A remarkable career spanning 31 years in HRM (Human Resource Management), Skills Development & CSR, Leena Deshpande, Associate Vice President (AVP) HR & Head CSR at Bharat Forge Ltd, heralds the company’s CSR programmers. A recipient of the ‘50 most Talented CSR Leaders’ award from World CSR Congress in 2015, she also won the 2016 ‘CSR Professional of the year’, an award from India CSR. She speaks to Corporate Citizen on her transformation and journey that tracks her beginnings working with an NGO to her current eminent designation. Her propensity to tide over difficulties reflects her managerial skills in handling a 6000 strong workforce in the so-called ‘male-dominated’ manufacturing sector -a tight walk indeed, which she has successfully reigned in through her key mantras of determination, consistency and sincerity
"The major change that I have seen is that employee profile is changing since technology is changing and employees are very ambitious these days. They have to be very much worried about their vertical growth..."
“CSR is not just social work, it goes beyond. Corporates are involved (in CSR) because they have to transfer their managerial skills, their technology, their speed and project management skills to the social processes. It is not just funding the project or just doling out money but they are supposed to get involved in the whole process; perhaps inclusive growth is the base of everything,” states Leena Deshpande, AVP, HR & Head CSR at Bharat Forge Ltd.
An alumnus of Fergusson College, Karve Institute of Social Service (University of Pune), Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD), New Delhi and University of Warwick, U.K., she shares her ‘ropes’ to success, the need for work-life balance and women-friendly work environment within the engineering and manufacturing sectors. An excerpt.
My career actually started with an NGO and I worked with them for seven and a half years prior to joining Bharat Forge. My corporate journey began in 1991. At that time, I had completed my post-graduation in MSW (Master of Social Work) and was recruited as a consultant for community development at Bharat Forge. We gradually realized that for HR, empathy is a pre-requisite which forms the base for everything. I was encouraged to take up HR and thus transitioned into this field in 1995. I then completed my post-graduation in HR and underwent a course on Training & Development in 2012. I finally completed my MS in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick, UK. So, my HR journey rightfully kick-started in 1995 as a trainer and then on I enabled employee lifecycle and employee engagement-led focused profile.
I was engaged as a coordinator with the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK) in their Educational Sponsorship Programmer. It was an NGO working in the field of adoption, rehabilitation of unwed mothers and educational sponsorship for school children. It was a highly professional NGO and aided by Holt International (Bertha ‘Grandma’ Holt – Foundation) and was also referred to as ‘Children of the world, Norway’, at that time. A Professional agency in the sense that right from reporting and taking care of everything, it was absolutely well managed and highly systematic. I probably learnt a lot from that NGO.
Initially, employees, especially workers were kind of union driven. If you take the example of Bharat Forge, employees belonged to the nearby communities and were from very humble backgrounds. As such they had limited aspirations because they considered the company’s growth was sort of their growth too. The major change that I have seen is that employee profile is changing since technology is changing and employees are very ambitious these days. They have to be very much worried about their vertical growth. Today, they are knowledgeable employees, because everything is kind of knowledge driven. They have enough information and they have their own aspirations. So, coping up with their aspirations and aligning an individual’s hopes with that of the organization’s goal perhaps was the biggest challenge for HR.
In Bharat Forge, we are just 60 women working amongst a total strength of 6000 employees. Ours is a major accidental hazard kind of industry under the Factory’s Act (Maharashtra). It falls under heavy industry and even though we wish to take women engineers, it is slightly difficult considering the work environment and working in shifts. But, yes, now there are changes. There are women engineers in the quality and machinery sections. So, things are changing definitely but it will take some time for the heavy industrial sectors.
Human Resource is for the development of the employees and the ‘Personnel’ department as we call it is an admin function and these have to be two separate functions. Development includes vertical mobility of the employees by educating them, which involves learning and training processes like educating and training your employees. So, HR has to concentrate on these three aspects for their employees-they have to aspire, provide the right kind of vertical mobility and get an appropriate roadmap.
"Determination and your will power are very important. People start helping you when they realize that you are really aspirational. Consistency, sincerity at your workplace and naturally, the support from your family is very essential to your growth. While it is really difficult and rather tough, it is also well worth it!"
We have a team of HR facilitators and they are from the shop floor itself! We train them, conduct regular meetings and upgrade them. Our right-hand facilitators work on the shop floor itself. They take up the day-to-day difficulties and can be approached by the department on the day to day issues which can be resolved at the shop floor level. We have communication channels open to all and there exists a proper communication system too.
CSR is a very recent phenomenon in the Indian industry because the law was enacted in the second part of 2013’s Companies Act and in 2014, we started implementing it. Two percent of the net profit of few profit-making industries had to be spent on CSR. As far as my industry is concerned, many of the industry bigwigs like the Tatas, the Birlas and other groups were already into philanthropy for a long time. These were voluntary activities and there was no compulsion as such and probably the professional approach was low. It is not just funding a particular project but inclusive growth is the base of everything. India is growing but this GDP growth has to be seen by the masses who are staying in villages (almost 80%) of our population. Inclusive growth perhaps is the base of this particular CSR law and India is the first country to have had such a law enacted and is a very positive development for CSR.
The highlight of our CSR is that our employees are involved in our CSR programmers. They have their own projects and every department too has their own projects to pursue. Currently, we are developing 100 villages on price specific indicators – based on water, health and education, internal roads and family income. The results are very encouraging and the speed of these activities is for all to see. In the whole process, the lives of the people have changed and we have specific examples to prove that. We are also into skill development and we have set up an industrial training institute where all village children (up to 10 years) can benefit. Our placement is 100% every year. In fact, we are developing two more Govt. ITI’s where we are the industry partners. The idea is to enroll 20, 000 children from slum areas and bring them under ‘Pratham’-the primary education programmer, as part of our CSR programmer.
These are located across four districts of Pune and Ahmednagar. These are absolutely drought hit areas. We have Purandhar (in Pune district of Maharashtra) which is also absolutely dry area; Ambegaon which includes the Marina village; which we have yet to tackle. However, all the other remote villages in Ambegaon, include a lot of ‘Thakar Bastis’ (where migrants stay in such communities in villages). The others include Satara’s Puregaon, and in villages in and around Kolhapur district’s Panhala, which is again a dry area.
In Purandhar, we have started developing a village - Kalewadi. The village has a history of very scanty rainfall /or no rainfall, which means only one crop can be cultivated in a year. It is difficult to find brides for boys in these villages because they are dry villages. But, we have channeled and brought in water to Kalewadi. There is a talav or a big percolation tank that is known as Malhar and with this, after probably 70 years, it was for the first time that water came into the village and today there is water throughout the year. Villagers have got their daily supply of water and now, instead of one crop, they are growing three crops annually. Consequently, their income levels are high and all the young people in the village have come together, forgetting their own differences and they are converting that village into a model village! Smart Kalewadi, they call it! Now, boys in the village have started getting girls for marriage alliances and thus social aspects are changing too!
I have my team for the CSR projects and sometimes we take help of NGOs too. In Kalewadi, villagers are so motivated that we don’t require any NGO. My team and I take care of Kalewadi. In talukas like Ambegaon we have NGOs and work with their help.
To tell you the truth, in the manufacturing sector, it is really difficult for women especially in the initial stages as they are trying to settle down. No doubt, it is a male-dominated industry and a heavy industrial segment workwise. Naturally, the operations on the shop floor are tough. Likewise, the total environment on the shop floor is not very conducive for women as they have to stand for say, eight hours (shift) but, definitely people do cooperate. Somehow, it is fun working in the manufacturing industry because every day is different.
Under POSH Act [Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013], we carry out monthly routines. In fact, meetings are conducted, and women employees are invited. We also gather slightly senior employees as per their age and work experiences and if there are certain issues, counselling is provided immediately as there is zero tolerance in Bharat Forge as far as these matters are concerned. A committee exists to write the report but if anyone is found guilty then they are taken off the rolls with immediate effect .
Actually, the expectations from women from our marital system in society is how we perceive her career. Also, there is a need to frame women centered policy as regards the extension of paid maternity leave which has been extended to six months. However, there is no scope on working from home in the manufacturing sector which sees some prevalence in the IT sector. The most important thing is there are hardly any well-equipped crèches within the country for appropriate childcare and many other difficulties in the social system. So, even though a woman desires to continue working, she needs a support system probably and so there’s a need for a change in perception and to offer an overall change. In my case, my husband had taken my career quite seriously. But, everywhere such kind of support is not existent- so perception has to change; somehow it is not there.
As they rightly say, there are two worlds! We stay in India, while they stay in Bharat! We somehow cannot imagine the way villagers go through their hard lives. I was telling them about cleanliness and hygiene and they pointed out that they don’t even get water in their villages. I see that there is sometimes no point in such talks when we cannot provide them with basic amenities. We just don’t realize their difficulties and there is definitely a lot of rural to urban gaps.
Of course, because inclusive growth is the solution and we have to understand these and other difficulties and how we can help and participate in the change. Somehow, one class is so ambitious that they want to get everything from this life probably and so, I think, there is a need for little empathy and realization for the other fellow human being.
We are seeing success stories coming in from small towns and villages. While in urban zones everyone is happy with the comforts provided by their parents perhaps; it is true that a little pinch for everyone is definitely required in urban zones. If you get everything comfortably on a platter then probably the value of what you get is definitely lost. There is a struggle for everyday issues in rural sectors like getting food, water and so on. So, whatever they get, they really are happy with that and, they know the value too.
I was born and brought up in Pune, completed my graduation from Fergusson College and MSW from Karve Institute of Social Sciences and it is this background that really helped me in HR. I have a son working in the US and a daughter who is a Pune-based engineer and a working woman too. My husband was Plant Head and is currently retired.
It was like walking on a tightrope and was very difficult in terms of managing children, even in terms of transport and commuting in those days. Reaching office on time was difficult too due to the transportation system prevailing in those days. I needed a lot of support system at that time.
Determination and your willpower are very important. People start helping you when they realize that you are really aspirational. Consistency, sincerity at your workplace and naturally, the support from your family is very essential to your growth. While it is really difficult and rather tough, it is also well worth it! I even advise my daughter that there has to be a consistency-because women have to play multiple roles. Determination is a must as I think, it is a tough time for any lady to juggle and manage a home, career and children. I also studied after my marriage as I got married early at 19 years. I am currently pursuing my PhD.
I feel that you need to enjoy everything, right from your job to whatever else you do. Happiness is not a destination but, a process. It’s a journey and you need to enjoy each and every little things of life. Say, if villages get water, I feel happy. If our employee’s problems get solved, I feel happy. And, I view each day as a new fresh day and do not feel monotonous!
By Vinita Deshmukh
