How Employee Engagement is Changing the Dynamics in Workplace?

Day 2 of the event started off on a motivating note. The entire HR fraternity, CHRO’S and everybody present at the audience got to learn from an inspirational youngster Poorna Malavath, the youngest to climb the Mount Everest at the age of 13. She spoke about her phenomenal journey and made understood what it takes to chase your dreams, and how sheer dedication and commitment to your goals will lead you to clinch victory – sooner or later.

Talking about motivation, we also got to witness an amazing keynote by one of the global keynote speakers, Hitesh R who has inspired and won the hearts of more than 7.5 million people. He is a Singapore Paralympic Football Team Medalist and the author of the book “Better Than Normal” which has sold more than?30,000?copies worldwide.

On the panel side, we got to witness an engaging session on Mental Wellness, which undoubtedly, is a matter of concern today. The current inflation and uncertainty continue to add pressure to meet daily financial needs. In such a scenario, the concept of Salary On-Demand is soon becoming a must-have in the everchanging workplace.

This session addressed by Gautam Chainani Former President HR, JSW Group , Dr. Geeta Kumar, Founder& Principal Consultant, Roy Joseph Former Vice President-HR, MRF , Global Business Leader Sambhav Rakyan discussed the need to consider such benefits to help employees counter financial stress and improve the overall well-being of employees.

Talking about financial wellness, Rakyan said, “In our culture, people normally tend to keep things to themselves be it financial or wellness. Organisations should focus on the day-to-day financial needs of the employees. Financial education is important and employees should be taught on planning things right and saving enough for contingencies.”

Furthermore, the other panelist, Dr. Geeta Kumar added,” Financial wellness is a journey. Its high time organisations should take charge and educate their employees on unlearning to relearning and becoming wiser with money."

Gautam Chainani of JSW Group calls financial planning a discipline.

Coming to that, AdvantageClub.ai has laid down a phenomenal financial wellness benefit solution called The EARLY WAGE ADVANTAGE (EWA) that allows salaried and contract employees to track and access a portion of their real-time salary at any time prior to payday.

Moving on, there were multiple other sessions on employee engagement which made it evident that leaders today are indeed serious about recognizing employees and retaining them later on.

Employee development is almost universally recognized as a strategic tool for an organization's continuing growth, productivity and ability to retain valuable employees. Making work more engaging, regardless of location or mode, will ensure happier employees and successful businesses.

Likewise, the following session discussed the possibility of all the buzz around quiet quitting being a reflection of the times of flux that we are witnessing, and what can be done to improve employee engagement for better business outcomes.?

Former Chairman, 荷商葛蘭素史克藥廠 Consumer Healthcare, Dwarakanathan P said, “HR alone cannot build an engaging workforce. For that, the entire leadership team needs to be involved. From CEOs to CXOs everyone needs to be part of this game. As engagement cannot happen in a day, organisations should start the engagement process with employees who have already left the organization and be in touch with them.”

“It is important to engage people when it is actually needed”, he further added.

As a platform solely dedicated to employee engagement & recognition, organisations such as Advantage Club found this session to be quite relevant and aligned with our vision.

Moving on, there was an intense debate lined up titled – Should India Inc make room for moonlighting?’ The debate was around whether moonlight be considered as a boon or bane in the workplace.

When employees are disengaged, they tend to make do with a 'satisfactory' performance, or maintain a low profile and exit at the next best opportunity. Another possibility is that they perform below par and engage in antics in an attempt to trump the system. In either scenario, gauging the right degree of flexibility to extend to employees, so as to ensure the objectives of both entities are met, can be tricky to achieve.

The last and the final session was addressed by famous Indian Cricketer Ajinkya Rahane who expressed his motivating thoughts and shared a few instances about his journey.

With his mantra, ‘Control the controllables’ he said, “For me, it’s all about learning every day and that there is no end to it. It is important to learn and respect everybody irrespective of their age and designation.”

On a concluding note, these lines absolutely fit in to the everyday hustle of the work life. Organisations should recognize and engage employees to bring out the best in the field.?