Navigating dire straits: Reviving resiliently

Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri making his presentation at the NHRC 2023

It was indeed a memorable event when the National Human Resource Conference (NHRC) 2023 organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) took place last week, after a lapse of three years. I was so delighted to be one of the speakers in sharing my thoughts on sustainable people practices. The overarching theme was “navigating the dire straits” which was very much fitting to the overall experience as a recovering nation. Today’s column is a reflection of the NHRC 2023.

Overview

People are the most prominent factor in an organisation or a nation alike in driving change. This is very much true to the concerted effort needed for national revival. It requires to go through turbulences with proper professional navigation. The session line up of the conference with the assortment of speeches and panel discussions did justice for the theme in highlighting variety of aspects connected to people factor. It consisted of two days with a service providers’ exhibition, the final round of the HR debate, and an impressive inauguration with several technical sessions.

The range of topics covered within the umbrella theme included the employee wellbeing, skilled migration, post-pandemic HR challenges, people contribution to business revival and green HR practices. It was encouraging to see how business leaders and people professionals alike coming forward to share their sincere views with the broad aim of reviewing resiliently.

People management practices supporting business

How people management practices support business in navigating dire straits was amply illustrated by Peck Kem Low, Chief Human Resources Officer and Advisor (Workforce Development) Singapore Public Service Division of Prime Minister’s Office. She highlighted the need for fostering open communication between management and employees to boost morale and engagement.

Creating supportive environments to enhance employee productivity, creating a caring and supportive culture to reduce stress levels, prioritising employees’ well-being even as we tackle new economic challenges, and HR value-adding as a strategic partner in driving business transformation were other areas she elaborated with relevant examples. The way she gave best practices deriving from Singapore reminded me the famous MPH formula attributed to consistent growth, namely meritocracy, pragmatism, and honesty.

Impact of economic downturn on people practices

It was an insightful panel discussion featuring Murtaza Jafferjee of Advocata, Ravi Abeysuriya of Senfin Securities, Dilshan Wirasekara of First Capital and Chairman, Colombo Stock Exchange, moderated by Dhammika Fernando of Tropical Findings.

They elaborated how Sri Lanka’s economic downturn took the country by storm reducing the standard and quality of life of people across different strata’s into disarray. The impact was highly pronounced in that its part of agitation among people irrespective of the different income levels and different social standings. A sense of cautious optimism of a resilient recovery as a nation was collectively expressed. The need to strengthen export oriented agriculture and the associated people factors was emphasised.

The need to address business continuity and fixing workable plans therefor, with special focus on people practices, salaries, and benefits and to meet the needs of the workforce, special arrangements required to keep organisations running and maintain production at least at a level of reasonable sufficiency, prevention of job losses were also discussed.

Mass skilled migration and its impact on socio-economic development

It was insightful to see the findings of a comprehensive research involving over 3000 participants with regards to their intentions for migration, etc. Prof. Prasadini Gamage presented such findings in a nutshell with much food for thought. Political strife, economic downturn, social unrest, drastic drop in production, work stoppages, mass-skilled protests, have led to people especially skilled categories of employees, professionals, and those in multiple employment situations to seriously consider migration. This is no surprise since the adverse impact on young people, middle aged and even seniors considering the need to relocate in greener pastures which thereby triggered a craze for migration.

Among the many thought-provoking findings, one really drew my focus. Upon asking the most compelling reason for migration, the already migrated Sri Lankans within the sample, most gave the following response. “The country lacks visionary leadership”.

There was a detailed deliberation by a panel consisting of Bingumal Thewarathanthri of Standard Chartered Bank, Sampath Jayasundara of Hsenid Business Solutions, Suren Fernando of MAS Holdings and Dr. Roshan Rajadurei of Hayleys Plantations, moderated by Ken Vijayakumar, President, CIPM. With the diversity of sectors being represented, it added many insights of the impact of skilled migration and the need to persuade for “reverse skilled migration”.

Lessons from COVID-19 for people professionals

Chandi Dharmaratne, Chief People Officer of Axiata Digital Labs shared the essence of the lessons learnt from a planetary pandemic with due reference to recent reports published regionally and globally. She further elaborated the nine trends of people practices highlighted by Gartner report 2023 with implications to Sri Lanka. It is worthwhile to mention the “future of work” trends mentioned there.

1. “Quiet hiring” offers new ways to snag in-demand talent,

2. Hybrid flexibility reaches the front lines,

3. Squeezed by competing leader and employee expectations, managers need support

4. Pursuit of nontraditional candidates expands talent pipelines

5. Healing pandemic trauma opens path to sustainable performance

6. Organisations push Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) forward amid growing pushbacks

7. Getting personal with employee support creates new data risks

8. Algorithmic bias concerns lead to more transparency in recruiting tech

9. Skill gaps of the Generation Z reveal workforce-wide erosion of social skills

These trends need to be widely discussed in the context of Sri Lanka in order to see the possible implications in the short and medium term.

Sustainable people practices and green initiatives

This was the session where I delivered the first part followed by a global case study on Coca Cola presented by Lakshan Madurasinghe, Regional Lead – Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability for Coca–Cola in Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Sustainability as taking care of today’s needs without compromising the future was explored with economical, ecological, and equitable fronts. I shared the thoughts on the shift from the “triple bottom line” to “quadruple bottom line” where the focus on profit, people and planet are ensured with an overarching purpose. The need to move from “ego to eco” as sensible people professionals in embracing green practices was also emphasised.

How HR should be viewed through an eco-system perspective with much appreciation of a purpose driven approach was emphasised. The need to enhance green HR practices such as reduction of paper usage, web-based recruitment, and a range of eco-friendly initiatives were highlighted. HR contribution to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) formulated by the United Nations was also discussed.

The case study presented included the success story of Coca-Cola Sri Lanka that was awarded under the ‘Best Sustainability Projects’ category for its ‘Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs): Revolutionising waste management in Sri Lanka’ and ‘Access to Water for Agriculture and Livelihoods for women in the Moneragala district’ (WALK) projects at the ‘Best Corporate Citizen Awards 2022’. MRFs is a unique initiative recognised for the first time and is a highly valued award for Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka (CCBSL) which established the country’s first-ever comprehensive MRFs; a community-centric, replicable, and sustainable model providing a ground-breaking solution to key waste management issues identified in Sri Lanka.

The way Madhu-rasinghe presented; Coca-Cola was also active in its ‘Water Stewardship’ initiatives through the W.A.L.K Project. This project was funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation and implemented by NGO ACTED in collaboration with local Farmers Organisations. The project rehabilitated the Samurdhi water tank in Galahitiya village, Monaragala, enabling a replenishment capacity of 285,054 kilo litres annually. “Access to water plays a critical role in ensuring equitable and sustainable opportunities in rural communities where agriculture is the main livelihood. This project supports the pressing needs of farmers in the Monaragala District, Uva Province, which is the poorest region of Sri Lanka, with 15.4% of the population living below the poverty line,” he further observed.

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) in the face of an economic crisis

This was the last panel discussion. It was encouraging to see the presence of the trade union leaders together with business leaders in discussing possible synergies. Anton Marcus of Free Trade Zones Employee Union, Christophe Coucaud of Michelin Sri Lanka, Vajira Ellepola of Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, Shan Yahampath, Advisor to the Minister of Labour were the panellists. The discussion was moderated by Davina Kern of David Pieris Holdings.

An EAP was explained as an employee benefit that assists employees with personal or work-related problems that may impact their job performance, health, mental and emotional wellbeing. EAPs can really help employees through these incredibly challenging and uncertain times. EAPs usually offer free and confidential assessments, short-term counselling, referrals, and follow-up services for employees.

It was encouraging to hear the viewpoint of a trade unionist where rather than employee assistance; employee participation and employee collaboration were emphasised as more required.

Way forward

Navigating dire straits needs discipline without discrimination in all fronts towards ensuring collective effort. People professionals should work hand in hand with other professionals in ensuring the only alive and vibrant resource in any workplace would contribute their best towards prosperity. When we hit the rock bottom, the only way to move is up and further up. NHRC 2023 of CIPM provided a profound platform to ponder the pertinent priorities in such an essential endeavour.

(The writer, a Senior Professor in Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), can be reached at [email protected], [email protected] or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)