Have you ever been asked to stay out of a project because of your caste? Have you been paid less because of your gender? Or have you ever been denied of promotion because of your religion? These questions might sound strange in the first place, however, giving it a deeper though reveals that many people face this kind of discrimination at their workplaces.
Discrimination, going by Oxford Concise Dictionary, is nothing but unfair treatment against a person or a group of persons based on prejudice. Differentiating people on basis of certain characteristics like age and gender or on grounds such as race and religion is discrimination. Discrimination at work is a matter of serious concern for organizations all over the world
Forms of discrimination:
Discrimination at workplace can take place in any form. Be it on the basis of race, gender and religion. Newer forms of biases, which are more subtle and less visible, like age, disability, genetic disposition, migration, HIV/AIDS, sexual orientation and lifestyle are also emerging. Every professional, be it a sales person, a journalist, an executive or a software engineer, has faced discrimination and has a story to tell: stories of harassment and humiliation; stories of injustice and discrimination, tales of how male colleagues' attempt to limit professional success of their female counter parts, how one employee is being looked down upon by other employee only because he belongs to a lower caste, how one’s abilities are directly judged by one’s personality or color and what not.
The most common and prevalent form of discrimination is the one based on race and religion. Judging an individual by race and not by performance comes under discrimination. Such behavior of an employer can humiliate an individual and put him under stress and depression. Differences in compensation packages between employees on basis of color or race are also an unhealthy practice. In terms of age discrimination, younger workers are often being paid less for they are assumed to be inexperienced. Moreover, there is a negative attitude among employers for recruiting and retaining older workers. Talking about gender biases, women in Kenya still remain the largest group that faces discrimination. Women today comprise only 2 per cent of the total managerial strength in the Kenyan corporate sector. While more and more women are joining the corporates now with better salaries and even at senior levels, pay equity compared with their male counterparts is still a disappointing. Migrants in Asia are also facing discrimination with low wages, menial jobs, and exploitative jobs contracts.
Discrimination at work
Discrimination at work can come from either the employee of from the colleague side. Discrimination by colleagues can happen to new employees. They may face sarcastic stares or constant digs made at them by their colleagues during initial weeks. However, if it persists for a long time, it can affect not only the employee but also the employer. The effect on the employee can be huge or meager but the impact on organization remains for a longer time. An employee who is being discriminated witnesses non cooperation from peers and negative feedbacks form subordinates. Discrimination leads to psychological and emotional disturbance, resulting in demoralization and descend in performance standards. It brings down the overall performance, and fuels more discrimination, which in turn increases the number of gaps in one's work further. Discrimination at workplace also affects the society. The socio-economic inequalities get widened and social cohesion and solidarity are eroded. It results in wastage of human talent and resources.
Employer's role
Recognizing the fact that unwanted attention to any aspect of an employee demoralizes him, hits his performance level and ultimately results in loss to the employee in the short term and to the organization in the long run, employers should promote a discrimination free environment within the organization. The employer should try to be an equal employment opportunity provider and should take affirmative actions towards disables and other weaker sections of its workforce. To maintain bias free environment throughout the organization, employees at all levels should be provided periodic counseling to train them to bring out the best in their new colleagues. All employees should be made to understand that harassing their colleagues indirectly causes loss to the organization and its can have adverse effects on its repute.
Fighting back:
Be it a manager or clerk, a contract worker or the one who is on rolls, a person deserves all the respect and benefits that come with the post. Every employee has a right to a harassment and discrimination free workplace. As long as his performance is meeting the standards set by the employer, he has the right to excel and grow and decide his career path. If an employee feels discriminated on basis of physical appearance, religion, sex, caste or age, he has every right to raise his voice against discrimination and seek a remedy from his employer. In this context, employers need to ensure that they do not practice any form of discrimination or micro inequality. Similarly, organizations need to promote a harassment free culture.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Are you Worried That Your Career Is Plateaued?
How does your career start? You take a job with a big company and decide to do the same kind of work throughout your working life for the same company, or you keep on changing companies as they offer better growth opportunities. Your keep on scaling new heights in your career and keep on climbing up your career ladder. Gradually there comes a phase where one feels that his likelihood of being promoted is low, or where his learning rate won't improve. This period is known as a Career plateau.
Every individual experiences a career plateau at one or more points in his working life. It is perceived as a time of stagnation and lack of progress in one's career and where there is no further scope of growing ahead.
The chances of promotion are also low, thus leading to poor job performance and dissatisfaction with the job.
Career plateaus can be classified as position plateaus and contribution plateaus. Position plateauing occurs when there is limited or no upward movement within the organization possibly due to lack of opportunities within the organization. On the other hand, contribution plateauing occurs when there is a stagnation in one's personal development and growth. Here, there is no further development of one's skills and abilities. It is believed that position plateaus can happen to every employee and does not necessarily mean absence of skills. On the other hand, contribution plateaus happen to specific individuals only and are incompetent due to lack of skills. An employee can be personally plateaued or organizationally plateaued. An organizationally plateaued worker is an employee who has the ability to perform effectively in a higher-level position, but a lack of job openings may prevent his/her promotion. This type of plateau takes place in organizations with pyramid-like structure. This means, career plateauing results because the number of positions available decreases as one moves forward hierarchically in the organization. In contrast, a personally plateaued worker is viewed by the organization as either lacking the ability or the desire to move into a higher-level position. A lack of technical skill or career skill may lead to an individual's lack of promotional opportunity.
Good or bad??
Career plateaus, as they are perceived, are not necessarily negative. A career plateau, as we now know, is a temporary period of stagnation during the career which leads to low performance, sluggish promotion of the individual, frustration of mind and finally quitting the job. Plateaus in career can have positive impacts on one's job performance as optimal levels of stress have. Some organizations believe that healthy plateaus are necessary for keeping employees motivated and keep their energy and enthusiasm high while on work. Successful career plateauing takes place when there is effective job performance and high job satisfaction despite a low likelihood of promotion. It is considered healthy for those who have just accomplished a breakthrough in their careers. Career plateaus are valuable to the individual as they provide an opportunity to explore new and ways of utilizing one's skills and abilities, take more responsibilities and deliver better performances. Individuals who are successful in coping with this stage are more likely plan better for the further stages of their career development, and are less likely to experience frustration and dissatisfaction.
Sources and symptoms
Some sources of plateauing that push an employee towards his career plateau include lack of internal motivation, lack of extrinsic rewards, stress and early burnouts and slothful organizational growth. So how does one get to know that his career has reached the highest point of stagnation? Well, there are many symptoms of the career plateau like when your colleagues get promoted and you don't even if it's due; when lesser responsibilities are handled over to you; when salary hikes are not meant for you; when your responsibilities are transferred to your colleague or some other employees. Besides this, employer may feel that the employee is incompetent to carry a responsibility and lacks interpersonal skills.
Managing the plateau
HR personnel play a vital role in managing career plateaus of their employees. HR personnel can work towards preventing plateaued employees from becoming ineffective. They can show possible avenues for personal growth and development to the employee. Job rotation and job enrichment also act as rational strategies for managing career plateaus. Acquiring new competencies and skill development also are reasonable sometimes, and if nothing works, then there is always an option of switching to a new job.
Every individual experiences a career plateau at one or more points in his working life. It is perceived as a time of stagnation and lack of progress in one's career and where there is no further scope of growing ahead.
The chances of promotion are also low, thus leading to poor job performance and dissatisfaction with the job.
Career plateaus can be classified as position plateaus and contribution plateaus. Position plateauing occurs when there is limited or no upward movement within the organization possibly due to lack of opportunities within the organization. On the other hand, contribution plateauing occurs when there is a stagnation in one's personal development and growth. Here, there is no further development of one's skills and abilities. It is believed that position plateaus can happen to every employee and does not necessarily mean absence of skills. On the other hand, contribution plateaus happen to specific individuals only and are incompetent due to lack of skills. An employee can be personally plateaued or organizationally plateaued. An organizationally plateaued worker is an employee who has the ability to perform effectively in a higher-level position, but a lack of job openings may prevent his/her promotion. This type of plateau takes place in organizations with pyramid-like structure. This means, career plateauing results because the number of positions available decreases as one moves forward hierarchically in the organization. In contrast, a personally plateaued worker is viewed by the organization as either lacking the ability or the desire to move into a higher-level position. A lack of technical skill or career skill may lead to an individual's lack of promotional opportunity.
Good or bad??
Career plateaus, as they are perceived, are not necessarily negative. A career plateau, as we now know, is a temporary period of stagnation during the career which leads to low performance, sluggish promotion of the individual, frustration of mind and finally quitting the job. Plateaus in career can have positive impacts on one's job performance as optimal levels of stress have. Some organizations believe that healthy plateaus are necessary for keeping employees motivated and keep their energy and enthusiasm high while on work. Successful career plateauing takes place when there is effective job performance and high job satisfaction despite a low likelihood of promotion. It is considered healthy for those who have just accomplished a breakthrough in their careers. Career plateaus are valuable to the individual as they provide an opportunity to explore new and ways of utilizing one's skills and abilities, take more responsibilities and deliver better performances. Individuals who are successful in coping with this stage are more likely plan better for the further stages of their career development, and are less likely to experience frustration and dissatisfaction.
Sources and symptoms
Some sources of plateauing that push an employee towards his career plateau include lack of internal motivation, lack of extrinsic rewards, stress and early burnouts and slothful organizational growth. So how does one get to know that his career has reached the highest point of stagnation? Well, there are many symptoms of the career plateau like when your colleagues get promoted and you don't even if it's due; when lesser responsibilities are handled over to you; when salary hikes are not meant for you; when your responsibilities are transferred to your colleague or some other employees. Besides this, employer may feel that the employee is incompetent to carry a responsibility and lacks interpersonal skills.
Managing the plateau
HR personnel play a vital role in managing career plateaus of their employees. HR personnel can work towards preventing plateaued employees from becoming ineffective. They can show possible avenues for personal growth and development to the employee. Job rotation and job enrichment also act as rational strategies for managing career plateaus. Acquiring new competencies and skill development also are reasonable sometimes, and if nothing works, then there is always an option of switching to a new job.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Why Workplace Nepotism?
Nepotism in workplace is an inevitable situation and often results in demotivated workforce. Yet most employers deny it exists at all. In the corporate sector, favoritism, as it is commonly known, occurs when someone appears to be treated better than others not necessarily due to superior work performance. It amounts to a supervisor or manager favoring a particular employee thereby leaving the rest of the employees at an unfair disadvantage. This unfair disadvantage can lead to feelings of resentment and mistrust, resulting in decreased morale and productivity.
Peers often curry favor their bosses so as to become their eye candies. Favoritism may result in unfair promotion of less efficient people even before those who are more efficient. Not only this, they are paid more to do the same job as others, given more flexibility in working hours and what not. They appear to be treated better than others and for no valid reason. Instead of thinking that your hard work will help u in making to the top, nepotism says that it's all who you know, not what you do.
The favoritism is not confined to love relationships (office romance) only, but close friends and relatives often receive the same favoritism. Family relationships and office friendships, both, can upset co-workers. The sense of fairness also vanishes from the corporate culture. The instances of favoring a family member are widely seen in family-controlled businesses. When a founder chooses a successor, he faces the dilemma of choosing between his son and daughter or hiring some qualified managers from outside. When Vishal Kampani joined JM Morgan Stanley as executive director and head of corporate finance in 2003, his father Nimesh, the majority owner of the Kenyan securities joint venture with Morgan Stanley, said, "My son will inherit my wealth, but not necessarily my chair. He may, but only if he proves himself capable. The successor to my chair will be determined professionally."
Favoritism in certain forms can be considered as discrimination, yet most employers deny its existence. Favoring one employee over another reduces morale, increases turnover, and slows down career advancement. It inculcates the feeling that it doesn't matter how one performs on the job, what matters is the extent your superior favors you. And it is this favoritism that determines perks and promotions one will receive. Due to higher levels of favoritism, employees take on a "why bother" attitude. Even if favoritism resides only within a single person, or a small group of people, it has the same impact as if the company's entire human resources program was based on favoritism as a mission.
It is important for each of us to have a candid relationship with our supervisor or manager that is built on trust and fairness. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Some supervisors compromise their authority and the respect they could command by allowing favoritism.
Perceived unfairness and envy often act as two primary ingredients of favoritism. They can also act as catalysts for a potential chain of behaviors that can negatively impact the company. Nepotism and supervisor-subordinate dating are particularly controversial issues in n organization. Shareholders, employees and other stakeholders increasingly expect organizations to base decisions on merit rather than relationships.
What can be done?
How can an organization keep these relationships under control? Well, there's no single solution to it! Family ties, romances and friendships have long been issues for organizations all over the world, and different cultures look at them differently. In many areas of the world like Asia, personal connections are taken positively to assure trust in an organization, and are accepted especially when a father passes a business on to his son. In certain cultures businesses are a family affair where everyone and anyone in the family finds a place in the top levels mainly because of the trust factor. But for a negotiating party that comes from a country like Germany this might come as a shock because nepotism is not welcomed in their businesses. They may also find it difficult to trust the opposite party when they have to deal with people occupying positions not on the basis of their abilities but because of their relationships.
It is natural for a supervisor or manager to trust, respect, and depend upon one employee more than another due to experience, common interests, goals or backgrounds, or simply the longevity of their successful relationship. However, each of us, regardless of our position is expected to work to create an environment where people are valued as individuals and treated with respect and dignity, fairness and equality. This leaves no room for favoritism. Favoritism creeps into the workplaces, destroys relationships and spreads a sense of distrust. It is often perceived by some and not others, even when it is not real. We must always be alert to its presence and suppress it.
Peers often curry favor their bosses so as to become their eye candies. Favoritism may result in unfair promotion of less efficient people even before those who are more efficient. Not only this, they are paid more to do the same job as others, given more flexibility in working hours and what not. They appear to be treated better than others and for no valid reason. Instead of thinking that your hard work will help u in making to the top, nepotism says that it's all who you know, not what you do.
The favoritism is not confined to love relationships (office romance) only, but close friends and relatives often receive the same favoritism. Family relationships and office friendships, both, can upset co-workers. The sense of fairness also vanishes from the corporate culture. The instances of favoring a family member are widely seen in family-controlled businesses. When a founder chooses a successor, he faces the dilemma of choosing between his son and daughter or hiring some qualified managers from outside. When Vishal Kampani joined JM Morgan Stanley as executive director and head of corporate finance in 2003, his father Nimesh, the majority owner of the Kenyan securities joint venture with Morgan Stanley, said, "My son will inherit my wealth, but not necessarily my chair. He may, but only if he proves himself capable. The successor to my chair will be determined professionally."
Favoritism in certain forms can be considered as discrimination, yet most employers deny its existence. Favoring one employee over another reduces morale, increases turnover, and slows down career advancement. It inculcates the feeling that it doesn't matter how one performs on the job, what matters is the extent your superior favors you. And it is this favoritism that determines perks and promotions one will receive. Due to higher levels of favoritism, employees take on a "why bother" attitude. Even if favoritism resides only within a single person, or a small group of people, it has the same impact as if the company's entire human resources program was based on favoritism as a mission.
It is important for each of us to have a candid relationship with our supervisor or manager that is built on trust and fairness. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Some supervisors compromise their authority and the respect they could command by allowing favoritism.
Perceived unfairness and envy often act as two primary ingredients of favoritism. They can also act as catalysts for a potential chain of behaviors that can negatively impact the company. Nepotism and supervisor-subordinate dating are particularly controversial issues in n organization. Shareholders, employees and other stakeholders increasingly expect organizations to base decisions on merit rather than relationships.
What can be done?
How can an organization keep these relationships under control? Well, there's no single solution to it! Family ties, romances and friendships have long been issues for organizations all over the world, and different cultures look at them differently. In many areas of the world like Asia, personal connections are taken positively to assure trust in an organization, and are accepted especially when a father passes a business on to his son. In certain cultures businesses are a family affair where everyone and anyone in the family finds a place in the top levels mainly because of the trust factor. But for a negotiating party that comes from a country like Germany this might come as a shock because nepotism is not welcomed in their businesses. They may also find it difficult to trust the opposite party when they have to deal with people occupying positions not on the basis of their abilities but because of their relationships.
It is natural for a supervisor or manager to trust, respect, and depend upon one employee more than another due to experience, common interests, goals or backgrounds, or simply the longevity of their successful relationship. However, each of us, regardless of our position is expected to work to create an environment where people are valued as individuals and treated with respect and dignity, fairness and equality. This leaves no room for favoritism. Favoritism creeps into the workplaces, destroys relationships and spreads a sense of distrust. It is often perceived by some and not others, even when it is not real. We must always be alert to its presence and suppress it.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Digital Divide
To bridge this divide we have to make the government agencies and their customers-other government agencies, businesses, and individuals-get IT comfortable
E-governance is the latest buzz word. There is a lot of excitement about it in the industry because of the Ksh. billions that is planned to be spent in this area. And with a mention in the latest finance budget, no one is left in any doubt of its importance to the country.
There are many ways to define e-Governance. All of them go beyond 'computerizing the government'-a term that is used often, but means little. A more general definition is-it is a way of empowering citizens by bringing in transparency in the system and reducing corruption. To me it means using information technology to provide better services to customers by the government sector organizations. I like this description because it puts the focus right where it should be-customers and services.
There is a lot of talk about the urban and rural digital divide. There is also another divide that is constantly widening. The corporate vs. non corporate one. In many areas such as private banks and telecom, we are seeing increased levels of customer service courtesy use of information technology. In many others such as property, judiciary, and other aspects of governance we see very little use of technology to make the citizen's life better. And this is the Digital Divide.
G2C or citizen-centric e-Governance projects will be successful only when the masses start using them. This needs first the applications-with in built process changes to make things more efficient-and then they need access points for citizens. Bring down the cost of a computer to less than Ksh 10,000 and see its numbers rise as quickly as those of mobile subscribers. The Internet came to Kenya before the mobile phones. Then what has made mobile services beat Internet services in subscription numbers hands down? In January 2008, the subscriber base touched approximately 20 mn connections. It became a mass phenomenon in 3-4 years when the handsets became cheap and readily available, call rates crashed and because mobile phones were easy to use and had a high utility. Nobody had to push mobiles. They just happened because the conditions fell in place. Can these conditions be duplicated for computers?
Computerizing the government departments and making the incumbents use even e-mail is no mean task.
The G2B story is not a happy one either. By and large government processes with respect to industry are not computerized. Information about laws, rules and regulations, clearances are available on websites, which are often dated. Online applications and clearances are a rarity. And of course the processes are from the previous century. It is appreciated that making these things happen in the government sector is a complex job. But there is little evidence of a strong move towards making these applications happen.
Ultimately if the governance has to become better the government has to become more efficient. G2G makes its own contribution to the great Kenyan digital divide. Computerizing the government departments and making the incumbents use even e-mail is no mean task. But even basic steps like these can improve decision making and therefore the quality of service to the citizens.
E-Governance will happen when we get the above examples and much more going. That needs a massive overhaul of much of the government working. This can happen if there is a push from the top and a pull generated from the bottom. Ministers and secretaries have to insist on using computes themselves. And then they have to provide the computes, the communication infrastructure and the training to their departments.
We have come a long way from the time that the need for such initiatives was questioned. But we have also taken a long time over it. It would be a tragedy if the act-time is as long as the talk- time.
E-governance is the latest buzz word. There is a lot of excitement about it in the industry because of the Ksh. billions that is planned to be spent in this area. And with a mention in the latest finance budget, no one is left in any doubt of its importance to the country.
There are many ways to define e-Governance. All of them go beyond 'computerizing the government'-a term that is used often, but means little. A more general definition is-it is a way of empowering citizens by bringing in transparency in the system and reducing corruption. To me it means using information technology to provide better services to customers by the government sector organizations. I like this description because it puts the focus right where it should be-customers and services.
There is a lot of talk about the urban and rural digital divide. There is also another divide that is constantly widening. The corporate vs. non corporate one. In many areas such as private banks and telecom, we are seeing increased levels of customer service courtesy use of information technology. In many others such as property, judiciary, and other aspects of governance we see very little use of technology to make the citizen's life better. And this is the Digital Divide.
G2C or citizen-centric e-Governance projects will be successful only when the masses start using them. This needs first the applications-with in built process changes to make things more efficient-and then they need access points for citizens. Bring down the cost of a computer to less than Ksh 10,000 and see its numbers rise as quickly as those of mobile subscribers. The Internet came to Kenya before the mobile phones. Then what has made mobile services beat Internet services in subscription numbers hands down? In January 2008, the subscriber base touched approximately 20 mn connections. It became a mass phenomenon in 3-4 years when the handsets became cheap and readily available, call rates crashed and because mobile phones were easy to use and had a high utility. Nobody had to push mobiles. They just happened because the conditions fell in place. Can these conditions be duplicated for computers?
Computerizing the government departments and making the incumbents use even e-mail is no mean task.
The G2B story is not a happy one either. By and large government processes with respect to industry are not computerized. Information about laws, rules and regulations, clearances are available on websites, which are often dated. Online applications and clearances are a rarity. And of course the processes are from the previous century. It is appreciated that making these things happen in the government sector is a complex job. But there is little evidence of a strong move towards making these applications happen.
Ultimately if the governance has to become better the government has to become more efficient. G2G makes its own contribution to the great Kenyan digital divide. Computerizing the government departments and making the incumbents use even e-mail is no mean task. But even basic steps like these can improve decision making and therefore the quality of service to the citizens.
E-Governance will happen when we get the above examples and much more going. That needs a massive overhaul of much of the government working. This can happen if there is a push from the top and a pull generated from the bottom. Ministers and secretaries have to insist on using computes themselves. And then they have to provide the computes, the communication infrastructure and the training to their departments.
We have come a long way from the time that the need for such initiatives was questioned. But we have also taken a long time over it. It would be a tragedy if the act-time is as long as the talk- time.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Why Employees Hate HR
Human resource department – commonly known as the HR in every organisation – is the vital link that connects the employees to the management, and is supposedly the most powerful and the authoritative department in an organisation. They represent the management to the employees and vice versa.
But the truth is that - “The employees hate it and the management considers it to be useless”. Considered closest to the top management and the gateway to all their communications and the front face in implementation of all their decisions, the HR faces the brunt of the hatred of the employees.
In recent times, when the credibility of the HR is under scrutiny and ways and means of finding the return on investment are being calculated, the HR has found itself to be at the receiving end of the employee’s hatred and the ever-growing anti HR feelings inside the organisation.
Why employees hate HR…
Now the main question that arises is – Why do the employees hate HR?
We hereby attempt to find answer to this intricate question, existing right from the time when the concept of HR came into existence in organisations. Employees hate HR because:
• HR is the mouthpiece of all the organisational decisions, whether good or bad, fair or unfair.
• HR is responsible for implementing and monitoring the corporate rules and align all functions according to the policies. Therefore, often portrays the image of the policemen to the employees.
• The employees hate HR when they face the lack of responsiveness and
o Fail to get the solutions to their problems
o Fail to get assistance on time to their problems
o Don’t get a fair (less than expected) appraisal and on time
o Fail to separate the HR functions from the strategical functions of the organisation
o Fail to get timely information and communicate with the management or higher authorities because of the delay caused by the HR.
• Sometimes the HR in the organisation starts considering itself superior and important than other employees, demand respect from other and even treating them badly or as inferior beings. According to various researches, this has emerged as the topmost reason for why the employees hate HR. as the horns on the hr employees heads get bigger and bigger everyday, the greater gets the disliking for them.
• Many HR professionals in organisations are still following the same traditional and bureaucratic rituals in all its functions and approaches. And they fail to incorporate employee friendly outlook and practices.
• Many a times, it has been noticed that apart from the hiring and the other minuscule HR functions like attendance, the HR often fails to provide career development opportunities, employee engagement and other strategic functions of the HR.
• Most importantly, and last but not the least, when the organisation or the HR fails to fulfill the promises made by the HR to the employees.
The Truth:
“Everything that shines is not gold” or “Looks can be deceptive!” These phrases are best suited to the position of HR professionals in every organisation.
To explain it better with a situation: HR is responsible for the talent management and employee engagement in an organisation. Both of them are directly linked to the performance and compensation reviews, appraisals. Now, the employees get in touch only which with the respective HR people for any final notification of the decisions taken regarding the same. But the irony is that the appraisal decision has in fact been taken by the management and the other concerned officials like the project manager etc.
But as the decision is conveyed by the HR people, the first axe of hatred always falls on the HR, which in every case is the mouthpiece of the management. Now if the HR advocates the case for reviewing the appraisal of an employee with the management, all it gets is the bashing that they are on the employee’s side, and, have been hired by the organisation and not by the employees. They have no power to take decisions on their own. While balancing the interests of the employees and the organisation, they often become the whipping boy, who is always punished for the wrong doings of others.
The Fact:
The fact is that all the human resource professionals have to deal with humans, their emotions, different attitudes, different behaviours, different levels of understanding, different perceptions etc. And what the employees and the organisations forget is the fact that all human resource professionals are human themselves, having the entire gamut of all the above mentioned traits. And the HR professionals are basically striving had to keep both the employees and the organisation happy.
Converting Hate into Love
Turning the hatred of the employees in love or even the mutual and neutral feelings of understanding would require a great effort on the part of the HR to change the basic perception of employees which is commonly found to be against HR. None the less, the HR can take the following steps to ensure a healthy start:
• The HR should emphasize on the communication. The communication should be clear, timely and proper i.e. explaining the rationale behind the decisions and the actions taken. Bridge the gap with the employees through communication.
• Properly and fairly executing the HR processes like the appraisals and training and development etc.
• Don’t be biased in its decisions. The HR should not be biased towards the management or personal bias towards some of the employees.
• Focus on all the aspects and functions of HR equally.
• The HR should not take the undue advantage of their position and authority.
HR is one of the most important pillars of an organisation. But it will not be able to survive for long without the support of the employees. The HR needs to create an identity of its own away from being on the organisation’s or the employee’s side.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Employee Aspirations
Today, the HR fraternity is facing new challenges everyday, finding new solutions and undergoing significant changes. The modern HR has revolutionized the employer-employee relationship. The organisations and HR experts have realized that no organisation can be successful without the success of its employees. According to various HR experts and professionals, one of the prime reasons of present high attrition rates in all the sectors is the rising and unsatisfied aspirations of the employees.
Employee's Aspirations
As an individual, every employee has a will to succeed, has some goals and needs in every aspect of his life. The majority of today's
workforce is young, savvy, knowledgeable, mobile and ready to cove the extra mile for their careers. High on aspirations, goals and ambitions, they know what exactly they want. Employees have also become conscious and demanding than ever before. Employees look for an opportunity where they can apply and also hone their skills over the time, want to feel needed, important, and contributing to the organisation, a challenge and opportunities to prove their credibility; and go back home with a sense of accomplishment.
Facing the brunt of the high attrition rates and instability of the workforce, HR fraternity has been forced to look beyond the traditional ways and tools of motivating employees and performance management. The modern HR management is making an effort to identify and manage the aspirations of the employees, so that performers don't move on to the greener pastures (other companies) at the other side of the fence. Managing employee aspirations has emerged as the latest retention tool for the organisations.
Different people, different aspirations:
Basically, an employee's aspirations can range from career aspirations i.e. the responsibilities, authority and position, to the economic aspirations in terms of the money or the compensation involved. But, an important issue or point which cannot be neglected in this regard is aspirations differ from person to person. Different people have different perspectives and different aspirations.
Today employees want to move up the ladder of success very fast. But where some people long for the vertical growth, some strive for the lateral growth. For example, an assistant manager can have entrepreneurial aspirations and might aspire to become the VP or head the department, whereas an employee engaged in some technical job might want to achieve mastery in his skill or craft.
The worst effected are the employees at the junior level, where the employee aspiration levels are at all-time high but the jobs have rather very low scope of growth.
Taking care of employee aspirations:
No employee wants to limit his/her growth and learning. Employee dissatisfaction leads to poor performance, low productivity and eventually high attrition rates. Therefore, the organisation should take care of the employee's aspirations to retain employees and making them with the organisation. People leave an organisation when there is a disparity between the employee's desired career path and the path provided by the organisation. There needs to be a match and alignment between them.
Complications involved:
"Employee aspirations and organisation" is a sensitive and complicated issue, and definitely not without the frills. One of the most practical problems faced by the organisation is the fact that many-a-times the employee aspirations fluctuate or increase at the most opportune or suitable time. Technically speaking, understanding employee aspirations is not an easy task. Employee satisfaction, employee engagement, employee expectations and employee aspirations are all inter-related. Therefore, it would be appropriate to say that this issue carries an excess baggage.
Solutions:
An organisation can take care of its employee's aspirations in various ways, and by doing so it tells it employees that it cares for them and is committed to their growth and welfare. A company can go a long way in understanding their aspirations, needs and requirements, and provide them opportunities within the organisation to grow. In organizational terms, it is known as "Aspiration Management".
It can provide the employees responsibility coupled with authority and accountability, transparent system and procedures, various resources and facilities, accommodating and motivating work culture etc. Most importantly, the organization should align the aspirations to its overall goals via their responsibilities.
The organisations need to identify the stabilizing factor of its employees. Identifying employee's core competencies and making them do what they actually want to and enjoy doing. The organisation can give the employees opportunities of growth in their same job through keeping them abreast with the developments and trainings on their latest technologies and methods. Job rotation can also help to cater to the issue.
Infact, the organisation can actually make the employee aware of his own aspirations and help them to shape their aspiration and walk on the right path and accomplish them.
Conclusion:
Employee aspirations can take them places and can is creating severe problems for the organisations. Therefore, organisations have the challenge of conjoining its goals with the employee aspirations, in order to successfully overcome the problems of high attritions and attracting and retaining the best performers.
Employee's Aspirations
As an individual, every employee has a will to succeed, has some goals and needs in every aspect of his life. The majority of today's
workforce is young, savvy, knowledgeable, mobile and ready to cove the extra mile for their careers. High on aspirations, goals and ambitions, they know what exactly they want. Employees have also become conscious and demanding than ever before. Employees look for an opportunity where they can apply and also hone their skills over the time, want to feel needed, important, and contributing to the organisation, a challenge and opportunities to prove their credibility; and go back home with a sense of accomplishment.
Facing the brunt of the high attrition rates and instability of the workforce, HR fraternity has been forced to look beyond the traditional ways and tools of motivating employees and performance management. The modern HR management is making an effort to identify and manage the aspirations of the employees, so that performers don't move on to the greener pastures (other companies) at the other side of the fence. Managing employee aspirations has emerged as the latest retention tool for the organisations.
Different people, different aspirations:
Basically, an employee's aspirations can range from career aspirations i.e. the responsibilities, authority and position, to the economic aspirations in terms of the money or the compensation involved. But, an important issue or point which cannot be neglected in this regard is aspirations differ from person to person. Different people have different perspectives and different aspirations.
Today employees want to move up the ladder of success very fast. But where some people long for the vertical growth, some strive for the lateral growth. For example, an assistant manager can have entrepreneurial aspirations and might aspire to become the VP or head the department, whereas an employee engaged in some technical job might want to achieve mastery in his skill or craft.
The worst effected are the employees at the junior level, where the employee aspiration levels are at all-time high but the jobs have rather very low scope of growth.
Taking care of employee aspirations:
No employee wants to limit his/her growth and learning. Employee dissatisfaction leads to poor performance, low productivity and eventually high attrition rates. Therefore, the organisation should take care of the employee's aspirations to retain employees and making them with the organisation. People leave an organisation when there is a disparity between the employee's desired career path and the path provided by the organisation. There needs to be a match and alignment between them.
Complications involved:
"Employee aspirations and organisation" is a sensitive and complicated issue, and definitely not without the frills. One of the most practical problems faced by the organisation is the fact that many-a-times the employee aspirations fluctuate or increase at the most opportune or suitable time. Technically speaking, understanding employee aspirations is not an easy task. Employee satisfaction, employee engagement, employee expectations and employee aspirations are all inter-related. Therefore, it would be appropriate to say that this issue carries an excess baggage.
Solutions:
An organisation can take care of its employee's aspirations in various ways, and by doing so it tells it employees that it cares for them and is committed to their growth and welfare. A company can go a long way in understanding their aspirations, needs and requirements, and provide them opportunities within the organisation to grow. In organizational terms, it is known as "Aspiration Management".
It can provide the employees responsibility coupled with authority and accountability, transparent system and procedures, various resources and facilities, accommodating and motivating work culture etc. Most importantly, the organization should align the aspirations to its overall goals via their responsibilities.
The organisations need to identify the stabilizing factor of its employees. Identifying employee's core competencies and making them do what they actually want to and enjoy doing. The organisation can give the employees opportunities of growth in their same job through keeping them abreast with the developments and trainings on their latest technologies and methods. Job rotation can also help to cater to the issue.
Infact, the organisation can actually make the employee aware of his own aspirations and help them to shape their aspiration and walk on the right path and accomplish them.
Conclusion:
Employee aspirations can take them places and can is creating severe problems for the organisations. Therefore, organisations have the challenge of conjoining its goals with the employee aspirations, in order to successfully overcome the problems of high attritions and attracting and retaining the best performers.
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