The Ex-Factor!- HR Practices

Key learnings:

Corporate alumni programmes help organisations re-recruit employees with much greater ease

In case of sales-driven organisations these boomerang programmes offer the recruiting advantage and also give a major boost to the business by providing competitive intelligence

The economic recession is exerting pressure on organisations from all sides. Managers and leaders cannot stretch even an inch and therefore layoffs and indiscriminate delayering of the staff is rampant. As a result of layoffs and corporate delayering there has been a significant talent exodus into the corporate talent pool. There is enough talent floating around in the market and therefore, today may be the best time for organisations seeking to recruit employees.

Unfortunately not many are in a position to recruit. For preserving floating talent and keeping it in the active sourcing loop organisations are considering increasingly formal corporate alumni programmes. These programmes help maintain mutually beneficial relationship with ex-employees and others in the market.

The "boomerang programme" as it is called underscores the need to stay in touch with employees. They could spring back into the organisational fold with much greater ease. Also it saves the organisation and the employee a lot of effort and time. Re-recruiting people under the boomerang programme is much simpler as compared to starting afresh with the entire recruiting process. Besides recruiting benefits of the corporate alumni programme, there are other more business-oriented advantages. For instance, in case of sales- related jobs, re-recruiting sales people would not only save the organisation recruiting efforts but would also provide the added advantage that comes by virtue of the number of contacts that the sales executives would bring. Thus, corporate alumni programmes provide multi-dimensional benefits to organisations.

Back to the pavilion!

Employees are the best brand -builders for organisations. The "word of mouth" publicity that the staff give its employer is beyond the best marketing and brand positioning strategy. Hence, it is extremely important that organisations if not for humane reasons but for the sake of pure economics treat employees well and implement lay-offs amicably. This apart, there are other reasons that justify the need to pursue corporate alumni programmes. The reasons are both HR- related as well as business -related, and these include:

Reduction in recruiting costs Lowered employee change Greater employee satisfaction levels Better brand -building by re-recruiting ex-employees

In addition to the HR--oriented reasons for pursuing corporate alumni programmes, there are equally convincing economic justifications for the programmes. These include: Increase in the number of customer referrals

Enhancement of customer base by turning ex-employees into customers Leveraging competitive intelligence from employees

Inputs for product assessment

Thus, the aforementioned reasons make a rather convincing case for organisations to pursue formal corporate alumni programmes.

The mark of an effective boomerang

The following attributes make corporate alumni programme a success and represent the
worth of pursuing a corporate alumni programme:

A strategic business tool

HR leaders must build a strong business case around the alumni programme. Corporate stalwarts like Mc Kinsey Consulting, Booz Allen Hamilton and Ernst & Young have been known to position their alumni networking efforts more strategically thereby giving it a more serious feel. Leaders must shun the "HR fad" image of important initiatives like alumni networking to leverage its real benefits.

Prioritise alumni

Effective alumni programmes prioritise alumni on the basis of their performance record. This helps quicken the recruiting efforts of organisations and it enables managers to identify the right talent without wasting much time and effort

Tech -savvy

Effective alumni programmes use technological platforms to ease out the process. Unlike earlier when excel spreadsheets were used to maintain employee data base, today's technology is more advanced. The programmes use customer-relationship management software to accomplish the same job.

Leverage social networks

Alumni programmes must leverage public and private social networks to expand their scope. Social networks are by far the richest source of knowledge, information and contacts. Hence, leveraging this source can help boost the effectiveness of alumni programmes.

Use of an effective measurement tool

The efficacy of corporate alumni programmes needs to be adjudged at regular intervals. This would help the efforts stay in the right direction. Without an effective metrics system managers would fail to improvise the existing approach to alumni networking.

Incorporate alumni networking efforts in the onboarding programme

Organisations must familiarise employees about their alumni networking efforts right in the beginning . making this information a part of their onboarding exercise. Awareness about this programme would help employees feel more secure and enhance employee loyalty.

While the economic slump may have got depressing, probe deeper and you will see an opportunity. Making the most of this opportunity is a matter of choice, for those who leverage it, the possibilities are endless!

Ref: TheManageMentor

Referral Blues - HR practices

Employee referral programme has always proved to be an efficient recruiting tool. However, for consistent performance output it is important to work through a checklist...

Key learnings:

• Design and execution are two critical parameters for gauging the success of employee referral programmes
• An insight into the attributes of a world class referral programme can help frame an effective employee referral programme
  

Employee referrals have been touted as one of the most efficient recruiting tools. The efficacy of the programmes can be gauged by the percentage successes of recruiting deals made through employee referrals. In addition to the efficiency factor, employee referral programmes (ERP) offer a number of other advantages also. The time and cost-effectiveness of employee referral programmes figure among the most attractive benefits of the tool. This apart, better use of recruiter and management time, insight into moral and ethical stand of individual employees and better quality of talent are other benefits of ERPs.

Since ERPs impact a host of organisational factors, their efficacy can also take a beating when one or more these factors become less favourable. Hence, to offset adversity of any kind recruiting managers must focus on the design and execution of ERPs. Most referral programmes have been known to succumb to their own internal flaws in programme design or execution.

ERPs have shown a recruitment rate of 50%-70% . To attain this level of efficiency organisations have to work hard on the design and execution aspects of the programme.

Design

As mentioned earlier, design of employee referral programmes makes all the difference between success and failure of the initiative. Hence, to attain impeccable design and immaculate referral plan , recruiting managers should incorporate the following attributes in the design component:

• The entire process should be web-based making it a completely paperless effort, saving both time and effort
• Provision to gauge satisfaction levels of referred employees
• Provision to recruit referrals from non-employees
• Rewarding employees who get referrals from competitors, especially for senior level positions
• The programme should allow employees to send emails to friends regarding job openings
• A successful referral in a position that seemed difficult to fill should be given extra bonus and rewards
  

Organisations could add more design components to make the programme more customised.

Execution

Even when the design components are in place, referral programmes could fail because of poor execution. Execution issues are often related to the workability of the design. The following execution problems are encountered most commonly:

• Lack of constant monitoring by authorities
• Referrals get turned down because of redundant rules and policies
• Lack of control on the quality of referrals can make the entire exercise ineffective
• Undue stress on diversity can take the steam off referral schemes
• Bonuses and rewards may lose their sheen over a period of time
• There is no distinction between referral bonus/reward for junior and senior positions
• Lack of disciplinary measures to tackle referral misuse and abuse

After ascertaining the right design and execution process , organisations should institute the right measures to scale the efficacy of referral programmes.

Metrics

The measures to determine and assess the effectiveness of ERPs include:

• Cost per recruit
• Time saved in reaching out to potential recruits, identifying them and processing their job requests
• Manager satisfaction levels with the referee performance
• Rise in employee participation in ERPs
• Percentage of diversity referrals
• Success rate of referrals made by employees
• Number of senior level positions filled through ERPs
  

Referral programmes are undoubtedly one of the best tools for accomplishing corporate recruiting needs. However, there is enough evidence to suggest that more than 70 pc of organisations using the programme for filling up job positions have shown only mediocre results. This is primarily because corporates fail to take ERPs seriously and use it as a subordinate recruiting technique. However, for organisations that value employee referrals truly and announce attractive rewards for every job that gets filled through it have indeed shown that ERPs are at least twice as effective as the traditional approach to recruiting.

Organisations that wish to leverage the real potential of ERPs need to begin their efforts at the deign stage. The design for employee referral programme must be competitive enough to meet world class standards. Using this design , then leaders can move forward with execution of the programme . Thus, by ensuring the right design and execution measures organisations can aim at enhancing the success rate of their recruiting efforts significantly.

How to Coach Your Boss

At the core of every toxic working environment is the toxic boss, manager or supervisor that breeds it. All roads go back to the manager. And if the manager isn't willing to change, then it's a safe bet that nothing will.

That's why to impact long lasting change, managers need to upgrade their style and approach to managing their people.The toxic boss is still alive and thriving. Sure, no breakthrough news here but what if you, as the recipient of this type of management style, could actually do something about it?

Knowing the type of boss you have, their limitations, their management style, their priorities, what drives them and how they communicate, helps you determine exactly where you stand, and what you can expect from them. After all, if you're looking for more individualized attention, support and training it may not be realistic to expect that from your current boss or even possible for that boss to provide you the support and training you need. And if that's the case, at least you now have the evidence to make a more educated and informed decision regarding whether or not to stay in your current position.

So, what can you do to turn around your boss's style of managing and how they communicate with you? Here's a twist. Start by coaching and supporting them using these three simple steps.

First: Coach Up. What can you to do support your boss? Most are used to their employees coming to them with problems and complaints. It's an interesting reaction you get when you approach them with, "Hi Mary. Listen I know how much we're all under the same pressure to produce and for you I can only imaging that it's even more intense. So, I just wanted to ask you what I might be able to do for you to possibly take some of that burden off, or if there's anything you see in my production or performance that I could be doing better which in turn we'd all win."

Next: Create the Opportunity to Discuss Expectations: The law of reciprocity applies. After you've determined how you can make his life a little easier, eventually, your manager can ask what he can do for you, which is your opportunity to ask if you can discuss the management style that you best respond to and how you want to be managed.

Finally: Set Your Boundaries: Bosses don’t know boundaries. Like it or not, through many managers eyes, their #1 responsibility is to run the company, not worry about your feelings. So stand up for yourself and establish your role, but always give 100%. While most of the time not premeditated, people, especially your boss will continually test you, over and over again, in the sense of what they can and cannot get away with when it comes to making requests and demands of you and how they can treat you. While a large percentage of people might initially be scared or intimidated to say something to their boss, in fear of some type of consequence or fallout, most of the time, managers are clueless about how they treat people and often don't even know they're doing it! Don't be surprised when you drop off this article on their desk, and they in turn, thank you for it. So, re-train all the people around you, including your boss, how they can respond to you in a healthier, non-toxic way.

(About the author: Keith Rosen is the Executive Sales Coach™ that top salespeople and managers call first to develop a team of champion performers and boost their sales. A best selling author, Keith has written several books including the award winning Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions. Inc. magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most influential executive coaches. He's been featured in Entrepreneur, Inc., Fortune, TheStreet.com, Hoovers.com, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Keith is a frequent guest correspondent on News 12 and has appeared on Fox Business )

Opportunity in adversity

Staying afloat
In a time when most are feeling the tremors of the global financial meltdown, there are a handful of Indian sectors that are still staying afloat. “If you look at sectors like insurance, healthcare, engineering, you will notice that they are still growing in volumes and value,” notes Ajay Soni, business leader - talent and organisation consulting, Hewitt.

What perhaps is keeping sectors like insurance afloat is the consumer mindset and attitudes. “Unlike developed economies like the USA, savings is in our DNA. In tough times we save even more for the future,” explains N.S. Kannan, executive director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
Industry experts are optimistic and are expecting the private life insurance industry to grow at a 30 per cent rate by FY ’09. “Since core of life insurance is long term savings and protection, these times with sensex crashing will not affect investors’ decisions,” Kannan reasons. “Customer focuses on long term objective and invests over a time period,” he adds. ICICI Prudential has reportedly witnessed 31 per cent growth in its new businesses and 90 per cent growth through renewal premium business in the last six months. “We’ve expanded phenomenally in the last 18-24 months and our bulk expansion has been in the last 6-8 months,” says Kannan.

In fact, from a branch network of 580 offices in FY’07, I-Pru now has 2,055 branches across the country. “We continue to recruit managers and advisory manpower for these new branches that we’ve set up,” Kannan adds.

Sectors galore
Insurance sector is playing an interesting role in the current downmarket scenario. The life insurance industry has pumped in a huge amount in the equity markets. “Firms like ours and other life insurers have been net buyers even in such volatile times," informs Kannan.

Then, there’s healthcare which is also reportedly doing better than most other sectors. “The global financial turmoil has not brought about any major upheavals in the biotech arena,” says Chirag Mehta, head, strategic planning and development, Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Intas Biopharmaceuticals has seen a 100 per cent growth in the FY '07-'08 and is expecting the same for the current fiscal year. “We are on track to achieve this. Our performance this year and in the remaining quarters would be in line with our expectations,” Mehta points out. “We do not see any major business plan change for the near future,” he adds.

This perhaps also implies no major change in the hiring strategy. “We have added over 15 per cent to our manpower base during the last quarter and the trend for the subsequent quarter would remain unchanged,” confirms Dr. Kashmira Pagdiwalla, director, HR operations, Intas Biopharmaceuticals. Elaborating on the areas of healthcare where major hiring is happening, Dr. Pagdiwalla says, “The talent need is growing in the areas of research, manufacturing, marketing and corporate roles.” Of course, these are sectors that aren’t connected to the meltdown. However, even the services sector which has been adversely hit by the recession has pockets of growth. “In the services sector, Telecom is adding to the customer base and reporting continual growth,” Soni points out. One such example is Airtel which has grown at a 30 per cent rate from the last quarter.The way ahead

Soni, like other industry watchers, believes that the way forward is to set the house in order and use this time to create a strong DNA of managing organisation. “This time offers an option of looking at long-term and not just quarterly performances,” asserts Soni. “Forward looking organisations would build themselves for the long term,” he adds.

To put it simply, it’s an opportunity for managers to reflect on their business strategies and plan for contingencies.

Ref: Times Ascent