In an exclusive conversation with SightsIn Plus, we have Dr. Pramod Sadarjoshi, Sr. Director- HCM Strategy & Transformation Oracle –Asia Pacific. He is certified Independent Director on the Boards of Companies. A C-suite executive – has spearheaded leadership interventions with direct & demonstrable results, anchored to business growth, organizational transformation and leadership effectiveness. His key accomplishments have been in Strategy & Transformation; Business Consulting; Sales & Marketing; Analytics; HCM Technology; OD & Change Management; Executive Coaching; Leadership development; TotalTalent Management; Culture Transformation interventions; and CEO /CXO Coaching. Dr. Pramod is Certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder-Centered Executive Coach.
Dr. Pramod has gained work-experience spanning across sectors (Banking, – investment & retail; IT; ITES; engineering; electronics; manufacturing; pharmaceutical) and geography (US, Europe, Middle-east, APAC), in the following marquee organizations. Prior to Oracle Dr. Pramod has worked with KPMG, J P Morgan, IDBI Group, Computer Science Corp, Cognizant, Microsoft, CITI Bank and HDFC bank in leadership role. He has contributed towards the industry-academia synergy, by being teaching faculty member and
an adviser, at leading B-schools and technology institutions. (The IIMs, the IITs and other premier institutes included). Pramod is a registered Executive Coach at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. He is also a speaker at various industry forums, seminars.
Q- What is Employee Experience to you and why to restructure Engagement to Experience?
Employee Experience is all about – a) mutual trust and respect at workplace, b) challenging role to bring out the best in each and every employee, c) fair & equitable compensation – the most visible manifestation of credibility, fairness and transparency, d) investment in capability development and potential of employees, e) a fun ‘ambience’ and ‘eco-system’ at workplace, f) Authentic, competent and sustainable leadership at the workplace.
Why restructure? Well, firstly, I strongly believe that in current times, we need to treat TALENT AS ‘CUSTOMER’. And we all know how we need to ‘engage’ with the customer – by treating them with respect, competence, service and in a timely manner. Hence we need to build an engaging experience, whether it is with employees or with customers.
Secondly, after all the hard-work is done on acquiring talent and grooming them, we don’t want to see our ‘trained’ talent, walk out to acompetitor. After all a new job is a click away. The competitor is keeping a hawk-eye watch on competent but dissatisfied talent. That is the best catch for them.
Thirdly, in today’s age and time – it’s all about – EMPLOYER BRANDING – which in turn is the most empirical derivative of good employee experience. The ‘Glassdoor’ is a proof of concept – either ways.
Q- According to studies Employee Experience is future of work, do you agree?
Absolutely agree. In fact it always was; just that in today’s age and time, TECHNOLOGY has made everything ‘accountable and transparent’. Consequently, Employee Experience is measurable and calibrated.
Q- According to you what are essential elements of Employee Experience Design?
1-TALENT-MAGNETISM :
- Talent is ‘ THE CUSTOMER ‘
- Need to balance the dichotomy of Hiring budget Vs Hiring targets
2-BUILDING A ROBUST & SCALABLE ECO-SYSTEM:
- Creating an ‘arresting Eco-system’ – a lethal blend of equitable compensation , knowledge investment & tangible, visible growth / progression
- Under the umbrella of ” evidence-based talent management “
3-CHANGE-MANAGEMENT:
- The ‘’science’ of Change –Management to be applied in all its ‘granularity’
- Institutionalized strategy to executed with ruthless precision
4-CULTURE TRANSFORMATION:
- Ensure sustainability by having it all embedded in the DNA of the organization.
- Uniform, consistent and transparent ‘cascading’ across SBUs, Horizontals & Geos.
Q- How to create company culture levering to best Employee Experience?
Culture is what we do every day. Particularly the behaviors we encourage both consciously and unconsciously in our environments. It is embedded though our performance management, rewards, recognition and demonstrated behaviors. Culture is about the feeling, the vibe we get when we walk in the building, the tone that the organizations sets in what it does … and does not do. Culture can be a result of what happens when the manager leaves the room or from our values, attitudes and the mission of the organization. It has nothing to do with stated or written values. Our corporate culture can energize us, or drain us.
Q- What makes employees happy at work and How L&D can play role to foster best experience?
The primary drivers of our behavior at work are SELF-RESPECT & RECOGNITION – even more than the monetary benefits, and these come in by showcasing our portfolio of knowledge, skills, competencies, and repertoire of work-experiences. In other words, almost all of us come to work every day to ‘express’ ourselves authentically without any blockages; and thereby contribute to the overall success story. In my view this is what makes employees happy at work. Of course, needless to mention that a great work-ambience, nurturing, politics-free environment are imperatives and should be the ‘default eco-system’.
L&D can facilitate to develop such an ‘ambience’ by fostering a professional culture that ensures capability development in both domains – technical and behavioral. A systemic talent review system, on the bedrock of objectivity, data-centricity, transparency, fairness and consistency, is an imperative. With Big-data and Analytics playing a big role, this should not be difficult to achieve. Implementation of a professional PMS, Career-planning, Talent mobility, and Succession planning, can be developed and sustained by an effective L&D function. This will certainly help foster a great, high-touch employee experience.
Q- How digitization and HR Technology help to elevate Employee Experience?
Employee Experience can be enhanced and sustained by a modern HR system that can provide headroom for innovation in a data-driven, digital-driven, mobility-driven world. Such a system draws on data from every corner of the enterprise and every aspect of the employee lifecycle. It delivers insights in a useable format with intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces tailored to employees’ roles. It leverages social media functionality to encourage collaboration and has mobile capabilities to make the system accessible to any mobile device.
HR needs its own digital strategy to engage with and improve the productivity of the workforce by incorporating technology that is personalized, connected, insightful, mobile, purposeful, secure, talent-centric, social and agile.
Cloud-based HR solutions allow enterprises to provide connected global solutions that align common HR processes and reporting functions worldwide to ensure process and data consistency. An immediate opportunity presented by a digital-driven strategy is to adopt and utilize more sophisticated HR analytics. At the highest level of sophistication, predictive analytics may be utilized to analyze workforce behavior, and to then develop predictions so that HR practitioners can understand and address future talent challenges such as unplanned attrition or performance degradation.
Q- How do you build interactive employee experience strategies at Oracle?
At Oracle, employees become our digital customers. Employees’ experience need to match up to the consumer experience. With the use of mobile devices or new working patterns, professional and personal lives have blended. These two do not exist separately anymore. The first 14 days of employment are very crucial. In these 14 days, any new hire will make the decision to stay or to move on. At Oracle, we help the new hire build his/her understanding and rapport with the company and with the management. We further focus on providing them with a more concrete and thorough on-boarding experience, and gradually discuss their career plan that align with their personal goals and values. We make sure there is continuous communication between us, as clearly this will go a long way in training, nurturing and retaining top talent in the company.
Contact is established with potential employees through their social networks. Then interviewing, hiring can be done anytime and from anywhere. We make sure that the on-boarding process is short, without compromise and the candidate understands his/her role and is productive in the shortest time possible.
At Oracle, all our HCM efforts are spearheaded to achieve – a) business outcomes, b) competent, high-energy, motivated, and result-oriented workforce, c) an awesome CULTURE – of ethics, integrity, camaraderie and capability development, and d) Sustainability of corporate governance & CSR.
We do this by leveraging &implementing most modern HR technology, Cloud-based, self-service HR modules (addressing all parameters of complete employee life-cycle) and thereby that every employee is respected, encompassing diversity, inclusiveness and genuine care. We RESPECT, CARE, NURTURE employees leading to ‘high-touch’ employee experience.
Q- What results does Employee Experience produce?
Sustainable business results and growth
- Great Employer Brand
- Respect at workplace
- Fun and enjoyment at workplace
- Employee growth and development
- Competent, motivated, and world-class employees – the most important asset of a company
Q- You are an influential HR professional and keynote speaker, what is your best piece of life & career advice for millennials?
Begin by having aHIGHER PURPOSE in Life and CLARITY OF GOALs. Be brutally honest to your PASSION and LIMITATIONS (know your ‘DNA’). To ensure sustainable value-addition, RE-INVENT yourself continually; SHOW RESILIENCE during low-phases of Life; Practice COURAGE & HUMILITY on a daily basisin a ruthless manner. Contribute to Society and larger context (have ‘Abundance Mentality) – Help others.
Most importantly evolve to be a righteous, SPIRITUAL person, by decimate GREED & FEAR; and developing an AWESOME ‘HEART’.
Thank you Dr. Pramod!
