Author Archives: Ankita Sanyal

HOW TO MANAGE EMPLOYEE SEPARATION ?

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Employees are asked to leave respective organizations for several reasons. Facing sliding market and loss of market share management resorts to cut the size of employees- euphemistically called rightsizing.It is the HR person’s responsibility to manage issues related to rightsizing or employee separation with care and precision without involving hard feelings from both parties so that the entire process of employee separation can be an effective one, i.e,THE RIGHT WAY TO FIRE AN EMPLOYEE. Separation of whatever the type may be functional or dysfunctional. On the function inside organizations become trimmer and leaner, There is saving in the wage and salary bill and new entrants, hired to fill the vacant jobs bringing new ideas and experience along with them. As already mentioned, employee separation can both be beneficial (functional) or problematic (dysfunctional). This namely depends on two factors:

  • Employees’ performance 
  • Employees’ performance 

Based on these two variables – performance and replaceability, 6 cells are constructed. The cells are then classified as resulting in beneficial or problematic employee separation and appropriate for managing employees to fit into each of the cells offered. Obviously, the more dysfunctional the separation the greater the attention that will be required by the management to retain the employee. Similarly when the employee is performing poorly(low) it is easy to replace him or her, the individual can be terminated. Ideally, the strategies for managing such situations involve retaining high performers through innovative reward schemes while engaging in human resource planning to ensure optimum utilization of as minimum employees as possible, occupying positions that will make these employees difficult to replace.

FIRING OF AN EMPLOYEE ON THE BASIS OF THEIR PERFORMANCE

FIRING AN EMPLOYEE THE RIGHT WAY : EXIT INTERVIEWS 

Employee separation of any kind translates to the exit of employees from the organizations advisable for the HR leader to elicit views of the people who are exiting, particularly those who choose to resign from their jobs. Exit interviews are conducted to know the specifics related to the employee quitting, and what circumstances compelled them to do so. These interviews are generally scheduled and conducted just before the employee leaves. Exit interviews serve useful purposes. They give honest feedback about employees’ experiences and contributions to the jobs. The feedback obtained shall help in formulating strong retention strategies for the future. If there is a possibility of retaining an employee then this can be the best time to do so. Besides, exit interviews are an effective public relations exercise. Those who leave, as well as those who stay, shall feel good about the organization. There are negatives associated with exit interviews too. The assumption made about an employee who is leaving is that he or she is candid in giving the feedback. But the reality may be different. The fact that an employee is exiting the organization makes him or her ‘forget and forgive’ and speaks only about his or her job and the organization. Such an attitude is likely to cloud the objectivity and truthfulness of the feedback. 

REASONS FOR FIRING AN EMPLOYEE

  1. DYSFUNCTIONAL REASONS FOR FIRING AN EMPLOYEE

As already mentioned before, there are majorly two categories of how firing an employee can affect the organization. Reasons for firing an employee are also related to these broad categories, which namely are dysfunctional and functional. Dysfunctional reasons for firing an employee Dysfunctional reasons for firing an employee pertains to firing an employee based on the employee’s overall input in the organization. An employee violating the code of conduct or if there is a policy breach, then it may lead to an employee getting fired. This type of firing is to have a better and more productive workforce. If an employee’s conduct is resulting in a negative impact on the organization then that employee must be fired for his or her actions. Dysfunctional reasons for an employee getting fired as follows: 

  • Employee violations and misconduct: If an employee is violating the code of conduct of the organization that they’re working for or if he or she is not abiding by the code of conduct of the workplace then the employer has the power and capacity to terminate the employee. 
  • Absenteeism: Prolonged absenteeism without a supportive valid reason may lead to the firing of employees. If an employee is absent from the place for more number of days than the leaves that are specified for him or her shows a lack of commitment towards work, thus firing that employee is the feasible option. 
  • Tardiness: Employees are expected to perform on time to be at par with the level of productivity and efficiency of the organization. If a considerable amount of lag is observed in performance from the employees it would lead to automatic termination of the employee. Dishonesty: Any sort of dishonesty or dishonest practices if inculcated among the employees are not pardoned by the employer and would lead to the termination of the employee. 
  • Sabotage of company operations: Sabotaging of company operations by an employee shows a lack of morality and loyalty. If these two attributes are missing in an employee, such behavior creates a negative workplace environment, in turn having an overall negative impact on the organization 
  • physical/emotional/mental assault 
  1. FUNCTIONAL REASONS OF FIRING AN EMPLOYEE

Reasons for firing an employee the reasons which lead to right-sizing on downsizing of an organization. There can be various reasons for this category, but all reasons have one thing in common, i.e, the employer can fire employees to maintain an apt and optimum utilization of human resources to the best of their abilities to create a powerful workforce. In other words, cutting down on “excess employees” leads to functional employee separation. 

  • Post Pandemic economic shock or any other kind of macro-economic factors leading to layoffs 
  • Being transparent about performance of the employee from the employer’s end(If an employee’s performance is not in accordance with the daily operations of the organization, his or her input would result to act as a negative input and hence the employer can terminate the employee ) 
  • Workplace conflict 
  • Rightsizing 
  • Downsizing

Resume Screening: A How-To Guide For Recruiters

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INTRODUCTION
Many view Screening as the first step of the selection process, while others perceive screening of applications as an integral part of the recruiting process. Once the applications have been scrutinized and shortlisted, the selection process begins. The purpose of screening is to remove from the recruitment process at an early age, those applications who are visibly unqualified for the job. Effective screening can not only save a great deal of time but also keeps a check on the recruitment(hiring) cost. The main aim of resume screening is that it is both good practice and a legal necessity that applicants’ qualifications be judged based on their knowledge skills and abilities and interest required to do the job. Resumes are official documents where a candidate is expected to give details about his or her academic and career life and achievements. Further on being evaluated, whether the job specifications match with the candidates’ background or not, resume screening proceeds to the next stage of selection.


In general, there are two stages/types of resume screening. First, is the initial resume screening which is done by HR personnel by scrutinizing every candidates’ resumes and shortlisting the qualified ones best fit for the job. Further, the second stage of resume screening is when the filtered resumes are forwarded by the HR personnel to the hiring manager. Resume screening is the crossovers between the job position and the best suitable candidates fit for it

RESUME SCREENING FACTORS


Several vital factors weigh in whereas screening resumes. Although not all factors right away can outline the resume screening, most of them are vital.

  1. Education Skills
  2. Relevant expertise
  3. Years of expertise
  4. Current Company Other corporations worked for
  5. Functional Domain worked in
  6. Cities or countries worked in
  7. Number of Jobs
  8. Written Communication
  9. Contact Details and Current Location
  10. Web Presence

WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR RESUME SCREENING

1) Time Is Important
As any prosperous leader can perceive, time may be a valuable artefact and the objective of every organization is to minimize the time required to do particular tasks without compromising the quality of work and performance. Screening candidates may be a good way to avoid both – wasting time and cash by guaranteeing that employers don’t need to sit through long interviews with candidates who are neither qualified nor are suited to the open position.

2) Cut ninetieth of Applicants
The screening method has also proven to be resource-efficient, as a result of the unimaginable variety of candidates that organizations discard when evaluated to be unsuitable for the job. Out of all the candidates who apply some may not have the required knowledge base necessary for the job position which makes the entire hiring process meaningless. Thus resume screening is done to go through the resumes of candidates and ensure that the employees who sit through the interviews fit the eligibility criteria apply for the position.

3) Lower worker Turnover
One of the key issues intimate with businesses is finding staff who should find themselves staying on board for any serious length of time. A high turnover in an exceedingly large company means they need to pay valuable time, resources, and cash running enlisting programs, coaching new staff, and guiding them through the induction part once they won’t be at their most effective. Screening provides employers the chance to look out for those recruits that appear to show qualities that may keep them at employment for a longer period.

4) Efficiency
A lot of success within the business world is placed down to creating tons out of the small businesses they got to work with. This ability to maximize potency may be a fantastic attribute, significantly within the world of achievement, and screening ought to assist the hiring method.

5) Hiring the right person for the right job
Hiring the correct personnel is a vital part of running a business and can go a long way in ensuring future success. The screening method can facilitate and contribute to the hiring method that helps employers notice an acceptable and property personnel.

WHAT IS RESUME SCREENING ELEMENTS
Although resumes aren’t the most effective indicator of a candidate’s skills, they include all the key components of hiring, and that they don’t appear to be departing any time soon. some of the information recruiters can get from a resume while screening candidates.

  1. Length – an organization gets numerous applications per position, eventually recruiters cannot commit to a longer period for screening every minute detail. Ideally, the resume ought to be 1-2 pages long, with the foremost relevant info regarding the candidate.
  2. Design – Even the proper resume length doesn’t cut it if the information is scattered around the resume in different sections and formats without any parity or sync and it’s tough to look at. It advised following a properly organized format in a resume for a more professional approach.
  3. Language – Grammar and spelling mistakes in resumes reflect a lackadaisical attitude on the candidate’s part. And are usually a sign that a candidate is not very detail-oriented and professional. However, recruiters are not very hasty with the evaluation, particularly if the position has little or nothing to try and do with writing and language.
  4. Previous Work Expertise – Ideally, the candidate ought to have relevant work expertise listed, together with months and years spent on every position which gives the candidate an advantageous edge in the competition as he/she is previously preliminarily trained for the position and would have a higher preference from the recruiter’s perspective.
  5. Resume Match – One of the largest mistakes candidates build is sending out the same resume to any job applications. Each job has different necessities and requirements and therefore the resume would possibly want smaller or larger tweaks to create it relevant. And this takes time and lots of candidates don’t invest their time right – however, it could be a way to portray their dedication and desire to get the job which acts as an additional aspect to create a positive work image of the candidate.

Recruitment Chatbot

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INTRODUCTION

In this life-altering day and age of technology, we can visually gauge the dependency of the entire world on technology in every kind of way. The advancement in technology at such a pace is instigating and initiating human dependence on artificial intelligence. With the advent of machine learning and deep learning technologies, artificial intelligence is somewhat being meshed into our system. Hence, the depreciation of human labor. Every department of every MNC is dependent on some software or technology, so does the HR department. Over the last 5 to 7 years there has been a prevalence of E-HR. E-HR is also known as web-enabled HR which performs all HR-related activities and functions on an online platform via a particular software. This software is known as the HRIS which is the integration of all HR systems and processes with the use of technology to benefit the overall management of HR in the organization. HRIS is an umbrella term that also includes the usage of AI in various HR functions such as recruitment. E-recruitment or online recruitment is a concept that is familiarized to all. Electronic recruitment is a much sought-after source of recruitment made used by all organizations. Job portals like Naukri, Monster, and Shine enable recruiters to reach out to a large audience. Artificial intelligence or Chabot’s have a huge role to play on these platforms.

USAGE OF AI-CHATBOTS IN E-RECRUITMENT

With the increase in the dependency on technology and the precision and accuracy it provides, it is human tendency to shift the paradigm of human labour to the usage of chatbots. Chatbots are pre-programmed software that works on artificial intelligence. It not only cuts down human labour but also saves time and effort yet gives a more accurate result. Usage of chatbots in e-recruitment negates confusion about information because the chatbots provide very specific and required information about the job position and the roles and requirements of the candidate who is willing to apply. When a candidate is interested in a particular position of a particular company he or she applies for the post through the AI chatbot.

The chatbot provides information to the candidate about the job position, job description and requirements, and eligibility for the post. Further, once the candidate updates his or her details the chatbot filters out those who are eligible and not eligible for the position they have applied for. Since the chatbot is already a pre-programmed software it has specific automation systems that help in filtering out candidates for the screening process in a much smoother and accurate manner. The added advantage of a chatbot is that it helps in accurate standardization with protected data and information that are essential. Usage of chatbots in e-recruitment cuts down the expenses for the organization with reduced use of labour. Using AI chatbots for E-recruitment is a Win-Win situation for both organizations and the candidate because that way both parties have a clear picture (about the job position, vacancy, the information of the candidate who would be appropriately filling for the position) with an accurate standardized screening system which makes way for an easier and more effective decision making.

ADVANTAGES OF CHATBOTS IN E-RECRUITMENT

A few of the key advantages or benefits of using AI chatbots for e-recruitment are as follows :

  1. Cost-saving
    Installation of AI chatbots in e-recruitment saves on employee cost since the chatbots are user-friendly interfaces, the interaction between the candidate and the organization is done via technology through a bot. the dependency on human labour for the screening of candidates’ applications has shifted to dependency on technology. Starting from posting for a job vacancy till the candidate provides his or her application details the chatbot takes care of all the information inner a systematized and standardized manner with the assurance of the safety of information.
  2. Easy Approach
    The usage of chatbots makes it easier for the organization as well as the candidate for the initial phases of hiring. With the security of AI-based technology and the use of a conversation-friendly interface, it is easier for candidates to approach organizations. Also, it is easier for the organization to post job vacancies through chatbots as it reaches a much wider pool of prospective candidates who would be interested in that particular position.
  3. 24×7 Assistance
    Chatbots answer queries of candidates in a much quicker and precise manner. Chatbots provide very specific information which leaves no speck of confusion. Also, since chatbots or not human-operated, thus customer service is available 24/7 for any kind of assistance that the candidate requires for the application process making the direction and the redirection of the entire hiring process smoother and much more efficient.
  4. Helps in The Quick and Error-Free Interview Schedule
    Since chatbots are very specific and precise about the conversation they have with the candidates and with the support of artificial intelligence, it is easier for the chatbots to schedule an interview meeting between the candidate and the organization coordinating the date and time of both the parties. Since there is no human labour involvement it reduces the chance of unmindfulness or any error in scheduling updates for interview meetings of candidates. In a recruitment maximum of the times, we have seen that the interview is done via video calling or telephonic interview system, once the chatbot fixes the date and time for an interview it is automatically added to the calendar of the organization scheduling the particular interview with that particular day and time.
  5. Transparency is Maintained
    These man-made intelligence chatbots help the selection representatives to rely upon its NLP hiring to excellently play out the underlying enlistment capacities and afterwards waitlist the correct applicants. The artificial intelligence chatbots gain information on the screening through great many use cases and increment capacities that can bring advancement results. Chatbots help in a pre-screening cycle and make the entire recruitment process transparent and intuitive.
    They filter out the non-eligible candidates instantly. This straightforwardness of utilization measure assists competitors with getting a snappy update on the status of their requests for employment and lessens a great deal of back a forward methods for the HR executives and up-and-comer.

How To Measure HR Productivity

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INTRODUCTION 

HR productivity is dependent and is directly proportional to employee performance. Once a candidate is hired for a particular job, after being assessed to be the most suitable person to fill in for the job, his/her performance is evaluated to ensure whether the higher has been successfully effective or not. A successfully effective hire automatically translates to productive employee performance. Employee productivity not only ensures profitability for the organization but also is a prerequisite for the growth of the organization as a whole. The role of the HR department of the organization encompasses functions not only limited to recruiting, hiring, and onboarding but also assessing, evaluating, and measuring employee performance to ensure correct decision making. 

HR PRODUCTIVITY 

HR productivity also sometimes referred to as workforce productivity is the evaluation of an employee’s work to decide upon whether he or she is effective and efficient enough. Productivity is abstract and is subjected to individuals’ perspectives, that’s ideally it cannot be measured. But to keep a track of the output of an employee at a specific time it is important to measure, assess and evaluate the amount of work and the accuracy of the work done by an employee. HR productivity is also known as employee productivity because HR stands for human resources and the human resources of an organization are the employees who work for the organization. Employee productivity is measured by keeping a track of the output by every employee (e.g the number of projects handled by an employee in a month). The precision, accuracy, and effectiveness of an employee’s performance have a direct reflection on employee productivity. Measuring HR productivity gives the employer an idea about the efficiency of the employees for a task or project. And for measuring HR productivity the employer needs to collect data about the employee performance demarcating their KPIs. 

FUNCTIONS OF HR (FOR MEASURING HR PRODUCTIVITY)

  1. Collecting data about the output generated by every employee through a tracker mode
  2. Having a regular check on the employee performance
  3. Motivating employees to work more efficiently
  4. Implementing incentives and lucrative reward system for the employees
  5. having clear communication to avoid any kind of confusion or delay in work, lack of productivity
  6. Planning, organizing, controlling, and coordinating other HR functions like recruitment in such a way to ensure a smooth workflow and effective employee performance
  7. Measuring employee KPIs because the performance indicator is going to give a fair idea about the HR productivity measurement.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR (KPI)

Key performance indicators help businesses to staff outline and reach their goals. KPIs are a style of performance measure and are usually used at an operational level to guide the business towards pre-determined goals and at the worker’s appraisal level to facilitate staff stretch themselves and have the end goal in sight.

THE INDICATORS 

ABSENCE RATE: The absence rate within the organization is typically calculated by dividing the range of operating days within which the worker was absent by their total number of operating days.

ABSENCE COST: The total value of absence is calculated by counting worker pay, as well as the value of managing absent, and substitution costs.

BENEFITS SATISFACTION: Satisfaction with employment advantages is typically measured through a worker engagement survey. These are often relevant to cut back the turnover rate.

EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY RATE: Although this metric is difficult to calculate, it says one thing regarding the capability of growth in terms of the production of human capital.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION INDEX: Employee satisfaction is measured through worker angle and engagement surveys. Discontentedness is a vital cause of the employee turnover rate.

INTERNAL PROMOTION RATE: This KPI is measured by dividing the variety of senior functions that were procured through internal promotion by the whole number of senior positions procured. Internal hires are usually to hurry up quicker, scale back the danger of a poor recruit, and keep them longer within the job.

HOW TO INCREASE HR PRODUCTIVITY

  • Management (Training) By Objective 

Every organization has a certain objective which all departments of the organization comply with and work towards achieving. Hence every hire should be effective enough to produce productive output which helps the organization achieve its objectives. Thus it is very important to evaluate the employee’s performance whether the employee’s actions are aiding the organization to achieve its goals and targets. Once the employee evaluation is done apt training could be given to the employee to brush up on his or her skills for better and much productive performance.

  • Motivation For Achieving Benchmarks and Targets 

Every employee of an organization is assigned to do a particular number of tasks in a job, and his or her productivity is assessed by the rate at which he or she finishes the assigned tasks. Often employees are given particular targets to reach in a stipulated time frame which gets the employees to work with full zeal to finish the target. An organization could also opt for a reward system for the employee who finishes the maximum number of targets in the least time frame. This can also work as an added motivation for the employees to work in a much efficient and productive manner with more profitable results.

  • Employee Appraisal

An effective appraisal system can contribute to the competitive advantage of the organization by improving employee performance in two ways – by directing employee behaviour towards organizational goals and by monitoring that behaviour to make sure the employee performance is productive enough that the goals are met. Often, HR departments of organizations implement employee appraisal programs to boost the motivation level of the employees which leads to more productivity as the employees become more focused and committed to their work.

  • Employee Engagement

When an employee is engaged in their work he or she would be willing to go above and beyond what would typically be expected in his or her role, this is employee engagement. engagement is the extent to which employees are willing to go beyond the minimum requirements of the rules to provide additional energy or to advocate for their organization as a great place to work. Employee engagement is a strong predictor of employee retention and employee performance which gives an idea about the level of effectiveness and productivity maintained in the organization and the strong willingness towards goal achievement.

How To Do Bulk Hiring?

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Mass recruiting importance is recruiting a representative in mass; it is where the association utilizes up-and-comers in enormous scope in a brief timeframe. Mass recruiting is actualized when the organization has numerous vacancies. The technique for mass employing implementation in different manners relies on the organization’s prerequisites. Mass recruitment is one of the most gainful administrations to the business for selecting young minds with youthful ability who are in transition between campus to corporate. Mass recruitment is for choosing and short-posting qualified candidates.  

The HR department of a particular organization or numerous organizations oversees and manages the entire hiring process and methods. Bulk hiring needs different sorts of steps to follow. First employing measure advanced via web-based media systems administration to pull in applicants. The hiring process can opt for either on-the-job or off-the-job recruitment methods. In general, bulk recruitment resorts to off-the-job recruitment or external methods like professional trade associations, campus recruitment, walk-ins, write-ins, and talk-ins, through radio and television and social media, acquisition, and mergers. 

TOOLS FOR BULK HIRING 

 

Professional and Trade Associations  

Many associations offer placement services for the members. These services might contain a compilation of job seekers’ lists and providing access to members throughout regional or national conventions. Further, several associations publish Or sponsor trade journals or magazines for the members. These publications usually carry classified advertisements from employers inquisitive about recruiting their members. skilled or trade associations are notably helpful for attracting extremely educated, intimate, or masterful personnel. Another advantage of those sources is that recruiters will zero in on specific job seekers, particularly for hard-to-fill technical posts. 

Campus recruitment  

Colleges, universities, testing laboratories, sports fields, and institutes are the most fertile ground for recruiters notably the institutes. The Indian institutes of management and the Indian Institute of technology are on the top of the list of avenues for recruiters. In fact, in some firms recruiters are guaranteed to recruit a given variety of candidates from these institutes once a year. The IIMs are a source of a vital supply for recruiting management trainees. Campus recruitment is going global with companies like Hindustan Unilever, Citibank, HCL, HP Google, Facebook, Motorola, and Reliance looking for recruitees in the global market. Business schools in the US and the UK or a source of potential candidates for them. These candidates are Indians who are willing to return to India and take up assignments here. At least 4 reasons can be given to explain this trend.  

First, changes in the economic front have thrown open new opportunities within the mother country. Second, the quality of life in the Asian nation has improved significantly. Third, it’s turning extremely tough for foreign students to secure work permits within the North American nation 

Fourth, sentiment and love for the homeland compel them to come back to India. 

Campus enlistment is wanted by the recruiters that every school, university, department, or institute needs to have a placement officer to handle enlistment functions. Campus enlistment is usually a costly method though the recruiting method eventually produces job offers and acceptances. The majority of those would leave the form within the first five years of employment. Some folks attribute this high rate of turnover to the dearth of challenges offered by the firms. Problems notwithstanding, campus recruitment is a major source of recruitment for prestigious and blue-chip companies. 

Walk-ins, Write-ins, Talk ins  

These are the most common and least expensive approach for candidates is a direct application in which job seekers submit unsolicited application letters or resumes. The direct applications also can give a pool of potential workers to satisfy future wants. From employees’ viewpoints walk-ins preferable as they are free from the hassles associated with other methods of recruitment. While direct applications are particularly effective in filling entry-level and unskilled vacancies, some companies compile pools of potential employees from direct applications for skilled positions. 

Acquisitions and mergers 

Another methodology of staffing companies could be a result of the merger and acquisition method. When organizations mix into one, they need to handle an oversized pool of staff, several of whom could not be necessary within the new organization. Consequently, the new company has, in effect, a pool of qualified job candidates (although they’re current employees). As a result of the merger or acquisition however new jobs will be created as well. Both new and old jobs may be readily staffed by drawing the best-qualified applicants from their employee pool. In contrast to the other external methods, this one can facilitate the immediate implementation of an organization’s strategic plan, such as entering a new product line that would otherwise be unfeasible using standard recruiting methods. 

Radio, television, and social media 

Radio and tv are used however meagerly which inturn is just used by government departments solely. Companies within the non-public sector are hesitant to use the media owing to high prices and conjointly as a result of the worry that such advertising can create the businesses to look desperate Radio and tv can be used to reach a particular set of job seekers.​ ​The only motive here is to reach a wider pool of candidates for the job. Generally, government organizations hire employees through competitive exams followed by interviews. Thousands of candidates apply for the competitive examination. Thus, the usage of radio and television for this sort of recruitment reaches a larger audience platform (potential candidates) for mass hiring.  

A new and rapidly emerging source of recruitment is the extensive use of social media. Social interaction applications like LinkedIn and Facebook have been using to network virtually. This and more search apps have quickly blossomed into an ideal space to look for talent to post job openings and advertise career opportunities both at an individual level and by recruiters. One of the key advantages of the source of recruitment is that it is a highly preferred platform. With a technology-savvy millennial(GEN Z) entering the workspace in large numbers, there will be an increase in a shift to using social media as a key source for recruitment. Employees who refer to jobs within their circle of friends and acquaintances will spread to other circles and so on. 

How Human Resource Functions Can Relate To Organizational Development

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INTRODUCTION 

Human resources consist of people-related functions such as hiring, training and development, performance review, compensation, safety, and health welfare, Industrial Relations, and the like. These are generally the functions of personnel management and are directorial and nurturing in nature. Appropriately referred to as doable, these activities are extremely routinized and have usually been outsourced. A more important function of human resources is the building of human capital. Human capital refers to the stock of worker skills, expertise, and capabilities that may not show up in an account that features a significant impact on a firm’s performance. By meshing HR practices and policies with strategies that HR executives help formulate and implement business strategies. The Human Resource manager then assumes the mantle of a contriver. This signifies that the role of the HR executive is elevated from an executive level to that of the board. He or she becomes a member of the board and thus takes part in decision making. Human resource functions support the concept that “people make the difference”. The proper implementation of the HR functions alone is capable of generating values and adding a competitive advantage to the organization, i.e leading to organizational development.

What is the function of human resource?

Henry Mintzberg identified 10 roles(functions) which managers play in organizations. According to Mintzberg, a typical manager acts as a monitor, disseminator, spokesperson, figurehead, leader, liaison, entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. He classifies the 10 roles into three broad categories :

  1.  The first three functions together called informational role
  2.  The next three constitutes the interpersonal role
  3.  and the decisional role includes the remaining four functions

same when one can attempt to isolate the typical functions of human resources. There are eight key human resource functions together with policies, programs, and practices that have been identified, each containing alternatives from which managers can choose. The functions are :

  • Planning 

Preparing forecasts of future human resource needs in the light of an organization’s environment, mission and objective, strategies, and internal strengths and weaknesses including its structure, culture, technology, and leadership.

  • Staffing

Obtaining folks with suitable skills, abilities, expertise, and skills to fill jobs within the work organization. Key practices that exist are human resource planning, job analysis, employment, and selection.

  • Developing

Analysis learning requirement to ensure that employees possess knowledge and skills to perform satisfactorily in their job and to advance in the organization performance appraisal can identify employees’ key skills and “competencies”

  • Maintaining

The administration and monitoring of workplace safety health and welfare policies to retain a competent workforce and comply with statutory standard and regulations

  • Monitoring

The design and administration of the reward system. HR practices embrace job assessment performance appraisal and pay.

  • Managing relationships

Encompasses arrange off employees’ involvement/participation schemes in non-union or union workplaces. In a union setting, this includes negotiating contracts and administering the labour agreement.

  • Managing change

This involves serving others to check the long run, convey this vision, setting clear expectations for performance, and developing the potential to reorganize individuals and allocate different resources.

  • Evaluating

Designing the procedures and processes that assess, judge, and communicate the worth-added part of HR practices and the entire HR system to the organization.

The above are conventional human resources functions. They are fundamental and continue to stay relevant notwithstanding the talk about globalization, technological revolution, and outsourcing. However, a few more activities of the new age have been identified which would not replace the conventional ones but supplement them to achieve organizational effectiveness. The new-age HR functions are as follows:

  1. Visioneering and strategizing to gain a competitive edge for the organization
  2. Aligning HR activities with corporate objectives and focus on achieving strategic outcomes.
  3. Focusing on competency development
  4. Redefining the role of HR managers and renegotiating the roles and relationships with line managers within the organization.
  5. Develop methods of producing alignment between employee goals and behaviours and organizational strategy
  6. Define communicate and leverage organization key capabilities
  7. Create, distribute, and support HR’s new philosophies that support both employees and the organization.

HR FUNCTIONS AND ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (OD) 

Organizational development means enhancing the company’s profits. The organization cannot reach its full potential of development if it has pending legal issues. The job of HR here is to ensure that all the legal complexities and rules and regulations are in order with the law and that no pending cases are hindering the scope of development. The HR functions not only give a structure to the job of the HR department but also ensures the continuum, which further leads to organizational development.

The following explains the direct dependence of organizational development on the HR functions :

  • Talent Screening 

Talent management is a very important HR function to enable organizational development because it involves recruiting highly skilled resource workers to adapt to the future needs of the company with diversified talents. It involves developing a system where it is easy to study and enhance the skills of the employees and also comprehend their strengths and weaknesses. To enable organizational development it is also important to align the employees with current organizational goals and changes and drive them accordingly.

  • Performance management 

This is another important HR function to enable organizational development. It makes sure to strategize and apply a plan to keep a check on employee performance creating an environment where success is measured. Also keeping a close check on the performance gap of the employees, individuals, departments, etc.  

  • Developmental management 

This includes finding proper resources for training purposes which is very essential for organizational development. It also includes training employees to focus their learning on mission delivery and become experts in their area of focus.

  • Strategic development

This occurs at the top level of an organization. The HR analyzes where there is a lack of talent and what kind of talent is required by the company to enable organizational development. HR enables a system to keep a balance between the new talent and the old talent depending upon the development of the organization.

Advantages of Employees Working at Home

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The work-from-home job force simply got a giant push from the present international coronavirus pandemic. But even before COVID-19 became an element, increasing numbers of individuals bid farewell to their heavy commute to work. Thanks to ever-evolving technologies like Skype, Facetime, Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts, authenticator apps, and cloud computing—not to mention texting and email—it’s no longer necessary to be in an office around the clock to be a high yielding member of the team. Several types of work are done as effectively, if not more, from home. As appealing as remote work is to staff, it wouldn’t be such a robust trend if employers didn’t conjointly acknowledge advantages from their side of the table. Companies with work-from-anywhere policies will boost worker productivity, cut back turnover, and lower management costs.

WORK FROM HOME ADVANTAGE FOR THE EMPLOYER

  • PRODUCTIVITY INCREASES

Studies show that work from home workers are 20% to 25% additional productive than their workplace counterparts. Not solely there are fewer social distractions, however, there are also additional opportunities such as taking necessary breaks once required, that psychologists say helps with overall performance, motivation, and creativity— among different advantages.

  • SAVE ON TEAM BUILDING EVENTS

Save on social events like birthday or vacation parties and instead focus your budget on high-impact areas. You can still facilitate your team bond nearly however at a fraction of the price, you’d commonly expect to pay on things like rental area and activity materials. And yes, it’s doable to create a healthy remote workplace culture with the assistance of digital tools.

  • EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND WELLNESS IMPROVES

Facilitate a powerful work-life balance for your staff merely through teleworking. They get to customize their surroundings to suit their wants, get snug with their most comfortable outfits and technical setup and look out for their own physical and emotional wants as they arise from time to time.

Although there are some common pitfalls for first-time telecommuters that may decrease these advantages, you can help to facilitate staff in their transition to performing from home. Merely set clear boundaries and expectations for work hours, projects, and conferences that enable them to relax and feel assured in their productivity while not going overboard. The most effective method to effectively communicate your expectations is with a piece from work from home policy. Also, perceive a reciprocally agreeable resolution for daily or weekly check-ins to eliminate micromanaging.

  • TALENT POOLS EXPAND

Employers are not any longer restricted to hiring native talent, which implies they need a way to larger the probability of finding somebody with the precise skills, experience, and temperament to suit best inside their organization. Employ native speakers, herald views from different countries and cultures, and build an all-around cluster of executives to initiate with.

  • INCREASED STAFF MOTIVATION

By functioning from home workers can feel a lot more trusted by their leader because the operating relationship is not as closely monitored and workers are allowed a degree of autonomy to induce on with their work. Workers will be happier developing a home operating routine that suits them higher and this may contribute towards them feeling a lot more motivated to administer their best.

Advantages of Employees Working From Home

  • WORK AND LIVE ANYWHERE

As long as the staff can end their work at a constant high-quality level and communicate with their core team, as needed, they will just about find out anyplace with a good LAN connection.

  • HAVE FLEXIBLE HOURS

Working 9 to 5 isn’t a sensible model for many workers owing to differing energy levels, task durations, and private schedule wants like service dropoff or health and well-being days. Remote work permits workers to stay productive at intervals when they feel the foremost innovation so that they will set up for the correct quantity of task time, and accommodate basic wants.

  • ELIMINATE OR REDUCE COMMUTING

Long commutes negatively impact everybody concerned — workers, their families, and even their employers. Eliminating this all together can save each roughly 9 full calendar days of driving or riding back and forth.

  • ACCOMMODATE SPECIAL NEEDS

Remote operating for workers with physical disabilities and mental state considerations will drastically improve their lives. Not solely are their own homes a lot more totally equipped to assist them to thrive while operating, they’re additionally ready to offer themselves adequate self-care as per their own needs.

WORK FROM HOME POLICY (The Policy and Its Purpose)

Mention clearly what the intent of your work from home policy is, and what you’re going to accomplish by providing job opportunities from home. Communicate the importance of the policy also how it’ll be enforced going forward. It ought to improve the worker’s value proposition, maximizing the work expertise of your team members.

  • SCOPE AND ELIGIBILITY

Specify the positions that are offered for remote work among the organization considering client-facing responsibilities, package limitations, and cybersecurity risks. It’ll facilitate in reducing excessive or spare work from home requests.

  • THE REQUEST PROCESS

The entire procedure of requesting work from home ought to be ordered out clearly- ought the staff build a proper request, or do they have to register themselves or have a discussion with their manager? Give a gradual summing up of what they have to do to possess the right to work from home.

  • ATTENDANCE AND AVAILABILITY STANDARDS

The availability expectations of the remote staff should be printed in work from home policy. It is often a challenge to bring your folks to the table and find their input at the right time. To avoid this downside, you want to set standards around once and the way your remote staff ought to be accessible.

  • PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES

The policy ought to additionally specify in what ways will the remote workers’ productivity be measured. It will assess in every type of ways such as betting on the time spent on the project, a variety of cases handled, the number of client interactions, and more. Corporations ought to decide how they need their remote staff to be assessed.

  • EQUIPMENT AND TECH SUPPORT

It has to state what instrumentation and technical support are offered to their remote staff. If the corporate expects them to use their laptops, as an example, it should be mentioned within the policy. It ought to additionally define what they’re purported to do once having technical difficulties and have an action plan set up for future needs.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION – Meaning, factors and surveys

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Employee satisfaction is a term that is used to measure the happiness of an employee in an organisation. It shows how content the employee is with the job. The level of happiness or satisfaction depends upon the type of working condition prevailing in the organisation, the reward system, working hours, the nature of the job, and the working experience in the organisation. Employee satisfaction is very important because it helps in measuring the overall health of an organisation. The higher the level of employee satisfaction higher is the rate of employee retention, which is very necessary for the efficient working of an organisation. A higher Employer Satisfaction might lead to Employer Engagement that boosts employee morale and increase productivity

Employee satisfaction is from the viewpoint of the employer or the organisation, whereas job satisfaction is from the viewpoint of the individual employee. Both the terms employee satisfaction and job satisfaction are interrelated, and it can be said that job satisfaction is complementary to employee satisfaction.

To have a healthy employee retention rate, it is very important that the employees are satisfied with their job. A person who is satisfied with his job holds a positive feeling about the work while the person with low satisfaction for the job holds a negative feeling. Along with this, job involvement also plays a very important role where people identify psychologically with their jobs and consider their perceived performance level important to their self-worth. Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly establish a connection and are concerned about the kind of work they are doing. Another important factor is the organisational commitment. An employee with strong organisational commitment identifies with the organisation and its goals and wishes to remain a member of the organisation. Employees who are loyal to their organisation, are less likely to leave, even if they are dissatisfied because they feel that they should work harder out of a sense of commitment or attachment to the organisation.

Since employee satisfaction is from the viewpoint of the employer perceived organisational support plays a very important role because employees perceive the organisation as supportive when rewards are deemed fair, employees have a voice in the decision-making process, and they see their supervisor as a supportive figure rather than an authoritative one. Employees are more likely to work as an exchange than as a moral obligation, so employees look for reasons to feel supported by the employer, which in turn makes the employee satisfied.

VARIABLES FOR EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

  • ORGANISATIONAL VARIABLES: This variable plays a very important role in employee satisfaction because an employee spends most of his time in the organisation and there are certain factors present in the organisation which has an impact on the employee’s satisfaction.
    • ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: It is an ongoing structured process to bring about changes in the organisation. It is done keeping in mind the changes happening in the outside world so that the organisation is efficient enough to cope up with the future challenges and potential requirements of the organisation.
    • COMPENSATION AND BENEFIT POLICY: This variable plays a very important role in employee satisfaction. It includes rewards and incentives given to the employees based on their performance. Employees have a sense of satisfaction when they are rewarded for their job well done.
    • PROMOTION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT: Promotion may be reciprocated as a big accomplishment within the life of an employee. It guarantees and delivers extra pay, responsibility, authority, independence, and status. So, the chance for promotion determines the degree of satisfaction to the worker.
    • JOB SATISFACTION: It is a feeling reflected from the perception that one’s job fulfils or allows for the fulfilment of their job values. Jobs that are wealthy in positive activity elements like autonomy, task identity, task significance, and feedback contribute to employee satisfaction.
    • JOB SECURITY: It is a term associated with employee’s assurance or confidence that they’re going to keep their current job. Staff with a high level of job security have an occasional likelihood of losing their job in the future. Some professions or employment opportunities inherently have higher job security than others; a worker’s performance additionally strikes job security, the success of the business, and also the current economic setting.
    • WORKING ENVIRONMENT: Employees’ motivation depends on smart operating conditions as they sense a feeling of safety, comfort, and motivation. On the contrary, poor operating conditions bring out concern about the danger and bad health of workers. The more well-off the operating surroundings are, the more productive the workers are going to be.
  • PERSONAL VARIABLE: The personal determinants conjointly facilitate in maintaining the motivation and personal factors of the staff to figure out how to work effectively and efficiently. Employee satisfaction is often associated with psychological factors, so a large number of personal variables play an important role in the satisfaction level of the employee.
    • PERSONALITY: The character of an individual may be determined by carefully understanding his psychological condition. The factors that confirm the satisfaction of an individual and his psychological conditions are perception, point of view, and learning.
    • EXPECTATION: The expectation level of workers affects their satisfaction level. If one receives different outcomes than expected, then the individual is extremely happy and vice-versa.
    • AGE: Age can often be delineated as important determinants of worker satisfaction. It is as a result of younger age workers possessing higher energy levels are capable of having a lot of worker satisfaction than older age workers.
    • EDUCATION: Education is a major determinant of employee satisfaction because it provides a chance for developing one’s temperament. Education develops and improvises individual knowledge and analysis methods. The extremely educated workers will perceive the situation and assess it as they possess persistence, rationality, and thinking power.

MEASURING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

Businesses that would like to enhance satisfaction need to establish metrics to grasp where they presently stand. There would be an expansive range of approaches that may be applied to assess satisfaction; however, analysis usually shows that surveys are extremely effective. With a survey, you’ll get a glimpse of how the workers feel regarding your company. Giving out surveys consistently over time will allow you to watch the performance, whereas testing the effectiveness of the latest management methods.

USING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEYS

Before giving out surveys, you need to recognise what areas you would like to evaluate. In general, you need to concentrate on factors that you believe you will be able to manage. Some topics that can be included in an employee satisfaction survey are:

  • management expectations
  • coworker relations
  • perceptions of authorisation
  • communication quality
  • level of stress

CREATING AN EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY

Once you have organised a list of things, you must compose a survey that’s acceptable for your organisation. It would be best if you took some time for creating a survey since you may need to use an equivalent survey over several years to profile your performance. You’ll be able to print out copies of your survey; however, digital channels are typically the best in today’s world. There is an expansive range of cheap tools that you can use to email surveys to any or all of your workers simultaneously.

IMPROVING EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION OVERTIME

The enhancements that you implement can be monitored over-time to make sure that they had been effective. Additionally, you need to sporadically review the satisfaction of your personnel to get new pain points that turn up. In several cases, you will need to schedule a quarterly or annual meeting along with your workers to debate problems associated with job satisfaction.

Most significantly, workers need to realise that satisfaction could be the responsibility of all the members of your company. Once workers feel empowered to boost their satisfaction and therefore the satisfaction of other people in your company, They’ll naturally feel a lot more motivated and happier regarding their jobs.

Employee Attrition – Types & meaning

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Meaning of Employee Attrition

Employee attrition is a situation that occurs when an employee leaves the organization. Why does employee attrition occur? Reasons for employee attrition may be voluntary or involuntary. In the former, initiation for attrition is taken place by the employee himself or herself. The latter is the situation where the employer initiates to separate an employee. Namely, that can be positive employee attrition or negative employee attrition. Employee attrition has got both positive and negative impact on the company as well.

Positive Attrition

Positive attrition refers to staff turnover that actually benefits the organization. Whereas negative employee attrition Is when employees are laid off because they are being productive or the organization is developing a poor company culture. Positive attrition has proven useful for organizations because the company can save the extra cost by cutting out the poor performers. It is also a positive attrition when a non-performing employee separates the organization on his or her own will due retirement or getting a better opportunity

Negative Attrition

Negative attrition refers to the loss of an employee the organization would like to keep. For negative attrition, the business loses productivity and involves high cost for the company to sustain the existing employees. Negative employee attrition is one of the top Challenges for HR. HR Managers should proactively engage its Top Performers with Employee Engagement Activities to reduce Negative Employee Attrition

Irrespective of whether an attrition is positive OR negative, attrition should be done on a good note that maintains a cordial relationship between the the organization. Employee Separation should always be an amicable. A non friendly employee separation can not only create chaos, but also effect the morale of the existing employees

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE ATTRITION:

 VOLUNTARY Attrition:

Voluntary employee attrition occurs when the employee decides to terminate his or her relationship with the organization on his or her own will. Quits and retirement are the most manifestations of voluntary employee attrition.

  • Employee QUITS:

An employee decides to quit or resign when their level of dissatisfaction with the present job is high, or a more attractive alternative job is awaiting the individual. One of the major reasons for dissatisfaction among employees is the job itself or the extrinsic factors involved in a job, such as company policy, lack of compensation, health, spouse relocation, and the like.

During the economic boom, jobs are available in plenty. Competent people get multiple offers at any given time. Some of the employees who are incredibly loyal and committed to the organization stay with the organization. But the majority of employees on getting more attractive offers accept it and prefer to leave the company. Organizations often encourage or initiate quits through cash incentives. Also, called the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), these employee separations are resorted to when organizations are experiencing losses, not strictly voluntary.

  • Employee RETIREMENTS:

Retirements generally occur when employees reach the end of their careers. The age for an employee superannuation difference. In states, it is 58 years, and in the central government, it is 60. Many governments have reasonable limits to 60 and 62, respectively, as there is no shortage of skilled people to fill up the vacant jobs. Retirement differs from quits. When the employee superannuates and it’s time for them to leave the organization, several benefits are offered to the employee. But an employee who quits is denied such privileges. Second, retirement occurs at the end of an employee’s career, but the quit is not time-specific. Third, retirement is not likely to leave any corporate bad blood behind the retiree, but a quit might result in hurt feelings with the employer.

INVOLUNTARY Attrition:

Employee Termination Reasons: Employees Resort to terminate the employment contract with employees for at least three reasons

  1. The organization is unable to maintain the existing labor because of going through a lean period 
  2. Initial faulty hiring results in a mismatch between job and employs fit 
  3. Employee exhibits deviant behavior by vitiating the environment around 

Discharges, layoffs, retrenchment, or rightsizing could be the standard methods of involuntary employee attrition initiated by the employer.

  • Employee DISCHARGES

Discharge occurs when the employer discovers that the employee is no more productively serving the organization. Discharge is also widely referred to as termination, should be aimed to be avoided as far as possible. Any termination is a reflection of the company’s HR system. Also, termination is an expensive affair because the firm has to seek a replacement, hire, and train the new candidate. Finally, a discharged individual is likely to fowl mouth the company. Discharge should be one’s last resort. 

  • Employee LAYOFFS 

A layoff is a temporary separation of the employee at the instance of the employer section 2 (KKK) of the industrial disputes act 1947 denies the officer failure refusal or inability of an employee to give employment to a worker whose name is present on the roles but who has not been retrenched. A layoff may be for a definite period on the expiry of which the employer will recall the employer for duty. It may extend to any length of time; with the result, the employer is not able to estimate anymore to recall his or her employees.

A layoff may be occasioned by one of the following reasons:

    1. Shortage of coal power or raw material
    2. Accumulation of stocks
    3. Breakdown of machinery
    4. Economic recession
    5. For any other reason

  • Employee DISMISSAL/Employee DISCHARGE

Whether termination of employment is initiated by the manager, it’s called dismissal or discharge, which may be a forceful step and may be taken once careful thought is given. A dismissal has to be supported by fair and sufficient reasons.

The following reasons cause the dismissal of an employee:

    1. Excessive absence
    2. Serious misconduct
    3. Inaccurate statement of qualification at the time of employment
    4. Theft of the company’s property.

Dismissal shall be the last step and may be resorted to after all the efforts in celebrating the employees have failed.

  • Employee RETRENCHMENT

Retrenchment, too, results in the separation of an associate worker from his or her employer. It refers to the termination of employees’ service because of the replacement of labor by machines or the closure of a department due to the continuing lack of demand for the products manufactured in the particular department of the organization. Retrenchment like layoff entitles the employee to section 25f of the industrial disputes act 1947, is equivalent to 15 days average reimbursement for every completed year of continuous service. However, retrenchment differs from sacking in this that in the latter, the employee continues to be within the employment of the organization and is sure to be recalled post the period of layoff. Entertainment employee sent home for good, and his or her connection with the company are severed immediately.

Retrenchment differs from dismissal as well. A worker is discharged as a result of his or her fault. Retrenchment, on the other hand, is forced on both the employer and its employees. Moreover, a retrenchment involves the termination of the service of many staff however, dismissal typically involves the termination of the service of 1 or 2 staff.

  • Employee VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT SCHEME

Voluntary retirement scheme VRS is yet one more type of separation. In the early 1980, companies both in the public and private sectors, they have been sending home surplus labor for good, not strictly by retrenchment, but by a noble scheme called the VRS. Euphemistically all the golden handshake plans—handsome compensation of pay to those workers to leave.


Cost Per Hire – Calculating Hiring Cost in Recruitment

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Cost per Hire meaning

The Recruitment process costs organizations dearly. The cost per hire means the total cost incurred for hiring purposes for each hire. This includes among other things, the following costs

  • Time Cost of the HR Managers & the technical managers involved in the Recruitment Process
  • Payments made to placement Consultants
  • Payment made to buy Resumes online
  • Cost any on-campus institution drives
  • Cost of joining bonus and relocation allowances
  • Expenses incurred on conducting recruitment tests and interviews
  • Cost of overtime or temporary staff retraining during the period when jobs remain vacant
  • Any other incidental cause availed by the selection  team,  we can / overtime lunch/dinner transport claims and the like

To these may be added cost and expenses related and involved in the recruitment process.

The cost to hire or cost per hire is obtained by dividing the total cost by the number of hires.  Organizations closely watched the cost per hire to monitor the effectiveness of the hiring function.  Efforts are always made to keep the cost per hire within acceptable limits.  Cost per hire varies from organization to organization, deciding factors being skill level of hires,  demand and supply of such skills, number of fires, sourcing strategy,  and compensation levels.  Change of Sourcing strategy and withdrawing joining bonuses are common strategies used by organizations to keep the cost per hire within desired norms.

COST TO HIRE OR COST PER HIRE = TOTAL RECRUITMENT COST/TOTAL NUMBER OF HIRES

TOTAL RECRUITMENT COST = TOTAL INTERNAL RECRUITMENT COST + TOTAL EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT COST

INTERNAL SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT

  • Present employees – One of the most sought after internal source of recruitment methods are present employees, which has proven to be beneficial in various ways.  In this type of recruitment, the cost of training might be less,  but there is an added cost of providing the promoted employee with a higher pay scale. This is the most common internal source of recruitment,  wherein the organization need not look for new employees,  the organization can appoint one of their efficient employees to a higher position or a different department where they can work efficiently and get the system running smoother. For an existing employee, he/she is acquainted with the organizational culture and systems which cuts down the retraining cost. But in cases of promotions,  when an existing employee is getting promoted to the next level in the hierarchy, he/she is to be paid a higher salary which is the cost the organization needs to bear for this kind of recruitment.
  • Employee referrals –  Over the years with strong networking being built, this source of internal recruitment has proven to be very effective, where employees can encourage their families and friends by familiarizing them with the advantages of a job with the company, furnishing cards of introduction and even encouraging them to apply. Some companies even offer “finders fees”  in the form of monetary incentives for successful referrals. For example, companies like Microsoft offers referral incentives to its employees for internet experts. Infosys in Bangalore also has a practice of coming up with vacancies on its website, inviting referrals from employees. Employees are paid Rs.10000 to Rs.15000 charges for every successful hire. Finder’s fees could be referred to as the cost related to this sort of internal hiring. If used wisely, employee referrals could prove to be an effective way of recruiting. The prospective reach is wider at a very low cost and in an organization with a large number of employees, this approach can provide quite a large pool of potential organizational members.
  • Former employees – Another internal source of applicants are former employees. Increasingly more and more employers are reaching out to ex-employees and sharing information on job openings organizations. They maintain close contact with ex-employees with proven good performance records.  The advantage of recruiting former employees is that they are quick to hire. These hires are quick to work as they are familiar with the company’s policies and procedures and will connect soon with peers and customers. MNCs purchase IBM and Microsoft are active in re-hiring. The problem with this internal source of recruitment is their placements and compensation. Often, we have seen that former employees re-joining ask for a higher pay scale which gets added as an internal cost to hire.

EXTERNAL SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT

  • Temporary/Contract workers–  contract workers by then a number are almost working the small number of regular employees.  For employers, contract workers are less expensive. Wages paid to these employees constitute only half of what is paid to regular employees with minimal demands for better wages and benefits and no need to implement mandatory welfare measurements. During times of sudden rise in demand or uncertainty, organizations rely on temporary workers instead of hiring regulars. Temporary or contract workers insulate permanent employees from downturns in a business cycle, thereby improving job stability. This is one of the most affordable external sources of recruitment with minimal costs related to it.
  • Campus recruitment – Placement programs in Colleges, Universities and Research Laboratories, sports fields, and institutes are a great opportunity for recruiters to hire budding talents with young perspective, particularly the institutes for top campus recruitment is going Global with companies like Hindustan Unilever, Citibank, HCL HP,  Facebook and Reliance looking for in global market campus recruitment is so much sought after by the recruiters that each College University Department or Institute will have to have a placement of a to handle recruitment functions. This type of external recruitment is often an expensive process, even if the recruiting process eventually produces job offers and acceptances. For conducting on-campus recruitment programs, there needs to be a contract between the university/institute and the company/organization.  There are cases where colleges charge a lot of money for the companies to arrange employment fares or get a seat in the placement cell for external recruiting purposes. This could be considered as the cost related to campus recruitment.
  • Advertisements – This is the most popular method of seeking recruits, as many recruiters prefer advertisements because of their wide reach. Want as described the job and the benefits, identify the employer and tell those who are interested and how to apply. A number of factors influence the response rate of an advertisement. Three important variables to be kept in mind are – identification of the company, labour market conditions, and the degree to which specific requirements are included in the advertisement. Moreover, we can say that an organization can customize the advertisement as per their requirement, which demands some investment. This is one of the major elements in the cost of recruiting not only because it is the most common method of the external source of recruitment irrespective of a paper print advertisement or advertisement on an e-recruitment website, but also it opens up a wider pool of potential candidates who would prove to be an asset of the company.
  • Job Boards: Job portals allow access to their database on payment of a Fixed Fee. Companies can also post their Job openings on Top Job Posting Sites in India.
  • Recruitment Companies: Unlike Job-boards that mostly ask for a prepaid fee, Recruitment Consultants usually work on a success fee model. This means that you only need to pay to Recruitment Firms once you have made a successful hire via them. Here’s a list of Top Recruitment Companies in India you can engage with for your next hire. Their Fee varies from 5%-25% of annual CTC of the selected candidate.

The above were a few of the elements in the recruitment cost Inclusive of both internal sources of recruitment as well as a cost related to the external source of recruitment.  Now to find out the cost to hire or the cost per hire, the total recruitment cost is to be divided by the total number of actual hires, which roundabout gives an idea of the cost involved in hiring from a financial perspective.


How Can organizational Culture Attract and Retain Talented Employees?

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The constant focus for corporate companies lately has been paying attention to creating, fostering, and sustaining organisational culture, also called corporate culture. It is not P&G alone – all successful companies like IBM, HP, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, L&T, Tata’s, Wipro, Cognizant, or Infosys – have one underlying factor behind the success, and that is maintaining a workplace culture. Culture is like the DNA of the organisation, unique to itself. Culture has a direct proportional impact on employee attention, retention, performance and satisfaction. The value system of the workplace culture manifests itself through the language they speak, murals on the wall, their building aesthetics and a host of other artefacts. Companies with a strong workplace culture rightly consider it to be very precious. Sometimes more important than a trade secret and in some sense, unique. Organisational members begin to feel a strong bond with the company they are working for. The strong bond transcends material returns given by the organisation, and the employees begin to identify with it. The entire organisation turns into some clan. 

MEANING OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

`From a wider perspective, the word ‘culture’ linguistically translates to the universal set which includes knowledge, principles, beliefs, morals, law, custom and other capabilities and habits acquired by particular individuals in a society. Two important aspects of culture are cultural history and mutual phenomenon. Cultural History is the cultural mores of a society that are transgenerational. The second term points towards the cultural ethos and the principles that are shared among the members of society. In other words, unlike one-person specific, culture is a group-specific concept. Organisational culture or company culture is a reflection of the ideologies, values, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, attitudes and norms that weave an organisation together and are shared by its employees. Organisational members tend to internalise cultural policies and practices and like to indoctrinate newcomers into such moves. Some of these practices are thoroughly internalised that no one can question them – they are taken for granted; in other words, they get institutionalised.

UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:

Corporate culture mainly consists of three distinct levels, namely, common assumptions, shared values and observable values.

  1. OBSERVABLE CULTURE:

    At the surface is the observable culture, it could be considered as the first layer which manifests through symbols such as physical design, dress code, logos, gadget, and murals. It broadly includes unique office stories, traditions and rituals that add up to the history of the success of the organisation.

  2. SHARED VALUES:

    The second level includes shared values. Shared values apply to all organisational members, and no deviation is tolerated. Common uniformity and shared beliefs or mutual values represent a shared culture. Corporate Vision and Mission must be shared by all and must be binding all.

  3. COMMON ASSUMPTIONS:

    The third level is of Common assumptions, the deeper or hidden aspect of organisational culture. These are the taken for granted truths that every organisational member shares as a result of their collective experience. As difficult as it may be to isolate these patterns but doing so helps give a valid explanation of culture invading every aspect of organisational life. The common assumption may surface in an organisational crisis, like for example, the way a senior executive guilty of sexual harassment, is handled or an employee caught indulging in an ethical act is dealt with. How employees stand united to thwart hostile takeover bid and the way employees volunteer for pay cuts to steer the organisation from the financial crisis are also instances of the common assumptions.

ATTRACTION, SUSTENENCE AND RETENTION OF TALENT:

Few strategies that support the cause :

  • SELECTING AND SOCIALISING EMPLOYEES:

The main purpose of the hiring process to hire the right people for the right job. When for a given job, two or more candidates with identical skills and abilities are available final selection is influenced by how well a candidate fits into the organisation. By identifying candidates who can help with the organisational culture selection help sustain culture considerably. Job applicants to look at an organisation from its cultural perspective before seeking entry into it. More than pay and perquisites in an organisation offers, it is the cultural artefacts that often attract or detract job seekers. Along with selecting people with compatible values, companies maintain strong cultural aspects through the effective socialisation of new employees. 

The socialisation of employees is the learning process of every individual to acquire values, expected behaviour, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organisation.

Pre-arrival, encounter and metamorphosis are the three central stages of employee Socialisation. Pre-arrival is the initial stage that encircles the learning aspect that occurs before a new member joins the organisation. Encounter, the next stage, where the new employee sees what the organisation is and confronts where his/her expectations diverge reality. The last stage is related to lasting changes that take place. The new employee masters and adjusts the skills required for his or her new roles in accordance with his or her work group’s values and norms.

  • PERFORMANCE AND SATISFACTION:

Company culture has a significant impact on performance. Culture has an innate quality of performance enhancement for at least four reasons.

    1. Culture makes strategy implementation
    2.  Organisational wide common goals as employees share common goals
    3. a strong culture creates a high level of motivation because of the mutual values shared by the members
    4. strong culture provides a control mechanism without the prospect of bureaucracy

There is a correlation between organisational culture and employee satisfaction. But individual needs of employees main monetary the relationship between culture and satisfaction. In general, satisfaction will be the highest when there is congruence between individual needs and organisational culture. For instance, an organisation whose culture would be characterised is low in structure, having loose supervision and rewarding employees for higher achievement is more likely to have more satisfied employees if those employees have a higher achievement need and prefer autonomy. Thus, job satisfaction often varies according to employees’ perception of the culture.

  • STRONG COMMITMENT FROM EMPLOYEES:

Culture not only increases their commitment to the organisation but also creates a sense of identity in them. When employees in the values of the company define their work intrinsically rewarding and identified with their fellow workers, motivation is enhanced, and their morale has an automatic boost. The commitment of employees could be picturised as a three phases plan :

    1. Compliance – people confirm to obtain some material benefit.
    2. Identification – the demands of culture are accepted to maintain good relationships with colleagues.
    3. Internalisation – People find that the adoption of cultural values of the organisation produces intrinsic satisfaction because these values are in line with their personal values. In many ways, This is an ideal status as far as the acceptance of organisational values are concerned and if widespread, is indicative of a strong culture.

  • MAINTAINING A STABLE WORKFORCE:

An organisation’s culture is embedded and projected through the minds of its employees. Organisational stories are rarely written down; rituals and celebration do not usually exist in manual, and organisation metaphors are not found in corporate directories. Thus, a stable workforce that communicates and reinforces the dominant beliefs and values is what an organisation seeks. High turnover and downsizing can demolish the organisational culture because the ‘corporate memory’ leaves along with those employees. Organisational culture also weakens during periods of rapid expansion or mergers because it takes time for incoming employees to learn about and accept the dominant corporate values and beliefs. For this reason, some organisations keep their culture intact by keeping a mindful check on their employee growth and turnover ratios.

  • CULTURALLY CONSISTENT REWARDS:

Reward systems strengthen corporate culture when they are consistent and with cultural values. Aggressive cultures might offer more performance-based individual incentives, whereas Paternalistic cultures would more likely offer employee assistance programs, medical insurance, and other fringe benefits that support employees’ well being.

How important is organization culture for any organisation? Is it more important than the monetary aspects? Let is know in the comments below

Employee Training – Meaning, Benefits, Types, Process, Facilitation & Measurement

Posted on by Ankita Sanyal
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MEANING OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training refers to the process of imparting specific skills to the employees via classroom OR practical training programs. The training programs make the workforce more efficient and has numerous other benefits. Let us look at some of these benefits below

BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING

Employee training ensures employee retention and prevents burnouts by removing performance deficiencies, drive employee engagement making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scraps, damage and meeting future employee needs. Strong training programs ensure greater stability, flexibility and capacity for growth in an organization. Training contributes to employees in many ways, efficiency heading the chart. Efficient employees contribute to the growth of the firm. Growth renders stability to the workforce for the trained employees who tend to stay with the company. They seldom leave the company. Training makes the employee versatile in all operations giving increased flexibility to the organisation. Leading to growth and prosperity which is reflected in increased profits from year to year.

Employee training is not only advantageous for individual employees but also gives an added advantage to the firm/company. If we look into these two broad categories closely we would see how individual employee training has an overall impact on the entire organization.

  1. Profitability:

    Beginning with how training benefits the organization,  leading with improved profitability for the company because of efficient employees, building a positive attitude towards profit orientation.

  2. Job knowledge:

    Employee training enhances job knowledge and skill at all levels of the organization which helps to create a better corporate image. Proficient job knowledge through training boosts employee confidence leading to improved morale of the workplace.

  3. Avoids confusion:

    Elaborate employee training ensures clarity of mind among the employees which helps to foster authenticity, openness and trust. Not just clarity of mind, it also helps an individual in making better decisions and effective problem-solving skills. Employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee. Confusion among employees reduces, therefore a healthy relationship is maintained between the employer and employee.

  4. Boosts Confidence:

    Once an employee is confident about the job that they are doing and is well acquainted with the job knowledge he or she can handle stress, tension, frustration and conflict in a smoother manner. employee training also provides information for improving leadership knowledge, communication skill and attitude of the employee.

  5. Motivation:

    It motivates an employee towards his or her personal goals while improving interactive skills. Training not only aids in development for promotion from within but also helps in developing leadership skills, motivation, loyalty and other aspects that successful workers and managers usually display. Increased motivation leads to an increase in productivity and quality of work which insures growth in the organization leading to more profits. When an employee is well aware of the job and has enough knowledge about the job that they are performing it negates the element of fear in attempting new tasks. Here are Top 50 Motivational quotes for Employees & Workplace to further aid an HR

TYPES OF EMPLOYEE TRAININGS

Throughout the years we have seen a lot of employee training methods and types such as instructor-led training, eLearning, simulation employee training,  hands-on training, coaching or mentoring,  lectures, group discussion and activities, role-playing, management-specific activities, case studies or other required reading. Training for every sector is different as per their  requirements and is supported with a specified description about the training. Trainings are broadly categorised in 2 heads

  1. Functional Trainings:

    Functional Trainings are usually given to increase the functional competency of the Employee. These trainings are usually given by domain experts aimed to make people better at their Jobs.

  2. Behavioural Trainings:

    These training programs are usually focussed around interpersonal skills of employees. Behavioural training improves communication between individuals, also among employees at every level of the organization, maintaining a healthy communicative relationship between individuals and groups. Not just communicative clarity, it also ensures cohesiveness in groups which makes the organization a better place to work in. From a wider perspective employee training also provides information on equal opportunities in affirmative action.

    Now that we have a basic idea about how employee training programs are beneficial to individual employees belonging to every level of the organisation impact on the overall growth of the organisation, let’s put some light on the benefits of employee training in personnel and human relations, intragroup and intergroup relations and policy implementation.

EMPLOYEE TRAINING PROCESS

A training program is tailored through a well-defined process. Starting with need assessment and various issues in need assessment the plan leads to deriving instructional objectives which gives a blueprint about the training and development design and the various types of training. On having a satisfactory training design, the appropriate one is selected with instructional programs which is further implemented as the final employment training program.

Trainings are necessary, not just for new joinees but also for professionals & the leadership team 

  • Training Programs for Freshers: New joinees have a prior formal education and it is recommended to give them specific training programs to make them industry ready. Classroom training and On-Job training are complementary in nature and are a part of the entire training program for Freshers. These trainings are mostly functional in nature
  • Training for Professionals: Professionals are required to regularly undergo training programs to keep their knowledge updated & stay abreast of the best industry practices. Trainings at this end are a mix of functional & behavioural trainings.  
  • Training for Organizational Leaders: Mostly behavioural in nature, these trainings are usually around team building, decision making, motivating team members and improving cross functional communication. Since the stakes are highest at Leadership positions, it is all the more necessary for organisations to invest more time & resources in employee training. 

TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT

The most crucial element in a training plan is the need assessment. The need assessment is the diagnosis that presents all the problems and the future challenges to be met through training. The issues to be addressed in need assessment generally comprises organizational support, organization analysis, task and KSA analysis, and lastly person analysis. After need assessment, comes deriving instructional objectives which is the next phase in the training process which is to be identified. The instructional objectives help in preparing a blueprint that describes the objectives to be achieved by the trainee upon completion of the training program. Next, comes the designing phase which mainly includes

  • Who are the trainers?
  • Who are the trainees?
  • What methods and techniques are being used for the training?
  • What are the principles of training?
  • Where is the program being conducted?
  • What should be the level of training?

EMPLOYEE TRAINING TEMPLATE

A well proof training plan ensures optimum utilization of every human resource that is available at hand and ensures that no talent is being wasted . Hence comes the main role of an employee training plan template, which schedules the training program for every employee in a customized manner so that the employee and employer get most out of it. Similar to an itinerary, a training plan template includes the name of the employee the group that the employee belongs to, the number of hours that the employee is training for and the tasks involved in the training plan. Employee training plan template is used extensively in the Army or Airforce services where every cadet is assigned a task and a log/record is kept which acts as their personal training plan template. A general plan template looks like the following:

COMPANY NAME:

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

NAME OF CANDIDATE :

POSITION OF CANDIDATE :

DATE

TIME

TASK

PURPOSE

NUMBER OF HOURS

Feedback from the reporting manager of the employee is also recorded while developing an employees’s training plan. The final employee training plan is approved by the HR manager of the company. The HR manager is required to look after the needs of the employees and how the betterment of the employees is going to have a positive impact on the organisation as a whole and accordingly make changes to the training plan as & when required. A general training plan mainly includes the following :

Example,

For any company a general employee training plan looks something like the chart/table given below.

Employee Training Template Example

DATE

TEAM

AREA

DESCRIPTION

TRAINER

STATUS

01/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

TARGETS AND GOALS

Training on how to reach the goal and acquire the required sales target.

MR. XYZ

COMPLETED

02/09/2020

SALES AND MARKETING

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Soft-skills, interpersonal skills, negotiation skills.

MR. ABC

IN-PROGRESS

03/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Advanced training on how to review employee performance and manage employee performance on certain scales.

MR. MNO

COMPLETED

04/09/2020

HUMAN RESOURCE

PAYROLL AND INCENTIVES

Effective use of software for payroll management.

MR. RST

COMPLETED

05/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new software and enhanced new technology.

MISS. J

IN-PROGRESS

06/09/2020

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SOFT SKILLS

Training on communication skills.

MRS. T

IN-PROGRESS

07/09/2020

ACCOUNTING

SOFTWARE

Introduction to new accounting software and it’s working.

MISS. FGH

IN-PROGRESS

Be it and an on-the job training and off-the job training, the HR manager needs to look out for the fulfillment of the needs assessed in the first stages of the training process. Scheduling an employee training plan is not  just enough,  an HR manager needs to keep a track of the training program and how effectively it is working.

MEASURING TRAINING EFFECTIVENESS

Finally once the training process is reeling we cannot put a full stop to it without a measurement of how effectively the training process has been going. There are a lot of ways to check the level of usefulness of the training process by measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of employees individually and whether it’s having a greater impact on the organisation as a whole or not. One may resort to checking the level of productivity of the employees which could be a yardstick of measurement of the training procedure or a log record could be kept where the employees have to register about their work change and the level of their individual output after the training. As much as feedback from the HR manager is required for approval of an employee training plan,  feedback from the employees also prove to be essential.

Conclusively, an employee training plan has to strike a balance between the management, administration and the employees of the organisation and how the needs of individual employees and of the organisation could be put down on paper as a directive plan for training the employees of the organisation, for them to prove to be a strong asset. To sum up, we can say

TRAINING NEED =  STANDARD PERFORMANCE-ACTUAL PERFORMANCE

and to fulfill the deducted performance amount,here comes in the need for training  which can lead to further development of the organisation providing them with a competitive advantage.