The dynamic Ms Yogita Tulsiani is armed with a Master’s in Business Administration from ISB, Hyderabad. The versatile businessperson has more than a decade of experience in Business Development and Consultancy across various industries in the UK, USA, Europe and APAC. Her repertoire includes an illustrious clientele in the Financial Services, Telecom, Retail, Information Technology and Learning industries like Genpact Headstrong and HP. The current role of Director in IXCEED has been a culmination of various roles in her career. Global expansions and exponential revenue growth have been the trajectory that Ms Tulsiani has followed. She has been instrumental in starting new lines of business. The stint at IXCEED has already proven her mettle in initiating growth patterns.
The world of work has been in a constant state of flux, a shift stirred by disruptive forces: tectonic technical transformations, shifting demographics, changing career models and fierce competition. When the global pandemic broke, it propelled the velocity of change at full throttle- compelling HR leaders to reimagine the today and tomorrow of work.
As agents of change, HR leaders have the opportunity to build a future-ready workforce equipped with skills and capabilities to meet future challenges, as well as the ability to seize opportunities and overcome unforeseen obstacles. The future-ready workforce is designed to be agile, resilient and flexible. And while organisations are future-focused, how can they be future-ready?
Implementing workforce planning & analytics
Leaders developing a future-ready workforce that can battle external disruptive forces must first understand the organisation internally. Strategic workforce planning and analytics will enable leaders to comprehend what the organisation does, what it plans to do and who will do it. Once the organisation has taken stock of work tasks and performers, it can determine what work needs to be done, what doesn’t and how best it can be done. It will also allow organisations to identify which tasks are likely to be disrupted or skills that might be rendered obsolete, thereby focusing on skills that need to be developed or outsourced.
Creating a hybrid workforce
Once workforce planning has been concluded to the granular level, HR leaders will be able to define the workforce. Today’s workforce does not just encompass employees but contingent workers such as contractual employees, freelancers, gig workers and the machines and technology deployed by an organisation. As technology automates and performs manual tasks with little or no human intervention, organisations need to rethink their role. Consequently, HR leaders need to create a hybrid workforce that enables the human and technological workforce to focus on tasks they perform best. Humans can focus on tasks that require critical thinking, empathy and creativity, while technology can do the grunt work.
Building a robust talent pipeline
Developing a future-ready workforce does not limit to the existing workforce but also takes the future workforce into account. In an ever-changing talent landscape where attrition rates are rising, hiring costs are mounting and competition is fierce, HR leaders need to build a steady talent pipeline. According to stats- over 67% of organisations are building a talent pipeline since the pandemic. With access to a qualified talent pool, global or local, talent acquisition teams can make better hires faster and cheaper. Meaningful engagement, employer branding and extensive network will allow them to build a talent community ready to be called upon.
Embedding learning in the flow of work
To meet the advances in technology, advancing the workforce in tandem is crucial. According to Deloitte, 74% of organisations believe reskilling is vital to their success. In a changing world of work, the future-ready workforce should be rooted in a culture of constant learning, reskilling and development. The only way to provide continuous learning is by embedding learning and development into the everyday flow of work. Such learning will allow employees to feel valued, gain hands-on experience, apply their skills on the job and advance their career trajectory.
Developing not only skills but capabilities
The conversation about the future of work has turned the spotlight on skills but organisations must realise that skills are no longer the cornerstone on which companies operate. Advances in technology and changing customer expectations are rendering skills obsolete by the day. According to the World Economic Forum, 42% of the key skills required to perform existing jobs will change by 2022. The need of the hour is to nurture capabilities such as adaptability, critical thinking, teamwork, emotional and social intelligence and creativity in the workforce. Technology can perform several skills done by humans but only humans possess the capabilities to sense and respond to change, learn skills rapidly and thrive amidst disruptions.
Wrapping Up
Organisations across the globe are racing against each other and time to keep pace with the velocity of change. And technology can only get companies so far. The human workforce equipped with their unique set of capabilities and potential remains essential to the success of any business. But to prepare a future-ready workforce, HR leaders must reimagine the work and workforce, nurture skills and capabilities, embed learning in the flow of work, complement it with technology and build a talent pipeline ready for action. As the agents of change, HR leaders can bridge the gap between the present and future for the workforce as well as the organisation.