IIM ROHTAK H U M A N E - R CLUB P re s e n ts
H R BULLETIN VOLUME 69
humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in
H U MAN E - R |V O LU M E 6 9
HR BULLETIN
Re-architecting work: How are organisations embracing workforce planning as offices reopen? Innovation and creativity is the key to re-architect as per the workforce perspective we have at the moment. We need to be empathetic and customized while devising solutions and facing challenges. The disruption from the last year has had a major impact on every aspect of an organization. From work models to hiring strategies to engagement strategies, every organization has had to relook at all aspects. And strategic workforce planning is no exception to this. In a world reeling from the after effects of a pandemic, it has become clear that organizations need to be able to understand the changes they need to make to transition to the new world of work quickly and respond to them by re-architecting work in an agile way.
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H U MAN E - R |V O LU M E 6 9
In an exclusive webcast in association with Anaplan, Katherine Wannan, Director Workforce Transformation, Deloitte Australia, Rupert Bader, Senior Director, Workforce Planning, Anaplan and Ashar Khan, SVP People Analytics, GIC shared insights on how organisations need to approach workforce planning as they transition to the new world of work. Understanding broad changes in the market as organizations return to office Katherine, Ashar and Rupert outlined some major challenges that organizations are facing in the present market conditions, majorly in terms of job location, estate, skill imbalance, and the ubiquitous talent war. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated the shift that was already happening in the market with regard to work location, and preferred work models. Given that context, job location and real estate are among the bigger concerns with employers today, heavily skewed by workers' preferences, organizations, with a more practical perspective, are trying to foster an elevated level of flexibility, empowerment and autonomy for employees. There is also much to be said about the “great resignation”- where people tend to leave and move to organizations offering much more flexibility in terms of job location, work role restructuring and work life balance. The talent war has further escalated given that some organizations have latched on to the new normal faster as compared to peer organizations. It is no more a matter of access to great talent, it is largely about what appeals to that talent. Also now that office commutes, and other logistical drudgery is a thing of the past, employees also have a new found penchant for indulging in skill development to further enhance their profiles. To be fair, organizations in the wake of the pandemic too had to undergo rigorous redeployment and furloughing - further feeding the need for self development. This is a great opportunity to apply analytics to and plan for emerging challenges. Agility is key. How organizations are adapting to the new normal Talent and skill shortage is a fundamental concern among the organizations and industries in the Australian and global market. Consequently, they are changing their work models to look for skills within the external market along with creating and building desired skill sets internally. Using unknown sources of talent and assessing potential capability across your organization with the use of AI to match an individual to a mentor or coach or a project opportunity can help mend these issues. Talent acquisition too has changed from hiring for a job description to hiring for a skill. This brings to the front a glaring lack of acceptable standards and defined level of proficiency for certain skills. In such a situation, having an inclusive and creative approach, using tools such as meta data, an enormous data pool of workers, machine learning, AI, etc can aid in paving the way. How can technology help in mitigating these challenges Technology is an equalizer and also an enabler. It plays a very significant role in aggregating data, analyzing it and utilizing it for hiring along with strategic business planning. Notably, pooling of information and data from different HR systems is a strategic way to utilize tech, where leaders can use such data to make quick and direct decisions in terms of varied parameters. Not just that but it has further proved to aid employers and leaders formulate possibilities under different scenarios, enabling them to choose a less risky path and make some deliberate changes. Companies are using technology to hire ahead of attrition by using the operational workforce planning process and IQ. Can scenario planning help organizations meet their objectives? Scenario planning has been dynamically evolving since the last 18 months. The transition can be seen from a model that strategizes or thinks about a plan catering to limited possible scenarios such as formulating three possible scenarios on an annual basis, to the one which is quite complex and broad in terms of workforce perspective and for the organization as a whole. Prime transition parameters include but are not limited to the volume of workforce, skill sets, capabilities, and how they are distributed. The idea behind such a changed perspective is to be ready when something drastic like the pandemic happens. In addition to that, the ability to shift, adapt, and rapidly bring the right people to address the issue.
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/re-architectingwork-how-are-organisations-embracing-workforce-planning-as-offices-reopen31421
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H U MAN E - R |V O LU M E 6 9
Five ways of being the ‘nourishing leader’ We all know that human connection is vital to any organisation’s growth and success, but how many of us are willing to go the extra mile to know the person behind the role? Words and languages are powerful tools. And conversations are so instinctive that we don’t pause to contemplate their inherent power. A conversation in its own way is more complex that we credit it for. It reveals realities, ways of being and seeing, assigning meaning to what we see. All of these things are important when we look at them in the context of happiness and well-being at the workplace. Having spoken to quite a few leaders across businesses in India and abroad, here are a few tips that leaders follow to keep the team happy and productive: Intentional weekly conversations with direct reports I heard this from one direct report of how the leader spent the designated time with her each week to understand her concerns and appreciate work and life in general over a cup of coffee! She said she looks forward to this time each week where she brings her whole person into the conversation and knows she is not going to be judged. Empathetic conversations in difficult times One leader spoke of a time when some members in the organisation were being laid off and there was a general spirit of negativity. He held conversations with each of them. It took them some time to get out of the negative spiral. “I was respectful to them, heard their worries and concerns, and gave them a sense of confidence to move on…..there is life beyond the organisation....you will find something to focus on.” They found new jobs. These conversations helped them move on. Some of those people are still in touch with him…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/five-ways-ofbeing-the-nourishing-leader-31458
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H U MAN E - R |V O LU M E 6 9
Learning impact amid uncertainty: Reimagining CHRO’s role CHROs from Tata Communications and Wipro reflected on the changing roadmap for L&D at the People Matters L&D 2021 India Conference. The increased focus on learning over the past year has primarily been driven due to two factors: 1) Companies restrategizing and optimizing their business models and 2) Employees saving time due to work from home. While remote work is likely to continue shaping work, companies need to realign their learning priorities. On Day 2, of the People Matters L&D 2021 India Conference, two of India’s leading CHROs shared their views on the topic “Learning impact amid uncertainty: Reimagining CHRO’s role”. The panel was moderated by Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor in Chief at People Matters and featured Aadesh Goyal, Global CHRO, Member of Global Management Committee at Tata Communications and Saurabh Govil, President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Wipro. Here are some of the key highlights of the discussion: On learning culture Build a learning culture is no longer a choice, most companies have to adapt as industries shift towards digital and readapt to new trends. “20 years ago, the shelf life of a skill was probably 20 years, but today, new skills are redundant in a span of close to five years – and it is reducing rapidly,” Aadesh noted. There is a need to equip learners with not just the tools but also the updates on learning. “For example, if there’s a data scientist working in your organization, you need to know what other data scientists are learning elsewhere – even outside the company. It opens up the opportunity to democratize learning and nudge employees to learn,” he added…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/trainingdevelopment/learning-impact-amid-uncertainty-reimagining-chros-role-31442
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H U MAN E - R |V O LU M E 6 9
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Learners in the driver seat Who owns the learning agenda today? It’s not the leaders and the L&D function but rather employees themselves who are choosing what they want to learn, when they want to learn, and how they want to learn to advance their careers. As the post-pandemic landscape settles down, employees are taking the initiative and are now technically in the driver seat while the organisation provides them the roadmap to drive their learning… on their terms. Esteemed panelists Ameya Sane HR Director Cimpress | Parul Varghese VP L&D Xceedence | Bhushan Kulkarni VP L&D ICICI Lombard and Peter Kokkinos VP APAC Udemy Business came together to break down the latest L&D agenda in the new world of work at People Matters L&D India Conference 2021. Below are the highlight of the discussion Ownership of Learning Agenda It wasn’t long ago that for organisations, employees driving their own work seemed like an Utopia to have, a pariah dream. It was the challenge of most organizations to try and get their learners to be self-sufficient in learning. Yet in the post-pandemic world of work, there has been a seismic shift in how your employees identify what they want to learn and they're expecting their organizations to react to them. Even if the learning isn't necessarily aligned directly to what they do today to be future free mobility, learners are expecting these things to happen all the same. Now in this new world of work, all employees at all levels recognise that the learning curve is the learning curve and now is the time to take ownership of it to make the best out of the dynamic learning opportunities for their individual needs and career aspirations…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/skilling/learners-in-thedriver-seat-31441
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H U MAN E - R | V O LU M E 6 9
How HR plays a major role in ensuring business continuity As the world continues to recover from the pandemic, the HR function continues to take centre stage in helping organizations transition to normalcy. The human-resource (HR) function has undergone a significant shift and has now morphed into a strategic stakeholder in an organization’s growth. HR has a significant impact on an organisation’s success at recruitment, onboarding, recognition, Learning and Development (L&D), performance management, employee engagement, and experience. These also form the subsets of the strategic objectives of any company. In short, I would say, the HR function contributes as much to a firm’s growth as business functions do. After all, it’s the people who drive the firm and the HR oversees them. The HR function weaves in the practice of innovation in every aspect critical for an organisation’s success. It begins with being able to attract and retain the most innovative people, framing and implementing organisation policies and practices, defining organizational structures, influencing organisational culture that enables employees’ growth and formulating special benefits that lead to job satisfaction, work-life balance, and much more. As the world continues to recover from the pandemic, the HR function continues to take centre stage in helping organizations transition to normalcy. This function not only ensured employees’ health and safety during the pandemic but also helped in business continuity by strategically implementing work-from-home practices. At the same time, to stay ahead of the competition, an evolved HR model offers a plethora of learning and development opportunities to skill, upskill, and reskill employees as the need may be, and all this is happening through a virtual platform…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/blog/skilling/how-hr-plays-a-majorrole-in-ensuring-business-continuity-31417
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