Employee Engagement or Events Management ??

One of the important objective of HR is - Engaging Employees to have a sustain workforce - builds a talented employees committed to the growth of an organization.

Engaged employees are rare. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work

What is ?

Employee engagement first. No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it. That’s why you need to take the measure of employee engagement at least once a year through anonymous surveys in which people feel completely safe to speak their minds.

Jack and Suzy Welch

Why is it important ?

As a HR practitioner we all know the how valued our employees are and there are numerous occasions to celebrate these. Creating a Rewards & Recognition Programs are critical for enhancing the motivation levels of employees both at individual and team level.

When ?

1. Events and Occasions to celebrate
2. Individual Milestones - Birthdays, Wedding Anniversaries, Womens Day, Fathers Day etc etc
3. Group Achievements - Team Work, Project Completion, Product Releases etc
4. Company Milestones
5. Large Contract Wins, Clients Appreciation, Turnover / Profitability Achievements

My interactions with HR folks handling employee engagement often reveal the more focus on making more and more events to "engage" employees. If we are to consider the costs and the results in reality they do not quite add up. Attrition continues to happen even in the best of companies who boast of carrying a year long list of activities just to keep the employees connected and engage.

Sadly many feel that employee event management = engaged employee which is a wrong notion. There is no guarantee that the so called parties / outdoor events will eventually culminate bonding between the employees and employer. They are essential but not the only solution to engage highly skilled work force.

Proactively Engaging employees :

Besides having a well thought our plan for events and activities, HR should more focus on how to make employees truly engage themselves and apply at work ! While the events do have a shorter memory lane, it is what the employee perform is more important than their participation in parties and picnics.

In my opinion Companies should provide

• Challenging Work
• Learning Opportunities
• Technical support
• Clearly defined tasks with timelines
• Constant Feed back - good or bad should be given without any hesitation.
• Reward and Recognition for the best performers

Various stages at which Employee Engagement can be implemented include :

• Recruitment
• Training & Learning
• Compensation & Benefits
• Performance Management

Measuring levels of Employee Engagement -

As per Gallup there are 3 types of employees and they fall broadly into -

(a) Engaged

(b) Not Engaged

(c) Highly Dis-engaged.

HR should focus more on how to convert the 2 categories which are not connected with the business objectives and lack a true engagement with the work. Sharing a sample of initiatives of IBM in the link -

http://www.triplepundit.com/2013/10/future-employee-engagement-ibm-triple-benefit-programs/

Work Life Balance ?

In this era of social media revolution, information and communications management has become pretty easy. Companies are finding easier and faster ways of keeping in touch employees. With plethora of devices - lead to an ‘always on’ culture where location is irrelevant and connectivity is given. The advent of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is making life easier for both the employees and employers to keep pace with the work loads, by constantly updating the present status.

Gone are the days of nine to five and the thin line between work and life beyond work is becoming more and more irrelevant. Increased work load is having a telling effect both on the high and average performers, while for the employees rated as below average it really has no significance. In organizations where the balance is missing, we could see visible effect in high performers leaving the company putting more and more pressure on existing team members to share the work load and finish the tasks.

Expectations from employers have gone up steeply and they feel that Employees need to be available at all times - beyond office hours and on weekends too. This has resulted in frustration among the people who wish to have more privacy and free time to pursue their hobbies. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep away from mundane and routine tasks and employees are always on the toes to complete the tasks assigned to them and often run on stringent dead lines.

The discussions around Work Life basically revolves around female employees and is all about how women were able to strike a perfect balance between the two. Indeed they are playing multiple roles at the same with finesse.

HR Policies on W / L

A well defined HR Policy on Work Life is required to keep employees aware of the processes and best practices in Strategic HRM. Many companies suffer on this count as they give very little importance to this aspect. Workers in the knowledge industries are more prone to extreme work pressures trying to finish the work before the project dead lines. It becomes all the more relevant to have a well researched and thoughtful policy which captures essence of striking a perfect balance between work and life.

What employees feel : Lets look at both the extremes to guage public opinion on this critical aspect of employment

Positive :

In large companies - MNCs there are many testimonials where the employees are highly motivated by a pro-active HR policies trying to strike a balance between Work and Life. For instance at GE Capital, there is a recognition that employees are real people, not humanresources. They know that real people have families and may well have significant commitments such as caring for an elderly relative or looking after two or three children.

Negative :

It is a Jinxed Idea - in most cases employees feel that it is work and more work and no life beyond work! Many employees are of the opinion that working on balancing Work Life is a flawed one, since all these are heavily loaded in favor of the employers, leaving little room for the employees. Vast majority of junior level engineers feel that it is a utter "non-sense" and should be scrapped since they have not experienced any difference. For them it is Work and Work and there is no life beyond work !!

A tool to attract & retain Top Talent :

A thoughtful Policy on W / L helps both in attracting and retaining top talent. The awareness amongst employees is so high that candidates are asking about how company is oriented towards balancing work and it is fast becoming a top priority. Any company which aims to become an employer of choice must build this into their culture. The existing high performers too have high expectations in this regard, any neglect will eventually lead to separation.

Solution

While Business managers are more inclined to push for less resources for projects, keeping in view billing rates of the software engineers per project, the work load is increasing at all levels. Companies do resort to temporary staffing for shorter duration to seek external teams to work on projects. A scientifically researched on the number of people needed for the project work deserves a closer look.

A way out will be to customize the policies to suit the industry / environment, HR plays a key role in "right sizing" of teams and a well defined roles / responsibilities metrics goes a long way in proper distribution of work, leaving un-necessary excess loading on high performers. The whole perception of 'resources' has to change with reduced focus on 'ROI' and sensitize other line functions on urgent need to have a highly motivated work force will go a long way in the success and future of a balanced Work Life.

HR Challenges in Senior Management Exits

Friends,

This issue needs immediate attention of HR Managers. How do we deal with Senior Management separations happening at regular intervals.

Management comprises of eminent experts who play a key role in companies growth and thereby contribute significantly enhancing both business prospects as well as higher profitability. What happens if there are high profile exits of a Software 'services companies ? Can the management sit back and relax showing total indifference to the separations.

We could see the event turning out to be a dampener to the overall morale and productivity. Employees working under these leaders tend to become demotivated and there will be total lack of direction to move forward in both business development and project deliverables. HR plays a crucial role in analyzing as well as coming out with a quick action plan to back fill these positions or better still move people within the organization to fill the void left by these Senior level exits.

From business perspective the following are the implications of high profile exits

1. Customer Dissatisfaction :

For any of the roles where these Managers are SPOCs or Account / Delivery Managers the customers are bound to make it an issue and in most cases pressurize the management to ensure continuity and also minimize the risks by having either present incumbent to continue or have a quick replacements done to ensure continuity and smoother operations.

2. Shadow Impact

In most Software Development Companies the bonding between the Leader and Managers are quite strong. More so in case where employees who are quitting after spending substantial period in excess of 15-20 years in the same company. They develop a strong bonding and any separation will definitely have a rub off effect. Sooner than later we could see few more leaving the company and following their leaders in a new set up.

3. Continuity

Unless properly planned there is likely to be disruption in the service offerings due to the absence of senior management staff. HR has to grapple with this and try to have well thought out plan to ensure that there is a business continuity. Companies will discuss withe clients how they are going to deal with separations and discuss in detail action items for implementation to avoid disruption.

4. Transition

It becomes very critical for the companies to ensure that the deliverables are not impacted by the high profile exits, Since in most cases there is a window of 3 months from the date of communication of quitting and actual relieving , it becomes imperative that the new incumbent has to come to speed and fill the void created due to the resignations.

Let us evaluate what HR should be pro actively doing in these kind of scenario where the companies are witnessing high level attrition

1. Succession Planning

Preparing a list of possible candidates who can be either promoted internally or moved from within the company, Succession Planning plays a key role in withstanding any kind of shocks of quits from top jobs / positions. Being an ongoing continuous process SP can throw up interesting alternatives within a company paving way for smoother transitions.

2. Quick Back Filling -

Easier said than done. The recruitment cycle extends to minimum period of 4-6 months to select, induct a new incumbent. The hiring at senior levels is a time consuming process as there are very few candidates who match the job profile besides looking for a cultural fit

3. Team Morale

The team morale needs to be kept high and it should absorb any kind of shocks as a result of separations at the top level. Keeping the team in confidence in decision making helps in having sense of belonging and to a large extent helps in having higher morale.

4. Communication Management

Official communication management plays a key role at a time when the entire world and all stake holders - investors, employees and customers alike keep asking about these separations. A clearly worded statement from the top CEO as to the contributions made by the employees who are quitting and also reasons for separation (wherever possible) and a clearly defined future plans to meet the gap should be communicated in public. This goes a long way in better understanding of the situation and keeping the stake holders informed is key to their continued support in difficult times.

5. Expectations Management

As a leading survey most people quit a reasonably senior position only after they think through and often painful separation. Period reviews besides annual appraisals are opportunities which Management uses to gauge thinking of Senior Directors, keeping their career aspirations and mapping to companies growth and making efforts to keep them engaged are essential to curb attrition. An effort is always made to ensure that exits do not happen at regular intervals.

6. Exit Analysis

Through this exercise HR and Management will try to know the real cause for the separation. This happens once the employee made up his / her mind to quit. An independent and transparent discussions will help analyse root cause of un happiness. Follow up actions should follow to ensure that these exits are stopped to maximum extent possible.

This reminds me of a words of poet Alfred Tennyson wrote in "The Brooks" - "For Men may come men may go but I go on forever".

HR and Senior Management should not be seen as being indifferent and act as if they are not bothered and taking this in a casual manner will be disastrous as this kind of thinking will spread more unhappiness and lead to more and more separations at all levels - Senior Management, Middle Management and all. A right step at right time is bound to have a major impact and we all should be ready to face this challenge at all times.

Raghav HR Guru

Founder - HRinIndia

Falling Rupee - Hiring Challenges in India

The depreciating value of rupee clubbed with a slowing global economy is making hiring decisions a "challenging" task for many companies, say experts. 

"A falling rupee makes imports costlier, pushes up the costs of imported raw materials, and increases the external borrowing and repayment cost, to name a few. This trend clubbed with a slowing global economy, makes hiring decisions challenging for companies," said HR firm Randstad India president (Staffing) Aditya Narayana Mishra. 

Depreciation of rupee would result in increased inflation and thus, stagnant growth of the economy. And hence, it would affect all industries and the human resource domain would be no exception. 

Rupee sank to an all-time low of 66 last week against US dollar in mid-session trade, dragged down by a heavy month-end demand for the US currency. 

According to executive search firm GlobalHunt's MD Sunil Goel, "Impact of rupee depreciation on hiring will be more in sectors like manufacturing, power, oil and gas, automotive sectors, electronics, telecommunications". 

Goel further noted that companies in these sectors may look for manpower retrenchment to cope with the sudden financial crisis due to steep rise in import cost (of machineries, equipments, mobile devices, among others). 

Echoing similar sentiments, ApnaCircle.com founder and CEO Yogesh Bansal said, "Rupee depreciation would affect all industries and HR will be no exception. The number of people being hired will be less or the salaries would be kept constant or reduced." 

However, the IT industry is likely to gain in the short term because of depreciating rupee and India-based IT companies' revenues and profits will see an upside. 

However, it will be interesting to observe any changes to the revenue and hiring guidance of the IT majors for the upcoming quarters, experts said. 

Another segment that is going to get severely impacted is hiring of expat talent, as it would be an expensive luxury for Indian companies. 

"Organisations may start evaluating the viability of having a large expatriate pool here, since their compensation costs will certainly increase," said society for human resource management (SHRM)'s knowledge adviser Simran Oberoi, adding, local talent which can fit into the roles earlier earmarked for expats, is now available. 

Raghav
Founder

HRI Foundation
303 Motherland Building
3rd Main 3rd Cross, Kamanahalli
Bangalore 560084

www.hrinindia.org
www.twitter.com/Raghav_HRGuru

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/HRinIndia-21813

HR in a soup ?

LOI or Offer what is the issue ? Can we hide behind wordings ?

Can we say clearly we will either honor or cancel these ??

What will you do in this situation ???

Just look at the comments.

Prithvi should have used a better snap instead of a broad smile, which is rubbing salt to the wounds.

Lets discuss and debate

Raghav

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/hcl-issued-a-letter-of-intent-and-not-a-job-offer-says-hr-head/article4526424.ece 

Kallam Anji Reddy - A Visionary & Great Leader

Kallam Anji Reddy (73), the founder of Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited (DRL), who was  suffering from cancer, breathed his last at 4 pm on Friday at Apollo Hospitals here where he was undergoing treatment.   Reddy's body has been shifted to his house in Banjara Hills. People close to him said that he would be cremated tomorrow (Saturday).

Hailing from Tadepalli in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, Reddy graduated from Bombay University ( BSc Tech) with specialisation in pharmaceutical science and fine chemicals.  He obtained his Ph D in chemical engineering from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in 1969. Soon after his studies, he joined the state-owned Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL).

In 1984, Reddy pooled in all his resources to start DRL with an initial capital outlay of Rs 25 lakh. Soon the company established benchmarks in the Indian pharmaceutical industry.  It eventually became the first pharmaceutical company in India to initiate drug discovery research and transformed Indian bulk drug industry from import-dependent in mid-80s to self reliant by 1990s.  

People close to Reddy and who had worked with him earlier told Business Standard that he was instrumental in transforming Hyderabad as the pharmaceutical capital of the country. Several young entrepreneurs inspired by him had set up pharmaceutical units leading to the proliferation of bulk drug industry here.

A recipient of Padma Bhushan, Reddy also started a public charitable trust "Naandi Foundation", which provides drinking water and mid day meals to 1.3 million government school going children and farmers.    

Started as a manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), DRL soon introduced branded formulations. Between 1985 and 1986, it came out with a drug 'Methydopa'. The company approached Merck with the samples but was rejected and that is stated have been turned the fortunes of DRL.

"That is where I got into the act. I took it as a challenge and within three months, we produced Methydopa equal to Merck's quality and acceptable to them," Reddy told in one of his interviews to the media.  

DRL came out with an initial public offering of equity-linked debentures aggregating Rs 2.46 crore in May 1986. A year later, DRL was reported to have got another break when it secured approval from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (US FDA) to make Ibuprofen. This opened a world of opportunities for Reddy. The rest is history.

In 1997, DRL filed for its first abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for Ranitidine and in 1999 it took over Chennai-based pharmaceutical company, American Remedies.

DRL got listed itself on the New York Stock Exchange on April 11, 2001. It fetched $133 million to the company. In 2005, DRL purchased Roche's API business in Mexico at an investment of $59 million. The company moved to Germany in early 2006 and acquired Betapharm.

At the age of 34, Reddy quit his job with IDPL and set up his first company Uniloids. He later started a few more ventures in quick succession before launching DRL. By 2005, DRL emerged  as the country's second largest pharmaceutical company.  In 2011-12, DRL posted a turnover of Rs 9,597 and a net profit of Rs 1426 crore. A long journey from an initial investment of just Rs 25 lakh.

Timeline

<sub>*Born-1940, Tadepalli, Guntur district
*B.Sc-Tech in Pharmaceuticals and Fine chemicals from Bombay University followed by a Ph.D in chemical engineering from the *National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in 1969
*Served IDPL-1969–1975
*Quit IDPL to found Uniloids Ltd in 1976
*Founded Dr Reddy's Labs in 1984
*Dr Reddy set up the Naandi Foundation as a Public Charitable Trust 1998

*was honored by the Government of India with the Padma Bhushan—April 2011 ( recognizing his distinguished service of high order in the field of Trade and Industry).

*Died March 15, 2013</sub>

Contributions

^{—set-up the "Institute of Life Sciences" at Hyderabad
—Seen as the father of bulk drug industry in India
—Served as a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry
—Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation
—one of the first President of The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance
— Served as a Board Member of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, Switzerland
— Board of Directors for TB Alliance, New York (Global Alliance for TB Drug Development)}

Women Leadership Summit 2012

Hi,

How are you doing?

After the resounding success of the four editions of Women Leadership Summit since 2008 in 6 cities of India i.e. Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Pune and Kolkata, Siliconindia is back with its 6^th edition of the ‘ Women Leadership Summit 2012' in Bangalore on February 24th.

You will get an opportunity to listen Rekha Menon, Executive Director Geographic Services, Accenture who will speak in one of the panel at the event. Rekha leads Geographic Services for India & ASEAN and Human Capital & Diversity for India with over 24 years of rich experience.

You can also listen to Anuradha Rao, VP Leadership Development, Deutsche Bank with an experience of 23 who leads Talent & Development for DBOI globally.

The Women's Leadership Summit advances women’s leadership across careers, cultures and continents by connecting the world’s most preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement. This event will feature panels of highly successful professional women from the corporate industry who will share their knowledge and insights to help empower more women to achieve their goals.

List of confirmed speakers:

• Usha Chamurturi, Director, Alcatel Lucent.
• Anuradha Rao, VP Leadership Development, Deutsche Bank.
• Meena Ganesh,CEO,Edurite Technologies(Pearson Group).
• Jessie Paul,CEO, Paul Writer.
• Dr. Sunita Maheshwari, Doctor and Entrepreneur, Narayana Hrudayalaya .
• Maya Vidhya, VP IT and Operations, CGI India.
• Kalpana Gopalan, IAS and Principal Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka.
• Tina Vas, Senior Global Head, Tavant Technologies .
• Sheela KL, VP HR, Collabera Technologies.
• Laxmi Char, Senior Director, Global Business Solution, Yahoo .
• Soma Pandey, VP HR, Accenture.
• Alka Manchanda, Director Engineering, Cisco.
• Anupama S Ambe, Chairperson, Women Leadership Council, IBM.

The panel topics:

· Ascending the Corporate Ladder

· Women's Work: The Great Juggling Act

· Achieving Success Turning every Adversity in to an Advantage

· Women Innovators: A new way of thinking in a complex world

Our previous editions:

· Women Leadership Summit, Bangalore

· Women Leadership Summit, New Delhi

· Women Leadership Summit, Mumbai

· Women Leadership Summit, Chennai

· Women Leadership Summit, Hyderabad

· Women Leadership Summit, Pune

DATE: February 24th, 2012
Timings: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Venue: The Lalit Ashok, Hall: Grand Ball Room, Kumarakrupa High Grounds, Bangalore-560001

The Women Leadership Summit is an INVITE only event. To request for an invitation kindly write to us at mehdi@siliconindia.com or call us at 080-43112116

.

Block your seats now. There is an early bird offer of rupees Rs 1000 /- till February 15th after that registration charge will be Rs 2000./-
This is towards: Access to Sessions, Tea/Coffee & Refreshments and Lunch.

This is a one-stop shop to address such challenges ahead for the Women Leaders who would inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Don’t miss the opportunity.


Regards,
Mehdi
Siliconindia

Ph: 080-43112116

Brought to you by

Raghav
Founder

HRI Foundation
303 Motherland Building
3rd Main 3rd Cross
Kamanahalli
BANGALORE 560084

www.hrinindia.blogspot.com
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HR Help - Call +91.8105737966

Hiring to slow down drastically !!

Hiring activity in the Indian IT sector, one of the biggest employers in the country, could fall by about one-fourth due to the downgrade of the USA's credit rating and the deepening economic crisis, experts said.

It might take at least 5-6 months for the recruitment activities of the IT sector to gain momentum, they said.

"We are expecting overall almost 26 per cent dip in recruitment in IT industries from first quarter of FY'12. It'll take at least 5-6 months to get momentum in hiring in IT industries," MyHiringClub.com Founder and CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

"Due to the economic crisis in the US, the Indian IT job market is also going to be affected badly. The major reason behind this is cost-cutting in Indian companies' US division.

In the near future, Indian IT companies having offices in the US are going to face a surplus in their existing manpower strength," he added.

Echoing a similar view, Info Edge (India) Group President (Finance) and CFO Ambarish Raghuvanshi said, "Recruitment would be lagging in the IT space..."

The US accounts for almost 60 per cent of the revenues of the $ 60 billion Indian IT industry.

Experts believe that job activity in other industries would be negatively impacted as well.

"Apart from IT, hiring activity in other industries is also going to impacted," Concord HR Works CEO Sekhar Ghotgalkar said.

The reaction comes after the US lost its 'AAA' credit rating for the first time in history, as ratings agency S&P was not convinced with the efforts being made to tackle the country's debt problems. This resulted in a bloodbath in the Indian markets.

Most Indian IT firms agreed that while there are fears of another recession in the US and a debt crisis in Europe, it is still too early to know what is coming.

However, the country's two largest software exporters, Infosys and TCS, remain confident of withstanding another downturn.

"It is too early to say. There are fears of another recession in the US and a debt crisis in Europe," Infosys CEO and MD Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

Our expectations are that the hiring activity will come down drastically in the months to come and it will be a tough time for recruiting firms having focus on IT hiring.

Bought to you by

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3rd Cross, Kamanahalli

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# 9880080321

Attrition Peaks

The information technology (IT) and healthcare sectors are witnessing the highest attrition rates among talented employees, making retention of critical manpower resources a key challenge, says a survey.

According to a study conducted by MyHiringClub.com, the IT and ITES sectors saw the highest attrition rate of 23 per cent in the first quarter of 2010-11.

In contrast, the banking and financial services sector witnessed an attrition rate of 18 per cent, followed by healthcare (12 per cent), FMCG (11 per cent) and automobiles and manufacturing (11 per cent).

"Attrition is a major problem with India Inc and it suddenly got increased in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The major reason behind (this) was that firms had started paying more to newly hired employees.

"Beside pay packages, career level growth and relationships with supervisors are the other reasons for higher job attrition," MyHiringClub.com Founder and CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

The main reason for switching a job is pay packages (21 per cent), followed by career level growth (16 per cent), dissatisfaction with supervisors (15 per cent) and work pressure (14 per cent).

Employees with experience of up to five years had the highest attrition rate of 39 per cent, while it was 27 per cent for those with 5-10 years of experience and 22 per cent in the 10-15 years' experience bracket.

Interestingly, senior-level employees (experience more than 15 years) had a very low attrition rate of 15 per cent.

"Entry level and young blood employees want to reach on higher pay packages as soon as possible to fulfill there need and avail good facilities of life.

"If they continue with the same job, they can get a 10-20 per cent salary hike, but if they switch jobs, they can easily get somewhere around a 25-40 per cent salary hike from current CTC. A higher attrition rate causes panic among employers and the direct impact of a higher attrition rate comes in hiring costs," Kumar added.

The survey was conducted by MyHiringClub -- an Asia and Gulf/Middle East recruitment tendering platform -- among 11,800 employees and 249 employers between May and June this year.

In our view attrition begins with recruitments and ends at separation. A comprehensive role / competency based frame work will weed out the entry level mis-matches.

Raghav

Founder

HRI Foundation

303 Motherland Building

3rd Main 3rd Cross

Kamanahalli

BANGALORE 560084

www.hrinindia.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/Raghav_HRGuru

HR Help - Call +91.8105737966

Infy - Employees Voice ?

Infosys Limited may not be your friendliest neighbour or the most employee-friendly IT company around. But they sure are making amends.

'Infy Bubble', their recently launched internal social networking site is supposedly a platform for disgruntled Infoscions to vent on. The site mirrors Facebook and allows employees to connect across borders with colleagues as well as bicker about anything they want, said Nandita Gurjar, Vice President and Group Head, Human Resources, Infosys Limited.

She added that the site doesn't encourage personal attacks but it does welcome negative feedback about their bosses and peers. The site also allows them to share photographs and other stuff just like they do on Facebook, thus giving them a platform to engage themselves with other employees.

This is one of the internal PR exercises Infosys is conscientiously indulging in to salvage their image. The company has been battling severe criticism and high attrition rates lately.

And, despite rising wages hurting the IT bellwhether's profit margins, it isn't stopping its hiring momentum. Infosys that plans to hire 12,000 employees this quarter has already added 9,992 employees this year.

When asked if this would further affect their revenues, the management strongly responded by saying that they are going as per their yearly target of 45,000 new additions. With the improving business sentiment and revival in IT spends , IT firms are stepping up hiring to meet demand for their services.

The company today posted a 15.72 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,722 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011. During the first quarter, Infosys and its subsidiaries saw over 7,000 employees leaving.

As we know, with increased hiring comes a high rate of attrition. But the company isn't really worried about it. Gurjar says, "This is the quarter when we normally expect employees to go for higher studies. 30% of the employees who have quit cited this reason."

She says, the company can't stop employees from pursuing higher studies. However, they are pondering on how to get them back with acquired skill sets. Gurjar says, "95% of the employees who quit to pursue higher studies actually want to come back. But since we have a structured process they have to undergo the complete interview cycle in the campuses. So may be in the near future we might have a policy where an employee can come back after getting MBA degrees or something else without getting into the complete interview cycle.".

But there is an interesting bit of information that Gurjar revealed. "34% per cent of our total employee workforce is woman. So in this quarter 32% of the woman employees who quit didn't cite any reason for quitting the job. They just wanted to take a break. Now this is something that we want to review."

While they ponder on what's working and what's not, the company is also planning an Infosys radio service through which the management will regularly interact with the employees. Looks like the company is engaging in some serious PR exercises with employees to build a few bridges. But will it curtail attrition? In true Infosys management lingo, "We might have to wait for the next quarter" for an answer.

Our Views :

Infosys has really set a trend which other companies are likely to follow. They are the first company to create a social networking platform to share everything about them, similar to the Facebook. This will increase the interactions between employees fostering better work relationships.

Raghav
Founder

HRI Foundation
303 Motherland Building
3rd Main 3rd Cross
Kamanahalli
BANGALORE 560084

www.hrinindia.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/Raghav_HRGuru
HR Help - Call +91.8105737966

From selling clips in local trains, Mumbai to Brazil

It has been a long journey for Durga Mallu Gudilu — from selling clips and needles on Mumbai’s local trains, to representing the country at the World Social Forum in Brazil.

And the lanky 22- year- old has had to overcome the stiffest of odds in her quest for this remarkable turnaround.

An 8x10- foot cubbyhole of a room in the Sanjay Nagar slums, located in Jogeshwari ( East), serves as a home for Durga, her parents and sister Govindi. They belong to the “ nomadic” Vaidu community that has been living in the area for the past 30 years.

The community, now a denotified tribe, still holds panchayats headed by elderly males to decide on law and order. “ Vaidus are relegated to one of the most neglected parts of the expansive slum.

The nearest toilet is 200 metres away; girls stand in serpentine queues at 5 am daily to fill up unhygienic and contaminated water from the nearest tap and most members of the community suffer from tuberculosis,” primary health centre nurse Neelima said.

That’s not all. The men eke out their living by recycling and repairing old steel dabbas . “ More than half of the meagre Rs 30 that they earn are spent on drinking. And wife beating inevitably follows the boozing,” Durga’s 63- year- old mother Anku Bai says.

The family used to struggle to get, even two square meals a day. “ As a child, I had never seen home- cooked food since we used to beg for food in trains and homes,” Durga recalls.

But things underwent a dramatic change ever since Durga became one of the first girls to be educated in the community. Today, she has completed Class XII, imparts basic computer training and runs a coaching centre for 40- odd schoolchildren from her cramped kholi. She also uses the computer to stay in touch with her friends from Peru and USA whom she met during the forum.

Durga remembers how the NGO Yuva had managed to convince her parents to send her to the local municipal school. “ Initially, my sister and I were made to sit separately as we used to be stink,” she says, adding that it was the progress they made in studies and sports that helped them gain acceptance among classmates.

Being lettered had other spin- offs as well. “ Since the girls started going to school, we gained respectability and stopped begging. Their father stopped drinking, too,” Anku Bai says.

“ The journey from those days to the smart and confident woman that Durga has become, is no mean achievement,” Raju Bhise of Yuva points out. “ We gave her the support and guidance; but it was she who has stood out with her leadership skills,” he adds.

Govindi, the older of the two girls, is pursuing a software course from GNIIT. Durga will pursue her graduation only after Govindi finishes her course because one of them has to look after the household.

Forthright and outspoken, Durga has her own viewpoint.

“ The Rs 16 crore announced by the Maharashtra government to create awareness about child labour will not achieve much until parents are helped to get sustainable livelihoods,” she observes. Having performed street plays and participated in poster campaigns as well as in door- to- door mobilisation drives to raise awareness about child labour and other issues, she definitely knows what she is talking about.

This truly a hear touching story of how NGOs are make a difference to people. Our salute Yuva team for helping Durga

Raghav

Founder

HRI Foundation

303 Motherland Building

3rd Main 3rd Cross

Kamanahalli

BANGALORE 560084

www.hrinindia.blogspot.com

www.twitter.com/Raghav_HRGuru

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