Ruhie Pande is the Group Chief Human Resources Officer and Head of Marketing and Communications at Sterlite. She holds an M.Sc. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Birkbeck College, London. With over twenty years of experience, she drives HR strategy and culture at Sterlite with an empathetic leadership approach.
Ruhie has significantly shaped a high-performance culture within the organization, drawing from her extensive background across various sectors. She is actively engaged in domestic and international HR and leadership forums, mentoring women leaders and contributing to industry advancements.
Recognitions for her achievements include being named one of the 100 Most Influential HR Leaders in India by CHRO Asia and among the 25 Most Talented HR Professionals in Retail by Asia Retail Congress. Additionally, she was honored as one of the Most Influential Women in HR 2024 by BW People.
Q1. What are the current hiring challenges in the energy and power sector, and how is Sterlite addressing them?
The energy and power sector is currently grappling with significant hiring challenges, primarily due to an aging workforce and a shortage of emerging leadership talent. With a median age of 44, many experienced professionals are nearing retirement, and there aren’t enough younger employees to inherit their knowledge and skills.
Simultaneously, as the sector shifts toward renewable energy and more intelligent energy systems, the nature of jobs is changing rapidly. This evolution demands new skill sets in areas like digital technology, programming, and automation, adding to the existing pressure on hiring and workforce development.
At Sterlite, we have started addressing these challenges through a transformative approach recognizing that legacy systems cannot meet today’s demands. At the core of this transformation is the creation of an agile, pull-based learning ecosystem that enables employees to take ownership of their development and adapt to new roles and technologies quickly.
We are also moving away from rigid hierarchical structures and traditional career paths. Also, we have heightened focus on using data and analytics to make informed decisions, ensuring that recruitment, retention, and talent development efforts are closely aligned with business goals.
Additionally, at the core, we are also focusing on campus hiring to ensure we allow diverse talent to join us at the base level and train them to lead the future. To ensure this, we are also exploring tie-ups with top institutions to customize courses and train talent.
Q-2 How is Sterlite leveraging digital tools or AI to enhance recruitment efficiency and candidate experience?
At Sterlite, we are strategically embedding AI and digital tools into the recruitment processes as part of a broader digital transformation and talent development agenda.
One of the key tools that we are in the process of implementing is a 24/7 candidate engagement expert, which autonomously manages everything from answering initial queries to guiding applicants through the job application process.
This aims to ensure that candidates receive immediate support at any time, reducing friction and improving engagement throughout their journey.
To bring structure and insight into interviews, we employ an interview intelligence expert who joins live conversations. This tool captures detailed transcripts, provides interview plans and guides, flags potential biases, and even performs culture fit and sentiment analysis.
As a result, we can make more informed and objective decisions while offering a more consistent and thoughtful experience for candidates. Additionally, we use interactive speech AI to automate screening calls that conduct voice-based interactions to gather key information from candidates, enabling efficient resume matching and scoring.
By combining conversational AI with intelligent data analysis, we are accelerating the screening process while maintaining a human-like, personalized approach.
Q3- What strategies are you adopting to attract top talent in a competitive market, especially for niche roles?
Our primary goal is to attract top talent, and for that, we are focusing on a multi-pronged strategy. A key part of this approach is strengthening our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and employer brand to clearly communicate the unique opportunities, inclusive culture and growth potential that we offer.
This includes a strong emphasis on diversity, particularly in increasing women’s participation across roles, including those traditionally underrepresented in the sector.
We are also committed to localised hiring ensuring that our talent footprint reflects and uplifts the communities in which we operate. In parallel, we are proactively identifying and engaging with professionals who possess niche skill sets, even before roles open up.
This involves continuously mapping the talent landscape and building long-term relationships with potential candidates, ensuring a ready pipeline of skilled individuals when the need arises.
Recognising the limited availability of niche skills in the market, we are investing in internal capability building. Through structured training programs, employees are upskilled in emerging and hard-to-find areas especially as we move towards greater mechanisation and digitisation in our operations.
This not only enhances efficiency but also opens up newer kinds of roles, many of which are more accessible and attractive to diverse talent groups, including women.
Q4- How does your onboarding process ensure new hires are aligned with Sterlite’s culture and values from day one?
At Sterlite, our onboarding process is designed to introduce new hires to their roles alongside immersing them into our purpose-driven culture from day one.
We believe that alignment with our core values including diversity, inclusion, innovation and integrity, is essential for long-term success and belonging. From the outset, new employees are introduced to our inclusive philosophy allowing them to meet leaders from diverse backgrounds who serve as real-life examples of what our values look like in action.
Our onboarding also integrates key elements of ongoing initiatives like Project Pragati and the Unlabel Initiative, helping employees understand how we foster gender equity, fight unconscious bias, and champion continuous development. Through sessions with the Sterlite Learning Academy, new hires get early access to learning resources that reinforce our commitment to innovation and leadership development.
Crucially, we introduce our OKR-driven performance culture early in the journey. This helps new employees understand how their goals tie directly to the company’s larger mission, driving excellence in power infrastructure while serving communities and empowering future talent. This approach ensures every individual feels welcomed, empowered, and aligned with Sterlite’s values from day one.
Q5- What are your hiring plans for 2025?
Our hiring plans for 2025 are geared towards supporting our rapid growth and future-readiness. A major focus this year will be on campus hiring, as we aim to strengthen our pipeline of early talent and build a strong foundation for long-term capability within the organization. This also allows us to bring in fresh perspectives and energy that align with our innovation-driven culture.
Also, with our business expanding across various verticals and geographies, our talent requirements are growing significantly. To meet this demand, we are scaling up our hiring efforts from external markets as well. The approach is aggressive, reflecting the multifold growth we are currently experiencing and the critical need to onboard the right talent to fuel our momentum.
Q6- Any final comments
The future of the power sector will not be defined by infrastructure alone but by the human potential we unlock. At Sterlite, we arepreparing for the future and also actively building it by envisioning a workplace where technology, empathy and purpose converge, enabling every individual to thrive and contribute meaningfully to a sustainable world.
Our focus in the coming years is clear which is to cultivate a new generation of energy leaders who are diverse in thought, bold in vision and equipped with the agility to navigate constant change. This means reimagining how we attract and inspire talent as a function of business as well as a core driver of innovation and impact.
We believe that the organizations that lead tomorrow will be those that invest in people-first ecosystems today. At Sterlite, we are proud to be at the forefront of that movement
Thank you, Ruhie!
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