Nupur Mallick – Rewarding and engaging the ‘GEMs’ in Tata Consultancy Services
Motivation and engagement
To encourage and promote great work in our organisation, we created ‘TCS GEMS’ which is an end-to-end online reward system where associates accumulate points to redeem for rewards. The initiative recognises associates’ contributions to TCS, celebrates their achievements and motivates them to go further; ultimately ensuring they are satisfied in their roles.
GEMS features 100 award categories to recognise achievements and we have awarded over 200,000 of our nearly 400,000 global associates, putting their preferences at the heart of their reward options, by tailoring rewards based on their feedback across markets. This ensures that we thank our associates in the most relevant way for them personally.
We also recognise the importance of keeping people motivated and engaged through training opportunities. We promote an ‘anytime, anywhere learning’ programme, providing digital skills to all our associates regardless of their geographic location. In our 2017 financial year, over 260,000 of our employees gained over 600,000 new digital competencies.
In addition to rewarding and upskilling them through tech solutions, we make sure that we encourage a strong sense of wellbeing, as research from Reward Gateway shows that wellbeing is intrinsically linked to engagement and happiness. Our commitment to wellbeing encapsulates all aspects of welfare – from physical to financial – focusing on these key pillars to ensure healthy, happy and productive workforces, globally.
Physical wellbeing
Our ‘Fit4Life’ app allows our employees to find training partners across the globe and get fit together. We also encourage our associates to cycle to work, fitting exercise into their commutes where possible, and we are the technology partners of many global marathons – including the Virgin Money London Marathon in the UK.
Social wellbeing
Our ‘Maitree’ initiative based on “Together, Caring and Sharing” fosters team spirit and bonding amongst our associates, in turn nourishing their feelings of social wellbeing and connections with their colleagues.
We created our own social network, Knome, which associates use to collaborate on professional or personal projects. Knome incorporates elements of social networking and gamification to encourage users to connect with their colleagues from other countries, to share ideas, socialise and learn.
We also created ‘Purpose4life’ which is a forum for volunteering in the community in the areas of education, health and environment; as the founder of our group, Jamshedji Tata, said: “The community is not just another stakeholder in our business. It is in fact the very purpose for its existence”.
Mental wellbeing
We have mindfulness clubs, ‘live well’ webinars with experts and ‘Heartfullness Meditation and Relaxation’ classes for our associates, to ensure balance in all aspects of wellbeing.
Financial wellbeing
In addition to perks and rewards we provide help and support for our associates with their personal finances, to provide financial wellbeing and combat the stress that financial issues can cause at home and in the workplace.
The task of satisfying almost 400,000 associates across generations and locations is an ongoing job but I’m pleased that TCS has one of the lowest attrition rates in the IT industry (11.5% in financial year 2017). This is testament to our efforts to engage our workforce through rewards like TCS GEMS and supporting an all-encompassing wellbeing programme to encourage and inspire their continued good work.
It’s about creating a workplace where people are happy now and will be in the future, which benefits both individuals and the company as a whole.
This article was written by Nupur Mallick, HR director UK&I, TCS
