Writing on the practice of HR.
Short, practical essays for founders and HR leaders — on the problems that show up over and over, and what to do about them.
POSH compliance in India: what every employer needs to have in place — and what most don't.
The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act has been in force since 2013. Most Indian companies with ten or more employees are legally required to comply. Most do not — not because they are indifferent, but because the requirements are more specific, and the gaps more significant, than most HR teams realise. A practical guide to what the law requires, what genuinely compliant looks like, and where the liability sits.
How to scale your HR function from 50 to 200 employees without it falling apart.
The systems that held your company together at fifty people will not hold it together at two hundred. Not because they were badly designed — but because the organisation has changed shape, and the HR function needs to change shape with it. A practical guide to the inflection points, the sequencing, and the decisions that separate companies that scale well from companies that scramble.
The real cost of losing one employee — and why most Indian companies severely undercount it.
Most companies track attrition as a percentage. Very few calculate what it actually costs when someone walks out the door. The full number — recruitment, onboarding, productivity loss, institutional knowledge, team disruption — is almost always two to three times what leadership estimates. Here is how to count it properly, and what to do with the result.
Why building a feedback culture is so hard in Indian workplaces — and how to do it anyway.
Feedback is the mechanism by which people grow, systems improve, and problems surface before they become crises. It is also the thing that most Indian organisations handle worst. The reasons are structural, cultural, and managerial — and all three are fixable. A practical guide to building a culture where honest feedback flows regularly, in both directions, without damaging relationships.
HR technology for Indian SMEs: what to adopt, what to avoid, and in what order.
The HR technology market has exploded. There is a tool for everything — and most of them are sold to companies that do not yet have the foundations in place to use them well. A practical guide to navigating the HR tech landscape as a growing Indian company, with a clear sequence for what to adopt first and why the order matters.
The HR statutory compliance calendar every Indian employer needs — and almost none have.
Statutory compliance in India is not a once-a-year exercise. It is a monthly, quarterly, and annual discipline. Missing a deadline, filing an incorrect return, or failing to display a required notice can attract penalties, inspections, and — in serious cases — personal liability for the employer. A practical month-by-month guide to what Indian employers need to do and when.
HR policies in India: why every SME needs them and where most go dangerously wrong.
Most Indian SMEs treat HR policies as paperwork — something to produce for an audit or a compliance notice, then file away. That is the wrong frame entirely. Policies are the operating system of your people function. Without them, every decision is ad hoc, every departure is a risk, and every growth milestone is harder than it needs to be.
Employee insurance is not a benefit. It is a retention and loyalty strategy.
Most Indian employers offer group health insurance because they have to, or because a competitor does. The ones who do it deliberately — who design their insurance programme as a genuine expression of care and long-term commitment — find that it does something no increment or bonus reliably does: it creates loyalty that outlasts the next offer letter.
HR strategy is about equipping people. Most companies have never thought about it that way.
The most important question an HR strategy should answer is not “how do we manage people?” It is “what does every person in this organisation need to succeed at the job we have hired them to do?” The answer is different for every role. And getting it right — from tools to training to transport to technology — is what separates companies that scale from companies that stall.
Why your appraisal process isn't working — and four questions to ask before redesigning it.
Most performance review systems fail for the same reason: they were designed to satisfy management, not to develop people. Before you change form, the cycle, or the rating scale, ask four questions about what you’re actually trying to accomplish.
The HR foundation checklist for Indian companies between 30 and 100 employees.
Most companies cross fifty employees without formal HR, and then crash into the problems all at once. A practical checklist of what to put in place — and in what order — before the cracks become structural.
How to hire a senior leader without a search firm budget.
Search firms are expensive for a reason — and not always the right reason. A structured approach to running a senior search in-house, with the discipline of a retained search and a fraction of the cost.
The first 90 days: an onboarding framework that actually retains people.
Most onboarding programmes end at day one. Research consistently shows that decisions about whether to stay are made in the first three months. A practical framework for structuring the first 90 days so new hires become committed employees, not regretted exits.
Compensation benchmarking for Indian SMEs: what the surveys miss and how to fill the gaps.
Salary surveys are built for large companies and global benchmarks. If your workforce sits between 30 and 200 people in Tier-2 India, the data rarely reflects your reality. A practical guide to building a defensible pay structure when the reference points are imperfect.
Manager capability is the missing HR lever most companies never pull.
Engagement surveys, exit interviews, and pulse checks almost always point to the same root cause: the direct manager. Yet most HR roadmaps treat manager development as a training event rather than a system. What a real manager capability programme looks like — and why the bar is lower than you think.
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