Four in a Row
US-based Abbott, second-largest drug company in India, in terms of domestic market share, with a billion dollar plus revenue, has been the winner in this category for four consecutive years now.
Abbott has an India specific human resources initiative – employer value proposition (EVP) – that has been instrumental in the company retaining talent, say Bhasker Iyer, the company’s management representative in India, and Sandeep Sengupta, Regional Human Resources Director.
Currently into its version 3, EVP harps on the theme of ‘Grow with the Leader’. “It signals our intent of accelerating our growth in India in the near future. It offers our employees and prospective employees in campuses to know their growth opportunities and potential path for future growth,” says Iyer.
EVP lays stress on three simple, clear and powerful promises that the company makes to its employees, says Sengupta – ‘ be the best you can be’ to help employees realise their potential and ensure accelerated growth to high performers; ‘be inspired by what you do’ to give employees pride and joy at shaping India’s health care and ‘be acknowledged for your efforts’, he elaborates. Willing and deserving employees
in India are also given an opportunity to work for Abbott’s global network in various geographies, which helps the company have much less attrition when compared to industry standards of 10 to 15 per cent.
Abbott, maker of popular drugs like top toddler nutrition brand Pedia Sure and antacid Digene, has over 14,000 employees under four major businesses in India, the highest number of employees anywhere in the world other than the US.
Another initiative launched last year was Flexi Benefits and the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). Flexi Benefits gives its employees the flexibility to choose additional benefits in the form of insurance coverage options, lifestylerelated benefits or in the area of self-development (educational courses, books, etc). All benefits extended to employees are at discounted rates and negotiated by Abbott. EAP is customised counseling and resource service introduced by Abbott for its employees and their families with free counselling, referrals and follow-up services to employees and their families, done through a third party agency.
Abbott, which has invested over $4 billion in India in the last six years, is planning to set up a new pharmaceutical innovation and development centre in the country within a year. That will act as a global R&D hub for branded generics catering to over 30 countries. Its recent global acquisition of St. Jude Medical also makes it a new leader in the medical devices space. ~