What do Employers Want from Employees

WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT FROM EMPLOYEES

A team was having an in-house discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. The point regarding quality manpower came up. Everyone was chipping in with ideas on how to improve the intake and coaching new employees. Methods to improve communication channels came up. An employee, who was so far updating his Facebook status, piped up. “These are okay, but we must have systems in place. Systems must drive the operations.”

“And who will drive the system my friend?” the facilitator shot back at him.

Prof Ram Charan, the renowned management guru to dozens of blue-chip companies and mentor to numerous CEOs writes in his book ‘Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done’, that “The three processes—people, strategy, and operations— remain the building blocks and heart of good execution.” He places people foremost. ‘The man behind the machine’ as they say in the Army.

Each organization, based on the business it is in, needs people from a wide domain of skill sets to drive the business. Skill sets as varied as coding in software development industry to cutting in the garment industry. Skills to handle huge cranes in the construction industry to micro-cutters in the diamond business. This segment of the employees forms the operational core of the business. And there are managers who supervise this operational core.

There is a popular saying that ‘people don’t leave jobs, they leave their managers’. Therefore, the role of managers in sustaining the operational efficiency of the business assumes great importance. And therefore, the companies have great expectations from this supervisory or managerial level of employees.

What do employees look for in candidates at the entry-level?

The results of a fairly recent survey by National Association of Colleges and Employers (US) showed that soft skills are what the hiring managers are looking for in the candidates for entry level jobs.

The top 5 responses in the survey were:

·         Ability to work in a team structure.

·         Decision making and problem solving.

·         Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization.

·         Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work.

·         Ability to obtain and process information.

You’ll notice that the first five are all soft skills, that is, skills and attributes that make a person able to interact with others effectively. They’re all part of your EQ, your emotional intelligence quotient.

The rest 5 responses related to the technical skills.

·         Ability to analyse quantitative data.

·         Technical knowledge related to the job.

·         Proficiency with computer software programs.

·         Ability to create and/or edit written reports.

·         Ability to sell and influence others.

The second half of the top ten does focus more on specific skill sets, including an analytical mindset, good written communication skills, and computer proficiency.

When a person transits from an entry level to the junior or middle-level manager, the expectations of the employer are different. The employee is deemed to have the skills and knowledge of his previous job-level and is required to possess higher levels of those skills and some new ones.  

Basic expectations of employers from junior and middle level managers.

Empathy. Caring about the job and your co-workers are as important as executing the job. The employers put a premium on this quality in this highly interdependent world.

Mentoring inclination and ability. At this level you are a team leader. You are expected to reach out to mentor your team members, and facilitate enhancement of their knowledge and skills.

Conflict management skills. Employers want people who can play well with others in the "corporate sandbox”. You have to know how to deal with personality conflicts and your own role in them.

Self-direction and initiative. Employers expect employees to take upon themselves more than what is actually expected or required.

Flexibility and adaptability. In many companies, change is often the only constant. Employers appreciate members who can adjust quickly and keep playing ball even if the ground, rules or the competitor are changing rapidly.

The expectations of employers can be mapped to the required personal traits of an employee to meet these expectations. Prof Ram Charan, in his book ‘Know-How’ lists out the following personal traits that can boost or interfere with sustained performance of an organization or an individual. To quote from the book:

·         Ambition- to accomplish targets BUT NOT win at all costs.

·         Drive and Tenacity – to search, persist, and follow through BUT NOT hold on too long.

·         Self-confidence – to overcome the fear of failure, fear of response, or the need to be liked and use power judiciously BUT NOT become arrogant and narcissistic.

·         Psychological Openness – to be receptive to new and different ideas AND NOT shut other people down.

·         Realism – to see what can actually be accomplished AND NOT gloss over problems or assume the worst.

·         Appetite for Learning- to continue to grow and improve the know-hows AND NOT repeat the same mistakes.

Understanding the expectations of the employees and conducting an analysis of one’s own strengths and weaknesses will help an employee in quickly adapting to the work and the workplace. He can re-calibrate his skill-sets and knowledge to deliver at his job in a sustained manner and maintain a work-life balance too. Of course, it’s the positive attitude and perseverance that ultimately separates the also-rans and the winners.  

Chabahar: Port of Good Hope

During my stay in Kabul for over a year on a consulting assignment, one experienced first hand the immense love and respect that Indians get and the confidence that India as a country inspires in the Afghans. This is in sharp contrast to the feelings towards Pakistan and its citizens.

A lot of hope is riding on the Chabahar port. In fact one heard many Afghans rue the fact that Pakistan restricts the supply of grains to Afghanistan at its land-border posts thereby limiting availability and  pushing the prices out of reach of the common man. They were optimistic that once Chabahar port is operational, such shortages and high prices will be a thing of the past.

The Chabahar port will not only enhance the availability of food grains to the Afghan citizen, it will also provide a gateway to international markets for its agriculture produce, carpet industry and minerals thereby making the economy grow.

Further,it appears that the US is not going to be leaving Afghanistan anytime soon.It has also been talking about a greater role and involvement of India in bringing back normalcy to Afghanistan. Therefore, notwithstanding US's relations with Iran, I would expect that it would use this port for maintaining its troops stationed there. And India could be acting as the bridge between Iran and US.  To remind the readers, Pakistan has been prone to blackmailing the US over providing passage to supplies through its sea and land ports.In fact there have been disruptions to the supply routes in the past to extract concessions from the US.Such a step would make Pakistan irrelevant for the US war on Taliban. Pakistan would lose its lever over the US and then the latter can go full blast to eliminate the Taliban and the ISIS in Afghanistan..

Of late Shias have been the target of repeated attacks in Afghanistan. The IS has had a hand in these attacks. Iran is reported to have been hiring Shias from Afghanistan to fight the ISIS. Thus it will only be too happy to support any measure that will bring the menace of ISIS to an end. It is on this premise that I base my conjecture that Iran could permit the  US to use Chabahar as a port for maintenance of its troops in Afghanistan. 

The challenge before the Afghan government is the evacuation of goods from the Zahedan border to the interiors of Afghanistan. While there is a road link existing and  there are plans to construct rail-links, providing security will be the main concern.

Afghanistan is investing heavily in the power sector, especially the Renewal Energy sector. It is also revamping its power transmission, distribution and metering infrastructure. It is a huge opportunity for the Indian firms to build a market for power equipment. This port will facilitate transportation of heavy machinery too.

All said and considered, the port is certainly going to be a game and 'fate-changer' for all parties concerned, locally and internationally. It is indeed the 'Port of Good Hope'. 

What Do Employees Want from an HR Professional?

“Sir, what do you tell these employees that even when you have just terminated their work contract they come out smiling out of your office?”, my colleagues used to ask me. This was in the background of frequent strikes by employees in a coal mine in Mozambique till only a few months back.

The previous Head-HR had to face immense hostility and when complaints reached the labour directorate, he was repatriated. I had joined at short notice and set about getting into the hot seat. The initial days were very tough spent in understanding the work and social culture, labour laws and other ground realities. Very soon I was able to establish myself and bring about changes in the organization.

The expectations of the management had been made clear to me when being hired. “Improve productivity.” The question that faced me was, “what do employees expect from the HR team?” The reader is requested to read this with a caveat. There is a difference between expectations from a company and those from an HR person.

My long years in the Army had taught me that a leader has to know his men. So I started meeting the employees almost every day when they were in the mine at work or in their living areas during their free time. This helped me understanding the psyche and the expectations of the employees from the company. I also picked up the basics of Portuguese, the spoken language, the social customs, geography and history. This helped me immensely in connecting with the employees at a more personal level.

The meetings with the employees gave me new insights into their behavior and what motivated them. These expectations were discussed with the management and those which were feasible, fulfilled. Morale was raised. Discipline improved. Productivity improved.

I have worked with organizations before Mozambique and after in different geographies.The expectations of employees from HR in a coal mining company in Mozambique resonate with the expectations of an employee in a manufacturing company in India or a services company in the US. Ultimately it is the human being driven by same physical and emotional needs. Similarly, the expectations from an HR professional are the same across industries and geographies.

We look at some major expectations, being conscious of which has helped me tremendously in my years as an HR professional working in India and abroad.

Problem solving

The HR professional must facilitate individuals with different personalities to work together and accomplish company goals. He is expected to be skilled at conflict management and diffusing tense or combative situations.

Ethics

Employees look up to the HR professional for ethical conduct. Honesty and respecting confidentiality are key components of any successful HR person. The employees admire a professional who is honest in his opinion, fair and unbiased in application of company policies and does not misguide employees.

Communication

An HR professional is the bridge between the employees and the organization. He should be capable of communicating clearly the policies and other directions of the company to the employees. Similarly, he should communicate the feedback received from the employees for the management. He has to be approachable and trustworthy.

Organized

An HR professional should be organized. Strong time management skills and the ability to complete tasks efficiently is very important.

Subject Matter Expertise

An HR professional has to know his industry and the competition. He should be aware of various laws and regulations regarding employment. The employees and the management look towards him for advice on these matters.

Leadership

Employees look to HR professionals for answers and leadership in many situations. The best HR professionals can balance being a friendly presence in the office and the organization with taking control and helping things run smoothly. They have to be ‘people person’ and balance organizational requirements with the needs of the employees. He has to be empathetic and capable of thinking ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions. An employee when approaching an HR person with a grievance, justified or otherwise, expects to heard. Good listening skills combined with patience are a must for the latter.

Companies and employees both expect an HR person to be proactive and address issues before they assume unmanageable proportions. Dynamic has to be the second name. A real partner to the business and the employees. That is what is expected.

Interesting Interviews

I recently had the opportunity to sit on the panels conducting the group discussion and personal interviews for admission to management courses. The first one was for a leading institute in Bhopal and the second was for a college in Mumbai.Both the assignments were quite diverse in terms of experience.

The students I met for the college in Bhopal need to work on their communication skills. Both in English and Hindi. In fact it appeared that many of them had come for the interview just for the fun of it. Personal hygiene was shabby, grooming left a lot to be desired and basic etiquettes missing. Ofcourse there were a few who came across as bright and well mannered.

A trend i noticed was that a number of students from the same village/tehsil had come for the interview. They had no clarity regarding why they wanted to do an MBA course or how it would benefit or not benefit them. All they could answer was, "Sir, it is imperative for getting a job."  When asked about their interest in farming, most of them replied that the land holdings were so small and families large, that it was unviable for all family members to engage in farming.

That brings me to the question that when would we realise as policy makers and shapers of India's future, that ther is an urgent need for appropriate skill development programs. Drawing an analogy with farming, every land is not suitable for all types of crops. A soil study is important to arrive at the the decision to grow the crop most suitable for that soil. Similarly our schools need to conduct aptitude test for students and advise them on the most suitable career for them.

Next comes the soil-preparation stage. The way a farmer tills the land and adds fertilizers etc before planting the seeds, we need to prepare the young ones for their chosen career. Force feed leads to frustration and in many cases the youngsters committing suicide. Note the number of suicide amongst IIT students and others because they could not cope with the studies. They had been forced to take up engineering because of parental or peer pressure.A doctor I know literally forced his son into joining MBBS while one can see that the son had no aptitude or interest for the profession. Throughout his four years of the degree course his mother, herself a doctor, had to stay with him and make sure that he goes through the course. The boy is depressed and has withdrawn. I wonder what would be his level of motivation for treating patients? So why force feed?

There are some crops which need special care while there are others which are hardy and grow in abundance. So it is with the young. Each has a different mental constitution. As parents and teachers we need to train ourselves to understand this and guide our wards accordingly.

The world is changing rapidly. We need to revamp our education system to be prepared for the future. At the moment I think if we can ensure that we keep up with the times, it would be huge achievement.

The Commanding Officers' Shoes

  The promotion of an officer in the Army to the rank of a Colonel and being given command of a Unit is an important landmark in his career. Only a few get there. It is a matter of pride for the parent regiment of the officer when this happens. Further, it is an honour to command the regiment into which one has been commissioned.

As it happened, recently an officer (lets call him Col M) got promoted to the rank of Colonel and he was to take over a Regiment. The officer has been highly focused, diligent in his professional duties and worked hard on the courses. Inspite of all this, he was at the receiving end of a luke warm report. But as they say, you cannot suppress sheer hard work and talent. He continued to work hard and stay focused. And in due course has been able to overcome competition.

Once the posting order was issued for him to take over a regiment in field (Regiment II), congratulatory messages followed. 

In the trail of congratulatory emails an ex commanding officer (call him Col F) of his parent regiment congratulated him, recounted the names of his friends who had commanded this regiment II. Col F went on to express his wish 

that Col M should have taken over his parent regiment. So far so good. What really set me wondering were the 

words “though I would have loved for you to step into my shoes after the (present incumbent) abdicates”.

I needed to go into the origin of the phrase “stepping into one’s shoes” and what did ‘abdicate’ mean. I quickly put on my worn out thinking cap, took out the much - thumbed Merriam Webster’s dictionary and started tapping on the not so worn out keypad of my laptop. No fancy         i-pads for me!

As I understand, ‘stepping into someone’s shoes’ means getting into the role of that person. As the Oxford 

dictionary says step into someone's shoes ‘Take control of a task or job from another person’:

So I questioned myself, is the command of a Unit a pair of ‘institutional shoes’ into which individuals step in, 

perform their role and step out. The next person steps into them. But I guess this explanation is too simplistic. Is it 

that Col F probably mean that he had worn his personal pair of shoes during his command (which he used to kick 

nonconformists like yours truly) and would like to hand them over to the young colonel?

Examining both the explanations further. If we take the first case, the command being institutional, how can the 

young colonel step into Col F’s shoes? Because Col F himself had stepped into the shoes which were already there,     worn by Col E his predecessor.

And the present incumbent, to give him a pseudonym, Col L, Cols G,H,I J and K having come in after Col F. So, if at all Col M has to step into anyone’s shoes it would bethose currently worn by Col L. Or maybe I am missing the spirit in which Col F claims them to be his shoes! Old spirits die hard. Huge hangover from long years of being inebriated on power?

In the second case, maybe the old man is wanting to take out his old ‘commanding officer’s shoes’ from the attic 

and give it to the young colonel because he believed what Gabriel Heather said “The only time people work like a 

horse is when the boss rides them”. 

Next moving on to the issue of the present incumbent’s ‘abdication’, I wondered why the hell would he do that? The Queen of England has not done that for her son, the poor Prince of Wales. Why would this young commanding 

officer who has taken over a few months back, ‘abdicate’? Anyway I googled abdicate and I got 

ˈabdɪkeɪt/

Verb

1.

(of a monarch) renounce one's throne.

"in 1918 Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated as German emperor"

synonyms:

resign, retire, quit, stand down, step down, bow out, renounce the throne; More

2. fail to fulfil or undertake (a responsibility or duty).

"the government was accused of abdicating its responsibility"

synonyms:

disown, turn down, spurn, reject, renounce, give up, avoid, refuse,abnegate, relinquish, abjure, repudiate, waive, yield, forgo, abandon,surrender, deliver up, disgorge, cast aside, drop, turn one's back on,wash one's       hands of;  informal shirk;  archaic forsake "the state virtually abdicated all responsibility for their welfare"

  

The search results have left me still more confused. In keeping with the times when the Prime Minister says that he is a ‘sewak’ of the masses, the least we can do is 

change our mindset about the commanding officer being the ‘king’. The present leaders of men would do well to 

remember that in the past a leader was a boss. Today’s leaders must be partners with their people...they no longer can lead solely based on positional authority.

And why am I confused? Is it that the successive officers step into the Commanding Officer’s shoes or do officers 

get their own shoes to the game?

What I have tried to do is to listen to my voice, because my voice is my boss. 

Disclaimer: This is a fictional narration to discuss an idea, words and phrases. Any similarity with emails, language, incidents, persons is purely coincidental and not intended to be offensive.

Beas Tragedy-Who is to Blame?

On 8th June 2014, two buses carrying students and few faculty members of VNR Vignana Jyothi Intitute of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad on an excursion to Manali, Himachal Pradesh halted at a place near Thalot on NH-21. They were on their way back to Mandi. NH-21 runs almost parallel to River Beas right from Manali to Mandi. The distance between the river and the road varies from a few metres when one gets a exotic view of the river to a few hundred metres when the river is not visible from the road.

So it was that fateful evening when the visitors decided to take a few pictures as close to the river. A few calls exchanged between the travellers of the two buses and the buses stopped near Larji Hydro Power Project (LHPP). Apparently the water seemed to be the closest from this point. However as per media reports the students still had to descend nearly 15 metres to reach water.
Further 15 kms downstream is Pandoh Dam.

About a km upstream at the LHPP the power generation unit received a phone call from the control room in Simla to cut down production from 126MW to 68MW. One generation unit was shut down but then the water level started rising in the reservoir. Further upstream at Aut, it touched the NH-21. Therefore the dam authorities decided to release some water into the river to avoid damage to the Project. The gates were opened at about 6.20pm. The dammed waters gushed out.

The students were totally engrossed in clicking photographs and other fun activities typical to such a young group. Suddenly they found themselves in rising waters. It was all over in 2-3 minutes. 24 young lives washed away. 24 families lose the cynosure of their eyes. How many of these lives had the hopes of their family pinned on them for a better life?

The politicians were quick to get into the act of taking credit for relief work. It was quite disgusting to see the one upmanship being played out between the TRS chief and Telengana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao and the Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu. The HP CM spitting out his two bits asking reporters to check the political leanings of those criticising the lack of warning before the water was released only adds to the disgust. A full scale blame game is on.

Whatever be the outcome of the blame game,what are we doing to prevent such an occurrence taking place again? There are some urgent steps that need to be taken at various levels namely the government,society, educational institutions and most important at the family level.

The government and its departments must be having their standard operating procedures (SOP) to guide the operations. The authorities have to ensure that the staff follows these SOP.

Having said this,there is also a need to identify and mark prospective dangerous areas. Or at least identify the nature of risk/danger and take steps to mitigate the impact. e,g. the Forest Dept has put up numerous boards announcing the presence of tigers in the forests surrounding Kerwa Dam in Bhopal. The visitors are warned and hence they are cautious. Go to any safety conscious project site and you will see warning boards. Cordoning off such areas are also part of safety measures, as in the Metro sites.

While it may not be feasible to cordon the access from the road to the river in this case,warning boards along the road on NH-21 near the river informing the public of the danger in going to the river could have imposed caution on these young free spirited souls and they would have still been with us.

At the educational institutes, inputs on the likely risks to be faced during an excursion should form part of any detailed briefing before the excursion. As someone commented somewhere on the social media that having lived the first 20 years of his life in Himachal, he would never have gone close to the river and more so at 6.30 in the evening when the light is failing. The author goes on to say that he is aware of the flash floods in rivers in the mountains. Creating such awareness in the visiting students could have saved their lives.

We need to inculcate, instill ,imbue into the national consciousness a healthy regard for safety norms. Inculcating safety consciousness in school children from a very early age. But that is possible only if the parents themselves are aware and 'intelligent' enough to impart such education to their children.It distresses me to see even grandfathers with their little grandchild standing in front on the scooter and driving on the wrong side of the road only to avoid driving a few hundred metres extra. The number of parents who drive in this manner is huge.One doesn't need to submit proof to substantiate this point. Minors barely 40 inches tall can be seen driving two wheelers with impunity and the dash of a professional racer in every town/city.

Observe any group of picnickers at a water body. Most of them want to get into the water without understanding the dangers inherent to that place. Every now and then we read reports of minors drowning in water filled quarries.

Why can't we teach our children to be careful? I hope the teachers accompanying the students tried to dissuade the students from going too close to the river. Only subsequent enquiries and time will bring this out. But even if they did, would the students have listened? I have my doubts. Because we have failed to teach them to be safety conscious.

While we can leave the institutions to do their part, we as citizens can start with ourselves becoming safety conscious and imbuing it in our children or those in our charge as the first step.

  

Random Cooking-Bloody Mary Mutton

I enjoy the times when i have unrestricted access to the kitchen. No that does not imply that i enjoy when my better half is away. Honestly. All it means that once in a while when the kids insist that i cook, do i get this unrestricted access.

One fine sunny winter morn, I was reading a novel set in the British Raj times.The 'propah' Memsahib, the 'Burra Sahib' with his penchant for immaculate dressing and dining was driven by a keen desire to embrace Mughlai food.And the cook, the eternally ephemeral Inamdeen. I drifted off to slumber land  and was ushered in to the Burra Sahib's dining room. The Burra Sahib was shouting at Inamdeen, who had failed to set aside the delectable mutton dish he had prepared earlier for the household for the Burra Sahib. "Bloody, meri mutton kha  gaya tum."

I woke up with a start. "Bloody Mary Mutton". What an idea!! Checked the freezer. Mutton was in stock. Checked the bar, vodka was still there.Did   No tomato juice. Not a problem. Plenty of tomatoes. Got down to business!!
Pureed the tomatoes while the mutton was on a merry-go-round in the micrwave. This experience would leave it sweaty and thawed. Soften it for the what i was going to do with it. So would it be with the tomatoes. Aah!! but what about my poor parched throat? It too must be satiated. And my poor arms, which are used to a translatory motion in the longitudinal plane. Lifting a glass with increasingly reducing weight and then again gaining weight. What about their exercise?  There were half a dozen beer cans inside. As the information travelled from my optical nerves through the complex system of synapses, I could hear my throat heave a sigh of relief and my arm tingle in anticipation. The finger tips twitched with joy at the prospect of holding the chilled beer can!!
By the time i opened a can, the mutton had thawed and the puree was ready.
Marinated the mutton in vodka (120ml), tomato puree and the usual spices. Did not forget to add salt.
Dealing with three cans took about an hour or so and i was back in service of the mutton-mix.
Heated a pan with two spoons of oil, tej patta, cloves, cardamom and some chopped onions.
Stirred till the onions were brown. Then put the mutton-mix in the pan and turned the flame low. Covered the pan with a lid. Forgot to put chillies. Opened the lid and put about 10 green chillies.
Went back to stir the mix in between couple of sips. In fact i was functioning like a metronome. Four sips, stir for five minutes. Four sips, stir for five minutes.
Each sip took two seconds and the time interval between successive sips was two minutes. In each sip i took in about 20ml. Thats about 22 sips for a 440ml can!!
To cut it short, the mutton-mix was on fire for about an hour and a half. The colour was brownish red. Brown from the onions and spices, red from the tomatoes. So much for Mendellian laws.
By the time three beer cans had found their way to the trash can, the meat was cooked. Soft and succulent and fiery.
The kids were back from the market and were hungry. Fried some chicken nuggets for them ( they have resisted from sampling the delights of mutton cooked by self). My wife is very fond of my cooking... Actually which wife wouldn't be!! Not by my cooking but by their respective husband's cooking for them.
So we had Bloody Mary Mutton with parathas and chicken nuggets!!!