Innovative revolutions in the conventional work place traditions remained the highlight of this year. Therefore, 2015 has been a year of creativity, innovative thinking and reimaging of the HR practices. Some of the trends that companies etched more strongly in their culture this year were:
Flexible work hours
The demand for a flexible workplace environment increased more as the data became more fluid, work got more technology based and widespread geographically. There was an increasing acceptance of the fact that convenient working hours and the freedom to work from home or any geographical area ensure high rate of employee retention, thus, saving the costs of replacements and trainings of new joiners for the company.
In today’s fast-paced world with offices at long distances, working from home also saves travel time for the employees which they can utilize in numerous productive ways. Many organizations like Amazon, Convergys, IBM etc. supported this trend with several other joining the band.
Innovative designations instead of titles
With millennials manning several key operations, more and more organizations followed the concept of using creative and attractive designations for employees instead of using boring titles in 2015. There were new and inventive descriptions for people depending on their area of expertise.
Open workspaces
Another trend which received thumbs up from most firms this year was the culture of open workspaces. Open workspaces act as a room for team ideation that brings up innovative ideas and creativity. Informal set ups are used as think tank rooms by the employees as such environment brings openness and frankness in discussions and meetings. Various start-ups embraced this concept that led to great ideas/ campaigns.
Corporate social networking
Organizations are continuing to recognize the need to focus on corporate social networking. An insight report on Social Media around the World-2012 indicated that 7 out of 10 users use social connect, share content and stay informed. Collaborative platform materialized as such a critical utility for enterprises that without it, enterprises trend to become less productive than their counterparts loose an edge over the competitive market.
Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) platforms like Hallwaze act like a smart leader who knows how to encourage effective collaboration in an organisation, identify employees’ skill sets, help in the exchange of ideas, put decisions into action, and produce a more satisfied workforce.
New performance management tools
The year saw a huge change in the Indian organisations’approach towards managing, evaluating and rewarding the workforce. Traditional approach to evaluation techniques was replaced with innovative performance solutions. New, improved performance management systems were adopted by the companies to monitor, evaluate and reward employees.
The latest networking mediums like LinkedIn, and Glassdoor has enabled people to easily monitor the market for better career opportunities. Details about an organization’s working environment are available at the click of the button, providing insights about companies to employees and potential employees alike. The power today is in the hands of the employee who is more connected, well aware and open to modern work culture.
The rapid changes in technology and volatility led to companies shifting their paradigm approach. The need of the hour for HR is to address this change and transform into an esteemed and valued advisor for the company that brings forward thinking, innovative ideas, fresh insights and perspectives to the business at all levels.
(Saif Ahmad is the Founding CEO at Hallwaze Inc. The views expressed in the article does not reflect the stand of IBNLive/ Network18.)
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