Let’s call it what it is: fauxductivity is a blight on the modern workplace, and it’s spreading fast. This isn’t some buzzword to toss around in boardroom meetings; it’s a dangerous phenomenon where employees—and managers—pretend to be productive while getting absolutely nothing done. It’s the inevitable result of a toxic culture of presenteeism, where appearances [...] The post The Fauxductivity epidemic appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

When machines first entered the workplace, people feared they would erode human empathy, reducing workers to mere cogs in a productivity-driven wheel. But today, it’s not the machines that are stripping us of our humanity—it’s the companies themselves. In the relentless pursuit of performance, organisations are fostering cultures where empathy is a liability, and workaholism [...] The post Workaholism is killing us: The tragic case of Anna Sebastian Perayil appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

The practice of self-appraisal has long been a staple of performance management systems. Employees are asked to evaluate their own work, providing managers with supposedly valuable insights into their performance. However, this seemingly innocuous practice is often misguided and can lead to more harm than good. At its core, self-appraisal creates a misleading notion of [...] The post The illusion of self-appraisal: Why it’s time to end the practice appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

In today’s hyper-connected, fast-evolving workplace, the days of siloed operations are a relic of the past. The modern business environment thrives on cross-functional collaboration—teams of diverse expertise coming together to solve problems, innovate, and drive results. However, while the potential of collaboration is undeniable, its execution is often messy, inconsistent, and far from optimised. This [...] The post Why every organisation needs an operating system for effective team collaboration appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

The antiquated performance management system, a relic of the industrial age, stands as a stark contrast to the dynamic, digital workplace of today. The annual performance review, once a cornerstone of organisational development, has become a bureaucratic burden, devoid of meaning and impact. Gallup’s sobering statistics underscore the crisis: a mere 2 per cent of [...] The post Performance management: A waste of time and talent appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

With fears of recession and revenue growth slowing down, Google expects its employees to work harder and be more productive. While several organisations have resorted to layoffs and hiring freezes, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, has indicated that the productivity of the tech major’s workforce is below expectations and rather worrisome. Pichai conveyed to the employees [...] The post Google expects staff to work harder appeared first on HR Katha ..read more

Imagine a massive cargo ship, the Maersk Eagerness, caught in a frantic race against the clock. The crew scrambles to load and unload containers at breakneck speed, chasing ever-increasing throughput targets. But their relentless pursuit of speed backfires spectacularly. As containers pile up on the docks, bottlenecks form, grinding operations to a halt. The culprit? Flawed performance metrics, focused solely on speed and ignoring the ripple effects on the entire system. This cautionary tale highlights the shortcomings of traditional performance measurement. Often rooted in intuition and gut f ..read more

HCLTech has sparked debate by mandating employees report to the office three days a week, effective February 19. Failure to comply will incur disciplinary action, according to an internal email from Vikas Sharma, global head of people function for Digital Foundation Services. This move follows similar directives from IT giants TCS and Wipro, prompting discussions on work culture, security, and employee well-being in the post-pandemic era. The announcement echoes wider industry trends. TCS has granted employees a deadline of March end to return to office, citing concerns about cyber security an ..read more

In an endeavour to ensure that staff members are aware of what is expected of them, Air India has decided to state job descriptions with clarity and also lay out specific goals for its workforce. It is doing so with the help of a new performance-management system for the non-flying employees. This is part of the Tata Group’s attempts at reviving the national carrier, and in the process, bring about more transparency and fairness in the appraisal system. This digitised performance-management process, under the Rise.AI project of the carrier, will clearly convey what the employees are expected t ..read more

There has been a lot of talk around human resources (HR) as a strategic business function in the organisation. That is why, Dave Urich’s HR model introduced the strategic HR business partner (HRBP) role, which has come to be an integral part of organisational design across sectors in India. Being a strategic partner, the HR business partner or HRBP is also responsible for the performance of the business function that it is partnering with. Most of the HR leaders agree that the performance of the function that an HR business partner is assigned to is integrated with the key performance indicato ..read more