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On 23rd April 2022 at its Central Campus in Anekal, Bangalore, Alliance University concluded its annual HR Conclave that witnessed an ensemble of HR thought leaders from across industry verticals who shared their views on a 'Future of HR and Employee Wellbeing'.

The conclave began with a keynote address by Dr. Sumit Mitra, CEO of Tesco Business Services and Tesco Bengaluru, who emphasized that HR as a business function must focus on augmentation, wellness, purpose, diversity, and inclusion for the human capital. He also brought in analogies from the Ramayana and Mahabharata about how perspectives of managing people, teams, and strategies have remained similar over the years. Dr. Mitra stressed the need for organizations to have resources that are tech-savvy and highly efficient to understand the nerves of employee behavior and address their challenges to navigate through the current rising waves of attrition.

Mr. Abhay G. Chebbi, Pro-Chancellor, Alliance University in his address emphasized the role of human resources as a strategic catalyst in business transformation while stating how AI-based applications have made inroads into several HR practices. He also reiterated how 'people' as unique differentiators add the much-required competitive edge to organizations and how employee wellbeing is critical to organizational profitability, sustenance, and growth. Mr. Abhay also highlighted how educational institutions and corporates must work together to create pathways for the future generations to be shaped into value-based leaders, guiding, and carving organizational success stories, and invited HR leaders to collaborate with academia to make this possible.

Dr. Anubha Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Alliance University welcomed the HR leaders from different companies and spoke about the need of creating HR futurists and did highlight how technology is paving the way for massive changes in the way HR functions and adds to organizational success. She also highlighted how companies are changing to add value in managing people by creating HR roles of the future.

The inaugural ceremony was proceeded by panel discussions; the first one was on AI – The future of HR. Eminent speakers Dr. Debolina Dutta, Professor of Practice-OB & HRM, IIM Bengaluru; Mr. Satheesh K V, Co-founder & COO, Spottabl; Ms. Kriti Gutt, Country HR, Hewlett Packard Enterprises; Ms. Sonila Deshpande, Global Head – Total Reward, UPL got into a discussion that was moderated by Dr. Ray Titus, Professor & Startup mentor from Alliance School of Business. The discussion started with the speakers talking about how AI is witnessing its widespread implementation across sectors and how its integration would change HR practices. The panel also deliberated on addressing the existing challenges before the implementation of AI in the HR industry. A trained workforce would be the need of the hour when AI witnesses its advent.

The second-panel discussion on HR Analytics - Leveraging analytics for future-ready HR Practices had speakers such as Ms. Nandini Sarkar, Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Leader-India, Boeing India; Mr. Satish Rajarathnam, Senior VP – HR, Mphasis; Ms. Asha Subramanian, CHRO, Subex; Mr. Anurag Gupta, Head-People Analytics, Flipkart. The panel was moderated by Dr. Vivekanand, Doctoral Program Director, Alliance School of Business. The topic had panelists discuss how analytics has become a decision-making factor in almost every aspect of one’s life and heavily has an impact on HR practices, given the data is used and interpreted well.

The Conclave’s third and last panel discussion topic was Employee Wellbeing - The journey from wellbeing to organizational excellence. The moderator of the panel discussion, Dr. Jaya Ganesan – Area Chair, HRM, Alliance School of Business, took up one discussion with eminent panelists, Ms. Ektaa Sibal, National Wellbeing Advisor, Shipping Corporation of India, Ministry of Shipping, Government of India; Lt. Sandhya Suri, CHRO, Tesla Power USA Inc., Mr. Sai Suryanarayana M, Chief People Officer & Head facilities, Fincare Small Finance Bank; Mr. Sreejith Krishnan, Head- Learning & Development, Sony India Software India. The topic has been in widespread discussion since the onset of the pandemic. As the world got confined to the four walls and homes converted into office spaces, employee wellbeing became a challenge for the organizations and will stay a very important aspect of keeping attrition in control.

Overall, the Alliance HR Conclave 2022 ended on a promising note of amalgamating technology for the future of HR and the well-being of human capital in organizations. Industry and academic leaders along with attendees derived immense value from the event and are optimistic on such events would help shape the future of HR.