The news that has created the biggest cheer around offices in India is Unilever’s former CHRO Leena Nair taking over as global CEO of Chanel — it’s both a testimony to woman power, as well as a pointer to the growing importance of the people function in a world ravaged by the pandemic, and crying out for empathetic handling of employees.

Built by Women

Another piece of cheer-worthy news from the house of Tatas is the announcement of a new Ginger hotel in Mumbai that is being constructed by an all women engineer team. Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), has collaborated with Tata Projects for the construction of the marquee project.

The 371-room hotel, with a built-up area of over 19,000 sq. m will be constructed over a course of 19 months.

Optimistic hiring outlook

There’s some positive tidings on the jobs front as we head into 2022, according to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey of 3,020 employers. 64 per cent expect to increase their staffing levels during the coming quarter, 15 per cent anticipate a decrease and 20 per cent do not anticipate any change; resulting in a seasonally adjusted Net Employment Outlook of a +49 per cent, which is a record high in eight years. When compared to the same period last year, hiring sentiments have improved by a whopping +43 per cent points while there is a 5 percentage points growth when compared to the last quarter.

Companies in the IT, technology, telecom, communications and media sector report hiring outlook of +60 per cent followed by 56 per cent in the restaurants and hotels sector.

Adopting artificial intelligence

It’s the age of Artificial Intelligence and companies quick to adopt it will be the winners. However, there are still many companies waiting for the future. To help companies in India embrace AI speedily, Deloitte has launched an AI Institute. “AI is here and for India, it is an opportunity to leapfrog in a world where we connect the power of human intelligence with machine intelligence. At the moment, start-ups, research and academic institutions, and businesses themselves are heavily invested in discovering multiple new AI-based innovative solutions. “Deloitte AI Institute India will integrate these efforts to help organisations transform quickly with AI,” said Romal Shetty, President, Consulting, at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.

The first Deloitte AI Institute was launched in the US in June 2020. Since then, it has been launched in other countries, such as Canada, the UK, Germany, China, and Australia.