When a company expands its operation, sets up new facilities, extends its product range and brings in overseas technology, all these activities ultimately prompt for fresh recruitment in various cadres. HR Management is in a position to recruit junior level and also senior level personnel but when it comes to the recruitment for middle management or operating level persons in middle management cadre, they find the task arduous. The reason is because the middle management persons form a vital link in between top management and work force, supervisory personnel for any company’s growth perspective.

In today’s modern management syndrome, they are in dire state of demand. Even HR people manage or allure them to join the particular company. It is far more important to re-train and retain them. This training is not a stereotype but it is more of a motivational type of training. A company which has a strong HR management system is able to retain these flocks but they have to adopt very high levels of HR principles and policies. The people who come from other companies in this category are tuned to that particular socio-cultural environment and suddenly if they find an anomaly, they will instead of increasing productivity become a burden in the new set up. To avoid this, HR functionaries should take utmost care while carrying out recruitment functions in a systematic and defined method so that the new entrant does not find any discrimination between his earlier and present job.

The followings methods should be considered.

Recruitment:

Recruitment is to thoroughly screen the candidate’s ability to acclimatize with new environment. People will be inclined to join for various reasons - career growth, image and salary etc. But HR management is to find out in depth about the candidate’s adaptability. In a day’s interview, this attribute can not be gauged. Before recruitment of a candidate in middle management cadre, at least three rounds of discussions on various occasions should be conducted. HR management also has to interview the candidate by various cross functional heads and form a group of opinion about the candidate’s ability to accept a new environment and work culture. Many a time, it is noticed that a bright career oriented candidate hops the job with a great hype only to return back or join elsewhere without contributing much.

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Rehabilitate:

The second important aspect to be done by HR management is to rehabilitate. A new entrant will always refer and compare each and every aspect of the new company with the earlier one. He will also find the gap; his aspiration level will be downgraded. By proper counselling, HR management can invigorate his confidence level and rehabilitate him so that the candidate forgets the atmosphere of the past environment and fully concentrate on his new responsibility and job assigned to him.

Re-training:

To re-train the new joiner with the technical and commercial requirement of the company and the role of HR management here is very crucial. HR manager and the head of the department of the new joiner is to devise the re-training schedule in line with OJT (On Job Training) / orientation in such a way that the candidate gets moulded into the frame of new environment of day to day activities and become familiar with his peers and colleagues so that accomplishment of the responsibilities entrusted to him is being discharged successfully.

Retention:

HR should ensure to retain the person once he is adapted with the new company’s culture, rehabilitated and re-trained with the company’s products, technology, modus operandi and become comfortable with his colleagues and peers.

So for any middle management recruitment, HR should devise and inculcate the 4 principles of “R” namely Recruitment, Rehabilitation, Re-training and Retention.

After so much exercise, the person who joins the new company and leaves immediately does not lose much, but the employer is in the doldrums and overall state of affairs will be very sordid.

To retain these newly recruited employees in this level, HR should ensure the following course of actions.

1. He gets ample freedom to learn and discharge his duties without much pain at least, to start with. To begin with less pain, his mind set will not be that volatile and slowly he will be attracted to the new environment of the Company.

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2. He does not become a victim of the conflict management which arises due to reason of his entry. It happens when a new entrant joins, his colleagues may not take him in the right spirit and a situation may get worsen, if the reason is not nipped into the bud.

3. He can express his opinion freely and a due respect is given to his opinion.

4. To provide him all support services so that he can increase his knowledge power which is required to complete his assignment.

5. Perquisites offered to him on the eve of his recruitment are to be maintained in totality.

6. After a passage of time, it is to be seen that he puts equal attention to his work as well as to his family members. If possible, to offer him a pleasure trip or a sight seeing to a place of his choice. Even if this is not agreed upon as a part of his perks, sometimes it is benevolent for this type of middle management personnel who are very price worthy functionaries for company’s growth.

It is evident that if all the steps stated above (of course there may be more) are taken care with utmost attention, the new middle management personnel will think twice before leaving the company, and may be with the company for life. But on the contrary, if environmental and cultural shock evolved from the new set up provokes him to leave then HR department will be having nightmare because the entire episode is to be carried out afresh to find out the difficult niche.

The most burning issue HR management now-a-days faces, is to recruit middle management personnel who are the bonding factor between the top

management (decision and direction giver) and the supervisory staff and workforce. If middle management personnel failed to perform in the right manner and in the right direction, then the whole company’s target oriented ambition and growth plan gets derailed and once it faces this situation, consequence become very vulnerable. And so, HR management is to rigorously and religiously follow the “4R” principles to recruit middle management personnel so as to continue the growth path of the company.

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