Reinventing our people practices

Rivigo’s vision is to make logistics human. The life of every participant in the logistics ecosystem has to be made better through the use of technology, first principle thinking and bold ideas. Our ideas around relay trucking and the entire ecosystem are already beginning to make difference in the lives of our pilots, partners and our customers. However, the next step is to humanise the workplace such that our brand and culture has continuity, authenticity and alignment with our vision. This document highlights some elements and questions we need to answer to make our workplace more human.

People supply chain

We may need to start thinking of people function in the form of people supply chain. Using data, operations and technology, look at the entire people supply chain from first principles and bold ideas. From sourcing, apprenticeship, mastery to internal role changes and alumni relationships have to be thought through deeply. Decisions have to be data backed. Ideas have to be first principle and relevant to Gen Z talent pool who will form 80% of our talent pool. Initiatives will need experimentation and boldness to create impact.

Hiring the best

This is 80% of the problem statement. We’d be able to hire the best engineers, operators and leaders only when we have an authentic brand which is true its purpose and vision both internally and externally. Our talent brand, talent scouting and hiring process will need to be reinvented to keep hiring the best. Apprenticeship and mastery programs will work but only when we have great talent in the first place. We need to also solve for scale, speed, effort spent on hiring with smart use of technology, data and operational processes. We may also need to question and think about enabling hiring for partner ecosystem (freight partners, fleet owner partners and business partners). We have already extended our pilot hiring ecosystem to our fleet partners and can we do the same for other talent pools for our partners. There is no doubt that solving for 14% of India’s GDP and that too one of the toughest sectors, will need reinvention of talent pool. Traditional talent pools may not work.

Mastery

Rivigo has always understood the importance of “mastery” programs. Mastery programs are different from usual training and L&D efforts. Regular trainings don’t work. Mastery is deep, experiential, on the job+, repetitive, role play/case study based immersive program to make each new hire ready for the job in the Rivigo culture and processes. Repetitive case study based, and role play based programs have the most impact and we need to further strengthen this element across all roles. Mastery has to be led by our best people and is highly technical/operational, so the people function needs to be deeply embedded in the success of this program.

Culture

Culture is how things get done in any organisation. It is an invisible energy that flows through the environment and it may be the most important force to create impact. We can only underinvest in building a great culture. Our culture is defined basis the 10 leadership principles. We evaluate these leadership principles for each hire and through our feedback chats and annual performance programs. However, it may still not be the force behind every interaction, every meeting, every moment of truth at Rivigo. There is more manifestation required?

There are few other elements to the culture on who we are as a corporate personality.

• Are we diverse and inclusive? ?
• Are we sensitive to ESG?
• Do we celebrate freedom and autonomy?
• Can we bring your whole self to work?
• Do stupid rules exist because no one questions them?
• Are we bureaucratic and slow and how do we keep busting bureaucracy every step of the way as you scale up?
• Are we fully transparent?
• Is this place where people come to become the best version of themselves?

People operations

Our people operations (role changes, on-boarding, staffing, payroll, leave management, administration, exit formalities) have to seamless, efficient and noise free. It should put autonomy, freedom and choices back to people. The process has to be full of trust and warmth. It should treat people as humans and fully formed adults.

Professional development

We need to rethink our current performance management approach from annual reviews to frequent coaching discussions. We need more data/analytics in our performance management and professional development not just on outcomes but also on inputs (RLP’s). We need to manage the two tails well (the high and the low performers). We need to evaluate people on strength and always help them magnify their strengths. Our professional development has to be about our “owners” and how can we help them become the best version of themselves. There has to probably be more peer review and team review on professional development parameters. We need external coaches to work with our 100 middle managers and rising stars to de-bottleneck their own personal and professional growth. We may need our leadership to act as coaches and train them in that respect.

Alumni

Our belief is that the young generation will keep leaving and moving from one company to the other in quest of self-development and exploration. The contract between employee and employer has to be re-defined. We believe there is an opportunity to build lifelong bond and affiliation through a vibrant alumni network and it can become the source of hiring and lead to a good talent brand. Employees of today are not looking at lifetime employment, but lifetime employability and it comes only from an authentic place which invests in their development meaningfully.