Indian IT-BPO

Industry
New Nor mal for HR
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Copyright 2012
International Youth Centre, Teen Murti Marg, Chanakyapuri
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Email: research@nasscom.in
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The Indian IT-BPO industry has come a long way since the Y2K crisis. Not only has offshoring established
itself as a sound business strategy, the industry is playing a key role in maintaining Indias economic
growth, while serving the needs of global customers. It has also emerged as one of the leading private
sector employers in the country.
With export revenues of USD 69 billion and direct employment at nearly 2.8 million in FY2012, the
industry today represents a diversied player landscape (Indian, MNCs, GIC/Large, medium, small,
micro) offering a wide canvas of services ranging from low- to very high-complexity across several
verticals. The industry is now moving towards making India the innovation hub for the world and it
has the necessary wherewithal, in the form of a robust talent pool, to achieve the goal.
Talent, in the form of existing and potential employees, is one of Indias key strengths and over the
years, the industry has established various measures to attract and retain top quality talent. In this
endeavour, rms have launched: initiatives to identify potential talent, frameworks to manage career
aspirations, programs to advance technical and soft skills, policies to integrate a globally distributed
workforce, efforts to stay relevant to employees, etc.
This whitepaper aims to put forth a set of these best practices and also identify next practices that
would serve as industry standards, going forward. Our endeavour has been to identify a set of themes,
based on insights garnered through the NASSCOM Exemplary Talent (NExT) Practices Awards 2012,
and highlight relevant practices that would serve as guidelines for the rest of the industry.
We hope that you nd this whitepaper useful, and we welcome your feedback and comments
(research@nasscom.in).
Som Mittal
President
FOREWORD
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 8
Emerging Themes 9
Connecting with the Gen Y workforce 10
Building depth in the talent pipeline 14
Localising global business, culture, people and practices 17
Attracting and engaging talent 20
Conclusion 28
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IT-BPO: One of Indias largest private sector employers...
Indias IT-BPO industry has been growing from strength to strength over the last two decades. During
this time, it has evolved into an industry of strategic importance for the Indian economy. Its signicance
is highlighted by the fact that the FY2012 IT-BPO revenue (USD 101 billion) accounts for about
7.5 per cent share in Indias GDP. Along with this, it has also emerged as one of the largest private
sector employers with its direct employment during FY2012 standing at nearly 2.8 million and indirect
employment at around 3.2X (~8.9 million).
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...With diverse talent pool across domains, culture and technologies
One of the core fundamentals that has contributed to Indias position as the leading player in the
global sourcing market has been the availability of an abundant talent pool and the multi-pronged
skills of the existing employee base.
In FY2012, India churned out 4.35 million graduates and postgraduates. With the number of enrollments
maintaining a CAGR of 12 per cent, during the past ve years, an even larger number of intake and
out-turn is expected in the coming years, primarily driven by favourable government policies on boosting
the education sector in India. In addition to this, there is a high possibility of the Foreign Educational
Institutions Bill, 2010 being passed by the Parliament. This will, in turn, pave the way for highly reputed
foreign universities to set up campuses and offer degrees directly in India.
Another factor in favour of India is that, it is the worlds largest source of employable talent with a
share of about 36 per cent one of the key parameters for clients choosing India as the most preferred
sourcing market.
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Business challenges driving HR mandate...
Given the importance of human resources to the IT-BPO industry, the large size of employee base
and the need to attract future talent, the industry has been initiating various measures that ensure
an employee-friendly work environment. However, with the recent recession, the industry has been
facing various challenges both at macroeconomic and operational levels.
These challenges are inducing the industry to develop various innovative talent management
practices like:
Employee engagement, ensuring career progression, while enabling a balanced personal life
Firms adapting to emerging technologies to stay relevant to employees
HR policies focusing on localising talent, while businesses go global
Industry constantly developing talent ecosystem to mould future leaders
SMEs also implementing HR Best Practices to emerge as Employers of Choice
In order to showcase and recognise the sustained and continuous commitment shown by IT-BPO rms
to counter specic human capital challenges and have a future-ready talent pipeline in place, NASSCOM
instituted the NASSCOM Exemplary Talent (NExT) Practices Awards in 2011.
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...to implement exemplary talent practices to source, attract, develop
and retain talent
Five broad themes have emerged based on more than 136 nominations received from 80+ rms for
the 2012 awards.
Introduction to the awards
The nominations in 2012 spanned ve categories:
The Nurturers To recognise the rm that has been the leader in bridging the employability gap
and has been able to derive business value from the same
The Connectors To recognise the rm that has leveraged technology or designed special HR
systems/initiatives targeted at energising the Gen Y workforce
The Business Impacters This award recognises the rm that has taken the less trodden path by
designing and implementing an HR process/system that is expected to contribute to the industry
in the long run
The Glocalisers This award is for the rm which has been able to successfully drive an integrated
global employer brand while balancing the need for localisation
The Talent Magnets This award recognises the rm that has created, communicated and driven
a compelling and differentiated employee value proposition
Mercer has been the knowledge partner for the awards from 2011 and has designed the awards
categories and evaluation parameters in partnership with NASSCOM. The evaluation parameters looked
at alignment to business needs, innovations and benets derived from the implementation. In the
rst phase, Mercer analysed various nominations to shortlist ve rms across each category. Of these,
three were shortlisted as the nalists, in consultation with NASSCOM. Post this, the nalists presented
their case to a jury panel which consisted of Prof Narendra M Agrawal (IIM-B), Ms Anita Ramachandra
(Founder, Cerebrus Consultants), Mr Francis Rebello (Strategic Human Asset Consultant), Mr Sudip
Banerjee (ex-CEO, L&T Infotech) and Mr Krishnakumar Natarajan (CEO, MindTree), who evaluated
and selected the winners. Their evaluations, insightful questions and industry perspective enabled a
rigorous selection process thus recognising deserving practices.
We would like to thank all participating organisations for sharing their practices and driving HR
sophistication in the IT-BPO industry. We hope that the NExT Practices Awards will serve as a platform
to identify and share innovative talent management practices.
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Emerging themes
The nominations provided an insight into the improvements organisations have brought in design and
in the implementation of HR practices and systems. A detailed analysis of the same has thrown up
common issue themes that rms are trying to address:
1. Connecting with Gen Y workforce
2. Building depth in the talent pipeline
3. Attracting and engaging talent
4. Localising global business, culture, people and practices
While the HR practices addressing these issues are across varying degrees of sophistication, the focus
of this white paper is on Best and NExT practices. Best practices are processes or systems that have
gained acceptance in the industry as effective practices to address specic challenges, while NExT
practices are enhancements made on these Best practices. While the NExT practices are currently
being implemented by select organisations, these have the potential to become industry standards,
leading to their large scale adoption.
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Connecting with the Gen Y workforce
With the Gen Y (those born after 1980) accounting for more than 70 per cent of the workforce,
organisations are investing in understanding this generation, their drives for engagement and
identifying processes that t in with various talent segments. Common themes which emerged from
research, as conducted by organisations include, challenging and meaningful jobs, continuous
learning, work-life integration, individuality, exibility and building greater visibility, especially
among peers.
1

The industry is increasingly tapping technology among other interventions to connect and build a
unied culture across the distributed global workforce. As a Best practice, most organisations have
addressed Gen Y needs by creating and maintaining organisation pages on social websites to aid
internal and external branding, creating peer-driven recognition programmes, introducing exi-work
policies, concierge services, fun at work activities, etc. As a NExT practice, rms have introduced
internal social platforms to drive exibility, innovation, communication, collaboration, work-life
integration and initiatives that offer real-life challenges to employees.
The features vary on the basis of the platform sophistication:
Organisation communication through blogs, articles, etc. on the social platform to streamline
information, reduce information overload and provide line of sight for employees with the larger
organisational strategy
Collective and social feedback through polls, additional features to share, like, comment, etc. to
ensure interactive and instant feedback. Employees thus not only get a view of the organisations goals
but are also able to provide inputs leading to improved organisational policies and processes
Individual proles through online resumes, areas of interest. Firms are providing tools for
employees to build their professional and personal proles to enable them greater visibility
among peers. They can also use the prole database to search for subject matter experts or particular
skillset, reach out to them for queries, projects, research, etc.
Communities to drive focused discussions on projects, new technologies and personal interests
to ensure collaboration across teams, geographies, etc.
HCLs Meme: In-house social networking platform which gives Gen Y employees complete social
media experience while at work. It was conceptualised to enhance connect with Gen Y and
to demonstrate two key EFCS tenets: building trust through transparency and inverting the
organisational pyramid. It can facilitate dialogue, discussions, engagement, collaboration and
innovation across geographies, time zones and employees.
In a short span of four months (since its launch in April 2011), there were 25,000 members, 521 groups,
4,300 posts, 1,030 albums
It is continuously evolving new applications, blogs, engagement activities, discussion fora most of
them created by employees themselves
HCL has seen an increase in employee satisfaction scores, greater connection (both amongst employees
and with the organisation) and enhanced awareness of EFCS business philosophy
1
Collated from nominations submitted for the category of The Connectors
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Crowdsourcing to drive innovation and knowledge sharing. This ensures that various pockets of
emerging technologies/best practices are on the organisations radar
Information-on-the-go through extension of social platforms to non-traditional devices
like smartphones, tablets to ensure employees can balance work-life priorities and to
increase productivity
Linkages with other systems and processes to streamline internal processes and improve
productivity, e.g. leave applications, performance dashboards, project status reports, etc. This
ensures that employees do not have to use multiple portals to edit or view data and all important
information is captured and updated in real-time
Genpacts Glue is an internal collaboration network that facilitates social interaction between
employees, builds a collaborative knowledge pool, identies and engages experts and ultimately
creates a common global culture. It is powered by a world-class collaboration platform and has
leading edge tools such as groups, discussions, blogs and status updates, as well as social features
including like, comment and share.
Glue is seamlessly integrated into Genpacts SharePoint-based document repository making all
knowledge available on demand. It is accessible through web and smartphones.
Si nce i ts l aunch i n October 2011, Gl ue has qui ckl y become a cri ti cal part of the
organisations work culture with an adoption rate of 30 per cent and a rapidly growing pool
of knowledge.
Glue impact: Improving Deal Cycle Efciency
Before: The sales and deal management teams are geographically distributed and acquainted
to work with a small group; directly connected to a given deal. This did not leverage the tacit
knowledge and information around the client/industry/geography available. Also, the teams
SharePoint-based document repository had limited adoption.
Now: Today, there are cross-vertical and practice collaboration groups on Glue which
solve these problems. Entire deal information is shared with and engages the collective intelligence
of a much wider set of members. Historical information is immediately available through the
SharePoint connector. This has resulted in better quality submissions within shorter time.
Key success drivers for implementation of such social platforms have been the use of crowdsourcing
for design and continuous improvements of platform features, focus on information generation
from bottom-up rather than top-down and active usage by senior management to communicate and
gather feedback.
To engage Gen Y, InfoPro Learning has developed Gnosis, an online collaborative learning
platform to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning. Some of the key features
of Gnosis include connectivity with formal training material, communities of practice,
information repository, discovery-based learning, analytics to measure and report learners
performance in the platform and an intuitive easy-to-use interface. The platform can be
accessed through mobile devices, integrates smoothly with all major LMS, e-learning courses,
corporate intranets or third-party tools and also allows live sharing of knowledge through demo
videos and screen sharing.
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A few larger rms, with global workforce, are also leveraging enterprise network platforms and
have launched their own corporate radio and TV stations, as a means to keep the Gen Y engaged
Infosys
InfyBubble Infosys enterprise networking platform, was launched with the objective
of providing a face-to-face interaction with colleagues they write to everyday, foster
collaboration and innovation on cloud, while creating a knowledge repository. Currently,
100,570 employees are registered with 395,022 connections globally
InfyRadio Indias rst corporate radio station was launched with an objective of employee
engagement and innovative communication. On an average, it receives 8,000 hits a day. The
radio station is a mix of music, Infosys-related content and generic content; runs interviews
with Infosys leaders and also musical geniuses
InfyTV In keeping with the era of YouTube where people are using video as a communication
medium, InfyTV was launched in May 2008. Today, it is upgraded with the latest social
media features like Rate, Comment, Upload and Share. Any Infoscion can upload and
share videos with the entire Infosys community. Infoscions can view the videos as latest,
most viewed and top rated. Currently, each video receives over 7,000 views
Another practice that rms are adopting to channelise the restless energies of Gen Y is in the area
of innovation; a key driver of competitive advantage. Firms are putting in place frameworks, both
formal and informal, that would enable employees to brainstorm and come up with the next big
idea, products/solutions that can be commercialised. Innovation is now a strategic mandate for many
rms. For this, they have cross-functional teams, with the top management and representatives from
various business units to drive innovation internally.
Idea generation: Organisation-wide programmes/contests to identify potential transformational
ideas
Idea ltration: The panel reviews the various ideas generated and makes available regular and
timely feedback to the ideators
Idea selection: Ideas are nalised for new product opportunities based on their compatability with
organisational goals and their commercial feasibility
ID8, a focused innovation programme at Yahoo! India R&D, is removing barriers to surface
innovation and accelerate ideas to market. As ID8 has demonstrated, with the right platform
and quality ideas, it is possible for small, nimble teams to make a signicant impact globally. For
example, at ID8 2011, three employees at Yahoo! India R&D came up with the idea of PolyAds, a
revolutionary new 3D ad format that shows multiple ads in a single ad slot. With the backing of
Yahoo! India R&D leaders, the PolyAds team then took this idea from concept to production in
just one month. This patent pending, rich media ad format is available across all devices. Since its
November 2011 launch, this ad format has completed multiple campaigns across the US, EMEA
and APAC.
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Firms are also engaging Gen Y by adopting a mobility-based work environment the Bring Your
Own Device concept
CSC has leveraged C3 (Connect, Communicate and Collaborate) to tap experience and assets from
the organisation. Benets include greater collaboration, reduced business pitch processing time
and facilitated discussions, document sharing, Q&A, group creation and invitations around shared
interests or projects. Key features include Bring your own device policy and people-driven rather
than technology-driven deployment.
Case Study: Cognizant Technology Solutions-1C and C2.0
Leveraging Technology to Energise the Gen Y Workforce
Business
Challenges
Cognizant Technology Solutions grew to 60,000+ employees by the year 2006. This
growth posed the challenge of sustaining high-touch employee engagement culture in
the organisation
With a large proportion (85 per cent) of associates being millennials, Cognizant also
identied the need to build a SOCIAL WORKPLACE and a CONNECTED ENTERPRISE
Initiatives One Cognizant An enterprise platform initiative that redenes the way the largely
millennial workforce of Cognizant interacts with corporate IT, designed with an objective
to provide Associate delight through IT systems
CATalyst Programme Train millennial talent to become citizen developers with
expertise on social, mobile, agile way of application development
Citizen Developer Cognizant collaborated with top engineering colleges and conducted
various challenges to provide opportunity to Gen Y to leverage One Cognizant in
designing and developing applications
Hackathons Provide opportunity to Cognizant associates to design
end-to-end business critical applications within two days
Cognizant 2.0 Social business platform at enterprise level that drives collaborative
work management, knowledge sharing, project/service management, innovation
management, programme governance and insight-driven decision making. It connects
Cognizant, customers and vendors on a single collaborative and knowledge sharing
platform
Key Benets Recent benchmarking study conducted within Cognizant showed the following benets
for projects using Cognizant 2.0
- 15 per cent improvement in productivity in projects using Cognizant 2.0 effectively over
the average value of productivity across projects
- 8 per cent improvement in the ability to deliver projects on time and
7 per cent improvement in the ability to deliver on-budget
One Cognizant led to
- 50 per cent reduction in new hire onboarding time
- 30 per cent improvement in data compliance
- 500 millisecond response time for the applications
- Increased employee satisfaction and engagement
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Building depth in the talent pipeline
2

Despite economic uncertainties, the war for talent is a top priority for the IT-BPO industry. As a
NExT practice, firms are designing and implementing initiatives to augment capacity, bridge
employability gap and build specialisation/expertise in the existing employee base. These initiatives
are expected to:
Create employability through skill building
Build a ready, cost-effective talent supply chain to support business growth and continuity
Reduce dependency on existing talent pool
Firms are looking at different avenues to broaden talent pool including partnership with academic
institutions and sourcing from alternative talent pools. The Best practice has been to partner with
academic institutions, state governments and NGOs and penetrate Tier II and Tier III locations.
Organisations are also sourcing from alternative talent pools such as persons with disability,
women and other geographies. These are supported by signicant investments in infrastructure
including transportation facilities, technology aids, training facilities, policies like flexi-time,
split-time working for women with family commitments thus ensuring smooth and sustainable talent
deployment. Organisations have also conducted sensitisation trainings for their workforce to ensure
smooth talent integration.
Firms are also attracting talent through educational initiatives to clarify the nature of work as
performed in the IT-BPO industry including conducting numerous road shows, training faculty to
address queries, creating project banks, arranging industrial visits, communicating career paths,
etc. Similar initiatives are also leveraged by product rms and rms in other domains (e.g. telecom)
which compete with IT services organisations for talent. A few organisations have identied early
touchpoints for branding through internship post +2 schooling, school level events, etc.
HSBC EDPs initiative to build a solid talent pipeline for banking/BPO industry: The B. Com
Customer Service Management Programme, in collaboration with Andhra University (AU), is
aimed at meritorious 10+2 students who are recruited as interns with a monthly stipend. They
receive world-class on-the-job training for three years and attend classes in Communication,
Management and B. Com (CSM). On completion, candidates are given the option to join
as FTEs.
Recognising that deserving candidates often have several prospective employers to choose from,
rms are also focusing on connecting with them through social media, opening doors before joining
dates, connecting them with employees to showcase the organisation culture and ensuring that the
selection process is smooth e.g. reduced wait time, helpdesks to support queries, etc.
Four Soft Limiteds education programmes for associates through ICFAI:
MBA: Mapped for Leads and Managers
MCA: Mapped for SE/SSE
Master of Logistics Management: Mapped for functional specialists
2
Collated from nominations submitted for the category of The Nurturers and The Business Impacters
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Firms are also bridging the employability gap by designing curriculum in partnership with academia,
training faculty and encouraging research. They are inuencing curriculum through provision of
teaching and learning aids, creating and publishing textbooks, oating certication programmes and
designing industry-aligned electives. For faculty development, rms are providing training on emerging
technologies, teaching methodologies, soft skills and communication skills. Research is fostered by
opening research projects/innovation cells for collaboration and providing research scholarships, etc.
Interestingly, small and medium-sized organisations are leveraging internships to ensure trained
candidates can be deployed in tandem with changing business needs.
Sears IT and Management Services India engages interns from engineering institutions in
Tier II and Tier III cities
Apart from looking only at the external talent pool, rms are also re-skilling and up-skilling their
existing employees through targeted learning and development initiatives.
At Anthelio, career progression is not always linked to grade/designation increase; rather, it is
linked to job enrichment and multi-skilling the workforce for career enhancement to take up
wider responsibilities and challenging job propositions.
A fresh HR executive undergoes training in recruitment for six months. The HR executive
is then job rotated to HR operations for another six months and then moves on to handle
Business HR role for six more months. This is how a HR executive is made capable of handling
the responsibility of a HR partner.
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Some rms have created career path architectures which clearly map out competencies and skills
required for various roles that employees can play in their career, thereby enabling more participative
and focused learning. Increasing internal hiring through internal job postings is helping rms to source
the right skill internally. Domain academies have also been set up to build specic domain skills.
Organisations are recognising the benets of attracting their ex-employees. They are not only handling
exit processes more smoothly but are also maintaining alumni networks based on the understanding
that an ex-employee with an organisational context would be easier to re-deploy than a new recruit.
As a NExT practice, rms have begun to estimate future demand, both long and short-term, for talent.
Firms are putting in place tools and frameworks to enable resource demand forecast from an overall
organisation perspective and aligned to the rms future goals (long-term) to unit/department level
and also for specic technical and soft skills (long and short-term).
Infosys
Campus Connect and Project Genesis
Aegis
Resource Innovation for Social Empowerment
(RISE)
Campus Connect Partnership with institutions to
create capacity and a highly capable IT talent pool
Includes programmes like road shows, conclaves,
faculty enablement, faculty sabbaticals, student
training, industrial visits, etc.
Coverage 175,000 students, 7,200+ faculty
members, 474 colleges
Project Genesis - An industry-academia partnership
programme, which assists academicians to handle
queries of students about career in BPO industry
Benets: Enhanced employability; better visibility
to students, faculty and management on industry
expectations; higher readiness of students when
they join industry
In association with Vocational Rehabilitation
Centres (VRC) and SARTHAK, Aegis identies
people with disabilities who are willing to work and
conducts training to make them employable
Supported by necessary infrastructure for a
pre-hire training programme at VRC or
Aegis centres
Benets:
20 per cent of PwD workforce hired
Average cost/PwD hire reduced from USD 40 to
USD 22
Offer acceptance ratio increased from 65 per cent
to 83 per cent
Rejection rate decreased from 40 per cent to
15 per cent
Wipro
Mission 10x
TCS
Driving Employability through Afrmative Action
Wipro identied current teaching methodologies and
capabilities of faculty members of colleges as one of
the key factors leading to the gap in employability
of graduates. Bridging this gap came to be known as
Mission 10x. Some key features include:
Empowering faculty through innovative
teaching methodology
Mission 10x learning approach workshops to assist
faculty in unleashing their potential, help them to
understand the need for a new learning approach,
provide insights into interactive teaching
methodology and aids
More than 70 per cent of 20,000+ empowered
faculty members from rural engineering colleges
Empowered 10,000 faculty members by 2010
(rst three years)
In Phase II, it intends to empower 25,000 teachers
by 2013
Initiatives at different levels Pre-Uni School,
PG/UG level, research level and beyond
Includes programmes like IT Quiz, Faculty
Development Programme, Academic Interface
Programme, Tech Bytes Quiz, e-Connect, TCS
Research Scholar Programme, TCS Co-Innovation
Network (COIN), Advanced Training Centre for
Visually Impaired, etc.
Benets:
Hiring cost reduced to 60 per cent (` 16.79 crore)
Enhanced connect through pre joining interaction
Day one slot hiring - 99.7 per cent
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Localising global business, culture, people and practices
3
Organisations are rapidly globalising due to various factors of strategic growth, building global muscle,
reducing geographical concentration risks, addressing protectionism and building business and linkages
with communities. A three pronged strategy of global talent, global policies and a one company
culture are being leveraged by select IT-BPO rms.
As a NExT practice, organisations are hiring locals as a part of their people strategy which helps
address unemployment in the local community and builds linkages with the community. During
inorganic growth, signicant emphasis is placed on retaining the acquired rms leadership team
through allocation of independent, empowered, innovative roles with visibility on their career paths.
This enables a smoother integration with controlled impact on customers and employees. Based on
these experiences and research, rms have created M&A frameworks across diagnosis, transition
and smooth integration to ensure steady state operations with strong focus on cultural analysis
and assimilation.
Aegis has evolved the business philosophy of citizens serving citizens, employing local citizens
for serving customers in that country
Has between 95-99 per cent people of the soil across locations
In an agile and global organisation, the workforce needs to relocate frequently especially during
client engagements and start-up of operations at a new location. Relocations are thus enabled by a
strong framework and support structure for mobility, e.g. mobility helpdesk to support any queries/
clarications. Though mobility is advantageous and desired by employees, it brings its challenges in
terms of cultural and social differences. Investments are made in tools/training programmes which
support cultural training at various levels travel orientation programmes, welcome kits, cultural
sensitivity training, global buddy programmes, country-specic initiatives such as country-specic
portals/handbooks which cover mandatory policies, dos and donts in the country context, business
etiquette and in-depth cultural aspects.
To attract and engage the global workforce, rms are designing global employee value propositions
with customisations based on local culture. However, the organisation values such as transparency,
innovation, etc, remain consistent for global organisations as seen through the global innovation based
recognition programmes, 360 degree feedback for leadership, etc.
iGATE achieved industrys best-in-class metrics and integration success parameters such as
reduction in attrition, margin targets and customer retention post the acquisition of Patni.
Focus was on (1) Competency-based Career Management System to cater to career aspirations,
(2) Competency-based Leadership Development Programme to align the leadership across the
organisation with the new mission statement and (3) Review and Unication of HR processes
and policies based on best practices.
3
Collated from nominations submitted for the category of The Nurturers and The Business Impacters
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.
HSBC Electronic Data Processing designed HSBC Technology and Services (HTS) Platinum
League an in-house global recognition programme aimed at mobilising 100,000 HTS
employees, working in seven different functions and six dispersed geographies and works
collectively towards a shared purpose. The initiative included setting a global benchmark for all HTS
teams to aspire to and encourage high performance behaviour and cross-functional collaboration
across the HTS community.
Expansion also means that organisations need to comply with various legal policies in each country.
This is driven by a strong compliance function which identies various legal, nancial and labour
policies that the organisation needs to comply with. This includes maintaining a repository of policies,
reviewing changes, analysing impact, revising organisational policies accordingly; for e.g. leave policies,
benets, etc. monitoring compliance dashboards, conducting compliance trainings and multi-layered
audits. Organisations are also going beyond mandatory requirements and understanding employee
needs through feedback to arrive at policies which are acceptable by employees and which meet
legal requirements.
Consistent implementation of global policies and processes, communication by leadership on
organisational goals, cascade of the goals across functions and units, global organisation branding,
etc. help build a one company culture regardless of the number of employees and countries that the
organisation operates in. Intranets and internal social networks are also enabling employees from
diverse cultures to collaborate on projects/products. A local connect is built by creating multi-lingual
sites for social networks, intranets, trainings and communication in regional languages.
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Case Study: HCL
An Integrated Global Employer Brand Balancing the Need for Localisation
Business Challenges HCL has adopted the industrialised global delivery model with global reach to
make delivery ruggedised. The following data points talk about HCLs balanced
global presence:
- Presence in 31 countries
- Majority of countries have 50 per cent+ local workforce
- Top leadership across geographies are local hires
- With global presence, HCL Technologies faced the business need to
integrate global brand with the local population
Initiatives Global presence driven by rebadging, mergers and acquisitions and local hiring
Consistent implementation of policies across geographies post an
understanding of local customs, practices and policies
Slow migration to the HCL way of working
In order to drive global growth, HCL has designed the following initiatives:
- KALA The art of working across borders through Knowledge (Globe
Smart), Awareness (Culturati), Learning and Assimilation
- Diversity coaches promote Assimilation
- Globe Smart is a web-based tool providing HCLites with quick and easy
access to extensive knowledge on how to conduct business effectively with
people from different countries around the world. In-depth country-specic
information for 60+ countries in 45 languages and e-Modules for cultural
introduction via interactive learning paths are some of the benets incurred
through the tool
- Culturati is a customised cultural event. Festivities include cross-
cultural exchanges via conversations around the themes of diversity and
sustainability and facilitate exchange of ideas along with HCLites across the
globe and/or the customers
Key Benets In the past six years, 9,818 employees from 75 organisations across
34 countries have become a part of HCL. Revenues during FY2011 have grown
by 29.6 per cent as compared to FY2010
Revenues from US geography have grown by 26.3 per cent and that from
Europe by 23.9 per cent
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Attracting and engaging talent
4
For the IT-BPO industry, creating a cost-effective and differentiated Employee Value Proposition
(EVP) has emerged as a critical mandate given the need to decrease personnel costs, address attrition
and build domain depth. To drive this, most organisations have gone beyond compensation and
benets to esh out initiatives around work-life balance policies, career development and learning
and development. However, as a NExT practice, organisations are dening and communicating this
plethora of initiatives in an integrated manner, under an overarching talent strategy/employee
value proposition.
Rewards and Recognition Best Practices:
One of the important ways to attract and retain talent is in the form of adequate compensation
either on par or higher than the industry average. With an increasing emphasis on developing subject
matter experts and retaining them over time, rms are following Best Practices that have now become
standards within the industry:
Annual variable pay: Based on performance of the rm, unit and the individual
Stock options: Either as a performance-based incentive or as a reward for long-term employees
Referral bonuses: Aimed at improving employee stickiness, these could range from either cash
rewards to sponsoring holiday outings
Gifts: Gold coins, satellite TV connection, internet connection allowance, gaming consoles, etc.
Awards: To recognise individual/team achievements; monthly/quarterly/bi-annual/annual
Fast track career progression for high potential employees
Educational and nancial assistance
ADP has a policy of one additional leave for tenured associates an increase in annual holiday
entitlement when they complete three and above years of service; for e.g., 0-2.9 years: 20 leaves;
3 years: 21 leaves; 4 years: 22 leaves.
CtrlS Datacenters reward and recognition initiatives include Star of the Week, Employee of the
Year, Customer Appreciated Performance, Innovation Award, Outstanding Sale Award, Behind
the Scene (Projects and Support team members), Together We Achieve (for Service Delivery
teams), Spot Recognition, Best Customer Service Agent, etc.
A few NExT practices organisations have created further nuances in the compensation and benets
policies with increased focus on recognition and benets. Organisations are rewarding critical skillsets
apart from high performers through skill-based premiums and performance-linked pay. Equal emphasis
is paid to process and results with categories designed for instant recognition and employee nominated
winners. Interestingly, organisations have leveraged social networks in such a way that employees can
showcase awards e.g. virtual trophy cases which drive greater visibility among peers.
4
Collated from nominations submitted for the category of The Talent Magnets and The Business Impacters
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Organisations have extended benets beyond statutory requirements or the minimum expectations
by supporting nancial investments and housing loans within limits, extending of maternity benets
by a month to a year, extension of medical insurance to cover in-laws and grandparents, celebrating
employee-specic days by provision of days of leave for anniversaries or birthdays or increasing days
of leave for tenured employees, etc.
Medical and hospitalisation insurance: Provides medical and hospitalisation insurance for
employees and their dependents spouse, children and parents. Insurance provided may have
100 per cent for all pre-existing health conditions. Premium paid could be in the form of either
co-pay or borne entirely by the rm
Accident insurance
Ajubas Emergency Response Team: Formed and trained on internal evacuation process, rst
aid process and re and safety, such that they could handle situations with immediate response
for smooth resolutions. Both men and women employees are regularly trained and updated on
safety issues and are given orange tags for easy recognition.
Annual health check-up: Firms have also tied up with select hospitals/healthcare providers to
enable quarterly, half-yearly or annual health check-up for employees; these check-ups are also
provided at subsidised rates for employees
ADPs Master Health Check-up is a unique programme for all its associates and their spouses
aged above 35 years. This is a completely sponsored annual programme and is available at leading
hospitals in the city having a tie-up with ADP.
Grade-linked benets: Benets based on grade/position of the employee; benets include providing
mobile phones/laptops, club memberships, company car, etc.
Gratuity: Based on their tenure and salary package, gratuity is provided to employees on their
retirement or separation
Firms are also investing in work-life balance policies to ensure diversity, workforce health and exibility
which in turn are expected to drive up employee engagement and productivity. Most organisations
have addressed the need for exibility through provision of facilities such as exible work timings/
split-time working, work from home polices and mobile connectivity (laptops/broadband connection).
Work-life balance has been addressed through provision of day care facilities/subsidised crches,
gymnasiums/recreation facilities to drive work-life balance. Further differentiation has been built by
select organisations by focusing on psychological counselling, wellness programmes and concierge
services (ticketing support, relocation support, online retail merchandisers, etc.).
Extended maternity and child care leave up to one year
Day care facilities/subsidised crches within ofce premises
Onsite doctors/healthcare facilities
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Shakti a womens forum is Ajubas initiative to promote women safety within/outside the
organisation. Facilities include:
Womens Lounge A special lounge for pregnant or unwell women employees to rest
and relax
Awareness programme on cervical and breast cancer by an in-house doctor
Self-defence workshop on awareness, risk reduction, avoidance and making them aware of
their physical power
Poshan a programme designed to include a nutritious meal in the diet of pregnant
women etc.
All organisations have focused on career development through identication of careers paths,
merit-based progression, hi-potential tracks, targeted learning and development.
Some of the Best Practices that rms have implemented for learning and development include:
Leadership Development Programmes: Create a corporate pool of leaders who can take on current
and future business challenges
Management Development Programmes for developing rst time leaders
Subject Matter Experts programme for developing specialists
Industry recognised certications
Firms have also tied-up with national and international academic institutions for higher
education programmes. Select employees are given an opportunity to go on a sabbatical to pursue
higher studies
Professional Skills Development: Targeted at developing behavioural and soft skills, usually through
Finishing School programmes
Opportunities to work with global, marquee clients on leading edge technologies
Geometric: Employees are nominated for external Management Development Programme (MDP)
at reputed management institutes to build leadership capabilities. Every year, a group of around
50 managers are sent for a week-long MDP to one of the top institutes of India.
Yahoo! India R&D has tied up with top tier institutes to offer exclusively customised, entirely
organisation funded courses:
Since 2009, ~80 employees have beneted from the two-year BITS M.S. in Software
Engineering
Every year, a batch of 25 Yahoos, go through the IIM-B Executive General Management
Programme
PhD Co-op offered in association with IIT, allows employees to work full-time, while pursuing
their PhD
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As a NExT practice, organisations have empowered employees with choice, personalised options and
tools to build their individual brand, careers and learning. Organisations with large workforces have
leveraged the breadth of service offerings to provide options whereas smaller organisations have
focused on challenging projects which require multiple skillsets to deliver.
IBS has designed innovative initiatives in the area of R&R, smart working environment,
communication, career development and work-life balance including:
Career Navigator: Interactive portal on career development
Vibes: Virtual hangout place
A close look at the initiatives themes which have emerged from Gen Y research:
Dened career paths and options (challenging and meaningful jobs, exibility)
Personal brand building opportunities (greater visibility especially among peers)
Personalised, real life and group-based learning (individuality, continuous learning, greater visibility
especially among peers)
Personal brand building opportunities
Best Practices NExT Practices
Exposure to leadership teams through skip
level meetings, leadership forums, career
seminars, etc.
Provision of networking opportunities (leadership
forums, industry forums, etc.) to build the
individual brand
Identication of high potential employees
on the basis of performance for fast
track programmes
Identication of critical performers on the basis
of performance and critical roles/skillsets for
targeted programmes
Conduct regular pulse checks (monthly to quarterly) to
check for attrition risk amongst this group
Dened career paths and options
Best Practices NExT Practices
5
Build framework for employees to assess
their strengths/weaknesses, chart career
development strategies, design an action plan
Provision of technical and managerial career
paths dene career streams and jobs levels
within each stream, competencies needed for
each job
Career advisors to training managers on
facilitating career-related discussions on
the basis of career aspirations and
personal strengths
Internal job postings to open up opportunities
to internal workforce
High performers are made part of the
strategic planning team
Clearly designed career movements through and across
job families
Technology is also enabling estimation of future
demand of particular jobs that employees can view
Personalised career proles covering employee
performance, potential, learning opportunities and
career options, thus, moving away from a one-size/
option-ts-all
Provision of career-related data on a single platform
that is simple and easy to use
Internal campaigns promoting roles, career options,
projects, etc. This is reected in senior stakeholders
presenting options and expectations within each
career path/business units
5
NExT Practices are talent practices in addition to best practices
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Personalised, real life and group-based learning
Best Practices NExT Practices
5
Assignment of coaches and mentors for
hi-potentials and senior leaders
Selection of mentors/coaches driven by employees
from a selected and trained group
Targeted learning programmes for
various audiences based on entry into the
organisation, leadership level, job family,
competency, etc.
Personalised learning programmes based on
individuals interests, learning styles, expertise, etc.
- Focus on domain/skill-specic learning and
certications and creation of academies/learning
pathways to support this
Delivery of formal virtual and physical training
programmes
Opportunities for on-the-job learning
through job rotations, special projects and job
enrichment/challenging projects
- Adequate support to set up the employee
for success
Talent exchange programmes to ensure
exposure to international markets, customers,
culture thereby building managerial
capabilities
Internal job postings to encourage internal
hiring by offering opportunities for career
movement within the organisation - full an
individuals career goals
Leveraging social networks for learning e.g. peer
recommended reading material/courses as seen
through number of shares, likes, discussion forums
or Q&A sessions with experts/groups, formation of
communities for specic areas of work or projects
Creation of groups to collaborate on learning projects
based on real life challenges
Leverage KM to extract learnings from different
pockets of excellence
Virtusa has implemented the Personal Excellence Process (PEP) initiative to enable individual
excellence by driving productivity, quality and estimation accuracy. The PEP programme provides
software engineers with a disciplined personal framework for delivering better software and to
focus on personal improvement. Key features include individual dashboards that track metrics
such as personal quality, personal productivity and personal defect trends, which are visible to
the individuals and teams. Research shows that engineers produced 41 per cent better quality
software after the PEP training.
5
NExT Practices are talent practices in addition to best practices
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Case Study: IBM (IT Business) Partner Employee Engagement Programme
Designing and Implementation of HR Processes/Systems for Partner Employees
Business Challenges In a highly volatile talent marketplace, IBM identied the need to
differentiate itself (in terms of inclusive culture, learning opportunities/career
developments, innovative partnership, impact on world, etc.) in order to attract
and retain talent in India and create a sense of shared agenda and pride
among employees
IBM also created a strong proposition that can drive the organisation to meet
its HR strategy i.e. to consistently be an organisation of forward thinking
employees in an inspiring environment creating world changing progress
Initiatives An enterprise-wide Career Framework, a one-stop-shop for planning,
developing and tracking career progress within IBM, provides a structure
for employees to develop key client-valued career capabilities over time.
It establishes clear criteria for career progression and provides a way for
employees to document their progress and showcase their talents for
potential opportunities
Business and Technical Leadership is the integrated pipeline management and
succession planning process. The goal is to ensure IBM has the right leadership
talent in appropriate key positions at the right time resulting in a world-class
leadership team. Pipeline identication, development, talent reviews and
placement are the key focus areas to achieve this objective. IBM India leverages
its global processes which are customised to have local relevance
Talent Spark is an initiative with an objective to inspire and nurture top talent
to realise their full potential by providing accelerated opportunity for learning
and personal growth
Employee Speaks is the centennial jam across locations that provides
employees an opportunity to speak, express and contribute towards IBMs
future strategy and success
EVP Communication (to employees and prospective employees): adopts
various channels of communication including virtual networking lotus live
meetings, W3, social media sites, all hands meet, IBM connections (blog),
campus placements and talks
Key Benets 4.9 per cent decrease in attrition rate in 2011 (CY) over 2010
8.7 per cent decrease in top contributor attrition
Offer acceptance increased from 74 per cent to 78 per cent
40 per cent open positions closed internally as against last year
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Case Study: Wipro Limited (IT Business) Partner Employee Engagement Programme
Designing and Implementation of HR Processes/Systems for Partner Employees
Business Challenges There are certain businesses within Wipro, which run with almost 60 per cent
of employees hired through third-party contractors. Wipro faced a business risk
because of the following challenges:
Customers Concerned with quality, data security and not fully engaged
contracted employees
Wipro Needed to put enormous effort to manage quality of intake from over
70 vendors across Tier I/II/III cities
Contracted employees Low engagement because of absence of efforts
towards aspirations and career management
Initiatives After trying out many options, Wipro adopted a Practice, where they would
go beyond the denition of regular employees and take on ownership for their
contract employees as well. The following initiatives were designed to fully
engage partner employees:
Onboarding and induction programme Assimilation through Wipro values
session and clear articulation of commitment for career development for
partner employees
Performance management Clear articulation of work area and desired
behaviour expected from partner employees
Fun@Work Arrangement for 30-35 fun events in which 3,000+ partner
employees participated
Training and development Various programmes on customer service,
communication and technical programmes for partner employees
Rewards and Recognition Total 900 Spot and Quarterly awards to recognise
efforts and provide greater visibility to partner employees
Team Elite Career growth programme to help partner employees to become
Wipro employees
Key Benets Reduction in attrition across various lines of business (approximately
10 per cent partner employees being provided career growth year-on-year)
Resignation reversals Talent was counselled and retained, thus enabling
25 per cent turnaround
>75 per cent of partner employees oriented on Wipro security policies, values
and code of conduct
Over 6,300+ partner employees nominated for various soft skills and technical
training programmes
Increased contracted employee engagement
All in all, it was a win-win situation for all, while Wipro found a potential pool of
scalable talent, customers could see quality improvements, partners (vendors)
had reduced attrition and employees were engaged
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Case Study: CRISIL
Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that Focuses on Learning, Development and Growth
Business Challenges
With business dependent on fresh infusion of talent and on gradual progression
of employees, CRISIL faced the need to design compelling EVP to strengthen
employer brand to attract, develop and retain best-in-class talent
Initiatives
1. Learning, development and growth opportunities
Training programmes across employee lifecycle
Signicant emphasis on competency mapping and individual
development plans
Internal job rotations across hierarchy to develop skillsets
Mentoring and coaching with signicant involvement of senior management
Fast track career progression for high potential employees
Career growth across analytical and managerial streams
2. Cuttingedge job content
Opportunities to work with global ranked analysts
Enhanced job content High-end research and analytics work
Opportunities across diverse work stream and global locations
3. Work with market leaders
Consistently ranked No.1 Financial Services and Knowledge Services vendor on
The Black Book of Outsourcing
4. Rewards and Recognition
Competitive compensation and benets
Promotions even during lean business environment
Incentives Performance-linked variable pay, educational and nancial
assistance, referral bonus, etc.
Client level, corporate level and global level awards programmes
5. Flexibility to support diversity
Open work culture
Parties, quarterly team lunches/dinner and team level games/competition
Intranet-based fun event
Sabbaticals, workplace exibility, etc.
Key Benets
CRISIL the only non-banking organisation in Top 10 CFA employers in India
Higher offer acceptance rate, decreased attrition
Increased ability to rapidly recruit and deploy
Increased ability to ll leadership positions internally
Improved employee engagement score
Diversity at senior management level
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Conclusion
Despite volatile business scenarios, talent remains an area of focus for the IT-BPO industry. This has
translated into greater involvement from business leaders in the design and implementation of HR
practices with leaders seen as drivers of the new systems and HR as the pit crew. The signicant change
is that the leadership is not only communicating the importance of the same but are also adopting
and evangelising. They are at the forefront of receiving feedback and holding the right stakeholders
accountable for the same. This is substantiated by increased sophistication in metrics used by HR to
measure benets and justify investments made in enhanced talent practices. As illustrated, NExT
practice organisations are not only measuring implementation and effectiveness metrics but also
identifying the business impact.
Illustration: Sophistication in metrics
While leaders play a key role in the design of talent practices, there is signicant involvement of
employees across organisation levels as change champions, pilot groups, etc. Post implementation
involvement is increased through institution of two-way communication channels. Though these
talent practices are designed for the organisation as a whole, there is an increased focus on talent
segmentation as seen by customisations made for specic age groups, gender, experience levels,
geographies, etc.
As organisations are growing in size, they are also personalising the touchpoints for employees to
ensure that an employees needs and aspirations are addressed. This is seen through personalised
career proles, learning paths, etc. Employees are also empowered by choice the choice of learning
programmes, career paths, business units, mentors, etc. with the underlying philosophy that the
organisation will provide the tools, however, the employee is responsible for his/her own professional
growth. Though this philosophy has been touted for the past few years, organisations have realised
the importance of providing the tools and educating on the same thus arming employees with the
knowledge of options and choices. This helps employees understand the ever evolving labyrinth that
the organisation is and identify the best path for his/her professional growth.
Organisations are also identifying talent in prospective employees including interns, alumina,
candidates, vendor employees, school students, etc. Touchpoints with these groups including
recruitment, exit process, campus branding, etc. are being handled with adequate care to drive
attraction in the future.
As documented, the IT-BPO industry is focusing on value-adding and cost-effective talent practices
by bringing innovation and maturity in HR systems and processes. The benets are seen through
sustainable talent development, community enrichment and adoption of practices in other industries
and geographies.
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