HDFC Bank: How the banking behemoth is revolutionising work culture

“We have to find a home for ourselves. We have found a home in our own family company,” said Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, when its merger with HDFC Bank was announced last year. In fact, Parekh, 78, had laid the foundation of the bank that is now taking over its parent company. So how does HDFC Bank plan to welcome the 3,900-odd people of HDFC Ltd into its home?

“It’s unlike any other merger,” says Vinay Razdan, Chief Human Resources Officer of HDFC Bank, the country’s second-largest lender by assets. “There is an umbilical cord, which has been present throughout because of the parent company. It will be an understatement to say that we are deeply conscious and aware of it,” says Razdan, who has previously worked at Idea Cellular, HCL Technologies, and ITC.

It seems the employees of the mortgage giant are certainly in good company as the bank’s success over the past three decades is the result of a happy workforce. While the integration with HDFC will start soon, the bank is already in the midst of a cultural transformation journey—‘The HDFC Bank Way’, which is defined by six pillars: integrity, execution, innovation, humility, inclusion, and collaboration—to welcome HDFC Ltd’s workforce.

For the incoming employees—who are looking forward to joining the bank by June this year—the successful banking platform would be a big incentive. Razdan, who joined in September 2018, is already in the thick of things. In fact, the succession process of long-serving CEO Aditya Puri was well underway when he joined. And later, the Covid-19 pandemic struck. An amicable merger was launched just as the bank was emerging from these challenges. But, Razdan is completely focussed on making the merger successful, especially from the employees’ standpoint. “You must still dot the i’s and cross the t’s, which means that all the employees of the merged entity must be aligned towards a single goal. The level of satisfaction is never collective, but rather individual. You have to get it right for each one of those people,” he explains.

Amid this, Razdan is spending significant time understanding the roles, responsibilities and areas of expertise of the incoming workforce. The parent firm has 3,900 specialised people compared to the bank’s 170,000; it has fewer employees as it offers a single product (home loans). Undoubtedly, the merger will open up bigger career opportunities for employees of the mortgage lender. “People who want to pursue their careers across different product lines and functions will find very interesting opportunities. And those who are already doing so, will see a shift in the scale of operations,” says Razdan.

For smooth integration, senior employees from both sides meet frequently. “A bank is a highly regulated entity. Many things are defined as a construct, in which you have to operate,” says Razdan. For example, the branch manager of HDFC Ltd is in charge of all activities carried out under one roof, including lead generation, credit evaluation, disbursement, loan servicing, and business development operations. But, “by definition, credit and business cannot be together in a banking business from a risk point of view”, says Razdan.

Currently, the bank is stabilising under a new leader, Sashidhar Jagdishan, who took over as MD & CEO in October 2020. Jagdishan has grown through the ranks. Starting as a manager in the bank’s finance department in the mid-1990s, he was elevated as the ‘strategic change agent’ in 2019, which was a move to position him as one of the candidates to succeed Puri. Clearly, Jagdishan has inherited a very large organisation, which is now taking the next big leap by absorbing its parent.

More than half of HDFC Bank’s branches are outside the metros and urban centres. That’s where the bank is doing most of its hiring, and that’s where Jagdishan is leading from the front. In the past few months, Jagdishan has toured close to a dozen states. These are bus tours that he undertakes along with 30-40 junior and mid-level leaders. Each tour lasts four-five days and covers a selected region, which are not top-tier towns and cities, but far-flung areas.

During the tours, young leaders make presentations to the MD & CEO. The bus has been modified to include facilities like presentations, etc. Once on the road, Jagdishan makes it a point to visit the branches, meet employees and also interact with customers.

According to Razdan, one of the key messages that Jagdishan is delivering with great emphasis to everyone is about building a caring and great culture at the bank. “If we are able to take better care of our employees, they will take better care of our customers,” stresses Razdan.

No wonder that HDFC Bank has emerged among the top companies in the BT-Taggd Best Companies to Work For in India study this year. The survey found it in high standing in areas like fair and objective processes, growth and learning opportunities and flexibility at work.

Recently, when Razdan bumped into the CEO, Jagdishan told him about a list of the 1,000-plus items coming out of his bus tour. “This is our homework,” Jagdishan told him. These are the actionable items with feedback from employees on the ground. Clearly, Razdan and the senior management team members have their plates full till Jagdishan goes on his next bus tour.

@anandadhikari