Q. From HR’s point of view, what are the probable challenges that we face in the government sector and what are the solutions to them?
A. If we talk of challenges, there are certain alignment issues which can apply anywhere and not just the government sector specifically.
There is lack of alignment between employees and the organisation. It is important for employees to know the basic reason behind the organisation’s existence. At the same time, employees must be able to relate their job with what the organisation actually does.
The next challenge we see is how the senior leaders translate and communicate in terms of what is going well and what is not. They must follow a transparent path to do this.
The third challenge is the need for an effective governing system, which talks about the failures and achievements regularly. Today, various organisations do special initiatives and run programmes to make their communication sytem better. If we are able to align these things in a better way, a lot of our problems can be sorted.
Q. As an HR leader, do you feel that the potential of employees is underutilised in the government sector?
A. It is not always that an employee is underexploited in the government sector. In fact, the people in the government sector are of high skill set due to stringent recruitment system. But at the same time, if those three challenges (mentioned in the first answer) are not taken care of, anyone with skills can be lost in the system.
Q. How can we create a better culture in the government set-up to promote productivity?
A. To ensure better culture that leads to productivity and efficiency, most HR heads always look into current problems facing the employees. By looking at the employee value proposition, one can always have a better environment for the workforce.
As an organisation, it is important to recognise what have you set up for the employees and why should work be meaningful to them. As a leader, one should be able to look ahead and set targets for the organisation. Accordingly, one should be able to build those skills in employees to achieve those targets.
Q. What are the HR strengths of private sector?
A. In private sector, we constantly aspire to work keeping in mind the future. We build programmes keeping the needs of employees in focus, where we even show them the impact of their everyday work. People in the private sector want to constantly learn. Work and life here is very much integrated. The HR is able to manage through multiple benefit programmes, flexible working, technology, smart phones, internet connectivity and much more. There are companies that give employees 20 per cent of their working hours for individual growth in their areas of interest.
In comparison to the government sector, HR in the private sector has a more evolved role where it is not just a monitoring or policy-making body, but a strong support function too.
Q. Why do you think the government sector is unable to break this challenge and come out as a more evolved set-up?
A. I feel the reason behind this is the lack of management in the department functions. The government sector is also unable to utilise technology, the way it is being done in the private sector. Another reason is lack of alignment in the organisation.
Q. Is there a best practice that can generate good results in the government sector too?
A. Two-way communication is the best practice that can really help the government sector improve. It makes employees feel empowered and motivates them to contribute towards the growth of the organisation.
Many organisations in the private sector communicate through blogs and social networks, which serves as an easy way to reach out to a large spectrum of employees across different functions and locations.
Q. Do you think people with government sector experience make for a better HR professional in a private set-up?
A. In the government sector, people get to experience large scale and long-term projects, where they interact with a lot of people. So this skill is definitely worth having and also serves as a benefit to work in the private sector.
Q. Notwithstanding tedious systems and red tape in the government set-up, what can an HR professional do to bring about a positive change?
A. It is not always that an HR professional faces all these challenges. At times we do need approvals, but that does not mean that our hands are tied. It would be a failure for an HR professional to operate with this kind of mindset. You can always do your best everyday. HR is not an isolated department. It is the heart of business; it participates in business functions and interacts with employees on a regular basis. This is how one needs to take one’s job as an HR professional.
Q. Given a chance to head the HR function of a complex government department, what will your three focus areas be?
A. My first area of focus will be to understand what the business is all about, where I can know about its set up and its expected deliveries. Clarity on all these things will help me to get an insight into the way things are to be done.
My second area of focus will be to identify the changes that I want to bring in and the skills required for its delivery. After that, I would want to build a trustworthy, transparent and an open culture for employees.
