The Heart and Soul of HR

Having over two decades of extensive experience in various industries across the world, Anurag Mehrotra, Vice President - Human Resources, Himachal Futuristic, is a leader in the field of HR. In an interview with Corporate Citizen, Mehrotra shares his experiences and learnings through his journey in the HR field. He also discusses the obstacles in today’s industry and what should be done for HRM practice to be genuine

Was there an incident in your past (childhood, youth) which made you realise that your career directs you towards Human Resource?

Thanks for bringing in that question. The first time when I appeared for a job campus interview, I discovered that I was always passionate about dealing and interacting with people. I completed Bachelor of Science in Biology and then pursued an MBA in Finance. Finance was a limited world for me as there are few things in finance which you cannot interact about or disclose. On the other hand, the world of Marketing & Sales is more about customers and materialistic relationships. That is when I went to the Human Resource (HR). I always wanted to understand what people do and the way they do things. I observed the behavioural traits of people which would vary as per situations. I saw that the opinions and perspectives of people would always differ.

HR is something which deals with developing careers by hiring and meeting new kind of people and understanding and connecting with them. I was especially intrigued by the different kinds of things that people were bringing to the table.

Tell us about your work experience working in India and abroad.

I really struggle when I workin India. I will relate to a story. I was at Heathrow Airport where I was boarding a connecting flight. An Indian person there stops me and says you can’t board because this flight is going to some other country. They called the authorities who came up and said that I cannot be stopped. Everyone who was standing nearby said “shame on Indians”. It was a horrible experience for me. He had done that without any reason where he just wanted to prove that he is authoritative and has the mettle to stop me. I find the same in the work culture here in India, where everyone has an ego and such kind of an attitude. Another point is where Europeans and Americans will do a given work if they say they will. If they can’t do it, they will tell you before the time that it is not possible. Indians will never tell you. This is a big difference over the continents. The say-to-do ratio is very high in all the countries, only China and India being an exception.

What would you say about the cultures across the world?

It is very difficult to handle people from different geographies. The cultures and beliefs differ according to the region. You also have to understand the lingos. People in America believe that if your skill is not in the game, you are not in the game. When I was in London, the day there started pretty early. London being around the equator region, the day gets dark by four in the evening. People would reach the workplace by seven in the morning and would leave by 15:30. I was a typical Indian then, who asked for help at the time of leave to someone who was very close to me. He was very agitated and irritated about which I spoke with my boss who was the HR director. He said, that this is London and it is the culture of the UK, that when you have to get some work done, you cannot bring it at the close. That is what really pushed them off. The learning for me here was, that however close you are to a person, it does not matter.

Similarly, when I went to China, an employee who worked under me would never mention to me if I was wrong about something, even when a third person would be investigating me. That is how Chinese have been brought up into this world. They cannot say anything against their seniors, whatever wrong he might have done. That was another cultural shock for me, where I wondered how that could be possible. This covered understanding Europe, Australia, Asia Pacific, the US. Again in Australia, if suppose I have to do a babysitting job, I can’t ask why because I just have to do it and follow my in-structions. If I want four days off I have to take four days off. My manager cannot question me if I can do it in two or three days because that is taken as an offence.

What is your perspective on Human Resource Management?

Human Resource applies to its true meaning only when you are dealing with people. One has to display the humility aspect, skill of learning and listening towards the humans so that they are able to relate to you. All this has to genuinely come from the heart and soul of HR. Even right now as I talk to you, you must be seeing that I am getting so much into the words that are coming out of me, because that is the only way how one can rightly deal with it-this for me is Human Resource.

How does HR make sure that the thoughts of the employees they are hiring, get aligned to the culture and vision of the company?

The culture of a company most people say is always the HR but I believe that it is not the HR. The HR can be the driver or the facilitator to maintain a culture in the company, but in the end, it is all about the top leadership which has to play the role of cultural custodial. For the em-ployees, the people in the top management are the leaders that they wish to follow. So, it is the owners or the top management’s responsibili-ty to nail down that culture in the organisation through their behaviour and way of interaction. These are the people who are going to be clearly focused as per the company vision.

Vision is drafted and articulated only so that everyone is aligned and followed through that. For example, my company’s vision is to be the number one player in the telecommunication market. To achieve this, everything and every person should be leading towards this vision of the company, including the security guards.

"Even with Technology coming in, a few human traits will always have to remain, because here you are dealing with people. nothing can take away what you can do with people, and that is why emotional intelligence will take over artificial intelligence”

What are the strong pillars of the HR industry?

One is the employee value perspective, and oth-er the transparency. This is a very strong pillar. HR has to be transparent. Then comes integri-ty. While I am saying all this I am also making a strong statement. A lot of times the people admit to us about the composition we have traced and what is happening out of it. The data comes out of the HR that is why the information becomes porous. Here, HR has to play a very critical role. Integrity has to be very strong along with the hu-mility factor and the employee value. In the end, you have to be genuine.

Even with technology coming in, a few human traits will always have to remain, because here you are dealing with people. Nothing can take away what you can do with people, and that is why emotional intelligence will take over artificial intelligence.

What are the problems you experienced in the HR industry?

I would not shy away from saying this. I stayed in areas like China, Europe and the USA. I faced a similar problem across all the areas. I was managing China operations, which was very difficult to manage as the language was absolutely problematic for someone like me, who came from India. Also, the people of China would not accept being managed by an Indian. Whereas, the core problem in the industry of HR is that the people have a chip on their shoulder. They have got a lot of ego into the whole game where they think that they are privileged to all kinds of information and data about a lot of people, which makes them believe that what they do or say is going to be as meaningful as gospel truth. That is not actually the truth. One needs to sound genuine while dealing with human beings. Human Resource professionals are meant to be closest to the humans of the organisation, but all this paid a distance.

Professionals are very proud of handling HR as they are the closest to the Managing Director of the company. They have the data and information and also they handle power to fire employees. It is the HR’s business to deal with a change of role, reduction of com-position, an employee’s promotion-he does it all. This expression coming out through an HR professional has become so evident, that all it takes to understand is a 10-minute-long con-versation with the person.

All the countries across Asia, Europe and America, very clearly believe that this is the main problem in HR prevailing almost universally. If one does not really scale-up, connect and sound genuine to people, HR is soon going to be very limited in the next five to seven years. Today, ev-eryone stands on the other side of the river and interacts. The industry leaders believe that HR ‘must’ cross the river or the real meaning of HR will vanish. HR has to rise with the technology, building value perspective. With the technology coming in, HR is either going to be outsourced in the company after seven to eight years, or it will be very limited to the paperwork and transac-tions, which prevailed 20 years ago. Technology is making humans techncal.

“HR applies to its True meaning only when you are dealing with people. one has to display the humility aspect, skill of learning and listening so that people are able to relate to you. all thishas to genuinely come from the heart and soul of HR”

There are two kinds of persons that come to the company. One who is highly educated, but his thoughts are not aligned with the vision of the company. And the other person who is not that educated, but strongly believes in the vision of the company. Which one would you recruit? Would you choose to adjust both of them in the company?

I will definitely go with the other person who is not as talented but has a vision aligned to that of the company‘s. That for me would be a person who is above average but fits into the organisation. When I am going to hire a person, the job description has to be very clearly articulated, mentioning the responsibilities and expectations for the person, plus the softer side which focuses on behaviour, that is, the attention of detail, achievement or cognitive thinking, problem solving and so on. When you mark those responsibilities on humans, someone who has got a blend of the requirements should be in the company. A talented person, however good or great but not fitting into the culture, somewhere has to part away. Here lies the key for an HR person to assess the cultural fit of the interviewee.

A small example I would like to share here; I come from a place where I never have applied for a leave and never have had to follow a set schedule. I could come and go at any time. But here we follow a biometric in my current company. I am a leader and I am not pressurised to follow the biometric but a lot of people who are below the line of command, see us as leaders. Thus, I choose to follow the schedule. Thus, it is about how you manage all sides and sets of people who come from different backgrounds. The fitment is very important with the cultural standards. Everything in the company has to be communicated and culminated as per the vision.

Was your life always focused to get into HR?

I always wanted to be in HR because I think my passion lies in dealing with people. The more I am going up the more I am experiencing this across nations. When you are into an entry-level, you examine the organisation but as you go up, you see the leaders across organisations.