I love my job (Just realised!)

Lil amusing that I havnt blogged about my work life yet!! But me being me, sigh, anything is possible :).

I'd rather talk about how it feels being an HR Professional.

• You are expected to know all the answers, be it policy related or "why my salary hike isnt reflecting in my pay slip!" sorta queries.
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• You get invited to every team's offsite and parties. None wants to be in HR's bad books, you know ;-)
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• You gotta be empathetic towards the other members (I hate calling them 'employees', dunno why!)...doesnt matter if you've had a bad day, you just cant pass off the heat to them!
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• Ops (Operations i.e) would love if you said 'yes' to whatever practices they're following. Say 'No' and then you get to see the real drama unfold :).
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• It's imp that the top management buys in your ideas, else none below them will respect it.
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• You touch lives directly. The smile/gratitude one gets to see when an associate gets the kinda project he wants or has his case resolved in time is sooooooo heartening :). I save all those "Thanks a ton, Zarine..." mails. (At times, fwd them to my bosses, as well ;-) ).
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• The control you have over their careers is mind numbing. You get to decide who gets deployed where...you get to decide who gets how much hike...you decide how much loan is to be approved. And all this while balancing the HR and Ops. Not getting carried away by "Mom's not well, need loan" to putting your foot down on members being made to wait at interviews with other departments.
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• That look in the eyes of the associates when you ask them "I believe there's something bothering you. Can we talk it over?" They just cant believe that the company really cares.

• That euphoric feeling you get on Monday morns when you drag yourself to office only to be greeted by 300+ smiling faces..."Morning Zarine...Hi Zarine...Hey Z!...". Makes me feel on toppa the world..!! :) :) :)
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• Times when your bosses simply ask you, "Where do you see us in terms of manpower, redeployment, engagement and attrition in Q1, '07? " and you are like "*Gulp!* What?? Am just 5 months into my first job..!!" feeling reeling in your head!! :))
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• Those days when an associate in her performance review confesses "Zarine, I need help in terms of training. I want to move to the next level. Please guide." And you give that assuring smile and say "Give me a documented plan on your development and we'll sit over it with the Training team." The training plan gets discussed and closed. 4 months down the line you see a mail in your inbox.. "hadnt it been for you, Ma'am, I wouldnt have made it here." Ah! What more do ya need..? :)

Net net - Being in HR, I'm glad I didnt get sucked into those draconian admin jobs. Instead my company has given me a free hand at planning and implementing things which directly impact our manpower. My first boss (Who's now with the US branch) had said "I see you changing this place". And am so so glad, am living upto those words.


Ps:- I didnt mention the mega goof ups I keep making :)). C'mon, how'd I learn otherwise...I wasnt born an HR Manager :) . Let's save tht for another post!


Adios..!!

- Z. (That's how I sign off my mails...now everyone calls me 'Z' instead of Zarine! :)) )





© Zarine.