Rangaraj K.s
Vice President CSR, HR & IR
Bombay Rayon Fashions
Brief detail about HR Strategies in Place in your Company
We are in the business of exporting Apparel and Manufacturing textiles.
Our HR strategies are very situational. Our vision and focus is very
much business driven. HR is a facilitator and service driven and plays
more of a support role. Strategic thinking in the Apparel Industry is a
rare phenomenon. Nevertheless HR has come to stay in this Industry
purely operationally.
Today trends seen in HR
We have gone past the stage where HR has been talked about as business
partner. How far it is deep rooted really cant be assessed. Yes everyone
considers HR as the back bone for an organization, in reality it is
only on paper except for in the Information technology Industry, it is a
process driven function and to count on your fingers there are very few
companies which sincerely implement best practices. The trends are
encouraging though, profession has changed as HR professionals are
looking at being multitasking in the years to come. Learning never
stops, developments never stop, new trends will continue and we have to
keep learning. The function is here to stay.
Difficulties in Planning Human Resource in an ever changing business
In an organization such as ours, decisions keep changing every day,
hence planning becomes too complicated. Again I go back to my first
answer and reiterate and say we are situational leaders.
HR Relationship with the CEO
It is a mixed bag. Differs from Industry to Industry. There is no
general comment as such. Some of the CEOs still view business as
important, HR not so important though required to support business. HR
to some CEOs is only required when there is a problem ion hands, HR is
required to do fire-fighting. Somebody recruits and HR is required only
to fire.
Motivating Employees with Rewards
In the Apparel Industry, rewards are a rarity. The Industry is very
diverse. Nothing moves as per plans. Of course we do motivate people in a
small way and recognize them for their efforts.
Biggest Pain Point
Service orientation of the function is the biggest pain as the value
attached to HR is only on paper, reality is something else. It is a
thankless profession to a great extent.
Different Qualities looking while hiring people
Experience hands on, competency, fitment, softer areas such as attitude etc, are very important which we view.
Some of the leadership development programs being held and results obtained
Not much as getting people together is not easy.
Identifying Leaders promoting them to the next level
We have no tried and tested systems as such. Leaders evolve through sheer performance. This is at a very nascent stage.
Engaging Gen Y - Leadership and Organization Culture
Very important.
Recruiting & retaining the diverse and ambitious Generation Y. Are they really ambitious
Not much headway has been made in this Industry.
Attrition Management: Retaining vs. fresh hiring
Extremely tough. Retaining core workers is only through better
compensation. When people join they are in the peripheral group. After
they stay with us for 6 months they are upgraded to the core group where
they get better remuneration which is the only way in our kind of
industry. Only money speaks.
Promotional techniques work best reason behind it
Money and incentives.
Workplaces are changing. Cultures are evolving. Do you think the average employee today is different from his/her counterpart from a decade ago too? What is lacking and what does he/she need to keep in mind in today’s working scenario
The average employee is certainly better off today as he or she is
exposed to the knowledge world, changing trends in technology, easier
and faster ways of working, making fast bucks etc.
Attracting good people, retaining the better people and advancing the best people
Pay for quality, retain qualitative manpower and advance the quality
guys to taking more responsibility and ownership. Buzzword is quality.
Advice/ suggestions to fellow HRs
Keep up the good work, keep learning, add value to yourself and the
company you work for. Be passionate and love your profession.
