The Hindu Business Line : Falling short on HR

Smart corporates should be willing to invest in training programmes, but unfortunately, in many companies, the HR function is not very well defined.

I have been good at work, honest and hardworking, yet I am not recognised by my company."

This is a typical statement of an executive going through a mid-career crisis, says Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty. "There is a sense of meaninglessness among them, resulting in a value crisis," says Shetty whose patients include many such professionals.

As employees spend a considerable amount of time at the work place, stimulation and motivation in any form go a long way in helping them get rid of the feeling of low self-esteem. A mid-career crisis could result in not merely a feeling of low-self esteem as an employee but also as an individual," says Shetty. This feeling would probably become worse if accompanied by uncertainty about the future.

Constant training at the workplace helps employees fight back listlessness, the feeling of low-self esteem and cynicism. According to Jeff Taylor, Founder and Chairman, Monster, a job seeker's role is to earn, learn and yearn, while the employer's role is to obtain, train and retain.

At a time when tenures of employees, especially those at senior levels, are shortening, companies have not only to recruit smartly but work towards retaining talent.

Training, therefore, has become an integral part of corporate culture. Companies could go out of business if they do not know how to recruit and retain people, warns Taylor.

For an FMCG company like Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), training is a continuous process and not merely an intervention at a mid-career level. "Training is an integral part of performance development," says Prem Kamath, Head — Management Resources, HLL. The FMCG giant has two management training centres in India — Mumbai and Bangalore — and yet another centre for officer level in Navi Mumbai.

For workmen and staff located at the various factories and regional sales offices of HLL, there are dedicated training centres run by these Units themselves.

"We draw up our calendar for training courses each year starting in July and running until June next year," says Tejas Katre, Corporate Learning Manager, HLL.

On offer are three kinds of courses. The general awareness course relates to various aspects of the company's operations, an overview of the challenges, a cross-functional perspective and a module on values of the company.

The second set of courses provides the employees with a behavioural template to develop the requisite competencies for growth; these include programmes on leadership, team building and problem solving. The third set of courses are skill based wherein the skill template for different functions — Sales & Marketing, Finance, Technical, HR, among others - are defined and specific courses are run to enhance the skill level in these functions.

"Our training programmes are designed to bring in the requisite focus that enhances training on-the-job. Interspersed with creativity workshops, management games and experiential workshops, our training effort seeks to provide a kind of `booster dose' to our employees so as to enhance their performance and potential for career growth," says Kamath.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, in its modern avatar, has placed importance on retaining its talented employees. Two years ago it set up a parallel board of directors known as the Young Executive Board. The board, with members of the managerial cadre, all below the age of 30, works in the shadow of the main board.

Shoppers' Stop, a retailing company, has tied up with Professor Douglas Tigert, a well-known theoretician in the field of retail marketing. "For a retailing company, training is an absolute necessity," says Sanjay Badhe, Director, Operations, at Shoppers' Stop. "We do a fair amount of training across all employee categories, and we have different kinds of training," he adds. According to him, because of the competitiveness of the industry, training is a constant process at the company.

Shoppers' Stop, a member of International Group of Department Stores (IGDS), will be involved in the fifth IGDS Executive Seminar in Mumbai. Participants will include 40 managers from across functions in `in key decision making areas'. By analysing actual business situations, the course emphasises ways to implement strategy-level decisions through competitive assessment; financial and productivity analysis; assortment planning; merchandising management; and the creation of an effective corporate culture," says Vijay Kashyap, General Manager — HR, Shoppers' Stop.

A smart corporate should be willing to make that investment in training. But the reality is different, says Shetty. Companies very often lie to their employees about future projections. Employees' morale can really take a hit when these projections fail to materialise. Barring a few companies, the Human Resources function is not well-defined across several companies, says Shetty. The role of HRD in India continues to be very dismal. Very often it lacks innovation, versatility and humanness," he adds.

Training, particularly at the mid-career level, becomes critical for executives across industries both in the old economy as well as the volatile new economy sector, though, in the latter, the natural volatility of the sector keeps throwing up challenges. An executive at Orange says the evolving nature of his industry had provided him with the impetus to continue in his job.

Says Nikhil Vora, Senior Vice President — Research, ASK Raymond James, "There are significant barriers to the development of a better lifelong learning system if we leave everything up to firms and individuals." He finds that smaller firms often lack the internal organisational resources needed to develop good training programs. For employers, there is considerable uncertainty attached to investment in the skills of employees because workers who are trained can be `poached' by other firms.

For the employee faced with the looming fear of the future, Shetty's suggestion is to "look at the possibility of moving up and down the ladder and moving horizontally within the organisation as well as outside. The company, on the other hand, should resort to a reality based assessment of itself and not project a false image to its employees. Besides, HR managers should not be appendages of the management".

Picture by G. R. N. Somashekar

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