The issue is simple: is the corporate world losing people focus. We may be tempted to say ‘yes’ quickly, but that would not be right. We have not found out the facts. But I have heard voices of people. They ring in my ears. I have heard people say diametrically opposite views. It is natural because each person experiences the organisation in a different way.

Here are those voices. I can hear people say passionately, proudly and sometimes with a sense of anger. I present those voices. Some will strike a chord with you, some will not. But these are actually voices of people who have spoken to me. They are true. All voices are a commentary on people focus as they see it in their organisations.

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Let there be no doubt that business organisations prime objective is Profit (and growth). Profit is function if revenue minus costs. Employees or People impact both significantly so in other words People are the ‘means’ to an end and not the end itself. This ‘means’ is a living animal with its emotions and expectations. Understanding those and ‘taking care of them’ to the extent necessary to achieve the organisations primary goal is what I would say is called ‘people focus.’

The context is different if we are talking of people focus in the Govt. Policies or programs. There the wellbeing of people is the end and not means.

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“Congratulations on your promotion as Head HR” the Accountant friend said. “Do you know what HRD means?” I sense that he is going to tell me something silly or derogatory about HRD. I nod my head to suggest ‘no.’

“HRD means Harassment till Retirement or Death” he says and laughs heartily on his joke. I do not respond. I have heard several HR jokes. They are never kind to HR function. It does not feel good.

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“You are talking of the ‘people focus.’ Has it gone stronger or weaker, that’s the question. You will hear a lot of negatives. That is because you will be speaking to a lot of professionals of your age group. Those who are fifty plus.

These people turn nostalgic easily. They will tell you how good it was in their days and how bad it is now. Is that really the case?

Look at what IT companies are doing – they are focusing on their employees. Can we really conclude that things are going from bad to worse? Deteriorating in general? That would be a mistake.

The approach has changed. It is no longer paternalistic. At least not in the new age industries. They make facilities available. Best facilities. Use them as you like. In our days employers decided everything. It was a favour earlier. Now it is entitlement. That’s the difference.”

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There should be no doubt that ‘people focus’ is lost. What are you talking about? Jara factories me jake dekho kya ho raha hai. Ten percent of the employees are permanent. Others are contract labour. And trainees. And NEEM trainees. That’s ninety percent! What people focus you are talking about? It is the rape of employee aspirations. Exploitation!

I spoke to one of them. He said he is working in an MNC, and he is hired by a contractor. I asked why you don’t form a union. He said he will get sacked immediately and the permanent workers’ union will not take up his case. The contractor is completely under their control. Union does not take up our case.

He said ‘What to do, sir? How to survive here? How to educate our children? How to give them a future? I am forty now. My life is wasted. I will earn only minimum wages. I now think only of future of my son and daughter.’ I had no answer. I also did not want to answer the question. I felt like an impotent person. I can’t do anything about the problem.

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We approached the local MLA to solve our problem. We told him that our pay was a pittance. There was harassment at work. We said you should do something about it. Our hopes were high.

He promised to do something to address our hardship.

We now know that the contract of supply of uniforms and safety shoes is given to his son.

Our problems remain unsolved.

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Six months of maternity leave! Phew!! These are populist ideas. Who will engage women now? I came back after three months of leave when my child was born. We have a hospital here. We have four hundred nurses on the rolls. Take a look anytime and you will find that twenty are on maternity leave. We can’t bear this cost. We can take pride in saying we are taking measures which other countries, not even USA, have taken. All this is only adding to cost. You can’t ignore the cost.

The employment of women will go down. This Government has done a grave injustice to women.

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I was happy that the Government extended maternity leave to six months. Let us be practical. Which girl returns after three months of maternity leave? Only those who have support of mother or mother in law! This is rare.

These girls are talented. They come from IIMs and reputed business schools. We must retain such talent. In some cases we have given more than six months of leave – may be unpaid. I don’t want to lose such an exceptional talent. They can work from home, that’s okay, I am not bothered.  

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They told me you are a retainer, not an employee, so no maternity leave for you. I was surprised. I spoke to my boss. He asked the HR Head to make an exception in my case, he complied. He told me not to mention it to anyone. On one hand I am happy to get this benefit, on the other hand I feel bad about this company policy. Why do they decide benefits on a ‘person to person’ basis?

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The number of toilets for women in almost any organisation is less than requirement. We never get a toilet free when we enter the washroom area. And mind you, ours is a new and very beautiful, well designed office; but they have missed this simple requirement.

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‘People focus?’ Hmmm….. let me think…. Let me tell you what I teach in my economics class…. Organisations are meant to work out fulfilment of some human desire on a social scale. In that process they develop and deploy machines and yield an output. It could be a service or goods.

Over time there’s a strong possibility that the machines and the yield get the centre stage. That might be the beginning of losing people focus. To get back to the original plan behind the birth of an organization might be the process of regaining people focus.

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I am very clear about it. We do not want any union here. It is a cancer. Why should they have a union? I take care of my employees. I give them personal loans. I give them a good office, excellent working conditions. Good pay. What more do they want? The day they form a union, I will either sack the HR guy or just close down. No union. Period. I don’t have energy to engage in endless discussions with them. The same business can be continued in another name. I know how to do it.

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I like the Toyota statement on Employee Relations. It is crisp and well drafted. ‘If the management of the company does have a union, both should recognise that the prosperity of the company is the common objective and both must use thorough communication in order to resolve any differences of opinions and build a healthy relationship of mutual trust.’

We have held regular training programs for our union. My take is that more you share, more is the trust. We have differences, but nothing that is vicious.

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We accept that there will be a union some day in this factory. We have formed an ‘employees representatives’ committee. They are like a pseudo-union committee. But they do not have legalistic approach of the unions. I am trying to influence their mind at this stage – we must create the right work culture. One thing for sure – no outsider as a leader under any circumstances.

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You can teach and talk of democracy at work place, but let me tell you, it does not work. People come with their agenda. [External] Union leaders are corrupt. They want to give contracts to their cronies. Worker who are members of union committee do not work. Democracy is a good thought but you require maturity of workforce. Kidhar hai? Show me a single example.

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I told my managers that you can’t prevent formation of a union at the workplace. That is okay, we can deal with it. The real issue is do you have influence over the employees in spite of the union? That is my test of your effective people focus.

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I was consulting them, the investor family was what you call ‘people focused.’ Oh, they extended the service of retiring employees by two years regularly. In the last five years twenty two employees got such extension. And then ten of them were engaged as ‘retainers.’ Now that they have made losses, the young ones in the family are asking to summarily get rid of the retainers, and not to offer any extensions. I have been telling them that they need young and tech savvy managers and employees if they have to succeed.

Now they will probably sack those oldies. Their people policies would have turned 180 degrees. I wonder what they will think about the Company when they are asked to go.

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We have clearly defined values. A candidate has to meet eight different managers who evaluate him or her against our corporate values.

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I know he breaks rules. I know he is arrogant and shouts at people. I know he has held out threats of sacking to some. But, boss, he has produced stunning results. He has changed the look of this workplace and brought in many new initiatives. And our people had become too complacent, somebody had to push them, extract more work, and put them on their toes. High achievers are also usually arrogant. Let it be for a while, then we will see.

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[Discussion in Men’s Washroom]

This new Factory Manager is keeping his managers on their toes. Do you remember IS Johar used to write a column in Filmfare in good old days? He was asked how you will keep your men on their toes. His answer: ‘Raise the height of the urinals.’ Ha ha ha ha!!

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We train people for conducting performance appraisals. In the room three are present. We have mandated it. The appraisee, appraiser and the appraiser’s boss. The function of the appraiser’s boss is to avoid biases coming in play. Fair play is of utmost importance to us.

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This bell curve in rewards has created tremendous discontentment. Same people get rewarded every year. And bottom ten percent are to be weeded out! This is okay in the US but it won’t work here.

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On the day of my promotion my boss called me and told me that if I do not develop myself as a business manager there would be no more promotion. He said you excelled so far because of your ‘functional expertise.’ But that will no longer take you ahead. I hated that experience.

Looking back I think he was right. I admire his ability to hold some tough talk. A lot of people cannot move forward unless they take a step jump in their competencies. But nobody says so to them. Tough talk does not come easily in our culture, it is almost always avoided. Nobody tells you that this is your last station in this company, you can’t go further. HR also talks as if all employees can be endlessly developed. There can’t be a premise more imaginary than that.

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Our office has a room where you can take a quick nap if you feel like. Believe it not, they have just made it. With dim lights. You can relax there or switch on soft meditation music.

And there is flexi time. It helps we Mumbaikars tremendously. People come from Kalyan Dombivali. All can reach office without having to rush madly to swipe access card. Small things these are, but they help employees in a big way.

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Our canteen offers three types of menu. Subsidised. And we have coffee machines on every floor. It is free. People have no complaints. But I have. Nothing comes free. I kept a box near the coffee machines with a small note that ‘nothing comes free, please put some amount in the box which will be donated to a charitable organisation.’ On several days there is not a single note in the box. When it comes to facilities, it is one way traffic!

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We have no limit on casual and sick leave. Employees are supposed to take only when required. A very small number of employees misuse it, I know. But a significant number of employees use this discreetly. You have to trust them.

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We work in Fort area. Nobody here works on Saturdays and Sundays. Its five days week. That’s fine. But why do you demand ALL bank holidays? Some fourteen or fifteen additionally? That’s 104 days plus say 14 bank holidays, it makes 118. Additionally your earned leave, casual and sick leave. Boss, you come here to work or to see Mumbai?

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The organisation structure in our company looks like a bowl of spaghetti, with direct and dotted lines everywhere! For one decision you have to consult everybody in the ‘family.’ The ‘family directors’ are generous when it comes to employees, but everything here is person centric, it delays simple decisions and creates confusion. I get tired of spending hours together to build consensus.

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‘People Focus’ is put to test only in a conflict. How you handle it is the litmus test of your people conflict. There are organisations which have made surplus workers sit in a room for eight hours with no work. And there are organisations which have told workers ‘let bygones be bygones’ when they resumed work after a strike on management’s terms.

See what textile tycoons have done. It is daylight robbery. Greed eats away people focus.

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Our jewellery business was hit hard in the recession of 2008, and several houses downsized their organisations. Some did not declare VRS, they just asked people to leave. I decided that I will not do it. I have seen bad days in my life, I do not wish to give those to others. I retained all the thousand employees. On many days we had no work on hand. But I did not ask anybody to leave. When the business situation improved, these employees paid me back by their loyalty and work.

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We had to close down the Mumbai Factory. We declared a VRS, but only after talking to the employees. Not just to union. A large number of employees accepted. Then a small number said they wanted more benefits. It was a tricky situation. Their earning would vanish quickly so they wanted more compensation. But we had already given VRS to many, and they would have felt cheated if we were to increase the compensation for others. We sat down together and finally concluded a deal honourable to all. We had a dinner together on the eve of closure of the factory, everybody cried.

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Well, the image that comes to my mind when I think of ‘people focus’ is a person holding a magnifying glass on people to look closely on what’s happening on the ground. It relates to paying attention to the behaviour and requirements of and from people keeping in mind the purpose of the organization.

On the contrary, a magnifying glass would also burn the paper when sun rays pass through it, burn out of people by too much ‘watching’ would be detrimental, one would need to strike a balance between creating an environment that enables people and performance to flourish at the same time keeping our eyes and ears open and grounded.

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That’s the point. We need to balance between concern for people with concern for business or work. These are two wheels of a cart. They have to run together so that the path is well travelled. And one can’t be smaller than other, if so it will only run in circles. Managers must manage polarities when they operate, they must learn to manage it. Like they have to capture market share and also increase profitability. They have to focus on the long term and the short term issues. They have to ensure that it is a place where everybody would enjoy working and yet it is a commercially successful organisation. We must focus on sociability and solidarity, both. If we focus on people alone, we will produce a culture of ‘networking’ as Rob Goffee tells us. To create a missionary culture we must focus on both.

Each person experiences the organisation differently. So some will praise and others will criticise people policies. It all depends on the leadership to be sensitive to how an employee is experiencing the organisation. There are very few organisations which deep dive in such [possibly troubled] waters with the resolve to change things for better. But it needs to be done. The only key is to go back to employees and find out how they are experiencing the organisation. That requires empathetic listening, a skill terribly in short supply in the corporate world, and an ability to communicate the organisation’s stance and policies on various matters.

People spend a very large portion of their time [and life] working in the organisations which invest good time and effort in developing people for the jobs they offer. The focus is however on being effective on the job. Development is an unobtrusive process, and people keep learning from others, they ‘absorb’ a lot of things from others – not just mannerisms, but also looking at one’s life, in that sense they take bearing for leading their lives again. This is magical. It requires a culture where people experience nurturing, mentoring. And this is precisely where the leaders come in.

There are two aspects on which the leader sets the tone – how he handles conflicts and how he handles dissent. A dissenting viewpoint is not necessarily [rather usually] a revolt or mutiny. Adopting a liberal viewpoint is not considered macho in many cases. A good leader has to close many issues, no doubt, by taking a final call but he must ‘close the door’ on an issue but take the precaution of ‘leaving it unbolted’ – meaning he should be willing to take a relook if fresh perspective is put forth. This in my opinion, is at the centre of workplace democracy. When there develops a huge gulf between those in power and the employees, when the leader forgets that ‘The great problems are in the street’ [as Nietzsche says], it is a clear sign that people focus is getting lost.

We have to ask why should organisations focus on people, and the answer is lies not in the commercial success but also in creating an organisation where people ‘grow’. 

The central issue in people focus is ‘does the organisation promote workplace democracy?’ As long as the answer is in the affirmative, there is hope for people focus to survive and thrive.  

Workplaces are a reflection of the developments in the world around us. That is the reason an organisation [read the leader] will require greater force of conviction to stand out in the world today.

Vivek S Patwardhan

[Originally written for and published in NHRDN July 2018 Special Number “The Great Problems Are In Street”]