G ro u p 0 1 :

SOMANY CERAMICS: Aa ka sh C h a u h a n ( 0 1 )
Am it Sh a r m a ( 0 3 )
RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES R ish a b Sin g h ( 2 3 )
Sa n ya D u g g a l ( 2 7 )
Smr iti Ar or a ( 29)
1 Case Background

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Somany Ceramics
Indian Promoters bought all equity H.L Somany – Chairman Emeritus
shares from their UK Partners Shreekand Somany–Chairman &MD
Abhishek Somany-JMD

1969 2007

1994 2016

SCL Began as Somany Pilkington- a Company was renamed Somany

collaboration with Pilkington Tiles in Ceramics Limited.
the United Kingdom

V
I
 To be the most sought-after tile and allied products in India and best employer in
S Tile Industry
I  Aimed at customer delight with business innovation and cost effectiveness while
O pursuing latest fashion trends
N

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2 Recruitment Dilemmas

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RECRUITMENT DILEMMAS
Failure to attract talented candidates
1 In the candidate driven market where candidates are approached by
multiple recruiters it becomes very difficult for recruiters to attract talented
candidates

Lack of understanding between recruiter and hiring manager

2 Lack of communication and understanding between recruiters and hiring
managers can cause lot of problems in the recruiting process, including
inability to identify the right skill sets in the prospective candidates or
deciding on the best channels for sourcing the right talent.

Retaining millennials in the workforce

3 The peculiar thing about millennials is that they love technology and tend to
favour their personal needs more than that of the organization they work
for. They long for open communication & regular feedback. The challenge
for the recruiters is that these Millennials have the tendency to do job
hopping.

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RECRUITMENT DILEMMAS
Balancing speed and quality of hire
4 Although you want to recruit a candidate as soon as possible, there is
always an urge to get the best talent possible which usually takes time.
Increasing the recruitment speed is perhaps one of the hardest tasks for the
recruiters.

The appropriate compensation

5 In the campus, candidates have the leverage of attending several pre-
placement talks and options to apply to several companies with several
profiles. So, the recruiters have a challenging task fixing the compensation
for the job profiles.

Lack of efficiency in recruitment process

6 Most of the recruiters waste their valuable time by working on unnecessary
and ineffective administrative tasks which can result in duplication of
efforts. In particular, tasks like sourcing potentially talented candidates and
reviewing their resumes should take hours and not days.

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3 Human Resource Challenges in SCL

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Human Resource challenges - SCL
Following challenges were faced by SCL:

Preference for jobs in this industry was relatively

low among diploma and and degree holders and
even lower among graduate degree holders due to
opportunities in IT industry
01
Even the right talent was not so much of a concern for IT

02
industry as they typically hired freshers irrespective of their
specialization and provide them with three months to one year
of training to prepare them. On the other hand ceramics
industry needed very specific technical skill

03
IT employees earned much better salaries, they had much better career
prospects, work environment, lifestyle, status and transferable skills
compared to ceramics industry which required more workers

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4 What are the human resources
challenges facing SCL

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2 Modes Of Recruitment – Make Vs Buy
• Cheap and quick to recruit Advantages
• People already familiar with the business and how it operates
M • Provides opportunities for promotion with in the business – can be motivating
A • Business already knows the strengths and weaknesses of candidates
K
• Limits the number of potential applicants Disadvantages
E
• No new ideas can be introduced from outside
• May cause resentment amongst candidates not appointed
• Creates another vacancy which needs to be filled

Advantages
• Outside people bring in new ideas
• Larger pool of workers from which to find the best candidate
B • People have a wider range of experience
U
Y Disadvantages
• Longer process
• More expensive process due to advertising and interviews required
• Selection process may not be effective enough to reveal the best candidate

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 Make Vs Buy

L
A
MAKE
with right employees+
R
G infrastructure otherwise
BUY
E
Talent
BUY
Gap
S
M
A MAKE MAKE
but develop contingency plan
L
L

Low High
Urgency

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 In this situation, how should SCL
address its labour concerns? What
5 would be an appropriate recruitment
process to suit the company’s
requirements

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Addressing Labour concerns
The human resource policy should establish a comfortable work environment for its
Work people and ample opportunities should be made available to them to learn and
Environment grow within the organization

The ‘Samwad’ Programme aimed to prevent hierarchy from becoming a barrier and
allowing a channel of conversation between juniors and seniors in the organization
Samwad

Various training programs should be offered, to provide an opportunity for

employees to learn and improve their skills
Training
Programs

Employees should be kept motivated through various initiatives and rewards while
Rewards & gaps in performance should be analyzed, adequate training should be undertaken to
Recognition ensure progress

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Recommendations for recruitment
They should go for both Make and Buy recruitment modes as well as hire a third party for recruitment
process. In addition to the above, the below points should be included in the process:

Include new methods for interviewing a candidate like group discussion, video
conferencing and stress interview 1

A proper background check should be done while recruiting because where money is
involved the integrity level has to be high 2

The company should follow good advertisement process about the job vacancies 3

Communication skill and relevant market knowledge should be given importance while
selecting a candidate 4

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Recommendations for recruitment
Remuneration part should be explained by HR department prior to joining, in order to
avoid further confusion 5

Timely communication and sharing of the offer letter 6

Candidates should be placed based upon their knowledge and experience for better
fitment of vacancies in the organization 7

Identify and hire suitable jobless candidates from non-ceramic backgrounds 8

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Any Questions?

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