Join the HR CONFLUENCE movement now

Hi all,

A few of us early practitioners and students of human resources began connecting online a few months ago to discuss the future of the HR practice in India and where we as the early practitioners can contribute to that future.



Many candid discussions, blog posts and tweets later, this community has now become ‘HR Confluence’ – a group of like minded, progressive HR practitioners with one strong mission – to make a difference to the HR Community in India with revolutionary, original thought! Through an aggressive social networking initiative which we have already sparked off, we hope to challenge the existing myths and misconceptions about HR that exist today.



We see ourselves now on our way to becoming HR 3.0 – A generation of HR professionals with its pulse on the future!



Our initiative includes:


The HR confluence blog: http://hrconfluence.blogspot.com/

The HR confluence Facebook community: http://www.facebook.com/pages/HR-Confluence/272308934627?ref=ts

The HR confluence Twitter group: http://twitter.com/hrconfluence



We invite you to come be a part of HR Confluence and help us in our journey to HR 3.0! Please be a part of our groups, visit all of our pages listed above and leave us your comments and email. Your opinions will add value to our cause and generate more avenues for all of us to be a part of!



We look forward to having you on board!

Jai Ho HR Confluence!!!!

Save tiger ? But how

Save something is what people have begun to market themselves to show their social inclination and patriotism.

But this idea of spreading on “save the tiger” baffles me! This is because unlike paper or plastic or fuel which is used by everyone. According to 3rd standard textbooks and other wildlife experts Tigers live in jungle and into most of which we have no access (And if we are given an access most of the people would be scared by the mere thought of facing a tiger).

it is not something which we can save by reducing consumption ! Or even the promotion about saving them confuses me! In the same part of the world the poachers are also feeling bad that only 1411 are left but they won’t mind that they won’t even mind if only 14 of them are there.

It’s high time we realized that most of these tiger poaching goes off to China with whom our Govt does not want to have a dialogue and how rampant corruption and bureaucracy has killed our forest and the flora and fauna. It’s no use trying to protest online.

The forest ranger has no equipments, no technology, no weapons to thwart the poachers they are as vulnerable and as the animals and our environment minister will prefer addressing on Climate change and BT cotton and others rather than looking to help them.

The basic pay of a forest ranger is lesser than the pocket money of many of us and we are not even bothered about it such is the system they fall victims for corruption and before they can get out they are sucked in

If we want to help saving them then think small in terms of living area for yourselves, leave forests open for animals and do not promote your own interests which helps in mass clearing of forests as we have to remember its animals who came before us we have no right to take their place.

Social Media

Is training for freshers that necessary

When we talk about training the first one which jumps out is the training given to fresher’s when they are joining an organization. Organizations spend a lot of time with some spending 18 months in training. Even if it’s a technical training how much can a person learn in a class room or even in a simulated place?

At the time we are questioning about whole education system and how there is a lack of employability we have to also question do these kinds of training do any value addition for a person who has been stuck with the bookish knowledge for 20 years can a training program of months in a classroom change it ?

Simulation is a great tool for training but can it replace the real one? I am sorry to say no the only way people will learn is by first ensuring they understand the business and for that they have to be on work to learn on that!

I believe that on the job training can provide an answer but not the final answer

In the recent NHRD meet I heard about a great practice at a great organization like the Marriott Hotels the CEO had originally joined in the Organization as a watchman and worked his way up which will be a sign for people to follow

Training for fresher’s especially technical is not something I personally believe on we have to let these people see how system works on their own ask people to take responsibility and that will only ensure a stronger work force. We cannot spoon feed them they should have the drive within them to perform

Thanks to my good friend and budding actuarial professional C.K.Varadarajan for the inputs

Cheers

Arvind

Productivity at what cost

The animosity towards HR is always high and i found an online venting of it here

"The Top 5 Reasons to Hate Your HR Department
July 9th, 2007 · 8 Comments

Your human resources department might be a fantastic resource for you in the workplace. Some organizations have taken the responsibility of relating to their employees seriously and approached the task with subtlety and attention to detail. If this sounds like where you work, love your HR department.

For the rest of you, however, you want to see this top 5. Without further ado, here are the Top 5 Reasons to Hate Your HR Department:

They think you are a resource
Petroleum, water, lumber, and humans. One of these things is not like the others—unless, that is, you consult the HR department. They view you as a resource, and they are not shy about it. This helps make things a lot simpler, and it helps the decision-makers in the organization feel better about making “difficult decisions” involving people. After all, it’s much more comfortable to talk about squeezing the last drop out of your resources than it is to talk about pushing people beyond their limits.

While subtle, the name indicates a desire to be unaware of your problems, pains, goals, and frustrations unless it will get them sued or cost them money, and that’s about right in most cases. In fact, the name “Human Resources” is a little refreshing in its honesty. It’s just a matter of time before a gentler term is adopted to describe the same practices.

Talking to them accomplishes nothing
While your meeting with the HR rep may be the closest you get to being heard, the fact of the matter is, he or she is probably someone who can’t change the landscape very much, if at all. The people who could do something about, the ultimate decision-makers, do not want to be bothered by a sea of personal stories. Therefore, your meetings with HR are the equivalent of having a pillow to shout into. You may feel better for getting it off of your chest, but you probably haven’t accomplished much else. The exception to this being, of course, a legitimate opportunity for litigation. That one will be run up the flagpole.

No real understanding of you or your job
With a professed disinterest in the details of your job or your life and the complete lack of ability to do anything about either anyway, it’s not really surprising that the HR department makes little to no effort to really understand what’s going on in the trenches. On top of that, they are removed from the sort of casual venting and frank discussions that most of us share because if it hits their ears it might have to go in a file and up the flagpole. As a result, the HR department is detached from the very employees that they are supposed to be the front lines of communication for, and it’s probably the last place you want to go with your problems rather than the first.

Inflexible policies and red tape
The policies of the HR department are designed to cover a ridiculously broad range of circumstances with one fell swoop. Making blanket statements about how much of a raise you can give someone, how quickly you can promote someone, and how to move an employee from one role to another laterally is just another step toward oversimplification and homogenization of human dynamics down into human resources. I understand the professed reasons for having such standards, but for the most part, it just seems like a lack of ability and effort to make wise decisions concerning the individuals in the company.

They pretend to be on your team
As the employee relations branch of the company, the HR department bears the responsibility for the false claims companies make about how they plan to treat their employees. Mission statements and other motivational blurbs abound with proud declarations of how much employees are valued and respected. “Our people are our key asset, everything we do is informed by our constant vision of teamwork and shared opportunity…” Well, it doesn’t take long to realize how far that is from the truth in most cases. Most companies try not to see people at all—they see resources. The game, for them, is about getting away with whatever you can without causing such a disruption in labor that profits are affected.

While most HR people are well meaning and while some HR departments are helpful to their employees, there is a reason why so many negative stereotypes exist. If your HR department doesn’t fall into these categories, that’s great. For most of us though, there’s a lot of truth to be found in this list. Don’t forget, the entire concept of the HR Department is geared to help the company, not the employee".

what i can infer from the last line is very disturbing in a sense if as HR professionals we are not accessible to the employees then for whom are we working ?

Its not easy to differentiate between the organization and the individual but at some point of time is it not our duty to listen to them, help them, and ensure they perform their best cause that will only make an organization better ? I think we are starting to lose the "Human" element of "Human resources". The person has voiced his opinion against being called a resource and being compared to physical objects.

and finally we listen to the venting out on policies and calls it red tape-ism. This is just an expression of how we are failing to see and recognize the employees and have fallen in love with recruitment, performance appraisal, PF , Gratuity ! that we have failed to even think of the people for whom w eneed to help. Personally i just pray that this is a temporary blip and we will start doing what we love

Cheers

Arvind

I Perform but ?

One good quality I am pretty boastful about and which I have newly inculcated is my ability to break out and interact with people.

This happened with an IT professional who was waiting at a local bus stop and was struggling to find the transport to his residence and fortunately we were travelling to the same location and I started up a conversation with him the guy who was quite distressed because he was new to the city and had lost his main source of communication i.e. his mobile phone and I felt that I need to help him and he opened out his ideas thoughts and emotions ! He had joined one of the leading American organizations which had a strong base in Chennai and he was basically from Mangalore.

After brief Introductions we had a discussion on the HR and the role of recruitment though he was not a HR but his knowledge of the subject was commendable he was talking about the various offers he had from Indian Companies which were aimed at enticing him to offer his services in those organization but he chose not to work for Indian organizations because of pay related reasons which I will magnify but one thing which I was stunned by was his desire to work for an Indian organization and to start up his own enterprise. His reasons for not working with Indian org. were

1) For a certain position your experience is counted first even before your talent
2) No emphasis about you! You are a part of the Ocean
3) Lack of proper motivation
And finally the biggest reason was

The pay package! The pay package was the key area and it was not the monetary part which affected him it was the incentive and fixed part. He said that if you are working for an Indian firm they give you hypothetically 60,000 as fixed and 1, 20, 000 as variable while it’s almost the same in American based organizations the crucial difference was how the term Variable came

1) In Indian firm variable is based on Company's performance
2) In a American based organization the variable is individually calculated by performing certain duties and goals set by them

His major bone of contention for an Indian firm was "Arey i will perform well but I know some other person will screw up so why should I take a hit for that"

For all the Psychologists Gen Y is rocking!!

Cheers

Arvind

Passion Power

The latest session of NHRD was based on employee engagement and there was a great session from Mr. Gurmeet Singh on what employee engagement can do to your organization but one thing Which caught my eye and according to me were more essential than the ways and methods in which it could be implemented was his emphasis on passion or the desire to do anything well and that is the vital cog to make an organization and an employee better because

1) No one wants their job to be a burden. If we could stir up the passion to perform what they are supposed to then expect only positive to happen

2) People have an inherent quality to be inquisitive for the right and wrong news (more in the second case if its sensationalized) if we can ensure that whatever news is there reaches the people clean and fair with no element of modification then the staff in the organization will back you.

3) If you’re passionate about your work then you will go the extra mile to ensure you perform your job well

And finally if you are passionate about your job then you don't worry about yourself and your job !! you worry about you organization or "My Organization"

Cheers

Arvind

Mistake

It was great pleasure for me to be a part of a leadership summit organized by KPMG and it was a mind blowing session on the various areas which are like litmus tests to separate the good from the excellent and one piece of advice which I am in love with was given by Mr. Kalyan Krishnan who spoke that people continue to ramble saying "Don't make the same mistake twice" but in the society where we live today before you realize you have made a mistake once you would have done it a couple of times as no one will look to point it out.

So what he said was that take sound advices and "Don't make the mistake once in the area where you had good advices". Even though this sounded preachy in all its form it was worth pondering upon as what he said was nothing but bull's eye requirement of what people want today. What is the guarantee that a person who has made a mistake once will not do it once again. It is turning out to be a mad rush for the best

Even though am of the opinion that career should not be rat race competition it sadly is

And as Mukesh Ambani Said "Money is not everything in life but earn a lot before saying that"

Cheers

Arvind