An interview with Mr. Pawan Kumar, CEO, vMoksha Technologies, Bangalore

With the IT slowdown job seekers have generally become very apprehensive about IT companies. How will you ease these fears in the case of vMoksha, which is just a year old?

We have not faced this problem at vMoksha as we are seen to be working with good companies. Also people see that we provide a career and not just a job.

Tell us something about the successful projects that you have executed within this year and the new orders in the pipeline?

As of now most of our work is product engineering for software product companies from US and Europe. We are also involved with implementation and support of solutions like Peoplesoft and SAP. Our largest project with a global ISV for financial services involves working with the latest technology, a team of 100 people working with JAVA enterprise and J2EE.

What is the strength of your team and what was the process of selection?

At present the team strength is 300+. The selection procedure has mainly been through employee referral, placement consultants, e- Channel and recruitment advertisements.

How did you manage to retain the best of the talent?

People have taken up the challenge of being part of a young organisation, which provides more of a stimulus and challenge than a large organisation. It ensures that they are constantly striving for greater heights and are learning something new all the time.

As an organisation we believe in fair play, which is one of our core values, and we ensure that it is practiced in all aspects in the organisation. This provides each individual with a fair chance to be heard.

What kind of an evaluation system do you follow and how do you reward the achievers?

Compensation is given in the form of variable pay, which suitably rewards hard work and high achievement. All employees are covered by this, which is linked to individual targets. It is reviewed on a quarterly basis.

This is done with a focus on building a `high performance culture' at vMoksha. The concept focuses on winning, creating best customer value, setting aggressive targets, insisting on results and ensuring that all these happen by holding people accountable. As an organisation aiming to achieve this culture, walking the talk on `Respect, Integrity, Teamwork and Excellence' is of great importance.

How do you help your employees combat boredom in the workplace and strengthen workplace relationships?

The organisation has employed a `fun at work' model using BONZERTM concept, which focuses on fun activities at work that are conducted on a frequent basis. Occasions like a family day provide a break from the regular work related activities.

Also, to help people understand and relate to the vision, mission and values of the organisation, we have implemented a program called the Vision FestivalTM. This is an ongoing exercise where various aspects of the key organisational statements are taken as themes around which activities are conducted. It helps bring meaning to the statements rather than just having them in theory. All team members participate thus creating higher levels of interaction.

How do you plan to evolve your HR strategies in the future to make them more employee friendly?

This will done by keeping in touch with market practices. We ensure that employees are involved in other activities of their interest over and above the work they do. There are regular forums where employee feedback is sought.

In the process of evolving our strategies the two key factors we would like to focus upon are striving for excellence and maintaining a work/life balance.

Ensuring to walk the talk, welcoming the truth, having value diversity, and communicating and listening effectively are amongst the few things that are and will be practiced to bring about this culture.

MALINI SURYANARAYANAN

maalini.mds@cnkonline.com