Zong and Warid are worst in Human Resource Category

There is hardly any HR policy being followed since CM-Pak started operation in Pakistan. It is due to very same practice that many senior and loyal employees of company had to part with the company.

Corporate all over the world are facing tough time. Though there are signs of recovery but still it will take time to gain the same pace. What is happening across the world has the same effect in Pakistan. Head offices in Egypt, Norway, UAE and China have clearly issued directions to cut the extra expenditure. For most of the companies, cost cutting measures start with the firing of its employees who are the ultimate assets a company can have. At the same time there are ventures which take it as a last resort, rather, they build their skills further to fight to end the rough ride even at the time of recession.

Since the end of boom in Pakistani telecom market, we have experienced hundreds of layoffs during the last one year. In the very same period we have also seen companies nurturing their employees.

We tried to find out how cellular operators in Pakistan take care of this human asset. We sent following basic questions to every GSM operator to know their HR strategy and policies.

• What benefit you offer to your employees, both in lower and upper management?
• How do you enhance the abilities of your employees?
• At your company, at the time of reducing cost, how important is to get rid of work force to achieve the goal?
• What policies you have for the fresh entrant?
• How many employees you terminated in 2008?

It dawned on us later that it was perhaps the hardest thing to ask about HR and their existing practices.

Telenor

According to Telenor, It is consistent in the benefits it provides to its human resource through all its tiers of management. These include, but are not limited to, mobile phone allowances, medical coverage, health insurance, Leave Fare Assistance and provident funds. Telenor Pakistan aspires to build a work culture that is open to ideas, people and innovation. In order to promote the vision and values of our HR policies, there are ongoing team building sessions, Internal Value Creation surveys are carried out every year, Telenor Development Process is held on a periodical basis as well as internal and external trainings are offered. Telenor Pakistan believes that even at the time of financial crunch, human resource is the single most important competitive advantage that we have. There are no layoffs unless there is a violation of the code of conduct or a lack of ability to meet competence standards.

Mobilink

Whereas according to Mobilink, The success of Mobilink is, to a large extent, a reflection of the talent pool accumulated by the company. In addition to being some of the best minds in the country, they are also the best looked after. We attach the highest value to our employees and have built our company on the solid foundation of human resource excellence and motivation. Our HR policies offer comprehensive medical coverage, education assistance for further studies in addition to personal and professional development opportunities via trainings. We also have guidelines on employee safety, first-aid trainings as well as fire and earthquake drills to ensure our employees are adequately prepared in the face of challenge. Our unparalleled reward system and sound HR policies have recently earned us the “Most Preferred Telecommunications Company 2008” Award at the Pakistan Society for Human Resource Management’s Most Preferred Graduate Employer Awards 2008.

To enhance abilities of it employees, Mobilink offers a wide spectrum of training interventions in partnership with the best local, international and in-house trainers and institutions. These technical and soft skill trainings are offered to all tiers. Several Management Development workshops in collaboration with Professors from institutions such as MIT, Harvard, LBS, INSEAD and LUMS have also been offered in the past that focused on enhancing skills of Mobilink’s current and future leaders.

To build a highly competent and professional group of future senior leaders, the People Management Toolkit program was introduced this year for the mid tier. The 3 cluster program has been developed to implement best management practices by utilizing a variety of tools.

The Orascom Telecom Holding’s (OTH) Talent Management Program is another development program that employees can be part of. This two year program, launched in partnership with London Business School, offers an opportunity to talents from all OTH subsidiaries to work and gain exposure at different subsidiaries, and provides intensive training programs.

We nurture the youth talent from a very early stage. Our student development workshops, initiated in year 2008, provide students with guidance and direction so they are equipped to make career choices best suited for them and to enhance Mobilink’s linkages with the academia. Student Development workshops have been conducted in SZABIST, Bahria and Quaid-e-Azam University and we intend to extend the reach of this initiative.

Despite of repeated follow-ups we could not get the response from CM-Pak, Warid and Ufone. We did talk to few current and ex-employees of CM-Pak to know what standard they maintain within the company and the facts were really astonishing.

(CM-Pak) Zong

There is hardly any HR policy being followed since CM-Pak started operation in Pakistan. It is due to very same practice that many senior and loyal employees of company had to part with the company.

A senior ex-employee told MORE that “current decision makers at CM-Pak are the ones who could not create any good name in Paktel and they are actually the leftovers. Since the birth of CM-Pak, these people are deliberately not letting the company to grow. We needed extra ordinary and intelligent people for sales, technical and other domain who could represent the might of China Mobile in Pakistan. If you recall the pre-launch advertisements of China Mobile, it was dead sure that this company would rock the telecom sector in Pakistan and the very simple and convincing argument is that it is the largest company of the world; both the countries, Pakistan and China, have a very strong and unique relationship. No matter how fast we rolled out our network but we have always remained short of required potential. When all the companies are protecting and grooming their very precious asset, the HR, we are destroying it.

At CM-Pak, there is hardly any training to any of the departments. How can the potential and creativity of the work increase without proper training programs. Those who perform the best in any department are nominated every month but never acknowledged. When other companies appreciate their employees by giving them monetary or other benefits, our senior management make use of certificates only. How it can boost up the morale? No one is entitled for a car at CM-Pak; this is ridiculous in the current scenario. To compensate this, it gives its employees monthly car allowance which amounts to Rs. 25,000 normally. Most of the employees have shown their own cars as from Rental Company and they get this allowance every month. The very same money can be spent by the CM-Pak to buy its own cars, that would be an asset of the company in that case but in the current scenario every penny is being wasted. The man, currently in-charge of HR, is incapable and lacks required vision to lead the team. His inability is very much proven from the fact that the day to day business of HR is being handled and supervises by the CEO himself.

Warid and Ufone

Warid has the similar problems; the company is running without a CEO for the last two years. All those who were part of a successful first year are no more with the company. We happened to learn from a laid off employee who told that the ship is running without a pilot. People are hired and fired ruthlessly without thinking of their career and families.

The concerned people at Ufone assured us to send their version but they could not do so, may be, they are not sure about their HR policies as well.

Just like a car cannot rely on a single component and for a smooth drive, all the parts have to work together efficiently and seamlessly and for this purpose it needs regular attention. It certainly ensures long life and best performance. Similarly, human resource needs to be taken care of on time to produce best out of the work force.

Employee training programs or initiatives are an integral part of the HR vision and long-term strategic objectives of an organization. Through timely, controlled and intelligently developed training programs, employees develop requisite capabilities and new skills to perform assigned jobs consistently and successfully. Ultimately, carefully devised and implemented employee training programs should impact organizational competitiveness, long-term performance and overall productivity.

Tags: Employees, Human Resource, Warid, ZONG