'Hybrid working model is the future’

The third session of the third edition of the e4m’s PR and Corp Comm 40 under 40 Summit 2021 had panelists sharing their insights on how young talents have been contributing to the workforce given that they are adaptive to technologies and innovations, and how effective will be the future of PR and Communications industry post Covid-19 recovery, among others. The topic for the discussion was ‘Talent and hybrid working models amid pandemic’. 

The panelists of the third session were Madhvi Chaudhary - Independent Consultant; Atreyi Goswami - Creator & Principal Communicator at Atviya; Mansi Sheth - Group Head at Veritas Reputation PR; and Archana V - Business Partner Communications & Engagement at dunnhumby. Ruchika Jha from exchange4media moderated the session.

The discussion started with Jha asking whether PR professionals are ready to come back and join the workplace physically as the offices have now started reopening. To this, Sheth said, “I feel the hybrid working space is here to stay at least for a year or two more because people have now started to work from the office on alternate days, instead of working from home. So there is a lot of acceptance now within the employees as well in our industry. But the biggest challenge in shifting from the hybrid to the entire five-day working model is that people are still working from remote locations. There are certain challenges they find back home then.”

Archana V said, "We will never see 100 percent of our employees going back to normal, where they follow fixed 9-6 schedules, coming at a certain time and leaving at a certain time. This hybrid working model is not going to be just for a year or two. At dunnhumby, we are talking about this as 'Future ways of working'. Companies need to focus on making it easy for their people catering to different needs and situations and at the same time balance with how effectively they want to operate the hybrid working model.”

Speaking about how the young talents are contributing to the workspace given that they are more adaptive to the latest technologies and more innovative, Goswami said, “When the pandemic hit, adjusting to the hybrid working model was new to all of us. But I was skeptical. For me, it had to be that on- -the-job training and then I started working with people who were working remotely. I have worked with a lot of interns and also with people who have been into it for very few years. I feel the gap is because they are not hands-on. Somewhere experience also teaches you the work-life balance. When you are working remotely, there are different kinds of challenges like looking after family and then you have got meetings. So, what I believe is that yes, the younger lot who are joining in are more adaptive to technologies but then I think we realized that that is the new norm and we cannot do without a zoom. I think that the entire learning landscape has changed for the better but it is very important that we foster teaching mechanisms in a way to develop new skills.”

“Covid has undoubtedly increased the demand of technology and it has given rise to the software development and IT skilled jobs. I would say that I have worked for a lot of edtech clients who have come up with learning courses that provide industry-oriented skills to freshly graduated people so that they do not have to face training sessions when they join a company. So they already have the skills that they need to perform and they can excel from day 1 as they join the company. This has really given a boost to the graduates who are looking for jobs because the gap between the demand and the supply was huge and these edtech start-ups have really worked hard to bridge this gap and they are doing great. As I have worked with juniors, I have seen that these young talents bring a lot of freshness with them and they bring different perspective of thinking for business.” Chaudhary added.

The session concluded with the question of how strong will be the post Covid-19 recovery for the PR and communications industry, to which Sheth said, “The industry is in a recovery process right now. The only two most important things for an organization besides training and learning post pandemic is empathy and trust. Empathy towards your employees, co-workers, understanding the situation considering the challenges they face back home there. I think these two will help organizations go back to normal because the real challenge in the pandemic is also retention. I feel the biggest thing for an organization’s growth is employees and being empathetic towards them and trusting them for the work they do and I think these are the two skills for any organization to grow.”