Feature

Plan your backup workforce

If you were thinking that planning your existing workforce according to their area of specialisation was going to make you a happy employer, think again. Today, with the innumerable ‘out-of-routine’ happenings, it would be best for an organisation to plan for the unexpected, writes Rishiraj Verma.

Like any other thing, in the real world and that of IT, workforce planning too, has gone through an evolution. Beginning from the simple ‘boss and subordinate’ relation, to getting more organised in the form of workforce management, it has now reached a level where employers have started planning for eventualities. Here, we try to answer certain fundamental questions. What a contingency plan is, who it is important to, when and how it is best used and where organisations might go wrong in executing the plan.

Need for a plan

Today, simply employing skilled personnel does not seem to give any IT organisation optimal productivity. Companies need to plan for their workforce in almost the same manner as they have backup plans and business continuity processes for the data that is generated.

According to J P Santhanam, Director, SecureSynergy, “Just planning to get on board additional workforce to cater for future eventualities is neither intelligent nor good business sense.” He is of the opinion that such planning is for the average and fail-safe leaders.

"Our employee strength has gone up from 150 to 550 people in the last four years. Without planning, we would have been in a chaotic situation" - Ramesh A Vaswani Executive Vice-Chairman Intex India

Ramesh A Vaswani, Executive Vice-chairman, Intex India talks about the concept in a more personalised way. He says that the company’s employee strength has gone up from 150 to 550 people in the last four years. “Without workforce planning, we would have been in a chaotic situation,” he adds.

Suresh Raman, VP-ITeS, NTrust Infotech, gives a KPO perspective. He says, “At a KPO, workforce planning is of prime importance.” He adds that customer needs combined with strict deadlines are the reason for KPOs planning their workforce efficiently. He believes that it is the workforce that is the biggest strength of a KPO and nothing should go wrong with the planning here.

Unpredictable happenings

From the original concept of workforce planning, came the need to plan for the more unpredictable happenings of an organisation or the industry as a whole. This is what is known as contingency workforce planning.

The self-explanatory term can however be further defined. There is a difference between the ‘main’ workforce plan and that for contingency. A contingency plan is put to action when something outside the control of an organisation happens. These situations should ideally be over and above those mentioned in the general/main workforce plan.

Santhanam tries to define the concept by saying that a contingency plan is generally a stop-gap plan to stem the adverse flow of events, till the situation is stabilised. He emphasises on the temporary nature of the plan and says, “To have a long-term contingency plan is an oxymoron in its wording as well as intent.”

According to Raman, the NTrust teams are empowered to take responsibility when a situation demands. “And so, the need for another contingency plan is not felt,” he says. He adds that the company focusses more on developing additional skills for employees, which helps them work efficiently even in times of a contingency.

"Organisations must become proactive and work for the future, instead of addressing short-term aims—to ensure that business does not get affected" - Debashish Choudhary Head-Recruitment & Planning Techbooks

Debashish Choudhary, Head-Recruitment & Planning, Techbooks has a diametrically opposite view and rules out the idea of the concept. “We are against this kind of temporary arrangement,” he says, adding that the company has a dedicated resource planning function that constantly monitors the inflow and capacity of the workforce. He believes that this is the reason the organisation gets the required man, machine and space related to projects worked out much in advance, thus averting the need for another plan.

Market fluctuations

One of the major reasons for a contingency plan to be put in action is that of market fluctuation. In times where specific industries may boom or crash, it is essential that organisations make sure that their most important asset—the workforce, functions smoothly. Therefore, the supply and demand of trained manpower, which causes the most wavering in the market conditions needs to be looked at in great detail.

Raman blames attrition to be the biggest culprit. He adds, “An organisation’s workforce shouldn’t be overqualified.” For him, an overqualified employee is an easy route to increased attrition for the company.

Santhanam feels that attrition and change in workforce have become realities rather than ‘situations’ and need to be catered to in the main workforce plan. Any happenings apart from these, as aforementioned, that may be outside the control of the organisation must come under the contingency plan.

Vaswani thinks that this concept is extremely important to organisations that deal with project work where rigid deadlines have to be met and heavy penalty clauses may be enforced in case of delays.

So, do all organisations have a contingency plan? The answer would be positive in most cases. The devil, as usual, is in the details. And in this matter, the detail is that of the plan being thoroughly articulated and in paper, or at least thought about, discussed in the boardroom and then filed away for later use.

Formulating the right plan

There are always important plans and there are always the most significant components of these plans. Some of the weighty components of a good contingency workforce plan.

“Assess the requirement and create the capacity based on it,” says Choudhary. According to him, when an organisation has the right amount of manpower and it is adequately trained to deliver in a crisis, the need for a contingent plan should not arise. A valid point, it may not however, work well for much larger organisations where the smallest market fluctuation can have great reverberations.

The workforce themselves may also be needed to contribute to the plan sometimes. As Vaswani says, “They (employees) must be willing to relocate at a short notice and must not be left idle at any time.” It appears the loyalty and commitment of the employees towards their organisation count a lot. These qualities also play a major role in helping the organisation decide what kind of candidates to employ in the longer run, thus avoiding the risk of being left suspended in doubt during a future contingency.

While the employees are expected to aid the process, officials ranking high in the management also have responsibilities towards the plan. As Santhanam says, “An aware and responsive management with an ear to the ground helps the overall composition and execution of a near perfect contingency workforce plan.”

Raman again brings in the KPO/BPO perspective, “In this sector, it is always advisable to have about 30 percent workforce in excess.” Apart from that, proper management of the existing workforce is an essential component of a good contingency plan. The biggest challenge according to him, is retaining the key resources.

Important processes

As important as planning may be, the processes of decision-making and execution of the plan are of equal significance. For instance, not being able to train the staff (in organisations that follow the idea of having backup employees) may lead to dire circumstances.

Vaswani explains the simplicity of the plan at Intex. Says he, “We identify a ‘pivot’ for each key employee.” He defines the pivot as an individual who can shoulder another’s responsibility as and when required. Such planning seems to be one of the more efficient ways of facing any eventuality. However, there is a flip side too. While the company may be able to deploy pivots for its ‘key’ employees, a larger number of employees who fall under the not-so-key positions may not be backed up, thus leading to tricky situations.

Santhanam lists down pointers which he thinks are fundamental for a contingency workforce plan to work right. He feels that correct hiring and periodic reviews of the plan are two of the most important sub processes. Says he, “Training, mentoring and multitasking are some essentials that help the plan. Decentralisation also gives flexibility, so that the organisation can meet all contingencies on ground.”

Techbooks, which does not have such a plan in place, believes in multi-skilling of manpower. Employees can be deployed in different projects this way. While specialisation may be the mantra for innumerable organisations, multi-skilling seems to be a good way to tackle problems. For instance, if an employee in a customer-facing department is also skilled in backend operations, the possibility of downtime, et al, can be more or less eliminated. This however, should not be the way of dealing with problems of this magnitude. Therefore, the call for a more focussed approach towards the contingency plan.

Proactive approach

Assuming that most organisations know what is the right thing to do, where and why they go wrong are the questions that need to be answered accurately and quickly so that further failures of such plans can be stopped.

Choudhary blames the reactive approach to be the root cause of bad workforce planning. He believes that organisations must become proactive and work for the future, instead of addressing short-term aims. This would ensure that both current and future objectives are met with ease and business does not get affected. Santhanam concurs, “Incor-rect hiring without keeping longer-term perspectives in mind is a contributing factor to the failure of a contingency workforce plan.”

Raman says, “Most organisations fail to make optimum use of the existing talent pool and search for new employees, thus increasing their own costs.” He also feels that a lack of adequate training to the workforce may lead to a good plan falling flat on its face.

The message seems clear—don’t look at only what is needed, but what might be needed too. If organisations follow this thumb rule suggested by a few amongst themselves, there is no reason why even a basic contingency plan should fail. The long run, just as in popping pills, is important in a contingency workforce plan too.