Nitin Dheer has over 26 years of experience in HR consulting and operations across India, the UK, and the Middle East. As an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and Delhi University, he has worked with leading firms across Financial Services, Automotive, Manufacturing, IT, and other industries. Previously, he was a Principal at Mercer, a Senior Consultant at Capgemini UK, and held HR roles at Arthur Andersen and ITC Ltd. Additionally, as a faculty speaker and writer, he co-authored Managing Business in Asia and led the Best Companies to Work for in India study. He enjoys rock music, long drives, and visiting Goa.

In a recent interaction with M R Yuvatha, Senior Correspondent at siliconindia, Nitin Dheer shared his insights on ‘Future-Ready HR: Adapting to the Evolving Workforce Landscape’.

The current era is witnessing significant changes at an unprecedented pace within organizations, impacting every individual in the workplace. Most importantly, from all perspectives, it affects the workforce the people who go to work in an organization. HR practitioners are constantly asked how to strike a balance between technology adoption, innovation, artificial intelligence, and preserving workplace culture, employees, and their jobs. The most sensible way for human resource functions to approach this challenge is to define their utilization of technology. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to automate a large portion of administrative tasks, which should be the first priority for HR departments.

By handling repeatable administrative and operational responsibilities through AI and automation, HR professionals can free up a significant amount of time to focus on more value-adding activities. Employees expect HR professionals to be champions of their voices, and this can be effectively achieved if HR practitioners are relieved of administrative burdens, allowing them to engage more directly with employees.

Leveraging AI for a More Inclusive and Skilled Workforce

AI and technology are transforming HR by integrating analytics and data-driven decision-making, reducing reliance on instinctive or situational choices. This shift enhances predictability, consistency, and reliability, adding strategic value to organizations. By automating administrative tasks and supporting analytics-based insights, HR professionals can focus on talent management, leadership consultation, and employee engagement. Balancing technology with human-centric HR functions is crucial for success. Rather than a threat, AI presents an opportunity to accelerate transformation, ensuring a more effective and well-rounded workplace.

The shift towards a skills-first approach is gaining importance, moving away from traditional hiring and promotion criteria based on educational background, business school reputation, or college prestige. This paradigm shift ensures that individuals with strong skills but without elite institutional affiliations are no longer overlooked. Organizations now prioritize competencies over credentials, ensuring that hiring, promotions, and career advancements are based on demonstrated skills rather than pedigree.

A crucial aspect of this shift is skills-based assessment, facilitated by a technology-enabled platform that evaluates technical skills, competencies, and domain knowledge across the employee lifecycle. This includes hiring, training, development, and identifying high-potential employees for future growth. Organizations adopting this technology have found immense value in promoting fairness and objectivity in talent-related decisions. By integrating skills-based assessments, companies create a more meritocratic system where opportunities are awarded based on ability rather than traditional credentials, fostering a more effective and inclusive workforce.

AI is not a threat but an opportunity, much like past technological advancements. As a tool created by humans, AI will enhance HR roles rather than replace them.

Leadership-Driven DEI: The Key to Sustainable Change

Like any change, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) were initially adopted conceptually, with organizations focusing on representation metrics. However, diversity metrics are often poorly implemented. Common statistics, such as the percentage of women in leadership roles or the gender pay gap, highlight these shortcomings. Even in gender diversity alone—without considering caste, community, or sexual preference significant gaps persist. Women constitute 50% of the global population, yet their representation in organizations remains disproportionate. While junior and middle HR levels are female-dominated, leadership roles tell a different story, with female CHROs in leading Indian companies dropping to 25%. This shows DEI is often lip service rather than genuine implementation.

The key to real DEI lies in leadership commitment. It should not be enforced but embraced as necessary change. Despite India’s diversity and educated workforce, female workforce participation remains among the lowest. Organizations must analyze root causes, such as missing constituencies, biases in promotions and pay, and workplace policies that fail in practice.

A prime example is hiring returning mothers. While policies exist to reintegrate them post-maternity, they often lack necessary flexibility. Societal caregiving responsibilities largely fall on women, requiring organizations to create supportive, flexible policies. DEI success depends on measuring workforce gaps and implementing sustainable policies. Beyond gender equity, organizations must invest in workforce sensitization, particularly among men, to promote inclusivity. Fostering a culture that values diversity offers tangible benefits, ensuring that inclusivity becomes an integral part of workplace culture.

Predictive Modeling in Employee Retention and Growth

Predictive analytics and scenario planning play a crucial role in helping HR professionals anticipate future skills gaps and workforce needs, ensuring organizational competitiveness in an unpredictable landscape. Strategic workforce planning involves analyzing past workforce trends, such as employee attrition, hiring patterns, internal labor market movements, and promotion rates. By assessing these factors in alignment with the organization’s long-term strategy, HR can develop predictive models to forecast workforce changes. For instance, if a company has a five-year strategic focus, predictive analytics can help determine expected retirements, hiring needs, and career progression patterns. This approach enables organizations to proactively shape their workforce by identifying skill gaps and planning targeted hiring or upskilling initiatives.

Industries with high attrition rates, particularly in India, greatly benefit from predictive modeling to anticipate employee turnover risks. Data-driven insights help identify common attrition triggers, such as employees leaving within the first three months, career stagnation, or low manager engagement scores. By recognizing these markers, HR can implement proactive retention strategies to reduce turnover effectively.

The Role of HR in Employee Adaptability

Change is constant, driven by rapid information access, global shifts, and economic fluctuations. HR plays a key role in helping employees build resilience through proactive communication and support. By positioning change as a positive transformation and offering initiatives like mental wellness programs, HR fosters adaptability and engagement. This ensures employees remain productive and equipped to navigate organizational shifts effectively.

With technology advancing and workplace demographics diversifying, organizations today consist of multiple generational cohorts, from Baby Boomers and Gen X to Millennials, Gen Z, and even Gen Alpha through internships. A unifying factor among these groups is organizational culture, shaped primarily by HR and leadership. Their role is to define core values such as meritocracy, transparency, and ethics and ensure consistent adherence. Measuring alignment with these values helps assess their practical implementation. Leaders reinforce culture by setting an example, ensuring their actions align with the values they promote.

For instance, a leader emphasizing punctuality must uphold the same standard to maintain credibility. HR plays a vital role in recognizing and rewarding employees who embody these values, reinforcing positive behaviors. This continuous process of defining, measuring, modeling, and rewarding cultural values fosters a strong, cohesive workplace culture that supports a dynamic and evolving workforce.

Wrapping it up!

AI is not a threat but an opportunity, much like past technological advancements. As a tool created by humans, AI will enhance HR roles rather than replace them. It improves efficiency, fills gaps, and supports better decision-making, allowing HR professionals to focus on strategic and human-centric aspects. By embracing AI, HR can optimize workforce management, enhance employee experience, and drive organizational success. The key is to view AI as an enabler, leveraging its potential to elevate HR functions rather than diminish them.