Japan is going to make it more easier to hire and retain foreign workers

Japan , which has one of the highest percentage of population above 65 years of age, has always been taking the brunt of a workforce which has been steadily ageing. While there are many similar countries which had opened its boundaries to fuel its economy, Japan has been a a bit reluctant to do so . This has led many Japanese companies to innovate and move into further automation ad creation of robotics for day to day life.

However with "Abenomics" there is a renewed focus on making Japan as an engine for the economic growth in Asia. Japan is also facing some acute shortage of foreign workers in the construction industry as it gears itself for the Olympics.

It is also encouraging to note that Japan is trying to increase the number of women at senior management positions in the country. This is a healthy trend in a country where women have not been explored to their full potential.

You can also read more on this at Reuters

What Is Your Brand?

  

As we go to a super market or a grocery store, most of us probably have a brand in our mind that we all would like to lay our hand on.   Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers.  

So do people have a brand?. Of course yes, all of us have a brand though it may be a bit difficult to define what your brand id unless you have done a deep study of yourself or had a branding coach who has helped you position yourself. The interesting co- relation is how some company or product brands are synonymous with personal brands(  for example think Tag Heuer , Nike etc) . This is where the 4 P's of marketing ( product , place, price, promotion combine with the 5th P which is people.

So do you really need a brand?. The answer is that you already have . If you are not sure you would like to ask people who know you well what they think of you and i am sure they can easily describe your character in a few words . That exactly is your brand. If you are like most people , you may have not thought how it would impact your career , but one of the key characters of a good leader is to ask for feedback which helps her/him to check and recheck how others perceive her/ him as a brand and how one can do corrections if need be.

There are business leaders who have created a brand for themselves and that personal branding is tied to the company and the culture they have created in the organisation. Your brand can be part of that larger brand or it can be a independent one , but how your brand yourself can make or break your career. So if you have not thought much of it, it might be worthwhile to pay some attention to it.

There are some tests which would help you analyse your brand . One such one that i recently took was the one created by Sally Hogshead and in case you are interested you can check out their website.

China to reform its Hukou( residential policy) by 2020

In what would be a big relief for the migrant workers ( approx 260 million) and their employers , china has announced a big leap forward in removing its Hukou system.

The Hukou as it is termed in china is a household registration formality introduced as early as 1951 and though subjected to some minor changes in 1980, it has still remained a big stumbling block in welfare issues.
The rationale behind Hukou was to limit the number of people moving to minor and major cities. For example a migrant worker who has moved from the area where he has hukou to another where he does not have it is not eligible for healthcare, education and pension.

I have highlighted in one my blog how the hukou system has an impact on the business in china. While the change may not happen fast and quick ( as it can be catastrophic to completely abolish it in one go), the direction the government is moving is indeed commendable.

Glaxo to stop paying doctors to promote drugs and will also change it sales incentive plans by 2015

I have noted before in some of my blogs , how some of the sales incentive systems are driving wrong behaviors. The move by Glaxo is a huge step in an industry which for the past many decades have not really thought off breaking away from this very " traditional" practice of paying incentives based on the number of prescriptions written by a doctor.

I am sure this will bring in some major rethinking for other companies too.

You can read more on this news from The New York Times.

If you inspire you won't expire

 pic source:tinybudhha

Apart from the pun, this thought actually came to me when i read a comment on one of my posting in LinkedIn where one colleague had described  having an inspiring boss as a motivational factor.

A few years ago i had posted a blog titled " Why someone should be lead by you?". In that blog i had given a few examples to reflect on personal motivation and connection to the leader that would inspire you, some in a very positive way and some in ways harmful to oneself and others.

However, are there leaders who just don't inspire us in any ways?.  Leaders who are there just by the means of a title , and are barely "floating" in the system without value adding to anyone , let alone oneself. Frankly i have been fortunate that i have not met anyone like that in my career , because i find even the weakness of some of the leaders i worked with to be a source of inspiration for me. Also it is always worthwhile to remember that no one is perfect.

For the Leaders, like my colleague said " Most of us need someone to inspire us, support us, listen to us, advise us, mentor us (not just someone to blame!!!)" . That statement has left a mark in my mind and will help me center my thoughts when i may get off track while leading my team. It also might partially give me an answer to why someone should be lead by me?

The World's Most Talent Competitive Countries- Latest data from INSEAD

Though some of the names in the to 20 list may surprise you , like any survey a lot of it depends upon the methodology and the assumptions used . 

 As per  the  website, "INSEAD, in partnership with Singapore’s Human Capital Leadership Institute and Adecco, has created the first ranking of 103 countries on their ability to attract and incubate talent. The index shows the top ten slots mostly populated by European and rich countries, plus Singapore and the United States and a wide gap between prosperous and low-income countries".

Singapore, Australia  and New Zealand are the  countries in APAC to be listed among the top 20 list.

To read more on this , you may visit INSEAD webpage

China's new one child policy and its impact on the workforce availability.

In the recently concluded top legislator meetings China unveiled its ambitious five year plan. One of the key among it is the relaxation of the one child policy which was framed in the 1970's.

This one child policy has apparently helped china in a terms of averting an estimated 400 million births.It is difficult to say if this has helped the country or not. However it is certain that this has created a major demographic shift in china where the average age of the working class has steadily increased.

So the question here is whether this relaxation is going to bring a baby boom?.  Some statistical figures estimate that this would lead to about 1 million new births /year. However there a few things to note,

1. The implementation dates are left to provincial governments so a lot of this would be based on how these local provinces are going to react and implement this.
2. The policy is just " relaxed" and not entirely scrapped . The policy allows parents to  have more than one child especially if one of them were single child. Earlier it was applicable only if both were single or to some ethnic minorities.
3. Very often people forget that the if you pay a certain amount of fine to the government you still could have had more than one child, which basically meant that a lot of rich and middle class people had more than one children in china.  With the higher cost of education and lifestyles many are opting for one child even if they have an option for more than one children. I don't think this would change much with the new policy.
4. Though the government has put a lot of emphasis in creating job in rural areas, the key attraction for jobs is in metro cities like Shanghai or Beijing. Unfortunately the" Hukou" ( residential permit) system has not changed even in this new policy guidelines making it difficult for migration within the country.

Overall the country has reached what is called the  " Lewis turnover point" and any factory manager can tell you you that there is an overall surplus of demand for workers than the supply in that country. Though the country saw a drop of 18 year old children by one- fifth from 2000- 2008, the college enrollment tripled from 2.2 million to 6.6 million from 2000- 2010. This has resulted in a younger generation which wants to go beyond a "factory worker"  and would change the status of china from being called  the "world's factory" .

Though there are companies which still consider china as an LCC ( low cost country), this is fast disappearing and when there is a mismatch between what the new generation workforce wants and what the companies there set up shop for, you see very low levels of employee engagement and productivity. The latest survey from Gallup shows that the China with 6% employee engagement level is the lower in the whole world followed by India, both critical growth economies.