Treat Yourself This Festive Season, With Instant Personal Loans

India is priming for its annual festive overdrive – with a pack of festivals followed by multiple other packs coming up back to back. We’ve already celebrated Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi only recently, and yet have more major celebrations coming our way with Navratri followed by Diwali. Of course, being a society that prides itself in a sense of community and belonging, this means we’re going to find ourselves indulging quite merrily on gifts both ourselves and our friends, family and more. The consumer industry knows this – which is why virtually everything of relevance is soon going to be on sale – from clothes to electronics, to even automobiles, and of course, jewellery. We’re going to be bombarded with glitzy marketing promotions, and compelling advertisements that will, along with the happiness they bring with them, also apply some pressure on our wallets.


Source: Quartz


Many of us may have been adequately farsighted to budget for this additional costs in advance. But it’s the festive season after all, and expenses are certainly going to be overshoot our estimates. As for those who didn’t have the time or energy for budgeting, these expenses could feel like an additional strain dampening their festive mood. Or at least, they used to. Now, with personal loan apps and salary advance portals like Fibe, the festive season can stick to being what it ideally should be – a time for happiness, free of financial stress. With EarlySalary’s quick personal loan approval process and entirely paperless experience, even those who prefer the excitement of last minute planning can spend on themselves and friends without worry.

Low Interest Rates + Instant Disbursal

Unsecured personal loans require no collateral. As a result, banks offering such options often charge unreasonably high rates of interest. But instant personal loan approval apps like Fibe are pioneering a new trend that both keeps personal loan interest rates low, and allows quicker access to funds. As a borrower, you can avail of credit of up to Rs 2 lakhs at rates as low as Rs 9/day. But that isn’t all that glitters in this arrangement. With the option to process your application entirely via a personal loan app, there is zero paperwork involved. This of course, is what powers instant disbursals – with funds reaching your accounts within a matter of hours and days.

Personal Loans For Everyone

Quick personal loans at EarlySalary aren’t an exclusive club – they’re truly democratised and accessible to the vast majority. Unlike banks, the platform does not rely on credit scores alone to assess borrowers. It’s 2019 after all, and there are more modern, more accurate parameters that are indicative of a person’s borrowing capability. 

EarlySalary relies on the Social Worth score – a figure relying on your activity on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with your bank statement data and other parameters. This allows for a far wider net of potential customers who can now avail loans at an instant pace. 

Additional Benefits

Personal loan apps also do away with a lot of other baggage traditionally associated with credit from financial institutions. For example, there are no prepayment charges – rewarding borrowers who can clear their dues in time. Borrowers also get a fair sense of the repayments that will be due right from within the app’s personal loan EMI calculator.

festive season

Get Started With The Celebrations

All these advantages from online personal loan apps make for a fairly compelling offer to sooth our finances during this festive season, allowing us to solely focus on what truly matters – happiness – both ours and our dear ones’. As the country gears to spend big both online and offline, it certainly helps to have a financial cushion that works to its advantage.

Can Millennial Stress be Resolved by Financial Wellness?

Stress is an issue bigger than ever for millennials, who are rushing ahead with their worklife, finding little time to enjoy the intricacies of life. They are not only toiling themselves with projects, preparing reports and meeting targets, but also when off the work they busy themselves worrying about their debt, savings and expenditure.  India has been, off late, a very volatile economy with companies shutting down production and filtering out chunks of employees. As such millennials are forcing themselves to work in return for poorly paid salaries and unsatisfactory job environments. In most of the cases, they are not able to manage their day-to-day expenses and have to revert to debt; while in other cases are confused about their financial course.

A whopping 76% of Millennials say they are experiencing financial
stress, up 23 percentage points from 2018, according to the PwC 2019 Employee Financial
Wellness Survey.

Financial stress is the top contributor in affecting employee health and morale followed by their jobs and relationships. Matching your salary with your expenses is only the tip of the iceberg, when cash flow and debt issues add to the worries. Employees are worried that they are not able to save enough and will face or are facing a financial crunch. Let’s look at the major issues hounding today’s millennials in terms of finance:

Past concerns  

With higher education becoming more expensive each year, an increasing number of new employees enter the corporate sector already laden with the burden of huge debt in the form of education loans or personal loans. As per Workplace benefits report
2017,
40% of millennials say that they left high school and college unprepared for
the real world. As such they look upon their employers for the necessary
guidance and help related to a majority of topics around financial wellness.
18% of millennials want more help with their student loans.

In some cases, these debts may be gifted down from one generation to another. A son may have to pay off a home loan or some other debt incurred by his father. These circumstances dilute the finances and millennials find it difficult to lay away the stress.

Present concerns

According to the 2017 Workplace Benefits Report, a significant number of Millennials say
they feel unprepared to manage their finances and need help with topics across
the financial wellness spectrum, including saving for retirement (43 percent),
general savings help (40 percent), paying down or managing debt (34 percent),
saving for major expenses (36 percent) and budgeting (31 percent). 

Peer pressure, maintaining the status quo and lavish lifestyles often lead millennials to the brink of a financial crisis if they do not plan their finances well in advance. Many are highly ignorant about how to proceed with investments; banks or mutual funds, long term or short term, commodity or shares, and a lot more. About 43% feel that they require more help
with investing, 40% wanting more information on how to save taxes and 21% feel
that they want to save more. It’s an additional issue when they require funds in a lump sum for unforeseen expenditure or a major purchase. They either trap themselves in instalments or else fall in a debt trap. 63% of Millennials consistently carry balances on their
credit cards and two out of five have trouble making minimum monthly credit
card payments.

Future Concerns

Besides provident fund schemes, gratuity and a few other benefits, employees aren’t assured adequately about their future. They remain concerned about their retirement and pension, their children’s education, medical expenses and a lot more. Pension schemes are offered by insurance firms, but which one is best suited remains a matter of concern. Career opportunities and growth also impact future and present decision making. Not surprising then that employees, especially millennials, find themselves to be dependent on their employers.

Why should employers take up financial wellness programmes?

Financial stress not only impacts an employee on a personal level, but his working capabilities and mental faculties get impacted too. Stress can be behind severe health concerns that may lead to employee absenteeism, employee turnover, and dissatisfaction. The issue of financial health becomes of utmost importance to keep the solubility of the firm intact on one hand and to achieve common organisational goals on the other. As per a survey, an employee spends 12 hours on an average each month stressing about their finances. 

Bank of America Merrill
Lynch report
says that the lack of confidence in financial matters affects Millennials’
workplace behavior. On average, employees spend 3 work hours each week (12
hours per month) dealing with financial stressors.

A well thought of and structured wellness programme may act as a tonic for the employees’ financial health:

#1 Making an in depth study of employee concerns before finalising on the mode the financial programme is critical. Not everyone shares the same crisis, and not everyone will desire third party approvals or advice before taking decisions. A financial assessment is essential before you initiate the program and want it to succeed. This can be an eyeopener for those employees who may have been unaware of the causes of their financial stress and will make them ready to adopt the new financial course.

#2 Educating employees about financial health and other resources should be taken care of as well. This can be one through seminars, online courses, or even lectures and classes conducted by an expert or professional.

#3 The employees must be educated on healthcare costs as well. It doesn’t hurt to take this opportunity to promote healthier lifestyles as well. This can save them a lot in the long run. Group insurance schemes and health insurance schemes should be encouraged as a norm in the organisation.

#4 Financial debt management, especially the management of student loans, is another area of focus. Employers, if possible, could even consider taking it upon themselves to sort out the education loan or debt of the employees as a gesture of goodwill. This can be offered as an employee benefit as well. Executed right, the company can go a long way in earning the reputation of being the best in class when it comes to their employees’ welfare.

#5 Then comes the basic question of managing the current expenses such as installments, deductibles, premiums and other expenses. There are several paradigms involved in financial planning and it can be overwhelming for a millennial who has just been placed on his job.

Encouraging employees to take part in these programmes and letting them get involved through participation, and one on one discussion will assist them in reducing their financial stress. The overall focus of the employee can shift to organisational task boosting his productivity and overall efficiency. At the individual level, it will boost their confidence to manage their current expenses and plan for their future expenses in advance. Financial wellness programmes can, therefore, help in improving employee health and quality of life. A healthy and financially sound human resource can be an unending source of profitability and efficiency for any enterprise.

How Organisations Can Measure the Impact of Financial Wellness Programs

Financial wellness programs, coupled with access to tools and resources, can work as a solid foundation for employees in managing their financial needs. While financial wellness programs can be expensive to launch and maintain, many may argue, and justifiably so, that they more than pay for themselves over the long term. They are therefore, a crucial exercise.

An organization, will of course, have a number of HR goals – such as reducing attrition, improving employee engagement, or reducing absenteeism. Achieving these goals, and many more, can certainly depend on the impact of financial wellness programs. But, regardless of the nature of the goals, it is critical to categorize them at the outset and then initiate with the metrics and methodologies to assess the impact.

Given below are some of the goals categorized for easy assessment of the progress of financial wellness programs :

Workforce Management

The effectiveness of financial wellness reflects in multiple statistics – such as turnover rate, rate of retention or attrition. If employees are able to manage their finances well, expect retention to increase, and vice versa. The key here is to provide employees with the appropriate guidance to save as well as spend smartly by keeping all obligatory or urgent expenses in mind. If an organization succeeds on this front, it shouldn’t be surprising to see a more engaged, committed workforce that delivers well, and stays.

Financial Engagement

Increased participation from employees in investments, financial schemes or just more financial awareness in general, is the most direct, visible impact of financial wellness programs. These can be indicative of employees planning their future. Employees may also look for credit assistance on their path to financial freedom – such as via instant loan apps or salary advances. An organisation would do well to make reliable options available on this front too.

Workplace Productivity

It doesn’t take advanced statistics to guess that a financially stable employee is more likely to be committed and deliver at enhanced levels. But beyond the concept, these results can be measured as well. Parameters such as absenteeism, errors/mistakes, cost of errors/mistakes can all indicate how effective financial wellness programs are at the workplace.

Health and Wellness

Engagement in health and wellness plans is also a sign of the success in financial wellness program. With work-life balance constantly threatened by the demands of today’s work culture and other commitments, active engagement in health and fitness activities can be indicative of lowered financial stress and superior time management. Therefore, another parameter to measure health awareness among employees can be engagement with wellness programs, webinars and fitness incentives.

Employee Feedback

Constructive employee feedback is key to the growth, and evolution of financial wellness programs. It delivers critical insights into the expectations employees have, and has the added bonus of earning their confidence in the system. Iincreased usage of employee assistance programs, therefore, is also a favorable outcome.

Crucial as they are to an organization’s development, financial wellness programs also assist employees manage both stress and money, whilst keeping both stakeholders satisfied and productive.

How Can HR help Overcome Staffing Challenges in the Digital Age?

The advent of technology has brought about an infinite number of advantages for employees and companies across industries. However, with the hike in job reduction due to digital transformation efforts, new staffing solutions are becoming essential to ensure tech does not replace manpower, and instead enhances it. A domain with perhaps the most important role to play in this, is HR.

In an article for the CEO Magazine titled, ‘Business transformation and staffing solutions in the digital age’, David Jones calls out the benefits of digital transformation in Australian companies. “The reduction of manual processes is helping businesses to become more efficient and productive, with more time being devoted to projects that add value to the business”, says Jones. However, he also goes on to add that it “is highly disruptive and is leading many company leaders to refine or even completely rethink their staffing strategies.” Though his arguments are Australian-centric, they can very well be applied to companies worldwide.

Below mentioned are some of these challenges, followed by what the HR can do to help overcome them.

1. Skilled Employees

With new software upgrades and technological changes occurring every day, finding employees that are qualified and skilled enough to work with these advancements is a challenge. As Jones rightly points out, “traditional labour models might no longer fit current business needs.” Due to a very high demand of skilled employees and only a handful of them in the market, there is heavy competition between organisations.

Moreover, when new digital roles are created, existing employees are sometimes sent to work in them while temporarily leaving behind their permanent roles. This in turn results in both roles suffering; the one left behind and the new one that is created. As already established, digital transformation requires experts; skilled workers who understand the inner and outer workings of new technologies. Rotation of employees between departments in order to subject them to an additional and different experience, seems unnecessary and possibly disruptive; especially if it negatively affects business. The HR team should bear this in mind while hiring employees and also limit rotation to roles that do not fall under the digital category.

2. Staff Retention

Once skilled employees are hired for a digital role, the competition still continues. Organisations can continue to attempt poaching them with offers that can increasingly get tougher to refuse. Of course, there may also be a certain proportion of employees unsatisfied in their current roles, who may choose to leave in search of a better offer. Retention is a challenge.

It is up to the HR here to ensure a good combination of talent present in the organisation. Hiring additional help in the form of consultants and experts on a freelance or contract basis, would result in staff loyalty, while simultaneously ensuring that they are not subjected to an unreasonable demand of learning all the new digital skills and ultimately be driven to leave the organisation.

3. Humans vs Machines

Granted, most businesses are switching to digital as it is the need of the hour. It is only a matter of time before digital advancements take over and significantly reduce the manpower requirements in a business. That being said, a machine can never provide the humane and personal element that an employee brings to the table, at least not any time soon. The idea is to use tech advancements as a supplement to human efforts, not as a replacement. With regard to this, the HR may want to take on the role of ensuring that employees are not rendered outdated simply because the business can afford new tools. Organisations have only reached where they are today because of their employees, and some moral acceptance of this fact can’t hurt. The HR should create new initiatives to encourage employees and continually applaud their efforts towards the company’s growth.

It is true that digital transformation is crucial for business and employee growth. However, so far, it is very clearly only a supplement; a great addition to existing business processes, not a tool that can entirely replace our traditional workforce. It’s obvious then, that businesses would want to continue to focus on their core source of productivity – their staff.

5 Signs of A Good HR Function

The HR function is arguably the most critical department of any organization. The consistent struggle to handle the ebb and flow of employee growth and turnover is a domain presided upon by this department, making it the most effective one in an enterprise. HR professionals work in the best interest of both employee and the owner of the business and when the firm is making progress, the HR department is functioning at its best.

Here are the 5 signs to know if the HR function at your firm is effective or not :

#1 Improved Employee Retention

The fact that retention of a skillful and determined employee is crucial for an organization’s growth, is a fairly obvious one. Employee turnover, of course, refers to the proportion of employees who leave the organization and are replaced by new ones. Obviously, high employee turnover leads to an increase in expenses and generally has a negative impact on team morale.

A competent HR function has an eye on locating the right hires and offering them appropriate guidance to ensure a low turnover rate for the organisation. This of course, results in improved morale, elevated productivity, and a host of other related consequences. Improved employee retention is certainly a sign of a competent HR function.

#2 Growth in Employee Performance

Employee performance refers to the efficiency with which an employee executes out the jobs assigned to them. It’s measured on a range of factors – such as output quality, quantity, impact, and the behaviour (or values) they exhibit in the workplace.

The HR function ensures:

  • That employees know what is expected of them,
  • That it takes initiatives to boost employee morale, and
  • Handles appraisals well.

An HR function is also the force behind performance management and training programs – all initiatives designed to increase job commitment, and elevating productivity. Growth in employee performance can often be a consequence of well thought out policies and actions from the HR’s arena. This performance may not be all due to factors that have a direct impact on productivity at the workplace. Even seemingly stretched initiatives such as those on financial literacy have the indirect benefit of increasing satisfaction levels and improving work performance for employees.

#3 Easy Conflict Resolution

Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, can be caused by actual (or perceived) opposition of needs, values, and interests between people working together. It is the HR function that is often saddled with the responsibility to resolve conflicts, and justifiably so. The function is specially trained to:

  • Handle difficult situations at work,
  • Minimise lost productivity, hassles, time and costs, and
  • Even reduce the risk of possible litigation in some cases.

A trend of easy resolution of conflicts in an organization is often telling evidence of an active HR department.

#4 Low Cost-per-Hire

Cost-per-hire is one of the most important and commonly used recruiting metrics. Of course, it encompasses more than just the cost of the staff involved in the hiring process –  there’s training costs, purchase of equipment, onboarding, administrative costs, benefits, and of course, opportunity costs.

With an efficient HR function, organisations should certainly see a reduction in cost-per-hire rates. This is of course, the result of well-organized, and sharp recruitments, with employee hire benefits surpassing total expenses.

#5 Healthy Workplace Culture

While culture is set top-down, it’s the HR function that ensures that important values, ideologies, perspectives are distributed across the workplace environment, or even beyond the confines of corporate offices. The management, leadership, and strategic organizational directions are the three primary factors influencing workplace culture by the largest degrees. Having a healthy workplace culture elevates teamwork, raises morale, increases efficiency, improves productivity, and enhances retention of the workforce. Job satisfaction is also increased. A positive workplace environment reduces stress in employees.

It’s not surprising to note that an active HR function can be the primary driving factor behind a healthy workspace. From collecting employee feedback on a regular basis, to conducting training programs, such as those on financial literacy, the function is responsible to a significant degree in employee growth – both professionally and financially.

All mature organizations are likely to feature an HR function that is proactive, engaged, and concerned. The function plays a key role in creating a healthy workplace and improving company productivity.

Employee Financial Welfare and Performance: A Deeper Look into The Relationship

By Aamir Devra
Compensation & Benefits, KPIT

The relationship between an employer and an employee is arguably the most complex one of all. At first glance, it can seem fairly standard, in the sense that it is one based on mutual benefit. On a closer look, however, we come across a plethora of factors that may not seem obvious at first.

An employer’s objective is optimal team productivity and performance. Meanwhile, an employee desires, among other things, reasonable compensation and benefits. Despite this seemingly elementary arrangement, employees can often struggle to sustain themselves financially. This isn’t necessarily due to lower wages – but often financial management attitudes that could do with some guidance and improvement. Stress stemming from a lack of financial security and stability manifests itself via direct impacts on overall workplace efficiency.

The biggest challenge for an HR department in 2019, in my opinion, is ensuring optimal workplace performance. This, while maintaining a balance between the organization’s and employer’s interests. In recent years, there’s been a consistent rise in employee welfare and support programs as employers begin to understand the significance of ensuring employee wellness – both physical and psychological. It is, however, critical to look at the financial welfare of employees as well. Despite evolving workplace cultures and expectations, compensation can remain a significant factor and motivator for people and impacts them in many ways.

How Financial Issues affect Employee Performance

Financial issues are widely cited as the most common cause of stress among employees. A look at PwC’s 2019 Employee Financial Wellness Survey describes findings that are genuinely concerning:

Nearly 60% of employees describe financial or monetary issues as the primary cause of their stress.

The survey also highlights that about half of the participants are living paycheck to paycheck, or merely struggling to cover everyday expenses.

What’s truly concerning is that PwC’s report is one in isolation. There have been numerous other surveys with similar results.

On the first look, the lack of financial wellness may seem like an employee issue. However, on a deeper level, the issue is of equal significance for both parties in the corporate structure. A large number of stressed employees are, of course, not a cost-efficient way of doing business. Stress originating from financial matters can lead to some predictable negative results – lack of confidence and morale, absenteeism, health issues and more. All these issues are red flags for employers and require a response on priority.

Another survey of 1,817 working adults conducted by YouGov, cites financial well-being as a crucial component steering employee performance:

One in four workers acknowledges financial issues as one that impacts their performance at work. 

One in ten working adults identifies monetary issues as the primary cause behind lack of focus and inability to decision making, while 19% of the respondents are not able to sleep properly due to their financial problems.

Employers may want to see these reports as a wake-up call and begin with steps to rectify what could be an impending crisis.

As costs of living continue to rise, an increasing number of financially unstable employees should not be an entirely unexpected result. While an employer cannot manage finances for individual employees, an employee’s inability to do so themselves can be problematic in some far-reaching ways. Employers may want to establish quality financial guidance and support programs to educate and assist employees in navigating money management tasks. This isn’t an out of the box idea – PwC’s 2019 Employee Financial Wellness Survey suggests about 88% of working adults seek some level of guidance or advice on their financial matters.

Conclusion

Multiple sources of research and surveys on employee financial wellness have offered compelling evidence about the concept’s significance in affecting employee performance. The data sheds adequate light on how deep the relationship between financial wellness and performance is. We must comprehend that ensuring financial stability and security for employees is, of course, an investment in the organization’s success. I’m pleased to see many organizations understanding this and taking some bold steps. I’m confident more will join in.

The Convergence of HR and Technology

By-

Lucky Kulkarni, Group Head HR, Jeena & Company

Over the years, particularly in recent times, I’ve witnessed Human Resource planning and management undergoing dynamic shifts – from a department within the realms of a conference hall to holding the chief position in leadership circles driving strategic growth. Being an all-pervasive function, it trickles down to each stratum and level of management, decision making, planning and implementation. Defining roles and responsibilities throughout the organisation, HR can no longer remain a traditional function, and must keep pace along with technology in shaping organisations. The convergence of tech with conventional HR practices is not only producing some overwhelming results, but also opening new grounds for HR to thrive. Many large organisations have relapsed to inefficient states, not being able to amalgamate the HR and leadership functions with the latest technology, therefore, making it a paramount criterion.

I see the need for digital transformation a top priority in the minds of many leaders throughout the world now. These technological changes directly impact multiple functions way beyond HR, communication channels, analytics and more. Tech has already changed the way HR hires, trains, remunerates, collects information and stores it. Now, it’s shaping itself to do much more and organizations will need to be ready for it.

According to a report by KPMG, from a total of 1200 HR executives from 64 countries surveyed, only a low 39% of HR executives are confident enough to adopt the change to harness resources and insights to redefine obsolete models. While some HR leaders remain perplexed by so many new additions, they also struggle to adapt to these digital times where work cubicles are essentially just laptops, and decisions are taken on the move via smartphones. Such tech blasphemy could be fatal to the health of an organization.

How has technology affected HR functions and roles?

The leading trends impacting HR practices today include big data, social media, mobile apps, cloud technology and the SaaS business model. Automation leads to efficiency and streamlining. Let me take you through a chronological history (and prediction) of this marriage between HR and tech:

Before internet was used to connect with job seekers, a letter or face to face conversation in case of walk-ins was the dominant method. With business models now operating online as well as offline, an online applicant tracking system is how most businesses go about their operations now. Online job portals are now involved, and recruiters have access to the best talent at their doorstep with minimum efforts. Technological tools, presentations and demos, assimilated with regular sessions, curtail the managerial labour put into orientation, training and placement within the organisation. The jobs can easily be matched with the candidates.

When it comes to mapping the progress and performance of the employees, tech again comes to the rescue. Data is far easily gathered and collected in a synchronised way today, using dedicated software often customized to the organisation’s needs. Data analysis of employee performance is essential for HRs to better communicate with the employees. Automated HR solutions ease bundling of information, assisting HR in taking a more strategic role in the organisation. From the basic tasks of recruiting and personnel administration, tech has certainly helped HR grow as a strategic partner in the success of the firm.

As work cultures evolve, employees are increasingly treated as customers in today’s organisations, with their needs viewed significantly and valuably. For example, it’s now possible to roll out (and measure) various employee wellness programs for the workforce that are personalized to their needs, thanks to our access to data and information, and tools that can let us customize employee experiences. The result? A more engaged, more satisfied workforce that ultimately delivers superior productivity and efficiency, thanks to effectiveness of these programs.

Smartphones are sure to dominate the HR arena for the sheer simplicity and multiplicity of use they provide in executing day to day professional activities.  A team full of zeal requires direction, and I see face-to-face interactions remaining the best bet available in the foreseeable future. Apps offer the benefit of erasing distance and time hindrance, and their importance is foremost.

The open channel of communication – Social Media – plays an active role as well. Linkedin and Facebook are increasingly used to recruit quality personnel, with my own organisation havings seen a steady uptick in the proportion of candidate we screen from these platforms. Of course, these platforms also enhance employee engagement and interactions (while also delivering a more curated impression of the workplace to potential hires). Every decently sized company today has a social media presence to reach out to its desired audience and take feedback too. Organisations also rely on social media to update customers on their products, share success stories via blogs, or attract customers through deals and discounts. An HR professional can keep up with the industry trends, news, technology and competition through social media.

Cloud applications like SaaS apps play a prominent role for storing and collecting data on employees, stats, documents and other information that can be accessed online anytime or archived to maintain security. But organisations may want to look at whether cloud services add to the current value of the business; otherwise, they might prove to be just an additional burden –  they’re not meant for everyone.

Centralisation is another advantage. With offices interconnected, information flow is unhindered today. Cloud solutions deliver advantages to product development workforce management and business integration, a fairly simple example of this is Google Docs. Payroll management has also been automated and centralised to yield uniformity of job specifications, roles and remuneration to the employees.

Technology is charting new routes for HR via advancements in IT, predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The ease of operations ups the comfort level while simultaneously saving valuable time. What organisations should focus on though – is ensuring the presence of qualified talent to handle these technologies, and executives who are ready to take the push and plunge to drive their organisations towards success. This will involve quick adaptability, and a harmonious integration of digital and traditional labour. The right technological innovations, when converged with optimal human performance, can lead to a unique standing of an organisation in the business spheres.

The Secret To Retaining Millennial Talent At Organisations

Millennials are famously termed the ‘job-hoppers’ of this era, and with the job market heating up, retaining them can often feel like it requires a dedicated team in every organisation. Since millennials will be dominating the work space for quite some time, organisations will need to recognize and embrace their talent to succeed. 

Of course, finance and compensation are a key aspect to retaining talent. While money may not be everything, it is crucial, and also one of the biggest motivators while picking a job for this age group. As debts mount and saving capacities reduce, millennials employees constantly seek jobs that pay better. While money may not be a primary motivator, it can often become a deal breaker between two jobs at hand. Appraisals are one way to retain your employees from a financial aspect. However, there are a number of other factors that attract millennials and entice them to stay. 

1. Flexibility

A top retainer in today’s work environment is the work flexibility. Flexibility, in terms of work schedule, location, and leaves, goes a long way in making a millennial feel comfortable. With tech having impacted the workplace in more ways than not, millenials are willing to work after office hours too, but expect reciprocation during work hours. Employers are realising that goal-bound, instead of strict time-bound deadlines seem to motivate workers better. The result? Millennials ultimately operate manner that is productive for them and the organisation.  Flexibility also reaches out to senior and experienced employees, and employees that have kids, giving them an edge over other organisations when it comes to retaining talent. 

 

2. Working in a trusting environment

Gone are those days of micromanagement when your supervisor would take hourly updates about your progress. Showing more trust in your employees helps them grow and become more accountable for their work. Organisations have begun investing considerable time in trust-building initiatives through sports and group treks where dependence and reliance  is a key factor. 

3. Healthcare and insurance and other non-monetary benefits

Some quality insurance options and healthcare coverage can take a huge burden off your employees. A seemingly small health issue can set folks back by a significant amount of savings, and access to health insurance can often seem like a boon.  With basic amenities covered, employees do not see the need to jump jobs and will also help them focus on their job better. A number of non-monetary benefits can also do wonders and retaining young talent. Onsite gyms, or monthly movie and food coupons – employees love rewards with a personal touch, assisting them achieve financial wellness and overall satisfaction.

4. Quality mentoring

A number of organisations skip the training process for a job altogether. It is often expected that important skills will be (and should be) picked up in college itself. However, less than a fraction of the students are prepared for a job when they graduate. Isn’t that what most headlines on the lack of employability today are about? This makes continuous training an important part of the work-culture and helps employees drive their passion. It also includes erasing any kind of uncomfortable hierarchy. Employees approach their supervisors with more caution if they look at them as a boss or strict superior, which can make it a challenge to work with an open mind. Millennials are often seeking continuous feedback to improve their skills. Training them on universal tools, instead of internal ones, helps them align their training with their individual career goals. Focussing solely on company growth isn’t a positive long term strategy, ultimately making the organisation an undesirable place to work at. 

As most HR professionals would be aware, in addition to increasing expenses, high turnover leads to a negative culture impact as well. When an employee leaves, a morale on the team is expected, with a worst case scenario often involving more exits. With millennials and their culture a reality all businesses – new and old – need to embrace, getting on thee talent retention train is a neccessity. 

5 Compensation Trends HR Leaders should know

Compensation is the key link between employees and organizations, vital to attracting and retaining the best talent. Of course, it refers to the general return that the employee gets for their work; but to keep employees satisfied, organizations often need to do more than just offer basic pay. 

Compensation management is complex – you have to take care of an employee’s skills, position, performance and devise an appropriate plan. In addition, there should be an addition of all the non-monetary benefits that can improve the employee’s effectiveness. With our evolving work cultures, compensation plans must also adapt. 

There are more than a few trends an HR leader would do well to know, that can help them provide better compensation to their employees. Let’s take a look at some of them:

1. Variable Pay

A majority of organizations tended to have a policy of giving all employees a certain percentage of increment per year. While this seemed like a no-problem approach, it had the potential to discourage top-performing employees. Since even the low-performing ones get the same benefit, the high performers may no longer have strive to become better. 

To address that issue, variable pay programs have taken a steady leap in popularity. They offer incentives over the base pay based on performance. This may include any bonuses, profit-sharing or commissions that an employee receives. Variable pay ensures that productive employees receive the recognition they need while others are motivated to achieve that level of work. 

2. Pay transparency

Jargons on their payslips and plans are bound to confuse many employees. They are often unaware of the tax compliances and can fail to seek clarity. Another trend related to this has been seen now that even employees discuss the compensation plans amongst themselves. Therefore, it has become more important than ever that organizations keep openness and transparency in their compensation strategies. 

There should be proper communication of the structure and logic of their plans so that employees understand what they are getting and why. This will help them understand clearly their needs and wants and help them choose better if they ever plan to switch. 

3. The Cafeteria Approach

Employees today look for more than a few rewards from their jobs and aren’t just limited to cash pay. They’re likely to have different needs from their plans, based on which stage of life they are at. Thus, organizations have started to offer personalized compensation plans where the employees can select the perks and services as per their needs. 

This approach is often called the cafeteria approach, where the employer provides a certain budget for the services and perks, and the employee can choose whatever he/she likes to spend it on. 

4. Quality of work-life reward

At times, organizations may not have the budget to provide for incentives, bonuses or other rewards. This can be compensated for by providing certain benefits to the employee that could improve their work life. One key reward is flexibility in work. Offer flexible timing or work sharing opportunities, and employees should be able to work more freely. Facilities for recreation, extended leave programs, corporate credit cards are also some of the rewards that go a long way in making the workplace a nice place to be.

A company can also provide other benefits – such as mentoring for better positions in the company itself, guidance for career prospects and more. 

5. Tracking Hot Job pay changes 

At any point in the market, certain jobs are more in demand than others. For example, in 2019, jobs in AI tech would see to be buzzing across industries. These jobs are called hot jobs. To attract people with such ‘hot skills’, traditional compensation plans are unlikely to be enough. Proper research of market competitiveness is required to reduce turnover in such jobs. Such jobs should be given more benefits and importance as they provide more value to the business. 

Employee’s compensation plans should not only be planned according to finances and budget. A little creativity can help organizations go a long way. 

What are Employees looking for from HR in 2024?

“Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t have to.”

These words by Sir Richard Branson, the famous entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Airlines, sum up the entire struggle (along with the solution) for the core problem faced by a Human Resource Manager. It also paves the way for the 2 basic functions that every HRM has to perform – that of training the workforce, and to keep the workforce happy in their current employment.  

However, this has been a traditional approach. The role of HR in today’s times, especially due to fast-paced development in digitalisation, AI, business strategies among other things, has moved much beyond these traditional confines. Innovation has become a pre-requisite in today’s time to give organisations a competitive edge. HRM is contributing extensively towards the strategic growth of any organisation by implementing innovative ideas in the fields of Recruitment, Performance management, employee experience etc. Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte was recently recorded saying:

“Ultimately, the digital world of work has changed the rules of business.  Organizations should shift their entire mindset and behaviours to ensure they can lead, organize, motivate, manage and engage the 21st-century workforce, or risk being left behind.”

Empirical evidence for this can be seen in the latest report of the 2019 survey by KPMG. Out of the 1200 global HR executives spread across 64 different countries, a massive 39% are focussed on redefining obsolete models and implement technologies such as analytics, digital labour and AI. On the flip side, the HR managers who still follow the traditional approach face a risk of extinction and are struggling to adapt to the fast-changing business climate, which is costing their organisations dearly.

In a study carried out by Deloitte, it was recorded that only 35% of the respondents did consider that their organisation is adapting to the changing business environment in an excellent way. They also recognise that the flexibility to adapt to this change is pivotal for their sustenance. 

Further, the same study concluded that there was a distinct shift within HR to move from purely a cost base to a more strategic, business advisor role, with a focus on talent management, efficient service delivery and holistic design of the workplace. This brings us to a very important question: what are the expectations the employees have from HR in today’s time?  

Despite The Bureau of Labor Statistics (USA) defining HR managers as professionals who “plan, direct, and coordinate the administrative functions of an organisation”, employees in the 21st century expect much more from them. Some of the most important expectations that employees have from HR, apart from their traditional role in recruitment and training, can be summarised in the following points:  

  1. Since they are the link between the top management and the employees, they should be more accessible and friendly. In fact, recent times have seen a lot of HR executives adopting an open-door policy which has worked well to maintain a good work environment. 
  2. HR should be able to concentrate on other aspects of the personal development of the employees and integrate the same with the vision and development of the organisation. The alignment of the individual goals with that of the organisational goals gives the employees a sense of importance, which has a direct bearing on the employee turnover and each employee’s job satisfaction. 
  3. In today’s fast-paced business world, stress and burnouts are not unheard of. It is the role of HR to help the employees strike a healthy work-life balance. They ought to devise effective internal wellness programmes and other policies, keeping in view the overall growth of the organisation, to ensure a sound health of the employees. 
  4. In this phase of rapid tech advancements and digitalisation, the HR is expected to make sure that the employees do not lag behind in their know-how and skills, per the market standards. This helps in not only individual growth but also boosts the goodwill of the organisation and keeps the workforce happy. 
  5. They have to continually perform the balancing act between the employees, employers, owners and customers. They have to ensure that no instances of workplace chaos are looming on their head, and avoid any sort of lawsuits or litigations against not only the organisation but individual employees as well. 

In conclusion, the HR department is an indispensable part of any organisation, more so in today’s time. It has come a long way from its traditional role of a recruiter and personal trainer and now occupies a much more strategic position in any organisation. They have evolved their focus to be very employee-centric and hence are one of the biggest contributors for paving the way for a brighter future of not just the organisation but equally of all employees working in it.