Rethinking Employee Experience: Current Future Prospects | Ravendra Mishra | President – HR | Garware Technical Fibres

The world is hit by the worst kind of global crisis and in order to survive, organizations are striving hard. In many cases we have seen that organizations are now launching a completely new business line so that they can cope with the changes in the market and the customer behaviour. The organizations have now started implementing agile mechanism to handle their losses. In such a critical business scenario, the top executives expect a support out of their employees so that they can together get through in these challenging times.

The pandemic has also introduced us to ‘Work from Home’ culture. Though remote working has provided the employees a safer environment, it has also come up with a challenge for the employees. Work from home has blurred the lines between office and personal life. A global study has revealed that homebound executives were logging in more hours on the job than before. Long working hours, working on holidays and tremendous performance pressure has led to employee burn out in few cases. This has further led to issues like anxiety and depression which is affecting employee wellness.

It is vital for the organizations to keep in mind that employees are their primary asset. Organizations have now come up with policies like introducing wellness leaves, conducting mindfulness sessions, conducting virtual employee engagement for employees so that they can manage their work life balance.

In addition to reinventing the HR policies, organizations must prepare for the new
automation and digital revolution which will have a major effect on employment in the coming years. According to research by the World Economic Forum (WEF), 75 million jobs are expected to be displaced by 2022 in 20 major economies with the advent of Globalization 4.0. Companies are emerging from the crisis into a world of workplace physical distancing and major changes in customer behaviors and preferences. Manufacturing companies are reconfiguring their supply chains and their production lines. Service organizations are adapting to emphasize digital-first customer journeys and contactless operations. These changes will have significant effects on the requirements for workforce skills and capabilities, from a dramatic increase in home-based and remote working to a need for shop-floor personnel to master new tools and newly urgent health and safety requirements. Hence, it is imperative to build effective strategies for upskilling and reskilling to make the workforce future ready.