Monday 12 March 2012

Employee Passion Indicative Count:Identifying and Building PASSION AT HCL!


In the tough times of recession in the year 2009, organizations across the globe were striving to find a sustainable and competitive asset that can be relied on and leveraged continuously. HCL perceived this threat as an opportunity. This led to the question that what could be done for the employees in this scenario to know the level of engagement and how best can they be adhered to the organization. Moreover since every individual is unique, what drives him/her is also different. HCL realized how critical it was to identify what drives each HCLite in order to uphold the individual’s identity and engagement level.

Realizing that EMPLOYEES are its assets, HCL asked itself a few important questions like “How much has it invested in its employees? It also tried to understand “Does the down fall in the passion levels of an employee actually affect the employee engagement, retention and performance? In effect to this, starting from 2009, HCL has been constantly exploring the relationship between Passion and Engagement, Passion and Retention, Passion and Performance with an aim to realize their aspirations, creating a workforce whose desires match with that of the organizations.

Moving beyond Employee Engagement: The HCL Way
In order to venture into a domain that masters engagement HCL thought of going beyond it and by stepping into a sphere that is ours, yours and everybody’s…Yes it’s the domain that is ever growing and palpable. PASSION. A concept that is larger than life, an attribute that differentiates the extraordinary out of the ordinary and a topic that has been talked off by many great personalities.

But the Question is “Why Passion?
Passion is needed to be identified and leveraged as research has clearly shown that a passionate person: 1. lives longer, 2. is healthier, 3. is happier, 4. is more productive at work and 5, is more reproductive (i.e. they have a better ability to reproduce passion in others). This will hold true even in scenarios where things are not going the expected way. The fact that you know what drives you will help tackle difficult situations accordingly, and in turn perform better.

Employee Passion AT HCL:
It’s the collective energy of both the organization’s and the individual’s passion working together to bring out the best within the employee and the organization.

How does HCL identify the Passion of its Employees?
HCL identifies the Passion of its employees through Employee Passion Indicative CountTM (EPIC), a self-assessment tool that identifies the Top 5 Passion Indicators i.e. all those factors that drives an individual to excel. It also assesses the intensity of Passion on 15 Passion Indicators and gives an understanding of how an individual can leverage them at the workplace through the Individual EPIC Reports. This is the third year of EPIC launch and now it has been developed as an yearlong intervention that strives to achieve high Employee Engagement, Employee Productivity, Employee Development and Employee Retention. It aims to build an organization that has passionate employee, passionate teams and passionate customers, an organization that rears Passion as strategic differentiator to increase profits, margins, revenues and productivity of the company.

How does HCL build passion?
By making EPIC An yearlong intervention…

EPIC as an yearlong intervention begins with an online assessment that helps the individual to identify his/her top five passion indicators. This is followed by facilitating employees with their EPIC Individual Reports (51,656 Individual Reports generated during EPIC 2011) that showcase their Top Five Passion Indicators, Dominant Passion Themes, and Level of Passion, Phase they are entering in terms of growth, sleeping and thinking along with an extensive Action plan to leverage the same both within and outside the organization. 

This is followed by extensive EPIC Team Reports that are generated for managers which help them understand the DNA of their teams. Workshops on the theme “Creating Passionate Teams” are held for managers and HR team in which they are given the ‘know –how’ on building passion and productivity through various team interventions and action planning skills. The managers then taken appropriate action on the basis of the concerns and other features like top passion drivers of the team that emerges out as a result of their reports. Then they conduct interventions with individuals and teams in order to ensure that their passion and development is enhanced day by day.

EPIC focuses on Action Orientation through a platform called Post EPIC Effectiveness Tracker (PEET) that allows the managers to register the development interventions they conduct for their teams. It is a tool that measures and tracks the actions taken up by the managers towards team development. 

*Apart from all this, the year round engagement is kept alive throughout the year via various internal platforms such as Passion Club, Passion Wall, HCL MEME ( HCL’s Internal Social Networking platform) group Passionate HCLites : the Differentiators etc. Once we create communities of passion, we will be able to run self-run, self-governed and self-structured organization. 

   A Quick look at some interesting numbers: 
  • Number of Passion Stories at Passion Club: 323
  • Members in” Passionate HCLite: The Differentiator” Group at HCL: 1123
  • Number of EPIC Moments on Passion Wall: 3126

Analyzing the Results: The HCL DNA
In the year 2011 51,656 employees participated in EPIC. The participation data has increased tremendously year on year; the last three year’s status since the time of its inception is mentioned below:

 
Year
Number of HCLites who participated in EPIC Assessment
2009
25100
2010
40574
2011
51656

 An exhaustive and Meta-granular Analysis of the EPIC 2011 participation data of the organization has brought out the following TOP FIVE PASSION Indicators of HCL: 

1
Customer Centricity
2
Altruism
3
Autonomy
4
Diversity
5
Training & Learning

**True to its Employees First Customers Second Philosophy, has provided a platform to the HCLites where they can identify, build and know how to leverage their true Passion. It’s a bearing and quite a correlation that employees feel really passionate about their customers with Customer Centricity being their Top passion indicator. They are getting an environment where they can create value for the customers. Analysis reveals that HCLites believe in achieving customer delight. They would not hesitate in walking an extra mile to maintain good customer relationships.
                                    The second top passion indicator indicates that HCLites are helpful and do well for the well being of other employees without thinking about any personal benefit.  They like to be there for others without really expecting anything in return.  There has been a significant increase in the number of CSR initiatives like Power of One, DAAN that inspires HCLite to leverage their social responsible behaviors and interests.
                                     The third top passion indicator indicates that employees like to work without much interference and prefer to operate and take decisions on their own. They appreciate an environment where management trusts them and provides considerable freedom. They completely own the task assigned to them and ensure that it is executed from start to finish.
                                                                The fourth top passion indicator indicates that the employees love meeting new people and networking all across. They respect individual similarities and differences. Variety excites them and they are open to thoughts that force them to think in a different direction.
                                                                                         The fifth top passion indicator indicates that the employees continuously look forward to upgrade their competencies (knowledge, skills and behavior) that help them grow as an individual & as better professionals.

HCL is a “SOCIALLY” Motivated organization. Employees look at their Peers, friends and superiors for encouragement and motivation. Their connect with others is of high importance.

Gender wise analysis based on EPIC 2011 assessment data:

S.No
MALE
FEMALE
1
Customer Centricity
Customer Centricity
2
Autonomy
Altruism
3
Altruism
Diversity
4
Diversity
Task variety
5
Task variety
Autonomy

The top five passion indicators are same; only the priority changes for both male and female employees, interestingly the dominant theme of MALE employees is Social and FEMALE is Self i.e. this indicates that the female employees look within for motivation. They find reason and strength to achieve a goal without any external influence on them.

Talking about influence and impact….
This concept has been institutionalized at an organizational level at HCL through a rigorous R & D in the concerned area. EPIC unlike the employee engagement survey in which the HR pushes the employees to participate encourages voluntary participation. It was first launched in the year 2009 at HCL in which 25,100 employees participated. This participation figure jumped to as high as 40,574 in the year 2010, which then went on to a startling 51,656 in 2011. This it says a lot about the acceptance and enthusiasm among employees for this initiative.  Every HCL employee was eligible to participate irrespective of the band, location, gender, line of business and time spent in the organization.

A very striking correlation between Passion and Performance at HCL has revealed that 95% of the SUPER PERFORMERS at HCL are lying at the Engagement and Passion Level.

Unlike other organizations where such initiatives are driven by HR, HCL involved the employees in the launch as well as drive of EPIC 2011. An interesting campaign on “Passion Champs” was announced wherein employees from Delivery (Different LOBs at HCL) were invited to champion EPIC 2011. These Passion Champs were recognized via organization wide communication and rewarded by the EPIC Team. To name some are Senthil Kumaran and Mathew Paul Vizhalil who drove EPIC 2011 very enthusiastically and could bring highest participation in Chennai in their facilities, Kapil T who achieved maximum participation in his facility in NOIDA. Madhi Anand Kumar, Prankur Pruthi and Jagadeesh MM consistently involved masses, shared valuable feedbacks, passionately drove EPIC on MEME apart from driving it successfully in their facilities

 HCLites are fond of EPIC…Check this out… 
 Excerpts from HCL’s internal social networking platform, HCL MEME:



Our Message
The greatest advantage an organization can possess is “Passion”, Passion to outlive competition and emerge as an unmatchable entity. Passion is the underlying emotion that drives its employees towards excellence. It determines the motive for each action and decision that an organization takes. Passion is a competitive advantage that cannot be bought but needs to be leveraged by us. It can only be nurtured and fueled by the organization and its employees.

Linking Purpose with Passion gives full shape and life to an organization that is self sustaining and holds an environment where the extraordinary emerges from the ordinary. We are Passionate and have taken the challenge to create a difference, ARE YOU?  
 
Smiles
Ritu & Prerna


References:
·         Employee Passion Indicative Count Case Study published in Business World in 2010
·         Employees First, Customers Second by Vineet Nayar, Harvard Business Press, 2010.
·         Employee Passion:  The New Rules of Engagement by Ken Blanchard Companies
·         HCL Technologies puts Employees First, Customers Second by Jeffrey S. Hammond for Application Development & Delivery Professionals published in Forrester Research Inc.
·         Company website: www.hcltech.com