Rahul Chari's playbook for hiring and retaining talent at PhonePe

PhonePe co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) Rahul Chari said that he steadfastly believes that the foundation of a strong, cohesive workforce lies in developing and hiring talent from within the organisation.

This, he believes, not only gives people a sense of ownership, but also fosters loyalty.

“Whenever we're venturing into a new opportunity, we consciously ask if there's talent within the company that we can build around,” he stated, underscoring the commitment to empowering employees to tackle challenges collaboratively.

In fact, before exploring a new domain, Chari explained that the leadership team often pauses to consider whether there is someone within the company who can effectively anchor the problem statement.

However, he acknowledged that internal talent alone cannot address every challenge that arises as the company scales. While promoting from within remains a priority, he acknowledged the necessity of looking outside the organisation.

"Many times, we do realise that we need to actually bring in somebody from the outside who knows about a specific problem or to scale something further, or try and get us out of situations that are not were not foreseen," he added, highlighting the onboarding of Ujjwal Jain, the founder of WealthDesk, to help develop PhonePe's investment product.

Chari also discussed the company’s approach to compensation, which aims to attract and retain dedicated talent without encouraging a culture of short-termism.

He noted that leadership salaries are capped, stating, “We actually cap out fixed salary for leadership positions.” This policy aims to mitigate the emergence of “mercenary talent,” referring to individuals motivated primarily by financial incentives rather than a commitment to the company’s mission.

By avoiding variable pay structures that tie compensation to individual performance, PhonePe focuses on aligning employee interests with the organisation’s long-term goals, he said.

Moreover, Chari cautioned against the temptation to continually raise salaries in response to hiring challenges, describing such a strategy as a “never-ending cycle.”

"It takes conviction to stick with a plan like that, but if you do it, it starts paying dividends from the third, the fourth, and the fifth year when people start seeing the long-term wealth creation that can happen by the company doing very well," he quipped.