Vignesh Seetharaman | Head - Corporate HR | Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd. (Cadbury)

Vignesh Seetharaman, the Head - Corporate HR at Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd. (Cadbury) has helped the company make significant progress in the twin objectives of building people manager capabilities and increasing self-service in HR processes. He believes that in order to evolve HR into a strategic function, it is vital for the entire workforce to realise the importance of people development and personal growth. As the Head of Corporate HR, he has been focusing on improving all employee touch points through design and experience to make organisational design, talent management, engagement programs, and DEI initiatives more effective. Vignesh also advocates for collaborations with experts outside the organisation to avail technical knowledge and improve organisational focus. 

Beginning The journey In HR

Vignesh considers people to be the most critical resource for building an organisation and understands that the power of people, purpose, and culture holds infinite possibilities. He views himself as a curious and proud HR professional, forever willing to learn and innovate. He favours big and bold change to solve challenges, and advises that HR should always keep the bigger picture in mind while adopting new practices. He believes that leveraging HR transformation to usher in organisational change is possible, only if employees are at the centre of processes and policies.

Identifying Challenges And Implementing Solutions 

Being future-ready is the most pressing challenge facing HR today and this becomes even more complex in the FMCG industry due to regular macro headwinds. Building a growth mindset, embracing agility, and learning new skills are some ways to prepare for the future. He shares, “There is a need to reimagine career growth and it’s possible through educating employees and managers to uphold it with meaningful dialogues and skilling opportunities supplemented by talent marketplace.”

Vignesh has been using people analytics to redesign the entire gamut of HR deliverables like organisation effectiveness, people experience, employee engagement and talent management. Finally, he also wants to further the values of inclusion and sustainability to build the employer brand and foster an engaging and thriving culture. The business landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years and he considers all the golden rules and set in stone SoPs are open for revision. It is important for HR leaders to reset their outlook regularly to focus on the things that truly matter. 

Experience With Are You In The List Awards

The process of competing in People Matters Are You In the List awards powered by Aon has been intellectually challenging, emotionally stimulating, and personally rewarding for Vignesh. He aspired for this award while pursuing his Masters, and believes that the evaluation process has helped improve his self-awareness. He particularly cherished the interactions with CXOs in the later stages of the evaluation and found them to be extremely enriching. The personalised attention and scrutiny offered by expert leaders lent a sense of profundity to the conversations and gave him a lot to think about. “Participating in the process is akin to a mental marathon which pushes your functional and leadership competence to the limits. While going through it, you get a chance to benchmark yourself with enterprising professionals from across the HR community which is not something you get to do often.”

Imagining the future of HR

Vignesh's approach to work and life is to stay grounded while having his goals firmly set in sight. He wants to broaden his worldview and approach his objectives with pragmatism, which combines learning from diverse sources, seeking multitude of perspectives, reimagining choices, making better decisions, delaying gratification, and working without worrying about results. For 2024, he wants organisations and employees to develop a sense of shared purpose so that businesses can succeed in a challenging environment. He envisions a future of sustainability, inclusivity, and innovation in HR.

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