Case on “Expectation Management” and “Employee relations risk mitigation”
Background:
The ABC Company is in the business of Market research & data analysis
Headquarter in Baroda and branch offices across 19 locations in India including all Metros, A & B type cities.
The existing Company was a result of M&A of 3 different business entities over a period of 4 years
Total employee strength of 1200 nos. – Management = 170 Staff = 700 Resources on voucher payment = 330
Management and Staff are on rolls of the Company as known as Full Time Employee (FTE) while resources on voucher are considered as temporary resources.
The average service of resources on voucher is 5 years.
The resources on voucher payment are primarily engaged into the data collection activity which is a vital link / input for the Company’s core business i.e. Market research
The resources on voucher were not entitled for their legal dues like Leave, leave encashment, bonus, PF, ESIC etc.
Based on the HR due diligence report, the Management agrees to make this entire arrangement legal with a condition that they would not be taken on the rolls of the Company
Challenges:
With the above background, the only feasible option that HR had was to outsource them to a contractor and hire his services to make the entire arrangement legal
The resources on voucher have nurtured an expectation over the years that they would be absorbed on the rolls of the Company
With this arrangement, resources would not get the opportunity to be on the rolls of the Company as FTE
IF the resources do not accept this arrangement and approach the Govt. authorities with the grievance then there was a great risk involved form the labour laws non-compliance perspective
It was also difficult to find the Contractor who will agree to provide this kind of arrangement
If this impacts the routine data collection work of the resources involved, it would directly impact the monthly / fortnightly Market research report generation activity of the Company which is core business of the Company.
Process followed:
The Management approval was taken with a detail description of the risk involved
A contractor was identified who was ready to be part of this strategy and was ready to match the execution speed required for such kind of activities
A database of the resources was prepared with all the required details
A strategy was worked out to attempt this location-wise and the location with less number of resources involved was chosen first and relatively difficult locations were chosen subsequently
The regional characteristic of the resources was a major consideration
A detail brief was prepared to address the resources with the benefit analysis of this entire initiative
The informal leaders within each group were identified and they were given briefing on this entire activity
The entire activity was completed over a period of 60 days with all the resources on voucher converted thru the Contractor as a ‘Outsourcing Model’
Learning take away:
Role of HR as business enabler
Balancing resources expectations v/s cost & Management verdict
Planning & execution of the entire process without disturbing routine business activities
“Strategy” angle of the entire initiative
Deliberations on “HR due diligence”
Tags: Expectation Management
