2006
RANKS1INFOSYS1INFOSYS2SASKEN 2MINDTREE 3GENPACT 3SATYAM4HCL COMNET4DR REDDY'S LABS5NTPC5SAPIENT6HSBC6AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES7SAPIENT6JOHNSON&JOHNSON8COVANSYS8COVANSYS9HDFC BANK9HCL COMNET10MINDTREE10HSBC
Talking of fare, did you know that you can order at least six different cuisines on Infosys' (#1) campus in Bangalore? Or that you needn't even come to office every day but work from home if you are at Sapient (#5)? Or that at MindTree, you can question your superiors without fear of getting sacked, and that at Satyam Computer (#3), not just your birthdays, but those of your family members are remembered and celebrated? Without doubt, my trips to these companies show, organisations and their CEOs are speaking a different language. At Johnson & Johnson (#6), for instance, Managing Director Narendra Ambwani told me that he had a simple approach to people management: "I have to only think what I would like as an employee."
How to Win The Talent War
Employees have become far more demanding, bells and whistles of yore are now hygiene factors, and there's an unprecedented scramble for talent. Result: employers need new ways of managing their human capital.
By Padmaja Alaganandan, Gyan Anjan Kaur, and Saaket Arora.<IMG height=170 width=120>RANK 1
INFOSYS
Employees now demand control over their careers, an enhanced pace of learning, individualised attention and the exciting possibility of unlimited growth
Opting for a job in corporate India is no longer just a career choice-it is now a way of life. As individuals spend increasing amounts of time delivering on work commitments, the 'employer' is beginning to occupy centre stage in the employee's life. Their daily timetable, lifestyle and opinions, as well as their perception of "doing well" are firmly rooted in the company's context. With the organisation becoming the focal point and, to an extent, the dominant factor of one's life, it is only natural that choosing an organisation to work for also becomes a deliberate and calculated decision.
Today, employees are no longer willing to bargain a substantial chunk of their lives for basic "hygiene factors". An exhaustive list of benefits, time-bound promotions and the possibility of a foreign trip or two are now passé. Meaningful work and rewards are what employees are looking for. In addition, they now demand control over their careers, an enhanced pace of learning, individualised attention, responsive management systems and the exciting possibility of unlimited growth.
Apart from being demanding, the prospective employee is increasingly discerning and most importantly, in short supply. (There are too many jobs chasing too few candidates and the imbalance is only likely to become more acute in the years to come). Statistics might just help us figure out how demography affects the availability of talent and to what extent. Today, most of the developed economies of the world, particularly America, Germany and Japan, are faced with ageing populations. Between 20 to 30 per cent of their populations are already over the age of 60, causing a talent shortage that will last at least till the middle of this century, making them look beyond their borders for talent and growth.
In this global context, India may consider itself lucky. Just 7 per cent of Indians are above the age of 60 and in 25 years this proportion shall increase to 12 per cent. India will continue to be young and will see a swelling workforce of scientific, technical and professional talent. People are something India has plenty of. But ask any business leader what his biggest problem is today and the chances are that he will say it is finding the right people and getting them to work productively. This may sound paradoxical. But the fact is, given the feverish pace of business growth, the demand for talent has already outstripped supply, in terms of both quantity and quality.
A talent famine is now staring us in the face. Farsightedness demands that business leaders elevate management of talent to the highest corporate priority. Talented employees are no longer available in plenty. Nor are they easily replaceable or inexpensive. Against this backdrop, India Inc. is faced with the daunting task of attracting, retaining and growing its people in a very competitive environment. So, how are Indian employers dealing with this challenge? What is it that they need to do to come out on top?
<IMG height=170 width=120>RANK 2
MINDTREE
Employees are being pampered like never before and erstwhile differentiators have been relegated to the status of hygiene factors
Based on the trends we have seen over the last three years, we discern a few "mega trends" in winning the war for talent.
Align and engage-adopting the "win-win" approach: The answer that most employers are searching for lies in alignment-the organisation' s willingness to recognise and respect each individual's needs and its ability to address them while keeping in view the larger organisational goal. Despite its clichéd usage and often quoted examples, the task of alignment is not an easy one. The winners of this year's study have shown the ability to treat each employee as a unique individual, while at the same time successfully coordinating the activities of hundreds, if not thousands of them, and ensuring that they are aligned to the achievement of the organisation' s objectives. These companies are committed to making considerable monetary and non-monetary investments in developing their people and engaging them beyond the realm of work and monetary benefits. The HR processes in these organisations are designed to deliver on business needs and at the same time cater to individual training requirements, individual careers and individual queries.
It's not what you do; it's how you do it: The study reveals that employees are being pampered like never before and erstwhile differentiators have been relegated to the status of hygiene factors. The bouquet of benefits, facilities and personal services being offered by most companies to woo employees is more or less the same. The focus has shifted from the "what" to the "how"-how to make every touch point between the organisation and the employee an experience that lets them know how valuable they are. The winning companies ensure that all the information that an employee could possibly need is available even before it is asked for. One company ensures that all upcoming announcements and campaigns are shared internally with employees by the CEO before they hit the press. Another has refined its recruitment process to ensure that each candidate goes back from an interview as a brand ambassador of the company, regardless of the outcome. They have all mastered the art of 'assimilating' new employees seamlessly into their environment, leaving no question unanswered and no loose ends to be tied. These organisations make the effort to constantly elicit employee opinion and take it into consideration while making policy decisions. Employee queries are responded to promptly and suggestions are sought after, making employees feel that their voice is being heard.
Innovate and integrate: Most companies that have made it to the top 10 have leveraged technology not only to reduce the administrative burden but also to build truly integrated HR systems and processes. A fully automated training management system adopted by one of our winners showcases how training needs for each employee that emerge from a performance review are then automatically translated into an organisation- wide training calendar. These very training needs form the basis of individual developmental plans as well as an organisational skills inventory used to track and monitor capability.
<IMG height=120 width=170>RANK 4
DR REDDY
Today, most companies have fairly comprehensive HR systems. However, this tried and tested formula will no longer suffice
Some companies have developed sophisticated performance management systems, the outputs of which are systematically linked with rewards, employee development, manpower planning, management of high potential employees, succession and career planning. The tools used to measure performance and manage employee development have been separated in order to ensure that the focus on development is not diluted. The mechanisms used by these companies to evaluate the effectiveness of these HR processes also speak volumes about the level of maturity the processes have reached.
Put employees in charge of their careers: The best companies to work for also reaffirm their faith in their employees by putting them in charge of their own careers. The better employers provide employees with the requisite information, infrastructure and developmental support to enable them to shape their careers based on their own aspirations and abilities. One of our winners supports employees in seeking structured feedback at any point of time regarding their suitability for any organisational role. It then goes a step further by helping them interpret and act on the results. The Indian employer and employee have finally come to terms with performance- based progression and rewards, as is evident from the widely accepted prevalence of variable pay and differential growth paths, which are tailor made for high-performing employees.
Redefine and reinforce culture: Mere words and no actions might be a quick-fix solution, but in the long run, employees need to feel attached to the company they work for. Each of the winning companies has worked hard on building a strong culture which reflects the values that the company wishes to inculcate in its employees. Whether it is the focus on transparency emphasised by one of the winners by making 360 degree feedback results visible to everyone across the organisation, or the message of openness given out by another through fully open workspaces, or the emphasis on integrity by a third company through value-based induction sessions facilitated personally by the head of the organisation; the involvement and accessibility of the senior management is the common thread that runs across the fabric of each organisation.
There has been a substantial narrowing of differentials between the top 10 companies and the others are catching up fast. The only way for an organisation to get noticed is to be different in an era when differentiators are constantly diminishing. The level of sophistication, integration and innovation in people management practices is what sets the best apart and makes them truly world class. Their employees speak highly of them and external stakeholders also confirm their status as an "employer of choice" in their market.
Today, most companies have fairly comprehensive and detailed HR systems and processes. However, this tried and tested formula will no longer suffice. Additionally, what works for one organisation or industry may not work for another-change and innovation have become the order of the day. In winning the current war for talent, being good is just not good enough.
Managing Employee Expectations
Why are employees at just about every Top 10 company unhappy with compensation and career coaching? It's because employers aren't paying enough attention to managing employee expectations.
By R. Sankar
<IMG height=170 width=120>
Wage inflation and talent shortages are two related, if predictable, consequences of the high growth the Indian economy has been experiencing over the last few years. Our education system supplies far fewer qualified youth than are required, pushing up wages and attrition.
It is, therefore, not surprising that recruitment and compensation management have become the two main focus areas for hr managers. Nothing can be more strategic than getting the right people in at the right time and in the right numbers and managing their compensation and career expectations.
To be fair, employers have tried every trick in the book and used every lever to help attract and retain talent: high and differentiated compensation, innovative titles, faster (if at times illusory) career progression, training, a congenial work environment, more satisfying jobs, overseas exposure, opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies and problems, retention plans, referral schemes etc. Success rates vary and the problems remain.
There are three areas where employers can yet do more.
Segment your workforce
While customer and vendor segmentation has become an art and science, the concept of workforce segmentation is still in its infancy. Yet, sophisticated employers are deploying tools and techniques to segment their workforce, not only based on performance and potential, but also on the basis of demography, skill and business needs, and using the outcomes of such segmentation to craft distinctive strategies to manage the compensation and career expectations of each segment. In such an approach, the concept of fairness and equity apply within a workforce segment rather than to the workforce as a whole. To be sure, implementing a segmented approach is challenging but if done well, the rewards for both employer and employee will outweigh the costs.
<IMG height=120 width=170>
Hard to please: Infoscions at the tech giant's Bangalore campus
Place HR management responsibility where it truly belongs
It is time line managers owned up to their responsibility for their human resources, just as they take responsibility for managing financial resources, materials and equipment. Too often, they pressure hr into recommending high salary increases based on anecdotal evidence of departures of their staff, but do little to attract good talent and even less to retain what talent there is. That the line managers and supervisors are chiefly responsible for their people is well known but not easily accepted in the Indian context, where the chief responsibility for talent attraction and retention is still that of the hr manager. A formal shift in responsibility from hr to line is overdue. To facilitate the shift, performance objectives of the line manager must reflect and accord high weight to people management. The roles of line and hr must be redrawn. And managers must be educated about and contribute to the formulation of their company's compensation policies and practices so that they can then play the key role in communicating with and managing their staff.
Manage employees' expectations
Finally, managers must learn to manage employees' expectations. Communicating the economics of a company's business to employees transparently and regularly is one way to do this. Very few companies take the trouble of explaining the company's performance to their employees at all levels-the quarterly results, the company's competitive environment, its future goals, the need to balance the needs and expectations of all the stakeholders and to strike the right balance between rewarding for today's success and investing for tomorrow's. This is a task managers can no longer avoid. All too often, managers dismiss their subordinates as immature or lacking in the ability to understand. In doing so, they make a grievous mistake and underestimate and insult the intelligence of their people. Honest and credible communication is a visible manifestation of the respect that employees owe each other.
While these measures may not in themselves stem attrition or attract talent, they will go a long way in building and deepening people management capabilities, leading, in turn, to strong, business-focussed hr management that strikes the right balance in addressing the needs of the various stakeholders.
THE BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN INDIA
RANK 1: INFOSYS
Incredible Infy What's the secret sauce that makes Infosys the best company to work for, year after year?
By Venkatesha Babu<IMG height=120 width=170>Brand Infosys: It employs over 65,000 people. In the past one year, 14 lakh have applied, of which 22,913 get hiredChintamani 'buck' Devashish is the managing Director of Sterling Commerce India, an AT&T company, and also an Exfoscion, as all former Infosys employees are called. This 40-year-old, IIT Mumbai and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus was among the early employees the it giant recruited way back in 1987, when it was still a glimmer in the eyes of its seven founders. It's been 10 years since Devashish quit Infosys, but once in a while his nostalgia still gets stirred. Consider the last time round when that happened: Devashish, who had a long stint at Infosys subsidiary Yantra, was on a flight back to Bangalore from the us when he bumped into Infy Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy on board the airport shuttle. Murthy, Devashish says, understandably, did not immediately place him, but when the Exfoscion jogged his memory a bit, India's best-known tech ambassador broke into a broad smile. "He immediately enquired about me and my family," recalls Devashish. "Not only was he carrying his luggage himself, but when I offered him my seat in the crowded bus, he politely declined. Humility, respect, affection and genuine concern for the fellow human being...Murthy had lost none of it despite all the success. If you have to understand why Infosys and its HR practices are unique," Devashish continues, "you have to understand the DNA of its promoters and how this has percolated down the organisation."
SNAPSHOT
REVENUES: Rs 9,521 crore (2005-06)
PROFITS: Rs 2,458 crore Total employees: 66,150
Attrition (per cent): 12.9 (in the last 12 months)
Average career tenure: 3.87 years
Training budget (actual): $145 million (Rs 667 crore)
Training man-days (actual): 8 lakhToday, Infosys employs 65,150 people-far too many for Murthy or any of his co-founders, including CEO Nandan Nilekani, to remember by name-but the system tracks everyone individually. When terror attacks took place in London past July, the company ensured that every UK-based employee's family members in India were kept posted. Whatever help-emotional, monetary or otherwise-that the distressed employees needed was provided. "That has become kind of routine to us. Whether it is a personal emergency or a natural disaster or any other issue that affects the welfare of the employee and his family, we are always ready to lend a hand," says Bikramjit Maitra, Vice President and Head of HR at Infosys.
<IMG height=120 width=170>A bank on Infy's campus: If you can't go to the bank, the bank will come to youThat's no easy achievement. Over the last five years, the headcount at Infosys has grown at a CAGR of 40 per cent. Before it rings out 2006-07, Infy may add another 15,000 employees. The challenge for Infosys, then, is straightforward: How to remain, in some sense, a garage start-up at heart, while creating systems and processes that can withstand the stress of high-velocity growth? For instance, in the July-September quarter, Infosys logged a 50.4 per cent growth in revenues to Rs 3,451 crore over the same quarter last year, and by the end of this financial year, its annual revenues will soar to Rs 13,853 crore. Says S. Subramanyam, Managing Director, Ascent Securities and Consulting: "Underpromise and overdeliver. Infosys has done that consistently. What is amazing is the company's ability to scale and execute."
Making sure that ability improves as Infosys multiplies in size is something Nilekani and his team already worry about. "We work hard to ensure that Infosys sets benchmarks, including in HR practices globally," says Maitra. Adds Hema Ravichandar, former head of HR at Infosys who now runs an HR advisory firm: "A big differentiator for Infosys is its 'conscious paranoia' to succeed and outperform itself." That means, she explains, a strong organisational thrust on innovation. Add to that its manic focus on execution, robust, institutionalised and scalable people processes and attention to stakeholder concerns, and you have a great recipe for sustainable success.
INTERVIEW/NANDAN NILEKANI/PRESIDENT, CEO & MD, INFOSYS
"Infosys Is A Meritocracy" <IMG height=120 width=170 align=right>Infy's ebullient CEO explained to BT's Venkatesha Babu why his company continues to remain India's best employer. Excerpts:
Can you decouple revenue growth and people numbers?
We are addressing this challenge in two ways. One is internal, the other is on the client side. Internally, we are trying to ensure higher efficiency especially on fixed price projects by using reusable (software) components. On the client side, we are selling higher value services and solutions.
What about attracting the right kind of talent internationally? It is true that we have a great brand equity in the Indian marketplace. Infosys is seen as an aspirational brand-an advantage that, as of now, we don't enjoy everywhere else. But we have made considerable progress on this issue. Infosys Consulting was started completely by a bunch of people internationally. This year we recruited 126 people off the campus in the US and 25 in the UK. We are hiring in China. Today, around 3 per cent of our workforce is non-Indian. Managing cultural diversity would be a key issue.
What about this perception that there is a glass ceiling at the very top, since it is still dominated by the founders...
(Interrupts, sounding a bit weary)...I think it is a very unfair thing to say. Raghavan (co-founder) left in 2001, (Narayana) Murthy stepped down in 2006, when my time comes, I will follow them. (Mohan Das) Pai, who is not a founder, handles significant responsibility. At the end of the day, ours is a transparent culture. Infosys is a meritocracy.
How will you ensure that there is connect between employee and the company as it grows rapidly?
We are acutely aware that there would always be demand for talented people. HR does a number of programmes to ensure connect between the company and its employees. We fundamentally believe in the philosophy of sharing wealth. This, along with our value systems and unique culture, is what makes Infosys different from others.
Paranoia It Is
Over the last 12 months, Infosys received 14,63,264 resumes from hopefuls. How many did the company hire? 22,913. That means every applicant has a less than 2 per cent chance of becoming an Infoscion-that is, an Infosys employee. Purely from a probability point of view, you'd be better off trying to crack the Indian Civil Service exams. Yet, Infy doesn't allow itself to get smug about it. Especially, when it goes recruiting abroad. It might sound amusing, but Infosys was actually a bit apprehensive when it hit the US campuses mid-2005 to hire undergrads. "While Infosys is an aspirational brand in India, it is becoming known on the us campuses only now," says Nilekani. "But we were pleasantly surprised by the response we got." As many as 126 us campus recruits, plus 25 UK on-campus recruits, are now undergoing training alongside Indian hires at the software engineering boot-camp that Infosys runs at its facility in Mysore.
A DAY
IN THE LIFE OF
K. SUNITA, 33 Sr. Project Manager (Banking & Capital Markets)<IMG height=120 width=170>A company that cares: And that's one reason Sunita (seated in centre) hasn't changed jobs in eight yearsAs a devastating cyclone struck Bhubaneshwar in early 2000, it killed several people, destroyed property worth several hundred crores, and generally decimated everything in its path. Several hundred kilometres away, K. Sunita, then a software engineer based out of Chennai with Infosys Technologies, was worried about the fate of her parents who lived in Orissa's capital Bhubaneshwar. Communication lines had been cut off and there was no way to reach her parents.
As news about the scale and nature of the cyclone began to trickle down, Infosys swung into action and set up a helpdesk to assist employees and their families located in Bhubaneshwar. That apart, Infoscions went around helping their colleagues and families. The company chartered aircraft to airlift its employees and their families to safety. "It is this kind of commitment," says Sunita, seated at one of the hundreds of cubicles in Infosys' campus buildings, "why I can't think of moving to a different company, despite having spent eight years at Infosys."
In those eight years, Sunita has grown from being a software engineer to a senior project manager now, in charge of a team of 180 people. Needless to say, Sunita is one of those who have benefited from Infy's stock option plans, but she quickly clarifies, "That is not the reason why I have stayed. I like the open work culture environment. Everybody's career is clearly mapped and people are rewarded on the basis of merit. That's why I have not looked at a single outside job offer." Now you know why Infy tops our list.
Why fuss over the recruitment of a bunch of kids from American campuses? Hasn't Infosys been a global company for some years now, deriving 98 per cent of its revenues from abroad and spanning 17 development centres in five countries? The answer to the question lies with Mohan Das Pai, a six-foot three-inch bearded giant of a man, who stepped down as the CFO in April this year to head the HR function. "For a company to be called truly global, what are the metrics?" he asks. "Do we get bulk of our revenues from the international market; do we have a footprint in various countries across the world; does our board reflect a transnational character and does the workforce also mirror this?" The answer, obviously, is 'yes' for the first three questions, but 'no' for the last one. Reason? A bare 1,958 of its 65,150 employees are non-Indian. Gathered from 59 different nations, they represent just 3 per cent of Infosys' workforce, and Pai is keen to diversify the talent pool. "India will remain the largest source of technical talent, but there are areas where we need to cherry-pick global talent," says Pai. Adds Priya Chetty Rajgopal, Vice President at search firm Stanton Chase: "Such broadening of the pool from where an organisation recruits leads to cultural diversity and is an asset to the organisation. It could also help prevent any kind of political backlash against outsourcing in general."
<IMG height=120 width=170>Recipe for success: Underpromise and overdeliver is what appears to be the philosophy at InfosysGlass Ceiling?
There are, however, a couple of causes for concern at Infosys. "There is an invisible glass ceiling beyond which one cannot grow, except for the promoters," says a former employee who now works with a competitor. "While it is undoubtedly a great growth engine, it does not have professionalism." It's a sentiment that Mohan Sekhar, Member of the Board and Chief Delivery Officer, igate Global Solutions, and who at one time headed Infy's North American delivery, shares. "Given their growth of recent years and the changing HR landscape, they will probably face challenges in retaining key people," says Sekhar.
While Nilekani denies there's any invisible glass ceiling (see Infosys Is A Meritocracy) , Ravichandar also says that Infy has to be careful. "It is critical that the employee stakeholder is never taken for granted and customised engagement plans are designed to ensure an inclusive work environment," she says.
Indeed, there was a year (2003) when Infosys did not make it to the top 10 of BT's Best Companies to Work for survey because of industry flux and its own inability to meet employee expectations. The following year, however, it came roaring back at #2 and has stayed at the #1 position since. Its dizzy growth and sterling stock are clearly one part of the reason. But as Chintamani 'Buck" Devashish mentions right at the beginning of this story, there are several other ingredients that go into Infy's secret sauce.
Courtesy >> This article is really informative for us.. its actually a copy paste from one of mails.......
RANKS1INFOSYS1INFOSYS2SASKEN 2MINDTREE 3GENPACT 3SATYAM4HCL COMNET4DR REDDY'S LABS5NTPC5SAPIENT6HSBC6AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES7SAPIENT6JOHNSON&JOHNSON8COVANSYS8COVANSYS9HDFC BANK9HCL COMNET10MINDTREE10HSBC
Talking of fare, did you know that you can order at least six different cuisines on Infosys' (#1) campus in Bangalore? Or that you needn't even come to office every day but work from home if you are at Sapient (#5)? Or that at MindTree, you can question your superiors without fear of getting sacked, and that at Satyam Computer (#3), not just your birthdays, but those of your family members are remembered and celebrated? Without doubt, my trips to these companies show, organisations and their CEOs are speaking a different language. At Johnson & Johnson (#6), for instance, Managing Director Narendra Ambwani told me that he had a simple approach to people management: "I have to only think what I would like as an employee."
How to Win The Talent War
Employees have become far more demanding, bells and whistles of yore are now hygiene factors, and there's an unprecedented scramble for talent. Result: employers need new ways of managing their human capital.
By Padmaja Alaganandan, Gyan Anjan Kaur, and Saaket Arora.<IMG height=170 width=120>RANK 1
INFOSYS
Employees now demand control over their careers, an enhanced pace of learning, individualised attention and the exciting possibility of unlimited growth
Opting for a job in corporate India is no longer just a career choice-it is now a way of life. As individuals spend increasing amounts of time delivering on work commitments, the 'employer' is beginning to occupy centre stage in the employee's life. Their daily timetable, lifestyle and opinions, as well as their perception of "doing well" are firmly rooted in the company's context. With the organisation becoming the focal point and, to an extent, the dominant factor of one's life, it is only natural that choosing an organisation to work for also becomes a deliberate and calculated decision.
Today, employees are no longer willing to bargain a substantial chunk of their lives for basic "hygiene factors". An exhaustive list of benefits, time-bound promotions and the possibility of a foreign trip or two are now passé. Meaningful work and rewards are what employees are looking for. In addition, they now demand control over their careers, an enhanced pace of learning, individualised attention, responsive management systems and the exciting possibility of unlimited growth.
Apart from being demanding, the prospective employee is increasingly discerning and most importantly, in short supply. (There are too many jobs chasing too few candidates and the imbalance is only likely to become more acute in the years to come). Statistics might just help us figure out how demography affects the availability of talent and to what extent. Today, most of the developed economies of the world, particularly America, Germany and Japan, are faced with ageing populations. Between 20 to 30 per cent of their populations are already over the age of 60, causing a talent shortage that will last at least till the middle of this century, making them look beyond their borders for talent and growth.
In this global context, India may consider itself lucky. Just 7 per cent of Indians are above the age of 60 and in 25 years this proportion shall increase to 12 per cent. India will continue to be young and will see a swelling workforce of scientific, technical and professional talent. People are something India has plenty of. But ask any business leader what his biggest problem is today and the chances are that he will say it is finding the right people and getting them to work productively. This may sound paradoxical. But the fact is, given the feverish pace of business growth, the demand for talent has already outstripped supply, in terms of both quantity and quality.
A talent famine is now staring us in the face. Farsightedness demands that business leaders elevate management of talent to the highest corporate priority. Talented employees are no longer available in plenty. Nor are they easily replaceable or inexpensive. Against this backdrop, India Inc. is faced with the daunting task of attracting, retaining and growing its people in a very competitive environment. So, how are Indian employers dealing with this challenge? What is it that they need to do to come out on top?
<IMG height=170 width=120>RANK 2
MINDTREE
Employees are being pampered like never before and erstwhile differentiators have been relegated to the status of hygiene factors
Based on the trends we have seen over the last three years, we discern a few "mega trends" in winning the war for talent.
Align and engage-adopting the "win-win" approach: The answer that most employers are searching for lies in alignment-the organisation' s willingness to recognise and respect each individual's needs and its ability to address them while keeping in view the larger organisational goal. Despite its clichéd usage and often quoted examples, the task of alignment is not an easy one. The winners of this year's study have shown the ability to treat each employee as a unique individual, while at the same time successfully coordinating the activities of hundreds, if not thousands of them, and ensuring that they are aligned to the achievement of the organisation' s objectives. These companies are committed to making considerable monetary and non-monetary investments in developing their people and engaging them beyond the realm of work and monetary benefits. The HR processes in these organisations are designed to deliver on business needs and at the same time cater to individual training requirements, individual careers and individual queries.
It's not what you do; it's how you do it: The study reveals that employees are being pampered like never before and erstwhile differentiators have been relegated to the status of hygiene factors. The bouquet of benefits, facilities and personal services being offered by most companies to woo employees is more or less the same. The focus has shifted from the "what" to the "how"-how to make every touch point between the organisation and the employee an experience that lets them know how valuable they are. The winning companies ensure that all the information that an employee could possibly need is available even before it is asked for. One company ensures that all upcoming announcements and campaigns are shared internally with employees by the CEO before they hit the press. Another has refined its recruitment process to ensure that each candidate goes back from an interview as a brand ambassador of the company, regardless of the outcome. They have all mastered the art of 'assimilating' new employees seamlessly into their environment, leaving no question unanswered and no loose ends to be tied. These organisations make the effort to constantly elicit employee opinion and take it into consideration while making policy decisions. Employee queries are responded to promptly and suggestions are sought after, making employees feel that their voice is being heard.
Innovate and integrate: Most companies that have made it to the top 10 have leveraged technology not only to reduce the administrative burden but also to build truly integrated HR systems and processes. A fully automated training management system adopted by one of our winners showcases how training needs for each employee that emerge from a performance review are then automatically translated into an organisation- wide training calendar. These very training needs form the basis of individual developmental plans as well as an organisational skills inventory used to track and monitor capability.
<IMG height=120 width=170>RANK 4
DR REDDY
Today, most companies have fairly comprehensive HR systems. However, this tried and tested formula will no longer suffice
Some companies have developed sophisticated performance management systems, the outputs of which are systematically linked with rewards, employee development, manpower planning, management of high potential employees, succession and career planning. The tools used to measure performance and manage employee development have been separated in order to ensure that the focus on development is not diluted. The mechanisms used by these companies to evaluate the effectiveness of these HR processes also speak volumes about the level of maturity the processes have reached.
Put employees in charge of their careers: The best companies to work for also reaffirm their faith in their employees by putting them in charge of their own careers. The better employers provide employees with the requisite information, infrastructure and developmental support to enable them to shape their careers based on their own aspirations and abilities. One of our winners supports employees in seeking structured feedback at any point of time regarding their suitability for any organisational role. It then goes a step further by helping them interpret and act on the results. The Indian employer and employee have finally come to terms with performance- based progression and rewards, as is evident from the widely accepted prevalence of variable pay and differential growth paths, which are tailor made for high-performing employees.
Redefine and reinforce culture: Mere words and no actions might be a quick-fix solution, but in the long run, employees need to feel attached to the company they work for. Each of the winning companies has worked hard on building a strong culture which reflects the values that the company wishes to inculcate in its employees. Whether it is the focus on transparency emphasised by one of the winners by making 360 degree feedback results visible to everyone across the organisation, or the message of openness given out by another through fully open workspaces, or the emphasis on integrity by a third company through value-based induction sessions facilitated personally by the head of the organisation; the involvement and accessibility of the senior management is the common thread that runs across the fabric of each organisation.
There has been a substantial narrowing of differentials between the top 10 companies and the others are catching up fast. The only way for an organisation to get noticed is to be different in an era when differentiators are constantly diminishing. The level of sophistication, integration and innovation in people management practices is what sets the best apart and makes them truly world class. Their employees speak highly of them and external stakeholders also confirm their status as an "employer of choice" in their market.
Today, most companies have fairly comprehensive and detailed HR systems and processes. However, this tried and tested formula will no longer suffice. Additionally, what works for one organisation or industry may not work for another-change and innovation have become the order of the day. In winning the current war for talent, being good is just not good enough.
Managing Employee Expectations
Why are employees at just about every Top 10 company unhappy with compensation and career coaching? It's because employers aren't paying enough attention to managing employee expectations.
By R. Sankar
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Wage inflation and talent shortages are two related, if predictable, consequences of the high growth the Indian economy has been experiencing over the last few years. Our education system supplies far fewer qualified youth than are required, pushing up wages and attrition.
It is, therefore, not surprising that recruitment and compensation management have become the two main focus areas for hr managers. Nothing can be more strategic than getting the right people in at the right time and in the right numbers and managing their compensation and career expectations.
To be fair, employers have tried every trick in the book and used every lever to help attract and retain talent: high and differentiated compensation, innovative titles, faster (if at times illusory) career progression, training, a congenial work environment, more satisfying jobs, overseas exposure, opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies and problems, retention plans, referral schemes etc. Success rates vary and the problems remain.
There are three areas where employers can yet do more.
Segment your workforce
While customer and vendor segmentation has become an art and science, the concept of workforce segmentation is still in its infancy. Yet, sophisticated employers are deploying tools and techniques to segment their workforce, not only based on performance and potential, but also on the basis of demography, skill and business needs, and using the outcomes of such segmentation to craft distinctive strategies to manage the compensation and career expectations of each segment. In such an approach, the concept of fairness and equity apply within a workforce segment rather than to the workforce as a whole. To be sure, implementing a segmented approach is challenging but if done well, the rewards for both employer and employee will outweigh the costs.
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Hard to please: Infoscions at the tech giant's Bangalore campus
Place HR management responsibility where it truly belongs
It is time line managers owned up to their responsibility for their human resources, just as they take responsibility for managing financial resources, materials and equipment. Too often, they pressure hr into recommending high salary increases based on anecdotal evidence of departures of their staff, but do little to attract good talent and even less to retain what talent there is. That the line managers and supervisors are chiefly responsible for their people is well known but not easily accepted in the Indian context, where the chief responsibility for talent attraction and retention is still that of the hr manager. A formal shift in responsibility from hr to line is overdue. To facilitate the shift, performance objectives of the line manager must reflect and accord high weight to people management. The roles of line and hr must be redrawn. And managers must be educated about and contribute to the formulation of their company's compensation policies and practices so that they can then play the key role in communicating with and managing their staff.
Manage employees' expectations
Finally, managers must learn to manage employees' expectations. Communicating the economics of a company's business to employees transparently and regularly is one way to do this. Very few companies take the trouble of explaining the company's performance to their employees at all levels-the quarterly results, the company's competitive environment, its future goals, the need to balance the needs and expectations of all the stakeholders and to strike the right balance between rewarding for today's success and investing for tomorrow's. This is a task managers can no longer avoid. All too often, managers dismiss their subordinates as immature or lacking in the ability to understand. In doing so, they make a grievous mistake and underestimate and insult the intelligence of their people. Honest and credible communication is a visible manifestation of the respect that employees owe each other.
While these measures may not in themselves stem attrition or attract talent, they will go a long way in building and deepening people management capabilities, leading, in turn, to strong, business-focussed hr management that strikes the right balance in addressing the needs of the various stakeholders.
THE BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN INDIA
RANK 1: INFOSYS
Incredible Infy What's the secret sauce that makes Infosys the best company to work for, year after year?
By Venkatesha Babu<IMG height=120 width=170>Brand Infosys: It employs over 65,000 people. In the past one year, 14 lakh have applied, of which 22,913 get hiredChintamani 'buck' Devashish is the managing Director of Sterling Commerce India, an AT&T company, and also an Exfoscion, as all former Infosys employees are called. This 40-year-old, IIT Mumbai and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus was among the early employees the it giant recruited way back in 1987, when it was still a glimmer in the eyes of its seven founders. It's been 10 years since Devashish quit Infosys, but once in a while his nostalgia still gets stirred. Consider the last time round when that happened: Devashish, who had a long stint at Infosys subsidiary Yantra, was on a flight back to Bangalore from the us when he bumped into Infy Chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy on board the airport shuttle. Murthy, Devashish says, understandably, did not immediately place him, but when the Exfoscion jogged his memory a bit, India's best-known tech ambassador broke into a broad smile. "He immediately enquired about me and my family," recalls Devashish. "Not only was he carrying his luggage himself, but when I offered him my seat in the crowded bus, he politely declined. Humility, respect, affection and genuine concern for the fellow human being...Murthy had lost none of it despite all the success. If you have to understand why Infosys and its HR practices are unique," Devashish continues, "you have to understand the DNA of its promoters and how this has percolated down the organisation."
SNAPSHOT
REVENUES: Rs 9,521 crore (2005-06)
PROFITS: Rs 2,458 crore Total employees: 66,150
Attrition (per cent): 12.9 (in the last 12 months)
Average career tenure: 3.87 years
Training budget (actual): $145 million (Rs 667 crore)
Training man-days (actual): 8 lakhToday, Infosys employs 65,150 people-far too many for Murthy or any of his co-founders, including CEO Nandan Nilekani, to remember by name-but the system tracks everyone individually. When terror attacks took place in London past July, the company ensured that every UK-based employee's family members in India were kept posted. Whatever help-emotional, monetary or otherwise-that the distressed employees needed was provided. "That has become kind of routine to us. Whether it is a personal emergency or a natural disaster or any other issue that affects the welfare of the employee and his family, we are always ready to lend a hand," says Bikramjit Maitra, Vice President and Head of HR at Infosys.
<IMG height=120 width=170>A bank on Infy's campus: If you can't go to the bank, the bank will come to youThat's no easy achievement. Over the last five years, the headcount at Infosys has grown at a CAGR of 40 per cent. Before it rings out 2006-07, Infy may add another 15,000 employees. The challenge for Infosys, then, is straightforward: How to remain, in some sense, a garage start-up at heart, while creating systems and processes that can withstand the stress of high-velocity growth? For instance, in the July-September quarter, Infosys logged a 50.4 per cent growth in revenues to Rs 3,451 crore over the same quarter last year, and by the end of this financial year, its annual revenues will soar to Rs 13,853 crore. Says S. Subramanyam, Managing Director, Ascent Securities and Consulting: "Underpromise and overdeliver. Infosys has done that consistently. What is amazing is the company's ability to scale and execute."
Making sure that ability improves as Infosys multiplies in size is something Nilekani and his team already worry about. "We work hard to ensure that Infosys sets benchmarks, including in HR practices globally," says Maitra. Adds Hema Ravichandar, former head of HR at Infosys who now runs an HR advisory firm: "A big differentiator for Infosys is its 'conscious paranoia' to succeed and outperform itself." That means, she explains, a strong organisational thrust on innovation. Add to that its manic focus on execution, robust, institutionalised and scalable people processes and attention to stakeholder concerns, and you have a great recipe for sustainable success.
INTERVIEW/NANDAN NILEKANI/PRESIDENT, CEO & MD, INFOSYS
"Infosys Is A Meritocracy" <IMG height=120 width=170 align=right>Infy's ebullient CEO explained to BT's Venkatesha Babu why his company continues to remain India's best employer. Excerpts:
Can you decouple revenue growth and people numbers?
We are addressing this challenge in two ways. One is internal, the other is on the client side. Internally, we are trying to ensure higher efficiency especially on fixed price projects by using reusable (software) components. On the client side, we are selling higher value services and solutions.
What about attracting the right kind of talent internationally? It is true that we have a great brand equity in the Indian marketplace. Infosys is seen as an aspirational brand-an advantage that, as of now, we don't enjoy everywhere else. But we have made considerable progress on this issue. Infosys Consulting was started completely by a bunch of people internationally. This year we recruited 126 people off the campus in the US and 25 in the UK. We are hiring in China. Today, around 3 per cent of our workforce is non-Indian. Managing cultural diversity would be a key issue.
What about this perception that there is a glass ceiling at the very top, since it is still dominated by the founders...
(Interrupts, sounding a bit weary)...I think it is a very unfair thing to say. Raghavan (co-founder) left in 2001, (Narayana) Murthy stepped down in 2006, when my time comes, I will follow them. (Mohan Das) Pai, who is not a founder, handles significant responsibility. At the end of the day, ours is a transparent culture. Infosys is a meritocracy.
How will you ensure that there is connect between employee and the company as it grows rapidly?
We are acutely aware that there would always be demand for talented people. HR does a number of programmes to ensure connect between the company and its employees. We fundamentally believe in the philosophy of sharing wealth. This, along with our value systems and unique culture, is what makes Infosys different from others.
Paranoia It Is
Over the last 12 months, Infosys received 14,63,264 resumes from hopefuls. How many did the company hire? 22,913. That means every applicant has a less than 2 per cent chance of becoming an Infoscion-that is, an Infosys employee. Purely from a probability point of view, you'd be better off trying to crack the Indian Civil Service exams. Yet, Infy doesn't allow itself to get smug about it. Especially, when it goes recruiting abroad. It might sound amusing, but Infosys was actually a bit apprehensive when it hit the US campuses mid-2005 to hire undergrads. "While Infosys is an aspirational brand in India, it is becoming known on the us campuses only now," says Nilekani. "But we were pleasantly surprised by the response we got." As many as 126 us campus recruits, plus 25 UK on-campus recruits, are now undergoing training alongside Indian hires at the software engineering boot-camp that Infosys runs at its facility in Mysore.
A DAY
IN THE LIFE OF
K. SUNITA, 33 Sr. Project Manager (Banking & Capital Markets)<IMG height=120 width=170>A company that cares: And that's one reason Sunita (seated in centre) hasn't changed jobs in eight yearsAs a devastating cyclone struck Bhubaneshwar in early 2000, it killed several people, destroyed property worth several hundred crores, and generally decimated everything in its path. Several hundred kilometres away, K. Sunita, then a software engineer based out of Chennai with Infosys Technologies, was worried about the fate of her parents who lived in Orissa's capital Bhubaneshwar. Communication lines had been cut off and there was no way to reach her parents.
As news about the scale and nature of the cyclone began to trickle down, Infosys swung into action and set up a helpdesk to assist employees and their families located in Bhubaneshwar. That apart, Infoscions went around helping their colleagues and families. The company chartered aircraft to airlift its employees and their families to safety. "It is this kind of commitment," says Sunita, seated at one of the hundreds of cubicles in Infosys' campus buildings, "why I can't think of moving to a different company, despite having spent eight years at Infosys."
In those eight years, Sunita has grown from being a software engineer to a senior project manager now, in charge of a team of 180 people. Needless to say, Sunita is one of those who have benefited from Infy's stock option plans, but she quickly clarifies, "That is not the reason why I have stayed. I like the open work culture environment. Everybody's career is clearly mapped and people are rewarded on the basis of merit. That's why I have not looked at a single outside job offer." Now you know why Infy tops our list.
Why fuss over the recruitment of a bunch of kids from American campuses? Hasn't Infosys been a global company for some years now, deriving 98 per cent of its revenues from abroad and spanning 17 development centres in five countries? The answer to the question lies with Mohan Das Pai, a six-foot three-inch bearded giant of a man, who stepped down as the CFO in April this year to head the HR function. "For a company to be called truly global, what are the metrics?" he asks. "Do we get bulk of our revenues from the international market; do we have a footprint in various countries across the world; does our board reflect a transnational character and does the workforce also mirror this?" The answer, obviously, is 'yes' for the first three questions, but 'no' for the last one. Reason? A bare 1,958 of its 65,150 employees are non-Indian. Gathered from 59 different nations, they represent just 3 per cent of Infosys' workforce, and Pai is keen to diversify the talent pool. "India will remain the largest source of technical talent, but there are areas where we need to cherry-pick global talent," says Pai. Adds Priya Chetty Rajgopal, Vice President at search firm Stanton Chase: "Such broadening of the pool from where an organisation recruits leads to cultural diversity and is an asset to the organisation. It could also help prevent any kind of political backlash against outsourcing in general."
<IMG height=120 width=170>Recipe for success: Underpromise and overdeliver is what appears to be the philosophy at InfosysGlass Ceiling?
There are, however, a couple of causes for concern at Infosys. "There is an invisible glass ceiling beyond which one cannot grow, except for the promoters," says a former employee who now works with a competitor. "While it is undoubtedly a great growth engine, it does not have professionalism." It's a sentiment that Mohan Sekhar, Member of the Board and Chief Delivery Officer, igate Global Solutions, and who at one time headed Infy's North American delivery, shares. "Given their growth of recent years and the changing HR landscape, they will probably face challenges in retaining key people," says Sekhar.
While Nilekani denies there's any invisible glass ceiling (see Infosys Is A Meritocracy) , Ravichandar also says that Infy has to be careful. "It is critical that the employee stakeholder is never taken for granted and customised engagement plans are designed to ensure an inclusive work environment," she says.
Indeed, there was a year (2003) when Infosys did not make it to the top 10 of BT's Best Companies to Work for survey because of industry flux and its own inability to meet employee expectations. The following year, however, it came roaring back at #2 and has stayed at the #1 position since. Its dizzy growth and sterling stock are clearly one part of the reason. But as Chintamani 'Buck" Devashish mentions right at the beginning of this story, there are several other ingredients that go into Infy's secret sauce.
Courtesy >> This article is really informative for us.. its actually a copy paste from one of mails.......