Organizational downsizing is often understood as an effort to achieve efficiency through workforce reduction. However, this approach is considered too narrow. The success of organizational streamlining depends on changing the organization’s perspective on human resource management.
This conclusion emerged during the second panel discussion of the 5th HCM Talks, held by SBM ITB, in Jakarta (February 27).
The forum, themed “Navigating the Future of Human Capital: Business and Organizational Streamlining through Lean HR and People Analytics,” featured Yuni Ros Bangun, a member of the SBM ITB People and Knowledge Management Expertise Group; Fahmi El Mubarak, CEO of the BUMN School of Excellence; and Sari Indah Damayanti, Executive Vice President of Human Capital Strategy at PT PLN (Persero). Harry Fabriansyah, a lecturer at SBM ITB, served as the moderator for the discussion.
Yuni Ros Bangun opened the discussion by addressing the challenges related to workforce productivity in Indonesia. She noted that the growth of labor productivity in Indonesia is approximately 2.6 percent, which is behind that of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This condition is also reflected in the performance of several state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which remain below that of state-owned enterprises in other countries. According to Yuni, this situation makes organizational transformation an urgent need. However, she emphasized that reducing the number of employees is not the primary solution to streamlining.
“Streamlining should be directed at developing a high-performance culture. HR needs to be strategically positioned to encourage increased skills, productivity, and optimal talent utilization,” she said.
Sari Indah Damayanti, a practitioner, shared her experience in transforming the human capital function at PLN. She noted that PLN had initially implemented a decentralized human capital approach from 2021 to 2025. However, this model was later revised to a centralized human capital model that emphasizes improving organizational productivity.
“Previously, the human capital approach was still traditional, focusing on administration and responding to short-term business needs,” Sari said.
PLN is now developing a future human capital concept that is more oriented toward capability development and value creation for the organization. This transformation is supported by people analytics, process automation, and artificial intelligence integrated into PLN’s human capital technology ecosystem. This approach enables the HR function to shift from an administrative role to a strategic partner that contributes directly to company performance.
Meanwhile, Fahmi El Mubarak believes that the biggest challenge lies not in the terminology used in HR management. He believes that what is far more important is how organizations truly treat people as the primary drivers of company performance.
“I don’t really care about the terminology, whether it’s human capital, human experience, or people and culture. The real challenge is how to position people as the primary drivers of the organization,” he said.
Fahmi further explained that the Strategic Lean HR approach is based on four key principles: alignment with business strategy, integration of people and technology in work processes, proactive use of data and insights, and the ability to build a future organization centered on people, processes, and technology.
Concluding the discussion, Harry Fabriansyah emphasized that human capital will become increasingly vital in determining organizational performance in the future. With the support of digital technology and artificial intelligence, HR is expected to no longer only play an administrative role but become a key driver of competitive advantage and business sustainability.
