“People Function A Key Differentiator”

A senior HR professional and leader with over 25 years of experience, Anil Peter Monteiro, Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources, Tecnotree Corporation, has proven record of accomplishments in building strategic partnerships with business to make ‘People Function’ a key differentiator for fuelling business growth, profitability and increased employee engagement. An expert communicator, Monteiro, in an exclusive interview with Corporate Citizen, talks on what every HR professional must have and how HR management skills can go beyond the technical expertise

Share with us your education and career journey.

I started my career early in life. Cliché as it may sound, the HR profession happened to me purely by chance. I began my career in Facilities and Administration. I was fortunate to have met and worked with Saket Nath and Naresh Jhangiani, my mentors, who encouraged me to pursue an opportunity in HR. I have never looked back since then-for the last 25 years, I’ve held progressively enriching roles that have made me the person I am today. Over the course of these 25 years, I continued to invest in my personal development and earned an Executive MBA from XLRI and a few other industry-leading certifications.

What were the challenges you faced while breaking into the HR field?

Back in the days, HR faced an existential or identity challenge. People saw HR as a function that “policed” employees, tracked and approved leave/absence and processed payroll. While some of these transactional activities continue to be performed by HR even to this day, with the advancement in technology, younger workforce, employee expectations, we have newer challenges. We are human’s after all-we thrive in challenging situations. Without a doubt, every role, every job is challenging -what sets you apart is your integrity, commitment and passion. Additionally, find a mentor-someone you feel comfortable reaching out to. Lastly, network with colleagues and peers from your profession-you will be surprised to see/hear that you are not in this alone and you will expose yourself to more and more ways to deal with your challenges

Do you feel that the conventional practice of HR has now got ultra-diversified?

A modern-day HR practice can only succeed if it can align and support the needs of the business. We are no longer seen as “leave approvers”. Regardless of the industry, we have made manifold strides in the way we run our businesses. Hundreds of companies have ceased to exist, while 1000s are being incorporated every day, to solve complex problems of the future. As a result, working in isolation will not help. HR had to diversify-a company that encourages expatriation must ensure that their Rewards/Benefits team are a specialised group of HR professionals that are able to attract the best talent by offering best-in-class benefits. Similarly, as the world is getting flatter, HR operations must draft policies that make it attractive for prospective and existing employees to leverage the use of technology to be productive-whether they work from home or office.

We (HR) have newer challenges. we are human’s after All – we thrive in challenging situations. without A doubt, every role, every job is challenging – what sets you apart is your integrity, commitment and passion

As HR, was dealing with people earlier in your career different from the people you are dealing now? Is it a big challenge now for HR to deal with the millennial workforce?

Yes, it’s a lot different and a lot more interesting.

Let us talk about expectations-in the past, what mattered the most was: Do I have a job? Once a job was secured, one would never think of leaving. Quality of work, benefits, autonomy, prospects for learning-rarely mattered to an employee. A job was seen as the first step to societal standing-building on it was the need to find a spouse, buy a house etc. For lack of a better word, it was “up to” the employer to decide/determine the fate of a prospective job-seeker.

Today, a job-seeker is aware, informed and more importantly, looks at companies/teams that align with his/her purpose. Quality of work is the most important measure for accepting a new role/job, closely followed by learning opportunities and autonomy. The modern workforce wants to make a difference-large MNCs, job-stability, 5-year vision statements are not appealing. Let’s take the case of Learning-earlier, a company would tie-up with an e-learning provider, host a few courses, and make it mandatory for employees to take at least one course every quarter. Today, most companies are moving away from rigid course catalogues to open-source learning resources such as Udemy, Pluralsight etc. In many instances, employees don’t even get worried if they are not reimbursed for their learning- if it means so much to them, they are even willing to spend on their personal development.

The one big area that I would like to draw attention to is, Manager Sensitisation. Since the modern workforce has a combination of Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z and Millennials, it is imperative to sensitise the people/line managers. At Tecnotree, we invest in Manager Development/Sensitisation. Purpose-driven goals, meaningful feedback, continuous coaching, periodic course correction-all make-up for a conducive environment at work. We are extremely proud to have cracked this at Tecnotree-over 60% of our workforce has been with us for over five years.

Tell us about Tecnotree Corporation and its presence in India.

Tecnotree, headquartered in Finland, is the only full-stack digital BSS provider with over 40 years of deep domain knowledge, proven delivery and transformation capability across the globe, serving CSPs since 1978. Tecnotree believes that in today’s competitive business environment, it is not just enough to automate processes and increase efficiency. To stay ahead, CSP’s need to differentiate themselves from their competitors. However, with the growth of digitally savvy customers who expect more from every transaction, it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate on product alone. Customers are demanding a more personal, service-oriented approach from the companies with which they do business and the bar continues to be reset at higher and higher levels. We provide cutting-edge digital touch to enrich the customer experience. Our presence in India has been over 15 years. India is one of our largest R&D Centre developing products to our customers across the globe. In this centre we have 400 plus employees working on cutting edge technologies developing worldclass digital products. At this centre, we have seen employees grow from a Trainee or a Software Engineer to a Product Head and a functional head also. A good combination of a young and experienced workforce.

I don’t think the HRs’ work has become any easier-it has evolved. it requires HR to be adept at using technology, interpreting Data trends and analytics, adoption of social media etc.

Over the years has the recruiting process changed massively for the HR, with tools like data analytics, AI and social media? Has HR’s work become easier today than before?

With AI, a lot has changed-technology has impacted our lives in unprecedented ways. As with anything else, HR can/has also benefitted from technology. Sifting 100s of resumes to shortlist five profiles is now done in seconds-thanks to AI. I don’t think the HRs’ work has become any easier-it has evolved. It requires HR to be adept at using technology, interpreting data trends and analytics, adoption of social media etc. My only piece of advice to companies is-just because it is available and just because everyone is doing it, don’t feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon. It might not work for your business goals/needs. For example, we don’t use an ATS (applicant tracking system), because our business operates at the intersection of telecom and engineering -we have found it a lot easier to source profiles from employee referrals.

With the demand for digital HR skills, are organisations giving only specialist roles for HRs? If much of the part of HR work is taken over by AI, what will remain with HRs?

I don’t think this has to do with AI alone and I don’t think this is a recent shift. Every function, through the course of its lifecycle, looks at optimising operations to achieve efficiencies. In line with a company’s vision, HR formulates its own strategies to free-up its resources to be focussing on the most critical activities. So, yes, I believe that we must assess what and how we can bring value and focus on those activities-regardless of whether they are specialist activities or transactional in nature.

Let me explain this with an example: Most companies today have outsourced their payroll activities. More and more organisations are outsourcing their content development activities, allowing their L&D functions to focus on partnering with their business stakeholders. Talent Acquisition leaders are appointing external agencies and RPOs to manage their profile sourcing needs. Why do you think this is happening? As HR evolved, we have all seen enormous value in focussing on what/where our businesses need us, while off-loading the transactional activities to external partners.

Another important thing one can learn from this is, it has resulted in job-creation. A few years ago, one didn’t have a position that focussed on sourcing profiles.

How do HR managers adapt to a change in an organisation’s culture, when they move from one organisation to other? Is it a big challenge?

It’s true for any employee, not limited to HR. Regardless of a new role or a new job, one must focus on the basics: understand your business, understand your requirements in that role-what is the success criteria, how success is measured, how can you bring value and most importantly, focus on SMALL WINS to build credibility.

What do you say about the startup culture, which is very demanding with work and everything? How does HR fit into a startup environment?

I don’t necessarily agree with startups being very demanding with work and everything. Personally, although I haven’t worked with a startup in the literal sense, I have worked with companies that were scaling/expanding. The only differentiator: a large MNC has a legacy-systems, process and people you can fall-back on. A startup has no precedenceeverything and every time is a first! Having said that-as it is with everything else in life, the foundation is the most important. If the promoters are willing to invest time and resources in the beginning, then it helps build the right team, the right team breeds the right culture, the right culture attracts better talent and branding etc.

Today, a job-seeker is aware, informed and more importantly, looks at companies/teams that Align with his/ her purpose. quality of work is the most important measure for accepting a new role/job, closely followed by learning opportunities and autonomy

Is the academia today understanding what the industry wants and imparting real-time training to the students?

There is an enormous shift-the lines between academia and industry is slowly diminishing. I remember spending six months studying about lockouts and “gherao” and other industrial relations topics, without knowing why/how these conflicts transpired at the workplace. There are institutions that are constantly inviting resourceful people from the industry to engage with their students. Aside from the theory, students are exposed to hands-on experiences. In fact, some organisations are also working with institutions on an ongoing basis-gone are the days when companies visited campus for hiring alone. Today, team members from various businesses visit the campus to talk about their work to encourage students to participate in campus hiring programmes and internships; fests and conference sponsorships are a few other ways in which organisations engage with students on a real-time basis.