Building a better workplace

As an organization we all focus on our products and business. But apart from being known for its business it is very important for every organization to be recognized as a people-oriented company. We must remember that products cease to have an existence without people to create, market and support them.



Each organization should be respected for its intrinsic belief in people. Understanding employees and knowing their satisfaction levels is very important for the sustainability of the company. Conducting employee satisfaction surveys is one of the most common and popular methods of understanding the pulse of the organization.



Studies show that organizations make improvements upto 10 percent annually in overall employee satisfaction scores, provided that persistent efforts are made to improve HR systems and culture. While 100 percent employee satisfaction scores may be unheard of in the Indian industry, organizations who have consistently worked on improving their HR systems and culture could have satisfaction scores ranging from 60 percent to 80 percent.



However, if the organization does not communicate the results of a survey or does not act on the key concerns of employees, subsequent surveys often show lower scores. Thus, measurement or diagnosis is only the first step. It must be followed up with significant efforts to address the key areas of concern indicated by the survey, to build a better workplace.

Engage Your Employees

There are typically three types of employees in every company. The ‘Engaged employees’ who are completely committed to the role that they perform and deliver superior results. The ‘not engaged’ employees who do pretty much what they are supposed to do (nothing more or less) but are susceptible to overtures from competition. The third band, the ‘actively disengaged’, is employees who have completely lost their link from the job they are supposed to perform in the company.



As you read this, think about which of these three groups do you fall under? Think of your colleagues. Almost certainly you will be able to categorize all the people that you work with into one of these three groups.



Companies have attempted to work on this issue for a long time now. They have relied on employee satisfaction surveys to provide them inputs about what needs to be done to create employee engagement. It is an ‘emotional economy’ and at the heart of this emotional economy is the ‘manager’, the leader of a team. The manager makes or breaks the journey that the company makes on the road to emotional engagement. Great managers do four key things-

> Select for Talent. Great managers are very careful about their choice of team-members and make sure that there is a clear talent-role match.

> Set clear expectations. Great managers define outcomes and let each employee find their own way to achieving these outcomes.

> Motivate people based on their strengths

> Develop people based on their fit, instead of simply moving them up the hierarchy.


And all this works, and works dramatically. Emotionally engaged teams are more productive, more loyal to the company, create higher levels of profitability, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. In other words, it’s about business success, not just about creating a great place to work.

(The author - Sudhir Dhar is Head - Human Resources, Motilal Oswal Financial Services)

HR for Non HR Managers

We all might have noticed that most Managers in any organization get to leadership role because they have proven their excellence as individual contributors in their areas of operations and specializations. But same time not many of them have had any formal or structured orientation to managing people, even some may have not attended any management program informally. As we all know still it is people in the organization who build organizations, achieve results, strategize for growth and bring about change.

It is well know thing “ people leave their boss not company” thus it is important for all line managers to have that capability of understand their people better. An employee walk to office every day with an initiation that he is going to work for that day, now it depends on the boss is he able makes sure that employee contributes to the organization goal. It has been seen that employee will perform best when they are in their best of “Mood”.

New to management or a seasoned professional, is how they can manage mood of their employees so that their performances can increases continuously assuming that they has required KSA for the assigned role.

Mostly, we all as managers view the employee as economic employee who works for money or salary, I feel all managers should treat the employee as human being having economic, social and psychological needs. Thus, human resource management in not only the responsibility of the HR department it is responsibility of all reporting manger.
-Sudhir Dhar, Sr VP - HR, Motilal Oswal Financial Services