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

So this was a cross road moment for me, Passion as a profession or lead a profession. I knew one thing straight, I wanted to make a difference, I wanted to matter and to contribute.
The theory that they teach you in college is just the tip of the iceberg to what this profession has to offer. Right after my graduation I gave my entrance exam and with a very good percentile and loose pockets hunted for universities to complete my further education. While that in mind I wanted to make a difference, contribute and so I joined into a recruitment consultancy. Throughout your life you hear people say “no job – no money” I wanted to connect the right people to the right company, that was my phase one of contribution factor. Only little did I know the pond I was jumping into is a vast ocean.  The more I wanted to be an expert into what I did, the multi-fold avenues and doors opened for me. All I wanted is to be a Lead HR. I began to understand Human Resources Profession form a wider angle than just recruitment. 

HR is the core of any organisation. Getting the right person at the right place and enhancing the capabilities of these individuals through training, certification program management and strategic management are again some key roles of an HR in an organisation that decides the fate of a company. The first step of success of any firm is to get the right person at the right job. You can’t have a railway engine driver pilot an aircraft, though both have the skillset of operating an engine. Looking beyond the obvious and scouting for talent to build organisations was not only challenging but sleep wrecking. You have that one person in some part of the world, who fits the block right to make the wall stronger. As an individual who loves challenges I saw the opportunity to take a lead and make a difference. In the vey 1st year of my career I was given to manage people and handle teams, and the learning from my mentors have yet not stopped, even as I move to a bigger spectrum of being an HR business Partner/ Strategist. 

The HR or Human Capital Management (Talent Management), plays a vital role in strategizing the business, laying out a success strategy to a business. Developing the skllis of the employees to be better than they know they are through trainings learning and development activities. To share the vison of accomplishment with the employees driving a synergy with the learnings never stops. Strategizing within departments and streamline processes while keeping the employees engaged and driving a unified fun culture is just pumping every area of my expertise and I keep filling it with learning. 

Contributing to the development of the employees and in turn to that of the organisation is what it really means to be a Human Resource professional. I see a long path ahead, a long and successful one. Making that happen is my vision, and Developing myself and the organisations I work with is my Mission.

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?

Rightly said that it impacts human lives directly. Of the 16 wake hours of the day, an employee spends 9hrs on an average with the company at his / her job.  3 -4 hours travelling and what’s left goes in pondering how to improve or solve a problem the next day I am at work. So yes, it’s a stressful scenario for every employee. A workplace environment directly impacts human life behaviours. 

Research by Glassdoor in 2016 reported that 53% of employees are confident that if they quit or lost their current job, they would be able to find a suitable position within a couple of months. To us, this trend indicates one thing: If you don’t give employees a compelling reason to stay, they’ll find another job that does.. Engagement is the ability to be present, focused, and energized. But what it does is even more interesting. Engaged people go above and beyond what is expected of them because they feel part of a purpose larger than themselves. Engagement is an important HR variable for most organisations. It helps enable your organisation to deliver a superior performance and to gain a competitive advantage. Engaged employees make additional effort, learn more, and faster, and are more creative. In addition, they are your organisation's ambassadors. Furthermore, engagement is a good predictor of customer satisfaction, personnel retention, productivity and profitability.

Engagement takes committed and motivated employees to the next level. Engaged employees concentrate on the goals of your organisation and on the results that you as an organisation expect from them. They have the feeling that they really can contribute to the success of your organisation and that all their abilities are being utilised.
Engaging the employees is a rudimentary act of giving the employees as sense of belongings. They can connect with themselves and relate to the job that they do. Humans work on emotions unlike machines and the best way of trigging emotions is to let yourself loose from time to time. Not just best at work but much more.

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

All of these activities Music – Art – Dance and Sports have been initiated on a great scale throughout my career. 

Music: Being my personal favourite have organised, participated judged multiple singing competitions or been a part of my office band just to let loose. Singing helps people to connect with a deeper emotion. If not competition, have just picked up the guitar and visited the workspace of our employees to sing their heart out. Its amazing to see them so light and refreshed, its like a jumpstart mid day. Carol singing is another activity all the employees look forward to during Christmas. Or just some music on the work floor to get people work with a grove, just surprises them. The Ideas are endless. 

Art: have organised drawing competitions, tattoo day, Rangoli or even asked some NGO’s to sell some of their artwork within the organisation, and its amazing to see the employees appreciate art and feel connected. My heart skipped a beat when I, for the first time, saw a foot painting artist. 

Dance: well much to say, everybody has got the groove. It may be a specific dance style or just the Ganpati dance. Garba nights in office or a DJ party, every individual lets loose themselves, a time to remember for days to come. Dance is indeed just another language to connect us humans, its our body language

Sports: I still recollect the day I organised an All Mumbai treasure hunt for my previous organisation Cox and kings, to see these employees run all over Mumbai. We sure made some ruckus in Mumbai with that energy. Every Sport teaches an individual discipline and team work, some of the key values and skill set the HRs look into an employee before hiring. The best way to harness and sharpen these skill set is to test it and apply it. Sports help employees drive better coordination and keeps the body active and healthy. One good way of keeping stress at bay, “Play today”.

All these activities are engaging, but in a way developing the employee, as each require a perfect coordination of mind body and critical thinking, confidence and passion, giving an employee over all fitness, acting as a stress buster and also imbibing a sense of achievement, drives healthy competition.

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

Of course! Like I mentioned above, it’s for the development of the employee. I don’t think any HR would disagree that the skills used in MADS are very much utilized at workplace. Training the brain and body to function in a different manner via these employee engagement activity  is equivalent as spending in the development of the employee. 
From my perspective, this can be looked at as a Learning & Development activity, teaching the employees to harness the skills of teamwork, mind and body coordination, confidence booster, healthy competition and a sense of belonging. 
These skills will go a long way, as various individuals come together to achieve one goal, success to everyone. 

The returns of these investments are seen, when you see the employee more attracted to the organisation, more focused towards a common goal and working with all they got. It’s the ownership that is visible in these employees, still looking forward to the next activity we approach them with. Its retrenchment of cost and maximum utilization of employee productivity. You would not want to keep hiring self-motivated employees, hence you motivate the employees in the spirit of the organisation. I for sure don’t see it as a cost but a valuable investment.

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?

The practice of work from home policy, where the employees can work from their respective places rather and not travel in bad climate conditions or emergency situations at home, is something I personally support. With this we lay our trust in the employees and find it efficient that the employee has his/her priorities right. However, a physical presence in team efforts/work situation is viable choice/ decision. Also, in addition a family day, where you can have a gathering of your few family members to meet and greet the people you work with or even see the desk space you work at, would be a great addition. Could motivate the employees and boost their moral.

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

I am a footballer who host shows and organize events, teaches Music for the soul and live the opportunities being an HR by profession.
I am perusing my hobbies and passion as it is one’s responsibility to maintain self balance and work life balance. Besides, my organisation has several opportunities to stage my talent and passion.