Employee First, Customer Second…. how bold is this?
Check out this presentation from HCL technologies about a HR initiative called “Employee First, Customer Second“. This appears to be part of a stated strategy from the IT giant about putting their own employees ahead of their customers. Sounds typical HR speak? Maybe yes, ….but in a country whose IT prowess/future hinges on the ability to service external clients, this looks like a fairly bold statement to make. Can’t but help recall Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote commonly found plastered across shops & establishments all over India “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
The initiatives that are part of the policy look well intentioned, though not necessary first of its kind. What looks first of its kind is an organisation of this size, in a county like India, in an industry like client servicing oriented IT services making this a policy statement. And while this initiative predates it, the Satyam scandal makes this pitch even more intriguing for an Indian IT major.
If any HCL employee is reading this blog- can I request you to fill in with some inputs on how this reflects on the ground level? I’d be interested to know that..
Update: I just got reminded of a blogpost I wrote about another initiative from HCL long time back… almost two years ago… this was the “Fearless ad campaign” from HCL highlighting its heritage as India’s original garage startup way back in the late 1970s… check it out here.
B on Feb 7, 2009
Hi,
I am working in HCL for 2.5 years. Well “employee first, customer second” is just an PR initiative. Does not reflect at the employee level. It just remains an effective opening line for the biggies speeches, and an ending punchline to our umpteen escalation mails.
Surinder Dalal on Feb 13, 2009
I spent out couple of yrs in HCL. To me & my team its positive change and its quite effective at ground level.I am pretty sure if employee is mature then he/she can understand this mantra very well other wise some of employees who do not perform at all take this other way round. Definitely “Employee First” does not mean you will get whatever you want. Without putting any effort expecting return — No way
Appreciate this initiative
Sneh on Mar 2, 2009
Read HCL employee reviews on JobeeHive.com: http://www.jobeehive.com/company-reviews/hcl-technologies to know the reality. It looks like a mixed bag, and HCL has got an overall rating of 3.4 out of 5.0 on jobeehive.
Ex_HCLite on Feb 19, 2010
I’ve worked there for 12+ Years and quit recently. THIS IS ANOTHER MARKETING TACTICS TO PROMOTE THE COMPANY TO HCLITES AND OTHERS. MANY TIMES I’ve heard my manager saying “We have no other option than giving the customer what/when he wants; even if it takes the entire team to work 24×7″.
FYI, HR team was unable to tell us what Employee First means.
I’m not sure how the rating firms (Gartner, Forrester etc) are able to believe this story and HCL is getting awards for this.
This marketing line “Employee First, Customer Second” looks to be stolen from Dr. Stephen Covey’s “Principle Centered Leadership” which was published long ago.
Radha on Mar 15, 2010
i agree with Ex_HCLite after working for 5 years i quit for the same reasons.