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Anjali Prayag

BANGALORE, March 15

WIPRO'S HR department is working on a new hunch: a better parent could mean a better employee. In its latest approach to get its 2,000 employees on an emotional high, Wirpo Infotech has launched a personal growth programme - a workshop on Effective Parenting.

According to Mr Joseph George, Manager, Employee Development, Wipro Infotech, this workshop is aimed at bringing out openness in human transactions. Apart from the obvious gain of getting the family involved with the company, thereby boosting employee morale, Wipro hopes to win another trump card with this initiative: better relationships at work too.

Studies have shown that a consistent, good, evolving parent will be a better employee, says Mr George.

His logic is, "When you are teaching your children to be independent, more decisive, and telling them to take initiative and not rest at boundaries, you yourself cannot be any different at work."

He rues that all education streams: management, engineering, accountancy, are focussing on the technical aspects of education while not studying the human at work.

"The analytical self is always struggling with the humane self and so we said why wait for a new stream of education to make an impact when we can do it at Wipro," he says.

And how has the response been from the employees? Realising that most employees drag their feet when asked to attend any behavioural training programme, the HR team at Wipro Infotech struck upon this innovative design. And Mr George is positive about the direction it is taking.

"When we announced the workshop we got a tremendous response, but we had to restrict the numbers to 25 couples. In our next workshop in April, we want to cover more people."

The workshop, conducted with the help of a family counsellor, gives Wiproiites and their spouses, tips on building better self-esteem, communicating and being honest with the child and being a role model for the child. What about changes at the workplace?

"Though it's too early to jump with joy at the results, we've had some early wins, like a couple of employees confessing that along with building better relationships with their children they're also understanding their peers and subordinates better."

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