STUDY REPORT ON STATUS QUO OF HUMAN RESOURCE PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Introduction
This report is a result of a study conducted at Amal International School from 28 th November to 8th
December 2022 as per the mandate given to the HR Consultant, Mr. Azmy Saly by the Board of Directors
of Amal International School. Purpose of this study comprises the following elements that were believed
to be the concerns towards the existing HR processes in the school.
1. Inferior HR Services
2. Unresponsiveness towards service seekers
3. Disorganized documentation system
4. Incompetent HR authority
5. Lack of HR focus
6. Concerns of recruitment
7. Concerns of turnover
Though the above concerns were presented to the HR Consultant, study was conducted to find out the
other crucial issues that could be reasons for the identified concerns as well.
Activities that were carried out in the school during the mandated tenure.
1. Teacher/Staff fact finding survey that covers satisfaction to stress.
2. Closed door interviews with Principal, VPs and Sectional Heads.
3. Closed door interviews with old and new teachers.
4. HR Audit on documentation.
5. One to One conversation with the HR Officer.
Findings will be followed by the suggestions and some suggestions are repeated as they are applied
throughout the world as best HR practices for different purposes.
This report does not intend to force anyone who reads it for him or her to take any adverse decisions due
to emotions, that cannot be defended logically against anyone as the findings are purely based on the
requirement of system change rather than changing people who were victims of monotonous systems due
to various reasons.

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 1

Finding & Suggestions – 1
Finding - 1 is based on the ‘teacher/staff fact finding survey’ and thus it can have numerous sub-findings
under one umbrella.
1. Digital Survey form was distributed through the Principal of Amal International School via WhatsApp
among the teachers.
2. Only 25 people responded after number of reminders by the Principal.
3. This finding is explained as the sample size 25 out of 90 is considerable.
Sub-finding – 1

Interpretation & Suggestion – 1

20% of the staff are not comfortable and this situation is identical with any of the school in Sri Lanka except
in outstanding conditions. Further the tenure of the Principal is considerably short, this can be improved
within next 6 months.
Sub-finding - 2

Interpretation & Suggestion - 2

42% were of the opinion that the HR service is more than the average while 58% says that is
average or less than the average.

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 2

When it was taken with HR Officer, he stated that from day one he was engaged with all the work
including Admin, Logistics, Maintenance etc., that prevented him from engaging himself in quality
HR work. This led him to lose the grip on HR.
Fully focused HR Officer is required exclusively.
Sub-finding – 3
92% of the respondents said that their productivity level is more than the average and 72% said
they are at the peak. Unfortunately when they are given opportunity to admit their children or
their relatives’ children to Amal, 56% said ‘No’.
Interpretation & Suggestion - 3
Approximately half of the school staff do not trust the performance of the school while stating
their performance level is high. Hence the response related to the teacher productivity is
contradicting and the rating given to the productivity cannot be considered due to lack of
measurable appraisal system in the school.
Sub-finding – 4

Interpretation & Suggestion – 4

60% of the people stated that their grievances were addressed within a week by HR. Then again
40% expressed ‘No’. This means productivity level of 40% can go down due to the failure in
addressing the grievances. In another question 40% expressed that their grievances were not
handled properly and this coincides with the above finding.
Grievance handling mechanism must be in place.
Sub-finding – 5

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 3

Only 32% says their full potential is tapped. 68% stated that they are underutilized.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 5
It does not mean they are not working but they have more knowledge and skills to be utilized for
the development of the school.
Academic leadership must address this issue through potential identification one to one discussion
and ensure right utilization of the resources. Lack of right utilization of human resources will lead
to demotivation of the staff.
Sub-finding – 6

68% were not happy with the remuneration.

Interpretation & Suggestion – 6
In the competitive market, the above 68% will leave the school whenever they get a considerable
opportunity without a second thought. When there is no structured salary system with increment
slabs, people start to compare their salaries. This unhappiness is not about the salary they draw
but about the result of comparison, I assume. It is required to fix this problem immediately by
introducing a performance driven structure with revision of salaries according to it, to prevent
larger size of turnover in the days to come. Fair treatment of the staff attracted 92% of the
responses while financial recognition is the 2nd motivating factor as per the survey and it is 56%.
Delegation of authority and non-financial recognition were kept on 3rd and 4th places.
Sub-finding – 7
84% of the staff believe that they need training and development intervention for their career
growth.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 7
Structured T & D intervention in the form of courses is required rather than one off programs. All
the structured programs must result in certification after the assessment of knowledge and skills
gained. This would be considered as a value addition.

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 4

Sub-finding – 8

60% says they did not receive any work-life balance activities during their stay.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 8
This is a very serious concern that will challenge the individual productivity. Work pressure and
life pressure must be balanced. Lack of work-life balance will lead to high level of stress. Fun filled
activities and change management activities would solve the problems up to certain extent.
Sub-finding – 9

44% are suffering from stress due to personal and family reasons. The next response also goes
along with this emphasizing 72% of the staff are suffering from stress in their school setting. In
another response 68% staff expressed that they are unable to take decisions.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 9
This finding goes parallel with the earlier finding related to stress level of the staff. Stress level is
higher in school than in the home. Suggestion 8 is applicable to this as well. Incapability of decision
making is also a sign of stress and it could be a root cause for the sign of stress due to lack of
delegation of power.
Delegation of power must be done by establishing policies and procedures that is unavailable in
the school.

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 5

Sub-finding – 10

84% of the respondents were of the opinion that they can earn more outside of this school.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 10
This shows the competitive market in the industry and the risk of turnover as well. While revising
the scales it is required to see whether we can use internal resources for in house programs
minimizing the utilization of external resources on payment. 50% of that expenditure can be used
for the utilization of internal talents on payment.
Sub-finding – 11
76% feel that the school facilities for the staff and children are not up to the standard.
Interpretation & Suggestion – 11
This feeling can be due to other factors that are negative and not because of the lack of facilities.
It will be addressed if other matters are addressed properly.

Findings & Suggestions – 2

Except an appointment letter format, Consultant could not find any Policies, Procedures, Formats
etc., related to HR practices. All the policies are either SOPs or traditions of the school and not
written. Existing HR Officer has tried to develop some but all were abandoned due to unknown
reasons.
Policies & Procedures must be developed under following categories in consultation with the
Board.
1. Recruitment & Selection Policy
2. Attendance Policy
3. Leave Policy
4. Remuneration Policy
5. Performance Management & Appraisal Policy
6. Promotion and Increment Policy
7. Employee Engagement Policy
8. Grievance Management Policy

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 6

 9. Training & Development Policy
Note : Job Description for each and every staff must be developed.
The above could be developed gradually over period of time rather than dumping all at once in
order to make the staff feel that they are drawn into an organized culture.
Findings & Suggestions – 3
Documentation and Data Management were found to be literally worse than a government
school. Document Controlling System must be developed and all the data extracted from the
personnel files must be maintained in computers in the format of analyzable data. Every single
new addition of a document must be recorded in the soft file. Easy access to data will make the
decisions easy to take. Existing filing system lacks professionalism and the first impression was
adverse.
Findings & Suggestions – 4
Staff appraisals were done in the absence of KRAs and KPIs. Even the measurement tool is
outdated and not technically sound. Staff appraisals must be done with the ratings of KPI and
Competencies both. Nothing can be included which is immeasurable in the appraisal form.
Appraisers must be trained to conduct appraisals.
Findings & Suggestions – 5
Lack of employee engagement activities was apparent. Trips and get together once in a blue moon
would not be sufficient. Every month there must be an internal fun filled employee engagement
activity for the staff with quality refreshments and once in three months there must be a one in
an outside environment. Competition among the teachers on class performance, reward for less
absenteeism, reward for saving a number of accruable leaves, appreciation of best year-end and
Ordinary and Advanced Level performance etc., are another few to consider.
Findings & Suggestions – 6
Lack of proper communication system. A fine example is out of 90 only 25 people responded to
survey questions. When the survey link was sent out either people got scared of their past
experience or did not understand the importance of that exercise. Culture of corporate
communication and freedom of expression must be allowed with identified limitations through
policies and procedures.
Findings & Suggestions – 7
Communication skill of the academic leadership in English is belittled due to a misconception that
a fluent English speaker could be the best Administrator, by his own staff. Following could be
considered for a change in the attitude of the people who are supposed to develop the children
without expecting perfection in unnecessary requirements.
1. Principal could address only in Sinhala in public and in private as the first language is Sinhala
in the school.
2. Values of respect and excellence of the school must be upheld reminding them in every forum.

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 7

3. Programs on attitudinal change that will make great impact on inter-relationship and intra-
relationship of the people must be conducted in order to develop civilized teachers.
Findings & Suggestions – 8
Induction means that you train people until they start to perform. Consultant came across that
Induction is in the pipeline to be rolled out in the recent future. It would be fruitful if the Induction
is converted to a teacher training based on Amal Values making the Educational Psychology and
Classroom Management as key subjects. Induction would not be complete until the HR processes
are discussed with the participants. In the absence of such HR processes it could be a total
conversion of a teacher training.
Findings & Suggestions – 9
Skill development unit has a lot of potential if that is structured. There must be a clear mandate
for skill development unit on whom to develop and what to develop in an year. Annual skill
development plan must be developed based on the requirement and training need analysis must
be logical. All this could be possible only in the event of competency mapping has happened. Every
single proposal must go through the process of careful scrutinization by the Board or by the subject
expert and the proposal must answer all the logical concerns related to it. A sound post-training
feedback system must be introduced in order to analyse the entry behavior and exit behavior as
well. Basically L & D is a component of HRM, the skill development unit must be strengthened
through combination of same with HRM. L & D analytics must be used to find out the effectiveness
of each and every valuable intervention to improve the process.
Findings & Suggestions – 10
Though the BOD is of the opinion that the HR Officer is not competent to function as an HR Officer,
the 75% of the staff are happy about his work and behavior. Unfortunately he is not willing to build
up the brand image of the school due to certain constraints.
In light of the BOD’s perspective, we must go for a fresh HR Officer who could improve the HR
system in the school. An HR Officer must possess following qualifications and experience to
address the concerns under the guidance of an HR Consultant for at least an year.
1. PQHRM or Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
2. 01 year of experience in HR data analysis.
3. 01 year of experience in HR Administration.
4. 01 year of experience in Learning & Development.
5. 01 year of experience in Labour related matters
6. Married.
7. Fast learner of new environment.
8. Preferable from school environment.
9. Remuneration: Rs. 65,000 – 75,000
Consultant’s Conclusive Remarks
Findings and suggestions are of the results of the study conducted and the Consultant is willing to
work with Amal for period of 01 year in which he will be visiting the school for any 03 days including
a Wednesday for about 1 to 2 hours as the full time Consultant is not required at the moment and
STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 8
development of all the above processes will be done by him. Consultant will be reporting to the
BOD.
The HR Officer will be reporting to the Consultant and the BOD simultaneously and will receive
instructions from both ends with no contradiction.
Remuneration of the Consultant would be Rs.80,000/- per month for part time.
Any feedback on this report is highly appreciated.

Azmy Saly
HR Consultant

09.12.2022

STUDY REPORT ON HR PROCESSES AT AMAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL BY AZMYSALY Page | 9