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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

INDEX. Page no.

1. Introduction to Infosys. 2-2

2. Infosys procedures. 3-4
3. Introduction to TCS . 5-5
4. TCS procedures in HR. 5-8
5. Comparison between HRM practices. 8-9
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

Introduction:-
Infosys:
Our assets walk out of the door each evening. We have to make sure that they come back the next
morning."
(Narayana Murthy, CEO Infosys).

Infosys technology, a leading software company based in India, was voted as the best employer in
the country in many HR surveys in the recent years. The company is well known for its employee
friendly HR practices. Though Infosys has grown to become a US $ 2 billion company by the
year 2006, it has still retained the culture of a small company. Infosys attracts the best talent from
across the country and recruits candidates by conducting one of the toughest selection process.
Infosys was one of the first companies to offer ESOPs
According to Narayana Murthy, what Infosys has on its side is "youth, speed, and imagination
and [they] are constantly innovating in every area of [their] operation." The founders' efforts have
been paying off. According to a California-based management consultant working in India,
"Infosys has been critical in changing the mind-set of India." Transparency is one of the
important values held by Infosys. A practice illustrative of this value is its very early decision to
adopt the US GAAP standards, the most stringent standards, for reporting its financial results.
Hema Ravichandar, the Senior V-P of Human Resources, sums up the characteristics of the
culture that distinguish Infosys from its competitors:
"Our emphasis on transparency and communication sets us apart from the prevalent family
owned businesses operating in India at. Our emphasis on getting the employees' emotional buy-in
into the company distinguishes us from the MNC's that have recently entered the Indian business
scene."
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

Infosys HRM procedures:
Tips to ace the 3-step recruitment and selection process of Infosys

As one of India’s leading tech companies, the recruitment and selection process of Infosys is
geared towards finding the best match between candidate aptitudes and company requirements.
Infosys’ hiring policy is closely aligned to its business plans, on the basis of which recruitment
is projected and implemented across the year. Attributes which hiring managers look for include
analytical ability, teamwork, leadership skills, communication skills, ability to innovate, along
with professional competence and academic excellence. ‘Learnability’—defined as the “ability
to derive generic knowledge from specific experiences and apply them to new situations”—is
another key metric in the selection process.
To apply to Infosys, you first need to meet their academic criteria. A minimum of 60% marks in
Class 10 and 12, and 65% and above in B. Tech, is a pre-condition for applying. Eligible
candidates then go through a three-stage recruitment process that includes an aptitude test,
technical interview and HR interview.
3-section aptitude test
The aptitude test contains three sections with time limits and cutoffs for each. These include
logical and analytical reasoning, quantitative ability and verbal ability. The first section
(reasoning) contains questions of easy to moderate level on topics like data sufficiency, visual
reasoning, data interpretation, syllogism, statement reasoning, etc. You will have 25 minutes to
answer 15 questions.
The second section (quantitative aptitude) contains questions on time, speed and distance,
permutation and combination, number series, formulae, analytical puzzles, algebra, probability
etc. and the difficulty level is moderate to high. Here you will get 35 minutes for 10 questions.
With just 35 minutes for 40 questions, time management is crucial in the last section (verbal
ability). You can expect fill-in-the-blanks, synonyms, antonyms, paragraph completion,
vocabulary, sentence correction, etc. Try and attempt all questions since there is no negative
marking.
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

Infosys questions are similar to the CAT exams but with lower difficulty level. Speed and
accuracy is vital, so be sure to practice that. Several mock tests are available online which you
could check out. You need to pass the aptitude test to be called for the interview.

2 rounds of interview
The interview consists of two rounds—technical and HR. The good thing about the interview is
that the questions generally revolve around your CV. Apart from exhibiting domain knowledge;
remember to be polite and confident since your communication skills are also being assessed.
a) Technical round: Candidates are generally asked questions based on their CV and their area
of interest. Sound knowledge of at least one programming language, information about
operating systems, and awareness of the latest emerging technologies are some things that could
help you notch up a good score in this round.
Here are sample questions:
• Mention any two differences between C++ and Java.
• What are the different types of keys in SQL?
• Write a program to swap two numbers without using a temporary variable.
• What are the various advantages of DBMS?
b) HR round: The technical round is followed by the HR interview. The objective here is to
assess whether you are a good fit for the company. The scope of questioning is wide, ranging
from your background, to your hobbies, and even your view of life! Be prepared to face
questions intended to gauge your sincerity in applying for the job.
These are some questions you could expect:
• Tell me about yourself.
• Tell us one thing that makes you stand out against all other candidates.
• Describe the toughest moment in your life, and tell us how you managed it.
• Tell me a strength that you also consider a weakness.
• What do you know about our company?
Remember to be confident, maintain eye contact, be brief and to the point while answering, and
stay civil and well mannered. The interview panel is generally quite friendly so there’s no need
for you to get anxious. The recruiters generally don’t comment on your performance but inform
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

you about your selection later. Given the scale of recruitment drives, it could take several weeks
before you receive an offer, so try and be patient.

TCS (Tata consultancy services):

The Tata Consultancy Services Ltd(TCS) is basically an information technology service,

consultant and business oriented company. It is operated in North and South Americas, Middle
East, Europe and Africa. Its headquarters is located in Mumbai, India. It possesses a significant
position in the market across the globe providing competitive advantage to its competitors.

TCS have a standard set of practices for maintenance of its HR practices. It is closely linked
with the business strategy by planning it according to the structure of the company through the
support given by innovative HR practices. Throughout the European countries, it is considered
as the best employer with the lowest attrition rate of 9.9%. The company is known for the
overall development imparted to its employees which also offers multi-lingual training
concepts. The seven HR practices explained by Prefer in application to The Tata Consultancy
Services is described below in detail.

HR Practices in TCS
Employment/Job Security:
TCS is a good base to work at, specially for fresher’s because they find it easy to work as they
are given good opportunities under comfortable and cosy environment. Working in TCS, it feels
like working in a government organization. Employees get high job security and fear less for
losing the job as this company has low rate of job removal even during recession.
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

The employees working in this organization feel very secure because they are given long
periods to work where they have fixed contracts and have flexibility to work in shifts.
Ambitious employees are given chance to study overseas where they are provided with visas
and long-term leaves. All employees sign a contract while starting to work with a company
which will last for a period of two years and after that they are considered as permanent
workers.

Selective Hiring:
Human resource plan is required by the firm which is prepared according to the firm's
processes. Hiring of candidates is the most important task to be done in a procedural manner for
selecting the best candidates among many applicants as Prefer described clearly that recruitment
of right people is to be done firstly for obtaining profits. In today's management, this is known
as identification of talent and acquisition. Companies have moved from traditional recruitment
and practices of selection towards online practices like interviews over telephone. In face-to-
face recruitment, the selection department conducts personal interviews where salary packages
are discussed along with many other important things.
TCS recruitment process is based on hiring policy which includes the mix of fresh and
experienced candidates.
Fresh Candidates - They are recruited and selected from academic institutions where TCS has
links with these institutions which is considered as a critical relationship. Through
communication with placement officers and fairs conducted, a large number of candidates get
attracted to apply.
Experienced Candidates - They are recruited by unit heads through various consultancies and
agencies sourcing candidates and through direct interviews. This recruitment is carried out
based on the requirements needed for a company which is centrally coordinated to hire
experienced professionals.
Medical Examination - Every employee is subjected to a set of fitness checks which are
essential prior to the joining in the company. Check-ups like overseas services are also
conducted to candidates required to travel overseas on business purposes. (asmedu.com)

Self- Managed Teams or Team Working:

TCS assigns employees to work as a team or group in order to carry out processes in a
particular project. Each such team is given information regarding the requirements needed to
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fulfil their work so that they can put efforts and use tools to manage their work in a sequential
manner. Each team is set a team leader who takes care of the entire team and manages them to
get the outcome. Some teams are interlinked with each other where the team leads of each team
interacts with one another and shares information for helping each other. Finally all the team
leads passes on their work to the project leader. This improves work continuity and flow is
carried out efficiently throughout the work flow.

High Pay Contingent on Company Performance:

Most of the companies do not focus much on acquiring resources but their main concern is to
utilize these resources in a profitable manner by achieving this through employee's potential.
Today, TCS is the best employer who has a structure for compensation having only 5% of its
pay with respect to performance. TCS is a company that makes its employees work in a team to
evaluate to decide on their pay as a team but not individually. This does a lot of benefit as it
does not possesses any rivalry among the team members. Each such team is formed on the basis
of trust, co-ordination, co-operation, dependence among employees, spirit in the team etc.

In order to decide the best type of compensation to follow in an organization, there should be
knowledge of job profile and it's area of application in business. As a manager is paid for his
leadership qualities and competencies such as managing power and team building, a person
working as a software developer should also be awarded for his/her work on the basis of hours
of working and skills. So, every employee must be paid according to the performance, skills
they possess on their respective work.

TCS uses the EVA model(Economic Value Added) to measure performance and bonus
focussed on the goal to align people to the mission of the corporate creating a specific culture
for empowering the force of work in order to build ownership.

Extensive Training:
Training in TCS starts immediately on the first day of join in the organization which continues
for a period of three months. Training is given throughout the entire period of work in the
company, that is, from the training period till the end date of work in TCS. Training is also
imparted to the employees whenever new techniques or platforms are introduced at any point of
time while working in a project or at the start of the project.
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

Following are the different learning programs imparted to the employees throughout the
training session and while working.(coolavenues.com)

Initial Learning Program(ILP) - This program is designed to provide a friendly environment by

smoothening the shift from "campus to corporate". This allows the transition of engineers of
graduate level to consultants of information technology with a world-wide mind-set.

Continuous Learning Program(CLP) - This is designed for the growth of associates where
learning and sharing is the main value. These programs come from needs of the project,
strategical business, technology and direction of individual aspirations and access through
domains, processes and soft skills.

Leadership Development Program(LDP) - This program aims in turning its employees into
future leaders by carefully understanding their potential through branded programs.

Foreign Language Initiative(FLI) - This helps its employees to communicate properly with its
clients where employees are encouraged to develop on foreign languages and also emphasises
in improvement of English for effectiveness of communication while making business deals.

Reduction of Status Differentials:

TCS visions to equip all its employees with proper resources so that they all work as a family
irrespective of position, salary, region, sex and status. Every individual is given an equal
opportunity to develop themselves and share views and ideas. They are allowed to make
innovative designs and work on research right from the first day of work. Everyone is supposed
to follow a discipline throughout the work floor whether it be a starter or a manager. It is
required for every employee to be formal and swipe a unique identity card everyday to indicate
their presence.

Sharing of Information:

This is promoted to motivate people for enhancing performance of the entire organization in
some dimensions and know the use of interpreting information as explained by Prefer. TCS
emphasises on working in a group instead of individually performing as this attempt would take
a lot of time and the case would be worse in case of mistake either in a part of work or
completely.
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HRM practices in Infosys and TCS

TCS supports a portal where people can communicate each other to share information. This is
done through a chat application called "same time" where people across the company chat and
share information with each other instantly. Information sharing could be done only through
emails to communicate with each other which is TCS domain enabled. Moreover, access is
limited only within ODC(Offshore Development Centre) where people work for the same
project in distinctive teams. The associates are not given access to this outside the work floor.

Management of human resources

TCS Infosys

➢ Employees added-7664 ➢ Employees added- 2964

➢ Total employees -285250
➢ Attrition rate -10.9%
➢ Utilization rate.
➢ Excluding trainees- 83.4%
➢ Including trainees -75%
➢ Total employees- 193148
➢ Attrition rate -17.3%
➢ Utilization rate
➢ Excluding trainees -77.8%
➢ Including trainees -73.7%

Remuneration
• Same competitive salary but
no fixed process /compulsion.
• Variable pay is less then
indoors.
• More practical , loves to be on
the side of its employees .
Remuneration
• Well defined compensation
policy.
• Increments every year.
• More patriortic, loves to make
employees pay tax.

Employee work environment Employee work environment

o Relatively less work load.
o Infrastructure facilities are
average (systems provided are
generations old)
o Too much security ,bad from
employee point of view
Work culture
o Work load is really high.
o Infrastructure facilities are
world class( working
environment is beyond
comparison)

HRM practices in Infosys and TCS
❖ Employees sees an HR person
only when he in on bench.
❖ Runs mainly with experienced
people.
❖ TCS is trying hard to achieve
transparency but still has a
long way to go.
10
o Life is so much better here
where things are “ hare
paced” not “tortoise paced”.
Work culture
❖ Many team building activates
and interaction programs,
which sometimes end up
pressurizing employees and
dissatisfies them.
❖ Fresher driven company
❖ Very transparent.