Future of Work #1

Balancing
the HR
Tightrope
HR Priorities 2023

July 2023
 Nasscom Future of Work Charter

Future Future of Future of

of Jobs Workforce Workplace

• Evolving job roles • New age workforce • Redesigned workplace

• New work models • People practices and • Collaborative

policies workplace
• New tools and
technologies • Employee Value • Communication,
Proposition (EVP) Culture and Trust
Four Dimensions of the Future of Work

HOW WE HOW WE HOW WE WHAT WE

WORK LEAD ORGANIZE NEED

Customer Ways of Space, Design,

Leadership
Relationships Working Location

Employee Work Tools &

Culture Organization
Models Technology

Societal Learning &

Productivity Talent
Leadership Development
Table of Content

The Pandemic Years

HR Priorities 2023
01 Work From Anywhere (WFX): A Tug of War
02 Hiring and Retention: Recruitment to Retirement
03 Skilling: Building Empathy into Leadership
04 HRTech: Digital Transformation of HR
05 Organisation Culture: Nurturing Corporate DNA
06 Employee Experience: A New Employee Value Proposition
Conclusion
Appendix
 The Pandemic Years

The duration of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown was both chaotic and worrying for enterprises and
employees. We saw the great migration to homes across the country; we witnessed the shift of office work to
homes; we struggled with physical and mental health issues; we battled the impact of Covid-19 while juggling
office work and home work.
This period also saw unprecedented movement in the job market, especially for the technology industry.
Companies looked to stock up on talent that saw employees get multiple job offers and wages bills sky-rocketed.
New employees, especially freshers (Gen Z), struggled to relate to the organisation and its culture. As digital
transformation went into the fast lane due to the pandemic, demand for specific skills increased exponentially.
And as such, hiring took a rather competitive turn with organizations willing to attract/retain employees even as
salary levels sky-rocketed.
HR teams also faced multiple challenges in retaining employees. While very effort was made to ensure smooth
work from home, they have had to contend with rising cases of moonlighting, fake candidature, employee churn
and salary negotiations.
 2023 will be a Year of Consolidation

2022 saw the fear of the pandemic receding and daily life gradually returning to normal. Technology enterprises
began to explore the return to office and soon realised that this was easier said than done. Employees (mainly
millennials) had become comfortable with the flexibility that WFH offered; on the other hand, enterprises opined
that face-to-face interactions and collaboration is a must for driving innovation and for generating fresh ideas.
With 2023 well underway, we are still exploring the evolving employee-employer relationship. To better
understand this and identify HR priorities for 2023, we held a series of CHRO roundtables across
Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru & NCR, under the nasscom Future of Work initiative. We had
leaders from close to 70 companies representing the technology spectrum participate (large, medium, small,
GCCs; IT services, BPM, ER&D, Sw. products, e-Commerce) and share their insights.
This document presents a summary of these discussions, and we will be organising various events throughout the
year to address these topics.
HR Priorities 2023

Work From Anywhere (WFX): HRTech:

1 A Tug of War 4 Digital Transformation of HR

Hiring and Retention: Organisation Culture:

2 Recruitment to Retirement Nurturing Corporate DNA

Skilling: Employee Experience:

3 Building Empathy into Leadership
6 A New Employee Value Proposition
1 WORK FROM ANYWHERE (WFX):
A TUG OF WAR
While the journey back to office has commenced, where
the office is, is being re-defined. 2023 will continue to
see the hybrid work model – a mix of office, home, and
remote. Our research and follow on discussions with
CHROs indicates that for India’s technology industry,
the ratio of employees working from home and working
in office is, on average, about 70:30.
Many companies indicated that they have mandated
work from office for at least 2-3 days a week. A few
have mandated 100% return to office policy. What is
varying is who is expected to report to office and when.
Most firms are giving full flexibility to individual teams
and managers to decide on this.
BEST PRACTICES
Crystal Clear Communication: Whatever the stand,
companies stressed the need for clear, transparent and
consistent communication from all levels of leadership
Make Return to Office Attractive: Firms are taking steps
to get employees excited about return to office:
Relationship-building events, sprints, hackathons,
brainstorming sessions, CSR programs to name a few
Satellite/Mushroom Offices: Firms are expanding their
presence in Tier II/III locations by either setting up
satellite offices or investing in co-working spaces
Onboarding new employees: In-person exercise to
connect to the organization & its culture and to build
inter-personal relations
2 HIRING AND RETENTION:
RECRUITMENT TO RETIREMENT
With unprecedented levels of hiring in 2022, CHROs
indicated they are in a correction mode involving a
freeze on hiring or higher fresher hiring, right hiring, or
internal job rotations.
The long COVID-19 driven lockdown followed later by
self-imposed isolation resulted in a lack of in-person
social interactions and blurred work/home/life
boundaries. This led to greater concerns about mental
wellbeing of employees.
Current and potential employees are keen to work for
purpose-driven organisations–take the lead in areas like
climate change & sustainability, diversity & inclusion,
creating social impact, etc.
BEST PRACTICES
Employee Wellbeing: With a special focus on mental
wellbeing, Programs focused on work-life balance,
wellness apps, counselling and support groups
Moonlighting: Perspectives differ across organisations
and companies are experimenting with internal gig
platforms/talent marketplaces. Some firms are open to
external gig projects so long as employees take proper
approvals
Internal mobility: Firms experimenting with in-house
incubation centres, internal gig platforms for employees
to advance their careers and for learning & development
Talent marketplace: As their internal hiring practice, firms
are investing in platforms to market open positions
3 SKILLING:
BUILDING EMPATHY INTO LEADERSHIP

Always among the top 3 priorities for the HR organization, 2023 will see HR focus on Empathetic Leadership & on
honing Managerial Capabilities (esp. first-time managers) to thrive in a hybrid model. Upskilling & reskilling in
skills of the future will continue - UX, AI/Gen AI, Data science, Full Stack Engineers, Cloud, Data security, etc.

BEST PRACTICES - Managers BEST PRACTICES - Employees

Build streamlined processes and supportive culture - resulting Conducting tech fairs, gig projects, monthly learning day,
in lower attrition and a more engaged workforce interactive online training programs, etc.

Guidelines, frameworks, documentations being put in place
to effectively manage hybrid teams
Training managers to utilize empathy, personalized connects,
behavioural hacks to connect with team members
Regular assessments of skills needed for the future and
implementing upskilling/reskilling programs based on
demand - Pro-actively design curriculum for future business
In-person trainings to establish employee connect

Mandated certification to improve capabilities in managing CHROs take on Gen AI is that it will augment employees’
teams ability for data-driven analysis. Training employees on right
usage of AI will be on their agenda
Developing facilitation skills for collaborative problem-solving
4 HRTECH:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF HR
Hybrid work has expanded organisation boundaries and
technology is playing a key role in maintaining
employee engagement, collaboration, communication,
project management, career development, learning &
development and more.
Organizations are increasingly investing in upskilling
initiatives and are using AI-generated career paths to
help employees develop the relevant skills and
competencies.
BEST PRACTICES
Power apps embedded with AI/ML for managers to
better understand their team's needs & preferences
Identify use cases of Gen AI & metaverse to embed in
organization's systems to make most of employee-based
programs
Employee collaboration & engagement platforms:
Yammer and others; Chatbots for independent learning
Learning & development tools: Track employee skilling
requirements, assign job roles based on these skills
Leverage sentiment analysis tools for real-time pulse
tracking
Productivity & efficiency hacks: Tools for project
management, time & productivity management, etc.
5 ORGANISATION CULTURE:
NURTURING CORPORATE DNA

Many CHROs we spoke with highlighted maintaining BEST PRACTICES

organisation culture in the hybrid work model as one of
their key priorities. A related point was to imbibe this
culture within the newer workforce, esp. freshers and
those who joined during the pandemic. With a
distributed work environment, HR and CXOs are worried
about the dilution of organisation culture & values,
leading to lower engagement with employees.
Firms are hoping that a return to office would address
this issue and are therefore putting in efforts to make
return to office attractive – a magnet rather than a
mandate.
Firms have started evaluating their existing policies & HR
processes to ensure these are suitable for and efficient &
effective in the current environment
Senior leadership is travelling and meeting employees -
women leaders in a region, new joiners, first-time
managers, etc. - to instill core values of the organization
Leveraging alumni networks to foster ongoing
engagement bet. existing and former employees
Fostering a sense of community and shared values
6 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE:
A NEW EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION
Employee experience is a function of work & workplace,
organisational culture, flexible policies, technology, and
inclusion & equity. As HR works to engage with and
retain employees in the face of rising attrition, their
focus has shifted from building Employee Experiences
to creating Life Experiences.
Conversations are therefore shifting from monetary
benefits (tangible) to non-monetary benefits (in-
tangible) incl. flexibility to work from anywhere, career
growth, building skills, job satisfaction, creating a great
work environment and building a sense of shared
purpose.
BEST PRACTICES
Change in perspective: Being seen as people/customers -
Listen to and understand employee perspectives and
accept diverse opinions
Recognition: Appreciation must be immediate and visible
Open conversations: An opportunity to understand
various aspects of their work experience to foster a more
positive and engaged workplace. Regular mentoring is
helping match their progress with their aspirations
Wellness: Continue the focus on holistic wellness including
physical, financial, social and mental/emotional
Career aspirations: Personalised career roadmaps,
flexibility to evolve roles & specific career advancement
programs for at-risk employees to arrest attrition
 In Conclusion

What is clear from the pandemic driven change and more recently, the buzz around Generative AI & its potential
impact on work and workforce, is that HR policies and the HR teams will have to be more agile & flexible in
adapting to change.
HR policies & strategies will need to be reviewed more frequently than before – at least once a year – to keep pace
with the changes. What is also clear is that the ‘one size fits all’ approach is no longer relevant, and companies
may need to adapt HR policies to consider generational diversity.
Organisations that can keep pace with the shifts in technology/job roles/skills, that proactively respond to the
changing employer-employee dynamics and build a human-centric approach, will be the next great place to work.
 Nasscom Reports on HR 2022-23

Jun 2022 Feb 2022 Nov 2022 Dec 2022

Sep 2022 Feb 2022 Feb 2023

 ABOUT nasscom

Nasscom is the industry association for the technology sector in India. A not-for-profit organization funded by the
industry, its objective is to build a growth led and sustainable technology and business services sector in the
country with over 3,200 members. Nasscom Insights is the in-house research and analytics arm of nasscom
generating insights and driving thought leadership for today’s business leaders and entrepreneurs to strengthen
India’s position as a hub for digital technologies and innovation.

Disclaimer
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completeness or adequacy of such information. Nasscom and its advisors & service providers shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained
herein, or for interpretations thereof. The material or information is not intended to be relied upon as the sole basis for any decision which may affect any business. Before making any
decision or taking any action that might affect anybody’s personal finances or business, they should consult a qualified professional adviser. a qualified professional adviser. Use or
reference of companies/third parties in the report is merely for the purpose of exemplifying the trends in the industry and that no bias is intended towards any company. This report
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manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by nasscom or any agency thereof or its contractors or
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Copyright © 2023

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