Authors:

Aditi Bhattacharya SDMIMD

Gaurav Kar SDMIMD

Sudipta Pan SDMIMD

Empowerment through Leadership & Motivation in IT & ITES Sector

Empowerment through

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

Abstract

Based on Indian mythology, practical experiences on empowerment in India and abroad and

many experiences of different researchers in the field an attempt has been made to describe

the process of empowerment- how with what effects, it can be used in Indian corporations to

accomplish excellence. It can enable them to produce at the lowest cost, with better quality

and at a faster pace than their global competitors.

As we understand, empowerment has two facets, they are Fracturing bureaucracy and trust

building, and creating autonomy and developing self-managed teams. It has been proposed

that theorists should concentrate on the nature of empowerment and its underlying processes

for integrating their theory with management practice. Researchers acknowledges the

propositions that leadership practices which empower subordinates, encompasses, expressing

confidence in subordinates accompanied by high performance expectations, fostering

opportunities for subordinates to participate in decision making and providing autonomy for

bureaucratic constraints. Implications of the stated propositions are providing subordinates

with a certain amount of freedom to facilitate exchange. Superiors can gain by relinquishing

control and trusting their subordinates. Perception of control may be a source of

empowerment to subordinate which enables them to regulate the receipt of supervisory

benefits. This paper revolves round the concept of how earlier the decision making power

was a forte of authoritative people but gradually there was an evolution, both for the benefits

of the company and the employees- by using leadership as a tool of empowerment. We have

restricted the scope study for this paper to Indian IT/ITES sector.

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ContentsEmpowerment through Leadership & Motivation in IT & ITES Sector...........................0

Empowerment through Leadership & Motivation in IT & ITES Sector...........................0

Abstract......................................................................................................................................1

Introduction................................................................................................................................2

Objectives...................................................................................................................................3

To Enhance.............................................................................................................................3

To Control..............................................................................................................................3

1. Increased Risk.................................................................................................................3

2. Slowed Decision Making................................................................................................4

Review of literature....................................................................................................................4

Examples of Empowerment...................................................................................................5

Methodology..............................................................................................................................5

Primary Method......................................................................................................................6

Secondary Method..................................................................................................................7

Emergence..................................................................................................................................7

Building Empowering Leadership.............................................................................................7

Empowerment Leadership.........................................................................................................8

Key findings:............................................................................................................................10

Approaches towards Employee Engagement; by leaders........................................................12

Stages in Empowerment:..........................................................................................................14

As Bandura (1977) pointed out:...............................................................................................14

Empowerment from the Organization’s Perspective............................................................15

Implementing an empowerment program:...........................................................................16

Key Findings............................................................................................................................17

Proposed Solution for Every Other Organization................................................................17

Diversity...............................................................................................................................18

XtraMiles..............................................................................................................................18

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Introduction

The term Empowerment lexically means to invest with power i.e., which encourages people

to gain knowledge and skill that will allow them to overcome obstacles in life. Empowerment

unleashes a person’s talent, skills and experience that are already in place but are often

underutilized or wilfully held back due to leader’s insecurity. Creating an environment of

empowerment frees people up to be who they actually are. It may sometime work as a change

strategy for an entire organization. In recent years the topic of empowerment through

leadership has gained much attention among managers because a charismatic leader's

envisioning behaviour influences followers' need for achievement, and the leader's empathic

behaviour stimulates followers' need for affiliation. Followers' need for power is enhanced by

a charismatic leader's empowerment practices. It is further suggested that the behaviours of a

charismatic leader and the enhanced followers' needs promote clearer role perceptions,

improved task performance, greater job satisfaction, stronger collective identity and group

cohesiveness, more organizational citizenship behaviours, and stronger self-leadership among

the followers. The contextual factors which may influence the motivational effects of

charismatic leadership are discussed here, along with the different delicate relationships that a

leader needs to maintain internally and externally with a detail description of stages in

empowerment. To summarize, it can be said that the purpose of the study determines

conditions under which leaders of organization lend hand in the empowerment

implementation and sustain its level as per higher authorities’ prudence.

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Objectives

Empowerment has become a buzzword in today's business environment. Empowerment

generally refers to the management practice of giving employees the authority to make

decisions regarding their work, as opposed to a traditional environment in which the boss

gives orders. While contemporary business theory often argues that the empowerment style

of leadership is more productive, like all leadership styles, it has its benefits and drawbacks.

To Enhance

1. Increased Productivity and Morale

Empowering your employees to make decisions on their own can increase productivity.

When employees don't have to wait for approval from a manager or supervisor, workflow

doesn't slow down or stop. Employees solve their own problems, and move on to the next

task. Being able to make decisions and devise innovative solutions increases employee

satisfaction as well. Empowered employees feel as if their contributions matter; when the

company trusts them to make decisions, morale increases, and as a result, so does

productivity.

2. Improved Quality

Giving your employees the training, tools and guidance to make independent decisions often

encourages them to produce quality work and helps your business meet its goals. In fact, a

1999 study of Canadian hospitals conducted by the University of Alberta found that a culture

of employee empowerment and ownership is a key to reaching quality improvement goals

and maintaining quality standards. When properly trained employees are empowered to solve

problems, take risks or be creative in their approach to work, they are more likely to assume

ownership of the tasks. Whether the job is caring for ill patients, developing an entire product

line or simply selling movie tickets, empowered employees often feel as if they have a stake

in the organization and their work and strive to consistently produce quality results.

To Control

1. Increased Risk

While empowering employees can increase morale, productivity and quality, it also has its

drawbacks. Without proper training and a set of guidelines, empowerment can lead to chaos.

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It doesn't make sense to have each employee operate under his own set of values and goals.

Employees need guidance in the mission, vision and values of the organization so that their

decisions fall in line with company goals and don't cause harm. Empowering organizations

need to be comfortable with a certain amount of risk, both in terms of security -- empowered

employees often have access to information that could damage the company if leaked -- and

in terms of loss due to entrepreneurial failure.

2. Slowed Decision Making

In some situations, empowering employees can slow down important processes, particularly

during times of major change or instability. In a 2006 study conducted at the University of

Texas, "A Contextual Examination of New Venture Performance: Entrepreneur Leadership

Behaviour, Top Management Team Heterogeneity and Environmental Dynamism,"

researchers found that companies that need to make rapid decisions are better suited by a

directive leader, who can make a quick decision about the work that needs to be done, and by

whom. An empowering leadership style works best in an environment that is stable, where

the goals are already established and employees can explore options and try new and

innovative solutions.

Review of literature

Empowerment is the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take

action, and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling

self-empowered to take control of one's own destiny.

When thinking about empowerment in human relations terms, try to avoid thinking of it as

something that one individual does for another. This is one of the problems organizations

have experienced with the concept of empowerment. People think that someone, usually the

manager, has to bestow empowerment on the people who report to him.

Consequently, the reporting staff members wait for the bestowing of empowerment, and the

manager asks why people won't act in empowered ways. This led to a general unhappiness,

mostly undeserved, with the concept of empowerment in many organizations.

Think of empowerment, instead, as the process of an individual enabling himself to take

action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways. Empowerment comes

from the individual.

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The organization has the responsibility to create a work environment which helps foster the

ability and desire of employees to act in empowered ways. The work organization has the

responsibility to remove barriers that limit the ability of staff to act in empowered ways.

Examples of Empowerment

These are examples of empowerment in action.

The manager of the Human Resources department added weeks to the process of hiring new

employees by requiring his supposedly empowered staff members to obtain his signature on

every document related to the hiring of a new employee. When the time problem was brought

to his attention, he fostered empowerment by telling employees they no longer needed his

signature unless the hire involved extraordinary circumstances.

John empowered himself to discuss the career objectives he wished to pursue with his

supervisor. He told his supervisor, frankly, that if the opportunities were not available in his

current company, he would move on to another company.

Mary took charge of her career by fuelling her sense of empowerment when she developed

a career path plan, met with her manager to ask for her assistance to achieve it, and set goals

for its accomplishment in her performance development plan.

The company's management style involved sharing the goals, sharing each employee's

expectations and framework with the employee, and then, getting out of the way while

employees were empowered to set goals, accomplish their objectives, and determine how to

do their jobs.

Empowerment is a desirable management and organizational style that enables employees to

practice autonomy, control their own jobs, and use their skills and abilities to benefit both

their organization and themselves.

Methodology

Primary method Secondary method

Sending questionnaire to Employees of

IT/ITES Organizations

Literature Review

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Primary Method

Information that is obtained directly from first-hand sources by means of surveys,

observation or experimentation. It is data that has not been previously published and is

derived from a new or original research study and collected at the source. For this particular

paper, we are confining our research to IT/ITES sector. In order to decipher first-hand

information we circulated a questionnaire to some employees of different IT/ITES

organizations.

Secondary Method

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of

secondary data for social science include censuses, organisational records and data collected

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through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. We gathered secondary

information from business magazines, journals, data bases.

Emergence

Empowerment is a trust-based process of assigning authority to make decisions within one’s

area of operations without having to get approval from higher-ups. It differs from delegated

authority. People are encouraged to use their initiative and are not only given authority but

also the necessary resources. Empowerment is a continuous process & not a once-a-while

approach.

Over the past decade, employee empowerment has emerged as a popular managerial concept,

not to mention the focus of numerous scholarly studies, many of which conclude that

empowerment has the potential to offer substantial benefits including enhanced

organizational performance for e.g. by promoting problem solving and learning as well as

greater employee well-being.

Building Empowering Leadership

Empowering leadership can be built for empowering people as well as liberating

organisations.

Efforts may be made to develop leaders who understand the strengths and weaknesses of

people & support them so that they proper utilisation of all their talents & skills. In

conjunction with empathy they are also required to have situational sensitivity to prevent any

physical or social disabilities which hampers employee performance. The empowering

leadership can facilitate the process of liberating an organisation by developing

organisational structures which necessitate collective involvement in decision making. An

empowered leader can cause a basic shift in the nature of control & authority in

organisational settings. The liberated organisation is based on the assumption that people

work in a system negotiated order involving conflicting power. This involves confrontation

of differences which may occur between two equally empowered groups or individuals. The

differences can be managed to accomplish functional outcomes. However, if there are less

equal people or groups, they are likely to resort to negative tactics to express their

displeasure.

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Empowerment Leadership

It has been proposed that theorists should concentrate on the nature of empowerment & its

underlying process for integrating their theory with management practice. Neilson observes

that empowerment strategically necessitates the assignment of resources to subordinates and

the enhancement of their self-worth. It indicates the relevance of establishing linkage

between leadership practices and empowerment which is of special interest for at least two

reasons. Firstly, the practice of empowering subordinates forms a major factor in

organisational effectiveness. Secondly, power and effectiveness increase when superiors

share power and control with their subordinates. Notwithstanding the organisational

relevance of empowerment for the management, there is not much effort to analyse the

relationship between leadership practices and empowerment.

Few things leaders can do to build an environment that empowers people:

1. Give power to those who have demonstrated the capacity to handle the responsibility.

2. Create a favourable environment in which people are encouraged to grow their skills.

3. Don’t second-guess others’ decisions and ideas unless it’s absolutely necessary. This only

undermines their confidence and keeps them from sharing future ideas with you.

4. Give people discretion and autonomy over their tasks and resources.

Successful leaders and managers today are willing to exercise their leadership in such a way

that their people are empowered to make decisions, share information, and try new things.

Most employees (future leaders) see the value in finding empowerment and are willing to

take on the responsibilities that come with it. If future leaders have the wisdom to learn from

the experience of present leaders, and if present leaders have the wisdom to build an

environment that empowers people, both will share in the benefits.

According to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, research shows that nearly 75 percent of

all organizational change programs fail because they don’t create the necessary groundswell

of support among employees. When organizational leadership employs a three-phase

Organizational Change Management Life Cycle methodology and techniques to address the

stages of change, change management initiatives stand a much greater chance for success.

Before examining the Organizational Change Management Life Cycle, it’s important to

consider the three organizational elements that both drive and are affected by change:

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Processes – Business processes, including maps, policies and procedures, and business

rules, which are redesigned or realigned for new customers, or provide improved service

to existing customers.

Technology – Driven by process, technology ensures greater organizational efficiency in

implementing change.

People – Those responsible for developing and implementing new processes, and

specifying and using new technology.

These elements are closely linked to the three stages of the Change Management Life Cycle:

identify the change, engage the people, and implement the change. From the outset of any

change management initiative, people must recognize and buy into the need for change.

Leaders must recognize that an organization cannot successfully adopt change unless its

people understand and support the reasons for creating the change.

According to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, research shows that nearly 75 percent of

all organizational change programs fail because they don’t create the necessary groundswell

of support among employees. When organizational leadership employs a three-phase

Organizational Change Management Life Cycle methodology and techniques to address the

stages of change, change management initiatives stand a much greater chance for success.

Internal relationships (with subordinates) External relationships (with bottlers)

1) Leading the team by involving all-shared ownership and decisions.

2) Communication

3) Leader Support

4) Developing followers

1) Having clear goal and deliverables.

2) Communication

3) Collaboration

Before examining the Organizational Change Management Life Cycle, it’s important to

consider the three organizational elements that both drive and are affected by change:

Processes – Business processes, including maps, policies and procedures, and business

rules, which are redesigned or realigned for new customers, or provide improved service

to existing customers.

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Technology – Driven by process, technology ensures greater organizational efficiency in

implementing change.

People – Those responsible for developing and implementing new processes, and

specifying and using new technology.

These elements are closely linked to the three stages of the Change Management Life Cycle:

identify the change, engage the people, and implement the change. From the outset of any

change management initiative, people must recognize and buy into the need for change.

Leaders must recognize that an organization cannot successfully adopt change unless its

people understand and support the reasons for creating the change.

Key findings: Themes emerged from managing internal and external relationships

a. Managing relationship with subordinates:

a. Leading the team by involving all-shared ownership and decisions (empowerment)

Empowered team, shared information, valued everyone’s contribution.

Empowerment. Leader becomes facilitator.

b. Communication

Listening

Being honest

Clarity and transparency

c. Leader Support

Empathy and emotional support

Supporting subordinates in their times of need- even when he has committed a

mistake

d. Developing followers

Effective leaders develop their subordinates by assessing their competencies,

setting goals, engaging them in decision making, providing on-the-job coaching,

and helping with career development.

b. Managing relationship with Bottlers:

a. Having clear ultimate goal and deliverables

Agreeing on mutual goals first-to have a quality relationship with strategic

partners outside the organization

Managing the boundary of responsibilities

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b. Communication

Building trust

Frequent communication (and negotiation, if necessary)

c. Collaboration

Involve them in decision-making

Think of solutions together

If we consider empowerment in terms of this relative dynamic, it becomes the process by

which a leader or manager shares his or her power with subordinates. Power, in this context,

is interpreted as the possession of formal authority or control over organisational resources.

The emphasis is primarily on the nation of sharing authority. Burke’s (1986) position is

representative: “To empower, implies the granting of power- delegation of authority”. The

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary similarly describes the verb to empower as “to authorize or

delegate or give legal power to someone.” In the management literature, this idea of

delegation and the decentralization of decision-making power is central to the empowerment

notion (Burke, 1986; House in Press; Kanter, 1983). As a result, we find that most of the

management literature on empowerment deals with participative management techniques

such as management objectives, quality circles, and goal setting by subordinates as the means

of sharing power or delegating authority.

This manner of treating the notion of empowerment from a management practice perspective

is so common that often employee participation is simply equated with empowerment (Likert,

1961, 1967; McGregor, 1960). However, because this line of reasoning does not adequately

address the nature of empowerment as experienced by subordinates, it raises important

questions. For example, does the sharing of authority and resources with subordinates

automatically empower them? Through what psychological mechanisms do participate and

resource sharing techniques faster an empowering experience among subordinates? Are

participation and the sharing of organisational resources the only techniques for

empowerment? Are the effects of an empowering experience the same as the effects of

delegation, participation, and resource sharing?

Empowerment as a Motivational Construct. In the psychology literature, power and control

are used as motivational and/or expectancy belief states that are internal or individuals. For

instance, individuals are assumed to have a need for power (McClelland, 1975) where power

connotes an internal urge to influence and control other people. A related but more inclusive

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disposition to control and cop with life events also has been proposed by several

psychologists who dealt with the issues of primary/secondary control (Rothbaum, Weisz, &

Snyder, 1982), internal/external locus of control ( Rotter, 1966), and learned helplessness

(Abramson, Garber, & Seligman, 1980). Individuals’ power needs are met when they

perceive that they have power or when they believe they can adequately cope with events,

situations, and/or the people they confront. On the other hand, individuals’ power needs are

frustrated when they feel powerless or when they believe that they are unable to cope with the

physical and social demands of environment.

To conceptualize empowerment in motivational terms, we prefer to use Bandura’s self-

efficacy Notion (1986). Translated in terms of Bandura’s model, empowerment refers to a

process whereby an individual’s belief in his or her self-efficacy is enhanced. To empower

means either to strengthen this belief or to weaken one’s belief in personal powerlessness.

Personal efficacy is sometimes postulated to stem from internal need-states such as the

intrinsic need for self-determination (Deci, 1975), the competence motive (White, 1959), the

need for power (McClelland, 1975), and the need for self-actualization (Maslow, 1954).

However, we prefer not to adopt the content or need theory approach to explain the

phenomenon of empowerment. We assume that everyone has an internal need for self-

determination and a need to control and cope with environmental demands. Differences in the

strength of this need among individuals can be explained by analysing the underlying

motivational process. We therefore follow the process theory approach to empowerment as a

motivational phenomena by relating it to expectancy (Lawler, 1973) and self-efficacy

theories (Bandura, 1977, 1986).

Approaches towards Employee Engagement; by leaders

As leaders, why do we spend so much time trying to fix our employees’ circumstances? If

we’re listening to conventional management wisdom, we probably believe (or hope) that a

stress-free, obstacle-free working environment will magically turn everyone into happy,

productive employees. Traditional employee satisfaction surveys make three assumptions that

just don’t hold water.

Wrong assumption #1: Every employee response is equally important.

Wrong assumption #2: Every employee opinion is credible.

Wrong assumption #3: Engagement alone drives results.

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These assumptions are artefacts of the old employee engagement approach – the one that

strives to create a magical workplace where there are no challenges to overcome and

everyone is happy. It is time we admit it – this just isn’t working.

Employ quid pro quo- Employees have gotten into the habit of making requests.

Maybe they want flex hours or a bigger office or a free lunch every Wednesday. You,

as a manager, also need to get in the habit of making requests. In response to the next

employee who makes a request, turn the tables and ask, “What are you willing to do

to get that?”

Foster “Yes” culture-Companies are not democracies. We do not vote on decisions.

There are people who get paid to make decisions and people who get paid to

implement those decisions. Buy-in is not optional. Once a decision has been made,

employees should use their expertise to manage the risks and make it work.

Stop trying to create a perfect workplace- There will always be change, conflict,

challenges, disagreements, discomfort and frustration in the workplace. And that’s

good news! As it turns out, humans can’t be happy and engaged without struggle and

strife. Without obstacles and mistakes, we never feel a sense of accomplishment or

grow on a personal or professional level. So, instead of removing all these healthy

hurdles for your employees empower them to make the leap.

Stages in Empowerment:

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As Bandura (1977) pointed out:

The strength of people’s conviction in their own effectiveness is likely to affect whether they

would even try to cope with given situations… They get involved in activities and behave

assuredly when they judge themselves capable of handling situations that would otherwise be

intimidating… Efficacy expectations determine how much effort people will expend and how

long they will persist in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences.

Finally, one’s personal competence expectations are affected by one’s emotional arousal

state. Emotional arousal states that result from stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and so forth,

both on and off the job, can lower self-efficacy expectations. Individuals are more likely to

feel competent when they are no experiencing strong aversive arousal. Empowerment

technique’s and strategies that provide emotional support for subordinates and that create a

supportive and trusting group atmosphere ((Nielsen, 1986) can be more effective in

strengthening self-efficacy beliefs. An example of such behaviour is found in Kidder’s Soul

of a New Machine (1981) in which a Data General Manager, Tom West, provided effective

emotional and group support that ensured the completion of an extremely difficult computer

project. On many occasions’ employees’ stress, anxiety, and tension on the job can be

reduced by managers clearly defining employees’ roles, reducing information overload, and

offering them technical assistance to accomplish job tasks. The impact that depression and

self-doubt have on subordinates as a result of their failure on the job could be lessened by

their attributing this failure to external and unstable factors such as task difficulty, inadequate

support systems, and so forth, rather than attributing it to their efforts or abilities (Weiner,

1985). These techniques assist in the empowering process by reducing the negative effects of

aversive emotional arousal on the development of self-efficacy beliefs.

Empowerment from the Organization’s Perspective

Empowerment calls for organizations to

1. be more decentralized

2. to share more information,

3. to have in place a system of contingent rewards,

4. to be team-based, and

5. to align itself with its goals and values.

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Decentralization distributes decision-making as close to the action as appropriate. This means

giving employees the authority to make timely decisions. Individual empowerment cannot

occur within a highly centralized system of control because such systems reserve decision-

making power for the few who occupy the centre, thus inhibiting individual initiative. People

are not motivated to change when they don't have authority to do anything with what they

have learned.

Information sharing is empowering. Hoarding knowledge and withholding it is a way to

maintain control. Employees need information about the organization’s mission and goals,

information needed to meet team objectives, and information about their individual

performance. In empowering organizations, information is no longer the property of

individuals, but now belongs to the entire group. As information is more openly shared, the

organization will begin to function less on the basis of opinion and bias and more on the basis

of facts. Systems must be in place to enable access to both general information about the

organization and also specific information about the performance of their particular

department or team.

Contingent rewards are difficult to design. Empowerment works best when a reward system

distinguishes between employees based on performance. Empowering organizations reward

employees who make decisions that contribute to the accomplishment of the organization's

purpose and goals. Make sure that what is rewarded reflects goals of the organization. To

automatically punish failure inhibits empowerment. It is better to reward employees for

attempting new ideas, even ones that fail. Paige Leavitt, of the American Productivity and

Quality Centre in Houston, explains how they use rewards to encourage empowerment: “We

try to foster an atmosphere that has a lot of respect for people who make a contribution. We

don't expect success every time a person suggests or tries something, otherwise they won't

want to try new things. If you've come up with a good idea and your supervisor sends you a

thank-you note or gives you a pat on the back—that does more than anything that we can do

in an employee newsletter or a public venue. [Schweitzer, C. (2004) Light-bulb leadership:

Creating a culture where innovation is in. (Association Management 56(8), 31-42.)]

Teams develop when individuals move outside themselves and become concerned with the

success of all other members. This means that employees become concerned, not only with

the success of their immediate responsibility, but also with success of the other members of

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the team. Then the group becomes a unit where the development of one member increases

the power of the team.

Alignment with the common purpose is a must. To empower people in an unaligned

organization can be counterproductive. If people do not share a common vision, and do not

share common goals, empowering people will increase organizational stress and make it

impossible to maintain coherence and direction. An organizational commitment to

empowerment would be foolish if leaders did not share the same visions and goals.

Empowered organizations must structure processes, goals, people, and reward systems

aligned with each other.

Implementing an empowerment program:

There is a direct relationship between empowerment and organizational vitality. It is about

the probability of change, of keeping up in a changing world. People learn best when they see

a relationship between their life and the concepts being taught. Without sensing an

organizational commitment to fully implement empowerment, these concepts will be very

difficult to implement. Only when people have authorization to dissent with the leader do

new ideas have a chance to appear. Empowerment is the key to organizational vitality.

Key Findings

As per our study reveals 52.94% of the employees gave a good rating about the role of

their company in encouraging them to voice out their opinions in decision making.

Whereas 41.18% gave a positive response regarding their company acknowledging their

new ideas

As evident from the study 41.18% of the employees also find their immediate superior to

be empowering.

55.88% of the sample highly considered the overall empowerment structure of their

organization

Prominent suggestions that evolved from the study are:

1. “Key points for company to be in parallel with employee in long run-

a. Company policy

b. Motivation and

c. Free voice.”

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2. “Immediate superior should courage an employee to bring up decision making ideas from

team point of view and new ideas (if any) should be allowed to percolate through the

management if is in the current domain or scope of new project.”

Proposed Solution for Every Other Organization

Elicitation of a near to ideal empowered organization

WORK – AND YOUR LIFE

Coming to Work . . . Because You Want a dynamic and vibrant work environment ensures

that HCLites walk in every morning – well, most mornings – with a smile, and leave at the

end of the day feeling valued and enriched.

In fact, our “Employees First” philosophy is aimed at placing every employee at the forefront

of transformation, empowering them with knowledge, resources and infrastructure in a

workplace that nurtures innovation.

At the same time, we believe that helping employees find work-life continuity, advancing

their social and cultural aspirations and providing them an opportunity to connect with each

other reduces stress, builds team spirit and optimizes performance.

From embracing diversity to offering “miles” that can earn you recognition and rewards,

HCL Technologies provides its employees a workplace that is more than just a place to work.

Here is a snapshot of various initiatives designed to enthuse and inspire HCL employees:

Diversity

HCL Technologies works hard to create a supportive environment for employees with diverse

backgrounds. Accordingly, the company reaches out to a diverse talent pool of different

nationalities, cultures social background and work experiences. Team leaders are equipped

with skills to work across the globe in virtual teams. Affinity networks and Employee First

Councils help the company reach out to employees from diverse backgrounds. The networks

ensure that diverse perspectives are included in all business operations.

XtraMiles

XtraMiles is a unique program that offers peers, team members and managers to recognize

employees for outstanding effort. XtraMiles provides a platform to say “thanks” and helps

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strengthen a culture of employee appreciation. For every XtraMiles that employees walk in

their professional life at HCL, they stand a chance to earn a “mile.” Accumulation of these

points not only offers recognition but entitles them to earn rewards.

Genie

“Genie” is a personal shopper and assistant that specializes in giving employees the gift of

time. This facility is an all-purpose coordinator, entertainment guide, errand runner and

personal assistant that can manage routine tasks, such as paying utility bills.

Women’s Network

Women are altering the face of the corporate world – and the face of HCL. Whether nurturing

their families at home or leading transformation on the job, women executives offer special

value. To help them meet the particular challenges they sometimes face, a peer network of

HCL women executives provides support, advocates for a gender-neutral work environment

and drives policy changes, through initiatives such as “Women Connect.”

Mitr

Mitr (Hindi for your “friend”) is a specialist team of personal advisors who help employees

prepare for challenges and tackle them more effectively. Mitr’s support, information and

advice is completely free and confidential, and just a phone call away.

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