People Matters: Nailing Employee Experience - May 2019

VOL X / ISSUE 5 / May 2019

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BIG INTERVIEW Diane Gherson

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, IBM

INTERVIEWS Prof. Edward Sargent

Vice-President, University of Toronto

Prabir Jha

Founder and CEO, Prabir Jha People Advisory

Anant Goenka

Managing Director, Ceat

Priyanka Anand

,Vice-President & Head of HR, Southeast Asia Oceania & India, Ericsson

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Nitin Prasad

Mervyn Dinnen

Rajat Mathur

Country Chairman, India Shell

HR & Talent Trends Analyst, Author : Exceptional Talent

Managing Director, Head Of India HR Morgan Stanley

Rajesh Ahuja

Vasudevan Rajagopalan

Priyanca Choudhary

Global Head - TA Infosys

Head - TA (India) Tata Consultancy Services

Category Partner

Bill Boorman

Stand Up Comedian, Founder The Recruitment Raconteur

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ork-life boundaries continue to blur. Workforce continues to explore and pursue what gives them purpose. The symmetry between what companies want for their customers and what they want for their team members is getting clearer.

Delivering an employee experience that truly differentiates an employer is becoming the new norm. Employees are the new customers who seek meaningful, personalized, user-friendly and digital experience at work.

The "insiders" today are more tuned toward purpose-driven businesses and they bow to the concept of “meaningfirst” mindset while seeking to be a part of the larger picture. Millennials –who are expected to comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, have contributed further toward the demand for employee experience by seeking meaningful work, autonomy, connection, and mentoring. And this has implications for organizations who want to harness the massive potential of the future workforce.

Amid this new business imperative called EX, organizations are increasingly directing their focus on enhancing not only the professional prospects of their workforce but also their employees’

| MAY 2019

Happy Reading!

Esther Martinez Hernandez Editor-in-Chief

THE COVER STORY (BEHIND THE SCENE)

This is not an election story, dont be so political!

Magnet? Are you attracted to someone?

Polling booth?

No!

You need to be apolitical! No, hands and no fingers!

Please nail it.

Nice!

VOL X / ISSUE 5 / May 2019

FFrroom m tth h e E d i t o r ’’ss DDeesskk 4

The ‘aha’ moments

cumulative professional experience and creating that 'aha' moments. Feel-good initiatives such as state-of-the-art office campuses, flexible work hours, free gym membership and game rooms are being implemented by leading companies.

Organizations are also laying emphasis on the digital experience of employees including the tools and technology they use, and the culture they exist within.

However, these have only managed to scratch the surface.

There is still a sizable chasm between workforce needs, especially the millennial, and what the workplace offers. While every company is on the path striving to heighten the employee experience, only a few can claim to have arrived. In this issue, we take a look at the equation and the right mix of physical, digital and emotional experiences that can help organizations elevate the employee experience, how the role of leadership and technology fit in the journey, and more importantly the roadblocks that organizations face to create a home-awayhome.

For Big Interview this time, we have Diane Gherson, Senior Vice President - Human Resources, IBM, who shares how design thinking has been a game changer for the company, navigating the continuous skills renewal, and future of jobs. We also have Priyanka Anand, VicePresident and Head of HR, Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Ericsson, who talks about Industry 4.0, employee reskilling, and the rise of next-gen technologies.

We also have Professor Edward (Ted) Sargent, the Vice-President at the University of Toronto, who takes you through the tech innovations and the future of work, and how the university is preparing the next generation of leaders.

Lastly, we have a series of insightful stories that delve deep into the world of talent and HR. Also, as we inch closer to Asia’s largest HR and Work Tech conference scheduled for 1st and 2nd of August 2019 at The Leela Ambience, Gurugram, we invite you to be a part of our journey in making HR mission critical to business.

As always, we would be happy to hear your views, comments, and suggestions regarding our stories.

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follow

M > @Ester_Matters F > estermartinez > ester.martinez@peoplematters.in

BIG INTERVIEW Diane Gherson

Senior Vice President, Human Resources, IBM

INTERVIEWS Prof. Edward Sargent

Vice-President, University of Toronto

Prabir Jha

Founder and CEO, Prabir Jha People Advisory

Anant Goenka

Managing Director, Ceat

Priyanka Anand

,Vice-President & Head of HR, Southeast Asia Oceania & India, Ericsson

contents 40

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C O N TE N TS

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Vice-President at the University of Toronto

By Yasmin Taj

By Suparna Chawla Bhasin

Digital Head

Marta Martinez General Manager - Sales

Rubi Taj rubi.taj@peoplematters.in +91 (124) 4148102 Manager - Sales

Features WriterS

Manav Seth | Shweta Modgil Vallari Gupte Design & Production

Shinto Kallattu 6

Professor Edward (Ted) Sargent,

President - Human Resources, IBM

Photography

Abid Hasan | Mastufa Ahmed

| MAY 2019

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Interview

Diane Gherson, Senior Vice

Senior Editor - PRINT

Associate editorS

By Apratim Purakayastha, Chief Technology Officer, Skillsoft

Fostering innovation through research

Prakash Shahi

J Jerry Moses

Employee experience is about providing a sense of purpose

Leading with Design Thinking

Esther Martinez Hernandez

manager - content

Ask if your internal reality would appeal to the talent you wish to attract

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the big interview

Yasmin Taj

An Employee’s lens to Employee experience

By Rachele Focardi, Chief Strategy Officer – APAC, Global Employer Branding Advisor, UNIVERSUM

Senior Editor - GLOBAL CONTENT

The biggest differentiator is the emotional experience

By Aarif Aziz, Chief Human Resource Officer, Diageo India

Suparna Chawla Bhasin

Build a codified culture to deliver new-age employee experience

By Nanjappa BS, Vice President - HR, Infosys

Editor-in-Chief

Prioritize building a meaningful work experience

By Susan Mathew, Director - HR, India, LinkedIn

By People Matters Editorial

Cater to a ‘meaning-first’ mindset

By Siddhartha Gupta, CEO, Mercer Mettl

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issue 5

By Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO, Monster.com, APAC and Gulf

cover story

M a y 2 0 19 volume x

Saloni Gulati saloni.gulati@peoplematters.in +91 (124) 4148102 SUBSCRIPTION Manager

Neha Yadav subscribe@peoplematters.in +91 (124) 4148101

Printed and Published by

Mahesh Kumar on behalf of People Matters Media Pvt. Ltd. Owned by

People Matters Media Pvt. Ltd. Published at

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Note to the readers The views expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not reflect the views of People Matters.

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This issue of People matters contains 76 pages including cover

Real Time Compliance Management Avoid non-compliances taking place than a post mortem after the damage is done.

Organizations have to adhere to many compliances under Labour Law , Factories act & similar laws. By implementing Labourworks you not only send advance Email/SMS notice about a possible non-compliance likely to happen & give an opportunity to the contractor to take corrective actions. But if the corrective action is not taken in time then you can simply block the entry of the worker & avoid non-compliances from taking place in a real time mode.

Some of the compliances that can be implemented in real time mode are

Working without a weekly off Maximum work hours exceeded in a week Contractor Labour License expired Labour License Capacity exceeded Medical Check up not done Induction training not completed Work Order expired Work Order Capacity exceeded Female worker entry during night shift Debarred worker entry

There are many more compliances which can be handled in an offline mode as well.

Labourworks™ is an Enterprise Contract Labour Management System which helps you streamline various processes using SPC Methodology™ . SPC Methodology™ are industry best practices in Security , Productivity & Compliances. Organizations have also observed up to 10%* cost reduction on Contractor billing by implementing SPC Methodology™. There are more than 350 installations of Labourworks™.

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contents contents 16 Ne w s Fe a t u r e S

Whose job is it anyway?

By Manav Seth

18

The curious tale of the Indian IT sector

By Dhruv Mukerjee

54 I n t e r vie w S

24 L E A D E R S H I P

Courage and inspiration: The new leadership standard

C O N TE N TS

By Abhijit Bhaduri, an advisor on talent management to organizations.

With more than 850,000 followers on social media, he is a top influencer on social media

Leading with authenticity, influencing with inspiration

Prabir Jha, the Founder and CEO of Prabir Jha People Advisory

By Mastufa Ahmed

62

26 T h e Ro a d L ess T r a velled

The GIGantic opportunity of the shrinking corporation - Turning the Silver Lining to Gold

By Visty Banaji, Founder and CEO of Banner Global Consulting (BGC)

37 I n c lusio n & D ive r si t y

Breaking down barriers

By People Matters Editorial

60 Hum a n C a pi t a l

Revisiting the human capital system

By Richard R. Smith, Ph.D., Professor at Singapore Management University where he also serves as Deputy Dean for the Lee Kong Chian School of Business

The journey of authentic conversations

Anant Goenka, Managing Director of CEAT

By Abid Hasan

70

Creating a future-ready workforce

Priyanka Anand, Vice-President & Head of HR, Southeast Asia, Oceania & India, Ericsson

By Mastufa Ahmed

58 Rou n d t a ble

Auto companies need to accept that like technology, millennials are here to stay

By People Matters Editorial

64 A n a l y sis

Decoding connections between Satisfaction and Commitment - Analysis from an OD Diagnostic Model

By Paul James, Managing Partner & Principal Consultant, P S C S - A HR Consulting Firm 69 E xpe r t Colum n

Changing the world from the depths of your bathtub

By Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment regulars

04 From the Editor’s Desk 10 Letters of the month 12 Quick Reads 72 Knowledge + Networking 74 Blogosphere 8

| MAY 2019

Featured In this issue Anant Goenka Diane Gherson Prof. Edward (Ted) Sargent

Prabir Jha Priyanka Anand

CONTRIBUTORS to this issue Aarif Aziz Abhijeet Mukherjee Abhijit Bhaduri Apratim Purakayastha Hiren Gada Kunjal Kamdar Nanjappa BS

Paul James Rachele Focardi Richard Smith, Ph.D. Siddhartha Gupta Susan Mathew Visty Banaji

Letters of the month

Measuring Impact

Your cover story eloquently addresses a pertinent question facing the HR community today because I believe we are falling behind in retrofitting conventional HR practices to meet current business challenges. All the leaders and experts who contributed to the story stress upon the importance of continuous communication and feedback, which I would also argue needs to be a critical aspect of new performance management systems. Although revamping existing traditional performance management policies and tools to suit the changing workforce dynamic is a multifaceted challenge, HR leaders should use this as an opportunity to reshape the very concept of ‘work’ by diversifying the parameters that we use to define it. We now have a chance to create a diverse and inclusive culture that values skills like problem-solving, creativity, and initiative. By creating robust linkages between employee performance and business goals, this truly is an opportunity for HR to offer a roadmap for a sustainable business environment in the future.

- Shreya Ramakrishnan

The critical few – Selfdisruptive leaders Leadership has many aspects, but at the core of it, to lead is to make things happen.

Today, when we’re at the threshold of a new way to work and live, we need prolific leaders to guide us through this transition. The report on how current corporate leadership development structures are woefully inadequate in creating visionary leaders is then, naturally, rather alarming.

The fact that nearly three in four Indian investors express a lack of confidence in their leadership to navigate pressing challenges is indicative of how complex the issue is. I agree with the author when he says that leadership will be increasingly important to a company’s performance in the near future, and we need to encourage ‘self-disruptive’ leaders in order to be future-ready.

- Saloni Indu Ahuja

The Right Perspective

Dr. Robert Hogan’s candid and insightful interview made for delightful reading.

His perspective on leadership, disruption, and talent-related challenges in the community is fresh and practical. His ability to provide real-world analogies to clarify his position is welcome in a time when the discourse has been saturated with technical jargon. Being a part of the HR community for nearly two decades, I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Hogan that while innovation in HR-tech has accelerated recently, the basic technology has been with us for a long time and has been gradually changing our role for decades. I would like to thank People Matters for introducing us to leaders like Dr. Robert Hogan, who serves as an inspiration to countless HR professionals all over the world.

- Srikriti Jain 10

| MAY 2019

April 2019 issue

Augmented Reality and Organizational Learning Your article regarding the application of Augmented Reality in the learning process was extremely insightful. While many may brush off the technology as another fad, clearly, it has the potential to accelerate on-the-job training and learning, which is extremely important in today’s workplace.

The fact that Pokemon Go, a game based on Augmented Reality, has become one of the most popular games ever in a short span of time shows that the technology is intuitive, accessible, and if used correctly, exceptionally effective. While implementation challenges persist, if we are able to leverage the technology to impart practical skills and not just theoretical knowledge, I believe we will be able to deliver an effective learning experience to the workforce and expedite the journey of upskilling.

Organizations should definitely consider integrating Augmented Reality with their learning objectives in order to gain a competitive edge.

- Mohit Chhabaria

Interact with People Matters

People Matters values your feedback.

Write to us with your suggestions and ideas at editorial@peoplematters.in

Effective leaders don’t innovate, they protect those who do!

Technology and democratization of work will fuel the future of work

Dr. Pavan Soni makes an astute observation on the role of a leader in today’s world. He correctly points out that not every leader can play the role of an effective mentor as well, because the two require different skills and perspectives.

We need more leaders that can help foster a new workplace model by encouraging innovation, investing in new ideas, and using their experience to guide young professionals. I believe we have sufficient talent to lead this process, but we do not offer them enough motivation to undertake the role of a mentor and coach. We need organizations to rally behind farsighted leaders and provide them the resources to succeed in creating the workforce of the future. Also, Soni’s article packed several interesting real-world examples, which made for inspiring reading. I look forward to his next piece in People Matters!

Numerous studies and reports have shown that how we look at the concept of work and workplace is about to drastically change. However, there is a lot of confusion and anxiety as to what these changes will be, and despite a lively ongoing discourse, not many clear answers have emerged. That makes Ravin Jesuthasan’s focused vision on the strategies to reinvent jobs really impressive. It is rare to find leaders that offer definitive strategies on how employers and employees should prepare for the future of work, and that is why Jesuthasan’s interview is important. His credentials and experience have helped him develop a nuanced and practical stance on the humans versus machines debate, one that warrants closer inspection by leaders from all walks of life. The four-step framework described by him should be used as a basis for organizations to initiate their digitization journey and create a synergy between humans and machines.

- Hriday Sharma

- Gurpreet Sahota

At the leading edge

Bethany Tate Cornell’s interview provided a rare look inside the L&D function of a global giant like Boeing.

Particularly, learning about the ‘Federated L&D’ approach to the organization was really interesting. The sheer comprehensiveness of Boeing’s learning approach, which engages the top leadership and the employees alike, is also rather fascinating. Boeing has cultivated several employee networks and groups to help their workforce interact and collaborate effectively, which I believe aren’t being utilized nearly enough by organizations to empower their workforce. However, I am glad that global organizations are setting the right precedent by adopting progressive people policies and ensuring all-round participation. As Cornell rightly points out, transformation isn’t a rigid process that is set in stone, but a dynamic journey that requires constant improvisation and innovation during implementation.

- Alankrit Joshi

The Yin and Yang of People Productivity A productive and motivated workforce is an asset for any company, and yet, very few organizations have processes to effectively measure the productivity of their employees. However, as organizations are increasingly looking inward to solve existential business challenges, CHROs need to step up and take charge. In many ways, HR leaders need to be masterful balancers of the Yin and Yang of human productivity and I must congratulate Visty Banaji, who true to his nature has penned another frank (and excellent) article drawing comparisons between these two seemingly unrelated concepts.

His words should act as a moment of reckoning for HR leaders and employees, who should aim for nothing less than a major overhaul of the existing work culture that does not take into account innovation and collaboration. His observations and suggestions are simple, logical, and practical, and above all, extremely relatable.

- Rachna Acharya

Xpheno @Xpheno @Kamalkaranth, co-founder, @Xpheno_ on @jetairways #HR crisis. @PeopleMatters2 #PeopleEffectChange #EmployeeExperience Bersin @Bersin Mar 29 Is #HR ready for #blockchain technology? See what @havrilla has to say in @ peoplematters2: deloi.tt/2uHY70V TeamLease Services @TeamLease Here is the X-factor for organizations to prepare their employees for better appraisal. Read the entire article authored

by Rituparna Chakraborty(@ritu205 ), Co-founder & EVP, Teamlease Services, published in People Matters Benepik @BenepikPerks With a growth of digital devices and a variety of emerging technologies, workers are going to be both empowered and challenged with a wealth of information - @jjerrymoses @PeopleMatters2 : bit. ly/2TR549X @Ester_Matters LBi Software @LBiSoftware #EmployeeEngagement: One-size-fitsall does not work anymore bit.ly/2HCL1tj from @PeopleMatters2 Anish Aravind @anisharavind youtube.com/watch?v=08uVYI… A 2013 talk about #HRTech's future in India

by Varun Talwar of the #HRFund via @ PeopleMatters2 - remember bumping into Varun at the #shrm12 Bloggers party courtesy @Glassdoor follow

M > @PeopleMatters2

Corrigendum

In the News Feature story, "Equality + Diversity = Innovation" of the April edition, the name of Rekha M Menon, Chairman and Senior Managing Director, Accenture India, has been incorrectly written as Radhika M Menon. People Matters regrets the error and the inconvenience it may have caused to the concerned person and organization.

{WRITE TO US NOW BY SCANNING THIS CODE} MAY 2019 |

11

HR

The Naukri JobSpeak Index for February 2019 showed a 16 percent increase in hiring activity from February 2018 (2,087). The IT Software industry seems to have been on a hiring spree in the last one year. The industry clocked in a growth of 38 percent in hiring, making it one of the fastest growing industries followed by Construction and Engineering industry which saw an increase in hiring with a growth rate of 16 percent and IT - Hardware (22 percent), and BPO (12 percent). Some of the other industries that reported positive hiring trends include FMCG (7 percent), Auto & Auto Ancillary (6 percent), Pharma (5 percent), Telecom (8 percent) and Education (10 per-

Novartis introduces equal parental leave regardless of gender Skilling

Simplilearn partners with NSDC for skilling in digital skills The leading digital skills training provider Simplilearn has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to upskill learners in digital skills. As a part of the MoU, 33 of Simplilearn's courses will be accredited by NSDC, making Simplilearn a part of the government's Skill India program. The first year of partnership aims to train 3,000 learners from across the country. Simplilearn will provide essential training and upskilling solutions to all the registered candidates of NSDC in various digital skills through its 33 courses. The course details will be available on the Skill India portal for the interested candidates. Simplilearn has helped more than 1,000,000 professionals across 150 countries to upskill, get trained and be prepared for the digital future.

12

cent). However, industries like Banking and Financial Services, Oil and Gas, and Industrial Products saw a dip of 12 percent, 6 percent, and 4 percent in hiring activity, respectively. Hiring in HR functional area witnessed a positive growth of 20 percent, although the demand for IT – Software

professionals remains highest with a rise of 29 percent hiring. Other verticals that witnessed a year-on-year increase in hiring activity were Marketing (12 percent), Banking & Insurance (5 percent), ITES (11 percent), and Site Engineering (11 percent).

While the demand for mid-level executives, between the ages of 4-7 years grew by 18 percent, leadership roles with experience band of 16+ years remained largely flat with a slight increase of 3 percent in recruitment activity. Hiring for entry-level jobs, with an experience band of 0-3 years, also witnessed a rise of 17 percent and for mid-management roles of 8-12 years of experience, it grew by 12 percent.

Benefits

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HR function witnessed a growth of 20 percent in hiring from last year

| MAY 2019

Novartis will begin offering equal paid parental leave of a minimum of 14 weeks to all new parents regardless of gender.

From July 2019, Novartis will begin a phased rollout of its new global parental leave policy, which will offer equal parental leave to all parents through birth, surrogacy or adoption, regardless of gender. By 2021, Novartis Group company employees across the world will be able to benefit from a minimum period of 14 weeks paid

Acquisition

Zoho acquires ePoise Systems Software products company Zoho has acquired ePoise Systems, a hiring automation product start-up for an undisclosed

parental leave for both parents, eligible from their first day of employment.

The company feels that the new global parental leave policy will enable them to make the right choices for the health and well-being of their families, by offering flexibility and financial stability, so that they can enjoy the moments that matter with their loved ones.

amount. Zoho's business applications in areas of CRM, HR, Finance, Office productivity, and Customer Service are used by 45 million users worldwide. They are available separately as well as under a single user license as Zoho One. Founded in 2013 by Sachin Agrawal and Bishan Singh, ePoise automates multiple screening steps for each role including a set of assessments leading to a video interview thus bringing significant efficiency to the hiring process for high volume recruiters.

The combination of Zoho's global footprint and depth of product portfolio and ePoise product capability and talent will add value to Zoho’s customers.

Labor Market

Diversity

2019 sees highest percentage of women in senior management globally

Blue-collar jobs to drive India’s labor market A report by BetterPlace reveals that about 21 lakh blue-collared jobs will be created in India within the next 12 months because of the emergence of gigs and freelance assignments. About 14 lakh jobs out of the total projected job growth are expected to be in the gig economy. The logistics sector is likely to see an addition of about four lakh jobs while the demand for drivers in the transportation sector continues to rise with an expectation of six lakh jobs in the next year. Gig-based jobs have become more attractive than traditional blue-collar job roles such as security or

The unemployment rate in India climbed to 7.2 percent in February 2019 according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy

Compensation

Aon’s salary increase survey projects 9.7 percent average increase for India Inc Global professional services firm Aon, providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions released the 23rd edition of its annual Salary Increase Survey in India. The study analyzed data across 1000+ companies from more than 20 industries. As per the results of the survey, companies in India gave an average pay increase of 9.5 percent during 2018, reflecting improved business sentiment compared to 2017. The projections for 2019 are stable yet favorable at 9.7 percent

as companies expect a positive economic outlook backed by high economic growth expectation, high domestic demand and low inflation. A decline in voluntary attrition and controlled incremental hiring continue to keep the sentiment mild and while there is an improvement in the overall increment projection, pay increase budgets across sectors are increasingly tending towards the overall average. Sectors projecting a double-digit increment have come down over the years with only five sectors projecting a doubledigit increment for 2019.

from those recorded in 2009. Encouragingly, over the last five years, the proportion of global businesses employing at least one woman in senior management has risen by 20 percentage points – 12 points in the last year alone. However, globally the proportion of women in senior roles is still lying short of the 30 percent tipping point that is expected to open the gates to gender parity. The 2019 research reveals marked regional differences in gender diversity among senior leadership, often rooted in country-specific cultural, economic and political factors. Leading the way is Eastern Europe with almost a third (32 percent) of senior management in the region made up of women, outperforming the global figure by three percentage points. Asia Pacific (APAC) region is failing to achieve significant movement in the middle ground, says the report. The middle-placed regions including APAC all sit just below the global average for the proportion of women in senior management, at 28 percent. The research shows that the regions with the most leaders, both male, and female, saying they perceive no barriers to promotion are Africa at 42 percent and North America at 34 percent.

MAY 2019 |

r e a d s

India’s unemployment rate highest in two years

(CMIE). Even though the total number of job seekers has dipped, the rate remains high because of a reduction in labor force participation. In February 2019, about 400 million people were employed in India, a six million drop compared to last year. The high unemployment rate of last month beats the previous highest rate from September 2016. Last year, the unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent in February. In January, a CMIE report showed that about 11 million people lost jobs in 2018 as a consequence of demonetization of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes in 2016.

Another reason for a loss in jobs could be the GST implemented in 2017 which affected small businesses and mediumsized enterprises.

q u i c k

Unemployment

IFM with higher flexibility in work hours and locations in addition to better incentives, according to the report. About 40 percent of the blue-collar job creation will take place in the southern states of India including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana.

2019 till now has seen the highest percentage of women in senior management on record at 29 percent which is an increase in the proportion of women in executive roles around the world, rising five percentage points from 24 percent in 2018. This is the first time the proportion of women in senior leadership has exceeded one in four.

However, positive progress has been slow in coming: improvements stand at only 10 percentage points since 2004, while, by 2018, that numbers had remained static

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newsmaker of the month

Goodbye, Google!

Rajan Anandan’s next journey with venture capital firm

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“Eight amazing years. 850 million Internet users across India and SEA. Many billions of revenue and fastest growing region in the world. Incredible team that thinks big and executes superbly. Thank you @GoogleIndia #GoogleSEA. Loved every minute”

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| MAY 2019

ajan Anandan, Google's Southeast Asia and India Vice-President, has quit the company after an eight-year stint. Rajan is set to join Sequoia Capital India as a Managing Director. He will focus on “developing Surge - scale-up program for startups in India and Southeast Asia, into the world’s top scale-up program for startups” by acting as an investment advisor and mentor to the program’s founders, said Shailendra J Singh, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital in a LinkedIn post.

Surge aims to engineer rapid early progress for start-ups, by enabling disproportionate access to capital, talent, network and decades of company-building knowledge. “Rajan’s deep understanding of technology, significant operating expertise and track record of growing tech businesses across the region will help Surge founders scale and build the transformational businesses of tomorrow,” Singh added.

Anandan joined Google in 2011 as Managing Director and led the India and Southeast Asia operations. Rajan played a key role in expanding the internet ecosystem in the region, increasing adoption among consumers and businesses and accelerating innovation while building a multi-billion dollar business. Scott Beaumont, President, Google Asia Pacific says, "We are grateful to Rajan for his huge contribution to Google over the past eight years. His entrepreneurial zeal and leadership has helped grow the overall internet ecosystem in India and Southeast Asia, and we wish him all the best in his new adventures”.

Before joining Google, Rajan has worked with Microsoft as Managing Director for two years. He is a senior industry veteran and worked with companies such as Dell and McKinsey & Company. Anandan is also an angel investor and invested is emerging start-ups across the country. He is an alumnus of Standford and MIT University.

Danone India appoints new India MD Nutricia International Pvt Ltd (Danone India) has elevated Himanshu Bakshi as Managing Director of its India operations. With more than 19 years of experience in Marketing and Sales, Bakshi joined Danone as Marketing Director in 2013 and was tasked with leading the marketing and sales portfolio of the company.

Royal Enfield appoints new CEO Royal Enfield appoints Vinod K. Dasari as the Chief Executive Officer, taking over from Siddhartha Lal who will continue to fulfill his role of the Managing Director of Eicher Motors Ltd. This decision has been made in order to position the motorcycling brand as a global player.

Nissan India appoints new Vice President, Marketing In this role, Sriram Padmanabhan will lead marketing strategies for Nissan and Datsun brands in India, with the aim of delivering long-term product portfolio, brand value and market share growth. He will be a member of the Management Committee at NMIPL.

Dentsu elevates Anand Bhadkamkar as India COO The global media and marketing communications conglomerate has expanded the role of Anand Bhadkamkar, CFO, Dentsu Aegis Network - South Asia, with the additional charge of Chief Operating Officer India. With this announcement, Bhadkamkar will now also be responsible for driving operational excellence in business and oversee support functions including HR and IT in India. thyssenkrupp elevates Manish Mehan as the new CEO thyssenkrupp has elevated Manish Mehan as the new CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevators, India. Manish was earlier the Chief Financial Officer in thyssenkrupp Elevator (India), leading the finance and related functions for the Indian and Bangladesh Operating Units for the last twelve years.

Royal Philips Personal Health India gets a new president Philips India, part of Royal Philips, said it has elevated Gulbahar Taurani to the post of President, Philips Personal Health in the country. He will succeed ADA Ratnam, who is moving out of the company, after a 14-year stint.

CCL appoints Elisa Mallis as new MD and VP, Asia-Pacific Elisa Mallis, an experienced leader in the executive education and human capital strategy sectors globally, is the new Managing Director and Vice President, Asia-Pacific at the Center for Creative Leadership, a provider of leadership development.

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SoftBank India head Sumer Juneja to join Ola's board SoftBank’s India head Sumer Juneja will join ride-hailing platform Ola’s Board, Sumer replaces David Thevenon, as per a company statement. Meanwhile, Juneja had joined SoftBank from Norwest Venture Partners last November as the group’s first India head and a partner at the Japanese group.

NASSCOM appoints new Chairman and Vice Chairman The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has appointed Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS Global Services, as its Chairman for 2019-20. Keshav takes on the position from his previous role as Vice Chairman of NASSCOM, succeeding Rishad Premji, Chief Strategy Officer and Board Member, Wipro Ltd., who served as Chairman of NASSCOM for the year 2018-19.

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Conde Nast appoints new global CEO Roger Lynch, the former CEO of Pandora, will become the first global CEO of Condé Nast. It was announced by Jonathan Newhouse and Steve Newhouse on behalf of the Condé Nast Board of Directors. Earlier in his career, Lynch was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley specializing in technology and a member of the physics technical staff at Hughes Aircraft Company.

Experian appoints new Country Managing Director Data analytics firm Experian India has strengthened its senior leadership team. The company has announced the appointment of Sathya Kalyanasundaram as Country Managing Director, Experian India. Kalyanasundaram will be responsible for driving further growth of the overall India operations of Experian with a focused vision on vertical market strategy and strategic clients.

Retarus appoints Dylan Castagne as new Managing Director for Asia Retarus, a global provider of enterprise cloud services, has appointed Dylan Castagne as new Managing Director for Asia, a promotion from his Senior Solution Consultant position. Castagne will drive expansion in more APAC markets through bolstering Retarus’ network of strategic partners and alliances across the region.

Grab appoints Yee Wee Tang as Country Head for Singapore Grab has announced the appointment of Yee Wee Tang as Country Head of Grab Singapore. In his role, Wee Tang will oversee the business strategy and operations of Grab’s businesses in Singapore. A four-year veteran at Grab, he was previously the Country Head in the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Sabre Corp appoints new Managing Director Technology service provider Sabre Corporation has appointed Jaya Kumar K as Vice President & Managing Director, for Sabre Global Development Center in Bangalore, reaffirming its commitment to transforming the future of travel and strengthening Sabre’s presence in India.

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ur understanding of work and the workplace is at the brink of being changed irreversibly and these changes are already evident in many aspects of our lives. As the debate around the future of work gains momentum, organizations and leaders are coming to terms with the complexity of the situation, and are racing to find innovative and sustainable solutions. But in the cacophony of this race and the many buzzwords that come with it, the voice of the workforce is struggling to be heard. Let us revisit a fundamental aspect of this debate and take a look at the participation of employees in shaping the future of work, the assumptions that leaders might have about the workforce, and what can an individual do to future-proof their career.

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Sleepwalking through careers

Whose job is it anyway?

We discuss the lack of meaningful discussion around what an individual employee can do to prepare for the future of work and why the workforce needs to be an equal participant in the discourse regarding automation and upskilling

By Manav Seth

In today’s day and age when leaders value proactive and agile workers, one might assume that employees are going out of their way to solve critical challenges and take initiative in their organizations. However, a recent ‘Career Pathway’ report by LinkedIn found that nearly every third Indian professional is ‘sleepwalking’ through their career. According to the study, conducted in 11 Indian cities with more than 5,000 working professionals, nearly 57% of the respondents would consider pivoting their careers to make it more rewarding but are held back by the prospect of lesser wages and lower designation. On the bright side, the report also found that employees in India want greater control over their careers and 86% of the respondents had a clear career trajectory over the next five years. While professionals today are more careful about their career choices, 80% of the respondents were of the view that their current skill set would allow them to pivot their careers easily, which indicates a false sense of security in today’s fast-changing world.

The results of the report indicate that the workforce is yet to understand the gravity of the situation and is clearly not on the same page as their leaders regarding the future of work.

While this gap is naturally undesirable, it is not entirely unexpected. For starters, practices and strategies which help organizations in becoming future-ready can seem rather vague when applied to individual job profiles and roles. Secondly, the term ‘future of work’ itself is a misnomer, as it seems to describe a workplace somewhere in the future, whereas, the fact of the matter is, that it has already arrived in so many ways.

Sharing the responsibility The discourse about automation and the future of work focuses almost exclusively on how organizations, governments, and academia needs help individuals to become agile and future-ready. As a matter of fact, issues like job losses due to automation, investing in skilling

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While the spotlight is shining bright on employers and governments to ensure the employability of humans in a highly automated world, a subtle realization regarding employees being the linchpin in this process is also dawning in.

Leaders, experts, and scholars are beginning to discuss what individual employees can do to safeguard their own careers and gain valuable skills in the process.

While leaders are encouraging their subordinates to imbibe a culture of continuous learning and helping them establish industry networks, career advisors and consultants are teaching young professionals to create a unique brand identity, telling them to work on their soft skills, and helping them adapt to make the most of the flexibility in today’s workplace. The authors of ‘Future of Jobs in India: A 2022 Perspective’, a joint study by Nasscom, FICCI, and EY say that in addition to embracing the online economy individuals need “to realize that the current model of formal learning up to the age of 20 - 25 years and then working and experiential learning for the rest of our lives is gradually being upended.

They need to take responsibility for making their own lives relevant and enriching in the new economy.”

Members of the workforce would do well to pay attention to these suggestions because it’s

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Getting started

The current model of formal learning up to the age of 20 - 25 years and then working and experiential learning for the rest of our lives is gradually being upended. We need to take responsibility for making our own lives relevant and enriching in the new economy

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and training programs, and universal basic income (UBI) are set to take the center-stage in the 2020 US presidential elections as well. However, these discussions usually simplify, and often polarize, a complex issue without addressing a crucial piece of the puzzle.

The contemporary narrative in the business world stresses upon the urgent need to keep up with the changing workplace but fails to offer adequate pathways and resources that can help individuals initiate this journey on their own.

Sure, one might argue that, there are ample of readily-available online courses that can impart new skills, but how do professionals navigate these trainings and workshops and decide what skills to focus on? More importantly, preparing for the future isn’t as just about learning a new skill or being acquainted with new tools; it is making a broad attempt to comprehend the sweeping changes that are taking place in the way we work and live our lives, and adapting accordingly.

Thus, we need to dive deeper ask questions like how technology and automation will change the current paradigm (instead of reducing it to the number of jobs that will be lost); what skills will one require to work alongside machines (instead of the roles that will become obsolete in the future); how the traditional employeeemployer relationship will change, and what kind of tools are available to help us understand these challenges better. Therefore, it is critical that individuals step outside their comfort zones, demand a seat at the table, and become an equal stakeholder in the dialogue for being future-ready.

important to remember that humans have successfully dodged dystopian predictions regarding automation by honing the skills that are irreplaceable and uniquely human – communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and management.

At the end of the day, employees will have to stay relevant by adapting to the changes around them because if they fail to act now, they will be at the highest risk in the future. On the other hand, as organizations and government prepare to deal with the consequences of the increasing use of technology in the business world, they must take into confidence employee and trade unions, and engage with them to find solutions that work for everybody. The only way to ride through this wave of disruption is to take into account the motivations and expectations of both, the employee and the employer, and create a solution that is pathbreaking and popular in equal parts. Probably, a great starting point for everyone would be to earnestly answer the question, ‘What does work mean to you?’

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The curious tale of the Indian IT sector

Over the past two years, the IT sector has undergone several changes, the effects of which were best reflected in its talent decisions. But with many now adjusting to such market changes, what is the future of IT talent?

By Dhruv Mukerjee

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ne immediate impact of a globalized economy today is the ability of political and structural changes in one part of the globe to influence labor policy decisions in another part. This interconnectedness of global economies today have been put under the scanner with protectionist economic policies finding a larger in many of the developed economies of the west. And within the Indian context, no better example of how such rising favor of protectionist policies can impact sectors geographically dispersed economies has occurred in recent times.

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Such has been the case with the Indian IT sector.

Over the years, the role that the Indian IT sector has begun to play has been pivotal in the country’s economic journey. Owing to budding markets in the west and availability of local talent which would often operate at a lower labor cost, companies Infosys and Wipro were able to establish themselves as market leaders, with companies like TCS and Tech Mahindra following the suit. Given the growth potential of the IT sector across developed economies like the US and the availability of cheap trained talent in India meant many companies made India their base when it came to acquiring talent tow work in US markets. Over the years, this trend has meant that India’s IT sector has today evolved into a $150-billion sector with one of the largest job-creating potentials across the organized sector. But all this today maybe under change.

The journey in numbers Over the last few years, many Indian IT companies, with their businesses chiefly in the US have been facing uncertain

times. With the change in time and policies, many have had to restructure their business propositions and an important step in doing so was to tweak their talent equation. Since 2016 there has been a move towards reducing dependence on a large workforce with relatively lower employee-related costs for the company.

Such employees were often sent to across geographical locations (again, chiefly the US) and helped IT companies provide an economic advantage over its competitor and lower employment costs meant larger profit margins. News reports from 2016-17 highlight this problem as this period was marked with internal restructuring and rethinking talent considerations. This resulted in many shutting shops in their hiring departments and internal restructuring led to mass layoffs and reskilling initiatives.

Across 2017, one of the largest employment generators in the country, companies across the IT sector faced a talent crunch.

For the first time, a LiveMint report from 2017 notes, that three of the five largest IT companies saw their workforce shrink in the quarter ended 30 June 2017. Across several of the IT giants hiring numbers came down. Tata Consultancy Services

Given the fact that Indians accounted for over 74 percent of the global application to H1-b visas, chief among which were Indian IT companies, curbing it meant Indian IT companies couldn’t necessarily depend on it to fill positions in the US

required to reskill and upskill to remain employed within the company.

What led to such changes?

The restructuring within the Indian IT sector, especially in relation to talent considerations were partly driven by two important socioeconomic forces. One had been a gradual shift, the other the result of an immediate diktat issued in one of the largest markets for the IT sector.

The rise protectionist policies in the west, and chiefly the US, resulted in countries pointing fingers at the existing business models of It companies operating on foreign soil. The practice of hiring locally (from India) and then filing empty positions in the US market, rather than hiring the US was against the newly elected president Trump's vision of “Buy American, Hire American.” What followed were a series of immigration and hiring policy changes aimed at restricting the flow of (cheaper) Indian talent. This was aimed at forcing Indian IT companies, among many, to hire Americans in place of Indians when hiring Indians to fill the position

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By 2020, job creation in the Indian IT sector is expected to surge to about two million new additions worldwide, of which around 13 percent will be in India itself, according to Teamlease

or to meet the minimum salary payment option. This effectively removed the incentive to follow the route of hiring in India and sending them abroad to work. To get an H1-b visa, a non-permanent workrelated visa issued by American immigration services has become markedly difficult and a series of proposed changes across other visa types H4EAD (a visa provision that allows spouses of H1-b to gain employment) are all aimed to curb the flow of talent in the country. Given the fact that Indians accounted for over 74 percent of the global application to H1-b visas, chief among which were Indian IT companies, curbing it meant Indian IT companies couldn’t necessarily depend on it to fill positions in the US. As a result of many, like Infosys, began ramping up hiring numbers in the US. The other major factor, which has slowly but surely restructuring company practices has been the use of technology. The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an apt reflection on the disruptive effect of technology today, has meant traditional talent notions no longer remain rigid. With the Indian IT sector facing shortening profit margins and increasing labor costs, many began investing in digital and automation technologies that would help them steady the ship and lead to lower operating costs. For many this meant letting go significant chunks of their working population as both these factors, in addition to a host of companyspecific considerations, tweaked their talent decisions.

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Ltd, the country’s largest software services firm, saw its workforce decline by 1,414 people to 385,809 employees at the end of June quarter, as against 387,223 at the end of the previous quarter. Infosys Ltd saw a net decline of 1,811 people while Tech Mahindra Ltd, the fifth largest company, saw its workforce shrink by 1,713 people the report added. This trend became only more profound in the months that followed.

But the industry, one of India’s top employment generators until a few years ago, laid off over 56,000 people between 2017 and 2018. In the past two years, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, two of the country’s largest IT companies, reduced their headcounts for the first time ever.

In addition to reducing its internal numbers, IT companies in India also went through shuffled their talent needs.

Quantity, which traditionally trumped quality across many hiring decisions within the sector the was overturned and many within the company not meeting skill requirements where let go. In addition, ones that remained were reportedly

The road ahead According to a recent Teamlease report, there is a silver lining in all this ensuing chaos. The report states that IT companies in India, that have already begun to have lucrative business deals coming their way, would soon ramp up their hiring numbers. The sector is expected to add around 250,000 new jobs in 2019, according to the report by the HR and staffing solutions provider. With the adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and robotics for automation driving the industry’s growth and benefits of upskilling becoming visible, the report speculates that the sector might bounce back in terms of its hiring numbers. By 2020, the report estimates job creation in the Indian IT sector is expected to surge to about two million new additions worldwide, of which around 13 percent will be in India itself, according to Teamlease. But given the tumultuous journey of India’s IT sector, its potential to fulfill such projection remains to be seen.

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Leading with Design Thinking

Diane Gherson, Senior Vice President - Human Resources, IBM, in an exclusive interaction with People Matters, shares insights on how design thinking has been a game changer for the company, navigating the continuous skills renewal, and future of jobs

By Yasmin Taj

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s IBM's Chief Human Resource Officer, Diane Gherson is responsible for the people and culture of IBM's 360,000 person workforce covering 72 countries. During her tenure as CHRO, Diane has redesigned all aspects of the company’s people agenda and management systems to shape a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and agility. She has championed the company’s global adoption of design thinking and agile methods at scale, as an example, driving a company-wide, co-created overhaul of performance management. Under Diane’s leadership in stewarding diversity and inclusion, IBM received the prestigious 2018 Catalyst Award for global efforts to advance diversity and women in business.

With a U.S. patent in the field of predictive analytics, Diane is a leading voice on the topic of reinventing the profession of HR to create consumer-grade experiences for employees, predictive advice for business leaders, and improved productivity for the business. Diane joined IBM in 2002 from consulting firm Willis Towers Watson where she led the global pay and performance management practice.

Innovation has been central to IBM’s HR. How do you foster this culture?

It starts with nurturing a culture of experimentation and encouraging our HR employees to get out of their comfort zones and learn new digital skills and apply them to their work. IBM has adopted agile and design thinking at scale throughout the company, with HR leading the way. It’s been a game changer. The teams are self-directed and empowered, using retrospectives to course-correct when needed.

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I’m delighted with the work they are doing.

Some HR professionals are coding chatbots that answer employee questions on topics like performance management, on-boarding, and benefits.

Our operations team, trained on robotic process automation, is now re-thinking work design with robotics in areas like payroll, global mobility, and expense reimbursement. The recruiting team has gone all in on embracing agile.

This freedom to innovate has resulted in higher value contributions for the HR team members, and they’ve gained new skills in the process.

You’ve spoken about the need to make jobs available to people without degrees and from non-tech fields. In the context of automation and AI based disruption, how do you see the evolution of jobs? And what is required to make one job-ready?

As business leaders, we should be thinking differently about skills, education and preparing our workforces for skills of the future like AI and other digital technologies

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AI and automation will change 100 percent of jobs. Increasingly the work we do will transform, and new occupations will emerge. As business leaders, we should be thinking differently about skills, education and preparing our workforces for skills of the future like AI and other digital technologies. At IBM, we are increasingly hiring for “new collar” roles that require skills, more than traditional degrees –roles in design, as cloud architects, coders, to name a few. This is opening up the aperture for more people to participate in and benefit from the digital economy.

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Emerging technology is a real opportunity for all enterprises.

Certainly, HR needs to step up to address the workforce skills challenge

What do companies need to understand about the future of work?

Based on what I’m experiencing, the future of work is agile, iterative, collaborative and performed by self-directed, empowered teams.

When we work this way, it allows us to assemble and dis-assemble quickly to respond much more quickly.

Design thinking – human-centered design, will be increasingly an important component of how we work.

Data and analytics is a theme that has repeatedly come up in your conversations about HR. Do you think the HR industry is doing enough to navigate the challenge?

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Embracing AI and emerging technology is a real opportunity for all enterprises. Certainly HR needs to step up to addressing the workforce skills challenge, and it will.

Even as more businesses embrace AI, we have to be aware that opportunities for bias exist – unconscious or not. HR has a responsibility to address potential bias in tech by ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in its creation. It matters who creates, designs and deploys these technologies in our organizations.

I’d also observed that we as HR professionals need to be mindful of our role as stewards of data - for protecting it and being transparent about how we use it.

As to job readiness - in the digital era, it is all about skills. And given that the half-life of skills is shrinking, the list of skills will keep changing.

One thing is fairly certain: most jobs will require working with data and analytics. Curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning will be key.

How is IBM helping employees navigate ‘continuous skills renewal’?

Continuous learning is part of our culture, largely because we hire employees who are curious, and we have reinvented our company often in our 108 year history. We are transparent with our employees in helping them understand the skills most in demand at IBM and which skills they’ll need to develop. We give them a path to get there, personalized by role and curated by a highly

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consumable AI tool we’ve developed as part of a significant annual investment in employee training. Forty-five thousand employees use it every day.

We’ve contemporized our approach to training in other ways, too. For example, we designed and launched an internal AI Skills Academy. Four thousand employees will complete the program this year. Another example is our digital badge program. Our employees have earned about one million badges.

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In an interview, you’ve said that a transformational leader is someone who’s willing to disrupt, is comfortable working closely with people who have “radically different points of view,” and is at ease with both telling and being told “uncomfortable truths”. How can workplace cultures become a psychological safe place to do that?

We as business leaders have a responsibility to create the environment for our employees to thrive. A workplace culture is the outcome of all the experiences that employees have at work. That includes interactions with leaders. At IBM, we’ve looked at leadership behaviors closely and hold leaders accountable for how they engage their teams. We train them to ask for feedback regularly and to create the conditions where teams are comfortable telling the “uncomfortable truth.”

Being open to the feedback and being committed to take action on it can go a long way in building trust with the workforce.

Abhijit Bhaduri

Courage and inspiration: The new leadership standard Being able to create a movement is one of the most powerful ways in which leaders drive change

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hen Fortune published its 2019 list of the greatest leaders, they curated a list of people who are making an impact in business, government, philanthropy, and the arts.

These leaders come from countries all over the globe. They are men and women who are transforming the world. Their vision is inspiring others to do the same.

Leadership is a subject that fascinates everyone. We often wonder what makes the leader so very different from us. Do they really march to a beat different from what we hear?

Courage Being a leader needs courage. It means making bold choices and take big risks. It often means having the courage to pursue the idea despite naysayers. Is it easier to take a bold bet when you are successful or is it easier if the stakes are low? If the decision needs an extraordinary amount of courage, it is a test of leadership.

1. Take bets on people When Ed Catmull of Pixar made “Incredibles” he took a bold bet. Disney was already successful. Yet he decided to move from 2D animation to creating 3D animation through code. He took a bet on a director whose last movie was a giant failure.

2. Reimagine the business In more recent times, Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, is steering the $900 billion behemoths away from slowing iPhone sales and toward a business model based on services and subscription revenue.

3. Experience design Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe did the same when he turned the software-on-CD seller to a cloud-based subscription service.

Adobe is once again reinventing the business by bringing in Artificial Intelligence to the business of designing customer experiences. They blend technology with

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1. Hope for the world At the top of Fortune’s list for 2019 is Bill and Melinda Gates who have donated more than $45 billion to build some of the most successful international, private-public partnerships ever formed: They helped developing countries immunize 700 million children against preventable diseases.

Besides they are leading the fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

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Leaders help others see the world through the way they make choices.

Their priorities, advice, and personal example makes people hopeful creativity, design, and storytelling to create magic.

Inspiring others Being able to create a movement is one of the most powerful ways in which leaders drive change. They do this by being role models. They do this by their day to day actions. This is not about using hierarchy and power to get others to follow. It is about creating a pull for their vision and values.

Leaders help others see the world through the way they make choices. Their priorities, advice, and personal example makes people hopeful.

2. Leading during a crisis Jacinda Ardern, the 38-year old Prime Minister of New Zealand had already broken new ground as a pregnant woman—and then a new mother who was leading a nation. Her ability to empathize with the victims and then drive support for the ban of the semi-automatic weapon was a case study in leadership during a crisis.

3. Never too young The most inspiring name on the 2019 list of leaders is Greta Thunberg. She is a 16-yearold student activist who is campaigning for climate change. On the Twitter page, she describes herself as "a 16-year-old climate activist with Asperger [syndrome]". Her work on climate change earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

Making her a year younger than Malala who won it at the age of seventeen.

These leaders have all shown courage because many of their decisions put themselves at extreme risk of failure.

The greater the vision, the bigger is the scale of impact but it also means that the possibility of personal failure is very high.

Shouldn’t we be holding our leaders inside organizations to these new standards?

About the author

Abhijit Bhaduri is an advisor on talent management to organizations. With more than 850,000 followers on social media, he is a top influencer on social media. He is a bestselling author and columnist who has been writing for People Matters since 2012.

Visty Banaji

The GIGantic opportunity of the shrinking corporation - Turning the Silver Lining to Gold Can we predict all the opportunities the gig organization of work will throw up?

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The Road Less Travelled

fter more than four hundred years of evolution into increasingly large and complex forms, the modern corporation is moving in the reverse direction in front of our eyes. Over eighty years ago, Ronald Coase enunciated the principle that "a firm will tend to expand until the costs of organizing an extra transaction within the firm become equal to the costs of carrying out the same transaction by means of an exchange on the open market..."1 A combination of factors, including rapid developments in remote working technologies, perceived costs of durable employment by employers and changing attitudes to job security on the part of the workforce, have shifted the Coase boundary sharply inwards. We are seeing an upending of Arrow’s concept2 of the firm being a mechanism for dealing with market failures and reverting to the market for replacing the seeming inefficiencies of the firm. As a result, there is a trend towards an ever-larger number of organizations first experimenting with and then handing over an increasing share of work transactions from permanent employees to a 'GIG' workforce.

According to the Financial Times, "The phrase 'Gig economy' was coined at the height of the financial crisis in early 2009, when the unemployed made a living by gigging, or working several parttime jobs, wherever they could‌ In its earliest usage, gig work referred to jazz club musicians in the 1920s. Some features, such as the fact that workers do not get healthcare, pensions or paid holiday, have hardly changed since." As readers of my columns will know, I am not a great fan of GIG employment for precisely these reasons as well as for the limitations this form of work places on commitment, cooperation, and capability-building.3 For the moment, I will resist my Canutian cravings to turn the GIG clock back and focus on the opportunities and challenges that this way of organizing productive effort brings. Structural change of this magnitude invariably throws up myriad opportunities for nimble entrepreneurs even as it relegates others to the dust-heap of history. As Muthusamy and Dass point out, "There are several ways advantages emerge from disaggregating and dispersing the value chain of an organization".4 And these changes can have a tectonic impact on industries, just as the vertical

GIG employees who don’t work in teams must develop the capability to realistically evaluate and improve themselves. Self-criticism must, therefore, be accompanied by self-learning and selfhealing for intellectual and emotional renewal and repair 26

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disaggregation of the IBM PC had for the computer industry and for the fortunes of the then relatively obscure ventures such as Intel and Microsoft.

I cannot claim to predict all the opportunities the GIG organization of work will throw up but their broad directions are becoming discernible.

The rest of this column will attempt the risky task of sketching some of these and how GIG Employees (GIGEs) and the firms that use them can prepare for these changes.

Re-creating the organizational cocoon

The Road Less Travelled

Employees within the boundaries of a corporation are cocooned from the demands an independent entrepreneur has to face. This is what permits

Regular corporates wanting to use GIG employees will have to recast the ways they manage work and motivate people who are cut off from most of the blandishments and brickbats available for managing regular employees

them to specialize and become more efficient.

Much like cells within the human body which can carry out their functions without having to worry about obtaining nutrients, disposing of waste or doing any of the other activities that themselves have specialized cells in other parts of the body.

The GIG relationship, whatever its other benefits, removes the corporate umbrella of business support services from the individual. Each of these, to the extent it was an essential requirement, provides business opportunities for new classes of service providers. I will limit this exposition to relatively bluer ocean opportunities and will, therefore, leave out those (like shared workspaces5) that are already crowded with providers.

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Three obvious support requirements for GIGEs (and, hence, service provider opportunities) lie in: • Positioning, review and repositioning of the GIGE offering.

• Client acquisition on a regular and reliable basis.

• Accounting and taxation management.

None of these can be automated beyond a point (even GIGEs who develop chatbots, prefer not to be serviced by them!) and neither can GIGEs pay the fees that even small enterprises cough up. The new class of service providers who step into this breach will require disruptive models for customized yet low-cost delivery.

Each GIGE’s own output (depending, of course, on the type of GIG work in question) may also require technology support of the flowing kinds: • Specialized software which is not provided by the client and which is not needed frequently enough to be owned.

• Scheduling and other operations management tools (including an extra-lite enterprise management platform which includes or links seamlessly with an accounting package) for ensuring complex tasks are managed and billed on time.

• Sophistical communication and coordination networks.

In most of these cases, conventional corporates treat rarely or partially used software as a BAHU (Bought And Hardly Used). GIGEs cannot afford this luxury and will usually prefer the SAAS (Software As A Service) approach. But these SAAS providers are unlikely to be the large-scale product majors making their own products available with limited features. It will probably be small integrators and re-packagers who provide a one-stop-software-shop for GIGEs, somewhat on the lines cable/ DTH operators buy licenses in bulk from broadcasters and parcel them out to consumers in individually tailored packages.

Even more than the business-related support, what GIGEs may miss most (and will, therefore, be willing to pay for) are vital people-related services, such as: • Health cover • Technical and other obsolescence-retarding training • Career guidance and counseling Probably the biggest business opportunity to emerge from the GIG form of employment will be in satisfying the need for medical cover. It is also one that requires no major rehaul of the business model currently in use by health insurance providers. Even today, health insurers give much better terms to corporate clients than to individual purchasers and could offer the same favorable terms to any aggregator of GIGE demand for health cover. All it requires is an association of GIGEs to take on the procurement role. Whether such an association arises sui generis as a result of the initiative taken by far-thinking GIGEs or whether it comes from progressive trade unions

The Road Less Travelled

looking to diversify and enhance their appeal, I cannot predict. I can only say that these Guilds Of Gig Employees (or GOGIGEs) could be fairly profitable, especially if they take the next logical step of providing other essential services to their members such as cooperative credit, social security plans, purchasing leverage (for both goods and services) and support when a GIGE is unfairly treated by her or his clients. The culminating step in GOGIGE evolution could be when they also provide GIGE certification and placement services.

In doing so they would have an advantage over other service providers because of the large basket of essential support services they would offer to members and improve the employment security of GIGEs – which is abysmally low today. Of course, since several GOGIGEs would compete with each other, both to attract GIGEs and clients, they are unlikely to develop the closed shop burdens that medieval guilds imposed on those economies and employers.6 Whether negotiated through GOGIGEs or not, the training service providers who can keep GIGEs current will be assured of regular business. Especially if the

While organizations have had decades to perfect people policies for durable employment, they will now have to craft separate ones that are optimal for GIGEs. Both sets will need to fit into a meta-framework without contradiction and neither should be dissonant with the core values of the enterprise GIGE is operating in the tech sector, the desire to forestall knowledge aging will be no less fierce than Dorian Gray’s. And since corporates will no longer share the responsibility for keeping the individual current, it will be up to the individual GIGE to do so. While one should see an unquenchable thirst for training in technical competencies and skills that are immediately usable, the kind of training corporates impose because the Jones’ are doing so, may find relatively few individually paying takers.

There will be occasions when GIGEs who are faced with difficult project, people and proficiency challenges, will need guidance or at least a sympathetic shoulder. Moreover, as individuals take full ownership for their careers, they will see value in paying for professional expertise in charting their future course. They will do so especially because mistakes in future-readiness will not be underwritten by some large company. GIGEs will, therefore be eager for guidance that prevents them from acquiring skills in low demand or ones they do no not enjoy practicing.

Crusoe or Band of Brothers Among the greatest services career counsellors can provide to GIGEs is to give them a heads-up on 30

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whether they have temperaments suited to the open sea of a GIG-life for the long term or whether they should slip into a regular corporate employment harbour as soon as one hoves into sight. The question arises, of course, only if GIGEs have such a choice but it is vital for them to know whether they should divert energy from GIG assignment hunting or delivery to seeking permanent jobs. Or, if such opportunities come their way fortuitously, they need to have thought through whether to forgo the option without regrets or to leap into regular employment without agonizing over the choice till it disappears.

To help answer this question, I find it useful to position people’s temperaments in a triangular space. Your memories of school geometry will tell you the vertices of a self-respecting triangle have to be A, B and C and so we call these temperaments: A. The Admirable Crichton B. The Band of Brothers C. The Crusoe The quintessential GIGE should be comfortable in a Robinson Crusoe situation. Not that s/he should be averse to human contact in a non-work setting but s/he should be able deliver peak performance without having a 'best friend at work' to sustain engagement. The other end of the continuum, of course, is the person who performs best in a band (don’t call me sexist, Shakespeare used 'brothers' to follow 'band'). The corporate milieu is the obvious choice for such a person. But these are not the only options on the table. There are individuals (like the main character from James Barrie’s play, 'The Admirable Crichton'), who, when freed from the constraints of organizational convention, display their true leadership flair and become entrepreneurs in their own right. A small but significant number of GIGEs can move from freelancing to business ownership and an astute counselor will encourage those few to do so. There are a variety of psychometric and other techniques to establish where an individual will be most comfortable on this triangular spread. Having made the choice, while those opting for corporate careers can seek guidance from the organizations they join, cost effective (sometimes pro bono) mentoring support is increasingly becoming available for both Crichtons and Crusoes.

Since our present concern is with GIGEs, let us explore in a little more detail, the characteristics of the Crusoe temperament. As already explained, a person who will be happy as a GIGE is likely to have a relatively low need for affiliation – at least at the workplace. On the other hand, s/he will possess a high need for achievement. While both of these are relatively stable behavior patterns, other capabilities that make for a successful GIGE can be strengthened consciously over the years. For GIGEs, all of these have to be self-originated and self-sustained.

Both the desirability7 and the significance8 of self-discipline have been questioned in recent years but I think it is safe to list it together with selfstarting (which uses will power to prompt action

in competency-based terminology that can be easily incorporated into a CV and improve the chances of the GIGE getting other assignments in future.

• A loyalty benefit for those who perform well during their GIG assignments. Organizations could innovate on what form the benefit could take, ranging from premium payment rates to participation in welfare schemes (either designed especially for GIGEs or with other regular employees) or even some form of equity sharing.

• A path for the best performing GIGEs to become permanent employees. Obviously, this will be an attraction only for those who see GIG work as a temporary stopgap (see previous section for more on the 'Band of Brothers' type).

The Road Less Travelled

rather than prevent it, as discipline does) as hallmarks of the successful GIGE. In fact, the critiques of Walter Mischel’s Marshmallow Test as well as his own latest work9 further confirm the possibility of developing skills for delaying gratification. Selfstarters also need to acquire self-organizing skills so that the drive to action is harnessed efficiently.

Moreover, GIGEs who don’t work in teams must develop the capability to realistically evaluate and improve themselves. Self-criticism must, therefore, be accompanied by self-learning and self-healing for intellectual and emotional renewal and repair. All of these can be enhanced by practice as well as guidance – the latter opening up opportunities for those who can actually transfer these vital effectiveness enhancers.

Becoming a great place to GIG

About the author

Visty Banaji is the Founder and CEO of Banner Global Consulting (BGC) 32

| MAY 2019

It’s not as if GIG work only creates opportunities for entrepreneurs and new development directions for GIGEs. It also demands changes from employers and HR practitioners if they are to get the best from these transient contributors.

In an earlier column, I have written about some of the HR challenges faced by aggregators.10 But the Ubers of the world will only be a small part of a fully realized GIG economy. Regular corporates wanting to use GIGEs will have to recast the ways they manage work and motivate people who are cut off from most of the blandishments and brickbats available for managing regular employees. While organizations have had decades to perfect people policies for durable employment, they will now have to craft separate ones that are optimal for GIGEs. Both sets will need to fit into a meta-framework without contradiction and neither should be dissonant with the core values of the enterprise.

There will be some brand promises that are likely to be extremely attractive in a GIG Employer Value Proposition (GEVP). These could include: • A publicly declared code of fairness in dealing with GIGEs, with a non-taxing means of seeking redressal when the code is infringed. Of course, individual organizations will choose how extensive and GIGE-friendly their codes are and differentiate themselves from others on that basis.

• Verifiable certifications of the work done by the GIGE for the organization. This could be framed

Finally, there is one critical conundrum that companies opting for GIG work will have to solve: that of cooperation. John Roberts explains it well: "Generally, two broad sorts of behaviour might be desired from people in an organization: Call them 'initiative' and 'cooperation'... Arm’s length market dealings typically give the maximal incentive to pursue own goals and so the most initiative, but they provide little incentive for cooperation."11 This is fine for the individual-contributor-type aggregator GIG enterprises and goes some way to explaining their success. Most businesses clearly have more complex operational demands. As Roberts goes on to write: "Of course, real companies need more cooperation than arm’s length dealings would induce, because interdependencies abound." 11 There have been no large-scale solutions to this problem yet. As such, exciting as its potential is, GIG work currently just occupies a beachhead where aggregators thrive.

Depending on whether corporates can solve the cooperation challenge outside the entity’s boundaries, the beachhead will resemble the beaches at Normandy or the ones at Gallipoli!

Notes: R H Coase, The Nature of the Firm, Economica, First published: November 1937.

2. Kenneth J Arrow, The Limits of Organization, W. W. Norton & Company, 1974.

3. Visty Banaji, The Future of Work Requires Work- And Tech is Part of the Problem, People Matters, 5th Nov 2018, (https://www. peoplematters.in/blog/jobs/the-future-of-work-requires-workand-tech-is-part-of-the-problem-19788).

4. Senthil Muthusamy and Parshotam Dass, Toward a smarter enterprise: Disaggregation and dispersion for innovation and excellence, Competitiveness Review, Vol. 24 No. 3, 2014.

5. Anshul Dhamija, India's informal gig economy turns mainstream, Forbes India, 8 August 2018.

6. Sheilagh Ogilvie, The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World), Princeton University Press, 2019.

7. Alfie Kohn, Why Self-Discipline Is Overrated: The (Troubling) Theory and Practice of Control from Within, PHI DELTA KAPPAN, November 2008.

8. Jacoba Urist, What the Marshmallow Test Really Teaches About Self-Control: One of the most influential modern psychologists, Walter Mischel, addresses misconceptions about his study, and discusses how both adults and kids can master willpower, The Atlantic, 24 Sep 2014.

9. Walter Mischel, The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control, Bantam Press, 2014.

10. Visty Banaji, Minimal HR for maximal effect: Hyper-frugal Resourceful HR in the age of aggregators, People Matters, 12th Jan 2017, (https://www.peoplematters.in/article/strategic-hr/ minimal-hr-for-maximal-effect-14817).

11. John Roberts, The Modern Firm: Organizational Design for Performance and Growth, OUP, 2007.

1.

In t e r v i e w

Fostering innovation through research In an interaction with People Matters, Professor Edward (Ted) Sargent, the Vice-President at the University of Toronto, talks about the tech innovations and the future of work, and how the university is preparing the next generation of leaders

By Suparna Chawla Bhasin

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rofessor Edward (Ted) Sargent is the Vice-President and a Professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto (U of T).

Through his work both as a scholar and vice-dean,

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research in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, Professor Sargent has accumulated extensive experience in developing and enhancing global research networks involving both academic and industrial partners. The University of Toronto is a global institution with one-quarter of its student body international, coming from more than 168 countries including India.

You are an academic, entrepreneur, author and a fellow at many institutes. Tell us how you ventured into this area of nanotechnology that led to your book, The Dance of the Molecules?

I began my academic career working with semiconductor lasers for optical fiber communications -- the long-distance backbone of the Internet. I was fascinated by how quantum mechanical effects could be used to make bright, spectrallypure sources of light for communications. Later I

became fascinated with what chemists had started doing in the early 2000s –making semiconductors as bright and as promising as traditional laser materials, but doing so near room temperature in the liquid phase. I translated my research over to working with these new nanomaterials that could be produced, at low cost, in vast quantities.

What is the focus of your research at the moment?

I work with liquid-processed semiconductors to make better and more cost-effective devices for renewable energy. This includes making solar cells that better capture the full spectrum of light from the sun.

It also involves making more energy-efficient light sources for displays and lighting. Finally, we have a new project in which we combine renewable electricity (such as from wind and solar) with CO2 and upgrade the waste CO2 into fuels and chemical feedstocks.

The framework of conventional academia is challenged by the pace of change we see today.

This is basically a dilemma for the education system and the industry. What’s your opinion on this?

We cannot predict the future but we do know that mobile computing, social media, and artificial intelligence are having a dramatic impact on the workforce; universities are adapting to these changes. We provide a foundation for life-long learning, which is key as the world of work changes rapidly.

Students need not just technical knowledge but also analytical, creative and problem-solving skills. U of T excels in inter-disciplinary learning and is very strong in computer science, engineering, life sciences, regenerative medicine, and many other fields. Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton helped pioneer the technology behind deep learning, which allows computers to mimic the way the human brain learns. This is having a transformative impact on everything from how we drive cars – or, more accurately, the way they drive us – to the way doctors diagnose disease. U of T was recently ranked first in Canada and 12th in the world for graduate employability by Times Higher Education.

Online learning and other tools can help democratize learning. For example, U of T just launched

Online learning and other tools can help democratize learning. University of Toronto just launched a self-driving car course with Coursera. The two countries that have shown the most interest in it are the US and India

In t e r v i e w

The University of Toronto is a global institution dedicated to training the next generation of leaders. We have deepened our engagement globally and locally; this helps to foster research and collaboration; tackle grand challenges; ensure access for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

We help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life by supporting start-ups in research and innovation. We have nine accelerators that help earlystage companies get off the ground and provide them with mentorship, training, workspace, and connections with potential investors.

We recently established a School of Cities to provide a platform for interdisciplinary research addressing the most pressing challenges facing our cities today, including income polarization, infrastructure investment, and affordable housing. We focus on giving students experience-based, workintegrated learning opportunities to undertake research and exchanges with partner institutions.

This helps keep up with the pace of change and helps link research to application.

The Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering and Commerce and Computer Science allows students to spend 12-16 months in a paid internship in the largest paid professional internship of its kind in Canada. At U of T’s Scarborough campus, students have access to 50 Co-op programs in the arts, science and management disciplines to learn directly from industry professionals.

Summer work opportunities include the chance to assist in labs at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children; collaborate with astronomers; work in immunology labs.

tions that transform people's lives and society. But in an age when science often evokes more fear than faith, what are technology’s positive possibilities?

Returning to the world of tech, we are still figuring out a lot about it – AI, VR, etc. We are trying for technological agility into real applicaMAY 2019 |

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Exponential technologies have profound effects on how economies function. How do you think the world will look like in the future, and what would be the role of humans?

Machines won’t take over humans. Some people in the labor market will be displaced. Repetitive jobs such as assembling products, data entry or processing transactions in banks will be replaced by robotics.

But don’t forget that for every new automation challenge, we need a human who understands the technical aspects and how to program and manipulate robots. So many new fields of jobs will be created and that is great for young students in engineering, computer science, and many other fields.

In t e r v i e w

How can we balance innovation with mindful execution? How can we ensure emerging technologies are actually solving more problems than they’re creating? And are we making lives better for others, or just better for ourselves?

Don’t forget that for every new automation challenge, we need a human who understands the technical aspects and how to program and manipulate robots a self-driving car course with Coursera. The two countries that have shown the most interest in it are the US and India. The professors are reaching thousands of students they would otherwise never reach and giving them a chance to gain a comprehensive understanding of state-of-the-art engineering practices in the self-driving car industry.

The autonomous driving industry is predicted to be a $42-billion market with more than 20 million self-driving cars on the road by 2025.

Today machine-learning algorithms and software enable us to organize the information about the physical world gathered by billions of devices within the range of our understanding. What are the practical implications of using nanotech that will revolutionize the way we live and work?

There is a remarkable degree of intersection of the nanotech and machine-learning revolutions. The ever-increased computing capacity that powers the AI revolution owes its advent to nanotransistors. The internet that enables the cloud relies on quantum well lasers to power optical fiber communications. And now AI is transforming nanotechnology and materials science more generally. Researchers are striving to accelerate their discoveries using both computations and experiments powered by AI. 36

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For many, the idea of AI-enabled robots taking over human roles is problematic. But there is a lot of research going on to develop socially assistive robots who can improve the lives of others, for example of seniors.

Under the supervision of Associate Professor Goldie Nejat, the Canada Research Chair in Robots for Society, researchers have been developing socially assistive robots to cognitively stimulate seniors and encourage them to exercise and take their medication and encourage them to live healthier and better lives.

Another wave of start-up firms, including Toronto-based Blue J, are using AI to help lawyers do a better job and save money for their clients by managing growing piles of documents, transcripts and case law. With machines able to sift quickly through reams of data, lawyers can spend more time with clients crafting strategies.

Why are Indian students interested in Canada and U of Toronto?

Canada is an increasingly attractive country for international students, with anti-immigrant policies south of the border and the uncertainty created by Brexit. U of T is a global institution with one-quarter of its student body international, coming from more than 168 countries. Our campuses and the surrounding Toronto area are safe and welcoming places and we are a diverse and multicultural population.

U of T values Indian students for their academic strength and their rich contributions to student life on its campuses. U of T ranks 12th in the world for global employability and offers paid professional co-ops and internships in some programs so students can gain valuable work experience. International graduates can apply for threeyear work permits -- an opportunity not available in the U.S. or the U.K. We have seen enrolment from India increased by 280 percent from 2014 to 2018.

Breaking down barriers The need to recruit, retain and engage diverse talent in a highly competitive labor market will only accelerate over the coming years, according to a study

By People Matters Editorial

i nc l u s i o n & d i v e r s i t y

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mployers are taking a broader view of inclusion and diversity, and a growing number are now embedding their inclusion and diversity objectives into workplace culture and benefit programs, (e.g., healthcare, retirement, voluntary benefits, and perks), as well as employee pay and wellbeing initiatives, according to research from leading global advisory company Willis Towers Watson.

Employers today understand the importance of inclusion and diversity for their talent and business performance more than any previous point in history. They also recognize that inclusion and diversity cannot exist in a vacuum. It needs to be built for each organization’s unique and diverse workforce and woven into the fabric of their culture, benefits, pay and workplace policies.

Over the last three years, a majority of employers (55%) have taken steps to communicate their inclusion and diversity initiatives as they pertain to workplace culture and policies, while nearly three-quarters (73%) indicate they intend to do so over the next three years. Similarly, just over half (51%) have promoted inclusion and diversity endeavors aligned with their benefit programs over the past three years, with more than two-thirds (68%) aiming to do so in the next three years.

Attracting and retaining talent (82%) and driving employee engagement (62%) are overwhelmingly the most important factors behind employers taking action to promote inclusion and diversity within their workforce.

The need to recruit, retain and engage diverse talent in a highly competitive labor market will only accelerate activity over the coming years, cites the study. Yet, it isn’t the only reason. There are other advantages, such as broader perspectives, better environmental, social and governance

Attracting and retaining talent and driving employee engagement are overwhelmingly the most important factors behind employers taking action to promote inclusion and diversity within their workforce metrics, stronger brand recognition and improved corporate sustainability to deepen organizations’ commitment to inclusion and diversity. Simply put, inclusion and diversity has become a top focus of the C-suite, given the clear link between diverse talent and improved business results.

Employers ranked their top inclusion and diversity priorities over the next three years as financial planning, e.g., health, emergency savings, retirement (37%); core medical and/or pharmacy benefits (30%); maternity & family planning/ infertility benefits (27%); and mental health and substance abuse treatment (27%).

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STOR Y C OVER 38

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By People Matters Editorial

STOR Y

Employee experience is a critical business imperative that can drive innovation, productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue

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mployees today are a key stakeholder, a kind of customer that organizations need to deliver value to. Not only employees today are inspired by purpose-driven businesses, the concepts of collaboration and shared purpose, but they also bow to the concept of “meaning-first” mindset and ask for their part in the “bigger picture”. A few organizations have opened their eyes to providing unparalleled employee experiences by instituting benefits like maternity/ paternity/pawternity leaders, state-of-the-art office campuses, flexible hours and games rooms, but these are only a handful of organizations and such measures only scratch the surface.

Currently, there is still a considerable chasm between millennial workforce needs and what the workplace offers.

If companies want to harness the massive potential of this future workforce, they need to start incorporating the tools and technologies that enable their productivity.

Employee experience is more than just a buzzword. It’s a critical business imperative that can drive innovation, productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue. So what are or can organizations do in practice to keep up with the workplace trends that are speeding towards us all and serve exceptional employee experiences?

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Cater to a ‘meaningfirst’ mindset Abhijeet Mukherjee,

In today’s competitive landscape where employees can significantly impact an organization’s success or failure, it is time that organizations rethink their approach to talent management and start making employees as much a priority as customers

CEO, Monster.com, APAC and Gulf

T C OVER

STOR Y

he age of disruption and rapidly changing business landscape has signaled the need for constant innovation if companies are to maintain a competitive edge. This level of innovation can only be driven by human capital, turning employee experience into a critical imperative for productivity, customer satisfaction, and revenue. Feel-good initiatives such as stateof-the-art office campuses, flexible work hours, free gym membership and game rooms are being implemented by leading companies; however, these have only managed to scratch the surface. Today, employees look for distinct experiences designed and delivered with a ‘meaning-first’ mindset, a sense of collaboration, and shared purpose.

In the early 2000s, employers were focused on employee ‘satisfaction’. Around 2010, the focus shifted to employee ‘engagement’. However, employers are increasingly realizing that ‘satisfaction’ and ‘engagement’ are smaller

components of what employees really care about – the ‘experience’. Employee experience, which is a sum total of all interactions the employee has with the employer, is defined by the structure and culture of the company, the employee’s perception of it and role within it. Millennials have contributed further towards the demand for employee experience by seeking meaningful work, autonomy, connection, and mentoring.

Expected to comprise 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, millennials are demanding that the businesses they work for are purpose-driven, and also insist on becoming a part of the bigger picture.

The impact of employee experience is distinctly visible, yet companies struggle to create it The business case for employee experience can be found in its direct impact on the bottom line.

Even though it is not a line item on the company’s profit and loss statement, its impact reflects on operational and financial metrics such as turnover, retention, productivity, and recruiting.

It can also impact the brand’s overall image by defining customer interaction, ensuring a positive employee experience and creating a culture where employees are dedicated to always delivering the best to customers. Otherwise, minor points of dissatisfaction, if not frustration, with the employer can sometimes find its way into how employees treat their end customers.

In a recent global survey of human resource (HR) and business leaders, 42 percent of participants rated employee experience as ‘very important’ and 38 percent rated it as ‘important’.

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If companies are to harness the massive potential of today’s workforce, they must incorporate tools and technologies that enable productivity.

Just like they wouldn’t make assumptions about what customers want in products or services, they shouldn’t make assumptions about what the workforce wants or needs. They must ask employees about the kind of resources, technologies, and spaces that are critical for success, and then align employee experience accordingly. The workplace technology that companies adopt should be employee-centric just like consumer technology that is customer-centric.

Technology should solve the challenges of the workforce and be something that employees can’t live without.

Once the basics are in place, companies must focus on building mentorship dynamics between employees and their managers, thus cultivating a mutual relationship instead of a transaction.

This builds a much higher level of trust and loyalty than a salary raise or bonus. Companies must ensure that they give employees the space for individual growth, by allowing enough space within the structure to align the employee’s goals with that of the organization. For a generation

Just like organizations wouldn’t make assumptions about what customers want in products or services, they shouldn’t make assumptions about what the workforce wants or needs

STOR Y

Rethinking approach to talent management is integral to realizing the potential of the workforce

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Yet, only 22 percent reported that their companies excelled in creating a unique employee experience.

This highlights that despite best intentions, companies struggle to build effective employee experiences, leaving a chasm between what the workforce needs and what the workplace offers.

with a huge appetite for new skills and that ranks learning opportunities as a top employer benefit, this can mean a great motivator. Among other things, employers can consider on-the-fly coaching needs, regular check-ins, continuous feedback, and enhanced opportunities for knowledge sharing. Incorporating corporate social responsibility and enabling employees to be directly involved in giving back to the community can also contribute significantly to the overall experience.

For business leaders, the choice between customers and employees is a tricky one.

However, without realizing, they often choose customers over employees by prioritizing the customer experience in every facet of their business. In today’s competitive landscape where employees can significantly impact success and failure, it is time that companies rethink their approach to talent management and start making employees as much a priority as customers.

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Prioritize building a meaningful work experience Siddhartha Gupta CEO, Mercer Mettl

The customer is no longer the be-all and end-all of an organizational objective: companies today are also competing with each other based on the quality of employee brand and reputation they have to offer

A C OVER

STOR Y

n indispensable part of any organization, the human resource forms the backbone of any business and plays an important role in determining its eventual success and failure. To survive and thrive in a digitally-transforming and rapidly-evolving corporate ecosystem, organizations are increasingly directing their focus on enhancing not only the professional prospects of their employed workforce, but also their employees’ cumulative professional experience.

Employee experience (EX) is the sum total of all the interactions that employees have with their companies – from recruitment to eventual exit, and everything in between. EX, therefore, spans multiple aspects of employment and various dimensions of an employee’s professional life. Now, the customer is no longer the be-all and end-all of an organizational objective: companies today are also competing with each other based on the quality of employee brand and reputation they have to offer.

This shift has occurred on the back of technological disruption, emergence of gig economy and other fluid workplace models, among other things.

The rise of professional networks enabled by digital platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor, for example, has made it possible for prospective employees to choose their employers after assessing their operational models, amenities offered, along with other convenience-related factors. Millennials, who form a major chunk of contemporary workforce, today are looking to work in companies where they get a wholesome package of purposeful work, positive and relaxed work environment, supportive management and leaders, growth opportunities, and

The workforce today is looking to work in companies where they get a wholesome package of purposeful work, positive and relaxed work environment, supportive management and leaders, and growth opportunities 42

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so on. Once they have joined an organization, the highly-competitive marketplace provides employed professionals with the option to leave their workplace in favour of the one where they will get better career development opportunities, better benefits, and more of what constitutes a healthier employee experience.

It is due to these reasons that organizations today need to differentiate themselves. EX, rather than being considered a fad or an issue to be addressed occasionally, must be treated as a business imperative. Executives who are cognizant of this fact tie enhanced employee experience with strong customer experience and low attrition rates, and work towards achieving it.

The challenge Given the evolving and technologically-driven trends in the corporate ecosystem today, companies need to treat employees as customers. Only then can they leverage the provision of a healthy EX to the employees as a competitive advantage by managing to recruit and retain talent and skills within an organization. However, while consumer experience charts a model for defining and understanding employee experience, the dynamics of a company’s relationship with customers and employees are

1. Prioritizing employee experience and taking necessary steps to augment it: First of all, it is necessary to articulate employee experience enhancement strategies to the employed workforce, and then meet the expectations. To do this, companies can appoint a separate leader to handle this department instead of dumping the assignment on to the already-loaded HR managers. Further, the strategies should be integrated with all the aspects of an employee’s professional journey within the organization including impact of workspace, wellness and mental health, workforce experience, and so on.

2. Establishing a culture of continuous learning and growth: A culture of continuous learning within an organization can ensure a healthy and productive association between the company and its employees. To learn and improve their performance, every professional looks forward to continuous feedback and coaching from their superiors and managers. The onus of providing such a feedback mechanism falls on managers and leaders who have to ensure that feedbacks are concise and aligned with the organizational objective and employee capability. The employees who are lacking in their duties can be identified and provided with relevant L&D tools for training. Whereas, consistent high performers can be rewarded. A focused and continuous attention on the workforce makes employees feel valued.

The shift from an isolated to a networked and team-based working model has made EX more important and equally complex

STOR Y

What companies can do to elevate employee experience?

3. Mapping employee journey: Team leaders and managers can develop and follow a structured approach to employee evaluation to understand and enhance employee experience on the performance front. The data derived from an employee’s periodical assessment can then be leveraged to enhance their training and development strategies for the future. This will also enable them to provide the employees with superior feedback tools. Such focus on employee development can play a critical role in retaining skilled professionals within an organization.

4. Innovative thinking: Leaders and top executives must be vigilant regarding employee experience while they are working and devise innovative strategies to increase productivity, while taking steps to make the job more efficient and convenient for the employed professional. When employees are on a break, the strategies must ensure that they get ample time to become stress-free and are provided with relevant tools that can further aid the process.

5. Providing integrated self-service tools to employees: By leveraging technology, executives and leaders can enhance employee experience through tools such as wellness and performance management apps, gamification, self-service tools such as coffee-machines, mobile learning apps, and so on.

C OVER

different. The shift from an isolated to a networked and team-based working model has made EX more important and equally complex. And it is owing to this complexity that organizations, more often than not, fall short of living up to employee expectations.

Some of the reasons include: 1. HR leaders do not treat employee experience as a priority: It has been observed that managers in the upper tier of an organizational structure mostly reserve the problem of managing employee expectations to occasional or annual engagement surveys. The top executives must realize that inferior employee experience results in high attrition.

2. Absence of relevant, EX-enhancing strategies: Company executives generally fail to focus on integrating performance management tools and resources, goal setting, diversity, wellness, inclusion, workplace design, career development and leadership training into the organizational framework.

3. Lack of necessary resources: Even if HR managers uplift employee experience as their focus, they mostly fall flat while trying to acquire resources required to address a cohesive set of priorities which includes managing workplace culture, curating benefits and amenities to employee, managing employee expectation, and so on. In the face of such problems, it has become the need of the hour for companies to elevate employee experience to ensure an improved productivity drive if they aim to survive in the rapidly-changing corporate landscape.

6. Relaxed work hours: All employees seek a healthy work–life balance. Inspired from industrial disruptions like the rise of gig economy, organizations have been extending the facility of work-from-home to their employees. However, team leaders responsible for overseeing employee experience must also take into consideration that this system does not cause employees to overshoot their working hours. Because it has been observed that employees using work-from-home models end up working for more hours than what they would have normally devoted in an office or co-working workplace. Therefore, managers can either arrange the facility of paying such employees the overtime they are due or help them in managing their timelines.

Technological disruption and the rise of talented professionals have transformed the dynamic and highly-competitive corporate ecosystem. To keep up with the fast-changing trends and survive in the rapidly-evolving corporate landscape, organizations today need to pay special attention to their most important organ: the human resource. And to retain talent, managing and augmenting employee experience has become a necessity which all companies need to cater to survive and thrive.

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Build a codified culture to deliver new-age employee experience Susan Mathew

Director - HR, India, LinkedIn

The workplace is going through an apparent transformation that puts talent and more importantly, an employee’s happiness and well-being at the center of it

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What’s critical in terms of manifesting culture and values is walking the talk, and not restricting it to the paper it’s printed on

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in our third annual Global Workplace Learning Report that states that 94 percent of employees said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.

As businesses evolve, as new-age tech companies grow, the workplace is going through an apparent transformation that puts talent and more importantly, an employee’s happiness and well-being at the center of it.

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s millennials climb the ladder and Gen Z professionals walk through the door, the modern-day workplace has taken on a new definition. With India getting set up to be one of the youngest workforces in the world by 2027, the expectations from a job, career, and a work environment are rapidly changing.

The employee today is looking for exciting work opportunities, and a workplace that offers them work-life balance, a fun and casual culture, and an open-door policy – an environment where they can bring their authentic selves to work and voice their opinions freely.

In fact, we recently spoke to 5000+ Indian professionals across age groups in our ‘Career Pathways’ survey to understand their motivations behind choosing, growing in or changing their workplaces.

While 62 percent respondents unanimously picked opportunities to learn and grow as the primary reason for liking their current job, approximately 50 percent professionals prioritized diversity of work and a good, fun work culture as important factors. L&D is also now at the top of every young employee’s mind, and it is a prevalent finding

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Why companies need a ‘codified culture’?

A company culture that influences a growth mindset, values employees, and models the behaviour of members first has an impact on how we have grown as a business over the years. LinkedIn’s successful business growth would not have been possible if we did not make talent as our number one priority. Our culture permeates in all aspects of talent management, which in turn supports our business growth. The impact can be witnessed through our ability to attract top talent, our low attrition trend (in comparison to other industry players) and continuing to be an aspirational organization for Millennial and Gen X professionals alike by building an agile organization, encouraging innovative thinking, and learning through failure.

But, as companies scale up the hiring of millennial and Gen Z professionals, CEOs of companies are often asked, "What's your company’s culture?"

We now live in a time when organizations need to have a codified culture. It is particularly important when there are plans to expand globally and setting up new offices that aren't in the same place as the

headquarters. The company has to make sure that the leadership that’s setting up the offices in these remote locations are good cultural actors.

Absence of a codified culture may lead to a bad outcome as the employees will bring in their own ‘cultural baggage’ inculcated in them from the companies that they worked for. I believe culture is the collective personality of an organization, and it's not only who you are, but who you aspire to be.

The aspirational component is critical. It is important to sit with the leadership team and talk about the kind of organization one wants to be a part of and what kind of personality we collectively believe that the company should be manifesting and espousing.

How businesses are enhancing culture and employee experience?

Serving as a testament to the insights from the Career Pathways survey is our 2019 Top Companies list for India where informal work culture was seen as a major driving force behind happy employ-

their personal space, and the right to voice their opinion. Secure, happy employees are the key to growth, and all our policies, cultural activities, and management style cater to protect and enhance the employee experience.

Doubling down on the changing profile of the workforce, workplaces in India are slowly but surely adopting employee experiences that help align today’s purpose-driven employee with the vision and values of the organization. The list which revealed where Indian professionals really want to work and stay ranked IBM at #15 for harnessing the power of emerging technologies to solve problems specific to India, whether eradicating food wastage or predicting crop prices to help farmers. Mopping up $300 million as part of its partnership with Hyundai, which is focused on electric cars, Ola eventually aims to put one million green cars on Indian roads by 2022.

The role of leadership

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The success of delivering an employee experience suitable for the young workforce resides in constant engagement – engagement by leaders across the company and between teams. Another key element to engagement is leveraging technology and learning tools to keep employees connected, upskilled and doing their best work – all laddering up to an enhanced employee experience. When the workforce is intellectually

ees. Mobile Internet company, One97 Communications (Paytm) at #4 has done away with the concept of work appointments. Employees are free to have impromptu meetings and occupy available rooms without blocking calendars. Designations such as assistant general manager, deputy general manager and general manager could soon be a thing of the past at India’s second-largest private bank ICICI (#20) which seeks to cut hierarchy and boost accountability.

The 2019 Top Companies have also actively deployed employee-first initiatives such as informal work culture and fairness of working conditions and wages. That said, traditional perks and benefits and token gestures like games rooms need to be complemented with sound leadership to foster a sense of purpose, engagement and belonging in today’s employees.

LinkedIn too is fairly young and has a youthful environment. Fun is an integral part of our culture, and we interact with each other through employee initiatives such as InDays, music, arts and in-house collaborative spaces. We don't encourage micro-management, give employees

engaged, they are driven to use their skills and creativity to solve problems innovatively and effectively. And how engaged they feel is a true measure of successful organization leadership and culture.

Just as the selling journey doesn’t conclude with a sale, the hiring journey doesn’t conclude with a hire. Constant engagement differentiates a company as culturally unique and sustainably sound, and its leaders play an important role as stewards of that culture. Cultivating diversity across the organization, regarding teams for the difference they make every day and simply making employees feel comfortable in their jobs, will enable their best work and position them to stay. With India expected to see its Gen Z population rise to 472 million1 in this year, ‘employee experience’ has moved beyond its current status as a buzzword in the corporate world. Delivering a promising employee experience should in fact becomes a leadership priority that can in turn drive innovation and growth. At the end of the day, what’s critical in terms of manifesting culture and values is walking the talk, and not restricting it to the paper it’s printed on.

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Constant engagement differentiates a company as culturally unique and sustainably sound, and its leaders play an important role as stewards of that culture

1 https://www.livemint.com/Politics/uP1RGLG2uiSX6Ei8BNM9jJ/ Gen-Z-is-on-course-to-outnumbermillennials-within-a-year.html MAY 2019 |

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The biggest differentiator is the emotional experience Nanjappa BS

Vice President - HR, Infosys

Work and life are integrated as never before and when employees spend two-thirds of their waking time at work, it becomes imperative to provide a great physical experience

“People don’t always remember what you say or even what you do, but they always remember how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

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ecently, I was intrigued by a smartphone commercial where a stranger shares his battery power wirelessly to another individual whose phone battery is running low. This was a classic example of having one foot in two realms – technological advancement and defining human experience, bringing them closer.

Collaboration and co-creation, aided by technology is changing the way we think, behave, and, most certainly, the way we will work. Yet the paradox is that today’s world is disjointed and disconnected — that of broken and disintegrated experiences. This is true in employee experience too.

How do we navigate this paradox? Through changing paradigms. We shift our focus – to help employees to ‘want’, rather than ‘need’, to come to

work. The lines between personal life and professional life are blurring, with greater integration between the two. Therefore, employees expect their experiences to be similar too – what they have outside work should reflect within. So, organizations are striving to integrate employees’ 9-5 with their 5-9. Additionally, I believe employee experience is about moments that matter to employees.

In our lives, not all moments are created equal. We remember some forever while we quickly forget others. We tend to focus on particular moments the peaks, depths and transitions – the ones that take our breath away, the ‘Aha’ moments. Still, what makes them more memorable is the experience.

Today, experience defines everything that we consume and deliver. This is true even within the talent space. Despite being a multi-generational workforce, all employees look for connected and integrated experiences at work. This is truly possible with the right mix of physical, digital and emotional experiences provided by organizations.

Work and life are integrated as never before. On an average, employees spend two-thirds of their waking time at work. That is why it is imperative to provide a great physical experience. The challenge for organizations is to create a home away from home, providing an internal environment that is similar to the external. Many futuristic organizations are already on that journey with green and smart campuses, agile work spaces, gyms and wellness centers, immersive experiences, on-the-go options, collaboration spaces,

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It is crucial to remember that you have to start with employee experience and work back towards technology, not the other way around!

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concierge services, etc. Smart, tech-enabled yet green, sustainable workspaces, give employees a cause to which they align themselves.

How do we provide employees the experience we expect them to deliver to customers? An internal customer mindset is key to their digital transformation journey. Thanks to the mobile world, employees are used to world-class user interfaces and experiences. One touch, always-on mobile, voice-based solutions are on hand to manage their expectations. Bots answer your every query on food delivery apps while you browse recommendations on ecommerce platforms based on your shopping data. All of this is powered by data and, like in the consumer industry, large stacks of employee data are available with organizations. A recent survey showed that enterprises prioritize enhancing experience via data, at above 30 percent. Data can help organizations create a three-layered approach to digital transformation – Layer 1 - Applicable to all through self-service; Layer 2 – Segmented group like managers (e.g. through digital assistants); Layer 3 – An individualistic solution (N=1; e.g. health apps). It is crucial to remember that you have to start with employee experience and work back towards technology, not the other way around!

Finally, the biggest differentiator of all is the emotional experience. As Carnegie said, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion”.

Emotional experience is the trampoline organizations provide to their employees to bounce, with the assurance of a cushion if they fall. Employees care that their values are aligned to those of their organization. Culture, positive ecosystem, values, empowerment, leadership, no-fear of failure and team work are the best examples of experiences that differentiates the best from the rest. Organizations should supplement the culture through trust — the biggest performance enhancing drug, invest in gold standard governance, embrace the dynamic future through learning & unlearning, provide employees greater control through choice, especially regarding rewards and benefits. And all this, along with the employees through co-creation.

There is a huge plus in this approach – for the people, by the people. And all people - Gig workers, alumni, candidates, alliances and machines and not just employees – truly the future of work. As beneficiaries of experiences, we understand this, but as makers of experiences, we ignore it. This is why a consumer mindset is key. Employee experience will lead the way for customer experience. So, it is essential to create a very high baseline experience. Further segmentation can be built over this high baseline to provide a personalized experience.

Above which, the endeavor should be to identify at least one AHA! moment for every experience that is provided.

As people champions, we also need to create the HR of the Future with new age skills to navigate uncertainty. An AEIOU framework is a good starting point. HRs will have to be Ambidextrous – using technology and human touch, focus both on

people and process and the old and the new while designing workplace experiences. Most workplaces consist of employees from different generations bringing in the best experience and energy.

Therefore, empathy will be the core to all that we do. After all, we can’t sell what they don’t want to buy! We will have to be influencers for and of the people — a network of people who are the voice bridging the gap and integrating the eco-system.

Today, leaders expect us to help them deliver business outcomes – not siloed goals. For this, it is important for us to understand business like business understands business. I’m a big fan of Steve Jobs’ quote which I believe applies succinctly, “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves”. We have to be problem-finders rather than being problem-solvers.

As Jim Morrison said, “I think the highest and lowest points are the important ones.

Anything else is just...in between”. Let’s make this in-between journey exciting!

Disclaimer – the article draws on various sources of inspiration and data from the public realm. All views in the article are personal MAY 2019 |

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An Employee’s lens to Employee experience While every company strives to enhance and enrich employee experience, only a few can claim to have arrived Aarif Aziz

Chief Human Resource Officer, Diageo India

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Employee experience requires focusing on the unique needs of employees as against a standard approach

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First connection matters

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very touchpoint, every process, every learning opportunity builds employee experience. It is not just a choreographed engagement program to spike bonding and engagement. It is a holistic experience.

The war on talent is over and the talent has won. Today’s talent is more savvy than a customer.

They are not just looking to be part of a large company, but they would like to be part of an enterprise which offers an employee experience, they aspire for. Starting with the hiring experience to onboarding, understanding expectations, performance, career discussions, learning opportunities and leadership connect, the workstation, food at the cafeteria, and even the commute to the workplace are part of the employee experience.

While every company strives to enhance and enrich employee experience, but few can claim to have arrived. There are many themes which impact “employee experience” but there are a few becoming more relevant in the current times.

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I joined Diageo three months ago after spending 18 years with one organization. It was a big move in my life and career, providing me an opportunity to look at employee experience with a fresher’s eyes. These three months have been challenging as I am trying to assimilate into a new organization and a new industry. Each touchpoint, some well thought-out and some spontaneous, have created a lasting impression about the organization.

My journey started with a structured induction program and engagement with the peer groups and my team members. They patiently answered my routine, mundane questions.

A month into the journey, our global HR leader visited India to ensure my assimilation is on track. Recently, I joined our global HR leadership meeting. The team made sure that I felt welcome.

Till date, no one from my team hesitates in giving me the context when speaking about a task.

Besides my manager, my peers have been proactively reaching out to see how I am doing and offering their help to fast-track my assimilation.

Technology enhances employee experience Technology is transforming the workplace . As automation, robotics and artificial intelligence enter the workplace, we have a great opportunity to create an empowering experience for the employee. The following are some examples: • A chatbot available to answer questions about the organization can create and engaging

Experts predict that by 2020 Gen Y – the millennials (born between 1980 and 1996) will make up 35 percent of the global workforce, while Gen Z (born after 1996) will make up 24 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, people are living longer and can no longer afford to retire at 60 or 65.

This will impact how we engage with employees – from how we attract and retain people to how we develop individuals and keep them in meaningful careers. It is clear that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work. Employee experience requires focusing on the unique needs of employees as against a standard approach.

Expectations around work-life balance also change as demographics of workforce changes.

Experts predict an expansion of corporate wellness initiative.

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Generational diversity

Connecting employees to a larger purpose and tapping their time and talent for social causes can enrich their work experience, boosting their productivity, commitment and loyalty

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experience for candidates while considering employment opportunities.

• The skills relevant today may not be relevant in the future. Technology can help employees learn, evolve and stay competitive, deepening their connect with the organization and triggering discretionary effort • Leveraging technology to create vibrant communication platforms to publicize inspiring stories goes a long way in motivating employees.

of the planet and the future of today’s children.

Employees, customers and other stakeholders are increasingly looking at businesses to fill a widening leadership vacuum. They want businesses to become social enterprises. Organizations can become role models by shouldering the responsibility to be good citizens, thereby generating a sense of belonging and pride among employees.

Connecting employees to a larger purpose and tapping their time and talent for social causes can enrich their work experience, boosting their productivity, commitment and loyalty.

Gen Y wants their companies to be social enterprises Millennials, who are emerging as the largest group in the workforce, are keen to work for organizations that look beyond profit and care for the people and the planet. They are worried about the increasing polarization in politics, the future MAY 2019 |

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Ask if your internal reality would appeal to the talent you wish to attract Rachele Focardi

Chief Strategy Officer – APAC, Global Employer Branding Advisor, UNIVERSUM

While a strong and positive Employer Brand works like a magnet, it is only by walking the talk that organizations can retain employees who reflect the organization’s values and goals

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ith the shift to a knowledge economy, CEOs around the world now recognize more than ever that the success of their ventures is directly related to their workforce, and that employees are the key value creators. A leader’s job today is to attract, develop, and enable its employees so that they can, in turn, build the business. This task poses a strategic challenge in a talent landscape that has become increasingly more competitive and complex. According to the figures from the latest PwC Annual Global CEO Survey and Universum’s 2020 Outlook Study, 38 percent of business leaders experience “extreme concern” over talent availability; almost 50 percent of C-Level executives say they are “unable” or “barely able” to hire the talent to meet their business needs; and 80 percent of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills.

There are several external reasons for this talent shortage, such as a shrinking pipeline, educational institutions failing to develop many of the skills businesses now require, government regulations that have resulted in the inability to tap into a pool of skilled foreign workers, and a competitive landscape that has dramatically changed over the last few years. However, other reasons do lie within an organization’s control.

The interaction between job seekers and employers has shifted significantly over the last ten years. millennials know they have the power to choose where they wish to work, and it is the employer’s job to entice them amidst the tough competition.

This is a primary source of stress for talent acquisition professionals who are feeling the mounting pressure not only to attract the right candidates, but to successfully develop, engage, and retain

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them once they walk through the door. And considering how much things have changed since the Baby Boomers dominated the workplace, this is no easy task.

We all know by now that millennials take a completely different approach to their careers compared to the previous generations. Rather than personal prestige, they are motivated by a sense of belonging and purpose. They believe that work should be part of who they are and not just a way to make a living — and that the right job must align with their personality. Millennials are looking for a friendly, dynamic and inspiring work environment, with leaders who will support their development and allow them to be themselves in an organization that gives them a sense of meaning where they can achieve something bigger than their own personal goals. When millennials are searching for jobs, they are not looking at titles or salary ranges, they are looking for an Employer Brand that resonates with their individuality and one that reflects their values and ambitions and promises them plenty of opportunities for intellectual and personal development.

The reality is that, despite their best efforts, only a handful of organizations are able to offer this type of environment. Whist HR and Marketing strive to convey a positive harmonious culture, once millennials join the workplace, conflicting

Engaged employees have markedly lower turn-over rates and show much higher productivity that can lead to a 2x revenue growth and profit margin increase

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empowered and connected to the rest of the organization leads to happy and engaged employees and significantly lowers the cost-per-hire. Furthermore, there are significant financial benefits in fostering a harmonious working environment.

Engaged employees have markedly lower turnover rates and show much higher productivity that can lead to a 2x revenue growth and profit margin increase. Overall, organizations that can deliver a strong candidate experience are 93 percent more likely to report significantly outperforming their industry peers financially.

If you are one of the industry professionals experiencing “extreme concern” over talent availability, start by asking yourself if your internal reality would appeal to the talent you wish to attract and how this talent currently views your organization. Remember that millennials will overlook any opportunity to work for an employer that does not have a strong Employer Brand, no matter how enticing the job description, because they want to understand the vision, values and culture before considering it a place to work. At the same time, they will actively turn down opportunities to work for an employer that has a stale or demoralizing work environment or leaders who are uninspiring and incapable of engaging and getting the best out of them.

While a strong and positive Employer Brand works like a magnet, drawing talent in your direction so you have a wider choice of skilled candidates for key roles, it is only by walking the talk that you will be able to retain employees who reflect your organization’s values and goals thus creating a strong and motivated workforce.

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expectations can be a source of tension between the different generations. Older employees often disapprove of the younger generations, making them incapable of providing the mentorship, leadership and experience they so openly crave. On the other hand, millennials feel constrained by what they see as obsolete traditional working practices, believe that rigid hierarchies and outdated management styles fail to get the most out of them, and that their managers don’t understand the way they use technology in their work. As a result, millennials often do not engage with the workplace, and their tenure with an employer is becoming shorter and shorter, primarily as a result of generational conflicts with their managers who fail to make the most of their skills and contribution.

The reason for their shortcomings can be easy to understand if one keeps into account the different generational contexts. For instance, Baby Boomers and Gen Xrs are conditioned to only expect feedback if they have done something wrong, and rarely if they have done something exceptionally well; millennials crave constant feedback in order to feel validated, but providing it does not come natural to older generations.

As a result, millennials tend to reject authority and structure, bypass the chain of command in order to meet their own goals, create their own ladder, and their own individual paths to success.

Finally, having grown up with constant connectivity, millennials feel constricted by the type of work environment older generations took for granted, such as fixed hours and location.

All this often leads to a dysfunctional workplace, where both old and young employees are frustrated and feeling voiceless and unappreciated.

From a business perspective, this tension drains energy and motivation away from expanding the business and attracting new customers. The key to untangling this conflict is to start by acknowledging that beyond just dominating the workplace numerically, millennials will be taking on ever increasing roles in senior leadership positions. The challenge most organizations will face is preparing millennials for these roles, which means that focus needs to be on mentoring and developing Millennial leaders. A good manager who can liaise between generational differences will empower all employees by creating an open-minded and inclusive environment where everybody has a voice.

Focusing on each employee’s individual strength and taking the time to understand their priorities and goals will go a long way to making them feel valued for their contribution. Establishing a fair and transparent system of performance evaluation can also help employees see that their efforts are recognized and appreciated. Another valuable strategy is to draw employees together outside of work, so they can foster a team spirit and greater appreciation of each other’s differences.

Recruiting the right talent nowadays is like finding the right partner, so it is critical to align candidates with the right cultural fit during the hiring process; having a sense of purpose, feeling

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Employee experience is about providing a sense of purpose Apratim Purakayastha Chief Technology Officer, Skillsoft

Organizations that keep abreast of human resource trends and foster a culture of symbiotic growth are usually the happy workplaces that millennials want to be part of

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he classical ideal of the new-age workplace is far removed from the idea of the office as an impersonal space. In an evolved world, employees aren’t hired to slave away in their cubicles in return for a salary. They are groomed to become key stakeholders in the organizations they work for and treated almost on a par with the customers that these businesses need to deliver value to.

Not only is the millennial workforce inspired by purpose-driven businesses, it demands to be a part of the “bigger picture”. The twin concepts of collaboration and shared purpose coalesce into the sum of the modern employee's “meaning-first” mindset.

So, when it comes to elevating the employee experience in meaningful ways, are organizations doing as much as they should? Only a handful of them, unfortunately. Even those that profess to provide an unparalleled employee experience seem to be merely

Talent development is being reframed as an ongoing process by organizations to reaffirm their commitment to individuals by offering professional development and learning opportunities scratching the surface by way of benefits like maternity, paternity and pawternity leave, flexible hours and state-of-the-art office campuses equipped with gyms and games rooms.

Currently, there is still a considerable chasm between millennial workforce needs and what the workplace offers. If companies want to harness the massive potential of this future workforce, they need to start by incorporating the tools, technologies and best practices of talent development and employee experience that propel productivity.

Indulge thy employee Employee experience is more than just a buzzword.

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It’s a critical business imperative that can drive innovation, productivity, customer satisfaction and revenue. What used to be the gold standard in terms of a "good place to work" is no longer restricted to salary, perks and set-piece promotions. Millennials bring to the table a different work ethic than their predecessors, in return for which they aspire to rewards that go beyond the usual perks.

Employees today seek to build careers that are as much about experiences and learnings as they are about earning a living. Bersin by Deloitte analyzed data from the employment review website Glassdoor to arrive at the conclusion that an employee's rating of an organization's "culture and values" is 4.9 times more predictive of a recommendation than salary and other benefits.

Organizations that keep abreast of human resource trends and foster a culture of symbiotic growth are usually the happy workplaces that millennials want to be part of. For any employee, being able to identify with a company's culture means being invested in that vision and growing along with the organization. Surveys have shown that opportunities for learning and development work better in employee retention than perks and privileges.

According to the 2018 Workplace Learning Report, 94 per cent of employees would stay in a company longer if it invested in their careers.

Agility to adapt The Darwinian concept of "survival of the fittest" has never been truer than in this age of disruption.

If chatbots are grabbing customer service roles, how soon before AI and automation trigger wider human resource redundancies? As companies increase their reliance on newer technologies to keep pace with changes and competition, talent management holds the key to handling workplace disruptions. A research by McKinsey suggests that almost 50 percent of workplace activities could be replaced by technologies already out there in the market. All of this means an enormous challenge for HR to reallocate the capacity freed up from routine office functions.

Businesses that have a grip on what the future might be like are the ones that acknowledge and quickly act on building an agile workforce. For

them, learning is at the heart of talent agility. The HR departments of many of the world's top companies have long been using technology solutions to redefine the employee experience and develop talent with the goal of attracting, appraising and retaining them.

Employees want professional development and the companies they work for require a larger pool of talent armed with skill sets to quickly replace obsolete ones. Upskilling and reskilling of internal talent not only spares companies the trouble of scouting elsewhere for the right fit for a job, it also saves money. Research on the advantages of upskilling has shown that finding talent within, and training them, costs an organization one-sixth the price of hiring someone from outside.

But what about businesses that haven't been ahead of the curve? For starters, these companies must be ready to invest in learning and development with a proactive approach to address this growing challenge. The right solutions offer a comprehensive view of your people and their skills, allowing businesses to bridge skills gaps, map succession plans and prepare for the pace of digital transformation.

Multi-generational glue One of the earliest life lessons we learn is that you can't please everyone. For HR leaders, it is a little different. As multiple generations of employees assemble in the workplace, creative handling is the key. Every talent management professional will tell you that making sure the needs of all employees are met is their toughest task. The challenge is especially difficult given the differences in communication preferences, learning styles, effective incentives and office expectations from generation to generation. Of the five generations of employees that potentially comprise any workplace, the three largest groups are the "Baby Boomers (ages 54-70)", Generation X (ages 34-53)" and Generation Y, aka the millennials (ages 21-33)". Typically, millennials would be the focus of an organization given that they represent future leaders. This group takes an entrepreneurial approach to work, prefers direct communication and feedback, and seeks a social, friendly work environment. The challenge for companies is to address these generational shifts in a way that nobody gets left behind.

The secret sauce

Unlike poles attract Homogeneity in team composition is no longer a virtue. The rapidly changing demographics of the workplace is a true reflection of how the demographics of the world itself has been altered.

Modern organizations have realized that diversity is the engine of innovation and improved company culture. This runs contrary to the old train of thought that homogenous teams are easier to manage. Indeed, studies have shown that similarities among team members create biased patterns of problem solving and often lead to herd mentality.

A recent study by the Harvard Business Review set out to determine whether the claims of diversity as an innovation-driver were true. Surveying over 1,700 companies across the globe, the research team looked at the correlation between differences in respect to sex, career path, gender, nationality and more to the percentage of revenue stemming from new products. Guess what they found? The more diverse companies become, the greater their success in innovating and achieving higher revenue targets.

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Organizations need to provide employees the sense of purpose that they are looking for while driving the productivity and engagement that the organization wants

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Talent agility continues to be a strategic driver of business sustainability, and the most progressive HR

leaders are taking note of global talent trends and translating them into action in their organizations.

A compelling employee experience has emerged as a powerful incentive for hiring and a big draw for retention of existing employees. Talent development is being reframed as an ongoing process by organizations to reaffirm their commitment to individuals by offering professional development and learning opportunities.

Onboarding plays a critical role in ensuring that new hires do not leave within the first year. It’s also the ideal opportunity to introduce the new employee to the culture, value and expectations of the organization. In addition, it sets the stage for learning and career growth for each individual. Onboarding is most effective when it is personalized to provide employees with the mentoring, goal-setting and resources they need to be successful in their everyday roles. The best places to work are usually those that are constantly evolving how their employees receive performance feedback. Most organizations have replaced the traditional annual performance review with one that involves more frequent interaction between managers and their employees. The goal is to provide employees the sense of purpose that they are looking for while driving the productivity and engagement that the organization wants.

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Leading with authenticity, influencing with inspiration In an interaction with People Matters, Prabir Jha, the Founder and CEO of Prabir Jha People Advisory, talks about leadership, digital transformation, and future of work and jobs

By Mastufa Ahmed

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rabir Jha is a Human Resource leader, columnist and active Tweeter. Prabir has diverse industry experience, from civil service to engineering, information technology, pharmaceuticals, automotive and a conglomeration of Hydrocarbons, retail, and media and telecom/digital services. He has worked as the CHRO of two New York Stock Exchange listed companies and two Fortune 500 companies. Prabir has the experience of working in all facets of HR and organizational effectiveness and led several large-scale transformations.

Prabir has recently left Cipla as President and Global Chief People Officer and announced his new venture called Prabir Jha People Advisory.

What experiences, people, or philosophies have most influenced the way you view and practice leadership and why?

Having traversed my career across both the civil services and a range of corporate jobs, I realize leadership is most about authenticity, the willingness to ‘give’, to influence with inspiration and not authority.

Outcomes naturally happen, and in a more sustained way. More importantly, you build people who take the leadership multiplication agenda forward.

Have no particular role model to my leadership belief and approach. But have observed and imbibed many things from my parents, my teachers, some of my bosses and senior colleagues, some of my peers and even labor union representatives and some relatively junior colleagues. More importantly, I have chosen not to make the leadership mistakes that I thought I saw equally many make across these decades.

How has your view of leadership changed over the years, in your years of involvement in leading and running the people show at several big companies?

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In many ways it has not. While I started in the government at a senior level and never have worked as an individual contributor ever in my life, I realised that it is the genius of leadership that gets you to create magic even when you don’t have the luxury of reward and punishment as we see them in the corporate sector. So from my days as a young civil servant, it was about connect, collaborate and celebrate. I did not understand Positive Psychology then but when I look back a lot of my leadership in my early years got anchored in it. As I moved through various large corporate roles quite early in my career in the private sector, I realized this leadership belief worked just as well here. And across the world. Listen to ideas.

Take a bold decision. Stand by the team when the transformation agenda you set starts rolling. Give credit more generously. You must say no, you may disappoint but do so with empathy and respect. It is really not all that complex. But, many leaders still struggle to be in positional clout more, micromanaging more naturally than inspiring and leading.

What’s your take on the digital transformation initiatives organizations are going through?

Experts say it’s more about culture and mindset shift than technologies powering it.

While everyone loves to talk the talk, not everyone is fully ready to bite the tough bullets. Not everyone wants to rock the status quo.

Old relationships are either too powerful to let go or soft intimacy prevents the willingness to recalibrate the shifts for the New World

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I have been an ardent champion of digitizing plenty of stuff in companies. In my last tenure, we had moved almost eight decades of paper & pen doing to most of it on the mobile in less than 12 months. It allows us to democratize information flow, improve stakeholder experience, build a more transparent culture and enhance agility in the corporation.

But getting the system and the process change and technology options off-the-shelf is easy.

It is about influencing leadership and culture change. Most people live status quo. They enjoy the political turfs they have ring-fenced. A digital transformation journey will challenge much of that. It may change the skill needs that the organisation needs, identify redundancies of roles or processes. And most, expect people across levels to work in a very different way. This needs conscious resolve and sensitive support for the transition to happen. That is why, as I have blogged and tweeted enough, the challenge of digital is less in the technology or the mind; it is more about the heart.

with Boards, promoters and CEOs. But part of it also rests with the CHROs. While everyone loves to talk the talk, not everyone is fully ready to bite the tough bullets. Not everyone wants to rock the status quo. Old relationships are either too powerful to let go or soft intimacy prevents the willingness to recalibrate the shifts for the New World. Many struggles to comprehend the nuances of dealing with an agenda they have historically not been trained to handle. It looks far too fuzzy for them to deal with.

This is where many CHROs have not adequately stepped up. They need to explain and push the strategic shift in the language of business. They need to explain enterprise risk from this lens. They need to be more bold, self-assured and independent to speak up and risk their positions. I don’t see enough of this. Many hang on for years for the sinecures of their roles but at the cost of not doing enough to challenge the past and prepare the new.

There is no alibi. It is the CHROs job to imagine and push this agenda.

It is surely one of the toughest roles in a company. Everyone believes they know HR;

If you look back five years, what developments have posed the most important new challenges to talent leaders of global organizations and how has the CEO-CHRO evolved over these years?

Conceptually a lot has changed. The trio ( G-3) of the CEO, CHRO, and The CFO is the most strategic axis to get right. Much has been published too of late. The Boards and the CEOs value the CHRO’s impact to help firms transform, especially in the strategic areas of leadership, talent and culture.

However, I see a range of experiences in the deployment of advocacy. Part of the challenge is

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everyone has a point of view; it is an agenda where the one who is the trustee is not always the one alone responsible for delivering the experience. That is why we need to go from beyond convenience and connivance to challenge and coaching.

If you could rewind the clock to when you first joined the industry, what path would you have followed about being an effective leader?

I am reasonably happy with my effectiveness as a leader across roles and contexts. I would not really change most of my leadership style.

But I would have loved to do some non-HR roles earlier in my career. Maybe a stint in marketing, something I believe would have leveraged me better. Maybe even do a formal business role. But overall it has been a dream career and the HR jobs were big and early and very strong business transforming. And I have only to thank God and the people I served for all their benevolence.,

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What’s your take on the dilemma of how to nurture an environment of trust, accountability, and respect in the workplace? How can organizations create and sustain an ethical

There is no denying that the world is going through an intense digital disruption. A lot of work is being junked and the mode of doing work is getting subverted. Many older skill sets will have no place in the future workplace

business culture? How important is this today for leaders?

The biggest irony of this question is the popular assumption that trust, accountability, respect run counter to sustained business impact. It is absolutely not true. The pressure of near term performance has made many managers trigger happy slave drivers; in many ways, they behave with others the way they are behaved with. Boards should realize this short-term thinking destroys value eventually. Today talent lives in a world of choice and needs all these as base expectations.

Your brand as an individual and a corporate is diminished if you don’t have a reputation of trust and respect.

Eventually, the tone has to be set right from the top. If Boards and promoters expect only quarter on quarter results it doesn’t matter which way you get them! This is where you start losing the plot. Your talent culture, the performance and rewards philosophy, and the recognition norms all will get aligned to what you think matters. You start celebrating much of misplaced behavior and create a company which over time starts corroding. These are the strategic questions that don’t typically get the attention they deserve.

Everything that can be measured doesn’t always count; what really counts can’t be easily measured is how Einstein once remarked. This is what the top leadership, pushed by self -assured CHROs, just need to get right.

What is your take on the future of jobs now that technologies such as AI, IoT, and big data are making inroads into business DNA and transforming traditional jobs?

There is no denying that the world is going through an intense digital disruption. A lot of work is being junked and the mode of doing work is getting subverted. Many older skill sets will have no place in the future workplace. Many routine junior and middle management jobs will get technology solutions with better stakeholder experience. The opportunity is about designing a new agile organization. Create newer roles and skill sets. Coach and help migrate as many to these newer possibilities. Help those not making the cut socially relevant and productive in other ways, with empathy and self-respect. Create a leadership culture and an eco-system where the new digital reality will naturally enable the experience. And ensure that technology does not eliminate the possibility for greater connect, collaboration and confidence. In this new world, CHROs have a dual agenda: to fight for the balance for a more productive and contemporary workplace with a sharper collaborative, creative and empathetic culture.

Who is the most effective leader you have ever known personally, and why?

I don’t want to limit this to one name. Have known many outstanding leaders but each with huge blind spots and failings. I have learned to observe and imbibe the good from each and

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What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring leader?

In two words: Go Beyond yourself. Why clone someone when you can go beyond? Learn from anyone and everything. Be curious. And inspire people to attempt the impossible and stand by them if they fail in their effort. Never be cynical.

Challenge yourself. Take the risk. And celebrate everyone around you. They make you the leader you wish to be. Otherwise, you would have stayed a brilliant jerk.

What are the top two books that have most influenced your leadership?

I have loved Patrick Lencioni’s “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” equally Bill George’s “Discovering Your True North” - both have been seminal books that I cannot ever forget. Because I have specialized in HR, a poem that has been on my soft board for three decades is “ If ” by Rudyard Kipling! Every word seems to have been written for an HR leader and through all my highs and lows I have read it again and again.

What’s next for you? How do you plan to be part of the larger conversations on nationbuilding?

I have had a rare experience of having worked in the civil service and the corporate sector. I

We have huge opportunities ahead as a nation in the next 10-20 years. But we need to build more hope, more belief, more leadership, more inspiration, more skills, more talent, more governance at every level and in every institution

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equally avoid the mistakes I thought each one was making. And in the process, I have built my share of strengths and equally my share of failings.

But quite clearly the leadership I have learned to admire are pivoted around thinking bold & disruptive, high humility & authenticity, talent obsession, exemplary trust-centered inspiration, ability to let go and fundamentally positive hearts & minds.

think both have given me exposure and bias that has always kept me anchored on building a better India. I believe we have huge opportunities as a nation in the next 10-20 years. But we need to build more hope, more belief, more leadership, more inspiration, more skills, more talent, more governance at every level and in every institution.

I hope I will have a greater opportunity of helping the government, the academia and the corporations (public and private) to sharpen this narrative. I will only be too happy to bring my own range of experience to shape a new discourse.

Once we are willing to think different, we can do different.

Can you give our readers a sneak peek into the books you are working on currently?

This has been a growing popular demand and also been on my bucket list. Some very interesting meandering is in the works. Some way to go though, I promise it will be something many readers would love to get their eyeballs to.

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Auto companies need to accept that like technology, millennials are here to stay In the second leg of the round table of auto industry leaders hosted by Lee Hecht Harrison under the “LEAGUE OF LEADERS” initiative, industry leaders dwell on possible solutions to the many talent challenges besetting the automobile industry in India

By People Matters Editorial

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hrough its initiative “LEAGUE OF LEADERS”, the world’s leading integrated talent development and transition company, Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH), has embarked on a series of round table discussion with leaders from four core industries including auto, pharma, retail, and manufacturing to find the answers to talent retention and engagement in these sectors.

The series which kicked off with the first round table in Pune, saw leaders from the auto industry coming together to identifying their sector-specific business challenges and working towards ideating innovative talent management practices.

In the second leg of the series, eminent leaders from automobile companies such as Ashok Leyland, Ford India, Bobcat, Hyundai, Peugeot India, Renault Nissan, and Yamaha Motors amidst others further threw light on the many talent challenges besetting the industry as well as some of the possible solutions.

The skilling & reskilling challenge Like many other industries, for the commercial vehicles segment as well, the first and foremost challenge is that of skills. While the government of India has announced that by 2030, all vehicles on the road will be electric vehicles but skills around EVs are absent in India. As an industry, the challenge is to find these skills as the sector moves away from IC engines to EVs where the skills would revolve around battery technology. This leads to the subsequent question of what happens to the current technology and the existing people in the industry- be it on the production side or in dealerships.

Reskilling people for the EV onslaught is a task given that these are people who have spent 20 years in the industry and are suddenly finding their skills to be redun58

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Organizations need to understand that millennials, just like technology are here to stay.

Hence they need to be genuine and transparent with them, and treat them with respect dant. Everybody has a learning curve-so how do you move them towards adopting new technologies?

The third challenge is providing careers as traditional careers in automobiles are going to change. While the first two challenges are around technology, the third challenge is around the way vehicles are

being produced or designed in the industry, which is changing rapidly. So while earlier production, sales, manufacturing were operating in silos, now a manufacturing guy and a sales guy sit together to design a product or a solution and not a vehicle. So bringing in a new career will be a challenge.

Thus automobile companies are caught in the tussle of managing the current process as well as prepare for the new upcoming technologies, something akin to managing two running trains. The question before them is who are they going to train, do they know what type of skills do they have and how to manage them?

While companies may have shifted from hiring mechanical engineers to electrical engineers, yet it is not helping as the curriculum which is taught in engineering colleges has not kept pace with the demands of the industry. So how do auto firms attack it at that level to make their operations profitable?

The Auto vs IT dilemma Another huge change looming ahead in the future of automobiles is the dilemma between being an auto company vs an IT company. So far, only OEMs are dominating in the auto technology, but as IT takes over the world, the borderline will vanish. When that happens, engineering giants will no longer remain giants, they need to collaborate with IT and service technology companies. Thus auto companies need to have both talents in the company.

Leaving aside new technologies, challenges are also being presented by related segments such as Ola and Uber and the rental car segment where people are no longer interested in investing money in buying a car. The shift towards shared mobility is yet another challenge to the sector. In this direction, new age companies like Rivigo for instance, are killing the model of transporters owning a vehicle. So

what value can the existing workforce add to these newer business models?

The challenge of engagement at the dealership

Standardizing talent input at the channel level While IT may be taking over the world, the august gathering agreed that it is also an opportunity to move towards digitization of cars. EVs are not a new concept and have been the talk of the town for a while.

Same is the case with connected cars. More so, a lot of companies are looking towards India as a growth market to develop the workforce. So realistically speaking, digitization is an opportunity which has to be channelized in the right way by attracting, developing, and retaining the right talent.

Breaking it down to the dealership level, this means starting with creating engagement at the lowest rung. Many auto companies are working with dealer principles to create a legacy or a vision program to engage talent. What HR needs to enable

nantly driven just by cost and targets, there should be consideration for comfort, happiness, and peace of the employee as well. Respect for individual is a factor that helps to retain and engage employees, along with treating all people equally and inclusively.

Organizations need to understand that millennials, just like technology are here to stay. Hence they need to be genuine and transparent with them, and treat them with respect. Thus the HR’s role is now more of a counsel level; it needs to play a more individual driven, proactive role.

One of the biggest areas in this regard is people management capability, which HR can drive among line managers. An HR’s endeavor should be to make every manager a HR manager. Hence from a transactional HR, it needs to move to become a transformational HR.

addition, auto companies can also experiment with encouraging their own employees to become channel partners.

However, in all this, the OEMs need to remember that while they can go all out in supporting the channel, yet managing their business is not the OEM’s business.

For maintaining the input quality, the dealer has to act as an entrepreneur of that business and OEMs can help him by setting talent acquisition processes. This standardization is a win-win for both the dealers as well as the OEM as it will ultimately help to increase market share and decrease attrition. Similarly processes for incentivizing movements within dealerships and from dealerships to OEMs can also be explored to create engagement at the dealership level.

In addition, even in a very traditional industry like the auto industry, how does HR ensure that enough competencies are developed in an employee, is also important. Even if the employee leaves after two or five years, his employability quotient should be high after having worked with the company. Hence, functionally, how is HR building his blocks-that’s the most important point which will determine retention and engagement.

Ultimately, be it at the dealer level or the OEM, it is the HR’s responsibility to link what they are doing at the ground level to the bigger picture. Pulling everyone together and making them feel that they add up to the company, is what will help HR navigate the talent challenges for the auto industry in the approaching uncertain times.

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When it comes to dealerships, the foremost challenge is again getting the right people.

They are also suffering from resource problem as why would an engineer want to join a channel when he could join an OEM? Engagement and retention at the channel partner level is thus a problem. Their subsequent generations do not want to be in business-so how do you leave a legacy of their dealership?

Then again, there’s a cost of building the skills at a dealership. Training them takes time. While auto companies have third party arms to provide trained manpower to channel partners, or an option to tie up with National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) and Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), but it is still too early to comment on the outcomes as they are still in their infancy. The larger issue is that no one can guarantee a tenure to the person in a dealership. Hence the problem of engagement at dealer partner persists.

In addition to dealer expectations, managing expectations of customers is also a challenge. The dealers are not ready for the customer shift wherein his customers do not need a DSP to sell him the product. Thus HR in an auto firm faces multiple challenges-how do you satisfy your respective business units? How do you attract new age talent for new age technologies? How do you handle the millennial workforce? How do you devise a five year career development plan in a mid-sized firm? How do you attract a lot of diversity to this sector? How do you bring down the cost of manpower yet produce 10x?

is a mindset change at the dealer level which can be done by bringing company values to the dealer level.

The dealer needs to understand he should be in it for the long term and companies should give them the breathing space and gestation time to do so. In order to select the right dealer, auto companies can put in place set parameters for identifying dealer principles and incorporating a clear audit of the same. One way could also be instituting a certified program for dealers.

Another way could be to use decision science and data analytics to identify dealers-and how he connects with the auto company’s mission or vision. This would basically mean setting in place an assessment structure around competency as well as for judging why the dealer wants to associate with a particular auto company. In

HR needs to become a strategic partner at the OEM level At the OEM level, a better talent pipeline can be built by a better working environment. Instead of an environment predomi-

(This article is based on the second round table conducted under the “LEAGUE OF LEADERS” initiative by Lee Hecht Harrison (LHH) in association with People Matters at Chennai.)

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Richard Smith, Ph.D.

Revisiting the human capital system A holistic view of human capital inside any organization consists of talent management, organizational structure and culture , and strategic leadership

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f you have purchased an automobile, what factors did you consider? When you went to explore options, did the sales person only show you the driver’s seat? Of course not, they likely showed off the entire vehicle and allowed you to drive it to get a sense of what is was like. After all, driving a car is an experience that goes well beyond the physical seat. While this seems like a silly example, how often are companies recruiting people based on a job description and the specific duties? In fact, most large companies have automated the selection process so that prospects are screened using artificial intelligence based on a set of criteria, competencies, and keywords. This is akin to doing a body scan and being told what car to drive based on your fit in the driving seat!

Of course, my comments are a bit unfair as most companies supplement the resume screening with interviews, assessments, and other selection methods. However, even with all the interviews and discussions with prospective employees, we generally provide a limited and perhaps misleading view

of what it is like to actually be an employee in our organization. After all, our experience with our employer is a lot more than just our specific role or a few specific people. So, how should we think about the employee experience?

A holistic view of human capital inside any organization consists of talent management, organizational structure, organization culture, and strategic leadership. These four elements operate as a system of sorts that shape behaviour, set expectations, influence motivation, and drive organizational performance. The notion that this human capital system is resource of each firm and consists of several key elements is not new, but is a concept worth exploring when it comes to considering the experience for future as well as current employees. Let’s examine each of these elements of the human capital system.

The ‘experience’ components Talent Management is typically associated with the lifecycle of the employee. The practices related to development, promotion, succession, work practices, and assignments are too numerous to cover here, and are generally well covered by HR professionals. Unfortunately, when we think about the employee experience, we often stop with talent management.

Organization structure is the reporting lines, levels, and responsibilities in the organization.

At a micro level, this can be the job description or job analysis. The organization structure provides clues on authority levels, power sources, communication, teamwork, and focus areas. Structure can

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before joining to better assess the fit. While there may be many ways of providing a more realistic preview, the good news is that more organizations are taking steps to take a holistic approach‌ not just relying on the resume – job description match.

Next time you are looking at automobiles, consider all the factors that affect the decisionmaking associated with which vehicle to drive. The auto manufacturing firms and the associated dealerships work hard to create a positive preview of the holistic driving experience. Perhaps it is time that we ask how we are doing in creating a positive preview for our employees before they climb on board of our companies. It would be great to do more to deliver on a holistic employee experience by previewing the human capital system... then we will have employees who are ready to jump in and drive!

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Research tells us that the composition of senior leadership teams has not only an impact on the outcomes of the firm, but also on the experience for employees

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be a critical factor in career advancement, next job assignments, and approvals for an employee.

Strategic leadership is composition of the senior leaders in the organization in terms of roles, experiences, and backgrounds. Research tells us that the composition of senior leadership teams has not only an impact on the outcomes of the firm, but also on the experience for employees.

Organization culture is the shared beliefs, values, and ways of working in the organization that guide behaviours. Company culture is sometimes described as the unwritten rule book for how things get done, how communication is managed, and how we define good performance.

While each of these elements of the human capital system cannot be taken in isolation, it is helpful to consider each when reviewing the experience of our employees. It is especially important as we shape the expectations and the promises of our future employees. Many organizations work to create a clear employee value proposition that encapsulates the positive benefits of being a part of the organization. Too often, these value propositions are rooted in the talent management systems and highlight career opportunities and policies related to performing work activities. Are there better ways of providing a clear preview of employment?

Some organizations are doing more to provide a realistic preview as either part of the recruiting or after making a job offer. One tech company in Southeast Asia has created simulation experiences for new employees to help them really understand the culture and ways of working before joining.

This not only helps the prospective employee assess the working environment, but also to test for cultural compatibility. Other organizations have instituted a job shadowing step for key roles so that employees can spend a day inside the company

About the author

Richard R. Smith, Ph.D. is a Professor at Singapore Management University where he also serves as Deputy Dean for the Lee Kong Chian School of Business MAY 2019 |

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The journey of authentic conversations

In an exclusive interaction with People Matters, Anant Goenka, the Managing Director of Ceat, shares his ‘people’ mantra for the company including how they build a continuous learning culture

By Abid Hasan

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nant Goenka took over as the Managing Director of Ceat in the year 2012 and has transformed the tyremaker over the years. Ceat is part of the RPG group which was set up by his grandfather Rama Prasad Goenka in 1979.

In an exclusive interaction with People Matters, Goenka shares his ‘people’ mantra for the company including how they built a continuous learning culture.

As the CEO of the company, how do you create a learning culture in the organization?

Our learning philosophy is to build a culture of self-learning that enables each employee to unleash talent, experiment and contribute productively and collectively to organization success. We have thus, imbibed the 70:20:10 principle of learning.

We have institutionalized a culture of crossfunctional teams and there are several teams working on live business projects and learning on the job. Through structured job rotations, we encourage all our employees to take up new assignments every four years. We have been able to build a pool of diversified talent which has also helped our succession planning. We have embarked upon the journey of authentic conversations and are equipping all people leaders to conduct effective career dialogues with each of their team members. Thus, individual career aspirations are captured from where development needs emerge. We make a ‘Long Term Development Action Plan’ which brings a sharp focus on employees’ development in line with their career aspirations. There is also a robust potential assessment exercise that happens every year which, together with career dialogues, ties in with succession planning and job rotation.

Niche forums like ‘Young Executive Board’ are helping our top talent with accelerated learning opportunities. Development of employees is one of the key priorities for all the senior leaders in the organisation. Coaching and mentoring is an integral part of our DNA. We

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How do your leadership and character development programs align with the changing needs of today’s organizations?

Given the technological disruption and workplace trends for the future, through deep insighting process, we have identified core competencies for future leadership. Ability to inspire, influence, coach, and build relationship will become very important. In addition, the ability to display humility and empathy will be critical.

We have brought significant focus on building people leadership with a focus on character, empathy, humility, etc. We have started imparting ‘Story Telling’ as a core skill. This has the power to inspire and influence people. Coaching is embedded in CEAT. We have a large pool of certified coaches who are helping people in their personal and professional journeys. Over the last two years, we have invested in building conversation capability across the organization.

Through these interventions, the idea is to build leadership which will anchor and guide employees through the disruptive and uncertain times.

How do you plan to bring value to your organization and prepare the organization to face disruption?

The key priority for HR is to prepare the organization to face the disruption caused by the massive and fast-paced technological changes. With the possibility of all the repetitive and administrative tasks being taken care through the usage of AI, automation, etc., re-skilling of employees in the area of creativity, customer centricity and other relevant skills will become crucial. The learning

orientation has to be accustomed to the changes triggered by disruption. It is estimated that by 2020, more than 45 percent of the workforce will be comprised of millennials. Also by 2025, more than 50 percent of the total workforce will be GIG. With more and more employees opting for work from home, managing this diverse workforce will pose a significant challenge for the leaders. Hence HR will be required to play an important role in skilling the leaders on managing this workforce, anchor conversations, manage anxiety and demonstrate empathy. The standard definition of employee engagement will be replaced with dynamic models relevant to the diverse workforce.

It will be critical for HR to build an extremely agile organization which can adapt and move in the line with the pace of change. It will be very important for HR to first build this skill set and then anchor this for the entire organization.

In August 2018, CEAT announced an investment of Rs. 2000 crores on a new plant. How many jobs is CEAT going to create in the coming years?

We have invested in Phase I of our upcoming Chennai manufacturing facility. We will be generating around 1000 direct employment over time.

Coaching and mentoring is an integral part of our DNA and we have more than 25 certified coaches, and several mentors who positively impact a significant number of employees every year

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have more than 25 certified coaches and several mentors who are positively impacting a significant number of employees every year.

We offer several structured interventions for the development of our employees. With CAIRO (our values) and Quality Based Management (our TQM philosophy) being the tenets of CEAT, our focus has always been on creating a culture where value-based behaviors can be demonstrated and people are equipped with structured problem solving and decision-making skills. We have institutionalized functional development through academies for Quality Management, Sales and Technical capability building. Our CompetencyBased Learning Maps help identify and bridge skill gaps. There is a sharp focus on developing “People Leadership”. We have partnered with globally reputed institutes like Harvard and ISB to impart high-quality learning. From a leadership learning point of view, our parent, RPG Group’s Corporate University provides various programs which align the employees to the RPG Capability Framework.

Through our e-learning platform, we provide over two thousand online courses for our employees.

To my mind, we have been able to create a culture of learning where our employees own their development and we have been able to create an ecosystem which provides the flexibility and resources for learning.

What are your expansion plans for India in terms of hiring new talents?

We have aligned our talent strategy with our company vision. We are a people-centric organization and believe in creating leaders from within.

This helps us in protecting the culture of the organization and minimize disruption. We have managed to fill 65 percent of all open positions through the internal talent and have the intent to take it to 75 percent. Talent development is also a part of senior leadership’s goal.

We have a very strong entry-level talent acquisition strategy. We hire around 70-80 management and engineering graduates every year. We have a defined career path in place for them and they look forward to having a meaningful career with us. We also do lateral hiring to fill the skill gap and strengthen the succession pipeline.

Through the succession planning workshops we bring in a sharp focus on the Long Term Talent need of the organization and work on building the talent pipeline.

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Paul James

The connect between satisfaction and commitment Each employee is unique and the type of rewards that motivates them to stay with the organization differs according to the degree of worth the employee places on the reward

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The motivation to exert effort towards performance is jointly determined by the value placed on certain type of outcomes (rewards) by the individuals and the degree to which the individual believes that his effort will lead to the attainment of these outcomes

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t was twenty five years ago working as Head HR of a petrochemical company, I was working on a series of HR initiatives to arrest attrition and develop the talent in the company. In this process I developed a tool basing it on the Porter and Lawler Model of Motivation to understand the Organizational Climate and the thinking of the people.

Some of the interesting features he understood at that time were that even though people were expressing a high score for Intrinsic factors yet

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they left the company to go to the Gulf to achieve their career aspirations. Career aspiration to go to the Gulf was not merely a career aspiration.

The people saw in that a way to fulfill the family responsibilities. Family formed a major factor in the Indian setting which was not given much importance in the western literature while assessing work motivation.

Using these findings and other interesting ones, I was able to conceptualize Human Resource policies which were relevant to the need. I found that people from higher socio economic status from the local area will stay in the company and from those from lower socio economic status will come back if the company has a suitable policy. I even suggested a sabbatical for engineers who had completed a particular period during which time they can go to the Gulf earn and come back-of course it was considered preposterous in those days. This was suggested as it was found that by no means one can retain the people after 4-5 years as

Employee Satisfaction model According to Porter and Lawler (1968), the motivation to exert effort towards performance is jointly determined by the value placed on certain type of outcomes (rewards) by the individuals and the degree to which the individual believes that his/her effort will lead to the attainment of these outcomes. The resulting performance depends upon possession of compatible abilities and personality characteristics and well defined job roles and their correct perceptions on the part of the individual. The performance will be followed by experiencing rewards of either extrinsic (working conditions, status, monetary incentives) or intrinsic (sense of accomplishment, recognition, growth) ones, and if these rewards are perceived equitable (in terms of their and their reference groups’ input and output ratio) the employee will attain satisfaction. The satisfaction will in turn reinforce his/her belief in effort outcome relationship enabling this virtuous cycle to recur. Figure 1 gives a schematic depiction of the model.

The author’s proposed employee satisfaction model was designed to explore the impact of rewards on satisfaction and commitment. This

Figure 1: The Porter - Lawler Model Value of Reward

Effort Perceived Effort Reward Probability

Intrinsic Rewards

Abilities and Traits Performance

Role Perceptions

Perceived Equity of Rewards Satisfaction

Extrinsic Rewards

The model predicts that satisfaction is determined by the perceived equity of instrinsic and extrinsic rewards for high-level performance

Increase in extrinsic rewards directly increase commitment but not job satisfaction. In other words, Job satisfaction does not mediate this relationship model is conceived on the premise that the performance leads to rewards which could be either extrinsic or intrinsic and these rewards leads to satisfaction, and satisfaction in turn leads to commitment. Commitment in turn leads to increased efforts resulting in better performance. Other factors alluded in Porter’s model are implicit. For example, expending efforts towards performance is possible only if the employee values the rewarding outcomes and believes that expending efforts lead to those cherished outcomes. Similarly, better performance is possible only if the employee has the compatible abilities and personality traits and well-defined job roles and their clear understanding. The author has brought Work life balance, Team and Stress as Moderating variables. Satisfaction experienced from rewarding outcomes is possible only when the employee perceives equity. Hence this model assumes that other factors are inherently present. It is imperative on the part of the organizations to provide these factors through better communication, selection, and jobs and role definitions and equitable compensation system. What is not known is how different type of rewards impact satisfaction and commitment, and the model is conceived to answer this question. Another advantage of this model is its simplicity and usability. Figure 2 describes the model schematically.

MAY 2019 |

ana l y s i s

they were clear of going to the gulf. It was found that for the well-to-do getting a good company was a boon and enhancement to their status in the local area. There was no great need for them to go and earn more. It is interesting to note that after many years some of these predictions have come true today; the employees, who had then come from the economically poor strata, now after meeting their financial commitments, were willing to take up jobs back in their hometown.

These predictions were based on data collected from the Employee Satisfaction Survey I conceptualized and conducted then.

The insights gained from these experiences led me to conclude that each employee is unique and the type of rewards that motivates them to stay with the organization differs according to the degree of worth the employee places on the reward. These insights are consistent with the postulates of Porter and Lawler Model of Motivation and therefore I conceived an Employee Satisfaction Model based on a motivational framework, which could to a significant extent slow down attrition. In the past several years, I have refined this idea a lot and developed this framework in my various consulting assignments with quite successful outcomes.

Even though field experience with this framework is highly rewarding, it is necessary to subject this framework to statistical scrutiny to attain professional acceptability. For this purpose, I have collected data using an Employee Satisfaction Survey, a questionnaire developed and validated from employees of various companies wherein I had consulting assignments. In this article a brief description of the research I have carried out and the results and its implications are presented.

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Figure 2: PJ’s Diagnostic OD Model of Satisfaction MODERATORS Role Clarity

Organization Climate Depends on Employee Effort Leading to Experiencing

Team Work Inter department

Team Work Intra department

FAVORABLE OUTCOMES

Work Life Balance

Stress

SATISFACTION

COMMITMENT

Extrinsic Intrinsic

Favourable Outcomes

Satisfaction / Dissatisfaction Diagnosis of Organization Climate Identification of Area of Concern Employing Appropriate Intervention

ana l y s i s

Restoring Satisfaction Climate

The model implies that Extrinsic (Ext) and Intrinsic (Int) rewards impact Organizational Commitment (Cmt) not directly but mediated through Job Satisfaction (Js). In other words, the effect of Ext and Int rewards on commitment is through increase in job satisfaction. This relationship differs for employees with different levels of Stress (Str). In other words the mediation effects of JS on rewards-commitment relationship are moderated by levels of Str. In the model depicted above several moderators are postulated. In the current research only stress was considered as moderator.

Employee satisfaction survey A 20 items employee satisfaction survey questionnaire was developed and validated using several exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, statistical techniques used for estimating common content (construct or factors) among varied questionnaire items. Data from 1243 employees of four manufacturing companies were collected for this questionnaire validation study. These 20 items converge into 4 latent (hidden or unobservable) constructs or factors namely extrinsic, intrinsic, job satisfaction, commitment. The items of the questionnaire and their latent factors they measure are shown in table 1. The statistical measures of contribution of each item on the respective factors (factor loadings), total variance shared by all items of the respective factor (convergent validity), independence of each factor from the other factor (discriminant validity) and consistency of measurement of each factor (reliability) are all in acceptable range pointing to acceptable validity of the questionnaire.

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Table 1: The Questionnaire items and the factors they measure Questionnaire items

Latent Factors

• Management Style: Transparency Extrinsic • Management Style: Fair & Just • Realistic Performance Management System • Management Style – Employee Friendly Rules • Compensation Package Comparable • Communication

• Encouraging Participation Intrinsic • Experimentation Encouraged • Achieving Career Aspirations • Appreciation of new ideas and suggestions • Employee development initiatives • Recognition for Work • Facilities and accessories provided for work • Work Environment • Job Satisfaction • Promoting to Friends • Choosing this company over other companies • Similarity of Values • Putting in Great Effort

Job satisfaction

Commitment

Data was collected from a total population of 743 employees of a manufacturing company. Each questionnaire items was responded on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). After cleaning up the data only 527 respondents’ data were retained for further analysis.

Analytical strategy is briefly given below: This model is tested by fitting structural equation model and examining the path coefficients (the one headed arrows emanating from each factor to other factor). First we established the mediator relationship. This was done in the following way: Firstly, the direct effect – path coefficients of single headed arrow originating from extrinsic (Ex) and intrinsic (In) rewards directly to commitment (Cmt) was examined

Extrinsic

0.093

* **

43 0.7

Intrinsic

Job Satisfaction

0.7 11 ***

Commitment

-0.137

1 ***<.01; **<.05; *<.10 Model Chi-Sq= 611-182; p=.000. Chi-sq/df=3.360. CFI=.900. PNFI=.748. RMSEA=.065

r1

Thirdly, the total effect was estimated by summing the coefficients of direct & indirect effects.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 depict the findings schematically.

1. Increase in extrinsic rewards directly increase commitment but not job satisfaction. In other words, Job satisfaction does not mediate this relationship.

2. Intrinsic rewards have no direct effect on commitment, but it increases commitment by increasing job satisfaction. This indirect effect suggests that job satisfaction mediates this relationship.

3. Levels job stress experienced by employees, change the nature of this relationship.

4. Mediator effect of job satisfaction in the

Extrinsic

0.15

.62 * 9 **

* **

5 .66

Intrinsic

Job Satisfaction

*

Findings and interpretations

1

5 .30

Fourthly, the mediating influence of Js was estimated by comparing direct effects with total effects for both types of rewards.

If the path coefficients of direct and indirect effect did not differ, than mediator effect of Js is none existent. On the other hand, if the difference exists, then depending on the direction and magnitude of the difference either full of partial mediation of Js could be inferred.

Moderator effect of stress on this relationship was estimated by doing the aforesaid steps for each level of stress and compares the mediator influence for low and high stress respondents.

Figure 2: Moderator effect of Low work stress on structural relationship r2

.888***

(Ex  Cmt) + (Ex  Js) x (Js  Cmt) (In  Cmt) + (In  Js) x (In  Cmt)

ana l y s i s

Ex  Js  Cmt [(Ex  Js) x (Js  Cmt)] In  Js  Cmt [(In  Js) x (Js  Cmt)]

r2 1

*

Secondly, the indirect effect – path coefficients of single headed arrow originating from extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to commitment through job satisfaction (Js) was examined. The indirect effect Ex on Cmt was calculated by multiplying the path coefficients of Ex  Js and Js Cmt. Similar calculation was done for indirect effect of In on Cmt.

Figure 1: Structural Model Mediation effect of Job satisfaction

98 0.1

Ex  Cmt In  Cmt

relationship between intrinsic rewards and commitment can be found only for employees who feel low levels of stress. This mediatory relationship is not found in the employees who feel high levels of job stress.

5. Irrespective of felt levels of stress, the direct relationship between extrinsic rewards and commitment is strongly present.

.934***

The methodology

Commitment

-0.188

1 ***<.01; **<.05; *<.10 Model Chi-Sq= 843.91; df=364; p=.000. Chi-sq/df=2.318. CFI=.912. PNFI=.748. RMSEA=.048

r1

A leader’s job today is to attract, develop, and enable its employees so that they can, in turn, build the business MAY 2019 |

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Figure 3: Moderator effect of High work stress on structural relationship r2 1

0.233

.93 * 7 **

* **

9 .61

Intrinsic

Job Satisfaction

-0.172

ana l y s i s

***<.01; **<.05; *<.10 Model Chi-Sq= 843.91; df=364; p=.000. Chi-sq/df=2.318. CFI=.912. PNFI=.748. RMSEA=.048

28 0.0

.963***

Extrinsic

Commitment 1

r1

Job satisfaction is an affective state of mind which might increase employee's identity with the organization and the commitment might come from their heart Both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards increase commitment. Extrinsic rewards directly increases commitment whereas intrinsic rewards increases commitment by increasing job satisfaction. The question arises that which one of these rewards are effective in improving employee commitment. Academic researches on commitment have identified three types of commitment- affective, continuance and normative commitment. Employees with affective commitment love their job, organization and involve themselves emotionally.

They identify themselves with the job and the organization. Their affection is shown in many facets of organization life including job satisfaction.

Employees with continuance commitment show commitment mainly due to fear of losing the job and personal, social and economic benefits attached to the job. These types of employees do not show any affective inclinations. They may or may not be satisfied in their jobs. The third types of employees who show normative commitment have a sense of obligation towards the organization as it is the chief provider of livelihood. Irrespective of whether they like the job or not their moral values force them to be committed to the job and organization.

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The current findings strongly suggest that employees who value extrinsic rewards like salary and working conditions show commitment either due to fear of losing them in the event of their separation from the organization due to poor commitment or await a better prospect and till then they want this job. This is reinforced by their lack of job satisfaction and job stress experienced. This might not be a strong form of commitment and if by any chance their attraction towards extrinsic rewards diminish or reach satiation point their commitment level might also go down. Employees, who value intrinsic rewards, on the other hand show commitment due to increased job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is an affective state of mind which might increase their identity with the organization and the commitment might come from their heart. High job stress does not diminish job satisfaction. This might be a strong form of commitment and companies can reinforce this form of commitment by various non-monetary initiatives.

This finding shows strong resemblance to what I encountered in the Petrochemical Company many years ago as despite getting high scores for Intrinsic they left for the Gulf due to the pull of the Extrinsic factors. However, this may vary in accordance to the company, different levels of employees and their specific needs. The model has the capabilities to capture the cause-effect relationship for satisfaction and commitment of each company and thereby devise appropriate solutions. This is a dynamic model and not a static model which is very essential to understand as each company and different groups of employees will have different needs. The most important aspect of this model is that one can understand what can be done to improve satisfaction and commitment in each case.

Reference: Lawler, Edward & Porter Lyman, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Effect of Performance on Job Satisfactionâ&#x20AC;? Industrial relations a Journal of Economy and society,October,1967.

About the author

Paul James is Managing Partner & Principal Consultant, P S C S - A HR Consulting Firm

Hiren Gada

Changing the world from the depths of your bathtub Your brain on autopilot guides you more effectively to the place you truly want to be going. But what activities can help your brain go in auto-mode?

L

While, luckily for me, my work at Shemaroo is largely concentrated around both these passions, the truth is that work is still work.

So could I treat my passions with more respect and give them more attention? Yes, I could.

I started off by creating an environment that allowed me to consider all aspects of my being and existence. For starters, I engaged with my body and gave it more attention. Running is a regular part of my daily schedule. A few weeks into my runs, I discovered my love for running marathons.

volunteering. These days, I volunteer at the Isha Foundation. Volunteering and community service grounds me, and I love that feeling. Many of these activities help me get my brain to ‘autopilot’, and I often get back to work focused and even readier to take on new challenges.

Along this path of self-discovery, I stumbled upon the art of mindfulness - experiencing the essence of each activity. Truth being you won’t get a life-changing idea in your bathtub if you’re busy planning your day while you’re in it. So as much as you tune in to your work to get things done,

Brain scientists think so.

Science has shown us that concentrating on particular tasks deactivated certain areas of the brain, while idling (yes, spacing out and doing nothing!) increased blood flow to those areas, leading to a more creative and ‘happy’ brain, running on autopilot. Your brain on autopilot guides you more effectively to the place you truly want to be going.

So what’s the secret to path breaking ideas and realizations? Take a break!

For the workaholics out there, that’s probably the last thing we want to hear. I made a shift and asked myself important questions early on - what do I enjoy outside of work? What are my passions? What is it that helps me switch off ?

The answers, for me were straightforward - I love movies, and I love music.

I’ve always felt running a business was comparable to running a marathon - short, easy strides taken continuously over a long stretch of time. You keep all your energies directed towards the long term until your goal is finally achieved.

My yoga practise on the other hand, helped me slow down and build greater awareness of my body and mind. Yoga brings your mind and body together in a way that no other activity can. Today I alternate between doing yoga and training for my run every alternate morning. In addition, I meditate every single day before I step in to work. The result? I’ve had more energy and stamina than I’ve had before, and my body cooperates with my mind even in the most strenuous of situations!

My evenings are designed to help me wind out after an active day. Another aspect of my being that I embraced was

c o l u m n

My brain these days seems to be a lot happier. I rarely pace through problems, but find myself exploring them. My intuition seems to have opened up. I’ve learnt to trust my gut feeling more. And my ideas are a lot more creative than they used to be

Exp e r t

et’s face it. History has proved that the desk isn’t really the place where world changing ideas are conceived.

When Archimedes stepped into the hot water in his bathtub, he noticed that some water was displaced when he got in the bathtub and spilled out.

His discovery that the water displaced was equal to his own body weight would change the world forever.

So the question which remains is, whether there is some method to this madness?

you’ll have to drop out as easily when you’re not. Recreation helps me get to the here and now. My days aren’t hectic anymore, but instead, expansive.

My brain these days, seems to be a lot happier too. I rarely pace through problems, but find myself exploring them. My intuition seems to have opened up. I’ve learnt to trust my gut feeling more. And my ideas are a lot more creative than they used to be.

Am I going to find a path breaking idea soon? I don’t care. I’ve done my bit by creating the right environment. I’m training for my marathon. Playing with my kids.

Looking at the larger picture at work. Life is short folks. Play hard, and have fun. You will soon change the world.

About the author

Hiren Gada is the CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment MAY 2019 |

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In t e r v i e w

Creating a futureready workforce Priyanka Anand, Vice-President & Head of HR, Southeast Asia,

Oceania & India, Ericsson, shares intriguing insights on Industry 4.0, employee reskilling, and the rise of next-gen technologies

By Mastufa Ahmed

P

riyanka Anand is Vice President and Head, HR, Southeast Asia, Oceana, and India at Ericsson. In this role, Priyanka has the responsibility of leading HR strategy across markets such as India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Bangladesh. She brings to the position a vast experience from her 19-year career, of which more than seven years have been with Ericsson. In her current role, she is leading an HR team of 60 resources spread over more than 10 countries & driving the HR strategy across the geography with around 9000 employees.

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In an exclusive interaction with People Matters, Priyanka throws lights on Industry 4.0, employee reskilling, and the rise of next-gen technologies.

How has the role of HR evolved over the past few years?

Today, we are in the midst of a massive transition as we see the steady shift towards industry 4.0., putting us up against new challenges in workforce equations.

Factors such as digitization, younger generations at the workplace and dynamic business-customer relationships have fundamentally changed the HR practitioners’ role. Emerging technologies have rendered the workplace “smarter” with

increasing simplification of technologies as well as enhanced overall efficiency and productivity. At the same time, millennials are also driving changes in the way they view professional interactions as well as mobility opportunities. According to a PWC report, 71 percent of millennials expect and want overseas assignments which indicates a shift from a workforce being mobile to mobility being a need.

On the one hand, HR practitioners now have to be tech-savvy and comfortable with open, transparent and constant dialogue and regular feedback on a variety of conventional and digital communication channels. On the other hand, organizations will have to devise a “smarter” and more efficient way of designing mobility in order to be successful.

How has talent requirement in the telecom sector evolved in the wake of the Industrial revolution?

Telecommunications is an extremely

dynamic sector where we are constantly advancing towards new emerging technologies. With the arrival of the fourth industrial revolution, it has all been about experimentation on the edge, machine learning, data crunching, and automation.

Industry 4.0 requires a very different and evolved set of skills. We require individuals who can reskill themselves while keeping up with the upcoming technologies and automation in the industry. The talent we need today are the people who understand our customers’ needs, with the capabilities of helping them simplify as well as accelerate their growth through technology. Techno-commercial skills with strong business acumen are highly sought after these days.

We are seeing a massive change in data, analytics, and artificial intelligence and their impact on people and work.

How is Ericsson pursuing next-gen technologies to streamline its HR operations?

What’s Ericsson’s approach to talent acquisition and retention?

Emerging advanced technologies have opened up previously unknown verticals for the aspiring workforce.

2019 will see a definite rise in the requirement of skilled network engineers with the advent of 5G and IoT. New roles will emerge in the area of R&D and analytics as we get closer to 5G deployment in the region. This will also open up the need for forging the right academic collaborations to get the right talent on board.

At Ericsson, we provide a chance for candidates to work on cutting-edge projects in a diverse working environment as well as mobility opportunities to work and live across the globe. To retain talent, we try to understand their needs and create avenues to enable their growth. Thus even as our employees have the responsibility to deliver, we as an organization try to provide opportunities and rewards that will work for employees.

for our customers as well as providing them with a technological edge.

How do you address the needs of millennials, who want greater flexibility in the way they work and career progression, while meeting business needs?

The arrival of millennials at the workplace is rapidly revamping business strategies as well as infusing more vitality in engagement, reviews and feedback processes.

As a result, we are veering away from the old approach of annual reviews, replacing it with regular feedback processes. Millennials value openness and transparency, appreciating frequent engagement with their managers. This change warrants the synergizing of our efforts to build a culture that is highly dynamic and team-oriented, cultivating an environment with more hands-on mentoring as well as free-flowing feedback sessions.

At Ericsson, we are continuously integrating cloud-based processes and automation in HR tools to increase efficiency across different levels.

We deploy a range of high-end applications for a wide gamut of hiring and retention functions - benefits administration programming, date-book applications, candidate following frameworks, talk with input programming and many more. We also launched a new initiative called HR Made Easy to further enhance our Go-ToMarket value proposition. This will enable a higher degree of simplification in HR processes and delivery. At the same time, we have other initiatives like Total Rewards, Workforce Analytics, etc. to ensure best in class workplace practices and to build value as a high impact business partner.

With the evolving technology, it is safe to say that HR will focus on creating solutions that are accessible and easy to use, providing enhanced convenience for aspiring candidates, employees as well as senior leadership.

How are you upskilling your employees especially in markets like Singapore?

At Ericsson, we believe that learning is a continuous process. Our biggest focus is for our talent to be ‘future-ready’ and this applies to every market. We chart out development plans and programs for our teams based on market and industry trends as well as our overall organizational strategy.

In technologically advanced markets like Singapore, endowed with a digitallysavvy talent pool, Smart Nation vision as well as publicly announced plans to deploy 5G, we need to ensure that we consider the advent of Industry 4.0 throughout our upskilling programs, in order to better accompany our customers in their digital transformation.

In addition, we continue to execute our major upskilling efforts via on-the-job training as well as classroom sessions. We also partner with vendors and customers to co-create products and services that are fit for the purpose, helping to drive growth

In t e r v i e w

The need of the hour is to invest significantly in creating modules and infrastructure to build up technical competencies that can keep pace with the changing requirements of Industry 4.0 The idea is to foster a highly productive and efficient workplace that is tailored to the needs of this generation.

What will be HR’s biggest challenges in the coming year for Southeast Asian countries?

While ASEAN countries have been projected to become the fourth largest global economy by 2050, the availability of skilled workers with a strong tech and data-driven backbone is certainly a challenge. Often, the courses and curriculum offered by education institutes do not ultimately level up to industry requirements.

Today, the market expects a highly skilled digitally savvy workforce conversant in AI, Big Data, Machine Learning, and IoT. The need of the hour is to invest significantly in creating modules and infrastructure to build up technical competencies that can keep pace with the changing requirements of Industry 4.0.

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Past Month's events

Knowledge + Networking

Making Corporate Wellness Programs Work People Matters and eKincare 16th April 2019 Online Research indicates that 86% of employees have 'Managing their health' as a top priority in life. Organizations have also been very active in engaging employees through wellness programs. Though there is a lot of money and effort put in implementing wellness programs, the question still remains on how to make them work and get the maximum ROI. People Matters in collaboration with ekincare hosted a webcast to discuss actionable insights on designing a corporate wellness program. The webcast first addressed the question, why corporate wellness programs fail? Kiran Kalakuntla, CEO, ekincare shared some industry trends with the audience. Then, Shwetha Kalappa, Senior Vice President, Kotak Mahindra Bank shared from her experience some tips to design an effective wellness program.

Effective Hiring Practices - Spotting employment discrepancies in 10 minutes People Matters and DigiVerifi 4th April 2019 Online As per a TimesJobs Study, 20-30% of candidates fake references on resumes, and engaging a dishonest candidate in the recruitment process is only a nuisance value, clearly a waste of time and efforts. Onboarding a dishonest candidate is even worse. Even if it is for short duration, it creates risk exposures. In this webcast, Prabhakar Sourirajulu, Co-Founder & CEO, CROSSBOW Global shared some of the efficient and effective methods which can be adopted to improve the existing recruitment process and secure best returns. He talked about the critical decisions making factors that can be established faster and also discussed the role of technology in enabling quicker checks.

Bridging the communication gap - Designing the right strategy to engage employees People Matters and Fountainhead Digital MKTG 26th March 2019 The Leela Ambience, Gurgaon The world cannot be more connected as it is now. E-mails, phone calls, messaging apps, video chats, social media, collaboration tools, newsletters, face-to-face interaction — the communication ecosystem has an arsenal of services to offer. However, employee communication persists to be a challenge. People Matters and FountainHead MKTG, a Dentsu Aegis Network Company organized a break-

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fast roundtable to revisit the principles of communication in the digital and hyper-personalized world. In a conversation led by Thapas Joseph, President - Fountainhead Digital MKTG, HR leaders from diverse industries came together to discuss what it takes to design the right digital strategy to engage employees. And Suchitra Rajendra, CHRO & VP-HR, Pepsico shared a case study on how Pepsico made employee-centered communication engaging and inclusive.

How to Leverage New Digital Leader Assessment Tools People Matters and Center for Creative Leadership 27th March 2019 Online As organizations become flatter and more globally distributed over the next 10 years, renowned futurist Bob Johansen predicts that leaders must learn “how to be there when they’re not there.” This means that HR executives need to ask themselves: How are our leaders showing up across digital workspaces? How can our leaders develop their virtual personas for more workforce impact?

The increased focus on digital workspaces has made it critical for organizations to learn how digital assessments are being used and can be used to accelerate leader development. A panel of speakers including Kris Downing, Vice President, Commercialization and Innovation, Center for Creative Leadership; Holly Downs, Senior Research and Evaluation Faculty, Center for Creative Leadership, and Steve Young, Senior Research Scientist, Center for Creative Leadership talked about the importance of investing in digital leader assessment tools.

They shared different ways in which organizations can utilize these new assessment tools to help leaders understand and develop their virtual persona. How HR leaders can integrate these new tools into their standard talent management processes was also discussed.

Upcoming events People Matters Talent Acquisition Conference 2019 Talent Acquisition: From Action to Impact one platform. The league of the most progressive Talent Acquisition leaders will share insights, trends, and present case studies that will help the entire community to fuel the competitive edge in business – through the right talent.

Some of the speakers include Mervyn Dinnen, HR & Talent Trends Analyst Author: Exceptional Talent; Rajat Mathur, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley; Rajesh Ahuja, Global Head TA, Infosys; Anoop Kamat, Head of Talent Acquisition, Johnson & Johnson, and Priyanca Choudhary, South Asia Head - TA, Citi, among others.

The conference also includes the segment of ‘Talent Acquisition Awards.’

These awards bring the best of TA practices in India and recognize different aspects of TA which have enabled HR as a function to strengthen its relevance and role in the larger business context across categories. Best in campus recruitment, Best in candidate experience, Best in diversity & inclusion, Best in employer branding, and Best in recruitment technology & analytics are some of the award categories.

People Matters and DDI 1st August 2019 The Leela Ambience, Gurgaon People Matters' 'Are You in the List?' in association with DDI is an initiative to identify the future emerging HR Leaders. In its 8th year, it will involve an intense qualifying application process, a series of assessments and face off with the panel. It is a platform for HR practitioners to showcase their potential and get recognized as the 'Emerging Future HR Leaders'. While the final winners will be announced in August, the application process has already begun. If someone is from the age group of 26-35 and has a minimum experience of three years in HR and is currently working in HR as a role, they he/she can apply.

https://areyouinthe list.peoplematters.in/ apply-in-the-list

Knowledge + Networking

People Matters 29th May 2019 Taj Lands End, Mumbai As we stand at the juncture of Industry 4.0, massive disruptions are taking place in technology and the socioeconomic fabric. Artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, genetics & biotechnology are all converging towards a new world, creating a dichotomy in the world of work where there is a shortage of ‘right’ talent and unemployment. It is no news that the ‘right’ talent will be the differentiator of success for any organization. The onus, therefore, lies on the Talent Acquisition function to enable the organization in achieving its business outcome by having the right talent on board at the right time. The TA function, which used to be in the passenger’s seat until a decade ago, has now moved to the driver’s seat.

The future of talent acquisition is now about making an impact. But is the TA function ready to make an impact? To answer this and more such questions, People Matters is hosting Talent Acquisition Conference 2019. After having delivered the mega event for 5 years, the conference this year will bring together 400 CHROs, TA, Sourcing, Assessment and Technology Leaders and many biggest service providers in the space, on

People Matters Are You in the List 2019

https://taconference. peoplematters.in/

People Matters TechHR India 2019 Conference & Exhibition People Matters 1st and 2nd August 2019 The Leela Ambience, Gurgaon Since 2014, People Matters TechHR has been driving the evolution of talent transformation and HR technology in Asia. After hosting over 3000 leaders in 2018, in 2019, People Matters TechHR will bring together thought leaders, HR practitioners, HR technology product leaders, startups and investors to build a vibrant community that will redefine the future of work and

raise the bar for productivity, innovation, and growth. The propelling discussions on technology, talent, and transformation led at the two-day conference will be about disrupting the future of disruption and reframing perspectives. These conversations will invoke creativity, inspire and guide leaders to design the best of tomorrow, today. Ray Wang, Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman, Constellation Research Inc; Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer, Unilever; James Taylor, Author & Keynote Speaker, Business Creativity,

Innovation and Artificial Intelligence, and Ricardo Viana Vargas, Executive Director, Brightline Initiative, among others, are some of the speakers to look forward to at the conference.

https://india.techhrconference.com/

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Blogosphere

>> Kunjal Kamdar

Is your company creating a sense of belonging for employees? Are you providing them a platform wherein they can advocate your brand?

Living the brand!

b l o g o s p h e r e

“An average employee advocate is 2x more trusted than a company CEO” - Edelman Trust BarometerIn.

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S

ocial Media has been playing an important role in our lives, both personally and professionally.

Companies too have been trying to encash this and promote their organizations via various communication channels.

They have been investing a lot of money on social channels and there has been a race to buy exclusive space for their content on every possible platform. Sponsored posts have been gaining a lot of attention and every brand wants to be seen as the first.

There is nothing wrong in this; if it works, it works. But the question is do you think this does stick onto the audience? How much is the audience able to recall?

During this entire journey, there was something that was missing, something that would make sure that the message would catch the attention of the audience and stick too. This is where the concept of "Employee Advocacy" came into limelight. Advocacy is not a new term, but adding an employee in front of it is an important component. Companies are now trying to leverage the network of employees and are encouraging them to share relevant content via their social channels.

Employee Advocacy is nothing but empowering your employees to promote companies brand. The audience is able to relate to the communication that is shared by a real person/employee, rather than a brand which has no face or an emotion.

But then why would an employee share content on his personal network? How can companies encourage this behavior? The simple answer to this complex question is that the employees need to have a sense of belongingness and trust towards the company. Once this is accomplished, half the battle is won.

| MAY 2019

Companies must keep on building trust and keep creating genuine content that will encourage employees to advocate it on their social channels The next step is to build consensuses among leadership and marketing team around employee advocacy. It’s more to do with the mindset of companies and employees. Both need to work towards leveraging Employee Advocacy. This data might be handy to convince the need for a focused employee advocacy program “Today, 47 percent of workers were born after 1980. By 2025, more than 75 percent of workers will be of “social media generation” So start early.

This will help an organization to commit to this program and help them to pick this up as an important tool for their employer branding strategy. There are lots of Employee Advocacy platforms

that are available in the market. But it all depends on organizations' requirements.

Are you looking for a platform that will help you create content, or you just need a platform that will publish the content?

Tools such as Trapit, Sociabble, Hootsuite Amplify, LinkedIn Elevate, Bambu, Smarp, Post Beyond, etc are available in the market.

Companies have started to leverage various Employee Advocacy tools as it helps in organizing and promoting the right content, with the help of employees.

Post selection of the platform, the next important step is to have great content, a consistent one too. Companies need to work on creating content that is genuine and always keep employees at the center of these programs. This is true irrespective of you having a platform or not. This will help to drive in more engagement and also helps employees to share posts, propose interesting articles and grow their network too.

In short, it’s a win-win situation for both parties. Employees need to wear the brand, live the brand. If they don’t feel valued, they will not be your brand advocates. The journey does not end here. Companies must keep on building trust and keep creating genuine content that will encourage employees to advocate it on their social channels.

This is an ongoing process. Consistent campaigns will help in creating awareness of such platforms among the employees.

“What’s in it for me” statement must be addressed.

For passionate employees, money or reward may not be a motivating factor to advocate your brand. So, are you living the brand? Is your company creating a sense of belonging for employees? Are you providing them a platform wherein they can advocate your brand?

About the author

Kunjal Kamdar is Senior HR Specialist - Global Employer Branding Lead, Tieto

MAY 2019 |

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