TALENT

TRENDS 2022
THE RISE OF
STARTUPS, UNICORNS AND SMES

A Study By
People Matters and Keka
Plot No 283/A, Incor 9, 503-505, 5th Floor,
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www.keka.com www.peoplematters.in

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believed to be reliable. People Matters and Keka disclaim all warranties as to the
accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of such information. People Matters and
Keka will bear no liability for errors, omissions, or inadequacies in the information
contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The material in this publication is
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to reproduce any part of the report may be sent to People Matters Media Pvt. Ltd.
Contents

Foreword 04 Reimagining HR for

fast-growing organisations

Introduction 06 The future of work is bullish.

Is HR ready for it?

Talent Challenges 2022 07 Skills shortages hinder business

growth

Improve or Perish 11 The state of HR in fast-growing

organisations

Building Capabilities 13 Preparing for the Next

Expert Views 17 Fast-growing organisations tell

their tales

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 03

Foreword
Reimagining HR
for fast-growing
organisations

India is emerging as a
key market where young
companies, small and medium
enterprises, startups and unicorns
are facing massive growth.

After experiencing a slowdown

during the pandemic, these
organisations are not only bouncing
back but looking to thrive in the
post-pandemic milieu.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 04

To benchmark the current state of work in Despite rising talent challenges hindering the
SMEs and chart a roadmap towards the business performance of SMEs and startups,
future, People Matters and Keka present to 18.36% of companies with 0-50 employees
you the much-needed research on the state don’t have an HR. Additionally, 73.0%
of small and emerging businesses and respondents said that MDs, CEOs, and
highlight the talent trends among startups, Business Leaders have maximum influence
unicorns and SMEs. The research focused on on talent decisions.
big business disruption, challenges and their
implications on talent management, delving In 2022 and beyond, HR leaders and
into HR practices and technology in these professionals in startups, SMEs, and unicorns
fast-growing organisations. have to take on a greater role, gain more
influential power, and drive their respective
The research reached 300 business leaders, organisations towards more business
HR professionals and founders across India growth.
with 60% participation from startups, SMEs,
PSUs and Unicorns. With Building an attractive EVP (29.7%) and
Employer Brand and Adopting Digital
Talent Acquisition and Retention (31.4%), Delivery Models (23.0%) as top priorities,
Digital Adoption (15.1%), and Government fast-growing organisations need to invest in
Regulations (12.3%) emerged as key building stronger and more skilled HR teams
challenges that fast-growing organisations who can lead the people-centric business
continue to face. from the front.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 05

The future of work
is bullish.
Is HR ready for it?
The pandemic accelerated the digitisation and
innovation journey for small and medium businesses.
Simultaneously, the shifting priorities of consumers
bolstered the growth of startups and unicorns.

The positive funding and investment landscape has

driven the growth of emerging businesses and in 2022
these companies are rapidly moving towards a path of
recovery.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that more than 45% of

business leaders and HR professionals who participated
in the survey, are positive about their business growth.
However, as they accelerate towards their big ambitious
goals they face several challenges along the way.

Skills shortages (36.5%) and Macroeconomic Volatility

(33.7%) were identified as major threats to the business
growth.

Furthermore, only 15.1% respondents feel that their HR

teams are ready to take on these emerging challenges
defining the now and future of work.

To build a future-ready HR team 32.5% respondents said

they are prioritising Business Acumen & Partnering
With The Business as a key skill, while 20.2% are first
focusing on building Digital Readiness.

As the great resignation and the shifting priorities of

talent nudges the startups, SMEs and unicorns to focus
on wellness, flexi work models, and diversity and
inclusion, new ways of recruitment, among other things,
18.5% respondents said that they are prioritising building
Specific Functional Expertise (e.g., recruitment,
compensation, diversity and inclusion, wellness).

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 06

Talent
Challenges 2022:
Skills shortages hinder
business growth
The skills crisis has been there for a long time and it prevails as one of the most burning
challenges for business and talent leaders. But in the pandemic-struck world of work where
employees take on the driving seat and digital innovations challenge the existing work and
business models, new roadblocks also emerge.

The overall sentiment of leaders of fast-growing companies remains positive when it comes to
business growth. They seek to sail through the macroeconomic volatilities with a focus on
rethinking employee value propositions and creating stronger employer brands.

The research also reiterates the need for emerging and young companies to invest in digital
transformation.

Adopting digital delivery models emerged as top priority for 23.03% respondents. Among other
things, building a digitally fluent leadership takes a backseat.

Business Confidence Index

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Not At All Very
Confident Confident

45.5%

32.5%

17.9%

2.2%
1.6%

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 07

Major Threats To Business Growth

COVID-19 & Its Implications

On Health
20.2% Macroeconomic
Volatility
Climate Change
33.7%
1.1%

Cybersecurity
8.4%

Skills
Shortages
36.5%

Top Challenges Fast-Growing Organisations Continue To Face

Lack of productivity
2.8%
Connecting with people Government
7.3% Regulations
12.36%
Leadership challenges
6.7% Digital adoption
Skills Shortages 15.1%
5.6%
Ensuring business Talent Acquisition
continuity & Talent Retention
8.9% 31.4%
Lack of funds
9.5%

Top Priorities 2022: Fast-Growing Organisations Prioritise

Building An Attractive EVP And Employer Brand

Upskilling & reskilling

9.5%
A digitally fluent leadership
Adopting digital
4.4% delivery models
23.0%
Streamlining talent
management processes
19.1%
Building an attractive EVP
and Employer Brand
Team Building initiatives to
29.7%
sustain workplace culture
14.0%

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 08

Leaders' Pulse:
A Complete Overview Of Responses

Top priorities for 2022 1 2 3 4 5 6

Adopting digital 23.0% 20.2%

14.6% 19.6%
delivery models 12.9%
9.5%

29.7%
Building an attractive 21.9%
20.2%
EVP and Employer 9.5% 10.1%
8.4%
Brand

Team Building 25.2% 21.9%

initiatives to sustain 14.0% 16.2% 15.7%
workplace culture 6.7%

Streamlining 28.6%
19.1% 20.2%
talent management 9.5% 12.3% 10.1%
processes

31.4%
A digitally fluent
leadership 17.4% 14.6%
4.4% 9.5% 8.9%

Upskilling 21.3%
& reskilling 19.1% 17.4%
12.9% 14.6% 14.6%

A Study By
People Matters and Keka

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 09

Leaders' Pulse: A Complete Overview Of Responses

Top Challenge 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Government 17.4%
12.3% 12.9% 12.9% 15.7%
Regulations 5.6% 6.7% 7.8% 8.4%

Digital
15.1% 14.6% 14.0% 11.2%
adoption 10.1% 7.8% 7.8% 10.1% 8.9%

31.4%
Talent Acquisition 18.5%
& Talent Retention 14.0% 9.5%
7.8% 8.4% 4.4% 3.3% 2.2%

Lack of funds 22.4%

12.3% 13.4%
9.5% 8.4% 8.9% 9.5% 10.1%
5.0%

Ensuring business
continuity 15.7% 12.9% 16.8%
8.9% 8.9% 8.4% 11.8% 8.9% 7.3%

Skills Shortages 20.2%

15.1% 11.2% 14.6%
10.1%
5.6% 4.4% 3.3% 2.2%

Leadership
challenges 13.4% 18.5%
7.8% 9.5% 7.8% 12.3%
6.7% 5.6% 5.0%

Connecting
11.2% 16.8% 11.2% 15.1% 15.1%
with people 7.3% 8.9% 9.5%
5.0%

Lack of productivity 11.2% 12.9% 14.6% 15.7%

11.2% 10.6% 9.5%
2.8% 6.7%

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 10

Improve or Perish:
The state of HR in
fast-growing organisations
Small business leaders and startup owners acknowledge the lack of readiness. The pandemic
nudged them into chaotic reinvention and since 2020 most businesses have been experimenting
with hybrid work models and digital ways of doing business.

To be able to thrive in 2022 and beyond and compete with the big players in the market the
leaders need to take a more thought-through approach and co-own digital transformation with
HR leaders, Tech Experts, and Key Stakeholders.

As employees take on the driving seat and companies strive to become an employer of choice,
even employees need to be included in these digital transformation journeys.

Progress can’t happen in silos. The forces of the organisation have to come together to tread
towards more growth, better productivity and exponential performance.

Majority of the leaders feel less

prepared for the ongoing business
and talent disruptions

30.9%
24.7%

18.5%
15.1%
10.6%

1: 2. 3. 4. 5.
Not At All Extremely
Prepared

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 11

Business Leaders and CEOs continue
to influence most talent decisions

Influence Index: Who Owns The Talent Agenda

MD/CEO Business Heads CHRO/HR Head Employees Team Leaders

60.1% 12.9% 12.9% 11.8% 2.2%

HR leaders co-own transformation

projects with other key stakeholders

Who owns HR transformation?

The project The project is There is a separate There is no The project is The project is
is jointly owned entirely owned dedicated team representation of jointly owned by jointly owned by
by the HR team by the HR team that leads the HR professionals the HR team and the HR team and
and the IT team execution of such in the team business heads other functional
projects and it heads
reports to the
MD/CEO

26.4%

16.2% 16.2% 15.1% 15.1%

10.6%

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 12

Building
Capabilities:
Preparing
for the Next
To take on a more influential role HR leaders of startups, SMEs
and unicorns have to invest in upskilling themselves. The ability
of HR leaders to partner with business and enable its growth will
determine the success of the companies in 2022 and beyond.

This ability has to be complimented with digital readiness and

change management skills that will allow HR leaders to better
support their people.

Despite the rising importance of HR in SMEs, startups, and

unicorns investing in building influential skills has taken a
backseat. For organisations who want to beat the great
resignation and build a stronger future-ready team, have
to give HR leaders more voice and power.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 13

The HR Capabilities Fast-Growing Organisations Are Addressing

Top Challenge 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

32.5%
Business acumen 16.8%
& partnering with 12.9% 10.1% 10.1%
7.3% 5.6% 4.4%
the business

Digital Readiness 20.2%

15.7% 12.3% 14.0% 12.9%
8.4% 11.2%
5.0%

Change Management 21.9% 18.5%

14.6% 11.2% 12.9%
8.4% 5.0% 7.3%

Planning & Project

management 15.7% 16.2% 14.6% 18.5% 14.0%
9.5% 6.1%
5.0%

Communication 22.4%
15.7% 19.1%
10.1% 13.4%
5.6% 7.8% 5.6%

24.1%
Data Analytics 13.4% 18.5%
11.2% 12.3%
6.7% 7.3% 6.1%

Influential Skills
13.4% 18.5%
7.8% 9.5% 7.8% 12.3%
6.7% 5.6%

Specific functional 31.4%

expertise
(e.g., recruitment, 18.5%
8.4% 8.4% 10.6% 10.1%
compensation , diversity 6.7% 5.6%
and inclusion, wellness)

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 14

Investing In Upskilling HR:
The State Of Current Development Programs

Parameters Not structured Planning We have not Yes we have

but consistent but not yet started a structured
investment or implemented program
effort

Training HR in digital, 21.9% 26.9% 25.8% 23.6%

new technologies and
ways of working

33.7%
Including specific 28.0% 25.8%
projects in goals of HR 11.2%
team members

Providing rotation 47.1%

programs to HR team 19.6% 17.4%
members to non-HR 12.9%
functions

Investing in exposing
HR team members to HR 23.0%
technology, digital & 12.9% 14.6%
other future-focused 9.5%
events

Investing in training
& development 23.0%
programs for HR team 12.9% 14.6%
9.5%
members

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 15

The HR Mix:
Building An A Team
For 2022 and Beyond
The role of HR in small and medium companies go beyond operations and administration. No
matter the size of the organisation. If you are a team with 50 employees aiming to double your
workforce, then your HR leaders need to assume a bigger role.

They have to enable your business to get the best of the people, skill them, drive cultural transfor-
mation, take care of employee experience across career lifecycle and also lead digitisation.

The research also highlights the change in job titles or responsibilities and the new additions in the
small yet impactful HR teams.

The good news is that 65.7% of the companies who participated in the survey have a HR Head or
HR Chief. Only 39.3% have an HR Business Partner.

HR Generalists (47.7%) and HR Operations Managers (44.9%) remain popular roles among startups
and SMEs.

Roles like L&D Leader (33.1%), Wellness Leader (14.0%), Compensation & Benefits Leader
(21.9%), Diversity Leader (8.9%) are also emerging as these act as key pillars of the renewed
employee value propositions for companies to attract and retain top talent.

49.4% of the companies who participated in the survey also have a dedicated Talent Acquisition
Leader, as majority of them prioritise talent acquisition and retention in 2022.

The HR Roles In Startups, SMEs and Unicorns

65.7%

47.7% 49.4%
44.9%

39.3%
33.1% 21.9%
14.0%
8.9%

HR Head/ HR Business HR Generalist HR Operation Talent L&D Wellness Compensatio Diversity

Chief of HR Partner Manager Acquisition Leader Leader n & Benefits Leader
Leader Leader

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 16

EXPERT
VIEWS

Fast-growing
organisations
tell their tales
We interacted with founders and
HR leaders of startups to identify
best practices and innovative ways
in which they are dealing with
ongoing business disruptions and
emerging business challenges.
Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 17
Applying design thinking to
find the best talent,
empowering employees
with the necessary
resources for success and
ensuring purposeful and
successful working
experience have helped
in achieving organisational
goals and targets.

Priyanka
Khandelwal
Gupta
Head of People,
Fittr EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 18

Factors driving the growth of Secondly, it is equally essential that every

startups, SMEs and unicorns employee should have the right knowledge
and information about the company so that

As per NASSCOM officials, India has the he/she is well acquainted with the work

third-largest ecosystem for start-ups. The environment including culture. This way, they

key reason for the rise of the SME and have a sense of being more involved with

start-up industry in India are the following the organisation which is beyond work and

reasons – feel more connected as well. Lastly, but most

importantly, it is crucial that employees are
A pool of talent that the country’s duly remunerated and are given benefits to
population have. Previously such talented continue to keep them motivated and stay
resources were attracted to large with us while evolving and growing with us.
companies but now it is noticed that
people are starting their venture with the Dealing with shifting business
skills and knowledge they possess. priorities and rethinking talent
strategies
The Government’s Boost is another
important reason for the rise of start-ups
As mentioned earlier, the business
in the country by allocating funds to
environment has been changing and has
promote start-up culture. Through
become more dynamic, filling in positions on
initiatives like Make in India & Startup India
time has clearly become a challenge. Hence,
among the rest, the government
we often look at a solution-oriented
encouraged capable people across India
approach and follow these guidelines
to be creators and makers of tomorrow.
actively:

India is making advancements in

Resource Management & Succession
investments and the technology sector
Planning: As a growing organisation, we
which is another reason for the
always want to ensure that critical positions
exponential rise. Investments made
are filled in time so that there is no gap in
towards science and technology are
achieving targets/ goals. This is done by
helping establish India as an emerging
effectively implementing succession
leader in technology which is also
planning processes in place and actively
attracting investors to promote start-ups
developing action plans for individuals to
and SMEs.
assume those positions.

Promoting organisation culture: We want

Key macro disruptions shaping
our people to have a sense of security and
business priorities
feel good about our organisation culture. For
the same, we leveraged various tools like
Today, our workplace environment has
Linkedin through various leadership articles,
become dynamic, and we are constantly
Fittr for life series and digital media to
evolving and improving our strategies to
promote and talk about our culture. At Fittr,
cater to our business priorities. Firstly, from a
we have promoted health as a KPI i.e., a
macro perspective, focussing on ensuring
fitness transformation challenge for
that positions are filled up and replacements
employees, basis which 54 employees have
are recruited on time is vital to serving the
progressed, and 3% additional appraisals
overall goal of the company.
have been given thus far to these employees

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 19

for working on their fitness and health. This With appraisals around the corner, we had
serves as a great motivational and announced a health KPI where employees
engagement tool, beyond work and keeps achieving their fitness goals will be given a
them healthy. 3% appraisal over and beyond what they
were supposed to get based on their yearly
Work towards a common goal: We believe performance. This small incentive resulted in
that having a holistic approach towards any almost 54 employees participating in the
task can help achieve the goal successfully. transformation challenge and coming out
We ensure that our employees not only have with brilliant transformations. That’s almost
a good understanding of our goals, but we 33% of our employee workforce! We have
also guide them to work towards attaining assessed the results and rewarded our
them. Be it working across departments or employees with an additional 3% appraisal.
collaborating on projects, we ensure that Not everyone was comfortable posting
everyone works as a team to achieve that videos regularly and hence we collated
goal which is - making people fit. This is the feedback from their coaches as well which
driving force that has helped Fittr to achieve helped us assess fairly.
great success over the past few years.
The changing role of HR: The
Talent Retention and benefits: Talent innovative and human-centric
Retention becomes imperative in this
approach of design thinking is
disruptive environment. As a retention
set to disrupt the HR services
strategy, we issue ESOPs to high-potential
employees and also run various reward
sector
programs for. Additionally, we make sure our
Traditionally the HR department was
candidates are aware of the benefits that we
responsible for recruiting, training, and
have to offer well in advance and not just the
managing the resources on a day-to-day
initial conversation during the HR round.
basis. However, over time, the entire concept
and outlook have changed. HR teams have
One big HR transformation:
evolved beyond just recruitment and now
What worked? empower their employees, implementing
innovative practices, to keep them
At Fittr, we have always empowered people
motivated always and offering necessary
with the right tools and knowledge to
resources to polish their skills. In doing so,
transform physically, mentally and
their approach has changed which will help
emotionally.
achieve individual and organisation goals
and result in holistic growth.
Till December 2021, we had always provided
a nutrition coach to employees and used to
It is necessary to innovate with time to
run weekly online workout sessions for all.
achieve greater success in HR practices. The
Despite all the efforts, we did not see the
innovative and human-centric approach of
desired results. A moment of empathy with
design thinking is set to disrupt the HR
the employees made us realise that as
services sector, and it is the way forward. The
human beings, we always need the
HR team at Fittr follows the 5 aspects of the
motivation to start our fitness journey. Even
design thinking framework Empathy,
with all the tools at their disposal, not
Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test to find
everyone was consistent and achieving
the best solutions for employees. We use it
results.
to tackle any aspect of people management
right

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 20

 right from hiring, onboarding, employee
experiences, learning and development,
engagement, performance management,
reward and recognition.

Through such practices, we have seen

notable changes in employees’ happiness
index, mental well-being, safe workplace
culture and organisational growth.

HR professionals of
fast-growing organisations:
What makes them more
effective?

Having clear goals which are cascaded

down to every employee. While leaders can
set the goals, helping them in
communicating, and drilling them down to
the last member becomes imperative.
Making people see the bigger picture
motivates them and especially in startups
that sense of contribution to the mission is
easier.

HR teams help build a strong connection

with employees giving them a purpose for
their work

At the end of the day, every business runs

with people and mostly for people - so
people management becomes key to
success. Do not forget the "Human" part of
the human resource industry. Many times,
the emotions get lost in the spreadsheets of
employee data. We start looking at each
employee by their employee code and
forget the human part of it. Empathy is the
most important principle of any HR
professional.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 21

In startups, every manager is
potentially an HR leader, who takes
on the responsibility of promoting
and holding onto the
organisation’s ethos and core
values. They are the nerve centre
of the organisation and hence, it
becomes vital to empower them
as they put forth the right standard
operative processes, follow people
first agenda, while aligning
employees to the purpose.

Ujjwal
Singh
CEO and president,
Infinity Learn EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 22

Factors determining the growth It’s all in the outlook
of startups and SMEs
With the war for talent raging on, startups
In India, startups were few and far between are looking at the best possible way to hire
till the last decade or so but by 2021, we have young talent and how to retain them for a
registered over 60,000 startups and 81 longer tenure. Singh believes that there are
unicorns. The change in government times when you hire talent and other times,
policies, fostering entrepreneurship, next you foster and build it. Then, there are those
generation learners and financial stability rare occasions when you venture out of your
in Indian families have all been contributing boundaries to look for talent that is not
factors. But the biggest factor has been the visible. For instance, we have interns, aged
shift in parents’ outlook, who would earlier 14-15, who are working in the data science
push their kids towards a stable job, are now stream because they have a great skill set.
supporting their child’s risk-taking dreams. At Infinity Learn, we choose not to look at
This is also seen among students in colleges, talent from a single perspective, i.e. hiring
who are now huge risk-takers as compared readymade talent. I believe one has to build
to those who graduated maybe in the 70s or talent and startups are all about will over
the 80s. That, I believe, is one of the reasons skill. We, as an industry, are always ready to
why our country has flourished and why help professionals, who are eager to learn
entrepreneurs and startups have grown and execute. And that is why I am an ardent
exponentially in India. believer in the fact that raw talent is easy to
mould and there is never right or wrong
One solution won’t sustain talent; it all depends on your outlook,
situation at hand and how an individual
With the imposition of lockdowns due to the performs once they join the workforce.
pandemic and schools being shut, the
edtech startups witnessed some of their Is hybrid the way forward for
best times during 2020 and 2021. Many edtechs?
edtechs were pushed to the hilt to make
online classes progress faster but they I think there were a lot of opportunities that
overcame these challenges due to massive came to the fore during the pandemic for
funding, high rates of enrollment and edtechs. From a talent point of view, we were
positive word of mouth. Now, with offline eager to find out what inspires talent. And
learning back in the game, edtechs who hence, we did the Great Place To Work
were involved in engagement-based Survey and found that purpose was
learning are struggling. Since February, there something that all of our employees were
have been several reports where key players aligned to. That meant that it didn’t matter
in the Indian edtech space had to layoff their whether our employees were working from
employees to stay afloat. Singh believes home or office, till they were aligned to the
leaders in this industry have to realise that purpose, the road ahead was far easier.
only online won’t sustain and the same goes
for only offline classes as well. The adoption During the pandemic, as an organisation, we
of the hybrid model has been the biggest faced huge challenges as startups are not
disruption today in terms of how one can geared for remote working. We had to
provide the best education online to support resolve issues when it came to laptops for all
the learner offline. our employees, install internet connection in

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 23

their homes, accommodate each and Empowering HR to maximise
everyone’s schedule for a meeting, etc. We potential
had to constantly learn new skills and now,
with most of our workforce working from In startups, every manager is potentially an
home, we only come to the office if we need HR leader, who takes on the responsibility of
to brainstorm ideas or bring synergies promoting and holding onto the
together. In the current environment, I organisation’s ethos and values. The HR,
believe a hybrid work model is the way which is the nerve centre of the organisation,
forward. is responsible for attracting candidates,
getting young talent, keeping them
But with so much changing so rapidly, I am engaged, excited about the work they do
still confounded by this one question where and training them, which is not an easy task.
people ask me, ‘You’re an edtech and you So, we make sure our HR team is highly
are online so why don’t you teach online 100 empowered to put forth the right standard
percent?’ And I want to say, ‘Though food is operative processes, follow people first
being delivered to you online, does that agenda, and align everybody to the purpose.
mean that the farmer should be working As we understand, employees in the HR team
online as well?’ In every industry, the are far more clued in about what is
producer has to behave vastly different from happening in the organisation, so they can
the consumer. In edtechs, the learner is the help immensely in communicating valuable
consumer and we are the producers and to insights to the larger staff.
build the product, we have to work together.

Instant feedback - a game

OKRs: The biggest HR changer in HR
transformation for companies
with 500 employees Earlier, people would make policies and then
adhere to it in six months or even a year. But
Employees are the key element to the that is changing fast. Now if you have built a
success of any HR transformation as without policy, you roll it out, see if there is enough
their support, all efforts made by the acceptance, gain instant feedback and if it
organisations are set to be doomed. Our isn’t working, then you chuck it. Today,
company is still a young company so we everything is under scrutiny especially when
started using objectives and key results it comes to employees, employee benefits
(OKRs) for all our employees and staff. and perspectives. And that is what is keeping
Though we realised it wasn’t easy, we the HR leaders on their toes. If they launch a
witnessed employees were able to stay true policy and it isn’t welcomed by the
to their objectives while delivering key employees, they have to immediately make
results. For a 400-employee company, that the necessary changes.
was the biggest HR transformation. While the
implementation is still an ongoing process,
the only challenge is, sometimes, OKRs aren’t
cascaded down from the top to reach the
bottom of the hierarchy. If we are able to get
past this hurdle, it will be a good thing for the
company at the stage we are in.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 24

Gone are the days of picnics,
frenetic parties and a well-stocked
pantry passing off as employee
engagement. Going ahead,
employee engagement will mean
what HR can do to ensure the
employee is adding value to the
organisation and, in turn, how the
organisation is catering to the life
goals of the employee.

We interacted with founders and HR

leaders of some startups to identify
Dr Anil some next practices and innovative
ways in which they are dealing with
Pillai ongoing business disruptions and
emerging business challenges.
Director,
Terragni Consulting EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 25

Societal shifts catalysed the the right schools, lived in the right cities,

growth of SMEs and startups and knew the right people but that isn’t the
case anymore. The sheer entrepreneurial

I believe a lot has already been written and energy from the Indian hinterland is the new

said on the phenomenal rise of startups and engine for growth.

SMEs as we are all aware of terms such as

the demographic dividend, access to Belief to scale: Indian startups, SMEs and

capital, the GoI's focus etc. I am going to try businesses now believe that they can be

and share my perspective from a different world-beaters and this is evident from the

angle. I think that there are some interesting global level of design, packaging, etc., that

behavioural and societal shifts that have we are witnessing today. But before all that,

contributed to and catalysed this growth: the battle has been won in our minds. It's no
longer, ‘Design and build for a small slice of

Learning from success: India’s startup the market.’ Now it is, ‘Can I debut on the

ecosystem has led with many examples of world stage.’

enormous valuations and funding. This has

served as a lightning rod for budding Relationship between global
entrepreneurs, who can now look towards supply chain disruptions and
these success stories as aspirational. As we inflationary pressures
move ever so slowly from a socialist, ‘wealth
is a necessary evil’ to a more The global pandemic has had a long-lasting
innovation-driven society, this trend will and far-reaching impact on the business
solidify. world. The key macro disruption shaping our
business priorities right now includes global
Acceptance of failure: The biggest cultural supply chain disruptions leading to
impediment to starting an enterprise is the inflationary pressures, which can be divided
fear of failure and its associated stigma. into three buckets:
Thankfully, that is no longer the case. It is
now ok to fail and try again. For the Indian
The growth of global barriers and
middle-class, young entrepreneurs, that has
inward-looking economies
come as a huge relief.

‘Developed economy-level’ salary

Brimming with opportunities: As Indian
expectations with a ‘Sub-Saharan level’
consumer’s aspirations grew, we came
productivity output amongst the
across many challenges (pains) that
workforce.
needed to be solved. We require things
faster, of better quality, in abundance, which
Uncertainty hampering mid-range
are cost-effective and so on. This translates
planning
to huge opportunities for
ideas/products/services and thus, the
opportunity basket has grown significantly.

Guanxi is not a prerequisite: I have

borrowed a Chinese term, popular among
businessmen seeking to set up shop in
China. The word ‘guanxi’ means being
connected. In India, there was a time, you
could only grow and thrive if you went to

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 26

Nurturing in-house talent - Redefining employee
the need of the hour engagement

I believe that the sentence, ‘there is a The biggest shift in HR has been business
shortage of talent’, is a cliche now. Therefore, orientation. While the line manager is the first
it is critical for all organisations to focus on port of call for an employee, HR has now
securing the talent that is already in-house shifted to strategic, business-centric
and nurture and build them. The rising orientation. Gone are the days of picnics,
uncertainty and inflation mean that the frenetic parties and a well-stocked pantry
concept of support teams versus passing off as employee engagement. Going
revenue/customer teams is blurring as ahead, employee engagement, for the
everyone today is a customer/revenue tenure of an employee, means what can HR
resource. To tackle the issue, organisations do to ensure the employee is adding value
need to equip themselves with a shift in to the organisation and, in turn, how is the
mindset, redefinition of KPIs and change in organisation catering to the life goals of the
management. employee.

Free-flowing structures Hats a leader needs to juggle

shaping talent strategies before heading HR

I think the freedom to innovate, think and Any professional who intends to head HR
ideate coupled with opportunities to learn must have been a P&L leader at least once in
from the best in the world are some of the their career. Ideally, they should also have
critical changes in our talent management customer facing experience. Without these
policies. experiences, the HR professional will be
approaching their role from a rarified context
Mental, emotional and spiritual which will be at odds with organisations of
wellbeing at the heart of HR the future.

policies

The introduction of a certified counsellor

in-house to guide employees and help them
tackle issues that they may want support
with has been very helpful. As the world goes
through uncertainty, the toll it’s taking on
mental wellbeing is quite significant.
Coupled with that, most young professionals
have poor access to beyond-work mentors,
which results in either an echo chamber or
imagined stress.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 27

Fast-growing organisations
need to be able to handle
the pace without
compromising on key
principles. While financial
cycles today are getting
shorter, leaders need to be
mindful of not making
radical changes with a
myopic view.

Gaurav
Dubey
CEO,
LivLong EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 28

Digitalisation, e-commerce Macro disruptions shaping the
and funding paved the way for healthcare industry
the rise of SMEs and startups
The pandemic has changed the landscape
In the last five years, the ease of doing of the Indian healthcare industry and factors
business has greatly improved due to such as accessibility and affordability are
systemic reforms taken by the government driving consumer purchase decisions. A
such as RERA, GST, PMAY, infrastructure digital first approach towards healthcare is
development projects, PLI scheme, etc. which the need of the hour and we, at LivLong, are
have propelled India to become an currently prioritising customised products
attractive investment hub for foreign and digital support services to help address
investors. The foreign flow of funds with the unmet needs of customers.
long-term bet on the Indian market has
helped mushroom a lot of startups. This The recent macro headwinds, in general, are
flourishing period also coincided with not good for the economy. With the rise in
significant disruptions such as inflation, we are witnessing higher input cost
demonetisation and the pandemic which and increase in cost capital which is adding
paved the way for digitalisation. burden to our finances. To mitigate the
problem, we have adopted multi-pronged
The adoption of technology by startups has model:
disrupted the conventional way of doing
business. All facets of business starting with Eliminating wastage by reducing
product innovation, customer experience, unnecessary expense
accounts management, talent acquisition,
operations, brand management, etc., have Calibrated hiring of manpower resources
become highly specialised and this is the
treasure that most of the startups have Engagement activity for retention of
tapped into and hence, are able to offer cost employees
effective solutions to customers.

Digitisation of processes to reduce

The rise of e-commerce platforms, operating expense
innovation in supply chain management,
access to finance at affordable rates, Deferring capital expenditure plans
tech-enabled compliance solutions and
leveraging of data analytics and artificial
intelligence have also significantly reduced
friction for startups and enabled them to
focus on simplifying customer experience.

The funding support provided by the

government, institutions and private players
have allowed entrepreneurs to experiment
and innovate which was never seen before.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 29

Quarterly performance Radical changes with a myopic
evaluation to measure goals view detrimental to growth

With the business environment becoming HR needs to be viewed as a trusted partner

increasingly agile and fast moving, we have by the management as well as the
tweaked the performance management employees and in order to earn that
system and set ’short-term’ objectives for credibility as a function, one has to follow a
every three months. If you think about it, few key principles that are in-line with the
feedback, if left to an end-of-the-year company’s mission. Transparency and
review can result in objectives and integrity are non-negotiable in every sphere
development plans being partially achieved. and will continue to be in every
Quality performance management should, organisational phase. Passion and inner
therefore, bring together a number of drive to deliver the best is something that we
integrated activities to form an ongoing look for in candidates before hiring as well as
‘performance management cycle.’ rewarding the ones who continue to
demonstrate that zeal. While it is important
With this goal in mind, quarterly to be flexible to meet the expectations of
performance evaluation was introduced and today’s workforce, sustainability and work
we are opening up a platform to record an ethics should never be compromised.
open dialogue between the manager and
employee that would capture monthly We need to be able to handle the pace of
tasks, feedback and short-term goals to the growing organisation without having to
ensure instant gratification for smaller task compromise on key principles. While
accomplishments as well as timely course financial cycles today might be getting
correction with real-time feedback. shorter, one needs to be mindful of not
making radical changes with a myopic view.
HR leader: The master of all

HR is not just an operational executor but a

true business partner who is expected to
understand business needs, change gears
as and when needed as well as be flexible
and bring in new ideas to the table, while
attracting and retaining talent.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 30

Sulbha
Rai
Chief People Officer,
RenewBuy EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 31

The rise of startups: Driven by a increased in the insurance segment, sales

dramatic shift in the mindset of and customer-facing.

aspirational individuals
Talking about RenewBuy, there are several
factors that have contributed to shaping-up
India is now the third-largest start-up
our business priorities. Our first step was
ecosystem in the world. As per the
identifying the insurance gap in the country
information provided by the Government,
and using technology to bridge that gap.
startups have created an estimated 40,000
new jobs over the year, taking the total jobs
We realised that there are potentially 700
close to 1.6-1.7 lakh. Most of the unicorns
million consumers, residing in Tier 2 and 3
belong to the service sector, contributing to
cities, who need insurance and are also
over 50% to India’s GDP. Additionally, the
capable of buying it, however, do not have
number of women entrepreneurs have also
access to insurance. Since the inception of
increased over the last few years.
RenewBuy, we have tried to solve this gap.
We have harnessed technology to its
Owing to the vast potential of startups,
optimum, to take insurance to the smallest
enterprises have partnered/invested in the
towns and cities, and today we are present
startups to accelerate their growth.
across 750 plus cities, towns and districts.
According to the Indian Tech Unicorn report
Technology has been the biggest disruptor
2021, the startup ecosystem witnessed
of the business model of RenewBuy, which
tremendous investments as the private
we are scaling up at an accelerated pace.
investors committed over $30 billion in 2021
We have also recently acquired
to Indian startups as compared to $11.5
Bengaluru-based start-up, Artivatic.AI, which
billion in 2020. On the other sphere, The
will help us extend our tech solutions across
Government has introduced various
the value chain – from sales, to underwriting
schemes and undertaken several initiatives
and claim settlements.
within Startup India, it is providing assistance
to existing SMEs to raise growth capital.
The demand for digital skills:
Besides the aforementioned factors, there Upskilling talent to steer
has also been a dramatic shift in the business growth
mindset of aspirational individuals as they
are moving from an employee to becoming In the age of technological advancements,
a thriving business owners. digitalisation and changing business
priorities, the significance of upskilling and

The booming insurance sector reskilling employees has increased. In order

to keep upgrading the employees with the
& its integration with tech
ongoing market trends, it is highly imperative
for the leaders, to keep scaling up the
Owing to the global health crisis due to the
capabilities of their employees.
COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an
increased awareness of the need for health
Industry-wise, there is an immense need for
and life insurance policies. People are now
the acquisition of fresh and aspirational
willing to invest in insurance policies,
talent as the business dynamics have
realising their abilities to give financial
changed. Every industry has integrated
protection. With high demand in the health
technology for optimum performance, and
and life insurance segments, talent
there is a huge demand for tech
acquisition requirements have also
professionals. Other than this, companies

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 32

and employees are both working towards We had also initiated multiple industry
constant up-gradation in skills and hence, a programs for industry freshers, joining our
lot of skill-based courses and programs organisation. We are still initiating newer and
have been introduced by companies. innovative should be key programs to help
Individuals today are also working towards professionals in their industry growth journey.
upgrading themselves constantly, and thus The newest program is ‘RB Academy’, where
enrolling themselves into multiple programs, teams from Sales, Training and HR, will come
so that they keep up with the fast-changing together and break the ‘So called’ functional
requirements in job profiles. barriers, to put together a fresh approach to
hiring new colleagues into RenewBuy.
At RenewBuy, there is a talent acquisition
spree across verticals; we have hired a huge As the company intends to take care of its
number of employees in the technology, employees’ health and well-being, especially
marketing and human resource in case of an emergency, multiple initiatives
departments in the last one quarter. have been taken up to provide emotional
well-being to our employees in the last two
A focus on health & career years.
development: The top priorities
However, RenewBuy has created one the
for 2022
largest ESOP pools for its employees, in the
InsurTech space. We have provided the ESOP
RenewBuy has been taking employees’
buy back to employees in two tranches; to
health into consideration in the given grim
reinstate their sense of ownership and align
situation owing to the pandemic and has
their growth with the RenewBuy’s growth. In
undertaken a few initiatives for the
December 2021, the company had executed
betterment of employees. There were a lot of
its second employee stock ownership
wellness programs introduced in the office,
buyback plan worth Rs 13.7 crore, for its
starting from health programs, mental
employees. The company provided
counselling, which were aimed at providing
encashment to its existing employees, who
emotional support to employees, owing to
were associated for three years and above.
the bleak Covid led scenario (specially
during the first two waves of Covid).
With this, we are constantly encouraging the
workforce to participate in the long-term
Other than this, we always maintained
wealth creation, generated by the impact
competitive offers for our employees. We
they create.
had offered Royal Enfield (worth over Rs 2
lakh) or MacBook to tech leads and senior
development managers, under certain
conditions. Also, senior software engineers
were welcomed with iPad or iPhone. This was
done to motivate employees to join our
organisation, with aspirational gifts other
than salary or the usual industry perks. This
idea garnered a huge response from
industry talent and they looked forward to
joining us.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 33

Explore, experiment, innovate:
The new HR mandate

Needless to say, the role of HR plays a vital

role in disrupting the work culture within the
organisation. In recent times, HR functioning
and dynamics have also changed. HR is no
longer majorly focused on talent acquisition,
but a huge part of HR function is getting
driven towards building up an organsation’s
culture. Rising to a greater level of
performance is the need of the hour in
current times.

Owing to the advent of disruptive

technologies, HR teams are expected to be
more tech-savvy and follow a
result-oriented approach. It is no longer
A new generation of work, a
about the people, it’s more about holistic
development including the systems and
new generation of HR: HR 3.0
processes. Henceforth, HR teams are
HR has indeed become a significant
required to have high analytical skills and
department in every company.
people skills to add value to the system.
Recognising the huge potential and
Considering this, it is critical for HR leaders to
significance of having a great HR team, we
embrace transparency in the HR policies for
are open to the concept of enabling our
employees’ betterment while following
employees to grow and upskill themselves.
professional ethics. Building a transparent
We intend to enable them to explore,
work culture allows people to feel free to
experiment, and come up with great and
explore and share their thoughts/ideas for
innovative ideas with a willingness to get
the betterment and also helps in building
better.
mutual trust.

Focussing on performance and output will

furthermore make HRs more effective and
efficient in terms of work. Career growth
should be a key motivating factor for
everyone in the business, starting from the
topmost hierarchy. Offering great
opportunities for self-development and
learning new skills would ultimately result in
long-term employee retention with a
collaborative and fruitful engagement.

Additionally, it should be kept in mind to

focus on achieving gender balance across
verticals/levels to be able to create a holistic
work environment within the organisation.

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 34

The HR function is the backbone of
growth-oriented organisations. It starts
with building culture, processes, and
policies that seamlessly instil themselves in
employees’ working cycle, and stays with
them as best practices. For HR
professionals, the work has moved far
beyond recruiting, compliance, grievance,
etc., to looking at the bigger picture, and
creating differentiated working
experiences for employees.

Abhinav
Sherwal
Founder and Co-CEO,
Recur Club EXPERT VIEWS

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 35

The rise of entrepreneurship start-up founders by bringing other players to
the ecosystem, which will provide value-added
culture
services like insights and financial advisory.

India has secured a strategic position in the

Ownership culture is key to becoming an
global economy and start-ups have become
employer of choice
the key drivers of economic and business
growth. The biggest reason for this exponential
The business environment has been changing
growth is the demographic dividend of India,
and has become more dynamic, filling in
which has made a momentous contribution to
positions on time has clearly become a
business innovation, risk-taking abilities, and
challenge. Hence, we often look at a
technological advancement, backed by
solution-oriented approach and follow these
government support in the form of Policies and
guidelines actively:
Investment opportunities. Today, with 83
unicorns and a total valuation of ~$278 billion,
most of these startups are in the services
Talent Management Plans: We ensure that
sector, which contributes over 50% to India’s
there is a talent management plan in place
GDP.
to maximise efficiency and drive the entrepre-
neurial spirit among employees. As a
Today, you see in school, colleges, and even at
fast-growing organisation, we always want to
workplaces a lot of conversations revolve
ensure that critical hires are made well ahead
around the importance of being an
of time so that the business priorities are met.
entrepreneur and instilling risk-taking abilities.
All this has collectively led India to become the
Promoting organisation culture: Culture is
third-largest start-up ecosystem after the US
what defines an organisation. At Recur Club,
and China.
we thrive on an entrepreneurial culture, being
ethical and data-driven to solve challenges.
Today, India is seeing a massive amount of
interest in terms of investments to create
Work towards a common goal: We believe in
domestic capabilities that fuel the
having a holistic approach to achieving our
#MakeInIndia policy of the Government. Since
goals successfully. We ensure that our
more and more startups are coming up, there
employees not only have a good understand-
is a huge demand for raising growth capital
ing of our goals, but we also guide them to
through alternative financing options. The
work towards attaining them.
significance of non-dilutive financing options
has increased as it is a smart way of raising
Skin in the Game and Ownership: Every
capital without diluting your equity or losing
employee at Recur Club is a part-owner of
control for the sake of the company’s growth.
the company through ESOPs. Linked to our
culture of being entrepreneurial, every
Recur Club has enabled startups with annual
employee is aligned with the right skin in the
revenue of $100,000 going up to $40 million to
game that keeps them motivated and takes
raise non-dilutive growth capital and worked
ownership of work. Additionally, Recur Club
with several companies in PropTech, Edtech,
has one of the most employee-friendly
HealthTech and D2C Subscriptions. The
cultures, with flexible working policies,
investors who bid for these contracts are
best-in-class team support and health
institutional investors like banks, NBFCs, and
benefits.
credit funds. The fintech startup has also
created a network community platform for

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 36

Making every experience count aligns them to the growth of the organisation.
The ESOP structure includes accelerated
For us, employees are the heart of the vesting with a cliff period of 1 year. Post the cliff
organisation and the real change-makers, period, the options are vested monthly, which
working every day to create magic for Recur also favours employees.
Club. Hence, it is our responsibility to make
every experience count for them. The Ideating, Prototyping & Testing
pandemic has perhaps changed the rulebook Innovative Talent Initiatives
of employers and employee relationships and
created new chapters in the talent Traditionally, the HR department was
development and management policy. responsible for recruiting, training, and
managing the resources on a day-to-day
Employees’ health and well-being, and their basis. However, over time, the entire concept
upskilling and reskilling are some of the key and outlook have changed. HR teams today
areas we are extensively working on. Along with have evolved and gone beyond being just
this, we also planned an off-site to Goa recruitment teams to the strategic leg to the
recently in order to rejuvenate and practice overall success of the organisation. It has been
team-building exercises. working to create differentiated experiences for
its employees, implementing innovative
We at Recur Club acknowledge and appreciate practices, keeping them motivated always, and
each and every effort of our employees, which offering necessary resources to polish their
boosts employee morale and encourages skills. In doing so, their approach has changed,
them to contribute to the company's vision and which helps achieve individual and
growth. In fact, we have an industry-leading organisational goals and results in holistic
ESOP plan in our organisation. growth.

Startups typically have between 8 to 15% of We at Recur Club are constantly investing time
their shareholding allocated to ESOPs and and money to achieve greater success in HR
Recur Club is above the upper end of that practices. Our innovative and human-centric
range. approach to design thinking guides us to
create this differentiated experience, which
Every employee in Recur Club has some level of includes, empathy, defining, ideating,
ownership in the company. This aligns and prototyping, and testing to find the best
incentivises people with the goals and vision of solutions for employees. We use it to tackle any
the company. aspect of people management right from
hiring, on-boarding, employee experiences,
All team members are totally aligned with the learning and development, engagement,
growth of the organisation. We are on a performance management, reward, and
mission to co-create wealth and the right recognition.
founding team makes all the difference. It’s
rare to find such ESOPs so early on in the Through such practices, we have seen notable
journey of a company. changes in employees’ happiness index,
mental well-being, safe workplace culture, and
This was recognised and appreciated even by organisational growth.
our equity investors at the time of evaluating
an investment in the company. Interestingly,
the ESOPs can also be used in case of a health
emergency. It incentivizes employees and

Talent Trends 2022: The rise of startups, unicorns and SMEs 37

 TALENT
TRENDS
2022:
THE RISE OF
STARTUPS,
UNICORNS
AND SMES
A Study By
People Matters and Keka