Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

Altimetrik, an AI-first data- and digital-engineering company has selected Dhirendra Nath to be its chief human resources officer (CHRO). He moves from SLK Group, where he was president and group chief people officer. An alumna of the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam, Dhirendra Nath has served as senior executive HR at Pantaloon Retail from 2001 to 2002. He then joined APJ Surrendra Group as assistant manager-HR for over a year. His next stop was Dr Reddy’s as deputy manager-HR. For two years he played L&OD lead for the largest business unit there, and was instrumental in large scale OD intervention…

South India is witnessing a wave of strikes across multiple sectors, with nurses, sports employees, and liquor store staff demanding better pay, job security, and improved working conditions. In Kerala, thousands of nurses from private hospitals staged a massive protest march in Thiruvananthapuram under the United Nurses Association. They pressed the government to set a minimum salary of Rs 40,000 and warned of an indefinite strike if their demands are ignored. The march began at Palayam and ended at the Secretariat, followed by a public meeting. In Hyderabad, employees of the Hyderabad Cricket Association launched an indefinite strike at Uppal…

Amazon has announced another round of job cuts, this time hitting its robotics division. At least 100 white-collar employees are being let go as part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at cutting costs and focusing more on artificial intelligence (AI). These layoffs follow a much larger round in January, when the company eliminated about 16,000 jobs worldwide. The robotics team designs and builds warehouse automation systems, including robotic arms and conveyor technologies that help move and sort packages. Recently, Amazon also scrapped development of a project called Blue Jay, a robotic arm system showcased last year that was meant…

Diageo India, the alcohol beverage company, has appointed Chinmay Sharma as its chief human resources officer. Shama moves from GSK where he spent over five years. An alumnus of Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Sharma joined Procter & Gamble in 2003, as an HR analyst. A year and nine months into this role, he was elevated to assistant manager, compensation and benefits -Africa Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia. Another promotion two years later made him manager, talent practice. In July of 2009, he was promoted to manager, human resources. Nine months into this role, he was…

Generali Central Insurance, a joint venture between Generali Group and the Central Bank of India, has launched a bold campaign called ‘Happy Women’s Pay’. Instead of the usual flowers and greetings on International Women’s Day, the company is spotlighting pay equity as the most meaningful way to honour women. The campaign comes against a stark backdrop: women globally still earn less than men for the same work, and in India, the gender pay gap stands at around 35 per cent. Despite decades since the Equal Remuneration Act, women earn only about 65 per cent of men’s wages. Generali Central Insurance…

S&P Global, the financial services company, has elevated Bhavna Batra to head of people-India region. She has been associated with the company since 2021, as vice president-people. An alumna of Management Development Institute from where she completed an MBA in Human Resource Management, Batra served as project leader for over four years at Right Management, from 2006 to 2010. She then relocated form Mumbai to Gurugram, to play business head at SHL, where she led end-to-end SHL operations in North, East and Central India (sales, consulting design and delivery) for over three years. She moved to Genpact in 2013, as…

There are leaders who enter HR through instinct. And then there are those who arrive there through deliberate design. For Abira Bhattacharjee, the journey into HR was never accidental. It was a progression shaped by business logic. Her education and early career were grounded in business management, where she led and managed business portfolios. The language she learned first was that of margins, markets and operational priorities. The pivot came when she joined a consulting organisation and began working closely on HR consulting and solution design for clients. That exposure shifted something fundamental. She saw, up close, how people strategy…

Kamaljeet Kaur will now be the chief human resources officer (CHRO) at RR Kabel. She comes with over 20 years of experience in HR, having begun her career as an assistant manager with Hero MotoCorp, in 2003. Three years later, she was appointed regional L&D specialist (EMEAI), Wrigley. This stint saw her working out of Himachal Pradesh for over two years, handling middle- and senior-level recruitments. August of 2008 saw her taking up the role of regional service manager-human resources, at HDFC Bank. She worked out of Chandigarh for over four years. From 2012 to 2013 she served as assistant…

After spending over four and a half years with Observe.AI, Cijo George has moved to Practo to play vice president and head of artificial intelligence. This alumnus of Cochin University of Science and Technology from where he completed a BTech in Computer Science and Engineering, Cijo George went on to obtain an MSc degree from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 2012. George then joined Nokia Siemens Networks as a software engineer for over a year before being a student researcher for two years. He then took up the role of member of technical staff II at NetApp. Three years…

What is career cushioning? Career cushioning is the practice of employees discreetly preparing backup options in case of job loss or career disruption. This preparation includes upskilling through certifications or training, expanding professional networks, updating CVs and LinkedIn profiles, and quietly exploring or applying for alternative roles. It can be equated to “cushioning a fall”—and borrows from dating slang, where “cushioning” means keeping a backup partner in case the current relationship ends. In the workplace, it is about softening the blow of sudden unemployment by having a safety net ready. History Whilst the behaviours behind career cushioning—networking, skill-building—have existed for…

Hewlett Packard has promoted Meera Jagadish to senior director and regional head-human resources, India and APJ. Her association with HPE began in 2019 when she took up the role of senior director and head HR for Edge, CTO and Greenlake Cloud Services (India). A little less than five years into this role, she was elevated senior director. As per her social-media post, Meera Jagadish feels “privileged to support a high-performing community of 28,000+ employees across 14 countries, driving impact by aligning HR excellence with business priorities across engineering, R&D, sales, services, operations and corporate functions”. This alumna of Indian Institute…

Shweta Mhatre has joined Lakmé Lever as head-HR and training. After completing a BBA in Finance from SVKM’s Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mhatre went on to obtain an MBA in Human Resources Development from Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, in 2017. She has interned with Centrum India as well as Philips before she began her association with L’Oréal in July of 2017. Mhatre entered the organisation as a management trainee for a year, working out of Mumbai. She was appointed human resources business partner-sales and education, East India, in July of 2018. This role…

After over 15 and a half years of successful association with Airbus, Praveen Voona has joined ABB as HR leader (people & culture business partner-ABB Robotics India, MEA) After completing a BTech in Electronics and Telecommunications, Praveen Voona went on to obtain an MBA in HRM from Indian Institute of Planning and Management, in 2010. For three months he interned with Max Life Insurance before joining Mercedes Benz Research and Development India as management trainee-human resources, in September 2009. A year later, he moved to Airbus, as senior executive -HR. Five years and eight months into this role, he was…

The rise of remote and hybrid work has brought productivity tracking into sharp focus. What was once limited to time-sheets and output reports has expanded into keystroke logging, screen monitoring and camera time tracking. Some organisations argue these tools provide necessary accountability in distributed work environments. Others warn they signal distrust, erode morale and ultimately push talent away. The debate is no longer about whether data can be collected—technology makes that effortless. The real question is whether organisations should collect it, and if so, how they use it without destroying the very trust that makes high performance possible. KT Rao,…

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Indian software services multinational, is encouraging its employees to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to complete tasks more quickly and at lower cost, even if this reduces the company’s revenue in the short term. The company’s leadership believes AI will ultimately expand opportunities rather than shrink them, and wants staff to embrace the technology instead of resisting it. This stance comes at a time when investors are nervous about AI disrupting the IT sector’s traditional labour-heavy model. In early February, concerns led to a sharp sell-off, wiping out about $68.6 billion in market value from…

India’s semiconductor design Global Capability Centres (GCCs) experienced a slowdown in hiring through most of 2025, according to Careernet’s latest report. Job openings across the top 50 GCCs steadily declined between January and October, reflecting global demand normalisation and tighter cost controls. However, the final quarter of the year showed cautious recovery, with November and December recording the strongest month-on-month increase in openings, though still below early-2025 levels. Large GCCs with more than 5,000 employees saw the widest swings in hiring, while smaller centres reacted more quickly to market changes. Mid-sized GCCs remained relatively stable. Importantly, every size category recorded…

Saudi Arabia has revised its labour law penalties, introducing stricter fines to improve compliance and protect workers. The updated schedule includes a SR10,000 fine for employing foreign workers without valid permits, reinforcing the government’s push to stabilise and grow the labour market. Employing children under 15 is now classified as a serious offence, with fines of SR2,000 for establishments with 50 or more workers. Employers who retain passports or residency permits face penalties of SR3,000 per worker. Companies that fail to follow rules on juvenile employment may be fined SR1,500 per violation. Women’s rights in the workplace are also addressed.…

upGrad,  the skilling and workforce-development company, has acquired Internshala, the internship and early-talent marketplace, through a 90 per cent stock-swap deal. Internshala, founded in 2010, has built a network of 34 million registered users and 4,50,000 employers, with about three million active applicants each year. The platform attracts most of its traffic organically and has a strong presence in Tier-2 and Tier-3 markets, where over 40 per cent of its users are based. This acquisition strengthens upGrad’s ability to cover the full career journey — from education and skill-building to employment. By integrating Internshala, upGrad aims to create a structured…

OpenAI has a new chief people officer (CPO) in Arvind KC. He moves from Roblox, a platform where people come together virtually to share experiences, after a stint that lasted well over two and a half years. Arvind KC, a chemical engineering graduate, completed an MBA in Operations Management from Santa Clara University. For almost three years, from 2000 to 2003, he served as a solution architect at i2 Technologies. In May of 2003, he moved to National Semiconductor, as senior manager, advanced planning and forecasting systems. Till September of 2008 he worked with the company before switching to Xilinx,…

Stumbling upon HR Shiza Ansari admits to stumbling upon HR whilst pursuing a business/commerce degree when she had to opt for an elective subject, which happened to be Industrial Psychology. That’s when curiosity about the role played by people in making businesses successful or otherwise got the better of her. It intrigued her and got her interested in understanding how people contribute, what motivates them, and how workplaces function. After that it did not take much effort to decide on her domain of specialisation. Today, as chief human resources officer at Shemaroo Entertainment, Ansari leads with a philosophy forged through…

Tata Projects has elevated Shirley Burla to chief human resources officer (CHRO). She has been with the company for over two years now and was earlier serving as vice president and head-HR, energy and industrial business. Burla, who has completed an MSc in Physical Chemistry from Mithibai College, has also studied strategic leadership at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. The initial year of her professional journey was spent with Genesis BCW as an associate, from 1999 to 2000. She then spent over three years with MSL (Global) as senior consultant, Hanmer MSL. Then began a long association with Siemens that…

India’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) employ 32.9 crore people—nearly 330 million workers. They account for 62 per cent of non-agricultural employment and contribute roughly 30 per cent of GDP. By headcount, they form the backbone of the economy. Yet by output per worker, they are startlingly thin. The average MSME employee produces only 14 per cent of the output generated by a worker in a large enterprise. Capital intensity explains part of the disparity. Informality and weak skill formation explain much of the rest. The issue is not scale. It is efficiency. Even a modest narrowing of this…

The résumé was impressive: 18 years in operations management, an MBA from a top-tier institution, a record of successful deliveries across complex mandates. Yet the 43-year-old professional had been searching for seven months, watching younger candidates with half the experience move briskly through interview processes while his applications stalled. His liability, it seemed, was not incompetence but chronology. Across India’s corporate landscape, professionals in their forties—once assumed to be entering their peak earning and influence years—are discovering an uncomfortable truth. Experience no longer compounds automatically. It is scrutinised, priced and compared against speed, adaptability and cost. The 40-year career cliff…

What is the golden age of the silver worker? The golden age of the silver worker refers to a period when older employees—often called “silver workers” because of their age and experience—are increasingly valued in the workforce. Traditionally, retirement was expected around 60 or 65. Today, longer life expectancy, better health, and financial necessity mean many continue working well beyond that age. Rather than winding down their careers, silver workers are now recognised as essential assets who bring stability, wisdom, and resilience to organisations. The “golden age” signals a time when their participation is not only accepted but actively encouraged…

A global chemicals company has seen applications for its core engineering roles fall by 40% in two years. The technical requirements remain unchanged. The salaries are competitive. The business is stable. Yet interest is declining. The issue is not compensation. It is alignment. To many Gen Z candidates, traditional sectors appear rigid, hierarchical and environmentally conflicted. What organisations describe as stability is often interpreted as stagnation. What they call structure can feel like constraint. This is not a short-term hiring fluctuation. It is an early indicator of a deeper shift. By 2026, organisations designed for predictability will face mounting pressure…

Garima Rathore has taken up the role of vice president-human resources, Edysor.ai. She has moved from PincodeKart where she was chief human resources officer since August of 2025. The initial year of Rathore’s professional journey (2016) was spent with IndiaMART InterMESH as a human resources associate. A year and four months later, she moved to Startek India as HR/BDM, in October of 2017. March of 2022 was witness to Garima Rathore playing account manager/ senior HR manager, Pure Strategy, based out of the US. Three and a half years later, she joined PincodeKart as chief human resources officer, in August…