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Amit Mitra

MUMBAI, March 21

ON a bright and lively Sunday morning, a senior manager of Godrej Industries Ltd is enjoying a balmy experience in the wilderness - mountain climbing, stretching out on the soft grass and counselling sessions with other colleagues around a crackling bonfire in the evening.

But when he returns home later, the same feeling that had been tormenting him before the `three-day outbound programme' would continue to gnaw at him - was he meeting the targets set for him?

He is certainly not alone in the domain of India Inc, which is increasingly elbowing aside poor performers.

In the aftermath of competition infusing new work cultures in India's corporate world, the writing on the wall is clear - poor performers, after being retrained and counselled to ramp up their performance, will be facing harsher treatment at the office.

New work cultures in most corporate entities are imposing stiffer targets on senior and junior level officials, with innovative performance evaluation methods being implemented for more accurate performance ratings.

It is not as though the corporate world is set to flush out poor performers in one fell swoop. The poor performers are being given adequate time and re-training, backed with expert counselling by external agencies, to improve - it is just that there is today a sharper differentiation between the good and the poor performers.

As Mr. Girish Bhat, Director (Finance and Commercial), Cadbury India Ltd, puts it, the idea behind performance evaluation should be more to bridge the competency gaps.

"I have come across many instances when a poor performer, after being retrained and shifted to another department where he may be better suited, shows improved performance,'' he told Business Line.

On other hand, good performers are being showered with incentives which range between hefty performance-linked bonuses to stock options and foreign tours.

Take the case of Godrej, one of the first Indian corporates to introduce the 360-degree performance evaluation concept as a self-development tool.

The company has introduced a slew of value-creating initiatives, but is clear on the point that good and poor performers should be differentiated.

Mr Adi Godrej, Chairman, points out that till some years ago, these two categories of performers had not been adequately differentiated.

"In our company, we have now decided to more strongly differentiate poor and strong performers. Of course, we will give the poor performers adequate training and counselling, but if he or she does not show signs of improvement, we will ask him or her to look (for a job) elsewhere,'' he said during a presentation at a seminar on `Linking HR with Business' organised by the CII.

Godrej has introduced innovative people-related changes which it calls `value creating initiatives'. These include three-day outbound programmes, when employees are allowed to go on a camping trip in the wilderness, and `Chairman's tea', when a group of managers are invited to an informal meeting over tea. The company offers a cap-less but performance-linked remuneration system.

MNCs are also offering some innovative incentives to performers. For example, Cadbury, which operates in 45 countries, offers international opportunities in any of these countries to good performers, apart from travel awards.

"These constitute non-financial based awards. For financial-based awards, we offer bonus in terms of percentage of top-line growth. At the senior manager level, the employee is given the option to invest in the company's stocks, for which the company will add to his stocks to the extent of 60 per cent of the bonus,'' Mr Bhat said.

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