Good day, Bhagyashree Jefferson. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Hello, Bhagyashree Jefferson. Let’s start with an important question: In your current or previous HR role, can you describe a situation where you had to manage a challenging employee relations issue? What was the situation, and how did you handle it?

Yes.

Yes, I had an issue with an employee where I worked in Cognizant Technology Solutions. I was processing visa for them and at that time there was a delay in processing visa because of the Christmas time, the Christmas season that was going on. So the employee got really irritated and he felt that there is something wrong that had happened from our end.

But it really didn't happen anything from our end. It was like because of the Christmas season, the travels and all were completely not there and the work was not there in abroad. So he started to escalate this problem to me and he dropped an e-mail to me stating that I made some big mistake. So what I immediately did is I tried calling and talking to him. I tried to explain the situation to him that no, there's nothing.

That wrong had happened from our end because it's a Christmas season and we usually don't process visa during that time because there is no opportunity for people in abroad to work at that time because in abroad during Christmas it's fully off. So I try to explain him, but still he couldn't understand. And what I try to do is I, uh, brought this issue to my, uh, head, my head and I told him that this is what is the background.

Got it,

And, you know, this associate is really angry and he feels that there's something wrong that has happened from our end. So what my manager did is he spoke to that associate. He said that he, he tried to explain all the things that he could.

And finally, you know, the associate was really happy and he said, I'm so sorry. He apologized for being angry on us and misunderstanding things around. So he felt he apologized to us. And finally the situation was really calm and it got settled smoothly.

Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like you handled the situation with patience and professionalism. How did you ensure that similar misunderstandings or escalations were avoided in the future?

Sorry.

Can you? Can you repeat it again?

Of course. How did you ensure that similar misunderstandings or escalations like this one were avoided in the future?

Uh, yeah, after this happened, I understood that why shouldn't we give a prior notice to the associates dropping an e-mail officially from our and stating that, you know, from this duration to this duration, the visa will not be able to processed will not we shall not be able to process it because of so and so constrained because of the Christmas and New Year season and the travels will be very less and because the on site people will be.

The heads will be away for the Christmas and New Year vacation. So we try to design an e-mail structure based on that and we next time what we did is before ahead we dropped an e-mail to the associates who have raised the request travel request to fly to abroad. And we told them see this is what is the timelines and we will not be able to process any visa during this time to this time because it's a Christmas and New Year season and the travels will be very.

Because we need the HR, I mean we need the head approval for the travels. So heads will also be away and any travel will be, you know, processed only after the new year. So by doing this, you know, the this issue was completely down, it was not at all there and we had a smooth transition.

That’s a thoughtful resolution—proactively setting expectations and communicating ahead of time to avoid confusion. It shows strong foresight and planning on your part. Did implementing this new process improve trust and relationships with employees overall?

Yes. Yes, of course we that particular year we really got a good rating in overall rating. We really got a good rating. They not even one gave us a C SAT score. We had full and full DSAT score and we were really happy with that. And you know, even my manager was really satisfied that we were good. We we really took a good initiative in implementing this in prior giving a prior notice to the associates so that they don't panic, they don't.

Misunderstand us and they don't, you know, blast us or escalate this problem into a higher level. So that year was really a wonderful year for us by implementing this.

Impressive. It seems like your initiative not only resolved the immediate issue but also strengthened the team's credibility and overall employee satisfaction. Let’s move to the next question: How do you handle situations when you need to deliver difficult feedback to an employee?

Sorry, uh, I couldn't get it. Can you tell me again?

Sure. How do you handle situations when you need to deliver difficult feedback to an employee?

Difficult feedback as in we try to talk to them, you know, keeping our mind calm and we, we try to, you know, you know, be, don't we don't be straightforward actually when we speak to them because it's really difficult to take that.

Them though the words that you use, the tone that you speak in really matters. So that is how I try to handle that situation wherever you know, we had to have we we got to have the bad feedback. We try to be very calm and polite and we try to explain them and we just try to you know tell them give them the surety that you know the next time it will not happen and we give that assurance to them So this is how we.

Whatever feedback, feedback that we give them, it's really hard to take that and it it's all an approach, the way you approach, the way you talk to them and you passively.

To balance the back feedbacks that we get.

Makes sense. It sounds like you approach it thoughtfully to ensure employees feel supported even when receiving tough feedback. Can you share a specific example where you had to deliver such feedback, and how the employee responded?

Yeah, sure. What happened is one time there was a big escalation that happened in our team and one of our employee was really, really escalated and he was brought inside the call for that escalation along with the associate and the heads. So in that situation, my manager was the one who was main who was speaking. There, you know, in he was not letting.

Other employees speak, but he was actually speaking and trying to explain the situation where you know, said telling them the timelines of so and so process from here to here, from one stakeholder to another stakeholder and why it got delayed and for what All approvals we were waiting behind the screens. All these things were there and few of the confidential things were there where we were. We we are not supposed to share it with.

Got

Employee directly, that is the associate directly. So that was also, you know, confidential within us and but that part also my manager tried to explain to that associate and later on the associate understood that things are OK, fine things are working in so way such a way. And he said fine, I'm, I'm I understand. That it works like this I totally understand.

I'm really sorry to put you in that situation where you had to face all these escalations with the heads with me and it was really difficult. So that time it actually my manager was our biggest strength, you know, to make the the mood of the employee subtle and kind of feeling better and happy with the working environment. So that is how the situation was handled.

Understood. Your team seems to emphasize transparency and professionalism under pressure, which clearly helped in that instance. One last follow-up on this: Did you or your team implement any longer-term improvements or learnings after that escalation to prevent similar issues?

Ground. Yeah, we took lot of, you know, a lot of steps to, you know, every time it's it's all a learning phase and any human will make every kind of mistake. There is no human can that can be very perfect that cannot make any mistakes at all. So as a human even we used to make so much of mistakes, but out of that mistakes we used to learn lot of things around.

And in this situation where we got so much of escalations, you know, we try to take a bigger step. We thought, OK, fine, let us do one thing to ensure that, you know, we don't get such bad feedback and we are not put into a bad situation where things are very ugly. So what we try to do is we wanted to maintain a professional way of, you know, bringing down this bad feedback.

And we thought, OK, let us do something. When we process the visa request, when it comes into our bucket for processing, what we'll do is we'll put a note of whoever is a higher level of associate because this time the higher level of associate was the one who escalated this issue. So what we tried to do is whoever where the higher level associates, we try to put a note inside. There is a common session inside the visa processing application.

So inside that we put a note that you know this is what is the timeline from one stakeholder to another stakeholder and we are working background with the other approvals that we require and this is how the time will take it. It is not a very slow, I mean very fast process. It's not a fast track process. It's going to be little slow than expected. So we try to put a note, a comment and then we used to submit the request. So by this.

Even they were aware and they were having a clarity about the process and even we were, you know, having a very calm situation around with the associates moving here and there and all the transitions around.

Yes.

That’s a very pragmatic approach—leveraging transparency and clear communication through systematic updates to mitigate misunderstandings. It reflects strong problem-solving and process improvement skills. Let's move on to the next area of discussion: How do you stay updated with the latest HR trends and best practices in a constantly evolving industry?

Take your time.

Uh, now that we.

Yeah, now that we have got AI. AI is all around now. Without AI, I think there is no.

Organization that is running around without AI. So we have got a lot of things to do in AI with the help of AI and also things like softwares like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint. I have worked in all these things and currently I'm working in CMC. Christian Medical College is you know that it's a Mission Hospital.

And. There.

Go ahead; take your time to continue.

Yeah. So there currently where I'm working that is in CMC there, you know, the HR practices are still the very old and traditional method that they follow. They are not really upgraded, they are not into the system. They all have the paperworks in hand to do so that that is the problem there. And that system cannot be implemented by us as a, you know, coordinator, project coordinator, but.

My previous company where I worked in Cognizant Technology Solutions, it was completely, completely online. Our our visa requests will come in online. We have to file the application online and we we had a Dutch format of applications to be filled. So we had to do translation of the Dutch format and fill that form and we need to submit that form for the people we had to do visa processing for that people we have to do can.

Of the visa, if people are not utilizing it and we have to do the extension of the visa process in online, we have to maintain the utterance of the people in the online. Lot of things were there and also most of the time we used to work only in Excel. PowerPoints are of course we worked in presentation, but Excel we worked, you know, with. We look up HLOOKUP, everything we had worked in and we had given our best inputs in that.

So what as an HR, I believe that you need to be good at AI, you need to be good in Power BI, you need to be good in, you know, all the Ms. kind of softwares. So I think these would be the main part where you will have a lot of exposure into and still you will have a lot of learning into this HR role.

Got it. You’ve highlighted the contrast well between traditional and modern practices, as well as the importance of leveraging technology like AI and tools like Power BI and Excel to stay efficient and competitive. Considering this, how do you think technology can further reshape HR functions in the future, especially beyond what you've already experienced?

Yeah. So these tools are really, you know, going to help HR in many ways. Rather than doing, you know, putting your time so much and making things done late, these things are going to just make things in a gist in a very easy way, in a quick way because technology are in that kind right now. So as a HR, whatever we want to do. It whichever takes two or three days of time.

Time to do it or maybe 2 hours or three hours of time to do it. These kind of softwares like AI, Power BI can help us to do in just a gist of time. You get results, everything done, you get the answers for all the questions done. So these kind of technology will surely help in time consumption. It's going to help you in time management as a HR. It's going to at least give you some kind of approximate. Part of what you're trying to, you know, give as an output. So all these things are going to help you in help and HR in a very, very beautiful way, especially being a hard worker. I think this this generation, it is good that you be a smart worker. Smart worker is, you know, a worker that finishes off things quickly. Without taking much time because time is really important.

And making things done at a quicker pace and we can proceed on to the further things because we have a lot of things, lot of things involved in this HR background. So yeah, this technology will surely help us in reducing the time consumed by any human doing hard work of taking so much of time.

Makes perfect sense. Your perspective on leveraging technology for efficiency and smarter work is very forward-thinking. Let’s discuss teamwork next: How do you foster collaboration and communication within an HR team to ensure efficiency and alignment with organizational goals?

First of all, there is a lot of sectors within the HR. There is payroll, there is recruitment, there is compliance, there is employee relations, there is people who are taking care of the, you know, terms and conditions of that is the law, the legal rules of the institution and everything. So within the sectors. Especially for example where I worked in Cognizant.

Yeah.

And now where I'm currently working in CMC, there are different sectors. That is, there is travel, travel support team, there is, you know, legalization team, there is visa processing team. There are so many teams around. So what we actually do is we try to maintain a good relationship with all the stakeholders. We try to be calm and polite when we talk to them, when we have a good conversation then.

Understood.

We build a good rapport and bond between each other so that in difficult times or in critical times, they are, you know, helping us out. We need them. We need every stakeholder to have a good collaboration with us, to have a good bond between us because we want things to be done in a faster way and also.

The way you speak, the way you maintain relationship with each stakeholder, with each people really matters because that is what helps you in making things done faster. And also they help you, they understand you, they understand your situation, they understand how much pressure you are put into. So this is how you maintain a good relationship to have a good, you know, surrounding and environment culture as a HR.

With all the other HR stakeholders.

That’s a strong emphasis on relationship-building and collaboration—it clearly plays a big role in creating a supportive and efficient HR environment. Let’s explore a different scenario: How do you manage conflicts within your team while ensuring the team remains focused on its objectives?

OK, so yeah, what I would do is for my perspective, I would like to say that I would hear from both the sides. I I would not be biased, but I would like to hear from both the sides. And after hearing, I would try to pitch in and I would try to say, see, I understand your situation. I understand your situation. This is how the things works according to the policy of the institution, according to all the laws.

Sorry to interrupt, we're down to the last 5 minutes.

That is build inside the situation and in the institution, so.

If this is going wrong.

Take this situation to a higher level, to A to a next senior person, asking them that if they could help this situation, this conflict to come to an end in a smoother way. So I would bring it because I want things to be confidential and also at the same time maintain professionalism while while these conflicts are happening so that it comes to a smoother ending.

This there is something wrong from your end or there is something wrong from your end. If still it is not working. If still the conflict is not coming down, if people are still not into, you know, a calm stage, I would like to.

Understood. Balancing impartiality, active listening, and escalation when necessary shows pragmatic leadership in conflict resolution. Before we wrap up, do you have any final points you'd like to share about why you believe you're a strong fit for this HR Executive role?

Yes, I believe why I am. You know the reason why I am.

Really strong in this HR executive role is I have worked in you know IT sector that is Cognizant technology solution where things are completely, completely online, they are upgraded and a lot of knowledge building is there. And the other hand currently where I'm working in CMC, there is completely a tradition method that they follow from the time they started that institution.

So it

And in both the sectors, I was working as a coordinator. So things I coordinate between different teams, I coordinate between different stakeholders. I try to understand, I try to, you know, put in myself into the situation where they are into. And I try to, you know, be calm and polite and, you know, be. Problem solver or maybe you know, telling them some good ideas.

Or making their work little easy with the latest technology. So I try to be in that kind of a situation. And also I have worked in compliance, I've worked in, you know, attendance maintenance. I have worked in, you know, you know, communications where I drop in emails. I, I take hold of all the emails and I also process the. Visa applications online. I look around the travel.

And I also, you know, explain the terms and conditions of the new jointies in the institution, their, their leave plans. And, you know, I also help in working in, you know, excels where I have to provide all the financial budgeting and where I have to track all the travels and where I have to, you know, take take hold of. Records of all the employees.

So I've worked in all the backgrounds almost covering the HR role. So I believe this HR executive role would really fit me into this VIT where I have based on my past experiences and the current experience.

Thank you, Bhagyashree. Your diverse experience across both modern and traditional HR systems, along with your coordination, problem-solving, and technological adaptability, does present a strong case for this role. Anything else you want to mention before we conclude?

Nothing, I just want to say that I really thank you for the opportunity for giving me, for shortlisting me for this HR executive role. I really look forward to working bit if if I get selected because I have been, you know, the student of VIT, I have done my UG and PG in VIT. So VIT is really, really a great place to work, a great environment culture where you have lot of technology and improved divers.

Technologies, uh, in VIT, So there is lot of things that I would be learning and if I get selected, I will be really, really, really excited to work in bit. I really thank you once again for this opportunity for providing me. I really have a really good day.

You too. Thank you. Take care.

Thank you, Bhagyashree, for your thoughtful responses and enthusiasm for this opportunity. It’s been great learning about your experiences and approach. Best of luck, and we appreciate your time today. Take care!

Before we wrap up, what's one question you have about the role or our organization?

Uh, I just want to know, uh, what would be the expectation from VIT towards me on this role?

In this role as an HR Executive at VIT, the expectations focus on several key responsibilities: 1. **Performance Management**: You'll be tasked with setting goals, providing feedback, conducting reviews, and managing overall employee performance. 2. **Compensation & Benefits**: Effective management of payroll, bonuses, health insurance, and other perks will be a significant part of your responsibility. 3. **Employee Relations & Engagement**: Fostering a positive workplace culture, resolving workplace conflicts, and handling employee relations will be critical. Additionally, your expertise in statutory compliance, use of HR software, and data-driven decision-making will be essential. Beyond these, VIT would expect you to uphold its values while navigating evolving workplace trends and policies. I hope this clarifies the expectations. Any other questions?

Uh, no. Nothing else. That's it.

Thank you—that concludes our interview. I appreciate your time and thoughtful answers. Would you like to end the call here?

Sorry.

Yeah, yeah, sure. Sure. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good day.

No problem at all. Would you like to end the call now?