Guest Lecture-4 - Wisdom Learning Series (HR Club Activity)

Ms. Meghna Girohtra, Director – Strategy, Reliance Entertainment, was able to relate well with 60 students of PGDM-III, 1^st Year, Batch 2015-17, on Friday, 1^st April 2016 in Classroom 304, 3^rd Floor, on the topic, ‘Managing mobility-Campus to corporate transition’. Ms. Meghna Girohtra had a congenial session with the 1^st Year PGDM students. Being an alumnus from the Digital Marketing Media Industry, she addressed student concerns primarily in this area. She explained the numerous opportunities available to students in this domain. She discussed how to communicate in the corporate world, with humorous anecdotes interspersed in the lecture. The role of email and mobile etiquettes were given with illustrious examples. Students raised questions and she in turn asked those queries and helped them walk through the corporate life as she once embarked upon herself. 

Ms. Jyotsna Munshi felicitating Ms. Meghna, Director; Strategy, Reliance Entertainment

 Ms. Meghna with students raising their hand to answer to the important nuances in Mobility from 'Campus-to-Corporate'

The HR Club Matrix students were honored with Ms. Meghna presenting them with mementoes for their outstanding contribution to HR Matrix Club at its various events. 

Ms. Payal receiving from Ms. Meghna a token of appreciation for her invaluable contribution in organising various HR Club Matrix activities

Mr. Rohit being awarded by Ms. Meghna for his excellent  'Backstage Coordination'

Mr. Bhavin accepting the honour for organising HR Oratorio and other HR Club Matrix events

  Mr. Abhinandan being awarded by Ms. Meghna for his excellent  

'Welcome Helpdesk Coordination'

On the whole, the session was a good two-way interchange of knowledge.

Guest Lecture-3 - Wisdom Learning Series (HR Club Activity)

Ms. Reema Basu, Assistant Vice President, Human Resources, Deutsche Bank, was able to relate well with 60 students of PGDM-III, Div. ‘B’, 1^st Year, Batch 2015-17, on Friday, 1^st April 2016 in Classroom 305, 3^rd Floor, on the topic, ‘Managing employee-mobility-Industry insight’. The entire interaction was interspersed with questions from PGDM students. She spoke on Employee Mobility, transfers in the light of lateral movements and promotions in terms of upward movement. The different types of mobility across the banking sector was discussed. She shared the reasons why employees request and employers initiate mobility issues. 

 Ms. Reema being felicitated by Ms. Jyotsna Munshi, Placement-in-charge, IESMCRC

  
HR Club Student, Ms. Isha welcoming Ms. Reema Basu, AVP, Deutsche Bank

Ms. Reema explaining vital concepts in Employee Mobility

She appreciated IESMCRC and HR Matrix Club initiatives of adding Industry flavor to the HR Club Wisdom Learning Series, by inviting her as one of the Industry Alumni Guest Speakers. The HR Club Matrix students were honored with Ms. Reema presenting them with mementoes for their outstanding contribution to HR Matrix Club at its various events. 

Ms. Reema felicitating HR Club Student-In-charge, Mr. Sagar for his contribution 
to HR Club Matrix

  
Ms. Reema congratulating IT Helpdesk, Mr. Amit for his IT assistance to HR Club Matrix

 Ms. Reema accolading Ms. Isha for her exemplary contribution to HR Club Matrix as 'Compere'_'Quiz Master'

On the whole, the session was a good collective interchange of knowledge.

HR audit landscape: Some startling facts

 {Source: An HR e-portal article, dated 10th Mar, 2016}

The key findings of the People Matters HR Audit Study 2016 reveal startling facts about the HR Audit landscape in India

Only a miniscule number of 4 out of 100 companies have dedicated HR resources for HR audits, reveals the People Matters HR Audit Study. This microscopic number calls for gargantuan attention – as the need for dedicated HR professionals with domain specific knowledge to execute audits is of significance to organizations. However, the gap lies in the lack of auditors with the specialized knowledge in HR practices that would allow them to review processes, assess risks and recommend for improvements and/or mitigation strategies. In the backdrop of Dr. T.V. Rao’s assertion that only an HR professional can be an HRD auditor, this fact is a startling revelation. According to Prithvi Shergill, CHRO, HCL Technologies, it is important to have an HR representative in the audit team. He says, “The HR professional can impart the functional know-how to the team and make the process more efficient and effective.” Being cognizant of the same, HCL has transformed the audit team structure and it now ensures the participation of a HR professional in the audit team. 

The race against time 

The survey also revealed that only half the companies (52 percent) have the guiding objective of using HR audits as an early warning system to identify issues before they become crises. 80 percent surveyed companies said that their guiding objective of HR audits is “to examine organization’s compliance with established regulations and/or company policies.” And understandably so – the abundance of statutes and company policies, and the complexity of processes make it difficult for companies to focus on identifying risks because of their pre-occupation with auditing the former. 

Given the periodicity of audits (6 percent companies do more than 4 audits in a year, 15 percent do quarterly audits, 29 percent do semester audits and 42 percent do annual audits), it becomes a challenge for process owners, since it is a very demanding and exhausting exercise. Dilpreet Singh, Vice President – HR, India and South Asia, IBM shares this pain point along with HCL’s Prithvi Shergill. 

The complexity is further escalated because of the length of audit engagements. While it is advised that the recommended length of an audit engagement be short so that it is not misconceived as a control exercise, it is challenging for companies to be effective in the suggested timelines. The upside is that it is indeed short in a majority companies the typical length of an audit engagement is up to 2 weeks in 49 percent companies; 2-4 weeks in 17 percent companies; and the percentage keeps reducing as the time increases. Therefore organizations have to fulfill their aspirations to ensure process compliance and identify risks in the short amount of time that they have for an audit. It is the prerogative of organizations to find the right balance of what processes to audit, and how to audit them. 

Some organizations, that People Matters spoke to, follow the practice of prioritization of processes. For instance, at Wipro, the selection of processes is entirely based on the degree of vulnerability and importance of the function. Same is the case with HCL, which prioritizes processes when preparing the quarterly audit calendar. Organizations are also deploying innovative approaches to make the audit process constructive and effective – Aditya Birla Group uses a maker-checker process, IBM does peer-peer audits and HCL does audits across 3-levels in the organizations.

 

Click here or on the image above to view HR Study Infographic

Getting the maximum from the audit procedure 

All the organizations surveyed audited one process or the other. While organizations audit most of the processes, there are some of the processes which were identified to be the most popular functions. These include ‘Compensation and payroll’, ‘Policies and procedures’, ‘Record keeping’, ‘Employee separations’, ‘Legal compliance’ and ‘Recruitment’. A minimum of 85 percent companies audit all the aforementioned processes. Thus, it can be opined that these functions are considered high risk areas by organizations, based on the large proportion of companies that audit these procedures. The processes which are less popular include ‘Communications’, ‘Learning and Development’, Employee Relations’, Performance Appraisal Systems’ and ‘Health, Safety and Security’. These processes are not audited by a minimum of 30 percent organizations. 

The top three benefits that organizations have accrued from audits include identifying and correcting risk gaps, litigation avoidance, and cost avoidance. But in order to derive maximum outcome from audits, it is important that the context of the audit for the business is clarified at the initiation stage of the audit. Both the survey and expert’s view (to follow later in the story) points to the fact that there is a dual understanding of the role of audits in HR. One, it is looked at as a statutory and compliance process that takes care of the financial controls points and labor laws. On the other hand, it is also seen a process review and improvement mechanism that proactively identifies business risk areas and helps improve efficiency of the process. 

Overall, audits need to be seen as a development exercise. “The goal of HR audits is not to pin point responsibilities,” as articulated by Divakar Kaza, President – HR, Lupin Ld. “but it is rather to identify areas of improvement.”

Guest Lecture-2 - Wisdom Learning Series (HR Club Activity)

Mrs. Pooja Ghate, Manager – Corporate Marketing, Accelya Kale Solutions Private Ltd, was able to relate well with 10 students of PGDM-III, 1^st Year, Batch 2015-17, on Saturday, 27^th February 2016 in Seminar Hall 601, 6^th Floor, IESMCRC Campus on the topic, ‘Career Planning: Campus to Corporate transitions’. 

 Prof. Jyotsna Munshi felicitating the Guest Alumnus Speaker, Mrs. Pooja Ghate with a memento

She covered areas related to Transition Management, Managing your Boss, Capture of Mind-share, and Raise of Problems with Solutions, Promise to deliver, and Professional Code of Dress. 

Mrs. Pooja Ghate explaining the permanency of 'change'

 

PGDM students listening attentively to the address

 She explained how if one continues to have same expectations from his employer as one had from the faculty in the campus, one will be highly disappointed and damage the career success as the culture of education is so different from the organizational culture. 

Mrs. Pooja Ghate delivering the lecture on 'Campus to Corporate life transition'

 On the whole, the session was a good collaborative interchange of knowledge.

A PGDM student, Ms. Isha proposing a 'Vote of thanks'

Guest Lecture-1 - Wisdom Learning Series (HR Club Activity)

Mrs. Trupti Kulkarni, Proprietor, Cloud Talent HR Consultancy, was able to relate well with 60 students of PGDM-Div’A’-III, 1^st Year, Batch 2015-17, on Friday, 5^th February 2016 in Class Room 304, 3^rd Floor. The topic was on, ‘Recruitment & Selection Methods’. 

  A HR Matrix Club  Student, Ms. Payal introducing the Guest Speaker

 Ms. Jyotsna Munshi felicitating Ms. Trupti K. with a memento

There was an innovative ice-breaker session.

It was followed by a lecture on Recruitment techniques followed by organizations.

It was followed by a role-play and a mock interview on different Recruitment Techniques used by organizations.

 The audience listening attentively to Ms. Trupti K.

The Guest Speaker shared sample Interview Questions asked and suggested suitable replies with the intent of the recruiter in asking these questions.

On the whole, the session was interactive and there was a good exchange of knowledge.