Work Culture

Decentralised HRD works the best

Exclusive teams for different functional areas of HR development have made the work culture at Infinite Computer Solutions unique, says Vinutha V.

Infinite Computer Solutions is a global IT and ITES solutions and services provider with proven expertise across technologies catering to telecom, finance, healthcare, government, energy and utilities, retail and distribution, and manufacturing verticals. Infinite was founded in 1999 and employs 3,200 employees globally with operations in the US, India, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. It believes in maintaining separate departments for different HR functions. Take for instance the recruitment process—since global hiring is carried out from India, Infinite has a dedicated team for employing people. The other departments within the HR fold are operations and employee relationships.

Buddy@work, a part of employee relationship department, aims to handhold people in all aspects of life— personal, professional, social and psychological. “The health of the company depends on the emotional and mental fit of our employees and we make sure that is attained through our Buddy@work team, which ensures that every employee is satisfied,” says Kris Nair, Executive Vice-president, Corporate and Operations, Infinite Computer Solutions (India).

Holistic training initiatives

It is mandatory for all employees to go through 8.5 working days of training in a year. During the appraisal process, training needs are identified and analysed by a separate team which understands the learning requirements in the soft skills and technical areas.

The induction programme is for two days and includes detailed information on the code of conduct, security policies, the company and its people. A CD is given to all new recruits to refresh the information given. Additionally, a handout containing business conduct guidance and key contacts in the company is handed over to them.

In order to make life easier for all new-comers to Bangalore, they are given a write-up (a part of the handout), including details of schools, movie theatres, restaurants and shopping places. Once new recruits arrive, they are trained on e-mail etiquette, project-related information and are also given their KRAs (Key Role Areas) to begin with. The freedom of flexible timings and paid leave is offered to those interested in further studies.

Infinite believes in giving its employees a holistic view of the functions in the company. For instance, non-finance professionals can get knowledge on finance. Every quarter, the entire workforce is informed about the performance of the company and guidelines for the future. Every fortnight, meetings are organised across departments to discuss progress of the projects and other issues. The last Friday of every month is dedicated to celebrating all birthdays that fall under that particular month.

Rewards and recognition

The Employee Club, funded by both employees and the company, takes care of sports and cultural activities. “Our monthly newsletter ‘iEnergy’ is a motivating factor for our employees. In addition to business communication, it highlights the achievements made by our employees and their family members,” adds Prashanth L J, Global Marketing Head, Infinite Computer Solutions (India).

Every quarter, the company along with its Employee Club, contributes to social causes, which include donations made to old age homes, animal care units, and others. Formal and informal rewards are given at initiatives like ‘Spot Awards’ and ‘In the Limelight’.

An outstanding employee is recognised constantly and named as ‘Eagle of the Month’, ‘Eagle of the Quarter’ and ‘Eagle of the Year’. All awardees are given certificates and monetary benefits. People who complete two, three, five years and above in the company are given recognition awards for longevity.

The employee referral system is highly encouraged at Infinite. Under it’s ‘Tag-a-pal’ initiative, the company has announced a cash award of Rs 30,000 for a suitable recruit through its existing employees. The appraisal system is a painstaking process and Infinite has a dedicated team called the ‘Compensation Committee’ at the organisation level. It is a four months exercise and all domain knowledge development is carried out during this process. The top 20 percent of competency areas are recognised for development as the company takes a lot of interest in improving the domain knowledge of its employees.