Zara Morghade, recently honored as a Visionary in the ITL Award 2024, serves as the Sr. Director, Human Resources at Parkar Digital , a global IT firm headquartered in Atlanta and having its presence across Chicago, Pune, Ahmedabad, Singapore, and Dubai. She has spearheaded initiatives spanning from implementing advanced HRMS, PMS, LMS, and RnR platforms to formulating comprehensive HR policies and ensuring compliance with statutory regulations. Zara’s dedication to performance management, talent development, and effective grievance handling has positioned Parkar as a leading organization in human capital management.
What sets Zara apart as a talent leader is her focus on maintaining positive relationships and involving her team in decision-making, explaining the rationale behind decisions, fostering a sense of ownership and commitment. Additionally, she ensures that all HR initiatives are strategically aligned with the organization’s goals, viewing HR as a strategic partner in driving business success. Her approach emphasizes relationship-building, open communication, and strategic alignment.
Over her career spanning 16yrs+, she has spearheaded multiple initiatives across functions including introducing gamified hiring in her business unit, facilitating a career framework, AI enabled HR automation, introducing and implementing ESAT within the organization, launching upskilling programs, etc. These initiatives have gone a long way in ensuring a strategic partnership between the HR and business stakeholders working towards achieving organizations vision.
When asked about what differentiates Gen Z from other generations, Zara shares that Gen Z is notably different due to their eagerness for instant gratification. Yet, they are highly ambitious and willing to put in extra effort to achieve the impossible. This generation’s drive demands that business leaders stay agile and responsive to keep them engaged. Though Zara chuckles on the request to share the mantra for attracting and retaining Gen Z talent, she finally shares “Keep them engaged, Keep them excited” as the way to go.
To attract Gen Z, Parkar offers internships to college students and recruits talent from diverse backgrounds from various areas of the country, focusing more on ambition and willingness to learn than merely degrees and colleges. She talks about investing in emerging technologies such as their AI-driven Intelligent Platform, Vector, that streamlines IT operations for users worldwide, and organizing challenging in-house competitions like Tech Gladiator at Parkar, rewarding employees who successfully solve critical challenges. She also stresses on providing opportunities without restrictions on work experience, allowing deserving candidates to work on challenging on-site projects, front-end strategic initiatives, and travel the world for business purposes. Parkar extends these opportunities to all deserving employees, irrespective of age and/or work experience, based on the requisite skills.
In our conversation, Zara highlights the shift from traditional work-life balance to the more modern concept of work-life integration, a transition driven largely by the ubiquity of technology. “Wherever we go, we carry our work with us on our devices,” Zara explains, acknowledging the need for organizations to help employees manage this constant connectivity to avoid burnout and anxiety. Parkar has embraced this by ensuring that employees have ample leaves. They offer access to a mobile platform offering wellness benefits like gym memberships, access to resources promoting mental wellness, etc all at the fingertips to reinforce their commitment to mental health and well-being.
Parkar offers a unique perk: a staycation benefit and two days of leave for employees upon promotion. This reward acknowledges their hard work and encourages them to celebrate the occasion by spending quality time with friends and family.
Gen Z’s preference for flexible working and remote work is another key area Zara delves into. From her perspective, hybrid work models are the ideal solution. She argues that complete work-from-office setups are increasingly unrealistic, given Gen Z’s experience and expertise to deliver quality work from anywhere. “However,” she quips with a smile, “complete work-from-home isn’t the holy grail either.”
Zara points out that while productivity remains consistent regardless of the work environment, the emotional connections forged during lunch breaks and office chats are irreplaceable. “These small moments build team cohesion and significantly reduce attrition rates,” she asserts. This insight has led Parkar to adopt a hybrid work model that balances the need for flexibility with the benefits of in-person interaction, especially crucial for fostering team spirit and reducing turnover. By integrating flexibility and fostering a supportive work environment, Parkar ensures they meet the unique needs of Gen Z employees, helping them stay engaged and committed.
Closing our conversation, Zara highlights Gen Z’s strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). “This generation doesn’t just support DEI; they champion it,” she notes with enthusiasm. At Parkar, this commitment is evident in their diverse workforce, which includes a balanced mix of female and male employees from various parts of the world and different cultural backgrounds. They are at a very strong 33% diversity ratio and target achieving a 50% ratio in the coming years.
Zara proudly mentions Parkar’s drive and initiative to ensure that the workforce is exposed to global opportunities and get diverse experience. This global approach not only enriches Parkar’s work culture but also aligns with Gen Z’s values, making it a preferred workplace for the new generation.
With a grin, Zara wraps up by saying, “At Parkar, we’re not just ticking boxes—we’re creating a mosaic of talent that reflects the world we live in. And if that means celebrating Diwali in Dubai or Thanksgiving in Pune, well, who wouldn’t want to be part of that party?”
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