Great Place to Work India: Intuit India topples AmEx, Google

Intuit India has been ranked the No. 1 company to work for in 2017 by the Great Place to Work Institute, India. It toppled American Express India (ranked 2), Google India (ranked 3) to rank at No.1. Last year, Intuit was ranked 10 in the Best Place to Work 2016. Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd has climbed 5 places to rank at 4 this year.  

In its 10th year, the Great Place To Work® Institute’s ‘India’s Best Companies To Work For’ study covered over 600 organizations throughout India, with focus on organizations with an employee strength of 500 and above. 

The key questions which the Study wanted to probe were: what drives trust in organizations today, are these factors different for different industries, what is it that the best workplaces are doing differently to sustain this trust, among others. In addition, the report takes a deeper look at certain demographic segments – such as women employees, employees with less than 1 year of tenure, Gen-Y and graduates - to study the unique trends emerging from these groups. The report also features an empirical research that reinforces the phenomenon that is intuitively known by most business leaders, i.e., the best workplaces outperform market indices by a significant margin.

“When the foundation of established policies and market forces becomes uncertain, the significance of the linkage between People Success and Organizational Success becomes even stronger,” wrote Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Place to Work Institute, India. 

Great Place To Work® Institute has an objective methodology of assessing workplace culture, that has been adopted by thousands of organizations, globally. It primarily uses 2 lenses to evaluate and identify the best cultures. The first lens measures the quality of employee experience through our globally validated survey instrument known as Trust Index©. The survey helps in seeking anonymous feedback from employees and carries a 2/3rd weightage. The second lens is called the Culture Audit©, a proprietary tool of the Institute that evaluates the people practices of an organization, covering the entire employee life-cycle. This carries 1/3rd weightage. The cumulative score determines an organization’s position in the ranking scoreboard and helps in identifying ‘India’s 100 Best Companies to Work For’.

At Intuit India the company has an internal LinkedIn version called Taleo, which helps employees build a detailed talent profile that includes skills, experience, current job, past jobs, education, certifications and job preferences. This enables them to advertise themselves to Intuit recruiters and hiring managers.

"We build trust by getting our employees into the kitchen – they actively create and drive the solutions. They know they are creating the future, thus stay invested from a career perspective. They know they are part of the solution – this ensures belief in fairness. The voice of employee is integral to how we craft our practices and offerings (benefits). The community and volunteerism propels the family feel.” Somnath Baishya Director & Head HR, Intuit India.

"At American Express, creating a fair, positive and performance-driven work environment is one of the critical ways in which we empower employees to achieve their optimum potential. Employees are rewarded for their achievements through a transparent and competitive compensation program that encompasses pay, benefits and rewards. A fundamental tenet of our compensation philosophy is ‘pay-for-performance’. This model works well for both, the organization and the employees, as it rewards people for their contribution, which is clearly linked with the organization’s performance.” Pradeep Kapur, Senior Vice President & General Manager, American Express Global Servicing Network Japan & Asia Pacific

SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd has a very interesting Sabbatical for entrepreneurial dreams policy where employees who are interested in entrepreneurship and have successfully completed two years or more in SAP can take sabbatical leave for up to two years.

Radio City, a part of Music Broadcast Limited (MBL) (ranked 41) was called out for its ‘Cheers to Peers’ programme. This allows the employees to recognize a colleague who has helped them complete a challenging assignment. As a part of this activity, employees get to present a ‘Cheers to Peers’ card, in front of a large audience, to a co-worker from their own department or another, in order to recognize his or her efforts.

Sagorika Kantharia, Chief People Officer, Radio City 91.1 FM said, “We are extremely proud to be listed amongst ‘India’s Best Companies To Work For’ once again. Our culture and value system allows our employees to innovate, grow and become leaders in their own right. Initiatives such as ‘Cheers to Peers’, Ring Aloud and Star and Sher of the month help us promote the spirit of unity while at the same time recognizing individuals for their extraordinary work.”

An analysis of the areas of maximum gap between the 100 best workplaces and the rest reveals interesting trends: the best workplaces have maintained their significant edge over the rest in aspects of fair profit share, special benefits, politicking at work, favoritism by managers, fair pay, fair promotions and candid communication. The fact that shareholder returns of best workplaces are increasing year-on-year also reveals that high positive results on your employee survey are likely to have a multiplier effect on your business returns.

For Full Report please click here