HCL Infosystems, the largest Indian IT company focused on the domestic market, has emerged as the best employer among IT companies in a survey by leading IT industry journal Dataquest, in association with CyberMedia Research (CMR). Mumbai-based Rolta has taken the second spot followed by iGATE-Patni.

The annual IT Best Employer Survey 2011 conducted among a selected sample of 3,337 professionals across India reveals SAP Labs, a new entrant, has taken the fourth spot while a Bangalore-based niche player Tavant has emerged as the fifth best employer. Mahindra Satyam's sixth position signals it has moved past the crisis. Tulip Telecom, CapgeminiIndia, Virtusa India, and Nagarro Software take up the remaining positions in the Top 10.

Attrition is Back

The Dataquest survey finds that companies started hiring as business environment improved in FY 2010-11. This led to a significant jump in attrition—from 13% in 2009-10 to 19% this year (2010-11) -- one of the biggest jumps recorded in one year, in the history of the near two decade survey.

However, with the slowdown still fresh in their memory, employees identified job security and job stability as the top attributes of a Dream company (see below listing of Dream companies below), even above growth opportunity and work life balance.

“With stability, career development and work-life balance emerging as the main attributes for a job, the outlook towards a job is maturing,” said Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor, CyberMedia, the publishers of Dataquest and 14 other publications. “The fact that job stability features on top even after the recovery shows that in India, the HR rules have to be very, very different in the long run,” he added.

The survey consists of two parts: one HR round and one employee satisfaction survey round. In the HR round, companies are given scores based on their HR practices. The final score is a combination of HR score (20% weightage) and employee satisfaction or E-SAT score (80% weightage).

The findings of the survey will be released in the forthcoming issue of Dataquest (September 30, 2011).

Capgemini India, Mahindra Satyam and Synechron were the top performers on HR score, while HCL, Rolta and iGATE Patni came on top in E-SAT scores.

#1 HCL Infosys: Employee Empowerment

HCL Infosys’ ‘Employee First’ philosophy along with other highly rated parameters like work culture, appraisals, job content, salary, training and managing slowdown won it the numero uno position.

Leadership change at the top and middle level in sync with employee engagement initiatives like Empowered People Action Teams (EPATs) infused higher levels of energy across the organization.

#2 Rolta India: Right moves at the right time

Rolta India’s employee friendly HR policies have finally paid dividend this year. Gender inclusivity and employee communication initiatives have ensured its rise to position #2 along with job satisfaction and work culture. Flexibility contributed in keeping its employees satisfied and productivity intact.

# 3 iGATE Patni: Consistent Performance

Securing top slot for the new merged identity, iGATE Patni, was a challenge but its proactive HR approach and upgraded policies helped retain its position at number 3.

Appraisal of entire workforce and timely HR interventions through delivery management, people management and financial compliance gave a new perspective and perception to employees, which reflects in the rating given by them for the company’s image and culture.

#4 SAP Labs India: Breeding Innovation

SAP Labs India has made a surprising entry in Dataquest--CyberMedia Research’s Best Employers survey. Innovation in ideology and in practices – idea management, flexi-work culture, gender inclusivity and leadership development -- have made it among Top 5 best employers in India.

Healthy compensation to employees and plans for investment on infrastructure attracted quality employees from the market.

# 5 Tavant Technologies: High Five

Tavant Technologies took the biggest jump in the survey from No 11 in 2009-10 to  No 5 in 2010-11. High employee satisfaction score owing to initiatives like MTeam, Tavanat Rookie Induction Program (TRIP) and intelligent use of social networking, has not only compensated for low its HR score but also for its ambiguous appraisal system and training and development parameter.

Listing of the Top 20 best IT employers

1.        HCL Infosys

2.        Rolta India

3.        iGATE Patni

4.        SAP Labs India

5.        Tavant Technologies

6.        Mahindra Satyam

7.        Tulip Telecom

8.        Capgemini India

9.        Virtusa India

10.    Nagarro Software

11.    Synechron Technologies

12.    L&T Infotech

13.    NIIT Technologies

14.    ADP

15.    SAS Institute India

16.    Pitney Bowes Software India

17.    Sify Technologies

18.    Citrix R&D India

19.    Dimension Data (Datacraft) India

20.    Sybase Software India

Top 10 Dream Companies

The participants in the survey, in addition to ranking their own company, named their Dream company for a job.

Based on their rankings the Infosys (1), Tata Consultancy Services (2), IBM India (3), Microsoft India (4), HCL Infosystems (5), Rolta India (6), SAP India(7), iGate Patni (8), Accenture (9) and Oracle (10) were ranked as the Top 10 Dream companies.

List of companies scoring high on the HR:

1.        Capgemini India

2.        Mahindra Satyam

3.        Synechron Technologies

4.        NIIT Technologies

5.        iGATE Patni

6.        L & T Infotech

7.        Rolta India

8.        Tulip Telecom

9.        Nagarro Software

10.    FIS Global Business Solutions India

List of companies scoring high on employee satisfaction (EmSat Score):

1.        HCL Infosystems

2.        Rolta India

3.        iGATE Patni

4.        SAP Labs India

5.        Tavant Technologies

6.        Mahindra Satyam

7.        Tulip Telecom

8.        Capgemini India

9.        Virtusa India

10.    Nagarro Software

Research Methodology:

The survey, designed and carried out in two phases, had 200 companies participating in the first phase. Out of these, thirty-eight companies were then short listed for the second round. The employee survey is based on the parameters like Total employee strength in India, Average tenure of senior management, Total average training, Retention rate, Share of employees, Average salary hike (in percentage). The first shortlist of companies was based on the above parameters, which were given different weights based on their relative importance.

In the second phase, a large-scale survey was conducted by CyberMedia Research among 3,367 employees of the thirty-eight companies.

This questionnaire included seventy-three statements under different parameters like composite satisfaction, company culture, job content/growth, training, salary and compensation, appraisal systems, people, gender inclusivity and managing the slowdown.

Employees were asked to rate each of the statements on a ten-point scale. The respondents filled-in their opinions on the questionnaire in the presence of CyberMedia’s trained interviewers and supervisors.

The employees were also asked about their salary structure and preferred company in the industry. The Employee satisfaction survey covered seven major cities—Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.

Scores from the HR survey and the Employee Satisfaction survey, calculated separately, were combined to arrive at a composite score. Companies were then given ranks based on the composite scores.

The HR and employee satisfaction score was weighed and indexed on a hundred point score to arrive at Dataquest—CyberMedia Research Best Employer Survey score, 2010. Dataquest and CMR decided the weights for all parameters in consultation with HR experts from the industry, and these were used in the survey analysis.

The weights were finalized before the survey, to ensure complete unbiased ranking.