HRnomics!

HRnomics or the economic principles of strategic human resources management are those basic rules of our business strategy, which align the people strategy with the business profitability. It is commonly seen that business houses and startups are focusing intensely on generating cash and reducing operational cost, however, what is seen missing in this roller-coaster ride are the people who are the fuel to drive these cash engines.

Though we have a huge supply of workforce in the market but still the demand across the industries is not being fulfilled and there is a supply gap of skilled resources. We should focus on the internal development and grooming of the current workforce to meet these demands.  It is required that the business houses need to frame career plans for the employees and put the employees in charge of their careers. Investments are much needed in the career development plan and learning/certifications rather than investing on a new hire. The new investment here is a sunk cost as the resource would take time to groom, be productive and adjust to the culture.  Vice versa if this cost was spent on existing resource it would have taken efficiency and productivity to a next level, which would have resulted in far better engagement levels and appreciated revenue.

Recognition in any form is that incentive, which is a differentiating factor in the employer brand. Rolling out bonuses is a one time key affair, however, regular social recognition of work, profit sharing and employee stock option would have a larger impact on the intrinsic motivational factors.

With the Gen Y/Z/Millennial workforce, there is a huge tradeoff between money and role. Today’s workforce demands more of quality work and enhanced job value rather than being stuck with same job routine. Data has shown that a substantial chunk of employees leave the organization for better defined entrepreneurial roles. Innovation is another factor, which is impacting the workforce market conditions as people nowadays have more exposure to new technologies and platforms to ideate.  Companies need to invest on R&D and create ideation labs and also protect the intellectual rights.

The overall company value depends on the worth of its employees which is directly related to the investments made by company in terms of money (Learning), material (Resources/Tools) and time (Innovation/R&D).

High Performing Abundant Organisations

I woke up in the morning, dragging my feet, trying to settle things and making my way to office. My friend, however, is fresh and full of energy. He thinks of what change is he going to bring today and how many lives will he be impacting by his work. Which one are you? How do you relate yourself to the larger organisational goals?

Organisations these days have set up high performance work culture wherein, they have linked their performance management, compensation and people strategy to enhance the employee effectiveness. They are working for the development of their employees to survive the competition. However, if we look at the abundant organisations (Dave Ulrich – The why of work) they are adding value and meaning to the life of its employees and working for the customers and the society at large. With the diversity and community services paving its way in the corporate policy and organisational budget, organisations are trying to do their bit to benefit the society, however, somewhere they are missing the employee’s why of work.

They have made their corporate policies more employee friendly, investing more in learning and development of the employees but still the turnover remains the biggest concern, which is always remarkably high. Why is that citizens of the organisation (Henceforth referred to as Empizen) are still not empowered and they keep on looking out?

Our empizen keep on exploring better opportunities as is the case with GenMe and Gen Y looking for better roles and career development. The GenMe and Gen Y always look out for empowerment in the role and better and bigger decision making ability. They just don’t fall flat for a bigger pay package. Our empizens want the meaning of work in their lives. They want to know and understand the value they are giving to the organisation through their work, which is missing in our HR strategy. Many a times, it has been seen that as part of our HR strategy, flow of people and flow of information is missing.

There should be a proper and continuous flow of information from the top management till all the empizen at the grass root level are empowered. They should know what their small action will be converted into at the larger level.  Simply investing in L&D will not suffice, it should be properly synced with the career aspiration of the empizen and the organisational strategy. This can be achieved only when our leadership is aware of this and know how to tackle these challenges. The empizen look onto the leaders and want to be one of them. Our leaders should be able to coach and mentor our empizens so that they consider themselves as part of the family and come to work every day with full passion. When the employee feels he/she is the empizen of the organisation, he will be more engaged, productive and would serve our customers better. Hence, empizen would understand the value he/she brings to the organisation through the work and would result in better financial numbers. 

    

So, are you going to add value and meaning to your/someone’s work tomorrow?