CII National
HR Excellence Award
2023-24

1Leadership (120 points)

Excellent Organizations have leaders who future proof the Organization with a clear purpose. They create a culture of trust, agility and act as role models. Leaders encourage customer centric behavior, and are flexible, enabling the Organization to anticipate and react in a timely manner to ensure the ongoing success of the Organization balancing needs and expectations of all stakeholders.

Areas to be addressed may cover:

• How do leaders develop the Org's Vision, Mission Values and Culture and communicate them to all employees, partners (including consultants), stakeholders and customers?

• How do leaders develop and role model ethics and values which support the creation of the "Agile, Inclusive (Equal Opportunity and Diversity) & collaborative Culture" across the Organization.

• How do Leaders develop and improve Org structure to support delivery of its strategy and achieve its long -term objectives as well as measure the effectiveness of the Organization structure.

• How do leaders ensure their accessibility and respond positively to the people?How do they build their Leadership Brand and how they review and enhance the effectiveness of their Leadership behavior?

• How do leaders engage with people and encourage customer centric behavior by enabling Organization policies and processes to meet the customer stated or unstated needs and expectations.

• How do leaders encourage and enable people participation and involvement in improvement activities for the benefit of "Environment, Society, People and other stakeholders"?

• How do leaders involve themselves in recognizing both team and individual efforts, at all levels within the Organization, in a timely and an appropriate manner?

Notes:

An organization may choose to have a Vison, Mission & Value statements or alternatively have a purpose statement with a code of conduct as appropriate.

Stakeholders may be defined by the Organization based on its operating environment and business context.

2Human Resource Strategy (120 points)

Excellent Organizations implement their Mission and Vision by developing stakeholder focused strategy. They develop and implement people policies, strategies, objectives and processes aligned to the Business strategy considering a holistic picture. They value their people, creating a culture that allows mutually beneficial achievement of Organizational and personal goals.

Areas to be addressed may cover:

• How does HR ensure that various micro and macro HR related factors in the external environment and ecosystem are collected, collated, and provided with insights while formulating the Organization strategy. How does HR input into formulation of the Organization Strategy for varying time zones (short, Medium, Long)?

• How does Organization Strategy cascade down to HR strategy factoring people performance indicators across the HR Processes from its management systemto meet the Organizational objectives. How does HR develop & deploy an analytics framework capable to analyze performance levels to assist HR & organization with meaningful insights?

• How does the HR factor in different aspects like Diverse Business Units, Geographies, Products and Employee Segmentation while arriving at HR Strategy (as applicable)? And how does the Org co-create the long term, midterm, and annual HR Plans. How does HR enable setting of clear goals & objectives for Agility, Innovation & sustainability and set platforms to track progress towards the achievement of goals?

• How does the Organization define Strategic outcomes linking to prioritized HR Practices and corresponding performance measures with relevant targets and comparisons to achieve its strategic HR Objectives?

• What are the deployment mechanisms for the HR plans and how are they communicated? (including appropriate resources). How are the deployment and effectiveness of HR plans and its impact on Businessreviewed?

• How does HR scan the environment (Internal & External) for Strategic HR risks across the time horizons? How does HR prioritize and mitigate the HR Risks. What mechanisms are used to identify blind spots across the business and take necessary actions to overcome the same.

• Describe the changes in HR strategy formulation process over last few years, along with the reasons and spell out their measurable impact.

Notes:

The Unit HR Strategy and the Corporate HR Strategy if applicable is to be linkedto the applicant’s business context. Based on the scope and complexity a flair of both may be elaborated to understand the development and implementation of the HR Strategy.

3Learning and Development (120 points)

Excellent Organizations endeavor to create a Learning Organization. They institutionalize a culture of learning to future proof the Organization by developing people capabilities to meet the challenges of the present and future. They leverage the ecosystem to create customized learning experiences aligned to the all segments of people thereby adding value to the business.

Areas to be addressed may cover:

• What is L&D strategy to enable and enhance the organization's core Vision, Mission and achievement of Strategic Objectives?

• How does the organization address Talent management? How does it attract & engage prospective employees for learning about the role / career / organization?

• What practices are employed by the organization for identifying people competencies for the current and future requirements based on Business Scenarios, Employee Segmentation and Overall Employee Expectations/Experiences (OEE)

• What are the various practices, methods and tools adopted by the organization to develop its people competencies to bridge the identified gap (Based on External trends and soft skills) aligned to meet the short, medium and long- term plans of the Organization)

• What are the practices deployed by organization to develop people using Internal Training Resources / Subject Matter Experts / external sources / providers of knowledge to meet its L & D requirements?

• How are people competencies enhanced and leveraged to ensure future employability & mobility across functional, geographical and business requirements?

• How does organization define its Leadership architecture? How does L&D build its Leadership Capabilities in terms of Roadmaps, Numbers and Quality of Leadership pipeline.

• How is the Knowledge & Competency of HR staff equipped and leveraged to create and manage future ready workforce?

• What are the systems and processes deployed to assess and enhance the competencies of people in Business Eco system (eg.Outsourced/Third Party/Specialist associates/Resource Eco System(Recruiters,Security,Legal Consultants etc.) to meet the current and future organization requirements.

• How does the organization evaluate / measure the effectiveness of L&D interventions with intended Business Outcomes. How is culture of learning institutionalized across the organization to make it a Learning Organization?

Notes:

People in the Business eco system could include all categories such as on rolls, off rolls, temporary employees, Contract partners, consultants etc. who are involved in adding value to the Organization through their contribution.

Customized learning experiences could include traditional to digital methods, new age learning aids etc. as appropriate based on the operating context and workforce dynamics.

4People Well-being, Engagement & Inclusion (120 points)

Excellent Organizations value their people and strive to create a work environment that caters to varying people requirements.They create infrastructure, systems and processes, a support climate that is inclusive and considers holistic well- being. They understand the needs and expectations, involve and engage people in a way that motivates them, builds commitment leading to a productive Organization.Excellent organizations deliver superioremployee experiences built on employee-centric processes and systems.

Areas to be addressed may cover:

Work Environment:

• How does the Organization ensure that it provides opportunities by creating an equitable & inclusive environmentas well as encourage a culture of mutual support and team spirit across employee segments, including for those involved in outsourced activities?

• Describe practices within the Organization related to safe & healthy environment for all people, accessible infrastructure and facilities which support inclusion of everybody’s needs

• How does the Organization design processes concerning the Management of harmonious Employee Relations at all levels including grievance handling? How are relationships with formal employee representatives/ groups enhanced for mutual value add?

• How does the organizationcollect ideas from different stakeholders and remain connected to enroll people and engage them in designing programs that promote workplace health, safety and wellbeing?

• Describe practices in the organization for a Healthy work-life balance considering the reality of a networked world, globalization and new ways of working to balance contrasting needs?

Employee Support Climate:

• Describe Processes/ Policies in the organization related to benefits (Financial and Non- financial), redeployment, redundancy etc. to sustain people involvement as well as provide cultural training and awareness to build an equitable and sustainable organization (e.g. POSH/ RPWD Act)?

• How are benefits selected and tailored to the needs of a diverse workforce based on employment conditions, locations, gender etc.?

• Describe the Organization's practices to ensure that the employee benefits (Financial and Non-Financial) are provided for outsourced employees beyond the statutory requirements, if any?

• Describe the Organization's policies and practices that help people achieve performance, development and aspirational goals. How does the organization create appropriate recognition platforms for employees such as traditional / virtual / tech enabled ones to recognize their alignmentto the Business goals and objectives, as well as demonstrate desired behaviors which reverberate the organization culture and values?

• Describe the Processes/ Practices for involving people at different levels in identifying opportunities for improvement and participating in implementation of programs that have an impact on the business and the community at large.

Employee Satisfaction:

• Describe the formal/ informal measures (like Surveys, focused group discussions, etc.) that are used by the Organization to determine key drivers that impact employee well-being, satisfaction, Communication needs and motivation for different categories of employees?

• How are indicators such as employee retention, absenteeism, grievances and productivity used to assess and improve work environment, employee support climate, & employee well-being as well as enhance satisfaction and motivation?

Employee Wellness:

• Describe the Organization’s Wellbeing and Engagement strategy which addresses a spectrum of holistic enablers across physical, mental, emotional and spiritual/ purposeful wellbeing? How do they create awareness on healthy habits, ergonomics, etc. & ensure employee involvement in such activities?

• How does the Organization design and deploy wellness programs for its employees which focus on holistic wellbeing?

Notes:

Inclusive companies build a work environment in which all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and are enabled to contribute to the organization's success.

Holistic Wellbeing encompasses the three pillars of physical, mental, emotional needsof people which when met will make people more purposeful and productive leading to a charged Organization.

POSH refers to Prevention of Sexual Harassment.

RPWD refers to the Right of persons with Disabilities Act 2016.

5Human Resources Management Processes/ Practices (120 points)

Excellent Organizations drive management systems through a framework of processes including Key processesthat enable and accelerate performancethrough the business ecosystem. The employee lifecycle processes need to be segmented appropriately to tailor them to the various categories of talent that must be tapped to achieve evolving business needs. A culture of communication with knowledge management would enable creating a culture of Hi performance enabling the achievement of Organizational goals.

Areas to be addressed may cover:

• Describe the architecture of the HR Processes.How are theKey processes identified? How are processes designed, developed, managed and improved?

• How does the organization monitor and measure performance of the key HR Processes? How is technology leveraged to enhance the effectiveness of the key HR Processes to deliver outstanding experiences to people?

• How does Organizationmanage the processes of manpower planning, recruitment, career planning?

• Describe Policies/Practices of the Org, for socially/economically challenged sections of the society, PWDs (persons with disabilities) and management of diversity and inclusion in recruitment.

• How does PMS encourage, support and empower individuals and teams to enable a high-performance culture? How is the PMS process designed for people to provide continuous and real-time feedback to enable sustained high performance?

• Does the Rewards, Recognition, Compensation and Benefits Policy / Practice of the company adopt a Total Reward approach? How are policies and practices designed and implemented to cover various types of Flexi-talent? (benefits for Temporary Staff, Consultants, Fixed Term Contracts etc.)

• How does the Organization gather information on communication needs and Employer Brand perception (internal, external, social media)? What are the various channels/practices deployed to promote dialogue across levels to effectively address the same?

• What are the processes that are deployed to gather, consolidate and share knowledge amongst people in the organization? What and how are the knowledge management and transfer processes deployed to ensure smooth transition between different layers of the organization and during transition?

Notes:

The HR architecture can describe the taxonomy and hierarchy of processes with the details of how the key processes are arrived at. Today employees expect every element of their employee experience, from work to development to rewards, to be accessible and easy to use on their mobile devices.

6Results (400 points)

People Perceptions can be presented on the various attributes which determine the satisfaction of the People on the Organizations processes.

Customer, Supplier,Partner and societal perceptions on the Organization’s people can also be presentedbased on the business context.

Perception data presented could be in form of Internal / External surveys, complemented by Dip stick surveys, complaints, compliments, testimonials, feedback etc.

Perception parameters presented could cover attributes under

• Leadership

• Learning & development

• Well- being, engagement, involvement

• Processes encompassing the employee life cycle

• Stakeholder perception of the Organization’s people in the Business Eco system

These need to be segmented appropriately with a 3- year trend with Targets and comparisons for Key HR processes

People perception measures may include those relating to:

Stakeholders’ perception of Organisation’s people (Customers, Vendors… etc):

Society’s perception of Organization’s people:

Performance Indicators (200 Points)

These are the internal measures used by the Organization in order to monitor, understand and improve the performance 2016of the Organization’s people and to predict their impact on perceptions.

Performance indicators may include :

Operational measures used by the Organisation to monitor and understand the HR processes which directly impact Key Business outcomes. These may include:

Notes:

Attributes presented should cover most HR Processes within/ outside the Organization based on the business context as appropriate.

People would include employees on rolls and external partners like contract workmen, temporary workmen, interns, consultants and any other stakeholders contributing to the Organization based on the business context.