HRNV-May-2016

HRNews & Views May, 2016

Editor’s note … Cover Story HR International

Dear Friends Building high performance HR articles – Europe, US…
This edition focuses on some key culture…
aspect of building High performance Company Updates
culture, Social media – talent Article
branding, and Total Rewards. Latest happenings
Social Media Branding
Debabratta Dutta The Talk Special
Employee Engagement Training Study Analysis
RD Associates Total Rewards…
www.rda.co.in

Advisory Board High performing culture…

Late Dr. .Udai Pareek Cover Story…

Management Guru Building performance driven organizations is what every
CEO strives for. However only few are there who could
Madan Srinivasan actually build the same…

Global Human Resources
Professional

Syed Ali Abbas

Global Human Resources Professional

Marcel Parker

Ex-President HR
Raymonds

Anil Noronha

Exec. VP & Group Head HR
Wadhawan Holdings

Sourav Basu

Global Management
Professional

WE CANNOT LEARN WITHOUT PAIN Cover story

www.Heartfulness.org Advertisement

Dr. Elizabeth J Denley Articles

How many of us like pain and suffering? Instead we prefer pleasure, happiness, contentment, peace, people to be nice and The Talk
helpful etc. etc. We want life to be pleasant and full of harmony and goodness.
HR International
Yet imagine if the world was only full of happiness, peace and joy. How would we know it was joyful? We only know by
comparison with the suffering that is part and parcel of every life. And suffering is part and parcel of every life. There is no
light without shadow, no health without illness, and no joy without pain. That is the nature of the duality we live in known as
the physical world of matter. So the first step is to accept that we all share the experience of pain.

Coming to the next question: given that pain is inevitable, how do we respond when we experience it? Do we resist and
complain and suffer madly? Or do we accept and simply let it pass? There is great wisdom in learning how to manage pain.
In fact mastery of pain is part of developing wisdom.

Pain is such an integral part of human existence, as it is associated with any meaningful growth or evolution. Think about the
birth of a baby, or the creation of a great work of art, or the training involved in the winning of a gold medal at the Olympics.
So what makes some people able to accept that pain willingly and grow through the process, and others shy away from it?
Think about yourself: what is your response to pain?

In today’s society, we are all too easily taught to run away from pain. At the first sign of a headache or a backache we take
painkillers, and at the first sign of emotional pain we switch off from our feelings and drown ourselves in a movie or a video
game or some other distraction. It is not that painkillers or distractions are bad – they have their valid place – but we have
come to rely on them as panaceas to mask pain, whether it is physical or emotional. The whole cycle of addiction revolves
around such a response to pain. We self-medicate, whether it is with drugs or sugar or TV.

So what is the healthy approach to pain? Here are some tips:

1. When something painful happens, don’t run away. Pain is like anger, in that it is a signal that something needs to
change or is changing, whether it is an emotional pattern, a physical ailment or a healthy, natural process like
childbirth. It is an opportunity for change, to improve life in some way or another. Treat it as a God-given opportunity
and be grateful.

2. Pain refines us and keeps us alert, whereas pleasure allows us to become complacent. Both have their place, so we
should never try to avoid pain. The sooner we accept it, the sooner it passes.

3. Observe animals in the wild, how they manage pain, and you will see that they are so simple, and accept their
suffering with so much dignity. We can learn from them.

4. Face painful situations with courage and a light heart. Over time, Heartfulness meditation equips us to manage
these situations with greater maturity and acceptance, and as a result we gradually learn to master pain.

Update

Cover story Advertisement Articles The Talk HR International Update

Building Cover story

high performance culture…

Building performance driven organizations is what every CEO strives
for. However only few are there who could actually build the same.

What builds a performance driven culture and how do we get there? It’s Advertisement
a question that seems to be doing rounds and the answer is not clearly

visible.

Arindam Chakraborty
Director - Human
Resources & Admin.

BOLD
(Formerly LiveCareer)

www.arichak.weebly.com

The Model … Articles

The performance driven culture is built on a evolving model cutting across various cross sections of functions.

The Talk

HR International

Update

The effort is led from the top to build and create an environment to sustain a performing culture.

HR Role … Cover story

Human Resources function plays a critical and pivotal role in helping leadership build an environment to create a
performance driven culture.

Leadership • Drive as top agenda item Advertisement
• Create Leadership buy in
Organization • Tie this to Leadership and managerial KRA Articles
structure
• Matrix model with key focus on roles The Talk
Compensation • Structure and role to support organization
HR International
Right mindset direction

Career • Has a right compensation philosophy
Development • Institutionalize Pay for Performance
Engagement • Alienate high weightage to educational credentials
• Map contribution
Platform
• Create an environment with right rewards to
encourage performance

• Non performers feels the heat to perform

• Create right development plans
• Encourage and create specific tracks for fast

trackers

• Build positive performing engagement plans
• Drive engagement with Managers and Leaders

HR needs to develop a framework that allows performance to Update
grow, challenged and surpassed….

Focus on Outcome … Cover story

The organization's that thrives on creating successful set ups are always willing to create an environment excites Advertisement
people to perform and bring extraordinary results for an organization.

WHAT IT BRINGS ?

Attractive High Results Articles
employer
New
brand benchmarks

Better Excited The Talk
Financial workforce
Performance

Competitive HR International
company

Create an environment that lead's people to be highly
productive

Update

TRAINING Cover story
a study by RD Group
Advertisement
80% organization has a
Training focus Articles

64% has a dedicated The Talk
Training group
HR International
72% see Training as an
investment Update

83% organization feels
the need to Train
people

To know more and complete study report subscribe to HR dipstick product
To know about RD Product Spectrum CLICK HERE

Cover story Advertisement Articles The Talk HR International Update

One to One Cover story

K Prasada Rao Advertisement

SBQ Steels Ltd Articles
Group Vice President Corporate HR
The Talk
How do you see the changing role of HR from what it was a few years ago.
As HR becomes more and more strategic, the greater is the impact on planning, owing to the volatile and dynamic business HR International
environment. While the key functions of HR still remain the same i.e. recruitment, talent retention, talent management and
employee engagement, the way these are handled with respect to the new challenges posed by economy, evolution of Update
organization culture, impact of technology and Gen Y differs. For example, sticking to the age old traditional recruitment
methods means being left far behind by competitors, who are using social media to attract talent. Another example can be that
of devising policiesthat can be customized to suit individual requirements – flexi time that gives new mothers a chance to
prioritize work and personal life or another employee who opts for higher education to divide time optimally between studies
and work.
What is the key focus for HR under such a dynamic operating market conditions.
Our HR Vision is to stimulate and nurture the intrinsic desire in people to learn, grow and enhance performance to achieve
business growth.
We seek to create meaningful and enduring experiences for our people by delivering on our Employer Brand Promise of
challenging assignments and continuous learning opportunities to realize their potential and grow professionally and
personally.
The coming decade will see some key contradictions in employees’ expectations with heightened uncertainties in the
economy. People today are more collaborative, socially connected, highly mobile, seek recognition and are inclined towards
social casting their lives. They will seek entrepreneurship and job security, well defined roles and variety at work, and
challenging work and work life balance. This calls for paradigm shifts in every aspect of HR. With the wide array of choices,
looking at mere supply-demand equation will no longer hold good for attracting talent.
People today look for purpose and meaning in work and the freedom to make lifestyle choices. Transformations in such an
environment will be more successful through a collaborative approach. Spontaneous recognition will be appreciated. Such
shifts bring about a compelling need to think.

What are the biggest challenges you see today in managing HR function Cover story

We have embedded HR in Line leadership, taking it closer to the people. This helps in co creation of programs, policies and Advertisement
in their effective implementation. The idea is to partner with and build capacity in line leaders to lead HR initiatives.
Articles
We believe in encouraging and promoting the people within the organization. The peoples are welcome to take the
responsibility, and it is not difficult to perform them. The employees are promoted to next level according to their capability, The Talk
and years with the organization.
HR International
How do you handle the challenge of managing increasing employee expectations across the industry.
Update
Long gone are the days of employees being given a monthly pay cheque and being rewarded with financial incentives and
public praise for special projects other than their routine job. Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, today organizations
understand that different level of employees are motivated by different “types” of rewards. SBQ has so designed the entire
employee life cycle, that employees are not only the architects of their careers but also are motivated by the entire journey
which is a rewarding experience.

Non-financial motivators
• Work place flexibility in terms of alternate work arrangements
• State-of-the-art gymnasium and sports facilities within the campus
• Day off on career service anniversary
• Sabbatical
• Appreciation via e-cards/e-certificates
• Health talks and camps
• Financial planning camps
• Fostering an atmosphere of innovation via patent programs, Architect’s forums
• Training – Technical and Leadership
Financial motivators
• Above and Beyond award
• Star award
• Author program
• Patent bonus

What are some of the good ways for HR to build rapport and influence business decisions for the CEO.

HR’s relations with the CEO will be shaped by its ability to understand the CEO’s expectations and be proactive in designing
solutions. This will increase trust levels, building a platform for involving HR in the decision-making process. It is equally
important to share with the CEO the pulse of the employees and strengthen communication channels to ensure that
messages from the top cascades down the organisation. HR too has to learn to think on its feet.
There is no denying the fact that today every “C” level executive understands that talent is at the center of every business
aspect. The way HR connects with the CEO in communicating about the multiple facets of the business go a long way in
establishing the HR credibility as a strategic business partner:

•Employee engagement metrics that impact the bottom line
•Nurturing leadership talent which is always in short supply
•Strategies that integrate individual and business objectives
•Creating a culture that values excellent performance

What will be your words of wisdom to some of the budding professional in this fraternity.

With HR gaining significance as a strategic business partner and slowly making its presence felt at the table, I suggest that,
the HR fraternity together should strive to bring about the “human first and resource next” approach to every aspect of the
business by partnering with the “C” suite executives.

Be open and have an learning attitude. Treat every day as a critical day. To achieve ones goals and be successful in the field
of your choice one needs to be always on his / her toes and have good understanding and decision making abilities. Patience
is a key to success.

Be in touch with the employees at all levels, find time to speak to them understand their problem, give solutions. HR is for
employee and not employee for HR. Bring new initiative for employees, respect their ideas, and try to reduce the gap
between seniors and juniors. Fair treatment to all. Very important, contribute for business, be always updated in happening in
HR Domain, around the industry, city, nation etc.

Employee Engagement– is it real? Cover story

Kumar Abhishek Jha Every organization has spent a considerable amount of leadership Advertisement
time, trying to decode the monster that is ‘employee
Director – Global Human engagement’. Just what makes an engaging employee? Or, is an
Resources engaged employee really a mirage? I must confess every
E-Emphasys organization has had its own take on engagement and ways to
retain talent. This has obviously given us a plethora of ‘good
practices’, several of which are being continuously adopted by
organizations in a tryst to get employees ‘engaged’. In reality, this
vanilla adoption may not yield desired results, thereby taking
leaders back to the drawing board to look up ways to create an
engaging atmosphere for employees in organizations.

Let us attempt to decode engagement. In the words of Kevin Kruse, Employee engagement is the emotional commitment Articles
the employee has to the organization and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually
care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work The Talk
on behalf of the organization’s goals.
HR International
Very simply put, a strong engagement should reflect in less than market attrition, high VOC, and a successful referral process
within the organization.

Some of the golden rules of creating an engaged employee are:

- Creating a eco system at workplace that the employee identifies with and wholly supports

An eco-system is the most important architecture an organization should put in place for employees. An architecture replete
with Policies that are market aligned and continuously adaptive to market and Processes that aim at simplifying an employee’s
stay in the organization. For example – a 20 year old organization comprising Gen Y and millenials needs to deliberate on the
feasibility & virtues of flexible attendance, usage of leaves and work from home. Similarly, hierarchical processes that drove
enterprise organizations in the past need to be looked at with an aim to simplify life at work.

- Thought Leadership that continuously aims at putting fairness as a value proposition

Developing fairness in the way an employee’s performance is assessed is very critical. While most organizations have it as an
‘intent’, the ‘action’ often hinges on the opposite! Continuously ensuring that the culture of feedback is driven and performed to
required levels, coupled with a strong measurable performance tool, are important as they drive the ‘fairness to performance’
value. One of the recent moves that most of the organizations are adopting is to move away from annualized (bell curve)
methodology and towards quarterly feedback so as to ensure course corrections for teams to achieve agreed outcomes.

- Detailed role and overall value proposition

Creating a role that very clearly defines charters for individuals and to showcase how the organization continuously invests in
tactful learning interventions, customized and created for every individual in the organization. It is important for employees to
understand that there is investment on their overall professional & personal growth, by the organization. And this can be only
driven by employees becoming a significant contributor in creating a plan working on their specific learning needs

- Showcasing high levels of emotional leadership Update

One of the most significant contributors to an engaging organization is the ability for its leaders to display optimal levels of
emotional intelligence. To naturally create relationships with teams and build strong bridges that allow individuals to talk about
their issues even if those wouldn’t be remotely associated with work, is the hallmark of an effective emotional leader. A lot has
changed over the last 2 decades, in terms of the way we look at our lives at work. Gone are the days when we were expected
to keep personal & professional lives distinctive and separate. In today’s fast paced lives, and at a time when we spend
presumably more time at work than home, it is but natural for the professional and personal lines to blur. Moreover, with the
advent of social media, our professional friends have seamlessly come together with personal friends. In today’s world, it
becomes increasingly important for leaders tocreate buffers in the eco system that address personal issues while keeping

the overall professional deliverables intact. For example – one on ones with every team member with a passion to really Cover story
understand if there could be something a leader could help with/in. In most of the organizations, one on ones or team
meetings generally become a checklist activity thereby taking the sting out of the process. Therefore there are no Advertisement
relationships forged. And no bridges made.

Engagement need not be mistaken for happiness or satisfaction BUT for the ability for the individual to give that ‘extra’ at
work every day without breaking a sweat! Often leaders mistake engagement to be synonymous with low hanging
fruits such as Friday fun, parties or even a discretionary increment. These are no longer ‘valued’ in the eyes of an employee.
Many a times, it is also a misnomer that the HR is responsible for engagement. It is imperative that managers & leaders
own their people, by carefully introspecting the golden rules of engagement.

To quote Kevin Kruse again - You are responsible for the engagement of your team. Don‘t look elsewhere!

Kumar Abhishek Jha is Director – Global Human Resources at e-Emphasys, a global tech. product organization
creating value in the dealer and rental management space.

Articles

The Talk

HR International

Update

Total Rewards – Matching the organizations expectations with the Cover story
employee’s aspirations
Partha P. Patnaik Advertisement
Head – HR The need to think beyond just compensation
With the IT industry having an optimistic outlook for the year ahead, the
Prolifics competition between organizations for attracting and retaining talent is
going to be high. Hence apart from just direct compensation, programs

like work-life balance, career development and performance
management are crucial business responses for the ever changing
workplace. Organizations that are interested in maintaining a diverse
workforce, retain experienced and knowledgeable employees and attract
new talent cannot afford to overlook the value such programs bring to

balance the concerns of today’s workforce

In fact many organizations have already started using initiatives like flexi-timings, extended maternity/paternity leaves, Articles
Management development programs, job enrichment etc. to help recruit and retain employees.
Senior Management and HR practitioners can affect employee engagement and retention by first understanding the other things The Talk
an employee values, apart from compensation, in today’s workplace and then championing strategies that maximize the
effectiveness of those initiatives. Introducing such programs can help in improving employee morale and retention, reduce HR International
unscheduled time off, and increase overall organizational performance.
Update
Current trends in employee rewards and benefits opportunity in India

With India becoming fast integrated to the global workforce, the basic themes of various employee rewards and benefits are
starting to look similar. Most organization while benchmarking themselves against the best practices of the leading companies in
the industry are quickly adapting themselves to offer the same value proposition which most employees look for. Some of these
are stated below:

 Incentives – linked to both individual and organizational performance, which gives employee an upside to their basic (fixed)
compensation and benefits.

 Insurance - health cover for self and dependents
 Child care (extended Maternity/Paternity leave) – caring for a newborn, especially for the mother, which often takes priority

mostly during the first year.
 Sabbatical - for pursuing higher education or personal projects that a person wants to go in for at a given time or phase in

one’s career.
 Early (phased) retirement – for people typically over 50 who want to disengage from work, due to health or other personal

reasons, without waiting for the mandatory retirement age.
 Career planning – where the entire career for a recognized talent is planned right at the time of induction and ensure that

the person progresses smoothly into their desired role in the organisation.

The importance of creating a Total Rewards strategies

A Total Rewards strategy is aimed to cover all aspects of EVP (Employee Value Proposition) so that based on each individual’s
specific needs or aspirations, compensation benefits, recognition, career-planning etc. can be done. A good Total Rewards
strategy aligns the needs of an individual with the expectation of the organization to create a win-win situation in the following
ways:

 Addresses the employees immediate and future concerns – they have time to manage the issues better that seem either
more important at a particular point in their career.

 Reduction of mental stress – arising due to a mismatch of work expectations and anticipated reward/recognition, especially
when there is a conflict in prioritizing work-life issues.

 Better Delegation of work to the right candidate – as the person taking up higher responsibilities gets rewarded accordingly.
 Improved Planning and execution of activities – helps the employee to be more driven to accomplish what he/she wants to

accomplish in a given time frame.
 Reduction of Unnecessary or Low-Value work – helps an employee decide whether his/her presence in a meeting or

training program adds value or not.
 Requires Less Reporting – as the employee becomes more independent, supervision time and related costs are likely to be

reduced.
 Higher Work Satisfaction and Productivity – having flexibility at workplace makes an employee more productive as they are

engaged in their roles and openly discuss with their manager on their performance related issues.

Using Total Rewards to improve performance and reduce attrition in our organization Cover story
Most organizations have adapted various Total Rewards program to address their workforce’s expectations and ensure high
levels of employee engagement and reduce attrition. Our organization has put the following programs to address our Advertisement
employees’ special needs:
Compensation & Benefits: Articles
 Incentives – based on individual and company’s performance.
 Group Health Insurance – extended up to 5 dependents

Work-Life Balance:
 Alternate work timings – For the general shift, instead of having a fixed login time we have split the login times into

blocks of half an hour. Hence instead of a start time of 9 am, an employee can come anytime between 9am to 10 am as
per his or her commuting time. The logout time (work-hours) for the employee is calculated based on his/her preferred
login time.
 Part-time work - For some employees with ongoing family obligations, a permanent part-time schedule is sometime
considered. This is however typically restricted to non-critical and support staff only.
 Extended Maternity leave – above the legal minimum often allowed to staff based on their requests.
 Special (concierge) services – assisting in investment/tax planning’s, health checkups, handling insurance (health)
claims and settling bills, making dinner reservations with good discount for group outings etc.

Rewards & Recognition:

 Star of the Quarter Award – certificate and gift voucher to the best performers in each team.
 Internal Certifications – for technology and/or domain experts.

Career Planning:
 Job Enrichment – increasing or modifying the scope of work and making a person cross-trained in more than one

product or technology. Ensuring the organizational skill is cumulatively increasing year on year.
 Coaching & Mentoring – checking the aspirations of each employee and matching them against their current and future

job profiles. Highlighting the areas of improvements and ensuring that focused training, formal and on-the-job, is done
to improve performance.
 Talent Management Program (TMP) – where a group of Sr. Managers, forming the TMP committee, plan the various
developmental and career management programs to ensure proper succession planning.

The Talk

HR International

Update

HR International… Cover story

HR in Europe

In this column, I hope to share with Advertisement
you some aspects on HR
Paul Strange, professionals in Europe.
HR Consultant

European HR ways… Articles

PWC PAYS SPANISH GOVERNMENT €37M TO SAVE CHANGING TRENDS IN LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT The Talk
EXECS FROM JAIL
The future of Learning and Development (L&D) was the HR International
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has paid the Spanish subject of seminars I attended recently. These were some of
government over €37million to stop former executives serving the areas identified where L&D professional must prepare to Update
jail time for fraud. take on new work or roles. All seem a long way from the
classroom training of the past.
The four former executives includes the ex-President of the
Spanish subsidiary. They were involved in the allegedly Social Facilitator. The popularity of social learning – self-
fraudulent sale of PwC’s systems consultancy to IBM in 2002. directed learning from friends, colleagues, online and social
The charges against one current member of staff and 40 media - is a good example of training relocating from the
former members of staff have been dropped. classroom to a virtual space. It requires cultural shift for both
the L&D professional and the employee.
It is also alleged that they claimed an advance of €21million
(£16.7million) from the deal that should have been declared Andy Lancaster, head of learning and development at the
as income, not as an increase in the business’ assets. CIPD, says moving from being a learning creator to a
However, they say that the payment was linked to the learning curator is the most critical challenge facing
segregation of the systems consultancy and its subsequent practitioners. “L&D needs to loosen its grip on designing
sale to IBM and was therefore declared as assets, not learning content, to become a facilitator of learning,” he says.
income.
Performance Analyst. How often do you have to challenge
The executives have been sentenced to three to six months in the request for training, because it has a prescribed solution
jail, but this is only a symbolic sentence. from the line manager? They have to solve a performance
problem.

They want 10 classroom sessions in five locations with a vague contingency plan for those that cannot make it. And can you Cover story
provide it all by the end of the month. You counter with a mix of solutions which address the critical learning points flexibly,
but this falls on deaf ears. Advertisement

If the L&D professional was asked to join the analysis of the problem, they may be able to recommend better solution. Many Articles
organisational issues do not have a single L&D solution. They can be addressed more effectively by multi-disciplinary HR
approach, and more quickly from a better understanding of performance issues to begin with. The Talk

Business Leader. This is an old call, but I heard many requests that L&D must be seen as a change agent rather than a cost. HR International
I agree that L&D should be involved in strategy from time-to-time, but it is a steep learning curve for a, largely, tactical
service department. Update

Digital Specialist. There were calls also for L&D folk to be more digitally able, and it will be an essential requirement for them
to have a good grasp of technical solutions. It will enable them to provide faster solutions (which will be appreciated) and
more cost effectively. It also means that L&D professionals will have to use technical resources that they do not primarily
own to deliver their new solutions.

It was a good idea to ask employees and manager which digital tools they find most useful; how much time they would like to
spend on learning; their views on the digital tools used currently; and the technologies they would like to try.

So the way forward for L&D is one where they recognise that their workers are increasingly using online, app driven, and
collaborative ways of learning. If you do not get this, then you will be falling behind the curve.

SHORT ON PAY

A new study in the UK has revealed unconscious biases affect pay rates. After examining weight, height and earnings data,
the researchers found that men who are shorter than the national average (5ft 9 in the UK) and women who are heavier than
average (70 kilos in the UK) earn around £1500 less per year than their colleagues.

POSTMAN AND GARDENER

The Finnish postal service is worried about falling demand for its mail services. In recent months, it has been laying off
workers because the number of letters and other deliveries has declined by over 100 million pieces in one year.It has thought
of a creative way to utilise its workforce, and to raise some extra revenue.

The state-owned, Posti, company is offering a weekly grass cutting service, with customers able to choose either 30 minutes
or 60 minutes of lawn-mowing time. It will only be available on Tuesdays, though, as the volume of post tends to be lighter
than on other days, and customers will have to provide their own lawnmower. They'll also have to be willing to pay €65 a
month for the half-hour sessions. The service will use volunteers from the workforce.

According to a manager at the company, it was a grassroots idea which came from postal workers themselves. Hah!

CREATIVE BENEFITS – YAY! Cover story

I liked the report from online job website, Glassdoor, which revealed some unusual employee benefits. Advertisement

 US retailer REI encourages its employees to get outside by offering two paid days off, called “Yay Days,” a year to
enjoy their favourite outside activity.

 CRM company, Salesforceemployees receive six days of paid volunteer time off a year. If they use all six, they
receive a $1,000 grant to donate to a charity of their choice.

 World Wildlife Fund employees take Friday off every other week, also known as “Panda Fridays” at the non-profit
organisation.

 Travel company Airbnb, the Best Place to Work in 2016, gives its employees an annual stipend of $2,000 to travel
and stay in an accommodation listing anywhere in the world.

 Google provides the surviving spouse or partner of a deceased employee 50% of their salary for the next ten years.

Articles

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HR International

Update

Cover story

Advertisement

Articles

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Update

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Update

Company Updates Cover story

Flipkart, Snapdeal slash hiring in bid to cut costs Advertisement

India’s largest e-commerce companies Flipkart and Snapdeal, which are struggling to raise fresh funds, have slashed hiring, Articles
along with spending on discounts and advertising, as they seek to cut losses amid a sharp slowdown in sales growth. Apart
from hiring a few senior leaders, both companies have reduced hiring to a trickle over the past two months in order to cut The Talk
costs, four people familiar with the matter said. Flipkart chief executive Mr. Binny Bansal has asked new human resources
head Mr. Nitin Sethi to directly look at all hires at mid and senior levels, the people cited above said. Sethi is asking all HR International
business unit heads to justify hiring more people and is only allowing recruits that are judged to be “absolutely necessary”.
Flipkart has put on hold hiring for many roles, including vice-presidents that it had previously opened up in its supply chain
product and advertising teams, the people cited above said. Snapdeal, on the other hand, has upped performance targets
for employees and wants to cull the bottom 10-15% of its staff, one of the four people cited above said, adding that the firm
doesn’t plan to replace them Source : Livemint.com

Jabong ropes in Snapdeal’s Mr. Rahul Taneja as Chief Business Officer

Online fashion retailer Jabong has hired Mr. Rahul Taneja as its chief business officer (CBO) as the company seeks to
strengthen its marketplace model and revive its struggling business. Mr. Taneja comes to Jabong from Snapdeal, where he
was vice president and head-category management. Mr. Taneja joined Snapdeal a year ago; he was earlier with Philips
India. “I am very happy to have him on my leadership team. This now completes my leadership hiring which directly reports
to me,” said Mr. Sanjeev Mohanty, chief executive officer and managing director, Jabong, in an email. Mr. Taneja will be
responsible for category management, pricing, creative campaigns and brand marketing at Jabong. The company did not
have the position of a CBO until now. Explaining the reason behind the creation of the new position, Mr. Mohanty said, “It is
to bring a sharp focus to profitable growth, grow the business using core category strengths instead of discounts as a lever,
bring in consumer focus on growth categories and focus on building the brand.” The development comes at a time when the
company is struggling to turn around its business and has witnessed a drop in its valuation. Source : Livemint.com

Seven months of paid leaves and retrospective performance appraisal: Tata Sons’ new maternity leave
policy
Thanks to the rising upward culture of India Inc, a new benchmark has been set for policies for women employees. To this
effect, Tata Sons has now rolled out a set of woman-centric policies, which include paid maternity leave of seven months, 18
months of half pay-half working day post-maternity support, flexibility to choose your working hours, secure performance
ratings even during the maternity leaves and flexible work durations. Not only this, if an employee completes five years at
work, (s)he would be able to avail one-year leave at half pay given that you are a care-giver at home. As of now, the policy
has only been unveiled only at Tata Sons, which is the holding company of the group with businesses ranging from salt to
software. Other companies of Tata group are also likely to adopt these policies in the near future. "Our intent is to show that
we care through a deep organisational commitment towards our woman employees. Maternity, for example, has been a key
focus area. By offering seven months leave followed by post-maternity support of 18 months, we are providing a viable
option to mothers to be at home during the critical early childhood," said Mr. NS Rajan, the group chief HRO at Tata Sons.
The policies would come into effect from this month itself, and the seven-month paid leave can be taken from two months
prior to child birth. Source : Businessinsider.in

1mg Technologies appoints former Zomato executive Mr. TanmaySaksena as COO

Healthcare start-up 1mg Technologies Pvt. Ltd has appointed former Zomato executive Mr. TanmaySaksena as its chief
operating officer, the company said in a statement. The high-profile hire comes barely two weeks after 1mg announced that
the company had raised Rs.100 crore in a Series B funding round from Maverick Capital Ventures, the venture capital arm of
US-based hedge fund Maverick Capital, besides existing investors Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network. The fresh funds
will give 1mg more ammunition to stave off competition from Sequoia Capital-backed Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which is
also the best-funded homegrown healthcare start-up, having raised $124 million from investors such as Tencent, Sofina,
Google Capital and Altimeter Capital. 1mg raised $6 million from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Omidyar Network and Mr.
Deep Kalra, co-founder of travel portal MakeMyTrip, in April last year. Mr. Saksena, who was the global business head,
online food ordering, at Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd, had earlier worked as vice-president of studio operations at Disney
Interactive Media Group in Palo Alto and Unilever in India Source : Livemint.com

Update

SBI introduces performance management system Cover story

State Bank of India — the country’s largest lender is introducing a performance management system for its 1.70 lakh Advertisement
employees to build individual accountability. “For the first time in SBI, every employee (officers and clerks) can view their
monthly performance against assigned targets. There is data driven and meaningful differentiation based on performance Articles
and it lays the foundation for a deep meritocratic culture,” according to a statement from the SBI. The total employee
strength of SBI is over 2.13 lakh. While the bank said every employee will be groomed to get a unique mix of all-round The Talk
banking exposure and expertise in an area of his or her choice, officers will have the flexibility to opt for and build expertise
in their areas of interest like credit, information technology and treasury. The bank is also leveraging the social networking HR International
platform Facebook to encourage peer-to-peer interaction and help build new relationships with the SBI community from the
first day of the employee joining the bank. “A Facebook group of around 1,500 new recruits from PO batch of 2015 is already
active since December 2015,” according to the statement. The government’s public sector bank reform initiative -
Indradanush — which was unveiled by the finance ministry in August last year, had included skill development and talent
management to measure the performance of public sector banks. They are called key performance indicators or KPI. The
ministry said human resource management would have five per cent weightage in KPI. From this year, SBI will be recruiting
employees from among top performers in colleges. Source :Thehindu.com

‘Facebook at work' seeks to connect employees

Facebook launched ‘Facebook at Work’ in India that will allow employees of an organisation to collaborate and connect with
co-workers, like their enterprise network. Even at beta stage, Facebook has attracted L&T Infotech, Telenor, RBS, YES
Bank, Godrej Industries, Paytm, Zomato and Delhivery coming on board. “Indian enterprises have shown great enthusiasm,”
said Facebook at Work Director Mr. Julien Codorniou. Employees can connect with each other, see newsfeed, comment and
share posts, create groups and chat using Work Chat. But to ensure safety and security, users cannot use their personal
accounts to log in and the access is managed by the organisation. The login is disabled when the employees leave the
organisation. Over 60,000 companies globally signed up for the pilot. Of these, Facebook got 450 companies on board.
These include different sectors from banking, telecom, travel, retail and real estate. Facebook is focussing on adding
companies with 5,000-10,000 employees before opening the platform. Facebook at Work Asia-Pacific Head Mr. Ramesh
Gopalkrishna is confident that the service will pick up. Facebook at work has been developed as a mobile first solution.
Source : Newindianexpress.com

Alstom India to restructure operations, cut jobs

Engineering firm Alstom India said it would restructure operations, citing slowdown in the power sector. The exercise would
result in job cuts, but the company did not disclose the quantum. According to the company’s 2015 annual report, it had
3,476 permanent employees as on March 31, 2015. “Over the last 2-3 years the capital investments in the power sector,
particularly in Hydro and Thermal have slowed down,” Alstom India said in a stock exchange filing. “In addition several
projects in Hydro and Thermal sector are stalled due to external factors blocking company’s financial resources and creating
large work in progress,” it added. The firm said the above factors have led to lower sales and revenue generation hurting its
financial performance over the last few quarters. Alstom India said it has decided to right-size the scale of operations, which
would result in job cuts to match the current backlog and operating levels. “This rationalization is being carried on as part of
the ongoing steps taken by the company to reduce the operating costs, improve the competitiveness and contain the
operating losses. The cost of rationalization would be factored in the financials for the forthcoming quarters,” it added. The
company said the restructuring is not expected to disrupt or adversely affect the commercial production or operations of any
unit or division of the firm. Source : 09-05-16 Thehindu.com

Cash strapped-startups are withdrawing jobs offers, leaving students in a lurch
IIT students are high and dry over placement issues as many startups have withdrawn their job offers owing to shortage of
funds. Startups had gone on a hiring spree and became the most-sought after choice for students. But, they are either
delaying or taking back offers from students of IITs in Delhi, Mumbai, Roorkee and Guwahati. Many of the startups that
offered jobs have either shut down or trimmed their operations. The uncertainty over date of joining is looming large over
students. "At IIT Delhi, two startups withdrew job offers after they closed down, while another two made offers but could not
keep the commitments. This is not a good sign. This leads to a lot of uncertainty," said Ms. Anishya Madan, industrial liaison
officer, training and placement at the institute. "While one startup withdrew offers given to six students, a few others are
saying they will come up with later joining dates as some businesses they had hired for are not doing well," said Mr. Ayush
Lakhotia, placement coordinator at IIT Bombay. Meanwhile, the hiring percentage also went down as startups are under
pressure to make profits now. Source : Businessinsider.in

Update

Retail push prompts ICICI Bank, Axis, HDFC Bank to hire more Cover story

Even as bad loans continue to rise, a strong retail push has made India’s top three private banks hire more in 2015-16, Advertisement
compared to the previous fiscal, with HDFC Bank taking on its rolls almost two-third more people than ICICI Bank and Axis
Bank. The hiring is largely at the branch level in frontline roles, including sales and relationship managers. About 50% of Articles
businesses of these banks is generated through retail. While ICICI Bank and Axis Bank added 6,000 and 8,000 employees,
respectively, HDFC Bank raised its total headcount by 11,269. This is a sharp rise against the 8,000 increase last year. “Our The Talk
employee strength, partly given the significant expansion in retail lending, resulted in a rise of almost 11,000,” said Mr.
PareshSukthankar, deputy managing director, HDFC Bank. “We have seen two years of strong growth in employee HR International
strength.” According to HDFC Bank’s Annual Report 2014-15, the payments to and provisions for employees were up
13%.ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private lender, added around 6,239 employees in 2015-16, primarily in frontline roles Update
in the retail and rural banking businesses, taking its total employee strength to 74,096. In the previous year, this number was
reduced by 4,369. Employee expenses rose 5.3%, compared to the previous fiscal, and excluding provisions for retirement
benefits, it was 8%. The average salary hike was around 10% to 15%. For Axis Bank, the employee base for the year
increased 19%, representing 7,905 additions on a net basis to a headcount of 50,135. This is against a decrease of nearly
200 employees in 2014-15 to the staff strength of 42,230 Source : Hindustantimes.com

Increment time: FMCG, IT, retail stick to 6-9% while auto promises double digit hike

Don’t expect double digit salary hikes this year. Sectors including FMCG, retail, IT, real estate, consumer goods, auto and
infrastructure have doled out higher single digit range anywhere between 6% - 9% not exceeding 12% for top performers.
For Instance: Infosys employees will get an average of 6-12% pay hike. In the last year company had announced the
average hike of 6.5% to 9%. Wipro is expected to announce salary hikes for the year on June 1. Last June the company had
announced a 7% salary hike for offshore employees and 2% hike for onsite people. “What I can tell you that, our HR head
will have a bigger pot than what he had last year,” said company’s new CEO Mr. Abidali Neemuchwala in an interview
earlier. While FMCG firms like Godrej and Marico are yet to complete their appraisal processes, Godrej’s managing director
for consumer goods, Mr. Vivek Gambhir, said increments in the company will likely trend in-line with the industry average,
around 8-9%, although it’s not final. In retail sector, the average salary hikes are seen in the 7.5-9% range. According to
sources at Kishore Biyani led Future Group, all employees have got a flat 10% salary hike. Also, there is a bonus
component, which depends on the company’s and individual’s performance. Auto companies are also on the verge of
closing appraisal process. “”For the past couple of years Maruti has witnessed very good growth. Last year, we had
increments in double digit percentages. We are hoping that this year too we continue the momentum, but it is very difficult to
establish exact numbers, right now,” said spokesperson at Maruti. Source : Hindustantimes.com
UrbanClap hires ex-Housing.com executive Mr. Amit Das

Delhi-based UrbanClap Technologies India Pvt Ltd, which runs a mobile-only marketplace to find local service professionals
under the UrbanClap brand, has appointed former Housing.com vice president Mr. Amit Das as its vice president of design.
Mr. Das was also one of the co-founders of the e-governance startup Intelligent Interfaces launched by former Housing CEO
Mr. Rahul Yadav. In his new role, Mr. Das will be responsible for leading the product development and design function at
UrbanClap, the company said in a statement. Mr. Das had earlier worked at RazorFlow, Fab.com and FusionCharts, in
addition to founding a digital branding and advertising agency named Kria Interactive. UrbanClap, which offers services in 75
categories across Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune, had sealed a fresh round of investment from Tata
Sons’ chairman emeritus Mr. Ratan Tata in December 2015. Excluding Mr. Tata’s investment, the company has raised
almost $37 million since April last year. Source : Techcircle.vccircle.com

Indian companies reworking appraisal system for right talent: PwC study

With work habitats turning more and more complex, most companies in India are reworking their performance management
mechanism so as to attract, retain and reward the right talent, says a survey. According to the Price Waterhouse Cooper
survey (PwC), 52 per cent of the respondents have made or are planning to make changes in their staff appraisal systems in
the near future as a burgeoning young workforce, technological advances, a multi-generational workforce and a growing
economy have given rise to additional challenges. Furthermore, it said close to 20 per cent had done away with individual
ratings. The intent to make systemic changes indicated that bold approaches to performance evaluation and management
would be seen in the near future, the findings showed. This study draws its findings and analysis primarily from the
Performance Management Trends Survey, conducted by PwC India in 2015. “Creating new performance indicators,
measuring employees on relevant metrics and motivating critical talent will be a vital enabler for corporate success in future,”
PwC India Leader — People and Organisation, Mr. PadmajaAlaganandan, said. However, only 12 per cent of the
respondents believed that their current performance management system was highly effective in achieving its stated
purpose. There’s a feeling that while there is considerable use of performance systems in recognition of individual
contribution, they are not as frequently utilised in the recognition of team contribution. With collaboration being the
cornerstone of workplaces today, it is worth exploring why organisations are not reflecting this reality by giving due
weightage to team contribution in performance evaluation,” it suggested. Source : Thehindu.com

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