XLRI, Jamshedpur PGDM (GM) Conclave Committee successfully concluded its conclave KRONOS’22 CHRO Conclave themed “Workplace 4.0: Changing Today for Tomorrow” during 15th and 16th of October 2022.

KRONOS 2.0 aims to provide a platform for sharing best industry practices and their views on what strategies the organizations can implement to navigate their organization through these turbulent times and make them future-ready, through a series of interactive panel discussions and keynote addresses by industry leaders.

The conclave was held Hybrid (Oct 15th) and Online (Oct 16th) with Aparajita Chaudhuri, Jeetu Mohan, Dilpreet Kaur, Divya Parimala Enamandra, Sohrab Faraz as Student Moderators and Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi as Faculty Moderator for the session. Students Sanjeevani Srivastava, Vijaynkesh Bariar, Maneesh Devarunda Raghu, Shaunak Mayur Vora, Shilpita Panigraphy, Bharath R Rao and Sarayu Nairwas host and co-host for the event.

It started with the Inaugural Address by Mr. Ranaveer Sinha, President Alumni Association & Board of Governors Member, XLRI Jamshedpur. He mentioned how Jamshedpur and the house of Tata is the pioneer of HR practice. It was Tata’s who started the 8-hour workday, provident fund, maternity benefits, diversity and inclusion, Tata’s introduced the concept of Talent Value Management. He stressed that diversity is not just inclusion of women in workforce but also the lgbtq+ community. He stressed that since the last few years HR innovation has been for white collar workers, but it is time to focus on blue collar jobs once again as manufacturing is growing in India. He told that “How an HR leader is a great fit to become a CEO as he/she has the appropriate skills to handle people”

It was followed by the Chief Speaker Dr. Varadharaju Janardhanan, Vice President HR, Flipkart. He enlightened us on the topics for Data Transformation explaining its purpose, power of data and personalization. The case studies touched various aspect of innovation in HR functions. His stories and use cases are going to stay for us forever. One of the key take aways from this session is to not become a victim of the situation and have the right attitude in the face of challenge.

It was followed by Panel Discussion on Topic “The Interaction between Human and Machine Labour” by Rajnish Kumar, Group President & Head - Compensation & Benefits and Business HR- YES BANK, Anshula Verma, HR Director and National Head Talent Acquisition- EY, Chandra Mohan, Head Employee Relations- Delmonte Foods India and moderated by Aparajita Chaudhuri, student of XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker Rajnish Kumar, Group President & Head - Compensation & Benefits and Business HR- YES BANK, articulated that “Every time tech evolves humans resist it. Nowadays, Science fiction is becoming reality thanks to AI/ML. Consumer demand for convenience and services has increased with respect to technology. During Covid, most banking was done from home. Therefore, risk of regulation went very high. Be transparent with your employees and advise them on best practices going forward”

This was followed by Anshula Verma, HR Director and National Head Talent Acquisition- EY, saying “Mobile Phones & Technology has made life easier and technology is fantastic for taking informed decisions. She also revealed two important things about Consulting. Consulting is Client facing role and Consulting thrives on connect (conviction is essential). At EY, they use AI Products and transform business for clients”.

It was followed by Chandra Mohan, Head Employee Relations- Delmonte Foods India, stressing on that people are initially resistive to changes. They are emotionally connected to something to which they regularly interact. Workplace emotion is really vital. Implementing the mood score index is really important. Technology gives us the medium, but empathy comes from our inner emotions. If business needs to progress, then understand the basic. Retaining a right challenge is as important as getting a right challenge”

The Second Panel discussed “Hyper Personalisation in HR” by Anand Dhruv, Associate Director HR, NTT Ltd., Vinay Agrawal, Global Head- Business HR, Tech Mahindra, Majid Ali Khan, Global Head Talent Acquisition- InfoCepts and moderated by Prof. Sunil Kumar Sarangi, Faculty, XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker Anand Dhruv, Associate Director HR, NTT Ltd., articulated how one should be leading by example, the importance of culture in an organization and the importance of investing in learning and development in an employee. He talked about the challenges faced by HR like uncertainty of times and unpredictability of mindsets of employer. The challenges in engagement, development and experience cycle of an employee and on how to work in coordination with various stakeholders.

This was followed by Vinay Agrawal, Global Head- Business HR, Tech Mahindra. He gave certain ways to engage customers in non-conventional way. He stressed the importance of tracking the basic data. He stressed that World has recognized Indian talent and has not accepted the diversity and inclusion in Indian context. He told never be afraid of trying new things. He stressed that data is important but rely on natural instinct.

It was followed by Majid Ali Khan, Global Head Talent Acquisition- InfoCepts, stressing that “Change” is about disruption. Talent Acquisition is the backbone of the HR function. He also talked about the importance of Connect, Communication and Convert. Connect can't happen without hyper-personalization.”

On the Second Day, the First Panel discussed “Rise of People Analytics and Future of Work” by Vikas Maheshwary, Global Head HR Transformation - Biocon Biologics, Sumit Neogi, HR Director - South Asia, Middle East & Africa- The Lubrizol Corporation Corporation, Joydeep Roy, MD - HR & Talent Supply Chain Leader, PwC India and moderated by Jeetu Mohan, Student of XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker Vikas Maheshwary, Global Head HR Transformation - Biocon Biologics, talked about creating Personas for the management of the diversity at the workplace. He always wanted to create a lean structure with linking the required and appropriate data from the Data lake. He also stated that prescriptive analytics has taken HR data to next level than only presenting the data in Dashboard”.

This was followed by Sumit Neogi, HR Director - South Asia, Middle East & Africa- The Lubrizol Corporation, saying “People analytics has human element. Percentage of subjectivity will reduce by analytics tools. Data analytics helps narrow down decision options. Personal data privacy laws are wishy washy. Policy defines what’s confidential and not, give limited access to the personal data - ways to maintain data privacy”.

It was followed by Joydeep Roy, MD - HR & Talent Supply Chain Leader, PwC India, stressing on that human resource has transitioned from being a transactional unit to one now can talk business. He stressed that companies should have code of conduct and employees should be aligned as per it. Creating a Talent Supply chain for the tier 2 cities is a differentiating factor in generating new pool of resources which can be leveraged by the organization in the competitive advantage. We should not be blindly dependent upon technology, it makes us very much vulnerable. Technology with human decisions is the capability to be built.”

The Second Panel discussed “The Mandate of Flexible Work conditions regarding Time and Locations” by Ritesh Agarwal, Sales Capability Head- Asia BU Region, PepsiCo, Urooj Fatma, Head HR, Macawber Beekay Pvt. Ltd., Amit Chincholikar, Global CHRO - Tata Consumer Products, Satish Rajarathnam, SVP HR - Head Talent Transformation, Mphasis and moderated by Dilpreet Kaur, Student, XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker Ritesh Agarwal, Sales Capability Head- Asia BU Region, PepsiCo, articulated that, He nostalgically remembered how he was part of the transformation from 12-hour working shifts in plants to 8-hour shifts and now to 4 days working in a week. He also clarified how the mandate is not only required for timing but also for the location, depending on how much you are exposed to risk and how hazardous the working conditions are. At the same time, remote working is still challenging in various work areas like sales and factories. Also, flexible working comes with different disadvantages too for employees and the organization as a whole. So, in conclusion, he reminded us that everything has to be balanced efficiently to gain more and lose less; the need for today is flexible timing and location, but Still, context is as important for the implementation.

This was followed by Urooj Fatma, Head HR, Macawber Beekay Pvt. Ltd., saying “There are jobs in the IT industry which could be done from home. Whereas there are jobs that happen in plants or sites where the person has to be present. So, work from home or work from office depends on the kind of work. Also, eventually the collaboration between employees is what is needed and whatever helps in achieving that is workable. The client and deliverables decide whether work from home is workable”.

It was followed by, Amit Chincholikar, Global CHRO - Tata Consumer Products, stressing on the advent of availing any service from anywhere has changed drastically. Workplaces are coming up with their own right mix of flexibility, agility, and adaptability to thrive in these times. Coming up with this right combination requires patience on the part of the organizations as it may take them multiple iterations to find the balance and build a two-way street of trust with their customers.

It was followed by Satish Rajarathnam, SVP HR - Head Talent Transformation, Mphasis, stressing that work performed by organization or any individual has changed over the years. Adoption of digital technology helped few professions to achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Ex. doctor performing remote surgeries. The workplace has become wonderful place to collaborate with colleagues and technology makes the work easier the social environment and job quality are changed, and technology enabled flexibility in the workplace.”

The Third Panel discussed “Strategies to navigate Era of Teamwork and Collaboration” by Parsuram Dash, CHRP®, Head of Training, HR & Admin, VE Pharma Inc, Digwanta Chakraborty, Regional HR Director -Head HR, Trinity Life Sciences, Roma Bindroo, CHRO, Zepto, and moderated by Divya Parimala Enamandra, students of XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker, Parsuram Dash, CHRP®, Head of Training, HR & Admin, VE Pharma Inc articulated that “Culture is very important since it brings better collaboration. Inter department conflicts and conflicts between bosses affects collaboration in a firm. Collaboration & Culture along with team work helps a company achieve its goals. Business Strategy comes first, and HR strategy follows. If HR strategy doesn’t align with business strategy, then you wouldn’t be able to hire the right person. HR needs to understand the business and identify the person which would be the perfect fit for the business”. A Wonderful thought.

This was followed by Digwanta Chakraborty, Regional HR Director -Head HR, Trinity Life Sciences, saying “It is impossible to imagine any organisation moving forward without the collective effort of all the people working together in a team. "People teaming" is something which people look for and it is essentially an inherent trait of human beings to come together as part of a team. It is crucial to build team, understand their dynamics and create a unique value system where 360-degree team effort is realised during the delivery and the team effort evolves as a culture in an organisation.”.

It was followed by Roma Bindroo, CHRO, Zepto, stressing on that there is a need to devise better team work and collaboration during these tough times. At the same time, the opportunities to create that is much more. Each person is very unique. Their dynamism is very interesting. When they are bought under a team, then managing such a team is difficult. So, we have to do a deep analysis and find out the trigger for such a behaviour.”

The Fourth Panel discussed “An Agile HR” by R Alexander, Director HR, Oracle, Vikram Khanna, Global Talent Team Member & Global Sales Academy Lead, Solvay, Dr. Nidhi Dhanju, Group CHRO, Praj Industries, Rohith Kumar, Head HR, Landmark Group - SPAR India (Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd.) and moderated by Sohrab Faraz, Student, XLRI Jamshedpur.

The speaker R Alexander, Director HR, Oracle, articulated about various methodologies like Agile and Kanban that were present long before we started hearing of them. He stressed on the point that organizations need to be obsessed with customers and why Human Resources need to have a purpose and a clear vision and mission.

This was followed by Vikram Khanna, Global Talent Team Member & Global Sales Academy Lead, Solvayinterpreted Agility in HR as creating Value for customers & Value for employees. He said that there are 2 ways of looking towards Agility in HR - HR for agile (How HR can create policies for people to bring agility) and Agile for HR (The new processes to build which brings Agility for HR). He also stressed that agility is more about creating values moving with business and creating avenues. It is about moving from secrecy to transparency. The idea of agile HR is to create business value, employee value & customer value.”.

It was followed by Dr. Nidhi Dhanju, Group CHRO, Praj Industries, stressing on that Agile for HR has the potential to reinvent our operational model and help us modernize as a profession. We don’t even need to work in an Agile organization to do Agile for HR and can realize the benefits very quickly by applying a few basics steps in your everyday work. Agile HR mindset is also about our people being the customer and user of the employee experience. When viewed this way, value begins to represent something that delights the customer and helps the employee be successful in their job. It also creates a need to design human-centric people practices that are validated through the direct feedback of the users”

It was followed by Rohith Kumar, Head HR, Landmark Group - SPAR India (Max Hypermarket India Pvt. Ltd.), who stressed that HR is always agile in retail. He also said that agility in HR is mindset. Mindset comes from different design structure. Communication between employees and customers helps to build up agility in HR, that takes care of customers and employees at the same time. Agility in HR can be achieved by moving away from desk jobs, recruiting agile mindset people and measuring input and output matrices. In order to start the agile in HR, there is no specific touchpoint. We need to touch as many as possible touch points which come from business and which will benefit employees.” These words surely enriched our knowledge.

The grand event was concluded with a Vote of Thanks by the Conclave Committee of XLRI summarizing the whole session & bringing it to a delightful close.