Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004 2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .

.9 Ty pes of initiatives The main areas of employee education are technical and managerial streams. An organization likeHC L Comnet trains its employees worldwide on technical and transition management modules.The organization has a technical skills certification reimbursement policy. SM Arif, vicepresidentHR, HC L Comnet, says, Our culture of learning is built around the popular programme EDGE (Employee Development, Growth and Empowerment) which aims at makingthe company a knowledge driven organizationan organization where growth is measured notjust by profits but also from the synergetic growth of each employee. The Top Gun TechnologySchool and the Star-Tech School are two skill-up gradation initiatives under this programme.Efunds International introduced a formal programme to sponsor employee education, earlier thisyear. Dr Pradnya Parasher, senior director, human resources, eFunds International India, informs,The FaCE (Facilitating Continuous Education) scheme was launched to encourage, support andfacilitate associates who are enrolled in advance or specialized courses to complete their courseand to motivate those interested to take up courses relevant to their work area.While eFunds employees are entitled to a reimbursement of Rs 50,000 per course, HC L Comnethas committed a minimum of 14 man-days per employee, instead of limiting the amount of moneyspent. Intangible returns Most experts agree that the RoI on employee education is intangible. Says Dr

Parasher, A happy,satisfied and motivated associate is the most valuable assetso that would be the best return onthis investment for us. Asserting that the benefits of this investment are difficult to calculate, sheadds: We are talking of long-term and intangible benefits or returns. So, from direct andtangible benefits like longer and more stable tenures, to intangible (and immeasurable) benefitslike employee satisfaction, the impact of an initiative like this is truly immense. Sheacknowledges that while the actual returns cannot be fully measured, the RoI could perhaps beestimated in terms of indicators such as longer tenure; promotions to higher levels of responsibilityand cross transfers, and also the success of employees at these higher levels of responsibility. Arif

Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004 2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .10adds that the intangible benefits also include high motivation and commitment levels of employees, improved customer service and value additions in services. Win-win scenario Sponsoring of employee education is a win-win situation for both the employee and the employer.Dr Parasher explains how: y

The employee gains by the sponsorship, which is not just in monetary terms. In most casesthe education that the employee has opted for is in a field related to the work. Mentoring bysome of the best in the industry is an added bonus. y

The organization also gains significantly. Benefits include a longer tenure for theemployee; promotions to higher levels of responsibility and cross transfersboth verticaland lateral movement, and also the success of the employees at these higher levels of responsibility. Overall development of associates and increased productivity are thebenefits. A motivated employee more often than not sets off a positive ripple effect in theorganization. The key takeaway for any organization is the contribution towards buildinghuman assets and building credibility for the company.

F ocus of training The focus of education should be a clear and progressive career map. This is not always easy whenhiring is in large numbers. Parekh concedes that IT organizations hiring people in hundreds or thousands might find it difficult to form career graphs for each employee, compared to companiesthat are hiring fewer people and can offer a more structured career path. The perspective has to bein terms of enhancing abilities and creating a passion in employees that they should not look elsewhere rather than reducing attrition per se. More than just creating loyalty, education shouldcreate a fire in their belly, says Parekh with conviction. A bad investment In an era of constant attrition, does the company consider it a bad investment when a sponsoredemployee leaves soon after completing a course? Answers Parekh, No company can be sure that

Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004 2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .11all people being sent for training will continue to serve the organisation. He adds that if one out of 10 employees leaves it is understandable, if three leave then there is a problem, however if four or more leave there is something wrong with the training programme.At HC L Comnet while there are no clauses binding the sponsored employee to the organization,the former is expected to share his or her knowledge with other employees. Arif believes that thecompany can protect its interest by tying the employee education programmes with growthopportunities. Educational opportunities as a standalone make no sense; they have to be packagedwith a promised growth graph, so that the employee does not look at short-term gratification but ata longer run, he insists. Similarly, eFunds does not have a binding clause, but there is a qualifyingcriterion for the FACE scheme.Apparently, the only way an organization can ensure that reimbursing the tuition fee is not a deadinvestment, is to be selective in its choice of its employee and the training being sponsored. TYPES OF TR

A INING There are different kinds of training in relation to different types of classification. Such asbehavioral or technical training, on the job of the job training, etc.Behavioral training are those in which there are needs to change the attitude of the employee,develop their personality, etc. technical ones are those where a kind of proper knowledge & skillsto be developed.

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Every morning when she came into the office and opened her drawer, she would find a condomlying under it. She complained and started to have the door of her office locked. But thatsomebody was one step ahead the condom was slipped under the office door. Outraged, afraidand fed up by the eerie situation, the woman government employee was forced to seek a transfer to

Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004 2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .12another station. No, this is not a fictionalized tale; it is the story of an IAS officer in the Capital,retold by a woman activist.And if someone as educated as that can be sexually harassed and be forced to flee the situation,imagine how much more difficult it must have been for a junior bank employee who wasrepeatedly asked to stay back by the vice-president of the establishment. While she would work, hewould play golf and come back to office, sit himself on the table in shorts and dictate hispresentation. Then he'd insist on dropping her back home.The two examples are only to illustrate how subtle and ambiguous this harassment to women canbe. While the Infosys incident, where the company's high profile executive had to resign due to acase of sexual harassment and wrongful termination of service filed against him and the company,has brought sexual harassment back into the news, the problem in India goes far beyond theorganized corporate sector and impacts the lives of the 92 per cent of women in the country whowork in the unorganized sector.But first for the corporate environment, where the so-called cream of society works. Harassmentexperts say that there is harassment of two kinds in this environ: the `hostile' atmosphere, whererude, sexist or offensive jokes are cracked, prolonged staring; off-the-cuff remarks of a sexualnature, etc are made. The other is called Q uid Pro Q uo (this for that) harassment, in which a bossthreatens to fire an employee or withhold a promotion unless the employee agrees to sexual favors.Harassment can also involve the promise of a raise or promotion in exchange for sex, in formalterms, called sexual blackmail or sexual bribery.Though in India there may be hundreds of cases such as the Infosys one, there are fewer womenlikely to file a complaint. Why is this so? "In Western society, the awareness is much more," saysC. Mahalingam, Group Vice-President - HR, Scandent Group. But this could be because in India,women are used to lewd comments and leering stares even outside of workplace and they do notthink it's serious enough to rake up an issue.But after the Supreme Court judgment on sexual harassment and a few cases coming to light,things have changed somewhat. Indian companies too are waking up to the matter. Besides, MNCs

Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004 2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .13that are operating from India and are used to US laws, have very clear guidelines on whatconstitutes sexual harassment.Sexual harassment, in fact, can take many forms such as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or display of derogatory pictures and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexualnature. This is especially when submission to such conduct is made a condition of an individual'semployment and when submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as thebasis for employment decisions affecting the individual.It also constitutes sexual harassment when such conduct has the purpose or effect of interferingwith an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating hostile or offensive work environment.In India, it was the Supreme Court landmark judgment on `Sexual Harassment of Women atWorkplace in Vishakha & others Vs. State of Rajasthan & others' that gave the issue its much-needed recognition. With a lack of legislation in place on the subject, in 1997, the Supreme Courtreferred to the international conventions and norms that had been ratified by India and interpretedgender equality of women, in relation to work and held that sexual harassment of women at theworkplace, which is against their dignity, is volatile of Articles 14, 15(1) and 21 of theConstitution. It is also volatile of the fundamental rights under Article 19(1) (g) `to practice anyprofession or to carry out any occupation, trade or business'. It felt that the right to life means a lifewith dignity and that gender equality itself includes protection from sexual harassment and theright to work with dignity. The court also stated that these norms and guidelines were to be treatedas the law of the land until appropriate legal provisions were enacted.Taking the cue from here and in an effort to promote the well being of women employees at theworkplace, the National Commission for Women charted a Code of Conduct for the Workplace,which included a list of dos and don'ts in accordance to the Supreme Court guidelines. It alsoinitiated meetings with PSUs, banks, educational institutions and other organizations. A Bill on theissue was also formulated in 2000 and has been pending since.However, the Sexual Harassment of Women at their Workplace (Prevention) Bill, 2000 does nothave widespread acceptance. Women's groups find it inadequate and would like a nation wide

Identification of training needs of employeesAll Content Copyright 2004

2006, ManagementParadise.comManagement Students Forum .14debate on the subject before the law is enacted. They point out that the pending Bill concentratesmore on the organized sectors, while 92 per cent of women workers in India are in the unorganizedsector. Besides, peculiar to India are practices that force women from socially disadvantagedsections to compromise sexually. Known by different names such as Jogin, Basavi, Kalavat,Mathangi and devadasi, these practices have religious sanction but constitute sexual harassment.There are many aspects to sexual harassment, some are not physical in nature but makes awoman's life a living hell. All these need to be taken into account in the Bill. The Bill also does notadequately address the unorganized sector and contract labor, the most rampant and exploited formof labor in India," says Ranjana Kumari, Director of the Centre for Social Research andcoordinator of the Joint Action Front for Women. O rganizational front However, the fact that the Bill is pending should not make any difference to organizations thatwant to put in place what was specified by the Supreme Court as that itself constitutes the lawtoday. The Court directed that the head of the organization should constitute a ComplaintsCommittee for the purpose of sexual harassment headed by a woman and with not less than half itsmembers of the second sex. Further, to prevent the possibility of any undue pressure or influencefrom senior levels, the Committee is required to involve a third party either a non-governmentorganization or someone else who is familiar with the issue of sexual harassment. Detailed rulesand regulations on conducting enquiries and handling complaints have also been provided. Indian corporate Though women's groups recently noted that many organizations have not acted upon the directionsof the Supreme Court yet and no such committee exists in several companies, R. Vidyasagar, Vice-President, HR, i-flex Solutions, feels Indian companies are finally waking up to the issue. He saysthe Indian Government too has come out very strongly against sexual harassment. Andmultinational companies have very stringent rules on the matter. Indian companies have no optionbut to lay down the guidelines and educate their employees on office etiquette.At Wipro, the Complaints Committee with three women employees looks into the matter.According to Joydeep Bose, General Manager, Corporate HR, Wipro L td., new recruits are given a

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