Praveen Mishra

Praveen is the Founder & Principal Consultant of KHEdge, a boutique HR & Business Process Advisory firm. Over last 15 years he has advised & worked with promoters, founders, business leaders, HR leaders in areas of - Business Strategy, HR Strategy, Organisation Design etc.

When should a start-up hire their first HR resource?

When you start a business – you (the promoter / founder) are everything for the business. You are expected to don multiple hats – CEO, CTO, CFO, Receptionist, Runner, Cleaner etc. As you move forward, the concerned responsibilities can be shared across co-founders, founding team members till you are ready to hire dedicated resources for…

Three essentials that enable you to be successful and relevant

Everyone at a workplace looks forward to regular career progression and growth. While your performance and demonstrated potential at your workplace are important here are some essentials that can help you build a better career irrespective of where you are employed. They are also relevant if you decide to walk away from your job and…

There’s more to events and conferences than learning and networking

Events and Conferences

At times, senior professionals wonder about the hundreds of sales pitches, emails, and meeting requests after attending an event. The whole economy of events and conferences, however, goes beyond the concept of networking and knowledge sharing. These platforms are also about providing a platform and opportunity for businesses to showcase their products and services, to connect with the decision makers who could be a prospective client.

Understanding bench time, benched, on bench, bench strength

What is Bench Time? “Bench time” refers to the time period when employees in a service or consulting business are not engaged on billable projects. The terminology is normally used in reference to the employees at outsourcing, consulting and IT services companies. During their bench time, the concerned employees – freshly trained talent, IT staff,…

Job Interviews – It’s more than just getting hired ?

Job interviews – don’t look at it as an interaction where people are judging you – try to see it as an opportunity to learn, network, and as an avenue to discover your strengths and limitations. Job interviews are important. When you are interviewing – it’s not just about getting hired.  Of course, getting a…

Juggling between budget, bell curve and people priorities: For functional leaders.

Every business is different, every individual is different. Give a thought to what can work in a particular case. Retaining and keeping your teams motivated is the key, and there has to be a way around. Think. #bellcurve #manpowerbudget #peopleprioritiesThese insights are primarily for the functional managers, and HOD’s. At times it’s difficult to find a…

Developing HR Policies for a startup.

It’s best to keep a tab on organisation’s need – employees and businesses expectations. HR policies and processes have to maintain a good balance between business & people priorities. Once your startup plans to or has added a few employees, it may be a good time to start thinking about getting the HR policies &…

Career pivot – some thoughts.

Career pivot across functional domains is challenging but it may be possible. Some thoughts on how you can make it work for you. Career pivot from one function to another. We are limiting our discussion to inter functional career pivot.  Many amongst us think of career pivot at some point in our careers. Some of…

HR Priorities for startups. Stage – 1.

We may normally think that HR comes in only when a business has employees and is somewhat mature. To ensure that a business has a good foundation, it helps startup founders to think HR, even at an inception stage. Stage 1 – When it’s only the founders. We may normally think that HR comes in…

Employer branding – essentials that you need to consider.

Employer branding – simple and practical. Employer branding initiatives help showcase an employer’s value proposition to the prospective employees. The idea is to attract quality talent and tap the available talent pool that normally shy’s away from a concerned employer, or is not sure about the employer. Employer Branding – all that needs to be…

Lateral recruitment for Joint Secretary position. Do you fit in?

Have you applied for the Joint Secretary position with Government of India ? Last month Indian Government, in a first, allowed candidates from private sector to apply for select Joint Secretary  position with its ministries and departments. This has been viewed as a positive move by most, and with suspicion by another set of people.…

Will your business benefit from a compensation benchmarking exercise ?

Compensation benchmarking, or salary surveys are exercises conducted to identify levels and boundaries related to pay grades for a set of positions. Ideally a benchmarking exercises should be undertaken keeping a sample of comparable companies in related business or businesses employing similar manpower. Ideally, the business size has to be near similar – but we…

Future workplaces: Why people will still matter ?

My last post was also about Future of Work & Workplaces , albeit with a different perspective. I placed some thoughts on changes that have been happening, and some simple questions that emerge, about future workplaces. There may be much more, but it helps to keep life simple and talk about simple visible things. Technology, communication…