The HR personnel in any organisation work hard to put the right talent in place. They also help arrange for the new entrants to be inducted, trained and settled in. Yet, with the number of job hoppers going up, it is common to find workers quitting an organisation in less than two years. This is where this AI tool may come in handy.

There is already an AI tool that helps identify students from a college or university who are considering dropping out. Shiratori and the startup are going to work on an upgrade of this AI tool, which will tell employers when fresh graduates who have joined them will quit their jobs. This prediction will be based on various factors, including the performance and attendance of the new joinees/freshers. The tool will employ data extracted from job interviews, the traits exhibited by the employees, their background, their history, attendance and so on to make the predictions.

The tool is being tested. In its pilot stage, it is also identifying freshers who seem to be facing challenges at work and at home. If such employees are sniffed out by the AI tool in time, it will become possible for their employers to offer them the help they require to improve their performance and productivity, instead of seeing them quit.

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This cautionary tale highlights the shortcomings of traditional performance measurement. Often rooted in intuition and gut feeling, these metrics can lead to myopic evaluations, blind to the interconnected web of a company’s operations. Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI), poised to be the captain who steers us away from these performance measurement pitfalls.

From drowning in data to diving for insights

Today, organisations are inundated with data, a vast ocean threatening to drown them in its immensity. AI, however, acts as a lifeline, transforming this deluge into a treasure trove of insights. AI-powered performance measurement tools are like sophisticated submarines, capable of navigating the depths of data, identifying hidden patterns, and surfacing actionable intelligence. Armed with these insights, companies can make informed decisions, optimise operations, and embark on a continuous journey of improvement.

The future of measurement: A crystal ball fuelled by data

The performance measurement landscape is on the cusp of a seismic shift. AI and machine learning will become the cartographers, meticulously charting the organisational terrain with real-time data visualisations. This empowers leaders to make faster, more informed decisions, navigating the ever-changing business climate with agility. Performance measurement systems will evolve into integrated command centres, offering a holistic view of performance across all dimensions of the organisation.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and other emerging technologies will act as additional data buoys, constantly feeding information into the system. The challenge lies not in data collection, but in harnessing it responsibly and effectively. The ultimate goal? To ensure that performance measurement drives meaningful improvements that create lasting value for all stakeholders.

From the Industrial Revolution’s rudimentary gauges to the age of AI-powered analytics, performance measurement has come a long way. It’s a testament to humanity’s relentless pursuit of a better compass to navigate the complexities of business. As we harness the power of data and technology, the future of performance measurement promises to be not just dynamic, but transformative.

Building the AI-powered lighthouse: Three guiding principles

Implementing AI-powered KPIs requires a strategic approach, akin to constructing a lighthouse that illuminates the path to success:

Laying the foundation: Clean, reliable data

Clean, reliable data is the bedrock of any AI system. Organisations must establish robust data collection methods and a centralised data architecture to ensure the smooth flow of information that fuels the creation of insightful KPIs.

The data revolution offers a diverse array of potential performance indicators, empowering organisations to move beyond traditional metrics.

Here’s a glimpse into this new toolkit:

• Workplace technologies: Collaboration platforms, emails, and shared calendars passively generate data on communication patterns and workflow efficiency. Imagine an oil and gas company using this data to understand team dynamics within its legal department, ultimately leading to a workplace redesign that fosters improved collaboration.

• Network analysis: This approach unveils the hidden connections and collaboration patterns within an organisation. A global financial services firm leveraged network analysis to expose how internal and external networks impacted promotion prospects for women. Armed with this knowledge, they implemented targeted strategies to promote diversity.

• Sensors and wearables: Data from sensors, wearables, and biometric tools can offer insights into employee behaviour and interactions. A Finnish railway company, for instance, used occupancy sensors to optimise its workspace during a shift to hybrid work, reducing real estate costs without hindering employee mobility.

• AI-powered voice analytics: Analysing voice interactions with AI systems, such as customer service calls, can reveal valuable insights into communication effectiveness and customer satisfaction. Take MetLife, for example, which used AI coaching to improve customer service agent communication, leading to a significant boost in customer satisfaction.

Building the orchestration engine

Successful AI-powered KPIs require a clear structure, akin to an orchestration engine, that guides their development in collaboration with human expertise. This ensures a healthy balance between the power of AI and the wisdom of human judgment in crafting KPIs that are truly meaningful.

Fostering a data-Driven culture

For AI-powered KPIs to flourish, a cultural shift towards data-driven decision-making is essential. Leaders must champion trust in data-driven insights and empower employees to leverage these new metrics for continuous improvement.

In conclusion, AI offers a powerful tool to transcend the limitations of traditional KPIs. By embracing data and fostering a data-driven culture, organisations can move beyond simplistic measures and unlock a deeper understanding of what truly drives performance. This shift promises to revolutionise how companies define success, ultimately propelling them towards a future of sustainable competitive advantage built on a foundation of data-driven decision-making, empowered employees, and a culture of continuous improvement.

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Minister of public services and procurement, Jean-Yves Duclos, and president of the treasury board, Anita Anand, described the initiative as a crucial step towards “improving the overall human resources (HR) and pay experience for employees.” Their words resonated with countless public servants who have endured the frustrations of the existing pay system.

However, the journey to a new system isn’t without its challenges. The sheer complexity of managing HR and pay for over 420,000 employees across diverse departments and agencies, compounded by nearly 150 collective agreements from over 100 departments and agencies, demands a solution tailored to these intricacies.

While testing of Dayforce, a human capital management platform, yielded promising results in terms of technical viability, it revealed the need for deeper process improvements. Simplifying and standardising procedures across departments, consolidating employee records, and ensuring government-wide readiness are top priorities before full implementation.

To address immediate concerns, the government is parallelly stabilising current pay operations. Increased staffing of compensation agents and the strategic use of AI aim to expedite transaction processing and reduce outstanding issues.

“Public servants deserve better,” declared Duclos, acknowledging the persistent problems with the existing system. “We are taking action on both fronts – ensuring accurate and timely pay now, while building a modern system for the future.”

Anand echoed this sentiment, emphasising the importance of collaboration with stakeholders such as bargaining agents to create a system that truly serves employees.

While Dayforce serves as a potential foundation, the story extends beyond a single platform. This is about a government actively addressing a long-standing issue, learning from past mistakes, and prioritising the well-being of its workforce.

The final decision on the new system is expected later this year. Until then, public servants can take comfort in knowing that relief is on the horizon, and a more efficient, user-friendly HR and pay system is within reach.

With 4,750 participants already involved in testing, the government is moving steadily towards a more efficient and user-friendly HR and pay system for its public servants.

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The first edition of Tata Technologies InnoVent was launched in July 2023 to inspire young engineering students across India to showcase their creativity and innovate solutions for the manufacturing industry, across areas such as electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, generative artificial intelligence (GAI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Grand Finale Demo Day took place at the global product engineering and digital services company’s headquarters in Hinjawadi, Pune, where the Top 10 teams presented their prototypes. The three winning teams received cash prizes worth Rs 4.5 lakhs, while all the top 10 finalists were offered career opportunities at Tata Technologies.

Subject matter experts (SMEs) from Tata Technologies mentored the teams for over 590 hours via workshops and training sessions to enable them to scale their ideas. This is the company’s way of engaging with the academic community, fostering innovation and creativity among young engineering students and helping them prosper in better careers.

The final evaluations were done by a jury comprising Warren Harris, CEO & MD, Tata Technologies, Ravi Arora, senior vice president & head, group innovation – Tata Sons; Sven Patuschka, CTO – Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility; and Jyotin Kutty Sastabhavan, chief sustainability officer, Tata Motors.

The winning team, Rolex, from Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Erode, was felicitated with a cash prize of Rs 3 lakhs, for their innovation Generative AI for car design – unleashing creativity and efficiency in automotive styling. Team Blitzkrieg from RVCE, Bangalore, won the second prize of Rs 1 lakh for their design and development of an Autonomous Electric Vehicle (AEV) for Indian roads. The 3rd prize of Rs 5 lakh was won by the team ThunderBolt from VIT, Vellore, for their battery system and pumping station for buses using vanadium redox flow battery. Tata Technologies offered 34 team members from the top 10 teams, an opportunity to start their careers with them.

According to Harris, MD and CEO, Tata Technologies, the company’s “vision of engineering a better world embodies our commitment to innovate sustainable eMobility solutions by collaborating with our entire ecosystem, including the academia.”

Harris was “inspired by the way innovators have applied ingenious, frugal solutions to these issues, blending the finest of human creativity with cutting-edge technology.”

Santosh Singh, EVP and global head, marketing and business excellence, Tata Technologies, believes, “The students today will innovate some of the biggest solutions in the next few years. It is important for us to support, mentor and empower these young engineering minds, equipping them with the skills necessary for a successful career.”

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Presently, Job Hai has more than a lakh vacancies listed on it from tier 1 and tier 2 cities including Chennai, Mumbai, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Noida, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Kochi and Pune.

This integration will also allow candidates to get in touch with the recruiters directly, which will facilitate fixing of interviews without delay.

The collaboration is aimed at empowering job seekers to find jobs that are most suitable for them in terms of skills match. With the resources of the two platforms now coming together, the network will be widened and will involve more recruiters and job seekers. The likelihood of candidates being noticed by the right recruiters will also go up.

Users of Vi will be able to access newly-listed vacancies half an hour early, while the visibility to recruiters will be doubled. The applicants will be able to track the status of their job applications too.

Available in 10 regional languages, Job Hai presently lists local jobs under 45 categories across over 50 cities. The profiles include that of graphic designers, telecallers, Sales personnel, business development personnel, back office, delivery workers, security guards and so on. It will be possible for Vi prepaid users to search for jobs within the locality or city they prefer.

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It is reported that post the makeover, Google Assistant will be able to replicate ChatGPT and other chatbots, including Google’s Bard, and it will be powered by the “latest large language model or LLM”.

Employees have been reportedly informed of the rehauling of Google Assistant via an e-mail. The staff has been told that whilst the company is looking forward to the new ‘supercharged’ avatar of Google Assistant, the existing teams responsible for the maintenance of Assistant will undergo reorganisation, which may lead to certain roles being axed.

While the exact number of jobs that may be impacted has not been made public officially, media reports say that dozens may be affected.

Those impacted have been informed of the job cuts and the company has assured them support in handling this change, as per the internal mail seen by Axios.

The post Will supercharging Google Assistant lead to job loss? appeared first on HR Katha.

This is part of the Tata Group’s attempts at reviving the national carrier, and in the process, bring about more transparency and fairness in the appraisal system. This digitised performance-management process, under the Rise.AI project of the carrier, will clearly convey what the employees are expected to deliver.

The employees have been informed of the new system by Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer and managing director, Air India, via an e-mail. Among other things, the system will define job descriptions clearly and also put forth specific performance goals for staff to chase.

The new system will also be aligned with the pre-existing Vihaan.AI goals of the airline. Vihaan.AI was the name given to the Tata Group’s transformation plan for Air India under which it intends to grow the airline’s fleet and network, and also revamp its customer proposition, ensuring reliability, sustainability and innovation.

A new roster system has also been put in place which permits crew to switch flights and even manage their accommodation during layovers. This was a step towards its plans to increase the carrier’s market share to a minimum of 30 per cent in the domestic market, while also increasing international routes.

The post New transparent, digitised performance-management system for Air India’s non-flying staff appeared first on HR Katha.

This system aims to make the registration process at exchanges paperless, and does away with the need to visit the employment exchanges physically. This is a step in the right direction as part of the ‘Vyavastha Parivartan’ in the employment exchanges of the state.

This online registration facility will be of great benefit to youth from the remote areas who will not have to spend time, effort and money to travel long distances to register themselves at the employment exchanges. They will now just need to upload all the required information, details and documents online and receive a proof of registration in the form of a downloadable token. They can register via the Lok Mitra Kendra too, that is, common service centres.

According to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu this is a welcome change after the 50-year old cumbersome process of registering at the exchanges, where original documents were required to be shown. By leveraging technology, the state has simplified the entire process of registering with the employment exchanges.

The eMIS is fully operational and allows applicants to register for free. As for Lok Mitra Kendras, there are more than 5,000 of them across Himachal Pradesh which are already helping citizens with payment of electricity and water bills, house tax collection, HRTC bus ticket bookings, issurance of land records and printing of e-Aadhaar cards among other facilities.

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Pichai has asked employees to spend at least two to four hours to test Bard, the AI-powered chatbot and help improve its technology and features.

The launch was not completely successful with Bard giving a wrong response during the presentation. Not only did this disaster cause stocks of Google to fall, but left investors and other stakeholders in a sweat.

Apparently, the chatbot gave a factually incorrect answer when it was asked to list new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.

However, Pichai hopes that Google will continue to be a winner, irrespective of whether or not it is always the first to introduce a product. He called on the need to focus on fulfilling the needs and experience of the users even while keeping the technical foundation strong. He drew attention to the need to create a great product in a responsible manner.

The pressure to launch Bard in a hurried manner had reportedly resulted from Microsoft’s decision to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT in its search engine, Bing, and its browser, Edge.

Google intends to incorporate LaMDA, Bard’s fundamental technology into Google Search. It will respond to users’ queries / searches basis search engine optimisation or SEO. It will also offer another chatbox incorporating conversational results basis web results.

The post Pichai tells Googlers to spend time in making Bard better appeared first on HR Katha.

The collaboration aims to use security tools to enhance all of Air India’s employee experience worldwide into one cohesive, collaborative and empowered unit.

It is a part of Air India’s multi-stage road map to becoming one of the world’s best airlines, with the plan itself being called Vihaan.AI.

The initiative is said to focus on providing a user-friendly digital productivity suite. This collaboration is expected to provide Air India’s employees with quality security, collaboration, integration and effective communication.

Satya Ramaswamy, chief digital and technology officer, Air India, seems optimistic that this partnership will bear fruit in re-imagining the employee experience and could work as a compelling proposition for prospective employees.

Meanwhile, Mondelez International is boosting its cyber security and employee experience using artificial intelligence.

According to Punit Jain, CTO AMEA, global digital workplace lead, Mondelez International, employee experience is becoming increasingly important because of the rapid pace of global change.

The Company is set to use the BigFix platform to automate the discovery and mitigation of possible threats, the firm said in a statement.

Mondelez International will be able to ensure a new more user friendly, personalised user experience and faster issue resolution for its 1,10,000 plus employees, across 79 countries.

The goal of the change is to establish a digital experience office to improve the dynamic nature of Mondelez International’s employee experience.

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There is no dearth of films and science fiction blockbusters that portray technology as either a destroyer or a great friend of humanity. This is also the hottest topic of debate in these times when organisations are moving towards automation and digitalisation, and people are apprehensive about the impact of the same on jobs.

The report of the World Economic Forum, ‘Future of Jobs 2020’ states that by 2030, automation will displace 85 million jobs in the world. At the same time, however, new and exciting roles will also emerge.

That means, on the one hand, automation and digitalisation will take away certain existing jobs, and on the other, they will also create new ones. However, as these new jobs emerge, organisations will have to reskill and deploy the existing workforce to keep them relevant. Easier said than done?

“Automation of jobs will only bring in more efficiency and free up transactional bandwidth”

Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & CO

While it is simple to say that automation will create more jobs, the fact remains that for people to get redeployed in the future jobs, organisations and the government will have to come together and reskill people. For instance, people performing skill-based jobs across the world, learn and obtain the required skills on the job. They master the skills required to carry out their roles by repeatedly performing the same tasks again and again, over the years.

A journalist or a writer, for instance, may hone his/her skill for 20 years in the industry. One fine day, he or she may be told that their job is getting automated. How will they be able to adapt to new roles?

Jai Balan, senior HR leader and former head-HR, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, says, “Yes, experienced professionals who have been working in a particular profession will find it difficult to shift their career trajectory suddenly”. He further mentions that such people still have the scope to add value to the digitalisation process. They can become digital-transformation specialists, who can guide the organisation on how automation should take place.

“Well, we may not have all the answers right now about how the future jobs may look like, but we can predict the future with the current trends”

Saba Adil, CPO & Chief Risk Officer, Raheja QBE

Talking to HRKatha, Sunil Ranjhan, SVP & director – HR, LG Electronics, predicts, “Tech-heavy functions will be much more complex to reinvent”.

He refers to the job of data scientists who have to keep reskilling themselves on using different applications and new versions of technology to carry out their jobs.

Ranjhan further states that organisations will have to constantly work upon re-deploying and reskilling their workers to ensure their relevance. They will have to analyse and identify the tasks that are likely to get automated in the next five to ten years. Accordingly, they will have to find out which are the jobs that can emerge in the future, where the existing workforce can be deployed. Reskilling people will remain a challenge though.

As Ranjhan points out, though the new generation is still comfortable with adapting to technology, the older generation really finds it difficult to adapt and reskill. “That is why, we need tailor-made solutions to effectively reinvent and reskill people,” asserts Ranjhan.

Saba Adil, chief people & risk officer, Raheja QBE, feels that the challenge that employers face with the workforce is that people are unable to envisage their roles in the future. Therefore, the employers will need to communicate this to the workforce.

“Experienced professionals who have been working in a particular profession will find it difficult to shift their career trajectory suddenly after their role gets automated”

Jai Balan, Senior HR leader

“As employers, we can make our employees envisage their job roles in the future and how they will be redeployed. This will clarify their doubts and reduce their anxiety more effectively,” suggests Adil.

Do employers and leaders have any idea of what the future jobs will look like?

“Well, we may not have all the answers right now, but we can predict the future with the current trends,” Adil responds.

She mentions that in her sector, the needs of the customers are changing. They want digital solutions and virtual interaction. Therefore, the sales team, in particular, will need to reskill themselves to be able to develop relations through digital means and modes. They will have to learn to use face-to-face meetings strategically to build relations with the customers.

Similarly, the marketing team will need to have strong analytical skills. Moreover, the need for big-data specialists and analytical experts will increase in the insurance sector, to understand the needs of customers and pick emerging trends.

Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company, states that in HR, the areas of talent acquisition and onboarding will be highly impacted. He believes that artificial intelligence, machine learning (AI /ML) and deep-learning automated tools will be widely used to hire and onboard employees.

“Tech-heavy functions will be much more complex to reinvent”

Sunil Ranjhan, SVP & director – HR, LG Electronics

Most companies following a hybrid work environment are experimenting with ‘no see hire’ kind of tools, points out Das. That means, people can be hired for technical roles — based on some simulations that have been tested by companies — without actually asking the candidates to be physically present in person. “This can reduce the dependency on recruiters, and even strengthen the role of recruiters who will be free to focus more on selection rather than screening of candidates,” Das enumerates.

Most HR leaders state that automation will impact almost all roles in the future.

This is not an unknown fact. As Ranjhan mentions, earlier, the blue-collared jobs were impacted and now the next wave of automation will impact the white-collared jobs. No one knows for sure what the future jobs will actually look like. It is only possible to make certain predictions by observing the trends.

The leaders, however, can be certain of one thing — Most of the mundane and transactional work will definitely get automated. “Automation of jobs will only bring in more efficiency and free up transactional bandwidth,” concludes Das.

The post Is reinventing jobs easier said than done in an automated world? appeared first on HR Katha.

In an official communique, sent to HRKatha, the company stated that the tool named JD Decoder, has been under testing for more than two years, and is now ready to be unleashed for its hiring managers and talent acquisition teams across South Asia.

Sukla Chandra, I&D Council leader, GE South Asia says, “This is another step forward in our inclusion journey.”

Alok Nanda, CTO, GE South Asia and CEO, GE India Technology Centre says, “At GE, we use technology to solve several challenges and problems in the energy, healthcare, and aviation sectors.

“Our engineers have brought their scientific thinking to solve for unconscious bias and have developed a tool that helps make our job descriptions more inclusive,” Nanda adds.

The GE India Technology Center regularly participates in LGBTQIA+ focused job fairs and

has made successful offers to candidates. have also onboarded a LGBTQIA+ as an approved talent acquisition partner thereby being inclusive in all their external hiring processes.

The announcement was made on the occasion of the pride month which is celebrated in the month of June.

The GE India Technology Center portrays itself as a true inclusive organisation. The company regularly participates in LGBTQIA+ focused job fairs, and claims to have even onboarded a LGBTQIA+ inclusion focused organisation to ensure inclusiveness in all external hiring.

The company has various diversity commitments in place which can be categorised under gender, disability advocacy network and Pride Alliance to ensure an equal and safe work environment for all genders.

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The new development is an effort of both the US and Canada offices of KPMG and the two offices will now develop their own metaverse strategy.

The metaverse will help to co-create new tools and solutions that provide critical insights, launch immersive learning and development platforms, recruit talent to lend expertise and help navigate the evolving convergence of the physical and digital worlds.

Laura Newinski, deputy chair & chief operating officer, KPMG US, says in an official communique, “The metaverse is a market opportunity, a way to re-engage talent and a path to connect people across the globe through a new collaborative experience.”

“The world has changed drastically over the last few years, and our people and clients are interested in exploring new ways of working. This offers them a new immersive space to exchange ideas,” adds Elio Luongo, chief executive officer and senior partner, KPMG Canada.

KPMG predicts that by 2030, we could be spending more time in the metaverse than in the real world. “People will be applying for jobs, earning a living, meeting with friends, shopping, even getting married using the virtual capabilities of the metaverse,” a KPMG report states.

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Proteus and Cardinal are two robots that are taking over some of the manual and heavy work from the workers

Amazon, the e-commerce company, has started using robots for the heavy manual work, which at times can lead to injuries to workers.

The Company has clarified that these robots, called Proteus and Cardinal, will not replace human workers but will only ease their burden and make the workplace safer for them. These robots are capable of moving large packages around in a safe manner, without injuring or hurting other employees in the vicinity.

Amazon currently has over 5,20,000 robotic drive units, which work alongside the employees to make the workplaces safer and more efficient than ever.

While Proteus is capable of moving through Amazon facilities using advanced safety and navigation features, Cardinal is capable of using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to select a particular package from a pile, lift it and read the label, before placing it on a GoCart to send the package off to the next step of its journey.

Proteus was designed to be used around employees and hence, can easily move around with them even in the presence of GoCarts, without being confined to enclosed areas.

The Company is working towards automating the GoCart handling process across the network, which will help reduce the need for people to manually move heavy objects and risk injury. This will also free them up for other meaningful jobs.

Proteus will be initially deployed at the fulfilment centres and sort centres.

As per the Company’s blog, Amazon has also come up with the Amazon Robotics Identification, or AR-ID, a augmented reality powered scanning capability that uses machine learning and computer vision to easily and accurately scan packages.

Amazon, the e-commerce company, has started using robots for the heavy manual work, which at times can lead to injuries to workers.

The Company has clarified that these robots, called Proteus and Cardinal, will not replace human workers but will only ease their burden and make the workplace safer for them. These robots are capable of moving large packages around in a safe manner, without injuring or hurting other employees in the vicinity.

Amazon currently has over 5,20,000 robotic drive units, which work alongside the employees to make the workplaces safer and more efficient than ever.

While Proteus is capable of moving through Amazon facilities using advanced safety and navigation features, Cardinal is capable of using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to select a particular package from a pile, lift it and read the label, before placing it on a GoCart to send the package off to the next step of its journey.

Proteus was designed to be used around employees and hence, can easily move around with them even in the presence of GoCarts, without being confined to enclosed areas.

The Company is working towards automating the GoCart handling process across the network, which will help reduce the need for people to manually move heavy objects and risk injury. This will also free them up for other meaningful jobs.

Proteus will be initially deployed at the fulfilment centres and sort centres.

As per the Company’s blog, Amazon has also come up with the Amazon Robotics Identification, or AR-ID, a augmented reality powered scanning capability that uses machine learning and computer vision to easily and accurately scan packages.

The post Amazon’s robots to make work safer and easier for its employees appeared first on HR Katha.

New hires as well as the existing employees can explore digital versions of key Mondelez India locations, including head office, global R&D, innovation centres and manufacturing facilities. This facility offers a greater sense of community and culture by providing the Mondelez signature experience, irrespective of where the employee is located.

According to Shilpa Vaid, head – HR at Mondelez India, “Our vision is to stay bold and agile as we power growth for business and people. And elevating employee experiences remains crucial to this, especially for the new hires”.

She added, “With the metaverse making communication far more immersive, we hope to bring some of our Mondelez signature experiences to our colleagues in an interesting and unique format, thereby strengthening our efforts towards building the future of workplace. The idea is to better embrace the hybrid world by experimenting and evolving our practices – right from hiring to upskilling.”

Sanjay Gurbuxani, VP, Mondel?z Digital Services, AMEA & Africa, and Global Digital Innovations, Mondel?z International, is confident that this initiative “is aligned with our Mondelez digital strategy to continue to leverage new age digital technologies as a source of delighting our employees in new relevant digital ways!”

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Simply put, a metaverse is a virtual-reality space through which people can interact with a computer-generated environment and engage with others as well. It promises an immersive experience, and includes virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, extended reality and so on.

In the not-so-distant future, metaverse will not only enable people to connect with each other through technology, but also go one step ahead and make their experiences feel as real as possible. The virtual reality aspect of Metaverse is going to provide more opportunities to organisations to create new ways of learning for their employees. By introducing virtual reality, companies will be able to create simulations, where the employees get first-hand experience and knowledge about different subjects and skills. Teaching methods will change quickly, to adapt to the new technology and expand in more creative ways that weren’t possible till now.

“I don’t see a direct application of learning through metaverse”

Rajesh Nair, executive president and CHRO, Polycab India

To what extent is metaverse going to change learning in organisations?

Gamification of learning programmes: Amit Das, director-HR and CHRO, Bennett Coleman and Co, says that, “Metaverse includes any digital experience on the internet that is persistent, immersive, three-dimensional and virtual. If we look around us, some examples of metaverse in employee assessment already exist, such as game-based assessments, or neuroscience-backed gamified competency assessments”.

He goes on to explain how while users play an immersive game, the system collects thousands of data points and gives a detailed report about users’ competencies and areas of development. “Some companies have already started virtual tours of their campuses as part of the New Hire Orientation,” reveals Das.

And this is not all, the ways in which companies create programmes for their employees have already started veering towards gamification, which will prove easier to work with.

“We also have gamified learning programmes, where learners participate in a workplace situation and make multiple decisions based on the data provided. Their decisions are evaluated, and they are given feedback on how to improve their decision making,” enunciates Das.

In addition to entertaining programmes, companies will take help from simulations to prepare their employees for different kinds of situations.

“Metaverse Avatars performing skill drills will be common,” points out Das. “If we want to learn fire safety, we can just create a virtual simulation, and our avatars will learn how to act in case of fire by virtually using sand, water, or Co2 cans to control different types of fire. If we want to learn public-speaking skills, we can create a virtual panel where learners can practise their elevator pitches. One company may build virtual production systems, another may build HR function, and a third may build the AR/VR hardware. A platform will allow all these systems to come together in the form of a meta organisation, where different learners can practise handling of different situations. This will allow much better learning because of integration of interdisciplinary learning,” he elucidates.

“We also have gamified learning programmes, where learners participate in a workplace situation and make multiple decisions based on the data provided”

Amit Das, director-HR and CHRO, Bennett Coleman and Co

“In summary, an exciting world of metaverse awaits learners and creators of learning experience. For a metaverse-enabled learning ecosystem to thrive, the chasm of growth will need to be crossed by making these systems at price points that justify the return on investment or ROI,” He concludes.

Faster and more realistic learning: Minakshi Arora, former CHRO, Trident Group India, is of the opinion that metaverse will be helpful in providing full exposure of knowledge to the person who wants to learn a particular topic.

“It will minimise the time duration for learning a skill as companies use virtual reality to simplify subject matter,” asserts Arora.  “It’ll also give a more realistic purview to the employees so they can see the situation in real time and learn skills by experience without having to wait long,” she adds.

Many of the greatest possible solutions that metaverse could provide reside in the distant future. Even as the technology becomes affordable, it isn’t going to be adapted swiftly.

Rajesh Nair, executive president and CHRO, Polycab India, says, “I don’t think we’re at a place where we can capitalise on metaverse and utilise it in a meaningful manner for learning modes at our organisations yet.”

“Metaverse will minimise the time duration for learning a skill”

Minakshi Arora, former CHRO, Trident Group India

“I don’t see a direct application of learning through metaverse. Of course, it could help people take courses in subjects they want to learn, but since organisations have a more robust learning management system (LMS) in place already, they don’t need to use metaverse as of now,” feels Nair.

Metaverse is still in its initial stages of usage, and it’ll be a long time before it can be utilised daily in organisations. With any technology that purports to simplify work, there are obviously disadvantages embedded in its features. Only time will tell how essential metaverse will become in the everyday practices of organisations across the world. However, the fact that its services are already being discussed in the larger context of learning and development gives us a hint of its importance in the future.

The post How will metaverse change learning in an organisation? appeared first on HR Katha.

MIRA has been integrated with the Company’s internal HRMS systems such as ADP, Workday, Oracles and SAP.

Not only is MIRA meant to answer the normal and general queries of employees, it is also designed to give clarifications to employees on several other things such as information regarding pay stubs and income tax.

This technology can answer queries through a simple text via relevant links, FAQs, videos and personalised knowledge-based articles.

The tool can respond to the employees at any hour of the day or night, 24×7. The AI tool will benefit all Akash employees by offering insights on medical aid, internal events, transfers and training programmes.

For better functioning, MIRA can be accessed through multiple devices such as mobile phones and laptops. It can also be used directly through MS Teams and WhatsApp or Google chats by scanning a screen.

“Tools and technology seldom come under the spotlight in discussions of employee experience, but in fact, they are a critical component of keeping them satisfied at work,” says Sachin Saxena, CHRO, Aakash Educational Services.

He goes on to explain, “With automation having such clear benefits in ease of access to information, convenience in making queries or requests, and most importantly, speed in getting the queries resolved, it is for this very reason that we have introduced MIRA for our employees.”

For an employee, MIRA will help replace day-to-day e-mails and other applications. Through this service, employees can explore policies, new company guidelines, create HR-related requests and track them to closure.

The post Akash Institute implements AI-enabled employee assistance tool appeared first on HR Katha.

How it works

The automation process started couple of years back and focused on providing one stop view to managers on their succession. Honeywell, which employs more than 15,000 people in India, uses the automation for managers where they can see the whole succession index of the team. This new automated system uses its algorithms to identify the people who are ready to be promoted or go into higher roles. Identified people are put on a talent-development programme. It also tracks and publishes overall succession conversion rate.
Earlier, the Company used to maintain the entire succession-planning system manually, using PowerPoint presentations and excel sheets. By automating the entire succession-planning system, the Company can clearly track the growth of an individual. Since the succession planning directly reflects and affects the business growth of the organisation, it presents the visible growth of the employees clearly to the business leaders in the Company.

The conversion rate via the succession-planning system has been fairly good for the Company — ranging between 60 to 70 per cent. With automation, the progress is very much visible now.

Advantages of automation

Awareness and accountability: As per Parmar, automation has created awareness and accountability amongst leaders and employees alike. The automated system gives insights into the talent-development journey of each individual and tracks progress. The Company has also created a dashboard on ‘talent behavior index’, where business leaders can track their progress on all aspects of talent including succession.

Talent-development initiatives: Digitisation has also helped the Company run and implement very focused and rigorous talent-development initiatives. “Now, the insights related to our talent development and succession are more visible, and we can drive more focused people-development programmes,” shares Parmar.

Advancement of middle management: The middle management is where where people often feel stagnated. Though, as per Parmar, the Company is still far away from solving this issue, it very recently saw some level of success. Honeywell initiated a women’s development plan, where close to 50 women participated and more than 30 per cent of them were promoted to higher roles in the company. The larger lot, Parmar reveals, belonged to mid-management roles.

Mobility across businesses: Honeywell has diverse businesses ranging from aerospace, building technologiesto safety and productivity solutions,, and even performance materials. Employees have the liberty to move across businesses. If, for some reason, they are unable to move up the ladder in their vertical, they can always make a horizontal shift into other verticals. “Honeywell encourages people to move across businesses to enjoy well-rounded exposure,” says Parmar.

“Now, the insights related to our talent development and succession are more visible, and we can drive more focused people-development programmes”

Sumedha Pal Parmar, senior director-HR, Honeywell India

 

To make this happen, Honeywell has well-curated and focused programmes for functions such as human resources and engineering. For HR talent, the Company has a well-defined programme wherein those joining the HR team from campus are moved around all businesses and verticals in the first three years of employment.

The engineers are also given a similar opportunity to move across verticals and functions, and work on different engineering projects from software to hardware-engineering solutions. “This helps us develop well-rounded talent who are aware of every aspect of our business,” asserts Parmar.

Additionally, engineers are also encouraged towards commercial roles. This way, “Engineers also gain commercial exposure and then they are able to come up with products and solutions, which are commercially viable to the Company,” enunciates Parmar.
“After 18 months in a role, any employee in the company is free to apply into any of theopen positions indifferent businesses of Honeywell,” reveals Parmar.

Role change: Given the wide range of Honeywell’s businesses, cross business opportunities helps the Company retain the best talent. Apart from that, automation of succession planning also helps the Company identify people who have been working in the same role for years and could do with a change, if required.

Career paths: Honeywell also takes serious interest in creating career paths for people. It has started ‘career conversation’ sessions with employees, where managers touch base with employees every quarter. These interactions help the Company understand the employees’ aspirations and what they want to achieve in their career and how Honeywell can create suitable opportunities for them.

Diversity and inclusion: Another part of the people strategy at Honeywell is the greater focus on diversity and inclusion. The Company is creating an environment where people can just be themselves and feel free to express themselves. While it has gender-specific diversity programmes, it alsoplans to expand its focus on hiring talent from the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities (PWDs).

The post How Honeywell built a foolproof talent-succession system via automation appeared first on HR Katha.

City authorities will ban employers from using automated hiring tools unless a yearly bias audit can show that they will not be discriminating basis applicant’s race or gender. The legislation will see city authorities impose fines of up to $1,500 per violation, on employers or employment agencies. However, the onus of conducting the yearly audits would lie solely with the vendors, who will have to justify to the employers that their AI tools meet the city’s requirements.

“A recruiter shouldn’t rely too much on the behavioural assessments done by the AI. Human touch needs to be amalgamated with the machine at the time of shortlisting, to make the process effective”

Narottam Sharma, chief information officer, Mastek

The idea of AI taking the short route towards unconscious bias is not far-fetched. Artificial intelligence basically tracks down the desired qualities and qualifications as key words, from the resumes of previously selected candidates for the same profile that the company is looking to hire for. Therefore, when a profile misses out on certain keywords, which may even include personal categorisations such as gender or age or in America’s case, race, then the tool screens them out at the first stage itself. This, in turn, becomes problematic when one is aiming to develop a diverse workforce and a healthy company culture.

Even with this shortcoming, the use of AI in hiring is unavoidable. In a previous conversation with HRKatha, Krish Shankar, CHRO, Infosys, said that for larger companies that hire to the tune of thousands every quarter, it would be almost impossible to interact with every resume that comes in for a position. In such cases, these tools are indispensable for a quick and efficient talent acquisition.

However, he also said that AI should be employed along with an accurate auditing system. This auditing system should keep a check on which resumes have been shortlisted and which ones have been weeded out.

Auditing systems, in comparison to a strong AI-based hiring model, can identify any possible biases that may have inherently developed. This, in turn, brings forth people with similar traits for interviews.

Narottam Sharma, chief information officer, Mastek, told HRKatha that an AI’s inherent bias can be reflective of some biases that the designer of the AI may harbour.

“The machine may be inherently biased if it hasn’t been designed to identify certain aspects of candidates during assessment. These inherent biases can even be planted at the time of inception of the machine by the designer,” says Sharma.

The bias a machine may develop may also depend on the fact that it may not have been constructed to deal with certain diverse aspects of hiring. “Certain kinds of behaviours displayed by a candidate may automatically lead to the machine barring them due to the inherent bias that it may be working with,” he points out. Further, he adds, ”A recruiter shouldn’t rely too much on the behavioural assessments done by the AI. Human touch needs to be amalgamated with the machine at the time of shortlisting, to make the process effective”.

Amit Chincholikar, global chief human resources officer, Tata Consumer Products, tells HRKatha, that organisations need to be very objective with their use of the machine in hiring.

“It cannot replace the hiring process but just be a part of the shortlisting process. It is only helpful when one has a set of very clearly-defined criteria for a role. As long as one is able to apply these criteria objectively, AI will help one narrow down one’s process,” he says.

Chincholikar further questions the criteria basis which a company using AI is hiring.

Many from the tech side are not in possession of the highest educational qualifications, and yet, they are very skilled. However, when it comes to the initial profile, the former would be more apparent in the CV than the latter.

“If the communication is done right and logically, the apprehensions that people may have with AI may be eliminated. Regulating and mandating are definitely the right things to do and other authorities could take cognisance of NYC’s mandate.”

Amit Chincholikar, global chief human resources officer, Tata Consumer Products

Addressing transparency

The NYC mandate will also force makers of AI tools to disclose more about their opaque workings and give candidates the option to choose an alternative process — such as a human — to review their application.

Speaking on why companies don’t divulge the use of AI in hiring, Chincholikar says, “It is similar to how one is apprehensive about driverless cars or aircraft. Also, there are candidates who may wonder whether the use of AI lends itself to the right criteria being used in the process of hiring.”

He further says,” I think transparency will definitely enhance the employer brand. If the communication is done right and logically, the apprehensions that people may have with AI may be eliminated. Regulating and mandating are definitely the right things to do and other authorities could take cognisance of NYC’s mandate.”

Speaking on whether such mandates could come into effect in India, Chincholikar opines, “In India, data privacy is the only context in which such a mandate can come into effect. When AI tools are deployed, companies need to be transparent in terms of who has access to the information. As a tool, if it gets deployed in other forms, it could be an issue.”

Sharma believes that regulation will not work unless a defined action is not planned and implemented. “One has to be upfront in divulging whether one is using AI in hiring anyway. Transparency should be a normal practice,” he asserts.

The post Landmark NYC bill questions transparency in AI-based hiring appeared first on HR Katha.

And then, there are other HR tech options which provide a single-point solution to a particular area in HR, such as recruitment, employee engagement, compensation and benefits and so on. They can also be called the best-in-breed products in the HR technology market.

“Payroll modules that come with HRMS suits are rather simple and are not capable of handling the complexities of the Indian payroll system”

Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India

An all-in-one HR tech solution will always appear to be more appealing as it helps one implement a single HRMS suite that covers every major aspect of HR and its associated challenges. The sad part of the story is, this approach may not work for one.

Why? An HRMS suite may have it all, but most of its modules may end up being quite average. They may be substandard and ill equipped to tackle the evolved HR challenges an organisation is facing at the moment.

Talking to HRKatha, Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India, agrees, “It is just like being ‘jack of all trades but master of none’”.

Sharma reveals that in his entire career, he has never come across an HRMS suite, which provides an accurate module on payroll and benefits. “The ones which come integrated with an HRMS suite never work. They are rather simple and are not capable of handling the complexities of the Indian payroll system,” explains Sharma.

Also, we should understand that every company has a different culture, marketplace and diverse set of employees, customers and clients. With evolved HR challenges, organisations require highly- customised solutions. “The usual ERPs or HRMS suites fall short on innovative and creative solutions to fit the new emerging HR challenges,” tells Jayant Kumar, president – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ.

Standalone HR tech-solution providers, Kumar believes, are much more agile than a normal HRMS suite.

What should we do?

An all-in one HRMS suite is not an ideal option if one is looking for a customised and innovative HR tech. However, does that mean one should completely do away with them?

As HR leaders suggest, while one should definitely explore best-in-class single-point HR technology solutions in learning, on-boarding or hiring, the importance of having a core HR technology which is universal across the organisation cannot be ignored.

“The usual ERPs or HRMS suites fall short on innovative and creative solutions to fit the new emerging HR challenges”

Jayant Kumar, president – HR, Adani Ports & SEZ

Imagine a company that starts implementing individual HR tech solutions for every particular need! It would certainly be very difficult to manage the entire employee data. This way, instead of having a single-point data-management system, every module will create its own employee data and insight which would become cumbersome for companies to manage.

Kumar explains further citing the example of a big company, where hundreds of people get hired every day and an equal number of people leave. If different HR tech solutions are implemented for different things without having a core HRMS solution, one would need 100 people to delete and enter the employee data every day, in each different module.

Kumar reveals that at Adani, they used to have a different stack of modules for different HR purposes. Now, however, they have implemented a core HRMS suite for the organisation.

Human resource leaders recommend an HRMS suite where the master employee data gets stored. “It is very important to have one source of truth in terms of capturing the entire employee lifecycle,’ states Sharma.

On the contrary, Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group, believes that having a all in one HRMS suits is a better option to keep things simple. According to him, Malabar has been using the system and they have been able to customise it as per their needs. Also, you do not have to handle multiple vendors for every other solution. “Having an integrated HRMS suit is a better option in the long run and it also saves cost,” tells Jacob.

One is free to explore different HR products for various needs or have a core HR technology and integrate the other HR tech stacks with one’s core HR suite, but is integration a simple process?

“In case of an integrated HRMS solution, you do not have to handle multiple vendors for every other solution”

Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group

As per experts, this is where one’s choice of an HRMS suite comes into play. One has to be careful to choose a vendor whose product can be easily integrated with other HR technology modules. In fact, all the upgraded and new-age HR technology solutions come with integrated capabilities.

The wiser choice would be to have a core HRMS suite, and then build upon different stacks of HR technologies that fit the organisation’s needs. This way, one would be able to enjoy a highly customised experience in terms of HR tech.

The post Why all-in-one HRMS suites don’t work appeared first on HR Katha.

“With other functions in the business environment already digitised, the HR is supposed to build a mindset and competencies where people can use and adopt such digital tools to build a culture around it”

Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Bhilosa Industries

A 2021 global study has revealed that the intention of HR leaders to digitise their HR processes is quite high at 83 per cent. However, digital transformation at the workplace is a journey, which requires everyone to be in sync in order to be successful. That means, every function in the organisation needs to transform digitally. In a global conference at Paris, a representative of Orange, the global telecommunications company, revealed that the CEO hired an HR head to enable digital transformation in the company, instead of appointing a chief digital officer.

“If employees find that one function of the organisation is not as competent and digitised as the others, they will seek better employee experience elsewhere”

Ramesh Shankar S, senior HR leader

That means, driving digital transformation is not about technology but about the people in the company. As the HR department is connected to all other functions in the company, it needs to ensure that everyone is in sync with the process of digitisation. Let us see how the HR can facilitate this transformation journey.

Ensuring a seamless experience

Ramesh Shankar S, senior HR leader, explains that it is very similar to how people operate in a bank. Nowadays, all financial assistance to the customer is provided digitally. All queries are addressed digitally, and all monetary transactions, even loans, are facilitated digitally. If customers find that some areas of service are digitised and others are not, they will simply move to another bank for a better experience. This can happen with the workforce as well. If employees find that one function of the organisation is not as competent and digitised as the others, they will seek better employee experience elsewhere. “Now, people are used to enjoying a seamless experience at work. They want things to be accomplished with a single click of a button,” points out Shankar.

“True integration will happen when the heads of departments and managers drive the adoption of digitisation through a top-down approach to make it a success”

Anil Mohanty, head of people, Medikabazaar,

Ensuring the right mindset & competencies

Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Bhilosa Industries, likens digital transformation to any other change-management process. He believes that HR has probably been the last function to be digitised in a business environment, compared to other functions. The reason is clear — larger cost saving processes were digitised first.

“With other functions in the business environment already digitised, the HR is supposed to build a mindset and competencies where people can use and adopt such digital tools to build a culture around it,” explains Mukherjee.

Ensuring a top-down approach

For the HR, however, undergoing digital transformation in the HR processes has been a big challenge, especially in the smaller companies. As per Anil Mohanty, head of people, Medikabazaar, tech savviness and the eagerness to adopt digital tools flows from the top. Mohanty admits that he has seen people refraining from using digital tools for leave approvals and performance management, claiming them to be too complex. “True integration will happen when the heads of departments and managers drive the adoption of digitisation through a top-down approach to make it a success,” insists Mohanty.

The post Why other functions need to pace-up with HR for successful digitalisation appeared first on HR Katha.

The new Alexa Skill will help candidates acquire the right information on their queries regarding employment opportunities at Amazon. It will not only give them available learning feeds, and allow access to training resources as well as videos, but also send them periodic updates.

“At Amazon, we are guided by our passion to innovate for customers to make their lives simpler. Virtual Recruiter is a step in the direction of making the candidate experience smoother and seamless,” says Raj Kaza, director, talent acquisition – consumer, APAC, Amazon. He adds, that “ Alexa Skill will act as an on-demand hiring assistant” providing candidates with authentic information about Amazon to “help prepare for their desired roles at the Company”.

Virtual recruiter will help candidates save time and limit touchpoints with recruiters by sharing the right information about their queries, thereby improving candidate experience and making it seamless, engaging and intuitive. This voice-enabled skill helps candidates find accurate and consistent information, in a manner that is instant, contextual and accurate, as it sources information from Amazon.

The free ‘virtual recruiter’ is available starting today, September 17, and can be accessed by following these simple steps:

• To get started on your Alexa-enabled device, just say “Alexa, enable virtual recruiter”

• For mobile/desktop, visit Alexa Skills store on www.amazon.in/skills and search/enable ‘Virtual Recruiter’

• Ask a question by saying “Alexa, open virtual recruiter”

Candidates can ask questions such as:

• “Alexa, what is the Day 1 culture at Amazon?”

• “Alexa, how do I find open job opportunities at Amazon?”

• “Alexa, what are the leadership principles at amazon?”

The post Amazon launches virtual recruiter for better candidate experience appeared first on HR Katha.

The robotic arm, which is still being tested out, does not increase the speed of the work, but only ensures the safety of the employees at the facilities. Amazon is already testing another robo, Bert, which autonomously navigates through fulfilment centres and is equipped with advanced safety, perception and navigation technology developed inhouse by Amazon. Bert is Amazons’ first Autonomous Mobile Robot, or AMR, which it is hoped will make work faster and more efficient. If the tests prove fruitful and successful, employees can get Bert to carry items from one corner of the facility to another and cover a larger area.

With time and advanced features, Bert may even be able to lift heavy items or carts to transport items through the fulfilment centres and reduce the burden and strain on the employees.

The post Amazon’s robo to ensure safety at the workplace appeared first on HR Katha.

The NFC technology is a wireless communication technology that allows data to be exchanged between devices that are a few centimetres apart. Therefore, they are ideal to be used as an authentication tool. The NFC works at 13.66 MHz and transfers data at up to 424 Kbits per second.

An NFC-enabled mobile device can serve as a card or reader or both, so that users can use their device to share information and prove their identity.

Punjab Mandi Board has generated eIDs for its officers or employees using this technology and will launch it this week.

The Human Resource Management System (HRMS) data has been used to access the details of the employees. Employees will be authenticated by their HRMS data.

The facility may soon be extended to pensioners too.

Mobiles phones enabled with NFC have smart chips or secure elements in them that allow the phones to securely store and use the data to match with the person’s identity.

The eIDs issued by the Mandi Board will serve the twin purpose of being used as an identity card as well as a business card. All the individual needs to do is tap on the smartphone to pass on his or her details / information to another person, without referring to the ID card. The NFC card may even carry an individual’s social network information pertaining to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, which the individual can edit at leisure.

In future, other schemes or information, such as citizen info card or identity card, old age pension, driving license, or insurance schemes may also be linked with this smart e-card so that all information is available on a single platform. This will enable people to access various government schemes without having to lug around innumerable documents.

The post Punjab govt first to use eIDs with NFC for staff appeared first on HR Katha.

The retailer, which has almost 1.6 million employees in the US, will distribute Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro smartphones, worth $499.99, to over 7,40,000 workers.

The app was tested in early 2021, and does not allow the Company to view the employees’ personal information or data. However, it will be able to view official mails, clock-in locations, all official apps installed, web history (as available on the phone’s work-related browser), and device specifications. While the app can be accessed by the employees only while on duty, they can use the phone as a personal device off work.

While use of the phone is not mandatory, the app allows employees to check schedules up to two weeks in advance, and put in requests for changes or leaves. Its voice-activated assistant helps locate products and is equipped to facilitate instant connection amongst workers within stores.

The use of smartphones is an alternative to use of walkie talkies. It will help save a lot of time and improve the efficiency of the workers in Walmart stores across the US.

The post 7.4 lakh Walmart employees to get free phones appeared first on HR Katha.

In this digital transformation journey, the partnership between the chief human resources officer (CHRO) and the chief information officer (CIO) plays a crucial role. After all, the HR needs the support of the chief information officer to embark on this digital journey.

“The role of the CIO is turning into more that of a chief digital officer who now works closely with the CEO to ensure productivity and reduce cost. Taking the HR function, the CIO will also need to think about ways to bring down attrition by using technology or ways to bring in more engagement amongst the employees with technology. ”

Bipin Chaudhary, head of information technology, Cinepolis India

How this partnership works

As we all know, the job of the HR in the organisation pertains to enabling higher productivity of employees, and driving engagement, collaboration and team building. It also includes talent management and facilitating the learning growth of the employees.

So where does, the CIO fit in here? With the pandemic making an entry in 2020, most workforces began working from home or remotely. There was this need to support the HR team to virtually manage some of the processes or even digitise them.

As per Bipin Chaudhary, head of information technology, Cinepolis India, “The CIO understands all the business processes. After taking a feedback from the HR, it is the job of the CIO to find out the solution to the problem through technology. For that, either one has to bring in technology and enable it or create such tools that will solve the problem.”

“The technology part of the HR side is taken care by the CIO, while the HR looks at the human side, that is, from the point of view of the employees. They have to consider problems such as lower adoption and acceptance of the technology.”

Mayank Bhargava, chief information officer, Pramerica Life Insurance

Citing an example, Chaudhary explains that generally in his industry, the attrition level remains quite high. Therefore, the HR has to spend a lot of time drafting warning letters, appointment letters and leave applications. Chaudhary, along with his team, created an internal tool which made it possible for the HR team to draft such letters and documents with a click and cut down the time that was taken earlier.

Adding to this, Mayank Bhargava, chief information officer, Pramerica Life Insurance, says, “The technology part of the HR side is taken care by the CIO, while the HR looks at the human side, that is, from the point of view of the employees. They have to consider problems such as lower adoption and acceptance of the technology.”

“The role of the HR in digitising HR processes is to provide answers to the ‘What and ‘Why’ parts of the journey, while the ‘How’ part is taken care of by the CIO.”

Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE India

According to Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE India, the role of a CIO will continue to be significant in serving employees, because many of the organisations have decided to make certain roles remote in their entirety. People are not required to come to the office, and the office space is to be used for collaboration activities. In HPE’s case, under the Edge2Office initiative, some roles have gone 100 per cent remote, with employees’ physical presence in the office daily not required at all, even after the lockdown ends. “The role of the HR in digitising HR processes is to provide answers to the ‘What and ‘Why’ parts of the journey, while the ‘How’ part is taken care of by the CIO,” explains Menezes.

How this partnership helped sail through the pandemic

Menezes shares that at HPE India, they have completely digitised their learning and training initiatives during the pandemic. The CIO and his team helped the HR team to enable and implement these technologies in the organisation. Apart from this, they have also helped to introduce communication and collaborative tools, as well as virtual wellness platforms into the HR processes.

“We at TMTC had no clue how to go about making our platforms virtual or using technology for digitisation. The CIO’s team at TCS helped us understand the technology, gave guidance and support, and suggested solutions to make our processes virtual and digital.”

Emmanuel David, director, Tata Management Training Centre

Another important contribution of the CIO has been in training the people leaders during this pandemic to use the tools meant for enhancing employee experience at work. “At HPE India, the CIO and his team also trained the people leaders to use virtual tools and applications in running the processes smoothly,” shares Menezes.

Emmanuel David, director, Tata Management Training Centre, talks about how the internal tech team at TMTC helped train the senior faculty members to use the virtual tools for conducting training sessions during the lockdown. “We at TMTC had no clue how to go about making our platforms virtual or using technology for digitisation. The CIO’s team at TCS helped us understand the technology, gave guidance and support, and suggested solutions to make our processes virtual and digital,” reveals David.

Talking to HRKatha, Sushil Baveja, executive director – HR, DCM Shriram, shares that they digitised all of their HR processes such as onboarding, recruitment and even career-development processes by bringing in technology from an external vendor. They moved everything to cloud by subscribing to a platform.

“I think that in the future, the role of the CIO, in serving the employees at the workplace, will increase significantly due to evolving HR technology.”

Sushil Baveja, executive director – HR, DCM Shriram

“We shifted every HR process to cloud in 2015 with adequate security, which has helped us as an organisation to sail through the pandemic addressing the remote working needs. All sorts of messaging and collaborative platforms, such as Google and Zoom were in place already. Working with the HR team we jotted down what all problems we need to address and zeroed in on some external applications and services to initiative the whole process,” says Ankush Kaura, chief information officer, DCM Shriram.

“In digitising these processes, the CIO helped us bring the technology and also check the efficacy of the platform from the technical point of view. Also, the CIO helped in the implementation of the technology and further maintenance support, which may be required in due course of time,” explains Baveja.

“I think that in the future, the role of the CIO, in serving the employees at the workplace, will increase significantly due to evolving HR technology,” adds Baveja.

“The role of the CIO will be to free up the CHRO by implementing technology so that the latter can focus more on other complex problems relating to the business and people strategy, cut down on cost and reduce the time taken to do any task by an HR.”

Ankush Kaura, chief information officer, DCM Shriram

Chaudhary says that in his organisation, the tools and technology to enable remote working have been there in place for years. But now, the usage of such technology has increased and the bandwidth of access to such technologies has been spread over a larger employee base. “We already have platforms like Yammer, which is an internal social networking service, such as Facebook which enables collaboration and connectivity amongst the workforce.”

How the role of CIO is changing

As per the experts, earlier, the CIO had to look into whether the e-mailing systems were working properly, or whether the communication channels were functioning properly. Now, the role is changing. They need to understand the business processes and technology, and also possess skills, such as software development.

“The role of the CIO is turning into more that of a chief digital officer who now works closely with the CEO to ensure productivity and reduce cost. Taking the HR function, the CIO will also need to think about ways to bring down attrition by using technology or ways to bring in more engagement amongst the employees with technology,” shares Chaudhary.

With respect to HR, the CIO will need to play a crucial role in ensuring engagement and productivity of employees. “As CIOs, we need to focus on the softer aspects of the business and deliver to the needs of our workforce. We need to think of ways to bring in more engagement and collaboration in the workforce through technology, working with the HR,” explains Bhargava.

“The role of the CIO will be to free up the CHRO by implementing technology so that the latter can focus more on other complex problems relating to the business and people strategy, cut down on cost and reduce the time taken to do any task by an HR,” adds Kaura.

“I believe that the role of a CIO has completely transformed in the past few years. There is a need for constant support from them at this point of time to maintain productivity, engagement and the people ecosystem in a virtual environment,” concludes Menezes.

The post New Power Couple, CHRO & CIO, help sail through the pandemic appeared first on HR Katha.

The voice BOT was inducted by the firm in the month of October 2020. TVS credit was earlier collecting data manually, but later, the firm decided to digitise this process for faster turnover. It took almost 18 months to fully implement and execute the idea of a voice BOT. TVS Credit’s workforce is multilingual with a combination of English, Tamil (and its different dialects) as well as Hindi. Therefore, it took time for the Company to find a vendor who could fulfil their requirements. Employees can interact with the BOT using multiple devices, AI Powered nudges and also via Whatsapp.

“Using the data collected by the BOT, we have been able to continuously attend to the needs and requirements of our people. There are numerous examples where the Task Force has helped many employees procure beds, medicines and other medical equipment.”

Jayashubha K, chief people officer, TVS Credit

Talking to HRKatha, Jayashubha K, chief people officer, TVS Credit, shares details about the functions that the BOT takes care of –

Continuous engagement – The BOT continuously keeps a check on each employee, to ensure that they are fine, in terms of their health and physical safety. It also follows up regularly with the employees regarding their COVID-related needs and requirements.

COVID survey – The BOT is also being used to take a COVID survey of the workforce to check how many are infected. It asks the employees if someone in their family has contracted the virus. If anybody needs immediate help, the BOT collects the details, which are then used by the People Task Force at TVS Credit to reach out to these employees and do the needful.

Vaccination survey – The BOT collects data on how many people have been vaccinated and how many are due for their second shot, and so on. The Company uses the BOT as a tool to spread awareness about the importance of vaccination.

The People Task Force at TVS Credit was formed in 2020 itself, just after the lockdown was announced by the Government. “We felt the need to form a task force immediately, to help those who may need any food items or other essentials during the national lockdown, amidst mobility restrictions,” says Jayashubha.

With the second wave of the pandemic hitting the country, the Task Force has shifted its focus to building contacts in the hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and other government agencies so that they can help employees deal with shortage of oxygen, medicines, beds or any other COVID-related requirements.

Volunteers from amongst the employees are part of this Task Force. The leadership team is divided into geographical areas and there are 11 regional heads, who further report to zonal-area heads. “As our people are spread across geographical regions we needed an organised People Task Force to cater to their problems,” points out Jayashubha.

The employees can directly contact the members of this Task Force in case they need any help. “Using the data collected by the BOT, we have been able to continuously attend to the needs and requirements of our people. There are numerous examples where the Task Force has helped many employees procure beds, medicines and other medical equipment,” tells Jayashubha.

Under its Employee and Employee Family Assistance Programme (EFAP), called ‘Parivaar’, the Company is all set to sponsor the education of the children of the employees who have lost their lives due to COVID-19. As part of this initiative, TVS will sponsor the school-level and graduation-level educational programmes of the employees’ children. It will also pay the monthly salary of the deceased employees to their families for three years.

Under the ‘Parivaar’ programme, the Company has promised to provide job opportunities to a family member of any deceased employee, at TVS Credit, according to the qualification and professional experience of the person. “We are trying to hire such people in multiple roles depending on their education and experience. We will endeavour to at least accommodate such people in data-entry jobs, or at the call centre or in other back-end processing functions,” reveals Jayashubha.

TVS Credit claims that in cases where it is unable to offer jobs, the family members of the deceased employees will be given an opportunity to upskill themselves in various areas — in consultation with them — so that they can become employable. “We have tie-ups with many learning agencies that are helping us upskill these people,” shares Jayashubha.

The family assistance programme rolled out by TVS Credit, has had a positive impact on the lives of at least 20 families.

The post How TVS Credit engages a voice BOT to find employees’ COVID needs appeared first on HR Katha.

According to a survey, once the situation improves, guests and travellers will prefer to stay in hotels where the staff have been inoculated. Aptly named ‘VaccinAid’, it is hoped that this initiative will help the travel and tourism sector recover. This will also encourage the employees directly employed by OYO and by the partner establishments to get inoculated without delay.

The details of whether the staff have received their first or second dose of the COVID vaccine will be visible on the app for users to view. This will help travellers who are worried about their safety to decide on a facility or property which has immunised staff. Those afraid to venture out may even be encouraged to do so if such details can convince them that they would be staying amongst inoculated staff.

In April, OYO had announced the launch of a feature on its app, which would allow users to book their quarantine stay, extending a facility the firm had provided in collaboration with various hospitals, ministries and government authorities last year. In 2020, it had offered quarantine facilities to stranded tourists, frontline workers, as well as members of the medical community and asymptomatic patients.

Presently, OYO platform offers more than one lakh small hotels and home-stay facilities across 800 cities in 80 countries.

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However, the resistance to these smart watches was so much that the MC had to discontinue the measure, but is determined to restart the same with effect from May 1. The wearing of these watches will be linked to the attendance of the employees, which, in turn will have an impact on the salary calculation of the staff.

The Corporation seems determined to adhere to the wrist watches for ensuring discipline amongst the staff, despite protests from the sweepers’ association. Ever since the idea was mooted, the staff have been finding excuses to resist the practice, even saying that wearing these watches is a risk to their health. The MC, however, is going ahead with its resolve to continue the practice.

The sanitary workers and even some councillors have not been wearing these watches for some time now. This had forced the Corporation to go back to the conventional practice of marking physical attendance for a while. A Committee was assigned the work of looking into the issue. However, opinion on continuing with the system remained divided.

Finally, it seems, taking into account the efficiency that has been brought about amongst the MC staff, due to these watches, the Corporation has decided to go ahead with the practice.

The Corporation is paying Rs 2 crores as rent for these watches.

Meanwhile, the Corporation may end up facing a penalty for not detecting the 250 ghost employees who were being paid salaries.

The post Smart watches detect 250 ghost employees in Chandigarh MCD appeared first on HR Katha.

The updated version of Workspace, which was earlier known as G Suite, will allow companies to ensure better collaboration and communication with their staff using mobile phones.

This version will integrate with Google’s digital voice assistant and will be capable of allowing employees to set and follow unique working hours.

Google is working towards making its productivity tools range, including Gmail, Meet videoconferencing and Docs word processing, essential to businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic. The remote working culture has resulted in the blurring of professional and domestic boundaries and has witnessed employees following unusual work hours and other flexible arrangements.

Instead of seeing all the pandemic-induced changes at the workplace as unwanted disruptions, Google hopes to see them as opportunities to improve the future of work.

The new version of Workspace will alert employees if they try to connect with a colleague who is not on online or resting, and suggest that they time the message or an e-mail to try connecting with the person when she or he is back online.

It offers options to reduce distractions for specific time periods, share locations with colleagues, and also set regular out-of-office messages. Google Assistant will be integrated with corporate Workspace accounts, allowing employees to send messages and check calendars using their voice.

Workspace has over two billion users, and is available free of cost to individuals. However, Google charges business customers and other organisations that sign up for paid accounts.

The post Google to enhance Workspace for frontline and healthcare workers appeared first on HR Katha.

With this facility, principal employers — that is, owners or managers of factories / companies, who supervise the establishment and employ contract workers via contractors — will be interlinked with their contract staff to ensure compliance.

Using the app, the principal employers can upload work orders, employment contracts or any information pertaining to contract workers directly.

Not only will this ensure efficient e-governance in compliance, but also help to extend provident fund benefits to eligible staff.

For those employers whose establishments are already registered with EPFO, registration for this facility is possible using the establishment code and mobile number. Those not registered can use their PAN no. and mobile number.

Balance can be easily checked by the regular EPFO subscribers without having to visit the office. The Umang app facilitates this. The balance can also be checked using SMS or by giving a missed call.

Of late, the retirement fund body has been offering many facilities to make life easier for its subscribers. It has settled 60.88 lakh COVID-19 non-refundable advance claims, and has disbursed Rs 15,255.95 crore till January 31, 2021.

As on January 28, 2021, the total number of beneficiaries (new employees) under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (ABRY) meant for job creation, stood at 4.69 lakh.

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As part of the e-cabinet training session, all the participants will be given basic training pertaining to digital working. This is the Uttar Pradesh government’s way of bringing into force the Digital India Programme.

The Secretariat in Uttar Pradesh is already following an e-office system. The next goal for the state government is to shift the cabinet meetings to a completely digital mode. To ensure the same, all materials that ministers may require to take questions during the budget session scheduled for the third week of February, will be available to them on their laptops and tablets. Only online communication will be encouraged within the cabinet.

If implemented propertly, digital mode of working will increase the speed of departmental procedures.

In 2020, the chief minister’s office had gone paperless by implementing an e-office system, connected to the chief minister’s iPad. This allows the chief minister to do all his official work even while he is travelling, and respond without delay.

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Aptly called ‘Udyam Sarathi’, the app will provide youth with business opportunities in various departments and sectors, including the state and Central governments, at the click of a button. It will offer news and updated information about the market, business approaches and development strategies. It is hoped that the app will give youth the much-needed guidance and encouragement to give wings to their dreams and ambitions.

In addition to financial assistance in the form of loans and support from the state government, the app will also offer advice from and opinions of experts to encourage youth to start off on their own, and in the process, give jobs to others.

Particularly beneficial for women, this app will be a step in the right direction, under the ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’ vision.

The app will go a long way in helping to revive the economy, by bringing together technology and aspirations, which will lead to the growth of the youth of the state and also the state in general.

The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also rolled out a state-wide, free coaching facility, to help students prepare for various competitive examinations.

The post An app for self-employment in Uttar Pradesh, to encourage startups appeared first on HR Katha.

While the Labour Ministry seems to be rather keen to make good use of social media, especially WhatsApp, for salary communication as part of the new labour codes, it may not really be a good idea considering the innumerable cases of cyber fraud that have emerged of late. Also, experts feel that the employer-employee confidentiality may be at risk of being breached.

By sending salary statements/slips via social media, such as WhatsApp — which is largely used for informal chats — the employees’ financial privacy will be compromised. This will naturally violate the confidentiality agreement between the employers and employees, which is an integral part of the conditions of service. Also, there may be adverse consequences, not just in the financial sense, but in terms of personal and professional issues.

With talk of WhatsApp information being shared with Facebook, who is to say that all salary-related information will not end up on social-media platforms?

The post Labour Code 2020: Should WhatsApp be used to issue salary slips? appeared first on HR Katha.

The New Year will see many businesses opening their offices to employees with safety protocols in place, and therefore, the demand for management toolkits that track employees’ health will be on the rise. WorkSafe, ProtectWell and NSpace are the other names in the tech market that are giving stiff competition to ReturnSafe.

Launched in May 2020, ReturnSafe today has a six-figure monthly revenue with its reach across 50 organisations globally. The Company initially banked on contact tracing and symptom tracking and has lately introduced vaccine management. This latest offering will allow companies to access vaccination records of employees they share with the employers.

Tarun Nimmagadda, CEO, ReturnSafe in a press release had stated that with the widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, businesses would need a tool to manage employees who have been vaccinated and those who need to be vaccinated, at least over the next two years.

With quarantine-management tools, provisions to check employees’ symptoms daily and ways to help companies log results quickly on a dashboard, such health-management platforms will become indispensable for companies. The fresh vaccine-manager feature of ReturnSafe aims to make it easier to monitor vaccine charts of employees.

Nimmagadda is also the founder of Mutual Mobile and the CEO of Ruckit, a construction equipment-management platform. He is also the executive director of CoronaTrace, which is a mobile initiative that brings together the tech community to fight COVID -19.

The post Employees’ health-management app, ReturnSafe, raises $3.25 mn appeared first on HR Katha.

Despite the pandemic and related disruptions, the hiring and on-boarding of new joinees was carried out smoothly and seamlessly leveraging technology and digitsation of the recruitment process.

Employees have been hired across verticals for both delivery and non-delivery roles and across hierarchies. The departments hired for include business-development services, human resources, as well as marketing and corporate communications.

The hiring targets for the year are still in the pipeline, in addition to the 240 analyst-level posts already filled. Almost a 100 more positions will be finalised by the end of the year.

Keeping the remote-working scenario in mind, TresVista has tried to make the onboarding journey intuitive as well as engaging in the new normal. It has introduced several policies, such as the special caregivers’ leave and allowance for WFH setup.

Sudeep Mishra, co-founder and managing director, TresVista, shares, “Our focus remains on hiring talent with cross-functional capabilities and complementing that with improving the candidate experience throughout their tenure. A hybrid work model will be enabled when we reopen offices. This will offer flexibility to everyone while we continue to evolve from the learnings of a work-from-home setup.”

The post TresVista hires 300, will adopt hybrid work model appeared first on HR Katha.

The app serves as a meeting point for employers and job seekers in the IT and ITeS sectors. It is actually a platform where professionals can register their skills.

It is reported that even employers from outside the country have found suitable candidates on the app’s talent pool.

The state government will soon work to expand the database so that even students from colleges and universities can benefit.

Meanwhile, technology firm, Vegavid Technology, has developed an application called ‘MyRojgaar’, which can connect skilled and unskilled workers with employers or businesses who need their services across the country.

The objective is to connect labourers with companies/MSMEs across sectors, such as hospitality, agriculture, construction, manufacturing and transportation. The app helps workers bag jobs suited to their skills and location.

Apple is also reported to be working on an app that will help connect millions of migrant workers in the country to needy employers. Aptly called ‘Apna’, it is expected to benefit the less privileged workers, who do not speak English.

The post 8000 IT professionals bag jobs via app appeared first on HR Katha.

The Employee Self Service (ESS) module will allow railway staff to interact with various modules of HRMS, including communication regarding change of data. The Provident Fund (PF) Advance module will enable them to check their PF balance and apply for PF advance online. The employees can also check the status of their PF application online. The processing of advance will also be done online.

There is a Settlement module for the benefit of the retiring employees, which digitises the entire settlement process. The settlement forms and pension booklets can be conveniently filled in online. The service details are also obtained online and pension is processed faster, without use of paper. This system will also make it easier to monitor the settlements and speed up the processing.

The digitisation process had begun early this year when the Railways launched the HRMS Employee Mobile App or HEMA. The Employee Master module already stores all the basic information and details of the employees. The Electronic Service Record module has replaced the physical Service Records that used store the service related details of employees. Now, all the information is stored in digital format. Even the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) is now digitised. Electronic passes are now issued online instead of the physical paper pass.

The post Indian Railways digitises HRMS to improve productivity and efficiency appeared first on HR Katha.

Interventions were made by KITE in the infrastructure — creating schools using information and communication technology (ICT) — in the field of education. It also made an effort to enable internet connectivity and e-learning for children. The organisation has dispatched  3.74 lakh ICT equipments across 16,027 government and aided schools in Kerala. It also provided broadband internet to 12,678 schools in the state.

Founded in 2017, the sole objective of KITE was to integrate ICT-enabled activities in over 15000 schools in Kerala. Today, this initiative has specifically IT trained over 1.83 lakh teachers with the launching of programmes, such as Samagra Online Resource Portal and Little KITEs IT Clubs. The Samagra Online Resource Portal course, a part of the Hi Tech School project, is so designed that classes 5 to 9 can be trained through fun-filled activities.

From June 1 onwards, the First Bell digital classes were also aired through KITE VICTERS, the educational channel. NITI Aayog has noted 23 best practices in the areas of innovation, convergence, technology, gender mainstreaming and involvement of civil society organisations. Their impact and contribution in a wider public policy context is deemed useful via a scale-up or cross-adoption.

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While blue-collar jobs had been deeply impacted by the lockdown, their demand has shot up in the food and grocery segment now in the unlock phase. In fact, the delivery sector is generating almost three lakh jobs every month.

About 70,000 blue-collar personnel have found jobs across the country, with more than four million people using the AI-based technology to find employment. The app requires job seekers to answer a few questions on whatsapp, schedule an interview and within 24 hours they land a suitable job. This is a win-win situation for both the employers and the job seekers. Currently, the app is benefitting job seekers and employers in more than 1,200 cities. It is successfully serving job seekers and employers from the logistics, warehousing, retail, hospitality and healthcare space.

Zomato, Amazon and Swiggy are amongst the known brands that are using the automated hiring system.

While the maximum jobs are available in the delivery segment, the manufacturing space comes in second, followed by ancillary and BPO jobs.

The automated hiring system seems to have been welcomed by employers and blue-collar job seekers with open arms. It aims to help 25,000 job seekers find jobs every month by the end of 2021.

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Harnessing technology

Speaking to HRKatha, Rajesh Balaji, newly appointed CHRO, Matrimony.com, points out, “Technology is no more a nice-to-have tool for HR. We are talking about creating a talent cloud. There are no more border restrictions in hiring. My vision is to find out how we can make data available for people leaders, so that they are empowered to make decisions faster and offer the best experience to staff and customers.”

“I wish to explore ways to use data science, and slice, dice and analyse data for quick decision-making. This includes predictive attrition, early signs of disengagement, happiness meter and more. We are looking at geo-fencing attendance too. Gone are the days of biometric systems or personal sign-ins. Everyone has a mobile with a GPS now. So, one can figure out where the person is.”

Balaji’s goals include making a future-ready organisation, which includes digital disruption, leadership pipeline building, using data analytically and tactically and raising employer branding, through unique employer-value propositions.

My vision is to find out how we can make data available for people leaders, so that they are empowered to make decisions faster, and offer the best experience to staff and customers

Learning and development

When people work from remote locations, there are multiple advantages, but there are also disadvantages. There are some gaps that need to be filled and challenges that need to be overcome — brainstorming, socialisation, data security and regulation. Balaji is convinced that all of this can be achieved purely with the help of digitisation, data and emerging tools. “What we call a luxury today will become a tool in the future, to manage employee productivity. We will harness the data to improve the productivity of the staff and morale of the employees,” he points out.

This will, however, require some learning and development. Matrimony.com will work on a strategic digital roadmap, which will also include educating the staff to co-exist with machines, such as AI and ML, apart from talent cloud and geo-fencing.

Productivity-based PMS

Similar to many organisations that have seen better productivity in the times of COVID-19, with the work-from-home format, Matrimony too saw a 30 per cent spike in productivity. What helped is the flexible work hours and the moving of the server-based application to the employees’ tablets. The organisation has over 50 per cent women in the workforce, who benefitted the most from the remote-working setup. The Company is now contemplating making flexible hours a permanent format. Now, it is working towards enhancing employee experience in the coming days by using design-thinking processes to solve employees’ problems.

“Design thinking is an approach which will change HR at its core. It will develop a human-centric mind-set that focuses beyond programmes and processes, to develop meaningful experiences for the employees. Design thinking will gauge whether the policies are future fit. Structure, capability, substantial growth are the keys and I believe these can be achieved through technology, policies and processes to improve staff experience,” says Balaji.

Productivity-based performance management system is at the core of it all. “We used real-time data to see how productivity happened on a daily basis. From monthly productivity monitoring we are moving to a daily format. Therefore, we know exactly what to do with the data. That will ultimately decide customer conversion. Infrastructure is, therefore, the biggest parameter,” Balaji signs off.

Matrimony.com’s vision is to create a great place to work, that adapts digital capability to provide the best employee experience.

The post Matrimony.com bets big on HR tech with talent cloud, geo fencing & predictive attrition appeared first on HR Katha.

With the free extension, which ends on September 30, users were able to make unlimited calls as long as they had a Google account. However, next month onwards, free calls will not be able to go beyond an hour.

The advanced features, which were available free for G Suite and G Suite for Education clients, will now be available only for G Suite’s Enterprise customers after September 30. These advanced features allowed meetings with a maximum of 250 participants and hosting of live streams with up to 100,000 people, as well as saving of meeting recordings to Google Drive.

To compete with Microsoft Teams and Zoom, which are also popularly used by remote working professionals, for online meetings, Google had earlier allowed unlimited video calls from its Meets platform, for free. It had also rolled out a Google Meet shortcut on Gmail’s desktop and mobile application.

Now, Google has updated the user interface of its Meet mobile app for iOS and Android. The homescreen has two new tabs, New Meeting and Join Meeting. A sliding menu offers options to share meeting details, join meetings instantly and schedule meetings in Google Calendar.

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The intelligent voice AI/automation platform uses all the information it gathers from the voice or speech of the person to create value for the organisation as well as the customers.

Based on the belief that the manner of interaction of human beings with digital interfaces in the future will all depend on voice, the SaaS startup offers two exclusive products — VIVA and VASR.

With its intelligent voice bots, the startup hopes to cater to the Indian and South East Asian population, a significant portion of whom do not understand English. The user-friendly and intuitive platform makes engagement for the non-English speaking crowds easy, because no written text is involved. It uses a voice assistant, which is powered by artificial intelligence, to help enterprises serve the non-English speakers across India and South East Asia.

It is already benefitting over 25 enterprise clients, serving them in 16 different languages across sectors, including hospitality, food and beverages, insurance and banking.

The startup is focussed on its growth plans, as part of which it has hired over 30 people even during the pandemic, and now aims to hire at least 50 more.

The post Vernacular.ai is gearing up to expand, double workforce appeared first on HR Katha.

The automated HRMS will efficiently manage all aspects, including recruitment, employee data (service register), time and attendance, absence and leave, performance and rewards, training, learning and development, administration, user analytics as well as personnel grievances.

This is a significant step towards modernisation of the department, considering its huge employee strength and resulting complexities in administration.

The compilation of employee data for the HRMS had begun almost two years back.

It is not just the Telangana Police that is giving serious thought to digitisation. Western Railway recently introduced the e-pass facility as part of its first module of digital HRMS. It is the paperless version of the privilege pass or privilege ticket order that is given to employees of the Indian Railways and their families. All employees are required to download the HRMS app, and log in using the id and password issued to them by the Railways. The e-pass that gets generated thus can be downloaded by the employees whenever they want to, using which they can book their tickets online at any time.

The employees will not have to visit their office to get the e-pass issued and no paper work will be required henceforth. This is a major step towards the Digital India movement.

Recently, the Centre has issued a directive to all ministries and departments to stop the practice of printing of calendars, diaries, schedulers and so on. It has asked them to publish these online in the digital form.

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The primary concern for companies at this point is the safety of their employees while at the office. Organisations have been trying all possible ways to ensure safety and security for their employees.  

Leveraging its expertise in technology and HR, TCS, within a span of four weeks, has combined the best of both worlds and come up with a solution for organisations to address contact tracing and social-distancing regulations, even while ensuring compliance.   

The solution uses the existing enterprise platforms of organisations to build a command centre to assess the readiness of the workers and the safety of the work environment. It also automates the return-to-work process by including contact tracing, workspace planning and critical risk factors monitoring. 

In addition, TCS Safe Workplace helps companies identify zonal hotspots and adapt work in a way that does not affect the day-to-day operations, by relying on facts derived by the software. The software itself is scalable and can help support thousands of employees within an organisation.  

The return-to-work phase after a long period of lockdown is a huge challenge for organisations and employees alike. TCS Safe Workplace helps companies handle this huge and complex task with ease and efficiency, according to the global head-human capital practice, Enterprise Application Services, TCS.

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Both functions have stepped into a more strategic role over time, and have begun to work in tandem to make the employee experience as great as the customer experience. At a higher level, both the functions are aligned towards the same goal. However, they are usually focussed on different initiatives. Now, they have to work together to create a common framework, with a common plan aligned with the organisation’s needs during this time.

End-user experience

Prashant Khullar, SVP-HR, Max Life Insurance, says that within the organisation, both functions are working in tandem to map the employee experience at the company level. The role of a CHRO is to explain what the organisation and the employees need as the users, and similarly, the role of a CIO is to understand the needs of the CHRO as a customer. “Both are working towards the end user or the customer experience. In the end, it is all about driving greater experience within the company,” explains Khullar.

“The role of the CIO has seen an interesting shift as being the enabler of change for organisations.”

Driving change

The customer journey is one part of it. The CIO is also playing the role of change driver within the organisation and a lot of it is driven by digitalisation. If we take the example of the sales team within the organisation, there has been a shift towards digital for the function in large numbers, of which everyone is aware. Because of the shift from the traditional to the digital, there is a need to upskill the existing employees in the new way of working or acquire new sets of people who are already equipped with the required skill sets. Digitisation has shifted the priorities with the CIO acting as the trigger and the end-to-end change managed by the CHRO and the CEO.

Aditya Kohli, CHRO, Clix Capital, says, “The role of the CIO has seen an interesting shift as being the enabler of change for organisations.”

The mantra currently may be to get more done with less. In this scenario, the CIO enables the change by making sure more is getting digitised or automated and the CHRO will need to work with the technology leader to ensure that the skills are present to drive the change.

Learning and development

In the area of learning and development as well, the roles of the CIO and the CHRO intertwine. As is well understood, the current era will necessitate a lot of rapid training and reskilling for employees as well as the contingent workforce. Moreover, increase in digital, curated and mobile learning will require a robust learning- management platform, which is only possible with support from IT.

Health and wellbeing

Another major area of focus for organisations has been the health, safety and wellbeing of employees post pandemic. Traditionally, the human resource management system and the employee health and safety application have been two separate areas, with the latter more focussed on accidents and compliance. However, COVID has brought about the need to be more proactive in these areas and a merger of the two.

Over time, as we journey on towards normalcy, the number of contingent workforces across sectors, such as manufacturing, will increase. With the prophesied dawn of the gig workforce across industries, there will be greater need to monitor the health and safety of the on-demand workforce for the good of both the temporary and permanent employees of the organisation.

“Both the CIO and the CHRO work towards the end user or the customer experience. In the end, it is all about driving greater experience within the company.”

In such a situation, people’s health and wellbeing will be important information to capture and record for the overall health management. Attendance-recording systems and preventive health checks at entry points are going to be mandatory. To effectively use this additional data, especially for large organisations, the existing HRMS software will have to be enhanced. Moreover, use of AI and ML will be essential to help organisations take care of their employees in a holistic manner, including health, safety and engagement.

In all these areas, there needs to be a synergy between the CHRO and the CIO to contribute their expertise and work in tandem to drive the organisation’s goals.

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Capable of offering valuable and intuitive operational risk analyses, the app can record, process, integrate and present data from various sources within and outside an organisation.

LTI SafeRadius will help companies analyse information across locations on LTI’s self-serve analytics platform, Mosaic Lens. The platform provides ace-quality analytics, detailed reports, and visualisation that can facilitate daily decision-making.

Speaking to HRKatha, Ajay Tripathi, CHRO, L&T Infotech said, “The primary intent behind launching this application was to provide insights to employees, just in case they come across in close proximity with an individual in the office premises. This tracking will ensure people are able to maintain social distancing.”

Integrated with the Government’s Aarogya Setu app in India, through a survey questionnaire, it can help organisations in India capture data/ information pertaining to employees’ health and well-being in the context of the coronavirus, not just within their workplaces, but outside as well.

In Ajay’s words, the response from the employees has been very fulfilling, after the employees have started using this application.

In addition to highlighting the hotspots and contact tracing, the app is designed to determine the overall health of employees, report incidents, profile high-risk individuals, allocate seats, draw up schedules and shifts in a staggered manner, manage transportation, and also provide real-time alerts in case of unplanned or accidental gatherings of people.

Through the app, circulars, advisories, guidelines and even news can be shared with the staff. The app, which uses Bluetooth connectivity also allows managers to obtain operational reports via a real-time dashboard.

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A camera tracks the employees’ movements, which are projected live on 50-inch screens placed within the premises. These screens are attached to the laptop and camera tracker. The employees who fail to comply with the social distancing norms appear circled in red rings on these screens, while those that do maintain the WHO-prescribed six-feet distance appear circled in green. These rings change colours as and when the employees move.

This new tracking system is already being effectively used at some of Amazon’s fulfilment centres, where the population and movement of employees is high. Other facilities will soon be equipped with the Distance Assistant, to remind staff to maintain distance.

Considering that Amazon has been under scrutiny ever since its employees raised concerns about lack of safety and questionable working conditions, the Distant Assistant is a step in the right direction. The Company has also made it clear that this is just one of the many measures it has taken to ensure that its employees are safe at the workplace.

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The effectiveness of EPFO in disbursing claims is highlighted by the fact that the offices worked with less than half the normal staff, in keeping with the social distancing norms. When it came to COVID-19 advances, despite the shortage of manpower, EPFO was able to settle claims within three days, instead of the usual 10 days. Also, compared to the 33.75 lakh claims settled in April-May last year, a total of 36.02 lakh claims were settled in April-May this year. This shows over 100 per cent increase in productivity. In addition to the commitment of the staff, it was the use of artificial intelligence that helped speed up claim settlement. Almost 54 per cent of the COVID 19 claims are now being settled through the fully automatic system.

The COVID-19 advance brought relief to EPFO members who earn less than Rs 15,000 per month. An advance was given to such members, in the form of basic wages and DA for three months or up to 75 per cent of the amount available in their EPF accounts, whichever is less.

Not surprisingly, over 74 per cent of the total claimants during the lockdown period belonged to the category of those earning less than Rs.15,000 per month in wages. Those earning over Rs 50,000 made up about two per cent of the claimants. About 24 per cent of the claims were made by members with wages in the Rs.15,000 to less than Rs.50,000 range.

Automation and the dedication of its workforce are responsible for EPFO settling over 80,000 claims daily.

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Not only has the Company — that enables efficient movement of goods for B2B and B2C segments — managed to sustain its existing staff during these difficult times, it has also honoured its job offers. It hired new people across departments, such as technology, support and business, taking its workforce strength to over 400.

FarEye launched its new virtual onboarding process (VoP), which included post-offer follow-ups, continuous engagement with the new joinees by sharing content about the Company, and warm-up calls by the managers. The onboarding communication for the selected candidates was also customised.

Special organisation overview videos ensured that the candidates stayed connected and also got a fair idea of the work culture. The Buddy programme assigned a buddy to the new joinees for the necessary h and-holding.

A thorough induction was carried out over a period of two to three weeks with regular monitoring and feedback. In addition, various departments have been conducting regular online training for new employees to upgrade their skill sets. An online engaging, learning, and development tool has also been built to keep engagement levels high.

The new joinees have appreciated the seamless virtual onboarding experience. They have also found the training modules to be informative, methodical, effective and value-oriented. Most importantly, the new joinees are glad that they experienced hassle-free onboarding amidst such uncertain times.

Kushal Nahata, CEO & Co-founder, FarEye, has stated that the Company is focussing on recruiting niche talent who will be an asset to the emerging needs of the business. “With a strengthened team, we are gearing up to meet our objective of turning any crisis into opportunity and bringing positive business outcomes for companies associated with us,” added Nahata.

Pankaj Kankar, COO, FarEye, pointed out that the Company has been ensuring the safety and well being of its employees. “The virtual onboarding process for all new joinees is a by-product of this,” he said.

FarEye intends to ensure a safe work environment once economic activities resume full throttle.

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