Insights From an HR Conclave - "HR Response to the Technology Invasion"

Jain university organized an HR conclave titled " HR 3.0 The Technology invasion" on 24th February 2018  in collaboration with GWFM (Global workforce management forum) at its CMS business school premises  located at J P Nagar Bangalore. The conclave had a distinguished panel of speakers that included Dr Pramod Sadarjoshi, Sr Director,Oracle India,Mr Harjeet Khanduja,VP (HR) Reliance Jio, Rajeev Mendratta,Global head resource management,DXC technology, Umesh Pawar,CHRO Accenture,Satish Rajarathnam,Cognizant,Capt Partha Samai, Sr VP AGS Transaction technologies, among others. 

 As  I have covered aspects of  the impact  of artificial intelligence and  managing in a VUCA (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world  in earlier blogs also, I am limiting this post to the key observations and insights.

• Future belongs to those who know where they belong- i.e. in the future!
• Your Email ID is your new residential address
• Either you are driver of VUCA or a derivative of VUCA  (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) 
• Disruptions are on your face.This needs to be accepted as the order of the day and the organization should adapt suitably. Some disruptions include Uber becoming the largest taxi company without owning a fleet of vehicles, AIRNB becoming a successful hospitality service company, making available lodging facilities to customers without owning any estate, Skype & We chat providing video chat and voice call services without telecommunications infrastructure etc. 
• Talent acquisition is a challenge today-  to get the right guy, at the right time at the right cost.
• Today's world is a world of 'instant gratification'. 
• Employees desire to work for digital leaders 
• Job seekers are more interested in gaining employability rather than mere employment
• A Warren Buffet  quote during the discussion: - "Only when the tide goes down, you will know who is swimming naked."
• Among the largest companies by market, top five are in the intellectual capital field.
• 75% of work force by 2025 will be millennial. HR needs to prepare accordingly.
•  Proactive decisions will increasingly be made which would be based on analytics with top priority being given to driving productivity and engaging employees
• The onus of talent development will not be on HR alone but the line departments and on the individual employees as well. With the support of analytics it would be fast, good and cheap.
• Use of analytics in recruitment, performance reviews etc addresses effectively unconscious bias that causes a  havoc.
• Analytics makes traditional repetitive work easy, freeing HR to to focus on making sense of the data and gaining insights which only human beings can do.
• HR should focus on preparing their organization for the changes necessitated in the VUCA world; ask questions such as "How will data be available and used in the organization."It is important to get the core right.
• The focus should be on being obsolescence proof and achieving digital maturity. 
• Today, dialectical thinking is most essential in view of rapid changes, unpredictability and the need to modify one's role to the changed situation. Dialectical thinking refers to the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives and to arrive at the most economical and reasonable reconciliation of seemingly contradictory information and postures. Thus we see change in the nature and content of roles. As for example, tellers in banks today, apart from the traditional role  cross sell products of the bank.
• HR needs to ascertain the impact of all these changes and complexities on the energy of people and find suitable remedy.
• Loneliness among employees, not meeting real friends but interacting only with those on social media is a matter that HR needs to address. 
• CEO s these days speak of a 'Talent' problem. HR needs to ask itself "What is my strategy for elevating the skills of employees?" 
•   In the new scenario human skills (such as critical thinking and analysis) will be one of the 10 top skills expected of an employee.
• L&D will have an important role to play for building communities of practices with focus on  "How to learn from one another?". Technology would be an important tool for learning.
• A major challenge, as revealed by VP Oracle, is that 20 to 25% of new hires exit in the first six months. Here focus needs to be given to the on boarding process and ensuring the cultural fit.Technology can be used to assess the in boarding experience of new recruits and take corrective steps.
• The panel discussion on "HR analytics" pointed out that this has touched industries far and wide including health care, banks (wealth management advice) etc. and influences many decisions including  'purchasing decisions'. "We are not still there, but there are encouraging signs."
• Data points can help in taking right decisions,creating plan and building pipeline. It also contributes to cyber security.
• Analytics can be profitably used for recruitment, compensation, assessment and  work force management. Readers may like to read my short poem on this subject in a previous blog- https://corporatepoem.blogspot.in/2016/10/hr-analytics-and-four-abilities.html 

Having discussed key points that emerged during the conclave, I would like to conclude this post  sharing what transpired in the first session of the second half after lunch  that was handled by Mr Harjeet Khanduja,VP (HR) Reliance Jio, This session which was laced with a lot of humour, gave a holistic prescription of what HR needs to do in the challenging scenario of an invasion of  artificial intelligence. 

The speaker while on the topic of the pressures faced by employees today and the challenge of HR in getting them to come to back to work everyday, said  "If you create value, people will queue up at your gate." In this connection, he gave the example of "Apple" which has achieved this as a company. HR should give the employees a reason to work together and motivate them- "You can do it!"- HR can help employees to realize their potential. The speaker shared the example from the epic Ramayan, when Jambavan reminded Hanuman of his special powers and motivated him to fly across the ocean to Lanka. 

Another important role of HR in the present scenario is creating a culture with the same vision and values. Culture is like the orchestra. Every note has to be right. It is also important to manage the emotions of the old employees who should not feel left out and outdated. Managing policies is another key step.Some of the policies may be outdated with the advent of changes in the form of social media and technology. These need to be redefined and modified to current requirements.

Appetizing the processes making them interesting and current is another requirement. HR needs to focus on upgrading the HR apps and examine  how their apps are going to use BOTS. Another important role of HR in the present scenario is managing governance. As technology comes with all the risks, managing productivity and managing contracts is vital. Another important focus area is managing attrition. The challenges include not only that people are leaving but the dearth of skilled manpower and people moving all over the world today.

Another interesting  situation is that HR will have to continue to recruit in view of requirements, even when there is a lack of skilled manpower.  In this connection, there is a need for searching  far and wide   and polishing the talent from the taluks and villages. Managing inclusion is another challenge in view of increasing number of women in the workforce and higher mobility of manpower between states and countries. This is bound to be a regular and vital  job of HR in the days to come. 

As I left the venue of the conclave, I was glad that I had accepted the invitation of Jain university which turned out to be a rewarding experience. I said as much to Ms Preethi Bhandary, Manager Placement and corporate relations while thanking her for the excellent hospitality extended by her and her team..