hr talent scape - aon hewitt report

Unlocking the Secrets of a Best Employer Godrej Consumer Products Limited

Risk. Reinsurance. Human Resources.

Aon Hewitt

Talentscapes

India • Volume 1 • Issue 1

Q U A R T E R L Y

Contents

18cover story

Take a look behind the scenes at a consistent winner of the Best Employer Award and what they do that sets them apart.

Unlocking the Secrets of a Best Employer – Godrej Consumer Products Limited

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24

Insights from India’s Business – HR Alignment Practices

Measuring the Business Impact of Employee Selection Systems to Improve Performance

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28

Overcoming the Changing Face of India’s Workforce

Leaders as Coaches: Developing Talent with Compassion

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34

Bridging the Differences on Cross-border Deals in Japan

Assessing the Long-term Viability and Sustainability of Family-led Businesses

Dear Reader,

I’d like to wish you a very warm welcome to 2015, and it is with great excitement that as this year begins, I bring to you the inaugural issue of ‘Talentscapes Quarterly’. Our aim is to make this quarterly the pre-eminent repository of knowledge and exchange of ideas on talent and leadership between you and Aon Hewitt. Your feedback encouraged us to create this interface, presenting an opportunity to engage with our global experts and proactively present research on topical issues.

The jury is still out on the Prime Minister’s ambitious Make-in-India campaign, as a real shift in policy is yet to be seen, but to me this is the most hopeful period for the Indian economy.

In the current environment of confidence, business and HR leaders are focused on prioritizing the people agenda to maximize their chances of success. Productivity, innovation and efficiency are as important for HR as they are for product development and manufacturing.

As organizations look towards a turning of the cycle over the next few quarters, the focus is on leadership development. Organizations face a scarcity of the right talent and therefore,

have made tremendous efforts to build technical, functional and leadership skills aligned to the business strategy.

The last few years of economic dormancy have also emphasized the impact of employee engagement on business success; businesses that have survived and continue to grow are the ones that continue to focus on engagement. One big part of driving this has been through developing line managers and empowering them to be able to take accountability for performance and development of their teams.

Looking forward, the next big change we see is the collaboration between HR and technology — the use of cloud and big data, and the use of social media. All this enhances the employee experience and makes HR effective and customer-centric.

I look forward to using this publication to share my perspective on how I’m seeing the evolving world of HR and our perspective on the growth agenda. Once again, I’d like to wish you a Happy New Year, and I hope that 2015 is a successful and enjoyable year for each one of you.

I hope you enjoy the read, and I look forward to receiving your feedback.

Sandeep Chaudhary Chief Executive Officer, Aon Hewitt Consulting India

For more information, please write to us at [email protected]

Talentscapes QuarterlyIndia • Volume 1 • Issue 1 www.aon.com/india

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Talentscapes Quarterly is published four times a year by Aon Hewitt Copyright © 2015 Hewitt associates India Pvt. Ltd.

Enhancing Business Value Through HR and Technology

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Pete Sanborn talks about how Indian leaders are poised to change the way they do business with the change in leadership of the country.

India had progressed faster in the area of Human Resources (HR) compared with most other emerging economies, says Pete Sanborn, Co-President of global HR consultancy firm, Aon Hewitt’s Performance, Reward and Talent Practice, who has over 20 years of experience in HR consulting, client relationship management and outsourcing. He spoke in an interview on how Indian leaders are poised to change the way they do business with the change in leadership of the country, and on how businesses that are transitioning between leaders are better off promoting internal candidates for the top job. Edited excerpts:

Q. How critical were the 2014 elections in India from an HR perspective? Can a change in political leadership change the way companies work?A. I have seen that changes in leadership across the world have implications on companies in terms of growth expectations around taxation, which impacts business strategy and influences the actions and behavior of the leaders of companies. In the US, when Barack Obama came in, a lot of focus was on what the

major legislative changes would be, and the healthcare reform has been a significant issue for companies and leaders in terms of their business and HR strategy. For India, the perception of how political leaders will act will determine whether companies become more conservative or aggressive from a growth standpoint and how it will impact employment depends on the political environment.

Q. Is India staring at a problem of underemployment for its large number of graduates? A. It can be a big challenge. In southern Europe, you have very high unemployment rates in countries like Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, where you have people with college degrees working as waiters and waitresses, making little money as there is not enough demand within the country, and on top of that they have skills that are not particularly in demand. China has a much more planned economy, where there is centralized planning between universities and companies, which decide on the number of graduates introduced to the workforce every year. In developing

Insights from India’s Business - HR Alignment Practices

4 Talentscapes Quarterly

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economies, skills by themselves are not enough, but also the idea of preparing them to be good employees, in addition to having the right skills, is important.

Q. How aligned are Indian businesses with HR? A. India, where the primary asset is human capital, is a good example of how businesses are aligned to HR. I have seen India progress faster in the HR function than all other developing countries, including China. That is because India is driven by human capital. With large services, solutions and technology sector, it is critical to have a strategy to manage talent and develop critical capabilities of the workforce. It also helps that India has better professional education in HR than any of the other countries and may be just behind the US for having some of the best programs for HR professionals.

Q. What works better in the hunt for the next CEO, promoting internal or external candidates? A. We run a study called Top Companies for Leaders, and the successful companies

are those that have a strong pipeline of internal leaders to step in. There are times when there is a significant change in strategy, when the best practice would be to bring an outsider, but those events are rare; 75% of the time, the best opportunity for the company is to have a CEO who was developed internally.

Q. What are India’s HR-related challenges? A. In my observation, the real focus in India is on working for the large companies as there is a certain status associated with that. But there is also good talent that needs to be going to the start-up companies, where there is innovation to beat the rest of the world in terms of economic activity that tends to come harder in large companies. In the US, one of the key drivers for success has been entrepreneurialism.

Disclaimer: This article is published with permission from Mint, a publication of the Wall Street Journal in India.

Pete SanbornCo-President, Global Compensation and Talent, Aon Hewitt



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Overcoming the Changing Face of India’s Workforce

There is no doubt that the world around us is changing at an exponential rate, in no small part because of the influence that technology has on so many aspects of our lives. As our environments become more flexible, organizations cannot remain stagnant and have to follow suit, becoming more flexible and efficient themselves. In parallel with these changes and perhaps the driving factor behind some of these changes, are the fundamental shifts occurring to the demographics of the employee pool.

As the current workforce ages and older employees retire, the percentage of Baby Boomers and members of Generation X will reduce, and Generation Y and Z will contribute to a majority of the workforce. Simultaneously, more women are entering the workforce, and companies recognize the advantages of having a more gender-equal employee pool.

With these demographic changes, the expectations and demands that are placed on employers are also changing, and companies need to take this into account to ensure that their employees remain engaged at work. While many companies around the world might be experiencing similar

changes in their employee population, these changes are particularly important in the Indian context. As the Indian urban population continues to grow rapidly, domestic companies expand and international companies enter the Indian workspace, growth is firmly on the agenda here, making it even more important for organizations to ensure that their employees are engaged.

Faced with inevitable shifts in the demographic structure of the workforce, as well as the knowledge that employee engagement is a crucial factor within organizations, we are looking at what it takes for this increasingly diverse workforce to be engaged at work and how their expectations differ from older, more male-dominated employee populations.

We have drawn out the gender and generation-wise cuts from three recent studies to get a more complete view of diversity in the workplace, tying the results together to tell a more complete story. The data used here comes from the Top Companies for Leaders 2011 study, the Best Employer’s 2013 study and the Employee Preferences Survey 2013, each of which examines the Indian workplace from different angles.


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The data gathered suggests that while expectations across genders and generations overlap to varying degrees, there are also key differences, highlighting the need for organizations to take these perspectives into account to ensure the engagement and satisfaction of their employees.

Organizational Approaches to DiversityBefore delving into what employees are saying, it is important to consider how companies as a whole are addressing diversity in the workplace. When comparing Top Companies for Leaders in India with other companies in the country, Top Companies are, in fact, less likely than other companies to list diversity as one of their top 3 leadership activities. Within India, Top Companies are also less likely than other companies to be making a strong effort to increase female representation in leadership positions. However, companies in both the Asia Pacific and Global pools show the opposite — and expected — trend, with Top Companies making more of an effort than other companies, as can be seen in Figure 1.

However, this is not to say that Indian Top Companies do not recognize the value of diversity within the workforce; these companies are more likely than other companies in India to include increasing diversity of their leadership groups as a formal part of their leadership strategy. Indian Top Companies also use various aspects of diversity as a criteria for evaluating their processes more often than other companies do.

Do Diverse Backgrounds Lead to Diverse Expectations?Our next question is whether or not there is a difference in what individuals are looking for from their companies. To address this, we have looked at a few key improvement drivers for employee engagement for both Best Employers and for other organizations.

Figure 1. Companies Making a Strong Effort to Increase the Number of Women in Leadership Positions

Career Opportunities

One key improvement driver across all employee levels, regardless of generation or gender is “Career Opportunities”. Across genders and generations, one third of employees feel that they do not have sufficient career opportunities. Generation Y in particular is less satisfied with their learning and development opportunities. Along with challenging work, Generation Y also ranks training programs as a highly preferred development opportunity, emphasizing their desire to keep learning.

Enthusiasm for training and development is beneficial not just to the employees but also to organizations, especially since Generation Y comprises a large sum of the workforce. While training will of course be an ongoing investment made by organizations, as long as they are able to keep employees engaged, they will reap the benefits of a more skilled and highly trained workforce.

Recognition

Another improvement driver that appears frequently across genders, generations and organization types

Frequently occurring improvement drivers: career opportunities Recognition Brand alignment People/HR practices Senior leadership


is “Recognition”. While monetary recognition and accelerated career opportunities are preferred across generations and genders, some methods are preferred relatively more by some demographics. For instance, accelerated career growth/development and opportunities for special assignments are more important to men, while monetary recognition and flexibility in work arrangements hold greater importance for women.

Generation Y’s preferences are actually a combination of the two, with this generation preferring flexible working arrangements and opportunities for special assignments more than other generations. Organizations need to ensure that their employees have the flexibility to work both in a variety of areas and also at a pace that will allow them to balance their work and their personal lives. The interest of younger generations in working across domains ties in with their desire for more training opportunities — clearly these employees want to develop their skills base and broaden their horizons.

Pay and Benefits

While there is a lot of overlap across generations and genders, each demographic also has unique drivers, which highlight the specific areas on which organizations should focus for each generation and gender.

Looking at “Pay” specifically shows that women are less likely to agree that they are being paid competitively, and as the generations get younger, respondents are less likely to agree to this too, with Generation Y having the lowest number of respondents agreeing to this and the Baby Boomers having the highest. Going more in depth also shows that compared to the other generations, Generation X wants

a higher fixed pay and is relatively less concerned by performance bonuses.

While most employees would probably relish higher compensation and benefits packages, the desired break-up of these packages differs across different demographic cuts. Therefore, it is important for organizations to leverage this knowledge and provide employees with packages that reflect what they actually want from their organizations.

Overall Views of their Organizations

It is important to take a step back and consider the more high level opinions that employees have of their organizations. For instance, 1 in 3 employees is considering leaving their company. This figure is not gender-specific, but it is slightly lower for Baby Boomers, with only 1 in 4 considering leaving. This is clearly a very large proportion of the workforce, which re-emphasizes the importance of

Top Companies are more likely to use measures such as:

Diversity within the leadership pipeline

Number of diverse candidates in the successor pool

Placement of diverse candidates

Diversity in the high-potential pool

To evaluate the success of processes such as:

The company’s progress

Strategic leadership progress

Succession management process

Effectiveness of the high-potential process

1 in 3 employees is considering leaving their organization. Baby Boomers are less likely to consider leaving than younger generations

4 out of 5 employees feel their companies inspire them to do their best work every day

Around 7 out of 10 employees, regardless of gender and generation, are satisfied with their work-life balance

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Anjulie KalsiaAssociate Consultant, Aon Hewitt

organizations focusing on driving engagement within their employees.

However, a very positive finding is that 4 out of 5 employees feel that their companies inspire them to do their best work every day. Again, these findings are not gender-specific. Baby Boomers responded even more positively than other generations, with 88% of respondents feeling this way.

Equally positive is the finding that across all generations and both genders, employees are very likely to feel that their company’s practices help them achieve the work-life balance they desire, with at least 70% of respondents agreeing to this across all demographics. This indicates that with a few targeted initiatives or changes, organizations can ensure that their employees are very satisfied at work.

ConclusionWith the demographics of the employee population changing as older generations retire, younger generations take over and more women enter the workforce, organizations need to address

changes in external and internal environments head-on and adjust their policies to fit the demands of their new workforces.

As gender and generational splits shift drastically, organizations have some important questions to consider. Have we considered the changes we will be facing and how we will address them? Are we ready for the fundamental shifts in expectations? And of course, as we make changes to accommodate employees, it is crucial that we do not let go of the aspects that are successful at the moment.

The years to come will be both exciting and important for organizations, and with the data available, companies are in a position to pre-empt the changes and stay ahead of employee expectations. Organizations that are ready to face this head-on will undoubtedly reap the rewards through having an engaged workforce, so all that remains to be seen is which organizations will take this step.

Baby boomers:

Work processes

Managing performance

Generation X:

Pay

Generation Y:

Work tasks

Generation Z:

Diversity

Resources

Unique improvement drivers within Best Employers:

Males:

Benefits

Brand alignment

Senior leadership

Females:

Managing performance

Organization reputation



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Bridging the Differences on Cross-border Deals in Japan

M&A activity is challenging at the best of times. Various statistics point to the fact that less than 30% of deals truly achieve deal goals at the quantum originally planned and in the timeframe originally envisaged. On adding the complications that are inherent in carrying out a cross-border deal, it is easy to understand why so few companies can effectively realize value in such a transaction. While there is a significant set of examples of Western companies investing in Asia, the quantum of investment in Asia’s most mature economy – Japan – still lags.

Much of this lack of inbound activity might be attributed to economic and demographic reasons, such as the strength of the Yen making it less attractive for a foreign acquirer, or the stronger motivation for Japanese firms to expand overseas to counteract shrinking domestic market potential on the back of an aging and diminishing population. However, given the cyclicality of economics and some emerging hope related to policies being driven by the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe to revitalize the Japanese market (at the very least weakening the Yen), it is possible that there will be a resurgence of foreign investment in Japan.

Based on our past experiences, we would like to take the next few paragraphs to touch on the people-factor challenges of integration that such acquiring firms may wish to consider in order to enhance their chances of realizing a successful outcome.

The differences that create issues in the integration of these organizations can often be characterized around three main pillars:

Decision-making styles

Communication challenges

Cultural acceptance

Decision-making StylesNaturally, the above factors manifest themselves a little differently, depending on the relative situations of the buyer and the seller. Much has been written about the differences in decision-making styles between companies in the West and Japan, with the general consensus that there is greater respect for the ability to be decisive in the Western context. This is not to say that the seeking of consensus assumes less importance, but the ability to motivate a team quickly towards a decision is perhaps as important and implies clarity in thought process. Furthermore, in cases of impasse, the ability to set a direction quickly from a

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top leadership perspective and have the fortitude to stand behind the decision as being right for the joint enterprise is equally valued.

The oft-quoted success of the Renault-Nissan operation has largely been attributed to the visionary leadership of Carlos Ghosn, who enjoys near legendary status in Japan. This was cemented when early into the deal he saw to it that he met with the senior management at Nissan and made certain that he clearly articulated his vision, showed decisiveness on strategic direction, and “walked the talk” by agreeing to step down if the decision proved misguided and did not deliver the results that he was committing to deliver. Such commitment to the decision quickly earned the respect of his Japanese team and reduced the more generally held view of leaders who have been “parachuted in having no stake in the game.”1

Communication ChallengesCommunication is a skill that requires highly specialized competencies at the best of times. The content, medium, messenger and timing are all critical for ensuring that all resources within the organization are adequately informed and motivated regarding the purpose and challenges associated with the integration. In Japan, especially in the acquisition of a ‘traditional’

Japanese business, this can be a particularly challenging obstacle to overcome for Western firms – the choice of words, the poor translation of messages and the difficulty in effectively using methods like brown-bag lunches require companies specifically to address methodologies for ensuring the proper transmission and interpretation of the message by the staff.

In the Japanese context, as in a number of other Asian economies, communication is much more about trust and relationships. The ability to get beyond the stolid veneer and more effectively dialogue about intrinsic issues is critical. The need for precision in messaging and awareness that translated messages can often carry unintended hidden meanings must be understood and addressed with meticulous care. Clearly, more than mere technical competence in linguistic skills is required to interpret what is said by one party to another, but in many cases, what is not said, or what studied silence implies, is even more critical.

In order to overcome the challenges raised by the hesitance to raise questions, the lack of active participation in large group settings, or the reliance on back channels of communication, and promote integration initiatives effectively, there needs to be an inherent knowledge of styles of information


sharing and communication, which are influenced by both national and corporate culture. An added consideration in effective communication is the perceived view of the messenger herself. Is the person supported by the head office of the acquiring firm? Does the person seem willing to listen to local concerns and help balance the intentions/aspirations of the non-Japanese acquiring firm with local requirements, to drive success in the local context, etc.?

To draw again from the Renault-Nissan example, it has been reported that a committee that included the highest management levels of the two firms, 11 cross-company teams, and nine cross-functional teams within Nissan were created by Carlos Ghosn in order to drive participation and effective communication between Renault-Nissan and within Nissan itself.1

Cultural AcceptanceMuch is said about culture in any cross-border deal. This is often emphasized in the Japanese context, given the much-touted “uniqueness” of the culture. To some extent, the combination of culture and language does contribute to the difficulties encountered in effecting cultural integration or change. However, the differences, especially in the last 15-20 years, have become less apparent and often manifest themselves more subtly. These differences are often less noticeable at the time of agreement and negotiation and only truly manifest themselves during integration. Having a strategic approach to influencing both corporate culture (what a company stands for, how work is conducted and attributes that define the organization) and national culture to define the overall culture of the newly integrated entity becomes a critical element for ensuring deal success.

In the context of Japan, for many non-Japanese acquirers, distinguishing between what aspects of the culture

stem from the national culture and what are corporate culture attributes is often challenging. Well aware of the fact that we are grossly oversimplifying matters, traditional Japanese businesses have tended towards a directive approach to decision-making – more rooted in hierarchy, where information sharing tends to be more one-sided, and open discussions in the Western sense are less common.

Understanding the difference between what attributes are changeable from a company-culture perspective and which are areas where allowances need to be made for national culture is a critical first step. National culture requires culture sensitization on the parts of both the buyer and the seller, as actions and messages can very easily be misunderstood. As for corporate culture, a more direct and proactive intervention is required – a clear articulation of the desired “to-be” culture is crucial. Clearly understanding the gaps between the existing and desired culture by both parties and an acceptance that the culture change process, like most other aspects associated with the transaction in Japan, is an extended process (quick turnarounds in a one to two-year period are rare – a four to five-year timeframe is likely to be more realistic) is paramount for the medium to long-term success of such undertakings in Japan.


Jaidev MurtiRegional Client Development Lead – Aon Strategic Advisors and Transaction Solutions

Steve KusumiPartner, McLagan

In the Japanese and Asian contexts, communication is much more about trust and relationships. It is critical to get beyond the stolid veneer so as to dialogue effectively about intrinsic issues.

Data Source: 1 Froese, F. and Goeritz, L.,

Integration Management of Western Acquisitons in Japan, Asian Business & Management, 2007, 6.

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Unlocking the Secrets of a Best EmployerGodrej Consumer Products Limited

established in 2001, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) is the largest home-grown home care and personal care company in India. With a workforce of over 1,349 employees globally, the organization operates across four regions – asia, africa, Latin america and Europe. Today, Godrej products touch the lives of over 600 million consumers every day.

GCPL has been adjudged a Best Employer for three consecutive cycles. This indicates that in addition to strong roots, GCPL is fundamentally doing things right to ensure that their HR and business are aligned. In our inaugural issue, we bring you secrets to effective talent management in an interview with nisaba Godrej, executive Director and Vivek Gambhir, Managing Director, Godrej Consumer Products Limited.

Q. In your opinion, what is consistently contributing to making GCPL a Best Employer year-on-year?Vivek Gambhir: What has enabled us to continue to make progress in this journey is the proposition we offer to maintain a distinctive edge. There are three elements to this – great careers, great rewards and a great work environment.

Godrej has been very entrepreneurial in the approach towards great careers. A lot of people who have joined us have seen that they can progress much quicker with us than perhaps other companies. People have been given opportunities to stretch themselves and have been given

a lot of responsibility at a fairly young stage in their career. There is a level of impatience seen in the millennial generation; however, the fact that people are progressing well in their careers has been a huge positive. This has allowed us to see many people progress quickly. For those who have started at a young level, they have seen the successes people can make. At GCPL, we have backed career progression with a lot of emphasis on careers and talent development — individual career development plans, career planning dialogues, etc. This has led to a fairly high level of satisfaction among the employees as they see us take their careers more seriously.


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The second element, great rewards, is pillared by a very transparent Economic Value-Added (EVA) linked performance remuneration model. The beauty of the model is that it is one simple metric and it aligns performance at both the individual level and company level. So in a year where people do really well, there is no limit to the amount that someone can actually make. At the same time, there is complete visibility and clarity throughout the year in terms of what the EVA index for the company can be in that particular year. In that sense, performance variation plays an important role in the way we look at compensation. To compliment this, we have really upped the ante as far as intangible rewards are concerned. Whether we look at celebration or recognition, we have invested significantly; a lot of our emphasis is on really trying to create the intangible aspects of rewards as well. This has been a change we have made in terms of how our rewards model works.

The third element is ensuring a great work environment. One of the distinctive features we have had in Godrej is the strong value system. We nurture an environment where there are high levels of collaboration. The kind of entrepreneurism we see has been another distinctive feature we have had, which is a consequence of people in stretched roles. While GCPL has a very entrepreneurial culture, it makes the work environment pleasant and far more fun in some ways, while also ensuring that the expected performance standards are tough. So the bar gets raised for performance delivery, but from what a lot of people keep telling us, this is amongst the best work environments they have ever seen in any company.

These are the three big reasons why I feel like GCPL has continued to make strides in terms of sharpening value proposition. We are trying to do things the ‘Godrej way’ instead of imitating a multinational

company. We are learning a lot from other companies, but ultimately the approach to the workplace has been around the ‘Godrej way’, which is fairly unique.

Q. What is the role that the Godrej Group’s rich legacy and heritage has played in contributing to making it a Best Employer? Were there any cutting-edge practices that were being followed in the Godrej Group long before they became the norm at the other workplaces?Nisaba Godrej: I would say that it is more about the Godrej legacy and value system that has been built over the past 100 years. It takes a lot of time to build this kind of legacy and heritage. But more than cutting-edge practices, the EVA process we have been following for almost 10 years now has been a key contributor to making GCPL a Best Employer. From a people’s standpoint, the values contribute largely to why people feel more engaged with GCPL and with the Godrej Group. We assume that everyone has integrity and respect for other people. The feedback we get from our team is that the values are very deeply embedded. If we talk to people and ask them what keeps them really engaged, a lot of them will not talk about EVA, but they will tell you stories of when GCPL has been with them in a difficult moment and how other people in the organization have treated them like family. I would say that is what the Godrej legacy is, and is built over 100 years. While it is very easy to pull apart, it takes a lot of time and commitment to those values to build them up.

Nisaba GodrejExecutive Director,Godrej Consumer Products Limited


Q. How did GCPL develop a culture of high performance? Is it a tough tightrope to walk, between ‘pleasing’ employees and developing a high performance culture? Nisaba Godrej: I do not think it is a tightrope. High performing people want to be pushed; they want the bar raised all the time; they want the rope to be tighter and tighter so it becomes more challenging. I personally do not think being tough on people necessarily means that you make them unhappy. Yes, someone who does not have the ability and does not want to perform, will not. The way to push performance is always to be fair. If you are an organization where someone gets promoted because they are close friends with someone in the organization, I think that is where you are not pleasing people and are making them unhappy. But if people understand why they are getting pushed, and if you are quite open about why selected people are getting a higher position, I do not think it is an issue. At Godrej, while we have been tough and asked people to leave, we have also taken in people who have not had the experience you would think to be in that role. We see a lot of potential in them and we take a bet, because we believe they can stretch. If it does not

work out, we see to it then, but if we feel they can really stretch, why not give them a shot? In turn this has been increasingly motivating for people as they feel that the organization really believes in them.

Vivek Gambhir: To add to this, the strength of the organization lies in the focus on value creation and results delivery. GCPL was one of the earliest companies in India to implement the balance score card. If we look at the goal sheet process and how we cascade targets down, clarity around what people targets are and what performance standards are has always been very clear. Where we have become tougher is in terms of pushing our people to have a dialogue to redefine the role of a leader in the organization. We are working towards an ‘inspired leadership’ model. One of the four vision elements is fostering an inspiring place to work, where we are saying that while it is expected that you have to deliver results, this is no longer enough. Your responsibility to the organization has to go beyond results delivery. What is most important is the kind of legacy created and how the results are being delivered. It is imperative to play a role in nurturing and growing the next generation of leaders to be able to grow at Godrej. The organization

The grand score can be anything, but the true impact of engagement has to happen on a daily basis in terms of how teams work

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We are learning a lot from other companies,

but ultimately the approach to the

workplace has been around the ‘Godrej way’, which is fairly

unique.

has to be a place where leaders are energizing, motivating and figuring out the intangible aspects to motivate and develop the next generation of leaders. To me, this is where we are getting tougher such as the ‘how to’ of results delivery and the role people need to play to develop the next generation of leaders. This is really the heart of ‘Tough Love’, our talent strategy. The results delivery was always the hallmark of the ‘Godrej way’ of working.

Q. What are the people initiatives at Godrej that are very popular with your employees and that you believe have been very effective in achieving their purpose?Nisaba Godrej: There are a lot of them! It depends on which areas we look at. If we look across leadership development, we have programs called Leading Self and Leading Others and Leading Business, which are tied into our competencies. GCPL has built the capabilities to do Leading Self and Leading Others in-house. Initially, we realized one of our Senior Leadership Members, who is currently heading international HR for Godrej, had a deep interest in building capability around Leading Self and Leading Others, and he started experimenting by running these courses with a few people from Godrej. He was so good at this that we designed a role specifically around this. This is one of the many examples of GCPL giving people opportunities. A lot of focus has been put on career development at GCPL that has shown us a significant and sharp increase in the engagement score.

Vivek Gambhir: The people asset score card is a great way to capture data analytically and feed it into the goal sheet. Through this, people have a clear sense of what they need to do to improve their leadership quotient. There is a certain weightage on the goal sheet that comes from the ‘how’ of leadership.

The weightage goes up to 30% at the senior level. This includes a 360 degree scorecard, the number of people they are mentoring, scores in terms of developing others and, very importantly, the in-tune engagement. I think this is one process that we have implemented extremely well, not just in terms of the survey, but the kind of discussions it leads to in the teams and the kind of dialogues we are having in terms of how to improve. Ultimately, engagement is at the team level. The grand score can be anything, but the true impact of engagement has to happen on a daily basis in terms of how teams work; the process used to have discussions on engagement, monitoring, etc. has been the biggest reason as to why the needle has moved.

On the recruiting side, there has been a fair number of innovations we have made. One is of course the Loud Program. This has been a key differentiator that we can see on campus. We have launched an innovative fellows program where some of our brightest people actually get to do an internal fellowship. This used to be a one-year program, but it is a two-year program now, simply because we want people to get deeper into the issues they are working on. A lot of the work they do is about making Godrej a better place. It is a great platform for the people as recommendations get implemented; campus hires get training and there is an exposure to senior management.

To my mind, these are the ways in which we have been distinctive and how we bring our value proposition to life.

Q. Is there anything else that you have done that has helped in building your external brand for recruiting talent? Vivek Gambhir: Our entire approach to recruiting has been quite different. We changed the interview process completely. While the Loud Program is one part of it, before we implemented the Loud Program, we went to campuses and we said to forget cover letters. Instead, tell us about yourself in whatever way you feel like – for instance, sing a song, write a poem or even send us a video! We want to know them as a person. What we said was that we did not want the standard group discussions or CGPAs. Once, we put people into teams and told them that they were creating bandanas for the Mumbai marathon and asked them to work on it. We provided them with the


resources, asked them to design it, price it and market it. For half an hour we watched how they worked as a team. This process helped as we saw potential candidates in action. We did many things differently in our approach to campus visits, such as dressing in casual attire for campus visit and interacting a lot more with students. We ensured that our summer programs were extremely top notch, so when people went back, they became our biggest brand ambassadors.

Nisaba Godrej: To add, we decided to move away from the race of interviewing candidates in half an hour and continued to recruit throughout the summer. We said that those few summer months will be strong and focused for us to explore the potential of the people. This has changed the kind of people we are bringing in completely, because the onboarding fit and transition into cultures is much smoother. We gave Pre-Placement Offers (PPOs). Today, all our recruitments happen through PPOs.

Vivek Gambhir: Also, the key to our external branding is that we understand the basic nuance of someone who will do well at Godrej. Things like humility, passion, hunger to learn, self-awareness – all these are very important qualities along with academic scores. I think we developed a much more nuanced way of understanding ‘fit’ and then trying to map what we were good at, our strengths, with what the individual had to bring.

Q. What is the way ahead for GCPL? How do you intend to stay ahead of the curve and maintain your position as an employer of choice?Vivek Gambhir: If we look at the various phases of progression, a lot of our focus three to four years ago was on good team management. However, the focus in the last couple of years has shifted to talent development. We want people to be good coaches and mentors. I think the next big phase in our journey is what I call ‘inspired leadership’. Going a step beyond developing and coaching people, we really focus on how to energize and motivate people and understand the intangible aspects of what drives people. That’s the big journey we will take.

There are a couple of reasons behind this. To begin with, customer experience is becoming very important and it will be a differentiating factor in the years to come. In a world where consumer

experience becomes very important, the way in which our people experience the culture will also need to fundamentally alter to meet the dynamic change. This means that we need a far higher degree of collaboration than ever before. Take for example the fact that four or five years ago the senior management team could define the strategy and people would then be asked to execute it. In this world of social media and technology, the world is becoming so dynamic that strategies have to be created on the fly. There is an increasing onus on people to take more responsibility to drive the business forward. Thirdly, taking a closer look at the millennia generation, while money is important for them, the purpose and the mission of the organization as to what we do, why we do and how that improves people’s lives has become far more important than ever before. Godrej’s rich legacy and values prove to be a huge advantage here. But when we start thinking about the broader purpose of why we do certain things, it requires a totally different approach to leadership. It is not just about succession plans and career plans or development plans. While those are a part of the course, leadership will have to take a leap and really go after the intangible aspects of energizing and motivating individuals. That is the next big journey we continue to take. A correlation of this is how we engage our employees — how we use social media and a rewards system that will need change in a very different manner. While a lot of it has been financial rewards-based, I think the way the Godrej Group thinks about rewards and recognition will undergo a fundamental transformation over the next three to five years.

Vivek GambhirManaging Director, Godrej Consumer Products Limited

Volume 1 Issue 1 23

Measuring the Business Impact of Employee Selection Systems to Improve Performance

Productivity within industries has historically been perceived as a function of efficient working of machines and the capacity of people working on them. Industrial employees were merely viewed as human capital, used for the sole purpose of profitability. However, we have now come a long way, progressing from Hawthorne Studies to viewing employees in terms of their capabilities and fit with companies. Today, the leadership of growing businesses views organizational performance from multiple lenses, with key focus on employees’ capability and quality of talent.

It is well-known that the capability of human resources within an organization has a direct impact on the overall organization at performance – as the basic unit of an organization, employees can be the reason for its success or failure. Most leaders believe that high quality talent has the ability to impact business performance significantly. Identifying and quantifying the key elements of business performance will not only allow for performance to be analyzed effectively, but these elements can also serve as crucial data points for predicting future performance. Once quantified,

they can also be used to identify appropriate or high quality candidates in the selection process who would be aligned closer to the organizational strategy.

A deep analysis of the wide pool of projects conducted by Aon Hewitt was leveraged to describe different ways to demonstrate the impact of employee selection system on business. This enabled us to elaborate on the relevant elements or metrics that impact business performance. Furthermore, Aon Hewitt has also attempted to provide suitable indications on how to select employees and how to measure the effectiveness of the selection process.

Drawing from our studies and extensive data, the business impact of employee performance has been categorized into 3 metrics:

1. Financial Metrics – Profitability is a measurable and tangible outcome of business performance in terms of financial units. This is typically a lag indicator.

2. Non-Financial Quantitative Metrics – Engagement score


Volume 1 Issue 1 25

is an example of a measurable and tangible predictor or outcome of business performance in terms of non-financial units. This is typically a lead or lag indicator.

3. Qualitative Metrics – Rehirability is an example of intangible predictor or outcome of business performance in terms of non-financial units. This is typically a lead or lag indicator.

The process of selection of competitive and high quality talent remains largely intuitive till date. However, given the gravity of its impact, we cannot leave this process to intuition. This makes recruitment one of the most critical business processes of an organization. For a better and more accurate understanding of this, Aon Hewitt has endeavored to substantiate the impact of recruitment through an exhaustive analysis of key financial and non-financial data. This study examines each metric to trace its relevance to the larger organizational picture.

The key focus is to improve business results of an organization rather than diminishing the stand-alone selection cost. However, if high quality candidates are recruited successfully, this results in significant cost saving in the long run.

Financial Metrics

To most organizations, financial impact is a primary concern and needs the most careful evaluation of the “right” practices for desired results. Much emphasis is given to the selection criteria of an employee to make sure that he/she is productive enough to deliver economic efficiency. Analysis of an employee’s impact on the economic productivity of an organization needs data that can be drawn from multiple business metrics tracked by the organization or could come from the team or business unit’s financial metrics to evaluate the efficacy of the employee selection system.

An organization that was studied for one of our key global assignments was a global quick service restaurant that was able to achieve an increase in revenues of about USD 6 million. Our assignment with this client mandated us to design customized pre-employment assessments for the store teams. The study was conducted for the global assignment out of North America on a control group set up, wherein two groups of recently hired employees – one with low scores on a pre-employment assessment and the other with higher scores – were studied over a period of time. The results showed that the higher scoring candidates had multi million-dollar increases in revenue as depicted in the graph below, indicating that pre-employment assessments help in making informed hiring decisions thus driving better business results.

Employee Sales Per Hour

Moreover, in similar assignments conducted in Aon US, it was observed that hiring highly rated manager applicants resulted in equating to 50% higher sales and a reduction of over USD 5000 in labor costs.

This information can be used to suggest that an employee who is an appropriate fit for the job can definitely drive the revenue numbers in the favor of his/her organization, inching it closer to its ultimate goal.

Much emphasis is given to the selection

criteria of an employee to make sure that he/

she is productive enough to deliver

economic efficiency



Ishita BandyopadhyaySenior Consultant, Aon Hewitt

non-Financial Metrics: Quantitative and Qualitative

In addition to the financial metrics, the non- financial metrics are also impacted by the selection systems of an organization in the long run. To estimate a better understanding of their impact on an organization, we have mapped these non-financial metrics and translated them into quantitative financial returns.

Reflecting upon Aon Hewitt’s recent projects, it was found that a high scoring applicant (high score on a job relevant assessment, therefore a better fit) during a pre-assessment test was twice as productive as the low scorers. Moreover, the low scorers were also twice as vulnerable to on-the-job accidents as compared to the high scorers as depicted in the graph below.

Employee Accident Rates

Another interesting insight drawn from these studies was that highly qualified applicants were able to satisfy customers better than their low scoring counterparts. This, in turn led to more spending by the customers and therefore, better financial profits for the organization.

Our analysis of other non-financial metrics has highlighted that having employees who fit well into an organizational culture have a lower tendency to leave the organization, eventually leading to cost savings in terms of reduced attrition. Therefore, an employment assessment tool can also lead to reduced turnover. Even though this does not relate directly to a financial impact on an organization, it is significant in improving productivity and reducing training investment. Hence we have therefore attempted to determine its future impact of reduced turnover in financial terms through reduction of operating cost of training new hires post attrition. Moreover, business impact of such metrics can be evaluated at a business unit level.

A selection system’s effectiveness can be ascertained in terms of non-financial qualitative metrics as well. Qualitative metrics can be seen as early indicators of organizational success. These qualitative aspects become quantifiable in the long run, fetching impressive financial results for the organization. We have been able to trace the correlation of qualitative metrics to the employment behaviors that support the organizational strategy and that lead to effective financial results. A recent Aon Hewitt assignment has shown that high scoring candidates on assessments demonstrated a higher potential to deliver effectively on business results. Other studies also emphasized that high scorers were more likely to stay on-the-job and like the work they do as compared to the low scorers.

Employee Likelihood of Leaving

A comparison across two assignments demonstrated a greater likelihood of attrition for bottom performers on a pre-employment assessment over the top performers, as depicted in the graph above. Knowing in advance what kind of talent fits best and performs well in an organization helps with systematic selection of the most appropriate candidates. Acquiring people with the right qualities is eventually reflected in a magnified manner in the balance sheet. Therefore, companies should use a valid job- relevant assessment for effective selection of candidates. Hiring quality talent is one of the most crucial drivers of overall competence in any organization.

Volume 1 Issue 1 27

Leaders as Coaches: Developing Talent with Compassion

The use of coaching as a leadership development tool has seen a significant boost in the last few years. According to Aon Hewitt’s Top Companies for Leaders (TCFL) Study 2011, 87% of Top Companies in Asia Pacific deployed internal or external coaching, as compared to only 57% in 2009. While external coaches are popular with senior managers, internal coaches are more prevalent at the middle and junior management levels1. Organizations use coaching to improve leadership effectiveness and build a strong leadership pipeline. Another benefit of coaching is to use it as a self-development tool for the person who coaches.

Coaching with Compassion

Coaching with Compassion is defined as “the process of helping others in their intentional change process”2. This requires the coach to understand the aspirations of others (know), care deeply for their success and well-being (feel) and act to help them achieve their goals (do). This is fundamentally different from transactional coaching, where the primary focus is on achieving organizational goals without sincere regard for the person being coached.

When seen in this light, Coaching with Compassion is important and comes with significant payoffs. It helps the coach to overcome stress, which is inherent in most leadership roles. Furthermore, compassionate coaching enables the leaders to avoid self-preoccupation and remain connected with people.

Figure 1: Internal versus External Coaching

Possible Limitations for Internal Coaching

Some things need to be considered before using internal leaders as coaches. Firstly, leaders serving as coaches need to be trained rigorously before being entrusted with a coaching responsibility. Despite the increase in popularity of coaching, training for internal coaches is still not widespread, which is a serious impediment to the effectiveness of internal coaches. Secondly, internal coaches may often have multiple interfaces with the person who is coached. Such a situation, if not handled proactively and sensitively, can raise doubts about the confidentiality of the process. Lastly, there will always be executives for whom external coaching will continue to be a preferred choice, given factors such as their personality, role or specific need for coaching. Organizations should therefore, view internal and external coaching as complementary development tools and not mutually exclusive of one another3.

Leaders serving as coaches need to be trained rigorously

before being entrusted with a coaching responsibility.

Volume 1 Issue 1 29


Eklavya SinhaLearning and Development Manager, (asia Pacific), aon Hewitt

It is time for all leaders to consider coaching as a key part of their role. Even though this requires a substantial investment of time, it would help them to develop personal compassion. We know from research that compassion at work produces various desired outcomes such as reduced stress and increased commitment at the individual level and lower turnover at the organizational level4.

Figure 2: Benefits of Coaching with Compassion

The implication for organizations is the need to train leaders on coaching skills and sensitize them on the importance of coaching with compassion. We believe that an intersection of coaching with compassion will go a long way towards addressing the current leadership crisis.

Data Source: 1 Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders 2011 Study Insights and Best Practices - Asia Pacific, 2012

2 Boyatzis, Richard & McKee, Annie. 2005. Resonant Leadership. Harvard Business Review Press.

3 Frisch, M. (2001). The emerging role of the internal coach. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 53(4).

4 Lilius, J. M., Worline, M. C., Dutton, J. E., Kanov, J., Frost, P. J., & Maitlis, S. (2003, August). What good is compassion at work? Paper presented at the meeting of the Academy of Management Meetings. Seattle, WA



Find the best-fit for your organization with easeaon Hewitt’s aDePT-15 adaptive employee Personality Test

• Idealforpre-employmentselection,promotionanddevelopment• Measurescandidateson15traitscriticaltoworkplaceperformance• Easytocustomize,fastertocompleteandmultilingual• Canbetakenonanysmartdevice

Write to [email protected] or visit us at www.aon.com/india

Aon HewittSelection & Assessment

Engaging EmployEEsfor ChangE

Q: How can organizations make change stick?@Chans1965 – Try Feviquick. Even Fishy Things Stick.

@BeingHR – Reinforce the change by sharing progress, regular updates and conducting a dip stick survey, sharing finding, feedback.

@Sundertrg – The 'sprinkling' over a period of time approach works better than one time 'downpour' approach, when it comes to stickiness.

Q: What apprehensions hold back employees from accepting change? @Being HR – Fear of the unknown, what’s in it for me, own comfort zone, more responsibilities, may hold back employees from accepting change.

@Vivekparanjpe –Logic for change has to be explained. Need for change must be felt. Conviction of leaders has to be seen.

Q: How can organizations communicate for employee buy-in?@Mayankkrishna – Be approachable. Leave the comforts of ivory tower and meet employees at every level. Become friend, philosopher and guide.


Q: In what ways can leaders effectively address employees’ emotional reactions to change?@Eklavyasinha – By allowing them space. No one goes from 'hearing about change' to 'committing to change' overnight!

@Pranabchakrab – Creating communities around the change initiative can help building the conversations at a faster pace.

Q: How can employee’s readiness for change be gauged before a culture change initiative is rolled out?@Sundertrg – Checking Leadership readiness > checking employee readiness while driving change programs #chrdx.

@JaganPalukri – Focus on creating the ‘need’ first and then the readiness will automatically follow.

Volume 1 Issue 1 33

Assessing the Long-term Viability and Sustainability of Family-led Businesses

Entrepreneurs and families running businesses uniformly highlight bandwidth management and family governance as a key driver to long-term sustainable growth. Since family-led businesses need to leverage their time and resources on key aspects of the strategy and long-term viability, it is crucial for businesses to:

#1 Align strategy, leadership and organizational

resource management for sustainable growth

#2 Lead organizational growth by enhancing the

bandwidth of senior leadership and family. Induct the

right people in the right roles with right competence

across the organization

#3 Establish robust family governance processes that

ensure induction of right family talent, based on

business needs. The board of directors must proactively

establish regulatory and legal compliance. This will also

ensure that they remain globally competitive and are

able to maximize shareholder value

#4 Ensure a systematic program for induction of

family members, imbibing family values for sustaining

longevity of the enterprise purpose

It is imperative for organizations to evolve continuously in the ambiguous and volatile market. While in the last century, transformation challenges presented themselves over two generations, today’s marketplace is evidently different. The volatility, ambiguity and complexity of the economic forces drive multiple transformations within the one generation itself, which have a direct impact on growth and longevity. Entrepreneurs and family-led businesses therefore, continuously need to fight a battle on three fronts (see Figure 1):

1. Sustainability in the competing and volatile market place. Sustaining with the products and services in the current market place by best-in-

class processes and systems which lead to uniform customer experience

2. Renewing a focus on next generation products and services in the organization, which would ensure enterprise viability in the future

3. Being agile – Despite the best “sustain” and “renew” strategies there are always forces that bring novelty and newness in any product and service across markets, economies and the globe

After analyzing more than 100 family-led businesses in the last three years, we have found that in order to work with these challenges, entrepreneurs need to free their bandwidth and focus on renewing their strategies for the future and being agile in order to respond to the change in market forces. Therefore, they need to develop second line talent that is responsible for strategy implementation and is completely accountable for strategies related to sustainability. As most of the promoters in the industry have to focus on direct operational issues, their bandwidth to manage growth-led strategies focuses only on expansion, rather than also focusing on overall capability enhancement strategies that ensure longevity and sustainability of the organization. Organizations remain successful over a short cycle with products and services relevant to the market place but lose out over 10-15 years as better products and services replace them in the market. This is a dilemma all family-led businesses struggle with. Therefore, the earlier promoters make themselves irrelevant to operations, the better it is for the organization.

So what do family-led organizations do to ensure long-term viability and sustainability? While there are multiple ways of managing enterprises, enterprises need to manage their transitions well.

Entrepreneurs, like all other people, must focus on what they do best – “Entrepreneurship”, which is


Volume 1 Issue 1 35

about “renewal and agility linked strategies”, and they should ensure that there is a senior leadership team that is aligned to the long-term vision of growth. “Sustain and operational strategies” must be driven by empowered management teams that focus on growth and sustenance of the enterprise

in the markets and segments in which they operate.

This essentially requires family-led businesses and entrepreneur-driven firms to work on establishing strategies as soon as they have established sustenance of their firms and established their original ideas in the market. This can be achieved when organizations:

1. Establish overarching and far-reaching long-term vision and values architecture

2. Establish family governance and charters that take care of wealth distribution systems. Also, clear articulation of criterion for family members entering the business

The establishment of strategies pertaining to long-term vision and non-negotiable value systems acts as a guiding light. To drive the organization, this must focus on an alignment of the three forces – sustainability, renewability and agility. These three forces must function as a mutually intertwined and interdependent system, ensuring that there is synergy between all of them. Execution is required for the success of any enterprise, and if any of the forces is looked at in isolation, the chances of its success are limited.

Figure 1: Responding to Business Continuity while Preserving Value and Beliefs is a Key Leadership and Entrepreneurial Challenge

RenewabilityEnsure continuous

organization renewal and evolution of

products and service

AgilityRespond to change and

developments in the external

markets

SustainabilitySustain current products and services for

continuous topline and bottom-line growth


As a next step, it is important to align organizational strategies that would ensure continuous enterprise success. In doing so, the organization needs seven strategies that would ensure operational excellence and a continuous renew and agile focus (Figure 2).

1. Ecosystem and Vision Alignment Align the organization’s vision to the ecosystem and social-economic scenario of markets and society. This requires the vision to be socially and economically-relevant, as both play an important role in ensuring longevity of the enterprise.

2. Vision and Strategy Alignment Align market and product led strategies to the vision. While short-term requirements may desire a deviation at times, a continuous focus on vision is the key to longevity. For enterprise success, all agility linked strategies also need to be aligned to the vision and ecosystem.

3. Leadership Commitment For family-led businesses, commitment to having

a close-knit leadership team within the family. For entrepreneurs, commitment to the vision and long-term success rather than short-term gains and management of resources. Leadership commitment is a crucial strategic requirement, as it is a key driver of operational success of any organizational strategies.

4. Relentless Renewal Focus Renewal is important to evolution, and it is equally critical for the enterprise. As we focus on renewability, organizations have to focus continuously on next generation products and services. This requires people in the organization to be continuously and positively dissatisfied with the current products and services. This is a dilemma, as organizations thrive on repeatability of tasks and on employee satisfaction in sustaining the tasks. However, dissatisfaction is essential to growth, and hunger in the cadres is vital to renewal focus.

5. Culture of Innovation, Collaboration and Trust Enterprises may easily slip into silos, which are the single most counter-productive system in managing

Figure 2: Ingredients of Sustainability and Enterprise Longevity

Volume 1 Issue 1 37

organizations, as they harm both the sustainability and agility of the organization. This is highly relevant in a family-led business as the growth requires buying talent from outside as the internal talent pool is not large enough to pick up new roles. Entrepreneurs and leaders continuously have to focus on ensuring collaboration, trust and innovation supported by sufficient mechanisms to reward these behaviors.

6. Middle Management Capability to Lead Middle management is accountable for supervising and ensuring execution. However, in the volatile and ambiguous environment in which today’s enterprises live, the most important aspects that the middle management is responsible for begins with taking accountability for implementing change. It is important for the them to be able to see the big picture and be able to coach others to achieve the vision.

Their role is not ‘command and control’ as is usually perceived. It is extremely critical that they are always completely clued in to the big picture and implement change relentlessly.

7. Engaged and Striving Workforce People’s actions determine enterprise success and an engaged workforce is crucial for this success. Aon Hewitt’s engagement studies suggest a direct and positive correlation between the two. It is critical to focus continuously on employee engagement as a critical strategic pillar to ensuring high commitment by the people across organization levels.

In a nutshell, family and entrepreneur-led businesses must focus on capability enhancement strategies early enough to ensure longevity. In a rapid growth phase of the organization’s lifecycle, it is fundamentally difficult to create capabilities that result in growth slowdown and stagnation.


Lokesh Nigam

People’s actions determine enterprise

success, and an engaged workforce iscrucial for this success.



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About Aon Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 66,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world’s best broker, best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, best captives manager, and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources. Visit aon.com/india for more information on Aon and aon.com/ manchesterunited to learn about Aon’s global partnership with Manchester United.

© aon plc 2014. all rights reserved.The information contained herein and the statements expressed are of a general nature and are not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information and use sources we consider reliable, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act on such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation.

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