NEW DELHI, INDIA: In the midst of recession when news about layoffs doesn’t shock any more, HCL has won the award for developing human capital. It is its 'Employee First Customers Second' philosophy, which placed it on top this year, right from the fifth position last year.

Under the 'Employee First' philosophy, employee councils brainstormed, designed and rolled out programs along six themes — talent, grey cells, community service, sports, wellness and women. These programs ranging from work-life balance programs to "go green" kept the employees active and motivated.

"Our women first program also created a sensitive culture and gave women wings to fly high. We offered programs on safety/security, flexi policies, maternity and lifestyle," says Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies.

With the total of 52,957 employees all over the world, HCL is planning to expand its functions and open more delivery centers in Brazil and North Carolina in the spring/summer of 2009.

It was a challenge for the company to manage attrition in 2008. "Through our ‘Employee First’ philosophy, which is based on the premise that delighted employees create delighted customers and thereby sustain business success (internally and externally), we provided HCL-ite not just a ‘job’, but also a ‘career',” observes says Vineet Nayar.

“It created a critical difference in choosing between two opportunities. Initiatives such as 'Career Power' and 'iLearn' also leveraged increasing employee engagement thereby reducing attrition."

iLearn, HCL’s learning-management system, is a Web-based distributed application that facilitates managing the development and performance of people within an organization.

HCL’s other human development policies also gave HCL-ites extra reason to smile. Consistently high performing employees (outstanding in two years) were recognized under the O2 League. There were dedicated engagement programs customized to this group of consistent top performers.
 
Its one-stop portal, Career Power, empowered employees to manage their careers effectively in HCL in a structured manner by creating transparency and visibility. It also provided a number of key career resources like career counselors, reflective instruments, career development action plan, and such.

Through this program, employees learned about career landscapes, heightened self-awareness through reflective exercises, set a career goal, developed a career development action plan and harvested the goal.

It provided the fulcrum for insider edge — internal job posting portal and competency enhancement program, where outstanding performers were given fast track career progression.

"For employees, it was a self-propelled and enduring career management and development engine that put them in the driver’s seat to navigate their careers in HCL and had an enriching and fulfilling career experience in HCL and for HCL,” adds Vineet.

“It is such a powerful platform that seeks to bring about the best match between business requirements/opportunities available with the career goals/future aspirations of the employee, thus taking it closer to being an 'Employer of Choice'," he says.
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