Anish R, HR Director, South Asia, Intel, says that managing the ‘life requirements’ of employees is a big driving factor for them and all their activities are guided around this philosophy. The company has a strong emphasis on family, extra-curricular activities and volunteerism

The culture at Intel has always been open with communication becoming very integral to the whole organisation. There are regular business update meetings every quarter, along with dissemination of corporate information worldwide giving enough clarity to the employees.

According to Shailesh Rao, MD, Google India, there are four key characteristics they look at for in any prospective employee — purpose driven, cognitive ability, requisite work experience and leadership qualities. In essence, Google always look for smart and exceptional people.

The entrepreneurial fervour runs very strongly within Google giving its people the maximum flexibility in terms of the work they would like to do. This is ably aided by lesser levels of managerial team allowing a free flow of information within the organisation. For example, appraisals in Google are not done just by the superiors but also by the peers and subordinates.

It has even doubled the life insurance coverage to twice the gross salary of employees. The telecom major’s Indian arm plans to emulate the ‘Global Intern Program’ , which involves offering interns the same benefits as regular employees, like stock options, relocation and housing assistance. Almost 30% of interns are absorbed in the company.

To satisfy the entrepreneurial quest of employees, Qualcomm has started a QIN or, Qualcomm Innovation Network to help brilliant minds start their own ‘companies’ within the company. As part of the annual QIN Day, the companies start trading on a virtual exchange and employees buy their shares. The company with the highest ‘share price’ gets funded and Qualcomm helps the company to bring it to market.

Apart from offering the work from home option, it’s the environment at Qualcomm that makes people stick on.

During its recent global restructuring, which saw them letting go 6% of their workforce, they took utmost care so as to see that that the affected employees were not being left high and dry. To quote an example, they even allowed their employees to download whatever they had on their computers without any kind of interference or monitoring from the HR department.

This handholding is also extended to the inducted employee who is given further integration by a senior employee of the company, in what is known as TOASTtraining on all special things.

The company lives up to its `Express Yourself’ tagline by directing function-specific recruitment tools to distinguish high potential candidates in specific jobs. Again, tools like skip level meetings (employees get to meet their skip or one level above their reporting managers) and reverse mentoring for mobile business board members by the younger generation, provide a level playing field across generations. Add to that robust leadership development initiatives across levels and better work-life balance (employees are discouraged to sit in office beyond 8 pm).

Generation Y (Gen Y), 50% of Agilent’s workforce, naturally is at its core. So, all initiatives are directed to touch the youth. That includes compensatory off and travel during weekdays. Also, employees are given four hours of paid time off every month to work on Agilent’s CSR initiatives.

High on the ex-factor, flowers and missing-you-cards are sent out for former employees. The twin recreation clubs – Chaupal and Taffari – are also quite a draw, as are in-house functions like ‘Family Day’, wherein spouse and kids visit the workplace. And nobody’s complaining with the Corbus Cultural Committee organising events, like Corbus Week, Monthly Event, Get-Together, Annual Day et al.

The top 10 per cent key performers in the company – `Bar Raisers’ – form part of the selection process (mandatory). They have a veto power in the selection and direct access to the CEO in case of nonconcurrence in hiring. Tavant has an internal whitepaper contest that helps employees venture into new areas, especially emerging technologies that they may not be exposed to in their current projects. Those who submit well-researched whitepapers gain recognition and attractive prizes.

In the PAL (Parent, Anchor and Leader) induction programme, each batch is divided into three houses (the Houses of Imagination, Action and Joy) and each house has 200 campus minds and a PAL (Parent, Anchor and Leader). But the minds are without fear as both immediate and long-term goals are addressed. Hence, short-term projects and practices as well as longer-term objectives of instilling self-leadership, values and professionalism, are given their due.

The company’s informal mentoring programme provides opportunities to all global employees regardless of their location, level, business or function. Mentors and mentees are paired through an automated ‘matching’ system called the informal mentoring system (IMS). The mentor-mentee relationship then blooms into a positive equation for long-term objectives of the company.