HR will mean getting the 'crowd' involved to bring in new ideas: R Anand, HCL Technologies

"The expectations from an employee in this environment are to design an upgraded version of them. We call it U2.0 and we have several pillars to support the employees."
In the snazzy world of startups that offers better challenges, bigger growth opportunities and now, even a payment package to match the fat pockets of the big companies, traditional organisations are finding it hard to hold on to their talent.

What's worse the size of a traditional company often makes it difficult for the HR managers to keep a tab on the individualistic requirements, thus making it hard to plug disenchantment and .... It is in this environment that technology has come to the aid of the organisations like HCL to not just retain the talent the companies worked hard to groom, but to also help employees reinvent themselves. HCL Technologies, Global Head of People Practices, R Anand speaks to Economic about the changing times.

ET: Have the challenges that a HR manager faces, changed over the years? What are some of key imperatives that an HR professional like you and HCL as a company need to stay ahead?
R Anand (RA):
Technology is playing a disruptive part in all spheres of a company. Since clients are adopting new technologies at a fast pace, much depends on the ability of our workforce to understand the implications of the new technologies and the ability to embrace these technologies. In the future, decisions on compensation and benchmarking will be based on skills rather than on the responsibility level, as is today.

Also, there is a lot of information available today and you need a platform where individuals can collaborate ideas, experiment and put their results to vote to test their appeal. If there can be a mechanism where you can listen to a lot of people, bring in new ideas and techniques then the company would be in a good shape.

ET: So in a way you mean to use the 'crowd' in HR to provide a better guidance than just two-three HR individuals sitting down and saying what is good or not?
RA: Absolutely. You really said it. That is the way the future will work and therefore there will be that much more direct democracy in the work place.

ET: Does this hold true for a big organisation like yours where you have over a lakh of people or is this only suitable for a small startup?
RA: It will work for both kinds of companies. While in a startup it happens through physical interaction, we need mechanisms to make it happen in a large organisation. That is the only difference. The method becomes different, but I truly believe that this is needed everywhere.

ET: So when does a company need to start formulating its HR policies? Is it from its inception or does it depend on the number of employees?
RA: You need to be clear about your value proposition and need to define it early on. Otherwise, the values that the first set of people you hire bring with them end up defining the value of the company and it gets difficult to change it later on. Also, compliance has to start from Day One. You cannot be non-compliant to the law of the land or the prevailing practices. Talent acquisition processes also need to start early. If your line managers are good and sensitive, they can perform the job initially but eventually, you will need to hire specialists.

ET: Big companies are facing a lot of difficulties in retaining their talent so what kind of innovations has HCL rolled out in the past two years to overcome the challenges?
Apart from the need of the hour procedures, we are essentially focussing on two things. We are trying to figure out how analytics can help us to bring individualisation back to the workplace. We do not want to be a place which treats its people like segments in a uniform where people come, obey rules and go back. Secondly, we want to utilise the wisdom of our employees and integrate their thoughts into our decision making processes. We want to create a social HR, which can ensure a lot more participation and democratisation in the workplace. So socialising HR is the second thing that is a big trend cutting across several measures that we took in the last few years.

ET: How have these measures been received by the employees of the HCL?
Our Social HR has received a phenomenal response. We have tried to re-imagine a traditional organisation where interaction and not processes is the centre and it is the quality of such interactions that ensures better decisions and therefore, better outcomes. We are trying to figure out how talent management and career management can be done more socially, how can feedback be collected more socially and how can engagement be made more social.

We have developed a platform called Meme which is a HCL social networking platform and other than engagement activities, it also has other applications. For example, we have Career Connect where an employee can receive career advice from other employees and make an informed decision about which path to take to grow in the organisation. The platform leverages the knowledge and strength of the co-workers. HCL has 1,05,000 employees and currently we have 45-50,000 on Career Connect who are involved in this conversation. So, it is not management or HR trying to direct the employees, but the network of employees itself.

ET: So according to you how important is self development and career development for an employee within the organisation now? Is it very important for you to show him a progression cycle?
The first is a selfish reason because if you want to retain your people you need to provide them support. When an employee gets up in the morning, he or she should want to come to HCL instead of thinking of moving to some other place. The second more iterative reason is that the mutability is very high in the technology industry. The changes and the choices inspire a lot of angst in the workforce. Employees are always worried about making the wrong choices or not making the right choices. Therefore, there is an altruistic reason where we need people to think about the changes, to interpret and provide guidance.

ET: You have also talked about encouraging your employees to upgrade their skills in order to evaluate their relevance in the market?
RA: The whole idea of Social HR is that there is no management or employees, but a community trying to make wise decisions. The expectations from an employee in this environment are to design an upgraded version of them. We call it U2.0 and we have several pillars to support the employees.

Social HR is one of the pillars where employees get a lot of information in which analytics also plays a part. We tell people about the number and the kind of positions that open up and balance internal demand and supply while aligning the aspirations of the employees. So, we are trying to give as much support and information to the employees to help them design the next version of themselves.


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