The changes in workplace culture are here to stay and we aim to be at the forefront of reinventing the employee engagement wheel says Amit Alsisaria - Product Head of Vega HR. In this exclusive interview with Human Capital, Alsisaria talks about Vega HR specifications and shares how business can boost employee engagement and motivation.

How did Vega HR come to be and how has the journey been so far? What problems does the company solve and what is its USP?

Founded by Chetan Alsisaria, Ajay Goenka and myself, Vega HR brought together years of expertise to create an equipped tech-stack for HR. At the time, we saw a huge opportunity in HR-tech and wanted to create a platform which would enable enterprises to plan, communicate and benchmark their short-and-long term incentives, perks and employee benefits in real-time, enabling them to streamline their HR functions.

The journey has been incredible so far. What sets us apart from the competition is that our SaaS-based platform is equipped with a powerful tech-stack, context-aware AI, people analytics and a customisable and DIY platform, designed to make quick decisions. Further, the SaaS-based approach reduces onboarding and getting started time to just a few days. We solve critical problems for enterprises by providing them insights delivered with an industry-leading analytics platform — enabling them to manage their HR processes more effectively.

With Vega HR, businesses can leverage all possibilities to engage, nurture and recognise their employees with our programs; Vega Rewards and Vega Equity. Businesses can now retain their top talent with a highly personalised rewards and recognition (R&R) program, called Vega Rewards. When a business becomes rewards and recognition focused, they can boost employee engagement and motivation.

With Vega Equity, startups and other businesses can leverage ESOPs to retain and attract top talent in a highly competitive environment. With Vega Equity, we provide businesses a reliable solution for their Equity, Cap Table, and ESOPs needs; that scales and grows along with their business and workforce.

Whether it is through monetary and P2P recognitions, suggestive recommendations, ESOP & Cap Table Management and intuitive dashboard reporting, Vega HR enables businesses to start engaging their multi-generational workforce and bring inclusivity, recognition and motivation to their teams. What makes us stand out is that our simple user interface brings in the flexibility of our multi-model platform with API accessibility.

Given the fact that the world has been functioning during a pandemic, what are some of the challenges you've faced and how have you solved them?

Given the challenging events of 2020-21, HR has witnessed a massive transformation. Covid-19 has prompted fundamental changes to the way we work, evolving workplace practices and sending digitization into hyperdrive. We are witnessing a new rhythm with a move towards digital transformation and quick adoption of AI, analytics, cloud computing, mobile applications, and SaaS. The shift has other multiple drivers as well;

Virtually connected workforce however physically disconnected in a post-Covid-19 world

Need to change age-old employee engagement and rewards practices

With GenZ entering the workforce, there is a need to reset expectations altogether

Thus far, organisational culture has been shaped by blind spots and biases

On the enterprise end, in the early days of the pandemic we started noticing that workplace culture was taking the driver's seat — companies were beginning to focus on improving company culture, employee experience, motivation and engagement, making it a strategic priority for business growth.

In such a scenario, we have had a laser-like focus on innovating our offerings, and recently launched an intuitive Rewards and Recognition program, Vega Rewards, like I mentioned earlier. This enables companies to manage the productivity aspect of HR.

Could you elaborate on the Rewards and Recognition Program and tell us how this fits in with the company's vision for the future?

As we deal with a massive talent crunch and a high attrition rate especially in the Indian IT industry, there isn't a more important time for organisations to keep employee morale high and find effective ways to counter these challenges. Furthemore, the technology space is fast evolving and, hence, we believe sustaining in the market requires frequent self-disruption.

Vega Rewards, our rewards and recognition (R&R) program, creates a cycle of success for businesses by enabling them to reward their workforce with the Vega Rewards' Gratification experience. Powered with suggestive recommendations and rewards, our platform feeds on data from other platforms, such as employee engagement platforms, pulse surveys, etc. and gauges the employees pulse, engagement levels and motivations. This is especially important in a post-Covid-19 era wherein it has become critical for businesses to drive a cultural shift which is feedback-driven.

We are living in the time of a cultural (r)evolution and it has become important to analyse employee behavioural data, offer timely employee rewards and feedback, introduce a suggestive recommendation rewards and recognition program, and bring flexibility and a fresh approach to HR.

With Vega Rewards, we enable businesses to introduce employee recognition, rewards, and incentive programs that employees can use seamlessly. It also personalises recognition to match the individual needs of every employee. By providing timely feedback to help them overcome hurdles, organisations can ensure that their employees are engaged, happy and motivated. We wanted to build a modern solution powered by instant redeemable rewarding mechanisms which can drive up peer and social recognition, employee engagement and motivate the workforce to become growth partners.

In the same vein, when we launched Vega Equity, an end-to-end ESOP & Cap Table Management platform, we wanted to create a module which would automate the entire ESOP & Cap Table lifecycle, and enable enterprises to go digital in a safe and secure manner. In doing so, Vega Equity eliminates the widespread reliance on manual and outdated workflows which contains a high possibility of human error; additionally it also automates repetitive and time-intensive steps resulting in real-time visibility.

We believe in constant innovation and plan to keep innovating and training the predictive and AI models of the platform to make it more intuitive for HR professionals. We want to continue to enable smart decision making for businesses across workforce planning, enablement and management and continue to innovate to create a go-to platform for HR professionals which will help them reimage the future of work, workforce and the workplace.

The changes in workplace culture are here to stay and we aim to be at the forefront of reinventing the employee engagement wheel.