Asia CHRO Spotlight: Sanjoy Shaw of Givaudan

At Givaudan APAC F&B, Sanjoy with his team, is leading an APAC F&B Values programme to promote five core values (Trust, Respect, Passion, Creativity and Humility) in various creative ways to educate employees and encourage them to live these values day to day to strengthen a high-performance culture and build an inclusive workplace.

With more than 20 years of experience, Sanjoy Shaw, HR Head – Asia Pacific, Fragrance & Beauty Division, Givaudan, is passionate about driving human elements for purpose-driven business growth and inspiring others to become better versions of themselves.

HRM Magazine Asia sat down with Sanjoy to talk about how the role of the CHRO has evolved and why he remains passionate about the role he can continue to play in building an inclusive and high-performing culture in his organisation.

Can you share with us your main roles and responsibilities as HR Head, Asia Pacific, F&B, Givaudan?

Sanjoy Shaw: Currently, I am the Head-HR Asia Pacific, Fragrance & Beauty Division, Givaudan. My role covers matured and developing markets within Asia for 13 key countries. As a HR Partner, I work closely with my highly capable APAC/Country Business Leaders for enabling growth by preparing the organisation and talent to be future ready with a robust talent management, engagement and building winning culture initiatives. I am also a member of the Global F&B HRLT & APAC F&B Business Leadership Team. APAC is a very diverse and dynamic market with strong future growth potential and this makes talent management in this market very challenging and exciting for any HR professional.

With more than 20 years of experience in HR working for international brands such as Saint Gobain Glass, PepsiCo and now Givaudan, a global flavour and fragrance leader, how has the role of CHRO evolved in this period and what do you think are the key challenges facing HR leaders today?

Sanjoy Shaw: In terms of adding value to business, HR has evolved significantly in the last two decades from being transactional to being strategic and transformative. It has strengthened its space from being general to highly specialised in many ways. As the work, workplace and workforce evolved significantly over time, especially after Covid, HR is now playing a critical role in bringing physical, human and digital aspects of talent management together and creating a competitive talent advantage for the industry to win sustainably.

Human elements like leadership, culture and digital aspects have come to the fore and HR is likely to play a much bigger role to champion these in the coming decade. Over the last two decades, we have seen three major shifts: manual to highly automated HR processes for scale and efficiency; increased understanding of business by HR leaders to champion human aspects both locally and globally; and a lot more focus on building agility, flexibility, culture and wellbeing to create sustainable organisations for a multi-generational workforce.

“I am very passionate about three things: Building an inclusive and high-performance culture, developing leaders for the future, and leveraging HR analytics/ technology to make a difference with speed and efficiency.” – Sanjoy Shaw, HR Head, Asia Pacific, F&B, Givaudan.

Some of the key challenges facing HR leaders today are attracting and retaining top talents, managing hybrid work models, developing and maintaining high performance culture, upskilling and reskilling employees, promoting DEI and wellbeing in the workplace and using the right HR technologies for competitive advantage and workforce efficiency.  Managing change and transformation more frequently than before is a new reality that requires HR leaders to be more adaptive, agile and relevant.

How would you describe the current culture of Givaudan and what are you currently looking to improve on?

Sanjoy Shaw: We have a very strong organisational culture with our culture DNA at the core. This is all about inspiring and challenging our people to strive for more and doing it with our hearts and souls.  As part of our people pillar strategy, we are building an inclusive workplace where we all love to be and grow. In APAC F&B, we have started a journey of promoting five core values (Trust, Respect, Passion, Creativity and Humility) in various creative ways to educate our employees and encourage them to live these values day to day. This is assisting us in strengthening a high-performance culture and working together as one team. I believe these are key ingredients for our success and our leaders take strong ownership and are committed to lead by example.  

What are you particularly passionate about and how does this manifest in the everyday running of Givaudan?

Sanjoy Shaw: I am very passionate about three things: building an inclusive and high-performance culture, developing leaders for the future, and leveraging HR analytics/ technology to make a difference with speed and efficiency. These key goals and objectives give me something very exciting to look forward to everyday at work, offering challenges and opportunities in my role to learn and keep trying to improve things. In my current role, these elements connect me to various strategic and immediate HR interventions and initiatives that we as one HR team drive together. We are constantly asking ourselves why we are doing what we are doing and how it helps the business and employees to move forward.

Away from work, what are your hobbies and what do you do to recharge your yourself?

Sanjoy Shaw: I love reading about HR trends and industry practices thorough various channels, including HRM Magazine Asia, and enjoy connecting with industry colleagues to keep myself updated and relevant. I regularly go for jogging and swimming activities for my fitness. Traveling and exploring people, places, food and cultures keep me going and adds to my curiosity and my continuous learning. Reading leadership books adds to new perspectives in my life and motivates me to push myself out of comfort zones.

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If you were to advise aspiring HR leaders on what it takes to be successful today in one sentence, what would that be?

Sanjoy Shaw: Love your job, know your business, and think about how you can add value through your work and stay relevant.