Ashwini Mahajan

Strategic HR Business Partner with 8+ years of experience partnering with business leaders to drive talent strategy, performance management, employee relations, workforce planning, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness within a global professional services environment. Experienced in influencing senior stakeholders, managing complex employee matters, leading talent review cycles, and leveraging people analytics to support business decisions. Recognized for balancing business priorities with employee experience while navigating organizational change, performance interventions, and workforce challenges in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Human Resources Specialist – Business Partner at ZS ASSOCIATES (2017-08 – Present)

Partner with business leaders to develop and execute people strategies that support organizational objectives across performance, engagement, workforce planning, employee relations, and talent development.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to business leaders on talent strategy, organizational effectiveness, employee engagement, workforce planning, and people-related risk management.
• Influence critical people decisions through workforce insights, performance data, employee feedback, and business priorities.
• Partner with cross-functional HR teams to deliver integrated people solutions and exceptional employee experiences.
• Lead biannual performance review cycles and talent discussions for 500+ employees in partnership with leadership teams, ensuring fair and consistent evaluation processes.
• Manage complex performance interventions including Performance Improvement Plans (PIP), Watchlists (WL), and employee separation processes while ensuring compliance and risk mitigation.
• Advise managers on performance coaching, developmental feedback, documentation, and corrective action planning.
• Support promotion assessments, talent calibration discussions, and succession planning initiatives.
• Support leaders in resolving sensitive employee relations issues, workplace concerns, policy interpretation, and conflict management.
• Partner with legal stakeholders on complex employee matters to ensure compliant and business-aligned outcomes.
• Act as escalation point for employee concerns and drive timely resolution of workplace issues.
• Partner with Business leads on employee engagement initiatives based on employee surveys, exit feedback, organizational health indicators, and workforce trends.
• Design and implement programs focused on recognition, inclusion, career development, and employee experience enhancement.
• Translate employee sentiment into actionable recommendations for business leaders.
• Develop executive dashboards and workforce reports covering attrition, engagement, performance, and organizational health metrics.
• Conduct data analysis to identify workforce trends and provide actionable recommendations for leadership decision-making.
• Present people insights and strategic recommendations to leadership stakeholders.
• Managed onboarding, employee exits, leave administration, internal mobility, audits, and HR governance processes across multiple employee groups.
• Supported benefits administration, including medical leave, parental leave, insurance programs, payroll inputs, and employee documentation.
• Coordinated contractor lifecycle management through external vendor partnerships.

Campus Recruitment Intern at KPIT TECHNOLOGIES (2016-10 – 2017-04)

• Supported campus hiring initiatives across engineering institutions and managed candidate engagement throughout the recruitment process.
• Administered documentation and onboarding activities for 800+ candidate offers.
• Coordinated with educational institutions and internal stakeholders to execute recruitment drives and hiring events.

MBA in Human Resources – MIT School of Management, Pune (2015 – 2017)

Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science – Savitribai Phule Pune University (2010 – 2014)