PepsiCo

Mariana Bedolla

In an interview with Mariana Bedolla, Vice President Human Resources, PepsiCo; she explores the various trends and challenges in the HR industry and the major predicaments that the HR leaders have to face when it comes to examining a balance between agility and burnout in an ever changing environment.

1. What are some of the major challenges and trends that have been impacting the HR Industry lately?

It\'s no secret that the last three years have extensively impacted the HR industry. During the depths of the pandemic, HR was thrust to the center of core business continuity and making major decisions that affected the entire workforce on how to deal with the pandemic in a way that enabled safety, empathy, and business continuity. Throughout the uncharted waters of the pandemic, the HR function navigated through a very competitive and, in some cases, scarce labour market.

“I am constantly thinking about what we need to do to set our teams up for success to keep pace within our continually evolving industry so that we win the marathon rather than burn out in the sprint.”

The Great Resignation, which I see more as the great shuffle, has led to a significant challenge in attracting the right talent at a higher rate than usual, which then impacts onboarding and culture as well as capability building, as companies have a larger number of new employees at all levels. As a result, there is a greater emphasis on standing up a strong Talent Acquisition function, best-in-class onboarding processes and core capabilities for both individual contributors and supervisors. In addition, the digital transformation, including AI, is rapidly bringing to the forefront the need to upskill and retrains our workforce to evolve with new and emerging digital tools and resources.

2. What keeps you up at night when it comes to some of the major predicaments in the HR Industry?

The pace, at which we have had to come out of a pandemic into our new normal with rapidly changing trends and shifts within the industry, is what keeps me awake. Ensuring that our employees and our HR functions are able to keep up, while at the same time not burning out is an area I think a lot about. I am constantly thinking about what we need to do to set our teams up for success to keep pace within our continually evolving industry so that we win the marathon rather than burn out in the sprint. This really is about rethinking the work we do and consistently asking ourselves if this IS best possible way to achieve the results or do we need to rethink what and how we get work done.

3. Can you tell us about the latest project that you have been working on and what are some of the technological and process elements that you leveraged to make the project successful?

Like many other companies in 2022, we’ve been focused on how we address attrition, and when we reviewed our own data, we noted that the most critical time to ensure our new hires stayed with us was within the first 90 days. Leveraging this insight, we recently launched a listening mechanism enabled by technology that allows us to seek feedback in a direct and immediate way within the first 90 days of an employee’s time with us. It has enabled my team to be even closer to the new frontline associates who are critical to our success and connect in a very individualized and personal way and, of course, resolve issues quicker than ever to create an impactful introduction to associates’ new careers at PepsiCo.

4. What are some of the technological trends which excite you for the future of the HR Industry?

I am interested and excited to see what AI will be able to do for the HR industry, I believe there will be really great things that will come from leveraging AI tools that will enable HR teams to focus on the higher-order work and strategic priorities of the business.