Sonu Saksena, CHRO, Geoquest India Pvt Ltd.

Building Teams as Strong as Asia’s Infrastructure

The stakes are always high in the world of geotechnical engineering, where massive retaining walls and soil-reinforcement systems literally hold up highways, bridges, and sprawling infrastructure projects across Asia. At the same time, keeping the human resources together and motivated, so that they keep giving their best each day, is an equally high-stakes responsibility. Ms. Sonu Saksena, Chief Human Resource Officer for Geoquest Asia currently working from the New Delhi office of Geoquest India Pvt Ltd., (formerly known as Terre Armée and a part of the global VINCI construction group),  has spent the past couple of years quietly reshaping how talent is nurtured in a field that demands precision, patience and ironclad safety standards. With nearly 25 years of experience, Sonu has moved through the breathless speed of telecom at Bharti Airtel, the market-driven agility of consumer durables at Somany Impresa Group, and now the long-cycle, deeply technical realm of civil engineering. 

Colleagues describe her as the steady hand who turns complex multinational operations into teams that feel connected, valued and ready for whatever the next big project throws at them. Her fingerprints are on everything from strengthening leadership pipelines and building a performance-driven culture to driving groundbreaking, first-mover initiatives.  We caught up with Sonu Saksena in a relaxed yet thoughtful conversation with our editorial team. 

What has been the most defining industry transition in your career when it came to adapting HR strategies to different business cultures and workforce needs?

If I reflect across my journey from telecom through consumer durables into engineering, the most defining transition that reshaped my HR thinking has been my current role at Geoquest India. The business here is unique, niche and bespoke. I had to shift from the high-speed, volume-driven approach I knew to one focused on precision and longevity. 

In engineering, the workforce revolves around deep expertise, long project cycles and genuine continuity. This fundamentally changed my workforce planning, from quarterly hiring plans to multi-year capability mapping. The workforce is highly layered, including project engineers, site workers, design specialists and business development executives. As a result, HR strategy had to become segmented rather than one-size-fits-all. 

We developed different engagement models for corporate teams versus project sites, plus stronger compliance and safety frameworks. Finally, the talent value proposition shifted entirely. Stability, the reputation of landmark projects, depth of learning and technical mastery now take centre stage. 

Could you share one innovative HR strategy you’ve introduced to attract and retain top talent in what has traditionally been a male-dominated, project-based industry?

Yes, one innovative HR strategy we introduced is a project called ‘Science for the Future’. This initiative addresses the long-standing gender imbalance in our male-dominated, project-based industry. Through it, we raise awareness among young girls aged 11 to 15, encouraging them to choose scientific streams in high school. For teenagers aged 16 to 18, we motivate them to pursue engineering college with an eye on careers in construction and infrastructure. The programme goes beyond talks by actively deconstructing gender stereotypes that deter girls from technical fields. 

We partner with schools and use real-life examples of women succeeding in engineering and construction. It is a long-term effort to build a more diverse talent pipeline and create role models for the next generation. Early feedback from educators and parents shows promising mindset shifts, and we are committed to sustaining this momentum gradually over the coming years. 

In your experience with employer branding and organisational development, how have you used technology and cross-cultural practices to create a high-performance yet people-centric culture in a multinational environment?

In a multinational setup, building a high-performance yet people-centric culture means designing systems where results and empathy reinforce each other. We do engagement surveys on AI-enabled pulse platforms running monthly or quarterly, plus always-on listening channels. This helps detect cultural micro-climates across regions, what works in India may differ in Southeast Asia. We integrated HRIS with experience platforms to customise learning journeys, offer role-based career pathways and improve internal mobility visibility. 

Culturally, we follow a ‘Global principles, local rituals’ approach. We set five non-negotiable global values but let regions express them through authentic local practices that feel natural to their teams. High performance becomes sustainable only when employees experience fairness, growth opportunities and respect consistently across geographies. This balance has created teams that deliver strong results while feeling truly cared for and included in the bigger picture. 

Managing large-scale change during industry shifts or expansions across multiple countries is incredibly complex. How have you approached building organisational resilience and employee buy-in during such transformations?

Managing large-scale change across Asia means absorbing complexity without eroding trust. Resilience and buy-in must be built into the transformation from the start, not hoped for at the end. Top-down messages alone do not create buy-in, so we identify and activate country-level influencers, plant and site leaders, and informal culture carriers as true change champions. 

Managers are the key lever for resilience. We equip them with simple messaging toolkits, training on tough conversations and real-time FAQs with escalation channels. This matters especially in Asian cultures where employees often prefer private talks with their manager over open challenges to leadership. We also create visible early wins to build momentum and confidence during uncertain periods, giving people tangible proof that the change is working and worth their commitment. 

How do you personally ensure that HR strategies stay tightly aligned with aggressive business growth goals while still genuinely prioritising employee experience and organisational justice?

I anchor every HR strategy in two simultaneous questions: What does the business need to win right now? And what must employees experience for that success to last? When growth calls for rapid expansion, we enable fast hiring but ensure fair selection, quality onboarding and clear roles from day one. We design equitable, not strictly equal,  employee experiences. This involves identifying critical roles and pivotal talent segments, then investing more in their development, rewards and retention. Yet we keep the rationale transparent so everyone sees exactly how they can advance into those roles over time. 

In short, HR supports aggressive growth by holding performance expectations high while making the journey transparent, equitable and human. This thoughtful integration lets us scale fast without losing fairness or the trust that holds every team together. 

Quick Facts 

         Success Mantra: HR succeeds only when the business succeeds—people strategy must mirror business strategy.”

         Favourite Book: Good to Great by Jim Collins

         Favourite Movie: Godfather

         Favourite cuisine: French 

         Favourite travel destination: Maldives

         Inspiration/role model: Ratan Tata

        Aim/goal: I will aim to balance global strategy with local sensitivity while building a high-performing, future-ready workforce.

         Fitness Regime: Yoga