The Great Resignation in India

, as the trend has been hailed, resulted in more than 24 million American workers resigning from their jobs, in sectors as diverse as healthcare, transportation, retail, hospitality, education, and warehousing. Employees are not just quitting in the U.S.; closer home, the IT industry is witnessing rising attrition, as per an e-commerce major’s recent survey. A听听highlighted that the top 5 IT companies in the country hired as many as 1.7 lakh professionals in 2021 due to rising attrition and high demand for tech-skilled employees.听

What might come as a surprise is that The Great Resignation trend is not completely attributable to the pandemic; if anything, the latter merely exacerbated a movement that was already gaining momentum among employees and workers of the Global North. What’s at stake is the future of work and business performance. For one, if companies fail to hire highly motivated candidates and retain their star performers, it could lead to further disruptions in productivity and growth in a market that has already seen dramatic lows from Covid-19.听

Younger workforce driving change

In the backdrop of these cultural and organizational challenges, it is essential that hiring managers and companies bring their A-game to designing a better workplace culture. What is fueling the need for this change? In one word: GenZ! Often dubbed as the woke generation, the rising number of 18鈥�28-year-olds in the workforce is forcing recruitment managers and employers to think out of the box about incentives, workplace design, collaboration, and fostering a sense of belonging. This听听is looking for more involvement with their teams, flexibility in schedules and place of work (think, co-working spaces and hybrid or remote), and look to the organization鈥檚 mission and values to foster a sense of purpose at work.听

Disengaged employees

Besides a poor work environment, employees are quitting the workforce in large numbers for other reasons. This includes searching for better pay, hunting for job opportunities in other industries, looking for profiles that better fit their values, and most critically, to recover from burnout brought on by years of dysfunctional work environments, competition straight out of college, and long working hours. According to a听, only 36% of employees in the USA felt engaged at their current workplace. The situation in India is not likely to be better; rather, the chances are that it is far bleaker.

Here are the top 5 reasons why employees are disengaged at work:

1. Ambiguous career path

Uncertainty at work is the enemy of confidence and productivity. Include a clearly mapped growth path for an employee’s role and what kind of responsibilities they will handle in the future. The absence of a well-drawn profile map nudges many employees to quit.

2. Mismatched incentives and appraisals

We all want our talents and efforts to be appreciated and rewarded with tangible incentives (money, that’s obvious). But a younger workforce also expects benefits and perks that are non-monetary. This could be in the form of company-funded training, team outings, mental health coach, and appraisals that take place more frequently. When employees don’t get offered appropriate incentives in line with their efforts, it impacts productivity and leads to poor engagement.

3. Dysfunctional management

You know that adage, 鈥榚mployees don鈥檛 quit offices, they leave their managers鈥�? Never has it been more appropriate to describe the current trend of The Great Resignation than during the pandemic, when professionals continue to quit their jobs due to dysfunctional bosses. Unreasonable productivity demands, bosses compelling employees to stretch beyond regular work hours, use of foul or abusive language in the office, and lack of mentorship and support impact the morale of employees.

4. Negative work environment

Employees bring in their best selves to work when the environment is positive, optimistic, and supportive. HR policies and management practices need to align with industry best practices for workplace behaviors. This means discouraging negative chatter, unhealthy competition, avoiding favoritism, and being extremely mindful to avoid discrimination in hiring practices and during appraisals. The absence of such benchmarks has a direct impact on employee productivity and morale, leading to high quit rates.

5. Inappropriate cultural fit

An organization鈥檚 core values act as a signpost that guides beliefs, behaviors, communications protocol, and attitudes at work. Workplace culture needs to evolve with a predominantly younger generation sitting at the foundation of the organization. Not having a clearly defined value system can alienate employees and contribute to low engagement at work.

6. Positive impact on bottom line

If disengaged employees impact the performance of a company, then the flipside of the narrative should be true: happy employees have a positive impact on a company鈥檚 bottom line. The good news? There is a correlation! 93% of respondents in a听听agreed that organizational performance increases when employees feel a sense of belonging. That is why it is important for companies to lead with motivation, mission, and a management culture that is mindful while engaging with the younger workforce.

4 reasons why positive employee experience is critical for businesses:

1. Helps reduce attrition rates

Highly engaged employees are more likely to remain loyal to their organizations than disengaged ones. Money may be a motivating factor for employees to jump companies; however, businesses can overcome this problem by offering a positive work culture. Moreover, hiring and training new employees often come at a higher cost than retaining existing employees who are already familiar with work processes and are a cultural fit.

2. Leads to more productive employees

Happy employees will show better engagement and productivity at the workplace. Their enthusiasm will also rub onto other people who are likely to be motivated to perform better. Sparking engagement among employees is thus crucial to attain team cohesion and attain the desired business results.

3. Helps attract the best talent

The shortage of skills in the global job market is making it tough for employees to attract and retain the right talent. Businesses that offer听, offer employees learning opportunities, better incentives, and positively encourage employees to prioritize self-care are more likely to attract top talents in the job market.

4. Enables improved customer experience

Customer service can make or break the reputation and repeat value of a business. Happy employees, especially those who deal and interact with your customers directly, are responsible for setting a positive first impression. Such employees are likely to go the extra mile to offer the best experiences and solutions to their customers.

Redefining the employee experience

As businesses shift their focus from survival mode to recovery and short-term growth during the third wave of the pandemic, there is a need to redefine the employee experience. This is applicable not just for seasoned professionals, but for the millions of freshers for whom 2022 might well be their debut foray at work. According to a PWC听, 63% of CFOs want to redesign their products and services to generate revenue. However, this change will happen only when the organizational culture keeps pace with the zeitgeist of its employees.听

Here are听9 ways听to foster employee engagement:

1. Incorporate values and purpose-led work

Every company needs to craft core values that define its internal culture, purpose and larger mission. There are benchmarks that define organizations that earn the 鈥榞reat place to work鈥� title. Organizations thus need to create a work culture that is positive and friendly for the employees. Management is the best place, to begin with, as leaders can help build that desired culture.

2. Create an inclusive environment

In a听听individuals from 35 organizations, Culture Amp and Paradigm found that 鈥渁 single metric that was consistently and universally tied to a person鈥檚 workplace commitment, motivation, pride and recommendation was feeling a sense of belonging.鈥� Some of the ways that managers can foster a sense of belonging in their teams is by asking for their inputs and ideas during project planning phase, appreciating their efforts consistently, and demonstrating your faith in them by giving them the opportunity to lead a project, event, client pitch, or activity.

3. Make work-life balance a priority

Work-life harmony has become a priority not just for younger professionals, but a majority of the global workforce. A PWC survey says that 52% of听听plan to shift their employees to remote working permanently. Remote work has led to the blurring of lines between personal and professional lives;听听and burnout from being available on-call throughout the day for multiple meetings has eaten into employee morale and productivity. Managers need to design strategies and schedules that help improve work-life balance.

4. Maintain honesty and transparency

Maintain transparency while communicating with your employees in order to build trust and loyalty within your teams. This helps eliminate an environment of mistrust and shows that you genuinely care about your employees. For example, if an employee feedback survey had specific areas of concern pertaining to news about your company鈥檚 performance, ensure you address this in an open forum with facts and explanations. Your employees will appreciate your honesty and emulate the same form of communication with their teams.

5. Improve collaborative measures

Team cohesion helps improve trust, fosters a sense of shared values, creates a positive work environment, encourages productivity, and ultimately impacts a company鈥檚 bottom line. Organizations should encourage collaboration among employees, both, within the same department and amongst other teams across the company. Team building activities allow employees the opportunity to develop empathy, earn respect, and build morale as a unit. This in turn encourages employees to work as a well-oiled unit to achieve larger organizational goals.

6. Multi-faceted incentives

Understand what truly benefits your employees, which you can best do through surveys and feedback forms. This could range from on-job training and upskilling, insurance and mental health services, food coupons and weekly team outings, to gym memberships, performance-linked incentives every quarter, and opportunities to lead. Whatever option you choose, ensure it fits with the aspirations and needs of your employees. Companies also offer flexi-time work, unlimited medical leaves, and no questions asked casual holidays demonstrate to employees that they are valued.

7. Create development opportunities

Mentoring and training are critical factors that can help employees stay connected. Help your employees in their professional development by giving them the chance to advance their skills. This can take the form of regular workshops and courses related to their profile and areas of interest. Offering training and upskilling options during work hours can help employees understand their career path and opportunities better.

8. Reward your employees

The best time to reward an employee is not when they decide to leave so that you can retain them. Performance appraisals need to be timely and provide both monetary and non-monetary incentives to all employees. Keep an eye on your top performers and design reward programs that are based on their contributions, skill sets, and attitude. Grooming your top performers for future leadership roles is also an important aspect of keeping them motivated.

9. Virtual team bonding

A happy workplace is all about enthusiastic people who can help others grow along with them. Having regular office outings can help improve the bonding between the team and make them feel more connected with each other. Secondly, with remote work becoming the norm in metros and Tier 1 cities, HR needs to design virtual activities that help employees feel connected with their colleagues remotely and nudges them to be productive.

Course correction: Workplace of the future

Though the pandemic is a disruptor of things, it has also given organizations a chance to course correct. There cannot be a better opportunity to revamp the workplace and reassess what aspects of the culture works and what needs to be redefined or let go. Besides, the change in status quo also affords us the possibility to remove ambiguity from various aspects of the workplace and reinforce our values.

Most organizations may have done well till this stage of the pandemic. The key is to build on that by taking your team into confidence and building on their ideas and vision for the company鈥檚 growth. Their satisfaction is critical to helping companies achieve their organizational goals.

If you are looking for HRIS software to streamline core HR processes,听SuccessFactors Employee Central听can help.听SF employee central听also supports employee self-services for the entire organization. Get more details on听Employee Central Success Factors听.

The post Top 9 Factors Impacting Workforce Management appeared first on 51风流India News Center.

Mid-market segment: Looking to bounce back after a Crisis

The mid-market sector was the hardest hit during the pandemic. These midsize businesses had to improvise with limited resources and compete against larger players with operational and financial flexibility. Sharply aware of the consequences of being left behind in the digital race, these businesses are now embracing technology to rethink strategies, enhance customer experiences, utilize employee skills more efficiently, and ensure business continuity and growth even in a crisis.听

This was among the multiple insights provided by an听听迟丑补迟听aimed to understand the state of mid-market enterprises in India after the Covid-19 second wave. The study covered over 350 mid-market enterprises across industries such as chemicals, industrial manufacturing, life sciences (including pharma and pharma manufacturing), professional services (including IT/IT-enabled Services), retail and consumer packaged goods and EC&O (engineering, construction, and operations). Annual revenues for these companies ranged from INR 500 crore to INR 2,000 crore. Half of the respondents were C-level executives, with the rest holding positions such as Director and above in their organizations.

As per the survey,听

• Around 74% of the mid-market enterprises surveyed will move more applications to the cloud.
• A massive 68% of the firms expect to either retain or increase their IT spending in 2022, driven by the need to adopt digital technologies.
• This digital vision is consequently fuelling enthusiasm and hopes of a strong recovery. By the end of 2021, around 75% of the mid-market businesses surveyed expect their operations to be back to pre-pandemic levels.

Clearly, mid-market segment companies are planning to be strong contenders in their industries in the post-pandemic world. For this, they require a level of digital resilience that allows them to proactively fend off dangers and disruptions more effectively than their competitors.

Digital Resiliency: Driving the Indian mid-market sector forward

Digital resilience is the ability of a company to quickly adapt to business turmoil by using digital skills to drive recovery, growth and profitability, even during changing situations.听

While mid-market enterprises focus on optimizing their operational performance in the short term, CEOs point out that revenue diversification and IT infrastructure renewal remain their top digital priorities in the long term. This can be achieved by prioritizing all dimensions of digital resiliency such as operational, workforce and customer, brand and reputation, leadership and organization, and financial resiliency.

• Operational Resiliency:听Improving operational efficiency is a major short-term business goal for most C-level executives. One way to achieve this is by adopting an ERP system that offers end-to-end visibility into operations across different departments. Around 58% of mid-market enterprises have such an ERP system now.
  Apart from an ERP system, there is also a need for听digital transformation for business听in areas such as customer services, supply chain functions and backend processes to achieve higher productivity levels and minimize the possibility of errors.听
• Workforce Resiliency:听Enterprises have realized the benefits of a motivated workforce, with good employees being one of the best strategies to increase growth and scale operations. Employers are becoming more engaged and assuming greater responsibility for their employees’ safety and emotional and physical wellbeing. When not physically together, workforce engagement requires more thoughtful design, practice, and measurement. Consequently, almost 50% of enterprises are considering an integrated approach towards workforce resiliency, compared to just 36% in the pre-pandemic era.听
• Customer Resiliency:听With digital transformation, any mid-market organization can provide seamless and enjoyable customer journeys across channels. As the customer experience becomes a vital indicator of organizational health, around 40% of enterprises are adopting an end-to-end approach to manage customer journeys. Hi-tech platforms, CRM systems, chatbots and AR-VR rich media are set to become an important part of this听digital transformation strategy.
• Financial Resiliency:听Having sophisticated systems and robust processes that provide timely insights is critical for building financial resilience in mid-market enterprises. The IDC Infobrief commissioned by 51风流shows that 58% of the Indian mid-market enterprises have introduced scorecards, visualization and simulations to generate detailed financial analysis reports. These help minimize future bottlenecks by providing the base required to make data-driven forecasts.听
• Leadership Resiliency:听A truly forward-looking company needs to build resiliency at the top. In the face of dynamic market conditions and volatile situations, an enterprise should be able to alter processes and methods and retain employee and customer trust. A whopping 83% of enterprises are focusing on resiliency objectives like business continuity.
• Brand and Reputation Resiliency:听An expanding threat surface and the increasing number of attacks on mid-market enterprises makes cybersecurity a top consideration for this segment. Around 74% of enterprises will either spend more or retain their current spend on IT security and related issues.听

The road to Digital Resiliency: What mid-market enterprises need to do?

India’s mid-market segment can become the engine of growth if digital resiliency is adopted to compete with big businesses. While digitalization is not a permanent cure for all the problems that affect business in today’s economy, it is a foolproof solution that can help a mid-market enterprise compete and win in the new normal.听

Despite this knowledge, many enterprises hesitate to fully embrace digitalization and digital transformation because of resource crunch and the absence of a clear roadmap. Here are some practical ways a mid-market enterprise can create a thriving environment for digital resilience.听

• While midsize companies appreciate the role that technology plays in digital resilience, most are still hesitant in making it an integral part of their day-to-day operations. To overcome this,听technology听discussions need to be moved to the conference room and every department needs to accelerate its journey on the digital path.
  听
• Change management is a vital aspect of building digital resiliency. Change readiness is determined by a company’s culture, dedication, and ability to achieve and maintain the goal. In a time of competing priorities, systemizing a change management approach is more important than ever for organizational agility.
  听
• It’s critical to prioritize and create conditions that support experimentation after opening corporate culture to innovation and creativity. Build agile teams that collaborate across organizational boundaries on a daily basis to foster new thinking through shared knowledge and openness. Acquire the ability to make swift decisions. Rapidly adapting to business shocks is the key to digital resilience.听
• Lack of operational automation is one of the main reasons Indian midsize companies are still struggling. Fluctuating market demand and any adverse situation can be handled efficiently with听automation听and adopting data-driven strategies.
• Shifting to听cloud–based听business applications increases the ability to adapt to business disruptions, allows scalability and flexibility and provides a seamless user experience. Mid-market enterprises have identified the integration of new-age technology, enhanced business agility and innovation, a competitive edge and improved time to market as some of the other top drivers behind cloud adoption in the IDC Infobrief.
• Integrating systems that enable听multi-channel听engagement听and manage end-to-end customer journeys plays a key role in customer acquisition and retention. These systems, if managed smartly, can effectively contribute to an organization’s capability of outliving its competition. Make integrated multi-channel marketing and sales a priority and find the correct combination of online and offline marketing, sales, and service. Create a user-friendly website and leverage different digital customer experience and analytics solutions.
• With remote and hybrid cloud models becoming increasingly popular, the need for a secure cloud architecture has become pronounced. Organizations need to leverage听risk management听services to safeguard their operations and be prepared for contingencies.听
• Employee engagement and motivation are vital factors to ensure the success of a digital resiliency strategy. CEOs should focus on providing necessary听knowledge听resources听and conduct continuous learning programs to enable their employees to work efficiently.听

In conclusion

The opportunities for mid-market firms are boundless; however, they must take advantage of today’s booming economy to revamp their operations for long-term viability. For this, their capacity to predict risks, increase efficiencies and undertake change is crucial. A way to do this is by embracing digitalization and building Digital Resiliency. To find out how to kickstart your journey to becoming digitally resilient,听听on 鈥楽tate of Mid-Market Enterprises in India, a Perspective on Digital Resiliency鈥�.

听All of the above data points are derived from ‘IDC InfoBrief commissioned by SAP, The State of Midmarket Enterprises in India, A Perspective on Digital Resiliency, December 2021, Doc.#AP241284IB

The post Why is Digital Resiliency Necessary for Mid-Market Businesses to Survive Disruptions? appeared first on 51风流India News Center.