Employee engagement is only 43%, says Dr. Muthukumar

Mysuru: “Recent research shows that only 43 percent office workers are actively engaged in India,” said Dr. N. Muthukumar, President and Whole Time Director, Automotive Axles Ltd.

He was delivering his address as the guest of honour during the inauguration of the 8th International Conference on ‘Managing Human Resources at the Workplace’ organised by Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD) Mysuru, on   Dec. 6 and 7. 

He said that customer delight, product innovation and employee empowerment were the most crucial areas of concern for the companies at present time, and  that organisations need to move from culture of control towards employee empowerment. 

Speaking on the current scenario of people management, he indicated several factors, such as employee engagement, clarity on job expectations, career advancement opportunities, quality of working relationships, as of immense significance for managing employees.  

Earlier, while welcoming the gathering, Dr. N.R. Parasuraman, Director, SDM-IMD, emphasised on the role of HRM, as the strategic business partner and stressed on the need for an organisation-specific HRM policy framework, at place. 

Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, Conference Chair, presented the theme of the conference and highlighted the need for managing human relations and intelligence, in the context of emergence of Industry 4.0. 

Dr. Susanne Wilpers, Director International Programmes, Faculty of Business and Transport Management, Heilbronn University, Germany, in her virtual keynote address, indicated that using mobile technology, social network and predictive analytics have been the recent trends in HRM practices in Germany. 

Dr. Nilanjan Sengupta, Conference Co-Chair, proposed a vote of thanks and summed up the necessity of contemporary research in the areas of HRM. 

The two-day  conference had participation of about 200 delegates from across the country. Over 120 selected highly researched papers were presented.