Insights on Future Workplace Trends in India

Contents
Executive Summary.......................................1
.
Introduction. ..................................................2
.
Business Priorities..........................................3
Survey Findings. .............................................5
.
Overall HR Priorities
Compensation and Rewards
Work-Life Balance & Flexibility
New Trends
Conclusion.................................................... 12
Interviews..................................................... 13

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Executive Summary
The report Insights on Future Workplace Trends
- A Study by Dun & Bradstreet is based on a
survey of HR function leaders and business leaders
in India. It attempts to identify the major emerging
trends that will define the workplace of future.
Our study indicates that organizations are
increasingly realising that having the right employeefriendly policies and practices at workplace will play
a key role in driving organizational success.
The traditional model of a rigid office and workplace
is rapidly transforming into an open and dynamic
environment, where employees desire greater
flexibility and opportunity. Accordingly, employers
are revisiting their existing policies to accommodate
emerging human capital needs with the objective of
increasing productivity, improving work-life balance,
and attracting and retaining talent.
The key findings of the study are listed below:
Major
Challenges:
Enhancing
employee
performance and productivity, and retaining and
rewarding top performers are the key challenges
faced by HR leaders.

1

People Focus: Developing future leaders and
succession emerge as the most important peoplerelated area of focus for companies.
Compensation and Rewards: Non-conventional
methods of compensation are gaining in importance
among businesses. Three-fourths of the companies
surveyed offer insurance benefits to their
employees. A majority of the companies surveyed
intend to provide healthcare and related benefits
going forward.
Work-Life Balance and Flexibility: With a view to
accommodate the emerging needs of employees for
a more casual and open environment to perform,
organizations are looking at providing employees
with greater flexibility at the workplace.
This report discusses these findings in detail.

Introduction
Purpose of the Study
The objective of this study is to understand from
HR function leaders their views on the key people
issues and trends that will define the organization or
workplace of future.
Through the primary survey conducted by Dun
& Bradstreet, this report attempts to identify the
actions that organizations are likely to take in order
to attract and retain human capital.

Methodology
This report is based on a survey of HR function
leaders spread across India. These leaders represent
organizations spanning a variety of sectors. A primary
survey was conducted among HR leaders across
the manufacturing and services sectors. The
responses were collected on a pan-India basis and
the analysis is presented at the aggregate level. The
survey was conducted during November-December
2013. In case of multiple choice questions, given
that each respondent was asked to cite multiple
priorities, the sum of percentage of responses will
be greater than 100%.

2

Traditional industries such as manufacturing sectors
like textiles, automobiles, cement, pharmaceuticals,
etc were covered under the study. Newer industries
i.e. service sectors such as BFSI, IT-ITeS, logistics
and retail, among others, were also covered.
We also surveyed business leaders (i.e. non-HR
functions such as sales, operations, etc) with a view
to get their views on key employee-related issues.
Our report also covers interviews of HR function
leaders to gather insights and perspectives on the
existing human capital related policies and practices
in their organizations and their outlook on the
trends going ahead.

Overview of Sections
For the purpose of identifying the relevant trends
and meaningful insights, the data captured from
the primary survey was classified into the broad
categories of Overall HR priorities, Compensation
& rewards, Work-life balance & flexibility, and New
Trends.

Business Priorities
Along with capturing views of HR function leaders,
the survey also collected responses from
business leaders. In today’s business
environment, critical business decisions
and people goals move hand-in-hand.
More importantly, organizations have
to align their people-related policies
and practices in tandem with the
changing business environment.
The Dun & Bradstreet Business
Optimism Index Survey Report
(the primary survey for this
Report was conducted during
the same time), based on a
quarterly survey of companies
in India, reflects that India Inc’s
business confidence declined by
4.2% (y-o-y) for Q4 2013.
In line with this finding, as per our survey
among the business leaders, reducing costs
emerged among the most important business
priorities for 2014. Nearly 66% of the business
leaders indicated this. When asked about their
key focus with respect to compensation going
ahead, 51% of the business leaders indicated
providing cost-effective alternatives, such as
health benefits.

3

Managing salary expectations remains a critical
challenge for businesses today. The volatility in
economic conditions and uncertain times in which
businesses operate is resulting in companies
increasingly focusing on linking compensation to
performance. This in turn, points towards a greater
need for a more scientific method of evaluating
employee performance. Nearly 52% of the
business leaders surveyed indicated that a strong
performance management system would be critical
in managing and leading a 21st century workforce.
Developing the pipeline of future leaders is another
major challenge grappling organizations today.
More than two-third of the business leaders (70%)
cited developing future leaders as among their main
people focus areas for 2014 and 2015.
The emergence and increased prominence of newer
industries, particularly service sectors that are largely
driven by people as its core assets is prompting
organizations to re-visit their existing policies and
practices. Organizations are increasingly focusing
on implementing flexible workplace practices, as
also providing healthcare and related benefits to
their employees.

4

The workplace trends of future point towards
organizations making available greater flexibility to
employees. However, our survey also throws light
on some degree of difference between how HR
leaders and business leaders perceive the benefits
of flexible workplace practices. While 70% of the
HR leaders cited positive impact of workplace
flexibility practices on recruitment and retention,
only 47% of the business leaders cited recruitment
and retention as among the chief benefits of
implementing workplace flexibility practices.
Business leaders nevertheless see greater value
from such flexibility practices, with 43% of them
citing impact on revenues as among the key benefits,
as compared to 28% of the HR leaders.

Survey Findings
Overall HR Priorities
Enhancing employee productivity and retaining
top performers are the biggest challenges for
HR function leaders
Performance management and related issues seem
to be the most critical challenge faced by today’s HR
function leaders. When asked about the three main
challenges, nearly 83% of the respondents identified
enhancing employee performance and productivity,
as well as retaining and rewarding top performers
as the most critical challenges faced by them.
Competitive compensation, which many a times, is
closely linked to the performance aspect, emerged
as another significant challenge.

5

While respondents from the manufacturing
industries identified retaining and rewarding top
performers (86% of the respondents) as amongst
their most critical challenges, respondents from the
services sectors placed enhancing performance and
productivity (86% of the respondents) as among
their most critical challenges.

Our study also indicates that nature of hiring
challenges varies across companies of different
sizes. While hiring people with specialized skills
is the primary challenge among the large-sized
companies, for the medium-sized firms, managing
salary expectations is a bigger hurdle.

6

Compensation and Rewards
Traditional salary-based compensation
continues to be the centre of compensation…
Not surprisingly, the survey indicates that direct
monetary compensation is the primary driver of
compensation practice among organizations. Over
70% of the companies surveyed offer bonuses to
their employees in addition to fixed base salaries.
…But non-conventional methods of
compensation are gaining
significance
The survey also explored the plans
of organizations to implement nonconventional compensation and rewards
to attract talent going forward. Although
the traditional monetary forms of
compensation benefits dominate the
various benefits offered by companies,
our survey shows that organizations
seem to be increasing their
focus on the non-conventional
methods of compensation.
Nearly 77% of the companies
surveyed offer insurance benefits
to their employees. When asked
about the key areas of focus with
respect to compensation management
going forward, nearly 62% of the HR
leaders cited providing healthcare and related
benefits to be most critical.
Nearly 41% of the respondent companies offer
higher education support related benefits to
their employees.

Figures denote percentage of respondents

7

HR Leaders are also looking to
innovate in terms of providing
career-related rewards to employees
in their organizations. In our
survey, “providing employees with
opportunities for global assignments”
(56% of the respondents) and
“support for pursuing higher
education” (56% of the respondents) emerged as
the top choices in rewarding employees.
Among the services companies surveyed, 57%
selected providing global assignments (56% of the
respondents from manufacturing sectors selected
this) emerged as the most effective approach in
rewarding employees.
Among the respondents from the manufacturing
industries, 59% selected providing higher education

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support (51% of the respondents from services
sectors selected this) emerged as the most effective
approach in rewarding employees.
Companies in the metro cities cited offering
opportunities for global assignments as the most
effective tool in rewarding employees, while as per
companies in the non-metro cities, offering support
for pursuing higher education is the most effective
tool in rewarding employees.

Work-Life Balance & Flexibility
In-house doctor and in-house fitness centres
emerge as the most effective practices in
enhancing work-life balance
In our survey, we found that companies are looking
to implement various facilities to create a healthy
work environment for employees. Nearly 83% of
the respondents selected having ‘in-house doctor’ or
‘in-house fitness centre’ as major priorities. In-house
meditation centre also emerged as a key priority,
with 78% of the respondents selecting this.

9

Providing casual/open work environment
emerging as a key workplace flexibility tool to
enhance employee productivity
About 76% of the HR leaders surveyed identified
“increased employee productivity” as amongst the
primary benefits of implementing workplace flexibility
practices on organizational performance. Among the
business leaders surveyed, 61% of them indicated
increased employee productivity as amongst the
main benefits of implementing workplace flexibility
practices.


When asked about the key workplace flexibility tools
to improve productivity of employees, HR leaders
rated a ‘casual/open workplace environment’ as
the highest priority. This could include adopting a
casual dress code, and building facilities such as nap
rooms, zones for games/recreation and permitting
appropriate use of social media.
Flexible work arrangements are seen to
be having a positive impact on employee
retention
About 57% of the companies surveyed have
implemented flexible workplace practices.
Among such companies, 83% indicated that
these practices have had a positive impact
on recruitment and retention in their
organizations.

10

New Trends
Workplace
flexibility
and
employee health & wellness
initiatives emerge as key tools
to retain employees and keep
them engaged
Our survey results highlight the
increasing
recognition
among
companies that they need to provide
much more than ‘compensation’ to
their employees. HR Leaders seem
to be driven by the fact that workloads and stress tend to hamper
employee health, productivity and
overall motivation.
In this context, it should not be surprising that
“Wellness and preventive health programs” (88%
of the respondents) and “Providing flexible work
arrangements” (82% of the respondents) emerged
as the top choices with regards to new initiatives by
HR Leaders. Further, 79% of the respondents also
cited “Providing long service awards” as a key tool in
motivating and retaining employees.

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Conclusion
As the environment in which businesses operate
becomes increasingly complex and the war for talent
intensifies, companies are re-working their people
strategies. In difficult economic circumstances,
HR and business leaders find it difficult to balance
the need for high productivity and efficiency with
the objective of providing employees a stress-free,
motivating environment.
HR Leaders are hence dealing with a situation
of identifying cost-effective tools that have a
high positive impact on employee morale and
productivity.
Importantly, some of these workplace trends are
clearly discernible through the survey and are
presented below.
1. Compensation and Rewards: Companies are
increasingly providing non-conventional methods
of compensation to employees. In this regard,
providing employees with opportunities for global
assignments and support for pursuing higher
education have emerged as more popular modes of
rewarding employees going ahead.
2. Workplace Flexibility: Companies are looking
at providing employees with greater flexibility at the
workplace. The traditional model of a rigid office
and workplace is rapidly transforming into a flexible
workplace, as organizations increasingly realize
the positive impact of flexibility on productivity.
Workplace flexibility is also being extended to
include items of wellness & comfort given that
many employees spend a majority of their time at
workplace. Some of the initiatives in this direction
include a five-day work week, creches/on-site child

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care facilities, and laundry services, among others.
3. Wellness and Comfort: The coming years are
expected to witness greater focus of companies in
offering wellness and preventive health programs
as a key tool towards employee retention and
engagement initiatives. Some of the initiatives in this
direction include in-house fitness centres and inhouse meditation centres.
4. Sectoral Trends
a. Traditional Industries (i.e. Manufacturing) Owing to the nature of the traditional industries,
as they grapple with the challenge of bridging the
gap for skilled manpower, companies from the
traditional sectors have an increased thrust on
providing support to their employees for pursuing
higher education.
b. Newer Sectors (i.e. Services): Companies from
the newer sectors seem to be focusing on offering
non-conventional methods of compensation to
their employees. Providing opportunities for global
assignments has emerged among the top choices in
rewarding employees.
Going forward, we expect the above trends to
gather greater momentum given that organizational
and market complexities are only increasing.

Saurabh Govil

Sr. Vice President - Human Resources
Wipro Ltd

Q. As an HR Leader, what do you foresee as your
top three Human Capital related challenges
in the coming years, and what would be your
strategies in meeting them?
A. Our top three human capital challenges in the
coming years would be 1) Re-engaging the workforce
and building a stronger employer brand; 2) Acquire/
Build capability in specific/specialized skill sets; 3)
Stitch all talent management practices together for
uniformity, and focus more attention on those that
will deliver higher results.
Q. Could you please elaborate on the work
culture of your company? Over the years, how
has the changing workforce diversity influenced
the work culture of your organization?
A. Our culture is a values-based culture, and this has
helped us thrive as a global organization. Values have
global appeal and anyone anywhere can relate to
them. Diversity & Inclusion is an integral part of our
business and human capital strategy. It has helped
us build and nurture a global workforce, while at
the same time being sensitive to local contexts
- therefore, more agility. This is reflected in our
policies and practices.
Q. The war for talent is intensifying. Could
you elaborate on the retention policies of your
organization? What new initiatives is your
organization planning to take in the year ahead
to attract and retain the best talent?

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A. We will focus on making the entire talent lifecycle
more robust. We find that this comprehensive
approach works best and delivers results in the
medium and long term. Some key practices we will
build on are managerial effectiveness, cultivating
deeper skill sets, flexible career models, and
leadership connect.
Q. Could you please elaborate on few of your
company’s policies with respect to employee
management, especially employee engagement
initiatives?
A. Our talent management policies are well
structured, carried out and articulated, and the
employees are clear on the intent as well as how
things work. In all of this, our effort going forward will
be to bring in greater stakeholder input into talent
management. The workforce is mature enough and
aware enough to quickly evaluate and give feedback
on any practice we put in place, and at Wipro we
make it a point to create a balanced mix of fairness,
innovation and optimization.
We have a well institutionalized engagement
approach, with clearly stated intent, goals and
metrics. We will continue to drive the same. Our
engagement model is also a participatory one, in the
form of the Employee Advocacy Group. Different
businesses have customized engagement practices
to fit business contexts. For instance, in Wipro BPO,
the engagement parameters and processes work
differently to suit the dynamics of floor operations.

Q. Please throw some light on the importance
of employer branding as an organizational
strategy.
A. We are at an interesting phase where branding is
concerned. The more the turmoil and change that
we are exposed to, the more we appreciate clarity
and strength of stand. That is what branding will be
all about going forward - being clear and transparent,
differentiating with a purpose, taking a stand.
Employment branding is going to gain in importance
and prominence. Audiences worldwide are more
mature now and are quick to reject brands in which
the promotion does not match the experience.
Branding has to be more grounded, more in tune
with reality, with what we are and also blend in that
element of aspiration – what we want to be.

Q. How can organizations benefit from flexible
workplace practices? What are its impact on
employee engagement, employee retention,
and organizational performance?
A. Flexibility, when implemented correctly can have
a positive influence on engagement, retention and
performance. Many organizations have tried out
different approaches towards flexibility and made
many changes over time. Some approaches have
succeeded, some have failed. I think there is no one
best way to approach and implement flexibility. We
need to customize flexibility for different needs.
Flexibility is all about placing control in the hands of
employees - this has a direct positive impact on an
individual’s engagement.

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Q. Having a strong leadership pipeline is
indispensable. What is your organization’s
strategy with regards to leadership development
and succession planning?
A. We have a well institutionalized leadership
development and succession planning strategy,
approach and history. Building leadership capacity
and capability have been integral, consistent elements
of our organizational strategy for over two decades
now.
Our approach is to define certain behaviours
that define leadership at various levels, measure
them and cultivate them on the job. The focus on
building leaders is global, across levels, and is well
understood across the organization. We build in
leadership expectations into various dimensions of
the job, so that people see it as a natural expectation
and outcome, and not as a stand-alone feature. For
example when assessing individuals for role fitments
for senior levels, we also assess specific leadership
behaviours that are most relevant to a specific role.
Leadership behaviours demonstrated also becomes
a key element in the succession planning exercise.
It helps us differentiate between individuals
demonstrating similar levels of performance, and
also helps us create more concrete and intelligent
developmental plans.

Jacob Jacob

Chief People Officer
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd

A. The key human capital challenges that we foresee
in the coming years are making quicker and more
efficient people related decisions; creating a talent
pipeline for our future needs; and curbing high
employee turnover especially on junior medical
professionals & nursing.
We are in the process of implementing an integrated
HCM system which will help us streamline our
HR processes and also provide real time HR data
to enable quicker people related decisions. Talent
pipeline issues are being addressed by identification
of high potential candidates who will be groomed
through focused interventions to take on higher
roles in the system. In addition, we are also hiring
potential talent from management institutes and
grooming them for leadership roles in our system.
Junior medical professionals, especially doctors
aspire for career development opportunities. We are
looking at providing various skill development avenues
through tie-ups with educational institutions.

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A. About three decades ago, Apollo Hospitals was
only a fledgling of an idea. Born of a necessity to offer
better healthcare to Indians, it has since become
one of the leading healthcare service providers in
India. The Apollo Hospitals Group has consistently
envisioned patients’ needs and introduced game
changing innovations.
Three words that define our culture are Excellence,
Expertise and Empathy. Considering the nature of the
industry in which we operate, where around 40% of
our workforce is nurses who are mostly women, we
ensure that we bring about diversity and inclusion in
our policies and processes.
Over the years with our geographical expansion
and with the establishment of hospitals across the
country, we have ensured that people from various
age groups, regions, religions, etc are represented in
our workforce.
A. Employee retention is critical as organizations
invest significant time and money in hiring and training
candidates. Hence failing to retain a key employee is
a costly proposition for any organization.

We at Apollo Hospitals have robust Employee
Welfare, Reward & Recognition & Employee
Engagement practices which helps us to retain
some of our best talent. We also take our Employee
Engagement Surveys seriously. The feedback from
these surveys is diligently tracked for each category
of employee, based on which we work on the areas
of improvement.
Since the war for talent is going to intensify further,
we have planned a few more measures for talent
retention. For example, we are cognizant of the fact
that the immediate family members of an employee
have a huge role to play in employee loyalty. We
are looking at creating an Apollo Employees Spouse
Community for group events. The main intention is
to strengthen the bond between Apollo employees
and their families, as well as to create a platform to
encourage hidden aspirations and talents.
initiatives?
A. We believe in productively engaging our
employees, touching upon the emotional, welfare
and performance related needs.
For example nurses, who constitute about 40%
of our workforce, have a very comprehensive
engagement plan at each phase of their employee
lifecycle. When a nursing staff joins us, they first
undergo a 3-day HR Induction Program followed by
a 10-day departmental induction program. Once
they settle in, they need to undergo several inservice training programs and on-the-job-trainings to
improve their competency levels in ensuring clinical
and service excellence.
We also have a robust job rotation for nursing
category to provide them with opportunities
for career growth. We have also defined a clear
career path for them, indicating the experience and

17

qualification required to move up the career path.
The nursing leaders are groomed for leadership roles
through various Leadership Development Programs
through various interventions.
The healthcare industry can be quite demanding
in terms of work ethics. It can be mentally
and emotionally draining for young healthcare
professionals due to the amount of pain and suffering
they encounter each day at work in looking after
patients. We in HR are cognizant of this and try
our best to provide our employees with a positive
experience by engaging with them and uplifting their
spirit.
strategy.
A. Professional services brands are built on
reputation, relationships and intellectual capital
– in other words, their people. Employees that
have a strong bond and a clear understanding of
the corporate brand can be the company’s most
valuable brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors
are an innovative and efficient way to promote your
company’s brand while engaging your employees
and fostering loyalty.
But to generate this type of enthusiasm and unity,
employees must feel a sense of shared purpose, a
fundamental connection to the company’s mission,
vision and values, and an understanding of how they
contribute to the company’s success. And, they must
be empowered with the right tools to communicate
that brand externally – whether at a social gathering
or a business function, through email, social media
or a phone call.
Some of the employer branding strategies that
Apollo Hospitals have included involving employees
in CSR activities; employee referral schemes; and an
alumnae programme for ex-Apollo employees.



A. Flexible workplace practices such as workfrom-home, flexi hours, part-time systems etc have
grown in popularity within organizations, especially
after the advent of MNCs in India. It is a boon for
professionals especially women, who can manage
both home and work due to the flexibility provided
by their employers. It is well understood that these
initiatives have a positive correlation with employee
engagement, retention and even organizational
performance. Although, it might be difficult to provide
work-from-home options for employees in service
organizations, especially for hospitals and hotels, as
it involves lot of direct customer interfacing.

A. Our organization is looking at rapid growth
in the next 2 years. The progression management
in this context will be handled using appropriate
systems and processes for succession planning. The
first step towards succession planning is to identify
critical roles in the system. Next, we identify high
potential candidates who can be successors for the
critical roles. Using our leadership competency grid
we assess their current competency level and the
gaps in competencies are addressed through robust
leadership development programs, balancing the
“three Es“- Experience, Exposure & Education.

A case in point is few of our hospitals have break
shifts for the employees in lab services department,
where there are peaks and troughs in the volume of
work in a day. They allow employees with more than
a year’s experience to come in at 8 in the morning,
work till 12 noon and come back at 3 pm in the
evening to work till 7 pm. These employees log out
of work for up to four hours, using the time to run
errands, look after children or attend classes, and
return to office later in the evening. This practice has
improved employee engagement & retention in our
Units and at the same time has helped in improving
organizational performance.

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G Y Suhas

Head - HR, IR & Admin
L&T Construction Equipment Limited

A. In the coming years, our top three human capital
challenges and focus areas would be Employee
Retention, Change Management, and Employee
Management. Our employee retention focus would
involve developing suitable retention strategies for the
best talent, without having any demoralizing impact
on the other employees. The change management
initiative will be to devise an effective and customised
strategy to suit the change management process in
an effective manner. Tackling employee engagement
challenges would involve realigning the priorities to
meet business expectations and initiatives to take
employees along the company’s growth journey.
Q. Could you also elaborate on the employee
engagement initiatives undertaken at L&T
Construction Equipment Limited?
A. Apart from structured discussions with the
Union, several cross functional teams have been
formed for driving employee engagement activities
in various sphere of work, such as safety, sports and
cultural activities, CSR activities, where not only the
employees, but their spouses and family members
are also involved. The company honours the talented
children of employees and the end result of all these
initiatives is excellent bonding among everyone.

19

Q. Could you elaborate on the retention policies
of your organization?
A. The key objective of our retention policies is
to retain/nurture and develop the best talent to
shoulder the highest level of responsibility at various
levels of management.
Based on the Performance Management System,
the top performers are rotated in different sections
and are developed to head the section, department,
unit and ultimately to go on Boards of the company.
They are provided with intensive leadership
training at various levels, which include Supervisory
Development Programme, Executive Development
Programme, Managerial Development Programme,
Global Leadership Programme, among others. Apart
from training and job rotation, they are also given
special retention pay and special monetary rewards,
apart from annual performance linked rewards. This
boosts their morale. The result of these initiatives is
that the top performers are ultimately developed to
head the section/departments/Unit and also various
senior and top management positions.
Q. The war for talent is intensifying. What new
initiatives is your organisation planning to take
in the year ahead to attract and retain the best
talent?
A. In our organization, there is an excellent coordination between Gen X and Gen Y employees,
with both respecting and valuing the views of each
other. Changing workforce diversity has, in fact,

improved the overall work culture of the company
manifold. Some of the new initiatives that we plan
to take going ahead to attract and retain the best
talent include leadership development programs,
fast track growth, career path progression, leading
edge programs, employee engagement initiatives,
and providing an excellent working environment.
strategy.
A. Employer branding plays an important role in
increasing the visibility of an organization in the
corporate world and among the public. The leaders
of the company address various gatherings and
participate in various important sessions conducted
by various associations and bodies such as CII,
NHRD, BCIC, IIM, etc, where various initiatives
and achievements are elaborated with facts and
figures. This brings creditability as the claims are
substantiated by showing the actual results.
A. L&T has very strong initiatives in building the
leadership pipeline. Apart from leadership programs,
assigning enhanced roles always takes employees
in confidence and increases their preparedness in
meeting expectations. The star performers are
well groomed to take up future leadership roles. In
fact, the top management team of L&T started their
carrier at entry point of management position as
graduate engineer trainees.

20

Q. Can you give some examples of workplace
flexibility practices implemented at L&T
Construction Equipment Limited?
A. The workmen are accommodated to take change
of shifts to meet their requirements and also that
of the company. During the slowdown of 2008-09,
after discussions with the Union, the employees
were granted paid holidays. In return, the employees
compensated and worked for 50% of the holidays
availed when the production requirement gained
momentum again in 2009-10. Our organisation’s
main focus continues to be employee engagement,
retention
and
organizational
performance.
Workplace flexibility practices are used as a tool to
meet the organizational requirements.
the work culture of your organisation?
A. Our founder chairman Mr. Henning Holck Larsen
says “Machinery must be there, buildings must be
there… but without people, it’s all nothing. People
are our only real assets”. Our company is focused
towards resolving the concerns of our employees.
Our company takes care of its employees; in turn,
all other needs of the company are taken care of by
the employees themselves, who highly committed
to their work.

Saurabh Nigam

Vice President - HR, IT & Admin
Beroe Consulting (I) Pvt Ltd

A. I think the top most challenge in the coming years
would be to find the right talent at the right time and
at the right cost for the organization. The war for
talent is only going to intensify and organizations will
have to come up with innovative strategies to identify
and hire top talent. This will include leveraging the
social media to reach out to the best in class talent,
building internal and external networks which can be
leveraged for talent scouting and focusing on building
their employer brand which will transcend beyond
the traditional geographical boundaries.
Another key challenge which is fast approaching
us is the ever increasing presence of the next
generation or Gen Y employees in the workplace.
This generation is highly networked and extremely
tech savvy. They have their own unique expectations
from the organizations they work for and since they
are going to form the majority of the workforce in
the coming years, organizations have to really think
deep to come up with innovative talent management
strategies which will cater to the aspirations of this
generation.

21

A. Beroe is a fairly young organization with the
average age of employees being around 27 years.
This has resulted in a highly energetic and charged up
work atmosphere. The culture of the organization is
built on three key tenets of Meritocracy, Flexibility
and Transparency.
A. I think the culture of the organization plays a
key role on how your current and future employees
view their careers in the organization. We have tried
and built a culture which treats every individual
with mutual respect and dignity, allowing them the
freedom and the flexibility to express themselves at
Beroe. We have a strong culture of meritocracy at
Beroe and we have ensured that all the right enablers
are in place for every employee to realise their true
potential at Beroe – this to me is the key to retaining
top talent.
initiatives?
A. We at Beroe believe in aligning employee
engagement initiatives with the aspirations and
expectations of our people. A lot of our initiatives

our driven completely by the employee wherein the
HR team plays the role of an enabler or facilitator.
The employee engagement portfolio encompasses
the entire gamut of activities such as clubs (quiz,
sports etc), events (festivals, sports, cultural
activities etc), participation in inter-corporate
events, communication channels like newsletters,
meet the leaders meetings, townhalls, team outings,
and rewards & recognition.
strategy.
A. In today’s world, which is highly networked,
a strong employer brand is paramount to attract,
motivate and retain top talent in your organization.
Employer branding should focus on developing a
well-crafted story for the organization that describes
the mission and values of the organization and
highlights its commitment to track, develop, reward,
and retain the top talent.

22

A. With more than 50% of today’s workplace
comprising of Gen Y, it is almost certain that
organizations need to provide flexibility to them as
that is a key expectation of this generation. Flexibility
at the workplace can go a long way in improving the
work-life balance of employees, which in turn has a
positive impact on their productivity at work.
A. We have a strong focus on developing future
leaders from within the organization and we have
put in various enablers for that, for example chalking out a clear path for different functions,
building a transparent and objective performance
measurement system, training & development,
coaching and mentoring.

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Tel: +91 22 6680 1300 Fax: +91 22 2847 6282 Web: www.dnb.co.in

Insights on Future Workplace Trends in India

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