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Sonia Nair

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Sonia Nair

Human Resources Consultant

Resilient HR Solutions

Sonia Nair is a member of:

- Expert

Recruiting new generation:

The best way to attract and retain talent is to facilitate an Organizational culture wherein diverse work-force thrives without a sense of insecurity. Facilitate a culture that encourages transparency and fairness in the working procedures, a platform to voice opinions without being penalized, whistle blower policies, fast track career growth for ambitious high potential, continuous recognition and reward, and also eliminating the poor performers and pessimistic cribbers from time to time. A good mix of compensation with performance based pay gives an opportunity for the ambitious generation to grow faster and richer.

Qualities that we Look For While Hiring:

1) Behaviour that matches the Organization's culture
2) Passion for excellence
3) Out of the box thinking and zeal for learning
4) Sense of Business Partnership

HR Strategies In Place

We ensured that as a video gaming Company, we are working on the hottest technologies and platforms in the game development arena.

Hence, we laid down the following HR strategies -

1) Building a steady candidate pipeline throughout the year and hiring the best global talent from time to time without compromising on quality.
2) Setting up a school of gaming for continuous learning of the latest technologies and platforms, offering employees a chance to work on the latest and best technologies.
3) Setting up a cool gaming culture with geographic and gender diversity where Gaming is a way of life for individuals and families.
4) Setting up performance matrix and providing fast track growth for ambitious achievers.
5) Continuous recognition and reward throughout the year.
6) Retention plan

Advice to upcoming professionals

Be in touch with the latest in your field. The more you read others' experiences and the latest technologies, the best you can implement at your place of work. Being hands-on helps a lot in solving Organizational problems. Delegating and sharing work creates robust team environment and helps from burning out at work. There is always enough work at hand to keep you from idling away, and always enough time for work-life balance. All you need to do is prioritize and plan well. Remember that only a happy person can spread happiness, so be cheerful at all times.

Being different from other stream

Since this profession involves more interaction with people across the Organization, the experience is bound to be more enriching, since you deal with the human psychology. This field gives you an opportunity to change people's work lives and achieve business heights through collective efforts. Hence, a matured Human Resources team can help employees achieve their ambitions and also guide the management on global trends. HR is the line that connects all the important dots in the Organization.

Recommended Reading

I do not have a favourite one because I read a lot of stuff on the net, especially the articles on linkedin.com and blogs by HR professors at world renowned universities. I also read a lot of self help Management books like the Fish series, Dale Carnegie's books, etc.
I would recommend the fellow professionals to browse a lot of material on the net. Personally, each one would have a different taste, hence go ahead and make reading your habit.

Relationship with HR and Top Management

The Organization should throw open, a lot of communication channels within the Organization and see what works best.
Personal approach or one-on-one meetings are the best and the most human form, however, due to large size of the Organization and time constraints, people prefer emails and SLA based tickets to resolve daily issues at work.
Other forms of effective communication mechanisms are - Open houses, team meets, skip level meetings, suggestion boxes, etc.
One of the best ways that teams operate in any department is through stand-up scrum in line with the Agile methodology.
However, these would be helpful communication channels only when the issues get resolved within SLAs which are time bound.

Current HR Trends:

HR is functioning as a business function today, partnering with the other counterparts towards business growth, unlike the facilitating partner in the earlier times.
Today, there is no national or regional boundary, as HR has reached all global norms, hats off to the internet technology. Social networking has helped in communicating, networking, recruiting, and knowing the best practices across the geographies. Social networking will pave the way to cheaper and better sourcing of candidates and even adopting the best online HR tools in the days to come.

Current job profile

After 16 years in service, I proceeded on sabbatical in January 2012 owing to maternity and am now practicing as a Freelance Consultant, offering HR solutions and services to small and mid sized Organizations. In my last assignment, I headed a video game development Organization as Head of Human Resources.

Parting Thoughts

It would be innovative to prepare the future generation of HR professionals into global HR professionals. You may feel free to contact me for any help on the subject.

HR Challenges:

It may turn out to be a challenge if there is a lack of proper vision in the Organization. There is a need to be aware of the latest technologies, skills and platforms to be adapted in the ever changing scenario. Besides that, the HR needs to understand the Management Philosophy and advise the correct strategies which align the other senior partners' business strategies.
I would like to give an example -
Most Organizations have a problem hiring the right quantity and mix of work-force due to poor HR planning. It is important for the HR team to find out the Business / sales funnel that the sales team is building and also the technical capabilities of your business in order to build a steady HR pipeline. This can not be achieved in isolation, but through strong inter-personal relations with the sales and delivery counterparts. Once you understand the operating model of your partners, it becomes easier for you to build your own winning strategies.