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Y.M. Deosthalee

Although we are an engineering company, we don't differentiate between men and women...

Attracting, retaining and motivating talent is the biggest challenge corporates face today. Most of our businesses are people-oriented. And we are competing with international giants like Siemens, ABB, and GE. The demand for people has also gone up significantly, not only in the domestic but also international markets.

In the domestic market, software companies are hiring people with domain expertise. Technical people can be created easily, but not people with domain knowledge. There is also demand from international organisations setting up engineering and R&D facilities in India, and from BPO companies. Unless our organisation makes people the top-most agenda of management, things will be difficult.

L&T has long been recruiting from premier engineering colleges, including the IITs and RECs. At L&T Infotech, we recruit nearly 1,000 engineers each year. Those interested in hardcore engineering prefer to work in L&T. Last year, AC Neilson surveyed more than 700 engineers (including IITians) on the companies they'd like to work for. To our surprise, L&T emerged one of the top companies. Engineers have realised that even in the IT industry, domain knowledge is important. Otherwise you just remain a coder in IT.

Evaluating performance

For our performance assessment, the objectives are set at the beginning of each year and employees are evaluated against these objectives.

The whole exercise starts with the assessment of the thrust areas in each operating division along with its corporate objectives, and the employees are assessed by their immediate supervisors. But sometimes there are aberrations, impacting objectivity. Therefore, a group in each business department examines the evaluation made by the supervisor. One must admit that any performance evaluation exercise is subjective. There can be no `perfect system' and generally no subordinate is entirely happy with his evaluation. But its important that the system is transparent.

Potential assessment

For potential assessment, employees are assessed by outside experts. For example, in senior management staff, we must look at their ability to manage risk, strategise, financial acumen, and ability to network. This assessment is carried out during a two-day exercise at our management development centre in Lonavla.

We determine the employee's potential, whether he is above the benchmark, whether there are gaps in his competencies and what must be done to fill these gaps. Second, job rotation is important for an employee's career growth.

Even if you identify potential leaders, it is very important that they carry the teams with them. We do not want an atmosphere in which the others are unhappy. Any exercise in potential assessment can result in such a feeling among those who are not rated above the benchmark.

So it is important to ensure transparency even in the communication of this exercise. Potential assessment is carried out at three levels _ business leadership, technology leadership and execution leadership. Some people are extremely good with strategy, communication and risk management, but on-the-job execution is different, and a large part of our business consists in actually executing projects.

People competent at executing jobs are picked out in this process. Similarly, when talking about products and projects, we must ensure that the technology leaders are given importance.

But it is important to ensure that if somebody has not done well the first time, he is given another opportunity. This is not a `pass or fail' exercise.

An extremely competent technocrat might eventually want to become a business leader. That window is always open to him. Some people such as scientists or researchers only want to specialise in technology, and it is essential to provide that window. They may not have the sophisticated skills of presentation or articulation. But they have solid skills_ Otherwise you will be left with only talkers.

Engineering and gender

We are an engineering company that doesn't differentiate between men and women. At our engineering and products division, you'll find many women. In the infotech business, in any case, there are lots of women. At the senior level there is absolutely no differentiation. However, historically at least,, handling labour on work floors is not very easy. There are some women who are very competent and willing to do this work. But, earlier, militancy on the workshop floor was very high. Today there is understanding on this subject, and more women are willing to work in this area.

Then there are work shifts. Factory shifts are slightly different from BPO shifts. And if we are talking of a heavy engineering workshop, I think it is absolutely a different cup of tea. So even though we don't differentiate on our part, not many women might be willing to work here.

Rewards and motivation

Compensation and rewards are only one aspect of employee motivation. One must communicate constantly with the employee. If he is not motivated, then what are the reasons for it? Does the employee know what the company strategy is all about? Is he part and parcel of that vision? How deep is his involvement at the workplace?

If the person feels that he has capabilities but is not being given the right opportunities, then there may be some other area in which he can excel. He can be sent for training programmes in achievement motivation. Or, is the employee stressed out due to family problems, or too much work?

Today many companies have offered VRS; the manpower is lower, and workload has gone up. People put in long hours, so work-life balance is an issue.

We conduct training programmes for de-stressing. At every location we are installing gymnasiums and sports facilities. Our Chairman A.M. Naik has taken this decision. Investing in people is the only solution. The top management needs to spend maximum time on this. The next issue is the level of excitement at the workplace. We must have an out-of-the-box approach if we want to attract, retain and motivate talent. We do have a bond system for people who work abroad, but that kind of deterrent has only a limited success. Ultimately, it is the excitement of the workplace that matters.

You must excite them with the prospect of doing something that is the latest, which is in the higher bracket of technology.

Job security

In HR, the most important thing is to ensure that people never feel threatened about their job. So if any organisation is growing, it must clearly say that there are enough jobs for all. In some cases, we are even recruiting people who left us in the past. This is however not a general rule, as it can de-motivate those who have stayed on. But in the current context one cannot afford to be rigid, especially if the person is capable. I think in the future, everything will depend on competencies.

The author is Chief Financial Officer, Larsen & Toubro, who also heads the company's Human Resource function.

As told to Kripa Raman

Picture by Paul Noronha

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