Why I would love to die working at Google?

This is really unheard of in any corporate. Is it going to affect and change the benefit policies of other companies? I am not sure. In today’s time when Indian corporates are actually trying to save cost and reduce benefits, which may be as basic as covering parents under medical insurance, its really pleasing to see how Google is being generous and showing the caring attitude towards its staff. I am sure, if not all at least few of the top rung companies would like to have similar benefits to show they really care for thier employees.

Google is going to introduce generous death benefits for its employees here in India. For US employees of the company, these benefits are effective since last one year.

1. The family of deceased “googler” will get half of his salary for next ten years.
2. Any stock options will vest immediately, means the bereaved family can sell or transfer the stock as per their own choice.
3. $1000 per month will be paid to each and every child of the deceased staff uptill the child completes 19 yrs of age ( or 23 yrs, if he is pursuing full time education)
4. All staff is eligible under this policy, irrespective of their joining date or designation.

Now I would definitely love to die being a googler. 

Employee Engagement - Why is it stagnant?

As per a report in Economic Times a global study conducted by Hay groups revealed that employee engagement levels are stagnating. Employees are not willing to go to the extra mile for their organisations.

Below are few pointers, which I personally think are contributing to low levels of commitment.

• Employees are not emotionally bonded with organisations
• Organisations are not aligning personal goals of employees with organisational goals.
• No career paths defined for employees.No long term plans for employees from organisation side, which gives an impression to employees that they are in the organisation only for short term period.
• Employees see how organisations treat their peers, and create the impression about the trustworthiness of organisation.
• Organisations taking advantage of employees, whenever they have to. But not compensating enough for the skills of employees. 
• HR heads of the organisations, want  HR managers and executives to take care of other employees. But they do not take care of the employees in HR department, which leads to low morale in the HR department itself. 
• Organisations are still not process oriented but their functioning is people depandant.

The above mentioned views are my personal views. And I am keen to discuss it with other HR professionals. 

The complete article in economic times can be read here.

Log on to Facebook or Twitter... Next HR interventions would be online

Yes... its increasing. What else we would have expected. I believe every month, we get one or the other news report stating the future of recruitment in the industry. Trend of hiring through social networking is increasing.

Facebook and Twitter are going to become next naukri or monster ? Its too early to say, but not impossible.

But is the industry ready for it? I am not sure. How many corporates have their pages on Facebook? How many HR fraternity members are really active on Twitter? We should be ready for the next wave of hiring. We should understand, that it takes time to build one's credibility on social networking sites as well. You just can not create your account on day one , and expect hoards of people flocking to your account by next day. It works differently. And HR fraternity needs to understand this and be prepared for the change.

How many companies provide access to social networking sites like facebook and twitter? Very few. Because of company policies, we can not afford to miss the bus. We, HR people need to make our management understand the importance of social networking sites. Its simple marketing. If my target audience is online, then why i should not be. I as a HR person, is selling my company's brand.. and i should do it where my target market is.

Ok.. If you say that you are a HR professional who is not into recruitments, and hencec these online trends doesn't bother you. Think twice... Online employee engagement may not be a well heard term as of now, but pretty soon it would be. In today's time, we talk about work life balance. We know that if a person is not leading a happy personal life, he would not be able to contribute to professional life. We also talk about engaging not just employees but also families.

All these and other initiatives can be supported with facebook or twitter. For any HR intervention to be successful, there needs to be buy in of the employees. Fortunately facebook and twitter are tools, which already have buyin of employees.. We just need to go online, and start engaging these guys.. Share latest happenings of your company.. Share birthday wishes.. Celebrate family occassions online.. I am sure, it would not only make your employee feel proud when on his facebook wall, he has birthday wishes from his company. But it would also help company creating better brand. Its improving your EVP(employee value proposition). Its creating your employer brand.

Ok ... so here is a mean tip... for all those mean HR guys.. Its also easy to keep a tab on the happenings of employees' life outside office... (dont take it too seriously..if your employees get to know of your mean intentions... your initiatives would back fire).

You can also read the article published in Economic Times today which talks about the hiring trends through facebook and twitter.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/facebook-twitter-are-new-hiring-hotspots/articleshow/8382598.cms