The human side of downsizing ?

A lay off of any employee is usually a result of economic stresses, a company’s change of direction and cost cutting. Lay off is a dirty business, but necessary for a company to survive and compete successfully.

Jobs lasting a lifetime no longer exist. Today an employee lay off isn’t a black mark on a employee’s record, but an unpleasant experience. By definition, an employee isn’t at fault when you lay him off. His performance and behaviour have been good. Unfortunately he’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It is here that the Human Resources professionals will have to step in and help the company manage this change. Sure this situation is going to whip up a lot of people emotions in the company at all levels. The realisation is that for a company to move ahead, its employees need to move in tandem. Everything comes to a naught if the employees don’t care about where the company is going.

“The essence of effective people management is managing emotions,” James K. Clifton, chairman and CEO of the Gallup Organization, told the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation at its Thought Leaders retreat in 2002.

Another author Thomas A Hickok has said “First, it clearly appears that power has shifted away from rank-and-file employees in the direction of top management/ownership. Accompanying this change is a shift in emphasis away from the well-being of individuals in the direction of the pre-eminence and predominance of the organization as a whole. Second, it appears working relationships have changed away from being “familial” in the direction of being more competitive. Third, the employer-employee relationship has moved away from long-term and stable in the direction of short-term and contingent.”

Hickok suggested five simple question areas that organizational leaders who are interested in probing the moral and spiritual dimensions of downsizing might usefully consider. These include ensuring the fundamental decency of the approach being considered, engaging in appropriate dialogue, thinking through the consequences for those who may be adversely affected, having ready explanations for multiple constituencies, and offering a realistic opportunity for a better future for the organization and the organization’s stakeholders.

Employee Engagement

Organisations need to engage their employees, keep them constantly informed on the progress of the company, the competitive market conditions, the progress of the competitors and share the financial performance of the company. The key is to be transparent, let employees know the status and to prepare them for any eventualities. Organisations have to win the trust of its employees and establish its credibility.

The engagement challenge is about how an employee feels about the work experience, about how he or she is treated. It has a lot to do with emotions. Research after research have concluded that employee emotions are fundamentally related to—and actually drive—bottom-line success in a company.

There is a constant struggle to win trust and establish credibility. You can have the best of the programs in the world—all of it can be lost in a second if the organization does something to destroy the credibility it has built.

A HR Manager of an organization that went through some downsizing exercise shared his experience : “The mistake we made is that we did not work very hard in making the team members understand the competitive situation we were in” and why the discussion breaks had to end. “We should have been doing more education about what the future might be for them – They (employees) wanted to understand the company’s business strategy and where they fit in.”

  • It takes a huge commitment in time and energy for organizations engaging their people. But relative to some of the other investments they make, it has a pretty good return.
    In my personal experience I would suggest that to manage downsizing an organization would have to take care of the following:
  • Is it really necessary. Are there no other alternatives?
  • Be transparent, prepare your employees well in advance, win their trust and confidence.
  • Confide with them about the eventuality and communicate to all employees. Don’t hide any facts.
  • If inevitable be fair in identifying employees to be separated.
  • Give them sufficient time to depart. Don’t stop them from coming to work the next day.
  • Compensate them adequately for the severance in line with market practice and not driven just by the legal provisions.
  • As said earlier be humane in your approach and treat these employees with dignity and compassion.

James K. Clifton, chairman and CEO of the Gallup Organization, told the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation at its Thought Leaders retreat in 2002 : “I think the next decade is going to be about the emotional economy of the workplace,” he said. “HR has an enormous opportunity to provide organizational leadership by increasing the number of engaged workers….HR is the only one with the answers to increased worker engagement. The question is whether companies and organizations will now turn to HR for their strategic leadership in this area.”

Leadership Quotes

  • “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” –Lao Tzu
  • “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” –Ken Blanchard
    “Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” –Vince Lombardi
  • “Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.” –Warren G. Bennis
  • “You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • “A good leader is not the person who does things right, but the person who finds the right things to do.” –Anthony T. Dadovano
  • “Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character. There must be truth in the purpose and will power in the character.” –Vince Lombardi
  • “The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born — that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.” –Warren G. Bennis
  • “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” –John Kenneth Galbraith
  • “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” –John Quincy Adams
  • “The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization.” –Fred Fiedler and Martin Chemers in Improving Leadership Effectiveness
  • “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” –Ralph Nader
  • “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.” –Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
  • “Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.” –Tom Landry
  • “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.” –Tony Blair
  • “Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” –Sam Walton
  • “Leadership is not magnetic personality — that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not ‘making friends and influencing people’ — that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” –Peter F. Drucker
  • A company is only as good as the people it keeps.
  • “Its not cash that fuels the journey of sucess, but its the emotional capital of the company that fuels the growth” —– CK Prahalad & Garry Hamel

Take control of your destiny with your mind – Law of Attraction

Even before I ever knew anything about the Law of Attraction, this was (is) my motto ‘Your vision (which also constitutes your thoughts) WILL ALWAYS determine your destiny’. You may think my destiny is ordained by me alone, no I don’t think so. It is faith, which is the substance of things hoped for and the EVIDENCE of things not seen. Faith in motion or doubt is equal to the Law of Attraction. In believing this, I believe faith is tangible. What’s the secret? All successful people know the secret. They apply their thoughts to the success they are gaining. The Law of Attraction doesn’t care if you are thinking positive or negative, it acts accordingly. Your thoughts will manifest, this is the Law of Attraction. This is The Secret.

Now you know, so what next? Take a deeper look. Create your destiny with your mind? According to this documentary, yes. You think debt, you will keep debt. You think wealth, you will gain wealth. You think happiness, and that is what you will get. If you ponder on your sorrow, the Law of Attraction doesn’t care, you will continue to be sorrowful. Emotions play a major role here too. What you think, what you feel and what manifests, will ALWAYS be a match. That is something powerful and says a lot. By shifting thoughts, you can change the course of your day. Your emotions are fed by your thoughts. So when you are emotionally unstable, you can create psychological havoc. You have control, use your mind. Faith?

Yes you can say this is faith. Thinking things into existence. Focus on what you want and desire and think upon that, this is The Secret. You ask, you get an answer, so receive. This is where emotions play in as well. If you want something that you don’t see how you will get, receive it and it’s yours.

Apply the Law of Attraction to what you want, you don’t have to understand it, simply receive it. Some may say it’s the ‘universe’ who ‘answers’ these wants (thoughts). I believe it’s either the blessings of the Lord or a curse. You can make your life a happier experience, just be grateful. When you are grateful, the Law of Attraction recognizes your positive thinking and will result in a positive outcome. To the contrary, complainers, will always be miserable. You have control of your day.

Happiness is a choice, so focus on it. Make pictures of things you desire and focus on them. Be grateful for what you have and receive what you want. Never ponder on the current situation, because the Law of Attraction doesn’t care and like I said before, will act according to your thoughts. Your thoughts will manifest. If you desire to be with someone, focus on that. Don’t focus on loneliness, the Law of Attraction will keep you lonely. If you want to ‘get out of debt’, don’t focus on ‘debt’, focus on money and how much you ‘will’ have. This is simply having faith or doubt and with that being your mindset, is the Law of Attraction. Attraction is NOT always a good thing.

By applying the Law of Attraction positively verses negatively, I am putting faith into action. Knowing this, I can help others. Also, in knowing this, I learn to help myself so that I can help others. Control it, by thinking it and then receiving it. Simple as that!

Are you Engaging your Employees?

India Inc is marching ahead and amidst all the technology, FDI inflows and global competition that one hears about, it’s the human capital, which is central to any company’s long-term strategy.

However with the globalization of the Indian economy and the realization of the developed world about the availability of talented manpower at a discounted cost, opportunities are abundant for the talented employees.

Today, neither employees nor employers expect long-term relationships. Employees want to move from organizations to organizations , to further their career ambitions, to wriggle out of out of unsatisfying situations, to leverage experience in one organization for a better job in another. Employers, on the other hand, don’t want to be saddled with employees who fail to meet the demanding expectations of the organization stemming out of stiff competition or retain stagnant employees who have reached the end of the learning curve journey and do not add much value to the organization.

However employers have a real struggle on hand with a competitive market, a well informed and demanding customers and shrinking margins. They have to retain their employees, keep them motivated and trained to meet the challenges of competition. However the expectations of the employees are always on the rise. Rarely have we heard of employees accepting the downturn of the company and reducing their salaries. A few companies tried this by force in 2001- 2002 when there was a recession in the IT industry but without much success. Irrespective of the fortunes of the company employees want an increase in their salaries, career growth and a rise in their standard of living and status.

Employers are at a cross road. By not giving into the demands of the employees they run the risk of losing talented employees as the less talented are more likely to stay. To meet the challenges of competition and deliver superior results they need talented employees to stay on. But to give in to their unexpressed demands and keep increasing employee costs adds to their costs and makes them less competitive in the market.

It’s the synergy that comes from people working together and gathering creative ideas that leads to long-term organization wealth creation. That synergy “above and beyond” behavior is evidence of employee engagement.

It’s a delicate balance that HR managers and organizations will have to do.
Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement is a result achieved by stimulating employees’ enthusiasm for their work and directing it toward organizational success. It’s the passion that the employee brings to the job. Its the commitment and the “never say die” attitude and the zeal to succeed.
Engagement calls for striking a new bargain with employees:
• Organizations invest in creating the conditions that make work more meaningful and rewarding for employees.
• And employees, in return, pour extra effort into their work and delivering superior performance.
Engagement can be at different levels:
• Intellectual
• Physical
• Emotional
The engagement challenge is about how an employee feels about the work experience, about how he or she is treated. It has a lot to do with emotions. Research after research have concluded that employee emotions are fundamentally related to—and actually drive—bottom-line success in a company.
There is a constant struggle to win trust and establish credibility. You can have the best of the programs in the world—all of it can be lost in a second if the organization does something to destroy the credibility it has built.
It takes a huge commitment in time and energy for organizations engaging their people. But relative to some of the other investments they make, it has a pretty good return.
James K. Clifton, chairman and CEO of the Gallup Organization, told the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation at its Thought Leaders retreat in 2002 : “I think the next decade is going to be about the emotional economy of the workplace,” he said. “HR has an enormous opportunity to provide organizational leadership by increasing the number of engaged workers….HR is the only one with the answers to increased worker engagement. The question is whether companies and organizations will now turn to HR for their strategic leadership in this area.”
Employee Engagement at APC India

Employee Engagement is woven into the overall Talent Management & Development framework

At APC India we strive to ensure that our employees are Intellectually, Physically and Emotionally engaged.

Intellectual Engagement

We believe that every employee in the organization has the innate ability to be creative. We also believe that creativity, continuous improvement and innovation is not the responsibility and privilege of only a few managers and that it’s the combined responsibility of each and every employee in the company. With this objective, we strive to harness that creativity in the employee through various programs and processes:

v Suggestions Scheme
v Six sigma projects
v Lean projects
v Positive Work Groups
v Small Group Activities
v Continuous Improvement Projects

Every year there is a competition in each one of these projects / programs where employees showcase their talents, their achievements and their contribution to the company. It’s the proudest moment of the year for the employees and the company.

Physical Engagement

We strongly believe that a well informed employee is more productive, disciplined and empathetic towards the company. We also believe that participative management and decision making is the key to the progress of the company. Towards this send we have the following programs / processes, which foster better communication between the employees & the organization & also let employees have a say in the management of the company :

v Employee Committees
v Monthly Communication meetings
v Quarterly Townhall meetings
v Intranet
v Newsletter
v Employee Bulletins / Notice Board

Emotional Engagement

The key to the success of any company is the emotional engagement of the employees. With their “heart & soul” behind them, employees can achieve anything and overcome any challenges. We would like to make “Work as as source of fun”. In this regard we have the following programs that foster “Fun @ work” :

v Employee Assistance Program (Emotional Counselling Service)
v Fun Club
v Annual / Anniversary Day
v Ayudha Pooja
v Family day
v Annual Picnics

Through all these programs, we have ensured that we keep our employees happy, fully engaged and highly productive.

What better way can it be with an attrition rate of around 10%, an Employee Satisfaction Index of 75% and being the winner of the “Highest Hardware Manufacturer exporter” award by MAIT and STPI for the fifth consecutive year.

“Life at APC, its more than just a job…………..”
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About the author: Ramesh Ranjan, is the Director Human Resources – Global Supply Chain & Manufacturing of American Power Coversion India Pvt. Ltd. He has worked in companies like Chevron Texaco India Pvt. Ltd, Praxair India Pvt. Ltd, Co Systems India Pvt. Ltd, Indian Herbs, ITI Ltd spread over a span of 22 years. He was the past Hon. Secretary of the National HRD Network, Bangalore Chapter.

Tata Nano

Ratan Tata has shown the world and to people like Mamta Bannerjee, that with determination, dedication and positive spirit, anything can be achieved. What seemed unsurmountable for years and to many, he has shown is possible. The Nano is a revolution in the car industry. It exposes how the automobile companies for years took the customers for a ride, charging them for their inefficiencies and with scant regard to pricing. Like Capt. Gopinath who made flying affordable and removed the sexist tag of “Luxury” to Flying, Ratan Tata has made owning a car affordable to millions of people, young & old, rich and the not to so rich. Hopefully the politicians will leave him unhindered and let him flourish. Hopefully the cAompetition will follow suit and re-engineer their cars and produce cheaper cars, more affordable yet value for money. Hopefully the customers will stand up and count to be delivered.

In a year of glories, Jai Ho, Slumdog Millionaires, MS Dhoni & company…. Ratan Tata promises to catapult India once again on top of the world in his inimicable style and humility.

Jai Ratan Tata and the whole team of Nano.