LAVINA D’SOUZA

Conscientious and compassionate human resources professional with drive for helping employers recruit, develop and retain qualified candidates. Skilled at partnering with management teams to build employee-centric cultures promoting positive morale and optimizing productivity. Motivating and positive with excellent interpersonal, coaching and communication skills with 13+ years of experience in the field. Looking to work with an organization that identifies and invests in human capital as a source of wealth creation, practices inclusion and diversity with equal opportunities.

HR OPERATIONS –

· Handled end to end employee life cycle for core staff across all levels from C-level management to

Associates; pre-on boarding, on-boarding to exit process. (Employee verification, Offer letters,

on-boarding documentation, conducted HR Induction and planned induction across the organization, HR letters across all genres, payroll administration, final settlement, final clearance, repatriation).

· Ensure completion of Probation evaluation between the staff and Line Manager and that developmental plan is clearly laid out and training needs identified, if needed.

· Designed and implemented an Annual Leave Program. The program successfully controlled carry forward leave balances and eliminated the practice of encashment of annual leave thus positively impacting cost of paid time-off.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT -

· Worked on organization re-structure with the Head of HR and Management leaders as part of rebranding to meet the changing business objectives and overall organization vision.

· Collaborated cross functionally with in-house support teams and outsourced teams to identify and develop HR best practices and improve process efficiencies that contributed to meet both business objectives and organization needs.

· Partnered with business leaders for expansion in business relations with existing clients. Engage, communicate and manage different group of stakeholder’s interest and drive initiatives to best align needs with the business strategic plan.

GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL –

· Managed internal staff grievance, whistle blowers and client complaints for contract staff. Worked closely with the Head of Compliance and HOD’s for staff counseling, investigations, on-site and personal meetings, negotiations, providing summary of findings and recommending disciplinary course of action based on Company policy and compliance with the labor law.

· Organized and managed open house for staff to provide them a space to voice their concerns and feedback discreetly in the presence of selective HR team and CEO only. Areas of improvement and concerns recorded and addressed with utmost discretion with Business leaders.

· Represented HR in contract staff open houses to address issues related to labor regulations, their employment contract, leave management and related queries and concerns along with the outsourcing team.

· Identified employment and contract related legal issues and addressed matters with multiple stakeholder’s with tact and discretion to ensure compliance with legal standards. Maintained good liaison with administrative bodies, PRO’s and legal teams.

ATTRITION & RETENTION MANAGEMENT –

· Worked on staff attrition analysis year on year to understand attrition trends in the organization. Performed exit interviews to give insights to the management with specific reasons of exit. Mediated with the Head of Department and Management on areas of concerns that needed correction.

PAYROLL & ADMINISTRATION –

· Responsible for monthly payroll administration and processing (review updates, variable pay, monthly passage payout, recovery, consolidation of payout for separated staff).

· Championed staff Recognition and rewards program (monthly, quarterly, annual), long service awards, client referral program and staff referral program with the leadership and finance team.

· Developed strong inter-personal relationship with teams and business leaders across the organization to cohesively work together. Integrity with strong work ethics in maintaining confidentiality and maturity to handle matters with tact and discretion.

· Actively involved and participated in Staff events and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives especially for the local community. Organized donation drives for employees who needed assistance.

RECRUITMENT & ONBOARDING –

· Handle Recruitments across the board – (Advertising Positions, Coordinate with Head Hunters, screen CVs, obtain Reference Checks etc.). Special project for Iraq; responsible for mobilization and demobilization of staff, American army veterans.

HR Audit: ensure Personnel files and HR processes are in line with UAE Labor Law and Company Policy. Meet and engage with internal and external auditors for HR compliance.

· Performed employee engagement survey for UAE and other OPCO’s in the Middle East. Provided management with results and feedback on employee engagement, work/life balance, areas requiring improvement and areas acknowledged.

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

• Implemented DMS system for archiving employee records through digitalization for the first time in the organization. Mapped, designed, tested and implemented the system based on business needs.

HR DIGITILIZATION:

• Successfully reformed, scaled up systems and processes to enhance process efficiency as per growing HR business needs covering employee life cycle events from on boarding to exit. Worked closely with Finance on budgets and with the vendor and internal IT team on designing, testing and final implementation phase. Created user manuals for the HRMS system.

PROJECT TAFAWUK:

• Reviewed, updated and implemented current and new HR progressive and enabling policies and processes.
• AS IS, GAP Analysis, TO BE processes designed to reflect best market practices as industry leaders.
• HR transformation initiative involving IT intervention (including updates in HR workflow). Implementing changes in HR process and providing Innovative HR solutions to achieve project objective on improving business productivity, enhance employee satisfaction and result in cost reduction.
• Worked with Head of HR and introduced policy game changers that reflected progressive thinking as market leaders.
• Introduced paternity leave in the organization ahead of the statutory benefits.
• Change in payout of staff annual airfare from yearly to monthly.
• Change in leave accruals from anniversary date to annual year.
• Leave computation changed from Calendar days to Working days.