Author: Reetika Bose | HRKatha

Often people wish to escape the ordeal of cooking at home and prefer to dine at a restaurant for a meal or two. The urge to eat out for a change on certain days is mostly born out of a need to break the monotony of eating at home daily. Will the same happen with offices? Will people work from home on most days, but go to offices once in a while, just to break the monotony, or as and when required? May be just for a meeting or discussion? Just as people also visit restaurants on special occasions or…

Offices across the country are slowly opening up with 33 per cent of the staff. This means, some people will come to office and some will continue to work from home. However, some companies have also opted for alternate days for employees to come. With the corona scare still prevalent, certain sections of employees will have to be kept away from offices. The first in the list will be the employees above the age of 55, or in some cases, even 50 years because they are most vulnerable. Then, women employees with kids to attend back home will be given…

Fumigation of office premises, closed cafeterias, redesigned open plans, no meeting rooms — these are just some of the measures being considered by one of the Big Four, KPMG, in the world of work post lifting of lockdown, where social distancing will still be the norm. The professional services giant is also planning to use floor markings, which means demarcating places with stickers, tapes and posters for social distancing. It will ensure that medical isolation rooms are located closer to entry points. Speaking to HRKatha, Unmesh Pawar, partner & head, people, performance & culture, KPMG India, says, “Social distancing is…

Gender bias, at both conscious and unconscious levels, is still very much alive in the corporate world. Women continue to be overlooked by employers, who tend to view men as being more competent. This trend is reflected in the roles being offered to women, particularly in their salaries, which are a lot less as compared to men. In fact, more often than not, women are paid less than men for the same work! Many believe that the main reason that organisations discriminate between the two genders is due to the choices women make in their careers. These choices are made…

During an online class, a student of Seth Anandaram Japuria School, Lucknow, happened to confront his teacher, “I have this wandering fear building up whenever I switch on the TV. All I come across is news of people dying everywhere. I am even scared to step out to my lawn.” And then he asked the most dreaded question, “Ma’am, are we all going to die?” He was advised to stop watching such news and focus on the better things happening in the world. Shilpi Kumar, PGT English, Seth Anandaram Jaipuria School, then had a major brainstorming session with the student…

There is no escaping the fact that in the days following the lockdown, employment and the job market can expect to see a brand new normal. With many people already facing job uncertainty, fear and panic will abound, for obvious reasons. This panic is already keeping most of the employees and aspiring candidates up at night, wondering how the post pandemic situation will affect their job search. HRKatha is here to provide some key tips on why you should not panic, but keep your calm and continue your job search in the evolving workplaces. Loss of jobs and re-employment are…

As per a survey, around 53 per cent of new CHROs in 2019 were internal successors. While they still represent a majority, there has been a steady decline in the selection of internal successors for the CHROs. In 2017, 70 per cent of CHROs were internal successors compared to 61 per cent in 2018 and 53 per cent in 2019. If the same trend continues, a majority of new CHROs in 2020 will be external successors. Is the difference between an internal successor for CHRO vs an external hire a big deal? After all, in today’s time, for any CHRO,…

Information technology (IT) services company, Infosys, has started enabling five per cent of its employees to return to work, wherever the local conditions are suitable. This is in keeping with the order released by the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that private offices can operate with up to 33 per cent strength as per requirement, with the remaining working from home. Speaking exclusively to HRKatha, Richard Lobo, executive VP-HR, Infosys, says, “We will probably scale this to about 10-15 per cent for the next month and then decide, based on the situation. Our focus is on further improving our tools of…

Virtual recruiting and onboarding is the new normal, and every company will have to adapt it sooner or later. Each company will design its own programme as per its culture and practice. But before it drafts its own, it’s important to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of virtual onboarding activity. Pros Flexibility It opens the doors to interaction with employees across the globe, and not just employees within a physical office or premises. Harshvender Soin, chief people officer, Tech Mahindra, says, “Physical onboarding is only restricted to one city. In virtual onboarding, the new joinees can interact with several other…

Tech Mahindra has laid down a strategic plan for smooth functioning in the post lockdown era. To begin with, the Indian multinational IT services provider will only get 10 per cent of its workforce to its offices, while the remaining 90 per cent will continue to work from home for some time. It currently has 94 per cent of its staff working from home. The challenge, however, is their reintegration back to the office. Currently, our country is classified into three zones – red, orange and green — based on the number of COVID positive cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing…

There is an opportunity in every crisis. One only needs to delve deeper and identify that opportunity. Deloitte has seen an opportunity in the lockdown. It now plans to hire more women. The Company’s chief talent officer, SV Nathan, considers the ‘new normal’ to be the biggest opportunity to bring women back to work. Given the flexibility of work from home amidst the lockdown, this option will be considered on a serious note. Nathan opines, ‘Reshuffling of policies cannot help to bring about all these major changes. It’s the mindset that needs to change. Bringing women back to work is one…

For many companies with a large number of employees working out of the same office, or even from remote offices spread across the country, it is difficult to identify who is COVID-19 positive. That is why, there will be a need to continue practising social distancing — even more so when people start working from offices post lifting of lockdown. Employee-tracking devices will need to be put into use to ensure that social distancing is not compromised. Technology companies, such as Google and Apple have collaborated to launch a comprehensive solution that includes application-programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology…

Open spaces, no meeting rooms, fewer employees, one person at a time, marking out spacing with sticky tape, no cafeteria, no sharing computers — these are some of the new workplace norms companies across are trying to bring in. All these years, progressive organisations across the world were redesigning workplace interiors for employees to feel more at home. But post the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown, the reverse is happening — companies are now having to ensure that employees’ homes are more workplace-like! That was just the first set of changes. The next set is expected to take place after lockdown…

It is human to make mistakes, and leaders are also humans. In any organisation, when a junior makes a mistake, the leaders take control and try to minimise the damage, but what happens when a leader makes a mistake? Sometimes it can be fatal. From being one of the most celebrated brands to becoming the criticised one, Uber fell victim to leadership failure. With several issues pertaining to Travis Kalanick, CEO, Uber, doing the rounds, the final blow came when the video of Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver about a pay drop went viral. The ride-hailing company’s CEO released…

With business dipping due to the coronavirus outbreak, and liquor shops being shut down to maintain social distancing, the current situation is certainly not favourable for distillers and their business. In conversation with HRKatha, Biplob Banerjee, chief people officer, Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD), says, “We have started deferring the salaries of the top management by up to 50 per cent, owing to the huge economic burden post the outbreak.” This implies that there has been a momentary deduction, and the remaining amount will be paid as arrears at later stage. Makers of India’s top-selling whiskey, Officer’s Choice, ABD, have…

The whole country has come to a standstill because of the coronavirus epidemic, which has badly impacted businesses, work, and most importantly, the lives of the people. While everyone is eagerly waiting for the lockdown to be lifted, there remains a constant dread within some sections of the society. The economic threat to the bottom rungs of the society — the unorganised sector, that constitutes the majority of the population in the country— has developed into a nagging fear. According to the report of the Economic Survey released in 2019, the unorganised sector accounts for 93 per cent of the total…

COVID-19 is impacting countries, communities, and individuals at an alarming rate and is teaching us lessons in humanity, prediction, action and collaboration. This is the time when a safe environment will help employees work remotely, without being worried, thereby increasing their productivity. And this will ultimately help organisations achieve their goals effectively and efficiently. Organisations worldwide, including Genpact, are committed to the health and safety of their employees, clients, and the communities in which they operate. Therefore, they have been closely monitoring the coronavirus situation. The professional services firm has taken some proactive steps to help keep its people, clients,…

Globally, the economy is in doldrums. Job losses have already begun to engulf all nations. Given the situation, Indian nationals working abroad may also lose jobs in large numbers. These include engineers working in The Gulf region or IT professionals in Europe and the US. Besides these specialists, there may be a large population of blue-collar workers affected by the job loss as well. In such a scenario, the Indian expats will have no option but to head back home. The question is, will India Inc. welcome these specialists with open arms or will there be apprehensions? A lot will…

At a time when new ways of working are becoming the norm, it’s difficult for employees to stay safe, focused and maintain productivity, at the same time, especially while they work from home.  With this objective in mind, ITC Hotels have taken various initiatives to make sure their employees are safe and secure during the current Covid-19 pandemic. The luxury hotel chain is extremely proud of its associates, who are at the frontline of operations at various properties during the Covid-19 crisis. “ITC, our parent company’s philosophy of Nation First: Sab Saath Badhein underlines its core belief in building a globally competitive…

While managing and working as a remote team, communication is critical and mostly takes place in the form of virtual meetings. Leaders often complain about employees not paying enough attention during physical meetings. Imagine how annoying and difficult the situation would be should this happen in a remote working scenario! Virtual meetings have plenty of pitfalls as they come with their own unique challenges. With remote working being the new normal, let’s find out the real deal with virtual meetings and what it takes to create an exceptional virtual meeting environment. Break the ice In large organisations, it gets difficult to…

Most organisations across the world follow a centralised hierarchical structure or the top-down approach. This was primarily because the leadership never truly trusted the subordinates with decision-making. Leaders across levels – from a team leader to the functional head to the CXO to the CEO or MD of the company— hesitated trusting those below them. As a result, the final decision was always made by the big boss. For years, this practice has made employees look up to their bosses for solutions and decisions. This model worked well in a structured office environment. However, the lockdown, like any other calamity,…

The pandemic situation is taking a toll on people’s mental health. Those with a history of anxiety issues are finding it even harder to deal with the stress and unease brought on by the Covid-19 outbreak. While some are fearing loss of jobs, others have already seen pay cuts and deferred appraisals. The ongoing lockdown has left employees feeling anxious and worried about their future, prompting many corporates to look for ways to keep the staff motivated. What leads to anxiety during lockdown? Irregular work hours, improper work environment, handling household chores, stress and disturbed sleeping patterns are considered to…

With the lockdown being extended till May 3, the challenges in business continuity are only going to increase. For IT services company, Capgemini, there were quite a few business- continuity challenges. Like most IT services companies, data safety was an important issue which the company needed to address. Pallavi Tyagi, chief human resources officer, Capgemini India, shares, “We have scaled up the IT infrastructure, increased internet bandwidth and strengthened our VPN connectivity. As a result, almost 95 per cent of our client billable staff is now very effectively working from home on our client engagement.” We have launched the ‘Capgemini…

The lockdown has taught us many lessons and also transformed workplace practices like never before. Both the organisation and the employees have enjoyed the flexibility and have focused more on deliverables, while telecommuting. Will India Inc. retain this flexibility at the workplace? Will it be less rigid on certain aspects and continue to focus just on deliverables? HRKatha spoke to few industry leaders to understand the bigger reality of the current situation, and what it has in store for employees and organisations. In the past, physical workplaces with rigid work timings were a matter of importance. However, with the advent…

 This COVID-19 crisis is the right time to showcase holistic leadership or 4D leadership as it is commonly referred to. It can play a crucial role in driving through the present wave of turbulence. According to Dr Alan Watkins, the 4D leadership module involves leaders expanding their capabilities to see further, understand more, think better, and become more sophisticated and flexible in the way they approach people and situations. Leaders must embrace a holistic leadership culture, which, unlike the single leadership method, comes with several dimensions. It is not just the adoption of the approach that is tricky, but emerging as…

When reality hits hard, we all get accustomed to the most unexpected situations that come our way. Almost two weeks into the lockdown, each one of us is dealing with the crisis, in our own way. We can either choose to play the victim and be gloomy about being alone or look at this as an opportunity for self- awareness, self- care and solidarity. There is always a silver lining in everything, and that’s what some of the HR leaders seek to look at, even in this lockdown period. HRKatha spoke to a few of them to find out how…