Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

What does ‘precision learning’ mean? Traditional corporate learning begins with a programme. Precision learning begins with a gap. The idea is to identify what an individual actually needs to learn and deliver an intervention suited to that need, rather than putting an entire workforce through the same course. It draws on the logic associated with precision medicine, where treatment is tailored to the characteristics of an individual rather than applied uniformly to everyone. In learning, data from assessments, performance, behaviour, and feedback can be used to identify specific capability gaps. Technology can then adjust the content, difficulty, format, or timing…

A new Niti Aayog report has raised serious concerns about graduate unemployment in India. It shows that joblessness among graduates is four times higher than the national average. While the overall unemployment rate is 3.2 per cent, 13 per cent of all graduates and over 20 per cent of women graduates are without work. Even more worrying, only about 8 per cent of graduates find jobs that match their qualifications. The report, Reimagining Skilling for Viksit Bharat@2047, says many young people enter the labour market without practical, job ready skills. Communication, problem solving, and role specific abilities are often missing.…

The Central government of India is reportedly facing a shortage of staff, with more than 8.23 lakh sanctioned posts lying vacant as of March 2024. Data shows that out of 39.23 lakh approved civilian positions, only 30.99 lakh are filled, leaving over one in five jobs unoccupied. The largest gaps are in the Defence Ministry’s civilian workforce, Railways, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, which together account for nearly three fourths of the shortfall. The Defence Ministry alone reportedly has over 2.42 lakh vacancies, while Railways has 2.40 lakh. The Home Affairs Ministry is short by 1.10 lakh staff. Other…

Apple is planning to cut more than 200 jobs as part of a major reshuffle in its Siri and Vision Pro teams. The changes will affect around 100 roles in the Vision Pro division and another 100 in Siri and related software units. Apple has reportedly said the reshuffle is aimed at improving user experience and aligning teams with future priorities. Employees affected by the cuts will be supported with opportunities to apply for other roles within the company. The company is scaling back its Vision Pro operations, including shutting down most of the gaming team and reducing staff working…

Lessons learnt early Early in her career, Jeyamalini Natesan had the opportunity to work directly with MDs and CEOs. The exposure gave her an early understanding of business strategy and, more importantly, showed her how HR could move beyond being a support function to become a genuine business partner. It also shaped something more fundamental in how she approached the profession. No two people respond to the same situation in exactly the same way. For Natesan, that meant HR demanded agility, empathy and the ability to constantly balance business priorities with employee expectations. Today, as CHRO at Ashirvad by Aliaxis,…

The standard explanation for rising youth unemployment is a struggling economy. The International Labour Organisation’s Global Employment Trends for Youth 2026 makes that explanation increasingly difficult to sustain. The global youth unemployment rate rose from 12.3 per cent in 2023 to 12.4 per cent in 2025, leaving around 67 million young people aged 15 to 24 without work. The share classified as NEET (not in employment, education or training) increased from 19.7 per cent to 20 per cent over the same period, adding roughly nine million people to a total that now exceeds 257 million. Youth unemployment increased in eight…

Swiggy has expanded leadership roles for three senior executives even as it scales up its Instamart and Food Marketplace businesses. Himavant Kurnala has been appointed chief growth and product officer – Instamart, Nitesh Garg has been appointed chief technology officer – Instamart, and Saurav Goyal has been appointed chief operating officer – Food Marketplace. Kurnala has been associated with Instamart’s Product charter since 2024. He went on to take on the responsibilities of growth and brand marketing too. He is credited with driving Instamart’s shift to an AI-native product and operating model, unifying product, design, analytics and trust and safety…

The Assam government is planning strict action against employees who leave their first wife without a legal divorce and then marry again. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that in such cases, the state could deduct 20 per cent of the employee’s salary and transfer it directly to the first wife’s bank account, provided she applies for it. The move comes after the government found several instances where employees had abandoned their wives without completing divorce proceedings and entered into informal marriages. The salary deduction would continue while the matter is before the court, ensuring that the first wife receives…

What does ‘bot sitting’ mean? Bot sitting is the informal term for the work employees do supervising artificial intelligence (AI) systems: prompting them, checking their answers, correcting errors, supplying missing context, trying again when outputs go wrong, and deciding whether the eventual result can actually be trusted. The irony is difficult to miss. Artificial intelligence was introduced partly to remove mundane work. Bot sitting can become mundane work of a different kind. This does not mean AI is failing. Human supervision is inevitable when powerful technologies are introduced into complex workplaces. The problem begins when organisations count the productivity AI…

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has removed 50 staff members as part of a major shake up following errors in recent UGC NET exams. The decision comes after the agency ordered re tests for three subjects — English, Commerce and Sociology — due to multiple mistakes in the question papers. This is not the first time the NTA has acted against its staff. In July, 47 officials were terminated after the NEET paper leak controversy. The latest removals bring the total to 50, with the agency now advertising new professional leadership roles such as chief technology officer, chief finance officer…

Finalist | HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Awards 2025 Sujata Phukan has spent fourteen years in HR, but the people who have shaped her philosophy most, she says, are not necessarily the senior leaders she has reported to. They are the employees she has worked with. Career conversations, difficult discussions and moments when someone has come to her uncertain about what comes next have gradually shaped the way she thinks about the function. Every people decision, in her view, touches something tangible: confidence, motivation, trust and the way someone feels about returning to work the next morning. That awareness sits at…

Walking away from certainty After 14 years at Sapient, Manika Awasthi had built credibility, strong relationships and a career that felt comfortable. She knew the business inside out, people knew her, and she could probably have stayed for many more years. But somewhere along the way, a difficult question began surfacing. Was she still growing, or had she simply become comfortable? She left to join the aviation industry, stepping into an unfamiliar business with a very different pace and environment. It meant learning a new industry, adapting to an Indian setup and proving herself all over again. During those first…

The Government of India has begun weaving Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the country’s skill-development programmes, aiming to prepare workers for technology driven jobs. A press release by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship reveals that at the centre of this effort is the Skill India Digital Hub (SIDH), a one stop online platform for skilling and certification. Through SIDH, the Ministry launched the SOAR programme in 2025 to build AI literacy. It started with four basic online courses and has since expanded to 50 qualifications covering AI for jobs, workplace productivity, sector specific uses, and inclusivity. By August 2026, more…

Shashi Kumari, a government school employee from Sambhal district, went to the Allahabad High Court hoping for relief. She had applied for six months of maternity leave after the birth of her fourth child. The local Block Education Officer had rejected her request in June, citing service rules. Kumari challenged that order, arguing she had never taken maternity leave for her earlier three children and should be entitled to it now. Her counsel pressed the point that this was her first actual request for leave, making the rejection unfair. The state’s lawyer disagreed, pointing out that the rules are clear:…

The great reshuffling appears to be running out of steam. Globally, 24 per cent of workers intend to switch jobs in the first half of 2026, according to the Employer Brand Research 2026 report by Randstad. Intentions to move have declined for the second consecutive year, even as actual job-switching has remained relatively stable. For employers, that sounds reassuring. After several years of unusually high mobility, a workforce that wants to stay put might reasonably be read as evidence that retention is improving and the turbulence of recent years is finally subsiding. The rest of the data makes that interpretation…

SpiceJet employees at Bengaluru airport have raised the possibility of an indefinite strike after facing delays in salary payments. According to a report by Moneycontrol, staff members said their salaries have been inconsistent since October 2025, with three months still pending. Some security personnel briefly stopped work late on 9 August but returned after senior officials assured them of payment within a day. Workers claim repeated delays have left them struggling to pay rent, EMIs, and credit card bills. They also allege difficulties in leaving the company due to long notice periods and delays in receiving relieving letters. Concerns have…

What does ‘change agility’ mean? Change agility is the ability to adapt quickly and constructively when circumstances shift. It is not simply about surviving disruption, but about continuing to learn, decide, and move while that disruption is still unfolding. In HR, the term describes both an individual capability and an organisational one. Employees need to adjust when technologies, roles, markets, or expectations change. Organisations need systems that allow them to do so without waiting for stability that may never arrive. It is useful to distinguish change agility from resilience. Resilience is largely about recovering from adversity. Change agility is about…

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has ruled that contractual employees are entitled to child care leave of up to 720 days during their service, providing a significant clarification on leave benefits for employees engaged on contract. The 4 August order came in the case of Ayesha Sheikh, a contractual programmer posted at the State Education Centre in Khandwa. Sheikh had sought child care leave for her son, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic condition that has left him dependent on assistance for basic movement. Sheikh first applied for child care leave in 2020, when her son was around 14…

Lakshmi Tulasi Inturi has been appointed head of human resources at Wendt India. She was earlier senior strategic HRBP, HR operations, payroll and TA. In the initial years of her career she served as account manager, Data Group and then as assistant manager-human resources, Moldtek Technologies. In June of 2008 she served as assistant manager-HR, Ashland Inc. Over five years later she switched to LT Supercom India as HR manager, in November of 2013. Solenis appointed her manager HR, India, in October of 2015. In less than three years, she was promoted to senior manager-HR, India. From August 2020 to…

Finalist | HRKatha Rising Star Leadership Award 2025 Manufacturing HR rarely gets the glamour of its consulting or technology-sector counterparts. Its realities are contract labour, industrial relations, shift operations and greenfield project timelines rather than culture decks and employer-branding campaigns. Harikrishnama Raju Guntamadugu has spent more than eighteen years inside exactly this world, across glass, steel, pharma, cement and interiors, and it has shaped a decidedly practical view of what makes an HR leader credible: not visibility, but consistency demonstrated over years rather than campaigns. “Credibility is earned through consistency over many years,” he says. It is perhaps the closest…

After over seven years of association with IDFC First Bank, Pankaj Singh has reached the position of chief human resources officer (CHRO). He had joined the bank as head HR-retail assets in July of 2019. In less than three years, he received his first promotion, which made him head of HR-retail banking, customer experience and operations in April of 2022. An alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Singh began his professional journey with Standard Chartered Bank as an HR executive, in May of 2002. In just over two years, he was promoted to performance management-branch banking. Another promotion…

Following her internal compass The biggest professional risk Shefali Rai took was walking away from her formal training as an engineer to move into human resources. In a culture where success was often narrowly defined through careers in engineering or medicine, pivoting into an entirely different domain, with no guaranteed trajectory, was daunting. There was no established map to follow and little social permission to stray from the expected path. Yet that decision became the foundation of her career. “Follow your internal compass, ignore the noise of conventional expectations, and back yourself with unwavering self-belief,” she says. Today, as CHRO…

In large parts of the world, employment is not an aspiration. It is a condition of survival. Which makes the International Labour Organisation’s latest finding particularly uncomfortable: in low-income countries, 68 per cent of workers were still living in extreme or moderate poverty in 2025 despite having jobs. For decades, unemployment has been the headline measure of labour-market health. The ILO’s ‘Employment and Social Trends 2026’ report suggests it has become an incomplete one. The bigger challenge is increasingly not whether people have work, but whether that work provides enough income, security and productivity to lift them out of poverty.…

What does halo-horn effect  mean? The halo effect occurs when one positive quality influences how we judge everything else about a person. Confidence, charisma, fluency, or even appearance creates such a favourable first impression that other strengths are simply assumed. The horn effect works in the opposite direction. One visible weakness, an awkward interview, a presentation that goes badly, or a single mistake, colours every subsequent judgement, making genuine strengths harder to recognise. The names come from familiar imagery. A halo symbolises virtue. Horns suggest the opposite. In psychology, both describe the tendency to let one characteristic dominate our overall…

The Finance Ministry has cleared a proposal to raise the wage ceiling for mandatory Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) coverage from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 a month. The plan now awaits Cabinet approval and, if passed, is expected to take effect from 1 April, 2027. At present, only employees earning up to ?15,000 in basic salary are automatically covered under EPF and the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). Those earning more can opt in, but employers are not obliged to enrol them. With the new ceiling, workers earning between ?15,000 and ?25,000 will also fall under compulsory coverage. This will expand…

Jindal Steel, the Indian integrated steel producer, has appointed Rajiv Kumar as chief operating officer (COO). Kumar moves from Vedanta Aluminium where he was serving as chief executive officer (CEO). Rajiv Kumar is backed by over three decades of experience in the metals and mining space. Before joining Vedanta, Rajiv Kumar had served Tata Steel as vice president-operations (Kalinganagar plant). After moving to Vedanta, he helped expand production capabilities at the company, focused on improving operational efficiency, and tried to ensure sustainable growth. In line with the company’s goals, he was committed to innovation, sustainability and excellence, with an unwavering…