3/16/2019 Changing Workplace Culture: Lessons for Indian HR Leaders

VOICES IN THE PROFESSION | MARCH 2019

Changing Workplace Culture: Lessons for

Indian HR Leaders
BY RAJIV BURMAN, KRONOS

Business leaders and HR professionals in the West have been dealing with three systemic
changes impacting employee engagement and work culture. In India, some of these changes are
also manifesting. This article discusses these changes and unique challenges and provides some
action items to prepare for the new workplaces in India.

The 21st-century workforce changes are arriving faster than at any other time in the history of
organized work. By 2025, the workplace we know today will have altered significantly. These
changes include multigenerational workforce, remote employees, and gig economy and contract
work. All three will alter the way culture is built and sustained in the organization. Doing what we do
today will not give us the results we want.

Multigenerational Workforce
As several businesses are observing, there are up to five generations in the workplace:
Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen Zers. (See Figure 1.) With life
expectancy on the rise and the retirement concept becoming irrelevant, those born in the Fifties are
working with those born in the late 1990s. Expectations from career, life aspirations and needs are
vastly different amongst these generations, causing them to value different aspects of the
organizational culture. Whilst Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are comfortable with hierarchy and a
chain of command, the Millennials expect to be able to contribute and lead projects and work
across levels without barriers. Similarly, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers value parental benefits whilst
Millennials value opportunities for experiences. Balancing different aspects is critical if you want
your organization to remain attractive to different generational cohorts. One size does not fit all.
Building a supportive culture which values each of these generational groups and yet is cost-
effective is key. For example, a flex benefits and recognition model which allows employees to pick
and choose what they value is a strategic decision. The organization needs to review its strategic
options, invest in enabling technology and prepare managers to have robust communication with
prospective candidates and team members.

Remote Employees

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It is easy to build a culture when everyone shows up to work and you can depend upon traditional
approaches of team meetings, town halls and face-to-face meetings. Uniformity of messaging,
dressing up, timings and office structures lend themselves to sustaining a work culture that you
want. The pressure of long commutes, preferred living locations, spousal relocations, global
timelines and real estate costs are creating remote-worker arrangements in many white-collar
roles. The 2017 State of Telecommuting in the U.S. Employee Workforce reported that 2.9% of the
total U.S. workforce work remotely. Technology has made this practical and easier which permits
an employee to work from anywhere and anytime. Many employees have no need to come to the
office and are far more productive and effective from their remote location. How do you build a
consistent experience and recognized culture for these employees? Training managers to work
with remote teams, in cross-cultural sensitization, and to providing an experience for remote
employees which they value (flexibility on work hours, technology access, ongoing communication
and involvement using all possible modes) would be critical.

Gig Economy and Contract Workforce

The ability to employ someone for a specific assignment is spreading across the business world. It
fits in the Millennials’ expectations of working only on what interests them, provides for
specialization and reduces ongoing employment costs. The gig economy is like the contract
workforce arrangements that companies have long used. In most companies, large parts of the
workforce are not on the payroll. Instead it is an expense item invoiced by a supplier consultant.
How do you ensure a shared value system, alignment to your vision and a common culture in this
situation? Companies usually let their procurement or finance or operations departments manage
contract labor. This is a missed opportunity from compliance and organizational alignment
perspectives. It is not uncommon to see Glassdoor postings about a company which show the wide
contrast between the treatment meted out to contract versus full-time employees. This is an
opportunity for HR leaders to create better value for the company by defining a strategy to manage
contract workforce and taking responsibility for all FTE who work in the company irrespective of

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how they are paid. This can include establishing norms around number of hours worked, skills and
behavioral training, provision of benefits from the vendors, compensating adequately to allow a
living wage, recognizing work and treating all FTE with the same respect afforded to employees
are some possible action items. It is amazing that most companies do not invest in training and
recognizing their contract workers even though they have an equal impact as a permanent
employee.

These three significant changes occurring in the workplace world are having and will continue to
have an even bigger impact to the way culture is built and sustained. These changes are happening
across the globe, are much more pronounced in the West and are showing up in Asia, too. Like the
United States, India faces a unique factor among large countries globally. Its demographic dividend
will lead to 69% of the population in the working-age category by 2040, highest amongst all large
countries and, more importantly, on an increasing trend rather than declining rate as in Europe,
China and Japan. In addition, the average age in India is falling. It is currently 29 compared to 38 in
the United States.

The United States and India both will have a majority of their population and an increasing number
in the workforce. Delayed retirement and the newer generations will lead to far greater complexity
in the workplace than is seen currently.

HR leaders in India have begun to see the same issues their U.S. counterparts have been dealing
with, because of lower mortality rates, delayed retirement and Millennials entering the workplace at
a fast pace. Start-ups have tried escaping by having only a single generation in their workplace, but
as the Indian businesses grow, they will need to adopt similar strategies. By making strategic
choices, learning from their U.S. counterparts and an informed approach to the uniqueness
(younger workforce and cultural differences), Indian HR leaders can create a tremendous positive
impact on FTE engagement and culture. The workplace of 2025 will comprise multiple generations,
remote workers and a mix of permanent and contract workers. HR has an opportunity to take
responsibility for all of them to create a meaningful impact to the workplace culture.

Rajiv Burman heads human resources for Kronos in APAC and has more than 25 years of
experience in HR across North America, Asia, China and Australia with a focus on change
management and organizational design.

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