Learn What Neha Mirchandani’s, Head of People at BrightPlan, Journey in HR Has Been Like
Posted on 08-17-2021, Read Time: 8 Min
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Where do HR leaders draw inspiration from? What are their worst nightmares? How did they stand the test of the changing times?
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Neha Mirchandani, CMO and Head of People at BrightPlan. She has extensive experience in B2B and SaaS marketing and her career spans global enterprise technology companies as well as innovative startups. Most recently Neha was the CMO at Topia, a cloud global talent mobility company. Previously she held senior marketing roles at RingCentral, Cisco, Adobe and Instart Logic. One of Neha’s life goals is to finish writing and publishing her book. In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Neha shares her thoughts on what the future holds for HR, her personal journey in HR and her learnings and challenges over the years. |
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: What has your HR journey been like and what influenced you the most to have a positive impact on your career?
Neha: I’ve always had a deep passion for people. I’m a firm believer in the tight connection between employee experience and customer experience. My role at BrightPlan, where I’m focused on both the employee and the customer, allows me to address and explore that intersection in-depth. As happy employees lead to happy customers.
With a background in B2B SaaS companies, both mature enterprises and early-stage startups, I’ve seen different HR strategies play out. What we’ve all experienced, especially over the past year and a half, has put a heightened focus on the connection between employee well-being and employee experience, which in turn, affects productivity, engagement and ultimately drives business results.
The most gratifying aspect of my career journey to date has been seeing all these pieces come together. In my current role at BrightPlan, I have a front-row seat as we partner with forward-thinking employers to support their employees’ holistic well-being and see the direct correlation between financial stress and physical, mental and financial well-being.
With a background in B2B SaaS companies, both mature enterprises and early-stage startups, I’ve seen different HR strategies play out. What we’ve all experienced, especially over the past year and a half, has put a heightened focus on the connection between employee well-being and employee experience, which in turn, affects productivity, engagement and ultimately drives business results.
The most gratifying aspect of my career journey to date has been seeing all these pieces come together. In my current role at BrightPlan, I have a front-row seat as we partner with forward-thinking employers to support their employees’ holistic well-being and see the direct correlation between financial stress and physical, mental and financial well-being.
Q: What were your challenges during the early days of your career? What are those today?
Neha: My key challenge has remained somewhat the same then and now – equality. Equality for underrepresented groups has been talked about for many years now, and though we’ve made encouraging progress, there’s a long road ahead.
Women still earn about 20% less than men on average and hold many fewer leadership roles. Black women earn only 63% and Hispanic women only 55% of what white men earn. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked around the room and found myself to be either the only woman or the only person of color.
I was fortunate early in my career to have some great mentors and sponsors that guided and supported me. Having the right sponsors is critical, especially early in your career journey as they can help provide opportunities for growth and development, serve as a sounding board, and offer unbiased advice. My sponsors over the years, believed in my potential, opened many doors and gave me the opportunity to have a voice and make an impact.
Today, I’m fortunate to be in a position to pay it forward and am very deliberate about hiring, mentoring and sponsoring.
Women still earn about 20% less than men on average and hold many fewer leadership roles. Black women earn only 63% and Hispanic women only 55% of what white men earn. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked around the room and found myself to be either the only woman or the only person of color.
I was fortunate early in my career to have some great mentors and sponsors that guided and supported me. Having the right sponsors is critical, especially early in your career journey as they can help provide opportunities for growth and development, serve as a sounding board, and offer unbiased advice. My sponsors over the years, believed in my potential, opened many doors and gave me the opportunity to have a voice and make an impact.
Today, I’m fortunate to be in a position to pay it forward and am very deliberate about hiring, mentoring and sponsoring.
Q: How do you see workplace culture evolving over the years?
Neha: The world of work has changed dramatically, especially over the past year and a half. Now and into the foreseeable future, flexible, remote and hybrid work environments are the reality. And there is no going back to the way things were.
This new workplace demands a supportive company culture- a culture of care- where there is an increased focus on employee well-being and engagement. As an HR community, we need to double down and take a closer look at the various programs and benefits we offer to realign with employee priorities and enable the holistic well-being of all employees.
What’s top of mind currently from a wellness perspective is mental health, navigating caregiving challenges, and financial well-being. According to PwC, money is the number one cause of stress for employees, impacting their mental and physical health. We’ve seen the demand for financial wellness programs increase as there is a direct correlation between financial stress and employee well-being, productivity and engagement.
In fact, according to the BrightPlan 2021 Wellness Barometer Survey, employee stress costs employers $4.7 billion per week* in the U.S. Wellness also plays a critical role in companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts and in creating an equitable workplace culture that’s inclusive of all employees.
This new workplace demands a supportive company culture- a culture of care- where there is an increased focus on employee well-being and engagement. As an HR community, we need to double down and take a closer look at the various programs and benefits we offer to realign with employee priorities and enable the holistic well-being of all employees.
What’s top of mind currently from a wellness perspective is mental health, navigating caregiving challenges, and financial well-being. According to PwC, money is the number one cause of stress for employees, impacting their mental and physical health. We’ve seen the demand for financial wellness programs increase as there is a direct correlation between financial stress and employee well-being, productivity and engagement.
In fact, according to the BrightPlan 2021 Wellness Barometer Survey, employee stress costs employers $4.7 billion per week* in the U.S. Wellness also plays a critical role in companies’ diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts and in creating an equitable workplace culture that’s inclusive of all employees.
Up and Close Name: Neha Mirchandani Designation: CMO & Head of People Company: BrightPlan Total number of employees: 48 When did you join the current company?: April 2020 Total experience in HR: 2 yrs Hobbies: Writing my book What book are you reading currently: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle |
Q: Can you share the top three learnings from the adversities you faced?
Neha: My three key learnings are:
- Empathy and being human matters: Employees are dealing with a lot right now from remote work, return to the office, caregiving responsibilities, increased stress, and navigating ever-changing pandemic regulations, to name a few. Being human and having empathy is more important now than ever before. Stay close to your employees and listen intently through multiple avenues to keep a strong pulse on teams. This level of employee listening will not only enable you to know your employees better but will also foster stronger relationships that can help you retain and motivate your people.
- Foster a culture of inclusion: It’s important to create a culture of inclusion where every individual feels respected, included and understood. Recently, there’s been a big spotlight on companies’ DE&I efforts, yet many have fallen flat because they’ve missed this key element. Inclusion needs to come first, as, without inclusion, diversity and well-being cannot thrive in the workplace.
- Employers need to play a key role in enabling women and underrepresented communities to achieve financial security: I grew up in a household where money wasn’t talked about much and money-related decisions were made by the men in our house. Employers are uniquely positioned to support their employees’ financial well-being, and this is especially true for women and people of color. Most of an employee’s financial well-being is tied closely to their employer as the primary source of income, benefits and financial education.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from? What do you have to say to those who are still struggling to find a place in the boardroom?
Neha: Inspiration, for me, is charged by motivation; motivation to address stereotypical inaccuracies and societal expectations that hold back half of the population merely because we haven’t evolved enough to see the full potential women bring to the leadership team.
Fortunately, this is changing as women – and women of color – are no longer in the boardroom just as diversity hires, but as high-performing and strategic decision-makers, influential thought leaders, innovative CXOs, and much more. Many women don’t lean in enough in the face of leadership – whether from lack of confidence or opportunity – and to them, I say, we belong here.
Women are a powerful economic force, who enable prosperity and innovation. Many men and women from various ethnic backgrounds are starting to realize addressing the equity gap, creating pathways to leadership opportunities and supporting financial autonomy and wellness for women are for the betterment of society at large.
I’m not only motivated but inspired to see that change and to play my part as we look to make a lasting impact for future generations.
Fortunately, this is changing as women – and women of color – are no longer in the boardroom just as diversity hires, but as high-performing and strategic decision-makers, influential thought leaders, innovative CXOs, and much more. Many women don’t lean in enough in the face of leadership – whether from lack of confidence or opportunity – and to them, I say, we belong here.
Women are a powerful economic force, who enable prosperity and innovation. Many men and women from various ethnic backgrounds are starting to realize addressing the equity gap, creating pathways to leadership opportunities and supporting financial autonomy and wellness for women are for the betterment of society at large.
I’m not only motivated but inspired to see that change and to play my part as we look to make a lasting impact for future generations.
Q: Where do you draw the line when it comes to work-life balance?
Neha: I actually prefer the term work-life integration or blend. As that is the reality of where we are today. We need to crack the code on work-life blend, not only from a productivity standpoint, but for our own sanity and well-being. Prior to the pandemic, we were able to switch on and off between these two worlds we live in. Our reality now is life needs to accommodate work and work needs to accommodate life. This opened a lot of eyes for employees and employers alike, as more and more people are bringing their whole selves to work.
Q: What fundamental change(s), in terms of culture, have you brought into your company?
Neha: We are a mission-driven company and most people are here because they believe in and are inspired by our purpose of democratizing access to financial wellness for everyone.
Being a startup, we have a small agile and collaborative team, and from the very beginning it has been incredibly important to us to focus on our employees’ well-being and enable a culture of empowerment and transparency- and we live this every day.
For example, we host a weekly all-hands meeting where we openly discuss the good, the bad and the ugly as it relates to our business. All employees are encouraged to speak up and ask questions to ensure as a team, we are problem-solving together and always focused on delivering on our customers’ needs. Our culture is also centered around teamwork, so celebrating successes as a team, as well as recognizing and learning from our failures, is crucial.
As a leadership team, we recently implemented a work-from-anywhere model that allows our employees to work from anywhere in the U.S. With this approach, our employees’ compensation remains the same regardless of if they move to a location with a lower cost of living. This is truly about trust and empowerment and has also opened up new markets for us from a recruiting perspective.
Being a startup, we have a small agile and collaborative team, and from the very beginning it has been incredibly important to us to focus on our employees’ well-being and enable a culture of empowerment and transparency- and we live this every day.
For example, we host a weekly all-hands meeting where we openly discuss the good, the bad and the ugly as it relates to our business. All employees are encouraged to speak up and ask questions to ensure as a team, we are problem-solving together and always focused on delivering on our customers’ needs. Our culture is also centered around teamwork, so celebrating successes as a team, as well as recognizing and learning from our failures, is crucial.
As a leadership team, we recently implemented a work-from-anywhere model that allows our employees to work from anywhere in the U.S. With this approach, our employees’ compensation remains the same regardless of if they move to a location with a lower cost of living. This is truly about trust and empowerment and has also opened up new markets for us from a recruiting perspective.
Q: What are some major changes you see affecting HR within the next few years?
Neha: In the new remote and hybrid work reality, employee engagement and wellness will continue to be top of mind for HR teams. Well-being programs play an important role in driving engagement and we’ve seen many companies double down on the benefits that matter most. In fact, BrightPlan’s recent survey found 94% of HR leaders believe their companies need to make major benefits changes.
The shift from in-office perks like ping pong tables, free lunches and commuter benefits to offerings related to mental health, financial wellness and childcare, are likely here to stay for the long term.
We’ve also seen a heightened interest in financial wellness benefits specifically. We found 65% of employees are stressed about finances, and up to 81% reassessed their financial situation during the pandemic. When we asked how their companies and HR handled pandemic-related issues, 91% of employees said that they handled them well.
This signals that employers and HR leaders are focused on their employees’ well-being and are taking notice of the unprecedented change and uncertainty employees are facing in their lives. When asking employees to rank the top benefits they want post pandemic, well-being benefits such as healthcare, remote work or flexible policies, financial wellness and vacation came up at the top. Employees recognize how their well-being is key to productivity, engagement and happiness, and are influencing HR to follow suit and deliver.
* Disclosure: Assumes there are 94,257,000 knowledge workers in the U.S. with an hourly wage of $35.53. Source: Federal Reserve Economic Dataset. For more information, see the full report.
The shift from in-office perks like ping pong tables, free lunches and commuter benefits to offerings related to mental health, financial wellness and childcare, are likely here to stay for the long term.
We’ve also seen a heightened interest in financial wellness benefits specifically. We found 65% of employees are stressed about finances, and up to 81% reassessed their financial situation during the pandemic. When we asked how their companies and HR handled pandemic-related issues, 91% of employees said that they handled them well.
This signals that employers and HR leaders are focused on their employees’ well-being and are taking notice of the unprecedented change and uncertainty employees are facing in their lives. When asking employees to rank the top benefits they want post pandemic, well-being benefits such as healthcare, remote work or flexible policies, financial wellness and vacation came up at the top. Employees recognize how their well-being is key to productivity, engagement and happiness, and are influencing HR to follow suit and deliver.
* Disclosure: Assumes there are 94,257,000 knowledge workers in the U.S. with an hourly wage of $35.53. Source: Federal Reserve Economic Dataset. For more information, see the full report.
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