Are you Human Oriented?

"JOIN OUR FAST-PACED COMPANY"
We have no time to train you.

"CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE"
You'll be here very late, very often -- might as well be comfortable.

"MUST BE DEADLINE-ORIENTED"
Your first four projects are already way overdue.

"SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED"
Did we mention that you'll be here very late, very often? And most weekends.

"DUTIES WILL VARY"
We might not check with you before adding more responsibilities

"CAREER-MINDED"
Female applicants must be childless, hope pregnancy is not on cards.

I came across these tweets which was shared with an intended pun but actually is a bitter reality check and an eye opener. These just reiterate that Human Resources has been more of treating Humans as resources. In the fast paced competitive work pace before we even realized Human got dropped somewhere midway and hence people became numeric assets good enough to be shown on dashboards. Numbers good enough to be deleted or added as per market climate.

Mostly organizations in urgency to increase the productivity try to optimize there bottom line which in turn results in aggressive target settings for the employees to produce desired results. As much as the top line is important ignoring employee wellness and a stress free environment is what should not be ignored either. These tweets portray the outcome based approach or behavior pertaining to most of the startup and SME where understanding human aspects still looks to be far cry.

My intension is not to counter the organization expectation but only if humans are treated as beings and not machines, as people and not just resources, as family not just assets, growth is inevitable.

So next time don’t look at your watch when somebody is late!!

 

 

First Day,First Show...Hit or Miss

Cab driver was racing his car when the passenger tapped his shoulder. He screamed out for his life and banged on the road divider. When asked for such a weird behavior, he said all his life he has been carrying dead bodies to the morgue so a sudden touch was too much to scare him for life.  

Though hilarious but this is an ideal scenario of a changed work place and challenges associated to the same. Probably that’s the reason why initial induction and orientation plays an important role in an employee’s life cycle. First day at a new office is as important as a new school and nobody wants to feel left out amongst strangers. While recruiting organization makes sure to show the best picture to the potential employee but mostly falter during the joining time. It’s human to take things granted and all those long follow up calls on joining confirmation loose the stand in front of ground reality.


So what exactly happens on a first day, first show?? 

Mostly the story begins with loads of manual data entry which consumes half of the day and the new employee keeps wondering when will he get a quick smoke break, though is little reluctant to ask the HR coordinator. However this generally proceeds with a quick lunch which he would have with the other New Joinees all equally confused what to do next. Well the induction presentation too was expected full on black n white content and hardly could manage them to keep away from yawning. Next day you would find the new resource deployed at the assignment hired for all set to take over.

Neither did ever the employee complain about it nor did the HR feel the need to change after all the New Joinee feedback rated the process ‘GOOD’. So why bother!!

But will you rate this as a Blockbuster or Flop is what will make to re think about the entire process. Is it all about showing an additional hire in the monthly HR dashboard or something beyond numbers. Where is the user experience which you get while watching your favorite film in gold class?
 
So the point is both content and environment play an important role when we are inducting or introducing a new employee. First day itself should create an impression to last long, something which can engage him from day one. Something he would love to take back home for he surely made a right choice. Active interactions will not just make one comfortable but also help to understand the system and thus settling down would be much easier. Paper work and initial formalities if done online can save the day for team bonding orientation may be outside office premises or other in-house activities which helps to connect at much faster speed. Likewise there is lot which can be done around this widely practiced process ,all one requires is a Director’s Hat.

Induction is film which if directed, executed and presented well , will surely have the audience cheering for more!!