Message From MD – October 2017

Dear friends,

September was a month of celebrations. Onam, Bakrid, Dussehra,Vijayadashami and many more. Even though effective working days were comparatively less, we were able to achieve our targets and plans successfully. Congratulations to all achievers and performers.

The two programmes initiated in the month of august were ‘Bandhan’ and ‘Lead the Leaders’. The outcome of these programmes were real eye openers on many aspects including staff welfare. We have reached that time of the year when many people are being appraised on their performance, compensation, and new responsibilities. Traditionally, this is a zero sum-game where management wins at the employee’s expense, or the employee win at his employer’s expense. We believe at Asset homes, It doesn’t have to be that way.

We expect that every team member must bring high-value skills and experience to the table. As a responsible organisation we propose to add value and life to the career of each person working with us. This will be a six month programme, by kicking off six new initiatives in each month. (October to March ) The broad outline of the same is as follows.

How Do we Manage Mistakes At Work place? We plan to  allow team members to make mistakes. Great employees must admit them readily. They should not make excuses for their mistakes; rather they acknowledge that they made a mistake and openly express what lessons they have learned. Fail fast and learn from mistakes is the idea behind. To promote such behaviour in our team members, we propose to reward and celebrate failures. In a competitive industry, where perfection and standards are at the peak of priorities and members are consistently taught rules and regulations, we will provide our team members the permission to break the rules in their pursuit of perfection.

Making learning into an organizational culture not only engages and retains members, but also motivates them to learn new skills. To create a consistent learning experience to team members, we plan to begin a series of activities to engage our workforce. HR department will send out emails  to all team members on mondays, to help them improve their English vocabulary, Tuesdays are for new construction technology, Wednesdays are for health and wellness, Thursdays are for short exercises, yoga and fitness, while Fridays are for general knowledge. As we focus on acquiring the right talent, there needs to be adequate focus on developing existing talent. Ultimately, we believe it’s the value that is added to routine jobs that goes a long way in retaining talented employees

Several research studies reveal that levels of happiness in team members translate into productivity. When a team member is truly happy with his work environment, he is equipped to deliver his best. We plan to introduce ‘My Happiness Application test’ to track employee happiness on a regular basis to understand the pulse of the organisation.Team members will be asked to participate in psychometric surveys at periodic intervals, through which they will reveal and indicate indirectly, their level of happiness using a rating scale ranging from ‘I am unhappy’ to ‘I am excited’. The overall sentiment of the workforce can be assessed through this.

How Can Office Food Help in Building A Cohesive and Productive Workforce? (We have already started the same at our sites.) Food impacts employee well-being and productivity, and there is a need to equip people with the knowledge to make the right food decisions at work place as well as at home. We are committed to our vision of inspiring the members to recognize food choices and experiences as a way to build sustainable lifestyles and communities.  The foremost motivation behind this Program is to make healthy foods an integral part of the company culture and available to all our employees. Having healthy employees in body and mind is essential because happy and healthy employees skip less, are more innovative and also have lower healthcare costs. Another vital part of the programme is to ensure employees don’t lose sight of the social aspects of work and thus eating together is given utmost importance creating a collaborative work atmosphere.

Celebrations provide an enjoyable break from the regular routine of the workplace. When morale is high at the office, employees are more likely to work efficiently and stick with the company. We plan to conduct Graduation Dinners to accompany Graduation Ceremonies, celebrating the promotions of employees, as a sign of the value and esteem that an employee is held in by the organization. These employees will receive certificates and other milestone memorabilia, and will get the chance to interact with employees from other branches and departments.

Since the ultimate objective of any rewards and recognition program is to boost performance, its design and success should revolve around impacting organizational goals. We have decided to recognize employees who have gone beyond their call of duty to ensure organizational goals are met, by nominating them for the Wall Of Fame. The wall holds special significance because nominations exclusively mention instances where a special effort, on an important assignment, made a significant impact on business. A life-sized poster is put on display for visitors, vendors, partners, and employees, that showcases such employees in all branches and sites.

Many people asks me, why I focus less on how much I pay to my team mates?    According to me, salary and monetary rewards don’t even feature among the top five drivers of engagement, and great companies have long figured that how you pay and for what you pay wins over how much you pay your team members.

Warm regards.
Sunil kumar V