The role of HR in today’s world has changed – It is not a mere line function but an extended arm to the core business of an organization. HR functions as a strategic partner – Be it formulating policies, following practices, recruiting, nurturing & retaining talent & growing the business.
HR in the IT Industry is heavily with recruitments – Training, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Relations & Organisational Development complete the entire gamut of activities. Given that HR & business work closely it would be advantageous for organizations to have people with business/technical background in HR.
So, be it forming new policies, conducting surveys & designing compensation & benefits packages, understanding the pain points of the employees. Finding resource utilization & staffing projects movement of resources within projects, proactive recruitments based on manpower planning with industry know-how, multi-skilling resources & building successful teams – Business knowledge would add value, help track loopholes & solve issues to reach closer to the grey areas & achieve near perfection!
How many times have we come across policies which need alterations?
2 different projects – 1 overstaffed (with additional buffer resources for contingency) & the other understaffed. People who want to move into projects of their choice & ultimately quit coz they don’t get to.
Some skills which are rare & difficult to hire & have, the other skills which are easier to get & yet we try maintaining salary parity – which is another myth.
Trainings – which generally talk about man hours/days in a year – but not why & which based on individual strengths & weaknesses.
Companies which talk about retention policies but not about creating a brand/experience that employees never think of quitting.
HR continues to do a great job – its a tough one – only when they do not perform is their presence felt till then no one thanks or rewards them for a job well done. Having said this, it is left to the delivery/business guys to provide significant market inputs/intelligence to frame better policies & implement better practices year after year.
Given the importance of HR & its strategic partnership with business, it would be great to have some one with business background heading HR – This well could be the future of tomorrow!
Showing posts with label HR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HR. Show all posts
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
“A Company is as good as the quality of people it hires…”
Among various industries there is a continuous rating for the best companies & employers on the basis of various parameters. But one of the most defining aspects that make or break companies or differentiate between the good & great companies though it may not necessarily figure in any of the parameters is the people who work in it. In fact a company is as good as the quality of people it hires.
Recruiting can be easily defined in 3 objectives –
▪ Quality people,
▪ In the shortest possible time &
▪ At the least cost.
However, in a bid to increase profit margins or expand businesses, most companies ultimately get people in a short time or at lesser costs. But, they tend to sacrifice the quality of the people they hire – ignorant of the effects they can have in the long run.
Quality never comes cheap – there is a price tag attached because of the value it adds. Good associates would demand premium prices, but they would win greater business deals with the kind of work they can do & it makes it worthwhile to spend time & cost on hiring such high quality guys. Hence even if a junior associate is to be hired at a premium price compared to a senior associate with similar skills & higher experience already existing in the system or you would be hiring from outside it is worth the money cause the ROI is higher. It would be a better practice to hire people based on the ROI rather than just the yrs of exp & skills that they expertise in.
The other common mistake most companies & recruiters do is hiring for a specific position rather than for the company – in a bid to close a position recruiters tend to hire a replacement based on the job description & job specification. However, they do not necessarily define the finer points – the impact of the person’s exit on the team like the mentoring & coaching activities, the quality initiatives & the domain specific functional inputs the person adds value in. Mind you, even a junior guy could be adding better value in such scenarios & we tend to ignore this fact.
Another mistake companies tend to do is not hiring good candidates during a lull since there is no business & the recruited associates may not have projects to be deployed in & since there are no open positions to recruit for. This would be an ideal time since we can focus on quality of hiring. Business can be generated tomorrow, however the candidates whom you haven’t offered or proactively hired may never turn up again for your organization & more importantly you lose the network of the guy – prospective candidates for you.
The biggest & most grave mistake recruiters or companies often make with major ramp-ups in order to attain the numbers within the crunch of time is to hire a few guys who are below par in their technical skills or have attitude problems, own whims & fallacies.
Believe me, misfits when hired are the biggest nuisance – They turn “Bad Apples” & end up negating the good work by the recruiters. They are capable of destroying good teams with bad practices & all companies need to be careful of this.
So, the next time your company thinks about bottom lines, venturing into new business deals – make sure you do not take a hit on your biggest asset – “Quality of People – The Key to your Growth!”
Recruiting can be easily defined in 3 objectives –
▪ Quality people,
▪ In the shortest possible time &
▪ At the least cost.
However, in a bid to increase profit margins or expand businesses, most companies ultimately get people in a short time or at lesser costs. But, they tend to sacrifice the quality of the people they hire – ignorant of the effects they can have in the long run.
Quality never comes cheap – there is a price tag attached because of the value it adds. Good associates would demand premium prices, but they would win greater business deals with the kind of work they can do & it makes it worthwhile to spend time & cost on hiring such high quality guys. Hence even if a junior associate is to be hired at a premium price compared to a senior associate with similar skills & higher experience already existing in the system or you would be hiring from outside it is worth the money cause the ROI is higher. It would be a better practice to hire people based on the ROI rather than just the yrs of exp & skills that they expertise in.
The other common mistake most companies & recruiters do is hiring for a specific position rather than for the company – in a bid to close a position recruiters tend to hire a replacement based on the job description & job specification. However, they do not necessarily define the finer points – the impact of the person’s exit on the team like the mentoring & coaching activities, the quality initiatives & the domain specific functional inputs the person adds value in. Mind you, even a junior guy could be adding better value in such scenarios & we tend to ignore this fact.
Another mistake companies tend to do is not hiring good candidates during a lull since there is no business & the recruited associates may not have projects to be deployed in & since there are no open positions to recruit for. This would be an ideal time since we can focus on quality of hiring. Business can be generated tomorrow, however the candidates whom you haven’t offered or proactively hired may never turn up again for your organization & more importantly you lose the network of the guy – prospective candidates for you.
The biggest & most grave mistake recruiters or companies often make with major ramp-ups in order to attain the numbers within the crunch of time is to hire a few guys who are below par in their technical skills or have attitude problems, own whims & fallacies.
Believe me, misfits when hired are the biggest nuisance – They turn “Bad Apples” & end up negating the good work by the recruiters. They are capable of destroying good teams with bad practices & all companies need to be careful of this.
So, the next time your company thinks about bottom lines, venturing into new business deals – make sure you do not take a hit on your biggest asset – “Quality of People – The Key to your Growth!”
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