New recruits to Aditi Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a vendor of product development services in Bangalore, were on their first day of work given a traditional Indian welcome fit for a Maharajah, to the beating of drums, the blowing of traditional trumpets, and even an elephant saluting them.

The company's chairman and CEO, Pradeep Singh, his wife and senior Aditi staff received the 15 new hands at the campus gate, and performed traditional Indian rituals aimed at bringing good luck to the staffers. In the background, priests performed a religious ceremony, called a puja, to invoke divine favors for the new staff.

"We decided to give our new hires on day one an experience they will never forget," said Chetan Shinde, vice president of the human resources department, which Aditi calls its "People Department." The welcome also served as an ice-breaker to get new staff integrated into Aditi's culture, he added.

Aditi's unusual welcome party, complete with garlands, showers of petals, and ceremonial turbans for the new staff, is a reflection of the growing competition among Indian and multinational companies to hire and retain engineering staff in India.

Outsourcing companies are going the extra mile to please staff, to convey to them that their companies are fun places to work.

Aditi's extravaganza for its staff on May 2 was in line with this strategy, though some human resources consultants believe that the company may have overdone it.

Aditi's welcome ceremony was a "stunt" that could be counterproductive, said Amitabh Das, chief executive officer of Vati Consulting Pvt. Ltd., a recruitment firm in Bangalore. It could set expectations too high, he noted.

The company, however, promptly put up a video of the welcome ceremony on video-sharing site YouTube and e-mailed links to the video to friends and journalists.

"There is already a lot of buzz around this event," Shinde said. Aditi is already seeing a spurt of interest among potential recruits, and more staff are referring their friends to Aditi, he added.

Besides entertainment, companies in India are throwing in flexible work time, cultural forums, and clubs for their staff, said Srinivas Kandula, global head for human resources at iGate Global Solutions Ltd., an outsourcer in Bangalore.

The company has a "Thank God it's Monday" event, during the lunch break on Mondays, at which staff sing and play music, using professional equipment provided by the company, to entertain their colleagues at lunch. "We wanted to make people look forward to Monday," said Kandula. "We also use this forum to introduce new staff to others in the company."

iGate, a mid-size outsourcer, found that larger outsourcers were paying staff as well if not better, and also had better-known brands and more prestigious projects to attract and retain staff.

"Our USP (unique selling proposition) had to be building relationships," Kandula said. The result of the company's efforts is that its staff attrition rate is now on par with those of larger outsourcing companies in Bangalore, he added.

Providing staff with avenues for personal development beyond their work has also emerged as an important strategy for outsourcing companies in India. A skills enhancement program at iGate, for example, offers staff training in areas such as pottery, glass painting, making soft toys, Origami and photography.

Recreational activities also meet human resources (HR) objectives. Organizations cannot provide leadership roles to all their staff in their formal work, so sports and hobby clubs like music clubs provide an opportunity for some staff to excel and become leaders in these specific areas, Kandula said. Junior employees often train iGate's senior staff on sports like cricket, or to sing and paint, he added.

The boom in India's outsourcing industry has brought dramatic changes in work culture. Less than 10 years ago, activity at the work place was limited primarily to work, in a job that had well-defined working hours.

Expectations of both employees and employers are now increasing, according to Das of Vati Consulting. Companies are demanding more from employees in terms of hours of work, targets, and deliverables, he said.

Staff expectations in tech companies have also changed, as the work gets more demanding. Staffers are also younger, typically in their early 20s, Das said. "You have to give your staff more space, you have to introduce a fun quotient," Das added.

Apart from higher salaries, employees are looking for intangibles such as quality of infrastructure, facilities like gyms and swimming pools, and growth opportunities, Das said. All this adds to the cost of operations of outsourcing companies, but it is far less than the cost of staff attrition, he added.

In a bid to build communities in the workplace, companies are also attempting to get the families of staff involved, by organizing special programs for children and parents. In a traditional society like India the employee's family plays a key role in deciding whether an employee will stay in a job.

"By involving the family, companies increase the comfort level of the employees, and help create stronger bonds with the organization," Das said.

Aditi plans to have a lot more unusual welcomes, pranks, and interesting stuff for its employees. The company threw a party recently on the eve of the release of "Sivaji-The Boss," a blockbuster movie in the Tamil language. The company is not disclosing what it is planning next.

"We don't want to get predictable," Shinde said.

Anyone for a tiger ride?

IDG News Service

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