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Most MNCs consider workforce health as a higher priority: a survey

Faced with rising health care costs and a growing concern over the health of their employees, a vast

majority of multinational organisations plan to place a higher priority on workforce health initiatives and

the overall well-being of their workers over the next few years, says a new survey by Towers Watson, a

global professional services company.

The Towers Watson survey found that three out of four companies said workforce health and promoting

health and well-being will be more of a priority this year and next, while 87% said it will be a higher

priority over the next two to four years. However, Asia-Pacific multinationals run the risk of falling

behind: only 23% of multinationals headquartered in Asia-Pacific currently have a global health strategy,

compared to 32% globally. Also, only 62% of Asia-Pacific respondents include wellness or health

promotion programs, such as preventive care, health screenings or education, as part of their global

health strategy, compared with 75% globally.

"Preventive care is still emerging in Asia-Pacific. Historically, Asian companies have adopted a relatively

piecemeal approach to workforce wellness, for instance implementing a health risk assessment program

but not following up with a longer-term assessment strategy. Not surprisingly, these efforts have met

with sporadic success," said Andrew Heard, managing director, Asia Pacific Benefits, Towers Watson. "As

the business landscape continues to attract top multinationals globally, and as local businesses grow and

compete in the global arena, many countries in Asia are experiencing a sharp increase in demand for

labor," said Heard. "In this context, health programs are a good differentiator for employers and it is

unsurprising that Asia-based corporations view their health programs as a way to attract and retain top

talent."

Rising costs in Asia are not just a problem for Asia-headquartered multinationals; when asked about

which countries are of the most concern from a cost perspective outside of the United States, three of

the top four countries named by all respondents were Asian: China, Singapore and India. By and large,

Asia-based multinationals struggle to make the business case to build a global health strategy 67% of

Asia-Pacific respondents said that global health was not a business priority currently. Like other regions,

Asia-Pacific multinationals also struggle with lack of resources, including budget and staffing. The survey

noted that 44% of Asia-Pacific multinationals the highest percentage of all regions said that their

global health strategy is not communicated at all or only communicated to a slight extent to regional or

local leaders.

Other findings from the survey include:

Companies that have a health strategy are not sharing it broadly with employees. Only 13% of

respondents say they have explained their strategy to their entire global workforce.

In the next three years, multinationals will rely increasingly on more global governance of their health

care benefit programs. Data management, third-party vendor support and offering of prevention and

wellness programs are the areas most likely to come under some type of global governance at

respondent organisations.

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Womens careers lag mens - A myth?

According to Catalyst's latest report, The Myth of the Ideal Worker: Does Doing All the Right Things Really

Get Women Ahead?, men benefit from these strategies far more than women.

In fact, this report, which studied high potentials in the executive pipeline, reveals that while "doing all the rightthings" to get ahead works well for men, being proactive did not provide as great an advantage for women.

According to the report, which studied commonly used career strategies, the strategies adopted by high-potential

women had little bearing on the rate at which they advanced to leadership. Conversely, men who applied the mostproactive career strategies advanced further than other men.

Regardless of chosen career strategy, the study shows that men outpace women in rate of advancement andcompensation growthstarting with a $4,600 gap in their first post-MBA jobs which widens to $31,258 mid-career,according to Catalyst's 2008 survey. Key findings include:

Women seem to be paid for proven performancewomen who changed jobs two or more times post-MBA earned$53,472 less than women who rose through the ranks at their first job.

In contrast, men seem to be paid for potentialmen who had moved on from their first post-MBA job earned$13,743 more than those who stayed with their first employer.

Across all career profiles, men were more likely to reach senior executive/CEO positions than women; in the mostproactive category, 21 per cent of men advanced to leadership compared with 11 per cent of women.

The report effectively explodes persistent gender gap myths that continue to hold women back:

Women DO "ask," but asking doesn't close the gender pay or position gap.After their first post-MBA jobs, therewere no gender differences in whether or not high potentials negotiated for greater compensation (63 per cent ofwomen vs. 54 per cent of men) or for a higher position when beginning their current job (19 per cent of women vs.17 per cent of men). Even though these women negotiate for more when they change jobs, our research shows thatwomen's compensation growth was faster when they remained with the same employer, where they had provenperformance, than when they started with a new employer, who paid based on potential.

Women are not seeking out slower career tracks.According to the study findings, women are less satisfied than menwith their career growth. If women were intentionally seeking slower tracks, we would expect them to be as satisfiedas men despite their slower advancement.

Time to strategise?

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HR has long since been considered as a support function. Has that definition changed over time? Is it

becoming more strategic in nature?

With increasing competition, changing economic and business environment, CEOs have recognised peoplecapability as a competitive advantage and therefore, HR is an important and a critical business function; besides, theambition and aspiration of the well-informed new generation has given a new dimension to HR function. Large

diverse business conglomerates have already experienced the contribution of HR as a strategic partner inorganisation-building and sustaining growth," says Pradipta Panda, grouppresident, HR, Adani Group.

On similar lines, Sandip Mallik, director- HR, Aviva India, says, "HR isbecoming more strategic on two counts. First, HR is a risk manager, andsecond, HR facilitates the growth of engagement capital, both of which havea huge impact on franchise valuation. Traditional engagement approachesprovide a quick fix, but lack long-term benefits and potentially ignore upto 65per cent of the reasons why employees disengage. Today's HR professionalscontribute to creating engagement capital, or building engagement over time,to improve employee effort, retention, and key business outcomes. As webalance short-term improvements with engagement drivers that sustain

engagement over time, there is a greater alignment of the HR function to anorganisation's strategic needs. One of the key pieces in franchise riskmanagement is smooth succession. An effective succession managementstrategy by HR overcomes four risks: vacancy risk in critical positions,readiness risk among designated successors, transition risk as new leadersmove into roles, and portfolio risk from poor deployment of leaders across the organisation."

While it is clear that HR - over a period of time - has emerged as one of the key strategic decisionmaking areas forany company, what are some of the factorsinternal and externalthat have contributed to the strategic aspect ofthe human resources function? "With capital and technology in abundant supply, there is very little differentiation inthe marketplace. The only true differentiator turns out to be people. It's the workforce that creates a credible, long-term relationship with the customer base. HR is the key enabler in moving all people vectors in the right direction.HR is also accountable for creating long-term employee value proposition. The best HR organisations engage in

thoughtful discussions to collect data and test assumptions to implement an authentic employment value propositionthat is a source of competitive advantage. Organisations that present an authentic, differentiated value propositioncan better retain current employees and promote attributes that will make them an employer of choice in the Indianlabour market," adds Mallik.

If HR is entrusted with key roles such as strategic planning of human resources in the organisation, what kind ofresponsibilities does it entail on HR heads? Is the HR fraternity geared up to be at the helm of strategy planninganytime in the near future? "The HR fraternity in the last decade has learned and had to learn the hard way theimportance of moving up the value chain. HR has learnt that if it can't add value to the business, it will get dropped,as the basic transaction activities either can be automated or outsourced to a service provider, thereby reducing thecosts for the organisations. So HR started moving from giving just qualitative inputs to quantitative inputs fordecision-making. HR has become a measurable' function like sales or operations where it has to prove its reason forexistence," says Deependra L Chumble, chief people officer, Hexaware Technologies.

At the same time, the need of the hour is for HR heads to take more interest in core business activities so as to makeany substantial contribution to strategy as a whole. "HR managers still need to get involved with the businesses tobegin with. That is where they need to focus on, instead of getting caught up in typical HR administrative processes.It is true that activities such as recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal and compensation plans needto be carried out, but HR needs to give equal importance to strategic effectiveness as well. A setback that the HRfraternity faces is that HR personnel are not fully equipped to deal with strategic functions. The HR department willnever achieve its full potential unless it demonstrates the role it plays in creating value for an organisation and itsreturn on investment," concludes Rajiv Vastupal, president of AIMA (All India Management Association).

Today's HR professionals contribute tocreating engagement capital, or buildingengagement over time, to improveemployee effort, retention, and keybusiness outcomes. As we balance short-term improvements with engagementdrivers that sustain engagement over time,there is a greater alignment of the HR

function to an organisation's strategicneeds

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Give your career the extra push

With the number of jobs lagging far behind the number of applicants, people are willing to go the extra mile

to rise professionally and give their career a good push.

With the number of jobs exceeding the number of job seekers, it is only natural that people are willing to leave nostone unturned to rise professionally. However, with the concept of work-life balance' establishing its foothold inevery sector, industrialists have every reason to question the loyalties of some of their employees who lurk behindthe welfare policies. It is quite possible that professionalism is suffering a huge blow today with the execution ofthese policies that are actually meant to enhance productivity. In spite of all the competition in the market, manyemployees do not take their work seriously anymore and fail to deliver an optimum performance.

So, are companies today witnessing a dip in their employee efficiency as a result of work-life balance policies? UdaiSingh Solanki, MD & CTO, eRevMax Technologies puts forward the scenario, "There have been instances whereemployees have taken undue advantage of the benefits provided; hence, companies need to ensure they don't leaveloopholes when they create such policies." On a general level, it is observed that a majority of the employees utilisethese benefits positively and employ them to boost their performance level. In other words,the efforts of theiremployers inspire them to be more professional than ever towards every project that they handle. Consequently,companies encounter a gross increase in their output in exchange for the policies.

Nagaraja Prakasam- MD, South and South East Asia, CDC Software explains further, "With the increasingurbanisation of the Indian society and more families becoming neo-local, employers are increasingly adapting work-life balance as a factor to promote employee belongingness." There are many companies that ensure that employeebenefit policies are designed in such a manner that they do not hamper the working of the company. ShitanshuJhunjhuhnwalla, director, Turtle Limited, gives an example, "Options such as utility leave' that gives an employee

the leverage to do his/her personal work during office hours for a stipulated time period, instills a feeling ofresponsibility amongst the employees, which in turn, ensures that they do not shirk away from their work."

In order to maximise its output and profits, it is essential that the company fully utilises its resources along withensuring the comfort of its employees. Hence, periodic performance appraisals, client feedback and strict rules holda necessary position in the company to ascertain that nobody takes advantage of the welfare schemes. These increasethe accountability of the workers and motivate them into delivering their very best in every assignment along withensuring client satisfaction. This will pave a path towards an equal satisfaction of the employees as well as theemployers.

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HR: Its many facets

Pic: INPIX-RF/IndiaPicture

A company and its success story are made by its people. The HR department is formed by organisations to

effectively manage their human resources'. It also acts as an intermediary between the company and its

human assets.

With work-life balance coming in the picture and employee needs diversifying every day, HR's role in capturinghuman talent and using it for the benefit of the company has been growing rapidly. In fact, HR acts as a synergisticdepartment that binds the different departments and their workforce together. The tasks of HR have become highlymulti-faceted and span a wide range of functions today.

Rosita Rabindra, chief people officer, NIIT Technologies, describes the role of HR, "Today, Gen Y is extremelysensitive to societal issues and in making a difference in the lives of the people around them. The HR department ofany company takes up the reins to help the organisation and its employers to fulfil this responsibility. For instance,'igive' is an initiative of HR at NIIT wherein the employees donate a portion of their salary for the upliftment of thechallenged members of the society and can choose where this money is to be spent. Efforts include sponsoring ofeducation, infrastructure development of schools, etc. In fact, organisations should provide employees theopportunity to interact with the handicapped, blind, aged or the impoverished on a personal level and spend timeteaching them whilst they are on paid leave. Today, HR is playing a major role in promoting the CSR arm of itscompany."

Rabindra tells us the role of HR in integrating culturally diverse groups in a company, "With every organisation

going global, the workforce at companies is becoming diverse. In a culturally diverse scenario, it becomes extremelyessential that these diverse groups work together as a team for the wholesome functioning of the company. HR playsan invaluable role in making all employees feel at home in the organisation. It provides sensitivity training to allemployees so as to leverage these differences and ensure that all work styles and belief systems are respected at thecompany. Another important role of HR is to ensure that no discrimination surfaces in the company and all policiesare equitable and fair. It has to ensure that nobody feels alienated because he/she belongs to a minor community.Every member of the staff has a certain role to play and should be given credit for doing so."

Deepa Sharda, HR department, Vigneshwara Developers, discusses skills integral to an HR professional:

Appreciation for diversity;

Malleability/flexibility;

Strong communication skills;

Problem-solving traits;

People development;

Analytical skills using quantitative and qualitative data;

Futuristic visioning.

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Hence, the HR department is an invaluable division of any company that works fervently for the benefit of theemployers as well as employees. Its diverse and versatile role in taking care of employee needs as well asmaximising the profitability of the company is indeed vital for the smooth functioning of an organisation.