SUBMITTED BY:

MUHAMMAD ALI TAHIR (15P00018)

HAMMAD NASIR (15P00025)
HADIA TASAWAR (15P00003)
ALI AFZAL (15P00035)
METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH

Employees Interview

The method of research used was a formal interview with Mr.Umair Arif. (Head of Human
resources & Service) & Mr.Ali Abbas (Team Leader Human Resource) were interviewed who
shared their immense experience and knowledge related to the HR linked practices and issues.
During the interview questions were posed with reference to the course guideline and maximum
portion had been taken into account.

The interview comprised of few questions which majorly focused on the organizations business
strategies and alliances with the HR department. The interview comprised of structured questions
which were open ended and qualitative analysis of the responses was done. While when asked
for specific HR related forms for recruitment and evaluation, access was denied due to
confidentiality issues.

Survey

A Survey was conducted from different employees of the company through questionnaires.
Although we didnt get a fair amount of sample data i.e. 13 questionnaires were filled, we have
integrated the analyzed form of the survey form. (Appendix A)
Introduction of the Company

[1]
Inspectest is a subsidiary of Descon Chemicals. It is an integrated service provider of
inspection, testing and certification services, catering to the needs of major local and foreign
companies in Pakistan. The different industries they cater to include power and energy, oil and
gas, manufacturing and engineering, food and beverages, chemicals and fertilizers and refineries.
Their services include ensuring operations and plants are in good condition. They also analyze
the remaining lifetime of equipment and identify critical areas. Other services include testing,
certification and risk-based inspection.[1]

Moreover in factories, they also inspect and analyze all types of equipment and machines used in
production and logistics; from fire extinguishers to refrigeration equipment, lifting gears,
equipment and machinery and measurement devices.

In Refinery Industry, they provide a variety of services from construction to operation and
maintenance, including inspection and data management services to ensure the integrity of
assets.

Some of their clients include Shell, Maple Leaf, Caltex, Parco, PSO, Engro Foods, K&Ns and
Nestle.
Current Hiring Process by HR Department

The first document which is initiated in the process is known as requisition. This document is
issued by the respective department where there is a need for the employee.

This requisition then goes to the HR Department. The HR Department evaluates the requisition
on the basis of salary of the potential employee which is based on the experience. If a person
with the required skills is available within the department, then there is internal department
movement, otherwise hiring is done externally.

After the HR department, the requisition goes to the CEO for approval. The two major things
which are looked upon by the CEO includes

1) Whether the requisition is budgeted or not. If it is not budgeted, then a special approval is
required.
2) Replacement- replacing a person with the same salary and grade with another person

Once the requisition has been approved by the CEO, CV Sourcing is carried out to check
whether a person within the department with the required skill set is available or the person
should be hired externally. Different types of media are used to search for CVs both locally as
well as internationally. For local CV searching they have a large database and the websites
commonly used include Rozee.pk and LinkedIn. Some positions which are related to HR are also
published. After that the CVs are short-listed.

Criteria for Short-listing

Technical Staff

Mostly cold calls are done for certified professionals. Their profiles are searched on LinkedIn.
Then they are contacted through LinkedIn, emails and cold calls. For specialized skills,
headhunting is done.

The second step of the process is calling for interviews. 3 interviews are conducted. First an
initial interview is conducted for screening purposes. Then there is a second interview and lastly
a technical interview is conducted to judge the candidate on his technical skill set which will be
required for the job.

Salary Determination
Salary surveys are done by different companies for example Mercer to determine job bands i.e.
how much a person with a specific skill set and certification worth in the market. Companies also
develop a salary band themselves after interviewing potential candidates and asking their
previous salaries so automatically a salary band for a person with specific skills is developed.

MTO and GET (Graduate Engineers Training) Programs)

Engineers are hired based on multiple or specific skills. Training period lasts from 3 to 6 months.
Interviews for GET Programs are all technical based.

Performance Appraisal

The Head of Department gauges the certifications done by the employee along with the potential
he sees in an employee. This serves as the basis for performance appraisal. Furthermore, salary
bands are also used for example an employee with 0-1 year experience is in the salary band of Rs
15,000- 35,000.

Grade, salary and experience of an employee are all taken into account during performance
appraisal.

Bonuses

Fixed Bonuses- they are decided in the companys budget

Performance based bonus- they depend on the following 4 factors
1. Revenue
2. Operating costs
3. Operating Margin
4. Net Profit

All these are decided at the beginning of each year. If these targets are completed 100%, then the
company earns a bonus of 1.2%, if 120% then a bonus of 1.5 and so on.

CPF (Company Performance Factor) and IPF (Individual Performance Factor)

To calculate the bonus of each employee in the company CPF is multiplied by the IPF.

Benefits for Employees

Job related benefits include provident fund, gratuity, over-time and bonuses. Health insurance of
the employees is paid in cash which includes inpatient, outpatient and maternity.
Workforce planning

Projects that are in pipeline are taken into account for a particular year. The information of how
much labor and technical staff will be required is given by the operations team.

Promotions

Promotions are done by the HR department. Previously, promotions were based on experience
and potential of the employees. Now a new system has been developed in which competencies
are mapped with experience and experience is mapped with grade and promotions.

Chain of Command

The Human Resource Remuneration Committee (HRRC) reports directly to the HOD. The HR
heads of different subsidiaries are a part of this committee.

Officer HR Lead HR Head of HR

Reports Reports

Trainings

There are 2 types of technical trainings provided to the staff:

1. Certifications- the company sends various employees for different certifications for
specific skill set
2. On the job- employees are trained and learn a job while working on it.

Training Process

1. Training Need Analysis (TNA)- to check whether there is a need to train the employee
2. Training
 3. Training Evaluation- a training feedback form is filled to evaluate the employee after his
training
4. Post- training assessment the employee is evaluated by the supervisor after the training

Training Methods

1. Through lectures on multimedia

2. Webinars- mostly used for technical trainings of the staff. They are mostly done from
Europe and the company pays for such trainings
3. Trainings through presentations

Termination Process

1. A verbal warning is given to the employee by the line manager

2. Written warning- If after a verbal warning, the same mistake is repeated by the employee,
then a written warning letter is issued by the HR department after proper analysis of the
situation in order to remove any biases
3. Termination- If the unwanted behavior is repeated after the written warning, it results in
the termination of the employee.

Issues in the HR Department

The major issue which was highlighted after conducting the interview was of the recruitment
process that it contains to many activities that increase the lead time, while also isnt that
effective as compared to the companies in the industry. More over Descon is also facing a
problem of high turnover technical labor staff.
In 2015, the turnover of the companys technical staff was 22%. The reason for such high
turnover is that most of the workforce of the company consists of technicians. They leave the
company even if they get a minimal raise from other company.

The issue is not only in the local market but also in the international market. The company sends
most of the workforce to UAE and Middle East for different projects. If this technical staff gets
more money in those countries they leave the company.

Moreover, the company also incurs different costs on the training of such staff and if they leave
after working for 2-3 years, this creates a problem for the company because they had already
understood the system and had cleared various training levels which are not easily cleared by
most of the technical staff.

Hr Problem: Inefficient Process of Recruitment

Recruitment and selection are main HR functions which bring potential candidates to the
organization. The purpose of recruitment is to provide a qualified pool of candidates for ease in
selection process. Objectives of recruitment include determining the present and future
requirements of the organization, meeting the organizations legal and social obligations and
evaluating the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all types of job
applicants. Factors affecting recruitment in any organization include:

Size of the organization

Rate of growth of the organization

Cultural, economic and legal factors

Future expansion etc.

Recruitment process at Descon Inspectest is initiated after the HR department receives a
requisition from the concerned department where the candidate is required. With requisition, the
department manager also outlines job specification with respect to education, experience,
specific skills, etc. which are necessary to perform the job. This helps in attracting candidates
who possess the required education, experience and skills. For this purpose, the company first
looks into its own database that is
internal database. It looks into its skills
inventory if there is any already on-
board employee who possesses the
required education, experience and skills
and can be shifted to the new position. If
there is any qualified internal candidate,
then the HR department uses external
sources, advertises the vacancy and
shortlists candidate, screens them and
chooses the candidate who has the best
fit with the job. Mean recruitment time
at Inspectest is 60 days.

The Process

Identification Of Need:
The first step is to identify if there is a requirement for new selection. If there is a new position to
be developed then concern department/SBU checks for
www.enterpriseirregulars.com
that. If an already existing position has become vacant due to turnover/retirement, then the
department notifies the Human Resource Department to place advertisement in the newspapers.

Advertisement:
After the identification of need, the Human Resource department places the advertisement in the
newspaper/web portal/intranet to call for resumes. The advertisement specifies the job
description and the job specification.

Job Description:
These are the listing of duties as well as desirable qualifications for a particular job e.g. the
advertisement also specifies number of years worth of experience to apply for the job. Its
mostly latest one described by last attending employee on that specific position.

Job Specifications:
These are the characteristics and the abilities required from a person to work in that position such
as leadership and teamwork qualities or command over English. Line Management ensures to
provide the most relevant specs for candidates.
Application Procedure \ Submission Of Cv:
Application forms enable the candidates to present a complete picture of their talents, interests
and ambitions. It is the first stage of evaluation and the basic criteria for initial selection. The
candidates must present a resume which makes the person stand out.

Evaluation Of Cv:
After the resumes of hopeful candidates have been received, the HR department checks all the
resumes of the people who have applied. In its evaluation the HR department checks the
experience and the qualities of the individual and matches them to the requirement of the job.
 Pre Screening:
After the evaluation of the resumes the HR shortlists the candidates who have fulfilled the
minimum requirement of the job description and specification.

Testing /Evaluation:
The test is conducted by the HR department (Inspectest). In the test the managers check the IQ
level, English Composition and Logic and personality traits of incumbents. The duration of the
test is exactly one hour. The test is checked manually and digitally and is done by the HR
department.

Interview:
The candidates who have successfully cleared the tests and have scored above than relevant mark
are then called for interview. The interview is conducted by four people, one HR executive and
three managers from department. Three interviewers should preferably be from within the
department but often that is not the case. The purpose of the interviews is to check the persons
subjective skills which are difficult to measure such as attitude, communication skills, abilities
and personality. During the interview all four person mark the candidate individually and then
put forward a cumulative mark. These are the marks against which different candidates are
differentiated.

Assessment by HR:
Following the interview the employee of the particular department goes to the HR and gives
recommendation to the HR manager regarding the interview of the candidate. The HR then
conducts another interview with the candidate where they decide the compensation of the
candidate, the different benefits and the pay scale.

Slotting In:
After all, the candidate is referred back to the relevant departmental approval for cost of
compensation. If the department agrees upon it, then the candidate is hired, as its the department
that contributes to wage bill of company for its employees.
Impact of In Efficient Recruitment Process on the Company
The recruitment process is the defining step to bring new people to company. If the process is
slow, there will be delay in all operations. A lot of vacant positions are in sales and operations
department. People with relevant skills who are not recruited on time cause trouble for the
company and this practice is not in-line with the corporate strategy of the company. Not only
this, slow recruitment process is creating an unfavorable image in the market and on applicants.
When applicants apply for vacant positions at Inspectest, they actually want to change their
workplace. Many times, it happens that because of slow recruitment process at Inspectest, some
applicants do not wait and join somewhere else. This creates a chance for the company to lose
valuable skills and knowledge of the competent candidate. Slow recruitment process is
increasing all costs which incurred because of departed employees. Additionally, this slow
process further adds to grievances of the employees because the workload is not shared which is
another reason that they feel their personal and professional life misbalancing each other and that
has an impact on the total productivity of the organization.

From our analysis we have drew a conclusive stance that in Inspectest Descon Recruitment
strategies are not in place for talent acquisition planning. Recruitment is of the most crucial
function of the human resource department and its professionals. The level of performance in an
institution relies on the efficacy of its recruitment function. Organizations have developed and
followed recruitment strategies to appoint the best talent for their organization and to utilize their
resources optimally. A successful recruitment strategy should be well planned and practical to
attract more and high-quality talent to submit an application in the organization.
The recruitment function of the Inspectest is affected and oversees by a blend of an assortment of
internal and external forces. The internal forces or factors are the factors that can be controlled
by the Descons Management and the external factors are those factors which are beyond control.
The internal and external forces affecting recruitment function of Inspectest Descon are:
Internal Factors:

Talent Acquisition policy frame works

Process and Checks followed by company

Inadaptability of change in recruitment planning

Size of organization

Lack of Decentralization in recruitment

External Factors:

Deficiency of Skilled Human Supply

Geo Political environment

Intense condition of unemployed candidate

Opportunities in other organization

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Recruitment is a function that requires business perspective, expertise, ability to find and match
the best potential candidate for the organization, diplomacy, marketing skills (as to sell the
position to the candidate) and wisdom to align the recruitment processes for the benefit of the
Inspectest Descon. The HR professionals handling the recruitment function of the Inspectest
Descon - are constantly facing new challenges. The biggest challenge for such professionals is to
source or recruit the best people or potential candidate for the Inspectest.
In the last few years, the job market has undergone some fundamental changes in terms of
technologies, sources of recruitment, competition in the market etc. In an already saturated job
market, where the practices like poaching and raiding are gaining momentum, HR professionals
are constantly facing new challenges in one of their most important function- recruitment. They
have to face and conquer various challenges to find the best candidates for their organization.
The Turnover Dilemma Solution at Inspectest Descon:

With the improving economy and the coming talent crunches due to retiring boomers, retention
rates promise only to get worse. Already, turnover rates for all industries hover around 13%and
those rates are far higher in the service sector, where the average is 30%, according to SHRM.
The retention crisis will undoubtedly intensify as the talent war rages and Millennials (who are
notorious for job hopping) become a bigger part of the workforce.
With that in mind,

Hire the right people

The best way to ensure employees at Descon dont leave you is to make sure you are
hiring the right employees to begin with. Define the role clearlyboth to yourself and to
the candidates. And then be absolutely sure the candidate is a fit not only for it, but for
your company culture.
Fire people who dont fit
As the old saying goes, a stitch in time, saves nine. The same goes for cutting
employees loose when necessary. Sometimes even when you follow the advice above,
you get an employee who no matter what you try to do just doesnt fit. And, no matter
how effective they might be at their actual work, an employee who is a bad fit is bad for
your culture, and that creates culture debt. They will do more damage than good by
poisoning the well of your company. Cut them loose.
Keep compensation and benefits current
Be sure that you are paying employees the fair going wage for their work (or better) and
offer them competitive benefits, orreallywho can blame them for ditching you? This
might seem like a no brainer but youd be surprised how few companies offer raises that
keep up with an employees development and actual rising worth.
Encourage generosity and gratitude
Encourage pro-social behavior in your employees. When they are given the opportunity
to connect with one another through acts of generosity and the expression of gratitude,
employees will be healthier, happier, and less likely to fly the coop. And by encouraging
them to be on the lookout for good behaviors to commend, you give people a sense of
ownership of the company.
Recognize and reward employees
 Show your employees they are valued and appreciated by offering them real-time
recognition that celebrates their successes and their efforts. Make it specific, social and
supported by tangible reward, and you, too, will be rewardedwith their loyalty.
Offer flexibility
Todays employees crave a flexible life/work balance. That impacts retention directly. In
fact, a Boston College Center for Work & Family study found that 76% of managers and
80% of employees indicated that flexible work arrangements had positive effects on
retention. And more and more companies know it. That means, if youre not offering
employees flexibility around work hours and locations, they might easily leave you for
someone who will.
Pay attention to engagement
This one sounds obvious, but for too many leaders interest in engagement is limited to the
results of engagement surveys. Its not enough simply to run an engagement survey once
a year. You need save most of your energy to take action based on the results and you
need to work to build a culture of engagement in your company all year long.
Make opportunities for development and growth
Employees place huge value on opportunities for growth. In a survey drew a direct
connection between lack of development opportunity and high turnover intentions. If you
arent developing your employees then you arent investing in them. And if you arent
investing in them, why should they stay with you?
Clean up performance reviews
Our most recent survey painted a frankly dismal picture of how employees feel about
performance reviews. Only 49 percent of them find reviews to be accurate, and only 47
percent find them to be motivating. Performance reviews offer a prime opportunity for a
big win to increase trust and fortify your relationship with employees. Improve
performance management by overhauling reviews, and watch employee trust and
satisfaction grow.

Provide an inclusive vision

One key factor in employee engagement and happiness, according to experts, is to
provide them with a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Offer employees a
strong vision and goals for their work and increase their sense of belonging and loyalty to
your organization.
Another Perspective to Turnover Dilemma

Performance Evaluation & Appraisals at Inspectest Descon

Conducting regular performance reviews is an important and constructive way to evaluate the
contributions an employee is making to the company. But the traditional practice at Descon, of
sitting down once or twice a year to discuss what an employee has done well and needs to
improve on simply isn't going to make any difference.

Inspectest should also speed up there appraisal and evaluation process that in turn will increase
employee commitment.

Make reviews more frequent.

With immediate feedback provided on social media sites like Facebook, people are increasingly
used to hearing the good and bad on our thoughts and actions in real time. Considering
conducting evaluations at key milestones, such as at the end of a main project, or every quarter.
These meetings do not have to be long, but they should highlight the highs and lows of the
project or time frame. Such reviews give managers a chance to stay engaged with their direct
reports, and also provide an opportunity for continuous improvement by receiving feedback from
the employee on what could be improved for the next cycle.

Institute performance-related pay increases.

According to our book 64% of the people wanted pay increases tied to their performance
reviews. Consider quarterly bonuses or increases to positively reinforce good work as well as the
employee's confidence that you value him or her as both an individual and a contributor. -

Use Technology

There is an increasing trend in the development and use of employee engagement apps. These
apps give employees and managers a chance to communicate regarding assignments daily,
tracking progress, providing feedback and incorporating other business aspects so that each
member of the team is on track and on the same page
Recommendations

Integrated Recruitment System

Inspectest is renowned because it comes under the umbrella of Descon group. Whenever any
new job opportunity is advertised, a large volume of candidates apply for that post. Now this
problem can be resolved by putting an online application form. Applicants who wish to apply for
any post will fill that form. There will be clear questions about education and experience in
years. For any particular job for example, for the post of technical supervisor, the form should
have a fixed criterion that the candidate should choose M.S or Engineer. If any candidate selects
any other education, like M.Sc. Applied Chemistry, M.Sc., Microbiology, etc., then at the time of
form submission, there will be a notice by the website that your education does not match our
criteria for this job. Similarly, for experience, there will be options in numbers of years like 1-2
years Candidates will have to choose their experience and the form will be submitted only if their
experience matches the criterion of the job. This way, only those candidates, who have that
particular education, will be able to submit forms. Irrelevant application forms will not be
received. A flow Chart is attached in (Appendix B) showing a improved process flow.

Head Hunting By Social Media

There are certain positions for which it becomes quite difficult to get the right candidate. For this
problem, the recruiter should utilize online websites and approach people. For example, if
Inspectest wants to recruit Research and Development Manager who must have a degree in
Finance and cost accountancy and experience of 10 years in leasing industry, then such a person
can be found out on professional communities like LinkedIn. Every professional manages his
profile on such websites. On LinkedIn, there are filters through which we can search people from
any industry. The profile exhibits education and experience with little details as provided by the
professional. There are options to contact such people right there on LinkedIn.

Using Referral to Overcome Potential Vs Current Dilemma

The recruiter sometimes discovers candidates who do not have required experience but they have
to potential to move ahead in career. Now this becomes a difficult situation for recruiters to judge
the candidate. Such candidates should only be interviewed if they have been referred by a loyal
trustworthy employee. But his words should not be solely relied on. They should be thoroughly
reviewed in interview and their diagnostic and employment tests should be little different. These
candidates should be judged for higher potential and if they clear these tests, then experience
should not be considered.

Hiring For Remote Locations (Also a Solution for High Turnover)

For recruiting employees in plants that are present in rural cities, local people should be chosen
and if local candidates are not available or are available but are not suitable for the job, then
candidates from major cities should be recruited but in this case, they should be offered lucrative
compensation than normal.
Conclusion

To conclude, Inspectest is a growing company with its operations expanding, the company has shown
tremendous and remarkable performance in the last few years but there are issues associated with the
employees of the organization and therefore, Human Resource Management is a critical area to work
upon as all excellence that the company can show depends mostly on what employees will do for
Inspectest. A chain of problems exists in HR at Inspectest which is affecting the daily operations of
the company. All the problems are interconnected and one is paving the way for another and hence,
thorough analysis of each problem can help to initiate resolving these and action plan executed for
one will solve another as well, provided top management support is available. Not only HR
Department, but each and every employee of the company needs to take part in this exercise of
implementing problem-solving techniques to achieve holistic results and along with this, technical
assistance from outside Consultants will be an added advantage for the company. Concurrent and
Feedback control need to be implemented necessarily so as to closely monitor the progress towards
the goals to resolve HR problems and prevent any divergence.

Appendix A

Sample Survey Form (with Results)

1) During the time of recruitment, among the given below sources, which one is most preferable for your
company?
a) Internal source (45%)
b) External source. (55%)
2) Which of the following recruitment procedure is followed by your company?
a) Centralized recruitment
b) Decentralized recruitment (12)
c) Somewhat Centralized
3) Do you think that academic marks play a vital role in the recruitment procedure?
a) Strongly agree
b) Neutral
c) Strongly disagree
4) What kind of employee tests is conducted in recruitment?
a) Intelligence test
b) Aptitude test (13)
c) Graphology test
d) Polygraph test
e) Achievement test
5) Do you consider the reference check as an integral part of recruitment?
a) Strongly agree (8)
b) Neutral
c) Strongly disagree
6) Rank the following according to importance given while recruiting employees?
Leadership qualities
Communication skills
Experience
Qualification (12)
7) How many rounds of interviews are conducted before a candidate is offered offer letter?
a) Two
b) Three (all said)
c) More Than Three

8) What are the types of interviews conducted in your company?

A) Panel interview (11 said Panel)
b) Stress interview
c) Group interview
d) One-on-one interview
e) Telephone interview.
10) During the time of vacancy identification, which of the reasons are taken into consideration?
a) Posts to be filled
b) No. of persons
c) Duties to be performed
d) Qualifications required. ( 9 Said qualifications)

11) Does your company follow the induction procedure?

a) Yes (10%)
b) No (90%)

Appendix B
References:
1) http://www.inspectest.com/about_us.php
Human Resource Management By Gary Dessler 14 Edition