Anuradha Purbey, People Director, Southeast Asia – Aviva

Anuradha Purbey of Southeast Asia – Aviva is part of HRD Asia Hot List 2018

Hot List 2018

People director
Southeast Asia – Aviva 

2017 was a year of immense change at insurance firm Aviva. Faced with continuing digital disruption, Anuradha Purbey and the people team are actively working to help employees achieve a dramatic mindset shift that will enable them to reinvent themselves in order to take on emerging roles. "One example is for our actuaries to be data scientists – both roles involve analysing data to make informed predictions about the future," she tells HRD.

Highlights of 2017 for Purbey included achieving the lowest attrition rate in several years and close to a five-year high-engagement rate. Given these promising signs, Purbey is looking forward to stretching Aviva's people capabilities even further in 2018, in order to stay ahead of the game.

"The world is changing at a faster pace than ever, and it is scary and exciting at the same time – scary because we don't have all the answers, even as we're driving the agenda. But there's no better time to be in HR than now, as we transform the organisation to accelerate our growth. My priority is to help our people embrace the changes brought on by the digital, and future-proof them so that they can thrive."