Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Executive summary
The entire project was great learning experience. It give me a good exposure
which I needed being a student. Though I had theoretical inputs in the class
but this was the experience of actually implementing it. Working in the field
gave me the idea about the intricacies of the market and corporate culture of
the company.
• Punctuality: Our industry guide Mr. Nimit Verma was very particular
about our time of reporting to the office. He insisted that we should
reach on time to office. This has helped me to inculcate an element of
punctuality to my life.
Marketing: We were trained about all the elements of marketing. These were:
• How to select the right customers: During our training our industry
guide, guided us to first call the customer and take his appointment
stating the purpose of meeting, before visiting him. According to him
we can pitch only those customers who ready to listen to you. This
taught me that this practice helps us to reach the right customers.
Services at Reliance Life: during our training when we went for calls and
interacted with people we came to know that reliance has does not hold a good
image for the services they provide. Reliance should work for improving its
image. This can be done by improving some of its main services like claim
settlement, policy issuance, etc. This will help the company to progress.
Research Methodology
Research always starts with a question or a problem. Its purpose is to question
through the application of the scientific method. It is a systematic and
intensive study directed towards a more complete knowledge of the subject
studied. Marketing research is the function which links the consumer,
customer and public to the marketer through information- information used to
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems generate, refine, and
evaluate marketing actions, monitor marketing actions, monitor marketing
performance and improve understanding of market as a process.
There are two types of data collection method use in my project report.
– Primary data
– Secondary data.
Secondary data collection method was used by referring to IRDA and all other
various websites, magazines and daily newspapers for collecting information
regarding project under study.
Industry Profile
About Insurance Sector
The insurance sector in India has come a full circle from being an open
competitive market to nationalization and back to a liberalized market again.
Tracing the developments in the Indian insurance sector reveals the 360
degree turn witnessed over a period of almost 190 years.
The business of life insurance in India in its existing form started in India in
the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company,
Calcutta.
• 1912 - The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first
statute to regulate the life insurance business.
• 1928 - The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the
government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life
insurance businesses.
• 1938 - Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance
Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.
• 1956 - 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken
over by the central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act
of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5
crore from the Government of India.
Insurance Companies in India
• LIC
• Aviva Life Insurance
• Bajaj Alliance
• Birla Sun Life Insurance
• HDFC Standard Life Insurance
• ICICI Prudential
• ING Life Insurance
• Kotak Mahindra
• Metlife India Insurance
• Reliance Life Insurance
• SBI Life Insurance
• Shriram Life Insurance
• Tata AIG Life Insurance
• United India Insurance
Company profile
About Reliance
Founder
As with all great pioneers, there is more than one unique way of describing
the true genius of Dhirubhai: The corporate visionary, the unmatched
strategist, the proud patriot, the leader of men, the architect of India’s capital
markets, and the champion of shareholder interest.
But the role Dhirubhai cherished most was perhaps that of India’s greatest
wealth creator. In one lifetime, he built, starting from the proverbial scratch,
India’s largest private sector enterprise.
When Dhirubhai embarked on his first business venture, he had a seed capital
of barely US$ 300 (around Rs.14,000). Over the next three and a half decades,
he converted this fledgling enterprise into a Rs 60,000 crore colossus—an
achievement which earned Reliance a place on the global Fortune 500 list, the
first ever Indian private company to do so.
Through out this amazing journey, Dhirubhai always kept the interests of the
ordinary shareholder uppermost in mind, in the process making millionaires
out of many of the initial investors in the Reliance stock, and creating one of
the world’s largest shareholder families.
Growth of Reliance
Reliance was started from scratch in the year 1906 by Dhirubhai Ambani
1993 Sales cross 4000 crore & it became largest pvt. Sector co. in India
1997 First corporation in Asia to issue 50 & 100 year bond in US debt
market
1998 Total assets cross 3500 crore & revenues cross 14000 crore
2000 Group Profit Cross 2500 crores. Revenues cross 2000 crore. Total
assets cross 5000 crore
2001 Group revenues cross 60000 crore & it became largest business group
in India
After tolerating many hardships Reliance is now ranked 4th among top
financial services providers.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Reliance Infrastructure
RCL has a net worth of over Rs 3,300 crore and over 165,000 shareholders.
On conversion of outstanding equity instruments, the net worth of the
company will increase to about Rs 4,100 crore.
Reliance Capital ranks among the top 3 private sector financial services and
banking companies, in terms of net worth.
Reliance Capital has interests in asset management and mutual funds, life and
general insurance, private equity and proprietary investments, stock broking,
depository services, distribution of financial products, consumer finance and
other activities in financial services.
Reliance Mutual Fund is India's no.1 Mutual Fund. Reliance Life Insurance is
one of India's fastest growing life insurance company and among the top 4
private sector insurers. Reliance General Insurance is one of India's fastest
growing general insurance company and among the top 3 private sector
insurers. Reliance Money is the largest brokerage and distributor of financial
products in India with over 2.7 million customers and has the largest
distribution network. Reliance Consumer finance has a loan book of over Rs.
8,900 crore at the end of December 2008.
Reliance Capital has a net worth of Rs. 7,250 crore (US$ 1.5 billion) and total
assets of Rs. 22,340 crores (US$ 4.6 billion) as of December 31, 2008.
Reliance Capital is a constituent of S&P CNX Nifty and MSCI India and also
features in the Forbes list of World’s largest 2000 public companies.
Reliance Entertainment
The key content initiative are across Movies, Music, Sports, Gaming, Internet
& mobile portals, leading to direct opportunities in delivery across the
emerging digital distribution platforms: digital cinema, IPTV, DTH and
Mobile TV.
Reliance ADA Group acquired Adlabs Films Limited in 2005, one of the
largest entertainment companies in India, which has interests in film
processing, production, exhibition & digital cinema.
Reliance Entertainment has made an entry into the FM Radio business
through Adlabs Radio www.big927fm.com having won 45 stations in the
recent bidding, BIG 92.7 FM is already India’s largest private FM radio
network with 12 radio stations across the country as on 28 February 2007,
with many more to be launched in the coming months.
Reliance Health
Its first partner health care facility will be the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani
Hospital & Medical Research Institute, a tertiary care facility in Versova near
Mumbai.
The 730 bed multi-speciality hospital underwent a 'soft' launch in early 2008
for employees and doctors that had accepted offers with KDAH, and became
operational in the first week of 2009.
The hospital is named after the wife of Dhirubhai Ambani who was the
founder of the Reliance group of companies.
Important facts
• Reliance Life Insurance has more than 740 branches located in different
parts of the country.
• Reliance Life Insurance is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company.
• The registered office of the firm is located in the commercial capital of
India, Mumbai.
• The insurance firm offers products meant to suit the requirements of
individuals and of corporates in India.
Reliance Life Insurance schemes and policies are aimed to provide financial
security against different kinds of threats to the life of an individual or groups
of individuals. Some of the Reliance insurance products also provide a reliable
source of retirement income for the policy holders.
Vision
Empowering everyone live their dreams.
Mission
Our Goals
Reliance Life Insurance would strive hard to achieve the 3 goals mentioned
below:
• Create best value for Customers, Shareholders and all Stake holders
• RLIC closed the last financial year with a New Business Premium of
Rs.3513 Crores.
• For 3 successive years, since inception, the Company has been amongst
the fastest growing Companies in the Life Insurance Industry achieving
a growth rate of 28% in the last financial year against a market growth
of 6%. In the Individual Business segment, the company achieved a
growth rate of 59% in terms of WRP against the private industry
growth of 1%.
• RLIC has been one of the fast gainers in market share in new business
premium amongst the private players with an incremental market share
of 4.1% in the Financial Year 2007-08 – from 3.9% in April 07 to 8%
in Feb 08. ( Source: IRDA)
• Reliance Life has been one of the fastest gainers in market share
growing from 1.9% amongst private players in Mar'06 to 10.3% as of
Mar'09. This has resulted in the Company growing to becoming the 4th
largest private player in just two years starting at position of 11.
• The Company has been the fastest company to reach the 3 million
policy mark and was the 3rd largest private insurer in terms of Policy
count in 2008-09.
• Initiated Express Life – an Unique ‘Over the Counter’ sales process for
Unit Linked Insurance Policies in the Industry.
• Reliance Life has accomplished a large distribution ramp-up in the
Industry in a short span of time by opening 1145 branches in just over 2
year.
• The Company has also won the DL Shah Quality Council of India
Commendation Award in the services category in Feb. 2008 for its
work on promoting 'self help channels for service'
Introduction to Topic
Features
But these traditional expressions are becoming less common for the
theoretical discipline. Sometimes even industrial relations and employee
relations are confusingly listed as synonyms, although these normally refer to
the relationship between management and workers and the behavior of
workers in companies.
“a series of activities which: first enable working people and their employing
organisations to agree about the objectives and nature of their working
relationship and, secondly, ensures that the agreement is fulfilled"
The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change
over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the
"Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and
paying people. More recently, organizations consider the "HR Department" as
playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that
people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly
fulfilling manner.
Human Resources Practices
The District's human resource management policies and practices pose the
greatest potential for illegal discrimination. Human resources policies and
practices normally are not intended to discriminate or somehow have a
disparate impact on women, people of colour, people with disabilities, or other
protected groups. It should be noted, however, that systemic discrimination,
while unintentional, is most often the major barrier to equal employment
opportunity; yet, it is the most difficult to detect. That is the reason human
resource policies and practices must be reviewed and corrective actions taken
when they are found to inadvertently discriminate or offer less than equal
opportunity to women, people of colour, or people with disabilities.
Responsibility for human resource management includes all officials,
administrators, and supervisors in addition to the staff of the Human
Resources Department.
1.1 Recruitment and Selection Process will not have the effect of blocking
people of colour, women, and people with disabilities from district
employment and promotions. Where blockages, or potential blockages, are
identified, corrective actions will be taken to make the process more inclusive
to diversity.
(d) Evidence that applicant is aware of and sensitive to the changing roles and
perceptions of women, people of colour, and people with disabilities in our
society.
1.4 Applications, Tests Or Examinations for employment and promotion,
including oral interviews, will be monitored to ensure that they are unbiased
and do not have adverse impact on people of colour, women, the disabled or
other protected groups. Reasonable accommodation will be made available
upon request to ensure that persons with disabilities are not excluded from the
application and examination process.
Where the district has determined that people of colour, women, or people
with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in relation to their
availability for specific job groups, the district will initiate a targeted
recruitment approach that includes, but is not limited to, the following steps:
2.2.1 If the vacancy is not in a focus job group, the HR administrator will
approve the request and initiate the vacancy announcement process.
2.2.2 If the vacancy is in an identified focus job group for which there is not a
pre-established targeted recruitment plan, the HR administrator will notify the
hiring administrator that it is necessary to jointly develop a targeted
recruitment plan for the vacant position.
The targeted recruitment plan will be developed in conjunction with the hiring
administrator(s) and will include, but not be limited to, the following
elements:
3. Selection Committees
3.1 The hiring administrator (department director, building principal, etc.) will
ensure that the hiring process is consistent with the board's workforce
diversity policy and this Work Force Diversity Plan.
3.2 Where the hiring administrator makes use of a selection committee in the
hiring process, the hiring administrator will ensure that the committee's
actions do not conflict with board policies or this plan.
3.3 The Human Resources Department will design and provide training and
materials for administrators and selection committee members that will ensure
they are familiar with and understand their obligations and responsibilities as
part of the selection process.
4. Affirmative Action
Affirmative action does not end when the employment process has resulted in
placement. Although the major thrust of affirmative action is the identification
and elimination of barriers that preclude the hiring of women, people of
colour, and other disadvantaged persons, its subsequent and logical efforts
must be directed towards fair and equitable treatment of all employees, the
application of consistent human resource management practices, and the
provision of equal opportunities for promotion and advancement. The
administration of sound and equitable human resource policies and practices
in a consistent manner will contribute greatly toward accomplishing the goals
of workforce diversity.
5. Job Classification
The Equal Pay Act requires that equal wages and salaries be paid for
substantially equal or similar work performed by men and women. Title VII
requires equal pay regardless of race, national origin, religion, or sex. The
more subtle type of pay discrimination is perhaps the most difficult to deal
with because of its historical entrenchment in the personnel and pay system,
as well as stereotypical value judgments placed on the type of work and who
does it. Despite the increasing number of women in the labour force, the U.S.
Department of Labour continues to report pay gaps between men and women,
and racial/ethnic minorities and non-minorities.
6.1 The Human Resources Department will periodically review and monitor
on an ongoing basis the wage and salary distribution to identify discrepancies
in pay between men and women and racial/ethnic minorities and non-
minorities.
6.2 The Human Resources Department will ensure that all benefits and
conditions of employment are equally available without discrimination to all
employees, including opportunities for transfer or reassignment that may
affect an employee's compensation and benefits.
7.2 All supervisors and managers will be provided cultural competency and
diversity training that focuses on awareness and skill development, as well as
prejudice reduction.
8.1 The district will review its policies and practices pertaining to internal
promotions and take actions to correct any "glass ceiling" barriers which
inhibit advancement of women and people of colour.
9.2 Schools and departments will ensure that employees from diverse
backgrounds are not subjected to behaviours or attitudes that send the message
they are unwelcome or that they do not belong. This is particularly true as
persons from underrepresented groups move into job categories from which
they traditionally have been excluded or discouraged from pursuing.
Analysis of Attrition Trends
What is Attrition?
Attrition has been a major concern for most of the companies in the current
competitive scenario.
The word Attrition means, a reduction in the number of employees through
resignation or separation at the employees will. Retirement, VRS and
employee leaving due to end of contract are not considered as attrition.
Attrition rate is the rate of shrinkage in size or number. It is the mathematical
representation of the attrition in a particular organization or an institution.
Attrition leads to dual loss to an organization:
• Firstly, company loses on a talent and thus costs incurred on them are a
waste.
A. Recruitment cost
The cost to the business when hiring new employees includes the
following six factors plus 10 percent for incidentals such as background
screening:
• Background/reference screening
• Recruitment cost for the new recruit to replace the employee leaving
• Training materials
• Technology
• Trainers’ Time
•
C. Administration cost
They include:
Thus it can be clearly evident from the above that loosing an employee causes
an organization a large amount of expenses. An organization thus tries to
retain its work force.
When the rejections start and the doors start getting banged in the face, new
agents confront failure. The dropouts begin.
You might have heard of high job attrition rates of between 15 per cent and 20
per cent in the software sector.
But even these pale in comparison to the kind of turnover that the insurance
industry witnesses with its agency force.
The opening up of the sector five years ago provided insurance agents with
new opportunities and an image makeover as "life insurance advisors".
But little has changed in the basic nature of the business - insurance still needs
to be sold to a reluctant populace.
Once the initial list of potential customers such as close relatives, friends and
neighbours is exhausted, the climb for an agent is uphill.
Even meeting the minimum requirement of bringing in two viable insurance
proposals every month proves daunting. For some companies, the target in
terms of sum assured is Rs. 1 lakh. For some others, it is as low as Rs. 10,000.
Mr. Lalit Kumar Dash, Executive Director (Marketing), LIC, says, "The
attrition rate is about 35 per cent in the first year of recruitment. This goes
down to about 18 per cent by the fourth year. Most of those who drop out are
non-performers".
He attributes it to the high expectations on the part of the agents. "Most people
think that they can make a lot of money in a short span of time. Besides, one
has to acknowledge that it is a high-pressure job. Sustenance requires constant
networking and acquiring new relationships for your business. This requires a
lot of discipline."
Some insurance companies complain that the booming economy has caused
the rampant poaching of insurance agents.
Insurance companies believe that adequate training will help in contain the
problem in some measure.
They say that in a business such as insurance one has to accept the fact that 20
per cent of the work force will bring in 80 per cent of their business.
But, while private insurance companies are still struggling to break even, the
rising attrition rate is yet another challenge that they have to battle.
Higher Attrition Rate - Major Challenge in HRM
Human Resource team face the challenge due to wrong information provided
during EXIT interview.
Reasons for Attrition
From the exit interview forms and the comments of the HR Manager the
overall reasons for attrition can be summarized as follows:
No career growth
No role clarity
Employees today are different. They are not the ones who don’t have good
opportunities in hand. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current
employer or the job, they switch over to the next job. In prominent Indian
metros, there is no dearth of opportunities for the best in the business, or even
for the second or the third best.
Importance of retaining employees remains the same irrespective of the size
of the organization, its nature of business or the country of operation. The
only difference lies in realizing the fact that frequent employee attrition means
there is something, which needs immediate attention and cure.
Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to
remain in the organization for the maximum period of time. It involves being
sensitive to people's needs and demonstrating the various strategies in the five
families detailed in Roger Herman's classic book on employee retention,
Keeping Good People.
• Compensation: It is said that money isn't a motivator, but it is an
effective de-motivator. The employees always have high expectations
regarding their compensation packages. So an attractive compensation
package plays a critical role in retaining the employees.
• Growth: No one joins an organization to just do the same work till the
end of his career. If an employee does not see growth in his own
organization, there are high chances that he might opt for leaving the
organization. So such strategies must be framed where an employee can
see his bright future in the company.
• Relationships: The management is sometimes not able to provide an
employee a supportive work culture and environment in terms of
personal or professional relationships. The organization culture should
be such that encourages healthy relationship between all the employees.
• Support: Sometimes not getting the right kind of support and co-
operation also leads an employee to be frustrated and provokes him to
leave the organization. This should be taken care of by providing
healthy work relationships.
Based on the above five points, a retention strategy can be framed after
understanding the reasons for attrition in a particular organization.
Below is a representation of the reasons of Attrition at Reliance in the form of
a chart:
INDIVIDUAL ORGANIZATION
AL
CULTURAL
NO LEARNING MISMATCH
HIGHER
EDUCATION
MONOTONOUS NO GROWTH/
JOB STAGNATION
ROLE
DIFFERENT
THAN
DEFINED
JOB/ROLE
STRESS
Retention Measures at Reliance Life Insurance
• Learning Environment:
The seniors in all the divisions should try to create an environment of learning
in their division/department. Knowledge gained should be shared with others.
E.g. If an individual from the HR department has gone for a training program
on Interpersonal Skills, he should be encouraged to share the contents of the
program with his colleagues through a presentation on the same. The same
kind of environment should be created in the whole organization.
Many of the employees in their exit interviews form have mentioned that they
do not see any personal growth in the organization. Thus it is recommended
that the superiors of employees should take the responsibility to show his
subordinate a career graph projecting his growth in the next 5 years. This
would bring enough confidence in the employee to stay with the company and
motivate him to achieve the targets placed before him.
All the employees need to trained and motivated to work as teams and not
individuals. This can be done with the help of the division heads. They need
to bring all the employees in the particular division together and show them
the ultimate goal for which they all are working. When a combined vision is
shown, it plays an important role in motivating the employees to work
together.
• Fun at work:
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Employees spend almost 8-9
hours of the day at their work place. It is very important that the employees
are given opportunities to have fun at work. For this, HR can organize gaming
events between the various departments as well as within the various
departments. They can have events like chess tournament, table tennis
tournament, quiz competition, best of waste competition etc. these can be
done first at the departmental level and then at the organizational level.
This will enhance their sense of belongingness for their division/function as
well as increase the interaction between and within the departments/divisions.
There is an increasing need for keeping the employees updated about the new
techniques and technologies. Thus there is a need for increasing the number of
training programs which at this point of time are very less. Training signals
employees that the organization values their contribution, and is willing to
invest in upgrading their skills. These would also mean increase in interaction
between the employees which is again a requirement at Reliance Life
Insurance.
• Celebrations and Social and Cultural Networks:
In some of the surveys and audits it has been found that employees get a sense
of belongingness if the organization encourages some form of social
networks, cultural programs, team celebrations. These can be done with very
little investments by encouraging employees to have picnics, social
gatherings, celebrations and festivals etc. When the person feels at home with
a company he would think twice before leaving the company.
HR at Reliance Life Insurance can encourage the formation of different clubs
like the golf club, social service club, sports club, where the employees from
all divisions can register as per their likings. These clubs can then have their
own gatherings and interactions. This would increase the interactions between
employees from different departments.
Many times the style of manager has been responsible for employees in
certain departments to leave. With supportive managers and Head of
departments employees think several times before they leave. Some managers
may not realize that their coercive style, excessive task centeredness, and the
way they assign tasks including the clarity with which they give instructions,
respect etc. to employees have tremendous impact on their staying with the
company. Thus a 3600 feedback system can be implemented for the senior
level managers and corrective actions can be taken to improve the problem
areas.
• Stress Management:
The employees face a lot of stress in their day to day personal and
professional life. If the employees remain stressed out, their efficiency is
reduced. So HR can take measures to reduce this stress level and improve the
efficiency. This can be done by organizing seminars on stress reduction, yoga,
one day camps, picnics etc.
Employees should be taught as to how they themselves can fight the stress
that they are experiencing. This would bring a dual advantage to the company.
Firstly, the employees will realize that the company is taking the
responsibility of the stress that are experiencing due to the company’s work.
Secondly, their productivity will increase which will again benefit the
company.
They are the ones who have ample of opportunities. So if the company wants
to retain its employees it has to start taking responsibility of its employees.
HR needs to make the employees realize that they are an important part of the
company. The employees cannot be retained only by giving them high pay
packages. They need to see their own growth and have a feeling of
belongingness in the company.
Employee retention takes effort, energy, and resources. But the results are
worth it.
• Many firms may not include attrition of fresher’s who leave because of
higher studies or within three months of joining.
Attrition = (No. of employees who left in the year / Average employees in the
year) x 100
Conclusion:
Introduction
Innovative hr practices
All managers have heard and read countless times how to build teams,
empower your workforce and develop trust. The common place human
resource practices prevalent across the entire business world are just as
relevant to this business as any other. The HR policies must be integrated with
business policies. The HR Professionals must have balance in terms of
centralization or decentralization of HR practices are ethnocentric while
others management be geocentric or regiocentric.
Tomorrow HR practices
In turn trends like these are changing the way firms are managed.
Organizations today must grapple with revolutionary trends accelerating
product and technological change, globalizes competition, deregulation,
demographic changes and trends towards a service society and the
information. These trends have dramatically increased the degree of
competition in virtually all industries, while forcing firms to cope with
unprecedented product innovation and technological change. Companies in
such an environment either become competitive high performers or they die.
Issues coming on the radar of an HR Manager today are diverse; from micro
level issues where an individual employee needs hand holding to the macro
issues pertaining to a global workforce and virtual teams. HR managers are
expected to offer instant solutions for these issues and strategies.
As an HR Manager there are a number of areas where you might want to bring
in an external consultant.
By following this simple three-step process you can create an action plan that
will get you motivated again. .
The first step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is to be clear about the end
result. Identify a project that you lack motivation about. Let's use "Make some
sales calls" as an example.
The second step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is to be clear about what
is standing in your way. There are two types of obstacles - practical and
emotional. Examples of practical obstacles are lack of time, resources or
information. Examples of emotional obstacles are lack of confidence or fear of
failure or rejection.
Make a list on your Self-Motivation Action Plan of all the obstacles standing
in the way of you achieving your goal.
The third step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is the most challenging.
Go through each obstacle and handle it. If the obstacle is lack of time, ask
yourself "How can I create time for this? What do I need to stop doing, start
doing or delegate in order to create time?"
If the obstacle is lack of confidence, ask yourself "What am I afraid of? What
is the worst thing that could happen?" Often the worst-case scenario is not as
bad as you feared. But if it is serious, how can you reduce the risk of it
occurring? What resources do you have that will help you?
A clear Self-Motivation Action Plan will help you complete projects without
adrenalin, willpower or unhealthy stress.
The challenge of HR managers is to hunt for human talent and make sure the
company selects the right person for the right job.
Over the past two decades, the world saw a complete makeover in the way
Human Resource Management in organisations was defined, but in India, the
change has been more prominent in the last decade or so, after liberalisation.
Earlier considered a support function for any business, HRM today is required
to take on a more strategic role in order to align itself with the organisation's
business strategies. Hence, the HR manager is expected to take on the mantle
of a business partner along with managers of other line functions, in driving
the firm's strategies.
The shift in focus from traditional HRM to strategic HRM was inevitable.
Competitive advantage for an organisation lies not just in differentiating a
product or service or in becoming the low cost leader but in also being able to
tap the company's special skills or core competencies and rapidly respond to
customer's needs and competitor's moves. HR management can play a role in
identifying and analysing external opportunities and threats that may be
crucial to the company's success. It is in a unique position to supply
competitive intelligence that may be useful in the strategic planning process.
Over the years, some of the traditional HR practices have been revisited and
analysed to evaluate their suitability in today's world. One such major practice
is the concept of Human Resource Accounting (HRA). Initially, one might
hesitate to accept a concept which tries to put a monetary value to human
beings. How does one attach a number to a person's capabilities? However,
HRA represents a way to gauge how strong and profitable an organisation's
workforce is. Organisations have been claiming that their employees are their
most valuable assets.
The signals are clear — the employee is an asset who can be groomed to bring
in future profitability — an asset which can define the company's image in the
market today. HRA also involves accounting for investment in people and
their replacement costs, as also the economic value of people in an
organisation. A trend yet to catch up in the Indian industry, with a few
exceptions such as BHEL, Infosys, SBI and Reliance industries, it has been
extensively embraced in the West.
Competency Mapping
As far as the HR function is concerned, the time has perhaps come where it
needs to be treated as a line function with every manager having HR activities
as part of his line responsibilities, rather than treating HR as a separate,
support-providing activity only. Today's manager is expected to wear multiple
hats — that of a leader, internal change agent, coach, counsellor, mentor — in
addition to his/her `technical' responsibilities. This would entail that every
manager, irrespective of his/her functional area of specialisation, would have
to have a thorough grounding in concepts and processes of HR.
Joining Process
The last financial year has been an unprecedented one. With the economy
slowing down in first half of 2008-09 and slipping further in the second half,
Reliance Life Insurance have had to initiate necessary measures to navigate
the environment. While the Indian economy remains a growth economy, it is
impossible for anyone to remain insulated from this global phenomenon. As
part of its ongoing process of reviewing our Human Resources policies &
aligning them with external market realities, Reliance Life Insurance is
announcing the following changes to our HR Policies in the Employee
handbook.
1. Leave policy
The objective of this policy is to describe the leave entitlements and the terms
and conditions governing the same to all employees of Reliance Capital.
General Availing Leave should be done in a planned manner.
Leave shall be taken with prior approval as per the provisions. Wherever prior
approval is not mandated, the concerned employee shall keep the sanctioning
authority informed of his/her absence and regularize the administrative
procedures immediately on resumption of duties.
Leave calendar shall run from 1st January to 31st December.
Intervening holidays will not be treated as part of leave in the case of Earned,
and Sick Leave, Absence from duty, except on account of leave or holiday,
shall be dealt with by the management at its discretion and in the best interests
of the organization.
An employee will not be granted leave once he/she submits his/her
resignation. Such absence will be considered as leave on loss of pay.
5. Medical Insurance
• Employee & Immediate Family Coverage
All employees and immediate family members (spouse and 2 children) shall
be covered under the Group Mediclaim Policy of the Company. The Policy is
meant to cover expenses towards any medical emergencies that may arise
resulting in hospitalization.
The Policy shall cover the employee, spouse and dependant children up to a
total hospitalization expense of Rs.1.50 Lakhs per annum only on floater
basis. Additionally, there will be a corporate buffer which may enable
extension of Hospitalization expenses subject to management discretion and
availability of buffer.
The process of enlisting dependent parents, who have not been covered under
the existing policy but employees choose to enlist them in the new Policy,
shall be done at the time of inception of the Policy only, which is in April
each year. Employees joining the organization thereafter can exercise the
option only at the time of joining subject to realization of pro rata premium.
They may do so through the shared services website
(https://www.rclhrssg.com/). A detailed process note on this shall be
communicated shortly. Mid year inclusion of dependent parents of existing
employees will not be allowed.
Employees who have covered their parents for an additional cover of 1.5 / 2.5
lacs under the existing policy for dependant parents (valid till 30th September
’09) would, however, be allowed to opt for inclusion of their dependant
parents under the new policy w.e.f 1st October ’09 subject to realization of
pro rata premium
Premium paid to cover dependent parents shall not be refundable under any
circumstances, including separation of employment.
Income tax benefits arising out of payment of such premium shall be given to
the employee, subject to the provisions of the Income Tax Act. Child /
Children shall be deemed to be dependant till the age of 21 years or marriage
or gainful employment whichever is earlier. Parents shall be considered to be
dependant if their joint income is less than Rs.10,000/- per month.
Finally I conclude that in the competitive world the organization should have
innovative ideas then only it can lead the organization very successfully.
Human Resource leader should follow creative practices that will help to
develop the employer as well as employee. Then only the organization can run
successfully.
I would also like to conclude that human resource practices followed by all
insurance companies are almost same.
Reliance Life Insurance has now started realizing that the systematic attention
to human resources is the only way to increase organizational efficiency in
terms of productivity, quality, profits and better customer orientation.
Bibliography
Websites visited:
• www.irdaindia.com
• www.google.com
• www.reliancelife.com
• www.wikipedia.com