This episode features an interview with Rajamma Krishnamurthy, Sr. Director of HR Technology at Microsoft. She has spent more than twenty years at Fortune 500 companies driving all facets of Human Resources Technology. She is also a prolific speaker at Digital HR conferences on Experiences and People Analytics, and acts as an advisor and mentor for various companies in the HR technology sector. On this episode, Rajamma discusses how, despite Microsoft’s massive scale, she and her team still strive to focus on the individual user experience. She also talks about what’s not getting enough attention in the employee experience space, and the next big shift she sees coming out of hybrid work.
“What we forget is all of these physical and digital experiences are what you call the culture. Culture is not something that you separately write down and then everybody's like, ‘oh, this is culture.’ It is this amalgamation of all of these beautiful experiences that you have." — Rajamma Krishnamurthy
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Episode Timestamps:
*(1:50) - How Rajamma got into human resources
*(3:20) - Rajamma’s current role as senior director of HR technology at Microsoft
*(4:55) - Focusing on the individual user experience at such a large scale
*(7:55) - Storytime
*(13:50) - Getting Tactical
*(20:40) - How Rajamma stays ahead of the trends of HR technology
*(22:50) - One tech change Rajamma would implement immediately if she could
*(24:35) - What’s not getting enough attention in employee experience
*(26:22) - Ripped From the Headlines
*(29:00) - Asking for a Friend
*(32:02) - Advice Rajamma gives for women who want to break into tech
*(35:15) - The next big shift Rajamma sees coming out of the hybrid working experience
Links
[00:01:45] Amanda: Hi Rajamma. How are you doing today?
[00:01:46] Rajamma: I'm very well. Thank you, Amanda.
[00:01:49] Amanda: Well, thank you for joining me. I want to first start this interview off by understanding about your background in HR human resources. How did you get interested in human resources?
[00:01:59] Rajamma: I fell into [00:02:00] it by accident. So let me tell you my story. Um, I am a student of mathematics and I've done my graduate studies in operational researcher, kind of applied mathematics.
[00:02:09] And I, uh, the next thing, best thing, if you do mathematics is kind of getting into development or computer science and things like that. So I became a developer at Monsanto and I became a developer in the HR technology area, and that became. Quite an happenstance, because then it led me to the beautiful area of human resources, basically to be able to work with people and understand the problems of being an employee and, you know, the experiences and everything else.
[00:02:37] And then suddenly. You know what I, I like being a developer it's it's instant gratification when you finish your code, but it's even more gratifying when you're able to kind of balance between technology and HR. So I became a product owners or a product leader in HR technology. So now I'm kind of balancing both understanding how human resources work, how, what employees needs are and [00:03:00] what the technology advancements are and make sure that both of them meet in the right.
[00:03:05] Yeah,
[00:03:06] Amanda: I feel like that's such a common story. Right? How did you get to here? How did you get into interested in this area? I just sort of fell into it or it just came, you know, as an opportunity. That's such a common theme. I hear when I talk to, you know, people with amazing careers, what would you tell them?
[00:03:20] Tell us a little bit about your current role as the senior director of HR technology at Microsoft. Yeah.
[00:03:25] Rajamma: Um, I'm, uh, leading a team of product owners, uh, it, within what we call us employee experience organization within Microsoft digital. So our internal technology arm is called Microsoft digital and, um, um, obviously we place a lot of emphasis on employee experience.
[00:03:43] So the whole organization is called employee experience rather than call HR technology or anything else. Um, here we actually, within the organization, we, uh, We basically address the physical and digital experiences across Microsoft for any employee that is going to interact with [00:04:00] Microsoft. So whether the desk that you're sitting, where they're, you know, getting into the office or, you know, shuttles and the cafeteria, and, uh, those are the physical and then the digital are all the experiences, whether it is human resources.
[00:04:12] Uh, legal or otherwise. And so it's kind of that organization under which I belong. I know it's a little bit of a long-winded answer, but you need to see the context. And then in my product, I own the products that, uh, are, my team wants to be. That we serve up for our employees, uh, that are related to all of onboarding to offboarding and, uh, they, all of these experiences and any experiences that we use for, um, our support personnel intern that are serving up our, uh, employees and so on.
[00:04:43] So that, that is the area of, um, my friends. He had it in
[00:04:48] Amanda: Microsoft. Yeah. That's great. You know, when you think about Microsoft, it's such a big company and you're managing the HR right. From hire to leave. Um, just, just out of curiosity, how do you keep that [00:05:00] individual user experience in the forefront as you're implementing these big, these big
[00:05:05] Rajamma: roll-up.
[00:05:06] It's very common in big companies where you have massive HR organizations, massive technology organizations, to forget the person that you're serving that is the employee. And so at Microsoft, we, we are very much conscious of that failure that we can get into that gap we may fall into. So over the last few years, we have made sure that.
[00:05:29] Whatever we do employees at the forefront, the silos of our organization, you know, whether it is we have, even within HR, you have the centers of excellence, you know, talent and, and learning and, and, you know, um, recruitment and so on. We don't want employees to feel those silos. So we are creating a singular experience.
[00:05:47] We are trying. Uh, we are not perfect yet trying to create a singular experience for employees or managers, for whatever hat they wear or wherever they are, you know, in terms of wherever they are in the world or [00:06:00] wherever they are in the, in their career or whatever they are doing in their lives. So whether they are a new parent or they are getting mad at, or they're adopting a child, or whether they are becoming a new manager or just coming into Microsoft and getting onboarded and drive.
[00:06:12] But then a new college hire or, you know, I have, they have great deal of experience at Microsoft and so on. So we are conscious of who you are, where you are and how you are in order to kind of serve up the experience. And that is how all of this is based on data. So we don't like go and ask everybody what we know about you, because we, you are applying for your parental leave.
[00:06:32] We know about you because you're asking, searching for. Um, you know, adoption, not tuition and stuff like that. And we know that because we hired you from a college just a year ago. So all of this information is used to kind of relay that back into the experiences that we want to show up. It's very important because at any given company, what we forget is all of these physical and digital experiences are what you call us the culture.
[00:06:57] Culture is not something that you separately write [00:07:00] down and they know everybody's like, oh, this is culture. This is, but it is this, it is this organization of all of this beautiful experiences that you have. And then you can walk out and say, you know what? Microsoft is good, great culture or not. You know, it depends on how you feel about it, but, but that's how I, that's how we see it.
[00:07:16] So we use data very much to drive the experience. Yeah,
[00:07:20] Amanda: absolutely. Um, just a little bit about me. I work, I've worked in internal communications, like corporate internal communications for many years. So I've always worked very closely with like HR employee experience it. Um, so it's a real treat for me today to get, to get your perspective on a lot of the questions that I have for you.
[00:07:38] Um, because you'd mentioned working in silos and then, you know, really there's a, the HR employee experience, internal communications, it help build that culture. Through multiple ways. So I'm really excited and a little bit to ask some questions about related to those. Uh, but I want to start with a segment we're calling story time.[00:08:00]
[00:08:04] You have well over two decades of experience at fortune 100 companies, specifically creating. Multi-year digital HR vode maps that both Microsoft and Pfizer, looking back. Can you share some of the similarities and differences between the rollouts of those roadmaps at the various companies you've worked.
[00:08:23] Rajamma: Human needs are the same, regardless of whether you're in a you're in a company that is, you know, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, like I was in Pfizer or in Monsanto are you are actually working in a company that is serving up technology for digital transformations of the various enterprises. At the end of the day, there is a human being that is coming to work every day and asking for, you know, I need to, I need to focus on my work.
[00:08:47] So help me focus on my work. If I'm a manager helped me manage my team better. Grow in my career helped me learn new skills, uh, helped me when I need you for when my family needs [00:09:00] me and stuff like that. So those basic needs of an individual coming to work and earning a living doesn't change just because you work in a different county.
[00:09:08] So from that perspective, it's very common. I mean, I have logged in now three different coaching for 100 companies or 500 companies. And those are very common, a little bit to add on that is it doesn't matter which country you are in the same needs occur. You know, there might be different situations that are going in different countries, different economic situations, different geography situations, and you know, sometimes even climate related situations, but at the end of the.
[00:09:33] It is the, the needs are the same when it comes to working in a technology company versus a non-technology company, is that at Pfizer, I was technology. So everyone else was either, you know, manufacturing drugs, or, you know, selling it. And so when I said something, it was easier for me to convince other people that this is the, did I.
[00:09:52] Here, everybody's a technologist. So everyone has an opinion about what technology to use. How do you, um, uh, [00:10:00] how do you implement it? So when we roll out something in, at, uh, at Microsoft, we get a lot more feedback. So it keeps us on our toes. Always, you know, we, can't just kind of be complacent about what we are doing.
[00:10:11] We are constantly getting feedback. What we are doing, how we are doing and why we are doing. And, um, because our employees are serving the same thing to the other customers and other enterprises in the world. So we have to be the best, even if you're not like going for that goal, we have to, because we have the demands are placed on us because of that.
[00:10:33] Amanda: Yeah. I want to just point out something you said that really has just struck me, that I haven't really thought about until this exact. You said we're addressing the human needs. And I think that's so much different than addressing employee needs. It's it's it's broader, right? Employee needs is how do I sign up for benefits?
[00:10:50] Human needs are, I want to adopt a child that where I want to I'm having a child. I think that's super important. If our listeners take one thing away about how to improve the employee experience, think [00:11:00] about the human experience. That's super critical. So thank you for, so really bringing that. I want to switch gears a little bit here.
[00:11:06] I read that you advised and mentor startups innovating in HR technologies. As you're able to talk about them, who are these companies and what excites you the most about the future of HR technology?
[00:11:20] Rajamma: Like I said, I love to work in the crossroads of technology and HR. I mean, imagine this is just like, I love the fact that technology, when it says, uh, for when it's used for the right purposes and enables certain things and you can see the.
[00:11:36] Uh, reaction, you know, I'm the, I'm an employee that's going to use my product. So I'm able to kind of, it's again, a kind of an instant gratification that circle comes full very quickly for us. That's why, where the, the advancements in technology, in terms of the artificial intelligence and, you know, using data to kind of inform you, to predict, to be able to.
[00:11:58] Target, um, [00:12:00] experiences to be able to, you know, even before the employee is thinking about it, to be able to have suggestions, you know, you talked about human experiences, we call it moments, moments that matter for an employee. So how do you identify those moments that matter even before the employee does the, at the, the baby.
[00:12:16] How do you create great teams using technology? How do you coach employees? How do you up-skill them? How do you keep them engaged? How do you, um, make, make sure that they're energized to come to work the next day? Um, how do you create, how do you enable your culture to be propagated through technology?
[00:12:34] And so all of this is, you know, comes with the advancements in technology. Technology is a great place to connect people, whether it's the social platforms. Are, you know, uh, I mentor companies that are. Looking in the area of women who have gone off work and coming back to work. And you know, how do you enable a platform for them to find work?
[00:12:55] Women who are 55 and 50 years older who are coming, wanting to [00:13:00] kind of stay in work. And how do you. Jobs for them, people who are disabled from, from, uh, you know, lesser, fortunate communities and stuff like that. And how do you find solutions for them? How do you reduce the time that it takes to get anything done?
[00:13:15] All of these are companies that I kind of work in support, uh, in terms of understanding what they do and how do I mentor in areas? Because I come from 23 years of working in this space. And how do I kind of take that. Knowledge and translate into, uh, what the companies are doing and I, and how can I, um, make them even better in my own little ways, basically.
[00:13:39] That's why I'm mentoring these areas.
[00:13:41] Amanda: Yeah. And I'm going to have some more questions to very more detailed, specific questions about that, but I want to move into. Segment, we're calling it, getting tactical.
[00:13:51] Producer: I'm trying
[00:13:51] Rajamma: to
[00:13:51] Sponsor: figure
[00:13:52] Rajamma: out tactics and it'd be prevalent. And I didn't have to worry about tactics to merge here.
[00:13:57] I am in charge of driving to see why didn't you sleep [00:14:00] some tactics, tactics.
[00:14:03] Amanda: One topic that I face in internal communications and have for years is the topic of tech, governance and collaboration, right? Specifically when technology intersects across different departments and stakeholders. So like HR employee experience it, internal corporate communications in today's new world of we're all pretty much working remote or a large majority of people during the pandemic.
[00:14:28] These technologies used to be helping people do their job. More core to how we are working in learning and working together. Um, think of like teams, slack, right? It used to be, you would get on there, you could chat with someone now it's how we meet each other. And the new, new employee experience there will continue to be the strong, collaborative relationships between HR employee experience it and communications, but there's almost these visible lines in the sand when it comes to govern.
[00:14:58] Can you talk a little about [00:15:00] how you see the role of different stakeholders, employee experience, internal communications, and it, when it, when we talk about governance of these technologies that are designed to improve the employee expense,
[00:15:12] Rajamma: Absolutely for me, everything begins that data life begins at data when it comes to employee experiences, uh, we really need to, and it comes from listening and the listening that years that we put on the ground through whether it is HR or through our communication stuff, daily pulses, the poles that we have for our employees that tell us that they need certain things that tell us that, for example, It's getting very tiresome to work during the pandemic with children.
[00:15:41] What are you company doing to kind of give me productive, keep me engaged to keep me employed while I give you back. What, what can you give me something to kind of work through that? So those are all listening devices. We put on the ground in various ways with between the internal communications and. So, and even in it, so a [00:16:00] research arm, which, which basically kind of com consumes the information from the, uh, from the employees.
[00:16:06] And then, um, think of, so if you have that, and then HR has HR is responding with the definite programs. So then you see HR, for example, at Microsoft, we said, oh, you're getting hard for you to, um, you know, take care of your children. Here you go. Three months of pandemic childcare leave for you. From Microsoft.
[00:16:27] So employees who are children could take that and avail that. And so in some cases, both parents were working for Microsoft for six months. They were able to take care of their children over the year, while they were getting paid by Microsoft. So that does the implementation of the programs came from the, uh, comes from the, um, the.
[00:16:49] So they are listening and, you know, the programs are getting, getting designed. So there, now that the programs need to begin to have enabled so that people who are going to have to take those leaves need, need a [00:17:00] place to kind of, uh, apply and, you know, maintain and all of that stuff. So how do you manage, um, manage that?
[00:17:06] That's all through the technology. So at the end of the day, Um, the three of them are, have to work very closely together to make sure that we don't kind of fall off of. I'm telling you to do something kind of, it's always needs to come from the, the information that we are gathering on a daily basis from our, on our, whatever, the frequency basis from our employees and that, and also from the.
[00:17:28] So if our employees are seeing that other companies are doing certain things, you know, if, uh, I'll just go a Google as gay giving that kind of abandonment mentally or something like that, they're going to move. So talent is of essence. So you've got to make sure that people are listening and people are clued in.
[00:17:44] And then, you know, how do you take those programs and apply that? And again, as I said before, it all comes from the data or the information that we gather inside and out.
[00:17:54] Amanda: Yeah. And what role do you think the leadership at the company level? The C-suite level plays in this as well? [00:18:00]
[00:18:00] Rajamma: They can help by ensuring that the three, three arms are working well together, and more importantly, they can help prioritize.
[00:18:08] So it becomes very natural for people to think that one is more important than the other, but people sitting at that level are more clued into what else about the company. So not everything that rises up can be immediately acted on. So you have to kind of balance it with the economic realities of the company or economic realities of the place where you are situated.
[00:18:29] Oh, the geography or the political or whatever realities of the situation is. And then you kind of react to those situations based on those. So they have that know-how, I'm the, they should kind of bring in the leadership in terms of prioritizing for the, for whatever you bring up.
[00:18:44] Amanda: You mentioned the three arms working together.
[00:18:47] What advice would you give someone if those three arms aren't working together? I
[00:18:52] Rajamma: would almost step back and ask yourself the question, what, what outcomes that you're looking for instead of worrying about, I said [00:19:00] that HR, so you do it, it or it, I know better because, so I'm going to do it or internal communication saying something totally different from other two.
[00:19:09] I think the best way to do it is to come together and kind of figure out what our vision. What is our outcome? What is the desired outcome together? Is it about you, me and the, uh, on the other, or is it about the employee? If you're going to put in play at the center of this equation, put it together and, and play experience, vision, write down what you want to do.
[00:19:30] What are the pillars that you want to go? What are the principles? What are the guard rails that you want to be controlled under? And then what is it that is going to dictate? What, how do you navigate this journey? Basically, like I said, Use the information that their employees are giving your employees are the best to tell you what to do.
[00:19:48] And then, and then use your leaders to kind of help, uh, you know, prioritize what you need to do. So in a way, start with your outcomes, what business values you want to drive and together you will be able to come to [00:20:00] a common place. We had the same struggle too, but we have. Um, over the last few years we have made it so that it is, it is the data that is driving our decisions, not just, uh, how each of us feel about what, because in blades feelings could be very opinionated.
[00:20:14] I mean, we all have opinions about anything that we see. Right. You know, if we look at an artwork, I like it. You don't like it. And so on. So in play experience a similar, um, especially when it, as you roll it out within the company, but when majority of our employees are saying. Yay or nay about something then, you know, you kind of get the idea and you get the news.
[00:20:32] So you basically, uh, react to
[00:20:34] Amanda: that. You mentioned a lot about data, data's really driving so much, but outside of data, what resources or what are you doing? To help stay ahead of other big companies, the Googles and the world to really help understand the trends and, and, um, you know, in the industry and technology that, uh, help you better facilitate a better employee experience in this virtual environment.
[00:20:59] Rajamma: I mean, [00:21:00] luckily I worked for a company that not only. He creates digital experiences for our own employees. We created for the enterprise outside of our company as well. Uh, so we have tons of information that we gather. We do research. We, we understand about, uh, everything and, uh, associated with people working in the future of work.
[00:21:19] You know what, well, how are people working? What's going to happen in hybrid? How are we thinking about like, you know, making sure that people still feel engaged are in a community, are working in teams. Are are contributing and are feeling good about contributing and are still wanting to work for your company.
[00:21:35] So all of this information we gathered through our research, we have a lot of research done at Microsoft and we use that and I'm sorry, but I have to go back to that data because that research uses that data. Um, and we, we use that like, uh, for example, um, You've heard about the great reshuffle, uh, you know, uh, our research shows that over 30,000, I mean, we did a research with about [00:22:00] 30,000 people in 31 countries and it shows that 41% of the employees are considering an employer change this year.
[00:22:06] I mean, that's huge. 46% are con you know, could move if they are allowed to work remotely. That's huge. It's like almost 50% of your employee population is ready to kind of migrate. I mean, that is huge. So we, those that kind of gives us an idea of hope. What do you need to do about your talent and you know, how do you place other things that I do is that I participate in a lot of forums outside of Microsoft.
[00:22:32] Um, To, uh, in forums that specifically to use these forums are about HR technology. What are the trends? And I also speak to other tech companies in this area and people who are in my job in other tech companies to kind of understand their, how they are dealing with some of these pain
[00:22:49] Amanda: points. Absolutely.
[00:22:51] Well, if it was in a perfect. If you had all the data you wanted, all the information you needed, um, what is one tech [00:23:00] change you would make that would absolutely instantly improve the employee experience?
[00:23:05] Rajamma: I would make everything come to the employee rather than employee going to. You know, uh, so that, that is, I would say, and that is exactly what we call as the employee working in diploma of work.
[00:23:16] I mean, getting productive during the flow of work. So you are, you're working in your outlook, you're working in your team, you're working in your slack or whatever. How about all of your experiences? Just show up in those places where you're working so that you're not like, oh, today I have to do this. So I have to find that portal.
[00:23:32] And this is the URL for that portal. Or, you know, I'm storing it somewhere or anything like. Instead, it just comes to me and I'm able to just kind of do that work. That that would be my dream in play experience for.
[00:23:45] Amanda: That's one, actually that I've always thought that if you're a person of your experience with so personalized and right there and immediate that's actually, that was the one I've been thinking about as I've been building these questions as a, as an employee that would make my life so much easier.
[00:23:58] I don't have to go find [00:24:00] the link to Workday or to it's all right here for me. That's, that's, I'm really glad to hear that. And I'm glad that. And maybe one day you'll be working on that. We
[00:24:10] Rajamma: actually have started at Microsoft. So if you have heard about the product called Viva, okay. It is going to be writing.
[00:24:17] It's a platform for experiences within teams. So it's a, it's a product, but we are going to adopt it in Microsoft. Obviously we are the customer zero. Well,
[00:24:26] Amanda: I'm really excited to hear that. That's awesome. That's so cool that y'all working on that. Um, I will definitely be keeping an eye on that. One more question.
[00:24:34] I want to ask here, um, sort of about this employee experience of spiritual employee experience, what is the one issue that comes to your mind of working remote or virtual? That isn't getting enough attention? Let
[00:24:47] Rajamma: me just start with the positive. It does democratize the team, right? In a way everybody's in the same situation everybody's working out of the, their, their bedrooms or their closets.
[00:24:58] They can find a [00:25:00] quieter space. So that has kind of equalized. I think what this has done is that it has, um, you know, totally taken away the line between home and. It has taken away those margins. It has taken away the commutes. It has taken away, which becomes like there are, there is no division between my home and my work in some ways.
[00:25:24] It is saving some time. In some other ways, there is no time that you cannot, you have to stop working. Some companies are making, um, specific things to gain of, uh, call that a day or, you know, shut it down or have kind of a mindset to do that. And our. Uh, commute something, you know, so that you can get away from work.
[00:25:44] But this is actually not very healthy, that we are always at the Beck and call of the work and that it's like three steps away from your bed, literally. And that is not going to be a great place to be. And I think as we think about the hybrid workspace of the future, we [00:26:00] really needed to start thinking about how do you make that a reality for each individual that as well.
[00:26:05] Amanda: Yeah, I know. I definitely feel that everything you just said, it's nice that I can run downstairs and throw a load of laundry in the water. But I'll be sitting here until 8:00 PM while my dinner is getting cold. So you, you, yeah, I totally, I agree with that. I was from my own experience as well. I'm going to move on to the next segment, ripped from the headlines.
[00:26:28] Sponsor: Our stories ripped from the headlines.
[00:26:31] Amanda: I would be remiss if I didn't ask a question about Pfizer to you've since you've worked there, hypothetically, if you were back at Pfizer as the director of HR business technology, and we rewind to the start of the pandemic, right. Knowing what you know now, how do you imagine your role would have changed?
[00:26:50] Rajamma: I would be doing one in a little bit based what I'm doing right now. Right. In the sense that I might, I need to start thinking about [00:27:00] experiences that, uh, that, um, you know, employees experiences that are not just about making sure that, you know, you can change your address and you're able to, as a manager, you're able to promote your employee or, you know, as you're onboarding that you will give you a great onboarding, but all of this available digitally.
[00:27:19] I, you know, that those physical touchpoints are gone. So how do I make sure that, that those physical touch points are transformed digitally? And as I'm doing that, I'm also considering the employee wellness. That I'm not forgetting that the, at the end of the human experience, that is a human and that I need to treat them like, and I want to make sure that if I'm going to tell the employee that, you know, you have a meeting at 10 o'clock, I'm also going to tell the employee that it's 10 50 and you might want to like stop it right now instead of an entire hour.
[00:27:51] I suggestion to kind of have a 15 minute meeting rather than. And go take a walk or, you know, our go pet your dog or get a cup of tea or [00:28:00] whatever you can do during the day so that you don't feel like, you know, you're glued to your screen all the time. So it's about making it's about thinking about experiences in a very different way than I had when I was at Pfizer, because at Pfizer, everybody was coming to work and, you know, I, in some cases for experiences, I had.
[00:28:19] For people who did not have computers, you know, we had manufacturing plans and stuff like that. So now I have to make sure that that experiences are mobile. So I need to make sure that they, they are, they have it in devices that they can access. Obviously we don't, we won't have remote manufacturing, but wherever, uh, wherever the employees are, we need to make sure that the experiences are, and that they don't have to travel to the experience of the experiences traveled to them.
[00:28:44] Yeah,
[00:28:45] Amanda: I have to imagine that your experience over the pantomime through the pandemic at Microsoft has really impacted. Sort of that roadmap you may have come up with at the beginning pre pandemic. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to move on to the next segments are [00:29:00] final segments called asking for a friend, which destiny,
[00:29:05] Sponsor: Hey, asking for a friend
[00:29:14] Amanda: as a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career?
[00:29:19] Rajamma: Ah, it's not just about being a female leader. It's about being a female leader in tech and, uh, you know, it's jokingly called it's great to be a female leader in tech because there are no lines in the bathroom.
[00:29:32] Amanda: I've never heard that.
[00:29:34] That's
[00:29:35] Rajamma: yeah, it is not as joyful as you would think to not have those lines. I would rather have those. I do believe things are changing now. I'm not going to like, you know, things are changing and we have to make the change. We have to bring about that change to bring not just the females. It's also about all other communities of, uh, you know, marginalized communities.
[00:29:53] We need to make sure that all everyone shows up in the tech world because everything is. I mean, especially after the [00:30:00] pandemic, digital transformation is everywhere. And so we need to kind of, uh, close that gap and bring everybody to the table. But since you asked specifically about the female, I think it is important and I'm going to focus on the tech part of it.
[00:30:13] It is important to increase the students to go into. Science and technology, especially the girls to kind of embrace that. I have found myself in meetings where I'm the only one talking and kind of being talked over and, you know, my wife's just louder just because of that, you know, you have to kind of be a little bit out there to be heard and so on.
[00:30:34] So I don't want that for our next generation. I want our next generation to be. Equally in the room or in the virtual room, wherever they're working anymore, uh, to be able to be heard and, uh, and, um, follow up because this is happening in a lot of ways, but we have a lot of way to go in terms the long way to go to kind of achieve that from a.
[00:30:57] From making sure that we don't even have [00:31:00] to ask that question. Our female leaders, our female leaders in tech and a thing, because it's just a normal thing to have female leaders in tech. And, and I'm hoping I'm doing my little things by encouraging students, um, not just across the us, but across other countries too.
[00:31:19] Kind of focused on the science of technology to be in interested in mathematics, to be interested in engineering, to be interested in coding and make sure that they can actually move on to that. Um, and I, I feel like when you keep them engaged with that, most bills love coding. They love. There is that logical thing about, uh, how, um, I think a female brain works that it adapts to coding very nicely.
[00:31:43] And I'm not saying the other way that the males don't think logically, so don't, don't get me wrong, but I think, um, and they, they get very interested. So it is, it takes. But it, even if we do one person, one person at the time, uh, we will be able to [00:32:00] make a, make the change for this.
[00:32:02] Amanda: Yeah. What advice do you give when you speak to women who want to go into tech or as you know, you said, you know, maybe marginalized communities who want to go into tech, what advice do you give them?
[00:32:12] Rajamma: I tell them, I first, I actually taught, talked to them about, uh, how, what digital or what tech can do in the world. I mean, most people don't understand, you know, how, um, you know, even the fact that their phone works. Um, how does that work? You know, so kind of bringing it down to their everyday lives and how does it change the everyday lives?
[00:32:34] Kind of talk about that. But more importantly, I talked to them about how easy is it to. Science and technology, how rewarding it would be to be learning how to code, because it's instant gratification. You don't people who are like had, for example, you know, mental barriers about talking to other people, or, you know, are, are normally very reticent in terms of having social contact or stuff like that.
[00:32:59] They're [00:33:00] great at like sitting at a computer and getting coding done. These things are. So I tell them all of the advantages that you might have in terms of just having a work that will pay them well, but in also instantly reward them because you will get a program written and it'll work and you'll all feel good about it.
[00:33:16] And so on. And I to it'll work, not just for you to work, to serve the world, you know, you might, you might be designing the next bit, but something that will go into, uh, people being healthy. You know, whatever. I mean, I could go on and on about what technology can do. Yeah.
[00:33:32] Amanda: Yeah. Can you take a quick step back when I mentioned, what advice would you give them?
[00:33:36] What's some advice that's maybe been given to you or something that's really helped put you on the path that you are and your very successful career that you would like to share.
[00:33:46] Rajamma: We uncommitted. You know, big, comfortable in being uncomfortable was this was something that was given to me. It's like, and I have always followed that.
[00:33:55] It's like, oh, I'm a, I'm slightly uncomfortable. I mean, the public speaking, I'm [00:34:00] a, I'm a, I'm a, you know, geek and love to be in on my own a lot. But this whole idea of speaking and speaking up and speaking outside, all of that comes to me from being a little bit slightly uncomfortable to do that. And over a period of time kind of learn to be, and then there is the next uncomfortable thing that you want to do.
[00:34:20] And there is some it's like riding a roller coaster, you know, nobody's comfortable riding a roller coaster. So then, you know, that's, that's how I see. Um, that's, that's an advice that was given to me and I will. I thought that was a great advice to have for anybody. Yeah. I've
[00:34:35] Amanda: heard that. That's, that's becoming something that's more talked about that being uncomfortable for me.
[00:34:40] I've just been hearing it over the past, maybe five years. And that's made a huge impact on how I interact with employees with different departments, what decisions I make, even in my personal life, I feel like I want to get one of those like pretty signs that you see that have cursive that has that, just that on it and put it up in my [00:35:00] office.
[00:35:00] Just, just a good reminder of be comfortable in the past. Yes, exactly. Exactly.
[00:35:05] Rajamma: I've made, you know,
[00:35:08] Amanda: the whole branding pens, like preventing. Uh, last question. Um, we may have already touched on this, but I want to see, what do you think is the next big shift in technology related to the employee experience that you see coming out of the virtual virtual work
[00:35:23] Rajamma: environment?
[00:35:24] I think I spoke about this a lot earlier as well. If you want talent, this is a problem today, and it's going to be a problem tomorrow. You have to keep your talent and. And upskilled. I mean, it's going to be harder to keep going and oh, you want another skill? You want to go get another person. So having a very good understanding of what your, what the company's needs are for data.
[00:35:47] I know I'm kind of going back to that. So understanding what your needs are, understanding where your employees are to be, and, um, and making sure that they are kept engaged in, uh, an enriched through skilling and upskilling and [00:36:00] so on is going to be, and how you do. It's going to be your next, uh, basically your challenge, but not just about the company and the employees.
[00:36:09] It is also going to be about the wellbeing of the patient. As people start working remotely more and more that community and, you know, water cooler conversations and all of that is not going to be that anymore. So now you're going to want to bring the community back online. And how do you do that? What kind of steps you will take to make sure employees are well by themselves and communities are well in teams and accompanied as well as the larger community is something that you need to focus on.
[00:36:38] Amanda: I'm going to take three big things away from this person. Data being uncomfortable and thinking about the human experience over the employee experience. So Raja, this has been so much fun and so informational for me, but before I want to, like before I let. Please let our listeners know where they can find you.
[00:36:57] And if there's anything else you would like for them [00:37:00] to hear from you,
[00:37:01] Rajamma: you can always find me on LinkedIn. Roger, mark Krishnamurti on LinkedIn. Happy to connect with everybody. Um, I would say if there are women and girls listening any age, any, uh, any. Just remember that science and technology could get your take your far.
[00:37:17] So get into it. It is, it's a great place to be. Nothing else. Just be happy in what you do. Thank
[00:37:23] Amanda: you so much for joining me today. This has been wonderful.
[00:37:27] Rajamma: Thank you very much. Thanks for their time. And it was wonderful talking to you, Amanda. Thank you.
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