The beauty industry has always been about products. Increasingly, it is becoming about capabilities.
Behind every new skincare formulation, every ingredient claim, every digital commerce push and every fast-moving consumer trend sits a workforce that looks very different from the one the industry relied on even five years ago.
That reality is especially visible at Honasa Consumer, the digital-first beauty and personal care company behind brands such as Mamaearth, The Derma Co., Aqualogica, Luminéve, Staze, Dr Sheth's and BBlunt. What began as a single-brand business has evolved into a multi-brand beauty portfolio spanning natural personal care, science-backed skincare, cosmetics and premium beauty segments.
As the sector grows more specialised, a new question is emerging for employers: can India's beauty industry build the talent it does not yet fully have?
In an interaction with People Matters, Karan Bajwa, CHRO, Honasa Consumer Limited, reflected on the workforce shifts redefining the industry and why capability-building is becoming as important as hiring itself.
Beauty's talent challenge starts with the consumer
Beauty consumers today are very different from those of a decade ago.
They scrutinise ingredient lists. They expect scientific credibility. They compare claims, formulations and outcomes. Trends spread rapidly, feedback is immediate and expectations evolve almost in real time.
For Bajwa, this shift has fundamentally altered how organisations think about talent.
"The biggest shift we are seeing is the speed at which consumer expectations are changing," he said.
Building a successful product is no longer the responsibility of R&D teams alone. Nor can marketing operate independently. Instead, innovation increasingly depends on multiple functions coming together far earlier in the process.
"We have consistently seen that the best ideas rarely come from one function working in isolation. They emerge when cross-functional teams challenge one another early in the process." That shift is influencing what organisations value in people.
Today's high-value capabilities increasingly include:
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Consumer-centric thinking
- Adaptability and continuous learning
- Enterprise-wide problem solving
- The ability to connect ideas across disciplines
Functional expertise remains critical. Yet Bajwa believes professionals who can combine depth with broader business understanding will have a distinct advantage as the industry evolves.
The hardest role to hire may not have a title
When discussions turn to talent shortages, sectors often point to specific roles.
Beauty companies frequently talk about gaps in formulation science, regulatory affairs, consumer research or innovation.
Bajwa sees a different challenge. "Interestingly, the challenge today isn't limited to any one role." Instead, organisations are looking for professionals who understand how value is created across the business rather than within a single function.
"We have noticed that the professionals who make the greatest impact look beyond their own function. They want to understand how consumer insight becomes a product on the shelf, not just the part they directly own."
In many ways, the industry's most sought-after talent is not defined by specialisation alone. It is defined by perspective.
That broader understanding remains relatively uncommon, making it particularly valuable.
Hiring alone will not solve the capability gap
India has strong foundations in science, engineering and research talent. Yet beauty and personal care companies are facing a different reality.
Many of the capabilities now becoming essential did not exist in the same form a few years ago.
"Many specialised roles that are critical today either did not exist in the same form five or six years ago or were not viewed as core business capabilities."
This creates a challenge for employers.
The market cannot always supply talent at the pace industries require. Organisations therefore need to create expertise internally while continuing to hire externally.
At Honasa Consumer, Bajwa has seen employees grow into responsibilities that did not exist when they first joined the company.
"People do not just grow within existing roles, they grow into entirely new and unexpected ones."
As beauty businesses expand into new categories and capabilities, career paths are also becoming less predictable.
That is why, according to Bajwa, capability-building deserves the same attention as recruitment. "Hiring gives you a starting point, but it's continuous learning, exposure to evolving business challenges and the opportunity to take on new responsibilities that ultimately build long-term capability."
Collaboration is becoming an organisational capability
Consumers interact with a brand as a single experience.
They do not separate product development from marketing, commerce, supply chain or customer engagement.
Bajwa believes organisations need to mirror that reality internally.
"Consumers don't experience a brand through separate functions. They experience one product, one purchase journey and one overall brand experience."
At Honasa, bringing teams together earlier in the innovation process has delivered stronger outcomes than traditional sequential hand-offs between functions.
"When consumer insights, product, brand, digital commerce and commercial teams solve problems together from the outset, decisions are faster, trade-offs are clearer and innovation becomes much more consumer-centric."
For HR leaders, this changes the conversation around talent strategy. The focus shifts from individual capability to organisational capability.
"It means talent strategy is as much about organisation design as it is about people." Roles, goals and incentives increasingly need to reward enterprise thinking rather than functional optimisation.
Why talent chooses employers differently today
Competition for specialised talent is intensifying across consumer industries. But Bajwa believes professionals are evaluating opportunities through a different lens than before.
"Talented professionals don't just evaluate organisations, they evaluate the kind of problems they'll get to solve."
In sectors shaped by constant consumer change, employees often seek opportunities to experiment, learn and create visible impact.
They also want influence.
"At Honasa, we've found that high-performing professionals value influence just as much as responsibility. They want their ideas to shape decisions, not just execution."
That expectation is becoming an increasingly important factor in attracting and retaining skilled professionals.
The future talent ecosystem will need new partnerships
The industry's capability challenge cannot be solved by employers alone.
Bajwa sees a larger role for collaboration between academia, industry and organisations. "No single institution can solve the talent challenge on its own anymore."
He points to opportunities for:
- Live industry projects
- Research collaborations
- Structured internship programmes
- Mentorship initiatives
- Earlier industry exposure for students
- Stronger internal learning systems
At the same time, organisations must move beyond treating development as a periodic HR initiative.
"The roles we're hiring for today will continue to evolve, so internal development can't be treated as a one-time intervention, it has to become part of the organisation's operating rhythm."
Judgement may become the industry's most valuable skill
Technology will continue to transform beauty. Consumer preferences will continue to evolve. New categories and roles will emerge.
Yet Bajwa believes future talent will be defined less by information and more by judgement.
"I don't think the next generation of talent will be defined by what they know alone."
"The real differentiator will be judgment, the ability to interpret consumer behaviour, make thoughtful decisions and adapt as the industry continues to evolve."
Career paths are also becoming more fluid.
Professionals are increasingly building expertise across adjacent challenges rather than following rigid functional ladders. Organisations, in turn, will need talent systems that reward curiosity, adaptability and problem-solving.
For India's beauty industry, the next workforce challenge may not be finding people for existing jobs. It may be preparing talent for opportunities that are only beginning to take shape. And for companies building the next generation of beauty brands, that work has already begun.