Reena TharaveliChief Human Resources Officer · Essays & perspectiveReena Tharaveli Chief Human Resources Officer · India
A selected perspective
Capability and operating responsibility6 min read
Responsibility begins before the appointment
Learning records, demonstrated capability and permission to work answer different questions. A staffing decision needs to connect them without confusing them.
I want an assessment to reveal whether someone can carry the responsibility in front of them. A certificate, a fluent interview and a trusted referral each tell us something, but none answers every question. The employer has to provide the conditions in which people can learn, demonstrate their judgement and do the work consistently. That includes time, supervision and a fair account of what the role actually requires.
A thoughtful employment promise becomes workable through explicit tasks, cover, funding and review. Private circumstances need not become public evidence.
Colleagues across the business
620
Dovareli Securities; March 2026
Regional offices
27
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
People-function colleagues
31
Led through four functional heads
I lead the people function of a regional securities business by connecting selection, preparation and working conditions to the responsibilities our colleagues hold.
I am CHRO of Dovareli Securities in Thrissur. Our 620 colleagues work across 27 offices in three southern states, supporting brokerage and depository services. I lead 31 people-function colleagues and report to the CEO. The scale of a securities business can be described through transactions or client accounts; my responsibility concerns the people authorised and prepared to handle the work behind them.
I began in adult learning after studying psychology. Teaching people to repeat an explanation was easier than establishing whether they could use it when a customer asked an unexpected question. That distinction brought me into employee development at Dovareli in 2002. I later became a business people partner and HR director before taking the CHRO role in April 2022. My approach has developed through listening to the work people actually encounter, rather than treating completion of a programme as its final result.
My decisions include extending supervised practice for new colleagues, changing a promotion exercise that overvalued written English, funding predictable work patterns for returning employees and applying the normal hiring evidence requirements to a senior referral. Each involved a limit: a delayed assignment, a smaller appointment list, an operating constraint or a vacancy left open. I want those limits visible because they show what the company was prepared to give up to make a defensible people decision.
Preparation beyond completion
Of 84 new colleagues completing the relevant entry requirements, 29 needed further supervised practice in our role simulations. We funded six additional weeks of coaching at a planned ₹18 lakh cost. The other 55 could proceed through the normal operating-authorisation process; completion alone did not confer authority.
A fairer view of branch capability
A promotion exercise for 53 candidates initially relied heavily on written English. A revised, role-based assessment identified 26 candidates meeting the benchmark, compared with seventeen under the first format. Fourteen were appointed after the remaining checks, including five who would have been excluded by the original exercise.
A working pattern with a funded owner
Nine returning employees requested predictable early work blocks. Seven roles could support a six-month pilot with an additional annualised cover budget of ₹9.6 lakh. Two requests needed different options because the work could not be covered on the proposed pattern. We recorded both the accommodation and its limits.
Current focus
I am improving how managers distinguish required credentials, demonstrated capability and permission to perform a task. Alongside that work, we are reviewing whether our selection exercises and return-to-work arrangements reflect the responsibilities and constraints of each role rather than assumptions inherited from an earlier staffing model.
Conversations I welcome
I am interested in a future board contribution on people capability, selection and organisational conduct. My experience is in presenting to directors, not holding a directorship. I could consider around twenty-two days a year after employer approval, a realistic calendar and an assessment of business and personal conflicts.
Beyond the page
The record behind the perspective.
Formation
Bachelor of Arts in PsychologyElarvethi Arts College · 1996
Reena asked who would cover the work before we promised a changed pattern. That made the return-to-work discussion practical for the employee and the manager responsible for service.
Sanjay KervathChief operating officer, Dovareli Securities; colleague since 2018The full record ↗
Contact
I am interested in a future board contribution on people capability, selection and organisational conduct. My experience is in presenting to directors, not holding a directorship. I could consider around twenty-two days a year after employer approval, a realistic calendar and an assessment of business and personal conflicts.
