The invitation arrived before the time was provided

The first version of our learning policy said that development was a shared responsibility. That sounded reasonable until we asked participants when they were completing the required work. Seventy-eight of 126 people described using some unpaid personal time. They were not all making the same voluntary choice. For some, the invitation to learn also carried an expectation that they would find hours the operating plan had not provided. I began the discussion again with a more specific question: which hours was the company prepared to fund?

I was born in 1976 and completed a BA in Economics at Neshvani Arts College in May 1997. I joined Parvethi Workforce Services in Tiruchirappalli in July that year as an employment administration assistant. The firm supported regional employers with personnel administration. I worked in a nine-person team, checking records and answering routine questions under a supervisor, without a budget or hiring authority. I learned that an explanation which satisfied an office file could still leave a worker uncertain about what would happen to their pay or application.

In February 2003 I moved to Sovrali Laboratory Services in Salem as an HR officer. I became HR manager in 2006. The company had 180 employees and ₹29 crore revenue in FY 2003; my later management remit included six HR colleagues and ₹64 lakh annual function expense. I completed an evening postgraduate diploma in Human Resource Management at Ferlavi Management School in November 2005. Working in laboratories made me careful about the boundary between employment administration and professional judgement. HR could keep an agreed process usable, but a personnel file did not qualify me to assess a technical procedure.

I became Sovrali's head of reward and employee relations in January 2010. By then it employed 390 people and had recorded ₹71 crore revenue in FY 2010. I led eleven colleagues and ₹1.2 crore annual function expense, with finance retaining payroll control. I spent more time examining how apparently neutral decisions accumulated: a previous salary carried into an offer, a supervisor's discretion over a development opportunity, or a complaint that passed through the same reporting line it questioned. I learned to ask what the rule required a person to risk before they could use it.

In August 2016 I joined Velmori Diagnostic Support as head of people operations. Velmori employed 520 people across six laboratories and recorded ₹118 crore revenue in FY 2016. I led seventeen HR colleagues through two managers, with ₹2.6 crore annual function expense. The company wanted clearer employment practices across its locations without pretending that every technical role was interchangeable. I worked with laboratory leaders to separate professional standards from the employment arrangements that supported them. That distinction helped us discuss learning time and progression without making HR the authority for a competence decision.

I became chief human resources officer in April 2022. Today Velmori operates nine laboratories across Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Madurai and Tirunelveli. Its 860 employees supported FY 2026 revenue of ₹214 crore and operating profit of ₹26 crore. The founding family owns 54%, an employee trust 12% and a regional investor 34%. I lead twenty-eight HR colleagues through three function heads, with ₹4.9 crore annual HR expense. The company's ₹61 crore payroll is jointly overseen with finance. I report to Divya Nelvarthi, our chief executive; Raman Vezhnar, our technical director, retains professional responsibility through qualified laboratory leaders.

The recent cases on this site show what that separation means in practice. We funded paid time and cover for required learning, then kept thirteen unresolved arrangements visible at the repeat review. We corrected entry pay for thirty-one people in four support grades without claiming that a bounded review proved company-wide equity. We created a route outside the immediate reporting line for certain concerns, while distinguishing receipt of a concern from a substantiated finding. We also introduced a specialist progression route, with technical leaders deciding professional readiness and HR examining role design and pay.

I do not hold a directorship and have not yet registered with India's independent directors databank. I am considering one external role only after understanding its requirements, conflicts and calendar. My potential contribution is experience of examining whether a people policy can actually be used by the employees it describes. I would bring the financial consequences into that conversation, including the cost of cover, pay corrections and specialist grades. I would also expect to learn the prospective company's own work and professional boundaries before assuming that a practice developed in regional diagnostics belongs there unchanged.

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