HCL Technologies Recognised as one of Britain?s Top Employer

London, Noida, – HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL), a leading global IT services provider, has been named as one of Britain’s Top Employers 2009 by CRF International, the independent business research organisation. HCL was recognised for its long standing commitment to supporting employee productivity in a culture and working environment in which they feel appreciated and innovation is allowed to thrive. This is the third successive year that HCL has been shortlisted and nominated as one of Britain’s Top Employer and joins companies such as IBM, McDonalds and The Co-Operative Group in receiving the 2009 accreditation.

HCL is structured around its Employee First model, in which employees, not customers, are the focus of the organisation. Rajeev Sawhney, President of HCL Europe, commented, “HCL introduced an employee centric philosophy in a customer driven business world. As a result, employees lie at the heart of our strategy. The world watched us with curiosity to start with but the results, including significant recent wins with Nokia, Reader’s Digest and Xerox, are clear for all to see. A fundamental feature of Employee First is the spirit of entrepreneurship it creates. If someone has an idea how to improve the services we deliver, the ethos is ‘go for it’.”

HCL is committed to helping its staff gain the qualifications that will help them most throughout their career. Today, 60 percent of staff have graduate qualifications and 20 percent have achieved postgraduate qualifications. To develop employees further, HCL has a comprehensive training and development programme.

Rajiv Govil, HR director at HCL Europe, commented, “Participation in the training and development programme is largely up to individuals. We encourage employees to self-manage, identifying for themselves where their needs lie. HCL also uses its international infrastructure to develop staff. For example, HCL’s Business Exchange Programme has enabled employees from the Belfast Apollo contact centre to go to India for up to a year and vice versa.”

“To be in a position to attract the best talent, companies must align their people management policies and procedures with the right corporate culture,” commented Dominic Knight, regional director for UK, Ireland & Northern Europe at CRF. “HCL’s emphasis on empowering staff at all levels within the organisation especially impressed us. Having recognised its commitment to help employees proactively build their skills and achieve to their full potential, we were delighted to be able to accredit the company as one of Britain’s Top Employers.”

Britain’s Top Employers 2009 is an annual research-based HR publishing project designed to assist high-performing organisations with the overall assessment of their HR function. The aim of Britain’s Top Employers is to identify, accredit and laud British companies with a demonstrable commitment to and track record in talent management best practice. CRF’s research process includes interviews with senior management and employees. Accreditation is based on high standards in pay and benefits, career development, corporate culture, diversity, equal opportunities and leadership, as well as HR recruitment strategies, knowledge management and employee relations.

Earlier this year, HCL’s performance as an employer was also recognised by Hewitt, the global human resources services company, which cited HCL as a “Best Employer” in Asia and as India’s No. 1 “Best Employer” in its 2009 study.