Happiness Assessment on an American website

Read my invitational blog post on an American website- Happiness Assessment


URL: http://employeehappinesstipstrickstools.com/

The web site has been organized by Dr. Jerry Wagner, Director, Wellbeing Institute, Bellevue University, Nebraska (USA). He has multiple entities under his non-profit organization called Green Pig Software. So, this site is “sponsored” by Green Pig Software, Inc.

The website started last year had identified 26 authors from around the globe to be on the panel to write invitational blog posts every Sunday.
Your feedback is valuable and please send some. Also if you like the post, please leave a comment on the website. Thanks!!!

p.s. for my earlier post go to September 2012 in Archives.

Do not Clog Gen Y; else they will Log you out!

If news reports are to be believed then Gen Y no more wants to travel by train. The clogged snail-paced website of Indian railways makes it difficult to book a ticket, especially when you need one urgently; if you land-up at the railway station to book a ticket then serpentine queues swallow your time and day. Growing lack of safety in train-travel, poor travel experience that includes dirty toilets, no or nonsensical pantry car, all are contributing in rapidly shunning-away Gen Y from the good-old train. Instead the Gen Y seems to refer air-travel that is far easier to access, much safer, faster, and more comfortable. And with fares almost at par with AC train fares; flying seems to be the obvious choice.

The 'signal' is loud and clear on the wall for railways – Gen Y is increasingly logging-out of their tracks.

Few months back when I was invited by an Indian IT-major for a giving a talk on Gen Y, one of the senior HR asked me that he did not quite understand why Gen Y is so impatient on the ‘bench’. This despite the fact that they provided them training and an assurance of allotting them to proper projects in due course. But all this took sometime, according to him, and Gen Y would start leaving the company. The answer is in understanding Gen Y behaviour and even more why they behave the way they do. Our researches on gen Y have shown that Gen Y are the way they are thanks to the times that they live! Their belief and ability in themselves is paradoxical to the insecurities that they face in the environment. They know they can do it and they will go and get it. Waiting makes less sense to them and they start looking for alternatives that are better.

The moment you start clogging them-up, they will start logging you out!

As simple as it can be!

One of my acquaintances, who does some freelance training for a PSU bank, tells me that the bank is finding it difficult to retain Gen Y hires. The attrition rate among Gen Y hires is tremendous. So a secure government job is not enough to retain them! Hmm… do you get it? They are too secure in themselves to bite the government security bait! They would rather look at an exciting and challenging career, and do not be surprised if they nurse an ambition to head an organization or even start one of their own.

Not surprising that even foreign banks like Standard Chartered, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche bank are planning to dangle the carrot of working overseas to retain the talent, as money alone fails to do the magic!

'In just 15 years, by 2028, the last of the boomers will be reaching retirement age, Generation Y will make up roughly three-quarters of the work force by this time and the oldest millennial, will be still quite young at just 47, will be entering leadership position.'  (ASTD)

By that rate organization all over the world are set to see a huge influx of Gen Y workers.

But the question is – Are the pre-millennial organizations ready for the millennial generation?


Think before they log-in or think after they log-out – the choice is yours!!!

Plain 'Whistle Blowing' or they mean Business?

CEOs of prominent private banks have offered immunity to the whistle blowers. This came after allegations levelled by Cobrapost.com that certain employees of private banks launder black money by adopting unfair practices. Chief executives at ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have offered immunity to staff who exposes unfair practices and violation of guidelines by colleagues, even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has dismissed money-laundering allegations made about these banks by a sting operation.

Providing immunity and protection to whistle-blowers could enhance employee trust drastically, and could contribute to creating strong engagement between them and their respective organizations. This could also foster a culture of good practices and fairness, both among internal and external stakeholders. However, despite the fact that the announcement by these CEOs appears very good on paper, the larger question remains that of execution. Would the whistleblower policy be implemented in letter and spirit or remain as a mere PR exercise.

My scepticism is not without reasons –

Hidden Target Effect: Most of the allegations against the employees of certain private banks in the Cobrapost ‘expose’ related to efforts by them to help their client’s convert black money to legal money using unfair means and also by-passing important banking rules and guidelines. But then could such practices have been the result of immense pressure of targets that these banks place on their employees? Perhaps many-a- times banks may know that such targets are unrealistic and not possible to achieve through ‘right and fair’ means, yet they may turn a  blind eye to their employee’s misdemeanours and maintain a ‘silence of convenience’.

This is what I call the hidden-target effect and if its in place then that would nullify any policy on immunity of whistleblowers, as in this case the bank is a ‘silent’ accomplice of their employees.

Reactive Defensive-Routine effect: Way back in April 2007, the apex central bank had announced a policy for the protection of whistleblowers. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had introduced a whistleblower policy for private and foreign banks that allowed customers, shareholders, NGOs and other members of the public to complain in confidence. The complainant could even be an employee. Then suddenly after 6 years why would some private banks announce a similar policy – why after 6 years and why again?

The announcement by the chief executives of these banks appears to more of a reactive defensive routine. Despite the fact that for now that the apex bank has dismissed any money-laundering charges against these banks, the sting has definitely created some bad publicity. Such an announcement could be to thwart the negative publicity.

History is replete with examples where whistleblowers have been subjected to harassment. In fact in the case of a prominent international bank a whistleblower was subjected to harassment and even fired from the bank. This happened despite the fact that the bank had a whistleblower policy.

Regulations effect: The other reality of our banking system is that it is highly regulated. The fact that black money is stashed away from Indian shores is of no gain to anyone. I am not advocating creation of black money but the fact remains that such money is in circulation. So what do you do about it? You can have a highly regulated environment and encourage the black money owners to stash it away from the Indian shores, but then it will remain out of bounds for everyone except the one who has stashed it away.

A recent report, submitted to the government in December, speculates the size of black economy at about 30% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) or about Rs. 25 lakh crore. A study commissioned by the government last year on quantifying black money generated in the country has estimated that the illicit wealth is likely to exceed 10% of GDP or anywhere above Rs 10 lakh crore, given the size of the economy. Most of this black money is stashed offshore and it is impossible to believe that such enormous amount of black money could have been possible without a hidden & illicit nexus.

Is there any way that our government can bring back all this black money? Undoubtedly many will echo the very obvious answer – No.

Conclusion
Are these regulations responsible for such practices amongst private bank employees?
Are aggressive targets of these banks responsible?
Are banks conveniently quite on such practices, yet make PR noises?

I leave it your judgement.

However, a whistleblower policy may not be enough –
a)without finding out reasons for the alleged prevalence of wrong practices among private bank employees;
b) without real execution of such a policy; and,
c) without either fundamentally altering the organizations or altering regulative environment.

Aon Hewitt India Salary Survey, 2013 Projections

Overall Salary increase expected - 10.3 %

Industry-wise projections
Pharmaceutical - 13.5%
Life Sciences - 13.1%
Medical Devices - 12.6%
FMCG Sector - 12.3%
Consumer Business - 11.8%
BFSI Sector - 10.2%
ITES Sector - 10.1%
IT Sector - 9.6%

Salary hikes compared to 2012
Projected hikes are slightly less than 2012.

Attrition compared to 2012
Attrition level has come down in 2013, compared to 2012

Gap between Best & Rest
2013 salary projections show that gap between the talented employees (Hi-Pots., Hi-Performers and Critical Talent) and the rest of the employees is widening. The talented employee are expected to get an average hike of 14.1%.

Country-wise average salary-hikes
Venezuela - 25.6%
Argentina - 24.2%
Vietnam - 12.6%
Tanzania 10.6%
India - 10.3%
China - 9.3%
UK - 3%
USA - 2.7%

Sources:
1. Salaries set to rise over 10% this year: Survey, TNN Feb 21, 2013
2. Indian IT to give smaller salary increments in 2013: Report, TOI Feb 20, 2013 

SRK & Women Equality

Shahrukh Khan has declared that in keeping with his sensibility that advocates equal status for women, the names his female leads would appear before his name in the credits. Fantastic! Many are showering praise on SRK for his chauvinism. Even some of the female stars of Bollywood have heaped praises on him for his exhibition of equality for women. But then does it really make any difference? First of all, why would a man’s generosity be women’s equality? Then, market dynamics more than anything should decide whose name appears first in the credits, right? Branding principles do not care if the person is male or female; whoever can provide more mileage to the brand does the honors. And finally would SRK take equal or lesser remuneration than his female leads in the film? No, I suppose, because that calls for more than jingoism. I agree it should be again the market that should decide the price that a star commands.


Then, why this hullabaloo over the order of names in the film-credits.

Let the market decide!

But something that is really making a difference to some career-oriented women in this country is the Tata Second Career Internship Program. The program started by the Tata group has given definite advantage to women who want to re-enter into the workforce but find it difficult to find full-time employment or find their previous profession exhausting and not suitable anymore. What is amazing is that on completion of a successful project with TATA SCIP, the women can choose to work with Tata group or in some other company or even choose to become an entrepreneur.

Coming back to SRK's gesture, few women whom I asked how they felt about the same, they told me that they do not need his favour for their status in the society. "If we do well, we will deserve our place and we will get it". Digging the past is not a good idea and may be people have repented for the same but if news reports are to be believed that then SRK had replaced one of his female leads in his home production as a loyalty gesture to one of his then male friends, who is also a big star in the industry.

Equality needs a little more than lip-service, I guess!

I will go with Tata SCIP anyday for that!

Gen Y loves Facebook, Twitter @ Work

Want to attract Generation Y (aged 20-25) to a plum job? Allow them access to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter – both a must-have for them.


In the US, nearly 40 per cent of GenY chose an employer who allowed access to them in office, Sameer Garde, Managing Director, Dell India, said at a recent seminar quoting a survey.

It is only a matter of time before this trend catches up in India. While access to Facebook or Twitter is a strict ‘no’ in some companies, it is limited only to top managers in some organisations.

For instance, at Larsen & Toubro, employees cannot access Facebook or Twitter. At Infosys and Cognizant, it is only for a few seniors and in Wipro it is only through an internal social media site.

Under pressure

Off the record, officials say they are under pressure to provide free access to Facebook and Twitter but worried about a leak of clients’ confidential information.

“We are in an era of social revolution and we need to keep employees happy by embracing this revolution. This will help boost employees' morale,” Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman of the US-based software company Cognizant said in a seminar last year. The average age of its employees is 26.

E. Balaji, CEO, Randstad India, said companies are getting accustomed to the fact that there is a growing trend among the new-age workforce to be more ‘social’ at work, both online and offline. Some companies are open enough to adopt a flexible Internet policy where employees browse such social media sites for 30-60 minutes in a day. Larger companies look at this as an opportunity for collaboration and employee engagement, and have built their own internal social networking sites.

A Randstad survey on workforce trends shows that 80 per cent of Indian employees connect with their colleagues outside working hours through social media. “Instead of trying to buck the trend, companies should try to provide controlled access,” he said.

Restricted access

Sunil Goel, Managing Director, GlobalHunt India Pvt Ltd, an executive search company, said companies want people to focus on their core work and not get distracted during working hours. However, some companies allow some flexibility to use the social media sites from personal mobile devices and at the library and cafeteria.

“Too much restriction will not bring in results up to expectations. So, it is advisable to have restricted access to social media sites,” he said.

(Source: Wooing GenY with social networks at work by T. E. Raja Simhan, Business Line, March 21, 2013) 

HCL - Design, Gen Y and Facebook

There have been news reports about fresh graduates protesting outside the gates of HCL Technologies against inordinate delay in onboarding, despite having received offer letters last year. This is also the first time ever that Indian IT industry has seen street-protests.


Many have seriously questioned the company’s much touted ‘Employee First, Customer Second’ motto, calling it a mere rhetoric. Personally, I think it is little harsh on the company, considering that it has had some really good HR practices in the past, especially for the women employees. But undoubtedly HCL seems to be losing the plot somewhere.

Companies delaying onboarding of fresh recruits is common. This year too other companies have staggered onboarding of some of their fresh hires. But HCL’s case has been compounded by two factors – one that the number of fresh recruits awaiting onboarding are on the higher side; and second, that the company has not given any definite date for on-boarding. The inordinate delay and growing suspense has charged-up the passions.

The Design Issue

The question then that looms large is that why were such high number of hires were made that compounded the problem? How did the manpower planning go so wrong? One understands that estimates and forecasts cannot be made accurate down to the last hire considering that market uncertainty takes its own toll, but how could so much randomness creep into the system? Was there a lack of collaboration between the business side and the human resources?

McKinsey research clearly shows and proves that most of the organizations have the outdated 20th century design that creates silo’s within the organization, obstructs the flow of intangibles like talent and knowledge and provides no incentive for people to collaborate,. As a result, people behave in a silo wised manner. Each department or function becomes a separate unit itself. Design essentially includes three elements – structure, culture and control systems (reward systems). Faulty organizational design results in 'unproductive complexity' across the organization that ultimately hinders the value-creation by the firm. The research also recommends a new 21st century designs that overcomes all these issues by ‘design’. In short, HCL seems to be a victim of the outdated 20th century design.

Gen Y

Our ongoing research on Gen Y has clearly shown two things – one that Gen Y are what, thanks to the times that they live and second that they face paradoxes in their lives. Gen Y have a sense of immediacy, they live in today and not for tomorrow. The paradoxes that they face in life put a demand on them to address mutually contradictory challenges in their lives. They are fearless (in terms of being confident of themselves; their parents have brought them up by making them believe that they can do anything and achieve just about everything) as well as have an insecurity (because of economic, political volatility & social upheavals that they have witnessed). They want it and they know they can get it! Most companies seem to be missing this point, that they are dealing with a different generation of workers altogether - the Gen Y. HCL has also been hit by this phenomenon.

Social Media

Most companies also do not seem to truly understand the power of social media. Social media is the biggest detonator discovered till date. What HCL failed to notice was that a Facebook group called HCL Technologies 2012 Freshers quietly came-up on the social networking site. This group helped the entire fresher hired by the company waiting on-boarding to come-together. Thanks to this group, the social media protest soon snowballed into a street campaign.

HCL could have done without this negative publicity and public embarrassment. Engagement is not about few policies or some random measures. Engagement has to be built & cultivated in design. For that companies need to drastically alter the way they are and they function. Else, more events like HCL may be in the offing.

Religious tamasha and rampant insensitivity

Yesterday some people in this country were celebrating a religiously auspicious day and some were making sure that everyone else gets to know that they are celebrating. The crackers kept on bursting till well past midnight. We could not sleep and my kid kept on waking-up. If that was not enough then drums kept beating throughout the night. Considering that the next day was the first working day of the week, we had to struggle to sleep and more than that ensure that our kid has a good night sleep. But then that’s nothing compared to hundreds wanting to celebrate the day as loudly as they would like to. Individual should be sacrificed for the group, right!

Morning we were greeted by large bursts of crackers again. Complimentary wake-up call! Nice, nice…only problem was that there was not electricity supply in the morning. A little research would tell you that the neighbourhood community place that had taken most of the power using mechanisms that may be illegal in the rulebook, the power failure was anyways expected due to overload. No power, no hot water, no induction cooker. Simple morning chores became herculean tasks. But should that be botheration for anyone? After all, the individual should be sacrificed for group’s vanity, right!

Then in the morning, my usual route was jammed much more than the normal day. The vehicles were literally crawling and then the demonic public transport buses were trying to overtake from all directions. They were not even sparing the sidewalk of the road, making it worse, where even a split second lapse in concentration might result in one getting hit by a rowdy bus or a cab. At that slow snail pace physical damage is ruled-out, until and unless one is on a two-wheeler. However a bad dent on the car was definitely on and that would mean a couple of thousands to get the damage recovered later, besides the harassment.

Anyways I was wondering why the usual rascal road had turned into an even bigger devil. My puzzle was solved as I reached (better read dragged) little ahead in the maddening traffic – a rath (chariot) stood outside a religious place, blocking a good part of the road, decked in flowers. The rath was obviously being readied for a procession of the divine elements and definitely this was a continuation of the yesterday’s special day. The already narrow road had been made narrower by the rath that stood unrepentantly. No one except the ones stuck in their vehicles seemed bothered. Even the custodians of the traffic standing nearby seemed amused and were seen cracking jokes, apparently. Anyways why should anyone be bothered? After all no one really cares on such occasions what happens to few poor souls!

Well, did I celebrate this special religious day? Yes, I did but in the quite confines of my home, without bothering anyone, without bursting crackers in the dead of the night, without beating drums, without pulling a chariot on a busy Monday morning. I do not think I failed to please the divine any lesser than those insensitive people (although they would vehemently differ from me and even perhaps lynch me for my audacity). But then was I even trying to please or just saying my prayers…I think the latter is more correct description of my practice.

Then all around the city, there were posters of some leaders who were at the forefront of these celebrations in their localities (read constituencies later on as elections would come closer). In all such posters the image of the mortal leader, with hands folded, was bigger than the images of the god’s and goddess’s. The truth of all such over-the-top screaming celebrations was some clever political sponsor who was trying to create a guarantee for future amongst masses. And we most readily give-in to such pampering done at the cost of public inconvenience and comfort. But who cares, when things are coming free and then religious fervour is taken to dizzy levels.

What we forget in all this religious tamasha is that we could have treated our fellow human-being, whom the almighty created, a little better than trying to please the same God. That would have given the divine more happiness then all the ado that we mortals do. After all, what can we give back to the ‘one’ who has given everything?

But then the restraint and sensitivity that I am talking-off is most unexpected. So called leaders are equally insensitive and idiots as most people. Individual needs are always sacrificed on the altar of collective hooliganism in our society. The result, the ones who really matter, those who can make a difference, add value & productivity are made to suffer and are severely disengaged, likewise in society, as in the many organizations. Insensitivity and lack of wisdom is damn common!

So, the best thing is to shut-up and take it as it comes. It is really good to pose as an idiot sometimes! You guessed it right; I would not do anything different.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO-Facebook

Source: You Tube

Women are smarter yet are more burdened!

Am I trying to win more women votes? What will I do with those votes, anyways? I am neither politician nor aspiring to be one. In my blog, I can afford to have an opinion, isn’t it? But then if there is a scientific evidence to back something, will you still call it an opinion? Neuroscientists at the University of California, Los Angeles and universities in Madrid, Spain (refer source 1) have found out that despite the fact that women have 8% smaller brains than men, their brains are more efficient, needing fewer neurons and less energy to complete a task. They found that in women the hippocampus, which plays a central role in memory, intelligence and emotion, consumes less energy and uses fewer brain cells on a given task than in men. The study, published in the journal Intelligence, found that women outperformed men in inductive reasoning and some numerical skills. They were also better at keeping track of a changing situation.

So without an iota of doubt, science has proved that women are smarter than men in many ways. So what should have been the natural outcome? Their participation in the visible economy should have increased, right?  Men realising the potential of their better counterparts, should have shared more work at home as women prove to be more than equal in the world outside home! Perceptually we also think this is what has happened, do you agree? 

Yes! Well, think again!  

The findings of the report of National Sample Survey Organization on participation of women in domestic duties are startling. It shows (refer source 2) that despite the hype, more women are remaining home-bound doing domestic duties than a decade ago, even though a large of them are willing to work. This is true both for rural and urban areas. In rural areas, the share of women mainly doing domestic duties hovered around the 35% mark between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, but increased sharply to over 40% in 2009-10; in urban areas this rose from 45% to 48%. Among the home-bound non-working women over 15 years old 19% in rural areas and 18% in urban areas said that they would like to work from home.

Alas!

So women are smarter, yet more burdened! Why do you think this happens? The answer is hidden behind the varied psyche of men and women.

Women instinctively think they have to take care!

Women’s ability to be better at inductive reasoning and assessment of changing situation  results in them instinctively take to caring for family better than men. This coupled with motherhood, makes them automatically take to household work when the option is to do or keep things unmanaged. Society also puts the responsibility of taking care of home, family and kids on women. In short, women have no choice.

Men at best think that they help!

Despite the fact that the number of chivalrous men have increased over the years,  even those who share the household work think that they are helping. Help! which means that the basic assumption is still that the household work is women’s domain. This is the problem.

So what does it leave women with? More work at home, fewer choices and tougher years ahead. The only hope is their brain, that without doubt is sharper and smarter. Happy Women’s Day brave ladies!

(Sources: 1. Women have more efficient brains than men, The Telegraph, U.K. March 3, 2013;

2. More women stay home, do housework than 10 yrs ago, The Times of India, March 2, 2013)