Pic: IMAGESBAZAAR

The chief generosity officer (read: Santa Claus) is back! And this Christmas, the wish lists of India Inc executives are reflective of the trends that could pave the way forward for a productive 2012.

Dhruv Desai, senior VP – HR & Leadership Academy, Angel Broking

Wish 1: I wish for a ‘magic spray', which, when applied, can lessen the "baggage" employees carry from their ex-organisation while entering a new one. Unlearning, re-skilling and adapting to the new workplace are daunting tasks, especially for an employee who has spent a considerable amount of time with his/her ex-employer; Wish 2: I wish for a ‘magic hat', which can read the minds of our prospective candidates, once they wear them. Today, it's vital that HR knows ‘what employees want' and maybe, the hat could help HR gauge the aspirations that enhance productivity; Wish 3: I wish for a ‘magic teleporter machine' (as seen in Star Trek movies), so that our employees can travel to office and back without getting bogged down by the mad rush/traffic rampant in metros; Wish 4: I wish for Santa to do away with the hierarchical work structure and have all employees work as "entrepreneurs" ; Wish 5: I wish for a ‘magic mirror', which can show students stepping out of college what would be the best career fit for them.

Aseem Kapoor, GM, Hyatt Regency Mumbai

Wish 1: I would request Santa for an ‘accent recognition software'. With international guest accents, new employees most often find it difficult to understand or take down orders, thereby increasing the call and service time - this software will help employees to be prompt without having to ask the guests to repeat themselves; Wish 2: I wish there were other means of producing paper than trees. This would not only reduce global warming, but also act as reliable sources of storing data other than soft copies, so that even if there are "calamities", the information would still be available at hand; Wish 3: I wish we could scan the thoughts of employees planning to take leaves the next day and have enough of a backup ready; Wish 4: I wish there was just one visa to travel the world. This would make lives of not only business travellers, but also the rest easier, for there would not be any visa interviews, long queues and one can plan a trip overnight to anywhere, anytime, thus keeping travellers stress-free.

Mark Driscoll, leader human capital, PwC India

Wish 1: I wish for Santa to help the inflation to subside, so that employees eventually receive their much-deserved increments. Dealing with such high inflation makes it difficult to appropriately reward our staff for their performance; Wish 2: I wish for our employees to unleash the genius genie, which exists within each and every one of them. Most companies are excellent hubs of talent and yet, a number of us can often get taken in by the daily routine and find it tedium to look at things differently and acknowledge the amazing individuals they all are; Wish 3: I wish that the car horns in metros would unite to resemble lovely Christmas jingles. The chaos and cacophony on the roads spoil the joy of the season and so it would be great if the car horns could actually belt out synchronous music and make it a wonderful world, which we navigate happily while on our way to work and back. It would make coming into work such a joy!

Manoj Biswas, lead HR, Accenture

Wish 1: I wish for an app that can help recruiters identify the right "fits" and keep the misfits at bay. Organisations often struggle with finding the right candidate for the position in question. Problems grow exponentially when a company puts the wrong person into a management or executive position. Therefore, it is critical to find the right talent; Wish 2: I wish for a change in the curriculum, in a quest to  nurture innovation in India. An absence of structured initiatives at the level of schools, colleges and universities to discuss innovative ideas is another important barrier to the youth's participation in innovation processes. Therefore, there is a need for educational institutions to re-design their curriculum to seed innovation in the mindsets of students.

Abhijit Bhaduri, chief learning officer, Wipro

Wish 1: I wish for the HR profession to be driven by technology. This would facilitate HR to invest time in exercising their people-management skills (HR's core job), as opposed to spending time carrying out administrative activities. I wish Santa could provide technological solutions to HR issues; Wish 2: Two rupee to dollar exchange rates! This may sound ambitious, but this will foster our economy growth as this wish, if granted, will work towards our advantage, whether we are importing or exporting; Wish 3: I actually would wish Santa to provide access to social networking sites. Several organisations have restricted social networking access, but the ones that propagate the concept of "fun and joy" at work need to understand that if this wish gets granted, it can actually enhance productivity as ‘a happy employee is a productive employee'.

- Viren Naidu