customer focus (66%) and focus on results (65%) according to the survey.
The Beacon Group is a leading advising firm in the field of organizational development. Companies across various industries have used The Beacon Group's assessment products and advising services to leverage their investment in Human Capital.

Nidhi katariya
pgdm 2nd sem

6 Tips for Inspiring Innovation Among Work Teams

1. Engage the entire team. Empowered employees tend to be more innovative because they have a bigger emotional stake in the firm's success. Cultivate a culture in which staff at all levels can easily share solutions for improving the business. Maintain an open-door policy and also encourage people to offer ideas in meetings, through an internal website or even an old-fashioned suggestion box.
2. Remove the red tape. Examine internal processes to ensure company procedures aren't generating unnecessary red tape. Employees become disillusioned when they put their time and energy into devising ingenious ideas only to wait forever for them to be approved and implemented.
3. Keep it collaborative. A healthy level of competition between employees can spur innovation. But if a workplace becomes too competitive, team members may be reluctant to speak up for fear that their suggestions will either be stolen or ridiculed. Create policies that support the open exchange of information and a team-first atmosphere.
4. Build a better brainstorm. Too many potentially great ideas are discarded prematurely in brainstorming meetings. Rein in the naysayers who relish in saying why novel proposals won't work. Support "blue-sky thinking."
5. Give 'em a break. Burnout does not beget brilliance. When employees are consistently overworked, they're likely to have more "uh-oh" than "a-ha!" moments. Implement programs that promote work-life balance, and consider bringing in temporary professionals during peak activity periods to keep your team fresh and focused.
6. Seek inspiration. As a leader, you set the tone. You'll have difficulty motivating staff to ignite creative sparks if you're feeling uninspired yourself. Research shows a person in a relaxed, positive mood has more innovative thoughts. Feeling the pressure? Occasionally get away from your desk and unplug by going for a head-clearing stroll.

NIKITA SINGH
  PGDM-II

What Aspects of a Job Are Analyzed?

Job Analysis should collect information on the following areas:

• Duties and Tasks The basic unit of a job is the performance of specific tasks and duties. Information to be collected about these items may include: frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity, equipment, standards, etc.
• Environment This may have a significant impact on the physical requirements to be able to perform a job. The work environment may include unpleasant conditions such as offensive odors and temperature extremes. There may also be definite risks to the incumbent such as noxious fumes, radioactive substances, hostile and aggressive people, and dangerous explosives.
• Tools and Equipment Some duties and tasks are performed using specific equipment and tools. Equipment may include protective clothing. These items need to be specified in a Job Analysis.
• Relationships Supervision given and received. Relationships with internal or external people.
• Requirements The knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSA's) required to perform the job. While an incumbent may have higher KSA's than those required for the job, a Job Analysis typically only states the minimum requirements to perform the job.

  chandramala, pgdm 2nd sem

hrm, govt. looking for home based work solution.

In a move to encourage flexible work arrangements, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is inviting organisations to collaborate and come up with solutions for employees to work from home.
This is to ensure that home-based employees have a professional work environment to be productive. An alternative option is to enable employees to work at Smart Work Centres that will provide a professional work environment near homes
Such an initiative is aimed at attracting non-working people in the prime working age of 25-54 back to the workforce as a recent survey revealed that many cite family commitments as the main reason for not working.
Currently, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) is making flexible work arrangements easier by supporting high quality video conferencing and cloud computing.
However, IDA’s assistant CEO Khoong Hock Yun noted that having the right infocomm infrastructure was not enough.
“We still need to have processes in place and a mindset change to encourage the adoption of home-based work and Smart Work Centres,” he explained.
chandramala, pgdm 2nd sem