Work Culture: Keane India

Winning employee loyalty in changing environs

Punita Jasrotia Phukan / New Delhi

Mergers and acquisitions are not new for people working with Keane India. What stands apart is their team spirit and enthusiasm. Founded in 1982, the company has undergone many changes (in name) since its inception and today it is a 100 percent subsidiary of Keane Inc. Keane India, however, did not have to undergo any drastic changes in its HR policies at the time of the takeover.

The company’s range of services includes application outsourcing, total IT management, e-business and quality consultancy. Delivering through different business models, Keane India offers its services in verticals like transportation, financial services, healthcare, hospitality and consumer products sector.

Belief in values

Harjeet Brar, head of corporate human resource and administration department in Keane India, believes that the HR success in his company has been the result of a judicious balance between the right kind of empowerment and work discipline. The company’s core values are: respect for individuals, integrity, achievement through teamwork, communication, soft skills and stability. "Our aim is to go beyond the satisfactory levels of compensation and provide a challenging and rewarding work environment through goal-setting, scientific performance and good productivity management," he says.

Recruitment

Following the dictum of ‘Recruit Quality Resource, Nurture and Retain’, the company has dedicated an in-house national ‘resource cell’, which takes care of their recruitment requirements through a stringent selection process. In addition, the company also undertakes campus recruitment. The last two-three years have seen the company introduce psychometric tests for recruiting individuals. Once the recruitment process is over, an individual is put on three-six weeks of training, out of which the induction training is for 10 days.

Training is also used as an important skill-enhancer for career development of the staff members. It is understood that the company has been recruiting close to a hundred people every month. By mid next year, the organisation is expecting to increase its work strength to 1,500. The company presently has close to 879 professionals, spread across its Noida, Hyderabad and US offices.

Training

Meticulous attention is devoted to training, development and career planning of employees so that individual aspirations as well as organisational requirements are met. There are specialised training programmes for technological enhancement and also soft-skills courses.

The Keane School of Exce-llence at Hyder-abad caters to various technical training activities. In addition, the company also uses the services of My-SmartForce.com, as a self-study tool, in conjunction with their faculty training. Besides, the company has also developed its own learning portal, which acts as a good repository for the business.

To develop the competence of their middle level managers in leadership, managerial and soft skills, the company conducts a special course called the ‘Management Development Programme’.

Surveys: Self-improvement tools

Surveys are most mostly used as self-improvement tools by the company. With a strong emphasis on quality, the company has conducted many surveys (including employee satisfaction, employee interest and salary surveys). According to Brar, the finding of these surveys forms the basis for continual improvement and upgradation of the working environment.

A recent employee satisfaction survey showed a very positive trend. As per the survey, what really motivates employees to work in Keane are issues like team relations, organisational process, image of the company, work and task achievement and internal communication. Job security was another critical factor that encouraged them to remain with the company.

The other factors include good working environment, empowerment and innovation, leadership and management style.

HR policies

At Keane India, the ‘can do’ spirit is the connecting factor. The company lays a lot of emphasis on quality initiatives. Besides having ISO 9001:2000 and CMM Level 5 certification, the company is now pursuing CMMi and PCMM level certifications. It is understood that this will happen in the second quarter of next year.

Communication is another important aspect of Keane India’s HR policy. Facility-wide open houses are conducted periodically, chaired by the managing director. The employees are updated with the business focus, the past
happenings and future plans of the organisation.

Open houses are also a forum for recognising deserving associates and for announcing and distributing the Annual Performance Excellence Awards. Business unit open houses are also held periodically to apprise employees with project updates, client visits, forthcoming opportunities and any other major events/ initiatives.

On a lighter note, to encourage interaction at a personal level, and to break the monotony of the daily routine and enliven the spirits of the associates, social events are organised on a regular basis. These consist of small contests, quizzes, festival get-togethers and also large-scale social evenings/parties/picnics where the associates’ families also join everyone.