Editorial Board

EDITORIAL
Valued Readers,
The industry is at an inflection point today. Businesses are going through rapid
changes. Business Models and organization structures are going through an
overhaul as disruptive changes happening all around. New players in the market
are changing the rules of the game. Older ones are being forced to rethink their
strategies. Technology has been impacting businesses, social and personal lives in an
unprecedented manner. World is becoming smaller, workplaces are becoming virtual
and large part of work is getting automated.
All these rapid and disruptive changes are impacting the workforce. While many old
jobs are getting obsolete, many new jobs requiring different skill-sets are emerging.
Business leaders and employees are under huge pressure to reinvent and reskill.
Human Resources and L&D practitioners are struggling to figure out how to deal with
shifting the workforce landscape. Adding to this complexity is the fact that todays
workforce is a multi-generational workforce. At least four generations are going to
work together in 2015 and beyond. This is precisely the reason why we chose to have
workforce trends 2015 as our theme for this edition of Ekaakshara. In this edition, we
have featured eighteen eminent writers who have shared their valuable perspectives
on this theme. We hope you would find this issue worth preserving for a long time.
In this edition you would also see the introduction of two new sections, viz, Book
Review Series and Whats New Video Series. I am sure you would love these new
sections that we have just introduced.
You would also be happy to learn that the Learning and Development Group has
started its first local chapter in Bangalore. Members in Bangalore come together on
the 4th Saturday of every month to share best practices and network. In the coming
days, we plan to start L&D chapters in other cities as well to spread our mission of
collaboration, co-creation and contribution. Do let us know if you are interested in
being part of this mission.

2014 @ Ekakshaara Editorial Board

Disclaimer: All the views expressed by the writers are their personal perspectives.
Reprint of any content from this publication requires prior permission from the Editorial Board.
www.learning-development.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cop.learning.development

Twitter @ekaakshara

Happy Reading ! !
Surya Prakash Mohapatra
Chief Editor, Ekaakshara
Founder, Learning and Development Group
surya.m@learning-development.com

2015

will be the year of agile innovation, agile learning and agile careers. Speed will be
the single largest determinant of success in 2015. Whatever you do, do it fast seems to be the mantra in an
impatient world.
Agility in responding to customer needs. Speed to market will matter more than ever. Businesses will have
to deal with increasing levels of complexity in the race to grab market share. Such business environments
demand people who have deep expertise and who can continue to learn by listening to early signals. Agile
innovators will demolish the slow and unsure to grab their market share. Here are three predictions in the
talent landscape that 2015 will see.

1. Rise of the specialists:

As markets get more fragmented, the need for creating niche products and services will raise the demand
for specialists. This will mean creating more specialist career tracks. Millennials like to experiment. They are
bored with routine. Providing global careers will be a great way to attract and retain talent. With millennials
as a growing percentage of the workforce, expect to see specialists in managing millennial careers.

2. Grow your own talent:

TALENT
PREDICTIONS
FOR 2015
Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit is the Chief Learning Officer at the Wipro group. Prior to this he
led HR teams at Microsoft, PepsiCo, Colgate and Tata Steel and worked
in India, SE Asia and US. He is among the top HR Influencers on Social
Media in India today.

When firms operate in a volatile and ambiguous environment, they cannot rely on buying out talent.
No matter who is hired, the person will need to learn and reinvent himself or herself continuously. Many
millennials are products of an education system that is lagging behind the pace of the real world. The
need to make them employable will increase. Firms will need to develop a culture of mentoring as the
ever changing business environment renders many experienced employees unable to rely on the past for
guidance. The learning & development department will be a major source of competitive advantage.

3. Sunrise sectors:
The early days of the IT & ITES industry saw many innovations in talent management. They were forced
to take bets on people who were not a hundred percent ready. They hired people with unconventional
backgrounds. This led to the development of untried career paths that traditional employers hesitated to
craft. History repeats itself. In B Schools and engineering colleges, the buzzword this year is eCommerce.
As the impatient millennials join this sector in droves, they will force employers to create agile careers that
look more like a series of projects.
The rising eCommerce sector now has enough critical mass to experiment with new talent management
practices. They have the advantage that only a novice can have. They are not burdened by convention.
2015 will be their year to chart new practices of talent management.
What is your prediction for this year in the talent management arena?

Rupinder Kaur

Dr.(Maj.)Rupinder Kaur ia an
alumunus of IIM Indore and
ISTD. In the past, she served
in the Indian Armed Forces as
an SSC officer. Previously she
has worked with International
Trainnig Organisations including
ASTD and Goodwill of North
Georgia. She is currently a
consultant in the leadership and
professional development space.

t is not the same world where we once

lived, where people used to spend their entire
lives at one place, believed in fixed deposits,
retired from the place where they started
working and their biggest achievement in life
was having built their own home or married
their kids well.

This is the first time in the history of Work that five different generations will work side by side: Baby
Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, Millennial and Generation Z. This has a multiplier effect on the way
business is conducted.

This seems like a fairy tale. An Angel from

the Heavens came with her magic wand
and transformed the world to a point of no
return. And here we are only 15 years in the
21st century talking of Artificial Intelligence
and robots taking over the world.

Gen Zs, born between 1994 and 2010, will become a major target for companies looking to recruit interns
next year and this trend is simply because of the fact that companies want to generate brand awareness
early on while trying to fill the skill gap. There is no doubt that succession planning is going to be a major
concern for companies starting next year as more boomers start to retire. You will start to see companies
hold onto their older workers in order to transfer their knowledge to younger ones.

Technology has transformed the landscape

of the Corporate World and thus the
workplace of 2015 is no longer the office
that you have to drag yourself into, every
morning you wake up. It is omnipresent:
there are no restrictions. Your home could be
your office. The office is no more where you
dread going. In fact it has that fun element
that you actually look forward to. Your boss
is not that typical idiot pounding abuses
but your fellow mate, a friend and guide
easily approachable and the notorious APR
(annual performance review) if not already
obsolete, is going to be shoved out of the
door soon.
To that extent Workplace HR trends are no
different; there is a revolution in the way HR
is conducting business today. It will not be an
understatement if I say that HR in its truest
sense has come of age and is a true business
partner today. However technology is not
the only causative factor.
Since we started back in time, let us first take
a look at the different generations that are
co surviving in this era, their belief systems
and what it means for the Corporate Office
today.

1. Generational Bandwagon:

Some of the obvious spills that I can foresee are:

a) Retiring of Baby boomers and massive hiring Of Generation Z

b) More millennials are taking leadership roles.

Ernst & Young reviewed their workforce composition and found that 59% of their managers are already
millennials and 18% are senior managers. 90% of all millennials who are managers took their role in the past
five years and this has already caused a few problems including favoritism towards other millennials and
them thinking they know more than older workers. Catering to the diverse needs and career expectations
of five distinctly different cohorts is proving to be problematic.
At the Centre for Workplace Leaderships 2014 Future of Work conference, Gratton pointed out this emerging
trend. Were already seeing at work quite a lot of friction between these generations, particularly because
they like to use technology differently. Looking into the future, the multigenerational workforce could be
a goldmine of opportunity for companies, or a landmine of friction and conflict.

2. The skills gap continues to widen

Critical shortages in talent in specific markets and disciplines have continued to create hiring challenges
worldwide. According to Manpower Groups 2013 Talent Shortage Survey, one in three employers (33%)
name a lack of technical/hard skills as the key reason for their difficulties. The hard skills shortage is most
commonly explained as a lack of industry-specific professional qualifications or a lack of industry-specific
skilled trades certifications. To fill positions with skilled workers, HR leaders are turning to new talent pools
by looking outside the region and even outside the country.

a) Opening of Industry Specific Universities

Finding the right people for these jobs requires a global HR system that is capable of delivering prescriptive
advice on the best candidates within an organization, regardless of location.
This issue will progress until the college curriculum aligns with the current job marketplace. Companies
need to start working with colleges so that students get the necessary skills to fill the gap. Another trend
that has picked up and is expected to continue is Corporates opening up their own universities for training
the candidates for example: Wipro, Infosys, and also Capgemini.

3. Retention and Job Hopping

The continuous job search picks up. Companies are going to have to deal with even more retention issues
next year as job hopping picks up. This is happening because technology has enabled people to easily find
new jobs and for recruiters to steal talent

In the Safeguarding the Future of Digital Australia in 2025 report, Chief Privacy Officer of McAfee, Michelle
Dennedy, says:
Employers have tried to judge performance on now meaningless correlations of check in and check out
times in the office. But the most productive work may take place anywhere and anytime. In future, well be
more results-based, not showing up-based.

in numbers. 86% of employees are already looking for work outside their current occupations. Average
employee turnover rates over the next five years are predicted to rise to 23.4% from 20.6%. In 2018, 49
million more employees will be heading out the door compared to 2012 a total of 192 million employees
worldwide. (Hay Group)

This means more freedom and flexibility for workers whatever that may mean for your individual
circumstances. As Gandel points out, flexibility is no longer a favor to be handed out like candy at a
childrens birthday party; its a compelling business strategy. And heres the kicker.

Another factor helping this trend is Mobile hiring and the mobile job search. Next year there will be an
even greater emphasis on mobile recruiting. 83% of job seekers currently use smartphones to search for
job openings yet only 20% of the Fortune 500 companies have a mobile friendly career site. 45% of active
candidates have applied to a job on their mobile device. Companies are going to have to start optimizing
their websites and even creating mobile applications in order to appeal to the on the go job seeker.

a) Social Media for Engagement

The only thing that companies can do to increase retention rates is by creating a superior work culture
where employees have friends, are engaged in their work and get perks. Social media posts are being used
to attract and retain talent. In order to stand out as an employer, companies will need to start posting more
work culture related posts and leveraging their employees to share them. 58% of people are more likely
to want to work at a company if they are using social media and over 20% are more likely to stay at their
companies if they are using social media. People want to work for interesting companies and when they
see social media posts, it gives them a better sense of what they are about

b) L and D as a tool for engagement:

Glassdoor data shows a split in companies. There are huge segment of companies who are highly engaged
and a similarly large number of companies whose employees are actively disengaged.
This focus on engagement has impacted everything we do, because ultimately employee engagement is all
a business has. Companies have to rethink their coaching and development strategies, their career mobility
strategies, and how they develop and select leaders. Unfortunately our research shows that the gaps in
corporate leadership are wider than ever. Research by Deloitte concludes that leadership development,
assessment, and coaching has to be a top focus for 2015.From both an individual and organizational
standpoint, technical and professional capabilities are now the currency of success. If you can attract or
develop better scientists, engineers, sales people, or functional experts you will beat your competition.
And once you attract these people you must give them a compelling learning environment to stay current,
as technology advances at an accelerating rate.

4. Freelancing and Virtual Work.

53 million freelancers and 34 million remote workers have been reported in 2014. We are working all the
time, emails and messages are streaming in 24/7, and information, conversations, and content is literally
streaming at us wherever we go. The work environment we live in today is radically different: people work
wherever they want, leading to a huge wave of open offices; over-work is a tremendous challenge, and
people are not sure how to deal with the overwhelming amount of information they receive each day.

Freedom is accompanied by accountability and freedom also makes the employees happier and the
productivity skyrockets. And thats the magic word: Productivity
Experts are already pointing to the myriad of ways companies can increase productivity and foster a more
cohesive and collaborative work environment. Future trends include implementing a work culture that
encourages more social engagement and designing office spaces that support teamwork.
Creating office spaces like Pixars and Googles ones that foster play will soon become the norm, as
employers increasingly realize the benefits of a cohesive office.
Annual Performance Reviews if not already out will soon be shoved out of the window. Use weekly reviews
and give timely feedback. Google uses the management technique Objectives and KRAs. LinkedIn has
profitably utilized this technique to become a $20 billion company. What employees want and appreciate
today is timely feedback, which can even amount to giving weekly feedbacks so that improvements can
happen in real time.

5. Analytics
Managing a dynamic workforce that is constantly changing is difficult, and the future workforce will be
far more diverse (with millennial and aging workers). Business leaders (not just HR) will need to gain a
better understanding of their employees to know who may be a flight risk. 2015 will see a major shift
from predictive to prescriptive analytics thanks to smarter systems with science-based technology
such as advanced analytics and machine learning (artificial intelligence). These systems will be able to
analyze historical workforce data in context with outside data (job market data open positions, etc.) to
determine trends that will give a true, accurate snapshot of employee retention risk and deliver data-driven
recommendations on what to do in order to retain top talent. Finally, we are entering a talent world where
people data is now central to every decision we make. Organizations that are investing in analytics teams,
analytics tools, and analytics expertise are going to far outperform their peers. Who to hire, who to promote,
how much to pay, how to develop, what next job to take - all these decisions are now data enabled and
we expect HR technology, which is becoming more integrated every day, to become more and more like
instrumentation of your organization- giving you data to improve organizational performance every day.
So, let us embrace this new ever evolving technology based cohesive world for Change is the only constant.

Workforce Trends
2015: a view from
outside
Papiya is the CEO of The Blue
Chakra Talent Studio. She is a
certified coach and a MBTI, NLP
and extended DiSC practitioner.
Blue Chakra offers intervention in
the areas of communication, collaboration, coaching and creative
enquiry.
PAPIYA SARKAR

Workforce Trends 2015: a view from outside

Papiya Sarkar
bio-chem inventor, 3D printing, robotics, product engineering and design etc. What made us chose this
summer camp? Well, most jobs listed on todays job sites belong to one or the other of the above category.
E.g. Big and small companies, from the likes of Microsoft to Facebook is aggressively making coding a basic
skill like reading or writing. Well, will these skills still be relevant when my nephew enters a job-searching
age? That is anybodys guess but as they say, its wise to start early.
A close friend of mine who specialises in hospitality sales and real estate land acquisition, has taken a
sabbatical after 17 years to pursue courses in digital marketing. Why digital marketing, I asked? Well, digital
is the big thing impacting across industries from banking to manufacturing. And no matter what your
functional skill is, if you havent added digital in your resume, you have already lost the game. You cannot
reach your stakeholder and customers if you are not digital. So if you are looking for a mid-career transition,
skilling yourself in Digital, Internet of things, Design etc. is critical.
That brings us to Design. Focus has shifted to customer experience and individualization. Design is not
about only product anymore. Design is also about business models, workspaces, organizations. Whether
we are shopping, using a device, going to a restaurant, visiting a hospital, using various apps and platforms,
we are looking for user experience. There is not only a surging demand for logical skills like data scientists
and data analysts who can predict new users, or create new demands but also for those who can create
experience like UI specialists, IOT designers etc.
Lastly, with e-tailing and online transactions exploding, Information security and risk management is
another big focus area for organizations. There is a huge chunk of our own data out there data that we
have shared voluntarily or has been captured and stored without our knowledge. Ensuring that such data
is safe from malicious use and identifying newer threats have opened up a huge career opportunity.
It quite clear though that many employees will find it difficult to adapt and reskill in the new technology
areas leading to disengagement or attrition. On the other hand, the tech possibilities will give rise to a
huge crop of intra-prenuers.
The next decade will also see a tremendous rise in part-time, flexi-time and specialist contract employees.

Finally,
What does this mean for those entering the workforce or employees who have to ensure that they keep
their jobs? Apart from making sure you are skilling yourself constantly on what is trendy, develop the
following

Impending summer holidays is usually a worry time for parents.They are under tremendous stress to protect
their children from becoming a couch potato. There is a mad search for activities which are interesting,
relevant and engaging. I joined my sister in her quest to find the perfect summer camp for her 10 year old.
It didnt take us long to cut the clutter and find a summer camp that establishes itself as an incubation
platform that builds inventors and architects of the future. The courses on the platter junior engineer,
junior scientist, coder,

1. Merge process and technology for better outcomes.

2. Develop an entrepreneurial mindset identify gaps, create new demand with managed costs whatever
be your functional area.
3. Hone your ability to communicate, influence and sell your ideas
4. Be prepared to work in areas that are outside your boundary. So learn skills like collaboration and
networking.
5. Leverage social learning. Organizations will expect and reward proactive self -advancement.

ne way to capture how workforce trends are changing is by looking at what people are learning
and doing in everyday life. Here I present some perspectives from outside the world of organizations.

EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
IN FUTURE
As

the 21st century unfolds, our work places have witnessed some major overhauls in terms of
work culture, productivity, flexibility and more importantly employee engagement. Employee engagement
is rated higher because it defines the vision and the commitment of the organization towards building a
favorable environment within which would eventually lead to higher productivity.

Chetnaa Mehrotra

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Gone are the days when there would an annual engagement survey at the end of the financial year
where the employees will check boxes in a form and write their views in a Yes or a No. With the advent of
modern mechanisms, the employee engagement has become more holistic, involves real time measures
to drive passion and commitment among the employees to deliver their best. Till a decade and a half ago,
employee engagement was limited to once in a while lunches or picnics for the employees and their wards.
Employees had fixed profiles with almost no scope of imagination or creativity and had to follow stringent
methods at work. But the processes have seen a tectonic shift in the past one decade.

What has changed?

The new age business leaders value employee interaction and retention much more than their counterparts
from the yesteryears and keep it high on the radar. This notion is backed by the research conducted by
Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends in 2014. The HR departments which were earlier limited to keeping
records of attendance, and salaries of the employees are now focused on developing new ways of widening
the engagement between the employees and the organization. With the advent of technology, we are now
blessed with the information from all over the world. Companies have a dedicated research team which
keeps churning out various methods to engage with their employees on the regular basis. There are more
trainings being imparted to the employees on issues relating to life style, stress, depression other than
performance enhancement, personality development, etc.

10

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN FUTURE

Chetnaa Mehrotra

Why did it change?

When we see the current employee engagement trends, it is imperative to notice that these trends
compliment the current life style of the majority of the work force. Whether it is positive or not, there is
extra pressure to perform and survive, there is a lack of patience among people (both employees and
employers), excessive boredom with little scope of respite due to excessive work load and the perils of higher
expectations. With all that in the mix, it is only fair that employees are engaged through conventional and
non-conventional measures so that the zeal to work must remain. The corporates seem to have understood
that their employees are humans and they run on emotions apart from financial fuel. One bad treatment
at work and you might see a viral post running on social media which can end up tarnishing the image
of a company. And you wont probably be able to track the anonymous posts. Also, you cant keep your
staff engaged by giving them extra perks everytime they become disgruntled as this will result in a culture
of entitlement where every other person would expect freebies against tantrums. Keeping your wards
happier and content is equal to running a country with a higher happiness index. But how do companies
achieve it?

Khalid Raza works with IBM as Talent

Development Leader in HR. He leads and consults
on all things talent and social and is ever willing
to help people work smarter. Featured in 100
Most Influential People in HR on Twitter, is IBM
Accredited Associate Project Manager, Learning
Professional and a Certified IBM Recruiter.

HR Transformation
is not a choice

New Approaches
Many organizations have preferred to toy with the idea of outdoor training camps and adventure trips.
Some hold fashion shows within the organization, while some companies opt for various types of trainings
such as dance, drama and movement therapy, gender recognition workshops where the employees
can be given a direction through various ways and give them a thing or two to ponder upon. Many
organizations even hold cultural nights, night parties, etc. While these things are on, Japanese companies
are using NikoNiko calendar which gives daily information on how happy people are at work. As per the
calendar tool, green face denotes a happy person, yellow denotes average and red denotes unhappy. If
the tool ends up showing frequent red faces then the entire production staff sits to recall what happened
throughout the day to have affected so many unhappy people. Many companies hire consultants to take
one on one session with their staff so ascertain their perception towards the treatment being given by the
organization and whether they are satisfied working there. Based on the sessions, the consultants give a
collective feedback to the HR without taking or giving out the names of the employees. For a profession as
mundane as medicine, pharmaceutical companies are doing a fair bit of a good job by sending doctors for
therapy training sessions with their spouses where they engage in activities which help them in bringing
their non-medical thoughts out. I feel this seems to be a breath of fresh air especially as we live through a
hostile life style which doesnt allow more than a short breather each day.

People are the product

This signifies a rapid change in the way employees are now being engaged in comparison to the yesteryears.
It has become a major area of concern as they all are working overtime to know more about their work
force. Employees are now being considered to be worth engaging rather than just being the hired hands
to achieve the objective. However, the whole objective to employee engagement should rather be to
enable the people to learn and give them an opportunity to develop. The corporations have a lot to lose as
everybody now realizes that people are their best products who sell 24/7 throughout the year.

11

Khalid Raza

uman Resources (HR) is not a business unit! Yes, quote me - it is not. It is business nervous system
which cannot afford to stay nervous in times where being agile is new normal. When skills become your
currency, HR is the only banker!
For organizations to become essential, HRs transformation has to lead the organization. Leaders across
the globe are realizing the critical impact of HR transformation and are re-imagining the workplace for the
future workforce. Large companies have used personality tests for decades, usually under the guidance of
expensive psychologists. But real game theory based employee screening and selection assessments, which
cost about $400 or less per test, are an increasingly popular option for most companies. In November 2014,
about 65 recent college graduates received a text message from IBMs Watson Group informing them that
they had been selected at the companys new Astor Place facility. As the final step of a gamified interview
process which was a scavenger hunt, there was a team-building exercise and an exhibition designed to
drive home the point that IBM is a great place to work. Graduates from schools including MIT, Columbia,
NYU and Carnegie Mellon took part in the process and seem to have come away believing that what is
happening at a 104-year old company is engaging and futuristic.

12

HR Transformation is not a choice

HR Transformation is not a choice

Khalid Raza

Quantified self is a term coined by Gary Wolf and Kevin Kelly, Wired magazines editors, referring to the
collaboration of users and tool makers to advance self-knowledge through self-tracking. Tracking calories,
steps, moods, runs and more. A simpler definition? Gal Rimon writes about the rise of activity trackers such
as Fitbit, Nike fuel and jawbone, wireless-enabled wearable products, meditation, food consumption and
self-discovery apps and their astounding ability to impact our behavior in his blog. The potential behind
the concept of tracking peoples activities has caught the attention of HR software innovators too.
When I started playing around with IBM Connections at work, my colleagues thought I was wasting time
on this new webpage while they were happy with emails and ST. Then I moved to Center for Advanced
Learning (CAL), four years ago, and started to see the lack of understanding was not limited to my small
team in India. The allergy for technology is deep rooted in the psyche, making the transformation painful
and long.

Khalid Raza

surveys, we use every days open collaboration amongst IBMers across the globe and weekly pulse question
as a way to understand our employees better.
Aon Hewitts 2014 study suggests that employee engagement is at an all-time low with only 16% of
employees worldwide engaged at work. The study also highlights that the work experience is improving
more than it is deteriorating, but not necessarily in the most important areas. Millennials are setting the
tone for employee engagement and the evolving employment contract.
Bersin predicts that 2015 will be a tumultuous and transformational year in many areas of corporate talent.
The global economic recovery, changing demographics, and rapid changes in the technology landscape
have come together to redefine the entire nature of work. While many talk about the new world of work,
in reality we now have a new world of life one in which work, home, family, and personal lives are
completely interconnected in a real-time way. Find the complete report here.

HRs inability to adapt has resulted in devalued participation, inability to become essential and lack of
strategic leadership. For HR professionals to HR students Id offer a simple 4C advice:

Creative,
Collaborative,
Competent and
Compassionate.

In IBM, HR is leading the social transformation for the organization, paving way for IBMers to become more
productive in their daily work. We have re-imagined our workplace and we like it. #SocialHRSuccess is a
global culture change initiative for more than 8,000 HR professionals in IBM HR.
Led by a diverse team of 80+ volunteer Social HR Advocates, #SocialHRSuccess has been transformational.
IBM is a world leader in enterprise social collaboration, and IBM HR is broadly seen as leading the change.
Stated simply, Social is who we are and how we work. Communication, organization announcements,
onboarding, recruiting, dashboarding, idea generation, project and initiative management have all moved
to Connections, IBMs enterprise collaboration platform.
In 2014, #SocialHRSuccess led multiple projects -- executive reverse mentoring, social learning roadmap,
social design award, social tip campaign, and a namesake weekly blog sharing use cases and success stories,
all done via an open, social community. During the year, community membership grew more than 1,000%,
giving IBMers a window into how our team operates socially. Among IBMers around the world, three
hashtags created by #SocialHRSuccess (including the namesake) were among the top ten most utilized
hashtags inside IBM in 2014.

Ten Key Trends for 2015

1. Engagement, Retention, Culture, and Inclusion Have Become Front Burner Issues
2. The Redesign of Performance Management Will Likely Continue
3. Time to Address the Overwhelmed Employee: How Do We Redesign and Simplify the Workplace?
4. Skills Are Now Currency; Corporate Learning Takes on Increasing Importance
5. Invest, Refocus, and Redesign Talent AcquisitionLeveraging Network Recruiting, Brand Reach,

and New Technologies
6. Talent Mobility, Career Management, and the Leadership Pipeline Become a Top Priority
7. Accelerate and Globalize the Leadership Pipeline
8. Take the Plunge and Invest in Talent Analytics and Workforce PlanningThis Area Is Now an

Imperative for Competitive Advantage
9. Revisit Your HR Technology Plan, Reduce Core Vendors, and Look for Innovative New Solutions

That Drive High Levels of Value
10. Review and Redesign the Roles and Structure of Your HR Team and Invest in HR Professional

Development

So the choice you have is to transform or stay behind. What are your HR teams doing?

And thats not all, our internal communication, dashboards, collaboration hubs with clients, recruitment,
on-boarding, etc. are utilizing social capabilities as a new way to work. In addition to annual engagement

13

14

The author is a passionate

self-taught specialist in the
field of learning and self-development. Having attended
and organized tons of training sessions over the last
decade, she has developed a
vast, comprehensive knowledge in this domain, leading
to what she calls Training
Intelligence.

Have you
learned
anything
new today?

Have you learned anything new today?

Priti Gupta

mperors new clothes story resonates in the business

world time and again. Trends are changing and how! The
rate at which Change is picking up pace is indeed a wakeup call
to all of us who are busy plumping up our cushions to settle
in our comfort zone. Perception of security is all about own
house, good job and savings in bank. These have been replaced
mercilessly by insecurity and bloodbath.
Learning is the need of the hour. It is more about necessity
than quenching the thirst of knowledge. We are all aware that
reinventing ourselves is of prime importance. Why is it then, that
so many people resist constant learning?
As futurists raise alarm, few people listen and fewer act. It is
such a no-brainer that successful Visionaries like Bill Gates pay
attention to forward thinkers like Ray Kurzweil. The day is not
far when computer will get consciousness and pass the Turing
test; industries after industries will get wiped out. If we combine
this eventuality with the possibility of advancements in medical
sciences and increase of lifespan of the people, we have nothing
short of economic disasters looming largely over our heads.

Priti Gupta

Soon millions of families will be displaced as their only source of income, their job, will cease to exist. That is
not the sad part; the sad part is that they are not equipped to do anything else. They have resisted growth
by refusing to learn. As Alvin Toffler surmises beautifully The illiterate of the 21st century are not those who
cannot read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn
Lets start reading trends. TCS, IBM announce major layoffs while huge investments pour into e-commerce
start-ups. All the top leaders of the country, even safe investors like Ratan Tata are pumping funds into new
age businesses. Where does that put our average security seeking middle age middle income group of
employees?
The solution is that we prepare for unseen and unknown; that we relearn and reinvent. Micromax beats
Samsungit seems like only yesterday that Samsung beat Apple. Being on top of the game today is no
measure of who will top it tomorrow. To stand still is to go backwards. Let get out and invest in ourselves,
our employees and our future. Lets spend a little more effort on opening up our horizons.
Investing time and energy in upskilling is a luxury at we can ill afford to ignore. Organizations spend on
employee welfare is a sham and of miniscule consequence. It is merely a mandate rather than genuine
need. Lets wake up at personal levels to upskill and upgrade. Make it a habit. Invest routinely on it and allow
our panorama to broaden. Our employees are resources that are more important than our customers. They
are our internal customers. The companies that invest in their internal customers build a strong bond and
develop a loyal culture that can navigate smoothly through difficult periods and we do know that times are
certainly going to get tougher.
Many a times employees of organizations complain that their organizations do not fund good training
programs or their managers did not nominate them for a particular program. My only question to such
individuals is Would you stop eating if your corporation did not pay for your meal?
The L&D personnel that I interact with regularly have a different sob story. Either their management does
not consider learning important or the employees do not take it seriously. Lots of programs organized
are shoddy do not really add value or understand the needs. They are done just to tick off an item on
the to-do list. Half-hearted attempt is perhaps one reason for this kind of apathy among employees and
management.
In my line of work it is not unusual to come across learned academicians who feel they have so much
knowledge and are so far ahead in their journey that they need not learn more. One is learned only if highly
educated, in other words, more the number of alphabets after a name, smarter the individual - is a myth.
Education is the process of imparting knowledge, value, skills and attitudes, which can be beneficial to an
individual. On the contrary learning is the process of adopting the knowledge, values and skills. Learning is
an ongoing process. Terms education and learning are usually referred in an inexact way interchangeably
and often perplexes the learner.

15

16

Have you learned anything new today?

Priti Gupta
In simple terms, education provides a knowledge base that supports any other activities the individual
may engage in at a later stage. Training is not as general and tends to concentrate on skills development.
Development allows both activities to be integrated. It has been described as the general enhancement
and growth of an individuals skills and abilities through conscious and unconscious learning.
Development, therefore, includes education and training. Learning is the outcome of both training-led and
education-led approaches to development, yet learning itself is complex. It is far more than the shifting of
knowledge or information from educator/trainer to the learner.
Training can be specific to your need, your vocation or your skills-gap. It is there for people who want to
implement a new system, improve a specific ability or further their ability in something. Thats not to say
education has no place - lawyers must understand the principles of law before they learn to deploy it and a
surgeon must have a detailed knowledge of anatomy before they pick up the scalpel. But what is it youre
looking for - that foundation upon which to build or the skills you want to develop

The future is
already here

There is no dearth of top quality talent in the training industry today. Whether it is training for sales or
finance, creativity or emotional fitness, communication or leadership; programs that understand the need
of individuals and organizations alike are being offered by key players. Whether you are Start-up, SME or a
corporation, invest in your internal customer, your employees and above all, invest in yourself.
Have you learned anything new today?

Abhipsa Mishra

Abhipsa works as Asst. Professor- HR and IT

at IBS Pune. She is also an author, coach and
leadership development consultant.

17

Simplifying CoMpliC@tIoNs

18

The future is already here

The future is already here

Abhipsa Mishra

hen we talk about the workforce trends in 2015 and beyond the first thing that strikes the mind
is who all are involved in this time period. The generation born between 1980 and 1995 has entered the
workforce in a big way. The major percentage of workforce in 2015 and beyond would be the Generation
Y, the Millennials. Enhanced workplace flexibility, work-life balance may act as career anchors for the
Millennials. While younger workers are more techies, globally focused, informal, and willing to share
information, they do not feel more empowered or less loyal than their non-Millennial counterparts, and
are willing to work just as hard.
Organizations should concentrate on measuring factors relating to retention, loyalty, and job satisfaction
and compare responses among Millennials to non-Millennials at the same stage of their careers.

What essentially organizations should look upon?

It is crucial for organizations to listen to their people and carry out profound research and analyze what
drives them. This will help the corporate czars to tailor their talent strategies in order to address these
needs, and best position themselves for the future. Few of such strategies can be summed up as follows:

Create a flexible work culture. A survey I did online revealed that almost 17% of male
employees and 23% of female employees are ready to give up some of their CTC and slow the pace of
promotion in their careers in exchange for less number of working hours. These needs can be addressed by
executing policies that endorse greater work-life balance, such as providing employees greater flexibility in
their work location or schedule without having to execute a more formal flexible work arrangement.

91 % of Indian millennials believe tech innovations make life simpler.

35 % of Indian millennials think technology should learn about their behavior and
preferences when they use it.

Fully leverage technology. Accelerate the integration of technology into the workplace,
enabling workers to harness technology in ways that give them more flexibility and increase efficiency.
To Millennials this is an absolute mustthey expect to have access to the best tools for collaboration and
execution

Increase Transparency around compensation, rewards and career

decisions. The mystery on compensation decisions should be taken out, and dialogues on career
growth should be made more transparent. Creating a consequential rewards structure that regularly
acknowledges both large and small contributions made by employees will add cherry to the cake.

19

Abhipsa Mishra

Organization cant work on a one rule for all philosophy. There can be a debate
on maintaining equity when it comes to policies but generation-gaps bring in differences among Millennials
and non-Millennials, and should be taken into account by organizations that include employees from
both the age groups. For example, Millennials see if their needs for support, appreciation and flexibility
are met, while non-Millennials look for being paid competitively, or to get developmental opportunities.
Understanding these and other differences will help tailor solutions that will promote retention and an
engaged workforce across generations.

Growing gap between expectations and offerings. Unfortunately, there is also

a growing gap between Millennial expectations and what their employers are actually offering. This gap
is having a negative impact on the engagement and retention of this generation, and is likely one of the
primary reasons why Millennials will be looking for new opportunities in 2015.

How will/should the next generation offices look like?

1.
Emphasis on future: Shifts in demographics have resulted in a scarcity of ready-on-board
successors. To address this issue organizations are trying to frame career paths and are identifying
Millennials who could make it to the executive level positions.

Providing mentors: The immense number of options has lead to job hopping. Employees switch
2.
job for a meager hike, a better work environment, a better position; generally for many just and unjust
reasons. Mentors, help them show a right direction as they are usually the ones who have given their time
and patience to the organization.
Employees will be wearing more technology: As discussed in the previous edition of
3.
Ekaksharaa (http://learning-development.com/ekaakshara-vol-8-october-2014/); wearable technology is
the new choice of new age organizations. Implementation of wearable tech for office automation, give
employees context specific, pertinent information will facilitate them to do their jobs more proficiently.
You can bring your pets to work: In a recent Supreme Court decision it was legally accepted
4.
that in a divorce the parties can claim their pets as they claim their children. The workforce today needs
more than a paycheque. When organizations are striving to provide employees with 100% work-fromhome schedules, they are trying to make the work place feel more like home. Providing food, fruits, gym,
pool, recreation rooms, crche etc. interestingly; now they will also provide the facility to take care of your
pets!
You dont need to keep the same schedule throughout the week: Flexible work hours and
5.
work-from-home are very common offering by many organizations, but now companies may become more
flexible while allowing people to choose/change schedules throughout the week and allow completing
the required number of hours.

20

The future is already here

Abhipsa Mishra

Virtual Workforce:
Are you a
technophile
or
a luddite?

Generation Z
This is the generation born between 1994 and 2010. They top the list when it comes to companies looking
for interns. Deloitte and Microsoft are recruiting even the high school students for their internship programs.
Facebook and LinkedIn are paying high school student interns. This increased interest and investment in
Generation Z is occurring for two major reasons:
Companies are trying to

To close the skills gap, and

To compete for the very best talent by building brand awareness and loyalty early in their career
stages.

Roopa Adyasha

The Bangalore based author is an Assistant

Professor at Welingkar Institute of Management, Development and Research. Her role involves understanding employee training needs
and developing and delivering customized
programs for corporate clients and executive
education client development and acquisition.

21

22

Virtual Workforce : Are you a technophile or a luddite?

Virtual Workforce : Are you a technophile or a luddite?

Roopa Adyasha

iversified and culturally disperse workforce, flattened management hierarchies, virtual teams and
team-based projects and emergence of a technology driven and knowledge based economy: there has
been a paradigm shift in the ways organizations communicate internally and externally.
In an age where cell phones have become the control center of life with apps replacing the functional
operations of a service provider, there is a growing demand for unusually skilled workforce versed in
managing the new digital and virtual world of work. The iPhones many people carry in their pockets
nowadays are more powerful computers than those that helped NASA first put a man on the moon. In
todays world of nanotubes and internet of things, the concept of being at work has been redefined with
the use of robotics and artificial intelligence.
Virtual co-working, online news groups, discussion forums, and social networks expand through the use
of technology, so does the ability to affect others. We live in an increasingly threaded environment and it
is these threads of network that connect each other. It is the human expressions and connections that
matter in business says a faculty from Carnegie Mellon.
In such a threaded environment gaining new information and sharing of knowledge will challenge the new
workforce. The discipline of knowledge management has been around for some time. Global corporations
such as Northrop Grumman, Capital One, and The World Bank have been using technology backed by
incentives to encourage employees to catalog and share what they know.
While the concept of e-learning has been around for quite some time, blended learning approaches and
MOOCS have changed the very dimensions of knowledge management. With new technology and learning
management systems (LMS) adopting info graphics and multimedia tools the new virtual workforce is
more acclimatized to learn and the transfer of training is more enhanced.
In addition, the explosion of social media and interactive technologies - such as Twitter, Ning, and blogs
- present enormous opportunities to invest in centralized conferencing and web broadcast facilities to
emphasize the opportunities to stay home to learn. Slack application is a team communication tool
founded by Stewart Butterfield which is used by many MNCs via their intranet.
It is understandable that in the new, knowledge-based economy IT-driven cycle of job creation and job
destruction can be seen in almost every sector, thus the rise of the luddites. For example, assembly line
automation has reduced jobs in manufacturing, but it has created new jobs in robotics technology and
computer engineering. The advent of computers has reduced the need for many kinds of clerical work
in offices, but it has also created a new environment for computer designers, software writers, computer
system managers, service personnel, and data entry workers.

Roopa Adyasha
By 2020, as the war for talent intensifies, over 80% of companies will rely on temporary or contingent
workers to fill skills gaps. The two careers expected to experience the most growth by 2020 are systems
software developers and applications software developers, according to a recent study published by the
University of California at San Diego.
The new workforce should be trained effectively utilize new technologies to foster learning. While we may
wonder why these sorts of capabilities should be integrated into the work environment of people whose
roles do not require them, the inquisitive culture of the virtual workforce will eventually force us in the
coming decade. The geographically disperse workforce seeks instant feedback and prefer to understand
management decisions affecting their work. They want to know why they do, what they do

Podcasts can reach different segments of the workforce and provide timely knowledge about
individual and group activities

Really Simple Syndication(RSS) feeds can provide regular short reports on key aspects of the
business or new practices eg, to report on sales results

Viral marketing techniques to distribute communications internally.

Performance measuring systems and reputation systems allow users to gauge the quality of service
or other performance metrics

Enterprise systems give real-time performance data metrics to users who can validate how their
efforts contribute to the team and organisational goals.
Research analysts at Gartner identify ten technologies they believe will be of strategic importance.
Virtualization

Cloud Computing

Servers - Beyond Blades

Web-Oriented Architectures

Enterprise Mashups

Specialized Systems

Social Software and Social Networking

Unified Communications

Business Intelligence

Green IT
Source http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=777212
The Society for Human Resource Management, in its 2015 Scenarios for the Future of Human Resource
Management publication, suggests that managerial jobs will become project management-based, with
one manager juggling dozens of projects that are being completed by talented, external providers.
The workforce of the future will look for flexible working contracts to enable a better work life balance and

23

24

Virtual Workforce : Are you a technophile or a luddite?

Roopa Adyasha
reconcile family life with working life, and minimise constraint to work. Access to flex time, ad hoc working
hours and green travel schemes must be considered and widely accessible to all employees.
So as a way forward, do we see any business advantage in being a technophile workforce? Unprecedented
levels of changes are being seen in businesses today: reduce cost and increasing revenues, customer
satisfaction, improving productivity, etc. Leading responsibly and managing complexity is the key for
organisational effectiveness for the new age workforce. Domain technologies show who the highperformers are, where value is created, who creates it, and the roles key people play in sourcing and acting
on new, value-creating knowledge. Social technologies reveal who is connected to whom and amplify
collective intelligence within and across enterprise boundaries. And whether we like it or not, we should
be able to reinvent ourselves in this global interconnected ever-changing world.

Maximizing
Human Purpose

References
Buck Consulting, Prescription Drug Benefit Survey, http://moss07.shrm.org/ hrdisciplines/
benefits/Articles/Pages/ DrugCostSharing.aspx
Employee Evolution, www.employeeevolution.com
Intellectual Property Johnson Controls, Haworth and iDEA.
Government Technology, www.govtech.com
Green, Mamie E. Beware and Prepare: The Government Workforce of the Future, Public Personnel
Management!^ (2000): 435-444.

Vivek Slaria

Society for Human Resource Management, 2015 Scenarios for the Future of Human Resource
Management. SHRM: 2005.
Government Workforce of the Future: Four Key Trends,Green, Marnie E, Public Manager 39.2
(Summer 2010): 13-16.
http://www.workforce.com/articles/20129-forward-to-the-future-how-workforce-techpromises-to-change-the-way-we-do-business

The Mumbai based author is a habits and

willpower coach with Greenlatte. Vivek has
worked in Infosys, General Electric and Proctor
& Gamble. Vivek contributes articles to Business World. His work was also mentioned in

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240233165/Firms-lack-technology-for-workforce-ofthe-future

25

Forbes India for creating habits and strengthening willpower.

26

Maximizing Human Purpose

Vivek Slaria
Once upon a time in Rome
In 434 century AD, the roman empire was split into two and ruled independently, the eastern roman empire
and the western roman empire. Both the empires were plagued by a single nomadic invader Atilla the hun.
He would lead his soldiers into some of the most impossible battles and emerge victorious. How was he
able to unite his people and keep them winning despite the heavy odds, by connecting them to a common
purpose.
Cortes was the infamous Spanish conquer who won the King of Spain an entire continent with just three
hundred Spanish men, thirteen horses and a few canons. How was he able to make his people win against
such heavy odds, by uniting them with the purpose of Christianity and gold.
History is full of examples where people have achieved the impossible (notorious or otherwise) by
connecting their people to their purpose and uniting them for that common cause.
With this let us now come back to a modern day battlefield, the corporate office.

Under the humming of the Air Conditioner

It was ten am of a Tuesday morning, Shyam worked in a high end software development company and
the morning onsite call had just got over. Yesterdays delivery had reported a bug and the task today was
to fix it and re deliver the software. The defect shouldnt be that difficult to address thought Shyam as he
stepped out of the conference room. He saw his other friends also step out from their respective telephone
conferences and they went together to the cafeteria. This was the usual routine, the morning onsite call
and then breakfast. Shyam came back to his desk and started looking at the code, very soon his attention
was lost and he went to a social media site. Soon it was lunch time and then back on the desk. Let me clear
the eMails while I am at it Shyam thought. By the time he got over it, it was already four PM and he had only
two more hours to fix the code. And then the rush started.
This is the usual story of every office. You can replace the software with any other company. Majority of our
work force not engaged at work. Gallup carried a survey which indicated that ninety percent of the Indian
work force is not engaged at their work. Only ten percent is actively engaged at work which means they
contribute ideas and show leadership at work.
This does not mean that there is something wrong with our office. The infrastructure and policies today
actively support employee well-being. There is a fair amount of autonomy at work to allow an employee to
work at his pace. Micro managing the daily deliverables and acting bossy are not as prevalent as they once
were. The work space maintains a social environment to allow employees to have fun together and feel like
a part of the family. Despite all of this, employees are not engaged at work.

27

Maximizing Human Purpose

Vivek Slaria
Welcome to the world of intrinsic motivation
The answer may lie in a trend that is re defining the way we are doing our work today. The Henry Ford
look of the world where an employee was supposed to come to work and be paid for tasks performed is
turning around completely. It is instead being replaced by an inherent joy of working with money being
just enough to not be a topic of discussion.

Drivers of Intrinsic motivation

Daniel Pink in his wonderful book, Drive, the surprising truth about what motivates us (RHC, Jan, 2011)
outlines the three drivers of intrinsic motivation. The first of these is autonomy, the power to choose what
I want to do when I want to do it and with who I want to do it. The second driver he highlights is mastery,
the desire to keep improving skills in a particular area and be recognized for it as well. The third is Purpose,
connect to the higher self.

Let us pick Purpose and understand its role

Purpose is important. It helps us define who we are and from there inspires our actions. At a fundamental
level, the purpose of every individual is to help others live a better life and in so doing raise the consciousness
of the world.
However due to years of social conditioning, this purpose is lost and instead gives way to a more selfcentred materialistic purpose of maximizing individual worth. This social conditioning cannot be removed
overnight. Organizations that lead themselves to the future will be Purpose Maximers, i.e. they will help
their customers and their employees connect to a higher purpose and remain with it.
Organizations can help individuals maximize their purpose and help them see how they can achieve the
same by helping the organization achieve theirs. This is called purpose maximization. Once I see that I
can achieve what ever I want to achieve if I help the organization achieve their purpose then a intrinsic
inspiration awakens that leads to a higher engagement.
Individual purpose may also be maximized by connecting directly with the end customer. As every
employee of the organization, including support functions become focussed on a single individual and
helping that individual live a better life, purpose of working is inherently ingrained and people become
connected back to their work.
Connecting people to a single purpose of maximizing value to the end customer is a key in creating an
intrinsically motivated employee and will therefore be a defining trend of the work force in the future.
This will be the defining trend of the way work force will be transformed in the future. This by the way is not
that new, a barbaric hunter, long back in ancient Rome also knew this.

28

orkforce is a gamut of generations and the people born and living about the same time have
their own work styles and habit .They view the world differently and have redefined the meaning of
success, personally and professionally driven by a unique set of values motivations and strengths

Pooja Swami
The author is an HR
consultant. She is also
the Managing Director
at Leo Institute Pvt Ltd.

WORKFORCE
TRENDS 2015 AND
BEYOND
29

We are living in a time of exponential change. The workplace is changing at an unprecedented rate. In the
coming years the workforce will look significantly different than today. There will be five generations and
much greater cultural diversity in the workplace than ever before, leading to a broader set of values and
beliefs than today.Internal and external labor becomes more mobile but today most of the organization
address engagement and talent retention under one policy, without any differentiation for the generations
of employees. Baby Boomers the largest generation to ever hit the workforce will begin retiring in droves
and the millennial generation (also commonly known as Gen-Y and includes births from 1982 2000)
grows whose workplace values and expectations are very different from what weve traditionally known
(baby boomers ) in the organizations and its time to develop new workforce trends take into account the
generational differences for the year 2015 and beyond.
Not surprisingly , Millennials are the most ethnically diverse and educated generation. Millennials are
active learners , talented achievers, multi-taskers, socially minded ,structured, self Technologically savvy ,
team-oriented ,conventionally motivated, pragmatic but optimistic and natural collaborators seeking for
attention and constant feedback who need supervisionor support to thrive. Millennials clearly favor high
growth over predictability and distinctly prefer creativity over daily direction .They clearly tend to believe
job security is an employees responsibility to earn rather than a companys obligation to provide .
In order to tackle the millennial generation in the workplace the workforce trends should meet the
characteristics of this generation. Understanding these characteristics and preferences is prime important
to the successful integration of millennials into an organization. Millennial generations operate differently
than previous generations but their actions are linked to the fulfillment or accomplishment of well-known
characteristics and values of the generation
Although millennials desire structure, variety and flexibility are important workplace preferences of the
generation (Beekman, 2011; Conner, 2010; Sujanksy, 2009). Acting as a change agent is one of the most
often discussed millennial workplace desires is that of found in The National MBA Survey, which surveys
more than 5,600 MBA students annually, that only 33% of Generation Xers (those born between 1965-1980)
agreed with the statement, I prefer a structured environment with clear rules, whereas 72% of millennials
agreed with the same statement (Beekman, 2011). A clearly defined structure helps millennials to
thoroughly evaluate potential improvements, and implications of such improvements, on the organization
as a whole before recommending change. Variety and flexibility are synthesized characteristics of the
millennial generation for multi tasking .Variety in the form of special projects or job responsibilities fulfills
both millennial needs of attention and multi-tasking (Sujansky, 2009). Flexibility in any form, but especially
work schedule, can create a sense of autonomy and empowerment in those of the millennial generation
(Beekman, 2011).

30

WORKFORCE TRENDS 2015 AND BEYOND

Pooja Swami
Millennials desire fulfillment, achievement, and happiness through work -life balance or other off-the-job
activities. Millennials do not necessarily believe that they must come to work with every necessary skill
to be successful on the job. Though they are natural collaborators and view work as a continual learning
experience in which people collaborate to reach desired results. This heavy desire for feedback and
attention has led many organizations to create mentor/mentee relationships that enable new employees
to receive the feedback and attention desired, learn from those more knowledgeable, and assist mentors
in technology-related tasks that may be less than intuitive.
Due to the need to be connected with the world, mobile apps are a great way to keep an eye on your
workforce wherever you are. Whether standing in a queue at the public place or moving from one meeting
to another. An ever increasing number of people will get work done on smartphones today often across
geographical boundaries.There will be greater emphasis on mobile recruiting. 83% of job seekers
currently use smartphones to search for job openings yet only 20% of the Fortune 500 companies have
a mobile friendly career site. 45% of active candidates have applied to a job on their mobile device. and
even creating mobile applications in order to appeal to the on the go job seeker. Most of the organizations
will develop apps that aid employee engagement; create digital to-do lists and productivity trackers; and
complete a range of other tasks. These apps will have the ability to access stored data and be accessible
from multiple devices.
Millennials are sick of seeing press releases and corporate websites and want something more real like
social media updates, and blog posts .Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are able to make
connections in a candidates natural habitat and the connections made between employee and candidate
on these networks have high relevance. In order to stand out as an employer, organizations will need to
start posting more work culture related posts and leveraging their employees to share them. People want
to work for interesting companies and when they see social media posts, it gives them a better sense
of what they are about.. 58% of people are more likely to want to work at a company if they are using
social media and over 20% are more likely to stay at their companies if they are using social media .Social
recruiting and the referral method is the only way recruiters can hire better people faster who will stay
longer and, ultimately, be better cultural fits. Organizations needs to expand the digital footprint and
harness new social technology. With remote teams the proportion of people working from out of office
will increase and flexible work places will become pervasive.

WORKFORCE TRENDS 2015 AND BEYOND

Pooja Swami
managers will seek ways to give effective continuous feedback. Its an efficient way to provide timely
feedback right on your employees weekly reports .In 2015 its hello to dashboards. Dashboards turn big
data into smart data. So, its time to put more emphasize on information visualizations.
By the 2020 there will be much greater cultural diversity in the workplace than ever before and the
workforce will be increasingly flexible and cabn be the most prosperous if the organizations understand
what the next generation wants . One size doesnt fit all individuals . Employers should look at potential
new hires in holistic terms, not just in terms of their job experience, skill level, professional contacts, and
formal education. Forward-thinking organizations are investing in the upcoming generation born between
1994 and 2010 . In addition, more organizations are going to be recruiting high school students for their
internship programs like Microsoft . Companies like You tube ,Facebook and LinkedIn recruiting high
school students for closing skills gap (STEM) and to compete for best talent and to build brand awareness
early . Personal networking offer role models and mentoring opportunities to younger employees, and
also provide a sense of belonging for employees who may be working outside their native countries and
cultures, or who want to connect with like-minded cohorts by forming global communities of interest.
Self-reliance and self-actualization will be watchwords for Workforce 2020. Workforce should be seen as
an asset not as a cost and organizations have understand that no financial returns will come at employee
expense . With the tighten competition sucessful organizations will invest more in employee retention ad
engagement.Objectives and Key Results is a great technique where people are putting more emphasis on
linking personal plans and growth with group goals, the organization Many of the brightest youngsters
looking for opportunities to practice their entrepreneurial skills in start-up organizations and the best
way to capture the enthusiasm of them is to give them considerable autonomy in what they work on and
whom.
Formal and informal mentoring programs will proliferate in the organization of the future. Mentors can be
recruited both inside and outside the organization. Employers will also need to look at providing younger
workerforce some of the same one-on-one coaching benefits they now provide managers and executives.
Last but not the least performance assessment will not only be used by management to evaluate
performance for purposes of pay increases and promotions, but also to suggest new assignments that can
make the best use of the employees demonstrated talents. The personal goals set during a performance
review may undergo constant reassessment to keep pace with fast-changing business environments.

Other workforce trends like succession planning , honesty , periodic feedback and visual dashboard are
going to be major soncern for organization .One of the ways that companies are handling succession
planning is to keep some workers on the payroll. Gen Ys state that its time to polish skills of honesty and
transparency, which will be most valued leadership traits in 2015. Honesty is the most important quality for
being a good leader. People would want to work under leaders who are open about what the organization
is doing, where its heading in the future and give honest feedback regularly. Social media is also continuing
to push corganizations to be more open and for leaders to share more of their activities . Whole Foods
and Buffer are great examples of a transparent company culture and theyve implemented an open salary
system. With a clear positive correlation between higher level of motivation and periodic feedback, more

31

32

WORKFORCE TRENDS IN
2015 and BEYOND
Vasanthakumar P Venkataraman

The Chennai based author is a senior HR leader.

He is currently the Chief Human Resource Officer at
A.V.Thomas Group Companies.

Let me begin by sharing some interesting facts. In 1915 A young lad in a village in Tamilnadu
showed his mother an appointment letter from railways. He had just received the letter and was absolutely
excited about it. After all it was going to be his maiden job. His mother looked at the appointment letter
and threw it into fire by saying she did not want her son to go away from their village to an another part
of country. In 2001 Two girls from the same family in the same village got jobs in the United States of
America and their parents sent them with their blessings.
Technological Development and Increased level of literacy have brought revolutionary changes in the
social, cultural and economic life of people across the world. People are willing to move from their place of
birth, state, country and continent for securing better life opportunities.

Challenges of the 21st Centurys

Work Force

hat was the workforce trend yesterday, what is it

today and what will be the trend tomorrow?
Every business leader dwell upon these questions as
employee engagement is the biggest dilemma and many
lost their sleep over this issue. And most of them fail to
engage todays workforce as very few companies may be
an over all of 15% to 20% of them actively engage where as
the rest of the companies rather disengage its employees
in such a way that they are likely to spread negativity.
Therefore the changed ethos should be to relook at
employee engagement with an holistic approach. That
makes employees overwhelmed because the concepts of
work-life balance have been lost, thanks to a proliferation
of technology and the breakdown in barriers between work
and life.

Rasmita Jena
This Bangalore based writer
is an IP Attorney and a Talent
Management Specialist with
focus on Legal, HR Consulting
and Training.

Old practices like, joining, serving, retiring and getting some years of extension in one company are
slowly disappearing. Arranging the long service award functions are not seen in the HR initiatives list any
more. If today any youngster stays for more than three years in an organization, it is seen as a rare event.
People want to grow in their career, learn new things, perform multiple tasks, move from one company
to another company which provides them better opportunities. The workforce today is becoming more
mobile in comparison to their previous generations. Workforce mobility is one of the major challenges
Human Resource community is going to face in the days to come. Keeping the workforce engaged with the
organizations, where they are working is to going to top the priority list for business leaders. The younger
generation wants spot recognition and instant recognition. For talented workforce, opportunities are
available plenty across the globe. Hence leaving one organization and joining another organization has
become the order of the day. Social media and networking portals are helping and expediting the mobility
of workforce.

No doubt, People are working too hard and with that they
are too distracted because of mobile device users check
their phones all most more than 100 times and they are
flooded with too many emails, conference calls, meetings,
and other distractions that the average office worker can
only focus for seven minutes at a time before they either
switch windows or check Facebook. As a recent Mckinsey
research shows.

Nowadays, organizations are employing workforce from different age, language, ethnicity, gender, and
cultural backgrounds. Differently abled workforce, social and community responsibilities, caring and
family responsibilities are also factors HR leaders are considering while preparing their workforce strategy.
The writing on the wall is very clear. Only the organizations which embrace the workforce diversity as a
key people strategy can get the required and right talent for keeping competitive edge in the business.
One major challenge for the organization engages diverse workforce will be dealing with the question of
discrimination.

So isnt time to Redefine What the future workforce trend will be in 21st century

33

Many Business & HR leaders rate this an important or urgent challenge, yet fewer than 10% of
organizations know what to do about it. And this problem impacts our personal lives, our children,
and our family. Anxiety is now the top issue facing children driven largely by our always on lifestyle.

Lets get rid of the old fashioned word engagement is mostly used by Human Resources managers.
While a feedback from employee give us an annual view, they do not help organizations understand
the passion, soul, and real issues going on day to day.

34

HR Transformation is not a choice

Sachin Dabhade

Challenges of the 21st Centurys Work Force

Rasmita Jena
We have to change that very mindset and redefine what engagement means which can bring back
enthusiasm and impact their mind which then can drive a highly engaged workforce:
1.
The work itself,
2.
The management environment,
3.
The flexibility and inclusion of the workplace,
4.
Peoples ability to learn and grow, and
5.
Trust and meaning from leadership.
So its a whole set of issues to take care rather than companies dont just have ping pong tables and free
lunch, they have a soul which makes work exciting and energizing. They invest in great management
and leadership. The train and develop people so they can grow. And they define their business in a
way that brings meaning and purpose to the organization.
Here is the time to engage employees in a mindfulness revolution to get the maximum for their
employees as well as organization to lead a happy balanced life. Interestingly, the UN World Happiness
Report, shows that the happiest countries (Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, and Sweden)
are those with some of the best reputations for work-life balance. Businesses in these countries are
quite successful and they have learned to build work environments which are humanistic and let
people think.

Objectives:
1.
2.
3.

Matching supply to current demand for skills;

Helping workers and enterprises adjust to change;
Building and sustaining competencies for future labor market needs.

Education and training systems that are responsive to structural changes in economy and society; and
recognition of skills and competencies, and their greater utilization in the workplace.

Reference :
According to United Nation, Word population prospects: 2008 (New York, Department of Economic and Social
Affairs, 2008)

Therefore think about how we engage with our employees much more holistically and we all have
to face it. This is not one of the things to worry about, this is the thing to worry about. It is time
to think more holistically about your own team (or organization) and what you can do to improve
work, provide more coaching, improve flexibility, become more inclusive, and drive meaning into the
workplace. Of course we have to hold people accountable for results but work is far more than
producing output for a dollar it is an integral part of our lives.
Now is the time to think holistically about your companys work environment and consider what you
can do to create passion, engagement, and commitment. Here are the three mantras:
1.
Consider employees are assets
2.
Drive Company Culture Through Employee Engagement
3.
Teach the employees how to learn with L & D
So the time is now for the HR departments to affirm their ability to deliver essential knowledge
and services to keep their organizations ahead of competitors and set a new trend in workforce
management holistically.

35

36

HR
Transformation
is not a choice

HR Transformation is not a choice

Sachin Dabhade
Taken as whole, the world population is marked by declining productiveness and raising life hope. The
primary consequence of both trend is population ageing. The proportion of the population of the aged 60
years and over will rise in the more develop countries from 22 per cent in 2010 to 33 percent in 2050 and
in less developed countries from 9 per cent to 20 per cent.
the population of working age will decline in the more developed regions between 2010 to 2050 failing
from 49 to 41 per cent of the total population, in contrast, the working age population in the less developed
regions will grow slowly as a proportion of the whole, from 43 per cent in 2010 to 46 per cent in 2050.
These trends have some major implications for educations, skills and training.
First, economic growth will depend even more heavily than today on the productivity of the workforce,
complemented by rising labor force participation rates, especially among the women and older workers,
the challenge the lifelong learning, particularly among ageing but economically active persons will increase
in salience correspondingly.

Sachin Dabhade
The Aurangabad based author is a
Leadership Development Consultant

Second, in several regions the growing size of the youth cohort will continue to challenge both education
and training capacities and job creation rates as more young people enter the word of work, everywhere,
young people with low skill levels are finding too hard to secure jobs.
Third, flows of migrant workers will continue to grow, raising challenges
Concerning fair access to training and how to fill skill gaps in some regions without creating them in others.
If we look at the primary education unesco has started education for all program and we also applied it in
India to train all primary schooling student but question remains same about secondary education.

hinking about the training is thinking towards bringing uncounted opportunity in training and
development field. Suggestion for the skill development is the crucial. Many of the jobs that will be
generated over the next two decades do not exist today; yet most of the workforce of those years is already
in education and training, even so, the need to upgrade skill applies not only to young people in schools,
universities and training institutions, but also to the current generation of workers.
If we look at this part at broader level, some major foundational approaches came onto horizon, how
we can get prepare ourselves for meeting horizontal and vertical growth of industry in India and their
requirements of educated and skilled labor in upcoming 2 decades, According to United Nation, Word
population prospects: 2008, Worldwide, the rate of population growth is declining however it is high in
some countries and regions; India is part of that segment where it is high.

37

In India more than 90 per cent of workers are employed at low levels of productivity and income. Half of the
countrys population over the age of 25 has had no education and an additional third have the best primary
schooling. Four out of 5 entrants to new workforce have never had any opportunity for skill development
training. While enrollment in technical educational institutions has increased also there is very high drop
out in these institutions. There is huge shortage of teaching faculty in engineering & management colleges.
Equivalently skill shortage at different level took place.
In order to address these challenges, India adopted an ambitious national skill development policy in 2009,
to empower all individuals through improved skill
Knowledge and internationally recognized qualifications to give them access to decent employment.
If we succeeded in linking skills development to gains in productivity, employment and development
needs to target, skills development policy towards three main

38

WORKFORCE TRENDS IN 2K15 AND BEYOND

Saunak Rajguru

WORKFORCE
TRENDS IN 2K15
AND BEYOND

2015

promises to be an exciting year for HR professionals, especially while finding the

most effective ways to engage and communicate with employees. Yes, the process of optimizing your
internal communications is exciting theres always something new to try, even if its a fresh take on
an old best practice. And when it leads to better benefits program participation, increased employee
satisfaction and a thriving corporate culture, you can feel great about HRs role in boosting the bottom
line. Let me first discuss the essence of the workforce analytics and then will have you take a look at some
of the trends were seeing in the universe of workforce communications that are shaping the future of the
workplace

The need for workforce analytics

Overall, there is growing recognition that some business problems simply require a people solution and a
number of organizations are already actively embracing the potential power of workforce analytics. Beyond
these organizations at the forefront of analytics adoption, it appears the HR function is not universally
so advanced in its analytics journey. The IBM workforce analytics study revealed wide variation across
organizations. While many seem reasonably comfortable with basic reporting and benchmarking (data
challenges not withstanding), many organizations appear to be at an early stage in their workforce analytics
journey. The good news is, HR professionals starting out along the analytics journey can learn from their
peers who are further along. Several capabilities were identified as necessary for success, including building
analytics roles and skills, having the right tools and technologies, and maintaining focus on data security
and privacy. This is critical when dealing with people data, as it is essential for maintaining employee trust
in the organization. with people data, as it is essential for maintaining employee trust in the organization.

HR Workforce Management Trends

When it comes to managing todays workforce, HR teams have their work cut out for them. A diverse
employee base, new technologies, a competitive employment marketplace, and the pressure to always
do more with less are just a few of the challenges you face. Here are some communication trends youll
see this year to help you make the best of your efforts:.

1. Engaging a Multi-Generational Workforce With Individualized Communications. Today,

Saunak Rajguru
The Bhubaneswar based author is
the youngest writer of Ekaaksharas
8th edition. He is currently pursuing
his Bachelors of Law in KIIT School of
Law.

39

there are four generations of people hard at work, side-by-side. This makes both creating and delivering
important messages a daunting job for even the most savvy communicator, whos learning that
individualizing communications is the best way to reach employees and keep their attention. By catering
to peoples various communications preferences, from formats to channels, HR leaders move away from
one-size-fits-all messaging to bring enhanced relevancy and engage-ability to everyone.

2. Integrating Employees Work and Non-Work Life. This trend comes from the Society for Industrial
and Organizational Psychology, whose research findings put a new spin on the HR goal of helping
employees achieve a work/life balance. They expect employers to find innovative ways to use technology
(i.e. wearables and smartphones) to help maintain and improve it. This may further blur the boundary

40

WORKFORCE TRENDS IN 2K15 AND BEYOND

Saunak Rajguru

3. Making Messages More Human. Tech Cocktail notes the trend of humanizing employee messaging
an their article rather than centering messages around the companys long-terms strategy, communicators
are beginning to focus on the people theyre talking to: the people doing the work. One of the advantages
to giving employees a voice, they say, is its positive impact on the company culture.

4- Employees Are Viewed as an Asset, not a Cost Center

Despite increasing healthcare and labor costs expected through 2015 and beyond, profitable organizations
have learned that excellent financial returns do not have to come at the expense of the employee. Research
shows that employees - especially the front-line, lower wage, hourly workforce -- should be seen as an asset,
not as a cost center. As competition tightens, successful organizations will invest more in their workforces
to increase employee engagement and create a virtuous cycle that leads to happy customers.

WORKFORCE TRENDS IN 2K15 AND BEYOND

Saunak Rajguru

Finally, it is of utmost importance not to lose sight of the human in Human Resources data analytics.
Workforce data is fundamentally about people and decisions informed by data analytics will affect people
as much as processes. Organizational leaders will be well served to keep that in mind. As people data
become increasingly available and accessible, and as the analysis of those data becomes easier and easier,
it is important to recognize the value as well as the limitations of analytics. The true value of workforce
analytics lies in its ability to better inform decision makers, it is not about removing the human from the
decision making.

5- Seismic Shift in Generational Workforce Dynamics

Baby boomers, the largest generation to ever hit the workforce, will begin retiring in droves as their children
take on more workplace responsibility. As Baby Boomers exit the workplace, many Generation Xers could
see increased opportunity, including long-awaited pay raises, and millennials will take on management
positions for the first time. Talent retention and career development will be key in 2015 as organizations
train new managers while working to simultaneously shrink the skills gap and hold onto the knowledge
assets of a retiring workforce, data from the Institute.

6- Analytics for Evidence-based Decision-Making

Most organizations were drowning in data in 2014, but few unlocked the secret to analytical success.
However, organizations that have lagged behind will take notice of successful big data best practices
from previous years and begin to apply them, while workforce management tools will deliver analytics
for evidence-based decision making in 2015. Industry-specific solutions, visualization technology, and
new applications from specialized consultation and services vendors will help smart businesses better use
existing workforce management data to create actionable insight.

7- Consumer Technology Infiltrates Workforce Management

Mobile devices and social media have transformed the way employees and employers communicate, while
gamification and wearable technologies are expected to make huge impacts in the workplace. Workforce
management software suites and mobile platforms will continue to evolve and integrate many popular
features and functionality from consumer software design concepts, including increased focus on the user
experience (UX), responsive design, flat OS functionality, and drag-and-drop and touchscreen performance,

8- The CIO/CMO Relationship Continues to Evolve

There will be increased collaboration between business IT and marketing departments. While this
collaboration is already happening, the extent of collaboration will only increase in 2015 as businesses
work to stay relevant and competitive. And that increased collaboration will result in an increased demand
for talent, such as the role of digital information officer, that holds both soft and technical skills and can
interface with both departments.

41

Simplifying CoMpliC@tIoNs

42

FROM YAWN TO
DAWN OF GAMIC
MECHANICS

Kirti Mutreja

The Mumbai based author is Founder Director

Virtuoso Learning Solutions. She works in the
areas of Talent Transformation and Learning
empowerment.

FROM YAWN TO DAWN OF GAMIC MECHANICS

Kirti Mutreja

y vision is to make people see their success through my eyes

We foster young experts to become ardent corporate professionals by performing the need analysis to
comprehend their behavioral preferences and then imparting training in the array of competency building
to transform raw aptitude to adept professional. We believe that when colossal efforts are blended with
passion, every challenge is crafted into an opportunity which helps you to emerge as a superior and a
finer human.

Pride in only position goes pale

From Names to Games.
Techies set to trade
From competition to collaboration
During a session with one of the science colleges, I overheard a conversation wherein a couple of students
were discussing the composition of atoms and molecules. The conversation was swaying around the
relevance of the binding force that keeps various elements like the nucleons positrons and electrons
together working its way with the opposite charges that they carry. This casual striking interaction gave
me a thought to ponder on. Is the Human Resource not the binding force of any organization that has
to work around with people of different temperament and characteristics and shouldering the critical
responsibility of contributing to the stability of any organization. Its the time of the year when all the
processes and strategies have been re-engineered and objectives set with lead measures established to
measure our growth both as individuals and organizations. We all have our stakes in fabricating our mental
models and paradigms to harness our personal achievements with our organizational goals .The basic
intrinsic motivating factors that instigate us and nudge us into action remain the same. Social interactions
largely contribute to shaping our productivity. We indeed look up to our management and the Human
resource team to help us create a platform for the same and bridge the gap between the what is to
what it should be like We always look forward to work in a committed environment than a controlled
one. Hence the work horizons of Human Resource professionals, have expanded beyond the recruitment
and payroll responsibilities. Employee engagement and talent development form the primary focus
for the year 2015. We would be working towards creating a committed workforce than a controlled one.
H R today has evolved from sharing their pie in personal management to being an integral element in
business initiatives and strategies .H R indeed is looked up as a partner than just an owner in the arenas
of competency building, talent transformation, talent acquisition, managing demographics , change and
cultural transformation in the organization which congregate to be the driving force for any organization.
It is well elicited that the zealous human resource team today joins hands with various business units,
develop the right business acumen and contribute by aligning their work on meeting human capital
challenges with the overall business strategies.
The bureau of labor statistics has foreseen 2015 to mark the exit of millions of baby boomers and the
millennial Gen Y pave way for their managerial journey led by the Gen X .The new Workforce composition

43

44

FROM YAWN TO DAWN OF GAMIC MECHANICS

Kirti Mutreja

would compel the HR professionals and the managers to comprehend and accept the cultural dimension,
characteristics and norms of each generation .This understanding would lay the foundation of any
strategic approach for successful knowledge transfer, career progression, talent acquisition and employee
engagement . The transitory phase would demand a lot of interventions to manage the change and
bridge the gap. As per Betsy Barbieux since the Gen X would be leading the bandwagon in most of the
organizations, we can expect the entrepreneurial spirit being promoted where hierarchies would not
impress. Gen X believes in striking a work life balance defining their growth from a holistic point of view.
From the Learning and development per se, workforce composition is a loadstone which determines all the
components of content development and successful execution of any program right from conception to
inception .The year 2015 would witness the Generation X showing the way followed by Gen Y percolating
the labor pool. Gen Y believes in fast tracking their career and at times may get over aggressive and seen
job hopping. As H R professionals we may have to look at creating common grounds of interests which
would help us create an anchorage or the binding force for successful collaboration and engagement.
Constant learning and updating the skills would be the need of the hour. I believe creating job rotation
and bringing newness would facilitate our objective. Coming to our rescue would be the know-how that
Gen X and Y both are characterized as being exceptionally technology savvy. Hence we can look at this era
as the onset of gamification to nurture and upscale our human capital. The study undertaken by kronos
institute also well supports the projection of technology winning its way or creating a stance in most of the
HR, workforce management and business dynamics .
Gamic mechanics can be defined as the application of the game design elements in non game context.
Gamification is not a standalone instrument or a substitute to other elemental designs however it is an
additional tool which reinforces the learning and instills targeted behaviors. We would soon be able to live
in the world where we would embrace our realities and work on our areas of opportunities with the help
of games .In 2015 gamification would gain immense popularity in employee training and education. We
can look at virtually rewarding our employees with reward points and badges on successful completion
of certain online training programs .2015 would witness the development of certain theoretical models
which would help us to refine and redefine the patterns that influence the desired outcomes with the
aid of gamified mechanics. Hence the approach to the development of such games has to be causal and
pragmatic where we closely look at its overlap with the existing learning methodology and pick choose
elements that help us strengthen the underlying principles and objectives for which it was designed.
If thoughtfully applied gamification can help us reap some real tangible benefits and paybacks. Some of
the worlds largest companies have already created the roadmap for their success with the utilization of
gamification as a principal driver. Giants like Starbucks, Nike, Commonwealth bank and many more to
mention have started using the gaming dynamics to influence the requisite behaviors and are utilizing it as
a marketing tool to engage their clientele For instance Nike witnessed a hike of about 14% in their market
share within a short span of about 4 yrs after the successful addition of a gamification component to their
training and marketing pursuits. HopeLab also with the intent of giving back to the society introduced ReMission which is a video game precisely devised for adolescents and young adults who have fallen into the
clutches of a dreadful life threatening disease called cancer. Theyve introduced a nanobot named Roxxi

45

FROM YAWN TO DAWN OF GAMIC MECHANICS

Kirti Mutreja

which the players of the game operate on. The character travels through the bodies of the fictional cancer
patients killing the cancerous malignant cells and fighting bacterial infections .The messages appeal to the
most intricate emotions of the patients and nudge them into action. The kids involved in the games were
more likely to mock in their pills on time and hence demonstrated better recuperating outcomes than
those who didnt.
Gamification may not always produce such stunning or stellar results. The initiative may stagger if incorrectly
implemented or put into practice. For it to trickle down throughout we need to get a buy in from the top
executives in addition to the strategically crafted action oriented, impact driven plan to be rolled out with
sheer commitment and nearly flawless adaptation. We all know that we can cook the mans dinner with
electricity and we can also cook the man.
Forecasting is always dodgy. However deciding to visualize the future gives us the leeway to work around
with the preparation of our strategies and approach. Constructing scenarios of the future also aids us
to smoothen our wrestle with our talent strategies given to the upheaval of the economic and global
dynamics. Collaboration is the key to building the requisite social architecture which remains to be the
prime focus for the years ahead.

Simplifying CoMpliC@tIoNs
You can Contact us for
UX Design, Graphics, Web, Brochure,
Logo, Emailer, Concepts, Animation
Phone: +91 9743996530
E-Mail: contact@uxinterface.in

46

Yasir is a passionate trainer with

considerable exposure to various global
cultures. He conducts training programs
for various levels of management across
various sectors and specializes in Business
Communication, Customer Service, Team
Management, Leadership, and Change
Management. Yasir has been Certified by
the Centrika Group of UK.

Workforce Trends 2015 and Beyond

Yasir Ahmed Sait

oday, we are seeing a world which is interconnected as never before and as time goes by, the level
of this connectivity will only improve, in quantity as well as quality. Ultimate connectivity has changed
the way we work and the way we view the workplace. The workplace of the future is here already and is
shaping the workforce in a whole lot of different ways. The challenge is how to adopt these changes.
As is often repeated, the only thing constant in this world is change hence the obvious response would be
to adjust the plans already finalized for the future and make changes. The other less obvious choice would
be to hold onto the old tried and tested methodology and end up stagnating. However what is interesting
to note here, is neither one is a guaranteed road to success nor a guaranteed recipe for failure.
When faced with difficult choices, a change in perspective always helps in moving forward. In order to view
the road ahead with a different perspective, I have gathered a few trends that can be seen emerging in the
modern workplace in the year 2015 and beyond.
From 2015 onwards, Millennials will become the largest part of the workforce Organizations need to
adapt to these tech savvy people in order to keep innovating. Offer more autonomy and flexibility in the
workplace. Theres a significant gap between millennial

Yasir Ahmed Sait

Workforce
Trends 2015
and Beyond

workforce needs and what the workplace offers. For example, millennials rely more on formal training and
mentoring to develop their skills, yet most companies are focussed on Training and Coaching rather than
Mentoring programs, and even fewer offer incentives for pursuing higher education.
Freelancers become more common With the pace of technology, existing full time resources become
obsolete very fast and the cost of constantly upgrading their skills is a significant factor in the decision to
hire larger percentage of temporary workers as opposed to full timers. The workforce of the future will be
increasingly flexible and companies need to be prepared to change their workforce strategy. Leadership
needs to be prepared to lead a global, diverse workforce.
Management and Hiring moves to Mobile With more people constantly moving around, mobile apps are
great way to keep an eye on the workforce wherever the management is.
Mobile is revolutionizing how people live, work and search for employment. As per and Oxford University
Survey, Eighty-three per cent of job seekers currently use smartphones to search for job openings and 45%
of active candidates have applied for a job on a mobile device. Employers hoping to attract top-level, techsavvy employees need to optimize their job postings page for mobile and list their offerings on many of
the available job search mobile apps.
Sabse Bada Rupaiya! - Companies dont understand what their employees really want from them. Infinity
pools and free food may grab headlines, but less than 40 percent of surveyed employees find those perks
important. Employees of all ages rank competitive compensation as the most important benefit. However,

47

48

Workforce Trends 2015 and Beyond

Yasir Ahmed Sait
only 39 percent of executives say their company offers competitive compensation.
Companies struggle to develop a learning culture. Not many organizations are able to successfully retain,
update, and share institutional knowledge, and even fewer organizations have a culture of continuous
learning. For employees, obsolescence is a bigger concern than layoffs; training and education come to
the fore. Hence for employees of all ages, the top concern would be their position changing or becoming
obsolete. Although economic uncertainty is a concern, their worry over their job is likely skills-related.
Workforce Analytics. No surprise here analytics and big data are huge and will continue to be. It is
expected that next year alone will see 4.4 million new jobs in analytics. Key metrics retailers should be
monitoring include: employee social media usage (both business and personal), time and attendance,
employee retention, and talent gaps.Technology skills development continues to lag. Although demand
for skills in analytics, cloud, and programming/development is slated to grow sizably over the next three
years, less than half of employees expect to be proficient with most of these technologies in three years.
While analytics skills are well-represented in organizations currently, people with these proficiencies are
the most difficult to acquire.
Employees are an Asset: Despite increasing healthcare and labour costs expected through 2015 and
beyond, profitable organisations have learned that excellent financial returns do not have to come at the
expense of the employee. Research shows that employees especially the front line, hourly workforce
should be seen as an asset, not a cost. Employee Retention. We are in the job hopper era. Workers no longer
stay at the same company for seven-plus years like they did in the just a generation ago. Todays Millennial
workers stay just two years on average at a company before leaving. With the average cost of recruiting
and hiring a Millennial worker at $20,000 employers need to develop a culture of loyalty and promote
from within to hold onto quality employees. As competition tightens, successful organisations will invest
more in their workforces to increase employee engagement and create a virtuous cycle that leads to happy
customers
Social Media. As the need for tech-savvy workers intensifies the role of social media in recruiting top-level
talent is increasing. Fifty-eight percent of people are more likely to want to work at a company that is
actively involved in social media.
Remote working which is heating up today will positively become hotter in 2015 and beyond. Organizations
will need to expand their digital footprint and harness new social technology. With remote teams,
technology needs to become an organizations best friend.
Organizations and individuals that are prepared for change with the foresight and a broader perspective
than the competition are the ones who will come out on top irrespective of whether the choice is to stick
to established procedures or adopt new strategies as it will be based on information and will be a response
rather than a reaction.

49

The Delhi based author is

an L&D professional with
expertise in Instructional
Design.
She has led projects which
have involved different
stages of training life
cycle.

Drivers of the
Workforce
Trends: Distinct
Job Roles
50

Drivers of the Workforce Trends: Distinct Job Roles

Lavanya Balasastha

Drivers of the Workforce Trends: Distinct Job Roles

Lavanya Balasastha

Not only the field of the retail and marketing has reshaped the way it has reached out to masses, even
financial sector has seen the boom. The Money Managers are promoting the mediums to save money. No
longer is the stereotypical way of bank savings the only way of saving. The mutual funds and other forms
of investments are being promoted. Again the society is making an aware decision and well researched
decision in this aspect.

But what is important is to analyze the drivers of these trends. These will also enable us in predicting the future
trends. Let us ponder about what were these drivers? There can be a single response to it, evolution of distinct
job roles.

When we talk about the field of education, we no longer think stereotypically about the teachers, classrooms
and blackboards. It is more about the IT enabled education system. It is in this process that E-Learning
Experts and Instructional Designers play an important role. They utilize the visual aid to make maximum
benefits. The goal of teachers, professors and students is no longer an examination. It is more of an objective
oriented approach. They aim at developing job related skills. It is the same approach following by the HR
training in every organization. The objective, delivery and evaluation are more specific to the needs of the
training. Job efficiency and personality skill development are the areas that are being addressed.

hile we talk about workforce trends, we usually focus on what has led to the development of new
trends. For example, we focus on growth of technology, growing role of Human Resources, and market
expansion and so on. Then, we focus on impact. For example, the globalization, the corporates emerging
as the controllers of economy and so on.

Let us imagine a family a decade ago. The career path discussed at the dinner tables mainly included a
doctor or an engineer. But now, things are changing. With parents more aware about the evolving corporate
world, they will have a different approach. The focus will be on what to study and how to gain exposure to
corporate world rather than what to become.
In 2012, Forbes listed ten jobs that didnt exist a decade ago. It included Sustainability Experts, Market
Research, Data Miners and Educational Consultants. Every organization that has no relevance to any
environment related concerns is promoting sustainability. The reason being they are not targeting to
make profits by earing profits but reducing costs. It may also include power consumption cost reduction.
Market research and data miners are not only limited to retail sector any more. All the organization that are
catering to clients directly or directly are making the benefits using the data produced by the researchers
and data miners. No longer are parents who send their children to school bothered about marks. They
focus on consulting based education that caters to every childs need separately.
It is since 2000 that we have heard the field of Analytics and the Business Analysts. With access to
technology and mass information, no one decides on the basis of an advertisement on TV or by word of
mouth. Consumers do their research before arriving at a decision. These consumers include people from
all strata of the society including, students, housewives, government servant, and big corporates. Data
analytics is no longer simple generation of reports and charts. It is about looking at the entire historical data
available and predicting the trends. These trends are not limited to what the consumers will buy. It includes,
market composition, behavior, appealing and preferable products and so on. It helps in strategizing. What
to produce, what is to be marketed and how and to whom. The entire demand and supply process is
streamlined.

Every organization has people with diverse thoughts and expertise. In the levels and hierarchies set at
the nascent stage should not be hindering in making the most of the expertise. The expertise is being
utilized in giving a direction to the workflow. Leaders may have either management skills related expertise
or technical knowledge related expertise. The Thought leadership positions helps in bringing out the
management related expertise. The thought leaders help in defining leadership themes, analyzing the
trends and competitions. The Innovation Leaders are the technical related leaders strategizing the project
and technology designs. These job roles drivers help in making the most of the existing capability with
minimum dissatisfaction and maximum utilization of the existing capability.
Consulting offerings has not left any business area untouched. From information technology to human
resources services, the consultants have ideas of reshaping the business. The challenges are no longer
dealt in silos of corporate board rooms. There is a strategizing way of dealing with changes. It is in this
relevance, Change Managers are gaining the significant focus.
These out-of-the-box termed job roles prefer people who have the ability to make the most of their
expertise and act as the box-builders and implementers acting as drivers of the workforce trends!

The social media is a popular tool in marketing. The Social Media Marketers are harnessing the reach of the
social media. They are promoting the concept of online shopping portals. The consumers no longer rely
on print and electronic media advertisement to gain knowledge about the products. These are used as
complementary sources.

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Simplifying CoMpliC@tIoNs

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Communities
of Practice:
Interview with
Surya Prakash Mohapatra

Book Review Section

Drivers of the
Workforce
Trends: Distinct
Job Roles

CREATIVE TEAM

aking
Mohapatra m
Surya Prakash
.
w
g the intervie
a point durin

Hanumantrao
Kulkarni

Prashant
Gakhar

We are happy to launch the video section of Ekaakshara called:

Whats New? In this series we will bring you up and close with one famous expert from the industry in
every issue of Ekaakshara. This will be a byte size video wherein the expert will be interviewed by our inhouse panelists. The interviews will not be restricted to L&D professionals. We will interview all experts
from various fields and industries. One of the key objectives of this series will be to get our interviewees to
share their personal lessons and insights and how do they see the future of their industry and technology?
In the first edition of this series, we are featuring Surya Prakash Mohapatra. Surya has pioneered social
and community learning in India. He set up the Learning and Development Community in 2011 which has
grown over to 19000 members from across the globe. In this interview, he talks about the critical success
factors for Communities of Practice. He also talks about how Communities of Practice are going to evolve
in future.
Surya Prakash Mohapatra making a point during the interview.
You can view this interview in our video channel.
Follow the link below to watch the complete interview with Surya. Happy viewing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2xYlxcCaBs&feature=youtu.be

53

REviewed BY
Manjula Deshmukh

54

perused over ten really interesting books while identifying that one book that encompasses the essence
of this quarters theme. There were two main challenges I faced in identifying books. One - Most of the
books have been written with a focus on North America and Two Most of the notable books in this genre
were written during the beginning of the rise of new workforce, about 2005-2006. Two books jumped at
me during my research. The first one was Workforce Wake-Up Call by Robert Gandossy, Elissa Tucker and
Nidhi Verma (eds) and the other, The New Workforce: Five Sweeping Trends That Will Shape Your Companys
Future by Harriet Hankin.
I chose the latter because it is written by Harriet Hankin, A futurist, who collects researches, evaluates
the findings, and spots recurring themes that indicate a trend. These trends provide thought- provoking
insights that can guide businesses toward smarter decisions. The causes and trends of changing talentscape
are definitely relevant in 2015, as it was in 2006, when this book was published. Hankin has chosen five key
trends that influence business in the long run. It is debatable whether these are the most important ones
or the only ones that need any consideration.
The book had me at Hello. The tone of this book is informal, yet it is evident that it is very well researched.
In the first half of the book, she discusses the five emerging workforce trends and in the second one the
impact of these trends on Human Resources.

Trend 1: Longevity With longer life expectancies, seniors are working longerand providing a great
labor pool for organizations. Many of them are, however, opting for part-time, flexible positions. In this
trend Hankin explores the myths and misconceptions associated with older workers. The traditional
approach for all workers will simply not effectively meet the challenges presented by this new workforce.
Hankin also states that at this point, companies need to think through how to revere and fully utilize every
employee in every age group, particularly this new population that is aging.

creates both challenges and opportunities for employers. Hankin says that Diversity in the future will be
evolutionary, not revolutionary. As organizations move to embrace diversity, they will find that they are
ahead of the curve on every measurable frontfrom recruiting and retaining the best employees to higher
profit margins and productivity levels, from better reflecting their marketplace to finally insuring a more
satisfying workplace.

Trend 5: Trust, Respect, and Ethics: Seeking Higher Purpose in the Workplace In this trend, Hankin
explores the concepts of Trust, Respect and Ethics -The social ethnic responsibilities of organizations.
Although it is practiced widely in organizations currently and a lot has been done about it, I do believe we
have a long way to go to promote the above two trends.
In part two, Hankin explains the impact of these key trends on the organizations and finally the formula for
the future. In this part, she explores the impact on Human Resources Policy, the impact on Recruiting and
the Impact on Learning and Training.
In the final chapter, Hankin suggests communication with the new workforce, determines the success of the
organizations with their new workforce. Here she explores the various kinds of communication channels
for each of these trends. This is a chapter that I found particularly interesting.
Do I recommend this book? Yes, definitely.
Overall, The New Workforce is an interesting read. While some of us may disagree with sweeping
generalizations in some cases, I do believe Hankin has made some relevant observations in this book. The
examples quoted in the book are relatable and the author personalizes the book with examples from her
life.

Trend 2: More Varied Household Types: Todays households more diverse with traditional families
becoming scarcer. Hankin explores the kind of families where older members in the families are working,
or women being the heads of the household or young couples choosing to start their families late due to
their career priorities or even long distance relationships. She discusses the various types of households
that exist in todays society. It is no longer effective for companies to provide standard benefits to meet
everyones needs. With more varied households, companies must offer more flexible benefits to better
meet the needs of all the participants in their workforce.

Trend 3: Generations: In this trend, Hankin explains the different generations like the silent generation,
Baby Boomers, Gen X etc. She also says Insight into the differences among the generations is beneficial to
employers seeking to create a workplace where people can do their best work. Generalizations aside, every
one in every generation is a person. At the end of the day, each individual wants to be recognized as such:
an individual, not a number or statistic or label. This is not preaching, this is priority insight 1. As per her
prediction, by 2050, four or even five generations will be working in an organization in full force.

Trend 4: Diversity: This chapter covers the broad topic of diversity. Gender, race, religion, creed, disability,
sexual preference, and nationality shape who we are and how we perceive the world. They influence us as
much as the historical factors that define our generations. The diversity of the emerging workforce

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Nitesh: Thank you Prateek for your time for the interview?
Prateek: Pleasure is all mine, I thank Ekaakshara for this opportunity.
Nitesh: In the current context of Hiring, what is in store for New Hires?
Prateek: According to research from India skill reports 2015, there will be a rise when it comes to freshers
getting hired. Many Experts say that though there will be a good percentage of opportunity, it will not be a
euphoric as the last four years. Companies will hire freshers to boost productivity and growth but this will
only happen among the best of the best since companies are looking for people with ready-made skills.

GUEST
Prateek, Corporate HR
Head, Marico International

HOST
Nitesh Pandey,
Ekaakshara Team

Prateek is Corporate HR head in Marico International, He has also worked with TCS and Glaxo Smith Kline
as HR manager in his earlier roles. He is an Engineering Graduate from M.M.M. Engineering Collage and
did his MBA form Institute of Management & Technology, Ghaziabad. He is currently responsible for hiring
great Talent in Europe Middle-East and India for Marico International.
I had an opportunity last month to have a conversation with him on Hiring Trends for future, here is what
he has to say on Hiring Trends,
Interview Highlights
Nitesh Pandey from Ekaakshara team recently caught up with Prateek about the Hiring Trends in 2015,
Successful Interview Strategies Lead to Hiring Great Candidates.

Nitesh: What kind of Job Skills do you think will be in demand looking at the current organizational
requirement and in the era of Social Networking?
Prateek: This is one of the scariest questions at present times because in case someone doesnt fall under
the desired in-demand skill and job bracket they will have to look for alternatives that dont pay as good. So
the jobs and skills in-demand are those related to IT and BFSI (Business, financial services and insurance),
hospitality and retail.
Nitesh: What role do you think Data based decision making will play in Hiring great talents?
Prateek: Recruiting leaders are finally realizing that all other business functions now make all major
decisions based on data. Metrics-based decision-making will have a huge impact in recruiting because
I find database decisions to be at least 25 percent better than intuitive decisions. Forget the low-value
historical metrics and expect to see real-time and predictive metrics dominate. If you need increased
budget resources, work with the CFO in order to assign a dollar value to how much recruiting results
directly increase corporate revenue.
Nitesh: How Important is to have a proper workforce plan in the current Scenario?
Prateek: Recruiting shortages and high turnover rates have historically forced executives to focus on
developing dependable talent pipelines. Expect an increased emphasis in all aspects of workforce planning,
including talent pipelines and talent communities, supply/demand forecasting, succession planning,
predicting employee turnover, and leader development. Dont expect much success in this area because
of the volatile VUCA environment and the fact that professionals in each of these workforce planning
areas have almost universally failed to produce the promised results because they do not use data based
decision-making.
Nitesh: What is the role of Social Networking in Hiring Good talent?
Prateek: Social networks are becoming the preferred channels for promoting talent brand as well as for
Hiring. We all view talent brand as important, but its much harder to do it consistently well. The majority of
global recruiting leaders agree that talent brand impacts their ability to hire top talent, but far fewer have
the budget to promote and measure it. As a result, many companies use affordable channels like social and
professional networks to promote their talent brand messages.

57

58

Nitesh: The last Question, How are the organizations closing the gap Between Active Candidates (those
currently seeking employment) and Passive candidates (those who are not looking but are open to
speaking to a recruiter)?
Prateek: 2015 is going to see a big shift toward closing the gap that exists between active and passive
candidates. Active candidates have been the main focus of recruiters for some time, but passive candidates
are a key talent pool that is not to be missed. In fact, 75% of professionals would categorize themselves as
passive, yet this potential is greatly untapped, with only 61% of companies recruiting passive candidates.
A recent poll has revealed that on LinkedIn, at least 63% of members are not actively looking but would still
be interested in new job leads. 2015 is certainly the time for companies to capitalize on the passive talent
pool.
Nitesh: Thank You Prateek for your valuable inputs on Hiring Mantras and Key trends.
Prateek: Thank You to Ekaakshara for the opportunity, hope the readers find the information useful.

The evening Awards function started with a Key Note Panel Discussion deliberating on the topic Making
Human Resources Future-Ready. The panel comprised of the Conference Chairperson, Dr. Deepak
Deshpande - Senior VP - HR, Netmagic Solutions, Dr. Chandra Mauli Dwivedi - Director, N L Dalmia Institute
of Management Studies and Research, Dr. D Prasanth Nair Head HR, BookmyCab.com & Managing
Partner at Inhelm Partners, Mr. Pratik Vaidya Managing Director, Karma Management Consultants & Ms.
Nabomita Mazumdar Partner, CiteHr moderated by Mr. Nirmalya Banerjee Business Head, BMGI. The
panel discussion covered key areas on the current scenario of the Industry and the challenges which HR
professionals face which set the tone for the Evening on key areas as below.
1.
How to enhance creativity index of team and make Innovation way of life in organization.
2.
What are the new soft skills required to manage workforce in future and how to develop them.
3.
How to accelerate the people development speed ahead of industry clock speed to be always ready
for new adoptions.
4.
How to effectively leverage Technology to augment people capability.
The stage was set to felicitate the achievers from the HR fraternity representing the best initiatives of
individuals, their teams and organizations across these 12 awards categories:
HR Awards 2015 concludes with a BIG APPLAUSE on 13th March 2015 at Hotel Holiday Inn, Mumbai.
HR Awards 2015 organized by Conference Asia, which aimed at Recognizing HR Excellence for Senior Level
HR Thought Leaders concluded on the 13th March 2015 at Hotel Holiday Inn, Mumbai, with a big bang.
The ceremony was attended by Whos Who of the Human Resources fraternity and HR stalwarts from the
industry. More than 75+ Industry Thought Leaders & Senior Human resources professionals participated at
the HR Awards 2015 from a cross section of the industry such as IT & ITes, BFSI, Manufacturing, Chemicals
& Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure & Construction, Oil & Gas and services sector such as Insurance, Telecom
and the Academia as well to name a few. Ekaakshara was the media partner for the event.

59

Speaking on the Occasion, Mr. Bhavesh Kothari - Director Partnerships & Alliances, Conference Asia said,
The theme of the HR Awards 2015 was Recognizing HR Excellence with an objective to celebrate the
collaborative efforts of individuals & their teams in their journey towards HR Excellence through innovation,
dedication & commitment, thereby making it the most sought after awards for the HR fraternity. He also
added We ensured strict adherence in the Evaluation Process for Awards Selection so as to ensure complete
transparency and fairplay while selecting the top two winners for the HR Awards 2015.
Below is the Winners Galore of the organizations / Individuals who were felicitated at the gala Awards nite
via a glittering ceremony amidst whos who from the Human Resources fraternity and HR stalwarts from
the industry.

60

Local Capter of
Learning and
Development Group
Chap

ter M
e

et on

28th

Marc

h 201

Chapter Meet on the 25th April 2015

Inaugural Meeting on 28th February 2015

After remaining a virtual group primarily on social media platforms for last three and half years the Learning
and Development group recently started its first local chapter. The first ever chapter came up in the city
of Bangalore. L&D Groups objective of starting local chapters is to bring Learning and HR practitioners in
a particular city together and create opportunities for them to have closer collaboration. The Bangalore
Chapter was inaugurated on the 28th February. The chapter meets on the 4th Saturday of every month
from 9 am to 12-30 pm at Hotel Iris, Brigade Road, Bangalore.
The group plans to set up chapters in other parts of the country as well in the near future. If you would
like to be part of the Learning and Development group local chapters, send an e-mail to info@learningdevelopment.com

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HR Virtual Learning
Zone will have
Ekaakshara as its
Media Partner

Upcoming HR VLZ sessions:

Ms Rani Desai, CPO, Deloitte - Theme : Women in Leadership (exclusive session for TeamLease) - May 14,
2015 (to be rescheduled to June end)
Mr DP Singh, VP HR, IBM - Theme : Talent as a Differentiator - May 28, 2015
Mr D Shivakumar, CEO, Pepsico - Theme : Business & HR : The HR Career Path to Reach the Board Room June 24, 2015
Ms Malati Vasudeva, Head Talent, CSC, Mr Babu Vittal, Head HR, Flipkart Retail - Theme : Performance
Management - Best Practices - July 30, 2015
Ms Sonali Roychowdhury, Head HR, P&G and Mr Judhajit Das, Head HR, ICICI Prudential - Theme : TBD August 27, 2015
Mr Rajeshwar Tripathi, CPO, Mahindra AFS - Theme : TBD - September 24, 2015

HR TECH WORLD CONGRESS IN PARIS

THIS YEAR
EKAAKSHARA
LEARNING AND DEVELOPEMENT GROUP

HR Virtual Learning Zone has chosen Ekaakshara as their media partner. HR Virtual Learning Zone is an
initiative which offers great learning opportunities for professionals and practitioners on topical HR themes
and models by senior Industry experts. HR VLZ offers learning from the most sought after leaders at the
convenience of being at home or at ones workstation. Each HR VLZ session provides an opportunity to
know the latest industry news, research trends, best practices and case studies directly from professionals
of eminence. Going beyond geographical boundaries, VLZ have been attended by 10500 + participants
from India and Abroad. Speakers in the past included: Mr Anand Pillai ( SVP and Chief Learning Officer,
Reliance Industries Limited, Ms Sagorika Kanthaira , Head HR, RadioCity, Mr A Krishna, SVP - HR, Bosch, Mr
Raghavendra K, VP HR, Infosys BPO, Mr Anurag Verma, VP HR, Flipkart.com, Mr Uday Burra, Director People
Strategy, Sapient, Ms Kripa Krishnamoorthy, Sr VP HR, Citi Bank, Dr Deepak Deshpande, VP HR, Netmagic
Solutions and Mr Surya Prakash Mohapatra, India Leader-Knowledge and Capability, Hewlett-Packard
Global Business Services.

HR Tech World opens in Paris this year. The worlds foremost congress and expo for global HR leaders is the
largest gathering of its kind, playing host to buyers from over 80 countries worldwide with a combined
spending power of more than 10 billion. HR Techs growing community has influenced over 40 million
employees globally. No other community is having such a powerful impact on shaping the future of work.
HR Tech World Congress has chosen Ekaakshara as their Media Parter for the World Congress on October
27th and 28th in Paris this year.

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EKAAKSHARA
PHOTO CONTEST
If you want to participate in the next edition of
Ekaakshara Photo contest, please reach out to
our Photo Contest coordinator, Mr Purna Rao
(purnarao2200@yahoo.co.in)

First Runner-up- Child on the Beach-

Second Runner-up- The Tree

by Shraddha Patil

by Anirban Choudhury

5th Position- Nature

By Shreyas

65

Winner:
The Sun in my finger Tips
by Ashish Sharma

4th Position- The Waterfall

by Shraddha Patil

66

Our
DESIGNERS
make it for your Users,
Not for you.

contact@uxinterface.in
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