The People Management Committee of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized ‘The People Management Conclave – 3rd Edition – Post Pandemic Priorities, Happy Days are here again’ on March 26, 2021 via Digital Mode. 

A Brief about the Conclave: 

Celebrating the indomitable spirit of people to live to fight another day after the pandemic and emerge stronger was the key driver to this conclave. The conclave targeted to attain triple objective to include people in news, respond to the employability question and celebrate the best in people business. 

This Conclave focuses on the following themes for an engaging panel discussion: 

∙ Weaving of the two pillars – professional and personal in the Next Normal

∙ Design for the Future and Learning’s from Crisis – South Asia Perspective

∙ Next Gen Employability

∙ Curtain Raiser for HR Brilliance Award on Best People practices

Weaving of the two pillars – professional and personal in the Next Normal 

Even before the pandemic, the distinctions between work and life were blurring. Many businesses and employers embraced flexibility to some extent, but that also meant that for staff/professionals work ceased to be 9-5 or even 9-7 proposition. We learned to weave in the two - our work, and life outside of it. All ostensibly, in the name of greater productivity for businesses/organization’s and greater incomes and attendant benefits for individuals. 

Then came the pandemic and the accompanying digital evolution. These brought more technology in our lives, and created even more enmeshing of the two - work and other, by bringing us WFH, SFH, and socialize from home. Through the pandemic, technology allowed us to connect even through isolation - it gave us our families, our friends, our networks, and for many, if not all, our livelihoods, and our education. It has changed the way we view and connect at work, in our relationships - both personal and professional.

 

Design for the Future and Learning’s from Crisis - South Asia Perspective 

The broad aspects around which the discussions held were: 

∙ How have these two important revelations of 2020 - the pandemic and acceleration of the digital evolution, changed the way we connect?

∙ What has changed in the way you manage people at home, at work and in between?

∙ Is this new order working? What does it mean for individuals and organizations? Did we all start working smarter, or just more? Are we overconnecting?

∙ How are better connections to be fostered at work - does technology necessarily foster better connections and communication? 

∙ Generally speaking, has this been good for us? What are the benefits? What is the price we are paying as individuals, as enterprises and society? What needs to change?

Next Gen Employability 

Employability and employment have never been so relevant as today. Tens of thousands have lost jobs, dignity and money over the last year. Students were unable to pay college fees since their parents lost jobs. Colleges and Universities kept functioning in a semi-conscious state deferring and halving every cost burden including faculty salary. 

Added to this was continuing operations via on one when many were not equipped to conduct Zoom, Google meet and WebEx suddenly became the new normal. Woes heaped on those who did not have good internet connectivity and puny mobiles as their only educational devise. Educational institutes were not prepared for such an eventuality. 

Finally, industries closed down on recruitment going into a just about business continuity plan model. No frills, no nothing, just survive became the mantra for 2020. No recruitment, promotion, pay hike, no fresher hiring. Contactless delivery, building up of infra to enable on line working were key areas to focus. 

So where do we go from here in 2021? The panel deliberated on the future of education business, and its stakeholders, namely administrators and academic professionals in colleges and universities, the student community and finally the industry and HR Fraternity on all facets that 2020 has unleashed.

Curtain Raiser for HR Brilliance Award on Best People practices 

Interesting times we live in. While many corporates floundered under the pandemic, others stood firm and afloat. The evening trike to unravel the secret sauce that made the latter tick and come out with best people management practices and celebrated the actors who shone against all odds.

It aimed to recognize the novelty and innovative HR practices, identify and bring to prominence these best practices and celebrate the very best so they can be benchmarks for others to emulate This forum is for those who bear the torch of HR Brilliance in the HR Landscape of India through its efficient People Practices.

Speakers at this event were: 

∙ Mr. Somesh Dasgupta, Chairperson – The People Management Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Whole Time Director,  India Power Corporation Limited             

∙ Mr. Abraham George Stephanos, Managing Director,  Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited and President Designate,  The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry 

∙ Ms. Radha Roy Biswas, Consultant – Communications & Policy Advocacy 

∙ Pandit Tejendranarayan Majumdar, Globally Acclaimed Musician

∙ Dr. Kunal Sarkar, Senior Vice Chairman &  Senior Cardiac Surgeon, Medica Superspecialty Hospital

∙ Mr Jaidip Chatterjee, Chief of HR, SREI Group 

∙ Dr.  Ajantha Dharmasiri, Director and Chairman, Postgraduate Institute of Management, Sri Lanka

∙ Mr. Robert Mostert, Global Head Human Resources, Toll Holdings Limited, Singapore

∙ Dr. T V Rao, Chairman, T.V Rao Learning Systems Pvt Ltd, India 

∙ Ms. Monzula Morshed, Chief Human Resources, Banglalink, Bangladesh

∙ Mr. ‘Paul Narula’ Pornthep Sri Narula, Founder & CEO, Syncate Company Ltd. ,Thailand

∙ Mr. Rahul Bose, Co-Chairperson – The People Management Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry 

∙ Ms. Radhika Jaggi, Business Head – Eastern India & Neighboring Countries, Society for Human Resource Management (India)

∙ Ms. Shivani Chaturvedi, Chief People Officer, Mjunction Services Ltd

∙ Dr. Pawan Jain, Associate Professor, Institute of Management Technology 

∙ Dr. Smita Ramakrishna, Faculty, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management 

∙ Prof. Dr. Tarun Kanti Jana, Dean School of Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology 

∙ Mr. Prakash Panda, Sr. Vice President HR, India Power Corporation Limited

Eminent Global HR heads were of opinion that organizations will transform the HR function to deliver employee experiences that are human-centered, leveraging the latest technologies to deliver personalized, compelling, and engaging experiences. Technology had significantly influenced the HR function. It had led to new business models coming into existence, allowing technology platform companies to make a significant impact. Competition had come not from within the known set of businesses but also from different industries by leveraging technology. 

The Conclave was attended by Directors, Faculty and Administrative Officers of Engineering and Management Institutes and HR Leaders.