Hughes Software Systems:
Nomination for Award for Company
with Most Innovative HR Practices
e-mpowering,
e-nergizing, e-ngaging, e-nabling!
 e-HR
@ HSS
This paper is based on actual
e-HR strategy and interventions at Hughes Software Systems
Ltd. ("HSS"), the #1 communicationsoftware company
in India. It describes the overall context of the software
industry as well as HSS, and how HSS has found, in e-HR, an
innovative and powerful yet simple way of making its dream
organization come to life. It describes the overall e-HR Model
developed by HSS as well its evolution and deployment in the
organization today.
Picture this...
An organization which grows
multi-fold but retains its "small company" personal
touch. An organization where each individual is empowered,
informed and independent and each system and process runs
itself. An organization where all employees are in touch,
"in-sync", aware of all that is going on in even
the remotest corner of the organization and the world. An
organization where employee recognize their peers and role-models
and drive their culture, all by themselves. An organization
where employees and managers have even the most specific facts,
reports or information on company happenings always available
at their tips, even when they are at home or travelling to
any corner of the globe! An organization where all processes
(even "salary-slips"!) are "paper-less"
and available to the employee, anytime. An organization where
people sitting thousands of miles away work together on a
project or share ideas in real-time. An organization where
changes are deployed in minutes and change management is truly
decentralized. An organization where the employees decide
and drive their own job path, even across functions! An organization
where "help" for any problem is available in minutes,
be it work-related, technical, logistical or personal. An
organization where not just the employees but the potential
hires as well as "alumni" are always in sync with
the latest happenings...
In short, a value-based, culturally-strong,
empowered organization, where distances are notional and the
right time is right now!! This is the story of HSS and HSS'
innovative, all-encompassing, strategic deployment of an empowering,
enabling, engaging and energizing "e-HR"...
The Context
The Organizational Context
Hughes Software Systems started,
in 1992, as a software development center with Hughes Network
Systems (parent company) as the sole customer with a total
staff of 50 at the end of first year. Today, HSS is the #1
communication software company in India with nearly 1700 employees
and with customers worldwide.
In the last 10 years, HSS has
seen explosive growth and a lot of change. The revenues have
grown at an average rate of 60% annually. HSS has grown from
a single customer to more than 140 customers around the world,
has moved from providing software services to developing hi-tech
and hi-end products and solutions in the extremely competitive
global communications market. The high growth rate over the
years combined with the typical high employee turnover of
this industry has meant that historically, HSS has been a
perpetually new company, with 60% or more employees who are
new at all times.
Starting out with a single location
at Gurgaon (a New Delhi suburb), HSS now has 5 development
centers spread across Gurgaon and 2 more at Bangalore. Along
with this, there are a dozen sales and support offices spread
across other parts of the world.
The "People" Context
The IT industry is a young industry
of young people. Employees are typical Generation-X with 75%
people in the 21-26 years age group with low need for personal
communication and bonding. This highly mobile, intelligent,
ambitious, workforce (predominantly comprising of engineers)
has high expectations from itself as well as the company.
Also, in this industry, and company, there is a lot of focus
of the people on work, and a lot of their satisfaction comes
out of work-related accomplishments or activities. Most of
the interactions between managers and their team members are
work related, and they spend hardly any effort to develop
extended personal relationships at the workplace.
The "Values" Context (The "HSS Way")
HSS has a set of clearly defined
guiding principles that have been a part of the ethos right
from inception and have shaped (and continue to shape) HSS'
culture. This is called the "HSS Way". The "HSS
Way" is based on the values of "Ownership",
"Respect", "Integrity", "Proficiency",
"Openness" and "Quality Consciousness".
This is the "Values Yardstick" against which all
decisions are measured and to which HSS' people philosophy
is aligned.
An uncompromising commitment
to "Ethics" and "Respect for the individual"
is the corner stone of HSS' culture right from day one. Retaining
and enhancing this culture is a top priority at HSS at all
times.
The Challenges
This unique combination of the
characteristics of the industry, organization and the people
creates a unique context with some unique challenges for the
organization. As the company has shown high growth, there
has been a constant need to change and automate various processes
and systems in the company. Along with this, there has been
a need to consistently develop, reinforce and retain the right
culture (along the "HSS Way") given the specific
context of this industry and its workforce.
HSS' "5-e" e-HR Model
HSS decided to transcend these
challenges to create a vibrant, value-driven workplace, with
a high focus on the 4 "e"s:
- e-mpowering the employees by providing
them maximum access to key information, interfaces and
resources, an ability to share their views and impact
their own as well as the organization's future.
- e-nabling people to manage their
jobs and personal transactions smoothly, speedily, efficiently
and independently.
- e-nergizing the organization's internal
environment with a positive energy in a way that makes
each and every employee feel energized and charged up
about life too!
- e-ngaging employees so that they
develop a sense of bonding with the company, its values
and ethos as well as its constituents.
The 4"e"s undoubtedly
have close-linkages as well as overlaps. Therefore, these
needed to be driven "seamlessly" through an engine
that can reach each and every employee, is flexible enough
to drive each of these initiatives differently, is sophisticated
enough to present these to employees in a compelling way,
is reliable enough to be efficient and is scalable for future
growth. And of course, still simple enough to become successful.
The "core" or the
engine that HSS chose to drive these 4 "e"s was,
in fact, the 5th "e", that is, "e-HR".
e-mpowering! e-nabling! e-nergizing! e-ngaging! The e-volution
of e-HR @ HSS!
e-HR is often defined as deployment
done electronically, in part or wholly - via a Web browser
through the Intranet or even the Internet. Right from HSS'
inception in 1992, the seeds of e-HR were sown. The need that
e-HR was addressing at that time was for every employee to
be able to access all kinds of information (such as policies)
readily and to be able to interact freely across the organization.
At that time, the web had not taken this form, and the information
exchange used to happen through innovative use of emails as
well as the LAN (Local Area Network). Further levels of sophistication
were built into the system gradually as HSS was experiencing
high growth rates and it was anticipated that as the organization
grew, e-Hr would become even more critical. Around 1995-96,
an Intranet called "Anthra" was set up. Another
key step was taken around 1997 when "EDB" or the
"Employee Database" was set up as an oracle based
application for HR.
The emergence of e-HR in its
present, evolved form happened about four years ago, when
suddenly, a lot of innovative applications that used the core
information from the EDB and the interface provided by "Anthra"
completely changed the way HSS worked, interacted, learnt
and even, behaved!
Today, the e-HR system at HSS
is an elaborate, multi-faceted system that comprises the following
key elements:
- "EDB" or the "Employee
Database": This oracle-based database is the
core data repository of employee information (personal,
educational, official or professional) right from the
time that the employee first came into contact with HSS.
This is updated on the day of joining and all other applications
draw the basic data from this.
- "Anthra": The HSS intranet
site "Anthra" is every employee's prime interface
with the organization and the organization's key interface
with the employee. This is the center-point of communication
and information and is accessible by all HSS employees
at Gurgaon (5 locations), Bangalore (2 locations), the
USA and in fact from any location worldwide by logging-in
through the Internet. Anthra is the interface "page"
(which looks like a slick, informative web-page/ web-site).
This is the "place" from which the employee
can launch any application or view any information or
make use of any e-HR resource.
- A well thought out structure of innovative
applications and modules: that rest on the core-information
and interface provided by these two elements (EDB and
Anthra) to dictate the organization's working, interaction,
learning and even culture!
e-HR has the advantage of being highly versatile.
Based on the need of the situation the various e-HR modules
can provide varying amounts of speed, confidentiality, data
security, wide access, focussed responses, customized outputs,
error-free transactions and attractive formats. In addition,
for a computer-friendly, engineering organization, "e-HR"
is definitely a medium that is appropriate. HSS has tried
to capitalize on the versatility of e-HR for each of the
modules/applications for each the 4"e"s, to make
optimum use of the medium to meet the strategic and operational
needs of the organization effectively.
Following is an explanation
of the way e-HR makes each of the 4"e"s come alive
at HSS.
e-mpowering! e-HR @ HSS !
e-mpowering the employees
by providing them maximum access to key information, interfaces
and resources, an ability to share their views and impact
their own as well as the organization's future
The first key role that e-HR plays at HSS is
that of "e-mpowering" the employees. Empowering
employees is all about being "open" and "transparent",
providing them with enough information for them to understand
the organizational context and operate in it independently,
to connect them to others across the company, to have available
to them resources and support to help them succeed at their
jobs.
Obviously, "information-availability"
is the key input required for this sense of empowerment to
grow. As the "HSS Way" is also based on these values
of "Openness" and "Trust", information
access (by having all Policies and Key Information available
on-line to all employees) and creation of on-line "discussion
groups" were the first e-HR initiatives launched at the
time of HSS' inception itself.
Over time, this has evolved
into various specific, sophisticated modules including a full-fledged
"Policies" section on Anthra along with real-time
help on individual queries through the electronic "HR
Helpdesk". In fact, e-Help-desks for all internal
support functions such as IT, HR, Purchase, Corporate
Communications and Quality exist. These log as well as track
closure of issues raised by any employee from his/her desktop,
on-line. This is a timely, interactive and personalized way
for e-addressal of individual issues, queries and suggestions.
There are various discussion-boards
and virtual forums where employees can voice their views,
ideas and even "cribs" and get the views of others
across the organization.
In addition to the help-desks,
on-line surveys and "opinion polls" are also
conducted on Anthra to give employees a chance to voice
their views, share suggestions and even make decisions! For
instance, recently when there was a proposal to change the
office-timings, an opinion poll on Anthra was conducted to
let employees themselves decide on the issue.
"Directline" is
an on-line, electronic access through which any HSSian can
share his/her comments, ideas or questions directly with the
President of the Company.
To build on this sense of openness
and involvement, "Anthra" also features new "HSS
news-stories" (updated everyday) to share with all
HSSians the accomplishments and events as they unfold company-wide.
In fact, nowadays, it is not uncommon to see "film clips"
of company parties and get-togethers on Anthra too! Anthra
also features the key relevant news / technical articles
from around the world to heighten employees' awareness.
Empowerment is also about
making personal choices and taking charge of one's own future.
There are various systems and modules of e-HR that support
this, one of them is "IJPP". "IJPP"
or the "Internal Job Posting Program" allows
employees to look for job change within HSS! All new positions
are posted on Anthra, employees can apply on-line in total
confidentiality (without even their managers' knowledge)
and the selected candidate can move to a new job, maybe even
in another function!
Empowerment is not just about
independence in day-to-day job related issues and career-paths
but also the things that are "personal" to the individual
employee. This is the area in the model where "e-mpowering"
and "e-nabling" start overlapping. An example of
this can be seen in the case of Compensation Management.
The employee can log on to the "CTC calculator"
on Anthra to see the details of his/her individual compensation.
The monthly "Pay-slip" is also available
on-line through Anthra. At the time of compensation review,
the new compensation is also communicated to the employee
through an automatic e-mail. Employees can also do their income
tax calculations on-line. This not only empowers the employee
to manage personal finances more independently and effectively,
but it also empowers the employees in the support functions
to spend their time on the developmental aspect of their jobs.
e-nabling! e-HR @ HSS !
e-nabling people to manage
their jobs and personal transactions smoothly, speedily, efficiently
and independently
e-HR is particularly well-suited
to managing the "operational efficiency" of people
processes with high-level of independence, reliability and
cost-advantages. At HSS, these e-HR modules and applications
start kicking in even before the employee comes on board,
and play a key role in shaping the entire work-experience
of the employee while at HSS.
Through detailed information
and stories available on the web-site (about what it means
to work at HSS), potential employees start getting to know
HSS even before they join. They can also interact with HSS'
"tech-gurus" on-line and take their help in solving
technical problems. One of the first interfaces between a
potential hire and the organization is the web-enabled employment
application forms on HSS' web-site. The "potential
employee" then comes within the purview of the Recruitment
Management System. This is an e-HR application available
in the Manager's work area of Anthra and all "New Hire
Requests" are raised, approved and tracked through this
by managers as well as HR. This also serves as a central repository
of data about any employment related transaction.
On the day of joining, every
employee can access the e-HR module called "Newbies"
to learn what HSS is about, where everything is, who everyone
is, and in fact, find out all that a newcomer would like to
know about HSS. For most, this is the very first direct contact
with the elaborate e-HR system of applications and interfaces.
In fact, this is highly relevant for most people as it provides
"just-in-time" information, which effectively supplements
any classroom orientation.
The e-HR application called
the Time-sheet and Leave Management System is a work-flow
for recording and tracking all employees' working hour information.
This is also accessible through an extranet. Now it is also
used for generating invoicing/billing information for our
customers.
Performance Management
happens through "e-PerMaSys", a Lotus Notes
based work-flow application that allows each employee and
manager to set objectives on-line, review progress, make adjustments
and do an annual review for task, role and behavior along
the HSS way. It also archives all documents and allows HR
and other relevant interfaces to access company-level information
on-line and even displays the names of managers missing deadlines
on Anthra, to create peer pressure to comply! As mentioned
earlier, Compensation Management too happens on-line.
The Skills Inventory System
is the e-HR application that tracks the skills
and knowledge base of all employees and lets the function-heads
or managers use it for reports and decision-making support.
An on-line e-HR module called
"Heads U Win" allows employees to send in
referrals to HR for suitable candidates for hiring at HSS.
One can also see the status of one's referral online.
There is even an e-HR work-flow
application called the Resignation Management System on
Anthra through which even the resignations, their review,
approval and "no dues" clearance happen on-line!
In addition, there are several
other applications and features available including an on-line
concierge service ("e-errandmall"), travel
desk, library booking, taxi-bookings, electronic
employee magazines, a software library, "info-channels",
on-line booking of discussion rooms etc.
"Anthra" serves as
the one point interface for all of these and other e-HR modules
and applications, enabling employees, managers and HR to capitalize
on the strengths of e-HR to manage a multitude of people processes
and interfaces much more quickly, efficiently and independently
than any conventional system.
e-nergizing! e-HR @ HSS !
e-nergizing the organization's
internal environment with a positive energy in a way that
it makes each and every employees feel happy, energized and
charged up about life too!
While "e-nabling"
is all about smart ways of managing Operations, "e-nergizing"
is all about strategic deployment of OD interventions to build
a positive energy.
Over the years, HSS has deployed
several e-HR interventions in the area of Recognition to
good effect. Positive strokes are strong motivators
and great creators of positive energy. "HSS Applause"
is an on-line, e-HR recognition system that encourages
managers to recognize the contributions of team-members in
real-time. The work-flow application not only allows managers
to nominate employees for award and respective group-heads
to approve them but to also independently publish them on
Anthra with just a mouse-click, without any need for intervention
by HR or any other function.
"Applause" also hosts
an e-HR application on "Popular Awards". These
are awards in 12 categories such as Best Sense of Humor, Great
Reviewer, Best Leader etc. which are given out every quarter
based on the on-line company-wide voting by all employees
conducted through this application. This has been a key intervention
facilitating leadership development and "role-modeling".
"HSS Applause" is
also linked to an "Awards Homepage" showcasing
all past winners, for all kinds of award categories.
HSS-specific greetings are available
at "e-Greetings" on Anthra to encourage peer-to-peer
recognition as well as to build the habit of appreciation
across levels.
As all-round development, a
healthy work-life balance as well as a sense of social engagement
is important to a feeling of "high energy", some
of the e-HR modules on Anthra also facilitate this. For instance,
employees can develop their extra-curricular interests by
signing up for a virtual space called the "Club Zone"
which includes, among others, a music group, dramatics group,
literary group and even a dance club. Anthra also hosts information
on recreational options, such as a "movie-guide",
a "travel-guide", "hot-deals" (special
rates at restaurants) and even the "menu" of the
day at the company cafeterias is published.
"Reach Out" is
another group that deals with various social work projects,
including an "adopted" local school that employees
can help through volunteer-work. Employees can also sign up
on-line for "Common Cause" campaigns such
as "green sheen" (environment protection) or "Clean
the Neighborhood" or educating slum children.
e-ngaging! e-HR @ HSS !
e-ngaging employees so that
they develop a sense of bonding with the company, it's values
and ethos as well as its constituents
In a Gen-X Industry and organization
with Gen-X workers, e-Hr provides a way to deploy interventions
to building "bonding" and "engagement"
in a unique way.
The very simplest and most basic
mode for getting in touch with another HSSian is the "In-house",
the on-line directory of all employees. However, for employees
whose job involves being on a PC for most of the day, and
the natural predisposition is not to seek out new relationships,
e-HR provides an innovative way to foster Communication
and Relationship Building across groups, locations and
levels through various "e-Discussion groups"
hosted on Anthra. The groups range from as diverse areas as
"Project management" to "Junk" (a no-holds-barred
group) to "Ideas" (a group that explores new thoughts).
In addition, each work-group
had its own Group home-page on Anthra where it makes
available information on its team, accomplishments and other
particulars to all HSSians. In fact, employees can independently
set up individual home-pages too. This shrinks distances
and helps employees across the organization to "connect".
Of course, "Club Zone" (the activity zone)
as well as "info-channels" also serve this
function.
Culture building and "bonding"
with the organization also happens through understanding
its values and ethos. The Ethics and Integrity sections
on Anthra that explains "the HSS way", and have
built in escalation mechanisms through "directline"
etc. In addition, specific "virtual events" launched
through Anthra from time-to-time also help employees develop
a greater connect with the "HSS Way". For instance,
"The Hughes Mindsystem" virtual event included on-line
quizzing, a virtual treasure-hunt and other such activities
to allow employees across the company to interact and understand
what the "Mindsystem" is all about.
Video-conferencing and
"web-casting" of company events across locations
also help draw the company close.
Engagement also happens by the
creation of "learning communities". "Pointers"
is the section that is the first start to a knowledge management
system and a place for approaching the "tech gurus"
of HSS and learning from them. For people outside HSS, a similar
section is available on the website (www.Aricent.com).
Learning is managed through an online monthly training
calendar, an "ALC" or automated learning
center and the "HSS Virtual Campus", an e-learning
portal, where employees can take a host of technical or behavioral
training on-line in interactive e-modules, at their convenience,
from their desk-tops.
e-HR has also been deployed
to keep even ex-HSSians engaged with the organization! "Alumni
Zone" is an e-portal where ex-employees can join
this virtual community and keep in touch with the happenings,
people and events at HSS and share their thoughts, opinions
and ideas with each other and other HSSians too.
The last word...
At HSS, e-HR today is a way
of life. It has not only provided ease and efficiency to employees
and managers but has also been key in spreading, building
and enhancing culture, recognizing excellence, building bonds
and relationships, facilitating employee and organizational
growth.
This "5-e model" of
e-HR has emerged out of the analysis of HSS' unique context
(of challenges and opportunities), needs and "Values"
(the "HSS Way"). Therefore, e-HR at HSS is not a
tool: it is a comprehensive, all-pervasive, strategic intervention
based on a scalable model that will ensure its growth and
evolution with that of the organization.
For more details, contact the
following at HSS:
Aadesh Goyal: aadesh.goyal@Aricent.com,
tel: 0124-6346666 x2111
Anupama Babbar: anupama.babbar@Aricent.com,
tel: 0124-6346666 x2367
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Last updated :
February 6, 2007
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