‘My curiosity and can-do attitude set me apart’

Soumitra Acharya believes that a positive attitude is the biggest virtue even in the scarce talent market of today

In his own words, this is what the ‘Are You In The List’ 2015 winner has to say about himself.

Soumitra Acharya, Head – HR Analytics, Mahindra and Mahindra

An HR practitioner by profession and an Engineer by primary qualification, I am a strong believer in the famous quote from the movie Forest Gump: “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get”. I have been associated with Mahindra and Mahindra for almost four years and currently, I am Head, OD and HR Analytics at the company in Mumbai. My responsibilities entail facilitating automation to create data warehouse, deriving insights and supporting business with decision support system to support the overall talent architecture of the organization.

Core differentiator: Curiosity and Can-do attitude

I am extremely curious and I like to experiment in areas that I have not functioned in before. This gives me the enthusiasm to learn more. Compounding that with my attitude towards any task as “can be done” helps me get results.

Biggest talent priority: Hire for attitude

A positive attitude is the biggest virtue even in the scarce talent market of today. And that’s also the most difficult task for HR to instill in employees. With the skills requisite in employees constantly evolving, I strongly feel that anyone with the right attitude and aptitude for learning is always the best pick.

The one thing I will:

Change in HR: Over reliance on intuitive decisions

Despite the advent of data Analytics in HR, it still largely relies on decisions driven by instinct and gut-feeling. The two things that I strongly feel HR needs today are HR Automation and as a byproduct of that, an extensive usage of talent Analytics.

Retain in HR: Keenness of HR to evolve

HR has changed significantly as a field of study as well as in its role as a direct contributor to the business in the past two decades. HR has evolved at an unprecedented pace and I would like this constant hunger to evolve alongside.

My ideas to disrupt HR: HR Automation and Talent Analytics

These will be my tools for disrupting HR. I would want to make any ‘people’ decision like a business decision.

Here’s the list of other winners:

JAY THAKKAR - Head - Compensation & Benefits and HR Operations, Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited

NEHA SHARMA - Senior Employee Relations Manager, ICICI Bank

AMIT PAPNEJA - Manager-Field Readiness, Asian Paints Ltd.

AVIJIT SHASTRI - Divisional Manager - Channel HR, Commercial Vehicle TATA Motors

NIRANJANA HARIKUMAR - Lead- Learning and Organizational Development, Piramal Group

AANCHAL BHUGRA KOTHARI - Senior HR Business Partner, Reliance Industries Ltd.

KUMAR ABHIMANYU - Participant - Career Acceleration Program, Reliance Industries Ltd

ALI IMRAN SYED -Global Learning & Organization Development Manager, Avery Dennison

RICHA SINGH - Senior HR Officer, HPCL