Reimagine Work, Workforce & Workplace To Build Resilience

What is your vision for HR profession, and what transformative role can it play in the success of a company?  

To succeed and stand tall in our endeavors, my vision for HR is to build culture of intention, empathy, organisational flexibility, inclusivity and equitability. HR is a strategic function, central to how companies are reimagining work, workforce & workplace to build organisational resilience, facilitate organisational flexibility and drive value. 

We are at forefront of this transformation while our core- talent – continues to be a key focus area. As per McKinsey’s research, “talent is the greatest driver of competitive advantage. 77 per cent of business leaders believe that retaining talent is very or moderately important for the future of their organisation. While things are changing rapidly for HR and its future, HR professionals would still need to continue focus on core talent retention, employee experience, dynamic policies, HR automation, DEI & sustainability while leveraging modern technologies like generative AI and the likes. In essence, the HR profession is poised to be a cornerstone in a company's success, driving strategic initiatives, fostering a positive workplace culture, ensuring workforce readiness and leading ethical and sustainable business practices.

How did you get interested in the HR field, and what have been some major milestones in your journey?  

In the words of Dave Ulrich, HR professionals are learners who seek new ways to solve old problems, enablers who make others better, and value creators who help all stakeholders win. The complexity of solving people related problems is what attracted me to HR. People cannot be confined to cells in an excel sheet.

Some of the major career defining milestones involve significant impact on people:

• Implemented ‘self-managed’ teams as part of organisation design & development intervention for 5000 union & non-union staff in a leading pharma company across 7 manufacturing locations.
• Led the end-to-end M&A of people practices of a product company into a technology services major in India 
• Conceptualised and launched a unique flexi-insurance solution empowering the employee to customise and personalise their wellness 

How should HR professionals themselves envision their contribution to the world of work?  

Working in HR helps achieve diverse set of career needs: from helping others, building a better workplace, contributing to organisational success to using problem-solving skills, performing diverse set of activities – there is something for everyone. One can be a Strategic Partner; Talent Developer and Manager; Culture Champion; Data Analyst and Forecaster; Change Agent; Employee Advocate; Technology Innovator; Compliance and Ethics Steward; Well-being and Performance Monitor; Global Talent Integrator or more. HR field offers limitless possibilities and opportunities to transform lives and workplace, most often not quantifiable. 

Kindly share some path-breaking initiatives by your team in brief.

The defining characteristic of the DBS culture is a true sense of purpose. Born from our roots as a development bank, there is palpable sense of wanting to make positive impact and do real things for real people. Same applies to our employees. The thrust to make real impact guides us to various endeavours, some of which I can share below:

• N=1 personalisation of our benefits offerings
• Simplification of how we design our compensation plan
• Institutionalising data driven operating models across all functions of HR – simulation models for total rewards to empower our managers and guide them to take right decisions
• Usage of retention models to identify potential attrition
• Experimenting with Gen AI for people related use cases