The OLX People HR Excellence Awards: A Quick Roundup of the Mega Event’s Most Memorable Moments

There’s no denying the fact that 2020-21 caused a massive shake-up in the recruitment and talent acquisition landscape. Amidst the trials and tribulations caused by the pandemic, particularly in jobs and employment, the HR fraternity closed ranks to help both employers and jobseekers not just survive the turbulent times, but thrive and take digital initiatives to the next level.

To recognize the crucial contributions from the HR fraternity, BetterPlace, in partnership with ETHRWorld, held a virtual event on 05 March, 2021. Dubbed as the BetterPlace HR Excellence Awards, the event felicitated and recognised the achievements, groundbreaking innovations, and accomplishments of industry leaders across multiple sectors in the rapidly evolving HR sphere.

Here’s a quick roundup of the key highlights from the event.

The Turnout

The BetterPlace HR Excellence Awards virtual event was attended by over 400+ dignitaries. Industry leaders, business heads, functional heads, TAs, CEOs, CHROs, CIOs, CTOs, including prominent names in R&R, L&D, and Employee Wellness came together and shared key insights and invaluable business experience with other industries and businesses to help them navigate uncertainties and be more agile.

Some of the senior industry leaders who turned up for the event — and also served as amember of the grand jury to adjudge the winners — were:

• Anusha Suryanarayan, CHRO, Signify
• Jyotsna Bhatnagar, Professor, MDI
• Dr Aquil Busrai, Founder, Aquil Busrai Consulting
• Varadharaju Janardhanan, Vice President Human Resources, Flipkart
• Sameer Wadhawan, Senior Vice President, Head of HR, Samsung Electronics
• Ravindra Kelkar, Area Vice President, Indian Subcontinent, Citrix Systems
• Nikhil Arora, Managing Director and Vice President, GoDaddy

The Panel Discussion

A panel discussion on ‘Employer Branding in Talent Acquisition’ was also organized where the aforementioned industry heavyweights — including the CEO of BetterPlace, Tarun Sinha who also delivered the Welcome Keynote Address — shared their thoughts on the importance of employer branding, and how it boosts employers’ chances of attracting top talent and achieving organizational goals.

Apart from employer branding, the panel also weighed in on the significance of clear, transparent communication and the role technology plays in positioning employer branding in a whole new way for talent acquisition.

Fireside Session

Additionally, a fireside chat on ‘Reimagining recruitment and employee experience in the new work world’ was also held where established industry veterans, Nilabh Kapoor, Business Head, BetterPlace and Katyayani Krishna, Area HR Head – South Asia, Maersk Group participated.

During the discussion, both leaders shed light on how the pandemic caused both the workforce and the workplace to transition to the “new standard”. They also touched upon how employees are currently undergoing a renaissance of sorts to stay relevant in the new work world. The importance and the role of digitization in the current scenario to scope, seek out, and procure talent was another subject that both guests highlighted with the help of real-world examples in the fireside session.

7 Awardees from The Event

As the event neared its conclusion, all eyes were on the awards ceremony where Ernst & Young officiated as the tabulators. The panelists, with their skill and industry expertise singled out seven winners after carefully going through each and every nomination in 7 categories. They’re as follows:

Considering the massive turnout, presence of industry leaders, the eye-opening discussions, the BetterPlace HR Excellence Awards, in all its glory, was a massive success. It’s slated to be an annual event moving forward. If you’d like to know more about the event, please visit our social media channels. Or if you have a business query, please reach out to us and we’ll get back to you in no time.