'India, Inc today needs HR specialists with domain specialization'

Hema Ravichander is one of the most dynamic HR heads the IT
industry has ever had. She pioneered some of the most innovative practices in
the industry as the head of HR at Infosys. Today, in a more strategic role in
the industry, post her stint at Infosys, Ravinchander provides advisory services
to clients pan industry. Speaking to Srinivas R of CyberMedia News, she
explains the need for HR heads with domain knowledge and how HR has the power to
create brand building for the employer

You said recently that companies need to enhance HR
effectiveness through recruiting, retaining and leveraging talent. Could you
elaborate on this?

Human capital strategy of an organization is a key differentiator in
corporate success. As organizations battle the challenges of intense global
competition, rapid technological change and a changing demographic base, it is
critical that they have in their armory a sound human capital strategy that
creates global learning, and a stakeholder focused empowered workforce. This is
impossible without the design and deployment of an HR strategy that ensures the
right talent is acquired, retained and, most importantly, leveraged.
Additionally, HR strategies must 'future-proof' organizations by helping
them manage risk, execution, diversity and scale. When this happens, HR's role
will be truly appreciated and become a key USP for the organization.

What kind of domain specialization are you referring to when you
say 'India, Inc today needs HR specialists with domain specialization'?

India, Inc is facing a huge paucity of professionals trained in the concepts
and practice of the HR profession. The number of professionals graduating from
the leading management schools in the country has remained almost stagnant over
the last two decades. A number of tier-2 and tier-3 MBA schools have mushroomed
in the country but even there, the focus on key domain HR skills in the
curriculum is weak. Faced with this paucity, a large number of generalists have
migrated into the HR profession especially in the junior and mid level roles.
There is no harm in this per se. But no focused efforts are made by
organizations to train such profiles in HR theory. More often, they are forced
to become 'administrative handmaidens' to HR processes, which they do not
understand. Such professionals, when they get promoted to more senior roles, are
unable to effectively partner with their internal customers, challenge them
where appropriate and truly bring added value to the executive roundtable. This
is the HR domain specialization that I believe India, Inc needs today.

Do you think the role of HR head is changing with the changing
business requirements?

Demanding customers, impeccable quality and crunched timelines are key
business factors for organizations today. HR has to help create an innovative,
nimble and, most importantly, a networked organization. This means, of course,
understanding the business and, ultimately, the customer thoroughly, and then
shaping and driving HR policy to meet the business and customer needs. During
the customer acquisition phase, especially in the services and knowledge-based
industries, the HR head must be an integral part of the customer presentation
and business model discussions. She or he must be a Change Agent, with maniacal
focus on execution excellence and in ensuring that HR policies meet the acid
test of balancing stakeholder interests. And finally, to help create a truly
high performance work ethic in the organization, the HR leader has to focus on
not just creating an organization that is a best employer for all employees, but
a better employer for better performers.

What exactly you mean by employer branding?

Employer branding involves managing and communicating the image and the
unique employment proposition of the organization to prospective hires, current
employees and society at large. The employer brand helps differentiate
organizations from their competitors by creating a distinct image of the total
employment relationship and clearly delineating the Employment Value Proposition
the organization offers to the defined stakeholders. In today's cluttered
marketplace, the employer brand is a very valuable tool in brand recognition,
talent attraction and increased employee ties. While defining and promoting an
employer brand, organizations must, however, take great care to ensure that the
internal perception of the employee stakeholder is clearly aligned and in
synchronization with the same. If not, such an exercise can actually be more
detrimental to the organization.

Don't you think it becomes difficult for a large organization
to find the right talent, when it's hiring thousands of employees?

Managing scale is a challenge most growing IT and ITeS organizations are
today faced with. Yes, it is difficult to ensure quality in hiring and intense
employee engagement when the numbers are of this scale. However, organizations
with a mature HR mindset invest early in creating a competency based recruitment
process which identifies the core competencies each role requires and then
targets selection methodology to identify these competencies.

In addition, the IT industry is widening the talent pool
continuously through innovative resource scouting to meets its aggressive hiring
targets. Remember the top 7 IT service organizations in this country will hire
close to 150,000 new hires this fiscal, taking away a significant chunk of the
graduating class. This poses a tremendous challenge to the availability of
suitable engineers across other sectors. This is where the crunch really comes.
Add to that, the consistent feedback from concerned stakeholders that the
graduating engineer pool is not as high on employment suitability as some of
their peers in other parts of the world, and the challenge increases.
Organizational interventions and investments in training, re-training and skill
building becomes an imperative.