BW People Sep - Oct 2023

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 51 When evaluating and selecting HR Tech, we ensure employee benefits are meaningful, valuable, and holistic to their needs. With this view in mind, we have launched several holistic employee wellbeing offerings Sourabh Deorah that allows employees to choose what they want category-wise. We have also launched financial wellness via the Advantage Card for Tax Saving, which helps employees with their financial needs. We are today one of the most comprehensive platforms offering solutions for all employee engagement & welfare initiatives. Can you share any best practices or lessons learned from your experience in deploying HR technology within your organisation? As we operate across more than 3m employees across 100 countries, the biggest learning that we gained is that every stakeholder should be happy. At Advantage Club, we value every end user as much as the executives or HR leaders of the company. Hence, we have implemented policies like anti-breakage, high redemption, etc. All other HR solutions in the space run their business on breakage, which essentially means that if any point is unredeemed via the end user, the entire reward budget goes into the HR solution’s pocket. We do not do that at all and hence see high adoption. What role do analytics and data-driven insights play in your decision-making at the top? As a tech-driven platform, we are constantly on the go to help organisations customise the platform and find opportunities to make the offering more relevant. We are using analytics to find early indicators of employee disengagement and help organisations tweak their R&R programme or spruce their employee benefits programme to cater to unique needs. From a reporting perspective, we give access to dashboards and numerous analytics to HR managers to help them understand the level of employee engagement and where there might be potential for attrition. Looking ahead, what do you see as the future trends or advancements in HR technology that will have the most significant impact on your organisation? We believe engagement will continue growing and become centre stage for HR technology. Our next generation expects more from their job beyond salary and stability, and organisations will have to continue evolving to deliver on their expectations. Earlier, HR used to be a function just from a welfare point of view, but now it has moved into creating an employee experience. Organisations will also look for a unified AI-enabled global solution that manages the entire employee experience journey, from onboarding to recognition to wellness. We will continue playing our role in helping organisations and employees achieve maximum engagement and happiness.

52 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “Lessons Learnt With Pleasure Are Never Forgotten” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS To remain competitive and adaptive to new ways of working, technology is a critical component of the learning strategy EXCELLENCE IN LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT - GOLD Aditi Mukherjee › Technology is a critical component of the learning strategy at NCDEX, says Aditi Mukherjee, Chief People Officer, NCDEX By Upasana “We understood early on that the hybrid way of working is not going away anytime soon, so providing alternatives to purely instructor-led sessions was more important than ever. Hence, we did a complete reboot of our learning practices way back in 2020,” says Aditi Mukherjee, Chief People Officer, NCDEX . To arrive at the new world of learning in a flexible work environment, there were certain initial steps undertaken by the firm: a) Diagnosis of existing practices; b) Understanding expectations from each stakeholder; c) Changes needed to align with business objectives and d) Studying market-leading practices. “Over the last couple of years, our learning practices have evolved with time. The first year of the change management was largely about building the excitement and educating employees on the features of our digital platform, the derived benefit of anywhere, anytime learning, onboarding multiple departments in the onestop solution to deploy holistic learning,” informs Mukherjee. “Gradually we have moved into a blended learning approach within NCDEX Group Academy which has multi-learning models such as bootcamps, collaborative learning, skill-based education, behavioural competency-based learning etc.,” she adds. Learning and development initiatives A hybrid workforce requires employees to be self-directed and take ownership of their learning and NCDEX’s L&D initiatives foster that kind of culture. Mukherjee underlines that the uniqueness of the initiatives stems from certain fundamental premises: Make learning fun: “We believe what is learnt with pleasure is never forgotten. So, our strategy design begins with that foundation principle. So last year, we created a learning campaign,

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 53 with comics and superheroes, to achieve a 100 per cent Individual Development Plans,” Mukherjee shares. Empower teams: The learning culture at NCDEX is driven by Departmental Learning Champions and the Heads of the Department. The Human Resources team play a facilitator role. Technology enables learning: To remain competitive and adaptive to new ways of working, technology is a critical component of NCDEXs learning strategy. The team is completely invested in anywhere, anytime learning. Academy framework of learning & development: “The NCDEX Group Academy provides a framework that supports our learning model – 70:20:10 in a digital environment,” informs Mukherjee. The learning needs are identified during performance evaluations and also undertaken around the year based on inputs received from leaders and managers. The developmental needs identified during this exercise form the basis of the Individual Development Plans (IDP) for every employee. Achievement of the Individual Plan and Team Development Plans are allocated a certain weightage (about 10 per cent) during the annual goal-setting process. The progress of IDP is tracked and monitored by learning champs and the L&D team. Employees themselves can set weekly learning goals and measure their achievements. “That said, apart from the need identification through performance management, we also target the enhancement of leadership, managerial and functional skills at the organisational level with a curated learning curriculum in partnership with various subject matter experts,” states Mukherjee. Incorporating technology and digital learning solutions To remain competitive and adaptive to new ways of working, technology is a critical component of the learning strategy of NCDEX and Group companies. Thus, two years back the organisation partnered with Skill-Soft to host the NCDEX Group Academy digitally. “The digital learning solution complimented our model of blended learning and supported our strategy to engage learners by providing flexibility, learning in the flow of work, assignment-based learning and recognition through badges and mobile applications thereby access to NCDEX Group Academy twenty four - seven,” she shares. She further says, “Apart from the global content access provided by the digital platform, we have also leveraged the platform to host our e-curriculum.” Assessing the effectiveness of the training programmes “We have been using a lot of learning analytics to evaluate the effectiveness of the training programmes,” she says, and gives examples: • % Completion of TNI • Learning satisfaction rate • % Badges earned for new skills She adds, “From an organisational need perspective - last year we focussed on data visualisation, design thinking application and honing emotional intelligence. Courses were assigned to all employees depending on level and we celebrated achievement. “Assessments are another approach we use to measure the change in learners’ behaviour post-training “For example, i-Lead (a specific intervention for newly christened Managers) and The Leader The Coach (honing coaching skills for senior leaders), in both programmes’ delta change in managerial and leadership competencies, from pre to post was mapped.”

54 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “Designed To Grow Our Own Timber” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS EXCELLENCE IN LEARNING TECHNOLOGY - GOLD › The learning programmes at NTPC facilitate competency building and skill enhancement of not only NTPC employees but also the outsourced workers, says Dillip Kumar Patel, Director (HR), NTPC By Krishnendra Joshi Congratulations to your organisation for winning the Excellence in Learning Technology Award at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023. In your view, what is unique about the learning technology systems at NTPC? The award is a testament to NTPC’s outstanding Learning and Development practices and its relentless pursuit of excellence through deploying an innovative approach, adopting technology, setting benchmarks and fostering a culture of continuous learning. The Learning Technology Systems at NTPC are a key part of the organisation strategy to create a future ready workforce and designed to ‘Grow Our Own Timber’. Their uniqueness stems from being focused, targeted and need based, and being continuously upgraded, keeping in view of the forthcoming futuristic technologies. We have adopted digitalisation and virtual platform as the core pillars of learning technology. The courses are customised based on the level and

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 55 We have adopted digitalisation and virtual platform as the core pillars of learning technology. The courses are customised, based on the level and work area of the concerned employee using the L&D technology work area of the concerned employee using the L&D technology which automatically assigns the courses. An important attribute of the system is that it facilitates competency building and skill enhancement of not only NTPC employees but also the outsourced workers. Training and fieldwork are intertwined so that the learner can refer to the course material on the field easily. How has your organisation’s learning technology evolved in the hybrid model of working? The Learning & Development Matrix at NTPC is geared to come up with appropriate interventions to meet all kinds of organisational requirements – be it facilitating the operational excellence of our units or building capabilities to facilitate the transition to clean energy or having holistic programmes to build managerial and leadership capabilities of our employees. In the last three years, there has been a reorganisation of the operating model of various functions in NTPC for ensuring better use of the resources by taking help of digital platforms. Against the above background, the Learning Technology Systems at NTPC are being customised to suit the specific requirement of the employee and facilitate ‘learning in the flow of work’ as well as ‘asynchronous learning’. How do you incorporate technology and digital learning solutions into your L&D programmes? NTPC uses blended training combined with traditional Instructor Led training (ILT) with a mix of digital training such as e-learning, web conferencing, video conferencing; virtual reality, augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) technology-based learning modules along with classroom training. The novel and latest learning technologies are embedded in L&D programmes with the support of academicians, industry experts and technology implementers, mainly IT & ITES experts. The advent of the latest technologies into power generation has increased the need for personalised training. Accordingly, we have set up Simulators for 200 MW, 500 MW, 660 MW and 800 MW following technological upgradation. Recently, we incorporated VR enabled welding simulator to train the welders. As mentioned earlier, NTPC has embarked on ‘iGuru’ – a learning initiative focused on immersive technologies which has a mix of equipment (technology) and module (digital learning modules) – to equip its workforce for the challenges in this domain. Initially, pilots are identified, executed and their learning efficacy is measured and compared with the set targets. The gaps and limitations are identified, feedback is taken from the employees as well as their managers and experts. The learning technology is launched finally after incorporating the suitable remedial measures. We regularly conduct ‘train the trainer’ programmes to train the faculty initially who in turn train others at their plant. In this way, technology and digital learning solutions disseminate to the wider spectrum of the workforce. What methods or tools do you use to assess the effectiveness of the learning technology implemented in the organisation? The company has been evaluating its programmes/interventions using the conceptual framework of the Kirkpatrick Model. It assesses both formal and informal training methods based on reaction, learning, behaviour, and results. This system is embedded in the existing Learning Management System. Assessment and feedback are taken regularly to assess the effectiveness. An independent third-party examination/evaluation and virtual hands-on examinations for all participants exposed to the learning technology ensures that the same is disseminated effectively to all. It is ensured that the same are examined without any bias and the feedback is communicated to the reporting managers. The effectiveness is manifested through several benefits to the organisation such as increase in availability factor, reduction in equipment forced outage, reduction in planned outage, increase of Gross generation, etc. Dillip Kumar Patel

56 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “THE HEART, HEAD AND HAND GO IN TANDEM AT JK CEMENT” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS EXCELLENCE IN HR STRATEGY - GOLD › The legacy and its selective strength areas are the guiding principles of the HR strategy at JK Cement says Andleeb Jain, Group President - Human Capital, Corporate Communication & CSR, JK Cement By Krishnendra Joshi J K Cement’s distinctive HR strategy secured them the Excellence in HR Strategy award at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023. In an exclusive interview with BW People Prime, Andleeb Jain, Group President - Human Capital, Corporate Communication & CSR, JK Cement, sheds light on how the HR strategy aligns with the organisational vision, fosters a robust company culture, tackles talent acquisition and retention, facilitates succession planning, and embraces technology for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. Aligning HR strategy with organisational vision Collaboration with business is at the core of JK Cement’s HR Strategy. The secret to the organisation’s disruptive HR strategy lies in understanding the pulse of business stakeholders and suitably catering to them through the business strategy. “The legacy and its selective strength areas are the guiding principles of the HR strategy at JK Cement,” says Jain. He emphasises that the strategy continuously evolves by gathering insights from an internal check and balance mechanism that spans across an employee’s complete life cycle. Jain highlights that this evolution is closely tied to the organisation’s intent to partner with the business. The legacy of the organisation and its distinctive strengths remain pivotal in shaping the strategy. Succession planning and leadership development Succession planning and grooming in-house talent for leadership positions is engrained in JK Cement’s DNA. A look at the company’s leadership development programmes gives a fair indication that JK Cement has a blueprint in place for building a pipeline of future leaders. “Right from our Young Leaders Programme (UDAY), where we identify and catch young talent to groom them, to our executive coaching programmes for identified leaders, we have come

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 57 Right from our Young Leaders Programme (UDAY), where we identify and catch young talent to groom them, to our executive coaching programmes for identified leaders, we have come a long way in grooming internal talent a long way in grooming internal talent,” says Jain. “We send our identified talents to the Best B-Schools across the Globe for grooming,” he adds. Delving deeper into the aspect of succession planning, Jain states that all the leadership positions are being fed from JK Cement’s internal talent pool. The company has systems and processes in place to diligently throughout identify, assess, and develop its internal talent for key leadership roles. “As and when the opportunity arises, we ensure that we have somebody to take it up,” says Jain. And when the position cannot be filled internally, the company chooses to hire from external sources. Creating a cohesive culture Jain elaborates on the unique balance that JK Cement’s HR strategy strikes between the people and business aspects. “The heart, head, and hand of the organisation go in tandem and are uniquely intertwined,” he adds. Jain underscores the alignment of core strength areas with the organisational culture, discovered through extensive surveys and interviews. The Employee Value Proposition (EVP) captures emotional connect, passion, belongingness, and more, forming the bedrock of the company’s culture. From a talent acquisition perspective, Jain explains that JK Cement focuses on enhancing the quality of talent influx. The organisation employs various filters to improve the talent pool’s diversity, age, gender, qualification, and exposure. The HR leader emphasises the importance of generational diversity as well. For retention, the strategy encompasses structured job rotations, career development, employee engagement, and more, all aimed at enhancing the employee experience and value proposition. Leveraging technology for efficiency: the paperless revolution Highlighting the role of technology, Jain underscores its pivotal role in the HR strategy. The organisation’s transition to a paperless environment during the pandemic underscores the significance of digitalisation. Jain discusses the introduction of various tools and platforms to enhance efficiency and transparency in processes. For JK Cement, technology is integral to providing seamless employee experiences and services, especially considering their geographically widespread employee base. The BW People Excellence in HR Strategy award is a testament to JK Cement’s exceptional approach, where legacy, culture, talent, and technology converge to form a harmonious symphony. Andleeb Jain’s insights provide a window into how this strategy is meticulously crafted to not only align with the organisational vision but also to create lasting value for all stakeholders. Andleeb Jain

58 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM Addressing Deficit Of Healthcare Professionals HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS BEST EMERGING HR STRATEGY - GOLD › Roli Singh, Head HR, Tata Cancer Care Foundation, describes how the organisation’s HR strategy is mobilising cancer care prevention at an early stage By Upasana “We believe our HR strategy is not only making an organisation-wide impact but is mobilising cancer care prevention, early detection and wider care delivery access in India,” says Roli Singh, Head HR, Tata Cancer Care Foundation (TCCF). “We work on skill development to address one of the largest issues that India faces today, which is a deficit of healthcare professionals. Our training programmes are extended to every cluster and every unit within the cluster,” adds Singh. The Foundation, in the span of 5 years, despite 2 years of pandemic, helped operationalise over 11 cancer care centres setup in Assam, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra – the most populous states with the highest incidence of cancer cases. “We have added 539 bed capacity, on-boarded and trained 30 super speciality oncologists, 157 nurses and 210 technicians across these centres. We conducted 2,99,633 public health screenings and sensitised 5,15,245 people. We trained 61,005 health workers for early detection,” informs Singh. The Foundation has managed to build momentum in the workforce towards a collective purpose based on common goals, through same/similar HR processes and policies across the geography with progressive, transparent, well-understood HR processes. Vision and objectives The organisational vision of TCCF is that of building an accessible, high quality, affordable and inclusive cancer care ecosystem in India. “Winning

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 59 The organisation is young and evolving; the HR strategy therefore focusses on transparent HR processes which are assimilative of the regional requirements. We follow a doctorled organisation approach, as we feel this gives most optimal healthcare outcomes Roli Singh the Best Emerging HR Strategy Award provides us with a perfect opportunity to showcase the vision and promote it across a wide audience, which we would not be able to do, through our efforts alone,” shares Singh. The Foundation aims to build a patient-centric health care model that aims to provide access to affordable, uniform, high-quality care and take healthcare closer to the patient’s home. Their objective is to address grassroot level issues to reduce cancer burden – awareness & planning, screening & early detection, and palliative & after care. HR strategy, talent acquisition and retention The organisation is young and evolving; the HR strategy therefore focusses on transparent HR processes which are assimilative of the regional requirements. “We follow a doctor-led organisation approach, as we feel this gives most optimal healthcare outcomes. These over-arching concepts create an unprecedented value proposition for our critical talent and helps us achieve optimal cost & operational sustainability,” Singh says. The approach at TCCF is focussed on training & research, with long term, value-creation in our talent through customised exposure in clinical, technical and functional aspects. TCCF achieves this through: • Agile recruitment, which is finely tuned to the larger business plan, with the talent supply chain following a systematic and sequential pattern. • Broad-basing of skills which allows retention of talent as mobility along with local skill building helps us sustain our workforce. • Mentorships & specialist coverage: “We have tapped into our network of large volume cancer centres like Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Medical Centre, Centre for Onco-pathology. Mentorship and specialist coverage from these institutions adds to the skills of our technical staff,” Singh informs. • Fellowship programmes for doctors and nurses: Which provides exposure for managing complex medical cases and helps the organisation build the mainstay for trained medical staff. The above mix has helped the Foundation attract good talent and also helped in retaining them. Efficiency and effectiveness TCCF leverages technology to align with employees at all levels and functions effectively: Public health, patient services: They have deployed the concept of a Digital Nerve Centre (DiNC) in some of our projects. The public health team updates the data of all suspect cases in the DiNC where the KPIs and protocols of the clinical functions are mapped. The tele-callers then take up the work processes and ensure that the patients and their caregivers are navigated through the entire course of the disease. Likewise, each healthcare team has been issued a tablet which enables them to record data during their field visits immediately. Since public health is mostly donor driven – with specific KPIs against each unique role – it enables authentic work to be executed and recorded, thereby giving credibility to work executed to the donor. This is helpful in planning budgets and utilisations. Medical centre, patient services: TCCF has deployed the entire work cycle digitally on Clinical Information Management System – the software enables all the clinical & HR processes along with the role & authorisations to be managed digitally. Employees: All HR processes like manpower planning, recruitment, onboarding, attendance, leave, salary & payroll, travel and reimbursement have been put on the Enterprise Resource Programme – therefore communication of all HR processes and their alignment to the HR Strategy has been in-built in the design of the ERP.

60 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS BEST PLACE OF WORK - SILVER › Employees stay with Abbott because they are connected to its purpose, says Deepshikha Mukerji, Regional Human Resources Director, Abbott India By Upasana “Abbott is an innovative and great place to work. We care about and value our employees. People want a motivational work environment and a clear path for growth, especially to meet their development needs and we aim to offer this through opportunities and differentiated benefits that provide security for themselves and their families,” says Deepshikha Mukerji, Regional Human Resources Director, Abbott India. “We are happy to receive the BW People’s ‘Best Place of Work 2023’ award. It’s a testament of our purpose and mission to provide our workforce with the opportunity to change people’s lives for the better, while living their own best lives personally and professionally,” Mukerji adds. Abbott’s initiatives are based on ensuring that they help their employees build purpose-filled careers within the organisation. “We are committed to helping our people thrive both in work and in their personal lives. That is what makes Abbott a great place to work,” shares Mukerji. Prioritising employee wellbeing and work-life balance For Mukerji, employee wellbeing means helping people fulfil their potential to live full and healthy lives with holistic initiatives and benefits and this helps them truly thrive. Abbott’s India Wellness Strategy is a structured and holistic employee experience. It focusses on helping employees and their families through their journey to physical, emotional, financial and social wellness, which are the four pillars around which this programme is based. Mukerji Listening To Employees Is Crucial

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 61 Employee wellbeing means helping people fulfil their potential to live full and healthy lives with holistic initiatives and benefits; this helps them truly thrive Deepshikha Mukerji underlines that their wellness strategy goes beyond more traditional health benefits. “For example, we have yoga and fitness sessions, financial management and planning for the future, amongst other things.” “Our ‘Mind Strong’ initiative focusses on increasing awareness of the importance of mental health and providing tools to help manage stress and sleep, among other factors that can impact mental wellbeing,” Mukerji highlights. Implemented well before Covid in 2019, the initiative reinforces the organisation’s focus on supporting the wellbeing of employees and is an integrated solution aimed at creating a culture of acceptance on matters related to mental and emotional wellbeing. The company also supports its employees through their Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which is a customised counselling and resource service available for employees and their families. Fostering employee engagement and satisfaction “We care deeply for our employees and want them to feel valued and engaged. We have several employee networks to help people stay connected. These help us create a diverse and inclusive work environment,” states Mukerji. “While each network has its own goals and programmes, they all promote diversity of perspectives, as well as cultural awareness, personal and professional growth and inclusion,” she further says. One of these is the Women Leaders of Abbott network, a platform for attracting, retaining and advancing women in the organisation. Another employee network is the Working Mothers of Abbott - aimed at providing a platform where all working mothers can stay connected with each other, feel supported, learn and grow. The Early Career Network provides mentorship, leadership connections and knowledge-sharing opportunities to foster generational diversity and empower early career professionals. Also contributing to the employee engagement and satisfaction is their commitment to volunteering. “Abbott cares about and offers its employees opportunities to actively support communities where they operate through outreach, volunteering and programming. We also aim to build teams that reflect the diversity of these communities,” she says. To transform the employee experience, the company has an AI-based technology, SmaHRty. This is an innovative and interactive AI-powered chatbot that supports employees with roundthe-clock assistance. Strategies to retain talent Abbott is committed to recruiting and retaining a workforce that reflects the communities where we live and serve. This means attracting and retaining diverse employees while creating and supporting an inclusive workplace culture. All of the company’s initiatives focus on helping employees grow within the organisation. “We empower our talent and remain committed to designing opportunities for them to learn, develop and grow in leadership roles. This includes giving employees the flexibility to build successful careers in different roles – which is possible with our global footprint, diverse businesses and commitment to development,” Mukerji says. She further says, “We provide an extraordinary recruitment experience to our candidates through their hiring and on-boarding process. We believe that connections and common purpose drive retention. Our employees have the opportunity to change people’s lives every day and by doing so, they can live their own best lives and do their best work. That is what we are here to do. And that is a compelling reason to stay with a company.”

62 BW PEOPLE AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM Towards ‘One Lenovo’ HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS BEST HR TEAM OF THE YEAR › Bhavya Misra, Director & Head of HR - India, Lenovo, describes how the HR initiatives have made a remarkable impact on the organisation By Meha Mathur HR’s critical role in the overall business growth of an organisation has now become widely recognised. What goes into making a great HR team? Bhavya Misra, Director & Head of HR - India, Lenovo is in the right place to answer this question. After all, her team won the ‘Best HR Team of the Year’ award at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023. Misra says, “One could have an endless list of what would make a successful department but here are the top five that come to my mind. • A holistic HR strategy, nested deeply in business, that covers critical aspects of capability, capacity, compensation and culture • Listening to employees to get feedback and improve • Right mix of processes/policies and flexibility to accommodate employees needs • Adequate focus on data-driven decision making and KPIs • Having a voice. Being the conscious keeper of the organisation on matters of ethics and integrity. Describing the initiatives taken by the HR team at Lenovo that have made an impact, she says that the team has embarked on a number of initiatives that have contributed to the organisation’s success as ‘One Lenovo’. “Through a strategic focus on organisational transformation, talent development, and fostering a positive culture, our HR efforts have been recognised and awarded for their positive impact on the business,” she says, and describes each aspect in further detail. Organisational Transformation: The HR team has been instrumental in driving organisational transformation, streamlining processes, and optimising efficiency in close partnership with business. “Lenovo is transforming from just being a product to a services and solutions organisation. This implies work across areas of organisation structure, capability building and culture where we are actively partnering with the leadership to drive the change.” Talent Development: Misra says, “At Lenovo, we believe in nurturing our talent and providing them with opportunities for growth. We invest in targeted training for sales teams to

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLE E AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2023 63 From a process perspective, we have an annual planning process which starts with the business defining the mustwin battles and from there flow the HR mandates for the year Bhavya Misra tomer demands effectively.” Fostering a Positive Culture: “One of the key drivers of our success is our inclusive and supportive culture and our ‘People First’ approach. Our HR team has played a pivotal role in creating an environment where diversity is celebrated, and every individual is empowered to thrive,” describes Misra. The growth agenda A key issue is how to align HR strategies with overall business goals, and Misra says, “At Lenovo, we have a bold vision of “Smarter Technology for all”. We are on a mission to bring the best technology to our customers, partners, consumers and the community where we exist and do business.” The HR team at Lenovo has been enabling teams and business to achieve this vision, working with the key pillars of being a global organisation while acting locally, building a workplace that respects and trusts individuals, creating work that is exciting and rewarding work and ensuring growth. Business goals are at the centre of the HR strategy, Misra enhance solution selling and cross BU sales expertise, while also fostering seamless cross-functional collaboration. Additionally, we strategically hire for services skill sets, aligning human resource planning with business priorities to address skill gaps and meet cusemphasises, and adds, “From a process perspective, we have an annual planning process which starts with the business defining the must-win battles and from there flow the HR mandates for the year. We constantly ensure what we do is creating business impact by gathering stakeholder feedback and monitoring our performance against critical KPIs.” Ensuring effectiveness It’s critical that the initiatives that HR embarks upon for company employees are implemented in the true spirit and see success. Talking about the approach at Lenovo, Misra informs, “We strategise and plan our work in HR both for the long term (three-five years) as well as annually. Our annual plan is then further broken down into quarter-wise execution for each of the priority projects. For the priority projects as well as the core processes, we have defined KPIs which we publish within HR and to the business teams. We hold ourselves very seriously accountable to our commitments.” She talks about an effective process called ‘Fu Pan’ for reflection. “It basically encourages individuals and teams to think deeply on our actions - what went well, what could have been done better, from what didn’t go as expected what are the insights and from there what could be the next steps. We use this in every review to ensure that we are being honest in our own evaluation of our work.” Describing what defines the culture at Lenovo, she says, “We do what we say. We own what we do. We WOW our customers’. And this goes for internal customers as well!”

64 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “STAY CURIOUS, REMAIN ADAPTABLE, AND CONTINUE TO EVOLVE” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS FUTURE HR LEADER OF THE YEAR - GOLD › Be the one who is constantly on the quest to sharpen their saw, says Farzana Adenwalla, VP - HR Business Partner and Lead Employer BrandBy Krishnendra Joshi ing and Leadership Engagement, Sony Pictures For Farzana Adenwalla, who was awarded the Future HR Leader award at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023, it has been a journey full of struggles and achievements. She says, “As I embarked on my career journey in the late 2000’s, it was a time when I was toiling between my desire to be a marketing professional and pursue a career in HR, based on my innate passion for human interaction and a genuine desire to contribute to individuals’ growth and well-being within the workplace.” She recalls being fascinated by the intricacies of human behaviour as a consumer or the potential for nurturing talent. “My natural inclination towards empathy and understanding human psychology made HR an ideal career path for me where I could make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” she reveals. She further describes the influences during her formative years that showed first-hand the profound impact HR professionals could have on individuals and organisations. “I recall instances where during my internships, HR leaders played instrumental roles in driving positive change and creating a conducive work environment. These experiences served as a source of inspiration, and they reinforced my belief in the transformative power of HR that acts as a catalyst in shaping the employee experience, fostering organisational culture, and championing talent development, thereby able to drive organisational success,” she says. Leadership lessons In a career spanning more than 15 years, Adenwalla has imbibed several lessons down the line. Recounting the most invaluable ones, she says, “These would be about how to be authentic and empathetic as a leader, be the one who is constantly on the quest to sharpen their

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 65 One of my significant contributions at SPN has been the ‘Rewiring of Performance Management’ project, where we redefined our values and performance philosophy Farzana Adenwalla saw, and lastly, be that leader who recognises that their success is strongly tied to that of the teams. These have allowed me to lead authentically, embrace continuous learning, and build high-performing teams.” At the same time, learning from the best of the minds, she has also implemented a number of initiatives in her organisation to bring about positive change. As she shares, “I have had the privilege of working with various reputable organisations throughout my career, gaining extensive experience in HR management. At Sony Pictures Networks (SPN), I have held diverse roles across HR functions, including HR Business Partnering, Organisation Development & Learning, and Employee Engagement. I currently lead the COE for Employer Branding & Communications and Leadership Engagement.” She further says, “One of my significant contributions at SPN has been the ‘Rewiring of Performance Management’ project, where we redefined our values and performance philosophy to make SPN an agile, high-performing, customer-centric organisation. This involved in-depth research and the launch of a new Performance Management Framework called Connect.Plan.Mentor. The framework initiated regular check-ins between managers and employees, fostering a culture of continuous feedback and conversation. This project also empowered the business leaders to make their own decisions on rewards based on a decentralised Rewards framework.” Another notable project that she describes was Ad Sales Reimagined, a sales enablement intervention aimed at creating a sales ecosystem focused on innovative business solutions and providing true client value. “This involved gathering insights from key clients and stakeholders, leadership assimilation, team dispersion, action projects, and sessions on new competencies and literacies. The results included significant growth, acquisitions of new-age businesses, and enhanced performance levels,” she informs. Technology and disruptions With every sphere of life feeling the impact of disruptive technologies, HR will have an added responsibility of enabling a smooth transition for employees. Emerging trends and technologies in HR, such as artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, employee experience, and enhanced remote work tools, are poised to reshape the field in the coming years. And Adenwalla realises that with technology advancing at the speed of light, HR professionals will need to embrace and leverage them in driving the organisation’s success and creating a dynamic work environment, while the challenge would then be for HR to keep the human aspect at the forefront of technology adoption. Also, in the wake of disruptions being caused, both by technology and other factors, she says, “The journey toward success in a disruptive world is ongoing, so my message to all professionals would be to stay curious, remain adaptable, and continue to evolve as a professional and a leader. This means embracing new technologies, adapting processes, encouraging a mindset of continuous improvement, and learning from failures will position yourself and your organisation to thrive amidst disruption.”

66 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “WE ARE DIGITAL FIRST, AGILE & SOCIALLY IMPACTFUL” › Manu Wadhwa, CHRO, Sony Pictures Networks, describes how company’s business strategy drives sustainable growth in dynamic digital landscape By Krishnendra Joshi EXCELLENCE IN LINE OF BUSINESS STRATEGY HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS As the winners of Excellence in Business Strategy, can you share what is unique about the business strategy behind organisational vision at Sony? We are incredibly thrilled and humbled to be the recipient of the BW People HR Excellence Award for Excellence in Line of Business Strategy for our programme ‘Ad Sales Reimagined’. Against the backdrop of the dynamic and ever-evolving Media & Entertainment industry, the unique programme was conceptualised as a sales enablement intervention that focused on enabling sales to build an ecosystem that provides business solutions thriving on innovation, with a deeper understanding of rapidly changing consumer behaviour and marketplace to facilitate client business growth. How does the company’s business strategy align with its overall HR strategy? In the dynamic business world, one aspect that often remains hidden from the spotlight yet plays a vital role in an organisation’s success is the seamless integration of the Human Resources (HR) strategy with the overall business strategy. Like a beautifully orchestrated symphony, this harmony ensures the organisation thrives in the competitive landscape. The ‘Ad Sales Reimagined’ programme emphasised the importance of continuous learning and development for employees to enable the business to achieve its vision of delivering true client value and achieving excellence in a rapidly evolving environment. By providing a holistic learning strategy that

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 67 By emphasising values’ alignment and collaborative thinking, our strategy differentiates the company from competitors and drives sustainable growth in the dynamic digital landscape included workshops, training sessions, and new competencies and literacy sessions, the HR strategy supported the growth and upskilling of the ad sales team. This focus on talent development aligned with the HR’s goal of nurturing a future-ready workforce. How does the company evaluate and measure the effectiveness of HR initiatives in supporting the business strategy? The effectiveness of the Ad Sales Reimagine initiative in supporting the business strategy is measured through various metrics. These include new business acquisitions, impactful sponsorships, revenue growth, client feedback, and employee performance and engagement. Talent retention, employees’ ability to drive a customer-centric approach, and collaboration and innovation are also evaluated and measured to assess the impact of the strategy in action. Positive outcomes in business have already demonstrated the successful alignment of HR initiatives with the overall business goals. This initiative’s ability to drive revenue growth, meet client expectations, and empower its salesforce showcased its effectiveness in delivering true client value and contributing to the company’s success. What is the overall vision and strategic direction of the company? SPNI’s long-term vision is centred on creating a powerful and unified entertainment conglomerate with a broader appeal, aligning with the global ethos of Sony Corporation. Our renewed vision – to be a digitally led content powerhouse – places us at the overall strategy. Additionally, the strategy addresses lower ad revenues investments and budgets by focusing on true client value and adopting an integrated advertising approach, leveraging digital media, technologies, and data insights. Innovation, talent management, and a long-term growth outlook further underpin the strategy’s goal of becoming a customer-centric leader in the industry. What metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure the success of the business strategy? To gauge the success of the overall business, KPIs are monitored. Parameters for evaluating business growth include variables like increase in network deals, overall revenue growth compared to industry benchmarks, acquisition of new-age businesses, impactful sponsorships, combo deals, and brand integrations. The Power Ratio is monitored to measure the organisation’s market position and revenue potential. Quarterly evaluations ensure continuous alignment with the business strategy and adaptability to market changes. The strategy fosters innovation and embraces digital media trends, enhancing the company’s agility and responsiveness to market shifts. By emphasising values’ alignment and collaborative thinking, our strategy differentiates the company from competitors and drives sustainable growth in the dynamic digital landscape. Its success is evident in the improved talent retention, enhanced employee performance, and heightened engagement levels, solidifying the programme’s impact on the organisation’s overall HR strategy. the intersection of entertainment and technology, a position we seek to enhance by strengthening our consumer reach via our linear channels and digital platform SonyLIV while building a content & consumer-focused culture internally to drive this goal. We embrace being a digital-first, agile, and socially impactful organisation, with a key focus on our people practices to being an Employer of Choice. What are the key drivers behind the chosen business strategy? Market shifts, including the transformation of advertising amid a digital surge in the media landscape, drive the chosen business strategy. The television industry is undergoing a tectonic shift due to media behemoths scaling up through business consolidation and regulatory changes’ impact. Evolving client expectations and the need for deeper client understanding are also key drivers of Manu Wadhwa

68 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “Key Mantra Is To Remain Change-ready” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS Digital Adoption is an important focus for JK Organisation, and we have been working with business leaders to develop an enabling ecosystem - in terms of skills, mindsets, practices, celebrating successes, among other things › Emerging trends have potential to significantly impact the HR field, says Prem Singh, National President, NHRDN and President of Group HR (Group CHRO), JK Organisation By Krishnendra Joshi Veteran leader in HR domain Prem Singh, who was appointed as National President of NHRDN, is the President of Group HR (Group CHRO), JK Organisation, New Delhi. He sits on the Board of Management, JK Lakshmipat University; and is also the Convenor, Directors & Senior Executives Councils, which is the strategic think tank of the Group. He is also the Co-Chairman, HR/IR Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the CII North Regional Committee on HR & IR. Singh is an alumnus of IIT Delhi, and brings with him a rich experience of 32 years, having worked with American, European and Indian companies, including three-year stint overseas, for an expatriate assignment. In addition to HR, he has also handled corporate communications, TQM, Lean, CRM etc. He is a certified Black Belt in Six Sigma. He is an Executive Coach certified by Marshal Goldsmith; and a Strengths Coach, trained by Gallup. In an interview to BW People Prime, he shares his understanding about the changing HR function. Excerpts: Congratulations on winning the CHRO of the Year award at the BW People HR Excellence Awards 2023. Could you please take us down memory lane and tell our readers about the formative years of your illustrious journey? My professional journey has been extremely fulfilling and full of learnings, which I owe to the great leaders and the team members I worked with. I began my career in consulting but then I realised HR came to me naturally. Therefore, after completing my master’s in management, I took HR as a profession and my first role was in training & development. That was the era when TQM/ISO 9000 was a big movement. In addition to T&D, I volunteered and started working on this and that led to my role being expanded to handling TQM as well. This was further expanded with addition of talent acquisition, PMS and campus relations. CHRO OF THE YEAR Prem Singh

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 69 A big opportunity came when I was asked by management to lead a CFT of five managers on a customer satisfaction study, on pan-India basis, in addition to my existing role in HR. This was a great learning experience and I got to handle varied responsibilities like dealers’ and vendors’ capability development, in addition to HR. Meantime, I received training through stalwarts like TV Rao, Udai Pareek, Xerox Quality Services and many others. Over the years, I got certified as Green Belt in Six Sigma and later on Black Belt as well. Over the years, in addition to HR, I also got opportunity to handle corporate communications. In your view how has the HR function evolved over the course of your career? I began my career in 90s and since then the HR function has evolved considerably. HR’s scope of responsibility and the overall impact in organisational growth has increased significantly over the years. Over time, HR has transitioned into a strategic partner, actively contributing to organisational strategy, talent development, driving business outcomes, and playing a key role in shaping organisational culture. With the introduction of HR information systems (HRIS), cloudbased software and automation tools, HR functions have become much more efficient. Today, HR professionals leverage technology for talent acquisition, employee self-service portals, performance management, data analytics and other areas to enhance productivity and decision-making. With data analytics, HR professionals now leverage data to make informed decisions, predict trends, identify talent gaps and optimise HR processes. Data-driven insights have empowered HR to provide strategic recommendations to leadership and drive evidence-based HR practices. Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of remote and flexible work arrangements. HR has played a critical role in facilitating remote work policies, ensuring employee wellbeing, establishing remote communication channels and redefining performance management frameworks to accommodate distributed teams. Organisations are now re-architecting the business models looking at the mix of various staffing models, gig working, distributed teams, supported by technology and digital platforms. Please tell us about your vision, key initiatives and leadership programmes at JK organisation. At my current company, JK Organisation, our HR vision is to be an ‘agile, credible and strategic architect for sustainable business growth’. Key pillars of the vision are: • Organisational capability development, nurturing leadership & talent; • Performance-oriented, team-based culture • Driving customer centricity across the organisation; • Being an employer of choice respected by all the stakeholders. • Leveraging digital technology in all people processes. • Organisational values, • Focus on diversity/ inclusion As part of organisational capability pillar, we have been able to bring several high calibre business leaders at the top management levels from very respected organisations. Another focus area has been to re-orient our approach as to how we can deliver value to our stakeholders even more effectively and in an agile manner. A well-structured Customer Champion programme has been initiated to recognise high impact, proactive and progressive initiatives in our HR professionals. We have developed multi-tiered leadership development programmes like Top Man-

70 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM instead of challenge. My professional journey has been full of opportunities and many of them even beyond typical boundaries of HR. There was this specific opportunity which I’d like to share. During my ex-pat assignment in Caribbean, where I headed HR, admin and corporate communications, there were seven mega projects which were announced by the government. Securing environmental clearance was a major challenge, and I was assigned this responsibility by my management. It was a tough task as I had to deal with several stakeholders, including government agencies, local communities, NGOs and many others. My team and I were committed to clear the roadblocks. We began by engaging with and communicating with all stakeholders, one by one, in a structured manner. Securing the trust of local communities, NGOs and media was the toughest, but through a consistent engagement, long drawn deliberations, over a period of time, several dozens of meetings, we started to see things changing in our favour. What message would you like to give to HR and corporate professionals on embracing change, upskilling and achieving success in the current disruptive work environment? One key mantra is to remain ‘change-ready’ by continuous learning and unlearning. Embracing change will enable you to stay ahead of the curve and navigate the evolving landscape with agility. Invest in your professional development by upskilling and learning continuously. The rapid pace of change requires you to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and stay updated on emerging trends in your field. Ultimately, we are living in the era of “Experience Economy” where both customer and employee experiences drive sustainable success. agement Conference, Strategic Leadership programmes, Ready to Lead programmes and Firsttime Manager programmes etc. Besides, several businesses- critical skills are also being strengthened in collaboration with institutions like Harvard, Wharton, Duke, ISB, IIMs etc. Digital adoption is an important focus for JK Organisation, and we have been working with business leaders to develop an enabling ecosystem - in terms of skills, mindsets, practices, celebrating successes, among other things. All these are so necessary to embrace. How do you ensure that the HR department is aligned with the overall business strategy and goals of the organisation while managing employee expectations? I firmly believe that the purpose of existence of an organisation and HR function is to serve the customers. HR strategy essentially flows from the business strategy. In our case, ‘people, capability & culture’ is one of the most important strategic pillars of our SBPs (strategic business plans), which leads to defining HR strategy, objectives, initiatives and processes. We focus on interacting very closely with our leaders and employees, so we understand their aspirations; and are able to strike a balance between the employee expectations and business requirements. It needs a thoughtful approach and close partnering with business leaders. My team and I begin by gaining a deep understanding of the organisation’s business strategy, goals, and priorities. This involves collaborating with senior leaders and actively participating in strategic discussions. By comprehending the broader business context, we are able to align HR initiatives with the organisation’s direction. Continuous evaluation of existing HR policies, processes, and programmes to determine their relevance and effectiveness in supporting the organisation’s goals is an ongoing effort. This helps us to again marry the employee aspirations and organisational objectives. We link people development initiatives with the organisation’s strategic objectives. By investing in employee growth and aligning it with the overall business strategy, we create a win-win situation where employees can contribute effectively while advancing their careers. In addition, the platforms like Town Halls, leadership dialogues, skip level meetings, employee pulse surveys are other tools which help us align our HR processes with employee aspirations. Can you share an example of a challenging HR issue you encountered during your career and how you successfully resolved it? I prefer the word opportunity HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS Invest in your professional development by upskilling and learning continuously. The rapid pace of change requires you to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, and stay updated on emerging trends in your field

ANIRBAN GHOSH Head- Centre for Sustainability Mahindra University ANKUR BHAGAT Vice President & Chief Supply Chain Oficer P&G India ASHISH MENDIRATTA CEO & Director Advanchainge JAGADEESH KUNCHEY Executive Vice President-Supply Chain & Logistics (for all the FMCG Businesses), Engineering Projects and Management Committee Member, ITC KOPAL AGRAWAL Chief Procurement Oficer Hindalco Industries NITIN D PAREKH Chief Financial Oficer Zydus Lifesciences RADHA RAMANUJAN Chief Financial Oficer, Ashirvad by Aliaxis RAVI KUMAR Head- Supply Chain Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals (Janssen) VINAY KUSHWAHA Chief Technical & Strategy Oficer Britannia Industries UMESH MADHYAN Vice PresidentLogistics, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages ALOK MISHRA Senior Vice President & Group Head – Sustainability, Welspun Group ANIRBAN BASU Executive Director and National Logistics Head, Dalmia Bharat Group ARNAB ROY Zone CFO- Greater India & CFO, Schneider Electric ASHISH PANDE Head of Supply Chain - South Asia Region, Nestle EMINENT JURY EVENT PARTNERS For Speaking Opportunities: Uday Laroia: +91 98995 00769 [email protected] For Award Nominations: Baani Chauhan: +91 84476 77166 [email protected] Kuldeep Prajapati: +91 96698 60757 [email protected] For Partnership Opportunities: Aparna Sengupta: +91 995800 0128 [email protected] Co- Jury Chair SALIL KAPOOR CEO, Hindware Home Innovation #BWSupplyChain DEC 6, 2023 | NEW DELHI NOMINATE NOW SUPPLY CHAIN COMPETITIVENESS fifffflfflffiflfi 2ND EDITION fifffflffiflffffifflffififflfflffifflffifflffi ffffifffifflffi

72 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “A Balance Between Hi-Tech & Hi-Touch” Crucial” HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD › The impact of digital era will be varying in different industry sectors says SY Siddiqui, Former COO/ Chief Mentor/ Executive Advisor Maruti Suzuki By Krishnendra Joshi S Y Siddiqui has had a highly impactful career spanning four decades. He is a master of social work (personnel management and industrial relations) from Jamia Millia Islamia. Starting his career with Escorts Ltd in 1979, he has worked with DCM Group, Toyota Motors, Fiat Group and Maruti Suzuki, and has steered the HR function in multicultural and multinational environments. With his rich and wide experience, Siddiqui provides an understanding of shifting dynamics in the world of work and what it means for employees, in an interview to BW People Prime. Excerpts: Congratulations on being honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the BW People HR Excellence Summit and Awards 2023. Could you please take our readers down memory lane and tell us about the formative years of your illustrious journey. My thanks and gratitude to BW People Prime. The start of my career was at Escorts in July 1979, a highly reputed & professional company. I think it was a great start to my HR career. Initially as I remember, my focus was on building my own professional identity. With my sports (cricket) background, I was naturally a team player with a positive attitude, high adaptability and confidence to take up challenges. At Escorts I got the opportunity to work with very senior and talented HR professionals. I started with welfare & IR role and was job rotated to training & development. It was great learning in my initial career. I made my first career change to DCM Group (of Bharat Ram) and joined in a corporate HR role in March, 1983. I shortly got the key position and role of HR responsible for a new project – DCM Toyota Ltd – a greenfield auto company project in Greater Noida. It was a challenging role to set up the HR function, formulate new HR Policies in coordination with DCM group and Toyota Japan and drive big recruitment effort to set up the business in a record time. Working with top management of DCM Group & Japanese colleagues from Toyota gave me a huge learning in HR, Shopfloor work practices, general management and leadership rather early in my career. I got a fast-track career growth and was given the Head HR Position in 1989 at relatively young age.

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 73 I made my own decisions based on detailing and homework. Also, I was guided by my ethical values. So independent decision making was the key from early part of my career SY Siddiqui Subsequently, I experienced the restructuring of the company, with Daewoo Motors of South Korea becoming a majority partner and the company being renamed as DCM Daewoo Motors and the addition of passenger cars in the product range. With this, HR had to drive the big transition in the organisation structure, manpower planning and HR policies. Working with Korean professionals and the top management was quite different and challenging to adapt. What have been some key milestones and accomplishments during your career? My career span of more than four decades in HR & business roles in highly reputed MNCs reflects a unique achievement of working with multi-nationalities and multi-cultural environments with great success. One aspect which I can emphasise is that I made my own decisions based on detailing and homework. Also, I was guided by my ethical values. So, independent decision making was the key from early part of my career. I was equally at ease working with top Indian companies such as Escorts & DCM Group and hugely successful also with renowned MNCs like Toyota Motor Corp Japan, FIAT Group namely New Holland Tractors and Maruti Suzuki, part of Suzuki Japan. (See some of the important milestones in box). How do you see the role of a CHRO aligning with the responsibilities of a board member? What unique perspectives can a CHRO bring as a ‘board’ member? With the external environment showing signs of turbulence, digital disruption and unpredictability, people challenges are increasingly getting complex. People leadership, therefore, will be a critical competency part of the new DNA of leadership, business heads, COOs & CEOs. As we all experienced post Covid, compassionate leadership has become a big trait for getting the best people outcomes. Thus, CHROs with the best capabilities in managing people challenges and with a proactive understanding of key business parameters will certainly make for good business leaders and board level roles. The ability to effectively handle people issues and drive transformation will help CHROs in devising Board level strategies. In my view, the unique perspectives a CHRO may bring as a ‘board member’ are: • The ability to effectively handle people issues and drive transformation • Capacity for flexibility, innovation and change • Aligning the HR strategy to the defined strategic business plan and drive the desired people outcomes • Collaborating for teamwork and desired outcomes, setting direction and facilitating review and monitoring of business plans. • Lateral management: A good view of cross-functional business linkages; getting things done across internal boundaries with focus on company objectives. • Defining and facilitating the succession plan which can be reviewed annually or twice a year by the top leadership and Board • Emotional quotient of leadership: The business prudence in investing in people development towards building organisational competence and succession - developing the talent pipeline for the future business needs. To sum up the desired leadership model, I think content, character and credibility will be critical for CHROs at the Board level. Ethical and governance perspective will be another potential contribution from CHROs. In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges for a CHRO

74 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM in today’s VUCA world? The key challenge is to change one’s own mindset first – selectively delete the past. The willingness and intent to acquire new knowledge and competence can only happen if one is prepared to de-learn and re-learn. Therefore, the first challenge for a CHRO in the VUCA or BANI world is the flexibility and willingness to understand the economic environment and global business trends and its impact on the business and people strategy for future. Another challenge will be the capability to relate to the business strategy and the need to closely align the people strategy accordingly. Strategic HR with focus on HR analytics, HR forecasting & HR measurement will be the way forward. What would be your take on the emphasis being given to reskilling and upskilling for preparing the manpower for jobs of the near future? In my view flexibility, change, transformation and consequential challenges have been part of corporate life in the past too. Hence, with the digital era, tech transition focussed on automation, speed, transparency and reach will lead to jobs of tomorrow and new emerging skills will be higher in demand. The emerging skills will have a shorter shelf and utility value and reskilling and upskilling will be a continuous need. Hence, in future, learning capacity will be more critical than talent alone. The employers and employees both will need to align to this change and need for continuous reskilling/ upskilling/ capability building. Those who are able to adjust and adapt will be able stay strongly relevant and those who are not will face serious challenge and may not stay relevant. However, in my thinking this transition can be managed well by proactive top leadership interIMPORTANT CAREER MILESTONES CHROs with the best capabilities in managing people challenges and with a proactive understanding of key business parameters will certainly make for good business leaders and board level roles ventions and willingness to build people capabilities through multiple new age L&D alternatives, including e-modules etc. How do you see HR technology evolving in the next few years, and what impact will it have on HR processes and employee experience? The impact of digital era will be varying in different industry sectors. Manufacturing, IT/ITES, FMCG, telecom will all be different. Therefore, in my view we will have to perhaps keep that in mind, when we look at redefining the impact of HR technology for future of HR, or the workplace. In my view the impact of HR technology on the work culture of any company will start with disruption, discomfort and maybe a basic tendency of resistance. There will also be a positive perspective of technology that organisations will have a much faster reach, speed, responsiveness and measurement, leading to high performance than before. People will be working from different kind of geographies, locations, maybe from home. That will definitely bring in a new thought process for redefining or reinventing HR. At the same time, it is also extremely important to maintain a balance between Hi-Tech and Hi-Touch. Elevation to Head of HR DCM Toyota Joined New Holland Tractors, part of FIAT Group Given additional responsibility of Corporate HR Head at Suzuki Japan Chief Mentor, Directly worked with MD and Chairman Joined Maruti Suzuki as Head of HR Elevated to Executive Director HR at fast track at Maruti Suzuki & Special Invitee to the Board Elevated to COO position heading HR, finance, IT & legal at Maruti Suzuki Appointed Director on Board of Suzuki Motorcycle and Suzuki Powertrain HR EXCELLENCE AWARDS 1989 1997 2005 2006 2014 2003 2006 2008

JURY MEMBERS In Association with NURTURING TALENT FOR FUTURE CONCLAVE #HR40Under40 fifffflffffiflfffl  ff flff AWARDS 4th EDITION OF #BWPeopleTalentForFuture NOMINATE NOW SEPTEMBER 2023 NEW DELHI HARSHVENDRA SOIN Global Chief People Officer & Head - Marketing, Tech Mahindra RAHUL TANEJA Managing Director Essar Capital S.Y. SIDDIQUI Executive Advisor Maruti Suzuki P. DWARKANATH Former Chairman GSK Consumer Healthcare DR. ANNURAG BATRA Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld & Founder, exchange4media PREM SINGH President - Group HR JK Organisation RAJENDRA MEHTA Global CHRO Suzlon Group VISHPALA REDDY Head of HR-Indian Subcontinent Philips India PRASANTH NAIR CHRO Crompton Consumer AMIT SHARMA Vice President & Head - People & Culture - India Volvo Group DR. C. JAYAKUMAR Executive Vice President & Head Corporate Human Resources (CHRO), Larsen & Toubro YUVARAJ SRIVASTAVA Group CHRO MakeMyTrip PRADYUMNA PANDEY Manufacturing HR Head HERO MotoCorp DR. VIPUL SINGH Senior Vice President and Head of HR ADP – GSS International AARTI SRIVASTAVA Chief Human Resources Officer - India, Capgemini Capgemini Technology Services India TALEES RIZVI Director - BW People BW Businessworld DHEERAJ MODI Vice President and Global HR Head NLB Services GAURAV SAINI CHRO – APAC and MEA Nokia Phones RUCHI SHARMA KALRA CHRO, Give ASHISH MISHRA Director - Human Resources & Supply Chain Management Nippon Paint For Nominations: Akash Kumar Pandey +91 7898908944 [email protected] Ashish Kumar | +91 97179 22747 [email protected] Aditi Rawat | +91 9873431912 [email protected] For Speaking Opportunity: Reeti Gupta | +91 98996 10630 [email protected] For Sponsorship: Aparna Sengupta | [email protected] | +91 9958000128 Anjeet Trivedi | [email protected] | +91 9818122217 CS Rajaraman | [email protected] | +91 9342262859 Deepak Bhatt | [email protected] | +91 9429423232 Kiran Dedhia | [email protected] | +91 9833399009 Rajeev Chauhan | [email protected] | +91 9811820301 Ravi Khatri | [email protected] | +91 9891315715 Sajjad Mohammad | [email protected] | +91 9911855935 Saurabh Jain | [email protected] | +91 9911334633 Shruti Arora | [email protected] | +91 79826 28913 Somyajit Sengupta | [email protected] | +91 9818247444 For Community Collaboration: Talees Rizvi | [email protected] | +91 93106 34007

76 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM PERSPECTIVES › Planning a robust framework for upskilling in AI, ML, cyber security and quantum will help organisations stay relevant and competitive, says Arppna Mehra, Vice President, HR, Global Digital Transformation and HR head, HARMAN India By Savi Khanna Arppna Mehra, Vice President, HR, Global Digital Transformation and HR head of HARMAN India, believes that keeping an eye on industry trends and addressing the gaps through structured learning and project interventions is the path to continuous learning engagement with employees and targeted upskilling on a regular basis. She also emphasises the need to have crisper learning modules to engage Gen Zs and Millennials. Excerpts from an interview: How should organisations ensure upskilling and reskilling of employees amid frequent technological transformations? As per the World Economic Forum, approximately 50 per cent of the workforce would need reskilling/upskilling by the year 2025. Organisations should plan for robust frameworks for areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud, internet of things, cybersecurity, 5G, and quantum. This will keep the organisations relevant and competitive in the coming years. Amid the digital disruption wave, organisations “INVESTING IN DIGITAL SKILLS KEY TO SUCCESS”

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 77 Learning interventions for young talent should not be dull, lengthy and lacking interactivity. Instead, they should be readily accessible, available on demand, adaptable to their pace, and presented in bitesized formats Arppna Mehra should subsequently design curricula for these focus areas to train employees on an ongoing basis. This ensures a future-ready vision. According to a report, India stands at the 73rd position in digital literacy globally. How should organisations promote digital skills proficiency among employees? Organisations should ensure continuous learning engagements with employees. It is also important to understand where the employees stand with respect to skill proficiency before designing a learning journey. Hence, we have initiated a coding challenge to ensure regular assessment of the digital skill proficiency of employees and address the gaps via structured learning and project interventions. Such initiatives will allow organisations to have a continuous learning engagement with employees and targeted upskilling on a regular basis. What are some major challenges faced by young talent in upskilling? Learning interventions for young talent should not be dull, lengthy and lacking interactivity. Instead, they should be readily accessible, available on demand, adaptable to their pace, and presented in bite-sized formats. One of the challenges that legacy organisations face is that their modules are still lengthy and monotonous. Those courses need to be modified and represented in a fashion that can be easily digested and applied by Gen Z and millennials. What are some metrics or indicators to track the progress of employees’ skill development? The metrics should prioritise both organisational growth and the behaviour of employees, recognising that learning serves as a strong foundation to support and drive organisational growth. Other than basic learning metrics, here are a few metrics that we use and that can be used to track the progress of skill development among employees: Learning Applicability Percentage: How much learning is the employee finally applying on the job? Client Certification Completion Percentage: Client-specific certifications that are critical for employees to complete in order to service the client better. Training Effectiveness: How many participants were able to clear the assessments – both in theory and in a mock test environment. Training Feedback: What is the employee saying about the training? Are there any areas where L&D can improve? Completion Percentage: How many employees were able to complete the training successfully? Market, tech and trend awareness can help put employees’ skills to the right use to tap appropriate opportunities. What are your views? For an organisation, it is important to keep an eye on industry trends and be closer to customers to understand their problems. To facilitate this, programmes such as Masterclass and TechTalks which try to address this by providing a platform for leaders and employees to share knowledge and discuss market trends can be initiated. Our Masterclass is a platform for our leaders to share the latest development in the tech space and showcase to larger audiences what the organisation is doing and its market potential. Can you share some success stories of young talent who have benefitted from skill development programmes? We have developed various inhouse interventions which focus on the freshers and young talents. One of them being – EMBARK. Embark is an in-house structured learning journey especially customised for freshers which encompasses topics from behavioural, and functional to technical upskilling. Hundreds of employees have graduated using Embark as a launch pad in the past year. Out of those, we have many employees who have also switched roles with the help of our cross-training platform called Skill Up. These youngsters have got trained in niche technologies like Yocto and are already exceeding their SLAs.

78 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “KELLOGG INDIA ELIMINATED PAY PARITY GAP” PERSPECTIVES By Savi Khanna With pay parity and women representation across all departments becoming a rising issue among organisations, Kellogg India is working relentlessly towards developing their talent with fairness and transparency. Nimisha Das shares her views on several diversity and inclusion initiatives by Kellogg’s. Excerpts: With the external articulation of Kellogg’s Employee Value Proposition, how does the initiative help in acquiring the best talent? Kellogg’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP) of ‘Nourish Your Grrreat’ emphasises providing opportunities to people with diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds to thrive. The EVP serves as a ‘talent magnet’ for attracting external talent with the right mindset and values. We make a mindful effort to utilise our EVP framework to build our external facing touchpoints for the prospective talent pool. For instance, our toolkit is focused on a balanced slate hiring approach, which proactively reaches out to engage with the top talent pool available in the market. These initiatives strengthen the execution of our value proposition, reinforcing Kellogg’s vision and people-led purpose of nourishment. Ultimately, the value we offer encompasses our company’s culture, and the ability to cultivate meaningful careers. With several companies redesigning their compensation structure, how does your organisation ensure pay equity for salaried employees? During the recruitment stage, salary negotiation and structures are based on the role and job complexity, deliberately keeping them free of biases based on location, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Annual pay increases are determined by meritocracy, thus focusing on performance. Kellogg’s conducts annual pay audits across levels to promote and achieve pay equity for salaried employees. In doing so, we have successfully eliminated the pay parity gap, achieving a zero per cent disparity. With the help of external tools and dedicated resources, the company runs a statistical analysis to validate our commitment to equity, diversity & inclusion. These efforts result in the achievement of pay equity, reinforcing our dedication, and fostering a fair and inclusive work environment. Women representation is usually low in the sales and supply chain department. How do you ensure a balanced slate across all departments? At the hiring stage, our Women of Kellogg (WOK) Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit serves as a resource to guide and provide an equal platform for recruiting more women, ensuring inclusive practices to mitigate unconscious bias and clear KPIs to evaluate success in sourcing efforts. In order to develop and grow women in the two departments, we offer leadership development programmes for our early and mid-level › Senior Director HR, Nimisha Das, Kellogg South Asia, shares that the company runs a statistical analysis to validate commitment to equity, diversity & inclusion

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 79 During the recruitment stage, salary negotiation and structures are based on the role and job complexity, deliberately keeping them free of biases based on location, gender, sexual orientation, etc Nimisha Das managers like WOK Bloom, our flagship regional six-month training programme, along with tailored mentorship and career planning for female talent in sales and supply chain. We have also established partnerships with external organisations such as XLRI Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusive Leadership (CGEIL) and XLRI for Women (XL4W) to support our diversity initiatives for women executives. These collaborations have enabled 72 per cent of our mid-to-senior level diverse talent to undergo the Up!Surge – Journey on the C Suite learning pathway. Women representation is generally low in the mid-to-senior level across sales and supply chain across industries; we stand at 17 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. How do you promote a diverse workforce towards C-suite leadership? The organisation started with around 9 per cent women in top leadership roles in 2020 and has proudly progressed to a 50 per cent representation in just two years. Furthermore, our plant leadership team in Taloja manufacturing unit also has over 40 per cent women. We have nurtured our female IT leaders internally. Overall, our current build index stands at 57 per cent, including talent across levels, genders, and inclusive leadership. A recent intervention introduced in Kellogg’s is the ‘Innovation Lab’, focused on fostering succession planning to build leaders within. The participants get a chance to present their resumes to the AMEA (Africa, Middle East, Asia) leadership, and establish stronger connections with talent. How do you ensure that employees’ voices are heard across the organisation? Last year, Kellogg India achieved an impressive 88 per cent engagement index, the highest in AMEA. The accomplishment consistently scales up its efforts in this area, staying abreast of international developments and introducing empowering initiatives. Kellogg India actively participates in the Global Pulse Survey, an annual anonymous employee feedback survey, conducted across all Kellogg’s businesses. This survey provides valuable insights on how countries are navigating disruptions, strengthening preparedness for the future, and how people at Kellogg’s are taken care of at both, career and individual development levels. Additionally, our annual survey, known as KOACH, which retains participants’ anonymity and is conducted with the help of an external partner aids managers to get regular feedback on how they can enhance their coaching skills and become better leaders. The KOACH score for India indicates a favourable rating of 85 per cent.

80 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM “Leading A Cultural Change, A Team Effort” PERSPECTIVES › HR function is expected to play the role of a growth catalyst who delivers - or rather stitches - value for all stakeholders says Sunitha Lal, CHRO, Ather Energy By Krishnendra Joshi S unitha Lal got motivated to make a career in Human Resources as it offered a lot of opportunities to learn and grow. Fascinated by fields like psychology, anthropology and sociology that focused on human behaviour, she saw HR as the interconnecting space between these three disciplines as it offered insights into how individuals think and work, and into dynamics of groups, communities, and systems. In an interview to BW People, she delves into the changes that have occurred in the field. Excerpts: How have you seen the role of a CHRO evolving throughout your journey? For this, we must take into account the development of HR as a practice in and of itself. From being industrial economies, businesses have transformed into knowledge economies. Since there was no formal structure in place for managing people in firms, HR became necessary. At a time when people were viewed as inferior to machines, the first HR departments were established to meet the social welfare concerns. These divisions were in charge of duties including hiring, compliance, and remuneration. The emphasis has gradually shifted from welfare connected to labour compliance to empowerment which includes bettering role clarity, creating organisational culture, and discovering purpose. I have experienced the increased expectation to play the role of a business transformation agent or a growth catalyst who delivers, or rather stitches, value for all stakeholders. This pushed me to enhance my tacit understanding of finance, data, technology and business operations, apart from the core expertise in evolving sustainable people practices. As HR practitioners, we need to stop focusing on damage control and instead transform organisations into communities of shared purpose looking to fulfil people’s ambitions in line with the organisation’s purpose.

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 81 Organisations that will be successful in the future are not the ones who can innovate the fastest. The ones that’ll be successful are those who will invest in introspection, pay attention to changes in the outside world and adapt quickly Sunitha Lal You are an organisational culture expert with a keen interest in the space of unconscious processes in individuals, groups, and systems. How to identify and eliminate any form of bias that may creep in, at work? Bias is a natural human tendency. Our brains are wired to find the easiest solution and detect patterns. Offices are a microcosm of the macrocosm, a reflection of the community outside. When someone joins a team, they not only offer their knowledge and competence; ones who can innovate the fastest. The ones that’ll be successful are those who will invest in introspection, pay attention to changes in the outside world, and adapt quickly. Therefore, developing resilience, comfort with being scrutinised, and inculcating a willingness to get into the depth and details of work has been my lessons from my journey. Can you share an example of a successful cultural change initiative you have led and the outcomes achieved? I strongly believe that one person can’t lead a cultural change; it’s always a team effort. One example that comes to my mind is how we coped with the initial months of the pandemic and moved to a remote way of working at Ather Energy. Shifting the entire workforce to remote working was quite a change for a product organisation like ours. What message would you like to give to HR and corporate professionals on embracing change, upskilling and achieving success in the current disruptive work environment? Build resilience as a competence. In these unprecedented times and disruptive work environments, business transformation and innovation don’t just happen; it is envisioned and unlocked by resilient leaders who thrive in the face of challenges posed by adversity. Always question your role; why does it exist and whom does it really serve? ‘Loyalty’ and HR leaders have a difficult dance. Most leaders in an organisation expect allegiance from their HR Head and team. But the difficulty is in figuring out what or whom you are allegiant towards. The ask is for the HR heads to be loyal to the leaders heading the organisations. But a true HR leader must be loyal to the organisation; their role is in service of the organisation. If the organisation’s head asks for loyalty to them, then it is probably time to look for a new leader. At the same time, loyalty is earned and cannot be an entitlement. they also bring their beliefs and worldview. It is crucial to foster a culture of open communication, recognise that everyone is equal but that no two people are the same, and engage in frank discussions about culture. Accept that you will have to figure things out iteratively and confront prejudice in all of its forms — from the language you use to communicate or describe rules and policies to the systems you develop. What are the top three leadership lessons or insights you would like to share with our readers from your leadership journey? Organisations that will be successful in the future are not the

82 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM Is Relentless Focus On Finance Hurting Employees COLUMN › We don’t invest much in our employees, we don’t give as much concern to retaining them and we don’t spend much time trying to manage them carefully By Peter Cappelli Most of us who are ‘managed’ as employees spend a great deal of our time trying to understand why we see our organisations making decisions that just don’t seem to make sense. Those of us who study management spend a great deal of time telling employers why they should manage better. Yet over and over we see that they do not, and that practices we might see as ‘pennywise and pound foolish’ that end up costing us more in the long run rule the day. We see these in the form of layoffs that then lead to rehiring soon after, chasing expensive outside talent rather than developing our own, resistance to empowering employees in decisions and so forth. Training in the US has declined to the point that by some measures, the average employee now gets about half a day per year and the average 50-year-old has already worked for 12 different employers. Even now, in a period of tight labour markets throughout the developed economies where hiring and retention is difficult, only about one-third of Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) companies have any targets or financial incentives for executives tied to employee-re-

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 83 Indian companies have arguably been advantaged as compared to their western counterparts by paying less attention to investors and their short-run focus Peter Cappelli lated outcomes. Yet they acknowledge that those issues are their biggest problems. What we don’t spend much time doing is trying to figure out why they don’t do the right thing, and why we have moved in this direction. In the US in particular we are inclined to blame the problem on the power of Chief Financial Officers and the general belief that they just don’t understand the value of people. A better explanation begins with the fact that the system that governs businesses in particular is accounting and the principles used to determine how you are performing, who is winning and losing. Indian Accounting Standards are similar to accounting standards elsewhere – Generally Accepted Accounting Standards (GAAP) in the US arguably being most prominent – in that because they are based around notions of physical and financial capital, they have a hard time getting their hands around human capital. As many people have pointed out, employees and human capital are typically seen as costs rather than assets, which means that laying off employees means dropping costs rather than the reality that we are also dumping assets. It means that training and employee development can’t be seen as investments. They are only costs. The biggest distortions we are seeing in the US now arise from the fact that financial performance in the form of revenue or profits are reported on a ‘per employee’ basis. So, cutting your headcount by using non-employees or even outsourcing tasks makes the company appear much more valuable. Perhaps the most unusual adaptation to financial accounting in corporations is the notion of ‘headcount budgets’. When a company sets up a project, it allocates a budget to it – spend no more than this much – but it also says, don’t hire or use more than this many employees to in the process. Spend as much of that budget on temps and contractors as you want, as long as you don’t use more than this many employees even if using more employees is better and cheaper. Therefore, we don’t invest much in our employees, we don’t give as much concern to retaining them and we don’t spend

84 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM much time trying to manage them carefully. Accounting and finance are not the only factors pushing us to make strange management decisions that do not make sense, though. The long-running battle between different views about people and employees – are they just rational agents as economics and engineering typically assumes or are they complex characters as psychology discovered – continues to rage 50 years after we thought the more complex view had won. The resurgence sees optimisation as the goal in management – using as few employees as possible, managing them with incentives and popping them in and out of organisations as if they were components being assembled off the shelf. Some of this is because of the resurgence of engineers in CEO roles whose training and orientation is toward optimisation thinking. This has been driven by the new world of tech startups first by the Silicon Valley titans who founded companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google. They were engineers with no management experience or knowledge or saw themselves that way. The decline of management development especially in multi-national companies that had taught new hire managers about people issues and transferred those lessons elsewhere is another factor. We can see this now in two prominent business trends that rewrite earlier principles. Lean production borrowed from Japanese management and applied around the world to great effect involved pushing decision making down to frontline employees. Now, however, lean means simply trying to operate with as few fixed costs as possible and that includes employees because of the assumption of employees as the biggest ‘fixed cost’ even though layoffs prove otherwise. The decision making that employees had made on issues like designing how tasks were performed is being taken back by engineers and software. Why, despite the enormous success of lean production? Because of the assumption that sophisticated optimisation approaches just have to be better. The other change is the transformation of the term ‘agile’ from another employee empowerment practice for project work that cut planning and also pushed decisions even on product design down to teams to something about being able to move quickly. That means a company that can scale itself up and down, drop this operation and start a new one fast. Hiring and laying off is the preferred method for doing so but using contractors and non-employees is part of the package as well. Why is getting in and out of markets fast the priority as opposed to running existing operations well? One answer is the short-run orientation of executives, which reflects the shortrun orientation of their investors. But the alternative of executing mergers and acquisitions and divestitures, cutting new deals and restructuring operations is also much more glamorous and gets executives far more attention than the time-consuming task of keeping existing operations running effectively. That requires a lot more attention from leaders who have to shape the culture, motivate employees and so forth. Indian companies have arguably been advantaged as compared to their western counterparts by paying less attention to investors and their short-run focus. The task of managing workforces where skills are in short supply, where unions and labour regulations are more powerful and where the social purpose of companies is more prominent may have kept them from ignoring the management of the workforce. But these corporate trends have a tendency to move around the world through multi-national practices, advice from global consulting firms and the business press. They can be difficult to resist. Doing so starts with evidence that good employee management matters: turnover is costly, training employees improves performance, internal promotion is cheaper & better and focussing on running employees well pays off well with much lower risk than the more glamorous world of big deals. COLUMN The author is George W Taylor Professor Of Management, Director - Center for Human Resources, The Wharton School and Professor of Education, University of Pennsylvania

#IamMarketer 18th EDITION MUMBAI | DELHI | OCTOBER 2023 IN THE AGE OF GENERATIVE AI AND ALWAYS-ONLINE CONSUMERS SUCH AS GEN ZERS, HOW ARE EXPECTATIONS FROM BRANDS & BUSINESSES CHANGING SUMMIT 2023 In associa�on with Gen Ai to Gen�Z Launching For Editorial & Speakership: Noor Fathima Warsia [email protected] For Sponsorship: Shruti Arora, +91 7982628913 [email protected] Chetan Mehra, +91 9811702464 [email protected]

86 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM 4C Strategy To Nurture Talent COLUMN › By creating a high-performance environment that suitably rewards performance, organisations can successfully attract and retain top talent By Manu Arora retaining it.” HR professionals are also facing the significant challenge of talent shortage which calls for proactive measures to attract and retain talented individuals. A study conducted by Korn Ferry projects a global shortage of over 85 million skilled workers by 2030. If unaddressed, this talent scarcity could potentially lead to unrealised annual revenues amounting to approximately $8.5 trillion in 2030. One of the critical factors driving these challenges is the changing expectations of the workforce. To ensure a stable and engaged workforce, here is a 4C-strategy which organisations can adopt to retain their employees. I n today’s hyper-competitive business environment, retaining talented employees has become more critical than ever. Organisations must recognise that their most valuable asset is their workforce and retaining talented employees is crucial for sustained success. The cost of employee turnover is not just monetary but can also have a significant impact on productivity, morale and overall organisational success. However, HR professionals across industries are now facing several challenges and high attrition rate is a key concern for them. According to World Economic Forum’s ‘Future of Jobs Report 2023’, “Given that companies express skills gaps and talent availability as their greatest barriers to transformation and investing in training as the most promising workforce strategy alongside automation, it is unsurprising that surveyed companies express confidence in their ability to develop their existing workforce and moderate positivity in

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023 87 Collective energy Today, businesses are constantly innovating and what was relevant even three years ago ceases to exist. In such a scenario, it is important for the workforce and workplace to align their collective energy towards meeting desired goals and objectives. If employees see their efforts resulting in business growth and innovation, an automatic value chain is created where employees are motivated to constantly deliver new ideas and results. Internal collaborative and competitive efforts such as hackathons and warzones have proven to be effective in giving employees an environment that encourages cross-functional and outcome-oriented projects, unlocks synergies by transforming challenges into potential solutions and encourages redesigning workflows. This aligns closely to the resource-based retention theory which reiterates that employees who feel useful to their companies are most likely to be loyal and feel valuable. Competitive compensation Competitive compensation and benefits continue to be an important contributing factor to retaining talent. Regular benchmarking exercises can help organisations stay aligned with industry standards while HR practitioners continue to innovate an ecosystem that recognises hard work and commitment. For example, most service companies face the challenge of high attrition in the call centre teams, but we were determined to change that at Magicbricks. Over time we have invested in strong rewards and recognition programmes like Project Elevate and PACE. These programmes not only reward employee contribution through quarterly assessments but also invest in their learning and development ecosystem. As a result, we have observed a significant reduction in attrition rates among our call centre teams, estimated to be approximately half of what it was previously. Career development In the past couple of years, one of the biggest changes in the workforce has been the onboarding of a new generation - Gen Z. Gen Zers are radically different from Millennials and pay a lot of importance to career development and growth opportunities. Today’s employee looks forward to a T-shaped career growth, where they build deep and specialised knowledge about a vertical of their choice, but at the same time, strong knowledge across a variety of domains. Hence, they hold professional development opportunities in high regard. To woo this young generation of talent, HR professionals (and organisations) can chart out a way to prioritise skill-based hiring over degrees, establish clear career progression paths, mentorship programmes and cross-functional exposure to create a sense of purpose and retain top talent. Magicbricks’ signature development programmes like mAscent (for sales professionals) and ABLE (Accelerating Business through Leadership Excellence) provide such foundations of personal and professional development to employees across functions and organisational levels. Culture Corporate culture is the focal point that affects employee commitment and engagement in an organisation. While every organisation plans its own course towards a culture-oriented company, the pandemic accelerated discussions around employee wellbeing and work-life balance as an important part of the company culture. To become an ‘employer of choice’, organisations need to create workplaces that are engines of wellbeing. These could include health and wellness programmes and flexible work arrangements. Another important aspect of culture is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) which gained a lot of prominence in the context of the great resignation during 2020-21. It has increased the internal accountability of HR functions to their employees who are now keeping a close watch on company values and what is demonstrated. This is validated by McKinsey’s research which observed that companies with ethnic and cultural diversity outperform by 36 per cent in profitability. Such conversations, clubbed with CEO activism and officiating roles such as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Wellness Officer, are showing a remarkable change in the culture of the organisation and paving way for the next 20 years of corporate culture, globally. The author is HR Head, Magicbricks Today’s employee looks forward to a T-shaped career growth, where they build deep and specialised knowledge about a vertical of their choice, but at the same time, strong knowledge across a variety of domains Manu Arora

88 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM I n recent years, the global workforce has witnessed a significant shift towards fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace. While progress has been made, it is essential for organisations to recognise that true inclusivity extends beyond lip service and requires tangible measures that improve inclusion for a diverse set of communities. Diversity and inclusion are not merely buzzwords but imperative for creating a healthy, innovative and high-performing work culture. To foster a culture of equality that provides equal opportunities to all individuals, organisations need to adopt a mindset that embraces diversity in all its forms. One powerful approach to achieving this transformation is by incorporating the seven Principles of Universal Design throughout their processes. Universal Design is an inclusive philosophy that seeks to create environments, products and services that are accessible and usable by all, regardless of their age, abilities or backgrounds. By actively integrating these principles into their operations, organisations can demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion and make a positive impact on all genders, people with disabilities, neuro-divergent individuals and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Equitable use Inclusion requires all spaces, resources and processes to be accessible and beneficial to all users equally and it is important to do so at the design stage. For example, organisations can work towards equitability throughout the recruitment process by ensuring that job postings are inclusive. This may require steps like avoiding language that might discourage diverse candidates from applying or offering multiple channels for submitting applications to accommodate different individuals’ needs and preferences. Equitable use should be a fundamental consideration in the formation and implementation of every activity that the organisation and its employees engage in, whether it is in the creation of office spaces, benefits programmes or recruitment and retention policies. Flexibility in use Properly implementing equitable use will require organisations to design tools and processes that can accommodate a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. This is why flexibility in use is an equally important principle that companies need to incorporate in their design processes. For example, they could adopt a policy of offering multiple communication channels, such as text-based, video and Embracing this inclusive philosophy will benefit organisations to create an environment that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of all employees, thus improving productivity Real-world Actions For D&I LAST WORD › Incorporating the seven Principles of Universal Design throughout organisational processes is a transformative approach for companies to take real world actions for mainstreaming inclusion By Nidhi Bhasin

WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM BW PEOPLEPRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 89 audio options for meetings and presentations to cater to individuals with diverse communication styles, hearing impairments or language barriers. It is also important to provide flexibility in physical ways like accessible workspaces, gender neutral restroom policies, adjustable furniture and assistive technology as well as through building reasonable accommodations in important work policies on issues like leave, benefits, insurance, etc. Simple and intuitive use To make processes more inclusive, organisations should adopt a user-friendly approach in all aspects of their operations. For instance, they could adopt plain and accessible language in all communications, including internal memos, employee handbooks and customer-facing materials like websites and prospectuses. By doing so, they don’t just foster inclusion but improve productivity through better understanding. Providing multi-lingual support can also aid members of diverse linguistic backgrounds, including those who may not be fluent in the primary language used within the organisation. Conducting user-testing with diverse focus groups will also generate insights on pain points that will enable companies to constantly iterate to accommodate unforeseen requirements. Perceptible information To accommodate people with visual or auditory impairments, organisations should provide Nidhi Bhasin CEO, NASSCOM Foundation

90 BW PEOPLE PRIME SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2023 WWW.BWPEOPLE.COM information in multiple formats. For internal communications, companies can transcribe important meetings and share audio recordings to cater to individuals who may have hearing difficulties. Similarly, public-facing content such as brochures and pamphlets should incorporate easy-to-read fonts and include pictorial representations to aid comprehension for a broader audience. Tolerance for error Perhaps, the most important one of all, the principle of tolerance for error centres around designing processes that minimise the negative consequences of mistakes. There are two important facets to this. The first is to acknowledge that women, neurodivergent individuals and members of other marginalised communities often feel like they have to meet a higher standard than their peers. Inclusive organisations are ones where all employees should feel comfortable acknowledging their mistakes without fear of discrimination or bias. The second is to recognise that while mistakes do happen, what is more important is that their consequences are minimised and organisations view it as a learning moment. A culture that encourages learning from errors instead of punishing them is crucial to making the world a more inclusive place. Low physical effort Providing equitable use is not really equitable if it requires significantly more effort for some people. This is why designs that require minimal physical effort benefit individuals with disabilities or health conditions. Implementing automatic doors, ramps and elevators in the workplace can significantly enhance accessibility for individuals with mobility challenges, whether temporary or permanent. Such measures can actually benefit the entire organisation as workspaces that are ergonomically designed reduce strain and fatigue. Moreover, they demonstrate an organisational commitment to employee wellbeing and create an environment where every individual can thrive. Size and space for approach and use The final principle focusses on an important aspect of inclusion: manoeuvrability, both in physical offices and virtual environments. This is a key aspect of flexibility and simplicity of use that often gets ignored when designing for inclusion. For example, organisations may provide wheelchair accessibility in general, but fail to do so for emergency protocols. Organisations can accommodate people with mobility issues either by creating physical spaces that they can navigate comfortably or by offering remote work options. Additional steps could include creating quiet and calming spaces for neurodivergent individuals to avoid sensory stimuli or through gender-neutral restrooms to make employees of all genders feel welcome. A paradigm shift Incorporating the seven Principles of Universal Design throughout organisational processes is a transformative approach for companies to take real world actions for mainstreaming inclusion. Embracing this inclusive philosophy will benefit organisations to create an environment that caters to the diverse needs and preferences of all employees, thus improving productivity. Technology plays a critical role in driving this shift, breaking down barriers and providing opportunities for individuals with unique needs. As we navigate this transformative era, it is imperative that we prioritise and embrace the potential of technology to shape workplaces, communities and the entire ecosystem, prioritising equality and inclusivity. Together, we can harness the power of technology to create lasting change and shape a more equitable and prosperous world that leaves no one behind. LAST WORD

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