<div><strong>Ronnie Das, Head Human Resources at Nalco Water India Ltd</strong>, never wanted to sit behind the computer and always felt HR was the profession for him with the right blend of people management and technical knowledge with common sense thrown in. He has had his share of startups and loves it best when an organisation grows and evolves into a business house. At between 10 and 13 per cent, the attrition rate may be under control in his company, but he is finding it increasingly difficult to get resources who don’t mind dirtying their hands by working their way up through basics.<br /><br />For future HR managers, Dias' advice is understand the business side of the organisation and spend less time in front of the computer, and more time with the employees and their managers.<br /><br /><em>Excerpts<br /></em><strong>What made you choose HR as a profession?<br /></strong>Well I could never see myself as the man behind the computer, so various software/computer related positions were ruled out. Though while I was completing my graduation I did like subjects like Business Administration which had elements of Human Resource planning and management in it. HR also seemed to be one of the professions that had the right balance of people agility, technical knowledge, systems and common sense in it.<br /><br /><strong>What has been the biggest achievement of your career?<br /></strong>While I have been involved in a few startups, it gave me great pleasure to see the organisation grow in size over the years and evolve as a business house. While this is one of the achievements, it’s hard to pen the biggest achievement as that’s relative to time.<br /><br /><strong>What have been the primary traits/qualities that have helped you attain your present position?<br /></strong>Perseverance is one of the traits that helped both in my personal and professional life. The other one is carrying and exercising the right set of moral values.<br /><br /><strong>What are the challenges you are facing in your organisation?<br /></strong>We are currently going through a merger, and it’s like changing parts of an engine while still driving the car. It is challenging but we are sure we will reach our target.<br /><br /><strong>What are the steps a company should take to develop and motivate future leaders?<br /></strong>One of the key steps we have taken is to invest in a framework to identify high performers starting with top tier levels and then gradually cascading the programme to the levels below. The framework enables supervisors to understand the competencies of their direct reports and helps them build and monitor their development plan. Such initiatives not only create bench strength and supplement succession planning within the organisation but also build confidence in employees. <br /><br /><strong>What is your rate of attrition? How do you prevent it?<br /></strong>Our annual attrition rate has been ranging between 10 and 13 per cent over the last couple of years. We categorise our attrition into planned and unplanned and it’s the unplanned one that we really interested to control. I am happy to say that the unplanned attrition is much below the market median. To prevent attrition, we start by following the basic steps of exit interview and attrition analysis, employee opinion surveys prevail, further, time is spent with leaders and employees to understand thechallenges they face at work.<br /><br /><strong>How do you retain talent in your company?<br /></strong>The company provides diversified career paths to employees, right from sales, engineering, R&D, application development, technical support, plant, supply chain, support staff, etc. Employees who have potential and interest to move to other departments are provided opportunities within the company. This fosters greater learning as employees follow a zig-zag pattern of development thereby giving them a greater understanding of the company and its core functions. The company also focuses on identifying talent and providing them opportunities to grow through projects and roles within the India entity or overseas.<br /><br /><strong>What sets your company apart from other companies as far as work culture goes?<br /></strong>We follow a high performance culture associated with rewards and recognition. Leaders are selected from within the organization with little exceptions to the rule. While we do follow an open door culture employees are given opportunities to reach out to senior management through periodic meetings.<br /><br /><strong>What is the biggest challenge you face when selecting people?<br /></strong>One of the biggest challenges we face in hiring currently is to find resources who don’t mind dirtying the hands by working their way up through basics.<br /><br /><strong>How do you track employees' satisfaction or dissatisfaction in your company?<br /></strong>We track engagement of our employees through Employee Opinion Surveys, staff meetings, town halls, exit interviews and feedback through leaders.<br /><br /><strong>How important is HR to the bottom line of a company?<br /></strong>HR if engaged as a true partner can add value to the company. It is the only department other than the MD which has knowledge and understanding of all other departments. The role of HR is definitely strategic especially in growing Companies. Though the link to the bottom line cannot be directly established, you can ask any leader the price of selecting a wrong hire or promoting the wrong person.<br /><br /><strong>How has the downturn affected HR?<br /></strong>While we are still following a growth trajectory for most of our business, we have evaluated the status for few businesses and made adjustments accordingly. We still continue to hire talent and invest in people development.<br /><br /><strong>How should HR be integrated with the core line of business?<br /></strong>At the end of the day HR is a department enabling business to do business. It is important for every HR person to understand the different lines of businesses and how they actually contribute to the bottom line. If an HR person lacks this basic understanding it is pointless knowing the end to end HR functions.<br /><br /><strong>A recent survey has questioned HR's actual contribution in an organisation. Would you like to comment on it with particular reference to your organisation?</strong><br />Over the years the HR function has evolved with its offerings, its more strategic, more people focused and have implemented systems and designs to make it easy for the vast number of employees work in the Company. Its commendable to say that with the growth the Company had; leaders have realised the true value HR and reach out to HR on various matters.</div><ul><li><strong>If you could change three things about HR practices, what would they be?<br /></strong></li><li>Understand the business side of the organisation.</li><li>Spend less time in front of the computer, it’s a means to an end, spend more time with employees and their managers.</li><li>Adapt to change, do not get lost with past laurels.<br /> </li></ul>
