The Official Blog of Benifys HR Solutions

“What’s the first syllable in the word routine?” That’s right… it’s rut. Being in a rut can be a very emotionally frustrating period, we all have a drop in motivation levels every once in a while, but if left unchecked, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy – if you think you can’t get out of it, you can’t! As an employer, if you are observing a drop in the engagement levels and enthusiasm of your employees, by default it becomes your concern to provide support in some form because it is now your problem too. You have to understand that someone yawning in the office, or the star performer in your office acting like Jughead after declaring him his role model is not a problem per se, it is only a symptom of a problem.

Signs of clear and present danger! Something might be wrong if:

1. Everyone is laughing and pushing each other around until they realize its Monday and not Friday, silence ensues.
2. The main project that everyone is working on is the ‘staring game’, no one wins.
3. The last time your team celebrated the successful completion of a project was – oh snap; now you have memory loss.
4. Your organization has a revolutionary motto, it is – “We don’t even smile for free”.
5. Conversations go something like that – Q. “Was that work that you gave to him/her done?” A. “Yes, that was done and the other was done too”. No objectivity.
6. New ideas are met with an enthusiastic, almost frenzied cheer and then a “what was that?” a little later.
7. After a lot of failed attempts, your employees finally started a YouTube podcast; it’s called “Lessons in time mismanagement”.
8. You observe violent reactions every time someone mentions “work-life balance”, sometimes people just read it somewhere and then run and scream.
9. The most generous compliment the boss gave this month was actually an insult in disguise.
10. When you approach people at their workstations, you can swear you saw them making wish-lists at eBay, and later frantically hitting Alt+ Esc.

Now that you know something is wrong (thank god for that!), next time we’ll cover the actions you can take to salvage the situation an turn it around if you witness such absurdities at work…

Hectic month here at Benifys, like really hectic! Hence the late update, but then, work does come before anything else… not to say that we don’t like you, of course we do – that’s precisely why we spend so much time and effort making sure that if it is about HR, you hear it first from us!

Talking about things happening at work, our CEO, Mr. Ajay Chowdhury, recently conceptualized a new HR product made specifically for schools keeping in mind their peculiar needs and requirements, you can read more about the product here, and download the product brochure from here. The content for training and intervention for these programs is never a limiting factor for us because we apply a modular approach to content creation besides creating customized content on demand. Going with the theme of the name of our newsletter HR@Work, we have named this product HR@Schools, and are currently conducting market research in the NCR region on the Supply vs. Demand gap in the corporate services available to schools.

Since our organization’s formation in January 2009, we have been able to map the Human Resources Outsourcing market to a reasonable amount of success, we now know that the three most ‘in demand’ services in the National Capital Region are – recruitment outsourcing, payroll outsourcing and training and development. So we have been indeed lucky as far as start-up stories go, by no means have we reached where we want to be… but we have all the fun and learning typically associated with a start-up without actually having to go through the many toils and struggles. Silicon, Sushi King, RBS, iSango, Slideshare, Vinsol, Rabyte, and Vestige are some of the clients that we are currently catering to and there are many more in the pipleline.

There is a lot of activity happening in the online space too…

1. It is now possible for readers to subscribe to concise but powerful ‘mobile’ career tips by registering on our Blog (service powered by http://www.alertrix.com).
2. If you look closely on the left sidebar, you will find that there is now an option to subscribe to our articles and blog updates though e-mail now, and yes, we hate spam and unsolicited mail as much as you do!
3. The new Carnival of HR is up and running at the HR maven blog! Deirdre has an excellent post on her hands with some amazing submissions from thought leaders in the HR sphere. Our submission for the carnival was the article – If employees could fly; just some good humored stereotyping of people at work
4. Please do join our Facebook community of forward looking professionals at http://www.facebook.com/benifys, we pick the best of the web and post it there regularly, delivered in your Facebook Homepage.
5. 7600 followers at http://www.twitter.cm/benifys, we must be doing something right! From our twitter profile you will receive career and HR related updates on an hourly basis, did you know you could also subscribe to these updates in your reader via an RSS feed?
6. We have some amazing collection of articles, guest posts, links, resources and news coming up in this the October edition of HR@Work, to which you can subscribe here.

And besides work…

Sometime during the beginning of this month, we all went to Bar-be-que Nation for lunch to celebrate; it wasn’t quite clear to me what we were celebrating! Maybe it was a pre party for Rahul’s on coming birthday, maybe it was the fact that Ajay bought a beauty of a car, maybe it was the amazing feedback Ankita received from our clients, or maybe it was that the fact that I won an iPod nano from Channel [V] (no wait, we got the last news while we were having lunch!)

Anyway leaving you here with a collage of pictures from the lunch, find out more about all of us here. Till the next time this space is updated… keep doing what you love

It is said that adversity brings out the best in some – well, far from the truth for the only viable alternative that the people of India had to the ruling coalition. Just the beginning of the second term out of power and the house of BJP is in shambles like never before. It seems every bad wolf in the neighbourhood can huff and puff and bring it all down. Not only this, they are squabbling over petty issues that the country does not even care about. Reminds me of Ponting and his men, but that’s another story. So, back to the BJP and the disaster – the links with the right wing RSS are now clearly out in the open – something that everyone knew all the while, but something that they have been try to keep a tight lid on by ignoring, refuting and what have you. It is not a nice scene – they have some great leaders. Maybe life will come a full circle for them one day – seems pretty far away as of now.


The other house that is a little shaky right now is that of the TATAs – humungous losses in the steel business, the price to pay for taking over Corus, and they’ve got to keep the Jaguars and the Land Rovers floating too. They’ll pull a trick out of their bag still, but cautious times ahead for them, I’m sure. The bigger you are, the bigger your problems – thank God Benifys is lean and hungry and manageable. We’re looking at some good things to happen to us in this month. And we’re raring to go.


Something else to cheer about – lots. India’s in a Grand Slam main draw after 7 long years. While this statement has a depressing side to it, we prefer to look at the brighter side – we’re there, right? So what if it does not happen every year. What about Force India and the F1 stupendous achievement – shows that victory does not always come to the big and the strong and deep pockets – it is guts and determination and the zeal to win that gets you there. Missed the top spot by a whisker, but this is just the beginning. We stock all of this in plenty at Benifys. Our team is well equipped to provide a solution to any HR issue that you might be facing right now. All it takes is a click or a call – try it.


No rains still, and time’s running out – some people happy not to have to experience the tragic consequences that rain brings in any city of consequence in the country. But that does not mean that people are celebrating – we know at what price we’re reaching home in time. This is like the many dilemmas that we face all the time – build or buy, retained services or outsourced, trust someone else with my data or not, have HR run by an external agency or drain my bandwidth all the while and hang on to something that I don’t have to do – ah, what we’d give to find an answer to these. Well, all that you have to give is an hour to us – we’ll be happy to show you what’ll work best for your set-up.


Till that time, keep smiling – it’s not all that bad

Ajay has converted his zeal for people development into his career. An alumnus of Modern School and Hindu College, and equipped with a University Masters in Sociology from JNU, and an MBA from FMS, University of Delhi – from the very outset, he decided that people were his passion.

He has held leadership positions in HR in blue chip organizations cutting across industry verticals and domains within the HR function.

In our first article on this two part series, we tried to explain what stress is, it’s most prominent symptoms and also it’s most likely causes. Being aware is important, but converting that awareness into actionable steps in order to solve a problem is a different task altogether – one that needs not only knowledge and awareness but the ability to follow through.

Carrying on from where we left – in this last piece on Stress Management, we will provide you with practical techniques that you can actually implement and validate instead of just reading.


Stressed? We recommend you…

Learn to say ‘no’ – Perhaps the most important step you can take to cope or completely evade stress is to start saying ‘no’ where it is required; nobody wants to be the ‘bad guy’, agreed! But you have to guard your time against what some like to call – time thieves. Time thieves will use all possible techniques like calling you, e-mailing requests and queries, and standing in your office. Just say no.

Avoid the ‘quick fixes’, instead of rationalizing them – There are healthy ways to manage stress, and then there are unhealthy quick fixes like smoking, drinking, doing drugs, either wiling time away or filling in every minute of the day to avoid facing problems. Stop right there! Don’t self talk yourself into believing that ‘it’s all good’, and ‘everyone does it’.

Don’t play along if you don’t want to – You have the choice; make conscious decisions instead of aimlessly drifting through meetings and conversations. Let’s say you like cheese too much, and hate it when someone says – ‘cheese doesn’t taste good’, let it be known you will not be a part of this! Topics to avoid – politics, religion, vested interests, personal bias, favorites. If certain topics, situations or people make you flinch – rest your case and move on instead of emotionally engaging yourself with things that don’t matter.

Take a ‘real’ break – We are not talking about the ‘going to the beach and curl up with a book’ kind of break, although it does sound good – we all know that’s not always possible. Next time when you really feel stressed, don’t let it overwhelm you, stop to think and ask yourself – How does it make you feel? Can I pin point the root cause of it? Am I over reacting to this situation?


If you are beyond the point of taking precautions, here’s what you do

Practice the ‘relaxation response’ – The term was coined by Herbert Bensen. Research has shown that practicing the ‘relaxation response’ helps to reduce the activity of the autonomous nervous system (read: lesser stress). Here’s how it’s done:

1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed.
2. Pay attention to your breathing, and repeat a word or phrase or prayer silently to yourself as you exhale.
3. When you notice your mind wandering (It will) just notice it and passively bring your attention back to your breathing.
4. Practice for approximately 20 minutes every day (or at least 3-4 times per week). Don’t set an alarm, but sit with a clock in view if necessary.

Try mental imagery – This is a very widely used and proven technique of stress reduction, if you do a search you find no less than 824,000 results! Like with all health techniques every resource will tell you their own way to do this; regardless of which you choose to follow, what you can be absolutely sure about it that mental imagery works best when done with breathing techniques like the ‘relaxation response’.

At the most basic level, relaxation imagery is to imagine a scene, place or event that you remember as safe, peaceful, restful, beautiful and happy. The more detailed the better, i.e., feel the air, picture the view et al.

Use music and self-hypnosis – seen some of your colleagues put on their headphones and chug away at work? Yes, while it is not entirely true for all such people, but many of them are using the most easily available (and doable) stress buster. Music has proven therapeutic value. Go indulge in that iPod, or the MP3 player you’ve been eyeing for long, or just put on the handsfree of your mobile phone and immerse your thoughts in the music in the background. Remember, don’t put on the music too loud, it might hurt your hearing power in the long run, and don’t get totally immersed in it – don’t forget there is work to be done. At home, listen to music for as long as you can, or want to.

Find a hobby – many people use an avocation as a stress buster. This, obviously, cannot be carried out anywhere, but the general distraction in life is enough to provide a vent to your system. Find a sport, and nice partners to play with – do tennis, football, cricket, basketball, whatever. When at work, steal a few moments to think about the last long drive (or the hole winning chip and putt) in your last round of golf, or how you recovered a point in tennis from a seemingly lost position. Feel good about yourself, and look forward to the next round of your favourite sport. Alternately, pick up an activity, especially if you don’t have company in your neighborhood, or you lack local facilities, or you happen to live in a bad weather area of the world – grow bonsai, paint, read, do miniature models – anything to get your mind off the things that give you stress. Try it, we know from personal experience that it works.

And finally, resort to what your mom used to tell you – count till 10 after every stressful event. Better still, try calling up mom at such moments. If that’s not on, try calling anyone who loves you (not anyone that you love – they may not be the same people – there is a difference, be aware J)


Even in the downturn India is relaxed? Think again…

*Image Credit – Google Trends (this is raw data; authenticity and analysis has not been validated or checked, respectively)

A little deeper look at the search trends on the term ‘stress’ reveals that the most search requests come from India! Yes we have a bigger sample population, but despite that this is alarming! What is your take?

Don’t let stress come to this!

Further Reading

1. How “Stress” Works – Betty Burrows, PhD (http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-stress-works.htm)
2. Stress is a Bigger Problem than 1970s Strikes – By Stuart Woollard (http://blogs.bnet.co.uk/sterling-performance/2009/07/20/stress-is-a-bigger-problem-than-1970s-strikes/)
3. Articles on Stress Management by About.com (http://stress.about.com/)

Be in the know of things
Be aware of what is happening around you, your college professor had his advice right in place! Keep your eyes and ears open and receptive and you will see a whole new world of information flow in which you never knew existed. Now do we need to say why you need information, well besides the usual ‘knowledge being power’ thing, if gives you a keener understanding of people – their motivations, intentions, thought process.


Be organized
Learn to carry your toys well; you know the ‘Manager Paraphernalia’ – the UMPC (s), the Blackberry (s), that cool organizer you just bought? Now, listen close – we’re about to drop some knowledge:

a) Meet people in their offices, not yours (translation: you control the time of discussion).
b) Always be pleasant, but be firm in protecting your time from time thieves.
c) Try standing instead of sitting during meeting, your legs will make sure you and all the others stick to the point and not butterfly around it.
d) The phone and the e-mail system are there for your convenience, not anyone else’s – pick it up when you want to.


Have an internal locus of control
First, we urge you to first take this short quiz to find what your locus of control is.

Got you result? Good! Locus of control determines the way people perceive the outcomes they get from situations; it could be the extent of success at work or the achievements in their personal lives. People with a strong locus of control are usually more proactive and in control of their lives. They work hard to develop their knowledge, skills and abilities and at work, they have a more participative management style as compared to people with strong external locus of control who believe in concepts like luck, destiny and fate and that most things are beyond their control. Most people fall somewhere in between, it has been confirmed by many experts that having a tilt toward internal locus of control is an important determinant of success.


Create ‘quality’ moments
This is a concept introduced by executive coach Jason Seiden, who is also the Author of “Super Staying Power: What You Need to Become Valuable and Resilient at Work”. As he puts it –

You were having a Quality Event… a moment of intense personal satisfaction that was caused by the excellence of the experience”.

“Think of an experience you have had, either at work or at home, where the moment was so perfect, so easy, and so all-encompassing that the moment itself still lives within you—it feels like it happened yesterday. Maybe you were laughing, maybe you were doing something mindless, perhaps you were feeling proud—whatever it was, you were in the flow. Time stopped and the moment stretched. You could anticipate what would happen next as sure as if everyone were playing from a script. You had no doubt.

To continue reading about this concept and how you can apply it to your work and life, read it here.