A sinecures job!

A few days ago a PYT wandered into my cabin & did not waste too much of time, prior to arriving at the reason for her visit.'Could I help her find a nice job?'.Since the question, had too many unknown quantities like, 'help', 'nice' and so on and more importantly since the business end of placements are far removed from my current job description, I was a tad reluctant.

However, since a request was made I agreed to hear her out and in doing so, got to know that she preferred a IT organization.The quintessential curios Joe, that I'am, I asked her why, to which she replied with a why not! The money was good, the work was 'white collared', you get to sit in an air conditioned office & attend 'Thank God it's Friday' parties, on ( you guessed right ) Fridays. More importantly you got to hob nob with other youngsters, who could talk intelligently on issues ranging from the Beatles to Bee Gees to Lady Gaga!Most important she said, the culture was good, meaning laid back, with no dress codes, your boss could be addressed by his/her first name & the work was light.................

I was nonplussed and rendered speechless amidst working out who Lady Gaga is/was & her rather simplistic logic about workplace practice in an IT outfit.My question- if everybody is laid back & attending parties, then who get the work done? Who does the dirty work that keeps us afloat? Who gets their hands greased, while we have the unqualified luxury of a white collar? She dismissed these rather, inconvenient question, with a shrug of her shapely shoulders and a steely glint in her eyes.................

Amidst the brilliant strengths that the young have today, a definite, drawback, is a sense of entitlement that many of them seems to have! A sense that, their life should be one of fun, ease & comfort without effort! You would only have to look around you to realize that, everything ( and I mean everything ) comes with a price tag & it would be prudent to check out the price before you decide on a course of action.I think it is moral depravity to expect to live off anther's sweat!

It is not about 'us' all the time.............

I remember a few line from a song from the Beatles, which seem to run as follows:

It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright......

You know I work all day to get you money to buy you things
And it's worth it just to hear you say you're gonna give me everything
So why on earth should I moan, 'cause when I get you alone
You know I feel okay
When I'm home everything seems to be right
When I'm home feeling you holding me tight,tight,yeah
It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

If your thoughts are different, then please do let me know!

Morale!

I've said it earlier & will say it again. Losing a job is akin to death in India & must be dealt with sensitively by HR. Layoffs are the order of the day & a fact of corporate life. No organization worth its salt is going to tolerate poor competence & sloth and will get rid of employees who do not contribute, particularly in recessionary times. However, the process requires a great deal of empathy and tact.

More than anything it requires the 'Human Touch'.

Here are afew tips:

1. Be transparent. The first thing you need to do is to be more open with your employees. Start by exposing your employees to all of your major business and financial metrics, because laying everything out on the table builds employee trust. Not only will exposing employees to this information give them some warning about downturns, but it might also spur them to come up with some approaches to solve your business problems.

2. Over-communicate. Not knowing what’s happening always breeds fear.The best approach to minimize fear and speculation is to over-communicate—saturating people with information. Keep rumour mongers at bay. They can destroy morale.

3. Focus your retention efforts. Generally, rather than low morale, the biggest negative business impact comes from increased turnover. The best retention approach begins by identifying and prioritizing the most critical segments of your employee population that are at risk of leaving (i.e., top performers and individuals in revenue-producing and mission-critical positions).

4. Educate them about the consequences. Educate your current employees so that they realize that losing a job isn’t the end of the world. Start by letting all employees know what help they will receive from the firm if they are laid off. In addition, if a significant percentage of your previously laid-off employees have successfully found jobs, make your employees aware of it.

5. When I've laid off people, I take the responsibility of informing the concerned person that it was a decision that was made by me & why it was made. I also offer to help the person find another job if he/she allows me to.I also insist that the persons department head and HR are around. The occasion is a serious one and is not to be dealt with flippantly.


It’s important to realize that having no layoffs can actually backfire, because it can cause employees to develop the expectation of permanent job security getting them to rest their oars and drift. This isn’t a good result, because a reasonable fear of business downturns actually tends to keep your employees from becoming complacent.

Interviews & Romance!

Yesterday amidst my HR class, a lively discussion on interviews ensued. I was stressing on the importance of impressing the interviewer on one hand and the ills of impression management on the other.

One can impress an interviewer in many ways, paramount amongst them being ability to cozy up to the interviewer, for the duration of the interview. In this age of hyperbole, people who do not play the game, will lose out and while you do not have to overdo the act of being agreeable during an interview you may be always be pleasant.

I liken an interview to a romance before marriage. Prior to marriage most couples are at their very best, in terms of behavior, dress and are generally exceedingly accommodating. It is post marriage that you get to see the warts and all, but then it is a little late in the day to repent. Job interviews are similar. The candidate is all sugar & honey and very agreeable at the interview. An interviewer who is ill prepared, generally misses vital clues to a potential candidate’s personality or attitude and could rue the selection later. It is quite easy to teach a person a new skill, but to alter his/ her attitude can be a herculean task.

Always listen carefully to the candidate. You can often pick up a word or a phrase in an answer which you can play back to the interviewee. This is one of the ways by which you can get something much more interesting or honest than expected. Interviews are not scripted questions and answers, they are serious professional conversations and hence you need to concentrate.

Getting rid of an unwanted employee can be a traumatic experience to all concerned so it is a good idea to get the right people on board in the first place and retain them. It is always judicious to prepare and research in advance. Whatever questions you wish to ask the respective candidate you must have substantial knowledge on that subject. You don’t need to prepare a list of questions but you must be sure of all that you want to cover in the interview session.

It is also good to remember that smart folk take charge of an interview and have you as an interviewer eating out of their hand. Be polite & firm, regarding the direction that you want an interview to take and do not waffle.

Divorces at home or at work are messy and needless. Much of the misery can be avoided if you interview well and get yourself up to speed in judging people.