Overworked or Glad for the Opportunity?

Talent Management and Platforms

Thanks for your wishes on Teachers’ Day. Glad to have all of you in my life. More on this later.

As another placement season starts at IBS Hyderabad, I would like to reflect on the changes in talent management during and because of Covid19 pandemic and role of platforms in this transformational journey.

And if you are also in job market and thinking of rewriting your resume, follow the advise by Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska, a winner of the Nobel prize for literature from "Writing a Resume" -

Write as if you’d never talked to yourself

and always kept yourself at arm’s length.

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DTW

During the Week, Zomato got in PR trouble over their portrayal of workers’ right and customer focus and launched another PR campaign to justify their acts of omission and commission which got them in more trouble.

zomato @zomato

The other side of the story...

The first salvo was fired by The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers who accused Zomato of exploiting gig workers while seemingly appreciating their dedication for customer satisfaction. This was in response to Zomato’s advertisement featuring Katrina and Hrithik which intended to highlight the message that “Har Customer Hai Star!”

These and many other developments have sharply brought into focus the changing nature of work on and through platforms. Platforms have transformed the world of work. I have written about Blue Collar Worker, Creative Class , Career choices and Work Life Balance in previous editions. Do check them out.

Platforms and talent management could be viewed from perspective of 3W approach- Work, Worker and Workplace.

Idea of work itself has undergone change over last few decades and the pace has accelerated over pandemic where we are moving to new normal. For example, the 40 hour work week has been challenged in post pandemic world specifically in platform businesses where fast internet networks, automation, 3D printing, AR/VR, and a computing machine that fits in our pocket has radically transformed nature of work, characteristics of worker and location of workplace.

identifying and hiring workers has been mediated by platforms including LinkedIn and creator economy aggregators. For example, platforms like Pallet have been built on the foundational belief that the future of hiring is distributed and community-driven. They and others are building the infrastructure that powers new future, enabling anyone to transform their audience into a unique talent pool that forward-thinking companies can access.

In current times , where half of hiring conversations are happening online and outside of business hours, hiring chatbots like Hirevue with conversational AI and workflow recruiting automation can help the recruitment managers take candidates through next steps, even when they’re offline thanks to the hiring assistant chatbot. Similarly , they use an applicant’s computer or cellphone cameras to study their facial movements, word choice, and speaking voice. It then uses that to stack them against other applicants to create an employability score.

Workplace has been transformed through shared workspaces and virtual avatars being flavour of the day. Companies like WeWork and 91Springboard have revolutionised the workplace and now even SME can also offer the best in class facilities like the IT giants. With advent of newer technologies like virtual avatars created using AR/VR, workers could join in from anywhere in world.

Balaji Srinivasan @balajis

If people do decide to exit cities and go techno-rural, here are some visions of what that might look like. Broadband satellite, drone delivery, autonomous cars, solar power, and ubiquitous remote work may open up much more of the map than before. weburbanist.com/2012/04/30/out…

Platforms can help Human Resource managers to discover, engage, improve and even move out the workers! It is important for us to keep pondering on the evolution of work as work gives meaning to human life. Of course, we need to find the purpose of our lives.

OTW

Over the Weekend, I got your messages/calls/video chats on Teachers’ Day and it brought back fond memories of our time together in class and beyond. Pandemic has been really difficult for my relationship with my current students not only for the classroom interactions but majorly for the serendipitous discussion outside the class in my office. I have had the fortune of being in vicinity of great teachers whose classes were definitely outside the classroom and whose insights helped me become a better version of myself.

Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.      
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.      
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
-On Teaching, Kahlil Gibran - 1883-1931

I seriously miss those minutes or sometimes hours of exchange on our life stories and learning about each other. It was just being in your proximity that I could learn some of life’s greatest lessons. 

'कबिरा संगत साधु की, ज्यों गंधी का बास। 

जो कुछ गंधी दे नहीं, तो भी बास सुवास' 

Proximity is still that I inherently cherish for developing a relationship though nurturing can be even from a distance. All our relationship stories were literally handcrafted across a desk or at sitting on floor at homes and are now being strengthened through various platforms. As usual, the following two lines from this immortal song summarise whatever I can think about relationships !

कहीं तो ये दिल कभी मिल नहीं पाते
कहीं पे निकल आये जन्मों के नाते

Talking about relationships, I would like to encourage you to start a bond with a Thalassemia and Leukemia Child for regular blood donation. Our good friends at Aarohi Blood Bank led by Dr Aditi Kishore and Dhiraj Kaveri have been doing a yeoman service to the cause of voluntary blood donation. You can join the mission to support Blood Donation for Thalassemia Patients by signing up the Blood Bridge initiative by Blood Warriors

I am really proud of my running buddies at Peerancheruvu Runners who have always stepped up for a good cause. Many of us have been regular blood donors and keep motivating others to donate regularly and not wait for emergencies.

Stay Safe and Get Vaccinated ASAP.

I Love You.

Shailendra

OTM

Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available at Aarohi Blood Bank for social media and promotional partnerships. Please get in touch with Dhiraj Kaveri if you would like to contribute to their mission of “Bringing Dignity to Life of people by making Quality blood and blood products”.

PS- If you have come this far in the newsletter, here is an additional link for us to connect face to face (Once a Month) via of course virtual platform.

Alternatively, since last year, I have been using calendly to set up formal/informal calls with friends and family. You could use the link at https://calendly.com/shailendrabisht/catchup to set up an interaction. 

Of course, the easier way is to just pick up phone and call !