Not everything in HR needs a KPI, here's why...

Summary Tarangita Gupta, global HR leader at Tenarai Inc, joins host Kelsey Willock Jones on Beyond the Paycheck to trace a line from her first paycheck, 6,000 rupees earned as the first working woman in her family, to the way she leads HR for a 6,000 person AI consulting firm today. She makes the case that not every people program needs a KPI, explains why 70 plus percent of employees never fully use the benefits they already have and how Tenarai's monthly vendor sessions fixed it, and describes the change most leaders are not ready for: AI-stitched performance systems that end the era of reviews built on a manager's three month memory. Along the way she shares the yoga program that flopped, the post-COVID Headspace rollout, and her 70/20/10 framework for staying current on AI. Built for CHROs, HR leaders, and total rewards teams who want practical language for defending people investments that the spreadsheet cannot see yet.Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:50 Meet Tarangita Gupta and Tenarai 02:10 A first paycheck and a promise to dad 03:50 Balancing compliance, employees, and the organization 05:50 The benefits employees never use 08:55 Why not everything needs a KPI 11:05 What a failed yoga program taught the team 12:40 Where financial health fits in 14:00 AI adoption and personalized coaching at Tenarai 17:25 The future of performance reviewsTakeaways - Not every people program needs a KPI; some initiatives are justified by employee feedback, and their return arrives over time as retention, productivity, and wellbeing scores. - 70 plus percent of employees and leaders do not know how to fully use their existing benefits, so run monthly vendor-led sessions before buying anything new. - Treat employee questions as a benefits roadmap; Tenarai added pet insurance and expanded accident and family coverage because people kept asking. - Weigh every HR decision against three fixed points at once: compliance, employees, and the organization, then seek feedback at one and three months and improve the next program. - Performance reviews are moving from a manager's three month memory to AI-integrated systems that stitch together rewards, client appreciations, projects, and certifications, blending data with human sentiment.Connect with the Guest Tarangita Gupta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarangitagupta/ Company Website: https://www.tenarai.comSponsor Aura Finance helps you simplify compensation and benefits planning by bringing everything into one streamlined platform. No more juggling spreadsheets, disconnected tools, or manual calculations—Aura gives you a single place to design, compare, and communicate total rewards packages with confidence.With AI-powered insights, it takes the guesswork and busywork out of comp decisions, helps you spot pay equity gaps early, and makes it easy to model scenarios that keep your teams engaged and your budgets on track.See a demo at https://www.aurafinance.com/