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Work Culture
Passing the culture test
Aventail India lays emphasis on culture fit for new recruits,
writes Vinutha V.
Aventail Corporation’s Indian development centre is the only one outside
the US. The company offers SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) VPN appliances that deliver
secure, easy, client-less access from anywhere, to any application and on any
device. Aventail India started operations in 2003.
 Aventail
believes that successful organisations should have an employee-oriented work
culture. The recruitment process is a good starting point in this process. Padmavani,
Executive-Human Resources, Aventail India says, “We operate in a niche
technology domain for which human resources are not readily available. Even
if an individual is suitable from a professional point of view, we may desist
from hiring if the culture fit is missing. A single employee with a negative
attitude can vandalise the workplace.”
The company believes that a proper scrutiny and a detailed check on the prospective
candidate are helpful. If a candidate has requisite qualities to fit into the
company’s culture, there are some benefits that the employee can bring
to the organisation. Prospective employees are better understood at the interview
level itself through formal and informal talks. Employee referrals have also
been working well due to a meticulous recruitment process. Today, almost 70
percent of the total hiring takes place through referral systems. If an existing
employee gets a suitable recruit with over four years of experience, the former
will be rewarded Rs 40,000 and for those who introduce people with less than
four years of experience can pocket a sum of Rs 25,000 per recruit.
While the induction programme focuses on the company’s
history, sales and future plans (like most other companies), the difference
is that it is the manager who guides new recruits rather than a team lead or
a project head. Since Aventail has three product releases every year, it demands
quick grasping of technologies by the employees. They have to scale up to the
new customisation at the earliest.
At Aventail, the company’s performance plays a crucial
role during the employee appraisal system. Of the total remuneration package
(which varies depending on the position and responsibilities of employees),
50 percent depends solely on individual performance and the rest on company’s
performance. “Consequently, our employees are responsible for the company’s
growth,” adds Padmavani.
Apart from celebrating after every product release, managers organise frequent
gatherings or outings to resorts or a trek. The company allows employees to
work from their home for one to two days every week. It even pays for the broadband
connection used by them at home. Horizontal movement takes place in different
areas of work such as client technology, platform and server technology, interoperability
and QA (Quality Assurance). To aid the movement, Aventail gives them a transition
period, wherein an employee can shift to a different area without affecting
the current work that needs to be accomplished before shifting.
The attrition rate, according to Aventail, is 6 percent. The company claims
that employees leave the organisation, not because they want to join a better
company, but for the need to switch over to different technologies. Aventail
India is particular about not allowing critical employees to quit the company.
They are instead allowed to shift to Aventail Corporation in Seattle, US.
vinutha@expresscomputeronline.com
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