People Pillar: Essential To Build 'Intelligent And Clean' Workplace Strategy

To embrace an innovative and sustainable future, organisations today are navigating towards a transformative approach known as the 'Intelligent and Clean Strategy.' As industries evolve, the dynamic landscape demands ethical, agile and progressive solutions. 

Gautam Kumar, chief human resources officer and director- people experience (ISEA Region), SKF India sheds light on how organisations are driving this visionary strategy to redefine their workplaces, empower employees, uphold ethical standards and champion eco-friendly practices.

How do you envision an "intelligent and clean" workplace? How would this approach align with an organisation's overall mission and values? 

An organisation’s strategic framework should be based on two concepts: intelligent and clean. Intelligent means providing connected and tailored offerings to customers, as well as using technology to make operations more efficient. Clean reflects the ability to enable a more sustainable industry, whilst running the business transparently and responsibly. These concepts will guide us as we embark on an exciting journey to become a more focused, innovative and profitable industrial player.

Such initiatives lead to envisioning a workplace environment where innovation, sustainability, and employee well-being are at the core. The aim of organisations should be to promote sustainable practices and foster a culture of inclusivity and respect. Today, organisations should aim at minimizing their ecological footprint by reducing waste and conserving resources. By embracing clean technologies and eco-friendly processes, organisations can contribute to a greener planet while demonstrating their dedication to environmental stewardship.

How can organisations ensure that the implementation of intelligent solutions adheres to ethical principles and respects employee privacy and rights? 

Ensuring ethics and compliance and respecting employee privacy and rights is a crucial responsibility for any organisation. A company’s reputation to act ethically and with high integrity depends on the actions and decisions they make each day across their business. 

Secondly, transparent communication with employees and regular feedback is crucial for the organisation to maintain trust between employees. Training, third-party assessments, redressal mechanisms and learning from industry best practices play significant roles in creating a responsible and respectful work environment that enables employees to achieve their true potential.

With the changing landscape of work, how can organisations upskill employees to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills for intelligent solutions?

The ‘People & Leadership’ pillar is crucial to build an ‘Intelligent and Clean Strategy’. Organisations need to develop a comprehensive approach to training and upskilling the workforce and building a culture of continuous learning and development. Through various training programs and initiatives, companies can enable employees to gain exposure, upskill themselves and take ownership of their overall development. One such initiative that helps our employees advance their skills is LeadX - which aims to build cross-cultural, cross-functional, and multi-industry experiences for employees. Moreover, we continue to empower our sales leaders to develop best-in-class Go-To-Market (GTM) and leadership capabilities through our iAspire programme. The people managers should also be continuously provided with training and tools to equip them with the skills and capabilities needed to help their teams build technical, business and people skills. Together, these efforts ensure that the workforce is well-prepared to navigate the dynamic environment and can contribute to their personal growth as well as to the organisation’s success.

What are some key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be used to assess the impact of these solutions on employee satisfaction, productivity and overall well-being? How can they plan to iterate and improve the solutions based on feedback and data analysis?

Adopting robust KPIs to ensure that employee satisfaction, productivity and overall well-being of the workforce is streamlined is necessary. Quarterly surveys allow organisations to monitor the motivation and well-being of the employees, so that they can identify areas for improvement at both individual and team levels. The results of such initiatives help provide a strong foundation to continue building a truly inclusive work environment.

Additionally, collecting feedback from employees through focus group discussions to understand their experiences and challenges helps understand the areas for improvement. Creating a culture of continuous improvement is essential, allowing us to make iterative changes based on feedback and data analysis. Ultimately, the goal should be to create a positive impact on employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall well-being, fostering success for the valued workforce. 

What are some initiatives that SKF has implemented to reduce its carbon footprint and promote eco-friendly behaviour among employees? 

We have implemented several initiatives to reduce our environmental impact and foster eco-friendly behaviour among employees. To reduce our carbon footprint, we have significantly increased the use of renewable electricity at our sites. Today, nearly 41 per cent of our energy is sourced from renewable energy. Our manufacturing sites have implemented rainwater harvesting to reduce potable water consumption. We have eliminated the use of plastic shrink wrap in our product packaging. Through our green office initiatives, we replaced single-use items and ensured proper waste segregation.  We believe in fostering a culture of environmental responsibility and empowering our employees to be ‘green’ ambassadors both at work and at home.