Thursday, January 10, 2002
THE Best Troubleshooter. Great Mentor. I Would Like To Be
You. No, these are not names of obscure Hollywood movies,
these are simply awards instituted by Hughes Software Systems
(HSS) to stimulate employees.
The Popular Awards, as the HSS people call them, have been
based on a set of 12 leadership behaviours identified in the
company's credo, pithily called `The HSS Way'. Every quarter,
three are selected, covering all of them in a year.
The awards were recently showcased by the company at an HR
meet hosted by XLRI, Jamshedpur, an initiative billed as `Working
with the Generation NeXt'. ``This (the system of awards) helps
build strong awareness about the HSS Way, and creates peer
recognition,'' it was pointed out.
This is how the awardees are selected: An employee can vote
for any colleague for each of these slots. Based on the number
of votes polled, the Top 20 names are announced along with
the winners and runners-up. Importantly, even a single-vote
achiever gets an automatic mail from the HSS system, mentioning
that some people voted for him or her as well as the comments
made by them. Usually 60 per cent of the staffers exercise
their franchise. What constitutes Generation NeXt for HSS?
In the last eight years or so, HSS has seen an annual growth
rate of about 60 per cent in terms of both revenue and people.
Factor in an attrition of 20 per cent per annum, and one can
see the changes that are happening within the company.
A lot of those who work at any point of time are in the 21-26
age bracket ambitious, mobile and independent-minded, with
``a low need of communication with others.''
These are people who must be tied together in ways other
than work, it is felt.
For the company, the awards are just one way of creating
the right internal environment. HSS has worked out certain
`Edicts for managers' things that are expected from the employee
community. The performance management system also has a HSS
Citizenship Benchmark, which enables an employee to do a self-assessment
and receive feedback in turn.
As for feedback, HSS has a leadership development inventory,
thanks to which ``managers get a 360-degree feedback once
every year in a confidential manner, with no one at HSS having
access.'' The company's managerial cadre, therefore, can use
it for improving their efficiency.
Further, there is the Integrity programme for establishing
strong business ethics. The company has an ethics office,
headed by a Chief Ethics Officer. All new hires are put through
an ethics workshop within four weeks of employment.
Every one goes through a once-a-year refresher course. The
company has a strong mechanism for reporting and acting on
violations.
Last updated : February 2, 2004
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