Monthly Archives: November 2020

Difference between KRA and KPI

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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Every organization has got their goals, missions, and certain objectives to achieve. These objectives could be the short-term goals that need to be fulfilled in a given period. To determine if these strategies will achieve their goals and take the organization in the right way or not, the company makes use of dedicated metrics. And those are KRA and KPI. The primary relationship between KRA and KPI is that goals are made using KRAs, and realization will be measured by KPIs. Now, let us see the difference between KRA and KPI!

What is KRA?

KRA is a key result area and is one important success factor to the company no matter internal or external where superior performance should be achieved for an organization to attain their strategic goals and the vision and mission. The main result areas are the ‘critical success factors’ and ‘key drivers for success’.

KRAs can be developed for the employees in a company linked to the job roles and performance objectives. Normally, key result areas will be around 3 to 5 major responsibilities, which are included in the employee’s job specification and indicate the main value of a person to the company. The analysis of such areas will help the employees to develop the personal strategic program for career development as well as serve basis for the employee performance analysis valuation.

What is KPI?

KPI is a key performance indicator made to assess the achievement of the objectives. For every objective out there, there is a dedicated KPI that can be set at the beginning of their performance period. At the end of this performance period, as per KPI, management will determine if the organization will attain a particular goal.

Management must evaluate the following questions if deciding over KPIs

  • Can the KPI achievement be controlled?
  • Are KPIs linked with strategic objectives?
  • Can KPIs explain easily?
  • Is KPI simple to manipulate?
  • Are proper actions taken for improving the KPI performance?

This balanced scorecard is the management tool made with heavy use of the KPIs and used to know KPIs efficiently. The balanced scorecard functions with 4 perspectives; goals are set for every perspective, and KPIs are used for measuring whether these goals are accomplished or not and to what extent they are realized.

Difference between KRA and KPI

The primary objective of this post is to offer you an overview of what KPIs & KRAs are –and clear up a few misconceptions – and shed some light on why it’s important to separate both the metrics. We will run through a few definitions, and clear up what’s a KRA or KPI, dive into the importance of both, and offer some examples too.

Your metrics can easily be broken down into two categories:

Performance Indicators – PI’s are nonfinancial. They are measured on the regular cadence (every day, every week, every month, and so on.) and are the result of a person’s activity. PIs offer information over what action should be taken for improvement and are highly useful for creating proper strategies and aligning the goals. The indicators are:

  • Understood by employees
  • Actionable
  • Leading and forward-looking

Result Area – One of the important goals for setting KRA is improving business communication and enhances productivity because everybody is aware of what winning is in their respective role. The areas are:

  • It’s specific, clear, and measurable 
  • It is under your control
  • It is an important business activity 

Now, you have got your KPIs and KRAs. The major difference between the Indicator and Result Areas lies in their importance and value to you. So, whichever metric you consider is dependent upon your business’ priorities. For this reason, no tangible list of the indicators (i.e., Performance and Result) exists – and they are fluid & change depending on their business. Important to note that: If a metric impacts your business directly, it is ‘KEY’ for your business success

Importance of KRAs and KPIs

Key Result Areas is a strategic factor, implied to an organization where most favorable results are achieved, and reach its goal and take ahead the vision of the organization. 

KPIs aren’t much flashy as KRAs, but more focused on actions, leading to positive results. Key performance indicators are the foundation from where successful strategies are made, and they are some steps, which take us to KRAs.

Most of the businesses mistakenly rely on KRAs for offering insight into the overall performance of the business & direction over which activities are successful and what steps you must take next. Just KPIs can track down the steps taken (those that have to be taken) to make sure the success.

Based on the above information, some major differences between KRA and KPI are:

KPI KRA
KPI is the performance metric that aims to evaluate the progress and achievement of the specific goal. KRA looks after the strategic area where the best performance is needed
It’s the metric that checks the level at which the business goal is accomplished. It’s the metric that defines areas where employees are liable to produce positive results.
It’s the quantifiable metric that gauges the performance of the product, service, in a market. It’s the qualitative metric and defines areas that will help to achieve the goals of an organization.
Measures how successfully the organization achieves its goals at different levels. Helps to find out the scope of the job and product.

Final Words

As we can see, the major difference between KPI & KRA depends predominantly on the way that they are employed for organizational success. Each business has a pre-determined set of objectives that they wish to achieve that must be assessed against the dedicated metrics.

Best Answers for “Describe Yourself in One Line” Interview Question

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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The first impression plays a vital role in how an interviewer sees you as an inspiring candidate. How you answer during your first phase of an interview will make a huge difference in the results– it can be either good or bad. Also, you do not have to look as lacking and awkward in your social skills. Instead, you will need to show you have the right communication skills and professionalism that can be an essential asset to a company when hired.

Many times the questions you will be asked in the job interview will be, “How will you describe yourself?” Whereas you have many options when determining how you can answer the question, the key is explaining why your attributes and experiences make you the right fit for this role.

Also Read: Tell Me About Yourself Sample Answers for Freshers

If an interviewer asks to answer about yourself, they are generally looking for information on how your characteristics and qualities align with your skills that they believe -important to succeed in a role. You can include proven results that will show how you apply your attributes to get success. Let us look at some statements that recruiters love:

  • “I’m determined.”
  • “I have an eagerness to learn.”
  • “I’m passionate about my work.”
  • “I do not give up until I achieve it.”
  • “I’m well organized.”
  • “I have a positive mindset.”
  • “I enjoy challenges.”
  • “Hard work never bothers me. I like it.”
  • “I am a brilliant communicator.”
  • “I am a natural leader.”

If these statements do not apply to you, then you must not include them. Suppose you get a job, people soon will see you were not truthful. These above statements apply for any job & they indicate you are a hardworking and cheerful employee. However, there are some extras that you will have to mention in the specific kinds of jobs.

In this guide on best answers for “Describe yourself in one line” question, so let us stick to basics here.

Describing Yourself in the Job Interview

Know the Context

It is a no-brainer. Context is the job interview, and describing yourself means answering the right answer on “describe yourself in one line” question.

Do Research

To describe yourself in the best possible way, you need to research as much as possible about the company that you are applying for. Ensure you are a cultural fit. Learn how you will answer them on what makes you passionate about the question.

Check Your Body Language

Your body language talks more than you can imagine. When you describe yourself to your recruiter:

  • Ensure your handshake is a bit firm and natural to trust.
  • Maintain eye contact.
  • Don’t fidget and cross your arms.
  • Talk with confidence.

Be Prepared with Your Answers

Make sure you prepare your answers and deliver the right interview introduction question. That’s it. It would help if you rehearsed many times on what you would like to say to reduce your odds of taken by surprise.

Now, let us look at some examples to answer this question and elaborate a little.

Samples Answers for “Describe Yourself in One Line” Interview Question

Sample Answer #1

“At present, I am working at XXX Company and have specialization in doing XXX. The key reason I have applied for the job is I saw XXX on your given job description & I think I will help you XXX. One of my primary accomplishments in my current role was to help my employer do XXX, and I am pretty confident I will help your existing team to get the same results here.”

Sample Answer #2

“I’m passionate about my role, and it is because I have a steady source of inspiration that makes me perform the best. In my previous job, my passion challenged me daily and got to learn many new skills, which helped me in doing much better work.”

Sample Answer #3

“I’m a results-oriented person, and constantly check with my goal to decide how close or far we are or what it can take to make this happen. For me, pressure inspires me and a great motivator for the team. Actually, over the past some years, I tried to help my team to shorten our product time by two weeks.”

Also Read: 7 Most Common Job Interview Questions and Answers

Make Sure You Practice Well Before You Answer Your Interview Question

As a final point–ensure you do practice everything beforehand when planning to say when an interviewer asks, “describe yourself in one line?” and slowly elaborate on the points.

Do not worry if it is not perfect the first time, with practice you will be more confident answering this question and will not look nervous or stumble when this particular question comes up. 

So I would suggest noting down in a paper and writing the important points that you would like to talk about in your answer. You can write them down in the bullet format.

After that, use your mobile phone’s voice recorder application to record some practice answers & see how you look.

But, make sure you do not see your notes when giving the answers. An idea here is to try and remember what you have to talk about without reading what is on the paper. And glance at a paper AFTER to ensure that you have covered everything properly.

Keep on practicing until you give a smooth and best answer without forgetting.

Stay True

Suppose you feel you cannot honestly say such things, then do not try. You should back your answers up with your life evidence. “I am determined. For instance, I….”

You must ask yourself if you will be happy in the job where you need to portray to be somebody besides who you are and if you can even do it. Probably you will not. What would you get? Two things your future employer will not like is a short service and a bad reputation. Look to the field you will enjoy and improve at instead.

Absenteeism in the Workplace – Effects, Causes and Ways to Tackle It

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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Employee absenteeism can be defined as frequent absence from their work. Such kind of absence can be categorized as the habitual absence that excludes paid time off or authorized leaves. In this post, we will look in detail the effects and causes of absenteeism and how an employer needs to tackle it. Without wasting any time, let us start:

Effects of Absenteeism

Workplace absenteeism affects both the employees and employers alike.

Some of the consequences for employers are:

  • Huge administration costs.
  • Lesser productivity levels.
  • Lesser staff means poor customer service.
  • High labor costs, especially if you hire a replacement or temporary workers.

Some of the consequences faced by employees:

  • Loss of pay when absent.
  • Decreased productivity after returning to work.
  • If absenteeism is unexplained and frequent, members of staff can face dismissal.

Absenteeism can be costly for the workforce, and it is very important you know the strategies and causes to decrease it, for the benefit of everyone.

Causes of Absenteeism

There is not any one particular reason for absenteeism in the workplace, it is down for various reasons. Most of the reasons are legitimate, and some aren’t. Let us check out some of the common causes of absenteeism:

Common causes include:

  • Stress, depression, and burnout: Developing mental health problems, stress, anxiety, and depression will cause the employees to miss their work. Higher pressures at work, relationship issues, and financial worries are some primary causes of burnout, depression, and stress.
  • Harassment & bullying: Whereas many cities are now taking proper steps to address such issues in the workplace, it is still common for the people getting harassed or bullied and makes them avoid that place if it happens. So, it is one case when an employee is getting harassed or bullied by the employer or co-worker, they call in sick and avoid that situation altogether.
  • Lack of involvement: Disengaged staff are the ones that are not committed to the job, colleagues, or company. Such workers are likely to miss their work just because they are not much motivated to move in.
  • Child care or other family responsibilities: Whenever some employees might have to take the unscheduled absence from their work to take care after an elder or any dependent family member. It can be down to the arrangements falling through and a family member being sick.

Ways to Tackle It Rightly

Investing in the workplace wellness initiatives will help to reduce absenteeism just by creating a healthy workplace culture, which offers employers with the proper tools that will help to improve their health at the workplace.

Behavioral Changes

Health and wellness solutions will help the employees to make some healthy behavioral changes, which might affect their health and making them stay absent from their work. Providing your worker’s lifestyle assessment days offer to give an overview of their health & provides a clear picture of where they are or what lifestyle changes have to be made to become healthier. 

So, educating your employees about some health topics will make them aware and conscious about the health issues, it will be done through the health calendar that offers the bespoke program of the monthly wellness campaign, workshops, and events.

Offer Employee Support

For the employers to better support their employees, there has to be proper training on the management level, and managers have to become confident, compliant, and competent to deal with any issues that might be affecting their work attendance. This type of support will make a massive difference to the employees who are going through a tough time & make them feel highly valued. 

The company must provide management training days that includes topic like mental health awareness, knowing the relationship between the performance and pressure, dealing and managing with the stress in the workplace, managing the change and developing the resilient teams & developing personal flexibility for the leaders.

Right Remuneration

Many times workers take up the side hustles and compensate for the poor remuneration. When they’re engaged in such kind of activities, they do not tend to care a lot about their work presence. And with time this turns in absenteeism. Thus, providing your employees with the right proper remuneration for work in an essential factor to keep them hooked to the workplace.

Decrease Stress

The workplace is one big source of depression and stress, and 15 million workdays get lost every year because of anxiety, stress, and depression. Stress will cause unplanned absences, thus trying to create a workplace environment where the employees feel relaxed and comfortable talking to the line managers who try to eliminate tension and stress. Certain solutions like office Pilates, office yoga, office tai chi, office massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, and beauty will help the employees to relax.

Rewards & Incentivization

Giving regular rewards and incentives to the employee with the best attendance record and work is an important step to motivate the rest of your workforce. It will help to boost employee morale whenever they come to know that their presence is highly appreciated in their workplace. You may opt for rewarding the employees with the best attendance each month. This can further motivate your employees to come to work & stay engaged.

Wrapping Up

Here we end our guide on absenteeism in the workplace. We have covered all areas from causes and other consequences of the absence behavior. The main point to know is that the high absence never happens in isolation. Many times, there are several other contributing factors, such as perception among the workers of getting ignored by the management, mismanagement, unpleasant organizational culture, and many other factors.

It is just not possible to design the workplace where all your employees work at 100% at all times. It is important to understand your employees are humans and not machines. So, by instituting the given practices, you may create the work environment that offers your employees more control and freedom over the schedules when addressing some highly common causes for unscheduled absences.

10 Best HR Books to Read in 2023

Posted on by Zainab Sutarwala
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In a current challenging field of HR, there is always plenty of things to learn—especially this year brings a huge collection of books for Human Resource professionals. In this post, we have listed some best hr books that will help you to sharpen your skills, learn from the diverse perspectives, and keep up with the changing trends.

People who are keen to become better in their work or personal lives, search for the books that show them different possibilities and ideas. Hopefully, this list we have put together will make your work life more fulfilling!

10 Best HR Books in 2020

1. Unleashing the Power of Diversity by Bjorn Z. Ekelund

With the changing world in a workforce, Unleashing the Power of Diversity highlights on how to ensure that your company works to improve the communication between the people from different cultural experiences. You will learn to break down the barriers to trust and unification is at the forefront mission of this book. This book helps the HR professional to ensure that diversity is sustainable and viable.

2. People Analytics for Dummies by Mike West

It is the best HR book for novice HR professionals or one who wishes to start utilizing analytics to improve their HR strategies. The book shows that different data will help to point you in the right direction, keep workers satisfied, and enhance their motivation.

Also Read: 14 Best Books on Leadership and Management 2020

3. The HR Scorecard by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, Dave Ulrich

The book by Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, Dave Ulrich is arguably one of the oldest on our list –however the most timeless of all. In an HR Scorecard, Becker & colleagues explain in detail how people, performance, and strategy are quantified and linked. HRM hasn’t been regarded as hard science. To align HR strategies with an organizational strategy, and measuring an impact on the workforce does not come naturally to Human Resource. But, when it is done well, it allows HR to quantify the impact & measure effectiveness in their work.

4. Predictive HR Analytics: Mastering the HR Metric by Kirsten & Martin Edwards

Predictive HR Analytics builds on their previous version and is used as the reading material for Human Resource analytics classes. This book explores analytics and metrics in a detailed form. Using many different case studies, this book explores metrics and analytics linked to employee attitudes, diversity, employee turnover, recruitment analytics, employee performance, and much more.

5. The Essential HR Handbook By Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell

This is one book that many Human Resource Professionals reach out for whenever any question and problem comes up. The newly updated edition for 2020, the book offers complete advice and information on just about each HR topic, which includes hiring & firing, managing the diverse workforce, telework, making compensation packages, as well as avoiding any legal pitfalls. You can find best practices, which will help you to attract talented workers, create positive relationships between the managers and employees, and navigate human resource issues in a complex business environment today.

6. The HR Answer Book by S. Smith and R. Mazin

The HR Answer Book by S. Smith and R. Mazin is a go-to HR book for getting quick answers over HR problems. It is simple to read, precise and provides complete guidance on all the issues that are found in the Human Resource. Answers range from simple to complex and making it one best quick reference HR book for everybody interested in this professional and are working in this field. It’s one of the best books for the HR experts that must also be kept in HR libraries.

7. SHRM Essential Guide to Employment Law by Charles Fleischer

SHRM Essential Guide to Employment Law by Charles Fleischer sets the foundation for the HR professionals to improve their knowledge of data and analytics as well as help to improve the overall performance of the business. The book covers practical aspects like data-analytic thinking, data collection, data management, applying human resource tools and analytics to the workforce, and planning, training, recruiting, as well as turnover analysis.

8. Human Resource Management By Gary Dessler

Gary Dessler is known to be the pioneer when it comes to HR Management literature, and his Human Resource Management work is arguable the best read & studied HR books right now. The new edition covers important key aspects of Human Resource. This includes the practical and step-by-step details of the key cornerstones of HR. The author breaks it down into five important parts: recruitment, placement and talent management, training and development, compensation, as well as employee relations.

9. Unleashing Capacity: The Hidden Human Resources by Rita Trehan

Human Resource professionals are on a lookout for different ways to improve their careers and skills. When a human resource is enabled just by taking on the new leadership issues, they will enhance the roles, skills, as well as processes in the organizations. The author tries to share the first-hand experience in simple-to-read chapters, which will help the HR experts at different levels to move the corporate ladder.

10. Financial Analysis for HR Managers: Tools for Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy by Steven Director

One main part of being a successful human resource professional lies in the ability to manage the financial functions of your work. It includes assessing the financial impact of human resources in the long-term business goals, preparing meaningful rewards packages for the employees, and making sure that HR plays an important role in the bigger enterprise profitability.

This book is a thorough guide, covering each and every aspect of the financial element in HR today. Filled with examples, the breakdown of financial numbers in simple-to-understand aspects, and step-by-step point towards designing the successful HR & financial roadmap –it is one best read for people who are looking to get the best strategy from CFOs.

Keep Reading

HR isn’t about leveraging authority, bit, it is about the soft power: Human Resource must co-opt and attract than coerce. So, these are some of the top-rated HR books, check them out and do not stop reading.

5 Stages of Employee Life Cycle

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Like everything else, the employment of a person also has a life cycle. It has its ups and downs and consistencies. There is a time when your career peaks and then follows years of recession, not in the bad terms. But before it lies a few years of constant struggle. You have to give your best to the organization you are working for. Throughout your employment period, the level and nature of your engagement with the organization vary in many ways. This pattern of varied engagement with the organization is understood through a framework called the employee life cycle.

Right from the start, i.e., the recruitment till the end, i.e., the retirement, the employee life cycle covers all stages. Although the basic framework involves five stages of the life cycle, different organizations and experts can manipulate it a bit and make it six or four depending upon their needs and other peculiarities. This article will expand with the five steps of the employee life cycle and everything you need to know about it.

Also Read: Recruitment Life Cycle – Different Stages of Recruitment

What is the Employee Life Cycle?

The employee life cycle is a pattern of engagement that the employee follows during their employment tenure with an organization. It is a framework carefully utilized by organizations and companies to keep their output optimal. It usually has five stages, tracked from recruitment till retirement covering all the adventure that occurs in between.

5 Stages of Employee Life Cycle

1. Recruitment

Recruitment is the very first step of the employee life cycle, crucial for the employee as well as the employer organization. It holds importance due to the gravity of this step. The employee needs to find a job which is best suitable for him, according to him. His skill- set, expertise, and interest should align with the company. Moreover, the perks and privileges offered instead of the services rendered should seem satisfactory to the candidate. Their entire career depends upon this significant step that they are about to initiate; therefore, it becomes crucial.

On the other hand, the employer needs a perfect fit for the opening since it will be an investment. The kind of services they receive should be worth the money they are investing in. Moreover, employees can prove to be real assets and sometimes catalysts for developmental change. Therefore, the first step of the employee life cycle becomes essential.

2. Onboarding

Onboarding is the very next step that occurs post recruitment. Your baby steps with which you start your professional career is called onboarding. Often, employees witness a humble beginning. The privilege, recognition, and responsibilities are not huge contrary to the learning that takes place. Since it is the new time in the professional workspace, it teaches the newcomer new etiquettes, on-ground realities, and new interpersonal skills required in the workspace and can be taught only through a trial and error method.

It becomes essential not only for the employee because it lays the stepping stone to further advancement but also for the employer since new employees can harbor recent changes with their passion and innovative solutions.

3. Career Development

Although career development in the employee life cycle occurs after onboarding, there not a discernable distinction between them. But career development as a step involves career advancement at a much higher pace. The rewards, responsibilities, and recognition drastically increase as compared to the previous stage.

When the employee can make their career path a distinguished one by taking the right baits and delivering the best they can. One needs to be very mindful of the amount of time and resources one is ending at this stage. Even the slightest miscalculation can cause a considerable fall out considering the roles and responsibilities associated with one particular employee at this stage. This is the time where an employee becomes a real asset to the organization.

4. Employee Recognition

Having delivered their best and optimum output at the employee deserves concerning recognition and respect that comes with consistency. The employee earns rewards according to the reward system adopted by the organization. At this stage, the amount of output contributed to the organization doesn’t matter, but their involvement is respected and deemed necessary in the organization.

5. Off-boarding

Off-boarding is the last step in the framework of the employee life cycle. It merely refers to retirement or the process through which the employee breaks off the tie with the organization. It marks the end of employment tenure, and the employee is no longer obliged to render their service(s) instead of salary. However, few organizations may choose to provide a few of the benefits.

It is an essential step for both parties, i.e., the employee and the employers, just because the investments done by both the parties seem to wane off with time. With recruits, innovation, and technology, new changes are welcomed, and the workspace is changed over time gradually. To keep up with the pace, the off-boarding is required by the employers to be initiated on time with due credit, respect, and recognition.

The name and number of these steps might be slightly different for different organizations, but their meaning more or less remains the same and their importance too. These steps each depict a particular challenge thrown at the employee and employer throughout the engagement period to keep the organization going and growing. A separate case and trajectory need to be made of different candidates, maintaining their strengths and weaknesses in mind, which can benefit both employers and employees all at once and at its optimum.

image source: https://www.digitalhrtech.com/employee-life-cycle/

50 Group Discussion Topics for Interview

Posted on by Saumya Khatri
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Recruitment and the entire process that is built around it is daunting in many ways, not just for the candidate who is seeking a job but also the organizations that need the perfect candidate to join them with their given resources. An organization and people who have bestowed the opportunity to run the interviews and group discussion have to assess many qualities at once and within a limited time frame and resources. It is important to hire the perfect candidate because it will be profitable, a long term investment and surely work according to the company’s interest.

An ordinary round of selection these days involves group discussions and interviews taken together to check the compatibility and skillsets of the potential candidates. Interviews have always been simpler to execute and manage since they have been longer in the game and also dealing with one individual at a time. Group discussions, on the other hand, remain a complicated and complex process for many. To assess a large number of people at once, to check and assess their knowledge of the concerned field, to check the quality as well as the accuracy of the arguments presented as well as assess persona attributes such as compatibility to work in teams, accommodation to contrary viewpoints and general behavior with fellow peers.

Here’s is a curated list of tips to ace the group discussion both as a candidate and as an organization with hundred topics to practice with. But first, we need to understand how a group discussion works.

Also Read: Do’s and Don’ts of Group Discussion

Procedure for a Smooth Group Discussion and Other Tips for The Organizers

The group discussion generally begins with all the candidates seated in a hall, often facing each other to make the communication more effective. The hall chosen for the meeting is usually disturbance free so that every word spoken is loud and clear as a crystal.

The organizers, i.e., the company that is hiring, sends a team of professionals who are there to represent the organizers as well as assess them. They begin the group discussion as soon as everyone is seated. The organizers first need to introduce themselves and ask all the individuals to introduce themselves, too, to ease the assessment for the panel. Once everyone is familiar to everyone, the tension eases, and this familiarity helps candidates be a bit more confident.

The topics are already chosen by the organization and need to be dealt with one at a time strictly to prevent confusion. The time slots for every topic must be decided beforehand to maintain decorum and prevent the discussion from swaying away from the given discourse. The organizers need to be mindful that all candidates must be provided with fair speaking time, and the discussion should not be dominated by a few voices. If any such thing happens, they need to interrupt and assess the candidate according to their discerned behavior. Assessment can be quite tricky, and therefore, the panel needs to be carefully chosen.

List of Group Discussion Topics for Interview

  1. Impact of Covid19 Pandemic on the global economy
  2. Impact of COVID19 Pandemic on Indian Economy
  3. How can the Indian Economy Rejuvenate from the pandemic induced recession?
  4. How is the educational sector impacted by the pandemic?
  5. How is the startup sector impacted by the pandemic?
  6. What are the long term impacts of Covid19?
  7. How have digital communications navigated and bolstered communication during the Covid19 Pandemic?
  8. How have the health related startups responded to the pandemic?
  9. What policies should be adopted by authorities in the distribution of the Covid19 vaccine?
  10. What do you think gender equality has been impacted by the Covid19 pandemic?
  11. What the class of 2020 need realizes with regard to the recession, employment, and pandemic?
  12. What do you think the new normal is going to look like in workplaces?
  13. How has work from home impacted productivity?
  14. What were the limitations of work from home strategy?
  15. Do you think work from home can be adopted in the post COVID world to make the professional work environment more inclusive?
  16. What, according to all of you, is rejuvenation after the recession is going to look like?
  17. What, according to you, are the problems that children faced in the COVID induced lockdown?
  18. What were the different ways in which people tried to find sanity?
  19. How did the social sector respond to the pandemic induced crisis?
  20. How will textbooks remember Covid 19 pandemic?
  21. Women at the workplace: how to make it more inclusive
  22. How can diversity and inclusivity needs to be maintained
  23. How do international politics affect cross border trade?
  24. Migration and work-force
  25. How is brain drain affecting the Indian economy?
  26. How is overseas work migration impacting demography?
  27. How can cross border trade strengthen diplomatic relations?
  28. How have internships impacted the job market?
  29. What securities should interns enjoy?
  30. Do internships need to be paid?
  31. What policies do you think Indian Startups should adopt to maintain an all-inclusive workspace?
  32. How can women in leadership roles bolster the gender parity ratio?
  33. What are the areas in which the social and corporate sectors come together?
  34. What is the role of an organization in maintaining the mental well-being of its employees?
  35. How can workplaces be more sensitive towards the mental health of employees?
  36. How can organizations maintain the sense of social responsibility of the employees?
  37. How can businesses capitalize on social media platforms?
  38. How has business engagement changed with social media campaigns?
  39. What steps can organizations need to take to decrease plastic consumption?
  40. How can healthy work environments be created in organizations?
  41. What positive impacts can co-curricular activities at the workplace ensure/
  42. How can workplaces be more sensitive towards animal rights?
  43. What are the boundaries of healthy workplace banter amongst colleagues?
  44. What can be done to ensure a sense of security is enjoyed by minorities in the workplace?
  45. Engagement of businesses with media?
  46. What can be done to ensure proper customer redressed?
  47. How can the entertainment industry and startups collaborate?
  48. Influence of Pubg on society?
  49. How has content creation as an industry emerged with the internet and social media?
  50. Internet censorship: good or bad?

Strategic Human Resource Planning – Definition, Process and Importance

Posted on by Meghna Ghosh
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As said “well begun is half done” and the beginning of anything great starts with excellent planning as planning is the initial step in the area of management. To manage everything well in any organization, the key factor is to plan everything perfectly. Since human assets are the most precious assets in the organization based on whom the journey of success starts so planning them well becomes even more essential, and this prospective approach for the human resources is called Strategic Human Resource Planning.

What is Strategic Human Resource Planning?

Strategic HR planning is an essential component of HR management. Almost every sized organization has a strategic plan that guides the organization in successfully meeting its mission. Organizations regularly complete financial plans to ensure they achieve organizational goals, and while workforce plans are not as common. Strategic HR management is defined as “Integrating human resource management strategies and systems to achieve the overall mission, strategies, and success of the firm while meeting the needs of employees and other stakeholders.”

Strategic HR planning is a process that helps an organization to identify current and future human resources needs to achieve the end goals. It links human resource management to the overall strategic plan of an organization.

Importance of Strategic Human Resource Planning

1. Clarifies the Current Scenario and Indicates the Loopholes

HR planning strategy, start with where you currently are. Here are several questions that can be used for self-assessment in the course of Strategic Human Resource Planning which gives a clear picture of the present situation.

  • What is going well right now?
  • Where do struggle is the most?
  • Which processes are running efficiently, and which ones are a constant pain?
  • Where does the team spend most of its energy and time?
  • Amount of manual tasks?

2. Helps in Future Anticipation

Success is not accidental. To keep moving forward and finish the race, you want to check out the long term and make a solid plan. Here are a few questions to consider when you predict the future to assure a brighter tomorrow:

  • How do the current assets and liabilities align with your goals?
  • Is welcoming new people feasible?
  • How to retain your existing and new employees?
  • Will a training strategy help your team build new competencies?

3. Helps to Incline with Market Trends

It’s possible to get lost in the ever-growing complexities in the market. Monitoring market trends and external factors are crucial elements of a strategic HR plan. The following questions will help to assess market conditions:

  • How is the labour market doing?
  • What are employees most likely to demand?
  • Which technological changes will disrupt the industry?
  • How is the economy expected to vary in the future? What impact will it leave?
  • What are the government regulations you need to be aware of?

4. Assess the Workflows and the Delays

Strategic Human Resource plan is to perform an internal scan on tech, and other inventory.its must convert your strategic plan into action. These questions will help you evaluate the current HR technology:

  • Is the current HR process capable of accomplishing strategic goals?
  • What are the frequent bottlenecks within the present HR workflow?
  • Is the current HR process plagued by errors?

5. Unleashing the Power of Automation in HR Planning

Strategic HR planning helps organizations absorb changes easily. However, before implementing strategic planning, eliminating the existing chaos in HR Processes is a must.

Strategic Human Resource Planning Process

The strategic HR Planning process has four steps:

  1. Assessing the current HR capacity
  2. Forecasting HR requirements
  3. Gap analysis
  4. Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies

1. Assessing Current HR Capacity

Based on the organization’s strategic plan, the primary step within the strategic HR planning process is to assess the present HR capacity of the organization. The knowledge and skills of your current staff got to be identified. This can be done by developing a skills inventory for every employee. An employee’s performance assessment forms are often reviewed to work out if the person is prepared and willing to require more responsibility and to seem at the employee’s current development plans.

2. Forecasting HR Requirements

The next step is to forecast HR needs for the longer-term supported the strategic goals of the organization. Realistic forecasting of human resources involves estimating both to and fro. Questions to be answered include:

  • How many staff are going to be required to realize the strategic goals of the organization?
  • What skill sets will people need?

3. Gap Analysis

The next step is to determine the gap between where the organization wants to be in the future and where it is now. The gap analysis includes identifying the amount of staff and therefore, the skills required within the future as compared to the present situation. Gap analysis must encompass these below questions to be answered:

  • What new skills will be required?
  • Do our present employees have the required skills?
  • Are employees currently in positions that use their strengths?
  • Do we have enough managers/supervisors?

4. Developing HR Strategies to Support Organizational Strategies

There are mainly three HR strategies for meeting organization’s needs in the future:

Training and Development Strategies: This strategy includes:

  • Providing staff with training to require new roles
  • Providing current staff with development opportunities to organize them for future jobs in your organization

Recruitment Strategies: This strategy includes:

  • Recruiting new staff with the skill that your organization will need within the future
  • Considering all the available options for strategically promoting job openings and inspiring suitable candidates to use.

Outsourcing Strategies: This strategy includes external individuals or organizations to undertake and try to do some tasks. Many organizations look outside their staff pool and contract skills. This is incredibly helpful for accomplishing specific, specialized tasks. Each outsourcing decision has implications for meeting the organization’s goals and will, therefore, be carefully assessed.

Are you in the process of Strategic Human Resource Planning, end up with us? Zigsaw provides the best-outsourced recruitment service to fulfill organizational prospective goals. 

How to Make Salary Slip with Sample Formats

Posted on by Aanchal Lohia
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The salary slip. The payment proof of your hard work. It is a document given by the employer to the employee. It is generally issued monthly after the salary is credited to the employee’s bank account. It can either be provided as a physical piece of paper, or its e-version can be mailed to the employee’s account. The company is under the legal obligation to issue a salary slip to the employee to have a record of the salary payments and deductions.

Components Of Salary Slip

Most of the employees do not pay much attention to this document as many are majorly concerned only with the salary credited into their respective accounts. A salary slip shows the salary of the employee broken down into various components like the basic salary, deductions, allowances and many more. A salary slip can have various formats, but some of the most important headings of a salary slip are:

  • Basic salary: The essential component of salary that constitutes the largest part of about 40%-50% of the total salary. It varies according to your position in the company. This forms the basis for all the other components of the salary.
  • Dearness Allowance: This is paid on top of the basic salary, and this component varies according to the prevailing inflation rate. It is generally 30%-40% of the basic pay, and for income tax, both the basic and the dearness allowance is taken together.
  • House Rent Allowance (HRA): All the companies must pay some amount under this heading which varies between 10%-35% of the basic and depends upon the position of the employee in the company. This is tax-free up to a certain limit provided the house rent proofs are furnished.
  • Conveyance Allowance: The amount that the company pays to cover the work-related travel expenses. This is also free of tax up to a certain limit.
  • Medical allowance: Many companies also provide a medical allowance which can be availed at the time of an accident or some major mishap. This amount will be disbursed only if a proof is provided and is limited up to the amount of INR 15000. 
  • Target linked pay: This is a performance-based component, provided as a lump sum amount quarter wise or semi-annually. This component is also tax-deductible.
  • Income tax or Tax deducted at source (TDS): This is a deduction that the company does according to the tax slabs as specified by the government of India. This is called tax deducted at source, and the final income that the employee receives is after the tax deduction.
  • Professional Tax: Levied by the state government, every working professional must pay this.
  • Provident Fund: As mandated by the government, the employer deducts 12% of the basic salary every month and makes a similar contribution to the employee’s provident fund account which is tax-free and is kept as a means for the employee’s retirement, so it is part of the employee’s investment portfolio.

The basic components of a salary slip are described above. There can be some other headings also, which varies from company to company. 

Importance Of Salary Slip

A salary slip is not only provided just because it is a legal requirement of the company to do so. But a salary slip has it’s own importance and uses. Some of the importance of a salary sip are:

  • Planning of income tax: Different components of the salary has different tax treatments as authorized by the law. So, having a clear idea about different components can help the employee to maximize the tax savings for the given financial year.
  • Employment proof: Apart from the offer letter, this salary slip is something that forms the proof of an employee’s employment for a particular company. It can also be submitted as proof of the last salary drawn when applying for a visa to a foreign place or for various programs at various universities.
  • Loans/ Credit Cards: This salary slip can also help in availing loans where it can be submitted as proof and can also help the institution to gauge the employee’s ability of debt repayment. It also serves as proof when applying for any borrowings, mortgage or credit cards.
  • Retirement Savings: Having an idea about the provident fund, gives a clear indication regarding the retirement savings that the company will provide the employee.
  • Helps in further employment: Knowing the various components of the salary slip can help in assessing various job offers and can also help the employee to negotiate salaries while switching jobs.

Sample Format For Salary Slip

Apart from the components of a salary slip, some of the other mandatory things that need to be there in a salary slip are Date, Name of the company, Logo, Address, Month, Year, Employee Code, Employee Name, Designation, Bank account number and many more. Let us look at some of the sample formats of a salary slip.

Sample 1:

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Sample 2:

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Sample 3:

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Here are some samples for a salary slip. The basic details remain the same, only the kind of allowances and the deductions change. Providing the employee with a payment slip is mandatory for every employer. A salary slip, as discussed above, has its importance to play and must be saved carefully. Thus, salary slips are important for any employee to avail of various long-term benefits.