It was in the 1950s when Sohan Lal Golyan started the business of textiles, spices, and electronic items laying the foundations of the present-day Golyan Group which has a diverse interest in areas including manufacturing, financial services, agriculture, hospitality, and construction, among others. Currently, over 5,000 people are working in different companies of the group. Managing a workforce of this size is indeed a challenging task for the HR department of the conglomerate.
Shilpi Saxena, Chief Human Resources Officer of Golyan Group, attributes the success of the group to efficient people management. According to her, the group has a special focus on the wellbeing of its employees. In a conversation with the HRM, Saxena talked about the group’s approach to human resources management, how the practices have helped in increasing employee productivity, and challenges in people management, among other topics. Excerpts:
Q. From its humble beginnings in the 1950s to currently being one of the largest business conglomerates in Nepal, Golyan Group has come a long way. How do you see the group’s growth from the people management point of view?
A. Golyan group has always been forward-thinking in its people practices which has further evolved over time. We have always been cognizant of the importance of people management from talent acquisition to employee retention and believe that each facet of people management has the potential to either propel or hinder an organization’s expansion.
This has helped in putting formal structures and processes across all functions including people management which has helped to sustain organically through the rapid growth phase of the Golyan Group.
Q. What role people management has played in the success of Golyan Group?
A. Employees are considered the most valuable asset of an organization, and how they are managed can make or break a company’s success. People management has played a pivotal role in the success of Golyan Group which has always been people-centric as it also holds the distinction of being the largest employer in Nepal. The strength of people management can be understood from the very fact that there has been no manhour loss in the group owing to any labor issues to date. Golyan Group’s growth can be attributed directly to its dedicated team members as we are a strong believer that a business cannot grow with unhappy employees.
We have always focused on the right hiring, teamwork, collaboration, and internal growth as the key drivers of people management which in turn has laid a strong foundation for futuristic talent efficiency which is important for the business.
Q. How have people management practices in the organization evolved over the years?
A. At Golyan Group, people management practices have undergone significant transformations over the years, reflecting broader societal changes, technological advancements, and evolving workplace expectations.
From personnel management in the past when HR practices were more administrative and transactional, the group embarked on a systematic change management five years ago across the businesses and consciously adopted progressive HR practices to have HR play a strategic role in stabilizing the business. Establishing a culture of learning and growth has been at the root of this change management. We are also rapidly adopting the ‘people operations’ or ‘people analytics,’ approach which leverages data to drive people decisions and emphasizes a more holistic approach to employee wellbeing.
We look forward to digitization of HR where all manual and paper-based processes will have transitioned to digital platforms, with software solutions for everything from recruitment to performance reviews.
It is our goal to create an environment-friendly ecosystem by making the function “paperless”.
Q. With diverse business and investment interests in areas including manufacturing, financial services, hospitality, agriculture and energy, how are Golyan Group companies managing the workforce in these sectors?
A. Managing a workforce in diverse sectors is challenging and requires a multifaceted approach that considers the unique challenges, norms, and needs of each sector while also addressing the need for effective people management.
We have set up corporate policies for HR and governance that are universally applicable and have also become the blueprint for the group. This is complemented by policies and norms that are business-specific and cater to the unique and special needs of the sector in terms of flexibility to work, compensations, learning needs, and other people-related processes. What has helped us make a universally strong people management system is our drive to 100 percent comply with the law of the land.
Q. What are the major areas of focus in people management for Golyan Group for increasing employee productivity?
Q. As increasing efficiency and productivity of employees for the growth of business is the goal of people management, we have undertaken a multifaceted approach that touches on various aspects of people management.
I would like to present a broad overview in this regard.
We are moving towards more scientific hiring in order to minimize hiring bias and have started including psychometric assessments as part of the hiring process. As continuous learning is one of the critical keys to success, we are providing regular training sessions to update employees on new technologies, methodologies, or company procedures. We are also encouraging employees to grow in their roles and take on new challenges by setting up mentoring conversations on professional development and putting learning goals as part of the annual assessment. This keeps them engaged and motivated.
Golyan Group strongly believes in providing regular feedback to employees and we have successfully implemented quarterly performance reviews, rather than just annual ones so that timely feedback can be given to the team.
Besides, it is the HR department’s continuous effort to create a comfortable, inclusive, and stimulating work environment, have open dialogues, and establish transparent communication channels by having town halls with the leadership team.
Q. What challenges have emerged in people management in different business verticals? How is Golyan Group facing such challenges?
A. Diverse business verticals have their unique challenges in people management despite creating unified and customized people practices. The sectoral uniqueness and Nepal’s huge talent drain give its fair share of challenges to us too. Ranging from high turnover, skill obsolescence, seasonal peaks and dips, technological obsolescence, fluctuating markets, and diminishing talent pool are some of the key challenges that we face currently.
Golyan Group is highly invested in the development of employees and continuously strives to reskill and upskill. It has also consciously initiated a culture evolution towards empowerment and collaboration.
Q. How are learning and development activities prioritized in Golyan Group and its companies?
A. As I mentioned earlier, continuous learning is one of the foundations on which Golyan Group’s people management practices are built and it is ensured that L&D initiatives are aligned with the company’s strategic goals. We regularly gather feedback from employees and their reporting managers about what skills or knowledge they believe need to be added or reinforced and accordingly interventions are executed. We also use performance reviews to pinpoint areas where individuals or teams may need further development.
We encourage employees to take ownership of their learning by providing access to resources for self-paced learning besides which different methods are used for different topics or different sets of learning cohorts.
Q. How does Golyan Group ensure that its employees are happy and satisfied?
A. Ensuring employee happiness and satisfaction is crucial for us at Golyan Group, as it directly impacts productivity, retention, and overall company success.
Foremost, we ensure that salaries are competitive for the industry and they are paid on time. Besides, we also offer comprehensive benefits, including health insurance and other perks. Open and transparent communication has helped us not only keep employees informed about organizational changes, goals, and developments but also encourage two-way communication where employees feel heard and valued. As already emphasized Golyan Group invests in training and development programs to enhance employees’ skills and I strongly believe that till HR can show a growth path in learning and career, employees will be motivated to give his/her best.
Q. With the number of Nepali youths going abroad soaring in recent times, businesses are finding it hard particularly to get new recruits. How Golyan Group is getting the required human resources?
It definitely is a major concern for both the business sector and the government. Like other corporate groups, we are also struggling and 90 percent of the talent that Golyan Group has lost is on account of people going abroad. We are hiring from colleges and trying to retain the employees by establishing career paths for them. But truthfully speaking, it is difficult when the mindset of young people in a country is reset to “move abroad”.
Q. How is the group working with educational institutions to give career development opportunities to fresh graduates?
A. We are collaborating on various fronts as offering internships, participating in job fairs and college recruitment drives, and getting to know talents better by doing special interventions as “case challenge” like the one that we did recently.
