Thomas JorzethiChief Human Resources Officer · Essays & perspective
Chief Human Resources Officer / India
Thomas Jorzethi
Open toBoard appointments
Professional performance5 min read
The reviewer’s hours belonged in the account
Chargeable time is commercially useful, but a professional firm should examine the necessary work outside that category before using the percentage to judge an employee's contribution.
The work we reward tells an engineer which judgement the business actually values. I want that message to remain honest when the necessary work is difficult to bill.
Seven offices and ₹137 crore FY26 fee revenue; no generation assets
People-function responsibility
17 HR colleagues
Three leads, ₹2.9 crore FY2026–27 expense and separate ₹1.1 crore change programme
Staffing and professional-service HR
29 years
Five appointments from July 1997; CHRO since January 2022
The reviewer’s hours belonged in the account
I am Thomas Jorzethi, CHRO of the fictional Velqemi Power Studies in Dehradun. A utilisation report I had supported made our technical reviewers look less productive because it counted chargeable work and left essential assurance elsewhere. Across twenty-four reviewers, 1,180 of 1,600 recorded hours were chargeable and 420 were assurance. The 73.75% figure was arithmetically correct. Presenting it as a complete assessment of their contribution was my mistake. We changed the performance discussion rather than ask engineers to make necessary review disappear from their records.
My career began in staffing coordination in July 1997, after study in psychology and HR. I moved into power-engineering consultancy in September 2009 and became CHRO in January 2022. Velqemi now has 430 employees, seven offices and ₹137 crore FY26 fee revenue. I lead seventeen HR colleagues through three leads, with ₹2.9 crore FY2026–27 operating expense and a separate ₹1.1 crore approved change programme. CEO Anita Zarqani is my reporting manager; qualified engineering leaders own technical methods and acceptance. I have no statutory directorship or shareholding.
My cases concern the employment practices that support a professional firm's credibility. We replaced recruitment requests for previous clients' work with a common fictional exercise, recognised assurance effort without calling every hour efficient, limited named bid biographies to supported availability and consent, and revisited a hiring deferral after people had already accepted offers. These choices incurred costs and left some questions unresolved. They did not establish a power-system outcome, a universal employment rule or a causal retention gain. HR's contribution was to make the company's treatment of people compatible with the professional promise it expected them to deliver.
A common exercise avoided asking for someone else's client work
Of forty-six candidates, thirty-eight completed the fictional assessment and eight withdrew. Twenty met the stated criteria and eighteen did not; these are assessment outcomes, not offers or hires. Development and administration cost ₹27 lakh.
An incomplete performance measure was corrected
The review separated 1,180 chargeable and 420 assurance hours across twenty-four reviewers. A ₹32 lakh programme changed the discussion while retaining the need to examine work quality and capacity.
Accepted offers required a different conversation from vacant posts
Twenty-eight offers had been accepted when a deferral was proposed. Eighteen starts continued; ten people were approached separately, with eight accepting supported arrangements and two reaching different agreed resolutions.
Current focus
Aligning employment commitments, professional review and commercial staffing claims before they become incompatible demands on the same people.
Conversations I welcome
One external board conversation about professional-service people practices, subject to consent, relationship checks and an achievable calendar.
Beyond the page
The record behind the perspective.
Formation
Bachelor of Arts in PsychologyTazqavi College of Social Studies · 1995
Master of Arts in Human Resource ManagementTazqavi College of Social Studies · 1997
Thomas brought the accepted-offer commitments back into the demand revision instead of letting them disappear inside a vacancy figure. The revised proposal showed the support cost and different resolutions, which gave us a more honest decision to approve.
Anita ZarqaniCEO, Velqemi Power Studies; fictional colleagueThe full record ↗
Contact
One external board conversation about professional-service people practices, subject to consent, relationship checks and an achievable calendar.
