Gaps or differences always create problem weather in life, relationship, organization or skills. Inculcating the culture without differences and gaps always fosters. To excel professionally, what matters the most is to match and have the desired level of skills and if gaps found that must be bridged at earliest. Let’s check some more details here.

What is Skills Gap Analysis?

Skills gap analysis is a tool used by HR professionals to evaluate the difference or gap between the actual and future state of goal. Organizations need to identify the current skill set that an individual employee possesses but not necessarily can carry out a future job or to perform certain tasks effectively with the same skill sets. Hence, the skills gap analysis is a way to find out which skills and knowledge are lacking among the employees in the organization. Once this information is tapped, HR can address the skills gap in the organization and can plan accordingly.

Advantages of Conducting Skill Gap Analysis

• Identifies employee weak spots: People have both strengths and weaknesses. By performing a skill gap analysis, it can be identified where employees need additional training to upgrade the existing skill level.
• Growth & development: If an employee he/she is lacking a certain skill, they will usually not speak up, whereas they may know that they want additional training on certain skills and feel their company is not offering this training in such case, they start looking for a company who cares more about their career path. So it’s important to perform a skills gap analysis for employees. This will provide an overall development plan for each employee.
• Helps human resources: Performing a skill gap analysis helps your human resources department as it helps understanding what skills are needed for a certain role. This helps HR write well the customized job descriptions leading hiring of better candidates and ultimately stronger new team members.
• Nurture Career Growth: More growth always leads to a better future and great career prospects covering all the employees from all the levels. Analysing the gap and taking a next step forward always nurtures career growth.
• Increased productivity: Probably the foremost advantage of skill gap analysis is productivity will increase. Identifying the skills needed within training, in such case, the company becomes better at time management, work planning, and stays on project budgets more effectively. All these factors make the corporate stronger at fullest and better at achieving goals.

Methods to Identify Skill Gap Analysis

1. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): KPI or Key Performance Indicators offer measurable values that demonstrate how effective an organization is at achieving key business objectives. However, KPIs are often applied to employees to gauge how effective their job skills are at contributing.
2. Assessments: This way to help find skill gaps is with assessments. Using proper assessments where skills need to be added per employee and to an entire team.
3. Observations: No one likes to feel watched or like they are being micromanaged. But sometimes viewing how employees react within a given situation will help determining what skills are missing. Observations are a great way to determine skill gaps for employees because one can see what problems are at first-hand .
4. Review process: Employee review time is another good way to collect feedback for skills analysis. Instead of a one-sided review gathering feedback from any direct reports, their managers, and also their team member peers. This gives a better snapshot of strengths and weaknesses for each employee in terms of skills.

How to Perform Skills Gap Analysis?

Step 1. Chalking company objectives: Before beginning the analysis, chalking down the list of company or department objectives is must as objectives will determine what skills need to be gained by employees. Also, it will help prioritize what skills are most important to the company. This makes it easier to plan for training.

Step 2: Level for execution: Skills gap analysis can be performed at two levels:

• Individual
• Team/organization

Step 3: Identifying the essential skills: The skills required can be easily identified by answering the following questions:

• Which skills does the company value?
• Which skills do the manpower need to do their jobs both now and in the coming times?

Step 4: Measuring the current skills: To measure the skill level of  current employees with the skills identified as being most important. Measures like KPI, observations, MBO’s, reviews, assessment etc leads forward for the next step.

Step 5: Taking action: There are two ways in which the skill gaps can be filled either with training or with hiring. Therefore, based upon the need of time HR needs to determine which approach works best for the specific skill gap.

• Training: Most companies train their employees to fill vacant positions. The perfect training helps in bridging the gap between the present and the desired skill levels.

• Hiring: If training cannot reduce the skills or required talent gap, an organization can consider hiring new employees with the knowledge and skills they are looking for.

I hope you got an idea of what is the skill gap analysis. Comment down below if you have any queries or suggestions related to the above article.

Leadership is a term that all of us use very often without completely understanding the meaning of it. When asked who is a leader, most people take a moment to pause and recompose their ideas to answer. Is it an absolute term or is it dynamic? Does it have multiple definitions or one binds to all aspects and all situations? Let us find out.

Who is a Leader?

A leader is a specific individual who is responsible for influencing and guiding a group of people towards a certain predefined objective or set of goals. A leader is required to motivate all the others following him. In order to do that, the leader himself/herself must be committed to the job that he/she wishes to accomplish. Without personal commitment towards an objective, a leader will fail to motivate his/her subordinates thereby leading to a failed outcome. The leader also has a clear vision and effectively communicates it to his/her subordinates.

People make leaders. Without people, the leader would not be successful. Hence it is important for the leader to cultivate support and form a group of subordinates. In order to do that, a leader has to have excellent persuasion and communication skills. A leader must also assert his/her credibility. A leader will only cultivate followers only if the followers believe in the credibility and capabilities of the leader.

Also Read: Difference between Leader and Boss

What Does It Take to be a Good Leader?

Every leader to be where he/she intends to be must have a number of qualities that he/she must possess. Even though has varied roles in varied scenarios, some generic qualities of a leader are a must.

• A good leader should be able to gain the trust of his/her followers. Hence honesty and integrity are one of the most important traits a leader must possess.
• Good communication skills are what makes or breaks a leader. If a leader is not able to communicate his/her ideas clearly, he would not succeed.
• A leader must himself be committed to the cause that he is promoting among his/her subordinates.
• A leader must have quick decision-making skills. Since a leader is responsible for leading and motivating a group, unsurity from his/her end disillusions the entire group.
• A leader must be empathetic. He/she must take into account the problems of his subordinates and address them with importance.
• A leader who is arrogant and treats his/her subordinates the same never succeeds. Hence, humility is an important character trait of a leader.
• A leader does lead and influence but he also has to make his/her subordinates important and accountable for themselves. In this case, the leader must practise delegation in authority and empower his/her followers.
• A good leader should be transparent about all the information to the followers/subordinates.

Are Leaders Born or Made?

For years immemorial this has been a raging topic of debate. Is a good leader born or made?

Is it possible for a person to take birth with all the skill-sets and qualities of a good leader? Or is it possible for a person to learn all the skills that a leader is supposed to have and emerge victoriously? Numerous researches and studies have been taken up and conducted to come up with a concrete result. However, there still remain areas which are debatable, on a majority scale it has been established that leaders are made and not born.

A leader should possess a number of behavioural, personality and attitudinal skills that drives him to be the proper definition of a good leader. Most of these traits are learnt through vicarious learning. Vicarious learning is subject to constant development and change. The personality or attitudinal traits that a person acquires depends on his environment, his experiences and his/her willingness to learn.

It is not most likely that a person will have high-end skills in delegation, team-building, or good-communication. A person can only learn them through years of experience. Only when a person is exposed to different scenarios and understands the need for these traits can a person actually put efforts to acquire them. A good leader is made by a person’s drive to personal development and accomplishment.

However, it has been established by behaviour theorists that leadership is not completely but ‘mostly made’. It can be said that a good leader is  two-thirds born and one third made. From a practical viewpoint, a leader has to work in various kind of scenarios. This will include, corporate organisations, educational institutions, intelligence bureaus and even military units. Leading these units can be significantly complex jobs and a person is not born with the traits to cater to these complex needs. Understanding these group dynamics play a major role in making these great leaders.

As already mentioned, assertiveness, risk-taking and empathy are the required characteristics to become a good leader. These are not inherent traits. Most researches show no relationship between genetics or heredity and for a person to have these skills. Through a person’s development either through childhood learnings, peer groups or adult self-development, a person acquires these skills.

However, intelligence is also an important parameter for measuring the effectiveness of a leader. Here comes the context of heredity. People generally have a significant amount of heredity contribute to his/her inherent intelligence. But even then there is a glitch in the matrix. A good leadership no wonder needs intelligence which is partly hereditary, but general IQ is not what is detrimental to it. A good leader needs social intelligence skills to cultivate humility and resilience in his lead and motivate his followers while also giving them a feeling that they are important.

Even the required emotional intelligence is developed through various life-experiences of a person. Hence it rules out the idea that introvert or less-assertive people cannot be good leaders. Everyone can be a good leader as long as the person is open to learning, understanding and self-development. Leadership in itself is not a trait. It is a self-acquired quality of individuals.

Numerous great leaders once started from scratch. They did not come to this planet as a great leader. They learnt to be one. They had experiences, worked on themselves, believed in their causes and were determined to give them definition. That is what gave their leadership recognition. However, it is true that some individuals would be more brushed up in their leadership skills than the other. But it only portrays individual differences in capabilities. It does not portray the disadvantage by hereditary traits determined by birth.

As it is universally said, “people don’t leave the company, people leave people,” and HR is all about the people. Since HR is a fascinating job then it could be said it is a movie where recruiting is just the first part, but ‘retaining’ the employee is the climax which can only have a happy ending if employees stay in the company happily ever after.

So for a happy ending or can be better termed if said as a constant fresh start, what matters the most is observing the finest HR Practices. Generally, these two concepts HR activities and HR practices are misconceptualized or rather many times treated as the same, but precisely they are not.

HR activities are the routine activities inclined with the strategies determined for HR practices. They allow the goals of the HR department to be carried out. HR activities include:

• Payroll
• Feedback
• Selection and Recruitment
• Development and Training
• Compensation and rewards
• Relations of employee
• Retention
• Security and health
• Employee attendance
• Overtime and bonuses

Whereas HR Practices is the emerging concept in the changing world of human resources is, with an increased sense of purpose and focus on activities that add value to the business as a whole. HR nowadays is not merely an administrative or reactive field; rather it now leads the way in terms of positive business change. HR Practices are clear plans, principles, or ideas that are accepted universally by companies offering them with the best business execution. This is regardless of which company, industry, or niche is it applied to. In simple words, HR practices try to identify business needs and build plans around it, and HR activities are responsible for executing the plans that meet business goals.

Benefits of Good HR Practices

• A higher rate of employee productivity: It has proven nowadays that employees can perform at a much higher rate of productivity when supervisors and managers pay more attention to them.
• Maintains organizational culture: The culture of business impacts every person within the company. The HR department ensures that all employees are well suited to the company’s culture. With a healthy company culture, it obtains employee retention, an honest reputation, increased productivity, and quality.
• Increases employee satisfaction: Effective HR management supports employees, understands employee motivations, and ensures the best employee experience is being met.
• Training and development: Training needs of an employee are identified. Needs that fit in with your broader business strategy. Continual learning will mean that employees can keep their skills updated and convey valuable and innovative ideas back to the corporate.
• Ensures retention and better brand name: Best HR practices always results in higher retention. It not only serves to be beneficial for employees but also acts as a base of a better management system, which ensures brand value and more goodwill.

Top 10 Best HR Practices

Image Source

Top Ten HR Practices that help in achieving organizational goals:

1. Safe, healthy, and happy workplace: Creating a safe, healthy, and happy workplace ensures that employees feel at home and stay with the organization for a very long time and capture their thoughts through frequent surveys.

2. Performance linked bonuses: Awarding bonuses or including a variable component in compensation as an incentive based on performances. Bonuses must be designed in such a way that employees understand that there is no payout unless the company hits a certain level of profitability. It is good for employee retention also.

3. Flexible Timings: This is something that has been gaining a lot of buzz in many companies these days. People are becoming big fans of flexi-timings as we believe that employees do more work when they are not busy looking at the clock. We have a 12-hour clock during which an employee can come in and work for 9 hours. As long as the work is getting done and it does not affect coordination amongst teams.

4. Dress Code: No proper dress code policy. People should always be judged by the work they do, how they do it, and the value they bring to all the company, Employees’ liberty to wear whatever they want when they come to the office. The only criteria are to use their good judgment when dressing for meeting any external entities like clients or vendors.

5. Fun at Work: It is realized that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and that’s to host fun programs, ranging from pizza lunches to potluck parties and movie evenings. These are the major things that ensure employees happiness so that they do things that make clients happy.

6. 360-degree performance management: The notion of carrying out an annual performance appraisal between managers and employees has been turned for a while now. The 360-degree performance management focuses on gathering objective and relevant feedback from a range of an employee’s contacts, including their manager, colleagues, subordinates, and external contacts. It’s a useful way of achieving a well-rounded and objective view of performance management from a variety of sources. It can help an employee address performance concerns in specific areas, also be rewarded for excellent performance in others.

7. Employee feedback mechanisms: Agile approaches of organizations recognize that feedback works in two ways. While providing employees with the proper feedback to enhance their performance is vital, so is allowing staff to present their opinions about the business to drive improvements. Staff surveys can be useful to gauge employee morale in general, as well as give individuals an opportunity to confidentially voice problems or concerns. Managers use this feedback to tackle issues about the working environment or management style, to help employees feel more valued.

8. Owning unused vacation: Vacation days are technically an employee’s to us as he or she sees fit. If they don’t use them, for whatever reason, the fresh idea is to allow them to donate them to rest employees. Perhaps the beneficiary for preparing for a life-changing event. The point is that HR acknowledges the employee earned these days and can donate them out without company involvement.

9. Giving nap time: The best method to maintain health and work ethic is to get enough sleep by getting at least seven to nine hours or taking a nap during the day. Napping helps to enhance concentration, productivity, and helps reduce anxiety. Many companies encourage napping in the workplace.

10. Offering referral bonuses: As per research by Jobvite, referrals are statistically higher for hiring better employees with higher retention rates. Recruitment by referrals works well because employees at the company are familiar with the work culture and values. High performing employees will be more likely to refer candidates with similar qualities.

Picking the best practices discussed above relevant to the organization can achieve higher employee preservation and happier employees who contribute their best.

A professional workspace includes many employees working at different capacities as they are instructed to do. It becomes really important to showcase a few qualities that can make the entire process of working together easier. As different people are working in different capacities, it is natural for them to exhibit various qualities. One of them may be leadership; people exhibiting these qualities are called leaders, making them accountable, responsible, and patient. However, there is a difference between leadership as a quality and the leadership which comes with a designation.

The designation associated with leadership is often said to be the boss, the personality who heads a particular department or a section. Often, the bosses portray a great sense of leadership and command, but there are times and instances when you will come across a personality who is unfit for the role of the boss since the lack of leadership is quite evident in his work ethics. It is, therefore, very important to know the difference between a boss and the quality of leadership to accommodate yourself in the work environment better. For this purpose, it becomes imperative to understand what is ‘leadership’ and what is the role of ‘boss,’ how they overlap, and what are the differences.

Meaning of Leadership

As mentioned earlier, leadership is a quality rather than a designation. The designation is not a definitive indicator of leadership as a quality. It can be possessed by anyone who finds himself at par with everyone else in terms of position but still can exert a constructive command to give directions or shape to the project they are working on. One of the main attributes of leadership remains that the person is free of bias, approachable, and open to criticism. The person should be able to look into the challenge clearly and devise and strategy based on equal participation by every team member.

During the time of any crisis, the person should be able to pull the team together, prevent disputes and miscommunication, and deliver the very best that they can manage to do.

Definition of Boss

Boss, unlike a leader, is a term for a designation given to a person who can command a certain level of control over its subordinates. The attributes associated with this designation are somewhat considered negatively connotated when it comes to working in a team.

A boss is often unapproachable, refuting, commanding immense control, and refuses to hear criticism. The power bestowed upon him is often utilized by him negatively, which instead of promoting harmony and hard work, promotes subordination and insecurity amongst team members. The boss is only concerned with results and refuses to partake in the procedure of manufacturing. Most of his power is utilized in silencing and ignoring new ideas and instructions from peers, which makes the team uncooperative and dismissive of their leader. Lack of communication and trust also seeps into interpersonal relationships.

Difference between Leader and Boss

Comment down below if you have any queries related to the above article.

Job description and job specification are often used interchangeably; however, there is a subtle difference between both of them. There exist a lot of differences between the terms. Job Description & Job Specification s related to a process called Job Analysis.

Job Analysis is a process of the systematic study of a specific job that will determine the personal features that are important to an employee to do their job effectively. This involves collecting the necessary facts or functions that are connected to a specific job.

What’s Job Description?

Job description means to get the complete job details in the written format stating their role, duties, responsibilities, job location, job title, and more. It is generally done by the HR manager to invite new applications from their prospective candidates when filling up the job position.

The job description includes the most relevant information about the post or position in a company. This includes the following:

Job Description Components

• Job Title means the vacant post name
• Responsibilities & Duties are the lists of different job-related activities that a candidate will have to perform or take account of their actions.
• Job Location is a branch of company where a candidate is posted after their selection.
• Role refers to an arena of work or how their responsibilities will be fulfilled, which is defined by a company.
• Incentives refer to the commission & remuneration linked with the targets attained.
• Allowances are other benefits or expenses that a company pays for the candidate.
• Salary is a pay scale which company will offer for a particular job. It could or could not be negotiable.

What’s Job Specification?

The job specification is a written declaration or announcement of the skills, attributes, educational qualifications, knowledge, and experience that a candidate should have to perform the job.

After preparing the job description, the manager checks the necessary abilities as well as attributes required for accomplishing a particular task and drafts the job specification.

Job specification encompasses human qualities important for the job and involves the following elements:

Job Specification Components

• Skills Needed refer to the set of special skills and abilities that are important for the right execution of a given task. The company might not ask for any certificate of training or course from the candidates in such skills.
• Experience is the details of their past & present employment and association of a candidate, which includes the name of a company, duration, post, job profile, salary package, and more.
• Educational Qualification states the specific need for academic knowledge of the selected candidate. This includes their school education, graduate and post-graduation, or other qualifications that he holds any degree and mark sheet.

Difference between Job Description and Job Specification

Difference between the job description & job specification will be seen clearly on the following grounds:

• In Job Description, the descriptive statement will describe the responsibility, role, duties, as well as the scope of the job. The job specification states the minimum qualifications needed for performing the job.
• The job description is an outcome of the Job Analysis whereas Job specification is a result of the Job Description.
• Job Description will describe jobs and Job Specification describes the jobholders.
• The job description is a summary of what a candidate can do after being selected. On the other hand, Job Specification will be the statement showing what an individual should have to get selected.
• Job Description has a designation, workplace, working hours, scope, reporting authority, salary range, responsibilities, and more. Conversely, Job Specification has educational qualifications, skills, experience, age, knowledge, work orientation factors, abilities, and more.

Image Source

The Comparison

Know the Meaning

Job description means a declaration of the given duties, responsibilities, or tasks that are a part of the specific job. This is the descriptive statement, which systematically presents comprehensive info about the job. And job specification links document that lists the lowest qualifications, experience, and skills that a person must have to get recruited for the given job.

Checking the Origin

Job description derives from the job analysis, whereas job specification is made based on the job description.

What it Describes

The job description will present the overview of what a candidate has to do after getting selected for a job, while job specification, and generally refers to qualities a candidate must have to get chosen for a job. So, job description presents the description of jobs, while job specification presents the description of a job holder.

Comes With

Job description generally includes the summary, job title, job responsibilities & duties, working conditions, reporting authority, salary, and more. Job specification includes criteria for choosing the employees for some job, for instance, age, qualifications, training, experience, mental abilities, and more.

Benefits

Through the detailed job description, management can assess the job performance of a candidate and determine any training needed by employees. And, job specification plays a very important role in helping the candidate to apply for some job to decide if they fulfill their criteria needed for the job.

Significance

The job description is important for organizations since it helps them to determine the specific roles of the employees. And, job specification allows management to take proper decisions on different issues, like increment, bonus, transfers, promotion, and more.

Sum Up

Job description & job specification are an important process for any organizations that are looking to hire competent individuals. When defined job descriptions & job specifications need to be in place, it’s ensured that the right fit for the job is hired. The job description ensures companies can find highly appropriate candidates for a job. This explains the requirements of the job opening & tasks that an employee will be assigned.

Even Job specification plays an important role in checking the eligibility criteria of the job. It ensures an individual having the required qualifications or skills can apply for a job. Additionally, it allows an organization to do a performance analysis or evaluation of an employee.

The payroll system is one of the complex processes because of various calculations & statutory compliance requirements. No matter whether you have a small business or big enterprise, to keep your staff happy with the streamlined payroll process must be your top priority.

Free payroll software options will calculate the amounts of a paycheck and helps to track the deductions like insurance, workers’ compensation, and taxes. Few software options provide features like the direct deposit but some lack in tax filing & state compliance. They are the good starter options in case you have some employees; you may always upgrade to the paid alternative when your business grows.

Paid payroll software options are highlighted so that there are not any surprises. When you test the free payroll tool and wish to upgrade it, we have outlined the pricing for you here. Whereas some of the products provide free solutions for small businesses, so you must know that when your company grows, it is important to have access to the product’s full payroll software services.

Let us check out the list of some paid and free payroll software in India below. If you want to see some more products and evaluate extra feature options, you can compare all the Payroll Software just to make sure you find the best product.

Image Source

 10 Best Payroll Software in India

1. SumHR
2. greytHR
3. HRM Thread
4. Keka HR
5. Beehive
6. Pocket HRMS
7. Zoho Payroll
8. HR Mantra
9. Saral PayPack
10. Qandle

1. SumHR

sumHR payroll software is the cloud-based HR management software in India. This software allows SMEs and startups to streamline their daily HR & payroll processes. It offers users with connectivity as well as access to the most valuable info from anywhere across the world. The users can automate their current excel-based process of managing the employee payroll & undertaking the needed activities. sumHR software allows the users to monitor your employee’s attendance and track the leaves with the biometrics integrations.

Features:

• Safe & free communication
• Easily communicate with different departments, locations, or teams.
• Create interest and workgroups to collaborate
• Share updates via images, links, and news.
• Tag messages.

Pricing:

sumHR software offers users with just one plan that costs around 49 INR monthly and allows just one user.

2. greytHR

greytHR is the best HR management payroll software for Indian companies. It’s the most reliable HRM payroll software for HR teams. This software automates many daily tasks, which are repetitive and tedious. For example, daily attendance; this system integrates with the biometric & other attendance devices to record their presence.

greytHR provides management of the payroll for an entire workforce. This software generates salaries regarding their attendance. This HR & payroll management software complies strictly with all guidelines related to payroll management. This software is designed to perform any complex tasks for the improvement of the workflow.

Features:

• Employee Communication and Onboarding
• Employee Document Management
• HR Forms & Dashboard
• Configure the salary structure
• Payroll Processing
• Comprehensive Post-Payroll procedure
• Automated Payroll inputs & payslips
• Leave Management
• Generate Payroll Reports
• Employee Self Service or ESS Portal
• Mobile App for the Employees
• Attendance Management

Pricing:

greytHR is accessible in four plans; it includes:

• Cruiser – Rs. 4995/- monthly per user
• Super – Rs. 2495/- monthly per user
• Welter – Rs. 1495/- monthly per user
• Bantam – Rs. 995/- monthly per user

3. HRM Thread

Each business enterprise wants to have a simple accessibility to its employees’ database & payroll. HRM THREAD is the best payroll software and favorite of over 5000 clients as it makes the difficult task appear simple. Employee self-service features allow an employee to keep proper track of their HR-related tasks in his organization. It is the best software services as far as performance management is been concerned, the software also caters to the training and recruitment of the employees.

Features:

• Bonus, Loan and Advances Management
• Attendance management
• Email Integration
• Document Management
• Exit Management and Separation Management
• Employee Self Service Management
• Expense Tracking
• Expense Management
• Mobile Support
• HR & Payroll
• Payroll Management
• Multi-User login and Roll based access
• Recruitment Management
• Reimbursement Management
• Performance Management

Pricing:

You can get a demo of HR Thread payroll software for free.

4. Keka HR

Unlike the traditional payroll management software, Keka HR system is the modern payroll management software that focuses more on enhancing its user experience & streamlining multifaceted services.

Features:

• Enables access from any device
• Manage tasks & scheduling remotely

Pricing:

You can try out their plans free before making your purchase. The foundation plan comes at Rs 4999 monthly for 100 employees.

5. Beehive

Beehive is the best payroll management system that helps the HR professionals to manage their whole HR lifecycle of the company.

Features:

• Provides robust, accurate and compliance leave management service
• Helps from recruitment, resignation, and retirement
• Time management & scheduling tools
• Assists in the management of the approvals

Pricing:

Beehive payroll software comes free with the online trial for the right decision making.

6. Pocket HRMS

Pocket HRMS isn’t just the payroll software, but the next level HRMS system that has a lot to offer. This software comes with an intuitive interface that is well equipped with many amazing features to manage the company’s payroll system. Besides, this offers formula-based learning & deductions all along with amazing features like user-defined reports, intelligent time tracking, and real-time analytics.

Features:

• Human Resource Management
• HR Process Automation
• Wearable Technology Integration
• Employee Self-Service
• Attendance Management
• HR Chatbot
• Mobile Payroll App
• Leave Management
• Tax Compliance
• eTDS Form 24Q
• Intelligent Reporting
• Updates and Reminders

Pricing:

Pocket HRMS has two plans:

• Standard Plan includes features such as payroll processing & statutory compliances at 1495 INR of 50 employees monthly.
• Professional Plan comes with features like Statutory Compliances, Payroll processing, Employee self-service, Mobile Apps, and Attendance management and priced at INR 2495 of 50 employees monthly.

7. Zoho Payroll

Zoho is the payroll management software online that streamlines each aspect of the payroll administrations. Right from centralizing to organizing employees’ records to information and scheduling payrolls, and handling statutory compliance everything.

Features:

• Automatically do calculations and pay schedules
• Different ways to schedule the payroll
• Zoho allows businesses to centralize & store employee’s records safely.

Pricing:

Zoho offers a free trial and after its free trial, you may enjoy its features at only Rs 50 monthly per employee.

8. HR Mantra

HR Mantra is the best payroll software in India and has offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The payroll feature of HR Mantra is easy to use as well as covers different features of processing the payroll. They get down this process to some steps instead of a week-long procedure. Employers may set their salary slabs as well as policies department team-wise. One can define the IT exemption limits and is completely customizable and handle complicated pay calculations too.

Features:

• Applicant Tracking
• 360 Degree Feedback
• Compensation Management
• Benefits Management
• Employee Profiles
• Employee Database
• Payroll Management
• Onboarding
• Performance Management
• Onboarding
• Self Service Portal
• Recruitment Management

Pricing

HRMantra offers custom pricing for the software.

9. Saral PayPack

Saral PayPack is an online payroll solution that offers a one-stop solution for all your business payroll requirements. This software helps in the automation of many processes that come in the blanket of HR & salary management.

Features:

• Multi-level security
• Multi-tiered access architecture
• Convenient to use

Pricing:

Saral PayPack offers the online demo for on-premise and on-cloud versions. Their on-cloud version starts at Rs 825 monthly.

10. Qandle

Last but not the least, Qandle manages the accurate payroll, compliances, and employee benefits within seconds. It’s user-friendly and comes with many useful features that improve operational efficiency.

Features:

• Automated check-ins
• Automated reminders
• Leave approval
• On-field employees may submit the reimbursement bills on their phone
• Odometer produces automated reimbursement requests.

Pricing:

Qandle HRMS price begins at 2450 INR for 50 users monthly.

Conclusion

Here we have outlined the list of 10 best payroll software’s in India from the different vendors. All the free and paid options are given so that you may know if the products are accessible as temporary trials or free licenses.

An HR’s job in any organization is one of the most challenging jobs. Looking after so many aspects, taking care of all the issues of the employees, the go-to person in case of any trouble, from recruitment to salaries, the HR manager does it all. From making the onboarding process of the new employees a smooth journey to making sure that all the employees have great relations with each other, the HR manager is the person who serves as the bridge between the employees’ activities and the firm’s strategic objectives. It is a deemed fact that HR has an indispensable role to play in any organization and thus their importance cannot be overlooked.

A human resource management software is one which makes management of various human resource activities easy. A human resource management system (HRMS) also goes by different names like human resource information system (HRIS) and human capital system (HCM). An HRM software combined with the packages of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) makes the basic daily HR activities manageable and easy to access. Everything in today’s generation has been touched by the wave of technology and thus has become more tech-savvy. Even the HR domain is not spared from it, thus giving rise to HRM software.

Functions Of HRMS Software

HRM software performs various kinds of HR activities which are listed below:

• Recruitment
• Managing payroll
• Storing employee data
• Benefits administration
• Employee performance management
• Time and attendance of employees
• Tracking of employees’ competencies
• Records of the training received by the employees
• Data handling which includes acquiring, storing, analyzing and distributing to various stakeholders
• Tracking and granting leaves
• Taking care of financial transactions
• Making and tracking report files of every employee

And many more…..

List of Best HRMS Software in India

As the number of activities in the HR domain has increased, so has the efficiency and scope of HRM software also improved to match the changing demands. Below is the list of top 10 HRM software in India. Some of the best softwares:

Keka

One of the best HRM software in India. It was launched in 2016 and is one of the first HR software that aims to provide better employee experience and is employee-centric. It also has many awards for the HRM software that it provides under its belt and has a huge satisfied customer base with many popular brands in it. Touted as one of the best payroll software, it has many other features to offer too, like keeping centralized information, safe and secure data, providing employee portals and more!

GreytHR

One of the veterans in the field of providing HR software, launched in the year 1994, it has a huge customer base of 9000+ businesses spanning across more than 150 cities in India. The software offers various features like Payroll processing, leave management, attendance management, employee lifecycle management, easy access through its mobile version along with exceptional guidance and many more. There is a reason that still after 25 years, this HRMS is going strong and is still loved by many! Go and have a look at yourself.

SumHR

Included in top 5 HRM software for startups in India, Sum HR was launched in 2013 to streamline HR and payroll activities. A cloud-based HR software, that aims to reduce paper works and increase the efficiency of the HR department. Easy navigation also serves as one of the perks of this software. A web-based software performing functions like tax calculation and bonus for an employee, looking into employee engagement activities, monitoring of salaries and many more.

Quandle

One of the best HRM software that helps with strategic management of the organization. It provides high employee engagement thereby being effective in reducing the attrition rate. It is the proud HR tech partner of more than 200 firms and also the customers’ choice software for the year 2020. Some of the features provided are interactive calendar view, smart and flexible leave management, customizable leaves and tracking options and many more. It also has an AI-enabled chatbot option which is loved by everyone who has used it.

247 HRM

Winner of 2018’s HR tech and conference award, 247 HRM is a feature-rich and user-friendly software. With an interactive dashboard, 247 HRM offers customizable solutions as suited for your firm. Some of the many features offered by this HRM are timesheets of each employee, talent management, expense management, performance management, and employee-friendly self-service portal, attendance and leave tracking and many more.

Zoho People

An HCM solution is a web-based HR and payroll management system. It provides customizable solutions for organisations of all sizes. Named as the 360 degrees HR solution, this software provides a huge amount of features like efficient management of data and HR activities, performance evaluations, case management of various employees, employee and document management, e-signature are just a few of many.

HRMantra

Available on all the different platforms like windows, android, ioS, this is one of the best HRM solution providers in India. Holder of lots of different awards for the HR solution that it provides since 2010, it is one of the best in its fields. Apart from the regular attendance management, leave management, learning management and many more, HRMantra promises to save 30 minutes per employee and gives 10 times the ROI.

Pocket HRMS

A product of Saga Software solutions, it provides all the features for HR domain from hire to fire. Ensuring data security of all of your employees, an interactive chat-box makes the entire process easier. It makes the entire HR organization more efficient by taking care of the onboarding process, payroll management system, RR analytics etc. One of the smart solution providers that you won’t ever regret engaging with.

PeopleWorks

Better quality, better continuity and better sustainability are what this HRM solution aims to provide. Equipped with 22 HR modules and a strategically designed UI interface, it has redefined the entire HR department. It aims to improve the overall performance of the employees, providing various recruitment solutions and has great user-experience feedback. Cloud-based software with a mobility solution provider makes it a game-changing software.

Officenet

A software that helps the employee go through the entire employee life cycle is a mobile-ready, cloud-based software. It provides solutions for mid and large-size enterprises, looks into performance and appraisals, learning and development, travel management and more.

These are some of the top HRM software in India. HRM software is great tools that help take some load of the HR employees. It is a great advancement for HR in the technological field and it should be embraced with both the arms wide open. HRM software is just here to make our lives a little easy and step forth in the new technology-driven era. Thus, HRM software is really helpful and should be used in every organisation if not used still.

Recruitment is ad integral part in Huma Resource Management. Recruitment is a hiring process where firstly the staffing and organisational needs of the company are identified. After that, a potential pool of candidates for the required staffing is attracted. The pool of candidates is generated by firstly identifying these candidates. These can be done by both internal and external sources. Next, the recruiter should attract these candidates to apply for the job. This can be done by extensive advertising in job sites, campus drives, reaching out to potential candidates from company database etc.

Recruitment is such an important process because it serves as a pre-math for selection. Recruitment is a deciding factor on the correct candidates being chosen in the selection process. Hence, attracting a better pool of candidates in the recruitment process proves to be extremely beneficial.

The process of recruitment largely varies due to the size of the organisation. A small or medium-sized firm may have only one person as a recruiter or a hiring manager. However, a larger company is most likely to have a whole dedicated team of recruiters to carry on the process effectively. A well-framed recruitment process helps both the company and the applicants. The company gets to generate a potential pool of candidates whereas the candidates get potential employment opportunities.

Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment by an organisation can be done by a variety of sources. They are as listed below:

Internal Source

Internal sources of recruitment can not only be effective but also economical. It is cost-effective for the company and ad also economises on a lot of time. Internal sources of recruitment mainly include promotions and transfers of employees intra-organisation. In addition to that intra-organisation employee referrals also largely contribute to the internal sources of recruitment. Utilising the company’s database to recruit former employees and candidates can also be a good choice.

External source

A company can recruit through external sources via employment agencies. This is the common and surest source of recruiting eligible pool of candidates. The company can also conduct campus drives in various schools, colleges and universities thereby facilitating recruitment. Apart from that, the recruitment procedure can be advertised in various media sources to have a greater reach and therefore attract a greater pool. Utilising various labour unions in the recruitment process is also something that the company can do.

E-sources

The e-sources of recruitment are gaining quick popularity in today’s times. Recruitment ads can be posted on agency websites. Also, online job boards can be used for the recruitment process. However, the chance of attracting a large number of unqualified candidates works as the biggest disadvantage in this case. Its easy availability and much higher reach still make it a popular option.

Purpose and Importance of Recruitment

Recruitment has a dynamic purpose and importance that caters to both the organisation and the candidates. The multifaceted importance and purposes of recruitment are what makes it such an important process in an organisation. The importance of recruitment are as follows :

Attracting Candidates

Even though recruitment does not ensure the final onboarding of the candidates in the company but it effectively attracts a large number of candidates to apply for the vacancies. This gives the candidates a potential chance for employment and also publicises the organisation among job-seekers.

Facilitates Selection

The selection process is undertaken to keep in mind the ultimate organisational needs. The candidates have to go through an extensive process of screening before they are finally selected. Hence recruitment provides a large option for the selectors to choose fro to cater to the needs of the firm.

The Success Rate of Selection

Since the recruitment process is already comprehensive, it takes present and future job analysis into account and then recruits candidates. This rules out the presence of under-qualified or over-qualified candidates reaching the selection process. This, in turn, increases the success rate of the selection process.

Meeting Obligations

Every organisation has legal obligations that it ha to meet. In addition to that, the social obligations also termed as corporate social responsibility is a big factor that organisations take care of. By recruiting candidates and maintaining the workforce composition, these obligations are successfully met.

Transparency

The recruitment process is largely undertaken to maintain organisational transparency. It is an effective measure by which complete transparency can be maintained. The transparency does not only cater to the organisation but also the employees. This means that in the organisation, the HR manager, field recruiters, clients, all of these entities are completely aware of the process and possess the same information. In addition to this, a transparent procedure also ensures that the candidates are aware of the status of their job application.

Confidence

Since recruitment is a transparent process, it ensures confidence in the organisation. Since the recruiters, clients and managers are aware and accountable for the entire recruitment process, all of them have directly or indirectly contributed to the result and are confident of the choice and satisfied by it.

Avoids Discrimination

A proper and legitimate recruitment process is based on merit. It is based on job analysis, attracts candidates based on the job description and screens them based on merit. The parameters for screening are mentioned at every step and the results depend solely on the merit of the candidate. This rules out the possibility of any candidate facing discrimination due to their race, caste, colour or personal connections. Recruitment adds fairness to the organisational procedure.

Job Description

Framing a proper job description is important for any organisation. In recruitment, the candidates are chosen based on the job description provided by the company. It is a detrimental factor in recruiting candidates. Hence recruitment helps in curating a proper job description which includes all the primary, secondary and tertiary aspects related to the particular job role.

Consistency

An inconsistent system of recruitment is most likely to provide biased and unstandardised results. To ensure fair judgements and selection of the right man for the right job, the recruitment process is kept consistent with standardised measures of screening at every stage.

An effective and well-framed recruitment policy will not just hire the right candidates for the job. It will heighten the reach of the organisation in addition to generating an eligible pool of candidates. Recruitment has present and future impacts that facilitate an organisation multi-dimensional ways. A proper recruitment policy shall ensure that the right person is onboarded for the right job with the company’s commitment in place.

In very simple words, productivity is just a term that is used to measure efficiency. In terms of economics, it means measuring the output that comes from the inputs provided. Technically productivity is defined as output per unit of input, labour, or capital.

A real-time example would be a bag manufacturing factory. Suppose, if 10 labours collectively produce 20 bags per day by employing all the resources, it would not be considered as very productive. However, if the same number of labours collectively manufacture 200 bags per day, productivity would be considered to be very high.

Productivity is an important context not just in the professional scenario. It is relevant in every walk of our life, every sector and hence it is very important to know how productivity can be measured. In economics, operations, factories, as well as service sectors. However, with tangible products as output, the measurement of productivity becomes a lot easier. However, with intangible output, the determination of productivity is a lot more complex.

In factories and manufacturing firms, the units of output can be divided by the labour or tangible inputs and the productivity will be measured. However, in any service, it is harder to find. So in some cases, the aggregate revenue collected by the employee is recorded. It is then divided by their salary to find a deduction of productivity.

Factors Affecting Productivity

There are a number of factors that determine productivity in an organisation. They are described as follows :

Selection of proper manpower largely affects productivity. Selecting the right employees for the right job leads to higher productivity. Also providing proper training to the employees for skill formation increases productivity.

Selecting and acquiring proper types of equipment and machinery in an organisation increases productivity. Availability of optimum, well-functioning and up-to-date machinery in the workplace ensures smooth functioning of labour and hence better productivity.

The floor area or space covered is a detrimental factor in productivity. The total area of different departments, including quality department, administrative block, affect productivity in the workplace. Apart from the floor area, the positioning or the location if these departments also play a major role.

The use of economic, clean and renewable sources of energy has also proved to significantly increase productivity.

Intra-organisational movement is also a significant influence on productivity. The movement of manpower and materials inside the organisation to a large degree affects productivity in the workplace.

Also Read: How to Measure and Improve Employee Performance?

Types Of Productivity

Productivity, broadly speaking is a consolidated term. However, it can actually be rather dynamic in its meaning. It can be differentiated on the basis of a number of factors namely, labour, capital and materials. Below listed are the comprehensive explanation about the three types of productivity.

Labour Productivity

Labour productivity, otherwise called labour efficiency, is characterized as genuine financial yield per work hour. Development in labour productivity is estimated by the change in monetary yield per work hour over a characterized period. Labour productivity and employee productivity are not the same aspects. Employee productivity is characterised as an employee’s yield per hour.

Work profitability is straightforwardly connected to improved ways of life as higher utilization.

This expansion in yield makes it conceivable to expend a greater amount of the merchandise and enterprises at an inexorably sensible cost.

Development in labour profitability is legitimately decipherable from changes in physical capital, new innovation, and human capital. When the increase in labour productivity is evident, in most cases the attributing factors are the above listed three. Physical capital is the instruments, gear, and offices that labourers have access to use to facilitate production and manufacturing. New developments are new techniques to join contributions to create more yield, for example, sequential construction systems or robotization. Human capital speaks to the expansion in training and specialization of the workforce. Measuring labour productivity also provides a huge and clear insight into the trends of these mentioned factors.

Capital Productivity

Capital productivity is the output per unit of estimation of fixed capital assets. In a socialist economy, capital profitability describes the effectiveness with which fixed capital stock is utilized. It is regularly utilized in the financial examination and in the detailing of creation plans and plans for capital consumptions, both for the national economy in general and for independent organisations or companies, professional associations, joint ventures or enterprises.

Information on the GDP and on national income is utilized in computing capital efficiency for the national economy all in all; for ascertaining the profitability of independent organisations information on the net as well as the gross output are put to good use. In segments where the yield is homogeneous (oil, coal, concrete), physical units are at times utilized in the figurings. Capital productivity is determined based on the parity valuation of the fixed creation resources (devaluation costs included), utilizing either the normal incentive throughout the year or the incentive as of the year’s end. Capital profitability is inversely proportional to the ratio of capital and output.

Material Productivity

Material productivity is feined as the amount of output produced in term of per unit input of materials. Materials, in this case, are defined as natural resources. It can be broadly differentiated from total productivity.

The capacity to make the equivalent or more yield utilizing less material assets is known as material productivity. Procedure inconstancy is at the base of materials overconsumption. It begins process wasteful aspects that bring about faulty production, procurement errors, faulty billing practises etc. In other words, it is a blatant wastage of resources.

Each business needs to see if its utilization of materials is changed in accordance with the base adequate levels, or, on a flip side, overconsumption is available. Numerous organizations set the base minimum level dependent on historical data or forecasted data of consumption. However, setting the minimum level should always be based on optimum consumption. R&G can help an organisation by baselining what that minimum level is, along these lines setting the measures. When this count is comprehended and shared by all the essential partners, the time has come to evaluate the deviations between real utilization and guidelines, and to make a framework for persistently lessening or removing the sources of those deviations, subsequently expanding material efficiency.

Productivity and its various types are extremely relevant in any big or small workplace. It helps to keep a proper check on resources and also works as an alarm for necessary changes that have to be made to make the best use of all kinds of availabilities.

An entrepreneur is the owner of the company. He is someone who sets up the foundation of the company. He brings in ideas, innovations and makes decisions in terms of running the company. He is the prime decision-maker. An entrepreneur is responsible for taking risks in the business. Risks include financial, operational, and other unforeseen contingencies related to the business. The entrepreneur is the true-leader of the company. His primary focus is on achievements and profits.

A manager, on the other hand, is an employee of the organization. He evades the element of any form of risk-taking related to the business. Instead, he is responsible for the smooth functioning of his subordinates. A manager may be responsible for a group, a specific department, or a region. He handles and manages all the administrative functions running under him and ensures the organizational goals and targets are met. He does not have to make binding financial decisions regarding the organization. A manager is employed to run an organization or company and does not have to decide upon its fate.

Let us find out what are the key differences between an entrepreneur and a manager based on some important aspects.

Difference between Entrepreneur and Manager

Position in the Company

An entrepreneur is positioned in a company as a visionary. He is the leader and the owner of the business. All the risks associated with the company are borne by him.

A manager, on the other hand, is placed in the organization as a salaried employee. He does not bear any risks.

Focus

An entrepreneur’s focus is primarily long-term. He is focussed on setting up the business,  sustaining it, and expanding it. His focus determines the existence and growth of the business organization.  He has long-term objectives and works towards reaching the same.

A manager is an employee who has short-term objectives in terms of the organization. A manager’s assigned job is to ensure the regular smooth-functioning of the company, and hence, his//her objectives and duties are not far-fetched.

Motive

An entrepreneur is motivated to set up his/her own venture. This means that his motive is to set up a new venture due to his own personal choices.

A manager, on the other hand, is motivated by the power his position holds. His only motive in the organization is to dispense the services that are assigned to him and prove to be a competent employee.

Element of Risk

The possibility of risk-taking is probably one of the most significant aspects of being an entrepreneur. In setting up a completely new venture, an entrepreneur poses himself/herself to the risks and uncertainties of the business. Whether the risks are related to the finances, legal operations, or profits, it is the entrepreneur who bears the full of it.

A manager does not have to take risks in the organization. He has a predefined set of duties and a limited job role that he has to dispense and then receive definite perks in return.

Income

The income of the entrepreneur is rather uncertain. His income from the organization depends upon how well the organization makes the profits. Setting up an organization from scratch has its uncertainties. That also makes the profit-yielding capacity very unpredictable.

The income of a manager of a company is certain and fixed. A manager in an organization is a middle or high order employee. Hence, he/she is a salaried employee on the company’s payroll. As a result, by the end of each month, a manager receives a fixed amount as remuneration as well as promised perks that come with his position.

Innovation

An entrepreneur has to take necessary decisions in terms of the innovations in the organization. The business is the entrepreneur’s brainchild. Hence the decisions regarding product offerings, product development, etc., are made by the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur decides ways by which the evolving demands in the market can be met.

A manager does not have to make any innovative inputs into the organization. A manager, however, has the responsibility of carrying out the decisions taken by the entrepreneur. Hence, it can be rightly said that a manager puts the entrepreneur’s idea and gives them shape in the real world. He/she is responsible for the proper execution of these ideas.

Characteristics

A successful entrepreneur is supposed to have a number of characteristic traits. He/she should have great leadership skills. He/she should be ready to take risks and have an extremely innovative bent of mind. In addition, an entrepreneur should be analytical and patience. He/she should be a good speaker since it is the entrepreneur’s ides to sell his/her business idea to the world and find an establishment.

A manager, however, can have a few inter lapping qualities as that of an entrepreneur. But in essence, to be a good manager in an organization, a person needs to have adequate knowledge in management theories and other aspects. He/she, in most cases, must also have prior practical experience in his field of the job to be hired.

Approach

An entrepreneur’s approach to work is more informal in nature. Since he/she is not directly related to the operations and daily execution of tasks, the necessary formality is averse in the entrepreneur’s case.

A manager, on the other hand, is extremely formal in his professional approach. He/she is responsible for administering a coordination a group of employees around him. This requires the manager to maintain a degree of formality and professionalism in his operations.

Decision-making Process

The decision-making process of an entrepreneur is largely intuitive. He/she employs his innovation, ideas, motivation, and natural drive into making decisions for the organization.

A manager, on the other hand, abides by rules and analyzed data. He/she follows proper protocol and hence takes decisions which are calculative and analytical in nature.

From all the above-stated information, a summary table of differences between an entrepreneur and an employee is drawn. It mentions the various bases of difference along with relevant information.

All the above differences have made it clear that there is a significant difference between manager and entrepreneur. Needless to say, both have considerable importance in any organization. It should, however, be noted that their roles cannot be juxtaposed. Both possess specific skill sets and work on different avenues to keep the growth and daily operation of the organization steady.

The daunting task of job hunting doesn’t stop at job application and interviews. It involves tasks beyond our imagination, tasks we would have never imagined to do and they are equally tiresome as job application procedure, even at times more than it.

There are terms and a processes we need to know about before embarking upon your professional journey. Today, we will be discussing one such term, called ‘job enlargement’. It is a common term used in corporate sector, amongst employees, potential employees and employers. But, for a new comer, the term might sound unfamiliar and new. If you find yourself alien to the new corporate lingo which makes you feel left out, you have come to the right place. We will tell you everything that one needs to about regarding job enlargement.

What is Job Enlargement?

Put in simple words, job enlargement is a process by which a company can expand the roles of a particular designation or employee working at a certain level.  The scope of one’s duty or the tasks associated with one designation enlarges leading to increased working role of the employee hired for that particular role.

It belong to the horizontal restructuring of the organization, talking in professional languages which shifts and changes one’s role only at a horizontal level. This means that the job enlargement procedure cannot combine jobs of a hierarchically superior employee and inferior employee. The tasks being shuffled should only concern the designations that belong to similar organizational layer.

Job enlargement helps the company in cutting costs. It usually resorted to if the organization is facing serious budget constraints, shortage of employees or any extraordinary circumstance similar to COVID 19 pandemic in which work from home and job cuts forced many companies to opt for job enlargement of many employees.

It goes against the notion of ‘departmentalization’ or ‘special division of labor based on skills’. It can also influence the quality of product and services the company is trying to deliver since the special skilled division of labor notion is disturbed here. It can lead to considerable organization restructuring of companies which are small in size and employee small number of people.

Job Enlargement Advantages

Job enlargement adds the number of role performed by an employee at one particular designation. It makes the role diverse and breaks down the monotony associated with corporate jobs.

The monotony when removed can increase one’s productivity since people are performing different roles and are involved in end to end process of production. Their knowledge and experience also grows in a holistic way when engaged in end to end process.

Experience and on-ground realities of problems as well as solutions derived after encountering them can help the employee in broaden their area of interest or specialization. They can learn about scopes and opportunities in different fields which may motivate them in pursuing professional courses in inter related fields.

The exposure to different fields and different problems can help the employees in career advancement as they gain experience as well as expertise.

Adding onto the professional experience, employees are often offered higher salary than before job enlargement since their roles have gotten expanded and diverse. One might see a considerable rise in salary if company is generous.

Accountability and autonomy comes with diversification of roles. Not only one feels responsible for the role but also a sense of collectivity starts emerging which makes the employee focus on the entire team, cooperation and coordination between tasks to deliver a good quality end product.

Job Enlargement Disadvantages

Often times, employees may encounter a role which they might be uninterested in working as. This may lead to decreased efficiency. The overall productivity of a team also declines since the tasks overlap and there occurs a delay in delivering the product/service.

There are increased chances of miscommunication and lack of coordination which may hamper the quality of product.

In addition to it, employees may face increased work load. There are also chances of unequal distribution of work amongst employees which can lead to professional bias.

Job enlargement as initiative has its own advantages and disadvantages. Both employers and employee needs to be mindful of the cost and benefits and negotiate accordingly to promote and healthy work environment.

To excel in life, what matters the most is performance. Performances which are upto the mark are always appreciated. But maintaining the same level of performance always does not turn up successfully. Then the couple of questions arise like, why productivity is low? What are the loopholes in performance? So to answer such sort of questions and to fill the bridge between current and expected performance, two points which are taken into consideration are:

• How to Measure Employee Performance?
• How to Improve Employee Performance?

Firstly to elaborate, Employee performance is referred to how an employee fulfills their job duties and executes their required tasks. It involves the effectiveness, quality, and efficiency of their output.

Importance of Assessing Employee Performance

1. Every employee’s individual performance influences how all the team or maybe the firm (especially if it’s small) is doing. Hence assessing the performance shows them the clear picture of their standard of output.\
2. It clarifies the employee’s role and status in the organization. Some employees are always curious to know regarding their stand. So assessing job performance clarifies their status and needs to the company.
3. Self-development is the most important benefit for the employee performance appraisal as it allows receiving positive feedback as well as identifying areas for improvement. An employee can discuss and even create a developmental (training) plan with the manager so he/she can improve his skills.
4. Performance appraisal system also helps the management in deciding about the promotions, transfers and rewards of the employee.
5. It is easy to identify the under-performers and decide whether companies want to keep them hoping for improvement or sometimes have to let them go.

Process of Assessing Employee Performance

Step 1 – Establish Performance Expectations and Standards

The process assessing employee performance begins with the establishment of per­formance standards. The managers must determine what outputs, accomplishments and skills will be evaluated. These standards should be relevant to job analysis and job descriptions. These performance standards should also be clear and objective to be understood and measured and should not be articulated in vague manner.

Step 2 – Communicating the Standards

Once the performance standards are established, this needs to be thoroughly and clearly communicated to the respective employees so that they come to know what is expected of them.

Step 3 – Measure Actual Performance

In this stage, the actual performance of the employee is measured during the specified period of time. It is an endless process which involves monitoring the performance throughout the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the right techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias doesn’t affect the outcome of the process.

Step 4 – Compare Actual Performance with Standards

In this step, the actual performance is compared with the desired or the standard performance. The comparison tells the deviations within the performance of the employees from the standards set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired performance or, the actual performance being less than the desired performance. If the desired performance is not upto the mark, it proceeds to the fifth step in the process, i.e., the discussion of the appraisal with the concerned employees.

Step 5 – Discuss the Appraisal with the Employee

The fifth step within the appraisal process is to communi­cate to and discuss with the employees the results of the appraisal. This is the most challenging task that a manager faces when they need to present an accurate appraisal to the employees and then make them accept the appraisal in a constructive manner. A discussion on appraisal enables employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This has, in turn, impact on their future performance. The impact could be positive or negative depending upon how the appraisal is presented and discussed with the employees.

Step 6 – Initiate Corrective Action

This is the final stage in the process. Initiating some effective corrective measures should be executed according to the results of the appraisal.

How to Measure Employee Performance?

Here are a few ways to measure and evaluate employee performance:

1. Graphic Rating Scales

A typical graphic scale uses sequential numbers, such as 1 to 5, or 1 to 10, to rate an employee’s relative performance in specific areas. Scales are often used to rate behavioral elements, such as “understands job tasks” or “participates in decision-making.” Or they could note the frequency an employee performs a certain task or behavior, such as “always,” “frequently,” “occasionally,” or “never” coming to work on time. You can adapt scales to your business needs.

2. 360-degree Feedback

This well-named system takes into account the feedback, opinions and assessments of an employee’s performance from the circle of people in the company with whom they work. It can include co-workers, supervisors and others. As this evaluation includes the input from many sources, one can note positive and negative similarities and trends and can also identify areas that may need additional measurements and support.

3. Self-Evaluation

Asking an employee to evaluate his/her own performance can be very effective. Often, employees may be more critical of their performance than you might be. A form that includes multiple-choice answers, essay-type answers, or a combination of the two. Comparing self-evaluation to measure own objective appraisal can be helpful in finding similarities and discrepancies along with a richer understanding of employee’s performance. It can generate conversations that can be beneficial to employee development.

4. Management by Objectives (MBO)

Also known as “Management by Objectives,” this is a process whereby employees and managers form objectives together. They jointly determine individual objectives, how they align with company goals, and how performance will be measured and evaluated. MBO gives employees a transparent understanding of what’s expected and allows them to participate within the process, which fosters better communication and increases motivation.

5. Checklists

Using a simple “yes-no” checklist is a quick and easy way to identify employees that have deficiencies in various performance areas. It will also identify those that need additional training and knowledge to become more efficient.

How to Improve Employee Performance?

1. Understand the Reasons Behind Poor Performance

Employees don’t truly understand the company vision or how their job contributes to its achievement, or employees don’t have measurable performance goals, so they don’t even realize they aren’t performing well enough. Understanding the causes behind poor performance (and even average performance) is a critical first step toward improving employee performance which can be resolved and improved through a healthy conversation.

2. Prioritize Employee Development

At a certain good time to readdress employee goals and plan accordingly to benefit the organizational goals improve employee performance. Working closely to bridge any skills gaps will not only help them achieve long-term goals but will also benefit the company as when employee skills improve it fulfills business objectives.

3. Improving Morale

Boosting morale of the employees with recognition, or celebrating their success or special days. Even sometimes with few monetary perks improvise the employee performance.

4. Empower Employees

For effective results in work, what is most important is that employees must have belongingness and authority that can be gained when an employee is duly empowered and has sufficient amount of freedom and space to work.

5. Utilize the Right Technologies

Implement technology platforms that drive performance and engagement daily. Technology is crucial in today’s workforce, as it reduces stress and saves time. Tech-savvy approach always fascinates employees to work more effectively.

6. Continual Communication

Essence of communication is to understand. Hence more communication means better understanding towards a company’s core value resulting in improvement of work standards.

7. Foster a Positive Work Environment

Happy employees always come up with happy results and to make employees happy what is utmost important is a positive work environment. Inculcating such culture never disappoints the staff and their productivity.

8. Don’t Micro-manage

Micromanagement is a management style whereby a manager closely observes and controls or reminds the work of his/her subordinates or employees. In this manager control every part of a situation, project, etc., even including the very small details, in a way that may not be necessary and may not give enough responsibility to the employees which involves avoiding delegation, constantly making reports, not allowed to make decisions and can’t pass on their skills or knowledge which makes routine work and culture very sofocative and full of congestion so avoiding this practice gives more space to employees to perform both efficiently and effectively.

Job enrichment is a subset of job design and a by-stander with job enlargement. It is a vertical restructuring of a job role. It is a tool used to motivate the employees by enabling them to learn new skills and acquiring new experiences. It serves as an antidote to employee monotony that occurs due to the repetitive nature of jobs. It attempts to increase employees’ autonomy over its job and also allow him/her the room for feedback and participation. The idea of job enrichment largely emerged from Frederick Hertbergz ‘Two Factor Theory’. It is a process of motivation where newer sets of dimensions are added to pre-existing jobs.

Different Ways of Job Enrichment

The primary essence of job enrichment is to increase the job satisfaction of the employees. This is done by vertical enlargement of the job profile known as job enrichment. This means increasing the control of the employee over his job. Upon having heightened control, the employee feels more responsible, more accountable and freer to take risks on his activities. All of these factors attribute to better job satisfaction which in turn lead to better productivity. Here are some of the ways by which job enrichment can be carried out:

Job Rotation

One of the most effective ways of job enrichment is by rotating the employees in various jobs. This will allow the employees to learn new skill-sets and acquire new experiences. Job rotation can be an extremely useful tool in providing motivation to the employees.

Complex Tasks

The employees can be assigned with more complex set of tasks. This will give them a sense of entitlement towards their job since they will be handling the job from the start to the end. They will find more meaning in their professional duty and that would give them the motivation that is required.

Formation of Autonomous Teams

Job enrichment can be both on an individual and group level. Formation of such teams would help the enrichment on a group level. In such groups, the employees should be given the freedom to decide upon the operations, evaluations, etc. In some cases, they may also e give the freedom to choose their own team members. This will provide heightened motivation for their work.

Increasing Participation

Increasing the participation of the employees in the higher-level management processes can work as an effective motivator. A company with a very strict hierarchy is likely to make the employees that their voices are unheard. Hence letting the employees have a say in strategic management can, in turn, lead to job enrichment.

Transparent feedback

In most cases, we see that the quality team of an organisation tracks employee performance and points out the mistakes. However, if the feedback process is more employee-directed meaning that the employees have more control over tracking their own performance, then it would lead to effective job enrichment.

Steps in Job Enrichment

The followings are a rough sketch of the steps might be implemented for job enrichment:

Survey

The first and foremost step is conducting an extensive survey in the organisation. It should be first understood the areas of improvement. The areas where the employees are dissatisfied should be found out. Implementation of enrichment without a proper survey would only lead to developmental work in areas that do not require it leading to ineffective job enrichment.

Deciding on the Approach

There can be a number of approaches to implement job enrichment. Hence, it is important to decide on the right approach. Choosing a drastic approach would not only be cost-ineffective but also poses the risk of operational failure. Hence, a complete paradigm shift in the workplace scenario is not a safe option. Instead an optimum task-force should be appointed to implement job enrichment on grounds of operational profitability as well as job satisfaction of the employees.

Curating the Program

After analysing the different approaches, a final program for implementation of job enrichment should be created.

Communicating the Program

After designation of the program, there should be clear communication. All the levels of management, as well as the employees, should be well communicated about the plan of action. In addition, the employees should be given enough participation and their feedback should also be taken into account.

Advantages

The followings listed are the advantages of job enrichment:

• Job enrichment enables the employee ton to learn new skill-sets and enrich himself.
• With learning new skills, he is prone to new jobs and hence can potentially acquire new experiences.
• It is one of the best motivational drives for the employees of an organisation.
• A workplace with motivated and skill-enriched employees can be regarded as a healthy working environment.
• Since due to job enrichment, the employees are motivated to be participative, it improves their decision-making process of the employees.
• By increasing the job role and participation of other middle and lower-level employees, job enrichment reduces centralisation of power.
• Job enrichment inculcates a sense of accomplishment in both the employer and the employee.

Disadvantages

Even though job enrichment can be generally attributed to positive outcomes in an organisation, there are a few disadvantages that should be noted.

• Employees are given way too much control under this approach. However, the credibility of the employees is not always tested. Whether the employee can make full use of the control in his hands or not is debatable.
• A lot of employees work well and prove to be productive when they are under direction. Given the autonomy of actions, it may affect their productivity.
• A degree of ego clashes and complexes may also emerge in the organisation since the superiors may feel that they are losing their hierarchical position.
• Job enrichment comes with added responsibility upon the employees. This may, in some organisations be a tool of their exploitation due to overworking.

Job enrichment is a two-sided sword. However, it obviously does more good than harm. If it is used by unscrupulous management, it may lead to exploitation of the employees. However, if it is systematically implemented, it would lead to a workforce of highly motivated and driven individuals who are satisfied with the work they do.

It is for the organisation to decide the right approach of job enrichment in alignment with the other needs of the organisation. A well-enriched set of jobs will only lead to higher levels of productivity.

Looking for highly talented employees for your company? Register here on our platform to find them.

Empty mind is a devil house so the primary task of any reporting manager is to allocate sufficient amounts of tasks to its subordinate to keep them engaged but keeping engaged is not sufficient. Because you can’t eat the same kind of food daily similarly, you can’t do the same kind of task daily. To get rid of the boredom weather in life, food or work something engaging is must.  So this must engage activities in the field of work is referred as Employee Engagement Activities.

To define Employee engagement it is the extent to which employees feel hooked into their jobs and stays committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work. Employee engagement involves activities, games, and events which drive towards better employee performance.

Importance or Objectives of Employee Engagement Activities

The objective Employee Engagement Activities is to ensure that employees feel committed towards organisation’s goals and remain motivated to contribute for organisational success, also at the same time enhancing their own sense of wellbeing. Below are some of the major importance of Employee Engagement Activities:

1. Better employee health & safety: In a happy work culture where employees are always engaged and associated with happening activities inclusive of their daily activities, they are more at the state of mental peace and satisfaction which ensures better employee health and become very less prone to any mishaps or health hazards.

2. Happier employees: When employees are allowed to share their valuable inputs towards betterment of the company, feels themselves more connected and realizes security of a job, such an environment produces happy employees.

3. Greater employee satisfaction: As mentioned in the above two points, employees with better health and happy state of mind always turn in greater satisfaction.

4. Better home life (Work-Life Balance): Employee engagement not only involves events or fun activities, it is based for the overall betterment of employees. In the concept of overall betterment the foremost thing is happy home life or personal life in order to manage better work-life balance. A maintained work-life balance takes place when the work-timings and pressure is duly managed or reduced.

5. Lower absenteeism: Happy people, happy culture, happy home life . In addition to these three the first output which comes is lower absenteeism as it always stimulates the individual to rush for the office.

6. Higher retention (Low rate of attrition): Based on the factors like better employee health & safety, happy environment, greater employee satisfaction and better home life leads for sure towards lower attrition and higher retention due to healthy work ambiance.

7. Better & quality customer service: The ultimate motto of employee engagement is to attain the company’s end goal which is producing high quality goods or services in order to achieve the client’s or customer’s satisfaction.

8. Greater productivity & profitability: Happy environment produces happy employees and happy employees produce greater productivity which generates higher sales and profitability and key for these depends upon well managed employee engagement strategies.

9. Greater employee loyalty: Loyalty comes with satisfaction and satisfaction comes from motivation. When a company assures a well managed employee engagement strategy it leads towards higher employee loyalty.

10. Higher stock price: Greater sales and profitability leads towards a better brand name which creates a long going future and wealth. Based on the wealth or fund capacity the share or stock prices of the company increases for sure.

Effective Employee Engagement Strategies

1. Listening to Employees: Listening is always considered to be good practice in every field of life especially in corporate as listening to employees with their grievances or problems always give a personal touch and keep them connected with the core value of the company.

2. Practice sharing good ideas between teams: Competition is good till it is healthy but it is obvious that it becomes bitter in the concept called ‘work politics’ so in order to remove this work politics and maintain a healthy competition, sharing good ideas amongst each other or within two teams is always considered a good practice to be followed.

3. Value employee opinion: Employees are human resources but moreover they are human assets of the organization which leads the company towards the achievement of their end goal. Hence its very important that such assets must be valued and nourished by properly entertaining their opinion as they have different mindsets run in different directions ends with, providing a bunch of opinion which mostly found useful in terms of organizational growth.

4. Invest in the wellbeing of employees: As mentioned above the human assets must be given the chance for nourishment. Hence, it is very necessary apart from only focusing towards organizational growth, well- being and development of the individual employees should also be taken care of.

5. Recognise good work: Apart from the pre-mentioned strategies, what actually motivates is the recognition and praising. To reach the goal every employee strives hard. Sometimes they achieve, sometimes they can’t but when they receive the achievement, recognition and tinge of praise-worthy words, works as a power booster and significant motivator for future tasks.

10 Best Employee Engagement Activities

1. Workplace Parties

Company parties like annual, summer and winter parties to celebrate a year of business. Additional festivities like Halloween parties, Thanksgiving dinners, and other celebratory parties make people feel companies prioritize them.

2. Learning Lunches

Learning lunches or potlucks are the perfect way to bring a team together and help them learn. Encourage different departments to share what they’re working on and tackle a new topic as a team. Hosting such lunches once per month fosters learning, and helps with transparency.

3. Employee Games, Tournaments, and Competitions

Employees love getting involved in games, tournaments, and competitions. Hosting a sports tournament, or challenges office-wide can do wonders for the employees at the organization.

4. Special Days

Special days such as birthday, anniversary, work anniversary change the pace and give employees something to look forward to. Cutting cakes, gifts or treating them special on these days boosts morale alot.

5. Training

Training always brings out a special in you. A speaker for a truly interesting and invigorating training session, engage the employees and teach them something new.

6. Recognition Programs

Recognition programs are a great way to get employees to interact with one another. Programs like “Employee of the Month” or “Employee of the year” always become the common platform of recognition in which everyone cherishes each other, congratulates and fosters team spirit.

7. Team-building Activities

Team-building activities, especially those outside of the office, are something that employees love. Go-kart racing, and bowling etc. are such options. These sorts of activities will facilitate bonding outside of the workspace, and give employees better understanding.

8. Fundraisers and Charity Days

Fundraisers and charity days are also a nice way to bring employees together on the common page Often these causes affect your employees, so giving them the opportunity to organize such events for causes they are passionate about is an effective way to enhance their organizational skills.

9. Employee Work from Home Policy

This policy is the most effective one which gives employees the liberty of how to work, where to work and when to work. The objective is to fulfill the deadline in the most convenient manner without any obligation of professional wear, timings, daily commute. The concept of home office has always proven the best manner of employee engagement.

10. The First-day welcome Card/Gift to New Hires

It is one of the great employee engagement activities to introduce to a new hire. It makes new employees engaged on their first day itself, Thus, this trick at the workplace to welcome new buddies with presents like a welcome card, gift, or email to the new hires makes them feel equally important as it is to introduce them to the team in a friendly manner.

Looking ahead to join such great companies. Feel free to register with us and explore opportunities with many awesome companies.