ROLE OF HR IN ECONOMIC DOWN TURN AND SUBSEQUENTLY

1.                  How do you think the HR Profession has been affected by the Down Turn (Other than Pink Slips, Lay Off’s & Man Power displacements)?

HR plays a pivotal role in helping companies cope up with the downturn. While the top line is stagnant or moving downwards, companies have started tightening their belt and reducing their bottomline or Operating Expenditure. It is here that HR plays a pivotal role in helping containing costs of operations. HR needs to understand the Business dynamics, the Business levers that drive Profit & Loss and initiate strategies in line with the resilience program. We can no longer feign ignorance about business. HR professionals need to have “business acumen” and actively participate in business strategies.

2.                  What innovative action plans you have been able to initiate to f ace the challenges?

We have consciously taken a stand of not resorting to layoff except in extreme cases. We have encouraged employees to use their unutilized leave and not allowing leave carry forward of leave at the end of year. Reduced work days (from 6 days to 5 days). Offering sabbatical leave to employees.

3.                  Do you think HR Profession ‘Future Proof” and ‘Shock Proof” enough to face similar situations in the future? If no, what needs to be done?

I think this time around HR professionals are more experienced to manage such downturns. The challenge would be how do we predict such downturns and proactively initiate HR programs to minimize such shocks in future. Now that it is well known that the Global Economy goes thro a business cycle lasting about 8-10yrs (highs & lows), we need to be better prepared for the future downturns.

4.                  What action plans would you suggest for the HR Professionals, particularly in South East Asia and Middle East who have faced the maximum heat during this period?

The world is a “Global Village” and no one is insulated from the ripples in the Global Economy. It is often said that “if America sneezes, the rest of the world will catch a cold”. Hence HR professionals in the APAC & Middle East region must be aligned to the Global economy and keep their eyes and ears open to whats happening around Global Economies. Offcourse there will be more focus on the new and emerging economies viz. BRIC countries and HR will have to play a major role in these economies to help capitalize the potential and global interests being shown. An international exposure to get an international perspective will help these HR professionals. Keeping in constant touch with their counterparts in other countries will help. Understanding the diversity and culture in other countries is a must to be successful in this era.

5.                  Based on this experience, should HR Professionals focus more on basic HR Issues (Communication,  Employee engagement, Human relations, Employee welfare, Mentoring) and go slow on HR Systems and Processes such as Performance Appraisals, HR-IT, E-HR, Competency Mapping, HR Score Card etc, which seem to have not found to have made much positive impact in this critical situation?

Dave Ulrich has defined the role of HR professionals :

• Strategic Business partner
• Employee Champion
• Expert Administrator
• Change Agent

HR professionals will have to don all these coats and effectively play these roles in any situations.

HR activities could be broadly divided into two:

• Transactional
• Strategic

We will have to master the Transactional activities, bring in greater efficiency, speed of delivery, reliability and at a lower cost to ultimately drive Employee Delight and enable Business to meet its stated objectives. This is key to survival during down turn.

Strategic activities are key to driving competitive advantage. As CK Prahalad and Gary Hamel have said, that “its people who fuel the journey of success”, they are the biggest competitive advantage any company will have. It is there fore imperative that we continue to focus on developing the competency of our people and build Organisational Capabilities that will not only sustain competition but will also help to beat Competition.