Putting the Limelight On People For a Change

Putting the Limelight On People For a Change: A Conversation with Antra Virmani, Head of People Experience at Thoughtworks

“I believe, in the post-pandemic era many organizations are embracing a more people oriented culture. There is a certain shift in the focus. It’s perhaps because the organizations have realized that investing in people actually is more important than they had initially imagined”, stated Antra Virmani , Head of People Experience, Thoughtworks, with her usual flair of confidence and conviction.?

This conviction was well resonated throughout this intriguing interview with Chandini Mokthar , VP-People & Culture, Moolya Testing as the two experts discussed all the current trends that are reshaping people's experience across the industries.?

‘Reimagining Human Experience’ is certainly an apt name for this series of thought leadership discussion as in this episode both Antra and Chandini took us through a riveting journey encompassing everything starting from the impact of AI to women empowerment, from the millennials’ expectations to a building more inclusive workplace.?

AI is Certainly a Facilitator but not a….

As the discussions on chatbots are flooding the social media space both Chandini Mokthar and Antra Virmani revealed their respective standpoints on the topic.?

Coming from technology companies they both agreed that dependence on AI to tackle the monotonous task is the way forward. AI is definitely a boon when it comes to promptly analyzing data and aiding the people experience team with the necessary inputs.?

In that regard, AI is a facilitator. A digital ally in the process of creating an enriched human experience. But to align this technology with the criticality of the business is certainly a challenge.?

Because just like technology, human needs also alter with time. And so AI alone cannot be a complete solution.?

Does somebody have any clue as to what the Millennials really want??

Talking about altering human needs, the focus of the discussion went towards the new generation of millennial workforce.?

The current industry consists of 40% freelancers. By 2025, 80% of the workforce will be millennials.?

So it’s pivotal that we catch the beat in advance, agreed the experts. The 2022 Work Institute Report reveals that a massive 22% of employees have made a shift showing career opportunities as a reason.?

That’s because unlike their predecessors, the millennials are not concerned about mere survival in the same role. Instead they seek more impactful opportunities where they can grow along with the organization.. That will be the future. Organizations need to shift their focus on work experience, and better visibility. They want open space to ideate, brainstorm with their managers and be part of communities. The focus is now more on experiencing life.

In the same survey only 11% of people have cited work-life balance as a reason to leave their current employer. That’s because? work-life balance is a concept of the past as we move to a life balance. Profession has become a part of life. Hence employees want a more holistic vision, compatible across the ecosystem.?

Traditional approach of the Performance Management System is outdated. PMS has evolved as growth appraisals. Employees want to walk into rooms to talk about developments, challenges they want to face, and the impact they are making for the team. Companies have adapted to modern age growth factors. Employees and employers now have a continuous dialogue with better development opportunities, experience growth. Millennials want to look at the Big picture? and how their future looks in the company.

Creating an Ultimate Melting Pot and keeping it Warm with Empathy?

Building a human centric culture demands more People centric policies. But it’s vital that you ensure that people in your organization are living by those values. And then consequently reiterating them.?

In that way an autonomous community of employees can be created who in turn will subtly welcome the newcomers into the core culture of inclusivity. That also means less monitoring and less intervention from the human experience teams.?

So once the culture is set into motion in terms of actionable goals then there is certainly less risk of the value getting lost in the mix.?

On this matter, Antra pointed out the importance of including emotional elements in defining these values. As a result the experts talked about being more considerate towards the realities of the life experiences of working women of India. And how an organization can be more inclusive in dealing with such existing social inequalities.?

All in all there was a certain sense of freshness in this particular discussion. The pulse of the conversation was upbeat.? Both of the experts have shed lights on the holistic wellbeing of people in an organization - physical, mental, and also social. So most importantly, the discussion was full of hope!