The Ray of Hope in Recession for Human Resources

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: March 4th, 2009
Posted in: Economy, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 9 Comments »

EmpXtrack HR Consultants team has released a new case study on the Human Resource Management in Retail Industry. This case study covers the challenges faced by HR in management of employees in an organization having chain of stores in multiple locations.

The organization in the study is one of the largest retail stores chains. They have around 100 retail stores in different locations and looking to expand further to more than 200 store across the country.

Organization has a centralized Human Resource Department located in Head Office. HR decision and process are controlled centrally. However, many HR tasks, policies and procedures are managed by retail Store Managers or regional offices.

The organization used excel sheets to exchange reports. Reports coming from various regional offices and stores were compiled in Head Office by a team of HR Executives and HR managers.

Keeping in view the nature of organization, the case study is equally applicable to organizations having retail chains in Consumer Goods, Health Care, Multi Locational sales offices etc.

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While reading Jon’s Carnival of HR titled ”Carnevale delle Risorse Umane: 18 February 2009 ” I realized how much clouds of sorrow surmount the Human Resources domain due to recession.

And why not, after all it is the Human Resource Department that is bearing the burns. HR has to do the most disgraceful job of laying off people, because Businesses can no more afford to pay them. Employees that are chopped off curse HR, even though most HR Managers will be at no fault . HR that used to be hero at the time of a flourishing economy is now suddenly considered a villain making plans and strategies to show door to people. Adding to the sorrow, HR has also been ordered to chip off salary packages, incentives and benefits, making the life tougher for those who are fortunate enough to remain employed,,and to bear their blames and curses.

Sad, but it triggered me to search for the rays of hope that prove that Recession will not last long. Here is my list:

Hope 1: Determination of Leadership

There is a very strong determination amongst the political and business leadership to curb the recession. Never in the last few decades we saw such a global and massive effort to fight economic crisis. This determination is sure to find ways out of the recession and foray into another blooming decade 21st century. I think recession is the birth pang of human society into a new era.

Hope 2: New Thoughts on Management

The past and current failures have triggered new thought processes against the current business practices. A new thought to bring better management practices, more financial transparency in the businesses, more control over the plans and strategies and an improvement in global business culture is conceiving in every mind.

Hope 3: Emergence of New Leaders and Think Tanks

The sudden failure has also given an opportunity to those taking the back seat with their innovative ideas (as nobody considered these ideas during the flourishing economy) to emerge out of their shell. Not only there is a shift in economic centers, there is a shift in the power of various thought-schools. Those who were champions of anarchic freedom have stumbled and those calling for a controlled and consistent growth are emerging as the new think tanks. If it is happening at your organization, do you have right tools to measure?

Hope 4: History of Men

If you think recession is a big accident, think about the damage done by World Wars, Epidemics, Great Depression, Hitler and so on. You will find recession is too small for men to overcome. This is merely a small puncture in the economic wheel and the speed has more of corrected rather than frozen. There are still companies hiring. Ask recruiters, they are still unable to meet their goals. Hence, in a year or two this too shall pass.

Hope 5: New Developments in Technology

The major difference between different eras of men has been technology. Pre-historic man had no technology, just a human body and a small animal like brain. Discovery of metals opened the door to new tools and men could construct houses out of stones. When wheel was invented, long distances became short. Invention of steam engine and ships shortened the distance between continents. Invention of Aeroplane made the world just a few hours long. With each technological advancement human society met the specific challenges. In regards to HR Domain, technology is developing at a pace like never before, to improve performance of people and the profits. And leaders know that new performance improvement tools can make a big difference in meeting new challenges.

So there is really no reason to be sad. Its time to stand up, shred the dust and start running once again towards our goals. And this makes me sing these motivating lines:

We shall overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe
We shall overcome some day.

Note: Please add as a comment what you think are the other rays of hope for HR out of this recession.