Flexible working is the new currency, with employees ascribing high value to it and employers acknowledging it as critical for hiring, retaining and enhancing productivity. Companies are developing and encouraging flexible work schedules, enabling everyone to embrace a flexible, hybrid workplace.

We firmly believe in the value of cross-collaboration irrespective of the work locations. We have also offered the choice of preferred workplace to all employees allowing them to work remotely, offering them independence and flexibility to decide their work schedules and preferences. This also helps employees to take frequent breaks to reset, revive and revitalise.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

‘Employee experience’ is at the heart of everything we do in people practice at Uber. Sometimes there is a gap between cultural expectations and the actual lived experience of people. Listening to them directly helps us identify these gaps more clearly and encourages a positive culture within the organisation.

We look at enabling an ecosystem where employees feel empowered to voice their opinions.

One of Uber’s values is ‘Stand for Safety’ and it continues to be our North Star that encourages us to continuously reimagine our offerings to our employees.

“Mobility is one of the levers which comes into play to help achieve retention”

Will internal mobility help in retention

The explosion of the gig economy, talent marketplaces, and similar ecosystems has changed the way organisations view the process of talent acquisition today. Employees are always on the lookout for something new to work on, fresh challenges and different problems to solve. In this scenario, changing roles and even offering new kinds of roles becomes vital.

Organisations having the ability to create these opportunities for employees across locations/countries will have an edge over others. Eventually, the roles will have to be structured so that there can be a seamless transition allowing business continuity, as individuals move from one role to another.

At Uber, the Parachute Programme for employees in the policy, communication and marketing functions allows employees to take up interesting international assignments.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Essentially, there are three broad themes when it comes to broadening the diversity, equity and inclusion(DEI) dialogue in India: DE&I strategy needs to be embedded in the organisation’s strategy.

For an organisation to truly meet the needs of its diverse customers, the inside of the organisation needs to reflect the dynamics outside in the marketplace. Hence, firstly, the DE&I strategy needs to be a part of the business strategy. DE&I dialogue needs to be embedded structurally in everything we do. From a place where DE&I leaders and people leaders were owning and driving the DE&I agenda, it needs to become an integral part of all talent policies and practices. From the employer value proposition to engagement, performance and beyond, the DE&I lens must be incorporated. India needs DE&I conversations specific to our region.

Historically, DE&I conversations in our country have taken a leaf out of what has been done in the Western markets. It is now time to acknowledge the unique manner in which DE&I conversations manifest in our country.

Racism is not only ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘Stop Asian Hate’. In India, race conversations must evolve to encompass privilege and discrimination based on religion, caste, linguistic diversity and more. It’s where we need to play a proactive role in broadening the scope of the DE&I conversation.

The post “India needs DE&I conversations specific to our region,” Divya Garg appeared first on HR Katha.

Decoupling of work and geography will be the focus, with more and more organisations having to address the question, ‘Does work need to be done from a particular space?’ In some cases the answer will be ‘yes’, in others it will be a ‘no’. The discussion around this topic will cover issues such as infrastructure cost, productivity, organisational culture, employee engagement, collaboration, cost of living, commute cost and time, and so on. We will need to wrestle with the issues, experiment and find our answers.

There are more jobs than we think that allow flexibility of location. Even some parts of production, market facing and business- development jobs can be managed away from designated workplaces or locations. There will be myriad hybrid solutions — weekly division of WFH and office; work-from-anywhere and show up at office for a few days every month; full WFH; flexibility in terms of ‘in’ and ‘out’ time as long as goals are achieved. Organisations may have some overall guidelines and rules for broad areas, but a lot of customisation and decision making will have to be delegated to the managers.

Consequently, we will have to focus on technology solutions to overcome physical distances. Performance assessment will have to be truly achievement driven. Last and probably most important, leadership and managerial mindset will have to change. There is no going back to the ‘golden’ age of universal office presence, and the sooner we start to accept the faster we will adapt.

Great resignation a disguise of a great movement

No, it is a readjustment. The ‘great resignation’ is predicated on pent-up demand in the industry and the re-evaluation of priorities by the employees — They are not leaving the workforce, but only moving from one organisation to another. It is more like the ‘great reshuffle’.

The reasons are many and to me the top ones, apart from the conventional reasons such as better money, designation and so on, are: l Organisations that force employees to report to a particular city, work mainly from office, offer no/less flexibility or choice, will see attrition on an ongoing basis.

– Organisations that failed to support employees in their time of need will bear the burden of mistrust, reduced engagement and attrition.

– Organisations that wilfully penalised employees financially for no clear reason, reduced benefits, disregarded health-related fears, and failed to support the afflicted will have to live with a downgraded employer branding and a disenchanted workforce, leading to attrition.

– Organisations that are unable to show a growth path towards future development will quickly lose people, because after two years of pause employees are in a hurry.

“Organisations that force employees to report to a particular city, work mainly from office, offer no/less flexibility or choice, will see attrition on an ongoing basis”

Learning to be driven by social, technology or content?

Learning is changing direction dramatically due to technology. Tech has made distance irrelevant, and online training is the way ahead. The medium is changing the nature of learning, which now needs to be bite sized — a mix of theory and practice, available just in time and customised. Online learning is decades old, but now it is dominantly mainstream, which facilitates better collaboration during learning and wider availability of content. It also democratises learning, by making the same quality of learning opportunity available for one and all, be it the branch office, plant or head office. On the content front, technology has brought in social media and the explosion of content across platforms. This places a huge responsibility in the learning area to deliver impactfully and in short formats, exploiting the creativity of all employees to generate peer-level learning.

If we have watched and laughed at sketches on performance appraisals, bad managers, HR and so on, why can’t we have a fun sketch of how to do a great appraisal interview that would be forwarded voluntarily? Finally, the socio-political movements in the last decade have brought in the factors of fairness, non discrimination and personal rights into focus. These will have to be translated into learning programmes of leadership excellence.

The content will also need to be sensitised to the new reality. Learning may also have to focus on collaboration and working together in the times of deeply divisive political beliefs that are seeping into every life decision. The dos and don’ts of discussions and rules of engagement need to be laid out and ingrained.

Working for money to working for a purpose

Earlier, the purpose was to be successful and financially stable, by aligning oneself with the purpose of the organisation. Work was at the centre of living — for sustenance and defining identity.

This purpose has now changed. Employees focus more on holistic satisfaction in life — balanced work timings, more family time, nurturing relationships, fulfilling passions, creating an equitable family dynamic between partners, and being healthy and engaging in social causes. The organisation is not the centre of their existence. The new employees will commit to the organisation’s goal only if the organisation helps them achieve their life goals.

On the financial front, the new breed is keener to explore entrepreneurship to create wealth in a shorter time than a lifelong trudge to a mediocre retirement.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

In India, we have a more questioning workforce around the immediate issues that impact them, such as compensation, career growth, HR policies especially health benefits, WFH and so on, and management style. In these areas, they look for transparency and fairness. I don’t see this as a new or a particularly disruptive trend.

The post “Leadership and managerial mindset will have to change,” Maneesha Jha Thakur appeared first on HR Katha.

HR leadership during 2022 will singularly be expected to facilitate leadership dialogues around change in the business models through an inclusive design thinking process. Old trains no longer go to new destinations!

The consequential impact of the change the business models will bring about — in terms of:

(a) Organisational structuring

(b) Transitioning of process for acquisition of talent with new skills

(c) Designing new programmes for connection and engagement of talent, and

(d) Developing anti-fragile leadership capabilities through inclusive and participative process — will prove to be their design and delivery challenge.

Leadership needs to guard itself from committing the greatest blunder their HR managers would be tempted to indulge in at such times, that is, ‘kickstart’ operations to quickly experience normalcy. That will only lead to designing of myopic programmes to motivate talent to return to the pre-COVID state. That would be like misjudging implications and a wholesale squandering of a lifetime opportunity to transform. It may make them win the war, but they will certainly lose the battle!

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

2022 is not 2021+1 or 2020+2. It is a different situation and will require a different mindset to cope and also thrive. Leadership drivers in the new context will be different. Jumping back to the old wagon may seem to be the comfortable and normal path of least resistance.

However, that would be misusing an opportunity and it will bring its own setbacks soon enough. Organisations will need to develop new business models and support them with ‘anti fragile’ leadership capable of coping with them.

“Builiding ‘employee connect’ with the vision, mission, strategy and values will become more critical”

Thus, new leadership-development modules for a successful way forward will need to be worked on. Programmes will need to be designed based on readiness for ‘digitally futuristic bespoke interventions’.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Building ‘employee connect’ with the vision, mission, strategy and values will assume greater criticality. Disconnection may lead to higher talent loss and attrition. This phenomenon can be called ‘The Great Resignation’. Greater transparency and inclusion through participation will, therefore, be called for in the new situation and the distant voices of digital employees will need to be sincerely listened to or it will lead to alienation and poor employee experiences. Consequences of this dis-linkage may reflect in the morale and disconnected participation of employees in the enterprise’s forward journey.

The post “We need a new leadership development module,” Adil Malia appeared first on HR Katha.

In 2022, workplace culture will become a strategic issue. Hybrid working, multiple demographic slices, growing gig representation, changing business models and greater talent fluidity will all demand that organisations make their culture more open and yet more integrative. This seeming contradiction will force different firms to evolve and decide what works best for them. The commonplace effort to replicate a certain cultural pattern is the biggest risk to enterprise success.

Coaching or mentoring to become compassionate leaders

Without doubt, yes!! The biggest impairment or enabler of future success will be leadership mindset. Too often it is predicated on past models, not on emerging risks and opportunities. Leaders are lonely but not always willing to be vulnerable. From my recent advisory work, I have observed that many corporations acknowledge this and are seeking coaching support for these leaders. They want them to move from the classical directive to a more appreciative inquiry-based leadership.

This is almost counter-intuitive for many who have themselves grown in typically hierarchical cultures, irrespective of the PR camouflage. Working with seasoned coaches will indeed help them, or at least those who choose to become more relevant and impactful in the coming years.

“Biggest impairment of future success will be leadership mindset”

More considerate towards failures in 2022

This is a hope I constantly write and talk about! However, I find these are more lip service statements in most companies. This must change. The reason companies are not responding to situations as fast is because most levels prefer to play safe. By the time the bureaucratic approvals come, the opportunity is lost. However, the best innovative and most entrepreneurial companies will need to not only forgive, but actually celebrate well-intentioned errors. It will build a sense of ownership and promote agility.

AI to change and impact HR post digital transformation

This is a big subject, the jargon not withstanding. As more data gets tracked and mined, there will be huge possibilities to explore many processes that are more AI-centred. It will build for speed, transparency and accountability. The information democracy that AI can enable will disturb the perceived importance of ‘information is power’. Therefore, I see huge possibilities but am a little sceptical about the pace of deployment.

Learning be driven by social, technology or content

All three! What people will ‘want’ to learn may not always be in sync with what they ‘need’ to learn! But both content delivery and assimilation will be nuanced to the learning in question. Learning preferences are and will continue to be varied. Companies that will allow more flexibility to various learning styles will be most effective.

The post “Companies will need to not only forgive but actually celebrate well-intentioned errors,” Prabir Jha appeared first on HR Katha.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had lasting implications on the future of work. The way most organisations used to operate has changed dramatically as more employees are now working remotely. One big change that most organisations have seen and will adopt in the future is the hybrid work model; which is a combination of remote work and office collaboration with a particular focus on wellness and employee experience.

Nowadays, employees want comfortable working patterns. Given the current scenario and the fact that there is a need for more work-life balance today, employees must be provided with the flexibility to work remotely, so that they feel cared for and connected. The hybrid workplace ensures a seamless experience that’s conducive to flexible work styles. This benefit can increase their motivation level and performance. It will not be easy for organisations to achieve this but there will be a lot of work in this particular direction in 2022.

Continuous learning to combat resignation and aid retention

Employees are seeking new places because of burnout or because they didn’t feel protected at their previous workplace. I do think reskilling, upskilling or continuous learning will be a key weapon to aid retention. I think this will be helpful in two ways:

– Preparing employees for the work shows one is willing to invest in them and want to help them grow with the company.

– Training gets people the skills they need to succeed in their new working environment. And when they’re confident in their jobs, they’re more content.

Organisations are offering a plethora of learning and development opportunities to skill, upskill and reskill their employees. With the ever changing work environment, HR should focus on improving the skill set of the workforce. Interactive virtual learning will continue to take the center stage. LEARN, ASSESS, DEVELOP, GROW and MOVE should be the foundation on which organisations must build their learning modules.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Diversity and inclusion (DE&I) has been evolving and changing over the years in India in response to the changes in demographics, and socioeconomics. In 2022, the key additional element that organisations should focus on is equity. Employers should promote an atmosphere of openness, respect, inclusiveness, trust, and bring a sense of teamwork, collegiality, and diversity to everything they do.

They should recognise that having a range of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives allows us to find new ways of doing things, leading ultimately to the creation and delivery of the best possible solutions. Leaders should employ DE&I throughout their organisations. Organisations in India need to customise strategies to execute DE&I goals. Diversity, equity and inclusion need to be highlighted as an essential part of our business practices.

The post “Reskilling & upskilling will help employees navigate the new normal,” Tanvi Choksi appeared first on HR Katha.

As more companies start getting back to office with hybrid models in place, both employers and employees may find it challenging to adapt to the new reality. Once the pandemic recedes, we’ll have to ponder over how much physical presence is necessary at the workplace. After all, people were delivering great results even remotely. We will have to find out the potential long-term ramifications of ‘not enough social contact’. Will it have impact on our sense of belonging over time? Will it force us to reach our breaking point in terms of mental fatigue, will it be as effective for collaboration, or how will it work for people leaders vs individual contributors etc.

The other change that we are seeing is how ‘focus on inclusion and well-being’ is getting more attention as an essential leadership trait. I do hope it’s not a temporary fad, but that people see the value in it, and it stays important.

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

Hierarchy is a way of organising decision making and scope of work, so it may not have a direct correlation with hybrid models. It’s more a function of leadership style as one can easily see distinct subcultures under different leaders in the same company. But with the advent of more flexible models, persistent competition for talent, and employee loyalty going down with time, hierarchical management approach is softening in most companies.

“Focus on inclusion and well-being is becoming an essential leadership trait”

More considerate towards failures in 2022

I don’t think tolerance for failure is a year-specific trend. Obviously companies that thrive on innovation require higher tolerance and risk appetite. At the same time, with customers becoming more demanding and competition scaling up from all quarters, the perceived cost of failure may be too high and that may influence the responses from companies and leaders.

The post “Hierarchical management approach softening in most companies,” Anant Garg appeared first on HR Katha.

Two of the major changes that 2022 will see are, adoption of the hybrid model of work, and a movement from the Great Resignation to the Great Engagement. Hybrid work is here to stay. It was in a way easier to manage workforce expectations, when everyone was either at office or working remotely. It will be interesting to engage workers completely in the hybrid model, where some people will be in office and some working remotely. Processes and policies will evolve accordingly.

The war for talent is real. Organisations will strive to engage with employees at a deeper level. One will see engagement and connect and more talk about purpose of a role and job, and how every employee is important for the big picture. There will be customised and flexible policies to meet employee aspirations, while fulfilling business objectives.

Learning driven by social, technology or content

Learning will be driven by all three elements — social changes, technological advancement, and content. One cannot be independent of the other. The social changes driven by the pandemic have affected the way we work and the way we develop our employees. Future proofing of employees and developing them to be multi skilled and capable of multi-tasking is a reality that organisations are dealing with. We need to do more with less, and for that, our learning agenda must build those capabilities in employees.

Technology has enabled us to reach a wider, diverse employee population and helped automate many tasks. This will continue to drive the learning strategy in 2022. While technology is the medium, content is the main factor that will determine the success of the learning plan. There will be focus on both technical competencies, as well as behavioural competencies, that is, agility, emotional intelligence, change management and resilience, in 2022.

“Gig-driven workforce will give organisations an option to scale up rapidly”

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

The gig-driven workforce is driven both by choice and business needs. With the pandemic putting a lot of regular workforce away from work due to medical reasons, organisations across the spectrum have been able to leverage the gig workforce to ensure business continuity. While the gig-driven workforce provides flexibility in the current scenario, going forward, it will give organisations the option to rapidly scale up.

Gig work provides people the flexibility to choose the organisations and the kind of work they wish to do. The Government has been working towards bringing gig workers under a social security network, which will save them from exploitation and will make gig work more mainstream. Going forward, one will see gig workers being counted in as part of overall business strategy execution. It will be a win-win from the perspective of both the employer and gig workers.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Technology has made everything more accessible now. Earlier, it was difficult for employees to have themselves heard by the management, but now the management is just a tweet or DM away. Digital technology and social media have been levelers in bridging the gap between the junior employees in an organisation and the CEO.

“Digital technology and social media have been levellers in bridging the gap between the junior employees in an organisation and the CEO”

There are now multiple avenues available to everyone to air their views and ask questions of leaders. This trend of demanding change and transparency will continue.

Employees now are more conscious of their rights and seek more transparency and accountability from the management. Given the increased interaction on social media, which also reflects on the corporate brand, organisations and leaders are also alert in responding to the demands from employees in a timely and transparent manner.

Function that will see highest salary increase in 2022

Organisations are looking to operationalise their businesses to suit the ever-growing technological needs Functions in the digital space, such as cloud computing, robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) will see the highest increase in salary in 2022. This premium is also being driven by the skill gap and by the opening of markets post the pandemic.

In the life sciences sector as well, jobs in the digital space are demanding a premium, as organisations are looking towards platform-based solutions for data insights.

Indian pharmaceutical giants are investing heavily in R&D, new product development, biologics and biotechnology. Allied jobs in the scientific domain, such as clinical research, regulatory affairs and scientific liaison will continue demanding higher salaries.

In manufacturing-related functions in pharmaceutical organisations, tech transfer, quality, validation and formulation production jobs are driving the salary premiums.

The post “The Great Resignation will make way for the Great Engagement,” Udbhav Ganjoo appeared first on HR Katha.

In 2022 and beyond, the workforce would like to experience greater flexibility and exercise their choice when it comes to picking jobs, organisations and the pace at which they would like to steer their career. Organisations will need to align more with this reality rather than expect the workforce to accept what they have to offer. Simple as it may sound, organisations will take time to adapt to this. The implication of this would be to create the right ecosystem in the organisation, to not only attract talent but retain them. In addition, there is a lot of discussion around hybrid and gig work, which will gain prominence and enable new types of roles, careers and workspace settings. However, this will only be limited to certain industries and kinds of work.

HR splitting into three in 2022: operations, strategy and career pathing

I don’t see HR splitting into three or four, but it will need to juggle multiple expectations to create effectiveness. The HR function always had a strategic and operational role to play in the success of any organisation. Further, the HR had to also drive change management and play an administrative role, which can broadly be clubbed into the strategic and operational dimensions, respectively. Within these two, I would say the following areas will be more pronounced in times to come and not just 2022:

a) Managing human-centred technology to enable an engaging workplace

b) Creating a bouquet of employee experiences to make the multigenerational cohort adjust well and focus on the needs of Gen Z

c) Making health and wellness a prominent focus area for HR.

“Tall organisational hierarchy will be outdated soon”

The implication of the above will be to create a huge mind shift amongst the management, senior leadership and even the HR team, so as to balance these additional expectations and not just relegate themselves to the classical role of yesteryears.

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Not just leaders, but all sections of employees need to stay relevant in today’s context. The future looks equally volatile and complex. Maximum development happens on the job itself, when people take the plunge and continue to handle roles with increasing uncertainty and complexity. It is also important to look for an opportunity to attend leadership programmes that can round them up further. A bespoke leadership development programme that addresses the specific goals of learners will be effective. Broad brush programmes may not be fully relevant anymore.

Effective leadership programmes will be those that offer a mix of exposure and interaction tailored as per the learning needs, in the current context, leadershipdevelopment programmes should equip a person to build a portfolio of skills to handle a variety of uncharted roles as opposed to the very rigid ladder-type career path.

“I don’t see HR splitting into three or four, but it will need to juggle multiple expectations to create effectiveness”

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

The pandemic has demonstrated that work can be done in various work settings. It is important to be focussed on the outcome and not the physical setting of the job. While an organisational hierarchy will be necessary to ensure work flow, a regimented and tall organisational hierarchy will soon become outdated. A tall hierarchy that slows down decision making or doesn’t facilitate upward communication in the right spirit will be detrimental to the success of the organisation. Fewer layers and a large manageable span will be normal as we embrace more technology and empower people to self-drive their work.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Focus on diversity equity and inclusion will continue in 2022 and even beyond. Diversity and inclusion can’t be just confined to gender related issues. Rather, they have to embrace various forms to make the workplace productive and creative. The DE&I agenda can’t be just a tick-in-the-box nor a percentagefulfilling drive to meet mandated agenda, which unfortunately it has become in several instances. Merit has to drive the DE&I strategy, else it will just be seen as a cosmetic agenda. Diversity of thoughts, culture, languages, educational background and many other aspects will truly make a workplace vibrant.
We will also see a mix of conservative and gig workers working side by side in the same organisation for a similar role. However, all this will need different thinking and acceptability in the minds of people, who are driving the organisation.

The post “Merit will drive DE&I strategy else it will be just cosmetic,” Rajorshi Ganguli appeared first on HR Katha.

The most unique quality of humans is adaptability. We have learnt to adapt to the demand of the hour. By now, we have accommodated a new set of behavioural patterns and expectations. People will see changes in terms of working environment such as hybrid workplaces, artificial intelligenc(AI) supported jobs, a mixture of technical and soft skills specific hiring, compassionate leadership and productivity focused working and monitoring.

The companies that have witnessed no adverse effect on productivity with remote working will be interested to offer more flexibility to employees with the hybrid workplace model. This will benefit both employers and employees in terms of cost and energy saving. This flexibility will also allow employees to maintain work-life balance, especially by saving time in routine travel and minimising the stress and discomfort of traffic and pollution.

People who handled tedious jobs with routine and repetitive tasks will be supported by AI-efficient technologies. Employees will have more access to technology, which will help them improve their efficiency. Organisations will likely put more efforts into digital transformation. Employers will also invest in tools and technologies for monitoring employees’ functioning as they may not be able to enforce discipline on remote workers.

Technical skills based hiring has always been a priority for organisations but this approach has to now shift towards soft skills focused hiring. Employers are understanding the importance of emotional intelligence in building a resilient workforce, which can stay strong in the face of adversities. Organisations will work to develop compassionate leaders who can help their team members with better hand holding and insights on life-enhancing skills.

“A shift from technical skills based to soft skill based hiring is needed”

AI to change and impact HR post digital transformation

I predict the acceleration of digitisation and automation of systems, processes and manufacturing operations. I also believe that use of technology, digital platforms and innovation will generate more jobs, and businesses will expect a higher transition to job growth 2022 onwards.

It is worth mentioning here, that only 25-30 per cent of jobs can be performed in a more productive way remotely. Therefore, it is also important to consider that most of the digitisation and innovations will still have to be addressed through physical jobs.

Also, HR has a big and strategic role to play in digital transformation and providing businesses with solutions to address repetitive issues. By freeing up the personnel from having to handle more complex situations, HR can channelise efforts towards performing tasks that require focus on improvements and creativity.

Human resources should focus on areas where AI can be applied and strategies formulated eventually. Lastly, HR should look for ways to develop a digital culture and digital mindset, because ultimately, it is not the technology which increases productivity but the people who are going to use that technology.

Coaching or mentoring to become compassionate leaders

The pandemic has forced leadership to shift focus from ‘What’ an Organisation does to ‘how’ an organisation does’. I think leadership capabilities will continue to shift toward embracing empathy and demonstrating leadership in its full sense, and it will be more towards visionary, inspirational and motivational leadership where the high focus will be on people. The definition of ‘HR’ must change to ‘HHR’, that is, building ‘Heart to Heart Relationship’ with people. The success of leaders is not measured by the big tag and authority they hold, but by the number of people who rely on them and come to them for inspiration and motivation.

Thanks to the pandemic, people are still stressed and confused due to anxiety and social deprivations. At such a time, hand holding by leaders becomes essential. They need to develop a deep connection with employees. Leaders are required to carefully address the needs of the people they work with. An intentional change is required, to bring compassion as a value in totality. Leaders’ coaching should be designed in a way that can enable leaders to envision their role as a catalyst for boosting employees’ morale when they need it the most.

Function that will see highest salary increase in 2022

Jobs in the technology sector will see the highest salary increase in 2022. Other jobs in consumer products and pharmaceutical industry will also witness big increases. The main reason is that COVID has actually accelerated the use of technology and the digitalisation process across sectors, including automation and artificial intelligence.

These developments, along with the adoption of the WFH / hybrid work model have actually impacted the high salary projections in these areas. The manufacturing and retail sectors are witnessing rising demand, driven by the lowering of COVID restrictions and a positive outlook of order inflows.

Will internal mobility help in retention?

Internal mobility is the most important phenomenon. Over a period of time, it has been realised that the cost of replacements is very high. This includes the hiring cost as well as cost of loss of business opportunity and productivity, which is relatively high. When new employees replace the existing and productive employees, they take a longer time to deliver the expected output and performance. We cannot overlook the fact that when employees decide to quit, they tend to be less sincere while executing their job, which means there is loss of productivity months before the actual exit happens. Along with the joining expenses, these intangible expenses should also be taken into account. Internal hiring can be a very effective tool for preventing such departures.

After numerous assessments of exit reasons, we can realise that lack of career development within a company is one of the biggest reasons for exits. Employee attrition happens when leaders fail to recognise the talent, skills, loyalty and hard work of people. We must strategise to ensure that the professional development of people is given due importance so that people do not fly away under the influence of outside powers and external opportunities.

We need to identify and implement professional-development programmes and career paths, which encourage potential employees to stay and deliver their best.

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The pandemic presented an opportunity to build a digital workforce. We all know that the biggest barrier for any transformation is the resistance to change, and the current pandemic inadvertently brought in the urgency for that muchneeded change in organisations. We have been hearing about the ‘new normal’, ‘phygital workplace’ and ‘hybrid work’ for the last 20 months. When we look at the larger picture, I believe we are moving towards a future where the Metaverse will be a very strong and important pillar in our way of working and interacting with each other, whether at the workplace or in our personal lives.

While this is a change that we may not witness immediately in 2022, we will move towards this reality at an extremely fast pace.

Another big change we will witness in 2022 is a greater emphasis on ‘customisation’ and ‘personalisation’ at each and every employee life cycle touchpoint.

The one-size-fits-all approach that HR has been stuck with for a while now, will give way to an N=1 future, where the needs of every individual are different, and hence, every problem that HR resolves has a personalised solution. This will require HR to build the mindset of a ‘solution architect’.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

For a long time, businesses have had a myopic focus on incremental growth and productivity. The pandemic has resulted in a mindset change among employees and organisations, focused on long-term business sustainability, anti-fragility and the total wellness quotient for individuals.

During the current period of resilience and recovery for organisations, employees continue to be anxious. This has increased the demand for personalised focus and catering to their needs with a customised approach, which has obviously accentuated the ‘employee voice’ with greater demand for transparency. Since people have an innate drive to make their voices heard, no matter the circumstances, not providing employees with a platform to express themselves will not suppress negative emotions.

This will only compel employees to seek out alternative and rebellious means of making themselves heard, which could be detrimental and damaging to the employee morale. It will also have potential adverse impact on the employer brand. Organisations need to proactively build channels that focus on transparent and authentic communication, invest in collaborative technology tools, inculcate a capability-building mindset in the organisation and actively transform their engagement agenda to focus on the total wellness quotient.

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Neo leaders will require specific leadershipdevelopment programmes to build new skills required to enable this massive transformation for themselves and their teams. Also, since the definition of leadership is volatile, organisations are not sure of what competencies they are looking for, for future success.

The so called ‘success profiles’ are becoming irrelevant, since the competencies which gave success in the past, will no longer be valid going forward in the new normal world of business. This challenge is compelling organisations to develop a shared understanding of the future competencies.

The future leadership competencies will hover around ‘connected leadership’, ‘cognitive flexibility’, ‘digital dexterity’, ‘resilience’ and ‘empathy’. Therefore, the ‘future ready leaders’ need to demonstrate ‘agility’, ‘boldness’, ‘authenticity’ and ‘humility’.

Great resignation a disguise of great movement

The buzz around the ‘Great Resignation’ or the ‘Big Quit’ has primarily brought focus on the fact that burned-out employees moved on from their jobs, while the eager job seekers looked out for refreshed opportunities. While workforce anxiety and discontent with the current status in the disruptive business environment, is a significant factor behind these quits, a different perspective has also emerged — on how employers can leverage this phenomenon as an opportunity to press the refresh button and attract the ‘right’ talent.

Rather than merely being a ‘Great Resignation’ in which people simply quit and walk away, the current disruption is seeing swarms of employees move around the job market. They are seeking a refreshed work-life integration and making thoughtful choices based on other intangible elements of the ‘Total Rewards’ framework — which is beyond tangible compensation — at the core of their decision-making process. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that much of the Great Resignation is a Great Movement with employees shifting track and moving to organisations that align with their individual purpose.

This is also a period when organisations have an opportunity to redesign their Total Rewards offerings to continue looking attractive to current and prospective workforce. Such organisations have taken this opportunity to re-optimise and rearchitect roles, find better ‘culture-fit’ candidates and provide opportunities to internal talent through enhanced roles and responsibilities, while still focusing on their employer brand attractiveness.

“Neo leaders will require specific leadership development programmes for massive transformation”

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

The Future of Work comprises three equally important dimensions —‘work’ (what can be automated), ‘workforce’ (who can do the work), and ‘workplace’ (where is the work done). Most organisations in the past have focused on the ‘work’ dimension, evaluating opportunities to automate and augment workforce through technology. The focus or action on the other two dimensions, however, seems to have been inadequate. The recent pandemic situation, more by compulsion rather than by choice, has forced us to move to different workplace models, and in some situations, workforce models as well. Rapid increase in digitisation in developing countries has led to the penetration of digital work platforms, which are likely to play a critical role in shaping the future of the gig talent ecosystem. As more and more companies undertake business transformation to make their processes more technologically driven, the share of gig workforce is bound to go up.

A gig economy is also cost-efficient for companies, given that they can accommodate temporary workforce, according to the customer requirements or business needs, leading up to saving administrative and compliance costs that they would otherwise incur if they choose to hire full-time or regular employees.

This is especially true in cases where business models do not involve the engagement of permanent workforce. This relationship is rather symbiotic, and both parties have equal freedom to look for options that cater to their needs. Therefore, a gig economy bestows upon this workforce, the flexibility and independence to be able to expand into new markets and create a talent pool for employers to choose from. The rapidly accelerating growth of the gig economy represents one of the most significant and all-encompassing challenges.

The fundamental question is whether companies can demonstrate the agility to lead the change in culture, programmes, processes, and policies — originally designed for full-time employees — to a new era where more of the work is being completed by a talent portfolio increasingly represented by contingent workers. The growth of the gig economy and associated talent platforms have blurred the legal definitions of the terms ‘employee’ and ‘employer’ in ways that were unimaginable in the past.

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At the beginning of 2022 it seemed the world would return to normalcy but the year proved to be more volatile. With 2022 beginning on similar lines due to the resurgence of Covid 19 across the globe, we are observing increased shift toward hybrid work culture and challenges around retaining and hiring talent across sectors. The biggest challenges lie in the human resource domain but so is the opportunity to create a difference. These challenges are spread across the varied spectrum of the HR function. These include employee wellbeing, performance tracking & management, key talent retention & hiring, workforce management, talent development and employee engagement. The industry is observing massive attrition and competition for high quality talent. As a result, HR function will act as a catalyst in shaping the goals & objectives of business plans. Organisations are becoming more conscious of their people practices and are constantly focusing on maintaining a high performing, healthy environment.

They are more agile and increasingly leveraging modern technology as an enabler. There has been a tremendous jump in digital products and services in HR space to optimise and efficiently drive daily tasks.

Clearly, HR as a function remains the core foundation for driving a successful growing organisation.

HR to look beyond models and best practices; be more innovative and hands on

The past few years have taught us to think on our feet. With every new problem coming our way, we have also found a solution to overcome the obstacles. Even more so, it has given the HR fraternity an opportunity to explore new areas and look for out of-the-box ideas. For instance, organisations have come up with innovative ideas to keep their employees engaged and motivated through a shift towards digitalisation and adoption of new technologies.

Even in talent acquisition, organisations have started hiring candidates online. At Vedanta, we have created a unique digital platform for nurturing our 1000+ campus hires through mentoring, group learning, digital library and unique feedback mechanism.

“HR function will act as a catalyst in shaping the goals & objectives of business plans”

Best practices and benchmarking will remain key focus areas but MNCs are increasingly looking inward to develop their own solutions. With time, organisations are moving towards customised solutions, careful to mind their own specific needs. This will eventually lead to a paradigm shift in how HR solutions vary from one company to another.

Continuous learning to combat resignation and aid retention

Continuous learning will be an important pillar to combat attrition and aid the retention of key talent. However, there are other factors which need similar focus as well. Competitive compensation and rewards need to be ensured to keep the employees motivated. Recognising high performers and expanding their responsibilities creates a positive workplace culture and makes employees feel valued. In addition, engaged employees are able to make their voice heard and are further able to add value to the business. While markets are currently experiencing a post-pandemic rise, and companies are trying to utilise maximum potential of their employees, the comfort and security of the workforce needs to be ensured so that they are able to perform their best.

Employees will stay back due to a combination of all these factors. Therefore, finding the right fit for the organisation will be the key for HR.

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Human resource leaders will have to see how the new trends have and will alter the organisation’s strategic goals and plans, and what immediate and long-term workforce adjustments will be needed as a result.

Also, HR will need to analyse the impact of multiple scenarios to identify and prepare for technological, social and labour changes that can significantly shift talent needs. The new imperative for HR will be to influence day-to-day changes, create trust and team cohesion, and play a critical role in organisation design and change management.

Great resignation a disguise of great movement

The ‘great resignation’ is due to many factors. The normal annual attrition had hit the pause button due to the pandemic, and organisations are rehiring after laying off employees. Certain sectors, such as technology and manufacturing, are hiring additional workforces due to growth in business.

Organisations that lacked a positive and inclusive company culture in a remote work environment are seeing higher than normal attrition. How employees are treated during a bad/abnormal phase is also very critical to the flight of talent from an organisation.

“It is important for HR to be credible activists in the eyes of all stakeholders, including the organisation, line managers, employees and society at large”

HR to look beyond models and best practices; be more innovative and hands on

Human recource needs to embrace complexity and not be over reliant on models or best practices. Models may help deal with complexities, but successful HR teams embrace complexities, as they realise that human behaviour is complex and difficult to predict. The need of the hour is for HR to take up the role of an activist in a positive sense. A credible activist is seen as a successful and effective HR professional— one who drives business results, is trusted by business leaders and also has a strong point of view. It is important for HR to be credible activists in the eyes of all stakeholders, including the organisation, line managers, employees and society at large.

HR managing compliance issues

Statutory and regulatory compliance is increasing by the day and with the implementation of the new labour codes, I foresee compliance taking up a substantial amount of time of senior HR professionals, including working towards a mindset change within the organisation vis-à-vis compliance. As a society, we need to move from a ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude towards compliance — to being more compliant in all spheres of life.

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Post the pandemic, change management will be a critical competency for any successful manager. Hence, I do see a great need for high-quality and carefullytargeted leadership programmes, which should include development of lifecoaching skills. Flexible workforces are becoming a reality and a long term trend. Independence and autonomy were a positive experience. Going back to the old situation, working in the office with a manager close by does not seem to be a very nice prospect for many. Hence, managers and leaders need to relearn the art of managing and leading.

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Hybrid models of working will continue into the future. There will be more of responsible autonomy in the working life of associates. The future will be all about ‘working on my terms’. Careers will be tailor made to individuals who add value to the organisation.

Recognition of skill sets will be of more importance than educational qualifications. Associates will have more flexibility and autonomy. Career progression will be more around HR products and services offered and the ability to choose from them. The future of work in a nut shell will revolve around flexibility, autonomy and freedom and the choice and onus will be on the associate and not so much on the organisation. The pool for the best talent will only get narrower in 2022.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Definitely. Organisations will not be able to make decisions based on their foresight and company growth. Instead they will have to decide on the basis of what their associates demand. Associates will want their share of voice in key company plans and progress. Future themes will revolve around sharing failures, fixing things anyway and not waiting until they are broken and sharing of assets. Associates will demand better operating models with upgrades and to play a key role in bringing down inefficiencies, technology will be a key catalyst and there will be more integrated data sharing and will want their organisations to work via service lines to create an integrated experience for their customers.

“Human resources will look beyond models. The focus will be on going for the ‘good’ instead of the ‘perfect’”

HR to look beyond models and best practices; be more innovative and hands on

Human resources will look beyond models. The focus will be going for the ‘good’ instead of the ‘perfect’. The culture will be about accepting mistakes with curiosity and focusing on what makes sense for associates and build better relationships. The people function will be a critical conduit in enterprise growth and leadership will rely more on HR in taking the organisation forward.

Talent will make all the difference and a true competitive advantage can only be derived if HR plays that key role in connecting people and performance.

Great Resignation a disguise of great movement

The ‘Great Resignation’ is real and here to stay. Companies will continue to do what they can to ensure their flock stays together, but the biggest differentiator will be their terms of endearment and nothing else. People will choose to work or not work for organisations based on what they can offer, especially flexibility. The overall employee experience will need to be relooked at. Mental and physical health will continue to be a focus area. Output will matter more than systems and processes. Value add and skill sets will be the key catalyst being looked at from an organisational stand point.

Will internal mobility help in retention

2022 will see disruptive hybrid models in mobility. People can choose where to work from and when to come to office, if at all. The year will certainly see several options and we will clearly witness mature models of employment emerging, which will be a far cry from existing models that have changed due to COVID.

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The biggest challenge at the workplace will be to stay steady with plans, and retain talent amidst the mad rush for talent and disruptions in the business. Success in terms of talent retention in 2022 will depend on the ability of organisations to create value without compromising on cost and productivity.

HR splitting into three in 2022: operations, strategy and career pathing

Over the last two years, HR has become a business enabler in the true sense. This change, while creating opportunity for HR, has also pushed HR to be more systemic in the overall way of working. To drive this systemic way of working, HR must clearly segregate subcompetencies from operations, strategy and career pathing.

Operational efficiency, process improvement and automation will be the backbone for HR to create employee experience and ensure productivity and right work-life balance.

The focus of strategy is to analyse the external business environment and its impact on talent management within the organisation, so that talent does not become a hindrance for business delivery.

Key actions which HR strategy should focus on are:

How to create employer value proposition(EVP) for the organisation to attract and retain talent; how to develop successors for the critical roles; and how to build resilience in the leadership team to ensure organisation success. The offshoot of strategy will be career pathing as that will play a critical role in ensuring longevity of employees with the organisation.

“Gig creates a symbiotic relationship between employers and employees”

When employees are clear about how their careers will progress in the organisation, they stay with the organisation.

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

Gig is inevitable and no more a choice. Disruption of models by technology has led to digitisation, which has clearly fast forwarded in the past two years. Employees are now ‘working from anywhere’. Traditional concepts of employment have been replaced by new concepts focussed on value creation and more flexibility to employees to work with different employers. With shortage in talent and need for all the emerging technical skills, organisations can only fill this gap by looking at new ways to engage with talent, and gig is the only answer. Gig creates a symbiotic relationship between employers and employees.

Similarly, employees can maximise their potential by providing their services, as per their capabilities, without being obligated to serve just one employee.

Gig requires new rules of employment for which HR is still evolving. The HR needs to evolve its policies and processes to work with gig workers so that companies can maximise the potential of the gig workforce.

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With high-growth startups and unicorns in the mix, the one big change at the workplace will be the reimagining of relationships at work. With a hybrid and dispersed workforce, culture building will be a key area of re-energising investments, attention and action. It will involve engaged ownership across hierarchy levels to critically look at the efficacy of prevalent practices and organisational values at play. Inclusivity definitions will be key while on this journey. Experimenting with work models will continue and flexibility and adaptability to change will be a constant ask.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Strategies exist. The challenge is how to engrain the strategy and truly make it a DNA. Equity is one of the pillars under diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). It requires sustained investment and commitment from the leadership and executive levels in an organisation. With the current attrition levels being witnessed in the industry, it is an opportunity and a point of decision as well. The question is, ‘Do we care?’ If yes, then work must be done. Sponsors and allies must make this a priority and garner organisational support and commitment to use DE&I as an essential pillar to create sustainable employee success stories. Progressive organisations are making this a mandate – it is pushing the thought process to think and behave differently. That’s a good thing.

Marriage between IT & HR: the new power couple

I see it more as a renewed vow. Today’s work landscape requires organisations to be enablers for collaboration, capability building and talent pipeline planning to lead a dispersed and varied workforce.

Organisations are experimenting with various talent models and it cannot be at the cost of data security that impacts the organisation’s own identity and that of client service. The point is really about the ‘make’ vs ‘buy’ decisions on IT investments and time sensitivity in making those decisions. It definitely will require HR professionals to understand the intricacies of technology and how it will impact employee work expectations and also managerial effectiveness to lead virtually. In summary, the synergy and renewed vow can be a great case example of managing organisational change.

“Voice for change amongst employees is a good thing”

Continuous learning to combat resignation and aid retention

I think it will be a strong enabler for employees who are focused on lifelong learning and are willing to stay invested in themselves and not get short-sighted with compensation as the only driving factor.

The motivation to learn is more internal driven as compared to external driven, based on research. What organisations can do is provide a platform for both formal and informal learning (it goes beyond just providing .a learning management system (LMS) or experience management system (XMS), understand learning patterns to enable peer coaching and build a culture that gives learning as much importance if not more, in the performance management process. It takes a lot of courage and will for organisations to embrace learning as a strategic initiative and invest accordingly.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Voice for change amongst employees is definitely gaining prominence and it’s a good thing. It shows commitment towards organisations and employees partnering to find solutions and not just looking at problems in a disengaged way. This will help employees understand the challenges in solving a problem. At an organisation level, it helps deconstruct and democratise the decision-making process to involve the ones for whom it matters the most.

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The year 2022 will be about incorporating different work models into our world of work. As we will have learnt to adapt new work patterns to be productive, the year will be about doing better for optimal productivity and engagement. This will involve us seamlessly adjusting to the three options most of us have for work – working out of office, working remotely and working partially remote, and in office (hybrid).

Some of the areas of focus will be:

Better use of technology – The tools we currently use for remote working will get significantly better. Virtual reality components will be enhanced with more embedded AI and machine learning, and become more sentient. These tools could be used to adjust work schedules to factor in times when an individual is most productive; enable a better meeting experience through virtual reality; nudge employees towards better collaboration using organisational network analysis; offer virtual assistance at an individual level to improve productivity, and so on.

Change in workplace behaviours – Multi-modal work can be difficult unless companies consciously redesign workplace norms to allow virtual and in-person work. This will not happen automatically. For instance, if one is running meetings with some people in office and others joining virtually, a good way of making the meeting productive would be for those in the meeting room to join in using individual laptops so that everyone can be on a level playing field. Another example is to evaluate performance fairly and reduce impact of an in-person worker getting an advantage over a remote worker due to proximity.

Preservation & improvement of culture – We will need to focus on creating a sense of belonging, common purpose, and shared identity that inspires people. Company culture did not develop because everyone worked out of an office. It developed through shared passion and purpose. In 2022, companies will re-focus on aspects of their culture that made them successful and also bring in new aspects of culture that were discovered during the pandemic imposed remote working phase. Some of the ways we communicate and emphasise culture may need to change as we move towards the new way of work, but it also opens up many possibilities to do this better.

“Company culture did not develop because everyone worked out of an office. It developed through shared passion and purpose”

Learning be driven by social, technology or content

We will see a significant change in how people learn and upskill. Companies will use a combination of tools – customised online content; simulated learning situations; VR-enabled classrooms, and social media-driven deployment to fuel a learning model where employees not only own skill development, but also learn in a way that is useful for the organisation.

Learning will become the key component of an organisation’s ‘people strategy’ as companies compete fiercely to attract, engage and retain talent. Most jobs over the next three to five years will be transformed by technology, and the technology landscape itself will rapidly change. Hence, lifelong learning and adapting to the new will be more important than ever. Employees will expect a ‘high touch and high tech’ learning experience wherever they work – remote or in office. The learning experience will need to be comparable to the consumer entertainment content one consumes on one’s phone. Anything less will simply not be delightful. AI and VR will be the twin supports for the next-level learning systems. These systems will allow training to be tailored to meet individual needs and be delivered in a seamless realistic way that will be accessible wherever the individual is located. At the same time, the individual learners will have substantial control over their learning activities that make them the centre of the experience.

Further, one will need to expand one’s learning audience to include customers, gig workers, and digital workers (bots). The increase in scope will make design and delivery challenging and bring in innovation to what was, for a long time, a traditional approach.

“Employees will seek answers on the way to fairness and equity”

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Companies that strive to be the best employers find ways to ease the conflict that people can feel between their work and their personal values. Companies need to have their values aligned more towards the good of society and the planet. It’s a great opportunity for companies to engage with employees in having a clear long-term purpose built into business strategy. This allows employees to participate in a shared vision, express their personal values freely and find purpose and meaning at work.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are no longer treated as an afterthought by employees. These are becoming increasingly central to a firm’s attractiveness as an employer. Companies that have better scores on ESG also do well on employee engagement and satisfaction.

In 2022, the important questions that employees will seek answers to will be about the way fairness and equity are managed within the company; the company’s impact on the environment; its stand on socio-political issues, and so on. A growing number of companies have made changes to their approach to employee health and well being as a result of the pandemic. A similar approach is needed when it comes to other ESG areas that are becoming increasingly important to all stakeholders, including employees.

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Hybrid working is here to stay. ‘Work from home’ may have gone from an order to an option. Blanket instructions to continue working remotely are coming to an end, and we’re seeing people returning to offices. The question is, ‘How often?’ and ‘How does that impact how we work in 2022?’ While ‘work-from-home’ was seen as a perk and potentially less productive a few years ago, today’s mindset accepts it as the norm. It’s crucial not to treat it as a novelty, but tweak processes to facilitate effective hybrid working. Until now, offline policies may have been shoehorned into the online world – which isn’t a long-term option.

There remains a portion of employees that believes working from home has been uncomfortable or much worse than the office in terms of distractions, collaboration, camaraderie and fear of missing out. According to a Loom Survey, the good news is that remote technology has led to faster decision making, more effective meetings and less unnecessary chit chat to drive more productive remote collaboration.

However, one of the biggest challenges was finding relevant information. The data, knowledge and resources to do the job better, especially when working independently, with the information scattered all over the place and the amount of effort taken to track it down are serious pain points. We’re seeing the separation of office perks and the physical office, meaning benefits are no longer intrinsically linked to the buildings in which we work. Therefore, if we’re aiming for happier employees in 2022, there needs to be a mindset shift when it comes to benefits. People want discounts on the things they enjoy outside of work. They want to work less and travel more, and they also want flexibility or recognition as they succeed in their role. They crave -and should be offered more wellbeing and mental health benefits or support at work! The Loom study also revealed that 74 per cent of employees think their pay should increase if the employer saves on office costs, while more than half would like a contribution to household bills.

Therefore, when a company does cut down on office space or changes the way it works, it’s crucial to communicate the same to the team with utmost care and consideration.

“Benefits are no longer intrinsically linked to the buildings in which we work”

Will internal mobility help in retention

To retain people and help them develop, internal mobility needs to re-emerge as an HR priority. It is good for business and good for engagement, and there are some key reasons why we need to embrace it now:

Filling skills gaps

In 2020, the World Economic Forum forecast that 40 per cent of current workers’ core skills are expected to change in the next five years, and 50 per cent of employees will need reskilling by 2025. When we already have people on board who want to learn, it doesn’t make sense to let them leave and face tight and challenging recruitment markets to replace them.

Tackling the resignation wave

The current job market is fluid. People are increasingly quitting roles, looking for new challenges and opportunities. To retain the existing talent, one needs to show the organisation can help them achieve whatever they want, and this starts by offering the opportunity to change roles and upskill. Oftentimes, the problem is lack of visibility into internal openings. It is important all vacancies are visible internally, clearly showing the skills needed and the opportunities for future growth.

“The biggest change hasn’t taken place in offices, but in people’s mindset”

Using organisation-wide talent data

In the past, employee data used to be siloed, kept by managers who didn’t want to lose their best people to other parts of the business. Now, HR tech systems create and store data such that anyone can access existing employees’ performance, skills, capabilities, and learning data in one place. Using AI, true talent intelligence enables workers to be moved effectively around the business, allowing them to develop in areas where their skills and capabilities align, and in which they may have a true passion to learn more.

Supporting a culture of recognition

There’s one thing we’ve learned over the last two years, it is that connection matters; and key to creating connections and engagement is having a culture of recognition. One of the strongest messages one can give is, ‘I believe in you’. Believing in people means investing in them and offering opportunities to take on new challenges. External hiring can often damage the bond employees have with their teams or leaders, especially if they interpret it as a sign that their abilities and hopes for future progression are not being recognised. By embracing a culture of internal mobility, organisations show they have faith in their people and will support them in achieving their goals and reaching their potential.

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Amongst the significant shifts in how businesses operate, one of them has been the jump to remote working. From being a luxury, it became a necessity in the past couple of years and will likely become the norm as we move forward. We will see more talent from tier 2 and tier 3 towns enjoying the opportunity to join the workforce, as flexible working continues to make it easier for them without migrating.

HR while managing compliance issues

Progressive organisations work beyond just managing compliances. Instead, they strive to create an engaged workforce, while working within state laws. In 2022, we may see the much-anticipated unified labour code rollout, which, based on early indications, will significantly simplify compliances. Furthermore, as talent boundaries expand due to the current work-from home scenario, organisations must focus on being inclusive in their compliance approach to include flexible working arrangements. Human resources will certainly play a crucial role in that.

Marriage between IT & HR: the new power couple

Human resources and information technology have always been a power couple in successful organisations, and this has only grown exponentially since 2020. Now, with hybrid working models coming into the picture, the need for IT and HR to work closely together will only increase. The more technology influences how employees engage with their jobs, the more crucial it becomes for HR and IT to collaborate.

Instead of dealing only with basic logistic issues in the new normal, IT and HR will together play a critical role in shaping and enhancing the overall employee experience. The two departments can work together to identify ways to leverage data, technology and human intelligence for both proactive and reactive efforts, especially with new-age technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) coming onboard.

The Metaverse, for instance, is being used for customer visits, new joiner speed mentoring, and even get-togethers attended by employees from dozens of countries. This relationship will only strengthen and become a core part of businesses worldwide, in 2022.

Talent acquisition has seen the most automation in its interaction with future employees through the onboarding lifecycle, and this will continue to evolve to build better candidate engagement.

Information technology is also central to employee-engagement programmes The use of immersive technologies will continue to evolve in order to provide a holistic experience to the employees.

Employee learning programmes are also driven by harnessing IT. To achieve sustained engagement throughout the process, companies must invest in retaining the human connection by employing technology and enhancing the roles of HR partners.

“Metaverse will strengthen employee relationship globally”

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Organisations require leaders who can lead people, manage change, identify new opportunities, and execute strategy in a changing business environment. As businesses recognise the value of agility in the ever-evolving industry, leadership development for a broad range of managers has become increasingly important. As a result, more organisations are implementing cohort-based blended learning journeys for multiple levels of leadership.

Leadership-development programmes, which have traditionally been designed and executed for classroom experiences will see a lot of innovation following their move to virtual or a combination of virtual and classroom. DXC has been at the forefront in realising this early on, as we all moved to virtual working. We rolled out completely virtual programmes, such as SheLEADS@ DXC, our flagship initiative to support women in their careers and leadership journeys and IGNITE@DXC for first-time managers.

These programmes include a prudent blend of talent diagnostics, virtual workshops, microlearning, and action learning projects to simulate a highly engaging learning experience virtually. I believe organisations will increase leadership involvement and facilitation by internal leaders as it is also a means of demonstrating and living the organisation’s values and growing the next generation of leaders.

Great resignation a disguise of great movement

2021 saw higher than normal employee turnover, largely because of a sudden surge in talent demand due to industry expansion. 2022 will see most organisations focusing more on building organic talent than just buying from outside.

Retaining top talent is always a priority for most progressive organisations such as DXC, and it will be no different in 2022, though we continue to see headwinds. Talent mobility options are at an all-time high and organisation loyalty definitions are evolving. Standard EVPs no longer appeal to everyone, and hence, in keeping with the times, organisations will have to simplify and personalise the EVP for their employees.

Communicating the personalised EVP to the employees will be the key, and technology will be a huge leverage for the same. Organisations will focus on enhancing their employee experience and work on providing a rich and diverse portfolio of learning experiences for employees, creating stickiness.

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The one big change we have seen and will continue to see is the role of empathy at the workplace. In the past, it was often wrongly interpreted in the corporate world that demonstration of empathy meant showing weakness. Now, demonstration of empathy by leaders has become mainstream. The pandemic has helped many leaders demonstrate empathy for a sustained period of time and they have learnt that it requires courage and self-confidence and in the long term, it helps all stakeholders.

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

There is a need for a customised leadership-development programme. At L&T Technology Services, we felt the need to equip our First Line Leaders early in 2020. We rolled out a Work from Anywhere(WFX) certification programme as most of our work moved to the WFH model.

The WFX certification programme broadly covered the management of projects, management of customers and people management.

The programme on managing people trained our leaders on empathy. It also helped them identify the challenges that employees may be facing during the WFX transition. The training included awareness of emotional intelligence, especially on handling deviations, building trust and avoiding dependencies on key team members by job rotations and educating them on psychological safety dilemmas while working remotely.

We received positive feedback from our managers as well as our employees.

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

While businesses are reimagining the way work is done, organisational structures have become more relevant than before. Having specific knowledge of the team members and managers has become very important for successful delivery of the job, especially when we are all working remotely.

“Leaders require courage & self-confidence to demonstrate empathy for a sustained time period”

While, the organisational layers have reduced, the teams have become smaller, but, the interdependencies across teams have increased. In a sense, the digital way of working has enabled us to work across teams more effectively. Many employees find the hybrid model of work has made them happier and more productive. It is not about organisational hierarchy anymore. The next gen is now looking for flexibility and agility in the working model. LTTS places high value on such an agile work culture and offers an ecosystem for its employees to thrive and grow through its WFX model.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

A diverse and inclusive work environment is important as it makes everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do for the business, feel equally involved and encourages a sense of belonging.

When employees feel connected at work, the results tend to be better, with higher quality of work being produced. However, many businesses still do not have a healthy balance of people from varied backgrounds working for them. This needs to change. At LTTS, our gender diversity and inclusion (DE&I) campaign, WINGS, aims to build a culture that promotes hiring, developing, and retaining women employees in the company. Along with a robust campaign engine for DE&I, we also organise crosscultural awareness trainings to provide meaningful developmental opportunities to all employees. It further helps develop a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce.

Currently, LTTS’ workforce comprises 23 per cent women and our target is to achieve 30 per cent by 2026.

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We will see the truly hybrid workplace and hybrid working in 2022. Not only will real flexibility become the order of the day in many organisations, it will be a part of everything we do, including flex benefits with a greater focus on well-being. Of course, talent will continue to be in demand, especially in the tech industry.

Marriage between IT & HR: the new power couple

Human resources and information technology need to work together to give the right digital experience to people. Also, many of our people decisions will be linked to realtime analytics in the flow of work. Automation and AI are also big in HR, for instance, the number of bots we use. Hence, technology is critical for contemporary HR. So, doesn’t that make HR and IT the new power couple?

“People decisions will be linked to real-time analytics”

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

The organisational hierarchy has been pummeled for many years now. The psychographic profile of new-age employees also works against the hierarchy— they want less structure and more openness. Therefore, many factors have been working against a rigid organisational hierarchy. Remote and hybrid working may further loosen the hierarchy, as technology facilitates access to people.

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Organisations that find ways to redesign work and bring more simplicity in processes, foster a trusting and empowering culture. Automation and introduction of technology in the HR function have accelerated in the past two years. Smooth operation in a remote setting, automation of the on-boarding and off-boarding processes as well as the talent shortlisting via AI are some changes that have occurred in the past few years.

As for the workplace, I see companies redesigning them in a bid to attract people back to offices. Amenities such as sleep pods, designated work space, breast feeding rooms, and so on, which make the office environment more comfortable will be incorporated by a lot more companies in the near future.

Continuous learning to combat resignation and aid retention

Yes, learning and upskilling will continue to remain a big focus. Employers prefer to invest in employees who bring in value to the business. Hence, for an ideal employee-employer relation, both parties need to work in tandem to keep an eye on trends, identify skills that can be acquired and move forth accordingly. Retention can be aided by constantly providing learning and upskilling to employees. If compensation isn’t a major factor then what acts as a key differentiator between employers is the benefits that they offer to their employees, and upskilling opportunities is top on that list.

“Working with a purpose will make employees stay in an organisation much longer”

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

The war of talent will force organisations to be more innovative in designing jobs. With the changing workspace and prevalence of hybrid work culture, companies will have to accept the fact that a lot of talent won’t be willing to work as full-time employees. They’re seeking more time for themselves and may be reluctant to work full time.

Working for money to working for a purpose

Working with a purpose will make employees stay in an organisation much longer. However, with the economy growing, rewards and recognition will have to be leveraged optimally.

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Concern for colleagues will be the key differentiator. Futher, organisational hierarchy will give room to leadership by empathy, and leadership with empathy will pave the way forward in the near future.

HR splitting into three in 2022: operations, strategy and career pathing

Silos and classifications are not important, but reaching out to the needy and proactively facilitating their work and accelerating their careers will be hallmarks of great leaders.

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Companies which can recognise the unspoken words and respond in silence will become the gems, deserving of the ‘Best Employer’ crown. These companies, who are able to gauge the mood of the workforce, will definitely stand apart.

“Companies which incur temporary losses for having invested in health, safety and environment (HSE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be respected better”

Human Resource while managing compliance issues

Compliance in letter and spirit and voluntary disclosure will emerge as key for growth, in part, along with Profit & Loss accounts. Companies which incur temporary losses for having invested in health, safety and environment (HSE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be respected better than those who have ignored these consciously.

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

Undoubtedly, hierarchy-led teams will, henceforth, follow expertise-led teams.

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Progressively, ‘purpose’ will be the most fundamental and prime driver of career, engagement and work for the individual going forward. Economic considerations will continue to be important with a significant blend of ‘purpose of avocation’. The idea of the workplace that has evolved in the last two years will finally be put to test in 2022.

Organisations will align with either of the three workplace models — centralised, remote or hybrid. There are critical issues related to employee health and safety, flexibility, governance, data security, business continuity, collaboration and culture which need to be evaluated and decided.

Organisations with flexible work models will attract an unfair share of talent. 2022 is the year of reinvention for most organisations in the way they collaborate, work and create value for society.

HR Team: squeeze or expand in 2022

Human resource (HR) teams have been investing in technology, which has paid its fair share of dividends. Selfservice portals now enable employees to carry out most of their transactions at their own pace and convenience. Due to increasingly growing, efficient and reliable auxiliary eco systems, several important HR activities are being serviced outside the organisation by partners. New-age technology and
applications will continue to influence choices.

Employee experience as an imperative has gained significant importance at all the progressive workplaces for the year. Focus of leadership on talent, culture and capabilities is likely to keep HR teams’ agenda full, where more effort and ingenuity will be required to meet expectations of employees and organisations alike.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Business case and values case for DE&I push are equally strong. There has been a general agreement on the need to enrich diversity of all types at workplaces not limited to a few dimensions. DE&I metrics are reviewed by leaders as part of their commitment to the agenda. Strategic intent has to be complemented with targeted actions and deliberate efforts. Increase in ratio also calls for suitable enablement actions to effectively address important aspects such as marriage, maternity and mobility. Certainly, a well-articulated strategy is helpful with matching efforts across the board. Due to historical reasons and societal conditions, the DE&I mission has to continue for long periods at faster pace. Immediate transformation of all workplaces with desirable DE&I changes in their true sense seems difficult but the efforts must be continued to reach the goal.

“Large-scale organisations need to re-invent existing models to stay attractive, compared to start-ups and unicorns”

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Given the opportunities out there, the Indian economy will need high standards of talent across the spectrum to harness the possibilities over the next decade. Requirement is more pronounced for leadership- level talent. Beyond build-buy debate, at the aggregate level, targeted investments to grow leaders in the organisation will ease demand-supply pressures to that extent. Further, every flower must blossom to its full potential. To that extent, both individuals and organisations together have a responsibility to invest in growing people. Limitation in pursuing the important agenda is today’s priorities taking extraordinary precedence over tomorrow’s. It’s a long haul and concerted action with patience and perseverance is the only known route.

Function that will see highest salary increase in 2022

With economic recovery in tow, sentiments and confidence in the Indian economy are getting restored, and annual salary reviews are looking brighter. Improved economic indicators, particularly macros are likely to influence the outlook of organisations.

There are several functions and sectors which are likely to be in top quartile. Skewed demand-supply curve in technology, data, digital, cyber and so on will influence decisions to that extent.

New-age organisations, unicorns and startups have come up with innovative models and opportunities of wealth creation for employees. Incumbent and large-scale organisations have to reinvent their existing models to ensure that these sectors and formats do not get less competitive or attractive for new-age talent. Apart from salaries, the learning opportunities, career avenues and variety of work that people do will comprehensively decide individual choices of what they want to pursue.

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While the pandemic brought with it many challenges, it also offered the country the opportunity to reinforce its position as a preferred destination for manufacturing. Organisations are focusing on readjusting their strategies to meet the requirements of this changed landscape. This will create more jobs and the need for skilled manpower in the long run. Post pandemic, we will be required to target leaner business models. This means, organisations will be required to put more efforts into upskilling and reskilling of the existing workforce on the basis of the new skills that are required to successfully execute these new models.

Multiskilling complemented by soft skills such as innovative mindset, learnability, and creative/ critical thinking will now be in more demand. The 2022 workplace will witness more infusion of technology into the learning methodology. Placing the control in the hands of the learner and providing equal opportunities to grow in many possible fields will hold the key.

“IT function will attract the maximum salary hike due to the acceleration of digitisation triggered by the pandemic”

Voice for change among employees getting stronger

Demand for transparency became stronger when the millennials began entering the organisations and more job opportunities emerged in the market. Employees have started challenging conventions and the voice for change has become louder. Also, with the help of digitisation, it has become easy for organisations to put robust and transparent people processes in place.

Function that will see highest salary increase in 2022

Initial trends indicates that the IT function will secure highest salary increments. The primary reason for it is the demand-supply mismatch in the talent market, while the second reason is the pandemic-imposed focus on technology infusion in every sphere of business.

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As this will be the third year of working from home for most organisations, we will see a concrete and marked shift of HR policies and functions towards a hybrid working culture. This will be reflected in the workspaces. Organisations will adopt managed spaces and co-working spaces more readily. Physical office spaces and cities will no longer be constraints for people. Therefore, there will be a greater rise in gig workers and the gig economy. This will also impact the traditional manager employee relationship, and HR will need to implement more flexible policies and programmes to ensure that the virtual world can create the same synergies as the physical office spaces. There will be brutal war for talent in 2022, and we will continue to see the trend of perks for retention of key individuals. Companies will ensure that roles and assignments are interesting and fulfilling, and there will be more flexibility in horizontally-expanding roles. We will also see a focus on continuous upskilling of the workforce as an investment in the growth and development of employees.

HR to look beyond models and practices; be more innovative and hands on

HR is already on its way to becoming much more innovative and hands-on than it has ever been. War for talent, burnout, empathy at work, generational disparities and other such strong forces are catalysing this shift, much faster than was originally anticipated. From ‘pet-adoption leaves’ to ‘virtual wellness initiatives’ to ‘hybrid performance management protocols’, HR departments across a broad spectrum of industries have had to adapt to the changing needs of the modern workforce. This, in turn, has been affected by a rapidly-evolving workplace. Core functions such as evaluation have undergone a change. For instance, at PayU, we have done two main adjustments to our performancemanagement system. Firstly, we introduced quarterly goal-setting processes that are more short term. Secondly, we have built in 10 per cent weightage of every employee’s goal for their self-development.

“Hybrid work model will impact the manager-employee relationship. HR will need to come up with flexi policies”

Learning be driven by social, technology or content

I think it will be all three! The typical learner has the potential of turning away from a learning journey if there is a lack of any of these factors. And therefore, to deliver a ‘wow!’ learning experience for the learner and a superlative RoI for the organisation, this triad has to click. Although the relative impact may differ in different scenarios, if any of these parameters weakens, the learning experience is likely to be suboptimal.

That is why, at PayU, we try to ensure that the learning resources we provide employees — such as our AI upskilling programme, courses, degrees and learning material — have a good blend of all three factors. An interesting way to visualise this is to imagine experiencing a wonderful dinner – the company, the service at the restaurant and the food —all need to come together for a ‘wow’ experience!

The post “There will be an immense war for talent in 2022,” Ashish Chattoraj appeared first on HR Katha.

Given the current situation, and the unpredictability of the future, 2022 may not be all that different from 2021. In that way, it will be a year of not only learning, but a year to reflect on how we respond to crises and how we have improved on working through them. 2022 will also be a year where organisations normalise hybrid working in some form or other.

This requires us to build systems that are effective for such a model at large scale. At Ather, we would love to call our team members back to our offices as soon as possible, but not at the risk of creating more uncertainty or panic. After the last two years’ efforts, we now have the confidence that we will be able to pull off our OKRs (Objective & key results) regardless of work locations. Yes, there is fatigue from being at home around the clock, but we are staying focused in moving towards our orgnisation-level true North, given the rate at which we are growing.

Coaching or mentoring to become compassionate leaders

Coaching and mentoring are part of the basics that an effective organisation requires. There is a larger fear amongst people that empathy and compassion could mean being indecisive, which can hold us back from achieving our goals in time. But that’s not true; it’s important for a leader to be emotionally intelligent. The sign of good leaders is always their ability to foresee change, to be the catalyst for it, and not resist it. Each year, we focus our efforts to train our leaders and managers to have more meaningful conversations with their team members. Be it our performance management philosophy, Vector, or how we engage with our culture collective, Think as a Species (TAAS) – the cornerstone for all of it is conversation.

Although our leaders play a significant role in keeping the organisation moving towards its moonshots, we have empowered our team members to take decisions as subject matter experts through specialised training for first time managers, competency-based interviewing, and our swim lane way of working.

Marriage between IT & HR: the new power couple

In an organisation such as Ather where innovation and problem-solving are at such high levels, power cannot be centralised. We have known that for long, but with an advantage in the number of our team members, we have implemented change in order to empower cross functional teams with our agile way of working. Our IT and people operations teams work in tandem with the rest of the organisation thanks to this team structure.

Moving into remote working was not a natural shift for us, at the beginning of the pandemic. With the support of the IT and admin teams, and our team members, we are today working in a hybrid style, and it is notable that work has been going on in warp mode during the last year.

To be successful in this new world, the most successful organisations will have to have fantastic forward-looking people strategies, such as understanding and investing deeply in the talent and cultural capital that gives the organisation its unique identity. Ranging from the performance metrics that we closely track, to the analyses that help shape our culture, data fuels our processes and decision-making.

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Employee experience has always been at the heart of planning and execution of people-related strategies. With employees and organisations learning to adapt to the virtual work environment as a new normal, prioritising employee experience will only gain more prominence. An integral aspect of this model of work is to keep the engagement going within and across teams and constantly develop new initiatives and processes to enable the growth of employees as well as the company.

At Amazon, we have introduced various initiatives that enable employees to interact with each other, stay connected and maintain their productivity levels. Even before the pandemic, our employees had the flexibility to work from home. We leveraged technology to the fullest to enable engagement platforms and knowledge-sharing avenues to allow employees to connect with larger teams with ease. The workplace of the future needs to be transformed to be more enabling and friction free, to allow a performance-led culture.

Also, empathy will play a bigger role in 2022. Employers as well as employees have come to recognise the importance of empathy within the organisation, as it leads to stronger collaboration and a higher employee morale, thus leading to a high performance culture. While the workforce certainly wants ambitious and complex problems to keep them challenged, they also want to be provided with opportunities and amenities that aid in physical and mental well-being. An inclusive, open and empathetic culture is crucial for higher engagement and retention.

“Empathy will lead to a high-performing culture in future”

What will be that one big change at the workplace in 2022?

The way HR will create impact will depend on the evolving needs of the employees. Over a period of time, digitisation, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and chatbots will become an integral part of HR and most companies will be able to evolve the role of HR by automating some of the function’s operational aspects. Human resource professionals will continue to focus on more strategic areas such as making the organisation future ready, organisation design, facilitating achievement of business results and building the right culture. Of course, HR will continue to emerge as the consultant for talent development, retention, and working with leaders on their people agenda to lead to long-term success. While the role of HR will evolve steadily, it will need to have the right foundations by making sure operational effectiveness can be achieved through automation. In fact, it will help to leverage technology to reinvent, rather than only automate.

“It is also essential to embrace the diversity of thoughts and recognise special needs, which are not just physical but mental as well”

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

The importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in the workplace cannot be overemphasised. At Amazon, we strongly believe that every individual brings something new and unique to the workplace, and we constantly look for ways to scale our impact as we grow. It is imperative that organisations focus on their readiness of diverse talent and ensure the workplace has the capability to welcome all. It is essential to go beyond just gender and ensure that policies, hiring practices, reviews and facilities are inclusive for employees across all sections. Providing individuals from different backgrounds, demographics and social strata with equal access to opportunities always brings in newer perspectives that drive stronger and well-rounded growth.

It is also essential to embrace the diversity of thoughts and recognise special needs, which are not just physical but mental as well. To do this well, managers need to be equipped with the right resources and leadership elements. They need to invest in educating themselves on the choice of words, support required, and develop themselves to be inclusive leaders in their behaviour, conduct and approach.

The post “Empathy will play a bigger role in 2022,” Deepti Varma appeared first on HR Katha.

Initially, the role of HR in 2022 must take a two-pronged approach to address how leaders make decisions. First, organisations must redefine the criteria leaders use to make talent decisions, with a focus on eliminating bias. Work, workforce and workplace are the three main pillars of building a futureready workforce.

Work: We as an organisation need to re-evaluate their work and work environment and ensure that they are concentrating on tasks that add value to the company, keeping their health and safety at the top of the pyramid.

Workforce: With the rising demand for skilled workforce and demand-supply gap, one must then select who or what should be the deciding factor of that specific task.

Workplace: Finally, companies must consider where and how most of the work will be done. Experimenting with hybrid or remote model that builds on what one has learned and experienced throughout the pandemic will be very useful in the future.

Continuous learning to combat resignation and aid retention

Learning is of course a continuous process. Robust skill-development programmes, well planned learning programmes can prove to be lethal weapons to combat skill drain along with structured wealth creation. Any instant monetary programmes can be countered by others.

“Why should only IT and HR be the power couple? Every function is important and powerful in its own domain”

Marriage between IT & HR: the new power couple

Marriage means understanding, collaborating and not compromising. Why should such things be restricted to IT and HR? I don’t believe in power centre or power couple. Every function is important and powerful in their own domain. To scale up the business and to be competitive in the market, each entity is working towards digitisation and automation, which has given the IT industry more importance in recent times.

The change driver – information workers or tech workers

Every person is a change agent. Everyone’s contribution and function is a change driver. I’m not in favour of giving importance to one function only.

Working for money to working for a purpose

Everyone is ultimately working for money and to take care of their basic needs. However, one’s work should have some purpose, or else it will be mechanical.

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The biggest change post pandemic is the emergence of a new work model – Hybrid Workplace. Employees will have the flexibility to conduct work from not just their ‘work desk’ in office but also from a variety of ‘digital work spaces’. This model is about giving the best experience to employees without compromising on productivity, or safety. It also provides organisations with an opportunity to choose from a diverse talent pool, drive productivity and also relook and save on cost structures.

With the emergence of digital collaborative tools and use of technology, organisations have gotten tremendous opportunities to innovate and mature in their ability to engage with employees, along with their customers.

Will internal mobility help in retention

In 2022, internal mobility will be a priority, particularly amongst Millennials and Gen Z and those whose career paths were disrupted due to the pandemic. This strategy is a cost effective way of filling critical skill gaps, whilst boosting employee retention and reducing turnover rates. The current trends show that employees will focus on jobs that provide a ‘sense of purpose’ and offer them a full career with developmental opportunities.

“IT, healthcare, e-commerce, R&D and innovation will see a rise in employment opportunities”

Function that will see highest salary increase in 2022

The disruption caused by the pandemic forced organisations to transform and innovate themselves. Technology has become all-encompassing and the jobs that will be most in demand in coming years are the ones that will support the changing nature of business and hybrid working.

Some jobs such as IT, healthcare, ecommerce, R&D and innovation will be in demand and will command a premium salary.

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With the impact of COVID slowly receding and the economy rebounding, organisations need to prepare for the hybrid model. To leverage this model, organisations need to welcome professionals back to the workplace and also be equipped to provide an optimal balance of productive work with reduced stress and less commuting.

AI to change and impact HR post digital transformation

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can act as able and intelligent partners to HR professionals. While most organisations are still experimenting with it, and use remains elementary at the moment, it is definitely changing our professional and personal lives, radically. AI has great potential to impact t – talent analytics and hiring. Any decision without the foundation of relevant insights will be lacking.

Talent analytics powered by AI will be a powerful tool in deriving proactive and impactful inferences from engagement surveys and HRIS (HR Information System) and so on, to drive timely and accurate decisions. Enhancing the candidate experience is especially important amidst this war for talent. The right blend of technology with the ‘human’ experience at exactly the right stages will help build the employer brand and attract talent.

AI-led intelligent tracking systems for volume-intensive activities, such as CV screening and interview scheduling, will help recruiters focus on connect with candidates and maintaining interaction through the process. Employee onboarding will get simplified with AI and reducing the time for things such as documentation, joining formalities and even day-one induction experiences through gamified tools and portals.

The change driver – information workers or tech workers

The challenges in the way we solve complex problems at work has doubled in the new regime. Decision-making has to be quick and organisations are finding innovative ways to serve clients, both internal and external. In a study by Deloitte, more than 96 per cent of the C-suites responded that analytics will become ‘more important’ in their organisation. Information workers use the power of analytics to help leaders take informed decisions. Technology workers, without doubt, provide the much-needed support required for driving the change. At Deloitte, analytics is used for important decisions related to the entire life cycle of the employees.

Working for money to working for a purpose

Millenials and GenZ tend to be accountable to pressing issues in the society. A ‘Deloitte Survey’ revealed that young generations are demanding social change and accountability. More than 55 per cent millennials and 52 per cent GenZ have actively donated to charities. Similarly, over 44 per cent millennials and 49 per cent GenZ have chosen the type of work which aligns to their personal ethics. Therefore, the focus shifted to finding an organisation that aligns with their purpose rather than just moving jobs for financial benefit. Millennials expect their leaders to pay attention to social causes and the organisation to have a larger purpose besides being profitable.

Will internal mobility help in retention?

The trend of seraching for talent from the market is witnessing a change and organisations are exploring ways to find talent internally. The thick walls between internal functions are being broken down and there is increased emphasis on cross skilling to allow people to succeed in newer roles. While it’s a great way to harness internal talent and retain them, we will have to wait and watch to see how it evolves, considering the ‘explore something new’ spirit of the workforce.

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Focus on deliverables with choice of flexibility

A new ecosystem will emerge at the workplace, wherein employees will put their conditions of employment, while assuring the deliverables to employers as per their roles. Employees may seek their choice of flexibility at work. These flexibilities may vary from person to person, and to some extent evolve from business to business, but many of them will be common across sectors.

Duration of work-week

Employees wish to discard the circular mentality of defining a six-day or five-day work-week and a new trend of four-day week is also coming up in some companies. Therefore, it may be possible to spread one’s work over four days or seven, as long as it meets the delivery schedule of the company.

Focus on deliverables

It will be interesting to see a new trend where the key focus of both the employees and the employers will be on deliverables and not the physical setup of the workplace. Rigidity regarding reporting time or workplace will be eliminated. Why should employees waste hours on the road, commuting to office when they can achieve their goals sitting at home? Similarly, why should employers waste precious time beating traffic, battling pollution and risking health to get to work and waste companies’ resources on setting up a large office?

Satellite offices spread across locations

Flexibility for employees to opt for a workplace of their choice nearer to their residences, equipped with relevant resources — space, technology, cafeteria, parking — and easily accessible by personal or public transport, will save a lot of time. It will also address the issue of space constraints for certain employees who may find it challenging to work from home, especially if they live in joint families or tiny apartments.

Trust and continuity

The pandemic dispelled all the notions that once existed in the minds of managers regarding employees being unable to focus much on work, or being slow and unproductive while working from home. Most businesses have realised that operations can be run successfully even virtually, albeit with certain adjustments and modifications. In fact, many companies now wish to promote and build on this experience further, as it has turned out to be beneficial for both the employers and employees.

Employee wellbeing

There is a realisation amongst all that the wellbeing of the individual is very important and it is derived largely through physical and mental health, along with financial autonomy. Employees seem to be increasingly accommodative and willing to compromise on salary but not on their health. Therefore, in the times to come, there will be more emphasis on ensuring work-life balance and ideal work environment. Managers referred as toxic will be forced to change their approach to keep their flocks together, else experience what is now called the ‘great resignation’, which harms the company’s long-term interests.

Manpower optimisation

Organisations will review the manpower requirement, which may reduce once they deploy the right mix of technology platform, with new work processes and extend the scope of automation. They would prefer to reduce headcounts and expand the reach and scope of outsourcing activities.

HR while managing compliance issues

The role of HR will considerably decrease in compliance issues, partially due to automation and partly because of outsourcing. There is a possibility of the focus of HR shifting from compliance to creation, and evolution of new organisational culture and work design. It will be essential for HR to understand the employees’ psychology and put in efforts to influence change by design. This will help build the culture and create a better employee experience. The list of activities conducted by the HR function will certainly decrease in terms of compliance that doesn’t add any significant value.

L&D report to CEO and not HR

Many organisations consider learning and development (L&D) as a vertical under HR in terms of process. This is one of the reasons of failure of L&D in many organisations. The integration of L&D into the organisation fails because the employees lack the motivation to apply their newly-acquired knowledge and skills fully. Organisations will need to focus on the value chain and the full spectrum of L&D, which is otherwise lost when it reports to the functional head. If the L&D vertical reports to the C-suite, then there will be full-fledged discussion on why the organisationis unable to derive the full benefit of the initiatives despite spending adequate money and time.

HR Team: squeeze or expand in 2022

The size of HR teams will shrink based on the organisations’ experiences during the pandemic. Many activities will be outsourced except those that add differential value to the organisation. The key factors will remain hiring the right skills, retaining them by engaging them with meaningful relationships and fulfilling employees’ expectations with real-time experiences. Employee attrition will not be seen as leading to the burden of another hiring or finding a replacement. Rather, it will be considered as a significant loss to the company, because quality talent will go to the competitors to add to their strength and even competitive advantages, especially in the R&D domain.

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A new model is emerging, called the ‘blended office model’ where companies are taking a flexible approach to in-office vs. remote work, allowing for a little of both. This model allows businesses to support employee safety and well-being while also enjoying the benefits that come with having a central, physical workspace. For many companies, this middle-ground approach may be here to stay.

In terms of talent acquisition, engineering graduates are in high demand. There is a surge in the demand for computer science graduates, electronics and communication graduates, information technology graduates and mechanical engineers. With the growth of the information technology (IT) and e-commerce sectors in India, more early-career professionals will be recruited in the coming year.

Further, companies will feel comfortable extending services of existing employees rather than testing new blood in this remote setup. Sustainability will become an HR priority, as it is an important issue affecting the employment brand. Employees will prefer not to work for organisations that do not focus on sustainability, carbon neutral strategies, and environmental protection. Companies that prioritise sustainability are more likely to be considered as better employers.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

Research on HR practices shows that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) is an unsolved problem in business, and despite years of effort, most companies see this practice as a work in process. The pandemic taught us all one important lesson. If people don’t feel safe, they won’t be productive, innovative, or reliable. Therefore, above all, as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs clearly states, we need to create a workplace that is safe, supportive, and inclusive. Focus will be on transgender and differently-abled candidates.

“Benefits programmes may shift from traditional on-site perks to more remote options”

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

Gig will see a boost. Gig economy is amongst the most widely-used terms in the business world today. While gig work has been around for a long time, it has gained momentum recently with the success of platform-based companies such as Uber, Swiggy, and Urban Company. With the emergence of technology-enabled gig work platforms, over 200 million people are part of the gig workforce globally.

HR to look beyond models and best practices; be more innovative and hands on

To liberalise the HR practices, from a statutory point of view and employee benefits, recruiting strategies may need to focus on different skills and competencies in potential candidates such as self-motivation, initiative-taking and effective virtual communications. Compensation decisions, such as adjusting salaries for WFH and scaling pay relative to geographic offices are important to consider. One survey revealed around 44 per cent of employees would reduce their 10 per cent pay for WFH forever. Benefits programmes may see adoption to reflect the shift from traditional on-site perks to more remote options. In addition, there will be an endeavour to help and support families in case of the untimely demise of corporate employees due to COVID.

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For the three Ws — work, workforce and workplace — there will be three playgrounds —physical, digital and phygital. Different leadership skills will be required to manage each of these three Ws in each of these playgrounds. Traditional and time-tested theories and methods will undergo transformation.

HR team: squeeze or expand in 2022

More remote teams means more connect will be required. Human resource departments will now need to hire more people to make sure the connect is alive and kicking, lest we lose key talent.

Great resignation a disguise of great movement

We are witnessing an artificial demand-supply disruption situation at the moment. This is because of the fact that 99 out of 100 organisations are looking to take their businesses to digital platforms. Hence, there is a lot of business in the market and not many people available to take up the roles thrown up by this digitisation.

Even in our organisation, when we were looking to hire IT talent, there were innumerable hassles. People had multiple offers in hand and the compensations they were getting were also shocking to say the least.

‘The Great Resignation’ is certainly only restricted to the IT space. I expect this bubble to burst in one or one-and-a-half year’s time. The entire ‘digital push’ is running on steroids.

Internal mobility key to ensure retention

I have always believed that talent should be groomed using internal mobility as a tool along with other developmental supplements. Public sector undertakings do this well. However, the private sector is more straight jacketed, but it is changing.

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Organisations are now experimenting with a variety of models to cater to the business requirements, while keeping employee safety and flexibility in mind. The hybrid model has become the most common go-to approach, as organisations have realised that ‘no one size fits all’. Work arrangements are being tailored basis the job.

The virtual world has challenged the relevance of organisational hierarchies and their impact on workplace dynamics as well as the ways of working and engagement.

In the virtual model, there will be a whole new workforce joining organisations in terms of career 2.0, gig employment and so on. These employees and their fitment into the organisational structure will also have an impact on the traditional organisational hierarchy and pyramid.

In a hybrid model, leaders and executives will need to address how they are managing fairness and equity across the increasingly varied employee experience.

Fairness and equity will be the defining factors and this is being reflected in various ways — figuring out the future of work; who will work from home; and how that will affect performance, pay and growth opportunities within an organisation.

Change in leadership development programmes in 2022

Effective leadership looks very different today than what it did two years ago. The pandemic has catapulted the need for critical management skills such as empathy, adaptability and resilience.

To lead organisations effectively at a time when emotions and uncertainty levels are high, soft skills have become more important than ever before.

The virtual world has challenged the relevance of organisational hierarchies and their impact on workplace dynamics as well as the ways of working and engagement

As more and more employees work from home, leaders need to adapt to virtual leadership. It is critical for the leaders to actively listen and engage with employees to uncover and address concerns on the go, and identify roadblocks to work towards proactively. Therefore, there is a clear need to curate development programmes that train leaders on these skills.

We also need to identify effective ways of deployment in a virtual world where digital-first learning programmes will be the focus.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

One of the positive outcomes of this pandemic is that it has forced historically traditional organisations to start conversations around a psychologically safe workplace and mental health of the employees.

It is one thing to hire diverse candidates, and quite another to build a culture that is inclusive to everyone. To make sure no one is left out, organisations need to make data-centric decisions instead of relying on their gut feelings. Targets for diversity and inclusion programmes must include gender representation, as well as inclusion at various levels of the organisation.

As the world becomes more volatile and continues to disrupt our lives, it is essential to tap into ideas and expertise from people with different backgrounds and experiences. Improving diversity will hold the key to unfolding newer ways of thinking, reaching out to a wider range of customers and in turn, having a significant impact on an organisation’s bottom line.

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I think the biggest change in the workplace will be the holistic view on wellness. The definition of wellness will go much beyond financial and physical wellness. It will cover many more dimensions of wellness, including mental, social and career wellness.

Mental wellness — Whether employees are offered employeeassistance programmes or mental coaches or mental health apps will matter.

Social wellness — What are the key tenets of the culture of the company? What is the organisation’s view on work-life balance? Is the organisation providing enough opportunities to its people to balance their personal and professional priorities?

Career wellness — The pertinent questions in this case would be — Is the organisation offering enough learning and development opportunities? Does it offer programmes such as coaching and mentoring? Is organisation doing enough to ensure that people are comfortable?

Having experienced the rat race for many decades now, I think nature has pressed a reset button for us. The new workplace priorities, with work-life balance as the focus is just one more manifestation of it.

Gig driven by choice or business challenges

The pandemic and ensuing lock down have made us rethink the whole concept of full time and exclusive employment. I think people now aren’t as keen to commit themselves to one enterprise or one assignment exclusively for a long duration. They are keen for opportunities, where they can take up multiple challenges together. They can use their skills to benefit multiple organisations in multiple projects. I think the gig workforce is no more a choice for an organisation. It is pretty much the future of work and workplace.

“People aren’t keen to commit to one employer exclusively for a long duration”

Organisational hierarchy threatened in a hybrid workplace

Organisations have realised that the new ways of working have less to do with designations/positions but more to do with the potential of the talent, the roles they perform and the organisation’s ability to excite talent to give their best. The contributions are not dependent on band and level, but more driven by skill, interest and attitude of the individual. In the evolving workplace, the approach to workgroups is making a shift from linear structures to amoeba structures, flexible structures and structures where people come together towards a common cause depending on the skills they possess.

These structures have no fixed functional leader, but different team members take up the leader’s job depending on the priority at that point in time or in a given assignment. The lifespan of amoeba structures is directly linked with the project assignment. It disintegrates once the project is over, and the resources eventually move to other projects and become part of another amoeba structure. Some organisations also call these structures ‘tribes’. While the names may vary, these structures have a common theme of skill-based leadership and project-based life spans.

Such structures are extremely helpful in driving the process of change faster, helping young talent learn leadership capability and also driving flexibility and adaptability.

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The big change that we have already started witnessing is the prevalence of hybrid workforce. We’ll see a mixture of some roles that will be identified by companies to permanently operate from a remote location while some will be required to work from office and some will operate in a combination of both. The move to hybrid will require a lot of preparedness to make it sustainable. Most importantly, apt technology needs to be in place to ensure a smooth transition and thus, operation.

The role of leaders has also become very crucial when it comes to employee engagement in a hybrid setting. In a hybrid culture, there has also been a shift for employees. Now, the output of an employee takes precedence over their physical presence. A lot of organisations are focusing on the deliverables. Managers at junior levels have to make additional efforts to clear out the KRAs and check for the motivation levels of their teams.

HR to look beyond models and best practices; be more innovative and hands on

HR has always been hands on. Most progressive organisations have a strong HR function. However, there are a lot of things that may be needed for HR to continue to think on its feet. This is a phase of continuous experimentation for HR and business teams across sectors. One can’t predict the future but what one should have is a point of view on the future.

“Managers at junior levels have to make additional efforts to clear out the KRAs and check for the motivation levels of their teams”

Companies are currently utilising hit and trial methods to check whether certain HR transformations may work or not. Continuous experimentation has allowed companies to pick up observations and amend policies accordingly.

Working for money to working for a purpose

I have observed in the last two-three years that people have lost a lot, whether it be family or friends. As a result, people’s urge to reach out and help those in need has increased significantly. They are becoming more conscious of the fact that they’re not only working for themselves or their families but for the good of the society as well. This has significantly changed their purpose of work.

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In the eyes of employees and managers alike, the physical workplace has psychologically shifted to a phygital space. To manage the global attrition deluge, corporates will facilitate disproportionate avenues of ‘flexibility’.

Everything else staying the same, employees are likely to gravitate towards organisations providing ‘work from anywhere’ option. Organisations vociferously advocating flexibility of location shall continue to attract talent. Multiple functional domains — digital, tech, engineering, commercial, HR, finance, marketing, communication, legal — will largely migrate to WFA or hybrid work norms. This will have a ripple effect on workplace culture, collaboration tools, DE&I initiatives, mental health and wellbeing drives and so on.

Leaders’ ability and effectiveness to lead virtually, shall be put to test. Going forward, this will be a critical skill that will need to be developed. Engaging and connecting with a virtual audience to sense burnout will pay huge dividends. Organisations will also have to draw up guidelines to regulate work hours in a virtual setup. Blurred discipline around workhours will disincentivise Gen Z and women.

Broader strategy to boost DE&I in 2022

A broader strategy to boost DE&I efforts has to be based on a compelling business proposition as well as the purpose of the organisation. Diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives will continue to be a ‘nice to do’ metric till it starts impacting business results. When organisations start winning or losing business/ customers based on DE&I results, the true impact of the initiatives will be felt.

As a strategy, DE&I needs to be integrated with business scorecard. Otherwise, it will continue to be on the fringes. Leaders need to understand and explain the rationale behind driving DE&I in the organisation. It must be understood at a deeper level than basic awareness.

In today’s environment, any buying decision is not limited to a particular gender. Inclusivity of generations is a given. Therefore, building DE&I in all aspects of business makes so much sense. It must be included as part of the talent attraction, retention, and development strategy of an organisation. Visible demonstrations of intent — making concerted efforts towards building required physical infrastructure at work, removing unconscious biases, celebrating DE&I change champions, recognising unrepresented groups, creating sponsorship around it, implementing policy-level changes — shall yield results sooner than later.

“Leaders’ ability and effectiveness to lead virtually, shall be put to test”

Working for money to working for a purpose

More than ever before, employees across generations are likely to prefer organisations that connect their purpose to their core values. The purpose, therefore, gets reflected in their product offerings, ways of doing business, leadership philosophy, talent strategies and so on. Employees are more likely to be motivated by the bigger cause and the impact their role creates in achieving the
purpose. Having said that, it is unlikely that the scale will tilt completely.

Choosing to work for an organisation with purpose, at the cost of money, may not happen always. However, the discretionary effort is likely to go up multiple times if the employee’s personal values and vision are aligned with the purpose of the organisation.

Businesses impacting any environmental or social cause are more likely to have employees as brand advocates possessing a higher sense of commitment, loyalty, and engagement. Besides meaningful work and growth opportunities, employees find a sense of fulfilment through the purpose at work and purpose of the organisation. Employees today are more aware of their organisational stand on some of the critical ESG related issues. What the organisation practices is of higher relevance than what it talks about.

Higher the congruence between what they preach and practise, better the chances of employees changing their mindset to work for a purpose-driven organisation.

Learning be driven by social, technology or content

Learning will absolutely be driven by a mix of social, tech and content. It has already moved into a beautiful mix of ILT, VILT, digital micro learning, self-led on-demand learning, and organisation mandated learning. The multitude of learning platforms enabled by technology will help curate content in an engaging way.

The organisational LMS (Learning Management system) will play a critical role to ensure pull towards the learning intervention. Content-based learning available on Twitter, LinkedIn, Harvard Spark, Coursera, Udemy and other MOOCs will help learners choose from the plethora of options. Learning will be in the flow of work and will be learner led. Each learner will have the choice of learning medium, platform and content.

“DE&I will remain on the fringes unless integrated with business scorecard”

Personalised learning pathways aided by Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning will encourage employees to invest in their learning. Individual learning budget will become more prominent and the choice to utilise the same will be left to the employee. Organisations will reward employees who invest in their self-learning via growth assignments and higher level of responsibilities.

AI to change and impact HR post digital transformation

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will be the harbingers of change in all people processes, and will facilitate wider people-related decisions. From a traditional recruitment process to an AI-enabled sourcing, screening, and interviewing process, it’s a journey many organisations have covered. The speed and accuracy of shortlisting goes up multiple times, subjectivity gets reduced and finding the right talent with the right skillset at the right time goes up. It works for employees very well. It highlights the right roles for them and broadly predicts their performance and expected tenure as well. Based on algorithms and previous track record, it can also predict whether an employee is likely to accept or reject the offer.

On the onboarding front, an AI-enabled onboarding tool ensures a smooth onboarding experience with reduced time to being fully productive. Many organisations have implemented AI based tools for driving learning and talent-management initiatives. It can suggest courses / learning interventions based on the growth gaps for the same or the next-level role. Polite learning nudges and encouraging employees to go for well-curated personalised learning pathways are other benefits. It can also highlight employees falling in the ‘flight risk’ category. Accordingly, a succession pipeline based on the best fit to the role can be a big benefit of AI in HR.

With the balanced approach of human and artificial intelligence in HR, overall employee experience will clearly see a shift. Organisations need to find a sweet spot to make it work for better decision making and higher productivity, without losing the ‘human’ in human resources.

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