How Oracle Plans to Kill Attrition in Indian IT
Oracle has cracked the code on how to get the best out of generative AI with its billion-dollar baby Cohere by its side. One of the key areas where Oracle is experimenting with generative AI is human resources. To streamline the HR department’s workflow, Oracle, earlier this year, introduced generative AI-powered features in Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM). With HCM, HRs would be able to make decisions based on employee data. “Data in a system can now be utilised not only by managers and the organisation but also by the workers, making them feel valued,” said Chris Havrilla, vice president of product strategy Oracle, in an interaction with AIM at the Oracle CloudWorld 2023, Las Vegas. With Oracle HCM, every employee will have access to upcoming opportunities within the company, leaving nothing hidden. For example, they will know which skills they must acquire to master any role. These recommendations will be based on employee data. Havrilla believes that “democratising” data combined with capabilities of HCM would allow managers to uplift workers. Havrilla said that in any organisation, there are various types of personalities. Some individuals might be outspoken, while others may be quiet, but hardworking. Through the HCM tool, Oracle’s aim is to bring all employees on the same platform so that all of them feel valued within the company. Furthermore, Havrilla shed light on the problem of talent retention within the company. She believes it is not often because of money that employees change their jobs frequently. “What we’re seeing from the data is that things that drive employees are feeling valued by their peers/organisation and the notion of belonging and growth,” she added. Oracle to solve the attrition problem In the recent past, Indian IT companies – the likes of Wipro, TCS, Infosys and Tech Mahindra – which also happen to be the customers of Oracle Fusion Cloud, have been dealing with high attrition rates, which now seems to be flattening to an extent. Now, the average attrition rate for Indian IT companies stands at 20%. This means that one out of every five employees leaves their job every year. A factor that contributes to the high attrition rate in Indian IT companies is the lack of opportunities for growth and development, alongside stagnant work culture. Havrilla pointed out that this happens because organisations struggle to understand their employees’ skills, predict future needs, and fill skill gaps. Similarly, employees find it hard to adapt to changing business needs because they often aren’t aware of growth opportunities due to lack of transparency. “Everybody wants employees to be equipped with all the skills. We have to become more of a development marketplace,” she said, adding that (employers’) focus should be on bettering employees, rather than succumbing to hiring and layoffs. To tackle this issue, earlier this year Oracle introduced ‘personalised coach’, Grow. It helps employees to identify and achieve their career goals, stay up-to-date on the latest skills and technologies, and network with other professionals in their field. In other words, increases retention for companies. Citing Gen Z, who frequently switch jobs in search of better opportunities, Havrilla said that Oracle Grow will help enterprises retain Gen Z employees in the future as they will be able to figure out what suits them best. “Grow is that personalised coach that is going through all the data, examining every single micro-action that happens in the organisation, updating in real-time, and understanding what impact that could have. It surfaces opportunities, connections, gigs, projects, learning, and all the different things,” explained Havrilla, pointing at the Great Resignation. Havrilla said that during the pandemic, individuals were figuring out what suited them best as organisations weren’t able to do it for them. She noted that even today, resignations continue to happen. By providing employees with access to a wide range of learning resources and opportunities to connect with others, Oracle Grow can help employees develop their skills and knowledge and advance their careers. Plus, it can help organisations build a skilled and motivated workforce. Towards Advisory Role For quite some time now, the HR role has been mostly around managing the human resource and running around for employees’ feedback, but now, it’s transitioning towards mentorship and advisory roles, thanks to generative AI. Havrilla believes that Oracle’s new offerings will enable HRs to become advisors who would further be able to assist the organisations in assessing the employee’s potential based on their performance data. “We really need HRs to be the customer advocate for those employees, like red light, advocacy, advisory – all of these things,” said Havrilla. She further added that the process of performance and talent review would be automated with the help of HCM. “We can take off that burden of going out and collecting all this data for managers to create and do performance and talent reviews and let the system do that,” she added. Their new role involves assisting employees in realising their full potential. With access to their data, HRs can now suggest specific growth opportunities for employees to pursue. “If you’re going to be an expert on anything, be an expert on human behaviour. Be an expert in helping your leaders build great teams,” she concluded.
With Oracle Grow, employees can stay up-to-date on the latest skills and technologies
One of the key areas where Oracle is experimenting with generative AI is human resources
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Siddharth is a media graduate who loves to explore tech through journalism and putting forward ideas worth pondering about in the era of artificial intelligence.