Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Three News, One Message

Three pieces of news caught my attention in the last two days:
1. Warren E Buffett saying that that India was a big market and a logical place to invest.
2. India Inc. hiking salaries by 40% .
3. India Inc. on a massive hiring spree.

Do you see any realtionship between these news items? Well I do... As India prepares its final ascent to the economic big league, the companies are going to face unenviable challenge of not only getting more folks under their umbrella but also to keep them in their fold. Engagement is going to be a key issue. The companies that address employee engagement best shall stand in good stead to make 'hay when the sun is shining'. Others shall wither and decay.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Engagement Termite

Bullying in India starts from the roads itself. Traffic bullies are found with irritating ease and regularity on Indian roads. You have to drive in India to know the experience. And these bullies do not stop at roads but creep into offices as well. The nature of bullying may change and may include discrmination, intimidation and harassment. The only similarity is that in most cases these remain as faceless as on the roads.
Countries like India need to wake-up to greater degree of awareness and action on workplace violence. Most incidents go unreported because either people are not aware about their rights or are simply too scared to report. Coupled with this, organizations do not seem to have enough teeth to deal with such deviant employee behaviour. And many a times the offender may be the 'high-powered official'.
Terrebonne Economic Development Authority recently revamped human resource and harassment policies. Lesson time folks!!!
Remember deviant employee behaviour against other employees could eat-away 'engagement' like a termite.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Book Launch Event: Launch of the book ‘Employee Engagement’

On 28th of February 2011 (Monday), the book ‘Employee Engagement’ co-authored by myself and Mr. S. Ramadoss (Senior V.P. & CHRO, Titan Industries Limited, Bangalore), was officially released by Mr. Bhasker Bhat, MD. Titan Industries Limited. The venue of the event was the ‘Autumn Hall’ of the Royal Orchid Hotel, Bangalore.


The dignitaries who attended the function were from across the corporate world and academia. Human resource Heads and functional heads from companies like Infosys, IBM, Oracle, Himalaya, Titan and Professors from, from organizations like Wellingkar, Alliance University etc. were in the august attendance.

Prominently among them were Dr. Madhukar Angur, Chancellor, Alliance University, Mr. Rahul Gupta, Managing Director, Biztantra Publications, Mr. K.V. Ravinaraynan, GM Wiley India, Mr. Harish Devarajan (President NHRD, Bangalore & People Unlimited), Dr. Archana Arcot, Head – Organizational Development, Infosys, K.G. Umesh Head (HR) Himalaya Herbal Healthcare, Mr. R. Balaji Senior Manager – HR & Housing Titan, Mr. Chayan Chakraborty Senior Project Manager IBM. Also present were Mr. Raju Joseph Senior Sales Manager, Mr. Ramesh Shankaran, Sales Manager – Imports, Wiley, Mr. Vijay Kumar Area Sales Manager, Biztantra, Mr. Ravindran Managing Director – Pearl HRD Solutions, Prof. Anuradha Mahesh, Faculty Wellingkar, besides a host of other corporate leaders.

The event started with a welcome address by Mr. S. Ramadoss. He welcomed all the dignitaries and spoke briefly about the book. He spoke about how his stint at Titan gave him the inspiration to pen down his experiences. After this I took the audience through a brief tour of the book sharing how the idea for a book on employee engagement took birth and eventually became a reality. I had the opportunity to elucidate interesting glimpses from the book.


This was followed by the ceremonial launch of the book by Mr. Bhasker Bhat, Managing Director of Titan. Mr. Bhat then spoke with great élan about the power of people and how a book on ‘Employee Engagement’ is the need of the hour. He also congratulated both the authors for bringing-out this very timely manuscript. Dr. Madhukar Angur in his speech said this book is a perfect confluence of strong research and corporate practice and should be a beacon for many companies and practitioners. He stressed upon the need for more such management books, which can serve a great purpose. The present and past presidents of NHRD, Bangalore also spoke on the need for a book on ‘Employee Engagement’ and congratulated the authors for their ‘work’. Mr. Rahul Gupta, Managing Director, Biztantra shared his experience as to how upon a chance meeting with Dr. Debashish Sengupta, the idea for this book took strong shape and the interesting journey since then. He expressed his desire, as a leader of a reputed management publishing house, to publish more such innovative books in the future. The function ended with a vote of thanks by the Mr. Sridhar N.E. Senior HR Manager Titan. The function was compered by Mr. Elangovan.