Hierarchy of rewards and recognition

Today the hierarchy system in rewards and recognition of the organization is gaining concern. For top employees in today’s corporate world salary is not the only motivator whereas it is the total employee rewards that matter. Herzberg’s two factor theory is evidence to this fact. Herzberg differentiated all the factors associated with employee motivation into two:

1.      Hygiene factors

2.      True motivators

Hygiene factors are those factors at a workplace, when absent creates employee dissatisfaction but at the same time do not effectuate employee motivation when they are present. These are those elements that merely restrict dissatisfaction from creeping into the organization. Thus, the hygiene factors only affect job dissatisfaction and will not have any influence on the job satisfaction. These factors will not create positive motivation or pave way for positive job engagement or retention. The hygiene elements include pay, security, status, peer relationships, subordinate and supervisor relationships, company policy and administration, work conditions, and supervision. 

Rewards and recognition given to the employees also have a great impact on the satisfaction of each and every employee be it at any level of hierarchy. While designing rewards and recognition an HR manager should keep in mind the concept of “equality” also. If employees feel that they are being treated unfairly, it will affect the second factor of the Herzberg theory i.e. Motivation factors.

While this is so, there are other elements as well that directly result in actively motivating the employees. These factors when absent may or may not result in job dissatisfaction but when present they will greatly motivate the employees and facilitate employee engagement and retention. True motivating factors that result in extreme job satisfaction are achievement, recognition, the work itself, responsibility, advancement, and opportunities for growth.Organizations that focus on giving fair treatment to employee in case of designing rewards have a more people oriented approach.

image source: http://thelanterngroup.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/rr-components-red.png

Athira unni

ERISA (Employment Retirement Income Security Act)

A federal law that governs pension and welfare employee benefit plans. ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including plan features and funding. It also requires that plans provide fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control assets. It gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

Arjun

Balanced Scorecard

A strategic planning and management system that is used to tie business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor performance against goals. Developed in the early 1990's by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the balanced scorecard measure four areas of business: internal business processes, financial performance, customer knowledge, and learning and growth.

- Sachin V

Human resources executives seek labor law reforms

“The HR professional is usually the bearer of bad news when it comes to terminations, disciplinary action or wage negotiations. So to an ordinary workman, particularly a misguided one, he represents the face of the organization. Workers are often unable to tell that the HR manager is simply executing decisions taken by a collective leadership, and he is not responsible for them.”

-Santrupt Misra, director, global HR at the Aditya Birla Group

Times have changed and surely we have come a long way compared to the times of legendary strikes. HR was considered to be an easy and safe job by many. And many a times HR personnel are considered to be a negotiator between the company and its employees.

HR department is considered to be the interface between the management and the employees. Thus often they become the carriers of bad news. This is when the relation between the HR person and the employees get ugly.

Maruti’s Manesar issue is not the first of its kind. In the past also such incidents have occured.

Now-a-days HR is considered to be one of the toughest and most unsafe areas to work in. It is high time to make the employees realize that the decision making power does not lie with the HR but it is the joint decision of the top management. Employees also needs to understand that killing someone does not solve the issue but only worsens it.

 Following the brutal killing of Awanish Kumar Dev, the HR manager at Maruti's Manesar plant, human resources (HR) heads across the country have gone into a huddle. Shocked and shaken, the community is rallying together to push for various kinds of reforms to protect themselves against such attacks in future.

The National HRD Network (NHRDN), condemned Dev's murder and said it plans to lobby with other industry bodies - the Employees Federation of India (EFI), Ficci and CII - to press the HRD ministry for safer working conditions in plants and factories.

Another reason for taking up such safety measures is that HR heads are concerned that these attacks will deter youngsters from taking up the factory stint. Therefore it's high time the country had a code of conduct for regulating employment.

source:http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-27/news/32889428_1_hr-heads-hr-professionals-hr-manager

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR)

An informal process to resolve disputes. Involved parties meet with a trained third party who assists in resolving the problem by arbitration, mediation, judicial settlement conferences, conciliation or other methods. Though usually voluntary, ADR is sometimes mandated by a judge as a first step before going to court. 

Image source: http://daytonaero.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/alternate_dispute_resolution.jpg

-Sachin V

Agile Organization

Also known as agile manufacturing, this is a term applied to an organization that has created the processes, tools, and training to enable it to respond quickly to customer needs and market changes while still controlling costs and quality. 

Image source:http://leadinganswers.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834527c1469e2011168671b4a970c-320wi

-Sachin V