Work Culture

Synygy: Managing people differently

Rishiraj Verma writes that there is a certain unmistakable uniqueness in the way all employee initiatives are undertaken at Synygy.

Synygy is one company which should not have problems in managing its employees. Simply because the company provides solutions for problems related to sales compensation plans. And core to any sales programme or solution is—people. No wonder then that their work culture programme starts right from the time of recruitment.

The hiring process at Synygy is different from most organisations—it is flexible and focusses on understanding a candidate’s interests and abilities. Applications can only be transmitted to the organisation online, through their website—www.synygy.com. The flexibility of the organisation shows through the fact that a candidate can apply for multiple positions at the same time. “We want potential employees to know about the culture even before they become a part of the organisation,” states Chetan Shah, Managing Director, Synygy.

He adds further that all resumes need to have the intended posts as keywords. This is because resumes are searched on the basis of keywords and if they do not show up in such a search, they are automatically rejected. All comments on an interview (verbal and written tests are also conducted online) are sent to the applicant online. For all these processes, Synygy has an in-house system.

Says Shah, “While the rest of the hiring process is ‘normal’ the idea is to store all our information centrally, so it is easy to use later.” He explains that the approval manager gets a record for all such interactions.

Employee involvement

The entire culture of the company can be described in just this one word, that is OPTIC.

The word stands for Ownership, Professionalism, Teamwork, Continuous Improvement and Culture. And inculcating these concepts into their day-to-day activity starts right after they are selected. Shah explains the processes after hiring. “When someone becomes an employee, we focus on just one word OPTIC.”

There are various training programmes that the company organises for its employees. These programmes are also Web-based. There are induction processes and training on-the-job. “Through these programmes, we aim to develop the individual completely and help him further his progress in the organisation,” points out Shah.

The company believes that while the employee is with them, he should be a part of all the work and all the play. Thus arises the need for cultural programmes. Such programmes are conducted on a quarterly and monthly basis. “The monthly programmes are like an evening get together,” says Shah, and adds that different kinds of programmes happen every quarter. “Q1 is a diversity fair, Q2 holds a summer picnic, Q3 is marked by a Halloween celebration and the final quarter celebrates Solstice summer or winter based on where the office is located.”

Along with the above mentioned parties, the company has a monthly party called Herbert. This is especially for those who have joined recently. This also gives a chance to the employees to interact in a social setting which is informal and they get to know their peers over contests and games.

For a software company retaining employees is always a prime concern and that is true at Synygy too. They have a programme called the Reward and Recognition (R&R) programme. Under this, each department head is allocated a budget per person per quarter to spend on three aspects—individual recognition, team achievements and department outings.

“The goal here is to ensure that employees are appreciated continuously by their managers and department heads and surprised with individual rewards.  When a small team achieves success it calls for a celebration, and the department outings are around team-building activities,” says Shah.

The company takes great pride in its mentorship programme, which they find the best way to develop talent within the organisation.

360 degree approach

There is another unique method for evaluating employees, whereby, managers, mentors and peers are on evaluation panels. This helps in getting what Shah calls a 360-degree approach to understand the progress of an employee. The approach is carried a step further where ‘mentees’ assess their mentors on a quarterly basis. These evaluations are based on their leadership, communication and other key skills.

Furthermore, this evaluation is done in two ways—one for their core value of OPTIC and the other for their mentoring and managerial skills. “As most surveys say, the number one reason for attrition is managers, we want to make sure that we are doing our best to hold our managers accountable and hence these evaluations point out that there is oversight frequently,” adds Shah.

Shah reveals that Synygy has policies whereby feedback can be provided by absolutely anyone in the organisation. The company shares this feedback at the global level where all worldwide offices come together on a quarterly webcast for two hours. At this level, the most specific comments are considered of high importance.

The other step that the company has taken to promote retention is to encourage internal transfers. Synygy strongly encourages internal transfers to ensure that if it can provide opportunities for their existing employees, it is more likely that they will stay with the company longer.

Talking about organisational hierarchy and the problems that need to be avoided because of it, Shah says, “We have an open door policy whereby the management is made approachable to all employees.” He also talks about the physical structure of the workplace and indicates that there are no cabins, except for conference halls and the most necessary rooms. “There should be window space and sunlight in an office,” says he.

According to Shah, the company believes in creating different teams at different times so that all employees are at par with each other and without the notion of superiority or inferiority. Here again, he comments on the physical office, “The furniture is all movable and provides for teams to sit together for work or otherwise.”

Finally, coming to the exit process, Shah says that the interview is comfortable for the employee. The individual is also asked to send an anonymous feedback to the company. “In spite of the fact that we know who is commenting, we treat it as anonymous information and work towards the betterment of the company,” he says. He adds that a fair number of people come back to the organisation after having left it because of co-workers and the culture. “What makes me happy is that it is not so much for the money, but the intangible culture that brings them back.”

One of the policies of the company is to stay in touch with ex-employees—though this is not directly related to retention, they do stay in touch with their former employees and make it easy for them to come back. 

Social responsibility

As far as the company’s corporate social responsibilities are concerned, Shah says, “We provide logistical support to various other organisations.” He adds that almost all employees are welcomed and encouraged to participate in such CSR activities.

The major focus of the company’s CSR activities is on education. Synygy has partnered with ‘Friends of Children’ and provides them with office space for their weekend meetings and mentoring sessions. On the eve of Children’s Day, they took a group of 40 children from Deep Griha on a trip to the National Defence Academy (NDA) for an educational tour. 

“In addition, we are also currently reviewing various other proposals for funding educational initiatives and will be making a decision soon on the organisations and type of funding and employee support that we will be providing,” adds Shah.