In today’s competitive workplace, building a strong organizational culture is essential for any business, but it presents a particular set of challenges for non-profits. Amazing Workplaces®’ Co-founder, Ekta Capoor, a recognized Best-Practices Evangelist, recently interviewed Amrita Mazumdar, Director of Operations at Humane Society International/India (HSI/India). Their conversation explored how HSI/India bridges the gap between attracting top talent and offering competitive compensation in a resource-constrained environment.
The interview delves into HSI/India’s unique approach to fostering a thriving organizational culture. Mazumdar discusses how the organization leverages its core values to create a work environment that prioritizes employee well-being and reduces burnout, especially important in the demanding field of animal welfare. She also shares insights into how HSI/India’s diverse workforce translates into impactful campaigns and decision-making processes. This conversation offers valuable insights for any organization seeking to build a strong and successful company culture, regardless of sector.
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Bridging the Gap, Balancing Mission and Market
Non-profits often face salary and resource limitations compared to corporations. How does HSI/India bridge this gap to attract and retain top talent who share your mission while offering competitive compensation and career growth opportunities?
Yes, as a member of the non-profit sector, I recognize the challenges that especially Indian non-profits face in attracting and retaining top talent while competing against corporations with extensive financial resources, marketing avenues and a more adjusted legal environment.
Organisations in this sector, have always been mission driven, but now they are also making a quiet shift to front ending their talent strategy on mission-driven culture, coupled with other long term engagement initiatives. This is also nicely complimented with an organic inflow of people into the sector from for-profit corporations, one – because of the passion to do something to the cause and two – some disenchantment with the overall expectation vs. reality mismatch.
People working in this sector report a higher positive intent to stay with their organization for a long time. According to Great Place to Work, 2023 report, 85% of the employee-respondents from the NGO sector feel theirs is a great place to work, and that is an impressive percentage.
At HSI/India, our mission to “Protect All Animals” is at the heart of our organizational culture, fostering deep connections among our team members and attracting talent driven by passion rather than just financial incentives. While we prioritize offering competitive compensation packages that reflect the value of our employees’ contributions, our talent strategy extends beyond compensation alone.
We prioritize professional development, offering robust programs in coaching, mentorship, and capacity building to support our employees’ growth. Emphasizing development and prospects, we encourage ambitious projects and targets, fostering a 360-degree win for employees, the organization, the movement, and the outcome.
Moreover, we actively cultivate partnerships with organizations both within and beyond our sector, amplifying our impact and extending our reach. These alliances with academic institutions, government agencies, and like-minded organizations enhance our capabilities and foster cross-pollination of ideas and talent, ultimately advancing our mission.
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Building a Culture of Care
How does HSI/India leverage its core values to create a work environment that fosters employee well-being and reduces burnout, especially in a demanding field like animal welfare?
Social sector organisations come with an innate ability to tune into chaos and turn it into a pathway towards success, however long-term that may be, and therefore, these organisations prioritise well-being differently. Organisations such as ours heavily rely on its mission to show the goal and then on its core values to pave the way towards achieving it. At HSI/India, our approach is also similar. We have 5 core values – Impact, Resilience, Respect, Inclusion and One Team. These values guide our actions and decisions, ensuring that we not only persevere through challenges but also support and fortify one another in achieving our shared mission of creating a better world for animals.
We understand that driving significant change takes a toll and this often comes with facing significant challenges. We acknowledge the difficulties and setbacks and remind ourselves that resilience is not a solitary endeavour. It is a collective effort fostered by our “One Team” value, long term meticulous planning and ability to encourage open dialogue and debate, recognizing that the best solutions often emerge from a synthesis of diverse ideas. While we may have individual preferences or programmatic priorities, we remain steadfast in prioritizing the overarching mission: Protect All Animals.
Secondly, organizations, such as ours also emphasize the importance of compassion and empathy as model behaviours and are quite forward thinking in providing an empowered and engaging employee experience. With more people choosing this sector, it is emerging as a strong well for talented individual of all sorts and given the tough fights this sector takes up, the workplace climate is centred around creating space for psychological safety and compassion, where employees can come and rest. Most of the organisations have a friendly vibe, are managed by objectives or deliverables, rather than a 9 – 5 culture, treats everyone equally, are flexible and committed to transparency.
Data-Driven Decisions
Can you share insights from your latest culture survey? What specific actions did HSI/India take based on employee feedback to improve the work experience and retention rates?
Culture surveys have emerged as the “it” thing over the last two decades serving as a dynamic, agile instrument for understanding the pulse of workforce, identifying areas of strength, as well as opportunities for improvement. It encapsulates sentiments, perceptions, and experiences, providing a comprehensive snapshot of employee engagement and satisfaction at a surface level. But it should not be read as a standalone input that guides all people practices. While this feedback is crucial for organizational growth and longevity, our approach is a holistic commitment to continuous improvement, employee empowerment, and organizational cohesion. This commitment involves listening to feedback beyond formal channels to enhance people practices providing for an improved employee experience and retention, while emphasizing transparent and grounded conversations to retain desired employees successfully.
The leadership team here, spends a significant amount of time investing in development dialogues, declogging communication channels, breaking down silos and encouraging pertinent information flow across departments.
Overall, the insights from our culture survey and other avenues of feedback serve a part of the robust mechanism to create actionable programs to build a more inclusive, supportive, and engaging workplace.
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Beyond Hiring
How does HSI/India invest in talent development beyond just onboarding? What are some unique training programs or mentorship opportunities offered to employees to empower them and build future leaders within the organization?
Talent development at HSI/India extends beyond probation period and rightfully so! With pertinent emphasis on “employee stewardship” it encompasses a holistic strategy that emphasizes continuous learning, mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, diversity and inclusion. We provide diversity training, specifically addressing gender, caste, and intersectionality, aiming to foster inclusion and amplify diverse voices.
Our staff have autonomy in their professional development, supported by workshops, coaching, online courses, and educational opportunities. We encourage them to pursue certifications and advanced degrees, with HSI/India providing financial support and flexible scheduling to accommodate their educational pursuits. For example, we partner with NALSAR for the Advanced Diploma in Animal Law and with Ahimsa Fellowship, both fostering leadership in India’s animal protection movement.
We firmly believe that investing in employee growth ensures both workforce strength and long-term program success. Initiatives like internal job movements, that we plan to launch this year will promote cross-functional exposure and collaboration. We have a history of nurturing internal talent, exemplified by individuals in India advancing from managers to top leadership roles. These success stories demonstrate the transformative impact of patience, resilience, and continuous learning, affirming that leadership is a journey.
Diversity in Action
HSI/India is known for its diverse and inclusive workforce. Can you share concrete examples of how this diversity translates into impactful campaigns and decision-making processes within the organization?
Sure, HSI/India’s commitment to diversity and inclusion goes beyond just hiring a varied workforce. We actively leverage this diversity to create impactful campaigns and strengthen our decision-making processes. Here are some concrete examples:
Regional Representation in Campaigns: With offices in 5 cities across India and plans for 2 more this year, we have a unique advantage of having a diverse team that understands the nuances and cultural sensitivities of different regions. This diversity reflects in our community engagement and outreach work, where we tailor manpower so that messaging and outreach is easier and percolates better with local communities. For instance, when launching a community engagement program for Lucknow, our staff managing that program is from Lucknow. therefore, making our message more relatable and effective.
Staff Diversity and Decision-Making: Our workforce comprises individuals from over 18 states, spanning various designations. This diverse talent pool brings a rich tapestry of perspectives to the table during decision-making processes. Our leadership team is spread across the length and breadth of the country. When crafting strategies or making pivotal decisions, we actively seek input from diverse members ensuring a holistic and inclusive approach. This diversity of thought goes a long way to craft robust solutions to complex challenges.
Capacity Building for Inclusivity: While we celebrate our existing diversity, we recognize the need for continuous improvement as well. This year, we’re taking concrete steps to enhance diversity ratios and help build an even more inclusive work experience. Beyond hiring initiatives, we’re investing in capacity building among our staff. Through tailored workshops and dialogues, we to address issues of gender, tenure, and age-specific concerns, ensuring every individual feels valued and heard within the organization. Retaining and empowering employees to contribute meaningfully to our programs and decision-making processes is key for employee engagement here.
Segmentation for Inclusive Decision-Making: With reference to HSI/India, diversity goes beyond representation; it’s about creating an environment where every voice is heard and respected. To this end, we are gearing up to implement segmentation strategies in our talent management approach. By facilitating gender-specific, tenure-specific, and age-specific dialogues, we want to provide employees a cohort that supports the shared experiences while driving greater engagement and commitment to our organizational goals.
To summarise, our diverse and inclusive workforce serves to provide a collective wisdom and the varied experiences of our team members build resilience to navigate the complexities of our dynamic landscape with agility, empathy, and effectiveness.
Impact Beyond Animals
How does HSI/India measure the impact of its employee well-being initiatives on the organization’s overall performance and mission achievement?
At HSI/India, prioritizing employee well-being is integral to our organizational ethos and vision. We recognize that a content and healthy workforce not only benefits individuals but also drives the success of our mission. To assess the effectiveness of our well-being initiatives, we employ a comprehensive approach, blending quantitative measures like employee satisfaction surveys with qualitative assessments. While traditional metrics provide valuable feedback, we’re also focusing on qualitative insights this year to refine our programs further and enhance factors like employee morale, engagement, and productivity.
Apart from the above, we continue to pay close attention to key performance indicators that are directly influenced by employee well-being, such as unexplained absenteeism cases, health incidents on the field, and workplace accidents or incidents. By tracking changes in these indicators over time, we can assess the tangible impact of our well-being initiatives on factors that directly affect organizational performance and operational efficiency.
In summary, by leveraging a diverse set of metrics and insights, we try to ensure that our well-being initiatives not only benefit our employees but also contribute to the long-term success and sustainability of our organization.
How do you equip leaders at all levels to communicate the organisation’s strategy?
Our approach hinges on fostering a culture characterized by transparency, alignment, and continuous learning. Central to this approach is ensuring that every member of our team comprehends not just “what” we aim to achieve, but also “how” their contributions dovetail into the larger organizational framework and the crucial “why” behind our objectives. By articulating the purpose and significance of our goals, our leaders imbue their teams with a strong understanding of the impact and foster a sense of commitment, thereby bringing in greater engagement and alignment with the organization’s overarching objectives.
Moreover, our strategy implementation is bolstered by an organic feedback loop designed to promptly address any misunderstandings or communication gaps that may arise. This feedback loop is facilitated through our robust check-in mechanisms, which serve to support teams in achieving their goals and objectives. These check-in discussions transcend mere work status updates; rather, delve into collaborative efforts, challenges, transparent communication, and their alignment with the broader organizational goals.
As an organization, we firmly believe in harnessing the expertise of our employees in their respective domains. We also recognize that our leaders may not necessarily possess specialized knowledge of every kind of work in their department. Their value lies in their ability and adeptness to synthesize perspectives and weave together a cohesive narrative that ensures all parts contribute harmoniously to the whole organizational strategy. And that I think is the single most important way in which we communicate the strategy.
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