HR Initiatives

Book Review - 17th Feb 2022

A review of the book Digital Sutra – Accelerating Digital Success was conducted by Upohan on 17 Feb 2022. The book co-authored by Ganesh Natarajan, Uma Ganesh and Lavanya Jayaram deals with the subject of re-imagining organisations for a Post Covid -19 World.

Eklavya Malhotra, Engagement ManagerUpohanvery effectively took the audience through the content with a very interesting elaboration of how working at organisations is changing for good in the post Covid -19 era. He brought out how the authors have tried to focus on the different components of a business. From business infrastructure, investment in digitization, service enhancement, all the way to suggestions on employee productivity. He explained that each chapter has been further divided into sections, which made the reading more educative.

There is a worldwide transformation in business practices occurring across industries. Organisations continue to enhance their competitive advantage by launching new digital journeys with great agility. The COVID-19 transformation and the unstoppable push towards a ‘new normal’ for all processes and businesses will definitely see a complete reimagination of work. Digital re-engineering will emerge as the new imperative as technologies enter the workplace and processes get re-engineered. This also enables a complete changing of the customer and other stakeholder requirements and new skills and cultural change become the new imperative for human resource functions.

This bookwould be of interest to CEOs, CFOs and other senior positions within companies that are trying to make the digital changes in their organisations. The book will help them gain insights on aligning their existing investment with newer initiatives, and also develop a proper roadmap for their digital future.

Panel Discussion on Post Covid Scenario of Industry The book review was followed by a panel discussion. The panel of Dr. Deepak Deshpande, Sr Dir HR, NTT Global Centres and Cloud Infrastructure India and Deep Mody, CHRO Easy Pay was well moderated by Advait Kurlekar, COO Upohan and deliberated upon a number of current issues post COVID and also looked to the future that would emerge with new technologies like Artificial Intelligence taking over the workplace. . Lastly, Samir Gadgil, Secretary HIA and member of HR Co-ord Committee delivered the Vote of Thanks and expressed his gratitude to the panel members and Upohan for conducting a very insightful discussion.

Book Review - 18th Nov 2021

A review of the book The Right Choice: Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success by Shiv Shivkumar was conducted by Upohan on 18 Nov 2021. The book was reviewed by Eklavya Malhotra of Upohan who briefly but clearly brought out the 10 dilemmas that face anyone wanting to make a career change. The book with foreword by Indra Nooyi explores the entire gamut of situations an individual faces when making a choice to change the career path. The book is thus relevant at every level from the junior-most to the senior-most in the corporate hierarchy.

Various dilemmas that include whether money is the sole criterion, will an additional MBA help in career advancement to the possibilities of living apart from your family for furtherance of your career have been discussed. Also, deliberated upon are the questions on taking a sabbatical, re-joining a previous organisation, and taking up a career overseas. The pros and cons and relevance of these are discussed in full detail, and would help someone considering these options. Lastly, the difficult choice of turning an entrepreneur, the conundrum of whether to join or not to join a board of directors have also been threadbare commented upon.

The book review was followed by a panel discussion. The panel of Soumi Alphons and Sanjay Khorate both established leaders in the field of HR Management and Employee development had an interesting conversation with Advait of Upohan.

Lastly, audience also put across their views and comments on the subject. The book is interesting and could help employees at all levels understand their own situations better and will help them make an informed choice about career changes.

Book Review - 11th Aug 2021

A review of the book “Talent Wins – The New Playbook for Putting People First ” by Dominic Barton Global Managing Partner McKinsey, Ram Charan, Advisor Corporate Guru. Author Teacher and Dennis Carey Vice Chairman, Korn Ferry, was conducted by Upohan on 11 Aug 2021..

Most executives today recognize the competitive advantage of human capital, and yet the talent practices their organizations use are stuck in the twentieth century.

Typical talent-planning and HR processes are designed for predictable environments, traditional ways of getting work done, and organizations where "lines and boxes" still define how people are managed. As work and organizations have become more fluid--and business strategy is no longer about planning years ahead but about sensing and seizing new opportunities and adapting to a constantly changing environment--companies must deploy talent in new ways to remain competitive.

Filled with examples of forward-thinking companies that have adopted radical new approaches to talent (such as ADP, Amgen, BlackRock, Blackstone, Haier, ING, Marsh, Tata Communications, Telenor, and Volvo), as well as the juggernauts and the startups of Silicon Valley, this book shows leaders how to bring the rigor that they apply to financial capital to their human capital--elevating HR to the same level as finance in their organizations.

Providing deep, expert insight and advice for what needs to change and how to change it, this is the definitive book for reimagining and creating a talent-driven organization that wins.

YOGFORMANCE – YOGA TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE AT WORK

A session on ‘Yogformance – Improvement of Performance by Yoga’ was held on 20 May at 3:30 pm by the conducting team of Yogformance, under aegis of HR Committee. This was a free session for introduction of the subject to members of HIA.

The entire course would be of 90 days and the end result attempted would be to enhance the performance of the teams using various exercises.

Companies have been asked to contact the Yogaformance teams directly and if requested, they would also conduct a session for the companies to help them understand the concept before going for it. The 90 days training program would be created depending upon what each company aims to achieve. The programs are thus structured as per requirement. The costs also vary accordingly.

Corporate brochure has been shared with all company SPOCs. Companies if interested have been requested to communicate directly with Yogformance team and take it forward.

BOOK REVIEW AND PANEL DISCUSSION

Review of the Book “Gig Economy in Rising India” followed by a panel discussion on the subject of Gig economy was held under aegis of HR Co-ord Committee HIA on 19 Feb at 3:30 pm. The on-line event was conducted by Upohan.

The Book by Amitava Ghosh on the growth of the gig economy and its implications in the present scenario in India was reviewed by Eklavya Malhotra of Upohan. He brought out the impact that this new economy had brought about on the environment. The millennials no longer wanting to stick to a straitjacketed job had found a good way to use their talents to the hilt and making a good earning out of it. Not being shackled to a job has its advantages in the freedom that a gig worker enjoys. The flip side though too exists. The security of a job, the social security like the PF that one gets and the guarantee of a salary are something the gig worker has to forego. However, the fact that the trend is catching up indicates there is a space for this economy to thrive and for a large pool of young talent to find its calling.

The subject was then discussed at length by a panel consisting of eminent personalities including the founder of a start up gigindia, dealing with just the very subject. Head HR Kornferry India and Head HR of Dasaault Systemes were the other two members on the panel. The discussion was moderated by Advait from Upohan.

There was great deal of enthusiastic participation from the HR personnel attending and a large number of queries and doubts were raised and answered.

32^ND ROAD SAFETY AWARENESS MONTH

Road Safety Awareness Month is being observed from 18 Jan to 17 Feb 2021 across the country to focus on the aspect of road safety and prevention of road accidents.

As part of the events to observe this safety month, a webinar titled “Road Safety in Corporate Life” was conducted under aegis of Regional Transport Office Pune and Hinjawadi Industries Association (HIA) on 02 Feb 2021 from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm for employees of HIA members companies.

The Guest of Honour was Shri Prasad Masurkar, Hon. Secretary National Safety Council, Maharashtra Chapter. The webinar was conducted by Shri Sanjay Sasane, Dy RTO, Pune. Col Shankar Salkar, Head Transport Operations HIA set the ball rolling with introduction and appreciation of the Guest of Honour who has played a great role in various initiatives to reduce traffic as well as industrial accidents in Maharashtra. He was instrumental in setting up the Safety Department at Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation and also setting up Safety Policies. Col Salkar also introduced the Dy RTO and laid out the various important achievements of the officer over the years, both in administrative and instructional fields.

The webinar conducted by Shri Sasane brought out various facets of road safety and the actions required to ensure a low rate of accidents on road. The webinar was very well appreciated by the employees who also suggested that face to face seminars should be conducted once COVID guidelines are a bit relaxed.

Col Charanjeet Singh Bhogal, COO HIA thanked Shri Sasane for conducting a very educative webinar and suggested that more such activities could be conducted at Hinjawadi Industries Association office and at various company locations..

Some pics of the webinar below….