Refresh and Reboot: Reimagining the Future of HR
Shaswat Kumar
Partner,
Talent & Performance,
Aon Hewitt
Vikrant Khanna
Lead - Insights & Innovation,
Asia Pacific & Middle East,
Aon Hewitt
Bob Dylan would also have been a thought leader if he
pursued a parallel career in professional services, for this
excerpt from his song "The Times They Are a-Changin"
captures the very essence of the times we live in today!
Half a century ago, he could foretell the importance of
change, agility and disruption.
Businesses today are experiencing breakthroughs
faster than ever, lifecycles for innovation are shortening,
the east is gradually becoming the new west and more
importantly, innovation and technology are the new fuels
disrupting businesses. Leading firms are leaving behind
the traditional models of market access; instead they are
creating new markets and controlling consumer experience
like never before.
The only static paradigm remains the access to talent
as an enabler to organizational capabilities; yet, even in
its static state, the entropy defining changes within the
talent conundrum across demography, values, culture and
psychographic is immense
With close to 7 connected devices per human being
on earth by 20201 and the average human spending close
to 2.5 hours on mobile devices surfing daily2, one does
not really need to underscore the pace of change we are
experiencing. The workforce of today is at the helm of
actualizing and experiencing the new world like never
before, be it in the form of digital connectedness, demand
for here and now or changing aspirations from their careers.
Source: Aon Hewitt
As Organizations Navigate These Times, This
Convergence of Talent, Technology and Shifting
Psychographics Brings HR to the Crossroads.
The New Work, Workforce and Workplace are
Driven by Business and Talent Aspirations
Business existence is gravitating towards three anchors:
- Agility: both in mindset and strategy to accommodate and create place for itself in the disruption era where megatrends are a given
- Speed: in executing an agile strategy that is living and
mature enough to deliver until the next iteration kicks in
- Innovation: that remains the last standing pillar of
competitive advantage in a world where the business
model is short-lived
We have all read about the Kodaks, Nokias, Ubers and AirBnBs; the fundamentals of any marketplace success will
have the dead silence or the resonating echoes of the three
capabilities business anchors mentioned above.
The workforce of today can be best defined along the
contours of a consumer. In the consumer products world,
a brand is the cluster of beliefs, experiences and impressions that consumers attach to a product or service.
A mismatch in expectations may trigger a shift of jobs.
This new consumer for businesses has its own demands:
- Experience: the employer brand has to be consistent
across their journey in the workplace which adds to
aspirations of careers, collaboration and learning
- Transparency: is a two-way street on them being able
to voice opinions, track performance and getting
recognized almost at real-time speeds
- A higher purpose: is the binding force connecting them
to the work and organizational ethos, more importantly,
how this translates to their individual intrinsic motivators
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