Dear Readers,

“In a world where discovery is more important than delivery, it's the people who find, remix and

direct attention to old stuff that should be rewarded, not the people who deliver it or sit on it

waiting for someone to show up.” -Joichi Ito

So the wait is finally over!! We @ Team usHR, take great pride in bringing to you the inaugural

edition of ‘TogetHR’, the first HR magazine across all IIMs. This magazine caters to the needs of

not only the HR professionals but all the managers who want to see their employees grow,

prosper and contribute positively to their organizations. It goes out to all the leaders who have a

vision in their eyes and wish their employees to share it with them. And finally to the HR

enthusiasts studying in various B-Schools, sharing this common dream of bringing about a

change, a change that would bring this profession on a level it truly deserves.

“Talent Management: Top Trends”, is the highlight of this inaugural issue of TogetHR.

Organizations these days find it hard to retain its talent, its people, who are considered to be the

most valuable asset. The cover story attempts to uncover the latest trends in this aspect with

examples from some of the companies actually implementing them.

Our other articles under the section ‘Concoction’ cover the most elementary aspects of HR, but

with a contemporary touch. We start with an article titled “Employer Branding is

Indispensable!!” which prompts us to ponder over the importance of internal branding of the

organization in front of the employees. The article “e-Recruiting fundae” talks about how

technology has revolutionized recruitment, considered to be the most essential function of

Human Resource Management. In the article, “Facets of law in HR”, we try and acquaint our

readers briefly with the relevance of law in this field with a special focus on some of the laws

being implemented in Indian context. Finally, the article “Comp n Ben: The 02 of employees”

discusses what has always been and will continue to be a very important factor in employment-

compensation and benefits, the changes we have seen in the last few years and how it has

evolved to be more attractive for the employees.

The next section “Conflux” is an endeavour to unleash the latest trends in HR and recognise the

best practices of various organisations. For this month’s edition, we interacted with Mr. Ajit

Kumar, Director- Human Resources, Philips Healthcare. During the course of this interaction, Mr.

Kumar talked about the changing industry attitude over the traditional way of carrying out HR

functions and how developing the leadership pipeline is gaining prime importance.

“Connoisseur Speaks!’ is a one of a kind section where we attempt to address the day to day

queries and concerns commonly being faced at workplaces. Finally, we offer our readers a platform

to scratch their brains and come up with novel ideas for the contest of the issue, “Contest with the

Best!” and win exciting prizes for the same.

This magazine is an attempt to bring together a group of likeminded professionals and use each

other’s intellect and creativity to enhance the quality of contributions and explore new ideas of

making this magazine sharper and reader friendly. Do write in your feedback to us at

hrclub.iims@gmail.com.

Happy Reading!!

Pooja Batheja

Faculty Advisor:

Prof. Rohit Dwivedi

Team usHR:

Mayur Kumar

Lakhmani

Neetisha Arya

Pooja Batheja

Sakshi Prashar

Disclaimer: The views presented are the opinion/work of the individual author and The HR Club of IIM Shillong bears no responsibility whatsoever.

Cover Story 5 - Neetisha Arya | IIM S

The war for talent is on. By recognising a person's inherent skills, traits and personality and offering him a matching job, organisations are benefitting from increased productivity and capability. At the same time, employees show higher motivation and commitment, increased knowledge about and contribution to company goals, sustained motivation and job satisfaction.

Conflux 1

1 Excerpts of Interview with Mr. Ajit Kumar

Concoction 9 9 Employer Branding Is Indispensable!!!

- Jitesh Patel | IIM S

11 Comp ‘N’ Ben: The O2 of Employees

- Mayur Kumar Lakhmani | IIM S

15 E-recruiting Fundae

- Sakshi Prashar | IIM S

17 Facets of Law In Human Resource

Management

- Sourojit Ghose | IIM S

Connoisseur Speaks! 19

Contest With The Best! 21

21 Crossword…

Con

tent

s September 2011

Conflux

www.iims-ushr.in | 1

Mr. Ajit Kumar, with over 15 years of HR leadership

experience, is responsible for strategic leadership in the

Healthcare division of Philips India. He has previously

worked with Yes Bank and Fidelity Investments after

completing the PGDPM programme from XLRI,

Jamshedpur in 1996.

Q. How is the academic HR curriculum different from

the industrial practices?

Application of theory is important. What I studied in

XLRI 15 years back has undergone a lot of changes

over the period and so is the case with the various

academic curriculums. In practice, a manager needs to

apply common sense and strategic thinking skills. Such

qualities cannot be taught and they develop only with

experience. Theory is basically to build upon your

strength to face situations but does not prepare you

completely. Going by the subjects taught, I have always

felt subjects like Organizational Behaviour relevant for

the organisations and it does help in practical

applications but a course like Industrial Relations has

become out dated especially in the services industry

and to an extent even in the manufacturing industry.

Q. Organizations often stress the importance of

human capital for businesses today. Could you

distinguish between the terms human capital

and human resource, considering there is a very

fine line between them?

There is not much difference between the two

according to me. It is just like calling somebody with

two different names. The term ‘Capital’ is being

stressed to lay additional stress on the importance

of people in an organisation. This discussion of

drawing the distinction between words is limited only

to the boundaries of B-schools. How you call

something and why becomes irrelevant once you

come into the industry.

Q. What are the recent trends observed in various

leadership and development programs that are

being used by different organisations? Can

assessment centres be one way of developing

leaders in an organisation?

TRENDS IN HR PRACTICES:

A LOOK AT PHILIPS

HEATHCARE

Mr. Ajit Kumar explains why it is vital to build the

leadership pipeline in an organisation. In an

interview with Team usHR, he also talks about the

areas of focus in HR practices today.

Conflux

www.iims-ushr.in | 2

Presently, organisations are laying a lot of stress on

developing and building the leadership in an

organisation because this is what actually differentiates

an organisation from another. This is the main reason

for the success and failure of companies. Keeping this

in mind, all companies are working hard in this regard.

There are two ways of doing this - the theoretical

approach is to put

people

through

frameworks.

For instance,

we have tie-ups

with Bain &

company to conduct

programmes on

leadership for our employees. Recently, we

had organised a program in association with ISB

Hyderabad for the same. The second approach is

practical in nature, and involves strong coaching and

mentoring for leaders who have been identified. The

idea is to identify leaders and build on their capabilities.

Unless people work on their abilities and put it into

exercise, they can’t really be developed.

Organisations are moving away from using assessment

centres for this purpose. It should ideally be used for a

developmental purpose or for effective recruitment etc.

Identification of a leader ideally takes about 2-3 years.

There are no short cuts for the process. You need to

see how consistently a person performs in demanding

and challenging situations. No quick-fix way of doing this

can be successful.

Q. In the present time, when every company tries to

cut down its budget, how feasible is it to invest

on Talent management activities?

There is no simple answer to this question. The

CEO of any organisation facing such a situation

needs to arrive at his decision

depending on the available

resources and the circumstances at hand.

Normally, if one is given the task of cutting costs,

talent is the first thing to be axed. However, for

organisations looking at long term growth, this may

not be the right choice. Investing in talent reaps

benefits over the long term. Although

companies should not cut down their

resources if they are looking over the long

term, a CEO needs to prioritise on the available

resources and decide accordingly. This may turn out

to be the right decision in certain situations.

Q. Innovation is the key to success. How do you

drive your people to continuously strive for

innovative solutions which would be beneficial

both for Philips and its customers?

For any company to succeed, one needs to

recreate and reinvent the company and come out

with new products for its consumers. Sometimes

innovation is a necessity, sometimes it is due to

environmental needs and sometimes it may be due

to the needs of the consumer. For example,

consumer moved from incandescent bulbs to LEDs

and may be to solar bulbs in the future. For a

company, which is the market leader in this product

will have to innovate to adapt to the changes in the

needs of the consumers.

Conflux

www.iims-ushr.in | 3

Innovation is the major key; not only in terms of

launching new products but can be in various other

ways like ways of creating new markets, ways of

launching new products in the market and coming

up with different ways of marketing.

To drive people to incorporate innovation in all offerings

at Philips, we offer rewards as a motivation mechanism.

Rewards are offered in cash or kind. Spot rewards may

also be offered to motivate people. In other situations,

public acknowledgement may also help in motivating

people

Q. What is the relevance of automation in the HR

practices of Philips? Is it by any means a threat to

the whole concept of Human Resource Management

as every aspect in it, right from recruitment to

performance management is automated these days?

Relevance of automation is very high but HR is not

about automation. Automation covers only databases

and systems to manage those databases. Automation

as such cannot replace HR functions. Human

Resources is required by people managers or

supervisor and not just people who occupy positions in

HR departments of the organisation. We as HR

professionals are there to act as facilitators of the

process where every manager takes the people aspect

into consideration while making decisions. And therein,

automation would only help and not replace HR

processes.

Q. Often there are situations when organizational

changes are required on a large scale. How do you

manage people resisting such a change, especially

when it’s known that the success of the project

would depend on how well people adapt to it?

Implementing changes on a large scale is always a

challenge. However, the point to remember is that

any change should not be brought about without

explaining the need behind it and how it is going to

influence the lives of those involved. A strong

communication strategy is required to explain the

change process and understand its necessity. A

forced change cannot be successful. It is a human

tendency to resist any change forced upon them.

And one has to counter this resistance by

proactively considering it and taking measures.

Q. Every organization invests a lot in its Training &

Development activities. Philips is known to

implement its “One Philips” framework for

learning and development. How does this

framework integrate various aspects of an

employee’s growth at Philips?

‘One Philips’ is not just a framework for implementing

the T&D initiatives. The main objective of this model

is to

The need for innovation

always exists. The reason

for the need changes

with time.

Conflux

www.iims-ushr.in | 4

provide a common yardstick to measure the

performance and growth of the organisation in all the

three sectors of operations, namely Lighting,

Healthcare and Consumer Electronics. Philips is a

strong people process oriented organisation.

We invest a lot in engagement, training and

developmental activities and One Philips ensures that all

the three sectors remain on common ground with regards

to such activities.

Q. Employee Engagement Surveys are conducted to

find out the employee satisfaction levels in a

company. However, the process often dies out after

the results are obtained. How does Philips ensure

that such surveys yield outcomes that would benefit

the employees and promote internal branding?

Engagement surveys are like a thermometer, which is used

to check how people are doing in an organisation. However,

a thermometer is rendered useless until medication is given

to a person who is reported to be not doing well. Similarly,

these surveys must be followed by relevant actions taken to

ensure people satisfaction throughout the organisation.

Philips follows strong policies in this regard. To quote a few,

if under a manager, similar scores or results are obtained

over a period of time, then the manager is changed or if in a

country, the engagement services are reported not to be

performed properly, then the country leadership is made to

undergo a change.

Cover Story

www.iims-ushr.in | 5

Cover Story

Cover Story

Cover Story

www.iims-ushr.in | 6

Talent management is easily one of the biggest

challenges facing the CEOs today. They often realise the

importance of this phenomenon once a couple of high-

performing middle-level managers resign.

As companies work towards increasing their market share,

competition for hiring the right people has made this

routine task much more difficult. Adding to the woes,

talent is becoming expensive by the day. The imbalance

caused by a demand much greater than the supply has

pushed the salary levels to an all-time high. Poaching from

both, within and outside the industry, has made talent

more mobile than it ever was. Increasing globalisation of

organisations has made the hiring of leaders with a global

mind-set and ability to adapt, extrapolate and take

decisions relevant to each local market mandatory.

Today, the challenge is not just whether to invest

resources in talent management, but also in where to

invest, i.e. how to identify what talent practices provide the

greatest return; where leaders can most effectively spend

their time developing people; and how to drive greater

consistency, integration, and alignment of talent practices

with the business strategy.

Keeping the changing definition of talent in mind, we look

at some of the most relevant industry-wide trends that

Senior Managers and HR Heads are paying attention to.

Predictive Talent Analytics: with a focus on managing

core talent

As more and more effort is being expended into talent

acquisition, organisations are no longer content with the

mere idea of return on investment. In fact, many

organisations are focussing on predicting the value

addition to the firm by potential employees, much before

Talent is in short supply, talent is becoming expensive, talent thinks different from ever before and the relationship between employer and employee is changing faster than the organisation’s policies, leaving the entire HR system out-dated.

(Bill Gates)

Talent is no more seen as just a set of

paper qualifications and experiences, but

as a set of life experiences – Dr. S. B.

Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business &

Director, Group H.R., Aditya Birla Group **

** (an excerpt from PeopleMatters, February 2011 issue)

Cover Story

www.iims-ushr.in | 7

they are actually hired. The shrinking talent pool has made

the hiring of exceptional talent a hugely difficult task.

To ensure an adequate level of core

talent, HR is becoming more effective in the recruitment

practices.

The focus has shifted to recruitment of key people for

performing jobs that are core to the business and

outsourcing of non-core functions to the extent possible.

This ensures that companies have the best talent working

for them for all functions, irrespective of the fact whether

the person lies on the firm’s own payroll or not. This

efficiency is enhanced by the use of predictive analytics to

ensure that the new recruits add value to the firm.

Starbucks, Cognizant and Accenture have all utilised

predictive analytics in other ways, to measure and improve

talent engagement and employee satisfaction. Google

analyses employee reviews, promotion and other related

data in order to identify employees most likely to quit, thus

enabling them to predict and control attrition. Senior

Managers and HR Heads at firms, which spend

significantly on their employees, increasingly need to

improve the effectiveness of their employee engagement

and development programs. The use of Predictive Talent

Analytics can help achieve this aim.

Becoming Social with Talent: with a focus on talent

engagement

As the networking-savvy present generation enters the

corporate world of email systems, employees tend to get

disengaged with their work and the organisation owing to

lack of access to the internet in the work place. Such

employees are physically present in their workplace but

are psychologically absent. They are unhappy with their

work situation and often share this unhappiness with their

colleagues, thus creating a ripple effect.

To solve this problem, many firms have set up internal

social networks to foster communication and collaboration

in the work place. ERP vendors such as Oracle and

Salesforce and software firms of the likes of IBM and

Microsoft are capitalising

on this opportunity by

building a social

environment for their products. These firms have realised

the fact that there is an urgent need to provide employees

with the kind of technological environment they are used to

in their personal lives. Boring email systems and restricted

access to the internet do nothing to keep the employees

‘involved’ with their organisation. On the other hand,

networking helps employees research quicker, multi-task

and manage a diverse work environment. It has also been

known to enhance their productivity.

Cover Story

www.iims-ushr.in | 8

Neetisha Arya | IIM S

Finding the right fit: with a focus on competency

mapping & acculturation

The challenge lies not only in finding the right people for

the organisation, but also in assigning them the

right job. This naturally requires an in-

depth understanding of the role itself.

Normally, people understand jobs,

levels and grades but not the roles.

The fitment to a role is based on the

expectations one has from a job. As a

result, when recruitment for a particular

job is done, the recruiters look for similar experiences on

the resume, assuming that since the person has done it

before, he/ she will be able to do it again. However, this is

not always true. Several firms like John Deere have

devised specific strategies to achieve the right P-O fit in

their organisation. While John Deere has made use of

predictive analytics for this purpose, others employ other

means such as personal interactions and interviews with

potential hires to know them better and assign roles that

they would be able to do justice to.

In addition to the fit in terms of competencies, the

alignment of an individual with the organisation’s culture is

also extremely important. Understanding this, some firms

like L&T promote internal hiring before

looking for suitable candidates outside

the group. Hiring employees from

within the L&T group ensures that

the employees are well-versed with the

ethos and values of the organisation and

the acculturation process becomes quite

simple. This idea has been

implemented by means of specific

employee referral schemes on the

internal portal which benefits both, the

referring employees and the

organisation as a whole.

The war for talent is on. Trying to fit a square

peg in a round hole has consistently proved to

be a disastrous option. If people are forced to do

work that they don’t like or don’t want to do, the

results will be obvious. Low productivity,

dissatisfaction, low morale, absenteeism and

other negative behaviour will become typical till

the employees are shown the door. To avoid this

situation, forward-thinking organizations are using

innovative talent-management approaches to

gain a competitive advantage, to help them ride

out the ups and downs in the economy and

create a strong platform for growth and

excellence. By recognising a person's inherent

skills, traits and personality and offering him a

matching job, organisations are benefitting from

increased productivity and capability; a better

linkage between individuals' efforts and business

goals; commitment of valued employees; reduced

turnover; increased bench strength and a better

fit between people's jobs and skills. At the same

time, employees show higher motivation and

commitment, increased knowledge about and

contribution to company goals, sustained

motivation and job satisfaction.

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 9

The quote from Stephen Covey captures the essence of

Employer Branding in a concise manner. In layman parlance

Employer Branding can be converted to mean the phrase

‘great place to work’. Companies are often focused so much

on pleasing the customer that they forget the most important

part of their organisation – their employees. This ignorance

can lead to serious repercussions and ultimately hamper the

objective of making the customers happy. This article aims

to trace the origins of the concept of Employer Branding, its

need, how it is a multi-disciplinary domain and how

Employer Branding will play a bigger role in the coming

years.

The term ‘Employer Branding’ is a fairly new entrant to the

long, almost unending list of management jargon often used

by all companies and management graduates. Surprisingly,

the term was first used and defined in 1996, in a Brand

Management Journal and not in a Human Resources

Journal as one would expect.

The psychological benefits like appreciation and recognition

are often neglected and can lead to employees losing

interest in their jobs and if this is repeated, the employer

loses credibility which can have a cascading effect on other

disciplines within the business entity.

Employer branding is a rare concept

with straddles the domains

of

Human

Resources and

Marketing. The phrase itself has

connotations of branding, and hence implies creation of an

image of the company in the minds of its current employees

and perhaps also the future ones. The difference being, this

branding is not done by the marketing department, but rather

by the Human Resources function of the organisation.

Employer branding also involves the ideas of positioning, a

value proposition and internal marketing. It is akin to a

product being sold, just that the product here is the

‘company as a work place’.

The relevance of Employer Branding is reflected in the fact

that in just 15 years, this idea has gained widespread and

almost universal recognition by all the major business

organisations in the world. All companies know of it, and

most of them are working to improve their image as an

employer. Drawing on the product analogy again, if the

product is branded well – it leads to better customer

acquisition and retention and if your company is branded as

a good employer – it means better employees come to work

Employer Branding Is Indispensable!!

‘Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers’ ~Stephen R. Covey

Employer Branding: the package of

functional, economic and psychological

benefits provided by employment, and

identified with the employing company.

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 10

Jitesh Patel | IIM S

for you and stay with your organisation. It is not uncommon

to see business newspapers and magazines listing out the

‚best companies to work for‛. Employer branding works

powerfully to motivate the employees and therefore improve

the functionality of all the departments of the organisation.

A recent example of employer branding coupled with internal

marketing was the ‘RISE’ campaign by Mahindra Group.

The Mahindra group wanted to unify all their group

companies under a single brand philosophy ‘RISE’ pertaining

to newer ideas and better lives for the future. They key point

is, Mahindra first started the branding campaign for their

employees, and only then took it outside the company. 6

months were spent on creating awareness about the

campaigns, the changes and new process to their existing

employees so that, when the campaign opened up to the

external audience, the thoughts and actions of the

employees would resonate with the redefined brand

philosophy. The campaign clearly emphasises on the fact

that they’ve changed all their touch points with the

customers to drive across the point. Changing touch points

translates to changing the perception of the Mahindra

employee who will deal with the customer at that particular

touch point. Such campaigns are not uncommon; rather they

are being carried out throughout the business world.

The question remains, how will Employer Branding shape

organisations in the coming years? The answer to this lies

in what choices the businesses will make. Many employers

today have incorporated ‘keeping employees happy’ as a

part of their organisational philosophies. Lot of companies

want to be the Number 1 employer of choice in their

industry. Talent is a scarce commodity and the right

Employer Branding will help companies recruit and retain the

best of talent. There are more and more companies vying to

be the ‘best place to work for’ because that will eventually

result in it becoming the ‘best business organisation’.

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 11

21st century has been characterised by fast changing

technology, vast amounts of knowledge piling up every

moment and to top it all, increasing levels of competition to

capture the change and maximizing benefits out of it. This

ever-accelerating trajectory of

knowledge and technology

has led to the development

of new industries, new

markets and new competition

ultimately causing changes in

business strategies and new

organizational designs. This has

further led to jobs getting invented,

reinvented and blended. Organisations face

great difficulties in attracting the right talent for these jobs

and one of the steps taken to ensure the right set of

people is re-crafting the compensation and rewards system

to ensure the alignment of the individual goals with those

of the company.

Compensation practices are prone to change. There can

be various factors that can affect them such as labour

market shifts, economic swings, changes in technology like

the Internet, challenges from competitors, and the

evolution of organisational design and culture. It may be

the ‚same old product in new

packaging‛ or something

innovative, but one needs to

be aware of all the methods

that can be used to provide a

package that makes the employee feel

its worth. This article attempts to

discuss some of the concepts

being used to make the pay

schemes attractive and

balanced. Talking about

direct financial

component of the

compensation

packages, there

have been a

few changes in the

past. To start

with, a major

part of the

compensation plans

tend to make sure that basic pay structures

are consistent and fair over all the levels of organisation.

Due to high competition within the organisation, employees

are concerned towards the basic pay which determines

their security and makes them less concerned about the

slow rate of increments in pay. Also, the differences in the

basic pay at different levels marks an increase in position

and responsibility as one moves up the ladder. Things like

fixed-time periodic incrementals and lump-sum merit

payments are losing out their sheen and there has been

growth observed in management incentives and incentive

based compensation for the achievement of long term

corporate goals. This is due to the emphasis on

performance and competition for talent. This is the major

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 12

source of motivation for employees to perform to their best

and outdo their colleagues. For industries, where

companies need to fight for hiring the best talent, various

other methods like hiring bonuses are also used. However,

to decide upon these, there needs to be an extensive

research on the levels set by the industry and prepare the

best offer that the organisation can offer.

Skill based pay is another form of compensation schemes.

Under this system, an employee gets rewarded in the form

of additional pay in exchange for formal

certification of the employee’s

mastery of skills,

knowledge and/or

competencies. This kind of

system is based more on a

person’s characteristics rather than the job. It is one of the

most under-researched human resource practices being

used today. The problem is that it is not a single system,

but a conglomerate of different small practices which are

prevalent in various organisations. Because of this, one

form of skill based pay may not apply in the same way to

any other organisation, hence leading to confusion about

the system.

Another developing aspect of employee compensation

practices has been the evolution of work/life balance

initiatives taken up by some of the companies. Its

importance is growing with the increasing demands and

responsibilities of an employee on the

personal front. Along with other

benefits, employees are willing to

forgo large pay increases in return

of a balanced lifestyle. People

prefer flexible timings instead of

rigid Monday to Friday eight-

hour work schedules. Working

from home also is becoming

increasingly popular to avoid

daily commute and to get more time to spend with the

family. Companies are using these benefits as an added

advantage to the pay packages to attract employees.

Living a balanced life has started getting a higher priority

than earning big bucks especially with people who have

been working for some time.

In an effort to reduce the rigidity in the pay structures,

companies are moving from traditional methods to broad

banded pay structures. ‘Broad banding’ is the consolidation

of traditional pay structures, consisting of many narrow pay

ranges into a few wider ranges or bands. Broadband is still

considered a novel concept and companies must ensure

that it fits into their organisational culture as it has been

observed that many early adopters of this new method are

now reverting back to the traditional structures. Successful

use of broad banding would require all managers to be

mature and highly trained in human resource management

and compensation. With all the drawbacks and

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www.iims-ushr.in | 13

Mayur Kumar Lakhmani | IIM S

speculations surrounding this method, one must keep track

of the latest developments happening in this area.

The final trend without which discussion about

compensations would remain incomplete would be the

stock options. This is not something recent which has

been introduced in the compensation policies of the

organisations. Stock options have been the leading means

of compensation for executives and managers since the

1990s. With

stocks, an

employee

gets to buy stocks of the

organisation at a fixed

price and exercise at a

later date. This is believed

to provide motivation to the

employees to work harder and add to the value of the

organisation to increase personal gains in terms of addition

in value of the stock. Although the recent trends show that

companies are tending to move away from the stock

options slowly as it brings about a great deal of volatility in

the variable compensation part but still, for most of the

organisations, it remains a component of compensation

especially for high-level positions. The major reason for

this is to make the employees at high level a partner in the

business and ensure their commitment in the long-term

goals of the company.

Other newer methods being employed market pricing

techniques. Herein, organisations in order to reduce upon

the bureaucracy of compensation methods and time taken

for designing of compensation structures tend to go for

market pricing techniques. The drawback of this method is

that it requires extensive

surveys on which the

organisation is dependent

for compensation related

data to fix the salaries

based on the industry

standards. Other

components of the compensation structures might also

include components like gain sharing, group incentives,

hiring bonus, retention bonus, project completion bonus

and many others which are added by HR managers as

and when required based on the needs and work of the

organisation.

All of the above methods and trends discussed are

effective individually but may not be valid for each and

every organisation. The major challenge lying in front of

the HR managers is to identify the best method to align it

with the objectives and goals of the organisation. Though a

time and resource consuming activity, investment in

planning and development would definitely yield long term

benefits in the area of employee development and

satisfaction. The best way would be to conduct a thorough

analysis of the organisation and understand in depth what

can be the motivating factors for the employees at all

levels of the organisation. The objective of any HR

department which deals with compensation must be to

keep the employee workforce motivated and engaged and

design a system that brings together in alignment the

interests of both the organisation as well as the individuals

to create real commitment among the staff in working

towards strengthening of the organisation.

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 15

Technology is definitely changing the face of business

today. And when HR is on the way to being a strategic

business partner in most organizations, every function of

HR seems to be using technology in helping it achieve this

goal. A major function in every organization is

Recruitment – one of the most important and

traditional areas under Human Resource

Management. Technology has penetrated

this field immensely. Companies

use internet and other web

based applications to

shortlist, interview

and finalise on the

new recruits. This

process is known as online

recruiting or e-recruiting. E-recruiting helps

decrease cost of recruitment and improve efficiency of

recruitment process by standardising processes of

acquiring new talent in the organization.

According to NASSCOM, ‚Jobs is among the top reasons

why new users will come on to the internet, besides e-

mail.‛ Web portals like

naukri.com and monster.com have

helped online recruiting come off

age and become popular

among many companies today. Companies can post their

requirements on these portals

and then shortlist from among the list of interested

candidates. Assessing the success of this method of

recruitment, most ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

solutions today have a module of e-recruiting.

Another emerging trend in the area of online

recruitment is the use of social networking sites

to find more about candidates a company

plans to recruit.

Sites like LinkedIn (a

professional network),

Facebook etc. help

recruiters extract

more information about

their potential recruits which

otherwise would be very difficult. But,

companies have to be really careful while dealing with

social media as not all information can be trustworthy.

Today when most companies are aiming big on

sustainability and green themes, e-recruitment comes

handy to them in helping them

achieve this. Information flow is

well managed and requires less

of labour and time in doing work

which can be handled easily by an automation system.

This can be called ‘virtual outsourcing’ – outsourcing work

from man to comp.

E-recruiting fundae “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don't think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without the talking about the other.” - Bill Gates

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 16

Sakshi Prashar | IIM S

Another significant function which most companies want to

implement is Talent Management. And talent management

starts from skill mapping. Online recruiting can easily

handle skill mapping and skill gap analysis from the point

of recruitment itself. Once the competencies are defined as

critical, moderate and minor, the firm can devise strategies

to overcome these gaps by effective training procedures.

SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management)

published a survey report, ‚Advances in E-recruiting:

Leveraging the .jobs Domain‛ in 2007. According to the

report, companies which use e-recruiting showed better

efficiency levels in almost all key performance indicators in

the area of recruitment like time to fill, cost of fill, quality of

fill etc.

Definitely this form of recruitment has broken global

boundaries. Who knows that in time to come, even face to

face interviews will be held on video conferencing which

will make the process of recruitment ‘e’ from tip to toe. But

we cannot ignore certain limitations and shortcomings of

this method. Few of them being privacy of a candidate and

policies of companies, limited processes that can be held

online which does not match with the philosophy of

elaborate recruitment process of certain big firms of world.

Technology does come with its own limitations. But the

answers to those problems are hidden somewhere in the

equation itself. Definitely e-recruiting has the process of

refining itself. Most businesses have realised the

importance of integration of its functional areas where HR

is emerging to be a significant partner. Time is not far

when HR along with technology will create wonders for an

organization. After all, you can’t run a business in which

‘people processes’ are not powerful. Can you?

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 17

Facets of LAW in

Human Resource

Management

It is often said by eminent jurists that law, as it exists, has

no use unless it is used in applying to a situation. Indeed,

the various provisions of law would have just been mere

written words, having no effect, had such a situation

been there. In a business organization, the

application and adherence to laws is

present in every sphere. However, Human

Resource is the area where maximum

application and usage of the various legal

provisions take place. Since Human

Resource deals with managing human

beings working in the organization, it

has to adhere and respect the laws

governing individuals in the regions in which it is

working. It is a fairly complex process as different

laws exist in different parts of the world and

sometimes even in the same country. Thus, HR

professionals have to be acquainted

with the basic legal provisions relating

to employees in the region in which

they are working. I would concentrate

on the Indian aspect in this article. In

India, the Constitution of India serves

as the bedrock for all enactments and laws in the country.

The framers of the Constitution had the welfare of the

general citizens of this country in mind and hence

formulated the Constitution in accordance with those

principles. One of the key fundamental rights enumerated

in the Constitution of India is the ‘Right to Equality’. The

application of this right extends to the workplace in the

sense that men and women have to be treated equally and

given the same opportunities to develop and become

successful professionals. Furthermore, Article 15(3) of the

Constitution states that the state can make special

provisions for the upliftment and protection of women. We

see the application of this in the many laws protecting the

rights of the women in the workplace in India, such as

‘The Maternity Benefit Act 1961’ and ‘The Equal

Remuneration Act 1976’. There were also laws

protecting the labour workforce and

ensuring that they received the

minimum wages, healthy working

conditions, overtime wages and other

aspects of leading a decent life. The

strictness of application of these laws

varies from industry to industry.

Some of the prevalent laws

relating to labour force in India

are The Payment of Wages Act, 1936,

The Payment of Wages (AMENDMENT) Act,

2005, The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, The

Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, The Factories Act,

1948, The Dock Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act,

1948, The Plantation Labour Act, 1951, The Mines Act,

1952, The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, The Beedi &

Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, The

Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970, The

Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act,

1976 and The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of

Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979. When

an employee retires or leaves the organization after a

Concoction

www.iims-ushr.in | 18

Sourojit Ghose | IIM S

certain period of time, he gets a lump sum amount from

the employer as a sign of gratitude for the services put in

by the employee. There are laws implemented in this

regard which provides the exact proportion of payment,

minimum period of service which have to be completed to

be entitled to the

application of this

laws and other matters. Such

enactments are called social security laws. The various

social security laws present in India are The Employees’

State Insurance Act, 1948, The Employees’ Provident

Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, The

Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions

(Amendment) Act, 1996, The Payment of Gratuity Act,

1972 and The Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act

2008. HR professionals have to be acquainted with these

laws in order to make sure there is conformity by the

organization to the above mentioned laws. Non-adherence

to these laws attracts strict monetary penalty for the

organization.

There are many companies which do not have a dedicated

legal department. As HR managers are involved in the

administration of the organization, they have to interact

with the lawyers appearing for the organization on various

legal issues. Thus, a basic knowledge of the laws and

regulations governing the affairs of the organization would

be extremely helpful to them in understanding the position

that an organization has to take in various matters and

while discussing matters with the lawyers. Thus, having

knowledge of the laws and regulations will enhance the

capabilities of a HR professional and ensure he gives an

additional value to the organization in which he/she is

working.

Team usHR invite articles from B-Schools all across India. We are looking for original articles related to field of Human Resources. References should be cited wherever necessary. The best article will be featured as the ‚Article of the Month‛ and would be awarded cash prize of Rs.1000/- . Instructions:

Kindly email your article with the file name and the subject as <Title of Article> _<Institute Name>_<Author’s name/Group’s name> by 31st October 2011

Article must be sent in Microsoft Word Document (doc/docx), Font: Times New Roman, Font Size: 12, Line spacing: 1.5

The cover page of the article should only contain the Title of the Article, the Author’s Name and the Institute’s Name

Also certain entries which could not make the cut to the TogetHR will get figured on our blog www.iims-ushr.in

Connoisseur Speaks!

www.iims-ushr.in | 19

Hello. I am Rohan and have graduated from

a reputed B- school and recently joined a

leading manufacturing company as a

recruitment Specialist. As a part of my job, I

am often assigned the task of interviewing

both internal and external candidates who are

often much older than me. As a result, I feel a

little hesitant while asking a certain set of

questions which I would have otherwise

asked had the candidates been of the same

age. I am not too sure how to overcome this

hesitance as I myself realise that it's

reflecting on the selection criteria and the

choice of candidates. Please help.

Hi Rohan, every recruiter goes through this dilemma at some or the other

stage in his/ her life. The best way to overcome this is by making both

yourself and the interviewee comfortable during the interview. However,

this comes with experience and since you are quite new to this

profession, it might take you some time. Take each interview at a time.

You may feel a little hesitant to stress the person if he is relatively much

older to you; but you can start by questioning the employee on his past

experiences and analysing the relevance of his past work with your

organization and the profile being offered here. One thing to be kept in

consideration is that you should in no way try to demean the person or

make his past records look menial. This would not reflect upon well on

both your part and your organization’s part. Also, in such cases, keep an

objective list of selection criteria or parameters in front of you so that

they keep the interview more structured and performance driven rather

than based on the level of seniority of the interviewee. This tactic would

not only help you while recruiting but also while conducting performance

evaluation of internal employees.

Hi. I am a 27 year old woman working in a

financial research company. Since past

months, I have been dating a colleague of

mine who belongs to a team which sits next

to my bay area. Our relationship has recently

come to notice of many of the employees here

and especially my boss who thinks that my

productivity has decreased due to this. I have

ensured that I complete all my deliverables

on time but in spite of that, my relationship

with this person has caused friction between

me and my boss. Kindly suggest how do I go

about convincing my boss and my team

mates that it's my work that should matter

and not my personal life.

We totally understand that it’s your personal life and you wouldn’t like to share each and every thing with your team mates or your boss. But you must also understand that ‘romance@workplace’ is still considered a taboo at Indian workplaces. Now since they have come to know about your relationship, there is no harm in casually confronting the same, say may be by introducing your partner to them and at the same time maintaining its integrity as well. But you would need to ensure that you are able to meet your team and team lead’s expectations without fail. At any chance given to them, they would not hesitate in putting the blame of your failure on your relationship. Also, in such circumstances, it’s better to avoid hanging around in the office premises or during office hours as much as possible.

Connoisseur Speaks!!!

Connoisseur Speaks!

www.iims-ushr.in | 20

Hi. I have recently joined a new project

in the same organization where I have

been working since last 1 year. I am a

member of this team consisting of 10

people, all of them working from 2

different locations. I have been assigned

a mentor who will guide me on all the

tasks which I have to perform. However,

this mentor of mine has been working in

this project since its inception and has

quite a good rapport with the Delivery

Manager, because of which he either

works from home or comes to office as

per his own timings. This is affecting my

work as I have to stick to the company

timings and at the same time I don't get

sufficient time to interact with him. I am

not too sure about bringing this matter in

front of my delivery manager as this

might have some repercussions on me.

How do I go about this matter?

I appreciate the fact that you want to raise this issue and change the way

things are happening at present. To begin with, I believe that you should

have an open discussion with your mentor regarding his behaviour and

how it appears to be affecting your work. Talk to him and try to make him

understand how his guidance and direction is important for you to fulfil

your responsibilities efficiently. However, take care that this doesn’t

sound like a complaint to him. Unless he feels that you appreciate his

role in you performing your job successfully, he might not be willing to

change his ways. However, if talking to your mentor does not work, you

can voice your concerns to the Delivery Manager. Point out the fact that

your mentor failed to understand your point of view, as a result of which

you were forced to bring it to the attention of senior authority. You are

willing to be flexible and adapt to the working pattern of your mentor,

however he needs to understand your concerns and adjust his schedule

slightly to suit you better. I’m sure that there won’t be any serious

repercussions for you, provided you handle the situation well and

express yourself

You can send us your queries at hrclub.iims@gmail.com. The relevant queries shall be answered in the

next issue of TogetHR

Contest

www.iims-ushr.in | 21

8

1

9

2

3

11

10

5

12

4

6

7

Clues given on the next page…..

Contest with the Best!!

“Crossword”

Last date for sending the answers for Crossword: Oct 31st, 2011

Email ID: hrclub.iims@gmail.com

Subject of the email: TogetHRContest1_CollegeName

Contest

www.iims-ushr.in | 22

Across

1. A plan whereby employees gain stock ownership in the organisation for which they work.

2. Organisationally controlled incentives, such as pay, benefits, incentives, achievements, awards etc. used to reinforce motivation and increase performance

3. A popular strategic management concept developed by Dr. Robert Kaplan and Dr. David Norton.

4. The process, by which an individual determines direction, influences a group and directs the group toward a specific goal or organizational mission.

5. A career development method whereby less experienced employees are matched with more experienced colleagues for guidance either through formal or informal programs.

6. A feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.

7. Non-monetary reinforcing, such as praise, given to an employee in recognition of a job well done or a particular achievement.

Down

8. A collection of instruments and exercises designed to diagnose a person’s development needs.

9. A small group of employees (normally six to twelve) invited to actively participate in a structured discussion with a facilitator.

10. The process whereby representatives of management and workers negotiate over wages, hours and other terms & conditions of employment

11. The perceived fairness of the process and procedures used to make decisions about employees

12. Used to define labour that is necessary to support the manufacturing of a product, but is not directly involved with the actual process of manufacturing a product

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