Let skilled people progress without carrying hidden costs

In 2018 I supported twelve experienced technicians moving into supervisory posts through our only senior progression route. The titles looked like advancement. The conversations afterwards were less straightforward: some colleagues wanted to keep practising their craft, and supervision asked for work they had not chosen. We redesigned the route. Six chose to return to senior technical work, four continued in supervision and two remained in individual review. I no longer describe a promotion count as evidence that a career decision suited the people involved.

I am Elena Qevnorsi, fictional CHRO of Qelmorsi Fleet Support in Jabalpur. I grew up in Shillong and began in people-services administration in 1998. Our technician-owned cooperative employs 760 colleagues, including 182 members, across field support, dispatch, workshops and central functions. I am a nonmember employee and lead 21 HR colleagues. Working with Aaron, our CEO, and Mina in field operations, I examine the employment arrangements that make a service plan workable without shifting its unresolved costs onto the person sent to deliver it.

A field assignment can ask someone to advance travel money, share more health detail than a supervisor needs or absorb coaching alongside a full workload. A customer relationship can leave a technician facing behaviour that the commercial account does not acknowledge. These are not solved by describing employees as resilient. They require choices about career structure, funding, access to appropriate professional advice and the terms on which the business will accept work. My role is to bring those choices into the enterprise decision.

Current focus

I am making paid mentoring time visible in field-service planning. Eight mentors supporting thirty-two new colleagues now have twelve scheduled coaching hours each week, with ₹54 lakh annual cover provision. The 96 hours are real capacity that must be planned, not goodwill added to an unchanged service load or proof that every learner is technically ready.

Conversations I welcome

I welcome people-leadership, advisory and speaking conversations about skilled field work and member-owned enterprises. I am exploring an initial company-board contribution, with twenty-four days provisionally available. I have not yet registered in the IICA databank and claim neither a completed assessment nor an exemption; my cooperative experience does not itself establish eligibility for a company appointment.