“Success is the result of perfection, hard-work and learning from failure.”

This is a famous anecdote of Colin Powell which I have always tried to incorporate in my professional life.

One of my first memories of school is going to a Parents Teaches Meet in primary school and having my teachers tell my parents, “Shirin definitely is the most talkative in class no matter how much I move her she still manages to communicate with everyone.” All throughout my life I have developed this art of being able to communicate with anyone at any given time. From joining the debate team in college, to studying internal and external communication I landed up being a Human Resource Professional where communication is key. I have learned in all my various career stints that Effective Communication is at the core of any successful leader and business.
A Seasoned HR Professional specialised in Compensation and Benefits with over 12 years of experience.
Along with Communicating, I love Crunching Numbers by handling Salary and Manpower Budgets, Rewards and Recognition for employees, Conducting Market Analysis / Benchmarking of Salaries. Managing Employee insurance and other benefits, Policy Formulations along with ensuring the Health and Wellness framework for employees. 

The major achievements that I have garnered at Pipeline Infrastructure Limited are enumerated as under:

A: Compensation & Benefits: PIL adopts a structured compensation model ensuring fairness with respect to job performance, organizational hierarchy, and market benchmarking. The reward philosophy, at PIL, is based on the principles of meritocracy, uniqueness, and fairness. It is aimed at promoting a performance-based culture and is reflected in the approach followed as mentioned below:

1. Compensation and Salary Benchmarking: Compensation benchmarking involves comparing the compensation practices, structures, and levels of PIL with those of other similar organizations in the same industry (peer group). Without benchmarking organizations would have faced the risk of disparity. Employees in similar roles may be paid differently leading to potential morale issues related to equity and fairness.

• Competitive Advantage: By comparing PIL’s compensation practices with those of similar organizations, we have gained insights into how competitive our compensation packages are in the market. This knowledge has allowed us to adjust the compensation strategy to attract and retain top talent. As the Head of Compensation & Benefits, I have spearheaded the benchmarking activity at Pipeline Infrastructure Limited and the benefits that PIL has been able to reap are enumerated as under:
• Talent Acquisition: Competitive compensation packages are a significant factor in attracting skilled and experienced employees. Benchmarking has ensured that PIL’s salaries are in line with industry standards, making it more appealing for prospective candidates.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Compensation benchmarking has helped in providing data-driven insights into PIL’s compensation practices. This information has helped in making informed decisions when adjusting salary ranges, structuring bonuses, or revising benefits packages.
• Compliance and Fairness: Benchmarking has enabled the compensation practices of PIL to be fair and compliant with industry standards and regulations. It has reduced the risk of underpaying or overpaying employees for similar roles, promoting fairness and equity within the organization.
• Strategic Planning: By understanding how PIL’s compensation measures up against competitors we have been better equipped to can align our compensation strategy with broader strategic goals. This alignment has ensured that compensation practices support organizational objectives such as growth, innovation, and talent development.

B: Rewards & Recognition: Rewards and recognition (R&R) is a system that acknowledges employees for their exemplary performance. At PIL R&R is an important strategy to: 

• Motivate employees.
• Acknowledge outperforming employees.
• Boost employee performance.

However, the element of Inclusivity required more focus in the current Rewards & Recognition framework at PIL. The awards were leaning more towards the technical and functional departments and less towards enabling and support functions. Also, the focus was more on individual awards and to align it to one of our core value which is One Team, more team awards were introduced. We also wanted to extend the award to our contractual and off roll employees as well.

With all the above in mind, I decided to align the thought process of the senior management with the need analysis through a data driven approach as well as with brief pointers regarding what is currently working well for PIL and what are the potential areas of improvement. 

The new awards that were introduced were differentiated and were the ones that would enable PIL to drive the ‘Culture of High Performance’ which is one of the most important core values. Highlights of the same mentioned below:

1. Separate awards were introduced for both Functional/Technical and Enabling Functions.

2. Included the Contractual/Off-role employees in the existing and new award categories.

3. Introduced 3 new categories of awards:

• Spot Reward & Recognition
• Emerging Star Awards for New Joiners
• Transformation Champion Awards for Senior Management

All the above were well received by the employees at PIL, and we were able to turnaround and increase the number of nominations received in comparison to the previous financial year. There was an average increase of 78% across the various categories of awards. 

C: Organization Design Project: At PIL, there is a constant unrest to strive and align ourselves to the organizational objectives with an aim to improve efficiency and effectiveness. 

With this in mind, we decided to embark on our Organization Design Journey which would help us in meeting our current and future business requirements. The three major outcomes that we were targeting through this initiative was:

1. Ensuring each function is Optimally Resourced basis the current and future volume of work.
2. Review of Unique Job Roles (UJRs) to meet function’s & in-turn the organization’s goals. 
3. Job Grade Mapping as well as Career Management Framework

This activity was jointly spearheaded by my colleague Ms. Shruti Nair, Head – Talent Acquisition and HRBP and myself. The project was implemented by considering and adopting the following methodology:

• The Current state was assessed by considering the existing organizational structure, roles, processes, and systems and also inputs and feedback regarding the current job role and effectiveness were discussed and deliberated with the Department Heads and well as Key Functional Leaders 
• Gap analysis was conducted to identify the discrepancies between the current state and the desired future state of PIL.
• Factors such as span of control, delegation of authority coordination mechanisms and integration across functions or business units were also reviewed and deliberated.
• Based on the above discussions the roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities of each position within PIL was clearly defined to avoid job overlaps
• These roles that were defined were such that would leverage employee’s strengths, promote collaboration, and support career development of employees working at PIL.

The Implementation and Monitoring of the suggested changes are taking place in stages or phases so that it promotes testing, feedback, and adjustments along the way.

Another important component of the Organization Design Journey was defining the Key Result Areas (KRA’s) which in turn would help each employee of PIL to define Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that are SMART and Measurable. 

Continuous Monitoring of these KPI’s, metrics and outcomes to assess the impact of the new design on business results, employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness is of paramount importance.

Embarking on the Organizational Design journey at PIL has not only fostered a culture of continuous improvement but has also enabled a culture of feedback, innovation and learning to drive ongoing enhancements to the organizational design its effectiveness in achieving PIL’s strategic objectives.

D: Enhancement of Benefits at PIL: At PIL the Culture of Care is the one of the major business focus areas. We believe in providing inclusive benefits which makes every employee feel- valued, cared for, and respected. The culture of inclusion is well represented in our Positive workplace policy which talks about respect for everyone irrespective of the gender, caste, religion, disabilities. We also believe in providing equal opportunities to everyone irrespective of their gender or any other demographic. The whole workforce is entitled to same benefits, trainings, and skill enhancement programs. However, to bring more focus on employee’s wellness and making our benefits more inclusive I have been able to introduce the additional benefits that are useful to PIL as well as its employees.

1. Coverage for Maternity for both Normal and C-section has been increased to INR 1 lakh from the earlier INR 50,000 for both Normal & C-section.

2. Pre & Post Natal expenses will be covered on both IPD as well as OPD basis (OPD will have a capping of INR 5000/-). Earlier the coverage was only on IPD basis.

3. LGBTQ partner coverage

4. Continued coverage of dependents till the expiry of the policy in case of an unfortunate death an employee.

5. Increase in OPD sum assured from INR 25,000 to INR 35,000 and inclusion of parents.

6. Increased Insurance coverage for Off roll employees - INR 5 lakhs and inclusion of parents. OPD coverage of INR 10,000 now also includes parents.

In conclusion, without continual growth and progress words such as improvement, achievement and success have no meaning. Always give your 200% in any task or project that one takes up.