Boot Kamp

The Ultimate HR Challenge

Team: XIM Contrivers (Xaviers Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar)

Leepsa Jena (09861127575) u109024@stu.xim.ac.in

Rupali Kukreja (09556038428) u109129@stu.xim.ac.in
 Case 1: It just doesn’t ad(d) up!

As the number of internet users has been constantly on rise,

social media is increasingly becoming one of the most sought
after tool for recruitment these days. Even using Social
Networking site for the purpose of candidate pull, is proving
to be quite beneficiary for the recruiters. Being in the shoes
of Rakesh, We would give following arguments to convince
Sanjeev:

1) Provides a lot of information about the candidate, which is generally not available in the resume
or during the interview
2) A very cost effective method for recruitment as compared to traditional methods of campus
recruitment and employee referrals.
3) Keeping pace with Technology, through social networking sites would help in attaining
competitive advantage
4) If a prospect is found to be suitable we can ask for some more relevant details or prior works
showing creativity
5) Helps in transcending the geographic and demographic barriers to reach potential hires which
they would not otherwise
6) Pre engagement with candidates and the profile designed by users highlighting their personal
preferences, groups joined by them as well as their friend would also help us in judging the
culture and job fit of the prospect
7) Helps in attracting those passive candidates, who are not presently seeking jobs but whom we
find to be the best fit for our organization
8) Using “white-label social networks” would allow us to custom brand ourselves (by creating our
own version of social networking sites) in a way we want and attract employees
9) Also help us in maintaining a job pipeline and enable us to fill the vacancies just-in-time
10) Adding potential hires as friends would not be unethical and intrusive we won’t be using any
unethical ways of accessing information apart from what is provided by the use himself.

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 1

 Case 2: Through the Looking Glass

According to us, Archana’s suspicions are not based on any

solid grounds. We give the following arguments to support it:

1) If there would have been bias against her because

she was a woman, then how was it possible that she
got promoted so rapidly for 6 years?
2) The fact given that she was the only women among
the other eligible candidates for the post shows that there was no biasing against her.
3) May be the company was putting her into a more challenging job because she was the best
suited to handle the demanding situation.

As a personnel manager, we would give the following alternatives to avoid such a situation in future:

1) In reward of all the efforts Archana has put till date, give her increment in salary and additional
perks before relocating to Gujarat but keep her as the mentor to the new person taking her
place in her previous division. Judge the performance of both the divisions (may be 50%
weightage to each) while taking decisions for promotion.
2) Have a clear-cut policy in place regarding transfer of eligible candidates, stating the minimum
period for which the candidate cannot be relocated before expected promotion
3) In future, have greater transparency in promotion process so that none of the employees feels
that an injustice has been done against him/her.
4) Have proper communication channels for benefiting female employees who otherwise would be
left out of the informal internal networks.
5) Raise managers’ awareness of their unconscious gender biases, create a culture of inclusiveness
and have relevant policies in place that do not allow gender bias to creep into personnel
decisions.
6) Mentoring programs would be beneficiary to women as they would give access to more senior
staff with whom they can discuss their issues.

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 2

 Case 3: Personnel Policy

RX should take the following actions to avoid loss of employees like

Arjun:

In this specific case, Arjun is looking for stability in his personal as

well as professional life. RX should respect Arjun’s wish by taking the
following steps:
1) They can ask Arjun to go abroad for the current project, but
promise him this would be his last such task in the current
year
2) RX can have a junior member, who would be trained and
mentored by Arjun, to replace him in forthcoming foreign trips.
3) They can offer him paid leave of one or two weeks when he returns
4) If possible, they can arrange for his family to accompany him for the trip, as it is for a short
duration

In general, RX as an employer should understand the importance of family in the lives of its employees.
It should acknowledge the fact that its employees need to maintain a proper work-life balance in order
to perform well in their professional careers.

1) They can have a rotation policy for employees, so that no one person has to been on touring job
for a continuous period
2) If unavoidable, they can provide for paid leaves which an employee can take in order to enjoy
time with family
3) RX should modify their policies to include paternity leaves and other paid leaves
4) Paid holidays once a year or a free trip to abroad with family can be made part of compensation
package to attract employees
5) There can be a cap on the number of days a employee will have to stay abroad
6) Have more events and get-togethers to include family members

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 3

 Case 4: With Great Power comes Less Respo
nsibility

Just one week into his new job and Harshad is worried about
his career choice. We would like to give the following
arguments in support of his decision to be in the new job:

1) The loan sanctioned is a special low-interest loan,

which needs approval of higher authorities as the risk to the bank is high. In the given case, may
be Harshad had power to sanction loans in his previous bank but nowhere it has been
mentioned that he had the authority of sanctioning this category of loans.
2) Taking into consideration the current market situation, banks have become more risk averse. So,
may be his previous bank would also have taken a longer duration or may not have allowed to
sanction such a loan. This might also be the reason that the public sector bank was taking
precautionary steps and thus it involved bureaucratic intermediaries.
3) Though the start up company was working for a good cause with innovative solutions for
teaching slum kids, there was no substantial revenue generating channels, and hence involved a
lot of risk of paying back the loan. In such a scenario, any bank would have been apprehensive
about sanctioning a low-interest loan. Harshad should also have done a thorough enquiry about
the organisation before sanctioning the loan.
4) Banks are generally profit-oriented organizations. Harshad should not fulfil his own
philanthropic interest at the cost of the bank. To accomplish his wish of being involved in
patriotic activities, he should take initiative on a personal level, not involving the banks.
5) In such a short time into his new job, his expectations are very high. He should be little patient,
understand the working of the bank and incumbent processes properly before taking any hasty
decisions.

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 4

 Case 5: Time and Again

The case states that the primary reason for unrest among the
employees is the incommensurate pay package they get even
though they continuously put overtime into work. Some of the
basic factors that Mr. Kiran should consider while designing the
compensation packages are as follows:

1) Compensation should be performance based and there

should be different criteria for workmen and engineers.
This would motivate the workforce, increase their
efficiency levels as well as be a guard against people
putting overtime unnecessarily without showing results.
2) If project demands of overtime, approval from managers should be made mandatory for
employees working overtime.
3) Comp-offs or paid leaves should be provided for people putting overtime.
4) Missed vacation compensation can be made a part of their pay package.
5) Job should be redesigned and the job profile should clearly state the actual expected working
hours, not the ideal. This will help in attracting candidates who are really interested to put in
that extra effort.
6) Keeping in mind The Factories Act, 1948, the weekly working hours for workmen can be set to
48 hours, instead of 40 hours. This will set the expectation from the very beginning, and the
concept of overtime will be less emphasised.
7) In Indian Scenario, Family matters a lot to the employees. Thus, Ghanshyam Das Pvt. Ltd. should
try and build relations with the employee’s family. Compensation can include supplementary life
insurance and medical claims including family members; Company can provide housing for the
workers and executives, etc. This would help in incorporating the feeling of belongingness
amongst the workforce and also in building long term employment.
8) Provide for various recreational activities where people can relax and get indulged in building up
social contacts with their co-workers after work hours

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 5

 Case 6: The Eternal Balance

Employees are the internal customers of an organization,

hence should be kept satisfied to maximise the efficiency and
in turn to make the clients happy. Similarly, in this case,
Neha’s problem should be acknowledged by Virmani
Software Solutions and Pratik should try and adopt the
following:

1) Apprise the client of the current situation and suggest sending Purav in place of Neha or if
possible, delaying the assignment for a month or so, till Neha is free from her personal
obligations.
2) Alternatively, the company can send both Purav and Neha for the assignment. Neha, after
setting up the environment and laying down the plan for actions to be taken can come back in a
week and Purav can take the task forward from there.
3) Neha can provide full offline support to Purav from India by taking help of various technologies
like Video Conferencing, desktop sharing, conference calls etc.
4) Have a proper succession planning in place, to avoid being completely dependent on one
employee, like Neha in this case. This would decrease Neha’s workload, increase alternatives for
the organisation and provide new growth opportunities to other employees
5) Since this is going to be the 6 th exit in three months, it shows that the organization has not been
quite successful in retaining talent, and thus need to bring in changes to the policies and should
take initiatives like employee development programs and mentoring for talent retention. Also, it
should pay heed to problems of employees rather than just treating them as resources.

XIM Contrivers : Leepsa Jena, Rupali Kukreja - XIMB 6