The Survey - An Introduction
The IT industry has made a significant impact on the Indian economy both in financial and qualitative terms. The industry has contributed over Rs 150 billion in exports in 1998-99. The success of the industry especially in Western markets has galvanized India to view its competitive advantages differently from the past. Human resources have become a key competitive advantage and the importance of leveraging this advantage and developing it has become the key to economic influence.
From the HR perspective, the IT industry has always been different in its approach to HR issues. This has been a consequence of a young and ambitious workforce that truly has global opportunities and aspirations and the constant exposure to the US. The industry has successfully adopted many American ideas and values especially in terms of having an informal and open work environment and using stock as the key reward mechanism.
We at Cerebrus Consultants have been involved with the IT industry in a wide range of consulting assignments in the HR area especially in the HR policy and compensation area. Compensation has historically been the major area of benchmarking for companies in HR. But success in an IT company rests largely on attracting and retaining talented individuals and building a shared commitment and vision among them to achieve together. What this takes, besides visionary leadership is lot more than paying competitively. This study attempts to partly capture some of the key aspects that have differentiated companies.
With the growth in the industry there are a large number of small and mid size IT companies who also aspire to learn from the successful leaders and adapt what they did to their own situation in the current context.
Our objective in doing this large survey covering 80 companies across a widely varied size range was :
- To enable benchmarking of a range of HR practices, which experienced all together build the work environment and culture in an organisation
- To raise issues for discussion in the HR community in the industry in the context of the challenges ahead
- To enable companies to learn from each other and to understand the strategies adopted by companies in a contextual framework
- To provide a reference document for similar studies in the future
We have therefore presented the findings of this survey at various fora, including NASSCOM 99 and have invited discussion circles to enable there to be a greater sharing of experience and knowledge. We are very pleased to have received lot of support, both during the conduct of the study and thereafter. We hope this report serves as a useful reference document.
The Survey
DATA COLLECTION
A comprehensive questionnaire covering eight distinct modules was administered to each participant. Most participants spent between two to six hours with us in answering the questionnaire. Several companies also provided documents such as performance appraisal forms, etc.
We also reviewed the internet sites of participant companies and published data where relevant to add to the data provided by companies. In addition we undertook a comprehensive review of secondary data such as NASSCOM publications and magazine articles to get a better perspective on trends and issues.
DATA PRESENTATION
The data compiled and presented in this report is therefore largely based on the questionnaires filled in by companies. All statistical analysis in this report are based on data filled in the questionnaires and to that extent gaps due to incomplete data in some cases exist. We have in our analysis on trends drawn on our consulting work as well as the secondary sources that we have referred to.
We have found HR practices adopted by companies best co related to the size of the company in terms of employee numbers. We have therefore through out the study analyzed practices by the size in terms of employee numbers. For this purpose we have classified the companies.
The report has been presented in modules covering various HR aspects and is largely in "bullet" presentation format to facilitate quick reading and ready referencing.
Participants
Eighty-two companies across the country participated in the study. The participants included most major companies and focused on the software development companies and not on the hardware and peripheral companies or on product marketing companies, focused on domestic sales.
The detailed list of companies and the geographical spread is also highlighted in this presentation.
