Leveraging the Human Capital
The Tata Steel Group’s Vision, having been co-created by its people, speaks of creating value for all its stakeholders. It is a strong belief that this creation of value depends on the professional and personal well-being of its people. In keeping with the demands of the future, it is a strategic priority at the Tata Steel Group to be an employer of choice in every country in which the Group operates. And this requires focussed efforts to recruit, train and retain skills on an ongoing basis.
Recruitment
A good recruitment methodology demands that there is
continual emphasis on developing and improving this area.
To ensure a continued availability of a technically competent
bench strength of Engineers and Business Managers for the
future, Tata Steel’s Management Trainee programme has
recruited a large number of trainees from different premier
Institutes across India. As part of an induction process, this
group will undergo a one year development programme
before being ready to take independent responsibility in
different businesses. The focus this year has been to increase
the intake of Engineers and Business Managers through the
Pre-Placement Offer (PPO) route from the campuses to cater to
the next financial year.
The Corus graduate and apprentice recruitment programmes have also been enhanced in the last year and remain a key focus area. In the Netherlands, the Corus brand is rated as a top employer in manufacturing and in the top five amongst all companies in any segment. In the UK, the company is considered among the top 100 graduate recruiters.
Post recruitment, there is a continued effort at staying in touch with employees to ensure that there is the right culture to engage them in performance improvement. Employee surveys will be continued on a consistent basis through the coming year.
Training and Development
Employee Training and Development received a major thrust
with larger numbers of employees making use of e-learning
facilities available on the Company’s Intranet which was
facilitated by Computer Literacy training imparted to hundreds
of employees in the recent past. Apart from several proprietary
e-learning courses, employees are being encouraged to learn
on their own using Computer Based Training packages and
Multimedia training materials.
Safety training received special attention based on the DuPont guidelines. These skill and safety training programmes will continue during the next year covering greater numbers.
With a view to further improve the process of identification of skill gaps, there is a plan in place to introduce a technical competency assessment system for all employees in the Company. Simultaneously, it is also proposed to augment the training resources including faculty support which would facilitate upgradation of technical capability of employees.
With the continuing expansion of capacities at the existing units as well as installation of capacities via greenfield projects, one of the key challenges is to upgrade the skills and improve the mix of workers and supervisors. The Company continued its endeavours for up-skilling employees through process based, on the job training and diploma courses through premium engineering institutes.
In order to bring in greater focus in Training and Development of Executives the training process has been re-engineered towards Directed Learning in order to align the learning initiatives with the twin strategic imperatives of strengthening the leadership pipeline coupled with emerging needs of growth projects across geographies.
In addition, Customised Training programmes in the functional areas of Project Management, Contract Management, Financial Management, Commercial Taxes, Supply Chain Management, and Marketing and Sales Management have been developed.
Industrial Relations
There are well-established and effective arrangements at
each business location in all the Group’s operations for
communication and consultation with Works Councils and
Trade Union representatives. The Group has good relationships
with trade unions and employee representatives and views
these relationships as contributing positively to the success of
the business.
To provide career and growth opportunities in the unionised category, in May 2007, Tata Steel announced the creation of a new impact level, IL6 among the officers. Since then, about 219 workmen have been selected and placed in different divisions across the company.
As a result of the company’s continued focus on good industrial relations, the employee strength in the unionised sphere came down from 33,275 to 31,896 during FY 2007-08.
Planning & Talent Management
To facilitate cross fertilisation amongst its various international
operations, Tata Steel provides its people with international
exposure and exchange learning missions. High Potential
officers and Research and Development professionals are
selected for short-term assignments in Corus, UK.
To further enhance performance, the Company’s Performance Improvement Teams, focussed on technical best practice transfer, have continued to show the value of knowledge networks within the company to drive performance improvement. These practices contribute to the increasing rate of productivity and quality improvements demonstrated by the company over the last year.
Leadership Development
The Tata Steel Group continues to invest in the development of
leadership, managerial and technical capabilities through both
formal programmes, coaching and on the job training.
During the last year, the company had engaged a leading consultant to develop a Leadership Appreciation Process and sequently conduct ‘Development Centres’ for the Senior Management Level (IL2s). As a second step towards the Leadership Appreciation Process, there is also a similar process for identification and development of High Potential IL3s, which is the next level of Management after IL2s.
For the following year, various options are being explored for external partnering with the best-in-class Management Institutes in India and overseas for expert faculty to deliver high-end executive development programmes.
Several programmes on Project Management are conducted on an ongoing basis, that focus on requisite tools like PERT/ CPM and MS-Project for executives involved in growth projects. Additionally, a three module ‘Finance Gurukul’ programme for executives in Finance and Accounts and Corporate Audit was conducted on advanced financial management concepts and tools in a globalised business scenario.
A specially designed Business Programme was conducted in January for officers who have been seconded to Corus UK, in order to sensitise them to the cross-cultural issues and prepare them for their assignments in UK. Similar programmes were also conducted for officers of ITS, who were sent to Tata Steel Group companies on various business assignments.
Compensation Benchmarking
Having always focussed on people as the key resources, fair
compensation has been an area of importance. A market based
benchmarking of compensation is undertaken to ensure that
Tata Steel remains employer of choice in all the countries in
which it operates.
Inclusive Growth
Believing that a happy workforce is a productive workforce,
the Tata Steel Group has always extended its support to the
extended community in which their workforce lives and
operates. Through various programmes that include making
available jobs to extended communities, to vocational training
that generates employment, Tata Steel has extended its family
to beyond its immediate employees.
The well-being of employees also extends to nurturing and fostering extra curricular skills that allow a more enriched life. Towards this end, Tata Steel has put into practice many events and programmes that involve the families of employees. Sports days, social events, contests for children, education opportunities, celebrating festivals together are some of the initiatives that have become a way of life at Tata Steel. Such initiatives have proven to create not only an enduring loyalty amongst employees, but also enabled them to have a more fulfilled life.
