Partners in business

At Infotech Enterprises, every associate is treated as a business partner, says Srinivasa Rao Dasari

Infotech Enterprises believes in attracting the best talent through its unique HR initiatives. The organisation, which has 1,900 associates working for it at its various development centres in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai, aims to be one of the best employers in the world. As a step towards this goal, the company is in the process of building a good brand image for its work culture initiatives. The whole HR policy revolves around satisfying its associates. The policy focuses on four factors—being the preferred place to work, the ability to attract the best talent, adding value (financial and intellectual) to associates, and performance-oriented rewards.
“At Infotech, every Infosite is a partner in our business. Associates share profits with the company in the form of performance-based bonuses which are on par with those of the chairman. We offer our associates project incentives (from the project manager downwards) for various accomplishments such as on-time completion of projects, quality delivery, customer satisfaction, etc. If customers pay extra, this money is also shared among members of the team. The other benefits include stock options and incentives for the best contribution,” details Ashok Reddy Bodanapu, executive VP (HR), Infotech.

Cautious in recruitment

The company conducts campus interviews for entry-level jobs. As far as lateral recruitment is concerned, it selects professionals with domain and IT expertise for project execution. For marketing and branch office departments, it also recruits people online. Psychometric tests for freshers aim at testing the candidate’s behavioural and learning attitude. Those who score over 75 percent are short-listed for a group discussion which tests their communication skills and leadership qualities.

Infotech wants to completely understand the mindset of the candidate, and is therefore very cautious in the interview process. They want to be certain of the background and loyalty of the individuals to be recruited. The company has a pool of good recruiters to do the job for them, and also hires through jobsites. However, the referral-based system remains the preferred mode of hiring.
“Usually, after gaining two or three years of experience, juniors start looking for new jobs and higher positions. Our associates leave the organisation because of their urge to learn different skills, and only when they want to work on different technology platforms,” says Bodanapu.

Developing skills

Skills upgradation is essential to stay ahead in the competitive global marketplace, and simultaneously serves the purpose of satisfying the learning needs of employees. A training-focused company is able to curb its attrition rate, which is why Infotech has made a lot of investment in training its associates. More than 50 different technical programmes have been conducted, and about 90,000 man-hours spent on training. The Infotech People Management Model (I-PMM) aims at building the intellectual and financial wealth of the associates, and also recognises their efforts in the growth of the organisation. I-PMM makes it possible for the associates to enjoy their tenure with the company.

Fun factor

Infotech sponsors family get-togethers and other entertainment programmes for associates. To encourage them, monthly awards are given for achieving various parameters in every project. There is also the best employee award. Those who have stayed with the company for many years are also given the long-term serving associate award. All those who have completed five years of service are eligible for this award—Bodanapu himself got it last month.

Social responsibility

As part of its corporate social responsibility, Infotech has set up a foundation called Infotech Trust to take care of the educational needs of poor children, and contribute to other welfare activities. The focus is particularly on providing education to orphaned children. It has taken up the responsibility of providing a mid-day meal to about 350 children in Matendla village near Siddipet town in Medak district. For this, it is supporting Project Krishi for the past four years. The company has also funded the construction of a school building for the state government upper primary school in Shamshiguda near Kukatpalli in Hyderabad. Earlier, the school had only three rooms for more than 550 students.

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