IIM ROHTAK H U M A N E - R CLUB P re s e n ts
H R BULLETIN VOLUME 86
humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in
H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 86
HR BULLETIN
Digital disruption essential to drive workplace productivity and employee satisfaction The starting point of any digital disruption has to be a strong purpose. Is disruption new to us? Are we aiming at driving workplace productivity only now? Is employee satisfaction important only in this era? What does employee satisfaction mean? My answer to the above questions is good news! Disruption is something that humans have always focused on as we have survived and thrived from the stone age till now. Workplace productivity has always been in the focus whether it
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is for factory workers or data entry professionals. And the most important thing to remember is that we have predominantly done this to gain higher satisfaction as employees, entrepreneurs or customers. All I am trying to say is let us not fall into the trap of wondering if we will be able to adapt to all these Digital Disruptions that are being flung at us…of course we will - just like we always have! The biggest differentiator of any transformation today is that it has moved to become Digital. Earlier it may have been Mechanical, like the invention of the wheel or the earlier versions of automobiles. It could have been about dealing with the adaptation of Energy like moving from steam engines to petrol and now to electrical vehicles. Just like we went through all these disruptions, I believe we will take Digital Disruption in our stride as we move on with this journey. Please note it is a journey, however, with much more emphasis on the speed. If we want Digital Disruption to drive productivity and lead to employee satisfaction, then we must consider the following: Remove the negative connotation from the word disruption Traditionally we have been programmed to fear disruption as it changes the normal course of the way we do things. What we fail to remember is that historically every disruption has only added value to our standard of living. So, let’s maybe coin the term “Digital Up-tion“, rather than “Digital Disruption”. What is important is that we are comfortable with it and get attuned to it. See what is coming next and upskill ourselves for the next best. Keep moving up the job value chain Every Digital Up-tion should be looked at as an opportunity to help its employees to build on their critical thinking skills. Nothing can replace the human judgement and critical thinking of us humans and therefore our employees’ ability to empathise with customers’ needs should be given more emphasis and a focal place in our Digital Up-tion journey. Transaction management should be left to technology enablement throughout the Digital Up-tion journey. Keeping divergent thinking hats on When employees get more time to think, newer thoughts are brought into the organisation and in turn they lead to greater innovation - both incremental as well as path-breaking. Today, competition can come in any form and from unthinkable areas. It was hard to think that cameras could be replaced by mobile phones, yet it happened. Therefore, divergent thinking where employees are creatively evaluating enhancements to current services or products and coming up with new ideas is important. This of course will lead to higher employee engagement. To assimilate and disseminate information about digital The starting point of any digital disruption has to be a Strong Purpose. What are we trying to achieve from this disruption? All the stakeholders should be a part of answering this question - right from the senior leaders who bring in a strategic perspective to the front-line employees who bring in relevant insights from the real-time customer expectations. This assimilation has to be followed through by adequate information dissemination. The last man standing in the organisation must know what and why we are trying to achieve through Digital Up-tion. Build a positive story As an organisation we must strive to build a positive story around the Digital Up -tion agenda. We cannot let the message float around that Digital Up-tion will only be for the organisation and employees have nothing to gain. Let’s reimagine a world where Digital Up-tion means less time at your desk job and more time socialising with your customers and stakeholders. More time for each one of us to influence the larger purpose of our being. As more and more employees look at purpose driven organisations, let’s tie our Digital Up-tion to the larger purpose of existence and see how organisational productivity and the employee satisfaction skyrocket! When employees become the focal drivers of Digital Up-tion in an organisation, only then will the idea of Digital Disruption become essential for all the stakeholders of the organisation.
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/digitaldisruption-essential-to-drive-workplace-productivity-and-employee-satisfaction32951
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Talent management isn’t the responsibility of HR alone: Lynne Scheid Managers have a critical role as well. If employees do not enjoy people they work with, they may still leave their jobs even if they are satisfied in their roles, says Lynne Scheid, senior vice-president of human resources, Kofax Lynne Scheid is s vice-president of human resources at Kofax. She has been with the California-based intelligent automation software company since 1989. Scheid has also worked in HR units for Century Data Systems (a Xerox company) and Charleston Associates (Anacomp). Lynne studied business administration at California State University, Fullerton, and holds a certificate in Human Resources Management from University of California, Irvine. Edited excerpts. What, according to you, are the top three challenges for HR leaders today? Change management: While employees and executives are receptive to the idea of a hybrid workplace, substantial organisational changes can exhaust staff. HR leaders must rethink workplace cultures and focus their efforts on establishing genuine connections among employees in a collaborative and efficient environment. Skills gap: In the 2021 McKinsey Global Survey on reskilling, most respondents say skill building is the best way to close those gaps – ahead of hiring. As the workforce evolves and companies face changing business models to have a competitive edge, implementing a skills transformation strategy will ensure the workforce is future-ready. Work-life balance: Given the increased acceptance of remote work, HR departments must set the stage for a healthy work-life balance by rethinking the way they manage human capital to ensure productivity and establish an optimal level of interpersonal communication…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/talentmanagement-isnt-the-responsibility-of-hr-alone-lynne-scheid-33021
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Mentoring is a must for remote onboarding The pandemic is making employers home in on new ways to make their training engaging The pandemic has forced us to unlearn the old ways and turn to new ones in our lives. For companies, it has been no different. The ritual of welcoming new recruits, especially fresh graduates, has been daunting in the absence of inperson training. Not just remote integration, onboarding sometimes involves assimilating freshers from different disciplines. A curtailed access to a physical work environment has made it difficult for companies to ensure the happiness and the mental well-being of the young trainees, while designing what, largely, has now become remote induction programmes. A happy trainee is a better professional In the early stages of training fresh graduates, the task is to impart the relevant industry-rooted skills and certifications in an engaging manner to equip them for life. A badly-designed programme will ultimately lead to poor supervisor feedback and unhappy professionals. As we take the changed reality in our stride, including a strong element of mentorship (both online/e-learning and hands-on at work sites) in training modules has become integral and non-negotiable, and is working wonders for employers. Mentoring affords individualised attention for fresh trainees, making the work environment more welcoming for them and helping them transition better…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/mentoring-is-amust-for-remote-onboarding-33047
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ExtraMile Play: The 'Netflix' of employee engagement With a treasure trove of immersive content, ExtraMile Play promises to be a platform where employees can engage successfully in the hybrid world of work. Ashima stares disinterestedly at her screen as another email hits her inbox, reminding her of the deadline she has not met. She pushes the thought aside and turns to look at the time, wondering how long until she clocks out. While most of her teammates have begun working from the office, Ashima works remotely. The only interaction she has with her company is through email and virtual meetings, where she merely glances at names that light up when people on the other end talk. Like Ashima, many who joined companies just in the past few years experienced the "tectonic shift" of work. With the initial impetus to shift to virtual and remote working slowly turning into a hybrid model, companies have had to rapidly adapt to the changing business environment. For employees, this shift has come with many challenges. The lack of engagement, poor connection with other team members, and consequently a disinterest in the company have all become major impediments to productivity. With the dissolution of the shared physical workspace, employees like Ashima look for alternatives to connect and engage with their teams. The answer? A digital collection of fun, interactive content available wherever they work – a curated platform known as ExtraMile Play. With an exciting range of virtual team bonding solutions, ExtraMile Play helps companies create an immersive and engaging employee experience that many crave today. By allowing teams to interact and collaborate virtually, the platform enables successful engagement in a hybrid work model…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employeeengagement/extramile-play-the-netflix-of-employee-engagement-33023
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The HR leadership journey: tenacity, flexibility, values What does the career journey of a HR leader look like, and what life and career lessons can we draw from those who have broken the ground ahead of us? Long-time HR leader Carmen Wee shares her experience of decades in the profession. Being able to show role models and mentors is a key pathway to increasing diversity at any level. But what does it take for someone to work their way up to a life and career stage where they can be such a role model and mentor? People Matters asked long-time HR leader Carmen Wee, the author of From the Kampung to the Boardroom: My Leadership Journey, to tell us about her rise through the profession. Carmen has been in HR from the very start of her career, holding regional and then international roles with large companies, and within the last few years she stepped up to take board directorships. Here's her career story: a journey of cross-disciplinary experience, flexibility, and openness to opportunity. What you study isn't necessarily where you'll find your career “When I was young, I thought that I wanted to become a social worker. I wanted to do something altruistic. So I studied social work at the National University of Singapore. In my final year, I was attached as a medical social worker for 10 weeks. It was very interesting, because the doctors would refer patients with emotional and counselling needs to the medical social work department, and I did my share of counselling, casework, and intervention. And I realised that I had no desire to do this work for the rest of my life…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/diversity/the-hr-leadershipjourney-tenacity-flexibility-values33008?media_type=article&subcat=leadership&title=the-hr-leadership-journeytenacity-flexibility-values&id=33008 7