Q. What has been your journey like as an HR professional?:
A. A major part of my career so far has been in business roles – across Sales, Business Development, Strategy and Business Leadership roles. I moved into the CHRO position two years ago after having been a CEO of two subsidiaries of Tata Capital for 8 years. Along the way, I have had a chance to meet individuals with varied ideas, passions and expectations and have also been exposed to a variety of challenges and conundrums.
I find HR in the context of Tata Capital a very strategic function and with my business background, I am able to connect HR practices & processes with business and realign them in a manner that the impact on the business is maximum. The shift from a more business-centric role to an employee-focused one has been an enriching one and at the same time, an insightful one for me – both personally and professionally. Apart from the general management of the workforce – including the implementation of strategies around talent acquisition & management and making the work and workplace attractive for a multi generational workforce, I am keenly involved in right-structuring the organization and helping build the right culture to win in a very competitive space.
Q. What were the biggest challenges you faced?:
A. HR has traditionally acted as a service/ support partner to business verticals. My first challenge was to reorient the HR mindset from a purely support one to that of a employ strategic partner while being the custodian of employee well-being at the same time. I have seen this shift happen over the last 2 years and now HR is a key element of all business decisions. While Tata Capital boasts some of the brightest minds in the industry, one of the biggest challenges that we face today is to ensure a perfect mix of talent and experience among the workforce while retaining and building the right skills & competencies for the larger productive workforce through Talent Management initiatives, to ensure that the organizational imperatives and goals are achieved.
Q. What are the challenges HR faces in the new era of the ‘digital age’?
A. A majority of our employees have now become digital natives and expect the organization to interface with them using digital friendly platforms. While businesses usually race into the digital age by adopting newer and more sophisticated technologies, HR systems adopt new technologies at a slower pace. Even the prospect of overhauling the legacy systems to new age HR platforms is daunting for most. The HR fraternity needs to first adopt a digital friendly mindset and embed the HR processes in the digital architecture of the organization. The emergence of IoT and Chatbots are changing the way employees interact and engage with the organization for their HR requirements. Such digital platforms are likely to disrupt the way companies manage the HR processes and give them an edge in:
** Managing talent & performance
** Delivering HR services
** Engaging the workforce
** Focusing communication initiatives to deliver varied messages to the workforce.
Q. Any advice you would like to give on how to manage people/teams as the workforce becomes more diverse, as the ways of working change ?
A. Human Resources is at a critical stage of its life cycle. Most work forces are not only a melting pot of various cultures and generations but are also diverse in their thoughts and needs. In this ever changing sphere of complexities, it is very important for Human Resources to stay simple but relevant. One approach is to segment the workforce on the basis of their requirements and design HR policies specific to each segment. It is imperative that we recognize such differences and implement ‘solutions’ to ensure high satisfaction and productivity levels amongst the workforce. Some of these solutions entail the creation of a unifying binder through a common ‘Culture code’ or the reiteration of the organizational goals through common Town Halls and meetings. While functional and business goals are best dealt locally (within the business or geography), organization connect is best created only through a ‘topdown’ approach, elucidating and inculcating the organization’s vision-, mission & values.
Appreciation is a fundamental human need, which makes individuals feel valued and motivates them to work harder. While senior employees & leaders are expected to recognize their team members, they too need the occasional ‘pat on the back’ to keep the flame burning.
Q. How effective and how important are rewards and recognitions in strengthening employee engagement and retention?
A. Appreciation is a fundamental human need, which makes individuals feel valued and motivates them to maintain and even improve upon their already good work. In any organization, an HR team needs to drive a high performance culture, which can be achieved through Reward & Recognition programs, which ultimately stimulate outstanding team and individual contribution. A high performance culture is crucial for success in today’s ultra-competitive world. Any recognition program needs to have the organization’s strategy and objectives embedded within it and the framework should enable leaders, managers and peers to appreciate the performance of an individual. While senior employees & leaders are expected to recognize their team members, they too need the occasional ‘pat on the back’ to keep the flame burning.
Q. How can a company attract the best people?
A. “Best People” for an organization is contextual. Best People are those whose aspirations and values are aligned with that of the organization. The Employee Value Proposition of an organization should faithfully represent its aspirations and values and the mutual expectation from each other . This will help it attract those employees who connect with such aspirations and have an aligned value system. In the course of doing business, every organization creates an “Employer Brand” for itself which essentially communicates the EVP. Widespread communication of the EVP will enable the organization to attract the best people and also retain them longer.
Q. What is the secret to hiring the right candidate?
In this digital age, it is imperative that the organization attracts a blend of talent which has a right mix of attitude and aptitude and is forward looking while embodying some of the key company traits. With an evolving set of business practices and the need to differentiate the same within the market, employers and HR representatives need to build an effective EVP, tap into the right markets, be innovative and experiment with new channels of recruitment to ensure a good mix of talented and experienced individuals. It is also important that an organization understands the skill landscape and identifies certain competency gaps to ensure that it hires candidates with the requisite knowledge to plug those gaps. Most importantly, the value system of the candidate must align with that of the company.
Q. What advice would you give young candidates if they want to stand out and get noticed during an interview?
A. A strong resume, a confident presence, clear communication, good grooming and a positive attitude are distinct advantages at any interview. My advice is that they should be themselves at an interview and not try to be something else. Putting on a persona at an interview may lead the interviewer to decide in the candidate’s favour but once in the company, the real persona may not match with what the company requires and would lead to a dysfunctional relationship. However, while being themselves, the candidate should take special care to mention their strengths, their passions and anything that they feel which makes them stand out from the crowd. Positive differentiation always helps.
