Bouquet
July 2019—Sept 2019
NIPM MADRAS CHAPTER
Chairman’s Message
Editorial Team
• M.H. Raja
• K Ganesan
• K.S. Chandru
• S. Bhanu Kumar
Our Next Issue will focus
Dear Members,
on My greetings and best wishes
Learning & to you all.
Development
“Teamwork allows us to reach
We look forward to the heights of excellence and
perform the extraordinary”.
your articles (not more
I’m very happy to share that
than 2 pages) for the
our Chapter has been Award-
Bouquet magazine ed the 2nd BEST CHAPTER
for the year 2018-19 during
Please send your Natcon’19 held at Bangalore
submissions to on 25th September 2019. It’s a
great pleasure and honor for
nipmcc@yahoo.com
all of us in receiving this
Award, further more special as
we are getting this Award for
the first time. I place the grati-
Contents tude to all the member for
your support and effort as a
team and you made this possi-
Chairman’s Message 01
ble. This shows that with all
05 our support and personal
Whether one size fit all
commitment we can take our
Chapter to a greater height.
This TRP vital for Org 08
Growth 38th NIPM National Confer-
ence NATCON 2019 held at
Total Rewards -Towards 09
a higher orbit Bengaluru from 25th to 27th
September 2019. The Karna-
Background of Code of 12 taka Chapter of NIPM hosted
Wages the conference at Internation-
al Convention Centre,
Employee Recognition— 16 GKVK, Jakkur (New Airport
its Importance &
Execution
Road), Bengaluru and it was
well organized and attended
by Delegates across the Globe.
Gamify Rewards & 19
Recognition
SOUTHERN REGIONAL
CONFERENCE 2019 (SRC
Volume 6
2019) at Kochi is scheduled
on 5th & 6th December’19.
The conference will be attend-
ed by delegates from across
the country and abroad. A
galaxy of well-known speakers,
National leaders, Policy mak-
ers, Business Leaders, Industry
CEOs, CHROs, Heads of
various functions in Busi-
ness / Industry, Consultants,
academia are going to share
their expertise and propose
new thoughts and ideas for
Industry 4.0 & Future of HR
– Re-Aligning Workforce &
Workplace for the Decade
T20-T30. We request your
support for the conference
through Delegates, Souvenir
Advertisements, Sponsorships
and wherever possible so that
they can make the event a
memorable one.
As part of digitization of mem-
bers data, NIPM Head office
has informed through a letter
to all the Life & Corporate
Members of NIPM to update
their profile with contact de-
tails etc., on line . All the
members are requested to log
in using the Website of NIPM
www.nipm.in and update your
information immediately on
or before 10th November ‘19 .
In case of any difficulty, please
feel free to call/write to me
For Members—Private
Circulation Only
and your cooperation in this
regards is highly solicited.
Many members appreciated
and encouraged the last issue
of Bouquet. I wish to thank
them and extend my gratitude
to those contributed to the
last Bouquet – News Letter.
The current issue of the News
Letter is covering the field of
Rewards & Recognition and
the next edition will be focus-
ing on Learning & Develop-
ment. I request the senior HR
members to share your experi-
ences, thoughts by sublimating
with your articles. This will be
a part of sharing the best prac-
tices and will be useful to both
the young HR professionals
and those who wanted to
adopt industries’ best experi-
ences. We look forward your
contribution to our forth com-
ing Bouquet on “Learning &
Development”.
Wishing you a very Happy,
Safe & Pollution free Diwali
Warm Regards,
M.H. Raja
Chairman, Madras Chapter
.
Bouquet
Page 2

Second Best Chapter Award—2018-2019

Chairman’s
Message:

Thank you all the

NIPM members and
well wishers for
making this possible
and looking forward to
your support to take
our Chapter to greater
heights

Chairman in
particular thanked all
office bearers, Senior
members of the forum
and other regular
contributors on this
achievement

Mr. Chandru was

specially recognized in
the September
Monthly meeting
 Volume 6
Page 3

NIPM partnering with other forums

NIPM in association with All India Manufacturers

Organization (AIMO) conducted a post budget
analysis on 6th July 2019 at Round Table House.
This was well participated by members of both the
forums.

NIPM supported the Tamil Conference conducted by MISS HRS,

Chennai Chapter where Mr. Mathew our Hon.Addl. Secretary was
the moderator for the session நீயா நானா முதல் நீயும் நானும் வரை

Partnered events for the next quarter

Partner Event Remark

We p ro p o se to
Nidhi Apke Nikat (A public outreach
AIMO
program by EPFO)
10th October 2019 continue & enhance
partnering with the
Prevent & Prohibit Sexual Harassment
other forums to
AIMO @ Workplace & bring about Women 12th October 2019
Safe Environment strengthen our reach to
Advanced Certificate Course on To be announced—Nominations can the like minded people
MMA
Organization Discipline—Batch 2 be sent to nipmcc@yahoo.com
Advanced Certificate Course on To be announced—Nominations can
XIME
Organization Discipline—Batch 2 be sent to nipmcc@yahoo.com
Bouquet
Page 4

Student Chapter Updates

Ethiraj College conducted Management Conclave—
Paradigm 2019 on 4th September and NIPM were
the Knowledge partners for a Panel discussion. We
had Mr. Mathew our Hon.Addl.Secretary as the
Moderator and speakers were Dr. Priya
Chockalingam, Mr. S. Rajendran, Mr. Rajesh
Srinivasan & Mr. S. Bhanu Kumar.

SA Engineering College conducted an

Advanced HR Practices session for their second
Student chapter year MBA Students. This is in continuation of
members are requested the HR Practices session we had provided for
these students last year
to share their HR
related events with This was conducted on 23rd and 24th
photographs for September. This session was formally
inaugurated by our Chairman Mr. Raja followed
conducted events and
by sessions from Mr.S.S. Kalyanaraman, Mr.
probable dates for M.C. Rathnakar, Mr. P.V.Vasantha Kumar, Mr.
projected events to J Vijaya Kumar, Ms. Rajalakshmi Subramanian
nipmcc@yahoo.com and Mr. S. Bhanu Kumar
for publishing here. Thanks to all the facilitators for a wonderful
session—College appreciated the contribution.

Thanks to all the Panelists for a participative

session

Next Quarter Events of Student Chapter

College Event Remarks

Kalasalingam University Campus to Corporate Date / Speakers to be finalized

SA Engineering College Counselling to MBA Date to be finalized

Students
KSR College Quiz for MBA Students Modalities to be discussed during
October
Womens Christian College HR Event Date / Speakers to be finalized

Whether One Size Fit All?
“Whether one size fit all”? This question
arises every now and then when we
design and deliver Reward scheme. One
of the basic purposes of Reward scheme
is to create a desire and requisite level of
motivation among target group members
to perform to their true potential for
achieving the set goals to claim the
reward benefits. This article is intended
to examine the following two basic
questions in designing reward
management system.
a) Is it necessary that reward management
scheme should have common features for
stimulation of achievement motivation?
b) Whether one simple reward scheme
will suffice to trigger inner desire and
motivate workforce comprising of
conglomeration of different generation
people?
It is universally accepted fact that after
advent of Info-Tech age, the employees
are now seen as the primary source of
Organisational competitive advantage.
The word performance is viewed as more
of positive behaviour that moves
employees towards achieving desired
goals and the motivation is considered as
influence that causes employees to
behave in a certain way that facilitate the
process of commitment in reaching set
goals. Research works of eminent
scholars indicate that some employees are
motivated by intrinsic factors involve
doing something because it's personally
rewarding to individual. Extrinsic factors
involve doing something because
individual wants to earn a reward or
avoid punishment.
For attaining consistency in levels of
performance, there are certain basic work
related achievement motivational
dimensions to be addressed either at the
time recruiting candidates through
assessment besides developing conducive
eco system to permit development of
such dimensional characters in
individuals. The designing of
performance based reward system calls
for due attention to those dimensions.
Some of the key assessed achievement
motivational dimensions are described
herein:
Expanding Effort: A willingness to
expend extra effort in order to avoid
failing at a work task, even if this effort
results in over-preparation is construed as
compensatory effort.
Competitiveness: Motivation derived
from competing with other functional
work teams is considered as
competitiveness. A desire to win and be
better and faster than others work teams
facilitate development of
competitiveness.
Confidence in Success: Confidence in
achieving success even when there are
obstacles to overcome creates greater
heights of confidence to Individuals &
Teams
Aptitude for Learning: The desire and
willingness to spend a lot of time
enlarging one's knowledge
is another essential factor for cultivating
learning culture..
Engagement: The desire to be regularly
engaged in an activity, usually work
related. People who are highly engaged
place a high priority on work and are
uncomfortable when they have nothing
to do.
While designing any reward management
system, above referred key factors of
achievement motivation to be taken in to
considerations and the presence of such
elements in features of reward scheme
acts as a strong stimuli for improving
performance. Use of negative
reinforcement approach is also required
to kindle achievement motivation.
Needless to mention that negative
reinforcement is forming part of total
reward system.
Let us look at significance of generation
in the matter of administering the reward
system. Generation is an identifiable
group that shares birth years, age,
location and significant life events at
critical development stages. Currently
there are three primary generations in
the work place viz. Gen X (Baby
Boomers), Gen Y (Millennials) and Gen
Z (Digital Integrators/ Digital natives).
There are business houses in the world
having combination of all three
Volume 6
Page 5
generations distributed in the workforce.
Gen Z has already started entering both
colleges and their first jobs. There is a
fair chances that this generation, which is
considered to be approximately two
billion, will change the world of laws
noticeably in the upcoming years.
Generation Z, born to a globally
connected world, is slowly but surely
entering their first jobs with their own set
of expectations, preferences, and
perceptions of the world of work.
Similarly to previous generations,
members of Generation Z are expected to
share some unique characteristics that
might bring noticeable changes to
organizations in the future. Compared to
Gen Y, Gen Z rules are less inclined to
agree for multitasking as well as likely to
intend to work in fast pace environment.
For Gen Z, research work confirms that
Dr. M Ramakrishnan
they are fascinated by intrinsic factors of SVP HR
motivation and Gen Y look for
combination of both intrinsic and Loyal Textile Mills
extrinsic factors. In the conglomeration Ltd
of workforce Gen X is in the weaning
phase and hence we may leave aside this
One of the basic
minor work group and concentrate on
evolving total reward system balancing purposes of Reward
needs and preferences of Gen Y and Gen
scheme is to create a
Z. In short, both intrinsic and extrinsic
values should be given due consideration desire and requisite
in designing the Total Reward level of motivation
Management System to trigger and
motivate the workforce segment of Gen among target group
Y and Gen Z to perform to their members to perform to
potential and even beyond.
In conclusion, Reward Management their true potential for
System should keep revolving around achieving the set goals
achievement motivational factors and
must fulfill the expectations and to claim the reward
preferences of all generations. This benefits
balanced approach would make Total
Reward Management System fit for all.
Bouquet
Page 6

NIPM NATCON 2019 Chapter level Quiz @ Chennai

NIPM NATCON 2019 Event @ Bengaluru

 Volume 6
Page 7

NIPM NATCON 2019 @ Bengaluru

Some photographs
giving a glimpse of
audience, Chennai
Chapter participation
during the NATCON
2019 conducted at
Bengaluru

Prof. K B Akhilesh sharing the takeaways of Natcon 2019 held at Bengaluru, is

available here
Bouquet
Page 8
This TRP is vital for organization growth
TRP as it stands, is important for a
Television channel’s growth – both in
terms of revenue and viewership. Simi-
larly, another TRP is very vital for an
organization’s growth – Total Rewards
Programme.
Gone are the days when organizations
would expect employees across board to
accept certificates and other minor bene-
fits for their performances and say that
Ramesh Srinivasan this is as per “company policy”. Particu-
larly, in today’s world of millennials and
Certified Leadership cross-cultural workforce, organizations
Coach are compelled to customise their Re-
wards policy, to ensure that their talent
stay back with them. Talent has become
a key differentiator for business success.
As Zubin Zack, Managing Director &
TRP as it stands, is Chief Recognition Strategist,
important for a O.C.Tanner India states, “In today’s cut-
throat competition, Total Rewards are an
Television channel’s
employee programme that no organization can
growth – both in terms of afford to miss on. The Total Rewards strate-
revenue and viewership. gies are a set of recognitions that allow a
company to recognize, praise and commend
Similarly, another TRP
hardworking employees with the aim of
is very vital for an sustaining a motivated and engaged work-
organization’s growth – force” (ET – July 26, 2016).
Before we embark on the importance
Total Rewards and recent trends, it is important for us
Programme. to understand what Total Rewards com-
prise of. Is it about monetary benefits ?
Is it about non-monetary benefits ? Is it
about career advancement opportunites ?
Well, Total Rewards Programme is a
combination of all these and more.
Total Rewards strategy comprises the
following six areas (WorldAtWork):
• Compensation
• Benefits
• Work-Life Effectiveness
• Recognition
• Performance Management
• Talent Development
Compensation
These are direct cash components like
Monthly salary, allowances and variable
pay linked to company / function /
individual performance.
Benefits
Benefits include Stock options, statuto-
ry / non-statutory retiral benefits, Medi-
claim insurance for self and family
(during service and after), Life Insurance
for self and family, disability insurance,
Paid Leave, Company Car / Allowance,
Mobile Phone, Laptop.
Work-Life Effectiveness
Work-Life Balance has evolved to Work-
Life Effectiveness, in which the employ-
ees would look for Part-time opportunity,
flexi-timing, flexi-shift, remote working,
sabbaticals and involvement in CSR
activities of the company so that he / she
would effectively devote his / her time to
personal commitments.
Recognition
Employees would like to be recognised in
various ways like Spot rewards for a good
action, service awards, Employee of the
month / quarter / year awards, Apprecia-
tion lunch / dinner, employee suggestion
scheme and due publicity in company
notice board / intranet / magazine /
newsletter.
Performance Management
As a part of the Performance Manage-
ment System, employees would like to
get engaged in the performance feedback
conversations with his / her superiors,
performance linked pay hike and perfor-
mance coaching opportunity.
Talent Development
Job rotation, nomination to external
training programmes / conferences,
availability of self-development tools,
reimbursement for professional courses,
Coaching / Mentoring avenues, Overseas
assignments, succession planning are the
factors that contribute to Talent Develop-
ment of employees in an organization.
Employees now-a-days are keen to know
how the organization would support
him / her to meet the aspirations in all
the above factors and that would decide
his / her joining the company and stay-
ing in.
TimesJobs did a survey in 2016 to find
out how Indian organizations view this
concept, make it work and perceive its
future. According to the study, nearly
43% of the organizations have a well-
built Total Rewards strategy and for
another 23% of the organizations, it is in
the planning stage. Retaining employees
has been stated as a key benefit of Total
Rewards strategy by nearly 40% of the
organizations.
Sanchayan Paul, Head of Performance,
Rewards & Recognition, Vodafone India
candidly puts it thus – “The future will be
about treating employees as consumers and
delivering tangible employee experience. It is
about getting lean i.e. delivering more with
less. It shall no more be about rewarding a
little bit to everyone, but more differentiated
pay for performance and pay for critical
skills”. In Vodafone India, they are
continuously strengthening organization-
al vitality. They are committed to offer
holistic Total Rewards by empowering
employees through flexible work arrange-
ments called ‘V-Flex’. ‘V-Flex’ options
are crafted to support employees through
the key junctures in their lives e.g. need
to invest in self, taking care of children,
their education, illness in family, etc. and
thus empower them both personally and
professionally (TJinsite – July 2016).
According to the survey, for nearly 50%
of the organizations, the most important
aspect of executing Total Rewards strate-
gy is aligning it with business objectives.
As in any investment, organizations need
to justify ROI for TRP as well. The
amount of resources spent is expected to
yield optimum returns in terms of differ-
ent priorities of employees and organiza-
tions in tandem. Any programme, which
does not yield quantifiable results in
terms of business outcome, may not have
a sponsor for long. This can’t be ex-
plained better when Vipin Arora, Com-
pensation Director (APAC), Honeywell
International India Private Limited says,
“The measure of success has to focus on
contribution of each aspect of rewards on
business outcome, rather than launch of
variety of programs to create a feel-good factor
for program administrators”.
With “Talent” becoming a competitive
edge in both short-term as well as in long-
term, organizations need to focus on
their TRP (Total Rewards Programme).
Jack Welch of GE, writes in his book
Winning as “You have got the right players
on the field, that’s a great start. Now they
need to work together, steadily improve their
performance, be motivated, stay with the
company and grow as leaders. In other words,
they need to be managed”. What else can
be a better strategy to do this other than
having a robust TRP ?

Total Rewards —Towards a Higher Orbit
Total Rewards form a critical lever to
drive the right habits, differentiate high
performers and motivate the entire
workforce by developing role models.
Previously Rewards was synonymous with
compensation and an annual gathering
in which the best performers would be
awarded. However, today Total Rewards
consist of not only the basic contractual
rewards of Compensation and Benefits
but also career progression, developmen-
tal options and holistic appreciation of
the employee.
While traditional rewards are well known
to all HR Professionals, the new trends
and aspects of total rewards are detailed
below –
Move from Standard to Segmentation to
Personalization
In today’s world, we have five generations
of workforce working together. Each
generation and each employee at differ-
ent life stages associate a different value
to the same reward. Hence it is im-
portant that we move from a one-size-fits-
all to a more customized offering.
With multiple generations working
together, it is important to recognize that
each generation values rewards different-
ly. Says, Shanti Naresh, Talent Business
Head Mercer India, “The youngest gener-
ation values experiences more a cash
reward, for example the opportunity to
go scuba diving or watch a movie. How-
ever, the older generation prefers higher
cash in hand”
Today in an era of personalization when
N=1, companies are not stopping at
segmentation but are going a step further
into personalization Today awards can be
100% customized based on individual
choices. A European consulting firm
gives new employees options among
choosing salary or stock options; an extra
week of vacation or higher pay; and a
higher bonus based on results or a more
modest increase in base pay.
Agile and Immediate Rewards
One of the critical parameters that make
a difference to any rewards is how quick-
ly and frequently the rewards is received.
Rewards delayed is Rewards denied.
Today most companies have compensa-
tion revisions only once a year, even
though there is a practice of mid-year
ratings or quarterly reviews. Especially
with the expectation of instant gratifica-
tion by the millennial generation, re-
wards have to be on an immediate and
frequent basis if they have to be valued.
Social and Peer-to-Peer Rewards
Traditionally rewards were decided by a
committee of senior management, how-
ever that is not changing. Says Nanjappa
BS, VP – ER, Infosys, “Instead of the
traditional top down rewards, we are
moving towards Peer & Project team-
based rewards. We look for a more social-
istic approach with peers and other teams
appreciating each other bringing in
higher collaboration.”
Holistic Wellness as part of Rewards
Today companies are making invest-
ments into the health and wellness of
employees, going beyond health insur-
ance. Namita Bharadwaj, Principal-
Talent Management Advisory, Total
Rewards Advisory, Mercer Consulting
informs that Holistic Benefits has to be
take care of all aspects – Physical, Mental,
Social and Financial Wellness. Many
traditional corporate wellness programs
only recognize the physical component of
health. This leaves out a significant
option for employers to create a differen-
tiated value proposition.
Use of Technology
The delivery mechanism is critical –
access is another area where companies
look to use digital technologies for deliv-
ery across a distributed workforce and
real-time rewards. Says Rohit Thakur,
Head HR at Accenture, “One of the
important concerns we had was How do
I maximize my heart, body, mind and
soul of every employee? We rolled out
the Live Well App in which employees
can feed parameters that they want to
focus on, whether physical, mental, social
etc and the App gives a routine that can
be followed. We also launched a mental
health app called Vyasa, which depend-
ing on few responses guides an employee
through multiple steps to take, including
going to a counsellor.” Technology
helped Accenture scale the initiative
across its entire workforce.
Demonstrate ROI of Rewards initiative
Volume 6
Page 9
using Big Data & Analytics
It is important to demonstrate the impact
of any changes in reward on the business
results using Data Analysis. John O’Bri-
en, VP – Employee Performance Group,
BI Worldwide informs that data analytics
can be used to predict future impact of
any new rewards initiative. As per the
article ‘Rethinking Total Rewards Opti-
mization’ by Mercer authored by Lauren
Mason, Principal, Workforce Rewards,
research shows there is often a discon-
nect between what employees “say” they
value and what they “do”. A study in a
client organization revealed that increase
in base pay of $10,000 across their work-
force had only a 3% reduction in turno-
ver probability, but the autonomy of a
manager (as measured by the span of
control) had a 34% reduction in turno-
ver probability.
K.R. Ramakrishnan
Measuring success of Rewards initiatives
It is important to measure success of any
rewards communication and initiatives.
This can be done through lagging and
leading indicators. Says Preeti, Head
Benefits Business, Mercer India, “We Previously Rewards was
talk about impact of rewards on attrition synonymous with
and productivity, but these are all lagging
compensation and an
indicators. We must look at the leading
indicators like sign up for a voluntary
annual gathering in which
program, engagement levels etc as indica- the best performers would
tion of design and delivery. Additionally, be awarded. However,
the number of employees going to social
today Total Rewards
media sites like LinkedIn & Glassdoor
and talk about benefits is an indication
consist of not only the basic
of communication and branding.” contractual rewards of
Compensation and
Conclusion Benefits but also career
A combination of technology and per-
progression, developmental
sonalization along with appreciation in a
holistic way makes a difference to the options and holistic
employee. Total Rewards need to change appreciation of the
in line with changing employee expecta- employee
tions. Employee join because of a good
offer, but employee will stay for the
Employee Value Proposition, and Total
Rewards is a critical component of the
EVP.
Bouquet
Page 10

Monthly Meeting

July Monthly Meeting—The UnCommon Leader: Empowering

Entrepreneurship—partnered with MMA

Strategic Talent Management Batch 1 were awarded

certificates during the July Monthly Meeting

August Monthly Meeting—Arundathi Balachandran & S. Bhanu

Kumar on Technology enabling data driven decisions
 Volume 6
Page 11

September Monthly Meeting—Lessons Learnt from Japan by Mr. G

D Sharma. Mr. Chandru was felicitated by Mr. V.S. Vasan for his
contribution towards the 2nd Best Chapter Award

Month Event Remarks

Driving High Performance

October 2019 A Panel discussion
through Accountability

November 2019 Monthly Meeting To be Announced

December 2019 Monthly Meeting To be Announced

Bouquet
Page 12
Dr. Santosh Bhave
Director HR & IR
Bharat Forge Ltd, Pune
Fellow & Life Member
of NIPM
The Code on Wages, 2019
was introduced in Lok
Sabha by the Minister of
Labour, Mr. Santosh
Gangwar on July 23, 2019.
It seeks to regulate wage and
bonus payments in all
employments where any
industry, trade, business, or
manufacture is carried
out. The Code replaces the
following four laws: (i) the
Payment of Wages Act,
1936, (ii) the Minimum
Wages Act, 1948, (iii) the
Payment of Bonus Act,
1965, and (iv) the Equal
Remuneration Act, 1976.
Background of Code of Wages 2019
Vide resolution dated 15.10.1999, Gov-
ernment of India, Ministry of Labour, set
up national commission on labour,
under Chairmanship of Shri Ravindra
Verma, supported by one full time mem-
ber, seven part-time members and mem-
ber secretary.
The terms of reference of the commis-
sion broadly covers the following :-
1. Rationalization of existing labour laws
in organized sectors
2. Suggest legislation for minimum level
of protection to workers in unorganized
sectors.
I would like to update everyone from this
august gathering that in Chapter I of
National Commission of Labour, i.e. the
terms of reference vide point
no.1.19/1.20/1.23 the commission has
mentioned about the need to attempt
and retain the degree of international
competitiveness that our economy needs
in the era of changing competitive envi-
ronment. Commission has also men-
tioned that competitiveness depends not
merely on technology, credit, inputs and
managerial skills, but also on the contri-
bution that labour makes. The future will
require concurrent training in multiple
skills and the constant updating and
upgradation of skills.
I guess this is first time that any Govern-
ment nominated commission has author-
itatively advocated for need of enhance-
ment of international competitiveness.
Chapter V of National Commission of
Labour has given its views on approach
to review of laws. Sub points 5.1/5.3 and
5.19 predominantly highlighted the need
for review of laws and linking it with
competitiveness and harmonious rela-
tions.
Interestingly vide point no.5.5, commis-
sion has opined that “it is an overstate-
ment to say that labour, or labour laws
are the only cause of unsatisfactory eco-
nomic development. There are other
factors that affect the efficiency of indus-
try like managerial skills, integrity, effi-
cient and reliable infrastructure etc.
Vide 5.19 of Chapter V commission has
stated that “over manned organization
are also a cause of poor work culture. It
lowers normal level of work efficiency
and work hours of an employee”.
For the information of delegates in this
auditorium, I also need to mention that
report of National Commission of La-
bour was not unanimous and there was a
note of dissent on Chapter on Review of
Laws, which was submitted by one of the
members, Mr.C.K.Sajinarayanan.
Those who have the opportunity to go
through the report of the National Com-
mission of Labour will agree with me
that commissions view was that of soci-
etical in nature considering the interest
of working class. I would prefer to put
forward point No.6.111 on page No.365
of the report which reproduces as fol-
lows:-
Next only to employment, wages and
remuneration are the most important of
the issues one has to contend with when
dealing with labour management rela-
tions. The reasons are obvious. While
generally employers view wages and
remuneration as an item of cost and
hence to be kept in check even if not
reduced, these are the wherewithal for
the worker to maintain himself / herself
and his / her family at least at a level of
living that is consistent with human
needs and human dignity. Directive
Principles of State Policy in the Consti-
tute have specifically referred to “living
wages” in Article 43. Article 43 is repro-
duced below :
“The State shall endeavor to secure, by
suitable legislation or economic organiza-
tion or in any other way, to all workers,
agricultural, industrial or otherwise,
work, a living wage, conditions of work,
ensuring a decent standard of life and
full enjoyment of leisure and social and
cultural opportunities and, in particular,
the State shall endeavor to promote
cottage industry on an individual or
cooperative basis in rural areas".
Commission ion with its due process
completed its study by circulating ques-
tionnaire, composition of various study
groups, visits to various states, union
territories, meeting various persons
covering management, unions, social
workers, conducting seminars, work-
shops, etc. submitted its report to the
Government in 2002. The recommenda-
tion of commission is covered as in the
table below

Background of Code of Wages 2019
From 2002 till 2019, few Central Gov-
ernment took charge and diminished.
The present NDA Government with a
view to codify various labour laws under
one umbrella, submitted its statement of
objects and reasons in Lok Sabha on
18.07.2019 and proposed that existing
set of labour laws should be broadly
amalgamated into following groups
namely
a) Industrial Relations
b) Wages
c) Social Security
d) Safety
e) Welfare and working conditions
The Government inter-alia proposed
ra-
(Contd.)
tionalization the relevant provision of
following four central labour enactments
relating to wages namely
a) The payment of wages act 1936
b) The Minimum Wages Act 1948
c) The Payment of Bonus Act 1965
d) The Equal Remuneration Act 1976
As per the statement of objects submitted
by Mr.Santosh Gangwar, Minister of
Labour, Government of India, the amal-
gamation of the said laws will facilitate
the smooth implementation and also
remove
the multiplicity of definition and authori-
ties without compromising on the basic
Volume 6
Page 13
concept of welfare and benefits of labour.
Therefore, the above four labour laws are
now coming into new form i.e. Code of
Wages 2019.
The Code of Wages has already received
the ascent of President of India during
recently concluded Lok Sabha session.
The date of notification for application is
yet to be announced, as well as after
notification respective State Govern-
ments will have to frame their own rules.
Bouquet
Page 14

NIPM—MMA Monthly Video Meetings

July Monthly Video Meeting—Building High Performance Teams

by Ms. Gayathri Rajagopalan

August Monthly Video Meeting—Effective Presentation Skills by

Mr. R Sriram

September Monthly Video Meeting—Leadership by

Empowerment by Ms. A. Juliette
 Volume 6
Page 15

Members corner

Congratulations Dr. A.V. Sivramaprasad for achieving the Most

Innovative HR Leaders (ASEAN) Award from Asia Pacific HRM
Congress
We also congratulate you for taking over as President (Corporate)
effective 1st October 2019 incharge of all functions, operations and
units of KCP group

Mr. Sivramaprasad receiving the award

Congratulation Mr. Ramesh Srivinivasan Members are requested

for successfully publishing the Article on
to share their
Building the Entrepreneurship Ecosys-
tem—The Indian Way in the NIPM Natcon participation in other
2019 held at Bengalur events, professional
achievements, awards
and recognition with
photographs to
nipmcc@yahoo.com
Mr. Ramesh’s article published for publishing here.

Congratulations Mr. Bhanu Kumar

for being on of the Jury Panel in the
Singapore India Hackathon conducted
by the MHRD at IIT campus

We also congratulate you for being in

the panel of Jury for the MMA Stu-
dent Convention

Mr. Bhanu Kumar with AICTE Chairman Prof. Anil D.

Sahasrabudhe & other Jury in the Hackathon

Condolence

Mr. S.N.Singh Executive Director , NIPM National Head Quarters

Mr Shankar, Professor VIT

Mr. S.K.Das Gupta, Past National President NIPM

Bouquet
Page 16
Employee Recognition—Its Importance & Execution
Employee recognition is the timely, infor-
mal or formal acknowledgement of a
person’s or team’s behaviour, effort or
business result that supports the organi-
zation’s goals and values, and which has
clearly been beyond normal expecta-
tions.To be really effective in the job,
organisations need to understand the
psychology of praising employees for
Dr. C Venkataraman their good work, and to encourage others
to initiate it in their working relation-
PhD, Director ships. Appreciation is a fundamental
human need. Employees respond to
Razor Sharp HR & appreciation expressed through recogni-
tion of their good work because it con-
Consultin
firms their work is valued. When employ-
ees and their work are valued, their
satisfaction and productivity rises, and
they are motivated to maintain or im-
prove their good work. Praise and recog-
nition are essential to an outstanding
workplace. People want to be respected
and valued for their contribution. Every-
one feels the need to be recognized as an
individual or member of a group and to
feel a sense of achievement for work well
done or even for a valiant effort. Every-
one wants a ‘pat on the back’ to make
them feel good.
There are two aspects to employee recog-
nition. The first aspect is to actually see,
There are two aspects to identify or realize an opportunity to
praise someone. The other aspect of
employee recognition.
employee recognition is, of course, the
The first aspect is to physical act of doing something to
actually see, identify or acknowledge and praise employees for
their good work. Recognizing people for
realize an opportunity to
their good work sends an extremely
praise someone. The powerful message to the recipient, their
other aspect of employee work team and other employees through
the grapevine and formal communica-
recognition is, of course,
tion channels. Employee recognition is
the physical act of doing therefore a potent communication tech-
something to nique. Employee recognition isn’t rocket
acknowledge and praise science – it is an obvious thing to do.
Despite the unquestioned benefits aris-
employees for their good ing from employee recognition, one of
work. the mysteries of the workplace is that
recognition invariably is done badly, if
done at all. Managers need reinforcing
and coaching. Employee recognition
remains an undervalued management
technique.
Surveys conducted by Sirota Consulting
have revealed that only 51% of workers
were satisfied with the recognition they
received after a job well done. The cost of
a recognition system is quite small and
the benefits are large when implemented
effectively. Meta-analysis conducted by
the Gallup Organization in 2003 of the
results from 10,000 business units in 30
industries found [a meta-analysis is the
statistical analysis of results across more
than one study]:
• Increased individual productivity –
the act of recognizing desired
behaviour increases the repetition
of the desired behaviour, and
therefore productivity. This is
classic behavioural psychology. The
reinforced behaviour supports the
organization’s mission and key
performance indicator
• Greater employee satisfaction and
enjoyment of work – more time
spent focusing on the job and less
time complaining.
• Direct performance feedback for
individuals and teams is provided.
• Higher loyalty and satisfaction
scores from customers.
• Teamwork between employees is
enhanced.
• Retention of quality employees
increases – lower employee turno-
ver.
• Better safety records and fewer
accidents on the job.
• Lower negative effects such as
absenteeism and stress.
Measuring the direct impact on profita-
bility is difficult because it is only one of
many factors influencing employees in
every workplace. However, case studies
make a persuasive case that bottom line
benefits have been achieved through
recognition schemes. The Walt Disney
World Resort established an employee
recognition program that resulted in a
15% increase in staff satisfaction with
their day-to-day recognition by their
immediate supervisors. These results
correlated highly with high guest-
satisfaction scores, which showed a
strong intent to return, and therefore
directly flowed to increased profitability.
Likewise, Sears, Roebuck & Co. found
for every 5% increase in employee atti-
tude scores, they saw a 1-3% increase in
customer satisfaction and a 0.5% in-
crease in revenue.
Traditionally, employee recognition has
not been a core public relations activity,
but it can be a catalyst in any organiza-
tion. One can spontaneously praise
people – this is highly effective. To many
employees, receiving sincere thanks is
more important than receiving some-
thing tangible. Employees enjoy recogni-
tion through personal, written, electronic
and public praise from those they respect
at work, given in a timely, specific and
sincere way. Recognition is a key success
factor even at higher levels of manage-
ment. Dr Lawrence Hrebiniak, Professor
of Management in the Wharton School
at the University of Pennsylvania, states,
“What’s absolutely critical…is that the
organization celebrates success. Those
who perform must be recognized. Their
behaviour and its results must be rein-
forced.
A global survey conducted by me in 2015
as a part of my Doctorate thesis, has
actually revealed that Recognition is the
second most important motivational
factor after Career growth. This survey
was conducted globally among and 734
respondents participated in the same.
Some demographic details about the
participants are :as depicted in the chart
in the next page (Graph1)
Respondents were asked to rank 10
parameters identified as Motivational
drivers and Graph 2 depicts the Average
ranking provided by the 734 respondents
Across age, seniority, nationality, sex etc.,
Recognition clearly emerged as the sec-
ond most important motivational param-
eter. As this survey was conducted glob-
ally, it can be clearly told that Recogni-
tion is considered second most im-
portant globally.
Recognition of work :
Here are some ways in which organisa-
tions can recognize the efforts of employ-
ees and reward them accordingly:
Day-to-day recognition – It is important
to motivate and encourage employees to
perform well on an everyday basis and
not just on a periodic level. For example,
small words of praise, little words of
encouragement and constant motivation
are highly important to make employees
feel encouraged for their efforts and to
maintain a positive flow of the workplace
environment.

Employee Recognition—Its Importance & Execution (Contd.)
Informal recognition – Informal recogni-
tion is the kind of recognition which
includes gestures of encouragement and
appreciation. A pat on the back or a
word of praise in front of the team can
go a long way in boosting the morale of
the employees.
Formal recognition – Formal recogni-
tion is usually in the form of rewards for
service, contribution, and achievements.
These recognition forms also include
events held for the celebration of achieve-
ments. Formal recognition requires
policy requirements.
Guidelines for an effective employee
recognition program
In order to come up with an effective
and well-designed recognition program,
organisations can follow the basic guide-
lines:
• The program must be clearly de-
fined and planned.
• An effective recognition program
must be capable of opening up
communication channels.
• It must be able to improve the
retention level of the best employ-
ees.
• It must take into account the
important achievements of each
worker or employee, no matter
how small or big the work position
is.
• It should improve confidence and
self-worth among the employees.
• It must help in improving and
increasing the overall productivity
of the workplace.
• The program should have a mix of
both informal and formal ways to
reward.
• It must be upgraded or changed
regularly to avoid saturation or
predictability.
• It must be valid as per the policies
and legal specifications.
• It must be highly unbiased.
• More importantly it should be in
line with the interests of the em-
ployees, which needs to be identi-
fied beforehand
• A formal employee recognition
program is a kind of a program
which is aimed to reward employ-
ees formally either in terms of
bonuses or awards handed out at
the month of a time cycle. These
programs are well-planned and
designed to improve work place
performances, boost morale and
confidence among employees and
achieve overall organization goals
with a positive workforce.
There are various steps involved in
developing a recognition program :
1) Identifying the goal of the Recogni-
tion Program
The first step to setting up a reward
program is to come up with a long term
goal or objective. Organisation must
identify and define what they want to
achieve from the program. The objective
must be appropriate and meaningful to
the company and should not violate
company policies in any way. In order to
identify the goal of a strong recognition
program, the following can be consid-
ered :
Volume 6
Page 17
Graph 1
Graph 2
1.1) Discussion with the senior Manage-
ment : HR can have a discussion with
the top management and list down all
the possible objectives of the program.
Their ideas can be incorporate to make
sure that there is a higher purpose and a
clear vision for the program.
1.2) Listening to employees – Besides
taking opinions of the top management,
it is also important to talk to employees
and taking their take on the programs.
Every employee is different; while some
may just like a quiet and personal appre- To develop a recognition
ciation note, others may prefer to be program one must identify
recognized a little more publicly. This is the goals of the program,
why, talking to employees can help to
design the programs based on their
establish a budget, setup
expectations. My survey also reinforces committee, criteria &
the fact that the motivational driver for guideline along with the
employees in different stage of life and rewards and communicate
career are different. with employees. It is
2) Establishing a Budget
important that this program
After setting up the goal of the recogni-
is maintained & repeated
tion program, next is to establish a budg-
et keeping in mind the financial position
of the business and reserving a practical
amount for awards or rewards. For this,
an understanding from the finance or
accounts department to figure out the
amount that can be afforded to spend on
such a program every month or year
should be established. It is important to
know that such programs can run on
either no cost or little costs as well. How-
ever, keeping aside some money for cash
rewards, coupons, gift cards and other
rewards too may be a good way to differ-
entiate between levels of recognition and
awarding.
Bouquet
Page 18
Employee Recognition—Its Importance & Execution (Contd.)
3) Setting up a Committee
The 3rd step in this process is to set up a
committee and appoint a few employees
or managerial level executives to handle
the functioning of the reward program.
In the beginning, the committee need
not be too huge and should include only
a few recognized employees in it. The
committee can then be given the respon-
sibility to handle everything related to
the program including the formation of
formal awards; creation of new reward
types every month or quarter and inter-
esting ways to promote the program
internally. Doing so will help to get a
more streamlined approach to the pro-
gram that does not leak out among the
employees and remains a surprise for
them.
4) Setting criteria and guidelines
Every successful and effective employee
recognition program has a set of guide-
lines and criteria on the basis of which it
functions and goes on smoothly. It is
important to create core values and
guidelines so that it remains fair and
unbiased. Making rules, discussing excep-
tional cases of recognition and having a
The success or failure of list of points according to which an
a Rewards & Recognition employee will be recognized or rewarded
will be useful. The following are a few
program depends on the
guidelines that can be followed :
Criteria for assigning a
Potential criteria for assigning a reward :
reward and an effective
communication and • Length of service
sustained • Excellence in performance
implementation • Peer-to-peer communication and
association
• Leadership qualities
• Personal accomplishments
• Team accomplishments
• Milestones crossed
• Number of points earned accord-
ing to point system
• Attendance, punctuality, results
achieved
• Exhibiting organisations competen-
cies effectively
• Exhibiting “Above and beyond the
call of duty” attitude etc.,
• Rules about setting criteria:
• Fair and unbiased in the approach
to setting up the guidelines
• Clear and transparent about the
rules
• Making the criteria strictly applica- eg :
ble on not only top or medium • Best employee award for junior
level executives but also on entry employees
level staff or technicians and other • Best manager award for managerial
workers also. employees
5) Selecting the rewards
Rewards doesn’t necessarily have to be • Best leader award for employees in
the leadership positions.
expensive. At the end of the day, it is the
appreciation and recognition of efforts In many organisation, a common mistake
that matters the most to employees and that occurs, is that the, senior level em-
hence the formal reward can be nominal ployees will be one who will be creating a
in cost. The reward must be chosen in reward model and the model will be
such a way that it suits the budget and is created for junior and middle level em-
ployees whereas there will be no pro-
given keeping in mind the needs and
grams for senior level employees. It
interests of employees. While selecting
an award or a reward, one can get as should be the responsible of the CEO to
creative as he wants but it should be tied have a reward program for the senior
closely to the goal of the program. level employees also, as we have seen that
6) Communicating with employees recognition of work is still a motivational
Once the entire program is worked out parameter even for senior level employ-
with each of its details, the next step is to ees.
tell all employees about the idea or initia-
tive. An email can be send to the entire
workforce, bulletin notifications can be
put up or promotional materials can be
send across the workspace for everyone
to be aware of such a program. If employ-
ees know and understand the program
and the way it will work, they will be
encouraged to pump up their perfor-
mance. This will encourage them to be at
the top of their game and may automati-
cally improve the overall performance.
Moreover, this helps to create a sense of
trust and makes them feel that like their
efforts are being paid off.
The communication material or method
should explain the various factors on
which employees shall be evaluated so
that they can consciously work on those
areas and know that the process is unbi-
ased and fair for all.
7) Maintain and Repeat Recognition
Program
The key to running a successful recogni-
tion program at any workplace is to make
sure it runs continuously and keeps
adding more creative awarding ideas to
maintain the fun element and interest
among the workforce. One should make
sure that the frequency of the rewards are
properly defined, for example – weekly,
monthly or yearly, etc. Also, the recogni-
tion committee should keep changing
the criteria and technique of selecting
candidates and awarding them every now
and then so that employees look forward
to performing better through each cycle.
Only when the program is carried on for
a longer duration, it becomes truly a part
of the corporate culture.
While creating the recognition model, it
is better to have different categories of
awards / reward for different levels. For

Gamify Rewards & Recognition
Rewards & Recognition is a program
related to Employee Engagement. Gami-
fication is the application of game design
elements and game principles in non-
game contexts. The purpose of Gamifica-
tion is to motivate participation, engage-
ment and loyalty.
With this Gamifying Rewards & Recog-
nition seems to be a straight success as
Rewards & Recognition (R&R) end goal
is retention of employees in a motivated
manner – make them more loyal to the
organization. Studies have indicated that
integrating gaming elements into devel-
opment offerings can increase productivi-
ty, employee engagement and retention
and promote innovation.
With this we now need to see how the
concept of Gamification can be imple-
mented in R&R programs. While we are
not looking at an exact implementation
road map in this article, I am trying to
bring about certain concepts around
Gamification and how that can aid an
already effective R&R to scale up and
make it more efficient.
Gamification cannot be ignored by
leaders due to the following reasons:
• Gamification Improves Knowledge
– It is proven that playing games
enable logical problem solving as
human brain is built for game play
– Are we not pushed to playing
games in our childhood?
• Gamification gives employees the
power to actively gauge their per-
formance – Gaming causes an
immediate cause & effect and also
offers feedback to employee and
facilitates retention of knowledge
gained as part of the gaming
• Gamification boosts achievement
across the board – Facilitates em-
ployees showcase their achieve-
ments / successes by displaying in
social media and / or their work
desks
• competition factor too.
Gamification builds engagement
and promotes emotional connec-
tion with others – facilitates social
interactions and bondings in work
place ensuring better coordination
• Gamification emphasizes Learning
& Development –encouragement
of innovation among employees is
better seen with gamification as the
organization can introduce fun in
learning and motivate innovation
Gamification in simple terms means
applying gaming principles in the day-to-
day work culture to enhance the interest
levels, boost morale and bring in a com-
petitive spirit. The idea of using games
to improve productivity came from
Microsoft. Communicate Hope is a
productivity game in use at Microsoft to
help encourage pre-release usage and
product feedback for Office. This started
in 2006 when Microsoft did not have
enough volunteers to test their beta and
this introduction of games made the
participation of volunteers increase by
400% Microsoft from there on has been
using gamification in various places
internally. Lot of enterprises have used
Gamification effectively - http://
bit.ly/2MQ1E5U lists some examples
The demographics of the workplace are
changing. As more Gen Y and Millenni-
als enter the workforce, using gaming
elements, social networking tools, and
advanced communication techniques are
far more effective in engaging employees
and providing opportunities to leverage
tech-savvy talent that might otherwise go
un-tapped or under-utilized.
Gamification, a recognition process
should not stop with recognizing the
victory but should start focusing on
recognizing effective execution of day to
day tasks. One of the clients that I con-
sult covered tasks like regular attendance,
coming to meetings on time, finishing
meeting on times also as part of recogni-
tion aspects and introduced badges like
Mr.Attendance, TimeMachine etc that
would be given to the people – more
than one could get it too. Additionally
as part of the corporate intranet, these
recognitions were listed.
One of the most important aspect of
gamification is to provide large scale
recognition by publishing the infor-
mation – while intranet is a good start,
one can also introduce leaderboards and
have the top 5 listed down on various
categories – this motivates everyone to
keep a watch on it and target coming
into the leaderboard one day or the
other. The success of gamification is in
participation and it is important that we
facilitate participation by bringing in the
The best place to start gamification is the
R&R program but over a period of time
it gets incorporated into every aspect of
the organization like recruitment, learn-
ing and development, performance
management etc. The reason for this is
gamification improves transparency and
brings in a culture of “I Perform, I get
Recognized” and the concept of being
biased is totally eradicated.
Gamification must be well planned and
well understood before implementation.
Some points to keep in mind as part of
implementing gamification are:
• Be clear on the goals of the organi-
zation towards gamification
• Understand company culture and
Volume 6
Page 19
introduce rewards that will moti-
vate employees
• Work backwards – focus on the
behaviours that the company wants
to nurture and behaviours that the
company wants to do away with
and identify the activities that
would trigger them and implement
gamification on those activities.
• Rewards system must be modified
on a periodic basis to ensure the
interest levels are high at all times
within the organization
• Rewards must be earned and
should not be made available at the
drop of a hat
• Game systems must enhance the
work and the work culture and not
exploit the employees
To promote gamification within the
organization, one must consider the
following at minimum:
• Senior management buy in matters
and most importantly their buy in
S. Bhanu Kumar
must be seen by employees – in
one of my engagements, we had a
Business Consultant,
technical discussion forum wherein
we brought in gamification for Education Consultant
contribution and introduced
awards every quarter and the high- Arra Associates
light was the CTO of the organiza-
tion was also contributing on a
regular basis and in certain cases
spoke to employees who contribu-
tion was different from the normal
and that gave a different perspec-
tive in making themselves engaged
• Rules of the game must be clear in The demographics of the
black and white with no room for
workplace are changing. As
ambiguities
more Gen Y and
• Introduce feedback systems and
when the systems of reward is Millennials enter the
modified based on that credit the workforce, using gaming
person who shared the idea elements, social networking
• Communication on the Gamifica- tools, and advanced
tion process and regular communi-
communication techniques
cation on the reward and / or the
are far more effective in
leaderboard related information
must be crystal clear and well engaging employees and
timed – a clear communication providing opportunities to
plan must exist
leverage tech-savvy talent
that might otherwise go un-
tapped or under-utilized.
 Page 20

NIPM Southern Regional Conference

* Please note the revised dates of Southern Regional Conference (SRC) & Exposition 2019 is 5th & 6th
Decemberr 2019 @ LeMeridian Kochi

We Welcome your feedback & Suggestions

BOUQUET Published by:
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