Employee Relations..

36
A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR.

description

employee relations project

Transcript of Employee Relations..

Page 1: Employee Relations..

A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR.

Page 2: Employee Relations..

SUBMITTED BY:

ROLL NO NAME OF STUDENT

78 ANMOL KHATRI

110 DEEPA KEWALRAMANI

106 AMRITA DEWANI

104 PRERNA NARANG

92 ABHISHEK MAKHIJA

88 RAHUL AIDASANI

90 SAHIL CHELLANI

Page 3: Employee Relations..

Objectives

1. To study the level of co-ordination among Employees in manufacturing sector.

2. To study the factors influencing employee relation.

3. To study the Employee relation from designation.

4. To study the initiative taken by Employer for Employee relations.

Page 4: Employee Relations..

Research Methodology:

Primary Data:-

Primary data is collected by sample survey from 20 Employees of Greaves ltd.

In manufacturing sector.

Secondary Data:-

Secondary data is also known as readymade data. Data which is already available

in books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and the main source now-a-days is Internet.

Secondary data is collected from following sources:-

Magazine

Newspapers

Blogs

Internet

Page 5: Employee Relations..

Introduction

The objective of this study was to have an overview of HRM and Employee relations in manufacturing sector in KISHORE PUMPS Pvt. Ltd, GREAVES COTTON Ltd., KINETIC ENGINEERING Ltd. The objective was to study the employee relations in manufacturing sector.

The Human Resources Management (HRM) Function Includes A Variety Of Activities, And Key Among Them Is Maintaining Amicable Relations With The Workforce. Both The Sectors Are Such Where Employees Become The Crux Of All Operations. For The Plant (Factory), It Is The Employee Who Works On The Machine. Even At KINETIC, Where Most Of The Operations Are Automated, Workers Need To Operate The Machines.

The goal of Employee Relations is to end up with a productive and motivated employee that will help effectiveness. According to me, HR department gets concerned in 3 types of relations. First the employer to the employee, second employees to employer and third is amongst the employees. There is comprehensive information on all 3 and how it benefits the company.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Page 6: Employee Relations..

Human Resource Management is an integral part of management. It helps the management in taking a strategic view of a very important resource i.e. Human Resource. It helps management in identifying key skill sets, knowledge, values required in the employee and the rewards that are needed to be given to the employees so that the organisation goals are fulfilled. Also like other management functions, it has to ensure that these resources are available at an optimal cost. It has to look into various training and development activities to ensure this. This is a key area for Human Resource Management as it shows their contribution in terms of money. The money here would be the opportunity cost incurred due to appointing of new employees instead of developing current employees for the task in hand.

Functions

From recruiting to orienting new employees, from writing job descriptions to tracking vacation and sick leave, and from instituting and monitoring policies to monitoring benefits, there has been a need for an HR generalist to assist senior management in both establishing a "structure" to holding down costs of administration.

HRM is a function that helps manager’s recruit, select, train, and develop employees for an organization.

1. Human Resource Planning: is understood as the process of forecasting an organizations future demand for, and supply of, the right type of people in the right number.

2. Job Analysis: is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job specification.

3. Recruitment: is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected.

Page 7: Employee Relations..

4. Selection: is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with greater likelihood of success in a job.

5. Placement: is understood as the allocation of people to jobs. It is the assignment or re-assignment of an employee to a new or different job.

6. Training and development: It is an attempt to improve current or future employee performance by increasing an employee’s ability to perform through learning, usually by changing the employee’s attitude or increasing his or her skills and knowledge. The need for training and development is determined by employee’s performance deficiency, computed as follows: Training and development need = Standard performance – Actual performance

7. Remuneration: is the compensation an employee receives in return for his or her contribution to the organization.

8. Motivation: is a process that starts with a psychological or physiological deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or an incentive.

9. Participative management: Workers participation may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives with the decision making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers members on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves as practiced in Yugoslavia. ((ILO)

10. Communication: may be understood as the process of exchanging information, and understanding among people.

Page 8: Employee Relations..

11. Safety and health: Safety means freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. In order to ensure the continuing good health of their employees, the HRM focuses on the need for healthy workers and health services.

12. Welfare: as defined by ILO at its Asian Regional Conference, defined labour welfare as a term which is understood to include such services, facilities, and amenities as may be established in or in the vicinity of undertakings to enable the person employed in them to perform their work in healthy, congenial surroundings and to provide them with amenities conducive to good health and high morale.

13. Transfer: involves a change in the job (accompanied by a change in the place of the job) of an employee without a change in the responsibilities or remuneration.

14. Separations: Lay-offs, resignations and dismissals separate employees from the employers.

15. Employee Relations: is concerned with the systems, rules and procedures used by unions and employers to determine the reward for effort and other conditions of employment, to protect the interests of the employed and their employers, and to regulate the ways in which employers treat their employees.

16. Disputes and their settlement: Industrial disputes mean any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of any person.

\

Page 9: Employee Relations..

EMPLOYEE RELATION

Introduction

People in organisations interact with each other during work, formally and officially as well as socially and informally. During the course of interaction, relationships develop, which are invisible connecting links, coloured by emotions of love, hate, repulsion, respect, fear, anxiety and so on. These are usually mutual but not necessarily reciprocal. If A hates B, it does not follow that B hates A. It is possible that B loves A and even sympathizes with his thoughts.

Relationships imply feelings for each other. They may be positive (friendly, wanting to be close) or negative (unfriendly, wanting to be distant). Relationships always exist between interacting persons. There is no neutral point. Indifference is not neutral. Indifference tends to be negative.

Relationships influence behaviours at work. Expectations of each other, perceptions of the intentions of either, distributions of assignments, readiness to conform or to rebel, enthusiasm to contribute, etc., are to some extent outcomes of these relationships. Attitudes and motivations influence, and are influenced by, the nature of these relationships.

Employees are among an organization's most important audiences with the potential to be its most effective ambassadors.

Employee Relations are practices or initiatives for ensuring that Employees are happy and are productive. Employee Relations offers assistance in a variety of ways including employee recognition, policy development and interpretation, and all types of problem solving and dispute resolution.

Once there was a time when "Employee Relations" meant labor relations everywhere around the world. Negotiate. Orchestrate. Dictate. HR professionals helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements. The provisions of that contract defined the relationship between management, unions, and workers.

Today, Employee Relations is a much broader concept. It involves maintaining a work environment that satisfies the needs of individual employees and management. Improving employee morale, building company culture, conveying expectations

Page 10: Employee Relations..

An effective employee relation involves creating and cultivating a motivated and productive workforce. People are generally motivated from within, but what can you do to help foster the type of environment where employees thrive, enabling your company to outperform the competition

“Employee Relations” starts with determining the type of workplace the company wants. It starts by considering what the company wants its employees to say about working for the company. In a competitive market, it is important to that employees don’t feel that they might be treated more fairly elsewhere. After all retention is one of the major functions of HRM.

By considering what the company wants employees to say about working for it gives shape to the company’s culture. The company culture conveys organization's core values to its employees, customers, vendors, and community.

In addition to the workplace climate, the company also considers the types of processes or systems it wants to employ within the workplace to support the company culture and enhance the working relationship that exists between the company and its workforce. Such systems could include communications, policies, training, and development.

Also, an essential step in building effective Employee Relations is to evaluate the human, financial and other resources available that reinforce the values and guiding principles the company wants echoed throughout the organization. For example, what type of supervisors and managers does it believe can bring out the best in people and projects?

The company should also make certain from the start that employees are not in counter productive work environments where work is more arduous than it needs to be. Is the workplace compliant with employment law? A major source of frustration for employees is the feeling that they were treated unfairly. Good liability management tools are necessary to ensure that the company avoids unnecessary confrontations, time wasters and costly legal battles

Traditionally Employee Relations programs were centered around labor union relations. Today, Employee Relations does not necessarily involve unions. However, it does involve cultivating the leadership style and workplace practices that help make union organizing activities a less attractive option for employees.

Establishing workplace and management principles set the stage for fostering a successful work climate and establishing your company's culture. Effective Employee Relations is about establishing processes that address and nurture that culture.

Employees in such organisations develop attitudes very different from those in another organisation that does not make any such distinction and is more secular in its policies. These different attitudes will be reflected in their behaviours outside the organisation and will either strengthen or weaken the social fabric. An organisation in which authority is highly centralised

Page 11: Employee Relations..

and does not allow its people enough discretion, will develop among its people tendencies for dependency and inability to take responsibility. These tendencies are handicaps in their roles as parents or citizens. The extent of concern shown for the effect of working conditions on employees’ health has an impact on the society, not merely in terms of general health and costs on medical care, but also in terms of the kind of activities that the members of the society participate in.

When an organisation is sensitive to its impact on society, and responds to the society’s concerns, it is said to be socially responsive. On the contrary, if it is concerned only with its own purposes and ignores the impact that it has on society, it is said to be socially not responsive

Relationships also contribute to stress and conflicts at work, which in turn, affect quality of work life of individuals as well as the quality of organizational outputs, measured in terms of customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, innovation, and so on.

Page 12: Employee Relations..

Advantages Of Maintaining good Employee Relation

The Kishore Pump Organisation study proved that a more engaged employee is also a more productive employee. The research also proved, that a more engaged employee is also a more profitable employee, a more customer-focused employee, a safer employee, and an employee who is more likely to withstand temptations to jump ship and in turn it is also true that the longer employees stay with an organization, the less engaged they become.

Following are the advantages of maintaining good relations with the employees.

Reduced Absenteeism

One reason, outside of illness, that employees are absent is stress, and the number one reason employees are stressed has to do with their relationship with their manager/supervisor. Management styles that are too authoritarian tend to promote high levels of absenteeism among employees also increase turnover, job burnout, and employee health problems such as backaches and headaches. Employees may also reduce turnover and absences when they begin to feel that working conditions are satisfactory and that they are becoming more successful in their jobs.The absenteeism rate at GREAVES COTTEN is 8 % and increases by 3 % reaching to 11 % during the summer holidays.

Improved Morale And Motivation

The secret of creating a motivating employee review lies in the relationship between accuracy and money. The right combination provides with a highly motivated employee. Maintaining good Employee Relations creates an environment of trust and increases morale. This improves the motivation of the employee. A motivated employee is contagious and is beneficial for the growth of the company.

Harmony in The Organization

Increase in the level of job satisfaction has a direct relation with the smooth workflow. There will be lesser arguments and more discussions. Employees will be ready to share information and help each other out.

Page 13: Employee Relations..

A good relation with the employee also inculcates discipline. Thus harmony is maintained.

Attract Good Talent

Attracting the most qualified employees and matching them to the jobs for which they are best suited is important for the success of any organization. A good company with good Employee Relations will be talked about. There is a brand image created in the mind of the employees which attracts them to the company like a drop of honey.

Lesser attrition - reduced cost on training, less cost of retention

A reduced attrition rate will reduce the cost of training and induction. No new employees will need to start afresh. The company can save on getting to know new employees.

Kishore Pumps spends around Rs.5 Lakhs on training every year with the attrition rate being less than 2 %.

At Kinetic Engineering, it seems the employees are not interested in leaving at all. The attrition rate is a minimal at 2-3% for staff, and between 1-2% for its workers.

Responsible For Increase In Productivity

As the saying goes, a happy worker is a productive worker. Thus a satisfied worker will take lesser breaks, spend lesser time in the canteen gossiping and more time working for the company. There will be Greater commitment which means quality output.

There will be loyalty and less wastage of company resources. The employee will seek for opportunities for intensifying the business and look out for new chances of expanding the company. They identify themselves with the work and this leads to an improved performance. Finally, the act of participation in itself establishes better communication, as people mutually discuss work problems.

Page 14: Employee Relations..

Open To Organizational Changes

The workers’ self-esteem, job satisfaction, and cooperative with the management is improved. The results often are reduced conflict and stress, more commitment to goals, and better acceptance of a change.

Shared Learning And Continues Improvement

A satisfied employee will look for ways of continuous improvement. They will participate in programs such as kaizen and try for the better of the company. Employees in a good employee relation management will share their new learning’s and wisdom with his colleagues.

Page 15: Employee Relations..

Comparative Study

Parameters/company

Kishore Pumps Greaves Cotton Kinetic Engineering

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

Flat Flat Flat

NO. OF WORKERS 289 workers

69 staff

47 managers

742 workers

30 staff

150 managers

589 Workers

42 Staff

52 Managers

INDUCTION 7 days & compulsory for all

15 days only for managers and staff.

14 days & compulsory for all

TRAINING Systematic and annual.

For mangers, staff & workers.

Technical and behavioural

Internal and external

Annual

Managers and workers

Technical for workers, behavioural for managers

External for managers and internal for workers.

Done as need occurs.

Managers only

Behavioural

Cross department trg.

Internal and external.

BENEFITS

Canteen

Uniform

Yes, with subsidized food.

Selected employees, also monsoon & winter wear

For Security guards

Yes, with subsidized food.

Selected employees, also monsoon & winter wear

Yes, with subsidized food.

For Workers.

Page 16: Employee Relations..

Housing

Other

at subsidized rates

Holiday hone scheme and Marriage gift scheme.

For engineers and Technicians in the compound.

Production incentive and festival allowance.

For selected employees like Front office manager.

Transport for employees and Workers

MONETARY BENEFITS Retirement services and benefits

Credit society.

ECS – employee credit society

Credit group in Harmony group.

MEDICAL FACILITIES 2 in –house doctors and 1 nurse.

Medical check-ups once in 3 yrs.

Reimbursement

of medical expenses

3 in-house doctors and 3 nurses.

Medical check-ups every 6 months.

Reimbursement.

1 in-house doctor.

Medical reimbursements and are planning for insurance.

SAFETY Ambulance room.

50 first aid trainers. And regular training

ERP & safety squad.

First aid box in all departments.

Safety day and drills.

Regular training

Guard for all machines.

First aid box in prime locations

Safety day and drills

Regular training.

Smoke detectors

First aid box & fire extinguishers in all departments.

CAREER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Job bands.

Job rotation and job enrichment.

Job enrichment -

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Leaves

Sports

21 AL + 14 CL + 21 SL

Inter-department

16 AL + 7 CL + 10 SL

Inter-department

30 in all

Inter-department

Page 17: Employee Relations..

Picnics

Others

matches 2-3 times a year

Annual picnics.

Stress management

Training.

matches 4-5 times a year

Annual picnics.

Regular tournaments on the play-ground.

matches monthly

Annual picnics

Department parties every 6 -7 months.

COLLECTIVE

BARGAINING

Trade union

Strikes

Suggestions

Kaamgaar utkarsh sabha

No.

Suggestion Box

Kaamgaar utkarsh sabha

No

Suggestion box at prime locations

No.

No.

Quarterly Town hall meetings and

Suggestion box.

FEEDBACK Employee Satisfaction Survey.

None HR balanced scorecard and satisfaction survey.

PERFORMANCE

APPRAISAL

Online for managers and informal for staff

For management and staff (90degree)

For management and staff

ANNUAL EVENTS

Picnics

Puja

Annual picnics

Annual dassrra puja

House magazine called Samvaad.

Annual picnics Annual picnics and department picnics.

House magazine

Page 18: Employee Relations..

WELFARE Annual prize distribution

Note book distribution

Counseling

quarterly competitions

birthday celebrations

crèche

jagruti group.

HARMONY

Other offers with Airtel.

Page 19: Employee Relations..

Worldwide Employee Relations

1 UK

The British were once notorious for industrial disputes and walkouts. In fact, they were daily occurrences in the 1960s and 1970s, such that industrial relations were perceived as a 'problem' which brought down governments. Weak management and intransigent unions produced industrial chaos, manifested by low productivity, hostility towards change and highly publicized disputes, fundamentally weakening the UK as an economic power.

The reputation of British personnel managers was not enhanced during this period. When HRM came on the scene in the 1980s, personnel management had become bogged down in a form of industrial relations characterized by 'firefighting' - undermining any claim to being strategic or proactive (Hendry, 1995:12).

The situation changed dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s. Recessions, New Right politics, restrictive legislation on industrial action and massive restructuring in many organizations considerably reduced the power and role of unions.

The Employment Relations Act (1999) revised trade union recognition and a number of other rights.

Since the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1958 there have been several attempts to develop community-wide initiatives on employee participation and corporate industrial relations. Progress in harmonizing this area has been slow but there has been a considerable convergence of employment conditions.

The Government embarked on a 12-week consultation on long hours working and the operation of the individual opt out in the UK. The Government believes that the statutory recognition procedure should be a “fall back”, only turned to when voluntary efforts have been tried, but have failed to reach agreement. It therefore does not consider the issues covered for collective bargaining under the statutory procedure should exceed those typically covered by voluntary collective bargaining recognitions. For this reason, the statutory procedure does not currently cover training and pensions. The 1998 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) showed that whereas 36% of employee representatives said they were consulted over training, only 7% said they negotiated over it. 

UK has a statutory law for every aspect of Employee Relations. One thing that USA lacks is security of the job. The pink slip system which is very prevalent is a cause of concern for the employee.

Page 20: Employee Relations..

Employees have the right to join or not join a trade union of their choice. Their employer may not dismiss them, select them for redundancy or make them suffer detriment for being or proposing to become a union member, nor for taking part in the union's activities at an appropriate time. They are similarly protected if they choose not to belong to a union or refuse to join one.

Dismissals which infringe these rights may be taken to an employment tribunal regardless of the employee's length of service. Employees who claim to have been unfairly dismissed in this way (except those complaining of unfair selection for redundancy) can also apply to the tribunal for an order of interim relief (which requires the employer to continue their contract of employment or to re-employ them pending the final outcome of the case).

An employee may not be dismissed, selected for redundancy (when others in similar circumstances are not selected) or subjected to any detrimental action for taking certain types of action on health and safety grounds. These rights apply to all employees, regardless of their length of service

Workers are entitled to be accompanied at certain disciplinary and grievance hearings by a fellow worker or a trade union official of their choice, provided they make a reasonable request to be accompanied. They also have the right to a reasonable postponement of the hearing, within specified limits, if their chosen companion is unavailable at the time the employer proposes.

Workers have the right to take paid time off during working hours to accompany fellow workers employed by the same employer.

These rights apply to workers including agency workers and home workers, though not to those who are in business solely on their own account. 

Complaints to an employment tribunal must normally be made within 3 months of the date of the infringement of the right. Exceptions to this general rule are detailed in the documents about the particular individual rights.

2 JAPAN

Japanese Employee Relations methods have relevance in two contexts: Japan itself and transplant factories in the Pacific area, North America and Europe. Nissan, for example, has been particularly active in overseas expansion and - in common with many other Japanese corporations - has a specific attitude towards trade unions. Effectively, independent unions and multiple union representations are resisted in favour of 'staff association' and tame single-union representation

More intensive efforts are being made to unify and realign industrial labor unions at Japan. The nation's labor union organizations are three-layered - consisting of the independent unions at the lowest level (enterprise unions are the mainstream), industry-level organizations and national centers. The enterprise union remains the basic unit for organization. There are

Page 21: Employee Relations..

more than 100 industry-level labor organizations, five have over 500,000 members. Many of these organizations do not satisfactorily function as industry-level bodies. They are unable to adequately survey their members, to formulate industrial policy or to unionize the labor force. Many are understaffed and inadequately financed.

      Following the end of World War II there was a long period when four national centers competed. They were particularly divided ideologically and in terms of their support for political parties. One result was the creation of competing organizations within the same industry. However, with the formation of Rengo (Japanese Trade Union Confederation) in 1989, a move was made to unify and to realign union organizations at the industry level under the umbrella of one national center.

In 1993, the Japan Institute of Labour (JIL) began a research project on industrial relations and decisions on working conditions at companies without labor unions (Head: Prof. Tsuyoshi Tsuru of Hitotsubashi University).

According to the report, More than 60 percent of companies without unions have an in-house employee organization, of which 80 percent have a "fraternity-type" organization, and fewer than 20 percent have an organization in which "employees have a say." The organization in which "employees have a say" means those who replied that they have "labor talks with management on revision of wages and matters pertaining to such working conditions as working hours, holidays and vacation and welfare provisions" or "labor discusses production plans and management policy."

As for an individual voicing body, a high of 47 percent of companies without unions adopt a self-appraisal system, followed by the proposal system (34.2%) and a round table discussion by those responsible for personnel management (26.1%). Even among companies without unions, 42.2 percent stress employees' participation in decisions on working conditions, and 44.7 percent stress their participation in formulation of strategies, thus showing an emphasis on employees' overall participation in both areas. This, it seems, is the background for introducing a variety of in-house organizations where employees can have a say, the report analyzes.

The Japanese employment system has often been referred to as a "lifetime employment" system. Firms compete with each other every spring to recruit the best of the new university and high school graduates as regular employees normally determined as much by the prestige attached to their university or school as by academic record. Regular employees enter the firm with the expectation that they will be kept on until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 60.

The traditional Japanese wage system was based on seniority. However, in recent years, Japanese companies increasingly have shifted towards a wage system that is linked to performance because of increasing global competition and need to further motivate their workers.

Page 22: Employee Relations..

Participation in the Worker's Compensation Insurance System is mandatory for all firms in industry and commerce. All medical expenses are paid for injured workers. Japan has a universal health insurance system, under which all citizens can receive medical attention if they become ill or injured. Businesses with at least five workers must provide their employees and their families with government-managed health insurance or comprehensive insurance obtained from a health insurance association. As of March 1999, 37.6 million workers participated in government-managed plans, while 32.6 million had comprehensive insurance.

Collective bargaining is practiced widely in Japan. In the private sector, most aspects of labor management relations are determined through collective bargaining. However, issues affecting management and production, such as new plant and equipment and subcontracting usually are resolved through regular consultations between the unions and management. Government workers have limited collective bargaining rights. The Government determines the pay of public sector employees based on a recommendation by the independent National Personnel Authority (NPA). The NPA recommendation is based on wage surveys.

Standards are set by the MHLW and issued after consultation with the Standing Committee on Safety and Health of the Central Labor Standards Council. Japan has a total of 343 Labor Standards Inspection Offices, whose staff carry out safety inspections and accident investigations and provide judicial punishment for serious violations of the law.

As for recreation is concerned, Overtime accounted for 9.8 working hours per month in the year 2000. In addition, Japanese workers utilized roughly half of the paid holidays and vacation days to which they were entitled. The Government of Japan has set a goal to shorten the number of working hours to 1,800 per annum by 2009. To attain its target, the Government is attempting to make Japanese businesses adhere to the 40-hour workweek, is encouraging workers to use their vacation days, and is trying to reduce the number of overtime hours.

3 USA

Labour unions date back to the late 18th century in the USA, although it was not until the late 19th century that the 'modern' labour movement was born.

Unions were organised primarily at the level of the workplace, and it was at this level or the employer level that their main activities took place, with unions seeking to 'take wages out of competition' and hence maximize membership gains by co-coordinating settlements across workplaces and employers.

Despite these relatively conservative goals, unions were initially able to gain employer recognition and engage in meaningful collective bargaining only where their members had skill levels sufficient to effectively shut-down an employer without fear of being replaced.

The abundant supply of qualified college graduates and experienced workers should create keen competition for jobs. Overall employment of human resources, training, and labor

Page 23: Employee Relations..

relations managers and specialists is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2012. In addition to openings due to growth, many job openings will arise from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.

Legislation and court rulings setting standards in various areas—occupational safety and health, equal employment opportunity, wages, health, pensions, and family leave, among others—will increase demand for human resources, training, and labor relations experts. Rising healthcare costs should continue to spur demand for specialists to develop creative compensation and benefits packages that firms can offer prospective employees. Employment of labor relations staff, including arbitrators and mediators, should grow as firms become more involved in labor relations, and attempt to resolve potentially costly labor-management disputes out of court. Additional job growth may stem from increasing demand for specialists in international human resources management and human resources information systems.

Page 24: Employee Relations..

Personal Observation

Sponsorships of MBAs or engineering programmes are successful retention tools. There are a couple of popular models. Managers can take short on-campus courses. Some companies pay for courses with the rider that managers return to the company once the course is over. For instance, Coke has started an internal cadre-building programme that promotes the executive (graduates and technical trainees) cadre to the management cadre through a two-month course in XLRI.

It has also started the Pegasus programme where high-fliers interact with the CEO at an off-site location. Cadbury and HLL have also ramped up the process of identifying HIPOs in their respective companies. IT companies are re-training managers in new software, which is working as an important retention tool.

Prominent banks, IT companies, BPOs and FMCG companies in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi share the angst of their employees in a different way. They are on the donors’ lists of many prestigious schools, which reserve some seats for them. Since donations are unaffordable for most employees, this becomes a huge add-on for them. A few MNCs also provide children scholarships to some prestigious foreign universities.

Some companies are even altering work schedules. Pepsi has told its employees in the north to pack up at 6.30 every Wednesday. According to Sanjay Luthra, director of Mumbai-based BPO 3 Global Services, “We also try and build a very creative work environment with a multi-cuisine canteen, which is converted into a discotheque once a week. It has an array of recreational facilities including a video game parlour, and library.”

Gaurav Lahiri, head of Indian operations in HR consultancy Hay Group, says, “The key to talent management is to identify top executives and treat them differently. Cross functional training is a must for such employees. Plus, the strategy is to create such a dominant work culture that employees find it difficult to adjust in some other organisation.” ICICI is one such company which follows this strategy.

When Kumar Mangalam is concerned, any Birla story is about people. He just can’t take his mind off people issues; this is one CEO who looks at himself and his group through people-focused glasses, there are a select few CEOs who act as enablers in the business, by identifying

Page 25: Employee Relations..

the leaders in individual businesses and set goals, giving freedom through explicit decision making rights and a set of values and principles based on which decisions are to be made. Explains Maira (HR - Executive), “It’s about moving from being tacit to being explicit

“My objective has been to build a meritocracy and there are lots of nuances about it,” says Birla and adds,”You are not talking about an object, an organisation is about people who make it and it would continue to be my focus in days to come.” Getting the right people on board was a priority, and Birla was willing to do everything to grab them. Internally it raised eyebrows, not because scores of senior managers working for the group for decades had been asked to put in their papers, but because a company which had never invested much on HR was suddenly spending Rs 16-17 crore on management development programmes which would later be called Gyanodaya.

For Birla, people issues continue to attract maximum attention. One of the most important functions he has cornered for himself is a regular performance appraisal for people who directly report to him. Senior employees confide that it’s something he spends hours on. Being the employer of choice is an objective that’s dear to his heart, but Birla feels that there’s still way to go on this front. On his short list of immediate priorities, the one that is most prominent is, “We need to spend much more time grooming our brightest stars.”

It seems simple. However, balancing employee expectations with those of the company is easier said than done. Employee Relations in my view is an ongoing activity. It starts from the day the employee is recruited, with the training, induction process, and goals and norms that are expected out of the employee. Explaining the vision and core values of the company so that the goals for the future are set straight.

In the site greatplacetowork.com, there seems to be one common factor in all 100 companies which got them to this reputation. The universal cause was that all of them cherished and nurtured their human resource. Wegmans Food Market’s (#1 on 2005 "100 Best" list, Supermarket Chain) Robert Wegman, says "No matter how much we invest in our employees, they give us more in return."

As per Hertzberg theory of motivation, the first three needs are already met by our parents and guardians. The monetary needs, social needs of communication, and are physiological needs are fulfilled by our parents, society or friends. The fourth need to be recognized and rewarded, this is where the employer comes in. The desire to be renowned by the employer is the prime motivating factor. Motivation then initiates a cycle of development for the employee. The employer achieves this by engaging the employee decision making and other activities.

Page 26: Employee Relations..

Conclusion

Each company that I interviewed was from Same sector but had different modus operandi. In manufacturing sector a very important tool of Employee Relations is communication. It plays a crucial role in Employee Relations. It is important to motivate the employee and make him aware of the policies.

Employee Relations is necessary in an organisation as salt to food. As one can’t imagine eating food without salt, a company cannot run without maintaining Employee Relations.

I noticed that internal recruitment plays a very important role in employee relations. Internal recruitment is when the company recruits someone from within the organisation to fill the vacancies, as opposed to external recruiting i.e. recruiting from the open market.

Internal recruitment helps with the industrial relations since external recruitment can be seen as depriving the workforce of opportunity.

Greaves Cotton has mixed recruitment. It follows internal as well as external. It has a Database of People who want to seek employment. It is prepared on the basis of resumes left by job-seekers.

Kinetic engineering is strong follower of Natural succession. It strongly believes in internal recruitment. If the company is looking at improving Employee Relations, then internal resources should be the first considerations when planning for recruitment.

This is a very effective means as many qualified people can be reached at a very low cost to the company. The other advantages are that the employees would bring only those referrals that they feel would be able to fit in the organization based on their own experience. The organization can be assured of the reliability and the character of the referrals. In this way, the organization can also fulfill social obligations and create goodwill.