#87: The importance of mental well-being, running effective meetings, and building the right culture, with Sayan Bandyopadhyay

On this episode of The Shape of Work, we have Sayan Bandyopadhyay, AVP-HR (East) at HDFC Life. Having worked in the HR fraternity for more than 16 years, his previous stints include working at giants like Kotak Life Insurance, Asian Paints, and Hewitt Associates.

Working across various HR functions, Sayan has plenty of expertise to share in this conversation.

We discuss with Sayan:

• His journey of transitioning his career from business analysis to an HR role
• Why mental health initiatives have become ‘must-haves’ across organizations today
• Better meetings make better days: the importance of running effective meetings
• What builds the right culture inside HDFC Life’s culture
• The importance of culture fit assessment in the hiring strategy

Meetings hold a significant amount of importance in organizations. In the corporate world, people have to work across different functions and hence need collaboration. However, Sayan explains why having meetings for the sake of it is not fruitful. It has to have a well-thought-out schedule and purpose. Teams need to analyze:

(1) the outcomes of the meeting.

(2) who are required in the meeting.

The meeting should have a proper structure, discussion, and proper notes.

Culture as one of the intangibles of a workplace:

Culture decides an employee’s willingness and commitment towards the organization. A good culture drives the employee to go to the office every day whereas a poor culture does the exact opposite. Sayan talks about the role of managers in setting this culture. For employees, it is the manager they communicate their tasks to. If the manager is helpful and positive, the employee will have a positive impression of the culture. Hence, managers need to have the correct conversations and build a culture of teamwork.

HDFC Life takes this element very seriously. Sayan calls it a ‘business of dealing with humans.’

Parameters set by HDFC Life while hiring:

There are two sets of hirings in HDFC Life- frontline sales and managerial positions. The majority of hiring happens in the position of frontline sales. They conduct an elaborate personality cum attitude entrance test. They look at the personality, attitude, and decision-making process of the candidates. Every organization does not have the same value systems/structures. Hence, people coming from different organizations also hold a value system different from the same of HDFC Life.

Top innovations in the field of HR:

At one point in time, HR was only considered an administrator of a business. Today it has developed to become an integral part of the same.

Sayan explains how the field of HR has grown:

1. HR in a business: The HR of an organization has to understand business as a business person. Only then can he/she be a true business partner.
2. Learning space: Organizations have become confident with mobile/virtual learning. Moreover, it can be done at one’s own pace. Hence, HR has turned the learning process from a ‘learner-led model’ to an ‘employee-led model’.
3. HR bots: With the incoming trend of HR bots, the role of an HR professional can be segregated. He/she can perform more important tasks within the organization.

Follow Sayan on LinkedIn

Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Yashwanth Jembige

Get highlights of this episode from our blog.