Chapter-6 Findings 6.1. Findings: After getting the results of factor analysis it is important to discuss the major factor for employee satisfaction i.e, training. As discussed in the starting of the research, the company puts lots of efforts and throws opportunities to the employees to get them trained. ICICI being private has taken lot of initiatives to train its employees through different verticals, Private companies have all time threat to compete with other giant market players. The information was collected on going through the documents of the company mainly Annual report, Magazines or News Bulletin about training and interviewing few higher level employees in the training section to know about their schemes more closely and thus, derives as to why training gives employees utmost satisfaction, Outcome brought out the answers to the following questions: 1. Is HR Planning an integral and dynamic professional exercise prevalent in the companies of the insurance sector? 2. On ground, what business metrics are practically being focused on to formulate HR Plan by the companies of insurance sector? What are the gap areas between insurance industry approach towards HR Planning and the classroom approach to HR Planning? 3. What are the major differences in the HR Planning methodology of various insurance companies? Is there any methodology which may be termed as de-facto industry standard? 4. Has technology impacted the HR Planning of the companies of insurance sector? If yes, then in what way and to what extent? 5. What contributions the HR Planning has made to the growth of companies of insurance sector? = Importance of HR is yet to be realized and followed in action. Analysis and decision making for the most optimized harvesting of HR resources in very serious and sacrosanct manner is not part of the organizational affair. = In Insurance sector, it has been found that the business is analyzed in terms of market performance and marketing strategy. In ICICI Prudential Life Insurance the human resource is total centric to market performance. In LIC it is evident from thedata of the annual reports of the company that the efforts are being made also for the betterment of the employees by offering them number of Management Development Programs and other training programs.SBI Life Insurance also shows the similar trend like LIC. In all the three companies it is observed that the alignment of HR is visible in terms of alignment of marketing team to respond to changing business scenario. HR present in these companies undergoes changes by planning before time not only the marketing division, However, HR of other division feels the presence of human resource management only for the purpose of appraisal, pay and promotion etc, Due to changing regulatory norms and social dynamics, mechanism for redressal of grievances of any type in one or other form exist. Close resemblance of HR division of Insurance Co, may be drawn with the Department of Personnel and Training of Govt of India. The HR divisions function at variance from the academically settled important perceptions (Principles) of HRM as viewed/ seen by institutions of Management. It was prevalent in all three insurance companies. Institutions of Management agree upon the unavailable importance of HRM. However, in industry in general and insurance sector in particular, HR division functions without HRM principles insight, Common basics of Management are taught in the initial duration (semester/ year) in academic campuses. Thereafter, HR is taught as subject of specialization. However, in industry, HR Division functions largely like administrative division. Future Manpower Needs i.e. people are available to provide the continued smooth operation of an organization is to be found out by the HR well in time. Human resource planning should be regarded as a tool to assure the future availability of manpower both in terms of number and the quality of manpower they need to carry on the organizational activities. In case of LIC, it is in practice. ICICI does follow but in planned way. SBI has been maintaining this as a quarterly practice. Security aspects are not generally handled by HR division.It is being handled by Administration team be it related to seating arrangement, confidentiality of the work mode, hygiene —sanitation or even for the digital requirement. There is a gap between HR and Administrative department.= Also, Labour law or regulatory compliance relating to Pay and Allowance leaves, Pension benefits etc are handled by HR Division. => The two forgone factors practically differentiate HR division from administrative Division and give it a separate identity, Otherwise Hr division largely functions like a vertical of administrative division in all the three companies taken in research. = HR division is seldom headed by HR professional with impressive credentials in the field of HRM. It is safe enough to say that HRM and Planning is nascent stage in insurance sector in particular and in industry in general. & There are many exceptions in industry but these exceptions are multinational companies having presence across the globe. The HR processes of such companies are very well defined, There is a lackness observed in Insurance companies. = Insurance industries face their share of challenges and issues. With the constant internal and external pressures, HR of insurance industry need to constantly respond to such changes and need to build suitable model and strategies to cope up for effective management. = Internal pressures related to infrastructure, cost management, training and development were observed. External pressures related to changes in government regulation, changes in market conditions, changing employees and customer demographics had major impact on HRP. = Itis found that the connection between management and its execution through human resources in these organizations especially in ICICI and SBI Life Insurance needs be seriously understood in terms of importance. = Other dimensions- difficulty in retention management and talent crunch were identified, This also goes in line with what Brian little, an HR executive of Zurich Insurance Co. Mentioned, is that “the insurance industry isn’t necessarily a destination for top students,” requiring greater effort and better presentation than in some other financial industry sectors. These challenges, checks their ability to adapt to changing business environment, improve work efficiency and capitalize on growth in the sector. HR needs to analyze, innovate and reconstruct existing policies in order to keep up with the frequent changes.6.2, Suggestions: 1. Finding out the Key factors for the success of the Organization: It is about some important working trends that impact the organization be it private or public. How as an HR professional influence their needs and expectation. That should be identified first considering the vision and mission of the organization. What are there source constraints for the organization to succeed? The answers of these questions will give the shape to strategic plan. After the research findings it suggests that employees, customers, and shareholders are interrelated which require special focus. 2. How HR can create value to the critical success factors. In what way scan HR Planning create sustainable competitive advantage for the corporation? Will it be certain organizational capabilities such as speed, customer service, and innovation? Will it be the accumulation of intellectual capital? Will it be a pool of committed and competent employees? Will it be a group of loyal and committed customers? This article suggests organizational capability, employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction as three possible avenues through which HR can make an impact. Different corporations may at different times have different priorities, The soul-searching question remains, however: What is the highest value added contribution of HR in this corporation? This question should be answered in the strategic HR plan. 3, Design the appropriate HR measures to be aligned with the framework. Once the HR function identifies its unique contribution to the corporation, appropriate measures need to be developed. This article suggests three clusters of HR measures: internal operational measures, internal strategic measures, and external strategic measures. As described in Table ILl, the HR measures should be developed in a way to reinforce and accomplish the intended contribution of HR. HR professionals, moreover, need to resist the temptation of adopting HR measures in good part because they are easy to collect or track. By all means, internal operational HR measures are the easiest measures to assess, however, it does not mean they are the most important. On the other hand, it is much harder to assess the contribution of HR in internal and external strategic measures, as a host of other factors are also influencing such measures. As “what you measure is what you get,” a weak measure on the right issue is better than a strong measure on the wrong issue.The impact of HR measures on business success is most powerful if a complete process cycle is followed. While the development of appropriate HR measures is a vital first step, the implementation of the measurement process is equally important. The full potential of HR measurement cannot be fully utilized until the following steps are taken: 1. Accurate data on desirable HR measures are collected on an ongoing and timely basis. It is important to ensure that critical data are captured at the right moment when HR programs or activities are designed and delivered. 2. HR measures are analyzed and feedback is presented in a timely manner, One common fallacy for many companies is to collect quantities of data, analyze them, and file them on a shelf. To drive behaviors and performance, all HR measures need to be widely disseminated to the right audience (both HR professional and line managers) for feedback purposes. 3. The purpose of HR measures is to stimulate change and improvement. HR professionals and line managers need to use the findings to create an open forum to diagnose/solve problems and to improve organizational capabilities. The discussion and action planning which result from the HR measures are much more valuable than the results of the measures themselves. 4. Both HR and other managers are accountable jor HR measures. Depending on their areas of responsibility, both HR managers and line managers should be assessed based on the HR measures. While HR professionals should be accountable for the internal operational HR measures (e.g., cost and efficiency of delivering HR services), marketing or other dept managers should also be accountable for their approaches to managing employees, to building organizational capability, and to enhancing customer satisfaction. The results of HR measures should constitute part of their performance review and bonus scheme. Without moving through such a complete cycle, HR measures cannot drive the desirable behaviors of line managers in utilizing employee contribution. As a result, the linkages between HR measures and business performance will be weakened. When faced with the challenges of demonstrating its value added, the HR function has to carefully think through its value proposition and its impact on business performance. By developing the right measures, HR can clearly demonstrate its strategic relevance within corporations, firmly establish its invaluable status as a strategic business partner, and substantially contribute to business success,Digital Transformation: Consumer surveys indicate that the insurance sector is lagging behind the most other industries when it comes to customer satisfaction from online experiences. The technological advances have the potential to change the scene completely in which life insurers interact with consumers. They will be given better opportunities in assessing the product and weighing the price risk. Advances in artificial intelligence and new analytical tools are making it happen to automate certain areas of the work of the insurance professionals. Insurance working professionals have used digital medium for communication to offer insurance that had not been in the scene before. The number of data generated today is increasing exponentially due to enormous use of devices such as computers, tablets and mobile phones and their apps ete for sending and receiving information, and from transaction records, social media platforms and web logs. A large number of digital data is generated automatically inexpensively, so much is unstructured, As per the IDC study- 2013, only 22% of the digital data is useful if analyzed properly. Out of 22% only 5% is analyzed and tagged by the professionals. It is widely held that the competitive advantage in the business will go to this business that will be able to use these data and to predict analytics to identify consumers’ requirement trends at a budding stage to bring it into business and make it operations more efficiently. Insurance agents, who are required to undergo a mandatory training of 50 hours, might not have any qualms attached to this process. However, their employers — insurance companies — are not very happy about it. While insurers say they don’t mind bearing the expenses for training their agents, they point out that high attrition has made the process futile. “It is essential that agents are made to undergo practical training in life and general insurance industry, so that they are equipped to deal with the new trends in the insurance sector. However, while we have incurred additional expenses in training them, the agents, especially the younger ones, quit the industry within two-to-three years,” said an insurance executive in-charge of personnel development. To resolve the problem, some insurers have circulated an internal note suggesting that companies should approach the regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA), to press for reducing the training hours, A senior life insurance company executive said that this could reduce costs.Licensing rules by IRDA stipulate that agents have to undergo 50 hours’ training for basic licence and 75 hours’ training for composite licence. Insurance agents also have to undergo a 25-hour practical training to renew their licence, which is valid for three years. Composite agents will have to undergo a practical training of 50 hours if they want to renew their licence. According to earlier rules formulated in July 2000, mandatory training was 100 hours for insurance agents and 150 hours for composite agents who were entering the industry for the first time. This was reduced to 50 hours and 75 hours, respectively, in October 2007, IRDA officials, however, are not in favour of reducing the training hours. According to a senior IRDA official, under the current circumstances, it may not be viable to reduce the 50 hours mandate. “In fact, agents should ideally undergo at least 100 hours training to ensure that s/he has adequate understanding of the industry to sell the products,” said the official. Various estimates suggest approximately Rs 600-650 crore is spent annually by insurance companies on training their agents. This, at a time when attrition is as high as 55-60 percent. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has one of the largest pool of agents at about 1.2 million, The purpose of training is to enable agents applying for the renewal of licences to acquaint themselves with the latest developments in the insurance market. The topics for practical training under life and general insurance business shall include new regulations, notifications and circulars issued by IRDA that affect intermediaries or policyholders. The training module will include new products introduced by insurers, all tax matters relating to and benefits accruing from such products, advance sales training, services which policyholders expect from agents and provisions of agents’ code of conduct, protection of policyholders’ interest and grievance redressal mechanism and refresher for some important topics of previous 100-hour training on request from trainees. Work force: One of the primary goals of HR is to ensure growth, development and satisfaction of the company workforce. To meet the objectives of low turnover rate, reduced recruitment costs, and a motivated work force, HR needs to engage in aggressive planning, communication and effective execution. To get catalyst type employee ts to be thought off and to be recruited.Market conditions: An HR needs to be responsive of the every changing market conditions in the industry. To cope with the changing customer preference, government regulations, competitor's strategies and latest innovations in the sector, HR has to conduct market researches in order to get a better view of the changes and construct the best strategy to deal with the same. With rapid, unpredictable and profound transformation underway in insurance industry, the issues HR must face have increased multiple folds and calls for rapid involvement. There is a need for creating new models and strategies, to adapt and evolve to such changes by the HR “Humility” to be added in the parameters of the performance appraisal: When employees work humbly, they accept their limitations that they cannot do it alone. This mindset is very much required and valuable to a team especially in Insurance sector where work is extensively in team and the target is also human beings. It serves as an invitation for others to help. Humility means having the willingness to help others do their jobs also in crisis when the need arises unexpectedly. It is a means for allowing different personalities to coordinate with each other which further enhances the productivity. Investment in HR is not to be given less importance. Long term advantages of investment in HR are harvested by MNCs. This can be seen as example. It is perceived that it increases expenditure without instant corresponding gain. Short term consolidations override distant future impact. Road Ahead India's insurable population is anticipated to touch 750 million in 2020, with life expectancy reaching 74 years. Furthermore, life insurance is projected to comprise 35 per cent of total savings by the end of this decade, as against 26 per cent in 2009-10. The future looks promising for the life insurance industry with several changes in regulatory framework which will lead to further change in the way the industry conducts its business and engages with its customers. Demographic factors such as growing middle class, young insurable population and growing awareness of the need for protection and retirement planning will support the growth of Indian life insurance. The relationship between people and technology is one of the key drivers for the growth of the industry led with the regulatory changes which will provide the much needed impetus. These should be treated as change catalysts as insurance companies position their organizations to meet the challenges ahead.