Cementing Bonds

If you had walked into an HR manager’s office 2 years ago,

chances are you would have found him doing one of the following:

• Going through piles of resumes

• Trying to figure out the PF of a recently exited employee

• Tallying the conveyance bills of one employee while
  
  juggling the phone calls of another

Today, a quick trip to NIIT’s HR division reveals a

slightly different picture. We don’t mean NIIT’s HR people don’t look

after PF matters and resumes anymore. They certainly do, but how they do it has

changed. Rosita Rabindra, V-P, human resources, NIIT, sums it up, "The role

of an HR professional is now that of a facilitator". The mundane work has

been taken care of through the wonders of technology. And HR has adopted a

functional role now, oiling the interlinked cogs of various departments.

So how does NIIT go about simplifying the lives of almost

4,000 employees sprinkled across the globe? In fact, how does it instill a sense

of belonging in those human assets across diverse backgrounds and geographies?

According to Rabindra, the glue that binds NIITians to their company is its

vision and values, culture and pride in its image. Sanjiv Kataria, senior V-P,

NIIT, adds that NIIT is an apolitical organization. There is a sense of healthy

competition among the employees and the process of recognition is above-board.

Have they been successful? Suffice it to say, that almost 20% of the company has

spent 5 years of its working life here.

Like most software companies, the average age of employees is

27-28 years, certainly the right age for bonding. Once again, HR tries to build

up an atmosphere of fun at work, through picnics, parties and celebrations.

Laying the right foundation

For a company whose vision says, "NIIT is People", the recruitment

process is fairly intensive. There are 3-4 levels of interviews followed by

psychometric exercises and extensive reference checks. Kataria explains the

criteria for selection of new people, "We hire for attitude, the rest can

be training. If in doubt, leave the person out". The seed of bonding is

sown right at the beginning when a recruit goes through seven days of intensive

training where he meets business heads and learns details about his

organization. Apart from this, if required, there is technical training, which

often goes on for 2-3 months.

Making life easy

The attempt is to create an open and friendly atmosphere while providing

flexible timings to employees. Telecommuting is quite a common way of working.

The company has operations in 7 Indian cities. So it is quite easy to

accommodate people whose spouses have been transferred. For women, there is the

Little NIITian care scheme, which permits them to work part-time. And along with

the good will displayed, there is not much tolerance for those a unsatisfactory

performance even after being warned.

The HR department facilitates processes through the Website–www.iNIITian.com.

Information like personal records, news about the company, leave applications

and discussion forums is available on the Website. Even performance appraisals

are done online. There is a feature on tax help–and as Rabindra says, the idea

is to "dehassle" people. This site, hosted about a year ago enjoys

visits from almost 2,000 NIITians everyday.

The personal touch

In a company, where almost 50% of the employees are women,

personal life is given quite a lot of importance. Much has been already talked

about the dating allowances and the compulsory holiday on birthdays. But little

known and seen is the entire wall replete with drawings by children of NIITians.

Painting competitions are held regularly and the finished products adorn walls

of the offices.

NIIT never fails to remind you that it has a low attrition

rate. In fact there have been frequent cases of people quitting the company and

coming back–an interesting instance being when a certain employee came back in

24 hours! A casual work environment, lots of perks and the humane touch is what

NIIT seems to be promising its employees–key ingredients of what it believes

binds people to the company.

Shilpa Srivastava In New

Delhi

PROMOTERS’ BACKGROUND:

In the absence of a track record, this is the key area that a VC investor looks

at. The background should provide the educational and professional history of

the promoters. It should highlight the contribution and strength of the

promoters and their commitment to the venture.

BUSINESS PLAN:

The plan section should indicate projections of income for the next three to

five years, ratio analysis and the proposed investment plan. It should also

provide an industry analysis, the different participants, a study of theÂ

competitors and the proposed promotion and marketing strategy.

EXIT FOR THE VC:

The final aspect that VCs look at is how they can exit from the investment. The

exit section should highlight the possible exit options for the VC, whether it

can be through a strategic sale, or through an IPO.

Choosing the right VC

Once the

homework is done, the next stage is to identify a suitable VC investor to

fund the project. While deciding on the source of capital, remember that VCs

bring more than just funds to the table. This concept of bringing along a bundle

of capabilities along with funding is called ‘smart’ money. The VC can

contribute in any of the following areas:

MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES:

VCs can bring in management expertise, which the technocrat entrepreneur may

lack. Angel investors and other VCs can play a prominent role in taking the

start-up from conception through operation till expansion in the market. VCs can

nominate senior people on the board to provide direction or they can themselves

be involved in day to day operations–an approach called hand-holding. They can

also help investee companies to identify proper people for key positions in the

organization. Therefore, depending on the expertise required, the entrepreneur

can look for angel investors, seed capital investors or institutional investors.

MARKET ACCESS:

VCs, by their extensive networks in the industry, can help start-ups get their

initial business. Providing such initial breakthroughs can be critical for the

start-up in its struggle to gain credibility and a foothold in the market.

A

DURING IPO OR SALE:

Before deciding on the VC

investor, the entrepreneur should also decide on the nature of funding required

for the venture, whether it is seed capital, start-up capital or later-stage

funding. Seed capital is the initial funding required to validate the idea and

finance the initial feasibility studies. Start-up funding is required for

product development and initial marketing. Later-stage funding is required for

working capital finance and business expansion. As different business stages

would demand different business capabilities, the nature of the VC investment

would depend on the type of funding sought. While seed capital and start-up

funding can be obtained from angel investors, incubators and start up venture

capital funds, later stage funding can be obtained from institutional venture

funds and mutual funds.

The future is now

Several new

initiatives have been started like the India Venture 2000 and the e-mahamillionaire

project of NIIT to nurture and guide prospective entrepreneurs to obtain VC

funding. Notwithstanding the recent developments, the VC industry is in a

nascent stage in India today. With the prospect of more growth in the IT

sector, a lot more activity can be expected in the VC industry with the

availability of more investible funds. Some of the recently launched technology

mutual funds have earmarked a portion of their funds in unlisted companies,

which make them more like VC funds. All this is happy news for the entrepreneur.

Venture funds have been an engine for economic growth for over a decade in

countries like USA, Israel and Taiwan. The situation is now ripe to be

replicated in India.

Dr Thillai Rajan