Blending HR with LEGAL INSIGHT

With a career spanning nearly two decades, Rajiv Kumar Shaw brings a rare blend of human resource leadership and legal expertise to the table. Backed by educational qualifications in both HR and law, he brings a well-rounded perspective to managing people and policy. Currently serving as Vice President – HR and Legal at Knest Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd., Rajiv’s journey reflects an approach that integrates legal knowledge within HR practices—ensuring clarity, structure and care in every stage of the employee lifecycle. His ability to operate at the intersection of workforce strategy and regulatory frameworks gives him a unique lens on modern leadership. In this conversation with Corporate Citizen, he shares insights from his multidisciplinary journey, and reflects on the evolving role of HR and law in the corporate world

Corporate Citizen: You started with a bachelor's in biology, then moved into HR, and later pursued law. What led you through these transitions?

Rajiv Kumar Shaw: Initially, the plan was to join the army, but that didn’t work out as I couldn’t clear the Services Selection Board (SSB). After that, I joined the corporate world, starting working with Wipro. I had always been interested in HR, and when an internal opportunity came up, I moved into the HR function. From there, the career shaped itself organically.

CC: After building a career in HR, what made you pursue law?

In HR, labour compliances are already a very important part of the role. Whether you are working in manufacturing or IT, legal compliances are critical in every setup. In an IT environment, you deal with acts and compliances related to employee policies, which you are expected to follow. In manufacturing, it becomes even more important to have a solid understanding of industrial laws and related aspects. That’s when I felt, a degree in law would help me become a more complete HR professional. It helps bridge some of the gaps that aren’t fully covered in the standard HR curriculum.

For instance, in most HR courses, labour law is just one paper for a semester—usually the first or second—which lasts for only around six months. By the time you finish your course, you tend to forget much of it. For example, if someone asks you about how the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) works, you’d probably need to go back and read up on it again. But, these things are critical in day-to-day HR work, whether it's explaining employee benefits or dealing with government agencies. In such cases, having solid legal knowledge and a law background helps a lot.

It’s always good to keep enhancing your skillset, like how a software professional keeps learning new technologies to stay relevant. But for me, this wasn’t about staying relevant in the industry; it was about becoming a more comprehensive HR professional. It was about understanding the legal side of actions and decisions, which is so critical to the business.

"Knowledge is always valuable, but at some point, it becomes important to focus on building depth in one core strength—something that can truly become your forte "

— Rajiv Kumar Shaw

CC: Now that you are working as Vice President of HR and Legal at Knest Manufacturers, what are your day-to-day roles and responsibilities?

My role covers the entire gamut of HR, starting from strategic planning around various aspects of the organisation. This includes forecasting how many people will be needed in each function in a particular month or year. It also involves identifying the resources associated with that hire.

When we talk about resources, it’s not limited to simply bringing someone into the organisation. It also includes the kind of training they will need, the career opportunities we can offer over the next one or two years, and the career path we envision for the person who joins. For people joining at a junior level, it’s especially important that they see a future in the organisation, and for that, proper pre-planning before recruitment is essential. Then comes the recruitment itself, ensuring that all employee-related compliances and background verifications are in place.

After recruitment, we need to ensure the employee is well-prepared to take on their assigned role. As HR, it’s our responsibility to make sure all training and onboarding are handled properly. Even after the handover to the reporting manager, HR must continue to track whether the employee is receiving adequate support.

Maintaining strong touchpoints with the employee is crucial so that they feel they’ve joined a good organisation and are encouraged to stay long term. After all, joining a company is a major career decision for any individual, and for the organisation, it’s a significant investment—not just in monetary terms but also in resources, as heritage and legacy knowledge is passed on to every employee. Over time, the employee becomes increasingly valuable to the organisation, and ensuring their wellbeing and satisfaction becomes a key responsibility.

Once employees begin performing, it’s important to keep them motivated. That’s where the reward and recognition programmes come in. These need to be planned carefully. If you have ten students in a classroom and you never appreciate the best-performing one, they might lose interest. Similarly, in the workplace, recognising and rewarding the right talent is essential. At the end of the year, performance management becomes important—evaluating everything the employee has done during the year. There must be a fair and unbiased assessment so that employees feel their efforts are acknowledged and they are rewarded accordingly.These are the core areas of my role at Knest Manufacturers.

In addition, I also handle compliance and legal matters, which is another key responsibility that I manage along with my team.

CC: What are some areas where HR and legal naturally overlap or intersect?

Human Resources, in itself, is a conjunction between legal and employee aspects. You can’t really separate HR from the legal perspective in the overall scheme of things. From the moment an employee joins, HR must ensure that all compliances are in place, as these are subject to review by labour authorities. Everything related to the employee’s tenure needs to be properly documented and well-maintained.

Even basic documents like offer letters and appointment letters must align with the organisation’s legal requirements. This becomes crucial in case of any future litigation, as these documents help protect the organisation’s interests. For example, if someone joins and is issued an offer letter for a specific designation and then decides to leave later, what obligations do they have regarding the notice period? What are their responsibilities for the handover? Are there any non-compete clauses? If they join another organisation, what restrictions are in place regarding confidential data? All of these aspects need to be legally protected through well-drafted documentation.

If HR is not closely integrated with the legal team, it can create gaps. That’s why many organisations either have an in-house legal team or engage legal consultants who work closely with HR to advise on these matters.

CC: Handling both HR and legal, how do you balance being people-centric as an HR, while ensuring legal compliance within the organisation?

I think that balance comes naturally. I don’t feel the need to make any extra effort in that regard. Legal matters are not part of everyday conversations— they are usually airtight, well-documented, and very black and white. Everything is properly maintained in documents, personal folders, and the company’s legal records. On the other hand, the HR side—the one-on-one interactions and the people-related aspects, comes naturally to me.

CC: What are some of the labour laws that every HR professional should know, regardless of whether they have a legal background?

Whatever is included in the HR curriculum is absolutely essential to know. If you are working in a manufacturing setup, you must be familiar with the Factories Act and the Industrial Disputes Act, as these two are particularly important. Then there are other key legislations such as the Workmen’s Compensation Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act.

All of these laws are critical and come into play in day-to-day HR activities, which is why they are part of the syllabus. They form the bare minimum knowledge expected of an HR professional. For instance, if an employee approaches you with a query related to their provident fund (PF), you should at least understand the basic workings of it. If you are unable to answer, they may begin to lose trust in you as an HR.

That said, learning the basics of these laws is not very difficult. The first time you read an Act, it may feel overwhelming because legal language can be challenging at first. However, plenty of summary documents and guides are available today to help you understand the core concepts, common questions and relevant answers.

CC: What skills should in-house legal teams have in today’s fast-paced and complex corporate environment?

Legal teams should not only have a clear understanding of the law itself, but must also stay updated with the latest case laws and real-time judgments. Existing laws are just a single aspect; the new judgments given by various honorable courts become very important when it comes to drafting the entire set of clauses in a particular employee agreement or a commercial agreement. In addition, legal teams must keep up with any legislative amendments that could impact such agreements.

CC: How is AI impacting the legal aspect of the corporate world?

Trust in AI is still developing, as we are in the relatively early stages of relying on it completely. There remains some uncertainty around whether the inputs provided and the outputs received are entirely accurate. While AI tools are increasingly being used to make legal processes more efficient and effective, lawyers and legal teams still believe that manual intervention is necessary. They feel the need to review and refine AI-generated outputs to ensure they are foolproof and truly in favour of their clients’ best interests.

"If HR is not closely integrated with the legal team, it can create gaps. That’s why many organisations either have an in-house legal team or engage legal consultants who work closely with HR to advise on these matters"

CC: Having been in HR for around two decades now, how have you seen the concept of employee engagement evolve over time?

If you look back to the pre-2000s or even the pre-1990s, the concept of employee engagement was quite rudimentary. Today, however, it has become much more widely accepted and clearly articulated. Its importance has grown significantly over the years. It is now considered a critical part of an HR professional’s key responsibility areas (KRA) to have a strong employee engagement system in place, ensuring that employees are actively involved in initiatives designed for them.

Employee engagement is not just about end-of-month fun activities. It also includes the small, everyday conversations with employees, how their concerns are addressed, and the pace at which their queries or grievances are resolved. HR professionals today are far more attuned to these aspects than they were two decades ago. They understand that overlooking these finer aspects can lead to a higher Dissatisfaction Score (DSAT) among employees.

CC: We spoke about AI in legal. What about its impact on HR?

Not just in HR, but across every field, AI is emerging as a powerful tool to support what we aim to do. However, since it’s still a developing concept, the outputs it generates need to be validated. You still have to go through the results and check whether they align with your requirements. Ultimately, the human element cannot be removed from the equation.

For example, earlier before we had computers, you could manage five tasks in a day. When computers and automation came in, that number increased to 20. Now with AI, you might be able to handle 50 tasks in a day. But, regardless of how many tasks AI helps with, everything still needs to be reviewed and validated from a human perspective, checking for errors and ensuring accuracy. So, AI must work in combination with the human mind.

In many manufacturing sectors, including automotive, automation has already replaced a lot of manual labour. But even then, we haven’t reached the point where a factory can run entirely without human involvement. People will need to learn new skill sets. But, AI is here to assist, not to remove humans from the entire system.

CC: Since you mentioned the need to learn new skillsets with the rise of AI, what kind of upskilling will HR professionals need to focus on?

Right now, the entire AI space is still quite new to everyone. But, as we move a year or two down the line, things will become clearer. We will better understand which skills we need to acquire and which ones we can let go of. Take Google for example, before it existed, if someone needed to do research, they would spend an entire day in the library going through books. That’s no longer required. But at the same time, that doesn’t mean you can simply copy and paste information and consider the work done, because when you are assessed, it's your actual understanding and knowledge that counts.

In the same way, AI will change how we work, but you will still need real knowledge. HR professionals will need to learn AI tools, and which specific tools will last or become industry standards is something only time will reveal.

CC: What is the value of having a multidisciplinary career like yours, and what advice would you give to young professionals aiming to build one?

There are mixed views on this. Being specialised in one area is often seen as a virtue and can serve as a strong selling point in the market. On the other hand, if you are multi-skilled, there can be a perception that you may not be deeply skilled in any one area. Knowledge is always valuable, but at some point, it becomes important to focus on building depth in one core strength, something that can truly become your forte.