Retention Strategies by Indian IT Majors

With the job market opening up, IT giants' human resource divisions are devising innovative strategies to retain employees. It includes improvised promotion cycles, creating career architecture programmes, monetary gains, travel benefits and intellectual growth.

Infosys is offering room to experiment and career soul searching to keep employees interested. This route is also working well for multinationals, including Google, who find that offering flexibility and freedom of movement across projects have kept employees glued. While for Wipro , offering restricted stock units and restructuring its hierarchical structure have been the retention strategy over the past two quarters. Google, regarded as the world's most preferred employer, has been trying to give employees opportunities to participate and ideate for projects on a global level and across specialisations. "We try to get employees to spend 20% of their time on projects other than their primary ones.

This encourages innovation in product development and foster inter-team communication," said Jayashri Ramamurti, head-people operations, engineering & product, Google India.

E Balaji, director and president of HR firm Ma Foi Randstad said, "Organisations are trying to be innovative in crafting their retention strategies. In addition to traditional perks and benefits like bonuses and financial incentives, they want to offer compelling employee value proposition. Companies are offering attractive perks like holiday travels, and even sabbaticals and higher studies subsidy more widely.

Balaji said, "IT companies are beginning to link retention with generation characteristics. If, for instance, employee average age is under 30, flexi-work arrangements, job advancements, travel abroad and jobs for spouses when relevant are also being added."

Infosys senior vice-president & global head HR Nandita Gurjar said, "Employee aspirations are now sky rocketing. The challenge in such a market is definitely retention. We are trying to provide an option for hierarchical movement and lateral growth."

Infosys recently launched "Pathfinder," which is a career movement programme. As apart of this initiative, 23,000 people have gone through career workshops to understand more about their options.

The management says that it is trying to provide employees with internship programs to test waters across different career streams available internally and move around according to their aptitude.

"There are 26 career streams within the organisation. We want to create an environment where people can experiment without upsetting their career progression," Gurjar said. Infosys had promoted 8,000 people in April and had slotted 12,000 promotions to be filled by November.

Wipro, has been trying to reward employees through a more tangible process by dolling out 5.7 million shares as restricted stock units to its mid-management employees. This was followed up with a band restructuring programme that saw 20,000 junior level employees being promoted at a 7-8% salary hike in the second quarter of the fiscal. "When we looked at the industry, what we realised is that people are looking at faster growth and in order to be in sync with what is happening across, we split up bands. Now we have a band for people with two years or less experience, above two years experience and above five years experience," said Saurabh Govil, executive vice-president--human resources, Wipro.

From an employee perspective, consultants feel that people are looking for breadth of role more than monetary benefits and promotions. "Promotions and financial perks do have their attraction, but to an extent, these are knee jerk reactions from companies, and may not be sustainable in the long term. What employees truly want is to have greater depth and breadth in their job roles and functions," says Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, vice president of HR consultancy Stanton Chase International.

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Dont settle abroad - work in India - Narayana Murthy

Dont settle abroad - work in India - Narayana Murthy

BANGALORE: Youngsters looking to settle abroad, especially the US, courtesy IT industry should opt for career growth within India which offers larger growth opportunities than anywhere else in the world, Infosys mentor N R Narayana Murthy said on Tuesday.

"Somehow our youngsters have all assumed the idea of joining this industry is to go to US, get there, get an H1B, convert it into green card and settle down there. I think it is a wrong solution, a wrong strategy," he said while addressing a summit here.

Murthy said one expects youngsters to get good salaries and good disposal of income in India, for which they have to get good quality jobs here. "But their objective cannot be to go and settle down in some other country, especially the US."

"This time you have a great opportunity to consolidate and by working in India, by becoming a good quality professional you will sustain the advantage we have created and will make growth in India a permanent rather than a temporary feature."

On wooing back Indian talent, Murthy said there was no need to increase their salaries by 50 times to ensure this. But their lives could be made easier by providing schools, making sure that power condition and commuting is reasonably all right.

"This is being done by many countries in the world. This is nothing new. This is not rocket science," he said, adding there must also be attempts to ensure that the facilities are enhanced. "I think all state governments must make an attempt to say we will allow as many English medium schools as required because if you do not do so, then the children will not be able to move from one state to another."

Job opportunities available to children who go to English medium schools generally are seen to be of a higher quality and is a reality whether one likes it or not, he said. To get these section back, the combination of financial income coupled with comfort of living in India and with the family should be higher than the financial income and discomfort living abroad, he said.

When asked what his priorities would be if his name was proposed for the President's post, Murthy said: "In a parliamentary democracy like India, President is a ceremonial post. That is the reality."

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How to develop Leaders - Infosys Experience

Matthew Frank Barney had a personal connection with India that goes back to 1997. The 41-year-old American met his Bengali wife, Shreya, in a "romantic semi-conductor factory" in Orlando. Last year, Barney also sealed a professional connection with India. He, Shreya and their two young kids moved to Mysore, where Barney joined Infosys Technologies for an assignment that will have a great bearing on how this iconic Indian software company is run and perceived for generations to come.

Barney is the head of leadership development at Infosys Leadership Institute. Never in the storied 29-year history of Infosys has so much hinged on this responsibility. The seven founders, each of them pillars in their own right, have built and run a company that is solid in its business construct and has values that are unimpeachable. But they are leaving, one by one.

Ashok Arora left in 1989 and NS Raghavan in 2000. Last year, Nandan Nilekani went to work for the government. In the next five years, the remaining four — NR Narayana Murthy, S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan, SD Shibulal and K Dinesh — will also walk away from Infosys, in deference to Murthy's decree that all founders retire from operational roles by the age of 60 and from the board by 65. Says Barney: "It's an inflexion point for Infosys, and we need to prepare for it."

In his earlier assignments, Barney helped some of the world's top companies, including Motorola, AT&T and Lucent Technologies, to identify their next set of leaders. But, with Infosys, he's working for the first time with founders seeking to pass on the baton.

In July, Barney kicked off a hunt to identify 750 leaders, across levels, in Infosys — the largest such exercise the company has ever undertaken. It's not a random, one-time exercise to meet a pressing need.

It's a formal, structured response that is intended to become an integral part of the company. It will, continuously, identify the sparks in the company and groom them to become leaders.

Infosys has plenty of leaders, says TVS Mohandas Pai, who heads HR in Infosys and who brought in Barney.

"We believe we have around 100 leaders who can be CEOs of companies of different sizes," says Pai. "That doesn't mean, though, all of them can become the CEO of Infosys." What Infosys lacked all these years was a system that could efficiently identify, organise and hone that leadership, especially in the lower ranks. Which is what Barney and his seven-member team are putting in place.

To explain that system, one needs to start at the top. At the top, there is a 13-member board. Five of its

members are 'executive members', which means they also hold operational roles in Infosys . CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan and COO SD Shibulal are both members of the board.

Below the board is a four-member executive council: Subhash B Dhar, Chandra Shekar Kakal, BG Srinivas, and Ashok Vemuri. The highest decision-making body below the board, the executive council is the grooming place for the next CEO, CFO and COO.

But the beehive of activity is below the executive council. Out here, Barney has created a three-tiered pyramid that is intended to identify leaders at all levels from the 115,000 employees in Infosys.

At the first level, or tier-I, Infosys is looking to identify 50 Infoscians who can join the board in three to five years. "We want each leader to be outrageously successful before they even come to my process," says Barney of this set. At this leadership level, people typically have about 15 years of experience, and are geographical heads or business unit heads.

"We need to make sure that the person is passionate about business," says CEO Kris, of this elite pool. "Also, the person should know Infosys well. That's why we have always been saying that the leaders should come from inside and they should have a successful track-record."

At the second level, the hunt is for leaders capable of graduating to tier-I or running a business unit in three to five years. The target number is 150. The candidates here are vice-presidents and those reporting to unit heads, and have about 10 years of experience.

At the last level, the search is for leaders capable of graduating to tier-II position. This pool, which is intended to be 550-strong, is chosen from business and technology managers who are associate vice-presidents or below. They have about 5-7 years of experience. They are like the Suresh Rainas of the Indian cricket team.

Before Barney and this three-tiered structure, Infosys was identifying and grooming leaders, but it was more unstructured and the leadership pool was smaller. But as the company grew and its operations became more complex, as it went beyond its founders, the imperative for a leadership system increased.

"They are the first among major Indian companies to go through this transition," says John McCarthy, senior vice-president and principal analyst, Forrester Research. "It's always a challenge when you move the original management out. So far, they have done it in a transparent and orderly manner." But a CEO of a leading rival says the founders will be missed. "Infy is surely ahead in terms of planning its transition, but it will miss Murthy's vision and Nandan's ability to win and retain large accounts like BT," he says.

Professor David V Day, who is helping Infosys as an external consultant to identify sustainable leadership models, advises against benchmarking to the past. "First of all, you can never replace such visionary founders like Mr Murthy and others — they are really one of a kind. You first have to let go of the assumption that they are going to be fully replaced," he says. "The challenge then is how are we going to develop leaders we are going to need not just now, but also in the future."

Barney has some answers. "Beginning this year, we will have the 'tier top-off' process every year," he says. The 'tier top-off' is essentially a routine measurement of the numerical deficiency in the company's leadership pools. The last time, Infosys did such an exercise, it was 2007 and its leadership pool was about 50.

Barney and his seven-member team are now looking to do this annually, with a target size of 750. At every level, currently, Infosys is short. Against its earmarked number of 50 leaders in tier-I , Infosys has identified 37. Down the ranks, the vacuum increases. In tier-II, the number sought is 150 and it has identified 120. In tier-III , against 550, it has identified only 200.

At each level, the method of identifying talent is different. Tier-I is self-nominated. Infoscians who think they are up to it can apply. Their candidature is decided after an interview with the board. For tier-II, it's the tier-I leaders who work with the members of the Infosys Leadership Institute and the heads of business units to identify potential leaders.

Tier-III is through a computer-adapted assessment tool. "The tier-I leaders are fewer and relatively easier to find," says Barney, who speaks fluent Bangla. "But when I get to tier-III , there are nearly 10,000 people who can apply. With the tool, I can do it in less than half the time we did the same process."

Next comes the grooming

Infosys draws on several resources to groom leaders. These include mentoring, leadership workshops and simulation exercises. Mentoring is a big part of the initiation, and it runs through Infosys. Murthy mentors the board. The board members, including other founders, mentor 6-8 leaders at any point of time from the tier-I pool, which includes the four members of the executive council.

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How to face slowdown ? NRN Advise

India needs to find a balance between remaining competitive and being financially secure and stable in a troubled economic climate, Infosys' Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy said in Mumbai on Friday.

"Despite the relative health of the Indian economy, we should be mindful of the fact that the danger of an economic downturn in India has not yet passed and situation could change rapidly," Murthy told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

The Indian corporate sector, he said, has been extremely fortunate in escaping the worst of the global financial crisis. While America and other Western countries posted sluggish growth rates and witnessed spiraling unemployment, India's economy grew 6.8 per cent during the financial quarter in June, up from 5.8 percent in the previous quarter.

But "We must be alert and careful to temper our optimism with realism," the Infosys founder said.

To reduce sub-contractors

Infosys plans to reduce the usage of sub-contractors and do its work in-house, especially at cheaper offshore locations, Murthy said.

"We found during our reviews that a large number of client work had been outsourced to sub-contractors. In such cases, we decided to reduce the usage of sub-contractors and use our (own) facility," Murthy told PTI.

The company has also taken a new concept "more from the same", which will scrutinise budgets and look after areas where previously unnoticed expenses could be eliminated, he said.

Infosys believes that this new concept will benefit the company, its shareholders and its employees. During the second quarter of FY 10, the company saw a 2.9 per cent increase in revenues from the first quarter.

"Our new concept is to scrutinise budgets and operations which can yield surprising areas for improvement and produce significant results," Murthy said. Major expenses came to light related to non-billable travel and work, and to tackle this, the company recalled many of its employees working on-site in non-billable roles for its clients to off-shore locations which were cheaper, Murthy said.

Source : rediff.com

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Do you think Role Definition Helps in creating better managers ?

Friends,

You will ind this paradox in the Indian context. It is strange that everyone our here wishes to become a Manager. This is whether or not they have the abilities to 'manage' their teams.

Question :

Does role definition helps in creating better managers ?
Do you think there should be an impartial 'assessment' prior to promoting as Managers ?
Can the company afford to loose good performers when they are told that they are not fit to be 'managers'
Do you think working for 6 years as per below article 'qualifies' to become a Project Manager ?

My personal view on this is - unless an employee has certain abilities he would not succeed as a Manager !

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
Indias Biggest HR Network

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---------

Article :

Infosys Technologies has decided that its staffers must have at least six years of having worked on technology responsibilities before being asked to head a project.

This is the latest move in a process that began 18 months earlier, after clients had complained that its project heads didn't seem to have enough of technological skills. That, in turn, was because of the industry's high growth and also the pace of attrition (employees quitting) in the sector.

So, many employees were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years of joining. However, from last month, all freshers joining the company will have to compulsorily stay focused on technology for the first six years of their career.

After this, they will have to choose to either grow vertically as a techie or take up managerial responsibilities.

Infosys [ Get Quote ] says this new strategy, termed 'iRace', aims to re-map the technology skills of its software professionals and offer them roles based on their current level of experience and technological know-how.

It appears to have already had some adverse effect, for a section of employees in the junior and middle levels are understood to have resigned.

"Because of the high growth in the industry, people were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years, making clients return to us and complain about the lack of their technology skills. We have now re-mapped the efficiency of our employees, as a result of which some high performers have been mapped upwards, while others have stayed in their previous positions," says Nandita Gurjar, Group Head for Human Resources.

By doing so, we will be able to meet the clients' requirements in a much better manner, she adds.

To make the task smoother, Infosys has created 25 career streams. An employee who does not wish to take up managerial roles but stay focused on technology has to identify positions like technical architect and technical lead till he goes up the ladder to become the unit technology manager, a position the company has created now. Henceforth, all 13 business units of the company will have UTOs, who will directly report to the chief technology officer of the company.

Infosys started the exercise almost 18 months earlier, following an internal assessment by consulting agency, Mercer. Based on the results, the company decided to implement what Gurjar terms a 'role structuring'.

Industry insiders concur that when the IT sector was booming and demand was high, people with very little experience were being given roles of project managers or technical leads, as it was difficult for the company to get experienced people.

However, with the greater supply of trained resources, especially in the wake of the economic recession, most Indian IT companies are busy redefining the roles.

"We have seen people becoming project managers with less than six years of experience, whereas in most global companies, especially product companies, project manager is a big role. A person who manages projects in those companies should have at least 14-15 years of experience, which helps him handle multiple projects and customers at a time.

Besides, when a person becomes a project manager in six years, this ends his chance to learn on technology platforms," says a person who works as a project manager in an Indian IT services company.

At the end of the second quarter in the present financial year, Infosys' headcount was 105,453, including 97,594 software professionals.

Praveen Bose and Bibhu Ranjan Mishra in Bangalore
Source : Business Standard

Carrots for Retention Age - Nandita Gujjar

One topic that is most debated on is attrition in the BPO industry. I spent some time on the internet doing research on BPOs and was amazed to find a number of articles on attrition and the reasons for this. There have been a lot of studies done in the past five years on attrition. The flip side of retention is employee retention.

What is employee retention?

Retention is defined as the act of holding back. Employee retention is the ability of an organisation to hold on to its employees. There are a number of advantages to employee retention.

Retention as knowledge management: An employee builds knowledge on how to successfully run a client process and this is sometimes not captured in process maps or manuals.

Retention as process improvement: It is only when an employee has worked on a process long enough that he/she is able to improve the process and provide value-add.
Retention as cost utilisation: Retention can provide an organisation immense cost gains. Replacement costs often amount to 2.5 times the salary of the individual you are replacing.

It is therefore critical not only to measure attrition but also retention in any organisation. At Infosys BPO, we periodically track retention. We call it the ‘Retention Age’. There are many reasons why people stay in an organisation and these reasons change depending on the experience and maturity of the employees. Infosys tracks the retention age for different categories of employees — 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months etc. Each category throws up different reasons and we take action based on how we prioritise them.

Our business model is such that at entry level 40% of our recruits join directly from campus. This helps us control the spiraling salary costs. However, at other levels, we ensure retention through many ways:

Tracking the proportion of internal promotions to external hires at every level. Our aim is to advertise all available positions internally before going to the external talent pool.

Tracking the tenure span of control. We control the number of employees that can report into the next level and this is called the span of control. Along with this measure we also track the tenure of the reporting relationship. Managers are encouraged to have a higher span of control retention age.

Tracking the management cadre to see actual growth of the individual based on current role, span of control, projects, client feedback etc.

Early Warning Indicator System: This is a system we have introduced to keep track of the retention age among employees. The system highlights employees who are most likely to quit based on a number of pre-decided factors. This helps us retain at least our high performers. We also have direct ways of encouraging retention.

Compensation: One of the programmes we have launched is called PEARL. It is a retention bonus that was created especially for the 0-6 month employees. We found that there was a growing percentage of employees in the 6-9 month category that decided to move to other organisations for larger salary packages. We introduced PEARL, designed to ensure that every employee got a month’s bonus salary on completing a year in the organisation. We also have a ‘loyalty bonus’ whereby an employee’s capability of earning a higher bonus increases with the time he spends in the organisation.

E-SAT and key determinants: Employee satisfaction is a key determinant of an organisation’s health. It is a way of ensuring that employees are motivated and their concerns and issues are addressed in a timely manner. For example, the food committee is completely managed by employees. They decide on the food, selection of vendors etc and are responsible for ensuring the success of food courts.

Focus on high performers, high potential: At Infosys, there is an attempt to re-define the way we do work and transformation is the biggest way of doing this. We have found that our high performers are the ones who are constantly helping us make things cheaper, better and different. We are therefore working at ensuring that we have different programmes in place that specifically address the needs of our high performers and high potentials.

Nandita Gurjar (The author is vice-president and group head, HRD, Infosys Technologies)

Source : ET