HR Word of the Day

MOOFER

Moofer stands for “mobile out of office worker”. Coined by

a Microsoft worker. An individual working outside of typical
office setting is called a moofer. Such an employee is on go
and can work in any place as long as there is high tech
equipment connection, or a ready Wi-Fi network. This type
of worker is becoming more common these days with the
improved communication technology.

Companies prefer such arrangements since it reduces their

overhead and also provide flexibility for the employer and
employee. Columnist, bloggers and others who can work
from their laptops are moofers. The term can also refer to
people who travel or are out of office for most part of the
job like reporters, consultants or businessmen who visit
clients to make deals.

Dr. Isa Mishra

 What is HRM & what is SHRM?
Human resource management (HRM) is the term used to describe formal
systems devised for the management of people within an organization. It focuses
on recruiting and hiring the best employees and providing them with the
compensation, benefits, training, and development they need to be successful
within an organization.

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) is :

• a proactive approach which takes HR activities one step further by aligning
them with the goals of other departments & overall organizational goals. 
• is a function of management which entails development of policies,
programmes and practices related to human resources, which are then
aligned with business strategy, so as to achieve strategic objectives of the
organization.
• Its primary purpose is to improve the performance of the business and
maintain a culture that encourages innovation and works continuously to
gain competitive advantage.

Dr. Isa Mishra

 What is HRM & what is SHRM?

Alignm
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with Strategic
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ement
ss
goals

Dr. Isa Mishra

 Traditional HR vs. Strategic HR…

FOCUS TRADITIONAL HR STRATEGIC HR

Responsibility Staff Managers Line Managers
Emphasis Employee Relations Partnerships with Internal &
External Customers
Type of HR Transactional, Change Follower & Transformational, Change
Respondent Leader & Initiator
Role of HR Custodian of HR Policy Implementation Custodian but amenable to
& Compliance needed change

Initiatives Slow, Reactive, Fragmented Fast, Proactive, Integrated

Time Horizon / Short term Short, Medium, Long (as reqd.)
Duration
Control Bureaucratic – rules, policies, Organic – flexible, whatever is
procedures necessary to succeed
Job Design Tight Division of Labor, Specialization Broad, Flexible, Cross training,
Teamwork

Dr. Isa Mishra

 Traditional HR vs. Strategic HR

FOCUS TRADITIONAL HR STRATEGIC HR

Critical Skills Organization, Administration, Strategic, Planning, Diagnostic,
Compliance, Transactional, Tactical Analytical (Metrics),
Consultative

HR Systems & Routine, Traditional, Reactive, Adaptive, Innovative,

Practices Responds to stated needs Proactive, Recognizes unstated
needs

View of Head Count, Cost Based, Exploitable Contributors, Asset based,

Employees resource Critical resource
Key Investments Capital, Products People, Knowledge
Accountability Cost Centre Investment Centre

Dr. Isa Mishra

Strategic Planning starts with Environmental
Analysis / Scanning – study of the environment
dynamics so as to understand their impact on
plans. This helps to understand the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities & threats that an
organization may face during planning.

Dr. Isa Mishra

 Strategic Challenges during Planning…
A. Proper Internal Environmental Analysis
By HR SWOT

Strengths
• Intellectual Strengths
capital
• Intellectual capital
• Loyal, committed employees
• Loyal, committed employees
• Innovative, Adaptive employees
• • Innovative, Adaptive employees • Lack of proper HR practices
High performance practices
• High performance practices
Weaknesses
Weaknesses
• Lack of skilled employees
• Lack of skilled employees
• Lack of leadership pipeline
• Lack of leadership pipeline
• Lack of proper HR practices

Opportunities
• Opportunities
Market position
• • Market position
Advent of technology
• • Advent of technology
Unexplored markets
• • Unexplored markets
Global expansion
• Global expansion
Threats
• Threats
Legal mandates & restrictions
• • Legal mandates & restrictions
Competitor power
• • Competitor power
Internal economic uncertainty
• • Internal economic uncertainty
Talent shortage
• Talent shortage

Dr. Isa Mishra

 B. Proper External Environmental Analysis
By External Scan / Study

Economic Conditions
(State of economy, inflation, consumer prices
leading to downsizing, compensation cuts, etc.)

Legislative & Political

(Legislations on tax, safety & health, emplyt.,
impact of election outcomes)

Demographic Changes
(Workforce demographics – increase in medical
services with increase in age of workforce applying)

Geographic & Competitive (do

you have the competitive edge)

Dr. Isa Mishra

 C. Managing Talent Supply Imbalance
MANAGING TALENT SURPLUS
Reduce employee work hours or reduce
compensation (less pay more benefits,
etc.) to avoid layoffs
Attrition followed by Hiring Freezes, no
retention of separating employees, no
hiring of replacements
Voluntary Separation Programs
Downsizing / Reduction in force
(severance benefits, outplacement
support)
MANAGING TALENT SHORTAGE
Increase employee work hours through
overtime
Outsource to a third party
Use contingent workers (consultants,
temporary workers, contractual workers)
Implement alternative work
arrangements (re-hiring retiring
employees, telecommuting, moofers)
Reduce employee turnover
Dr. Isa Mishra
 D. Technology Challenges

1. Effect on Organization – reduction in costs, improvement in work process & flow

through BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) but increase in Employee Relations
issues.

2. Effect on Communication – Faster communication through social networking,

intranet portals, watsapp, etc.

3. Effect on Work Processes – Monitoring of work processes, employees’ actions &

performance (through video surveillance, etc.) has become easier & faster. But,
excessive monitoring can lead to distrust.

4. Effect on HR Activities – Recruitment through web-based job boards, online

interviewing; Training with competitive edge through videos, podcasts, webinars,
etc.; easier career & succession planning

Dr. Isa Mishra

 E. Measuring Effectiveness of HR Initiatives
1. HR Metrics – measures tied to HR performance indicators. They are used
to assess HR function & results within the organization over time. Analysis
& interpretation of the data leads to improvement in human capital
utilization. Some key HR Metrics :

HR Staff & Expenses Compensation

• HR Staff &rate
Absenteeism Expenses • PayrollCompensation
as % of operating
• Absenteeism rate • Payroll as % of operating
• Hr to employee ratio expenses
• • Hr to employee ratio expenses
• Annual salary increases
HR expenses per
• HR expenses per • Annual salary increases
employee Training
employee
Retention • Training hrs Training
per employee
• Average Retention
tenure of •
• Total costs forper
Training hrs employee
training
• Average tenure of
employees • • %Total costs for training
of employees participating
• %employees
of new hires retained • % of employees participating
in some program
• % of new hires retained in some program
Staffing
• Staffingfilled
No. of positions Development
• • No. of positions filled
Time to fill vacancies • PositionsDevelopment
filled internally
• Time to fill vacancies • Positions
• % of employees filled with
internally
• Cost per hire career
• Cost per hire • % of employees with career
• Annual turnover rate plan
• Annual turnover rate plan
Dr. Isa Mishra
 E. Measuring Effectiveness of HR Initiatives
2. HR & Benchmarking / Ranking with other similar organizations

3. HR & the Balanced Scorecard

4. Measuring Human Capital effectiveness :

a. Revenue per employee : If revenue increases with constant

headcount, productivity increases.

b. ROI = C
A+B
where; C = Value of gains from productivity improvements
B = One time cost of acquisition & implementation
A = Operating costs for a new / enhanced system

Dr. Isa Mishra