Indian women have climbed up the leadership mantle across all possible industries. From corporate to politics and everything in between, they have left an everlasting and positive presence. This presence is even more so when talking about the healthcare industry–for it is our grannies devised and perfected magic herbal concoctions and doubleup as our family doctors while moms are the loveable nurse. This natural traits of compassion and empathy proves that women were born to lead and play a pivotal role in the healthcare fraternity.

With that said, the healthcare sector today is endowed with excellent examples of empathetic, altruistic and iconic women leaders. These women are spearheading their brands to a path of progress and unmatched possibilities. One such administrator is E. Sushma, General Manager Primex Healthcare & Research Pvt. Ltd who is leading her organization right from front and centre.

Sushma has over two decades of extensive experience in the healthcare industry, having worked in leadership roles in single, multi-speciality and super-specialty hospitals. Right from her career debut with ApolloHospitalsas Telemedicine Coordinator to her current role at Primex, Sushma has inspired and mentored scores of women in the healthcare industry.

As a person who believes in a 'togetherness and collaborative' work mantra, she has ensured the best culture-driven practices at all the roles she has been part of. During her short two years at Primex, she has been instrumental in transforming the company into one of the Best places to work for in Chennai.

Women Entrepreneur India engages in an exclusive conversation with Sushma to glean more about her journey and her leadership strategies to build a happy and productive work culture.

Take Us Through Your Educational And Professional Background

I completed my B.Sc (Computer Science) from St Joseph’s College for Women, Visakhapatnam and PG in Hospital and Health Care Management from Symbiosis University, Pune. Post that, I completed my MBA (Human Resources) from Symbiosis University, Pune. Along the way I also trained and received my Certification in Lean Six Sigma (Green Belt).

My 20 year career has been an insightful one having worked with giants like Apollo hospitals, Rakshith Hospital, Frontier Life Line Hospital, RG Stone Urology & Laparoscopy, Hospital and Davita Care India Pvt Ltd. among others. Prior to joining Primex, I was working as Regional Manager at a US based Fortune 200 Company called DaVita Care for their operations in India. My stint at DaVita was an eye opening one as I learned a lot about leadership qualities, and more importantly in building a culture-driven work environment. During my time there, I was also first person to be trained under Tele-Medicine with ISRO and I also was awarded for Teamwork and Accountability at the workplace during my tenure at DaVita.

Furthermore, I was chosen for an Executive Management Program for which I was sent to DaVita Headquarters at Denver, USA in 2016. During both my studies and career, I was always thankful for the many women professors, seniors and bosses who mentored me and shared their insights into building a strong career. It is my strong belief that it is in our hands to build the women leaders of tomorrow.

“Primex Is Equal Opportunity Employer With Women At The Forefront Providing Compassion And Care To Patient Services”

Give Us An Overview Of Primex Healthcare And Research

Primex was established in 2010 and a decade later we are the proud market leaders in diagnostic and Lab Services in Chennai. We offer world-class, affordable, and convenient medical diagnostic services to the masses with state-of-the-art machines that delivers highly accurate results. Furthermore, we employ the latest technology platforms and in conjunction with our aesthetically designed facilities, we aim to deliver ahigh quality service with warmth and care. Currently, we are spread across four centers in Chennai.

We are perhaps one of the few providers who can offer 2,000+ lab tests and scans under one roof. A wide range of diagnostic solutions offered by us includes MRI, CT, Ultrasound, ECG, NCS, X-ray, specialized pathology, etc. We are extremely proud that Primex Labs is NABL (Government Of India) Accredited since 2012 and is also ISO certified - which puts a stamp on our commitment and adherence to quality.

Our dedicated teammates and skilled professionals are driven by their passion to serve people as we believe that healthcare services should be meted with personalized care and warmth. Needless to say, the core of our success has been our medical expertise – the experienced team which has been able to deliver high quality output, year after year.

As The GM Of The Company, How Have You Been Inspiring And Motivating Other Employees In The Company? How Do Drive Happy And Productive Work Culture?

As a woman, I believe that I am powerful agent of change. My approach is based on the 'together we can deliver better' model. My leadership mantra is simple – one led by teamwork and a system that is culture-driven. This begins by ensuring that there is strong communication between the team and management. The next step is to empower the team and making them aligned to the vision and the values of the organization in every action during the workday. This means that I make a conscious decision to be approachable, to counsel and mentor and be available whenever the team needs me. In my vast experience, I have seen that only by giving the teammate the complete freedom to open up can one ensure that all grievances are addressed. Ultimately, the goal here is to be seen as a leader with strong teams rather than as just another boss!

Speaking about the work culture, we focus on the complete safety of the employees. This is the team that is in the frontlines and are working in close proximity to patients, many of whom are covid positive. Even during the most challenging waves of coronavirus, we are taking steps to ensure that the team is not under constant pressure and are counseled at regular intervals. The genesis of our success is in the quality of training and motivation the team undergoes to ultimately ensure safety and a positive attitude during every interaction with a patient.

We also go one step further during this pandemic by timely rewards, provided with Health Insurance to staffs & educated on the benefits of getting vaccinated. It has been a vital exercise to keep the staff well aware of valuing their lives equally as they are the frontline workers who are exposed to risk every single day. It is not just our staff members, but their families as well – we owe a responsibility toward helping on other hand them achieve significant work-life balance via flexible work timings and shifts (especially for women). As er are growing organization and operations front, we are launching fast-track growth programmes for those teammates with high potential – the ones with the passion and vigor to grow with the organization.

How Has Your Journey With Primex Been So Far?

It has been an absolute roller coaster ride - beginning with my first day in May 2019 when I entered an organization that needed much rearranging and realigning of priorities. One of my first goals was to bring the team together with one mission in mind. Achieving this took a lot of training, mentoring, re-hiring and classic change management techniques.

With this in place, we were then in a good position to offer higher quality services, minimized turn-around times and offer more complete customer satisfaction. As a matter of principle, I ensure that customers are put first while aiming to improve operations efficiency for the services. This made me streamline the operational processes to improve productivity and profitability.

Also a one-on-one approach was needed and today I am proud to say that I personally hire, motivate, develop, and retain all of our excellent Unit Managers, Marketing Managers, Lab quality Mangers and other HoDs and it is worthwhile to note that many of them are women.

What Are The Different Facets Of Your Personality Or Your Leadership Style That Have Helped The Company Propel Further In Its Growth Journey?

I as a Visionary leader have a powerful ability to drive progress and usher in periods of change by inspiring employees and earning trust for new ideas and this effectively drives growth of company fast results. I often set high standards and hold team members accountable for hitting their goals and colelctively company reaches greater heights. Currently, our headcount is 75 full time employees, of which 45% are women. These passionate women are also well represented in higher-level positions and marketing roles.

What Are The Growth Opportunities That Your Women Employees Can Avail Within Your Organization?

As I have told you earlier, we have fast-track programmes for women employees. This is agnostic of the department or their past experience. For instance, there are certain members of the clinical team who are interested in moving to administration with the intention of managing a centre in the future. For them, in addition to management, finance and marketing training, a clear career growth path is charted along with specific and time bound goals and deliverables. By empowering teammates to chart their own future, we are ensuring their success through a culture and system driven approach.

If at all you are hiring women employees now, what would be your preference; fresher’s or experienced candidates? Quote the reason.

As we are in a period of growth within the organization, we are hiring across all levels. But ideally, my preference would be a mix of both freshers and experienced. But more importantly, what we are looking for is the right mindset and set of values.

Highlight few HR policies like leaves, PF and other facilities provided to your women employees that keep them motivated.

Our HR policies on compensation include PF contribution and insurance for employees Furthermore, we offer flexi-time working for women employees and also offer transportation in certain cases. At the workplace, we have monthly get togethers, festival celebrations reward and recognition programmes to ensure that we honor those who have gone above and beyond in their service to our customers.

How Do You Enable Your Women Employees To Balance Their Personal & Professional Lives, And Also Update Themselves With The Latest Technologies & Trends?

By offering flexi working hours, we put the onus on employees to choose the times that work with their personal schedule. They also understand the immense responsibility that comes with flexi timings and adhere to it. We are as much a technology driven organization as much as a clinical one – from using state of the art, latest machines to our own customer lifecycle management software, employees are exposed to only the best in the industry.

Tell Us About The Fun Element That Sparks Enthusiasm Among Your Women Employees, Akin To Outings, Promotions And Others.

Pre-pandemic we used to regularly have team events, team lunches and more. Nowadays, we've had to improvise and we are trying and do something together as a team offline or online at regular intervals.

How Do You Try To Involve Your Women Employees’ Families To Be A Part Of The Company? Are Their Family Members Allowed To Enter The Office Premises?

As we are a clinical organization and to maintain a sterile environment to prevent cross contamination, we strictly control access to certain areas. This means that unfortunately, we do not allow family members onto the premises.

Sushma E, GM At Primex Healthcare And Research Pvt Ltd

Core Competencies

P/L Management, Strategy Management, New Set-ups, Budgeting / Cost Analysis, Relationship Management, Quality Management, Project Management, Continuous Process Improvements, Resource Management.