According to a report titled ‘Best Employers India 2016 Study’ published by Aon Hewitt, collaboration at the workplace is amongst the top three sustenance drivers for the best employers. This indicates that for other organizations, collaboration is not yet a major focus.
With the knowledge economy becoming more dynamic and complex, increasing workplace expectations of people, and emergence of cutting edge technologies, it is becoming even more challenging for HR to win and retain talent. Hence, HR is looking at building a collaborative workforce by bringing people and technology in one frame. Collaboration is not a new phenomenon; rather it has always been known that it can make things work effectively. Still, collaboration is a major HR issue.
A collaborative workplace creates happy employee experiences and, thereby, positive Employer Value Proposition (EVP). While various ideas have echoed with HR to create a winning and sustainable EVP, in reality, its application, measurement, practice and results vary widely across the world. A collaborative culture engages and retains employees, and is a key to employer branding success. The employees get an impression of community bonding and become unofficial brand ambassadors of their organizations.
Collaboration also fosters workplace equality and diversity. India is a country where social, religious and cultural differences are deeply rooted. Given that it is also the fourth fastest growing economy in the world, it is attracting global talent as well. Further, data from the International Labour Organization reveals that Indian working women are quitting at the fastest rate in the world, due to which India Inc. is under a growing pressure to retain and reinstate them in the workforce. In another report published by TeamLease, it was found that 72% of the Indian women feel that gender discrimination is still prevalent at workplace. And, if you touch upon disabled, remote and virtual workforce management issues, the diversity challenge becomes multi-fold for the organizations. Hence, workplace collaboration reflects that organization is open to new ideas, promotes innovation, and eager to hire transformational talent by making diversity an inclusive process.
The growing shift towards big data, artificial intelligence and robotics is another stumbling block for HR to optimize talent and achieve important business outcomes. Hence, technological collaboration has also become more important than ever for HR. There is a dire need for collaborative technological tools and work spaces to manage remote/flexible workforce, leverage social media as HR communication channel efficiently, and enhance productivity of the employees.
Do you want to know how to use collaboration to elevate your EVP; leverage technology to keep pace with present day augmented workforce; attract, retain and inspire transformational talent; and create a diverse and inclusive culture?
Join interesting sessions at SHRM Annual Conference 2017 to explore further.
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