In Current Times, Compassionate Communication Coupled with Facts is Important: Raj Raghavan

The aviation industry around the world has endured a massive hit as travel operations came to a halt due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The industry is looking at temporary pay-cuts and witnessing the season of job layoffs where the employees are left to bear the brunt of anxiety, stress, and cash crunch coming their way.

In the conversation with BW People, Raj Raghavan, SVP & Head HR, IndiGo chimed in with the repercussions the pandemic has unraveled not just for the people in the aviation industry but, for people from all walks of life.

The session featured a bevy of HR professionals from the industry. They debated over various concerns like a good HR and leadership practice the industry should comply with during the webinar organized in association with BW Businessworld and Randstad India on 'Compassionate Communication Key for HR Professionals in the New World'

Communication plays an important role in driving the operations of the company. Expressing his stance on this, Raghavan bifurcated it into two buckets of shareholders; ‘Employees’ and ‘Board of Directors’. He believes, “It is very important to communicate with the board as we do with the employees because at the end of the day shareholders are keen to know what we are doing.” Raj also pointed out another shareholder group that holds equal importance in the organization; ‘Customers’. Adding to this, he said, “Customer behavior is going to determine how this industry will come back. We tell customers that an airplane should be the last place where you are worried about your health.”

Taking the discussion further, Raj Raghavan spoke about the ‘6E Speaks’ program launched by IndiGo to facilitate communication within the organization. He shared that IndiGo organized various rounds of Employee NPS (eNPS) under the program and to their surprise, they witnessed NPS score in the mid-’70s in June as compared to the score of 38-40 in January despite the pandemic necessitated pay cuts.

Changing the course of the conversation and offering words of encouragement, Raghavan holds the view that the new normal brings opportunities to embrace, adapt, and experiment for the world.” It has changed the way the passengers fly, how organizations deal with the customers, and people who will embrace and adapt to this will be the winners in this new world,” he concluded.