People Matters Magazine August 2021: The Rise of Work Tech

VOL XiI / ISSUE 8 / august 2021

The Rise of Work Tech 'Employee journey' takes center stage as HR technology market undergoes massive reinvention B I G I N T E RV I E W DAVE WILLIAMS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Human Resources, Jaguar Land Rover

S P E C I A L CO L U M N ELIZEBETH VARGHESE, GLOBAL LEADER Talent & HR Strategy Transformation, IBM

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The work tech revolution

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he pandemic has forced companies to decentralize operations with a dramatic shift from in-office work to a primarily digital workplace fragmented into homes. And this has remodeled the traditional talent management approach — which was largely employerfocused, to support the new mode of work and the experience of people floundering to balance work and life. To fit into the new employeeoriented work culture, employers were bound to recalibrate their HR management systems so employees can give their best amid all this chaos.

This led to a rise in employers’ investment in tools and technologies beyond the so-called HR tech to ensure

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work gets ‘work tech’. With uncertainties still abound alongside a tug of war around hybrid and on-site work, ‘experience’ came to the fore.

The pandemic was unprecedented and so were its repercussions on life and the economy. But it offered us an opportunity to mend broken links and reconsider how they relate to customers and employees’ experience.

Across the globe, workers are dreaded for their health and well-being. In the new blended world of work and life, they weighed up where they were and where they wanted to be. The ‘flexibility’ proved to be a boon. Interestingly, the predictions that remote working would drain up productivity have been proven inexact. For leadership, this meant shifting their focus on well-being, agility, engagement and personalization.

What does all this boil down to? Betting on next-gen technologies to ensure workers have what they need to do their job effectively, and to figure out how they are doing personally. While chief tech officers played a key role in the larger transition to the remote world, HR, as you might imagine, is at the heart of enabling all this.

The HR team has always had to collaborate across the organization, but now, this is more important than ever.

HR leaders are collaborating more with employees at every level because they are the people that employees look to

in the current wavering time.

The more HR is involved, and the more assistance they can give in helping people to navigate the rapidly-changing business landscape, the more productive the workforce will be.

Today, there is a rapid evolution going on in every HR domain from payroll to recruiting to managing performance. Service providers are finding accelerated demand right now for an agile workforce, and for a talent marketplace solution that supports workforce agility, reskilling, and the delivery of an inclusive career experience for all employees that is based on principles of fairness and transparency.

Almost every company is reimaging the way their employees work, drastically changing technology expectations. There is a massive growth of learning experience platforms that offer skills development in the new normal. Organizations are deploying technologies such as AI to help with diverse hiring, pay equity, and fairness at work. Top talent leaders we talked to reinforce the importance and growth in sentiment analysis, collaboration tools, and employee listening platforms globally.

As we come out of this crisis, HR leaders being at the center of enabling all this change need to reimagine workforce management, performance, and experience strategies. COVID-19 has undoubtedly created unique

vate and grow. After a very successful chapter of TechHR SEA 2021 in Singapore in May, People Matters came back with The Great Emergence as the theme for Asia’s largest HR and worktech conference — TechHR India. The event was attended by 3500+ talent leaders, HR professionals, tech innovators, start-up entrepreneurs, investors and speakers.

People Matters BeNext, our cohort-based certification program, launches two new courses. Building a Culture of Empathy for Productivity & Innovation (August 30 - October 01); Diversity and Inclusion: Overcoming Unconscious Bias (August 16-September 17) For enrollment, you can reach out to sumali.purkyastha@gopeoplematters.com Our first year has been a tremendous eye-opener on how community and learning is so interconnected.

Now we are extending People Matters BeNext virtual learning programs to our leaders in Spanish-speaking countries to make the platform more diverse, inclusive, and community-driven.

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

THE COVER STORY (BEHIND THE SCENE)

From the Editor’s Desk

challenges, and HR is now the first port of call for managing a slew of unplanned bottlenecks. This will call for HR technologists to understand new work technologies better and help organizations streamline hiring, diversify recruiting, assess performance, and reward employees more equitably.

August 2021 issue of our magazine attempts to decode the evolution of HR tech, top areas organizations are investing in and how they are tackling the adoption challenge.

For the Big Interview, we Dave Williams, Executive Director, Human Resources, Jaguar Land Rover, who shares insights on the current world of work, why ‘hybrid mode’ is the future of work, and how the best companies are leading their teams to come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic.

We have a special column

by Elizebeth Varghese, who is the global leader for IBM’s Talent & HR Strategy Reinvention on digital work culture. We also have a special feature on ‘holding on to the good parts of the pandemic era’ which makes the case for flexibility of work, focus on employee wellness, and presence of inclusive talent policies for organizations to attract and retain the best talent.

The pandemic has forced us to accelerate the pace of transformation in the way we work, how we serve our customers and how we inno-

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contents

a u g us t 2 0 2 1 volu m e x i i i ssue 8

50

The HR tech market grew exponentially amid the uncertainty

Dr. Serena H. Huang, Global Head of People Analytics & HR tech, PayPal

By Mastufa Ahmed

The rise of the digital workplace

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By David Webster 57

Demand for talent solutions that support workforce agility sees upsurge

Anne Fulton, CEO, and Founder of Fuel50

By Mastufa Ahmed 61

Why hybrid shouldn’t drive your HR

investments

By Steve Bennetts, Head of EX Strategy and Solutions for Qualtrics in APJ

C O N TE N TS

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Joy Xu, Chief Human Resources Officer, Asia and Head of Global Learning, Manulife

By Mastufa Ahmed 68

'Employee journey' takes center stage as HR technology market undergoes massive reinvention cover story

By Mastufa Ahmed

Editor-in-Chief

Esther Martinez Hernandez managing Editor

Yasmin Taj Editor & New Product Content Strategist (Global)

Mastufa Ahmed Manager - design, photography, and production

Marta Martinez

Shweta Modgil

Features Writer

48

Bhavna Sarin

Senior Manager - Research and Content Strategy - APAC

Digital Head

Jerry Moses Senior Manager - Research & Content Strategist - APAC

Anushree Sharma Assistant Manager - Content - APAC Assistant Manager - Content Projects & APAC Community Lead

Neelanjana Mazumdar

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Our investments in HR tech in pre-pandemic times helped us navigate the crisis better

Angie Freeman, Chief Human Resources Officer, C.H. Robinson

By Mastufa Ahmed 72

HR Tech: A longitudinal view of the industry

By Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Managing Partner, GrowthSqapes Consulting and Doctoral Scholar, XIM University BBSR

Content Manager and Lead - D&I

Mint Kang

Drishti Pant

Editor & New Product Content Strategist

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We plan to increase our focus on leveraging tools to foster greater engagement & productivity

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People Matters Publishing Pvt. Ltd.

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Senior Manager - Global Sales & Partnerships

Published at:

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

Sumali Das Purkyastha sumali.purkyastha@gopeoplematters.com

501, 5th Floor, Millennium Plaza, Tower A, Sushant Lok-1, Sector-27, Gurgaon - 122009, Haryana, India.

Tel: +91 (0) 124-414 8101 ask@peoplematters.in www.peoplematters.in

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

Although all efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the content, neither the editors nor the publisher can take responsibility for consequences arising from errors or omissions in the information provided. Reproduction in any manner without prior permission from the publisher is prohibited.

This issue of People matters contains 98 pages including cover

the big Interview

True hybrid working offers the best of both worlds

26

interview

Navigating talent challenges at an extraordinary time

Dave Williams, Executive Director,

36

Dr. Raju Mistry, Cipla’s Global

Human Resources, Jaguar Land Rover

By Mastufa Ahmed

Chief People Officer

By Jerry Moses

14 I n c lus i ve W o r kpl a c e

Solidify inclusion efforts with inclusive managers

By Bhavna Sarin

20 T h e New W o r kpl a c e

Holding on to the good parts of the pandemic era: Flexibility, wellness & inclusion

By Drishti Pant

Onboarding foreign nationals under restrictive travel requirements

By Diane Hernandez, An attorney at the American law firm Hall Estill in its employment and immigration law practice

76 T h e New W o r kpl a c e

Rebuilding the workplace of the future with tech

By Ruchi Kulhari, Senior VP – Human Resources at Coforge Limited

82 S t r a t e g y & E xe c u t i o n

BSC-SFO: What separates winners from losers

By Dr. M. Muneer, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at the non-profit Medici Institute Foundation for Diversity and Innovation

C O N TE N TS

33 E m plo y ee O n bo a r d i n g

88 L e a de r s h i p

80 I n t e r v i ew

40 D i g i t a l Cul t u r e

Organizational culture cannot be static

By Elizebeth Varghese, Global Leader for IBM’s Talent & HR Strategy Reinvention

The most important HR breakthrough is going to be about hiring for potential

Ashutosh Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of eightfold.ai

By Shweta Modgil

44 INT E R V I E W

HR and technology have married for a greater impact on employee engagement

Maria Sitaramayya, Vice President Human Resources at Unisys Asia Pacific

By Mint Kang

Organizations with agile leaders at the helm will continue to thrive

Ruchira Chaudhary, Author, Leadership Coach, and Founder TrueNorth Consulting

By Mastufa Ahmed 92 B ook Rev i ew

regulars

04 From the Editor’s Desk

06 Letters of the month 08 Quick Reads 13 Rapid Fire 94 Knowledge + Networking 96 Blogosphere

Transformational leadership in banking

By Dr Aquil Busrai, CEO of Aquil Busrai Consulting Featured In this issue Angie Freeman Anne Fulton Ashutosh Garg Dave Williams Joy Xu

Kara Gruver Maria Sitaramayya Dr. Raju Mistry Ruchira Chaudhary Dr. Serena H. Huang

CONTRIBUTORS to this issue Dr. Aquil Busrai David Webster Diane Hernandez Elizebeth Varghese Dr. M. Muneer

Dr. Pete Harpum Ruchi Kulhari Satyakki Bhattacharjee Steve Bennetts

august 2021 |

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Letters of the month

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Building digital-ready culture

Interesting reflections for employers looking to reset or design a new culture in the face of the ever dynamic and evolving understanding of the new ‘hybrid’ workplace.

More often than not culture is limited to stated organizational values and expected behavioural norms. However, as the pandemic forces organizations to rethink culture across a distributed workforce, culture will be a lot more about shaping employee experience and acknowledging the overdue changes in workplace practices. With a geographically distributed workforce, designing the right digital-culture to empower leaders, managers and the workforce alike is of utmost importance.

- Ishali Gupta

The changing workforce: Remote but country-centric, agile but tech bound As economies struggle with talent shortage amid travel and migration restrictions, companies have little to no option to open doors to remote hiring across countries to ensure a competitive talent pool. For businesses to survive and thrive, enabling access to the right talent is of the essence. Additionally, equipping recruiting

and functional teams with the right tools and technology to ensure a seamless onboarding experience, engaging new hires in a digitally evolved workplace culture and providing opportunities to learn and grow will drive greater collaboration across a distributed yet connected workforce.

- Hariraj Singh

We are looking for new ways to build and amplify our culture

I have heard several leaders now talk about how employees are keen to return to the office. Makes me think if employees truly want the return to office or wish to have some semblance of it. It appears it’s both. The reality really is that with varying circumstances, the preferences vary for every individual, and in the process of enabling those who wish to return to the workplace, the troubles for others who prefer remote only deepen. The need indeed is to build culture in a manner that caters to employee needs, enables retrieving what’s missing in hybrid working environments, and retains the proven benefits of flexibility.

- Ajay Sharma 6

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juLy 2021 issue

The more ‘human’ changes have transformed the world of work for the better

I appreciate Vernon’s eloquent description of the three experiences that EX today encompasses: Physical, culture, digital. EX has been among the key priorities for businesses worldwide with visible progress made in adapting to more newer ways of shaping a delightful employee experience, specifically technology. The rise of EX platforms is going to be a key driver of HR digitization as more leaders recognize the need to be intentional about crafting experience which requires adequate data and insights to inform strategy. While COVID-19 remains a crisis that uprooted human life, the accidental yet transformational changes are here to stay.

- Anindita Banerjee

Interact with People Matters

A case for looking at ‘irrelevant’ work experience

- Parul Pandey

If we don’t have the skills to ‘engage’ workforce in the hybrid world, we’ll lose them Rightly said, there is a need to equip managers to lead teams remotely. Any organization that believes managing the workforce remotely is simply about offering flexibility and tracking work, is setting up its workforce as well as leadership for failure. The last fifteen months of remote and the emerging hybrid working arrangement have demonstrated the need for a more intentional and well-equipped leadership to empower employees and help them navigate their way through the dynamic business environment.

- Ben Zachariah

Examining mental health beyond burnout

Glad to see the focus on mental health beyond burnout. The corporate world is being blindsided by the limited understanding on mental health. Amid the pandemic fueled stress and burnout, not enough conversations are taking place around pre-existing mental health conditions and how work triggered stress and burnout is impacting individuals living with mental illnesses.

While it is important to tackle work overload and its impact on the mental well-being of the workforce, it is equally important to dig deeper into the finer nuances of mental health and enable a more solid understanding of what mental health truly entails. It would be a wise call for leaders to leverage this moment in time and enable a more meaningful understanding of mental health, improving the health and EQ of employees and leaders alike.

- Ruchi Sinha

Support employees to work in the way that is best for them

I agree with Mai Lan Nguyen that there will be a shift of values in the workforce as we recoup from the pandemic. This is the time when workers are actually asking themselves questions about how they are being treated in the organization.

So, employers need to focus on employee engagement while enhancing the employee experience.

- Babita Alick

Piyush Govil @PG_pmp #TechHRIN WHAT NEXT? It marks the great emergence of the HR Fraternity and a quest to become more digital, data-centric, and business-driven Register now: lnkd.in/gWkXAer @PeopleMatters2 @Ester_Matters Aditikhairnar @AditiKhairnar @PeopleMatters2 #TechHRIN Summarising the ideas presented by some amazing HR thought leaders on the Tweetchat on 23rd July on the topic of Emergence Through Excellence! @Ester_Matters @neelmaz06 Birlasoft @birlasoft [Special Feature] Watch Now: buff. ly/3rz0ZK2 Learn how to sustain #businesscontinuity in the #newnormal in this panel discussion hosted by @PeopleMatters2 & @RandstadIndia featuring @dkpr alongside other #industryleaders. #covidtimes @neelmaz06 @Paul_DupuisRSTD

l e t tqeur isc okf r t heea m d os n t h

“Humans are the agents of creation and not engines of productivity.” Absolutely love this. Despite proven results, organizations continue tooting the predictable productivity horn without giving creativity and individuality a chance to flourish. Let’s take something as basic as employment gaps.

Even in the present times, recruiters are inclined towards profiles with no employment gaps to boost the numbers of candidates clearing interviews while minimizing rejections on account of gaps. Unfortunately, the stereotypical correlation between employment gaps and capabilities continues.

People Matters values your feedback.

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

David Prunell-Friend @Prunell_Talent And sometimes it’s not a business model at all, but trying to make profits from breaking the labour law in different countries. Without that, Uber is just an app to book a taxi, therefore no new “business model”. We should stop calling it a “business model”. nytimes.com/2021/02/19/bus…

Anuraag @IamAnurag Replying to @brilliansk @PeopleMatters2 and 2 others In every business model, something is at core. Sometimes it is manufacturing, sometimes it is IT, sometimes it is robotics etc. Here, by providing and managing so many employment opportunities, the contribution of HR function is at core. follow

M > @PeopleMatters2

{WRITE TO US NOW BY SCANNING THIS CODE}

august 2021 |

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Life @ Work

More than 60% of US & AUS workers prioritize mental health: Report

r e a d s

A report by Atlassian and PwC Australia titled ‘Return on Action’ report 2021 reiterates the emerging importance of mental health. It suggests that about 64 percent of U.S. and 69 percent of Australian workers, across generations and income levels, are willing to turn down a promotion to protect their mental health. The research involved surveying 3500 workers across Australia and the U.S., majorly

Acquisition

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Limeade acquires TINYpulse for $8.8Mn

HR Technology

Global talent company Remote announces USD150 Mn Series B funding

Remote, a company focused on providing talent globally and helping remote businesses to onboard has recently announced a Series B funding of USD 150 million. With its solutions it is enabling clients and businesses to onboard, pay, and manage both contractors and full-time employees on distributed teams. "Our goal is to remove the barriers to hiring internationally, empower our customers to scale, and provide access to job opportunities all over the world”, said Job van der Voort, CEO of Remote.

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focusing on the consequences of transformed work models on employees and shifts in their

priorities, in the wake of the pandemic. Majority of workers agree that mental health and well-being pose a bigger challenge than achieving career goals. As per the report, US and Australian employees would now rather choose to spend more time with family than stressing over work.

To be able to better balance their work and life, over 50 percent of US and Australian employees admitted that they’d consider switching jobs to access remote work opportunities to guard their mental health.

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Employee engagement solutions provider Limeade acquired the Seattle-based TINYpulse, a SaaS employee listening provider, in an all-cash deal of $8.8Mn that will be closed by the end of July 2021. Henry Albrecht, founder, and CEO of Limeade said that this acquisition would play a towering role in creating wholesome employee experiences.

Traditionally employee wellness has focused on reducing costs for those with the most chronic conditions. At Limeade, the belief is to not only tackle those, but also to ensure a more holistic approach factoring in physical, mental, and financial wellness.

HR Technology

Pluralsight closes acquisition of online training company 'A Cloud Guru'

Technology workforce development company Pluralsight has closed on its acquisition of the Australian cloud skills development platform A Cloud Guru.

In the month of June, Pluralsight made a declaration that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire A Cloud Guru backed by Vista Equity Partners’ recent acquisition of Pluralsight in April 2021. The acquisition helped Pluralsight expand online training tools for Microsoft Azure, Amazon

HR Technology

Alight Solutions gets listed on NYSE as a publicly-traded company

Earlier in January this year, Alight Solutions, the cloudbased provider of integrated digital human capital and business solutions, and Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. had announced that they have entered into a definitive busi-

ness combination agreement.

Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company would operate as Alight, Inc. and plans to list under the symbol ALIT. The transaction reflected an implied Pro-forma enterprise value for Alight of approximately $7.3 BN. On 6th July 2021, the newly formed merged company gets listed on the New York Stock Exchange and goes public. Alight, Inc.’s Class A common stock and warrants will

Strategic HR

uted work is here to stay, and that its mass-scale adoption in the post-pandemic world will have serious implications on

Learning & Development

Go1 raises $200 Mn in Series D funding to boost corporate learning

Education content hub for on-demand training and resources, Go1 raises $200 Mn in Series D funding and is now valued at more than $1 Bn. With the latest round of funding the L&D-focused company plans to continue and create new partnerships, expand product offer-

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A new industry report by Oyster HR finds that maintaining compliance in the new normal is the top priority shift for the HR function. The report, titled ‘The Future of HR: Preparing for a New World of Distributed Work’ establishes major priority and focus shifts driven led by the pandemic. The report supports the notion that distrib-

HR across its roles, responsibilities, and processes. The future of HR will put talent acquisition, compliance maintenance, and DEI at the forefront of strategic priorities to ensure a better working experience for a distributed workforce. 46 percent of HR respondents identified compliance as the main shift, compared to 48 percent who identified flexible work arrangements.

Apart from these primary shifts, distributed work is expected to impact recruiting, onboarding, and talent management.

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Maintaining compliance emerges as HR’s biggest priority shift in the post-COVID era: Oyster report

begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the ticker symbols “ALIT” and “ALITW,” respectively.

ings, and grow its physical presence globally to support the more than 3.5 million learners at more than 1,600 customer organizations worldwide. While the funding round was led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2*, it also saw the participation of AirTree Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, with additional investors Blue Cloud Ventures, Larsen Ventures, Scott Shleifer and John Curtius from Tiger Global, and TEN13. august 2021 |

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newsmaker of the month

Jeff Bezos – The end of an era

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n 1994, Amazon.com opened as an online bookstore that operated from the garage of Jeff Bezos’ residence. In the early days, he delivered books in his car after quitting his job at D.E Shaw. By July 2021, when Jeff quit as the CEO, the company was valued at over $1.5 trillion. Bezos is the first person ever to have a net worth of over $200 billion. And the company employs over a million people.

The magnificent rise of Bezos and Amazon is the stuff of legends. With Bezos’ resignation, a new chapter begins for Amazon even as the business world reckons with the nearing end of the founderCEO era in Big Tech. Bezos follows other internet executives including Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Amazon will be led by Andy Jassy, a long-time lieutenant of Bezos and CEO of the company’s booming cloud business.

In a letter to employees announcing his transition, he noted “Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility and it’s consuming.

When you have a responsibility like that, it’s hard to | august 2021

Over the years, Amazon has also been critically scrutinized for its working conditions across the store’s numerous warehouses and the human costs that came with a metrics-obsessed culture.

Amazon’s business has been characterized as being ruthlessly monopolistic and it hasn’t helped the company. As the company charts a path for itself with a new CEO, it will continue to be studied closely.

The future

But Bezos isn’t entirely leaving Amazon put attention on anything just yet. He becomes the else.” company’s executive chair.

And will still shape the Leadership & Impact strategic direction of the Bezos’ leadership style has company, although he been called ‘unusual’ but may not be as involved crucial to the backbone in the day-to-day operaof the company. It ranged tions. Since he is one of the from a manic emphasis on "customer obsession", a long- company’s largest shareterm aspiration on profit, and holders, he is likely to play a powerful role in shaping a focus on small teams. He the future of Amazon. He also preferred ‘memo’ writing as opposed to PowerPoint is also expected to dedicate more time towards presentations. And a workplace culture that encourages initiatives like Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin leaders to, at times, to disaSpaceship company, The gree and commit even when doing so is uncomfortable or Washington Post, and the Amazon Day 1 Fund. exhausting.

ServiceNow appoints Jacqui Canney as the Chief People Officer Global digital workflow company ServiceNow announced the appointment of Jacqui Canney as Chief People Officer on July 6. Jacqui Canney is entrusted to lead and handle development,

MyGlamm appoints Kartik Rao as its new Chief People Officer MyGlamm, a beauty and personal care brand, announced the appointment of Kartik Rao, who was previously the CHRO & Chief of Staff for Bewakoof.com as its Chief People Officer. Kartik Rao brings over 11 years of extensive experience in culture design & transformation, talent management, spearheading mergers & acquisitions, and high velocity talent acquisition while working with large scale MNCs & fast growing consumer tech & D2C start-ups.

Instacart appoints Fidji Simo as Chief Executive Officer and Apoorva Mehta as Executive Chairman Online grocery delivery and pickup service Instacart announced the appointment of Fidji Simo as the Chief Executive Officer effective August 2, 2021. Fidji Simo will take over the position from Apoorva Mehta, Founder of Instacart, who will transition from CEO to Executive Board Member. Fidji Simo and Apoorva Mehta will be reporting to the Board of Directors at Instacart.

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Tatiana Berardinelli appointed as Clariant’s Chief Human Resource Officer Tatiana Berardinelli has been appointed as Clariant’s new Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Group HR. She has over 15 years of experience in human resources, employee experience, and operational excellence. She will officially take on the role on 1st August 2021. “I am very pleased to announce Tatiana Berardinelli as Clariant’s new Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Group HR. With her strong background in HR and her international experience in business transformation, acquisition integration, and organizing for growth, I am convinced she will fulfill a vital role in Clariant’s target to grow revenue and profitability of our core Business Areas”, said Conrad Keijzer, Chief Executive Officer of Clariant.

diversity, talent policy, rewards and compensations, employee experience, leadership development, and retention. With over three decades of experience in handling leadership and other roles, Jacqui Canney has worked at various companies including Arthur Anderson, Accenture, Walmart, WPP.

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Frédéric Clément is appointed Global Head of Human Resources by AXA IM AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) appointed Frédéric Clément as its Global Head of Human Resources. He replaced Amélie Watelet who took on the role of Human Resources Director of AXA France. Frédéric Clément will report to Godefroy de Colombe, Global Chief Operating Officer. He will join the Management Board and work from Paris. He will take on his role in the company from 1 September, 2021. Marco Morelli, Executive Chairman of AXA IM, said: “I am delighted to welcome Frédéric at AXA IM. Frédéric knows AXA well and has held several global HR roles within the Group and in other companies and industries. I am sure that under Godefroy’s leadership, he will bring invaluable insights to our HR and management teams”.

Lewis hires Sarah Ogden's as Managing Director of its UK branch Sarah Ogden has been appointed as UK's Managing Director by Lewis in London. Prior to this, she was the head of corporate and brand communication at 3 Monkey Zeno. She has been designated to head the 100-strong team in London and look after the global and EMEA campaigns of Lewis. Deliveroo, Lucid, Petronas and Siemens are some of the major and strong client base of the company. august 2021 | August

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ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India appoints Sarma Chillara as Group Head HR Sarma Chillara has been elevated as the Group Head of Human Resources & Administration at ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India. Previously responsible for HR Operations, Sarma takes over the mandate for Human Resources & Administration for the Group in India. Sarma replaces Jan Frydrych, as the latter takes over a new role at ŠKODA Headquarters as Head of Operative HR care, digitization and HR 4.0.

Kristin Carlos appointed as News Corp Australia’s New Managing Director News Corp Australia has hired Kristin Carlos to head its digital platform business called News Xtend and augment its digital talent. Since its inception seven years ago, News Xtend is an organisation that has specialized in forming targeted digital campaigns for small and medium companies. It has witnessed robust growth and progress over the last few years.

Carlos will be leading the Platform Division and will be responsible for redesigning and improving News Corp Australia’s commercial model and providing an overhauling, wide-spanning end-to-end customer experience to a variety of clients by using the platforms of News Xtend and News Connect.

Heena Naithani joins Airtel Business as Head HR Airtel Business announced key executive appointments: Harish Laddha joins as CEO – Emerging business, Heena Naithani as Head HR, and Kaustubh Chandra as CMO & SVP. Harish has enjoyed an exceptional career of over 25 years in the tech industry and as CEO - Emerging Business, now he will lead Airtel Business in its next phase of growth. His key focus will be on partnering with the SMB customers in their digital transformation journeys and delivering growth enabling solutions.

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Mahesh Babu resigns, Suman Mishra joins Mahindra Electric as CEO After working with the Mahindra Group for over two decades, Mahesh Babu has decided to move on. He resigns as CEO Mahindra Electric and gets replaced by Suman Mishra. Mahesh had taken over as CEO, last year. He has worked in the design and development of engine and vehicle platforms from frugal 3-wheelers to flagship models. In his tenure as CEO, Mahindra Electric he has also built key partnerships with Uber, Zoomcar, LG Chem, Blu Smart, Lithium Urban Technology, and Auroville.

Hyzon Motors appoints MD for New Zealand & Australia Hyzon announced the appointment of John Edgley, Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, effective from July 23.

John Edgley with over two decades of experience, an investment and business development specialist is entrusted to handle multinational industrial operations. He will also look after the overseas operations of the company, primarily focusing on Hyzon’s expansion of its hydrogen fuel cell-powered heavy vehicle business in Australasia. Apart from this, John Edgley will handle delivery of the first hydrogen-powered prime movers to Hiringa Energy in New Zealand.

Motorola appoints Kurt Bonnici as Head of Australia & NZ Kurt Bonnici has been appointed as the Head of Motorola for Australia and New Zealand. He will be based in Melbourne where he will work with retail and carrier partners to drive the expansion of the company, especially in the 5G sector. He is greatly skilled at Business Development, Mobile Communications, Go-tomarket Strategy, Sales Management, and Strategic Partnerships, with a proven working experience in the telecommunications industry. He became a part of Motorola in 2017 when he was appointed as Account Director and then moved on to become Business Development Manager in 2019.

six Questions

Rapid-Fire

interview

Kara Gruver

Partner and Chief Talent Officer, Bain & Company

By Mastufa Ahmed

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teaming in a way that was much more difficult in the past.

While it requires working flexibly across time zones, we will even more aggressively build global, diverse teams to support our clients.

What’s the most important step you are taking to prepare for tomorrow?

Investing in our people. People are our biggest assets and the pandemic has caused extreme stress to each individual in our team. We have invested heavily in supporting our team’s holistic well-being and ensuring we remain the best place to work for all of our employees

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With uncertainty still abound, are you making long-term plans (Yes? Why?) The last year has convinced us that we have huge growth opportunities helping our clients navigate through these uncertain times. We are confident that we can continue to drive exceptional results for our clients in a hybrid working model and are making significant investments to grow our team to be prepared for continued future growth.

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What's your roadmap to stay competitive beyond the pandemic?

Our competitiveness is driven by our ability to collaborate with and drive results for clients. Hybrid working actually enables some elements

Our biggest competitive advantage is our culture and apprenticeship model of learning and development of this by allowing us to bring exactly the right global expertise for each project. We are investing heavily in technology and learning and development so our teams can continue to bring this expertise to clients in a future hybrid world.

4

One new aspect/element that you will embed in your workforce?

Virtual working enabled global

Yes! I think hybrid is definitely here to stay and we are embracing the positive benefits of ‘work from anywhere’ flexibility, diverse teaming, less time spent traveling, and reduction of carbon footprint. While I’m not sure exactly how the hybrid model will evolve for each of our populations, we are moving forward to continually discover how best to optimize the hybrid working experience.

r a p i d - f i r e

Are you embracing the hybrid mode of working?

Will it sustain in the long term?

6

What life lessons have YOU learned during this pandemic?

Be prepared for uncertainty. I’m an avid planner and feel confident when I feel like I have a clear plan for the road ahead.

This pandemic has forced me to realize that honestly, the best plans are those that incorporate the flexibility to adapt to change and be prepared for uncertainty. august 2021 |

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Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e

Solidify inclusion efforts with inclusive managers

People Managers play a pivotal role in making LGBTQ+ inclusion at the workplace a reality. We spoke to industry leaders and employees, and here is what they have to say about the role of people managers in reinforcing the inclusion agenda

By Bhavna Sarin

A

Quantum Workplace survey asked it’s respondents to complete the following sentence: "When it comes to diversity and inclusion strategies, my immediate manager is…”

The responses were as below:

When it comes to diversity and inclusion strategies, my immediate manager is...

Opposed/ Unaware Undecided Supportive of them Committed to them I don't know

10% 45% 24% 16%

Image source: quantumworkplace.com 14

| august 2021

Commenting on the survey results, Joe Gerstandt, Author & Inclusion Strategist said, "Delivering a more inclusive employee experience is first and foremost a product of a certain kind of leadership or management...Organizations must clearly define the experience they want employees to have. And then you’ve got to build that into

able difference to the inclusion agenda.

The role of people managers in making inclusion a value and practice

In an interview with Irish Times, John Mercer, Chief Executive of Mercer Ireland, said that everyone in the organization has a role in D&I. Mercer noted that while the C-suite sets the tone at the top by establishing D&I as a business priority and allocating resources and funding, HR is responsible for implementing policies and practices, and employees are responsible for open-mindedness towards diverse perspectives and fostering an inclusive culture. However, he added, “While all three of these are important stakeholders, leaders at all levels are the key to creating a diverse workplace with an inclusive

culture as they are often making the people decisions around hiring, development, advancement, engagement.”

Industry leaders across the globe agree. Talking to People Matters about the role of people managers in building an inclusive team climate, Adil Katrak, SVP, COO & HR Service Delivery, and Chair of LGBTQ+ Council, Wells Fargo India & Philippines said, “While leadership sets the tone at the top, managers make this happen on the ground…

Our managers play a critical role in creating the right work environment by driving equity, not just equality.”

Adding that managers are also responsible for fostering a sense of belonging within teams, so people feel included and their talents and experiences are valued while differences are celebrated, Katrak shared that the organization supports its managers with regular training and coaching sessions on unconscious bias, recognizing, understanding and appreciating differences, and leading inclusively.

Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e

your management expectations. Some specific behaviors and practices need to be written into job descriptions."

Gerstandt rightly highlights the aspect of management expectations. As much as diversity, equity and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility, each one of us in the ecosystem play our individual roles to fasttrack the inclusion agenda, sometimes as enablers and sometimes unknowingly and unintentionally as the brakes that slow down the progress. In particular to people managers, they hold the power to make workplace inclusion a reality. But how?

Let’s explore the pivotal role of people managers in making LGBTQ+ inclusion a reality and the opportunity areas for managers to make a meaningful and sustain-

In the absence of inclusive managers, the threat to true equity and inclusion persists august 2021 |

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Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e 16

Capgemini’s Niraj Parihar, EVP, Leader - Insights and Data, India and Business Champion D&I echoed these thoughts. He told People Matters, “People Managers are the backbone of organizational culture who can significantly advance the D&I agenda. For instance, they can ensure proactive hiring of the LGBTQ+ community into the workforce and help shape HR policies for building an inclusive workplace.”

Parihar added that great people leaders put effective inclusion practices in place like “making the diversity more visible, putting them in strategic assignments, let them run meetings on rotation basis, and proactively seek suggestions and participation from diverse groups to leverage their perspectives for successful decisions.”

Amsterdam-based software firm TomTom believes that while everyone within the organization has the ability to foster an inclusive work environment, people managers have an even bigger responsibility in creating a climate where everyone feels safe, valued and accepted.

“People Managers are often TomTom’ers most influential touch points and can serve as role models for what behaviors are acceptable and what is not within their team – shaping its | august 2021

People Managers have the critical role of transforming the vision of inclusivity into tangible behaviors and ceremonies that are lived and experienced by all culture,” TomTom’s Head of CSR & Diversity Management, Nicole Blake told People Matters.

Nicole added, “It simply isn’t enough to say we want TomTom to be an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. People Managers have the critical role of transforming the vision of inclusivity into tangible behaviors and ceremonies that are lived and experienced by all TomTom’ers.”

As is evident, organizations agree on the need for concrete plans and a crucial touch-point to translate the DEI vision into tangi-

ble behaviors. But before they expect managers to fast-track this journey, they need to start with ensuring managers themselves stand for inclusion, and aren’t just delivering on mandated goals.

Equipping the organization with inclusive people managers Sharing an example of inclusive behavior - collaborative decision making and problem solving - TomTom’s Nicole Blake highlighted that inclusive people managers seek out different perspectives, listen to them and value them all equally.

inclusion agenda? Lakshmi noted that creating a strong ‘Ally’ network within the organization through learning the various nuances and facets of the LGBTQ+ community and being good listeners is the first step.

To foster inclusivity among managers, Lakshmi recommended a continued focus on debiasing and nudging among managers, “Even going to the extent of differentiating and rewarding managers who amplify an inclusive culture based on specific inclusion KPIs

sations, thereby paving the way for building allyship.

Breaking down the knowledge gap with conversation spaces and allies

Among the most crucial steps in building an inclusive team climate is recognizing the gap not just in behaviors, but what guides those behaviors, which is more often than not a lack of awareness or rigid mindsets. To enable change, conversations are key. And to ensure greater under-

To remove the complexities that shadow difficult and uncomfortable conversations around the lives and bias against marginalized groups, one of the greatest tool managers can leverage is allies would be good progress.”

This in turn would encourage allies to recognize bias quickly, especially when it manifests as micro-aggression, in order to speak up and act in a timely manner, added Lakshmi.

So beyond being inclusive, what can people managers do to build an inclusive team climate - and subsequently - an inclusive organizational climate? The next section addresses this question by reflecting on the role of people managers in creating safe spaces for conver-

standing, openness, acceptance and thereby accountability among team members to make the team climate one that is safe for all, team managers and leaders must own the task of creating a culture and safe space for open, honest, even uncomfortable conversations to overcome psychological barriers to inclusion.

McKinsey’s study ‘LGBTQ+ voices: Learning from lived experiences’ confirms the importance of creating spaces for conversations in building inclusive august 2021 |

Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e

“They also go a step further and ask why certain voices aren’t represented, identifying invisible barriers which others might not be aware of. Creating opportunities like these not only fosters inclusion but leads to better quality solutions.” She added that people managers are not only responsible for empowering their direct reports but can lead the organization to the best version of itself by “being the blueprint for inclusive behavior.”

The correlation between an inclusive manager and an inclusive team climate is evident. Moreover, inclusion isn’t just about representation in numbers, rainbow filters and women’s day celebrations. Inclusion is a practice that needs to be carefully and consciously woven into the organizational fabric that has become prey to unconscious reinforcement of bias and discrimination. In the absence of inclusive managers, the threat to true equity and inclusion persists.

Adding to this thought, Lakshmi R. Rajagopal, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Fidelity Investments India emphasized that having strong inclusive change leaders across the organization is important, as other employees can learn and be inspired by these champions. But how can inclusive managers fast-track the

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workspaces: “Listening and learning about employees’ lived experiences is the first step business leaders must take if they want to create fairer workplaces.”

Fidelity Investments’ Lakshmi R. Rajagopal agrees. She explains, “Allies/ members of the LGBTQ+ community should have an environment where they can ‘speak out’ and share their ‘lived experiences’. This leads to having courageous

counter further breeding of bias and discrimination.

Inclusivity as a trait is crucial among people managers, if organizations truly intend to make workplace inclusion and belonging a sustainable value and practice. People Managers are the carriers of values, as much as they are role models. How they interact with the team on a daily basis significantly influences the team climate and

Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e

Empathetic managers have worked as catalysts to make the workspace more inclusive and diverse, fostering a true sense of safety and security and constructive conversations in the workplace around difficult topics.”

Building conversation spaces is easier said than done. To help remove the complexities that shadow difficult and uncomfortable conversations around the lives and bias against marginalized groups, one of the greatest tool managers can leverage is allies. Infact, with true equity years away, allyship is one weapon to

18

NetApp’ & ‘NetAbled’ initiatives leading Pride and disability awareness within and outside the organization. Talking to People Matters about the role of people managers in enabling an inclusive team climate, Sujoy shared that an honest conversation with his hiring manager helped him a lot in understanding the company’s focus on DI&B policies.

“Empathetic managers have worked as catalysts to

| august 2021

working environment and determines the nature of conversations among team members.

The impact of inclusive people managers

Sujoy Das, a financial analyst at NetApp, has over 14yrs of experience in ITES. He identifies himself as a specially abled queer and is actively involved in the DI&B initiatives at NetApp. He is the lead for ‘Proud@

make the workspace more inclusive and diverse, fostering a true sense of safety and security. Their effort in this direction has translated into higher productivity and has positively impacted me as an individual – making me feel included and belonged,” he added.

There are no two ways about DEI being a journey and not an overnight change. And the journey comes with its set of learnings - not everyone is aware of the intricacies of the

Enabling collaborative inclusion by reinforcing inclusive behaviors It is true that inclusion is indeed everyone’s respon-

sibility, but to get that message across the various organizational levels, functions and individuals, people managers play a significant role. “I feel it is not only the responsibility of people managers but every employee to create a safe and inclusive environment at work. But yes, people managers should lead by example. They should act as coaches or guides by ‘walking the talk’, and the onus lies on every employee in the organization to support

some ways people managers can play a more active role in building an inclusive team and organizational climate: • Be cognizant of your sphere of influence to drive change • Acknowledge and understand the scope of your responsibility as a people manager • Reward inclusive behaviors and reprimand noninclusive and discriminatory behaviors and practices

It is true that inclusion is indeed everyone’s responsibility, but to get that message across the various organizational levels, functions and individuals, people managers play a significant role them. Without a collaborative approach, driving an inclusive organizational culture is simply not possible,” Shilpa Sinha Harsh, SVP – Global Corporate Communications, CSR and D&I, Hinduja Global Solutions told People Matters.

With every element of the workplace ecosystem having their own role to play, it indeed is clear that inclusion is everyone’s responsibility. However, one common thread through the organization with a wide sphere of influence and impact is people managers. Here are

• Encourage visible and vocal allyship • Enable learning for self and team members through safe conversation spaces • Seek guidance from leaders as well as colleagues when in doubt

Inc l u s i v e W o r k p l a c e

various diverse segments organizations cater to today.

Sharing his experience and the outcome of having an inclusive people manager, Ketty Avashia, Vice President, Enterprise Functions Technology, Platform Services – Platform Integration (India Lead), Wells Fargo India & Philippines told People Matters: One of my managers in the UK was not very aware of the LGBTQ+ community, but he was just a very openminded person. He brought such a level of comfort to our one-on-one meetings that I felt secure enough to come out to him. He simply said, “Whatever floats your boat; all I care about is performance.” Back in those days, when LGBTQ+ awareness and acceptance was very low, this was truly encouraging and motivational.

Today, Ketty is a technologist with 18+ years of global experience, across the US, the UK, and India, primarily in financial services companies. His experiences have also helped him become an advocate for change. He mentors LGBTQ+ individuals, women and some men at work, and is part of a strong ally network within the industry.

References:

• https://www.quantumworkplace. com/future-of-work/fostering-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace • https://www.irishtimes.com/ special-reports/diversity-inclusion/who-has-responsibility-for-di-1.4052428 • https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/ourinsights/lgbtq-plus-voices-learningfrom-lived-experiences august 2021 |

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Holding on to the good parts of the pandemic era:

The N e w Workplace

Flexibility, wellness & inclusion

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Flexibility of work, a focus on employee wellness, and the presence of inclusive talent policies will play a critical role in attracting and retaining talent over the next year

By Drishti Pant

| august 2021

M

“Coming off of a year that brought so much change, employees are seeking employers who will respond to their needs,” said Robert Hicks, Group HR Director, Reward Gateway. “While employee turnover isn't always negative – and often makes room for those who will bring new capabilities – it’s something employers must manage strategically in 2021, in order to maintain an engaged workforce.”

Hicks further added that it’s clear that reward and recognition, open and honest leadership and well-being support will play a critical role in attracting and retaining talent over the next year.

Employers understand that flexibility for employees should no longer be just an option but entrenched in the company culture

The N e w Workplace

ajority of the professionals across the globe have spent the past year working remotely, at their own pace. What will happen if they are suddenly asked to give away this flexibility? An Accenture report showed that most Gen Zs (63%) would rather work in a hybrid setting.

Further, as per a Microsoft survey, 74 percent of employees say they want more flexible remote work.

It is clear that employees want to hold on to the flexible ways of working and if companies don't acknowledge this shift in preference, they may lose the war of talent, as there are many companies out there offering that flexibility.

It is not only flexible working but other aspects like a focus on wellness and inclusion that the candidates out there are looking for in companies. Ever since the pandemic, employers have invested time, effort, and money in improving their employee wellness strategy and also creating a more inclusive workplace. The positive shift should not just be maintained but further scaled up, even if things slowly start returning to the new normal.

Reward Gateway’s latest survey of employees and senior HR decision-makers across the UK, US, and Australia shows employees’ plans to leave their current jobs and reveals what HR leaders intend to do to keep them. The next 12 months will define how employers can balance healthy employee churn while attracting, retaining, and engaging top talent.

Flexible way of working is the new reality: Accept or Perish

The Reward Gateway’s research revealed that “fair pay” and “flexible working” are top employee “must-haves” in 2021. Multiple reports and surveys done across geographies have highlighted that employees are looking for opportunities to work for companies that are offering more flexibility. They would rather quit than come to work from the office and as per older times. Hence, as employers plan "return to office", experts predict what they call "the great resignation". august 2021 |

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The N e w Workplace

Organizations are becoming more sensitive about building workplaces that are inclusive, accessible, and committed to supporting employees to do their best work, agnostic of where they are working from Commenting on which Elton Yeo, Head of Tribe Academy said, “In my opinion, my colleagues are actually looking forward to returning to the office to see each other once again. However, we also know that we can work well from home and the era of coming in from 9.00 am – 5.00 pm all day everyday has passed. Companies that offer a degree of flexibility – coming into the office a few days a week, for instance – will attract more and better talent.”

The employees do feel the need to be occasionally at the office, either to have a critical discussion that would rather be done

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| august 2021

face to face, if possible or to meet their colleagues and teams.

However, they also don’t want the option of working from home to completely go away. The solution is a hybrid work model.

“While we are still working out the specifics of our post-pandemic work model, a hybrid model is a strong possibility, where we might allow Mindtree Minds to choose to work either from home or office or opt for a combination of the two, subject to client/security clearances and at the discretion of the management. We have the operational controls and designs in place to execute the work model at an appropriate time,” shared Paneesh Rao, Chief People Officer, Mindtree.

Even other companies like Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Tata Steel, and Deutsche Bank have already started to execute hybrid work models. They are re-inventing their work systems and redefining employee connections and processes to integrate hybrid work models into the system.

As Karam Malhotra, Partner and Global Vice President at the SHAREit Group shared, “Employers understand that flexibility for employees should no longer be just an option but entrenched in the company culture.”

After having employees work from home for the longest time due to the pandemic, we are concerned about the complications which would arise by bringing them back to the office full time and not offer them work flexibility they have become accustomed to, ranging from location to staggered working hours.

Wellness can’t be taken for granted

The N e w Workplace

It is not only flexibility but also overall employee wellness that employers have to take care of to keep employee experience in check. “Employees must believe that their company truly cares about them for them to stay with them for the long haul,” said Karam.

Well-being and inclusion have taken on a whole new meaning with employees working remotely. How we care for our employees, how we remain cognizant of unique circumstances and contexts, how we foster a sense of community, how we keep our culture intact in this virtual world of work are questions that are becoming increasingly important for organizations.

And, “It drives everyday decisions at Microsoft,” shares Ira Gupta, Head of Human Resource, Microsoft India.”

Microsoft added mental health to their sick leave policy, renaming it the Sick & Mental Health Leave enabling employees to take time off for themselves or for a family member for mental wellness, similar to how they did for

physical illness in the past. It also enabled additional time-off in the form of Well-being Days; a fiveday paid leave in addition to the standard leave policy to encourage employees to focus on their well-being.

For AkzoNobel India, Anushree Singh, Country HR Head shares, the priority has been on the 3Cs – Connect, Communicate and Collaborate to empathetically engage stakeholders and maintain business continuity. In terms of wellness, the company has done it through the AkzoNobel We Care Program which provided critical medical and health support to employees on the 4 pillars of Well-being, Medical Expense Reimbursement, Hospital Insurance & Life Insurance. “Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) gave a platform to employees in distress to avail expert counseling on managing bereavement, etc.,” told Anushree.

Evidently, organizations are becoming more sensitive about

Flexibility should not only be limited to remote working options but should also include offering employees a variety of opportunities to constantly evolve august 2021 |

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building workplaces that are inclusive, accessible, and committed to supporting employees to do their best work, agnostic of where they are working from.

Inclusion is the way forward for organizations to thrive

The N e w Workplace

Inclusion has taken on a whole new meaning with the juggling of personal and professional responsibilities. “In a regular office environment, everyone had access to the same technology, infrastructure, and space. Remote work changed that completely,” said Ira.

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Flexibility isn’t just about location, it’s about a series of arrangements to boost productivity while fostering inclusion and diversity in the workplace She shared how, for many of Microsoft’s employees, their homes may not have had the required infrastructure to enable an extended work from home arrangement. “In an effort to support employees in creating a conducive work environment at home we enabled the work from home buying program to support employees to procure work from home equipment for a more conducive and comfortable work from home experience.” It is not only Microsoft but many other companies that have helped their employees in setting up work systems from home. Inclusion at the end of the day is making everyone feel like they belong, acknowledging their | august 2021

diverse needs and challenges, and supporting them to perform their job with all necessary resources in place. It is also about creating a safe place to work.

“Flexibility isn’t just about location, it’s about a series of arrangements to boost productivity while fostering inclusion and diversity in the workplace.

We believe that this can greatly catalyze the best of innovations and ideas in a company,” shared Karam.

Flexibility is not just about work from home

In the last year, the employee value proposition has undergone major changes. In such a scenario, how does one really define flexibility? It is not just about the ability to work from anywhere. Flexibility also means creating a more personalized employee experience. It also means experimenting with job roles, exploring career transitions, and accelerating learning.

Let’s take, for instance, AkzoNobel - the company has also taken a big jump from the traditional roles. Anushree shared, “By identifying fungible skill sets, we are providing exposure to our talent to different responsibilities. Our all-new global tool - Project Marketplace empowers our employees to volunteer for exciting cross-functional global projects and get accelerated development opportunities.”

“Organizations should transform their culture, enable true flexible working with technology and processes, foster an environment of inclusiveness and

Driving flexibility, wellness, and inclusion with tech

The AI at Work study conducted

by Oracle and Future Workplace found that AI has changed the relationship between people and technology at work and is reshaping the role HR teams and managers need to play in attracting, retaining, and developing talent.

It showed how AI is becoming more prominent with 50 percent of workers currently using some form of AI at work compared to only 32 percent last year. Workers in China (77 percent) and India (78 percent) have adopted AI over 2X more than those in France (32 percent) and Japan (29 percent).

Even other companies are inte-

grating aspects of flexibility, wellness, and inclusion. Ira from Microsoft shared, “Early in the pandemic, we realized the absolute importance of mental wellness during this time of deep change. We enabled resources ranging from webinars, workshops to curated content developed by experts on our wellness platform to support the mental and emotional well-being of employees and their families. We are also integrating well-being experiences into our products to help prioritize well-being for every employee.”

Technology can help meet the employee where they are and connect everyone in a digital workplace. With the help of digital solutions and digital culture, organizations are becoming more sensitive about building workplaces that are inclusive, accessible, and committed to supporting employees to do their best work, agnostic of where they are working from.

The N e w Workplace

empathy, and, of course, assume greater societal and environmental responsibility,” stated Shailesh Singla, Country Head & Senior Director, HCM Cloud, Oracle India.

As a solution, Shailesh suggested the flexibility should not only be limited to remote working options but should also include offering employees a variety of opportunities to constantly evolve. It is the employers' ability and intent to make a concerted attempt to make tasks faster and easier for their employees while providing positive experiences that will reap them the benefits of greater employee satisfaction, engagement, performance, and productivity. What could enable both organizations and employees to make the transition to the new world of work? Experts believe that technology will be a great enabler to both HR and business.

august 2021 |

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True hybrid working offers the best of both worlds: BIG

I N TERVIEW

Jaguar Land Rover’s Dave Williams

In this Big Interview with People Matters, Dave Williams, Executive Director, Human Resources, Jaguar Land Rover, shares interesting insights on the current world of work landscape with offices reopening in several countries, what will make ‘hybrid mode’ the future of work, and how the best companies are leading their teams to come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic

By Mastufa Ahmed

D

ave Williams was appointed as Jaguar Land Rover’s Executive Director of Human Resources in July 2020. He joined the company as Head of Employee Relations at Solihull Manufacturing Operations in 2007, before taking on the role of HR Director of Global Marketing, Sales and Service. As HR Director, Operations, Dave was integral to the Organization Development in China underpinning huge growth and led the transformation of the HR Operat-

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| august 2021

ing Model. More recently, he was responsible for the people workstream of the company’s Charge transformation program which created a leaner and more resilient organization.

Before Jaguar Land Rover, Dave started his HR career with Ford in 1998, working in various roles across HR including British and European Marketing and Sales Organizations, UK Parts, and Service Operations and Manufacturing.

Dave has a Masters in Personnel Management

from University of the West of England and a BA in Business Admin from Middlesex University. He is also Chair of Governors at the Warwick Manufacturing Groups’ Solihull Academy for Young Engineers, a Parent Governor at his children’s primary school, a Governing Board Member for Evanta, a professional training and coaching network, and is an Advisory Board Member for The Partnering Partnership - a dedicated network for HR Business Partners.

Here are the excerpts.

BIG I N TERVIEW

august 2021 |

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I N TERVIEW BIG 28

How do you see the current world of work landscape with offices reopening in several countries while new strains of Coronavirus wreaking havoc in other countries?

Clearly, the safety and well-being of our employees across the world comes first.

We have taken a cautious yet practical approach throughout the pandemic to ensure that we can adapt to the ever-changing situation and continue to provide a work environment that our colleagues feel safe in, wherever they are located.

The situation continues to change rapidly around the world and different countries are facing different challenges and timelines.

We’re continuing to monitor and adapt to the situation as it evolves and working closely with our global HR colleagues to provide the right guidance and support, tailored to local circumstances.

What’s your take on the ‘hybrid’ workplaces which a lot of organizations globally are embracing? Is ‘hybrid mode’ the future of work?

Whilst it’s been great seeing our colleagues returning to Jaguar Land Rover sites as local lockdown restrictions began to ease, the pandemic has created the opportunity for our employees to create new work routines, working both | august 2021

from the office and from home, where roles allow.

We are adopting hybrid working because our employees told us this is how they prefer to work following the pandemic.

We believe it supports wellbeing and inclusivity; we’re confident it will improve engagement and also reduce employee travel, supporting our sustainability targets. I believe hybrid working will provide us with more choice and flexibility around how, when, and where we work, to enable a balance that suits our individual needs, the needs within teams, and the wider needs of the business.

For the roles where it is appropriate, hybrid working enables our people to make responsible choices about where they work in collaboration with their team-mates – office or remote - and also to choose what their schedule looks like within their working day.

During the lockdown, I was fortunate to be able to trial working flexibly and have a good home set up in a ‘posh shed’ in my garden!

But even with a great setup, at times it did feel isolated, and I definitely missed the opportunity to collaborate more fully on more challenging topics - so I think true hybrid working offers the best of both worlds.

Successful implementation of hybrid working will depend on a collaborative approach, and honest conversations between colleagues, managers, and wider teams, to establish the ways of working which best ensure the delivery of business outcomes, whilst also supporting team preferences.

I’m confident that adopting hybrid working will support Jaguar Land Rover culturally; fueling innovation, agility, and value creation to truly transform our

business and help us realize our global Reimagine strategy.

- and prioritizing resources accordingly. In our case, we have fully reevaluated our strategy. In February 2021, Jaguar Land Rover launched its new global strategy, Reimagine, a plan which will see us transition to being an electric-first business. We also want to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039. Reimagine enables us to prioritize our activities so that we know exactly what we need to do to achieve our strategic vision - to create a new

we are working to find a balanced approach for all our people, supporting them whether they are working remotely or on-site.

What are some of the areas successful companies are focusing on most amid this uncertainty?

From a business strategy perspective, I think the uncertainty created by the pandemic has led to many companies critically evaluating their activities - assessing what is truly value add

I N TERVIEW

Hybrid working will provide us with more choice and flexibility around how, when, and where we work, to enable a balance that suits our individual needs, the needs within teams, and the wider needs of the business

BIG

Do you see a synergy in terms of how the best companies are leading their teams to come out stronger on the other side of the pandemic?

I think a lot of companies have taken the opportunity to reflect on how they can change their ways of working to both help employee well-being but also suit the needs of the business. At Jaguar Land Rover, we wanted to really engage with our employees to get their perspective on what the new world of work could look like. We used feedback from employee surveys and colleague workshops to help inform our approach on new ways of working, coming out of the pandemic. The critical learning for me is the need to think about the "purpose" of where and how we work – so the experience of being in the office is meaningful, using the opportunity to interact as a team, and not just spending the day conducting virtual meetings from a different location.

During the pandemic, we’ve learned a lot about effective remote working but we need to remember the importance of "in-person" interaction for strong relationships, collaboration, learning, and our well-being - all humans need human

interaction! For me, finding the right balance is key – doing the right activities in the right place, with the right people, to make the office experience meaningful.

Of course, many of our people have worked on-site throughout the pandemic, such as our Manufacturing colleagues, or have roles that require coming into the office more often, so in many cases, the hybrid working model is less applicable and we need to also manage for that. Workplaces are evolving and at Jaguar Land Rover

benchmark in environmental, societal, and community impact for a modern luxury business.

We have put into action a transformation plan, named Refocus, to drive the first essential priorities on this journey. From a people perspective, we are working to install true organizational agility, starting in our engineering teams where literally thousands of people will move to agile ways of working this year. This includes new business behaviors that august 2021 |

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I N TERVIEW BIG 30

will underpin the levels of empowerment required to make agile successful, and finally a range of workplace initiatives that support this - including the hybrid working model we have developed.

Almost all businesses are forced to reimagine how they work, experiment with new things, and most importantly get broken things right. What traits will distinguish highly successful companies in the transition to the post-pandemic workplace?

I think businesses that are open and willing to adapt to changes, post-pandemic, will be the most successful. The pandemic has provided us with an opportunity to really look at what is working – as well as what isn’t - and instill long-term changes to both our strategy | august 2021

and our organization which will protect our sustainable future. As I mentioned, agile working is a practice that we’re embracing at Jaguar Land Rover with the principles of team-working, moving at pace, and fast failing being traits which we believe will enable our business to continue to flourish.

Another area where this is embodied is in our InDigital program – a driving force to transform our business, powered by data and technology. The program delivers real impact at a global scale, taking an agile approach to delivering digital transformation and helping the business fulfill our Reimagine strategy.

Reimagine has provided us with a roadmap that provides a clear direction for the business and our two brands. We will become a more agile business, with a

simplified manufacturing operation and organization structure. Alongside this, to help us succeed, collaboration is key. Facilitating closer collaboration and knowledge-sharing with our fellow Tata Group companies will enhance sustainability and reduce emissions, as well as enable us to share best practices in next-generation technology, data, and software development leadership.

Finally, we are seeing an increased global focus on sustainability, with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics helping businesses to ensure longterm resilience, value creation, and competitive advantage. At Jaguar Land Rover, this is embodied in our Reimagine strategy which places true sustainability at the center of everything we do - from design to engineering, from supply chain to manufacturing processes.

HR has arguably never been so critical and has never been more visible.

We’ve been hearing a lot about the shifting role of talent leaders since the start of the pandemic. What’s your view of the HR landscape today and how is this going to evolve in the next 2 years?

Jaguar Land Rover is going through a rapid transformation to an electricfirst business as part of our

Reimagine strategy. We’re facing changes from a strategic perspective and also from the changes we’re seeing as we emerge from the pandemic i.e. hybrid working. HR has, and will always, play a vital role in developing, reinforcing, and changing the culture of an organization.

HR has a leadership role in transforming the business – the significant changes implied by shifting the organization to agile ways of working, the instilling of the behavior

training and developing our existing employee base to support them through our transformation.

What is the most significant thing that came out during this pandemic about leadership according to you?

Throughout the pandemic, and as we have implemented our Reimagine strategy, I have sought to communicate with our workforce in as open and transparent a manner as possible. That includes,

sometimes, saying that I don’t have all the answers but seeking to engage in an adult dialogue about where we are, to build trust and two-way communication. At a time of great change and uncertainty, I have found this to be really helpful in terms of engagement.

For the post-pandemic world, do you think the archetype of a successful leader will have to be reimagined?

I N TERVIEW

set required to underpin empowerment, ensuring we are developing and attracting the next generation of digital leaders and that we are building and developing the critical capabilities to succeed. As previously mentioned, data and technology, as well as software and electrification, are key areas for us, so not only do we need to make sure we attract the best future talent to join us, we also need to balance this with reskilling,

The pandemic exposed the current state of affairs when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusivity while offering us an opportunity to fix broken links.

What should be the way for businesses to leverage this moment and fix the gaps?

Given the challenges of the last 18 months, it is more important than ever that we all work together to ensure everyone within our business feels included, safe, and respected at all times.

At Jaguar Land Rover, we encourage all colleagues to actively and positively talk about diversity and incluaugust 2021 |

BIG

We are on a continual journey of improvement to foster a culture that is representative of our global customers and the societies in which we live; a culture in which every one of our employees can bring their authentic self to work and reach their full potential

I think some of the themes that have emerged from the pandemic suggest that successful leaders will place more focus on diversity and inclusion, employee well-being, company purpose, and the growing role of technology in the workplace.

But probably, most important is the concept of "servant leadership". The world we live in now is so ambiguous – working in that environment must finally kill off the concept that leaders "have the answers". Leaders have a role to play in terms of setting the strategic direction but, after that, the role is to coach and empower their teams to solve the challenges being faced.

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BIG

I N TERVIEW

sion, to be curious, to have an open mindset, to welcome diverse thinking, feedback and challenge. Our senior teams are undertaking diversity and inclusion immersion sessions, to equip our leaders with the knowledge and understanding that will enable them to reflect on how they will personally act as role models and champions. We are immensely grateful to our employeeled Diversity & Inclusion Networks for their support and commitment to creating positive cultural change.

How do you see the larger HR tech and work tech scenario today? Can you give us an overview of how JLR is embracing HR and work tech such as people analytics?

This will be absolutely fundamental – we are building the HR Data and Technology team and putting it at the heart of the func-

Some of the themes that have emerged from the pandemic suggest that successful leaders will place more focus on diversity and inclusion, employee well-being, company purpose, and the growing role of technology in the workplace Nevertheless, as a global, multicultural organization, we know our work in this space has just begun. We are on a continual journey of improvement in order to foster a culture that is representative of our global customers and the societies in which we live; a culture in which every one of our employees can bring their "authentic self" to work and reach their full potential.

The job of the Executive team and every leader and

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manager is to create an environment that enables this.

The role of every employee is to actively contribute toward this.

| august 2021

tion. The vision is to enable "next-generation shared service"; an end-to-end connected digital experience for employees, where they can interact with all the core service propositions on their terms - and in their time. This will enable us to refocus what we do and turn the shared service proposition into a data and technology-led proactive capability that drives everything we do in HR – it will be the engine room for the function.

One important lesson (personal/professional) that you have learned from this pandemic?

The overwhelming emotion I feel as I look back over the last 18 months is pride. Despite the most incredible challenges, the Jaguar Land Rover team has pulled together and continues to pull us through, delivering outcomes we would not have thought possible at the start of the pandemic.

Little could we ever have imagined, when we first implemented our COVID19 safe working protocols, that we would still be working under many of these constraints over 18 months later. I know it’s been a tremendously challenging time for everyone. Whether working from home or working on-site, we've all had to deal with huge amounts of change and uncertainty, as we’ve never experienced before. Many of us have also had to deal with the enormous, and painful, loss of friends and loved ones. My heart goes out to all those affected.

Working during the pandemic has, at times, stretched us all to our limits.

I could not be prouder of our global Jaguar Land Rover family for all they have done, and continue to do, to keep our business operating successfully under the most challenging of circumstances.

Diane Hernandez

Onboarding foreign nationals under restrictive travel requirements The biggest factor limiting travel into the United States right now continues to be COVID-19 infection rates around the world, which are surging again due to lagging vaccination rates and highly contagious variants of the virus

around the world, which are surging again due to lagging vaccination rates and highly contagious variants of the virus.

In order to prevent additional surges in the U.S., four presidential proclamations have been issued between March 2020 and January 2021, that apply to foreign nationals who have been physically present in China, Iran, the Schengen Area of Europe, Ireland, the United King-

dom, Brazil, South Africa, and India, within the immediately preceding 14 days before the actual or attempted entry to the United States.

These travel restrictions also apply to individuals traveling through a U.S. airport on the way to another destination.

Despite the continued spread of COVID-19, there has been a renewed demand for international travel – both for U.S. citizens hoping to travel abroad and for foreign nationals wishing to enter the United States. The U.S. Department of State, which issues passports to U.S. citizens, but also operates U.S. embassies and consulates around the world, is dealing with a backlog of more than two million cases of individuals seeking visas to enter the United States. This backlog has built up over the last year due to the virus, which forced the closure of facilities and the reduction of staff in many facilities. In India, august 2021 |

Employee Onboarding

A

lthough the Biden Administration has reversed a series of restrictive entry policies since January 2021, U.S. employers are experiencing long delays in getting their foreign national employees into the country to start or continue working for U.S. companies.

The biggest factor limiting travel into the United States right now continues to be COVID-19 infection rates

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for example, U.S. consulates remain very limited in the services they can provide to travelers. COVID-19 case numbers are declining in most regions of India, but there continue to be local hotspots, and some individuals have become infected with a serious fungal infection that carries an extremely high mortality rate.

State Department staffing shortages have been addressed, but the large backlog of cases in many countries remains. Many U.S. embassies and consulates have not yet resumed routine visa services in all locations, and many consulates are providing emergency-only appointments for those who wish to travel to the United States, so the backlog continues to grow.

Specific facility operation constraints vary based on local conditions and restrictions but include local and national lockdowns, travel restrictions, individual country quarantine regulations, and State Department measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

Some interviews for qualifying applicants are being canceled, and there is no consistency or predictability in how future appointments will be handled. One frustrating factor is that many of the pending cases are considered “documentarily qualified,” meaning that the | august 2021

individual only needs the final visa issuance to travel to the U.S., yet these individuals are still unable to get through the system.

The Biden Administration has attempted to address these backlogs by identifying four levels of immigrant (permanent) visa priority and has determined several categories of non-immigrant (temporary) visa processing priorities. U.S. companies typically bring workers in from overseas on non-immigrant visas, such as the H-1B, the L1, etc. For these employers, there are a few options to consider when faced with the inability to onboard a foreign national employee who is stuck overseas.

National Interest Exception: Each of the four presidential proclamations allows for certain exceptions and specifies entry eligibility for individuals whose entry would be in the national interest. These foreign nationals can qualify for a blanket exception to the proclamations, such as students, foreign diplomats, and others.

Students with F1 or M1 visas traveling to begin or continue academic studies are not required to seek individual national interest exceptions (NIE), as they will be automatically considered for the NIE, as long as the student is entering the U.S. no earlier than 30 days prior to the start of academic stud-

ies. For students that have been present in India and a handful of other countries, NIE eligibility will only be considered if the academic program begins on or after August 1, 2021. The State Department confirmed that this guidance applies to workers who are entering the U.S. to start or continue working in OPT or STEM/ OPT status for an employer.

For foreign national workers who do not fall within these excepted categories, State Department guidance released in May of 2021 may be applicable. The State Department expanded the criteria of travelers who may be issued a national interest exception, regardless of the individual’s country of origin. This expanded guidance includes workers who will provide vital support or executive direction for critical infrastructure. These are sectors whose assets, systems, and networks are considered to be so vital to the United States that if they were to be incapacitated or destroyed, it would have a debilitating effect on national security, economics, public health, or public safety.

The list of what is considered critical infrastructure is not clearly defined by the State Department, however, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides that critical infrastructure includes various economic sectors, including

why it is necessary for the employee to travel, why the travel is urgent, and how the work that the employee will do directly impacts one of the critical infrastructure sectors identified in the DHS guidance. The request for the NIE should be made concurrently with the request for an emergency visa appointment. If the NIE is granted and the individual is issued a visa for entry to the U.S., the actual visa issued in the person’s passport should include an NIE notation. On June 29, 2021, the State Department

Despite the continued spread of COVID-19, there has been a renewed demand for international travel – both for U.S. citizens hoping to travel abroad and for foreign nationals wishing to enter the United States appointment, even if the consulate post is not open for routine visa processing.

Employers who are assisting foreign national workers to secure an NIE should prepare a letter, requesting the designation for the employee, explaining why the employee is eligible for the exception, offering evidence to support the assertion, and requesting an emergency visa appointment where required. Employers should include information in the request letter about

issued guidance stating that once granted, an NIE will be valid for 12 months from the date of approval, for multiple entries, unless otherwise indicated, and as long as they are used for the purpose for which they were granted.

Entry through a third country: Individuals from countries listed in the Presidential Proclamations may be able to travel to a third country, such as Mexico, for the 14-day waiting period prior to entering the United

States. This would not guarantee entry to the U.S., but the travel restrictions currently in place would not prevent individuals from requesting entry from a third country.

Consulate options: Employers should keep in mind that foreign travelers can visit almost any consulate abroad, and it does not necessarily have to be the embassy or consulate in that person’s home country. It can be helpful for an individual to process a visa within his or her home country, and sometimes it may be the preferable option due to language and culture issues, but it is not required. Selecting an alternate consulate that is more fully operational could be an option for workers stuck abroad.

Remote work solutions: Employers may have the option of having foreign nationals work from abroad.

This kind of arrangement does not implicate U.S. immigration law, and if a company is able to have employees work remotely, this could be a way to bring foreign employees onboard without waiting for a visa to be issued.

Employers should consider any employment laws of other countries and any tax implications that may arise from this type of arrangement.

Employee Onboarding

those involving chemicals, communications, critical manufacturing, energy, financial services, food and agriculture, healthcare and public health, information technology, transportation, and other similar sectors.

Although procedures for requesting a NIE for an employee are constantly evolving and can differ between consulate posts, the process requires the individual traveler to proactively demonstrate his or her eligibility for the exception. If successful, the individual may be able to get a visa

Diane Hernandez is an attorney at the American law firm Hall Estill in its employment and immigration law practice. august 2021 |

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Dr. Raju Mistry talks about navigating talent challenges at an extraordinary time Talent Management

From ensuring uninterrupted supply of medicines to prioritizing the health and well-being of the employees, while keeping their morale high, Cipla’s Global Chief People Officer Dr. Raju Mistry talks about navigating unique talent demands

By Jerry Moses

F

rom producing life supporting drugs to enabling the supply chain for global vaccines, Cipla is one of the major pharmaceutical companies at the forefront of tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this exclusive interview with People Matters, the company’s President and Global Chief People Officer, Dr. Raju Mistry talks about how the company realigned their talent priorities to accelerate the efforts to fight the pandemic.

Cipla is one of the companies that is producing essential COVID19 drugs including Tocilizumab, Remdesivir. Could you talk about the top talent priorities during this time?

We are in the business of saving lives and true to our philosophy of ‘Caring for Life’ our colleagues demonstrated extraordinary dedication to help combat the challenges that we faced during COVID-19.

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| august 2021

How did you overcome / are still working on the challenges of scaling up your efforts – including hiring at scale, training efficiency and focusing on quality?

To address the challenges we faced amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we lay our focus on three key steps to attain efficiency: Training: At Cipla, Learning & Development (L&D) has always been a key enabler of creating a future ready organization. The objective of our L&D interventions is to support technical, functional and leadership development opportunities.

In terms of adoption, employees have responded positively to change, and the global roll-out of the new learning management

systems has further helped to ease the transition and provide access to virtual learning. Additionally, modules to coach the trainers for best practices in facilitating virtual sessions are also a part of our virtual learning strategy.

Hiring: In corporate roles, we have been able to broaden the horizon of search for talent, owing it to the work-from-anywhere compatible roles and our hybrid working model. For other roles, we looked at local hiring due to limitations of mobility.

With the rapid changes that we have witnessed in the last few quarters, upskilling of talent for functional as well as behavioral skills will be key for the success of an organization Focus on Quality: Quality of talent is of paramount importance to us since our products are closely associated with the wellbeing of patients. It is crucial that hiring is equally supported by employee well-being. For this cultural and technical assimilation, our on-boarding process MiCipla was digitized. We have been working towards a global platform for on-boarding and induction for employees, one that provides a seamless experience globally to everyone. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive, and has also helped us enrich the program further.

Talent Management

Being a part of an industry that is at the forefront of battling against the pandemic, we have to ensure an uninterrupted supply of medicines for critical treatments and access to COVID-19 drugs while ensuring that our employee health and well-being is not compromised and that their morale is kept high.

While its critical for us to ensure optimum attendance at the manufacturing plants for uninterrupted production, what made me feel immensely proud was the bold response that we have received from our Ciplaites who stepped up for the cause of patient care and safety. They embraced the challenge that COVID-19 posed and showed up for work to make a positive difference to the millions of lives that Cipla impacts.

What was the role of technology in meeting your workforce needs, august 2021 |

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and in supporting your employees in their day to day work?

The work-from-anywhere approach was adapted to, very well by our corporate employees.

Now, in our second year of ‘workfrom-anywhere’ we can see how this approach allowed us to leverage our digital strength and use it as an enabler for future readiness across functions – from Finance, Supply Chain, HR, Manufacturing and Sales.

Additionally, we have also worked on a dedicated intervention for Digital Learning. As a part of this program, employees across the organization are undergoing various training interventions ranging from– self-paced self-learning, online programs, digital content on specific topics like AI, ML and VR to name a few.

Cipla University’s digital learning platform Percipio has also played a significant role in providing continuous real-time access to employees for learning material | august 2021

on a wide variety of topics. On an average, about 12000 employees access nearly 3000 courses every month.

Some additional areas where technology has enabled workforce management: • Daily health declaration app (detailed later in response to COVID management) • Hybrid Working: MiSpaces app for aiding safe utilization of workspace • Global adoption of MS Teams in a span of 7-10 days was a game changer in continuing the uninterrupted business momentum • Digitization of L&D • Launch of app and portal for managing employee queries 24x7 with help of a chatbot • Management of vaccination drives across India Technology, automation and hybrid work models will continue to work in industries where business functions are not impacted.

The onset of the pandemic led to a shift in our trainings from classroom sessions to digital, including the on-boarding module. In many cases, the content design was revamped to drive engagement in the absence of classroom engagement. So far, about 24 programs have been digitized.

What are some of the efforts that you have taken to support your employees during the pandemic?

Which of your initiatives has been the most impactful?

We constituted a special COVID-19 taskforce to put health protocols in place like daily

Apart from the above, we have also focused on: • Formulating policies for managing culture and productivity in light of the current disruptions.

• Powering e-learning as a key tool for learning and development practices in the organization.

• Powering employees to project manage independently through an effective tool or mechanism.

• Adopting technology that will quickly power these practices and enable a collaborative workspace.

• Looking after the mental and emotional well-being of employees

The ‘pharmaceutical and healthcare’ industry is one of the few sectors that is likely to impact the job market positively. How are you looking at the jobs outlook for the year?

In my opinion, with the rapid changes that we have witnessed in the last few quarters, upskilling of talent for functional as well as behavioral skills will be key for the success of an organization and an individual in the current circumstances.

Adoption of digital as a medium right from on-boarding and induction, to learning, recognition, connecting with leadership via virtual townhalls and

Technology, automation and hybrid work models will continue to work in industries where business functions are not impacted

Talent Management

health monitoring, sanitization, provision of safety gear and preventing surface contact, appropriate social distancing, ensuring ease of commute and more.

Amidst the surging cases of the second wave of the pandemic, we set up mediclaim and COVID19 insurance for all our on-roll and off-roll employees. In terms of on-ground help, we helped our employees with getting access to critical medical facilities like doctor consultations, ambulances, quarantine centres, hospital beds, oxygen across 17 states, in 28 locations in the country. We also set up COVID-19 Care Centres across all our sites for our employees.

We established a ‘Caring for Life Financial Assistance Policy’ to provide a helping hand to a bereaved employee’s family. We also facilitated Special Medical Insurance policy for COVID – 19 for the Contractual Workforce.

query management will be essential to provide a good overall experience to the employees.

We have continued our momentum with respect to talent acquisition throughout the year.

The jobs outlook continues to remain positive for the right set of talent, and we will continue to look at improving our talent index functionally, while staying focused on hiring for the right culture fit. Cipla’s purpose of Caring for Life, our Leadership Essentials and Credo are firmly ingrained in the hiring process and this will continue in the future too. august 2021 |

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Elizebeth Varghese

Organizational culture cannot be static

Changing your culture is not a one-time event that involves an employee survey or a new foosball table in the break room. Culture change must be a deliberate effort to redefine how people think, feel, and act to drive business success

Digital Culture

T

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he pandemic has fundamentally changed work and life. It has been a significant catalyst that has transformed our outlook on people, work, and culture.

The new world of work warrants agility, adaptability, innovation, and customercentricity as the critical components of work culture.

COVID-19 has upended the culture at work. Remote and hybrid modes of work have challenged how leaders and co-workers connect. With uncertain times still at the forefront – and hybrid work set to be planned by most employers over the coming months, a new approach to culture must uphold more inclusive communication methods with remote workers.

That is because, unlike preCOVID-19 times, employees are no longer anchored to their desks. Instead, workers are now increasingly mobile, location-agnostic, and demand more flexible work arrangements. This calls for | august 2021

the consideration of adjusting policies and procedures moving forward.

As a result, the needs of workers and employees are getting complicated. So, how can companies create a vibrant culture where the best minds are connected and driven to perform at their optimum levels? It is crucial to focus on three critical aspects of corporate cultural transformation – talent, tech, and leadership.

Talent

According to a recent study

by the IBM IBV (Institute for Business Value), “The traditional ways of assessing performance, of judging which businesses are worth learning from, were dramatically upended in 2020…

The global pandemic and ensuing rolling lockdowns ravaged some industries and locations while boosting others. Moreover, the heavy impact of circumstantial factors meant that sometimes merely being in the right place was rewarded, and merely being in the wrong place was punished.”

“Only 10 percent of HR leaders are confident their organizations understand the culture they currently have, as opposed to the one they want,” according to a corporate governance survey conducted by the US National Association of Corporate Directors “normal”. According to an article from Harvard Business Review, “There have been many calls for restructuring how work is done, including making more room for our families and questioning the real value of the eight-hour (or more) workday. Now is a time for companies to step back and re-examine which traditional ways of working exist because of convention, not necessity.” The question at hand is, “post-pandemic, can we create a system that fits real workers, not just ideal-

Digital Culture

For the survey, the IBV study applied a two-factor screen to the data provided by 3,000 CEOs. First, it identified those who reported high revenue growth compared to their peers over three years – from 2018 to 2020. About 20 percent of respondents met that two-pronged standard of outperformance. Unfortunately, a similar-size group of respondents – also 20 percent – reported belowpar revenue growth. Second, IBV compared the responses of the “Outperformers” with those of the “Underperformers” – and saw dramatic differences.

“Outperformers entered 2020 with higher revenue growth than their competitors and have since widened their advantage – from a 5-7 percentage point difference in the annual rate of growth,” the study notes.

“For organizations with US$10 billion in annual revenue, this difference in revenue growth is equivalent to an additional US$700 million annually.”

The necessity to figure out things on the fly has underscored another crucial capability: learning and adapting. This pandemic has demonstrated how change can affect our daily work lives in a split second. It has been detrimental to learn, grow, adapt, and change the way we “normally” worked, to better create a new

ized ones?” As we continue to fall back into pre-COVID times, it is important to consider all the pros and cons we learned from this pandemic to be willing to experiment and adapt to a new way of work-life.

Achieving an aspirational culture is the single most critical success factor for strategic HR transformation and digital reinvention. That involves reimagining strategy, operations, workforce, and technology. The organizational culture cannot be static. As it embarks on a august 2021 |

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Digital Culture 42

digital reinvention journey, at the heart of that transformation is continuous and accelerated culture change.

Changing your culture is not a one-time event that involves an employee survey or a new foosball table in the break room. Culture change must be a deliberate effort to redefine how people think, feel, and act to drive business success.

The four dimensions of an organization’s culture are mindset (which is what employees think), values (how employees feel), behaviors (what employees do), and tangible (what employees see). These four factors collectively determine how employees experience culture in the organization.

“Only 10 percent of HR leaders are confident their organizations understand the culture they currently have, as opposed to the one they want,” according to

| august 2021

a corporate governance survey conducted by the US National Association of Corporate Directors. “The problem for many organizations is that their current culture is not aligned with their strategic aspirations, is not defined within the business, is not measured in terms of values, beliefs and behaviors, and is not leveraged, monitored or reinforced – either for new hires or existing employees.”

Tech

How can organizations best exploit digital innovation? The answer hinges on whether the corporate culture allows optimal exploitation of resources and tools – including HR tech tools, collaboration tools, engagement, and productivity monitoring platforms, digital whiteboards, smartphone chat groups – to reach out to

employees and build meaningful relationships.

Top organizations solicit feedback and drive purposeful dialogue with their workers to build trust and make employees feel heard.

Leaders are betting on the best tools and parsing data to understand workplace dynamics and organizational culture.

The path forward is to build a culture of engagement, ownership, and accountability among the employees. In addition, leaders need to reinforce critical aspects of their culture for their dispersed employees through innovative use of technology to create more productive workplaces, aligned teams, deeper connections and drive better business outcomes.

After all, strong company culture gets developed when each employee’s job is essential to the whole.

Hence, organizations need to embed trust and transparency in the virtual working environment. But then, unfortunately, some organizations try to monitor workers ceaselessly and put them on a tight leash – more than they did during prepandemic times.

On the other hand, employees crave transparency as a crucial cultural factor. The pandemic has offered organizations the opportunity to spruce up their policies and reset

aspects of culture by sustaining trust and openness. It is worthwhile to note that holding onto the best talent is about relationships, not perks. This pandemic has lacked social interaction and the creation and maintenance of relationships, so it is vital to make employees feel needed, wanted, and in the know.

Similarly, companies need to transform their learning culture. Since last year, we have seen a paradigm shift in employee growth and development as workers

Leadership

So, what should the leader, or the CEO, do? First, the CEO can start building support for “agile” by calling attention to how work has improved and identifying processes and incentives to hardwire the benefits.

Second, to accelerate digital transformation, the CEO needs to step back and reassess roadmaps by monitoring plans for what needs to be done, by whom and when, from the leadership level down to the front line, and the assumptions about value

started working from their homes. Millennial employees are especially keen to work for companies that allow opportunities to grow.

The onus of creating a remote culture should not land only on the shoulders of tech leaders. Building a robust culture is a leadership challenge. The onset of the pandemic has tightened the partnership of chief technology officers and people managers, and this will only mature in the so-called new normal.

and feasibility underlying them. If data and technology are now going to be at the core of organizations, this likely means building some degree of machine learning and/or artificial intelligence into the mix.

How can companies get started on resetting their digital cultures? Begin with the following steps: • Stop avoiding the topic of culture. Be willing to explore and make radical changes in your company.

As companies pick themselves up with new working arrangements, they need to revamp their work culture in line with their core values and ensure that their corporate cultures are adaptable.

Exploiting technology to build the social fabric that attracts and holds the best talent together is the only option.

Digital Culture

With ‘hybrid’ mode of work set to be planned by most employers over the coming months, a new approach to culture must uphold more inclusive communication methods with remote workers

• Create the building blocks. Formulate a clear vision of your aspirational culture progression.

• Define in terms of values, mindset, behaviors, and the tangible.

• Know where you are.

Identify the elements or dimensions present or lacking in your current culture.

• Analyze your strategy and competitive landscape; determine cultural factors that will enable success.

• Drive dialogue and discussion across the enterprise to ensure understanding.

References:

• https://newcareer.visme.co/ projects/vdjw46qz-organizationalculture-change-and-digital-reinvention-one-sheet#s1 • https://www.ibm.com/thoughtleadership/institute-businessvalue/report/ceo • https://hbr.org/2020/04/what-willwork-life-balance-look-like-afterthe-pandemic

Elizebeth Varghese is the Global Leader for IBM’s Talent & HR Strategy Reinvention. august 2021 |

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HR and technology have married for a greater impact on employee engagement: Unisys' Maria Sitaramayya Between digitalisation and the hybrid working model, processes are changing, HR's scope of work is changing, and the way leaders have to lead is changing.

Maria Sitaramayya, Vice President Human Resources at Unisys Asia Pacific, talks about some of the changes and challenges she and her team have encountered

By Mint Kang

J

ust as the remote working model forced digital strategies to accelerate last year, so digitalisation in turn has forced job scopes and talent management strategies to accelerate. What does this mean for the HR function?

People Matters asked Maria Sitaramayya, Vice President Human Resources at Unisys Asia Pacific, for her thoughts on the convergence of HR's responsibilities and digitalisation. As a technology company, Unisys was well ahead with the use of digital tools in the workplace even before the pandemic—but things have moved even further ahead now, she says.

Here's what she shared.

Can you share some thoughts on how HR's role and the nature of the work have been accelerated in the last year and a half?

When the pandemic hit, we moved to work from home very quickly. Within 48 44

| august 2021

What are some HR policies or approaches that you've seen being reviewed and reformulated as a result of all this?

One thing we have been looking at lately is our leadership development programmes. These used to be delivered face to face, based upon leaders being able to be in the same office as the staff.

Now we have to consider how to lead in a hybrid working environment. How do you take into account the fact that you may have some people in the office and some people at home, and how do you ensure the whole cohort is equally engaged in terms of work? Also for us, we have a huge

Digital is not likely to replace HR, but it has become such an integral part of what we do, and HR professionals need to become very comfortable with knowing what technology is available and how they can use it

I N TERVIEW

hours we moved about 98 percent of the workforce globally to WFH, and we had so many concerns in the process. Is the infrastructure going to hold up? How are we going to ensure that people are able to engage, participate, collaborate, and still continue to work?

Are our tools able to facilitate the process of interacting online?

How should we set up formal touchpoints so that the leadership can engage with the employees either one on one or in team meetings? We saw a great expansion of our original responsibilities.

And now that we are moving into a hybrid working model and people are coming back to the office, HR has to be at the forefront of that once more. We have to make sure that the right collaboration tools are in place, that we have a proper change management process, that the right communication is going out to people.

focus on DE&I (diversity, equity, and inclusion). How do you keep those fundamentals forefront in people's minds, especially when they are in hybrid working environments?

So we did a lot of training around unconscious bias and making sure that leaders are able to adapt to this new environment and connect with their teams more regularly than they used to.

Because in order to see how someone is doing who is not necessarily in the office, you absolutely must have those conversations with them.

And there is a real appetite from our leaders to understand august 2021 |

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how to do better. We are helping them with very practical ways of engaging hybrid workers, and they have been very open to it.

For some of them, it's the first time that they've had to lead in this way, and so they've been very focused on learning.

HR and technology seem to be increasingly converging today.

What does this mean in practice for HR professionals?

I think the convergence of HR and technology is incredibly important. Digital is not likely to replace HR, but it has become such an integral part of what we do, and HR professionals need to become very comfortable with

I think HR needs to continue to be part of organisational change. We can really play a role in providing normalisation or change management as the process happens

knowing what technology is available and how they can use it.

For example, we recently implemented a case management tool through Workday. It was very new to our HR environment, and that meant a lot of change management with the HR team. We had to change the processes: if an employee or leader has an issue, they should raise it through this case management tool instead of immediately going to their HR business partner. And the HR team had to adapt to that because being the first point of contact was supposed to be their job—it's what they would normally do.

But that gave rise to the realisation of how impactful digital tools can be on our roles. We are trying to automate any HR assistance that is operational or tactical, so that we can focus on the strategic partnering aspect of our work, and we're very early on in that evolution.

When I first started in HR, there was a divide between technology and HR. But I do think now that they have married, and the beauty of that is in how incredibly impactful we can be on the engagement of our employees.

In terms of change management, how are you helping the HR team work through the growing digitalisation of their roles?

We're seeing some success in making the HR team part of the process. For example, we make sure that we involve them in decisions around what we can automate, what we can move to a shared services function, and how 46

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What do you think the future of HR might look like?

I think HR needs to continue to be part of organisational change. We can really play a role in providing normalisation or change management as the process happens, building on our own understanding of having

The hybrid working model should facilitate much greater support for DE&I, and that will help us attract, develop, and retain a much broader cohort worked through it ourselves.

Going forward, the hybrid working model should facilitate much greater support for DE&I, and that will help us attract, develop, and retain a much broader cohort. For HR, our role will be in the implementation of the hybrid model and the DE&I support. It becomes a matter of leadership development and leadership training—what I mentioned earlier around managing a hybrid workforce without unconscious bias and being able to treat the remote workers the same as those who are working in the office, so that they continue to have a good experience in how they're collaborating and engaging and being part of the team. august 2021 |

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we can really focus on the work that we're doing at the moment.

We are also looking carefully at the skills required from an HR point of view, and how to develop those. But all through the process, the team must be involved so that this evolution is not just something that's being done to them—it's something that they are part of.

Of course there are people who would prefer to be in a more transactional or operational space, and that's really important too. We need leaders in that space, because they're the ones who can help us determine how to automate and digitise, how to make processes more efficient.

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'Employee journey' takes center stage as HR technology market undergoes massive reinvention

By Mastufa Ahmed

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used systems of productivity, such as Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, and Slack, points outs Josh’s report.

In a workplace that no longer functions on human interaction, the only way HR personnel can ensure employees have a smooth experience is through the adoption of tech tools.

Employers are increasingly investing in building internal L&D capabilities with new learning management systems. We have also seen a rise in sentiment analysis, surveys, and employee listening systems to help HR and business leaders easily identify challenges facing employees.

The pandemic has blurred the lines between personal and professional, resulting in workplace stress exacting a toll on employees' productivity. This essentially means we will see meaningful innovation in the workplace well-being space including employee engagement tools, benefits platforms, and mental health offerings.

Large-scale organizations, including the likes of Salesforce, are actively recognizing that the future of work is distributed. This will warrant HR technologists to learn data analytics to fast track HR decision-making.

Being able to parse data and extract insights will help organizations streamline hiring, diversify recruiting, assess performance, and reward employees more equitably. AI-based algorithms are already changing the way employers find talent with insight into applicants from a variety of sources.

This issue of our magazine attempts to decode the evolution of the HR tech landscape amid this crisis. The story attempts to determine the top drivers organizations factor in to invest in work tech, areas organizations in investing in more, and how organizations are tackling the adoption challenge and making sure their investments are giving them returns.

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isruption. Transformation. Agility, Remote Work: those are some of the words that largely described the world of work in the year 2020. But the fact is all these changes have been happening for a while now well before the pandemic. However, the pace of change and the way several trends came roaring together dramatically was unprecedented. Over the last one and half years, technologies have been playing a crucial role in keeping us functional, and these technologies and disruptive digital innovations may have a long-lasting impact beyond the pandemic.

The HR landscape is undergoing a drastic shift. Next-gen technologies that helped facilitate "work" in remote mode have gone from being something of an experiment to essential for survival. With a growing level of investment from organizations, the HR technology landscape continued to fascinate a lot of hype.

HR Tech, which was by design meant for the benefit of the employer has now shifted to work tech which puts employees at the center stage. HR applications have now invaded areas beyond payroll and employee administration to support a larger set of work arrangements. Another important development in the HR tech market is the mounting focus on the overall employee experience (EX) and the growth of HR tools designed for employees.

According to several reports including Josh Bersin’s, 2021 will see an increasing focus on EX, with more easy-to-use apps that make jobs easier and which slot into existing workplace tools. Even in Asia Pacific, the number of organizations making employee experience a top priority has surged, according to a new survey by Willis Towers Watson. On the other side, technology vendors are scrambling to provide personalized employee experiences; adapt to new job models and agile organization structures; and integrate with commonly

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The HR tech market grew exponentially amid the uncertainty: Global Head of

People Analytics & HR tech, PayPal Organizations are increasingly investing in collaboration, employee listening, well-being, and people analytics, says Dr. Serena H. Huang, Global Head of People Analytics & HR tech, PayPal, in an interaction with us

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r. Serena Huang is currently the Global Head of People Analytics & HR Technology at PayPal. She is a thought leader in people analytics, HR technology, future of work, and employee experience with expertise spanning large multinationals including GE and Deloitte.

Dr. Huang is also a long-time practitioner of mindfulness and leads guided meditations in corporate settings to boost employee well-being.

As a data analytics executive, Dr. Huang is passionate about leading change, building high-performing global teams, and helping business leaders see data as an asset in large organizations. She excels at showing executives the “art of the possible” through both 1-on-1 dialogues and facilitated hands-on workshops, and co-creating customizable, scalable solutions in predictive analytics in HR, workplace strategy, supply chain, and litigation domains. Dr. Huang has built and led on-shore/off-shore analytics teams and capabilities

from the ground up in highly matrixed multi-national corporations over the past 10 years.

Here are the excerpts of the interview.

I am optimistic that one of the implications is the importance of employee experience (EX) is here to stay. In a market that’s candidate-driven, employers who are getting EX right will win the war for talent.

In my conversations with recruiters, I have heard that candidates are expecting more flexibility and support for remote work than before.

This means getting the candidate experience and onboarding experience right will be critical. Don’t forget the offboarding experience.

Organizations must think of ex-employees as potential employer brand ambassadors. A negative review from

an employee who had a bad experience during offboarding can damage the brand and reputation.

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HR Tech, which was by design meant for the benefit of the employer has now shifted to work tech which puts employees at the center stage. There has been a mounting focus on the EX and the growth of work tools designed for employees. How do you see the implication of this trend?

While we see light at the end of the tunnel, the pandemic is not over. There is still a lot of uncertainty and unknowns, though what we know is we will be more flexible and remote than pre-pandemic norms

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As the pandemic influences how people work, it’s also impacting the tech that makes that work possible.

How has the HR tech market evolved over the past one and a half years?

The HR tech market has had explosive growth over the past one and a half years.

There are now have multiple unicorns in this space— Visier is the newest addition to the list of companies valued at more than 1 Billion dollars. I have also seen advancements in technology aiming at improving safety, collaboration, and inclusion for employees. Another interesting trend I’ve seen is the expansion of product offerings via acquisitions, such as the Workday-Peakon deal earlier this year, which gives Workday a new capability around employee experience and feedback.

COVID-19 disruption has shone the spotlight on how technology should be leveraged to manage remote workforces, and meet customers’ and employees’ needs such as well-being. What according to you are the top areas where companies are investing most?

I see collaboration, employee listening, emotional and physical health, and people analytics as four areas in which companies are increasingly investing. Collaboration is august 2021 |

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key to any company’s operations and as we shift towards more hybrid work, it is even more important to ensure collaboration between on-site and remote employees. Employee listening technology has been popular during the pandemic as companies ramp up the frequency of surveys and the out-of-the-box analytics of these platforms have also become more sophisticated.

Telehealth has gained traction during the pandemic out of necessity and now many companies have expanded the benefits to include telehealth and some also provide yoga/meditation/mindfulness apps.

People analytics is another area that has been elevated in the pandemic because of the need to provide actionable insights to the business quickly. Applying predictive modeling to enhance safety, retention, and inclusion

are some examples of how people analytics functions have been able to demonstrate their value beyond basic reporting.

When it comes to work tech, AI and people analytics seem to be ahead of others in terms of implementations.

How are organizations leveraging these next-gen technologies especially people analytics?

This happens because a lot of people analytics teams can see the value of new data sources. If you think about Candidate Relationship Management (CRM), the implementation will not only improve the sourcing and outreach but also give you data on the recruiting process in ways that only having an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) would not. Let’s take workspace reservation technology as another example, having

the data on where and when employees are using certain types of workspace (conference room vs. desk) and combine with survey feedback responses for the same group of employees could answer important questions such as “where do employees feel most innovative and productive?”. This type of use of data should be approved by your legal and privacy teams.

HR technology offers a great way to support workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Do you see a change in how corporations are leveraging work tech to fill those gaps the pandemic brought to the fore?

The topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion has attracted considerable attention since last year. There

Collaboration and inclusion challenges will continue to be top-of-mind for business leaders.

There have been lots of conversations on meeting and collaboration overload. It is helpful to consider how organizations will use tools to optimize productivity 52

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How do you see the adoption of HR tech two years down the line? What are your priorities and new focus areas? How are you leveraging digital tools to foster innovation, collaboration,

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What role can leaders play to ensure a better alignment of HR technology investment and business goals?

And with workplace dynamics changing, how can HR demonstrate a whole new level of agility in the new world of work?

Understand your business drivers. For many

organizations, the ability to innovate and collaborate is critical. Start with a clear focus on what outcomes you need to improve and then find a technology solution.

I always recommend starting with the problem and understand what measurable outcomes to optimize, before jumping into technology solutions. At times, I have found the problem is solvable by changing the process rather than buying a new solution. The use of experiments is a great way to stay agile. I encourage leaders to not be afraid to stop something or pivot quickly based on learnings from the experiments.

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are technology solutions aiming to improve diversity in the hiring process, such as Textio which provides language guidance to ensure job descriptions are inclusive. This is an area where people analytics can provide additional value as well and help identify the areas of opportunities using data. For example, organizations can analyze their attrition data to understand whether there are issues retaining employees of a particular demographic group.

engagement, and productivity?

While we see light at the end of the tunnel, the pandemic is not over.

There is still a lot of uncertainty and unknowns, though what we know is we will be more flexible and remote than prepandemic norms. This means the collaboration and inclusion challenges will continue to be top-ofmind for business leaders.

There have been lots of conversations on meeting and collaboration overload.

It is helpful to consider how organizations will use each tool to optimize productivity. For organizations that have both Microsoft Teams and Slack, for instance, articulate how each tool would be used for communication, collaboration, and even knowledge management. Because there are overlapping functionalities of various technology solutions, it’s important for employee experience to clarify when employees should use each technology. For employee engagement, we have introduced “Random Connect”, which is an enterprise tool that facilitates “water cooler” talks remotely.

It pairs employees with another PayPal colleague for a 30-minute chat and employees can set preferences on the time zone and office location. august 2021 |

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The rise of the digital workplace COVID-19 has forced many organizations to recognize that they must be equipped with important tools for productivity, connectivity, and employee engagement, in order to respond with agility to the disruptive challenges facing the world today

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he impact of COVID-19 in driving forward the global digital transformation agenda will no doubt be felt for decades to come, as an undeniable surge of technological innovation, adoption, and digitalization permeates through almost all aspects of the workplace.

It has also added a new meaning to the old adage that necessity is the mother of all invention. COVID19 has forced many organizations to recognize that they must be equipped with important tools for productivity, connectivity, and employee engagement, in order to respond with agility to the disruptive challenges facing the world today. | august 2021

Understanding the core benefits and challenges in digitalizing the workplace

From talent management to recruitment, operations and administration, the workplace has gone from gradual evolution to rapid revolution - overnight. There are many challenges imposed in the new world order - a socially distant workforce, evolving nature of work, and changing guidelines around employee health

and safety - but beyond just looking internally at what the current requirements are, organizations now also have a greater understanding that there is a real and pressing need to invest in an integrated digital strategy moving forward. Workday’s own research has shown that over a third of business leaders (36%) have said that in three years’ time, the large majority of revenues will come from purely digital streams.

Workday’s own research has shown that over a third of business leaders (36%) have said that in three years’ time, the large majority of revenues will come from purely digital streams

or elevating the employee experience. The impetus for change however, really boils down to organizations wanting to establish a greater sense of control of their operating environment.

Against the uncertainties of the future, organizations can use technology to readily generate a single view of their people, operations, and finances, forecasting how they will be impacted by dynamic conditions and harnessing the power of technology fully.

Leveraging data analytics and machine learning in talent management An important consideration for many organisa-

tions today is just how they can use a seemingly neverending stream of data effectively. According to a report

by Domo, over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every single day, amounting to almost 1.7MB of data created every second for every person on earth.

This highlights the voluminous challenge facing many organizations today.

This is where the concept of machine learning can come in and add value to many organizations. As a method of automated and cognizant data analysis that independently learns and persists throughout all scenarios and situations, machines can learn how

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There are many core benefits from using technology in the workplace, from uncovering talent gaps to enabling greater workforce flexibility or elevating the employee experience

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Success today requires organizations to operate at greater speed and efficiency. However, most organizations find themselves caught within a growing technology acceleration gap where their existing skills, resources, and systems are not compatible with the global pace of change. This acceleration gap was not started by a once-in-a-generation pandemic, but it has certainly brought it to the forefront of the business agenda.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how inadequate traditional enterprise systems are in helping organizations respond to the rapidly digitalizing world.

Static and bureaucratic legacy systems are no longer sufficient to provide the agility and speed required to help business leaders deliver the future-proof workforce environment that today’s fast-moving world requires.

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on the many companies who are ill-equipped to address technological change and risk being left behind.

Against this backdrop, business leaders need to properly weigh the key benefits and challenges when integrating technology into the workplaces of the future.

There are many core benefits from using technology in the workplace, from uncovering talent gaps to enabling greater workforce flexibility

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Beyond any dollar return on investment, business leaders now have the power to shape their workplace and surroundings and build a vibrant, innovative, and outperforming organizational culture that is well-poised for future success to process data and make recommendations through training and/or controlled input data. Given basic instruction, they can excel in a wide-range of applications that humans or other basic algorithms are unsuited for.

The fundamental benefit for machine learning in the organization is how timesaving and resource-efficient it is, all while significantly improving the user experience. Machine learning powers faster and more streamlined HCM functions across an entire employee lifecycle. Machine learning also allows us to sift through | august 2021

tremendous volumes of data to identify patterns and make predictions about future events. In addition, machine learning increases efficiency and eliminates many tasks that were once manual, enabling employees to focus on making highervalue contributions.

Quantifying the returns and benefits of HCM investments

The rise of the digital era has made it increasingly difficult for organizations to ignore the value that having the right HCM partner brings to the table, to the point where many business

leaders are instead talking about the cost of inaction, or what are the costs to their organizations from not working with the right technological partner. To close the widening acceleration gap today, organizations need to realize that sticking with the status quo or choosing “do nothing” inertia are not viable strategies. Instead, they need to choose a system that can keep up with the growing pace of change and help close that gap.

For those who still are not convinced, thankfully, there are many simple and tangible methods to estimate the benefits. Some of these include lower personnel costs, from less time and resources spent to management and recruitment; greater administrative productivity, by freeing up outdated operational processes; and better employee experience and productivity, with less turnover in skills.

Most importantly, beyond any dollar return on investment, business leaders now have the power to shape their workplace and surroundings and build a vibrant, innovative, and outperforming organizational culture that is well-poised for future success.

David Webster is the President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Workday.

Based in Sydney, David oversees Workday’s business across the region

Demand for talent solutions that support workforce agility sees upsurge: Fuel50 CEO and Founder There is a rapid evolution going on in every HR domain from payroll to recruiting to technology, and just about every tech company is trying to build an operating model or a framework to make its products futureready, says Anne Fulton, CEO, and Founder of Fuel50

By Mastufa Ahmed

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for career enablement, talent optimization, and workforce agility. CEO and Founder of Fuel50 which is now operating in 28 countries, and winners of the

The pandemic has changed the work dynamics in a never-before way. How do you see the current business landscape and the evolving role of HR in enabling employees to stay productive amid all this chaos?

The current business landscape is focused on the disruption caused by the global pandemic and lockdown, and how we all cope with that. It has magnified the need for organizations to be able to change and change rapidly. The new buzzwords are things like "agility" and "flexibility," and this speaks to the reality that the only effective way to deal with chaos and unceraugust 2021 |

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nne Fulton is the author of The Career Engagement Game, and is an experienced Organization Transformation expert with a passion

HRTech Awesome New Technology in 2014, Brandon hall Career Pathing Gold Excellence Award 2015 and 2016, and Employee Engagement Award US Vendor of the Year 2018, Top HRE Product 2020, Anne and the Fuel50 team are delivering retention, engagement gains and transforming the employee experience in organizations across the world.

Here are the excerpts of the interview.

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The new buzzwords ‘agility’ and ‘flexibility', speak to the reality that the only effective way to deal with chaos and uncertainty is by being able and willing to react quickly and make smart changes as business conditions change

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tainty is by being able and willing to react quickly and make smart changes as business conditions change.

HR, as you might imagine, is at the heart of this.

The HR team has always had to collaborate across the organization, but now, this is more important than ever. HR leaders need to be collaborating more with employees at every level because they are the people that most employees look to for answers to in this chaotic and uncertain time. The more HR is involved, and the more assistance they can give in helping people to navigate the rapidly-changing business landscape, the more productive the workforce will be.

How do you see the larger HR tech landscape today amid all this chaos? What are the areas HR and talent leaders should focus on right now? | august 2021

The global pandemic HAS created chaos in a great many areas, and HR technology is not immune.

There is a rapid evolution going on in every HR domain from payroll to recruiting to technology, and just about every tech company is trying to build an operating model or a framework to make its products future-ready because the goal today is to make sure that our clients can utilize their technology solutions to help tackle both the problems of today AND the problems of tomorrow.

We are finding accelerated demand right now for an agile workforce, and for a talent marketplace solution that supports workforce agility, reskilling, and the delivery of an inclusive career experience for all employees that is based on principles of fairness and transparency.

How has the impact of the COVID-19 been on your

business? How are you sailing through tough times?

Can you share some of your biggest learnings and experiences from the ongoing crisis with our readers?

Our clients have been under immense pressure and we have had to be responsive and humane in our response too. For example, one of our clients in the UK is Travelodge and they pivoted to support the homeless during these tough times, so we wanted to absolutely support any of our clients who are also doing good work.

Other clients like one of the world’s leading BioTech companies that we work with, were also the first to release a COVID-19 test and we know they used FuelGigs and had delivered over a million reskilling hours over the last year, which meant their workforce was ready to pivot and respond. We are very proud to support them

first-party or hosted events have switched quickly to virtual alternatives."

This has given rise to all manner of technologydriven meeting solutions that attempt to replace in-person gatherings, client interactions, and a variety of business activities that are now all virtual.

We have seen a huge surge in the demand for inclusive talent marketplaces and for agile career frameworks, both to support the rapid redeployment of the workforce and to support workforce agility during these unprecedented times Given your expertise in HR tech, can you share some of the most common workplace challenges that global companies are now trying to solve with technology?

One big challenge that technology is helping with today is what Gartner refers to as "The Distance Economy."

Conferences, meetings, and in-person events were the norm for many businesses prior to 2020, and that's especially true for the HR space, but COVID-19 has changed all that. Gartner makes the case that the global pandemic has "influenced the emergence of the distance economy or business activities that don’t rely on face-to-face activity.

Organizations with operating models that depend on

Companies are also trying to leverage technology to reskill and improve their workforces, and this is what Fuel50 has been doing.

Our talent solution is built on ethical artificial intelligence, and our platform leverages AI to connect people to each other, to their organizations, and to themselves in a fair, transparent, and inclusive way. Leaders can develop relationships with their people like never before.

Organizations are trying to cope with the huge changes that have come their way, and they're looking for ways to not only better connect with their people, but also to better develop and change their workforce to deal with the new business realities of august 2021 |

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What are the key areas of HR function have you seen maximum tech implementations in the last few months, and the categories seeing the greatest levels of innovation from the service provider side?

We have seen a huge surge in the demand for inclusive talent marketplaces and for agile career frameworks, both to support the rapid redeployment of the workforce and to support workforce agility during these unprecedented times. We have also seen an increase in demand for agile career architectures as no organization has the structure it had 6 months ago, so there is a huge demand for the AI agile approach to career

frameworks and skills architecture to ensure we are still delivering organizational clarity and building the talent intelligence that is needed across the organization to ensure there are the right people in the right places to match to their organizations’ rapidly changing demands.

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and the important work they do.

We are also pivoting around the new inclusivity imperative that has swept the world as a result of the BlackLivesMatter movement.

We have always had a deep business commitment to fairness, transparency, and inclusivity and these values have absolutely driven the way we have responded to the pandemic we found ourselves surrounded by as we had to make some tough decisions to future-proof our business too and ensure our team could respond to the surging demands we were experiencing in these unprecedented times.

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2021. And, they are looking for technology solutions to make it all happen.

How do you see the investment in the HR tech space?

What do investors look for before investing in startups like yours?

There is still a lot of interest in the Future of Work space, so we are getting a lot of investment interest now.

We believe that investors are looking for the ability to deliver product-market validation with a proven revenue model that is built on beautiful technology execution and that delivers value back into our client organizations. We also think that a well-rounded, passionate dedicated, and innovative executive leadership team that is mission-aligned makes a difference to a true investor-entrepreneur partnership. | august 2021

having the knowledge that what we're dealing with today will be the reality for the near future, we will be able to better plan and not continue to think this is just a temporary cycle we're in.

I'm not sure what the biggest workplace struggle will be, but I agree with Prof. Christakis and his view that "the shift to working from home will linger."

Organizations that allowed people to work from home as a last resort will now have to confront the reality that they may need to make the decision more permanent.

What do you think will be the biggest workplace struggle But, that may be a good thing, in the long run, both for the going into the future? What organization as well as the do you predict for workplace trends and HR tech in the next employees involved.

In addition, workforce 5-10 years? dynamics are changing, and This past weekend, how we cope with that will The Wall Street Journal published an interesting arti- determine how successful our businesses are moving cle by Nicholas Christakis, ahead, How do we build a the director of the Human better workplace culture if Nature Lab at Yale Univerthe staff never, ever comes sity -- The Long Shadow to work in the same place of the Pandemic: 2024 & Beyond. His point is that the anymore? What happens impact from the Coronavirus to the spur-of-the-moment is going to last for quite some brainstorming that can accidentally happen in an office time and that we won't be environment if there is no into the post-pandemic era office? until 2024 at the earliest.

We may have lots of chalYes, that's a sobering lenges ahead, but also a lot thought because it says that of possibilities too, and from we are going to be dealing great possibilities come great with the business and workresults. Remembering that place chaos we're currently experiencing for a lot longer will help keep us ALL going than we have been thinking. as we push ahead and help The good news is that our businesses and workknowledge is power, and by places evolve.

Why hybrid shouldn’t drive your HR investments Understandably, most of the post-pandemic office plans being announced by employers are hybrid models. It’s with good reason. Yet, a hybrid approach doesn’t suit everybody. Nor should it be the main focus of your investments in HR technology

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and that they were feeling less connected to their company’s community working remotely. Similarly, when asked what things employees liked least about working remotely, the top three were a lack of social connection to co-workers, challenges separating work from personal life, and difficulty collaborating with others.

These contrasting experiences with hybrid models are just one example of why organizations need to direct their efforts in enabling employees to work in ways suited to their individual needs. The challenge is identifying how different

people now want and expect to work, and then enabling hybrid work and workplace solutions at scale.

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he main challenge for organizations embarking on HR transformations across Asia Pacific is bigger than simply enabling employees to be productive when working remotely.

Understandably, most of the post-pandemic office plans being announced by employers are hybrid models. It’s with good reason - a hybrid approach is what many employees want, and the majority of respondents to a recent Qualtrics study across the region said they’ve either maintained or improved their productivity working remotely.

Yet, a hybrid approach doesn’t suit everybody. Nor should it be the main focus of your investments in HR technology.

For example, one in five respondents to the same Qualtrics study said their productivity had decreased

Experience transformation

Right now, every organization is in the middle of an experience transformation.

After the last 18 months, people have different expectations, needs, and preferences toward the way they work. And that’s why the first - and most important - investment in any HR transformation is ensuring employers are regularly engaging their teams to continually listen, underaugust 2021 |

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stand, and act on their changing needs.

I’m not talking about the traditional annual employee engagement program. While this remains an important tool in many HR departments, it does not provide the speed and responsiveness leaders and people managers need to make a difference in today’s fast-moving situations. Instead, employers need to be listening holistically and frequently across multiple moments in the employee journey to understand whether individuals have the services, technology, and work environment to meet their needs at every stage. For instance, do new joiners have easy access or understand how to use the technology they need to do their job remotely, or how is having teams work across locations impacting their ability to effectively collaborate?

This new approach to listening must also make it easy for HR teams to access and analyze data, as well as tailor engagements for changing situations. It means any new listening tool adopted must offer various self-serve capabilities to deliver maximum and rapid value.

Using insights into the employee experience enables employers to make datadriven decisions about future investments and initiatives.

This allows organizations to act with confidence and | august 2021

Investment in any HR transformation should be to ensure employers are regularly engaging their teams to continually listen, understand, and act on their changing needs

Standard Chartered works to balance the benefits of remote working with the social and innovation benefits of face-to-face interaction with clients and colleagues.

The power of listening and acting

The benefits of listening and taking action on feedback extend beyond optimizing technology investments. precision while optimizing When employers listen and resources and encouraging take action on feedback, fast adoption and high usage employee engagement, wellamong employees. being, and intent to stay all increase. When you consider Data-driven decisions organizations that have high The work underway at levels of engagement have up the major international to 4.5x more revenue growth bank Standard Chartered compared to those with low, is a proven example of listening and acting on feedusing employee experiback provides a huge competence insights to drive meanitive advantage. What’s more, ingful change. To ensure it helps attract and retain the bank’s hybrid work talent. model addressed people’s With endless choices and needs, Standard Chartered tools now available, it can expanded its employee listenbe difficult knowing where ing programs to collect both to start as organizations active and passive experiacross Asia Pacific rethink ence insights helping guide and redesign their HR offerthe business forward. ings. This is why being able These listening capabilito regularly listen, underties are now fundamental to stand, and take fast action on how Standard Chartered is the needs of employees needs responding to ongoing busito be the foundation for every ness challenges. For examHR investment and program, ple, the company's future of giving employers the confiwork program adopted at the dence and knowledge they outset of the pandemic has need to kickstart their expeevolved to become a permarience transformations for nent and sustainable way of maximum success. working at Standard Chartered. The program is continSteve Bennetts is the Head of EX ually evolving - informed Strategy and Solutions for Qualtrics in APJ. by employee insights - as

We plan to increase our focus on leveraging tools to foster greater engagement & productivity: Manulife’ Asia CHRO & Head of Global Learning

For Manulife, since 2018, we have invested more than CAD 750 million to enhance our digital capabilities, including for our customers, shareholders, and employees, says Joy Xu, Chief Human Resources Officer, Asia and Head of Global Learning, Manulife

By Mastufa Ahmed

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it accelerated digitalization at unprecedented speed and scale

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oy Xu is the Chief Human Resources Officer, Asia, and Head of Global Learning at Manulife. She is also a member of the Company’s Asia Division Executive Committee.

In April 2020, she took over additional responsibilities as Head of Global Learning and Future of Work in addition to her HR role for Asia.

In her role, Joy works in partnership with Manulife’s business and Human Resources leadership to help drive culture transformation and ensure the Company attracts, develops, and retains a high-performing global workforce.

Prior to joining Manulife, Joy worked for Novartis where she served as Global Head of Human Resources for the company’s Sandoz business, based in Munich, Germany. Prior to that, Joy

was with PepsiCo for almost ten years, holding senior leadership roles in Asia and globally. Joy started her career with Procter & Gamble in 1995 with increasingly broader leadership roles in both China and the US. Joy has significant experience in cultural transformation, diverse talent development, and organizational engagement.

Here are the excerpts of the interview. august 2021 |

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Two main HR tech trends are changing the workplace — corporate culture and learning environment

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What are the top trends according to you in the HR and work tech space today and what is the driving force behind them?

I would say there are two main HR tech trends that are changing the workplace, corporate culture, and the learning environment.

First is a reimagination of the Future Workplace: The pandemic and lockdowns have forced many people to adapt to new ways of working, some of which are here to stay. Depending on job roles and other factors, in the future world of work employees will be able to choose from either working from the office or home every day or a hybrid working routine between the two. One key lesson that has been learned is the value that comes from collaborating in-person. This makes solving problems easier, | august 2021

spurs innovation, and most importantly allows us to build deeper connections with colleagues across our organization. While we recognize that developing those relationships is important for our well-being, we also know that our lives are made easier when we have some flexibility around when and where we do our work. That’s why Manulife recently announced its Working Better initiative, which allows both flexibility and collaboration. We realize that a “one-size-fits-all” approach is no longer a suitable way to enable our colleagues to do their best work.

Second is about being "future-ready": Accelerated shifts in customer expectations and behavior have highlighted the growing need to be nimble and digitally literate. To Manulife,

it’s clear that to sustain our ongoing success and momentum, we need to continue learning new skills that will help us to advance our digital focus and improve our customers’ experiences. We launched a suite of blended training in human-centered design, agile and advanced analytics. That’s why invested heavily in supporting our colleagues and ensured alignment with the transformation of our organization. For example, we launched a new digital learning platform, Pursuit, earlier this year as we ramped up our drive to make learning a priority.

There has been a mounting focus on the employee experience and the growth of work tools designed for employees. How can organizations exploit tech to elevate the employee experience and differentiate themselves from the rest?

At Manulife, we heard from our colleagues that they want more opportunities to learn and grow. We also understand that employees are seeking a more personalized learning experience and

COVID-19 disruption has shone the spotlight on how technology should be leveraged to manage remote workforces, and meet customers’ and employees’ needs such as well-being. What according to you are the top areas where companies are investing most as they come out of this crisis?

Digitization would be the top area. For Manulife, since 2018, we have invested more than CAD 750 million to enhance our digital capabilities, including for our customers, shareholders, and employees. For several years now, despite the pandemic, Manulife’s growth has centered very much around making mean-

HR technology offers a great way to support workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Do you see a change in how corporations are leveraging work tech to fill those gaps the pandemic brought to the fore?

Technology is a powerful tool in our recruitment process, helping us to recognize talent in a very objective way. At Manulife, we are firmly committed to advancing diversity, equity, august 2021 |

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Accelerated shifts in customer expectations and behavior have highlighted the growing need to be nimble and digitally literate

ingful progress in becoming a digital customer leader.

We have deployed humancentered design globally, with a dedicated team of practitioners to systematically research, design, iterate and deliver best-in-class experiences, validated by customers at each step. In the past year, Manulife has engaged more than 7,500 customers in this process, contributing to a 50 percent increase in NPS. We are accelerating our customer & digital strategy by listening to customers and addressing their most important feedback realtime and upfront, building market-leading experiences that emphasize high-value interactions that matter most to customers, and focusing on extending relationships and advice for customers in addressing their health and wellness needs.

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each colleague’s learning needs and aspirations are unique. That’s why when we were envisioning the new learning experience that we imagined it to be almost like a “Netflix for learning” experience – employees can access personalized and curated learning paths at their own pace, wherever and whenever they choose, including on their mobile devices. Our new Pursuit Learning Hub brings together all our learning resources into a single easyto-use site. In particular, we curated more courses that align with our companies’ current and future needs, such as agile learning and human-centered design.

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and inclusion (DEI) across all aspects of our business operations. We see this as not just a key enabler, but when done right, it is a differentiator for our business. It drives innovation, collaboration, and high performance.

In fact, Manulife has committed CAD 3.5 million worth of investment to DEI initiatives over the next two years. The investment focuses on three pillars: increasing the representation of diverse talent at all levels; creating greater inclusion through enhanced training, including in unconscious bias; and

supporting organizations that help minority communities. We are pleased that Manulife has made it into Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index for three years in a row.

It’s important that businesses rise to the challenge and act boldly. Only then can we protect hard-won gains in gender diversity and other DEI issues and become better workplaces for everyone.

How are you leveraging digital tools to foster innovation, collaboration, engagement, and productivity? AI and people analytics seem to

It’s important that businesses rise to the challenge and act boldly. Only then can we protect hard-won gains in gender diversity and other DEI issues and become better workplaces for everyone

| august 2021

be ahead of others in terms of implementations?

As with many other companies, necessity required us to adapt quickly to lockdowns and remote working.

Given the progress in our digitization journey at Manulife, we were able to do this seamlessly, which in fact helped us to both innovate and take fresh approaches to the way we work.

It’s all underpinned and aligned with our broader business strategy. It draws on employee feedback – even more so in the past year as a consequence of remote learning – so we understand what works best for staff regionwide. It reflects the changing skills needed within the industry and fits well with our effort to empower employees to take ownership of their learning.

We are focused on listening and getting to know our staff better. It means acquiring a much deeper understanding of them – looking at their skills and experience, suitability for the role, and their career potential and aspirations. It helps us get the right people in the right roles and tailor their training accordingly.

To that end, later in 2021, we will build digital tools, like our AI-powered “one-stop-shop” Learning

With workplace dynamics changing, how can HR demonstrate a whole new level of agility in the new world of work?

It’s easy to get caught up with technology and process, but mindset – particularly a learning mindset – is of paramount importance. This is even more true in today’s marketplace where the skills and capabilities we need to achieve our ambition are changing fast. Performance-

driven cultures instill an “always learning” mindset, backed up with a mindset to “learning-it-all” rather than “knowing-it-all”. An “always learning” mindset thrives on challenges and sees failure not as proof of lack of intelligence but as an inspiring platform for growth and a way to stretch existing skills and capabilities. This is how individuals challenge themselves and how they learn. We want our employees to have a growth mindset and to be open to new ideas and fresh challenges.

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Experience Platform, to foster greater engagement and productivity.

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One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it accelerated digitalization at unprecedented speed and scale, and that also applied to our HR operations – from L&D, recruitment, and other day-to-day operations

How do you see the adoption of HR tech two years down the line? What are your priorities and new focus areas for Manulife?

One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it accelerated digitalization at unprecedented speed and scale, and that also applied to our HR operations – from L&D, recruitment, and other day-to-day operations.

With that, it also comes with opportunities for data and people analytics.

For example, we can better predicate turnover patterns; understand the correlation between skills and performance, learning, and employee engagement; analyze organization’s collective competence against the requirements for key strategic priorities; forecast the workforce needs based on the organizational analysis.

We are able to solve more business problems if we can harness this capability well. For example, we can personalize the development of talent better or address DEI challenges, giving us greater insights into our workforce.

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Our investments in HR tech in pre-pandemic times helped us navigate the crisis better:

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C.H. Robinson’s CHRO

Prior to the pandemic, we had already begun to make significant investments in human capital management software for our employees across the globe. These investments paid off when lockdowns and the shift to remote work began last year, says Angie Freeman, Chief Human Resources Officer, C.H. Robinson, in an interaction with us

By Mastufa Ahmed

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ngie was named Chief Human Resources Officer in January 2015. Prior to that, she served as Vice President of human resources from August 2012 to December 2014. Additional positions with C.H. Robinson include Vice President of investor relations and public affairs from January 2009 to August 2012 and Director of Investor Relations and Director of Marketing Communications. She also serves as the President the C.H. Robinson Worldwide Foundation.

Here are the excerpts.

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Over the last 1.5 years, the concept of the workplace has been turned on its head. With companies across the globe having undergone a massive remote working experiment like no other, it Is safe to say that the world of work has been disrupted. How are organizations adapting to the changing needs?

With the digital transformation accelerated by the pandemic, it is almost impossible for companies to avoid the impact on the workplace. With the imple-

mentation of travel restrictions, health concerns, and employees working remotely, the need for seamless collaboration became even more evident as both employees and employers realize that they could, in fact, work anywhere and everywhere, with the right support.

At C.H. Robinson, we have always seen our people as a core business priority. They are the people our customers and carriers rely on to get their freight moving. Prior to the pandemic, we had

In a remote and hybrid work setting, technology has a direct impact on how employees collaborate on daily tasks. According to the Gartner 2021 HR Leaders Agenda Poll survey, 48 percent of chief human resources officers (CHROs) stated that their current HR technology solutions hinder, rather than improve, employee experience.

Indeed, while the rise of work technologies brings about tools that CHROs can leverage to help employees flourish – it is not always about adopting the most expensive and latest technology. Rather, it is about implementing the solutions that can meet current busi-

ness needs and fit with your company’s culture. I believe that CHROs must be able to take a step back and think: ‘How can technology tools help our people and help the business grow?’

Regarding roadblocks, research does show that businesses have been boosting spending on HR technologies over the last year.

Despite this, we know that there are challenges – such as poor user experience and unclear benefits – to enabling and motivating employees to commit to using these tools. It is key for CHROs to ensure adequate training and development is provided for employees and to help

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In the new era of work, HR leaders will have to guide their companies and employees through the transition to a more digital and distributed work environment

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already begun to make significant investments in human capital management software for our employees across the globe. This allowed us to streamline talent management, payroll solutions, and people analytics within one platform. These investments paid off when lockdowns across the globe and the shift to remote work began last year, and we were able to help new and current employees manage their workload efficiently and effectively regardless of their location.

It is safe to say that the pandemic has changed the role of human resources forever. In the new era of work, human resources professionals will have to guide their companies and employees through the transition to a more digital and distributed work environment. At the same time, HR leaders will have to ensure employees continue to be equipped with the tools and skills needed to perform and develop.

We have seen how HR technologies that helped facilitate ‘work’ in remote mode have gone from being something of an experiment to essential for survival. With the rise of such work technologies, how do you see the increasing role of next-gen HR technologies such as AI, VR, cloud-based employee training tools? What are some of the roadblocks to tech adoption? august 2021 |

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navigate the implementation of such tech tools with a human touch. Putting employees at the heart of change and allowing them to understand what’s driving the need for these tools can go a long way in preventing change fatigue.

The pandemic brought about an unprecedented level of change to the workplace and the rise of HR technology. What do you see as a priority in your role as HR leader of C.H. Robinson during this time?

We see the role of HR as a key function in supporting our great people and building our company’s talent pipeline. This includes ensuring we continue to recruit motivated candidates who are agile and ready to embrace change amidst the logistics industry’s fastmoving transformation.

Upskilling and reskilling

While the rise of work technologies brings about tools that CHROs can leverage to help employees flourish – it is not always about adopting the latest technology. It is about implementing solutions that can meet business needs 70

| august 2021

initiatives form a core pillar of our talent strategy, where we offer frequent internal training programs to help staff develop the necessary skillsets.

Since the pandemic, more hybrid and remote work opportunities have become available for employees, and it is important for businesses to prioritize employees’ wellbeing and training even when they’re not physically in the office. We have found that virtual onboarding programs, alongside virtual workplace social gatherings, can be impactful if these sessions give new employees a sense of encouragement and belonging within our corporate culture.

ees have a smooth experience is through the adoption of tech tools. How can technology help equip employees with the right skills along the supply chain network?

Here at C.H. Robinson, we continue to believe that human interaction will be at the core of how we work – just in a more flexible and adaptable way. Our challenge now is to make this new reality work for our employees, for the company, and for our customers and carriers.

Traditional supply chains are characterized by often burdensome paperwork, varied data accuracy, and delays resulting from manual processes. In fact, McKinsey research found that about 58 percent of worldwide activiIn a workplace that no ties in operationally intenlonger functions on human sive sectors – including logisinteraction, the only way HR tics – could be automated personnel can ensure employ- using currently demonstrated technologies. With

these tools, employees can make smarter decisions and focus on innovation.

Even as C.H. Robinson embraces new technologies within our operations, we continue to enable and encourage our employees to make decisions about issues such as customer service or process improvements. This shift away from a one-sizefits-all development approach also helps allow for personalized development opportunities for each employee.

fulfillment becomes more automated, job functions are also increasingly shifting towards running scenarios to see how to deal with exceptions and supply chain disruptions. For example, at C.H. Robinson, we are not only looking for candidates who boast supply chain knowledge but also analytical and engineering skills to help our customers overcome future challenges. Most importantly, we are also looking for people who are prob-

lem-solvers at heart and can adapt quickly if things do not happen exactly the way the process is laid out. Ultimately, we aim to empower our employees to make the right decisions, based on data and insights from our logistics platform, Navisphere, for our customers.

As countries begin to recover from the ongoing crisis, what does the postpandemic world look like for HR? What will leaders need to focus on in terms of talent management strategy in our new normal?

I think it is important that CHROs come to view the

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The logistics industry has seen significant disruptions due to the pandemic and incidents such as the Suez Canal blockage. What do leaders need to focus on when building future-ready HR teams in the logistics industry?

The ideal employee skillset for the supply chain industry has evolved.

Considering that logistics disruptions have become more frequent now, logistics companies will need to build teams that are agile, able to harness the benefits of technology, and are able to make swift decisions in the event of a disruption.

As forecasting and order

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Research does show that businesses have been boosting spending on HR technologies over the last year. However, poor user experience, and unclear benefits – to motivating employees to commit to using these tools are challenging

pandemic as not just a crisis, but rather an opportunity for businesses and employees to grow and reach new heights. Indeed, as companies recover and adapt to the new way of working, the HR department will be one of the main drivers that keep the corporate engine going.

Looking forward, CHROs will need to see how we can help employees maximize the value they add to their organization, and how we can better adopt appropriate digital solutions for maximum productivity, growth, and career satisfaction. As COVID-19 accelerates talent management trends, CHROs can act now to craft a strong talent strategy for later.

Effective talent management will be the foundation of forming productive workforces that are aligned to meet business goals.

For example, in terms of effective and efficient recruitment in the supply chain landscape – HR leaders must understand the needs of a rapidly transforming industry and a broader range of talent and experience, and a more diverse one, that brings all our talents to bear. Moreover, recruiting and retaining talent is no longer about simply telling potential candidates why the company is a great one to work at, but providing candidates a place for them to meet their needs and achieve their dreams.

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HR Tech: A longitudinal view of the industry

From the Bundy Clock time-tracking machine which had workers inserting a thick card into a slot to get their in-time stamped to the modern retina scan, HR has soared the technology curve and is now galloping ahead

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By Satyakki Bhattacharjee

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What we were

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ver the last three decades, the business ecosystem has seen many sweeps of changes.

Waves of emerging trends hit the business world, yet the fundamentals of doing business have rarely been contested. A brick-andmortar company in the industrial town for ages or an unseen e-commerce startup; hail-a-cab became call-a-cab; or the modern company with a swanky office in an upmarket business district – Cost, Quality, Service, and Speed are the obvious common pursuit of them all. Kaoro Ishikawa’s 4M’s of business extended to six. Man, method, machine, material, milieu, and measurement got into an interplay to create a process | august 2021

matrix of people, operations, accounting, strategy, finance, and marketing.

Interesting but by no means elementary. Every business process domain eventually took to technology to make life easier. HR too! From the Bundy Clock time-tracking machine which had workers inserting a thick card into a slot to get their in-time stamped to the modern retina scan, HR has soared the technology curve and is now galloping ahead.

Cut to the 2020s and India is seeing the largest popula-

tion of Gen X in the world. A whopping 34.23 percent who come to work with diverse career aspirations, and workplace preferences. The managerial life of them and their managers is transforming too. The pandemic and the business complexities associated with it are only making the recipe of success even more complicated. Therefore, enters the next-level technology. PeopleStrong says that Indian companies can save at least $600m annually by 2021 using HR Technology (PeopleStrong, 2017).

With more and more organizations shifting to an organizational design that is a matrix, synergies of processes are in demand.

Thus, technology is leveraged for optimal collaborations across functions

What we are

Why HR adapts tech

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Two imperatives drive HR to adopt the technology.

First, even those companies which stay small and lean on headcount are seeing widening scales of operations across geographies and timelines. They use technology to augment their remote business processes.

Secondly, with more and more organizations shifting to an organizational design that is a matrix, synergies of processes are in demand.

Thus, technology is leveraged for optimal collaborations across functions.

The figure below represents the process technology adaptation by HR. Business exigencies triggers the need for finding the maximum or minimum value of an activity for some constraint, which must be true regardless of the resultant solution. This means the best possible remedy for a given problem under a welldefined set of organizational constraints. These activities sum up the process. Within each activity lies many tasks. Technology helps us to go deep into the multiple layers of tasks, activities, and processes and enhances our ability to retrieve and process data for information analytics for business decision-making. All this sounds great but ‘is a there a business viability of this’ – is what the executive think tank ponders upon.

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The top-7 trends in next-level HR technology are: i) IoT Wearables in HR - Facilitating remotelevel tracing in hardposting areas, engagement, health, and fitness options with the glitchfree cloud-based services in an ecosystem. ii) AI Augmented HR Processes – Wherein human intelligence will be augmented with artificial intelligence for sharper predictive analytics and decision making. iii) Cloud-Based HR – Millennials and Gen-Z run the ‘shared economy’. ‘Share it in the cloud’ and that’s often the best road they take to productivity. iv) Bite-sized learning – Delivered to the device wherever you are.

Responding to tests and assessment by the flick of the finger is changing the classical models of

instruction design and pedagogy in L&D. v) Health – An app for meditation encouraging you to observe your in-breath and out-breath is the new age reality and it works. vi) BYOD – Despite gearing up on the security front, more and more organizations are asking employees to ‘bring your own device’ that they are most comfortable with syncing their personal and professional lives through their personalized IoT network. vii) Freelance Economy – Run by the people with Gig Mindset are those who want to work for you but without compromising their need for freedom, independence, and away from the nine to five frames. That is an ask from technology for solutions round-the-clock accessibility if not availability.

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Business Exigency

Business Viability

Acquisition Choice

Deployment

Adaptation

HR Tech Adaptation Model Once the business logic is agreed upon, the big ‘acquisition choice’ is to build or buy. This is what the HR Tech industry is built upon.

And of course, the final stage is that of the continuing cultural adaptation of the technology embarked upon.

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What the HR Tech Industry looks like With more and more business houses laying greater emphasis on ‘managing people’ effectively, the number of HR professionals in the world is increasing. The median ratio of human resources staff to total employment may be declining, but more organ-

izations are having HR professionals on board increasing the width of the profession. COVID-19 swept its axe and cut down many heads in HR but come 2022, pre-pandemic growth in the profession is expected to accelerate. Globally, a spike of 15-18% is what is predicted by 2025 by most trendwatchers.

HR tech integrates HR tasks to HR activities thereby helping to map HR processes. The genesis of this industry was by making life simple on HR payroll by offering payroll software. However, the HR Tech industry now paints a much larger canvas with a diversified portfolio and

aggressive footprints on the 7-top trends as mentioned above.

Pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for the HR Tech industry. Work from home and remote productivity challenges have pushed many companies to adopt HR Tech. The industry thus became attractive to investors. The last six months’ trends of industry players like Service Now, Ceridian, and some more in the stock market show a steady rise. Ceridian saw a steep rise in its stock price during peak pandemic months.

Legacy HR tech firms had the biggest slice of the market pie in 2019, with an aggregate value of approximately 60.4 billion

Legacy HR tech firms had the biggest slice of the market pie in 2019, with an aggregate value of approximately 60.4 billion U.S. dollars. By 2025, the projected market value of the HR Tech industry is expected to be more than double 74

| august 2021

HR Tech product portfolio

The archetypal payroll product has yet not hanged its boots. It rules the portfolio with about 58% share, followed by recruitment products. These have evolved many generations with cloud-based offerings and other task-organizing and analytical frills, enjoying a fair share of about 27% of the pie. Newbies in the HR Tech product portfolio are learning & development and rewards & recognition products. They make a promising debut

Conclusion

The HR Tech industry will see start-ups growing faster than legacy firms. Yet, the growth rate is not expected to be universally spread across products and geographies. Payroll products will remain the top seller as more organizations will want fewer complexities around compliances and calculations. Cloud-based SaaS solutions will appeal to millennials and Gen-Z - the ambassadors of the shared economy. If work from home continues, engagement and connectivity products will

with about 3% each. Given the bite-sized microlearning and blended learning boom, these are set to mature faster in the COVID19 season. Analysts are apprehensive if learning and R&R have the potential to dislodge the payroll king. This is the niche in the market that HR Tech startups are eyeing. Nonetheless, the COVID-19 pandemic continuum surging in waves, workgroup engagement, and connectivity products are set to enjoy a spurt of about 14% taking its share to 24% by 2025.

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India has a fertile HR Tech start-up climate.

The sector is poised to reach $41 billion by the year 2022. About a $4.5 billion worth of the pie belongs to APAC with India going for a big bite

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U.S. dollars. By 2025, the projected market value of the HR Tech industry is expected to be more than double.

Legacy HR tech companies battled the COVID19 pandemic slump much better than start-ups. The principles and subsidiaries' relationships helped them leverage many integrated strategic advantages. Ceridium and Ceridium HCM Pty of Singapore, ServiceNow Software Development India Private Limited – subsidiary of ServiceNow America, Linkedin of Microsoft are glowing examples.

Start-ups on the contrary are the more nimble-footed greenhorns. They are faster, even more, creative with novel solutions in the areas of tech-based workgroup engagement and offering unique capacity for interconnected platforms, systems, and unique applications. Start-ups continue to provide ground-breaking HR Tech products that the biggies do not see business scale worth a punt.

India has a fertile HR Tech start-up climate. The sector is poised to reach $41 billion by the year 2022. About a $4.5 billion worth of the pie belongs to APAC with India going for a big bite. The APAC market is expected to move to a fast-track growth with an annual growth rate of 13.5 percent from 2019 to 2025, becoming the fastestgrowing region.

grow. Interesting to observe would be L&D products. Can a remote platform remove the ‘classroom’ from our consciousness? HR Tech is surely a sector to watch.

References

• Statista. (n.d.). HR Tech. [online] Available at: https://www.statista. com/study/85007/hr-tech/ [Accessed 8 Jul. 2021].

• PeopleStrong. (2019). HR Technology market landscape. [online] Available at: https://www.peoplestrong.com/hr-technology-marketlandscape/ [Accessed 8 Jul. 2021].

Satyakki Bhattacharjee is Managing Partner, GrowthSqapes Consulting and Doctoral Scholar, XIM University BBSR august 2021 |

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Ruchi Kulhari

Rebuilding the workplace of the future with tech The pivot to a new work culture is an opportunity for organizations to bolster their workplace flexibility options and revisit their technology investments, while making the necessary changes in their IT budgets

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he workplace of the future will most definitely be defined by technology. With technology underpinning the drive towards a distributed workforce, everything from work culture, ways of collaboration, engagement, and even problem solving will change the way agile organizations operate. While many consider the pandemic as a watershed moment in human history, it is important to note that technology

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enabling transformation is not a new concept.

Old concept, new approach

From an organization’s perspective, human resources have been using analytics for some time now - often called people analytics, to manage the workforce through data-driven decision making. Companies have been using digital products and services to attract the right talent,

connect with remote employees across client locations, integrate employee data and automate processes. The only difference is that it has taken a novel coronavirus to call attention to the true potential of digital HR.

Building operational resilience

Last year, the pandemic and subsequent lockdown highlighted the importance of business continuity and how organizations must take control of the important aspects of their businesses. Organizations with a Business Continuity Plan in place seemed to be less disrupted and were able to scale up their infrastructure and adapt to the rapidly changing working environment when faced with challenges. As we move into 2021, organizations must focus on building a business resiliency plan, equipping their remote workers efficiently, and identifying challenges quickly to take corrective measures in time.

Companies must realign their policies to catch up to the changing scenarios, whether in terms of business, employee well-being, introducing additional paid leaves, or revamping existing health allowance to help deal with the situation and recuperate better.

Digital enablement

As norms continue to evolve and businesses develop new working models, organizations will require new systems, processes, and roles to enable the digital landscape. A holistic approach to such digital enablement will involve a full-bodied digital

workspace platform, introducing virtual onboarding, providing seamless access to applications and data, providing modern device management capabilities, addressing connectivity challenges and much more.

To ensure productivity and optimal performance, organizations will have to support flexible user choices to deliver exceptional employee experience like never before.

Data analytics strategy and compliance HR data analytics will possibly be the most critical aspect of managing

Creating value in learning on the go

Companies will have to get creative and explore alternative digital learning strategies to build an agile, skilled workforce. Leaders will need to continue enabling and delivering on capability building by introducing new formats of learning, like delivering L&D programs in short byte sized modules, pre-recorded sessions, replacing in-person programs with virtual classrooms, and breaking down virtual live learning into smaller programs for effective adoption.

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To ensure productivity and optimal performance, organizations will have to support flexible user choices to deliver exceptional employee experience like never before

human resources in the future. Companies will need to equip themselves with the right set of analysts, a strong strategy to use available data and insights to make well informed decisions and provide a robust data infrastructure to find success in this new model. Investing in such capabilities will give organizations the visibility to understand the needs of their employees better.

For instance, with the help of data analytics, organizations can help provide any special accommodations their employees might need to work efficiently, positively impacting productivity and driving business growth.

Increased people interactions

Ironically, one of the positive august 2021 |

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outcomes of the pandemic has been the increase in personal interactions.

With travelling restricted, leaders, management and employees have been able to virtually participate and familiarize with each other, regardless of their location, position, or experience. Whether it is connecting with a senior leader in a townhall, participating in a team building fun activity, brainstorming through a virtual meeting, or introducing your pet to your team members, virtual platforms have helped build and subsequently develop a deep socio emotional connection that might have not been as effective in a pre-pandemic era.

Companies will need to equip themselves with the right set of analysts, a strong strategy to use available data and insights to make well informed decisions and provide a robust data infrastructure to find success in this new model | august 2021

Replacing locationdependent operations

Unlike earlier, where companies would have a remote work consultant working out of client location, the workplace of the future might be a more flexible and viable option, with consultants working virtually in the new normal. With virtual accessibility to information, multiple communication channels and deliverable driven approach, companies can redefine and enable remote work successfully.

Addressing security challenges

Organizations must ensure that their IT and security teams have access to the best of resources and tools to deploy a security model beyond the corporate network to support both company and personal

devices. With growing adoption of remote working, the attack surface has widened exponentially, which can mean more complex phishing attacks and security threats from criminals looking for a new target. Companies will need to enforce appropriate policies and monitor compliance subject to regulatory requirements to prevent data breach and loss of revenue.

Attracting right talent

A distributed workforce presents significant opportunities for employers to tap into a favourable talent pool that seemed far fetched before. With accessibility and geography a possibility now, companies can consider recruiting people from diverse backgrounds, experiences, ethnicity and foster a culture of innovation, with the right skill sets

With growing adoption of remote working, the attack surface has widened exponentially, which can mean more complex phishing attacks and security threats from criminals looking for a new target

Leveraging gig economy

With organizations moving to hybrid models of working and becoming more flexible, the gig economy is set to expand and grow exponentially. To become intrinsically agile, organizations must have flexible working hours, offer special benefits, health coverage, automate processes and leverage efficient platforms to reinvent rules and policies around new ways of working. We might have great potential in the next decade to lead a global gig economy as the numbers of freelancers,

Performance and experience management

When employee experiences are meaningful and fulfilling, it helps the workforce to be more efficient, productive and inspires a sense of culture and greater collaboration. Addressing employee grievances must be a critical aspect for organizations to retain talent and holistically bring important changes across the organization.

Employee experience is no longer just an HR’s responsibility and can significantly impact business outcomes for leaders who are making the right boardroom decisions now, laying the foundation for the next era.

The pivot to a new work culture is an opportunity for organizations to bolster their workplace flexibil-

ity options and revisit their technology investments, while making the necessary changes in their IT budgets.

Modern workplaces will also need to focus on cybersecurity on priority and relook at digitizing their operational processes. Priorities for HR managers will include addressing the increase in remote and hybrid workers while implementing the right practices to ensure employee satisfaction, wellness, and productivity. The key is to understand employee needs through constant engagement, feedback, conversations on managerial levels, better interpersonal communication and driving a sense of belonging and call to action.

The N e w Workpla ce

for the role. Embracing such an approach can also help employers bring in innovative ideas, address talent gaps, any form of unconscious bias and also reduce costs attached to travel and office structure.

consultants and affordable labour continues to grow.

Ruchi Kulhari is the Senior VP – Human Resources at Coforge Limited.

She oversees human resources for North America and Europe. august 2021 |

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The most important HR breakthrough is going to be about hiring for potential: Ashutosh Garg, eightfold.ai i n t e r v i e w

In a hybrid world, it is more important than ever to get a complete perspective on who you are hiring, promoting, and managing, shares Ashutosh Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of eightfold.ai

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By Shweta Modgil

W

hile HR Tech and Work Tech solutions have been fast gaining ground over the last couple of years, however, the pace of change and the way several trends came roaring together dramatically in 2020 was unheard of. Over the last one and half years, technologies have been playing a crucial role in keeping organizations and employees functional. And these technologies and disruptive digital innovations may have a long-lasting impact beyond the pandemic.

But what are the top drivers that organizations factor in to invest in work tech?

How are they tackling the adoption challenge and making sure their investments are giving them

| august 2021

returns? What are some of the areas which will see high adoption of worktech technologies?

To answer these and more questions, we spoke to Ashutosh Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of eightfold.ai, which offers an AI-powered talent intelligence platform that is helping transform how enterprises manage talent. The startup also recently raised a $220Mn Series E funding round, led

by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

Here are the excerpts from the interview.

What are some of the top drivers organizations factor in to invest in work tech?

Your company is your people. Having a platform in place that identifies potential skills or best fits for new

In a workplace that no longer functions on human interaction, the only way HR personnel can ensure employees have a smooth experience is through the adoption of tech tools. What are some of the areas which will see high adoption of worktech technologies?

lenges that will be faced by organizations and employers alike when it comes to adoption and how can they make mitigate those challenges?

The biggest challenge will be overcoming existing biases and mindsets.

There are so many poor assumptions about remote work environments or how employees can interact with each other. The reality is that if you have identified and hired the correct people, they will be passionate about their role and naturally build to success together.

The biggest challenge will be overcoming existing biases and mindsets. There are so many poor assumptions about remote work environments or how employees can interact with each other The most important HR breakthrough is going to be about hiring for potential. Selecting a candidate who is not just the right fit for the job description as it currently sits, but what the role is going to look like in five years, and if they have the skills to grow alongside it. Finding those fits will be a key differentiator for the most successful companies in the world.

What are some of the chal-

What does the future landscape of talent intelligence platforms like eightfold.ai look in the hybrid world?

In a hybrid world, it is more important than ever to get a complete perspective on who you are hiring, promoting, and managing. You simply have more options than ever before.

That unfortunately means it is much more likely to make the wrong decision - this can be corrected by having all the most relevant data. august 2021 |

i n t e r v i e w

The HR landscape is undergoing a drastic shift. Nextgen technologies that helped facilitate ‘work’ in remote mode have gone from being something of an experiment to essential for survival. What are some of the shifts that you foresee in the near future?

Work is increasingly global. It wasn’t that long ago that if you needed a finance person, you’d be looking in New York, or Silicon Valley for tech people.

But skills concentrations aren’t as relevant anymore, and that has put every open position into a global marketplace.

roles only adds more value to your organization -- if you can ensure you have a worker who is continuing to grow their skills and career, they are exponentially more valuable than a static employee.

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Dr. M. Muneer

BSC-SFO: What separates winners from losers

Stra te gy & Exe cution

Strategy execution is a critical differentiator for businesses.

Learn how balanced scorecards and strategy focused organizations outperform their competition

O

ver two decades of hands-on experience with strategy execution taught me many lessons, and it is no surprise even today that more than 90% of enterprises continue to fail in deliver their internally set objectives. It is not because their strategy was bad, but their execution was jugaad!

It is much worse when it comes to governments, especially in India. There is not a

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| august 2021

single elected government in the post-independent India that has executed what they had been promising at the election time.

Execution excellence is evasive not just in the Indian boardrooms, although it is more accentuated here with the “ho-jayega” culture and poor attention to details. A worldwide survey conducted

by Fortune Magazine shows that the problem is global.

Another study by Fortune

reiterates this: “In the information age, vision and strategy are no longer enough to drive success and great performance…. the mistaken belief that developing the right strategy will enable a company to rocket past its competitors. In reality, strategy is less than half the battle. In the majority of cases – we estimate 70% – the real problem isn’t bad strategy…..it’s bad execution.”

Herein lies a possible competitive advantage at a time when every company is chasing the ever-disappearing advantages. Can they execute their strategy well to become the 10% that succeed rather than follow the herd and become a poor performer? CEOs need to build strategy execution as a core competence and stand apart like a few global organizations continue to do.

In our quest to find what separates winners from losers, here are some interesting findings:

Action Item

Breakthrough Results

Some Progress

No Results

Executive Team has created a sense of urgency

84%

55%

21%

Strategy translated into operational terms and communicated well

84%

40%

0

Corporate/Business Unit metrics are linked & aligned to strategy

72%

38%

0

Employees are aware of the strategy

57%

33%

0

Individual and team goals are aligned with the strategy

43%

27%

0

Budgeting and planning processes are combined

100%

45%

0

Strategy cannot be limited to a few people at the top. It must be understood and executed by everyone number of defects. What one cannot measure, one cannot manage. And that is one key problem faced by companies today.

There are other reasons too why companies fail to execute strategy. Our research shows that 95% of the workforce within a company do not understand what the company strategy is, 60% of organizations do not link budgets to strategy, 70% of companies do not link management incentives to strategy and 85% of executive teams spend less than

one hour a month discussing strategy. There’s more….

Most companies have not yet embraced a consistent way of describing strategy and the heavy strategy document is normally kept secretly in the CEO’s office and even the senior management rarely opens the same after the consultant had presented it. 67% of IT and HR support functions are not aligned to strategy.

According to Michael Porter, the selection and execution of hundreds of activities are the foundations of strategy. That means strategy cannot be limited to a few people at the top. It must be understood and executed by everyone.

The employee objectives (KPI/KRIs) must be aligned to those of the organization. Performance management systems are supposed to create this alignment august 2021 |

Stra te gy & Exe cution

You might ask, “What’s new in this?” Most of the items look like common sense. But 9 out of 10 companies don’t follow this common sense and fail to deliver the results!

So, why do companies fail to manage strategy?

Over the years business has undergone a paradigm shift from the manufacturing mode to a service mode.

For example, Nike is not a manufacturer today but a brand and marketer. They outsource almost everything else. The proportion of intangible assets has increased dramatically over tangible assets. Companies have to grapple with more intangible assets such as brand, human capital, IPR, culture, service quality and many more, and managing these are not as easy as counting machine uptime and downtime or

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Stra te gy & Exe cution 84

but have not been able to do so well. Most performance management systems are designed around the annual budgets and operational plans and they promote short-term, incremental and tactical behavior. One just cannot manage strategy, which is longer term with a system designed to manage tactics.

For some reason, India Inc has not warmed up fully to the potential of using balanced scorecards for holistic implementation of strategy perhaps because of the short term focus on getting performance managed for the quarter or year. The QSQT (Quarter Se Quarter Tak) phenomenon looms large. Perhaps it is also because of the proliferation of software tools with drop down menus that made employees reluctant to apply their minds to strategic thinking. It is astonishing that most Indian enterprises behave in a very predictable way when it comes to executing strategy.

From our experience of having implemented strategy execution projects in India, along with Kaplan and Norton partnership, we have seen most Indian enterprises doing excellently well in driving processes that deliver short-term results such as operational excellence and cost cutting. They are average when it comes to executing processes that deliver | august 2021

medium-term results such as customer relationships and service excellence – You will not find a world-class example of customer service from India. What is worst across the spectrum of Indian enterprises is their pathetic ability in executing processes that deliver results in the long-term such as R&D and innovation.

What most CEOs do not

as they are unlikely to yield results before 18-24 moths, The Kaplan-Norton framework of Balanced Scorecards and strategy focused organizations have been popular in the Americas and Europe and parts of Asia for some time now. According to a study in Asia and Middle East, the penetration of BSC is fast increasing in these regions, sensing a

realise is that organizations have to do all the three process categories simultaneously in order for continued growth and profitability. If you wait till the operational processes are implemented well to start your customer processes, you will find both top and bottom lines suffering since customer service processes will take at least 6-12 months to show some results. Similarly product development and innovation processes should be driven early on

major benefit while planning for organic and inorganic growth.

So what is a Balanced Scorecard? When I ask this question to many C-Suite folks they all say it is a performance system and they think they know what it is after reading the HBR article or the book. When you probe further you realise that they do not have much of an idea. Some folks tried to implement it on their own and failed miserably because they did not do it

on strategic feedback and learning, and assumes dynamic organization with evolving strategy. Hoshin Kanri assumes organizational hierarchy but BSC is organization independent, i.e., hierarchical model not necessary. Both of course have accountability built into the methodology.

BSC had been used as a performance measurement tool in this part of the world by early adapters like Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, Tata Steel and others.

And that eventually turned

egy execution. The Indian subsidiaries of large MNCs had far outperformed their global counterparts in profitability and their CEOs moved up the ladder faster.

Indian companies that have done it right, like LMW, went on to lead their industries globally in value terms.

IT companies providing services to global clients continually moved up the value chain. Global business services of banks improved their delivery efficiency and garnered more share of business and in newer areas.

Research shows that 95% of the workforce within a company do not understand what the company strategy is into an HR initiative by later adapters. What they missed out, as the deeper work by Kaplan and Norton unearthed, was the true power of BSC as an excellent change management tool.

In conjunction with the principles of SFO, BSC and strategy map become extremely powerful in delivering breakthrough performance in organizations. For instance, many organizations we have worked with in the last two decades have grown tremendously and some have become hall of fame companies for strat-

Overall, the competitiveness of most companies using the BSC-SFO processes has improved tremendously.

The items separating the winners as illustrated in the beginning are all addressed by the SFO processes. No other methodology has delivered so much for our clients. No wonder then that Harvard Business School terms it as the most revolutionary management tool of the last 75 years.

So how do you build an SFO? The following figure illustrates the basic model of the five phases of SFO framework. august 2021 |

Stra te gy & Exe cution

right, and then they blamed BSC as not useful. This has caused India to lag behind in embracing this framework and successful execution is still eluding India Inc. In simple terms, the BSC is a framework that helps organizations translate strategy into operational objectives with a view to driving both behavior and performance. It is called balanced because it covers all aspects of a business, not just financials. It covers financial and non-financial issues, long-term and short-term issues, tangible and intangibles, and so on. Kaplan and Norton had tested it out in Mobil in the late ‘80s and published their seminal article in Harvard Business Review in 1992.

Since then this tool has revolutionized the way companies execute strategy.

Many executives in the Middle East and Japan compare it with Hoshin Kanri system but BSC is much more than incremental improvement and TQM. It has its foundation on longterm strategy, and is aimed to deliver breakthrough performance rather than continuous improvement, which tends to be incremental. Also, these two systems work in a complementary fashion rather than in conflict. While Hoshin Kanri focus on policy deployment and assumes stable processes, BSC focuses

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Principles of Strategy-Focused Organisation

Translate TRANSLATE STRATEGY TO OPERATIONAL Strategy TERMS Organisation ALIGN THE ORGANIZATION TO Alignment THE STRATEGY

Executive MOBILIZE CHANGE THROUGH EXECULeadership TIVE LEADERSHIP Continual GOVERN TO MAKE STRATEGY A CONTINUAL Process PROCESS

Stra te gy & Exe cution

Everyone’s MOTIVATE TO MAKE STRATEGY JobEVERYONE’S JOB

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1. Mobilizing change through executive leadership

The BSC-SFO project is not a “metrics” project, but a “change” project. The single most important condition for success is the commitment of the leadership team to change. In our process we use five best practices to drive this change agenda. We kick start the project with a VMV (VisionMission-Values) workshop involving the leadership team and executive team members. This is a highly emotional exercise and over the two or three days, the team articulates the vision, mission and values, and more importantly, what these are not. Once this is over, we do an SFO assessment to find out the current status of the 26 strategy execution processes at the organization. This involves extensive data analysis, | august 2021

strategy evaluation, executive interviews, survey of senior executives and so on.

We also benchmark these processes against the best practices globally so that the organization benefits tremendously in terms of where they are when they start off the BSC journey and where they can be in a couple of years from then.

This process is something proprietary and is not otherwise available elsewhere.

2. Translate the strategy into operational terms so that all can understand it

Here is where we use strategy map, strategic objectives, measures, targets and strategic initiatives.

There are five best practices here as well. The process is proprietary and designed to deliver powerful results. Working together with the senior executives, we complete the strategy

articulation, identification of the key objectives across the four perspectives that are modified from the earlier Financial-Customer-ProcessLearning and growth to the new age Outcome-Stakeholder-Process-Enablers mode. Each objective will have at least one measure and some objectives, two. We work with them to fix targets for every measure and map initiatives to close the gap.

The success of this process is also because we assign the right job to the right person.

For example, a CFO may lead quality movement across the company. Quite often strategic themes also emerge as a way to manage objectives in a group, which could typically be short, medium and long-term result-oriented processes (Eg. operational excellence, customer delight, innovation, CSR) to help articulate the strategy better across the organization.

3. Align the organization to the strategy

Enterprises are complex structures, and most organizations have several business units and functional support units. BSC is a powerful tool to describe each business/support unit strategy, derived from the enterprise strategy. The assumption is that the combination of these business units’ scorecards should help achieve the overall strategic goals. It is imperative that we use BSC

4. Making strategy everyone’s job

Since most of the work performed in a typical company today is knowledge-related, we need to manage this asset carefully. There is also a growing silicon staff (AI, automation, robots) movement in many companies. Knowledge workers make strategic choices every day and they need to understand the organization strategy clearly to take informed decisions. There are four best practices here that we follow and develop a communication plan to cover all employees in order to start aligning them to the corpo-

rate mission and vision, and derive personal scorecards from the cascaded BSCs of SBUs and shared functions. We also link the incentive compensation to scorecard measures. Planning and budgets also get aligned at this stage and the earlier devised strategic themes and strategic initiatives help a lot in accomplishing this.

BSC is a framework that helps organizations translate strategy into operational objectives with a view to driving both behavior and performance 5. Making strategy a continual process

One of the most critical processes for the success of strategy execution is the monthly or quarterly strategy review meeting. We have perfected this governance methodology and train the senior leadership team on how to focus more on strategy than on operational issues. There are seven best practices here. One of the reasons for the poor execution, as cited before, is the absence of quality discussion on strategy by the top management. With the

governance model this will be changed. We have seen transformational thinking in such meetings where senior managers started moving away from discussing mere numbers to drivers to the numbers, for instance.

In our experience, the real execution begins at these sessions. Unless you review your work on a regular basis there is no way of knowing where you are going. Also, strategy being a hypothesis, the earlier you know it is right or not, the better for you to change plans. By applying various management tools, senior leaders argue for the performance of their objectives in a manner that seeks collective wisdom to move forward.

The BSC-SFO process has enabled most clients to transform their governance and review process – one that is focused on strategy.

This has enabled them to put emphasis on learning, team problem solving, and coaching so that there is a context to any action at the unit and individual levels.

Stra te gy & Exe cution

to define strategic linkages between the business units and functions. What we normally do is use the five best practices to cascading the top level BSC to the next level of business and shared services and establishing the linkages between objectives. These are explicit and help companies stay focused on strategy. We believe this to be the trickiest part since most organizations fail in cascading and aligning objectives. There are companies who have even developed customer scorecards (Eg. Infosys) and supplier scorecards (Wipro, LMW) to ensure that everything critical to the organizational strategy is aligned, measured and managed.

NOTE: Muneer has been involved with the proliferation of balanced scorecards in the region for over two decades, and as a partner to both Robert Kaplan and David Norton, much of the details in this article have been based on their framework and successful implementations at client organizations

Muneer is Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at the non-profit Medici Institute Foundation for Diversity and Innovation. Follow him in Twitter @MuneerMuh august 2021 |

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Organizations with agile leaders at the helm will continue to thrive: Ruchira Chaudhary le a d e r shi p

Effective leaders can build the foundations for digital capability by involving everyone in the change and encouraging a growth mindset, says Ruchira Chaudhary, Author, Leadership Coach, and Founder - TrueNorth Consulting

By Mastufa Ahmed

A

n alumnus of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Ruchira Chaudhary, Author, Leadership Coach, and Founder - TrueNorth Consulting, straddles the corporate and academic worlds – she is a leading executive coach, adjunct faculty at several top tier business schools and runs a boutique consulting firm focused on organizational strategy solutions.

Ruchira’s diverse and eclectic background in mergers & acquisitions, organization effectiveness, and strategy execution, coupled with two decades of experience in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, helps her grasp challenging people issues. Ruchira is also the author of the book Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership.

In a recent interview with People Matters, Ruchira talks about the evolving leadership styles for the new digital world of work.

As an executive coach who straddles the corporate and 88

| august 2021

There are so many different leadership styles and leaders that we see today. But when it comes to leading through a crisis? Do you see a synergy in terms of how they lead? Or there is no rulebook?

While there is no rulebook as you rightly pointed out, the pandemic has shown us that organizations that have thrived not just survived had agile and nimble leaders at the helm. Leaders showed swiftness in taking

You cannot lead through a crisis without enabling your people, and taking them along in the journey decisions (even when they do not know the answers) and moved from analysis to a plan of action.

These leaders surrounded themselves with experts whose advice they took into cognizance before making balanced decisions; they empowered others, communicated clearly, and unambiguously separated fact from fiction. Importantly, these leaders consciously created a culture of motivation, not Instruction by Asking, not Telling Others.

le a d e r shi p

academic worlds, what has been the most fascinating thing for you that emerged from the crisis from a leadership perspective?

I am truly passionate about amplifying the message of leaders as coaches and enablers it’s a topic I have written about extensively, teach it at several business schools, and is also the focus of my recently published book Coaching the Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership (Penguin Random House).

The most fascinating thing for me as an outcome of the pandemic is the realization that you cannot lead through a crisis without enabling your people, and taking them along in the journey. In times of uncertainty, no leader can have all the answers.

Good leaders recognize that the best ideas can come from anyone.

These leaders empowered their teams and gave their colleagues a platform to voice ideas, opinions, and suggestions. These leaders weathered this relentless storm and navigated choppy waters by collaborating and partnering with their people – by asking them not to tell them what to do.

To make a success of digital transformation, effective leadership and mature organizational culture are necessary. What is the mindset that leaders require to succeed in a digital world?

Anything new that you learned from this crisis? august 2021 |

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le a d e r shi p

I believe effective leaders can build the foundations for digital capability by involving everyone in the change and encouraging a growth mindset. As Prof Deborah Ancona at the MIT Sloan School of Management says, “To thrive in this landscape, organizations that have long been siloed and bureaucratic must become nimble and customer-centric, and command-and-control models must give way to distributed leadership.” The Crisis has reiterated that these leaders succeeded by: • Ask probing questions • Create psychological safety • Build Digitally Focused Organizations

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The continued uncertainty is a test for both organizations and workers. What’s your advice on how to best take care of employees’ changing needs while continuing to solve new business challenges?

Today, more than ever, leaders must discern, adapt to and balance many fronts skillfully:

| august 2021

focus on employee well-being yet drive business results; provide clarity despite not knowing enough, and, above all, he needs to project confidence despite knowing harsh business realities. The organizations, and by extension the leaders who have done this right have focused on a few key aspects such as cultivating empathy and building trust.

Leaders can support their people in achieving peak performance by trusting them to do their job without constant supervision giving them the time and space in this new WFH reality. Second is Role Modeling. Many say New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern is a master class for leaders on how to handle crises. Empathy seems to naturally flow from her. Lastly, it’s resilience. Leaders need to build higher levels of resilience in themselves and their teams by taking charge of how they think about misfortune, crisis, and adversity. As Sheryl Sandberg says eloquently — Resilience is a

muscle you can build. It’s just a matter of knowing how.

What’s the code for ‘uncommon’ leadership? Can you share some insights from your latest book ‘Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership’?

Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership is a book for people that aspire to become extraordinary or Uncommon Leaders. Uncommon lead-

Impactful leaders ask probing questions, create psychological safety, and build digitally focused organizations ers are those that achieve success by helping others grow, who take others along and help them become a better version of themselves. It’s a book about the journey from being a good leader to an extraordinary one, or shall I say a leader to a leader-coach.

Coaching is the key - or the code - that unlocks Uncommon Leadership.

Uncommon leaders understand that it’s not just about building an empire, or making millions in revenues but also about the journey and the teams they build along the way. When these leaders relentlessly focus on elevating others, they also elevate themselves, and their organizations. When they shine the light on others, they shine even brighter. august 2021 |

le a d e r shi p

There are ample studies that demonstrate a strong correlation between diversity at a leadership level and business results. But not much is changing in the real world.

How is this going to unfold/change in the post-pandemic world?

When the pandemic first hit in 2020, millions of women were among the first to lose their jobs because they are overly represented in the service sectors leading some economists to call the ensuing recession a “shecession”.

Research tells us that women are much less likely to ask for promotions, or apply for leadership positions vis-a-vis men despite being equally qualified – what many experts term as the confidence gap between men and women. The pandemic has only exacerbated the problem.

Employers need to take cognizance of this alarming reality and make concerted efforts to create an ecosystem where women employees can rejoin the workforce with the right support, infrastructure, and coaching that helps them play to their potential.

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Book Review: Transformational leadership in banking A new book edited

by Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal explores transformational leadership in banking using indepth case studies and insightful interviews

b o o k

r e v i e w

By Dr Aquil Busrai

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I

was filled with a sense of anticipation and exultation as I picked up the copy of Dr Anil K Khandelwal’s latest book “Transformational Leadership in Banking” a hardcover book with an attractive bright cover and with 514 pages of treasure between them.

Having already authored two best sellers “Dare to Lead” and “CEO, Chess Master or Gardener”, Dr Khandelwal has by now, made a mark in the leadership domain. He revisited his earlier book “Human Resources Development in Bank” written in 1988 to reflect upon the progress of HRD function in Public Sector Banks. In his own words, he laments that “…in last three decades, while banking has taken rapid strides, such as introduction of technology, retail banking and more recently | august 2021

the amalgamation of 10 PSBs into 4, the HR function continues to suffer from neglect…” such observations coming from a stalwart who chaired the famous Khandelwal Committee in 2010, are serious indictment of the HR function. Dr Khandelwal is known to be a handson leader and this book is testament to his passion and commitment to ensure that change does happen. This perseverance sets him apart as not only a thought leader but also a committed change agent.

In editing the “Transformational Leadership in Banking” Dr Khandelwal has garnered contributions from 34 outstanding luminaries from academia, industry, and consulting. The cross section of contributors testifies to the magnificence of diverse perspectives, opinions, and

counsel. The success of this book can be attributed to this very feat, where Dr Khandelwal has been able to extract the wisdom of such accomplished professionals and string their thoughts together in harmony with the central theme.

Essentially, the book has dwelled on three broad themes: Governance, Leadership and Human Resources. It has critically examined what role HR can play in influencing the other two. The archaic method of selecting Boards and giving the CEO a team of Executive Directors from different banks, that too on a short tenure of 2-3 years has posed grave challenge in obtaining commitment for long term changes and

Revolution. Essays from MS Sriram, Sushil Saluja, Akhil Handa focus on reimagining work and workforce to better understand how machine and man can collaborate and importance of reskilling the workforce to work with intelligent machines. Section two Highlights the Governance issue including soft factors like personal ethics and organizational culture.

It underscores the need for transformation because the banking regulations do not always yield the desired results.. Section three on

leadership, with Dr Khandelwal’s epic Fifteen Actionable Insights from the Trenches.

This is unique because it is based on his own personal experience as Chairman and CEO of Bank of Baroda.

Eminent writers like late Dr Pritam singh, Anil Sachdev, Abinash Panda, Mamkoottam, Raj Bowen, Rajiv Jayaraman, Nishchae Suri and others have written excellent papers on leadership, culture, learning, new manifesto for HR in digital environment.

Part two is a collection of four case studies that highlights the sterling work

r e v i e w

Dr Khandelwal is known to be a hands-on leader and this book is testament to his passion and commitment to ensure that change does happen

done on transformation by State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank and Union Bank. SBI’s transformation of its HR practices, the way it revamped its training and development and the role HR played in merger process and digital transformation is a benchmark. The second Case Study is the famous Bank of Baroda’s professionalization of its HR and overhaul of its HR processes. The ICICI bank Case Study on building contemporary HR, including close industry -academia partnership and building a leadership pipeline is an outstanding example of pioneering work.

Part three is simply fascinating. Stalwarts on Bank boards and acknowledged institution builders - have all candidly shared their experience and outlook on culture, leadership, board management, HR and digital challenges.

Although the primary focus of the book is Public Sector Banks, nevertheless the insight, the farsightedness and the wisdom contained in the book is universally relevant for HR leaders and CEOs in any industry. This is a book every senior banker should keep on his shelf. It is futuristic and insightful.

In my opinion, this book is a must-read for all HR professionals and senior business and banking leaders, particularly CEOs.

b o o k

limited possibility to engage in transformational change that requires tenure commitment. Banking industry continues with the mindset of focusing on immediacy of commercial goals leaving very little room for getting the banks future ready. Banking industry has been beleaguered with huge manpower numbers. Estimated to be over 1 million today. But the type of talent needed for future skills like risk management, data analytics, digital technology etc., is in short supply. HR will need to prioritize reskilling current manpower expeditiously.

The book is structured in three parts. Part 1 focuses on future of banking, governance, leadership, and talent.

Part 2 presents four case studies from leading Banks where HR has played significant role in business transformation process. This part more than adequately establishes that when reforms in HR are undertaken, they indisputably facilitate good banking. Part 3 presents interesting individual insights, gleaned through one-on-one interviews. The systematic taxonomy of the book is a unique feature. It enables a reader to focus on one major theme at a time, without losing the connection.

Part one is split into four sections. Section one covers future of Banking and urgent need for reforms considering the rapid advent of technology and Digital

Dr Aquil Busrai is the CEO of Aquil Busrai Consulting august 2021 |

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Knowledge + Networking

Past Month's events

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New Frontiers in Employee Skilling: Digital Learning, Curated Content & Business

Tweetchat - Emergence Through Excellence: What’s Next in the World of Work?

People Matters & Plethora 22nd July 2021 Online The rapid pace and scale of technological change and global flows of information, among other forces, are disrupting labor markets and fundamentally altering the future of work. With 2020 having a major focus on performance and efficiencies, 2021 is about building capabilities to create new values and opportunities for clients and businesses, which is not possible without an overriding strategy for digital learning, and relevant content for skilling and development.

This discussion invited leaders to decipher the new frontiers in skilling and development and how organizations can embrace new emerging skills to redefine value for the business, and the role of curating right, engaging, and personalized, and yet impactful content in bridging the skilling gaps.

People Matters 23rd July 2021 Twitter For continued business growth and to stay on the top with the right people strategy, business and HR leaders must hold on to this new agile work culture driven by tech. If 2020 was the year of The Great Reset, 2021 is all about Emergence Through Excellence. We have the chance to stride ahead and build a betterthan-ever world of people and work. Empowered by technology, it is HR who has to lead this journey. But as we advance, there are a few important questions we must reflect upon. Hence, as a precursor to the People Matters TechHR India 2021’s theme, we invited HR and business leaders to come together and answer the question that stares us in the face- what next?

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People Matters TechHR India 2021: The Great Emergence People Matters 4th - 6th Aug 2021 Online With everything disrupted, considering going back to the old ways of working is not at all a winning strategy. Companies have accelerated their business agility & speed by adopting new ways of working. People Matters TechHR 2021’s theme, The Great Emergence will answer the question that stares us in the face - WHAT NEXT? It marks the beginning of reimagining the possibilities presented by our new reality. It was a perfect opportunity for all the leaders to network with 2500+ delegates and discuss how HR continues its quest to become more digital, datacentric, and businessdriven than ever before, with execution being at the core.

Upcoming events Unlocking business value through skilling

People Matters 27th Aug 2021 Online As HR leaders played a pivotal role in spearheading their organizations through the uncertainty, stress, and change, they developed and defined a new core set of skills which is going to be a prerequisite of emerging HR leaders in the second year of the pandemic and beyond. It is these very visionary and talented HR leaders that the People Matters Are you in the List 2021 Awards which is in its 10th year of running aims to recognize- the new generation of HR leaders who rose to the challenge of 2020 and became the answer to the challenges in the People and Workspace and have redefined HR for the future HR leaders. The People Matters Are you in the List 2021 awards in association with DDI is the right stage for you-as it has been for the last 10 years, identifying the emerging HR leaders of tomorrow who can rise to the challenges of the future.

People Matters EX APAC Virtual Conference People Matters 9th Sept 2021 Online People Matters EX APAC Virtual conference is a full-day event that will feature four virtual tracks and will take a deep dive into different aspects of the EX with keynotes, case study sessions, panel discussions, and dedicated virtual exhibition space for service providers to showcase their latest offerings. It will cover the foundations of EX to maximize business success, accelerating the development of a consumer mindset to solving people & work challenges in order to attract and retain future talent, bolster productivity and ultimately build happier workplaces, which makes more business sense in the long run. So come, learn, interact, and network virtually with over 1000+ delegates and explore how EX translates in every decision in the talent strategy.

august 2021 | August

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People Matters & Coursera 12th Aug 2021 Online As the new world of work awaits to unleash new challenges, opportunities, and innovations, ensuring companies have the right skills mix to thrive in this new world of work has become a priority.Upskilling is emerging as a core to many firms’ talent strategies. Hence, in the coming years, the speed and scale of upskilling and reskilling human capital. In this virtual session by People Matters & Coursera, we will look at what has been the major skills gap in organisations that they are looking to solve? How are organizations looking to address the shift in learning patterns among employees? How should organizations plan at linking learning efforts with tangible business outcomes? How to effectively collaborate with business leaders/teams to make sure the employees learn relevant job based skills to help their individual & team performance?

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Blogosphere

>> Dr. Pete Harpum

The paradoxes of digital culture b lo g o s p he r e

We have never been so connected. Still, we struggle to manage these several lives we live, side-by-side in time

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D

igital Culture, as a phenomenon, cannot be separated from the all-pervasive reality of capitalism. The early beginnings of the digital age are identified with industrial-era pioneers such as Charles Babbage (calculating machines), Charles Jacquard (automated weaving loom), and inevitably, and later, Alan Turing and his work on the universal computing machine. Capitalist imperatives led to the work of these people – to embed capital into the production process, so removing the need for humans to carry out the “making tasks”, improving efficiency, and reducing cost – that is to say, increasing profitability.

The second aspect of digital culture identified by writers such as Charlie Gere and Cohen is the direct line of development from the counterculture of the 1960s to the current time. These writers

| august 2021

describe the co-location in time and place of counterculture aesthetics and ethos with developing computing technology, not the least of which happened in Silicon Valley. A desire to express individuality, to explore ways of being that were outside the mainstream culture of the USA at the time, was common amongst the microelectronics and computing scientists and engineers.

There is a paradox here.

Capitalism created the context and “need” for digitalization. The reaction to capitalism, the 1960s coun-

ter-culture, then delivered exactly the answer capitalists were looking for – the personal computer and, thereafter, near-global GAFA technology platforms (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple). This “origin paradox” has spawned several more paradoxes.

• Paradox 1: People as data.

People have submitted to the panopticon of GAFA and others (one thinks of government agencies), through the data we seem willing to make available, free, to the market economy. Simultaneously, we cry out for hyper-individuality. The very data we give away is used to categorize, normalize, and rationalize us for commercial ends.

• Paradox 2: Invisibility of digital culture. We access, literally and metaphorically, an essentially invisible digital system, through highly visible and heavily marketed physical digital

and consumption. The digitalized world of commerce has enabled the market to drive production costs to the absolute minimum.

Everything is outsourced, accepting what firms consider, following the work of C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel, to be their “core competencies”. As products beyond the reach of the many have become cheaper and cheaper, capitalism has won over the workers. The same people that have seen their

tal culture and the way it impacts society. I ask organizational leaders to take to heart this invocation by Aldo Schiavone: “We cannot leave technology, and the network of powers that pervades it, to decide without mediation the ways of life available to us. It appears increasingly necessary to find an equilibrium point that, even while integrating the connection between technology and the market, stands on the outside.”

The point? Become a locus

The traditional demarcation of work and private life is no longer a fiction we can abide by. The producer/ consumer paradox demonstrates this. Organizational leaders are, de facto, leaders of society too median income stagnate (particularly in the West) over the decades since the 1960s, embracing the very system that has created the hourglass economy.

What on earth has all this got to do with senior leaders? Well…everything! Quite apart from the fact that senior leaders represent and deliver both the capitalist creed and facilitate the digital culture, they also lead the working people/producers – that also consume! This is a privileged position to work from in shaping digi-

b lo g o sp he r e

devices. Our smartphones, computers, and intelligent personal assistants are completely integrated into our daily experience.

Yet behind the device is, as Gere describes it, a “… vast, complex, and largely invisible assemblage of information and communications systems through which late modernity operates…”

• Paradox 3: Comfort and heroism. We have conflicted needs for passivity and social morality.

This is resolved partially through the contradiction of “relaxing” by watching unspeakable horrors on our devices – via mainstream media, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The violence is seeming as raw and unfiltered as possible perhaps to make us feel actually alive, as opposed to living in a torpor.

• Paradox 4: Connection, but no control. The plethora of apps we have available to us allows us to live multiple lives simultaneously. To converse with many people on the same and different platforms at the same time, to organize our love and sex lives, to order goods and services, to multi-task to perhaps extreme degrees. We have never been so connected.

Still, we struggle to manage these several lives we live, side-by-side in time. Our egos run riot.

• Paradox 5: Production

around which mediation and equilibrium can be developed. Make visible to the people in your organization the paradoxes of digital culture. Make sense of the digital culture within which they work and live. The traditional demarcation of work and private life is no longer a fiction we can abide by. The producer/consumer paradox demonstrates this. Organizational leaders are, de facto, leaders of society too.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Pete Harpum is Partner: EU & UK in GrowthSqapes Consulting august 2021 |

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RNI Details: Vol. XII, Issue No. 8, R.N.I. No. HARENG/2010/33504. Published and Owned by People Matters Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Published at 501, 5th Floor, Millennium Plaza, Tower A, Sushant Lok-1, Sector-27, Gurgaon - 122009, Haryana.

Editor: Esther Martinez Hernandez

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