“It was quite evident to me that I enjoyed this area – I was part of a student-run association, ISEC [International Student Education Council], on the national committee and looking after training and development,” he explained.

So after graduation, Shergill completed an HR-focused Masters and went on to his first HR job at technology supplier, NCR. However, the post wasn’t based back home in India, but in the US. This is a pattern that has continued throughout his career and, as a result, Shergill has spent roughly about half of his working life abroad.

“As an HR professional, one needs to be resilient and adaptable because that’s what we expect our people to be. So it’s important to eat your own dog food,” he laughs.

At NCR, Shergill was initially a junior member of an HR team that ran Asia-Pacific from the US. But after a couple years, he decided to get out of head office in order to get closer to the people that he was supporting.

 

So with the company now owned by AT&T, he transferred to the Philippines for a few years. At that time, there were a lot of ‘brown-outs’ in the country which meant that the power went down. Moreover, because the area was also politically volatile, Shergill more than achieved his aim of getting closer to the action.

But by that point, the telecoms industry had begun to explode in India and, because Shergill wanted to be part of it all, he moved back to his home country, looking after HR for both India and the Philippines from Delhi.

 

A few years later, however, he was on the move once again, this time to Singapore. It was here in 2000 that he made his break from AT&T to join a start-up, after becoming excited by the prospect of being able to shape the look-and-feel of an organisation as it grew.

 

But like so many start-ups, the reality proved rather different to the dream. As a result, Shergill left to join Singapore’s equivalent of BT, Singapore Telecom.

 

“After living in Singapore for many years, I thought it was important to get into the culture of the country: and what better way to do it than a company like that,” says Shergill. “For, although the start-up had been based in Singapore, it had had a global focus.”

Eighteen months later though, he was on the move again, grabbing the chance to work for Accenture in India. On joining, the management consultancy employed 1,000 people in the country – it now has 85,000. “The organisation was growing and it was amazing to be a part of that,” Shergill recalls.

But HCL was a company that he had been admiring from the sidelines for some time, particularly since 2005 when it spearheaded a campaign to drive employee-led innovation.

 

 

Key to the firm’s philosophy is the mantra ‘employee first, customer second’. The idea is that by investing and empowering staff members, they will provide the best service possible to customers.

It also means that managers are subject to 360 degree appraisals and are expected to publish the results in order to make it clear that their role is to educate and develop their personnel.

But such transparency is considered crucial in other areas too. Shergill explains: “Whether I’m looking at the way we do performance management or training, I encourage people to be realistic about what they are good at or not – there’s transparency. And that helps build trust with clients.”

One of the ways that the supplier encourages employee involvement and innovation, meanwhile, is through its ‘Make a Difference’ initiative.

 

Here staff members are asked to come up with business plans and receive coaching from leaders on how to improve them. The best ones are then discussed on a one-to-one basis with the chief executive. “We talk about inverting the pyramid – having managers support employees to create innovation,” Shergill explains.

But his aim is to encourage further involvement by introducing staff councils in order to act as the “voice of employees”. He is also keen to invest in developing individuals’ skills. “We find that when the world gets a little turbulent that that’s the best time to strengthen the skills of the workforce,” Shergill concludes.

 

I admire people who stand up for what they believe in – and help make at least one person happier today than s/he was yesterday. I firmly believe that if every individual is passionate and determined to increase another person’s happiness and smiles on a daily basis, the world would be a better place.

 

 

"Never do anything your mother would not be proud of."This piece of advice is as solid as it is simple, and has stood me in good stead over the years. Mothers instil a deep system of values in their children and, if we use that as the cornerstone to base our decisions and judgements, we would easily know which road to take.

 

 

It is time for HR as a profession to stop seeking to become ‘business partners’ and instead focus on facilitating our line managers to be the ‘employee partners’ that they need to be.

 

Line managers are in close proximity to employees and play a vital role in ensuring that they are happy, motivated, productive, competent and aligned with the business strategy. Thus, HR can take a lead in enabling line managers to take on the role of the “coach” and “employee partner” of a motivated work team.

 

 

To unwind, I travel with my wife and play with my son.