Leaders

My anchors as an HR leader are grounded in Abundance, Courage, and Kindness for a holistic positive progress for organizational, people and ecosystem. The principle of Abundance fosters a mindset of expanding beyond boundaries, enabling innovative problem-solving. Courage instills resilience and reality, vital for navigating challenges. Kindness builds a positive workplace culture, enhancing employee wellbeing and collaboration. It goes beyond what is defined in frameworks. Together, these principles create a dynamic framework that not only drives personal and professional growth but also cultivates a thriving and harmonious work environment. Considering this, Sonal Jain is a CHRO who lives from these anchors representing a comprehensive approach to achieving organizational, people and ecosystem success.

Sonal Jain, an accomplished and visionary leader with 19+ years of diverse and global experience in human resources, currently serves as the Global Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of EPL. In her role, Sonal passionately inspires her ownself and leaders to navigate complex transformations for growth and cultivates gratifying experiences to create a better place and world we live in.

Below is an excerpt of Sonal Jain’s exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur magazine.

What significant aspects of your life and professional journey, including key highlights from your educational path, would you like to share to provide insight into your entry into the field of Human Resources?

In both my personal and professional journey, I've been nurtured with a belief in boundaryless possibilities and the responsibility to give back. Despite a modest background, my parents provided unwavering support, for instilling courage and strength having an importance along with balance of an academic rigor with extra curricular activities. The decision to venture into Human Resources emerged pragmatically during career counseling.

Beginning my corporate journey at Wipro, I was appointed as Head HR for a large Global business Unit early in my career. My mentors nurtured me to understand value of an HR professional with empathy as I got doing large restructuring project in US. Unilever taught me being ahead in the game, at scale with depth of expertise, working with one of the finest minds in the industry while J&J helped me nurture the core of heart, care, resilience and shaping the long-term value creation. At EPL, these elements harmonize, bringing my journey full circle. My career spans across global and local assignments across business partnering, and center of excellence. Furthermore, raising my hand for additional stretch assignments have been instrumental, in providing me the opportunity to build further diverse experiences and collaborate with multiple stakeholders across the organisation. Mentorship has consistently played a pivotal role, with mentors taking bold bets on me and at the same time being my mirror for continuous feedback and development. Being a part of CII National Committee member in HR, I feel inspired to learn immensely from seasoned HR professionals in India and at same time having an opportunity to contribute through projects in CII.

To summary, contributing meaningfully at every stage, my career epitomizes a harmonious blend of gratitude, hard work, discipline and mentorship.

Introduce us to EPL. Tell us about the responsibilities you shoulder as the firm’s CHRO.

EPL holds a special place in my heart, being a remarkable B2B company which is widely acknowledged in the packaging industry as well as by our partners and suppliers. I'm entrusted with pivotal responsibilities in shaping our future where we lead the pack sustainably. EPL is a global force, partnering with renowned brands in Oral care, Beauty and Cosmetics, Pharmaceutical and Foods companies. We are present in 10 countries with 21 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, diverse workforce of 5000+ employees from 25 different nationalities. My role involves propelling profitable business growth, evolving our organizational culture which enables our employees to help our customers grow, ensuring sustainability is at the forefront and center as we contribute to society and our ecosystem.

In your opinion what are the key challenges you encounter as an HR leader in today’s business climate? What steps do you take to overcome these roadblocks?

Leading HR in today's dynamic landscape, aligning organizational vision with realistic capacity and capability of organisation and people is a central challenge. Diagnosing the standing of the organisation and leadership and ensuring the requisite ownership of gaps and action for growth is a crucial aspect of a CHRO role. Conflict management arises from diverse perspectives on business priorities, demanding a balanced approach to the long and short-term roadmap, resolving real time challenges, and accepting the tradeoffs.

Navigating ever changing world requires a shift to viewing complexity as an opportunity for innovative solutions. If we get entangled with complication it only leads to stress, fatigue and failure. Lastly, the critical part of the role involves a continuous building culture of inclusion for diverse workforce and nurturing the community and society we belong to. This will ensure seamless integration of multiple levels to achieve maximum outcomes in line with our evolving purpose and passion.

What is your take on women’s current representation in top leadership roles in the Indian business world?

The current representation of women in top leadership roles in the Indian business world leaves much room for improvement. While there is progress, the pool of women leaders remains limited. To truly make a difference, organizations must embark on a transformative journey, addressing the fundamental aspects of education system, infrastructure and societal norms. Simply shifting women leaders between companies won't foster substantial change. Emphasizing support at the grassroots level, particularly in educating women in STEM fields, is crucial for a more significant and positive shift toward gender diversity in leadership roles. The change is one step at a time to make a significant leap forward in years to come.

Sonal Jain, Global CHRO, EPL

Sonal Jain, Global CHRO at EPL, brings 19+ years of HR experience across global, regional and country roles spanning across Tech, FMCG, Healthcare and now Packaging industry. She holds certifications as ICF ACC Coach, recognized as a ‘Top 10 CHRO in India 2023 Trade Flock’, ‘Star Alumni of University Business School in 2018’, ‘Top 100 HR Leader 40 Under 40 by Jombay’.