The last two years have been a transformational journey in the history of mankind, which has also disrupted the world of business, where the pandemic has impacted the pace of business transformation across sectors. We know that Workplaceitself has been Digital for a long time, where employees across global geographies are connected virtually across offices using technology. However, the pandemic presented an opportunity to build a Digital Workforce. Everyone knows that the biggest barrier for any transformation is the resistance to change. The pandemic, even though inadvertently, brought to the fore the urgency for the inevitable change in organizations. 

We have been hearing about the ‘New Normal’, ‘Phygital Workplace’ & ‘Hybrid Work’ for the last 2 years.When we look at the larger picture, it seems we are moving towards a future where ‘The Metaverse’ will be a very strong & important pillar in our way of working & interacting with each other, whether it be in the workplace or in our personal lives. While this is a change we may not witness immediately in 2022, we will certainly move towards this future reality at an extremely fast pace.

The Indian economy will be adopting ‘Digital’ at a breakneck pace causing a series of disruptions in various directions. While the digital transformation of workplaces was already on the agenda for many companies, the sudden nature of the pandemic forced most companies to immediately adopt a culture of digital transformation. Navigating the digital tools, skills, and literacy required to make this transformation seamless and sustainable will entail a digital paradigm shift!

Another big change we will witness in 2022-23 is a greater emphasis on ‘Customization’& ‘Personalization’ at each touchpoint of the employee life cycle. Today, we have a multi-generational workforce working together. The one-size-fits-all approach that HR has been stuck with for a long time will give way to an N=1 future, where the needs of every individual are different, requiring a personalized solution for every problem that HR resolves. This would require HR to build the mindset of a ‘Solution Architect’.

The Pandemic has seen a large swath of employees move around the job market. They were seeking a refreshed work-life integration and making thoughtful choices based on other intangible elements of the ‘Total Rewards’ framework which is beyond tangible compensation, at the core of their decision making process. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that much of the Great Resignation is a Great Movement with employees shifting track and moving to organizations that align to their individual purpose. 

This is also a period where organizations have an opportunity to redesign their Total Rewards offerings to continue being an attractive place to work for their current and prospective workforce. Organizations have taken this opportunity for re-optimization and re-architecture of roles, finding better ‘culture-fit’ candidates and provided opportunities to internal talent through enhanced roles and responsibilities, while remaining focused on their brand attractiveness as an employer of choice. 
 

The future of recruitment will continue to witness a war fought for good talent. As the demand for the best skills keeps increasing day after day, companies of the future will be forced to take drastic measures to be competitive in the market. 

The recruitment process will have to keep evolving and newer recruitment functions with strong core fundamentals and technology combinations will have to be adopted. Computerization of database processes, competency framework, AI-powered skill evaluation are a few examples that corporates should consider as opportunities.

The over-arching Learning & Development objective of today’s business organization is to make it future ready & Anti-Fragile, which can enable it to be more resilient, and demonstrate pro-active responsiveness to withstand the shock and change for betterment. Investing in learning agility is no longer an option, but a necessity in today’s business world. Hence, ‘Neo leaders’ would require specific leadership development programs to build new skills required to enable this massive transformation for themselves and their teams.

Going forward, with a large section of our workforce working from home, there will be a huge rethink on Productivity and Performance. 

What exactly will be the definition of productivity? How are we going to measure it? How do we redefine the KRAs and rewards so that these are a fair and equitable reflection of their contribution to the organization?

The measurement of Productivity will change from activity to results and will have increased focus on corporate goals and teams rather than on individuals. We might need to explore roll-out of OKR (Objectives and key results) framework, which will empower remote leaders and build boundaryless and fair performance tracking. Organizations must focus on business outcomes, teamwork and collaboration. To my mind, this will be a fundamental shift in the hybrid ecosystem, and will bring in a culture of transparency with a scoreboard being available and accessible to everyone. 

When Corporate goals are aligned with individual goals, with the scoreboard moving every week, employees can automatically see greater purpose to their work, leading to better engagement, ownership and productivity. 

In addition to setting clear objectives, accountability and autonomy for deliverables, Managers and Leaders need to guide, inspire, and enable their teams, help them overcome bureaucratic challenges, help teams to leverage the best opportunities, arm them with the right expertise, and give them the tools they need to deliver fast. Once teams and individuals understand what results they are responsible to deliver, Leaders can focus on monitoring the outcome-based measurements, which can enable remote workforce to deliver higher quality of work.

However, while we will transition into a hybrid work arrangement with remote working and work from home as the new ways of managing the work, workplace and workforce, we need to be cognizant of some fundamental aspects. Our human brains trigger release of certain happy hormones based on the stimulus of different senses like touch, feel, smell, see, hear, and the like. In a remote working or virtual environment, we may be able to simulate the physical environment, but we may not be able to replicate the physical workplace environment. This might have its impact on the sense of belongingness and associated challenges pertaining to engagement. Consequently, the Total Wellness Quotient of our workforce must be our utmost priority.