Tejas Gokhale brings over two decades of deep, cross‑functional HR leadership to VOIS India, shaped by experience across HR Business Partnering, Rewards, Talent, and Organisational Effectiveness in large, technology‑led organisations. As Head of HR for VOIS India & Technology, he plays a pivotal role in enabling one of Vodafone Group’s largest global capability centres, supporting over 15,000 India‑based employees who drive digital transformation, innovation, and scaled enterprise solutions across global markets.
With a leadership philosophy rooted in blending data‑driven decision‑making with empathy and human‑centred design, Tejas has helped build a culture that balances performance, trust, inclusion, and wellbeing. This commitment is reflected in VOIS India’s consistent recognition by Great Place To Work®, including its ranking among India’s Best Companies To Work For 2025 (Top 100), securing the 15th position, along with multiple accolades across IT & IT‑BPM, DEIB, innovation, women, and millennials.
Q1. Your career spans global HR leadership roles across rewards, talent, and organizational effectiveness. What pivotal experiences have most influenced your leadership approach in a data-driven, technology-centric environment?
I have always believed that a well-rounded HR career needs to have a balance between roles that take you close to business (HR Business Partnering) as well as those that take you back the functional drawing board (Centres of Excellence in HR). I have been fortunate to have had over two decades in the Tech industry working across the length and breadth of the people function enabling a range of businesses/ functions and centers of excellence.
There have been several learning moments and turning points across these years, which have shaped my leadership style. The more significant ones being:
- Shifts from managing self to managing others to managing managers to managing leaders – reinventing my own value add across those progressions.
- Shifting from local to regional to global/ international roles – broadening the perspective, sensitivity to different circumstances from thousand miles, influencing across cultures.
- Swapping roles between business partnering and COE – made me either go fix that policy/ process that I wasn’t happy with OR go bear consequences of the policy that I rolled out last month.
- Ever evolving role of technology into HR delivery, including the changes pushed by pandemic, as well as the emerging role of AI – demand that I just don’t keep myself updated but also enable the team to adopt and lead the change.
Having lived and survived all these shifts have shaped my fundamental beliefs as a leader; which are:
- It’s a necessity to be a hands-on leader, who thrives on experimenting with the latest technology.
- The language that works best when you venture beyond your comfort zone or localized territory, is the language of data. Data isn’t just an enabler—it’s a leadership capability that elevates credibility and influence.
- It’s important to be deeply involved in whatever I do, but equally critical to be NOT attached to what has already been delivered.
- The scale and complexity of technology-lead shifts have deepened my conviction that technology must serve as a multiplier of human potential, not a replacement for it.
Together, these experiences have shaped a leadership style that combines human-centered design with operational rigor—ensuring HR remains both a strategic partner and a catalyst for transformation in a digital-first world.
Q2. How do you personally define a “great place to work,” and how does that definition shape your people strategy at VOIS India?
A great place to work, for me, is one where people feel trusted, respected, and genuinely supported—both professionally and personally. In conversations with colleagues, I often describe a great place to work as a space where individuals can bring their whole selves, maintain balance, and feel energized.
In other words, continued engagement to a workplace may be achieved when an organization:
- Ensures fair and competitive – pay, benefits and policies
- Presents exciting career prospects – through the assignments, development and growth opportunities
- Creates a workplace culture where colleagues will feel comfortable to bring their whole selves to work (what we often term as 100% Human)
VOIS’ recent recognitions reinforce this belief: the external acknowledgment of VOIS as a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture highlights the strength of our employee experience and culture. But beyond awards, the essence of a great workplace is the everyday environment we create—one that promotes wellbeing, encourages open dialogue, and enables people to thrive.
Ultimately, my definition of a great workplace drives us to prioritize wellbeing, capability building, performance excellence, and a culture where every employee feels valued and heard. This alignment between belief and strategy continues to guide how we build a workplace worthy of our people—today and for the future.
Q3. Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India are rapidly evolving into global innovation hubs. With VOIS delivering technology, operations, analytics, and customer services across 28 countries from 10 global locations, what industry shifts do you believe will most impact VOIS’ future trajectory?
India’s GCC ecosystem is undergoing a structural shift, evolving from cost-efficient delivery hubs into strategic engines of innovation. Several industry trends that at the moment are shaping trajectory for VOIS and the wider GCC industry include:
Rapid digital acceleration – AI, cloud adoption, automation, and cybersecurity continue to redefine global operating models. Industry reports highlight that aIled transformation, data analytics, and automation are among the strongest drivers of GCC growth in India.
Talent dynamics are shifting – GCC ecosystem in India is expected to witness significant growth through this decade, driven by strong, young digital talent base. This expansion is expected to be accompanied by rising demand for niche technology skills (AI/ML, Cloud, Cyber, etc.), competitive hiring markets, and the emergence of tier 2/3 talent hubs offering both scale and cost advantage.
GCCs moving up the value chain – Increasing number of roles expanding into global leadership, product ownership, and end-to-end service accountability. Shift up the value chain from operational support hubs to drivers of digital transformation.
Finally, regulatory and data-governance shifts, including stronger privacy frameworks and compliance expectations, will influence how GCCs build resilient digital systems and international operating models.
Together, these shifts along with our commercialization roadmap will shape VOIS’s role as a global strategic partner – across the Vodafone footprint.
Q4. How do you prepare an organization and the employees for a largescale shift in direction or ambition and what new mindsets, practices or capabilities do you consider essential when guiding VOIS India through major transitions?
Preparing an organization for a largescale shift begins with building clarity, alignment, and confidence. Over the past year, our transformation conversations at VOIS have reinforced that successful change requires early narrative setting, transparent communication, and leaders who act as owners of change across the organization, and not just their functions.
Discussions across extended leadership team in VOIS emphasize the importance of consistent storytelling, cross-functional visibility, and need for leaders to think and act as a collective global leadership of the organization.
A major transition also demands future-ready capabilities. While some of those may be specific to the context of the organization, in current times, accelerating AI-enabled ways of working is a critical capability to focus on. At the same time, it remains imperative that we update and embed our leadership standards, for our leaders to lead the transformation in real sense of the term.
Equally essential is enabling agility. The enabling functions ecosystem needs to swiftly move to cater to the demands of shifts in the business context. Since change is ever evolving, enabling functions like HR have to maintain a sharp focus on – market & context relevant policies, simplified processes, automation and data.
Last but not the least – Mindset shifts are critical. Teams must embrace the new organizational context and ambitions, collaborate without boundaries, and adopt tech-enabled ways of working.
To sum it up, preparing for major organizational transformation requires a combination of mindset, capability, narrative, and disciplined execution; while ensuring our people feel informed, empowered, and included in the journey.
Q5. As VOIS leads Vodafone’s digital transformation across markets, spanning cloud, cybersecurity, automation, and advanced analytics, what skills and capabilities are you focusing on to build a future-ready workforce?
Building a future-ready workforce at VOIS means equipping our people with the capabilities required to lead Vodafone’s digital transformation across several skill areas mentioned in the question and more. Across the industry, we are experiencing a distinct movement of people management from ‘role-based approach’ to ‘skills-based approach’, which makes skill building a critical topic for business success.
As regards the areas of focus for building future ready skills and capabilities, we focus on the following broad categories:
- Core focus on building deep technical/ functions skills relevant to the work areas
- Building skills relevant to the VOIS commercialization journey – e.g. Commercial acumen, consultative selling and so on
- AI Augmented Work – with varying degree of proficiency depending upon the function and role profile of individuals
- Leadership capabilities to lead the teams into commercialization journey with increasing degree of AI enablement
Together, these technical, behavioral, and future skills position VOIS India to lead Vodafone’s transformation with speed, resilience, and innovation.
Q6. VOIS positions itself as a purpose-led organization advocating “Inclusion for All”. What does inclusion personally mean to you, and how have you translated this philosophy into everyday experience?
To me, inclusion means humanity in action – ensuring every person feels seen, heard, valued, and able to show up as their authentic self. It goes far beyond representation; it’s about creating daily experiences where people feel psychologically safe, respected, and empowered to contribute meaningfully. Our 100% Human philosophy captures this beautifully, encouraging colleagues to bring their full selves to work and reinforcing a culture where belonging and wellbeing are central.
To bring this cultural element to life, like many other cultural dimensions, we believe in a multi-pronged approach that includes:
Inclusive policies and practices – right from the way the policy guidelines are worded, to including provisions/ facilities/ benefits that address colleagues (and where applicable families) from all walks of life and individual preferences. We take a lot of pride in being continuous learners of the diversity that exists among and around us.
Inclusivity in day-to-day employee experience – A lot of focus on embedding core elements of our culture and emerging nuances into how colleagues interact with each other on a day-to-day basis. Our learning interventions lay a lot of focus on sensitizing colleagues across the organization about their roles and responsibilities related to creating an inclusive workplace.
Channelizing feedback and concerns – We appreciate the fact that in a large organization of VOIS’s size, colleagues may have feedback or concerns about a few experiences that are not in line with principles of inclusive work culture. We have established various forums to channelize such feedback and concerns to get those addressed. Some examples would be the bi-annual people survey that we conduct, our speak-up process, and the grievance management framework.
Inclusion, for me, is not a policy – it’s a daily commitment to create a workplace where people feel they matter. And every small action, conversation, and decision is an opportunity to reinforce that commitment.
Q7. How have you shaped a culture at VOIS India where high performance co-exists with wellbeing and trust, especially in an IT workplace which is often known for its high-pressure and fast-moving nature?
At VOIS, shaping a culture where high performance co-exists with wellbeing and trust has been an intentional, sustained effort. For us, performance is always a combination of WHAT and HOW, with ‘how’ emphasizing doing what’s right.
Our guardrail for ‘how’, are the Spirit of Vodafone Behaviors, which are – Earn Customer Loyalty, Get it Done Together, Experiment Learn Fast, Create the Future. These behaviors form the foundation for creating an environment where people feel supported to deliver their best without compromising their wellbeing.
We include the Spirit Behaviors in all milestones on our employment journey, including – talent selection, setting goals & expectations, performance assessment, development planning, people survey and so on. This ensures that the ‘how’ part is firmly embedded in how we perform our roles in the organization.
Our strength is our focus on creating an emotionally secure environment and a human-centred philosophy, allowing colleagues to show up authentically at work. This is enabled by structured wellbeing interventions such as – mental health sessions, ergonomic support, health benefits, safety initiatives on so on. These ensure that employees feel valued in a fast-paced work environment.
Finally, performance and wellbeing come together through our people-centric design of work: hybrid flexibility, manager enablement, fair growth pathways, and participative engagement models – all evidenced in employee feedback trends showing robust levels of engagement and strong recommendations for VOIS as a great place to work.
Q8. How have the recognitions from Great Place To Work strengthened your employer brand and/or contributed to business success?
Recognitions from Great Place To Work have been instrumental in amplifying VOIS employer brand in India and contributed directly to business success. Each accolade – whether our Rank 10 in 2024, Rank 15 in 2025, or recognition across other specific categories and geographies have helped establish our credibility as a high-trust, high-performance organization.
These achievements build confidence for our prospective talent, partners, and customers that VOIS’ culture is not just strong internally but validated by an external global benchmark.
Our recognitions have proven to be powerful storytelling assets, shared widely across social media, industry forums, and internal channels – boosting pride, advocacy, and organic reach among employees and alumni.
The consistency of our Great Place To Work recognitions over the last 5+ years (including through the times of pandemic, talent war, and thereafter VOIS’ own transformation journey) have helped reassure stakeholders that our cultural bedrock remains strong through change, strengthening trust in our leadership and long-term capability.
Great Place To Work’s research insights, shared with VOIS alongside the awards, also validate a positive correlation between high-trust cultures and stronger business outcomes, complementing our internal productivity and engagement trends.
Overall, Great Place To Work recognitions have elevated VOIS’s employer brand, strengthened trust, and enabled us to attract talent and business opportunities aligned with our transformation ambitions.
Q9. If you had to describe your journey with Great Place to Work in just one word or phrase, what would it be, and why?
If I had to describe my journey with Great Place To Work in one phrase, it would be “Reaffirmation of who we are.”
Over the last several years and especially the past few months, every Great Place To Work milestone has felt less like an external badge and more like a mirror reflecting the culture we’ve intentionally curated at VOIS.
The phrase ‘reaffirmation’ feels particularly apt because:
The Great Place To Work recognitions consistently validate what our people genuinely feel and express.
The Great Place To Work survey results have always been very consistent with our own people survey, while also bringing in the added benefit of bringing an industry lens.
We do see reflections of the Great Place To Work feedback in several other social media channels that capture reviews from our current and past colleagues.
Our colleagues celebrate these achievements with pride, often reflecting a deep emotional connection to our culture and Spirit Behaviors. These voices shared openly across internal and external forums have shaped my own sense of purpose and responsibility as a leader.
This journey has also been grounding. It reminds me that culture is not built by policies or leadership messaging alone, but by thousands of everyday choices made by our teams – choices to collaborate, care, challenge, innovate, and uphold trust even through uncertainty.
