I had the opportunity to talk to Ms. Koshu Raghunandan. A seasoned HR Generalist and an HR Business Partner. She contributed on a strategic level and provided high-quality HR services in the organizations. She handles the full HR spectrum – recruitment, compensation & benefits, manpower planning, employee relations, performance management, expatriate management, formulation and implementation of policies and procedures, streamlines and enhances workflows – to achieve business goals.
She successfully designed and implemented various HR Projects. Managed a Shared Services Center in a Global Employment Company for offshore teams and international mobility. Oversaw complete office administration, facilities management, and travel management.
Her exposure in HR is both in Local and Regional & culturally diverse multinational companies in the Middle East and the Asia Pacific.
See below some of the key highlights of our discussion.
1) What is your expertise?
I am an HR Generalist with 20 years’ experience in various multinational companies covering full spectrum of HR in the Asia Pacific and Middle East, specializing in setting up of HR function and/or revamping the HR function. Areas include the full spectrum of HR include recruitment and selection, international mobility, employee handbooks, enhancing policies & procedures, workflows, compensation benefits, performance management. I have been contributing to strategy level & business partnering, managing teams and overseeing the operational and transactional activities.
2) What are the key industries you specialize in?
FMCG
Oil & Gas and Chemicals
Marine industries.
3) What are the important factors of being an Internal HR?
- Playing the role of a consultant within the organization
- Sharing of HR knowledge within the team and the organization
- Keeping track of industry and the best practices
- Making recommendations for change management and/or HR transformation.
- When recommendations are accepted, seeing them implemented and achieving the positive results is rewarding and motivating
4) What is your Leadership style?
I work with different stakeholders, seniors, peers and subordinates. With subordinates, sharing of knowledge to develop and coach them is one of the things I do. With peers, I prefer a consultative style – so that there are participation and involvement for better buy-in on ideas. With seniors, it is a concept of sharing of knowledge of the best practices in the industry and making recommendations and influencing decisions that will be meaningful for the organization’s growth and bottom line.
5) What are the challenges of an Internal HR
- The role has evolved from the HR Administration to HR Business Partnering. And to be a successful business partner, it is essential to have business acumen.
- Another challenge for an HR practitioner is to ensure Employee Engagement in the organization.
- Creating a good employer branding with a culture that attracts job seekers.
- Using and providing value-added HR analytics.
6) Factors and steps to consider when creating changes?
For Change Management, it is important to know:
- Plan the Change – this must be tied to the overall company strategy. It should not be just a quick fix with a short-term perspective.
- Important to determine what should be changed and what kind of change is required e.g. Structure of the organization, People in the organization or is it the technology.
- How and who are the stakeholders that will be affected.
- The change should be communicated to the various stakeholders as generally people are afraid of the unknown.
- A change agent with good leadership qualities, must be appointed who can manage the workload and is someone with confidence.
Feel free to connect with her in LinkedIn to know more about her passion and expertise.
Regional HR Manager and Business Partner
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Feel free to reach out with us if you want to be part and featured in our Monthly Session with HR Experts. You can drop me a short email at angelovaldez@harperandhill.com for selection process and shortlisting.
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The Author
Angelo is the Managing Director of Harper & Hill Executive Search Inc, specializing in Senior Management positions in executive search in Emerging Market in Asia. He managed full spectrum of senior-level placements and worked with multinational clients in Asia, Africa and Europe. He travels across Asia pacific region for his assignments.
Feel free to connect with him or follow him on LinkedIn. Angelo Cenon Valdez
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