Indian SMEs should go for e-HR

For a long time India struggled with the problem of creating jobs. It is
still true for many sectors. Hence, the need to improve workforce performance
does not always emerge as priority number one. But now there are some sectors
emerging where regular evaluation and improving employee performance are more of
a business strategy than a regular administrative task. For the small and medium
enterprises, which are gradually increasing their exposure to information
technology, this becomes more pronounced as the number of people in the company
grows. If, for instance, you are a 10-people company, chances are you are both
the business and HR head, and know every employee by name. You are also probably
the one who's hired them and are quite familiar with their skills and
performance. In such a scenario, doing an objective performance appraisal and
planning their training and careers is possible for a one-man army like you.
But, if you are ambitious and charting out a 200-percent-plus growth strategy,
the number of people in your company is set to grow at a rapid rate. Unless you
plan for it now, you won't be able to cope with what might hit you. On the
other hand, if you've already grown to 100-plus and are finding it difficult
to implement performance measurement parameters, keep track of employee
performance vis-à-vis key performance parameters, effectively link compensation
with performance-it's time you turned to software for support.

You may ask, why software? What if I add, say, two more HR executives and
divide the workforce between them? Won't they come cheaper than going in for a
full-blown automated HR information system (HRIS)? Besides, my company has
developed its own HR practices. Where will I find software that can emulate my
existing system? These are very valid and age-old questions. Every organization
will have to do its own analysis to find answers. But, eventually, most will
have to install an HRIS if they want to survive.

And the benefits go far beyond the routine applications. Automated HR
simplifies the people management process for greater profit by regularly
monitoring performance. It prompts for timely disbursement of employee rewards
vis-à-vis performance, and ensures that development plans are implemented and
measured. It can drastically cut down the hours the company spends on tracking
performance, benefits, and compensation. Technology can also simplify your
recruitment process by automatically sorting applications by mapping skill sets.
It can let you set up online recruitment test systems. For instance, you might
find out that a senior manager in your printing operations department had, at
some point in his career, worked with a BPO setup. And, so, he is a good
candidate to head the new outsourcing division you are setting up for backend
printing processes. Internal talent search like this is only possible with the
help of HRIS which brings up your peoples' career trees and their competencies
at the click of a mouse.

A survey on the relationship between business performance and workforce
performance management by the International Association for Human Resource
Information Management and consulting firm, Knowledge Infusion, found this: 96%
of the companies reported workforce performance management as their top human
capital management priority for 2005.

Is it time for a realignment check for Indian companies? Yes. Investing in
people increases both-the top line as well as the bottom line.

The author is Editor-in-Chief of CyberMedia publications.

(shyamm@cybermedia.co.in)