The objective of the conclave was to understand, how organizations are changing and transforming during the pandemic situation in COVID times. This Conclave provided a common platform to rediscover the paradigms that will help the leaders and policy makers to redefine the future of work and workplace for Business Continuity. Eminent speakers from Industry graced the conclave with their benign presence and shared their insight and valuable thoughts and experiences.  At the beginning, the program commenced with an encouraging deliberation by Shri Arpit Chadha sir, Vice Chairman, I.T.S The Education Group, where he welcomed all the eminent speakers and shared words of wisdom, this address was followed by the Welcome address by Dr.(Prof.) Vidya Sekhri, Director-Management and Prof. Durba Roy (Associate Vice president CRC and Conclave Convener) by introducing the theme of the Conclave. The eminent speakers of the session were:

1.     Mr. Rajan Dutta,  Managing Director - Xstrops Consulting; Managing Partner - Xpert Conexions, Former President HR- Reliance ADA, Lupin pharmaceuticals Limited - Chief Guest of the ceremony highlighted the flattening of the economic curve, migrant labourers issue, organization facing challenges to run efficiently and use the workforce effectively. He further highlighted that Consumer behaviour is also changing these days. Value of the product, convenience and authenticity are driving factors now.

2.     Mr. Lokesh Saxena,  Managing Director - DISA INDIA LIMITED & Sr.Vice President - India, Middle East & Sub Saharan Africa, Norican Group graced the inaugural ceremony as Guest of Honour. He laid emphasis on emotional aspects and workforce management post pandemic era. He said that positive mind and hope for future are the key factors in the new normal.

3.     Dr. Sudhanshu Pathak, Head - HR and OD at JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., delivered the Keynote address of the inaugural session and highlighted the changing functions of HR during the COVID times and issues of  employee engagement establishing balance between Agility and compassion, result and relationship. At the end of Inaugural Ceremony Dr. (Prof.) Vidya Sekhri, Director-Management expressed her gratitude by presenting digital plaque to all the esteemed speakers as a token of gratitude. Overall session was very interactive and full of practical knowledge and insights on the focal theme.

Followed by the Inaugural Ceremony, The conclave highlighted the very prominent issues with the subtheme –Future of Work: Hybrid Workforce via Panel Discussion-1 by eminent speakers from Industry in the next session of the conclave.

The Moderator of the Panel discussion was Mr. Agniwesh Thakur. (AVP, SAP- Success factors Capacity, Accenture) and the eminent panelists were Mr. Biplob Banerjee (CPPO, ABD India), Mr. Atma Godara (Production HR Generalist – APAC, Netflix, Digital Transformation Leader), Mr. Manish Rastogi (Head Capability Development & Talent, Vodafone Idea), Mr. Rohit Shenoy (AVP HR, Sterlite Power) and Mr. Neeraj Mehra (VP, HR, Infogain).

The panel discussion started with an opening question that “How New Normal look Like?. Mr. Biplob Banerjee addressed the question and focused that it is a disruption as everyone is connected through a virtual platform. So, it feels like IPL is going on but in the stadium, there were no audiences who are going to cheer the players.  He compared the situation with the freshers who are going to perform in the empty stadium. Further Mr. Atma Godara addressed the same question and gave few tips to always research and stay relevant according to the market analysis before the pandemic, now what looks like and it would be in near future. The second tip was upskilling and reskilling is most important in every situation. Mr. Manish Rastogi shared that leadership is not only with position/designation. It can be done on a small grassroots level also as it was his experience during this lockdown. He also shared the employee engagement activity initiatives taken by their company in this pandemic situation. Mr. Neeraj Mehra enlighted the audience with wonderful thought that we all should be grateful that we are Happy & Alive, we have Shelter & Food for our survival. In this new normal situation, he got to know what is most important for a human being to survive. Mr. Ronit Shenoy expressed his views that in this new normal situation their company organized many meditation sessions along with many types of sessions conducted by the company for stress relief. At the end of session, Dr. (Prof.) Vidya Sekhri, Director-Management expressed gratitude by presenting digital plaque to all the esteemed speakers as a token of respect and gratitude.

The Panel Discussion II started with the sub theme “Role of HR in Well being, Engagement and Performance in tough times” was conducted.

The eminent speakers of the session were Ms. Rashmi Manshramani , CHRO, The Wave Group , Mr.  Prateek Dubey,  Head ER & HR, IDFC First Bank, Mr. Anand Amrit Raj,  AVP, HR, Okaya Power, Ms. Archna Bhardwaj, Head HR Inter Globe Air Transport (IGAT), Dr. Amit Pareenja ,  Group Associate Director-Global Learning & Development (Group Corporate HR) at Tata Communications & Hon. Chairman at The Institute of Mnagement Consultants of India (Delhi Chapter), Mr. Atul Tiwary ,  Head HR, Oyo. The Panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Rashmi Manshramani. The Moderator started with tough time with respect to infrastructure, technology, organization design, transformation, innovation, business model, destructions during the pandemic situation. Mr. Anand Amrit Raj shared the business experience of his organization during pandemic period on how he converted this time in to an opportunity base and achieved a lot of profit due to his change of mind set and his own strategy during this period. He stressed on the backbones of the organization like R&D, organization design, structure etc.  Ms. Archana Bhardwaj highlighted three terms and these are rethink, reshape, and re-evaluate. She advocated technology friendly and technology connect that enabled connections with persons not just in India but hypo connected with world today. Dr. Amit Pareenja explained that the adaptation may be of two types one is market level and another is individual level. He stressed on increased agility while working from home which is also interlinked with comfort zone but not mind shift and that change of mind is mandatory for better results in productivity. Mr. Atul Tiwari introduced his delivery with ambiguity and reactive thinking process.  He stressed on mind, body and soul and these also work in the organization in a better sense strategically. Mr. Prateek Dubey during the third round of discussion focused on first HR policy and later on technology and transformation.

The session was highly thought provoking and ended with a concluding remark by the moderator. At the end of session, Dr. (Prof.) Vidya Sekhri, Director-Management expressed gratitude by presenting digital plaque to all the esteemed speakers as a token of gratitude. Overall the conclave was full of Knowledge, innovative and thought provoking ideas shared by all speakers. During the sessions, many query and doubts were raised by the students which were handled and satisfied very effectively by the all distinguished speakers.