IIM ROHTAK H U M A N E - R CLUB P re s e n ts
H R BULLETIN VOLUME 33
humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in
HUMANE-R|VOLUME33
HR BULLETIN
Playboy’s Chief People Officer on equality, workplace and the brand legacy In this exclusive conversation with People Matters, Jenny Greenwald, Chief People Officer, Playboy Enterprises talks about what the brand truly represents, emerging workplace norms, spurring a culture of innovation, and Playboy’s legacy of advocating for equality and free expression. An industry leader with over 15 years of experience, Jenny Greenwald is presently working with Playboy Enterprises as Chief People Officer. Prior to joining Playboy in 2018, Jenny had an illustrious career in the domain of talent acquisition. She is a staunch believer of equality and inclusion and is driven to make the workplace one that’s diverse and solely focused on delivering content, product and experiences that adapt to ever-changing consumer preferences. In conversation with People Matters, Jenny reminisces key highlights of her career, brings forth emerging norms and policies for a high performing workplace culture and dives into the brand legacy of advocating for equality and free expression. Here are excerpts from the conversation.
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In a career spanning over fifteen years, what are some of the highlights that you often reminisce? Transformation is one that truly stands out. Being a part of Playboy's change through the build-out in the diversity and scope of our employee experience against the backdrop of sustaining our commitment to the company's core values has undoubtedly been an adventure. Coaching is another standout moment for me - I have loved working with all talent levels, including our executive team, to provide perspective and communication strategies. We are putting progressive policies in place that enable people to nurture a healthy balance of optimal productivity and the best work/life balance. I.e., Playboy's parental leave and WFH policies. Lastly, I have found that wellness serves as a priority amongst our employees' broadest spectrum, from top executives to support staff through a continuum of the external world and life changes. Even for top performers, life and world events impact their work. How did you address the challenges you encountered as a leader in the year 2020? From a business perspective, we are incredibly fortunate to have had a very successful year and have weathered the COVID-19 crisis to the best of our ability. From a workplace perspective, we have aligned with many of our peer companies in implementing a remote work system for our employees. As of now, we forecast a continuation of this practice through Summer 2021. Our goal is to prioritize our team's mental health and productivity by listening to their changing needs in light of their new pressures.
“A remote work environment has pushed us to amplify our focus on the company's internal communications by creating new channels and forums for our employees to stay connected, stay informed, and continue to engage in effective collaboration.” Similarly, we have found Slack to provide us with new channels such as the Playboy Pets channel, which allows for a fun and interactive work culture. In response to our employees' feedback, we have instituted meeting-free mornings every Tuesday, which enables employees to have uninterrupted time to focus; we have also been hosting regular remote happy hours to come together in a more social context while we are apart, and bi-weekly town halls to provide heightened transparency into the company's wins, ongoing status and goals—our collective challenges, strengths, and objectives. Playboy has long been associated as an adult entertainment brand, however, in the words of Late Hugh Hefner, it is a lifestyle brand. Do you continue to face any taboos? If yes, how do you address those from an employer standpoint? Playboy is a globally recognized consumer brand with a mission of creating a culture where all people can pursue pleasure - everything we do embodies our cause of Pleasure for All. Today, the Playboy brand drives about $3Bn in consumer spending worldwide, with licensed products in over 180 countries serving consumers in four key categories: Apparel & Accessories, Lifestyle & Gaming, Beauty & Grooming, and of course, Sexual Wellness. While the business itself has grown and changed, we remain incredibly proud of our legacy of advocating for equality and free expression, and we see our role as stewards of this great brand and its values “We've been staunch defenders of equality, freedom of speech, civil rights, sexual rights, freedom of choice, and LGBTQ rights since our inception in 1953. We are just as passionate about these freedoms today as when we launched 67 years ago.”..
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/culture/playboys-chiefpeople-officer-on-equality-workplace-and-the-brand-legacy-28293
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Lufthansa lays off over 70% of India cabin crew Employees plan protest as German airline Lufthansa lets go off over 70% of its workforce in India. Deepening the crisis suffered by the global airline industry, Germany based Lufthansa airline has announced laying off 103 of its 140 cabin crew members based in India. The decision comes a year after flights to and from India were restricted on account of the pandemic. “The airline regrets to confirm that it will not be extending the fixed-term employment contracts of its Delhi-based flight attendants. The severe financial impact of the Coronavirus pandemic leaves Lufthansa no choice but to restructure the airline. This includes personnel-related measures in Germany and Europe as well as in key international markets like India,” said a Lufthansa spokesperson. “We exhausted every possible option and had even already reached an agreement with the Indian union we were in close consultation at all times. It would have avoided compulsory redundancies for our cabin staff. We had signed an agreement with the Indian union providing for two years of unpaid leave, with Lufthansa continuing to provide the local health insurance – even for enrolled family members.” Expressing dissent over the decision, some of the impacted staff is planning a protest at Delhi Airport’s Aerocity. While Lufthansa presently operates 10 flights to and fro in the region, prior to the pandemic, the weekly frequency was 56 flights between its German hubs of Frankfurt and Munich and four Indian metros. "Lufthansa was also willing to absorb all associated premiums during this period. Unfortunately, consent to the agreement was revoked by the union on December 31. Indian cabin crew with unlimited contracts are not affected as Lufthansa was able to reach individual agreements with these flight attendants. Not being able to reach an agreement for cabin crew with fixed-term employment contracts forces us to take this step as part of an inevitable restructuring of Lufthansa Group. It should be noted that this restructuring is not limited to India but affects all our worldwide markets and to a great extent includes our home markets, especially Germany…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/news/employeerelations/lufthansa-lays-off-over-70-of-india-cabin-crew-28438
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Ratan-Tata backed AI startup to triple headcount Backed by Ratan Tata, Bengaluru based conversational AI platform Niki is set to more than triple its headcount after a revenue growth of 1000%. Niki, a conversational Artificial Intelligence platform, backed by Ratan Tata has had an incredible financial year with a revenue growth of 1000%. Niki has ventured into the space of voice-based commerce in small towns, and repotedly served over 1.5 million users through its app last year, with the average spends increasing considerably. In light of the recent success, the startup is gearing up to hire 180 employees. Presently, Niki has 70 employees onboard and intends to more than triple its headcount to 250 within the next 15 months. All employees are currently working from home, and are expected to continue working remotely until vaccine rollouts pick pace. At present, the company offers voice-based commerce options in four languages and intends to add more over the course of the year. The company is working on popularising what it calls the “do it for me” model of the internet economy in small towns, which has resulted in the average user now transacting weekly using the app. “Our user base increased by 220% in 2020 and will go up further as we expand into more geographies in 2021,” said Niki CEO Sachin Jaiswal. “We are aiming to capture 20% market share of 150 million households by 2022,” added Jaiswal. Niki currently has about 550,000 users and expects a rapid increase in numbers as it expands its regional and language footprint. Niki’s success has been accelerated by the rapid shift to voice interface for digital transactions in its target market, over and above the rise in wallet share and higher frequency of use as consumers became more comfortable with transacting online, said Jaiswal. With digital gaining wide acceptance across tier II and tier III cities, there lies tremendous opportunity to not just capture a bigger consumer..
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/news/talent-acquisition/ratantata-backed-ai-startup-to-triple-headcount-28436
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Blackhawk Network adds a new CTO Sathe brings more than 30 years of experience in developing commerce technologies for the world’s top tech companies, including engineering integrated digital wallets and mobile payment products. Blackhawk Network, a global financial technology company and a leader in payment technologies and solutions, today announced veteran tech executive, Nikhil (Nik) Sathe, has been named Chief Technology Officer. Sathe will lead Blackhawk’s continued innovation in global payments technology, including product development, infrastructure, and security. “Talbott Roche, CEO and President of Blackhawk Network stated, “Nikhil’s experience in shaping the growth of technology and payments brands fits well within our world-class Blackhawk team, and will help us continue to deliver digital payment innovations to our partners. We are thrilled to have Nikhil leading the growth of our global technology strategy. Every modern payments brand must also be a technology leader. We are committed to staying at the forefront of the tech that will shape how we shop, spend, and save, today and tomorrow.” Sathe brings more than 30 years of experience in numerous leadership positions in the technology and financial space, including CTO roles at American Express and PayPal, and prior payments leadership roles at Google and JPMorgan Chase. Most recently, he served as Vice-president of engineering for Google Nest, where he was responsible for the strategy, design, and development of Google's Nest, Chromecast and Home branded products and Smart Home ecosystem. In his new role, Sathe will report directly to Roche and will continue the expansion of Blackhawk’s technology systems to ensure further growth within the global commerce landscape.
On his appointment, Sathe stated, “Blackhawk’s focus is on the future of emerging payments and it will continue to bring even greater value to brands and consumers. I’m thrilled to join this passionate team in a..
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/news/c-suite/blackhawk-networkadds-a-new-cto-28430
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Pluralsight and Degreed Partner on upskilling programs The integrated content experience is now enhanced by incorporating assessment data from Pluralsight’s Skill IQ into Degreed’s skill analytics. Pluralsight, the technology workforce development company, has partnered with the upskilling platform Degreed.
Together, they’ll deliver an integrated experience to help customers better measure and track technology-upskilling efforts within the Degreed experience. This partnership enables joint customers to implement strategic plans to improve their employee skill inventory. Pluralsight and Degreed deliver solutions that help L&D leaders manage the necessary skills for organizations’ largest and most important digital transformation projects by providing a way to assess existing tech skills and identify skill gaps. Historically, Pluralsight’s leading technology content has been able to integrate into any Degreed deployment. The integrated content experience is now enhanced by incorporating assessment data from Pluralsight’s Skill IQ into Degreed’s skill analytics to give Pluralsight’s enterprise customers enhanced visibility into individual and team technology skills.
As part of this new integration, available Skill IQs will appear on Degreed Skill cards, enabling managers to track skill level and compare it to existing job descriptions or career opportunities. The integration also includes new features for leaders to track skills. Additionally, leaders can use these management tools to direct users to take new Skill IQs inside the Pluralsight Skills experience. “This partnership gives learning and talent leaders greater visibility into their organizations’ technology skills inventory, allowing them to better measure and understand employee skills, using our proven skill assessments,” said Eric Alder, Head of Partnerships, Pluralsight…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/news/skilling/pluralsight-anddegreed-partner-on-upskilling-programs-28416
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