Q. Tips for a L&D / HR Professional
- Be the Game Changer
- Quick adopt for technological changes for the betterment of the organization.
- Data Analytics
- Recognizing the talents and making optimum use of it
- Recruiting for the attitude not for the skills.
- Being / acting as a mentor or a buddy for the employee
Q. Your personal achievement as an HR professional.
Starting my career in the HR field with my current organization, found that there is no proper mechanism for overtime and using their gained experience and technical competencies in optimum manner. I suggested a few implications that we can implement by complying with the local labour regulations and currently working on the same.
Q. How can an L&D / HR Professional contribute strategically to the organization?
Human Resources are the most valuable assets that an organization has. No matter what is the strategy planned by the top management to achieve the desired goal and the objective, an organization needs to use the talent of the existing employees.
As mentioned, organizations are looking at cost cutting and the following actions can be taken for the same:
- Outsourcing functions such as janitorial and bottom level functions which bring low value to an organization where the organization will not have to worry about them as they are the responsibility of the outsourced organization.
- Based on the nature which an organization is in to, the organization can recruit employees on contract basis. As an example, if an organization is in to construction field, then the organization can recruit technical grade staff such as Engineers and skill workers on contract basis where once the project is completed the organization is not bound to provide employment and the organization will have no commitment for gratuity, etc.
- Always organizations should look at developing their staff. Organizations can source students from technical colleges who are in need of internships, universities to kick-start their careers and the major advantage of this is they can be sourced at a lower cost. As mentioned above, organizations can deploy them under a talented reliable employee which will be a win – win situation for both, and developing step by step association will help to build confidence levels among the employees about the organization.
- It is better to have a 20% of interns at organization with a proper succession planning which is a major cost saving.
Q. Which is the One HR/L&D practice that has always worked for you as an HR. (share an example)
If anyone asks what the most difficult function of an organization is, the answer would be human resources undoubtedly. As Human Resource department is the only function which directly deals with the workforce of an organization which is the most valuable aspect in the organization and represent the existence of humanitarian aspect.
One practice that has always worked for me is dealing with the staff more in a friendly manner and understanding their emotions and dealing with them accordingly. We should be confident in where we stand when a dispute arises and also should be impartial while handling the same. And it is but natural to learn that they are wilfully vouch for their friends regardless of the outcome and behaving as mentioned can get numerous benefits for the company while keeping the employees happy.
Q. Do you think robots can replace HR/L&D professionals in the coming decade?
I shall say no, as basically a robot is an electronic machine which is pre-programmed by a computer and there is no human existence in robots. Robots can be artificially intelligent but I’m sure that they are not intelligent enough to understand the human emotions. And HRD is a division which deals with humans in entirety. If any of the robots can understand the feeling of humans then there is a possibility of replacement but there is a doubt about the success percentage.
Q. How do you create a buy-in for trainings at workplace?
- Carrying out a proper training need analysis and preparing a proper training plan.
- Deciding whether to get an external or an internal trainer. And it is ideal to source an external trainer in case there are is no in house with the needed expertise.
- Adapting to changes.
- Initiating alternatives and encouraging the staff to take part in the training.
- Continuous practice.
