Article: Reimagining work across the board

Employee Relations

Reimagining work across the board

With changing technology, organizations will have to rethink the way they function and enable collaborative growth
Reimagining work across the board

In the last decade, significant changes have happened in terms of how workplaces function. The place of work per se has evolved along with the people we work with and the way work gets done. However, a number of companies are still handling people the same way. To capture the essence of these changes, a Talent Conversations Round table conference was conducted in Gurgaon on July 1, 2014 at the Westin Hotel. The round table was moderated by a distinguished panel comprising of Prithvi Shergill, Chief Human Resource Officer, HCL Technologies, Krish Shankar, Head HR-Indian Subcontinent, Philips, Frank Ricciardi, Vice President & General Manager, Asia-Pacific at Cornerstone OnDemand and Ester Martinez, Founder & Editor of People Matters Magazine. The confluence saw representation and active participation from industry leaders across a number of sectors.

At the round table conference, the panellists talked about reimagining work providing interesting examples of how progressive organizations react to workplace changes and build a competitive edge.

A major point of discussion was placing employees at the centre and resolving the dilemma of customer and employee importance. Krish Shanker said, “Placing the employee at the centre is a great statement to make, however, we are looking to fulfil the wants of the customer as well. We have to put the mission of the company first and ensure that line leaders enable the employees. That will bring the employees to the centre.” Frank Ricciardi pointed out that with increasing transparency and technology as an enabler, organizations need to focus more on encouraging an environment of flexibility and growth for the employee on a day to day basis.

A lack of real role models is leading to individual employee priorities not aligning with company goals. Most professionals at the conference agreed that too many processes were hampering the working of the HR. Most of the HR systems were designed to stop the 10% of people who would like to misuse the system rather than empowering the rest 90% of the employees.

Prithvi Shergill said, “We are the stewards of innovation and values in a company. It is this realization that changes the energy around the company.” With discussions across the various tables, a number of other interesting observations were shared as well.

Key Takeaways:

  • Lack of role models and too many processes are hampering the true potential of HR.
  • Technology will help drive consistency in employee experience and will act as an enabler for employees as well.
  • It is the need of the hour to reimagine work and bring life to the workplace.
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Topics: Employee Relations, #BestPractices

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