Honor among thieves???

Frankly there's nothing to the title of the post, but then it was the first thing that came to my mind when I sat down to write on this.

So when two former bitter rivals sit together for a conversation about the future of the Computer industry, sparks will fly. Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist and Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, sit for a fireside chat at MIX'08. The result is a lot of fun as well as a lot of insight...

Guy asks the right kind of questions and Steve answers with each one of them with excited clarity....

So here's the link to the actual video. It was on the Microsoft site, so you would have to install Microsoft Silverlight..... but it was really worth it.... after all, you can uninstall it later!! So if you want the Silverlight version, here it is!!

Watch out for the point where, right at the start, Guy calls Steve and Microsoft "racists" for not hiring him in 1987!!! That's classic Guy!!!! And then Steve tries to almost "destroy" Guy's new Macbook Air..............

I guess old habits die hard, even with age!!!!

Oh, and Steve supposedly gives out his supposed "official" email id for the record!!! And Guy eggs him to give out his phone number as well!!! Watch out for that, just in case you get the blue screen on your Windows machine!!

Accessible HR for the H!!!

I was discussing "work life" with a friend over coffee and he brought up a very peculiar practice in his organization.

Apparently the HR department of his organization was placed in a secured cubicle room in the building. Few employees, if any, had access to this secured cubicle enclosure.... which evidently made use of state-of-the-art electronic access methods.

So each time my friend needed some help with HR, eventually he was supposed to address this on the phone or if the matter needed the "physical presence" (sic) of the HR person, he was supposed to reach the place and call the HR person out of the enclosure.

This reminded me of a strange business model that banks had, where you would be charged each time you used the services of a human teller at the bank. Another reason I kept my money with the nationalized banks.... after all, I hate to be restricted to finite options of machines.....

But that's digressing from my point. Eventually Human Resources is a function to manage the Human Capital of an organization. Restricting access to the HR department is similar to not allowing the Materials Manager into the stockroom, or maybe not allowing the Finance Manager to touch the Account Books.

Perhaps the HR department was inundated with multiple queries about trivialities like "Where do I get the company transport?", "What is my PF number??" [PF is akin to 401k in India] or during appraisal time, when that million dollar question is repeated a thousand times: "When are the raises being announced??".

But the solution for that is definitely not putting HR in solitary confinement. Companies would rather do well by checking whether there is a discrepancy with the policy or processes by which these trivial issues are addressed in the organization. If a trivial query continues to arise with clockwork regularity, there is a good chance that the issue has not been addressed adequately enough in the process implementations, inductions, knowledge sharing sessions, HR orientations etc. that companies do as part of their onboarding or employee engagement initiatives.

The fallout of this, as I see it, will be a sure disconnect that employees of a company will develop with the organization. Sooner than later, employees will consider HR as an ornament, who comes in and organizes the occasional party or off-site outing..... and that possibly the only sensible way to solve a problem that genuinely requires HR intervention, like a coworker conflict or harassment, would be to QUIT.

Just like a bank that offers me lousy service, I'll just take my business elsewhere!!!!

So much for talent retention..........