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MONDAY 25 MARCH 2013

Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar,Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune

Align goals with vision

Your organisation has a forward-looking strategic plan. Make sure employee goals are aligned with it

THINK STOCK

he demand for talent will never fizzle out. ture of the company and should be on the same For some time now, organisations have page as far as the bigger picture is concerned. been making genuine efforts to attend to At Welingkar, it has been our endeavour to the needs of their teams that make up their talbring out the best in all our team members. We ent reservoir in the same way they endeavour to support their aspirations and give them releachieve organisational goals and vision. vant exposures, projects and assignments that The synergy between individuals and their are catalytic to their growth. This not only helps respective organisations is the basic prerequisite them strengthen their mettle but also helps grow in this relevance harmony the managements confidence in between the two is a catalyst in them and unfolds wonderful results achieving the envisioned. A leader most of the times. is the link that ensures the two are We have a global citizen leaderaligned with each other and thus ship programme in place. Team complementing each others members are mentored and trained progress. While getting onboard the in their chosen areas, even sent for organisational deck, an individual training programmes at home and brings along his share of professionabroad, which contribute to their proal aspirations. The best outcome is fessional enrichment. In such cases, achieved when these aspirations run the professional development of the parallel to the organisational goals. individual percolates down the entire This can be ensured by gauging a set-up and both gain in the process. new hires career objectives at the Further, this supports our goal of protime of taking them in. Once the UDAY SALUNKHE ducing a team of world-class leaders individual knows that the ecosystem and managers that can get into leadand his aspirations have a genuine GROUP DIRECTOR, ership roles with ease irrespective of WELINGKAR INSTITUTE congruence, he gives his best and OF MANAGEMENT their geographies. blooms professionally. Incoming DEVELOPMENT & In an innovation ecosystem, crossteams should understand the cul- RESEARCH disciplinary teams cutting across

cliques and tags work on projects of their choice. This gives them scope to follow their own pursuits and realise their professional aspirations. Such an environment fosters passion and passion for ones work/profession is known to blur the line between personal and professional to a positive end. And a collaborative ecosystem breeds brilliance, ingenuity and true innovation. Faith in the competencies and integrity of the workers is another important element in building an enabling culture. It goes a long way in fostering a culture of trust and begets desirable results. At Welingkar, we do not question out team mates integrity they are aware of what is expected of them, and there exists a system of checks and balances to ensure the trust is not abused by any individual. We ensure that reprimand is always private and praise is public. Another factor to be kept in mind while hiring talent is diversity. A diverse team brings a wide range of perspectives, experiences and attitudes to the table, thereby generating unique dynamics that is more wide-ranging in its scope, breadth and depth, and thus better equipped to tackle complex problems and challenges. A diverse team also adds to individual professional enhancement. Our teams are made up

of individuals with diverse backgrounds, proinnate talent, engage them and integrate them fessional exposures and areas of expertise. Each into the culture of the organisation. contribute immensely to the team as whole and Each organisation has some beliefs and are passionate about their role in the set up. themes they are passionate about, lending Each one is valued; driven only by performance uniqueness to them. For instance, our set up is energy, agility, innovation and relevancy. drawn to entrepreneurship, inclusive growth, Taking diversity a step further, as a team, we innovation and design thinking. These in turn do not follow the conventional hierarchical draw us to talent who see these same qualities as structure when it comes to being open to, and their driving force. promoting, new ideas. There are platA case in point is Professor forms in place where teams can open- Faith in the Kaustubh Dhargalkar. He had been an ly share their ideas, feedback and cre- competencies entrepreneur with three companies ative suggestions for problem-solving. and integrity of under him; but that limited his circle However, divergence in perspec- the workers is of influence to around 70. His ambitives may at times result in conflicts important for tion to spark the same entrepreneurial and we have a well designated team to building an spirit in many more drew him to defuse these at the earliest. It has been enabling culture Welingkar. His mentorship has proan organisation-wide plan for resolvduced a number of successful entreing workplace conflicts amicably. preneurs some of them have been Our ecosystem is more like a large family, acknowledged internationally for their initiawhere individuals are respected for what they tives. Dhargalkar has been advisor to many bring to the table. We are interested in every indireputed organisations and as an expert in this vidual team members aspirations and growth, field, he is a regular visitor to renowned institand make sure they are put in roles and teams utes worldwide. where they can best contribute to the organisation Every company that manages to attract and and grow professionally. We have a genuine conretain the best talent is a company where organcern in their well being and growth and it has isational goals and individual development have always been reciprocated. We try to nurture their become inextricably entwined.

CURRENT DILEMMA

WORK FROM HOME

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Ann Mayers decision to end telecommuting has evoked strong reactions and has divided opinion. Will this mark the beginning of an industry trend with more organisations urging employees to return to office? Or is it time to assess the traditional work-from-home structure and design new ways to ensure discipline and improve productivity?

Self-discipline versus regulation

hile there is no substitute to a personal interaction to derive the best output, its also a fact that today the pace of activities and demands on time dont always permit this beautiful luxury. Work cultures are evolving, with plenty of room for innovative models to emerge fuelled by technological advances, cost consciousness and work-life balance considerations. Look around: Cities are fast turning into megapolises resulting in maniacal traffic with stress levels breaching all records. To bring some sanity and efficiency into ones working life, its no surprise that work from home has gained currency. Apart from the obvious advantages, it also gives an opportunity to employees who are interested in investing in skill enhancement. With technological advancements, neither is it necessary to be physically present for all internal meetings, presentations or team interactions. Today, one is connected real time through video calls even on the move thanks to JYORDEN T MISRA portable and hand-held devices. FOUNDING MEMBER & Accessing proprietary internal MD, SPEARHEAD data/information has never been INTERSEARCH easier with anywhere-anytime options readily available. If the benefits are many, why did that one company, which is seen as a pioneer and brand ambassador of the idea roll back this privilege? The now famous memo sent to Yahoo! employees by its CEO says: Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from homeWe need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with being physically together. This trend is not new we have seen something like this happening in organisations like IBM, Twitter, Google all of them have been asking their employees to work from their offices, as they believe it creates a more collaborative environment. The CFO of Google, Patrick Pichette, has even said he believes that working from home could isolate employees from other staff. At an event last

month, he reportedly said: The surprising question we get is: How many people telecommute at Google? And our answer is: As few as possible. On the other hand, many individuals rank working from home a higher perk than being given, say, a company car. When Yahoo! formally announced its decision to roll back work-from-home, Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin Group, said, This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever. The truth is that Yahoo! has seen three years of declining revenue and Marissa Ann Mayer, president and CEO of the company, has the responsibility of the stakeholders and the company on her shoulders. For her, the best way to promote innovation in the company is by face-toface interaction. The reason why many organisations are disillusioned with this concept lies in the complexities of human nature. Like many privileges, work-from-home is vulnerable to misuse. For it to succeed, transparent guidelines should be laid out by the company. There should be a framework of checks and balances that protects the organisations interests. In the absence of a firm, well designed architecture that helps measure the overall compliance of expectations (delivery) and value (productivity), it becomes very difficult for the organisation and the employee to maintain a long-distance relationship. A key area of concern is that employees often feel demotivated so there has to be incentives so that she feels supported even while working from a remote location. Here are some areas where organisations need to focus on: Setting milestones and targets with clearly defined timelines. Ensuring shorter review cycles to keep feedback and course correction mechanisms operational. Keep team-interaction alive through telecons, video conferences and other media. If there is clarity in the role of the individual and the expectations of an organisation, then I dont see why work-from-home cant work effectively.

believe Marissa Mayer is right in taking stock of the situation at Yahoo!. Only a policy audit can assess the impact of a stringent decision like this. Company as an enabler and home as an enabler are two sides of the same coin. Let us first look at the role of a company and I would address this issue from the point of view of IT companies. Ideally, a progressive idea like work from home should be a part of the HR policy of companies. HCL gives this option to both male and female employees. One has to look at the profile of an employee before allowing him/her an arrangement like this. For instance, it may not be right to offer work from home to an employee who provides customer support. Or, to someone who looks after data security. Other examples include job profiles with responsibilities related to onsite production. Not to forget, IT profiles are all about team work and interdependencies. The other side of the coin has home as an enabler in productivity. While metros and small towns have been witnessing realty boom for many years now, providing more space to people of various income groups, the average Indian household is too noisy for any employee to remain productive. Many cultural and social factors come into play. Over the years, my interactions with working women have been enlightening and surprising. Recently, I spoke to a mother of two who explained how her housemaid decided to take her work casually. She assumed that since the lady was now at home all the time she was free to look into domestic chores. At times, the extended family takes you for granted just because they see you around all the time. Innovation happens when conflict of ideas are constructively leveraged in the work place. While I support that people can share ideas from anywhere, some amount of brainstorming needs face-to-face meet-

ings. This is especially true in an IT company which has to serve customers across the globe and face new problems to solve every day. Moreover, developmental needs such as cross-functional interactions, mentoring, and leadership workshops can only be fulfilled by physically attending the office. Having said that, sometimes people need time alone to focus their creative energies for a specific project. This can, therefore, have a positive impact on peoples careers. However, work-from-home has its own limitations, ranging from lack of self-discipline, distractions created by children/spouse and other family members, poor communication and understanding among team members. In India, theres no concept of home office. Even today, data connectivity and security is a challenge in our country. All these factors play a huge role in bringing down employee proSRIMATHI ductivity. Its totally up to the SHIVASHANKAR employees how effectively they manage their time to bring in a AVP & HEAD DIVERSITY & SUSTAINABILITY, HCL work-life balance. In the West, TECHNOLOGIES organisations have clear policies on the required home infrastructure for employees opting for work from home. I do not see any reason why Yahoo!s decision should make other companies who allow work from home rethink their HR policies. It will be regressive on part of any company to make a hasty decision on an issue as sensitive as this. At the same time, it wont come as a surprise if more people will prefer coming to the office over work from home. HR policies reflect the culture of a company and today we see employers opting for softer policies to promote inclusion of the right talent. Alternate policies are the need of the hour.