Epicor - Woman of the Year

Company: Epicor, Austin, Texas
Entry Submitted By:5W PR
Company Description: Established in 1972, Epicor is a global leader that provides flexible, industry-specific software designed around the precise needs of its manufacturing, retail, distribution, automotive, lumber and services customers. Today, over 20,000 customers in 150 countries around the world rely on Epicor’s expertise and cloud-based solutions to improve performance and profitability.
Nomination Category: Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Woman of the Year - Business Products Industries

Nomination Title: Jignasha Grooms

Jignasha Amin Grooms echoes the characteristics of a dedicated and compassionate female leader, committed to using her expertise to create an authentic and inclusive HR strategy centered on the employee experience. As Chief Human Resources Officer at Epicor, she created an environment where every employee feels valued and recognized for their unique experience and talents. Jignasha is passionate about the “human” part of “human resources” and is dedicated to strengthening employee engagement as well as supporting Epicor’s globally diverse and customer-first culture.

Since the start of her tenure, Jignasha has played an integral role in making a quantifiable contribution to Epicor’s business goals. Jignasha emulates the characteristics of a supportive and transparent workplace culture and understands that an inclusive global perspective in the hiring process is critical to the company’s success. This approach has produced significant results, including a notable increase in Glassdoor ratings, higher employee retention rates and an overall more supportive company culture. Jignasha’s commitment to excellence has greatly contributed to improving company performance.

As the final decision-maker in the hiring process, Jignasha rebranded how Epicor’s HR department functioned to focus on employee growth and to support innovative ideas. Jignasha was able to merge multiple HR systems and leverage artificial intelligence to recruit more employees and drive agility within the competitive talent acquisition process. Additionally, Jignasha created a standardized and structured performance management system, which included specific guidelines for merit and promotion progress, focusing on frequent, meaningful discussions between employee and manager rather than a bi-annual performance evaluation. The information from these discussions shaped the HR team’s next initiative, which launched in 2019 – a new Career Journey matrix to help employees understand how they can grow within the organization.

In 2019, Jignasha championed the implementation of new AI and chatbot technology to help screen and evaluate more than 10,000 candidates. This allowed Epicor to quickly fill critical roles with the best talent resulting in a 26% reduction in time to hire whilst almost completely eradicating employee attrition within the first 3 months of employment. Jignasha provided the necessary tools for employee empowerment and efficiency, enabling her team to focus on providing strategic business value throughout the company.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Jignasha’s compassion and leadership skills have been put on prime display. Despite the difficult situation, staff morale has remained high, as Jignasha has seamlessly transitioned her colleagues from the office to remote work. Jignasha and the wider HR team quickly realized the importance of using innovative technology to help drive operational efficiency amid a pandemic, introducing tools including MeBeBot, an AI-powered chatbot to serve its 4,000 global employees to quickly find specific information they need without creating email traffic. In September 2020, Epicor was named the winner of a Stevie Award in the Most Valuable HR Team category in the fifth annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers, largely due to Jignasha’s leadership and the HR department’s commitment to adapting to remote work.

Over the course of the past year, Jignasha has won four awards for her dedication to creating an authentic and inclusive HR strategy. In January 2021, Jignasha was selected as an honoree in Ragan’s Top Women in HR Awards in the “Culture Czar category.” This award recognizes women who are leading the charge in Human Resources and ensuring that quality, productivity, and morale are at their highest. In December 2020, the Brilliance Awards recognized Jignasha as the “HR Professional of the Year,” celebrating the outstanding contribution she has made to Epicor’s business performance. Jignasha was a recipient of the 13th Annual 2020 “Women in Business and the Professional World Awards,” the world’s premier business awards for female executives, for leading a significant culture shift, resulting in an 18% increase for Epicor’s Glassdoor ratings. Finally, Jignasha was selected as a finalist for Austin Business Journal’s “Profiles in Power Award,” for her compassionate and honest leadership style.

-Jignasha’s team building and people-first approach, helped increase the employees’ approval rating of the company to 84% on Glassdoor (a 26% increase compared to 2018). Likewise, the CEO approval rating increased to 95% (up 30%).

-Jignasha and the wider Human Resources team implemented new AI technology to help screen and evaluate more than 10,000 candidates in 2019 resulting in a 26% reduction in time to hire.

-Jignasha led the HR team’s implementation of a new Career Journey matrix to help employees understand how they can grow within the organization.

-Jignasha and the wider HR team introduced tools such as MSTeams, Yammer, AI Staffing Capabilities and MeBeBot to help drive operational efficiency during the pandemic. These contributions led Epicor to win the Stevie Award in the Most Valuable HR Team category in the fifth annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers.

-Jignasha was selected as an honoree in Ragan’s Top Women in HR Awards in the Culture Czar category in January 2021.

-In December 2020, Jignasha was recognized by the Brilliance Awards as the HR Professional of the Year.

-Jignasha was a recipient of the 13th Annual 2020 Women in Business and the Professional World Awards, the world’s premier business awards for female executives.

-Jignasha was selected as a finalist for Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power Award for her compassionate and honest leadership style.