Issue 08

1. HR drives the business, what is your take on this? How does it influence your HR strategy? 

HR plays a vital role in the organisation’s short- and long-term goals. They are as responsible for the Company’s growth as any other critical function. There may be many tools and technologies deployed, but it is the organisation’s workforce that turns them into meaningful resources. And to build the human resource powerhouse, HRs need to attract, nurture, and retain the right talent.

When we hire employees, we do not just assess their domain knowledge or functional expertise but also evaluate how seamlessly they can adapt themselves into the Company’s values.  Without cultural alignment, long-term success within the organization becomes challenging.  

Another very important aspect from the organisation’s perspective is training and upskilling. Mapping the employees’ skills with the Company’s requirement, conducting training to bridge any gap is crucial to ensure that the talent pipeline remains relevant and is ready to step up the ladder when needed. A continuous learning drive gives an edge in the industry and plays an integral role in the organisation’s success. At UTI, upskilling is a critical part of our core strategy and helps us immensely in building the right talent.  

Let’s be cognizant of the fact that HR is not an annual strategy, but a continuous process. When Companies develop their three-year or five-year strategies, a key consideration is whether their current talent is equipped to achieve those goals. HR plays a vital role in this by identifying the right people to deploy, hiring externally when necessary, and implementing practices to groom future leaders. Without strategic HR intervention, sustaining long-term business growth becomes incredibly challenging. 

2. Do you think HR has succeeded in becoming a strategic partner for business? What could be the areas of improvement? 

For HR to truly succeed as a strategic partner, it is essential to have a deep understanding of the business. HR professionals should approach their role with the mindset of learning the business first, rather than simply focusing on implementing HR concepts. The key is to align HR strategies with business needs, ensuring that HR initiatives support organizational goals rather than functioning in isolation. 

3. What is your recruitment and talent development strategy?

My talent strategy is quite different from conventional approaches. Broadly, talent hiring follows two key concepts: “Buy” and “Build”

• “Buy” refers to hiring experienced talent—senior and mid-level professionals—from the market. 
• “Build” involves recruiting talent from Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 colleges and grooming them into future leaders within the organization. 

A key focus for us has been building talent from the bottom of the pyramid. Over the last two to three years, we have hired around 200 people from various campuses. While we may have seen 20 to 30 percent attrition, many of these young minds brought fresh perspectives and innovative thinking into the organization. Additionally, many of those who have stayed are now being groomed for leadership roles.

In the financial services sector, there is often a tendency to hire talent from direct competitors. However, I strongly discourage this practice. Hiring from the competition often brings baggage and creates an artificial demand for certain professionals who move between similar organizations. Instead, I prefer to hire people from diverse backgrounds and train them through structured programs to help them adapt and succeed in the financial services industry.

4. In a VUCA world, how do you cope with the disruptive forces? Be it Talent Retention, Engagement, and Development.  

Talent retention is a challenge across industries, whether in startups, traditional companies, or financial services, especially at the junior level, where attrition is high due to multiple opportunities. One key to retention is empowering employees. Young professionals, particularly those born after 1995, expect to be treated as responsible adults and included in decision-making processes. They seek continuous learning opportunities, open conversations with peers and leaders, and a flat hierarchy where logic and rationale matter more than authority.

To address this, we are actively coaching mid and senior management on how to engage and retain talent by fostering an inclusive, transparent, and development-focused work environment.