Professor (Dr.) Neelu Rohmetra, Director, IIM Sirmaur presided over the inaugural ceremony. In her inaugural address to the participants, she highlighted the importance of human touch which is lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She added that though technology plays a significant role, human interaction and empathetic behavior remain imperative. According to her, a hybrid work environment will be the need of the future and firms will engage adaptive employees for their day-to-day endeavors. She emphasized that employee inclusivity is vital for enhancing trust among employees.

Earlier, the inaugural ceremony started with a welcome note by Dr. Parul Malik, Event Convener. She welcomed all the academic experts which included Prof. Shivganesh Bhargava, IIT Bombay, Prof. G. S. Pathak, IIT Dhanbad, Prof. Debolina Dutta, IIM Bangalore, Prof. Rupashree Baral, IIT Madras, and Prof. Nishant Uppal, IIM Lucknow.

The first-panel discussion focused on ‘the significance of building a high-trust organizational culture’. Prof. Rupashree Baral, IIT Madras talked about the necessity of building a high trust-organizational culture for fostering employees’ positive strength. She emphasized transforming the existent HRM practices and systems by realigning the HR processes for efficiently managing the future workforce. Later, Prof. Debolina Dutta, IIM Bangalore, stated that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help HRM practitioners in understanding employees' nerves and enhancing their engagement levels. Prof. Debolina also emphasized that employees who were proactively utilizing the technological chatbots at the workplace exhibit higher levels of trust towards their organization. The next panelist Mr. Rajesh Kumar, AGM, BHEL Haridwar, stated that trustworthiness is significant and “one can trust others only if they trust and believe in themselves”. Mr. Kumar further emphasized the role of faith among team members and building blocks of trust at the workplace to create a high-impact culture.

Later on, Dr. Shashi Kant, Associate Director (HR), North Zone Flipkart, highlighted the gap between the traditional and evolved HRM processes before and after COVID-19.  Dr. Shashi Kant also emphasized the pertinent influence of Business 4.0 on HRM systems. Finally, the second seminar panel discussion focused on ‘augmenting employee strength to build an adaptive workforce’. In the second session, Prof. Shivganesh Bhargava, IIT Bombay, stressed the significance of an adaptive workforce and its impact on enhancing positive behavior and high employee performance. Prof. Bhargava also emphasized the importance of emotional intelligence among employees. Later, Prof. G. S. Pathak, IIT Dhanbad demonstrated his research work on virtual teams’ processes. Prof. Pathak stated that virtual teams have become an integral component of the global service delivery model of Indian IT organizations. Finally, Prof. Nishant Uppal, IIM Lucknow highlighted the effect of social distancing on employees’ commitment, satisfaction, and involvement. Prof. Uppal also emphasized the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and how they are impacting the change in health behavior, the situation of healthcare, and essential service workers. Dr. Rinki Dahiya, Event Co-Convener gave the vote of thanks.

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