Rail ministry to appoint consultant for HR audit

Audit to identify gaps in Railways' HR-related policies, suggest corrective steps

In a first of its kind move, the rail ministry is set to appoint an independent human resource (HR) consultant who will conduct Indian railways’ HR audit to identify gaps in HR-related policies and the lacunae faced in their implementation.

“This is the first time an outside consultant will be appointed for HR audit. So far, auditing has been done at the organisational level for railways by the CAG,” a senior rail ministry official said.

The consultant will take up auditing jobs of various HR functions including recruitment, selection and promotion for non-gazetted employees and interact with the committee on HR issues headed by the Executive Director-Training. “The consultant will carry out an HR audit to identify gaps on HR policies, procedures and suggesting corrective steps to rectify the same from the larger point of view of improving organisational performance,” the ministry has said in its advertisement calling for applications.

The railway board is looking for “dynamic, experienced and result-oriented professionals” for engagement on contract basis for an initial period of one year which is extendable based on performance and quality output. Post interviews for selection of candidates, who are required to be below 45 years, the consultant will be posted at the railway board on a monthly remuneration of Rs 50,000.

The railway board’s decision is in line with the budget promises made by rail minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu in February. Asserting that the 1.3 million strong workforce of Indian railways is its strength, Prabhu had said in his budget speech in February, “To prepare them (employees) for the future and for enhancing organisational performance, systematic HR audit will be undertaken.”

He had added that as part of a focused HR strategy, Indian Railways would adopt measures to raise employee productivity in line with global standards in the current fiscal. Prabhu had also proposed to create a separate accounting head for HR development and creation of an HR Management System based on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).