The Shape of Work (Springworks)
Explore every episode of The Shape of Work
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
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| 28 Jan 2022 | #190: Bensely Zachariah on impact of employee mental health, employee engagement on productivity, HR's role in Business Continuity Planning, and AI in performance management | 00:53:09 | |
Bensely Zachariah is the Global Head of Human Resources at Fulcrum Digital Inc - a leading business platform and digital engineering services company. He has over two decades of experience in the HR space and is specialized in areas such as strategic planning, organisational development, change management, talent management, HR operations, and mergers & acquisitions. Prior to joining Fulcrum, Bensely held various positions like Senior Director of Human Resources, Head HR(Global)- Business Units, and General Manager HR. Episode Highlights: Positive effects of mental health on productivity: Organizations must focus on the mental health of their employees as it is directly linked to employees absenteeism, the productivity of work, and turnover rates. Some of the ways to drive positive mental health are work culture, health assessment programs, building wellness programs into L&D Dept, and promoting employee engagements through learning initiatives. Impact of employee engagement on productivity and quality: It is important to clearly communicate an employee’s role in an organization, and how he/she can help in achieving it. This can help them accomplish their own personal goals along with organizational goals. HR's role in Business Continuity Planning (BCP): BCP should not be devised only during some pandemic. Rather it should be planned in advance for 'new normal' so as to help in the smooth functioning of an organization. AI in performance management: Bensely suggests organizations use AI for the development, growth, and productivity of employees but never in favour of monitoring employees. He strongly believes that the benefits of technology only depend on the intent of using it. Produced by: Priya Bhatt
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| 31 Jan 2022 | #191: How talent leaders should reimagine their roles and prepare for the future, with Niraj Shukla | 00:12:05 | |
Our next guest on The Shape of work podcast is Niraj Shukla, Head of HR at Rebel Foods. Rebel Foods was established in the year 2011. They are the world’s largest internet restaurant company. Niraj has spent over a decade building his tool stack in the HR space. Prior to Rebel Foods, he worked as an HR ER at GeBBS Healthcare Solutions, HR Manager at CARE Risk Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Assistant Manager - Talent at CarWale. Episode Highlights: How should talent leaders reimagine their roles and prepare for the future? HR professionals form a bridge between the employees and the organization, and hence it's important for them to set the right expectations and fulfil those accordingly. They should have a broad view of their employees, business, and the market to come up with initiatives for achieving set goals. How to retain your current workforce? The key to retaining talent is by providing them with support and motivation. Organizations should conduct regular surveys to understand their employees better & act on them. What is your one piece of advice to emerging talent leaders of today? Niraj advises future leaders to inculcate a habit of listening. Listening to your employees, business, team leaders, and stakeholders gives a new perspective & also resolves the challenges faced. | |||
| 04 Feb 2022 | #192: Bofin Babu on how leaders should enhance employee experience and learning in 2022 | 00:29:38 | |
Our next guest is Bofin Babu, Vice President of AI at CloudSEK- an AI-powered digital risk Monitoring platform that provides real-time visibility of cyber threats and actionable Intel. In this episode, Bofin shares an exciting story from his career and the great lessons, hacks, and best practices he picked up along the way. Bofin started his internship as a developer at NVIDIA for 6 months. His time there made him realize that the number of deep learners in India is less compared to the USA. That’s when he spoke to Rahul Sasi, founder of CloudSEK, and a very well-known ethical hacker. Both of them built the company together. Bofin made the first team hire, designed, & built ML tech. He has now spent five-plus years at CloudSEK and has held positions such as Sr. Data scientist and Machine Learning Lead, and Head of Machine Learning. Episode Highlights: How should leaders prepare for 2022? Communication is the key to a smooth functioning organization. Bofin recommends conducting 1v1 meetings with the team members to get an idea of the work done, progress, and challenges faced. Leaders should be empathetic towards their team members. They need to be non-judgmental and communicate clearly in order to succeed. What is CloudSEK doing differently to enhance the employee experience for the workforce? CloudSEK personalizes every candidate, may it be onboarding a candidate or rejecting. They send a personalized message explaining why candidates weren't hired so as to help them for their future. What are some of the significant shifts in workplace learning since the pandemic? Pre-pandemic one could learn a lot from their colleagues through group discussions and group meetings that happen within the office. However, it is now unavailable. Follow Bofin on LinkedIn & Twitter About Springworks: | |||
| 07 Feb 2022 | #193: Shiromi Bose on how to motivate employees to achieve peak performance, improving EX, and the workplace benefits landscape of the future | 00:49:04 | |
“Employee well-being is the role of every individual in the organization and not just HR's" Our guest on this episode is here to give us all the insights we need to build the workplace of the future. We welcome Shiromi Bose, Chief of Operations at Divum Corporate Services Pvt Ltd. Divum is a software services organization that builds new products for startups. Shiromi is the jack of all trades. Prior to joining Divum, she worked in the HR field for over two decades and specialized in areas such as talent management, performance appraisals, and audits. At Divum, she started exploring the operations side of things. She is responsible for culture building, team engagement, program management, as well as ensuring the smooth functioning of an organization. We discuss with Shiromi:
How to motivate employees to achieve peak performance? Regular feedback integrated into a coaching and mentoring session can help motivate employees. Ensure that the feedback given and received from the employees is recorded digitally so that the organization & the employee act on it and grow. How can organizations leverage async communication to improve productivity? Employees work better when they are not micromanaged and are given flexibility. Using asynchronous communication, employees can respond to messages whenever they're available. What should leaders do to improve employee experience in 2022? Leaders need to be async with what the employees want and then structure the programs accordingly. A good employee experience can help retain employees in the long run. Their passion and purpose need to be addressed. Advice for employers to integrate well-being into the flow of work. Organizations should be more empathetic towards their employees. Managers should have informal conversations, 1v1s with the team to check on them, and ensure they are doing well. Where do you see the workplace benefits landscape in the future? Organizations should understand that the requirements of every individual are different. Hence, it is necessary to be flexible with the benefits offered. | |||
| 08 Feb 2022 | #194: Ravish Saily on how employers can manage and engage diverse employees to the organization’s advantage | 00:28:50 | |
Our next guest has mastered the art of doing HR the right way. We welcome Ravish Saily, Head HR- Global Delivery Center, Syngenta - an agriculture company focused on improving global food security by enabling millions of farmers to use available resources better. Ravish has over two decades of diverse experience in the HR field. He spent the first half of his career working in Indian MNCs such as Tata Motors, Godrej & Boyce, and Reliance. After that, he got opportunities to work in international MNCs such as the Royal Bank of Scotland and Mastercard. In this exciting career journey, he has explored various areas of HR - Commercial HR, Manufacturing HR, IR, Corporate HR, Diversity and Inclusion, Employee Engagement, and much more. Ravish is well-known for conceptualizing, developing, and implementing HR practices that align with the business. We discuss with Ravish: How can employers manage and engage diverse employees to the organization’s advantage?
How can managers contribute to the success of leadership development programs? Leadership development programs should be designed according to the needs of the employees to ensure their growth. Managers should take the initiative to keep track of the progress in their L&D programs. Precautionary steps to take while implementing changes in workplace rules While implementing change, an organization's goal should be to empower its employees and gain their trust. This encourages more loyalty among employees. How to successfully onboard new employees and retain them during 'The Great Resignation'? Organizations should work towards bringing more flexibility within the existing policies to attract and retain talent. They should also focus on reducing dependency on a single employee. Follow Ravish on LinkedIn. | |||
| 09 Feb 2022 | #195: Amitha Kamath on how to build resilience in the workplace, DEI initiatives, and her advice to young HR professionals | 00:22:39 | |
In today’s episode, we are joined by Amitha Kamath, Human Resources Manager at Observe.AI - an Intelligent Workforce Platform revolutionizing contact centers by using AI. Prior to joining Observe.AI, Amitha worked as an Executive Assistant for almost a decade. Working with well-known CEOs of the country helped shape her professional persona and look at things from the CEO’s perspective. Her role as an EA also helped her become more strategic. Amitha started her new journey in the HR field at Observe.AI. She thrives in startups as it gives her plenty of opportunities to grow and work on the firsts of an organization. At Observe.AI, she learned how to build the HR function from scratch. Episode highlights:
Of the many cool things Amitha shares, here are our top 3 learnings from her: According to Amitha, building trust across organizations is the main pillar that makes our workplace resilient. This can be achieved by transparent communication practices and being empathetic towards the employees. What are some of the DEI initiatives that Observe.AI is focusing on?
Advice to the emerging HR Professionals of today? Her advice to all the HR leaders is to be creative, bold, and to be able to strategically present their ideas before the management. HR professionals need to upskill themselves to understand the challenges in Human Resource Management (HRM) and be prepared to deal with unforeseen problems. Upskilling equips them to support employees more effectively resulting in a happier and more engaged workforce. Follow Amitha on LinkedIn.
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| 12 Feb 2022 | #196: Indusekhar Chandrasekhar on leveraging data to develop, hire and retain talent, and preparing for the next big change in the way business is done | 01:01:11 | |
In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Indusekhar Chandrasekhar, Vice President of Growth at Hypersonix Inc - an enterprise AI platform purpose-built for Commerce. He is currently responsible for driving the hyper-growth trajectory. We geek out with Indu over workplace transformation, HR trends in 2022, and leveraging data. He shares his 25 years, aka silver jubilee years, of his career journey with us. Indu’s passion for business and messaging, communication, content, and creativity intrigued him to pursue his career in marketing. He mainly worked in the IT with giants like Infosys, Cognizant, IBM, and Microland. He is well-known for writing catchy and memorable taglines- ”Thrill of doing big things early”. He has spent years sharpening his tools in Brand, Strategy, and Marketing roles. With such vast experience, we are sure to cover a lot of ground. Episode highlights:
Of the many cool things Indu shares, here are our top 3 learnings from him:
Technology can be leveraged completely only when objectives are well-defined & it is used intelligently. Organizations should embrace technology only when they understand what part of the status quo needs to be enhanced.
Data can be leveraged in understanding people more intelligently rather than going with gut feeling. The use of analytics can give a better picture of the talent outside the organization & it can also help pick better culture-fit talent.
Indu shares 3 C’s to explain the trends: Choice: To improve talent participation, employers need to tailor fluidity and customization for roles and opportunities accordingly. Connections: In a remote setup, one needs to work a little harder to make sure that you're forging the right relationships. This will peak talent performance and longevity. Collaboration: Working collaboratively enables team members to share information, build healthy workplace relationships, and work more effectively. | |||
| 15 Feb 2022 | #197: Nishchal Dua on the hottest new role at Remote companies, and the keys to building a culture of belonging while remote | 00:24:32 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Nishchal Dua, Director Of Marketing at Airmeet - an all-in-one platform for community managers, marketers, entrepreneurs, and educators to host interactive virtual online events. Nishchal is a serial entrepreneur, a self-taught marketer, and a remote work evangelist. A little about his first start-up - The Remote Life was a community of individuals who were interested in building a location-independent lifestyle for themselves. They had also started a virtual conference called Remote Work Summit which grew to become the world's largest virtual conference for remote work. They attracted over 12,000 audiences and 200 influencers, speakers, and mentors. Post his entrepreneurial journey, Nishchal joined Airmeet and worked on building it from the ground up. He also led the entire marketing function. With a background that extensive, it’s no surprise this episode covers a lot of ground:
Of the many interesting things Nishchal shares, here are our top 3 learnings from him: In these evolving times, will ‘Head of Remote-First’ become the new recommended addition to the team? Yes, and it is already happening. 'Head of Remote' is a position led by people practices. It has to be viewed from a leadership perspective as well. It's a combination of building the right brand but at the same time ensuring massive efficiencies and cross-functional collaboration with themes. Key metrics an organization should keep in mind when curating such wholesome culture: Leaders should focus on building a common sense of identity among the members, and on increasing community engagement. Building a community with predetermined metrics is not possible. Key strategies to keep the remote workforce on the same frequency: Radical transparency is the key. Here is how one can achieve it: 2) Celebrate wins: Make a habit of sharing every organizational win with the team. It boosts remote teams' morale and will make them feel more involved with what the company is doing. | |||
| 19 Feb 2022 | #198: Gaurav Kapoor on essential tools to support digital transformation, and his advice to fellow leaders for the future of work | 00:13:31 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Gaurav Kapoor, Director at Practico Interior Solutions Pvt. Ltd. It is a multi-disciplinary solutions provider engaged in providing modern electrical and digital locking solutions. Having worked with multiple global companies like Kajaria Ceramics Limited, Steelcase, and Hettich Group, Gaurav has over 20 years of experience. He established Practico with the skills he gained over the years. Practico has seen an upward progression in these past years. Starting in the market of Delhi, it is now available in major cities of India as well as foreign countries.
Of the many interesting things Gaurav shares, here are our top 3 learnings from him: Critical preparations for leaders to get a jumpstart on 2022 Organizations can prepare for uncertainties by having short-term goals. Long-term goals should be divided into short-term goals in order to be flexible during uncertainties. With fluctuating trends, plan B is the way forward to overcome uncertainties easily. Strategies to improve the employee experience: Employee experience can be improved through both the company and employees. Here's how:
Workplace trends and innovations in 2022 According to Gaurav, the trend of 2022 is to make the employees feel safe at their workplace. The workplace set- up has changed ever since the pandemic with now having partitions between employees to maintain distance. The trend is to make the employees feel safe and prioritize wellness. About Springworks: | |||
| 24 Feb 2022 | #199: Suhail Vadgaokar on building an inclusive and high-performing digital work culture, and overcoming the barriers to organizational learning programs | 00:24:18 | |
The reality is that remote work can be difficult, especially when it comes to team collaboration and communication. Face-to-face communication is hard enough, but it's much harder while working from home. In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we sit down with Suhail Vadgaokar, Head of People at dezerv. - a technology-led platform that helps people grow their wealth. Suhail joined ITC hotels as a management trainee to be a chef. But during his training, he found more interest in a customer-facing role. He went on to manage F&B operations, and then eventually Sales. Post his tenure at ITC, he joined the Urban Company, an early-stage company that is now a unicorn. He helped build the customer experience operation, brand, and people function. We discuss with Suhail:
Here are some of the sneak peeks of the eye-opening insights shared in the conversation: Since the pandemic, employee wellness has seen some evolution. Focus has moved to rural psychological safety. Organizations are giving people the opportunities and avenues to get the right psychological and medical care. One of the challenges would be the occurrence of natural bias considering a hybrid environment. A manager would be able to bond better with a person they meet every day over a person they meet virtually. This will also affect the results of performance reviews. It's important for HR functions to align closely with the business in order to understand the business and people strategy. Learning has become the biggest driver to join a company, followed by culture and compensation. Leaders need to clearly communicate the importance of learning and pushing one's own limits to the team. Giving time and space to get some external learning can improve performance. | |||
| 10 Mar 2022 | #200: Sidu Ponnappa on why culture is a 'dangerous label', hiring a dream team of makers and engineers, and applying product thinking to solve for attrition | 01:12:45 | |
Welcome to the 200th episode of The Shape of Work podcast. Having been a serial entrepreneur, Sidu's last startup, C42 Engineering, was acquired in 2015 by GO-JEK Indonesia (now Pt. AKAB) -one of the most valued and on-demand technology platforms in the world. He then spearheaded the engineering team in GoJek for six years. His 30-year-long experience as a tech entrepreneur has many lessons — on failures, entrepreneurship, and leadership — for anyone aspiring to strike out on their own. From making complicated concepts accessible to helping rethink the possibilities of creating an engineering brand for hiring at GoJek, his fusion of data and storytelling have made him a self-taught thought leader. Our conversation with Sidu covers a litany of insights:
Follow Sidu on LinkedIn and Twitter | |||
| 11 Mar 2022 | #201: Daniel Sternlicht of Common Ninja on his startup story, and building a developer community | 00:28:48 | |
Daniel Sternlicht is an entrepreneur and Software Engineer - CEO and Founder of Common Ninja. Common Ninja is an online marketplace for web developers offering a large selection of free, customizable, and responsive apps, plugins & widgets. Daniel's background is a career in web development—including working with companies like Microsoft, Outbrain. In addition to his daily work in these companies, Daniel would work on side projects, and as a developer, dealt with boring and repetitive tasks. For example, designing a comparison table and adding functionality to it such as search, sorting, and pagination, etc. To solve this problem, he created an online tool for generating these kinds of tables and offered it as an open-source project for the developer community. And since then, there’s been no looking back. In this episode, we discuss with Daniel:
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 11 Mar 2022 | #203: Balaji Kalyansundaram on building a positive employee lifecycle and creating a culture of Learning and Development | 00:22:46 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Balaji Kalyansundaram, Co-Founder of Better Home. Balaji strongly believes that retaining existing employees is more important than recruiting new ones. Episode highlights:
In what ways can organizations build a positive employee lifecycle & what role can a learning culture play in this endeavor? Innovating learning strategies to fit into the organization’s growth strategy and adapt to the digital landscape. Organizations should define the purpose of learning prior to providing them with all the necessary tools. To motivate employees to keep learning, companies can reward them with monetary or non-monetary benefits along with constructive feedback. What could be the big differentiators for companies to win the talent war? One main value of an organization should be trust. Trusting their employees & reducing notice period to two to four weeks can really give them an upper hand in the talent war. Focusing on employees' long term development plans & providing them with learning opportunities can help in hiring & retaining great talent. | |||
| 11 Mar 2022 | #202: Jeff Yee on why Airwaive is essential for the next generation internet and the top challenges he faced as a founder | 00:21:16 | |
All about helping and giving back to society, our next guest is Jeff Zee, CEO of Airwaive- a foundation created on the blockchain with a mission to close the gap in the digital divide by bringing affordable, wireless internet to homes around the world. Jeff has over 25 years of experience and has held roles such as Product Manager, COO, Sr. Director- Global Business Development, and VP of Innovation & Partnerships. He is a technology enthusiast and is skilled in various fields of marketing, product management, business development, and corporate operations. Episode highlights:
Follow Jeff on LinkedIn
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 11 Mar 2022 | #204: Michael Moore on leaving medical school and doing a medical device startup that aims to automate on-site cancer screening and diagnostics | 00:29:43 | |
Our next guest is a real-life superhero who saves lives. We welcome Michael Moore, Founder & COO of Pathware Inc. Pathware is a medical device startup focused on creating custom solutions for digital pathology. They aim to automate on-site cancer screening and diagnostics by assessing the quality of biopsies in real-time. Michael’s journey into the entrepreneurial world started after his father was diagnosed with cancer and with a series of events that followed it. He is now on a mission to improve the quality & efficiency of healthcare globally through the seamless integration of medicine and machine. Episode Highlights:
What does a Pathware enabled world look like? Pathway enabled world is going to bring diagnostic services closer to the patient. It will have its systems deployed in a number of settings such as nursing homes and community health centers. The ultimate aim of Pathware is to provide a personalized healthcare approach and to improve clinical decision-making. What were the challenges faced while building Pathware ? One of the challenges they faced during the initial days was when there was no market for their tool. They collected feedback from some of the researchers and clinicians which helped them plan and kickstart their company to address the results of the feedback. Another challenge was when they hired the wrong team for some tasks which affected some of their milestones. Michael shares that the key to successfully overcoming challenges is adapting to the changing circumstances of the world. Advice to the founders Michael highly recommends against falling victim to the pitch book effect. Leaders should primarily focus on building networks and relationships, money will follow eventually. He advises founders to take care of themselves emotionally. Some days they might feel like they're at the top of the world. On other days, they might feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. He also recommends speaking to a therapist to help them through this challenging process of building an organization. About Springworks: | |||
| 11 Mar 2022 | #205: Aria Hahn & Brianna Blaney on the story behind Pocketed, companies they have helped raise grant funds and challenges they have gone through while scaling their business | 00:27:29 | |
In this episode, we are joined by two serial entrepreneurs, Brianna Blaney (CEO & Co-Founder) and Dr. Aria Hahn (CTO & Co-Founder) of Pocketed. Pocketed is a platform that simplifies access to grant funding for businesses. It’s a free platform through which businesses automatically match with different funding programs they're eligible for. It also provides funding management solutions for businesses where they act as their agents. Brianna has successfully scaled an HR and recruitment services company across Canada called Envol Solutions Inc. including securing grants for clients with annual revenue over $1M. With a PhD in Metagenomics and Bioinformatics, Aria is experienced in developing algorithms and data solutions for complex problems. She successfully built a bioinformatics service company, Koonkie Cloud Services. Brianna and Aria have a shared passion for developing scalable businesses and powering economic growth. Read on for our favourite highlights and top takeaways from the conversation.
Follow Brianna and Aria on LinkedIn About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 16 Mar 2022 | #206: Anja Vukovic on building Gravvity- the first chat app where people earn rewards (daily airdrops of GRAVY tokens) simply by chatting with their friends | 00:43:10 | |
Encouraging better conversations- On this episode of The Shape of Work Podcast, we welcome Anja Vukovic, COO & Co-founder of Gravvity- a social media app empowering people to have healthier & more meaningful interactions. Along with running her own company, she is also a Risk Management Lead, Market Renewal Program & Enterprise Risk Management at Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) With over a decade of experience working at startups to Fortune 500 companies on operational, governance, risk, and compliance programs across many industries & geographical regions, she sure has a lot to share. Episode highlights :
Follow Anja on LinkedIn. Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 21 Mar 2022 | #207: Suma PN on why talent communities are important and how to build one | 00:29:29 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we are joined by Suma PN, Director - Human Resources at Otis India. Having been a part of the HR fraternity for over three decades, she has held numerous strategic leadership roles at organizations like Brady Corporation, Molex and United Technologies. With a background that extensive, it’s no surprise this episode covers a lot of ground. We discuss with Suma:
Follow Suma on LinkedIn | |||
| 21 Mar 2022 | #208: Alok Shastri on how to improve your EVP, the most common recruiting challenges and HR-Tech innovations | 00:11:18 | |
Alok Shastri, HR Head at Superpro.ai, sums up his learnings in one line- “ If a man is known by the company it keeps, I believe, even the vice versa is also true.” Alok joins us today to share his tips, tricks and best practices picked up in his 15+ years of experience in the HR domain. He has spent a major portion of his career understanding talent and their psychology, mindset, and their retention. He is a man who believes talent retention is far more important than acquisition. Hiring the right people and firing the wrong people can make or break the company's success. Episode Highlights:
Follow Alok on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 23 Mar 2022 | #209: Saurabh Kale on sustainable DEI, workforce upskilling, and storytelling | 00:20:24 | |
“I strongly believe that no human being is spared of unconscious biases. An awareness of it and working consciously to remove those biases would be a way forward to a successful execution of any D&I initiatives in an organization.” In this episode, we welcome Saurabh Kale, Global Director - People & Culture at Talent500. He is best known as a talent developer, explorer, learning & organization development leader. Having spent 15+ years in the Human Resources space, Saurabh has worked with renowned organizations such as Wipro, McAfee, Practo, Grab, and Directi. Episode Highlights:
Follow Saurabh on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 25 Mar 2022 | #210: Strategies to align work culture and business growth and decoding future leaderships, with Daniel Braithwaite | 00:21:27 | |
A creative genius working towards transforming the world of background verification- our next guest is Daniel Braithwaite, Co-founder & CPO at Veremark. Soon after, he entered the field of user experience. The idea of building user-focused digital experiences enraptured him & he worked for a decade in digital & design agencies. His entrepreneurial journey started when he got an opportunity to work with his friend in the blockchain space. And together they built Veremark, now a global employment screening platform. Daniel is truly a well-accomplished product leader and designer. With 20+ years of experience and having worked with giants like EY Seren, Marks and Spencer, and SapientNitro, he surely has a lot of insights to share in this episode. Episode Highlights:
Follow Daniel on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 25 Mar 2022 | #211: Will digital transformation go human-centric and its impact in the workspace, with Anish Shah | 00:32:58 | |
In the current scenario, talent hunting is a big challenge for every organization. Comparing the efforts and time consumed in making new hires, it is obvious that employee retention is a better way to go. Our guest for this episode, Anish Shah, advises organizations to incentivize their employees, provide growth opportunities, and stability in order to retain them better. Anish is a luminary from one of the most diverse multinational, Indian-origin conglomerates, Reliance Industries. Anish Shah (President, Digital Platforms, Information Technology- Jio Platforms Ltd) has been an integral part of the company's journey so far. Having worked at Reliance over the last 20+ years, not only has he helped scale Jio to what it is today, but also has been instrumental in shaping the future of technology over the next few years. Anish’s recent accomplishments include successfully delivering business transformation (STAR-Smart Transformation At Reliance) for RIL’s oil and gas business. He has also nurtured emerging businesses such as RIL’s e-commerce venture (Ajio.com) and banking services (Jio Money) by adopting technology as a game changer to drive better customer experience. Prior to RIL, Anish headed IT at Shoppers Stop and Godrej GE Appliances Ltd. Episode Highlights:
Follow Anish Shah on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 07 Apr 2022 | #212: Swetha Harikrishnan on DEI, workplace wellbeing, employee engagement mistakes to avoid and being a better manager in the remote workplace | 00:36:32 | |
The biggest risk that the HR fraternity is facing today in their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) goals is ‘the risk of exclusion.’ The risk of exclusion is derived from personal biases. We hold our own subjective world views and are influenced by our own experiences, beliefs and values. When we identify these personal triggers contributing to personal biases, we can actively manage, mitigate or avoid them. Many companies today are leading only women-specific DEI initiatives while excluding other attributes such as age, cultures, communities, backgrounds, sexual orientation, disability, etc. This is today’s topic of discussion with our guest, Swetha Harikrishnan, HR Director at HackerEarth. Having been a part of the HR fraternity for the last 16 years, she has worked across different functions such as organizational development, change management, and, of course, her favourite space of ‘inclusion’. Swetha answers questions like:
Takeaways from this episode
The key to great leadership is to move away from control, and rather give control. The only thing that matters is getting the work output.
Follow Swetha on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt | |||
| 08 Apr 2022 | #213: Alex Simon on creating the budget-based travel company, Elude | 00:23:03 | |
Congratulations! In this episode, you will find the optimal solution to get some extra free time for your next vacation along with some eye-opening takeaways for budding entrepreneurs. We welcome Alex Simon, CEO & Co-founder of Elude- an app that lets you plan your next vacation in just a few clicks. Prior to becoming a full-time serial entrepreneur, Alex has worked with giants like Mercedes-Benz USA, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank. Episode Highlights:
How to be prepared for the workplace of the future? Keep listening to The Shape of Work podcast and get the best insights from top people managers from all over the world. Follow Alex on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt | |||
| 12 Apr 2022 | #214: Reasons why it is critical to invest in employee training and development, with Piyush Ghosal | 00:47:11 | |
A company that trains its employees creates a high morale environment. This is just one of the many reasons why it is critical to invest in employee training and development. Our guest, Piyush Ghosal, Head of HR at Pratiti Technologies, is here to share them all. Piyush is also an author of an Amazon-listed book, “Stop Telling Start Showing”- a piece that challenges the traditional method of storytelling. Rather, this book comes up with the concept of “story showing” where we use stories to influence others in our business and personal life. He has spent 15+ years in the HR domain and worked on end-to-end employee lifecycle which includes recruitment, HR, business, partnering operations, & employee engagement. Prior to working at Pratiti Technologies, he worked at companies like Optimum, TCS, KPIT, and Intercon. How to be prepared for the workplace of the future? Keep listening to The Shape of Work podcast and get the best insights from the top people managers from all over the world. Follow Piyush on LinkedIn Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform | |||
| 13 Apr 2022 | #215: Margaret Dsouza on investing in employees, and making Learning and Development your EVP | 00:44:53 | |
'When you have L&D as one of your top objectives, it signals that everyone in your organization (from the founders, executives to teams across various functions) is invested in making sure that they truly create a culture where employees can charter their own career growth' Margaret Dsouza, Head of People Success at Zeta has been working in the People Practice domain for over 15 years. Her journey so far is an important lesson on having the courage to choose the road less travelled, constantly trying to find what fits, and making choices. Margaret brings a wealth of wisdom from companies like Radix, Flock, Directi and Essar group, in addition to the numerous startups she has advised over the years. In this far-ranging conversation with her, we uncover a litany of insights:
Follow Margaret on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt | |||
| 18 Apr 2022 | #216: Malini Bandi on the influence of technology in the workplace and the employee experience: Culture, engagement and beyond | 00:23:44 | |
'These days, it is more about how we work lean. We are no more in a waterfall way of delivery, but more agile. Hence, the utilisation of open source technologies and team collaboration can improve productivity'
Follow Malini Bandi on LinkedIn | |||
| 19 Apr 2022 | #217: Rohit Kumar M S and Rahul Koul of Zensciences on moving the needle of workforce productivity post-pandemic | 00:29:03 | |
'You need to have the ability to do a little bit of everything which does not mean that you're a generalist or a specialist, but more in terms of ability to do more than one thing. That means you're skilled for the future.' Today on The Shape of Work podcast, we are talking to two serial entrepreneurs who built Zensciences, an award-winning digital marketing “un-agency,” from scratch: Rahul Koul and Rohit Kumar M S. An entrepreneur and business strategist, Rahul has nearly two decades of experience in strategic marketing and brand building. With a focus on bridging the gap between marketing consulting and execution, he has worked with not only early-stage startups during their growth journeys, but also with large global enterprises to build product and service differentiation and scale. Prior to this venture, Rahul held multiple marketing management and leadership positions at Wipro, over the course of a decade. He has co-founded a fashion tech start-up - Elanstreet - and actively mentors startups in their growth journey. In this episode, they share their story, including the wins, the roadblocks, and the twists involved with changing a startup’s entire business model. They cover:
Follow Rahul & Rohit on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: Springwo | |||
| 22 Apr 2022 | #218: How organizations can incorporate design features and amenities to prompt workplace well-being, with Sunjoy Dhaawan | 00:22:59 | |
“All organizations have to be sensitive towards their employees’ needs and provide customized policies and solutions.” That’s an idea that Sunjoy doesn’t just understand deeply, but has codified and taught to others as well. Sunjoy Dhaawan, VP of HR at DHL Express India has spent almost a decade shaping their framework and making DHL a great place to work. Prior to joining DHL, Sunjoy worked with MNCs like Colgate Palmolive, Johnson Controls, Otis Elevator, and Reliance Retail. He also bagged global awards like Gold ‘Employer of Choice’ Award, DP DHL Health and Wellbeing award in India (2014). Episode Highlights:
Follow Sunjoy on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 26 Apr 2022 | #219: Tanya D Souza on everything performance management systems- supporting and measuring employee performance | 00:22:34 | |
“Treat your team members like adults- they know what work needs to be done. Communicate openly with them, and help them prioritize their work. Give them the flexibility to pick their hours & projects as well. Let them choose the direction in which their career is headed.” Tanya D Souza is a psychologist turned people person and currently brings her 6+ years of work experience to Lummo (formerly BukuKas) where she helps growth-oriented entrepreneurs unlock their full potential through D2C SaaS solutions. Post her Master's in Psychology, she was looking for a more exciting and engaging role, and HR felt like the last piece of the puzzle. She describes the HR field as challenging, engaging, and exciting. Prior to joining Lummo, she worked at GSN Games and Recko, Inc. Here's what we discuss with Tanya:
Follow Tanya on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 29 Apr 2022 | #220: Arpit Agrawal on everything blockchain, the future of web3 and making it more user-friendly | 00:38:59 | |
In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we have a serial entrepreneur, the founder of four tech startups, Arpit Agarwal. Arpit is the Co-founder & CEO of Cion Digital. Arpit started his journey in the IT industry & has 14+ years of expertise to share with us. With a rise in the blockchain trend, Arpit self-learned all-things-blockchain and taught the same to several people. He also helped build 30 startups with their product development strategy, and engineering. Today, Arpit is here to share a litany of insights through this conversation on:
Follow Arpit on LinkedIn About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 04 May 2022 | #221: The role of technology in improving diversity at the workplace, strategies for sourcing underrepresented talent and metrics for measuring change management, with Meenakshi Pande Kogje | 00:18:35 | |
'I strongly believe that talent is everywhere. But the opportunity is not. One has to use unconventional strategies to find the untapped talent.' Our next guest has spent 20 years building incredible talent teams & designing and implementing HR strategies. She has a relentless passion for hiring talented candidates and is a strong believer in enhancing the candidate experience. We welcome Meenakshi Pande Kogje, Global Director of Talent Acquisition, NewVision Software. Prior to joining NewVision, she worked with GlobalLogic, InfoBeans, and Velocity Technology Solutions. In this episode, Meenakshi shares insights for any organization looking to develop a D&I initiative in their workplace. We discuss:
About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 04 May 2022 | #222: Mark Harris of Aware hq on their tech that monitors 'human behaviour' across internal messaging platforms for legal compliance, sentiment analysis and more | 00:28:44 | |
“In every company, there's a formal organizational chart which is how the executives think the work is getting done. And, then there is an informal org chart which is how the work is actually getting done. The informal org is mapped out by the communication patterns through platforms like MS Teams or Slack. If a leader understands the informal org chart and peeks into that digital DNA of the organization, they can leverage that information to help the company be the best version of itself.” On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we learn how technology can monitor internal messaging platforms for legal compliance, sentiment analysis, and more. Our guest, Mark Harris, is the Chief Technology Officer at Aware hq, a company producing comprehensive AI-driven solutions for information management, data protection, and organizational insights. Through his current role and as a former software development engineer, Mark brings an incredible blend of experience in the startup and enterprise space, and is deeply technical with a keen understanding of the business as a whole. Mark joined Aware from Fuse by Cardinal Health, where he led development of pharmacy-facing software for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration. Previously, he has also held leadership roles at Microsoft, CoverMyMeds, and Grange Insurance. Listen to the full interview above. Follow Mark on LinkedIn About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 12 May 2022 | #223: Satadru Chakraborty on designing the employee experience to improve workplace culture and drive performance | 00:41:00 | |
Our guest in this episode is Satadru Chakraborty, Head HR at Signify Innovations Lab, Bangalore. He advises leaders to ensure different levels of retention plans within their organizations. Retention is not a “one size fits all” concept. Satadru has 15+ years of diverse experience in the HR field. Prior to building the workplace of Signify, he worked with giants such as Schneider Electric & Jubilant Organosys Ltd. Currently, he manages the end-to-end HR function around talent acquisition as well as operations. Episode highlights:
Follow Satadru on LinkedIn About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization that is building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company | |||
| 19 May 2022 | #224: Anant Pradhan on leveraging HR Tech to improve performance management | 00:18:31 | |
On this episode of The Shape of work podcast, our guest is Anant Pradhan, HR Manager at Archetive Solutions Pvt. Ltd With several years of experience working in the HR fraternity, Anant has plenty of expertise to share in this conversation.
Follow Anant on LinkedIn | |||
| 20 May 2022 | #225: Unlocking the secrets to employee experience, with Akash Agrawal of Sahaj Software Solutions | 00:24:11 | |
'You need to have a strong value proposition to attract and retain talent in the organization.' In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Akash Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO at Sahaj Software- an artisanal technology services company crafting purpose-built AI and data-led solutions for their clients. Akash brings a fresh perspective on the ever-evolving employee experience and the impact of the pandemic on it. His career journey of over 25 years has indeed been an inspiring one. He started as a Developer at HCL and then became Senior Project Manager at Infosys, Head of Test Services at Aditi Technologies and Managing director at ThoughtWorks. Having spent eight years growing Sahaj by leaps and bounds, it is no surprise that in this episode, Akash covers a lot of ground:
Follow Akash Agarwal on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 26 May 2022 | #226: Updating talent strategy, employee experience and L&D programs for hybrid work, with Sunil More | 00:31:50 | |
With a fierce passion for HR and the desire to use the best technology for large-scale changes, our next guest is Sunil More. Sunil combines a career in HR including working with giants like Voltas Limited and Maersk Global Service Centres. With such vast knowledge & experience, Sunil shares many insights on employee experience, talent management, innovative learning programs & more in this episode.
Follow Sunil on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. | |||
| 01 Jun 2022 | #227: Sameer Kalra on measuring employee experience the right way, incorporating a listening culture and car as a perk to all employees | 00:28:30 | |
Sameer Kalra is a polymath whose breadth and depth of interests and knowledge are truly astounding. He is the Co-Founder of pumpumpum and is best known as the industry's best salesperson. His 22+ years of seasoned experience includes corporate sales and consulting. Sameer and his co-founder are loud and clear about their mission- democratize car lease policies for corporates. Tune in to the episode and learn about his journey as a first-time entrepreneur, the challenges he faced, & everything that took him to build pumpumpum from the ground up. This wide-ranging conversation covers a lot including:
Follow Sameer on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 08 Jun 2022 | #228: Praveen Rawal on building a feedback-rich culture, well-defined policy framework as a differentiator and redefining your employee appreciation culture | 00:16:56 | |
From being the first hire at Steelcase to now growing to a Managing Director (SAARC, Design Application- APAC) role in the same organization, Praveen’s journey sets some great benchmarks for us. Our guest on today’s episode, Praveen Rawal has spent over 18 years contributing to the growth of Steelcase. Prior to Steelcase, Praveen worked at giants like Shell India & ESPN. The creative side of a business such as the development and ideation of products intrigues Praveen. This interest and passion have also helped him bring success to every new product he launched. Episode highlights:
Follow Praveen on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organization building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organization focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 10 Jun 2022 | #229: Dheeraj Kumar Pandey on reimagining the future of work through technology, DEI, building a positive culture and employee well-being | 00:33:09 | |
'Create an environment where people & processes blossom. Try to learn one extra initiative from every employee.' Dheeraj Kumar Pandey, Vice President of Sales at Keka Technologies, is joining us in this episode of The Shape of Work podcast. Prior to working at Keka, Dheeraj has held roles in Business Development and Human Resources domain. Is it difficult/challenging, and what’s your mantra? It’s probably the first thing we all tend to ask people from Sales. Dheeraj talks about the basic ground rules and why it’s important to be a good human being. He explains that we are selling products to people who take a chance upon us, and they will do it once or twice but not beyond. Hence, it’s essential to be truthful & genuine. In addition, Dheeraj talks about:
Follow Dheeraj on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
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| 21 Jun 2022 | #230: Your guide to improving employee experience for the modern workforce, with Madri Prasad | 00:19:48 | |
Our next guest has an extraordinary approach to hiring & training talent. She believes in creating an environment where people can thrive and perform in their top gear, unlike the global assumption of how providing competitive salary packages/ fancy benefits is sufficient. Joining us today is Madri Prasad, Vice President of Human Capital at Stockal. In her current role, she is working on creating a conducive work environment & talent acquisition and development. Psychology plays a vital role during recruitment, taking disciplinary action, and resolving disputes between employees. This makes Madri’s educational background a perfect combination- BSc. in Psychology & Masters in HR. Prior to joining Stockal, she worked in various firms such as Orange i Advisors, Oracle, Epictenet, KPI Partners, and Symega Food Ingredients Ltd. She found her calling in startups because the dynamics, dimensions, and hustle that a startup environment brings gives her a kick. Having 14-plus years of work experience, she sure has a lot of insights to share. We ask her:
Follow Madri on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and
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| 21 Jun 2022 | #231: Rajiv Ayyangar of Tandem on what the Hybrid-flexible workplaces of the future look like | 00:36:27 | |
'Almost half of the companies using tandem are either partly in office or contemplating coming back to the office at some point in the future. And I think it's going to be determined by the company size, location and concentration of people.' The rise of Tandem occurred when Rajiv Ayyangar and his co-founder went from working in person every single day, brainstorming, whiteboarding together, and having those quick yet creative conversations to working from home all of a sudden, because of the pandemic. And they stopped feeling like a team anymore. Tandem CEO and co-founder Rajiv Ayyangar is our guest on this episode of The Shape of Work podcast. He talks about the inspiration for Tandem and the importance of collaboration.
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| 27 Jun 2022 | #232: Marico's CHRO, Amit Prakash on creating the talent value proposition for the new era of work | 00:29:56 | |
'Preparation and perseverance are the baselines in career & life to succeed.' - Amit Prakash, Chief Human Resource Officer at Marico Limited. Amit joins us in this episode of The Shape of Work podcast and sheds light on topics such as talent value proposition, employee experience & talent retention. Amit’s father taught him how to be successful regardless of the decision taken. And today, he shares it with us: When you have options to choose from, choose them wisely irrespective of what is right or wrong & work towards making it a successful one. He spent a significant portion of his career in the FMCG & has worked for over 20 years with giants such as LG Electronics, ITC Ltd, Delphi Automotive Systems Ltd, and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd. In this 30-min long conversation, we discuss with Amit:
Follow Amit on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 01 Jul 2022 | #233: Modern HR Management: How HR leaders can develop strategic business acumen, with Dheeraj Shetty | 00:21:06 | |
We have heard about the tools and initiatives that organisations should take to retain & hire talent. What is an HR professional’s role in this? How can they change the dynamics? Dheeraj Shetty, Sr General Manager - HR & Operations at Ultraviolette Automotive elucidates that & more in this episode. He says HR people should be strategic, data-conscious, visionary, and oriented towards business acumen. Usage of analytics is more effective for better decision-making and nurturing relationships. They should understand the business and nuances of what comes in to appreciate and contribute better to your organisation. Having spent more than 25 years of his career working across industries, he definitely has excellent learnings and insights to share with us. His expertise lies in strategic HR, employee engagement, change management, and learning & development. Episode Highlights
Follow Dheeraj on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 11 Jul 2022 | #234: Raising the bar on the employee experience with Ajay Prashanth of bitsCrunch | 00:11:42 | |
'Employee feedback is the foundation to a better employee experience' On the latest episode of The Shape of Work Podcast, Head of Ecosystem Growth at bitsCrunch, Ajay Prashanth explained the importance of employee experience for your business success, in addition to sharing:
Follow Ajay on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 11 Jul 2022 | #235: The right way to lead people through design thinking, with Greg Dickerson | 00:29:59 | |
Design thinking -a framework that allows organizations and people to come up with creative solutions to complex problems- that’s just one of the things we learned while talking with Greg Dickerson, Design Coach at Bowling Green State University. Our design passionate guest gives us 5 key concepts that the design framework is based on- Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. All this put together is what makes Greg a design coach. He uses the concept of design thinking and applies it to people. Greg started his career in law enforcement but soon found his passion in working with college students. Post that, he became a college advisor at Bowling Green State University for 18 years. In this episode, we discuss:
Email Greg: dgreg@bgsu.edu Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
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| 14 Jul 2022 | #238: Chandra Kant on the future of flexibility at work and how employee expectations are changing | 00:37:48 | |
'Companies who are able to build a very robust project management framework will survive.' In this episode, we have Chandra Kant, Co-Founder and President of Akulmach Technologies, a startup built with all the rich knowledge gained from Chandra Kant and his partner's 30+ years of work experience. His previous stints include working with organizations like Siemens, Infosys, Datamatics, DXC Technology, and Encore where he has held leadership positions. He is currently helping startups and SMEs across the globe to set up their marketing & sales engine. Chandra Kant has won the President’s Club Award at VeriSign, along with many other accolades. We discuss with him:
Follow Chandra Kant on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 18 Jul 2022 | #236: Alekhya Rakhecha on building a game-changing talent strategy, knowing your people and promoting their welfare | 00:13:56 | |
Our guest brings out-of-the-ordinary, fresh and eye-opening insights to the table around the new way of work and the well-being of the team. We are delighted to introduce Alekhya Rakhecha, Founder of Creative Commute. Alekhya explains ‘strong talent’ in the most beautiful and noteworthy way- a person who's ready to adapt & strives to do better each day is a strong talent. Skill on day 1 < How much they have evolved on day 30. Curious Alekhya and her inclination towards the creative side of things led her to pursue marketing as a career. Her areas of expertise include brand strategy, content writing & copywriting, social media marketing and integrated marketing. She also threw light on much-needed initiatives toward building a positive & trusting workplace. We discuss:
Follow Alekhya on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
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| 21 Jul 2022 | #237: Elsa Varghese on recruitment trends, employee retention, in-demand skill sets and hiring strategies | 00:29:44 | |
‘Invest in the younger generation, hire them young, and train them to be future leaders.’ On the latest episode of The Shape of Work Podcast, Elsa Varghese, Director of Talent Development - India at FleishmanHillard, talks about work trends in 2022, retaining challenges, best hiring strategies and more. Elsa tells us that helping people & motivating them is directly proportional to her energetic personality. She always had an inclination toward HR, which made her pursue her Master's in transitioning into Leadership, Organizational Leadership & Strategy from IIM, Calcutta. Elsa started her career in the manufacturing industry and went on to work in various industries with the goal of learning about different demographics, people, age groups, and businesses for 14-plus years. She worked with giants like TATA AIG, Demag, Scorpio and Nestlé Skin Health. Her passion lies in helping individuals meet their professional goals, to help them find new opportunities & achieve business as well as their own career goals. In this 30 minutes conversation, we cover:
Follow Elsa on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 26 Jul 2022 | #239: How to empower the new generation of employees with Sahil Vaidya | 00:21:30 | |
'Focus on what's optimal for the business, sort your internal policies and experience because word of mouth is what attracts great talent. Without it, attracting any new talent is difficult, regardless of what marketing you do. ' In this episode, we have a successful & inspiring IIT Bombay graduate who founded his first company right after college in 2015. Sahil Vaidya is the co-founder of The Minimalist, India’s fastest-growing creative solutions company. Sahil shares the story behind The Minimalist & how he bonded with his co-founder, Chirag Gander over bad grades and a passion for creativity. They co-authored a short read- Think like The Minimalist. A book for students, practitioners, and leaders who are eager to succeed in the world of creativity. Sahil was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list & in LinkedIn Top Voices 2021 for his signature, minimalist-style humour. In this insightful conversation, we discuss topics like hiring, employee empowerment & experience, brand communication and more. Episode Highlights:
Follow Sahil on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 02 Aug 2022 | #240: Shantanu Karnik on HR technology, employee retention, flexible work policy and inculcating a positive work culture | 00:20:01 | |
One of the most insightful suggestions for policy or change management: 'To set up any policy/change in your workplace, you must first understand your employees' pulse and requirements. Find the right balance between focusing on your employee and the direction you want your company to go in.' This advice was given by our next guest, Shantanu Karnik, HR Manager at Questt. He found the perfect combination to go with after completing his Bachelor's in Law- MBA in Human Resource Development and Industrial Relations. The combination has helped him with policy formulations and legal interpretation, which is required in the HR field. Prior to joining Questt, he worked with Amazon for more than two years where he managed over 30+ employees. He sure is a team player. In this fun-filled, insightful conversation, we cover:
Follow Shantanu on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 05 Aug 2022 | #241: Gautam Duggal on the playbook he used to create a 5-star candidate experience and employee experience at Mastercard | 00:51:09 | |
Our next guest dislikes the conventional way of rejecting candidates. 'There has to be a mechanism to make rejecting candidates more human. It becomes more transactional when it's an automated email. The candidate's experience is impacted. Instead, conduct a candidate experience survey, and revise your process accordingly. That's more reactive.' On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Gautam Duggal, Director, Global Talent & Learning Consultant at Mastercard. In this conversation, we gained insights ranging from great resignation to employee experience. Gautam has worked with several giants like IBM, American Express, Avon, and S&P Global. With an experience of over 19 years, he gained expertise in talent management & development experience amidst building strategies for end-to-end delivery across global markets. Episode Highlights:
Follow Gautam on LinkedIn Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, on-boarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 16 Aug 2022 | #242: 'Employee well-being is the Future of Work' - Divya Jain of Seekho on employee experience, culture and beyond | 00:15:37 | |
'The culture of your organization & employee well-being is one of the most important things. It results in happy customers, students & employees who will take the extra initiative to go an extra mile.' Divya Jain is the Co-Founder of Seekho, a promising new ed-tech startup in India which is a video-based social platform to match the needs of graduates/early career professionals. She is a social entrepreneur working for the past ten years to provide a solution for the massive unemployable youth of the Indian subcontinent. She was BW 40 under 40 entrepreneurs and among India Today’s 50 most powerful change-makers under 50. She previously worked at Ernst & Young as an Associate Consultant & Director at Safexpress Private Limited. She was also the CEO and Founder of Safeducate. Episode Highlights:
Follow Divya on LinkedIn & Twitter Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 23 Aug 2022 | #243: Empowerment in the workplace: what it is and why it matters, with Dipen Sharma | 00:13:49 | |
The key to the formation of employee experience is to keep an open line of transparent communication. It helps employees align with the experience and the culture of the organization. This is one of the many things Dipen Sharma, Senior Manager - HR Business Partner at Medline India demystified in this episode of The Shape of Work podcast. He is a strong believer of empowerment and support. Everything today is need-based, it is about how you enable people's journeys while creating a win-win scenario for your organization as a way to go forward. Dipen is an HR professional with over 16 years of recruitment experience across the telecom, insurance, financial services, cloud infra, and IT security domains. He has worked with numerous giants like Tech Mahindra, WNS Global Services, Wipro Limited, and Cognizant. In this podcast, we discuss various topics with Dipen, such as:
Follow Dipen on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system.
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| 27 Aug 2022 | #244: Aditya Oza on the changing state of talent acquisition | 00:19:21 | |
“There’s no perfect person for any role. The role has to transform, the person has to transform. They need to come out and work together for each other to be a success.” This and a lot more on this informative chat with Aditya Oza, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at EMotorad. Aditya has a true entrepreneurial heart. He founded his first startup- My Ride, while pursuing his Master's. He talks about meeting the other co-founders and how they started by renting out bikes. He shares this fun & inspiring journey along with several actional insights with us in this episode. Episode Highlights:
Follow Aditya on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 05 Sep 2022 | #245: Zarna Trivedi on the future of performance reviews | 00:07:09 | |
How can we ensure performance management strategies translate into successful execution on the ground? Zarna Trivedi, Head of Human Resources at Versa Networks, articulates the keys to achieving this- Define clear goals, followed by periodical reviews and a feedback system with a frequency suitable to the organization. Zarna, a strong business-oriented HR professional with more than a decade of experience, is well-versed in working across various HR domains and geography. She shares her learnings over the years & talks about the rapid changes in HR functions. We asked her:
Follow Zarna on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 12 Sep 2022 | #246: Ankita Singh on the future of work in the Law industry | 00:12:37 | |
Ankita Singh, Co-Founder & Partner at A&P Partners joins us today on The Shape of Work podcast. Ankita is an inspiring advisor who explained this to us- 'build your own narrative, don't let society build the narrative for you.' Ankita started her journey 11 years back as a Legal Intern at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. Prior to finding her company, she worked for 4 plus years at ALMT Legal. She specializes in the field of intellectual property rights, sports, media, & entertainment law. Her firm A&P Partners has been enlisted in the Forbes Legal Powerlist 2020 as one of the top law firms in IP practice. She shares her experience and challenges as a first-time entrepreneur and more:
Follow Ankita on LinkedIn About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 23 Sep 2022 | #247: Somya Kalani on creating a culture of collaboration in the workplace, recruiting and retaining trends in 2022 and gig economy | 00:30:07 | |
Avoid making the biggest mistake of thinking that collaboration can only happen when everyone is in the same work environment. Companies will need to keep an open mind & rethink what kind of work requires collaboration. In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, Somya Kalani, HR Manager at The Address, shares ideas for helping a hybrid workforce collaborate and interact. Somya started off her career as a freelancer for 2 years post which she joined N.R. Doshi & Partners as a Human Resources Executive. Currently, she is responsible for end-to-end HR activities, from recruitment to exit formalities, attendance, leave management, and payroll. In this 30 min conversation, we discuss with Somya about:
Follow Somya on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 03 Oct 2022 | #248: Bhavna Asrani on flexible work policies, women in leadership roles and the need for an upskilling revolution | 00:13:37 | |
'Organizations must develop their own talent rather than hiring ready resources. This also serves as a retention strategy as we show them the roadmap for growth by upskilling them with the skills required to reach the next level of growth option.' In this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is a housewife who woke up from a nap one day with a sudden urge to start her professional journey. We welcome Bhavna Asrani, Head of People Experience at Lifestyle Housing. Bhavna is an ambitious HR leader with over 16 years of experience in strategic planning and organizational development. She is a keynote speaker at various college and corporate seminars, panels, and sessions. She answers:
Follow Bhavna on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 12 Oct 2022 | #249: Karandeep Singh Grover on ensuring a strong talent pipeline & improving employee wellbeing in 2022 | 00:20:43 | |
“Employees perform well when they have a sense of belongingness & are treated with pride. Treat them like humans and not machines” On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, we welcome Karandeep Singh Grover, CEO at AtliQ- an IT company which provides a range of services, including Software Development, Web & App development, and Digital Marketing. Karandeep started his career as a Junior editor and worked as an editor for 2 plus years, after which he switched to a software engineer role. Episode Highlights:
Follow Karandeep on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt | |||
| 16 Nov 2022 | #258: Vikram Chalana on founding Pictory, his career journey & the challenges he faced on his journey to success | 00:22:30 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Vikram Chalana, | |||
| 24 Nov 2022 | #262: Paul Fayad on finding a balance between work and life, his keys to motivation, and advice to younger generation in his field | 00:17:39 | |
Paul Fayad is a lifelong entrepreneur and is best known as the Co-Founder/ Chief Administrative Officer at ELM Learning.
Follow Paul on LinkedIn | |||
| 28 Nov 2022 | #263: Implementing successful strategy execution, tips on enhancing employee experience and engagement with Arpan Chakraborty | 00:22:24 | |
“Prioritize delivering good comfort and flexibility for your employees at the workplace. That’s when they deliver best.”
Follow Arpan on LinkedIn
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| 12 Oct 2022 | #250: Parul Kashyap on workplace dynamics, D&I as a core value and steps that org & government should take to build a fairer society | 00:18:26 | |
Diversity and inclusion should be a core value of any organization.
Follow Parul on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt | |||
| 04 Dec 2022 | #264: Carl Myers on his go-to tools, the best way to utilize high budgets, and advice to the freshers | 00:19:00 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Carl Myers, Founder & CEO of Switch Healthcare- a startup focusing on catalysing better health-related decisions to enhance members' health and decrease their healthcare costs.
Follow Carl on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
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| 05 Dec 2022 | #265: Deepak Agarwal on making R&R efficient, significant upcoming business trends, and overcoming WFH challenges. | 00:13:44 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest shares how organizations should instill Rewards and Recognition policies without losing its charm.
Follow Deepak on LinkedIn About Springworks: | |||
| 03 Nov 2022 | #255: Sriniketh Chakravarthi on the ‘Secret Sauce’ to win the talent war and how digital workplace can become more human-centered | 00:39:26 | |
“One of the biggest things employees want is to be valued and included.”
Follow Sriniketh on LinkedIn | |||
| 17 Oct 2022 | #251: Harsh Trivedi on his first step towards success, the future of work & challenges faced in 2021 | 00:20:17 | |
“No team is a one-man army. It's very important to build a culture, a team and an atmosphere where you observe and learn things from your peers, partners, and team members.” - Harsh Trivedi, Founder & Managing Partner at Trivedi & Parashar
Follow Harsh on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 05 Jan 2023 | #289: Abhi Ballabh on how organisations can improve and scale their HR processes and hire the right people | 00:19:30 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about trends that will be significant for businesses in the longer term and hiring the right talent.
Follow Abhi on Linkedin | |||
| 05 Jan 2023 | #290: Jo Graylock on the structural setup and the work-life balance at Sprocket Games | 00:26:44 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about how Sprocket Games sets in work-life balance for its employees.
Follow Jo on Linkedin | |||
| 03 Jan 2023 | #285: Anthony J. Gantt Jr. shares his journey in starting At Ease Rentals, his vision, and tips for hiring | 00:19:25 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about his journey and experience in starting At Ease Rentals. "I learned that you must have tough skin while also being graceful with others. You must listen to people and identify different opportunities, but also hold them accountable." We welcome Anthony J. Gantt Jr., CEO at At Ease Rentals Corporation - a short-term rental platform helping military and federal employees and their families find government-approved, temporary housing with less time and frustration. Prior to At Ease Rentals Corporation, he was an active-duty Marine for over 20 years. Episode Highlights:
Follow Anthony on Linkedin
About Springworks: | |||
| 28 Oct 2022 | #253: Sagar Manju on challenges faced while taking that "first step", the changing workplace dynamics, and some latest surprises in the Legal services industry | 00:15:27 | |
Our guest on this episode of The Shape of Work podcast puts forward a different perspective on the future of work.
Follow Sagar on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt
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| 20 Oct 2022 | #252: Gaurav Sonkar on how startups should adopt technology, its impact on the HR function, and strategies to improve management skills | 00:10:35 | |
“I believe in taking direct feedback from my team. First, understand where they're coming from, what’s working for them & what’s not. Then, give them the liberty to decide which solution/route they want to opt for.” - Gaurav Sonkar, Founder of Bid4Best Technologies.
Follow Gaurav on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 03 Jan 2023 | #286: Amar Pathak discusses challenges in framing and curating the best L&D practices for employees in the face of new trends | 00:16:32 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the top priorities and major challenges in framing the best L&D practices for employees. "It is important for individuals to understand the importance of digital learning and possess the necessary technical skills to adapt to their organization's learning objectives." We welcome Amar Pathak, Head of Learning and Development at Viraj Profiles (previously Head of Learning & Development at Alok Industries Limited). With a background in Learning & Professional Development, Human Resource Management, and Academic Administration, Amar brings over 18 years of experience to the table. He has worked in a variety of sectors and industries, including government, PSU, service, manufacturing, education, and academics, as both a learning consultant and team member." Episode Highlights:
Follow Amar on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: | |||
| 14 Nov 2022 | #257: Himanshu Manghani on beginners' challenges, the future of work, advice to the budding professionals | 00:13:04 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Himanshu Manghani, Founder of HE Services - Architectural and engineering services with valid technical consultation.
Email: honey@heservices.online | |||
| 22 Nov 2022 | #261: Preetika Mehrotra on ways to prevent talent exodus, areas HRs should focus on, and employees' expectations in the workplace | 00:15:25 | |
“HR is both an art and a science. HRs must focus on understanding business and prioritizing D&I while formulating people's policies. In addition, they need to assess the impact of initiatives and guide future human capabilities.”
Follow Preetika on LinkedIn
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| 19 Dec 2022 | #270: Vasundhara Shankar on her career journey, the future of work and advice for the younger generation starting their careers | 00:13:37 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the future of work and gives advice to the younger generation who are just starting their careers in the field. “Find yourself a good mentor; they help you in understanding your strengths and weakness and exploring new opportunities for you.“ We welcome Vasundhara Shankar, Founder and Managing Partner at Verum Legal- a full-service law firm that helps clients with legal structuring, legal auditing, IPR, data privacy, white-collar crimes, dispute resolution, etc. After working with quite a few Marquee law firms in India, Vasundhara joined MyAdvo as their core team member and Legal Head in February 2016. Having worked in a startup environment and heading Sales verticals, Marketing and Tech Development for them- she garnered varied experience in the development of a business, which helps her provide expert legal assistance. Episode Highlights
Follow Vasundhara on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt Podcast Host: Hashmita Tarasinghani
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| 02 Nov 2022 | #254: Kiran Chennadi on building employee engagement strategy for remote companies and best practices to hire better and retain employees | 00:19:48 | |
“The key factor of employee retention is continuous employee engagement.”
Follow Kiran on LinkedIn Produced by: Priya Bhatt Springworks is a fully-distributed HR technology organisation building tools and products to simplify recruitment, onboarding, employee engagement, and retention. The product stack from Springworks includes: SpringVerify — B2B verification platform EngageWith — employee recognition and rewards platform that enriches company culture Trivia — a suite of real-time, fun, and interactive games platforms for remote/hybrid team-building SpringRole — verified professional-profile platform backed by blockchain, and SpringRecruit — a forever-free applicant tracking system. Springworks prides itself on being an organisation focused on employee well-being and workplace culture, leading to a 4.8 rating on Glassdoor for the 200+ employee strength company. | |||
| 18 Dec 2022 | #269: Navin Patel on planning employees work-life balance and leveraging technology to bridge the employee experience | 00:21:37 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about building an employee experience strategy and gives advice on leveraging technology to bridge the employee experience. “There should be a limit to which you adopt the technology. While it's all fancy, I think they can definitely never please the human element.” We welcome Navin Patel, Global Talent Acquisition Head at Affine- a leading Consulting Firm that delivers Analytics-driven enterprise transformation. Navin is a Talent Acquisition expert and an innovative strategic thinker with a progressive career in a dynamic, multicultural, diversified and matrix organisation. With strong experience in various leadership roles within the Talent Acquisition domain for over 15 years and overall 19 years of experience, carries a good blend of experience and exposure gained from TA Ops, Talent Sourcing, Recruitment Delivery, and strategizing staffing plans with the leadership.
Follow Navin on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: | |||
| 07 Nov 2022 | #256: Anupam Prasad on the challenging & surprising aspects of his career and the changing workplace dynamics | 00:22:21 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Anupam Prasad,
Follow Anupam on LinkedIn About Springworks: | |||
| 20 Nov 2022 | #260: Pradnesh Warke on what law firms should start/stop doing, future of work, and challenging aspects at the beginning of his career | 00:14:01 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Pradnesh Warke, Associate Partner at Link Legal - a firm that provides a full range of advisory and transactional expertise to companies.
Follow Pradnesh on LinkedIn
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| 15 Dec 2022 | #268: Clarence Anthony on the changes in the industry, future of work and balancing between life and work | 00:11:49 | |
In this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the future of work and how he balances life and work.
Follow Clarence on Linkedin | |||
| 19 Dec 2022 | #271: Pallavi Poddar on building new skill set for employees and future of work | 00:21:27 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about Building new skill sets for employees and making the workplace future-ready, especially in challenging scenarios. We welcome Pallavi Poddar, CHRO- Fenesta Windows (previously, Regional HR Director at Ingersoll Rand). Pallavi is a strategic HR Leader, having perfected the technique for the best HR intervention and innovative talent strategy for global businesses by focusing on organisational growth to drive bottom-line results, working closely with the senior leaders across the businesses. “The biggest need today is partnership- not only within the team but across organisations. That's what is going to be our winning strategy for the future.” Episode Highlights
Follow Pallavi on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt
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| 14 Dec 2022 | #266: Ajay Desai on Workforce Strategy, methods to manage a flexible workforce, and combating talent shortage | 00:29:12 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about workforce strategy and the new skill sets and competencies that are considered necessary. “Gen Z are very vocal about what they want and don't want. By being more flexible & giving them what they want you might be surprised with what they can deliver” Having over 20-plus years of experience in Human Resources, Ajay is a Human Resource and People Development enabler credited with leading people and leadership development practices aligned to business objectives.
Follow Ajay on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt Podcast Host: Shradha Mundhra
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| 20 Dec 2022 | #272: Sanket Jain on the future of work and message to the younger generation who are just starting their careers | 00:13:55 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about what the future of work is going to be.
Follow: Sanket on Linkedin | |||
| 22 Dec 2022 | #274: Gary Kohn on enabling an effective rewards & recognition program and strategies to improve employee engagement | 00:14:18 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the trends that will be significant for businesses in the long run and effective ways companies can adapt internally to make the reward and recognition function more efficient.
Follow Gary on Linkedin | |||
| 25 Dec 2022 | #275: Ishita Dasgupta discusses workplace dynamics, the future of work, and offers advice to the younger generation | 00:21:41 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the workplace dynamics that have changed in the last two years and what the future of work is going to be.
Follow Ishita on Linkedin | |||
| 17 Nov 2022 | #259: Durgesh Mukharya on the future of the workplace: Embracing change and fostering connectivity | 00:24:34 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Durgesh Mukharya, Equity Partner at K&S Partners- a full-service intellectual property Law firm.
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| 26 Dec 2022 | #276: Atulaya Goswami talks about the importance of people management and coaching employees for effectiveness in the workplace | 00:19:51 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about people management and how to coach the employees in making the most efficient resource of an organisation.
Follow Atulaya on Linkedin | |||
| 28 Dec 2022 | #280: Krishnan Nair on building a strong talent pipeline and maintaining a human connection in the digital age | 00:23:40 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the strategies for winning the war for top talent and what companies can do in terms of retention. "In the technology field, there are many skills that can be learned quickly with only two things - a genuine interest and a strong work ethic. These are the key ingredients for success." We welcome Krishnan Nair, CEO and Co-Founder of GeekTrust - an online platform that helps developers fulfil their potential by connecting them with unique, interesting opportunities. Prior to GeekTrust, Krishnan was a Delivery Manager at ThoughtWorks for 10 years, where he worked closely with client stakeholders identifying business and engineering agility needs.
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| 15 Dec 2022 | #267: Manoj Kumar on reinventing business strategies and choosing the right tech solutions for skilling programmes | 00:20:12 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the HR agenda that companies and leaders must prioritise as they reinvent their people and business strategies. “Be transparent and consistent about the core principles and values. This brings a sense of a different purpose for every individual.” We welcome Manoj Kumar, Co-Founder and CTO at Avysh- a B2B channel commerce and engagement platform for Brands, Dealers and Distributors. Manoj is experienced in Product & Software development for over 18 years and has worked as Head Of the Digital Workplace, Product Head, and Solution Architect in the information technology and services industry.
Produced by: Priya Bhatt
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| 26 Dec 2022 | #277: Cyan Mookherjee's insights on employee retention, instant recognition programs, and shaping organizational culture | 00:41:01 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the steps to be taken for shaping the culture of any organisation and the focus areas when it comes to employee retention.
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| 27 Dec 2022 | #278: Bhavin Bhatt's thoughts on micromanaging, strategies for monitoring high performance, and the effects of instant recognition. | 00:20:29 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the impact of recognition programmes and the strategies for tracking and encouraging high performance.
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| 28 Dec 2022 | #279: Maximizing Success with Dr. Nakia Hamlett's Talent, Culture, and Employee Engagement Strategies | 00:15:02 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about her secret sauce for winning top talent and how employers can manage and engage employees to the organization's advantage. "Millennials prioritize diversity and inclusion in the workplace. They want to feel that their well-being and success are supported by the company. This is important to them when considering a job offer." We welcome Dr. Nakia Hamlett, CEO and Founder of Complex Psychology - a mental health and wellness company dedicated to helping eradicate work and racial oppression. Dr. Hamlett is an educator, psychologist, professor, and consultant with two decades of experience helping individuals and organizations create communities of learning focused on exploring identity, racism, and other patterns of power and oppression. Episode Highlights:
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| 29 Dec 2022 | #281: Rishikesh Parida discusses challenges in the HR industry, managing difficult work situations, and his industry role model | 00:22:53 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the biggest challenge that the HR industry is facing right now. Rishikesh has around one year of experience in the field of human resources. He is skilled in recruitment, talent management, talent strategy, employer branding, negotiation, and employee engagement, making him a well-rounded HR professional.
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| 29 Dec 2022 | #282: Vivek Malhotra shares entrepreneurship challenges, work dynamics, and advice for young professionals | 00:21:35 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the challenges of being an entrepreneur and the changes he would like to incorporate in his role. Episode Highlights:
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| 31 Dec 2022 | #283: Malavika Sahoo on people strategy, the future of HR, and criteria for hiring from a good pool of candidates | 00:17:51 | |
In this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the function and uniqueness of her role as Director of People and how it is different from other HR roles.
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| 01 Jan 2023 | #284: Pooja Taparia talks about strategies for employee development, talent acquisition issues, and the value of employee retention | 00:19:53 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the significant talent acquisition challenges and the importance of employee retention in the competitive talent market. "I make a point to meet with the most junior members of the team, without supervisors in small groups. This allows me to hear firsthand what is going well and what could be improved upon. It also gives me the opportunity to take action to make necessary improvements." We welcome Pooja Taparia, Founder & Chief Executive of Arpan - an award-winning organization in Mumbai, India, that works to address child sexual abuse. It is the largest NGO in India in this field, with over 120 social workers and counselors offering prevention and intervention services to children and adults.
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| 04 Jan 2023 | #287: Rushabh Dharamshi on Aligning and Cultivating a Positive Work Culture to Attract Top Talent | 00:13:58 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the important strategies that organisations must invest in to align work culture. We welcome Rushabh Dharamshi, CEO and Co-Founder of Amvigor Organics- a healthcare company that specializes in providing effective and holistic solutions. The company works to enhance its customers' product offerings and bring new products to market through strategic global partnerships, innovative solutions, and seamless execution within the fields of cosmeceuticals, dermatology, and nutraceuticals."
Follow Rushabh on Linkedin Produced by: Priya Bhatt About Springworks: | |||
| 04 Jan 2023 | #288: Jay Vachharajani on managing situations and the impact of technology on the future of HR | 00:21:46 | |
On this episode of The Shape of Work, our guest talks about the major focus or touch points for the HR industry in the coming future and how to deal with situations as a manager.
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