Expat Chit Chat

Best HR practices enhance productivity

Hiran H.Senewiratne

Ma Foi is Indian's largest HR services provider. derived from the French phrase meaning "my world" Ma Foi believes in providing focussed recruitment services at various levels in organisations which has been existing in Sri Lanka for the last four years, its Country Manager Raja Gopal said.

Ma Foi undertakes the mobilisation of personnel in specified numbers and their placement at client identified locations through its own team of committed staffing solutions members located across India. On request or at the conclusion of the contract period the deputed personnel are demobilised from the client sites, Gopal said.

Gopal said their company operates in Sri Lanka conducting compensation and bench marking surveys, client survey (employment satisfaction survey) and competency mapping to increase productivity level of employees in Sri Lankan corporate.

Ma Foi Sri Lanka is working closely with more than 264 Fortune 500 companies operating in more than 15 overseas global companies in the world which will enable to share the experience with Sri Lankan companies, he said.

He said Sri Lankan's posses a lot of capabilities and competencies but they exhibit talents well when they go out of the country. Therefore, to explore the potential of Sri Lankan youth the Government should strengthen IT and English education in the country.

Gopal said their company has found that Sri Lankans should understand that HR has a great future which would depend upon a lot of growth in talent pool in every country which is the most important thing.

Q: Ma Foi being a leading HR company in India with a strong presence in many Asian and Middle East countries in the world. How do you see the Sri Lankan market?

A: Not many people are aware of the value that HR and the role of HR consultation firms in Sri Lanka. It is an evolving market and Sri Lanka should pay emphasis on HR development like other developed countries in the world.

It is high time to promote best HR practices to enhance the productivity in the country, which is now a dire need especially in the local corporate sector.

We are the only company in India and Sri Lanka that provide recruitment, constituency training and assessments for various companies.

Q: Ma Foi is operating in Sri Lanka for more than four years. What are the HR problems Sri Lankan corporates encounter right now?

A: In terms of progress in Sri Lankan operations we are working with leading Information Technology (IT), Fast Moving Consumer Gods (FMCG) and Banking sector companies. We see the common problem in Sri Lankan corporate sector employees is they lack proper leadership skills.

Further, one major problem Sri Lanka has encountered with the brain drain is the good talent pool leaving the country due to the lack of direction in the country.

Q: Your company is specialised in Executive Search or in other words headhunting. Being an Indian company how do you operate with the cultural differences?

A: I know that penetrating into this business is difficult as a foreign company, therefore we have recruited Sri Lankans who have the skill and knowledge on this subject. We have also trained them on how to do head hunting for different companies, which involves a lot of primary and secondary research to identify the correct person for the country.

We maintained a comprehensive database for this matter to facilitate the work. We are working with major Sri Lankan blue-chips companies to provide all HR solutions and services to them.

Ma Foi owes a great deal of success to the matrix by geography and industry practice, which enables it to provide clients with consistent service across all segments which is specialised in IT/IT enabled services, manufacturing, FMCG/Retail, Education and Training, HR services, Banking, Finance and insurance and many more.

Q: Ma Foi is the pioneering BPO company in India and Sri Lanka according to my understanding. Therefore, how would you help the local Human Resource for this future emerging market?

A: Sri Lanka could attract the BPO industry because of the good language skills and cheap human resource in the country. We are working with all major Sri Lankan and Indian BPO companies.

HR would have a great future due to the growth in this sector and its talent pool, which is also growing tremendously with the high demand for Sri Lanka from other countries in the future. Therefore, Sri Lanka should pay more attention on improving IT skills and English language skills in the country to condition the Sri Lankan workforce to those jobs.

Q: What is the organisational structure in Sri Lanka and what is the commitment for Sri Lanka?

A: We have senior consultants, consultants and HR developers to provide services for Sri Lankan corporates.

We are also working with most of the professional educational bodies in the country. We are working with more than 45 companies including blue-chip companies. We have already invested more than Rs 600 million and our future investment depends on the growth potentials in the country.

Q : How do you measure the Employee Satisfaction Survey and its outcome?

A: We have successfully completed assignments for organisations in the past. Large corporate names from sectors such as oil and gas, process and other industries have experienced the rigour and professionalism shown by our consultants. Our methodology is initial sensing, instrument design, data collection, data analysis, and report presentation for this matter.

Q: In what way you recommend to improve the human resource in Sri Lanka?

A: Sri Lanka has a good talent pool but the only problem is the lack of English language and the IT skills. Therefore the Government should liberalise this sector and allow foreign universities and professional educational institutions to improve the human resource in the country.