“An Engaged Workforce Is More Productive,” States Neha Singh

What are the key areas that you intend to focus on for your organisation to run effectively and efficiently?

 I believe an engaged workforce is more productive and motivated, and feels more aligned to the organisational goals, and hence a great employee experience is key. 

Some areas that have been the focus point are benchmarking our roles to other organisations. We have a right employee value proposition that starts with our compensation strategy, keeping in mind the overall wellbeing of our people, so that they can thrive and maintain a work- life balance. The focus on employee wellness at Chegg has been paramount with avenues like a great insurance portfolio, including employee insurance, parental insurance, critical illness insurance or doctor on call or, proving our people with fitness subscriptions like Cultfit amongst many others. 

Focusing on acknowledging and leveraging our diverse workforce has been another key aspect. This ensures that everyone can take an active role in creating a more diverse and inclusive work culture. 

What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your HR career, and how did you overcome them? 

The biggest challenge in my HR journey has been the shift between being a working professional and managing the motherhood phase and the whole transition to new normal for a working mother. 

This challenge also stems from my previous experiences in my career, wherein there have been instances where I received outstanding ratings in my reviews. However, my incremental increase is very minimal due to the upcoming maternity break, which clearly did not add up to my ratings. These challenges still make me realise that there are miles to go in the effort to break the glass ceiling and to be at an equal pace with our male counterparts since they do not face similar challenges in their professional lives.

What are some of the problems you encounter, especially in the ‘next normal’, and how do you tackle them?  

With the new normal being so dynamic, there is a constant need to evolve our policies, strategies and techniques to adapt to it. With the new-age GenZ and millennials having quite different expectations from their careers and being so volatile with their choices, there remains a constant need to provide them growth and opportunities through upskilling them with defined career paths and realigning them with the right opportunities as per their career aspirations.