Most Indian organisations today measure engagement with more rigour than they measure almost anything else about their people. Pulse surveys, annual studies, dashboards, and the occasional heatmap have become standard HR infrastructure. Yet the people who actually run employee relations will tell you a quieter truth: the number on the slide rarely explains why someone resigned on a Tuesday, why a team’s output has dropped, or why the best performer in a function stopped speaking up in meetings. The most important signals tend to sit outside the window of employee engagement surveys.
In this conversation, HR Leader Abhisha Shukla takes a close, unsentimental look at the everyday texture of workplace life that formal instruments often miss. Her lens is less interested in what the engagement score says than in what sits underneath it, the small frictions that never become formal grievances, the gap between a well-drafted policy and the manager who has to live it, the trust that quietly erodes with every unexplained payroll deduction, the behavioural cues that signal trouble long before an exit interview catches them. Abhisha’s view is practical rather than theoretical, shaped by years of sitting across the table from employees in situations where the policy answer and the human one did not always match.
TPB Team: Engagement surveys tell us how employees feel at a point in time. From your experience, what important workplace issues do they often fail to capture?
Abhisha: From my point of view as a Head of HR, engagement surveys are useful for understanding employee engagement or sentiment, but they do not always reveal the real picture.
Surveys often fails to capture day- day workplaces issues, such as quality of managers, workload pressure, internal politics, communication gaps, lack of recognition, and fairness in decision – making.
For example, Employees may not share honest opinions due to fear of judgment or concern about confidentiality. They most of the time give positive responses even when they are facing real challenges.
As an HR Head, I believe engagement surveys should be supported by regular one-on-one discussions, exit interviews, skip-level meetings, and analysis of attrition and absenteeism trends.
TPB Team: What are some everyday employee concerns that may never become formal grievances but still affect trust and engagement?
Abhisha: There are many employee concerns that never become formal grievances, but they can gradually affect trust, motivation, and engagement.
Some common examples are feeling undervalued, lack of recognition, perceived favouritism, inconsistent treatment by managers, limited career growth, and poor communication from leadership and lack of transparency.
As an HR Head, I believe we should not wait for a formal complaint to arise; we should do regular one-to-one conversations. For me. Building trust means creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up, believe they will be treated fairly, and see that their feedback leads to meaningful action.
TPB Team: How much does a manager’s day-to-day behaviour shape employee experience, even when an organisation has strong HR policies?
Abhisha: In my view, a manager’s day-to-day behaviour has a significant impact on employee experience, because employees may read the organization’s culture through their immediate manager.
An organisation can have strong HR policies around work-life balance, performance management, recognition, and career development, but if managers do not implement them fairly and consistently, the policies lose their effectiveness.
For example, a manager who communicates respectfully, recognises good work, provides constructive feedback, and treats everyone fairly can build trust and motivation. On the other hand, micromanagement, favouritism, poor communication, or a lack of appreciation can lead to disengagement, even when the organisation has excellent policies.
I believe our role as HR is not just to design policies but also to ensure they are practised consistently across teams. This requires regular manager training, leadership accountability, employee feedback, and monitoring team-level engagement and attrition.
TPB Team: Payroll is often seen as an operational function. How much can payroll errors, delays, or unclear deductions impact employee trust?
Abhisha: In my view, payroll is not just an operational function; it is one of the strongest foundations of employee trust. For example, incorrect salary credits, unexplained deductions, errors in PF or other statutory contributions, or delays in full and final settlements can make employees question the organization’s reliability and transparency.
I also believe how we communicate a payroll issue is as important as how quickly we resolve it. If an error occurs, employees should receive a clear explanation, timely resolutions and regular updates rather than having to follow up repeatedly. When payroll is managed well, it builds confidence in the organisation.
TPB Team: Where do you see the biggest gaps between HR policies on paper and how they are actually implemented by managers?
Abhisha: As per my experience, the biggest gap between HR policies and actual implementation usually occurs in performance management, leave and flexibility, employee recognition, career growth, and grievance handling. For example, an organisation may have a clear performance appraisal policy, but some managers may not provide regular feedback or may allow personal bias to influence evaluations.
I believe the issue is not always with the policy itself, but with how consistently managers understand, communicate, and implement it.
I would always encourage employees to share feedback without fear and conduct periodic reviews to identify gaps between policy and practice.
TPB Team: Employees don’t always speak up when something is wrong. What signs should HR watch for to identify concerns that aren’t being formally reported?
Abhisha: I believe employees often communicate their dissatisfaction through changes in their behaviour rather than words. I believe HR should identify concerns before they become formal grievances. Key signs include declining performance, reduced participation, frequent absenteeism, low motivation, and increased attrition within a team.
An HR approach would always be to monitor these patterns, conduct regular one-on-one and skip-level discussions, and encourage honest feedback in a safe environment.
TPB Team: How can HR address small, recurring workplace frictions before they turn into larger employee-relations issues?
Abhisha: In my view, small issues should be addressed before they become bigger problems. HR should encourage open communication, listen to employees, identify recurring concerns, and resolve them fairly and promptly.
My focus is always on early action, clear communication, and building trust to prevent workplace conflicts from escalating.
TPB Team: Compliance can sometimes become a checklist exercise. How can HR ensure it translates into fair and consistent employee practices?
Abhisha: I believe compliance should go beyond documentation. HR must ensure that policies are implemented fairly and consistently across all teams. Regular audits, manager training, and employee feedback help identify gaps and ensure accountability.
Compliance must be a part of everyday workplace practices, not just a checklist.
TPB Team: Beyond engagement scores, which indicators give HR a more realistic picture—grievances, absenteeism, payroll complaints, exits, manager feedback, or something else?
Abhisha: I would look at a combination of indicators. However, the real insight comes from identifying recurring patterns.
For me, employee behaviour and feedback are more meaningful than engagement scores alone.
TPB Team: Technology is making HR operations more efficient, but where do you believe human judgement remains critical in employee relations?
Abhisha: Technology can improve HR efficiency and can support decisions, but human judgement remains critical in handling employee grievances, conflicts, sensitive discussions, and disciplinary matters. Every employee situation is different and requires empathy, fairness, and understanding.
TPB Team: HR often has to balance employee concerns with business priorities. From your experience, what helps maintain trust and fairness on both sides?
Abhisha: From my experience, the key is to listen to employees, understand business requirements, and make decisions based on fairness, transparency, and company policies.
Clear communication, transparency, and consistent treatment help employees feel heard while ensuring business objectives are met.
TPB Team: Looking back at your HR experience, what is one everyday workplace issue you feel organisations still underestimate?
Abhisha: I think organisations often underestimate the impact of small, everyday employee concerns. For example, when employees feel unheard, their efforts go unrecognised, or managers fail to communicate clearly, it gradually affects their motivation and trust.
From an HR Perspective and based on my experience, I believe addressing these small issues on time can make a real difference in employee engagement and retention.
What runs through this conversation is a reminder that employee experience is built, or broken, in the small moments that rarely get a dashboard of their own. A salary credited on time without a follow-up email, a manager who closes the loop on feedback, a one-on-one that creates space for the uncomfortable thing to be said, a grievance that is heard before it has to become formal.
These are not high-visibility initiatives, and they do not survive a town hall unless someone is actively protecting them. Yet, as Abhisha reminds us, they are the parts of HR work that quietly decide whether people stay engaged or merely stay in attendance. The organisations that take this seriously will not necessarily score higher on their next engagement survey. They will simply have fewer surprises in their attrition dashboard.
