For Capgemini, the talent priority is not just an HR priority but also a business priority. Our current employee strength is 33,000 in India and we have ambitious plans to grow. While other business functions are important enablers for this growth, leadership and talent agenda are the number one business priority. Its importance is also reflected on my scorecard where 25% of my performance is derived from the talent metrics. All business unit leaders and I have talent metrics related to employee satisfaction, retention, training and leadership development.

The talent agenda translates to the following three top priorities:

1. Leadership Development: We aim to create a leadership pipeline looking at the business requirement of company in the next 3 years. While the primary focus is India, we are also looking at how leaders from India can supplement the Capgemini talent pool for global position. This is not a short term priority for FY 2011 but a longer vision of building a leadership pipeline for the future. This agenda is for across levels and though his is not a new priority for us, this year the focus has definitely intensified.
2. Building alignment between HR and business: This is a new initiative this year as we have realized that HR needs to be proactive in connecting with business to deliver value. For this purpose, we have identified senior people within HR who will create a new business partnership role to drive this transformation.
3. Building a common culture: Capgemini has grown through acquisitions, so this year the priority is to focus on creating “One Capgemini” that all employee can identify with regardless of where they came from.

As CEO, I spend somewhere around 20 to 25% of my time in HR or talent-related activities. This would actually be more if you also include the time I also spend on articulating and communicating the vision and objectives of the organization. Most of this time goes on building connect and engagement with employees, improvement of the L&D culture, bringing new talent onboard etc.

Undoubtedly, HR is the leader of the talent agenda and plays a very crucial role in change management. This HR and business together drives the talent synergies within business units and at the organizational level by owning the change management program.