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Monty Pa Bharali

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Monty Pa Bharali

Director and Head

DST Worldwide Services, India

Monty Pa Bharali is a member of:

- Expert

HR Strategies in Place in your Company

a) DST Worldwide Services is a Wholly-owned subsidiary of DST Systems, Inc., (Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, DST is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: DST)). DST Worldwide Services offers wide range of information technology, business process outsourcing and consulting services to its customers and currently has 1800 plus associates strategically spread across US, India and Thailand. DST Worldwide Services is governed by DST Systems policies and security standards and is also equipped with leading Industry certifications such as SSAE 16, ISO 27001 CMMI, HIPAA and Transfer Agent.

For more information on DST Worldwide Services please visit: www.dstworldwideservices.com.

b) The people strategy of DSTWS, India approaches Associate delight from three perspectives:

A. Policies and Practices

B. Approachability

C. Aspiration enabling coupled with organizational goals.

In everyday terms, we believe that policies and practices serve two important stakeholders, the associates and through them, the customers. So to strengthen this very important component of Associate delight, DSTWS, India adopted multiple initiatives, a few of them being.

PCMM: being a young organization, we realized that we needed a benchmark to go with and so PCMM Level 3 it was, starting the journey in 2009, we were successfully assessed by QAI at PCMM Level 3 in Aug, 2011. We made sure that this journey wasn’t just compliance, it was growth. Automated facilitation (all round performance, mentoring, growth opportunities), new processes (Competencydevelopment) and personal attention (personalmeetings) – all of these three weren’t just strengthened but then reinforced through the tenets of the assessment and have been kept strong ever since.

Empowerment: We truly believed that policies which don’t have the associates’ backing are bound to be revisited, so a committee covering a cross section of associates was formed which looks at and approves all non confidential polices of DSTWS, India. Again, the buy-in has been extraordinary.

Then came approachability, the advantage the firm had was that in both its divisions, all the managers were approachable to the associates and they interestingly continue to do so. The great positive of that has been that attrition is one of the lowest in the Industry (both in IT and BPO) and we’ve got a large population of our associate group which has spent more than 5 years in DSTWS, India.

Finally, continuous efforts are being made to map Aspirations of associates, these largely get divided as 2 major requirements (excluding compensation which is an ongoing effort):

a. Building capability – and this is where the associates have benefitted greatly, from our exception certification program (internal and external) and the mentoring initiatives, we’ve not just said it but we’ve demonstrated that we encourage and reward those who take the initiative to build competency. The (Skill & Knowledge, Performance, Experience and Certification) SPEC program identified by DSTWS, India actually makes sure that those who contribute to building or developing skills standout in the organization. Monetary and non-monetary incentivization is done.

b. Providing opportunities – having had the opportunity to do good technology and BPO work, the first preference for new opportunities both local and overseas by design is for those within the organization, a very strong hand over program has enabled smooth meeting of aspirations of associates and organizational needs.

Today trends seen in HR

When we look at HR trends, as with all other Industries, the few prominent standouts are:

a. The connected world – and this is no longer the internet or social media. Today quite literally, the world is one….. and we see that People can leverage this as a great strength – to add value, perform better, give inputs and become better professionals. The HR part of the trend that seems to be coming is that organizations are beginning to actively encourage such behavior.

b. Focus on results – was always there, but clearly now we see that the associate of today expects certain overall boundaries to be set and then freedom given to maximize performance. Clearly it’s the wave of the future.

c. All round ability – one saw in the late 90s and the early 2000s that the focus was on specialists, to a large extent it still is, but today just being a specialist doesn’t guarantee success, soft skills, articulation, presentability etc. are becoming important even for those specialists. Today’s Indian professional is competing and scoring at the world stage, and how.

d. And answering a later question too, Gen Y is slowly fading out maybe, a Gen Z (or whatever the new term might be) is coming. This generation is networked but is also fiercely independent, has all the information but also wants their private space. And above all, is more knowledgeable that all the Generations before….. This new Generations doesn’t need Kid’s gloves it needs (and to use a technical analogy) continuous upgrading of the platforms available to itself.

Difficulties in Planning Human Resource in an ever changing business

Change is continuous, yes, planning for the Human Resource isn’t easy, but then isn’t that the reason, many of us exist, the change is just the catalyst to the HR or Human Capital teams to be always on guard and flexible. Today HR professionals, who can’t react quickly to changing requirements, mid way surprises and different realities will find themselves getting obsolete before they can react, so let’s welcome change, not make it a difficulty.

HR Relationship with the CEO

In Industries like IT and ITES, the seat of the HR officer is right beside the seat of the CEO- and why not, when over 50% of revenue and over 80% of cost (ingeneral) is just the HR cost then that has to be the focus.

The HR officer needs to work closely to satisfy not just twostakeholders, Associate and Customers but also the Investor. The tight rope for the HR officer is to Get and Retain the best resource at the right cost and ensure the highest performance!!!! …..

And when we get there, the bar gets set higher. But today the HR Officer no doubt is not just a seat at the CEO table but truly a game changing presence.

Biggest Pain Point

Many challenges exist ---- but the target is always ---- GET AND RETAIN THE BEST RESORUCE AT THE RIGHT COST AND ENSURE THE HIGHEST PERFORMANCE!!!!

Mind you, this isn’t a pain point, it’s more the challenge that we all accept and try to be successful to the fullest.

Rewards in your organization

Rewards and Recognition:

Please remember, this is not just money, esteem, pride and belief --- all play a part.

DSTWS, India through a comprehensive Reward program addresses monetary needs, the need to be recognized beyond just your team, the need to feel proud both for yourself and your family when associate with your employer and the belief that the firm is fair – this makes all the difference.

Most important to these programs is consistency and a sense of fairness ----- this is needed so that those who make the right efforts are sure of what is there to look forward to and those who are motivated by recognition know that the right behavior would be rewarded.

Finally, the reward and recognition program encourages the organization values that we in DSTWS, India hold so dear – the right message must always be reinforced.

Leadership development programs

Leadership development- This just isn't an exercise driven by formal programs in DSTWS, India. We believe in making Leadership happen.

The greatest testament to this belief is that most of our department heads today in our business teams have grown through the ranks to take over large responsibilities. For that to happen, two pre requisites are necessary: ability of the individual and the belief of the organization in the ability of that individual.

Different Qualities looking while hiring people

Talent acquisition.

Two things: suitability and alignment.

Suitability of course, is the mapping of the individual to the requirement.

But not just that, we look carefully for the ability of the candidate to adjust well in our environment, to imbibe our company values and consider them strengths. This is very important, while a lot of times this sounds like theory but with experience one realizes that misalignment of values doesn't just result in bad hiring it results in bad business experience ( especially at senior levels).

Promotional techniques work best & reason behind it

We do have Leadership Initiatives which include a Development Program which is planned through a whole set of initiatives which include Training, case studies, Industry interaction and empowerment. At the end of this exercise, for those who pass, there definitely are opportunities to be had.

Additionally, the greatest trust that the organization can be put on its high potential associates is by entrusting them with larger responsibilities and supporting them to take ownership and deliver. Time and again, it has worked and when it works another CXO is potentially being readied.

Attrition Management: Retaining vs. fresh hiring

Managing Associate Turnover – A few important truths :

HR facilitates managing associate turnover, managers truly make low associate turnover happen.

HR facilitates by creating a culture of openness, by making the workplace a happy place to be in, by listening and many times, by sharing. That said, it’s the manager which makes that culture happen, more associates are loyal to their managers than to any other single stakeholder in the company or in many cases, the company itself.

That said, there never is an argument call Attrition vs fresh hiring. They both co-exist but they also exist so that strengths are used right. Always, see if the opportunity has a best suitable associate within and only then look at fresh hiring.

While that is being said, Attrition to some extent is important, maybe even healthy, reasons range from getting fresh ideas in, making sure that opportunities are utilized and costs are managed need a limited amount of attrition.

Promotional techniques work best & reason behind it

Careers today are shaped by opportunities and capability but capability being available and opportunities coming along isn’t enough, what is absolutely important is how we make sure that capability is seen and opportunities are rewarded to the rightly capable associates.

Keeping in line with Changing Workplace Culture

As we look at this Generation, the so called Gen Y and the generation that is already coming to its own, the generation to follow Gen Y, we're seeing an evolution, today's associates are more aware, so when they demand something, it's not a tantrum it's a need. Today's associates are more ambitious, so when we think of organizational planning, we need to make sure that the associates are part of that plan. Transparency and clarity, is clearly something that's expected by this very smart and knowledgeable generation.

Attract good people, retain the better people and advance the best people

One thought, if I could share with our fellow HR colleagues as we move ahead is that there is an ever evolving work force that we now continue to work with.

Advice/ suggestions to fellow HRs

The only way to keep up is for HR to continue to evolve, people practices need to keep pace with the evolution of our primary stakeholder, the associate. And so, let's keep Learning and let's keep evolving ourselves.