You have set a 2012 target to become one of the top three preferred
employers of the country. According to our survey, you have made it to the top
in 2008. What extraordinary initiatives have you undertaken to achieve this?
We have done something which is different from what other companies do. Most
organizations have looked at the piecemeal approach. This means that whenever
there is an attrition problem, they look at a retention strategy. If there is a
hiring challenge, they looked at increasing compensation, and other things. What
we have understood is that this approach works temporarily and not in the long
run.
We tried to understand what are the expectations of an employees.What does a
typical software engineer look for during his entire stint in an organization?
What type of expectations does he have at the time of joining, and at various
stages of his job? We have fortified most of these expectations and then created
an integrated HR framework. This framework consists of what we call the 5Cs of
iGate HR framework.
Srinivas Kandula global head, HR, iGate Global Solutions |
Can you elaborate on the 5Cs?
Like anywhere else, the first and foremost expectation of any person who
works in the company is compensation. They need compensation to maintain a
certain quality of living. We in India have always talked of compensation from
the cost of living perspective, taking into account inflation, etc. Notethe
issue is not cost of living but quality of living. People expect a certain
standard of life and there is a lifestyle associated with it. They look at
whether with a certain kind of compensation they can afford this quality of
living or not. We have understood that, and we have pitted our compensation
against industry benchmark.
Secondly, compensation should be linked to performance. We do that on a
quarterly basis. People require money to take care of long term requirements
like marriage, higher education, marriage of their kids, or buying a house or
car. This we have realized through our employee stock option program.
When employees join iGate, they need not break their head on how they are
going to save money. They work in this company and their lifestyle is protected.
So they work better and get more money. Their long-term prospect is taken care.
Once compensation-related things are fulfilled, they immediately look at
their peers or the kind of people they are working with. So the second C is
Camaraderie. We have created formal and informal groups within the company.
Formal groups have been created around domain skill basis like .Net or Java. We
have informal groups around specific, ethnic groups of people working in our
organization. This aims to avoid any cultural shock that people might experience
when they come to a place outside their state.
The next C is Career. Here, some long-term interests of the employees are
taken care. We have built the iGate Career Planning and Management System. It is
a Web-enabled automated tool where an employee, in collaboration with his or her
manager, does an exercise for about 45 minutes. This helps them plan their
career for the next 5-10 years. They can plan for the next three levels. This
system helps them to know the kind of skills they need to acquire to grow.
Once they have the career, they think about the Culture. They start looking
at decision-making patterns in the organizationwhether the company is
hierarchical or there is proper job rotation. Employees are given an opportunity
to participate in an initiative or decision-making process.
The fifth C is Competency, which is aimed at upgrading their skills on a
continuous basis. We are one of the very few companies which has a robust
competency framework. This framework consists of nineteen technical and
engineering competencies, and thirteen behavioral and leadership competency. For
any employee, minimum of nine competencies are applicable. Employees go through
assessment once in six months, to understand what is the competency gap. Once
they know where the gaps are, they undergo training and development programs to
address the gap.
What HR challenges are you facing in the light of the current global
economic downturn?
From the business point of view, we would have grown much faster than what
we have eventually on account of the current situation. To that extent there is
an impact. There is no impact on our existing business and existing revenues.
Because of all this, our hiring has slowed down by about 25%. We have planned
our human resource properly and have not felt the need of any lay-offs, as we
have not lost any customer despite the meltdown.
iGate has fared badly on the parameter of employees being encouraged to
take risk. What could be the reason behind this?
The company has been through major transformations in the last 4-5 years,
wherein iGate used to be a conglomeration of eight companies. After our current
CEO came on the Board, he started consolidating it. At that time a command and
control structure was necessary to have the kind of discipline. It could be due
to this that employees were experiencing this lack of delegation. We are
conscious of that and we have started taking a lot of measures. We hope that in
a year from now, you will see people responding very positively to this
question.
Are you looking to hire non-engineering graduates at iGate?
We hire engineering graduates and BSc in IT or in computer application. We
have a program wherein we extend a training program even before they join us,
primarily through online.
iGate has lots of branded programs. What has been the impact of this?
This has been a great success. All the programs are highly customized and
address the employee needs in full. This is in contrast to organizations that
outsource their programs by bringing trainers from outside or they nominate
people to outside training programs. We feel that most outside programs are
knowledge imparting rather than skill imparting. So we have created a lot of
customized training program. We have a model wherein we create training programs
based on competency framework. Four proficiency levels define each competency.
When employees go through the assessment, they know the gaps precisely. We have
training programs to address that. People see a lot of value in this.
What do you think is the reason behind the employability gaps that exist
in the industry and how do you think it can be addressed?
We have a structural problem in the market today. Most of the academic
curriculums in engineering colleges are built on phenomena of knowledge and not
on skill acquisition. Due to the demand supply forces in the market, regardless
of the suitability of the student, most of them start pursuing a career in
engineering. They do not fit into the system and end-up not getting proper jobs
because they have acquired a mere degree.
Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in