‘Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice’

The head of HR at HCLTech has shared her biggest takeaways in adapting to a generationally diverse workforce.

Speaking to HR Leader, Amrita Das, senior vice-president and head of HR at HCLTech, shared how changing generational demand has led to a rethink of how employers interact with their employees.

In this Q&A, learn what she believes are the biggest challenges in navigating generational demands, whether changing expectations are set to continue and what businesses can do to promote diversity, inclusion and culture across a company.

HR Leader: What does Gen Z want from a workplace that is different from Millennials or Boomers? 

AD: This is the first instance where we’ve found new hires asking for purpose-driven work [that] is aligned with their personal values and aspirations and creates impact.

This means that our need to communicate proactively and offer clarity on the job, evaluation parameters, transparency of process, and continuous assurance has never been higher.

We’re also finding that new applicants are placing a higher weightage on an organisation’s sustainability mission while evaluating their job options.

While Millennials are extremely committed to the assigned deliverables, our Gen Z employees are not only quite enterprising, but inquisitive on how and what would be the impact of their work on the overall organisation’s growth. We’re also finding that Gen Z is less likely to be burnt out as they manage their time better and have a better work/life balance.

Like most businesses, HCLTech has transitioned to a fully hybrid work structure where employees choose the days they want to come in on and the hours they want to work for. We’re then able to structure an employee’s role on the hours they want to work and the type of assignments they want to work on, which provides for less burnout.

HR Leader: Are these “demands” coming from Gen Z having a flow-on effect on how other generations (Millennials/Gen X/Boomers) view the workplace and what they want from their employer? 

AD: Yes and no. While we’re seeing the need to transition from the traditional work culture to a more autonomous and outcomes-based culture, there are still some elements in which the earlier generations may find challenging to transition to.

For example, an outcomes-based performance system, when compared to a supervised or micro-managed one, puts more onus on the individual to learn, equip, and deliver progress rather than entirely depending on the reporting structure.

All our people practices have been anchored around role. Our recruiting practices, performance management and career progression discussion are outcomes-based evaluation system [that] supports individualised growth for each employee.

This transition is usually more difficult for the generations who have been working for longer and are more set in their ways. However, this is where it is essential for senior leadership to adapt how they manage their employees to address each generational nuance.

HR Leader: What do you envision to be the challenges in responding to future generational demands (beyond Gen Z), and how can businesses start to prepare now in order to mitigate those challenges?

AD: The business model, structure, systems and process have to be ever-evolving and be responsive to the changing asks and expectations.

The tougher problem to solve will be to transition the culture into one that is more entrepreneurial, connected, and inclusive.

These would need to be imbibed at the leadership and HR level first and gradually trickle down along with the offerings at work. Core to our culture at HCLTech is Ideapreneurship, which challenges and empowers employees at all levels to come up with solutions for operational and business challenges.

With this in mind, we’re responding to future generational demands by encouraging our Gen Z employees and those that we are recruiting to place an emphasis on their learning journey. This is a journey that they lead with our oversight as we want them to take charge of the direction of their career. It’s a process we find has generated higher engagement and employee satisfaction.

HR Leader: How can businesses promote diversity, inclusion, and culture across the company?

AD: Businesses must lead by example, to facilitate and be involved in forums that promote diversity, inclusion and equality. It’s often the incremental, small steps and initiatives that have a deep and lasting impact on the culture of a company.

At HCLTech, we have a variety of global initiatives, including a program named ‘Inclusion at Scale’.

This program translates our diversity and inclusion goals into continuous education, practical application, and awareness initiatives. We believe that unless inclusion is a business priority, exclusion unintentionally occurs.

One of the initiatives that we are focusing on in Australia is our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to demonstrate our commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and develop a structured approach to advance reconciliation. We take pride in our diversity and want to ensure that we establish foundations to facilitate reconciliation by turning ambitions and intentions into actions.

As author Liz Fosslien has said, “diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice.” It is absolutely vital for us to treat these two values equally, and at HCLTech, we have four key pillars of diversity and inclusion to address this, including gender, cultural, disability and LGBTQIA+ inclusion.

This is critical to our success as diversity of thought offers different perspectives, and different perspectives create innovation for our clients.