Although the recession calls for harsh measures, organisations need to come up with confidence-building measures for those still on the staff strength, says Neesha Mohapatra.
A bigger challenge than retrenchment, is that of motivating team members who thrive through the rough phase to outperform and prove their mettle by overcoming the torrential phase of turnover.
The most crucial role at this juncture is played by the Human Resources department, who normalise the beginning of the initial phase by ensuring that there is trust developed between the employer and the employees.
At the same time, we need to manage those employees whose performance is not up to their potential and are incurring the costs of training, engagement, and other welfare activities. If a situation arises where we really need to decide on a layoff, the right pre-planning is a must, and handling emotions in the right manner is essential.
Employers first need to develop job security in the minds of the employees, by strategically cascading their plan of action for the coming months under such economically challenging circumstances.
While employers need to drive revenues and profits by keeping costs within the budgets in line, respective team members need to know that they are secure, in order to deliver the best possible results for the organisation.
The only thing which has increased in the minds of the employees with this economic downturn is job insecurity. Good organisations have gone forward to create different platforms to motivate and encourage employees at this time.
The second most important thing is what to communicate; anticipate questions one could be asked, and have the answers to those questions.
Managers in such situations need to be proactive and effectively communicate the information that there could still be changes to the employment landscape in the future, and they will ensure these changes are made immaculately while keeping in mind the requirements and basic needs of the employees.
The measures adopted to smoothen the present circumstances are widely addressed amongst HR heads from various hotels in the Human Resources forum, which is a practice we have initiated here in New Delhi.
This was done with the idea of discussing market trends in the hospitality domain. Being an active member of this forum, I can honestly say that every forum member has understood the situation with a lot of care and competence.
Especially given the current situation, rather than planning for a layoff management the forum started working on how to enhance greater employee engagement and talent development.
Several inter-hotel initiatives were discussed to be in action. A plan was made where seasoned hospitality managers from different hotels would be sent to various institutes to coach and mentor young students.
We also plan for inter-organisational events. Hotels will be organising training programmes which nominated team members from different hotels will attend.
Hence, participating team members would get a sense of importance and recognition because they would have a great feeling of being nurtured by the organisation. Developing potential employees and increasing the engagement level among people has being the main strategy of the forum.
The crux of the matter lies in the fact that it is important to manage the present positions as well as fill up the critical vacancies in an efficient and time bound manner.
Organisations need to come up with enormous confidence-building measures, which will also include the redesigning of the employee’s work culture. Motivational plans should include a clear development plan made for employees, which should be more skill-based.
By enhancing the job role and giving more responsibilities, convey an understanding to the employee that his position in the organisation is secured. This feeling of being considered essential in the work place is in itself is a great motivator.
There is also a certain kind of behavioural expectation from the team members as they need to learn how to demonstrate their conduct with the positive mind frame according to the changed scenario.
Managers should coach potential employees rightly at this time. Other than making an action plan, following the plan rightly and effectively is most important. Once employees are empowered with larger responsibilities, the motivation is automatically instilled in them. Team motivation and transparent work culture are the assets to ensure the team has confidence in the management.
Who is Neesha Mohapatra
Neesha Mohapatra is director human resources, The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon. She is also the proud recipient of the Hotelier India Awards 2009 ‘HR Manager of the Year’.
Managing layoffs
(NULL)
Although the recession calls for harsh measures, organisations need to come up with confidence-building measures for those still on the staff strength, says Neesha Mohapatra.
A bigger challenge than retrenchment, is that of motivating team members who thrive through the rough phase to outperform and prove their mettle by overcoming the torrential phase of turnover.
The most crucial role at this juncture is played by the Human Resources department, who normalise the beginning of the initial phase by ensuring that there is trust developed between the employer and the employees.
At the same time, we need to manage those employees whose performance is not up to their potential and are incurring the costs of training, engagement, and other welfare activities. If a situation arises where we really need to decide on a layoff, the right pre-planning is a must, and handling emotions in the right manner is essential.
Employers first need to develop job security in the minds of the employees, by strategically cascading their plan of action for the coming months under such economically challenging circumstances.
While employers need to drive revenues and profits by keeping costs within the budgets in line, respective team members need to know that they are secure, in order to deliver the best possible results for the organisation.
The only thing which has increased in the minds of the employees with this economic downturn is job insecurity. Good organisations have gone forward to create different platforms to motivate and encourage employees at this time.
The second most important thing is what to communicate; anticipate questions one could be asked, and have the answers to those questions.
Managers in such situations need to be proactive and effectively communicate the information that there could still be changes to the employment landscape in the future, and they will ensure these changes are made immaculately while keeping in mind the requirements and basic needs of the employees.
The measures adopted to smoothen the present circumstances are widely addressed amongst HR heads from various hotels in the Human Resources forum, which is a practice we have initiated here in New Delhi.
This was done with the idea of discussing market trends in the hospitality domain. Being an active member of this forum, I can honestly say that every forum member has understood the situation with a lot of care and competence.
Especially given the current situation, rather than planning for a layoff management the forum started working on how to enhance greater employee engagement and talent development.
Several inter-hotel initiatives were discussed to be in action. A plan was made where seasoned hospitality managers from different hotels would be sent to various institutes to coach and mentor young students.
We also plan for inter-organisational events. Hotels will be organising training programmes which nominated team members from different hotels will attend.
Hence, participating team members would get a sense of importance and recognition because they would have a great feeling of being nurtured by the organisation. Developing potential employees and increasing the engagement level among people has being the main strategy of the forum.
The crux of the matter lies in the fact that it is important to manage the present positions as well as fill up the critical vacancies in an efficient and time bound manner.
Organisations need to come up with enormous confidence-building measures, which will also include the redesigning of the employee’s work culture. Motivational plans should include a clear development plan made for employees, which should be more skill-based.
By enhancing the job role and giving more responsibilities, convey an understanding to the employee that his position in the organisation is secured. This feeling of being considered essential in the work place is in itself is a great motivator.
There is also a certain kind of behavioural expectation from the team members as they need to learn how to demonstrate their conduct with the positive mind frame according to the changed scenario.
Managers should coach potential employees rightly at this time. Other than making an action plan, following the plan rightly and effectively is most important. Once employees are empowered with larger responsibilities, the motivation is automatically instilled in them. Team motivation and transparent work culture are the assets to ensure the team has confidence in the management.
Who is Neesha Mohapatra
Neesha Mohapatra is director human resources, The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon. She is also the proud recipient of the Hotelier India Awards 2009 ‘HR Manager of the Year’.
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