Leadership, learning & development crucial for Indian business

New Delhi, 18 May 2015: Indian businesses have ranked leadership as the most important human capital issue for this year, according to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2015, India report. The other issues include Learning and development, Culture and engagement, Reinventing HR, and Performance Management. The report, prepared by Deloitte in India in association with the National Human Resource Development (NHRD) ranking the key human capital trends in the Indian marketplace, states that organizations in India are largely not ready to address these trends.

The report is based on comparative analysis of the results from India (133 business and HR leaders) with Deloitte’s comprehensive global survey of more than 3300 business leaders and HR executives in 106 countries. “For HR and talent teams, 2015 will be a critical year,” said Jeff Schwartz, Global Leader, Talent Strategies and Human Capital Marketing, Deloitte. “This year will be a time for creativity, bold leadership, and a fundamental re-imagining of the practices HR leaders have been following for years.”

Globally, leadership has been a major concern for business houses. The capability gap - the difference between the urgency/ importance index and readiness index - for leadership stood at 36% globally, while India witnessed a slightly higher gap of 38%. In the case of learning and development, the capability gap for Indian business stands at 32%, which is higher than both Asia (28%) and global (28%) percentages. Amongst the lowest ranked trends is - People data everywhere. “One of the things that stands out is a trend called “People data everywhere”, said Dr. Vishalli Dongrie, Senior Director and Head for Human Capital and Organizational Talent, Transformation & Rewards, Deloitte in India. “It has scored the lowest both in terms of urgency and readiness which is a surprise in this digital world, however understandable, as it is still picking up while firms focus on other HR trends.”

In India, two trends witnessed a significant progression compared to last year - learning & development moved up from rank no. 10 to no. 2 and workforce capability moved from no. 8 to no. 6 among the top trends. Interestingly, talent acquisition, which was a top trend last year, does not feature in this year’s list. “Indian business leaders are overall satisfied with their HR solutions,” said SV Nathan, Senior Director and Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte in India. “However, we see that the greatest challenge for business and HR leaders lies in the reported low levels of readiness and preparation to address these pressing trends.”

State of Indian HR

According to the HR report card, Indian leaders largely rate their HR solutions as “good” (40%). However, over 50% respondents feel that there is room for improvement for HR. Additionally over 7 out of 10 Indian organizations are planning to increase their HR spending in the next 12-18 months.

Challenges and Concerns

Resonating with the global sentiment, leadership emerged as the most important challenge in India. The crucial short-term challenges for Indian business include performance management and talent acquisition. The survey results indicate that 88% of respondents have either already changed their performance management systems or plan to change them in the next 18 months. Simultaneously, 89% of respondents have either revamped or are about to revamp their talent acquisition processes in next 18 months. Learning & development and HR/people analytics appear as long-term challenges, not in the fore-front currently.

Business Outlook

In line with the global business outlook, most Indian organizations have a positive view on the future of their organization: 83% expect growth, with the majority choosing the cautiously optimistic option of “steady but slowing growth” (48%). The state of business complexity, however, is discouraging. Around 61% of the Indian respondents describe their work environment and business practices as complex or very complex. In response, only 18% are working on simplifying their processes and 6% have major programs in place.