Talent Management

Case-1
INFOSYS- BUILDING A TALENT ENGINE TO SUSTAIN
GROWTH

Group: 2
14F144: Ruchika Singh
14F160: Tony Joseph
14F203: Aakansha
Agarwal
14F210: Anu Mathew
14F222: Hinal Khemani

1. Did Infosys follow the new normal concept? Justify.

* Disruptive events in next gen workforce, talent war, technological
advancements, global competition, and economic interdependencies and
turbulences have called for agile talent management (TM) decisions under
uncertainty. In the new normal concept gaining competitive advantage (CA)
is replaced by a sustainable advantage (SA) approach. All employees learn to
build their own career.
* Under VUCA (recruiting, training, motivating, and retaining employees in a
highly competitive uncertain business) conditions- Mobility, agility,
learnability, flexibility, and change adaptability are key components in talent
management processes and programs. At Infosys TM was integrally related
to its strategic planning process. In the New normal perspective it is a must
that the organizations leadership are visionary and long term focusedInfosyss balanced scorecard method justifies it. Collective leadership with
proper metrics allowed to tide over VUCA. Infosys business was largely
collaborative.
* Infosys autotelic capabilities in the knowledge-intensive industry created a
strong competitive advantage- Strategic responses, implementation of
corporate scorecard, modification and modular introduction of HR end-to-end
practices in employee life cycle. Job hopping, low tenure and high aspirations
are the 'New Normal' perspectives for Millennial at Infosys. The HR/TM team
are creating programs, processes and policies in order to tackle these
events. As per our understanding to a great extend Infosys does follow the
new normal concept because under uncertainties, it reaches out to all levels
and work together to achieve deadlines and solutions with less handholding.
Dont philosophize. Answer.
2. Compensation V/s talent systems is an ongoing war. How did
Infosys talent management plan endeavor to address it?
*Infosys did a quarterly review of the talent base and strategically planned
the new competencies needed for which training was provided to the
existing employees or the new employees were hired as the need be. Given

the knowledge based business, talent pool was the biggest cost component
of Infosys accounting for almost 80% of the total costs. To keep itself
profitable Infosys had a revenue plan which was converted into talent
management plan which focused of enabling, developing, rewarding the
employees.
*Infosys believes in transparency and it was used as a tool to keep the right
talent. The company payed market median salaries which were openly
disclosed. Transparency was maintained through the performance appraisal
process.
*The total compensation had a fixed and variable component (unique to
Infosys), this kept the talent pool motivated as they could achieve all/none of
the variable pay. Also the pay was linked to team and company goals so as to
ensure values are imbibed by all. The HRs strategy was based on recruiting
and retaining the best talent.
*With the increasing competition, retention of employees was becoming a
challenge. Infosys took the stance of upgrading the compensation of the
categories where there was high attrition. The pay was based on the value
added by the talent in the overall revenue.
*Infosys gauged the market and realized that with the added benefits and
environment offered at Infosys, the talent only left the organization when
they were offered a raise of 30%-40%. Hence, it strategically placed the
salaries such that it became infeasible for competition to poach Infosys
talent hence eroding the competitions EVP.
Are you suggesting that they paid more than 40% annual increment?
3. Critically evaluate the internal market for the talent concept.
Reason for such a concept to be a success:

The new talent concept would give employees the mobility to move to
different projects in the organization
It would motivate employees to perform exceedingly well in their
current assignments so that they would be open to new opportunities
in the organization
It would ensure better utilization of the bench strength and ensure the
best candidates are selected for a role
Employees would have an open access to various competencies like
technology, domain, leadership, managerial and software

Good employees often left the company, thus having such a concept
would ensure that in spite of the tremendous growth of the company, it
would be easy for them to find qualified new employees
Infosys has been seeing high levels of attrition. Having such an
empowered workforce would lead to higher employee retention.
Infosys had strength in numbers and a large resource pool, thus they
could make full use of this employee talent and strength by
implementing such a concept so that they wouldnt have to look for
talent from outside.

Reasons such a concept would not have its desired results:

High amount of costs are spent in training an employee, and the

employee will shift to another role
Time will be spent in finding backup resources for employees who have
left

Dont follow an adv and disadv mode in critical analysis. In CA, use
why it could succeed and why it could fail and whether it is
adequate for the goal.
4. Critique the score card and its efficacy from talent management
perspective.
*Based on Mr. Pais analytical mindset, the HR practices were also graded on
a balanced score card approach and had metrics which would indicate
whether the right value investment in Human resources was achieved. For
example, if an employee wanted to move from one role to another, his
performance was gauged on the metrics. The performance evaluation was
also based on balance score card.
*The balanced score card comprised of 32 items which were put under
categories and hence there was a category of items which catered to each
function of Infosys. And covered everything from competencies to bottom
line of business.
*Seven of these items focused on the competency development and
leadership. There were metrics for each category and evaluation was based
on them in an objective and quantifiable fashion.
*The unique thing about the company was that it had metrics which
combated the attrition issue. These were good reputation and increased
payouts based on performance. Hence the company sent out the signals that

it is a meritocratic organization that it adds value to the employees not just

by paying money, but also by developing them. The scorecard also had
components to gauge the resource utilization which again depicted the ROI
of talent management. Augmented with category on values and ethics, it is
safe to say that the balance score card approach followed by Infosys was
well placed to take the company to take up any challenge and still be
effective and accurate.

References
* http://mcconnellconsulting-ny.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/10/Managing-in-the-New-Normal-v-2.pdf
* http://justhrasia.com/talent-management-in-the-%E2%80%9Cnewnormal%E2%80%9D