Penguin launches a book looking at the future of work and bridging the Bharat-India divide

Flexibility is the new currency in the world of work. Greater flexibility with timings, work locations, and work contracts expands access to formal jobs for large sections of India’s unutilized rural talent – By taking jobs to people instead of forcing their migration to big cities, progressive and flexible firms can help unleash India’s vast human capital, as well as decongest big cities while developing small towns.

Human capital inclusion is critical to India’s growth. Policymakers, employers, and industry bodies must create a new ecosystem to foster tech-enabled work models to make employment more inclusive. We must be pro-active in shaping the future of work to meet India’s unique needs. We should leverage future work models like remote and gig work. However, we must be prudent in adopting AI and automation that could eliminate many jobs, in the short term.

Shaping the Future of Work by Chandrasekhar Sripada explains why and how firms and governments must rethink the conventional work, organizational, and leadership practices, provides fresh insights to engage the next-gen workforce, and recommends practical strategies to make India’s world of work inclusive and future-ready. This book is about why and how greater flexibility in work arrangements can expand job access for India’s rural talent, decongest cities, and develop small towns, necessitating a new ecosystem for inclusive, tech-enabled work models, while carefully adopting AI and automation to avoid job losses.

Sripada Chandrasekhar (Chandra) combines vast practitioner experience with deep academic interests in teaching, research and scholarship. Chandra’s current research interests are focused on leadership, talent, culture and the future of work in digital economies. He teaches a range of courses covering topics such as power, influence, change, networks, personal and organizational leadership, strategic human resource management, and future of work and careers. Chandra was a C-Suite executive with a large public, private and MNC firms and held the role of the chief human resources officer (CHRO) for more than twenty-five years. He has wide cross-border experience of leading people and building human capital strategies across continents, nationalities and cultures. Apart from teaching postgraduate and modular programmes, Chandra teaches extensively in Indian School of Business’s executive education programmes. He is also a certified executive coach and sits on the boards of both for-profit companies and NGOs.

Title: ‘Shaping The Future Of Work’

Author: Chandrasekhar Sripada

Available: Amazon