Article: Focus 5: Five areas HR needs to reexamine

Skilling

Focus 5: Five areas HR needs to reexamine

Looking back at the last 5 years, we highlight 5 key focus areas that are as relevant for the HR community today as in 2009
Focus 5: Five areas HR needs to reexamine

The year was 2009. India, and the rest of the world, was reeling under recession and for many employees it seemed like the world had indeed come to an end. The collapse of the Lehman Brothers in September 2008 set off a domino effect throughout the world and turned out to be the most nasty downturn in almost 80 years. It was a time when businesses were scampering to save costs as financial markets took the worst possible hit; when employees were scared to jump ships; and it probably seemed like the worst possible time to start a company.

But, in the bustling city of Gurgaon in Haryana, a print magazine was born. People Matters took its first steps in the world of HR media and slowly and steady brought best-in-class design and innovation to a niche industry segment. The goal: To create a movement in the HR community to raise the bar for the function.

For the past five years, People Matters has been covering a gamut of issues in the world of HR. Our endeavor has been to bring to the fore not only best practices and learning from what companies are doing but also to highlight core conversations that we believe business and HR leaders should have that will make a significant different not only to their business but the society they operate in.

In this story, we highlight five of those stories. Issues that were landmark cover stories of yesterday and we think that they are still equally relevant today. Here is a snapshot of the 5 cover stories that we will re-examine in the subsequent pages:

India Skilling: India will have a huge demographic dividend by 2020. But are we skilling our people fast enough to meet the demands of a growing economy? This is a topic we have covered in several issues and with the new government takes a new dimension.

Shame - Labor Violence: Labor relations continue to be the bane of India Inc. While companies are gung-ho on the economy and the new government who’s bringing in the much-needed labour reforms, HR leaders need to revive their IR skills for building sustainable ecosystems in the workplace.

Best Companies To Work For: Year-after-year, we had published an issue to deep dive on the best employers in India. An opportunity for our readers to learn from the best and benchmark their companies. These companies that have shown time and again how they put their people first.

Jobless Growth: The problem of jobless growth may take a serious turn in the coming years if no progress is made in creating more jobs in the country. New hopes come our way with the expected reforms but will that translate fast enough into the required numbers?

HR Technology: As business models get disrupted, HR technology opens up new opportunities to solve those problems. HR professionals should seize the opportunity to lead this transformation.

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Topics: Skilling, Employer Branding, Employee Relations, Technology, #HRIndustry

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