Article: Workplace, an extension of home and social space

Strategic HR

Workplace, an extension of home and social space

Piyush Mehta, Senior Vice President-HR, Genpact
Workplace, an extension of home and social space

The war for talent has intensified due to changing demographics, aging population in the developed economies and the huge demand for skilled talent in developing economies. One of the biggest challenges in India will be managing an increasingly young talent pool. By 2020, it is expected that the average age in India will be 29, compared to 37 in China, 45 in Europe, and 49 in Japan.

The new workforce is a hugely networked generation which companies need to leverage from. Recruitment through social media (LinkedIn, Facebook) and referral programs is increasing year on year. The next gen wants to be treated as equals and not be subjected to promotions based solely on tenure. Genpact has a rigorous bi-annual organization and talent development process that helps to assess employees on two dimensions, performance and potential, and this becomes the basis on which people are given bigger roles ahead of time, as opposed traditional promotions which are tenure based.

There is a need for organizations to be more “digitized”. A company is considered as exciting by the next gen if it is more technologically advanced as their competitors, has greater connectivity and online collaboration. The online employee community called GLUE at Genpact contributes to this purpose along with its revamped communication channels such as the CEO blog and the two-way communication on the company intranet.

Increasingly, the younger workforce want their workplace to be an extension of their home or social space, and look forward to making friends with coworkers. Further, their commitment to work-life balance often places relationships with friends and family above work. Thus, practices like work from home and telecommuting are becoming vital in the new workplace. This is a generation of workers that is looking for “meaningful” work. They want to work in a company that does not just have a vision statement saying “what needs to be done” but also answers the “why” and want to understand the “big picture”. Giving them the right career opportunities to grow and stretch is critical to keep them excited on the job. Employees seek visibility to career opportunities across the organization so that they can build career “lattices” instead of ladders.
 

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Topics: Strategic HR, Life @ Work, #Social Media, #Trends

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