How to Build Happy Workplaces and HR Systems by Changing Your Outlook

April 24, 2018?by?Ekktha Raawal ?2 Comments

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HR systems are complex, and even more complex are human beings. And if both of these are not built properly or taken care of, I bet, the organizations will never grow (even scale up profitwise!).

Any organization is composed of 2 entities – the employee and the employer. Unless both have the right perspective and work in unison, it becomes very difficult to build a happy workplace. Both entities need to understand how their own ways of looking at situations and challenges can change and mutually benefit each other.

HR systems are also made up of employees & employers:

What should the EMPLOYEES do?

1. Go full throttle:??Till the time you are working for an organization, give in your 100% at work or the task at hand.?Nothing in the world is perfect and neither are the organizations. As employees, even we are not. There may be times when things may not go as planned, you dislike your colleagues or boss or environment?or appraisals. Or?maybe?some policies,you are dissatisfied with.

As part of grievance handling?in a recent gig, came across such issues on a regular basis and all the motivation we gave, would go in vain because by that time, the feeling of dissatisfaction would have already crept in and counselling would not have a lasting effect. So to tackle this situation, we tweaked our induction sessions?a bit and incorporated certain live?examples elaborating why & how certain employees took ownership of the company in different situations or on a regular?basis?and?how it benefited both the employee and the company. We also started giving them an idea?of?the existing challenges, culture, growth path etc. and how inducting them would bring a lot of positive changes in the system. BAM! This turned out to be a game-changer. Employees not only felt good about themselves but were also now prepared to take challenges in their stride, from day one.

Also as an observer, I have seen a lot of times employees trying to be in the good books of their immediate bosses by buttering up, backbiting about counterparts, playing double games or simply blindly agreeing to whosoever is in front of them and in a position of authority. Using these tactics you can only temporarily fool anyone. Instead?try to focus on work to become an indispensable part of the team and create a certain image in the company that people would think twice before playing tricks on you?(Ironically, the more upfront and honest you come across as, the more games they play. However, still hold on to the niceness in you!).?

Recently got an unexpected call from someone who is a no-nonsense type of guy, good at work but highly de-motivated because he felt he lacked the aforesaid tactics to sustain his job. Obviously had been facing hardships in his current company. To the extent, that he felt either a training session would do some miracle and completely transform him into a cunning person, or else he would give up his job. A similar issue was faced by an ex-colleague who was female. Both were sort of freshers with 3-3.5 years of experience. A lot of counselling went into this and I gave them some tips and tricks to?become a smart person instead of cunning, at work.

2. Develop a sense of humour:?Looks strange if exhibited at the workplace, but this is a highly ignored and underrated skill. No matter how good or bad your working conditions are, a little bantering (in good taste), lightheartedness and laughter always go a long way in releasing the stress hormones at work. When hiring someone (for my own team especially), this is an important trait I look for, apart from IQ and basic technical skills. Everything else in the world can be taught.

What the EMPLOYERS should do?

?1. Hold the vision: The employers need to think BIG (they do have big vision and mission statements documented!) and look at the bigger picture while taking day-to-day decisions, rather than thinking about cutting costs, hiring cheap labor all the time (most of the time they would be cheap in wisdom and skills too!). A new trend catching up these days (especially in tier 2 cities) is employers onboarding interns or people doing work free of cost for them because they are desperate for a good break or job. However, what employers don’t realize is that most of such hires would not take proper responsibility for the job thinking that they are doing a favour and leave abruptly the moment pressure starts building. Such people also spoil the market for those who charge for their quality work. Most often, since freshers are inexperienced, they tend to interpret problems in their own way which at times leads to communication gaps or even miscommunication. Having a team of efficient and experienced staff would cost more, but the way they will guide/mentor/design systems/supervise their teams would be far better, resulting in improved output. Many a time, it’s the senior management team that requires more orientation & counselling sessions from HR.

2. Don’t underestimate the worth of an employee:?Employers also need to?INVEST?in their people from time to time. This is the best way to make them feel valued. R&R programs should be conducted more frequently instead of periodically.?The performers need to be recognized every single day?(even if it is as small as gifting chocolates or movie tickets for a task well done or if they’ve taken ownership of a task by going out of the way) so that next day when they turn up for work, their excitement level is double.

The seniors may implement this by asking a simple question to themselves at the end of every day –?who did I appreciate (or even inspire) today??

Job rotation/promotion could be another way but make sure that it has some monetary perks attached to it. If a commitment is made, do not back out later. Otherwise, the employee might explore other offers thinking that he or she is being exploited in the current workplace. They generally give such feedback in exit interviews. While not every feedback or opinion given by employees is genuine all the time, the ones like the above are clearly seen. Often have come across the following post in HR groups and it’s something worth pondering over.

CFO to CEO –?What if we invest in employees and they leave?

CEO to CFO –?What if we don’t and they stay?

Further adding to the above,?

HR?– What if we invest and they don’t leave??(Obviously, a win-win situation for both)

3. Flexibility in the workplace drives productivity:?The most important trait that an employer should develop is practising a certain amount of?flexibility?when it comes to policies or processes. Especially if it could lead to better results or affect employees. It's generally seen that when it comes to marketing or selling products, they are quite flexible with the price, strategies, customers etc. However, when it comes to their own employees, they are way too stringent over trivial matters. Pulling your people down just because they were late by a few minutes or exceeded their break by a few seconds or unnecessarily bossing them around is a passe when you are paying them way below market standards. These things can be ignored or if in excess, can be handled through counselling. For corporates, I understand, most of the tracking systems are automated, yet the TLs can give some leverage to their team members at their level (without any favouritism or foul play. Of course, people easily catch that!). Win your team members' trust and they would proactively work for you. In smaller offices, this is the main cause of employee dissatisfaction leading to attrition and the reason why such offices don’t grow.

For extremely hopeless staff, you should know when to show them the doors, instead of creating a volatile culture that adversely affects the morale of other employees. Just because someone sticks with you does not mean he or she does not have self-respect, or is being loyal to you. It could be that they don’t have a better option at that point in time and the moment they have one, they will quit without thinking twice.

4. Using technology to drive the workplace of the future:?Some new buzzwords like AI (artificial intelligence), HR-analytics have been doing the rounds for quite some time now and everybody is talking of the disruptive ways through which these will affect the human resource or organizations. The most intelligent and successful minds have expressed their fear that the extreme incorporation of AI into analytical strategies would harm the very existence of humans.?

At least in HR, this is going to be far from reality because it’s only the routine, mundane tasks that would be automated through AI. Critical factors like decision-making and emotional quotient would still be governed by humans. How much control is being given to these systems would decide their success or failure. For example, as per a recent analysis by #Linkedin :

Application of AI in recruitment systems would:

• 67% Save time.
• 30% Save money.
• 31% Deliver best candidate matches.
• 43% Remove human bias.

Although, personally I feel these numbers should be towards the higher side considering the cost of developing high-end data analytics or AI networks. For the most complex aspects, like interviewing, building relationships, negotiating ideas, developing people, innovation and even controlling the AI systems, natural human intellect, wisdom and intuition would always be required. Fields like IR which are 90% based on human involvement can never be replaced by a few algorithms or bots. The ultimate remote control will be in the hands of super-intelligent human beings.

And that's how you build a strong employer-employee relationship - the secret sauce for a happy and productive workplace!??

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Filed Under:?Human Resources

Tagged With:?AI ,?Employee Satisfaction ,?HR analytics ,?Human Resources ,?Productivity

Comments

1. Komal Ahuja?says
2. April 24, 2018 at 7:39 pm
3. Its a wonderful thing and creates awareness among youth… Good job
4. Reply

• Ekktha Raawal ?says
• April 24, 2018 at 7:45 pm
• Thanks, Komal! Glad you liked it?
• Reply