HR management in IR Bibek Debroy Committee Report

1. 1. Title : HR management in IR Bibek Debroy Committee Report Presentation by: Devendra Kumar IRPS
2. 2. TO BE DISCUSSED  Basic Facts and Figure  Single Largest Cost Component in IR  Existing Position of HR in IR  Graph on Management hierarchy  Specialized Railway Services  One Railway Service  IRGMS  Eligiblity Criteria  Seniority etc.  Manning, Posting and Career Progression  Group “A” Services – Medical and RPF  Solution of Medical Dept.
3. 3. TO BE DISCUSSED  Lateral Entry – Deputation in IR  Ravamping of performance appraisal system  Training and Re-Skilling  Optimization of the size and skills of manpower in IR  What is most draining in IR  Essence – Draining and un-skill  Earlist  How to rationalize the HR  CG (Compassionate Ground)  LARSGESS  Bungalow Peon – TADK
4. 4. Basic Facts and figure • IR is a complex, Matrix org multi-departmental, and operational organization spread across the country, with approximately 1.3 million employees. There are about 400 different categories of Group ‘C’ employees and 10 Group ‘A’ services, of which 8 are organized. • HR aspect of IR have been extensively analyzed by many expert committees key HR/organization structure issues that exist today in IR need to be addressed on a priority basis.
5. 5. Single largest cost component in IR is Human Resource • Staff costs constituted 48% of Ordinary Working Expenses and 34% of Gross Traffic Receipts. Pension outgo and Staff Costs put together were 51.3% of Gross Traffic Receipts. The staff costs have increased from 2005-06 to 2014-15 (BE) at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 13%, and staff costs plus pensions at 13.7%. • “the current structure encourages excessive departmentalism at the management level and often leads to priorities being set not for the organisation as a whole, but on departmental considerations”(page 62 Human‐ Resources Management,NTDPC Railways report )‐
6. 6. The existing position of HR at TOP 8 GP ‘A’ organized service. IRAS IRPS IRTS IRSE IRSS E IRSE E IRSM E IRS S DR OF Gr A by UPSC civil service DR OF Gr A by UPSC Engg service exam NTDPC–Railways report: The most recent NTDPC-Railways Report also emphasizes on the need to significantly rationalize the existing multiple services and cadres of the Railways. It recommended that the services should be merged into two cadres Civil Engineering & S&T services, Mechanical & Electrical services be merged, with the role of Personnel and Stores service being carried out by the executive accountable for the output.
7. 7. Specialization decreases as we move up the hierarchy
8. 8. “one Railway service” option would require a very diverse set of skills and competencies to be available in a directly recruited candidate, which is not an optimum situation, and could certainly not provide the optimal mix of the kind of professionalism and broad base required. Furthermore, attaining proficiency in such diverse areas for existing officers and those that are promoted from Group ‘B’ may also not be feasible The grouping of services will also result in an elimination of the multiplicity of activities and redundancies, thereby increasing efficiency and freeing resources that can be utilized more effectively. One Railway Service
9. 9. New cadre – a General Management cadre (IRGMS) • Creation of a General Management Service: IR has a large number of General • management posts such as ADRM, DRM at the Divisional level, AGM, SDGM and GM at the Zonal level, and a few posts in the Railway Board office also. • IRGMS will also ensure that effective coordination between the two services (IRLogS and IRTechS) is achieved and the various departments together work for common organizational objectives and priorities rather than those of any particular department.
10. 10. IRGMS -Eligibility criteria • While it is recommended that the selection to IRGMS be conducted for officers completing • 13 years of service (at the time of grant of Non- Functional Selection Grade), opportunity to existing officers with service more than 14 years also needs to be provided • For this purpose it is recommended that • (a) all officers less than 52 years of age (eligibility criterion for posting as DRM) but having service of more than 14 years should also be screened for the IRGMS as a one-time exercise at the initial stage
11. 11. IRGMS -Eligibility criteria • (b) Officers who have already worked in General Management posts of ADRM, DRM, AGM, SDGM, GM should also be screened for selection to IRGMS. • (c) There should be no quotas for officers of any of the existing services, nor should any other artificial barriers be permitted, and equal opportunity should be made available to officers of all organized Group ‘A’ services
12. 12. IRGMS -Eligibility criteria • (d) From an implementation point of view, officers can be segregated in terms of broad range of length of service corresponding to the age/experience eligibility criterion of different General Management posts and these officers should compete for General management posts for which they are eligible. The zone of consideration can be initially kept at three times the number of posts and later refined based on experience. A merged/inter se seniority of officers will be used for short listing officers for inclusion in the zone of consideration. • (e) Given the large number of Group ‘A’ officers, the number of opportunities to beprovided to the officers for induction into IRGMS should be restricted to two only.
13. 13. IRGMS -Eligibility criteria • For officers with length of service less than 14 years, the two chances will be provided in their 14th and 18th year of service and for others, the gap in the two opportunities should be either 3 years, or upon becoming eligible for next level of General Management post • (f) To ensure credibility of the system, it is strongly recommended that the Ministry of Railways should not allow any relaxations of norms once decided, on a case to case basis, unless there is genuine requirement arising out of circumstances, warranting change. • Mandatory consultation with DOP&T/UPSC will ensure departures on trivial low-merit grounds being eliminated.
14. 14. Seniority etc Fixation o work out the common inter se seniority of Group ‘A’ officers of the two services (IRLogS & IRTechS). This should be worked out in detailed consultation with UPSC and domain experts.f inter se seniority:
15. 15. Manning, Posting and Career progression: The officers in the two services, IRLogS and IRTechS, will progress in their cadre and will undergo compulsory job/function rotations within a specified period of time, so as to gain competency in all the functions within the domain of the sub-group
16. 16. Group ‘A’ services – Medical Service &Railway Protection Force (RPF) • IR has 125 hospitals, 586 health units/polyclinics and 14,000 beds for patient care. There are 2,600 doctors and about 54,000 paramedical staff. • Yet, IR has recognized 250 private and Government hospitals for referral of their patients, resulting in a double whammy for the finances of IR. The overall level of satisfaction amongst beneficiaries of Railway Health services is low.
17. 17. Solution of medical department • IR should endeavor to find partners in the private • sector to collaborate through more optimum use of its available healthcare infrastructure • for a larger pool of patients, including Railway Healthcare beneficiaries. Broadly, a • hospital could be offered to a private party on a long term lease of say 30 years, who will • be responsible for running it. The private partner could make incremental investments to • augment the infrastructure. In return, the private partner will be obliged to provide high • quality healthcare to Railway beneficiaries free of cost, while charging at market • determined rates from others. The Railway doctors and paramedical staff would be given • an option either to continue to draw their salary at Railway rates, charged to the private • management, or to get absorbed in the private management’s cadre.
18. 18. Lateral entry: Deputation in IR • Consequently, IR • suffers from inbreeding and is deprived of the benefit of services of officers with a wider set of competencies and varied experience. • As such, this Committee is of the view that lateral movement of officers, both from outside to IR and from IR to outside, should be encouraged, without adversely impacting delivery of Railway services. • The lateral entry/movement should be permitted both in non-technical and technical departments, respectively based on the Central Staffing Scheme pattern.
19. 19. Revamping the performance appraisal system • This Committee is of the view that the current performance assessment system, which was introduced recently in IR, is woefully lacking, and as a result it is not surprising that most of employees are assessed as ‘outstanding’ with little or no relationship with their actual performance and achievements. • It is felt that in order to achieve this, competent superiors goes through available performance records etc., or even interacts with the reported official if necessary, and records a comprehensive and objective assessment (for example, 360 degree assessment). • Such assessment systems must also encompass annual performance target setting, target ownership (owned by the assessee), periodical performance reviews, corrective action and an independent/objective review system.
20. 20. Training and re-skilling • Training, re-skilling and imparting newer set of competencies to employees will be some of the most critical activities upon which the success of all other the key recommendations of organizational restructuring will depend. • In addition, new functions like providing door to door transportation solutions through inter- modal tie ups, terminal (station) management and services etc. will be required to be carried out. This is equally true of finance and personnel departments.
21. 21. Optimization of the size and skills of manpower in IR • The staff cost (including pensions) is the single most significant expenditure item accounting for the lionIn order to arrive at possible options for rationalization of manpower costs, an analysis of manpower/staff strength, job positions, • Organizational structures, productivity levels, systems and processes etc. currently existing in IR need to be undertaken’s share in IR’s total expenditure.
22. 22. What is draining most to IR IR data relating to the various erstwhile Group ‘D’ categories indicates that as on 1st October 2014, there were approximately 5.7 lakh sanctioned posts and 4.7 lakh employees on rolls belonging to these categories in the open-line set up (this does not include staff of Production Units and “other units”). Further, information gathered from IR also reveals that a large number of these categories still continue to carry out jobs and responsibilities that are now quite obsolete, for instance Bhisty, Mochi, Sarang, dhobi etc. Moreover, the work performed by a large number of these categories can easily be outsourced at much cheaper rates as the cost of manpower for performing these tasks in the private sector is much lower. It is also evident that the responsibilities of many of these categories can be combined through multi-skilling and multi-tasking.
23. 23. Essence -Draining and un-skill • This Committee noted that although the erstwhile Group ‘D’ categories have been merged and granted the lowest Group ‘C’ Pay Band and Grade Pay by the 6th Central Pay • Commission, most of the employees in these categories continue to perform the same functions, with practically no change in their responsibilities, skill sets and competencies. • As such, IR suffers from a double whammy in the sense that these categories constitute the largest chunk of IR employees, and the cost-to-company of this category of employees has become significantly higher than the market valuation of job/tasks carried out by these employees.
24. 24. Why so much earlist while GP ‘D’in IR ( 4.7 lakh employees ) Despite significant technological improvements and automation in many areas in IR, there has not been commensurate rationalization of staff. different stakeholders indicates that pressure groups, narrow departmental outlook and lack of will on the part of IR management have created such a situation.
25. 25. How to rationalized the HR This Committee feels that IR will need to adopt policies and strategies aimed at rationalization in the number of employees in these categories by: (a) carrying out an exhaustive independent work study to arrive at the optimal number of staff required and laying down yardsticks for different activities (the existing yardsticks are nonscientific, oriented towards furthering departmental empires & do not recognize impact of technological up-gradation); (b) simplifying processes, streamlining systems, rationalizing and discontinuing obsolete and low value adding activities; (c) reducing number of peons, khalasis and other such categories through rightsizing and outsourcing;
26. 26. How to rationalized the HR ….. (d) Discounting and eliminating a number of obsolete Group ‘D’ categories that are no longer relevant (box porter etc.); and (e) taking steps to increase the output of such staff at the relatively lower levels whose functions are linked to safety (e.g. gangmen, trolley-men etc through multi-tasking, adoption of better technology, retraining and efficiency enhancing measures etc.). Further, in order to achieve rationalization of the erstwhile Group ‘D’ low skill categories, IR should immediately very strictly regulate recruitment to these categories and adopt policies for redeployment of existing manpower wherever possible, and retraining the remaining to enhance efficiency.
27. 27. CG (Compassionate Ground) • Committee observed that a significantly large number of persons are recruited to unskilled/low skill categories through some practices of IR that prevent open market competitive recruitment. • As a result, not only does IR end up diluting the quality of manpower recruited, this also dilutes the principles of equal opportunity for employment in the Government that is guaranteed by the Constitution. • CG must be offered to the best suited member of the family and the person so appointed shall have to get the appointment ‘ratified’ within a reasonable period of, say two years, by qualifying in the recruitment examination prescribed for that category.
28. 28. LARSGESS i.e ultra vires • This scheme has come under judicial criticism (by various CAT benches at Jaipur, New Delhi and Patna) and has been declared ultra vires of the provisions of the Constitution (Articles 14 and 16). • Committee is of the view that while the scheme may have been started with a good intention of enhancing safety, substantial dilution in the norms and scope of the original scheme have now led to a situation where this is now coming under severe judicial scrutiny and criticism.
29. 29. LARSGESS i.e ultra vires • As such, this Committee feels that this scheme needs to be reviewed ab initio. • In the interim, as suggested in the case of CG appointments, persons recruited through this route should be required to get their appointment ‘ratified’ within a reasonable period of, say two years, by qualifying in the recruitment examination prescribed for that category. Further, it was noted that
30. 30. Bungalow peon -TADK • Historically in IR, due to the nature of job of field officers that requires their 24x7 availability, a Dak cum telephone attendant (popularly called bungalow peon) has been traditionally provided to senior officers (JAG and above) to assist them in official work at their residence. • However, this practice got liberalized over time, and TADKs are provided to all JAG and above officers. The TADKs are appointed based on the basis of recommendations of the concerned officer, and join Railways initially as temporary employees in PB 1 with a gross pay of Rs 1800. On the completion of three years of satisfactory service, these bungalow peons are absorbed as regular employees. • This arrangement has been under criticism since the 4th Pay Commission and needs to be reviewed dispassionately for its discontinuation. • When IR decides to discontinue this scheme, the existing TADKs should be retrained and deployed gainfully in the system.
31. 31. • The changes proposed in this Chapter are thus a prerequisite to the bifurcation. Once the other changes come into effect and the bifurcated parts of IR begin to function according to commercial principles, IR recruitment (in the Railway Infrastructure Company as well as that part of IR which operates trains) Both units should be free to hire from wherever they wish, following whatever channel they wish. • To get to that desired destination, one needs to fix both HR and finances.
32. 32. 35 THANK YOUTHANK YOU