Work Culture

Learners and teachers all

Leading e-learning organisation, Tata Interactive Systems, offers interesting career opportunities to professionals from diverse fields, writes Sudipta Dev

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) considers its name the biggest draw in attracting the best and the brightest. Being an e-learning organisation, its human resources and structure are vastly different from that of a typical IT organisation. The human resource pool comprises content, graphics and software professionals. The people-focus in the organisation has been an integral part since its inception, and not surprising since the CEO Sanjaya Sharma (whose brainchild is the organisation), was an HR professional with the Tata Group.

The company currently has 800 people in its Mumbai centre and is hiring a few hundred more at its recently-opened Kolkata centre. The induction programme at TIS initiates freshers as well as people from diversified professions into the world of e-learning. P Premkumar, Head of HR, Tata Interactive Systems, admits that even a year ago many people left after two or three months of joining. The induction programme was consequently made much stronger, and this has considerably brought down this early attrition level. Currently, the Kolkata team is in Mumbai on a long induction programme.

Organisational structure

Workforce profile

TIS hires content, graphics and software professionals. The content people come from diversified backgrounds—teachers, journalists, copywriters, etc. Graphics artists are hired from the National Institute of Design (NID), J J School of Arts and the Industrial Design Centre (IDC) at IIT Powai. IT professionals are recruited from engineering colleges, NIIT and Aptech. Each division reports to the respective heads, while the projects are managed by project managers (all MBAs).

Learning focus

A few high performers are sent for training abroad. Trainers are flown in from US-based corporate training organisation IDEO to conduct programmes on innovation. High potential staffers go through ‘TIS experiences’, which could be as simple as a visit abroad. They are also nominated for specialised programmes. Lateral movement is encouraged across the organisation for the brightest talent, to give them varied exposure. “It is important to have overall grooming, and for individuals to evolve,” says Premkumar, adding that at a very early stage, employees get international exposure. He concedes however that many people are not sure of the growth opportunities in the e-learning industry. “It is a booming industry and we are growing rapidly. We have a vibrant atmosphere and there are lots of opportunities to learn.”

Employee engagement

Since TIS is a PCMM level 5 organisation, employee feedback is one of the important factors for determining policies. Employee Satisfaction Surveys (ESS) are conducted every six months to understand the views, needs and aspirations of the staff and ensure improvement. For instance, earlier the company had only alternate Saturdays off, but employee feedback revealed that people were strongly in favour of working only Monday to Friday every week, and this was consequently implemented. Flexi-timing was introduced for the convenience of employees.

Premkumar recounts an incident that perhaps explains the spirit of the organisation best. It was during the PCMM assessment. One of the members involved in the process was a lady who due to certain personal problems could not stay in the office beyond 9.30 pm. She had in fact made her problem clear at the outset, and was assured that she would not be asked to stay back. However, once the assessment process started she was asked not to leave even after the stated time. When she objected, the external assessors wanted her to be expelled from the team. When this matter was brought to the notice of the CEO Sanjaya Sharma, he said that the matter was about human dignity, and as PCMM was all about the wellbeing of people in the organisation, he would rather not get the assessment done than expel her from the team or force her to stay back. So the lady remained in the team, was allowed to go home early, and TIS eventually got the coveted PCMM level 5.

sudipta@expresscomputeronline.com