Shikha Trivedi Singh | RNT Consulting Solutions

The Human Resources (HR) consulting industry in India has been witnessing significant growth, driven by the increasing need for strategic HR solutions among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Many companies, especially SMEs, are looking for expert advice to improve their employee management. HR consultants need to offer creative solutions that fit each company’s specific needs. They must also help businesses deal with challenges like keeping employees happy, helping them stay in the company, and using technology to make HR processes easier.
RNT Consulting Solutions, a boutique consulting firm founded in 2007, has established itself as a trusted partner for SMEs across India. Founded by the visionary duo of Ravi Trivedi and Shikha Trivedi Singh, the firm specializes in providing HR and marketing solutions that are deeply aligned with clients’s business objectives.
Ravi Trivedi brings over three decades of experience in manufacturing and engineering, leveraging his deep technical expertise to design effective recruitment strategies that meet the industry’s unique needs. Shikha Trivedi Singh, with over 13 years of experience in the IT and FMCG sectors, joined the firm in 2017, expanding its services to non-engineering companies and introducing a comprehensive HR outsourcing model tailored for owner-driven businesses.
RNT Consulting Solutions operates with a mission to constantly enhance its people-driven, business-focused approach, ensuring that every project is executed with dedication and precision. The firm’s services include HR solutions, recruitment outsourcing, HR shared services, and marketing solutions, all designed to help clients achieve high ROI.
In the spotlight is Shikha Trivedi Singh, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, featured in our prestigious “The 10 Most Influential HR Leaders to Watch in 2024” edition. In this exclusive interview, Shikha shares her insights and valuable lessons as an entrepreneur, offering advice on how to excel in the HR industry and build a successful company. Stay tuned to learn about them more.

Prime Insights: Can you share the story behind the inception of your company?

RNT was started by my father, Mr. R N Trivedi, in 2007, immediately after his retirement, at the behest of his erstwhile employers to provide technical manpower. My father is a retired mechanical engineer; since 2007, he has been helping the EPC. industry in sourcing engineering skills.
I joined him as a co-founder in 2017 after my corporate sabbatical of 5 years. I took the recruitment services to non-engineering companies and eventually decided to launch a model of complete outsourcing of HR functions for owner-driven companies.

Prime Insights: Can you share the journey that led you to become an HR leader?

From the days of my corporate experience as a marketing communications professional, I have always believed that the employees are the best brand ambassadors of the organization. The art of attracting, retaining, and developing employees is exactly the same as the sales effort of the organizations. The way we work to acquire and retain the clients, the same mindset and approach are needed to retain the employees.

This is a huge gap in SME organizations; people processes are always low on priority, which has a compounded ripple effect. Also, the fact that most of the SMEs are on the cusp of succession; unless people processes are streamlined, even the next generation of founders are not willing to join the businesses. Both of the above were a great opportunity for us to tap. We play the role of catalyst for change within the organization as well as the bridge between the two generations.

Prime Insights: What inspired you to pursue a career in human resources?

Honestly, I remain a marketing communication person at my core. I look at HR functions as a strategic department that has to create brand ambassadors. It is the most crucial yet most ignored function in SME/founder-driven businesses. I thrive on this challenge and am enjoying the career shift.

Prime Insights: What were the initial challenges you faced in the HR domain, and how did you overcome them?

The main challenges for setting up an HR department in an SME setup are lack of a driven approach, reluctance to change, and absence of tech platforms.
It takes time for the management to accept the change and look at it as a strategic investment of time and effort to ensure long-term results. The cultural setting is not an overnight deliverable; it takes foresight to envisage your organization at a certain level a decade down the line and then backward to build a team that will take you to your goal.

Prime Insights: How does your organization define and foster “trust” within the workplace?

We believe that every relationship within the organization exists because of the business itself. The best way to foster trust is to have extreme transparency. When founders are transparent in their dealings with the employees, it will resonate with some and keep them always aligned with the organization’s goals and best interests. Such an approach keeps the communication and decision organization-centric and fosters a trustworthy culture where people collectively are thinking towards the growth of the organization.

Prime Insights: What HR services or solutions does your company offer that set you apart from the competition?

RNT provides a unique combination of advisory and execution models for handling employee lifecycle management for SME founders. We work with the mission of freeing the time of the founders from HR management. The team structure that we compose for our client ensures a combination of strategic HR and the execution and running of daily HR ops.

Prime Insights: How well do you believe your employees are connected with the company’s culture and values?

We are building a purpose-driven team at RNT. Our own team of 45+ consultants mainly comprises women returning post-sabbatical. This purpose is a great uniformity in the team and also serves as bonding. We are collectively representing a picture of building a successful career post-career break. We are making career breaks unapologetic for women.

Prime Insights: What are the most effective HR initiatives or programs you have implemented to enhance employee engagement?

We look at employee engagement initiatives beyond festival celebrations. Some of our best work in employee engagement has been a result of the progressive thinking of our founder clients. We collaborated with their vision and conceptualized a shot-medium-long-term intervention to ensure employees aligned with the vision.
These could range from the identification of high potentials for the next level of growth through effective performance management, customized L&D, and creating a strategy for cascading effects.

Prime Insights: Have you introduced any new HR strategies or changes this year?

Standardization of processes and SOPs at all client places, showcasing the importance of investing in a good HRMS for long-term benefits, creating a succession plan, an effective performance management system, and many others.

Prime Insights: How do you measure the level of trust your employees have in your HR practices?

I measure employee trust in our HR practices by their active participation in initiatives, the number of referrals they share, and their willingness to approach HR directly with concerns rather than escalate issues or resign. These indicators demonstrate a positive and collaborative relationship with our HR team.

Prime Insights: When employees think of your HR department, what do you believe is the first thing that comes to their mind?

I hope that when employees think of our HR department, they first think of a supportive and approachable team that is genuinely committed to listening to their needs and concerns. I want them to feel confident that their voices will be heard, valued, and addressed in a fair and timely manner.

Prime Insights: What do you hope to achieve in the next year, both personally and professionally, as an HR leader?

A shift in the mindset of SME owners so that they realize that just like their clients, employees are equally important and need to be valued—it is your employees who will achieve the goals for you.

Prime Insights: What advice would you give to aspiring HR professionals looking to make a mark in the industry?

I would urge aspiring HR professionals to first see this function as business-driven. HR is NOT a backend support function; one needs to make a lot of effort to understand the business challenges and dynamics to design futuristic HR activities. No people management strategy can work in isolation from business. In my opinion, every HR professional first must become an ace recruiter and then move to HR operations. Unless one has understood the prospective talent mindset, internal HR strategies cannot be successful.