In this edition of India Employer Forum Samvaad, Dr. Manoj Garg, Group CHRO at Dr. Lal Path Labs, joins Pravin Koshti, Head of Marketing at TeamLease Services, for a deep conversation on how workforce productivity is being redefined in a high-stakes, AI-enabled healthcare environment.
As India eyes a $35 trillion economy, the conversation moves beyond hiring numbers to a more fundamental question: how do organizations drive sustainable performance without compromising quality, trust, and human judgement?
Productivity in diagnostics: Beyond volumes and turnaround time
Diagnostics is often viewed as a volume-driven business—samples collected, tests processed, and reports delivered within defined timelines. But as Dr. Garg explains, true productivity in healthcare extends far beyond process metrics.
At its core, diagnostics is built on accuracy, reliability, and trust. While process efficiency matters, workforce productivity is shaped by how roles are designed, how work is distributed, and how people are enabled to contribute across the value chain.
“Productivity is not a destination,” Dr. Garg notes. “It is a daily journey of questioning what can be done better.”
Role redesign as a productivity lever
One of the most powerful shifts discussed during the Samvaad is the move away from rigid, siloed roles.
Traditionally, sample collection and laboratory processing were handled by different teams, despite similar qualifications. By rethinking this structure, Dr. Lal PathLabs introduced multi-skilled roles, enabling frontline employees to collect samples during peak morning hours and support lab operations later in the day.
This redesign improved capacity utilization without increasing headcount or employee fatigue, demonstrating that productivity gains do not always require more people but better role architecture.
Automation and digital payments further reduced manual work, allowing employees to focus on higher-value activities rather than transactional tasks.
Hiring for role effectiveness, not role rigidity
As roles evolved, hiring practices had to follow. While medical competence remains non-negotiable, hiring now places equal emphasis on role versatility, clarity of expectations, and technological comfort. Job descriptions explicitly outline multitasking responsibilities, ensuring transparency from day one.
To manage workload variability, Dr. Lal PathLabs operates multiple, flexible shifts rather than standard three-shift models. This enables better alignment between demand peaks and workforce availability.
A strong emphasis is also placed on data literacy. Even frontline teams are trained to analyze trends, identify outliers, and take corrective action. A large-scale Excel upskilling initiative ensured that data-driven decision-making is embedded at the ground level, not restricted to leadership dashboards.
Measuring performance through customer-facing outcomes
Sustained performance, according to Dr. Garg, is anchored in customer-centric metrics rather than internal efficiency alone.
In some geographies, Dr. Lal PathLabs is now pushing the frontier from same-day reporting to six-hour turnaround, not through pressure, but through process intelligence and tech-enabled orchestration.
Staying ahead: Creating benchmarks when none exist
As an industry leader, Dr. Lal PathLabs often operates without clear external benchmarks. This requires creating internal standards and continuously raising the bar.
Dr. Garg likens leadership in such environments to running a race focused on the finish line, not constantly looking sideways at competitors. The organization practices continuous experimentation, borrowing principles from Kaizen while leveraging rapid advances in technology.
Well before AI became mainstream, the company implemented machine-learning models to predict report turnaround times, demonstrating a long-standing commitment to purpose-led technology adoption.
Leadership, culture, and resilience at scale
In a people-intensive, distributed organization, leadership quality becomes the ultimate productivity multiplier.
Dr. Garg attributes sustained performance to a deeply embedded culture shaped over decades, one that is employee-centric, medically rigorous, and customer-focused. Leadership stability plays a critical role, with long tenures enabling cultural continuity and execution excellence.
Resilience, a key leadership trait, is assessed through behavioral interviews and rigorous reference checks. It is seen not as adrenaline-driven performance but as the ability to sustain outcomes over time in high-pressure environments.
A balanced view on technology and automation
While technology is a powerful enabler, Dr. Garg offers a note of caution: not everything that can be automated should be automated.
For individuals, the mandate is clear: stay curious and keep learning, as skills become obsolete faster than ever. For organizations, the challenge is to separate signal from noise and adopt technology with clear intent, ROI, and productivity impact.
Meaningful automation, not indiscriminate digitization, is what sustains performance.
Watch the full interview here
About Manoj Garg
Dr. Manoj Garg is the Group Chief Human Resources Officer at Dr. Lal PathLabs, one of India’s largest and most respected diagnostic and clinical laboratory networks. Based in Gurgaon, he leads HR strategy, organizational transformation, talent management, and people-centric performance systems for a workforce that delivers high-quality healthcare services across India.
With over two decades of diverse experience, Manoj has shaped HR functions in both corporate and technology environments. Before joining Dr. Lal PathLabs, he was Senior Vice President – HR at Bharti Airtel, where he drove HR strategy and transformation for large market operations. Earlier in his career, he led HR initiatives at STMicroelectronics, rolling out global HRIS systems across 35 countries, and held leadership roles at Dell Technologies.
A strong advocate for role redesign, data-driven excellence, and purpose-led technology adoption, Manoj has advanced performance frameworks that blend human judgment with operational metrics in complex people-centric environments. He holds an MBA (HR, Gold Medal) from XLRI Jamshedpur and a B.Tech from the National Institute of Technology Calicut, combining deep business insight with technical acumen.
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this article, including any accompanying data, are the sole responsibility of the author and should not be construed as reflecting the official policy or position of India Employer Forum.
