Hi gopal,
Its nice to see that mail from your end. Because that makes me feel there's SO MUCH one can fill you in with. You know......i look at it as a huge opportunity for enlightenment, not necessarily a convincing bout. So here goes.
'Never ever found the HR people doing anything significant! '
What have U seen the HR do ?? For that matter, is HR supposed to be a manufacturing unit, churning out tangible commodities for all to see. I guess its about applying the mind a little bit. Let us consider the following:
A very healthy and profit making organisation, the health getting reflected primarily in consistent profits and a high shareholder value. But if you look inside, the health gets manifested in a good employer proposition (meaning that the organisation is perceived as a great place to work in, provides good career growth, has systematic training and development opportunitites, pays decently well, and maintains internal parity of compensation) and low employee attrition rates . But mind you, in a healthy organisation, these are taken for granted and the benefits are continuously and consistently 'felt' by the employees, not necessarily 'seen'. A little thought would reveal that all this exists because of very very strong HR systems, driven by the HR managers, who ensure that the organisational brand and values are incorporated in the,
1) Recruitment process - the language of a recruitment ad., the selection process. Infact to me, the selection process and 'EXACTLY what do we want in our employees' is THE MOST CRITICAL part in any organisation, because that determines 'who' will drive the organisation, which in turn determines 'how' the organisation will be driven.
2) Performance Management - making each employee aware of what is expected of him, how he must deliver the same, setting periodic targets, reviewing the same, and then evaluating at the end of a performance cycle. You probably think that all this happens automatically........well no. It's driven by the HR. And to find out the value or bottomline added by this process, you just need to run a goalless and performance evaluationless organisation for 6 months.
3) Training and Development - this is an investment that probably brings about the highest value add, because the value is added directly to the intellectual capital of the organisation. to just give you a small peek, imagine understanding the developmental needs (from the appraisal process, persoanl interviews, informal discussions) of EACH AND EVERY employee in line with the organisational goal, and arranging for the training in different areas, and following it up with an assessment of what value the training has added to each individual and hence to the organisational as a whole. its a mommoth task, and the least it results in is huge organisational profits............but i guess its an unsung hero because it cannot be 'seen'. But please feel it.
4) Compensation Management - should only high performers keep on getting salary raises.....or should poor performers only be given salary raises so as to motivate them. should a high talent be attracted at very high salary levels, and the internal parity upset in the process. Or should salary bands and increments be fixed across the board......and only incentives given to reward extraordinary performance. For that matter, what IS extraordinary performance....and does the definition differ from company to company ??? shockingly enough for you, ALL OF THIS gets decided and implemented by the HR........and how well it is done reflects directly on the organisational health.
Sounds a lot, doesn't it.......well, it doesn't even begin to touch the role of HR as a strategic partner as yet. We'll probably take that up next time.
With hope, Subramani |
