Why good employees leave your organization?

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: April 18th, 2011

Attrition of Talent

Talented employees leaving their jobs is an alarming development for most organizations. This article explores the empowerment of managers in arresting this trend.

Do we have the answers?

• Are we using the right processes to identify new hires?
• Do we know why our employees leave our company?
• Are managers given tools to identify talent and reward performance? Do they have the skills to use these tools?
• Do we have a system to develop potential?

Views & Reviews

Right candidate for the right job. One important aspect of hiring is in defining the job responsibilities of the new-hire.

• Do the hiring managers give adequate details on the job requirement?
• Are the line managers involved in the short-listing and interview process.
• Are the job-descriptions consistent and available to all people in the hiring process.

Without well defined job-descriptions that are available to all people in the recruitment process, it may be difficult to identify the right candidates. Most attrition happens because we try to fit a round peg in a square hole.

Offboarding. “No one utilizes my capability & capacity for work”, said one employee in an exit interview. In organizations where no process exists to manage Offboarding, there may be many such unnoticed employee separations.

HR Strategy. Most management teams are focused on increasing revenues & profits. While it is true that most organizations exist primarily for financial growth, it is important to realize that this growth is not sustainable without keeping a unified and integrated HR strategy in mind.

Tracking achievements. Employees are hired based on their past experience and track-record and it is assumed that they will do well in the new job. However, actual performance is a true test of their capabilities.

If you can’t assign goals and track achievements periodically, how do you differentiate between the performers and non-performers – and reward them appropriately? This may frustrate talented employees and they may look elsewhere – where they are appreciated more.

Planning Growth. Without capabilities to assign and track goals, managers cannot look at the performance of their reportees objectively.

• Employees cannot be counseled regularly and effectively.
• Performance evaluation tends to be subjective with primary aim being completion of the performance appraisal process.
• Development needs cannot be identified at line-manager level.
• It is difficult to launch schemes that recognize performers – such as Pay for Performance
• Training is not effective and does not map to required development needs.

In such a scenario, how do you plan the growth of high potential employees?

Our experience indicates that over a period of time those employees quit, who are not recognized adequately yet have the maximum capability to deliver. They perceive that their current organization can not offer them the challenges, growth & recognition matching with their career ambitions.

High performers leave because their aspirations for growth and recognition cannot be managed effectively.

EmpXtrack is a comprehensive product that can help you in identifying talented employees, managing their career and growth and consequently arresting attrition. For information on how we can help you visit: http://www.empxtrack.com or Click here to get in touch with us.

Posted in:  Human Resources | 3 Comments »

The Importance of Further Training and Education for Employees

By: Stella Workman
Date: March 31st, 2011

Businesses today must do everything possible to stay competitive and maintain a highly skilled, motivated staff. Despite today’s very competitive job market, employees often have little hesitation when it comes to searching for a new job if they become unhappy with their current employer. In order to keep employees satisfied, boost morale, and remain competitive, employers need to be aware of the need for further training and education of personnel.

Keeping Skills Current

One of the most important reasons to offer further training and education to employees is to ensure that work skills stay current. Keeping employees up-to-date regarding software applications, the latest thinking on logistical methods, and ways to improve efficiency are all necessary to keep businesses on a level playing field with competitors. Training is also an excellent way to retain the best employees. An unsuccessful company is one that does not keep up with trends in business, that is reluctant to change, and that has an unmotivated job staff with stagnant skills.

Training Methods

One of the most popular methods of further training is that of computer-assisted instruction. Employees complete specific modules of instruction, usually at the employee’s own pace. Accurate monitoring of the employee’s progress is possible, and the amount of time an employee spends on a specific module is adjustable, dependent upon need. Another common method of training is the workshop model, where groups of employees learn through a combination of audiovisual aids, games, role-playing, and occasionally through lecture. This method encourages employees to get to know each other and fosters cooperation between different job classifications and departments.

Offering senior staff and management the opportunity to learn about the jobs of the support staff is another frequent choice when companies are considering what types of training employees need. Often, management is unaware of what the hourly employees do on a day-to-day basis. They may believe that those employees are not critical to the company’s operation, or that they can be quickly and easily replaced. Training management-level employees to do non-management tasks encourages an understanding and appreciation among all company personnel and can give rise to new ideas and suggestions for improvements to current practices.

Cross-Training

When employees learn to do the jobs of other employees, called cross-training, the business gains security by enabling an employee to step in should another become unavailable due to illness, a leave of absence, or a promotion. The company can remain productive when the option of relocating employees as needed is available. In addition, exposing staff to different jobs and departments within the company imparts a greater knowledge of how each position is important to the big picture. Employees gain an understanding of the value of the entire staff and a greater respect for each individual’s contributions. This is a moral booster and a great way of encouraging respect among employees.

Businesses wishing to retain the best employees and stay competitive in the marketplace today must offer further training to their personnel. Employees respond positively to the opportunity to improve their job skills, which results in greater job satisfaction. A well-trained staff with good morale is an enormous asset to any company.

Stella Workman is a freelance blogger who usually writes about saving accounts over at SavingsAccount.org. Her recent review looked at where to get good savings account rates.

Posted in:  Human Resources | 7 Comments »

CAN TECHNOLOGY IMPROVE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: October 27th, 2010

Introduction: Studies around the world have revealed that engagement levels have a direct impact on employee’s performance and consequently on the bottom line. Thus a well established co-relation exists between employee engagement and business results.

Engagement : Some Quotes (from articles in professional journals)

• Work never kills a person; the absence of it (unemployment) has killed many.
• Remaining idle is not human nature.
• No one likes to avoid work if there is clarity on what to do & how it will be evaluated.
• Keeping work force idle produces negativity which impacts on team performance.
• Engagement comes through involvement; people deliver more if they are emotionally involved in their work.
• Delaying decisions on personal issues creates stress & diverts employee’s attention from work.
• Absence of engagement is a challenge that can produce industrial unrest.
• Unless you know people intimately, you can’t engage them effectively.
• To keep their teams engaged, managers have to remain super-engaged.
• An empowered manager is an incubator of employee engagement.
• Employee motivation improves engagement levels.
• Trust, developed through transparency, promotes engagement.
• Engagement is fostered by Leadership; managers who lead from the front keep their task force actively engaged.
• Occasional encouragement always improves engagement.
• Engagement comes through commitment.
• Attitudinal transformation creates a temperament for healthy engagement.
• Employee engagement has transformed many organizations. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 9 Comments »

Search for Talent

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: October 20th, 2010

‘India’s Talent Khoj (Search)’: a program on the television channel ‘Colors’ can be viewed as a process of discovering latent potential of individuals & teams. This potential exists in different forms, called skills & competencies by the management experts. These skills could relate to singing, dancing, magic, acrobatics, instrumental music and a host of other forms in which people exhibit their potential. A common thread in all these forms is ‘innovation’ which the management gurus define as ‘doing things differently’. This touch of creativity distinguishes talented people from the masses. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 2 Comments »

Penny-wise Pound-foolish approach in H R M

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: October 19th, 2010

Synopsis:

H R function in most organizations is a cost center. In different industry verticals, HR costs are metered in terms of:

1. HR staff per 100 employees
2. employees wages as a % of total expenditure
3. hiring costs per employee
4. total HRM costs as a % of company revenue, and similar other statistics.

Are these metrics also used for setting the Goals & targets for the HR team? Does the Head HR have powers to approve initiatives which can curtail HR costs? Are the budgets provided to support these initiatives? If all this is happening in your organization, you are making your HR as a strategic partner in business. They will assume responsibility to cut HR costs without compromising on efficiency. In fact, any investment in providing state of the art tools to HR will increment their operational efficiency. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 1 Comment »

Managing Performance of Workers

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: July 12th, 2010

Introduction

Organizations in the manufacturing sector and also those in the service sectors such as hospitality, infrastructure, Security, logistic & retail services have a large component of their work force below the supervisor levels.

In general, the work force below officer / supervisor level may be called ‘Workers’ –the blue collared workforcein the organizations. This article discusses issues related to performance management of workers. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 4 Comments »

VALUE SYSTEMS IN LIFE

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: June 22nd, 2010

PREFACE

Value Systems exist in different forms such as social values, organizational values, human values & personal values. Often these are defined in Citizen’s Charters, Code of Conduct and as Leadership Attributes. All forms of value systems are largely based on ethics, morality and virtues. Over the years, values have been corrupted by over-ambition. This trend needs to be arrested.

I have attempted, in the form of a poem below, an expression of my observations & beliefs. It calls for an introspection (PEEP WITHIN) to understand what has gone wrong.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 6 Comments »

Employee Training: A Management Perspective

By: Maj. Gen. B.K. Bhatia
Date: May 10th, 2010

How does the management view employee training and what do they expect from it? This was a question which intrigued us; we wanted to understand how senior employees looked at the training function from a strategic perspective.

This article captures our discussions with employees in Operations, Management, HR & Training departments. We wanted to understand what companies did post the employee evaluations, during succession planning, manpower planning, recruitment and training budget allocation process.

The rest of the article discusses our approach and insights gained. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 28 Comments »

Carnival of HR

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: April 28th, 2010

Its Carnival time again! The Talent Junction blog is delighted to host this edition of the carnival. Thanks to all who contributed a post. Before we begin here are some tributes:

First, thanks to all of you in the HR community who continue to share your thoughts in how to improve the greatest asset for organizations – their people;

Second, to hundreds of our customers who share so much with us and allow us to continuously learn and apply;

and Last to my sweet daughter, who would have turned 12 today….we miss you Sayeesha.

So let the carnival wheel start to roll now……. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Human Resources | 49 Comments »

Getting the Performance Appraisal Right

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: April 19th, 2010

Most companies want to appraise their employees on a periodic basis and their Human Resources department is generally responsible to manage this process. I have often seen that the buy-in and participation from the Line managers is not as much as one would expect. Based on my meetings with a large number of HR managers, Line Managers & Senior Level Executives, I have come to realize that there is much more to a Performance Appraisal than what is truly understood by all stakeholders.
This article discusses how HR Managers can create a Performance Appraisal System that adds true value to the organization and becomes a useful and strategic employee development tool. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 39 Comments »

Happy New Year 2010

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: December 31st, 2009

Posted in:  Human Resources | 2 Comments »

Case Study: Performance Management System for Educational Institutions

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: November 5th, 2009

As the need for talented workforce is growing worldwide, so is the need for faculty & staff with requisite skills in the educational institutions to produce the base for generating such a work force. Businesses are continuously demanding fresh talent which can meet challenges of twenty-first century through innovative and out-of-the box thinking. Business leaders are counting on educational institutions: schools, colleges, universities and other training establishments for infusing well-qualified fresh talent into industry.

In turn, educational institutions are continually striving for improving their output both in terms of numbers and the quality of talent offered for varying jobs in different types of organizations. The excellence of output from an educational institution depends on the quality of their faculty, support services and infrastructure. To achieve higher levels of excellence, institutions need to set high performance goals for their academic and non-academic staff. These goals should be effectively measured at frequent intervals to bridge performance gaps, if any. Institutions which can effectively manage the performance of their faculty and other employees can leave their mark on industry.

Thus, having the best of class performance management software is not only a need of the hour but an enabler of excellence in an educational institution.

EmpXtrack team has published a case study on Performance Management System for Educational Institutions.

Download Case Study: Fill this form to download the case study:

Posted in:  Case Study/ White Papers, Employee Appraisals, Goal Setting, HR Technology, Human Resources | 33 Comments »

Difference between the SaaS and Perpetual License Structure

By: Talent Junction
Date: October 7th, 2009

HR Managers and CTOs often ask us the benefits of SaaS over Perpetual license of EmpXtrack.

Here is a comparison chart:

Posted in:  Human Resources | No Comments »

Employee termination or firing – HR’s role is critical!

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 22nd, 2009

Termination or firing employees at work is a not-so-liked but mandatory process at business. All businesses big or small at time terminate or fire employee because of business compulsions. However, the recent downturn has accelerated the employee termination largely due to financial and performance problems.

Decision to fire an employee is never welcomed, however, there are some acceptable reasons for terminating an employee:

• For poor performance at work or low productivity.
• Being indisciplined or showing unethical behavior at work.
• Not conforming to the company policy.

Above reasons are well accepted by other employees, business community and also by the legal framework of the country and states for growth of business.

Unfortunately, we also witness incidents of “unethical and unacceptable” terminations. These are neither acceptable by the communities nor by the legal framework. It is needless to mention that law has reprimanded such actions of the employers severely, whether they were intentional or unintentional.

It is unethical and legally unacceptable to terminate an employee -

• On basis of sex, race, color, ethnicity;
• On basis of medical disability;
• On basis of religious faith;
• On basis of pregnancy;
• On base of age, etc.

The law says says that it is “illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment, including hiring and firing”. Read more information on Unethical Discriminatory Practices.

Firing employees also exposes the organization to potential risks ranging from motivational to legal. Here are some of the common risks:
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, Human Resources, Performance Management | 3 Comments »

Web-based HRIS helps in FMLA Compliance

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: September 1st, 2009

Introduction: This blog post mentions the benefits of using an HR Software (also called recordkeeping software) in maintaining compliance with FMLA, a law in United States about family and medical leaves. It is important for HR, CEO and CFO to know about FMLA law as employers in US have lost millions of dollars in FMLA violations.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an act in United States that provides certain employees of an organization with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that employers maintain the group health benefits to the employees during the leave period. FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take reasonable unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  FMLA, HR Technology, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources | 16 Comments »

Importance of HR Data for a CEO

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: August 9th, 2009

I used to believe that HR Data was useful for HR Departments only since the department was responsible for employee development & management activities. Alternately, the CFO and CEO were only interested in metrics such as cost of hire, total compensation, cost for training etc which were more oriented towards financial goals and treated employee costs as a “cost-center”. My perception changed in a recent customer interaction.

It was during an EmpXtrack training session for one of our clients in India, when their HR Director asked that we provide extensive HR dashboards to their CEO. While these reports were available for the HR Managers, I wasn’t sure if it could benefit the CEO in any way and hence I resisted.

Since the HR Director seemed to be a nice & patient gentleman, I thought of arguing a little and also better understand why he believed that the CEO would want to look at all this data. There were over 25 crucial dashboards already available for the CEO and what could be the benefits of having access to 100s of additional reports. Many questions came in my mind like –

• Will the CEO have time to go through the reports,
• What will be the implication of training him in using these?
• What if one of the reports doesn’t work correctly? (It does happen!!!)
• Was the CEO from an HR background or believed in Jack Welch’s theory of HR Management etc. etc.

The HR Director was obliging and I got some deep insights into how CEOs think and work. This also helped me better understand the needs of an effective HR department – especially for a company that has global ambitions and aggressive growth plans.

The HR Director said that they are into a Knowledge Intensive Business Services and their core strength lies in the quality of their people. While meeting potential investors and even large customers, our CEO is often asked following questions:

1. What is it about your management team / people that makes them uniquely capable of executing on this business plan?

AND/OR

2. Do you have the Right Leadership?

AND/OR

3. Does the team have passion for the business? Have they done it before: experience; market experience; intimate contact with potential customers, partners, and suppliers; etc. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Motivation, Performance Management | 2 Comments »

Strategic Benefits of Online Leave Management System

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: July 23rd, 2009

Leave Management is one of the most important HR processes, that consumes a small but significant portion of managerial time. While managers are usually overloaded with projects & hunger for resources, approving subordinates leaves is a tight rope walk. On one hand HR has to ensure compliance with leave policy & ensure availability of sufficient resources for business continuance; while on the other hand it has to improve employee satisfaction. Most of us have witnessed bitter manager-employee relation on issues of leaves. Thus, leave management becomes an important strategic task for the organization.

Strategic Value of Leave

While many companies may take the leave management “not so seriously”, research shows that poor leave management has had bad impact on business performance. It can impact project deliveries and employee morale negatively. Here are some of the critical business issues, that are directly related to leave management. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources | 23 Comments »

Web 2.0 and SaaS for Human Resource Managers

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: July 6th, 2009

Recently we were asked by “People and Management” a popular HR magazine in India to explain Web 2.0 and SaaS to their readers who are mainly senior HR Folks, CEOs and other management profiles. Our thoughts were published in the magazine as an article titled “Web 2.0 and The SaaS Factor for HR“. Here is the summary of this article. (Full version PDF available at request.)

If you visit Internet often, you will have, most certainly, come across the two buzz-words, Web 2.0 and SaaS. Let us discuss what these two actually are, how these are redefining the workplace and why as HR experts, should we be interested in these technology issues. It has to be borne in mind, however, that Web 2.0 and SaaS concepts apply to several domains. Here follows its application in HR Management.

The Web 2.0

This Web 2.0 is a specific type of design of a web site that allows “communication, and information sharing” amongst the owner of the website and visitors. Unlike previous forms of websites which only allowed one-Way Communication (apart from filling a contact us form), Web 2.0 websites allow visitors to communicate with the owners about the content and also enables them to communicate with each other.

The Free Factor

The most significant thing about Web 2.0 is that it is free. Unlike yesteryears, when you needed to pay to create a web site, Web 2.0 works on the concept of free utilization of this powerful resource. Now anyone who has access to Internet can create a blog or website or open an account for free. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 38 Comments »

Free Human Resources (HR) Software Download Facts

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: April 22nd, 2009

Free HR Software

Many visitors on EmpXtrack’s website come to look for Free HR software. Because there are many softwares in different domains that come for FREE, they expect that there can be a Free Human Resources Software too. This post will discuss “Is there any free lunch (software) at all?” for Human Resources Management. I will also try to bust the myths about the softwares that are available for Free.

Why HR Software is NOT free?

Let me begin with why there can’t be free software in HR Domain.

My first argument is that it takes lots of efforts to develop an HR Software, because an HR Software is not merely a plain database of employees information fields (like in an Excel Sheet or MS Access) but a large collection of various types of information which are linked to each other in a logical way so that an output can provide a Common Sense View about the employees.

If I need to define HR Software I will say “HR Software is a process for the collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of employee’s data. It can provide tools for prediction and forecasting based on data. Thus it can be used for a wide variety of management decisions, financial decisions about manpower, performance of people, succession planning and removal of non-performers.” Such an important software, which provides a total MIS on human resources has to be created with great care. How can you get it for Free. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, Goal Setting, HR Technology, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources, Performance Management | 60 Comments »

Writing SMART Goals (also called KRAs) from Job Descriptions

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: April 14th, 2009

Many Managers (Including HR managers responsible for writing others Goals) often ask to help them on creating Goals (Key Responsibility Areas) for different designations, which they can use for setting Goals and/or conducting performance appraisals. While most of these managers are completely aware of their job profile, they find it difficult to shape it in a written form.

Knowing your Goals and writing them effectively is an all-together different game. To describe your Goals (KRAs) you need to have effective writing skills and sound knowledge of terminology. Unfortunately, some executives/ managers may not have a flair for writing and thus unable to write their Goals (KRAs). This is true for HR also. So here are some tips that will help Talent Junction users to write Goals (KRAs) from the Job Descriptions.

SMART: A Smart Goal (KRA) is one which is:

1. Specific : Clearly stated what to do and how to do?
2. Measurable: States how the performance for this goal will be measured.
3. Achievable: It can be achieved by employees if they work really hard (You can draw this conclusion by talking to employee, manager or someone who has done this job successfully).
4. Relevant: The KRA (Goal) is relevant to the job and the performance on this goal will improve productivity of the employee.
5. Time Frame: States a time frame to achieve the goals.

How to WRITE SMART Goals (KRAs)?

Here are the steps how anyone can write Goals (KRAs) from Job Descriptions: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Goal Setting, HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 47 Comments »

Employee Appraisal Scores can be DECEPTIVE

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: March 30th, 2009

Recession has done at least one good thing for organizations. Shifting the FOCUS from Gut-feelings to qualitative and quantitative analysis of business performance and decisions.

“I think Steve is a great guy.” doesn’t work anymore. It has to be “Look at John’s sales performance report. It says he is doing great job.”

The next thing that comes into picture is Employee Performance Appraisals. More than ever organizations are looking to set SMART goals and conduct performance appraisals honestly. But does HONESTY itself gives accurate results?

Consider the case of three managers in the same department of an organization in Year 2007. The performance of the teams of these managers was at par with marginal differences.

Manager A: Ram is one of the youngest managers and hails from Generation Y. He is very optimistic and looks for positive side of the employees. He believes in motivating by carrots.
Manager B: Sonia is in the middle of her career. She has high career prospects in the company and looking for promotion in 1-2 years. She likes to play safe.
Manager C: Johnson is an ex-government employee. For him discipline and loyalty come foremost. He cannot tolerate any deviation from policies and authorities. He believes in the stick.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, Human Resources, Performance Management | 12 Comments »

Case Study on HR Management in Retail Industry

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: March 5th, 2009

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.

Download Counter: 908 downloads so far.

Posted in:  Case Study/ White Papers, Economy, Human Resources | 17 Comments »

The Ray of Hope in Recession for Human Resources

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: March 4th, 2009

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.

Download Counter: 908 downloads so far.

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Economy, HR Technology, Human Resources, Performance Management | 9 Comments »

The Future of Human Resources Management

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: February 5th, 2009

Prayag Consulting, a leading technology marketing firm, recently interviewed President of Saigun Technologies and the Chief Architect of EmpXtrack, Tushar Bhatia, regarding the trends in HR Technology, the future of HR Management and entrepreneurship. Here are some excerpts from the interview that appeared in their newsletter Focal Point.

What the future holds for HR Technology

With the baby boomer generation retiring, there is a massive talent shortage in the Western countries. Organizations will have to optimize their workforce to deliver at the lowest possible manpower requirements, and any solution that can help them do this effectively will be a sure winner.

The maturing of Internet based technology platforms, acceptance of the SaaS concept by the market at large, good security standards and low cost of bandwidth are further enablers. We are fortunately in a good period at the right time and hope to capitalize on the trend.  Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Technology, Human Resources, Motivation, Performance Management | 3 Comments »

Why employee performance appraisals are ineffective, sometimes?

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: January 12th, 2009

One of my HR Community friends, Basheer wrote to me:

> Dear Mr. Gireesh Sharma,
>
> When most people consider traditional performance appraisals a time consuming and expensive task, I also believe they are ineffective in the present work culture of organizations.
>
> I would like to hear from you the better ways to get the performance appraisals done effectively ,successfully and quickly. Or is there a way out of performance appraisals?
>
> Regards.
> A.A Basheer

Basheer’s concern was to a large extent genuine. I would like to share with you what I replied to him:

Dear Mr. Basheer,

Thanks for writing.

I (to some extent) agree with your thought that “most people consider traditional performance appraisals a time consuming and expensive task“. Is there a better way to do it? Yes it is! Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  Employee Appraisals, Human Resources, Performance Management | 10 Comments »