The Power of Employee Listening: Inside the Mind of CHRO - Krupa NS

Hey there, HR heroes! In a world where every conversation, every strategy, and every innovation can pivot the trajectory of your organization, let's embark on a journey through the realm of employee listening strategies. 

This isn't just about ticking boxes; it's about genuinely engaging with your team to foster a culture of growth, loyalty, and innovation. Let's dive into an insightful exploration inspired by a riveting podcast - People Led Show featuring Krupa NS, the CHRO of Xoriant Solutions, and discover how we can transform the workplace together.

She's a seasoned HR leader with more than two and a half decades of experience in the field. A large part of her experience has been at the global tech giant HCL Technologies, where she led HR practices for more than 40,000 employees across 30+ countries. 

Meet Krupa NS: The Heart and Soul Behind the Strategy

Krupa, a seasoned HR professional, isn't just about policies and practices. Outside the corporate world, she's an adventurer at heart - a rockstar mom, an avid biker, and a singer when the mood strikes. This blend of personal interests and professional expertise makes her approach to HR both unique and relatable. It’s a reminder that HR leaders are multifaceted individuals, balancing their passions with their responsibilities.

Though her professional accomplishments are impressive, Krupa remains down-to-earth in her personal life. Her thrill-seeking hobbies provide balance from the demands of being a top HR executive.

Navigating Today's HR Landscape: Challenges and Triumphs

In our conversation, Krupa dives into the pressing issues facing HR today: 

• Employee Engagement & Employee Listening in a remote setup, 

• Retaining Top Talent, and 
• Cultivating & Preserving a Culture of Productivity, Transparency and Trust

The transition to remote work, once a luxury, has become a necessity, challenging us to rethink how we connect and engage with our teams. 

In an era defined by the pre- and post-pandemic transitions, HR leaders are navigating uncharted waters. Krupa emphasizes the importance of "stickiness" to the organization - creating a sense of belonging and community, in a predominantly remote working environment. 

The essence of workplace culture, the camaraderie and connection traditionally built within office walls, now needs to be recreated virtually. It's a challenge that calls for innovative solutions and a deep understanding of what motivates and engages employees in this new normal.

Krupa's cheat sheet to create meaningful connections in remote workplace

How do you keep employees engaged when they're miles apart? 

Krupa NS, the CHRO at Xoriant, highlights several key strategies to foster meaningful connections in a virtual environment: from pre-onboarding communication to integrating new hires into the company culture virtually. The goal is to make employees feel valued and connected from day one.

Creating Virtual Touch Points

Enhancing the Onboarding Experience

Fostering a Sense of Community

By implementing these strategies, HR leaders can help their distributed teams feel connected, supported, and engaged, even in the absence of physical proximity. This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity, loyalty, and overall organizational success.

What Does Employee Listening Really Mean?

Listening isn’t just about hearing what employees say; it’s about understanding the unspoken, grasping the nuances of their experiences, and acting upon this knowledge. 

Krupa emphasizes the significance of engaging potential employees right from the pre-boarding stage, ensuring they feel valued and connected. This strategy extends to the current workforce, where regular, thoughtfully spaced surveys, real-time feedback during sessions, and town halls play a pivotal role. 

But here’s the kicker: feedback doesn’t always come in words. Krupa points out the significance of recognizing when silence from an employee might actually be a loud signal of disengagement. It's about understanding and acting on these cues to foster a positive work environment.

Krupa’s Blueprint for Effective Employee Listening and Engagement

Krupa believes that the most important thing is to know how employees are feeling and what they are thinking. She uses several methods to listen to employees:

1. For new hires, she engages with them prior to onboarding through conversations to understand their expectations and make them feel valued before they officially join. 
   
   
2. She provides new hires with information when they join so they understand the context and culture. Then she gives them time to form their own experiences in the organization before seeking feedback.
   
   
3. Rather than over-surveying employees, she looks for touchpoints after certain interactions or programs to get instant, anonymous feedback while the experience is still fresh in their minds. This could be a few questions after a town hall or training session. 
   
   
4. She believes town halls every quarter are important, even if the CEO isn't always present. Leaders closer to the business who interact more with customers can also run them and provide transparency.
   
   
5. Before town halls, employees can anonymously submit questions on what they want to hear about through the intranet. This allows the agenda to be tailored to employee interests.
   
   
6. For middle managers, she creates open sessions with senior leaders that are informal opportunities to ask questions about anything happening in the organization.
   
   
7. She emphasizes collecting feedback through both formal and informal channels at various touchpoints. This provides a well-rounded perspective compared to only annual surveys.

Exit Interviews - A Crucial Listening Channel

Exit interviews provide a valuable opportunity for organizations to gain candid feedback from departing employees. At the exit interview, employees are more likely to be transparent about their reasons for leaving and share constructive feedback about their employment experience. 

Some key benefits of exit interviews: /

• Understand the real reasons employees choose to leave. Exit interviews can reveal issues with company culture, management, compensation, work environment, and more. This helps identify areas needing improvement.
• Provide closure to the employment relationship. An exit interview allows the employee to share final thoughts and the employer to tie up loose ends. This promotes goodwill.
• Gain insights into engagement and retention issues. Aggregate data from exit interviews may uncover patterns pointing to systemic problems impacting morale and retention.
• Collect feedback on processes and policies. Departing staff can objectively evaluate HR practices and management approaches without concern over consequences.
• Opportunity for learning and improvement. Exit interview findings help recognize management gaps, process deficiencies, and other actionable areas for enhancement.
• Reduce legal risks. Issues surfaced in an exit interview may avoid potential litigation down the road if addressed appropriately.

Overall, exit interviews serve as a vital listening channel to capture unfiltered perspectives from those leaving the organization. This supports continuous improvement in employee experience, engagement, development and retention.

Decode the real reasons behind exits

Simplify exit surveys to drive impactful insights through the power of AI and analytics

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Retaining the Brightest Minds

With the industry gearing up for growth, retaining key talent becomes crucial. The journey from a new joiner to a loyal, engaged employee is fraught with potential disconnection points.

Krupa's insights shed light on the critical touchpoints, from onboarding processes enriched with crucial information and experiences, to engagement strategies that make every employee feel like they're part of something bigger. This holistic approach is vital for fostering a sense of belonging and purpose among employees, which is crucial for retention.

Krupa’s approach involves personalized engagement and development plans. It’s about recognizing the unique contributions of each employee and providing them with opportunities to grow. From competitive compensation to leadership development programs, the focus is on creating a supportive and motivating workplace.

Cheat sheet for CHROs to retain their best talent

The table below outlines Krupa's strategies for retaining key talent, incorporating personalized engagement and development plans.

Cultivating a Culture of Productivity, Transparency & Trust

When it comes to boosting productivity, Krupa believes the key is focusing on engaged teams and deliverables, not minute-by-minute tracking. 

She explains that productivity needs to be tracked as a discipline, but overly focusing on time tracking minute-by-minute can actually backfire and cause employee stress. The key is maintaining flexibility while still holding employees accountable for their deliverables and deadlines.  

Most importantly, engaged teams will naturally be more productive. Rather than micromanaging time, leaders should focus on fostering employee engagement through open communication, career development opportunities, and an inspiring vision and purpose. An engaged workforce will be intrinsically motivated to produce great work.

Productivity systems should support employees, not add extra stress. The goal should be tracking deliverables, not every minute of time. With flexibility and engagement, employees will take ownership and pride in hitting their goals and timelines.

Anonymous vs. Confidential Surveys

Building trust with employees is crucial for organizational success. One way HR leaders can build trust is through employee surveys. There are two main types of surveys - anonymous and confidential. 

Anonymous surveys allow employees to provide open and honest feedback without fear of retaliation. This is especially important in situations where trust may be low, such as after a merger or acquisition. Anonymous surveys signal to employees that their feedback is valued over identifying individuals.  

However, the key is to follow up anonymous survey results with transparency and action. Share high-level themes openly with employees and commit to improving on areas of weakness. Without transparency and follow-through, anonymous surveys lose their power to build trust over time.

As trust deepens, consider using confidential surveys where employee names are collected but not tied to individual responses. This allows for targeted follow up while still protecting employees. 

The choice between anonymous and confidential depends on context. But in either case, transparency and follow-through are vital to demonstrating the organization's commitment to hearing employee feedback and building trust.

Data-Driven HR: Embracing Predictive Analytics

In this era of unprecedented change, relying solely on hindsight is no longer enough. As a true HR visionary, you must embrace a data-driven approach that allows you to anticipate and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.

Krupa underscores the importance of moving beyond basic HR metrics and adopting a more business-oriented mindset. By tracking and reporting on key indicators like attrition rates, resource costs, and talent pipeline health, you can position yourself as a strategic partner, capable of informing critical business decisions.

Leveraging Predictive Analytics

But the real power lies in predictive analytics. As Krupa so eloquently states, 

By harnessing the power of data-driven insights, you can anticipate future challenges and opportunities, empowering your organization to stay agile and adaptable in the face of change. This is the true mark of an HR leader who has the vision and foresight to guide their organization to greatness.

Wisdom for HR Leaders

As a leader, Krupa's key advice for aspiring people leaders across India is to know your subject well. 

In addition, it's critical as a leader to walk the talk. When you say you'll do something, follow through and do it. By matching words with actions, you'll build trust and earn respect from your team. Being honest, transparent and authentic are key to creating a positive employee experience

As we wrapped up our conversation, Krupa's insights painted a picture of the future of HR – one where empathy, adaptability, and strategic thinking lead the way. It's about being proactive, embracing change, and continuously seeking ways to improve the employee experience.

So, what's your takeaway from Krupa's journey and insights? Are there strategies you’ve seen success with, or new ideas you’re excited to try? 

The Road Ahead

Join Krupa NS, the CHRO of Xoriant Solutions, in revolutionizing employee engagement and listening strategies by harnessing the power of AI in HR. 

With cutting-edge AI-powered HR engagement tech like inFeedo,  HR leaders can now predict employee attrition, boost engagement, & boost workforce productivity through actionable insights.

Witness firsthand how its intuitive analytics and engagement platforms can empower you to truly understand and respond to your employees' needs, fostering a culture of appreciation, motivation, and high performance.

Feel free to check out how HR leaders are utlising inFeedo: Hear from our clients

Together, let's build workplaces where every voice is heard and valued!