Best companies to work for 2013: Organisations rely on HR to engage staff, says Bobby Kuriakose, Forbes Marshall

In its tenth year, India's Best Companies to Work for Study - 2013, the largest study in the country on workplace culture, attracted participation from around 550 organisations spanning across 22 industries. A great place to work was defined as a place where you trust the people you work for, take pride in what you do and enjoy the company of people you work with.

The Economic Times spoke to Bobby Kuriakose, Director-HR, Forbes Marshall on diversity versus performance, data versus human interface and attrition.

Designation: Director-HR, Forbes Marshall

Present Stint: 23 years

Previous Assignments: First job

Which side are you on and why?

A. Diversity versus Performance?

I feel diversity brings in greater vibrancy into any organisation.

B. Career HR people do a better job at human relations or HR is too important a job to be left to career HR guys?

This to me is a mixed bag. I find some of the career HR guys doing a great job in Human Relations and some of our line guys dealing with their teams in a much better way. It has to do a lot with some of the skills the individual possesses.

C. Data/analytics-driven HR versus human interface-driven HR?

The new generation HR professionals have started believing that datadriven HR is the way to go about handling human beings. To me, it destroys the core philosophy for which you exist. The essence of good HR is in the people connect.

D. HR will survive the next decade or will HR be replaced?

This will depend on the HR fraternity and how they respond to the challenges which are being faced by the HR function. Organisations today have a much higher reliance on HR professionals in engaging their people.

E. HR is HR department's job versus HR is a shared responsibility?

HR is just not the HR department's job. No great organisation can have a HR team handling its HR role without the involvement of line managers and this includes the senior leadership teams as well.

F. According to you, what is HR's biggest dilemma?

It is the conflict between whether HR accountability is the career HR team's role or the line manager's. Most of the HR teams even today refuse to accept the fact that it has to be joint responsibility. The result is an organisation with a leadership team unhappy with the way HR is being handled and a set of disgruntled operational managers.

The attrition rate in your own department is:

It is below 10% of the attrition levels at the company (10.3%).