HR News: 19 Sep 2016

1.

Coal India to hire 4,500 fresh graduates in next three years

In addition to 40,000 workmen, the mining giant will also recruit management executives, from premier institutes.

Coal India, a Government of India undertaking, apparently has massive hiring plans for the coming few years. The mining giant has decided to hire 4,500 fresh graduates from premier institutes to the management cadre in the next three years, beginning next month. As part of the bulk hiring, it will also recruit an additional 40,000 workmen at the same time.

The company stated that the management executives shall be recruited from institutes, such as the IITs and NITs. The recruitment plan for this year is about 1,000 while another 3,500 will be recruited over the next three years. In addition, the workmen to be hired are going to be technical people and diploma holders, mining sardars, overseers, electrical workers, fittings experts, dumper operators and other equipment operators. Candidates for these positions are all directly recruited by the subsidiary companies and it is estimated that the subsidiaries would require around 40,000 people in the next three years!

2.

Rise India to recruit over 150 employees in the next three months

The skilling organisation is looking to hire across various verticals and hierarchies including faculty members, business development managers and HRM operation executives.

Rise India, a strategic investment and skill development company, recently announced its plans to recruit over 150 employees in the next three months for its centres across the country. The recruitment drive is in line with its long-term commitment to its business operations. The company plans to recruit across various verticals and hierarchies — faculty, business development managers and HRM operation executives.

3.

E-commerce to create about 12 million jobs in India by 2025

According to the HSBC Global Report, 50 per cent of the expected 24 million jobs, to be created in India in the next decade, may come from the e-commerce sector.

The rapidly expanding and attention grabbing e-commerce sector in India is expected to create a huge chunk of jobs in the coming few years. The HSBC Global Report recently forecasted that half of the 24 million jobs that India is seeking to create in the next ten years could be coming from the e-commerce sector.

The e-commerce space currently employs about one million people in India, but the report states that the number is set to grow by at least 700 per cent by 2020. Seventy per cent of those jobs will be in logistics, warehousing and delivery, 25 per cent in customer care and IT, and five per cent in corporate.

India needs to generate a total of 80 million jobs by 2025, which is double of the figure in the last 10 years. This, however, seems like a far-fetched target taking into account both demand and supply of jobs and the existing labour-intensive sectors, such as agriculture and services that may not be able to meet the entire demand, alone. However, the report states that e-commerce jobs are ‘more productive than the types of jobs India is currently creating’. In addition, the e-commerce sector has the capacity to offer jobs that are well-suited for India’s diverse skill set and entrepreneurial profile.

HR Movements: 19 Sep 2016

1.
Ashwani Dahiya, senior VP & group HR head of RIL calls it quits.

Dahiya, an XLRI graduate, was deeply involved in the transformation of the group. 

In what is being seen as another key exit from the HR team of one of the largest Indian conglomerates, Ashwani Dahiya, senior VP & group head (performance, reward & organisation development) of Reliance Industries Limited has recently resigned.

According to a source, Dahiya was deeply involved in the transformation of the group. He introduced global best practices in performance management, organisational design and employee engagement, making the organisation a stronger employer brand.

Dahiya, an XLRI graduate, was earlier with American Express as the vice president-HR, Japan, Asia Pacific and Australia, for total rewards & HR analytics.

The group has witnessed a few key exits from its HR team in the recent past. Prabir Jha, the former chief human resources officer of RIL quit in July 2015, followed by Harlina Sodhi, senior vice president and head of employee engagement, communication, diversity, HR academy and change management; Rajeev Ranjan, vice president of HR for the Reliance Foundation; and Vikram Bector, the chief talent officer.

2.
Flipkart’s campus recruitment head, Madhav Vamsi moves to Microsoft

Vamsi has joined Microsoft as the head of India University Relations. He spent two years at Flipkart.

Flipkart’s campus head, Madhav Vamsi, who was responsible for driving campus recruiting programmes, recently resigned from his position.

Vamsi, who has now joined Microsoft as the head of India University Relations had a two-year stint at Flipkart after he joined the company in November, 2014. At Flipkart, Vamsi was responsible for driving the full life cycle of campus hiring.

Talking of his tenure at Flipkart, Vamsi says, “I enjoyed complete freedom and autonomy in my role at Flipkart. I totally loved my association with Flipkart.”

“The key takeaways from my last role include (a) agility and pace, (b) handling change; and (c) ability to design think,” he adds.

As the campus head at Flipkart, Vamsi was pivotal in successfully completing various recruitment drives across the premier institutes of the country.

A doctorate in management studies from NIPM, Vamsi has earlier worked with TCS-CMC as their country head-talent acquisitions and head-campus recruitments for over six years, before joining Flipkart. He started his career with Mensa Soft and then moved to AMI Technologies as the DGM-HR & Training.

3.
Cognizant’s Bhaskar Das joins Think Talent Services

In his new role, Das will focus on strengthening leadership practice.

Think Talent Services, one of the leading leadership and talent-consulting firms in the country, recently announced the appointment of Bhaskar Das as the head of leadership practice. Das comes from Cognizant, where he was the VP-HR.

Bimal Rath, managing director at Think Talent Services says regarding the joining of Das, “Bhaskar's joining will bring significant strength to our cutting-edge leadership practice. His deep expertise in facilitation, coaching and identity-based leadership, as well as practical operating experience in a wide range of world-class companies will help us add even more value to our clients.”

Prior to this new role, Das has held several leadership-level roles across reputed organisations, in a career spanning over 25 years. In his last corporate role, as the VP-HR at Cognizant, he was responsible for the entire HR function in India, with focus on streamlining the function and enhancing Cognizant’s highly rated performance-oriented culture. Prior to joining Cognizant, Das was accountable for starting Sutherland’s BPO Operations in India.

HR learning: - 12 Sep, 2016

1.

SBI and Oracle India launch digital skills programme

‘D-Change’— one of the largest digital and joint employee-volunteer programmes— will support education and learning, women’s empowerment and rural skills development in the country.

India’s largest public-sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), entered into a first-of-its-kind joint corporate citizenship collaboration with Oracle.

Being one of the largest digital and joint employee-volunteer programmes, D-Change will support education and learning, women’s empowerment and rural skills development in India. Further reinforcing the two-decade old relationship between SBI and Oracle India, D-Change will merge SBI’s financial proficiency and vast influence with Oracle’s technology leadership to help local communities drive significant change and develop a skilled economy.

2.

Social learning: A brilliant workforce transformation

Organisations follow a structured way of learning, be it seminars or employee gatherings. While we are in no way discounting these traditional methods of learning, the impact of social learning is immense. 

By nature, human beings are social animals, and what has transformed us since the primitive ages is, learning.

By ‘learning’, we are not talking about classroom learning or the structured way of learning. What we are referring to is the natural way of learning, or rather, the social and informal way of learning.

For instance, do we need to teach a newborn how to cry? No, it’s a natural process. As babies grow, they ask questions to acquire knowledge and understand behaviour.

The same rule applies to an organisational environment as well.

Yes, organisations follow a structured way of learning, be it seminars or employee gatherings. While we are in no way discounting these traditional methods of learning, the impact of social learning is immense.

In an organisational setup, social learning always existed, but now we have added a new meaning to it, thanks to technology. In fact, social learning technologies have had a huge influence on several enterprise core processes — from recruiting, to training and developing talent. Besides, results are quickly measurable because social technologies have a direct and obvious effect on performance.

Latha Raj, transformation leader, IBM Analytics is a strong advocate of the same. She uses a Mettl-powered webinar platform to spread her share of insights on something we have come to call social learning.

“We’ve all heard of the 70:20:10 model,” Raj states. “For me, however, 100 per cent of my learning was derived from my interactions with peers and leaders.”

There is no denying the fact that organisations need to shift to newer forms of learning. A software or an app, for instance, comes quite handy. Developers will need to understand:

1. Who they are addressing in the market

2. Who their clients are

3. What user experience will be derived from the product

These are commonly known points, true. But these are also inspired from delving into the mind of the consumer. This form of learning is often more interactive than traditional, and a lot meatier in terms of satiating the hunger pangs of knowledge.

3.

Culinary craft: The new tool for learning and development

The team- building activities in a culinary setup allow participants to interact with each other in a non-threatening environment, with one of the most engaging, multi-sensory activities possible.

From performing arts to yoga and meditation, organisations have done it all in a quest to introduce unique and unconventional methods for engaging and developing their employees. Well, here is another art form that has chosen the gastronomic route to bring out the best in people—culinary art. Surprisingly, it was quite unexplored in India till Satish Venkatachaliah established ‘Something’s Cooking’.

Something’s Cooking is a culinary studio that offers opportunities for team bonding and HR learning initiatives in a culinary setting. It helps people interact with each other in a different perspective altogether— while preparing a meal.

The idea germinated about 10 years ago when Venkatachaliah visited Heidelberg for a global meeting, where he experienced a group cooking activity for the first time. “It was a unique way of having a team building activity and the experience was very memorable. It not only gave an opportunity to cook, but also get to know global colleagues beyond the realms of work-related conversations. Subsequently, I had a few more experiences across the world with similar outcomes. I found it intriguing that an activity as subtle as cooking could lead to such impactful outcomes”, he says.

HR News: 12 Sep, 2016

1.

Modi Govt. seeks talented citizens for contract-based job offers

The government is seeking resumes from citizens who could work as 'experts' in various positions across central ministries.

For those who want to contribute to the nation’s welfare and development, the Modi Government has opened up new avenues for them to be a part of its success story. If you want to work for the government, now is the time, as the Modi-led Government is seeking resumes from citizens who could be brought on board on contract, to work as 'experts' in various positions across central ministries.

The government is looking for editorial writers, software developers, researchers, data scientists, graphic designers, digital content script writers, advertising professionals, senior management professionals, academic experts, social media experts and application developers at various levels in a first-of-its-kind endeavour to engage citizens with governance. The offers have been posted on the Prime Minister's MyGov portal to facilitate the government–citizen interface.

2.

Govt signs MoU for enhancing employment services

The NCS and partner organisations will together work to improve the accessibility, availability and quality of employment for the aspiring talent in the country.

With an aim to improve reach and quality of employment services, the National Career Service (NCS) recently signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with eleven strategic partners —HT Shine, Amity University, Association Skill Training Providers (ASTP), Urban Clap, Merajob, Portea, Freshers World, Wheebox, First Job and Delivery Track.

The memorandums were inked in the presence of Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of State(IC). Speaking on the occasion, Dattatreya said that “The Government is committed to provide more employment opportunities and signing of these MoU is a step in this direction. In addition to linking all the employment exchanges on a national platform, the Government is also partnering with leading industry players to develop a wide base of career-related services for the youth.” He added that the NCS portal is going to play a vital role by addressing the gaps in the job market.

3.

Chinese airlines offer lucrative pay to attract expat pilots

The growing demand for air travel in China and the mushrooming of new air carriers is creating opportunities for expat pilots.

China is reportedly facing highly surging travel demands. To meet the same Chinese airlines will have to hire almost 100 pilots a week for the next 20 years. The growing demand for experienced pilots is a challenge to be met alone at home, as airline majors are now looking to hire foreign pilots. In this attempt air carriers in China are offering highly lucrative pay packages to attract expat pilots.

Reportedly, pilots have been offered over $300,000 a year. Air traffic over China is set to almost quadruple in the next two decades, making it the world’s busiest market, according to Airbus Group SE. Startup carriers barely known abroad are paying about 50 per cent more than what some senior captains earn at Delta Air Lines, and they are also apparently, giving recruiters from the US to New Zealand, a free rein to fill their captains’ chairs.

HR Movements - 12 Sep, 2016

1.

Looking to expand its online business in India, Alibaba has recently been in talks to hire Flipkart’s director-HR.

China’s online marketplace giant, the Alibaba Group, has been extensively making inroads in the Indian e-commerce space. With an aim to expand its workforce in the country, it has apparently been in talks to hire Flipkart’s director-HR, Priya Cherian. It is speculated that this move can help Alibaba poach more talent from the Indian e-commerce space.

2.

Deepak Deshpande named CHRO at Netmagic Solutions

Netmagic Solutions, a provider of managed hosting and cloud services, a subsidiary of NTT Communications, has recently elevated Deepak Deshpande as chief human resource officer. Prior to this, Deshpande was senior vice president & head – human resources and was responsible for partnering with businesses with a larger focus on managing organisational transition.

He played a significant role in scaling up the organisation in light of a couple of rounds of funding – namely Fidelity, Nexus in 2008 and Cisco, Nokia in 2010 and then NTT in 2012. Since the time he joined Netmagic in 2007, he has been religiously facilitating the vision and mission of his organisation, that is – ‘To be India’s Leading and Most Admired IT Managed Services Company’ and ‘Employer of Choice’, respectively.

Before joining Netmagic, Deshpande was the head-HR at Lionbridge Technologies. He has also worked with SYSTIME, Trigyn Technologies, BlueStar Infotech, Datamatics, Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro in the past.

3.

Madan Nagaldinne quits Facebook; joins Context Media as chief people officer

Madan Nagaldine, HR leader, Facebook has called it quits. He has moved to Context Media as chief people Officer. With this Nagaldinne has also shifted his base from New York to Chicago.

ContextMedia is a provider of digital solutions at the point of care in the United States. Led by Rishi Shah and Shradha Agrawal, it owns and operates the largest and most comprehensive suite of digital healthcare networks, delivering condition-specific programming at point of care.

Team Building

TEAM -BUILDING:

The Part-time students Batch 2016-19 consists of working professionals who attend lectures on week-ends, in the evening after work. They have shared their learning from this activity as follows:

                          This Team Building activity along with others are of utmost importance as the primary purpose of team building is to get students to engage in some type of collaborative effort. Collaboration can stimulate creative thinking in a company environment and lead to new ideas to increase profitability. Collaboration is necessary to unify workers around a task or goal. Team members can motivate one another and hold one another accountable.

What is Team Building?

• team building is...achieved by a variety of methods and approaches
• team building is...the process of enabling that group of people to reach their goal
• team building is...a big subject with more definitions than we have room to list
• team building is...an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a cohesive unit
• team building is...an intervention to help a group of people quickly become an effective team and remain effective
• team building is...like coaching but for a group
• team building is...not the most difficult process in the world but a correct program is one of the most rewarding
• team building is...an active process by which a group of individuals with a common purpose are focused and aligned to achieve a specific task or set of outcomes
• team building is...an effort in which a team studies its process of working together
• team building is...designed to improve productivity and enjoy doing it
• team building is...an intervention specifically designed to improve a company's organizational effectiveness
• team building is...to foster personal growth
• team building is...a tool for improving employee motivation
• team building is...to allow people to move past the barriers that they hold to
• team building is...not a "catch phrase" or another fad by which to raise sales of books
• team building is...a skill; any skill must be practiced to be mastered
• team building is...not just a crisis activity but a healthy development tool for good teams
• team building is...an art that overcomes the differences in style
• team building is...ideal for people who must work well with others to meet the goals of the organization
• team building is...to help your team be more effective
• team building is...a task that does not come easily to all people
• team building is...to increase the ability of a group to work together as a team by identifying strengths and areas for improvement
• team building is...not an exact science but a cast of finding the best strategies available to bring out the potential in your team
• team building is...a process in which a work group examines how it is currently operating
• team building is...a proven way to help develop or strengthen your biggest asset
• team building is...an ongoing process
• team building is...the ability to create a sense of belonging and ownership among team members
• team building is...an excellent source of information for coaches
• team building is...a process that allows team members to understand the nature of group dynamics in regards to effective teamwork
• team building is...an excellent way of boosting corporate staff morale and improve group dynamics and communication
• team building is...getting people together in a stimulating learning environment
• team building is...an exciting concept because it is the basis of success for organizations
• team building is...for a leader to promote that every human being is unique and that he or she adds value
• team building is...exciting and challenging and has almost unlimited possibilities because human potential is almost unlimited
• team building is...a must for every company with a vision to grow
• team building is...a group process
• team building is...a good way of creating partnership in small groups; it can take the form of renegotiating the relationship between boss and subordinate
• team building is...designed to motivate people through shared goals
• team building is...about synergy
• team building is...not just teaching a group of people to cooperate
• team building is...clear when individuals are involved in the decision to proceed
• team building is...an integral part of soccer training in the modern game
• team building is...like the paperback novels that get new covers and are put back on the shelves again
• team building is...an essential component for organizational success
• team building is...a popular corporate activity at historic houses

PICTURE PIECES ACTIVITY

  Picture Pieces Activity of a picture of a 'Rabbit'

1. This problem solving activity requires that the leader choose a well known picture or cartoon that is full of detail.
2. The picture needs to be cut into as many equal squares as there are participants in the activity.
3. Each participant should be given a piece of the “puzzle” and instructed to create an exact copy of their piece of the puzzle five times bigger than its original size.
4. They are posed with the problem of not knowing why or how their own work affects the larger picture.
5. The leader can pass out pencils, markers, paper, and rulers in order to make the process simpler and run more smoothly.   
6. When all the participants have completed their enlargements, ask them to assemble their pieces into a giant copy of the original picture on a table.

Why HR needs an agile mindset

At a time when being fast, nimble and connected, can ‘make or break’ a business, can HR as a function afford a rigid mindset? The answer to that is undoubtedly, ‘No’!

It is pertinent to recognise that agility is not about how we do  things, but rather a mindset.
The more agile leaders are; the better is their ability to build a team which is able to navigate
the challenges of a dynamic environment.
The same holds good for those practising HR too.

Here are a few of the practices that I believe should be reinvented to make HR more agile:

Employee satisfaction: Let’s begin with employee satisfaction surveys. It is an annual feature for most organisations. I believe it’s a sheer waste of time, energy and effort. Conversations with people, or what we call the pulse checks, should be continuous—a daily affair! Bottom-up communication has become mandatory for organisations to function smoothly. Multiple platforms are generally built to hear from the ground and move fast to resolve areas of derailment, and sustain strengths. But one should not underestimate the importance of constant listening. It can help to act quickly, which can make all the difference.

Advanced sourcing tools: The agile world is hitting HR harder than we can imagine. This percolates down to our recruitment teams as well, who are now expected to act as talent advisors. For example, sourcing today is done in nanoseconds using advanced tools. 20 seconds is all it takes to scout through the entire World Wide Web (www) to find almost all eligible candidates along with their comprehensive backgrounds. This, of course, frees up time that can be utilised elsewhere. Be agile enough to use tools for sourcing and enable your team to move up the value chain.

Talented recruiters: Recruitment teams now need to possess talent, think beyond the obvious, have the aptitude to identify candidates who fit the culture and also be capable of taking the organisation forward to meet its goals. In a digitally connected world, it is evident that we need people across levels who are both strong in the left and right brains. The business head should be clear about what he wants: someone strong in analytics and powerful storytelling. To identify a talent like this, imagine how much the talent finder should evolve. It’s no more about number crunching. The business models are changing and our customers are predominantly going to reward us on the outcomes and not bases of the number of people we place.

Culture of engaging with employees:
The hard work starts the moment you spot a talent.
You ought to have agile processes where you engage with them on a daily basis, without really boring them — feed in information relevant to their context and likes. Technology has evolved to the extent that it lets you customise content. Use technology to understand who you are communicating with but retain the personal touch of connecting. Chances are the real talent of today will ignore organisations that are not evolved in their approach towards customers, people, society and all other key stakeholders. Every event of interaction with the candidate should reflect this quality of the organisation(s). One should have the courage to show who you really are and that can be done only if you have a culture which is worth showing. Be swift in changing your culture if it is not aligned to today’s talent.

Rewards and retention: Another area that has traditionally been seen as the topmost priority of organisations is retention and rewards. However, in today’s world, old ways of rewarding surely do not work. It’s all about need-based and agile rewards systems now. Build benefits based on the life cycle of people. Don’t give them anything which does not make sense in their context. As part of designing a medical benefits programme recently, one of the things that we ensured was that the benefits directly matched with the life cycle of the employees and the needs of their families.

Flexible approach: Bring in flexibility everywhere. If we still think flexibility is tough and not scalable, then we are working against the theme of building practices for our people at the speed and at the time they need. Break the organisation into smaller groups, understand their needs and localise the rewards. Give people what they want. Do not stick to the theme of scale and uniformity because uniformity is really dying. It’s individuality or uniqueness which wins, and brings the ‘wow’ quotient.

Constant dialogue: Last but not the least is connecting with people on what they are doing, how they are doing and what they could do next. What millennials look for in their leaders is constant dialogue on their performance, which will help them build a strong future. The expectation is of informal and frequent communication — almost every day. The challenge here is how quickly we understand this need and adapt to it.

There are many practices and processes that touch the different points of our professional journey, where agility is mandatory. If we build the mindset, it will become the ‘mantra’ for the future
.