Work Culture

Synchronizing ways of learning

This is not only an organization where people come to do their work, but also a university where they can learn. Renuka Vembu shares the work ethics based employee-friendly atmosphere of Synechron

Showing the signs of an organization which is keeping in pace with changing times, Synechron is committed to setting a flexible, collaborative and employee friendly culture that balances work and play creating an open space for employees and a relaxed office atmosphere. They sincerely believe that employee efficiency and excellence is the result of a work culture that fosters creative thinking and individual growth. Tanveer Saulat, General Manager and Country Head, India Operations, Synechron, further elaborated on this view-point, “An open door policy and a non-hierarchy-conscious office atmosphere with non-discriminatory care and concern for each and every individual is what we at the company eternally strive for. Besides this, we also strongly advocate and encourage employees to imbibe a positive and professional approach to work and to their life in general.”

In a business environment that survives on closely fought competitive war, the demand of clients is much more than mere perfection of technical delivery skills. They expect people to be more sensitive to soft skills. This will help employees understand the client business better and also develop a personal relationship. Synechron maintains its firm view of soft skill training programs being one of its main people processes. They thus have embarked on training programs emphasizing know-how not only on the technical sphere and business front, but also conduct specialized courses for soft skills. Faced with this reality puts the spotlight on the indispensable need for communication with both written and oral proficiency, impeccable presentation skills, maintaining interpersonal relations, deft situation handling ability and general but all-important business etiquettes training, which are imparted to individuals.

Recruitment and retention

Synechron follows a stringent recruitment and retention policy to ensure that it hires, nourishes, retains and promotes the best-of-breed talent from across the industry. All recruits have a minimum of two years of prior work experience in their respective domains and technologies. With regards to this principle, Saulat mentioned, “At Synechron, we usually look for people with at least two years of work experience, especially from the technology side, as they bring a certain level of maturity and bandwidth to the organization. Since most of our projects are highly domain focused and client-centric, this prior work experience comes as a value added proposition to the client. Moreover, experienced professionals require a minimal amount of basic technology training, thereby further reducing operational time.”

For supplementing their dynamic growth, they will start looking at fresh talents emerging out of campuses. They are also on the verge of setting up a full-fledged training department to groom these nascent talents into polished professionals. This basic technical and domain training required will permit them to service their clientele better and to deliver qualitative results.

Candidates are selected after a thorough technical evaluation and various rigorous screening processes. Their goal is to hire the best of the lot and nurture them to help the company reach the heights of corporate success, and in creating a brand where its employees are the best logo.

Training focus

Synechron’s training programs have helped them develop some of the best domain and technology experts. Saulat stressed on this, “Training here is perceived to be a valuable investment rather than acting as a cost to be borne. With the help of these training programs, employees have developed and honed their communication, decision-making, presentation and leadership skills, resulting in a feel good factor and instilling within them greater confidence levels when dealing in critical business situations. Our people are our single greatest strength, and hence, we have adopted a structured approach to training, which is very essential in a fast growing organization like ours. We systematically evaluate individual learning curves and help employees hone and upgrade their technical skills, through training, professional guidance, hands-on project experience and onsite visits.”

With a vision to keep its employees updated on the latest entrants in the technology segment in the global market place, Synechron regularly sponsors specialized, technical training courses for those who are keen on renewing their knowledge base. These include focused educational awareness and exposure in software development, testing, database administration, technical writing, etc. This enterprise also takes pride in being one of the few IT companies in the country to have its own, fully functional, internal training varsity. Synechron’s Mortgage Banking University, Capital Markets University and Insurance University focus on both, the technical as well as the business aspect of each of these domains. While the technology track centers around specific platforms and tools used to develop the applications, the business track gives the employees a better understanding of the domain they work in.

The doors of Synechron’s varsity are open to every individual who is intrigued and keen to learn more about any particular domain of his interest. Saulat supported, “Since inception, we have been a domain oriented-organization. By maintaining our focus on key areas of mortgage banking, capital markets, insurance, and Internet media and technology, we have managed to carve a niche for ourselves in these market segments. Keeping in mind this domain-centric approach to all projects, the need was felt to have not just technical experts but techno-domain experts who actually understood the end usage and output of the application that they were developing. This would further motivate the employees and result in better output throughout the software development lifecycle. As a result, the internal training varsities were conceptualized for each of the three financial domains.” These training sessions are conducted by the company’s internal experts who are domain specialists for the business track training sessions and senior project managers for the technology track sessions, and all of whom have several years of hands-on experience in their respective domains.

As part of the knowledge sharing and management initiative, the company also has technology specific groups on its local intranet portal called Lexicon. There are dedicated groups for Microsoft (SMART—Synechron’s Microsoft Advisory, Research and Technology Group), Java (Java Core Technology Group), and the QA teams where new technologies, methods and processes are discussed and shared.

Leadership and mentoring

The organization conducts periodic workshops that are aimed at developing the leadership qualities within individuals, not only at the managerial level but also at the associate level. All Synechronites are encouraged to shoulder additional responsibilities, which is embarked upon by involving them directly in the organization and co-ordination of its various events and diverse range of activities. This not only brings out leadership qualities among the employees but also instills in them a sense of belonging with the organization.

Career path

Saulat explained, “Placing the right resources on the right job is one of the most critical factors for an organization’s success, as well as for the progressive career development of any resource. We lay great emphasis in ensuring that the skill sets of each recruit are matched exactly to the job they are aptly suited for. We conduct periodic career guidance sessions for our employees to help chart out a proper, calculated career path for them. Experts are called in to give guidance on further steps that the employees need to take in order to improve their skill sets, and assistance is provided to enhance their job profile so that they gain a distinctive advantage in today’s corporate environment. Synechron also has the distinction of being one of the few IT companies to provide maximum onsite opportunities which help develop interpersonal skills as well as client interaction skills, significantly boosting employee morale and confidence levels. As an organization, we are fully committed to fostering structured, sustained progress and development of employees, a philosophy that is explicitly reflected in our HR vision.”

The process of defining and laying down a structured career path for its taskforce includes mapping the career prospects of an individual into a coherent structure. This is done by taking into consideration the employee’s aspirations and the desired career path. The process involves three different members—the employee, his manager and the HR team, all of whom assemble together to figure out the best suitable career path for the employee aligning it with that of the company as a whole. In order to achieve this, the employee undergoes rigorous training sessions, on the basis of which performance is evaluated every quarter.

Job rotation

This is an arrangement whereby employees are rotated through multiple positions and job roles periodically. Any employee who has completed his prior commitments in the assigned job role, are given ample opportunities to project and enhance their creativity. This furnishes them with better career development opportunities and enables cross-training to increase their skill sets. Abiding by this methodology and provision of this facility significantly reduces the monotonous nature of work opening new avenues for employees with different challenges and creativity windows.

Awards and recognition

Synechron understands that maintaining employee morale and motivation levels is a prerequisite for the success of any organization. Moreover, hard work, dedication and sincerity need to be recognized and should be well rewarded to do justice to the ‘human capital’. Synechron’s quarterly award program, the Surpass Award, has been devised with the primary motive of distinguishing high performers from various departments. Each quarter, from the multiple nominees selected for the award, all nominees receive certificates and gift vouchers, while the award winners walk away in glory with a fully funded trip to a holiday destination of their choice.

Bridging gaps

Saulat stated, “Keeping in line with its non-bureaucratic organizational hierarchy, Synechron organizes several activities and events that help bring together people across the organization in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. Periodic parties are held for the organization as a whole or for specific project groups. Such events are the perfect platform for junior level associates to interact freely with their seniors and also serve as icebreakers to meet with new people. Apart from the parties, we also organize other recreational events such as treks, team lunches and dinners, and sports events as well as other cultural activities during festivals to bridge the gap between the organizational hierarchies.”

Value system

Since its inception, the enterprise has always promoted a zero-politics and non-bureaucratic environment throughout its organizational hierarchy. Even though the company has grown significantly now, employees are still allowed to address all major grievances to the management directly and this acts as their key value driver.

Family focus

The organization realizes and attempts to address the growing importance of striking a perfect balance between one’s personal life and professional career. Flexi-timings are one of the many convenience factors that employees are privileged to, as they can select the shift timings most suitable to support their lifestyle. To empathize and provide timely facilities during contingencies, like hospitalization of a family member, Synechron also offers cash advances or personal loans to its employees and lends them a helping hand. They also have a group insurance policy which covers the employee’s spouse and two children.

Social responsibilities

The company takes pride in keeping up with its larger social responsibilities. Synechron has a large group of dedicated employees who regularly initiate and participate in several social welfare and philanthropic activities in and around the city of Pune. For the past several years, they have celebrated major Indian festivals with children from orphanages and underprivileged families. Sweets, books, toys and other gifts are distributed to all the children present, making the day memorable for the less fortunate ones. One such orphanage that was visited by Synechronites in the recent past was the Saptasindhu Children’s Home in Hadapsar, Pune.

The company has also sponsored for the education of orphaned children in the past. In addition to these social commitments, they have taken active interest in environmental awareness drives by planting saplings and spreading the message of minimizing the usage of plastic and other non-biodegradable materials. The tree plantation drive at Salumbre village was one among them. Organized contribution to relief efforts are also encouraged with employees spontaneously taking the lead on the same.

renuka.vembu@expressindia.com