July 2003! Launch pic of Me n U (Intranet portal) at Unilever Pakistan with the HR and IT team.
6 weeks from start to finish. I remember everyone said it was not possible except Paul Keijzer who came up and developed the plan. Twenty years back everything was manual, everything took time, and this was revolutionary. Nothing of this sort existed, forget even trying to implement it.
I remember all the main leads in the meeting room saying we cannot do it in 6 weeks. Guess what we did it in 6 weeks!
Paul and his vision was simple. Elevate employee experience so it impacts
#Simplify so that it saves HR money, time and increases efficiency.
Me n U as a platform meant (I might be forgetting some, it’s only been 20 years 😊)
- Centralized communications platform for internal company communications and notices
- Online Leave system
- Online detailed salary slips (including deductions like loan)
- Online HR policies (available and transparent)
- Learning and Development section (Individual development budgets, training calendar and more)
- Automated Admin processes (car booking, inventory management etc)
It was painful, immense and extra hours, but the end justified. Less papers, bureaucracy, hierarchy and saluting. Technology to help simplify and make us efficient and create a great customer experience. No need to come to HR for every damn thing. All achieved.
I always talk about
- Pushing the agenda, pushing the envelope.
- Actions before words.
- How are we adding value?
- Let’s just not keep talking in conferences but go build and innovate
- Show tangible output and create best practices.
- Develop SLAs and measure success.
This was my first true experience in progressive HR. HR adding immense value, simplifying, impacting and elevating.
I always be grateful for this experience, the team, the vision and execution. Thanks Paul Keijzer for leading by example and getting this done. A big shout out to Kh. Tanveer Saleem for spearheading the entire tech implementation including design.
