My Story- How our Great Place to Work journey

has changed me and what have I learnt.

August 3rd, 2012 , Mumbai

My Professional Journey : Lessons Learnt & the Big Goal

• International Banker: 1975 to 2004 - Period of Learning

• Social Entrepreneur – ‘My Calling’: 2005 till date

Goal : Build the Best Financial Services Organization for the

Financially Excluded.

Task as CEO : Build the Organizational Culture.

Key Pillar for Organization recognized: ‘Best Place to Work’

The Start of the Journey: Citibank, 1975-1993

Proud to be a ‘Citibanker’ – Citibank truly a Great Place to Work

Good: Work colleagues of highest caliber

Development & Training

Entrepreneurial – Not afraid to fail

Evolved into a truly multinational organization

Permanent change at the cutting edge

Bad: Over competitive & ambitious

Poor succession planning at the top

Middle of the Road: Standard Chartered, HDFC Bank & Bank Muscat : 1993-2004

A mixed bag of experiences & lessons:

• Hierarchical – Vestiges of colonial culture

•Corrosively political

•Lacked vision & stomach

•Highly risk averse : Safe to follow the market leader & be Second

Best / Penalized failure

Ujjivan Financial Services

Facts: 1.09 million+ customers spread in 20 states

296 branches served through 3374 employees;

People Intensive business

Work conditions: Customer interactions are ‘person –to–person’

Work area - slums, one of the most difficult physical places

Engagement is about : Pride in what we do : ‘building a better life’

Daily see the positive impact on customers

Mission : Provide financial services to the economically active poor, to help alleviate poverty

When I look at what

we accomplish, I feel

a sense of pride:

Ujjivan 97%;

India’s Best : 88%

Our

employees

imbibe the

whole mission

of the

organization

I feel good about the

ways we contribute to

the society:

Ujjivan 95%;

India’s Best : 88%

Imbibing the Mission

Right Hire:

•Field Staff recruitment Customer & Employee Referral

•Pre-recruitment exposure at branch mandatory for all managerial positions;

Right Orientation:

•Staff go through an Induction Program involves 4 days in the field;

Living the mission:

•Employees run their Social Development Programs (SDPs)

•Disaster Relief sponsored & undertaken by Staff & Ujjivan equally

Over 63% of

field staff hire

is through

customer &

employee

referral

program

SDP coverage

192 branches

covered

71000

children &

over 50,000

families

Ujjivan employees living the Mission

Flood Fury in Bhagalpur, Bihar: 1200 Clients affected; Dec 2011 Cyclone Tamil Nadu: 3100 customers affected;

Building the Culture : Open, Equitable & Celebrate

Employee & Customer Connect Program:

•Field Staff Representatives Meetings : listen & resolve HR and business issues;

•Branch /Customer visit for all employees & Experience/Knowledge sharing

Intranet & Blog

Timely, Fair & Equitable Compensation across levels:

•Equitable & timely compensation even through crisis;

•ESOP at all levels

Recognize & Celebrate Success & Outstanding Work

ESOP across

‘Driver to CEO’

66% of employees

covered

Building the Culture : Constant Change & Transparent

Helping People with Change :

•Constantly evolving & changing;

•Emphasis on training

•7‘O clock rule : work life balance

•Transparent organization:

•Access to leadership i.e. Staff escalations on Performance Evaluation acted on;

•Leadership Dipstick Survey –bottom-up feedback process;

•Policies on all issues accessible to all employees.

Over 60,000 training man days; 22 days per

employee

GPTW : Management shows sincere interest in me as a person, not just as an employee :

Ujjivan 88%; India’s Best 78%

Impact of GPTW

Employee Feedback: GPTW Survey Results employee feedback

(in the absence of internal survey);

Benchmarking: Helps us benchmark ourselves against Best

People Practices across the Industry

Winning Helps: Consistently being in the top rung for 4 years &

being among Top 25 in the country - big morale booster and adds

to brand value of Ujjivan.

MFI Transparency Award 2010

Microfinance Organisation of the Year 2011