HR Best Practices in Bangladesh

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HR Best Practices in BangladeshMd. Musharrof Hossain
President, Bangladesh Society for Human Resources Management (BSHRM)
(www.bshrmbd.org) & Head, Human Resources Management, icddr,b

Introduction:

HR practice in Bangladesh is better than the past. In the past, HR role was concentrated to hiring firing and letter issuance-dispatching-filing stage. Now it has started to perform more than that. Such as Employee motivation, Employee development, employee retention, facilitating organizational development initiatives etc. and thus contributes to the achievement of organizational goals. These value added job has just begun in Bangladesh. For a good tomorrow, this is a starting point.

Berlin and Associates Research Report says, in the years since, HR leaders have fought an enormous battle to change the profession. The challenge for HR now is in living up to the high expectations that come with the seat – expectations of high impact. It is not easy. As HR leaders seek to identify and advocate for the best possible people-related business decisions, they often lack the kind of data, process support and industry-level standards that leaders of other functions rely on for guidance. In crafting the internal transformation that new expectations require (reevaluating the HR function's purpose, structure, services and delivery models, as well as capabilities of the staff), too many HR leaders essentially must cobble together a new vision for their HR functions with few examples of excellence for guidance.

Despite all the challenges, following are the best practices observed through interaction and sharing by HR professionals in various HR forums.

HR Best Practices in Bangladesh:

HR Education: Human Resources education has been started in almost all universities in Bangladesh. Universities are now offering BBA/MBA majoring in Human Resources. This is creating more opportunities for job seekers and the employers as a whole. As an example, government has decided to establish an HR ministry under which the HR professional education will be reinforced; BSHRM introduced two new diploma courses for facilitating the learning of applied HR issues for non-HR and HR people.

Structured governance system: Although many organizations are not yet at this level, it is being practices by few professional international and multinationals in Bangladesh. HR people are now so smart to build strategic partnership with the core business people and using their effort on a structured system for making any major HR related decisions.
Workforce planning: Organizations are now involving HR people to plan their workforce need relevant to their business goals. They also realized to plan the effective and efficient human resources for their organizations when HR representatives can really help them.
Decentralized HR functions: Most organizations are now moving to the strategic HR business partner models that help HR to decentralize the HR operational level activities and establish a strong bridge between HR and the business units of the organization.
Use of state-of-the-art technology in HR: Many organizations in Bangladesh are now automating their entire HR functions integrating with the main ERP solutions which enabling the organizations in saving time and money in managing their people.

Recruitment and Selection Function:
Talent Sourcing: Nowadays, organizations in Bangladesh are gradually moving to the social (i.e. facebook, linkedin, twitter etc) networks and online media from being dependent on the traditional print media and notice board concept. Although many organizations are still suffering from procrastination whether it will support them for hiring best fits for them or not whereas smart companies are getting the benefits of it.

Flexible Selection Process: A flexible selection process include written test, simulation/practical tests, presentation, viva-voce/oral tests conducted through online system which is enabling HR to save time and money for the organization. It is also giving opportunity to the business people to fit their own process relevant testing system that will enable them to hire a best fit. Also, few organizations are adopting competency based HR system in order to ensure their selection a successful one.

A comprehensive on-boarding system: Many organizations in Bangladesh are now trying to establish an effective on-boarding system which helps the organization to give new hires an excellent experience at their start and make them an effective business partner.

Learning and Development: Even a few years back it was not even thought by the employers that they should train their human resources to increase their productivity which highly impacts on profitability of the organization. Now, employers also realized that the development of their HR team is also an essential part of the organizational development initiatives.

HR measurement strategy: Many organizations in Bangladesh now having measurement strategies to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and business alignment. Such strategies incorporate both operational measures by which to manage the HR function and strategic people measures to support crucial business decisions.

Outsourcing HR functions: Matured organizations are now using outsourcing strategy to enable their internal teams to focus on things that cannot be outsourced. Such as building business relationships and developing custom solutions for business managers. These organizations outsource areas that can be improved through economies of scale, or which require global coordination and expertise.

Reference: Bersin and Associates Research Report, V 2.0

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