Author Archives: Saurabh Deshpande

About Saurabh Deshpande

Saurabh Deshpande is a project manager, sales guy, HR professional and account manager – all mashed together through a decade in HR consulting, with firms like Hewitt Associates and Mercer Consulting. He has a degree in Mathematics from St. Stepehen’s College and an MBA from ISB. YourStory is teaching him to live passionately and to cheer for the spirit of entrepreneurship. You can reach him on Twitter @s_desh

HR Human Resources Resources

Is your startup doing the Mexican Wave? Insights on organizational behaviour

Saurabh Deshpande | 1 day ago

One just can’t do justice to the phenomenonal way in which the Mexican wave unites, excites and invigorates spectators into producing such a visually stimulating spectacle! We have a lot to learn and apply to organizational behaviour from the Mexican wave. Think about the last time you were at a stadium and were part of a Mexican wave. Think of each aspect – from the typical lull before someone starts the wave, how others around the initiators pick up on it, how it travels through an entire crowd with remarkable coordination, how nice it looks when you see the wave travel and how it leaves such a large mass of people so invigorated. Is your startup doing this Mexican wave?

HR Human Resources Opinion

A 3 Point Perspective on Learning & Development for Startups

Saurabh Deshpande | 35 days ago

It is by constantly up-skilling employees that they will grow and add more value. But investing huge amounts of time and money into employee learning is often not feasible for early stage startups. Then again, does L&D have to be a time & money sucking monster that corporate P&L statements may seem to suggest?

HR Human Resources Opinion

5 Onboarding Tips to Get Your New Recruits Up & Running

Saurabh Deshpande | 37 days ago

Most companies do a terrible job of onboarding new employees, period. We all, especially startups, want the new joinee to be up and running right away but we just don’t invest in enabling this to happen. A successful onboarding should not only reinforce to the employee that they made the right choice but also positions them for success in the new job… Here are 5 tips for effectively onboarding new employees.

HR Human Resources Opinion

3 reasons why employees underperform and how your startup can deal with it

Saurabh Deshpande | 45 days ago

Almost all startups have their star performers – the ones who combine their efficiency at work with dedication for the company and passion for the job. Most employees lie somewhere on the spectrum of medium to high performance and medium to high commitment. Then, however there are those who just don’t make the mark… Here are 3 issues to explore and tips on dealing with them.

HR Human Resources Opinion

5 Employee Performance Management Tips for Startups

Saurabh Deshpande | 49 days ago

Managing employee performance at a startup can be hugely challenging but highly critical. A study conducted by WorldatWork found that, ~60% of respondents rated their performance management systems as “C Grade or below.” So if large corporates also struggle with performance management, is it a lost cause for startups? No – startups can actually do it better! Here are 5 tips to better performance management at startups.

HR Human Resources Opinion

Carrots Are For Horses: 3 HR Rules For Managing Incentives at Startups

Saurabh Deshpande | 52 days ago

For startups, ditch the bonus plans and create more non cash awards, while using equity smartly. Financial incentives work for mechanical or completely rules based tasks. When tasks require some thinking/ cognitive skills, incentives work the other way round. The real motivators for cognitive tasks in dynamic environments are Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose. Non cash awards can capture employees’ imaginations better than cash—thereby motivating them to increase performance. The biggest advantage of giving equity at a startup is to create a sense of ownership.

HR Human Resources Opinion

Here’s a powerful tool for startups to define job levels and determine salary slabs

Saurabh Deshpande | 60 days ago

Should all employees at your early stage startup be at the same organizational level? Who should be designated as a VP and how do you show employees a sense of career progression? How do you decide how much to pay the new hire? And what salary increments to give to your existing team?

Non-tech Non-Tech Entrepreneurs Startup

Making Money out of Child’s Play: Jumporee takes children’s bounce-house rental online

Saurabh Deshpande | 79 days ago

Children’s birthday parties are already becoming a serious business opportunity for many. Let’s start with India’s population of 1.2 billion. At 30% urban population, this comes to 360 million. 30% is in the age-group of 0-14 years, which brings us to a potential 108 million children’s birthday parties in urban India every year

HR Human Resources Opinion

Want Employees Who Are Married to Your Company? Well…engage them first!

Saurabh Deshpande | 88 days ago

Recruiting good people into your team is just the first talent management hurdle that you have to cross as a startup entrepreneur. After this comes the Herculean task of motivating and retaining your team. If you thought that this is just about keeping employees ‘satisfied’ then you have a lot to think about. HR experts today talk about engagement as a much larger concept than satisfaction or retention. Engagement brings together three vital aspects:

HR Human Resources Opinion

Dealing With The Ex: Tips To Managing Employees Who Resign

Saurabh Deshpande | 91 days ago

It really pains when an employee puts in the papers; more so if that employee has been a high performer. For startups, such employee exits could be devastating as it is challenging enough to hire good people in the first place. In lean startup teams, backups are rare and succession planning, a luxuries. Key exits could also de-motivate the rest of the team. And heaven help you if the employee was working on some critical project…