How Would You Tackle HR Challenges in Interviews? Seeking Insights on Key Questions

Hi All,

I recently went for an interview at a company that is supposed to be one of the top 15 companies in the Hewitt survey for the best employer of the year. During the interview, there were a few questions asked for which I need to know the most suitable answers.

1. If HR activities (policies, rewards, recognition, and other motivation activities) are not taken seriously by the other departments, how will you ensure that they are taken seriously? How will you ensure that employees also feel that these activities and rewards are important?

2. What are the present-day HR strategies being followed by organizations?

3. What points or views would you consider for any HR policy to be changed or revised if employees are against it?

I would appreciate your feedback on these questions. I am eager to learn the answers or different perspectives on these topics.

Regards,
Meenakshi

1.If HR activities(policies/rewards/recognition/other motivation activities) are not taken seriously by the other departments,how will you ensure that they are taken up seriously.How will you ensure that employees also feel that these activities/rewards were important.

Answer: HR policies are the reflection of Organization culture. This culture cannot be made by one night. It needs constant effort and commitment by HR people with the support of top management.

If any department/s or cross section of employee/s are wary on HR policies / rewards programme etc. try to find out the root cause analysis of the same. A good machinery is employee survey by outside professionals NOT the HR employees. Categorise the major concern areas and make action plan.

Bring a culture of open communication meeting after a regular interval where management would share their vision and communicate business target and expectations from employee. Employees should also been given opportunity to share their problem in that open forum.

In my opinion this is not the employees but the HODs of different departments/ functions egg on the matter. So HR should take along with all functional head befor implementing any policies.

2.What are present day HR strategies been followed by organizations?

Answer: This is a very broad question. The question should have been specific because every organization has different strategies commensurate to its business goals and objective.

However, today's HR practices are developing objective based employee performance culture. All employees should be accountable for their specific responsibilities and their goals with quantitive an objectives which is linked to organizational performance. That's why the ‘Policy deployment' issue has come up and become the buzzword of the high performance industry.

3.What will be the points/views you will accept for any HR policy to be changed/revised,if employees are against any HR policy.

Answer: Please read on the 2nd para of answer no. 1.

Any different opinion is welcome.

Regards,

Hi Pradip,
Thanks for your opinion.
Even i replied on similar lines,but the person insisted that they already have a open forum where discussions happen and employees can sort out their grievances.But as they want to be number one employer in coming year.How they can make this process more exciting and more open.
He believed that such things if incorporated for long could become monotonous.
Regards

If HR activities (policies/rewards/recognition/other motivation activities) are not taken seriously by the other departments, how will you ensure that they are taken up seriously? How will you ensure that employees also feel that these activities/rewards are important?

I think any person appointed as Line managers should value policies/rewards/recognition/other motivation activities. If not, there has to be a reason for that too. There has to be an open forum where the Line managers of different departments should meet and discuss things out. Once you have the reasons, then you can actually act upon those items.

Somehow, I also see that recruitment should be one of the best and should take care of these kinds of things such as what the individual's expectations are and what kind of background they are from. Many people leave the organization because there are no rewards and recognition, work environment, and so many other things. If you understand the reason for the change of that employee, it will clarify this step of the employee being aware of the benefits of rewards and other things. This concludes that the organization should implement good recruitment practices.

Proper workshops should be conducted where employees understand their roles and responsibilities and how their targets are aligned with the business goals. Make them feel that they are the CEOs of the organization and how they can take the organization further, what they can do to make their employees happy and more productive.