Abhijit Bhaduri, CEO, Abhijit Bhaduri and Associates, a boutique consulting firm
Abhijit Bhaduri is the CEO of Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates, a boutique consulting firm. He is an executive coach and one of the most widely followed HR leaders on LinkedIn.
Podcast
Overview
Human Resources, as a business function, plays a prime role in the success of a business as it manages the most important element of any business, i.e., human beings. The role of HR has evolved from being just a support system to a C-suite executive partnership, owing to the fast-paced changing work environments.
With younger leadership and flexible work demands, the task of HR is no longer related to just finding the talent. They play a key role in establishing the culture of an organisation. Today, we discuss the journey of the evolving role of HR.
About Abhijit Bhaduri
Abhijit Bhaduri is the CEO of Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates, a boutique consulting firm. He is an executive coach and one of the most widely followed HR leaders on LinkedIn. Today, he shares his vision on the evolving role of HR and the challenges that it faces with the current hybrid work model.
DISCUSSION
Abhijit throws light on the role of HR that manages three key dimensions: work, worker, and workplace. He shares his views on the hugely redefined way of functioning post the pandemic.
Challenge with Hybrid Work Model
Pandemic, as we all know, has shifted the work from being done in a workplace setting, and has merged home and work as one. Abhijit urges a mindset change to manage the workplace in such a situation. He says, “It is the first time that the three Ws (work, worker, and workplace) changed simultaneously. It is about how an individual is beginning to rethink their life in the new configuration.”
He lists down several reasons that have led to the great resignation post COVID.
Abhijit also credits it to the changing relationship of an employee with work. He explains, “Earlier, one’s identity was about work. But today, work is no longer be-all and end-all.”
Emotions in Workplace
Abhijit also talks about the acceptance of expressing one’s emotions in the workplace. He speaks a great deal about grief. He describes grief as “Grief is a feeling that you do not just experience when you lose a loved one. It is what you experience when you are navigating an unchartered path. You can even feel it when you are moving to a better place or job.”
Staying with a Company Vs. Switching Jobs
Abhijit also shares his views on the debate between staying with a company forever vs. switching jobs frequently. He lists down the three key choices that people make:
- People with a defined career. Someone, who starts as an engineer and dies as an engineer.
- People, who chase another dream with a current job and ride two horses. They move to the second job with time.
- Career 3.0. The art of monetising three or more skills that are not necessarily linked to each other.
More Thoughts
Abhijit also shares his views on the beneficial role that technology has played to enable HR in executing its role effectively.
He also talks at length about the importance of culture, describing it as an invisible code that tells people how to behave in a certain context.
Abhijit ends the conversation by talking about his book, “Dreamers and Unicorns.
Profile
Abhijit is a Distinguished Alumnus Award winner of XLRI Business School, India where he did his Masters’s degree. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honors) and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Delhi.
He is the CEO of Abhijit Bhaduri & Associates, a boutique consulting firm that counts Fortune 500 firms and startups in US, Asia Pacific and India as its clients. He was the Chief Learning Officer for Wipro and led HR teams for Microsoft, PepsiCo, and Colgate in US, India and Asia Pac regions.
He has been published by Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Duke University, and The Telegraph and writes regularly for Economic Times, Times of India, People Matters, and Business Line. He is one of the most widely followed HR leaders on LinkedIn with over 800,000 followers. Forbes describes him as “India’s most interesting globalist”.
