Why Texas Instruments is one of the best places to work in India

In a business environment where labour” is not just another input but the ultimate source of  competitive advantage, every organisation aspires to identify factors that can attract and retain human capital.Organisations have to not only ensure that their employees remain engaged and productive on a continual basis, but also maintain levels of engagement higher than competition. Any failure to ensure relatively higher satisfaction levels vis-a-vis the competition would culminate in higher attrition levels and exit of key talent.

The fluidity of talent movements across industries and emergence of professionals who can straddle diverse environments poses new challenges; today, a sales professional working for a consumer products company is wooed not only by a competitor, but by the telecom or banking and insurance sector as well. This places engagement, the factor that connects an employee to an organisation’s mission, at the very heart of its competitive advantage and indeed, its survival.

Engaging employees — thinking beyond satisfaction
Though respect for the individual is a value every organisation would want to uphold, there is no ignoring the truth that the person is only as valuable as his performance.
Satisfaction and motivation have proved to be insufficient fuel for the employee to walk
that extra mile in pursuit of organisational goals. This has led to the emergence of a relatively new concept — employee engagement.
Satisfaction addresses the employee’s state of mind; engagement is directly linked to productivity. Engaged employees experience intellectual and emotional connectivity with the organisation and its values and wholeheartedly share the organisation’s objectives and vision. They are willing to recognise team objectives over personal goals and blend in well with the organisation. The bottom line — they consistently perform beyond expectations.
While a plethora of individual-oriented and work-specific factors contribute to engagement, the crucial make-or-break factor is organisational culture. Engagement is a win-win equation where the employee fulfils his own aspirations for personal and professional development even as he strives to achieve business objectives.
The primary onus to create a culture that facilitates this rests on the organisation. Trust, information sharing, participative management, positive superior-subordinate relationships and open feedback systems are among the elements that are conducive to engagement.
The most commonly used measure of employee engagement is attrition rates among top performers. This data, when linked to performance evaluation reports and exit interviews, enables the organisation to zero in on factors that contribute to engagement.
Periodic engagement surveys that address areas like employees’ perception of management, extent of empowerment and awareness of organisational vision also help to gauge engagement levels.

Employee satisfaction and well-being in practice
l Texas Instruments (TI) India has repeatedly emerged the winner in numerous “Best Place to Work For” surveys. The company boasts of consistently low attrition levels, and employees rate the organisation high on development opportunities and positive work environment. TI has a personal coaching programme where employees can discuss their career progress and development aspirations with an appointed mentor. To ensure work-life balance, the organisation has formed Texins — an employee cooperative society that regularly organises outdoor, recreational and family events. Whenever a team meets an important deadline, the members are actively encouraged to take breaks of up to 10 days. The comfort and wellness level in the organisations is best expressed in the words of one of its employees — “At TI, I am not afraid to sleep — once my work is finished!” (Adapted from “The Essence of Great Workplaces” — www.growtalent.com)
Maitree, the employee support network of TCS, has gained world-wide attention for its successful well-being initiatives. The group, which was started to provide emotional support to families of TCS employees posted overseas, has grown into a community of 60,000 members. Every TCS office across India has a Maitree wing that organises a number of wellness endeavours like family get-togethers, counselling, fitness workshops, childcare support and community work.

Conclusion
To paraphrase the well-known proverb, you can bring the employees to work — but you cannot make them perform. Motivation has to come from within. As for the organisation, its role is to identify and promote factors that lead to satisfaction, motivation and ultimately, employee engagement.

Suresh Lulla is the managing director of Qimpro Consultants, founder of the BestPrax Club, and chairman of the IMC Quality Awards Committee. In 2005, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in Quality Management Consultancy.