UNILEVER UNILEV 1 15 16 MINDTREE MI 19 SUZUKI INDIA 18 6s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/... · 38 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 equation right —and it’s just

1HINDUSTAN UNILEVER

2ADITYA BIRLA

GROUP

3LG ELECTRONICS

6NTPC4GODREJ

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

7BECTON DICKINSON

5BHARTI AIRTEL

8AIRCEL

9WIPRO 13

10MARRIOTT HOTELS

INDIA

1415MARUTI SUZUKI

17

19MINDTREE

18TATA TELESERVICES

21TATA STEEL

23

2524FIRSTSOURCE

SOLUTIONS

2220NIIT

11KOTAK MAHINDRA

BANK

12SCOPEINT’L

DR REDDY’S

LABS

MI

TELE

TAT

FIRSO

HINDUSTUNILEV

ADITYBIRL

GROUP

LG ELECTRO

NTPC

BECTDICKIN

BHAAIR

AIRC

WIPR

MSU

T

GODCONSUPRODU

ARRT

MAHO

INDIA

KOMAH

B

S

REL

BEST EMPLOYERS

16CANON INDIA

RANKING

34 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 35OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011

COMPANIES THAT HAVE EARNED THEIR PLACES AT THE AWESOME EMPLOYER HALL OF FAME

JUBILANT FOODWORKS

AEGIS

FORD GROUP

COGNIZANTTECH

SOLUTIONS

WHIRLPOOL OF INDIA

PAGE DESIGN BY MANISH MARWAH

CS-Ranking.indd 2-3CS-Ranking.indd 2-3 24/04/11 12:15 AM24/04/11 12:15 AM

WThe Brightest And The BestGetting onto the Outlook Business-Aon Hewitt Best Employers list isn’t easy. What are these 25 companies doing that others aren’t?

BEST EMPLOYERS

THE TOP 25

Meenakshi Radhakrishnan-Swami

HAT MAKES A GOOD EMPLOYER THE best? Is it: A. the tai chi classes, concert passes and the concierge service that picks up your laundry; B. something more mundane and material, like pay; or C. all of the above? We pick option D: none of the above.

Granted, the pampering and the perks are hallmarks of wish-list employers. But it takes something more to become a “great” com-pany to work for. At the risk of sounding all touchy-feely, may we suggest that the best employers are those who are truly commit-ted to their people—they want them to be engaged and dedicated to the success of the enterprise; and they want them to be happy and productive.

You’d be justifi ed in thinking that’s asking for a little too much. It’s already well-doc-umented how companies struggle to make the jump from good to great—and not just in terms of product quality and market share. Becoming an employer of choice is as criti-cal to the success of any business as getting the product-price

37OutlookBusiness > May 14, 201136 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 PHOTOGRAPHS BY VISHAL KOUL

CS-Opening.indd 2-3CS-Opening.indd 2-3 26/04/11 4:35 PM26/04/11 4:35 PM

OutlookBusiness > May 14, 201138

equation right—and it’s just as diffi cult. Take a look at the 2011 Outlook Business-Aon Hewitt Best Employers List. Th e list of 25 Best Employers was drawn up at the end of an eight-month study of over 200 companies. In this seventh edition of the study, you’ll see just eight names repeated from the earlier round. If you thought becoming a Best Employer isn’t easy, looks like it’s even tougher to re-main a Best Employer.

What’s changed since last time? Well, for starters, the outlook is better now: the recession is a distant memory and India Inc wants to fast-track its growth. Salaries are up, companies are hiring and they’re working to ensure employees—especially those anointed as high poten-tial—are on the same page when it comes to business goals. “While products, cus-tomer, and innovation will continue to be important enablers, CEOs acknowl-edge that a high growth agenda will be achieved through a high performing and engaged workforce,” write Rakesh Malik, Practice Leader, and Manasi Var-tak, Senior Consultant, Aon Hewitt, In-dia Consulting (see Making Th e Cut on page 78). What that means is that in the best companies, people management is a management agenda, not an HR agen-

da. Talent retention and development is driven from the top and the leaders at the best companies devote a signifi cant portion of their working day to staying on top of people issues, be it keeping an eye on the metrics, mentoring their best and brightest or deciding on the right candidates for key assignments.

How does that help? It sends a very powerful signal through the organisa-tion that the management is committed to talent development; they aren’t just going to throw more money at you (al-though that’s always welcome) and kick you upstairs with little or no prepara-tion. Becoming a Best Employer means a heavy to-do list starting with the screen-ing and selection process. Get the right people, train them to do their jobs well, keep talking to them to update them

on what’s changing in the organisation and understand what’s changing in their career charts and give them regular, in-depth feedback on their performance.

It’s a lot to do, but the rewards make it worth the eff ort. If employees are at-tuned to business goals and work to-wards them in a cohesive manner, the results are bound to show on the bot-tomline. Besides, Best Employers are way ahead of the crowd in attracting and retaining top talent—that means they save on replacement and recruit-ment costs and have admirable bench strength most of the time.

How do these issues play out in the Outlook Business-Aon Hewitt Best Em-ployers study? Turn the page to fi nd out.Email us at [email protected]

or SMS OLB<feedback> at 575758�

The best employers are committed to their people—they want them to be engaged and dedicated to the success of the fi rm; and they want them to be happy and productive.

CS-Opening.indd 4CS-Opening.indd 4 26/04/11 4:35 PM26/04/11 4:35 PM


BEST EMPLOYERS THE TOP 25

Ajita Shashidhar

IT WAS LUNCH AS USUAL: ON HIS RECENT VISIT TO INDIA, Unilever CEO Paul Polomon met young employees along with managing committee members for a meal and some conversation. Such events are feel-good aff airs, but for Pragya Sharma, it was a can’t-miss opportunity to discuss her ideas about certain strategies with top management. Th e Bru Coff ee marketing manager’s arguments were hard-hitting and un-

favourable, and in a way challenged senior management’s decisions.Why would a humble marketing manager of Unilever take the management

head on, especially in front of the biggest boss? Didn’t she fear losing her job? “Th e open culture of HUL (Hindustan Unilever) is addictive. Th at’s what has made me stick here for seven years,” says Sharma. “Everyone is free to voice their opinion and the management hears out everyone. We are never hauled up for voicing contrarian opinions,” she adds.

“Th ey come down to our level and treat us like equals. Th e whole atmosphere is so comfortable that we never feel scared to speak our mind,” concurs Nip-pun Aneja, Senior Brand Manager, Axe.

Openness and freedom to express your views is ingrained in the Unilever culture, claims HUL CEO and MD Nitin Paranjpe. “I can’t imagine working in this place for so many years had I not been allowed to speak out my mind,” he says.

Paranjpe recalls an interaction on a market visit with a management trainee who off ered suggestions on cost-eff ective practices. “I was surprised that such ma-ture ideas came from a young manage-ment trainee,” he says. Paranjpe put up the trainee’s thoughts on his internal blog soon aft er he returned to Mumbai. His post attracted comments and ideas from hundreds of other Unilever employees on various cost-effi cient practices and fi nally some of these suggestions were actually put into practice.

Blogs are just one way HUL’s management keeps in touch informally with the rank and fi le. Th ere’s also an intranet portal ‘Your Say’, where employees are encouraged to express their views. “Management may not accept all that the employees say, but we ensure that every suggestion is responded to,” says Leena Nair, Executive Director, Human Resources.

Caring EmployerAsk any employee why he/ she likes to work at HUL, and the reply is: the caring attitude. “Unilever has always stood by me whenever I have needed them,” says Shruti Seth (name changed on request) who works in the company’s fi nance department. A few years ago, her father was diagnosed with cancer and HUL helped Seth to have him treated at Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. “Th ey got me appointments with the best oncologist in the country. I can never forget

Hindustan UnileverThe freedom to speak their minds helps encourage and

empower employees at this FMCG giant.

Why Employees

HULPeople management: Line managers are also responsible for HR.

High performance culture: Annual performance rating, career progression and high-potential status.

Infrastructure: HQ has daycare, gym, badminton courts, grocery store, etc.

1this gesture of the company,” she says.

While Seth is indebted to the company for all the help the company off ered her when she needed it the most, Shobhana Mishra (name changed on request) is con-vinced that she could have never pursued her career aft er she became a mother, had it not been for the day-care facility at the company’s swanky new headquarters in suburban Mumbai. Th e icing on the cake: she has the option of working out of home whenever she wants to.

“We make all our employees believe that they are priority and we will do every-thing possible for their well-being,” re-marks Nair. Th e company is also looking at a concept called ‘job-sharing’ so that it can help retain more women employees. “Most women employees give up jobs aft er motherhood, and the job-sharing concept would enable two women to share a particular task. Th ey could work when-ever convenient and do a particular task jointly,” says Nair.

Creating A PurposeHUL’s management believes its ability to engage with the employees right up to the linesmen in the factories helps it make the leap from a good to a great employer. Paranjpe considers his company a good employer not so much because of its HR practices but the eff ort it puts in to create a sense of purpose for all its employees.

Nair is proud of the scale of the vari-ous employee engagement activities the company carries out. “All our activities are meant for all our 500,000 employees. I am sure no other company off ers this kind of scale.”

Paranjpe says that HUL’s philosophy is to better itself everyday not only as a great consumer products company, but also as a great employer. “We are not perfect, but our goal is to continuously strive towards perfection.”

Day-care facilities, ‘job- sharing’ and fl exitime helps HUL retain more women employees.

THUMBS UP: HUL’s caring attitude wins it employee loyalty.

41OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011

SOUMIK KAR AND PRIYAM DHAR

HUL.indd 2-3HUL.indd 2-3 26/04/11 1:03 PM26/04/11 1:03 PM

OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 4342

Krishna Gopalan

AT 7:15 AM ON A DAY IN 2008, LUCA FONTANA WAS AT his home in Ohio getting ready to leave for work when the phone rang. It was a call from a recruiter who was keen on discussing a potential opportunity. Th is wasn’t the fi rst such call Fontana had received. But this time, there was a diff erence: the position was for a group based in Mumbai. A few days later, an intrigued

Fontana met Santrupt B Misra, Director (Group HR), Aditya Birla Group in New York before fl ying out to meet Kumar Mangalam Birla, the group’s Chairman, in Mumbai. Th ings moved quickly and in November that year, aft er 17 years with GE in the US and then Ashland Inc, Fontana joined Aditya Birla Science & Tech-nology (ABSTC) as CEO.

Recalling his meeting with Birla, Fontana, who holds a doctorate in organic

Aditya Birla Group Employees have a high level of motivation thanks to mobility across functions.


chemistry apart from 25 patents in the US, says, “He said he wanted to diversify the portfolio and was looking to have val-ue-added products coming out of India.”

Today, ABSTC, with a strength of 120 employees, develops solutions in the group’s business areas like non-ferrous metals, carbon black and cement. To Fon-tana, who set up this project from scratch, the AV Birla Group is one that off ers him very high levels of freedom—the reason why he is happy where he is.

Why Employees

AV Birla GroupManager development: Training academy, managers’ website etc.

Career focus: Scale leveraged to provide varied opportunities.

Top-down commitment: CEO personally monitors top 100 leaders in group.

2

For Ranjini Roy, General Manager (Market Intelligence), Birla Cellulose, the freedom to think like an entrepre-neur is what stands out. “Th e number of opportunities are actually unlimited,” says Roy, who joined the group straight aft er her MBA in 2001. A key reason for the continuous high levels of motiva-tion comes from the cross-functional responsibilities. Th at really means an employee can move to a marketing or a HR function if he thinks he has spent

too much time in fi nance. A case in point is Jayant Dua, who

moved to Birla Sun Life as Managing Director in July last year aft er spending almost 15 years in businesses as diverse as insulators and cement, in functions across marketing, IT and strategy.

“Th e group gives you the comfort that it values your input and the decision-making capability. It fosters an open environment,” he says. From being in the B2B space like cement and alumin-

ium, the AV Birla Group has a signifi cant presence in telecom, retail, apparels and fi nancial services.

In the process, it has had to address the emerging youth market and bring in a fresher and more vibrant workforce. Th e group certainly seems to taken cognisance of that, with 28% of its workforce being accounted for by Gen Y.

Women account for 17% of total staff and that has to be viewed in the light of the fact that the foray into the B2C space taking place much later in the day. Pinky Mehta, President & Head (Corporate Management Services Division), recalls being one of the few women who were professionally qualifi ed when she joined in 1991. “A large number of women were secretaries. Th at has changed remarkably today,” she says.

Understandably, it is never easy to keep everyone happy, especially when you have a workforce as large as the AV Birla Group does. So, what does it take to get all the pieces together ? “We stand by our peo-ple. We are a fair and demanding organi-sation. We meet all the intellectual and emotional needs of the people who work for us,” Misra says.

As the AV Birla Group sets itself a tar-get of getting to revenues of $65 billion by 2015, it will need everything it can get from its employees. Today, it has a pres-ence across 31 countries and six conti-nents. In the process, it serves over 100 million customers.

More importantly, almost 60% of its revenues come from outside India. In that context, getting the right people for the right job is seldom easy.

According to HR Shashikant, Executive President (Group HR), there is a twin-track approach to the role of human re-sources in the group. “Being a strategic business partner and an employee cham-pion is equally important to us and we strike a delicate balance between the two,” he says. Th is is what has worked for the group. Amrita Goyal, Senior Manager at Idea Cellular, is on a two-year sabbati-cal with Teach for India. “Th is may not have been possible in any other group. It helps greatly when you know you are being taken care of,” says the 2005 gradu-ate of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management. It is this sense of pride that makes the AV Birla Group such a good place to work in. �

RISING SUN: AV Birla Group has ensured diversity in the workforce.

PRIYAM DHAR

Aditya Birla.indd 2-3Aditya Birla.indd 2-3 26/04/11 12:14 PM26/04/11 12:14 PM


Sudipto Dey

FOUR MONTHS INTO THE JOB, SOON KWON, PRESIDENT, South West Asia, and Managing Director of LG Electronics India, is touchy about one matter. And he’s candid in expressing his biggest concern for the country’s largest consumer electronics and durable company. No, it has nothing to do with competitors weaning away market share, but of holding on to the company’s human talent pool.

“Th at is my biggest challenge,” Kwon acknowledges. It’s a lesson the company has learnt the hard way. Till around 2006, LG India had

a highly performance-driven work culture, complete with long working hours, fre-

The white goods giant has brought in employee-friendly practices and empowered staff.

LG Electronics

Why Employees

LG High-performance orientation:Bonus pay-outs fi ve times a year (two guaranteed).

Culture of freedom: Empowerment and ownership at local employee level.

Gender diversity:Global mandate to hire more women.

3

LOGO’S GOOD: The only LG subsidiary without a labour union is in India.

VISHAL KOUL

LG singles.indd 2LG singles.indd 2 26/04/11 1:31 PM26/04/11 1:31 PM


quent burnouts and high attrition. At one point, 35% of freshers who joined the company left within the fi rst one year, say insiders.

A conscious move to change the or-ganisation culture from a performance-oriented one to a “happy-to-perform” culture followed. Th e new message to the employees was: “If you can take care of your family, then you can also take care of your job,” says Dr Yasho V Verma, Chief Operating Offi cer, LG Electronics India.

HR policies were redesigned around employee engagement and employ-ee empowerment programmes, with emphasis on the family connect. Every white-collar employee now has a fi ve-year career plan in place, along with a yearly development plan, which is re-viewed annually. Th ere is a succession plan in place for all crucial jobs and key people. A core group of high potential employees—around 500-odd people—have been identifi ed and are nurtured within the system.

Employees are encouraged to com-municate with team leaders, head of de-partments, and top bosses during ‘Pizza Meetings’ and ‘Friday@5’ sessions. In ‘Feel-Free’ hours one can take time off from work to pursue other interests. Each team has a change agent—from within the team—whose additional role is to look at ways of improving bonding.

Activities that are now considered rou-tine across corporate offi ces in India—

sitting in offi ce beyond work hours and working on holidays—are discouraged, and the family-connect programmes to nurture talent in spouses and children have been a huge hit among employees at all levels. “HR has become a strategic partner in business plans and business execution,” says Umesh Kumar Dhal, Head of HR at LG India.

Th e eff orts have paid off . India is the only LG subsidiary—outside of Korea, among 50-odd countries—that has the largest pool of people with over 10 years of experience within the company; and it’s the only LG subsidiary that doesn’t have a labour union.

“Around 10% of our employees have been with us for 10 years or more,” says Kwon. Eff ectively, that means there are over 400 people on the rolls who have been with the company throughout its 14-year journey in India, evolving from an unknown television maker to a household consumer durables name.

Everyone’s A BossAn India-specifi c pilot-project close to Dhal’s heart is to institutionalise a management style of self-management across the organisation. “We have been working hard on this for a year now,” he says. Th e idea is to let people be their own bosses and to change the role of a manager to that of a coach.

So managers are encouraged to enable their team members take a call on their targets and goals. “We want to compete

with ourselves, and not with others,” he adds. Around 100-odd managers have gone through self-management programmes in the past year. As part of their performance appraisal, manag-ers too are now evaluated and bench-marked on their self-management abili-ties. Kwon regards this push towards self-management style as part of the employee empowerment drive within the company. Kwon’s dream is to see a crop of top Indian managers take on global roles in other LG subsidiaries. “I hope this happens during my stint in India,” he adds.

At the same time, there will be job opportunities and many challenging roles within the Indian operations in the coming years.

LG India plans to double its produc-tion capacity in the next two years, and also double its topline to touch the $8 billion-mark within three or four years. Th at would mean adding headcount, new roles and challenges for all em-ployees. “I hope this will keep them motivated,” says Kwon. His mantra to keep his fl ock together is simple: “Grow with the organisation”. Going by past precedent, the stock of employees with 10-year plus experience can only grow.

Staff are encouraged to talk to team heads, and take time off for other interests.

BHUPINDER SINGH

LG singles.indd 3LG singles.indd 3 26/04/11 1:31 PM26/04/11 1:31 PM

OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 4948

Why Employees

AirtelUniformity: All managers trained across all HR processes, resulting in consistent practices.

Focus on employee productivity: Achieved higher revenue with lower workforce.

Clarity: HR measurement through robust metrics.

5employees get a proportionate increase in bonus if the company surpasses its profi t goals.

For instance, if the company’s profi t goal is 15% but it achieves 30%, employee bonuses go up proportionately, aft er deducting the cost of the capital. “In 2009-10 the bonus was equivalent to our annual CTC (cost to the company),” says Sameer Shah, General Manager, Finance, Godrej Consumer Products.

Th ese practices, says Adi Godrej, have encouraged each and every individual in the organisation to strive for excellence. As they say, fortune favours the brave.

—Ajita Shashidhar

Bharti Airtel With over 17,000 people on its rolls in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Bharti Airtel’s headcount has kept pace with the scale and complexity of its business. Th e company now has revenues of above #10,000 crore (FY 2009-10), a presence in 19 countries and over 200 million customers worldwide. But what really puts Airtel in a class of its own is its entrepreneurial DNA. “We still have the soul of a small company despite our size,” says Sanjay Kapoor, CEO, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel. Preserving this culture, he adds, has been a conscious decision by the company’s top management. For employees, this translates into a fast-paced work environment where one has to quickly grasp challenges and respond to them.

Dechan Bhotia, a business analyst providing strategy support to the HR director, joined Airtel straight out of college about four years ago. During campus recruit-ment, she chose Airtel over HSBC Bank and IBM. “It seemed like a place where one could grow and learn more,” she recalls. True to her expectations, Bhotia found herself handling larger roles than many of her college peers. Aft er an ini-tial training stint of six months in diff erent business functions, she was handling a Performance Management System (PMS) for 1,500 people. Th is was not just for junior members but included senior profi les as well.

Samarth Bakhru is the head of marketing and distribution for M-Commerce services at Airtel. He has spent 11 years with the company, and despite receiving many lucrative off ers over the years, has never thought of leaving the fold. “Over time, Airtel tends to get into your DNA,” he explains.

Airtel is now readying itself for a new, more complex and more competitive mar-ketplace. In line with this, it has unveiled a new vision for 2015, which envisages it becoming one of the most loved brands in India.Even now, though, the company seems to be a rich HR hunting ground for star-tups. “Th at’s where a lot of people leaving Airtel go,” says HR Director Krish Shankar, who joined Airtel four years ago aft er over 20 years with Hin-dustan Unilever (HUL). He points out that Airtel has become a university of sorts when it comes to the telecom industry. Over time, it has evolved from being just a mobile voice and data service provider into one that off ers a bouquet of services, including fi xed-line, high-speed broadband, IPTV and DTH services as well as turnkey telecom solutions. “We are to telecom what HUL is to FMCG,” he says. Many management students join Airtel attracted by the challenge, he adds, particularly because of its #10,000 crore scale and the consumer connect that gives one a chance to really understand people and touch their lives. For them, the attraction is an adrenaline high. And they’re not disappointed when they become part of the high-speed trip.

—Taneesha Kulshrestha

Why Employees

GCPLHiPos: Robust identifi cation and development process.

Infrastructure: Housing colony, school, club, gymnasium, sports and day care centre.

Diversity: Focus on recruiting women, disadvantaged and disabled candidates.

4

PAIN EQUALS GAIN:At GCPL, some failures are rewarded to encourage risk-taking in future.

Godrej Consumer ProductsLate in 2009, Godrej Consumer Products’ household insecticide team was get-ting set to launch a variant of its insecticide brand, Hit. Encouraged by a series of positive consumer tests at the concept level, they ran a test launch in a few select markets. To their dismay, the response was tepid. While there was no outright rejection, the product failed to elicit any ‘wow’ reactions. Th e team had invested close to #20 crore in developing and creating the variant. Even the launch date and advertising campaign were in place. Th is far down the road, telling the manage-ment that a launch was not advisable could mean kissing your career goodbye. But that’s exactly what the team did. It informed Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej and Godrej Consumer Products CEO A Mahendran about the lacklustre test launch and recommended holding back the product.

Th e senior management not only agreed with the team’s suggestion to put the new variant on the backburner, but also, incredibly, gave the whole team a reward of around #20 crore. “We encourage employees to take risks. We rewarded the failure so that they don’t hesitate from taking risks in future,” explains Mahendran.

Adi Godrej emphasises that such rewards are given only when employees have given their best on a particular project. “If we don’t accept failures, how will they try to do innovative things the next time?” he explains. At the same time, he is quick to add, there’s no room for any slackness: “We always wipe out non-performers.”

A little later, the management had reason to pat themselves on the back for the reward. “Some months down the line, the same team conceptualised and launched GoodKnight Advance, which was a huge hit from the very fi rst day,” gushes Mahendran.

Th e Godrej top brass doesn’t believe in leading the team as much as in supporting them. “We don’t have our hands in front of our employees; we have our hands on their shoulders,” says Nisa Godrej, Director, HR and Innovation, Godrej Group.

Kapil Dev Pillai, Associate Vice-President, Godrej Household Products, has spent six years with the company. For him, the biggest incentive to stay on is the empowerment he gets on the job. “Whatever you manage, you are the MD for it. It’s like running your own fi efdom,” he declares. Pillai was part of the Hit team rewarded for its failure.

Th e group claims its attrition rate is in low single digits largely due to its friendly HR practices. ‘Profi t-linked variable revenue’ is a popular practice under which

PRIYAM DHAR

AMIT KU

MAR

AIR-BORNE: A fast-paced work environment keeps Airtel employees’

adrenaline pumping.

CS-Profiles 4-9.indd 48-49CS-Profiles 4-9.indd 48-49 26/04/11 4:34 PM26/04/11 4:34 PM



OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 5150

Why Employees

NTPCLearning and development: Runs the state-of-the-art Power Management Institute.

Wide range of benefi ts: Critical life situations and post-retirement benefi ts covered.

Quality of life: Tie-ups with the best schools, hospitals and health clubs.

6NTPCNTPC, India’s largest power company, would do well to invest in a coin-minting machine. Reason: every employee who completes 25 years of service with the pub-lic sector undertaking (PSU) gets a gold coin. Hundreds of NTPCians, past and present, have proudly taken home those coins over the years. Not surprisingly, the average age of the company’s workforce of 24,500 people is 46 years. And that isn’t considered a negative. “We are in an industry where maturity and experience counts, so it’s a strength,” asserts HR Director SP Singh.

Th at strength shows in NTPC’s operational performance. It has a power gener-ating capacity of 34,194MW. Although this is around 18% of the country’s total capacity, it accounts for close to 30% of total power generation. And it has been consistently profi table. NTPC’s results for FY10 showed a profi t aft er tax of #8,728 crore, earning it the ‘PSU Excellence Award 2010’ for best fi nancial performance.

Credit for this performance must go to NTPC’s 13,000 executive and 11,500 non-executive staff . “Although we are a PSU, we work like a private company and are result-oriented,” says Pramathesh Purkayastha, Additional GM (Corporate Planning). Th e reason employees are so driven, adds Manoj Dubey, DGM, Busi-ness Excellence, is because of the conducive environment that the company has created for them to excel.

Th at conduciveness begins with pay. With an annual salary of #10-12 lakh, en-try-level executives are paid far more than in private power companies. Th ough private players have the edge at senior levels, the pay is still decent; for instance, a general manager’s salary is around #30 lakh.

But it’s not just about pay, says HR chief Singh. “It is about satisfying the needs of every employee. And we are very sensitive to those needs.” NTPC employees are housed in townships equipped with hospitals, schools, parks, clubs and recrea-tion facilities. Plus, they enjoy a plethora of family-welfare initiatives, including free medicare and cheap loans.

“Our people practices have been designed to cater to the needs of employees, to help them develop as individuals as well as profession-als,” says NTPC CMD Arup Roy Choudhury.

Job satisfaction levels are high. “I turned down an opportunity to work in the US be-cause I am very happy here,” says SVR Sub-barao, a junior offi cer in the IT department.

Today, NTPC is the fi rst choice among PSUs for job seekers. Every year, over 100,000 candidates appear for an all-India test to fi ll around 500 entry-level positions in the com-pany. “Th at’s how desirable a job at NTPC is,” says Prem Chand, Senior Manager, HR.

With the power sector being opened up to private players, the management is keenly aware of the importance of staying competi-

tive. “Every employee has to undergo at least seven days of training annually,” ex-plains Pranav Kumar Sinha, Additional GM, HR.

Much of the training takes place at NTPC’s Power Management Institute (PMI) in Noida, which provides technical and management training to middle and senior-level personnel. Th e PSU has also tied up with institutes like IIT-Delhi, BITS-Pilani and MDI (Gurgaon) for executive education programmes. “NTPC pays the entire course fee and the executive continues to draw a full salary during the course,” says AK Bhatnagar, GM, HR & Corporate Communications.

With that kind of support, it’s not surprising that NTPC is a Best Employer—the only PSU on the list.

—Allan Lasrado

WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE: The average age of NTPC’s workforce is 46 years.

TOUCH POINT: BD’s focus is on increasing

physical contact with the people on the ground.

Why Employees

BD Top management’s people focus: 35% of CEO’s scorecard is dependent on people related processes or practices.

Virtual university: Comprises 500 + leaders as teachers where associates learn immediately useful concepts.

High employee connect: CEO and HR Head travel frequently across locations to meet employees.

7VISHAL KOUL

NAV

EEN

SH

AR

MA

Becton DickinsonBecton Dickinson India’s (BD’s) offi ce is remarkably basic for a workplace in the glass and dazzle of Gurgaon: no fl ashy colours or expensive artwork. Th e HR prac-tices mirror that: no smiley stickers that employees give each other or book clubs or movie shows. Th ere is, however, a fundamental, yet strategic approach to sup-porting its employees in the most eff ective way possible. “Like most of India, BD also lives two lives. Pharma and medical supplies is an old industry. Unlike service companies, we don’t yet have the culture of open doors, glass offi ces, etc. But it’s changing,” says Manish Sinha, Director (HR). However, at a functional level, the employees are empowered. “People have the freedom to say, ‘I didn’t ask you but I let go off that #5 crore deal because it didn’t seem clean’,” he says.

While most companies have gone virtual in their HR practices by shunting more and more things on the intranet, BD’s approach now is reverse. A major HR ini-tiative lately is the one where the company has ensured an increase in physical contact with the people on the ground. A large chunk of the company’s employ-ees are its sales force, people who are out in the market for long stretches of time. By placing HR executives in these sales offi ces, BD has been able to achieve two goals. “One, it was symbolic. People in the front end feel that the organisation is thinking about them. Two, it helped identify problems and policy changes to solve them was much quicker. For example, someone who is on the fi eld 20 days in a month may not be able to fi le claims before the seventh of the month. Th ey realise money is deducted only when they see the salary slip. Th e HR executive brought this problem forward and I walked across to the CFO to see how this could be changed. It was a simple solution to a serious problem,” Sinha says.

Th e company is now hiring people from various backgrounds in order to aug-ment the creativity of the team. All things remaining the same, the tendency now is to hire a free thinker rather than one set in his ways. Th e company is facing a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. In order to grow quickly, it has to hire creative and talented people. In order to be able to attract them, it has to grow and off er a great career potential. Th e results might take a while, but the process is certainly underway.

—Veena Venugopal




52

Why Employees

AircelInnovate, invigorate: HR supports initiatives to create a culture of innovation.

Recognise and appreciate: High recognition culture with practices like bravo cards, redeemable points and employee of the quarter contests.

Aircel academy: Courses for every function.

8Why Employees

Wipro Managing diversity: Focus on hiring women and persons with disability.

Robust talent review: HiPo identifi cation and succession planning at all the business units.

Campus connect: Improving education standards at colleges where Wipro hires.

9

HIP ’N TRENDY: At Aircel, HR initiatives are planned keeping in mind the young workforce.

CLOUD NINE: The spirit of entrepreneurship helped

Wipro employees build a private cloud that now helps

bring in clients.

AircelHow do you operate in an industry where you could be rendered illiterate come Monday? Where technology and tariff plans change the rules of the game every few days? For telecom player Aircel, this adds yet another complexity to its al-ready unusual position of being a young player in a fi ercely competitive industry.

“A big challenge was fi guring out how we would diff erentiate ourselves, since we were the eighth player in the industry. We decided our positioning would be youth oriented,” says Gurdeep Singh, COO of Aircel India. Th e company focuses on value-added services and targets the technologically agile. “When you scan that back into your employee base, you have a similar constitution of people coming into your organisation,” Singh explains. Th e essence of Aircel as an employer is pretty much ensconced in that. It is a young company that sells to the young and, therefore, employs the young. Th e average employees is 31 years old and senior management, 42.

HR initiatives at Aircel are also driven with the demographic profi le of its em-ployees in mind. Everything is online. Th e company has an employee portal, which is Facebook meets Twitter. Staff across the country can post messages and have meetings. Th ere’s an elaborate rewards and recognition programme. Awards are publicised on the intranet and the points that you earn, called brownies, are en-cashable in the company store. Soon, these will be available in a smart card issued by ICICI Bank that can be cashed anywhere.

“For us, retention is not a strategy. It is the outcome of our HR initiatives,” says Chandan Chattaraj, Chief HR Offi cer. “Th e days of people coming and telling us they want to quit because they have got another job that pays them 10% more are over. If they quit now, it is usually because they want to pursue higher studies. We’ve had no attrition in our senior team in the last three years,” he says.

—Veena Venugopal

WiproWipro has spawned over 50 chief executives (including ex-MindTree boss Ashok Soota and current honcho KK) in the six decades of its existence—a feat not many Indian companies can claim. “We are a breeding ground for leaders and we are able to do this because we take risks with our people,” says CEO TK Kurien. Th e company is known to give opportunities and responsibilities to people early on in their careers. And it helps that Wipro’s portfolio spans the length and breadth

of the IT services landscape in addition to consumer care, green business and in-frastructure engineering. “If you’re willing to learn on the job Wipro is the place for you,” says Ajay Bhaskar, General Manager (Strategy & Business Development). He’s been with the company for nine years and has straddled functions as varied as marketing, sales, mergers and acquisitions and corporate strategy.

“It doesn’t matter if you lack prior experience for a particular role—so long as you are up to a challenge, the organisation is willing to take a risk,” says Siddharth Nair, Senior Manager (Strategic Marketing), who has moved across fi ve diff erent marketing functions in his fi ve-and-a-half year stint at Wipro. Dipanjan Basu credits his exposure at Wipro as the reason he landed a CFO’s job in a start-up fi ve years into his corporate career. “I can’t think of too many organisations where a fi nance guy will be exposed to auditing processes, functional knowledge at the organisational level and business-specifi c functions like contracting and pricing.” Basu’s now back in Wipro: “I missed the challenging work environment once the start-up phase ended.”

“Ours is an entrepreneurial culture. We empower people and allow them to work without interference or micro-management,” says Pratik Kumar, Executive Vice-President (HR) and President of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering. Despite its hawk-eyed focus on cost and productivity like all IT services fi rms, Wipro has not shied away from investing big money to scale an idea to an organisation-wide level. An excellent case in point is how a handful of engineers built a private cloud for internal use. Th e idea was to bring down the provisioning time for hardware equipment such as computers, servers, networking equipment, etc. Longer pro-visioning time meant delays in delivering solutions to clients. Proof-of-concept was established using a few 100 servers and computers. Th e bigger challenge was scaling this up across the organisation as it involved investments running into several millions of dollars. But Wipro supported the team—and today the private cloud has not only signifi cantly reduced hardware provisioning time but has also become a deal clincher for the organisation.

In terms of people practices and initiatives, Wipro has many fi rsts to its credit. Th e Wipro Academy of Soft ware Excellence is one example. In collaboration with BITS Pilani, it off ers science graduates a chance to develop technical skills by work-ing on live projects at Wipro while studying for a Master’s degree in computer science. Leadership development and succession planning though not unique to Wipro any more—a lot of organisations are doing this today—is what helps Wipro build tomorrow’s leaders. Kumar admits that the recent economic downturn and its impact on Wipro’s business have taught the company the importance of open and transparent communication with employees. With new learnings from tough times and a new man at the helm, Wiproites are hoping to roll-on ahead.

—Nandita Datta

BHUPINDER SINGH

NILOTPAL BARUAH

53OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011



MarriottHotels IndiaA sense of wonderment overtakes us as we interact with executives of the JW Marriott in Juhu, Mumbai. Each one, in turn, talks more about the hotel chain’s people than its customers. “Look, it’s pretty simple. If we take care of our people, they’ll take care of the customers. And if that happens, cus-tomers will just keep coming back,” explains Rajeev Menon, Area Vice-President (India, Malaysia, Maldives and Australia), Marri-ott International. Th is simplicity of thought and ease in execution is a cornerstone of the Marriott philosophy.

Th e importance of keeping the interface happy can hardly be exaggerated. Hospitality is a 24x7 business. Given this reality, work-life balance is given a lot of importance at Marriott. As a result, associates do not have to work every alternate weekend. “If it is important to serve the customer, it is equally important to understand that there is someone serving the customer,” emphasises Menon.

Marriott has a comprehensive training programme across its 12 proper-ties in India. Th is starts from the basic daily schedule, where every depart-ment conducts a short pre-shift meeting, known as a “short take”. Th is is con-ducted by an associate and highlights possible operational exigencies staff may face. It also serves as a quick refresher on basic skills and technical knowledge. Equally important is the Marriott Management Development Program. Th is is designed for supervisors who are being groomed for management positions as well as for managers who have just been hired. Th is is a combination of work as-signments and training “on the job”.

To be a great employer, it is important to recognise that those working for you have to be suitably rewarded at all times. “Managing expectations is among the most critical areas,” says Gurmeet Singh, Area Director (HR), India, Maldives and Pakistan. Handling the needs of 4,000 associates in India is by no means easy. “Probably the biggest challenge is to retain people at the line level. Th ere are far too many options available,” he says. Working on an ocean liner is one such alterna-tive, with jobs at BPOs and banks being others. People who work for the Marriott insist that the chain means what it says and does not over-promise. “Th ere is no place for lip service here. Marriott gives you growth, lateral movement and cross-functional opportunities,” explains Dharam Reshamwalla, JW Marriott’s Director of Finance. Surely, that’s reason enough to be happy.

—Krishna Gopalan

Kotak Mahindra BankEarlier this year, one of Kotak Mahindra Bank’s assistant vice-presidents faced a dilemma. She had to meet a deadline but couldn’t go to offi ce as there was no one to take care of her two-year-old child—her family members had rushed off to deal with an emergency. Fortunately for her, the bank’s HR department came up with a solution. Th ey arranged for a babysitter, allowing the employee to attend offi ce and meet her deadline.

As the incident shows, work is fi rmly integrated with life at Kotak Mahindra

Why Employees

Marriott Focus on work-life balance: Six days off every month, fl exible work timings.

Priority to internal talent: Job openings are posted internally fi rst for a minimum 72 hours before being published externally.

Training through “department trainers”: Has helped in retention.

10

LESSONS IN HOSPITALITY: Marriott has a training

programme across its 12 properties in India.

SOUMIK KAR


CS-Profiles 10-16.indd 48CS-Profiles 10-16.indd 48 26/04/11 4:42 PM26/04/11 4:42 PM


Bank. It is not surprising to fi nd, therefore, that the bank’s attrition level has been declining. Currently, it is at around 10% at the middle level, far lower than the fi nancial services sector average of about 30%.

“Over the last 25 years, we have had a phenomenal amount of stability. Th ere is a sense of common pur-pose and that is what we have been able to achieve,” says Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank. He believes that if people are comfortable at the workplace they will develop a sense of ownership and build a legacy.

Subhro Bhaduri, Executive VP, HR, points out that while Kotak Mahindra Bank operates through a hi-erarchy, every employee is empowered to share his or her views. Even an employee who joins as a fresher can learn, grow and make an impact, he explains.

Kotak Mahindra is very particular about new hires being aligned to its culture. And so, it has designed an online tool called Star Select to check whether a potential employee is a cultural fi t for the organisa-tion. “Since we look for talent across India, consistency can become an issue, especially in understanding the

culture,” says Bhaduri, explaining the rationale behind the tool.Th e bank also uses an initiative called Race, where employees can chart their

growth without waiting for the yearly appraisal. Th e growth of an employee is charted at four levels: qualifi er, challenger, achiever and high-fl ier. “When you consistently maintain a level for 12 months, you become ready for the next grade. And compensation follows. So, increment and promotion remains in the hands of the individual,” says Bhaduri.

In an eff ort to keep morale high, Kotak Mahindra has also ensured that em-ployees have a number of ways to unwind at the offi ce. Th e bank has a gym, yoga centre, prayer room, recreation centre, stationery store and convenience store as well as a sprawling cafeteria for the 5,000 employees who populate its largest of-fi ce, in Goregaon, Mumbai.

It is also working to set up a crèche in some more branches by the year end. Once that happens, the HR department will no longer have to hunt for babysitters.

—Arundhati Ramanathan and Rashmi Pratap

Scope InternationalScope International’s offi ce in Chennai feels like a college campus, not least because there are young people everywhere—the average age of its 10,000 or so employees is 27-28 years. Th e atmosphere is very relaxed or very noisy at Standard Chartered Bank’s global back-offi ce hub, depending on whether you’re on the grounds or in the cafeteria. “Th ere is a lot of fun. It is all Gen Y type of people,” says William Paul, Executive Vice-President, HR, Global Shared Services Centres.

Work, of course, also happens at Scope, which has fi ve divisions catering to dif-ferent domains. High performers are rewarded; Sunitha Srinivasan joined the Standard Chartered Group at the customer executive level and has risen to become manager of consumer banking operations. Not once has she thought of moving out. “You cannot have a place where there are no issues. What is required is some-body hearing out your problems and fi xing them. Th at happens here at all levels.”

Edwin Nevis, CEO and Group Head, Banking Operations and Global Shared Services Centres, feels that the younger generation is in a hurry to grow. And meeting those aspirations is a key challenge for the organisation. “Doing things fast is fi ne but you are dealing with big volumes, big value, you have got to be very

Why Employees

KotakCommunication: Posters, online presentations, booklets, etc are used extensively.

Performance system: Facilitates fast track succession planning and HiPos management.

Online learning: Simulated interactive learning experience for employees.

11

ON TRACK: Kotak Mahindra employees can chart their growth without waiting for the yearly appraisal.

PRIY

AM D

HAR




60

careful,” says Nevis.People have diff erent reasons for liking the workplace. “One of the best things

about Scope is the ‘block leave’ concept,” says Rajeev Raghu, business analyst with the technology team. Under this, every employee has to compulsorily take two weeks off at a stretch every year. “Each manager has to ensure that his subordinates go on block leave,” adds Raghu.

Suchitra Kuruvilla, who has worked with Scope for around seven years, likes the various employee engagement programmes. “Earlier, we used to have them about once a year. But, now, every month there is something happening. Every department takes initiatives.”

Besides work and fun, employees participate in a few social initiatives and are allowed to take three to four days off a year to devote time to such causes. Th ere’s never a dull moment at Scope.

—Vidhya Sivaramakrishnan

Dr Reddy’s Lab Quiz GV Prasad, Vice Chairman and CEO of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), on the importance of the human resources function and he replies instantly, “A company is what its people make it, so it goes without saying that HR has to play a strategic role in business.” At DRL this is refl ected in policies and practices that help employees grow and fl ourish. “You get the space and independence to grow and make a diff erence in the organisation,” says Saumen Chakraborty, President & Global Head of Quality, HR and IT. DRL’s performance management system—called PERFect—not only rates an employee’s performance but gives enough weightage to how much he or she has learnt during the course of the year and thereby add-ing to capabilities. Th e idea is to coach people and help them grow. A brainchild of corporate HR executive Anindya Kumar Shee, the idea found enough resonance with the leadership team for a system to be built and implemented across the 10,000-strong headcount. Shee recalls, “We got full ownership of the project—to work on something so unique felt very empowering. And because we were not a process-driven organisation, we could think out of the box and have the system up and running in no time.” He admits to making mistakes, but says it made him even more determined to succeed.

Collective decision-making is another hallmark. Julius Vaz, Senior Vice-President, Global Medical Aff airs, says his group of doctors collectively decide which molecules will be taken up for development. “Eve-ryone has a voice—just because I’m boss doesn’t mean I am right.” Taking everyone along has its advantages. A case in point is DRL’s move towards building a role-based organisation. Th e idea is to defi ne all the roles in the organisation and evolve capa-bility scorecards (technical, behavioural, leadership, etc.) for each of those roles. Everyone aspiring to be a project manager, for example, knows exactly what capabili-ties are required, thereby increasing trans-parency in the organisation. “It’s still work in progress but so far there have been no glitches because we took our people into confi dence,” says Kumar Rohit in Corpo-rate Human Resources.

Taking risks with people even if they are

Why Employees

Scope Job rotation: Role changes every 2-3 years.

Manager capability: Focused programmes for fi rst time managers, strength based coaching for mid-managers.

Diverse learning: Employees can take training outside their domain.

12

Why Employees Dr Reddy’sFocus on development: Dedicated leadership academy.

Pre-Induction: Interaction with new hires from premier campuses by senior HR person before they join.

Platform for innovation: Recognises and rewards signifi cant implemented or viable innovations.

13

NILOTPAL BARUAH


OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 6362

Why Employees

Maruti Suzuki 3-year HR strategy: People practices are measured on a 10-point agenda.

Competitive labour cost: Optimum hiring ratio of fresher and lateral talent.

Developing skills: Functional training from blue collar level up.

15

not 100% ready and giving them an opportunity to grow makes Dr Reddy’s a preferred employer in the pharma space even though it’s not considered the best paymaster. On the fl ip side, however, the company is said to be too soft on its peo-ple—something Prasad says will change in the years to come. “Making mistakes is part of the learning process, but non-performance is a complete no-no,” he adds. Will this carrot and stick approach take the company to newer heights?

—Nandita Datta

Whirlpool India“We are obsessed with roles,” says Anil Garg, Vice President, Asia (HR), Whirlpool of India. Th e strategy of identifying bright employees early on and giving them dif-ferentiated and expanded job profi les has transformed the fortunes of the world’s largest home appliance maker. In the last four years, the company has managed to check high employee attrition, making innovation, consumer-centricity, and empowerment—ICE, as Garg puts it—the cornerstone of its culture.

“Th is has paid rich dividends for the company,” says Arvind Uppal, President, Asia Pacifi c and Chairman & MD, India. Multi-tasking has helped to cut attrition as well as improve motivation and employee engagement within the organisation, he says. Until four or fi ve years ago, things weren’t looking good for Whirlpool India as it lost market share as well as people. Th en came an organisation-wide revamp led by Uppal. He strengthened the focus on the product pipeline and pushed for greater innovation and consumer centricity. Crucially, employees were empow-ered to take decisions and given more responsibilities. Th at’s a big step in an or-ganisation that has an average age of 29 years. “With greater risk-taking abilities, younger people have taken on expanded roles,” observes Uppal.

For instance, the heads of sales were also put in charge of service. Th is gave them added insights into consumer behaviour in the aft er-sales market. MBAs with two to three years experience were given regional roles, unlike in most MNCs. In the corporate offi ce, star performers were given regional roles, beyond the India mar-ket. Amit Rohatgi, Director, Quality (Asia), who has been with the company for

YOUTH POWER: Whirlpool employees have an average age of 29 but are given expanded job profi les.

close to 11 years, is a case in point. Apart from the India market, he now drives quality best practices in China, Australia and Hong Kong.

Employee training and skill development across the rank and fi le has been another focus area in the last two years. Whirlpool spent #5 crore last year on training. Th ere are external coaches and mentors guiding each star-performer, with train-ing programmes for senior and middle managers, as well as the leadership team.

Th e transformation of work profi les has helped the company motivate its 2,400-strong workforce and keep them in the fold. From 17% in 2007, attrition has come down to around 13% today. Clearly, Whirlpool India’s obsession with roles is paying off .

—Sudipto Dey

Maruti SuzukiCoff ee with HR. No, it’s not a television show; it’s a process through which any employee in Maruti Suzuki can communicate his or her problems to the Human Resources department. “Th e identity of the employee is never revealed and he or she can have coff ee with HR any number of times,” says SY Siddiqui, the com-pany’s HR head.

Maruti also has a number of other ways to listen to staff ers. It has a ‘QC’ (Qual-ity Circle), which encourages employees to suggest ways to improve productiv-ity. “Th e company has been able to save #140 crore so far through suggestions received from employees,” says Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director and CEO.

Th e thrust on listening to employees and empowering them was inspired by les-sons from Japan. Despite being devastated by the Second World War, Japan quickly emerged as the most productive manufacturing country in the world. “Th is was only because of contributions by its people,” points out Maruti Chairman RC Bhargava.

So, right from its inception, Maruti decided to listen to its people. On the ground, this meant ensuring everyone mixed. Th at has led to common canteens and other facilities for the top management as well as the rank and fi le. “In no way do we want to show that anyone in the company is less than anyone else,” says Bhargava.

Th e auto giant bankrolls the course fees of employees who go in for higher studies (100% in the case of a one-year MBA course and 50% for a three-year part-time MBA). It also provides employees with training both in India as well as in Japanese partner Suzuki’s facilities. “Th ere are many training opportunities. I have attended training in Japan,” says BK Khurana, who works in the engineering division.

Maruti places a premium on the welfare of its employees. Th e carmaker has made medical check-ups compulsory for all employees over the age of 45. “Th e company meets all the medical costs for treatment of employees as well as their family members,” says Bhargava.

All this has helped Maruti keep attrition within 5.5%. Th e Japanese people would no doubt approve.

—Deepak Goel

Canon IndiaVP Sajeevan joined Canon in 1998, when he was 32 years old. As a frontline Busi-ness Development Manager, he was tasked with developing Canon’s business in Kochi, Kerala. Th irteen years on, he continues to work for Canon, as a Director heading an independent profi t centre generating #469 crore in annual business. Sajeevan credits Canon for his rise and says there are no limits to career growth in the organisation. “If you are good enough, you can even become the CEO one day,” he asserts.

“We hire young people for the frontline from outside,” says Ritu Malhotra, Assistant

Why Employees

WhirlpoolGlobal people system—Online record of accomplishments, development and leadership profi les.

Education assistance: Provides assistance for higher studies.

Recognition: “World of Winners” initiative.

14

Why Employees

CanonInternal career opportunities: 25% of the hiring is done through internal job openings.

Mantra: “Living and working together for a common good”drives teamwork and innovation.

Training: Focus on building future-critical skills.

16

NAVEEN SHARMA





64

Director in Canon’s HR Division. But senior and middle management positions are rarely fi lled from outside. Th e absence of any kind of ceiling to career growth inspires new recruits to work hard and follow in the footsteps of their seniors. “Canon will grow only if its people grow,” says Kensaku Konishi, Canon India President and CEO, explaining the company’s philosophy.

Alok Bhardwaj, Senior VP (Sales and Marketing), feels people enjoy working at Canon because of the “high degree of freedom to apply new ideas. Canon’s work culture and the dynamic nature of its business permit this”. Th ere are various plat-forms for people to speak, sound out ideas, and contribute towards policies. “It is not necessary that you have to go to a line manager every time” adds HV Gomes, Assistant Director.

One such platform is an online forum called Excellence One. Every new policy/proposal is posted here and employees are invited to provide their feedback on it. Th is is very crucial for the company in formulating business plans and strategies.

Canon tripled its sales from #380 crore in 2006 to #1,260 crore in 2010. President Konishi is now targeting a four-fold increase in sales by 2015, in a bid to make Canon India a $1 billion (around #4,600 crore) company. Th e plan is to make the India unit account for at least 5% of Canon’s global business—currently, it ac-counts for only 1%. Each employee has an individual target within the whole. At the beginning of the year, he or she is given a set of deliverables to be achieved by the end of the year. Th is also ensures that the whole performance-appraisal proc-ess is scientifi c and transparent.

Given how the company values them, it shouldn’t be a problem for the employ-ees to meet their targets, and for the Japanese imaging giant to exceed the goal it has set for itself.

—Himanshu Kakkar

Ford IndiaKalyanamurugan joined Ford India in 1998 as a maintenance technician in its Chennai facility. Little did he know that he would be heading the paint shop at the company’s upcoming facility in Th ailand 13 years on. “I never dreamt that I would be sitting in the General Manager’s position when I joined Ford India,” he says. “And it is not only me. I have a lot of friends who joined the shop-fl oor along with me and have become managers over the years.”

A signifi cant part of his success has come about because of Ford’s People De-velopment Committees (PDC), says Kalyanamurugan. Explaining how a PDC works, Vairamani Pandiyan, Vice-President, HR, Ford India, says: “A supervisor has a great role in an employee’s development but there is a kind of moderating infl uence exercised by PDCs.” Each employee can be the subject of one or more PDCs and each committee comprises managers from a higher level. Th is com-mittee tracks an individual’s career growth and provides feedback, besides helping him/ her in succession planning and fi lling a vacancy elsewhere.

Given the rapid growth of the company recently, Michael Boneham, Ford India President and MD, says that managing employees’ growing aspirations will be a key challenge. “I think the continuing use of technology for development, continuing of strong PDCs, people-process structures would give us a point of diff erence in terms of retention of employees,” says Boneham.

Th ere are no limits, vertical or horizontal. “Aft er getting used to the culture here, I don’t want to leave. I have been with Ford India for 12 years now,” says M Manivannan, who has moved up from apprentice to team leader in Ford’s Chen-nai factory. Dushyant Jayakumar, an engineer by training, began his stint at Ford India at the customer service level. His main role was to feed in data relating to consumer litigation. Now, he has moved into the core legal department in the company. “I don’t have a degree in law,” he chuckles.

Th e Individual Development Programme (IDP) is another process. “It is be-

Why Employees

Ford IndiaIdentifying high performers: Managers work with staff to advance star workers from the shopfl oor.

Communication: Town hall meetings with CEO, online newsletters, skip level meetings, etc.

Common HR: Facilitates sharing of best practices.

17

WE ARE FAMILY: Many Ford India managers have risen from the shopfl oor.

RA

CH

AND

RO

O




66

coming an eff ective tool for us,” says Joginder P Singh, President and MD, Ford Business Services Center. Th e centre, based out of Chennai and Coimbatore, is a hub for Ford Motor globally and provides a range of services from accounting to global analytics. IDP is used to pick and develop talent that can then be made available for the India centre as well as globally, says Singh. Talk about ‘One Ford’.


Tata Teleservices

MindTreeMindTree is known as the fastest company to have surpassed the $100 million rev-enue mark—a key milestone in the IT services lifecycle. But the Bangalore-based technology fi rm has one more claim to fame—that of doing business with a heart. And at the cornerstone of this unique culture is a value system that MindTree minds (as they like to call themselves) dub ‘CLASS’. It’s an acronym for Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing and Social Responsibility. CEO & MD Krishna-kumar Natarajan puts this in perspective, “Everything we are, everything we do and everything we believe in revolves around our CLASS values and the distinct culture that we have built.” And it’s not just talk—CLASS values are given a 40% weightage in annual appraisals.

Quiz employees on what sets MindTree apart from competition and you’ll hear how open and transparent the company is. When Co-Founder & Chairman Ashok Soota quit suddenly in January this year, an all-hands meet was organised where employee concerns were addressed. “Th ere was a lot of anxiety and concern. But the way the leadership team handled the situation and responded to all our queries was very heartening. So there was no negativity, a surprise considering how all of us admired Soota,” says a MindTree staff er. Rui Dass, Head of Compensation & Benefi ts, says he has worked in some of the biggest names in the industry but has never seen the level of interaction between employees and the senior leadership team that one experiences in MindTree. Th e company doesn’t believe in enclosed cabins for its senior managers—almost everyone (probably with the exception of the top two) has an open cubicle. Everyone is on fi rst-name basis; access to the lead-ership team is easy. “You can walk up to anyone with an idea—you will be heard,” notes Babuji Abraham, Senior Vice-President & Head of the People’s Function.

Social sensitivity is another hallmark of the open culture—whether it’s integrating the diff erently-abled into MindTree, reaching out to family members and relatives through quarterly newsletters or employee-volunteer initiatives that include trips to destitute homes, orphanages and villages.

As MindTree struggles on the growth front, will the head score over the heart in the years to come? “I don’t see growth and values as mutually exclusive,” says Krishnakumar. “Going forward, our focus will be on growth but with a heart.”

—Nandita Datta

NIIT “NIIT is people,” says P Rajendran, founder and COO, stressing that his company is not just about profi ts and numbers. It has been so since inception, he claims. “We were the fi rst to introduce many concepts that one takes as the norm nowa-days,” he says. Th ese include fl exible working hours for women, working from home, taking back former employees (a taboo earlier), paternity leave for men and establishing a casual workplace atmosphere.

18

Why Employees

MindTreePromotes innovative learning: Non-conventional training sources are encouraged.

Use of non-monetary rewards: “Pat on the Back”, “Role Model Manager”, “ValueScout Award”, “10 on 10”, etc.

Feedback: Emphasis on continuous feedback and coaching.

19

UNDER THE TREE: MindTree employees are a CLASS act.

NIL

OTP

AL B

ARU

AH


68

Why Employees

NIITLifetime recognition: Conference rooms named after consistent top performers.

Health and well-being: Employee counselling, yoga@offi ce, gym facilities for employees and families.

Global leadership programme: High performers work on live projects.

20

Why employees

Jubilant FoodworksTalent development: ‘Training Ace’ at every store to ensure freshers learn multiple skills.

Recognition: ‘Up-on-the-wall’ culture.

Campus connect: 50% of MBA course fee reimbursed on completion of course.

22

Th e use of terms like ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’ was banned and everyone is on a fi rst-name basis. Th is was done to remove hierarchies, unquestioning attitudes and other such constraints that plagued most Indian establishments. “When you call someone by their fi rst name, it instantly cuts away fl uff and brings one straight to the business at hand,” says Rajendran.

What is also remarkable about the company is its ability to groom people for leadership. “Eighty per cent of NIIT’s leaders are home grown,” says Asim Taluk-dar, Senior VP, NIIT. Some even joined as faculty at the centre level and now head separate business units,” he says. For instance, Bharati Bashyam joined the company 18 years ago as a counsellor at an NIIT centre. She is now the deputy GM for the company’s contact centre. Bashyam rose to her current designation aft er work-ing through functions like sales, online learning services, customer relationship management and education. Th e company is now trying to put in place a mobility facilitation centre. “Managers will have to ensure that people under them move aft er two years. If that has still not happened in four years, then these people will be mandatorily moved to other functions,” says Rajendran. It’s all part of making NIIT a more agile company, and grooming leaders from within its ranks.

—Taneesha Kulshrestha

Tata Steel

Jubilant Foodworks Th e owner of the Domino’s Pizza franchise in India has a rather interesting photo collage adorning one wall of its corporate offi ce in Noida. Every single person in the pictures is decked out in tribal and fi lmy attire. It’s all part of the pizza chain’s “Khushiyon ki home delivery” (home delivery of happiness) philosophy. CEO Ajay Kaul believes that “only a happy employee can deliver happiness”.

“We have institutionalised fun,” declares the company’s HR head, Basab Bardaloi. As part of this policy there are fun activity awards to be won by units/ stores. At the corporate offi ce, employees wait eagerly for Confl uence, the annual in-house carnival. Th e entire team is divided in to fi ve or six groups that vie for the honours in singing, dancing and drama contests, among others.

Domino’s relies on store managers to percolate this fun at the store level. Th at’s not easy, considering that Domino’s has 13,000 employees spread across 375 outlets in 82 cities. Th e foremost challenge, says CEO Kaul, is to keep them all enthused. He says attrition at the entry level is as high as 90%. Th ese positions are fi lled mostly by 12th pass youngsters, who are yet to discover their calling. Its employee-retention struggle apart, the company has been performing rather well operationally, with sales growing at around 51% in 2009-10.

21

BH

UPI

ND

ER S

ING

H





7170

At the store level, individual managers have their own ways of keeping morale high. Amiyo Chakraborty, the 27-year-old store manager of a Noida outlet, won a reward for achieving store sales targets last year. He shared it with his staff and took them to Mussoorie for an outing.

Domino’s has an ‘ambition’ statement, released every three years, for its em-ployees. Th e latest one lists out fi ve ambitions, to be realised by 2011. One of the ambitions is “to be the best employer across retail and service industries in India”. Th e company seems pretty serious about achieving that ambition, judging by the way it cares for its people.

—Himanshu Kakkar

Cognizant Tech Solutions ‘My Tiger Story at Cognizant’ is the title of Sanjay Radhakrishnan’s blog post on the company’s internal web 2.0 platform. In it, the Projects Director lists out his successes. Interestingly, he also talks about his failures. “Th e part that resonates with people is the gloom and doom phase. I was candid about how I was struggling to move from being an individual performer to a supervisor.” Radhakrishnan has also explained how he overcame his problems. And that has helped a lot of em-ployees, especially those in similar situations. “Someone who was going through a rough day thanked me. Someone else said: ‘you made my day’.”

Th at’s just a peek into the kind of communication that happens across the IT major’s offi ces. Th e web platform connects Cognizant’s employees, clients and partners, allowing common programme management and knowledge-sharing. It enables employees to blog on any subject and has a microblogging service similar to Twitter (Cognizant employees don’t tweet; they ‘cweet’). An internal Facebook site is also in the works.

Th e company claims that, thanks to the platform, in 2010 there was a “15% im-provement in productivity in projects… 8% improvement in the ability to deliver projects on time… and 7% improvement in the ability to deliver on-budget”.

Employees and the HR leadership team say that communication has been one of the key aspects at Cognizant all through the years and the new platform is just an extension of that. “We know certain things at the offi ce will have to remain confi -dential but I interact with the system very much like I interact with social media outside,” says Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice-Chairman of Cognizant. “Th at has helped in a big way. People interact with each other, creating knowledge and sharing it.”

Since the majority of its employees are young, the company’s management has realigned the way work is done to match their fast-growing aspirational levels. In addition to providing faster and better growth opportunities, Cognizant is also investing signifi cantly in learning and development. Th e company takes pains to ensure that employees can learn in a way that is convenient to them, be it on a desktop or via mobile. Th ey may like it, or they may not. One thing they can do either way is blog about it.


First Source Solutions First Source Solutions’ employees don’t oft en think of brushing up their CVs once they settle into their jobs. Th e numbers back that assertion: attrition was under 3% during the last year, say HR offi cials. Th at is signifi cant when you consider that the BPO has 26,000-plus people on its rolls. And it is all the more creditable in an industry that is infamous for its high attrition rate. “It’s mainly because there has been continuity of leadership and vision,” says Gaurav Bahadur, Executive VP and HR Head, First Source India.

Th e management credits the stay-ing power of First Source’s employ-ees to its easygoing work culture. Top performers get to dine with the boss. “It is informal. You could talk about anything under the sun,” says Mahesh Turaga, Deputy Gen-eral Manager, First Source India.

Star employees are moved either laterally or up the chain. Turaga would know. He started as an as-sistant manager and became a man-ager in 12 months. Th en, he moved to the client service function and aft er three years was promoted to the post of DGM.

“Aft er 12-18 months exposure to a particular role, if we believe that a diff erent role is suited to the person then we move him,” says Sanjeev Sinha, Executive VP and Head of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

Th e company also equips employees with the necessary skills to prove themselves. Team leaders undergo classroom training in operations management and get rated on a project assignment at the end of two months. Senior managers interface with IIM gurus and come away with valuable tips on how best to take on complex challenges. Keep-ing morale high is a top priority for the management. Says Suman Sihag, Deputy General Manager: “We try to understand every employee’s needs.” Given all this, it’s not surprising that loyalty levels are high at First Source.

—Karthik Krishnan

AegisA year ago, Aegis didn’t have a single diff erently-abled person on its workforce. “Today 1% of our global workforce is diff erently abled, across levels,” says a proud SM Gupta, Chief People Offi cer. “For next year, we have increased our target to 1.5%.” Recently, the company launched an initiative under which female employees could choose which peak-hour time slot they wanted to work in (there are many to choose from). Again, in a bid to encourage students to work for the company, employees have been given the option of working part-time.

Th ese initiatives and the high level of fl exibility shown by the management have gone a long way in helping the BPO company earn the loyalty of its people. And it drives them to work harder. “To make this a happening place, we have to treat employees as though they are family members. Profi t is an outcome,” says CEO Aparup Sengupta. He cites the numbers to back that: “We grew from a struggling start of $52 million in 2004 to $1 billion in calendar year 2011. We have a CAGR of 51% while the average industry growth rate is 5.8% at the global level.” Th e quid pro quo arrangement is clearly working very well for both sides.

“Th ey have a solution to every problem,” says Sameer Kotwal, a team leader from the Pune centre, commenting on the company’s innovative HR practices. Kotwal hopes to become a senior manager in the next 12 months. To encourage people like him, Aegis has various leadership development programmes.

Growth in job responsibility and healthy compensation, both in terms of salary and benefi ts, have ensured that the best people stay back. Sengupta says: “My em-ployees won’t leave. Th at’s because it is like leaving your home and going to another.”

—Arundhati RamanathanEmail us at [email protected] or SMS OLB<feedback> at 575758�

23

Why Employees

First SourceCustomer focus: Voice of customer is key HR metric.

Innovative recruitment: 24/7 recruitment call centre of experienced in-house head hunters.

24

Why Employees

AegisPeople focus: Proposition of ‘happy people, happy customer, happy shareholders, happy world’.

Metrics scorecard: Published and shared monthly with business leaders.

25

Why Employees

CognizantStrong customer focus: “Client-fi rst” culture of customer satisfaction.

Commitment: 25-35% of top leaders’ time spent in people development.

Learning model: Learning measured on credits achieved more than time spent.

SMILEYS: An internal Facebook site is on the anvil for Cognizant employees.

SUPPORT GROUP: Star employees are moved laterally or up the chain.

RA

CH

AND

RO

O

SOU

MIK

KAR



Documents

UNILEVER UNILEV 1 15 16 MINDTREE MI 19 SUZUKI INDIA 18 6s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/... · 38 OutlookBusiness > May 14, 2011 equation right —and it’s just