Pravin Paritkar, Director - Corporate HR & Admin, Poonawalla Engineering Group, is known as not only a man of virtue and simplicity, but also for his constant pursuit of knowledge and newer skills. Currently, he is pursuing PhD in ‘Skills, Talents and Competence’. Someone who enjoys interacting with the youth, dealing with millennials and supporting them to grow personally and professionally, in an exclusive interview with Corporate Citizen, speaks on the latest trends in HR, and what are the major challenge for the companies that invest lots of resources and time on training freshers
I have done my BA in Economics with Psychology from Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune and Masters in Personnel Management (MPM) from Institute of Business Management and Research (IBMR), Pune. Currently I am pursuing my PhD on Skills, Talents and Competence from Jagdishprasad Jhabarmal Tibrewala University (JJTU), Rajasthan.
My career started with a rubber parts manufacturing company, Swastik Rubber, Pune, in 1983. In 1986, I got my first break at Cadbury and at the same time, I got an opportunity to study further. So I had no option but to study in the evening session. As a result, my MPM was part- time. In the daytime, I used to work for Cadbury and in the evening, I used to go for the management classes.
IR was more prominent at that time; I learned those terms from there. It was a challenge to train local people to produce a world-class product like Cadbury Chocolates. It was an era of training and grooming in that world-class company. Training the rural people—mainly from the farming background—to manage such excellent products was a challenge. Training was made interesting with colourful pamphlets and training modules designed by experts. Later, we started to impart the hygiene values and ethics to the employees who imbibed the same with a smile. The entire process of calculation and distribution of salary was done manually at that time. It used to take 5-6 days to complete the salary distribution of 500 people.
While in Cadbury, I had an opportunity to visit Ghana, for one of the historic biodiversity projects. The topic of the study was Cocoa Farming and Biodiversity. I was selected from the Asia-Pacific region to work with internationally renowned scientists of ‘Earthwatch Institute’ – along with a few of my colleagues from Europe and America. We stayed there for one month and studied biodiversity under the guidance of scientists and a few other colleagues from British American Tobacco (BAT). We had a good learning session and a delightful experience. We, as an organisation, wanted to do something worthwhile for the society where we grow our raw material—cocoa beans. This was one of the most cherished events of my life.
Yes, I have seen the transition happen. I have seen that in IR, people were very strong in terms of leadership. Leadership traits were aggressive and different from the one we see now. So I have seen that phase and later on, I have also experienced the days of training programmes, people development initiatives, OD interventions, cultural changes, Total Quality Management and so on, which were more prominent, and educating people. People loved the brand and were highly committed towards the same.
"I have seen the transition from IR to HR happen. I have seen that in IR, people were very strong in terms of leadership. Leadership traits were aggressive and different from the one we see now"
After working for 20 years at Cadbury, everyone thinks that you will continue to do so till the end of career. But that was the point of time when I realised that I was getting comfortable and when one gets comfortable, progress halts, that’s what I firmly believe. So I thought I should shake myself off and move out. I made a bold decision to leave, which was a huge surprise to others.
Post Cadbury, I got the opportunity to work for M/s. Cummins Generator Technologies Ltd; the plant was in Ahmednagar. My family decided not to join me. I worked there nearly for three years. Later, I worked on HR & Finishing School Firm, Pune and as a result, I have a great experience in the HR domain.
No, I didn’t. Again, Cummins is a US brand and there the value systems were very good. The people were coming from rural areas so the model was somewhat the same. I could create a very good team within HR and other functions as well, by getting them involved in various business agendas. We all could contribute to our dedicated services to Snehalay, an NGO. I put good practices in the factory; I could drive good discipline, sports and cultural activities. In terms of improving the food quality too, I did a lot of groundwork with my HR team. All these small things made a significant difference and people started liking it. I could stay at Cummins only for three years, since my family was in Pune. So I had to shift to Pune.
I had the opportunity to visit the US to recieve an award on behalf of the company on ‘Health Safety and the Environment’ and also had an opportunity to visit the UK for HR meets. I got good international exposure while working for Cummins. I was also involved in recruiting young professionals from various renowned educational institutions from various states of India. Then I came to Pune, where I started working on finishing schools where we helped students who engaged themselves in the factory shop floor. I was with Deccan Management Consultants Finishing School (DMCFS) and I was connected with IGNOU for academic matters, supported by an excellent team.
Later, I got an opportunity to work for the famous Poonawalla Engineering Group. Poonawalla Group of Engineering Companies namely, M/s. Intervalve Poonawalla Ltd and El-O-Matic India Pvt Ltd. Our CMD is Yohan Zavaray Poonawalla and Michelle Yohan Poonawalla is the Group Director. We manufacture industrial valves, actuators, automation systems, gate, globe and check valves used in several applications in all sectors, domestic and international. These are different types of valves, which are used for different processes from small size to big sizes. We have highly qualified experts working for our organisation and continuously strive to improve our brand services for our customers.
I have a passion towards developing the youth and since the beginning, I am training people on various subjects, this keeps me updated on various fronts. My training is not restricted to HR but any other management field connected to shop floor management, safety, quality, sales, customer orientation, structured problem solving, interpersonal skills, motivational training and Time Management. Secondly, I thought that I should continuously keep myself updated and motivated in learning, delivering the things learnt. What makes one active? Normally, we don’t learn unless we are forced to learn. So I thought I should do my PhD. Skill, competency and talent enhancement is the need of the hour and this will be the most important theme in future too—hence I chose to work on this theme for PhD. But more than the degree of the doctorate, I am passionate in helping the youth to be ready to take the future head on. I will passionately strive to enrich the knowledge and awareness levels by imparting value-added training to them.
"We expect the new comers to challenge the things that are happening and bring in some creativity and innovation. Otherwise, we feel that everything is perfect. Someone has to come and say this can be even better"
Challenges are connected with the continuous growth of the company. The main challenge is getting the right people in the right place and getting the best out of the talent that is available and I am currently working in that area. Manpower and evaluation of talent happen is a prominent concept. We have been giving a lot of training. We have very good talent in our company— a great asset indeed. We are working together to channelize the talent properly so that we will get the right output.
Firstly, freshers need not to be under pressure, because this is something, which they can get rid of while learning. My advice would be that,during the college, apart from the professional areas that they look into, I think, they have to get into managerial skills too. For example, communication skills, confidence building, assertiveness, these are the ones if they really work on and if they do their internship sincerely, which will give them good confidence. And this will help at the entry level and in future as well.
First is the job knowledge, second the confidence and communication skills. Third, whether he/she can get along with people. On the other hand, more challenging in the status quo. We expect the newcomers to challenge the things that are happening and bring in some creativity and innovation. Otherwise, we feel that everything is perfect. Someone has to come and say this can be even better—challenging the status quo drives continuous development.
We have performance monitoring system. We also have our key result areas set in the start of the year. The HODs are guided accordingly so they can have the objectives laid out, then each job description is laid out and then these performances are reviewed. Then we keep a track and provide feedback. In between, we have refresher courses to guide people to align themselves with the objectives of the company.
New trends are not very beneficial because talent pool is always on the top. Once we engage them and once the person assumes the seat, he/she is immediately seen on radar looking for better opportunities. This becomes a big challenge, because we as employers invest by training them on various aspects of business. We invest a lot of money and time and if that employee wants to go in six months or one year, then we have entered in the wrong zone. We would like our talent to stay with the company, help the company grow and grow themselves. We have some systems in place to make the person stay in the company. Millennials see early success in hopping jobs—but this also gives an unfavourable picture of instability.
In the industry you may find it difficult to find the right talent, and at the same time there are loads of people searching for jobs. What is the contrast? The contrast is the gap, between what is expected, and what remains to be delivered and that gap starts right from the education level. Now, we have been connecting with industry as an academic institution, academic connect, and we try to spell out the expectations in a complete manner to the academic institutions. Professionals like us deliver guest lectures at academic institutions and we try to explain the students and the institution of what is expected from them. I think we are attempting to bridge the gap of expectations and that attempt further needs to be driven on a very large scale. The faculty also needs to be connected with the industry just like students. Till the faculty gets the feel of industry, there is no way students will get the right understanding of the industry.
It depends on for what position you are hiring. Most of the companies look for placement agencies, who are specialists in hiring people. As a company, we cut down costs on various fronts.
We do not feel it feasible to employ a full-timer to do recruitment—if it is not on a large scale. If there is a specialised person to be hired, we definitely rely on specialised agencies who can do headhunting and give us the right candidates to take further decisions. However, social media is definitely helping recruitment in a large way.
Leaving Cadbury. I broke the comfort zone because I was feeling very relaxed there. Whenever one feels relaxed then is the time they should leave the comfort zone.
In Cummins, we had a policy on gender diversity and there was have women working for every function—even on the shop floor and doing some machine work. In Poonawalla Group, Madam Michelle Poonawalla takes an active interest in business directions and decisions. She knows the intricacies of the business apart from her very high-profile image internationally in contributing towards art and fashion. She is undoubtedly, a role model when we speak of ‘Women’s Empowerment’.
I manage my time while I work. First, we plan our work and complete it within the stipulated time. I ensure that my team leaves on time; lingering around doesn’t help. I was also a member of a global work-life balance team at Cummins. I believe that when the employee is at home, the home time begins; he/she should pay full attention to that. When at work, he should concentrate on work.
Every moment of life should be lived happily. If you want to make a difference to yourself and to the people around you, you should do what one makes happy. If you have a choice, choose to be happy. I do that and keep myself happy.
By Vineet Kapshikar
