Unlocking the Power of Bharat to Craft a Holistic Future of Work
In over a year, the world as we knew it has changed phenomenally. As the pandemic spread, people globally underwent drastic shifts in their lifestyle and many shifted to a ‘work from home’ mode in a matter of days. The pandemic accelerated trends in remote working and inalienably changed the global ‘future of work’. Today, the new dimensions that are shaping this ‘future of work’ revolve around solutions that enable a hybrid, agile and inclusive workplace for a multigenerational workforce.
The traditional definitions of a ‘workday’ have now changed forever. Organisations have accelerated digitalisation with the increased adoption of digital tools and technologies. However, the new work models are not about the increased use of digi-tech as a substitution to human capabilities, but about the need to leverage new-age technologies effectively to augment and enhance human capabilities. With digital-first becoming a business priority, job profiles are evolving, and organisations are looking for future-ready employees, adept in emerging technologies. Thus, skilling, upskilling and reskilling will become even more critical in the new normal as we prepare to emerge as a digital talent hub for the world. This will require a collaborative effort from the entire ecosystem — the government agencies, industries, and industry bodies to even schools and colleges.
With organisations adopting hybrid working as the new work paradigm, employees now have the flexibility to work from any viable location. This has enabled organisations to leverage the untapped talent from across tier 2/3 towns, as well as bring in a new generation of gig workers to the forefront.
This is an opportunity to reinvent, reimagine and reshape the workplace of the future into a ‘Bharatiya Workplace’. According to a NASSCOM article with over 90% of video consumption in vernacular language, the Indian non-language English speakers are expected to grow at a CAGR of 18%. These numbers offer an exciting opportunity for businesses to personalise and accordingly adapt the solution to cater to audiences across multiple locations and languages.
The increased number of young people preferring vernacular language on the internet can prove to be a connecting link between India and Bharat. The day is not far when the new generation of youngsters may even be coding in their mother tongue! This is where BHAML — Bharat MarkUp Language — an independent development editor built by the Makers Lab at Tech Mahindra comes into play. It can be downloaded by any student to code HTML in their language. Similarly, vernacular bots are also transforming the service industry in a big way and helping companies handle versatile and dynamic needs of customers effectively.
Already some of the larger corporations are using artificial intelligence to digitise the entire HR process. AI will be used to analyse and evaluate job applications which can help to lower down hiring costs. Once the employee joins, the AI engine can help answer queries for the new joinee, sparing valuable HR time for more pressing issues. The rising work migration and mobility mean not just a culturally diverse workplace, but also a multilingual workplace. This is where AI and ML become highly relevant as chatbots will need to be fluent in multiple languages.
All said, going forward, the future of work will be markedly different from before. Most operations will be tech-driven as offices opt for a hybrid model. Organizations must realise that productivity is location agnostic and must take this opportunity to build a workplace that is flexible, inclusive, and sustainable.
