30/7/2010
Handling people -whether in a private or public entity-is about adeptly handling the nuances of people management, says Prabir Jha, the Senior Vice-President and Global Head, Human Resources & Corporate Communications at Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Jha should know. For he has previously worked with Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) as Works Manager for nine years before switching over to the private sector. Armed with a master’s degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, from XLRI, Jameshedpur, he has vast experience in human resource and people management.
In an interview with SHRM India, he spoke about HR policies and practices at Dr Reddy’s, his experiences in the field and the current scene of HR in India.
Extracts:

You worked with the public sector for almost a decade before switching over to the private sector. How different are the two sectors especially when it comes to people issues?
Working with the government sector can get slightly staid over a period of time. Although there is a broad spectrum of experience in store for a person working in the public sector, decision-making here is quite challenging. For any resolution to take shape, there needs to be a detailed process and consensus is required from numerous parties and departments.
On the other hand, working for a private sector makes for a more dynamic experience. Out here the realm of work experience is narrower, deeper and more focused. Decision-making in the private sector gets simpler. Strategy and decisions usually involve fewer people. Sometimes just a talk with the CEO is enough to put the decision in motion.
But then at the end of the day - both sectors involve people issues. People everywhere are diverse and working in both sectors is about handling the nuances of people management.
 

Dr Reddy’s was the fastest Indian pharmaceutical company to cross $1 billion in revenue. It was the first company in the Asia Pacific (outside Japan) to be listed on the NYSE. What are the factors that have driven its growth as one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in both India and the world? Tell us how you have aligned your employees for this kind of growth?
Growth largely depends on the aspirations of the founders of the company. Dr Reddy’s had a vision of wanting to create affordable medicines. This gives the company a deeper sense of purpose. This vision also unites employees across various functions and geographies and bridges gaps.
Secondly, the company has created a culture within its system and this is very empowering. This makes the employees feel responsible and connected with their organization. More importantly, this culture has been preserved despite our growth and this has helped maintain a sense of oneness with the organization.
And lastly, despite all takeovers, we preserve and respect the original values of our acquired entities. We have made the effort of connecting with the employees and this has helped in making the mergers a smooth affair.
 

The complexities involved in managing global businesses are immense. How do you manage, engage and drive employees that are scattered in different geographies?
- Staying Rooted Despite Growth: We have expanded our reach largely due to local mergers. So we hire local talent as against exporting managers from within. While our basic philosophy everywhere remains the same, our policies are customized to suit different geographies. Our overhead strategy remains the same all over for the company. This is what unites our employees everywhere.
- Interaction & Communication: We have a fair bit of interaction among various departments. This has increased over the years. We have invested a lot of money in communication tools and technologies. We have top-class in-house journals. Regular CEO visits helps build a connect with the company and allows our employees to feel a part of the workforce. Every other month we have a CEO’s ‘communiqué’ that is broadcasted as a webcast/ blog/ journal. All this brings people together and they share the vision of the company.

The top leadership at Dr Reddy’s is known for spending a considerable amount of time in understanding the aspirations of employees and charting growth opportunities for them. How has this helped in attracting and retaining talent?
We believe there are different levels of competencies. We have developed various performance enhancement tools for coaching. These are not appraisal tools. Instead these help employees focus on performance and delivery.  One needs to be a coach not a boss. To convert a manager into a coach is the kind of positive change that we seek to bring out.
We don’t harp on evaluating the employee. We have career-design workshops where we use psychometrics and counseling to help an employee identify his strengths. We also have in place a Talent Management Framework for middle to senior managers for assessing aptitude and ability for leadership competencies.
We sometimes seek external help for these workshops. Our employees are mentored by senior management to act on not just the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ of the result.

I understand you have the Leadership Academy setup. What was the idea behind this academy? Tell us a little more about it.
The Leadership Academy was set up with the intention of nurturing talent as against educating people. Here, learning is encouraged. Our students are mentored to take on newer roles and challenges in the field. They are trained to take initiatives and be able leaders. The faculty is world-class and a lot of our guest lectures are to do with functionality, not just academics. For example, a while back we had a mountaineer who spoke to our students about living up to challenges. We also hosted a 14-day program for a consortium to help nurture leadership. The overall infrastructure is in collaboration with many institutes like the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS).
 

How has the recent slowdown impacted handling of people issues? Which are the areas that have seen rethinking and redesigning?
Fortunately for us, the pharmaceutical industry is recession-proof. In fact, we added 25% more employees to our team last year. We believe in investing in our people.
 

Is there a dearth in research and development in India?
When you compare India to the global scenario, there is a dearth of niche skills out here. This makes it necessary for companies to look for talent beyond India. Most of the time, they select members of the Indian diaspora in the West. The academic institutions in India need to look at better setups and improved infrastructure and standards. Overall there is a short supply of real talent and skills.

What is the profile of Dr Reddy’s team? What percentage of your employees belongs to research, manufacture and supply chains?
Out of about 13,500 people that work with us - about 2,000 work in research and development, 6,000 belong to manufacturing and operations and about 4,000 are involved in sales. The rest of them belong to various other roles. Our team consists of people from about 27 nationalities. In India, we primarily have our R&D and manufacturing units.
 

You have stated in the past that ‘non-verbal gestures and a few kind words help in retaining employees’. What is the current state of employee relations in India when compared to the rest of the world?
The HR demand, in India, has surpassed its supply. Since the beginning a ‘pair of hands’ mindset has prevailed in India. This has probably to do with the quality of education. Despite this, there has been a dramatic change in HR policies throughout the country in these last few years. With so many global companies entering India, there has been a huge change in the scene. Opportunity-wise, India has great prospects. Global companies are usually employee-friendly and other companies are following suit. Overall the intent is mostly sincere though this varies in degrees from company to company. Otherwise HR is a fairly robust outfit out here in India.
Employees, on the other hand, remain mercenary. There is a general trend in India, where employees constantly change companies for personal benefits. Many global organizations have started to move out of India due to this mentality. Employees also need to do their bit for the company and stay on to make a difference.

How are you gearing up for the new challenges and opportunities that lie ahead?
We continue to raise our standards and to further our capabilities. An average functional depth won’t help us and we constantly need newer skill-sets and technologies. We don’t want to operate like a socialistic society. Instead, we want to bank on greater leadership levels and place our bets right. This is where the challenge lies. We want to design and emerge as a robust organization.
 

Bangalore-based freelance writer Amisha Shah interviewed Dr Prabir Jha.