THE LION AND THE FOX

It's a fine sunny day in the forest, and a lion is sitting outside his cave, lying lazily in the sun. Along comes a fox, out on a walk.
Fox: "Do you know the time, because my watch is broken"
Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix the watch for you"
Fox: "Hmm. But it's a very complicated mechanism, and your great claws will only destroy it even more"
Lion: "Oh no, give it to me, and it will be fixed"
Fox: "That's ridiculous! Any fool knows that lazy lions with great claws cannot fix complicated watches"
Lion: "Sure they do, give it to me and it will be fixed"

The lion disappears into his cave, and after a while he comes back with the watch which is running perfectly. The fox is impressed, and the lion continues to lie lazily in the sun, looking very pleased with himself.

Soon a wolf comes along and stops to watch the lazy lion in the sun.

Wolf: "Can I come and watch TV tonight with you, because mine is broken"
Lion: "Oh, I can easily fix your TV for you"
Wolf: "You don't expect me to believe such rubbish, do you? There is no way that a lazy lion with big claws can fix a complicated TV"
Lion: "No problem. Do you want to try it?"

The lion goes into his cave, and after a while comes back with a perfectly fixed TV. The wolf goes away happily and amazed.

Scene: Inside the lion's cave. In one corner are half a dozen small and intelligent looking rabbits who are busily doing very complicated work with very detailed instruments. In the other corner lies a huge lion looking very pleased with himself.

Moral
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY A SUPERVISOR IS FAMOUS, LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES.

In the context of the working world:
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY SOMEONE UNDESERVED IS PROMOTED, LOOK AT THE WORK OF HIS SUBORDINATES

Top 10 HR tips

For many businesses, people are the most important asset Top Ten HR Tips provide advice on how to find and keep the best employees and offer hints on helping them develop.

1. Draw up a job description, no matter how simple or low-level the job

The more information you put down, the better your chances are of getting the right person for the right job. Cover areas such as the level of skill needed, whether training is necessary, and how much experience or responsibility the job requires.

2. Use specialist or trade publications to target your ads

If you are looking to fill a particular position, consider advertising in specialist or trade publications. Find out from people who work in that area what publications they read. If the job is not that specialised, consider advertising in a local newspaper, which will be cheaper. Word-of-mouth can also be useful and cost-effective.

3. Always take up references

Before someone joins your company, ensure you get references. It can be a good idea to contact a referee direct on the phone as they are often more responsive than in a letter. Ask questions such as Would you re-employ this person

4. Get help from your friends and family

Recruiting employees is a costly exercise, both in terms of time and money. Think about whether you need someone full time. Help from your friends and family is also an option, and it wont cost you a penny to advertise. If you need someone specialised for the short-term, its worth paying that bit extra for contract or temporary staff.

5. Make your employees feel welcome

First impressions count and the first three months of employment with a new company are important. Make your new employees feel welcome. Consider setting up an induction into the company with on-the-job training and a buddy system to help a new recruit with any questions.

6. A business is only as good as the people who work for it

As a small business, you can be closer to your staff, suppliers and customers than larger ones. Involve your employees in the work culture from day one and keep them up to date with the progress of the company and any developments that may take place in the near future.

7. Use incentives other than money

A competitive package need not only be about money flexible working such as job-share and flexi-hours can give you the opportunity to tailor benefits more suited to the individual. Look carefully at what motivates each employees some may be driven by security, others by ambition. Group days out, or brainstorming sessions combined with a fun activity can also work well.

8. Appraise your staff regularly

An effective appraisal system should allow for realistic, but challenging objectives. There should also be interim reviews to ensure objectives have not changed and to give an opportunity to identify training and development. Consider who is best placed to carry out the reviews in some cases it may be more appropriate to use a middle manager.

9. Enforce strict absence procedures

In order to deal effectively with absenteeism, staff should be very clear about the company policy. A staff handbook is an ideal way to state policies clearly. Areas such as holidays, sickness and absenteeism should be included and clearly outlined.

10. Create a culture of good leavers

Hold exit interviews, particularly for key staff, which will help you identify any problems going forward. The aim is to create a culture of good leavers this is the type of person who will flag up any problems beforehand, tell you about concerns with work, and once they ve left, will not say negative things about the company.

Ten Top Performance Management Tips

Sadly, Performance Management has got itself a bad reputation. Dreaded by those on the receiving end and considered an unproductive chore by the manager, the value and benefits have been lost. But there is another way and here are Ten Tips to help.

Talk to Your People Often

By building a great relationship with your people you will bring trust, honesty and information. This gives you a head start in Performance Management of your people.

Build Feedback In

On the job two-way feedback processes gets rid of the nasty surprises that gives Performance Management such a bad name. By building it in as a natural activity, you take the edge away.

Be Honest

By being frank and honest, which the preparation work in building a great relationship has afforded you, both parties treat each other with respect and see each other as working for everyone’s benefit.

Notice Great Performance

When you see good stuff, shout about it! Let people know. Celebrate successes and filter this into formal processes.

Have a System

Performance Management is a process and needs some formality - especially for good personnel practice and record. This need not be complicated, but it needs to be organised and have timescales.

Keep it Simple

But do keep it simple. If you have a relationship with your people that is strong anyway, you already know what they are about. Formal discussions can be friendly and simple, with formality kept to a minimum.

Be Very Positive

Celebrate great performance! Focus on what’s going well. It's about successes and building on strengths, not spending ages on their weaknesses - that serves no-one. Go with the positives!

Achieve Their Needs

Remember that we all have needs that we want fulfilling. By working with your people to create outcomes that will do this, you will strengthen your relationships and channel effort in a constructive direction.

Tackle Discipline

Whilst it often happens, Performance Management is not about managing indiscipline. That has to be managed in a different way. By setting clear standards in your business that everyone understands and signs up to, discipline becomes much, much easier.

Learn from Mistakes

As part of regular on-the-job and informal review, mistakes will come to light; things will go wrong. By using the ‘What went well? And ‘What could you do differently?’ format, the unsatisfactory performance becomes controllable and a positive step.

Try these ten out, maybe not all together, but one at a time. Have fun! There are other benefits apart from just improving the performance of your people - can you spot them?

Avoid the 10 Most Common Interview Mistakes:

By University of California Berkeley Career Center staff You've made it through the first hurdle-the resume screen-and now it's time for the interview. For many job seekers, the interview is the single most stressful part of the job search process. Any number of things can go wrong, and a big part of being successful is avoiding simple mistakes. Recruiters share the 10 most common mistakes job seekers make and how to avoid them.

1. Failure to research the company Recruiters say that they expect candidates to spend at least one hour doing research on their web sites and reading about their companies via other web sites (see Fortune Magazine, Bloomberg, Wetfeet Press, and Vault Reports). Do your homework before the interview; know what the company does, and who their competitors are. "If students have not taken the time to review the employer web site and understand what we are recruiting for, they reduce their chances of continuing on through the interview process," said one recruiter,

2. Being unclear on which job you are interviewing for Become familiar with the job description so you can explain how your experiences, talents, strengths, and abilities will connect with company needs. Highlight how you're suited to that particular job.

3. Not marketing yourself Define yourself. What makes you different from other job candidates? Know your major strengths and accomplishments as they relate to the job you are applying for and the company.

4. Asking silly questions Have at least three or four intelligent questions to ask the recruiter. It's OK (it actually leaves a positive impression with the recruiter) to have them written down in advance and to reference them at the appropriate time. Interviews are an exchange of information, and arriving without questions shows that you did not prepare for the whole interview.

5. Dressing inappropriately for the interview Professional attire and attention to detail still count. You can never be too professional. Remember that everything-your appearance, your tone of voice, your conduct-contribute to the impression (positive or negative) that you make. Be presentable. Wear a pressed suit and shirt and polished shoes.

6. Trying to wing the interview Practice! Get a list of general interview questions, a friend, a tape recorder, and a mirror and conduct an interview rehearsal. Practice until your delivery feels comfortable, not canned.

7. Not being yourself Be yourself and be honest! Don't pretend to understand a question or train of thought if you don't. If you don't know an answer, say so. Relax and be yourself. Remember you're interviewing the company, too.

8. Listening poorly Focus on the question that is being asked and don't try to anticipate the next one. It's OK to pause and collect your thoughts before answering a question. Pay special attention to technical- or work-process-related subjects that are unique to a given firm or organization. The interviewer may have provided information you will need to answer the question earlier in the conversation. Employers will be looking for your ability to assimilate new information, retain it, and, most importantly, recognize that information as useful to you later in the interview.

9. Offering too little detail When answering case questions or technical questions or solving technical problems, take the time to "talk through" your thought processes. Recruiters are interested in seeing how your mind works and how it attacks a problem. Interviewers consistently place a high value on students who articulate their problem-solving process. These individuals receive job offers more often than those who could solve the problem but fail to verbalize their thinking.

10. Lacking enthusiasm Maintain eye contact, greet the interviewer with a smile and a firm handshake (not too weak, not too strong), and show common courtesy. Don't be afraid to display your passion for the job/industry and to show confidence.

High Attrition Rate: A Big Challenge

A Big Challenge Defining attrition: "A reduction in the number of employees through retirement, resignation or death"
Defining Attrition rate: "the rate of shrinkage in size or number"
Introduction: In the best of worlds, employees would love their jobs, like their coworkers, work hard for their employers, get paid well for their work, have ample chances for advancement, and flexible schedules so they could attend to personal or family needs when necessary. And never leave.
But then there's the real world. And in the real world, employees, do leave, either because they want more money, hate the working conditions, hate their coworkers, want a change, or because their spouse gets a dream job in another state. So, what does all that turnover cost? And what employees are likely to have the highest turnover? Who is likely to stay the longest?
Background of article
The IT enabled services (BPO) industry is being looked upon as the next big employment generator (Nasscom predicts 1.1 million job requirement by the year 2008). It is however no easy task for an HR manager in this sector to bridge the ever increasing demand and supply gap of professionals. Unlike his software industry counterpart, the BPO HR manager is not only required to fulfill this responsibility, but also find the right kind of people who can keep pace with the unique work patterns in this industry. Adding to this is the issue of maintaining consistency in performance and keeping the motivation levels high, despite the monotonous work. The toughest concern for an HR manager is however the high attrition rate.
In India, the average attrition rate in the BPO sector is approximately 30-35 percent. It is true that this is far less than the prevalent attrition rate in the US market (around 70 percent), but the challenge continues to be greater considering the recent growth of the industry in the country. The US BPO sector is estimated to be somewhere around three decades old. Keeping low attrition levels is a major challenge as the demand outstrips the supply of good agents by a big margin. Further, the salary growth plan for each employee is not well defined. All this only encourages poaching by other companies who can offer a higher salary.
The much hyped "work for fun" tag normally associated with the industry has in fact backfired, as many individuals (mostly fresh graduates), take it as a pas-time job. Once they join the sector and understand its requirements, they are taken aback by the long working hours and later monotony of the job starts setting in. This is the reason for the high attrition rate as many individuals are not able to take the pressures of work.
The toughness of the job and timings is not adequately conveyed. Besides the induction and project training, not much investment has been done to evolve a "continuous training program" for the agents. Motivational training is still to evolve in this industry. But, in all this, it is the HR manager who is expected to straighten things out and help individuals adjust to the real world. I believe that the new entrant needs to be made aware of the realistic situation from day-one itself, with the training session conducted in the nights, so that they get accustomed to things right at the beginning.
The high percentage of females in the workforce (constituting 30-35 percent of the total), adds to the high attrition rate. Most women leave their job either after marriage or because of social pressures caused by irregular working hours in the industry. All this translates into huge losses for the company, which invests a lot of money in training them.
If a person leaves after the training it costs the company about Rs 60,000. For a 300-seater call centre facing the normal 30 percent attrition, this translates into Rs 60 lakh per annum. Many experts are of believe that all these challenges can turn out to be a real dampener in the growth of this industry. This only raises the responsibility of "finding the right candidate" and building a "conducive work environment", which will be beneficial for the organization. The need is for those individuals who can make a career out of this.
All this has induced the companies to take necessary steps, both internally and externally. Internally most HR managers are busy putting in efforts on the development of their employees, building innovative retention and motivational schemes (which was more money oriented so far) and making the environment livelier. Outside, the focus is on creating awareness through seminars and going to campuses for recruitment.
Major Worries for the Industry • Reckless Start-ups- a vast majority of the 310 start-ups are headed for a dead-end (according to Nasscom). Their capacity utilization is less than one of the three shifts. Many of these companies that converted their empty basements and warehouses into BPO units or firms with $10 million-20 million VC funds that ran out of cash without creating anything more than white elephants. They have driven down prices to grab business, but have failed to deliver. They were always clueless about people, processes or technologies- the three key elements of the BPO business. • Poor Infrastructure- the industry has more to worry about than just reckless start-ups. Primary among those is infrastructure. While telecom networks are state of the art, getting a connection still takes up to three months. Unreliable power supply is forcing units to create their own back-ups. Roads are bad and airports are in dire need of repairs and upgrades. • High Attrition-another major problem is the high attrition and growth aspirations of the workforce. At least 60,000 of the 171,000 workforce change jobs every year. About 80% of them look for better leaders. Team leaders want to upgrade to supervisors, quality professionals or operations heads. The HR problem threatens to soon become grave. Good agents are becoming hard to find and with tardy infrastructure, big moves to the much talked about smaller towns will take longer. This means costs will rise making it difficult for small VC-funded companies to survive. Attrition rates
US 42%Australia 29%Europe 24%India 18%Global Average 24% * Source-Times News New YorkPurpose of Writing this Article
Staff attrition (or turnover) and absenteeism represent significant costs to most organizations. It is odd, therefore, that many organizations neither measure such costs nor have targets or plans to reduce them. Many organizations appear to accept them as part of the cost of doing business - a sign of increasing job mobility and decreasing staff loyalty perhaps, a matter to be regretted but just 'one of those things.' They add a sum in their budgets for 'temp staff' and 'recruitment' and forget about it.
However, it seems to be one of the areas in which HR can make a difference - and one that can be measured in quantifiable, financial terms against targets.
An attrition rate in call (or contact) centres has become legendary. Indeed, the attrition rates in some Indian call centers now reach 80%. This is an extreme figure but the average attrition rates in Indian call centers are up around 30-40%.
However, it is interesting to note that the attrition rates in India - and the costs associated - are so high that they can override the benefits of lower wage costs. While wages in call centres in Indian are less than one-eighth of those in Northern Europe, it has been reported that Hewlett-Packard have found the cost per 'ticket' (the cost of processing a query) has doubled "due to the inability of the staff to resolve customer queries efficiently because of language barriers and inexperience." It is said that this increased cost has made HP's move from Ireland to India "completely pointless," and that it can never recover the (substantial) costs of the move. It is further reported that GE Capital has moved a call centre back to Australia "after staff attrition rates of 70% wiped away any potential cost savings."
The issue is not with the quality or education of the staff - and still less with the investment in technology. It is simply attrition - people do not stay long enough to be taught or to learn the job. The staff may be cheaper but if they cannot do the job, what's the point? Managing attrition is not just a 'nice thing to do' in Indian call centres. It is the route to their survival.
Far from accepting attrition rates as part of the cost of doing business, it is surely something that all organizations should address, and equally surely it is an area in which HR can take a lead - measure attrition, seek its causes, set out solutions and target performance.
Components to be taken into consideration, while calculating attrition rate
I request HR professionals not to drive their own formulas to calculate attrition rate. In terms of numbers, attrition rate means:
Total Number of Resigns per month (Whether voluntary or forced) divided by (Total Number of employees at the beginning of the month plus total number of new joinees minus total number of resignations) multiplied by 100.
If calculating in monetary terms, it includes the following:
Costs Due to a Person Leaving 1. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who fills in while the position is vacant. Calculate the cost of lost productivity at a minimum of 50% of the person's compensation and benefits cost for each week the position is vacant, even if there are people performing the work. Calculate the lost productivity at 100% if the position is completely vacant for any period of time. 2. Calculate the cost of conducting an exit interview to include the time of the person conducting the interview, the time of the person leaving, the administrative costs of stopping payroll, benefit deductions, benefit enrollments. 3. Calculate the cost of the manager who has to understand what work remains, and how to cover that work until a replacement is found. 4. Calculate the cost of training your company has invested in this employee who is leaving. 5. Calculate the impact on departmental productivity because the person is leaving. Who will pick up the work, whose work will suffer, what departmental deadlines will not be met or delivered late. 6. Calculate the cost of lost knowledge, skills and contacts that the person who is leaving is taking with them out of your door. Use a formula of 50% of the person's annual salary for one year of service, increasing each year of service by 10%. 7. Subtract the cost of the person who is leaving for the amount of time the position is vacant. Recruitment Costs 1. The cost of advertisements; agency costs; employee referral costs; internet posting costs. 2. The cost of the internal recruiter's time to understand the position requirements, develop and implement a sourcing strategy, review candidates backgrounds, prepare for interviews, conduct interviews, prepare candidate assessments, conduct reference checks, make the employment offer and notify unsuccessful candidates. This can range from a minimum of 30 hours to over 100 hours per position. 3. Calculate the cost of the various candidate pre-employment tests to help assess a candidates' skills, abilities, aptitude, attitude, values and behaviors. Training Costs 1. Calculate the cost of orientation in terms of the new person's salary and the cost of the person who conducts the orientation. Also include the cost of orientation materials. 2. Calculate the cost of departmental training as the actual development and delivery cost plus the cost of the salary of the new employee. Note that the cost will be significantly higher for some positions such as sales representatives and call center agents who require 4 - 6 weeks or more of classroom training. 3. Calculate the cost of the person(s) who conduct the training. 4. Calculate the cost of various training materials needed including company or product manuals, computer or other technology equipment used in the delivery of training. Lost Productivity Costs
As the new employee is learning the new job, the company policies and practices, etc. they are not fully productive. Use the following guidelines to calculate the cost of this lost productivity: 1. Upon completion of whatever training is provided, the employee is contributing at a 25% productivity level for the first 2 - 4 weeks. The cost therefore is 75% of the new employees full salary during that timeperiod. 2. During weeks 5 - 12, the employee is contributing at a 50% productivity level. The cost is therefore 50% of full salary during that timeperiod. 3. During weeks 13 - 20, the employee is contributing at a 75% productivity level. The cost is therefore 25% of full salary during that timeperiod. 4. Calculate the cost of mistakes the new employee makes during this elongated indoctrination period. New Hire Costs 1. Calculate the cost of bring the new person on board including the cost to put the person on the payroll, establish computer and security passwords and identification cards, telephone hookups, cost of establishing email accounts, or leasing other equipment such as cell phones, automobiles. 2. Calculate the cost of a manager's time spent developing trust and building confidence in the new employee's work. Lost Sales Costs 1. Calculate the revenue per employee by dividing total company revenue by the average number of employees in a given year. Whether an employee contributes directly or indirectly to the generation of revenue, their purpose is to provide some defined set of responsibilities that are necessary to the generation of revenue. Calculate the lost revenue by multiplying the number of weeks the position is vacant by the average weekly revenue per employee. Conclusion: It is clear that there are massive costs associated with attrition or turnover and, while some of these are not visible to the management reporting or budget system, they are none the less real. The 'rule of thumb' appears to be very inaccurate indeed and, while it depends upon the category of staff, it is probably better to estimate around 80% of salary as a truer rule of thumb - and this will be on the conservative side. What does this mean? Well it means that if a company has 100 people doing a certain job paid 25,000 and that turnover or attrition is running at 10%, the cost of attrition is:
(Total staff x attrition rate %) x (annual salary x 80%) • 100 staff at 10% attrition means 10 people leave and are replaced each year. • A replacement cost of 80% of a salary of 25,000 means the cost of each replacement is 20,000. • The cost of turnover is therefore 10 x 20,000 or 200,000 a year. • The oncost to the overall salary bill is 8%. (Saving 8% of salary costs would make the average HR manager a hero.)