What has been your journey like as an HR professional?
A. I believe all HR experts, who are successful in their particular areas/fields/professions, are the ones who have not just surmounted the authoritative difficulties and partners’ s desires, but have gone way past that. They have gone that extra mile, to have a strong and positive effect on the human side of the business.
Indeed, even today I get up, every morning, as though it is my first day at office and anticipate another learning. Being a constant learner has probably been the reason for my prosperity as a child, a spouse, a father, a companion, a neighbor, an expert and more.
My expert voyage began on 18th August 1986 with a little organization in Goa –Arlem Electronics that I joined soon after graduating in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. I put in two years on the shop floor making the most of my part as a Technology Transition Engineer. The post graduation bug bit me and in the wake of qualifying at the selection test in July 1988, I agreed to a 2½ year low maintenance M.
Tech program in Industrial Engineering.
Amid a similar period, I found an occupation as a Lecturer in E and TC at College of Engineering, Farmagudi, – Goa. I was a student from 9 am to 5 pm and was an understudy from 5 pm to 9 pm.
In 1987 I had gotten a PG Diploma in Management and had, amid the course, understood that I enjoyed overseeing individuals more than machines. That is how my passion for knowing more about the human brain science started. I however did not understand that this passion of mine was really called HR. Towards the end of my Post Graduation I got a chance to enter the corporate world, interestingly, with Indo Gulf Fertilizers, Jagdishpur, (UP) in December 1990 in Training and Development. The experience of setting up the preparation work alongside my Manager and sustaining it for a couple of years, established the framework for my foray into the bigger HR universe.
In November 1994 I moved to Bangalore with Astra IDL Limited and was lucky to have a chief who showed me the ropes of HR and that is the place throughout the following couple of years I bloomed as a HR professional, under his tutelage, and tasted success. Going to a program called The Bullet Proof Manager, while with Astra IDL, changed my life forever as a HR professional.
I was prepared to move to my next task in early -2000. I entered the call center/BPO world with First Ring as its HR Head and later HR Director. That stretch and my current stint with Apollo Munich have perhaps been the best years of my career so far. Surprisingly I confronted the test of building a 1000 member organization in a short span of 9 months; I saw the rise and down swing of the business post the fallout of 9/11 and also went far and wide globally to imitate the achievement.
Starting with one culture then moving onto the next – I joined America Online as Director HR in July 2003. Developed that association to 2500 individuals until 2005 when the Doctoral bug bit me. I settled on a holiday to finish my Doctoral theory. I finished my PhD in 2006. That is the time I moved to Gurgaon to join Xchanging Technology Services and IT/ITES association that was an Insurance BPO catering to the UK market.
I entered the Health Insurance industry in May 2009 with Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company Limited as its Chief People Officer. In this part at Apollo Munich, I lead the progressing advancement of Human Resources methodology, frameworks, structures and administration conveyance abilities that are required to bolster the general business objectives.
Q. What were the biggest challenges you faced?
A. Requesting that 250 individuals leave in a traverse of 4 weeks in 2001 after the 9/11 occurrence has maybe been my hardest test so far in life.
Every one of us confronts individual and expert trials sooner or later in life. That is the time when you settle on a decision of either gaining from your own particular mix-ups or point the finger at it on the circumstances.
With age and experience, I utilize the 12 crease way for myself:
1) Right speech – communication
2) Right action – deeds
3) Right livelihood – source of revenue
4) Right effort – energy
5) Right mindfulness – awareness
6) Right concentration – focus
7) Right perception – insight
8) Right attitude – approach
9) Right intent – resolve
10) Right conduct – demeanor
11) Right state of mind – emotional state
12) Right level of passion – Detachment / attachment
What are the challenges HR faces in the new era of the ‘digital age’?
The difficulties HR confronts in the new period of the ‘advanced age’ are the spending requirements. The limitation as a HR individual comes when you convey both the top line and the main issue. When I know there are alternate ways or robotization accessible, yet everything rotates around cost. That is the point at which I as an HR head feel incapacitated. Holding the attention and focus of millennials is yet another test any HR expert will face. Things get out of date with a blink of an eye. One needs to be updated all the time Engagement of the workforce to make sure they come in motivated every day is the third challenge.
Q. Any advice you would like to give on how to manage people/teams as the workforce becomes more diverse, and as the ways of working change?
A. In my view, in today’s unique circumstances, organizations need to prepare and build up the skills and abilities of their workforce so as to help the organization grow and develop.
It will therefore be critical for every one of us to stay informed about what is going on around us. We need to keep ourselves employable at each point in time. This can be accomplished easily if we decide to invest energy religiously in upgrading ourselves, in learning and unlearning, in educating ourselves and growing constantly. The web is a sea of information holding up to be tapped. So use the internet to become a constant learner or else you may soon find yourself redundant.
Q. How effective and how important are rewards and recognitions in strengthening employee engagement and retention?
A. Knowing who the high performing and high potential employees are is always critical. While we will not always be able to reward them with salary increases, bonuses or other monetary rewards all the time, we can still demonstrate the organizational commitment to them and recognize their contributions. Having a talent pool based succession plan allows the organization to effectively identify top employees and reward them with development initiatives that help advance their careers and prepare them for future roles.
Cash may pull in individuals through the front entryway, yet something else is needed to keep them from going out from the back door. Nonetheless, insights demonstrate that the main reason individuals quit their occupations is an absence of acknowledgment and praise.
Peer acknowledgment is not only a decent thing to do, but rather a basic component in any retention strategy – be it employee or customer retention. Individuals have an essential human need to feel acknowledged and acknowledgment programs should address
that issue.
The second aspect of this science is management must create consequences for the
behavior important for business success. A “behavior” could be showing up for work
on time, having perfect attendance or going over and beyond the call of duty for customers
or any other important behavior. A great workplace is one that develops systems and
processes to reward, recognize and sustain those important behaviors.
To strengthen what I said before, the objective of reward and acknowledgment
should be to make the workplace such that it pulls in, keeps and awakens employees to
remain with you and not leave you for your competitor. This requires genuine initiatives
and a robust framework.
Q. How can a company attract the best people?
• Develop clear job descriptions to know the skills, abilities, and experience needed from a new employee.
• Select appropriate employees who have superior potential and fit the organization’s culture, with an appropriate selection process.
• Negotiate requirements and accomplishment- based performance standards, outcomes, and measures within a performance development planning system.
• Provide effective employee on-boarding and on-going training and development opportunities that reflect both the employee’s and the organization’s needs.
• Provide on-going coaching, mentoring, and feedback so the employee feels valued and important.
• Conduct quarterly and yearly performance development planning discussions that focus on the employee’s interests for career development.
• Design effective compensation and recognition systems that reward people
for their contributions. Even if all of the rest of your employment processes are employee-oriented, people still work for money. Employers of choice aim to pay above market for talented employees.
• Provide promotional and career development opportunities for employees within a system that includes career paths, succession planning, and on-the-job training opportunities.
• Hold exit interviews to understand why a valued employee decided to leave the organization. If the reasons provide information about company systems that you can improve, make the changes that will better retain talented employees
Q. What is the secret to hiring the right candidate?
A. Our HR strategy revolves around four key areas – be it retention strategy, our training and development plan or our engagement plan for our employees. Having fun while engaging our employees is a key part of our HR strategy and we believe that employees who have friends at work and can trust them, stay longer and stay happier.
Our T&D strategy is also geared to help develop leadership talent in our young company.
Programs are external in nature and geared up to provide exposure in various leadership skills as well as practical training in dealing with a young workplace.
Being a financially prudent company, we are also focused on cost effective means of managing our talent pool. Close to 30% of our recruitment happens through the internet and another 35% through referrals.
We Hire Wisely, Train Abundantly, Pay Fairly – Apollo Munich believes in the above mantra when it comes to hiring and keeping people in its fold. After the basic educational, experiential and licensing qualifications to obtain any position, there are additional qualities that we as an employer find desirable. In any business, success depends more on several essential, learn able skills than upon any particular education or experience.
In a nutshell,
WE BUILD CAPACITY – Grow and strengthen our leadership capacity
WE RECRUIT FOR TOMORROW – Increase internal opportunities and use secondment and rotational assignments as two powerful tools of development.
WE RETAIN AND ENGAGE – Create a vibrant work environment that helps employees thrive, not just survive.
WE MANAGE COSTS – Identify cost optimization strategies that will satisfy the bottom line, meet operational needs and encourage valuable employees to remain with us.
WE REINFORCE EMPLOYEE WELLNESS – Not treat wellness programs just like another initiative but make it part of the overall strategy of the organization such that it benefits all.
Q. What advice would you give young candidates if they want to stand out and get noticed during an interview?
A. Assuming the basic qualifications are met – the primary goal is to “feel good” about the way you look and project a positive image.
When you feel good about yourself, you naturally convey confidence and a positive attitude. These nonverbal messages are as important in the interview as the verbal skills you use in selling your qualifications. An interview isn’t a beauty contest, but how you dress and your overall appearance almost always get noticed. Don’t give anybody a chance to rule you out because you didn’t feel like ironing your shirt or polishing your shoes. Dress in a business-like, professional manner, and you will be sure to fit in wherever you interview.
Secondly I believe persistence and followup are the keys to a successful job search.
If you are serious about the job, plan your follow-up. There is no such thing as a wasted effort, and the only dead lead is the one you chose to kill. Situations change and the employer who is not hiring today may be looking for someone with your qualifications in the future.
So exude confidence and be well groomed for the interview and don’t forget to follow up after the interview.
