Dimensions Team: You are a mechanical engineering student, what motivated you to take up MBA in HR?

Mr. Richard Lobo: When I studied, I didn’t have in mind anything in particular about the area of work. I chose subjects which sounded interesting to me. During placements, I chose companies which appeared attractive and I chose Infosys, They offered me a job in the marketing domain and I really loved the sales job. There is no clear logic of how I landed here. It is good for management students to study all subjects. Management teaches you the ability to study subjects unlike graduation courses. The approach is different. A management student should be open minded.

Dimensions Team: Do you think using social media to check on a candidate before hiring is intrusive or is it very common these days?

Mr. Richard Lobo: We don’t use Social media while hiring. Social media is what the person puts, it doesn’t mean what the person is. It does not give a complete view of the person. I would rather go and talk to the person and understand what work the person has done and then, make a decision. I don’t think using social media is a good idea.

Dimensions Team: Don’t you think, if work from home is advocated then people will lose their attachment with the organisation?

Mr. Richard Lobo: There is never going to be a situation where there is going to be only work from home unless you are an artist or an individual contributor. We are largely social people. Work from home is an intermediary, it is not going to be permanent. However companies should be liberal with it and not make too many rules. They should let people decide.

Dimensions Team: During the performance based appraisal, companies make use of variable pay. Do you think it is the best way or there are any better methods?

Mr. Richard Lobo: Variable pay is used when you can easily measure the output but it is not a great idea to use it for everything.

Dimensions Team: There are outliers in all the companies. How would you deal with them? As a HR how would you deal with them, whether you would force them to follow the company norms or give them freedom?

Mr. Richard Lobo: First comes ethics and norms. As long as the outlier is within the boundary, there is no problem. He can be as creative as possible and add value to the company. If he becomes disruptive, then you get rid of him.

Dimensions Team: In a team, you find people from various cultural background. What do you do to boost their team spirit?

Mr. Richard Lobo: There might be differences in how they look and their food preferences etc. but bright young people are bright young people and it doesn’t matter where they come from. They are similar in their attitudes towards work. We don’t make them gel with each other, they settle down on their own. The company should not get into it. There is one advantage of being in the same generation. They have a common unifying factor. They all say, “I will not listen to my parents”, “I know what is good for me”, etc. There is a common language that crosses the border.

Dimensions Team: Was the transition from sales to HR easy?

Mr. Richard Lobo: Nothing is easy. You have to put effort. Even sales is not easy. I would rather say, the transition from engineering to production and from B-school to working is a more difficult transition than shifting areas once you start working. The first transition of moving into sales was more difficult than sales to HR.

Dimensions Team: What is your opinion about Work from home?

Mr. Richard Lobo: I think people work from home whether companies allow it or not. I work from wherever I am. Work travels with me with this smart phone. My theory on this is “Work is not where you go, but it is what you do”. If the job can be done from anywhere, then, it is a great idea but there are some jobs which cannot be done anywhere. It does not work for everybody. At the same time, work from home should not be restricted. Assuming of course, people behave as adults and are responsible. Companies cannot say, one day you work from home. It’s very difficult to do. But work from home happens. However, it is important to document and measure it, especially while billing the clients. There should be a discipline. There are several technology that supports it. Your work need not be measured only if you are doing your own thing as in sending mails.

Dimensions Team: Do you think frequent flying to attend the meetings is necessary when the technology provides us with Skype, etc.?

Mr. Richard Lobo: It depends on the situation. If you are a seller, you would never take the chance of selling an expensive item through a video. You would like to meet the buyer instead of taking the chance. However, if it was a meeting you could chose a video call.

For building trust or a relationship, you need to be physically there. Though there are many things which you can do through video but there are few things which you cannot do by video call. One should be smart enough to figure out the appropriate way.

Dimensions Team: What is your opinion about analytics and big data in HR?

Mr. Richard Lobo: Using data is good but it does not solve the requirements of managerial and decision making needs. There are several tools to process data but they are just tools. When the spreadsheet was created, it had many uses. Just because Excel is now there, the accountant has not ceased to exist. Similarly analytics is a great tool and it should be wisely used. For example, initially in engineering, slide rule was used, then scientific calculator was used. There were regular improvements but Engineers were always needed. Same is the case with Analytics. There is no substitute for managerial skills, judgment and decision making.