Shivangi: Hello, everyone, welcome to the People-led show. I'm your host Shivangi, and our guest for today is the amazing Rashmi Priya. Rashmi is the Head of HR at IIFL Home Finance. She's been instrumental in establishing a culture of continuous learning and development with initiatives like LMS, training programs, and career development for programs for close to five thousand employees.

Shivangi: With over fifteen years of experience at Axis Bank and now at IIFL, Rashmi has been a driving force in shaping the human capital landscape, especially in the BFSI sector. Get ready to gain insights from Rashmi's rich personal experience and learn from her remarkable achievements. Welcome, Rashmi. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Rashmi: Thank you, Shivangi, for the kind words.

Rashmi: Truly humbled by the great words that you spoke about me. It's been quite an exhilarating journey as you mentioned. Yeah. Thank you.

Shivangi: So great to know that. Rashmi, so I wanna start off a little bit easier. I wanna start fun. We know what you do.

Shivangi: We've all seen that through the years, but I personally want to know what is Rashmi outside of work. What what do you like and enjoy beyond the nine to five? 

Rashmi: Yeah. There's a lot of things. But today, we are exposed to so many things in the world of OTTs and what not.

Rashmi: But, yeah, the small joys of life is family, friends. It's always there. You love to spend time once you're out of the office with your kids and your friends. And, I like sports. So I used to be hockey captain in my college days. So really enjoyed the matches also. So it's the and it's a very generic one, but I love reading. And I practice yoga in my free time. Yeah. 

Shivangi: Oh, I feel like we have a lot to talk about, including, you know, running, sports, hockey.

Shivangi: And you know, I wanna discuss the World Cup, but later after the call.

Shivangi: Rashmi, I want to ask you, I know that among the many things that you just mentioned, I know you're also passionate about employee experience and, you know enabling your people at every position and every organization that you've been at. But from your vast experience of so many years, I want to understand what are two to three, you know, challenges employee experience challenges that you, as a people leader, want answers to in 2024?

Rashmi: So Shivangi, the basic building block of any person, not just an employee, any person once the person has reached the basic first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy is the person is being trusted, he's been given due respect when he's talking or he's expressing something or she's expressing something is what I've come across at all times. So if somebody is saying something or trying to share something, if that person sees that he's not being listened to, and he's not being given due acknowledgement or due importance? It's what is lacking. I feel that if in coming months, we are able to address the thing that each and every employee should not feel that he has not been heard, that he and he felt that he has something to share, she has something to share that he could not find or she could not find a platform to share that. If that can be addressed in a truly human way, It'll be great experience for me as well be an achievement. 

Shivangi: I think that says volume about you as a human being and as a people leader and how would these qualities coincide. Right?

Shivangi: Like, just the need to be heard and you recognizing that for your employees. And you said a couple of things about you know, trust and creating a culture of listening. I wanna come back to it. I wanna I have some couple of questions to ask you on that. But but before that, I wanted to ask you, you know, what is an ideal culture for you?

Rashmi: An organization has its own personality.

Rashmi: It's an individual. And all the departments, the employees, the functions, everybody should be aligned to that organization and organization culture. 

Rashmi: For example if he or she can confidently say that I am a person who has a place of importance. I'm contributing to the overall well-being of the organization, and I'm heard. And I have the power to execute my responsibilities. And, the whole organization is able to speak confidently that my people are able to talk openly and they can discuss things openly.

Rashmi: It's complete transparency there, and the organization trusts the people and vice versa. An employee doesn't feel as if he's an individual. He's part of the whole.

Shivangi: Yeah. I think that that's a very important point that they need to feel like they're part of the brand. They're, you know, important, to the fabric of the organization, and they're very much imbibe it. That's a great point. 

Shivangi: So what do you think, you know dealing with so many people? And, like, when I had close to five thousand employees, it kinda blew my mind that on a daily basis, that's the number of employees that you manage. 

Shivangi: What is the collective expectation of the employee of today?

Rashmi: Today's employees are quite evolved. It is not Roti Kapda Makaan anymore. They are looking for a a meaning in their life and a purpose in their work. So if they're not able to see the purpose they will look for purpose somewhere else.

Rashmi: The anxiety builds in. And you might have seen the BCG matrix of amazement cycle. Most of the employees who are on the verge of resigning, they are on the anxiety level. What next for me, or what am I doing, or the the worry phase is it right for me?

Rashmi: If that if we are able to address then the person comes to the amazement cycle. So addressing the anxiety and the worry part of the employee is what I have been coming across of late. 

Shivangi: That's very interesting. I wanted to ask you, you said that there's a couple of anxieties that people face, you know, while right before they're about to resign.

Shivangi: Have you, in your experience, noticed, You know, what are these anxieties related to especially specifically regarded their work culture or, you know, the the kind of work that they're doing? 

Rashmi: Yeah. So I'll tell you Shivangi with an example. One of the employees had come to me, and we are an evolving organization ever since I've joined.

Rashmi: We are developing new processes and systems. So there there are certain things which are not clear. So the person was a high performer, but the person did not know what exactly she is going to bring on the table. 

Rashmi: There was a communication gap between the manager and the employee, and that built on her anxiety levels.

Rashmi: How to go about it? Am I doing the right thing or not? Well that anxiety, if not addressed, would have probably led to my stark fear of her resigning. 

Rashmi: But, thankfully in the right nick of the time, we caught it. We had a discussion and just to assure that we all on the same side. It's not on the opposite side of the table that you're working on. And, we are also in that haze phase, and we are trying to figure out things. And it's okay to have anxiety, which is good, which means that we want to clear out things.

Rashmi: For example, there's another anxiety also. Somebody goes on maternity leave. The anxiety of the person to come back If the position is still there, if the network is still there or not. To assure that person that, everything will remain the same. It's very very critical to keep in touch with that person.

Rashmi: These kind of anxieties are everywhere in the organization. And in a small bit pieces and at a bigger piece, we call it a macro anxiety. It is at the back of the mind people are not talking about. And when somebody talks to them, it comes out. And thankfully, it comes out because then we are able to address it.

Shivangi: I think a couple of great points came out of there. One of them being, you know, just keeping in touch with their employees. I want to understand how do you exactly do that. How do you keep you know, in touch with the pulse of your employees, considering there are, like, so many segments of employees.

Shivangi: How do you make sure that you are listening to all of them?

Shivangi: What are your listening channels?

Rashmi: Okay thankfully, we had inFeedo coming in quite early in. I think it's 2016 that we onboarded inFeedo. And because at that time, our employee strenght was if I'm not wrong 1100. And at that time, also, it was for me, it was big because connecting to all the employees, to understand what are their anxiety, their queries, or their suggestions also because in fact, there's amazing suggestions.

Rashmi: And it's it will be a vital loss for the management if you're not listening to them. So we have, inFeedo, which touches the employees at different intervals, asking very humane questions. And how do you feel today? Did you have a chat with a manager? And how do you feel about the management or the senior management?

Rashmi:  There are very very good insights, relevant insight, which might have not come to me if I had gone visited that branch or that employee. I'll tell you why, Shivangi. If I go to a branch and now we are more than 325 branches across, that two tier three cities. So which means that travel to air, flight, flight, say train, train, say auto, air taxi, whatever. So even then, if I connect or talk to those employees, it will take me some time to break the ice.

Rashmi: While inFeedo is giving me instant real answers, where the problem lies? The chat is reaching out to all the employees. They are giving me feedback. We are actioning upon them, and we're telling them, hey we heard you, and we respect whatever you suggested.

Rashmi: We're acting this this this thing to you. Gives a lot of assurance to the employees that she has been heard and had been acted upon. That gives a lot of mental peace to the employees. 

Shivangi: Yeah. I love it.

Shivangi: I love the fact that you mentioned that you know. I know it's a unique problem to the BFSI industry that there are so many branches. There are so many employees across tiers of the country, like, the two tier two and tier three cities, and 

Shivangi: something that we call feet on street. Right? Yes. Yes.

Shivangi: How how do you really keep them engaged because those are the first ones to kind of feel a little bit disengaged. 

Rashmi: Yeah. I'll tell you, Shivangi. there are Feet on Street employees who are actually implementing what we are thinking and making. The policy that we're making here is the one, they are the one who are implementing it.

Rashmi: If they find something amiss, we will not get to know until they speak themselves. It's really not possible to talk to each one and of them, understand what is going well and what is not going well. So this pulse survey is helping us a lot. There was Pranashapalli where we got to know that the local legal policy needs to be updated.

Rashmi: We wouldn't have got to know because we saw sentiment. We got it updated. We got it updated for Maharashtra. So the policy changes at the strategic level is happening from the ground up. 

Shivangi: That is such a brilliant example. That that kind of perpetuates trust at you sitting in Gurgaon and, You know, your employees sitting in another city. That that's a great connection. I think that that that's very important to, you know, kind of build trust. 

Rashmi: It's absolutely very important. Because In the end, the employee and employer relationship is built on trust. The employer believes that employee is going to adhere to the certain set of order conduct that it has started out for the employees. And employees trust the employers that their career growth will be taken care by the employer..

Rashmi: There is some trust factor which the employee is putting in when he the person is talking to me via the chatbot talking about the these issues around her.

Rashmi: And if I'm acting upon at least even one action item, there's a trust that's built. And and that solidifies my employees' longevity with me.

Shivangi: And, yeah, I I completely agree with that. Since, you know, you have used inFeedo before, I wanna ask you,

Shivangi: where do you think you can build trust better, whether it's with confidentiality or anonymity? 

Rashmi: I think it's confidentiality that the person who's talking to me is assured that it is confidential. Whatever the person is talking and sharing with me, it will be treated with respect and due secrecy, but confidential means that it will be be taken care of. Anonymity, I would say, is more of a higher level. At extreme level, something is starkly gone wrong, then probably the people should expect anonymous.

Rashmi: But our organization, we feel that we are transparent, and we believe in calling a spade a spade. But if something is going wrong, we should call it out, and we applaud that fact. That person has pointed that out. And it should be taken in a positive sense. I think that's how one of our success mantra that we have taken all the big bags on the face and improved upon it.

Shivangi: Can you walk me through the process of what are the key steps that you take when you implement feedback, and what does your action process look like? 

Rashmi: So first is socializing the whole idea of that we are going to have such a kind of ecosystem in the organization where we are going to take feedback from the employees and also to give a feel to the employees that is really important to the organization. We say that directly, the CEO will be looking into the feedback and that it's totally confidential And any action that's taken is for the betterment of the organization. That kind of socializing is done. It's half adoption done.

Rashmi: And then we for example, if I give example of my company we have fortnightly meeting with our CEO where we give the snapshot of all the cases that we've got. The feedback, the PTM cases, person to meet cases. And then we bucket the responses, into, grievances , suggestions, process, or system related. And then we assign SPOCs to them. And this is and then let in the following fortnight, we tell the CEO what action has been taken and that that thing has been closed.

Rashmi: The action item has been closed and then communicate to the employee. And because of that, I think people have been very honest in their feedback . They feel Amber is their companion. There's a gold mine that we've got there. We got a lot of good feedback. I'll give you an example.

Rashmi: So in HO itself, there was a female who had given that there is so much going on on the office floor. All that somebody's talking, There is phone pop up that's coming up all the time. So there there are a lot of diversions, and we don't have a place in the office where we just can't go and think do some creative thinking of brainstorming. That came on our pulse in on Amber chatbot. We had one brainstorming room created where there's no Internet, there's no mobile towers.

Rashmi: So that that's the kind of I think trust that we are building into the through our chatbot, which people also have seen impact. 

Shivangi: Any any surveys as good as the action it brings along? And we're, like, big supporters of that with you. 

Shivangi: Okay. I'm just gonna shift gears a little bit, Rashmi, and I want to ask you one question that I feel like, you know, objectively that people who are listening to this podcast, are going to be noting this. What are some key indicators or KPIs that you track when it comes to employee experience? .

Rashmi: So depend on the dashboard that I have for inFeedo, it gives engagement score and the mood score and the people to meet and the cases closed. And that's a fairly objective way of showcasing, how am I doing as an organization and how my people feel and how they connect with the organization? So any dip in the number, be it engagement or mood score, it's a a red mark, and we try to deep dive where and what went wrong.

Rashmi: Because and there is a high, co-relation between the engagement score and the productivity matrix of our employees. It's amazing, Shivangi. If if I chart over the month my engagement score and the business productivity, They are almost like a parallel line for me. So it's a business case, actually.

Shivangi: So it's quite objective, and it's very trackable. Do you have some recommendation for the HR leaders gonna who are gonna be watching this?

Shivangi: How can they tackle attrition at their organization?

Rashmi: It might be repetitive, but the respect and trust is first and foremost.

Rashmi: If the employee feels individually connected to the manager and to the top management, if he or she thinks there's a purpose of his role or her role I think then there's a strong tie that's difficult to break, if that is done. And the connect at a large scale, can be maintained by AI chat versus self where the employee should feel that somebody's talking to me and listening to me and is empathizing with me. And whatever I say would be taken due cognizance of and acted upon. 

Rashmi: If we spend probably an hour's time every two days, it is more than sufficient to build the connect and build the tie, which is unbreakable. 

Shivangi: So I know that you mentioned a couple of great points like, you know, having trust keeping in touch with the pulse of the employees just just being aware and cognizant of how their mental well-being is, how important do you think managers are when it comes to engaging employees and also keeping your best people in the organization?

Rashmi: Very important. The manager is the first touch point who will give the the trust, the purpose, the respect that we're talking about. He's a spokesperson of the organization to the employee.

Rashmi: And if It's the that place where the employee and the employer connection starts. And if he's able to assure that the manager will be taking care of the employee, I think it's a half problem solved.

Shivangi: And how do you enable managers to to do the same? 

Rashmi: So when I said the socializing part of it, we had we hold meetings and orient them about the feedback. So we have also Feedback policy.

Rashmi: How do you take feedback? How do you treat a feedback? And how do you treat the person who's giving the feedback? So that there's no giving back to the employee in a negative way. And so that is a environment of trust that is built upon.

Rashmi: Success of the ecosystem is dependent on them. 

Shivangi: Awesome. That's that's a great insight. I think in maybe in the long term. And as in when we figure out the strategies, managers can be very instrumental in helping organizations control attrition as well because they're the they're the people who notice, some these changes first.

Shivangi: Thank you so much for being so candid and so honest with everything that you said, Rashmi.

Shivangi: I had an amazing time asking you these questions. 

Rashmi: Same here. I loved talking to you. It was an absolute pleasure.