Group 4 -Talent Engagement Practices in a Recessionary Period

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Talent Engagement Practices

in a Recessionary PeriodIT/ITES Industry

9/3/2009

MBA CORE 2009-11

Abhijit KaradAnshul Bhatia

Anupama Reddy

Nimish Lahoti

Vaibhav Bansal



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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ______________________________________________________3

1.1 Concepts ______________________________________________________________3

1.2 Review of Literature____________________________________________________5

2. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY _______________________________________________ 7

2.1 Statement and objectives of study ________________________________________ 7

2.2 Method of study _______________________________________________________7

3. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS _____________________________________________ 8

3.1 Analysis and Discussion of findings _______________________________________ 83.1.1 HUNKA Web Solutions _____________________________________________ 8

3.1.2 Tata Consultancy Solutions _________________________________________ 12

4. CONCLUSION _______________________________________________________ 16

5. RECOMMENDATIONS _______________________________________________ 17

BIBLIOGRAPHY _______________________________________________________ 18

ANNEXURE 1 ___________________________________________________________19



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Chapter -1 Introduction

1.1 Concepts

When in tough economic times, there's little reason to believe that we'll see anything

approximating an overnight recovery. The recessionary period is a challenge for businesses

of all types. According to analysts, the normal attrition rate in IT industry was anywhere

between 20-40 per cent. Focusing on talent engagement should be a priority for any business

because during recessionary period, no one can afford anything less than maximum

productivity from their employees. Talent Engagement is the system in which people are

recruited, developed, promoted, and retained to optimize the organization¶s ability to realize

positive business outcomes in the face of shifting competitive landscapes and labor

requirements.

The Gallup Organization describes employee engagement as the "the involvement with and

enthusiasm for work". The key drivers for talent engagement are person job fit, motivation,

performance and rewards, participation and involvement and work life balance.

Person job fit can be defined as the fit between abilities of a person and the demands of a job

or the desires of a person and the attributes of a job. Job demands typically consist of the

knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) required to perform at the acceptable level in the job.

RJP research has shown that accurate and realistic job information during recruitment and

selection is associated with positive work outcomes. In employee selection research, Person

Organisation fit can be conceptualised as the match between an applicant and broader

organisational attributes.

Motivation can be defined as the forces within a person that affect his or her direction,

intensity, and persistence of voluntary behaviour. Motivation begins with individual needs

and their underlying drives. There are various motivation theories which are based on needs.

Maslow¶s needs hierarchy theory is based on five instinctive needs arranged in a hierarchy,

whereby people are motivated to fulfil a higher need as a lower one becomes gratified.

Frederick Herzberg¶s motivation hygiene theory says that the factors causing job satisfaction

are different from that causing job dissatisfaction (hygiene factors). There are other theories

such as four drive theory and expectancy theory of motivations. Most of us are motivated by

intrinsic rewards like interesting, challenging work and the opportunity to achieve and grow

into greater responsibility.



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Employees feel motivated by more participation and involvement in the decision making

process and most of the organisations have recognised this fact. Enrich the employees work

by increasing individual¶s accountability and giving them more responsibility. Assign the

individuals specialized tasks that allow them to become experts. Such practices motivate

employees and keep them charged up.

In India, employees with 5-10 years of work experience on an average put in 55-60 hours of

work each week. The situation worsens at senior and top management level. In any

profession, if work is extended beyond a point, it does not make for ³meaningful achievement

and enjoyment of everyday life´. Widely noted demographic and sociological changes in the

workforce, over the last 40 years have gradually but increasingly focused attention on the

need for workplace policies to assist employees in balancing work and family life.

Performance Management can be defined as a strategic and integrated approach for

increasing the effectiveness of businesses and organizations by improving the performance of

staff and employees and developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors. It is

a measure of performance which relates individual performance to organisational goals;

fosters the increasing competence and growth of the subordinate. This process stimulates the

employees¶ motivation.

Job satisfaction is in regard to one's feelings or state-of-mind regarding the nature of their

work. Job satisfaction can be influenced by the quality of one's relationship with their supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which they work, degree of fulfilment

in their work and job content.

The two companies studied to understand talent engagement in recession times are Tata

Consultancy Services (Mumbai) and Hunka Web Solutions (Bhopal).



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1.2 Review of literature

Paper on µHow to recession proof your workforce?¶ by David Lee

In order to minimise the effects of recession, the workforce of a company should have the

following characteristics:

y Respond to challenges with a ³can do´ attitude.

y Remain upbeat and determined, despite the difficulties you face.

y Focus their attention on making a difference, rather than on complaining about

things they can do nothing about.

y Handle greater challenge, pressure, and demands without becoming stressed.

To keep the talent engaged in times of economic downturn or any other turbulent times,

we need to keep the employee motivation, morale and engagement high and these can be

achieved by giving employees control over the work they do, strengthening of relationships,making them free from unnecessary stress, communicating without any ambiguity and

encouraging them by telling success stories of other employees in company.

Research by Watson Wyatt Worldwide revealed that companies with high employee

engagement enjoyed 200% greater profits during the difficult economic cycle just prior to

2002.

Employee engagement in recessionary times: A changing talent perspective

A paper is based on a cross industry survey on Employee Engagement in Recessionary

Times undertaken by the Deloitte¶s Human Capital Advisory Services (HCAS) team in

India is studied. The aim of the survey was to understand how organizations are

reassessing their priorities to manage their talent in smarter and more strategic ways. The

survey polled 41 companies spread across 5 locations of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi,

Hyderabad and Mumbai.

The following were the findings of the survey on how the companies are managing

employee engagement in recessionary times:

y Aligning efforts with strategy: The company focus is now on retention and

selective hiring, driven purely by critical skills and business needs.

y Communication: The company focus is now on maintaining transparency,

targeting the right audience and consistently driving the message of change.

y Training and leadership development: Companies are keeping a close watch on

training spend and are more focused on multi-skilling employees and identifying,



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engaging and developing high-performing employees from within the

organization.

y Rewards and recognition: Companies focus is on developing rewards and

recognition programs that are consistent and transparent.

Cisco Systems: Acquiring and Retaining Talent in Hypercompetitive Markets

In the IT business the average product life cycle is estimated to be six to 18 months.

Worse, an industry rule of thumb is that each new product solution should offer twice the

speed at the same or less cost. IT firms recognize that if the company does not have the

internal resources to develop a new product within six months, it might miss the window

of opportunity. This seemingly impossible task is what some firms have perfected. In IT

industry, focus is put on acquiring people. And if you don't keep those people, you have

made a terrible investment.

y Quarterly ³all hands´ meetings are held to communicate repeatedly the company's

values and to make sure everyone feels included.

y The culture and values are also reinforced through the way jobs are structured and

managed.

Individual contributions are widely rewarded. For example, with the approval of the boss,

anybody can give anybody else an on-the spot bonus. Cisco works hard to ensure a fit

before an acquisition takes place, then rapidly assimilates the new company and works to

ensure that the new employees are satisfied and want to stay with Cisco. If a person does

not fit its vision and values, they won't be asked to join. Once the person or company

joins the Cisco world, intense efforts are made to socialize the newcomer to the Cisco

way.

The result in this case is a remarkable success that comes from capturing the value of the

entire workforce, not just a few superstars.

Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company ± EBSCO

The senior employees spent a major time (26% ± 50%) in evolving and executing the best

talent engagement practices. A special focus is given to the top 300 senior most

executives to bring out the best in them and retain them. They have also adopted a policy

wherein, the junior workforce is rigorously trained and company emphasizes to have 80%

of the senior leaders to come from such internal development.



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Chapter ± 2 - Objectives of Study

2.1 Statement of objectives of the study

The objective of this study about µTalent engagement during recessionary period¶ is to understand the

concept of talent engagement and relate it to the concepts being studied in our course pertaining toµIndividual Dynamics and Leadership¶.

Based on the above broad objective, the study covers the following specific objectives:

y Whether the company practices to ensure person-job fit and person-organisation fit.

y Understanding the employee motivation practices adopted by the companies in the IT sector.

y Study the efforts being made by the company to provide a balance between work and life to

the employees.

y Study whether the employees are satisfied with the job and the performance management

system of the organisation.

y Whether there is employee participation and involvement in the practices of the organisation.

2.2 Method of study

A small questionnaire based survey as well as interview with the significant functionaries

from IT sector is conducted to understand the specific practices adopted by the concerned

company to keep the employees engaged and at the larger level, see that the employees are

put in the right job profile, are given the right motivational inputs and thereby, ensure that

employees are satisfied with their job and organisation. The questionnaire used is a

standardised one given by the faculty after taking inputs from students.

The survey is conducted on 2 companies; TCS and Hunka Web Solutions. A minimum

sample of 15 employees is surveyed from each company of which at least 2 are HR personal

and the rest are the employees at different levels.

Each of the companies are analysed individually and then the whole sample of 30 employees

is used to analyse the practices in IT industry taken up by an organisation in times of

recession.

The analysis is done by using the mean of the responses for each factor (person job fit,

satisfaction, performance reward, participation and involvement) and a graph is drawn for the

same. Based on the graph output, the analysis is taken forward.



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Chapter ± 3

3.1 Anal i & Di i n of f indings

3.1.1 HUNKA Web - sol tions

Anal i t ti nnai as carr i out by di iding t questionnaire into 5 di erent

par ts

y Performance and R eward system

y Par tici pation and Involvement

y Person Job f it

y Work Life balance

y Satisfaction

Fig.1 ± Compar ison between responses of employees & HRM.

The above graph shows the average responseof employees and the human resource manager

(HRM of H NKA Web-Solutions on a scale of 1-5 where:-

1 means highly dissatisf ied

2 means fair ly dissatisf ied

3 means neutral

4 means fair ly satisf ied

5 means highly satisf ied.

2.8

3.7 3.9

2.8

3.33.23.6 3.6

2.8 2.8

0.0

0.51.01.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

.0

.5

Performanceand

Reward system

Participation and

Involvement

Person Job Fit Work Life Balance Satisf action

Employees HR



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From the above graph it can be seen that the employees and HR have more or less the same

opinion about the practices being followed by the company to meet the above mentioned

ob jectives. This also highlights the fact that employees feel that their workplace fulf ils all

their expectations about the organi ation. And it can be clear ly seen from the graph that in

most of the cr iter ia, employees have given a higher rating than Human R esource Managers

(HRMs).

Let us discuss each of the ob jectives in more detail with the hel p of a pie-char t for each of

them.

Fig. 2 ± Distr i bution for level of satisfaction about performance & reward system

As can be seen from the pie char t, 45% of the employees are at least fair ly satisf ied, 34%

have a neutral opinion about the practices being followedwhereas 21% are fair ly dissatisf ied

with the performance and reward system followed by the company. This can be attr i buted to

the practice of having a continuous process of analyzing and then motivating all members of

the team. This involves tak ing regular feedback and discussions revolving aroundall aspects.

When it comes to par tici pation and involvement, a high percentage, 71% of the employees

are at least fair ly satisf ied, 16% have a neutral opinion about it whereas at most only 13% are

¡ %

13%

34%30%

15%

Performance and Reward System

Highly Dissatisf iedDissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied

¢ %

9%

16%

£ ¤ %

¥ ¦ %

Participation and Involvement

Highly Dissatisf ied

Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied



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fair ly dissatisf ied. As it is a small organization, it becomes easy to include almost all the

employees in activities and decision mak ing. This distr i bution can be accounted to the fact

that, H NKA Web-solutions is a new star t-up company where employee strength is low (60-

90) and each employee can be given personal attention as and when required.

When we consider person- job f it, a high percentage, 57% of the employees are satisf ied, 32%

have a neutral opinion about it and only at most 11% are dissatisf ied. This might be due to a

very ob jective, str ictly specif ied and well def ined selection and recruitment cr iter ia adopted

by the organization.

Consider ing the suppor t provided for maintaining work life balance, 44% of the employees

are fair ly satisf ied, 28% have a neutral opinion about it whereas 28% are dissatisf ied.

Compared to other cr iter ia, the dissatisfaction regarding work-life balance is high because an

extra-ordinary amount of effor t is to be put in by a lesser number of employeeswhich

requires extra effor t in terms of time devoted, disturbing the work-life balance of an

employee.

11%

17%

28%

36%

8%

Work-Life Balance


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied

3%

8%

32%

3§ %

20%

Person-Job Fit


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied



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Finally when it comes to their overall job satisfaction, 54% of the employees are fair ly

satisf ied, 27% are undecided whereas 19% are dissatisf ied.

Thus tak ing an overall view, it can be said that the company needs to concentrate more on the

performance and reward system (dissatisfaction level ± 28%) and work life balance

(dissatisfaction level ± 21%) so as to improve the overall satisfaction level of the employees.

Steps taken by the organization for employee moti ation

H NKA Web solutions have an ongoing process of systematically identifying, assessing and

developing talent for future roles to ensure continuity, future expansion and effective

organisational performance.

They have taken many positive steps so that all the employees are:-

y Learning how to do it in a better manner

y Doing work that interests them

y Encounter ing fresh challenges

y Interacting with people in positive manner

y Secure about their jobs (No layoffs).

2%

17%

27%48%

6%

Satisfaction


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied





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When it comes to Par tici pation and Involvement, a high 59% of the employees are satisf ied,

19% are undecided whereas only 22% are dissatisf ied.

When it comes to Par tici pation and Involvement, a high 59% of the employees are satisf ied,

21% are undecided whereas 20% are dissatisf ied. Although, TCS, being a large organisation

has a large number of employees, still person- job f it is ensured by deciding goals by an

interaction between the subordinate and super ior.

Next for Work Life balance, 46% of the employees are satisf ied, 20% have a neutral opinion

whereas a high 34% are dissatisf ied. A large company like TCS has a very dynamic nature

and many of its clients are foreign clients, so most of the times, employees have to work in

shif ts (late night) which disturb their work-life balance.

2%

20%

19%49%

10%

Participation and Involvement


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

5%15%

21%53%

6%

Per on- o Fit


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

6%

2© %

20%

43%

3%

Work Life Balance


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied



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Finally when it comes to their overall job, 41% of the employees are satisf ied, 30% are

undecided whereas 29% are dissatisf ied.

Thus tak ing an overall view, it can be said that the company needs to concentrate more on the

performance and reward system and work life balance so as to improve the overall

satisfaction level of the employees.

Steps taken by Tata Consultancy Services for Talent and Employee Engagement

Appraisal TCS follows a half year ly appraisal policy wherein, in the f irst couple of months

goals for each employee are formulated in discussion with the employee concerned. At the

half year end, they are evaluated based on the diff iculty level and impor tance of each goal.

The result of the appraisal has a direct impact on the employee remuneration.

TCS Gems: TCS Gems was constituted to reward associates for their exceptional work in

form of gems points. The number of Gems points is directly relates to the k ind of

achievement which could be Customer Appreciation, Successful Pro ject completion,

implementing or suggesting innovative ideas, etc.. These points could be redeemed for the

different gif ts available on the company site.

Star of the month: This award is given to an associate who perform best in a month within

an account. These k ind of rewards motivate an individualmore than an appraisal.

Annual Cultural Events: TCS arranges var ious cultural events like Garba, Janmashatami,

Traditional day on impor tant days like Independence Day, Diwali, Dusherra among others.

Family Day: To build up good relations among the associates, TCS organizes Family day

every year. The family members are invited to the work place and interact with associate's

colleagues and get familiar with the work culture. Fun games and events across the age

groups are organized.

Sports: TCS conducts indoor games competitions like Carom, Table Tennis, and Box

Cr icket. TCS also organizes Badminton, Foot ball and Cr ickets matches. It is also the

3%

26%

30%

37%

4%

Satisfaction


Dissatisf ied

Neutral

Satisf ied

Highly Satisf ied



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Associate sponsor of Mumbai Marathon and encourages Employee to actively participate in

the event. TCS has one online community for sports from where all the information flows to

associates.

Pulse: A platform for Employees to provide feedback and suggestions on the satisfaction

levels for each department in the Organization. This allows the employees to raise concerns

and issues faced by them at the workplace and resolve them which lightens the burden on an

employees¶ mind, enhancing productivity.



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Chapter 4 ± Conclusion

Performance and reward system: The current slowdown has forced companies to adopt

more stringent measures for evaluating performance. While employees seem to acknowledge

that they would need to considerably hike their performance levels, they also expect to be

rewarded appropriately for their efforts.

Participation and Involvement: Companies are increasingly involving employees in cost

management, quality and client service initiatives as the focus is now on retention of highly

skilled employees.

Person-job fit: Companies continue to invest in critical talent as there is an increased fear

that competitors may try to lure valuable employees. Companies are keeping a close watch on

training spend and are more focused on multi-skilling existing employees. Companies are

heavily investing in identifying, engaging and developing high-performing employees from

within the organization.

Work life balance: The work life balance of the employees has been affected in the

recession times due to fear of loss of job and more emphasis on enhancing the skill sets so as

to be more flexible.

Satisfaction: The general satisfaction level of employees has decreased due to conservative

rewards and pay packages given by the company, increase in work load to be more

competitive in meeting the client deadlines in recessionary times. But at the same time the

training and growth practices have ensured there is not a sharp decline in the satisfaction due

to recession.



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Chapter 5 - Recommendations:

The following are the recommendations after the analysis:

y The companies should re-assess the jobs and skills that are most valued in the

organization. They should identify the critical workforce segments and create

customized programs for enhancing the employee skills.

y The companies should get a clear understanding of what the employees really value

and what can be ignored, and based on that, invest in the appropriate areas and cut

back on low priority ones.

y The companies should have right mix of rewards and should identify what kind of

monetary rewards employees expect and what kind of employees are more satisfied

with challenging opportunities or appointments on a critical client account.

y The companies should try to provide employees with a sense of security about their

jobs during the recessionary period by regular performance appraisals and feedback

on job performance and other motivational activities.



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Bibliography

Research papers:

1. Charles A. O'Reilly III and Jeffrey Pfeffer, ³Cisco Systems: Acquiring and retaining

talent in hypercompetitive markets´, 2008.

2. F redric D. F rank, Craig R.Taylor , ³Talent Management ± Trends that will shape the

future´, 2008.

3. John B. Miner, Donald P. Crane, Robert J. Vandenberg , ³Congruence and fit in

professional role ± Motivation theory´, 2005.

4. ³Talent planning ± The key to effective talent management´, 2008, EBSCO.

5. ³Talent management in Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling company´, 2008, EBSCO.

6. ³Deloitte ± employee engagement in recessionary times´, 2009.

Books:

1. Mary Ann Von Glinow and Radha R Sharma, Tata McGraw Hill, Organizational

Behaviour, 4th

Edition

2. F red Luthans, Tata McGraw Hill Publication, Organizational Behaviour, Tenth

Edition

Web pages:

1. http://www.HumanNatureAtWork.com

2

://

roques

um

com/login

3. http://122.170.126.131 (EBSCO)

4. http://cplash.com/post/Attrition-rate-dips-amidst-economic-recession983.html



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ANNEXURE 1

Sample Questionnaire

Kindly go through each statement and tick the appropriate answer.

Strongly Disagree 1

Disagree 2

Undecided 3

Agree 4

Strongly Agree 5

During these recessionary time;

1. Our organization keeps a track of employee performance in a judicial manner.

2. Our organization provides feedback to its employee on regular interval.

3. The mechanisms of measuring employees¶ performance are fair and just.

4. Our organization provide exceptional rewards to high performing employees

5. Our organization take enough care in rewarding mediocre and poor performing

employees

6. Employees with poor performance are discouraged in this organization.

7. Our organization considers seniority as the basis of rewarding performance.

8. Employees¶ in this organization are rewarded with monetary benefits than non-

monetary benefits.

9. Monetary rewards are affected because of recession.

10. Employees at Middle and senior management levels are badly affected in terms of

monetary gains due to recession.

11. Employees at junior level are badly affected in terms of monetary gains due to

recession.

12. Employees are encouraged to settle for non monetary rewards rather than monetaryones.

13. Employees find their salary remuneration fair considering what other firms in this

area pay.

14. Our organization gives a choice to its employees to select the job profile of their

choice.



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15. Employees are encouraged to participate in decision making process of their

team/department.

16. In our organization superior and subordinate set their performance goals in

consultation to each other.

17. Employees are given enough authority to make decisions of their choice.

18. Employees get opportunity to contribute to the organization¶s mission.

19. Employees are encouraged to bring in new ideas.

20. Ideas and suggestions given by employees are recognised by management.

21. Job roles of employees are assigned as per their capabilities.

22. Employees value the job they are doing.

23. Organization takes care towards skill development of employees whenever it isneeded.

24. Special training is provided to managers/supervisors for managing relationship on the

job.

25. Employees are encouraged towards learning new competencies and growth.

26. Career development of employees is taken care in this organization.

27. Talent pool is properly utilized in this organization.

28. Employees feel valued in this organization.

29. Working in this organization is fun.

30. Employees get enough time to pursue their individual goals.

31. Employees can adjust work timing as per their requirement and still complete their

targets.

32. Recreational activities are normal part of this organization.

33. Working hours are long and strenuous.

34. Due to recession working life has become chaotic.

35. Employee health is a concern for past one year.

36. Employees find their work load reasonable.

37. Management does everything to ensure the well being of the employees.

38. A large proportion of the job is rush job.



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39. Employees are often asked to speed up their job.

40. Employees get time for relaxation during work hours.

41. Employees are able to keep balance between work life and personal life.

42.

Management is liberal in providing leaves as per employees¶ requirement.

43. Management allow employees to undertake a sabbatical( fixed period of leave up to 2

years to undertake study, maternity leave, travel).

44. Employees allowed to work from home or outside of central workplace.

45. Our organization allows/pay for counselling the services of employees experiencing

family/work stress.

46. Our organization takes initiatives such as ± Quit Smoking Programmes or Dietary

Advice programmes to improve the health of the employees.

47. Employees would prefer to remain in this organization for next 5 years or more.

48. Employees are satisfies with the time given to complete the work.

49. Employees are satisfied with the reward system in the organization.

50. Employees are satisfied with their career growth in this organization.

51. Interpersonal relationships are satisfying in this organization.

52. Overall employees are satisfied with the organization.

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Group 4 -Talent Engagement Practices in a Recessionary Period

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