New Trends In Giving Rewards To The Employees..

Organizations today have realized that cash is easily replicable by others and hence to remain competitive in such a dynamic environment the employees need to introduce a differentiator which caters to the needs of diverse cultures. Strong Rewards and Recognition Program is becoming a top priority for organizations with CEOs and board members getting closely involved and that the effectiveness of all tangible and intangible rewards programs must be monitored periodically.

Before defining the categories/areas or behavior, one needs to be clear what will they recognize or in other words what the organization wants its employees to deliver. In this regard, I thought of sharing few objectives to reward like:

•Team Work
•People or subordinate development
•Achievement Orientation
•Innovation & Creativity
•Enhancing company’s brand in external forums
•Social work
•Improvements at work place
•Motivation
•Timely Delivery
There can be multiple ways in which a rewards program can be structured to recognize an employee; some of them are mentioned here:

Time Based Recognition Awards: Rewards that are time dependent like weekly, monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, annually etc
Rewards For Functional Excellence: Rewarding employees for delivering on time, best team awards, rewarding for exceptional customer service, cost efficiencies
Rewards For Individual Departments or Groups: Rewarding exceptional performance in sales, finance, HR etc
Informal Appreciations: a pat on the back, recognizing in front of the team, group parties or get together, spot recognitions etc
Creating individual centric or Popular Category of Rewards: These rewards can be like brand ambassador, I want to be like, Best Mentor, birthdays and anniversary etc


The categories of Rewards and Recognition program are dependent on the company vision, values and goals. After all these rewards will ultimately result in a behavior which the organization wants its employees to exhibit and instill within them. For some people the rewards may be financially, but for others it will be a question of branding, status, good resorts & restaurants, free movie tickets, games etc. To sum it a better and more wholesome life. Employees will be enjoying their rewards and feel motivated because you are rewarding them for working the way you wanted.

While designing rewards and recognition program it is to be ensured that it doesn’t loose its novelty and time to time changes and additions must be done to make the entire process more rejuvenating and special for people.
Reference:-
amitbhagria@younghrmanager.com or through his company's web site at http://www.younghrmanager.com

NEW TRENDS IN HR...

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to win the future". John F Kennedy.

Success and failure of business depends upon the effective and efficient management of the organization. Neither the Great Wall nor the Parthenon would have been built without proper Management .

Growth and development an organization depends upon the workforce it owns. It is very much said that growth and development of the organization depends upon the growth and development of the employees and vis-à-vis. But the scene of today was not in the yesteryears. The industrial revolution in eighteenth and nineteenth- century were in need to coordinate the efforts of large number of people in the production process. Britain provides more recent witness to the practice of management leaving written traces of concern for management. Those were the days when employees were considered as machines and were only to give maximum output. No facilities, no infrastructure, no relations, no group, no team. Only relations with the organization were to give maximum output. They were not trained; jobs were not specific and scientific. Charles Babbage, for example wrote about the need for the systematic study and standardization of work operations to improve productivity.

The contributed valuable ideas of Elton Mayo, Fredeic Taylor, Robert Owen, Charles Dupin, Mc Gregor, Henry Fayol and many more laid the foundation for subsequent, broader inquiries into the nature of management, which ultimately lead to the betterment of human resource. From workers to associates of the organization is a long journey that has taken place.

With the continuous increasing competition and countries becoming global, the Organization's concept for HR has changed. It's the need of the time to consider the employees as the resource. The organization which are working on the principle of Attracting, Managing, Nurturing and Retaining their employees are moving ahead with the competition and are having competitive advantage over other organizations. The organizations believe in having brains working for them and are giving them full space to explore experiment and exploit their ideas, creativity and innovativeness. The employees are being involved in the workings of the organizations, and their efforts are recognized and rewarded.

Companies no more believe in the tall hierarchical structures, and cubical with closed doors of the boss but have given way for flat organizational structures with more spans of control and less chain of command. The doors of the boss are open. In place of being the autocratic leaders or managers they play the role of team builders, mentors, coach or counselors. Following the principles of retaining the brains in the organization, the policies have become more and more flexible providing alternative and flexible work schedule. Flexi time, compressed week, job sharing, telecommuting is some of these. It not only caters the need of the employees and help in retaining them rather 24 Hrs accessibility of manpower to the work is there. To be ahead in the competition and a step ahead with the expectations of the employee's work place is becoming family friendly and employee friendly. The companies emphasize in providing them all the facilities, statutory and non statutory. Training and development are the other areas where organizations are trying to take the lead over other organizations so that employees can be made multiskilled to handle multiple tasks. The new horizon has opened up where the organizations competing are clubbing together to form the network of talents.

Organizations today are not only making the structure and policies employee friendly rather are trying to improve the quality of work life where employees can enjoy their working and will be able to manage the balance between work life and personal life. They provide them the in-house facility of health club, yoga, meditation, alternative work schedule, picnics, and family get together where they can reduce their stress and strains. They also provide educational facility, medical facility etc. Some companies also provide the employees holiday package along with their family members. The idea behind is not only to have a happy workforce but to get extended to the families of the employees as well to develop a sense of belongingness in the employees.

Other areas where remarkable changes are being made are in communication pattern. Gone are the days when employees feared talking to their bosses and had to wait for weeks to get their things reached to them. Every thing has changed. Things are replaced by cross communication, gang plank mechanism, open door policy, internet, intranet, mentoring, counseling, coaching etc. Communication is no more restricted to from top to bottom rather bottom to up is encouraged more in the organization to make functioning more smooth and to have grievance free, satisfied employees.

With the continuous rise in competition, business cannot flourish if individualism is prevailing in the company. Therefore to meet the need of the time the growing organizations are following collectivism culture, where working in groups and teams are emphasized. The problems are not moved up for the solutions rather are tried to solve at the same level, opening the way for concepts of Quality circles, Self Managed Teams Cross Functional teams etc. These techniques make the employees work in group or team, upgrade them, empower them and sharpens their creativity and innovativeness.

Performance appraisal has also taken a new shape. It's not confined to the boss and subordinates, rather more emphasis is being given on overall appraisal of the employees (360 degree appraisal). Employees are also given opportunities for succession growth. Many leading organizations look for the competencies rather than experience and age. They try to infuse new blood in the organization, and make them learn and unlearn according to their needs and requirements.

To conclude, change is the necessary to survive. Those who changes with the change survive and those who not strive and vanish. What is today may be obsolete tomorrow. It is necessary to upgrade and restructure every time to withstand and face the situations. HR policies of the organization should also be changed with the time and new strategies, policies should come up to retain the talents in the organization.
This article is by,
KP Kanchana
Faculty ICFAI

Global HRM...

Global HRM places greater emphasis on a number of responsibilities and functions such as relocation, orientation and translation services to help employees adapt to a new and different environment outside their own country.

• Selection of employees requires careful evaluation of the personal characteristics of the candidate and his/her spouse.


• Training and development extends beyond information and orientation training to include sensitivity training and field experiences that will enable the manager to understand cultural differences better. Managers need to be protected from career development risks, re-entry problems and culture shock.


• To balance the pros and cons of home country and host country evaluations, performance evaluations should combine the two sources of appraisal information.




• Compensation systems should support the overall strategic intent of the organization but should be customized for local conditions.


• In many European countries - Germany for one, law establishes representation. Organizations typically negotiate the agreement with the unions at a national level. In Europe it is more likely for salaried employees and managers to be unionized.

The top 7 challenges HR professionals are hearing from management:

It's a tough world for human resource professionals these days. Staying competitive in a tight job market. Coordinating a multicultural workforce. Balancing legal compliance issues with productivity and profit concerns. In the decade we've been working with human resource professionals, here are the top seven challenges we hear most often.

1. "We have multicultural workers who aren't familiar with U.S. employment law and may unwittingly put us at legal risk." What if, when a decision to bring an employee from another country, he or she could immediately be trained with the tools to avoid potential U.S. legal pitfalls?
2. "Our managers are promoted because of their technical expertise, but lack the interpersonal skills to be effective leaders." What if, when a technical employee was promoted to manager, he or she could get immediate training on effective leadership, including how to deal with inappropriate employee behavior?
3. "I often hear of inappropriate jokes or have gotten e-mails that could create legal trouble for me or my company." What if, when a new employee was hired, he or she could have immediate training on what behaviors your company wants to promote -- and what behaviors will create legal risk?
4. "I spend too much of my time dealing with 'people problems.'"

   What if, when a new employee was hired, he or she could have immediate training on what behaviors your company wants to promote -- and what behaviors will create legal risk?

   And what if, when a technical employee was promoted to manager, he or she could get immediate training on effective leadership, including how to deal with inappropriate employee behavior?

5. "As our company grows, I have to deal more often with inappropriate behavior complaints."

   What if, when a new employee was hired, he or she could have immediate training on what behaviors your company wants to promote -- and what behaviors will create legal risk?

   What if, when a technical employee was promoted to manager, he or she could get immediate training on effective leadership, including how to deal with inappropriate employee behavior?

6. "Our managers know what's inappropriate at work, but are reluctant to deal with employees who are doing things they shouldn't." What if, when a technical employee was promoted to manager, he or she could get immediate training on effective leadership, including how to deal with inappropriate employee behavior?
7. "I know office romance is going to happen, but too often it results in hurt feelings, excessive gossip, or the perception of favoritism."

   What if, when a new employee was hired, he or she could have immediate training on what behaviors your company wants to promote -- and what behaviors will create legal risk?

   And what if, when faced with potential employment-related litigation, you had a system that documented your good faith effort to prevent harassment and discrimination?

What is Human Resource Planning..

Process by which an organisation ensures that it has the right number & kind of people at the right place and at the right time , capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that help the organisation achieve its overall objectives.

WHY HRP IS IMPORTANT?

1. Determining the numbers to be employed at a new location.
2. Retaining your highly skilled staff.
3. Managing an effective downsizing programme.
4. Where will the next generation of managers come from.

Functions of HRM

• Conducting job analyses (determining the nature of each employee's job) Planning labor needs and recruiting job candidates.
• Selecting job candidates.
• Orienting and training new employees.
• Managing Wages and Salaries (how to compensate employees) Providing incentives and benefits.
• Appraising performance and Communicating (interviewing, counseling, disciplining.
• Training and developing.
• Building employee commitment.
• Equal opportunity and affirmative action.
• Employee health and safety.
• Grievances and labor relations

What is Human Resource Managemant:

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resource" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. In simple words, HRM means employing people, developing their capacities, utilizing, maintaining and compensating their services in tune with the job and organizational requirement. The effective use of people to achieve both organizational and individual goals.

The effective recruitment, selection, development, compensation, and utilization of human resources by organizations.

Why care about HRM?
1. Impact on you as employees

2. Impact on you as managers

3. Potential future roles as HR professionals

4. Impact of HRM on organizations

What does a HR manager do?

The problem smaller growing businesses have is that they will usually need someone who can do all these things to one degree or another, and possibly have expertise specific to that firm’s area of growth, for example relocating or restructuring. Sue Shipley, principle consultant at HR recruitment consultancy, Odgers Ray & Berndston, says "What HR does is a factor of the maturity of the business and it's requirements. Finding a simple pay and benefits administrator is a lot easier than an HR person who can formulate organisational development and that's when the role starts to become more strategic."

For most growing businesses, the role expands as the company grows. Nicola Alcorn, now HR manager for lastminute.com, remembers how she was poached and hired on a permanent basis after she had been brought in as a consultant from Resource Solutions to meet some critical hiring decisions when the firm was much smaller. Now she devolves recruitment responsibilities to business managers while she has the much larger task today of managing the entire payroll.

Vicky McFarlane is an associate director at Courtenay Search and Selection, a firm which specialises in finding HR specialists. She says: "It's still the case that the dynamic that determines a HR person's pay and responsibility is the number of people in the business. If you haven't got many employees you can't do things like succession planning, training, and strategic development, all the aspects that start adding value to a company beyond basic payroll and recruitment. If you've only got 50people you shouldn't be hiring anyone too qualified."

The role of an HR Manager:

Management guru Tom Peters once joked that if you want to insult a Human Resources director ask him if HR stands for 'Human Remains.' The fact is, HR is a universally misunderstood discipline whether you are a large or small company. But bringing in an HR presence into your growing business could be one of the most sensible decisions you ever make. Find out why

Increasingly HR is more professional than ever before (its institute – the still rather antiquated sounding Institute of Personnel and Development - was recently given Chartered status). It doesn't require a huge leap of imagination to see HR theory - recruitment, retention, training and culture development - is something you will want turned into practice.

So, what sort of person should you really be looking to hire, what do they do, and what, most importantly, will they cost?

Importance of Human Resources in an organization:

Modern business practice requires an integrated human resource system to replace manual processes for the operational control of employee relations. This has resulted in reduced labor requirements and administrative processes. The corresponding increase in productivity due to centralized computing streamlines operations and assists managers to focus on more mission critical aspects of human resource management. Although paperwork hasn't been totally reduced, human resource managers can now spend more time on core business objectives as opposed to attending to minor administration tasks.
One area where a computerized human resource system is fully utilized is in the screening, tracking and reporting on application processes associated with filling vacancies. With internet integration, job posting, the tracking of open positions and the ability to store resumes electronically, human resource managers can fulfill recruitment, screening and conduct all operations from a centralized computer terminal. The ability to performing searches and track jobs and applications greatly expedites processes that would otherwise be very time consuming to execute.
The financial management module of human resource systems permits managers to conduct payroll operations seamlessly. With software to control salary and wage rates, superannuation contributions, employee performance details, sick leave and annual leave entitlements and incidents, there is no longer any need for a huge payroll division to organize company payments. The automatic reporting functionally essentially means that once the manager setups and structures employee details, the system can operate without manual processing and minimal labor oversee.
The operational requirements of employee management entail tracking, archiving and staying on top of rules, regulations, compliance, health and safety issues. A centralized human resource system minimizes the administration associated with maintaining operating requirements. New government regulations and legislation can be tracked over the internet for system integration.
The hr system is necessary for companies of all sizes, whether they operate locally or globally. Keeping track of labor, forecasting labor requirements, facilitating day to day employee management and providing financial reporting to the accounting department are essential components to company operations. With the ability to cut costs, save time and increase productivity, a hr system is an investment that companies will long reap benefit from.

What is HR?

According to William R Tracey, defines human resources as:"The people that staff and operate an organization" it is termed as the assets of the organization. Human Resource is also the organizational function tha deals with the people and issue related to the people such as compensation, hiring, performance management and training.