"Awe"Struck HR

In a business one of the most critical and thankless job is of an HR. The prevailing mindset in the industry is that HR never value adds to the business. Their roles in many organizations is restricted to that of Administration and HR function becomes synonymous with that role. With the fast paced increment in the field of technology, the HR function can finally be free from its traditional role of administration and move into a value addition function.

Our organisation is going through the transition phase where HR function is being seen as a value addition function. The day to day administrative task for HR still remains, the biggest of them is managing leaves of over 100 employees everyday and relying on manual systems. 

We have started an initiative to digitize the leave application and approval system. It has worked like a charm and the HR department is "Awe"Struck. All the employees have access to google forms, which they can fill up for leave application from any device and at any point of time. The reporting managers get an email request to approve or reject the leave of the employees. The system is so well integrated that HR is notified of every step in the process. The biggest advantage of the solution is that the HR executives need not spend time in processing the leave request and updating the excel sheets daily. Now the task of HR remains just to oversee the process and focus more on analysis of leaves, through which they can do significant value addition to the organisation.

Unique DNA of Business

Not many businesses are successful and those that are have some thing unique about the way they do business. I consider a business professional successful, when they are free to brainstorm on things other than what they are currently working on.

I met one such group today and I have been thinking ever since, how do I make the business that I am into, a successful one. I observed that the group has strong and dedicated work force and work environment, they have thought of clear strategy as to how to handle the day to day operations. To come to this level they have been doing things differently. They are better networked and among the three partners the responsibilities have been clearly laid out. The set of employees that work under them are from low education background but very well trained on the product that they are servicing. The business model has been very well laid out and execution though they agree has significant scope for improvement, is very process driven.

Another such case I understood that is differentiating Asian Paints compared to other paint manufacturers in India is their dealership network and relationship, which has created a strong entry barrier for any new player with deep pockets.