12 December, 2017, Noida:
Salary is no longer that glue that binds the employees with their employers or workplaces! The ground rule of the new-age work world is that more than salary, it is the overall benefits that keep modern-age employees interested in their workplaces for long. This, and many facts related to workplaces concluded the TimesJobs Compensation and Benefits Conclave 2017 held in Noida recently.
This daylong event – which witnessed the presence of more than 300 C&B and HR leaders – discussed the relevance of salary v/s benefits debate, the evolution of benefits and of course discussion on HR practices prevalent at the Indian work floors. The conclave saw companies like Mercer pointing out that they device benefits plan with individual preferences in mind, as specific as forming LGTBQ+ communities for staffers among others. This sounds peculiar, but with millennials on the work floor, policies like leave exchange among employees or having nap rooms are also being considered seriously.
Inaugurating the conclave, Ramathreya Krishnamurthi, Business Head, TimesJobs & TechGig said, “Happy employees make a happy workplace. Being thought leaders in the Indian HR space, we at TimesJobs wanted to probe the most critical question for today’s time –‘what brings people to work and keeps them at work for long?’ Hence we envisaged a great debate in the Indian HR fraternity and this conclave was conceived. With the discussion here, we wish to establish facts of today’s work world.”
Taking the cue of employee behaviour at workfloors further, Sanjay Goyal, Vice President at Times Internet, Head of Product, Technology & Marketing at TimesJobs added that employee conversations and opinions act like a magnet to retain talent. He said, “Today employees don’t work in silos and are affected by what is spoken about them, their company or industry at large. Employers need to keep a keen eye on that aspect too, since it attract or distracts relevant talent. We are delighted to present latest industry thoughts and reactions at this conclave.”
Held at Radisson Blu, Noida, the conclave saw four panel discussions involving HR stalwarts dissecting Compensation & Benefits policies and trends. The panel discussions were focussed as:
Panel 1: New-age employee benefits: Aligning organisational strategy with new innovative benefit strategy
Panel 2: Rethinking Compensation & Benefits: New approaches to combine benefits in the overall talent strategy
Panel 3: Can benefits really be a differentiator: Challenges in the conventional wisdom of benefits in driving performance and retention
Panel 4: Evolving role of benefits in enabling organisation culture: Using internal and external experts
Most organisations had fielded their Compensation & Benefits leaders for the discussion, making it a fruitful conversation for the panellists and the audience alike. Gaurav Bal, Compensation & Benefits Leader, GE was present in the first panel. He said, “Work flexibility and employee wellness are the most popular benefits among the millennials. Platforms like this conclave gives us an opportunity to network and probably come up with a solution in an aligned manner.”
Poonam Chopra, Associate Director – Total Rewards, PepsiCo who was a participant in fourth panel noted, “Including career enhancement as a benefits plan can be seen as one of the major attraction for employees. It not helps in retaining the best resource but also helps us hire better resources. Insurance and health benefits are the important factor that employees seek. Other than this, perks related to work-life balance also plays an important role for the new age employees”.
Anand Shukla, Regional Head Sales North, Pine Perks said, “Great companies are those who make their employees feel important about themselves. Hence it was critical to have this kind of a dialogue. It was a great pleasure to be a part the conclave. The panel discussion was thoroughly insightful and is going to help us innovate our products according to the trends of the current compensation and benefits space”.
The conclave also gave the participants an opportunity to network and interact with HR peers and learn from shared experiences. Ayush Arora, Account Manager, Xoxoday said, “It is a well-organised event with overwhelming experience about the latest trends, products and networking. It is a perfect place to understand people’s requirement with sufficient ability of fulfillment of their needs.”
Suvodeep Das, VP-Marketing, Sodexo said, “Essential platform that takes along all senior HR under one roof to plan the growth of their employees and as well as the company. It gives an exposure for one on one interaction along with new client opportunity and binging the message and networking.”
The TimesJobs Compensation & Benefits Conclave 2017 brought many fruitful discussions into limelight. The interactive session was an eye-opener for many industry leaders and HR managers as it opened interaction on many avenues that help in employee retention and career growth. However, this is not the end. Stay tuned for the next editions of the conclave.