Description:

Pillar A: People Compliance & HR Operations

Labour Law & Statutory Compliance:

- Own and operate full statutory compliance across all entities: EPF, ESI, Gratuity, Bonus, Maternity Benefit, POSH, Shops & Establishments, Factories Act (manufacturing), and the new Labour Codes effective November 2025.

- Constitute and operationalise the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) under POSH across all entities.

- Conduct annual awareness training.

- Manage the transition to the new Labour Code requirements: CTC restructuring to 50% basic rule, revised gratuity base, fixed-term employee gratuity eligibility, earned leave carry-forward limits in coordination with Finance/CFO.

- Maintain and update all statutory registers: Register of Employees, Muster Roll, Leave Register, Wage Register, Accident Register, OT Register at stores, manufacturing, and corporate.

- Liaise with labour authorities, EPFO, ESIC, FSSAI (food handler compliance), and Delhi/Haryana/UP labour departments as required.

- Manage the factory shift to Faridabad from an HR standpoint: Haryana Shops & Establishments registration, revised CTO/Factory licence, transfer of employment records.

Payroll & HR Operations

- Review and restructure the payroll outsourcing arrangement assess whether to bring payroll in-house or renegotiate with vendor.

- Ensure April 2026 payroll runs are fully Labour Code compliant.

- Implement an HRIS/HCM platform appropriate for a 350-person, multi-location organisation (HRMS evaluation, vendor selection, and go-live within 6 months).

- Design and operationalise the full employee lifecycle: offer letters (compliant with OSHWC Code), background verification, onboarding, confirmation, performance review, and F&F settlement (within 2- working-day window as mandated by new Codes).

- Own HR MIS: headcount, attrition, absenteeism, compliance status, open positions monthly dashboard to CEO.

HR Policy & Process Design:

- Draft and implement the HR Policy Manual: code of conduct, leave policy (aligned to Labour Codes), disciplinary procedure, grievance mechanism, travel policy, and separation process.

- Design appointment letter templates in Hindi and English for store/manufacturing staff.

- Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for store-level HR: on-boarding a new store manager, managing daily wage/part-time staff, handling disciplinary issues at store level.

Pillar B: Retail HR & Store Operations

Store People Management:

- Design and manage the recruitment pipeline for 50 stores: store managers, assistant managers, counter staff, kitchen staff building relationships with local ITIs, hospitality institutes, and placement agencies.

- Build and operate a structured onboarding and induction programme for store staff: food safety basics (FoSTaC compliance), POSH awareness, store SOPs, Gopala brand values.

- Create a Store Manager capability framework: define what a great Gopala store manager looks like, assess current cohort, and build a development plan.

- Manage store-level attrition proactively: track reasons for exit, design retention levers (recognition, career paths, shift flexibility, advance salary options), and target 2025% reduction in year-one attrition rate.

- Operationalise same-store sales through people levers: upselling training, shift efficiency, customer interaction quality. Partner with Operations to link people metrics to store P&L.

Retail Footprint Scaling

- Build a workforce planning model for new store openings: lead time for hiring, training duration, costper-hire by role level, and ramp-up timeline.

- Create a pre-opening HR checklist for new stores: registrations (S&E, trade licence), FSSAI food handler training, POSH ICC inclusion, payroll setup.

- Manage store manager pipeline: identify high-potential assistant managers for promotion into store manager roles, reducing external dependency as stores expand.3. Team Building & Stakeholder Management

- Hire and build a 2 to 3 person HR team at corporate: recommended structure is one HR executive for compliance and payroll, one HR executive for retail hiring and operations.

- Serve as an advisor to the CEO and promoter on all people-related decisions: compensation benchmarking, performance management, org design, and sensitive employee matters.

- Manage the transition from a promoter-driven culture to a more structured, process-oriented environment requires high emotional intelligence, patience, and the ability to influence without authority.

Job Requirements:

- 8 to 10 years of HR experience with at least 4 years in a multi-location retail, QSR, FMCG, or food service environment.

- Demonstrated hands-on experience in statutory compliance: EPF, ESI, POSH, Gratuity, Bonus, Shops Act across blue-collar and white-collar populations simultaneously.

- Experience managing high-volume, high-churn hourly/semi-skilled workforces in a retail or food service context.

- Ability to work independently and set up processes from scratch this is not a role that inherits a team or a working system.

- Willingness to travel across stores in Delhi NCR and to the manufacturing facility on a regular basis.

Skills Required:

- Prior experience in a promoter-led or mid-market company (50500 crore) where institutionalisation of HR was part of the mandate.

- Exposure to factory / manufacturing HR: Factories Act, blue-collar attendance management, contract labour, and safety training.

- Hands-on experience with HRIS implementation (Darwinbox, Keka, greytHR, or equivalent).

- Working knowledge of the new Labour Codes (Code on Wages, OSHWC, SS Code, IR Code) and their operational implications.

- Hindi fluency essential for managing store and manufacturing staff communications.

Key Traits:

- Builder mentality energised by creating structure in ambiguity, not frustrated by it.

- High trust quotient will handle sensitive promoter-family-adjacent situations and employee grievances with discretion.

- Operational rigour understands that in a multi-store environment, the details matter: a missing register

- People-first sensibility can balance compliance firmness with genuine care for the workforce, especially at store and factory level.

- Commercial awareness understands that people costs are the largest cost line and must be managed with the same rigour as COGS.