How Vedanta Resources is meeting changing expectations of talent

Madhu Srivastava, Group Chief HR Officer of Vedanta Resources

The Human Resources chief of Vedanta Resources says India’s largest mining company now has different models of employment, unlike yearly contracts. Post-pandemic, the company’s intake of entry-level candidates has increased.

“Our average age of around 80,000 employees in the company is becoming lower over time and currently stands at about 31-32 years," Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Madhu Srivastava told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

Attrition at the company has increased especially in the last year to more than 10 percent. Still, management did not lose its sleep because of strong internal talent mobility. Forty percent of employees have been a part of Vedanta for more than 10 years.

“In just the last three years, we have grown approximately 5,000 internal leaders through various programmes. We have taken a conscious decision that for all our critical talent, we will always have a deputy in place,” she said. Edited excerpts:  

How have the expectations of talent in the energy sector changed in the past two years? 

Firstly, attracting talent has become different. Now, there are different models of employment we are looking at, unlike yearly contracts. Secondly, in terms of employee engagement, we are using digital technology like never before. For example, CEOs earlier used to do a town hall with around 300 people, but now 3,000-4,000 people can be connected digitally and communicate much much to a wider audience, including our business partners.

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Further, post-pandemic, our intake of entry-level candidates has increased. Our average age of employees in the company is becoming lower over time and currently stands at about 31-32 years.

How has the performance management process evolved with the changing needs of talent? 

Rather than just doing a once-a-year kind of appraisal system at the end of the year, it is now more of a regular engagement. For our senior-level people – the top 300 leaders – there is a quarterly assessment which includes a formal interaction tracking the key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs are less process-driven and more outcome-driven.

Further, all our entry-level hires are registered on a technology platform which tracks the monthly catch-ups or connects with their managers.

Secondly, the performance management model is also witnessing disruption. There is no standard formula to calculate the bonus. Apart from the usual performance, a lot of marks are given to somebody who is going the extra mile. By this, we are not becoming slaves of a formula, but we are giving credit where it is due.

Talking of disruptions, what is Vedanta Resources’ take on moonlighting? 

Moonlighting is okay if you're in a part-time kind of assignment with the company. We have 30-35 advisors or consultants who take specific approval from us before engaging with another employer. For full-time employees, we are not in favour of any such arrangements.

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How are you planning to focus on increasing diversity? 

Our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) goals have nine focus areas including gender diversity which we are committed to achieving by the year 2030. But we've broken it up into milestones spread across years and departments.

For example, for all the enabling functions such as finance, HR, communications etc, we are targeting to achieve 50 percent gender diversity in the next three years.

On the engagement front, we have a programme covering 130 female employees across mid- to senior-level employees. There is a structured engagement programme where we are targeting 130 leaders to be in a CXO role in any part of the business in the next six to 12 months.

Attrition has increased if we see the last three years. What is your assessment?  

Attrition across the globe has increased with people getting their priorities to reset. Further, the job market opened up after the pandemic because for two years nobody was hiring. But all of this is now stabilising.

Further, we talk more about retention than attrition. Forty percent of employees have been a part of Vedanta for more than 10 years. We make all efforts to make sure that even before the attrition happens, how we can engage our key talent segment. Sometimes, people want to try a different flavour. But within Vedanta, there are so many flavours: Employees can go from Zinc to Oil to Gas to Tech to Power to Metals, everything is like a different company.

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However, if attrition still happens, we don't lose sleep because our next line of talent is ready via internal succession planning. In the last three years, we have grown to approximately 5,000 internal leaders through various programmes. We have taken a conscious decision that for all our key critical talent, we will always have a deputy in place. Secondly, when we recruit 2,000 students from campus, we put them in a shadow programme, where they're always with the senior leaders – learning and growing.

What is the hiring plan for 2023?  

Our philosophy is that we will not go out and hire laterally from the market unless it's a niche skill set that we cannot get internally or we are trying to get an expert. If our internal people are even 60-70 percent ready for the vacant position, we give them the chance. In fact, I'm an example.

On the external talent front, we plan to hire 2,000 students from both Indian and global colleges. Lateral hires will be in much smaller numbers, but we'll hire in areas like operations – COOs (Chief Operating Officers) and experts. We are also hiring project experts due to our upcoming $20 billion of projects including the semiconductor (plant). Further, the demand for experts (exists) in oil and gas like exploration, subsurface people, mining and smelting (personnel).

What other skills would be in focus? 

We are getting into new areas. We are in the process of hiring our Chief Digital Officer, not just for the group, but even for our businesses. Following our Chairman's vision of providing seed (funding) to 500 startups, we are looking for leaders to steer the initiative.

What do you look for in candidates?  

Apart from skills, we look at the passion and the hunger to do well. Secondly, anyone changing their career or simply joining our company should have a reason or purpose. The purpose: Am I aligning with a broader purpose of the company to give back to the country and society?

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Thirdly, the prospective hires should have a technology mindset: We say very openly if anybody is not technologically driven or doesn't have a digital mindset in Vedanta, there will be an issue in terms of performance. Lastly, learning aptitude is also important.

Any specific questions you ask candidates just to gauge their potential in the company? 

One interesting question that we ask is “what can you do for us in the room?” For instance, if a person is coming for a CEO role in a particular business, we ask: What is your vision, what can you do and how can you make a difference as a leader?   

Any advice for today's workforce, especially the youth, in light of the increasing calls for flexibility? 

I would say take your career seriously as there is no substitute for hard work and sincerity.

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Especially when you're starting your career, my advice would be to just keep your head down and work very hard. Of course, you will get flexibility, and you will get rewards, but ultimately your work will be recognised, your work should speak for you.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]