Unlimited....!!! Leave it or take it

Employee benefits are vital tool to attract and retain talent for any organization. This is true for many decades and these benefits form a vital reason behind an employee sticking to an organization for a longer period of time. In 21^st century, organizations are pushing its boundaries to offer new packages as unique employee benefits to retain its goodwill and employability.

One such step is taken my IBM, an USA based technology firm employing more than 3,55,000 employees throwing out surprise policy decision that employees can avail unlimited leave and does not need any formal approval to go on. Instead employees at all levels have made informal arrangements with their direct superiors to plan their vacation well in advance and proceed accordingly. An electronic calendar is shared with their superiors, peers and subordinates to keep them informed about their absence.

To advocate the benefits of such a system is that the company is cementing freedom in decision making right from planning their own leaves. Also a prudent employee applying all his reasonable discretion to plan his vacation and strike a balance between work and personal life will benefit out of this policy. This can be also a planned leave but the company is stressing the fact that it is ready to respect the personal time each employee wants without any restriction.

Brainstorming the above employee benefit opened a wide range of questions to be answered. At first, the amount of job responsibility and work pressure has direct relations with the probability of taking leave as and when an individual wants. Also your rapport with your supervisor and criticality of the project will further tighten the screw.

But adhered HR policy to limit the number of leave per employee will greatly reduce prejudice in exploiting the leave policy and paves way for more direct control over the subordinate to monitor his work. To get optimum output strict leave policy should be levied and followed.This will help plan, organize and tap resource utilization at maximum level by the organisation. We cannot deny the fact that most dynamic resource required by any business model to operate is human resource. A fit for all policy before implementation should address the loopholes which can be used by some employees to exploit the system and ruin the culture.

Personal judgments aside, leave is unproductive hours for which the company pays. Leave is privilege enjoyed by the employee to get paid and stay off work a while. Both sides of the coin should benefit amending a particular leave policy. Unlimited is awesome or limited is preferable….You have to comment….!!

HR indeed..!!

Art of workplace...!!!

 There is a lot of paradigm shift in fashion across the world. Let it be wardrobe, hair style or mobile phone. This concept applies to office ambiance too. Gone are those days were dusty tables packed with stacks of files and cluttering sound of typewriter working blistering speed while you enter an office. The advent of computers and more importantly laptop has changed the preconceived notion of an office.

Having said that I came across different articles and write ups on how global organizations are creatively setting up their workplace to attract and retain young talent. Ernest & young a reputed multinational professional services firm is one of those corporate whose office at San Francisco is a perfect example of a modern workplace setup. Entering its office will give you a feeling of college campus atmosphere rather than a contemporary office place. E&Y rightly term this as “workplace of the future” initiative to lure young talent from across the globe.

You can see café-style benches, big screen TV greeting you at the entrance and even contrasting formal work place set up is also available. Isolated phone booth like rooms and collaboration rooms for meetings and conferences are some unique features. As the article goes this setup serving 215 employees aims at an ideal marriage between physical layout of the office and work get done best.

Many advantages include avoiding boredom out of traditional office cubical setup and conference tables, power to tap team work and interpersonal skills. I believe that putting an individual at ease and comfort will optimize his deliverable.

But on the downside not all individual vested upon serious responsibilities are preferable to this setup. They require more isolated workplace to make frequent phone calls and concentrate something confidential. Young minds may accept this as a novel change but the purpose of an office should stay undefeated.

To conclude I feel this is an important change which earmark growing demand for corporate to do something different so that their brand image holds unique. What you feel that is viable and comfortable option – a modern creative workplace or contemporary work place??....Share your thoughts..!!