Simple, easy to follow solutions for creating employee delight in every organisation from...

Sudheesh Venkatesh, Head HR, TESCO. Here he also shares what works at Tesco and what does not work at Tesco with regard to creating employee delight.

Excerpts From Sudheesh's Talk:

Tesco is one of the biggest retailers in the world, with about 400,000 people all over. In Bangalore we have a Shared Service Center which means that not only IT, but also business & financial processes run out of Bangalore.

On creating employee delight, the first question we need to ask is "What does the employee bring to the table?" You can delight an employee provided, he meets you half way. The management of self is crucial in this case and every employee has to be worthy of being delighted. You can delight an employee only if he wishes to be delighted. The Bhagwad Geeta says Tulya Nindaa Stutihi Maunee Santushtaha Yena Kena Chit. Aniketaha Sthiramthihi Bhaktimanyo Priyo Naraha; meaning  "Someone who is not affected by praise or criticism, someone who doesn't even have a house, someone who is not having any material comforts and is very detached is the one who is the Mahatma." Keeping this context in mind, if an employee comes to the table without any expectation, it's so much easier to delight him. Otherwise, after you delight a person, that standard becomes the default expectation next time.

At Tesco, in the 1990's when we were a small retailer, there was an aggressive focus on customers. Customer satisfaction was of paramount importance for us. But there came a point, at which it was pleateuing off. The benefits of this significant customer orientation, was sort of shrinking. We decided to ask the employees, about why they think this was happening. When we went to the employees, they said "Yes we all agree that we should take care of the customers, but who is taking care of the employees". That was the turning point for Tesco.

One of our first and foremost principles is to "treat people the way you like to be treated". If you take care of your people, they will in turn take care of your customers. That was a big realization. Therefore, Tesco over the last 10 years has stood by this principle through thick and thin. This fundamental concept has been the foundation of all HR practices at Tesco.

The second philosophy that we have realized is that people are not as complex as we think of them to be. What at the end of the day creates employee delight? Our studies reveal that 4 simple things are crucial for every employee.

1.       To be treated with trust and respect

2.       Having a manager who helps me

3.       An interesting job

4.       An opportunity to get on or grow

Therefore, if you can promise this to your employees' day in and day out and deliver on that promise, you create employee delight.

What actually makes the difference, are those moments of truth, in which "every little helps". The smile in the morning, a good uniform for the officer, flowers at the reception and simple nice neat infrastructure helps to motivate an employee and provides him delight.

We feel that excitement is momentary and delight is far beyond that. For instance, in the first wave of the BPO revolution, you saw companies create 24/7 amusement parks with parties and fun events. Many companies thought that people will be delighted with such external factors. Nothing is further from the truth.

An important learning for us is that, there is no doubt whatsoever that delighted employees, create delighted customers. When we came to India almost 4 years ago, we tried to bring certain qualities to the company which are progressive in nature. These qualities had worked for us in the UK and we wanted to apply them to the Indian corporate setting as well. A few of the policies we had implemented were

1.       Why have probation periods? If you have a strong recruitment process, and in a market where in any case the employees walk away,  We decided to confirm people from day 1. We trust our employees' capability, and on day one itself they can come onboard and get started.

2.       The new generation workforce is experiencing tremendous stress. Work life balance is going to become extremely critical. So when the world was looking at 15-22 days as the statutory leave period, we went with 30 days. We also realized that not just biological parents, the world was moving onto things like adoption and men were playing an equal role in the child's upbringing. So we decided to go with adoption leave and paternity leave.

3.       We also decided to give gratuity after 3 years, instead of the typical 5 years. In this scenario, what do business leaders have to do? They should realize that the environment is changing so fast and just looking at employee survey results is not enough. Business leaders of today, need to know at a granular level, what's on people's minds. This can be achieved only by having open conversations with employees on various issues they face.

We also have focused on making work simpler for staff. Nobody wants to go through the traditional bureaucratic process of applying for leave. How can HR make life simple for staff? If you bring in IT to their doorsteps, then life becomes much simpler.

The last point which is extremely critical is being socially responsible. There is no doubt, that a delighted employee is more productive than a disgruntled employee, since the delighted employee will feel that he is doing something productive for society. So this sense of feeling good deep inside about one's job is very critical. To quote from the Bhagavat Gita again : Swadharme Nidhanam Shreyaha, Paradharmo Bhayavahaha, meaning we will be happiest when we follow our calling.

Finally, this process of creating delight is a continuous journey. A delighted employee today could turn out to be a dissatisfied employee tomorrow, unless we keep our eyes on the ball. So creating employee delight is a continuous journey without a finishing line. 

Sudheesh Venkatesh is Head HR at Tesco HSC. Prior to Tesco HSC, he was the Head of Human Resources for the Microland Group. He has also worked on an assignment on "Organization & Strategy" with Booz Allen and Hamilton. Sudheesh started his career with Asian Paints where he was instrumental in setting up the training function. Sudheesh is a member of various industry HR forums and holds a degree in Electronics & Communication engineering and a post graduation degree in management from IIM, Kolkata.

He was speaking at a Panel Discussion organized by Businessgyan and TASMAC in association with Cynergyis, on the topic ‘Creating Employee Delight'.

Compiled by Mr. Rajiv Mathew for Businessgyan

Issue BG84 Mar 08

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