Gautam Srivastava joins The Phoenix Mills as director & head – HR

Gautam Srivastava has been appointed as the director and head of HR, The Phoenix Mills. Srivastava has moved from Leela Palaces Hotels and Resorts, where he served as the vice president of corporate HR.

Before joining The Leela, Srivastava held the position of vice president and head of talent management, performance, and rewards at HDFC ERGO General Insurance. He has spent close to a decade in the insurance industry and successfully led the transformation of key HR processes: HR digitalisation (performance management system, reward and recognition, human resource management system, wellness), organisation talent review and talent development. He has also successfully led the harmonisation of HR processes, policies and culture during mergers and acquisitions. 

Srivastava brings with him over two decades of diversified experience in the hospitality, ITeS, banking, and insurance domains. He started his career with ITC Hotels as an operations management trainee, where he got exposure to work across operations before transitioning to work in other industries.

Sharing his excitement, Srivastava says, “My focus will be on transforming HR strategy, fostering a progressive culture, and attracting top talent to sustain the company’s impressive growth. ”

He realises how good the opportunity is as the company is in the process of expanding rapidly. He says, “I aim to make it an employer of choice by offering compelling benefits, career progression, and a strong employee-value proposition.”

He further shares with HRKatha, “The most valuable assets are our people, so it’s imperative to introduce modern HR practices that attract top talent, offer compelling benefits, and create an enticing employee value proposition.”

While he wants employees to join the company, he also wants them to “commit to long-term retention with clear career progression opportunities.” Overall, “I’m genuinely excited about this new role and the potential it holds.”

A science graduate in computer science from Osmania University, Srivastava played a pivotal role in the startup phase of Convergys, from 2001 to 2007. As the leader of the learning and development (L&D) team, he facilitated significant business growth, expanding the workforce in India to over 10,000 employees while successfully managing client partnerships.

Subsequently, he joined HSBC Service Delivery from 2007 to 2011, where he assumed leadership positions in L&D, talent management, organisational development and recruitment. Notably, he was a key driver in establishing the learning academy and implementing a shared services model for recruitment, in addition to spearheading numerous global HR-transformation initiatives.

Following his tenure at HSBC, he joined Barclays Shared Services, where he took charge of talent acquisition and established the wealth and investment vertical. During his one-year tenure, he successfully recruited over 3,000 professionals for this division.