Flexibility and a state of belongingness have turned to be the two core pillars that drive employees to work in the post-pandemic world. Organisations across the globe are recalibrating their HR policies to meet these most demanded needs. Addressing these concerns, SG Analytics has drawn out two major initiatives such as leave transfer policy and profit share plan.
ETHRWorld interacted with Dr Kiran Bala, Chief People Officer, SG Analytics, to understand more about the recently rolled out HR policies, and actions taken to address her core HR concerns.
LEAVE TRANSFER POLICY
The HR department at SG Analytics formulated this policy as a result of the feedback from the pulse survey and the data points received across the organisation. As per the policy, any employee who has a deficit in leave balance can be offered leaves by fellow team members, in times of medical exigencies or other emergencies.
“In most cases, every employee in the organisation won’t be utilising all the available leaves. These are some cases of leave lapses. In such cases, this policy allows employees to transfer or donate their surplus leaves,” says Bala.
“We also guide and educate our employees on how to take benefit out of this policy. This helps us foster camaraderie and a team spirit within respective teams and also within the organisation,” she adds.
PROFIT SHARE PLAN
Talking about the profit share plan of the company, Bala says, “We have a performance celebration culture. So, even the success is shared with our people on a year-to year basis. Irrespective of the seniority or the level of the role that employees have been playing, the profit shares of the company are equally distributed among the employees.”
“We are a 100 per cent employee-owned company. This has ensured that our employees feel a distinct sense of ownership towards the organisation,” Bala points out.
As per the followed practices, anybody who's meeting performance criteria, expectations and above is eligible for the profit. And, the amount is automatically distributed twice a year, in a six-monthly kind of a payout.
HR CONCERNS
The changing nature of HR concerns is what excites Bala. As organisations are dealing with the remote and hybrid workforce, providing a unified or a consistent experience to the employees is her major concern.
“I think this is something which is long overdue. And at SG analytics, we are making significant investments in automation and integration and moving more towards a self-service and a streamline approach to employee experience,” says Bala.
As an HR leader, her utmost priority is employee mental health and winning the talent war, which includes hiring the right people quickly and ensuring that they succeed in their respective role.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Traditionally people think employee engagement is all about some fun activities and celebrations, but according to Bala, these are just a part of it and not the end of it. “We have been talking a lot about the great resignation, moonlighting, and quiet quitting. We need to ensure that employees feel connected to a bigger purpose at work. We need to keep the organisation culture more agile and manage change in the dynamic work environment,” she says.
To drive employee engagement, SG Analytics works on different fronts, including work, society, and celebration. The company focuses on the mental wellbeing aspect and sports, and keeps the cultural feedback alive.
Fulfilling the ESG goals, the company has created a sustainability committee which is a mix of personal functions, business functions and the core corporate functions. The committee encourages the employees towards creating awareness about waste management and reducing carbon footprint, and work towards net zero emission.
“We want our employees to have more meaningful and enriching experiences at work, which can only come once you have a holistic approach to whatever you're doing. As an individual, you want to be connected to a larger purpose as well, rather than just day-to-day work,” says Bala.
Apart from this, SG Analytics uses different channels, including social media platforms, social institutions and campaigns to foster its employer brand values such as accountability, leadership, co-creation, fun and excellence. The company also shares the success stories in open forums, town halls and internal communication platforms.
“In terms of the campaigns that we run, we have recently launched a programme focused on accelerating women leadership, named ‘No Ceiling’. We are actually walking the talk and 42 per cent of our employees are women. This is not limited to our internal employees, but we're also partnering and networking with companies outside,” Bala says.
HIRING PLANS
Currently, SG Analytics has a headcount of around 1200 employees. And, the company is planning to hire about 400 employees next year. It has also recently opened a new office in Hyderabad and is considering to expand its presence in some of the other cities as well.
“Today 50 per cent of our employees are with zero to two years experience. So, we focus a lot on hiring freshers. And, that will continue into the next year as well,” says Bala.
