The past 18 months have impressed upon us how ephemeral the world is, and how it takes so little to entirely unsettle the normal. We have been reminded that our best laid plans can go awry. We at GAVS have come to realize that it is of paramount importance to build a company that is humane, is purposeful, and is driven by strong values and a long-term vision. We believe that these values and tenets should be so tangible that they should be almost tactile for every employee to feel and touch.
Employee Experience is often mistaken for some superficial elements like offering foosball tables, mid-week beer parties and coupons to a game. At GAVS, we believe in running the company on values that are immutable and outlasts the test of time. These values are the bedrock of all our interactions with our clients, colleagues, investors, and all other stakeholders… and that, for us, is humanizing our company.
Summarized as our RITE values, we stand on the 4 pillars of Respect, Integrity, Trust and Empathy. We Respect the ideas, points of views, approach of our employees, encourage them and promote a genuine sense of egalitarianism. All our interactions are based on Integrity – you cannot be a little dishonest. We need to Trust the intentions of our colleagues. As an organization, we are creating a culture where the purpose of the organization is larger than the individual interests and there is a strong sense of trust amongst all. And one of the most important values that we would like to celebrate and abide by is Empathy, intellectual empathy, appreciating the position of the other stakeholders and being able to deliver in line with their expectations.
We believe that the workplace stops being just a place to mete out routine duties, when you become empowered – surrounded by inspiring colleagues and mentored by role models to work towards a common goal as one big team. ‘Evolving Circles’, the brand element of GAVS, represents our philosophy of ‘Zero’. They represent non-conformity and out-of-the-box thinking; the rising of a thought that could evolve into a big disruptive idea. GAVS has always been at the cutting edge of technology, and we want ‘Zero’ latency in our efforts to create competencies around newer technologies and innovations that could be an enabler for our clients and partners.
We believe that the above goals are not too lofty and unrealistic, but instead are actionable and efficient practices that lead to higher Client Satisfaction and Employee Satisfaction scores and higher sustainable value for the organization. For us at GAVS, Employee Experience (EX) is more than the perfunctory ‘feel good’ engagement. We are striving for a higher purpose in terms of Innovation, making a difference in Healthcare, aligning Academia with the industry, evolving as a true AI company, and promoting #Chennaitotheworld. We want to attract a group of individuals, who are committed to make a difference.
A combination of ‘People First’ culture, deep-rooted values, and an emphasis on EX as an organizational agenda help us stay invested in a unified vision. We look at EX in a two-fold approach: Organizational Experiences, the experience of how effectively people interact with one another – manager interactions and team collaboration, diversity of ideas for enriched culture of innovation; and, Individual Experiences, the personalization of experiences to drive one’s learning and growth journey, well-being, inclusion, equity and diversity, and rewards. This is powered by Digital Experiences – the processes, systems, and technology experience, and the impact on enablement, and operational excellence.
It is also one of GAVS’ stated goal to genuinely evolve as among the better places to work for our women employees and provide them with an environment that engenders them to “Lean In”.
“What inspires me the most at GAVS is the commitment of the leadership team to foster a culture of innovation through Diversity.” says Soumika, who joined us from a Top B-School to anchor Corporate Communications; she spearheads enGAge – GAVS’ monthly Newsletter and is a Diversity Council Member.
We are acutely aware that GAVS thrives entirely because of our people. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as an AI-led digital transformation company, we had pivoted our approach towards employee experience. From candidate experience to employee advocacy, our framework of ‘Hire to Rehire’, comprising of practices, guidelines, had been designed to align with that belief of enhancing employee experience at every touchpoint. Now with boundary-less talent, we continue to personalize experiences and supercharge this journey.
“Positive employee experiences are the emotional accounts of any organization. As we keep investing more pleasant experiences into these accounts, we get better returns”, says Aswin, who heads workspace experience.
We start the candidate experience journey, by treating all potential applicants as customers. We are guided by our SWAT (Smart, hardWorking, Articulate, and Technologically curious) framework to ensure cultural alignment. Digital collaborative technologies have transformed how we work – from video interviewing candidates on our Applicant Tracking System, to piloting 1 question a day employee check-in survey, to understanding the pulse of the organization and gathering insights, we have empowered our employees to collaborate and work seamlessly.
“It’s imperative that when we engage with employees, especially new hires, that it starts with the very first phone call or connect. We must provide a first-class experience from the beginning even before associates join the organization. In my role, it is critical that we promote the GAVS culture and world class employee experience throughout the company.” says Joshua Goldstein, Talent Management Leader, GAVS N.A.
We are consciously putting some key digital experiences in place, to compensate for the lack of tactile engagements with our employees, post-COVID.
- Building stronger connects across teams, their managers, and the executive team
- A dedicated Employee Experience Team plays the role of a ‘Concierge’ creating a 7-star experience for our employees to cater to meaningfulness in role, and belongingness.
- Continuous listening and robust communication for nurturing the culture of trust and transparency. We conduct focus group discussions, leader talks, one-on-one check-ins, with team members and families. We had virtual sessions with employees along with their families as a note of gratitude for enabling workspace seamlessly entering their homes across locations.
- To fuel culture of innovation, we crowdsource frequently – our theme for this year is Think Big, and our HiPo group, GALVANIZERS have been critical in driving it.
- Initiatives focused on the well-being of GAVSians and their families
- Employee well-being through workshops with medical practitioners, wellness sessions (including emotional wellness), COVID helpline, and COVID task force, to channelize the requests around immediate and critical resources efficiently along with multiple free vaccination camps for employees and families.
- Vaccine drives for all GAVSians and their families, and monetary benefits to take care of hospital expenses beyond insurance cover.
- Emphasized and encouraged complete time off and recovery.
- Partnering with Academia & investments in helping GAVSians transform their skills and profiles
- In addition to the above, GAVS has made significant investments in helping employees transform themselves, building a different brand of GAVSians through these experiences-led investments. One such example is the ‘Long 80 Institute of Healthcare AI Technology’ (LIHT), in partnership with IIT-Madras, Great Lakes Institute of Management, and other Engineering Colleges. LIHT opens avenues where GAVSians are provided with opportunities to learn, develop, and practice their technology skills while working with their counterparts in developing domain competency.
“In general, people are not drawn to perfection in others. People are drawn to shared interests, shared problems, and an individual’s life energy. Humans connect with humans.”– Robert Glover
We believe that this quote encapsulates an empathetic yet practical approach of promoting a sense of camaraderie within a firm, which stands in stark contrast to the often criticizing and stressful corporate environments of the Industrial revolution, where vitriol is the corporate lingo and employees are simply assets to be exploited.
Today’s innovative and disruptive culture needs its denizens to be committed and emotionally bonded with the organization, where the workplace is a platform for them to define and redefine their personal purpose and life goals. Taking cue from the above quote, we at GAVS endeavour to foster shared interests and purpose among GAVSians and that starts from the very time we recruit. It is our desire to be an empathetic and authentic company where it is okay to express our vulnerabilities during our interactions, where we can encourage our leaders to promote a culture of innovation and focus on Novelty of Innovations. This will happen if we have an irreverent, egalitarian and a flat organization driven by a purpose that is above the mundane.
- A special thanks to Padma Ravichandran, Soumika Das, and Sumit Ganguli for curating this article.
