Connect With Staff: Lakshmaiya
He is the new director for human resources at Outrigger Fiji Beach Reasort.
Work become very interesting because when the top leadership is good Naveen Lakshmaiya Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort director for human resources.
Human resources practitioners need to understand that they need to connect with their staff on the ground in order to execute their roles in any organisation. This is the message from new director for human resources at Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort, Naveen Lakshmaiya. He joined the resort at Coral Coast in Korotogo after holding similar roles with the Tanoa Hotel Group and Fiji Electricity Authority. His department consists of five staff. “The focus for human resources is to connect with the staff on the ground and you can only do that by getting out of your office and meet them whereever they are,” he said.
“If human resources practitioners spend 90 per cent of their time doing paper work than you will not function so as a team,” Mr Lakshmaiya said.
His career started in 1999 as a clerk at Sigatoka Hospital till 2004 before joining the Tanoa Hotel Group for five years and then took up the role of general manager human resources at Fiji Electricity Authority for another five years.
“The problem with practitioners right now is they are over qualified and they think that they know everything but the actual work is done by people on the ground. The success of a human resources manager or director depends on their staff,” Mr Lakshmaiya added.
He thanked the resort’s general manager, Peter Hopgood, for being a role model and providing good leadership to resort staff.
He noted that work becomes very interesting because of the good leadership from the top.
“Our general manager has set a platform, he empowers, motivates and inspires the heads of department within the resort. When you have this kind of leader the working environment is much better.”
The tourism industry, he added, was the corner stone of dealing with people directly and with the help of his staff he was able to meet the standards expected from their department.
The former student of Tilak High School advised young people to follow their dreams.
“Always remember human resources isn’t about controlling people but managing them. I always work with my team to make our department successful,” Mr Lakshmaiya said.