The internal challenge was that the company had had five CEOs in four years before that. Later on I found out that the employees were waiting for me to leave because they had seen five CEOs in a short period of time. The attitude then was that any way he (the CEO) will not be there when we do the next review!
I told them that one thing I will guarantee that by the next review if the action points were not done, you will definitely not be there!
Was it easy to change the attitude of a large number of people when they were in a particular groove?
Probably not. People in general do what you do, not what you say. If, as role models, we show the way, people tend to take example and follow very quickly.
It was not an easy job. It took a couple of years of transformation. But now we have a fantastic and energetic team.
In the CNBC-TV 18 Survey, iGATE was at the top in India’s Best Employer. How do you think you qualify as a best employer?
I believe we have an adult to adult employer-employee engagement model. We are not paternalistic in our HR policies, which many Indian companies tend to be.
The employees get a choice in as strategic a decision as bonuses, stock options, restricted stock units to the kind of projects and to the kind of hours.
In addition we have an ongoing leader-leader development programme. We also have a ‘happiness’ programme in the company.
As a CEO, are you a hard task master?
I expect performance and results. I am willing to provide whatever support for getting that performance and results but I won’t take any excuses.
There is no doubt that I am significantly biased towards high performing people. I also believe that you have to be, in some sense, a bit unreasonable because then people think differently and stretch their minds and bodies to do different things.
The same yardsticks apply to me as well. I am unreasonable with myself and I keep on pushing the envelop.
I am trying to change the complete industry business model. I work extremely hard, travelling 20 days a month. There are certain sacrifices you have to make, if you have to create a new model.
Image: The name of each of the buildings at the iGATE campus in Bangalore has been kept after famous forests of the world. Going with the theme of the iGATE logo depicting a bark of a tree, the name of this building is Denali, for support functions. This building is named Kanha and houses the IT networks and finance functions. | Photograph, courtesy: iGate
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