Market View

Adaptive HR in a Dynamic World: Navigating Diversity, Jurisdiction, and the Modern Workforce

Interview with

Komal Singh

Global HR Business Partner

About Komal Singh

Komal Singh, a seasoned Global HR Business Partner & in various leadership roles across Tech & Consumer sectors. She enjoys creating adaptive workforce strategies to accelerate business priorities. As a HR Leader, she enjoys leading business in creating accelerated opportunities, proactively solving business problems using the HR lens for forward looking solutions and Coaching leaders towards greater personal effectiveness. She also believes in creating deep partnerships to collaborate and rally people together. As an Inclusion & Diversity champion, she has conceptualised & spearheaded multiple campaigns for Promoting Psychological Safety & other internal initiatives globally.

How has the evolving nature of work impacted your HR strategies, technology and processes?

As business priorities shift, HR must remain agile and consider necessary people-related changes. Any major initiative relies on having the right combination of people, processes, and systems in place. Our people ultimately shape those processes and systems, therefore we must ensure we're supporting them appropriately.

When new business goals emerge or pivot, my team examines what's different now versus before. We consider whether we need different skills, organisational structures, or success metrics to align with the new direction. We then develop plans to address gaps, mapping out milestones, owners, and timeframes to thoughtfully evolve our people strategies.

I personally view my role as a Global HR Business Partner similar to an orchestra conductor - ensuring our various HR elements sync up to create harmony as we strive towards our destination. This analogy reflects my personal approach and may not apply universally to all HR roles, particularly those in centres of excellence which operate with a distinct level of specialisation and focus.

How does your organisation manage the complexities of operating across different countries and jurisdictions?

There's a delicate balance needed between running the business in a country while respecting local nuances. From a global perspective, this can mean differences in programs offered, processes we follow, or timelines for getting certain activities done based on protocols.

The key is having a structured project management approach to anticipate the impacts of any decision or change on the various country requirements early on. We consider how decisions interface with local regulations and whether we need to coordinate with certain jurisdictions. My team maps things out to account for those nuances holistically so that ultimately, whatever we're implementing allows us to operate smoothly across our global footprint.

The most critical thing is ensuring alignment on the overarching direction and milestones while empowering autonomy in execution. We strive to give local teams confidence they have what they need along with the ownership to drive decisions for their situation. This approach builds buy-in through involvement and surfaces localised insights that can shape better solutions.

Can you share an example of a recent challenge where taking an adaptive HR approach was key to driving a successful outcome?

In one of my past roles, one of the anchors was Inclusion with a focus on creating a psychologically safe workplace. With the evolving landscape at workplaces in terms of gender, age, abilities, sexual orientation and nationality, it is fast becoming a business imperative to invest in this direction.

Creating a program that enables thinking on Inclusive behaviours & the role each of us can play, needed to have flexibility for the various locations & team’s composition. Such topics can also be emotional & therefore the approach also needs to balance rationality with connecting with people. Additionally, the role that each person can play in progressing this area can also vary based on where they sit in the hierarchy. A one-size glove would do injustice to the mandate in being too generic and not achieve the intended outcomes.

What role does technology play in ensuring your HR strategies remain current and effective?

Technology plays a crucial role. I learned something early in my career during my internship with GE that has stuck with me - "In God we trust, all others must bring data." This principle, which originates from GE, has shaped my view of technology as an enabler, helping provide visibility into key metrics to monitor and try connecting dots between systems to empower better decisions.

I rely heavily on technology for metrics and have always been a believer in clean data - garbage in, garbage out. It's important to define the right inputs and outcomes. Then it's about leveraging tech to help understand that magic in between!

I definitely feel technology will only continue to grow in importance for HR strategy - helping validate what's working, identifying gaps, and quantifying the impact of our programs on business priorities.

What are your top priorities when considering an adaptive HR solution or platform?

My top three priorities are access control, user interface, and system integration capabilities.

Firstly, access control - how flexible is the system's ability to provide very customised access? I've seen situations where you have to rely on getting information from people because you have access to some parts of the information, but not to others, due to backend limitations. This is crucial because it reduces the time spent reaching out to someone and waiting for them to share information.

Secondly, the user interface is vital, especially for people processes. It's important for people systems to provide a compelling employee experience, to wow the audience to some degree, making them inviting to use.

Lastly, how connected can the system be to other systems? I understand it's very difficult, and I don't think there's any system that solves everything for a company. No company has only one system for everything. So having a tech stack for your product that allows integration with other tech stacks, having that openness in the technology, is very important. Otherwise, you end up having to constantly download and reference multiple reports and data points versus having a system that may not serve all purposes but can deliver integration to create one source of the truth.

About Vanderlande

Vanderlande is a global leader in automated material handling systems, specialising in innovative solutions for airports, warehouses, and parcel facilities. With a focus on operational efficiency and process optimization, the company offers advanced automation systems including baggage handling and sorting solutions. Vanderlande's commitment to quality and sustainable technologies drives progress in logistics operations worldwide.