By Ritu Bansal, Head of People & Culture (P&C), India
I have more than two decades of experience in Human Resource (HR) management. I’m proud to say nearly half of that time has been spent at Bravura India. We have achieved so much during my time at the company that it is hard to know where to begin.
After securing a master’s degree in business administration (with a specialisation in HR), I joined a web solutions company which gave me great insights into the management of employee life cycles. I then moved to Siemens, where I advanced to a mid-level management role overseeing HR functions. This gave me my first taste of setting the overall HR strategy for a global organisation, managing teams, and collaborating with leadership to align HR initiatives with business objectives.
Leading Bravura’s P&C team in India:
Along with our industry-leading technology, our people are our greatest strength. We have more than 400 employees at our Centre of Excellence in Gurgaon. This team is full of talent that works to design, develop and deploy innovative software, to power our clients’ growth plans in financial markets across the globe.
In my role as Head of P&C in India, I am committed to create a positive and productive work environment where employees can thrive and contribute to the organisation’s success.
As part of this, we’ve recently introduced various practical steps to build on this commitment. This includes installing easily accessible ‘idea boxes’ for our employees to submit feedback and suggestions on areas we can improve and better support Bravura’s growth and development plans. Every month, we also call out employees who have gone above and beyond to create stand-out work, or those celebrating a special work anniversary, in our global employee recognition programme.
We have a team of enthusiasts, called Bravura’s Rhythm Team, which is dedicated to managing celebrations and employee engagement activities. We also encourage colleagues to connect with like-minded individuals through various clubs and groups in areas like wellness, sports, travel and outdoor pursuits.
Driving the D&I & ESG conversation:
I work closely with Bravura’s senior management team to ensure we’re committed to creating a supportive environment for staff; ensuring our people feel valued and can bring their best selves to work every day. I enjoy implementing initiatives and programs that focus on employee well-being, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is an area Bravura is investing in since the launch of our award-winning Diversity & Inclusiveness (D&I) programme.
There’s a huge amount of commercial benefit to this approach, with various studies highlighting how promoting wellbeing improves productivity and engagement. Other benefits include building resilience, improving mental and physical health, and fostering a positive organisational culture.
We’re also actively engaged in several impactful ESG initiatives in India. Recently, we implemented “No Tissue Days”, to encourage employees to reduce paper waste. Additionally, we display daily food wastage in the cafeteria, fostering awareness and mindfulness about societal impact.
Creating a Great Place to Work:
We want Bravura to be a leading employer, globally. We have gone to great lengths to create an excellent benefits package for our colleagues in India. This includes offering flexible work arrangements to help colleagues to create a better work-life balance, as well as providing transportation, meals, as well as insurance and retirement benefits. This allows us to attract and retain the very best talent.
Promoting a culture of innovation, creativity and collaboration, by encouraging colleagues to think outside of the box and experiment with new ideas, is also one of our priorities. We aim to drive this through team-building initiatives. For example, this month (May 2024) we ran various competitions internally to help employees to bond and collaborate outside of their usual work tasks. Teams which work together to strategize and compete can strengthen relationships, improve their communication skills, and foster a sense of camaraderie.
Our HR approach has paid dividends and we have been recognized by various organisations for our initiatives recently. In 2023, Bravura India was certified as a Great Place to Work and we secured this again in 2024. This accreditation is widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive certifications for businesses, as it requires a high level of employee engagement and company culture assessments, conducted by the Great Place to Work® Institute.
In addition to this accomplishment, Bravura India secured the coveted DivHERsity Award last year. I was also named as one of the Top 5 DivHERsity Champions in the SMEs/Startups category. This triumph highlights our commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace which is reflected in our policies, as well as D&I goals. This includes giving female employees exclusive opportunities to apply for leadership roles, as well as our ‘Second Innings’ initiative, which looks to encourage women back into work after a career break.
We were also included in the Wellbeing Awards for Workplaces (WAW) at HR Anexi Summit 2023 in recognition of our efforts and commitment to promoting employee well-being and creating a healthy workplace environment.
Looking ahead:
We are not resting on our laurels. We are more committed than ever to building on our successes to support our employees. Moreover, I am a firm believer that we all have an obligation to remove bias and promote inclusion at work, to ensure equitable practices are implemented across the global organisation. To achieve this we have various plans to focus on.
We have some exciting projects coming up in 2024. We’re looking to expand our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services to encompass employees’ spouses and parents through an app-based solution. In addition, we are participating in various global initiatives across Bravura to continually improve the employee experience. These includes providing access to different external learning platforms, as well as our internal development programme aimed at promoting and retaining talent within the organisation, called bBrilliant.
If you are interested in working at Bravura India, you can see the list of current vacancies here.
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