Best companies to work for

Neetu Mathur has worked with three banks in the past five years without resigning from any. Now, she is happy as a branch manager at HDFC Bank. Sunil Kulwal was heading the chemicals division of Grasim Industries in Madhya Pradesh when a new career was opened up for him in Australia at a group company's mining business. Patricia R. Fenandoe has been with IBM India for 17 years and has no plans to jump ship for money because flexibility of roles and working hours is more important to her.

Mathur, Kulwal and Fenandoe are just some of the faces that will pop up in the following pages with their tales of the workplace as we present the latest edition of Business Today's Best Companies to Work for. (CEOs and HR bosses need not worry: This edition also names the companies that are the best workplaces. And quite a few old favourites figure again.)

Why are we talking of employees first? There has been a vast shift in the methodology this year as BT decided to make it the most comprehensive survey ever. Also, each of the tales cited disclose new trends at the workplace (more about that later).

The methodology change first. For one, we decided to bypass the companies and go straight to the employees, 8,500 of them, across industries, cities, age-groups, functions, et al. We asked them to rate their choice by six factors.

Second, and again for the first time, we decided to rank companies sector by sector and across sectors. So, when we asked respondents about the best company to work for across sectors, we had not flipped. If a nuts-and-bolts engineering major like Larsen and Toubro has to set up an infotech division to retain talent, it shows that the best companies today not only poach from industry rivals, but from other sectors. And nobody wants to lose talent. (That talent thing threw up another amazing fact. Staid old public sector companies like BHEL or NTPC, which are way behind the private sector on the compensation front, are deep wells of talent for India Inc.)

The cross-sectoral approach gave us some surprising feedback. For example, employees across a swathe of industries ranked ICICI Bank at an overall #19 while sure and safe SBI was up there at #7. But respondents from the banking and financial services industry ranked ICICI Bank at #1.

Clearly, while it may be easy for a player like ICICI Bank to attract talent from BFSI, it may face tough competition in crosssector hiring. In contrast, technology multinational Microsoft India is the preferred choice for employees across industries, but loses out to other software services giants in the sector rankings.

Public Memory is Short

Some of the companies in the Top 10 happened to be the biggest retrenchers during the 2009 downturn. Go figure. Take Rakesh Sharma (name changed on request), who was told by his employer Microsoft India (ranked #5) one day that his role no longer existed. Sharma had joined Microsoft's 'Unlimited Potential Group' in Mumbai in July 2008, and had barely settled when the global financial crisis spawned dark clouds of worry. In December 2008, when Microsoft laid off its first set of people globally, India was not affected. Then, in mid-April 2009, Microsoft told him and a few others that the downturn had impacted their role and it no longer existed. In May, the company broke the news to him that he was being let go.

"…It was a shock. I had joined Microsoft thinking it would be long-term," recalls the 39-year-old marketing veteran. He was given two months notice. But what happened subsequently shows the remarkable face of the new workplace. Sharma was told he could still look for other roles within and that he was being let go because he was in a project that no longer existed.

The HR department provided him and others with a list of jobs. The second list had two potential openings. Sharma went through the entire hiring process all over again and was selected for the core marketing group in June 2009 at a new location, Gurgaon. "I re-joined Microsoft because I still value it as a company though I did not expect a layoff from it," he says. What was the biggest learning for the Indian workforce in the 'Year of Layoffs'? That people rationalisation is a business imperative. As the survey shows, this lesson has been understood well. And may be this is why quite a few retrenchers figure in the Top 10. For employees, the new worry now is not about being retrenched but about how the employer handles the layoffs.

"People would consider the way in which layoffs were handled and how people were treated, even if redundancies were necessary," says Sonal Agrawal, CEO, Accord Group India.

This sensitivity is appreciated by many HR bosses, and BT has not ignored their feedback or the good work they do from behind the scenes, steering careers of CEOs or making the factory floor better. But this study is clearly driven by employee perception.

The unusual year gone by created many new patterns, upsetting old ones.

Pedigree Matters...

So does size. And whosoever thought otherwise got it wrong. Says N.S. Rajan, Partner and Global Leader (HR Advisory), Ernst and Young, "Traditionally, people make informed choices on two key factors. They look for a good name—it's a stepping stone... it's easier for an employee to go from a great company to another great company than a small company to a big company. An equally important factor is how a company manages itself. People want to join companies that have the capability to surmount adversity and have the right leadership. …the presence of such factors will mean the organisation will handle people issues better."

The big ships are also perceived to be safer. Infosys Technologies is 100,000-plus employees and growing, Tata Consultancy Services is 125,000-plus,…. Microsoft, Google, and HDFC Bank are exceptions to this in the top 10. "Microsoft and Google are the aspirational brands for the young and the restless," says E. Balaji, CEO, Ma Foi Consultants.

The survey also highlighted how prospective employees began to appreciate the career growth and stability offered by public sector companies in the backdrop of the recession and job cuts. If B-School grads preferred PSU banks over Merrill Lynch, why should ONGC (#13), NTPC (#21) and BHEL (#24) be left behind? Such was the impact that telecom sector employees rated Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd ahead of the ADAG group's Reliance Communications and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel in the survey sweepstakes. BSNL is ranked 32nd in the overall rankings.

Reasons Balaji: "Banking and telecom players like SBI and BSNL have faced stiff competition from the private sector in recent years. As a result, these organisations are savvy and agile unlike other PSUs with monopolies."

Public sector companies are being seen in a positive light by employees across levels and across age groups. Says Accord's Agrawal: "Given the fact that MNCs have suffered globally, many professionals look at Indian companies with a less jaundiced eye."

Moolah Loses Sheen...

At his office in Bangalore, Rajesh A.R., Vice President of staffing firmTeamLease Services, frequently meets managers asking questions that were unheard of a couple of years ago. What is the organisation culture? Does it help its managers to re-skill? How does it treat its employees in bad times?

"Often none of the initial queries is about compensation," Rajesh says.

Career and Personal Growth has displaced Compensation as the single most important factor in deciding the Best Employer across industries, age groups, regions and all socio-economic groups. At the top, the questions get even more intense. "Now it's about getting to know the core team, drivers of India plans and level of commitment on the part of the company," says Manisha Deva, Client Partner, Global Financial Markets, Korn/Ferry International India. The verdict is clear. Organisations that are transparent and sensitive will attract employees even if they do not offer top-notch compensation.

As Y.V. Verma, COO, LG Electronics India, puts it: "Money attracts people, but it is a hygiene factor. If you get less money, you will be unhappy. But if you get more money, it does not mean you will be happier. Money is a factor to attract, but doesn't make them stick."

"Top factors that attract will be opportunities to learn; top management and possibilities of career growth," adds Verma. There's one exception to this overall trend of compensation being pushed down. Software sector professionals attach high importance to compensation, and very little to job content—global brands and global aspirations. The workforce here rates its employers the lowest across factors and thinks their companies are the worst paymasters. Junior Wiproites complain that they work for salaries at least 20 per cent less than those at global rivals.

Global compensation or not, the sheen of IT companies is unlikely to wane. "IT companies have built Brand India globally. Over the last year, we have seen an influx of engineers in other sectors. When the economic trend reverses, they will again flock to IT," says Sanjeev Bikhchandani, CEO, Naukri.com.

People Quit Bosses...

... not companies. Forget that. Another axiom just bit the dust: The respondents showed that an employee's relationship with his or her boss is no longer a deciding or even an important factor. Now, it seems, lack of career growth and compensation have become the major reasons for employee discontent. Even job stress is no longer a big factor. To get the best hires to stick around, employers would do well to customise the carrots being offered. Entry-level employees and the ITES workforce stress money.

For middle managers, it is all about job satisfaction and role fitment. "Next comes the culture of an organisation, and the behaviour of your seniors. Money at this level comes after these factors," says Asim Handa, Country Manager, Futurestep India. Krish Shankar, Director-HR, Bharti Airtel differs. Says Shankar, "People first start looking to leave when there are issues with the job or the boss. If the job is very good, people will stick with a bad boss."

Bikhchandani disagrees. "Discontent starts with the relationship not working with the superior. What binds the people to an organisation is relationship. A lot depends on the networks you build, but when people leave, they do leave bosses."

Gautam Chainani, Chief People Officer, Aditya Birla Financial Services Group, cites three top trends spawned by the recession and the job cuts. First, the Indian social fabric also evolved together with the employee. Second, employees started putting job and career over salary. Third, executives looking for change decided to wait longer for the right opportunity.

Enough debating. BT went looking for best employers in one of the worst years for jobseekers, companies and HR alike. Read on to see what we found.