With the promise of delivering better talent, faster, Pontoon Solutions - a part of The Adecco Group looks to expand aggressively in India. The company opened a new office in Bangalore in April to support the India business reiterating the need to scale up and push growth in the Indian subcontinent. The company looks to hire about 200 workforce to the already existing 50 in India.

Rishi Kapoor, the APAC President for Pontoon Solutions (a division of Adecco SA) in an interaction with People Matters shares some of the key issues from the HR world and business. Rishi is responsible for driving profitable growth for Pontoon’s HR Outsourcing solutions across Australasia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and the broader Asia Pacific region. An MBA from the Rutgers Business School, USA, he is also a Six Sigma certified professional and a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma society.

What are the market drivers impacting the global employment trend?

There are several market drivers that are impacting global employment trends: the rise of the gig economy, shortage in demand of skills/talent, increase in demand for technology and data, and a drive from leadership to see a return on investment for talent. As the world of work changes, and the lines between the permanent and contingent workforce become increasingly blurred, smart enterprises are taking a total talent acquisition approach, a unified view to finding and attracting talent. These trends are evident in India too – the talent landscape in India is shifting and organizations need to take a holistic look at their workforce and adopt a total talent acquisition strategy to stay ahead and ensure they are hiring the right people for the right roles.  

How important is India to Pontoon's business - it has been in India for 5 years, but what has led to the expansion?

India is one of Pontoon’s largest target markets globally, and we are investing in building out the existing resources and infrastructure to create a centre which can deliver to the demands of the Indian economy. Over the past 5 years, Pontoon India has experienced great success in internal talent attraction, development and retention which, has resulted in some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings globally. 

We support both program specific and shared activities from India. We have witnessed significant growth in the regional business and the need to support other regions with a shared services centre. We have taken the decision to capitalise on the variety of talents available in the Bangalore market and to further expand our regional strategy to deliver cost effective talent solutions to our APAC and Middle East client base, as well as pursue an aggressive new client acquisition trail. 

Since Pontoon is looking to expand its horizon in India, what are the prime focus areas when you set up business here?

India is one of Pontoon’s largest target markets globally and we are investing in building out the existing resources and infrastructure to create a centre which can deliver to the demands of the Indian economy.  We are witnessing a shift in the India recruitment market; away from transactional, short-term, execution-only engagements towards a total talent solutions based demand from our clients and prospects. Our office in Bangalore will be the hub for our activity not just in India, but servicing clients on a regional and global basis as well. 

What are the key verticals/domains which will be serviced out of India?

The key verticals we are focusing on are: IT, Telecom, Banking & Financial Services, Manufacturing & Retail.

While HR is moving towards HR-Tech, how do you see this trend pushing the HR function towards an evolution?

The HR industry is definitely on the verge of a pivotal change impacted by the use of technology. It begins with a change of mind set within the HR organization, prioritising connectivity, real time operations, automation of platforms and especially focusing on the third screen i.e. mobile / smart phone. 

These digital disruptions require HR to transform the way in which services are delivered to employees as well as manage employee experience across all touch points – application process, onboarding, offboarding, L&D, performance management, analytics & reporting. In addition to candidate facing technologies, there are other cloud based tools which all help HR and Talent Acquisition drive improved productivity and efficiency across various stages of the recruitment lifecycle, from screening, shortlisting, and scheduling, all the way to document management and background screening. 

HR is no longer just a human resources function; it is transforming into a true business enabler, and evolving into Human Capital Management.