Building Organisations for Perpetuity

The definition of future-readiness of an organisation transcends beyond making workplaces congenial and happy. It's about creating a culture which enables an employee to grow as an individual and eventually contribute to the business.

- By AJITA SHASHIDHAR

PROJECT THRIVE, Axis Bank's internal career marketplace, has been instrumental in bringing down attrition from 34% to 28% in the past year. Project Thrive updates Axis employees of career openings within the organisation on a daily basis. The intent is simple.

If its own talent is on the look-out for challenging, cross-functional roles, they might as well look within the Axis ecosystem, rather than applying outside. "This year we got 34 resumes for a regional head role and the person who was chosen was a corporate banker who had never done retail distribution. People want to learn and Project Thrive is a great way to give them exposure to new skills and eventually retain them," says Rajkamal Vempati, president, human resources, Axis Bank.

India Inc. is not just facing a huge shortage of skilled talent, there is high attrition, too, anywhere between 40% and 90%, depending on the sector.

No wonder human capital is an important boardroom concern, and the challenge for organisations is not so much attracting talent, but also retaining them. According to the Fortune India-CIEL HR study on India's Future-ready Workplaces, the major criteria for future-readiness of an organisation dwells on how well prepared it is to become a business that would stand the test of time. For that, one needs a talent pool that has the wherewithal to wade through uncertainties (posed by geopolitical crises, climate change or macroeconomic conditions).

Around 50% of the workforce in India is expected to consist of Gen-Zs and millennials by 2030. This is a generation which is on the look-out for a workplace that is not just cool and in tune with times, but which also enables it to grow, learn and innovate. And hence, firms are going all-out to woo them by not just offering meaty roles, but enabling career enhancement programmes and cross-functional roles as well.