Redefining the Human Touch

From digitally connecting with employees to reinventing job roles, the coronavirus outbreak is witnessing an evolution in the way human resources are engaged and managed

- Divya J Shekhar

Anuradha Razdan knew she would have to think on her feet. It was not business as usual.

Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on March 24 to control the coronavirus, Razdan, executive director of human resources (HR) at FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL), put together a multipronged business continuity approach. First, since 70 percent of the company’s revenue comes from the sale of essentials, its 28 factories across the country had to be kept running.

This meant continuous coordination with state governments and local authorities to keep up with changing guidelines, finding alternative sources of labour wherever required, since some employees had returned to their respective hometowns due to the outbreak, arranging for workers' accommodation on factory premises, providing for hygiene and sanitation, dispelling social taboos and misinformation around the virus, issuing early payments to small- and medium-scale suppliers, extending credit to small-scale customers, distributors and partners, and building infrastructure for 18,000 employees to work virtually.

This was just the beginning of a series of measures that would change the way the organisation functions, including how teams are rebuilt and manpower is reassigned across critical business functions, how leaders look after the physical and mental wellbeing of their employees, and how crucial HR systems—traditionally mandating physical presence and interactions—are digitised. “The endeavour is ongoing: How do we keep the rhythm of the business going? How do we keep employees engaged and productive? How do we continue listening to them to keep the positive momentum going even in the midst of all the disruption and changes we are seeing to our ways of work and lives?” says Razdan.