HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGERS – THE MOST LOVED AND HATED

The month of April has arrived and the salary increment virus is spreading like forest fire all over the organisation. The Management are devising strategies to finalise that minimum increment that would be just enough to keep the employees hold on to their jobs. And the employees are devising strategies to get demand the maximum increment points upto which the Management would prefer to keep them hired.

The other day I was discussing with my HRD Chief to decide on the proposals in this regard and he told me that magnitude of his role is directly proportional to the gap between the expectations of the employees and the generousity of the Management. Larger the gap, bigger the role and more space for getting hit.

He sent me a mail which he had received on how to do a selfless performance appraisal. It was very interesting so I decided to post it to make you all think twice before you go to your HR Manager for a performance appraisal.

After 2 years of selfless service, a man realized that he has not been promoted, no transfer, no salary increase no commendation and that the Company is not doing any thing about it. So he decided to walk up to his HR Manager one morning and after exchanging greetings, he told his HR Manager his observation. The boss looked at him, laughed and asked him to sit down saying “Myfriend, you have not worked here for even one day.”.
The man was surprised to hear this, but the manager went on to explain.
Manager:- How many days are there in a year?
Man:- 365 days and some times 366

Manager:- how many hours make up a day?
Man:- 24 hours

Manager:- How long do you work in a day?
Man:- 8am to 4pm. i.e. 8 hours a day.

Manager:- So, what fraction of the day do you work in hours?
Man:- (He did some arithmetic and said 8/24 hours i.e. 1/3(one third)

Manager:- That is nice of you! What is one-third of 366 days?
Man:- 122 (1/3x366 = 122 in days)

Manager:- Do you come to work on weekends?
Man:- No sir

Manager:- How many days are there in a year that are weekends?
Man:- 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays equals to 104 days

Manager:- Thanks for that. If you remove 104 days from 122 days, how many days do you now have?
Man:- 18 days.

Manager:- OK! I do give you 2 weeks sick leave every year. Now remove that 14 days from the 18 days left. How many days do you have remaining?
Man:- 4 days

Manager:- Do you work on New Year day?
Man:- No sir!

Manager:- Do you come to work on workers day?
Man:- No sir!

Manager:- So how many days are left?
Man:- 2 days sir!

Manager:- Do you come to work on the (National holiday )?
Man:- No sir!

Manager:- So how many days are left?
Man:- 1 day sir!

Manager:- Do you work on Christmas day?
Man:- No sir!

Manager:- So how many days are left?
Man:- None sir!

Manager:- So, what are you claiming?
Man:- I have understood, Sir. I did not realise that I was stealing Company money all these days.

So guys do your homework well before you go to your HR Department.

SHORT STORY – 4

He pledged not to hate anybody. The whole world hated him for that.

Is it that there is a absence of selfless love or is it that love has evolved in time with a shade of negativity, that people measure your love for them with your hatred for all others.

RESERVATION – BENEFICIARY THE POLITICIANS OR THE BACKWARD COMMUNITY

The Central Government has announced plans for Reservation in admission to seats in IIM, IIT and other Central Educational Institutions.Whose cause it is going to serve. Definitely not the cause of the economically Backward community. Concessions in fees on the basis of Economic Status is definitely welcome as I strongly believe that every citizen of this country should be given equal chance on merit get admitted to these institutions. But Reservation on the basis of a historically created, Religiously nurtured and Politically motivated Social status or caste is a crime, not only on the said community but on the country as a whole.

The fact is that these premier institutions give admissions only the basis of merit and it would be untrue to state that backward community students are denied admissions here. Then where is the room for caste based reservation where only merit and not caste or religion is the criteria.

In case of Reservation, Non-meritorious students would get admissions even if they fail in the entrance examinations. But that alone will not serve any purpose. The Government has to then reduce the pass marks for them in order to let them pass and complete the course. So the Reservation tag has to continue till course completion. So what thereafter. The students passing out with low marks are definitely not going to get placements in good jobs. The next step would be to introduce Reservations in pivotal senior executive posts in both public and private sector and if possible in foreign countries too, otherwise the whole purpose of the initial reservation would get defeated, if at all the purpose is to churn out economically successful IIM and IIT graduates within backward communities.

This ever extending act of Reservation briefed above would have two major implications. The first one is that the politically defined Backward community people would remain attached to their BC tag for generations to come, thanks to Reservation. The second implication is how fragile our economy would become, at the hands of less equipped people holding pivotal posts, in a liberalised scenario. This is not to imply that Backward Community people are less equipped, only that people coming with the comfort of Reservation at various stages are definitely less equipped. Finally we will end up again as an under-developed economy with only one caste and that of economically backward.

It is time for the politically defined Backward community people to wake up and break away from the vicious circle of backwardness that these politicians have been weaving on them for the last more than five decades of Independence. It is time for them to learn and earn their share in this gallopping economy and remove the inequality, definitely with adequate support in the form of fee concessions to economically backward and intensive coaching for those belonging to educationally backward families.

Today be it education, employment or any other field of activity where preference is given to merit, as is the case in private sector, nobody bothers about the caste, community, religion etc. It is the Government sector, where every form of application still has a column where you are required to state either your caste and class. If the Government is so keen about creating a casteless community, let them stop talking about caste first and make such differentiation at any level a punishable act. I am sure there would be no such thing as Backward Community in another decade.

Today be it a Member of Parliament or top Executive posts in Private Sector or professionally successful Civil Servants, you can find a lot of people from the Backward Community earning these posts not out of Reservation, but with their competency. By the way does the Indian Parliament have adequate Reservations for Backward Community ?

RESERVATION IN ANY FORM AT BEST IS ONLY A NUTRIENT FOR NURTURING CASTE BASED SOCIETY.

8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD

I had been to Hyderabad for a couple of days and I saw something there which I really found very amusing at first, enough to term it as the 8th Wonder and as a picture of the positive attitude of the Hyderabadis, only to quickly realise the dangerous side of this sight too.

I am very bad in General Knowledge, so kindly excuse me if the 8th Wonder of the world is already crowned. What I coined as the 8th Wonder was a dog chasing our Aircraft in the main runway soon after it landed in the Hyderabad Airport. With due credits to the positive attitude of the dog, but that is definitely one place where it should never have been present.

I hope and believe that the Pilot would have reported the incident to the Airport Authorities and action would have been promptly taken considering the fact the Andhra Government is fast becoming a trendsetter in governance and discipline. From the couple of days I stayed there and speaking to old timers and prominent personalities in the state, I found that a truly serious bend has set-in in the Andhra Government towards Governance and away from politics. Definitely the initial credit goes to Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, but all credit to the current CM for improving upon the momentum and the good work initiated and last but not the least, the proactive response from the people, atleast in Hyderabad, in this endaevour.

I do not know whether Andhra Pradesh is free from corruption and I really do not bother about it so long as it does not affect development and good governance. That is where I advocate “Healthy corruption” since corruption has become like cholesterol in our bodies and we can only choose between “Good cholesterol” and “Bad cholesterol”, but can never totally remove it.