There are two lies that have perpetuated the psyche of the common man with regard to enterprises—firstly, that somehow corporates are evil and most often, if not always, exploit its employees and secondly, that entrepreneurs can build an empire of a business totally left to their own wits and fancies. Neither of them is completely true.
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| Vijay Anand |
The woe, however, that pertains to the manufacturing sector is that of the first impression. As a company starts to attain momentum, the business starts to scale, infrastructure investments are made, and the turnover speaks of a few crores, there is usually the first murmur within the workforce of wage increases. What is very seldom thought about is the high cost of capital in a country like India, the even higher tax rates, and the margins which are a delicate balance to manage, given the rising inflation and fluctuating commodity market. The last thing most manufacturing companies need is workforce dissatisfaction that more often than not puts a nail in the coffin.
Driving through an industrial special economic zone (SEZ), I witnessed several factories in lockdown and the reason when asked around comes to be the same - workforce management issues.
1. Predict before it hits you
Time and time again the pattern is the same. The issues never come up in a company that hasn’t figured out the model to sustainability, let alone make profits. But once the company starts to become profitable and scale, issues are raised and disappointments become frustrations and anger. Even as you plan for the business, do predict that this is an elemental issue that will need to be addressed as the company grows and scales.
2. Tie in organizational growth with that of the workforce
The fundamental demand of anyone is to want to be part of the growth that the company is going through. Enable the HR team to plan programs that benefit not only the employee but the extended family as well in terms of education and better lifestyle as the company starts to reach certain milestones.
3. Incentivize hard work
Money is the second biggest motivator when it comes to any environment. The first one is recognition and being rewarded for going an extra mile. Build in bonuses as part of the efficiency program for achieving milestones, rewarding those who made it happen.
4. Pick the right talent for the job
We, as a country, are starting to demand white collared jobs for all of us. Things that need to be done aren’t getting done because of that. In the early 19th century, as the discussion around industrial management came up, one of the comments made by a leading expert in the field was of the talent to be able to pick the right person for the right job, matching in attributes of the person.
5. Build a culture that sticks together
Cultures, when built and sustained well, have the capacity to tune out, or better force out, elements that don’t gel with the overall accepted norm. We, as a society, want to self-organize towards a common belief system, enabling one that shares a positive outlook.
6. Establish fair policies
Policies are important so that, instead of individual or group preferences, there is a system in place that dictates rules. Establish and evolve fair policies that look after the well-being of the organization and the workforce.
7. Denounce ownership
An entrepreneur who had built a rather successful business with his business heads had this to say about ownership - “You could be the proprietor of a million dollar business, but the day you say it out loud, you have literally stabbed the child, alienated everyone, and will be left with a bleeding organization to care for, alone.”
8. Acknowledge the constraints
For a country that puts a strong emphasis on manufacturing, the labor laws of the nation leave a lot to be desired. The ones that have been affected the most are those who care for the workforce of their company, wanting to give them the stability of a job; the rest have been forced into managing the staff on certain terms, giving them contract offers to avoid issues that could potentially come up. Understand that, if there is anyone at all who can work around constraints, I believe it’s the entrepreneur.
9. A DNA of doing good
Lead by example. If you started going beyond your call of duty to look after things that aren’t necessarily commanded by the law, you can rest assured that the same will be returned to you. There is a reason why organizations that do well also find a way to remain profitable in the long run.
10. Measure and modernize
The most crucial element that I find missing with enterprises in the manufacturing sector is the utter lack of scientific management. If you think about it, organizations that excelled and built the wealthy nations of the last decade were all manufacturing firms - be it Ford, Toyota, or Foxconn. Indian enterprises rarely deploy management principles on the floor of a manufacturing sector. There are rather advanced and well researched principles that can significantly not only improve, but also retain the workforce of these environments - be it metrics driven workspaces, time motion optimized workshops, optimized floor plans, or modest resource planning. I wouldn’t underestimate making an investment to bring out the full potential of an organization in this space. After all, this is a space that has been a model for the past few decades and we have the most number of examples to learn from, don’t we?
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Vijay Anand is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of Proto.in, and the Vice President (Incubation) at IIT's RTBI. He tweets at @vijayanands.
To write to the author, please send an email to dare@cybermedia.co.in with the subject line 'Vijay Anand'.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and do not represent the magazine's.
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