What has been your journey like as an HR professional?
A. The journey has been well traversed through the highs and lows of corporate life, stumbling a bit, dusting oneself, getting back on the feet and yet moving on but learning all the time.
They say life is never easy but it’s about what one makes of it . I hail from a small city in Odisha called Cuttack which was home as well as the place where the journey started. Coming to a big city like Mumbai was in itself a life changing experience and after nearly 13 rejections I finally landed a role and then there was no looking back. My experience has taken me to head human resources in Insurance, Retail, Media and Manufacturing.
Currently I am designated as Managing Director Human Resources with Accenture for the India GU which includes India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Q. What were the biggest challenges you faced?
A. No professional career is complete without challenges. Corporate careers are challenging and one never really knows what’s waiting around the corner till it unexpectedly springs up.
Expect the unexpected but enjoy yourself is the mantra that I have practiced. I have had my share of ups and downs but if I have to zero down on one incident that has left an indelible impression it would be when I moved from my assignment as Head of HR of Shoppers Stop to Chief People Officer of ACC. A shift from retail to manufacturing was in itself a very challenging experience but an even bigger challenge lay elsewhere.
When I entered the company I realized that there had been a change in management .This was the year of 2008 which meant a lot of rationalization and downsizing was happening. If this was not enough there were Union problems in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta.
However with huge support from my then MD Hans Fuchs and my co-workers we took it upon ourselves to change the culture and take on each challenge head on. Each problem required a different strategy and treatment but slowly yet surely we were able to resolve all problems very successfully.
Q. What are the challenges HR faces in the new era of the ‘digital age’?
A. We are in the midst of the digital age already, still realization has yet to dawn on many as they continue to follow the same old ways of functioning. Working with the same mindset as we have done in the past is akin to using pagers in today’s day and age when technology has moved on. The digital age has actually put us in the blind spot as, “We don’t know that we don’t know!”
We will soon have a new generation joining in the workforce with a very different mindset and new skills that the world has yet to experience. Added to this is the complexity of the new jobs that organizations will offer that are still not known. Sounds scary but that’s the reality that we are living in.
We are in the midst of the digital age already, yet realization has yet to dawn. It’s like using pagers in today’s day and age when technology has moved on
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. Change is the ultimate truth and one’s mindset needs to change.
My advice -be flexible, adapt quickly, unlearn and re-learn. Unlearn the old ways and adopt, adapt and learn the new ways are some of the ways that can help us cope with the dramatic change that is happening around.
Q. How effective and how important are rewards and recognitions in trengthening employee engagement and retention?
A. Leading companies today are willing to pay top dollars, and offer some of the best rewards to retain their top talent as well as their most productive workforce. Recognition is key but the unveiling of what it means to each section of the working population is the essence.
Employee engagement and retention will always be central along with, growth differentiation methods for engaging employees and retaining them is what every successful HR professional tries to demystify.
Q. How can a company attract the best people?
A. Every company has a USP and a certain “kind” of audience/employees that it wants to attract. The key therefore is to be able to understand the need of that population and their aspirations. Every employee wants a healthy working environment , transparency, supervisors who are fair , good co-workers, interesting assignments and overall growth. Though this sounds very basic, most organizations are spending millions of dollars to achieve this. That said I would like to add that with the advent of digitization at this point in time most companies are not even sure what the next generation jobs will be like. That is a challenge we need to figure out and think about
Q. What is the secret to hiring the right candidate?
A. Today the methods of hiring have changed dramatically. Today candidates decide on the jobs that they want and pursue their aspirations and dreams. Its more the pull than push that decides careers today. The principle that LinkedIn and other hiring portals are using is the “pull” philosophy to source the right kind of candidates as per their experience, qualification and background. The introduction of technology in talent acquisition is being used to scrutinize and assess the right candidates before the selected candidates actually meet an interviewer. This is probably how bulk hiring is possible today So I think technology will be a key factor in the future in helping us identify and hire the best talent.
Q. What advice would you give young candidates if they want to stand out and get noticed during an interview?
A. The first mantra is to stay relaxed and be yourself , for if you try to fake it you will get noticed either during the interview or later. The second is to meticulously prepare for the interview in a manner which best defines you and which are core to your value system. Watch out for that attitude that you have as that’s really the key. Being well groomed and polite are the other key pointers.
