The right cultural fit

Work Culture

The right cultural fit

LPO organization, Mindcrest India, is focused on hiring people who possess the right traits to work in a multicultural environment. By Vinita Gupta
A well-known Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) firm, Mindcrest India focuses on domains like the BFSI, healthcare, realty, media, etc. Mindcrest’s vision is to run a robust and efficient business operation as a pioneer in the industry of offshore legal services by attracting, developing and managing outstanding talent globally to build profit and reputation for its stakeholders.
What makes the organization proudest is brand loyalty and low attrition rate. They claim that attrition rate at Mindcrest has always been in the single digits. Resignations are few and far between.
“We have grown from 50 employees to more than 675 in just three years. The challenge for our employees is to participate in the rapid growth of the organization without deviating from the strong pillars of culture and performance as present currently,” stated Lt. Colonel (retd) Arnab Banerji, GM-HR, Mindcrest.
The management believes in a healthy work-life balance and this is a great attraction for employees seeking to join the organization. The amenities beyond financial remuneration, such as home-to-office pick-up and drop facility, medical insurance for employee and his/her immediate family, go a long way in ensuring a happy and focused employee. Very often, employees who may have resigned due to certain exigencies, rejoin the company. Mindcrest believes that its employees are its best brand ambassadors.

Hiring requirements

“We have a rigorous recruitment process to ensure that only top drawer professionals with a suitable cultural fit are hired,” said Banerji. The recruiting and interviewing process ensures that the prospective employees meet the following skill requirements:
Flexibility/adaptability/ability to manage multiple priorities. Ability to manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments.
Interpersonal abilities. The ability to relate to one’s co-workers and to inspire others to participate.
Multicultural sensitivity/awareness: The organization has lawyers from all over the country and indeed, overseas too, there is possibly no bigger issue in the workplace than diversity, and job-seekers must demonstrate a sensitivity and awareness to other people and cultures.
Planning/organizing (particularly at a supervisory level), apart from the ability to work in teams in an effort achieve a common goal, are the other significant aspects that are sought in a new hire.
Of equal importance are the following values, personality traits, and personal characteristics: Honesty/integrity/morality; dedication/work ethic/tenacity; dependability/reliability/responsibility; and of course, professionalism.
Recruitment at Mindcrest is driven by considerable process rigor. After the written test, only 10% qualify for the interview process and, of this, generally only about 20% are selected.

A learning culture

The company takes great pride in its learning culture. There are many programs that offer employees the opportunity to learn beyond the training room. This includes ideas for reading, online classroom, resources and interactive programs with experts (staff). A few of the initiatives are—induction training, continuous internal training programs, process-oriented training, multi-functional training, and training based on the feedback received during annual performance appraisal by respective supervisors.

Evaluation of employees

Performance appraisal is conducted on an annual basis to assess the performance of all employees and reward accordingly. Being a market leader and pioneer in the LPO industry, Mindcrest believes in fair compensation for all its employees in line with industry standards. Each year, a market survey is conducted following which existing compensation in each grade is matched with the best in the industry. Where necessary, compensations in respective grades are revised.
“Post performance appraisal, the best performers are pegged at the highest increment in salary (within the bracket earmarked for the grade). The next best performers are pegged at the next highest increment in salary and so on,” pointed out Banerji.
Superior performance is rewarded by the following measures—

• Annual performance appraisal driven promotion and compensation
• Annual performance bonus linked to individual performance as well as company goals
• Promotions based on internal job postings
• Star-of-the-Month awards to associates for exceptional performance during the month
• Off-site team recreation for teams who have performed exceptionally well during the quarter.
• Extra Mile awards to associates who have performed beyond the call of duty

Where a staff member is not able to demonstrate performance to a satisfactory standard, action is taken to address the issue through the following measures:

• Performance Improvement Plan: Employees graded below satisfactory standard are put through a Performance Improvement Plan wherein targets/goals are re-visited and the supervisor is replaced by another peer supervisor. Timeframes are laid down to capture the employee’s improvement.
• Mentoring: Mentors are asked to hand-hold underperformers in order to provide necessary motivation and guidance.

Developing a career path—the Mindcrest way

1. Annual performance appraisal driven promotion and compensation.
2. Job rotation—some of the major benefits of job rotation are:
   1. It provides the employees with opportunities to broaden the horizon of knowledge, skills, and abilities by working in different departments, business units, functions, and countries.
   2. Identification of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) required.
   3. It determines the areas where improvement is required.
   4. Assessment of the employees who have the potential and caliber for filling the position.
3. Promotions based on internal job postings.
4. Off-site team recreation for teams who have performed exceptionally well during the quarter.
5. Employee development:
   1. Opportunities for employees to develop and advance their careers through promotions along a career path.
   2. Transfers to new positions and the acquisition of new skills.
   3. Providing weekly employee development sessions, including training on effective writing skills.
   4. An added benefit of training with colleagues is that team bonding also automatically happens along with the training.

Equal opportunity and non-discrimination

Mindcrest has adopted a broad- based approach to diversity and equality in all spheres of our work. Employees are from across the country, of both genders, of multiple castes, creeds and religions. The spokesperson informed that the non-discrimination policy also actively opposes discrimination as per the framework below:
The policy demonstrates the commitment to making the company a fully accessible and inclusive organization that welcomes and respects the diversity of its clients, managers, employees and visitors.
It provides the overall framework for action to tackle discrimination and promote equality.
It strives to eliminate unfair discrimination and promote equality in both employment and training of staff and in delivery of services.

Bridging hierarchical gaps

MC-Coffee with the Colonel is one of the key initiatives to bridge hierarchical gaps. Open communication with all employees is important at Mindcrest. Every Friday employees of selected teams are invited to meet informally over a cup of coffee with Banerji. This apart, Family Day is celebrated once a year. All associates along with their immediate family members, are invited to celebrate the Family Day function. The employees are invited to participate in the cultural and entertainment activities and learn about the innovative work that is happening across the company. The event is topped off by an Extra Mile award distribution.
Mindcrest believes that a good work-life balance helps in productivity, efficiency and a harmonious work environment. Fixed working hours over a five-day week, with an adequate number of closed holidays ensures that an employee has sufficient time for his/her family.
The company encourages its employees to volunteer for social activities. In the past Mindcrest employees have volunteered for NGOs like SOFOSH (Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals).