What is COE on Frontline and what are the core objectives?

Why is COE the need of the hour?

• Currently, the COE run by HR includes hiring, on-boarding and off-boarding, skilling and upskilling (L&D), compensation and performance management, which covers the rating cycle and appraisals of all employees.
• Unfortunately, even with well-established and robust HR COEs, the burning problem of high infant attrition and low productivity of frontline continues. Many initiatives to solve this problem have failed and/or have not been sustainable.

The primary reason for these failures is the lack of an integrated approach, that covers multiple dimensions of frontline variables such as target setting, incentives plans, real-time performance improvement systems and supervisor management, in addition to the activities already executed by HR COEs.

Policies on all these facets must be aligned based on ground realities and this can be only implemented in-house. Hence, it is essential to co-create a joint action team across multiple stakeholders within the organization.

Why do I need a COE for the frontline in my organization?

• The largest pool of employees in any organization (~70%) is employed in the frontline.
• The frontline employees are the future leaders of the firm.
• The frontline is where the rubber hits the road.
• They are a distributed workforce and are often on the move, working remotely.
• The first two years of residency for frontline are critical in shaping them into long-term, high-value talent.
• Organizations lose up to 35% of the allotted HR budget due to the underperformance of the frontline. This is a significant value left behind on the table.

What will the COE on frontline do?

The COE special taskforce will undertake the following activities:

• 1. Champion the frontline in the organisation.
• 2. Assist in creating work output norms for the frontline.
• 3. Set up an online, real-time performance and attrition analytics dashboard and reports for business.
• 4. Conduct role modelling analyses to identify critical tasks in the role and identify lead indicators of performance.
• 5. Assist in setting up a sales process system, if one currently does not exist.
• 6. Create a lead indicator-based performance tracking system.
• 7. Create a peer-learning platform to transfer the Secrets of Success (SoS) of high performers to low and medium performers.
• 8. Work with the IT team to integrate the lead indicator performance platform and the peer-learning platform with the existing IT infrastructure.
• 9. Create and run a target setting simulator for scientific and realistic target setting for frontline employees.
• 10. Create and run an incentive simulator for scientific incentive plans.
• 11. Consult on compensation and fixed pay structures for frontline.
• 12. Help in shortlisting candidates based on the straw profile of long staying, high performers.
• 13. Build induction training guidelines based on critical tasks.
• 14. Develop new metrics and analytics for supervisors to align with the COE goals.
• 15. Create and operate special programs for engaging with frontline to stay and perform.
• 16. Create and operate special programs for engaging with frontline supervisors to reduce their workload.
• 17. Create and operate a digital performance buddy and support system for the frontline and will persuade and motivate every employee to improve performance, daily, incrementally and set up a positive reinforcement cycle for frontline.
• 18. Ensure that the frontline is up-skilled regularly to ensure that they are future ready.

Who will be in the COE?

The co-created COE will be spearheaded by CHRO/CHRO’s nominee and a full time member from business.

The core team will be supported by members from Talent acquisition, training, technology, analytics and finance-who will be part time members. Quanta People Solutions Private Limited (QP) will have a full-time resource as a part of the COE to consult, drive the agenda and deliver the outcomes in partnership with the core team.

How is the success of COE measured?

The COE will publish monthly reports to track the performance. The KPIs will be on metrics such as Infant attrition, annualized average attrition over the year, average performance of the cohort over the year, performance dispersion, cost of wrong hire, cost of underperformance of cohort and ROI on COE investments. The norms for these KPIs shall be agreed as a part of the contract. Management reviews on a periodic basis shall ensure that the deliverables of the COE are tracked and managed.

Why QP?

• QP is soon to become India’s first and largest player devoted exclusively to frontline excellence.
• QP has set up a national COE on Frontline workforce for researching and publishing articles, newsfeeds and other features on the frontline regularly.
• QP is building partnerships with sales process app companies for seamless integration between QP’s product suite and process apps.
• QP will set up, train, operate, and exit the inhouse COE within 2 years.