M&M hosts a culture which is extremely people-centric
Just to give you all a context, my project requires me to map current employee experience at Mahindra and then create a road map to achieve the desired Mahindra Employee Experience and owing to this, I have been interacting with a lot of employees, across functions, age, tenure amongst other demographics, over the last 2 weeks. The one thing that stands out in each interaction so far is that everything boils down to the experiences people have with other people here and the best part is Mahindra very well understands this and does everything to add positively to these interactions.
So, just to quote an anecdote here: I was supposed to understand how employees experience their on-boarding with Mahindra and to take a vicarious route in doing this, I myself attended a 3-day induction program meant for few lateral hires, like a mystery customer. In the course of this, I met and interacted with a lot of people including those getting on-boarded and others who were responsible for the on-boarding. Most of them had very people-oriented aspects to share when asked about what is it that excites them about working here. And I somehow totally agree with them on this; people are the strength of this organization which treats everyone more like family than employee.
People here are proud of the Mahindra brand and live by the company’s ideals
Right from a newly-hired employee to an existing one and even someone who has exited the organization, all have them one common thread: the Mahindra brand and the values that the organization lives by. From the shop-floor to the corporate, you can see the brand come alive in every nook and corner. And, its not just the leaders and HR teams promoting this, mind you, you can breathe the RISE feeling here.
Accepting no limits, Alternative Thinking and Driving Positive Change are pillars of RISE that have been truly strengthened by the champions who work here and make it one of the best places to work. I have seen people go out of their way to make time for an interview that I have requested from them and every possible help has been given when I needed it for my project. Now, that’s truly accepting no limits and driving positive change for you.
Help is given to those who ask for it
I have been really fortunate in terms of the project guide and buddy that were assigned to me. They were sensitive to the fact that I have had exposure to a very corporate sort of culture in my previous workplace and helped me cope with the transition to an organization that’s huge and very different from where I worked before. Guidance was provided at every step without being preachy while it was also ensured that my work was still on track. Every autonomy was given to explore my own ideas for the project.
And, there were few things I had never known before; specific knowledge of Organizational Development was one such thing, but what’s the fun in knowing it all! My project being of very ambiguous nature, there were times I needed hand-holding to bring me back on track and help was never denied. That’s the most beautiful part of my learning; right amount of autonomy and right amount of guidance, you will never find the right mix of the two anywhere but here.
Work here calls for going beyond one’s limits and that makes it engaging
Now this is something I learnt from my own experience. I have been exploring employee experience across the organization and while I was onto this, I developed a perception of my own about the work here and the organization, in general, which in turn defines my experience. The key to being best at work here is the leveraging the human experience which is based on your interaction with people here. Every problem is approached with human angle and solution to every problem is eventually the people. So, when it comes to having a challenging work, it is also linked with people. Being a mammoth organization, you have to approach a lot of people around you even for the smallest of the tasks and the inputs that I have received for my project from the network that I have thus developed only makes it more enriching.
All said and done, these are not the only learnings that I got. There were ups and downs in the project shaping-up so far, there were many moments of ambiguity and then there are many things I am yet to explore about this organization. Nevertheless, the very many conversations that I have had with employees here have always given me food for thought and have proved useful in taking my project to where it stands as of today.
Stay tuned to hear about my visits to plants across Maharashtra; until then signing off, as I rush to one such visit to a facility in Igatpuri to know what employees there have to say about the company.