by Human Resource Management, or HRM, in India is much the same as in other countries: taking care of management and employee issues, dealing with talent development, managing benefits, and providing discipline. However, when dealing with the largest working population in the world, India has a difficult and unique challenge, which has led to some more creative solutions.
For one, India has developed an entire ministry in its government devoted to regulating Human Resources and encouraging education to ensure that there is sufficient talent in addition to the sheer volume of employees. It also has to deal with the youth of its organizations and use technology effectively to cope with the volume of employees it has. For this reason, HR in India uses social media frequently, such as LinkedIn and other resources.
With drain becoming rampant, there seems to be dearth of talent in India. There is a need to tackle this problem. India has been the principal source of human capital for the rest of the world, so it is not unusual for Indians to be absorbed by foreign companies overseas. However, India needs to take advantage of their human capital. Everyone wants to grow and learn in their jobs and make good salaries. Those of us with talent want to do our best at whatever we are good at. Everybody is trying to reach self-actualization. So, every company needs to find good talent, keep it and develop it.
Switching jobs is a trend these days and the need to retain employees has become a strategic requirement if business organizations have to have best of talent. Money is certainly not the answer to this problem because there will always be someone else who is willing to pay you more. Building a bond between the employee and the organization is critical. There is no simple formula to creating this engagement. The company needs to outlay a compelling vision, and the employee needs to believe in what the organization is trying to accomplish. As soon as the word ‘routine’ starts laying in a worker’s mind, the company has lost him. The organization should ensure that an employee is justly rewarded for his contribution and is constantly given newer, challenging responsibilities.
There is a stereotype that the HR executives don’t do any work and keep coming up with meaningless policies. The premise is not right. HR executives are not planning the strategies that they should be if they introduce meaningless policies. When there is a proliferation of policies the employees become cynical. The HR should manage their time effectively. If they spend too much time on payrolls, they’re not doing a good job as that work can be comfortably outsourced. They should devote more time to strategies that help build engagements.
Some individuals think the skills needed by a HR professional in India different from the ones needed by an HR professional in developed countries. This is not correct looking at the bigger picture. But the Indian context is different. Indian economy is growing rapidly, so that HR professional needs to act and react quicker. In the US talk about hiring a 1,000 workers, you will be talking about a number that’s three or four times greater. In India however, there is lesser uniformity when it comes to adhering to policies of movement, which seems to work.
