Hostile and Uninterested Co-worker.

Have you ever come across a co-worker who is hostile towards you and others? Or are you one such person who gets agitated by your co-workers, who doesn't like the various activities that happen in your office or who tries to stay away from any such activities??
I have been rather shy than being hostile and have wondered how such an attitude can be changed. Because, indulging in such office activities will not only bring us closer to our colleagues but also increase our work satisfaction. I have some findings which can help you bring you and your colleagues out of their shell.


I remember a friend once telling me that someone opined to her that I was negative and people wanted to stay away from me.
This has been haunting me since then. I didn't know that people think of me that way. And often wondered how to get rid of that tag.
Similarly wanted to find out ways to identify such people and lend a helping hand to them. Here's what I found.

• Listen to the employee or the co worker's complaints till you feel that he/she feels heard out or listened to. Because most of the times negative statements are repeated over and over when they feel that its not been conveyed. Make sure you have actively listened to them by convincing them with clarification questions.
• If you believe an employee has legitimate reasons for negativity, offer to help them solve their issue. Advise them and provide them with coherent ideas.
• At times people just want to speak out to friendly ears and may not want an advice or idea. In such situations listen, but set limits and make them understand that such consistent negativity would not only affect you but also the person creating it. And it would affect not only their productivity but also their reputation among peers and associates. This would not only warn them of their over doing might also enhance their trust in you thus even drop in a positiveness through your concern.
• If you believe the negativity is unwanted do not spend time listening it will only encourage long term negative feelings.
• Making them feel more comfortable and less challenged will also help them reduce the negative attitude.
• Informing the HR department or the superior, so that they can understand the root cause of the negativity and help the person solve the issue.

These are some of the simple things I could come across. Please feel free to express your comments and share more ideas to this.

More on Secure Workplaces and Employer Responsibility

In my last post I mentioned of a certain retail industry "heavy weight" and their safety measures regarding women working till late shifts. When such offers are rejected they come up with accusations like "independent women shouldn't have such a stand", does that mean women who consider themselves independent should also think they are not harm-able? That was the most absurd allegation I have ever heard from people occupying high corporate positions.

Well, now coming to the real crux of this post: I what ways can HR take responsibility of the employees safety and thus increase their effectiveness and work satisfaction. When an employee feels he / she is not safe physically this does create pressure from family and in turn tensions. The most important aim of workplace safety is to protect the most valuable assets of an organisation "THE HUMAN RESOURCE".

The HR department can take care of this aspect and make employees fear-free and risk free in terms of providing them a safe work place and safer transportation during wee hours.

• Providing reliable and safe accommodation- if not provided at least information on such available near the company location.
• Providing transportation with security personnel appointed after thorough background check along with continuous and vigilant followup.
• Proper communication channels in case of any security related issues- Employees should be alerted on the contact numbers and persons who are responsible for safety and security so that they can be reached in emergencies.
• Regular and strict monitoring of the safety measures undertaken.
• Proper education of all employees in terms of safety and security measures.
• Surveillance- proper surveillance and vigilant monitoring can also keep a lot of safety problems at bay.
•  And most of all abiding by the rules and regulations put forth by the central and state governments in terms of employee safety. ( I've heard many companies utilizing fire-exits as storage spaces, hiring private vehicles for employee transportation- a little more effort can actually avoid big tragedies)

Please write in what are the various safety measures that your organizations follow or if you have any new ideas please do share it so that all of us can broaden our knowledge in this matter.

References:

http://bit.ly/rBM8nU

http://bit.ly/rBM8nU

http://bit.ly/sKbC65

http://bit.ly/t4v1uC

Does your employer comply to this...?

Equal opportunity to all- when people cry out this slogan for equal rights for women can they also ensure safe working conditions for them in the same work environment and work timings as men. I have heard some people mention that in states like Maharashtra the government has brought in laws to safeguard the women employees.
And I found these regulations which I thought should be known by both men and women.
On 16th August 2005, The Factories (Amendment) Act 2005 was introduced in the Loksabha. The Bill proposed to amend section 66 of the Factories Act 1948 so as to provide flexibility in the matter of employment of women during night shift with adequate safeguards, dignity, honor and transportation.

• No women is required or allowed to work in any establishment after 9.30pm.
• Special arrangement should be made for protection of female employees working before 6 am and after 8.30 pm including transportation.
• Female employees should be provided job jointly or in a group.
• Arrangement of rest rooms and lockers should be made for all women employees.
• No women employee should be asked to come for night shifts for more than 15 days.
• Under clause 9.1 of IT and ITES policy 2003 of Govt of Maharashtra it is proposed that every vehicle transporting women employees be issued special pass.
• Every company should provide a security guard with the vehicle for the women employee.

The reason I chose to write this topic is because, I recently was interviewed by a company and I even decided to join them. But neither did they provide any accommodation or help in finding one nor were they ready to provide any security or protection for night travel. Now even though the job doesn't go beyond 9, don't you think they should at least have a security to escort the person to the public transport?

Please share your views and comments, and please correct me if I am wrong regarding the regulation.

References:
http://bit.ly/uuWH39

Motivation and mistakes...

Recently I've written a about motivation, retention, retention during financial crisis and so on.. And the techniques and exercises mentioned there were tried and tested ones. Now will there be any techniques that can go wrong? Some motivational techniques can go wrong as well.

• When we think of motivating employees the first thing that comes to mind is 'money'. More money is the best incentive. Money does usually get the work done, but studies have proven that giving more money makes it a mere transaction whereas gifts build a relationship.
• Finding the mistakes is good but always concentrating on the negatives will only pull down the confidence of the employees. So rather than mistakes the strengths should be highlighted.

I would like to add something here from experience- my superior used to find our faults and let us all know about it in the team meeting, but he always fell short on highlighting each of our strengths. We began our day with the negatives being marked in the brightest colors which never motivated us.

• Following other companies practices, this is because those companies have formulated a motivation plan by streamlining their processes, cultures, management practices and benefits. This may not be the right plan for another company as they might have different practices, benefit plans and the rest.
• Not having the trained managers or not training the managers to manage the employees and be accountable for the results of the team as a whole.

Another interesting note I read is a good manager removes the obstacles in the path of his employee making his work easier, and thought wow!. Wish we had managers like that who work with the employees, understand their mistakes and guide them than just dictate.

Will get back with more, by then please share your ideas and what you think shouldn't be done in the name of motivation.

References:

http://bit.ly/tIDXBa

http://bit.ly/sHjRbx

http://bit.ly/rLdGmn

Financial crisis and Employee Retention

In the previous posts I had written about motivation and retention in normal circumstances. After reading it someone asked me How can employees be retained during financial crisis?. The first thing that came to my mind is that; if an employee has to stay with an employer at the time of need, it has to be because of their loyalty and a feeling of being a part of that organization. This can be created only in the long run by the superiors with the help and co-operation of the HR department. Some of the tried and tested methods are the following:

1. They say- "keep the vibe alive" which is attained by open communication and making the employees feel that they are appreciated.
2. Reduce the number of days of work and thus reducing the payroll costs along with it.
3. Send employees (those who can afford) on offs without pay for education or otherwise- here subsidizing the cost of study will keep the employee with the organization at the same time will benefit the organization when the employee returns.
4. Giving the staff the option of working full-time  on 3/4 pay for 3 years and giving an off of one year with the 3/4 pay.
5. Cut down paid overtime giving employees a better work life balance and reduce the pay bill at the same time.
6. Analyzing the key talents not just the top employees but people who can think strategically.
7. Establishing retention plan for key employees by reviving the salaries with regard to market data to ensure the company is competitive.
8. But the most important thing is communication- clear and certain communication that the employees are valued and needed.

These are the methods that can be used during the financial crisis. However some methods are such that  they create a loyalty in the employees and these methods have to be practiced on a continuous basis:

1. Give the employees respect, kindness and dignity which will fetch loyalty of the employees.
2. In addition to compensation people should be involved in decision making. This not only helps retain the key talent but also gives better ideas to improve organization's effectiveness and progress.
3. Giving feedback on developing networks, maintaining work life balance, attaining skills training etc- this will build relationships, support groups and action groups.

References:

http://bit.ly/tEJagE

http://bit.ly/uvmxxG

http://bit.ly/sXxHS6

Retaining Employees..

I had been to an organization in Chennai recently for an interview and they asked me if I would be comfortable giving my original certificates to them. This didn't matter to me much because I was badly in need of a job and this was a job that would have been a great learning experience. Recently I was discussing this incident with my brother and he mentioned that it is not a good practice. This got me thinking, what are the ways in which employees should be retained than by force or against their will, and the result is what follows:

Employee retention is the primary metrics that tells the health of the organization.

Some ways and methods that help retain employees are:

1. Value and heed to the results from exit interviews: Almost all companies have exit interviews when an employee decides to leave them. The data they get form these people is the best source to understand their drawbacks as employers.
2. The quality of the supervision helps retain employees: It is said that employees leave their managers or superiors rather than the company. This is very true, I had some similar reasons myself.
3. Knowledge and skill utilization: Many employees like to offer their best at work and when they feel they are under utilizing their skills they tend to become dissatisfied and give up their employer.
4. Fair and equal treatment: Employees should feel they are being treated the same as everyone else. At times trying to keep one employee can demotivate a number of others.
5. Growth opportunities should be provided to employees to retain them, they should feel that they are growing in terms of their profession and not stagnating.
6. Give respect and take respect: Employees should be treated with respect and should be rewarded and recognized at the right time.
7. Encouraging employees to have good friends at work will help retain them as this would make work enjoyable and less tiring.
8. Improve the relationship of the managers and subordinates.
9. Always make the employee clear of what is expected out of him/her. Lack of clarity creates lack of security and then attrition.
10. Employees should be given the right to express their views and ideas to improve the productivity.

These are some of the ways I found that would help retain employees. Does any of you have more interesting and innovative methods that can be or is used to retain the work force.

Looking forward to your valuable comments and ideas.

References:

http://bit.ly/u5Jcky

http://bit.ly/sHqyIx

http://bit.ly/sRocKm

http://bit.ly/vZCGxG

Employee motivation techniques

Motivate: What does this word bring to your minds? To me it says, encouragement, support, sense of belonging, and more confidence. These are the feelings we create in a person whom we motivate. If a child tries to make a painting and it turns out bad, the child will feel bad. But instead of finding just the faults, if the child is told to make it better by giving it suggestions and by telling it that he/ she is capable of better creations and that you will help it with it. You can be sure to see a smile and a person willing to try better.


This is the same strategy that is used in organisations to motivate their employees. But not always words can motivate them. At times positions, career advancement, monetary means, and many other things motivate an employee. However, there is no secret formula or set calculation to motivate employees. 
As I was researching on the various ways companies use to motivate their employees I found many methods I never even thought. Have a look:

1. Ask what the employees need out of their work: this can make things much easier. Managing employees one to one.
2. Understand each employees personality: Some people like get motivated by public praise, others fear it. Thus understanding a person's personality can help motivate them better.
3. Flexible working schedule, according to Richard Martin, President of Alcera Consulting Inc- “As long as the employee is deserving and doesn’t abuse the privilege, this can go a long way to building trusting and mature relationships with key workers.”
4. Sending a hand written note: Supervisors can top officials in organisations can send hand written personal note of recognition to deserving employees.
5. Get to know them better: As told by Steve Harrison, at Cigna Group during busiest hours the executives push out coffee carts and along with it they coach and encourage their employees and understand real customer issues from these talks.
6. Extra off days: Give people extra offs per year to do what they want so as to keep them from pretending to be ill and take offs.
7. Reaching out: Asking co-workers to write something they truly like or admire in any of their colleagues and to hang that with a pic of that person along with it.
8. Applaud the efforts: If someone has done something exceptional give them standing ovation from entire staff.
9. Sharing memories: Creating scrapbooks by team members that speaks about the team efforts and work done together can also be a good way to appreciate and remember everyone's contributions.
10. Making work fun: Conducting weekly events to boost morale and to help people socialize and get along with each other. This improves communication and increases productivity.
11. Appreciate: when employees are appreciated for their work, make it more obvious by specifying the things they did right.
12. Telecommuting: Letting employees telecommuting makes them feel they are not at office yet they get the work done and also feel they were able to be at places where had to be in spite of being at work.
13. Parking allotments: Giving deserving employees the best place to park their cars for their accomplishments is an interesting way to motivate the employees.
14. Publicize the accomplishments of employees so that everybody come to know about it and motivate and encourage everyone.
15. One suggestion was to lose the shoes: Let the employees walk around the office without shoes so that they feel comfortable as at home.

There are many more, but these are the ones that fascinated or rather motivated me to write this article.

Hope you guys got some new ideas from this.. Please feel free to post new ideas if you have any or even if you want to discuss any one more in specific.

References:

http://bit.ly/vuAtGP

http://bit.ly/vqc8ul

http://bit.ly/vhQONT

http://bit.ly/uSYVpU

OCB-Organizational Citizenship Behavior

OCB: I wonder how many modern organizations would have employees with OCB. Organizational Citizenship Behavior is the discretionary behavior of an employee that is far beyond his / her job description and which positively contributes to the organization's effectiveness. 


I had chosen this topic to be a part of my final project. I got to interact with many people and understand how they take their jobs. Just as a job confined in the job description or something that is much more than that. It wasn't too surprising to find that there weren't many people who looked upon their job more than what was asked of them unless there was a reward waiting. But I did find some people for whom the job was more than just an imposed responsibility.


Cultivating OCB in the employees is a way to motivate and retain the employees. When they begin to believe they are a part of the organization, the organizational goals get linked and tied to their personal goals. The benefits of cultivating OCB among the employees is that, it benefits the organization as the employees are more sincere and carry out their duties unfailingly. Benefits to the employee is that he is more satisfied in his job, takes responsibility and this in turn increases motivation and performance.


Thus it becomes a mutual relationship for the organization and the employees.




References:


http://bit.ly/sCYopL
http://bit.ly/tKzm8b

The New Trend- Business to Employee

A new found way to attract and retain the right people in an organization. B2E- or rather Business to Employee is an emerging trend where the business tries to empower the employee through technology. It is e-commerce that allows the companies to give products or services to their employees through the intranet.

Various applications such as education opportunities, digital libraries, employee and corporate benefit systems, employee empowerment strategies are deployed using the intranet. This improves the communication between the employee and the organization.

For example: Sparsh the intranet of infoscions answers all the FAQs related to income tax, company policy or security and many more. Thus an employee can get all the information he requires without stepping out of his cubicle neither does he have to find extra time to find the right people for the right information. Thus through B2E organizations enable the employees to a more transparent communication and awareness of the company and its policies. And well informed employees are happier and the best brand ambassadors of their organization.

Since the economy has changed to a global work force from being a mere closed economy, and job definitions changed the focus is on enabling employee processes. And the B2E portals make the HR executives available to the employees and also aids in a two way communication. It is also said to reduce operating costs and and also helps the HR team apply strategies more effectively. HR is evolving with technology, however it hasn't lost its human face.

References:

http://bit.ly/u56WV1

http://bit.ly/v9rU0A

http://bit.ly/uok9pp

http://bit.ly/rvvBW6

Opportunities in HR

In my quest to find the various options (job openings) in HR I got some pretty good responses from my linked in associates. Some of which are: HR Operations / Coordination, Roles in training and development, Performance management, Payroll management, HR generalist profiles and HR audit profiles. 

The HR Operations / Coordinator is a more interactive profile where the HR personnel directly works with the employees. He/She will be responsible for various things such as hiring as well as terminations so an Ops manager has to be good in people skills and analytical management. Should be knowledgeable about various laws and regulations such as labor laws, employee benefits and so on. As quoted from Operationsmanager.com Mr. Miodrag Perin says, "As HR Operations Manager, you will find yourself fitting many different roles from mentor to banker to worker advocate." 

These suggestions are indeed very encouraging but the difficulty I found is that all these positions are filled by experienced candidates. And my question is when freshers aren't given such opportunities how will they gain experience in it? This takes me to yet another discussions I've been to on linked in : College degree versus Seasoned professional. http://linkd.in/v878rP .

References:

http://bit.ly/swTb5r

http://linkd.in/tzBhqh




BECN59BZ7TYH 

Some truths of finding HR jobs.

I was trying to find the right HR job for me and in that quest I found some interesting statistics. Thought I'd share it with you guys. 
Many people like me aspire to become HR professionals. But many are unaware of the opportunities that can come their way, like I was. During my search for an HR job I came across many openings for HR. But, not many were the ones I was looking for. I used the most common job portals and found this:
Out of the 1297 HR jobs found on Naukri on 3rd November, 109 are for recruitment executives, 99 says HR executives which eventually turned out to be recruitment jobs as well. 3 for payroll and the rest... have no relation what so ever to HR. Here begins the road blocks on the way to a promising career in HR.
The 3 payroll openings here 1 is an ad by a training firm and the other 2 require minimum 1 to 3 years experience. Which means except for recruitment jobs there aren't any starting jobs for HR aspirants. 


Many say that recruitment is the way into HR, I prefer to differ. Sitting in front of the computer, going through profiles, calling them up and getting them interested in the job one has to offer: that definitely was the most boring and uninteresting of the jobs I have done. 


My experience in recruitment:


I had joined a recruitment consultancy early in my career, located in Mahape, Mumbai. The so called bosses are supposed to be alumni of Symbiosis Institute of Management. Unlike the their Alma mater's reputation, these people had no clue as to how to run a business. They were unaware of their own clients, had no plans or strategies other than for cutting down employees salary. Getting into such a place and being treated in the worst way possible by educated illiterates created a hatred in me for the recruitment industry. It created a fear and a feeling of not being good enough. Would like to share this experience with people like me so that they get an idea about such amateurs. 
I have been to a few more recruiting consultancies and have found the situation to be more or less the same. One another fact is that in a recent interview when I mentioned the unprofessional and nonstrategic ways of my former employers, my interviewer said, "Recruitment consultancies are like that, not so organised". People running the business themselves does not have pride and confidence in what they do. I believe working in such places would fetch us experience of working for 1 year but nothing more than that. Its not credible experience.
However, there are way more organised and structured working patterns in certain recruitment firms. I had been to one such firm in SakiNaka, Mumbai. They were very serious about their business and were very well organised and strategic. 

THE GIST OF HR

THE HR DEPARTMENT

It deals with the Human Capital of an Organization. And there are surveys and studies that tell us that over 80 percent of an organization's value is contributed by the Human Resource. Therefore, it becomes mandatory that the people of the organization should be manged properly to keep it functioning properly. Thus the HR department tries to bring out the best in their employees and drive the company to success.


There are many functions of an HR department. Some of them include:

• Recruitment.
• Industrial and employee relations.
• Employee record keeping.
• Policy making and implementation.
• Organizational development.
• Change management.
• Compensation and benefits management.
• Performance evaluations, Training and development of its employees.
• Employee retention and motivation.

RECRUITMENT:

This is one of the most integral roles of the HR department. They are responsible for getting the most skillful candidates from a wide range of  talent pool. There are mainly two types of recruitment-

• Internal Recruitment 
• External Recruitment

INDUSTRIAL AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS:
There are many laws and regulations that are involved in the smooth functioning of any organization.
These are studied and followed by the HR department so that they maintain the right standards according to the State government.


Some of the most common laws that an HR professional should be aware of are:

1. The Employees State Insurance Act 1948
2. The Factories Act 1948
3. The Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 195
4. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970
5. The Industrial Disputes Act 1947
6. The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
7. The Maternity Benefit Act 1961
8. The Minimum Wages Act 1948
9.  The Payment of Wages Act 1936
10. The Payment of Gratuity Act 1972
11. The Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923
12. The Trade Unions Act 1926

THE EMPLOYEES STATE INSURANCE ACT 1948:
Objective: 
To provide benefits to employees and their dependents in case of sickness, maternity and injury during employment.
The Act has been amended and the wage limit for coverage of an employee under Employee State Insurance Act has been enhanced from 10,000 to 15,000 per month with effect from 1st May 2010.

Contribution:

ESI scheme is financed by contribution raised from employees covered under this scheme and their employers as a fixed percentage of wages. 

Rate of contribution are as follows:

• Employees contribution 1.75% of wages ( Employees earning up to Rs. 70 per day are exempted from payment of their contribu­tion)
• Employer’s contribution 4.75% of wages.
• 
  

Contribution Period and Benefit Period

There are two contribution periods each of six months duration and two corresponding benefit periods also of six months duration as under.

Contribution period Corresponding Cash Benefit period

Contribution Period	Cash Benefit Period
1st April to 30th Sept.	1st January of the following year to 30th June.
1st Oct. to 31st March	1st July to 31st December of the year following

ESI Calculator: 

The original calculator can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/tpkf3R

Social Security Benefits:

Various benefits that the insured employees and their dependents are entitled to are as follows

• Medical Benefits
• Sickness Benefits
• Maternity Benefits
• Disablement Benefits
• Dependent Benefits
• Other Benefits  (like   funeral expenses, vocational rehabilitations, free supply of physical aids etc).

References:
http://esic.nic.in/act.htm
http://esic.nic.in/wages.htm
http://bit.ly/uKO0YQ
http://slidesha.re/s5bfOA
http://bit.ly/tpkf3R