Mumbai, November 2022: India is one of the fastest growing economies and has the potential to act upon the huge opportunities thrown by some of the global challenges due to its human capital.
The pandemic has accelerated the reshaping of Indian business models and has helped attract a talented workforce creating geographical diversity. People from countries like UK and Singapore are working for Indian companies stated Mr. Sudhir Sitapati, Managing Director, and CEO, of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd at the 12th CII HR Conclave- ‘HR RELEASE 2023- Evolve | Innovate | Inspire’ organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Mr. Sitapati who was speaking at the inaugural session of the summit informed that such disruptions have reshaped Indian businesses. “The role of the gig economy is helping bridge the talent and income gaps. However, there is a need to create more depth and commitment towards the businesses that they are working for,” he informed.
Mr. Tarun Rai, Executive Director, Wunderman Thompson explained that the people- asset should be looked upon as the most valuable asset in any company. “Instead of expecting employees to be loyal to the company, the companies need to be loyal to their workforce and give them an opportunity to grow. The employees can be loyal to their own careers,” he said.
According to Mr. Rai, post the pandemic, companies are looking at boosting their performance matrix and hybrid models of work. “The plan was already there for many companies; the pandemic just accelerated these models for them. It has only made us test out the technology and embrace change,” he explained.
He added that with the changing working culture, companies need to come out with new ways of measuring people’s productivity. “If the company looks at nurturing its human talent and gives them ample opportunity to grow then issues such as moonlighting do not arise,” he added.
Mr. Rai also informed me that Indians by nature are into multitasking and are known for their agility. “That is when we can get global concepts to become fully operational from India,” he said.
Mr. Sanjay Behl, Chairman of, the CII National Committee on Leadership & HR & CEO & Executive Director, of Greaves Electric Mobility, stated that the growth of any business depends on the quality of human capital that it employs. “India is one of the fastest growing economies and has the potential to act upon the huge opportunities thrown by some of the global challenges,” he said.
He explained that globally, the economic index is contracting, and with countries like China fighting some of its own internal crises thus altering the geopolitical dynamics. “India can benefit by increasing its market share. It needs a new playbook to seize the plethora of opportunities that have come,” he pointed out.
Speaking on the new talent market, Ms. Vishalli Dongrie, Partner and Head – People and Change, KPMG India informed that the entire business operating models have changed. “The entire talent ecosystem has undergone a lot of change. Both the virtual and non-virtual ecosystems have been integrated with the organization. From a plain and simple organization structure to an overall agile structure, everyone is connected today which has created a drastic impact,” she informed.
Mr. Gautam Ray, Executive (HR & Admin), CESC Limited revealed that organizations are not working in isolation but in a societal ecosystem. “So, if there are changes in the society, there would be changes in the organisation as well,” he said.
Mr. Manoj Shikarkhane, CHRO, LTIMindtree stated that retaining talent with the right skill set has been a big challenge. “In the last two years on the technology front, the life cycle has been very short, thus creating the challenge of reskilling. And at the same time, the client’s expectation has gone up,” he pointed out.
Mr. Yogesh Patgaonkar, Chief People Officer, Persistent Systems informed that the biggest engaging factor for the new generation is their career. “There is a need to be more engaging and continuously engage with the workforce. There can be a policy change for moonlighting or taking up outside assignments as long as they are getting skilled and there is no conflict of interest,” he said.
Speaking on the new work paradigms, Mr. Rajesh Padmanabhan, Chairman, HONO, Managing Director (India), The EXCO Group, and CEO, Talavvy spoke on the larger socio-economic factors that have led to these trends, and the workplace cultural shifts because of these trends. “Businesses are remodeled for creating sustainability in business. This will drive a change to create a winning workplace of the future,” he said.
Urvashi Singh, Sr Vice President HR, GENPACT Limited, stated that the workforce could be driven by financial needs or reasons of passion towards moonlighting, but the company needs to understand if such an arrangement works in its favor. “If there is no conflict of interest then there could be a new pool of talent who is ready to work in such a format that gets opened up for the company,” she explained.
Mr. Venkatanarayanan R, President – HR & CHRO, Rane Group explained that the challenge of moonlighting arises because not everyone understands the concept of their service contract. “Not many companies would be comfortable with their employees having double employment, plus if they are working from the office, they too may be stretching themselves working at two places,” he said.
Dr. Raul V Rodriguez, Vice President, Woxsen University explained that moonlighting creates short-term satisfaction for the workforce and the focus for companies should be on creating long-term satisfaction for their workforce. “The companies should set HR policies which take care of their employees’ work-life balance,” he said.
Akshay Verma, Co-Founder of FITPASS delivered a thought leadership keynote address titled- ‘Sitting is the new smoking!
He shared learnings and perspectives on how FITPASS has solved this problem for corporates through a plug-and-play solution that is intelligently using data and technology to make fitness and wellness accessible to 2 million Indians already.
The summit also had the distribution of the Genesis awards where the key players from the HR fraternity were recognized for their transformational role in the field of human resources. In the Innovative Ideas category, the winner was Yashwant Karri, a PGDM General Student at T A Pai Management Institute. The runner-up for the same category was Ms. Seema Sapru, Principal, of Heritage School.
