Hierarchies: flat gives way to six-pack

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: and the implementation of it, has to be assessed against the context of an organisation. Says E Balaji, CEO, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd, “Only few companies have gone about doing a proper job evaluation—a process of systematically determining the relative value of jobs in an organisation. In all cases, the idea is to evaluate the job, not the person doing it. This creates a sense of role clarity in the minds of people and they value promotions even if those are grade changes. Otherwise employees feel disappointed when they get a promotion letter with no change in their roles or responsibilities.”

Many companies came under pressure to create faster growth avenues for their high performers when the overall market was expanding and many companies were luring talent by offering fancier titles. Says Sangeeta Singh, executive director, human resources, Ernst & Young, “Gimmicks never help in retaining employees—they are both intelligent and exposed sufficiently to see what is being done. If we have a rational for relayering, then we will need to explain it to our employees and only then implement it.” Just by de-layering and making each step painfully high to climb, the organisation cannot provide an employee with an attainable growth path. Says Aquil Busrai, executive director, HR, IBM India Pvt Ltd, “Employees are savvy enough to realise which positions are genuinely senior and which ones are pseudo-senior. At very junior levels, good title or definition works to some extent but from the middle-level onwards employees are looking for real job content to feel satisfied.”

One cannot discount the fact the business environment of an organisation is crucial in retaining employees. Says Deep Kalra, founder & CEO of travel portal makemytrip.com, “The attrition problem can be solved temporarily by such structuring, as re-layering gives opportunities for employees–one can actually give them promotions every year and keep them motivated. However, this population may only be 8%-10% of a company’s total strength. In the long run, it’s their interaction with team members, care and respect that make employees stick to an organisation.”

Vivek Mittal, CEO of the Indian subsidiary of 7N, a Danish consulting and training company, supports a multi-layered organisation. “Hierarchies are one of the best ways to reward employees and at the same time it’s one of the best ways to retain talent within the organisation and create succession plans,” he says.