“HR, Gatekeeper Of Business Ethos”

Srijeet Sarkar was keen on pursuing Human Resources because, in his words. “I strongly felt that I had the potential to drive key business outcomes with empathy because of my underlying interest in understanding both technology and people. I was clear with my focus area within HR as a domain being, HR Business partnering.” During his college placements he was vying for a job in a product-based firm to leverage his skills optimally in a conducive environment and started his career at Oracle.

Starting his career by managing an employee base of 1000 plus engineers as their sole HR business partner and developing and delivering training modules from scratch on dive dysfunctions of a team, Sarkar has achieved several organisational feats.

Vision for HR

Sharing his vision for vision for the HR profession with BW People, he says, “My vision is to always earn a seat at the business table; in order to effectively resolve people's issues and accentuate business goal deliverables through articulate strategic thinking and HR driven action items.”

He adds, “HR can play a transformative role in the success of a company by adapting agile thinking methodology pivoting on business mindset that facilitates forward looking data driven digital transformation thinking encompassing a collaborative and inclusive mindset.”

He describes how HR professionals should themselves envision their contribution to the world of work. “Whether it is recruitment, engagement, L&D or business partnering; HR has always been the gatekeeper of business ethos pivoting on the core mission and vision of the organisation. We should envision our contribution as something that undeniably brings agility, direction and meaning to a business’s objective of existence by ensuring that the humane aspects are never deprioritised.”

He has steered and inspired his teams that have made some path-breaking contributions, like:

i) Gamification of employer branding initiatives resulting in 3x growth of follower count and organisation rating across various platforms; thereby attracting top key talent from the industry.

ii) Developing an in-house metaverse and AI based L&D as well as talent management platform at zero cost, leading to over 25 lakhs in savings.

iii) Conducting nuanced training interventions such as campus to corporate, tech talk, emotional intelligence workshop, women leaders’ programme etc. which ensure personalised growth avenues for all employees.

iv) Developing the core competency framework structure for each sub-department at organisation level; orchestrating meaningful career dialogues and productivity.

v) Driving employee engagement initiatives through various sports events throughout the year, fostering inclusivity and team cohesiveness.

Meha Mathur

BW Reporters The author works as Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld