Author: Radhika Sharma | HRKatha

The corner office is losing its mystique. For decades, boardrooms have worshipped at the altar of individual genius—the charismatic chief executive who single-handedly transforms organisations, the star performer whose brilliance alone lifts company fortunes. Yet this cult of the heroic leader is crumbling under the weight of modern reality. Today’s challenges — hybrid work, disengaged employees, cultural divides — are too complex for one person to solve. The real engine of performance lies not in heroic individuals but in the quality of relationships that link people together. This is the promise of relational leadership — a model that shifts the…

The startup dream typically begins with a compelling vision: disrupt established industries, challenge corporate giants, and build something revolutionary from scratch. Employees join these ventures not just for salary but for the promise of being part of something transformative, working alongside founders whose passion and commitment seem unshakeable. Yet increasingly, that dream is ending with a harsh awakening: the very leaders who inspired them to take risks are walking away to join the tech giants they once sought to challenge. This phenomenon, known as reverse-acquihiring, represents a fundamental shift in how large technology companies compete with startups. Rather than acquiring…

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in corporate India often follow a predictable pattern: well-meaning policies announced from boardrooms, celebrated during awareness months, then quietly sidelined when business pressures intensify. The challenge becomes even more complex for global companies operating across vastly different cultural contexts, where progressive policies developed in Stockholm or Detroit must somehow translate to factory floors in Chennai. Volvo Group India claims to have navigated this challenge more successfully than most, building what its leadership describes as a comprehensive inclusion strategy that extends from executive levels to manufacturing operations. The Swedish automotive giant operates in more than…

When we think of hospitals, we imagine gleaming machines, accomplished doctors and precision-driven procedures. These are essential to modern medicine, yet what patients and their families often remember most vividly are not the machines or the scans, but the moments of reassurance — the nurse who stayed late to explain a procedure, the orderly who offered comfort in the waiting room, the doctor who took time to listen. At Apollo Hospitals, this realisation has sparked a cultural experiment called BEKIND. Far from being a one-off programme, BEKIND has been designed as an organisational movement to make kindness a deliberate, measurable…

For decades, the global career has been the north star for ambitious Indians. A role in Dubai, London or New York promised more than just a salary: it offered status, exposure and entry into an exclusive club of professionals seen as “world-class.” The story is well known—the glittering offices, the cosmopolitan lifestyle, the sense of being at the centre of global business. Yet, what is less spoken about is what happens when the initial thrill wears off. The move abroad that once felt like liberation can turn into an experience of isolation and cultural displacement. The apartment with the skyline…

Who is the model employee? The one who says yes to every request, stays late without protest and delivers beyond expectation? Modern workplaces often hold up this picture as the gold standard of commitment. But such tireless agreeableness is not always a sign of engagement. Sometimes, it is a symptom of something more complex—a survival mechanism known as fawning. The modern corporate world has perfected the art of celebrating this dysfunction. Such individuals are lauded as “high performers,” fast-tracked for promotions, and held up as exemplars of dedication. Yet beneath this veneer of professional excellence often lies a darker psychological reality:…

A young professional’s first manager shapes their career trajectory more profoundly than salary, location, or even industry choice. Yet this critical relationship—arguably the most influential in any working life—is typically assigned with all the consideration given to office seating arrangements. Fresh graduates meet their inaugural workplace authority figure and, in that encounter, absorb lessons that will echo through decades of professional decisions. The phenomenon is so consistent that HR veterans have coined a term for it: the “first boss effect”. Like a professional birth imprint, this initial leadership encounter becomes the template against which all future authority is measured, the…

Modern workplaces prize adaptability. Employees are applauded for modulating their tone, vocabulary and even body language to suit the audience—whether speaking to clients, senior leaders, peers or subordinates. At its best, this ability signals emotional intelligence, respect and cultural sensitivity But what looks like a strength on the surface can, over time, turn into a strain. When adaptation becomes constant self-editing—suppressing accent, humour, or values—it starts to resemble code-switching. The question, increasingly raised in leadership circles, is whether code-switching remains a useful skill or whether it crosses into performance that erodes confidence and belonging. The hidden costs of fitting in…

Amazon’s reputation for relentless customer focus has powered its rise from online bookshop to global behemoth. Less examined, however, is how the company has begun applying that same obsessive attention to its own workforce. What emerges is an ambitious experiment in digital employee experience—one that promises to revolutionise workplace culture but raises fundamental questions about the role of technology in human relationships. The transformation began quietly six years ago when Amazon abandoned the term “human resources” entirely. In its place emerged “people eXperience and technology” (PXT)—a rebranding that signalled more than cosmetic change. According to Deepti Varma, vice president, PXT,…

The numbers look promising. Attrition rates have plummeted, employee turnover has stabilised, and the costly churn that once plagued HR departments has seemingly vanished. By traditional metrics, this should signal triumph: engaged workforces, satisfied employees, and thriving company cultures. Yet scratch beneath the surface, and a more troubling reality emerges. Workers are staying put not out of passion or loyalty, but from fear. This phenomenon, which workplace experts now term “job hugging”, represents an anxious embrace of security over satisfaction. Unlike the career commitment of previous generations, today’s job hugging stems from economic volatility, widespread redundancies, and shrinking opportunities in…

The history of business is littered with flashes of brilliance that went nowhere. Shiny concepts that could have changed industries simply fizzled out, undone by poor follow-through. Kodak had the technology for digital photography but buried it. Friendster pioneered social networking yet collapsed under technical strain. Both had the idea. Neither had the team to make it last. Equally striking are the stories at the other end of the spectrum. Companies launched with unremarkable ideas but powered by relentless, cohesive teams have reshaped markets. Selling books online, once Flipkart’s humble proposition, hardly dazzled. Yet its team’s obsession with supply chains…

In conference rooms across corporate India, a familiar scene unfolds: junior staff members sit in uncomfortable silence whilst senior managers hold forth, their ideas unspoken and their potential contributions lost to hierarchy. The nervous emails that require multiple drafts before sending, the hesitation before questioning a flawed strategy, the gradual withdrawal of once-enthusiastic employees—these are the daily manifestations of workplace intimidation. Whilst some dismiss such dynamics as inevitable friction in hierarchical organisations, research increasingly reveals that fear-driven leadership carries a substantial financial cost. From elevated absenteeism and turnover to stifled innovation and diminished productivity, intimidation silently drains companies of both…

India’s hospitality sector has long been characterised by demanding schedules, rigid hierarchies, and the assumption that guest service trumps employee wellbeing. Six-day working weeks remain standard, flexibility is limited, and career progression often depends more on endurance than talent. For an industry built on creating memorable experiences, it has historically struggled to extend that same care to its own workforce. Hilton, with 66 hotels operating or in the pipeline in India and over 4,500 employees, is attempting to challenge these conventions. According to Sabu Raghavan, Vice President-Human Resources, Hilton South Asia, this represents more than operational adjustments. “Whatever we are…

Corporate leaders often talk about culture as if it were written in stone—etched into mission statements, reinforced in glossy handbooks, and proclaimed in annual town halls. In truth, culture is more fragile and more intimate. It forms in the smallest, barely noticed moments: a pause that allows someone to finish a thought, a nod that signals acknowledgment, or an interruption that silences a promising idea. These fleeting cues decide whether people walk out of a meeting feeling valued or diminished. Ravi Kumar, CHRO, Puravankara, calls them “small cues” that define interactions. “It could be a pause, it could be a…

On a humid August evening in Bengaluru, fresh recruits huddle around a logistics dashboard, watching delivery trucks crawl across India’s map in real time. These new “Flipsters”—as the e-commerce giant calls its employees—come from places that most multinational corporations’ talent scouts have never heard of. Some studied at engineering colleges in small towns; others earned MBAs from institutions that rarely feature in corporate recruitment brochures. This scene represents a quiet shift in how India’s technology companies think about hiring. For decades, campus recruitment has been a predictable ritual: arrive at premier institutes, hold presentations in packed auditoriums, and cherry-pick the…

The financial analyst effortlessly juggles multiple tasks during a client call—reviewing models, drafting emails, preparing presentations. What appears to be superhuman multitasking is actually a carefully orchestrated partnership with Acuity Assistant, an AI tool that handles summarisation and repetitive tasks whilst the human focuses on insights. This scene, according to Acuity Knowledge Partners, represents the future of work: not humans versus machines, but humans with machines. The question is whether this vision can scale beyond carefully selected examples to transform an entire organisation—and whether the benefits justify the considerable investment required. The AI imperative Acuity, which provides research and analytics…

The employee appears exemplary: always online, attending every meeting, responding to emails promptly. Yet something is amiss. Behind the facade of digital presence lies a troubling reality—they are mentally absent, going through the motions without genuine engagement. This phenomenon, dubbed “clock botching,” represents a new challenge for managers navigating the post-pandemic workplace, where physical presence no longer guarantees productive participation. The invisible erosion Unlike quiet quitting, which involves a conscious decision to do only what’s required, clock botching often happens unconsciously. It emerges from fatigue, burnout, or disconnection from purpose, making it particularly insidious because it masquerades as dedication. Employees…

In the breakneck world of fashion e-commerce, where customer attention spans rival those of goldfish and trends expire faster than milk, keeping employees skilled presents a particular challenge. How does a company ensure its workforce stays relevant when the industry itself shape-shifts overnight? Myntra’s answer is characteristically grand: build a “learning universe” called Mynverse. Whether this cosmic ambition translates into terrestrial results is another question entirely. The skills predicament The challenge facing Myntra mirrors that of many digital-first companies. Traditional corporate training—with its rigid modules, standardised metrics, and classroom constraints—feels increasingly obsolete in an economy where adaptability trumps experience. For Govindraj…

The LinkedIn notification was innocuous enough: a colleague had updated their profile picture. Yet for one manager in Gurgaon, this simple act triggered a formal interrogation about employee loyalty. The incident, which recently came to light, involved a supervisor who allegedly monitored his team’s LinkedIn activity and confronted them for “exploring new roles”—treating conference registrations, recruiter connections, and professional updates as acts of corporate treason. This case may sound extreme, but it reflects a broader shift in how digital footprints are perceived in the modern workplace. What were once celebrated as signs of professional ambition—networking, learning, career development—are increasingly viewed…

In India’s male-dominated financial services sector, where women continue to break barriers and rise into senior leadership roles, IIFL’s latest initiative seems almost pedestrian: rebrand 70 existing branches led by women under a new identity called Shakti. No flashy recruitment drives, no expensive external hires—just recognition for talent already embedded within the organisation. Yet this modest approach may reveal more about corporate diversity programmes than grander gestures ever could. The numbers don’t lie The challenge facing IIFL, like most non-banking financial companies, is stark. Whilst women comprise nearly 28-29 per cent of its workforce according to the company, their representation in…

Falcon Group has appointed Anil Mohanty as its new group HR head, a move that reflects the company’s commitment to organisational transformation and digital excellence. Most recently, Mohanty served as chief people officer, DN Homes. Prior to that, he was head of people & culture, Medikabazzar, where he played a pivotal role in building a tech-enabled HR ecosystem and driving change- management initiatives during the company’s rapid growth. With over three decades of HR leadership experience, Mohanty has worked with some of the most prominent organisations in India such as Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Huawei Telecommunications and Uninor.…

For decades, work followed a simple blueprint: companies created roles, wrote job descriptions, and hired people to fill predetermined boxes. Employees were expected to adapt to the structure, not the other way around. Today, however, a quiet revolution is reshaping this fundamental assumption. A growing number of organisations are discovering that their competitive edge lies not in making people fit jobs, but in making jobs fit people. The promise of personalisation The concept is deceptively simple. Rather than forcing square pegs into round holes, companies are carving out roles that match individual strengths, interests, and working styles. Early adopters report compelling…

The scene should be impossible in any well-run organisation: a former employee, months removed from the office, quietly logging into company systems as though nothing has changed. Yet fresh survey data reveals a troubling reality—40 per cent of employees have used old credentials post-exit, some for over a year. In today’s interconnected workplace, where files migrate across devices and work happens as often on personal phones as company laptops, this represents a catastrophic vulnerability hiding in plain sight. The scale of the problem The Singapore incident was merely the most dramatic example of a widespread problem. More commonly, former staff quietly…

The conversation started professionally enough. A job seeker on a job portal had reached out to a verified recruiter, hoping for an interview. But when she declined to purchase a premium subscription, the tone shifted dramatically. Harassment replaced professionalism, abuse followed rejection—all from an account bearing the platform’s verification badge. The user had screenshots. The portal had a choice: investigate the misconduct or distance itself from the recruiter. The platform chose deflection, disavowing responsibility for verified accounts it had endorsed. The incident, whilst seemingly isolated, exposes deeper questions about accountability in India’s booming digital recruitment industry. The wild west of…

Workplace happiness initiatives often follow a predictable pattern: consultants devise frameworks in gleaming conference rooms, HR departments package them into glossy presentations, and employees receive yet another corporate programme to navigate. L&T Finance (LTF) claims to have done the opposite. According to Nilesh Dange, CHRO, L&T Finance, their C.U.R.V.E. of Happiness framework didn’t emerge from strategic planning sessions but from the “dusty lanes of rural India, in small-town branch offices, in the hurried conversations between field officers and business HR partners”. The acronym stands for Connected, Understood, Respected, Valued, and Enabled—five principles that Dange says crystallised from listening to employees…

In today’s hyper-connected world, silence has become the loudest message a manager can send. It’s the email read but not replied to, the one-on-one meeting that never gets scheduled, the performance review postponed indefinitely. Welcome to the era of managerial ghosting—a calculated withholding of response that makes traditional workplace conflicts seem quaint by comparison. Unlike dating apps or recruitment processes where ghosting is acknowledged as poor behaviour, workplace silence operates under cover of legitimacy. Hierarchy provides the perfect shield, and “being busy” offers endless excuses. Yet this isn’t accidental forgetfulness—it’s a deliberate power play that leaves employees stranded in professional…