Vidya Harikumar
Brisbane,Australia
Summary
With over 20 years of experience in the Human Resources field across diverse industries and regions—including Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), Australia, the United States, and Europe—I am deeply passionate about partnering with business leaders to enhance the people function and steer the strategic direction of organizations to new heights. Throughout my career, I have demonstrated strong leadership, consistently surpassing expectations and proactively advancing my skills. My expertise encompasses salary benchmarking, complex employee relations and arbitration cases, development and delivery of learning programs, talent acquisition, change management, performance coaching, Diversity and Inclusions initiatives, acquisitions, and organizational restructures.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
Work History
People & Culture Director – Australia, US & Germany
Tri-Star Group
12.2018 - Current
- Company Overview: Tri-Star Group is a diversified resources exploration and investment company with interests in Oil, Gas, Coal and Minerals across Australia, Europe and the US
- My role at Tri-Star is a hands-on, strategic, and operational HR role providing high-level advice to Executive, Boards, and Management.
- Appointment of Non-Executive Directors, CEO, Senior Managers and general staff
- Implementing significant organisation change to create a high performing and highly engaging workplace
- Supporting the setting up of the US and Australian Boards, Board level engagement and reporting
- Strategic HR business workforce planning, budgeting and reporting
- Organisational design, restructure, learning and development
- End to End implementation of a PEO - (HR and payroll system) in the US and end to end implementation of a HRIS system in Australia
- Formulation of all HR policies & procedures
- Management of administration and HR staff - varied times
- Coaching of executives, senior management and general staff
- Conduct HR investigations and lead any HR litigation processes
- Tri-Star Group is a diversified resources exploration and investment company with interests in Oil, Gas, Coal and Minerals across Australia, Europe and the US
Director
Avtak Consulting
07.2018 - Current
- Harnessing my experience and knowledge in the people and culture field, I provide consulting services to organisations which include but are not limited to change management, restructures, organisational development, industrial and employee relations, talent acquisition, culture and many more
- I conduct these services outside of my normal work hours
Manager, Employee Relations and Development
Multicap
03.2015 - 11.2018
- Company Overview: Multicap is a high needs disability support organisation with over 800 employees across Queensland and NSW
- My responsibilities here span across leading the learning and development function, talent acquisition, dealing with complex employee relations investigations, managing my team and general business partnering
- The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has required me to partner with the business to transition the Human Resource function from a traditional Not for Profit model to a commercial model
- Coaching managers and leading complex employee relations investigations
- Change management resulting from NDIS
- Respond to requirements to transition to a commercial model by reviewing and developing practices which align with business strategy and growth plans
- Leading various projects and change management initiatives
- Management of HR staff
- Training supplier review, budget management and planning
- Process improvement projects
- Oversee talent acquisition, learning and development and employee relations across the organisation
- Review and formulation of training materials
- Policy review
- Develop performance capability frameworks
- Organization development projects
- Award interpretations and union negotiations
- Internal and external audit preparations
- Workforce planning with Service and Regional Managers in line with customers needs and cost implications
- Partnering with the business leaders to drive change
- Multicap is a high needs disability support organisation with over 800 employees across Queensland and NSW
- Received an award for support provided during a challenging period within the marketing team
- Launched and implemented staff appraisal framework
- Developed automated workflow ticketing system to ensure HR service is measureable and to increase internal efficiencies
- Developed and conducted behavioral based assessment centers across sites resulting in effective bulk recruitment
- Review, consultation and implementation of a change in the organisation's conflict management and physical intervention training provider
- End to end costing, supplier review and implementation of an E-Learning platform which reduced facilitation costs and staff training hours for non-specialised training requirements
- Conducted training needs analysis workshop with operations team and developed training schedules and individual role based training passports
- Streamlined all L&D processes to ensure efficiency in bookings, recording and general L&D efficiency
- Development of assisted employee and general staff training materials
- Provided exceptional customer service, advice and coaching to managers around complex case management
Human Resource Manager
Sam Riley Swim School & Snap Fitness
09.2012 - 03.2015
- Company Overview: This organisation involved 6 Swim Schools and over 11 Snap Gyms with over 250 staff across Brisbane
- Working with the Operations Manager and Director, I lead the organisation through the growth
- Work with senior management to develop, communicate and execute of strategic direction of the business during significant growth
- Investigations and facilitation of complex employee relations issues
- Workforce and budget planning to reflect company performance areas
- Execution of compliance reviews and programs in areas of WHS, EBA, performance management, qualifications etc for audits
- Set up, management and restructure of head office and call centre teams
- Creation and implementation of staff performance appraisals, performance improvement plans, succession planning processes and job descriptions
- Conducted and sourced development programs for both management and floor staff based on needs and gaps in the business
- Stand alone HR role managing a WHS Officer and overseeing administration, customer service and call center staff
- This organisation involved 6 Swim Schools and over 11 Snap Gyms with over 250 staff across Brisbane
- Planning, recruitment and development of new structures within the organisation in line with projected growth of the business
- Delivery of staff engagement initiatives including employee events, employee feedback processes and individual development plan
- Collaboration with Operations Manager and Director to ensure correlation with employee satisfaction and the customer experience through effective skill mapping and service reviews
- Oversee the risk matrix and WHS practices including employee rehabilitation
- Successful avoidance of any potential arbitration cases due to thorough and rigorous staff management processes
- Cost saving to the business was substantial based on expensive outcomes of previous practices
- Complete restructure of the business bonus policy
- Constant review and restructure of staff allocations based on achievable efficiencies within legislative guidelines
Senior HR Business Partner, RSA- APJ (and Acting HR Director – APJ)
Dell EMC
09.2007 - 08.2012
- Company Overview: RSA is the security division of EMC, a global IT service business employing over 60,000 people in over 86 countries
- I thrived in this fast paced IT environment where I was responsible for the RSA, APJ HR function for 250+ staff
- Changing, autonomous end to end HR role with high level of accountability and deliverables measured each quarter
- Addressing employee relations concerns, complex staff issues and workforce planning around company and team performance
- Supporting 11 countries (Australia, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, NZ and Korea)
- Worked with the VP Asia Pacific Japan and the leadership team to appoint and grow the Professional Services, Customer Support, and Channel teams across APJ
- Resourcing Planning across the region, each quarter in line with revenue growth per region
- High level reporting via various HR metrics
- Worked with EMC University and US leaders on the roll out and local customization of company programs
- Managed the EMC acquisition process including, staff engagement initiatives, salary benchmarking, change management programs, legal and contractual processing and program alignment
- Management of professional development programs across AP including the facilitation of Transition to New Manager, Effective Team Building, Thriving through Change and many more
- Management of a complex project to transition payroll to India
- RSA is the security division of EMC, a global IT service business employing over 60,000 people in over 86 countries
- Presented Excellence Awards in Dec 2008 and Sep 2010 for exceptional support to the leadership team and managing staff through climates of change
- Successfully stepped up into the acting APJ HR Director role during the GFC
- End to end facilitation and execution of a successful restructure project involving over 40 redundancies and shared services relocation between Feb 2008 and Jan 2009
- Successfully managed payroll transition projects to ADP across 11 Countries
- Nominated into an elite group of staff marked as Critical Talent and allocated as a coach to various managers across APJ
- Lead a project to provide staff development programs via webinars across the region to meet tight training budget targets during and post GFC
- Direct involvement in growing the RSA APJ region from approximately 100 staff to well over 250 staff
HR Advisor
Ansaldo STS
10.2006 - 09.2007
- Company Overview: Ansaldo STS was the parent company which acquired Union Switch and Signal operating in the sector of high technology for railway and urban transport
- Heavily involved in the forecasting and planning based on labor costing and quarterly targets
- Respond to saturated market by developing innovative methods to attract talent
- Business partnering and general HR support for the Sydney office including performance counseling, project and resource planning and talent acquisition
- Project managed training needs across the Australian business to ensure effective staff development programs were in place
- Development of Succession Planning project across Australia
- Ansaldo STS was the parent company which acquired Union Switch and Signal operating in the sector of high technology for railway and urban transport
- Worked with the newly appointed Sydney manager to set up and grow the Sydney office through the right hires and effective staff engagement and development
- Improved on the existing report analysis methods to identify resourcing gaps
- Ran successful career fairs and graduate recruitment drives which were a critical part of hiring as Signaling Engineers were identified as a skill shortage in Australia
HR Generalist
Queensland Investment Corporation
10.2006 - 09.2007
- Company Overview: QIC is a global institutional leader in alternative, specialised investments
- Coordination of 360 degree Leadership Programs and Foundations of Leaders Program
- HR advice, coordination and support
- Payroll support
- Coordination and development of corporate and learning and development programs
- Reporting and budgeting
- QIC is a global institutional leader in alternative, specialised investments
- Award received for HR Service presented by a group which faced a number of staff challenges including retention and engagement
HR Contractor
Mallesons Stephen Jaques
06.2005 - 11.2005
- Company Overview: One of Australia’s big six law firms with 1800 staff in total
- Review and implementation of graduate and legal clerk programs
- Partner with the business on talent acquisition
- Provide advise on performance management
- One of Australia’s big six law firms with 1800 staff in total
HR Consultant
Bluescope Steel
12.2004 - 05.2005
- Company Overview: Leading Steel company in Australia and NZ
- Training Needs analysis across sites
- HR administration and processing
- Procedure and document control
- Audit on Drug and Alcohol Policy
- Leading Steel company in Australia and NZ
Recruitment Administrator
Select Appointments
03.2004 - 12.2004
- Company Overview: Recruitment organisation servicing all sectors
- Screening of various roles
- Computer testing coordination
- Reference checking
- Other recruitment activities
- Recruitment organisation servicing all sectors
Education
Master’s - Business (HR)
Queensland University of Technology
Australia12.2010
Bachelor of Social Science - Policy and Development
University of Queensland
Australia12.2006
Bachelor of Business - HR and IR
University of Queensland
Australia12.2006
Skills
- Strategic Business Partnering
- Leadership Development
- Workforce Planning
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Compensation Structuring
- Board Governance
References
Available upon request., https://au.linkedin.com/in/vidya-harikumar-881b0267
Location
Brisbane, QLD, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 01/01/25
Recommendationslinkedin
https://au.linkedin.com/in/vidya-harikumar-881b0267
Industry Committees
2019 - Present: Hydrocarbon sector lead for the National Rewards Group
2023 - Present: Deputy Chair for the National Rewards Group
Timeline
People & Culture Director – Australia, US & Germany
Tri-Star Group
12.2018 - Current
Director
Avtak Consulting
07.2018 - Current
Manager, Employee Relations and Development
Multicap
03.2015 - 11.2018
Human Resource Manager
Sam Riley Swim School & Snap Fitness
09.2012 - 03.2015
Senior HR Business Partner, RSA- APJ (and Acting HR Director – APJ)
Dell EMC
09.2007 - 08.2012
HR Advisor
Ansaldo STS
10.2006 - 09.2007
HR Generalist
Queensland Investment Corporation
10.2006 - 09.2007
HR Contractor
Mallesons Stephen Jaques
06.2005 - 11.2005
HR Consultant
Bluescope Steel
12.2004 - 05.2005
Recruitment Administrator
Select Appointments
03.2004 - 12.2004
Master’s - Business (HR)
Queensland University of Technology
Bachelor of Social Science - Policy and Development
University of Queensland
Bachelor of Business - HR and IR
University of Queensland
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