BUSINESS TODAY

Is it true that PSU employees would jump to the private sector at the very first opportunity? It's an interesting time to ask, because private enterprise is getting active and human resource-hungry in sector after sector once dominated by the public sector. Oil, power, telecom, steel... even ports, now. There must be an exodus on, right? Guess what, you'd be surprised how PSUs are managing to retain talent.

The temptations are for real. An assistant manager at sail, India's big state-owned steelmaker, took a sabbatical to join a Chicago-based it firm in 2002. His pay? Seven times. By the end of 2003, however, he was back to his old PSU employer. Why? It's a better deal overall.

Don't look now, the PSUs are changing. For one, they've realised how vulnerable they are to private sector raids. Says headhunter Atul Vohra, Managing Partner, Transearch India, "Private players are receptive to hiring talent from PSUs because they're well trained and have a wealth of knowledge." The PSUs are responding to the threat, too. At ONGC, the country's largest oil producer, for example, the focus is on asset management. This includes people. "This has brought about multi-tasking, clarity of role responsibility and accountability-which is now coupled with appropriate empowerment," explains A.K. Balyan, Director (HR), ONGC. There is greater flexibility now across functions, he adds, and the officers have more say in the decision-making process. The upshot: stronger job satisfaction.

Some of the credit, surely, must go to the strong signal from the Ministry of Disinvestment: business units are business units. Regardless of ownership, they have to get themselves into shape for a competitive future-like any other private sector organisation.

Indian Oil, according to P.K. Agarwal, Director (hr), "...offers its senior people a high level of delegation of powers for decision-making". Not just that, "variable pay has also been introduced to encourage and recognise merit". Job rotation is the other experiment that has proved invaluable. "We expose high performers to development programs like 'Cutting Edge', and 'Threshold'," says Agarwal, "as well as encourage participation in national and global seminars and training programs." With Indian Oil subsidiaries in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, overseas assignments are up for the taking too.

Meanwhile, Indian Oil claims to be turning competitive on salaries-which when added to the welter of other benefits, constitutes a compelling proposition. Accommodation, medical facilities, superannuation scheme and conveyance, put it all together in cost-to-the-system terms, and "it will be among the best in the industry", claims Agarwal.

According to S.A. Narayan, Director (HR), BPCL, the public sector has always been strong on non-monetary incentives. "We have a range of benefits not just at the top, but right down to the workman level," he says, claiming a BPCL person will always be a BPCL person. The healthcare package, for example, "even extends post retirement".

Churn rates at PSUs are lower than you'd think. At power major, NTPC, for example, it's claimed to be under a percentage point-though K.K. Sinha, Director (HR), admits that the deregulation of the 1990s had seen the figure hit 3 per cent per annum. The company's retention programme is led by an elaborate social security cover-insurance, post-retirement medical benefits, housing, children's education and more. Operational empowerment is next.

Are PSUs moving fast enough? Not all of them, by the look of things. Ronesh Puri, managing partner of search firm Executive Access, still sees PSU talent as vulnerable to private sector swoop-ins. In the next 12-14 months, he warns, "the attrition levels in the PSUs will be three to four times higher".

It's a matter, mainly, of competition and its intensity (or lack thereof). Take the aviation sector, for instance, which has been through more than one exodus-to-the-private-sector-and has now attained stability. Jitendra Bhargava, Director (hr), Air-India, speaks of "an unwritten code of ethics" by which "one cannot poach pilots unless there is a no-objection certificate from the previous employer".

It's good news that the tools of employee retention at India's many PSUs-and there are many, having risen from just five in the first Five Year Plan to some 234 by 2001-have started getting aligned with the actual financial objectives of the organisations.

But still, the legacy isn't disappearing anytime soon. India has some 2 million PSU employees, and huge sums have been spent developing townships, not just housing enclaves, for them. Care to hazard a guess on the expenditure incurred by the PSUs in the year 2000 on township maintenance and social expenditure alone? Rs 4,000 crore.

Corporate CEOs are celebrities these days-their TV impression counts. Not just what they speak. Even what they wear. That spells opportunity for wardrobe consultants. "Good background in design, exposure, taste and a sense of style, essentially, make for an able wardrobe consultant," says Bangalore-based Prasad Bidapa, the stylist advising Vijay Mallya on balancing his corporate persona with his newfound zest for politics. What sort of money can you make? Top consultants could expect as much as 30 per cent of the wardrobe budget. But it's not easy money. "You could either receive accolades, or all the flak," as designer Raghvendra Rathore puts it, "The huge risk involved mandates one to be vigilant and aware all the while."

I am a Short Service Commissioned officer serving the Signals wing of the Indian Army. My term ends five years from now in 2009. I chose to join the Army despite being a qualified engineer with job offers from several companies, including MNCs, because it has been the tradition in my family to do so. But now, I'm worried about my future once my term ends. Will there be enough career opportunities for me in the corporate world? And is there a way by which I could get absorbed in the Army itself? How secure is my future?

Adjusting to a shift from the defence services to a civilian career has always been difficult. You need to make up your mind right now whether you want to continue in the Army or start all over again at the end of your service term. If you enjoy your tenure with the Army, you should take up the matter with your seniors at the appropriate moment. If you feel you could do better in the corporate world, you would do well to prepare a list of the sectors where your engineering degree could come in useful. You should go in for refresher courses that will help you keep abreast of your specialised area so that you remain employable.

I am a 30-year-old hardware engineer running my own computer sales and service business in Delhi for the last six years. However, unhealthy competition among the hardware dealers has badly crippled my business. It has become difficult for me to stay afloat. My finances don't permit me to invest in the trade beyond a year or two without getting positive returns. Please advise.

If you want to stay in business, you should consider diversifying into areas other than hardware. You could try getting into computer or telecom parts, or for that matter, venture into new areas altogether. If you do not want the risks that come with running a business, you could take up a job with a hardware firm since you are a qualified engineer. Remember, however, that competition is something you have to face in all walks of life. So quitting isn't such a good option. Consider the options I mentioned earlier only if you feel that things are totally out of control and that you would never be able to survive as an entrepreneur.

I work as a tea taster with a leading company in the tea sector. I have recently developed an illness that has left my taste buds insensitive. It has become difficult for me to differentiate between different flavours. My employers have been kind to me so far and have given me time to recuperate. But I fear I've lost my tasting ability for good. What should I do?

There is no need for you to jump to the conclusion that you have lost your ability to taste for good when you haven't got an authoritative medical opinion that it is so. You could consult a good doctor and get yourself treated. In any case, since your company is being kind to you, ask them for a transfer to another department if what you fear turns out to be true. With skills only as a tea taster, moving to a different job in an unrelated company would be difficult. Your present employer is your best bet for such a change in assignment.

I am a 33-year-old middle-level executive working with a tyre company and am in charge of regional sales. Recently, the company signed a big contract with an MNC based abroad. The contract requires us to be the sole manufacturer for the MNC. The focus of my company, therefore, has undergone a drastic change. It is not the rupee but the greenback that the promoter is interested in now. He is also planning to do away with the domestic sales division and focus only on servicing this foreign client. I have no experience or expertise in manufacturing and, therefore, am sure to lose my job. Am I a victim of outsourcing?

You are not a victim-just a person caught in changing business circumstances. Thinking of oneself as a victim is a bad way to escape the reality. The company obviously found it more profitable to manufacture for the MNC than to sell in the domestic market. Besides, people often lose jobs due to recession, competition, unprofitable business and a host of other circumstances. The point is to focus on what you need to do to face the challenge. Since you have already anticipated the possibility of losing your job, you can start looking for a sales job with a consumer durables firm. Given your experience and selling skills, it should not be difficult for you to find one.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055.

Learning is the most outsourcable," declares Senior Vice President Nicholas George of Knowledge Solutions Business. His company outsources teaching assignments to colleges and polytechnics in the US-and wonders why not further ashore. After all, technology makes satellite-hooked remote teaching more than just possible.

Of course, it all began with e-learning. And the trend here, lately, has been the use of advanced technology to simulate "real-life situation" classes, says George. In other words, it's getting closer to the BPO model that has become so popular. Except that it's properly qualified teachers in operation here, not some late night accent manipulators. But surely, some of the skills must overlap. And they do. "it skills with good communication is required, and of course knowledge of the subject is a prerequisite," says Vivek Agarwal, part of the core team of Liqvid, an e-learnings outfit that's trying to scale itself to global proportions. In all, the phenomenon is likely to be slower in taking off than call centers, but it could prove a valuable source of global jobs in times to come.

-Amanpreet Singh

Blade Runners
Fancy working on roller-blades? It cuts stress.

Spin n' roll: A cool way to steer clear of workplace fatigue

Gontermann-peipers is one strange place to work. Not because you'll never get friends to pronounce it right. But because you had jolly well get used to people gliding about the Nalagarh plant of this L.N. Mittal-owned textile company on roller skates-weaving their way through the spindles (of which there are a lakh in a single room).

The big idea? Enhanced productivity. Skates have been in use ever since the plant started operating in 1997. Explains Y.S. Guleria, Assistant GM, HRD, "Nearly 40 per cent of our staff moves on skates, and the rollers just rid the fatigue factor in this huge room where one worker is put through multi-tasking." The 107-acre facility has just 1,250 employees-80 per cent of them trained to skate with requisite agility. There are three shifts a day, and some 330 people zipping about the premises to get their part of the task done.

Are workers pleased? Oh yes. Ask Ramji Verma from the housekeeping department, daring about with a broom. "I can accomplish cleaning this area in two minutes," he beams, pointing to a large blue Toyota spindle section, "what would otherwise have taken me five."

-Moinak Mitra