“The one who adapts to the change will survive”
The Student Development Cell of department of commerce, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi
University Organised their Annual HR Conference with the Central theme – “Transition into future
with HR”.
Day 1
Eminent Speakers from the corporate world shared their experiences and insights with the students
revolving around the Central theme of the conference.
The first day of the two day extravaganza commenced with inaugural lamp lighting ceremony by the
Guest of Honor Mr. Piyush Pant (journalist), along with the Key Note Speakers – Varun Sachdeva
(Reqroute Inc – Director- Talent Acquisition/Consulting) and Shwetabh Jha (Glocal Thinkers- Practice
Director), Course Coordinator of MBA(HRD) – Dr.Urvashi Sharma and Prof. V.K. Shrotiya.
Mr. Pant started off with emphasizing the role of HR in the media sector. How the HR people have a
big scope in the media Industry.
Mr. Shwetabh Jha talked about how transformation helps a business survive. HR has a strong sense
of business acumen and it is a driver and catalyst.
Performance Management was also discussed in the session.
The Individual speaker Session was followed by a Panel discussion where they we had the who’s who
of the industry talk about Digital Transformation – Role of HR.
On the panel we had Amarendra K Sinha( Head HR & Director- Jindal ITF), Harini Sreenivisan( chief
people’s officer – Worley Parson India ltd.), Simin Askari(VP, CHR, DS group), Saswati Sinha( Head HR
– Cheil Worldwide), Debojyoti Bhattacharjee( Head- people excellence Glaxosmithkline India), Usha
Srivastava( Head HR- Vodafone Idea Ltd.).
They panel discussed about the imapct of HR on the productivity of the business. The important it
holds in the finance domain. How the role of HR has changed from a transactional function to a
partnership role in business.
The panel also answerd the questions put by the students and helped them understand the topics a
little better.
After the panel discussion we welcomed Mr. Sadan K Bhattacharya( Head- T&D, Johnson & Johnson
surgical Vision) for the speaker session on the topic ‘ Personal Branding’. He briefed the students on
the various elements of personal branding. He quoted- “You are unconsciously created behaviors or
patterns which are making your brand and ten why not proactively seem to make your brand”
Next, we had another panel discussion on: Building Leadership for the future. The panelists included
Ankush Arora(VP and head HR, Grofers), Piyush Singh(Director HR, KPMG), Arpita kuila(senior HR
leaders, Global MNC), Tarun Pal Singh Ahluwalia(Head HR- APAC HR, Transformation and Service
Delivery- Boston Scientific), Anita Pratap(Head- Global performance Management- Birlasoft), Rashi
Kaushik(Business head HR and employee Relations leader, Mercer consulting)
The discussion began with the moderator introducing the panelists and delving into what leadership
meant and how effective leadership can build an organization. Which was taken forward with
discussing different leadership styles. The panelists spoke along the same lines taking their life
experiences as examples.
It was a very learning and enlightening experience for the students and they’re eagerly looking
forward to Day 2
Day 2
After a very interesting first day of HR Symposia ’18 organized by MBA (HRD), Department of
Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, day two saw the excitement and enthusiasm of the
participants soaring high! It was a bright Sunday morning of the 16th of September, 2018 and it
marked the beginning of a day which turned out to be full of excellent discussions and interactions.
The first session of the day was a panel discussion. In keeping with the theme of the event-
“Transition into the future with HR”. The panel included Vishal Manchanda (Associate VP, HR-
Cvent), Vivek Tripathi (CHRO- BIBA Apparels Pvt. Ltd.), Aditya Chakravarty (Head HR- Travel Triangle),
Srabani Dubey (VP- Great Place to Work Institute), Sushma Sahai (Head HR- Baggit India Pvt. Ltd.).
The session started with the discussion on -“Recruitment is an Art and a Science. Everything in HR is
about instincts. We cannot automate human beings in any way”- Mr. Aditya Chakravarty. The
discussion with the panel continued on if cultural fit can become a bias in the recruitment process as
well.
The second session of the day was another highly intriguing Speaker session by Mr. Anand R (Senior
VP HR- HCL Technologies).
The topic of the session was- “HR in the digital age: Threats and Opportunities”. He began by talking
about gig economies. “The world is now in the age of Gig Economy”. In 2017, One-third of the US
economy is the Gigster and this is predicted to grow to one-half by 2020! He also explored
behavioral economics.
Next on the Dias was Mr. Anurag Chandra(Head HR, People Services, Admiral Group, PLC). He talked
about the future trends and directions in the organisational culture. “The workplace is more diverse
now” with the increasing number of milennials in the workforce. He explained how the
organisational culture is evolving and how the future of it looks like.
The final session of the day and the event saw an extremely interactive and exciting panel discussion
on the topic- “Strategic HR in business performance”. The panelists comprised; Pradyumna Pandey
(VP & Head HR- JK Tyre & Industries Ltd.), Dr. Shalini Lal (Founder- Infinity OD), Samrat Mandal
(Director HR C&B- Fiserv), Rajiv Naithani (VP Head HR- Infogain India Pvt Ltd.), Shruti Shrivastava
(Head, Total Rewards and HR Service Excellence- Kotak Life) and Debjani Roy (Chief people’s officer-
SRL Diagnostics, India). All process of HR must align with business strategy. Samrat Mandal talked
about how compensation has a key edge. A big question is how to bridge the gap between Gen X
and Millennials?
Day 2 of HR Symposia ’18 ended with the Convener of the organizing committee, Student
Development Cell, Rashmi Kumari declaring the event officially closed. Before the closing of
the event, Dr. Urvashi Sharma, course coordinator, MBA(HRD), addressed the batch and asked for
their feedback. She mentioned that each student would have an individual takeaway from the HR
conference and that each end is the beginning of something new.
The participating students were definitely left richer by the experience and knowledge shared by the
speakers at the event. HR Symposia ’18 concluded on a successful note, with the anticipation of
something bigger happening in the coming year!