UTI MF undertakes HR transformation plan

UTI MF is looking to engage with employees and increase transparency in the system

In May 2014, UTI Mutual Fund, the oldest mutual fund company in India began a big Human Resource (HR) transformation exercise. This process, that will continue till financial year 2016-17 will look into creating a long-term value proposition for UTI employees.

Priya Ranjan, Group President and Head HR at UTI Mutual Fund said that given that the company is one of the oldest players in the industry, they are planning to look at the aspects of compensation, training, career management and development of the employee.

"We will look at the existing HR processes and see where we stand in the market, vis-a-vis the other players in the areas of compensation and other fields in the HR structure. The idea is to stock, continue and redesign in the HR space," he said.

 

In June, employees of UTI Asset Management Company were allowed to convert their stock options into shares, a first since the asset management company shelved plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2008. The company had told eligible staff they could convert up to 60% of the nine million shares initially made available through its employee stock ownership plan (Esop).

Ranjan explained that the company would do a customised analysis of the personnel issues faced at the organisation and find in-house solutions for it. They have created an HR Project Management Office comprising of internal people for this purpose.

UTI MF is looking to engage with employees and increase transparency that would involve over-communication about what is happening in the organisation. At every stage, Ranjan said that the aim is to involve employees in all these efforts.

As part of the HR transformation, the company is looking at development of individual through structured programmes so that employees become better leaders. Further, there would be career framework followed by a career path, so that a separate track is created for the leadership pipeline. Almost 80-90% of this work, according to Ranjan, would be done in-house, while the rest would be outsourced to firms/institutes having an expertise in this space.

Ranjan admits that getting younger people into the company has been a challenge and hence they are looking to improve their employer branding in campuses. As part of this strategy, UTI MF that had stopped visiting campuses for placements for the past 5-6 years due to a lesser need for manpower, will begin to go for placement weeks in the top management institutes.

The company is well aware of the compensation trends in the industry and hence Ranjan said that there would be reward management, cash benefits and long-term incentives used as an attraction and retention tool. With diversity being a crucial issue, he added that getting more women on the board is what they are working on.

According to Ranjan, under the three-year plan, 2014-15 will be used for setting up the foundation of all the HR processes and compensation structures. "The next year (2015-16) would be used for career management, succession management and high potential development programmes. HR technology platforms would also be developed then," he said.

Cultural transformation of the workplace is also a crucial part of this exercise. To better involve employees and ascertain their concerns, in 2016-17, the company would undertake employee engagement surveys.

When this initial phase of transformation is complete, the next step is to feature among top employers. This, said Ranjan, would be done through taking part in best places to work surveys conducted by reputed organisations.