The Appointment Letter Yardstick

If you are in HR then I urge you to consider this for a moment - How do you appraise the HR function?

Oh! there are many ways -

If training then look at the training mandays, if you are a level 3,4,5 company then you're already looking at the training feedback, ROI etc. Some cooler organisations are also looking at Engagement scores!

If Comp & Ben then let's look at how many realisitc comparisions have been done and implemented.

If its the IR function then look at the overtime hours, contract labour reduction metrics and over all unrest climate.

Ah, there's the word "metrics"... you and I would be looking at this word for the hundredth time and would have used it in our conversations and presentations 101 times. The problem with metrics is akin to the statistics and drunk wala story - using the lampost more for support than for illumination.

So what do we have here? Lets just look at the harmless Appointment Letter.

If you are in HR then you would have invariably faced situations where there is a great candidate (read: referred by the CEO) where in the guy was so good, you get him on board practically overnight, have the joining formalities done on priority and have the recruitment team put together a classy induction schedule.

Even in situations such as this, the Appointment Letter is delayed and if the HR head is lucky, he just gets a call from the CEO after a week saying get it done, mostly HR heads are not lucky though!

Such are the pressures of the HR function that the eternal search and replacement of candidates, the welfare of employees and the general cribbing population just descends on every day of the week, each with their share of the remains of their monday blues. Ever wonder why the HR team wants to work for "at least" half day on the weekend? Thats why!

But the CEO's call notwithstanding, regardless of the HR head's reprimands, the HR function continues to go from one pressure situation to another and soon everyone including the CEO "understands".

But what really can be the trouble with the appointment letter. Just look around and you will find that in most cases the appointment letter is handed over to the new employee at least 3 days if not 5, a week perhaps even longer. Most employees who join the company are happy to receive the offer letter and are almost surprised to receive the appointment letter. Some companies are already issuing 'offer cum appointment' letters and some are issuing them bang on day one, at the end of a busy day of form filling and thats the way it should be.

My hypothesis is that the turnaround time of an employee joining and his appointment letter being handed over to him can be the single most important indicator of how efficiently the HR team is functioning. The appointment letter is the formal contract and is also the least read document by all, employees and the HR folks alike, "kya karen, its the format being used"... thats how they all chirp...

IF the HR team is able to mobilise its resources to ensure that the appointment letter is ready along with the joining kit to be handed over to the new joinee, THEN one can say the HR function is functioning properly. Every HR professional should look for the content that goes into this most important document... Does the fine print turn off the reader? Does the CTC break up as broken down in the contract end up breaking the reader's heart? And the bloke realises its too late to fight over some numbers, that too with HR... Or is the HR function brave enough to talk through the content of the letter and leave no room for shocks, this is possible only perhaps on day one and that is when the Appointment letter should be issued.

Somehow, I have not come across instances where this is considered in workplaces and have been long thinking of it as a potential winner. So, there goes...