Best practices in culture architecture in rewards space

The second-largest Indian IT services company by 2016 revenues, Infosys, as a global leader in technology services and consulting helps enterprises to remain at par and relevant to the changing times, which in turn becomes a business challenge for Infosys. To overcome the challenge pertaining to fostering, sustaining and continuing a culture of innovation, Infosys adopted interesting solutions that eventually made a strong impact on the business.

Business Challenge 

One of the most striking challenges faced by Infosys was to foster a culture of innovation. Employees needed to go beyond their core areas of work while guaranteeing quality output. The second challenge pertained to enabling collaboration and knowledge sharing within the organization. Innovation in pockets was rewarded and information was shared in smaller interactions. Collaboration was only possible by breaking down innovation silos across teams and people.  Another challenge faced by Infosys was to align employees to the organizational strategy. The ‘Renew/New strategy’ based on a culture of learning had to be adopted and lived by each employee. Each employee needed to approach work with a purpose, to feel fulfilled and engaged which was only possible through a ground-up movement, supplemented by a robust rewards/incentive program that encouraged innovation and active involvement in the strategy. 

Solution 

To solve the challenges, Infosys adopted the Zero Distance (ZD) plan — a five-point template to improve the quality of each customer project through design thinking — a ground-up, grassroots approach to ensure that every developer, project manager, analyst and architect is at a “Zero Distance” – to the end user, to the underlying technology and therefore to the value.  The company used communication channels like email and an internal enterprise networking platform (Yammer) for knowledge dissemination. Case studies of innovation among project teams were showcased to the entire organization on a weekly basis that fostered collaboration.

The most important engagement, collaboration and knowledge dissemination channel adopted was the org-wide interactions with the CEO & MD Vishal Sikka, held on an almost monthly basis. Great teams with innovative ZD plans showcased their solutions to the organization, and were reviewed by the CEO! This further reinforced purpose-driven work as engagement. With its simple tenets and easy to apply framework, the Zero Distance program was embraced by employees outside of business delivery as well. Additionally, a robust rewards framework was put in place for innovative teams, individuals and Business Units. Other form of rewards available were in-time challenges of value obtained (Billionaire Bracket), and inclusion as a category in the org-wide annual Awards for Excellence program, a ZD Club with point-based tiers. 

Impact 

The impact on business was measurable. The culture of the company shifted from a standard delivery practice to innovative solution-building. Employees began thinking about their work differently, viewing it from the lens of the client or end-user, identifying innovative solutions to problems that sometimes the client didn’t even know they had.

Following impacts were seen after its implementation: 

• Apart from fostering a culture of innovation, the ZD plan enabled employees to formulate Zero Distance Plans within their projects. Over 95% of the existing projects have created Zero Distance plans, and to date, over 13,700 Zero Distance Plans have been created and sent for reviews by management.
  
  
• Yammer began to flourish with close to 50,000 registered users.
  
  
• Over 800 client testimonials praising ZD work were recorded.
  
  
• Multiple external media features, including the most recent by EY Beacon Institute.
  
  
• Employees considered their work as engagement in itself, as opposed to a peripheral activity.
  
  
• Increased and more frequent visibility for projects teams with the CEO.
  
  
• The other tangible business metric was the increase in client satisfaction as indicated by the annual customer satisfaction survey. The overall numbers were the highest in a decade. In the areas of thought leadership in the survey, there has been an improvement and score.
  
  
• In the annual org-wide employee engagement survey, Zero Distance was cited as one of the most visible, biggest changes within the organization. 

JBM Group with a diversified portfolio serves in the field of automotive, engineering & design services, renewable energy and education sectors, and has an infrastructure of 35 manufacturing plants, 4 engineering & design centers across 18 locations globally. The 5 core values of JBM – Integrity & Ethics, Ownership & Commitment, Respect & Teamwork, Customer Trust & Delight and Safe & Green, act as the pillars that have constantly enriched the organization’s culture. While these values continue to work as the DNA in all its people processes and practices to build 'One JBM' culture, the increasing difference between the topline and the bottom-line posed a challenge for the organization. 

Business Challenges  

JBM Group studied and analyzed the balance sheets of its manufacturing facilities and observed that some of the losses were recurring in nature. Losses were noticed in areas such as Rework & Rejection, Manpower Productivity, Machine Productivity and Inventory Control. While these losses were the biggest bottlenecks for the company, they were also reflected in the processes of the manufacturing setup across the industry, and increased the difference between topline and bottom line. With the bottom-line not keeping pace with the increasing topline and mounting manpower cost, some units were unable to deliver the expected return on investment (and EBITDA) due to leakages in the processes and mounting operational costs. Also, there was increased variation in operational performance across 38 units in terms of SPP (Stroke per person), SPM (Stroke per Machine), and Manpower Productivity. In the absence of a central depository for knowledge, best practices and horizontal deployment of improvement initiatives, it was noticed that SAP was not fully used by Unit Heads to analyze trends & issues. 

Solution 

JBM group launched a Mega Drive called ‘Tayaari Udaan Ki’ (TUK) to support its Vision 2020 and invited stakeholders to drive it with passion and commitment. Various workshops and discussions were held and pain areas were identified. In order to improve the bottom line, the methodology to work on certain identified areas was planned. These workshops gave 3 prominent behaviors of change — Take Charge, Collaboration and Rigorous thinking, which were essential to change the mindset of the people across the organization. A total organizational transformation was envisioned through cultural transformation, leadership development and by undertaking breakthrough projects using employee involvement. 

The company also created ‘One JBM’ concept which helped in creating a unique standard of operational excellence and enabled sharing of knowledge across all units. Also, it helped in developing role clarity and ensuring that individual goals and review processes were totally aligned. It ensured that the goal of TUK was broken down into clear, measurable goals at all levels while building capability in Centers of Excellence (COE) teams to develop and implement the routines to solve current and future critical problems using standard methodology.

Impact and Metrics  

TUK Mega Drive was envisioned as a systematic effort to bring about a change in the entire organization. COE teams were created that defined benchmark issue trees in 4 operational areas. Teams in the units took up these processes and implemented them in their units through a series of projects.

Results

• Rework/rejection went down from 20% to 2% in some of the units, space was saved up-to 30% and was used for new expansion, and there was a 30% reduction in inventory stock. Middle management felt more empowered and they started encouraging workers to participate in the TUK Mega Drive to be a part of Vision 2020.
  
  
• The culture of trust among team members became the key driver of change.
  
  
• Attrition got down at the middle and top levels.
  
  
• Work-life balance improved as a result of improvement in trust, quality & business results.
  
  
• Around 600 leaders have been identified for development & coaching till now. 
  
  

Ericsson, a multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company,  with more than 39000 granted Patents globally, holds the industry’s strongest intellectual property right portfolios! However, to foster a culture that supported innovation at all levels and leverage new ideas that resulted in viable new products and processes has proven to be a challenge.

Business Challenge

The challenge of fostering a creative environment and leveraging valuable ideas that resulted into viable new products and processes required the company to be at the forefront of exploring new applications, solutions, and showcase commitment in areas where innovation capabilities were possible. With patents playing an active role in advancing technology through standardization and licensing, it was crucial that a fair and reasonable compensation for employee inventive work was recognized to keep employees motivated. As patent applications being an investment that give a good return to the company as well, in the form of profit when the patent is licensed to other companies, it was

Solution 

To solve above mentioned challenges, while strengthening the leadership in core technologies and services, Ericsson needed to be at the forefront of exploring new applications and solutions through its innovation capabilities. With patents play an active role in advancing technology through standardization and licensing, Ericsson came up with a robust and renewed Reward and Recognition strategies as the solution. 

Rewards: Ericsson started with Corporate Inventor Award with numerous categories in the award like Patentable Invention Award, Subsequent Filing Award, Patent Grant Award, Trade Secret Award and Publication Award. 

Recognition: It was essential for the organization to disseminate success stories of invention of new products/Intellectual Property creation as a part of rewards and recognition. The reason for choosing this was to balance both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives that also helped in integrating the company's culture with its goals & strategy. In order to capture and document the learning and challenges involved in the implementation of this intervention, the company conducts periodic reviews on the basis of data & inputs.  The SME's and LT team reviews the initiative and accordingly the challenges are addressed.

Impact 

Data shows that there have been around 39 Corporate Inventor Award winners in past 6 months and around 122 new ideas rewarded. With more than 39000 patents globally, the company holds the number one patent portfolio for wireless technologies and the company’s unrivalled patent portfolio covers 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. Ericsson is also a net receiver of licensing royalties with more than 100 patent-licensing agreements in place. Some of the peripheral benefits that intervention delivered include increased employee engagement and motivation, talent retention, and improved brand image. As the company continues to embark on this journey, it has clear milestones on the way and progress is continuously tracked and reported.