January 2014 Cover Story_The One Thing

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Some of the HR professionals wanted the function to brush up their basics – Focus on employee relations and employee engagement and become strategic partners of business

HR leaders placed a lot of emphasis on talent management and talentdevelopment and said it is time for organizations to follow a people-centered culture

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Businesses worldwide, including India, need to adapt to the uncertainties in the market and the changes that are happening at a pace that is faster than ever before. Businesses need to drive productivity through value-add, innovation, and of course, revenue. This calls for a redefinition of the rules of the game, and in turn, the HR strategy. The good news is HR leaders today have the opportunity to redefine some of these rules..

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Finding, developing and hanging onto enough of the qualified, quality people you need to keep your company thriving in an increasingly competitive, global economy may be something you’re dealing with today. If not, it’s a good bet you’ll be dealing with it at some point in the not-too distant future, as a recent survey found that 61 per cent of Indian organizations couldn’t hire people with the right skills due to talent shortages. Talent shortage or not, there’s no shortage of advice floating around about the best systems, software and social media tools for finding top prospects and those ever-elusive passive candidates.




In today’s hyper-competitive environment, traditional approaches to strategy are obsolete. The notion that a grand designer would be able to analyze the conditions facing the firm and design an effective strategy to move the organization forward is nothing but an illusion.Today more than ever, strategy has to involve people — both at a rational and an emotional level. Unless companies find ways to engage their people’s energies in developing new strategic ideasas well as putting these ideas into action, their strategy—however brilliant—will fail.




Which of your three children or your six grandchildren do you love the most? I was recently asked this by a sincere, but oblivious person. I love all my children and grandchildren equally. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to say “which is THE most important theme for HR 2014?” I think many of the ideas are relevant, so I will offer a menu of HR hopes for 2014.

• HR outside in• Talent• Leadership




The main focus for most organizations in 2014 should be on talent management and talent development, particularly the managerial and technical roles in the organizations. One of the major reasons for the focus on talent is that it is a great way to get the HR function into a broader discussion about what is next for the organization and what the business strategy should be. Allowing the HR function and talent management to contribute to the overall effectiveness and financial performance of the organization is the best way the HR function can add value to the corporation.




Being an HR professional and running an HR organization can be quite complex. First, you have to manage many administrativethings well: Staffing, onboarding, compliance, training, employee relations, communication, payroll, benefits, time tracking, and generally making sure that people stay out of trouble. And of course if you let any of these things slide or go awry, your reputation is at risk.But despite this important administrative role, in today’s business climate this is just not enough.




You have three geometrically shaped empty boxes in front of you. Oneis a rectangle, second a triangle and third a square. You need to fill them up. If you act locally (assuming different shaped boxes as different issues in different countries), you might have pulled out a large cardboard and a scissors, cut three different solid shapes as per requirement and filled it in. Now if you decide to act globally, you might figure out creating some sort of fluid, which can be placed in each box and it takes the shape of that container. What have you done here? Created a long term solution (come what may the shape of future boxes) and potentially saved a few millions in cash and a load of time for your efforts.




The one big people agenda for 2014 will be centred on productivity. With the economies remaining turbulent, the challenge to survive and then hopefully thrive will demand a very close look at staff productivity. Making an honest assessment of the issue is fraught with its share of business outlook, assessment and the emotions around it. Many companies in India have been more paternalisticand soft in their historical attitudes to productivity. Outdated labor laws, lack of a social security net and the general comfort with mediocrity of many managers has made the challenge delicate.




HR needs to rethink its positioning from being a business partner to being a catalyst for creating innovation across all parts of the organization. HR has many levers, which can enable us to tap into the creativity that people bring to work every day. If I look at my team in the last three to four years, we have created what we call a culture of “ideapreneurship” – where employee ideas are feeded, nurtured and harvested to add value for our clients. This culture of “ideapreneurship” has led to $230 million of value being added to our clients over and above the commercial contract that has been negotiated with them. So, I would say that there is a direct financial impact if you tap into the ideas that employees have to enhance what we call the value zone between themselves, the company and the customer.




The business context is very volatile and opportunities are shrinking day by day. Organizations will undergo challenging times and unless people are motivated and engaged they will not be able to succeed. If I were to choose just one thing that HR leaders should focus on, it would be keeping employees motivated and engaged with the business plans. This is important both in the private sector and the public sector companies, but PSUs are governed by government rules so we don’t have all the levers that private sector companies have.




So, what can we expect from HR in 2014? To answer this question, a review of the year might be in order. The current year was a somber one for business as we faced an economic slowdown, high and persistent inflation and a sharp fall in the external value of the rupee. Business confidence was low and investment plans put on hold.Given the impending elections, it is unlikely that a slew of bold reforms will be announced. Large government spending to boost the economy is unlikely given the high fiscal deficit, which the Finance Minister has promised to rein in. Any prospect of an economic revival will have to wait the swearing in of a new government. Given this scenario, I venture to suggest the following priorities for HR in 2014:


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As President of the Employers’ Federation of India (EFI) and also of the National HRD Network (NHRDN), I interact with many people across the country and across sectors. As I meet employees, managers, trade unions and people from the government, there is clearly an issue with respect to Industrial Relations that needs to be addressed. Contract labor is here to stay. The problem is that we have not got the balance right between various aspects of the ecosystem in terms of costs and benefits, and the short- and long-term implications and this is creating problems in the system.




The days of traditional banking are gone. The days of building your product and people breaking down your door to buy it are gone and the days of HR beingnon-strategic are gone. In 2014, many markets will finally be recovering from the recession and assuming parts of Europe does not fall into deflation, (which is a real threat and if it happens, it will s tall the recovery as it did for Japan), then many businesses across the world ill start 2014 optimistically. Instead of discussingcontrolling costs, managing working capital and hiring freezes, discussions will be about growth and new opportunities.


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A lot of talent assessment was done in the past decade through various interventions like 360 degree feedback, assessment centres, engagementsurveys and the like but developing and nurturing talent in the business context was weak. Investments in such assessments need to be converted into human capital assets for the organizations. This requires understanding the talent not only in the business context but also in the context of gender and generation diversity under one roof.


The One ThingJanuary 2014

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