HR & THE TERROR STRICKEN INDIAN INDUSTRY

India was and is a fortunate land of great thinkers, beautiful places, and marvelously intelligent minds. But some times the intelligent mind is constructive and sometimes it may be destructive. India has been hit by terror at many instances, sometimes its Mumbai, or Jaipur or the Silicon City Bangalore or the premier management institute place Ahmedabad. Recently, it was the real height when Bangalore and Ahmedabad were hit on consecutive days. In this scenario, the employees are stricken badly by this terror shock as people from all over India and even abroad come to these metros for working they may feel and consider going back to their native and look for some other means for earning the livelihood. Also, the stakeholders of the company may think of shutting their offices down in these places and move to places where things are cheaper and comparatively safer.
The above pictorial representation represents the situation. The green colored space shows the organization and with the HR department in between. Employee, Environment and Stakeholders are the major contributors to any organization. Environment is something about which you can not be sure enough, it will keep on fluctuating and changing and is beyond the control. But the Employee and Stakeholders can be reached and can be talked, convinced and motivated. In this case, environment is the terror which is eminent everywhere. Green color shows productivity and HR in between that means organization should be kept productive.

HR department who always has to maintain a dual focus – one towards the employees and the other towards the stakeholders, is in a crucial position at this point of time. They have to maintain a high morale of both the parties i.e. employees as well as stakeholders. Also, in the present scenario organizations have frivolous hierarchical structure which defers direct communication between the top management (the stakeholders) and the employees. They consider HR Department as the official spokes person, by they I mean both the parties – Management as well as the employees. Let’s take the cases one by one. Taking the downside up approach towards the organization, we will take the employees first.

In this situation, the primary goal is to keep the employee moral high. HR can use certain means which may prove to be very useful. These are detractive situations in which employee lives under a constant fear of losing the job as they create their opinion based on the reports and news flashed in media which majority of time is based on false facts just to hike there TRPs. HR can not do much (or apparently nothing) for media, because they have their own problems; now they are 24/7 and they need something which is crispy, spicy and fast selling. This will fall under the environment.

In such a situation, the best way to persuade employees is one to one approach. The personal touch is always magical in effect. HR executive only has to keep in mind that they have to convince the employees and this can happen only when you talk in their language and their tone. HR always needs to keep in mind that the language that they are taking should be of the employees but the words should be theirs. While resolving this, HR shall always keep in mind that emotions sometimes lead to enhanced productivity. HR can call employees for one on one counseling and can let them know that this is a temporary phase and if bright employees like them start leaving the organizations like this, company may shut down their offices and can move to some other place and ultimately the loss will be ours. We will loose on opportunity and prosperity.

Trainings play vital role in such conditions. HR department shall arrange for such trainings on a regular basis. Sometimes this may be a proactive approach while sometimes may be a reactive approach. HR department can design some trainings specific to such situations or something like emotional intelligence. HR can arrange for behavioral trainings which may help the employees to get out of this situation and the trainers should be very professional in their approach. Typically the trainer should be of Train the Trainer status. This may be something like motivation training or crisis management training, etc. These trainings do magic in disguise. These are soft skills training which impact the mind and create a positive environment and outlook.

Apart from the soft skills and behavioral trainings and workshops, operational trainings also contribute a lot as this gets reflected in very soon in their skill sets. They value this a lot as these are expensive in the market for the individuals but are available at a lower cost for the corporate. But these trainings should be relevant to the business requirements as the investment should not go in vain and the stakeholders will lose faith in the HR Department (as this may put your own job at stake ;-)). These trainings can be anything related to the business requirement or something like Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt training. These trainings have great craze as well as value in the market and at the same time these trainings and projects require good amount of time so you will be gaining over the retention of the employee and by the time the project and certification end, the dust of terrorism might have settled down.

Also as per one of the management theories, employees work either for the money or for recognition. So in such a scenario, an innovative FBP can also help. As per the basic definition of FBP (Flexi Benefit Plans), these are such benefits which are not part of the employee’s salary but are given through means other than cash. If you have a FBP plan already existing in your salary structure of your organization, you can decorate it further by adding few more variables like a Special Day allowance. This special day allowance may be for any day like employee’s birthday, or birthday of any of their family members, or their anniversary. HR can include any or all depending upon the management approval and budget. You can arrange for a one day outing or can propose a plan for a company sponsored trip to some tourist place for the best performing employee. Of all these measures, make sure that you are not over shooting your budget and you have a dual target, first to retain the employee and at the same time to increase or maintain their productivity so that the management is also convinced with your decisions.

HR can also act proactively on the ways of ensuring employee safety. They can look for all possible options available within the reach. This can be something like installing and positioning close circuit cameras at all possible strategic locations, enhancing security checks at all entrance points, etc. By beefing up the security cover for the company premises or by arranging for extra security measures will help in building a good rapport of the company in employee’s view and will improve the understanding of employee towards company and hence will reduce the attrition factor. Also, this will be a nice opportunity to market you in terms of employee relations and HR policy. This may help you in getting the required unexplored and highly valued working force.

By turning the table and looking towards the stake holders, we will find one more interesting challenge. Normally, the first focus of this class is profit and then they consider any other aspect of the business. So, again HR needs to change their tune and start using their language but putting their own word forward. This is thumb rule for any HR professional.

HR should address the stakeholders in a very positive way. They should start with a positive note and should end on a positive note. If well begun is half done then having well begun and well finished is full job. HR should address in such a manner that they should be able to convince them on this temporary phase of business. This is something which has hit the whole world, irrespective of the regions (even US). They can present the establishment cost and investment already done for the office and the cost of establishment, hiring, branding, training everything and prove statistically that the cost would be much higher and the impact on the business may prove to be fatal. At this point of time, HR should convince the stake holders that the company is ready for any such crisis management and this disaster is not such big that it can’t be handled.

Also, HR can convince that in spite of this crisis the work is not going to suffer as they have introduced such plans which will help in keeping the production high and at the same time they will encourage the employees with some small yet effective incentives. At this point of time, HR can introduce the plans that they have designed and plan to roll out among the employees. As at this step they will be pretty confident of their HR department and will show minimum resistance to any positive plans suggested. Also, always ask them to suggest and additions or deletions to the plans proposed by you. HR can convince that these incentives won’t put any extra pressure on the company’s budget by linking everything to the productivity and hence the profit.

HR can always propose that they would like to enhance the security cover of the office, as this will help them in building a nice rapport with the employees as well as in attracting the best talent across the industry. To ensure them about the security of the premises and to take out any worries about any legal complications, you can present an improved security plan to them which may ensure a fool proof protection. They won’t mind spending a bit extra to strengthen there long running business. You can propose to schedule a meeting with local government authorities to ensure that company will not run into trouble at any point of time.

Stakeholders should be ensured of their profits at each and every step of the talk. This helps in gaining and maintaining their interest in your plans. This will be good for the organization as well as for the HR department itself. HR can market themselves as good strategic thinkers as well as loyalist for the company which may be rewarded by the company in terms of cash or kind. So, this is a win-win situation for the HR department as well. They are saving the employee’s interests, stakeholder’s interests and at the same time, in disguise, getting their interests fulfilled.

HR is the human face of any organization and the role of HR in any such situation is very important. There one good stand can move company to new heights and one wrong move may prove fatal for the organization. HR is also the single point of contact between the employees and the management. Employees take their words as the words of management and vice-versa. In such a situation, HR should always talk in a diplomatic yet positive way. They should avoid saying or behaving in a manner which may be taken as negative in nature. This negativity may reflect in any of the means, talking to someone, words selected in writing a mail, the body language, etc. Because they should always keep in mind that this is crisis time and the unconscious mind of people keeps on looking for negativity. They should be very careful about anything they do or say as even a small mistake can lead to a complete misconception about the company policy and trigger a chain reaction which may harm the company business.

HR can coordinate with the concerned government bodies and make them aware about the organization’s concern and can take some firm assurance regarding the safe guard of the organization against any such occurrences. This can be presented to the management to assure them of a smooth running business.

In the above representation, different aspects of HR can be clearly noticed. HR will start with mentoring the employees and maintaining the motivation level high. They need to give a personal touch to all the employees and hence enduring on the employee relation and with a good employee relation they can retain their employees. And if the workforce is motivated, a good relation is maintained between employee and management then this will surely lead to maintaining a sustainable production level. All these combined together can help the HR department in convincing the stake holders for continuing business.

So, in this time of crisis the HR department should extend their helping and understanding hand towards the organization to make the business run smoothly and also, lets don’t get panic and face this situation boldly and BE ALERT AT ALL MOMENT OF TIME BECAUSE WE ONLY CAN FIGHT SUCH SITUATIONS and TOGETHER WE CAN AND TOGETHER WE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Employer Branding – A New HR Arena

This is a market oriented era. If you have a good brand value in market, you will get good response if not; it’s very difficult to convince people. From an HR point of view branding is very important. If your organization has a good brand image in the market, it will help you in getting right workforce at right time and at the same time you will have a control over the employee cost. An organization with no brand name has to shell out lots of money to attract and retain the right candidate.

Branding can be done in two ways: (1) External Branding and (2) Internal Branding. Lots of factors may influence the branding strategy of an organization, like A) Nature of Business B) Nature of market C) Target reception D) Budget flexibility E) Long term mission of the organization F) Organizational structure. Etc. These are the few to count on but there may be many as per the business.

Branding Strategy

A) Nature of Business – Branding should be based on the nature of business. Like if an IT company goes for a fashion show, it may not yield the same results as it would have got by going to IT Fair or something similar. A real estate company may go for some road show on property market.
B) Nature of Market – It is always recommended to gauge the market before going for any project which involves market risk Like if you are targeting to explore a Financial market or banking and at the same time it is marred by some other factors like Inflation, you need to design your strategy which could help you in overcoming the negative trend.
C) Reception Target – It’s always good to define the reception target or the audiences. If you are planning to sell Villas and targeting the middle class, probability is very high that you will end up spending your time and resources in wrong direction.
D) Budget Flexibility – Budget always plays an important role in deciding the strategies. If your budget doesn’t allow you to spend a lot, its always recommended to partner in any event where other participants are not of your field and it has got at least one participant who has got a good market value so that you can attract the crowd.
E) Long Term Mission of Organization – Also the long term as well as short term goals of the organization should be kept in mind. If the organization does not have any long term goals in the target market or location, it’s always recommendable not to go for branding or it is very much required go for a small, low budgeted branding event.
F) Organizational Structure – Organizational structure is also very vital part for deciding any strategy. Organizational structure is the strength of any organization and any event or branding can be done based on that. Like if your organization does not have lots of hierarchy steps, you can boast of Flatness and claim of equal behavior. And if you have different layers, you can market the clear definition of roles etc.

External Branding – External branding refers to branding which is done by using external sources and which may (or may not) require some investment in monetary or other forms. Let’s see the different means of doing external branding.

(a) Use of Job Sites – As HR the first thing which comes to the mind is recruitment, so Job sites also offer good branding opportunities through different means like Pop ups, pop ins etc. It’s always better to go for pop ins as most of web browsers come with pop-up blockers.
(b) Banners – Banners are also a good mean for branding. Banners can be of both types’ means Online Banner and Street banners. By Online banner, your organization name will be flashed on different web pages as per your choice and price. Street banners are good for bigger requirements.
(c) Road Shows – Road shows are also an important mean for creating brand awareness. You can organize talks, presentations, seminars etc. for attracting people towards your organization.
(d) Corporate Social Responsibility – Corporate social responsibility refers to corporate getting associated with society for some noble cause. The association can be in any mode either getting associated with a Charitable Trust or a NGO or some other public venture. Corporate can align and attach with any of these and share the stage. Always keep in mind that choose as per you organization status meaning if you are a small firm, do associate with a medium sized organization and if medium you can align with either of these- large or medium. Idea should be you get a nice coverage in the popularity cake.
(e) Public Events – Public events are one of the major ways of creating a brand image. An organization can participate in any of the public event and assuring that it does not get disappeared in the crowd of many brands or big names.
(f) Newspapers – Branding can be done through newspapers as well. If you target the local public, you can go for advertisements considering the individual day circulation, target readers, rapport of newspaper, type of newspaper etc. If you target only to employ people for your workforce requirement, you can place job Ads which may seem expensive at the first glance but in terms of attracting the correct workforce, it can do magic.
(g) Email – For mail ids related to job portals, you can create an auto reply which can contain brief description of the key aspects of candidate’s and public interest and at the same time introducing your company to the public. It should be informative as well as crispy so that the audience reads it and just doesn’t do Shift Delete.
(h) Tagline – Create a nice, attractive tagline or a punch line for your brand and give it a significant visibility in all your branding efforts. The tag line should be in accordance with your organization values, goals, work etc. so that it reflects an overall image of the brand everywhere.
(i) Align with celebrity – Aligning with a celebrity is also a good way of creating a brand image. But this may cost you big bucks and ultimately increasing your cost dramatically. This is an expensive method of branding.



Internal Branding – Internal Branding is comparatively a cheaper way of branding. You can use your internal organizational staff for this purpose.

(a) Front Office – Always pay attention to your front office because first impression is last impression. It should be kept neat and clean with a pleasant receptionist who always maintains freshness and welcomes the guests with courtesy.
(b) Stays Interview - HR can always conduct stay interviews in which they can interact with the employee and ask them regarding their career prospects, there alignment with the company, there feedback regarding their concerned departments, etc. These feedbacks can be analyzed and used for different purposes by which you can create an internal brand image of the country.
(c) Exit Interview – An exit always carries a fair chance of initiating the chain reaction among the employees so always be very careful in analyzing the exiting reasons so that you can overcome the justified ones in the future.
(d) Employee Satisfaction – Employee satisfaction is always very important for any organization to grow. A satisfied employee is a productive employee. If your employee is satisfied, you can relax because they will create a good and positive rapport for the company in the market outside.
(e) Policy Information – Always design your policies very strategically. A policy should be designed in such a way that it holds good even after a long period of time. A frequent internal policy change sends a message to the outer world that the company is not consistent and knowledgeable and reliable.
(f) Customer Orientation – Customers are always the most important factors. Always keep your workforce motivated towards delivery of customer oriented services. Customers can be of either type, internal or external.
(g) Employee Participation – Always try to ensure the maximum participation from the employee side, either in terms of internal events participation or external events.
(h) Trained Employees – Always ensure proper training of employees before they are engaged in work. The training should be in all the aspects like policies, vision, mission, organization. This will project a good picture of organization on the new employee.

These are few to count with but based on the requirement and strategy, the list may increase or shorten.