While organizations are increasingly promoting the use of technology to collaborate in a post-Covid world of work, they need to ensure a risk-free environment for the employees to innovate and be creative, says a report. According to the white paper “SmartHR 2021” released by Right Management India, a part of ManpowerGroup India, organizations are far from meeting employee expectations in the new normal. Overall, organizations have been making progress on aspects like onboarding and digital collaboration, which was the need of the hour after Covid. “However, we see the potential for organizations to improve in the later stages of the employee life cycle – enabling digital performance reviews for continuous check-ins, which has been an ongoing challenge,” said the study that covered 120 organizations across 10 sectors.

The study covered sectors including IT, manufacturing, services, engineering, BFSI, and pharmaceuticals. It said only 47 percent of the respondents believe that their organizations are offering an environment that is psychologically safe to voice out views and dissent, thereby “limiting divergent perspectives and innovation”. “Digital transformation is occurring at an unprecedented pace – and we strongly believe the changes in the way organizations function will make the role of the ‘human resource’ function both crucial and complex,” said Prashant Pandey, country manager, Right Management India. Pandey further noted that “with parameters for success being redefined with every passing year, the only way forward is by identifying, improvising and implementing systems that help us flourish as we return to work.”

As per the study, 76 percent of respondents believe digital employee experience is vital for their organization whereas only 49 percent of the respondents believe that their organizations are making progress. The study further noted that 78 percent of the respondents believe that agile talent strategies and using digital in talent management are important, whereas only 41 percent believe that their organizations are capable of managing the talent for tomorrow using these digital tools.