Work Culture

A culture of growth and well-being

With employee welfare being its prime focus, Rapidigm is going all out to retain talent. Aishwarya Ramani profiles the company’s HR set-up

As a fresher or as an experienced team leader, if an employee does not find his or her personal and professional objectives getting fulfilled, and does not find the atmosphere of the company conducive to growth, an organisation will fail to retain them. Rapidigm India feels it has what it takes to provide employees with a good work culture. “Everyone likes to be associated with a company which works with the latest technologies and also one that services reputed customers,” says Jitendra Tanna, Director, Rapidigm. “Apart from money and fringe benefits, people also want a good work culture,” he adds.

At Rapidigm, they believe in recognising the personal and professional needs of a person. “Growth is not only in financial terms or with regard to a person’s position. Growth also means what a person is learning while working for the company,” says Tanna. He feels that working at Rapidigm must help the employees make their resumes more saleable, but not in the sense that they lose their employees to other companies. A saleable resume would be the one that convinces a customer of the talent of the people working on his or her project. “We also want our customers to feel that sense of pride when they speak about their work to their friends and families,” explains Tanna. Quoting the example of Vista, Tanna is of the opinion that Rapidigm works with the latest technologies and this also is a matter of pride for the employees.

Highlighting other factors about their work culture, Tanna mentions the open door policy. He believes that employees can walk up to their bosses and discuss with them any kind of an issue that they face within the organisation. Tanna is also proud of the transparency levels within Rapidigm, “We maintain high levels of transparency within the organisation. For instance, we do not refrain from disclosing the billing rates to our developers,” says Tanna. He feels that this initiative helps in identifying the future leaders at an early stage.

Friendly HR

At Rapidigm, the aim of the HR is to provide that friendly helping hand which is needed when an employee joins the organisation. What is unique about the Rapidigm HR initiative is that every employee is assigned an Employee Care Representative (ECR). At Rapidigm they strongly endorse the opinion that first impressions are lasting impressions. So in order to make the very first experience of the employee a pleasant one, it is the duty of the ECR to ensure that the new joinee is happy from the very start.

The company strongly believes that for an employee to concentrate on his work, his mind should be free from any other concerns that he may have about his personal life. This is one of the things that the ECR focusses on. Like any other company, several people come to work with Rapidigm from different parts of the country. “The employees need not bother about where they are going to stay in Pune when they come from other cities,” elaborates Tanna.

Rapidigm has an understanding with several brokers who would provide suitable accommodation to the employees in need. The ECRs also assist the employees with paying of electricity bills and other errands. Apart from this, Rapidigm also provides employees with transportation facilities for those who work late hours. The employees are free to use this service however, they are required to inform the ECR in order to get that arranged.

College-to-Corporate

Another interesting aspect of the HR culture at Rapidigm is their focus on fresh talent. “Freshers do not understand the corporate culture,” opines Tanna. Like any other software company, Rapidigm also hires a significant number of fresh graduates. However, the issue here is that these youngsters are fresh out of college and are clueless of what Corporate India demands of them. So in order to get them thinking the corporate way, Rapidigm puts them through a programme called College-to-Corporate. “This programme aims to give the freshers a feel of their responsibility,” says Tanna.

Rapidigm also respects the personal career goals and aspirations of all its fresh graduate employees. “We make them write down their goals and objectives. Six months later, we examine whether or not our employees have been able to achieve their aims,” states Tanna. Rapidigm wants every fresher to focus on learning and gain the most out of their stint at the organisation.

Speaking more on their human resources, Tanna adds, “Our asset is our people, we invest in people. We take care of them professionally and personally.”

Hunt for talent

Recruitment is divided into two categories, firstly, lateral hiring for recruiting skilled labour and secondly recruiting fresh graduates. What is really of value at Rapidigm during the recruitment drives are the employee referrals. To keep this process fair, the recruiters do not have any knowledge of the referee. The employees are also given a financial benefit if the candidate they referred is chosen. Rapidigm does not rely on placement agencies or any other external sources for recruitment. “We have our own recruitment team,” adds Tanna. The placement team is also given the freedom to consider their personal contacts that suit a particular vacancy.

When it comes to recruitment of fresh graduates Rapidigm once again banks on employee referrals. Although they do take the campus interview route, but it is on a small scale. “We recently interviewed students from a college in Chattisgarh,” adds Tanna. The strategy at play here is to recruit top-notch students from the seemingly unpopular colleges. This, the company believes, works in its favour because it is able tap potential that has not been discovered by other companies.

After short-listing the resumes of the fresh graduates that Rapidigm would like to employ, the candidates are first tested over a telephonic interview with the recruiters. The likely candidates are once again short-listed and are called for a written test. After the written test, the selected candidates are again short-listed and are made to go through a round of group discussions and face-to-face interviews.

Mandatory training

It is mandatory for every employee at Rapidigm to undergo 40 hours of training per year. This imparts the necessary technical and soft skills to the employees. This training is independent of the programme that the freshers are required to undergo. Employees are allowed to define their Key Result Areas (KRAs). These KRAs are the aspects that the employee feels he or she wants to concentrate on depending on the career path they envision for themselves. These KRAs are also required to be in tandem with what the company expects of the employee.

When a fresher is inducted into Rapidigm, he or she undergoes a six-month training programme. The first few days of this training period are dedicated to the College-to-Corporate training. The freshers are also familiarised with the processes followed at Rapidigm. Apart from this, these fresh graduates also go through a technical training session which is the usual classroom training that happens at most software organisations. The fresh graduates are also given an opportunity to get their hands dirty with ongoing projects. Apart from this, the trainee is allowed to observe the seniors at work and learn the nitty-gritty of the business.

Another significant aspect of the training is the focus on the English language and communication skills. “We impart special training to our employees on communication skills. The way one communicates with someone from India is different from the way one will communicate with someone from, say, the US. People need to be taught these characteristics that are peculiar to the work culture in different countries,” comments Tanna.

Identifying future leaders

“A customer wants a complete consultant,” says Tanna. So, when it comes to identifying these potential leaders, Rapidigm also takes into account customer feedback. The managers who are identified are assigned two subordinates. It is the responsibility of these potential leaders to get the job done from their subordinates. In addition to this hands-on experience that the chosen few get, they have their senior managers constantly backing them up and providing them the support that they need in case of any kind of a roadblock that they may face.

In aid of underprivileged children

The main focus of all corporate social responsibility initiatives at Rapidigm is—underprivileged children. As a part of this initiative, Rapidigm has tied up with an NGO called Sparrows. Tanna takes pride in the fact that the employees of Rapidigm take special interest in helping these children. They devote quality time to this project. The main aim of this initiative is to educate the street children and develop their entrepreneurial skills.