REWARDING PEOPLE IN CHALLENGING JOBS: NEW HR CHALLENGE

Submitted by:
Ashish P(11127) Brunda M(11132) Girish SD(11137) Janakishen Reddy(11142) Lijin Raj(11147) Paul Joseph(11157) Naveen Prakash(11152) Rahul MK(11162) Samrat Raha(11167) Soumya Siddharth Rout(11172) Vamsi Krishna(11177)

Defining the New Work Space

Gone are the days when work used to be calm and a peaceful affair. Todays business and professional world necessitates the work place to be an environment to be highly competitive ,fast paced and tensed. Because of the stress levels associated with such workplaces , HR policies are playing larger than before role.HR manager today, have to be on their feet to compensate ,constantly motivate and encourage such employees who are in challenging roles.

Definition of Challenging Jobs

Any job or profession can be challenging from various perspectives. Challenging Jobs can be classified on the basis of 1. Physical 2. Mental 3. Both Physical and Mental Challenging Jobs can also be classified on the basis of duration of the occurrence such as 1. Regular or Every day basis 2. Shorter Interval(few months to an year) Another classification would be on the basis of the pattern of occurrence 1. Uniform Occurrence 2. Random Or Ad-hoc People working In such categories of jobs as mentioned a bove are exposed to immense stress and fatigue and as a result they tend to fluctuate from the desired performance and job obje ctives which in turn results in reduced productivity and in the end to final breakdown. People also tend to lose their focus if they feel that their efforts are not recognized properly. Breakdowns resulting from such situation are often cascading in nature which usually starts building in the initial stages. Breakdowns can take place in various forms such as attrition, strikes and lockouts, medical problems, increasing number of errors or accidents costing the company dearly.

Factors to consider for Challenging Jobs

To prevent such disastrous effects people involved in jobs of challenging nature should be rewarded amply. This has a two - fold effect that can be proved advantageous for the company 1. The employee who is been awarded feels satisfied and will work with renewed vigor and rejuvenation.

2. Also such instances will motivate other employees to perform better and to aspire more thus leading to increase number of performers. It also sets up performance benchmarks to higher levels which the company can surely boast of. Achieving such objectives has bought in a requirement for an entirely new domain for HR management in the manner in which the can recognise and amply reward the performing employees. Also the HR management has to analyse the surroundings and the environment in which the employees work and provide them with facilities and features that will help them to su stain the dangers and negative effects that challenges of the job bring forth The various aspects the HR Management has to consider while deciding on the rewarding policy could be summarized as follows (a) Nature of rewarding policy : This implies what would be the nature of the rewards given such as monetary benefit (increased Pay, bonus),promotion,holidays,family b enefits, honouring the performer in the gathering etc (b) Periodicity of the rewarding policy : Deciding on when all to dissipate the awards ie; periodically such as quarterly, yearly or awarding at the time of performance (c) Identifying whom to reward : To decide whether to reward a single individual or an entire team (d) Also the reward given should bear a direct relation with the individual or teams satisfaction, the achievement the individual or the team has bought upon. In most cases the award should match the individuals performance . (e) The process of awarding should also be consistent with previous instances of other performances.

Some Examples of Challenging Jobs

Airport Managers -An Airport is a place which can be a haven of logistical and operational nightmares. It consist of myriad of activities such as customer management, flight despatches, luggage handling, airport maintenance, safety and security measures, air and traffic control, increase in volume of passengers, maintenance of huge airport staff etc. If any of the activities are not maintained and not synchronized with each other the entire functioning of the airport can go for toss. An airport is a typical example where challenges can be heterogeneous in nature can have situations occur at adhoc basis but can be repeated several times. Thus an Airport manger is a person who comes with loads of experience and has the uncanny ability of thinking and acting fast solving issues very fast so that the consequences do not cascade and spread for wider effects. In short

these people are nothing but expert trouble shooters and observant operational managers. People of such quality are in huge demand and are paid handsomely for their expertise. The airport managers jobs are very stressful and demanding as they have to act very fast on the occurrence of any situation at any point of time. As such the HR policy of the airport would contain packages that would enable them to work stress free.
Crane Operators at the Ports and Ship yards- A crane operator in a port is a person who would require huge skill and expertise.His/her job is a typical example where the job can be both physically demanding and mentally stressfull.The crane operator would have to work continuously depending upon the number of containers ships bring along to the port. He/she is responsible for operating the crane to lift the huge containers from the ship and transport it slowly through the mid air and do ck it properly on a vehicle or in the war ehouses which requires huge concentration and skill.People of such professions are provided with shift rotations during their jobs,better monetary packages.

Other examples of challenging jobs would be of defence personnel, medical professionals,mining and fire fighting,sales executives and call centres employees,mines and bomb detection squad etc.
Objectives/Role of HR in Challenging Jobs

1. Job Analysis of jobs challenging in nature should be exhaustively carried out.The employees handling such jobs should be explained in detail what and what not his job demands,the risks both physical and mental involved in this job,the environment and the facilities involved to sustain the job and as well as the benefits associated with such jobs.This will clear any ignorance and uncleared intuitions of the employees and would prepare him first hand for the job thus avoiding any issues in the later stage. 2. Employees handling of jobs of such nature should be monitored closely for any physical or mental signs of breakdown or fatigue.The best possible way would to probe the employees for coming out with suggestion s or complaints pertained to job ie; to install a perfect feedback system.Apart from caring the employees it also has an advant age of perfecting the working environment. 3. Invest time and money in these employees. Enhance their skills and ability by offering them training in new areas and technologies.In case of caring and understanding counselling sessions can also be advocated.In this way the employees feel that they are considered as assets of the companies that are been invested upon.Such feelings can generate employee loyality and as well as employee productivity.

4. Show appreciation. Praise good work and show employees that you value them as people. Look for incremental improvements in performance and show appreciation for the improvements. 5. Encourage team building activities such as outdoor events and group competitions. Such activities would build team work and cohesion among the employees. This would enable the employees to channel their efforts and energies together in an unified manner in a single direction thus bringing the company bountiful result as well as creating a handful of performers for the company 6. Assign short, small projects that challenge employees. Give them an assignment that stretches their abilities or requires them to learn something new. Keep the projects short and small so workers get variety in their work. You don't want to overwhelm them with their new assignments. 7. Offer your employees with new avenues and areas to explore so that they can extend their abilities .This has an added advantage both for the company and the employee in the manner that they can identify new areas of performance as well as new performers. However this has to be done carefully as the employees can consider this as a threat by perceiving it in form of moving him out from the comfortable zone of his existing job. 8. Promote and encourage your employees to involve in community base d services. This can also be considered as a part of team building activit ies. Community based Services can be of in any nature such as conduction public gatherings or exhibitions were the work nature, environment of the employees can be explained and demonstrated to the community. This has the advantage of people to know about the profession and increase interest in them to join such professions 9. Measure results. Establish performance benchmarks. The best benchmarks are ones workers can measure themselves. That way they always know where they stand. Track and publicize key indicators of the organization's performance. Remember, you get what you measure, so make sure you measure the right things. The performance measurement procedures and policies should be identified initially during the job analysis phase and conveyed to the employees during their job description. 10. If possible rotate your employees in various jobs on a temporary basis so that they do not get tired out by doing repeated and monotonous jobs. Temporarily assign them to a different team or department to work on a critical project in an area they don't like. This offers them the opportunity to learn new skills and

to apply their current skills differently. Make sure you explain to them what you are doing and why you are doing it. Take a positive approach. Show them what's in it for them and for your organization. 11. Offer new challenges. People like challenges when they believe they can meet the challenge, when management will support them in meeti ng the challenge, and when the organization will reward them appropriately for meeting the challenge

Various Modes of Rewarding Challenging Jobs

The various instruments that can be used to reward challenging job are such as 1. Monetary Benefits : Employees can have monetary benefits in various manners such as increase in monthly salary, bonuses, or payment in cash for each improvement or higher performances. 2. Promotions :Employees can be promoted to higher responsibilities combined with superior ad ministrative powers that would encourage him to work more harder . 3. Medical Benefits and Insurances: Certain jobs would require employees to work in unfavourable conditions that could have long term effects on the health of the employees. Providing them with medical benefits and insurances would help them to curb extra expenses.Sometimes these policies could also be extended to their family members also. 4. Paid Holidays and Outings 5. Providing Loans and festival extras 6. Felicitations: Highly performing employees can be felicitated in a gathering or a convention by distributing mementos and prizes in recognition for their efforts and hard work. 7. Shifts and Job Rotations: Better performing Employees can be given flexible job rotations and shift timings