PwC scaling up its talent initiatives to meet market demands
From governments to universities to businesses, organisations across India are currently focused on developing a strong talent pool in HR, said Chief People Officer at PwC Padmaja Alaganandan in an interview with People Matters. This increased focus comes on the back of growing awareness on the importance of HR policies for business success.
Having recently taken the reins at PwC, Alaganandan is truly a leader born of contemporary ideas, which is evident from the shift in emphasis that she is bringing about in the Big Four accounting and advisory firm. Diversity and flexibility appear to be central to PwC’s new HR policies under Alaganandan.
A substantial body of recent analysis has indicated that diversity is crucial in the contemporary business environment, not only to promote a more equitable social landscape, but also due to the tremendous economic value that having a gender balanced workforce can contribute.
Another essential requirement of the modern day business is that the workforce is adept in the digital domain. Alaganandan recently indicated that PwC would be looking more to female-only tech institutes across India for its recruits, a policy that is set to bring both the above enhancements to the firm.
In an interview with People Matters, Alaganandan has not only reiterated the importance of diversity in organisational success, but has also indicated that constant learning & development among the workforce is essential to remaining competitive in the current market.
HR policies are crucial in this regard, as they nudge employees into staying atop constantly evolving skill requirements. Alaganandan’s comments are in line with a number of other human capital experts, who have been stressing the importance of HR policies in maintaining organisational progress.
“HR is experiencing a three-sixty degree transition because people and talent issues have become not just relevant, but critical to companies and CEOs. The pool of available talent in HR is becoming more concrete, given the larger number of reputed institutions focused on producing good talent in the domain. All the reputed business schools offer HR as an optional course, and there are sufficient specialist institutions too,” said Alaganandan.
PwC itself is currently engaged in constant talent development efforts. “On an average, our employees spend around 64 hours in a year on learning modules which include technical, leadership building and mandatory e-learning. In our organisation, around fifteen thousand employees are going to be upskilled on specific digital tools that have to do with analytics, robotic process automation, and data visualisation etc., because we believe that will drive a lot more innovation, and make them and us fit for future,” she added.
