Report on HEURISTIC 2022, 3rd HR SUMMIT 2022, 25th February 2022

EVENT: HEUSRISTIC 2022, 3 rd HR SUMMIT 2022

DATE: 25 th February 2022

TIME: 10 A.M – 2.30 P.M

MODE: ONLINE MODE (ZOOM AND FACEBOOK LIVE)

Covid-19 has brought unprecedented changes across the globe. Every single sector has been disrupted and this has led to the introduction of remote culture, which became the “New Normal” since the pandemic. Managing Human resources in itself is a herculean task and when it comes to managing them virtually, it becomes even more complicated. The pandemic has greatly affected the professionals at both the personal and career front and has brought a transformation in human resource management practices. Furthermore, organizations adopted telecommuting, which was not an entirely new concept. However, the extent to which it was implemented was something astonishing and not thought of in pre-pandemic days.  In addition, the pandemic has increased the tendency of employees to leave their existing jobs for the sake of working remotely, which has been forecasted and termed as “The Great Resignation Phenomenon” by Dr. Anthony C. Klotz.

To discuss and deliberate the paradigm shift in HR role brought about by the pandemic GD Goenka University, School of Management organized its third HR Summit “Heuristic 2022” in virtual mode. The summit gave participants valuable insights into the changing HR functions in the pandemic era and the role of HR in the digitized world. 

The event was inaugurated with enlightening verses of Saraswati Vandana, followed by the welcome address from Prof. (Dr.) Tabrez Ahmad the Hon'ble Vice-Chancellor and Dr. Alok Pandey, Dean School of Management, GD Goenka University. Thereafter, Dr. Nusrat Khan briefed the HR summit 2022.

After the inaugural ceremony, the Chief Guest of session one Dr. G. Jawahar presented the keynote address. Dr. Jawahar highlighted the struggles related to Training & Development activities, maintaining the psychological well-being of employees, and difficulties of managing work from home and maintaining attendance. He added that despite all the challenges faced Power Finance Corporation had zero attrition rate. The company went for its first online recruitment drive and used artificial intelligence for training functions. He informed us about the new employee engagement policies introduced by the company. He concluded by saying that the pandemic has not changed rather expanded the role of HR.

The first speaker of the session was Ms. Gauri Das. According to Ms. Gauri, the pandemic had changed 3 W’s i.e., work, workforce and workplace. She stressed the need to maintain business continuity through 3 H’s (heart, head, and hand). Furthermore, she mentioned the need to integrate humans and technology. In addition, she gave her valuable insights about predictive analysis and defining KRA’s, diagnosing what is going on in the market, and providing solutions to overcome the disconnect between the companies and the customers. She brought about a new mantra SAY that emphasizes the significance of self, awareness, and taking one’s time. 

Dr. Ritika Mahajan was the second speaker for the session. She talked about the great resignation and how the pandemic has led to self-reflection. She indicated the importance of HR for incorporating WLB, flexibility, diversity, online mode of working and enhancing the mental health of employees. Interestingly she equated HR to salt in food. When present nobody talks about salt but as soon as salt is taken away from food people start missing it badly.

The third speaker for the session was Ms. Premlata, who shared her insights upon ensuring business continuity, communication, Learning & Development, taking care of stakeholders, remote working, wellness needs, and collaborating with the government being adaptable and following a goal-driven and focused approach. In addition, she mentioned how the role of HR professionals is increasing irrespective of the sectors they are working in, following a pre- defined quality framework within the organization. She viewed that the HR role had five elements identified as ABCDE i.e., namely agile towards change, business world, content and collaboration, data-driven and digitalization, and empathy.

The last speaker of session one was Mr. Rishi Raj Grover, who explained “Retention is an outcome and not a target” of his organization CNH industrial. He shared how CNH contributed towards CSR during the pandemic by providing necessary healthcare services to PAN India and achieving hard business results besides a sense of ownership within the employees. This facilitated CNH to sustain and come out of the cascading effects of the pandemic. The session was followed by the Q&A session between the speakers and students. Finally, Dr. Monika Aggarwal concluded the session with a vote of thanks to all the speakers.

The second session was about the role of HR in the digitized world.

HR digitalization and transformation is moving at rapid speed. HR digitalization has been enabling the seamless transformation of HR functions and thereby making HRM more efficient and effective. The second session is comprised of discussion in context of how HR is incorporating the changes. The chief guest for the session was Dr. Shalini Kalia, who talked about the changing recruitment processes in remote culture, including virtual hiring via video conferencing to ensure quality hiring. Also, she discussed what HR professionals can do to retain the right kind of workforce within the organization. Then the discussion was carried forward by first speaker Mr. Pradeep Hatgaonker. He talked about the transformed HR functions due to technological advancement and also emphasized that young generation must be equipped with digital skills to grow in their career.

Then, the discussion was carried forward by Ms. Swati Gupta who shared her knowledgeable insights about HR being more concerned about employee retention and welfare and ensuring the up gradation of their skill sets even when they are working from home. She also mentioned about new interventions that will be required in the VUCA world. Also, she discussed “adaptability” as an increasingly demanded skill by recruiters post-pandemic.   

Further, the discussion was carried forward by Ms. Anjali Khanna, who talked about the increasing role of HR professionals in the education sector. She has also discussed that how HR is responsible to create right culture in the organization and how it plays the role of facilitator to create an emotional connect with employees. Further, the discussion was taken by Mr. Ankoor Dasguupta who talked about the lack of HR discipline and inability to retain the talented workforce due to improper HR practices. Also, he discussed the example of robust HR practices of Genpact and how the recruitment process has evolved during the pandemic. He also emphasized that HR needs to play the role of catalyst to imbibe digitalization in the organizations.

The next speaker was Mr. Prasoon M. Tripathi, who shared his valuable insights about Future Strategic Focus, Processes, People and Operational focus. Furthermore, he discussed HR professional competencies via paradox navigator including Organization Enablers, Core Enablers, and Delivery Enablers. He has also talked about the competencies required to be built by upcoming generation to be the part of HR transformations.

The chief guest for the valedictory session was Dr. Saumya Badgyan, who shared her valuable insights about building human resilience and perseverance and talked about how inclusiveness was not only limited to gender, instead included technology aspects also. Furthermore, she talked about seeking alpha in the VUCA world and having a sense of learning moreover like a knowledge sponge. The session was then followed by another Q&A session between panel speakers and students and was then concluded by Dr. Preeti Malhotra and Dr. Swati Sisodia with a vote of thanks to all the chief guests and speakers of both the session. The event was a success besides being a knowledgeable discussion for all the members and students who participated in the discussion.