In the current scenario where we are growing very rapidly there is increased demand for talent, a vibrant work environment and a need to develop and empower leaders at all levels, for organizations to compete. Therefore the three top HR priorities for us include recruiting the right people, developing the current team in terms of technical and professional requirements to meet the new demands of the job, and fostering workplace energy though employee engagement and connection.

Talent priorities are on top of my agenda. These priorities have really not change significantly for us in the last few years as we have been growing very rapidly in India. What is changing however is the pace and pressure we face to focus on these areas. Personally I view the people challenges we face in a positive way, as this infers that we are growing.

Within the talent spectrum, I personally spend a lot of my time looking at activities related to attracting and retaining people. I also spend a lot of time to ensure we deliberate on creating development opportunities for our people. I have high regard for experiential learning which works very well to develop new skills and leadership capability. My role in developing people aims at ensuring we leverage on the experiences they have built up and see how we can utilize it in the new areas of our company.

In our organization, our people initiatives are all linked to each other in an institutionalized people program called “Utopia." This is a combination of activities and interventions that aim at engagement and retention. The ownership of this program is with the leadership, and my scorecard also includes goals related to learning and progression, communication and connects, celebration and recognition etc.

Our HR Head is part of the leadership team and from the top 40 senior managers in the organization, 6 of them belong to the HR function. There are many measures we look at to ensure we are on track on our people initiatives, from on boarding feedback, to first 100 days feedback, global employee satisfaction (for India), retention rate, employee referrals, Great Places to Work ® ranking etc.