Q&A Talented tech Devyani Vaishampayan is a member of TALiNT Partners’ respected panel of judges for the TIARA Talent Tech Star Awards and CEO of HR TECH Partnership. TALiNT International sat down with her to talk about tech trends, talent and the upcoming awards season. TI: Rapid digital transformations enabled the
use of AI and digital solutions around coaching, employee engagement, performance management, embedding behaviours and wellness has gone up significantly.
world to continue turning when the pandemic hit in 2020. How do you think technology will aid the return to a new normal and hybrid way of working?
DV: Remote work is here to stay and is the new normal. Hybrid working where employees work partly from home will necessarily increase the use of tech. As a result of the pandemic, over the last two years, corporates have been in a reactive mode. However, many are now taking a more strategic and planned approach to managing the challenges of a flexible and remote workforce and digitalisation of the workforce is being looked at in a significant way.
TI: Do you think that companies will continue to Debbie Walton Editor TALiNT Partners
embrace the digital way of working, or will we see a return to in-person working in the coming months?
DV: Very few organisations will return to the
will come out this year?
traditional norm of five days a week in the office. Most will offer hybrid working with two to three days in the office and the choice being left to employees. At one extreme, roughly 10 to 15% of organisations (mostly in the technology sector) may offer 100% work from home. The other change we are seeing is a move to a four day week.
DV: This year will see an increased usage in
TI: Managing a hybrid workforce is sure to have
TI: What innovative technology do you think
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality due to a number of factors. These factors include a greater familiarity with digital technology, reduced costs of headsets and the emergence of Meta by Facebook. These will help step up the replacement of face-to-face interactions with a virtual environment.
its challenges. What do you believe will be an organisation’s biggest hurdle with the return to the new normal?
DV: Many organisations will be persuading
traditional managers to adopt this change. There
TI: Let’s talk about AI. Do you predict an uptake in adoption? And how will that affect the talent industry?
DV: Organisations will see a big uptake in AI
adoption, particularly around the softer aspects of talent management. At the HR TECH Partnership, we are particularly seeing increased interest around areas of leadership and culture, which traditionally were done face-to-face. The
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TALiNT International February 2022
“At one extreme, roughly 10 to 15% of organisations may offer 100% work from home. The other change we are seeing is a move to a four day week.”
