A recap of special initiatives from the year 2010 in the form of industry benchmarking, surveys & research and highlights from thought-leading events

India’s Best Companies to Work for
In September 2010, People Matters in association with Great Place to Work® Institute launched a Special Yearly Book on India’s 50 best companies to work for based on the Great Place to Work® Institute’s study. The study saw participation from 427 companies and surveyed more than 52,700 employees using a unique employee-centric framework that measured levels of trust, pride and camaraderie prevalent in organizations through the Trust Index©, – a proprietary employee tool developed by the Great Place to Work® Institute. The study also ranked companies as per industry categories and recognized winners of special categories such as ‘Best Company for Leadership Development’, ‘Best Company for Work-Life Balance’ etc. While Google India secured the numero uno spot in the study, MakeMyTrip came second followed by Intel Technology India. A quick glance at what makes these some of India’s best employers.

#1 – Google India

“We provide a sense of empowerment to our employees and encourage them to take initiatives. We have bright young people working for us who have this urge to be heard, which compels them to always think of innovation and be empowered. Secondly, we give them a fun and stimulating work environment so as to enhance their productivity. Working at Google is not about the number of hours you put in but with how much passion you work within the stipulated time frame. We believe in giving freedom and empowerment to people to take decisions as we fundamentally believe that 1,500 smart managers have the capability to take better decision than a handful of senior managers.”
Shailesh Rao, MD, Google India

#2 – MakeMyTrip

“I always believed that the work place should be a fun place to be in; one should enjoy work and not be bogged down by it. And we are proud to incorporate “Fun@Work” as one of the values of our organization. Few of the insights on what makes MakeMyTrip a great workplace include the role and the empowerment employees get, career growth, compensation, recognition, accessibility and openness of senior team members to all sorts of discussions, pride in being a part of the OTA industry leader, having colleagues as friends, aggressive team members with a passion to win and a fun@work culture.”
Deep Kalra, Founder, MakeMyTrip

#3 – Intel Technology India

“One of Intel’s six values is to have a great workplace, which reinforces the importance of employee relations as a key component of our success. We support this value by cultivating open and direct communications, rewarding and recognizing our people and investing in career development and leadership. We also continue to expand several initiatives like our award winning employee wellness program and other innovative programs / tools that employees can avail to balance their work and personal lives as per their individual needs. Our interactive forums create a culture that supports risk taking and open exchange of ideas at every level of the organization.”
Praveen Vishakantaiah, President, Intel Technology India

Gender Inclusion in India
A Tata Consultancy Services survey commissioned to People Matters

Traditionally, women have been under-represented in organizations and the argument for equal opportunity employment has not borne sufficient results in India. It seems, however, that pure economics is out to correct this. As organizations struggle with a scarcity for talent and for managers, smarter companies are beginning to recognize the opportunity in grooming and retaining women. There is a rare commitment among CEOs today to the mandate of gender inclusion. In a survey commissioned by Tata Consultancy Services, People Matters engaged leaders from the Human Resources community to share gender-related information from their companies. This report is a compilation of the information obtained from 116 companies across sectors and gives an insight into the relevant practices, policies and metrics regarding gender inclusion in Corporate India.
The survey reported some revealing facts about the concentration of women at various levels of management in organizations. Overall, data shows that women are under-represented in organizations, especially in senior management roles and corporate boards. The survey also showed that even though most CEOs and Top Management realize the benefits of gender diversity and are committed to the mandate of gender inclusion, this commitment is not translated into actions in terms of policies and structures in the organization.

What is Pulling Women Down?
Participants were asked to share the areas that they felt were problematic for women to grow in the organization. Majority of respondents felt that factors like ‘lack of flexible work solutions’, ‘masculine and patriarchal corporate culture’ and ‘lack of adequate work-life balance priorities’ are the most problematic factors for women to rise. The percentage of respondents considering these factors were 40%, 36% and 34% respectively. Interestingly, factors like ‘lack of networks and mentoring’, ‘lack of opportunities of critical work experience and responsibility’ and ‘lack of adequate information about existing diversity policies and practices’ were not considered by many respondents as a barrier for women to grow.

Addressing the real pain points?
Respondents see lack of flexible work solutions, work-life balance and lack of an inclusive work culture as important barriers hindering women from rising to the top. At the same time, they believe that training programs at the executive and leadership level, mentoring opportunities and sensitizing managers will help retain women. The survey reveals the following: while lack of adequate re-entry opportunities (29%) is a problematic area, only 2% organizations provide for reintegration programs; while 85% respondents feel that leadership development programs are key retention measures for women, only 22% respondents claim that their organizations provide such programs and while mentoring and networking opportunities is another key measure to retain women, only 28% respondents claim that their organizations undertake this initiative.

That tomorrow has come!

The global recession of 2008-09 has been a defining event in the modern history of global politics, national economies and corporate businesses. While its most visible manifestation has been the transition from a decade of Asian ascendancy to a new decade of Asian leadership, it has also brought with it a new reality – the post-recession reality of managing surging capital flows, of trade and currency wars, of a new globalization versus nationalism debate and of an unprecedented dose of economics in politics and government in business. In the November issue’s cover story, People Matters talked to thought leaders from the NHRDN Conference 2010 to understand what they make of this new reality and discussed key trends, practices and imperatives for businesses, organizations and leaders. Excerpts

Invest in building capabilities

“In the next orbit of business, there is no space for narrow-minded leaders. Leaders will have to lay grounds for the continuous success of the company especially if India has to maintain consistency in its growth rate. There is a strong need to develop leaders and strong HR practices otherwise the growth will be very strained. For this, government will need to get greatly involved with education and training. In my opinion, education and training should now be opened up to the private sector with an independent regulator to increase availability of educational institutions. Then, companies should also come forward and invest in building capabilities and competencies and training and developing talent. There will have to be a multi-pronged strategy.”
Adi Godrej, Chairman, Godrej Industries

Practicing linear deductive thinking

“To operate in the next orbit, leaders will have to possess a special skill set. They will have to be accountable for their own part as well as for the functioning of the system. They will have to practice linear deductive thinking, which will be rational and self-interested at the same time. It is a challenge because dictatorship also needs skills! Models of effective leadership as available to PSUs in a democratic setup are not possible for all organizations as business leaders do not take cognizance of stakeholders. New models of partnership will emerge, which will give direction to ways in which determination and cooperation can be maintained in doing business.”
Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission

The new name of the game: Collaboration

“The business challenges ahead of us are so huge that nobody is going to be able to solve them alone; no company or government will be able to tackle them alone. The name of the game in business is going to be more on collaboration, engagement and networking. The role of the leaders is going to be measured on how they engage their people and how they collaborate with other companies and governments. The need for focus in these areas will escalate.”
Balvinder Singh Kalsi, President South Asia, DuPont

Embracing change programs

“Many enterprises are embracing change programs in response to pressures from the competition and customers and to the opportunity presented by rapidly advancing technology. An uncoordinated, ad hoc approach will not suffice in a complex environment. To effectively implement changes, it is necessary that executives learn the important aspects of change management such as organizational structures and models. In organizational changes, staff should be willing to follow a group of individuals who are assigned with the responsibility of implementation of proposed changes. Furthermore, before proposing changes, it is important that leaders ask for the opinions and reactions of their subordinates to the proposals and make the changes beneficial to all of the members of a particular corporation or organization.”
K. R. Kamath, CMD, Punjab National Bank