A Project on Recruitment and

Selection Process at HDFC Standard

Life Insurance Company Limited

Submitted to
The University of Burdwan

Submitted by
Suvankar Shil
Roll : BUR E BM 2014/22
Reg. No.: 1093 of 2013-2014
Session : 2013-2016
Cyber Research & Training
Institute

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IDENTIFICATION OF THE TOPIC

T he success of an organization depends largely on the quantity and quality of

its human resources. No organization can be successful in the long run
without having the right number and right kind of people doing the right jobs at
the right time. Procurement of the right kind and right number of personnel is the
first operative function of human resource management. The first important
component of this procurement function is recruitment. Proper recruitment is very
essential for all organization. I choose this topic-Recruitment and Selection
Process, in order to have a proper understanding about the procedure followed by
the organizations with respect to their recruitment function. Considering the
importance of this function, in this project report, I have attempted to know
about the recruitment and Selection Process followed by HDFC Standard Life
Insurance Co. Ltd. For the purpose of my project, I have selected HDFC Standard
Life Insurance Co. Ltd because this is one of reputed insurance company in the
private sector domain. With the growth in the tertiary sector, insurance sector is
occupying an important place in our economy, especially with respect to the
employment opportunities to the educated unemployed youth of our nation.
Lastly, I have made a humble effort to suggest certain steps, which could be
taken up by the organization, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the
existing recruitment system followed by them.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study is to prepare a project report in partial fulfillment
of the requirements of the BBA Programmed of The University of Burdwan.
However, the study also includes certain other objectives, which are as follows: -

1. To have a general idea about the insurance sector in India;

2. To inquire into and gain knowledge about the background &

structure of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd;

3. To study the recruitment and Selection process followed by

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd;

4. To know about the various sources of recruitment that are

followed by the company to its new recruitment process;

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 5. To suggest any possible measure of improvement of the

recruitment and selection process in HDFC Standard Life

Insurance Co. Ltd.

PLAN OF THE STUDY

The present report on Recruitment and Selection process at HDFC Standard Life
Insurance Co. Ltd. has been divided in few Chapters:

1. Introduction of the project.

2. Insurance in India.

3. Company Profile.

4. Theoretical aspects of Recruitment and Selection.

5. Human Resource activities at HDFC Std. Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

6. Data interpretation.

7. Remarks

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METHODOLOGY

Method followed in carrying out the project work.

The aim of the present study is to investigate about the prevailing recruitment
system of the organization in general and the different sources of recruitment and
effectiveness of the recruitment programmes in particular.

To carry out this object it was felt by me to specify and formulate precisely and
concretely the topic on which information is needed and also the method through
which this information is to be collected.

Methods adopted in this project work

1. Checking and studying the recruitment and selection records.

2. Interaction with HR.

3. Interaction with employees.

4. Watching recruitment and selection process.

5. Files, magazines and other documentary sources.

6. Personal observation.

7. Questioners.

Methods adopted for data collection:-

In this project work, the method of interview has been adopted for the purpose of
data collection, for this a schedule of an interview was constructed. However the
entire survey depends on the verbal report of the subject as well as on the
investigations observations. I followed procedures regarding the collection of
primary and secondary data and information from different sources.

1. Getting information about concept of recruitment and selection from

different books, magazines, etc.

2. Getting knowledge about organization and recruitment techniques from in

house literature of the organization which is called secondary data.

3. Evaluation and effectiveness of present recruitment policy. The evaluation

has been done on the basis of primary and secondary data.

4. Qualitative assessment of the recruitment process (e-recruitment).

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 Procedure for establishing Project report

Getting knowledge about Absorb knowledge about

organization and recruitment concept of recruitment and
techniques selection

Reviewing recruitment and selection process.

Data interpretation and qualitative

analysis of recruitment and selection
process

Findings and recommendations

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INSURANCE IN INDIA
The end of the year 2000 marks a significant change and growth of 'India
Insurance' industry scenario. Monopoly of Public Sector Insurance
company marks an end and Private companies makes inroad. Foreign
companies, both Life and General flocked, collaborated and helped
astronomical growth of 'Insurance Industry in India.
'India Insurance' growth was long overdue. Within 1st 12 months of
liberation of 'Indian Insurance Industry' 10 licenses for selling life
insurance products and 6 licenses for selling non-life products were issued
to private companies. The Public sector giant LIC started losing its market
share at the cost of stupendous growth of private players. Now 'India
Insurance' industry has more than a dozen private life insurance players
and 9 private general insurance companies. Aggressive and penetrative
marketing strategy coupled with wide product bandwidth was an instant
success among the ignorant masses. Most of the private companies
registered more than 100% growth till then and are still continuing with
such monstrous growth figures. Although, 'Insurance in India' is not
regarded as a basic need but it is getting popular among semi urban to
rural masses. Top rank private companies like HDFC Standard Life
Insurance Company Limited, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Tata AIG,
Bajaj Allianz etc are aggressively researching and innovating products for
huge untapped rural 'India Insurance' market. Collaboration with micro
finance companies, post offices, rural banks and village management
authorities for selling insurance is doing wonder.
Life insurance products cover risk for the insurer against eventualities like
death or disability. Non-life insurance products cover risks against natural
calamities, burglary, etc. They are not as popular as life products in the '
Insurance India's' portfolio. Until very recently it had only corporate
buyers, but with natural disasters like, earth quakes, tsunamis, storms and
floods becoming more frequent and damaging there has been a sudden
spurt in sales of general insurance amongst individuals. Consumerism of
life style goods and modern amenities has also contributed to its growth.
With more awareness and wide bandwidth of insurance product portfolio
the growth for 'India Insurance' story will only get more competitive and
more affordable to all sections of Indian society.

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The insurance sector in India has come a full circle from being an open

competitive market to nationalisation and back to a liberalised market

again. Tracing the developments in the Indian insurance sector reveals

the 360 degree turn witnessed over a period of almost two centuries.

A brief history of the Insurance sector

The business of life insurance in India in its existing form started in India
in the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance
Company in Calcutta.

Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business in

India are:

1912: The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first
statute to regulate the life insurance business.

1928: The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the

government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life
insurance businesses.

1938: Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance

Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.

1956: 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over
by the central government and nationalised. LIC formed by an Act of
Parliament, viz. LIC Act,1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore
from the Government of India.

The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its
roots to the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance
company established in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.

Some of the important milestones in the general insurance

business in India are:

1907: The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to
transact all classes of general insurance business.

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1957: General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of
India, frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair conduct and sound
business practices.

1968: The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set

minimum solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee set up.

1972: The General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972

nationalised the general insurance business in India with effect from 1 st
January 1973.
107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four companies viz. the
National
Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the
Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance
Company
Ltd. GIC incorporated as a company.

Page 8 of 75
Privatization of The Indian Insurance Sector:

Insurance has always been a politically sensitive subject in India. Within less
than 10 years of independence, the Indian government nationalized
private insurance companies in 1956 to bring this vital sector under
government control to raise much needed development funds.
Since then, state-owned insurance companies have grown into monoliths,
lumbering and often inefficient but the only alternative. They have been
criticized for their huge bureaucracies, but still have millions of policy
holders as there is no alternative. Any attempt to even suggest letting
private players into this vital sector has met with resistance and agitation
from the powerful insurance employees unions. The Narasimha Rao
government (1991-96) which unleashed liberal changes in India's rigid
economic structure could not handle this political hot potato. Ironically, it is
the coalition government in power today which has declared its intention of
opening up insurance to the private sector. Ironical because this government
is at the mercy of support from the left groups which have been the most
vociferous opponents of any such move.
No policy initiatives have yet been announced, but the government has
already clarified it will not privatize the existing insurance companies.
But while the decision has been welcomed by the big companies who were
planning to make a foray into this lucrative business, the move has been
criticized by trade unions and even some left supporters of the
government.
In some ways it was inevitable-all segments of the financial sector had
been opened to private players and it was only a matter of time before
insurance followed. The bigger private players claim that opening up
insurance will give policy holders better products and service; the opponents
of privatization argue that in a poor country like India insurance needs to
have social objectives and newcomers will not have that commitment.
Many international players are eyeing the vast potential of the Indian
market and are already making plans to come in. But it will take some time
before the intent translates into policy-the unions are not going to give up
without a fight and in that they will get the support of some elements of the

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coalition government.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

Reforms in the Insurance sector were initiated with the passage of the IRDA
Bill in Parliament in December 1999. The IRDA since its incorporation as a
statutory body in April 2000 has fastidiously stuck to its schedule of framing
regulations and registering the private sector insurance companies.
The other decisions taken simultaneously to provide the supporting systems
to the insurance sector and in particular the life insurance companies was the
launch of the IRDAs online service for issue and renewal of licenses to
agents. The approval of institutions for imparting training to agents has also
ensured that the insurance companies would have a trained workforce of
insurance agents in place to sell their products, which are expected to be
introduced by early next year. Since being set up as an independent statutory
body the IRDA has put in a framework of globallycompatible regulations. In
the private sector 12 life insurance and 6 general insurance companies have
been registered.

Mission:

To protect the interests of the policyholders, to regulate, promote

and ensure orderly growth of the insurance industry and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Composition of Authority under IRDA Act, 1999

As per the section 4 of IRDA Act' 1999, Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority (IRDA, which was constituted by an act of parliament)
specify the composition of Authority.

The Authority is a ten member team consisting of

(a) A Chairman;

(b) Five whole-time members;

(c) Four part-time members,

(all appointed by the Government of India)

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Duties, Powers and Functions of IRDA

Section 14 of IRDA Act, 1999 lays down the duties, powers and functions of
IRDA..

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and any other law for the time
being in force, the Authority shall have the duty to regulate, promote
and ensure orderly growth of the insurance business and re-insurance
business.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in sub-

section (1), the powers and functions of the Authority shall include, -

(a) issue to the applicant a certificate of registration, renew, modify,

withdraw, suspend or cancel such registration;

(b) protection of the interests of the policy holders in matters concerning

assigning of policy, nomination by policy holders, insurable interest,
settlement of insurance claim, surrender value of policy and other terms and
conditions of contracts of insurance;

(c) specifying requisite qualifications, code of conduct and practical training

for intermediary or insurance intermediaries and agents;

(d) specifying the code of conduct for surveyors and loss assessors;

(e) promoting efficiency in the conduct of insurance business;

(f) promoting and regulating professional organisations connected with the

insurance and re-insurance business;

(g) levying fees and other charges for carrying out the purposes of this Act;

(h) calling for information from, undertaking inspection of, conducting

enquiries and investigations including audit of the insurers, intermediaries,
insurance intermediaries and other organisations connected with the
insurance business;

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 (i) control and regulation of the rates, advantages, terms and conditions that
may be offered by insurers in respect of general insurance business not so
controlled and regulated by the Tariff Advisory Committee under section 64U
of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938);

(j) specifying the form and manner in which books of account shall be
maintained and statement of accounts shall be rendered by insurers and other
insurance intermediaries;

(k) regulating investment of funds by insurance companies;

(l) regulating maintenance of margin of solvency;

(m) adjudication of disputes between insurers and intermediaries or insurance

intermediaries;

(n) supervising the functioning of the Tariff Advisory Committee;

(o) specifying the percentage of premium income of the insurer to finance

schemes for promoting and regulating professional organisations referred to
in clause (f);

(p) specifying the percentage of life insurance business and general insurance
business to be undertaken by the insurer in the rural or social sector; and

(q) exercising such other powers as may be prescribed

Functions of Insurance

The functions of Insurance can be bifurcated into two parts:

1. Primary Functions.

2. Secondary Functions.
3. Other Functions.

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The primary functions of insurance include the following:

Provide Protection - The primary function of insurance is to provide

protection against future risk, accidents and uncertainty. Insurance cannot
check the happening of the risk, but can certainly provide for the losses of
risk. Insurance is actually a protection against economic loss, by sharing the
risk with others.

Collective bearing of risk - Insurance is a device to share the financial loss

of few among many others. Insurance is a mean by which few losses are
shared among larger number of people. All the insured contribute the
premiums towards a fund and out of which the persons exposed to a
particular risk is paid.
Assessment of risk - Insurance determines the probable volume of risk by
evaluating various factors that give rise to risk. Risk is the basis for
determining the premium rate also.
Provide Certainty - Insurance is a device, which helps to change from
uncertainty to certainty. Insurance is device whereby the uncertain risks may
be made more certain.

The secondary functions of insurance include the following:

Prevention of Losses - Insurance cautions individuals and businessmen to
adopt suitable device to prevent unfortunate consequences of risk by
observing safety instructions; installation of automatic sparkler or alarm
systems, etc. Prevention of losses cause lesser payment to the assured by the
insurer and this will encourage for more savings by way of premium. Reduced
rate of premiums stimulate for more business and better protection to the
insured.

Small capital to cover larger risks - Insurance relieves the businessmen

from security investments, by paying small amount of premium against larger
risks and uncertainty.

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 Contributes towards the development of larger industries - Insurance
provides development opportunity to those larger industries having more risks
in their setting up. Even the financial institutions may be prepared to give
credit to sick industrial units which have insured their assets including plant
and machinery.

The other functions of insurance include the following:

Means of savings and investment - Insurance serves as savings and
investment, insurance is a compulsory way of savings and it restricts the
unnecessary expenses by the insured's For the purpose of availing income-tax
exemptions also, people invest in insurance.
Source of earning foreign exchange - Insurance is an international
business. The country can earn foreign exchange by way of issue of marine
insurance policies and various other ways.
Risk Free trade - Insurance promotes exports insurance, which makes the
foreign trade risk free with the help of different types of policies under marine
insurance cover.

INDIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY:

Insurers
Insurance industry, as on 1.4.2000, comprised mainly two players: the state insurers:

Life Insurers:

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC)

General Insurers:

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) (with effect from Dec'2000, a National

Reinsurer)

GIC had four subsidary companies, namely ( with effect from Dec'2000, these subsidaries have

been de-linked from the parent company and made as independent insurance companies.

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 1. The Oriental Insurance Company Limited
2. The New India Assurance Company Limited,
3. National Insurance Company Limited
4. United India Insurance Company Limited.

Yr: 2000-2001 : ( From 2nd April '2000 to 31st December'2001)

Insurance Industry in the year 2000-2001 had 16 new entrants, namely:

Life Insurers:

S.No. Registration Date of Name of the Company

Number Reg.

1 101 23.10.2000 HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.

2 104 15.11.2000 Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

3 105 24.11.2000 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd.

4 107 10.01.2001 Kodak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insurance Limited

5 109 31.01.2001 Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Ltd.

6 110 12.02.2001 Tata AIG Life Insurance Company Ltd.

7 111 30.03.2001 SBI Life Insurance Company Limited.

8 114 02.08.2001 ING Visa Life Insurance Company Private Limited

9 116 03.08.2001 Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company Limited

10 117 06.08.2001 MetLife India Insurance Company Pvt. Ltd.

General Insurers :

S.No. Registration Date of Name of the Company

Number Registration

1 102 23.10.2000 Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance

Company Limited

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2 103 23.10.2000 Reliance General Insurance
Company Limited.

3 106 04.12.2000 IFFCO Tokyo General Insurance Co.

Ltd

4 108 22.01.2001 TATA AIG General Insurance

Company Ltd.

5 113 02.05.2001 Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

Company Limited

6 115 03.08.2001 ICICI Lombard General Insurance

Company Limited.

Yr: 2004-2005 :
Insurance Industry in this year, so far has 1new entrants; namely

Life Insurers:

S.No. Registration Date of Name of the Company

Number Reg.

1 128 17.11.2005 Shriram Life Insurance Company Ltd.

INSURANCE BUSINEES:
Insurance business is divided into four classes:

1) Life Insurance
2) Fire Insurance
3) Marine Insurance and
4) Miscellaneous Insurance.

Life Insurers transact life insurance business; General Insurers transact the rest. No
composites are permitted as per law.

LEGISLATION (as on 1.4.2000):

Insurance is a federal subject in India. The primary legislation that deals with
insurance business in India is:
Insurance Act, 1938, and Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority Act, 1999.

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INSURANCE PRODUCTS (as on 1.4.2000):

Life Insurance:
Popular Products: Endowment Assurance (Participating) and Money Back
(Participating). More than 80% of the life insurance business is from these products.

General Insurance:
Fire and Miscellaneous insurance businesses are predominant. Motor Vehicle
insurance is compulsory.
Tariff Advisory Committee (TAC) lays down tariff rates for some of the general
insurance products.
In 2001 new products have been launched by life insurers. These include linked-
products. For details, please visit the websites of life insurers.

INFORMATION
About the insurance industry, the following documents may be helpful:
Malhotra Committee Report (The Report of the Committee on Reforms in the
Insurance Sector);
IRDA's First Annual Report 2001
CUSTOMER PROTECTION:
Insurance Industry has Ombudsmen in 12 cities. Each Ombudsman is empowered to
redress customer grievances in respect of insurance contracts on personal lines
where the insured amount is less than Rs. 20 laths, in accordance with the
Ombudsman Scheme. Addresses can be obtained from the offices of LIC and other
insurers.

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HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited

THE
COMPANY
PROFILE
Page 18 of 75
The Company:

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd. is one of India's leading private
insurance companies, which offers a range of individual and group insurance
solutions. It is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation
Limited (HDFC Ltd.), India's leading housing finance institution and a Group
Company of the Standard Life, UK. HDFC as on March 31, 2007 holds 81.9 per cent
of equity in the joint venture.

Key Strength of the Company:

Financial Expertise

As a joint venture of leading financial services groups, HDFC Standard Life has the
financial expertise required to manage different long-term investments safely and
efficiently.

Range of Solutions

They have a range of individual and group solutions, which can be easily customized
to specific needs. The group solutions have been designed to offer customer
complete flexibility combined with a low charging structure.

Track Record so far

The gross premium income, for the year ending March 31, 2007 stood at Rs. 2, 856
cores and new business premium income at Rs. 1,624 cores. The company has
covered over 8, 77,000 lives year ending March 31, 2007.

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Parentage of HDFCSL:

HDFC Limited.

HDFC is Indias leading housing finance institution and has helped build more
than 23, 00,000 houses since its incorporation in 1977.

In Financial Year 2003-04 its assets under management crossed Rs. 36,000
Cr.

As at March 31, 2004, outstanding deposits stood at Rs. 7,840 cores. The
depositor base now stands at around 1 million depositors.

Rated AAA by CRISIL and ICRA for the 10th consecutive year.

Stable and experienced management.

High service standards.

Awarded The Economic Times Corporate Citizen of the year Award for its
long-standing commitment to community development.
Presented the Dream Home award for the best housing finance provider in
2004 at the third Annual Outlook Money Awards.

Standard Life Group (Standard Life plc and its subsidiaries)

The Standard Life group has been looking after the financial needs of
customers for over 180 years.
It currently has a customer base of around 7 million people who rely on the
company for their insurance, pension, investment, banking and health-care
needs.

Its investment manager currently administers 125 billion in assets.

It is a leading pensions provider in the UK, and is rated by Standard & Poor's
as 'strong' with a rating of A+ and as 'good' with a rating of A1 by Moody's.

Page 20 of 75
 Standard Life was awarded the 'Best Pension Provider' in 2004, 2005 and
2006 at the Money Marketing Awards, and it was voted a 5 star life and
pensions provider at the Financial Adviser Service Awards for the last 10
years running. The '5 Star' accolade has also been awarded to Standard Life
Investments for the last 10 years, and to Standard Life Bank since its
inception in 1998. Standard Life Bank was awarded the 'Best Flexible
Mortgage Lender' at the Mortgage Magazine Awards in 2006.

Stake Holding Pattern:

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About HDFC:

1. Incorporated in 1977 to provide home ownership by providing long term

loans.

2. Focus on Excellence, Customer satisfaction and Enhancing shareholder value.

3. Almost 90% of initial shareholding in the hands of domestic institutions and

retail investors. Currently 78% of share held by FII.

Group Companies

HDFC realty.com
HDFC Bank
HDFC Home Loans
HDFC Deposits
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
HDFC Mutual Fund
HDFC Securities
Internet
CHUBB
Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd.

Page 22 of 75
 Centre for Housing Finance

Housing Finance Sector

Against the milieu of rapid urbanization and a changing socio-economic scenario, the
demand for housing has grown explosively. The importance of the housing sector in
the economy can be illustrated by a few key statistics. According to the National
Building Organization (NBO), the total demand for housing is estimated at 2 million
units per year and the total housing shortfall is estimated to be 19.4 million units, of
which 12.76 million units is from rural areas and 6.64 million units from urban areas.
The housing industry is the second largest employment generator in the country. It is
estimated that the budgeted 2 million units would lead to the creation of an
additional 10 million man-years of direct employment and another 15 million man-
years of indirect employment.

Having identified housing as a priority area in the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002),
the National Housing Policy has envisaged an investment target of Rs. 1,500 billion
for this sector. In order to achieve this investment target, the Government needs to
make low cost funds easily available and enforce legal and regulatory reforms.

Background

HDFC was incorporated in 1977 with the primary objective of meeting a social need
that of promoting home ownership by providing long-term finance to households for
their housing needs. HDFC was promoted with an initial share capital of Rs. 100
million.

Business Objectives

The primary objective of HDFC is to enhance residential housing stock in the country
through the provision of housing finance in a systematic and professional manner,
and to promote home ownership. Another objective is to increase the flow of
resources to the housing sector by integrating the housing finance sector with the
overall domestic financial markets.

Organizational Goals

HDFCs main goals are to

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a) Develop close relationships with individual households,

b) Maintain its position as the premier housing finance institution in the country,

c) Transform ideas into viable and creative solutions,

d) Provide consistently high returns to shareholders, and

e) To grow through diversification by leveraging off the existing client base.

About Standard Life:

1. Founded in 1825.

2. Currently over 7 millions customers world wide.

3. Providing a range of saving, pension, protection and investment products.

4. Standard life listed on 10th July 2006, the biggest float on the London Stock
Exchange in the last 5 years.

HO Edinburgh, Scotland (UK).

UK 31 Branches.

Canada 11 Branches.

Ireland 7 Branches.

Austria 1 Sales office.

Hong Kong 1 Representative office.

China - 1 Representative office.

Financial Strength:

1. SL investments assets held at 30 June 2006; INR 10,46,979 Cr.

2. World wide insurance new premium income for full year at 31 Dec, 2005; INR
51,816 Cr.

Page 24 of 75
The Standard Life Assurance Company ("Standard Life") was established in 1825 and
the first Standard Life Assurance Company Act was passed by Parliament in 1832.
Standard Life was reincorporated as a mutual assurance company in 1925.
The Standard Life group originally operated only through branches or agencies of the
mutual company in the United Kingdom and certain other countries.

Its Canadian branch was founded in 1833 and its Irish operations in 1838. This
largely remained the structure of the group until 1996, when it opened a branch in
Frankfurt, Germany with the aim of exporting its UK life assurance and pensions
operating model to capitalize on the opportunities presented by EC Directive
92/96/EEC (the Third Life Directive) and offer a product range in that market with
features which local providers were unable to offer.

In the 1990s, the group also sought to diversify its operations into areas which
complemented its core life assurance and pensions business, with the intention of
positioning itself as a broad range financial services provider.

Banking, Healthcare & Investments

The group set up Standard Life Bank, its UK mortgage and retail savings banking
subsidiary, in 1998 and Standard Life Investments, which had previously been the in-
house investment management unit of the groups life assurance and pensions
business, was separated into a distinct legal entity in the same year, with the aim of
establishing it as an independent investment management business providing
services to both the group and third party retail and institutional clients. The group
acquired Prime Health Limited (subsequently renamed Standard Life Healthcare) in
the United Kingdom in 2000. Standard Life Healthcare expanded in March 2006 with
the acquisition of the PMI business of First Assist.

Standard Life Asia Limited/Joint ventures

The groups Hong Kong subsidiary, Standard Life Asia Limited (SL Asia), was
incorporated in 1999 as a joint venture and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Standard Life in 2002. The groups operations in Hong Kong were established to give
the group a presence in the Far East from which it could expand into China. The
groups joint ventures in India with Housing Development Finance Corporation
Limited (HDFC) were incorporated in 2000 (in relation to the life assurance and

Page 25 of 75
pensions joint venture) and 2003 (in relation to the investment management joint
venture). The groups joint venture in China with Tianjin Economic Development Area
General Company (TEDA) became operational in 2003.

Standard Life International Limited

The group also incorporated Standard Life International Limited (SLIL) in 2005 for
the purposes of providing the group with an offshore vehicle, based in Ireland,
through which it could sell tax-efficient investment products into the United Kingdom.
Sales of these products commenced in 2006.

Service Company

Following the groups strategic review in 2004, the group established a service
company structure for the provision of central corporate services to the groups
business units. Standard Life Employee Services Limited (SLESL) supplies a wide
range of central services to the rest of the group, including IT, facilities, legal and
human resources services, and employs staff working in the groups UK and Irish
operations (other than SLI, SLB and SLH, which employ their staff directly). This
service company structure was created to enable Standard Life to comply with
regulatory restrictions on the provision of non-insurance services and to exploit
group-wide synergies.

Page 26 of 75
Snapshot of HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd.:

Founded on 14th August, 2000.

Received a license on 23 October, 2000.

First private insurance company to get a license from the IRDA.

Branches:

6 Zonal Offices.

23 Regional Offices.

176 Branches.

203 Spoke Locations.

Key Strength:

Cumulative premium income is Rs. 67,192.97 cores.

Covered 16 Lacks individuals.

Total Assets under management as on 31st March, 2007 is Rs. 4,976 cores.

Growth:

Page 27 of 75
 The premium income increased by over 58% from Rs. 1,026.18 cores in the
previous year to Rs.1,624.23 cores in the current year.

The cumulative Sum Assured in respect of policies issued increased from

Rs.47,730.40 cores as at 31st March, 2006 to Rs.67,192.97 cores as at 31st
March, 2007.

Vision Statement:

The most successful and admired life insurance company, which means
that we are the most trusted company, the easiest to deal with, offer the
best value for money, and set the standards in the industry. In short, The
most obvious choice for all.

Values of HDFCSL:

1. Integrity what is it?

Honest and Truthful in every action.

Transparency.

Stick to principles irrespective of outcome.

Be just and fair to everyone.

Why?

Integrity is the bedrock on which the company and the expectations of

the customers and employees are built.

Integrity establishes the credibility of the person defines the character

and empowers one to do justice to the job.

Enables building confidence and trust, achieving transparency and

laying a strong foundation for a binding relationship.

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 Guiding principle for all walks of life.

2. Innovation - what is it?

Building a store house of treasures through experiences.

Looking at every product and process through fresh eyes everyday.

Why?

To exceed customer expectation and maximise customer retention.

To achieve competitive advantage.

To promote growth and upgrade standards in the industry.

To foster creativity amongst employees and partners.

To open a world of new possibilities.

3. Customer centric - what is it?

Understand his expectations by keeping him as the centre point.

Listen actively.

Understand customer needs and deliver solutions.

Customer interest always supreme.

Why?

Reinforce brand loyalty by complete transparency.

Customer is the source of revenue for the company.

Customer is the reason for our existence.

Ensure that customer chooses our company to do business with.

Customers goodwill alone can bring more business and more

customers.

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 Will contribute to customer retention.

4. People Care- what is it?

People are the most valuable assets of the company.

Motivate individual to give his / her best.

Establish a valuable relationship with them to create a joyful working

environment.

Job satisfaction.

5. Team work One for all and all for one - what is it?

Whole team takes the ownership of the deliverables.

Consult all involved, understand and arrive at a common objective.

Co-operate and support across departmental boundaries.

Identify strengths and weaknesses accordingly allocate responsibility

to achieve common objectives.

Why?

Together Everyone Achieves More :- TEAM

It adds joy at work place.

Team work generates synergy and provides a focussed approach.

An idea or activity performed in a group has greater acceptability.

One for all and all for one

Joy & Simplicity

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 A Brief of the Operational Highlights of HDFCSL:

Particulars of Policy Holders Financial Year Financial Year Ended

Ended March 31, March 31, 2006(Rs. in
2007(Rs. in laces) laces)
New Business Premium Written
-Individual Business

1. Regular Premium 79,286.97 53,314.20

2. Single Premium 6,298.26 7,856.40
------------------ ----------------
-Group Business

1. Regular Premium 4,426.22 3,035.29

2. Single Premium 12,674.09 8978.34
------------------ ----------------

-Pensions

1. Regular Premium 45,518.67 24,551.27

2. Single Premium 14,219.36 4,883.10
------------------ ----------------
Total 1,62,423.57 1,02,618.60
------------------ ----------------

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Risk Claims 108,025 80,154
------------------ ----------------

Some of the initiative taken by HDFC Standard Life in the recent

years

1. New Business:

The first year premium income increased by over 58% from Rs. 1,026.18 cores in
the previous year to Rs.1,624.23 cores in the current year. The cumulative Sum
Assured in respect of policies issued increased from Rs.47,730.40 cores as at 31st
March, 2006 to Rs.67,192.97 cores as at 31st March, 2007. During the year, the
company introduced a revised version of the Group as well as Individual Unit Linked
Plans to conform to the new guidelines issued by the IRDA. The company now has a
portfolio of 21 retail and 6 group products, along with five optional rider benefits
catering to the savings, investment, protection and retirement needs of the
customer. Most retail products are offered on both, the conventional and unit linked
platforms.
2. Distribution Channels:

In its drive to deepen and widen the penetration in the market, the company opened
an additional 107 offices during the year, taking the total to 276 across 28 regions.
In addition the company also adopted the Hub and Spoke model and opened 162
spokes during the year. Through the network of these offices the companys Financial
Consultants, Corporate Agents and Brokers are able to service customers in almost
700 cities and towns across the country.

3. Financial Consultants:

The Companys distribution strategy continues to lay strong emphasis on the

development of the agency channel. The number of licensed Financial Consultants
appointed by the company increased from over 33,000 in the previous year to over
74,000 in the current year, with a large part of the increase happening in the latter
part of the year. This positions us well to take advantage of a larger trained sales
force in the coming year. The company provides extensive and thorough training, to
not only comply with the regulatory requirements, but also to equip the financial

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consultants to appropriately assess the customers insurance needs. The needs
based analysis approach adopted by our sales force has resulted in a significant
increase in the average premium, even beyond the limits of tax benefits available.

4. Going to the rural sector:

The company has focused its attention in a few rural areas and has seen gratifying
results. As against a regulatory requirement of writing 18% of all policies in rural
areas, the company has issued over 1,21,000 policies accounting for more than 23%
of all policies issued during the year. Two of our financial consultants operating
exclusively in rural areas have also qualified for the internationally recognized Million
Dollar Round Table (MDRT) club. In addition, during the current financial year, the
company has covered 27,284 lives under the social sector category, as against the
requirement of 25,000 lives.

5. Investments:

Investments of insurance companies are regulated under the IRDA (Investment)

Regulations, 2000 as amended from time to time. The company has complied with all
the requirements under the said Regulations. The total assets under management as
on March 31, 2007 is Rs. 4,976 cores as against Rs.2,554 cores in the previous year.
Under the unit linked products, the company offers a choice of 6 funds ranging from
growth to liquid funds.

6. Infrastructure:

During the year, the Company has invested in additional infrastructure capacity and
human capital, in terms of offices, technology, staff, financial consultants, in order to
be well positioned to increase the growth momentum in the year ahead. The
company stepped up the recruitment programmed in the latter part of the year in
preparation for the next year. Many of the newly recruited sales employees will
become fully productive over the coming year.

7. Human Resource:

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The company had 8,457 employees as of March 31, 2007 as compared to 3,043
Employees as of March 31, 2006.

8. Technology:

The company has been investing in technology to ensure efficient processing of

business and to be in a position to offer value added services to customers. By
networking its branches across the country and setting up a second processing
center in Chennai, the company has taken effective steps towards ensuring Business
Continuity. Its investment in workflow and imaging technology through best of breed
solutions have helped it manage increasing volumes without affecting service
standards. As a result, the company, in the last year, has been awarded the
Intelligent Enterprise Award by the Express Computer Magazine Part of the
Indian Express Group. The company has also used the internet effectively to service
both policyholders and its agency force.
9. Training:

Employee training is an integral part of our business strategy. The company

continues to invest heavily into the development of its manpower resources. This is
an ongoing activity with investments being made to reap benefits in the years to
come. During the year, a large scale training campaign was carried out covering the
employees both sales and operations, financial consultants and alternate channel
partners and their associates on the compliance necessitated by the Guidelines on
Anti Money Laundering mandated by the IRDA.

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Page 35 of 75
 Theoretical Perspective of Recruitment
and Selection

INTRODUCTION

T he human resources are the most important assets of an organization. The

success or failure of an organization is largely dependent on the caliber of the
people working therein. Without positive and creative contributions from people,
organizations cannot progress and prosper. In order to achieve the goals or the
activities of an organization, therefore, they need to recruit people with requisite
skills, qualifications and experience. While doing so, they have to keep the present as
well as the future requirements of the organization in mind.

Recruitment is distinct from Employment and Selection. Once the required number
and kind of human resources are determined, the management has to find the places

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where the required human resources are/will be available and also find the means of
attracting them towards the organization before selecting suitable candidates for
jobs. All this process is generally known as recruitment. Some people use the term
Recruitment for employment. These two are not one and the same. Recruitment is
only one of the steps in the entire employment process. Some others use the term
recruitment for selection. These are not the same either. Technically speaking, the
function of recruitment precedes the selection function and it includes only finding,
developing the sources of prospective employees and attracting them to apply for
jobs in an organization, whereas the selection is the process of finding out the most
suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates attracted (i.e., recruited).

Formal definition of recruitment would give clear cut idea about the function of
recruitment.

DEFINITIONS:

Recruitment is defined as, a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet

the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for
attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of an
efficient workforce.

Edwin B. Flipped defined recruitment as the process of searching for prospective

employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization.
Recruitment is a linking function-joining together those with jobs to fill and those
seeking jobs. It is a joining process in that it tries to bring together job seekers and
employer with a view to encourage the former to apply for a job with the latter.

In the words of Yoder, recruitment is a process to discover the sources of manpower

to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures
for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection of
an efficient working force.

An analysis of these definitions reveals the following features of recruitment:

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 (i) Recruitment is a process or series of activities rather than a single act
or event.
(ii) Recruitment is a linking activity as it brings together those with jobs
(employer) and those seeking jobs (prospective employees).
(iii) Recruitment is a positive function as it seeks to develop a pool of
eligible persons from which most suitable ones can be selected.
(iv) The basic purpose of recruitment is to locate the sources of people.
(v) Required to meet job requirements and attracting such people to offer
themselves for employment in the organization.
(vi) Recruitment makes it possible to acquire the number and type of
persons necessary for the continued functioning of the organization.
(vii) It is a pervasive function as all organizations engage in recruiting
activity.
(viii) Recruitment is a two-way process.
(ix) It is a complex process because too many factors affect it.

In order to attract people for the jobs, the organization must communicate the
position in such a way that job seekers respond. To be cost effective, the recruitment
process should attract qualified applicants and provide enough information for
unqualified persons to self-select themselves out.

Thus, the recruitment process begins when new recruits are sought and ends when
their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new
employees are selected.

Objectives of Recruitment:
The objectives are:
(i) To attract people with multi-dimensional skills and experiences that
suit the present and future organizational strategies;
(ii) To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company;
(iii) To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization;
(iv) To develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to
the company;
(v) To search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills fit the
companys value;
(vi) To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits;

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 (vii) To seek out non-conventional development grounds of talent;
(viii) To search for talent globally and not just within the company;
(ix) To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum;
(x) To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.

PURPOSES AND IMPORTANCE:

The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially qualified job

candidates. Specifically, the purposes are to:

Determine the present and future requirements of the organization in conjunction

with its personnel-planning and job-analysis activities.

Increase the pool of job candidates at minimum cost.

Help increase the success rate of the selection process by reducing the
number of visibly, under qualified or overqualified job applicants.
Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected,
will leave the organization only after a short period of time.
Begin identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be
appropriate candidates.
Induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company.
Infuse fresh blood at all levels of the organization.
Develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to the
company.
Search or head hunt/head pouch people whose skills fit the companys values.
Devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits.
Search for talent globally and not just within the company.
Design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum.
Anticipate and find people for positions that do not exist yet.
Increase organizational and individual effectiveness in the short term and long
term.
Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting techniques and sources for all
types of job applicants.

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 Recruitment- Matching the needs of applicants and organizations

Recruitment represents the first contact that a company makes with potential
employees. It is through recruitment that many individuals will come to know a
company, and eventually decide whether they wish to work for it. A well-planned and
well-managed recruiting effort will result in high-quality applicants, whereas, a
haphazard and piecemeal effort will result in mediocre ones. High-quality employees
cannot be selected when better candidates do not know of job openings, are not
interested in working for the company and do not apply. The recruitment process
should inform qualified individuals about employment opportunities, create a positive
image of the company, provide enough information about the jobs so that applicants
can make comparisons with their qualifications and interests, and generate
enthusiasm among the best candidates so that they will apply for the vacant
positions.

The negative consequences of a poor recruitment process speak volumes about its
role in an organization. The failure to generate an adequate number of reasonably
qualified applicants can prove costly in several ways. It can greatly complicate the
selection process and may result in lowering of selection standards. The poor quality
of selection means extra cost on training and supervision. Furthermore, when
recruitment fails to meet the organizational needs for talent, a typical response is to
raise entry-level pay scales. This can distort traditional wage and salary relationships
in the organization, resulting in avoidable consequences. Thus, the effectiveness of a
recruitment process can play a major role in determining the resources that must be
expended on other HR activities and their ultimate success.

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FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT:

The following are the 2 important factors affecting Recruitment:-

1. INTERNAL FACTORS

Recruiting policy

Temporary and part-time employees

Recruitment of local citizens

Engagement of the company in HRP

Companys size

Cost of recruitment

Companys growth and expansion

2. EXTERNAL FACTORS

Supply and Demand factors

Unemployment Rate

Labour-market conditions

Political and legal considerations

Social factors

Economic factors

Technological factors

Relationship with other activities:

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 Recruitment: Relationship with other activities

Job Analysis: Indicates the nature and requirements of specific jobs.

Human Resource Planning: Determine the specific number of jobs that are to be
filled.

Recruitment: Provides a pool of people who are qualified to fill these vacancies.

Selection: Indicates the individual who is most suited for the job from a pool of
qualified candidates.

INDUCEMENTS

Organisational inducements are all the positive features and benefits offered by an
organization that serves to attract job applicants to the organisation. Three
inducements need specific mention here, they are:-

Compensation:

Starting salaries, frequency of pay increases, incentives and fringe benefits can all
serve as inducements to potential employees.

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Career Opportunities:

These help the present employees to grow personally and professionally and also
attract good people to the organization. The feeling that the company takes care of
employee career aspirations serves as a powerful inducements to potential
employees.

Image or Reputation:

Factors that affect an organisations reputation include its general treatment of

employees, the nature and quality of its products and services and its participation in
worthwhile social endeavors.

CONSTRAINTS

If a firm has a poor image in the market, many of the prospective candidates may
not even apply for vacancies advertised by the firm. If the job is not attractive,
qualified people may not even apply. Any job that is viewed as boring, hazardous,
anxiety producing, low-paying, or lacking in promotion potential seldom will attract a
qualified pool of applicants. Recruiting efforts require money. Sometimes because of
limited resources, organizations may not like to carry on the recruiting efforts for
long periods of time, this can, ultimately, constrain a recruiters effort to attract the
best person for the job. Government policies often come in the way of recruiting
people as per the rules of the company or on the basis of merit/seniority, etc. For
example, reservations to specific groups (such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes,
backward castes, physically handicapped and disabled persons, ex-servicemen, etc.)
have to be observed as per constitutional provisions while filling up vacancies in
government corporations, departmental undertakings, local bodies, quasi-
government organizations, etc.

RECRUITMENT POLICY:

Recruitment policy of any organization is derived from the personnel policy of the
same organization. In other words the former is a part of the latter. However,
recruitment policy by itself should take into consideration the governments
reservation policy, policy regarding sons of soil, etc., personnel policies of other
organizations regarding merit, internal sources, social responsibility in absorbing

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minority sections, women, etc. Recruitment policy should commit itself to the
organisations personnel policy like enriching the organisations human resources or
servicing the community by absorbing the retrenched or laid-off employees or
casual/temporary employees or dependents of present/former employees, etc.

The following factors should be taken into consideration in formulating recruitment

policy. They are:-

Government policies
Personnel policies of other competing organizations
Organisations personnel policies
Recruitment sources
Recruitment needs
Recruitment cost
Selection criteria and preference

CANTRALISED V/s DECENTRALISED RECRUITMENT

Recruitment practices vary from one organization to another. Some organizations like
commercial banks resort to centralized recruitment while some organizations like the
Indian Railway resort to decentralized recruitment practices. Personnel department at
the central office performs all the functions of recruitment in case of centralised
recruitment and personnel departments at unit level/zonal level perform all the
functions of recruitment concerning to the jobs of the respective unit or zone.

SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT:

The sources of recruitment may be broadly divided into two categories: internal
sources and external sources. Both have their own merits and demerits. Lets
examine these.

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Internal Sources

Persons who are already working in an organization constitute the internal sources.
Retrenched employees, retired employees, dependents of deceased employees may
also constitute the internal sources. Whenever any vacancy arises, someone from
within the organization is upgraded, transferred, promoted or even demoted.

External Sources

External sources lie outside an organization. Here the organization can have the
services of :

(a) Employees working in other organizations;

(b) Jobs aspirants registered with employment exchanges;

(c) Students from reputed educational institutions;

(d) Candidates referred by unions, friends, relatives and existing employees;

(e) Candidates forwarded by search firms and contractors;

(f) Candidates responding to the advertisements, issued by the organization; and

(g) Unsolicited applications/ walk-ins.

Merits and Demerits of Recruiting people from Within

Merits Demerits

1) Economical: The cost of recruiting 1) Limited Choice: The organization is

internal candidates is minimal. No
expenses are incurred on advertising.
2) Suitable: The organization can pick
the right candidates having the
requisite skills. The candidate can
choose a right vacancy where their
talents can be fully utilized.
3) Reliable: The organization has the
knowledge about suitability of a
candidate for a position. Known
devils are better than unknown
angels!
4) Satisfying: A policy of preferring
people from within offers regular
promotional avenues for employees.
It motivates them to work hard and
forced to select candidates from a
limited pool. It may have to sacrifice
quality and settle down for less
qualified candidates.
2) Inbreeding: It discourages entry
for talented people, available outside
an organization. Existing employees
may fail to behave in innovative
ways and inject necessary dynamism
to enterprise activities.
3) Inefficiency: Promotions based on
length of service rather than merit,
may prove to be a blessing for
inefficient candidate. They do not
work hard and prove their worth.

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 earn promotions. They will work with
loyalty commitment and enthusiasm.
The merits and demerits of recruiting candidates from outside an organization may
be stated thus:
Merits and Demerits of External sources of Recruitment
Merits
Wide Choice: The organization has the
freedom to select candidates from a large
pool. Persons with requisite qualifications
could be picked up.
Infection of fresh blood: People with
special skills and knowledge could be
hired to stir up the existing employees
and pave the way for innovative ways of
working.
Motivational force: It helps in
motivating internal employees to work
hard and compete with external
candidates while seeking career growth.
Such a competitive atmosphere would
help an employee to work to the best of
his abilities.
Long term benefits: Talented people
could join the ranks, new ideas could find
meaningful expression, a competitive
atmosphere would compel people to give
out their best and earn rewards, etc.
4) Bone of contention: Recruitment
from within may lead to infighting
among employees aspiring for
limited, higher level positions in an
organization. As years roll by, the
race for premium positions may end
up in a bitter race.
Demerits
Expenses: Hiring costs could go up
substantially. Tapping multifarious
sources of recruitment is not an easy
task either.
Time consuming: It takes time to
advertise, screen, to test and test and to
select suitable employees. Where suitable
ones are not available, the process has to
be repeated.
De-motivating: Existing employees who
have put in considerable service may
resist the process of filling up vacancies
from outside. The feeling that their
services have not been recognized by the
organization, forces then to work with
less enthusiasm and motivation.
Uncertainty: There is no guarantee that
the organization, ultimately will be able
to hire the services of suitable
candidates. It may end up hiring
someone who does not fit and who may
not be able to adjust in the new setup.
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METHODS OF RECRUITMENT:

The following are the most commonly used methods of recruiting people.

INTERNAL METHODS:

1. Promotions and Transfers

This is a method of filling vacancies from within through transfers and

promotions.

A transfer is a lateral movement within the same grade, from one job to another. It
may lead to changes in duties and responsibilities, working conditions, etc., but not
necessarily salary. Promotion, on the other hand, involves movement of employee
from a lower level position to a higher level position accompanied by (usually)
changes in duties, responsibilities, status and value. Organisations generally prepare
badly lists or a central pool of persons from which vacancies can be filled for manual
jobs. Such persons are usually passed on to various departments, depending on
internal requirements. If a person remains on such rolls for 240 days or more, he
gets the status of a permanent employee as per the Industrial Disputes Act and is
therefore entitled to all relevant benefits, including provident fund, gratuity,
retrenchment compensation.

2. Job Posting

Job posting is another way of hiring people from within. In this method, the
organisation publicises job opening on bulletin boards, electronic method and similar
outlets. One of the important advantages of this method is that it offers a chance to
highly qualified applicants working within the company to look for growth
opportunities within the company to look for growth opportunities within the
company without looking for greener pastures outside.

3. Employee Referrals

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Employee referral means using personal contacts to locate job opportunities. It is a
recommendation from a current employee regarding a job applicant. The logic
behind employee referral is that it takes one to know one. Employees working in
the organization, in this case, are encouraged to recommend the names of their
friends, working in other organizations for a possible vacancy in the near future. In
fact, this has become a popular way of recruiting people in the highly competitive
Information Technology industry nowadays. Companies offer rich rewards also to
employees whose recommendations are accepted after the routine screening and
examining process is over and job offers extended to the suggested candidates.
As a goodwill gestures, companies also consider the names recommended by unions
from time to time.

External (direct) Methods:

1. Campus Recruitment

It is a method of recruiting by visiting and participating in college campuses and their

placement centres. Here the recruiters visit reputed educational institutions such as
IITs, IIMs, colleges and universities with a view to pick up job aspirants having
requisite technical or professional skills. Job seekers are provided information about
the jobs and the recruiters, in turn, get a snapshot of job seekers through constant
interchange of information with respective institutions.

A preliminary screening is done within the campus and the short listed students are
then subjected to the remainder of the selection process. In view of the growing
demand for young managers, most reputed organizations (such as Hindustan Lever
Ltd., Proctor & Cable, Citibank, State Bank of India, Tata and Birla group companies)
visit IIMs and IITs regularly and even sponsor certain popular campus activities with
a view to earn goodwill in the job market. Advantages of this method include: the
placement centre helps locate applicants and provides resumes to organizations;
applicants can be prescreened; applicants will not have to be lured away from a
current job and lower salary expectations. On the negative front, campus recruiting
means hiring people with little or no work experience.

The organizations will have to offer some kind of training to the applicants, almost
immediately after hiring. It demands careful advance planning, looking into the
placement weeks of various institutions in different parts of the country. Further,

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campus recruiting can be costly for organizations situated in another city (airfare,
boarding and lodging expenses of recruiters, site visit of applicants if allowed, etc.).

If campus recruitment is used, steps should be taken by human resource department

to ensure that recruiters are knowledgeable concerning the jobs that are to be filled
and the organizations and understand and employ effective interviewing skills.

Guidelines for campus recruiting: companies using college campuses as recruitment

source should consider the following guidelines:

Identify the potential candidates early: The earlier that candidate with top potential
can be identified, the more likely the organization will be in a position to attract
them.

Employ various means to attract candidates: These may include providing research
grants; consulting opportunities to faculty members, funding university
infrastructural requirements, internships to students, etc. in the long run these will
enhance the prestige of the company in the eyes of potential job seekers.

Use effective recruitment material: Attractive brochures, films, computer diskettes,

followed by enthusiastic and effective presentations by company officials,
correspondence with placement offices in respective campus in a friendly way will
help in booting the company image in the eyes of the applicants. The company must
provide detailed information about the characteristics of entry level positions,
especially those that have had a major positive impact on prior applicants decisions
to join the company.

Offer training to campus interviews: Its better to devote more time and resources to
train on campus interviewers to answer specific job related questions of applicants.

Come out with a competitive offer: Keep the key job attributes that influence the
decisions of applicants such as promotional avenues, challenging assignments, long
term income potential, etc., while talking to candidates.

Indirect methods:

1. Advertisements:

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These include advertisements in newspapers; trade, professional and technical
journals; radio and television; etc. in recent times, this medium has become just as
colourful, lively and imaginative as consumer advertising. The ads generally give a
brief outline of the job responsibilities, compensation package, prospects in
organizations, etc. this method is appropriate when (a) the organization intends to
reach a large target group and (b) the organizations wants a fairly good number of
talented people who are geographically spread out. To apply for advertised
vacancies lets briefly examine the wide variety of alternatives available to a
company - as far as ads are concerned:

Newspaper Ads: Here it is easy to place job ads without much of a lead time. It has
flexibility in terms of information and can conveniently target a specific geographic
location. On the negative side, newspaper ads tend to attract only those who are
actively seeking employment at that point of time, while some of the best candidates
who are well paid and challenged by their current jobs may not be aware of such
openings. As a result, the company may be bombarded with applications from a
large number of candidates who are marginally qualified for the job adding to its
administrative burden. To maintain secrecy for various reasons (avoiding the rush,
sending signals to competitors, cutting down expenses involved in responding to any
individual who applies, etc.), large companies with a national reputation may also go
in for blind-box ads in newspapers, especially for filling lower level positions. In a
blind-box ad there is no identification of the advertising organization. Job aspirants
are asked to respond to a post office box number or to an employment firm that is
acting as an agent between the job seekers and the organization.

Television and radio ads: These ads are more likely to each individual who are not
actively seeking employment; they are more likely to stand out distinctly, they help
the organization to target the audience more selectively and they offer considerable
scope for designing ads creatively. However, these ads are expensive. Also, because
the television or radio is simply seen or heard, potential candidates may have a
tough time remembering the details, making application difficult.

Third Party Methods:

Private Employment Search Firms:-

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 As search firm is a private employment agency that maintains computerized lists of
qualified applicants and supplies these to employers willing to hire people from the
list for a fee. Firms like Arthur Anderson, Bobble and Hewitt, ABC consultants, SB
Billimoria, KPMG; Ferguson Associates offers specialized employment-related
services to corporate houses for a fee, especially for top and middle level executive
vacancies. AT the lower end, a number of search firms operate providing
multifarious services to both recruiters and the recruiters.

Employment Exchanges:-

AS a statutory requirement, companies are also expected to notify (wherever the

Employment Exchanges Act, 1959, applies) their vacancies through the respective
Employment Exchanges, created all over India for helping unemployed youth,
displaced persons, ex-military personnel, physically handicapped, etc. AS per the
Act all employers are supposed to notify the vacancies arising in their
establishments form time to time with certain exemptions to the prescribed
employment exchanges before they are filled. The Act covers all establishments in
public sector and nonagricultural establishments employing 25 or more workers in
the private sector. However, in view of the practical difficulties involved in
implementing the provisions of the Act (such as filing a quarterly return in respect
of their staff strength, vacancies and shortages, returns showing occupational
distribution of their employees, etc.) many organizations have successfully fought
court battles when they were asked to pick up candidates from among those
sponsored by the employment exchanges.

Gate Hiring and Contractors:-

Gate hiring (where job seekers, generally blue collar employees, present
themselves at the factory gate and offer their services on a daily basis), hiring
through contractors, recruiting through word-of-mouth publicity are still in use
despite the many possibilities for their misuse in the small scale sector in India.

Unsolicited Applicants / Walk-ins:-

Companies generally receive unsolicited applications from job seekers at various

points of time; the number of such applications depends on economic conditions,
the image of the company and the job seekers perception of the types of jobs that

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 might be available etc. Such applications are generally kept in a data bank and
whenever a suitable vacancy arises, the company would intimate the candidates to
apply through a formal channel. One important problem with this method is that
job seekers generally apply to number of organizations and when they are actually
required by the organizations, either they are already employed in other
organizations or are not simply interested in the position.

SELECTION:

The size of the labour market, the image of the company, the place of posting, the
nature of job, the compensation package and a host of other factors influence the
manner of aspirants are likely to respond to the recruiting efforts of the company.
Through the process of recruitment the company tries to locate prospective
employees and encourages them to apply for vacancies at various levels. Recruiting,
thus, provides a pool of applicants for selection.

Definition

To select mean to choose. Selection is the process of picking individuals who have
relevant qualifications to fill jobs in an organisation. The basic purpose is to choose
the individual who can most successfully perform the job from the pool of qualified
candidates.

Purpose

The purpose of selection is to pick up the most suitable candidate who would meet
the requirements of the job in an organisation best, to find out which job applicant
will be successful, if hired. To meet this goal, the company obtains and assesses
information about the applicants in terms of age, qualifications, skills, experience,
etc. the needs of the job are matched with the profile of candidates. The most
suitable person is then picked up after eliminating the unsuitable applicants through
successive stages of selection process. How well an employee is matched to a job is
very important because it is directly affects the amount and quality of employees
work. Any mismatched in this regard can cost an organisation a great deal of money,
time and trouble, especially, in terms of training and operating costs. In course of
time, the employee may find the job distasteful and leave in frustration. He may
even circulate hot news and juicy bits of negative information about the company,

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causing incalculable harm to the company in the long run. Effective election,
therefore, demands constant monitoring of the fit between people the job.

The Process

Selection is usually a series of hurdles or steps. Each one must be successfully

cleared before the applicant proceeds to the next one. The time and emphasis place
on each step will definitely vary from one organisation to another and indeed, from
job to job within the same organisation. The sequence of steps may also vary from
job to job and organisation to organisation. For example some organisations may
give more importance to testing while others give more emphasis to interviews and
reference checks. Similarly a single brief selection interview might be enough for
applicants for lower level positions, while applicants for managerial jobs might be
interviewed by a number of people.

Steps in Selecting Process

Reception

A company is known by the people it employs. In order to attract people with talents,
skills and experience a company has to create a favourable impression on the
applicants right from the stage of reception. Whoever meets the applicant initially

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should be tactful and able to extend help in a friendly and courteous way.
Employment possibilities must be presented honestly and clearly. If no jobs are
available at that point of time, the applicant may be asked to call back the personnel
department after some time.

Screening Interview

A preliminary interview is generally planned by large organisations to cut the cost of

selection by allowing only eligible candidates to go through the further stages in
selection. A junior executive from the Personnel Department may elicit responses
from the applicants on important items determining the suitability of an applicant for
a job such as age, education, experience, pay expectations, aptitude, location, choice
etc. this courtesy interview as it is often called helps the department screen out
obvious misfits. If the department finds the candidate suitable, a prescribed
application form is given to the applicants to fill and submit.

Application Blank

Application blank or form is one of the most common methods used to collect
information on the various aspects of the applicants academic, social, demographic,
work related background and references. It is a brief history sheet of employees
background, usually containing the following things:

Personal data (address, sex, telephone number)

Marital data

Educational data

Employment Experience

Extra-curricular activities

References and Recommendations

Selection Testing

In this section let examine the selection test or the employment test that attempts
to asses intelligence, abilities, personality trait, performance simulation tests

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including work sampling and the tests administered at assessment centres- followed
by a discussion about the polygraph test, graphology and integrity test.

A test is a standardized, objective measure of a persons behaviour, performance

or attitude. It is standardised because the way the tests is carried out, the
environment in which the test is administered and the way the individual
scores are calculated- are uniformly applied. It is objective in that it tries to
measure individual differences in a scientific way giving very little room for
individual bias and interpretation. Over the years employment tests have not
only gained importance but also a certain amount of inevitability in
employment decisions. Since they try to objectively determine how well an
applicant meets the job requirement, most companies do not hesitate to
invest their time and money in selection testing in a big way.

Selection Interview

Interview is the oral examination of candidates for employment. This is the most
essential step in the selection process. In this step the interviewer matches the
information obtained about the candidates through various means to the job
requirements and to the information obtained through his own observations during
the interview. Interview gives the recruiter an opportunity

To size up the candidate personally;

To ask question that are not covered in the tests;
To make judgments on candidates enthusiasm and intelligence;
To assess subjective aspects of the candidate facial expressions,
appearance, nervousness and so forth;
To give facts to the candidates regarding the company, its policies, etc.
and promote goodwill towards the company.

Medical examination:

Certain jobs require physical qualities like clear vision, perfect hearing, unusual
stamina, tolerance of hard working conditions, clear tone, etc. Medical examination
reveals whether or not a candidate possesses these qualities.

Reference Checks:

Once the interview and medical examination of the candidate is over, the personnel
department will engage in checking references. Candidates are required to give the

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names of 2 or 3 references in their application forms. These references may be from
the individuals who are familiar with the candidates academic achievements or from
the applicants previous employer, who is well versed with the applicants job
performance and sometimes from the co-workers. In case the reference check is
from the previous employer, information in the following areas may be obtained.

They are job title, job description, period of employment, pay and allowances, gross
emoluments, benefits provided, rate of absence, willingness of previous employer to
employ the candidate again, etc. Further, information regarding candidates
regularity at work, character, progress, etc. can be obtained. Often a telephone call is
much quicker. The method of mail query provides detailed information about the
candidates performance, character and behavior. However, a personal visit is
superior to the mail or telephone methods and is used where it is highly essential to
get a detailed, first hand information which can also be secured by observation.
Reference checks are taken as a matter of routine and treated casually or omitted
entirely in many organizations. But a good reference check, when used sincerely, will
fetch useful and reliable information to the organization.

Hiring decision:

The line manager has to make the final decision now whether to select or reject a
candidate after soliciting the required information through different techniques
discussed earlier. The line manager has to take adequate care in taking the final
decision because of economic, behavioral and social implications of the selection
decisions. A careless decision of rejecting a candidate would impair the morale of the
people and they suspect the selection procedure and the very basis of selection in a
particular organization.

A true understanding between line managers and personnel managers should be

established so as to facilitate good selection decisions. After taking the final decision,
the organization has to intimate this decision to the successful as well as
unsuccessful candidates. The organization sends the appointment order to the
successful candidates either immediately or after sometime depending upon its time
schedule.

Barriers to effective selection:

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The main objective of selection is to hire people having competence and
commitment. This objective is often defeated because of certain barriers. The
impediments which check effectiveness of selection are perception, fairness, validity,
reliability, and pressure.

PERCEPTION: Our inability to understand others accurately is probably the most

fundamental barrier to selecting right candidate. Selection demands an individual or
a group to assess and compare the respective competencies of others, with the aim
of choosing the right persons for the jobs. But our views are highly personalized. We
all perceive the world differently. Our limited perceptual ability is obviously a
stumbling block to the objective and rational selection of people.

FAIRNESS: Fairness in selection requires that no individual should be discriminated

against on the basis of religion, region, race or gender. But the low number of
women and other less privileged sections of society in the middle and senior
management positions and open discrimination on the basis of age in job
advertisements and in the selection process would suggest that all the efforts to
minimize inequity have not been very effective.

VALIDITY: Validity, as explained earlier, is a test that helps predict job performance
of an incumbent. A test that has been validated can differentiate between the
employees who can perform well and those who will not. However, a validated test
does not predict job success accurately. It can only increase possibility of success.

RELIABILITY: A reliable method is one which will produce consistent results when
repeated in similar situations. Like a validated test, a reliable test may fall to predict
job performance with precision.

PRESSURE: Pressure is brought on the selectors by politicians, bureaucrats,

relatives, friends, and peers to select particular candidate. Candidates selected
because of compulsions are obviously not the right ones. Appointments to public
sector undertakings generally take place under such pressure.

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 Human Resources Practices of
HDFC Standard Life Insurance
Company Limited

ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE:

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 Expansion & Manpower planned by HO

Evaluating sources of Recruitment

i. News Paper

ii. Portals

iii. References

iv. Campus

v. Internal Promotions

Ensuring proper joining with all relevant joining formalities

Ensuring proper introduction and coordinating Induction

Tracking the performance of the Employees

Training wherever required

Confirmation Management based on performance

Promotion, Growth Path, Relocation, Termination

Employee Relation and Grievance Handling

Organization Policy:

Leave Policy

Yearly Leave details:

Casual Leave 8

Sick Leave 15

Privilege Leave 30

The leave calendar is from January to December.

Sick leave can be carry forward maximum up to 60.

Privilege Leave will be calculated as per 2.5 leave per month.

Privilege leave has to be of minimum of 4 days.

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Travel Policy:

Scope

An employee has to travel for business purpose hence travel should be

Consistent with the needs of the business and should be used to accomplish the
business objectives in the most efficient manner

Local Conveyance

User Approval
Employees at Branch BM & above

Zonal Manager Business head or GM-Sales in the absence of

Business heads

Employees at HO & HOD

HUB
HOD GM or MD (as per reporting structure)

GM MD

Medical Re-imbursement:

The scheme becomes operative on confirmation of the employee retrospectively from

the date of joining. He/she can claim the medical expenses incurred during the
tenure of his/her association with HDFC SL. The medical reimbursement process will
be considered under a financial year basis i.e. (April to Mar). The scheme covers the
expenses incurred on domiciliary medical treatment for the employee and his family.
Procedure:
Claim for reimbursement will be processed on a fortnightly basis i.e. on 5 th and 20th
of every month. The medical bills for every financial year are allowed to be claimed

up to 31sty March

Note: Any unclaimed/balance amount for the respective financial year

will be paid to the employee in the March salary which will be subject to
income-tax.

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Hospitalization and Insurance Policy:

Coverage:

All eligible employees of HDFCSL are covered under the policy from
the date of joining.

Employees have to submit details of self & dependent family members up to

maximum of 3 in the prescribed format & system to HR
department at the time joining or as per requirement by the department.

Dependants for this purpose shall mean i.e. Father, Mother, Spouse, son,
daughter, unmarried Brother & Sister and dependent Father in law &
Mother in law.

Leave Travel Assistance (LTA) Policy:

Eligibility

1. All confirmed employees, who have completed one year of service from the
date of joining the company, are eligible to avail LTA.

2. The amount is paid in respect of the travel fare incurred by the employee and
his family (Spouse, Children,Parents, Brother, Sister).

3. LTA can be accumulated for a maximum of 4 calendar years. Employee can

have 2 claimable opportunities to get income tax exemption on his LTA
eligibility.

4. A minimum of 4 days of Privilege Leave will have to be availed in order to

claim LTA.

5. LTA can be claimed as an advance to book journey tickets upto maximum 30

days prior to the date of journey.

Transfer Policy:

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Objective:
To provide guidelines to employees about the rules governing the transfers of the
employees.

Scope:
The policy is applicable to confirmed employees of HDFC Standard Life.

Types of transfers:

1. Transfer executed by the company to meet business requirements of the

company as per the terms of the employment

2. A transfer arising out of the internal recruitment process through the jobs
advertised by the HR department & the promotions within the company.

3. A transfer requested by the employee on the grounds of his personal reasons

by way of formal application & which is accepted by the company.

Recruitment Process:

Recruitment and Selection Process at HDFC Standard Life

Insurance Company Ltd.:

Receive the application from

different sources.

First round of interview will Fill up the

be taken by BM (for SDM) assessment sheet
and by TM (for BM/ASM) Page
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comments
 Second round of interview
will be taken by TM (for
SDM) and TM (for BM/ASM )

Medical test is
conducted if its ok
then asks to join.

Collect the Graduation

certificate, Pay slip(if
possible) and send it to
HR

The Recruitment Process at HDFC Standard Life Insurance

Company Ltd.:

They generally provide or engage themselves both in internal as well as external

recruitment. Now we will discuss them one by one.

Internal Recruitment

The process in the internal recruitment follows:

1. Existing/ Present Employees:

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 HDFC Std. Life, in case of many posts apply this type of recruitment policy.
Generally they apply this type of recruitment process for the post of Financial
Consultants (F.C.), Sales Development Manager (SDM), Business
Development Manager (BDM), Assistant Sales Manager (ASM) etc. They are
generally given targets in their job profile, i.e. they had to achieve a certain
amount of money as premium of the insurance policies. If they achieve that
amount they are promoted to the higher rank like- from FC to SDM.; SDM to
BDM or from BDM to ASM. This helps the company in saving the money and
also a fast applied process in recruitment as required by them.

2. Employee Recommendation: -
This is another process followed by the company in their recruitment process.
Sometimes if a reputed and a well known posts employee of the company
recommend a candidate for the interview, they are generally not neglected. It
facilates, the person recommended by the employee will be well known and
trustworthy.

External Recruitment

The processes those are being followed in the case of external recruitment are as

follows:

1. Consultancy firms:
These are the firms that provides candidates (those seeking for jobs) to the
company who requires candidate as their employee. HDFC Std. Life also has
contacts with some such consultancies in order to get candidate as per their
job profile. These are like ABC Consultant, Mafoi Consultant etc. here they get
the candidate as per their required profile for the post. In contrast they had to
pay an amount to the consultancy firm.

2. Educational institutions:
In this process of recruitment the company goes to various well known
educational institutes and conducts campus interviews and selects the
candidates. There they conducts group discussion, personal interview etc and
selects and recruit the suitable candidates. Good Universities are a good

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 source for recruiting well qualified executives. Good institutions have
placement officers to serve as a bridge between employer and students. This
source is known as campus recruitment. From this source they generally
recruit candidates in the post of SDM, Operation Executive, and Recruitment
Officers etc.

3. Walk-in Interviews: It is a very common way of recruiting candidates. In

todays date this policy is being followed by almost all the companies. HDFC
Std. Life also follows this type of policy in their recruitment process. They
generally give ads in newspapers like Hindustan Times (POWER JOBS), Times
of India (ACCENT) Here the candidates come without a prior application to
the company and then they are recruited and selected as per their
qualification and quality.

4. Similar organizations:
Experienced employees are recruited by offering better benefit to the people
working in similar organization. HDFC Std. Life often recruits candidate who
are experienced in similar organization and offers them a better post as well
as better packages. This is known as Employee Poaching.

5. Job Portals:
They also recruit candidates from various job sites like Naukri.com,
Timesjob.com, MonsterIndia.com etc where the job seekers drops their
biodata in order to get called by the companies who needs candidates for
their company. HDFC Std. Life also uses such job sites in case of their
recruitment policies. They select candidates as per the criteria needed by
them. They recruit SDM and Sales Manager in this way to their company.
But now a day HDFC Std. Life is giving more emphasis to a new type of
recruitment process, E- Recruitment in order to tap personnel from every
corner of the country.
These are the process those are being applied by HDFC Std. Life in their
recruitment process for the suitable candidate in their company.

Recruitment Policy:

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HDFC Standard Life recruits candidates from different sources like Colleges
and B-schools through campus interview, employees referrals, through e-
recruitment.
Mid-Career recruitment:
In mid- career recruitment HDFC Standard Life fills the vacancies through
internal transfer and also take the help of employee referrals and
headhunters. Advertisement is also placed in newspapers.
Terms:
HDFC Standard Life have three months probation period. The retirement age
is 60 years. Performance based compensation review is done on an annual
basis.
Posting / Transfer:
Posting of employees is carry out in every branch and regional offices.
Employees are transferred across offices.
Special facilities:
HDFC Standard Life provides employee- friendly work environment and
excellent growth prospects. They encourage and facilitates higher education
and self- development.

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 Statistical Analysis and Qualitative
assessment of recruitment and
selection process of HDFC Standard
Life

Statistical Analysis:

A. Composition of workforce:

The present composition of workforce at HDFC std. life

insurance co. ltd., Durgapur is out of 31 employees 5 female
and 26 male employees.

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Therefore, we can conclude that the performances of Female employees are not
more than Male employees. Therefore, it means that the factor Gender has no role to
play in the performance of employees.

B. Qualification of the employees:

The qualification level of the employees at HDFC std. life insurance co. ltd., Durgapur
is out of 31 employees 20 employees are Graduate and rest 11 are Post Graduate.

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So, we can conclude that the performances of Post Graduate employees are not
more than Graduate employees. Therefore, it means that the factor Educational
Qualification has no role to play in the performance. This particular result can be
explained in terms of the fact that in our analysis, Educational Qualification has been

classified only into two classes for simplicity.

D. Experience level of the employees:

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In the present composition of workforce at HDFC std. life insurance co. ltd., Durgapur
is few employees having more than 2 years of experience whereas few have less
than 2 years of experience.

So, we can conclude that people are having less experience are good performer than
employees having couple of years of experience.

Findings
In HDFC Standard Life both internal and external sources of recruitment are
used. Internal sources are used for the recruitment of posts like Financial

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 Consultants, Sales Development Manager, Business Development Manager,
and Territory Manager. These posts are filled up through promotions and
transfers.

HDFC Standard Life follows both centralized and decentralized methods of

recruitment. The top management employees are recruited by the Corporate
Office situated in Mumbai, whereas the employees at the lower level are
recruited by the Regional Office Branch Offices situated in all over the India.

HDFC Standard Life is making good use of the E- Recruitment mechanism.

This method is followed to tap human resources from every nook and corner
of the country. This also provides an opportunity to apply for the job online.

In e- recruitment process HDFC Standard Life provides all sorts of required

information which is very essential for the applicants. They are making this
process quite transparent.

After the selection of employees, the Financial Consultants, they are

sponsored to training institutes like NIS Sparta, to undergo training for 100
hours to obtain IRDA License which is a must for the people engaged in
selling insurance products.

In the Branch Offices, the son-of the-soil principle is followed for giving
appointment to the employees in the Sales Division so that they can utilize
their references by selling the insurance products to the people they know.

HDFC Standard Life uses newspapers, especially in papers like The Telegraph
(JOBS), The Times of India (ACCENT), as an effective source of recruitment.

For the recruitment of employees for the top management the seek help of
leading placement consultants like ABC Consultant, Mafoi, etc.

As the attrition rate is high in HDFC Standard Life, Walk in Interview is

extensively used to recruit employees to meet up the gap.

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 Information about various vacancies in the company is posted in the website
(www.hdfcinsuarance.com). Information can also be obtained from the
website of Monsterindia.com, Naukri.com, etc.

In HDFC Standard Life graduate employees are found good performer than
the post graduate employees.

In HDFC Standard Life fresh candidates are doing well in terms of business
than experience employees.

Recommendations
Considering the above findings, the following recommendations are being made to
enhance the effectiveness of the existing recruitment system followed by the
company.

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 The recruitment system of HDFC Standard Life should encourage more
Campus Recruitment to have young and dynamic business graduates to work
for them.

Proper training should be imparted to the new employees (especially the

employees of the Sales Division like the Financial Consultants) with regard to
Selling Skills and Awareness about the various Products and Plans of the
company and not just the product or plan he or she is selling. The
employees should be made aware of the products of other life insurance
companies so that while convincing a client he can compare both the
products and prove the superiority or highlight the positive side of his
product.

As the attrition rate is very high in HDFC Standard Life, the company should
review its Recruitment Policy, so that it can build a committed team with a
culture of innovation, learning and growth

Motivating the employees through properly structured compensation

schemes is also an important demand raised by the banks. The
compensation scheme/fringe benefits must be designed to include profit
sharing, share option, merit or performance related to pay, etc.

The performance appraisal system must incorporate personal psychological

factors such as sensitivity and adaptability, cross-cultural skills and inter
personal skills. Appraisal must be carried out as an ongoing process at
regular intervals rather than annually.

Conclusion
Human resources are considered an essential element in determining the
organizations well-being. Presently, organizations have started realizing that human
resources are the most important of all assets based on the emerging values of
humanization. Development is considered to be the soul of the human resource
management function, which reflects on the organizations effectiveness. Human

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Resource Management (HRM), in a growing economy like India, is the need of the
hour and undoubtedly, banking sector is the most effective instrument for Indias
economic development. Thus, developing human resources and their Optimal
utilization in this sector has become very essential to achieve the objectives.
HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Ltd. is one of India's leading private life
insurance companies, which offers a range of individual and group insurance
solutions. It is a joint venture between Housing Development Finance Corporation
Limited (HDFC Ltd.), India's leading housing finance institution and The Standard Life
Insurance Company, a leading provider of financial services from the United
Kingdom. Both the promoters are well known for their ethical dealings and financial
strength and are thus committed to being a long-term player in the life insurance
industry.
HDFC Standard Life gives much emphasis on its Human Resource. They treated it as
the building blocks on which the companys performance and productivity is based.
Regarding recruitment and selection process they are always in search fro the best
talents. They are giving importance to the e- recruitment process and provides as
much as information through job posting which will reflect the transparency of the
process.
Besides, bond between employees and their organization should be strengthened by
a number of factors like job scope, job challenge, occupational commitment, job
involvement and job satisfaction, thus leading to organizational commitment. This
will have multiple advantages to the organization it will result in lower turnover,
contribute to greater productivity and will also attract prospective employees.

Bibliography:
Books

1. A Hand Book of Human Resource Management Practices: Michael

Armstrong.
2. Personnel / Human Resource Management: David A. DeCenzo & Stephen
P. Robbins.

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 3. Human Resource Management: Gary Dessler

4. Human Resource Management: H. Daniel

5. Personnel and Human Resource Management: V.P.S.Rao

6. Human Resource and Personnel Management : K. Aswathappa

7. Management: James A.F. Stoner, R. Edward Freeman & Daniel R. Gilbert,

JR.
8. Human Resource Management: B.Pattanayak

Newspapers / Magazines:
1. Times of India.
2. Hindustan Times.
3. The Telegraph.
4. Business world.
5. Business Today.
6. India Today.

Websites:

1. WWW.indianinsurance.com
2. www.hdfcinsurance.com
3. www.citehr.com
4. www.naukri.com
5. www.monster.com
6. www.managementparadise.com

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