Better People Analytics

“We have charts and graphs to back us up. So f*** off.” New hires in Google’s people analytics department began receiving a laptop sticker with that slogan a few years ago, when the group probably felt it needed to defend its work. Back then people analytics—using statistical insights from employee data to make talent management decisions—was still a provocative idea with plenty of skeptics who feared it might lead companies to reduce individuals to numbers. HR collected data on workers, but the notion that it could be actively mined to understand and manage them was novel—and suspect.

Today there’s no need for stickers. More than 70% of companies now say they consider people analytics to be a high priority. The field even has celebrated case studies, like Google’s Project Oxygen, which uncovered the practices of the tech giant’s best managers and then used them in coaching sessions to improve the work of low performers. Other examples, such as Dell’s experiments with increasing the success of its sales force, also point to the power of people analytics.

But hype, as it often does, has outpaced reality. The truth is, people analytics has made only modest progress over the past decade. A survey by Tata Consultancy Services found that just 5% of big-data investments go to HR, the group that typically manages people analytics. And a recent study by Deloitte showed that although people analytics has become mainstream, only 9% of companies believe they have a good understanding of which talent dimensions drive performance in their organizations.

Source: HBR Nov-Dec,2018

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Children's Day : A tribute to childhood

Children are like precious gems

Children are adorable. They are like divine gifts that parents get from the almighty. Their eyes are full of innocence. They smile when they receive love and admiration, they cry when it is their first day at school away from their parents, they giggle when they mingle with their buddies, and they signify nothing but the pure and faithful love. They truly symbolise god.

The values and disciplines learned as a child are responsible for the kind of adulthood one has. Thus childhood is special and should be celebrated. Children's Day is to remind all young and adults about children's right to enjoy their childhood without any boundaries and to be educated adult in the future. Children's Day is to revise the right methods of raising children.

Children's Day
Children's Day celebration is the tribute to childhood. Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future. We cannot hide the fact that many children in India are not getting basic privileges like education. Many children are earning money instead of playing with toys. The true essence of children's day is to understand the significance of childhood in our lives.

Children's Day is celebrated on 14 November, on the birthday of the first Prime Minister of independent India, who was fondly called Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru) or Chachaji (Uncle), and who emphasized the importance of giving love and affection to children, to give him tribute. After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 27 May 1964, it was unanimously decided to celebrate his birthday as Bal Diwas or Children's Day in India.  The day emphasises on the importance of giving love, attention and affection to children. “The children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country,” said Nehru.

Prior to this, much like other countries, Children’s Day was celebrated on November 20, that is the Universal Children’s Day as declared by the United Nations.

Children's Day celebration

On this day, many schools organize fun activities for students such as games, competitions, museum or zoo visits etc. Additionally, government and non government organizations, NGOs, private bodies and others (like housing societies) conduct a variety of competitions as well as events for children to let them know about their rights and make them happy and cheerful. TV channels also air interesting programs for children on 14 November. Parents take part in this event very enthusiastically to make their children happy – they distribute sweets and/or greeting cards to their kids, go on picnics, and in general enjoy the day with their children.

If you have never failed you have never lived

We start this post with an video which shows an important aspect of life failure, Please go through the video...

Success and failure are two sides of the coin known as life If you have never failed you have never lived. Life is a learning process, we succeed and we fail, and we learn from our failures.

Napoleon Hill, one of America’s first and greatest writers on the topic of success, said:  “One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.”

The antidote?  Patience and perseverance … regardless of the obstacles in your path.

Lets analyse some other aspects of Failure

Failing at something does not mean you are a failure

Steve Jobs reflected on this when he said in 2005: “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”

On inventing the incandescent light bulb Thomas Edison said: “I didn’t fail 10,000 times, I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Oprah was fired as anchor in Baltimore’s WJZ-TV because she was supposedly too emotionally invested in news stories, and therefore labeled “unfit for television news.” This led her to a role on a daytime TV show, People Are Talking.

Someone’s inability to see your brilliance is not failure

Did you know that at the age of 22, Walt Disney was fired from the Kansas City Star (a Missouri newspaper) because “he lacked creativity and imagination and had no good ideas.” It certainly took courage for Walt Disney to continue to pursue their dream after that prescription.

Thomas Edison was home schooled because his elementary school teacher told him he was “too stupid to learn anything.”

Rejection is not failure

Walt Disney was rejected over 300 times by bankers who thought his idea of Mickey Mouse was ridiculous.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was rejected by publishers about 27 times before Dr. Seuss was on the shelves.

It have been seen that the greatest achievements in history were all made possible by a pioneers, trailblazers, inventors, explorers, creatives that did not stop believing and had the courage to pursue their dreams against all odds.

They ultimately achieved great success by viewing defeat as a temporary state and responding with tenacity, hard work and an abiding faith in themselves. 

The Big Billion well-being: Caring for employees during festive season

From laughter yoga to stand up comedy, ecommerce firms go to great lengths to ensure the well being of their employees during the crucial festive season sales.

The festive season saw the launch of Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon India's Great Indian Festival Sale this month. While millions of Indians went on a shopping spree for millions of things, ecommerce players were on another kind of spree-a hiring spree to service the festive season demand.

Flipkart added 30,000 direct jobs in its supply chain and logistics arm and estimated its seller partners to have added an estimated 5 lakh plus indirect jobs at their locations. Meanwhile, Amazon India also expanded its teams and makes way for over 50,000 seasonal employees. The seasonal jobs have been created for all its network of fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations and customer service sites in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune, and others.

Keeping the fervor high and the enthusiasm up in those high-pressure days is not an easy task for these organizations. How do they motivate and energize their employee during these crucial days to keep up the momentum during these crucial days?

Flipkart becomes a second home to its employees during Big Billion Days

While the new staff gets trained in supply-chain processes, in line with the government’s National Skill Development Mission, for Flipkart and its sellers, the Big Billion Days mean extensive preparation, seller trainings, infrastructure scale-ups and hiring, raising flex warehouses and checking system resilience for peak traffic hours. 

For the older thousands of employees, Flipkart’s Bengaluru headquarters becomes a second home to its employees. Because those five days entail hundreds of hours put in, sleepless nights at spontaneous war rooms, and long brainstorm sessions. The best way to keep the momentum going is to ensure that everyone is well taken care of, well fed, and well rested.

 

Since the sheer scale of an event like this means round-the-clock work for many at Flipkart, Flipkart goes the extra mile to ensure the well-being of its employees. 

Midnight snacks to Standup comedy-all @office

 In such high-pressure days, food should be the last thing people worry about. Flipkart arranges for 24x7 tuckshops across the three buildings of its headquarters and breakfast, lunch and dinner is on the house. Late night cravings for a biscuit or a much-needed caffeine boost-midnight snacks are there to help with both. Not only this, to celebrate victories and make memories, cake, and wine are also on the house through the days.

 From bedding to bunker rooms, the ecommerce giant also takes care of the sleep requirements of its employees. Those in need of stress-busting can choose between massage chairs, Zumba, gaming zones, or a quick pick-up game of basketball on the roof. Flipkart even arranged for a stand-up comedy session from Vaibhav Sethia, along with cotton candy and live music. In addition, employees can even participate in on-the-floor games to unwind a little.

Meanwhile, to ensure employees’ safety during this crucial and high-pressure time, there are ambulances on site at all times along with organized late night drops, security guards and escorts for female employees.

 For the organizations, the Big Billion Days bring out the best of working at Flipkart.

Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO Flipkart aptly sums this up, “We work and come together like a family for these five days, deal with challenges together, lean-in while ensuring everything goes smoothly. There are times when it feels like a big party and times when it feels like a high-level strategic meeting, but we’re all in it together, with the same goal.”

 For Amazon, associate experience is the key

 For Amazon, which has created more than 50,000 seasonal positions across its India network of fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations and customer service sites this festive season, the associate experience is key to Amazon. Which is why it emphasizes on recognizing and appreciating their work in enabling a great experience to our customers.

 Hiring is done basis a thorough-check of the candidate’s background, while also ensuring that the candidates hired are 18 years and above. To train the seasonal associates, the ecommerce giant conducts a day-long classroom training program that focuses on helping them develop requisite operational skills that help them perform their role better. Amazon employs a plethora of tools to train its associates spread across the country, which includes content and videos in regional languages focusing on formal customer interaction etiquettes, grooming, safety and overall delivering a positive customer experience.

Just as through the year, it has customized recognition programs at its fulfilment centres, sortation centres and delivery stations recognizing its associates and their contributions to the delivery experience, similarly during the busy festive season, there are a number of engagement programs for the associates that keep the energy high and enable them to have fun while at work. These could be games, music and entertainment, poster making competitions, face painting, and thank you cards to name a few.

Laughter yoga to the rescue

With employees putting in extra efforts during Great Indian Festival, the company makes sure there is no compromise on health. In order to do this, recreation activities such as Desk Yoga, Pranayama and Laughter Yoga are extensively promoted. These are specifically designed to act as stress busters and help employees keep their body and mind healthy. Employees are also encouraged to do head to toe stretches that can be done while being on the desk itself that instantly helps release the tension built in the muscles and joints because of lack of physical movement throughout the day. 

With an intense and busy environment all around the workplace, Amazon motivates its employees to stay happy and free their mind of unnecessary stress through Laughter Yoga. During these stressful days, Amazon falls back on these age old practices to ensure productivity and maintain an employee friendly environment. So while the two giants rough it out in the battlefield to delight their million customers, they also ensure that they take care of their thousands of employees in the festive season.

With the onset of festival season, People Matters brings you a series of articles based on massive hiring in ecommerce. Stay tuned for the next article in this series.

Source: People matters