A HR is a Career Counsellor Rather than a Mere Recruiter

Saswati Sinha, Head HR Cheil India has been in the business for more than 18 years. In her experience, she feels the role of HR is continuously evolving and has now changed. She says HR today is actually collaborating with Business heads to drive revenue through talent.In an exclusive interview with BW People, she talks about the latest trends in the HR industry, struggles with millennials joining the workforce and best HR Practices at Cheil India. 

Talk about the latest trends in the HR industry? How are the recruiters enhancing the quality of recruitment?

In the recent years, the role of HR has evolved. Today, the HR is in true sense partnering with business heads to go beyond driving mere cost efficiencies. They are actually collaborating with business heads to drive revenue through talent. The use of analytics has made it possible to a large extent. An HR today is also data driven and not just left to intuition or emotions although these also count in the acquiring best talent. Quality has taken over quantity to find the best talent. I strongly propagate that we are the career counsellors rather than mere recruiters trying to fill a position. It makes all the difference.

What are your best HR Policies that you use to keep your employees motivated?

At Cheil we have small initiatives like free lunch every day and snacks post 7.00 p.m for all employees makes the day easy and hassle-free for our people.

We also have a policy that mothers of children up to 5 years can be more flexible with their timings to take care of their child.

For women at Cheil, we have a special room called ‘Snooze Room’ that allows them to take a break and rest when tired. The room has books and reclining chairs for women to sit back and relax as and when they chose to do so. 

What are your plans for Talent Acquisition strategy for 2018?

My only strategy for 2018 is to ensure that we have the right skill at the right time and that is possible only through networking and building a ready pipeline of talent. The approach has to be proactive. Reactive approaches don’t work anymore. 

Do tell us about the Corporate Culture of Cheil as an Insider and how does it different from other corporate?

We are different from the other corporates because we are an Agency built for Now where creativity is inspired by Technology. Our Corporate Social Responsibility program ‘Meri Class’ was started in 2014 with an aim to provide primary education to the girl child. We have partnered with Teach for India and Concern India Foundation to take this initiative forward. 

What are the number of employees you want to hire by 2020 and what are the mediums you use to hire them?

Well, the number of employees to hire depends on business growth but our hiring criterion is focused on specialised skills in the digital domain.

We will use social platforms to connect and network with the right talent with the most appropriate skill set.

What kind of employee engagement activity Cheil do?

We host 6 monthly strategy meets and monthly Townhall where the Leadership team engages with the employees and shares their vision for the company. These are also platforms to reward and recognise our employees. 

Besides these, last year we started coffee sessions with COO and Managing Director for employees to interact with the senior-most leadership team in a more transparent way. The Leadership team also meets the employees during skip level meeting to get first-hand feedback from them.

Tell something unique rule about your organization which is only started by Cheil?

One thing which is very unique and I personally am quite happy about is the ‘Snooze Room’ for women.