In today’s fast-evolving workplace, HR is no longer just about managing payroll and compliance—it’s about enabling organizations to build resilient, future-ready teams. Hence, in an exclusive interaction with CXO Media and APAC Media, Girish Rowjee, Co-founder and CEO of greytHR, has shared insights on building trust in HR tech, balancing innovation with simplicity, and why human-centric technology will define the future of work.
What specific gaps in the HR technology landscape inspired you to establish your company, and how does your solution uniquely address these challenges?
When we started greytHR, we observed a critical gap: while large enterprises could afford complex HR systems, small and medium-sized businesses were left managing critical HR processes manually — often relying on spreadsheets for payroll, compliance, and employee data.
We set out to change that. Our goal was to simplify HR technology—make it intuitive, affordable, and compliance-ready—particularly for businesses navigating India’s evolving regulatory landscape.
What began with a focus on payroll and compliance has today evolved into a full-suite HRMS platform, offering over 50 advanced tools covering the entire employee lifecycle—from hiring to retirement. Our early commitment to solving real-world problems for SMEs has today scaled into a platform that empowers 30,000+ businesses across 30+ countries, processes payroll for over 3 million employees every month, and handles ₹1.8 lakh crore+ in salaries annually.
What remains unchanged is our belief: technology should remove complexity, automate the mundane, and help organizations focus on their people—the true drivers of growth.
In a competitive HR tech market, what strategies have you employed to differentiate your offerings and establish a unique value proposition?
greytHR stands out by combining simplicity, scalability, and compliance strength. Our cloud-native, microservices-based platform ensures high speed, stability, and flexibility. With multi-cloud deployment on AWS and Google Cloud, containerization, and orchestration, we maintain 99.5% uptime while processing payroll for over 3 million employees monthly.
Our end-to-end HR suite supports every stage of the employee journey—recruitment to offboarding—without the complexity of legacy systems. This full-stack approach, coupled with affordability, makes our solution accessible and impactful for growing businesses.
We also differentiate through deep compliance expertise, helping businesses stay aligned with evolving regulations. Beyond software, our learning resources—such as greytHR Academy, Parichay webinars, greytFM Podcast and greytribe community—empower HR teams with knowledge and best practices.
Most importantly, our implementation is designed for success: we guide clients through data readiness, goal-setting, and adoption with strong customer success support. This blend of robust tech and human-centric service is our true differentiator.
How do you balance the integration of emerging technologies like AI and machine learning with the need for user-friendly HR solutions?
At greytHR, our foundation remains rooted in building a robust, compliance-driven HRMS platform. Given the sensitive nature of the data we manage—from payroll to regulatory compliance—we approach the integration of emerging technologies like AI with excitement but also with deliberate care.
We believe that AI should enhance HR processes without ever compromising trust or human judgment. Every feature we introduce is carefully planned, tested, and aligned with our core principles of security, simplicity, and user empowerment.
Today, we offer practical AI capabilities such as an AI-powered chatbot, which helps employees resolve routine HR queries instantly, reducing response times and easing the workload on HR teams. We have also embedded AI-driven recommendations within our engagement modules, enabling employees to personalize feedback and peer recognition—particularly valuable in distributed workforces.
As we continue to explore AI-driven enhancements, our guiding philosophy remains unchanged: technology must simplify HR operations, protect sensitive data, and empower organizations without replacing the human element at the heart of work.
What strategies have proven effective in scaling your client base while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction?
At greytHR, scaling has always been about solving the right problems first—and then building around them with thoughtful innovation.
When we began, our focus was clear: to address the most critical challenges businesses faced—streamlining payroll, ensuring statutory compliance, and simplifying essential HR operations. We prioritized functional depth, creating a platform that businesses could depend on to automate key HR processes accurately, securely, and efficiently.
As customer expectations evolved, so did our approach. We began layering new capabilities around this strong foundation—always guided by a commitment to simplicity, reliability, and customer empowerment.
In recent years, we strengthened our mobile-first strategy, enhanced the Employee Self-Service (ESS) experience, and introduced AI-powered tools like chatbots and engagement-driven feedback recommendations. Our mobile app, with over 1 million downloads, a 4.5-star rating, and 70,000+ reviews, stands as a testament to the trust and adoption we’ve earned from businesses and employees alike.
What has mattered most, however, is staying close to our customers—listening to their evolving needs, enabling fast adoption with simple configurations, and ensuring every innovation enhances usability without adding complexity. We continue to build every day, guided by feedback, emerging needs, and a belief that technology should simplify HR, strengthen trust, and keep people at the center of work.
How do you tailor your solutions to meet the diverse needs of various industries and organizational sizes?
At greytHR, flexibility is built into our foundation. We designed the platform to be modular, highly configurable, and adaptable—ensuring it can meet the unique needs of organizations across different industries and stages of growth.
For small and medium-sized businesses, the focus is on simplicity, speed, and affordability. Our intuitive interface, mobile-first experience, and ready-to-use configurations allow lean teams to automate HR processes quickly without heavy implementation overhead.
For mid-sized enterprises and larger organizations, we provide greater depth—supporting complex workflows, deeper role-based access, scalable data management, and seamless integrations through our Unite Marketplace and APIs. This ensures businesses can maintain operational efficiency even as their workforce scales across locations or geographies.
Today, we serve over 20 industries. Whether it’s manufacturing with shift-based attendance, tech companies needing flexible appraisal cycles, or healthcare institutions prioritizing compliance rigor, greytHR adapts to diverse requirements without adding complexity.
Ultimately, we believe that great HR technology should not force organizations to fit into rigid templates. It should flex, configure, and scale as their needs do—without ever losing sight of simplicity, compliance, and user empowerment.
How has your leadership style evolved since founding the company, and what core values do you instill within your team?
When we found greytHR, leadership meant being hands-on—solving immediate challenges, building the product ourselves, and staying close to every customer conversation. It was about execution, speed, and adaptability.
Today, our leadership approach is more collaborative and vision-driven. We prioritize continuous learning, independence, and strategic decision-making at every level.
Our core values—Improve Every Day, Deliver Excellence, Focus on Impact, Drive Customer Success, and Nurture Learning & Sharing—shape the culture we are proud of. These values emphasize growth, empathy, collaboration, and a deep commitment to customer success.
We believe that a people-first culture is essential—not just to our company’s success, but also to the HR software we create for our customers.
Because great products are built by great teams empowered to learn, lead, and make an impact.
Can you discuss a pivotal moment that tested your leadership and how you navigated through it?
One of the most challenging moments in my leadership journey was during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overnight, everything shifted—for our customers, our team, and the business. There was a lot of uncertainty, and as a leader, I felt the weight of every decision.
We had to move quickly to adapt—ensuring our team could work remotely, while also staying close to our customers, many of whom were under tremendous pressure to process salaries and stay compliant with changing regulations.
What helped us navigate through that period was staying grounded in our values—putting people first, being transparent, and responding with empathy. We focused on supporting our customers through rapid product enhancements, timely information, and continuous engagement. Internally, we kept communication open and honest, and made sure our team felt secure and supported.
Looking back, it was a tough time, but it brought out the best in our culture. It reminded me that leadership is not about reacting—it’s about responding with clarity, consistency, and compassion.
What trends do you foresee shaping the future of HR technology, and how is your company preparing to adapt?
The future of HR technology will be shaped by a few major shifts.
First, AI and automation will play an increasingly important role, streamlining routine tasks, surfacing insights, and enabling faster decision-making.
At the same time, empathy, human judgment, and strategic HR thinking will continue to be critical—especially in areas like talent management, employee engagement, and culture building.
Second, mobile-first HR experiences will become foundational. Employees today expect HR processes—leave applications, payslips, feedback, recognition—to be accessible anywhere, anytime, with the same simplicity they experience in consumer apps.
Third, we foresee a strong move toward continuous engagement and performance management, replacing rigid, once-a-year appraisal cycles. HR tools will increasingly focus on helping employees grow through real-time feedback, peer recognition, and personalized development journeys.
Finally, compliance will become even more complex, especially as businesses expand across geographies and adapt to evolving labor laws.
At greytHR, we are preparing for these trends thoughtfully. We are embedding AI-driven features—like chatbots and engagement insights—without compromising simplicity, trust, or user empowerment.
Our mobile-first evolution continues to deepen, ensuring that employees and HR teams can manage critical tasks effortlessly on the go. We are also strengthening our compliance engine to support multi-country regulatory frameworks, helping businesses stay ahead without added complexity.
As we embrace automation and innovation, our focus remains on building technology that simplifies operations, enhances employee experience, and supports organizations in building resilient, people-centered workplaces.
Are there plans to expand your services into new markets or integrate with other platforms to enhance functionality?
Yes, we are steadily expanding our footprint beyond India and the Middle East, with a focused approach towards Southeast Asia and Africa. As we enter new markets, we are committed to localizing greytHR—adapting the platform to meet local laws and compliance needs. Our goal is to build for real relevance, not just presence.
At the same time, we are deepening our platform’s functional strength—enhancing multi-country payroll, compliance, and core HR capabilities—so businesses can manage diverse workforces simply and confidently.
We are also making greytHR easier to extend through the Unite Marketplace and open APIs, allowing businesses to connect with ERP systems, background verification services, wellness platforms, and more, based on their needs.
For us, expansion is not just about growing wider—it’s also about growing deeper. Our focus remains on scaling trust: delivering simplicity, compliance, and people-first innovation wherever we go.
Sugandh Bahl Vij
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