An interview with Mr. S. Vaidyanathan, GM-HR, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Chennai.

Can you tell us about Orchid?

Orchid is the only Indian pharmaceutical company of its size and scale to be awarded both the ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 certifications. We are ranked amongst the top 5 manufacturers in the world and the largest in the country with products sold in over 70 countries worldwide.

How did you augment Human Resource during the initial stages?

During the first two years after the company was started the main concentration was we concentrated in on getting the best people for areas related to technical production. Once the production processes stabilised the focus slowly shifted to Research and Development.

We have invested a sizable amountin R&D at the very early stages of the company, which is unheard of especially then in the pharmaceutical industry. We then started to recruited people to carry forward our R&D activities initiatives. In time then as we needed people who were specialised in patent and regulatory matters who were versed in the technicalities of the business.

What are the opportunities available for Pharmaceutical graduates and post graduates in this industry?

The pharmaceutical industry has immense potential for employment, asit's poised as it is for explosive exponential growth in India. While the requirement for technical specialists will remain, however the numbers might vary. There are opportunities especially in the field of Research and Regulatory affairs for postgraduates of with M.Sc, B.Pharm and M.Pharm.

For our factories we do take in those who have completed their M.Sc. and some science graduates when we need them. We do not have a systematic campus recruitment program because fresh graduates directly contact us. The number of new recruits we requireis highly categorised and specific so there is no need for detailed recruitment efforts.

What are the means of recruitment do you follow?

Not being a pharma base, we do not have a big player in the local arena to recruit from. We basically attract talent from the West and the North India. We do release advertisements to attract talent from across India and we enlist the help of placement consultants who specialise in mobilising work force in the pharma industry. However, as we are eminently visible in the field we get a lot of profiles through references. We do not have any kind of employee referral programs because we feelif an employee comes across a good candidate for the company then itbecomes his duty to refer him to the HR department. We do not want toturn it into a commercial exercise by providing monetary benefits for referring suitable candidates.

Can you throw light on your training methods?

We conduct an induction program for the newly joined employees and also take them on plant visits if they have joined the corporate division.Then the individual is given a departmental training pertaining to his specific area and job responsibilities.We have a classroom induction program for a junior person and a more systematic induction program for the senior level new recruits.

What is the scope for promotion and growth within Orchid?

In Orchid the good performers have had exponential growth in within a span of two to three years and consequently their salaries have also doubled in the process.We are working towards launching Orchid into a totally different league all together and when that happens then a professional's scope for growth will increase tremendously. For ensuring career enhancement of our employees we have many in-house training programs in their respective functional areas. Now we are going to concentrate on giving Managerial training make sure that they don't stay as Technocrats but emerge as good Managers.

What are your retention policies?

We not only concentrate on retaining our star performers but also ourgood performers and those who meet and fulfil the requirements of thecompany also. We do not look down on our employees who meet the day today daily requirements, who might not be excellent performers because they still form the pillars of our organisation. Having said that I would like to add that we do not lose our people normally and this is due to a combination of factors.

We offer a lot of freedom in work and if a person wants to innovate then he can go ahead with his plans as long as he takes responsibility for their consequences.We offer state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities in our labs as well as the corporate office facilitating efficient functioning. Many of the incentives are intangible and have to be experienced, like our working environment, which is very friendly, and we maintain total transparency in all our dealings. There is very little information that we deem confidential and not disclose to our people. Even all our incentives are based on trust and transparency and this gives the employees a lot of confidence in our systems.

Can you list out five reasons for Orchid's success since itsestablishment?

The primary five reasons would be, right product identification, product quality, excellent people, focus and finally innovation. These have established Orchid as one of the major players in the pharmaceutical industry.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN

maalini.mds@cxknetworks.com