When managing the human capital of a legacy manufacturing giant alongside a fast-paced electric vehicle disruption startup, standard corporate cookie-cutter HR playbooks simply won’t work.
For Nitin Khindria, the newly elevated Group CHRO of Anglian Omega Group, the secret lies not in forcing a singular culture, but in building structural alignment while honoring individual business realities.
In this exclusive interview with Amazing Workplaces, Khindria dives deep into his vision for unifying the people strategy across Omega Bright Steel and Omega Seiki Mobility, balancing rapid EV sector scaling with manufacturing discipline, and keeping the organization agile, accountable, and profoundly people-first.
1. How do you plan to balance building a unified HR strategy with respecting the distinct talent needs and cultures of Omega Bright Steel and Omega Seiki Mobility?
A group HR strategy cannot be about uniformity. It must be about alignment.
Omega Bright Steel and Omega Seiki Mobility operate in very different business realities one is driven by manufacturing discipline, the other by rapid innovation and mobility disruption. Trying to force one culture would be counterproductive.
My approach is simple: common principles, different execution. We align on leadership expectations, ethics, performance standards, and governance. Beyond that, each business must have the freedom to build its own people engine.
Merging policies and resources is on the radar to remove duplication and process delays.
Alignment in direction, not duplication in culture.
2. How would you describe OSM’s current company culture, and what elements are you most focused on preserving as the business scales?
OSM is still young in spirit, even as it grows in scale. The culture is fast, ambitious, and very execution led. People here don’t wait for perfect conditions they build, test, and move to move faster.
What I want to protect is not just culture, but behaviour: speed of decision-making, ownership without excuses, and comfort with ambiguity. Scale often slows organisations down. Our job is to ensure it doesn’t slow intent.
Scale must add strength, not weight (we are here to make money to create careers and businesses for the future, not to burn money or create a WOW factor).
3. How does Omega Seiki Mobility differentiate its employer brand from competitors like Greaves and Euler to attract top EV and sustainability talent?
The EV sector is attracting talent with multiple options. Compensation is similar across most players; differentiation comes from experience and exposure.
At OSM, people are not limited to narrowly defined roles. They work close to decisions, close to customers, and close to outcomes. That visibility changes how fast they grow. We are also operating in a sector that is still being built.
For the right talent, that uncertainty is an advantage it creates space to shape outcomes, not just deliver tasks.
We don’t just hire talent; we accelerate it by empowering them.
4. What does a group-level HR function look like in practice when serving two entirely different workforces-precision steel manufacturing and high-tech EV innovation?
Group HR is not about central control. It is about creating a backbone that both businesses can rely on.
In steel manufacturing, the focus is stability, productivity, safety, and process excellence. In EV mobility, it is speed, innovation, and capability building.
The HR framework must respect both realities while ensuring leadership standards, succession discipline, and talent movement across the group where relevant. One backbone, different muscles.
5. Across your diverse career, what is the single biggest legacy or impact you want your HR leadership to be known for at Anglian Omega Group?
I would like to be remembered for building leaders who don’t need constant direction.
If the organisation continues to produce capable, grounded leaders who can take responsibility and grow businesses independently, then the system is working.
Titles are temporary. Leadership depth is what sustains organisations.
The real success of HR is when the organisation outgrows the need for you.
6. How is OSM approaching upskilling and L&D to keep the workforce future-ready, especially with upcoming international expansion into markets like Bangladesh?
Learning is no longer a support function it is a business capability, and you need to be on shop floor, market to handhold your team and remember learning in mutual so the implementation.
We are building skills across three layers: technical depth, leadership strength, and global readiness. Each is equally important if we want to scale beyond India.
Expansion into markets such as MENA will demand cultural awareness, operational flexibility, and faster decision-making at the local level. We are preparing people not just for roles, but for unfamiliar environments.
Future growth depends on future-ready people.
7. What is your strategic blueprint for identifying and grooming the next layer of leadership across the group’s expanding verticals?
We look at potential early, but we don’t promote potential in isolation.
Real leadership is built through exposure to cross-functional roles, high-pressure assignments, and accountability for outcomes. That is where capability is tested. We intend to build leaders who are comfortable across businesses, not confined to functions.
Leaders are not identified by potential alone, but by performance under pressure with ethics and respect for all.
