Blog Classic - Ortexia | HR Consultants Pune

11Oct

The Strategic Planning Process

Strategic objectives are now the focus of HR executives worldwide. It was common in the past for top management to wait until the strategic plan was formulated before beginning strategic planning, which determines the organization’s overall goals and objectives. However, in today’s times in order to gain a competitive advantage, strategic planning is a constantly evolving process. Occasionally, an organization may need to diversify its staff. In other cases, downsizing may be necessary due to external factors. The recent recession post-Covid led to a decrease in company valuations, an increase in business failures and firms spinning out or selling off their non-core businesses. When business was booming, strategically planned companies expanded their business thanks to correct planning and implementation. HR plays a crucial role in achieving this.

So how do companies manage to have that cutting edge and constantly innovate?

Strategic planning is a must! It can be divided as:

Identifying the organizational mission
An assessment of the organization and its environment
Setting specific goals or directions
Developing strategies for achieving those objectives

The strategic planning process is essentially an in-depth study of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) framework that has an effect on the company.

What is your Company’s Mission?

Establishing the corporate mission is the first step in strategic planning. The mission is the reason for a company’s existence. What is more important, maximizing profit or increasing share price? Is it better to focus on the stability of earnings in order to ensure the security of employees? Assisting with these questions can be a valuable service provided by HR. In addition to these missions, there are many others that can be undertaken. Decide on the principles that will guide management decisions when determining the mission.

Firstly, determine the company’s mission, then formulate objectives in accordance with the mission. They should be challenging, but attainable, measurable, have a time frame, and should be written down.

What is an ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT?

Examining external conditions, threats, and opportunities you must do a thorough check of competencies, strengths, and weaknesses within the organization. There is also a need for the company to be socially responsible and environmentally friendly. How does the company intend to deal with its customers? Corporate cultures are shaped by the answers to these questions. Top management expects HR activities to be closely aligned with this mission and add value toward attaining these targets.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is typically conducted after an organization has determined its mission and assessed its strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities. The process of making strategic plans involves the flow of information from both the internal and external environments. An organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and competencies are revealed from within. Organizational strategists can identify threats and opportunities in the external environment by scanning them.

LinkedIn

Let us use LinkedIn as an example to understand SWOT analysis. To capture opportunities and avoid threats, the company should capitalize on its strengths and minimize its weaknesses. LinkedIn, for example, can take advantage of the following opportunities, including the growing adoption of LinkedIn’s recruitment services by corporations, urbanization, changing attitudes toward employment, and an increase in premium subscriptions.

It is possible for HR professionals to connect with more candidates who subscribe to LinkedIn using LinkedIn technology and services than they would normally be able to with traditional recruitment methods like corporate career portals, campus hiring, recruitment agencies, and job boards by using LinkedIn technology and services. As well as identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the workforce, HR professionals are in the best position to do so. In the case of a merger or acquisition, HR could work with top management to determine whether the current workforce can be successfully integrated into the merged workforce. Does the merged company’s workforce add value to the company, or does it only duplicate talent? It is essential for HR professionals to stay on top of all people-related matters during any reorganization.

Threats always counterbalance opportunities. LinkedIn, for instance, is facing two significant threats. Who are LinkedIn’s Competitors? Google and Facebook. They too have highly used social media platforms, so they could rival LinkedIn’s success by offering similar services.

Objective Setting Objectives are the desired end results of any activity.

Objectives should have four basic characteristics:

(1) They should be expressed in writing

(2) they should be measurable

(3) they should be specific as to time, and

(4) they should be challenging but attainable

Differentiation Strategy or Lowest Cost Strategy?

Factors such as profitability, customer satisfaction, financial returns, technological leadership, and operating efficiency have to be taken into consideration. A cost-benefit analysis is vital after all the motive of any business is to generate profit. HR professionals are technically in the people business so they should be involved in the strategic objectives. For the sake of illustration, let’s consider two fundamental strategies: lowest cost and differentiation. The lowest-cost strategy focuses on gaining a competitive advantage by being the lowest-cost producer of a product or service within the marketplace while selling the product or service at a price advantage relative to the industry average. In order to achieve the lowest costs, companies build efficient facilities and seek to minimize costs in areas such as operations, marketing, and human resources. Differentiation strategies are used to create unique products and services that set them apart from their competitors.

HR Strategy Consultants Let us take the example of Proctor and Gamble. They have Ariel as well as Tide which are both detergents. While Tide follows the lowest cost strategy Ariel is more of a premium brand which is how they differentiate the brand. The two products are not competing with one another. They have their own market space. Differentiation strategies depend on customer service, technology, and added value to build their brand loyalty having brand loyalty is imperative if the company needs to spend on research and development and has higher costs resulting in higher cost of the product. HR plays an important role in strategizing here.

It is imperative to reduce output costs per employee for a lowest-cost strategy. An employee role that promotes a lowest-cost strategy should consist of repetitive and predictable behavior, a short-term focus, primarily autonomous or individual activities, and a high concern for the quantity of output. The key roles of employees in differentiation strategies include highly creative behavior, long-term focus, cooperative and interdependent behavior, and a higher level of risk-taking. Diversification strategies depend more on employee creativity, openness to innovative work approaches, and willingness to take risks than on lowest-cost strategies. Differentiation strategies also require longer time frames to reap the benefits of these behaviors.

Strategy Implementation

Strategic planning is very important but the crucial part is implementation. It is the most difficult part of the process. Plans may be well formulated and extremely dynamic but they can benefit the organization only when implemented correctly! The management’s leadership ability, organizational structure, information and control systems, production technology, and human resources all will require strategic changes in the dimensions of the organization.

Leadership

A leader is able to lead by example and get others to follow. Managers must guide other members of the organization to develop the behavior required for strategy implementation. Higher-level managers could form teams and help spread the strategy through the lower levels. HR matters regarding leadership rest on HR’s shoulders. There should be an encouragement to adopt and adapt to the new strategy. The structure of the form depends on the business. Small businesses have a casual informal approach and may be able to adopt a high level of change in a short span of time whereas larger corporations have more formal and rigid structures. But that should not mean the structure is so rigid that it does not change, perhaps even frequently. New startups or tech companies would be able to reorganize frequently but even massive Fortune 500 companies like Fiat Chrysler have gone through complete organizational changes. There are many different variations of organizational structures available and it is the job of HR to decide which would be appropriate for the company and implement that.

Information and Control Systems

HR has to prove itself by working and developing these systems. There has to be an integration of information and control systems in order to incorporate the strategic plan. What do the information and control systems include? Among the information and control systems are reward systems; incentives; objectives-oriented systems; budgets for allocating resources; information systems; and the organization’s rules, policies, and implementations.

Technology

Technology is of utmost importance in today’s world. In today’s digital world accurate technology should be used to accomplish the targets set by the organization. The HR has to decide on tools and equipment as well as the knowledge that will be required to implement a particular strategy.

Human Resources

HR has to have an immersive role in strategic implementation. Once the planning has taken place HR will be fundamental to understanding the attributes of the workforce which are vital to the company. Here we are referring to the intellectual and productive capacity of the workforce. The HR functions must be properly aligned to successfully implement the strategic plan. Essentially proper balance has to be created through HR to support strategy implementation.

07Oct

Recruiting Candidates Employees for Startup

Recruiting Your First Employee

dasguptaTalent Acquistion

Every company may not have clarity on whom to hire first. Conceptually the idea of hiring someone new is scary because you don’t want anything to go wrong. However, once you’ve determined that you do actually need someone for the job, maybe because you can’t handle the workload, or you or your partners don’t have the specific skillsets required, it’s time to be on the lookout for your first employee. After completing the first hire evaluations sheet, you should have a basic understanding of what skillset is most required and for what time frame.

Preparation for the interview

Once the skill sets requirements are in place, you should draw up a basic outline for the interview. Keep in mind candidates will build their own perceptions and evaluations during the process, and every interaction with you as well as the company. In case you are a laidback business then stick to your work ethic and don’t need to adopt an extremely corporate approach. Whichever business culture, respect, and professionalism always come first. Interviews can happen in person, over video, or through phone calls. they could be conducted on a one-to-one basis or in a group. Questions could relate to behaviors, skills, or adaptability to specific situations. Generally, initial screening is done with a short phone call ranging from 20 to 30 mins. Here, along with your introduction, explain your role in the company and how long the interview is expected to last.

Remember, preparing for an interview is an art

An outline of some basic questions:

What do you find appealing about this job?
How informed are you about our company?
Could you guide me through your previous positions and why you left them?
Tell us a bit about your work experience
What are your expectations in terms of salary?

These queries will benefit you to understand their interaction skills, interest in the job, and if they have the abilities required for your position. Always leave a window at the end for the candidate to be able to ask you questions. Through this interview, you can gauge if the candidate has the skills, potential and experience that is required by your company. You should ask behavior-based, competency-based, and situation-based questions. Candidates can provide examples of when and how they used specific skills.

In general, these questions look like this:

Tell us about a time when you________?
If this particular situation cropped up, how would you handle it?
In a few words explain how you ________?

These questions are phrased in order for the candidate to be able to explain themselves in detail. Simple yes and no answers will give absolutely no insights about the candidate so frame the questions accordingly. There is absolutely no requirement for questions pertaining to an applicant’s marital status, children, pregnancy status, age, gender identity, prescription drug use, disability, national origin, religion, race, color, clubs, societies, lodge memberships, or health status. You cannot differentiate on the basis of these in your pre-employment tests either. Furthermore, the employer cannot use a test that in the absence of a reason, excludes applicants who are 40 or older. You could ask about citizenship before extending an offer.

A guide to Picking the Perfect Candidate for the job.

A strong underpinning gives you a certain amount of confidence as to what your business needs. Despite that clarity, choosing can still be challenging. It can be taxing to find the right person for a job. It might be tempting for you to go with your gut instinct. However, gut feeling is a shaky foundation for making a business decision. Decisions should be based on facts:

Candidate’s experience : A combination of experience, skills, and potential. What are the implications of those factors for your business? Is it necessary? In the event of a match, extending an offer is the next logical step.

Reference checks are contingent upon the successful completion of the offer. A background check and a drug test are required. Make sure you don’t skip them.

Screenings are important too. There is obviously no guarantee, but they can at least provide valuable information

A guide to some of the potential risks while hiring a candidate

Consider all legal implications before hiring someone for the job. You should not hire if you are unable to do so.

Extending the Offer

Making a job offer is one of the most exciting parts of the hiring process. Once you have a few potential candidates in mind, it’s common practice to make a verbal offer to someone who is a good fit for your business. You can reach your first choice by phone. High-level terms are covered in a verbal offer, describing the position, the salary, and the proposed start date. Please provide any information you have. Consider rehearsing your presentation with a trusted business partner or legal team and discussing your offer with them to get feedback.

The Way Forward

There are three responses you are likely to get. Either they accept your offer right away or ask for some time to mull over it or reject it. If they require time, agree but tell them to respond in a specified time frame. If the offer is rejected, express your regret and ask if they would consider sharing the reason. Depending on their response, you may or may not be able to meet their expectations. As a final step, if they accept, express your excitement, and welcome them to the club

Follow up with a written offer letter to the team.

The offer letter should be checked by your legal team and basically includes:

The job title
A commencement date
Employment status (full-time, part-time, or contractor/project) and

shift (if applicable)

A statement that employment is at will
Salary structure and payment terms
Benefits information (including paid time off information)
Terms of employment, such as background checks and drug screening
Whom to contact for questions
Signature and date

The Importance of Culture at the Workplace

Would you be able to describe your company is asked? Owners of the company deeply influence the culture and it plays an important role in the success of a company contributing to profitability. In the event that the culture demonstrates any signs of being negative, you could very likely trace the issues back to the top. It is cultures that make up the essence of a company, not rules. Experience and observation are the best means of understanding, not written statements. Set an example for your employees by practicing what you preach.

Orientation for New Candidates

New hire orientation begins from the very first day on the job. Any candidate will start absorbing what he experiences from day one. Right from the start develop a positive and conducive environment for your employee so he enjoys working for you. You could prepare the new person’s cubicle with supplies, a welcome note, or some personalized paraphernalia. You should save time and paper by sending out most communication via email.

The first official day should include a tour of the workplace and a meeting with new There should also be a meeting with the new hire’s manager to talk generally about the company culture, mission, vision, and a basic outline of what is expected in the first week. Guidance should be provided for any resources they need. You could plan a lunch with other employees which is a healthy interaction and builds a comfort level. In the first month, there should be at least one meeting held every week to touch base on the work and smoothen their way into the company. Plan to schedule a meeting at the end of the month for the first three months to understand how it’s progressing and what improvements can be made.

It’s Beneficial to have Job Titles

If the Job title is incorrect, you may attract the wrong people for the job. For example, Alan, the CEO of a company posted his requirement with a very brief description for an HR specialist. There was an influx of candidates having experience in HR. In the interview process with a mid-career HR professional, Alan shared what he wanted to accomplish with this job. He received immediate feedback from the applicant explaining the job title did not actually capture the essence of what Alan truly required for his company. He was advised to rework it and edit it reflecting a lower level of experience and skills based on what his business needed now, rather than what he had imagined he would be needing in the future. It’s vital to envision the success of your company but you cannot base your requirements on future statics. You have to be realistic. The title was duly changed to an HR generalist with a job description that encompassed lower-level skills and junior-level experience. If Alan had not received this direct feedback from an applicant, he may not have realized the importance of a Job Title. inaccurate or wrong job titles not only lead to rejection and disappointment but also could conceivably harm the reputation of your company.

24Sep

How to Find and Attract Talent for Early Stage Business

dasguptaTalent Acquistion

One needs a dynamic strategy to attract and retain the best talent in the industry for a start up business or the early stages of a business. It could be short term (1 to 3 years) contractual service based or long term (5 to 7 years) skill-based needs.

Here are a few guidelines:

Have clarity on who you wish to hire
Write detailed and informative job descriptions
Realize when the need arises to use a recruiter
Learn how to make an attractive job offer
Interview and hire people through the usage of the job descriptions
Be resourceful and transparent in building your company culture

It Begins when you Begin: Building a company culture

An early-stage business or start-up will face challenges and teething troubles in operations, and so it is imperative that they are deliberate in building a company culture. A company culture is basically how the company functions, its goals and missions and the unspoken expectations that guide employee behaviour. This is critically important, after all your company culture can make or break your business! It is a material reminder of their core values, or the guiding principles of the company on how they do business. The people wanting to work there should be interested in doing work that is based on a specific business direction, goal, personal belief, value, or way of being. Accordingly, the business must take conscious steps in the hiring process and intentionally look for people who align with their mission.

What are the points to keep in mind?

1.Maintain souvenirs about your mission and core values around the office

and the worksite to help ground and refocus the team when work

becomes demanding and taxing.

2. Collaborate and get employees to interact to strengthen

the culture you’re wanting to build at your organization.

3. Ask interview questions that will help you understand an applicant’s

career goals and how working for your company fits with those targets.

4. Be innovative by asking interview questions that will give insight into how someone works and thinks.

How does one recruit the best people for the job?

Most start-ups and early-stage business owners execute projects on their own. There could be two reasons for this. Either they are the experts, or then they do not yet have the financial resources to hire someone to do the job. However, when the funds are available you can follow these guidelines to get the person for the job, especially when your time and recruiting budget are limited. The first question you need to ask yourself is ‘Is this a short-term, service-based need, or a long-term, skill-based need?’ For many start-ups and early-stage businesses, service-based needs include work performed by lawyers and accountants. They can also include other short-term or one-off projects with a specific end date, like designing a framework, creating a marketing plan, or coding a particular function for an app. Skill-based needs are those a company deems essential to day-to-day operations and are needed on a long-term basis. The distinction is important because short-term, service-based needs are generally contracted out, while long-term, skill-based needs are hired. Employees and independent contractors are two fairly familiar varieties of worker relationships. Employees perform work directly for a company on a full or part-time basis. Independent contractors provide a service for a company and typically invoice that organization for the tasks performed. The first call is for you to decide

Does my company require an Employee or a Contractor?

To simplify this

The employee is a person hired by the employer, to work on a regular basis, in exchange for a fixed remuneration. Works under the control and direction of employer. An independent contractor is a self-employed person who provides services to other organization for a fixed compensation. Works independently.

One also needs to have a well thought out business strategy in place. What are your objectives and your desired outcomes? The person you hire or contract has to aid you in accomplishing your mission and basic goals and objectives. Your strategy should have correct timelines. You cannot expect results overnight. Some start-ups and early-stage businesses pivot and change direction due to market considerations, competition, or innovation. Any change in business direction should trigger an adjustment to the staffing strategy.

Creating an Informative and Detailed Job Description

Having clarity on your start-up’s business needs, are essential to successfully executing other strategies to find the best people. With that foundation in place, you’ll be in a great position to articulate in a job description who you are, what you need, and why future team members should consider applying.

What are job descriptions?

Job descriptions are one of those things that nearly every organization uses to communicate talent needs to people outside of the company. They are also useful for illustrating to employees the scope of their work and performance expectations. A job description is a document that clearly states essential job requirements, job duties, job responsibilities, and skills required to perform a specific role. A detailed job description will cover how success is measured in the role so it can be used in performance evaluations.

First mention your technical requirements followed by the competency content that you expect. After that you need to mention details about your company that talent would find unique or interesting and be drawn towards working with you. Of course, an attractive package plays an integral role, but what is also vital is to mention your company’s reputation, social media presence and interpersonal relations. Remember it is equally important that your brand has built a good social media presence. It ensures trust and candidates might be eager to apply to your company.

Network like the Boss you are

Networking is the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting. Networking often begins with a single point of common ground. When it comes to finding the best talent, your networking should begin with people you already know. Firstly, ask current employees to recommend people for job openings. Current employees essentially do the first round of filtering, and the organization rewards them for bringing great talent into the company. Alternatively, you could reach out to your colleagues, friends, and acquaintances for leads on talented people.

A great start to networking for talent are Small Business Development programs, incubators, or accelerators. Both incubator and accelerator programs have strengths and weaknesses, and no program is exactly alike. However, participants gain access to information and resources that were previously out of reach, including opportunities for meaningful networking. The staff, mentors, and partners working with incubator and accelerator programs have their own contacts, and might know someone who knows someone who could be perfect for the role you’re trying to fill.

Use startup specific platforms

Recruitment companies bridge organisations and job seekers. They run basic screening tests on the applicants, assess them against the organisation’s needs, and then refer those with the best attributes. When time is a constraint, resources are available, and the roles are critical, you might consider hiring a recruiter or engaging the support of a staffing firm. Recruiting companies will reach out to passive candidates (people not looking for a job right now) and active candidates (people looking for a new role now or soon) and screen them before introducing them to you and your team. There may also be guarantees made (six months to one year) about how long the candidate remains with your company. Companies would typically have to incur the additional cost of advertising for a particular job. Often due to poor marketing agenda and weak reach to possible applicants along with unawareness amongst job seekers, they may not apply to companies. However, recruitment companies already possess the data on candidates looking for those particular jobs. This is one of the most significant advantages of recruiting agencies because experienced recruiters can hire much quicker than in-house recruitment teams of organizations.

Wherever you live or work around the globe, there are a few well-known web resources that applicants in given industries use as a go-to place to find vacancies. Keep in mind that anything online is constantly evolving, so keep yourself UpToDate with current trends. Common sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter don’t quite meet the talent needs of startups and early-stage companies, so refer to platforms that are specific to startups which help to connect the founders with the right talent like AngelList, Upwork, StartupHire, VentureLoop and F6S. there are also platforms like XING and Viadeo that have professional networking and membership in millions from around the world.

Hire a Recruiter or Staffing Firm

Five ways to attract top talent

Company culture.
Company reputation.
Personal relationships.
Personal fulfilment.
Career progression.

In a nutshell, hiring talented new employees can help a company grow. Young employees, in particular, often bring fresh perspectives, new skills, and lots of creative energy to the businesses they join. Using our guidelines your business can attract the best professionals. It is important to build a great company with a strong vision and mission that focuses on the kind of people you wish to attract.