Article: The Equilibrium

Strategic HR

The Equilibrium

Scaling up, companies will face capability challenges that will require team uplifting to meet business expectations
The Equilibrium

For almost five years, we have been closely watching the industry of HR evolve. New players have entered the market, global giants also pitched their tents in the country and consolidation has taken place in sectors like recruitment, consulting and others - all signals of a growing industry.

In parallel, we have seen the maturity of the HR community as buyers of these HR products and services. While today high ticket HR buying decisions are not left with the CHRO alone, but the CFO, CIO, COO and even sometimes the CEO is involved if it is linked to a company-wide strategic initiative, the CHRO’s role is becoming more and more important as eventually s/he will be responsible for the project execution and its results. The need for the organization to consume products and services that will support HR strategy, delivery and measurability will continue to rise.

This trend will be accelerated as the Indian economy shows signs of improvement. Companies are back in the hiring mode again and worried about locking in the right talent for future prospects. Our cover story this issue ‘2014 – The Year of Turnaround?’ explores the positive indicators of the economy, its consequences from the talent perspective and how HR leaders can prepare for the coming business cycle.

Many sectors have already signalled their growth plans by releasing their hiring numbers for the next fiscal. Banking and Financial Services Sector (BFSI) is leading this trend due to the new banking licences and retiring talent from PSU banks. IT/ITeS, consulting and manufacturing follow in terms of hiring growth prospects in 2014-15. The general sentiment is that the momentum for the turnaround of the economy has begun and it is going to get stronger post elections.

The main challenge that companies will face while scaling up to meet growth expectations will be whether they have the capability to capture the next wave of growth or not. Talent requirements will mean not only volume but also fit, not just fresh hiring but also just-in-time lateral hiring, not only scale but also contextually relevant processes, sustainability and predictability of the talent function. In our view, that will require HR leaders to once again uplift their team to align to the new level of business expectations.

This is where the ends meet. A growing and maturing HR industry with more sophisticated business needs where demand and supply meets and the ecosystem develops even further.

HR teams will continue to be expected to work with the business and to own the business output from the talent perspective. Whether it is in the recruitment function or in building leadership pipeline for the future, or in the day-to-day HR delivery – the HR team today needs the scale, the competency and the ability to own its share of responsibility that will add up to business success.

For that very reason, we are very excited to inform you about the launch of the HR Marketplace, a one-stop-shop for all HR products and services. We have been working on this project for a long time and this is our contribution to bring efficiency and dynamism to the ecosystem. For many years, HR leaders had to resort to friends and colleagues’ references to find out players in a given space. There is a need to professionalize the buying of HR products and services, specially as it starts to be a very significant component of organizational spend and also of expected business value. I am sure you will find this new platform very useful for you and your team. Login to www.HRMarketplace.PeopleMatters.in to search, assess and connect with HR Products and Service Providers.

As always, we look forward to hearing from you as we continue to innovate. Email us your suggestions, your constructive ideas and your ideas – they help us become more relevant to our community.

Happy reading!

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Topics: Strategic HR, Talent Acquisition, #ChangeManagement

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