IIFL Finance is a branch-led lending business operating at scale across India, with a workforce that is largely frontline, customer-facing and office-based. That last detail matters more than it first appears. At a time when hybrid work dominates workplace conversations, IIFL Finance operates in a different reality. Customers walk into branches, employees handle gold, and human interaction is not a differentiator, it is the business itself. The people challenges in that environment are distinct, and often overlooked in broader conversations about the future of work.
As President and CHRO, Preeti Kannan has spent the past few years navigating that reality. In conversation with HRKatha, she explains why the debate between technical and soft skills is a false choice, why ownership is the one value that binds a multi-generational workforce, and why HR should spend less time chasing trends and more time asking how it can create greater business impact.
Open doors, not open hierarchies
India’s workplaces have traditionally been hierarchical. How do you create a culture where junior employees feel comfortable questioning senior leaders?
Hierarchy does not have to become a barrier to communication. That is the principle we work hard to translate into everyday practice.
Our MD, CEO and every CXO remain accessible to employees through structured forums designed for direct dialogue. Ask Nirmal gives employees an opportunity to raise questions directly with the Managing Director. Seedhi Baat with Preeti serves a similar purpose at my level, while other business leaders host similar sessions across the organisation.
These are not symbolic initiatives. Employees ask difficult questions and leadership responds openly.
Our values, Fairness, Integrity and Trust, reinforce that culture. Honest questions are never seen as challenges to authority. They are encouraged because they help the organisation improve.
The foundation beneath all of this is ownership. When employees think like owners, speaking up stops feeling like an act of courage. It simply becomes part of doing the job well.
“HR’s biggest missed opportunity is not a tool or a trend. It is a question it keeps failing to ask.”
One value across generations
Can one organisational culture genuinely unite five generations of employees?
Personalisation has become essential, but that does not mean every generation needs a different culture.
At IIFL Finance, the constant is ownership. Whether someone has spent thirty years with us or joined three months ago, we expect everyone to think and act with an owner’s mindset. Where we adapt is in how we engage people.
Younger employees are naturally comfortable with technology and embrace change quickly. Experienced employees bring judgement, customer understanding and domain expertise that only comes with time. Neither is more valuable than the other.
Our responsibility is to create an environment where those strengths complement each other. Ownership remains the common thread. The way different generations express it naturally varies.
“Proximity to the customer creates its own sense of purpose.”
Not a choice between two
As financial services becomes increasingly digital, how are you rethinking the balance between technical capability and human skills?
Treating technical skills and soft skills as competing priorities misses the point.
AI, data analytics and digital capability have become indispensable. Their importance will only continue to grow. At the same time, customer trust remains central to our business, and that depends on empathy, communication and relationship-building.
When a customer walks into one of our branches, we want them to leave not only with the financial solution they came for but with a positive experience. Delivering that consistently requires technological competence and strong interpersonal skills.
It is not a choice between the two.
That is why we continue investing in upskilling our existing workforce while bringing in new talent with stronger digital capabilities. Those efforts reinforce each other rather than compete.
“Ambiguity creates anxiety. Specificity reduces it.”
AI needs conversation as much as technology
How are you helping employees embrace AI, and where do you see the biggest opportunities?
Interestingly, we have seen very little resistance.
Employees recognise that AI is no longer optional. Technology is reshaping every business, whether organisations choose to acknowledge it or not. The real question is how to adopt it thoughtfully.
We are redesigning both customer and employee journeys by embedding AI and automation into everyday work. This is not a technology project being imposed from the top. A dedicated task force works closely with employees, who actively contribute ideas on how AI can improve their work.
Communication matters just as much as technology.
Our leadership team, including our MD, speaks regularly with employees about where the organisation is headed, what AI will change, and what those changes mean in practical terms.
Ambiguity creates anxiety. Specificity reduces it.
Alongside that, structured learning programmes help employees understand AI and apply it in their daily work. The message is simple: adopt, adapt and keep learning.
“The message is simple: adopt, adapt and keep learning.”
The frontline advantage
Unlike many organisations, your workforce is predominantly branch-based. How do you sustain engagement when hybrid work is not an option?
Our business operates under very different realities, and there is no point pretending otherwise.
Personally, I would have loved to experiment with greater flexibility. But our employees serve customers in branches, handle physical assets such as gold, and deliver services that require face-to-face interaction. Hybrid work is simply not practical for us.
That means we have to strengthen other aspects of the employee experience.
We invest heavily in learning, career development, manager capability and creating clear growth opportunities. Those become the engagement levers.
What I have learned is that proximity to the customer creates its own sense of purpose.
When employees understand the real impact their work has on people’s lives, engagement comes naturally. It is rooted in the work itself rather than in workplace perks.
“Ownership is the common thread. The way each generation expresses it naturally differs.”
The question HR keeps avoiding
What is the people challenge HR still isn’t talking about enough?
One misconception that persists is that HR is still largely about payroll, employee relations or organising engagement activities.
That perception has changed significantly, but not everywhere, and HR has not always helped change it.
Today the function is expected to shape employee experience, influence business performance and contribute to strategic decisions. Those opportunities already exist. HR simply has to step into them.
What concerns me more is the nature of our own conversations.
Whenever HR professionals gather today, AI and the latest trends dominate the agenda. Those discussions are important.
But I would like to hear us ask a different question more often.
How can HR create greater business impact?
How can we contribute beyond traditional people practices? How do we become more valuable to the organisation?
Those questions matter far more than simply keeping pace with the latest trend.
That is the conversation I believe HR needs to have with itself.
“When employees think like owners, speaking up is not an act of courage. It is simply what owners do.”