Nurturing Talent
Two power-packed panels met for a brainstorming session at the BT Knowledge Forum on HR in Pune.
- Apr 2, 2016,
- Updated Apr 13, 2016 3:20 PM IST
Pune's Hyatt Regency hotel played host to the fourth leg of the 2016 edition of the Business Today Knowledge Forum on Human Resources. On February 26, as the city began winding its way home, a bunch of HR thinkers got together to share views on two burning topics of the day: (a) Workplace diversity: Are we there yet? (b) Why HR should encourage employees to fail.
The first topic, on where Indian companies stand on workplace diversity and what needs to be done, started off with C.D. Ramesh, HR head of DHFL, saying that there's a lot of work happening around diversity. "In my view, India is very complex, and there's a lot of cultural dimension to it. And that's the journey India has to make. Diversity starts from our homes - we have to look there first and say, is it there?"
Putul Mathur, who heads the Persons with Disabilities charter for Wipro, pointed out that diversity is not only about gender, but also people with disability, underprivileged children, nationalities, geography, etc. Saying that the culture of diversity was ingrained in Wipro, she said: "So, we don't have to think where do we stand as far as diversity as a charter is concerned. However, while we have built capability, do we use them to the extent that is optimal, is something that we will need to work upon."
Pradeep Bhargava, Director, Cummins India Limited, agreed with both Ramesh and Mathur. He then pointed out that while we like to beat up the government for every problem, the fact is that the government is the one that has been encouraging diversity the most. After which he proceeded to bust a few more myths including one where people say you can either have diversity or performance. "The assumption is that if I go the diversity way, I will compromise on performance, which is utter nonsense," he said.
Pune's Hyatt Regency hotel played host to the fourth leg of the 2016 edition of the Business Today Knowledge Forum on Human Resources. On February 26, as the city began winding its way home, a bunch of HR thinkers got together to share views on two burning topics of the day: (a) Workplace diversity: Are we there yet? (b) Why HR should encourage employees to fail.
The first topic, on where Indian companies stand on workplace diversity and what needs to be done, started off with C.D. Ramesh, HR head of DHFL, saying that there's a lot of work happening around diversity. "In my view, India is very complex, and there's a lot of cultural dimension to it. And that's the journey India has to make. Diversity starts from our homes - we have to look there first and say, is it there?"
Putul Mathur, who heads the Persons with Disabilities charter for Wipro, pointed out that diversity is not only about gender, but also people with disability, underprivileged children, nationalities, geography, etc. Saying that the culture of diversity was ingrained in Wipro, she said: "So, we don't have to think where do we stand as far as diversity as a charter is concerned. However, while we have built capability, do we use them to the extent that is optimal, is something that we will need to work upon."
Pradeep Bhargava, Director, Cummins India Limited, agreed with both Ramesh and Mathur. He then pointed out that while we like to beat up the government for every problem, the fact is that the government is the one that has been encouraging diversity the most. After which he proceeded to bust a few more myths including one where people say you can either have diversity or performance. "The assumption is that if I go the diversity way, I will compromise on performance, which is utter nonsense," he said.