A Laymans Guide to "Thanksgiving"

I wrote this to my sister-in-law after receiving her invitation to a Thanksgiving bhajan evening at her place a couple of weeks ago. Thought you might enjoy it!

Jyoti,


We’ll definitely try and be there if only for a short time.

Just so’s the rest of the family unnerstans a bit more about this here “Thanksgivin”, I thawt I’d give ma version of the his-story of this innerestin American festival!

So there are these 100 odd rather puritanical Brits who were dead set against the Church of England and it’s debauched ways. So one day, they decided to head off to this magical place they’d heard of from previous settlers called the New World. (I really don’t know what Huxley was thinking of - trying to create his perfect world nearly 300 years later – didn’t he read history?) Anyway, so these Brits set off and completely by mistake, they first hit the Netherlands across the channel, thinking to themselves that they’d reached rather quickly. When they learned of their mistake, in pique they grabbed some easily subdued Dutch people and sailed off in the other direction.

After a terrible journey with no air-conditioning or even toilets, they finally hit a big rock which they christened Plymouth, out of respect for the tiny little island that they’d left behind.
They got off the rock and immediately tried their hands at communism, which hadn’t been invented at the time, a fact that did not seem to worry them unduly. They improvised. They decreed (decreeing was big in those days – people never just decided things, they decreed and in some cases proclaimed them) that all the surrounding land was hereby communal property and each man should work as much as he wanted and take as much as he needed. Yeah, right! That has the hallmark of a winning strategy! That’s like telling US Auto workers to decide their own work hours and salaries – whoops. That’s what they did for the past couple of decades, didn’t they? Anyway, just like a dude called Marx many years later, they failed. (Yet another example of how people could learn from the mistakes of their forefathers if they only spent some time reading). More than half of them died of starvation and disease and if it hadn’t been for some native Indians who, after curiously observing them for nearly a year in open mouthed astonishment, decided to help. So they shook hands and taught these strange people how to farm the land and tend to their sick. This worked and by the next harvesting time, there was enough food for everyone and some left over.

Now here is where there is a minor divergence of views on historical facts. Some good people say that in sheer happiness, the Brits proclaimed a great feast to which these very Indians were invited to celebrate and break bread with them in a spirit of “let’s all learn to share and live in complete harmony”. Some others, obviously ‘bad’ people however, rather rudely claim that having learnt how to farm the land and use native medicine, the Brits decided to eliminate the Indians so that they wouldn’t have to share the land any more. So they massacred the entire tribe and then a great feast was proclaimed to celebrate the elimination of competition.

Either way – you get the picture. Proclamations and celebrations are common to both views, so why quibble the details?

And by the way, all this happened in August for the first time following a harvest but subsequent US President’s sequentially changed it to November, declared it a holiday, struck the holiday and then again declared it a public holiday to be held on the fourth Thursday of November. (By this time declarations of various kinds had become popular, replacing the antiquated decrees and proclamations which were thought to be a mite feudal).

So ther’y’are folks! That’s the reel story of Thanksgivin for ya. Hope yo’all enjoyed it and will show up to share the celebrations even though you are Indians!

Sanjiv Desai
Senior Partner

TRANSEARCH INDIA
A-10, Sanskrit Bhawan
Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi - 110 067, India

Tel: +91 11 4105 1234 (Board) / 4168 9020 (Direct)
Fax: +91 11 4101 7770

sdesai@transearchindia.com
www.transearchindia.com


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Is Your Company Losing The Right People

India Attrition Study 2008
The Game Plan for HR Professionals

Attrition can never be wished away. One can reduce it to the right level. But what is even more important is – are you losing the right people.

The study of attrition by PeopleStrong and Business Today has thrown some interesting data. Since the study covered 59 companies in 8 industry sectors across India, for the first time, we have comprehensive data on attrition. Until now, each company had only its own data, since others would shy away from sharing theirs.

But, we now have the benefit of seeing some trends that could be used to make HR strategies. Here are some highlights:

Reducing Attrition: Losing new employee early leads to a lot of loss of opportunity as well as wasted expense and energy. The study shows that 33.8% of those who quit are Early Leavers. One of the most effective ways to reduce attrition would be to cut this down by half. If the overall attrition of a company is 15% and early leavers are one-third of this, then cutting down the latter by half would mean that attrition would get lowered to 12.5%, a huge change! A strong new employee induction and orientation program would create strong glue to hold them back. The first 90 days are most risky.

Women are leaving earlier than men across industries. Is there a special intervention that is required here?

Regional Practices: All big companies have regions, and they have regional HR organizations. While each region may have its own cultural flavour, but they all fall under the gamut of common corporate policies. This study clearly shows that different regions need to make a different implementation plan for the same HR strategy. For example, 40% of leavers in North and 27% of leavers in Rest of India are Early Leavers. What this means is that there is a different need in North because of which a stronger and different approach is needed, so common
broad brush may not work. And the gains would be much higher too. Also, as an HR Head it makes more sense to implement ‘reduce Early Leavers’ plan in the North as the gains there would be maximum.

Reducing Early Leavers: Early Leavers constitute a whopping 64% in BFSI, followed by a significant 40% each in ITES and Retail. If your company operates in these industry segments, you know where the priority must be.

Undergraduates and Frontline Staff are the biggest categories in Early Leavers across all industries. A targeted approach in these categories will bring the biggest gains.

Quality of Attrition: No company likes to lose the Top Performers. They are the ones who drive the growth as well as the key strategic initiatives. Surprisingly, the IT sector has emerged as the dubious winner here with 45% of quitters rated as Top Performers, followed by Manufacturing at 23% and BFSI at 22%. The best are Pharma (9%) followed by Retail and Telecom (10% each) and FMCG (11%). What can the HR Heads of IT, Manufacturing and BFSI learn from their colleagues in Pharma, Retails and Telecom?

North seems to be able to keep the Top Performers the best (17%). The other two regions are at 22% each.

One of the best ways to keep the top performers engaged would be by implementing a strong career planning program for them. Give attention to everyone, but focus on them. This is well supported by the study’s findings – the biggest driver of attrition is Opportunity for Career Growth (25%) followed by Salary (10%), Type of Work (9%) and Training and Development (8%). A good career planning program impact 49% of the drivers!

Check out the story at http://businesstoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=1&task=view&id=10919&sectionid=5&issueid=55&page=archieve.

If you are interested in somewhat deeper data, check out http://www.peoplestrong.com/tl_ias.htm.

The Power of One

Today was the day of polling in Gurgaon, and we (my wife Vandna and I) went to cast our vote in the afternoon. We were armed with our Voter ID Cards, but when we reached the polling station, things were pretty messy. The list of voters was random, not organized by voter ID or by residential areas, and a large number of people were not able to find their names on the lists. We were amongst such people. It was frustrating to note that despite have voter ID cards, our names were not on the list, or at least we were not able to find it, even though the people from the political parties tried their best!

Someone in the booth of the political party brought a laptop with wireless internet access and they were able to find the details of many people through the website of election commission of Haryana. My phone had internet access too, and we tried to check our names, but to our disappointment, we could not find our names on the database. Seeing us checking things on the phone, many people requested to check theirs, and this lasted for two hours. In this time, we were able to find the necessary details (room number and serial number) for voting for over a 100 people. All these folks would have gone back without casting their vote! This was truly an amazing experience. And they were full of thanks as they had lost all hope.

Although this worked out alright, so many people went away without voting, some because their names were missing and some because they could not find their names. One couple told us that they were at the booth since the morning trying to find details so they could vote. Their commitment was just amazing! Finally, they were rewarded when we found their details on the web! So much to learn from them. Of course, all of us need to contribute such that the government organizes things more efficiently. In the meanwhile, we can all play our part, and help the organizers as well as other fellow citizens in some way, to keep the hope alive and making things better.

Lastly, the posting I had made requesting friends to vote and inspire others to vote got a lot of response. So many people called, sent sms and emails to say that they had voted! One friend even asked me whether I had :). And so many friends forwarded the email to their contacts and got similar response. This shows that contribution and change is not that difficult. All of us feel the same way, and some of us just need a gentle reminder.

Building India - Elections and Voting

Let us have a look at the following perspective:

1. A Lok Sabha constituency has about 15 lakh voters.
2. On an average, about 50% people vote, i.e. 7.5 lakh.
3. Winner usually gets 1/3^rd of the votes, i.e., 2.5 lakh votes.
4. The 1^st runner up usually loses by up to 50,000 votes.
5. Most people in the middle class (including you and me) don’t vote.
6. Actually, we do not count for the politicians! Has anyone from any political party approached you yet?
7. Basically, the politicians know that we do not vote, hence we do not count.
8. People in the economically and/or academically poor segment vote, and hence are counted by the politicians!
9. Who can make a bigger contribution in making India a better place? The guys who usually vote or us? Obviously us, because we have the experience and ability.
10. If only 3.5% of the people who don’t vote decide to vote for the 1^st runners up, he/she would emerge as the winner! This is the power we have.
11. If 1/3^rd of the people who do not vote decide to vote, they can choose anyone they want as the MP!
12. But we don’t vote because we think that our single vote won’t matter! But, if we join together, it does matter.
13. The 2^nd reason we don’t vote is because there is no one good enough to be selected. But the point is that they are being selected anyway.
14. When the choice is between devil and the deep sea, choose the one who is less evil. If we can get this person to win, then he/she knows we have the power, and will listen to us. Next time, we can negotiate with this party for better results and performance and less corruption. Gradually, the system can get cleaned.
15. This may be somewhat slow, but it would work. All you have to do is to cast your vote tomorrow.

Actually, you can do a little more, with only some effort. Please read the following:

In a T20 match, if we have to make 15 runs in the last over, it is not easy, but good teams know that they can do it. So imagine that you are on the crease in the last over, and a six, a couple of fours combined with a single would take you home, as a winner.

Here is how we can bat in this last over :)

1. The Single: Make sure that you cast your vote tomorrow.
2. The first Four: Call at least 20 of your family members and make sure that they cast their vote.
3. The second Four: Call 10 of your friends and neighbours, and make sure they cast their vote - each family will have 3 voters on an average, this means 30 people cast their votes.
4. With the above, you have got 51 people to cast their vote.
5. The Sixer: Inspire 5 people to do the above – this means another 255 people will cast their votes.

Tell people not to worry about the bouncers (like hot weather) or the wide deliveries (we are going for a movie), etc.

If 5000 people do the above between now and tomorrow evening, 12.75 lakh people will cast votes tomorrow, majority of who may not have cast their votes otherwise! This can make a big difference to who the winner is. Generally, the difference between the winner and 1^st runners-up is not more than 50,000 votes.

So, let us all get ready, only one more over left, this is the time to give our best.

Let’s vote for change.

CSR in the backdrop of the on-going financial downturn

Festivity and benevolence has a deep rooted connection. During Diwali season when a lot being discussed about low business, I was wondering how it has affected the philanthropic spirits of the people. I know someone personally who used to donate new clothes for the children of an orphanage besides other assortments, could only manage to send 20 boxes of sweets this year. This is just one tiny example of the slowdown impact, I am sure experts are observing the trend on a much bigger scale. The question is- whether this downturn will impact the CSR budgets of the socially responsible? I have been reading some articles and following the views and arguments related to this discussion. While some thought leaders argue that companies would invest less now, others stand firmly that those companies who have a true and deep commitment towards CSR are the ones who have been able to integrate this into their core business functions. Such companies would not dither in fulfilling their community commitments in future also. CSR is not anymore an endearing add-on but it is a part of ingenious business strategy for most organizations.

Though cost effectiveness is the buzzword today, I lean towards the latter perspective: I think CSR - as long as it embraces employee welfare, corporate governance, business ethics, transparency, strong sustainable community initiatives that enhance the consumer base, create a balanced and inclusive development, among other key elements, will be sustainable.

I feel CSR is not something to be done when businesses have resources in excess; rather it is a day-to-day activity and a way of running a responsible business. When the business model is such that the economic value of CSR is as clear as it can be, one does not require smooth market situation and booming economy to follow the laid down strategy. So in that sense, during the economic downturn, CSR might possibly move away from the charity-driven community initiatives to actually sustainable and responsible business practices that hold the company in good stead be it in good times or bad.

The time to panic is now!

For the past few months, I've been reading about, thinking about and worrying about the horribly dismal state of the world today and towards where it is headed. Let me try and summarise some of the things that are happening all around us at this very moment:
Human confidence around the world seems to be plummeting to an all time low. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become such humanitarian nightmares that no one seems to know how to clean resolve. Despite the spread of the much touted US style capitalism and democracy further and wider than at any other time in history, the number of people who do not have access to the bare minimum amount of food has risen glaringly to nearly 1 billion, or almost one sixth of the world population. Global warming is creating freak weather systems all over the place - we've all experienced it. Delhi just had an amazing summer without the normal 'loo' winds that normally sear the flesh, the ice caps are melting faster, the frequency of hurricanes and typhoons has grown up to an unprecedented level, sudden floods in some parts and droughts in others, fishermen returning home with smaller and smaller catches. The world also seems to have reached peak production on its fuel of choice with consumption outstripping new discoveries. Oil prices have fluctuated from highs of around $140 to $67 a barrel in the past few months. Food prices have gone berserk in the past couple of years. Grain, once so plentiful it was often left to rot in piles on the ground, is suddenly in short supply, driving feed and food prices through the roof. The fertilizers and chemicals needed to maintain high grain production are in short supply and prices are at record levels. In the US, foreclosing on people’s homes and anti depression medication have become the only remaining growth industries.
So what's wrong with this picture? To me the obvious and glaring problem is the complete absence of panic for the right reasons that I see all around me! Instead of worrying a great deal as one united planet about some of the things that I have just mentioned, what are people around the world worrying about? All the usual stuff, business as usual. How we should save the financial services sector or help bankers save their bonuses; why Sarah Palin would blow up $150,000 of the Republican campaign budget on her wardrobe; whether the Congress party in India was clandestinely responsible for inciting Raj Thackeray as a political tool against the Shiv Sena; how Christianity or Islam would one day convert / wipe out all other religions so that only those who accepted the one true Trinity / God were left on the planet; about sending machines to the moon, building nuclear weapons or stopping others from doing so etc etc ad nauseum! People need to realise that these are not the important concerns of the world anymore and leave them immediately. It doesn’t really matter whether the US leaves Iraq in 6 months of 6 years because it’s not a subject worth wasting precious time and effort on. Right now, it’s time for all mankind to come together and fight the common enemies – those that have the capability to threaten our very existence as a species.
And that is why I believe that the time to panic has come. There are times when a cool head and a calm approach are exactly what are needed. For example, when financial mayhem strikes global financial markets, the last thing we should to do to try and fix things is to panic the public and cause a run on banks! But this is different. This time I believe panic is just what we need to break out of all the denial, wishful thinking, inertia, media spin and political cowardliness. I think that public panic is the only thing left that has a small chance to shake things up and get those who need to worried enough to finally get off their comfortable backsides and start thinking of solutions as if their lives and all of ours depended on it.

The damage that mankind has done to the amazing gift that is our planet in the past 100 years or so is so completely criminal as to be almost mythical in its scope and scale of rape and pillage of the Earth’s resources. And I believe that it's reaching an inflection point in history. Unless we can think of some very, very fast and furious global manner in which to sit down and talk to one another about what we are going to do about the future, we are going to leave behind such a terrible world for our future generations that they will rightfully have nothing but hate for us.
I believe that we are heading at an alarming speed towards the most jarring social, financial and ecological calamity of the past 700 odd years. Nothing like what's coming has happened since the killer plague raged across Europe in the mid-1300's, annihilating one out of three human beings there and very nearly succeeding in pushing Europe back into the dark ages.
Yes, in my opinion, what we’re about to face is that serious and it's that frightening. Human beings have all become immune to showing consideration for the sustainability of this wonderful planet which has made life possible and fed us, bred us and allowed our species to flourish over the millennia. Instead, we've become addicts of the quick, the easy, the cheapest and the short-term fixes. That's because short-term fixes are great at addressing immediate problems, despite the often obvious finite nature of the resources required and the negative impacts such quick fixes almost always produce as byproducts.
However, I believe that there is a silver lining and, ironically I see it as a byproduct of the current global financial crisis. For the first time in recent history, something has happened to shake up the rich and the super rich of our world! All other crises that have occurred around the world in the past have mainly affected the poor and the disenfranchised - the rich were always insulated by what they could buy and their trappings of wealth. But this time they have been directly hit. The whole gigantic financial castle in the air that had been created over the past few deregulated years has suddenly dissipated into the stratosphere, leaving behind very little to show for it other than the amazingly creative brains of those same super rich people. And we all know that they are bright enough to realise that this time, when the doo-doo hits the fan, no one will be left untouched, not even them.
So I believe (and fervently hope) that it’s now time to panic. It’s now time for those same geniuses, who until now have used their colossal cumulative mental faculties to create immensely complex abstractions in the form of intricate financial products and services, to join the rest of us and start thinking about some of the more important issues concerning the world we live in. And I believe that they will, for if they do not, we and all living and non-living things on this planet are forever doomed.
Please read this woman if any of you are by now thinking that I am either hyper reacting or have started going completely unhinged or if you still believe that things will all be back to normal once the markets settle down: http://www.vandanashiva.org/ and an interview with her at http://www.alternet.org/environment/85433/

Telecom Regulation – Effectively Blocking the Pesky Calls

You are in the midst of an important meeting, and your mobile rings. The display shows a number that you do not recognize. You don’t want to pick up the call. But it could be important, perhaps from your child’s school. You excuse yourself, pick up the call and say hello. Good Morning Sir (or Madam), I am calling from the XYZ Bank and we have an excellent scheme….you get frustrated and angry, call the caller names, threaten the caller not to call again, and say you would sue them, and disconnect the call.

Back to the meeting, you are still seething with anger, and not at your best for a while. This can happen in your home city, or travelling with in India or even when travelling abroad. And pay huge roaming charges for these unsolicited calls. If you happen to be travelling to the US, you could even be woken up with these calls due to the time difference. Sounds familiar? There is hardly anyone amongst us who has not faced such a situation almost on a daily basis!

See the Times of India, page 5 of October 23, 2008 (Delhi Edition). Even a Delhi High Court Judge is frustrated about pesky (unwanted) calls. See http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Delhi/HC_to_ICICI_Bank_Face_the_music_for_making_unsolicited_calls_/articleshow/3629951.cms.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) launched the launched the Telecom Unsolicited Commercial Communications Regulations in 2007 which was then amended in 2008. This provided a facility to the mobile users to register themselves in the ‘National Do Not Call Register’. Marketing companies are supposed to keep checking this database and update their records so that they do not call these people.

The TRAI website gives data of how many people have registered, how many times marketing companies are using this data, etc. It also gives procedure of how complaints can be filed, process for enquiry, etc. However, there is no data about how many complaints have been filed. What happened to these? Was any penal action taken on anyone? You can see more details at http://www.TRAI.gov.in/TRAI/upload/Regulations/73/regulation17mar08.pdf.

However, the calls keep coming! Everyone who I know is still getting these calls. And most of these folks have registered themselves on the above ‘National Do Not Call Register’.

Who wants to get rid of unwanted calls?

The marketing companies? Obviously not, they are looking for business. So what if someone is getting disturbed, or already has a credit card or insurance from the same company that is calling now!

The TRAI? Yes, but they seem to be helpless beyond creating the regulation. It is just too messy and prolonged affair to register complaints, process them or impose any penalty, if at all it can be imposed. The penalties mentioned in the regulation do not seem to be any significant deterrent anyway.

The mobile companies? Of course not. They generate revenue from these calls. If they are lucky, they can collect roaming charges too. The telecalling companies are big institutional customers for them. They must be having high level account managers for them!

The mobile users? Yes of course! But other than registering on the ‘Register’ or getting angry on the callers, what else can they do?

There are two objectives of this article:

1. Send email to TRAI. Say that you are still getting unsolicited calls. As them to do more. Their email addresses are trai@trai.gov.in and trai@del2.vsnl.net.in.

2. Both these email addresses given on TRAI website bounced today! So please print this article and send it by post to them: THE TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan (next to Zakir Hussain College), Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New Delhi - 110 002.

3. Forward them the url of this blog. Because this article is suggesting a way in which these calls can be stopped in a big way.

A New Solution to Stop those Unsolicited Calls

TRAI enacts a new regulation that requires mobile operators to implement ‘Stop Unsolicited Calls’ feature on their telephone system.


This is how the ‘Stop Unsolicited Calls’ feature would work.

i. When you get an unsolicited call, you press a pre-determined sequence, say #007 on your phone.

ii. As soon as this sequence is entered, the telephone system recognizes that this is an unsolicited call, and it creates a log in the system which notes the telephone number of the caller, and other details.

iii. As soon as the telephone system sees enough evidence of unsolicited calls from a telephone number, they send an automatic warning to the user, asking them to stop. And inform TARI simultaneously (say through a shared database).

iv. Even after this, if the caller persists (you will know because more people would be pressing #007), then TRAI automatically refers this to the Consumer Court, which will automatically impose a significant fine, say Rs 25,000 on the caller.

v. If the caller (the company whose employees are making the unsolicited calls, and not the employees) is caught in a situation of being referred to the consumer court a 2^nd time, the fine could be higher, say Rs 50,000. For the 3^rd offence, it could be Rs 100,000. And after this, imprisonment of of 1 day for the promoter or managing director or proprietor.

vi. Even a simpler solution could be that once a caller is identified as unsolicited caller, then the service to that number is automatically stopped. The next step could be to stop services to all telephones registered to the caller. And share this data to all other mobile operators so that no one provides service to such a caller.

This system would work because it is efficient and effective. All evidence (call records) is automatically being collected. There can be no mistake. Courts do not even need ‘hearing’ as everything is fool proof. No one can drag their feet because it would hurt their business.

It would also work because it works in the internet world. There was a lot of spam earlier. But with efficient solutions like ‘Stop Unsolicited Calls’, the spam has reduced significantly. When you receive email or invitations on email, if you click ‘This is Spam’, then it ‘hurts’ the person who sent such an invitation. There is still some spam, but relatively low. The same thing can happen here too.

This is possible technically. The solution would perhaps be simpler than implementing ‘Number Portability’ across mobile operators. This regulation is already enacted, and would be available in India with in a few months.

But who will ensure that something like this gets taken up?

YOU. Act NOW. Renowned spiritual leader, H. H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who started Art of Living says that we usually postpone good deeds (e.g., making a donation to for a noble cause). But do not wait for doing things that are not so good (have you ever postponed getting angry:)

It is simple – (1) Write to TRAI and request them to help stop the spam – send them this article – you can easily email it from this blog, (2) Forward this article to as many people as you know and ask them to do the same (3) You can also request TRAI to fix their email address :)

Lets Make A Difference. Lets (be) M.A.D. Lets stop the Mobile Spam.

Why don’t you share your comments here too? What else can we do for the mobile spam?