1. How about making
the organization
ACCOUNTABLE
to EMPLOYEES?
Inverting the pyramid through EMPLOYEES FIRST

2. In an industry that has long lived by the mantra that focus on the customer is the only thing
that brings results, we beg to differ. At HCL, we focus on employees first. We believe that
employees bring strategic value to an organization and are critical to its success in the global
marketplace. The future growth and competitiveness of any organization depends more than
ever before on attracting the best talent and engaging and empowering them to achieve
their own, and the organization’s goals. Towards this, we practice Employees First – the first
of its kind of articulation, which is at the core of our efforts to provide our employees a work
environment and culture that they can take pride in. And it is lived everyday at HCL.
What is Employees First?
Around five years ago, we initiated a unique employee-focused program that places the needs
of employees before that of customers. The Employees First philosophy is based on the belief
that people want to be treated like people, not resources. They need to be part of your overall
vision and direction. They need to be the drivers of your sustenance and growth. Happy
and passionate employees offer better value in engagements and directly impact customer
satisfaction. This can bring a sea-change at the company level, and in turn, greater customer
loyalty, better engagements and growth. By treating employees as partners and participants
in the company’s success, every individual becomes responsible for transforming, thinking
and providing value to customers and all concerned.
Inverting the Value Pyramid through Employees First
Realizing that customers buy value from employees who are delivering services to them, we
have created an uncontested market space by focusing on internal transformation rather than
external innovation, through Employees First
• We believe that the maximum value is created at the employee-customer interface.
Therefore we empower our employees to generate delight for our customers, every step of
the way
• It is about the individual taking charge - proactively creating space for growth, expansion
and enrichment. We urge our people to create a change in the organization, bring about
a revolution and create an ecosystem that exudes brilliance and superiority in everything
they do
• Employees First is our means of getting into the very core of the individual and decoding
their individuality and diversity, unleashing their potential and equipping them with the
necessary tools to enhance the value zone - the employee-customer interface, allowing us
maximize the “wow” delivered to our customers

3. In accordance with these tenets, many initiatives have been introduced at HCL to
keep the employees first culture alive
• Smart Service Desk, where employees can raise SLA-bound tickets on any internal
service provider, and only employees can close these tickets, if satisfied. This brings in a
culture of reverse accountability
• CEO Connect through U&I, where the CEO is personally available online to every
employee, tours every location and holds interactive discussions complemented by a fully
functional President’s blog. This infuses a culture of transparency and open communication
between the CEO and the employee
The 5 core values
of Employees First
These core values represent the deep
rooted beliefs that guide our actions and
thoughts every day.
1. Honesty: honest and righteous in
behavior, actions and practices
2. Transparency: open and clear
communications; simplicity in relaying
our objectives and motives
3. Accountability: completely liable and
responsible for our actions, decisions
and performance
4. Individuality: appreciate the
uniqueness of each individual and tap
into their potential; high respect and
regard for originality
5. Collaboration: strong team spirit
and fostering an environment that is
conducive for free sharing and learning
The 4 tenets of Employees First
[emerge from our core values]
1. Mirror Mirror: Creating the impetus
for change - accepting imperfections
as catalysts for transformation
2. Trust through Transparency:
Creating a culture of change -
seeding trust by stretching the
envelope of transparency
3. Inverting the Organizational
Pyramid: Building a structure for
change by reversing accountability i.e.
making management accountable to
employees in the value zone
4. Recasting the role of the CEO:
Transferring the responsibility for
change from the CEO to employees by
decentralizing decision-making

4. • Employees First Governing Council, comprising Function Heads who hold Town Hall
Meetings and collectively address all employee questions and issues. This empowers
employees to question management and become owners of change
• Open 360 Degree FeedbackTM
, where employees can rate their managers, even the
CEO, and the feedback/rating is made public across the organization. This inverts the
pyramid and makes the employee a part of the development journey of the manager and
also the CEO
• Talent Transformation, is designed to build behavior based competencies in individuals
• Employees First Academy, comprising three levels: Employees First Lifestyle,
Employees First Leadership, and Harvard Emerging Leader Program, to initiate and nurture
effective leaders
• Employee Passion Indicative Count™ [EPIC], assists employees in introspecting to
identify their unique passion drivers that determine their performance and behavior at work
• Directions, an annual event where the CEO and senior management conduct a
face-to-face meeting with all employees to discuss company strategy and direction. It is a
‘mirror, mirror’ exercise between the employees and senior management
What has it resulted in?
In 2005, HCL commenced its transformation journey based on the foundation of Employees
First. Today, this unique management philosophy has been recognized worldwide for
empowering employees to become the drivers of growth.
In 2008-2009, many companies survived by making difficult personnel and financial decisions
- laying off employees and trying to find more creative ways to cut costs. But at HCL, by
using the principle of Employees First, we not only survived but grew fastest compared to
any other IT Company during this time. Empowering our employees gave us the edge while
our competitors were losing people in the value zone. Our leadership team continued to be
transparent with our employees, and even created a new institution called Smart Response,
where we asked 10,000 employees what actions they thought our company should take to
weather the turbulence. By reaching out to employees, the management team helped reduce
fears about job loss and helped employees understand their real value to the company.
Partly resulting from ideas generated by Smart Response, HCL over the past five years
has experienced
• Tripling of revenue and operating profit
• Twenty percent year-on-year growth in market share
• Seventy percent of deals being won against the Big Four international IT companies
• Fivefold increase in the number of large ($20mn+) customers
• Nearly fifty percent decline in employee attrition rates
• Seventy percent increase in employee satisfaction scores
Not only this, our customers now vouch that Employees First actually brings tremendous
value for them. These numbers speak for themselves and show that Employees First did truly
improve our company’s performance while providing value to customers.

5. HCL’s Employees First is a new and radical management philosophy which
will catch on with the world sooner or later
Harvard Business School teaches about HCL as a case study on business
transformation highlighting the Employees First initiative
Best Employer in India – Hewitt Study 2009
One of Britain’s Top Employers for the 4th
Consecutive Year
HCL’s Employees First and ‘democratization’ of management concept
could ‘bring about a corporate renaissance’
Darden School of Business has done a case study on the impact created by
HCL through its “Employees First Customers Second” practice
World’s most Innovative Company for its workforce practices
WorldBlu lists HCL as one of the 44 Most Democratic Workplaces in
the World
Employees First, Customers Second is now a book published by
Harvard Press. Admired by many global thought leaders Tom Peters,
Tony Hsieh, Gary Hamel, Judy McGrath, Ram Charan, Victor K. Fung
The world is noticing something unique about HCL
Employees First is the concept for today
“Perhaps there are many ways to misunderstand what Employees First really means and what
it can do for a company. What is important to remember, however, is that the concept can
actually help during a recession, can increase productivity of an already successful company,
and earn the respect of customers. Remember also that implementing such a policy does
not require a company to develop any complicated technological innovation or long, detailed
plans. It merely requires small adjustments to already existing institutions, and the courage
and creativity to experiment with different options until finding one that works. Human capital
has virtually endless potential to increase in quality and service, and the only way to increase
this human capital is to put employees first. It is the key to continuing corporate growth.”
- Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies

6. Hello, I’m from HCL! We work behind the scenes, helping our customers to shift paradigms and start revolutions. We use
digital engineering to build superhuman capabilities. We make sure that the rate of progress far exceeds the price. And
right now, 88,000 of us bright sparks are busy developing solutions for 500 customers in 31 countries across the world.
How can I help you?
www.hcltech.com