The Top 10: 10 - Sun Microsystems India: The Sun Rises

Sun makes its entry into the BES Top 20 largely driven by its
great show in the employee satisfaction score, where it ranked #7. It scores on
two of the most important parametersone is the all-time priority, pay
packets; and the other is the new age priority, work-life balance, where it
stands at #1 in the industry.

Sun, with an employee base of around 1,000, has been able to
overcome the sense of insecurity (as revealed by the score) that arose out of
global layoffs that were announced by the new CEO, Jonathan Schwartz, in 2006 as
part of its restructuring exercise. Though the impact of this in India was
minimal, thanks to a well thought out redeployment strategy, this had a negative
impact on the morale of the employees instilling a sense of insecurity amongst
them. This is clearly visible in the score secured by the company in the
parameter.

Another area of concern, as was evident from the score it got,
was the issue of growth opportunities. This can be attributed to the lure of
services companies that attract talent, with a lot of proactive means. The
results also show a lack of confidence in what the leadership aims to do for the
company. This can be attributed to the not so good showing of Sun in the stock
market, as it directly impacts employees who have stock options, and in turn
expect better growth for the company.

Hemant Sharma, VP, HR
High Ratings Industry rank Adequate pay for work done 6 Work-life balance 4 Fairness in business practice 5 Low Ratings Clear goal definition 11 Leadership is doing what is required for the company growth 15 Growth opportunities 17 Best Showing Flexibility of office hours/ Balancing of social life 1 Salary & Compensation 2 Organization culture/ work climate 4

In terms of training, though the company imparted a good number
of days to training, the employees perception about it was not good. The
company provides substantial training through the online mode rather than
classroom, which could have resulted in this perception.

Last but not the least, Sun really scored on salaries. However,
after the survey was conducted, Sun introduced a variable component. How
employees react to that will be seen only next year.