Speaker of the session was Mr. Prashant Sharma, Dy. GM, Gas Authority of India Ltd. He talked about the new work life situation emerging from the lockdown owing to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic that urgently requires businesses to rapidly adjust to the changing needs of their people, their customers and suppliers, while navigating the financial and operational challenges.

He said that with every industry, function and geography greatly impacted, business managers have to work on five R’s, namely, Resolve, Resilience, Return, Reimagine and Reform to sail through these challenging times. Remote working, human surveillance, virtual connect with knowledge partners, flexitime schedules enabled by IT interventions have become the new normal transforming the way businesses are run. This will affect the HR functions like Recruitment, Learning and Development as well as Performance Management System. Business managers will have to design innovative ways to connect with and engage employees, fulfil the changing requirements of customers and vendors and ensure compliances as per the stated guidelines in order to sustain and win in the future.