From shaping business growth to preparing for the future: CHROs become the new strategic powerhouses

Today, businesses must constantly adapt to thrive in a rapidly changing world. As Deloitte’s 2023 Global Human Capital Trends report highlights, businesses are facing increasing disruption, with 87% of executives saying their business is subject to frequent and unpredictable changes.

Faced with this disruptive market landscape of increasingly shorter and more volatile hours, it’s no surprise that the role of the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is being redefined in an era of constant change. HR leaders are focused on both continued growth of the business and the future, looking to put the right people in the right positions during the next market cycle and be responsible for larger organizational transformation.

To gain insights into how CHROs can pave the way for organizational success, Mint has partnered with Deloitte to bring you the CHRO Vantage series, drawing key learnings from conversations with top CHROs across India. In this edition, we uncover four key action steps to help you thrive in the future of work.

Know your business inside out

Talent strategy must be an extension of business strategy and add value to it. As the key person leading the organization through major change and turmoil, understanding the business in which they operate is critical to the success of the CHRO. While the CEO is still leading the process of reinventing the business model, organizations have realized that the CHRO’s capabilities are more important to long-term growth than access to funding.

No longer limited to compliance and workforce management, the CHRO is viewed as a strategic business partner. As a result, today’s CHRO has a large say in the organization’s business model, growth strategy, and how it influences the customer experience.

“Raymond is a conglomerate of 3 businesses and as its Chief HR Officer, I have been immersed in these areas. From ensuring the organization is more customer-centric, reducing delivery time by integrating the supply chain to developing strategies to produce more affordable products to meet market competition, I have been working with the business heads in these areas. I have also worked with them and the Chairman to build a strong leadership pipeline and enable a high performance culture to achieve business goals. Since Covid-19, I have been part of the frontline of the business and was even a member of the strategic task force at that time, managing the business to a certain extent and gaining a deeper understanding,” said K A Narayan, President, HR, Raymond Ltd.

Pawan Bhageria, President, Global HR, IT, Administration and Education, Tata Technologies said, “Our key business focus is to drive industry-leading growth and build our presence in emerging technologies, which requires a strong talent pipeline and an engaged workforce. To achieve this, we have strengthened our employer brand, improved employee engagement, and focused on talent acquisition and skills management. We have built a dedicated talent pool for emerging technologies and upskilled our workforce through initiatives such as TechVarsity technical training and Leaderbridge leadership development. Additionally, we have increased new hire onboarding with the support of a robust training engine and implemented an AI-based chatbot to collect continuous employee feedback. These efforts are critical to achieving our strategic goals.”

Talent strategy is your growth engine

Strengthening and future-proofing business models requires strong capability building. More than 80% of leaders surveyed in Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends 2024 report said retraining and upskilling will be critical for their organizations to prepare for future disruptions.

Sitaram Kandi, Chief Human Resources Officer, Tata Motors said, “Tata Motors has transformed itself into a learning organization, focusing on key areas such as CESS and Industry 4.0. Around 50% of the company’s employees are certified in these areas, with a target of 100%. More than 15,000 employees have taken part in the Kaushalya programme, earning a diploma in manufacturing technology, while more experienced operators are pursuing a diploma in electrical engineering. In addition, 300 employees have taken up MTech courses in electric vehicle technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company is also developing expertise in customer excellence, electric vehicles and ESG, with a total of 600 employees enrolled in these learning programmes. On-site ITI-type institutes within Tata Motors plants also support employee development through specialist training in core technologies such as mechatronics.”

There is no doubt that the Chief Human Resources Officer must play a key role in building and strengthening a learning organization that can adapt to changing skill needs. This also requires reimagining the recruitment model so that it can improve productivity, enable internal mobility, and most importantly, be ready for the future. In addition to filling vacant positions, the larger goal should be to advocate for growth and skill agility.

“One of our top priorities is to strengthen an agile organizational structure to facilitate quick decision making and empower teams to respond to technological disruptions and market changes. To ensure this, we advocate a continuous learning environment and provide employees with upskilling opportunities through internal learning platforms and reverse mentoring programs, where Gen Z mentors employees to improve their technical capabilities. At the same time, we are working to build a flexible workforce that can adapt quickly, including gig workers, freelancers, and temporary workers, thereby increasing scalability and flexibility to respond to market changes,” said Sandeep Girotra, Chief Human Resources Officer, DCM Shriram.

Embracing the era of artificial intelligence

No discussion about building capabilities and increasing agility would be complete if we didn’t emphasize the importance of creating an AI-enabled workforce, which will not only help accelerate business growth but also ensure that the workforce can quickly respond to digital disruption (and even in the future).

Richard Lobo, Chief Talent Officer, Tech Mahindra said, “At Tech Mahindra, our skilling practice enables TechMighties to ‘future-proof’, transforming them into the next generation of business-ready employees. Our approach focuses on equipping employees with cutting-edge digital skills in AI, cloud computing and cybersecurity. Through structured programmes such as our flagship SMART programme, we train the next generation of technology talent, enabling individuals from across geographies to stay ahead of industry needs. Our AI Competency Framework has enabled over 50,000 employees to develop advanced capabilities, while specialised training in AI and GenAI has benefited over 15,000 professionals. We also plan to provide AI training to 100% of our IT talent by FY25.”

On the other hand, CHROs must also connect technology insights with business decisions by building their own digital acumen. As their roles continue to evolve and expand, a deeper understanding of technology will become essential. For example, going beyond traditional productivity metrics to assess employee performance in a more people-centric way, or leveraging artificial intelligence and data analytics to enhance business and human outcomes. As HR technology rapidly advances, data has become an invaluable currency for CHROs to navigate the business world, from flagging potential growth opportunities to managing risk.

Enhance competitive advantage through culture

As an enabler of business growth, the transformation of the CHRO role comes down to recognizing the needs, desires and motivations of employees. In the face of accelerated and unexpected change, culture building will inevitably always be an integral part of driving performance.

Aligning business processes with people strategies to reflect the culture, the larger purpose of the organization, and the adjustments it will make is critical to any transformation process. This is also an area where the CHRO will lead and play a decisive role in how culture works.

Communicate and permeate all levels and areas of the organization. When this is achieved by maintaining an employee-centric focus rather than just a customer-centric focus, profits will follow as engagement levels will remain high, paving the way for a high-performance, purpose-driven culture.

“As the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Grasim Chemicals, I have aligned talent and business strategies to create a purpose-driven organization that empowers employees and drives growth. Through engagement and development programs, we have fostered a culture where employees are connected to the company’s mission, leading to improved employee retention, productivity and collaboration. We have also fostered inclusion by empowering diverse voices and creating new opportunities across markets. Targeting women in particular, we have formed an Employee Resource Group, introduced night shifts with full support, and built women dormitories at our plants to ensure their safety and well-being,” said Shefali Kohli, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chemicals, Filaments & Insulations, Aditya Birla Group.

“At AIL, we prioritize building a strong, agile and future-ready culture through strategic initiatives like Aayam and Metamorphosis. These initiatives focus on empowering employees to become leaders, fostering integrity, alignment and high performance. Aayam develops leadership by embedding our core values ​​of caring, integrity and excellence, while Metamorphosis develops emerging leaders through belonging, belief and empowerment. Our culture-driven approach has yielded impressive business metrics including a highly engaged workforce (ranked 70th by Gallup), 75% internal talent realization rate, low leadership attrition, strong safety culture, increased productivity, cost optimization and sustained stakeholder value creation,” said Manoj Sharma, Chief Human Resources Officer, Aarti Industries Ltd.

The future of business is employee-centric

While customer-centricity is no longer effective, employees are at the heart of building agile, resilient and future-proof business models. This growing awareness has made the role of CHROs increasingly important to businesses, and they are establishing themselves as a strategic force in the boardroom.

The growth and success of every organization does depend on the knowledge and capabilities of the Chief Human Resources Officer, who must focus on the present on one hand and the future on the other.

Most importantly, align the needs of your organization and your people as they prepare for new changes and new opportunities for success.