Why Hyper-Personalization Is the Ultimate HR Advantage in 2026
In this episode of the HR Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Ayaskant Sarangi, CHRO at Mphasis, to explore how HR is shifting from a support function to a business-first, tech-enabled growth engine. Ayaskant shares why HR leaders must deeply understand P&L, business language, and customer problems to earn a real seat at the table.
He breaks down how Mphasis is using AI-powered hyper personalization across learning, internal mobility, onboarding, and performance. From their in-house TalentNext platform to a unified talent marketplace and AI-driven appraisals, Ayaskant explains how tech connects skills, projects, careers, and business demand into one continuous loop.
If you care about the future of HR, this episode is essential. It shows how listening, personalization, and change orchestration are reshaping employee experience, why onboarding is now about assimilation, and how HR must become the conscious keeper of culture in an always-on change environment.
🎓 In this episode, Ayaskant discusses:
How internal talent marketplaces drive real mobility
Why change orchestration is now a core HR capability
Why onboarding has shifted from joining to assimilation
How HR must build deep business and P&L understanding
Using AI to power hyper personalized learning and careers
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Ayaskant Sarangi 0:00
The expectations from HR functionally are changing. We have, just last week, rolled out a month long intervention on how do I become a more accomplished business HR leader? Because I think somewhere the ability of the function to understand business Well, talk that dialog and then link it back to HR. Actions is an important area for growth for all HR people, including me. So how do we hone that skill for ourselves? Becomes important? PL, understanding is becoming another important area. In an environment where there's so many multiple linkages, you just can't come up with a set of initiatives without understanding the implications of that on a BNL, right? So really getting people closer to business, yeah, and topic language is something we are consciously focusing on to develop in our own function. Yeah, that's point. Point number two is in terms of, how do I build my change orchestration capabilities. When you're talking about change management, change management will always get driven by role modeling of behavior. It will always get driven by the set of either policies, guidelines or rewards you're going to put in place. However, all these things will have to be orchestrated, and that's where HR has to play a role. How do I help the HR leaders to become much better in orchestrating change? I
Chris Rainey 1:42
asked count. Welcome to the show. How are you? My
Ayaskant Sarangi 1:44
friend? Doing awesome, Chris and thank you so much for inviting me over.
Chris Rainey 1:48
Yeah, no. Next time, we'll do it in person, right? I'll travel to you in India. You can come here. We can start virtual, but it'd be good to see you someday, before we jump in, like, tell everyone a little about you personally and your journey to where we are now.
Ayaskant Sarangi 2:06
So from education perspective, I have an engineering degree first, and then I wanted to do my masters. I was more keen on getting into finance. But as luck would have it, I enjoyed the subjects of HR lot more, and that got me interested to get into HR. So I did, did my masters in HR in India, and there again, for the last 25 odd years, plus, I've been a student of the fund, right? So initial years were into multiple functional roles, between the CMB or leading multiple Coe, so on and so forth. I must mention that a lot of my personal education as an individual, as a leader happened at GE general, electric, nice at all. It was the best company in the world, yeah,
Chris Rainey 3:06
and they were well known for the world class HR programs.
Ayaskant Sarangi 3:10
Exactly. So spent about eight years in the healthcare business, three years in the corporate business, and then came in my next fabulous journey, which was with Wipro, and we provide tremendous amount of learning in the IT business there, again, played multiple roles, both as a generalist as well as a specialist, and from there on, moved to head the function for the non It businesses of Wipro, because Wipro had interest in FMCG, in multiple other B to B businesses like automation, hydraulics, etc. Yeah, water. So I led the function for the whole of the Wipro enterprises business. And then here I'm here. I'm in my current stint where I lead HR, for emphasis, we're about $1.8 billion with almost 32,000 employees spread across the globe as a CHR so enjoying every day with the company here. Great, great company to be part of in the personal side, I have a son who is just turned 18. My wife, she's homemaker, so just three of us, and of course, here in Bangalore,
Chris Rainey 4:24
Yeah, amazing. Well, so much to take in there. I'm surprised we didn't cross paths before, because I think I mentioned when we first spoke that we did a lot of work with repro over the years, with Deepak parija, and yes, a lot of the team members there as well, fascinating organization as well. And kind of almost felt like it came out of nowhere. And it was just, you know, when I first came across the the organization, I was like, wow. Like, you know, where did this company come from? And but tell everyone a bit more about emphasis. Like, what do you do? Who do you serve? Maybe just for the audience, just so they understand a bit more.
Ayaskant Sarangi 4:58
So at emphasis we are in. I. IT services company with primarily a focus would be on taking a tech first approach to our clients globally. We have presence on market leadership in areas like DFS. In addition, we have strong presence in high tech, in insurance, in healthcare, in travel, almost 5000 of our employees are based across multiple cities in the US. 1000 odd employees are based on Triple Cities in Europe, and then 20 odd 1000 employees based out of multiple cities in India, very young and dynamic workforce, one of the two things that we kind of take a lot of pride in, we take a lot of pride in being geeky as an organization, I love that we take a lot of pride in having a very strong tech first approach to Our clients, and that's how we try and differentiate ourselves in this highly competitive industry. Really proud of the fact that as a company, we have grown tremendously over the years, and even if I look at FY 25 which has got over for us again, one of the very, very few IT companies globally, which did well for itself, both of the top and bottom line, yeah.
Chris Rainey 6:23
And in many ways, your your your your people are your product. Yes. So it's very assets. Yeah, you asked, yeah, yeah, you end it, yeah. When I say yeah, when I say product, I mean, they are the people that are interacting with your clients every single day, right? So it's even more I feel like the role of HR in an organization like that is even more important in sounds of how do you absolutely, how do you can make that connection, right?
Ayaskant Sarangi 6:48
Absolutely, two things right in our industry. One, happy employee leads to happy
Chris Rainey 6:53
client exactly because they're directly connecting customers every day.
Ayaskant Sarangi 6:58
Yeah, that's on number one. And then the other point is the people investments is a significant part of the overall PNL, right? So how you hire, how to develop, how you groom, how do you place them into different projects that becomes such a core part of the organization strategy, the people, supply chain, in addition to the retention part of it.
Chris Rainey 7:23
Yeah, I know a big we've got so many great topics to get into today, but I want to, I want to jump straight into kind of what we're just talking about. You know, in a world where your customers are expecting more tailored experiences now more than ever, and you're offering many of these solutions as well. How can organizations effectively leverage technologies like aI date, like data analytics, to sort of hyper personalize this at scale?
Ayaskant Sarangi 7:52
A lot of the hyper personalization, in my view, is really about understanding your client better, or, for that matter, and employ better so a large part of the hyper personalization would come through conversations, and then those conversations will have to get sharpened with strong data backed view, which would come from your your AI framework or the analytics framework, and therefore Keeping that in mind, how do you bring the conversations, the people part of it and the tech part of it, combine it together and take it to a specific client, customizing it for that specific industry, and that specific problem to be solved is an important science and art in itself. So rather than going and telling a client that, look, I can solve world hunger for you, the sharper we define that this is a specific problem that can get addressed by using XYZ solutions, and this is therefore the benefit for you in the short term, in the medium term and in the Long term, would really get a client much more excited, right? And that's what becomes a differentiator. So in our parlance, we see two types of conversations. One is responding to a client's need when a client asks us questions. But the other important part is having proactive conversations, where one would have dialogs, debate discussions, to understand what's my client mind, what are the problems they're trying to solve, fundamentally for their diets? And then one word, then one works backwards. Say, if, if you implement this specific solution in your environment, this is going to help you address these specific areas for you. Yeah, so, and the language has to be talking about the client's problem in their words that they understand, defining a problem so that they can visualize how you are defining it for them and it impact it has for them. And the tech solution, which has to be customized for that specific industry, you can't take a solution. That has been customized for an aerospace industry and say, Hey, this is how it's going to work in a bank. You have to talk the banking domain language as well. Yeah.
Chris Rainey 10:10
So you taking this exact same approach internally when it comes to your people and the different functions. Absolutely, same approach.
Ayaskant Sarangi 10:18
Absolutely, absolutely. I think for us, it's to begin with, from an employee perspective, it starts with listening that. How do I listen to an employee? Very effectively, both the formal feedback that comes our way, as well as the informal feedback. Because once one listens to an employee, then one kind of gets this is what an employee really needs or would value one could be need, or one could value that's true, and then customizing your solutions around it. So for example, if I'm an employee, I know three or four languages from a tech perspective. Now an organization knows that these are four or five projects that are going to come in the future, which would require a different set of technologies. So if I can communicate very sharply to the employee that, look, you are certified in technologies A and B, there's a lot of work happening in C in the future, if you learn C, it's going to help you move up the value chain for yourself as an individual, it will have that much tighter integration to what the employee would like to do. Vivian just saying, you have learned a and b now figure out what you need to do, because the employee might not know at times what the person would like to know. Yeah, right. Just, just helping connect the left hand with the right hand, using tech and at the same point in time, giving the chance to the employee to say, hey, I can go with approach a, or I can go with approach B for myself. Or is there is the way to go. That's how we kind of define hyper personalization, really customizing solutions so that the employee believes that, okay, if I learn a certain set of skills, it's going to help me in the next three to five years.
Chris Rainey 11:57
Yeah, because that's sometimes missing, like the why order? What's order? What's in it? For me is some is sometimes you have that disconnect, right? Because it's like, what is my role in this? What does this mean for Chris? So we kind of have to go from just like, not just surface level, we have to really individualize and hyper personalize. How tactically? How do you do that, though? How are you capturing this information, and then how are you personalizing this to the individual? Because that's the challenge that many companies right now are going through. And there's a million different technologies and solutions that are claiming to help you solve this. What? And I know you're probably still on the journey, because everyone is so how are you how are you approaching this right now.
Ayaskant Sarangi 12:41
So there are three or four ways in which we are trying to capture this. One obviously, a lot of tech is getting used in solutions. And let me kind of specifically talk about one platform which is called talent, next which is nothing but an AI powered engine, which has an individual's past track record from a skill set perspective, what the person has done so on and so forth. It nudges the person in terms of learning new areas, which is in line with the demand that is there from a skill perspective. And it helps the employee over a two year, three year, two months, three months, journey to help build that capability for himself or herself with a formal certification. And then once that is done, it starts nudging the employee to say, Hey, these are the types of work which are now available within the organization. Why don't you apply for them using your IJP and see if you can land with something that's of interest to you, given that you just got certified in it, right? So that's a very specific example on how does one tie it back to what I have learned to what I'm going to work on? A similar example happens even in onboarding, because for us, given the distributed workforce that we are in, we end up hiring close to 2500 employees every quarter. Wow, global. Now the days of onboarding, which used to be a day one and two experience, are getting challenged in today's day and age when there's a highly competitive environment, one is engaging with a candidate much more effectively write post offer acceptance, even before the person joins to talk about, how would life change for that individual then comes in the entire day One day two, experience, it has to be a wow. Do I have the right do I understand how the company works? Do I understand what my goals are? Who is my buddy? Who I can ask the very basic questions going to guide me through my expectations with my manager, so on and so forth, and then the respective system checks again 1520, days down the line to see if the person is assimilated well, because the game has changed from onboarding to assimilation, because that's when you get true value from an individual, especially when people are running in a hybrid environment. So there again, you have a hyper personalized experience, because it is talking to me. It is linking me back to my own buddy, my own manager, clarity for my role, expectations and then connecting with the right set of people over the next 1520, days so that I become effective. Yeah, so the question of what is in it, for me, is getting answered through an effective, tech enabled Onboarding Framework. That's another example.
Chris Rainey 15:54
No, I love that, and we know from the data, right, that how important that onboarding experience is in terms of the retention, so that it's critical those moments that matter early whether someone's going to be successful. There's a lot of data out there to support that. So it makes sense. Have you seen that as well? The more that you've invested in that early stage,
Ayaskant Sarangi 16:16
that absolutely, absolutely
Chris Rainey 16:19
what I know people are going to be listening. You're going to be asking, what, what do you use for your onboarding? What technology or solution do you use for that? Because that's something many people are exploring, how they reimagine onboarding. And again, there's a lot of systems and and also talent. Next is that something you built yourself,
Ayaskant Sarangi 16:40
talent make something which we built ourselves. Wow, amazing. But on for onboarding, we use a tool called Expand. Expand.
Chris Rainey 16:49
Okay, that's a new one for me. I'm normally not surprised, but cool, interesting.
Ayaskant Sarangi 16:57
Yeah, we use another tool which is called PRISM force. Prison force wasn't very, very interesting in our environment, Chris, because it actually links your entire people supply chain together. Because right us, what is my demand from a client's perspective? Then for that demand, do I have to see.
Chris Rainey 17:20
And that's very specific to what that's that makes so much sense, because you need to be able to measure
Ayaskant Sarangi 17:28
layer built on top of all our tools, right? I don't know something. I can see a thumbs down though my hand. Maybe don't worry about that.
Chris Rainey 17:40
It's just like a zoom. So, yeah, that's super interesting, because that's very unique to your industry and the service that you offer. So that makes sense, because
Ayaskant Sarangi 17:49
for us, we have multiple tools, right? One, there's a hiring tool, there's a learning tool, there's the talent allocation tool. So you can imagine this sits as a horizontal on top of it, yeah, and the moment you have a horizontal tool on top of it, you're actually seeing things from the lens of an employee. Yeah, because an employee is interested in Hey. Am I getting the right opportunity for myself? Am I learning? What's my next project going to be? How will I grow? How will I get promoted? So on and so forth. So the horizontal prism force gives that holistic end to end view from an employee perspective.
Chris Rainey 18:27
Yeah, when you when you mentioned talent next, I was wondering, how do you link those opportunities to learning? So if someone's interested in a role, but perhaps there's some development needs. Does that link to an LMS? Is that built in? What does that experience look like for them, for them to upskill and reskill themselves?
Ayaskant Sarangi 18:51
So there are two ways in which we have kind of tightly integrated it. One is talent. Next is more like a like a buddy for me, system as a plethora of interventions available for me, and is nudging me to keep learning new things, keeping in mind my interest, because first I have to go and just write down what my interests are and basis my interests. It's going to also suggest, why don't you learn X, Y, Z, as well, in addition to this, because given some extra things that the system is seeing, which you might not be seeing. So that's one aspect of it, but the other important part that we've also done tightly integrated is linked this entire thing back to our appraisal framework. Chris, okay, so today, whatever I'm learning, whichever areas I'm getting certified, all that information is going and sitting on my appraisal system I see having conversations with my manager on my performance. That also becomes an integral part of my conversations that I had committed that these are things that I would learn. Have I. What have I learned? All those things? Manager could tell me, No, no, I think while you learn X, Y, Z, why don't you learn something else as well, which I can add to myself. So it's like closing the loop back. One is my own personal connect with their talent next to to explore the world around it. But the other is an engagement framework, so it is linked back to my performance, so that I know, after having learned something, did I deliver on what I learned? Yeah, and then the feedback from manager that who is more like a coach, saying, Hey, have you learned this? Why don't you learn something else? So on and so forth. So that loop gets closed. Yeah.
Chris Rainey 20:37
I was just thinking that in my head, I was like, just the for the for loop. I love that, because it's put learning into action, and then that's being recognized by your manager, you're having the conversation. It kind of feeds back in. Also aligns with the business your customers. Basically everything is kind of linked into that loop within within talent. Next is that, is that also like a marketplace in terms of, like, new opportunities, new jobs? Yes, yeah. So talent marketplace as well.
Ayaskant Sarangi 21:06
So the way this, the prism force is on the top, yes, so integrating this whole thing together. So from talent next, I can see what my future opportunities are. I get into prison force and apply for new roles.
Chris Rainey 21:18
Love it, yeah, sorry for all the questions. I'm just really interested in, like, it's just so it's so interesting that you've managed to bring it all together and still create a cohesive user experience. Because sometimes it can get a bit messy where you have different platforms or different experiences, and the challenge is, how do we create one place we have a great experience that people actually feel empowered to take charge of their career, right? And they're learning learning is not the company's responsibility, it's theirs, but you have to give them the right tools and the opportunity and the framework to be able to do that. Yeah, what are you most excited about? You know, we spoke about AI. We can't not have a conversation without talking about AI. Where are the areas for you as a HR leader and your team currently experimenting? What are some of the areas where you're leveraging AI? At the moment,
Ayaskant Sarangi 22:15
today, at an organizational level, we are using AI across multiple levels. Let me kind of query rattle down a few areas. One, obviously, is in hiring, because we're talking about scale, so tech plays a big role there. We talked about onboarding, we talked about training. In addition to that, we are also using AI in HR ops, because there's a ton of data that is there, and an employee would seek, how would their life change? They could have very, very basic questions, as basic as, what's my leave balance, yeah, to have a very engaging conversation with them and also guide them in terms of how can they can plan their their life better. So HR ops becomes an integral part in our strategy, and then, last but not the least, the entire performance management and appraisal framework, because there's a ton of data that is there in a year for an individual. So our appraisal system uses AI to kind of bring all of that together for a manager and an employee to have a good quality conversation, because otherwise, what happens in the absence of not using Tech, we end up having conversations. This is what we saw and remembered in the
Chris Rainey 23:32
last two months, yeah,
Ayaskant Sarangi 23:34
which at times may or may not be ideal. In fact, on most questions, not ideal, right? So, so using tech to kind of bring all the events that have happened in the year, to kind of have a quality conversation, just helps. So those are the areas where we're using, AI, I think the to your point. And by the way, when I'm saying all of this, like Julia said, Chris, it's a journey. We have a share of, of course,
Chris Rainey 23:58
everyone's on, everyone's on the journey.
Ayaskant Sarangi 24:02
The other piece where we are spending a lot of time is on building the culture, given all the changes that are happening, both externally, internally, geopolitically, whatever it could be. So change has become a norm for all of us. So as a function, how can we be proficient in change management? How do we lead from the front? How do we be intentional about change management? Because while all of us talk about it, I don't think we're intentional about it. How do I become intentional about change management, something that as a function we keep brainstorming about, because this is for real,
Chris Rainey 24:48
and it's and it seemed, and every day there's something new, right, whether it's the political landscape, whether it's, you know, AI change a transformation, whether it's. Covid. You know, there's we're just constantly being I feel like, now more than ever, our leaders and our managers are, are under a lot of pressure. You know, everyone is, but I feel like, especially our manager, our frontline managers, especially, and you know, when I was a manager, we didn't talk about soft skills and things like resilience. Yes, you know that wasn't in the list of key competencies, and it has to be now right in there as well. And you have to build that is a muscle you can build. And many organizations you know talking about building a resilient culture is very important, but practically, how do you go about doing that? So I'd love to understand your views of like, how are you helping equip the organization and your leaders to help drive this in a constant state of change that we face?
Ayaskant Sarangi 25:57
Good question. So I think, you know, let me again give specific examples. I'm just building on your point, Chris, when it comes to educating managers in our environment, what we have said is that it's a continuous process, right? And for our first time managers and a middle managers and for our senior managers, their development has to be an intentional activity. So, for example, every time we have a person who becomes manager for the first time in our environment right now, there is automatically a set of interventions the person has to do over a two and a half months time frame so that the person is equipped with the skills required to manage teams. So for example, undergoing a dedicated module on how do I delegate? How do I how do I have conversations? How do I listen so on and so forth, for example. And linking back to your example on covid, one of the things that research research showed across organizations, is covid made the companies much more empathetic. Yeah, now that we have become empathetic, how do I not lose that again?
Chris Rainey 27:13
Because like and still and still have hard conversations,
Ayaskant Sarangi 27:19
weaving that element in having difficult conversations. So creating modules on our leadership principles, ensuring that anybody who is a new manager or a good, seasoned middle manager as well, continuously going through such frameworks. So just to give an example, in the last two quarters, we have covered around 500 managers through these interventions, and the content would keep changing, keeping in mind something else would keep evolving, something else would keep going back, so on and so forth, and making that as a continuous process. That's one big framework, the second important framework, Chris, which I touched lightly on, is sustaining our listening so frequent service. So we have something called as a moodometer. It captures the mood of our employees. Say, mood a meter. How moodometer? I love that just captures
Chris Rainey 28:17
the mood. How often do you do that? And I
Ayaskant Sarangi 28:22
mean, anybody can do it at any point in
Chris Rainey 28:24
time a day. Ah, okay, nice. On going nice. It's 24 by seven.
Ayaskant Sarangi 28:28
It's running right? So at the end of the day, while it is called moodometer, it is a simple listening tool, right? You are just trying to listen what is in a person's mind. Similarly, you're doing frequent checks, once in six months, going out with surveys, talking about, how are you feeling about your work, how are you feeling about your manager, how are you feeling about your organization? Does your work connect with the larger purpose of the organization? Yeah. So those specific questions, getting responses back from our employees, again, that's listening, but more important, larger point is sharing it with the senior leadership, having having quality conversations there. That's the larger part, because it's also about sensitizing the larger leadership on look, this is what is in the mind of our employees, the good and the not so good, yeah, because that's when you drive change. And again, as I said, this is not like you do it once and it
Chris Rainey 29:24
gets over. No, it's ongoing. Yeah, this is something that
Ayaskant Sarangi 29:27
keeps going. But ensuring that these tracks are up and running, there are dedicated leaders focusing on it and sustaining it becomes an important area. One simple example, just to kind of bring home the point on tech in HR since we talked about it a short while ago today, consciously we have a dedicated HR leader just focusing on tech and HR. I did not have that position a year back.
Chris Rainey 29:51
Yeah, most companies didn't, but they have to. The
Ayaskant Sarangi 29:55
reason it's all of us. Wale would say, hey, this tech is required. But. Are so busy doing something else that you end up forgetting about doing what is also required. So you need somebody to own it and run
Chris Rainey 30:06
it and pilot right, like they need to also be piloting and testing like there's no there's no such thing as just getting it right the first time, like in that now you have to experiment right and have an innovation hub of sorts where you can have, exactly,
Ayaskant Sarangi 30:21
having a dedicated employee engagement and listening team full time job is just to think of, how creatively can I engage with teams? How do I sensitize managers? How do I listen more? How to close the feedback?
Chris Rainey 30:36
Yeah, that's, I feel like we saw that the real importance of that communication during covid, because now, like HR became the communication engine for employees. So you had to have really good marketing and with communication skills within the HR function, which in the past was kind of like a bit of an afterthought. But during covid, you saw companies that really thrived had a really good team that communicated effectively and efficiently, and even use tools to personalize that communication across the different geographics and cultures, because there's cultural nuance right in depending on where you're communicating, and that was a muscle that kind of was forced to be developed during that period. But to your point, it's no longer a nice to have. It's essential that we have that people feel like they're connected and to the organization as well. I do want to ask you mentioned, obviously the manager development, and that's a big challenge for most people I'm talking to right now. I think you said you did 500 managers in the last quarter. How long did you say the program was again, three months, three months. What does that look like, tactically, because you have a global organization, some in office, some remote, you have to cater to order them. Is it something you again built internally? Could you just kind of describe what that looks like? Is it video modules, you know to see the interests and know what that looks like.
Ayaskant Sarangi 32:04
It would have video modules. It would have formal training in classroom settings spread across two to three days and action learning projects. And the reason why we've consciously designed it that way is because otherwise, if you learn something and you're not practicing it, you end up forgetting about it. So it has all the three elements integrate, of course, this has been done in partnership with a couple of firms. For one of them, you work with AI on as one of our partners. So some of the elements are done by us. So for example, some of the course content has been customized, keeping in mind our own examples, sure, rather than kind of just going with canned content. But again, all getting monitored centrally from from a program management perspective, yeah, I think all these elements, dialog, dialogs between teams from a project perspective, because today one can actually do a workshop using tech, which wasn't the case
Chris Rainey 33:10
three, four years back. Yeah. And I think that more now than ever, learning is becoming a team sport, right? Exactly, more and more. So, oh yeah, thank you for breaking that down, because I think everyone's reimagining what that looks like right now. So it's always interesting to know how other companies are approaching this. You mentioned there's a lot of change that's happening, and I just I noticed it wasn't one of our questions, but it just came to mind, like, how has that made you rethink the skills and roles that you now require within your own HR function, because a lot of what we're describing is a, it's not just an organizational transformation and change, but that's also going to force you to have a different set of skills and competencies and capabilities within your own team. You know, I see, Hey, I see, obviously, with people analytics is kind of it's been a role within HR, but I'm now even seeing engineers within the HR team, and I'm saying prompt engineers, actual, you know, engineers to help with the integrations. I just wanted to know how, like you're preparing your own team and rethinking the role of HR?
Ayaskant Sarangi 34:19
No great question. I think the expectations from HR functionally are changing, right? So one obviously, is adding new roles which were in there earlier, as we talked about the tech in HR, similarly, in the in the learning function, we have content writers now who can help create content which can be engaging for for anybody looking at that stuff, right? So those roles weren't existing earlier, till about even 2412 to 24 months back. So those are new roles that got added. Second is especially for. Or the layer one layer below me, we have, just last week, rolled out again, a month long intervention on how do I become a more accomplished business HR leader? Because I think somewhere, the ability of the function to understand business Well, talk that dialog and then link it back to HR actions is an important area for growth for all HR people, including me. So how do we hone that skill for ourselves? Becomes important. P and L understanding is becoming another important area. You can't, especially in a in an environment where there's so many multiple linkages, you just can't come up with a set of initiatives without understanding the implications of that on a PNL, getting teams engage with the business process so that teams understand which leader is doing. Well, why is a specific leader meeting targets? Why is another leader struggling to meet targets? So really getting people closer to business? Yeah, and talking language is something we are consciously focusing on to develop in our own function. Yeah, that's point number two. Is in terms of, how do I build my change orchestration capabilities? That's another big model we have put in place, right? Because when you're talking about change management, change management will always get driven by the line. It will always get driven by role modeling of behavior. It will always get driven by the set of either policies, guidelines or rewards you're going to put in place. However, all these things will have to be orchestrated, and that's where HR has to play a role. Yeah. So one of the areas that we are again trying to build in their own function is, how do I help the HR leaders, I'm talking about, the leaders who are two levels below me right now, to become much better in orchestrating change?
Chris Rainey 37:13
Yeah, consciously, yeah,
Ayaskant Sarangi 37:16
specific areas we are focusing on, in addition to the regular stuff a lot.
Chris Rainey 37:22
One of the things I love about everything you've been saying for up since the beginning of this call, is everything you talk about is is grounded in the organization's context with practice. So linking that back to actually executing on the learning in the organization, and then linking it back to the business priorities. Everything you've described is through the lens of that, and I think that, in itself, takes it from what to what you describe bits, which is being a strategic HR business partner, right? It's not just you're grounding it in the business context. You're actioning on this constantly, and then constantly learning and evolving along the way and use. And that's from a whether you spoke about technology, that you chose it was through that lens, whether it was training, it was through that lens, whether it's the roles that you described, is through that lens. So that's kind of one of my key takeaways already from this conversation is the way it's grounded in that thinking, and it all links back into one another. I'm assuming that's very intentional,
Ayaskant Sarangi 38:32
yeah, and that's the only way HR would get a good seat on the table. Yeah, 100% no.
Chris Rainey 38:40
I mean, it's really, really interesting. Where do you see the biggest area that HR can have the most impact?
Ayaskant Sarangi 38:51
Think employee experience is changing as a framework, continuously, and I think for us as a function. How do we reimagine employee experience? Is something that all of us need to collectively put our minds together much better.
Chris Rainey 39:12
Yeah, yeah. That's fundamentally changed, right? The way the work, the workforce and workplace, has fundamentally changed the way and what gets done is completely changing as well. And that's all going to require a very different employee experience.
Ayaskant Sarangi 39:30
That's one and in addition to that, the entire something that, you know, we were groomed into, as in functionally, I think, but taking it to the next level is really being the conscious, conscious keeper of the culture of the company. I think that's critical. Otherwise, you know, culture always gets tested when there's stress,
Chris Rainey 39:56
that's the time where culture really shows up and. Right? And, and it shows do, are you really living exactly up to your values in your culture, right? Or, or is it just some words on the wall?
Ayaskant Sarangi 40:09
Culture always gets tested in terms of how you take decisions from organization
Chris Rainey 40:13
100% because it's easy to do it when things are going great, right? And it's easy to say, this is what we stand for. This is our culture, right? But it's when times are tough that you see company and and employees remember that, right? So those employees during covid that their company stood up, they stayed strong, they supported they lived up to their culture and values. They are the most highly engaged employees that you would have, right? And those companies that didn't, they lost a lot of employees during during that time, and I think for us, even in our small business, whenever we have a tough time and go through a lot of change, our culture and our values is our foundation to make decisions. Because sometimes during all of the chaos is you might be tempted to be poor, and Shane and I always sit down, is this aligned with our values? Is this aligned with our culture? And if the answer is no, then we move on, despite the tempting shiny object that may be out there. So it's a great place to ground from there as well. Before I let you go, I want to ask you some sort of quick fire questions. These are sort of just some fun, quick questions that I asked all the guests. I know you wasn't expecting this, but no one, no one ever expects it. What are your hobbies and passions outside of the office?
Ayaskant Sarangi 41:38
I love cricket,
Chris Rainey 41:39
play, watch or both. At
Ayaskant Sarangi 41:42
my age, is difficult. Cricket and tennis are two things that I can I can watch forever.
Chris Rainey 41:51
Yeah, me all I love both as well. What would you say is, like the one thing that you do to really kind of take care of your own mental health and well being, because it's tough, right? Like no one talks about the rule, the toll of what it means, you know, to sit in the CHRO seat. What are some of your advice or tools that you use?
Ayaskant Sarangi 42:11
You know, at least I can just talk for myself. Couple of things that I use. Is one, obviously, consciously take some time out of family. I mean, even if it's solving a problem along with my son jointly doing it, but doing it consciously right, having that break that says work is over, it may kind of do things that are important for me as well, but doing it that's one important part reading. Because I think reading for me just helps me become much more aware of what's happening around me. It challenges your thought process. It challenges your beliefs, so that you don't get so that otherwise, at least for me, when I read, I feel, hey, there is lot more to life. There is lot more to work than what I know. Yeah, and that beats me down, I must confess, and then spending time with friends. I think I strongly believe that in life, one would have five or six people who are really close to you, who really know you well. So give it back to them, and be nice to them and spend time with them. Yeah, those are, those are things that try and do.
Chris Rainey 43:23
No, I love those examples and all of those examples that you mentioned. I tried to do this with my young daughter. It allows you to be present in the moment and perhaps just forget about the daily challenges and stress that you have. Like my most enjoyable part of my day is going home and seeing my daughter and just spending a few hours of her and just disconnecting from the day. And sounds like there's something similar for you as well. What would you say is like the legacy that you want to leave behind for the for your kids and for the family? Well, that's a tough one I know, and just threw it at you. He goes, if,
Ayaskant Sarangi 44:04
if they know me as somebody who was sincere, worked hard, lived life the right way, and gave his best every day. Yeah, I think those are things I would like to be remembered for, yeah? And if my son tries to do some of those and excels, I'll be even happier.
Chris Rainey 44:29
Yeah, that's amazing. I know that's a tough one, right? Because, you know often you're answered ask that question as well, but I mean, that's, that's a great legacy. That's all we can ask in many ways, to leave behind. Who just say is that the one person in your this had the biggest impact on your career? If you had to choose one person, you say, Chris, this person really
Ayaskant Sarangi 44:50
my dad. You know when I remember when I was studying I was slightly naughty as a kid, he once told me he didn't allow me to eat. He said, till you finish your stuff, you. So I finished all my stuff that I would do, from homework, and then I was allowed to eat. But he told me that, look, if you really want to sustain yourself, always try and create hunger for your for you, I think be hungry is something that my father taught me personally, yeah, and then give you a question, whatever you are trying to do. So yeah,
Chris Rainey 45:23
do you feel like that? Let built a level of resilience from a young age. Yeah, no, I love that. And then last question, what advice would you give to the HR leaders of tomorrow that will be sitting in your seat one day,
Ayaskant Sarangi 45:41
I would say, AI is the best function one can get into you. Just get to meet people. Just get to learn from people, and just get get an opportunity. Just give it back to people in just so many ways. And I think I would say, also, do not get into this function if you generally do not like people, they just so much to learn from from people around you, and this is a function where you can really help a person become better individual. Nothing more satisfying than that, yeah.
Chris Rainey 46:13
Well, listen, I really enjoyed the conversation. I appreciate you taking the time out, and I love the what you and a team have created. I know you're on the journey. There's there's no destination. This is continuous, but where you are so far, it's incredible. And I love the way, like I said earlier, that you're linking this back to putting it into practice, linking it back to the strategic the business, and then constantly creating that feedback loop, both through people, technology and the organization, I feel, I think that it's incredible, and it's a good lens to look at everything as well. So I appreciate the work you've been doing. Congrats to you and the team, and I look forward to speaking again soon.
Ayaskant Sarangi 46:56
Thank you so much, Chris for inviting me over, and I really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you for all the thought provoking questions. At least I'm going back reflecting on couple of things that I should be
Chris Rainey 47:06
doing differently. No worries. All the best. Thanks a lot.
Ayaskant Sarangi 47:09
Taking back from this conversation, thank you and all the best to you as well.
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Ayaskant Sarangi, CHRO at Mphasis Limited.