Article: Interview: HR leaders must embrace mobility solutions in tech-age

Leadership

Interview: HR leaders must embrace mobility solutions in tech-age

People Matters in an interaction with Gionee India Director -HR Gaurav Sharma finds out the 3 things that Gionee look for while recruiting talent, Gionee Young Talent Program, Employee engagement, Performance-based evaluation and talent challenges in the industry.
Interview: HR leaders must embrace mobility solutions in tech-age

Chinese smartphone maker Gionee has a steep India ambition this year – to break into the top 5 positions in the smartphone market this year on the back of at least 6 to 7 new launches, and also by manufacturing all phones that sell in India locally. That is a business decision which has an impact on HR policies and the way the firm recruits, engages talent. 

People Matters in an interaction with Gionee India Director - HR Gaurav Sharma finds out about Gionee Young Talent Program, Employee engagement, Performance-based evaluation and talent challenges in the industry.

Gaurav is a seasoned HR professional with 16+years of experience, who has previously worked with leading Indian and multinational organizations such as NETWORK18, Sahara India Parivar, Ranbaxy, Bosch India and Hero Honda Motors. Gaurav was awarded by World HRD Congress & CHRO Asia as “100 most influential Global HR Leaders” in 2016.

What are the current talent challenges in your industry?

The business world is constantly evolving with emergent strategies and new technologies. It is hence imperative that while we, as HR leaders are proud to be holding our current positions and hiring new talent into our organizations; our determination shouldn’t just stop there.

Organizations which have a workforce that understands and adapts to the new emerging trends are the one that succeed in the long run. The business today can no longer be running as a stagnant association with employees that is based on the culture of working in silos and is extremely hierarchical in nature. Hence, today’s digitized organizations must design and adapt to change, dynamism and innovation through technology.  

How do you approach to mitigate such challenges?

To accomplish the same while also arm our workforce with the latest technology, we as HR leaders need to ensure our organizations are embracing mobility solutions in various manners.

Furthermore, we believe in the overall 360-degree development to ensure a well-connected and functioning team. Steps are taken to make sure that every individual finds home in their work place so their performance isn’t hampered.

Also, our employees are acknowledged and rewarded under point based performance evaluation mechanism, which leaves no scope of letting their efforts go missed and provides them with better growth and motivation to perform their tasks.

In the competitive market, what are the top three skills do you look for when you hire?

Gionee India believes that hiring of employees is one of the most significant functions in ensuring the long term growth of an organization. Since every individual needs to be a part of a bigger team, it is imperative that the individual goals are in alignment with the organization goals.

Hence, reinforcing belief in existing employees, we go a step further by using referrals widely while hiring new candidates which help us create a pool of talented and compatible employees.

Also, while hiring members of our future workforce, we pay special emphasis to ensure the candidates pass in all the four aspects that we look out for, D.O.N.E., which expand to Dynamic & young, Ownership & accountability towards the task assigned, No fear of dealing with challenges and Empathy towards each other; hence adding the right skill set to our workforce.

What’s the attrition rate at Gionee and how do you ensure your employees are engaged and motivated? Some practices followed at Gionee India.

Our attrition has been less than 2% since the time we started our operations in India , which has been possible because we Understand and value the efforts that our masterminds are bringing to the company on a daily basis, we came up with a point based evaluation system where the workers are given points on the task that they are undertaking on daily basis. The task is measured in the terms of skills, effort, training and knowledge that is put into the task. Since the introduction of this point based evaluation system, a more driven and energetic task force was witnessed owing it all to the measures taken.

What is Gionee Young Talent, and in what ways did it help in retaining the top talent?

We lay special emphasis on recruiting young talent into the organization who come up with ideas that are fresh and dynamic. Their ability to work according to ongoing trends is rather commendable. However, it is important that the fresh blood is trained under the leadership and guidance of senior mentors who draw their wisdom from their experience.

Creating a confluence, we host the Gionee Young Talent program, wherein we enroll 10 students for a year and train them under various functions. Post undergoing training by mentors from Gionee India, these young minds are absorbed by us for the positions of Assistant Managers based on their performance in the training stint.

Tell us about the point-based performance evaluation tool at Gionee and its impact on employee productivity, morale, and retention.

With an ongoing cut throat competition and a need to acknowledge and appreciate each employee for their performance, we at Gionee India have come up with a point based evaluation system that is developed in order to acknowledge and appreciate the task that every employee is undertaking.

We implemented point system last April with an objective to ensure that the organizational structure is not completely vertical in nature, hence helping in the retention of employees as well as avoiding stagnation of growth opportunities within the organization. Furthermore, it ensures that there is clarity in the role division and avoids confusion of roles. The system has resulted in a happier and more content workforce. Motivation levels of the employees have increased owing to the fact that they feel they are being measured for their performance and are valued by the organization.

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Topics: Leadership, Talent Management

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