IIM ROHTAK H U M A N E - R CLUB P re s e n ts
H R BULLETIN VOLUME 94
humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in
H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
HR BULLETIN
Employee Wellness Promise: A game changer in the post covid world? The pandemic heralded radical shifts in the way we work and live. Numerous innovations and disruptions were triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years About a year ago, I had a thought provoking conversation with Madhu (name changed to protect the identity of the person), a brilliant and motivated Cummins India Engineer who after one year of the pandemic felt overwhelmed and exasperated with having to shoulder on work and home care responsibilities. These new sets of expectations completely changed her life priorities. More than a pay hike or promotion, she desired a supportive work environment and organizational resources to accomplish a balanced work life equation. The pandemic heralded radical shifts in the way we work and live. Numerous innovations and disruptions were triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past two years. This led to blurred boundaries between professional and personal. Our workplaces have taken a quantum leap while our people are rethinking their work and life purpose.
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
The pre-covid Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is archaic and irrelevant today as most organizations and HR evangelists attempt to demystify the ‘Great Resignation’ phenomenon. Having witnessed tremendous loss and stress, our people (and not employees) are seeking holistic wellness transcending across work, life, health, and community instead of value. This calls for organizations to remodel their EVP to a more human centric Employee Wellness Promise (EWP) with a special impetus on health and mental well-being, work autonomy, personal development, forging connections instead of building professional networks, and seeking purpose instead of targets. As our people navigate the intricacies of the ‘Future of Work’, which is already here, we must provide them a conducive environment, helpful resources, complemented by personal growth and development opportunities. While the EVP focused on the ‘what’, the EWP must spotlight the ‘why’. Organizations should make the holistic wellness and prosperity of their people as their core mission. People must be constantly apprised of how and why they are an integral part of the company’s mission and vision. A World Economic Forum research aptly points that success of employers building new work models would hinge on taking cognizance of the evolving demographics and transforming job roles as well as leveraging the covid disruptions as an opportunity to design workplaces that serve the needs of everyone – employees, employers and other stakeholders. With our work and personal lives becoming mutually non-exclusive, the hybrid work model is irrevocable and radical flexibility should be embraced by organizations. We must empower and entrust our people to choose to work in a way that brings out their best output, providing them flexibility of both time and space as well as making a conscious effort to understand and address their impediments. Madhu’s struggle was real and resonated with many of our female and even male employees, who were compelled to take care of elderly, children, and home responsibilities. At Cummins, we deeply care about the well-being of our people and the last two years have reinforced that flexibility and agility are extremely important for our people to bring their whole self to work. This led to the global launch of the Role Categorization concept to help our people seek roles that fit their preferred ways of working – onsite, hybrid or offsite. We also released the Dependent Care Program to help our people focus better by sharing their personal responsibilities and offering multiple benefits like EAP, Flexible Paternity leaves, Elderly Care initiatives, enhanced medical coverage etc. The ubiquity of mental health issues has never been as pronounced as during the pandemic and yet the hesitation and stigma attached to the subject is disturbing. Even outstanding employees also sometimes struggle with life challenges and do not understand the implications of overlooking feelings of loss, grief, anger, discontent etc. Employers should champion awareness and action around mental wellness just like we do with physical health. The holistic wellness of people must be integrated in the business strategy to encompass physical health, mental well-being, work-life balance, and accountability towards their community and the planet. At Cummins, it is our mission to ‘Make people’s lives better by powering a more prosperous world’ and our culture is one that believes in POWERING YOUR POTENTIAL. Not only do we hire the best – we want to help the best become even better. We are committed to and invested in the prosperity of our people. Cummins provides value to its people through an employee experience offering a focus on career advancement opportunities (Hire to Develop, Internal Job Movements, Integrated Talent Management System, Job Interest Alignment) while also providing the necessary work-life integration and focus on wellness (Health and Wellness Initiatives, It’s OK Campaign, Community Volunteering Opportunities). We also provide them a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment to make meaningful contributions to our business, customers, communities, and the world. The pandemic has enforced the evolution of our systems and processes, which has spiraled into demographic and psychological shifts amongst our people. As employers, it is our responsibility to recognize these changes and calibrate our HR strategies to address them. The ask is simple - our strategies need to become more humane and empathetic; our people (not employees) and their holistic wellness and progress need to be integrated into the business strategy, and our people need to feel cared for and valued at our workplaces…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/employeewellness-promise-a-game-changer-in-the-post-covid-world-33770
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
Leading with trust In a world where a changing business ecosystem is fast evolving business practices, leaders have an important role in ensuring their employees are engaged and motivated. As we grow from individual contributors to managers and then to leaders of organizations in respective domains of expertise, the organization's expectations, the people who work with us, the shareholders, the customers, essentially all stakeholders grow leaps and bounds. Every stakeholder looks up to a leader to deliver the margins, deliver the returns, and deliver the bonus for them higher year on year amidst market uncertainties, volatile economic environment, rising global competition, and increasing cost pressures. One leader is entrusted with beating the competition by a margin unheard of; one leader is entrusted with the task of reducing costs never seen before; one leader is entrusted with reducing the headcount by half as a part of the restructuring. All these seem daunting tasks and insurmountable too in the beginning. However, as leaders, if the stakeholder expects that the leaders deliver to these seemingly unachievable targets, then the leaders have no choice but to roll up their sleeves and start strategizing, as that's probably the only way to make the organization sustainable as finalized by the stakeholders. To strategise, plan, and execute these seemingly impossible goals, the leader looks up to his team to drive the extra mile, go the extra distance, and push themselves harder in the plans. The leader consistently strategises with the team, reviews along with the team leaders, coaches the team leaders, and guides the team towards the goals planned. However, it requires the belief of each team member in the purpose, in the goal, in the leader to go the extra mile for the leader of the organization and achieve the unachievable, as they say in corporate lingo to dream big and deliver bigger. Let's look into this phenomenon closely. First, we will realize that the art of delivering extraordinary results through ordinary teams is what makes leaders great. This entire phenomenon is possible because the teams they lead trust their leader…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/leading-withtrust-33771
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
Does hybrid work make employees happier and richer? It's a resounding 'yes', as per Cisco study 82% of employees say the ability to work from anywhere has made them happier with 76% claiming that on average, they save up to $8,000 a year while working from home, says a global study by Cisco The hybrid work arrangement has proved beneficial for employees on many counts, with the flexibility leaving them happier, more productive, and richer - by an average $8,000 a year, according to a study by Cisco . Cisco's "Employees are ready for hybrid work, are you?" study found that 82% of employees say the ability to work from anywhere has made them happier. Six in 10 (61%) employees believe that quality of work has improved. A similar number (60%) felt that their productivity has enhanced. Three-quarters of employees (76%) also feel their role can now be performed just as successfully remotely as in the office. Over three-fourths (76%) of respondents felt that their financial wellbeing improved because they could save money while working remotely. The average saving has been a little over $150 per week, which works out to approximately $8,000 a year. A sizeable 87% ranked savings on fuel and/or commuting among their top three areas for savings, followed by decreased spending on food and entertainment at 74%. Close to nine in 10 (86%) believe they can maintain these savings over the long term, and 69% would take these savings into account when considering changing jobs. Impact of hybrid working on employee wellbeing Cisco's research examined the impact of hybrid working on five categories of wellbeing – emotional, financial, mental, physical, and social wellbeing – with over three-quarters of respondents (78%) saying hybrid and remote working has improved various aspects of their wellbeing…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/employeeengagement/does-hybrid-make-employees-happier-and-richer-its-a-resoundingyes-33781
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
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Employee value proposition: Corporate culture and talent retention in 2022 The key to ensuring a healthy work environment is the motivation and guidance offered by leadership and management at corporations. It is important that superiors share the organisations EVP values and practice them in actuality. Much has changed in the global corporate landscape over the past years with the dawn of the pandemic including employee expectations and priorities in the job market today. With the age of the Great Attrition amidst us, workers are well on their way to finding jobs and careers that feed their needs and align with their values. While upgrading corporate policies and building initiatives to support employee needs is well and good, on-paper policies do little for long term employee retention in the absence of an inclusive and non-stifling work culture. The major goal of any organisational EVP in the now would be employee retention and talent acquisition. What we must strive to achieve as employers, and the most efficient way to beat the industry’s high attrition standards is to build a truly empathetic and accommodating corporate culture that is a reflection of the organisations value system. That being said, there are a number of aspects that must weave together to define a successful EVP in today’s rapidly advancing environment. Beyond salary increments: What is it that employees really want? With the ongoing talent war, employees are endlessly flooded with job offers and interestingly, salaries are not the only deciding factor. Conversations around organizational vision, peer group quality, work-life balance, employee burnout, and workplace flexibility are long discussed topics since the shift to remote work at the beginning of 2020…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/employeevalue-proposition-corporate-culture-and-talent-retention-in-2022-33797
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E 94
Reinventing EVP for the post-Covid offices An employee-centric culture is an environment where ideas, creativity, free-flowing communication, and innovation are encouraged. Employees give more importance to team and manager behaviour post-pandemic, and this is required to build the EVP of the organisation. The pandemic has reshaped the fundamentals of Employee Value Proposition in an organisation. The need for an ‘employee-first culture' in the organisation has increased the importance of the EVP factor and transposed the definition of EVP for organisations. Due to the pandemic and the newly introduced remote working culture, employers have embraced more compassion in the workplace, and have adapted to the new working culture. Today the priorities of the employees have changed. With the changing expectation, the EVP of the brand has also needed a change. The EVP is the secret to ensuring relevance with the workforce. In fact, 83% of employers felt their EVP had a significant influence on their ability to hire talent. Cultural transformation The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on workplace culture and the corporation’s perspective of a virtual workplace has changed significantly. Building a company culture to represent in the EVP comes from business leaders, team members and the business values. The people develop the ideal company culture from vision to reality. To develop a strong EVP, it is important to consider the external factors affecting the employee morale and the overall change in business dynamics post-pandemic. Post Pandemic we see a big amount of change in the mindset of Management about flexibility of workplace. Finding the good elements of the sudden cultural change, and taking pride in them, can reinforce positive shifts in behaviour in the long term…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/reinventing-evpfor-the-post-covid-offices-33749
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