HRidayveda Employee

Engagement

We proudly present to you, a revamped HRidayveda !

Although past editions of our newsletter have focused on showcasing the writing prowess of the

students of GIM, interspersed with relevant happenings in the exciting world of Human Resource

Management, we wanted to bring something different to the table this time.

This quarter, articles were invited on a number of predetermined topics as we decided to do away

with an overarching theme. We didn’t want to restrict the budding writers of GIM to a single topic.

After all, variety is the spice of life.

Our focus remains on highlighting the best submissions of our fellow GIMites, and hence, this edition

of HRidayveda brings to you insights from our guest editor –Mr. Gaurab Mukhopadhyay, a newly

featured column by our very own students counsellor -Ms. Gayathri Rao Konkar, along with latest

updates from the world of Human Resource.

Hope you love the changes as much as we loved presenting them to you !

Happy reading :)

- HRiday

Editorial

Up-skilling HR is

the first domino

to performance

gains

If you want to find the

right tipping point

for a domino chain of

performance, start with

helping your HR people

develop themselves.

Read more

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' cam-

paign, the HRD ministry is planning to come up with a 'Think in

India' drive to encourage students and researchers to come up

with innovations and new ideas and to keep the talent back home

from leaving abroad. Union Minister for Human Resource Devel-

opment Smriti Irani said this at an

event organised by the Confederation

of Indian Industries (CII) here.

She said, the campaign would aim to

curb the outward flow of the coun-

try's students, who leave their home-

land in search of backing for their ide-

as.

"We all know the prime minister has

spoken about the 'Make in India' pro-

ject and we in the ministry of Human Resource Development

want to complement it by 'Think in India' campaign through the

'Rashtriya Avishkaar Yojana'," she said. Read more

Maharashtra’s Mega Human Resource Crunch

HRD planning ‘Think in India’ drive to up innovation

Maharashtra's human re-

source requirement will touch

54.6 million by 2022 of which

a record 25 million will be in

the textile sector and 17.3 mil-

lion in organised retail.

Further, the manpower re-

quirement in the automobile

sector is projected at 5.5 mil-

lion; 3.4 million in production

and manufacturing; 1.6 million

in information technology and

information technology (IT)

and IT-enabled services;

800,000 in construction;

500,000 in agro processing;

300,000 in health care; and

200,000 in hospitality. These

are the findings of a compre-

hensive skill gap analysis con-

ducted by the state commis-

sioner’s office for self-

employment and skill develop-

ment. Read More

NEWS FEED

“There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”- William Shakespeare

With the changing times in the ever dynamic IT industry and with the mushrooming of new

companies, it is evident that talent retention is fast becoming one of the fundamental concerns

of employers around the globe. The mind set of the modern employee is changing. While the

earlier generations preached allegiance, the millennials take pride in the number of job changes

they have had in their careers. The HR community in the industry is trying to combat this mind-

set.

In their endeavour to do so, they are adopting various strategies which

over the years have been tried and tested. While some are looking at

incentivizing performances and longevity, others are looking at engage-

ment quotient and some are following the blended approach. It has

been observed though that employee engagement has more often

than not emerged as a frontrunner in retention strategies. An engaged

employee is not only committed and motivated, he also rubs off his

positivity on peers. While incentivizing will have its constraints, engage-

ment is contagious and spreads like wildfire.

However, the question to ponder is – Are HRs across the country getting engagement right? A

deeper is look is needed at the way HRs plan their targets. With the diverse areas that they

have within their radar, one needs to ascertain whether all of it is really necessary. For an or-

ganization struggling with attrition, how effective is a health package offered at discounted

rates for the employees? For organizations where attrition is a concern, one needs to constantly

ask – Will the intervention that I have planned make an employee, who is contemplating mov-

ing out, reconsider his decision? If yes, they are on the right track. If not, it needs to be relooked

at. The way the HRs spend the funds allocated for employee engagement also needs to be re-

visited. Under the guise of giving their employees an evening to remember, some organizations

organize musical concerts. The question to be asked is – Does that retain an employee? It, no

doubt, entertains an employee, but it does not engage him. This, in fact, is one of the poorest

ways to engage employees as the effect of such interventions is extremely short lived.

Are we getting employee engagement

right?

However, if the allocated funds are used for Rewards and Recognition, Team building activities

etc., they can lead to unbelievable results. It will end up motivating the winners and also make

his peers aspire to do better.

A lot of smaller and smarter organizations today look at HRs for aligning their goals to business

given their bandwidth. This in a way turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Perhaps the larger

organizations need to take a leaf out of their book and take a step back from the maze of Man-

agement Information systems, revisit their KPIs and focus on the hygiene factors to see what

can make an employee feel more engaged. More often than not, the answers will lie with em-

ployees themselves and definitely not in their work stations inside their computers.

-By Gaurab Mukhopadhyay,

Gaurab is currently working at Infosys, Mysore as Lead HR Business Partner Associate in the

Employee Relations Team. Prior to this, he was a member of the Learning and Development

unit at Infosys. Gaurab has been actively involved in forums like Voice of Youth and is passion-

ate about traveling and interacting with people .

Martin Scorsese did it again. The year 2013 ended with a smashing blockbuster hitting the cine-

mas - 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. And while many students hoping to get a peek into the whirl-

wind world of investment banking came away a little disappointed at the humorous take on

Wall Street, students of HR and HR practitioners should have gotten up in their seats and taken

notice.

Known primarily for its insightful opinion polls, Gallup, Inc., publishes the respected and widely

read 'State of the American Workplace' report on employee

engagement. Gallup lays out a simple definition of

'Engaged' employees – those who 'work with passion and

feel a profound connection to their company' Thus, they

'drive innovation and move the organization forward'. Judg-

ing by this definition, Scorsese's depiction of Stratton Oak-

mont, the brokerage firm, looked like it found the key to be

an engaged workplace.

The concept of employee engagement first caught the

attention of businesses in the 1990s when a series of arti-

cles and research papers were published finding positive

relationships between employee attitudes and performance outcomes like customer experienc-

es, productivity, employee turnover and profitability. Merely looking at job satisfaction as it was

then defined, it was argued, was to take a remarkably narrow view of things.

Studies undertaken were set goals much like looking through a two-way mirror – both to better

understand the way the organization treated its employees and how employees viewed their

companies. The manner in which employees treated one another were discovered to not only

positively affect their actions, but also possibly more importantly, put their organizations at risk.

Thus, we come to potential fault-lines in an organization's structure – the 'not engaged' and

'actively disengaged' employees.

'Not engaged' employees, typically occupying the largest percentage chunk in Gallup's reports,

describe those at work simply for the necessity of it. For them, getting to the close of business

hours is a feat of survival. These people lack drive and enthusiasm for their work and it will not

take much to push them over the edge to being 'actively disengaged'. The latter category refers

to the bottom percentile who take out their frustration to undermine accomplishments as well

as create problems.

The Wolves of Business Streets

The point that was being driven home to managers was that mere survival was no longer the

point. Rather, effective performance management encouraged organizational culture to thrive

and be kept alive through constant feedback and tweaking. On their part, managers found that

employee engagement satisfied the three key parameters required for them to take up their

cudgels in its favour – it was deemed necessary, it was actionable, and lastly, it was measurable.

Measuring the impact of an engaged workforce was possible through the analysis of several key

parameters. Turnover, absenteeism, shrinkage, safety incidents, quality in the form of defects,

customer loyalty, productivity, and finally profitability, were all found to have a direct correla-

tion with employee engagement. In fact, Gallup states that companies in the top 10-percentile

achieved growth rates of 3.9 times of their Earnings per Share.

The timing of the theory couldn’t have been better either. The ‘Roaring Nineties’, as the Nobel

prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz called the last decade of the 20th century, was a period

of economic hyperactivity with unprecedented growth levels. Many new companies and start-

ups emerged and the older companies looked to consolidate themselves. In the midst of this,

when a company like Gallup threw their weight behind the employee engagement theory with

its proven benefits, it caught on like wildfire.

HR departments came to the fore as companies attempted to ‘tailor people practices and poli-

cies to individuals and groups of employees throughout the organization with the goal of im-

proving individual and organizational effectiveness’. This is described by Susan Cantrell and Da-

vid Smith as a ‘Workforce of One’, in their book of the same name. Thus, some of the best ex-

amples of employee engagement came from companies such as Microsoft, Google, Accenture,

Procter and Gamble, and many others looking at customization for their employees and re-

jecting the one-size-fits-all approach.

One of the most widely-accepted methods of measuring the level of engagement of an employ-

ee is through Gallup’s 12-point Q12 survey. The questions range from ‘At work, do your opin-

ions seem to count?’ to ‘Do you have a best friend at work?’ These were deemed the best from

the ‘actionable’ standpoint at the supervisor or manager level. From the results, companies

were able to identify ‘engaged employees’ and understand what made them tick, and weed out

‘actively disengaged’ employees while taking a hard look at what to do about the ‘not engaged’

ones.

As Mark Crowley, author and consultant puts it, the current scenario is akin to ‘three people

rowing their hearts out, five taking in the scenery, and two trying to sink the boat’. Put in this

context, the statistics from reports on engagement in companies all over the world are particu-

larly chilling. Referring to Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report of 2013, there seem to

be at least as many ‘boat-sinkers’ for every ‘rower’.

A glance through the Indian chapter of the global story does not make for appealing reader ei-

ther with only 9% employees admitting to feeling engaged, 60% classified as not engaged and a

massive 31% being actively disengaged. The sole positive from the report is that companies in

India are hiring more than in comparison with the rest of the world, which typically causes en-

gagement levels to rise. What is left unmentioned in the report, which is another positive, is the

growing cognizance in India of best practices in the field of HR.

It will be a while before companies figure out the recipe to Stratton Oakmont-esque engage-

ment levels, fictional as they may be. But with the ongoing research in the field and while the

collective will of business leaders is still bent towards keeping employee enthusiasm levels high,

the metaphorical gold at the end of the rainbow could very well be reached. And when that day

comes, let’s hope Scorsese’s Jordan Belfort isn’t standing there saying, ‘I told you so fellows,

cocaine and marching bands were the secret’.

-By Shyam Prasad

When employees quit their jobs rather than their organizations firing them, who gains?

Well, if the employee is starting some business on his own or joining some other organization,

then it is good for the economy as the labour services or human capital of that employee is not

lost. On the other hand, if they don’t get a job after leaving their organization, it results in un-

employment.

The employee retention methods, in my opinion should focus on the first premise. Further-

more, organizations should look at employee retention from the perspective of employee de-

velopment activity.

As per recent studies published in HBR, there are three most common reasons that makes an

employee look for a new job or to start a business. These primary reasons are lack of growth

opportunities, dissatisfaction from compensation, and the feeling that their contributions are

not recognized. (Daniels, n.d.)

Feeling of lack of growth: If I am working for an organization, I will

have certain expectations from it, as well as the market. If my ex-

pectations exceeds the general market expectations than I will look

at changing my job.

To prevent this, organizations should have a constant supply of new

challenging projects, assignments that need employees to develop

skills in various technologies. A manager should take responsibility

in making every position person specific. Employees should be

asked their preferences about travel, accommodation, working

hours, etc. to ensure a right fit in every job. Training should be giv-

en to shave employees’ weakness and to reinforce their strengths.

Dissatisfaction from compensation: Should organizations compensate to cater the monetary

needs or the emotional needs of an employee?

To retain employees, the rewards should be personalized. HR can play a great role in this initia-

tive by maintaining a personal requirements database of the employees. Apart from hikes, bo-

nuses, stock options, variable pay, there are still many options that can act as compensation.

Flextime, BYOD, allowing kids at workplace, lunches with bosses, invitation to national talks and

seminars, opportunities to present ideas to bosses etc. Imagine the reduction of dependency on

money to retain employees if these ideas work effectively as ways of compensating employees.

Employee Retention

Feeling of contribution not being recognized: Managers should not let employees feel easily

replaceable. Once this feeling enters the minds of employees, any retention technique might

fall on deaf ears. Employees should be trusted with their tasks, they should be made accounta-

ble rather than responsible. (Williams, n.d.) Most of all, they should be respected. While re-

warding, specific details should be used rather than saying, “You did a good job”. I still remem-

ber my first appraisal, when my manager said “Our team needs you because of your expertise

in ___________ and your contribution in __________”. I wanted to be in that team, no matter

what, for at least a few years. Imagine the effect of this simple technique to retain employees.

References :

https://hbr.org/2010/07/retaining-a-workforce-that-want/

https://hbr.org/2012/11/five-ways-to-retain-employees

- By Sandeep Khandekar

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” is my fa-vourite quote of Carl Rogers. The 1961 publication of 'On Becoming a Person' brought Rogers international fame as the 'Father of Humanistic Psychology'. He was a man who changed our understanding of therapy and psychology. It is funny that until we can accept who we are now, change is difficult. If much of your self talk begins with “I should...” or “I should not...”, “I must...” or “I must not...”, it is perhaps time to reassess your self concept.

When a client begins their sentences with “You know what I hate about myself...” and spends the next half hour listing their 'failings', my question to them is in-variably “Do you think you can accept that as being YOU and be ok with it?” to which I usually get the incredulous “Isn't it necessary for me to dislike what I do or who I am, in order that I can make a real change?” The answer is “No! Absolutely not!”

Accepting yourself is NOT the same as giving up. When we can ac-cept ourselves unconditionally with all our human frailties and im-perfections, we become self assured. This in turn fosters a deeper sense of self awareness, gives us the confidence to do new things and this in turn, leads to change. In contrast, self loathing is para-lyzing and drains us of the will power and courage required to make real changes. Carl Rogers said that for a person to “grow”, they needed an environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance (being seen with uncon-ditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood).

So this is what the therapist’s job is essentially - to provide an environment where the client can accept themselves and grow.

Remember, the help of a mental health professional is not limited to the treatment of extreme mental disorders. A counsellor or therapist can help with relationships and other life and career issues. In essence, if you feel that you have not reached your full potential personally and are not fully content with yourself or your life, a therapist can offer a sympathetic ear, clarity and an alernative perspective in a non-judgmental atmosphere. The most effective therapists build strong therapeutic relationships with their clients and have highly developed interpersonal skills including warmth, acceptance, empathy and the ability to accurately identify how a client is feeling. Now that you know what therapy is about I wish you the best of luck in your search for yourself and should you so choose, I look forward to helping you find YOU.

- By Gayathri Rao Konkar (Student counsellor)

Gayathri Rao Konkar has over 15 years of experience in counselling teenagers and young adults. Besides individual counselling, she conducts mental well-being and life skills workshops in critical areas of need like self esteem and body image, gender, sexuality and relationships and coping with stress.

Demystifying Therapy

Employees are the strength of any organization. They are the pillars, on which it stands tall and

flourishes. They are the company’s biggest assets, and are responsible for the growth and pro-

gress of it.

So, it becomes essential for companies to shower their employees with certain benefits and

perks to keep them motivated and also to acknowledge the top performers. Thus, employee

welfare can be defined as various services, benefits and facilities offered to employees by the

employers beyond wages. The welfare measures need not be monetary but can be in any form.

This includes allowances, housing, transportation, medical insurance,

mobile bills and food. Employee welfare also includes monitoring of

working conditions, creation of industrial harmony through infrastruc-

ture for health, industrial relations and insurance against diseases and

accidents for the workers and their families.

Employee welfare does incur additional costs to the companies but it

can recover these costs as motivated employees can do wonders for

the company. It also helps in brand building and employee retention in

case of strong competition.

Importance of Employee Welfare

Recruitment: A candidate when deciding to accept the offer letter looks for the benefits the

company is offering. So, in order to attract the best talent companies do offer certain benefits

as today the job seekers are very informative and they weigh the pros and cons before ac-

cepting the job offer.

Compliance: Sometimes it becomes mandatory for companies to offer certain special privileg-

es to its employees as required by the law of the land. This can vary from number of leaves to

differences in allowances. The pressure from labor unions especially in core manufacturing

firms also comes into the picture.

Employee Motivation: Employees tend to get lethargic and frustrated with work. To motivate

them, companies offer several bonuses and allowances. This makes them realize the fact that

the company for which they are working for is like their own family and it creates a sense of be-

longingness. This can create long lasting impact on the culture of the organization and can also

help in curbing attrition rate.

Employee Welfare

Employees’ Well-being: Employees are the biggest assets of any organization, so companies

are liable to the well-being of its employees. Well-being includes personal and professional

growth, mental and physical health, monetary help etc. All these are an indirect responsibility of

the employer. A well-of employee would be able to perform better and thus it will help the com-

pany.

Retention: In this mad race for higher packages, companies find it difficult to retain talent. We

have seen Infosys losing its bellwether tag because of a high attrition rate, which touched 20.1%

in October 2014. What does high turnover leads to: loss to company’s image, additional spend-

ing to counter the increasing attrition rate and competitors gaining advantage by employing

your employees.

Company Image: As said earlier also high attrition projects a negative image of the company in

public, the effects of this can be disastrous. It’s difficult to generate good PR but it’s very easy to

get bad PR. If, it goes out in the media that the employee is not employee friendly then that

company is bound to suffer. A good PR can do wonders, like recently a Surat based diamond firm

gave unprecedented Diwali bonuses to its employees, amounting to Rs 50 Crores. The news was

everywhere in the media and these things help the company’s image.

Employee welfare objectives

To make lives of their employees better

To keep the employees motivated and rejuvenated

To make sure that the workers feel themselves as the part of the organization

To gain the loyalty of the employees

Features of employee welfare

Employee welfare measures are the add-ons to regular wages which can be mandated by

the law.

It is a dynamic concept. Employee welfare schemes are flexible and ever-changing. New wel-

fare measures are added to the existing ones from time to time.

It can be both voluntary and statutory.

The purpose of employee welfare is to improve the whole personality of the workers to

make a better workforce.

It is an essential part of social welfare. It involves adjustment of an employee's work life and

family life to the community or social life.

Benefits of employee welfare measures

They provide better physical and mental health to workers.

Employers get stable labor force by providing welfare facilities.

Employee welfare measures increase the productivity of organization.

The social evils prevalent among the labors are reduced to a greater extent.

References

http://www.cityam.com/1408638043/it-s-official-why-doing-good-your-employees-boosts-stock-

performance

http://www.ijmra.us/project%20doc/IJPSS_JULY2012/IJMRA-PSS1273.pdf

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/infosys-attrition-rate-crosses-20-in-second-quarter/

articleshow/44768433.cms

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/diwali-bonus-surat-company-showers-cars-flatsjewellery-to-

staff/1/396876.html

- By Ashish Bansal

Pooja Raina 7768004011

Sushma N 9765020176

Or send an email to hriday@gim.ac.in

Thank you for reading !

For feedback/suggestions, please contact :