Change is the only constant thing; more so for IT companies when the digital world around is under constant churn. With rapid and progressive developments taking shape to push companies to transform and make positive changes, only companies that have made it the intention, purpose, and driving philosophy, stand out as achievers. One such well-known company in the software development and consulting realm is Tech Mahindra. Making alternative thinking, sustainability, and being rooted in the ethos as their core values, it has come a long way in setting benchmarks for corporate companies in general and the IT industry in particular. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Harshvendra Soin, Global Chief People Officer and Head of Marketing, Tech Mahindra.

Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

Tech Mahindra is a global provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business reengineering services and solutions. We are a USD 6 billion organization with 151,100+ professionals across 90 countries helping 1224 global customers, including Fortune 500 companies. Headquartered in Pune, India, the company has recently begun expanding its reach into the U.S. market. Tech Mahindra specializes in next-generation technologies including 5G, blockchain, quantum computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and more, to enable end-to-end digital transformation for global customers.

Tech Mahindra is the only Indian company in the world to receive the HRH The Prince of Wales' Terra Carta Seal for its commitment to creating a sustainable future. We are the fastest growing brand in 'brand strength' and amongst the top 7 IT brands globally.

What is Tech Mahindra's brand purpose and how is it evolving given the pace of change and disruption today? 

Tech Mahindra's brand purpose is to inspire our clients and our employees to RISE, by accepting no limits, embracing alternative thinking, and driving positive change. Over the past year, Tech Mahindra has been strengthening its brand presence on a global scale to fulfill its promise of 'Connected World. Connected Experiences'. Staying true to being known as a 'Brand for Purpose', the company has consistently emerged as a leader in sustainability, and people centricity, and as a preferred partner to drive the digital transformation agenda with its promise of NXT.NOW™ to customers across industries. As part of NXT.NOWTM framework, Tech Mahindra aims at delivering tomorrow's experiences today, and believes that the 'Future is Now'.

The company's mindset is to think differently and innovate within our ever-changing world. Staying creative has allowed us to evolve, and solidify our purpose while disruptions happen daily around us, enabling the company to become even more advanced in all realms of our business.

Can you throw light on the latest employment trends in key sectors?

Recently, there has been a persistent shortage of talent in many industries, but in the IT sector especially. This is partially due to "The Great Resignation" that has been becoming increasingly widespread, as well as the need to upskill while tentatively preparing for a possible recession.

Technology has certainly increased the reach both internally and externally. Luckily, at Tech Mahindra, we have the resources to use this to our advantage. I think once the pandemic hit, we also came to realize the importance of upskilling your internal employees. It is something that is necessary, and more brands are realizing that. In relation to that last thought, Gig workers have also really surfaced as some of the main beneficiaries of this pandemic for the last two years.

What are the skill sets that you specifically look for while hiring?

While we recognize and value the unique attributes and talents each employee offers, there are commonalities among the candidates we hire at Tech Mahindra. Our employees all share the same desire to be creative and disruptive in the best way.

At Tech Mahindra, we are looking at diversifying our talent in delivery centers across Eastern Europe and Latin America over the next few years to provide a buffer against the war for talent currently going on in India. We want to widen the talent pool, improve agility to deliver some solutions, and be closer to clients. We also have various up-skilling and re-skilling initiatives for our associates, enabling them to upgrade career opportunities and allowing us to retain the density of our talent pool.  While also building the workforce of the future that is at the forefront of cutting-edge technologies.

Our biggest focus for FY22 is on building skills and keeping our talent pool brimming with new-age technologies. In Q1FY22, we added 5,200 employees and plan to increase the fresher intake by 3x this year. We will continue to hire in focused verticals like artificial intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), cyber security, deep tech, and space tech, among others, and strengthen our leadership in the technology sector as well.

Would you also like to give some more details about how ML/AI is being used at Tech Mahindra for HR processes?

As a company that is heavily focused on the future of technology, we are constantly innovating and creating new intelligence, and high-tech tools to help our employees, clients, and our business succeed. We have recently launched ML/AI in the HR realm which focuses on mental health. Our "Integrated Command Center" is a cloud and AI-enabled command center that monitors the health and well-being of our associates. Additionally, we use AI to promote mental health awareness and support through a voice-enabled facial recognition system to a physical wellness BOT that converses with people about their mental wellbeing. Lastly, we are proud of our AI-powered humanoid named K2 which helps automate human resources tasks to streamline our workflow in the most efficient way possible.

How is Tech Mahindra leveraging technology to navigate a hybrid workforce?

At Tech Mahindra we really focus on leveraging technology so that our hybrid and remote workers all feel connected. The ever-changing work environment creates endless possibilities to become an even stronger, more connected team. We emphasize that what matters is the outcomes as opposed to the output, so we have begun honing in on enabling our employees rather than measuring them!

We have implemented several new technological advancements specifically designed to enhance seamless collaboration between our hybrid workforce teams and our clients. These include our New Age Delivery (NAD) platform, an AI-enabled platform. NAD -Learn fuels the entire software delivery conveyor with platforms for planning, contextual right skilling, design thinking, asset curation & reuse, monitoring and tracking, and a cloud-committed development arena. We also recently launched an artificial intelligence coaching application to encourage managers to engage with subordinates as "success coaches."  The AI Coach assists managers with analyzing the frequency of communication, identifying the tone of communication, and helps them to change negative tones into positive by hyper-personalizing communication. The tool can also simulate difficult situations and coach managers to succeed.

Lastly, what is your leadership mantra? 

I think for this, I will quote Maya Angelou: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." At Tech Mahindra, our people are one of our most important focus areas, and we are a family here. In our family, we want to ensure everyone is well-treated well and well-respected. We firmly believe that without our employees, we are nothing.