Dear Members,

‘Human Capital’—it’s one of those favourite buzzwords amongst HR professionals. Human Capital (HC) is all about tapping the potential of the employees so as to create a high performing entity. But being able to do so in actual practice is easier said than implemented. This is because companies are moving towards flat structures and there are fewer career opportunities for the professionals. With the result, employees are discovering that their aspirations of building a dynamic career in an organisation may often remain unfulfilled. “The major challenge for organisations would be to successfully manage the career aspiration of its’ employees, before they get on to looking at practices in human capital,” says Greg Schupp, managing director, Asia-pacific Human Capital, Ernst & Young.

Alongwith this, the inability of companies to provide a highly motivating work environment is yet another hitch in implementing such practices. In an interview with Tarun Narayan of FE, Mr.Schupp outlines certain solutions that companies need to adopt so that they are able to effectively leverage human capita in the organisation.

Excerpts:

How should cos with flat structures manage the care-ers of its’ employees so that the entity is able to consolidate on the human capital?

Corporates with flat structures should provide diverse range of work opportunities to its’ employees. The opportunities should be such that they are able to enhance the capability and employability of the professionals. But this may not be adequate.This needs to be integrated with providing bigger and innovative roles to the high performers. Companies should also pro-actively communicate that the new age car-eers are not merely about job titles but they are also about the wealth of learning that the employees can derive from the job profile. Even such a communication exercise becomes an important process while managing employee careers.

Most of the people practices often veer around the high performers. But what kind of HR practices should companies initiate so that they are even able to keep stable performers excited and satisfied in their respective profiles?

Practices that are targeted at high performers and those targeted at stable performers have to cruise along simultaneously. While investments in terms of money and other organisational resources behind high performing individuals cannot be done away, companies also need to keep some space for even the stable performers or the above average class, who form the chunk of any company’s workforce. This space should incorporate providing customised job profiles that tries to maximise the-ir strengths alongwith maintaining separate training initiatives that can push them into the high performing populace.

In comparison to companies worldwide, what is it that Indian companies are not doing enough when it comes to building human capital?

Flexible working hours is something that Indian companies have still not deployed. This may not merely mean balancing work space and the life space. But it is also about providing the convenience and opportunity to the professionals to work from home if that does not demand direct client interactions. Companies overseas invest on creating independent work stations in the residence of its’ employees.In India there is still a whole lot of such dynamics that is yet to be seen in action.

Adapted from an article from the financial express.

Bye,

Sujith