Vineeta Raghuwanshi | Senior Manager - HR Ernst & Young

Vineeta grew up in a progressive family in a small town in central India, who taught her that the right attitude backed by education and passion for learning is the key to success. She was always encouraged to follow her aspirations with courage and conviction as she traversed through her formative years. It is this passion and desire to make an impact that made her overcome every challenge that crossed her path.

After completing her Masters in Business Administration specializing in Human Resources, she embarked on her professional journey with Adecco as an Intern, which built the right foundation for me. She was ready for a new challenge and joined HDFC Life, and played an integral role in driving organizational change effectiveness as she led the Employee Engagement function. She was always very passionate about promoting diversity and Inclusiveness (D&I) and turned this passion into action by taking on the role of India D&I Lead in EY in 2014.

For Vineeta, being socially responsible is integral to who she is and she believes that all of us are uniquely skilled, influential and harnessing our collective passion and capabilities exponentially amplifies our individual efforts to positively impact our communities. She describes herself as an inclusive thinker and a strong believer of bringing in disruption in everything we do.

Making an impact to the most important asset of an organization, its people

Growing up, Vineeta was curious to learn more about human behavior and this has hugely influenced both her academics and career.

“My desire to impact the lives of people, coupled with the natural knack to engage and enable others morphed into a career in HR. This field has not only given me the opportunity to live my aspirations, but also allowed me to make an impact to the most important asset of an organization; its people,” shares Vineeta Raghuwanshi, Senior Manager, HR Ernst & Young.

The immense opportunities this field provides to drive competitive advantage through the talent strategy thrilled her then and motivates her still. Her journey so far has been gratifying, as she got the opportunity to work in different areas including; Talent Management, Employee Engagement, Organization Development, Diversity & Inclusiveness, Employer Branding, Rewards & Recognition and enabling to achieve better outcomes, and delivering long-lasting results by addressing complex issues relating to organization’s transformational and management of evolving workforces.

Being an integral member of the HR team, both at HDFC Life; her earlier organization and now at EY; her current organization, she was always provided with opportunities to bring her expertise and creativity to reality. Whether it is from strategizing to creating cutting edge practices to driving organizational change through sustainable policies and interventions, she was instrumental in understanding and resolving business problems and driving the impact. She is described as a person with result orientation, highly versatile and creative, challenging the status quo and standing up for what she believes in. She has imbibed these qualities through various experiences she has had in her professional and personal journey and which she believes, sets her apart from the rest.

Key talent priority: Enabling the workforce to meet the requirements of future workplace 

The workplace of the future will be very different from what it is now; Artificial Intelligence, Robotics; Analytics, Automation is pervasive across industries and are driving organizations to re-look at their business models. With the transformation in the business models, there is a greater need to have a workforce which is future ready. This changing world of work has significant implications on how we will attract, retain and develop our talent. Therefore, HR has a critical role to play in enabling our workforce to meet the requirements of future workplace and start preparing ourselves to set up “the new” outside the confines of existing structures to be prepared for the future.

Let’s read how Vineeta plans to take her passion to create value forward and what vision does she have for the HR’s growth in the future.

The one thing I will change in HR

Transformation has become the new normal and we must disrupt today to be agile and to be ahead tomorrow. I strongly believe that to bring real value add to the organization and its people, HR has to disrupt and leverage advanced technologies (Automation & Robotics) to enhance the overall experience. We need to take a broader view of core capabilities and acquire new skills to be additive to business.

The one thing I will retain in HR

Emotional intelligence and empathy is becoming increasingly vital to an organization's success in the increasingly digital future of work. So as the workplace is transforming along with the evolving technology, I would retain the empathy and emotional intelligence that HR brings to the table.

Vision for HR's future growth

We are at a crossroads; the alliance between humans and machines is ushering in a new era of work and the future of talent is unconstrained, connected, omni- channel and cognitive. Therefore, HR’s future growth will rest upon our ability to impact intangible talent factors such as culture, leadership, Innovation, employee experiences, creativity and create an economic value for employees and organizations. The future may not be wholly predictable, but by assessing the current challenges and looking at the emerging trends, we can make sure that our businesses and employees are prepared and ready to seize what the future world of work holds!