hi Shalini,

let me debrief this as easy as possible,

HR Consultant (1) - presumably a Trainee in the field
HR Exec (2) - a starter with 6 to 1 yr of exp in the domain
HR Officer (3) - goes with 2 years.
HR Advisor/Sr executive (4) - Span of 2 to 3 average years.
HR Manager/Business Partner (5) - Or Line HR business Partner - Assigned to a particular vertical in the Org, with few decision making powers. Has a span of 2 to 3 execs reporting in the hierarchy,

Head of HR (6). - CHRO/Head HR/VP/Lead HR Business partner - where in all sub vertical partners reporting into this role.

Good note there Jigar,

Globalization, growing operational complexity, scarcity of talent,
an aging workforce, and greater workforce mobility have thrust HR
into the forefront of organizations’ business challenges. Concurrently,
HR’s traditional role as a transactional service provider has been
reduced by new technologies and outsourcing.

-Where should HR functions prioritize improvement investments?
Increased HR functional effectiveness drives improvement in key talent and business unit
outcomes.
The HR business partner (HRBP) is the HR position most directly linked to HR’s effectiveness
at supporting the line.
To improve HR–line support effectiveness, HRBPs must improve performance at the strategic
role.
The profi le of the person and the design of the job determine HRBP effectiveness at the
strategic role.

- What is the profile of the best-in-class strategic HR business partner?

Build HRBP competencies in business acumen, innovation, leadership, metrics, and
workforce management to drive impact.
The most effective development methods for building HRBPs’ strategic partner competencies
are on-the-job experiences that capitalize on key learning opportunities already within the
work of the HRBP.

- How are successful HR–line partnerships best designed?

The quality of strategic work, not time spent, matters most to strategic partner effectiveness.
Focus the HRBP role on generating insights, managing through infl uence, and maintaining
accountability through results.

- What HR function-wide changes best enable improvement across all HR
business partner staff?

Set HRBP relationship span to optimize the number of senior executives supported who have
similar business needs, not the number of employees served.
Use HRBPs to steward central HR resources toward areas of greatest business need.

Ideally Cost Cutting may be two fold in the current scenario.
One ways to idle this situation is hold onto to jobs, however reduce on definite costs such as perks, increments etc. This would ensure you have your targeted headcount and also solve the purpose of balanced attrition.

The other condition is straight pink slips which is the current trend in most of Indian companies. When we say pink slips, it’s due to specific roles being diluted within the organizations. This again depends on role specifics.

India, where most or all companies benefit of out the huge gap in billing and operating margins, have a huge scope to deviate with their regular graphs and still manage a good show without cutting jobs.

All said and done, we might see some movements on the job scenarios moving up in late calendar 09.