The Official Blog of Benifys HR Solutions

People change, fact of life. And organizations change too, much like a evolving mass of ideas in a constant state of flux. Trouble brews when the lines connecting the goals of an individual to that of an organization diverge and go out of alignment, add to that the job hopping typically associated with Gen-Y folks and an entire generation of baby boomers heading towards retirement – and you have a whole lot of leaving coming around (pun intended). But, as any seasoned HR Pro will agree, not all people have an equal capacity to maintain their maturity when it comes to letting go. Whereas the more wise will leave gracefully, an awful lot will act like a child with an ego hurt; the first question hence comes to mind – “how difficult is it going to be to ask this person to leave and see them through the exit process”. Another factor, and perhaps one that is more important to the employer is “how much will the business be affected negatively if this person leaves?” Let’s equate these factors against each other as a measure to assess an employee’s work style based on the way they behave while parting ways.

Peaceful Impacter – These individuals are usually very understated, and most likely introverts. But that does not mean their work has to be understated too; because of the highly efficient methods they deploy at work (by coming up with creative solutions) and their adaptable nature… it becomes very is hard to find faults with their work. In fact, it’s your turn to be alarmed if this person leaves or is contemplating leaving your organization, because they will do so in a very matter-of-fact manner once they make their mind up.

1. Needs their space.
2. Will work uninstructed in ideal conditions.
3. More likely to come up with breakthrough ideas.
4. Might seem arrogant and indifferent on the surface.
5. They strive to find meaning in their work.

Arrogant Influencer – It is said that in organizational life, one can either have freedom from others or influence over them. Never both things at the same time. Individuals in this quadrant choose to exert influence on others as opposed to enjoying freedom from them, they control people and get work done through them (and that’s the impact they bring). Being arrogant, like micromanagement, is often not a choice, it’s a conditioned thought pattern. Needless to say, the tolerance for such employees differs based on the organizational climate.

1. They need people to listen to them.
2. Will seem inseparable from the organization.
3. Can be, and mostly will be pushy.
4. Yields authority, of that, there is no doubt.
5. More likely to delegate, direct or supervise work.

Drama Queen – They have quaint and frail self-image, like they are living in some kind of a dreamland, of which they are the respective prince or princess. They should have probably taken dramatics as a career since they obviously have a flair for it. Anything work related is not really their forte, they are full of acts (pun intended) as long as you don’t expect them to work or ask them to quit. If and when you do either one of those things – you are in for a live workshop of high emotion drama. Don’t argue much with them – they have an undue sense of entitlement, others just have to live with it.

1. Cannot work 9 to 6 faithfully even if life depended on it.
2. Might be paranoid and have delusions that they are being discussed and scrutinized.
3. Will expect people to take care of their needs without saying them.
4. Needs a thorough reality check, either through introspection or intervention.
5. More likely to spill coffee in a conference and create a scene, or just create a scene with anything.

Useless Bystander – The ones seated bang at the middle of the conference table, and will switch to whichever side of the table as dictated by the status quo. The main motive that fuels their actions is to keep things running the way they are, for better or worse. Why they behave the way they do can have so many endless explanations that it deserves a post of it’s own. They will leave the organization as easily as they came in, the the difference to the overall scheme will not be noticeable. Why does this work? Because at least there is no unrequired theatrics and in their defense – they provide a balancing effect.

1. More likely to not do anything of great significance.
2. Might prove useful in diffusing situations where serious conflict arises.
3. Will stick to sides, whichever side seems better in a given situation.
4. Can have a really long and healthy career despite incompetence because they never fix what’s not broken.
5. Needs to be a little more opinionated – to fight like they are right and listen like they are wrong.

September, the month gone by, when the weather starts turning a little hospitable this side of the globe – nip in the air and all of that, start of festivities and a general sense of well being amongst the population at large. This year, there was more good news – indications are that the Corporate world has shed some of the caution that infested it’s spending on the nice-to-have activities (yes, I AM talking of activities on the Human Resources front here, unfortunate, but true).

On the national front, the déjà-vu brought back a sense of unfairness, almost as if the Gods were conspiring yet again – India has lost a disproportionate number of leaders to unnatural deaths – Gandhi, Bose, Shastri, Sanjay, Indira, Scindia, Pilot, Surendra, the list is endless – and now we have the Andhra strongman, YSR added to this unfortunate inventory. While not all of them will rank right up there in terms of leadership skills, popularity, expertise or skill, the fact remains that the political canvas of India just might have been a little different if all of them were still around, or had lived their full lives.

What was more disconcerting was the senseless ranting amongst even the senior state party functionaries to pass on the baton to his greenhorn son. THIS is our own doing, the craving to attach oneself to someone who is not even close to his father or uncle or husband, or what-have-you, for short term gains and miss the big picture completely. My father served as the Vice-Chancellor in two prestigious Universities of India – and when he retired from there, none of his senior Deans and professors put pressure on the authorities to hand over the mantle of running the Universities to his son

Why, you must ask – and the answer is clear (apart from the fact that I would stand nowhere close to my father in administrative or subject-matter expertise, but that’s the obvious one) – the real reason is about structure – the more ambiguity there is in the surroundings, the more the uncertainty, the more the insecurity, the more the chances of the wrong decisions being taken. Universities, unlike states or nations, are run, like well-oiled machines – on policies, rules, regulations and structures.

You must ask yourself whether your HR department will fall apart if the existing HR guys left you (and they will, sooner or later), will it take you long to recover, and will some knowledge be lost forever? Similarly, if you’re setting up an HR function, do you want to let it remain at the mercy of the person who sets it up? Benifys provides seamless transition of your existing HR set-up (or setting up the function, if you don’t have one now) on templatised, time tested methodologies and implementation expertise. Would you rather trust this important function to professionals and experts, or take the long-winded route of hit-and-trial, and yet not get the HR function contribute in the manner that it actually can?

Choose, and let us know – we’re here to help.

I don’t even want to talk about our campaign in Champions Trophy. Another case in point, though – if you love your Hummer more than your profession, you’re bound to let people down. And if you don’t concentrate on your core competency (we help you do that, by the way), you’re probably delivering a sub-optimal result.

Finally, I have to force myself to agree with Mr. Tharoor when he says that we should work on Gandhi’s birthday. It is only by working harder and smarter that we will take India to the heights that he would have wanted us to scale. Working on his birthday is the least that we can do for him.

In the meantime, enjoy the festive season, and keep smiling

Being a committed HRO firm, we try as and when we get time, to keep an eye on the pulse of what’s new and what people are thinking in the online sphere of human resources. Here are some of the articles that caught our eye during the past few weeks; not to say the others were in any way less fascinating… the fact is that it’s a sea out there, and it’s overflowing with knowledge, information and perspectives. We can only get you glimpses of what people are thinking, it’s you who has to take the plunge; hope you enjoy the update!

Kris Dunn of Fistful of Talent talks about how office e-mail wars never benefited anyone.

Jason Alba of JibberJobber lists out the things you should consider if your job search sucks

Louise Fletcher of Career Hub tells us how messing up, facing rejection and nervousness can help you, and if it doesn’t, then what to do about it.

Chris Watkins of Ask The Manager responds to a reader about a strange dilemma; what would you do if you were given no work and then asked why you aren’t working?!

This we like! Steve Roesler of All Things Workplace clears the fuss about leadership talent crisis with one line that really strikes home – “if you just read, you will never lead”

Alright, this might not be directly related to HR per se, but check out this video of self-help author Brian Tracy (now the chairman of Brian Tracy International), where he gives a fresh perspective on the concept of goals; he considers goal to be only unsolved problems that need a solution. You can view his Blog here.

What is it?

To quote Hans Selye, who is universally recognized as the founding father of stress research, “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.”

Some consider this to be a very optimistic way to look at stress, an ally of sorts that gives you a timely push to achieve something that seems difficult. At the same time, one fact that we all know and have perhaps experienced personally is that stress can very quickly turn into misery if not handled properly. The modern view of stress is that it is a ‘bad thing’, which is also supported by scientific studies claiming stress as a major factor contributing to long term negative health impacts.

So is stress a good or a bad thing? As it turns out, there is no right answer – it all depends on the situation. The same stress that helps athletes to achieve the unachievable can have significant adverse effects on the overall well-being of a working professional. There is a difference, though – you would perhaps have noticed that a short burst of stress helped you achieve a deadline that you thought was otherwise impossible, that stress helped you think of a creative way out of the problem. While there are natural advantages that some enjoy over others in terms of handling stress, an overwhelming specialist opinion now emphasizes on the fact that there are techniques that can be deployed to handle stress and come out on top. There is no denying, however, that the best of us crack in moments of extreme or periods of sustained stress.

Today, we’ll demystify the phenomenon of stress, and in the next issue of our monthly Newsletter, we’ll look at some techniques that we can utilize to manage stress better, in fact, utilize stress to become more effective and creative. Let’s look at some of the more common symptoms and causes of stress.


Symptoms

The degree of intensity with which the symptoms are manifested may vary based on factors like the duration to which the individual has been exposed to the stressors (yes, there is a word like this – stressors are stress inducers), the intensity of the stressors itself, the type of stressor, but since here we are concerned only about job related stressors – here is a list of the most typical symptoms:

Mental and behavioral symptoms

• Aggression
• Irritability
• Depression
• Absenteeism
• Insomnia
• Emotional instability
• Loss of concentration

Physical symptoms

• Diseases related to the heart
• Migraine/Headache
• Neck and back problems
• Perpetual exhaustion
• Digestive problems

If you display any or more of the above symptoms, there is a good chance that it’s induced by stress, and a good chance on top that it’s work related. How do you find out whether it’s a work related issue or something else that’s manifesting itself through the above symptoms?

Here’s an easy checklist – introspect deeply (be true to yourself), and see if you’re currently undergoing, or have been exposed to any of this for some time in the recent past. These are the most common causes of work related stress.


Causes

Job Insecurity – Some people are naturally more insecure about their jobs as compared to others, this puts them in a higher danger bracket of contracting stress related problems. Add to this the current economic scenario and mass layoffs, and the rumor mills that spare no-one, and you have the single biggest stress trigger for a working professional.

Work-life balance – It is often not easy to strike a good balance between one’s professional and personal life, and is again something that some people manage better than others naturally. For those who can’t, and if there is, unfortunately, a problem at home that’s always back-of-mind, it becomes difficult to concentrate on work, which inevitably leads to stress.

Work Culture – Moving into a new organization brings its own set of challenges of understanding and adapting to the corporate culture of the organization, e.g., communication, hierarchy, even behavioral patterns of the new boss. Sometimes the transition is not as smooth as it could be. Also, today’s work culture is extremely competitive and performance-centric with stiff deadlines and increased workload thrown in for good measure.

Feeling of losing control – Human beings have an inherent need to be in control of situations, most of us dislike being in a state of doubt or uncertainty. It makes people feel inadequate and vulnerable, this mostly happens when an individual has to deal with something which requires more knowledge or skills than the person possesses.

Difficult people – Regardless of how smart, knowledgeable or nice you are – there will always be people who will give you a hard time. Unfortunately, you can’t choose the people that you work with, or come in contact with, at the workplace, and we have the last of the most common causes of work related stress – people that you don’t like at the workplace.


Burnout

If a person is in a state of stress for a sustained period of time, it invariably leads to burnout. Burnout is the state of complete physical and/or emotional rundown where a person feels completely drained of energy. Needless to say this is a very serious disorder and you should be aware if you’re headed in this direction. Take this quick quiz to find out if you are at risk.