Introduction
HR practices of numerous organizations are focused towards attaining the objective of employee engagement. With a large workforce comprising thousands of employees, its imperative that the employee’s motivation levels keep driving the growth incessantly. Taking the case of IT Services Company particularly, some of the employees are on bench. Many are executing mundane tasks for months. They are bound to be unsatisfied, indifferent and in extreme cases, frustrated. At the time of recruitment, the HR tests the enthusiasm levels and learning abilities of the candidate. These features are rendered obsolete after initial training is imparted. The employees keep carrying the same schedule and routine tasks for years. They have a liability towards their family and themselves. But, there is a sense of discomfort within. A growing need to explore and re-invent themselves emerges. Consequently, they begin to search for other opportunities within the organization. If they realize the job constraints, they approach other companies.
The result of this dissatisfaction is indicated by the rising attrition rate in the organization. This can not be compensated by hiring new recruits as they need time to understand the job requirements and organization culture. Moreover, there is a potential risk of dissatisfied customers since efficient employees are leaving the company. So it could really lead to drastic effects. The top-line and the bottom-line can be affected if your customer is no more interested to do business with you.
HR’s role assumes important responsibility here. He has to identify the critical resource, interact with him and ascertain his job satisfaction levels. This is a hard task since employees work in teams in most organizations where the responsibilities are linked and divided. How can one pick one and neglect the rest? There must be an organization wide initiative to tackle this issue.
Employee First, Customer Second
This HR strategy was launched in an IT company to bring down the level of attrition. It propagated that delightful employees create delightful customers. So the focus shifted to improvise employee HR practices. The purpose was to engage the employee in co-curricular activities which provide him/her a sense of achievement. Even in a less significant job as perceived by the employee, he/she could achieve satisfaction levels through participation in different activities. Different employee councils were formed, namely in Sports, Talent, Community Service, Health and Fitness, Grey Cell areas. Members were selected through a poll conducted for candidates by all employees. They were accorded with the right to conduct programmes and events.
Employee Engagement
The cost incurred in organizing such events was minimal. The office infrastructure was utilized and the employees were asked to manage time from their work hours. Competitions were conducted in full spirit and provided opportunities for casual conversations between different hierarchies. This was helpful in breaking the ice. The employees were more straightforward in expressing themselves. They would de-stress and experience the joy of recognition and rewards.
A group mail would convey the notifications and results to all. Every Friday there was a ‘Fundoo Friday’ quiz based on a variety of topics. Participation reached better levels and fostered a sense of belonging to the organization. Initiatives for community services instilled meaning and self-satisfaction in employees’ lives. Health council arranged doctor’s visits for health check ups once a month. Employees started enjoying their stay at the office. Even if they weren’t always working, they had a vehicle to grow.
But the employee first councils didn’t solve the purpose of regularly updating the technical skills of employees. In adherence to this requirement, an e-learn portal was started. Based on the interest of an individual, one can learn new concepts and courses straight from the web. To facilitate interactive learning, knowledge sharing sessions were conducted. Still, it was observed that real time problems were not being solved. Communities for different computer languages, centers of excellence and centers of practices were created on the internet. People could collaborate and resolve issues instantly.
Addressing Employees Grievances
In a vast organization in terms of resources, HR practices need to be efficient and effective. There should be an effort to mitigate the time taken to hear, act and resolve human conflicts and distress. A new website was created to cater to this purpose. The website was Employee HR Services and had an animated mascot. The mascot communicated with employees in language they understand and in a format they can easily access. An online Service Desk served as an automated “trouble-ticketing” tool. For any issue and transaction, the employees don't have to run to HR or finance or call them up, they could simply open a ticket in the Service Desk and the process started on its own. Every week a service desk tracker was circulated to all employees showing the adherence or breaches. This transparency guaranteed assured and prompt HR services. The process served two objectives: it helped the company to tell its employees that the company listens to and solves their problems faster than anybody else. The system had other benefits too in terms of cost.
Resource tracking and deployment
There was a SAP record maintenance of each employee. The project assigned to the employee would cease to appear in the case of delimitation. Within 15 days, he must consult his reporting manager. The manager will search in his control area and possibly deploy him. If that does not materialize, the employee can himself search for different requirements on the company’s resource management portal. One can upload the CV and if the profile matches, will get a call.
Recruitment
A comprehensive list of idle resources together with their expertise areas will be available to the managers through the database. They can then judge whether to go for recruitment drive or not. They could ascertain the probable number of new recruits needed. Moreover, it helps to specifically define the skills required in new recruits.
Conclusion
The need for efficiency in all systems of the organization is desired to maximize growth. HR, being an important component in managing the most critical elements in the organization can not be left behind. These measures were instrumental in declining the attrition rate for years to come. Moreover, people began to notice the company and b-schools came with case studies. The cumulative effect was the ‘best employer in India’ award in the year 2009. The increasing role of Information Technology and employee engagement through various unprecedented measures are sustaining large workforce organization’s Human Resource practices today.
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