HR News: 10 July, 2017

1.

Amara Raja’s HR head elected chairman of Employers’ Federation of Southern India

B. Jaikrishna was chosen for the post at EFSI’s annual election for the State Committee of Telangana and AP for the year 2017–18.Amara Raja’s HR head elected chairman of Employers’ Federation of Southern India.

The Employers’ Federation of Southern India (EFSI), Telangana and Andhra Pradesh branch, Hyderabad, has appointed Amara Raja Group’s president-group HR and new business development, B. Jaikrishna, as the new chairman.
The EFSI is a federation of employers that focusses not only on promoting and protecting the interests of employers, but also people-related policies, legislations, employer-employee relations, and various other aspects of people and industry.

The federation conducted an annual election for the State Committee of Telangana and AP for the year 2017-18. 
Harsha Kadam, CEO-HSIL Ltd-PPD (AGI glaspac), has been elected as the vice- chairman of EFSI.

2.

E-commerce and home grown companies dominate the list of preferred employers in India

As per LinkedIn, none of the traditional companies in the FMCG, durable and auto sector feature in the list of most sought-after employers in India.

Despite several negative branding, layoffs and its tussle with a premium institute such as IIM Ahmedabad over pre-placement offers, Flipkart is still the most sought after employer in the country – LinkedIn says so.
Now what makes Flipkart the most sought after employer in the country.

The rationale is Flipkart has an interesting on-boarding activity. On their first day, employees are picked up by chauffeur-driven cars and sent on a treasure hunt to familiarise themselves with the office. Employees with over two years at Flipkart can take a career break to pursue higher studies, spend time with family or attend to medical emergencies.

Following Flipkart is yet another e-commerce layer – Amazon. According to LinkedIn, Amazon is the second favourite for job-seekers because it offers ‘Leave share’ to the employees as part of their parental leave policy, allowing employees to gift six weeks of paid leave to a spouse or partner, who isn’t eligible for parental leave at their employer’s.

Such small gestures or practices do matter a lot for the employees but can’t be the core reason for choosing an employer over the other.

3.

SEBI to get two-thirds of its executive directors from within

Previously, 50 percent of the total posts of executive directors were filled by internal candidates and the rest were recruited from outside the organisation.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in a bid to promote talent internally, has decided to fill 

two-third of its executive director posts from within the organisation. The market regulator has in line with that, made necessary changes to its policy to ensure that it hires internally.

Only the remaining one-third positions will be filled up by deputation/contract hires. Previously, 50 percent of the total posts of executive directors were filled by internal candidates and the rest were recruited from outside the organisation.

However, SEBI mentioned in a notification recently that two-third of the total posts from internal candidates and the remaining one-third to be filled up by deputation/ contract hiring. Sebi currently has six EDs and is planning to increase the strength further.

HR Movements: 10 July, 2017

1.

GM’s global head HR John Quattrone to retire after 41 years of service

Jose Tomas will replace Quattrone. 

After more than 41 years of serving vehicle manufacturer General Motors, the company’s senior vice president of global human resources, John Quattrone has decided to retire. He will retire effective September 1, the company stated in an official release.
GM has hired Jose Tomas, who will join the company effective July 1, and later replace Quattrone. Tomas will report to Mary Barra, chairman and CEO, GM and serve as a member of GM’s senior leadership team.
Barra says, “John has played a crucial role in the development of GM’s senior leadership team as well as serving as a trusted advisor and counsellor on many important issues across the company.”
She also shared that Quattrone has been a big part of the cultural transformation that has occurred at GM over the past several years, led by his passion for the company and its people. “John leaves a legacy based on vision, dedication and a strong commitment to building relationships throughout his career,” she adds.
Quattrone, a native of Syracuse, New York, began his GM career in 1975 at the Fisher Body Syracuse plant. Over the past four decades, he’s held a variety of leadership positions in personnel, labour relations and human resources.
Quattrone has held GM’s top global HR position since April 2014. Earlier, he was vice president of human resources for GM’s global product development and global purchasing and supply chain. In his previous role, he played a key role in reorganising GM’s global product development function.

2.
Amazon India’s former HR head, Kinjal Choudhary joins Volvo Eicher as group CHRO

In between Choudhary had a short stint of seven months with China Fortune Land Development Co., where he was the senior director-HR.

The former HR head at Amazon India, Kinjal Choudhary, has joined VE Commercial Vehicles, a Volvo Group and Eicher Motors joint venture, as the senior vice president and group CHRO. Between Amazon and Volvo Eicher, Choudhary, had a small stint o seven months with China Fortune Land Development Co as senior director HR.

Choudhary comes with around two decades of experience across sectors starting from FMCG, start-up, ITES to e-Commerce. He has delved into manufacturing, supply chain, sales and corporate HR functions. He thus brings with him rich exposure and expertise in areas, such as compensation and benefits, performance management, organisation design and development, and more. He also has extensive industrial relations experience across regions in India.

Choudhary shares that the market for commercial vehicles in India is likely to grow by double digits in the next decade or so. With all the focus on infrastructure development and with the implementation of GST, the demand for long-distance hauling and carrying would only increase. “In terms of the employee base, there are over 15,000 employees in the company, and hence, all in all, the scope to make a significant difference from the people perspective is also immense,” he says.

3.

Catalyst appoints Arun Kumar Jain as Chair of its India Advisory Board

Kumar Jain also serves as a Member on the Governing Council of UN's Global Compact Network India, Board of International Management Institute, New Delhi's Centre for Leadership and Diversity and the National Executive Board (NEB) of Amcham India.

Catalyst has appointed Arun Kumar Jain, Managing Director of Fluor Daniel India Private Limited, as the Chair of Catalyst India Advisory Board. He was unanimously elected by current members of the Catalyst India Advisory Board. 

“We are pleased to welcome Arun Kumar Jain to chair the Catalyst India Advisory Board,” said Shachi Irde, Vice President and Executive Director, Catalyst India WRC. “He is an outstanding leader who passionately nurtures and advocates gender diversity along with actively interfacing with various international, industry and non-governmental advocacy bodies for the cause. We are very fortunate to have him on our side in working towards our mission of advancing women in workplaces.” 

Kumar Jain is an industry leader with more than 38 years of experience in the field of business, operations and risk management, talent development, project management, business development and creation of innovation capital. He has worked for a broad spectrum of clientele in the power, oil, gas, chemicals, steel, food processing, mining, manufacturing and diamond industries. Kumar Jain also serves as a Member on the Governing Council of UN’s Global Compact Network India, Board of International Management Institute, New Delhi’s Centre for Leadership and Diversity and the National Executive Board (NEB) of Amcham India.

HR learning: 03 July, 2017

1.

Why your personal brand is important for success

Internet is where all the business is moving to. Building a strong personal brand presence on the internet, therefore, is no longer an option, but a necessity for serious professionals. 

1.      Building your own brand presence

2.      Fuel for success

3.      Building your personal brand

4.      Think of yourself as a brand

5.      Clean-up your online presence

6.      Get your own website

7.      Find your purpose

8.      Build strong connections

Building your personal brand is journey, not a destination. Most of us, whether individuals or organizations, want to build a strong brand presence and we want to do it right now. But the fact is that your brand is living entity associated with you and it must evolve as you do over the course of your career. As you continue to grow your brand, stay consistent with your narrative, be authentic at every stage, and pay close attention to the reactions you get from your audiences. It will help you evolve your brand, making it stronger and far more beneficial for your career.

2.

How to make your tech team future ready

Amidst the buzz that automation and digitization will replace jobs; it becomes imperative to ensure that your tech team is updated with skills that future job requires

“Automation will take your job away”

”Robots will make humans redundant”

”Digitization will disrupt the world of work”

It is not uncommon to hear some of these concerns in today’s world. News of people losing their jobs due to automation has become a key concern in the economy. According to one study, 4 out of 10 jobs today will be lost due to automation. The effects of this transition are already being felt in the IT, ITeS and Security Services, where job losses are expected to be around 1.75 lakh to 2 lakh jobs per year in the next 3 years.

The harsh reality that companies have to deal with is that they are unable to predict their own needs from a talent standpoint. However, by understanding your own technology team and enabling them with a few tools to succeed, you can not only identify skills that your technology team needs, you can also take on the upcoming challenges with confidence. Here are a few things you need to do:

1.      Keep an eye on what the government is doing  

2.      Look at emerging platforms and operating systems   

3.      Learn about emerging technologies

4.      Look for opportunities where demographics are changing 

5.      Long-term thinking and career planning

Technology is disrupting multiple sectors right from pharmaceuticals to robotics to artificial intelligence. According to a report by World Economic Forum, one third of the skills that are now considered important will change in the next five years from now. Though these trends are unlikely to be in our control but diversifying our employees’ skills and motivate them to be avid learners which can help them to accelerate their career trajectory. Where is your business headed? What are the kind of skills that you need your teach team to have? What do you want to do next? These are the kinds of questions you need to ask again and again, to make sure you end up where you want to go.

3.

6 ways you can deliver an effective and engaging learning program

Here is a list of guidelines to implement an effective learning program

Peter Drucker once pointed out that although, “we now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of 

keeping abreast of change…the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” According to the Workplace Learning Report, ‘engaging learners’ is one of the top challenges faced by a learning & development professionals. The most common reason behind disengagement in training programs by employees range from lack of time to not being provided with an opportunity to not feeling the need.

Here are the six ways to create an effective and engaging learning program:

1.      Bite-sized learning:  Employees often complain about the paucity of time for completing training programs. One way to tackle this common problem is by introducing bite-sized learning modules– which is a short course that can be completed at a convenient time. This has a number of advantages including:

a.          Improves psychological engagement

b.          Adapts to modern day learning need

c.           Better attention and memory

2.      Tailor content to roles & responsibilities

3.      Pre & post assessment

4.      Opportunities to interact

5.      Update learning content

6.      Incorporate Gamification:

Engagement and experience of learning programs are the major drivers that ensure your learning program will reap the desired benefits. Today’s learners are very different from the learners in the past. Many a time urgent tasks or priorities seems to win out. The learners’ needs are evolving at a very fast pace and to support their needs the learning program needs to evolve to support their needs.

HR News: 03 July, 2017

1.

PeopleStrong to acquire two HR businesses this year, and expand internationally

The company is looking to make two significant acquisitions in the next few months, in an endeavour to strengthen its portfolio and expand presence outside India.

After entering into, what is one of the largest deals in HR so far, with the private equity firm Multiples, investing over Rs 400 crore, PeopleStrong is now looking to expand further. The company is expected to make two significant acquisitions this year in an endeavour to strengthen its portfolio.

Pankaj Bansal, chief executive officer and co-founder, PeopleStrong, tells HRKatha that the company plans to expand outside India as well. One of the acquisitions will, therefore, be international.

Although, the details about the firms being considered and the size of the acquisition are not clear yet, Bansal shares that, “One of the acquisitions will be in the match-making or recruitment space as PeopleStrong looks to strengthen its RPO offerings. The other will be in the payroll and technology space.”

2.

UGC to select new chairman from 10 shortlisted candidates

The position has been lying vacant since April 3 following the retirement of Prof. Ved Prakash.

After the University Grants Commission’s (UGC)  chairman, Prof. Ved Prakash, retired on April 3, the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry decided to scout for a replacement. Ten candidates were shortlisted by the search-cum-selection committee (SCSC), headed by Dr H.R Nagendra.

Now, after a discussion, the candidates will most likely undergo personal interactions with the selection committee before a list of three candidates is forwarded to the Union HRD ministry. The shortlisted candidates will apparently be interviewed on May 17. The new selected chairman would be expected to restructure UGC. 

The 10 shortlisted candidates include Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE); DP Singh, chief of National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); G C Tripathi, vice-chancellor, Banaras Hindu University (BHU); Yogesh Singh, vice-chancellor, Delhi Technological University (DTU); Y Narasimhulu, head, Rayalseema University; and R S Kureel, vice-chancellor, B R Ambedkar University of Social Sciences (Madhya Pradesh).

Former chairman, Prakash, had been appointed on 8 January 2013, on a condition that his tenure will be for five years or till he turns 65, whichever comes earlier.

V C Chauhan, a UGC member, is currently the acting head.

3.

HR veteran Adil Malia launches a people-centric website

The website aims to share knowledge and improve learning through an engaging medium.

Essar’s former group president-HR, and CEO, The Firm, Adil Malia has taken an innovative step to help people benefit from his years of experience and expertise. The HR veteran has constructed a 'people-centric’ personal website and has loaded it with a lot of live and breathing professional people management material. It aims to share knowledge and improve learning through an engaging medium.
The website features seven tabs offering a pleasurable visual experience and ease in navigation. On the homepage, one can view all of Malia’s LinkedIn and Twitter posts and his doodles. He shares his industry experience, hobbies and mantras in the ‘About’ page.
The website features a unique section called the Querist Corner—an online Q&A section— where people can seek answers to any people-management queries they have and Malia will share his suggestions real-time. “If you have any queries —business linked, professional career linked, policy related, leadership issues, culture, change management, you could write in to me and I will reply,” Malia says.