Jaya Jyoti | Manager HR - Business Partner | Flipkart 

Jaya Jyoti is your unconventional HR professional who has a vast array of passions apart from Human Resources. As an HR - Business Partner, she has moved across various roles spanning Advisory, Learning, and Rewards. An English literature graduate from Lady Shri Ram, DU, her penchant for creating a more inclusive society through focusing on intersectionality was kick-started by studying HR at TISS, Mumbai.

Jaya is an avid reader who loves to write opinion pieces, free verses, listening to music, pop culture trivia, and as many alliterations as a sentence would allow!

Since childhood, Jaya was bitten by the curiosity bug to get into people’s mindset - what makes them tick, what drives them, what anchors them, what gives their life meaning. Her interest in people’s behavior exploded as she understood the element of different human beings with varied identities and contexts interacting at a scale to deliver outcomes together. The idea that a group of people or function, solely entrusted with the task to enable people to be the best version for themselves, fascinated her. After researching around, Jaya finally zeroed on Human Resources where she felt that her curiosities could convert into a tangible impact.  

Creating more inclusive teams 

Being a student of English Literature has enabled Jaya to examine a text through multiple perspectives. She understands the intricacies such as the capability to exist in uncertainty, doubt, and the faculty to be open instead of trying to shoehorn people/situations into neatly preconceived boxes. With the knowledge, she has been using her skills to contribute to creating more inclusive teams that are more accepting and are of intersecting identities. She also coaches leaders to adopt a complexity mindset for steering through unprecedented situations with many unknown variables.

Creating radically inclusive workplaces that can unlock exponential value: Key priority 

Jaya believes that she can work towards creating radically inclusive workplaces that can unlock exponential value by enabling individuals to understand & articulate their purpose while playing a larger societal role in solving inequality and global humanitarian challenges.

The one thing I will change in HR 

The one thing that Jaya would like to change is the belief that “fairness equals a uniform approach to dealing with individual problem statements”. 

She understands that policies and processes are important guiding principles as organisations scale, yet they should not become a tedious solution to every employee's problem. Jaya believes that it is important to be able to personalize solutions- while retaining the spirit of the policy/process. This will be key to managing an increasingly diversified workforce with significantly different needs.

The one thing I will retain in HR 

The one thing that Jaya would like to retain in HR is its fundamental role in being the moral conscience of the organization-the function has always played the role of stepping up and challenging the organization to act in alignment with its values. This role is important now more than ever as we navigate an increasingly complex world with no set blueprints to lay out the right course of action.

A leader who can lead through the crisis

Jaya believes that a leader who can articulate a compelling purpose, build high trust cultures, have a complex mindset to navigate the unknown, is radically inclusive, and values empathy & connection to unleash individual potential- will march us all to success in the new normal.

Jaya accepts that the challenges of shifting from complicated thinking and developing a complexity mindset, are ones leaders have never faced before. Hence, it would be prudent to tap into collective intelligence to solve these unprecedented problems. Leaders are required to be authentic and open to being vulnerable. Leaders are expected to role-model empathy and build connections with their team members. They also need to extend this empathy and connection beyond the organization  to solving inequalities and societal challenges and all this while flexing to manage needs of a diversified workforce.

The leadership journey with People Matters Are You In The List Awards 

Accelerated by the pandemic, the new world of work has brought forth very complex problems to solve, creating a need for the sharpest and brightest minds to work on radically innovative solutions. People Matters Are You in the List awards serve that purpose by creating a  very rigorous journey that would help identify individuals with the right skills, attitudes, and gumption to catapult the function into its new Avatar.

Jaya shared, “ I have personally enjoyed going through this journey- however I see entry into this list as not the destination but a starting point to create intentional impact and unlock value for the function along with some of the brightest HR talent in the country.”

Vision for HR's future growth

The world of work was changing rapidly even before the pandemic struck-with increasing connectivity, new talent models, rapid digitization, and the rise of the gig economy etc. However, accelerated by the pandemic, the new world of work is here much sooner than we anticipated. HR is in the driving seat of shaping this change and reimagining why, where, and how work will get done and how workplaces adapt to unleash the endless possibilities of human potential, all the while retaining empathy and connection as the guiding principles for the function.