Best companies to work for: Work culture continues to drive employees

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A myriad things go into creating a company where people enjoy working and would like to stay on. You need competitive salaries, timely promotions and learning opportunities. And then there are the intangibles. What is a good dish without care and love lavished on its preparation, or the right ambience in which it is served? So, does a company make employees' roles clear to them? Does it care for diversity? How does it downsize?

In this season of appraisals, when white forms in brown envelopes are landing on workstations, you may find these questions sloshing around in numerous minds - employees' as well as employers'. For the answers, Business Today, in its 11th listing of the Best Companies to Work for, brings to you the results of an Indicus Analytics survey spanning 6,176 employees - 12 per cent of them women - across 4,436 companies in 323 towns and cities.

Predictably, money is a key consideration, especially at the lower rungs of the ladder. Growth prospects are almost as critical. However, CEOs and heads of human resources (HR) would do well to pay attention to a third dimension; for, the culture of a place is increasingly vying with compensation and growth in defining the appeal of an employer.

"Many people tend to accept whatever comes their way when they begin their careers," says Hitesh Oberoi, the CEO of Info Edge India, which owns job portal Naukri.com. "Even so, young people today also ask about the work culture."

They want to know if the company is really one where they can build their careers. At senior levels, too, most professionals seek more than a good salary.

So, you would think, the simple solution lies in providing a good work culture. But that's simpler said than done. After all, who is to say what constitutes good culture?


"There comes a time when you have to ask yourself: 'Do I wish to be with the company I want, or do I want to be with a company that wants me?'" says C.C. Lakshmanan, Head of Research and Development (R&D) at ITC. Lakshmanan joined the cigarettes, hotels and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) behemoth in 1995. Four years later, he left for General Electric to set up its advanced science and technology R&D in Bangalore. He returned to ITC in 2005, mainly because he wanted to set up another R&D centre from scratch.

"How often do people get the opportunity to join an established company and develop a blueprint?" he asks. "Besides, the growth of the company was compelling."

In speaking of growth, Lakshmanan speaks for all high-performing managers, who are estimated to comprise 15 to 20 per cent of the working population. For the others, there are other considerations.

"For the bulk of the employees, a good workplace really means one which provides a secure job, and one which does not ask too many questions about performance," says K. Sudarshan, Managing Partner with executive search firm EMA Partners India.

Overall, the data suggests that the key to employee engagement lies in providing growth opportunities, varied roles and empowerment.

Take FMCG company, Agro Tech Foods, best known for its instant pop corn brand, ACT II. Gaurav Gupta, who upon joining the company after graduating from Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, seven years ago, was made Area Manager for Punjab.

After two years, he was looking after Delhi and has since risen to Group Product Manager in charge of the popcorn division. "Once they know your ability, they give you responsibility and trust you to take decisions," he says. Agro Tech is majority owned by US foods giant, ConAgra Foods. Adds Narasimha Rao, the company's Vice President of HR: "Young people are hungry for experience and we believe in letting them acquire it." Agro Tech's attrition rate, at 15 per cent overall and less than five per cent for key executives, is rivals' envy.

[BookmyDth]

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[suntechseo5]

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