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In many organisations, human capital accounts for an increasingly significant share of operating
costs and is a major determinant of business performance. Yet the risks and uncertainties
arising from human capital management and workforce issues are not managed as rigorously
as financial, supply chain, IT and other risks. Most organisations in India are just beginning to
understand human capital risks and think about the frameworks, tools and methodologies they
need to manage them. Effective management gives leaders insight into different risk scenarios
and enables them to proactively eliminate or minimise risks that pose the greatest threat.
Willis Towers Watson in collaboration with the CII - Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for
Leadership (SNCEL) has gathered the views of nearly 100 chief executive officers (CEOs), chief
HR officers (CHROs), chief finance officers (CFOs), chief risk officers (CROs) and other senior
executives in India spanning a diverse set of industries on human capital risk management.
This study provides fresh perspectives on the relevance and implications of human capital
risks in India, prioritises risks by their impact on business performance and prevalence, and
highlights the current state of risk management practices. We believe that rising HR challenges
like workforce planning, retention, succession planning and skill gaps will drive organisations
to prioritise human capital risk management. Taking a risk-based approach to human capital
that involves not only HR but people from across the business will differentiate business
performance in the future.
We would like to thank all the business leaders who made time to participate in this study for
their valuable insights. We hope you find these findings useful and they help you shape effective
practices for your organisation.
Using the right risk mitigation tools and frameworks enables the
leadership of an organisation to gain advanced insights into various risks
and address them in a proactive manner. Effective management of such
risks truly differentiates top performing organisations from average ones.
This study provides crucial insights into the importance and implications
of different human capital risks and the current state of risk management
practices in organisations of India. I hope it will help business leaders
understand their evolving roles as they look for better ways to manage
human capital while facing the ongoing tectonic shifts in the workforce
dynamics.”
Harshavardhan Neotia
Chairman
CII - Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership (SNCEL)
At a glance ............................................................................................................................................................4
Barriers to success.................................................................................................................................. 14
4 willistowerswatson.com
Human capital risk moves
centre stage
Human capital has become one of the most critical assets for organisations
worldwide. With competitive advantage being increasingly driven by quality and
engagement of human capital, any risks that come in the way of optimising it
need to be taken very seriously by organisations. Yet human capital risks are
rarely identified and managed in a systematic manner at the enterprise level in
India. Even organisations that are aware of their vulnerabilities generally employ a
narrow focus and fail to assess the entire gamut of risks.
HCR can arise from a number of internal and external forces, such as uncertainties in
the regulatory environment, demographic shifts, the competitive landscape, interest
rates and exchange rate fluctuations, changing consumer demands and other
factors that directly or indirectly impact businesses. Internal changes, such as new
processes, operations, technology and service offerings, or expansion to different
locations, can also give rise to HCR. These risks can occur in organisations of any
size, nature or industry. HCR, however, does not stand alone — it must be understood
in the context of the organisation’s overall risk environment (and appetite).
Research findings
First, we discuss how HCR stacks up against other risks faced by organisations
in India. We then look at which HCRs are most in need of remediation, in terms
of both their effect on business performance and likelihood of occurrence.
Finally, we focus on the current state of HCR management in India: the maturity
of mitigation processes, management effectiveness, responsible parties and
existing obstacles. We also highlight significant differences in opinions by,
organisation size, type and respondent’s job role.
Risk Ranking
Human capital factors (e.g., high attrition, attraction and retention, skills inadequacy) 84%
Market risk factors (e.g., competition, reputation and brand image) 70%
Macroeconomic factors (e.g., inflation, unemployment, price fluctuations, exchange rate volatility) 55%
Financial risk (e.g., volatile financial markets and inadequate access to credit) 52%
Technological factors (e.g., technological obsolescence and insufficient R&D investments) 41%
Consumer market factors (e.g., changing tastes, cultural factors, demographic shifts) 38%
Foreign trade and relations (e.g., import/export duties or troubled relations with other countries) 30%
Political uncertainty (e.g., mistrust of policymakers and processes, communal violence, inadequate protection of rights) 29%
Natural and workplace hazards (such as floods, earthquakes, accidents, fires) 10%
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
6 willistowerswatson.com
Why are human capital risks Drivers of HCR management
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
increasingly viewed as critical Attraction and retention of critical talent
to manage? 85
Business sustainability and continuity
“To answer this we need to look at the changing nature 69
of the business itself. In many of our businesses, A changing HR function making it crucial for strategic success
success depends not on access to capital but on how 66
we deliver customer value. Having high-calibre Growing human capital costs
employees developing exceptional products or 58
services makes the difference between success and Reputation/image of organization
failure. In a dramatic way, this can be seen in the 57
high-tech industry, where some acquisitions are Growing business uncertainty
executed solely to capture superstar employees of the 48
acquired firm. While the above might be an extreme Managing global organizations
45
case, the fact remains that in the digital economy,
Regulatory compliance
innovation is driving businesses and innovation is
41
driven by human capital.”
Shatrunjay Krishna, Director – Rewards, Talent and Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
While employers are waking up to HR risks and control framework, the evolving
regulatory framework also presents a unique opportunity to have an integrated
approach to manage risks through appropriately defined controls. Companies
Act 2013, emphasises the need for maintaining Internal Financial Controls and
supporting operational controls. As per section 134, clause 5(e), the directors, in
the case of a listed company, need to lay down internal financial controls to be
followed by the company and that such internal financial controls are adequate and
were operating effectively. The Act defines the term “Internal Financial Controls” as
the policies and procedures adopted by the company for ensuring the orderly and
efficient conduct of its business, including adherence to company’s policies, the
safeguarding of its assets, the prevention and detection of frauds and errors, the
accuracy and completeness of the accounting records, and the timely preparation
of reliable financial information. As many business and risks experts would
admit that HR process controls can be critical operating controls and should be
effectively monitored. This way HR strategy and policy can be can be executed in
full rigour. The HR fraternity should rise up to seize this opportunity and not let this
happen only as a tick in the box of compliance requirements.
1
See Willis Towers Watson, 2014 Global Talent Management and Rewards Study: At a Glance (Willis Towers Watson, 2014),
towerswatson.com/en/Insights/IC-Types/Survey-Research-Results/2014/08/2014-global-talent-management-and-
rewards-study-making-the-most-of-employment-deal (accessed Dec. 29, 2014).
8 willistowerswatson.com
Figure 2. Top risks
High
2
1
7 3
4
8
5
9
16 11 6
12 10
17 13
Impact
14
15
Low Likelihood
Low High
Overall risk score = Impact score * Likelihood score
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
Note: Scores for “impact” and lIkelihood” are average scores on a 5-point scale.
Drilling deeper
Figure 3 highlights marginal differences by organisation type and size for HCRs
that pose the most serious threat to organisational health. Domestic firms seem
less concerned than MNCs with low workforce productivity: 70% of respondents
from MNCs believe that low workforce productivity critically impacts business
performance versus 56% of respondents at local organisations. Although
when asked about the frequency of productivity-related challenges, 25% of
respondents from MNCs and 33% from domestic organisations said they occur
often or fairly often. Another difference is that MNCs were more likely than
domestic firms to consider the lack of well-designed learning and capability
programmes that bridge skill gaps a serious risk, while domestic organisations
expressed greater concern about “suboptimal workforce planning and
organisation design”.
10 willistowerswatson.com
HR respondents seem more worried than other executives about the need for “The context of business has turned
effective capability development programmes and managing low workforce on its head from being employer
productivity. These are challenges HR manages on a daily basis, so other senior dominated to employee dominated in
executives are probably less informed about the risks and their potential impacts. the past two decades People assets
To establish and maintain successful HCR mitigation plans, however, senior have become invaluable in a world where
executives and other managers must have oversight or at least understand these talent is getting increasingly scarce.
business-critical risks. HR respondents also indicated that “inadequate use of HR Organisations have realised this and only
those who are able to attract and retain
technology” has often caused issues in their organisations.
talent will have a sustainable future.”
Smaller organisations — those with fewer than 1,000 employees — were more
Vineet Sharma, Executive Vice President
likely than midsize and larger organisations to say they struggle with challenges
Quality & Service Excellence, Max Life
arising from lack of effective performance management systems. Twenty-eight
Insurance Company Limited
percent of respondents from smaller organisations versus 18% from large
organisations cited ineffective performance management systems as a problem.
Among larger organisations, talent management systems and programmes do not
pose the highest risks. In fact, managing employee productivity and engagement
seem to be a greater concern in larger firms, and 64% of respondents from
large organisations indicated that employee engagement has a critical impact on
business performance compared with 31% at small organisations.
Small Large
Domestic Publicly
MNC Non-traded (fewer than 1,000 (more than 10,000 HR Non-HR
organisation traded
employees) employees)
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
20%
Managing human capital risk:
41%
Current conditions
Only 41% of these organisations are effective at understanding and managing
39% HCR, according to the study. Seventy-three percent of respondents who said
their organisation effectively manages risks work at MNCs and 27% work at
domestic organisations. Amongst those who rate their risk mitigation strategy/
process as effective, 45% are HR leaders and 55% are other executives.
Ineffectively Neutral Effectively
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson -
CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
Most organisations do not seem prepared to address their human capital risks.
Overall, 63% said they lack formally defined risk mitigation strategies (Figure
Figure 5. Has your organisation defined 5). Respondents from MNCs were more than three times as likely as domestic
a risk mitigation or control strategy for firms to have formally defined risk mitigation strategies. Size matters, too: 86% of
human capital risks? respondents from organisations with fewer than 1,000 employees said they do
50% not have a formally defined strategy, and 34% have not defined a strategy at all.
Although larger organisations seem to have a strategy of some kind, 45% of them
40%
44 reported that it is not formally defined.
35 Furthermore, respondents were asked to indicate the maturity level of their risk
Not defined
30% Informally defined
mitigation process (whether formally defined or not). Process maturity was based
Formally defined
on a seven-point scale where:
Don’t know
20%
19
Less mature
10% 1 = Human capital risks are vaguely defined
2 = Almost all critical risks are identified
2
0% 3 = Risks are documented
Less than half of respondents think their risk mitigation process is sufficiently
58%
mature to deal with all HCRs (Figure 6). The HCR mitigation process is three
times as mature at MNCs versus domestic organisations, and 54% of HR
Domestic organisations
respondents consider their processes highly mature versus roughly 41% of other
Not defined Informally defined Formally defined
executives. A significantly higher percentage of larger organisations have mature
16% processes as compared with smaller or midsize firms.
26%
%
44
58%
35 Not defined
Informally defined
Not defined Formally defined
ormally defined Formally
Informally definedDon’t know
defined
Formally defined
19
Don’t2016
Source: knowWillis Towers Watson -
CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
2
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2
“People processes related to organisation, talent and performance are critical to
deal with emerging business challenges. Organisations competing in today’s rapidly
changing environment tend to face significant HR risks related to attraction, retention
and management of talent. The vision of Bharti Airtel is to standardise ‘employee
experience’ irrespective of the location of their work. To achieve what we envisioned,
we institutionalised a ‘People Assurance Track’ in October 2013 as a focussed risk
and assurance track, dealing with the entire life-cycle of the employee. As part of
this initiative, we have created a comprehensive framework to assess people related
risks and strengthen risk mitigation plans. Huge credit also goes to the HR teams for
corrective action taken to make design and implementation of HR programmes more
efficient, thereby achieving what we set out to do.”
Ritika Chopra, Head People Track, Corporate Assurance Group, Bharti Airtel
Figure 6. Is the risk mitigation process sufficiently mature to deal with human capital risks?
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
Barriers to success
We also tried to gauge likely obstacles to successful HCR management for
organisations in India. About 39% of the respondents cited insufficient dialogue
between the HR and risk management functions as a barrier to effective HCR
management (Figure 7). This could be because these functions are separated
by different reporting lines and thus have little incentive to collaborate. Both
functions also tend to attract employees with different skills and capabilities,
which could inhibit collaboration. This is a bigger challenge for larger
organisations than it is for smaller or even midsize ones.
14 willistowerswatson.com
“Risk in India is still perceived mainly as the job of the risk
and assurance function. The fact that it could help strategic
success and sustainability of business needs more emphasis.
The risk function needs to educate and collaborate with
the operating organisation on the criticality of the risk and
assurance process.”
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
16 willistowerswatson.com
Bringing it all together
A few years ago, “managing human capital risk” rarely figured on the agenda of
C-Suite leadership in Asia and even less so in India. Corporate leaders today are
more likely to realise that human capital can make or break the sustained viability
and success of their business, and to make it a priority. HCR management is
forecast to continue growing in importance globally. Three out of four of these
respondents said their organisation plans to invest additional resources in HCR
management over the next five years.
As our research clearly shows, organisations in India are most worried about
attraction and retention challenges and managing the pipeline of future leaders.
While addressing these talent-related risks is crucial in the prevailing war for
talent, the risks which enable or hinder a company’s execution of strategy
through its people are important as well. Among organisations in India, managing
workforce productivity, and bridging the gap between required and available skills
are urgent concerns that must be managed for business sustainability.
For the success of HR audits, review of organisation risks on a regular basis is imperative. This helps link and align HR
systems and services to organisational objectives while focusing on the business needs.
Conducting an audit involves review of current practices, policies, and procedures, and may include benchmarking
against organisations of similar size and / or industry.
1. Risk assessment: The success of process is dependent on diligence followed while identifying, prioritising and
classifying risks. Involvement of senior leadership and key business stakeholders is pertinent at this stage. The next
step is to list down key controls to be checked / audited for all HR programmes / processes.
2. Audit preparation: Audit protocols needs to be established to standardise the way of working for the audit team.
Audit governance framework including acquiring audit resources are the key milestones of this step.
3. Conduct audits: Actual field-work is conducted at this stage - checks are conducted on the data collected from the
auditee. Observations are also rated as per their impact and likelihood. Action plan to mitigate identified issues are
also agreed at this stage.
4. Post audit review: The result of an audit helps determine what needs to be done, how these changes will impact the
bottom line of the organisation, and how to prioritise problem areas in terms of significance.
18 willistowerswatson.com
About the Study
44% 97
Organizations
60%
companies with
Publically
spanning diverse international
traded
set of industries operations
Source: 2016 Willis Towers Watson - CII-SNCEL Human Capital Risks Study
Project team
Shatrunjay Krishna (HR Risk Expert) Indrani Kar (Lead Partner)
Director – Rewards, Talent and Communication Head
Willis Towers Watson India CII-Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership
T +91 124 432 2884 T: +91 33 66140100
Shatrunjay.Krishna@willistowerswatson.com Indrani.Kar@cii.in
CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organisation, playing a proactive role
in India’s development process. Founded in 1895, India’s premier business association has over 8,000 members,
from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 200,000
enterprises from around 240 national and regional sectoral industry bodies.
CII charts change by working closely with Government on policy issues, interfacing with thought leaders, and
enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and business opportunities for industry through a range of specialised services
and strategic global linkages. It also provides a platform for consensus-building and networking on key issues.
Extending its agenda beyond business, CII assists industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship
programmes. Partnerships with civil society organisations carry forward corporate initiatives for integrated and
inclusive development across diverse domains including affirmative action, healthcare, education, livelihood, diversity
management, skill development, empowerment of women, and water, to name a few.
The CII theme for 2016-17, Building National Competitiveness, emphasises Industry’s role in partnering Government
to accelerate competitiveness across sectors, with sustained global competitiveness as the goal. The focus is on six
key enablers: Human Development; Corporate Integrity and Good Citizenship; Ease of Doing Business; Innovation and
Technical Capability; Sustainability; and Integration with the World.
With 66 offices, including 9 Centres of Excellence, in India, and 9 overseas offices in Australia, Bahrain, China, Egypt,
France, Germany, Singapore, UK, and USA, as well as institutional partnerships with 320 counterpart organisations in
106 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.
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About Willis Towers Watson
A truly compelling combination
Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW ) is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps
clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 39,000
employees in more than 120 countries. Our distinct, connected perspective across talent, assets and ideas unlocks
potential for our clients. While many just look at mitigating the downside, we see how a unified approach to people
and risk is a path to growth. Powered by market analytics and behavioural insight, our integrated teams reveal hidden
value within the critical intersections of our clients’ organisations. We design and deliver solutions that manage
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A strong client focus, an emphasis on teamwork, unwavering integrity, mutual respect and a constant striving for
excellence are the values at the core of the new Willis Towers Watson organisation.
We cover the length and breadth of India with some of the best talent in the industry comprising of close to 200
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Willis Towers Watson was awarded the Best HR Consultant of the Year at the World HRD Congress 2016..
High-performing institutions cultivate and grow talent, carefully balancing costs and rewards. From employee benefits
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We know how companies can unlock potential through effective risk management. Our clients rely on us to craft
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