ALIGNMENT ISSUES Today, most organisations recruit, assess and develop people based on business drivers or related competencies

that were framed many years ago. A telecom player, which was fighting in the market five years ago for market share and trying to acquire more customers is today busy increasing wallet share from their customers. The skills that are required to hunt new customers are very different from what are required to from existing ones for more revenue. Most HR leaders identify that their organisation's business has undergone a significant change but that has not translated into change in their competency framework, selection systems and other talent management systems like development and assessment. A lot of proactive organisations have already started the process of revisiting and revalidating their competency frameworks, selection processes and development areas to make sure that their talent management systems are talking to their business needs.

Are you manager-ready? As per Global Leadership Forecast', only 44 per cent of India's HR leaders rate their leadership systems as effective. And only 33 per cent rate their frontline leadership development programme as effective. HR leaders in India have put their fingers on the core issue the inability to identify and develop enough high-quality frontline leaders to keep up with their organisation's growth. The result is that only 32 per cent of HR leaders in India feel that their organisation have sufficient bench strength for future success. Developing the next generation of leaders to drive growth is going to be a critical trend for 2013. Highpotential leaders must be able to showcase behaviour at work, which fosters effectively leading others, making decisions and planning, managing relationships and guiding interactions at work. Developing first-time and frontline leaders on these critical competencies along with the ever-changing technical skill-set brought in by ever-changing technology are going to be major tasks for HR in 2013.

Are you ready to battle the war for talent? Most Indian organisations have already woken to the fact that the highly hated, war for talent' has returned to impact your organisation and with the right talent getting scarcer, it is going to be a year of removing more subjectivity from internal promotions and external selections. One of the key areas of improvement, particularly in large-scale IT/ ITeS and hospitality industries this year, is towards putting a scientific and an objective process of assessment in place.

Stay ahead with the sales force As organisations are gunning for more growth and an increased market share, a lot of focus on developing the sales force's effectiveness is going to be the high agenda for most organisations. Right from improving the selling skills of its core sales team and increasing their product knowledge, organisations have also identified the need to step up people in non-sales role to be more sensitive to business development and help organisations translate opportunities into effective sales. A lot of Indian companies, especially in the service and IT sectors, have started to assess people in the non-sales role. In the coming years, everyone in the organisation is going to be a salesperson and HR is going to be a crucial player in closing those gaps.

Telecommuters v/s regulars Telecommuting is still developing and striving to become as effective as regular working hours. Benefits and lapses of telecommuting- "As an art of working from a remote location, Organisation does derive multiple benefits from a telecommuter such as enhanced employee productivity, reduced overhead costs and improved employee retention, an employer must take utmost care to ensure that there is a sustained and transparent flow communication with their respective employees. The hindrances of telecommuting include descent in the quality of work due to a lack of work supervision/guidance by a senior authority, insufficient technical support, insufficient utilisation of people resources, amongst others limitations."

 "Employees coming to office have a higher percentage of career progression than telecommuters today as they are always under the performance rating radar' by their team heads. Employees regularly upgrade their skills with regards to the clear job description provided by the management and aim at delivering their best always. By being in office, an employee is not only focused or committed to his/her work, but also adhered to disciplined timelines. However, if telecommuters effectively manage their defined timelines, regularly meet their project deadlines, undergo corporate trainings/seminars, receive home-health services, take bigger responsibilities/assignments, get rewarded or recognised for their hard work, etc, then telecommuting will certainly be the next big thing in the corporate arena. "

A lot can be done by the organisation to ensure that telecommuters get their equal share of success and career progression. A successful telecommuting programme requires a management style, which is based on results (management by objectives) and not on close scrutiny of individual employees (management by observation). Organisations can start by not following a one size fits all' approach. The key lies in ensuring whether or not prospective workers are selfmotivated, self-disciplined and possess good problem-solving and communication skills (both written and verbal). It pays if an organisation has some kind of checks and balances to confirm that employees have a conducive home environment, which will enable them to maintain or exceed the levels of productivity they attain in an office setting."

Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary S. Becker, who coined the term human capital, says thatthe basic resource in any company is the people. The most successful companies will be those that manage human capital in the most effective and efficient manner. The present day economy has been titled as Knowledge economy. In such an economy, it is people who make all the difference. In political economy capital or market was important. Talent occupies centre stage in the Indian workplace. In view of this, managing and retaining manpower is becoming crucial to an organizations success. To achieve this, companies across sectors are focusing on some of the more critical HR practices.

Leadership development Creating a pipeline of leadership talent is key to a business future growth. It is imperative for the top level of an organization to make leadership talent management a priority, and put its money into long-term plans, as opposed to shortterm ones. If companies are worried about their talent pipeline, they have to develop their people. Work-life balance No company or employee has found the Holy Grail of balancing work and life, but that is a work in progress. However, multinationals, information technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITeS) companies have been able to promote the balance between career, family and leisure-time better. Other sectors have also been increasingly promoting a work-life balance. Interestingly, most companies in India use benefits such as flexible timings, telecommuting, crche facilities and concierge services as an attraction and retention strategy. Experts say companies should see the work-life balance as a business proposition since progressive companies carry business forward with employees and families.

Inclusion and diversity With higher numbers of Gen Yers joining the workforce in India at a time when companies across the world have an ageing workforce on their rolls, conflicts are to be expected. Therefore, companies are investing both time and resources in ensuring that all age groups are comfortable working together. Organisations in India have also been focusing on making workplaces more representative. For companies such as ICICI Bank Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Vedanta Resources, PepsiCo India, Shell Companies in India and Bharti Airtel Ltd, gender diversity has become a critical area of focus.

Health and wellness The work culture at globalized workplaces involves long working hours, frequent travel, multitasking and tight deadlines - and all this often leaves employees mentally and physically stressed. Companies have begun to realize that healthy employees contribute to higher efficiency and productivity. Apart from medical benefits, companies are also offering yoga classes and health camps and have doctors on campus.HCL Technologies Ltd, for instance, like many other IT companies, has 24/7 medical facilities in all its centres. DuPont has an Intranet-based tool, which assesses an employees health through a questionnaire and makes recommendations based on the scores.

Right skilling Right skilling, or matching jobs with a particular level of training rather than hiring overskilled workers, is gaining currency. Companies use this strategy to tide over a manpower supply crunch and to broaden their talent base. Apart from IT and ITeS firms, organizations in the banking and financial services sector, too, have been increasingly hiring graduates and training them. The upside? Lower attrition rates and wage costs. With an over-qualified employee, it is very difficult to meet her aspiration levels and, therefore, the chances of the employee moving on to something more challenging are higher.

Managing solid citizens Organizations which neglect their solid citizens are doing this at their own peril, say experts. Unlike star performers who are potential leaders, and therefore more likely to move out of an organization faster, this group provides stability and bench strength to an organization. Experts say companies need to take a fresh look at solid citizens and invest time and resources in managing and developing this group.

Instant rewards
Recognizing and rewarding performers is one of the most effective tools to attract and retain the right talent. Companies in India are looking at rewards systems more seriously, and are adopting total rewards practices that include compensation in both cash and kind. Apart from lifestyle perquisites such as a house, a car or a club membership, profitlinked incentives, deferred gratuity, and wealth-building programmes in the form of stock options and soft loans, companies are also including work-life balance programmes; competency pay packages where niche skills are compensated; and career opportunities, such as overseas assignments, new projects, etc., to reward staff. These rewards can be tailored to suit the top performers aspirations to achieve maximum effect. Measuring human capital: Evaluation of performance plays a key role, not just in rewarding an individual employee, but also in setting performance benchmarks. And hence, the need for a fair and transparent performance management system. A strong performance analysis helps make human resources both efficient and effective.

Managing aspirations As aspirations of organizations grow, so do those of employees. And, with the changing lifestyles and profiles of the workforce, personal and professional aspirations of employees are not just varied, but are increasingly on the rise. Experts say people as well as organizations have aspirations, and when the two get aligned, achieving business goals becomes easier. Companies should be clear about goals of individuals as well as of the organization, and the role each needs to play. The firm should also communicate the goals, and have robust and reliable processes to execute them.

360 degrees feedback Recognizing the need to make performance appraisal systems more effective, companies are using the 360 degrees or multi-rater feedback process. This allows an employee to give feedback to her reporting manager, peers, direct reports and others. The 360 degrees feedback system allows the employer to identify the learning and development needs of employees. Companies are finally valuing people and their softer skills, In todays business climate, attracting and retaining the best employees is very difficult. The reason is a combination of the change in business practices and the shift in employee attitudes. The business landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade as a result of many factors from the feverish hiring boom of the 90s to the economic slowdown in the later part of the last decade. During this same period of time, employee attitudes have changed dramatically. Exposure to widespread layoffs and corporate scandals has led to an erosion of company loyalty and reevaluation of career and life priorities by many employees. So now we have companies looking to acquire the best talent and a growing workforce of talented individuals who are no longer attracted by compensation alone, but who require and value intangibles as well. The bottom line is In order to achieve professional growth and success in the next period of increased talent acquisition, technology professionals are going to have to step out of their comfort zone and develop the holistic, relationship-focused business skills that companies are requiring. And by the same token, companies are going to have to take a more strategic and supportive approach to recruiting and retention if they want to find and keep the new breed of evolving talent.