Candidates renegading on Job Offers

Quite a few of us may have faced this problem some time or the other where we extend an offer to a candidate, wait for 30-90 days for him or her to join because of their notice period only to be told at the penultimate day or a few days before their expected joining that the candidate is unable to join because he's got another offer or has been retained by the current company. More than the effort going waste, we also feel bad of being used in the process for the employees gain. Honestly we also do that often with our own employees when they present their resignation.

When this happens our expressions reflect a lot of frustration...I have heard comments of companies wanting to write to their present employer about their behaviour...as if it would matter, in fact they would be most happy. I have also heard a suggestion of informing his references about his inappropriate conduct; some also feel the need to take action against the employee and if not anything else give the candidate a piece of their mind on their unethical conduct.

Undoubtedly such behavior is most unnerving and can also have an adverse impact on plans and programs. This has happened to me often at Bluesky and I have tried my share of experiments to mitigate such possibilities.

I finally think I have derived a fairly effective way of ensuring a compliance to the offer and minimize the risk of back outs. I deliberately use the word minimize the risk and not eliminate the risk...

We have devised a way such that the candidate provides us with a Post dated cheque equivalent to an amount that is pre-decided and linked to the assignment and compensation.
The PDC is a security to ensure that the candidate joins and if he/she renegades, the cheque would be encashed.

Of course documentation is needed to manage this but all I can say this works far better than other options and alternatives. However if a candidate is willing to offer t you a PDC it reflects his/her seriousness of joining which is most important rather than the value of the PDC.

At the outset this action looks unprofessional, unethical, bad for company image etc. Well there is fair merit in those expressions too but if one isn't fine with such back out and where the stakes are high, one needs to think out of the box. After all in business what matters is what works and right now this is working.


P.S-I was passive in between due to some exigencies but commit to being more active. Please feel free to express on the blog

Regards

Don

Digitization in HR...HR is no longer joining formalities, final settlements and payroll processes

Pick a resume of any HR professional with an experience base of 1-5 years and invariably you will observe that the experience is inundated with trivial operational matters like joining formalities, master trackers, final settlements, induction, payroll and recruitment coordination.

While some of these tasks are essential and needed to be performed , the real problem is in this being the end in itself. Most of these HR professionals do not know much beyond this elementary work and hence are unable to provide solid value adds to the companies they advise.

Fortunately at Bluesky all these mundane tasks are handled by our in-house HRIS software called Bluebuddy which is introduced free of cost to our clients. Bluebuddy is more of a decision making support system for HR and CEO's informing you of the strategic decisions needed to be taken and also simultaneously relieving the HR professional of the operational chores.

Digitization in HR is finding great favour and initially while it focuses more on the operational chores like payroll and compliance's, going forward it would focus on aspects like talent pool, competency development and performance system.

SMB's do not have heavy budgets for HR and the budgets that they can expend get consumed in hiring HR professionals that relegate themselves doing such base level work leaving them with no time to handle the crux of HR challenges. In fact SMB's need support systems and advisory services on talent acquisition, accountability of people, measuring systems, compensation aligned with performance and talent depth.

I wonder if the present HR set of professionals are able to fill in these shoes...

Everyone wants to go to Heaven but no one wants to Die....

Some time back I heard the above phrase from a Priest at a Sunday mass during his sermon. . The statement left a deep impact when I relate this to SMB’s. Every entrepreneur want to scale but no one wants to change!!

Most CEO’s of mid growing enterprises are excited and ambitious of the next level Growth but unfortunately are not ready to retire their present set of practices and methods of doing things to achieve results. Many imply, though not explicit-that let’s continue with these practices and still make it to the next level. Often the situation is more of bad habits dying hard. They believe that should change but just don’t find the resolve and urgency to adapt to the environment and systems that are aligned with next level growth. Those that demonstrate the rigor to change generally see results but that too after significant patience because such changes do not bring instant results. Often entrepreneurs  have limited tenacity and patience and the first sign of results not forthcoming is a good enough reason to revert to the previous system. Such approaches are regressive and slow down a Company’s growth momentum and at times even dwarf them to a size that they are unable to breach. In such cases a competent and experienced HR function or a change agent in the form of a Coach can help such corporations move forward from such a inflexion point.

Entrepreneur, managing Human Resource for the Mid-SME Sector : Blue Sky...

Article in ET 8th March 2013

Article featuring Bluesky on women representation in power sector

Compensation increases rationalized

Most HR professionals would hear a common candidate echo mentioning a 30% increase when asked on compensation expectations. While this may have been relevant and the trend a few years back. It has now lost its significance to the extent that any candidate asking for such increases in today's times raises a question on the judgement and practicality of the candidate in question. There is an increasing number of candidates that are available at their present compensation and a trickle of those ready to join even less than what they presently earn. Changing times...