Helping employees pursue personal ambitions at work
Some companies are going all out to champion personal ambitions by funding employee-led ventures to make them feel appreciated. Has your company taken a step in that direction?
A recent survey titled Worklife 3.0:Understanding How We’ll Work Next by PwC, cites examples of a digital consultancy where two employees each year were selected to become partners in the business and how another helped fund employee-led ventures including a bakery, a gift company and a creative agency.
Vodafone India offers several flexible options to employees to help them balance their careers with personal needs. Employees can take time-off from work for a day every week to pursue something they are passionate about or go for a sabbatical break to study under the V-flex policy.
To provide employees a support system and an incubator for their ideas, Microsoft started Microsoft Garage six years ago. For some people, it is a space to pursue things they love to do in their spare time. Those who have a great idea but need support for pursuing and positioning the venture, or make it technically sound, get help from Garage in finding collaborators who have those skills.
Shailendra Singh, vice president, corporate communications and CSR, EXL, says that the company has created a global platform called EXL out to win to invite innovative business ideas from employees. These business ideas go through multiple levels of competition globally in a reality show format.
“The organisation channelises resources to the winners for them to be able to lead and implement their business plans,” he says.
Vinita Shrivastava, senior director, India HR & Global Mobility, HARMAN International (India) Pvt Ltd, says that music defines HARMAN and “we encourage each employee to be a part of this musical journey by learning an instrument.”