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Special Report Special Report

HR plan and policy duals, but it can be equally detrimental suitable candidates from appropriate the appraisal process, including having IIM would aspire to be a departmental
to a large professionally run company, catchment areas. These include campus diffi cult conversations with their direct head within a decade of commencing
unless it has a succession plan in place interviews, headhunting, social media, reports, when their normal daily roles the career. He or she would then super-
with a second and third layer identifi ed the company’s own website, employee demand ongoing and continuing atten- sede a loyal, dedicated well performing
for each critical position and adequately referrals, placement specialists, data- tion. In spite of this mindset, the HR colleague, who might have been the
trained to take over, as part of risk miti- bank of the company’s own alumni and function needs to not only ensure timely initial recruiter. How can the company
gation and contingency planning. mapping of source companies. completion of appraisals, but also maintain the morale of the latter with-
their follow-up steps, such as rewards, out hurting the aspirations of the former?
The HR function needs to adopt Irrespective of the approach, there training needs, potential mapping, job How will the age dynamics work
and a cultural heritage. They could be multiple approaches to meet this are certain common expectations from rotation and succession plans. in a role reversal? HR professionals are
democratic, autocratic, entrepreneurial A medium and long term plan is an dynamic need. These include a structured the HR function to complete the pro- trained to anticipate these confl icting
or bureaucratic, people oriented, task essential building block for the success job rotation policy, potential evaluation cess. These include advance planning, With changing needs, the evaluation situations and deal with them.
oriented or able to strike a balance, of a company. While it typically en- as part of performance appraisal, leader- a defi ned time-frame for completion of process itself needs improvements, with
concerned about profi ts alone or having compasses raw materials, technology, ship training through special projects, the cycle, refl ection of a high level of increasing organisations opting for 360 Organisational development
comparable emphasis on Environment, markets, operations, fi nance and other assessment and development centres, professionalisation in dealing with candi- degree appraisals, assessment centres,
Society and Governance, ethical in their facets of business, for it to succeed, fast-tracking of high performers and dates, a mix of appropriate screen- potential evaluation and moderation for
approach or “street smart”, focused on it is imperative to have a plan for HR striking a balance between promotions ing mechanisms (personal interviews, uniformity across functions, sites and
the short or long term, innovative or con- which is fully in alignment, in order to from within and periodic injection of psychometric/psychological tests, refe- group companies.
ventional – these are some traits which avoid the situation that was faced by the fresh talent from outside. Models, such rence checks, cultural fi t evaluation,
reveal shades of corporate culture. company referred to above, forcing it to as those of Tata Administrative Service medical check and verifi cation of cre- Rewards and recognition
defer a promising acquisition opportu- and Unilever’s Management Trainee dentials), contract negotiation, induc-
Though it is not widely realised, the nity for want of a talent pipeline. As a scheme have contributed signifi cantly tion and on-boarding. While the con- As global and local competition
culture and image of a company have a company grows in size and geographic towards keeping leadership pipelines cerned departments need to be actively intensifi es, companies need to reinvent
signifi cant impact on the decision of a spread, it is equally important to have adequately charged. involved in the process, it has to be themselves through benchmarking and
potential candidate to join it or a large well defi ned and uniform policies for orchestrated by the HR function, which adoption of best practices from diffe-
customer to enter into a long term con- different levels of employees, to avoid Recruitment cycle becomes the face of the company for rent industrial sectors in order to achieve
tract or a large fund house to purchase subjectivity and misinterpretation. In this purpose. business excellence. Techniques, such
the company’s stock. Diligent and high well run organisations, the HR plan and as TQM, Six Sigma, Lean, Kaizen,
potential candidates visit a company’s policies are very well documented and Performance evaluation CRM, Social Audit and 5 S have taken
website, study past annual reports, selectively disseminated. deep roots for ongoing upgradation.
check it out on social media, study While the individual functional areas
the reviews on sites such as Glassdoor Leadership pipeline While reward for outstanding per- undertake execution of identifi ed tech-
and want to know the score on ‘Great formance could motivate an employee, niques, the HR function is normally
Place To Work’, a global platform, any perception of subjectivity, non- entrusted with their timing, rollout and
which places companies on a common uniformity or mismatch between con- overall coordination to ensure maximi-
denominator, before they make serious tribution and recognition could cause sation of companywide impact.
attempts to join it. more overall damage than benefi t to a
company. It is therefore imperative for Digitisation
While the foundation of corporate the HR function to design appropriate
culture is laid by its founder, promoter Indian industry has graduated from mechanisms and to carry out ongoing
or senior management, the HR function Even for companies committed to the phase when structured performance “pulse checks” to tweak them for maxi-
becomes its custodian for preserving development and promotion of em- evaluation on a consistent and effec- mum effi cacy. A well designed perfor-
and enhancing it, by ensuring cultural ployees from within, recruitment from tive basis was done in very few com- mance evaluation system could be the
fi t among new recruits, sensing any The current pandemic has made it outside becomes inevitable to address panies. As talent becomes a focus area, starting point for an effective program,
imminent threats to it, tweaking it with even more evident than in the past that growth, new projects, geographic it is being increasingly realised that a but the various subtleties need to be
changing times and projecting it on a company could be faced with major needs, vacancies and maintenance of well-defi ned, objective, predictable and thought through carefully to get agree-
internal and public platforms. Communi- vacancies and thus vacuum in its leader- professional vitality. transparent performance evaluation ment among all the stakeholders. In line with the global trend of
cation within the company and outside, ship team at a very short notice. This process is a necessary building block paperless computerised processes, the HR
through websites, magazines, town hall could be particularly traumatic for a Depending on the level and skillsets, for attracting and retaining high poten- A typical example of a confl icting function has also moved with alacrity
meetings and webinars is an integral start-up or an owner driven MSE, with multiple approaches are adopted by the tial individuals. Typically, functional situation could be: a Gen Y or Z man- to digitise its entire spread of data and
part of this process. concentration of roles in a few indivi- HR function to spot and attract the most managers tend to give lower priority to agement trainee from a leading IIT or information, for seamless documenta-

186 Chemical Weekly February 27, 2024 Chemical Weekly February 27, 2024 187

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