Tag: #HRarticles

Training

“Training helps teach the vision and mission, but employees must put the training into action for it to have meaning.” – Shep Hyken

The above quote really has a deep meaning as it is an important element for an employee and his organisation. It constitutes a basic concept in human resource development. Before starting further first we should know what is training? According to Edwin Filippo- ” Training is the act of increasing the skills of an employee for doing a particular job.” In layman terms training is a learning process which gives an opportunity to the employees to develop their skills, knowledge and competency as per their job requirements. It is a very useful tool as it brings an employee into a position where they can perform their jobs correctly, efficiently and confidently.

Generally training is not a continuous process, it is periodical and given in specified time. Training is given by an expert or professional in related field or job. Training helps an employee to keep themselves updated in this dynamic environment. Training programs is generally provided to the employees so that they can improve their quality of work. Training bridges the gap between job need and employees skills. Training is a task oriented activity as it helps in improving the performance of an employee. Training is about acquiring competencies to cope with the variety of complex and difficult situation. It is a journey of self-awareness and self-discovery as it leads to growth and development. It helps your employees to explore and realise their potential and talent. Through this training program one is able to identify his strength and weaknesses and it also helps in clearing there doubts and misconception which will help them to know their hidden abilities. It helps in establishing relationship between theory and practice as it develops the ability to translate acquired concepts, principles, knowledge and skills into action and through this way we can build a relationship between the two. Training is very important in an employee’s life as through training he or she will be able to know and learn so many new things like it will develop new skills in an employee, it helps in improving employee’s performance, it increases engagement as we know that an engaged employee has an increased level of productivity, it improves employee retention and growth as the process of training involves cost and thus it motivates the employee who undergoes training, consistency in training- as creating consistency within an organisation is difficult but training helps reduce a disparity between your teams, it helps in tracking employee skills, training is necessary when the existing employee is promoted to the higher level in the organisation as it requires some new skills and knowledge according to job requirements and so on the list of importance of training is never ending. As good things has never ending positive results. Training also helps in motivating the employee and helps in gaining organisational excellence. It also helps in preventing employee attrition as training program provides them a sense of satisfaction as they think that there organisation invest in them by this training session.

Last But Not the Least

“Our strength comes from our people.” Training is a very important HR function as it helps in the growth of an employee as well as the organisation.

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Employee Empowerment

“Empower your employees to make decision on their own, even if it means making a mistake.”

By Shep Hyken

Empowerment is the process of giving power, authority of decision making, responsibility and resources to an employee in the organisation. It is the process of empowering the employees so that they take the initiative and utilise their skills, knowledge, abilities and creativity by accepting accountability for their work. In order to take such initiatives and decision the employee needs adequate training, relevant information, tools and resources. Empowerment focuses on employees so that they can use their full potential towards taking decision, setting goals, accomplishing the goals and receiving rewards. Empowerment takes place when higher level transfers the power, authority and responsibility to lower level employees. Employee Empowerment is a continuous or ongoing process as it helps in achieving the predetermined goals of the organisation. Through empowering the employee becomes “self directed” and “self controlled”, they feel motivated and develops a sense of commitment. It helps in increasing the confidence of the employees. It generally occurs in human beings as we desire for recognition and rewards, power, status and responsibility. The process of empowerment also helps in increasing the productivity which can further reduce the cost. As we know that individual and organisational goals are not different from each other rather they are interdependent on eachother and if we empower an employee his morale will increase and this will help in achieving our organisational goals.

Pros of Employee Empowerment

  • Helps in saving cost – Empowering those employees who have years of experience and allowing these employees to suggest and make changes that can make their jobs more efficient, companies benefit by saving money.
  • Boost Morale – Employees who are empowered in their jobs experience a sense of responsibility. They know that there ideas matter a lot to the success of the organisation. This can even reduce employee turnover rate as they experience satisfaction from the organisation.
  • Less stress on Managers and Supervisors – As in employee empowerment, higher level transfers the power, authority, responsibility and accountability to lower level employees so now they don’t have to take day-to-day decisions and can focus on key areas like making strategies, network building, etc which reduces the stress on managers and supervisors.

Cons of Employee Empowerment

  • Demoralisation – Although empowerment seems attractive to many people but not every employee wants authority and responsibility that comes to them. So, if we force those employees for taking the additional responsibilities they may become seriously demoralised.
  • Security – Empowerment may lead to leakage of critical data as information comes and is shared by all.
  • Delay in taking important decision – When employees get authority and responsibility to make their own decisions, it can slow down the process of decision making as quick decisions can’t generally be made.
  • Increase in Risk – Empowering an employee who has lack of experience can increase the number of mistakes made and can put reputation at risk. So in order to minimise this situation proper training should be provided to the employee.

So, the key practices that will help you to empower your employees are delegate responsibility, share your vision and recognise good performance.

Last But Not the Least

We know that employee empowerment is a positive element in an organisation as it develops self confidence, commitment and loyalty among employees.

Trade Union

Trade Union is an organisation that employees, workers and labour can join in order to protect and promote their interest. Trade Union is an organisation which helps the workers and employees to achieve their goals in areas such as pay, benefits, working condition, hours of work, etc. Trade Union acts as a link or bridge between management and workers. As all the communication that takes place between employer or management and workers is generally through union. Trade Union acts as a medium between workers and management as they help in settlement of grievances and raising the voice of workers in front of management on behalf of workers. The key function of trade unions are regulation of relations, settlement of grievances, collective bargaining and negotiation and raising new demand on behalf of workers. Trade Union is basically a voluntary association of employees and therefore individuals agree on their own to join and act together. Since we know that it is a voluntary association, so the leaders are elected by the members. Trade Union acts as an intermediary between employer and employee. It eliminates the employers’ need to consult each and every employee before taking decision affecting him. Instead the employer talk directly to trade union who represent the employees. The Trade Union, in turn, pass on the information to the employee and the decision is taken at last. It is the most important question that, Why trade union looks so attractive to employees? So for this we should know the factors that makes it so attractive to employees and they are –

  • Minimise Discrimination- As there are chances that a personal relationship may exist between the supervisor and his subordinate and due to this there are chances of favouritism and discrimination. So, in order to minimise favouritism and discrimination trade union compels management to frame policies that press for equality of treatment to workers.
  • Sense of Security- After joining a union the employee experiences a sense of security as he believes that it is an effective way to secure adequate protection from various hazards and income insecurity.
  • Sense of Participation- Employee experiences sense of participation only if they join trade union. After joining the Trade Union employees can participate in matters of management which affects their interest.
  • Sense of Belongingness- It is always seen that people follow eachother. Same goes here, many employees join a union because there co-workers are the members of the union. The members of a union feel that they are gaining respect and can also discuss their problems with the Trade Union.
  • Platform for Self Expression- Everybody loves expressing themselves. They want to share their feelings, ideas and opinions with others and this platform is provided by trade union to its members. Trade Union helps in providing a support to collective voice of the workers so that the management can hear this and can give due consideration while making policy decision by the management. Trade Union also helps in betterment of employee relations among management and workers by solving the problem peacefully.

Last But Not the Least

Trade Union plays an important role in workers, employees and labour’s life as it provides a sense of security, participation and belongingness which motivates them to work hard.

Career Planning and Its Importance in HR

” A career is a job you love, right? That’s what a career should be. If you’re in a job that you hate, you should quit. That’s the way I look at it. I’m in a job that I love, so I’m going to make it my career.”

By Cameron Sinclair

A career can be described as a sequence of jobs that a person experiences overtime. A career is basically composed of the jobs held, work done and titled earned over a period of time. It comprises of a series of work related activities, that provides continuity, order and meaning to a person’s life. Career is something which don’t make you feel that life has become monotonous but it is something which gives you self satisfaction and it is the work which you really enjoy and while doing that you don’t feel burdensome. As it is rightly said by Confucius – “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Career Planning may be defined as a process by which career goals and individual capabilities can be matched with the opportunities. It is a planning done by a person in order to have a strong career path. It is a continuous, lifelong and a systematic process by which one selects career goals and path to these goals. It is not an event but a process of developing human resource so that they can achieve desired goals. In simple terms, it is an individual’s choice of career and occupation which he or she loves to do. It is very important to know that individual and organisational goals are not different from each other rather they are interdependent on eachother. This we can understand from the following lines that when a person is not able to convert his career plan into action while staying in the particular organisation he or she may probably think of quitting the job and joining the other organisation if he has a choice. So, for avoiding this type of situation, organisation should help their employees in career planning so that they both can satisfy each other’s goals and by this way the organisation can retain its employees, the employee will become more loyal to the organisation, the organisation will able to reduce labour turnover. Apart from these, Career Planning also has many importance too and they are –

  • Career Planning helps an employee to know the career opportunities available in the organisation.
  • Once an individual is clear about his career path, he can be more focused and can make efforts for self development.
  • It helps in increasing productivity.
  • It provides needed direction which will help you further to achieve your goals.
  • Career Planning helps in assured availability of talent and it also helps in attracting and retaining talent.
  • Career Planning helps in promoting organisational image as employees are one of the best media to project the image.
  • Career Planning helps in development and growth in employees and it also helps in reducing labour turnover.
  • Through this the employee become more loyal to the organisation and it further increases their morale and motivates them to work hard.
  • Career Planning helps in satisfying employees needs and it shows employee’s potential.

Last But Not the Least

Even though career planning takes a lot of time, effort and work but there is nothing more rewarding than this as it is something which you enjoy.

Factors Affecting Employee Retention

“Train people well enough so they can leave, Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

By Richard Branson

The above quote by Sir Richard Branson provide us so deep inspiration and knowledge that we generally don’t think. Earlier employees were regarded as machines or tools but now they are considered as an asset to the organisation. Really these employees are an asset to the organisation as employees are the major contributors to profit and worth of the organisation. The greatest investment we can make is in people. They are considered as the backbone of any organisation. Without employees no organisation can think of its success and even it’s not possible too. As said by Peter Drucker in 1999 – ” The most valuable assets of a 20th century company were its production equipment, The most valuable assets of a 21st century institution, whether business or non – business, will be its knowledge workers and their productivity.” These words by Peter Drucker can be clearly seen in the present scenario. But retaining these potential employees is also a big problem. So first we should know what is employee retention. In layman’s term employee retention means the ability of an organisation to retain its employees so that they don’t quit their jobs. It is very important for an organisation to retain its employees as an organisation has invested a lot of time, money and effort on these employees. And if they leave the organisation the company has to bear the losses and also has to recruit new employees and again they have to invest time, money and effort on these new employees to make them fit for the new job. So retaining the employee is a tough task for HR. There are many factors affecting employee retention they are –

  • Training- Employee Retention starts from day one itself. As from the starting day itself employees think whether he or she want to stay or leave. So training plays an important role in retention of employees. As training is a very essential part in any organisation as training is a learning process in which an employee get an opportunity to develop skills, knowledge and competency as per the job requirements. Through training an organisation invest in its employees in order to make them competent enough and help its employees to sustain in this dynamic environment. In the same way, through this training employees develop a greater sense of self – worth as now they became more valuable to the organisation and hence employees develop a sense of belongingness.
  • Compensation- Compensation is the most important factor. As this can only determine whether the employee will stay or leave. After we hire an employee, compensation and benefits is the only part which can help in retention and motivation. As, if the employee feels that he or she is receiving a good package from your organisation he or she will work hard or otherwise they will leave. So compensation and benefits have direct impact on retention.
  • Relationship between Manager and Employee- Employee- manager relationship is very crucial and important. As a poor relation between the two can lead to employee attrition. There are some employees for whom relations matter a lot than any other things like compensation and benefits, rewards and recognition. So, the relationship between the two should be nice.
  • Recognition and Rewards- Everybody in this world like to get rewards and recognised by someone. By employee recognition we mean highlighting the positive efforts and achievements in the workplace. This may include both personal traits and professional achievements. As through rewarding and recognising our employee we can foster a sense of engagement with the work. This will motivate them to work hard and stay in the organisation.
  • Work-life Balance- It is very important for an organisation to retain its top – performing employees. Not only salary, but work environment is also a factor which may distract your employees that whether they want to stay or leave. There are many types of work – life balance arrangements like Flextime, Job-sharing and Part-time work. An organisation should provide these facilities to retain them.

Last But not the Least

Retention and Turnover affects everyone in the organisation. It is not always possible that you can retain each and everyone. One or other will leave the organisation sooner or later. Handling employee retention is not an easy task. The only thing you can do is try to improvise your employee retention strategies from time to time according to your requirement and need. On this note, keep your team happy, healthy and safe.