Employee First
Customer Second
“World’s most modern management idea”
For tune Magazine

Quick Facts

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company
with over $2 billion revenues.

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company
with over $2 billion revenues.
In February 2005, Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies
announced a radical new philosophy, “Employee First,
Customer Second” (EFCS).

Quick Facts
HCL Technologies is a leading global IT services company
with over $2 billion revenues.
In February 2005, Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies
announced a radical new philosophy, “Employee First,
Customer Second” (EFCS).
Through this philosophy the aim was to create a
unique employee organization, drive an inverted
organizational structure, create transparency and
accountability within the organization, and encourage
a value driven culture.

Why it began?
HCL realized that in service industry the value gets
created not in the back office but in face to face
interaction between the customer and employees.
Hence it is important to empower employees so that they
deliver more value to the customers. When an employee
is delighted, he will delight the customer.
This gave birth to a path breaking philosophy called :
'Employee First, Customer Second‘, termed by Fortune as
quot;The most modern management ideaquot;.

Five pillars of
Employee First philosophy

Employee First Initiatives
Employee First Initiatives

Smart Service Desk
An automated query resolution mechanism for
employees. SSD enables employees raise their
concerns for adequate redressal in just three
clicks. On an average 31,000 tickets are raised
every month.

i4excel
Employee performance portal which handles end
to end appraisal process of all employees. 24,000
appraisals are completed in 30 days in 2007 vs 9,200
in 45 days. i4excel transparently shares ratings and
views of manager’s manager (reviewer) with the
employee.

Directions
“Directions” is an annual company-wide event that takes
strategic discussions out of closed-door meetings to all
employees. The CEO and the leadership team present at these
meetings share the vision and strategy of the company as well
as respond to questions in interactive sessions.
Directions allows everyone in HCL to speak the same language
and understand how their individual contributions fit in a larger
organizational framework.
Vineet, CEO HCL Technologies takes two weeks each year to
prepare for the event and spends another two weeks attending
Directions events across the world.

U&I
A two way dialogue mechanism between CEO
and the employees. Nearly 90% questions have
been answered by Vineet himself.
He spends 7 hrs. in a week replying to the
queries raised. U&I started a reverse blogging,
where in CEO posts questions to the employees.

EFC
Employee First councils work on goals that are
of common interest to all employees and also
help maintain a balance between work and life.
The councils allow employees to unleash their
creative talent. Last year over 1,500 events
were conducted by EFC councils.

Women First Council
The purpose of this council is to focus on
women development and to create an
inclusive, supporting and caring
environment. A women exclusive website was
launched which has information of all women
related policies, safety and security measures,
work-life balance techniques.

Career Power
A comprehensive career planning and
development program, which provides a
framework where each employee is
empowered to plan desired career path.

O2 league of Extraordinary
O2 is a system created in HCL to recognize high
performers. The league constituted those
employees who have been outstanding performers
since last 2 years.

Xtramiles
HCL’s created a unique reward and recognition
portal where all employees can see extraordinary
efforts & performances and appreciate them at a
click of a button. The purpose of Xtramiles is to
ensure timely and public instantaneous
recognition of employees who have displayed
exemplary performance.

MITR
MITR lends helping hands to all HCLites and
their family members by providing them expert
counseling 24X7 on any issue concerning them.

Genie
The personal assistant, the all purpose
coordinator, the private shopper, the
entertainment guide, the travel planer,
located within the office premises &
programmed to take any request. Genie
can manage all trivial and not so trivial
chores.

F.U.N.D.O.O. F.R.I.D.A.Y
Is synonymous with fun @ work at HCL Technologies.

Weekly Polls
Polls are conducted on weekly basis to gather
employee feedback on various issues. The results are
shared on the intranet and guide decision making.

Catalyst
A employee driven team building
program, catalyst enables much of
the desired work-life balance for
his/her team by rolling out various
activities in a year.

Training
HCL has adopted a number of innovative methods of training and
developing talent within the organization. The extensive program includes:
Five methods
Computer Based Training, Instructor Led Training, Web Based Training, On
the Job Training and Blended Learning.
Four tracks
in Campus, Fresher, On-going, Re-skill.
Three streams
Technical Training, Domain Training, and Behavioral Training.
Two channels
Leaders Teach (an internal training program),
Talent Transformation and Intrapreneurship Development Team.

Open 360 degree feedback
‣ HCL’s annual survey of 20,000 people across the company rates 1,500
managers on 20 aspects of their performance.
‣ There is nothing unusual in running such a process. But what is unusual
is that the results of the survey are aggregated and published online for
every employee to look at
‣ This is a simple change in practice, but one with profound
consequences. For the manager, there is nowhere to hide if he or she
gets negative feedback. Most managers take the feedback very
seriously and make changes; a few choose to move on
‣ 360-degree feedback is not linked to the annual appraisal or to the
compensation package. It is open for everyone to see, and that is
enough to encourage changes in behavior.

Results
‣ HCL’s attrition rate has dropped significantly for nine
consecutive quarters.
‣ Employee utilization rate and revenue/employee has
seen an increase .
‣ Through Employee First initiative, HCL strives to
provide excellent human resources leadership and
expertise to the organization, and also attract and
retain a workforce that is diverse, inclusive and
committed to creating quality customer service.

Results
‣ ‘Employee First’ is featured as the ‘World’s Most
Modern Management Idea’ by Fortune Magazine and
termed as ‘Disruptive Force’ by a leading analyst group.

Key Learnings
‣ Make yourself the example
Vineet Nayar’s idea of making 360 degree feedback public online was
designed to hold managers accountable. The first year Nayar posted his
own review before asking his team to follow.
‣ Put your time on line
Vineet spends about seven hours in each week to answer questions
asked by employees.
‣ Technology
Leverage technology to make life simple. Automate process and
empower employees to raise there voice.
‣ Changes
Put in place a series of small changes that will potentially have a
dramatic effect on how people work.

HCL Employee First initiative
reveals how innovation
can apply to organization
systems as well.

For more information visit
www.employeefirst.in