Abhay Anand

People Operations · Employee Lifecycle · India Compliance

I built People Operations from zero for a 170+ employee GCC.

People Operations professional with 4+ years across PwC, Thoughtworks, Preferred Square and Lytx India. I own the hire-to-retire lifecycle, keep India compliance audit-ready, and use AI to remove manual work from HR.

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Portrait of Abhay Anand
Based in
Bengaluru, India
Currently
Lytx India (GCC)
Experience
4+ years
Open to
Hybrid · Remote
Travel
Valid U.S. B1/B2 visa
170+employees supported as primary HR contact
50+people managers coached on India policy
100%audit pass rate across labour and ISO reviews
0data-integrity errors across 100+ Workday transactions

About

Operations people notice only when they break. My job is making sure they don't.

At Lytx India I was handed a growing GCC with no structured people operations. I designed the full employee lifecycle, turned ad-hoc practices into auditable workflows, and became the escalation point for every India employee and manager.

Before that, I launched an onboarding program at Preferred Square, issued lifecycle letters at scale at Thoughtworks, and started in Workday operations at PwC.

I care about clean processes, accurate data, and employees who never have to chase HR twice.

HRIS & case tools

WorkdayServiceNowZendeskDocuSignZoho People & Payroll

AI & digital

ClaudeMicrosoft CopilotPeople dashboardsHR workflow automationAI document creation

Expertise

Employee lifecycleIndia labour lawCase & SLA managementPayroll & F&FData governanceManager coachingPOSH governance

Productivity

ExcelPowerPointGoogle WorkspaceSmartsheet

Case studies

Selected work at Lytx India

Each case follows the same shape: the problem, what I did, and what changed. Details are kept general to protect employee and company data.

Function build · GCC

Standing up People Operations from zero

100%audit pass rate, labour and ISO
Challenge
A fast-growing 170+ employee GCC was running HR on ad-hoc practices, with no defined lifecycle and nothing an auditor could trace.
What I did
Designed the complete hire-to-retire lifecycle covering onboarding, job changes, leave of absence and offboarding. Became the escalation point for 170+ employees and 50+ managers, resolving cases in ServiceNow, Zendesk and Teams within SLA.
Outcome
Structured, auditable workflows with a clean audit record, and 100+ Workday transactions processed with zero data-integrity errors.
Process designServiceNowZendeskSLA management

Workday · Systems migration

Moving India leave from greytHR to Workday

100+policy scenarios tested
Challenge
Global managers switched between greytHR and Workday to approve leave.
What I did
Mapped the India leave policy into 100+ "what if" scenarios and tested each in Workday Preview and Sandbox before go-live.
Outcome
Leave apply and approve now run in one system, with edge cases proven before launch.
WorkdayUATChange management

Onboarding

Day-1 orientation and 30-60-90 plans

170+new hires, 100% completion
Challenge
New hires needed one clear picture of the company and a defined path after Day 1.
What I did
Led orientation on my own, covering culture, business, technology and product, and designed 30-60-90-day plans from offer acceptance onward.
Outcome
A consistent start for every joiner and a 100% onboarding completion rate.
FacilitationNew hire experience

Manager enablement

Coaching 50+ managers to self-serve

Challenge
Managers across geographies escalated routine India policy questions to HR.
What I did
Coached and upskilled 50+ people managers on India HR policy, probation and lifecycle frameworks, with standardised guidance.
Outcome
More self-sufficient managers and fewer escalations to HR.
CoachingPolicy

Talent development

High-performer sessions with the VP of Technology

Challenge
Top engineering talent needed visible growth paths tied to business priorities.
What I did
Organised and ran high-performer sessions with the VP Tech, then tracked and acted on the follow-ups.
Outcome
Development conversations linked directly to where the business is heading.
Stakeholder managementRetention

Compliance

Audit-ready India operations, law by law

I co-led labour and ISO audit readiness directly with the India Site Leader. These are the areas I own, and what each one means in day-to-day operations.

Law or standardWhat I doResult
Shops & Establishment ActKarnatakaMaintain registers, working-hour and leave records, holiday notices and establishment documentation.No findings
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961Apply leave entitlements, benefit calculations and return-to-work processes; keep policy and records aligned.No findings
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972Compute gratuity within F&F settlements and leave encashment, working with Finance and payroll vendors.Accurate payouts
POSH Act, 2013Coordinate the Internal Committee, deliver awareness training, maintain the policy and file the annual report.Compliant
ISO auditsOwn documentation integrity and evidence for people processes during ISO reviews.100% pass
Employee data governanceKeep employee records accurate and access-controlled across Workday, ServiceNow and DocuSign.0 integrity errors

Pre- and post-payroll

Coordinate F&F settlements and leave encashment each cycle with Finance and external vendors.

Benefits benchmarking

Benchmark India benefits against market so offerings stay competitive.

Documentation discipline

Every lifecycle event leaves a traceable record, so audits confirm what already exists.

How I work

The hire-to-retire lifecycle I designed

Every stage has a clear owner, a system of record and a communication.

  1. Pre-joining

    Offer, documents via DocuSign, Workday hire

  2. Day 1

    Orientation and 30-60-90-day plan

  3. Job changes

    Transfers, promotions, records in Workday

  4. Leave & benefits

    Leave of absence, maternity, benefits cases

  5. Growth

    Manager coaching, high-performer programs

  6. Exit

    Clearance, F&F, gratuity, letters

AI in HR

I use AI for almost everything. Almost.

I want to know where AI in HR is headed, and I put real effort into getting there. These are the places I already use it.

Leadership dashboards

Monthly people analytics presented to the leadership council to measure how the business is doing:

  • People and headcount
  • Attrition and retention
  • Hiring
  • Process excellence

HR workflow automation

Partnering with the Talent Manager to launch AI-first automation across the Talent team, standardising repetitive workflows so they run the same way every time.

Document creation

Deployed Claude and Microsoft Copilot to automate HR documentation and standardise letter templates, cutting manual effort and cycle time.

This portfolio

Planned, written and built together with Claude, from structure to code.

Tools I use dailyClaudeMicrosoft Copilot· Certified: Generative AI in HR, LinkedIn Learning (2026)

Where AI helps

Speed, structure, consistency

  • Drafting documents and letters
  • Reporting and dashboards
  • Repetitive workflows
  • Research and first drafts

Where it stays human

Judgement and care

  • Employee queries that need a human touch
  • Ethical and sensitive decisions
  • Grievances, exits and difficult conversations
  • Anything that calls for emotional intelligence

I use AI responsibly and where it adds value. Empathy, ethical judgement and emotional intelligence belong with people, and I keep it that way.

Experience

Where I've worked

Oct 2024 – PresentCurrent

Lytx India (GCC)

People Operations Specialist · Bengaluru

  • Built the people operations function from zero for 170+ employees
  • Co-led labour and ISO audit readiness with the India Site Leader
  • Leadership dashboards and AI-first HR documentation

Jun 2023 – Sep 2024

Preferred Square

Human Resource Executive · Gurgaon

  • Launched end-to-end onboarding for 75+ employees and 11 interns, with a 20% efficiency gain
  • Redesigned recruitment workflow, cutting time-to-fill by 30%
  • Compensation benchmarking that lifted employee satisfaction by 15%

Jun 2022 – Feb 2023

Thoughtworks

People Operations Coordinator · Bengaluru

  • Partnered with HRBPs on retention work tied to a 25% drop in turnover
  • Issued 10+ lifecycle letters a week with 100% accuracy

Sep 2021 – Jun 2022

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Human Capital Trainee · Gurgaon

  • Ran day-to-day HR operations in Workday and reported monthly KPIs
  • Co-designed a performance management framework
MBADayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra · 2021
BBADayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra · 2019
Generative AI in HRLinkedIn Learning · 2026

Contact

Hiring for People Operations? Let's talk.

Message me on LinkedIn ↗