At what point in your life did you decide to take up HR as your career? What were the guiding / motivating factors?

Human Resource to me happened by chance. I graduated from Delhi School of Economics, 2009 as I wanted to become an Economist. But very fewer placement companies visited our college. I decided to start working when I ended up joining the Intelenet Global Services where I used to take up the Calls, and deal with the Insurance companies in US. From learning and development, I gradually moved to Human Resources and Organization Development that is how I came in Human Resources. But now I enjoy working in this field and I feel this was destined. 

HR is one practice that touches human lives directly. Do you think employers and specially HR Professional can play role in reducing stress levels of employees through various employee engagement initiatives?

That’s a really good question. So yes, we run a lot of employee engagement initiatives in our company. We have a tie up with Gym and also conduct weekly classes of Zumba, Yoga, etc., keeping in mind our employees’ fitness. We have a psychologist from visiting our office every week so that the employees can reach out to her for help anonymously. This way we ensure our employees physical as well as mental health is taken care of. 

What are some of the most important employee engagement initiatives related to Music, Art, Dance or Sports that you have taken in your career?

We have a ‘Passion Club’ in our workplace which is sponsored by the HRs but managed completely by the employees. The President and the team is formed by the employees. Dance and Music activities are conducted here. Then we have a Sports club, Reading Club, Photography Club, etc. It is a very amazing place for employees where they manage and organize various activities like Carnivals, Diwali function, etc on their own.  We do not contact any famous personality to conduct these events. Everything is done in house.

Do you think time and cost for employee engagements are an investment for the organisation and can help in multi-fold returns?

Of course, I believe it is a huge investment. We analysed the process and the results were really great. There was a time when our employee engagement activities were not so meaningful. We were running them on an ad-hoc basis. Then we restructured the complete program and we noticed that the improvement score was increased from a negative to positive one. That’s the journey that we have seen in the last 3 years.

Do you feel there is a need even to reach out to the family of employees so that they get better connected to the company? Have you undertaken any such initiative in your past or current organization?

Yes, I have done such things in my past and current organization.

In my previous organization, we organized an event on the occasion of completing 20 years and we thanked the employees who stayed with us for last 10-15 yrs. So, we reached out to their families and asked them to share a video thanking the employees for giving their time to the organization.

In the current organization, we organize Annual Family Day, etc. to bring together the family members. Also, one more interesting thing we do is when the employees get their Annual Award, we reach to their family members and ask them to create a small video mentioning their message. We play it when the employee gets the award and make that moment more special for him.

Also, we are reaching out to the housewives of the male employees here and training them as well on Communication, better time management, etc.

We are investing on the development of our employees’ family.

What is the one change that you would like to bring in HR practice that has potential to boost employees work-life balance?

I think there should be a strict 9 hrs working on the weekdays and encourage the team to work but on the same time they should not reach out to the employees on weekend. This is a vital rule that should be applied through all the organizations.

We are investing on the development of our employees’ family.
 

What are your personal interests in Music, Art, Dance or Sports and how do you continue to pursue it?

My love Music and Cooking. Usually I cook a lot, especially on the weekends for my family.