The Hindu Business Line : ‘Indian companies can emerge as employers of choice’

Indian companies have the opportunity to emerge as employers of choice since a number of companies are just setting up shop and hence do not have to contend with the baggage of the past.

According to Nina E. Woodard, Director, Business Development, Strategic Human Resource Management India Pvt Ltd (SHRM India), many companies in the BPO and IT space that are commencing operations are in a better position to manage HR issues such as re tention, than their older counterparts. Many of the older companies, on the other hand, would have to update their people policies to address current employee concerns, she says.

Entrepreneurs who are setting up organisations today can take from the most updated employee policies. Issues such as employee remuneration and leave policies can be drawn up in keeping with the expectations and realities of the prevailing corporate environment.

SHRM India, based in Mumbai, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), US. It shares the mission of its parent association, namely to support the professional and advance human resource management in India.

Information flow

According to Woodard, today, people-policies should ensure that information on the business filters down to every employee. This gives the employee a sense of being involved in the functioning of the company.

Talking about the emergence of HR as a key department in organisations, she said unlike in the past, HR today has a key role to play in determining issues such as employee retention, talent management and leadership development.

According to her, the jobs market in India held out attractive opportunities for NRIs keen to re-establish roots in India and reconnect with friends and family. However, their relocation process would necessarily involve an acclimatisation period.

“Though India has evolved in many ways, in many other ways it is exactly the way it was,” she says. HR departments are well placed to advise employees relocating in a new city.

The HR function is also crucial to the smooth integration of companies involved in an M&A. This aspect has become important as the Indian economy integrates with the world economy. “As companies seek acquisition partners, strategic HR initiatives would become more relevant,” she says.

Queried on the level of interaction between HR and employees, she says this depended to a large extent on the kind of employee-HR relationship existing in organisations. She adds that such interactions were also determined to some extent by the social conditioning of different groups of people. Indians valued relationships more than Western societies, and there was a natural tendency on both sides to seek and offer help. On the other hand, people in the West had individualistic tendencies. In the latter scenario, people were generally more hesitant to seek help from others and at the same time did not offer to help either.

She points out that companies should think beyond cost considerations while planning a move to India. “Companies should value the ‘value’ India brings to the table,” she says.

However, India would continue to hold a cost advantage over other countries for another 20 years, she added.

Sounding a note of caution for Indian companies, she says the country should not lose sight of its Indian-ness. “That is what has sustained India – the peacefulness of its people, its long history of man,” says Woodard.

More Stories on : Management | Human Resources

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Counter-intuitive ideas for the new manager

Selecting the right leader

‘Indian companies can emerge as employers of choice’

The need to manage expectations

‘Good leaders build motivated teams’

Understanding the Indian CEO

Future is what commitment collides with