Over the past two decades, the role of the HR department in organisations has undergone a major transformation - from merely providing a backoffice administrative support essentially through paperwork to playing a key role in supporting the business plans and strategies by facilitating the creation of an innovative workforce. Now, thanks to globalisation, liberalisation and outsourcing, business competitiveness have become the key factors for survival and growth.

With rapid changes in the way technology is affecting business; human resources will cease to be productive if they are not re-trained. Cost of training is high. Cost of not training is higher. Cost of losing a trained employee is the highest. Employee loyalty can no longer be taken for granted. Employees today leave organisations not only for a better pay, but also several reasons like a bullying boss, non-cooperative subordinates, hostile colleagues, non-recognition of performance, etc. So measures to retain these trained/high-performing employees have become as important as training or hiring them.

Today's HR department has to be innovative in developing strategies and plans to cover all the above areas by treating employees as its customers and acting as their sponsor or change agent. While the HR head today has to be a business partner of the top management for the design and implementation of the organisation's business plan and objectives, he/she also has to have the basic knowledge of other areas like marketing, finance and accounting too. He/she must also know the cost of all HR initiatives and become business-savvy to guide the top management in its new initiatives. Indeed, HR has come a long way.

The winner is P S Venkataraman, Retd officer, IRSSE