Sunil More - HR Is Not for HR but for Business, so if One Does Not Know the Business, Any Best-of-the-Class HR Intervention Will Not Work (HR - Voltas)

I believe it is a good step. We need a candidate with a specific skill set to perform on the job. Formal education does not necessarily guarantee the required skill set. A typical example of software engineers, IT companies are heavily investing in training hires from campuses.

Tell us about your background, journey, and upbringing.

I am born and evolved as a person in Mumbai. The upbringing was like any other middle-class family – a major focus on studies. However, I got an opportunity to act in theatre plays at school and the college level. 

So I acted in a few Marathi and a Sanskrit play. I am a Chemistry graduate and completed a Master's in Management Studies in Human Resource from Mumbai University.

How did you narrow down on this profession?

While studying during the graduation days, I was aware of Management Education. While I was not sure about which field to specialize in, I had few experiences in managing people during the theatre days. 

We use to be a group of 10-15 artists in a play and was a difficult task for any director to keep the whole group together and ensure that we act as per the script. One of our directors was a hard taskmaster and very strict. I recall he never used to listen to other's suggestions. 

This background helped me in realizing the most critical lesson in management - People are at the core of the business. Even if they are experts in their field, getting work done and developing them, needs a separate treatment. And Human Resources Management provides that opportunity.

Studies today show that an organization can lose INR 10 lakh (~ $17,000) on average on a wrong hire or for hiring someone with a false degree. The only tried and tested way to prevent frauds is via a thorough background verification process. Download SpringVerify's e-book for a comprehensive guide to Employee Background Verification in India.

It seems onboarding, even in 2021, is a long-drawn-out process behind the scenes. How do you envision this changing in the future?

On-boarding - The most important process in creating an experience for new hires and set the tone for her/his journey in the organization. It is actually a long-drawn-out process. However, with so much development happening across new HR software, it has become a much easier process. 

The digitalization has made it possible to design an exhaustive onboarding plan - starting from pre-joining engagement to joining formalities to induction plan (based on at what level candidate is joining) to mandatory courses completion to 30-60-90 days plan to ensure that all required information is shared and milestones are successfully achieved by a new hire.

So far, onboarding was largely HR responsibility. However, going ahead it will be collaborative efforts of multiple stakeholders like business leaders and peers apart from contribution from enabling function like HR, Finance, Administration and IT. 

Few organizations are already doing it for some time - but with huge manual efforts. The big difference will be Digitalisation - Artificial Intelligence. It has enabled many activities to run on auto-pilot mode with transparency to Talent Managers and Team Managers on the progress.

While physical documentation has been a critical process so far, I see 95% of documentation going digital and only statutory documents will be maintained in the paper mode. It has been done in a few organizations for the last 5 - 8 years. But it is going to be the norm going ahead across many organizations. 

The productivity benefits for HR are closed to 60% and the new hire will also not need to spend too much time filling forms and submit photocopies of the document - the Experience will be good. And not to mention the savings on the physical storage.

The execution and monitoring of initial functional or mandatory training programs will be much easier. These parameters can be connected to productivity tools to understand the benefits of the training program and further improvements can be planned.

What’s one thing you would like to change in how Background Verification is done in India?

The process is well-defined across the industry. There are few good service providers whose work is indeed good. However, the required time for the process is too long – it goes up to 21 working days. While I understand that the inputs are required to gather from multiple stakeholders, it delays the final selection process.

How do you handle someone who has lied on their resume?

Honesty and Integrity are sacrosanct. A resume is the first step to join an organization. If that first step has started on the wrong foot, then how someone will be able to add value to the organization and reap rewards from it.

I ask interview questions like "Share your failures at work and How did you overcome those" and probe further to understand the gaps in the credentials mentioned on the resume.

Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I believe it is a good step. We need a candidate with a specific skill set to perform on the job. Formal education does not necessarily guarantee the required skill set. A typical example of software engineers, IT companies are heavily investing in training hires from campuses. For me, an education degree is not important if the person does not possess the required skill set.

                                 

What advice do you have for aspiring HR professionals?

I want aspiring HR professionals to know that being in HR is not restricted to Talent Acquisition or closing exit interviews. To be a successful HR professional, one needs to develop an ability and habit of understanding core business functions like Finance, Customer Service, Production, and Sales. 

HR is not for HR but for Business, so if one does not know the business, any best-of-the-class HR intervention will not work.

Which is your favorite book and why?

HR Champions by Dave Ulrich. It is a bible for all HR professionals. Even after 2 decades of its release, it is still very much relevant. It gives in-depth details on how to contract a relationship with business leaders. This book introduced the concept of HR Business Partner. 

It considers all HR professionals as Business Partners with different roles to play like Strategic, Operational, etc. Even if an HR Operations personnel is managing Employee Life Cycle, she/he still needs to look at those activities through the concept of business partnering and ask themselves the questions like – “Are these activities are relevant for business (adding value to the core of HR - Talent) or she/he is doing it because it is just a process.”

Bio - 

Sunil has 18+ years of experience across Liner Shipping & Logistics, ITES, Procurement, Consumer Electronics, and MEP Projects industries.

Sunil has been actively involved in People Strategy, Culture Development, Change Management, HR Transformation, HR Business Partnering, Talent Acquisition and Management, On-Boarding, HR Systems & Processes, Performance Management and Rewards, HR Shared Services, HR Technology, HR Analytics, and Learning & Development.

In his current role with Voltas Limited, he is leading an HR Digital Transformation project and HR Shared Service Centre.