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