Welcome to Mercer India’s thought leadership dedicated site designed to showcase the depth and breadth of our consulting expertise that will help organizations navigate successfully in today’s globally competitive marketplace. 

In line with Mercer's recent global research initiative 'Leading through unprecedented times', Mercer experts in India presented their advice on managing the downturn in India from a talent management perspective through a series of five articles in the Strategist, the weekly thought leadership supplement of the Business Standard. Articles in this series address business challenges in the areas of rewards, leadership development, performance management and corporate governance.

We intend to bring you the latest from our thought leadership through this medium from time to time. We hope you find these articles engaging and thought-provoking and that you recognize in them your current professional challenges. As always, Mercer would be pleased to discuss ways that we can help you address any of your human capital or business challenges.

Governance and the HR function

If there was such a job called whistleblower, no one would apply because being a whistleblower is an awfully difficult thing. Unfortunately, though, this job has needed to be self-created when people have chosen to stand up to shocking activities. In 2002, TIME magazine portrayed three salaried employees on its cover, employees who had withstood corporate and peer pressures and who had dared to challenge the ways in which their organizations were run. Yet, despite their efforts, these organizations malfunctioned or imploded because there were no systems in place to either prevent or to act the fraud or deceit quickly enough. Lives were lost, careers were ruined and the fabric of the rule of law that is necessary for a fair and free market was deeply torn. Sadly, we have still not learnt our lessons. Seven years later, numerous events – global and in India – have thrown the spotlight back on the need for far more robust corporate governance processes and capabilities than we currently have.

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Other articles in the series

Your reward strategy: Is it affordable and sustainable

The challenge most companies face stems from increasing pressures to manage costs with very little corresponding alleviation of the need to engage and retain people because top talent can always find a place to go, downturn or not. Companies also realize that their "solid citizens" too feel insecure and anxious and that they have to be engaged to give their best during these times, rather than being overwhelmed by despair and pessimism.

There obviously is a sea change today when compared with the conditions that our clients faced during the years of hyper growth. There are a few commonalities that concern us though, and they mostly revolve around how short-sighted companies’ responses can be. During the times of growth, many companies just wanted to throw more money at the problem of rewards and retention hoping that this would resolve the issue. At that time, several companies took short-term measures that have since then proven to be unsustainable. Now, with the increased economic pressures, they are looking at different kinds of short-term measures once again, which involve cost cutting through a reduction in manpower or rewards or both.

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Managing performance in a downturn

A downturn is a time, we are told, when companies should starkly differentiate their performance management systems and make special efforts to groom and retain their top talent. One entrepreneur told us that he is especially on the lookout for high performers, because if he can get a person who can grow his business in bad times, he is “willing to hire the guy, no matter the cost".

While there is truth in this adage, we have found that answers to performance management challenges are not so simple. The basic principles of performance management and the need to align employees to company and shareholder performance priorities remain unchanged, however, in times of uncertainty like the present, other challenges pose themselves. In many cases, setting goals is itself a dilemma, given the reduced visibility to how markets and customers are likely to behave. The importance of focusing on the “valued majority” as against the stars is also one that many companies grapple with and where there are no easy answers.

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