Kronos eyes more clients, to expand R&D

Kronos India, a subsidiary of Krono, which is into human capital management, has lined up expansion plans that include increasing its client base, adding employee and expanding research and development (R&D) activities.

“India houses our second biggest R&D centre after North America. The company aims at taking the number of employees to 300 by the end of this calendar year from the current 250,” said Chris Marjara, vice president (international marketing), Kronos.

The Indian chapter of the firm, which started four years ago, has emerged as the global hub for product innovation for Krono. The R&D centre at Noida has developed products including payroll service solutions, analytic tools and efficiency measurement systems, for the global market.

“We are hoping India to become the R&D hub in product innovation catering to the global market. We have lined up $5-8 million investments to increase R&D activities, add employee and increase our clients base, over the next three years,” he said.

The company aims at having more than 100 customers in the country by December. Currently, it has 60 customers, including Wipro, Bharat Forge, Hindustan Zinc, Genpact and GMR.

Kronos India study
According to a recent study conducted by Kronos India this year, employee absenteeism and retaining employees are the two key factors that impact workforce productivity in an organsation. And, around 90 per cent of organisations face challenges of hiring and retaining their employees.

Kronos along with PeopleMatters conducted an online survey by taking 215 respondents with inputs from 30 HR heads from across industries to understand the factors that impede employee productivity and the tools required to manage the employee productivity better.

The study also found that 62 per cent of the employees in India take leave calling in sick to work when they were not actually sick, whereas it is 58 per cent in Australia, 52 per cent each in Canada and the US.

“Most of the organisations do not have any automated means for manpower planning and tracking employee absenteeism. So, workforce management solutions can be adopted to enhance productivity,” Marjara said.

“Workforce management is still at a very early stage in India and in developing countries. We are expanding our operations in the emerging markets including Middle East, China, Brazil and India,” he added.