The people agenda of setting up business in india

© Mandeep Singh, http://in.linkedin.com/in/mandeeps123


Setting up Business in India

– Planning the people agenda

A key area to focus when setting up business

in India is the people agenda. Given that

people are people, there are certain unique

ways and aspects that need to be kept in mind

when planning the people agenda in Indian

environment. A quick review of 10 key aspects

is presented below

1. Hiring Talent

It is very important to have your hiring

practices defined. A common practice in India

for prospective employees is to use referrals,

whether it be of politicians, bureaucrats or JV

partners to push their resume and be

considered without going through the defined

processes.

Majority of best practice companies have

devised processes and systems to deal with

these pressures and do not accommodate

such requests. It is advisable to manage such

requests and include such candidates as

normal process candidates only.

Education institutions in India gain undue

weightage during the hiring process. This too

has to be neutralised during the process, as

the candidates work experience and

accomplishments contribute to success.

Education system in India for an average

citizen will expect completion of a Graduate

degree (10+2+3) and in most cases a Post

Graduate (Masters) degree. These candidates

should not be considered over-qualified for

positions and roles, the concept of over-

qualification has not yet established in India,

as the education and role performed are not

perfectly synchronised in majority of the

applications.

Therefore it is appropriate to have a minimum

qualification requirement, but not a highest

qualification ceiling.

2. Resumes

Like any candidate across the globe,

candidates in India too fudge their resumes,

more from a prospective from making their

resume stand out rather than from a

prospective of cheating the prospective

employer. For each job advertised, you should

expect a decent number of responses,

classified as junk and non-junk. Junk, here

refers to resumes, which would be totally

irrelevant to the job advertised.

In order to attract resumes for your company, it

is essential to advertise, whether through job

portals, there are 2-3 prominent ones in India

or through recruitment consultants, who would

be happy to partner with you. Both job portals

and recruitment consultants have a wide

variety or offerings and costs associated. It is

advised to go through reference check and

identify your needs to understand what suits

best. Specially, when considering using a

recruitment consultant, be mindful of the

consultant’s credibility. Ideally atleast 2 to 3

recruitment consultants should be used for

servicing your assignments.

3. Questions to ask in interview

There is no specific guideline which defines

what is appropriate to ask and what is not

appropriate to ask in an interview. However,

best practices in India have ensured that the

interview questions are in line with the US and

European norms.

The only questions which need to be avoided

are on political, caste and religious beliefs,

these may not have a strong legal backlash,

but, will impact the employer brand

significantly.

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Some key areas which should be checked with

people when being interviewed are on their

comfort level for commuting to office and to

their acceptability on a particular salary range.

4. Salary

Salary still holds a key in the decision making

process for candidates and employees. It is

essential that you plan which percentile you

would like to position your company at. While a

lot of free data on salaries is available, it is

highly recommended to engage a professional

HR consulting company to carry out salary

benchmarking exercise. Depending on your

overall strategy, decide the percentile where

you would like to position your company on

compensation. While the positioning varies

and is largely dependent on your strategies,

anything below a 60th percentile is normally not

going to position the company as an employer

of choice.

Salary break-up or components of salary are

worked on the menu system, wherein, an

employee chooses the amounts under each

head depending on his or her expectations

and tax planning. Some companies, especially

in manufacturing sector, exclude employers

Provident Fund contribution from the CTC,

while other include both contributions of PF to

the CTC of an employee. This is a decision as

a company that needs to be taken.

5. Culture

In the initial stage it is important to have clarity

on what culture you intend to build in the

company. As a next step, a strong process

should be there to see how it is percolated

down to every employee and is strengthened

during day to day interactions.

It is also a common phenomenon to have the

workplace culture which is influenced by

diverse religious beliefs and in some cases it is

influenced by the physical location of the

office.

But, by far, the Indian workforce is adaptable

to a workplace culture which assists in

enhancing their workplace experience and

doesn’t interfere in their religious beliefs.

The essential aspect therefore is to have a

strategy to build the culture with some design,

else a varied, non-uniform and non-productive

culture will set in. which may or may not be

beneficial to the company.

6. People Policies

Policies governing the life of an individual

employee in the company are essential. It is

useful to have a shorter version called “HR

Manual”, which is available for reference of all

employees and a detailed booklet which is

available for the benefit of a few top

management individuals. This serves as a

guide when running people processes and

systems in the company. Few key policies that

should be covered in the manual are leave,

zero tolerance to sexual harassment,

recruitment, exit, compensation, travel and

terms of work policy.

7. Blue collared workers, Managing &

understanding unions

Like any group of workers wanting protection

or a body to help pressure their rights, the

workers in India too get organized and form

unions. The genesis of union is to act as a

unified entity which represents the voice and

beliefs of the workers.

Similar to global workforce, member of Indian

unions and their leaders see various benefits,

which can be advantageous and in some

cases non advantageous.

Hence, the purpose of the unions gets

diverted. By far the Indian worker appreciates

if he is treated fairly and if he is given a fair

hearing by the top management.




The key therefore in managing the workforce

is to involve them in decisions that impact

them and have a system of constant

communication between workers and top

management. Eventually, the worker is looking

for an ability to manage his family and be

assured that he is not being exploited.

8. Building leadership team

Building the leadership team is one of the most

critical factors in setting up a company. While

people from same industries can quickly

adapt, it is not essential for success. People

adapt and if similar exposure is there from

similar industries, such candidates should be

looked at. It is an important decision on how

you position their salaries, this will go a long

way in building a strong foundation for the

venture. It should be pegged atleast 10 to 15

percentile higher than whatever is your

planned positioning for rest of the company.

Do spend a lot of time doing reference checks,

including those on credentials and

performance. Contrary to popular belief, it is

not a common practice for people to shift jobs

very often, an average tenure of 2 to 3 years in

the current assignment should be looked at,

this will help you see whether the employee

has run any delivery cycles and how he or she

performed in those.

Leadership here does not necessarily refer to

level of employees. It also goes beyond and

includes the first few hires, the foundation

team, and those responsible for establishing

functions. It is this group of employees who set

the employer brand of the company.

9. Finding and signing up with vendors

One of the key aspects of doing business is

background checks, and this applies even to

vendor selection or empanelment. While, for

every vendor, the process of tendering may

not be required, it is essential that you spend

time meeting the vendor, its employees and

talk to some of their existing clients.

It is also essential to clearly articulate your

business values and needs to the vendor

before starting a relationship. This will ensure

a smooth and efficient functioning of the

relationship.

10. Retaining talent

It is important to concentrate on key aspects

which people will focus on when considering

either joining or continue working in the

company. A combination of the following and

in different rank order for every employee

needs to be focused

Salary and Benefits, (laptops, mobiles,

cars, insurances, percentile positioning)

Office infrastructure plays an important

role in attracting talent. Specially if the

need of the business is to attract high fliers

Social status benefits, what is this job

adding value to, whether it be designation

or material recognition because of the

brand recall

Growth and increment in salary year on

year. This is a common and expected

outcome of any job, the salary has to

increase every year, unless the person is

an underperformer

Individual learning focus and development.

The focus that is put on building the

individuals and the investment being made

in developing new skills are also figuring

as important decision points

It is planning the people agenda which will

have a major impact on the primary

deliverables when setting up a new venture, so

do spend time and effort in getting this right.
