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Providing curated content centred on HR business trends to help you meet organisational challenges and to gain access to key tools and resources that supports your day-to-day business as we continue to make better workplaces for a better world.


			


			


	

			

	

		
The Great Resignation as the Great Career Revival
	

	

		
The idea of the Great Resignation originated in the United States and was proposed by Texas A&M Professor, Anthony Klotz.  It proposed the observation of a phenomenon that is happening now with record numbers of people leaving their jobs as the COVID19 pandemic continues to unfold. Rough estimates suggest that 33 million Americans have quit their jobs since the spring of 2021.


Specific observations on the Great Resignation included the following:


    

  • The resignation seems to occur most among mid-career workers
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There is greater demand for mid-level workers due to their experience. This gives mid-career types greater leverage in securing employment opportunities. 


    

  • The highest rate of resignation is happening in technology and healthcare
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Resignation rates among workers in these sectors are attributed to high demands and the experience of significant stress which have resulted in increased workloads and burnout.


    

  • People are placing a priority on their health and well-being
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Many workers have reached a breaking point after months of high workloads, hiring freezes, work pressures and the absence of proper work boundaries and respect for personal time. These factors have caused many to rethink their work and life goals. Many are opting for greater focus on their health and well-being.


What has it taught us?


What the pandemic has certainly taught us is that things are not expected to return to normal as people and organizations have been forced to rethink the very notion of work. It heralded Future of Work conversations in an unprecedented way. Hybrid, remote and working-from-home have all become permanent features of the New Normal. In fact, the phenomenon is still playing out as experts have yet to see the full extent of what a post pandemic workplace will look like. One thing is for sure – organizations will need to move away from any one-size-fits-all approach to managing the challenges of onboarding, developing and retaining talent in a post pandemic world in a far more novel way.


A clear outcome is that people have many choices now. Employees who are self-motivated and willing to assume greater agility and control over their careers have discovered that it was possible to do so at a much greater rate of participation than ever before. They look for opportunities which allow for that agility to be expressed in the way they desire, and more importantly, at their time and pace.


Conversely, the pandemic has also caused a significant mental toll. In a study by the American Psychological Association, “Stress in America”, it found that 32% of adults were stressed by the pandemic and even to the point of dealing with daily routine decisions such as what to eat or wear.


What has it taught organizations?


The idea of centralized leadership is being challenged by a more fundamental shift towards self-leadership. In the war for talent, successful organizations have turned their focus on people in a big way. More than ever, they understand that the emphasis has to be on empowering workers, making permanent flexible work arrangements permanent, putting in place health and well-being programs, having blended workforce solutions, investments in technology and artificial intelligence, and last but not least, building a culture of trust. In essence, the key is “having work fit around personal lives and not personal lives around work” (Anthony Klotz).


It is actually an opportunity to herald the Great Revival 


In my survey of the vast literature out there on the topic, I have arrived at the following 4 Eureka moments:


    

  • The Great Resignation is not mainly about compensation anymore. Virtual and remote work is here to stay and people are exercising greater control and flexibility over their lives.
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  • The strongest predictor of staff turnover is a toxic culture. Failure to demonstrate respect, promote diversity and inclusion, focus on equity and unethical behavior will further drive up the Great Resignation.
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  • Failure to recognize performance and value will drive your better performers to quit and seek greener pastures.
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  • Response to the pandemic and having a clear vision of the future which motivates and inspires. Leadership plays a critical role in setting the right tone in visibly demonstrating competence during a crisis, and at the same time, raising the bar when it comes to looking after their most prized assets – their human capital.
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Discrimination At Workplaces – How you can build a More Inclusive Culture
	

	

		
The recent shift to remote working made scouting talent from across the globe and onboarding people from different parts of the world a piece of cake. It goes without saying that a diverse workforce is more productive. Companies receive the benefits of creativity and innovation, a diverse work environment, enhanced employee performance, and more, when they welcome and value employees from all backgrounds without any discrimination.


However, inclusion is not the same as diversity. Consider inclusiveness as the next stage in successfully supporting a diverse workforce: it’s all about building a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for all employees. If you are looking to make a genuine impact and want to showcase commitment to creating an inclusive work environment, it’s important to understand the dynamics of your organization first. In this blog, we will discuss some tried and tested ways of creating a diverse and inclusive work environment.


Add inclusive principles to your core values A timely revision of your organization’s values can be a good place to start. In case your company already has provisions for diversity and inclusion, getting management involved in shaping policies that follow company values and employee needs can be your next step. Ask for thoughts and input from all employees to make the right impact. If your administration and HR teams aren’t too diverse, Orient your company’s leaders on the value of diversity and inclusion. Offering diversity and inclusion (D&I) training to executive-level managers is one example. Also, consider creating a safe space for your executives to address awkward or unpleasant questions before launching company-wide diversity efforts. Once leadership is at ease and onboard, they’ll be invaluable assets in setting a genuine, inclusive tone for everyone.


Use inclusive language Model inclusive language in all professional communications. You can include your preferred pronouns in your email signatures and slack names, such as “Tia Michael, they/them,” to exhibit inclusive culture. When referring to someone’s spouse, use “spouse” or “partner” rather than the gender-specific – “husband” or “wife”. Non-married couples can also benefit from the use of “Partner”. Regardless of the language spoken in the office, multilingual signage can serve as a subtle reminder to employees that they are part of a more diversified world.


Celebrate diverse and inclusive events and initiatives To sensitize the world, there are several days in a year dedicated to celebrating and creating awareness about our different cultures and special abilities. Recognizing days such as – International women’s day (8th March), World autism awareness day (2nd April), International day of disabled persons (3rd December), or celebrating pride month by inviting guest speakers, or having an office lunch can be a great way of acknowledging the diversity of your company and being inclusive. Extending your holiday calendar to give minority groups and religions a day off can also be a fantastic way to create a healthy and diverse work environment. Ramadan, Muharram for Muslims, Diwali, Navrati for Hindus, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur for Jews are significant festivals that employees who celebrate them should be able to do so with their families on those days.


Create a collaborative environment Finding ways of collaborating across teams can be a great way for employees to spend time with each other and get to know one another better. Hosting events such as ‘bring your children to work day’, organizing team building activities or group volunteering can build an inclusive culture where everyone in the workplace learns to be sympathetic with those around them. A collaborative workplace may help break down divisions and foster inclusion across the organization, regardless of their function or department. For more isolated employees, a stronger HR presence is required. The OFCCP offers a list of workplace rights to protect employees from discrimination at their workplace. Some companies have also established an ‘inclusive task force’. These are passionate individuals who are responsible for bringing new ideas to leadership’s attention and collaborating with all departments to implement and promote change in the organization.


To Conclude Inclusion revolves around the day-to-day interactions between employees, managers, leaders, teams, and peers. In other words, genuine inclusive workplace practices rely on leadership support and grassroots energy. As companies become more diverse and inclusive (D&I) inclined, hiring people from diverse backgrounds, with unique needs is also being adopted on a large scale. Chezuba is a platform that offers corporates the opportunity to engage their employees in virtual volunteering as part of their employee engagement programs. With over 7000 nonprofits from across the globe to choose from, employees can get a true sense of the problems such as discrimination some communities face and work towards building an inclusive and sensitized world.


Summary: A Diverse and Inclusive work environment is largely beneficial for an organization. Let’s look at some ways you can build an inclusive workplace for everyone.

	


	

			










	

			

	

		
Beyond Retention: Building Employee Experience
	

	

		Zahira Crasta finally unveils her debut podcast taking the listener through her experience as a management consultant and an expert in organizing work environments.

She explores and expands upon the notion of retaining the nurtured talent that are your employees and all the ways it can drive up your productivity.	


	

			








	

			

	

		
Matter of Survival : Grow or Sustain
	

	

		
Grow or sustain? 


One of the biggest dilemmas for all the organizations in the current year has been the balance to focus between growth & sustenance. While the pandemic resulted in outraging opportunities in the knowledge industry, the same year also counted for circumstances like the Great Resignation. The ripple effects were also witnessed in the connected industries like automobile, real estate, etc as the spending ability spiked disproportionately. Also, the shortage of quality manufactured products due to the shut down in the previous year further created a gap in the demand-supply chain. 


Two paradigm shifts in last year – first the organizations trying to curtail the cost to secure margins and consequently downsizing. A so-called recession at the start of a pandemic or we should say an effort to predict with a pessimist view led to the fright of recession. However, towards the end of FY 21, an absolutely reverse effect started influencing the market which was unprecedented. Unlike the pessimistic view, this was growth. While the futurist predicted recessions after every decade, the same played an important role as the masters were waiting for it since 2018.  


The most interesting events that took place during the last two years: 


    

  1. The strategy of employee focus: 
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This was a radical change as Trust between the employee & employer became the most important factor for delivery. The traditional approach of monitoring working hours was broken in the blink of an eye. Now the trust has to be redeployed which resulted in failure for taskmasters and reverse stress was generated. Initially due to balancing the work-life with less workforce to secure margins and later due to gap created by longer recruitment cycles as competition brought in enormous challenges. The only successful leaders from this era were the ones who demonstrated a high level of resilience and who could think of new ways to inspire people. Pragmatically, the intimidating leadership demised and the inspiring leadership could sustain. One more key distinguishing factor of the good leaders in this era was also multi-tasking. The leaders who could clearly make business predictable amidst both the chaos. One by planning more and second by preparing the teams for the upcoming times by understanding the pointers to bring unprecedented scenarios under the remit of predictability. They were firm on that one age-old basic – Predictability is proportionate to sustainability 


2. Parity and cost arbitrage: 


One of the most difficult task in the last two years for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs were to balance the internal parity Vs the cost arbitrage. While the sound of it says that it should have impacted only the outsourcing industry, however when one thin sliced the situation, its influence is observed on every business owner. While the leaders in the west wanted to outsource more to ensure faster recovery due to pandemics, the leaders in the East were struggling with the rise of direct cost impact due to competition. I’m sure that we have answered questions on this either in front of the CXOs or the board of directors. Here I could observe a very contradictory proposition here. While all the leaders were pessimistic about the circumstances, the positioning was always optimistic. Few examples are like comparing the nos with pre-pandemic and saying we are almost there and recovery will be faster here onwards, SG&A cost has been increased for now for better focus on governance which can be curtailed as we go back to the office, etc 


In short, all the questions had a pessimistic approach, and the answers had an optimistic tone. While this is the common tactic in all complicated board meetings to ground-level reviews, what’s intriguing was everyone knew the market scenarios which were challenging and most often termed as unprecedented. These challenges were location agnostic and business agnostic as the world went through it simultaneously with a minor lag from country to country.  


I remember that when the lockdowns started in India, Ratan Tata was the only business leader who demonstrated optimism while the other generated hue and cry. He was the one emphasizing taking care of people in losses and they will help you to retrieve success stories once they understand how the organization has sustained through difficult times. Today, on one hand, corporate houses want to grab the growth opportunities which are available in abundance and on the other hand regret the retrenchments and conservative approach taken during the first phase of pandemic 


This underscores an important point that while investing one must identify the price of success – volatility & loss amid the long backdrop of growth and be willing to pay it! 


 

	


	

			






	

			

	

		
How Employee Volunteer Programs Can Improve Your Company
	

	

		
Encouragement and promotion of employee participation in community programs is one way for businesses to demonstrate their social responsibility. Employer programs that aid and support employees in volunteering, in particular, are gaining popularity. Employee volunteering, also known as corporate volunteering or employer-supported volunteering, allows employees to volunteer in their communities while receiving active support from their employers through both formal and informal policies and initiatives.


Employee Volunteer programs have been proved in numerous studies to promote productivity, employee engagement, and hiring and retention. According to a study published in 2013 by  Harvard Business Review, the more employees who volunteered (even if it was on their own time rather than on business time), the better they did on job duties. It was also revealed that volunteers, at work, tended to be better citizens (helping others, voicing ideas, and so on).


‍Structuring an Effective Employee Volunteer program:


You are sure to come across a variety of corporate volunteer programs. Some companies allow employees to volunteer for a cause or activity of their choice, while others organize highly structured events for teams to participate in together, such as a charity run, etc. Here’s how you can design an EVP that is best suited to your organization.


    

  1. Begin with the vision and mission of your company.
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Setting up programs that align with your values is an effective method to demonstrate to your shareholders, customers, and employees that you adhere to certain values and that you act on them.


When you’re deciding on your fundamental program concepts, be as open and transparent with your team as possible about why you’re doing it. This will assist in removing any cynicism. Demonstrate to your employees that they can rely on you for assistance in living lives that are driven by a higher purpose.


    

  1. Choosing the causes your organization will support.
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There are a few ways for determining which cause to support. This can be decided in a top-down hierarchy, with upper management selecting the causes. You might also conduct a survey or speak with your employees to understand the kinds of causes they wish to support or are already supporting. The best approach is usually a mix of the two: you may have certain central campaigns focused on the causes required by upper-level management, while also encouraging your employees to decide what causes they want to support on a local and global level. Either way, make sure you have a clear understanding of why you’re supporting the causes you do.


    

  1. Set clear objectives
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The key to creating a successful corporate volunteering program is to set clear and quantifiable goals. Consider how your program’s objectives fit into your company’s overall strategy and develop metrics to help you turn these aims into measurable accomplishments.


Keep your resources in mind while you set your goals. Answer questions such as – how much time do you think you’ll be able to devote to this? What is your financial plan? Etc. Implementing a best-in-class corporate volunteering program is a process; you may begin with a few projects and gradually expand your program to include more possibilities for your employees to participate and maximize your effectiveness.


    

  1. Find an employee volunteering platform to partner with. 
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Employee engagement is boosted by an online platform because it allows employees to join in from anywhere and track projects in real-time, even if they work remotely. It makes volunteering easy for your employees by bringing alternatives to them.


Online volunteering offers a lot of advantages such as –  your employees can access and browse from a catalog of projects, you can centralize and manage the entire program from one location, and you can track the impact your program is making, and share the results with the entire company to prompt others to come on board. A partner will be able to assist you in identifying appropriate causes that are in line with your company’s beliefs.

	


	

			






	

			

	

		
The Power of Employee Engagement
	

	

		
A lot has been said and written about what Employee Engagement is, it’s importance and the drivers thereof. In this blog I will not cover that, but rather highlight some of those critical yet often muted insights in many conversations.


Enabling and achieving employee engagement is without doubt key to success on the journey to the desired employee & customer experience. Research shows that there is a very strong link between employee experience and customer experience, which leads to innovation, sustained productivity, a strong brand reputation and growth.


Research also shows that engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave. The Great resignation is becoming a concern for most organization and hence employee engagement remains a priority for most organizations, the question is are we focusing on the things that matter the most? Are we mindful of what it means to be human- how our language, emotions and body provides intelligence that through coaching can help us as individuals and organization produce learning that generates change which ultimately may lead to increased engagement? I mention both individual and organization as they are both jointly responsible for increasing engagement for themselves and others.


From my observation, the dominant narrative seems to be what the organization, the manager, leader (leader with position) can do to improve employee engagement. I believe that it is time to change the narrative. We all know that motivation and commitment is more powerful when it comes from within. Therefore, to create and build an organization of fully engaged people requires the best from all people – it should not only be the responsibility of People Leaders. We are all human beings and our whole being matters, and as such only the individual has control of their personal life and how that can influence work experience and vice versa. As an individual I have a responsibility towards self and others. So, every person should be asking themselves the question – what can I do to engage MYSELF and others, taking into consideration the well-known drivers of engagement and one’s role within the organization.


I would like to share some questions that we need to be asking ourselves. I trust that these will result in learning that generates change which ultimately may lead to increased engagement, if taken seriously and is followed by the right action.


Individual Contributor– Given the VUCA times we are leaving in, how aware are you of what is really going on with you internally? Your wellness is an increasingly important aspect of your experience at work.


How could this (VUCA) be impacting your work experience?


Do you consciously and consistently observe your thoughts and the assessments you are making?


What is important to you that is not being taken care of?


Human beings continually engage in ‘concernful’ activity, everything we do is oriented towards taking care of what matters to us. What concerns are not being met? If these are not addressed, it leads to a ‘breakdown’. As life and Ontological coaching is teaching me, mastery in life is in dealing with breakdowns.


How committed are you to your work, your team, your organization and why? What is the responsible thing to do? An example of ways to make you feel engaged at work, 5 Ideas to Help You Feel More Engaged at Work – Engagement Multiplier.


People Leaders– do you understand the impact of the turbulent times and what the people need the most? What do the choices you make support or negate an engaging workplace?


Do you understand how you are impacting employee engagement and how you plan to impact it positively? Engaged managers and leaders build engaged teams.


How are you contributing to the creation of a culture where people are encouraged to take responsibility for their own engagement? An environment where, people know and feel that first and foremost they are cared for as human beings and are encouraged to learn and grow from their mistakes.


Do you listen, understand and provide clarity on what is required of individuals and teams under your care, support and reward them accordingly?


Do you respect the dignity of others and therefore allow them to think for themselves so they may contribute to both individual and organizational success? Employees empowered and coached to make decisions are more likely to make high impact decision that help move the needle in organizations. Empowerment leads to increased engagement.


Engaged people also ensure that they grow and improve their work consistently helping the organization achieve sustainable innovation and growth, a goal that all serious organizations aspire to achieve.


The power of employee engagement lies within us, and requires all to play our part!