Seeking Insights: What Are the Most Innovative HR Practices Worldwide Right Now?

Dear All, I have been assigned a task by my MD to prepare and present to the board the latest and most innovative HR practices being followed at the moment. The goal is to introduce some new, effective HR practices in our organization. While I have some ideas, I would appreciate it if the seniors could provide me with inputs and insights into the latest HR practices being followed worldwide, including in India.

Warm Regards,
Gaurang Shah

Today, every company is making efforts in employee engagement and welfare. Try to introduce such activities. In my previous company, we had introduced an employee counseling program to help them in their personal and professional lives.

Regards,
Mustufa

Also, companies are improving their appraisal systems by introducing new techniques like 360-degree appraisal and Management by Objectives.

Companies are also standardizing their recruitment processes to attract the best talent by incorporating aptitude tests, etc.

Regards,
Mustufa

Conducting an Employee Satisfaction Survey

A survey for employee satisfaction can be conducted throughout the organization. The feedback given by the employees may help improve the process and introduce new practices.

Thanks

Employee Recognition: Spot Awards, Annual Achievement Awards, Outstanding Performance Award, Best Employee Award, etc. A scanned copy of the letter of appreciation along with their photos should be displayed on the notice board. The letter should highlight their achievements, i.e., how different are they from others? On what grounds were they nominated? How could they serve as role models for other employees?

Together WE - In-house Magazine: Once a quarter, these magazines provide a snapshot of what is happening in the company, including sharing company growth, management objectives, customer satisfaction, a list of new customer sign-ups, sales reviews, customer delivery and feedback, partnership details, upcoming projects, etc. The company also prints contributions from employees such as motivational stories, paintings, poetry, riddles, jokes, technology-related articles, safety and health-related presentations, nature photographs taken by employees, etc.

Reach US: It's an online forum available on the intranet site of the company where employees can post their issues related to work, work environment, HR policies, training needs, etc. Once a month, the HR head along with their executives will have an open meeting with the employees (without mentioning the name of the employee) to resolve issues then and there.

Quality Session Meeting: Department-wise team meetings will be conducted by HR where each employee comes up with new ideas and concepts to improve the quality of work, how to deliver on time, how to reach out for customer satisfaction, technology growth, the significance of teamwork, knowledge on advanced technologies, etc. At the end of the meeting, the department head nominates an employee and gifts them a prize for their innovation and creativity.

Chat: Internal chat will be provided for employees – an easy way to communicate.

An Idea: It's an online forum on the intranet where employees can share their ideas and views on celebrating the annual day function, kick-off party, festivals, get-together day, birthdays, etc. For every best and unique idea, there will be a surprising gift (movie tickets, team outing, team lunch, chocolates, an official day off, etc.).

We Care: HR should conduct a free health check-up for all employees once a year and should also invite doctors/psychiatrists for seminars on various topics chosen by employees via poll. Blood donation camps can also be arranged as part of social service.

Quote for the Day: This is done department-wise. Any one employee from each department should write a quote on their whiteboard. HR should decide the best quote for the day. The department that gets the highest points for the month would be offered a gift. The gift is again based on the number of points they accumulate (hats, shirts, coffee mugs, etc. with the company logo).

Thank you, everyone, for your inputs. These are great additions to my presentation. However, I am also looking at innovations in HR that have been brought to India from abroad. I am talking about HR processes that are not part of the normal or traditional HR practice. I hope to receive inputs along these lines too.

Regards,
Gaurang

You can even try to include flexi-time and flexible schedules, which offer employees the flexibility to work anytime in a 24/7 environment. Consider options like a compressed workweek, home working or telecommuting, work-life balance initiatives, and social responsibility acts that engage your employees too.

You may also suggest an ERP system to create a paperless working environment and to make procedures easy for the employees.

Regards,
Salahudheen

Dear Gaurang,

I am in agreement with the thought of Mr. Bhargava. In fact, when you referred to "the latest practices in HR," what was/is in your mind? Here, I would like to make a few points:

1. The expectation from any HR Manager, inter alia, is to:
- Recruit the right person for the right job.
- Induct them with proper training.
- Assess and evaluate their performance and provide timely feedback for motivation and improvement.
- Impart required training.
- Facilitate career progression and finally to optimally utilize the available manpower resources in achieving the organization's business goals.

We need to retain talents. How do we do it? By making them feel comfortable always or motivating them by providing adequate resources/facilities? All the HR practices, in my view, inter alia, are aimed at achieving these objectives.

Questions to Consider for Latest HR Practices

When we look for the latest HR practices, we should try to answer the following few questions which refer to the very basic HR practices, and we can see how many "Yes" and "No" answers we are getting.

Positive Practices

- How do you ensure that we selected the right candidate with a half-hour to one-hour interviewing process?
- Do you have a well-defined recruitment process in place?
- Do you have an HR budget, including Welfare?
- Are you concerned about all the candidates who appeared for the interview?
- Did you respond to all the candidates who appeared for the interview by sending a Thank you/Regret letter?
- Do you have a system of reimbursing to and fro fare to outstation candidates and their boarding and lodging arrangements?
- When a new person comes for joining, do you take care of their stay arrangements (free) for a few days?
- Do you provide a mobile phone with an activated SIM to your new employees?
- Do you provide a comfortable workplace with facilities to new employees?
- Do you provide free pick-up and drop or reimbursement of conveyance?
- Do you try to make them feel comfortable/feel at home?
- Do you provide free coffee/tea at the office?
- Do you have a canteen with a subsidized lunch facility?
- Do you provide free evening snacks?
- Do you have an information-sharing system (whiteboards with markers at the entrance of all floors)?
- Do you have indoor games facilities at the office (TT, Caroms, Chess, etc.)?
- Do you have an external games facility at the premises (Volleyball, Badminton, etc.)?
- Do you have a Gym?
- Have you provided a medical room with the facility of a consulting physician/specialist?
- Do you maintain a ratio of male-female employees?
- Do you have a flexi-timing system in your organization?
- Do you have a system of visiting employees' families periodically?
- Do you ensure the work-life balance of your people?
- Do you organize stress removal programs?
- Do you have a SPOC/Buddies system?
- Do you have a one-on-one system?
- Do you have an Employee Communication Forum?
- Do you have a self-rating system?
- Do you provide feedback to your employees?
- Do you have a six-monthly appraisal and reward system?
- Do you have an employee recognition system?
- Do you credit your employees' salary on the last working day of the month or before?
- Do you celebrate the birthday/anniversary of employees with their family?
- Do you allow people to leave without serving notice?
- Do you allow family members/children to visit the workplace of your employees?
- Do you have facilities for the children to play around in the office premises?
- Do you have an ESat Survey system?
- Do you take your employees for outings?
- Do you allow your line managers/team managers to take out their team for dinner/lunch periodically?
- Do you celebrate the annual day or organize parties periodically?
- Do you have an ENWSWS (Employees' Non-working Spouse's Welfare Scheme)?
- Do you organize health awareness camps?
- Do you organize blood donation camps?
- Do you organize donations to orphanages?

Negative Practices

- Do you follow a dress code?
- Do you have an overlapping sitting system?
- Do you have regular extended working hours?
- Do you ask people to leave with 'no notice' for no genuine reason?
- Do you come under pressure from the management to check out any disliking person (irrespective of the fact that they are a good performer)?
- Do you have trust in your people?
- Do you have any Service Agreement/Bond system?
- Do you take any undertakings/blank cheques towards security at the time of joining?
- Do you indulge in litigation against the employees who left without notice?

I know organizations that provide a free work environment to their employees with a lot of facilities. Very well aware of the attitude of "Y-generation." Ultimately, the objective of good HR practices is to motivate and retain its employees for the benefit of the organization. Whatever employee engagement activities we chalk out involve monetary requirements. If you are working for a professionally managed organization, you may get the required budget/fund. However, things will be different if it is being managed by the owner himself, but his expectations from HR will be high. How to tackle this situation will be a challenge to the HR Manager, and they may probably look for new HR practices with less monetary involvement.

All the best,

Regards

There is no ideal HR practice in the world. HR practice is not a pure science to apply universally. What is suitable for one organization may not be suitable for another, as human needs and tastes differ from person to person, region to region, and country to country. However, there are some common HR practices worldwide that must be implemented initially, and later, HR practices can be modified as needed. This is what is done in every organization globally.

Regards,
R. Chandrasekaran.

Dear HR Colleagues,

Thank you very much for your valuable inputs and responses. I truly appreciate your help. I am particularly thankful to Mr. KS Gopal for the insights provided in terms of the positive and negative aspects of HR. I am sure these will come in handy in a significant way for my presentation.

Latest Inventions in HR

Now, I would like to ask another question. Can you please share with me the latest inventions in HR? This is just for my personal learning and has nothing to do with my presentation or implementation in my organization.

Regards,
Gaurang Shah

Dear Gaurang,

Understanding Generation Y in the Workplace

You might have heard about "Generation Y" (Gen-Y refers to the population group in the US born from around 1976 to around 2000). Experts say that although the Gen Y population emerged in the US first, its characteristics have extended to other countries as well. Gen-Y individuals look for freedom and empowerment. Their approach is "I want to see the world right now." They believe in results, not hierarchy, and in quality, not quantity. They also value flexible timings and do not believe in any policies or procedures that restrict their freedom. They prefer a "give it when asked for" approach to mentoring. While questioning cannot be tolerated, they remain loyal to their work and produce the desired results within the allocated time.

Gen-Y believes in "what is committed is fair," questions "why variable pay," and is more interested in take-home pay and receiving their salary in the shortest possible time. Recognition and appreciation are highly valued. They prefer communication through platforms like Facebook and Google rather than email. In the current context, the majority of people employed in any organization may be considered part of the Gen Y population. Previously, a three-year period was considered a good time to shift for career advancement, but Gen Y individuals believe in moving even within one year or so.

Challenges for HR Managers

HR Managers must be facing many challenges in coping with their demands and satisfying them to retain talent. Keeping the latest trends in mind, a few organizations have started concentrating more on Employee Engagement activities. This helps in motivating people and maintaining a high level of interest in the organization. You may also try.

All the best,

Regards

As you have mentioned, the employees will never be satisfied. If we give a cycle, they demand a scooter. If we give a scooter, they demand a bike. If we give a bike, then they demand a car. If we give a car, then they will demand a plane, etc. This means that expectations are always higher than the present condition.

A Good HR Practice: Employer's Reward System (ERS)

ERS means that at the end of the month, the employer/HR can reward the employee in different ways. It may be through:

- Best Employee of the Month
- OTET - On Time Every Time Award
- Best Department of the Month
- Best Achiever of the Month
- Most Stable Employee of the Month
- Best Team of the Month
- Best Team Leader of the Month, etc.

By implementing the above ways, we can motivate the employees to perform at a high level. However, for all the above, different criteria must be established, and there should be no discrimination. Every month, each employee should aim to be on any of the lists mentioned above. This approach may contribute to the overall organizational development.

Regards,
Viral Shah
(HR Executive)

Interesting... Try to get a copy of the book "Employees First and Customers Second" by Vineet Nayar. "Put employees first, and customers will follow..." is one of the daring and successful management experiments in this century.