Work Culture

‘Single status’ for all

Sasken Communication Technologies takes great pride in its culture of equality. Renuka Vembu focuses on the ‘single status’ policy of the organisation that treats a new recruit and CEO alike.

The HR policies at Sasken are geared at creating a culture that fosters learning in a knowledge-based organisation. The company does not believe in rigid hierarchies and has a unique policy of ‘Single Status.’ It means everyone—right from a new recruit to the CEO of the company—is treated the same. All employees share the same type of cubicles, receive similar workspace, amount of employee leave time and travel allowances. They have the same policies for employees at all levels. Everyone has the same dress code and similar entitlements. Criteria that determine incentives are uniformly applied since the company truly believes that the only differentiator is performance. Even the attendance is not monitored.

So how does one maintain a balance between giving freedom on one side and maintaining professionalism and deriving productivity on the other end? Hari Iyer, Senior Vice-president, HR, justifies his company’s unique policy, “Our workforce comprises intelligent people who rank high on the achievement rate. They prefer challenging assignments and generate utmost output. We truly believe that instead of monitoring the input control, it is better to keep a tab on the output control i.e. results.” 

One of the other policies that differentiate Sasken from similar companies in the industry is the six weeks of hibernation leave, in addition to all other paid leave, granted to employees who complete four years with the organisation. This step is undertaken to ensure rejuvenation and avoid burn out. Other policies include unlimited need-based sick leave and equal privileges for employees across all levels. The trust Sasken has placed in these policies has been validated and a testimony to its success is the fact that a whopping 32 percent of new recruits join the workforce through internal referral programmes. Their well- established flex-time policy allows an employee to manage work-life balance while ensuring that deliverables do not suffer. Iyer adds, “This exemplifies not only the individual but also the organisational maturity in relationships that mutually enhance the worth of the stakeholders involved.”

Sasken Way

The Sasken Way guides them and renders them with the ability to deal with conflicts. By living their corporate values, they expect to meet the needs of their stakeholders and also improve their performance. I RISE gives the institutional standards of behaviour expected at the workplace—both with respect to an individual perspective and within the organisational framework. Iyer explains, “There should be no compromise on respect for an individual; they should be treated with dignity followed by financial and thought honesty. I believe that while the values influence our corporate relationships and reputation, they are more importantly linked to growth. Our values expressed as integrity, respect for individual, innovation, customer-centricity and excellence reinforce our dedication to growth.” 

Recruitment: The best fit

The recruitment process at Sasken is through industry-academia partnerships and through referrals. It engages project trainees, who are either students from engineering colleges (engineering trainees) or business schools (management trainees), towards full or partial fulfilment of curriculum. Mid-career recruitment happens through consultancies, employee referral programme and home-coming programme. All identified prospects go through the selection process as per the recruitment cycle. While the recruitment team looks for the technical fit and does a rigorous check on domain expertise, the HR personnel look for the cultural fit. This blend of technical and cultural fit brings in the best individual into the organisation.  

Learning focus

Sasken has created flexible policies and training programmes that foster a culture of learning. Their need-based training, led by experienced mentors, is augmented with access to the latest technical expertise through relationships with multiple premier institutions and memberships in technical and general libraries. They are also part-sponsors of the distance learning MS programme offered by the Illinois Institute of Technology. In addition, the senior executives attend programmes at the London Business School, Harvard, and other leading international business institutions.  

Sasken does not have a probation period and therefore employees can avail of regular employment benefits from day one. Employees undergo upto 17 weeks of training. Iyer adds, “This year, about 28,000 person-days of training was imparted, which represents an increase of about 44 percent over the last year. The company invested more than Rs 22.35 million in training. Nearly 70 percent of the training was on technical competencies, while the rest was on non-technical competencies. The training included an awareness programme on Intellectual Property Rights across the organisation,” says Iyer. They also have programmes like Udaya which concentrate on grooming an individual to becoming a leader (OBL—On Becoming Leader) and Sparsh—which is for people at the entry level. 

Developing leadership from within the organisation is a key deliverable for the Sasken HR. They have identified the core competencies, the gaps and the training programmes required to ensure that there is no dearth of growing leaders internally. All leadership roles are expected to go through a rigorous development centre and create personal improvement plans. This helps them align organisational interests with employee development. They believe in encouraging people to upgrade their knowledge through educational programmes. Their policies facilitate employees to take a sabbatical, wherein, on completion of two years of service with the organisation, all employees, regardless of position, grade or designation, are eligible to take a one-year break from service to pursue higher studies. The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, offers a Software Enterprise Management PG diploma wherein Sasken is one of three principal sponsors and has enrolled 30 of its employees over a 10-year period.  

Making a difference

As a responsible corporate citizen, Sasken is committed to contribute to the society, environment and community. They strive to “make a difference” to identified groups and causes such as community, environment, differently-abled and under-privileged children and academia through finances, resources as well as active participation. Sasken is associated with organisations such as Fame India, Parikrma, Vatsalya, Ananya and Samarthanam. They have upheld their commitment to environment by achieving ISO 14001 certification. They celebrate the World Environment day under the banner of ‘Prakriti Mela’ in the premises and promote eco-friendly initiatives, pro-ducts and create environmental awareness amongst the Sasken family. 

Sasken believes in the motto that ‘a team that laughs together lives together.’ Continuing their emphasis on work-life balance, softer entertainment and recreational programmes for employees and their families are held on an on-going basis. The company has its own crèche to help parents take care of their children while at work. It also has a corporate tie-up with a gym for even family members to avail of this service.