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Business News/ Specials / Managers/  How PSUs are attracting talent to remain competitive
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How PSUs are attracting talent to remain competitive

State-owned firms SAIL and CIL are adopting a modern approach to attract talent and manage their human resources

SAIL’s capacity is seen rising to 23 million tonnes (mt) by 2020 from 14 mt now. CIL’s output is expected to grow to 615 mt by 2016-17 from 452 mt now. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint (Pradeep Gaur/Mint)Premium
SAIL’s capacity is seen rising to 23 million tonnes (mt) by 2020 from 14 mt now. CIL’s output is expected to grow to 615 mt by 2016-17 from 452 mt now. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint
(Pradeep Gaur/Mint)

Mumbai: State-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), among the biggest employers in the country, are hiring aggressively once again after a decade of workforce reductions and re-inventing their human resource management strategies to retain talent as they prepare for tougher competition.

There was a time when students graduating from top colleges would prefer to join the private sector rather than take up a job at one of these public sector companies, largely because of more attractive starting salaries. But that has changed and cash-rich public sector units are offering salaries on par with their private sector counterparts, who have been on a cost-cutting spree in the face of an economic downturn.

CIL, which has one of the largest number of employees in India at 357,354 persons, is hiring around 5,000 people a year. Another state-run firm with a large workforce of 101,878 persons, SAIL is adding 2,450 people to its workforce each year.

“The recruitments are undertaken for meeting the requirement of skilled manpower for expansion and modernization as well as for selective recoupment against superannuation," said Bhagirathi Dhal, executive director (personnel and administration) at SAIL.

SAIL’s capacity is seen rising to 23 million tonnes (mt) by 2020 from 14 mt now. CIL’s output is expected to grow to 615 mt by 2016-17 from 452 mt now.

At one point of time, CIL had a staff strength of around 600,000 and SAIL had around 250,000 employees. This was followed by a concerted effort to reduce excess workforce to the extent it was possible.

“If we don’t hire people now, then in the next decade or so there will be a vacuum at the mid and senior level in the company," said R. Mohan Das, director (personnel and industrial relations) at CIL.

Both CIL and SAIL are offering starting salaries for management trainees at 7-8 lakh per annum plus other perks. They claim that such starting salary packages are above industry standards and helping them in getting people.

“We are paying more than the new economy sectors such as the information technology companies where starting salaries are at 3-4 lakh per annum for management trainees," Das said. “Our salaries could be lower only when compared to multinational companies."

The two companies are also adopting a more modern approach for attracting talent and managing human resources.

CIL has begun a mentoring programme whereby new recruits are attached to some of the senior employees in the company to benefit from the latter’s experience and learn the job quicker. It is also briskly concluding wage negotiations with workers.

SAIL is equipping its people with multi-skills training by tying up with technology partners such as Siemens AG and ABB Ltd. It has also started a single-window service to address employees’ grievances and is now also on Facebook.

CIL is setting up a 130 crore training institute in Bhubaneswar that will be ready by 2015 and would accommodate around 150-200 people for training programmes.

Both have adopted performance-based wages, and are incurring higher employee costs, even though the net employee strength is falling every year due to superannuation.

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Published: 06 Aug 2013, 10:29 PM IST
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